AlabamaSpothunter

The winter/pre spawn season is officially over here, males have finally flooded the bank and I've found a few huge female cruisers one with a mate but she won't lock down, two days in a row. Fascinating watching the whole process with a year under my belt knowing what to look for. It was a great day with 22lbs and a 7.4 big fish on the pixie wand. Drift Fry produced the 7.4. Lastly some have been interested in my dive down the mid strolling a minnow hole, and I found a secondary minnow I really like for slicker or sunnier days and that's the Fish Arrow Flash J 4" Split tail in Pro Blue Silver. Caught a 5.9, 5, and lost a 6-7lb fish over the last cpl. weeks. The Flash J straight tail has worked with some success but results speak and it hasn't produced like the Drift Fry or Split Tail model. Fish Arrow Flash J Split Tail Shad | Tackle Warehouse

Beautiful fish and pics @TNRiver46........thanks for taking one for the team, sucks to post after Pat in this thread 🤣

LET'S GOOOOOOOOO JAKE!!! Hammers don't fall from the hammer tree 😎 Magnificent fish Pat, you are one exceptional angler!

I get it for sure, makes sense. Right now MLF's product can't compete imho, however if they did no FFS derbies, yeah I could see a major split in professional fishing from a fundamental level instead of a league one. That MLF would get a ton of fans, for every person who likes FFS, another hates it.

How can the MLF compete with this product, both last week and this week. Mckinney, Fujita, Milliken....I just can't see how MLF can compete with this. You have to tune in to watch just those three if you really want to follow the bleeding edge of our sport.

Historical derby, and one that captures the true extent of the future for the sport. 5/10 are rookies. A 19yr old is going to win, and a 22yr old is going to come in 3rd. I'd love to see a mix schedule of FFS and non FFS derbies. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, but we can't lose not just the old guard of the sport, but the true art of "old school" fishing. Congrats to Trey, the real prodigy, sorry BMP. Shocking derby on a number of levels, but seeing all those beautiful big Texas Bass was just incredible. Again TWP and the people of Texas are the real winners of this derby.

Yeah appears he saved his bacon lol. Not to mention look at those likes, about 10x more than the ones on BASS's FB feed lol. He's great for fishing through his faults and accomplishments.

Oh snap, Pat's rocking that gucci gopro.......can't wait for some footage! Beautiful fish as always.

Ole Benny Mills might just drop a 40lb as well, can't believe he hasn't done it yet. Sounds like he's got rather lucky over the last two days with crucial catches at the very end of the days. Shame he's not on cam more as he's so polished and knows what the viewers want to hear. Matty Wong did a great job of this, and a few others get it like Zaldain.

@Catt Agreed, and there are a dozen smaller lakes that pump them out like this as well in E. Texas. The real winner of this event is TWP, Sharelunker, and incredible management of Texas lakes. It's mind blowing how many big Bass are in these lakes. Cpl. monsters caught on TB while this event has been going on as well.

Modern society lulls us into thinking mother nature and her elements aren't as harsh as they really are. Great job, story just as easily could have had a devastating ending.

You can cut the tension with a knife at these weigh ins between the old guard hammers and the young wizards on the scope. All the guys who don't catch them on the scope are so quick to point that fact out. Zaldain...."went out there to the middle to play Fortnite with the boys" 🤣 It's exciting to see such a youthful infusion into the sport, but I can't help but feel bad for all those older guys who all but say "we can't compete anymore". Crazy how a single piece of equipment completely changed the sport. One of these days I'll stop being shocked by it.

Quiet now Pat, I can't take both scoping and drop shotting 🤣

Way, way slower today than the past two days.

I throw that exact bait on 20lb Sniper FC You could go down to 17lb if you're fish are really line shine.

Dwight "I only post big girls" Hottle 😎

Not really a fan of Lee based on the way he turned away from BASS, but I've already been proven wrong on his first two Elite Series derbies, he's going to dominate going forward like he always has. Matty Wong's glide Doomrider - Green Gizzard – 86 Baits

Yeah he did everything right for the most part, the commentators don't realize that the number rule upon hookup of a big swimbait fish is to wrench as fast as you can with the rod towards the water. ETA: He clearly screwed up the 6+ on the jerkbait and figure 8 earlier though.

Yeah I just heard that, it could really go down if Milliken gets around a big bait bite window which it looks like Matty is on. This is the most exciting derby I've seen since getting back into the sport a cpl. years back. Just incredible stuff.

Compare that with how Milliken catches them, night and day difference. Matty will learn from this deal. He'll get her next time.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........man I feel bad for Matty, wow wow wow eta: That's quintessential big glide bait fishing, you'll lose one for everyone you catch. Nature of the game, happens to Ben all the time on his channel.

Never had this problem with Gama red hooks, but the coating flakes off pretty quickly and ultimately you're left with a gold colored hook.

$140 is pretty reasonable for the top end glides. The price is really the least of the problems when trying to score a bait from the handful of true premium proven big swimbaits like from KGB, Bucca, Phoneyfrog, etc. No doubt Milliken is throwing a Hinkle Shad at least some today, a bait that costs $500 if you're lucky.

Milliken reported in with 3 - 13lbs........quite surprising seeing a big swimbait bite going on with Matty Wong.

His Going to Japan series on his channel was some of the best content I've watched in awhile. He's got a fantastic channel, not just a Bass fishing channel.