AlabamaSpothunter

Where might I procure one of these newfangled Female Finding Sonars?......I tried Drakkar Noir without any luck 🤣 Beautiful fish as always Katie, awesome to see the mixed bag as well.

I'm not a huge believer in 90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake. At dawn I ran weed lines with a Choppo 105 in 5fow or less......targeting fry guarders and shad spawn eaters, then ended the morning strolling a jighead minnow in 25+fow once the fish backed off the banks to follow the shad who stopped spawning on the water willow. The spot was where the bait was, and Threadfin never stay in the same place very long. For the fry guarders, the spot was areas I knew had nearby beds. I do believe the biggest fish typically have "spots", but FFS has shown us that monsters are also just out in the abyss roaming around chasing bait. There isn't a "spot" for those fish.....the spot is wherever the bait is. Which comes first, finding the fish, or finding the spot? Personally, I'm more concerned with finding the fish. By doing so I'm not relying as heavily on "fishing history" which is a very sharp double edge sword. If you target forage, you'll find your spot.

Invizx is the supplest, most manageable, overall user-friendly FC I've tried to date. Sniper is the best overall.....jack of all trades FC I've tried to date. While it's not quite as supple/manageable, it's notable more abrasion resistant and stronger in my apples to apples use case (8lb vs 8lb spooled on the setup). Sniper is a much better pick for those applications in #16 imho. It's actually what I use the most out of any line or lb test I buy. Blade baits, chatterbaits, Free Rig, spinnerbaits, squarebills, and perhaps something I'm forgetting, but I use it extensively for those techniques.

I've never seen a SM x LM cross. I haven't even seen a Spot x LM cross but I know theoretically it's possible. I'm not sure it's possible for a LM and SM to cross.

I hope if I get reincarnated as a Bass, I end up in a Maine bog.....Katie you've sure proven that it's a LM Bass paradise. They always look so healthy and fat, and nobody is fishing for them 24/7. Awesome report, I'll take a couple of fat 4+s any day of the week and twice on Sunday 😁 ETA: Katie never posts non healthy fish......even in the summer and fall her fish are fat footballs. Outside of the cold weather and shorter growing season, Maine seems to provide an amazing climate for LMs.....something I never would have thought of before Katie's reports.

I just call them lost baits.....I can't fish them around laydowns/heavy cover without breaking off all the time. Need to focus more on deeper water structure vs cover I think. Very interesting using a C-Rig as a bed fishing bait, maybe that's why she ate it the first go around. Imagine catching a 11lber, then imagine winning $300k for doing so........doesn't get any better than that in life.

@NorcalBassin reports perhaps make me the most envious, what a special thing to share the love of Bass fishing with three generations! My grandfather apparently loved to fish, however my father doesn't. I always hear my parents tell me how much me and my grandfather would have gotten along, as they say he was fishing any free chance. He built a small pond on his property, but fished Lake Lanier on the weekends, and then had a Bertram sportfishing boat in Destin. He might have been eaten up by it more than me. Many people say the fishing gene skips a generation. I also don't believe you can convince, or slowly talk someone into loving Bass fishing. Either you get it instantly, or you really aren't with it. To love Bass fishing, is to love failure in some large part. That rules out a huge part of the human population. Your fish are always fat and healthy, wherever you fish has a fantastic forage base 🙂

Congrats to @A-Jay and @T-Billy on awesome days!!!

Dr. Keith Jones did some pretty amazing research while he was working for Berkeley. Bass after dark has him on a scent episode, great listen.

It's not even a secret about these clicks. I haven't watched that episode in a few months it seems like, but I already know BMP and Carl J share info big time. All these dudes are "clicked up". It's one thing for Patty Walters and Justin Hamner to both have the same areas on Grand Lake during the practice, and then do a coin flip at the beginning of the derby for starting spots, but when you literally see a huge Bass on bed, go to another angler and give him the fish......that's a terrible look for the sport imho. They have off limit periods for info sharing and can't receive info from locals. Not sure why this doesn't extend to angler-to-angler scenarios.

@GreenPig Nice ones brother, hopefully you're okay.......I wouldn't wish a kidney stone on my worst enemy. I don't even like to talk about them

Imagine how big the team for Pure Fishing or Rapala would be vs. old boy repping a local construction company

Yeah the industry is all the place on some things. I use a mixture of "whacky rig" hooks from Owner, half the ones I buy are "Jungle Wacky Rig" and the other half are "Sniper Finesse Neko". While they're two different style hooks, they both work equally well for Whacky/Neko rigging. This is one of those Damiki, Mopping, Strolling deals

With a weight and relying on bottom contact.... sounds to me more like a neko craw rig thing. Whacky Rigging is weightless to me. Sounds cool, hope you catch a monster on it.

Congrats @Bluebasser86! She's been spawning too.

Awesome Katie, glad you caught a few on the Shimano, should have been fun to watch them eat that thing. That bait creates some spectacular eats I've found.

I don't love seeing two anglers working together so closely. This has been getting worse since I've been back in the sport. The anglers are forming little packs, roommates, etc., and they agree to share information. The MLF is even worse. Walters and Hamner, and the Johnston brothers are the most notable examples recently. This isn't a team sport imho, sharing fish, sharing locations, giving bed fish to your brother, none of that stuff feels right imho.

People should read Lincoln's quotes on race, history didn't record the real man, and his real motives. I'll leave it at that.

Personally I like Gman, however I don't think he's nearly the angler he was back in the day. As far as Mercer goes, he's easily one of my favorite things about BASS. His podcast has also taught me a ton about the anglers, and the sport as a whole. Things could be worse, this could be a MLF thread 🤣

To me it's a pre FFS top 10......it reflects who heavily dominated pre FFS pretty well. The Johnstons are wizards on the scope, but they built their quite legendary names especially on the SLR way before FFS. Then you got guys like Cox, Hackney, and Canterbury who are about as anti FFS as you can get and still be on the Elites. Toledo Bend and Lake Fork were so dang exciting, that I stopped minding FFS derbies as much. The Lake Fork event was arguably the most exciting derby I've ever watched. I'm just ready for an event to end with some drama......I'd love to see a finish like last year's Lay Lake event. Nobody knew who was going to win until Will Davis Jr weighed in last.

Awesome fish @PhishLI, love how dark she is.

Mercer is sadly sick, hopefully he'll return tom.

Cory Johnston talking about losing respect for a couple of anglers today......John Crews, Matt Arey, and his brother are within a stone's toss of each other. I'd assume he's talking about Crews.......Arey was in that area yesterday so he can't really claim he's being a hole buzzard. Not a great look for Crews though.

So stupid, the body water didn't have a no wake zone, but for whatever reason BASS thought that area needed a no wake zone. Ultimately, it's on Mckinney to listen through the entire rules briefing, but if you can't beat em', tell on em' amiright Gman 🤣

Same I don't think I started playing until the last few events of last year. Still this year I didn't start taking a Drain the Lake pick until this week.