AlabamaSpothunter

Tactical Bassin recommends using them on A-Rigs along with other baits, and they've never steered me wrong. Personally I've have never used them, but if you're looking for a more sneaky/finesse type rig, a Spunk Shad would be a great fit. On almost everything else I prefer a straight tail or subtle tail, but on A-Rigs I go with paddle tails. I need to experiment more with different baits, but I hate throwing the A-Rig when the fish aren't biting it, such a chore and pita.

Him and Pat will be smashing on them in a few weeks, and we'll be back to feeling sorry for the Bass, not the anglers 😁 In all seriousness, I try to remember those rare special days when they're biting so good you actually feel a little bad for them, or at least I do.

I too had the exact same thing happen to me as a little boy and I was at a Birthday party, and several Bees were inside a Coke can I took a drink out of. Was stung multiple times inside the mouth. Pretty sure I wigged out and cried.

@Swamp Girl Spot on Katie, and in regard to the purple more faint returns, I'm not totally sure. My guess is that's its straggler Shad, or bait that isn't as compressed into the ball, but it just as likely could be some clutter from the returns.

Thanks Katie! Worst case scenario, I just wait until the Spring, buy a ticket to Maine, and hire you as a guide 😎

Amen Pat, got to say I feel better about the last few weeks knowing you're seeing similar things......if you ain't catching em, what chance do I have 😎 1000% agree with you on the weather, to me consistent weather that aligns with the historic norms of the time of year make for the very best times to LMB fish. I will say that whenever I've reached a level of frustration and feeling of being totally lost like I'm currently at, inevitably the dam breaks and setups for spectacular fishing. I really need to find a new hobby from about mid October to mid December 😁

You're describing my fishing the last couple weeks.......I've actually skunked twice over the last week. I haven't skunked before that in a year or two. I thought the last few days were going to be epic with the warm up after the water finally cooled down into the low 50s. The more I Bass fish, the more I realize that every year is totally different, if you rely on past success things aren't going to go well most of the times. If they aren't going bananas by XMAS, I'm going to be one sad boy

@Fishlegs Great report, and great to hear our tax dollars are being spent to help our fisheries. That seems like a really good thing especially the question about how much you spent on the trip. Ultimately at the end of the day, dollars and cents matter the most, and if the powers at be see how big of an economic impact anglers make, they'll be more inclined to listen when we say DON'T SPRAY THE GRASS!

Built like a Swamp Girl Maine fattie 😁

I can't imagine catching a 6-7lb Meanmouth......."we're gonna need a bigger boat" comes to mind. That's about as alpha of predator as it gets 😎 eta: I would have gotten a repro mount of that fish no doubt

Like Glenn said, the main thing this incident did for me was make me question his character and integrity. I think back to when lots of people thought he cheated during the Elite on Smith Lake where he threw back what appeared to be a dead fish with a fin clip still attached to it. To be honest, I already felt he was the type to play fast and loose with the rules and laws, and this just kind of confirms it for me. The only problem I have is that it's fraud, not cheating.

That looks like textbook balls of bait to me. You're likely correct about the Threadfin, as they'll die off starting in the low 40s. Crappie will stack up more vertically, with a bit more space in b/t the returns. You're certainly on the right track being around those areas. One thing I always try to remember in the winter as a general rule is that you can find bait without Bass, but you can't find Bass without bait. Many times including yesterday I'll see what your seeing on sonar, lots of bait without Bass feeding on them.......which just tells me I missed the feeding window or they're just not actively feeding. On the other hand, every single one of my epic days in the winter was around huge swaths of baits. Literally every single time. I've never had a magical day where I was catching fish without bait nearby. In your videos, I didn't see much in the way of Bass, might have been some small ones in the last video. Either way if that were me reading it, my interpretation would be lots of bait, no Bass. When you see 'spaghetti' above or below those bait balls, it's going down like donkey kong. That's when they are absolutely fired up down there screaming through the bait. Other times you'll see them on the edges of the bait stacked up like sharks circling their prey. Below are screenshots from days where I smashed them

I throw them on FC, and I still end up with a fouled bait occasionally. I think the guys above are right about braid though, if you're getting fouled up a bunch, that's likely the cause. I just chunk them out there, let them hit the bottom, and then yo yo them back. As soon as you lift the rod and feel vibration, drop the rod and retrieve the slack. Less is more in terms of the amount of lift and vibration. I've gone way down the blade bait rabbit hole, and have tried blade baits from quite a few different companies. The only two baits I feel you really need are 1. Damiki Vault and 2. Megabass Dyna Response. The Vault works better when they are actively feeding, producing much more vibration. The Dyna Response works much better when they're not really chewing, it's the finesse version of a blade bait imho. Has far less vibration. You can always try using frog style hooks that come with many of the JDM blade baits. They use frog hooks so the baits lay flat on the bottom, and by extension you'd have one less hook point to get fouled. Also changing the hardware on the Vaults is a must, or at least change the hooks. I like Owner STX 38s in size 6 IIrc. Lastly, don't forget to get a red/craw blade bait, there will be days when a red one will outfish a shad colored one massively.

Good luck with the surgery, and hope you have a really fast recovery pal!

