AlabamaSpothunter

Thanks A-Jay! After yesterday I put on 70spf and still feel cooked. Think we get one more day. I've got the Keitech Super Round Tungsten Jighead 1/8th 2/0 Owner Range Roller in 1/8th 3/0 (still trying to get the bigger Mellow 5.2 Drift fry for this one with the bigger hook) Deps Midst 1/8th 2/0 I really like all three, but the Owner Range Roller and Deps Midst jigead really do create more of that roll, however I wish they used Tungsten like the Keitech does. They both do it differently though. The Owner changes the center of gravity, whereas the Deps changes the orientation of the line tie. Today I tried the Fish Arrow Flash J 4" that are such a cool bait, but it didn't produce fast enough so I put the Drift Fry back on. Same deal a week or two ago I tried to use the Spunk Shad but couldn't draw a bite. The Fish Arrow Flash J just won't roll like the Drift Fry, and neither will the Spunk Shad, yet both rolled awesomely in a filled-up sink. Odd and not sure why. @ol'crickety Thanks Katie, I love both the analogies and your attitude and perspective. I really do wish to emulate your attitude and outlook, and truth be told I think that's my biggest limiting factor. I am however trying to strongly work on that in part because of our PMs and your replies in this thread about it. Hopefully it showed a bit of that "green Tuna" action I've tried to described in so many replies. I'm staring at what looks like 100k Threadfins, many times inches from the boat, Bass blow up so often right by the boat as well. One thing I've learned is that when Bass are actively feeding, they're like a Buck in heat, they really can't see anything but the prize. Every time it feels like I'm in the middle of a nature documentary on predators and prey.

The worst best day you could have, before the sun was even up I lost a 5+ and an irreplaceable swimbait literally inches from the net. I really wanted to vomit even though I've been preparing myself for the eventuality as I'm not a collector. I could have gone home which I really wanted to do, but I ended up fishing 8 hours and experienced about as much as you could ask for as a Bass angler. Caught 27 + 2 Crappie. Big fish was 6.8 with another 5.1 weighed, best 5 for 23.5lbs with several 4lb class fish. Lost two fish over 5 including the one on the KGB TSG. Got a new Crappie PB at 2.11. And for the better part of those 8hrs fished I watched acres of water boil with hundreds of just about every size class Bass, and the number of fish I saw vs caught would drive anybody insane and it certainly did for me. Hundreds of blowups. The Jackall Drift Fry caught the vast majority, but I caught 4 on the Crush 75x, and 1 on the KGB/Spro Chad Shad......but I threw the tackle box at them. I included some footage at the end of the video showing what I'm talking about. And lastly if you want to see what peak Bass feeding activity looks like on 2D

If Milliken only had to fish for deep South Gizzard eating pure Floridas, he'd win AOY, Classic, and 9 events 😆 He'll be leading AOY after the first two events, but I think he'll finish outside the top 20th at the end of the season which is still awesome, and Classic qualified. I look at the Elites this year, and it's incredible. The younger guys are seemingly on another level, to me that's the biggest story line going into the year.

I can't offer anything in regard to "attractant" although Berkeley just held a huge event recently where they showcased science about Bass, some interesting stuff. They can smell vastly better than dogs, let alone humans. I can say that "masking" agents are extremely beneficial, and I use them heavily. To me I just want to make sure the fish doesn't get a negative taste/cue/smell by something on my hands like sunscreen, tobacco, gas, who knows. My mentor was a smoker, and bottom contact guy 99% of the time, he preached the masking aspect to your question.

Thanks Katie! The amazing thing about your results is your abundance of those same sized fish, seems like your avg fish in 3-4lbs. If I could catch 20 of those in an outing my priorities might shift. Yes indeed on Greenpig, always such beautiful fish perfectly posed like he has an "auto fish framer" in his brain 😆 Keeping posting those spoon fish, eventually I'll stop being stupid and try one lol.

@Fishlegs Thanks friend! I'd say you found a new honey hole, look forward to some more fatties coming from it 😎 @RipzLipz Appreciate it brother! Get to feeling better so you can post some slaunch donkies 😁 Fun day, at dawn I was freezing, and by the time I quit at 5pm, I was sunburned and it was 67. The fish were schooling quite well as carpets of bait sunbathed in the mostly bluebird super sunny day. Caught 36 + 2 Crappie including one that was 2.1. All but one fish was caught on a single Drift Fry, most of these fish were in the 1-2.5lb range, caught 4 over 4lbs, but no 5lbs. Should have chunked the KGB 7" TSG more, as I got three great bites on it and caught one of them. Might have increased the quality and lowered the quantity but using that pixie wand on schooling fish is so much fun and doesn't work you out and risk a KGB bait on non high value targets.

