AlabamaSpothunter

Took awhile but I've become a fan of Lee, dude is next level. The frog mod he's done is pretty dang cool. Hope he wins it, and also catches the big fish. MLF is still stupid lol 😁

I've found so much of an angler's success is predicated on what they're willing to do that other anglers around them simply aren't. That can be as easy as throwing baits that other don't throw, but more often times than not it involves accessing places others don't want to hassle with, or fishing at times when it's too uncomfortable to fish for others. This is why dead of winter and night fishing are my best fishing times by a huge margin. Yesterday I fished from 530-830am......then fished from 530-130am. Give that wrist a little rest Katie (I promised the Maine Bass I would say this), you've absolutely destroyed em this year. You've caught more fish in a month than 99% of BR members will catch all year long. I will have periods where I'm chunking a big swimbait/A-Rig, or a buzzbait for several days in a row, and my shoulder and elbow start to seriously bark. If I make myself stop doing that for a couple days, it almost always resolves itself. Also, the older I get, the more I realize just how important having the right rod/reel for the job is.........having the right action on the rod as to not overwork you as you make cast after cast, and having a combo as light as possible are getting to be more and more important the older I get. Lastly, this isn't an age thing imho. It's a level of commitment and dedication deal. Most folks who consider themselves avid Bass anglers fish a couple times of months if they're lucky, on the other hand you'll fish multiple days in a row sometimes, and almost always fish several times during a week. I don't care if you're 25 or 75, fishing multiple times a week, especially in your manner is going to tax the human body. I bet your hands look worse than construction worker's 🤣

First off, the best thing is to start night fishing. You have no choice but to slow down. You have no choice but to be happy with the location your cast landed. You have no choice but to hyper focus on bite detection. Secondly, you don't have to fish a Whacky Rig slow, and I'd make the argument that it's better fished faster or in a search bait manner. You wanna just skip or cast it up into a couple feet of water, let it sink a foot or two, maybe repeat this once or twice and reel it in. Don't fish it back to the boat. The vast majority of the time fish will bite it within the initial fall, or within several meters of where your cast landed. On the other hand, you want to fish a Neko Rig much slower. It's fished more like a traditional bottom contact bait like a shakeyhead/t-rig/jig/etc. Thirdly, try a Free Rig, Wobblehead/Swinghead, or Carolina Rig.......all three baits fish much faster than a traditional t-rig/jig/shakeyhead/etc. You can hop a Free Rig back to you, you can constantly slowly reel a Wobblehead/Swinghead, and with a C-Rig you can sweep/drag and reel retrieve it. Lastly, a 5 speed reel is a fantastic way to make yourself slow down. When I want to really work a spot methodically I use a 5 speed reel.

75 fish in a morning.......you're so spoiled Katie 😁 I'd hate to be your thumb, or a Bass swimming in Maine for that matter 🤣

Yeah that's the fellow. Love how he's continuing the tradition of Pat Cullin and LJ Brasher. Awesome podcast as well. That was heater of a show with the guest lineup.

I only need one lake on that list......Orange Lake! One of hottest big Bass factories in the country right now. I would move to that lake in a heartbeat. Oldschool guy I follow who uses black Muskie Jitterbugs, and mainly fishes at night caught two DDs yesterday on Orange.

Glad to see the pond back to being healthy Bob!

You'll run into one, from the sounds of it the lake has a healthy population of fish in it. Remember to always use that Relative Weight index to evaluate these questions, and short of having a shock study, it's the single best indicator of what you're trying to learn. 170 acres is a huge lake in a human powered canoe. I don't believe 90% of the fish population live in 10% of the lake in general, but I do in terms of the biggest fish in a lake. I would not be surprised if you find a couple of areas that seem to hold the biggest fish in the lake.

@Buzzbaiter My dude, you got to hit me up......I would have met up with you in a heartbeat as I'm not far from the area. I've actually been thinking of getting into fishing for the endemic Alabama species like the Cahaba and Warrior. I found a youtube channel named Shoalbandit, and he offered to share some places but I can't stop fishing for LMs right now. That's very cool brother, thanks for sharing! ETA: I can 100% guarantee you an Alabama Bass on my home lake, won't be a giant, but 1-3lb fish are easy to catch. I can see the allure of catching one where they truly belong like the Cahaba River though. You can catch them very easily anywhere on the Coosa as well.

