My goodness, now he just caught 5.5 LM.

 

I mean 5lb SM and 5lb LM within 10mins of each other.   I'm not sure what's more impressive, Connell or Guntersville.   Just wow! 

 

ETA:  Zero FFS usage so far on the final day as well.  This is awesome.   

Connell is on fire 

I don’t watch these tourneys but Connell has talked about a scrounger a million times on his YT channel so I might have actually had that on my bingo card 

 

my musician fishing friend set up a bunch of audio stuff  at the expo, he said it was small but fun to kill time there. He just throws black worm or popR so he probably didn’t get any JDM deals 😂 

Scrounger caught me an almost 10 several

years ago, I’m a believer. 

I'm sure all of us who live within 150 miles of Nickajack Dam will be heading that way in the next week.  We should have a BR meetup in South Pittsburgh.  😆

I’d get 16 white bass and a drum 

Well Strader is at least going to make this thing interesting.    Gotta love the diversity of techniques and locations.   

 

Guntersville really is the perfect place for a tournament.  

Pretty cool seeing some of the old guard getting it done . A lot of different techniques going down. But I think Connell has this in the bag 21 lb up with 1 period to go 

Connell boated another 5lb smallie and a 4lb larry before period 2 ended. He’s up by over 20 now. Seems like he’s got it. 

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I'm sure all of us who live within 150 miles of Nickajack Dam will be heading that way in the next week.  We should have a BR meetup in South Pittsburgh.  😆

S Pitt - straight up 72 for me…about an hour and a half… 

 

I don’t own a boat, but will buy gas! Or, better yet, scrounger heads for all…though someone will have to tell me where/what to get. Never fished one….

 

Oh, and yes, the weather down here last night was miserable. Still ugly out, but not bad. I’m about 45 mins away in HSV, and we have it a little better here than at GSV, but it’s clearing…

23 hours ago, Smirak said:

S Pitt - straight up 72 for me…about an hour and a half… 

 

I don’t own a boat, but will buy gas! Or, better yet, scrounger heads for all…though someone will have to tell me where/what to get. Never fished one….

Pretty sure DC is using Davis Baits Shakey Fish.

That's what everybody uses around here including myself.    Aaron Martins helped develop it.   So much money has been won off of it.   Will Davis Jr won the Lay Lake Elite two years ago on it as well.  

 

Any kind of pintail minnow will work great with them.   

 

Davis Baits Shakey Fish Swim Jig 2pk | Tackle Warehouse

Congrats to DC!   

Pretty epic win.     He better thank the weather Gods for sure.   

Him and Wesley put it on em. Some really nice Smallies caught .Congrats DC 

Incredible tournament.   Never thought I would see smallmouth being a factor in a Guntersville tournament.

 

I’m sure South Pittsburgh would like to thank Alabama for sponsoring this tournament.  I’m sure they will need to increase the size of the parking lot at the South Pittsburgh ramp.  😀

20 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I think Connell is going to win his 3rd in a row.   His bite is only going to get better with the conditions forecasted tomorrow, and that shallow spawn bite is going to be way harder.     

 

Wow, you called it!  I would have agreed if it were not for new baby syndrome.  Seems every athlete, no matter the sport, falls off the first year after having their first child.  I put that in the "we're only human" category.  His performance this year so far has lived up to my theory but being a fanboy, I can't tell you how happy I am for him.

 

I am also a Wheeler fanboy and I had read that his father passed away before the tournament started.  I feel for him too.  I hope Dustin dedicates this win to them.

@Craig P  Yeah that new baby thing is a real factor.    What I've seen in MLB especially is guys will have short upward burst in performance right when they become a father, but not long after most go into slumps.   

 

Jordan Lee talked about this on the Mercer podcast IIrc.  

 

One thing these new kids don't get credit for is the fact that they all live on the water.....these kids have no life outside of pro fishing.   Connell and Wheeler were once those same kids without families.    It just stands to reason that those with families can't spend nearly the time on the water that those without can.  

 

Hate to hear that for Wheeler.   I'm sure his dad was incredibly proud of all that he's accomplished, and the beautiful family he's helped create.     

 

It'll be a crime if Wheeler or Connell never get to fish another Classic again.    

46 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Incredible tournament.   Never thought I would see smallmouth being a factor in a Guntersville tournament.

