AlabamaSpothunter

Great looking rod, I really like the reel seat and handle. Not to mention that rod can perform a number of tasks, not just frogs. Not that you would in the places you fish, but you could even throw A-rigs on that.

You made me very happy Katie reading about the new SCALE ? You catch some really nice fish, it's gonna be great to see the weight on some. I know the feeling you are having, got the Labor Day TW sale order coming today, and the reel I ordered from Japan. Then got a rod coming I imagine on Monday. I'm done after that until economic and inflation conditions improve. Fishing stuff especially with JDM stuff is as affordable as it's ever been, but everything else in my life seems to cost so much more. ETA: 45 degrees, crazy, it won't get 45 here for months here.

Watching a fishing show right now where they are fishing the Mullet run, catching mainly snook. I really dig your style of fishing. That's mad man stuff, I love it.

I can't even imagine handling a 100lb Tarpon from shore. That's awesome, and I love to do that....what a thrill! You the same member who has a thread about fishing at night in the everglades for pigs? So jealous of your location......South Florida is the best place on the planet for a fisherman.

Lol, I was just about to post this Maine 11 lbs, 10 oz Moose Pond Rodney Cockrell 1968 Seems the Maine record is relatively safe......68 was a long time ago

I'd stop fishing if they banned colorful language....it's the only way I cope sometimes ?

Just in a month of having side sonar, and high quality sonar of the current generation in general changed the way I prep to fish. Half the time these days I'm able to catch fish because of what I'm learning on the sonar, and being able to lockdown on specific structures or features of the lake. Before I'd just say I'm gonna fish that section of the lake, or I'm gonna focus on CBs on main lake channel points, etc. I'm finding it much easier to just go out there, hook up the sonar, cruise around for about 10 minutes to find the thermocline to establish a depth and eliminate any dead water below it, and see what all the baitfish are doing. Then do a little more cruising to areas that have held fish in the past and see what's going on.......process all that I gleaned in that 20 minutes or so and start fishing based off of that information. Spend an hour or two trying out that new process.....not working, switch back to established patterns and methods. I've found more places that hold fish in a month on my home lake, than I did in the previous 25yrs I grew up fishing it. Sonar, and really the new detailed side vu sonar stuff is incredibly helpful. Takes a lot of guesswork out of it in terms of planning where fish will be. That said, for night fishing, I have a very specific plan with a planned route, and planned spots to fish. I'm fishing for pigs then, so sonar isn't nearly as important at least right now to me at night.

If you mean by bringing the hook all the way through the bait and then catching tucking the tip back into the plastic bait, yeah these aren't the hook for that. That said, standard Texas rigging them works perfectly fine though, and I can't say I hung these up more than Gama EWG models. I was taught when in doubt, set the hook on plastics, so I lose a pack or two of hooks every couple of months.

Good pair of rubber fish handling gloves are great, and as you mentioned a net is important so that you can let them chill out in the net. This is why I like an oversized deep net so that I can leave the fish in the net while still in the water. I wait 10-20 seconds until it mellows out, thoughtfully find where I'm going to lip them, and then proceed to do so. With any treble hook bait, hook removing pliers are a must. So my three things would be: 1. Big net 2. Fish handling gloves 3. hook removing pliers

This with the addition of manmade structure using various things. If you consider a dam a structure, then no questions asked....I'll fish a dam all day long

I hope it doesn't come to an end soon, but it might given the Japanese Government is thinking about joining the rest of the world an start hiking rates to combat inflation. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/japans-kanda-will-respond-appropriately-yen-moves-2022-09-14/

It was explained to me in recent threads that you can't just take them to USDM Daiwa dealers, and IIrc you'd likely have to pay to send it back to Japan. That was the only downside of buying JDM Daiwa reels I found after researching for several weeks. Outside of typical paypal thievery, OP is the first person I've read about that didn't have a silky smooth transaction as well. I've owned a dozen Daiwa reels at least, never had a single one that needed to be repaired. Perhaps it's more of gamble to others than myself.

No hoops at all.....add to your cart, pay with visa/mc.....get shipping notification within 24hrs. I wish USD internet orders were as smooth and fast. It'll be two weeks from order to receive on my latest TW order.

Paypal has always been terrible, and the last way I'd ever pay for something. This is the same company that will ban and freeze your account for selling perfectly legal gun parts

Yeah you can't do the Paypal because they do a 6% currency exchange fee or something. Learned that here before I bought my Zillion from them on Sunday. My total came to $233 using just the Visa/MC link. Thing shipped out today, super excited. I love Digitaka lol.

I don't believe it has, or perhaps ever will. The closest perhaps I've come is when I found the Roboworm around 02-03. Since that time the skunk has stayed out of the boat at least.

