AlabamaSpothunter

Fry ball guarders moving your bait away from the Fry is my guess. Fish a buzzbait around all those Fry balls and watch how many blow it up without eating it. I almost never see a Fry ball without a buck around the perimeter of it and usually a few feet deeper than the Fry.

I'd like to see some scientific literature that says weighing fish in the center of the lower jaw is detrimental. I saw a biologist use a physiological diagram to show how the Bass's jaw works, and why clamping them near the center doesn't pose a risk. What does the science say in regard to how big a fish must be in order to be at risk of being weighed traditionally? Either way I doubt I catch big enough fish to matter 😆 I applaud your continual effort to improve fish care though!

No I don't think any rule changes should be made. Sight fish should be hooked in the mouth, not hard to snag them on bed.

I catch as many if not more jerkbait fish outside the mouth than in it. Jerkbaits are notorious for not hooking fish in the mouth. If you made that rule, you could eliminate jerkbaits from the Elite Series.

You marshalled for Hackney? If so what an incredible experience, count me jelly

Robertson zero'd for the day after bringing in only 3 fish yesterday. Last time I ever put him on the roster again. Thought the big swimbait was gonna play being post spawn, but he really blew up my roster.

Yeah I mean Wheeler is an impoundment, but depending on generation schedule, it can cycle as much water through it as a river. Wheeler was/is a textbook case of how spraying effects a fishery. They stopped spraying Wheeler for a few years, and bam it's back to being a 20lb+ bag fishery again. Inevitably the spraying will return to it though. Bet the FWC doesn't spray on Headwaters, maybe this is how it should be done......create at least half of the lakes for anglers, create the other half for whatever stupid thing people do on lakes besides fishing 🤣

Almost all of our big rivers down here have been impounded. Unrelated but I'm seriously considering getting into small river fishing in pursuit of the Cahaba, Tallapoosa, and Warrior Bass. Two of those three can only be caught in Alabama, and the Cahaba can be caught in my back yard.

Pressure is one thing, but Drew Benton nailed it at the weigh in....." it really burns me knowing my tax dollars are going to destroy such an awesome fishery" I can't think of anything more destructive to Bass fishing than killing off the grass. Matty Wong called out the HOA and karens on it as well. I deal with this on my home lake. It's a massive pet peeve of mine. So sad to witness time after time on awesome fisheries.

Dang that was an awesome fish catch and reaction by Brad Whatley. Spit some tobacco juice the moment he was boat flipping a 5+......saying "get yer butt up in here" 🤣

Been watching Live for over 2hrs.....ZERO FISH CATCHES! Harris Chain makes me yearn for the Sabine River 🤣

It starts at the bottom of the food chain, isolated cover/structure in an area is a beacon for all the forage the big Bass want to consume in said area. Instead of expending copious amounts of energy chasing around bait in an area, why not camp out at the local hangout for prey fish. In saltwater/pelagic sport fishing, there are things called FADs(Fish Aggregating Device) in the middle of the ocean, many times 50-100 miles offshore. In turn they end up becoming home to the largest predators in that area. Anglers pay thousands of dollars to charter trips to FADs to catch huge Marlin, Tuna, Dolphin Fish, etc. These devices work because they start the food chain in the middle of a literal ocean. A piece of isolated cover/structure many times does the same thing on a smaller scale in a lake. The Bass come to those places because they provide easy meals in short imho.

Milliken said that during his weigh in.....said he culled like 13-14 fish without realizing he didn't have a 5th one in the boat.

If Kevin Brightwell (KGB Swimbaits owner/designer) thinks they're the right way to go......good enough for me. To me they look significantly more natural in the water than other tail types.

At Grand all the anglers were so complimentary of the local anglers giving them so much space, you hear this from time to time. Seems some places have more "respect" for the Elite Series guys than others. I don't have a problem one way or the other, if I was out there on my one day off, I'm not yielding to anybody if I was on the spot first.

Crazy watching these locals fishing so close to Mckinney. They could care less about an Elite Series guy fishing besides them 🤣 Florida man ain't moving over for nobody.

At least I was prepared to bomb with my fantasy picks. Florida is so hard to pick. I could get a re do and still not pick any of these top 10 guys lol. ETA: LOVE seeing the legend Clunn get a camera, how cool is that. It's his 499th BASS derby, that's unreal.

That last passage in the book is the last 20+ months of my life. Incredibly spot on. It's hard to describe the level of obsession. If I'm honest I've neglected many other parts of my life. On the other hand, I've learned more in 20 months than my previous 20 years of Bass fishing. Obsession is a two way street, it creates greatness, but at the cost of sanity and a person as a whole. It's really kind of embarrassing which is why it was such a relief to hear the author's passage, and Deep's reply. I have no plans of seeking treatment, rather doubling down.....I moving to Texas 🤣

No matter what Texas does, and they set the standard in big Bass management, could ever produce what CA, and especially S. CA has produced in the past. According to every Bass biologist I follow, this is because S. CA has the absolute perfect climate to grow trophy fish. The optimal water temperature for Bass growth is 70-75d. Texas's extreme heat, and traditional southern winters limits the number of "growing days" a Bass has. There was a number of CA lakes that have produced epic fish and they never received trout stocking. There are also NLGM strain only lakes in CA, they have produced epic sized NLGMs.....13lb+ fish IIrc. Alabama Bass from Smith Lake north of Birmingham were transplanted to the CA, and whereas the Spots only get to about 5-7lbs in Smith Lake, or Alabama......they reach DD+ size in CA. Climate is only one of the key ingredients, but no other place on earth has shown it has the perfect climate to grow WR sized Bass more than CA.

Between the two Zillions......I can pretty much cover every single technique under the sun. About as perfect Bass fishing baitcaster as I could dream up. I'm sure Steez are better and I have the OG one, but when you can get two Zillions for a Steez, it's a no brainer for me. Either way it's gonna be a Daiwa for me.

There's a really good chance the biggest fish have spawned once already. Heck it's mid April almost, I'd bet a lot of fish have spawned up there. I watched a video last night of Jason Christie where's he catching fish on bed in 55d water.

Big bait specialists like Ben Milliken use everything from 5-8 speed reels for various different types of swimbaits. There isn't a definitive answer on this subject, it's subjective. Personally, I use a 7.1 which handles all the baits I throw perfectly fine. I mainly throw glides, and I think a 7.1 is perfect for them. I also throw Magdrafts and Bucca Burritos on it. The juice is really in the rod imho, lots of reels make a good fit.

They 100% work. I couldn't imagine fishing in the spring or fishing big swimbaits without them.

This video really make me think about things, and it's from Oliver Ngy who built his big fish rep in Cali. Long but well worth the listen.

@PhishLI coming home after fishing 🤣