AlabamaSpothunter

Careful Jake, those hats make you rant about FFS like a lunatic 🤣

Certate 2500 or 3000 size would be my pick if you want a higher end reel.

@deep I really dig your style, you seem committed to the big swimbait. Wasn't around when you were posting before. I haven't found anything in Bass fishing that rivals catching them on big swimbaits. Pure adrenaline from the moment they eat. That last fish is a beautiful freak show.....congrats.

Very hard to beat FC Sniper for anything but topwater. I'm also a big user of Daiwa J Fluoro and J Fluoro Hidden Concept for jerkbaiting. If you want a true jack of all trades setup, as much as I hate to admit it, FC isn't the best choice then.

To me, the Florida swing is the hardest stretch to make picks for. Two of my favorites on the bottom, and two really hot sticks in Johnston and Cook. Picked Benton because I liked him, and it was a safe move with close to 30% picking him in group 2. Group 2 was a pure crap shoot to me.

Too long......no Is it too much power for the technique.....likely but I don't know the rod specs. A 7ft medium fast is the perfect rod for a senko imho.

My bet is a 9-10lb fish will win; lake has been cranking out fish that size on the reg lately. The derbys this year have taken 30-35lbs to win. Lake is fishing great. Milliken caught a sharelunker there a 6 weeks ago IIrc.

Hardest working man in all of fishing......Mr @PhishLI 😎

@JayMac89 Congrats brother on such an awesome day, and fish......that's truly what's it's all about for me, the full Jimmy V experience. “To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think -- spend some time time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day.” ― Jim Valvano A 5lb fish is a fantastic fish for everyone, whether you live in Mexico or in Canada....a 5lber is a 5lber. It's the universal measuring stick for a big "Bass".

KGB rarely does repeats but over the summer they dropped the re design of the Chad Shad in a color called Threadfin. Sold out in seconds and I missed the first drop of 200 Oct rolls around and I'm quick on the trigger and I score one of the 200 batch....catch numerous fish on it during the Fall and Winter. Then in Feb. I lose it and a big fish inch from the net Now in April I scored another one in the third run albeit slightly different painted head and name.......blue headed threadie is the colorway.

I see that down here from time to time, and at least down here it's Muskrat/Mink doing it. I'd bet money that was done by a semi aquatic mammal.

Personally I don't fish cold muddy water anymore. If you're forced to fish it though, find heavy cover and fish a jig really close to it. The fish suck up against that hard cover in those conditions.

You guys are saying it's the same as any other reel, yet you say you had to adjust the spool tension to eliminate side to side play at least initially. I've literally never touched the Zero Adjust knob on either Zillion. From the factory, I had to make zero adjustments.

I can't speak for the Steez line, but in the Zillion line Zero Adjust is not just marketing. I've never touched the zero adjust dial on my two newer Zillions, and I throw everything on those things.

Bass down here only eat Yama baits when they're full price.......big tackle makes enough off us early Spring guys that all you yanks get a discount 🤣

The whole movie is awesome, one of my favorites.

Daygum freak @deep Congrats!

I'm not sure where he caught them, it was just one of those "reels" on FB that only last about 30secs. Chris had one as well, he said he got big fish of the derby with a 8lb LM. Suspect he caught it off the bed as well. What little bit of the weigh ins I watched, I was surprised by the amount of quality LMs being weighed in. Makes sense now though.

Appears this was a sight fishing derby, Drew Cook said he caught all his fish the first two days on the bed. Congrats to Chris, very deserving dude!

I've got both, both are incredible but quite different. The SV TW is imho the best all around baitcaster on the market. It excels for chatterbaits/spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, standard size T-Rig/Free Rigs, flatside/squarebill cranks, blade baits, and a bunch of other typical Bass lures. The HD TW is an absolute unit of a reel, built like a tank. Has brass gears vs. AI in the SV TW, and has a larger handle and knobs vs the SV TW. This reel is made for "heavy duty" techniques. Jigs, larger T-Rigs/Free Rigs, A-Rigs, 1-4oz Glides, deep cranks, C-Rigs, etc. Packs a ton of power in a relatively compact and ultra smooth package. Think of the SV TW as an all around normal baitcaster while the HD TW is a heavy duty, significantly more robust baitcaster.

Chris Johnston is running away with this derby. Back to back almost 25lb bags on a Spotted Bass fishery is incredible. Him and his brother are both two very likable dudes. Hopefully Gussy makes the top 12 so he can recoup his entry fee. Hate seeing Cox and Carson not make a check. No real surprising in the top 10......local hammers and Elite Series anglers.

Better to put your everything into something and fail, then to never achieve greatness in life through lack of effort. Lots of people make excuses for why they can't or don't pursue a passion/goal as hard as they possibly can. The people who are really driven in this life don't let anything stand in their way, good, bad, or indifferent. This applies to everything in life.

That's what it's all about Mike, way to go brother! Leon will never forget this day; you gave him a priceless memory.

Awesome job Katie, I sure did miss those dark Maine beauties of yours. All of what you described sounds textbook winter pattern. Wet blanket/mushy bites, fish way offshore, hyper focused on a particular bait and size.

That size fish will turn everybody into a bed fisherman 🤣 The willpower it would take to motor past that situation is something I don't have. To me they look so much smaller under the water a few feet.....so if it looks big in the water, it's huge out of the water.