42 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@AlabamaSpothunter that’s why I stopped fishing lakes. 

They spray rivers too 

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They spray rivers too 

Yeah I mean Wheeler is an impoundment, but depending on generation schedule, it can cycle as much water through it as a river.

 

Wheeler was/is a textbook case of how spraying effects a fishery.   They stopped spraying Wheeler for a few years, and bam it's back to being a 20lb+ bag fishery again.   Inevitably the spraying will return to it though.  

 

Bet the FWC doesn't spray on Headwaters, maybe this is how it should be done......create at least half of the lakes for anglers, create the other half for whatever stupid thing people do on lakes besides fishing 🤣

Go Trey and Tyler!

I turned on Live on my phone late in the coverage.    Only saw a couple catches, but knew it hadn't been did an easy day for at least one angler with a camera in the boat.  Wish I could remember who it was, but I counted 18 rods on a guy's front deck.  Impressive...lol

@JediAmoebawhrn you get 50-70 boats plus gof only knows how many kayak paddle boards sail boats on a 500 acre lake  you run out of room and patience quick. 
 

@TnRiver46the fish and boat commission here only cares about life jackets and trout season. It took a decade of them denying fish kills on the river for them to do anything. Once pretty much everyone stopped fishing it they said if there is an issue 

One of the Harris Chain public ramps is two blocks from my home.  Except for during the spawning season, I often fish there during the week.  To avoid the crowds, I have been doing most of my bass fishing in our smaller lakes.  I traded my big bass boat for a Ranger RT178 aluminum boat that I can launch at these small ramps.

 

After tons of work and millions of dollars, the Harris Chain has become a decent bass fishery again.  Unfortunately, it's being degraded by too many tournaments.  Tournaments are one thing.  Carrying a load of spawning bass in a live well all day kills fish. After one of these tournaments, many bass are re-caught with sores and virus infections.  Others are skinny with huge heads and slim bodies.  Florida has enough bass fishing regulations, Unfortunately the State issues too many tournament exceptions.  Getting one is so easy a cave man can do it!  Bass are game fish just like Tarpon, Snook and Redfish.  You could make a point that they are more valuable than those fish. The State of Florida should implement no exemption immediate release closed seasons on bass just like it does for other game fish. Unfortunately, I feel this will never happen.

JT Kenney just caught a descent fish using FFS with a jerkbait. The fish had one hook in it that I could see— right in the belly. Do you all think the same rules for sight fishing should apply to FFS catches? I can’t be the only one who has thought about this before. 
 

thanks,

Steve 

Nope 

No it won’t happen. 

Realistically if the State would just increase the current minimum size limits and especially stop issuing exemptions, could a have major impact to help curve the realistic and assumed out of control mortality rates caused by tournaments that keeps getting talked about on this board. 
 

There are ways to assure a long term healthy fishery by legislation and education. 
Hopefully in my grandkids lifetime it will happen. 

Considering closing seasons and banning tournaments in this state is a waste of time. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

Garret just got a big one with a bucktail, don’t see that much in FLA. First throw with it too 

2 hours ago, stk44 said:

JT Kenney just caught a descent fish using FFS with a jerkbait. The fish had one hook in it that I could see— right in the belly. Do you all think the same rules for sight fishing should apply to FFS catches? I can’t be the only one who has thought about this before. 
 

thanks,

Steve 

Yes. Let’s face it, a hook in the belly doesn’t constitute an eating largemouth. 

.

I catch as many if not more jerkbait fish outside the mouth than in it.    Jerkbaits are notorious for not hooking fish in the mouth.

 

If you made that rule, you could eliminate jerkbaits from the Elite Series.  

 

8 hours ago, stk44 said:

JT Kenney just caught a descent fish using FFS with a jerkbait. The fish had one hook in it that I could see— right in the belly. Do you all think the same rules for sight fishing should apply to FFS catches? I can’t be the only one who has thought about this before.

No I think if someone can snag a fish using a sonar beam that is 10 feet wide,  the fish should count double.

4 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I catch as many if not more jerkbait fish outside the mouth than in it.    Jerkbaits are notorious for not hooking fish in the mouth.

 

If you made that rule, you could eliminate jerkbaits from the Elite Series.  

 

Do you think they should eliminate that rule altogether for sight fishermen during the spawn then? I’ve never caught a fish using FFS so I’m not really sure where I stand. I just saw it on live and thought something didn’t feel right. 

3 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

No I think if someone can snag a fish using a sonar beam that is 10 feet wide,  the fish should count double.

It was pretty neat to see the fish follow the jerkbait and pin it to the bottom. It was just weird watching someone target a fish on FFS, catch it, and then it come up snagged. 

No I don't think any rule changes should be made.      Sight fish should be hooked in the mouth, not hard to snag them on bed.      

I’m on the side of going to all fish need at least a single hook in the mouth at the highest level of the sport (Elite/BPT) - show your catch to your marshal/ referee before unhooking. No different than bed fishing. With the advent of FFS, there are several scenarios now where it’s more possible/likely to score a catch or two by foul hooking, whether intentional or not. You can’t easily rule by intent, but you can by hook location. 

12 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

I’m on the side of going to all fish need at least a single hook in the mouth at the highest level of the sport (Elite/BPT) - show your catch to your marshal/ referee before unhooking. No different than bed fishing. With the advent of FFS, there are several scenarios now where it’s more possible/likely to score a catch or two by foul hooking, whether intentional or not. You can’t easily rule by intent, but you can by hook location. 

I think that makes a lot of sense. Then at least there is a standard across the board. When I can afford FFS in a couple of years, I’ll let you know if I change my mind. 🙂 

51 minutes ago, stk44 said:

I think that makes a lot of sense. Then at least there is a standard across the board. When I can afford FFS in a couple of years, I’ll let you know if I change my mind. 🙂 

This is my 4th year with it and why I’ve changed mine 😎

You could have a fish hooked with a jerkbait or crankbait or topwater all in the mouth and after several jumps during the fight it could be hooked anywhere 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

You could have a fish hooked with a jerkbait or crankbait or topwater all in the mouth and after several jumps during the fight it could be hooked anywhere 

Yep, and that would just be bad luck. Release it and move on.

Or cook it for supper