While I love Spots and Smallmouths, it was vastly easier for me to catch my first 5lb Smallmouth and 6lb Alabama Bass than it was for me to catch my 10.6lb PB LGM. I spend the majority of my time fishing looking for another DD LGM these days on my home lake as a number of them have been caught over the years. I got an 8lb in August, but the next closest were several 6lb fish, and a few dozen 5lb+ fish over the last several months of fishing 4-5 days a week. I've caught one LGM over 10lbs in 25yrs + of Bass fishing. When you think about what somebody like WRB did it boggles the mind. A 10lb Bass in the flesh is remarkable in every way. As both a freshwater and saltwater angler, I've never found anything that was as hard to pursue and catch as DD LGM Bass. They will always be Mount Everest of the fishing universe in my book even though Spotted Bass, and Sailfish are my favorite fish to catch. My order of importance: 1. Timing/luck 2. Methodical approach and fishing significantly slower and more deliberate 3. Fishing big fish baits, most times that means baits that don't get hit by smaller fish. 4. While highly debatable, I'll never stop believing that the best chance to catch big Bass is at night 5. Religious devotion to checking line, knots, and preparing for where a fish might break you off in

Lmao, yeah saltwater is still catch only on just about everything but Billfish and once you reach your limits

I'm a huge Zoom Mag Lizard guy, and the gap of an EWG, or having the point being not inline with the eye makes all the difference in the world with the unusual and thicker profile of a lizard. Because of this I thought these would be fantastic. I bought a pack of these in 4/0 to try on the Lizards, Got 1 left out of 5 so I've about fished the whole pack. Maybe caught two dozen fish on these over the summer. My thoughts are they were relatively disappointing. Not nearly as sharp as I've come to expect Owner hooks to be, and the name is appropriate for them as they are a huge gauge wired hook which I'm not a huge fan of. It's really tough to beat the Gama EWGs in whatever variety you like. Their gauge wire is more than enough and doesn't impede the action of the bait as much as the heavier Haymaker hooks do. Always brilliantly sharp. I won't be buying anymore Haymakers.

You can't underestimate the effect Ray Scott has had on Bass fishing, and more importantly catch N release after seeing a picture like that. That picture would never happen in today's world. My life I've dreamed of fishing the big O with live shiners and catching just one of those fish in the pic. I can't imagine a 10lb+ Bass tasting any better than a Carp. Crazy to think at one time people kept almost every Bass they caught. This really was the mindset of every generation before BASS and Ray Scott. Moreover I've heard of stories of people getting mad at anglers back in the day for throwing Bass back....like they were appauled to see someone throw perfectly good food away in the trash.

Lot of great stuff in this post, especially the last part. Fishing is as much about me being left the heck alone in nature as it is catching fish. I'm also a "Goal fisherman" meaning that I set a goal, work to achieve it, and then find another new goal within the sport. Right now it's to catch a DD LGM and 5lb+ Spot on my home lake. So far this year I've got a 8lb LGM, and 2.4lb Spot. I won't quit until I reach at least one of those goals.

She's one of kind for sure, she fishes like a possessed teenager, and catches lots of fish. I do believe she's quite rare not just in being a huge Bass fisherman, but again like I said she seems to have that obsession over Bass that I've only seen in about 10% of male fisherman, let alone female ones.

Thanks to a fellow member @RDB I learned that Alpha Angler is having a sale....it's on the front page of their site with code for those interested. Way too good of a deal to pass up on a rod I was already planning to purchase. Now that I see it's public on their site, I figured I would give folks a heads up in this thread. I got a new complete chatterbait setup now thanks to research/members on this forum, and between the exchange rate and the sale at AA I'm saving almost $200 Daiwa JDM Zillion SV TW 1000 reel Alpha Angler 7'2 Chatterbound rod P-Line Ultimate Fluorocarbon 15lb

Fished another 2.5 hrs until dusk, another just beautiful day, but not a cloud in sight. Lucky for me the wind went from 8mph to 0 when I decided to start fishing. An hour of that was wasted chasing around Crappie trying to figure out how to catch foolishly without knowing a single thing about Crappie fishing. Some days you just get out there and it's so nice you just enjoy being there. Animals/Birds seen today: 1. Barred Owl 2. twelve Deer including several fawns 3. Mallards and Wood Ducks 4. numerous Blue Heron 5. Red Tailed Hawk 6. A flying V formation of Canadian Geese Sometimes it's easy to take for granted how much we fisherman are blessed in regard to experiencing nature in the most serene and quiet settings. 4 fish total: 3 Spots/1 LGM. Biggest was actually a Spot for a change, right at 2lbs. Everything else was smaller. Not sure why the last Spot is bleeding, he was hooked in the lip. Swam off mad as heck, all I could do. All 4 came off a 6" fat Roboworm in New Ayu on a 1/8 tungsten with 2/0 EWG T-Rigged. Lost a fish on a chatterbait which happens at least once every time I throw it lol. Water temps actually rose a little....avg. was right around 82. Still a long way to go before we get into that Fall mode even though outside temps are falling nicely around central AL.

Most excellent reply, thanks! You might not have gotten the WR like you were chasing, but you caught Bass that again 99.9999999% of all Bass fisherman couldn't even imagine. I honestly struggle imagining a 20lb Bass. A 10lb Bass is truly remarkable, to double that is mind boggling.