AlabamaSpothunter

Agreed, a number of fish have already died this derby. Several anglers mentioned they had dead fish at the weigh in yesterday. One thing that strikes me as wrong is B.A.S.S. doesn't say at the weigh that the angler's weight is reduced because of a dead fish penalty. BMP lost last year to Davis Jr on Lay Lake because of a dead fish penalty......I was there and nobody, but Brandon said a word about it.

How dare you @TnRiver46.........I don't type with peanut butter stuck in the roof of my mouth 🤣 Christie's 9.4 last year on Lay Lake is the best catch I've seen since being back in the sport. He's got the video on his youtube channel. Epic catch and fish.

This thread is a testament to why night fishing is the ultimate cheat code in Bass fishing imho. Very few Bass anglers night fish.

The fish are so scattered out right now because of the time of year, and lack of current that it really makes it hard for the scopers to do their thing as efficiently. Lake is fishing very tough today. Very few bags over 15lbs. Maybe B.A.S.S. will schedule the events in Alabama during the Fall next year, only way to make our fisheries look worse. By the time they leave Alabama, folks will think the state is one big Sabine River 🤣

There is a whole great podcast on this subject on Bass after Dark, my takeaway is that oil based scents really only work as masking agents because apparently scents have to be water soluble for the fish's olfactory system to actually pick them up in water. That said, I'm a religious user of Bang Garlic on my soft plastic. I use heavy bug spray especially during the nights of summer months. Certainly hasn't hurt my game, and at least in my mind has made a major difference since I started using it.

7lb 9oz fish is an amazing fish for June on Wheeler. Turning into a great derby already.

TA TA TA TA TINY BASS 🤣 ETA: Let's go John Cox with 22lbs......nobody more likable in Bass fishing than John.

One of the few derbies I've seen on Wheeler where the Decatur Flats weren't a player.....at least as of now. It was a huge player last year at the Open. ETA: It's hot here, but June is nothing compared to July and August.

All these boys just sizzling like pieces of bacon 🤣

I mean it's really no different than any other derby this year........rookies staring at screens, veterans fishing history praying they can compete. Lot of screen watchers this derby, but a fair number of non FFS as well. The leaderboard reflects how weird this derby this starting.....I mean Clifford Pirch in the top 10, Crews and Prince in 1st and 2nd. I expect this leaderboard to shift around big time sans Crews.....dropping 19+ on day 1 will ensure he stays up there.

Silt survey or just using common sense when you evaluate a property in a creek. Look at the runoff, look at the composition of bottom in front of the area where you'd launch a boat. Look at the flood history of the lake, look at the effects and high water marks in relation to your property. At the end of the day, there is no better place on earth than living on or within throwing distance of a lake/river. The ocean is a totally different story though. Just my 2cents.

Somewhere b/t 7 and 8 lbs is my guess. It's a really nice fish, congrats.

Welcome from Alabama!

The MLF already lost all credibility and integrity, but this takes the cake......it's like they're purposely pulling the drain plug in the middle of the lake.

The ironic thing is that Zaldain is a rather poor FFS angler, he admits as much. I like him and watch a lot of his YT content, but he's way behind the tech curve. I think this is actually a great example of what we discussed in the PM.......he knew that if he wanted to be competitive, he had to embrace the technology, but ultimately, he's way behind the curve because he just this year really tried to embrace the tech and learn it. These guys feel pressured into buying all these graphs, multiple transducer locations, crappie brakes, etc. The guys who are really dialed in with FFS will tell you all they need is one LVS 34 and a 12" graph. He's still packing $25k in tech though......2 console graphs, 3 bow graphs, and a pair of crappie brakes

Yeah no doubt the scope wizards can ID fish type and size. These guys say that most fish are actually pointing directly at the transducer because they're aware of the sonar. They talk about "fanning" the transducer back and forth in order to get the fish to change body orientation thereby revealing the size of the fish. They all say the monster Bass have a clear separation b/t body and tail, and I've even observed this on YT videos that show the graph. Some of these guys have their units so dialed in with big enough screens that you can really see the shape of the fish. I can't even fathom what future generations of FFS will be able to interpret and put on a graph. In terms of species, the savants use it so much that they can ID fish type by the way they're set up, swimming/lack of swimming, and ultimately the reaction they get from putting a bait on their noses.

