AlabamaSpothunter

Thanks Katie, it's hard to describe the frenetic activity, as well as the numbers of shad and Bass but that little snippet of video I felt was the perfect representation of it. That went on for the 5 hours I was there, and I'm sure it was going on before I was there, and after I left. I tried two different underspins along with: 2 different jighead minnow combos Shimano jerkbait A-Rig 1/8th jighead/3.3" small paddletail swimbait Molix 1/2oz tailspinner Crush Flat 75x crank 3/8oz Vault 1/2oz Dyna Response 1/8th Flashback mini/3"armor shad Spinnerbait The fish certainly won that round.

Caught 28 + 2 Crappie + 1 big Channel Cat in the middle of what seemed like millions of shad, and hundreds of Bass. At one point I watched a wolf pack of 15-20 fish cruising on the surface. I knew they did that when corralling bait, but it's the first time they were close enough to the surface for me to witness. Bass will never stop impressing me, they're just such a supreme predator. I watched a 25-30lb sack blow up all around me for hour after hour but never even caught a single big one. I've said it a number of times in this thread over the last several years, but schooling Bass can easily be one of the most frustrating things I've experienced in life. Watching 5lb+ fish clear the water over and over and not being able to catch them is akin to being waterboarded 😂

Did you look in that incredibly juicy looking standing timber to the side of you? 😁

I really like Sunline 12-15lb braid to Sunline FC Sniper 8lb leader. I'd look for a 8 carrier braid. I like to have one setup with a sinking braid, and another with a normal floating braid. If I could only pick one, I'd go with a sinking braid.

Funny you say that, the only time I felt I got a bad spool of FC line besides some clearance KastKing stuff, was in fact Red Label. Happened multiple times from the same spool. Stuff is terrible in my experience.

I call that a scouting trip......I wasn't even trying to catch fish, just looking for bait 😁

I watched Founder last night, a movie about Ray Krok and the founding of McDonald's. He had a quote that summed up my fishing philosophy spot on. “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” If I had a superpower it would be persistence. To that end, the more I'm struggling, the more I'm going.

That's interesting it's causing line twist.....I wouldn't have expected that. I just use it on spinning setups.

@bulldog1935 Is the expert on these reels, and especially modifying them, so I'll default to his judgement. Personally, I don't mind the stock knobs and still have them on mine. IIrc @T-Billy has one or two of these and he didn't like the OEM knobs and replaced them, maybe he can give a good suggestion.

It's still so wild to me that all those big fat northern LMB are just cruising around living their best lives under many inches of ice. If you caught a Bass in one of your bogs ice fishing, you'd really blow my mind.....double dog dare you too 😆

Seems more than fair to me and having seen copious pics of your amazing tackle collection, I have no doubts the condition of these rods would be exactly as you said. Thinking about you buddy, hope you're hanging tough!!!!

@Jar11591 and Katie, you guys are so kind, I really appreciate it! Attaboy @LrgmouthShad! I wish I had confidence in jigs.

Thanks a bunch Aaron! It really baffles me how I can go the entire Fall catching a handful of 5lb+ fish, and then the winter rolls around and that's possible on a single day. Winter comes when I'm just about to cry uncle from a losing streak 🤣

Sacked up a bit over 21lbs for a nice day. The 6.5 came on the Deps MIDST 1/4oz Drift Fry combo.....then the other 4 fish that made the bag were between 3.5-4lbs and all came on the spinnerbait. If I'm catching them on a spinnerbait, I've thrown the entire tacklebox 😆

The internet has changed how hard it is to find fish on big public lakes without question. If you do some googling on recent tournament results, especially if B.A.S.S. or MLF has an event on a particular lake, you can usually find all the info you need to find good fishing spots. Then you have the whole "community holes" aspect, go into any local tackle shop, or be friendly around the boat ramps, and most times knowledgeable anglers will freely share the community holes because after all, they're community. Anybody who is competitive on a particular lake will already know those places, no use in keeping them secret. A huge reason why the most dominant anglers in the sport are 18-25 yrs old is the fact they didn't have to spend decades like Rick Clunn learning every single major Bass fishing lake in the country. These kids show up to lakes for the first time with a graph full of waypoints. A graph full of waypoints and copious time using FFS are the main ingredients to winning on the top levels of professional fishing these days.

Heck yeah A-Jay! I need that kind of success on them.......a big ole bronze piggy 😎

I've got the 7.1 as well. It's got all the power you need, and then some. I don't play any fish on this reel, the drag is locked down for the most part and I winch them in as fast as I can. It has no problem winching big fish in so again power is not a problem at all. I don't use it as a frogging reel, but many do and say it really excels in that role. Hopefully that's what you meant by power.

LOLOL......I need to take a picture of where all my tackle is, it's the ying to A-Jay's yang 🤣 @A-Jay I see you got a whole box of Drift Fry, how have they been for you?

To me it's the Mack truck of "normal" sized reels. I've never used a more robust 100-200 sized baitcast reel. I exclusively throw 20lb FC on mine, and 95% of the stuff I throw with it is between 2-3ozs. It's my A-Rig, and standard sized Glide reel. I wish I had another one to see how well it does with 1/2-2oz baits.

@Team9nine Way to go brother! What a giant, and beautiful fish! @Aaron_H Thanks for the kind words friend! She sure did put on a great show. I have no doubt you'll get that big prespawn girl, you got plenty of experience with those big girls as we've seen in the past in this thread. I predict she'll come on a jerkbait if history is a good judge 😎 Stay strong my Canuck and Yankee friends.......contrary to what Punxsutawney Phil recently forecasted, Spring will come sooner than later, and a new PB is waiting for each and every one of you!

Thanks Katie! I feel like one of the real perks of catching a nice fish since joining this forum is getting an attaboy from you.....I'm spoiled now 😎 The weather the last week and for the foreseeable future has been so nice that other anglers have been out there, but the Bass know I'm the only one that calls them Sweetie 🤣

Caught a nice 7.2 yesterday on the Queen Tackle Rollin Strollin/Drift Fry combo. Tried to make a complete video showing the ridiculous action on this bait but the stupid editing program kept getting buggy. This is the second season of using these Drift Fry, and the novelty keeps growing. That front lip makes the bait almost stand still while aggressively rolling, it's the closest bait I've ever seen to matching what a stunned Threadfin Shad does in cold water. They do this thing where they roll on their sides and the right themselves. Adding the elastomer models was the final cherry on top. I think it's the coolest fishing lure I've ever owned.

It sure is pretty, but I'd simply freeze to death. I mean I'm freezing just looking at that 😆

Huge congrats on your wife beating cancer! Awesome act of kindness and generosity as well.

Way to get on the board @Fishlegs! Thread is a thousand times better when people post whatever fish made them happy enough to share it 🙂