Real man of genius, and alcohol surely played a heavy role in the design, and execution 🤣

Thanks Pat! You certainly always seem to make the most of your time on the water, and I predict another monster before the Spawn kicks into full gear for you. I'd still be buzzing from that 9.3 if I'm honest 😁

Thanks so much Katie! I really did think about you and the conversations we've had about your big fish being so hard to tame on spinning tackle and nearby cover. I got lucky when she decided to run for 25ft of water instead of heavy cover to side and below her when she was hooked. Then she just kept staying in the deepest part of that channel. I think it the graph read 24+ fow when I landed her. She felt like a big catfish until she leaped for glory. Recently A-Jay told me about reeling while the fish was running, and once I knew she was away from that heavy cover I thought about what he said. Between the support and constructive "correcting", this place and more importantly special group of folks will undoubtedly boat you more fish.

Had a great day because I caught the hardest fighting Bass I've ever caught, and then some. Caught 8 + 1 Crappie, all strolling the Jackall Drift Fry, a 7.4 that I still can't believe wasn't at least 8+ was big fish. A magnificent fish in every regard, not a blemish on her, absolute peak health/fight in her. A fish I feel incredibly blessed to have interacted with. You just want to thank these fish so much for the overwhelming amount of joy they bring you. Other quality fish

Dang a Hinkle Trout.....rarest and most expensive bait I've seen posted. What are the other two in the front row? Awesome stuff and cool display.

Yeah just announced. The pics and info came from a trade show in Osaka, Japan recently where Megabass had a booth and were showcasing new baits.

Yeah it was super impressive, congrats to him as I'm sure his entire family were thrilled especially to see him win on their home pond. That said, it's amazing how FFS even dominates shallow water fisheries now. At one point on the final day when Scott landed one of the 9s, he screamed out "man I've been staring at that fish for over an hour throwing at her".......he wasn't sight bed fishing either. He stayed on a single fish for over an hour with the scope. At times I feel bad for these big special fish, especially ones that are getting hauled to weigh ins, or by social media stars wanting a 5 fish bag pic at the end of the day. 5 years ago these big fish could spit on your presentations and the angler would move along. Now they'll get pestered until they fire. Just a totally different sport, but it's here to stay. No coincidence the 3 day Open record was almost broken last year by Milliken on the scope at Toledo Bend, and now it was broken this year on the scope by Martin. Rivet won the Elite Series event last year on the Big O with a scope as well. No fishery, or population of big fish are safe anymore.

@Crow Horse From Megabass, (translation I'm sure) “It is a familiar sight that "One Ten" is connected to the end of the line of the top winners in various competitions held in various places such as the U.S. bus tournaments, European bar (European Suzuki) fishing competitions, and various competitions held in China and Asia. . 2021 B.A.S.S. Brandon Palaniuk, who won the Angler of the Year in the Elite series, is one of them. The last sanctuary he wants to conquer, who is also a one-ten master who develops systematic jerking, is a 1 foot zone directly below the surface of the water. Yuki Ito made a special one-ten to further evolve Brandon's jerk bait approach. Its name is ONETEN-RS. From the moment you put your finger on the knob of the reel handle, the action immediately starts up at the same time as the water landing, and the part-time job at the water landing point is also triggered. The maximum leading depth is thoroughly suppressed, and the dirt distance to the left and right is expanded. The underwater dirt distance that can be moved in one stroke of the rod action is the best in one ten. In addition, in the short stroke twitch by standing up the rod and the instantaneous slowness of the line slack, "Rise-up trajectory" towards the surface of the water, "roll fluttering" that turns the abdomen, "fluttering & dirt", etc. There are many crobat actions. In other words, ONETEN-RS is a rising special that generates the most diverse byte patterns in the shallowest part directly below the water surface and greatly expands the feeding zone. You can also see the reaction of outstanding fish on the live scope.”

