AlabamaSpothunter

It's not even a close race in terms of which state produces the most pro anglers

@10,000 lakes Bassin I'm not sure it would helicopter on the fall because of how lightweight the swimbaits are compared to the head size. The streamlined head makes it sink pretty fast and in a more vertical manner. I'll be sure to pay more close attention to how it falls next time I use it and will report back. @woolleyfooley No fair, I wanna catch a Peacock 😁 In regards to knowing if your working it right......I continually watch the last several yards of a retrieve to see if the bait is 'winding' properly. I totally understand what your saying, but after awhile you get confidence in the fact that the bait is dancing back and forth. Just focus on those nice smooth 12 oclock to 3 oclock rod pops. To me this bait is an "active" fish one, meaning I think its action is a bit too aggressive to trigger bites from fish that aren't that fired up. To me it makes total sense that the colder the water, the less likely this technique is to work. The only time I've got it to work in water temps below about 55d is on schooling fish which are obviously very "active" fish. I caught some fish on it in early January, but since the water temps have been well below 50d since, I've put them up and have been fishing a jighead minnow in its place. I expect this bait to crush them once those water temps get above 65d or so.......basically once the spawn is over with, these things should be money. I'm sure by later March/early April you'll be hammering some fish on them.

Thanks a bunch Scott!!! I can't tell you how many times I've thrown that red blade bait at the location I caught her at since then 🤣 I surely appreciate it Eric!!! It just never felt like a complete catch until I got to share her with folks like you pal. Outside of this place very, very few people in my universe "get it", it really is great to have friends to share these moments with 🙂

Thanks so much Katie and A-Jay!!! Seeing her swim away healthy and unharmed was my favorite part as well. I know if we ever cross paths again, she's likely going to be well north of 10lbs. I suspect as I type she already is.

Many thanks Eric! Expect to hear a teenage girl screaming and fumbling around 🤣

24 days later I can officially announce a very happy ending to my lost GoPro data saga. While I wasn't able to recover the entire cast to catch video, or other ones from that day due to not wanting to spend more money, they were able to recover the one video I wanted most which starts the moment the fish is in the net. It's total amateur hour with me being in half a state of shock hooking myself 50 ways from Sunday so don't judge me too harshly 😅 Jeremy at Recovermyflashdrive.com is truly a magician and miracle worker. He's extremely fair with regard to pricing. It should have been a flat rate to recover the full 128gb, however GoPro files require more extensive work. If he would have recovered everything on the card, it would have cost about $1450 which I just couldn't do. @Bluebasser86 It might worth sending your card to Jeremy, especially if you think you might not need everything recovered and you can help him home in where exactly the data is you most want off the card. Lastly, a huge thanks for all the love and support from my friends here when it happened......I was crushed and you folks made me feel better! Katie was even checking in to see how the progress was going.....everybody should be so lucky to have a pal like Katie in your corner.

To be fair I'm talking about the top level pros.......like the top 50 guys in the world. There are a ton of guys in the pipeline of the BASS Opens, and MLF Invitationals and Toyotas that are close to being there. I don't consider those anglers average joes. I also don't consider anybody on a forum dedicated to catching Bass to be average joes for the most part either. Nobody who has posted in this thread is an average joe. Haha, that's exactly who I was using as the example. I could fish a hundred more lifetimes and never be on Walter's level. Whatever the thing that Wheeler, Walters, Fujita, Mckinney, etc. have is something I don't personally think can be taught. They have next level instincts if I had to guess.

I struggle to comprehend the skill level gap between myself and the average Elite Series pro. It's like we're doing two different things lol. Your right about casting, one of the easiest ways to see the massive difference b/t folks like me and the pros is casting. It's not edited at all, you can watch the BASS Live during the events and see the guys go down a line of docks and make perfect skips under every part of the dock they want to hit. To me the ability to find, pattern, and catch winning bags on lakes across the entire country is what really defines the top level anglers. Imagine being able to win on the SLR with 100lbs of SMs, and then winning on Lake Fork with 100lbs of LMs. That's insane.

0% The ability of top level pros is downright magical.

That's amazing you got to share that with your father! Me and dad took several trips down there when I was growing up where we'd hire a guide for 2-3 days like you. Every single time out was just spectacular. I lost a 175-200lb fish after about 2hrs right....and 1.7 miles away from the buoy we hooked up on right at the dang boat. That fight is seared into my soul for life. I'll never forget that fish. Saltwater fishing takes the wonderment factor of fishing off the charts. @king fisher always reminds me how special Bass are though, he earns a living fishing for the most amazing saltwater pelagic predators in the world and chooses to spend his free time exploring Mexican lakes for DDs.

