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Rules for thee but not for me sound familiar! Tom

Had a cold NC day with wind so didn't want to mess with the kayak. Hit up @Pat Brown to see if he wanted to try a new pond with me at a city park. Ended up getting our families together which was fun! We explored the ponds which feed each other in a chain. Pretty cool place with a variety of cover. I ended up deciding to try a blade bait as a few of you have inspired me but I'd never thrown one. I had a pretty small chartreuse one and threw it for an hour. Slow day and I varies the retrieve, ended up catching one good one on it. Both pics are same fish. Felt good to catch one on a new bait in a new place. Now I want to try a larger one on the lake. Looking forward to further exploring these ponds and possibly adding to our rotation of pressured ponds with a few big fish in them!

It should be. His next video will be, "The TRUTH About the Fishing Scandal—I'm Being FRAMED! Shocking Evidence They Don't Want You to See!"

Sounds like he forgot to renew his license and a string of technicalities escalated it. My personal guess with almost zero information is that at least some of those escalations could have probably been handled in a less dramatic way. It's very easy to overlook license renewal especially if you have licenses for multiple states. Heck, here in MD I have to buy TWO separate licenses as a resident just to fish for bass every year...Add in VA, DC, PA, NC, and sometimes DE and I need a personal assistant just keep track....That's all for a 4 hr driving radius. The fact that he renewed after the fact doesn't mean he was trying hide anything, it just means that he was continuing to fish after realizing "oh crap I need to renew," just like any other normal angler would do. It's not like he was never planning to fish again and bought the license for the sole purpose of tricking the SL program. Don't know the guy, not defending, just being logical.

Knowly & willing falsifying documents for monetary gain. Yeah that ain't cheating

Not passing judgment. But the comments on Candy Randy's YT video are just classic and indicative of the current state of mind of so many derby fans. 👌 A-Jay

I have no problem with cheating. Heck! At any time I expect to be arrested for impersonating a bass fisherman.

As with many things in life, I do not have enough information on this matter to form any kind of knowledgeable opinion. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end. I trust our justice system will provide adequate punishment if punishment is due. It does seem odd they didn't simply write him a ticket, but like I said, I have zero first hand knowledge on the matter, and wont be on the jury, so I will simply have to wait and trust that the truth and justice will win out in the end.

Cheating is probably the wrong descriptive word if the entire story is accurate. Poaching would be a better term. You can't fish without a valid license. Or hunt. That's against state law. Being that he's not a repeat offender (at least I don't think he is), he should pay a fine and that should be the end of it. Unless of course he has another offense. BTW what the heck is he doing in that photo in his boat? The splits? Makes my groin hurt just seeing it.

The above resonates true to me. Science is one of the foundation's building blocks and the art is how we put our individual spin on the science. Several other points require clarification. Science is not absolute. It is fluid and always changing as our knowledge base & technology changes. The art component is how we interpret the science. Adding another category and moving away from art, we can experience a "spiritual" component. Standing on the science and art, we'll make a cast and at the speed of thought we'll be one with the rod, reel, line, lure and even the air in which it slices through. Call it a Zen moment or whatever you wish to catalog it as. And then the retrieve becomes an extension of yourself and you bring life to a lifeless lure to make the magic happen. There's a communion, a oneness to us, our gear, and the environment....

I always open the bail to cast using my left hand from left to right with the bail roller positioned at 12 o’clock by habit. This allows my right hand index finger tip to pickup and hold the line while casting. So at what rotation position does the bail close when casting? Simply avoid that bail position to solve the problem. Works in the States, don’t know about merry ole England. Tom PS, instead of Bloody Shimano enjoy a Bloody Mary….cheers

Rather slow day at the ol Stillhousy. I got 2 bites on a jig in timber in pretty quick succession and then nothing. One of these jig fish wrapped me up in a tree and came off. It felt pretty heavy. I beat the skunk at least!

This year's haul not counting tools, plastics, and terminal tackle. The wildest thing I found this year was a fizzing needle. I'm not sure why anyone would want to fizz a bass that was caught in a 10' deep pond.

Sounds like a Don't Do That moment. Every spinning reel made has a rotation position that opening the bail will interfere with the bail trip mechanism. I always position my line roller at top dead center to prep for a cast, and never had an issue. If you want some excitement, do it wrong on your big surf reel.