Josh Jones recently said during a podcast that he lost a 17-18lb fish on bed hooked via bubba shot 9" Panorama and 1oz weight. Dude worked on the fish for 4 days, paid a guy to sit on the fish when he went home......this was for his biggest client, and he let the client hook the fish. They tried everything he said, first cast with the 9" Panorama and she ate. Bet it would great Free Rigged.

@padlin Awesome fish, congrats! @N Florida Mike Sure is pretty down there, taking a skunk with scenery like that has to lessen the sting a bit

I haven't purchased anything yet from these guys, but have communicated with them, and I've never seen a more informative and educational e-store than them, let alone a Japanese one. https://jpnfishingtackle.com/ Subscribe to their email list, and you'll receive some great info like below 🔶How to fish mid-spawn bass-What is the best baits- – JAPAN FISHING TACKLE (jpnfishingtackle.com)

Whichever body has the best record of producing trophy caliber fish, short of good data on that, I go to the lake where I'd personally caught the largest fish. If I lived in Texas, I'd be doing whatever I could to fish Bois D Arc lake. I feel like this is the most exciting lake in Bass fishing. That lake will be producing teener class fish in a couple years max, so folks will have a couple of years to really learn the lake before the evitable big fish gold rush happens there.

I'd try and target the biggest fish in the pond, I'd go out there with a big magdraft or glidebait and see what lives in there. If the owner doesn't fish it or let others fish it much, it might be overrun with a stunted Bass population, and if that's the case I'd listen to the advice above. If it's truly a honey hole though, I'd be looking for that special fish in it.

Lots of hopeless addicts in this thread including myself, but I always think hey you're not that bad off.......just look at @NorthernBasser 🤣 I have no doubt he has a better selection than some brick-and-mortar tackle stores.

That's awesome, reminds me of very fond memories fishing below dams, and then on piers for saltwater species. Piers have that similar "I could catch anything here" vibe as dams do.

Happy Birthday @Bluebasser86! That's a ton of action for the birthday, can't ask for more than that 🙂 @throttleplate if you weren't on land I'd hit you with the famous "you're gonna need a bigger boat" line 😎 It's my belief that dams hold many of the biggest fish in any said body of water. I was diving once below xyz dam.......🤣

Man I love Katie fishing season! Your brand of fishing maxes out the wonderment factor, it's the stuff that made me fall in love with fishing. The great unknown and true mystery to it all. I feel like I lose more of that the more I fish and is a big reason why I'm pondering my next move in this sport. Your 4th pic captivated me, sums up my point quite nicely.

I follow this dude on FB.....he posts monsters weekly. He's the modern version of LJ or Pat. He was on the big bass podcast referenced above as well.

Saw it earlier.....just another brick in the wall of the corporatization of the fishing industry. Sucks.

Great day! There is a reason they ask $25 for them....you have 110s, and then everything else for colder water jerking. MB will 100% warranty that bait

7'9-8' H Mod Fast rod 200/300 size baitcaster like a Tranx or Tatula 300 20lb Fluorocarbon like Sunline Sniper Spro Chad Shad - Glidebait Shimano Arma Joint 190 - Multi joint swimbait Jackall Gantarel - Multi joint swimbait S waver 168 - Glidebait Bull Shad - Multi joint swimbait Arashi glide/swimmer - Glidebait, and Multi joint swimbait options Spro BBZ 50 Rat - Topwater wake bait All those baits are on the reasonably priced side of the game.

This last Feb., I whacked them in 42d on a Shimano World Popper.....As far as I'm concerned at least down here in the south, no water temps rule out the usage of topwater. Most people don't throw topwater early enough imho, including myself.

Have a bump.... @bulldog1935 @PhishLI @MN Fisher These dudes seem to know the mechanics of reels really well. That said you have a reel that's high end, and only released two months ago, might be easier to just contact Daiwa, and then if you have to send it back, then contact the JDM vendor. I'll buy if for 50% off as a final solution if need be 🤣

A Clif Bar, getting up a 5am is hard enough 😁