AlabamaSpothunter

Oh wow, lot bigger than I thought. Thanks.

I wonder if the right climate exists to grow a Meanmouth that would break both the SM and Alabama Bass WRs. If you could introduce the two at the same time and capitalize on that F1 hybrid vigor, I'd love to see how big they could get. An F1/Tiger/Gorilla Bass can be almost twice the size of its NLGM parentage. I've never heard data suggest an F1 can grow larger than a FLGM though, but we are just now cracking the code to habitat, climate, genetics, and forage in terms of places that could grow Black Bass future WRs. IIrc, they pulled a 7-8lb Meanmouth out of O.H. Ivie. This reply is the exact reason why the N.C. DNC officials are laying in their beds wide awake 🤣

Full moon, you know what that means.......either you're gonna catch a giant, or you're not 🤣

You ain't never partied if you haven't had that Come to Jesus moment at the Porcelain Throne 😆🤢

You'll stop fishing when they ban fry cookers 🤣

Kid went to bed thinking about those fish, he'll wake up thinking about those fish.....that Dad is going to be regretting you putting him on some hot fishing if he ain't a fisherman, ask my dad how I know 🤣

I have complete confidence in your ability to make the right judgement when it's time, and while our words our always our best intentions, each day I get older seemingly, the more I realize tomorrow or the ability to fish it is most certainly not promised. When we stop pushing ourselves, our abilities, and our curiosities, are we still really even living at that point? After the recent ER visit it recharged that mantra, if you can go fish, and if you love to fish, THEN GO FISHING! Results may come, but one day we'll all have to say that's the end of our season forever.....until then fish like Katie, let the joy and addiction take you for a ride. Sure seem to be getting awfully philosophical at middle age lol....then again a Kidney Stone will make you seek that higher power faster than chugging a handle of Jimmy Beam 🤣

We should live in a fishing universe that has the Southern winters with the Northern anytime else conditions......us southern boys be super jealous right about the time the Elites came up north. Without the pressure of fishing the Elites, what a lifestyle it must be.....hammering monster SMs in the Summer up north, crushing big LGMs during the pre spawn Southern winters.

If I could fish a place like that, catching would be secondary! Katie type bog is right. Congrats on ending the season on a high note.

I'm excited for you brother, can't wait to see that smash fest unfold again! There's nothing better in fishing than when you've tapped into a secret pattern, honey hole, or technique that feels almost like cheating. Strike that iron while the fire is red hot.

It's big fish season once the "T-Billy Hat" comes out 😎

I thought I was the only one who loved big LGMs on topwater 😁 Caught a fat little 3lber on a buzzbait yesterday, I must have laughed and giggled for 5 minutes over the joy of that experience. If only every Bass could be caught like that.

Right there with you buddy, December, January and February are peak Bass fishing for me. Now delete this thread before people abandon their tree stands, and comfy warm recliners 😁 This describes it perfectly, nothing I can add to this: " Here in the south, we get to look forward to big schools of bass that bite on every cast and the chance at catching the biggest bass in the lake while they're full and fat bellied. Less boats on the water. Less fishing pressure. Reaction baits. When I'm bank fishing I can bring one rod and a small box with 3 or four lures in it and my scale. No more junk fishing. No more slow fishing. No more waking up SUPER EARLY or staying SUPER LATE for a bite."

Great fish all things considering buddy, and the reason the Bass is so awesome is in part due to it's ability to survive extreme levels of pressure, it's hard to kill a Bass population once it takes holds. Once you get old enough in life, one realizes how much humans ruin pretty everything that isn't man made, aka nature 😥 I think that's why I romanticize Katie's adventures and amazing success, she fishes for these fish in unmolested, unmanaged, largely un fished locations. As I've said a number of times now here, if I were a Bass, no doubt about it I want to live wherever Katie fishes. If I put in the work Katie puts in, you better believe I'm expecting not to see other anglers, or humans 😁