I think a perfect, accurate cast is a form of art. The physics to do it is the science. Every backlash I've done in the past 50 years was a work of art!! 🎣

I fished for a couple weeks last July with an expired license. I have also fished on trips to other states a couple times before remembering to buy a license. And I think I am pretty attuned to it. Easy to imagine how it can happen where I would have trouble calling it cheating. Not defending him. Don't care about him. Just defending against premature internet outrage.

We got clobbered with another 20+ inches of snow & I'm pretty sure Miss Kya is loving it ! A-Jay

The best part about fishing with @FishTax is he will call you out on your bad hooksets and tell you exactly where to throw your bait 😂 @Koz

Been following bass fishing tournaments for a long time . It’s seems all you hear is bs and drama cheating ect anymore. There shooting holes in there own boats .

This is a comment

My complete guess? Forgot to buy his license, caught a big one, went to register and went “oh crap” and hoped no one would notice the dates.

Recently I mentioned in the 'Winter Projects' thread, that I was in the process of converting the remaining split grip rods I fish into what I'm going to call a "Hybrid Full Grip". Both spinning & casting rods were getting the treatment. I've had this 'idea' bouncing around in my head for a while now but was somewhat hesitant to make it happen. To reiterate, I am NOT a fan of Split grip sticks and felt like I have tolerated them long enough. I'm a two hand caster and really like something substantial to hold onto. Initially, I was just going to re-home many of these sticks, but there are way too many memories wrapped up in them at this point, so I went to plan B. Finally took the plunge, purchased 'the supplies' and went to work. The supplies included a Super basic heat gun, a few packs of Accu-Cull Rod Grips, and some cork tape for a base layer under the grip. While hiding in my basement from the excessive winter, I finished this deal up today. Came out a bit better than I actually expected, which rarely happens and without burning my fingers or melting a rod in half. #nosplitgrips A-Jay

Every year my family spends the day making ravioli for Christmas dinner. My daughter stopped by today to do just that. Sitting and having a glass now @TnRiver46 and @12poundbass, don’t pee on my cheerios!

I told you where to throw it and what was going to happen. You had one job... 😎

Evidence has to gathered, reviewed, and submitted. Nothing moves fast and to me this does not rise to the elevation of being "violent" or "serious" enough to be a high priority. Being that it's a state charge, 6 months is quite long. Not uncommon for a federal charge though.

The thing that complicates this situation, and enhances the punishment is the fact he entered a fish into the Sharelunker program which has a prize pool attached to it. Somehow the news has conflated that with cheating in an actual traditional fishing derby. If he simply caught a 14lb fish without a license, it would be nothing more than a misdemeanor...fishing without a license charge.....but because he entered that fish in a program that has a monetary value attached to it, it's now considered fraud. It doesn't say whether or not the charge is a felony, but usually $10k is enough to elevate a charge to a felony.

2500 or 3000 twin power. I like something a little heavier than a vanford for that rod. Could also go certate from daiwa.

New casting reels spooled and ready to ~ Project #22 A-Jay

Remove the Bail Trip Strip instead, I think its removable and should disable auto close. When you open the bail, and depending on the bail arm position, the Bail Trip Lever makes contact with the Bail Trip Strip. That's why the bail arm won't fully open and sometimes you have to twist the bail arm rotation again to fully open it and to get that full open feel and click.

I really liked Sunline Shooter Defier, but alas, ‘tis no more. 15 lb. at the same diameter as most 12 lb. line was nice. I'm back to Big Game and/or Yo Zuri Hybrid.

lol. I call it the A-Jay Special. I guess it’s truly a Texas Rig Jig, but whatever it’s true name is, it works.

We am NOT routing for Global warning. Need the cold, ice & snow. Don't like it, move to a warmer climate. A-Jay

I can totally relate to this post. I used to take my son bass fishing and if he didn’t hook up within a 15-20 min window then it was game over. Fast forward 15 years or so and I got him into ground fishing in Maine. It’s been great having a fishing buddy again. Nice post …

Again, if you were simply a funny, paddling, DD angler, I'd admire you, but your lucidity here is your sundae's cherry.

Just looked at a schematic and it looks like there's a bail trip lever, which might be removable. Going to investigate, but I don't have a torx head small enough, so waiting on Amazon. If it is possible that would be a super outcome and I'm glad this thread has made me think about this problem more than just being infuriated by it.