*** The following reply is based heavily on bodies of water that hold large amounts of Shad. 2D sonar and finding schools of bait are the two most important things to consistent success in the winter months I've found. Once you find the bait, you can then see what part of the water column the fish are feeding in, and also if the fish are feeding up or down on the bait. If they're feeding down on the bait, within a few feet of the bottom.....a blade bait is impossible to beat. A smaller spoon is also quite effective as a backup. If they're feeding up on the bait, within 5-10ft of the surface.....strolling/shaking a minnow is really hard to beat. A jerkbait is another staple bait to have in this situation. 5ft or less......go with a traditional 110 styled bait. If they are deeper than 5ft....go with a 110 +1 or +2. It's good to have both a fullsize 110 size bait, as well as a 95 size bait like the 110jr or the Shimano Zumerno. If they're feeding down or up on bait in the middle of the water column between 10-20ft......a tailspinner like a Damiki Axe blade is fantastic choice. An A-Rig plays in all these scenarios, simply find the depth the fish are at, and count the A-Rig down to a foot above or below their depth based on whether you think they are feeding up or down. The terms 'feeding up' and 'feeding down' are quite important, and that's because in the winter fish will be hyper focused on bait, will be suspended chasing around that bait, and depending on the conditions will be very specific about how they setup to predate the bait. On nice warm up days, that bait will move high in the water column, and fish will most likely want that bait over their heads. On frigid freezing days, the bait many times will be hugging the depressions of deeper water, and the fish will want that bait beneath them. Winter fishing can be very frustrating, but when you put it all together, you can have days that are nothing short of electric. Nothing compares to when the fish are chewing in the winter. Just keep putting in that work, you'll figure it out soon enough. Time on water is the ultimate teacher.

All the higher end Shimanos and Daiwas are awesome, I'm sure he'll be happy with a Twin Power.

If it were me, I'd want a comparable priced reel to the rod. I'd get a JDM 24 Certate 3000CXH On a budget, I'd get the JDM 24 Stradic 3000XH

The thing that complicates this situation, and enhances the punishment is the fact he entered a fish into the Sharelunker program which has a prize pool attached to it. Somehow the news has conflated that with cheating in an actual traditional fishing derby. If he simply caught a 14lb fish without a license, it would be nothing more than a misdemeanor...fishing without a license charge.....but because he entered that fish in a program that has a monetary value attached to it, it's now considered fraud. It doesn't say whether or not the charge is a felony, but usually $10k is enough to elevate a charge to a felony.

This doesn't qualify as cheating in my book..... "it was discovered that Milliken did not have a valid fishing license at the time the fish was caught and knowingly falsified the contest/tournament entry form,” Maggie Berger, spokesman for Texas Parks and Wildlife said in an email." While being a liar and breaking the law by not having a valid fishing license is certainly terrible behavior, this in no way merits the accusations of "cheating" which will have a tremendous negative effect on him. There was a guy who won a NPFL event a couple years back, it was discovered he didn't have a valid license at the time of winning and had to forfeit the money and win. At no time was the moniker of cheater ever leveled at this man, and rightfully so. Milliken is his own worst enemy, and I'm not carrying his water, but as a community we need to be very selective when we actually accuse anglers of cheating imho.

I thought Americans loved Bass fishing until I really understood the Bass culture in Japan. Really loving Bass fishing is when you put up with all the excellent and true things you listed combined with the fact that some Japanese Bass anglers can go a year or more without catching a single Bass. Taku Ito fished for several years in Japan before catching his first Bass. He's arguably the most technically advanced Bass angler on the planet. I'm sure the two are connected. It makes perfect sense why Japanese fishing tackle and techniques are truly next level, and that's because they have to be in Japan.

How far is Guntersville? Guntersville is arguably the hottest LMB lake in the world right now. The numbers coming from that place over the last month are absolutely insane. Future Elite Series pro Tucker Smith and a partner won a black friday derby there with 35lbs. There were 5 other bags over 30lbs. Last week a dude caught 40lbs+ (it was either 43 or 47lbs)!

Those gotta be Meanmouths......look super fat and healthy too. One thing I've never heard much about in regard to Meanmouths, is the Hybrid Vigor aspect that they should exhibit. In theory, and Meanmouth should grow bigger and faster than both an Alabama Bass and a SM.

Yeah, it was my fault for not understanding how the BMS worked. Turns out there is quite a bit of technology built into these batteries, the BMS makes them 'smart' devices, and I had no clue about any of that. A bit of OCD and new purchase paranoia took the wheel on that deal 😁

Li Time lithium batteries and specifically their 12v 100ah TM(trolling motor) battery has low temp charging protection built into the BMS. At $200 a piece given you wait for sale which happens all the time, I'd be hard pressed to buy anything else. Tons and tons of reviews, lots of YT videos with experts breaking the batteries down and evaluating them. Almost everybody loves these batteries. Only had mine for a couple of months, but thus far it's been fantastic. Regret not moving to lithium batteries sooner.

It's officially winter fishing season down here with the first good fish caught on a blade bait. This one came off the Dyna Response, which I plan to fish quite a bit more instead of just the Vault this year. Much more of sneaky bait than the Vault. 6.3