AlabamaSpothunter

The SM Elite series derby weights up north have been smashed each successive year starting a few years ago. One guy broke the century belt on SLR a year or two ago, 3 did it this, and the only reason a 4th didn't was because he lost half a day with a broken boat. Ben Milliken almost broke the all time Opens record for a winning weight at Toledo Bend. I barely follow the MLF but they were blowing out records scoping on Guntersville, and all the SM derbies up north as well. All that said, they're only as good as the fisheries they were at and that's not a constant factor for a three year period. You're 1000% right, it's not magic, but people who really try to learn it seem to learn it and go on to become vastly better anglers in terms of numbers/size. AOY winner Kyle Welcher is an awesome case study.......dude is an absolute hammer with zero electronics on the boat, but he said a few ago he saw the future and he spent all his free time learning to scope. Flash forward to this year, and he scoped his way to AOY, because by his own words essentially, he had too. If not him, somebody would use the tech to win as long as it's allowed.

Thanks brother! Beautiful fish as always, and I know you made the Whopper Plopper Queen happy 🤣

Haha, she pulled so hard, and that first Tarpon jump made me think she was bigger....but the appreciation is still the same for that encounter with her. The odd thing is that every fish over 7lbs I've caught this year fought way less than this fish, and I've found that the best fighting size LGM are easily the 5-6lb class fish. I'm sure teeners pull crazy, but I do know that 5-6lb LGMs pull harder than 7-10lb ones. I still remember a 6.10 in the Spring that went bananas and I could really lay into her with a big worm hook and a 7ft MH/16lb Shooter.

Broke in the 110 Stick this afternoon with a Vision 110 in GG Threadfin, it's a keeper after landing one of the harder fighting LGMs I've caught in some time. She was only 6.6 but she was magnificent in fight and overall health.

I have no problem with livebaiters, but like Pat I find I'm too lazy for livebait, and enjoy all the various techniques. People blowing up earthworms, or catching shiners on bread balls is way more work than throwing a Zoom Ol Monster or a Shiner colored Swimbait 😁

Trout Chunker, Trout Chunker, Trout Chunker 🤣 When I learned how many of those epic SoCal giants from the 90s were caught by Trout Chunkers on The Big Bass Podcast really disappointed me.

I love how firstly you have so many friends, and you share the love so much by always taking them, but secondly how every single one of your friends looks like they were in ZZ Top or Lynyrd Skynyrd 🤣 I've caught three fish over the last year with tags exactly like that.....no number to call, nothing, just yellow algae covered tags. When I was a kid, I ask for a tagging kit for Xmas, and IIrc it was the same thing as these. I think people just do it for fun hoping to catch a fish they tagged. I wish people wouldn't tag fish that weren't being studied though.

What an amazing will and fight to live you have Kirtley!

Bawahahaha, I learned it from you dad! 😂

The monkey runs wild on him, the tackle porn thread is proof 🤣 TW should fix the website because of the potential loss of revenue from him alone 😁

There new website is absolute flaming pile of garbage.....I doubt they had any idea how many people used their website as a reference on gear, and by default ultimately spent money with them. Now they've killed the ability to quickly and easily find all the info one wants about tackle on the market, and I have little doubt they'll see the bottom line effected. Thankfully the big wigs at TW will notice this sharp decrease in time, and restore the old site. Never seizes to amaze me how companies can't help themselves from changing an incredible successful product, or recipe.

Can't wait until they change the playoff format that is absolutely killing playoff baseball the last couple of years. 3/4 top seeded teams lost game 1 after long waits. There should be a 1 game playoff for these lesser teams. Than 2-3 days later the NL and ALDS series should start. Dodgers and Orioles look like the season already ended, same for the Braves even though they got a result last night. This really needs to change.

Cellular game cams aren't that far off from the hunting version of FFS. At this time only pest animals are allowed to be harvested with Night Vision or Thermal around here, and I've actually seen a drone thermal hog hunt in Texas lol. I think it's important for me to state that I'm not against FFS users, and given the opportunity would love to play with the tech for at least a few months. I just know it's going to change the future of fishing, and already has. I do think the tech could be restricted majorly in the future. Nice to see you watched the video, it's easy to weigh in on this topic without watching it as we all have opinions on this matter......the key for starting this thread is the very unique things said in that video, or at least I found them unique and eye opening.