The YUM/Scottsboro Tackle Flashmob Jr kits are the easy button, makes everything easy and they just flat out produce really well. Unless you got FFS, and can guide your bait, you don't want to be breaking off $40-50 A-Rigs, and if you are fishing A-Rigs correctly, plan on losing a few imho. The Picasso Baitball Finesse A-Rig options are fantastic when they want a smaller or subdued action, in this case just go with Strikeking Baby Squadran 1/8th heads and 3-3.5" Rage Swimmers So that's your full size and down sized A-Rigs right there......fish those and if they don't work, start dialing it in from there. I wish I would have known how many fish I ended up catching right after a rod pump/twitch......the majority of fish I catch come right after a rod twitch which really flares that rig up like a real baitschool. You can't fish it slow enough, and the slower and closer to cover you fish it, the better your results will be. That said, most of us aren't looking to break off $100s worth of ARigs or deal with trying to unsnag them. You go at the pace your wallet and patience can afford in my book. This is true for just about all the great lures and big Bass. I don't have anything bigger than a 7.1 on an A-Rig, maybe here in about a month that can change. Caught lots of double and triples, and got a 5 fish limit on two casts, got a 5fish/25lb limit as well. When they want it, there is nothing on the planet better imho, it's like slinging pure electricity into the water.......however when they don't want it which is about 10 months of the year in central AL, it's an absolute youknowwhat to chunk and wind. There you go, you got this newb's opinion on the A-Rig 🙂

Speaking of the debil, I was in the ER from about 1-5am this morning with another kidney stone......you can't describe that level of pain to folks who haven't had a stone. Now the fun part of waiting to pass it, guess I got to make an appointment with the Urologist now, the thought of doing that again is unthinkable. Sorry no pics of the latest catch, haven't passed it yet 🙃

When I just tried to see what one would cost on Amazon.jp.....my final total on a right hand 7.1 model was 224.48. Without shipping it would have been the price you quoted, but I couldn't get free shipping. Digitaka is 229.49 With as much trust as I have in Digitaka, I might as well stay loyal to them.

Random hunting is very different than blowing out on a chatterbait. It's hard to blow out a Jackhammer or full size Chatterbait with any trailer, only time I've ever had blow out on bladed jigs is with a MiniMax and Flashback Mini. Blow Out: To lose vibrating contact with the bladed jig upon retrieve. More times than not the trailer being off centered so badly in combo with small enough of a blade will cause this. Hunting Action: Bait randomly darts to one side or the other while still maintaining vibration contact to the end user. I've never found burning a chatterbait to be all that effective, slow rolling with rod twitches, or yo yoing them seems to be the best for me.

That's a no from me dawg 😂 Only 50 anglers, every fish counts, does or said nothing to address the ridiculous dog poo show they created up north fishing for spawning SMs. Only thing I liked is that they are paying the winners a bit more. The Elite Series is so much better imho, coverage is worse though, MLF didn't really need to double down in that dept. to beat BASS.

Zoom's Black Grape.

$200-210 total, all taxes and shipped? I think they are currently about $220 total from Digitaka.

Minn Kota Endura 50lb thrust commonly available at sporting good stores like Academy: $225 Walmart Group of 29 battery: $110 You're good to go.

I'm a less or more guy but I fish lakes with fish that have seen lots of baits. My favorite is the Dirty Jigs 3/8 or 1/2 oz Scott Canterbury with the dull silver blade, or a black one. Dirty Jigs Scott Canterbury Pro Buzz Buzzbait Version 2 | Tackle Warehouse Best frog I've found is the Stanley Ribbit 3.5s Stanley Ribbit 3.5" 5pk | Tackle Warehouse My deal with those Dirty Jig models is the hook, it's like a JDM jerkbait hook. It's a pain to put on the frogs but use some glue and they'll go longer. I used 5.5" Spunk Shads in the Spring to great success, I'd imagine a 3.5" one and a 1/4 buzzbait would be the deal this time of year, I imagine I'll buy just that next time to the monkey trap house 😁 Milliken swears by a white stroker craw, and he rarely leads me wrong. Just don't get the Big Bite Baits Tour Toads, the stupid leg design continual gets stuck in the hook, trying to eat up a few bags now and then only Stanleys from then on.

June of 2020 changed my life brother.......same deal, first and hopefully last kidney stone, nurses said child birth is the only thing comparable, took 4 rounds of IV meds to finally get me handled. From June of 2020 until today, I've never drank another thing besides water.....seriously 😁 Glad to hear you're better, and back at it!

That's odd because I just finally had to break down an OG Steez because during the warm months it was fine, but it was having problems when it got cold. Mine was a combo of old grease, and then cold weather if I had to guess. Cold weather shrinks materials not just your junk 😆, perhaps it's making the fitment of gears tighter and thus less noisy.