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It depends on if I’m fishing for fun or tournaments. I go out 3-5 days a week. Average fun trip 3+ hrs. Tournament related 4-12 hrs depending on if it’s after work or on the weekends. I absolutely love being on the water any chance I get. 90% of the time I go alone.

You’re absolutely correct if they held the events at different times of the year it would be more entertaining. However they don’t so give me a Sabine or Albermarle Sound over St Lawrence any day of the week. Mind you I watch probably 90 percent of the coverage and watch a handful of pros tournament recap videos like Livesays. I give the anglers credit. Absolutely no way I could show up and fish that style for one day let alone multiple in a row. It’s like watching paint dry.

I would much rather watch this tournament than a small mouth tournament. Yeah the fish aren’t monsters but it has the biggest feel of what a local derby is like. Sure century belts are cool but man I find those open water drop shot/minnow events dull as all get out.

If they are aggressive and fat they have probably already spawned. Feeding heavily to recover from the spawn act itself especially if they are females. I hit the immediate post spawn dead on during a weekend tournament a few weekends ago. Bass were still shallow absolutely crushing top waters near known spawn beds. A few of the bass were still digesting a previous meal. Easy to tell by the tail fins still showing in their gullets.Those same bass during the actual spawn were more spaced out on beds. They wouldn’t take top water or mid depth lures. I had to specifically cast to them and keep the lures right near the beds. For most multiple times. I fish a very dirty low vis river system. Generally the bass don’t go deep after spawn like a lot of anglers talk about. I believe they primarily stay shallow 8 or less ft of water for the majority of the year except extreme cold when the main river actually freeze over.

Many things determine spawn cycle. Personally I think you need to consider how much light the bass in your area have had. From what I’ve experienced and really tried to pay attention to moon phase and light availability are what triggers spawn water temperatures are just relative to those needs.Duration of available light is as or more important than actual water temp. Ie dirty water will warm faster but receives less light so just because water temps warm that doesn’t mean bass will spawn. So consider how much and for how long a particular area has received light. Then think about the fish you catch and how you are catching them. Do they act like they are related to beds, guarding beds, aggressively feeding, overly fat, thin and beat up, are predators of bass beds in the area, etc.

That doesn't make sense? I tournament fish rivers with a slot. We keep 2 overs 3 unders. Doesn't stop us from weighing 5.

So this must be a catch weigh release tournament not live weigh in? I cant keep track of how bassmaster determines what the weigh in format is.

Tournments I fish on have a slot limit so I keep unders in the livewell behind me overs in the pass side livewell. I dont use cull tags generally it's pretty easy to tell which under or over gets the boot if a replacement comes in.

You should absolutely use polarized glasses. I wear prescription glasses and have a polarized set. #1 it's much better for your eye health, #2 makes it safer driving around with the glare and so on cut down. #3 they protect you from catching a lure or lake debris getting in your eyes if something happens.#4 increased underwater visibility. Personally mine have a green/black lenses tint color and I really like it over any other colors I've tried but some of it is preference same as selecting color palates on a graph.

Ended up with 1191 at Hartwell everyone I picked except Livesay finished top 25. I really thought he would be a top 15 contender.

Makes sense I wondered if it was for something along those lines.

Any ideas what drew cooks spraying into the water out of that bug sprayer or why he's doing it? I don't think I've ever seen anyone doing that before.

I almost went with cobb glad I didn't lol. I went with Livesay, Walters,Wagner,Fothergil, and Milikin.

If Basstrack is close it looks like Bill Lowen is in the top 20 day 1.

Drew Cook has basically grown roots fishing a single bed with a Male and Female on it.

He talked about retiring on Ikes podcast the other day. It sounds like he isint going to quit tournament fishing all together. I think he said he was going to try the NPFL.

After a cold front I usually have better luck with slower/smaller/finesse style baits. That's all relative to the water conditions. The river I generally fish is still pretty muddy. 1ft maybe 2ft at the very best for visibility. So in the dirtiest water I'm using smaller baits with a lot of action worked slow. Ie 1/4 blade jigs with a trailer/Indiana blad spinner baits/small square bills all worked slowly. In the cleaner water I'll use a fluke style bait rigged weedless or a curly tail worm trigged weedless. For my flukes and worms I've started using a snell knot. I've been getting way better hook up ratios. Flukes really really depend on the line and hook for depth and action. It's also makes a difference on how you rig the fluke in relation to weather it wants to stay up higher or lower in the water. I would highly recommend watching videos on how to rig them correctly depending on what you want it to do. This time of year can also be a great time to use a donkey rig which is a duel fluke setup.