Tried throwing a buzzbait yesterday morning after being inspired to do so by Pat and Woody, however I didn't get Pat or Woody results 😁 I can see a true monster coming up and hitting a big wake bait or buzzbait in 50d water, but the level of confidence to hang with it is the stuff of champions lol. I'm sure I'll blow the dust off the Whopper Plopper once the Queen gets back on the water, always so confusing then when I don't proceed to catch 50 fish on it like her 😎

The new 110 RS is certainly real, it's going to run sub surface at 1ft. Gonna be killer for schooling fish I imagine, especially if they make it in a jr size. As long as they keep making GG Threadfin and MB Sexy Shad I'm good.

Thanks Katie! Part of my problem this year is that I assumed it would fish like it did last winter, and that's just not been the case in the slightest. Totally different weather, and the last day I felt like it was going according to the plan was 1/8. Now here I am on the precipice of the biggest girls moving up to spawn for the first time. Nothing has ever puzzled me as badly as big Bass, dang things are gorillas in the mist. @TnRiver46 Thanks buddy! Those Little Jon 50s have become my confidence crank, the Type R is great in the summer, and these silent ones are great in the winter. Circuit board lips, awesome gama hooks and hardware.

3rd day in a row where I'm freezing at 530am, and then in the afternoon it's high 60s. With the lake's clarity finally returned to normal viz, I had a modest improvement only for it to be 50/50 blown out again tomorrow. Fished about 6.5hrs, caught 8.....certainly no "pre spawn" bite lol. Threw a dozen baits which for me is very rare, desperation always leads me to junk fishing. By the afternoon I figured out the crank deal, but still couldn't totally figure it out. Big fish was a 6.4, other weighed fish was a 4.5, and a nice 3lb class Spot were the highlights. Best 5 went for about 16. The SS Junket lol

Love how you got so many fishing buddies @TnRiver46, one could make the argument that having great fishing friends is the real prize catch. Beautiful fish as always, and I'd love to fish that 3rd pic. @Pat Brown Thanks buddy, and I agree the novelty of seeing a perfect tree/xmas tree on 2D never gets old.

His spot will go to the next man out of the 40 cut/AOY points at the end of the season. Ironically he was the last man out IIrc last year, low 40s IIrc. Jason Christie got in this year's classic on a similar deal, Will Davis Jr won the Nation Championship and double qualified, therefore Christie stunk in. Pretty sure that's how it went lol. Amazing win by Scott, then again he better win the derby that launches out of his dad's marina 😁

Almost 10 days after a monster rain the lake still hasn't returned to normal viz. Between this and the absolute threadfin buffet during the hard freeze right before that event, it's been brutal fishing. Close to 5lb guy on the Drift Fry from earlier, and junk fished my way to another 7 over 6hrs fished.....best 5 maybe went 10. Fished the same amount yesterday and only caught 2 and a Crappie so today I basically won the Classic 🤣 2nd Eagle I've now captured over the lake, both around this time of year. Wish they'd make a nest. Lastly the start of hopefully a cool project.....the first piece of cover sunk in the start of turning the cove I launch out of into 10yr Alex's dream lol. I grew up fishing this lake in another cove and my mentor created "lil Nam" underwater and fed the fish religiously....it was everything I could of ask for as a kid. I'd like to pay it forward as I see some young boys come down with bobbers and grandpa's Hula Popper and know they're not getting the experience I got as a kid.

I checked his results after I got done fishing but didn't know he had a camera. That field isn't half as stacked though as that Big O Open. That's one of the most impressive derby fields I've seen, not to mention it's double the size of the Elite field. This season is starting off with three prime events all at the same time, even though I have zero interest in the BPT. I've just got full blown fomo at the moment and driving myself mad on the lake, I'll bring my phone out with me tomorrow as I'd love to watch Welcher. Man I can't wait for the Elites, must see TV!

Ran out of likes lol, but I didn't know that and just looked up how he finished.....not really surprising even though scoping and Rivet won the Elite series stop there last year. 7 / 10 - 1 2 / 3 - 11 5 / 6 - 6 Brillant move on his part because he really does need the experience, and I don't know of a better place for that the 9 event Open schedule. Lots of that dude's game are truly next level. He's the most unique angler I consider among my favorites. The Japanese Elite Series anglers are very easy to root for. ETA: Kenta is doing it for the second year in a row, he's a mad man. Check out Matty Wong's visit to Japan series of videos he recently did. Really cool stuff.

Really great to see Ebare put the wheels back on the track.