17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

People coming in heavy on Christie, Miliken, and Fujita.

Huh - and I don't have any of the three in my line-up.

Rookies, Japanese anglers, and Walters....staying with my gameplan for the season. 

 

I smell a Jighead Minnow derby coming 🙃

 

 

I am constitutionally incapable of turning down a chance to start Jason Christie in a Classic so close to home.

 

 

Picking Christie seems like such the right thing to do. But man are these guys using FFS making it hard to not pick guys who should know these waters like the back of their hand. 

What do you think winning weight  will be? I went 68-10. Thats a big weight but these beam shiners catch a lot of big fish.

How do you pick a winner? With FFS, any knowledge of a lake is tossed out the window. A beginner has the same chance as a 15 year vet. Take a look at some of the recent winners. Guys you never heard of before. Tournaments have come Down to who happens to run into quality fish.  Just keep  your eyes on the screen and hope you see some bigger fish. Strategy? Keep moving and staring at the screen. Gone are the days when you study topo maps when fishing a new lake. It’s not fishing anymore

42 minutes ago, looking45 said:

How do you pick a winner? With FFS, any knowledge of a lake is tossed out the window. A beginner has the same chance as a 15 year vet. Take a look at some of the recent winners. Guys you never heard of before. Tournaments have come Down to who happens to run into quality fish.  Just keep  your eyes on the screen and hope you see some bigger fish. Strategy? Keep moving and staring at the screen. Gone are the days when you study topo maps when fishing a new lake. It’s not fishing anymore

Guys you’ve never heard of? Jacob wheeler and Dustin Connell have dominated for yrs. Fujita was a fixture in the top ten last yr and won this year. Trey McKinney was a household name to anyone that followed the jr circuit and BASS opens 

 

Jordan Lee, Ott Defoe, Alton jones, dean Rojas, all still very competitive 

 

hank cherry won two classics recently and almost won a classic on grand ten yrs ago. 

 

 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Guys you’ve never heard of? Jacob wheeler and Dustin Connell have dominated for yrs. Fujita was a fixture in the top ten last yr and won this year. Trey McKinney was a household name to anyone that followed the jr circuit and BASS opens 

 

Jordan Lee, Ott Defoe, Alton jones, dean Rojas, all still very competitive 

 

hank cherry won two classics recently and almost won a classic on grand ten yrs ago. 

 

 

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. What I’m saying is times have changed. FFS has changed the game, there’s less of a need for the homework that was needed in the past. Guys with little experience are winning events now. 

@looking45That’s not actually true, just perception.  McKinney fished like 320 days practicing and fishing tournaments last yr and Fujita won 4 AOY titles in Japan before ever coming to America . Young guys are spending more time on the water and doing more homework than the older guys who haven’t won in many years. They have to raise families and hunt deer and turkey 

16 hours ago, looking45 said:

How do you pick a winner? With FFS, any knowledge of a lake is tossed out the window. A beginner has the same chance as a 15 year vet. Take a look at some of the recent winners. Guys you never heard of before. Tournaments have come Down to who happens to run into quality fish.  Just keep  your eyes on the screen and hope you see some bigger fish. Strategy? Keep moving and staring at the screen. 

 

15 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Guys you’ve never heard of? Jacob wheeler and Dustin Connell have dominated for yrs. Fujita was a fixture in the top ten last yr and won this year. Trey McKinney was a household name to anyone that followed the jr circuit and BASS opens 

 

Jordan Lee, Ott Defoe, Alton jones, dean Rojas, all still very competitive 

 

hank cherry won two classics recently and almost won a classic on grand ten yrs ago. 

 

I think one big glaring difference with the change of FFS is look at how Seth Feider has done on the northern smallmouth fisheries the past two years now that FFS has taken over. He used to be untouchable. Now he's hardly competitive. 

 

Some of the legends like Iaconelli, Swindle, Hackney have also fallen off with the new wave of technology driven fishermen. 

 

I personally hate seeing it happen to guys I grew up admiring it, but there's certainly a changing of the guard happening right now. And to @looking45 point, it is hard to pick on some of these venues lately. I think it's going to get really interesting whenever we get to some of these sight fishing events whenever they're on beds. Guys will be able to find/see fish on beds that are in water that's too deep/dark/dirty to traditionally find all the bedding fish. 

Fieder also won AOY during the FFS era……. 

Final day to make picks for the Classic. Don't miss out!

Interesting that no one has picked Kenta Kimora.  He’s going to win.  🙂

More FFS complaining. Yay!

John Cox and the Wacky Worm for the win 

@bowhunter63, he’s been on a tear, he top 10’d the classic last year on Frittside and most have forgotten. I think he nearly threw the same plug the whole tourney 

On 3/19/2024 at 5:05 PM, looking45 said:

How do you pick a winner? With FFS, any knowledge of a lake is tossed out the window. A beginner has the same chance as a 15 year vet. Take a look at some of the recent winners. Guys you never heard of before. Tournaments have come Down to who happens to run into quality fish.  Just keep  your eyes on the screen and hope you see some bigger fish. Strategy? Keep moving and staring at the screen. Gone are the days when you study topo maps when fishing a new lake. It’s not fishing anymore

This has been the biggest change in tournament fishing ever. I remember when Flipping changed fishing , that shift pales in comparison to beam shining. This is modern tourney fishing, I dont like it but it is what it is.  I picked Cox the first two events and that was like opting for Fred Flintstone. 

6 hours ago, scaleface said:

This has been the biggest change in tournament fishing ever. I remember when Flipping changed fishing , that shift pales in comparison to beam shining. This is modern tourney fishing, I dont like it but it is what it is.  I picked Cox the first two events and that was like opting for Fred Flintstone. 

And you’re Barney Rubble…… don’t give up on cox he’s a fixture at the top half of AOY standings 

Wow my roster is so screwed lol.  

8 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wow my roster is so screwed lol.  

I got one in the top-10 - the rest are below 30th...

9 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I got one in the top-10 - the rest are below 30th...

same but worse.....my best is 11th and he was my 5th bucket pick 🤣

 

Ole Patty Walters is in 53rd......my horse died at the gate 

Just now, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Ole Patty Walters is in 53rd

Trust me - I know....I got him too.