VMC crossover rings work the best in terms of the problem you're describing but the problem is their sizing isn't perfect for a standard 5" Senko. #5 is really the only size that works, but it's tight and fish still somehow seem to pull a Senko or two free from the crossover ring. With #6s they'll pull the plastic even more, and with #4s you'll get your problem even faster. Again I found the #5s are the only size that work with the standard 5" Senkos. I went through over 100 baits in about a month back in the Spring, the crossed over double O-Rings and the #5 VMC crossovers were the best solution, but even still I'd burn through a bag or two on a good day. Senkos drive me crazy, so incredibly effective, yet so incredibly fragile.

I know you're having serious withdrawals right now Katie.......I'd hate to be Bass when you get back home 🤣 Hope your dad is doing great, and you're having a great trip!

A-Jay is like the Golden Retriever in the Bush's Baked Bean commercials "and he ain't telling nobody" 🤣

Definitely don't want to be using that setup imho. Too short of a rod, not enough backbone, and if you do decide to use braid, 30lb isn't strong enough. 7'9-8' Heavy/Moderate Fast rod 300 sized reel, some of the beefier 200 sized reels will work though 20-25lb Mono or Fluorocarbon Like A-Jay said, you're gonna have to get a dedicated setup for this technique or you'll wear yourself out, lose expensive baits, and lose fish. To me catching a big fish on a glide is the most exciting thing in Bass fishing, but it's so far from being the most efficient, or effective bait for the job. You really have to sell out to the technique and accept the fact you might not get a bite all day. You're only fishing for a couple of bites/fish a day if that. That's a tough pill to swallow for most anglers, myself included.

20lb bags on the Columbia, learn something new every day.......that's the last place I would expect to produce big bags. All I know is your day beat mine on the Columbia River when I went......got skunked Steelhead fishing, and on top of that I paid to get skunked 😁 Fishing is the quintessential example of "the sweet's never sweet without the bitter". It sucks, but if you want to experience the highs of fishing, you got to experience the lows as much if not more in order to get that dopamine hit. Baseball and Bass fishing are a ton alike, the sport is built around failure. A great MLB hitter only hits 3 out of 10 plate appearances.

Agreed with the above.....your backlashes are being caused by too much force and violence on the cast. You went from a 2004 Honda Accord to a 2021 Ferrari. Two totally different machines.

Sounds like it's an experience deal vs. a problem with the reel. If it were me, I'd go buy the cheapest monofilament line I could find, use a 3/8th - 1/2oz bait, and just practice with it. It should actually backlash less the more you crank down on the spool tension, and the same thing when you hit the spool with your thumb......you're decreasing the spool speed by doing both of those things, and the slower the spool speed, the less chance and severity of a backlash. Until you really get a baitcaster dialed in, the harder you try to cast it, the greater chance it's gonna backlash. A nice smooth cast with your thumb hovering over the spool so that you can barely feel the line is a good place to start. Drop that thumb all the way down on the spool right before you think your bait is gonna touch the water. The more you do this, the more you'll realize how much precise control you can exhibit over spool speed with your thumb. It's kind of nuanced trying to describe how to properly cast a baitcaster, to me it's just one of those deals like riding a bike......once you get the feel of it, it's no big deal, but until you get that feel, it will buck you like a wild horse.

It's factory set for a smidge of side to side spool movement, then you adjust the brake profile based on conditions and lure weight on the water. The only way I can get my Zillion to backlash is to do what you did, or rip line from the spool by hand to quickly. Forget about what it's doing with the "lure drop/spool tension" test method. Again reset the reel for just a smidge of side to side spool movement, put the brakes on 10, and take it to the lake and start casting. If it's still giving you problems come back and maybe something might not be right. The Zillion is about the most user friendly reel I've ever used......it's the hardest reel I own to backlash, but I've still blown up a few spools of line on it through various stupid moves on my part.

My 9SV is doing the same thing, pretty sure the universe is telling me to upgrade graphs, and throw in a black box and LVS 34 for good measure 😂