 

I’m sure South Pittsburgh would like to thank Alabama for sponsoring this tournament.  I’m sure they will need to increase the size of the parking lot at the South Pittsburgh ramp.  😀

No doubt about it, I mean it's pretty mind blowing when you think that an early April Guntersville tournament was won on big SM and Spots, along with typical sized LMs. 

 

Guntersville is just such a special lake, and somehow it only continues to get better regardless of the immense pressure applied to it.   

 

I didn't get to watch a ton of this coverage, but what I did watch was solid. The only thing MLF could take from BASS's coverage would be to copy their Livestream commercial format, where the coverage of the fishing is still there with no volume while the ads run with volume.

 

Did anyone catch Connell jinx himself by saying he'd had a bite every cast for 10 minutes, then went on a 20-30 minute lull? As soon as those words came out of his mouth I thought he was likely regretting it. 

I really like Connell, but tuned out competitive content awhile back. Is he still doing the "ding" thing?

I've started watching coverage again, and I'm shocked by how drastically the tournament landscape changed in a year. MLF doesn't suck. BASS is a sshow. NPFL is old school. High-school drama is everywhere.

Connell's comments on negativity are great to hear. I hope that can start resonating in the competitive world and get everything back on track.

33 minutes ago, redux said:

MLF doesn't suck.

As a former MLF "hater", I'd agree that MLF is a significantly better product than BASS's current product.    

 

MLF puts on a watchable and entertaining broadcast, whereas whatever BASS is producing is truly unwatchable between all the commercials and the ridiculous amount of punditry and talking heads.   I mean the half time show, and pathetic flipping contest is the cherry on top. 

 

Just focus on fishing, the anglers, and hire an IT guy that can keep the broadcast working.....apparently BASS doesn't think that's the future.  

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

As a former MLF "hater", I'd agree that MLF is a significantly better product than BASS's current product.    

 

MLF puts on a watchable and entertaining broadcast, whereas whatever BASS is producing is truly unwatchable between all the commercials and the ridiculous amount of punditry and talking heads.   I mean the half time show, and pathetic flipping contest is the cherry on top. 

 

Just focus on fishing, the anglers, and hire an IT guy that can keep the broadcast working.....apparently BASS doesn't think that's the future.  

 

I am a BASS guy. But trying to watch the Classic was painful. After the 20th time I heard the Dave Mercer highlight “boom shakalaka Gi-Gi-Gi-Giant bass” I **** it off. I think it’s broken.

 

I actually like the two guys who do MLF. They talk about the fishing and keep it light.  I almost teared up a little when they talked about Val Kilmer. But yeah credit to them.  Plus choosing a venue that is actually fishing well. Novel concept.

 

My problem with MLF is that it will always be a little too LIV Golf for me and it is fueled by Stan Kroenke money who is one of the worst people in sports that I can think of.

 

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

As a former MLF "hater", I'd agree that MLF is a significantly better product than BASS's current product.    

 

MLF puts on a watchable and entertaining broadcast, whereas whatever BASS is producing is truly unwatchable between all the commercials and the ridiculous amount of punditry and talking heads.   I mean the half time show, and pathetic flipping contest is the cherry on top. 

 

Just focus on fishing, the anglers, and hire an IT guy that can keep the broadcast working.....apparently BASS doesn't think that's the future.  

 

Bass used to show anglers fishing the whole time and people whined about that too

Heard that their expo was attendance was lacking.

@volzfan59, my buddies were there and confirmed that

One thing that hurt the expo was this…

 

On Sunday, we had the expo, the surge event (like Tim Tebow and the duck dynasty guys talking Jesus stuff), and something else going on downtown (I think a concert).  If you haven’t been to the HSV area, that might not sound too bad. But, they all happened at the same venue. The Von Braun Center has multiple halls/arenas/etc. The crowds looked huge, but they were separated between 3 events taking place simultaneously. Parking was a nightmare. I didn’t attend, but had some friends that I umpire with show up. They confirmed that the attendance was lacking.

 

However, apparently the big draw in the expo was the Ikon boats display. Heard from multiple people that was where a ton of people just “milling about” congregated there. Heard of some decent-ish sales: BOGO, etc. A friend’s son walked out with three Lews baitcasters for $99 and three Lews rods for $99. I don’t know what models, but three complete setups from a reputable manufacturer for $200…all for a 6th grader? That’s a deal in my book…