Im curious for those who think we need to limit speed. We should limit speed for everything right? Jet skies, speed boats, wake boats, sail boats, kyakes you name it. If we're also going to start limiting everything that could cause death or injury we shouldn't do anything on the water in limited light situation right no night fishing, no fog, no rain nothing that impeads visibility. Speaking of visibility we should really eliminate small craft all together since they aren't very easy to see. We should probably also eliminate hooks on lures you know they could cause serious death or injury to the user or anyone else within distance of them. We should probably also disallow any use of vessels on water that is anything other than slick calm. One wrong move in any kind of waves and you could go overboard. Maybe each craft on the water should be required to be escorted by a safety boat incase anything does happen. I mean if we really want eliminate anything that could cause injury or death to anyone we have to look at the whole picture.

I would say I fish a combination. I run an old Triton with a Helix 7 side image unit, no ffs, no power poles, but I have an Ulterra. I pull my tub with a classic truck. I fish with mid grade rods and reels off brand braid but name brand leader material. I generally use standard technique sometimes in unusual ways. I look for accepted patterns as far as wind, weather, structure etc but I try to find them in places most people ignore or don’t want to bother with. I don’t fish community holes or generally around other anglers. I stick to a select few hard bait mfgs but I like them in more unique colors, I’ll throw a wide varity of soft plastics generally in more standard colors. I’ve only been mostly dedicated to bass fishing for 4 years now with varying degrees of success. I don’t generally do as well on days guys claim to crush them but I do have excellent days in what most label tough conditions. I don’t get 0’ed very often but it does happen.

Anglers caught doing things like that should be kicked from that day of the tournment minimum. Hopefully DNR follows up with fines or a warning at least.

Im going with Walter's, Mckinney, Card, Milikin and Hammner

Scott ruined his own brand with his actions. Saying “informants” should have to come forward is like victim blaming. Again the anglers protesting Martin have to file formally with BASS in a signed document. They will not investigate rules violations unless an angler formally files a complaint. BASS is choosing not to release the name(s) involved as is Scott. Why Scott doesn’t want to say I’m guessing involves legality like slander or defamation or the possibility the truth comes fully out and he would loose what reputation he has left. Again BASS leader ship has stated they saw the video of the incident involving the Lake O dq. They have not said he was guilty of a Lake P violation just under investigation. Scott chose to leave before he could be dq’d from lake P. He also said he did not think he could pass the poly. That’s the same as admitting at least some guilt in the situation. That’s all on him, not bass, not the other anglers, not the general public.

If a Googan deal is the prize I’d take the loss

Scott also says he doesn't know the angler he traded information with so take that for what it is.

I'm not sure where the disconnect is between how and what the rules are vs are not rules. The Jonhston brothers although I don't like them are not braking rules the way they operate. The Team 6 guys(Livesey, Somerall, Loutbe, Milliken), The crew Martin was housing with(Martin, Canterbury, and 2 other I dont remember who) and many other do the same or similar. The difference is its not against the rules to communicate or operate with fellow competitors. It is however illegal to SOLICIT information that is not public. Ie someone randomly offering you information is not the same as bartering for information. As far as the reporting of rules violations anonymously. Again you can't report anonymously. That's not a thing. You have to fill out a signed document or the leagues will not investigate. The leagues make the decision weather to list who filed it or not. Same with releasing the video behind the Lake O dq. BASS has stated they saw the video and agreed with Martin that if he self reported it would stay private. Why they made that decision is anyone's guess. That's not rumor or hearsay that is from BASS. Now as far as the Lake P dq Scott couldn't fail a poly he refused to take so the investigation is closed incomplete. Ie they can't/won't release information because there was no definite conclusion. Scott has made himself look guilty. His entire side of the story is either half the truth or an entire lie again trying to save face. That's not the leagues doing that's all through Scott. He made the information on the goings on public to the YouTube channels people want to discredit.