Welp I'm already looking at getting another JDM P5 😁.......the FMJ for an all around jig/t-rig setup. Got the 110 Stick in on Thursday and put about 15 fish on it on Friday afternoon with 110jr/110jr+1....and it'll see heavy usage this week. The weight, balance, and primary action is nothing short of perfection for 3/8th-1/2oz Jerkbaits. Need a 5lb+ fish to evaluate the secondary action, but this rod is amazingly parabolic, has a super deep bend all the way to the first guide, but has that lightning quick tip. The aesthetics and intricacy of the design is a touch above any other rod I've laid hands on. This was true for even the Levante Shakyhead I bought last year. You feel special with a MB rod in your hands, they make sure of that. This rod isn't for everybody for sure, but for those who truly love to fish the Jerkbait...i.e. you have it in your hand for hours during the day, then the money is well spent imho. Nothing can tax you outside of A-Rigging/chunking big baits like Jerkbaiting for hours on end, this rod was truly designed to feel effortless when applying the technique. It's made in China though, hard to get over that aspect for the cost, but I wanted the best jerkbait rod I could find, and this was the pick after solid research. It is what it is as they say. 5 Stars on the rod, and 5 stars for Dance's Sporting Goods where I bought it.

Get a couple 50 gal plastic drums off Marketplace for like 5-10 bucks a piece. Cut a big opening at the top, and put an airstone/aerator in each one.....those cheap ones from Wally World. Gather the bait from the shore (this is how we always did it when fishing with threadfins below the TVA dams), and load the 2-3 drums in the back of your truck?.....haul butt back home, dump Shad.....and keep repeating the process until you get tired or they establish a population. The problem is though this time of year they won't spawn, so you don't have a chance at establishing that population until late Spring. This is just how I would go about it, that or I would stock Tilapia in the warm months which will die off in the cold months, and then stock small Rainbows in the winter which will die off in the warm months.......I mean you might as well try to grow the next TN LGM record, right 😎

Hey I went for a long hike today along the Cahaba River and thank God I brought a windtop.....we soft down here in the South once it dips below 70 🤣 It's been such a dry Summer and early Fall down here, so I'm sure we'll get epic rains over the winter.

Never got above 72 here the last two days, most certainly the first cold front and true start of Fall down here. T-minus 2 months until the fish start jumping in the boat with footballs in their bellies 😎

AOY & ROY (pretty sure Katie has only been chasing green tunas for a bit over a year): Katie Big Fish: Pat Biggest single day bag: Kingfisher Now tell Glenn to send them their swag bags and checks 😁

Yeah I've never encountered a meaner or more violent fish than the Spotted Bass. They would certainly eat humans if they could 😆

and Spotted Bass murder 😁

I can't help but think a number of the replies in this thread come from those who didn't watch the video in it's entirety. I thought and said a lot of the things I've read in some of these replies, and that video changed my mind on many of those things. The weight JJ's opinion carries as being the most well known pioneer of the technology makes it's worth listening to closely imho. They all agree it's a skill, moreover it's a physical skill as much as anything....which is why it's a young man's game, not just because it's new fangled tech and older people struggle with tech traditionally. They talk about how long it takes to distinguish fish species, determine sizes, and get good and landing a cast on their head while the fish are moving and you're tracking the fish with the scope. Ultimately though they say that when you can stare at a fish in real time, and continually present different presentations to it until it bites, that's not Bass fishing in the sense we've all known and loved it for decades and decades. There simply isn't anywhere anymore for these fish to escape pressure. One derby angler spent his entire time learning how to scope fish, his entire game is built around FFS. Fujita is a great example here. Another derby angler spent some time learning FFS but has a lifetime of fishing for Bass in the traditional non controversial methods. Christie is a great example here, one of the first to get a win in part because of the tech, but since has been lapped by the young guys on the tech. If we go further in the FFS format in the future, Fujita will be considered the better Bass angler yet he pretty much only knows how to catch Bass one way, meanwhile Christie can catch them everyway under the sun. I'm trying to type out what the video laid out so well for the TL/DR crowd.

Go post that report in the Alabama Bass thread, I need some entertainment after the expected Braves loss 🤣 You know it's about to go down when you see spaghetti over deep water 😎

It's a bit different than that, what they are saying is that the new guys can pretty much only use the screen, Fujita is a perfect example of this, and they used him as an example. If he wasn't on a good scoping lake, he wasn't going to have a respectable finish, on the other hand, if FFS was in play, he was all but assured a top 10. They don't want the old guys there for sentimental value, they want them there to watch real savant technique focused anglers. And while FFS usage is one of those types, it seems that the younger and younger a competitor is these days, the more he's a one trick pony on the scope. I think all fans can agree we shouldn't be reducing the number of exciting techniques being utilized by pros.

Awesome job, you were due for a big girl, bet it felt amazing!

JJ in the video said there is nowhere safe for Bass anymore after he went to Florida and caught fish in a few feet of water in hydrilla. Seminole and the big O on the Elite Series this year were won using FFS. Only Elite event I remember not being won with it was the Sabine River.