Yeah my Facebook timeline has been flooded with El Salto and Baccarac posts since I googled Mexico Bass fishing after seeing this thread bumped weeks ago 😁 Mike organizes his trip for $2100 IIrc. Can't wait to see another Mexico video from you, I really enjoyed your last one. Gave a great perspective on fishing down there.

According to Mike Bucca the lake is loaded with 8-9lb fish this year, should make the upcoming year great for catching DDs.

He's a fantastic player. Being an Auburn fan, I'm pulling for Jahni Broome to get the Wooden Award though. Hopefully Duke and Auburn aren't in the same region in March.....good chance they'll play each other in a Final Four matchup if not.

Yeah March is the first month where the bigger fish start to migrate into the area so depending on the yearly weather they could be there or not. It's a moot point if you've fished for Tarpon in the Keys. I've never found any form of fishing that holds a candle to Key West. Key West fishing is the summit of the mountain as far as I'm concerned. Where else can you go 30 miles out into the Gulf to catch Blackfin Tuna behind Shrimp boats in the morning and then go 13 miles out into Atlantic during the afternoon and catch Sailfish. Then wake up the next morning and go out into the bay and catch 100-200lb Tarpon.

Come June, July, and August I'll be ready to swap homes with you......that summer weather in NY is paradise.

The ole saying about weather in Alabama....if you don't like the weather now, wait about an hour when it will be totally different 😁 Hopefully your upcoming forecast isn't that different than mine Bob. Gonna be t-shirt weather for close to two weeks down here. 12 days over 60 in Feb. is going to make some very dynamic fishing days.

March is the first month that bigger Tarpon start to bite down around the Tampa Bay area, I'd consult your guide about the prospect of Tarpon fishing. Any good inshore guide in that area will be an expert on Tarpon as well. There is nothing in the fishing universe that compares to Tarpon imho. A 100lb+ Tarpon is life changing. Good luck and have a great time!

A BR Fish is another 'weighted' fluke rig as well.

A super sneaky trick the pros use especially on Herring lakes is wrapping the hook with lead wire. They wrap the exposed portion of a typical EWG when rigged on a fluke.

Agreed. The last event of the year at the SLR pretty much killed all enthusiasm for the Elite Series. As long as the Johnstons are on the Elites, I'll keep looking for a better product. I have extremely high hopes for the NPFL. I'll still play fantasy though because it's a ton of fun.

I think Trey McKinney will win AOY. If he doesn't win, I think Easton Fothergill will win. Nobody over the age of 30 will win regardless imho. The only thing that can defeat a massive time on water advantage, let alone the FFS advantage that the kids have is luck imho. The NPFL roster is absolutely stacked, I can't wait to see the old legends vs new legends compete in traditional Bass fishing.

I love my Curado 150MGL 8 speed for cranking......everything from squarebills to DT10s. You can always slow down, but you can't speed up 5, 6 and 7 speed reels. Some days speed is the deal when cranking too. Some days you can't burn that thing fast enough. I remember 25 years ago everybody wanted 5 speed reels for cranking, now look at all the top level pros and they're using 8 speed reels for cranking. Then again they use 8 speed reels for most everything these days.

Yeah that's a really great deal Katie, I'd guess that would cost a couple thousand dollars.

My old neighbor moved away, but I found some new homeowners on the lake who granted me access again to the lake. They got new XMAS decorations this year as well 😁 Katie is spot on, you'd be surprised how often people will let you fish their private lakes by simply asking permission instead of trespassing. Other times property owners can be persuaded by the offer of doing chores or odd jobs in exchange for access. It's amazing the things in this world you can achieve by simply asking for them in a polite manner. ETA: Google Pat Cullen.......he caught over 1000 DDs in GA, and did so by asking untold amounts of small lake/pond owners permission to fish them.

Mexico might be a bit much to plan for and the travel/time might not be ideal, but I recently found a live bait guide on Chickamauga who is crushing it the last few winters. Think he had 35 DDs last year. I've got another Shiner guide on St. Johns River on the short list as well, he's been catching a bunch of 8-11lb fish recently. Maybe something like that would be a better option. I'd absolutely be done for contributing some money for a trip like that for you. Either way I'd love to see you go on a trip of a lifetime!