AlabamaSpothunter

That's a magnificent fish, wish I could fish N AL. and S. TN during the Falls......sucks for the most part in terms of LGMs down here or anywhere else, but those big brown fish seem to really chew up there in the Fall. That's when I got my PB SM below Wheeler Dam. I'd be right back there tomorrow 😎

Awesome fish brother! Wonder what that 23" fish weighed, relative weight chart says between 5 and 6lbs. Imagine it was your friend's SM PB. That's a daygum stud fish. Old fish too. ETA: The more I look at that big girl, the more it looks like a Meanmouth, is this just me? It's pretty like a Meanmouth 😁

Yeah I've watched that video before, pretty wild. Josh Jones in a recent interview talked about the big Bass he's seen die on O.H. Ivie, he contributes a number of them to being hauled around in livewells. I want to return the fish to their "homes".......not dump them all together some place 5 miles from where they were caught, most likely near a boat launch. Doug Hannon used to dunk trophy sized bass in an aerated cooler with Sure Life or similar, but immediately released them. Personally speaking, I'm not willing to risk killing big fish just for a social media post.

Yes sir daddy-o, I'm in for one. I got the OG Steez, my prized fishing possession knock on wood, it makes me as happy today fishing with it as it did in 07. I'm sure it won't be twice the reel a 21 Zillion SV TW is, but fishing a Steez makes you feel special, there I said it 😆

The biggest thing that irks me currently is when folks stuff 5 big fish in the livewell so they can show off their "mega bag" all at one time. You see this all the time these days from O.H. Ivie, and we'll see it again starting in about two months. The only thing the MLF gets right imho is Catch Weigh Release format. Moving fish and dragging them around in livewells all day has never struck me as healthy for the fish.

So you've been in my boat the last few weeks, have you? 😁 It was beautiful at 86 yesterday....today the high is 70 and cloudy, tomorrow it will be 56......SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO POP 😎

My experience has been the fish don't bite well during warm fronts during the Fall to Winter transition. However, once Winter temps come, the most electric fishing comes during the warming trends in Winter. It's been nothing but beautiful 80d+ days now for a week, the bite has been terrible for the most part outside of few small feeding windows. Fall down here sucks. When somebody figures out the correlation between success and the weather, they'll essentially have solved Cold Fusion.

1. Jerkbait by a huge margin. Shimano World Minnow, Vision 110, Vision 110jr/+1 2. 1/2oz MiniMax in Spot Remover or Gizzard Shad 3. If I have to finesse them a Flashback Mini with a 3" Armor Shad Fall time is the best time to fish for Spots imho, which is great because for whatever reason the big LGM like to ghost me.

Love it, BASS doubled down right as MLF is really starting to hurt. Dang shame it didn't happen this year so we could have watched Ben a lot more on LIVE.

Yeah a big net, or even just holding the fish in the water with one hand while you get things ready with your other hand makes a big difference. I'm still surprised to hear this fish died especially since you didn't bring it out of bathtub temp waters. Tell your brother he's a good human, stuff happens. I know the exact feeling, after I hurt or potentially kill a Bass I wasn't meaning to, I feel absolutely gutted for a few days. This is the tough part of the sport for me personally. We all want these fish to swim away as healthy as when they were hooked.

Raises Pike Minnows in basement, turns in copious amounts of Pike Minnows to the boogeymen hunting G-Men Profit massively Retire and build a 1000 acre temple to the Bass Gods in Texas where I'll maintain a pride of Pike Minnows to always remember what the great state of Oregon bought me 😁

JPL charges shipping but gives a free premium JDM bait Digitaka is free shipping on reels, no free gift though If you like the gift, it's a wash which is cheaper, but I prefer to just save the money and buy my own JDM gift 😁 That's how I broke it down when I was doing all my research.

Another vote for Digitaka, bought three reels from them over the last year....every time it's the same uber fast shipping. I just can't buy a reel that costs over $200 from anywhere else, the deals on the high end reels are unbeatable to say the least. I went to a Shimano dealer's sample show this morning, $75k in inventory being "blown out".......all the prices on stuff like Antares, Mets, Bantams, etc. were still more than Digitaka/JDM pricing.

I haven't had to deal with rod warranty aspect from MB, but have contacted them with questions about hooks, and lo and behold they sent me half a dozen 110jr replacement hooks for free. On the other hand, I reached out to Shimano to try and buy replacement hooks for their new line of baits....their hooks are incredible, they wouldn't sell me any, nor would they send me replacements. Quite the difference b/t the two comparing apples to apples. I have no problems letting the monkey spend my money with MB 😆

I'm just debating the merits of having FFS legal in top level derbys vs. banning A-Rigs. FFS is lightyears more effective at catching fish and creating an "unfair" advantage than an A-Rig, yet it's banned.

So like the A-Rig then? To me the A-Rig ban is one of the best arguments that shows how much influence the big electronics sponsors have.......it's laughable they'd ban an A-Rig which is only effective for a few months of the year, but not tech that is way more effective at catching fish and does so year round.

All I know is that I view a DD caught without a scope very differently than one caught on the Scope. We're living in the "juiced ball" era of fishing. Records are going to be viewed pre/post FFS decades from now I imagine. We all have favorite niches within this sport, mine is an amazing curiosity of big Bass. When somebody like Josh Jones say he caught one before FFS and has already caught something like 80 this year alone because of it......it's hard not to put big Bass caught using it in a totally different category as the guy who goes out there fishing on pure instinct, traditional sonar, and old school knowledge. It takes as much skill to be a savant scoper as it does to be a savant flipper, savant big swimbait guy, etc. The problem is that right now you can dominate fisheries and derbies by only being a Scope savant. You can't dominate the same way slinging big baits, flipping a jig, using a Damiki rig on 2D, etc.

Sounds like a freak accident, hopefully it wasn't a fault in the rod or materials.

Haha, nice! I use an E-Bike to drive to the homelake ....rigged a nice milk crate on the back, and use a rod caddy. I should just walk lol, but even so I've managed to put at least 200m on it taking it to and from the lake in about 15months. Crazy to think how many E miles I put on the jon boat in that time come to think of it.

IIrc, is this is the rod you broke setting a hook, or during the course of normal fishing usage? Knock on wood but I've never had a fish or hookset break a rod no matter the quality, but I think a ton of rods get broken boat flipping. I know you aren't flipping in a yak 😁 eta: Back in the day, pre Shimano buy out.....I could take in rods shut in car doors, tell them that, and pick up a new rod of the rack. Things sure have changed.

All I know is it an exquisite looking piece of machinery and it's got the Steez logo. Good enough for me 😁

They talk about Pisces all the time on the Big Bass Podcast. It's a foundational block in the SoCal big Bass explosion story, that's cool to hear you were a member.

You have such an amazing plethora of bodies of water to pick from......did you ever go to the place you thought about camping on the island? Interesting to hear the size increases, maybe that's a new fishery in terms of Bass stocking, if that's the case you're in for a real treat over the coming years. New Lake Effect is very real, that's how most of the LGM state records down here in the SE were caught.

Awesome stuff Katie, the scenery and health of the Bass never gets old! Those are the types of places I'd buy if I hit the lottery. I'd burn 75% of the winnings on fishing properties and building a temple to the Bass Gods.

Spencer Shuffield was on the Bildge Podcast yesterday, if you think the MLF BPT is on the up and up then I've got a bridge to nowhere to sell you. The way they were able to only DQ Shuffield, but not DQ ten other guys including the Golden Child is some 4D Chess. Hot take, but if Wheeler ever wants to be in the goat conversation, he's gonna have to step outside MLF. Agreed with Phishli, if you want to make it as a professional Bass angler in today's world, you better have a fantastic charismatic personality, and a great understanding of self marketing and social media. Scott Martin and Milliken could stop professionally fishing tomorrow, and still draw a huge income from fishing. Spencer Shuffield said his dad's first derby win in the late 80s at the Big O was $200k An Elite series pays $100k. When you consider today's clown world inflation rates especially, professional Bass fishing is a dying business in the traditional sense.