Wow, I think this was one of my first posts in here. Fun to see it resurrected, as I’ve come a very long way in the past 5 years. I’ve got multiple (10+… would have to count) baitcasting rod/reel setups now and can’t imagine ever fishing without them. The Duckett rod I mentioned is still going strong and is on the deck pretty much every trip. I did buy that Chronarch 200e7 I spoke about and it’s still in good use - I’d buy another in a heartbeat. That reel is now setup with 15# copoly on a dedicated swimbait/glide bait setup for pike/bass (in that order of use). I’ve been blessed with the means to try many reels and I think the Shimano SLX/SLX DC reels are hard to beat for value and performance. I’ve got a couple of Curado DCs too, and frankly I don’t feel they’re any better than the SLX. I’ve not tried any Lews reels yet, but we have a couple of their Speed Stick rods (green handles) and are very happy with them for a $100-ish rod. I’ll be setting up a dedicated frog setup for myself next year because my 15yo son “stole” the one I had (and has whooped my butt with it too many times - darn kid has the timing down on the hooksets so good that I should steal is back and tell him go buy your own. lol). I may try a Lews for my frog rod, so I can speak first hand about a Lews reel. @Jsher19038 For a frogging reel, I definitely recommend an 8: speed. I’d also recommend a 150 or even 200 size for decent line capacity with 50+ lb. braid.

Why not check licenses at registration. Surprised they don't.

I got a discount on it, which helped convince me. The BassPro gift card I'm getting from FWC for that 8lber last week will likely be used to buy another 110, perhaps the Jr. Been curious about them for a long time but the price is hard to swallow given what I've managed to catch on much less expensive alternatives.

I was searching 200. I’ll start looking for the 201. Appreciate that info!

That would be great. I’ve met with and fished with a bunch of BR members over the years. I have never fished Marion or Moultrie and can’t wait to fish there.

This doesn't qualify as cheating in my book..... "it was discovered that Milliken did not have a valid fishing license at the time the fish was caught and knowingly falsified the contest/tournament entry form,” Maggie Berger, spokesman for Texas Parks and Wildlife said in an email." While being a liar and breaking the law by not having a valid fishing license is certainly terrible behavior, this in no way merits the accusations of "cheating" which will have a tremendous negative effect on him. There was a guy who won a NPFL event a couple years back, it was discovered he didn't have a valid license at the time of winning and had to forfeit the money and win. At no time was the moniker of cheater ever leveled at this man, and rightfully so. Milliken is his own worst enemy, and I'm not carrying his water, but as a community we need to be very selective when we actually accuse anglers of cheating imho.

I was at the local bait shops spring expo and swap last spring and a guy had a box of old Curado B's and E's he was selling. He had three 201 E7's he was selling for $75 a piece. I had never used a Curado E so I bought one. I put it on a Megabass Levante Diablo Spec for spinnerbaits and I really like it! Good reels. I see why everyone likes them. I wish I would have bought more. That being said, I wouldn't pay $150 - $200 for them though. Though I DID see the 51e someone mentioned above. Thought about it, but wasn't bidding on it when already at $179.

UH OH!! https://www.dailysentinel.com/news/local/pro-fisherman-popular-youtuber-ben-milliken-charged-with-fishing-tournament-fraud/article_7a9d1efc-8fff-5ba1-94f7-b14520ec8879.html

Here We GO. . . . . A-Jay

Nearly 4 inches of rain this week, and now the NW winds and clear skies following the front. Spent 2.5 hours on the water this afternoon, the first hour inside a creek arm hiding from the wind. Searched for crappie but only found carp, so pulled out the bass gear and caught one on jerkbait. Wind finally settled, so looked again for some crappie on the main lake. Only spotted a few, so gave up. Moved to some main lake points during the final 45 minutes and limited out on bass using blade baits. Water 49 deg.

Honestly can’t remember a bail mis function with either Shimano or Daiwa. The last Daiwa I owned was in the 80’s SS TD 1300 that had a manual close bail. All my Shimano spinning reels have been Stradic’s and Vanford with zero issues. Tom

I'm going to blow this all up with one question: Are you a really good angler or are you just familiar with the waters you fish? Aye, there's the rub! I think most of us that are experienced are pretty good on the waters we fish regularly. But drop us off two states away and most will need considerable time to figure it out and consistently catch fish there. Don't believe me? How many times have we seen pros get skunked on MLF while another guy catches 35 pounds worth in a round? Over the years when we fish the same waters over and over again we consciously and subconsciously pick up a ton of information that we employ each time we go out. But that information does not always translate into the same level of results on foreign waters. Experience tells us where the fish should be, but different bodies of water have their own cycles as to when the fish are more likely to be in those locations. Anyway, I'm a really good fisherman on the bodies of water I fish consistently. But put me on water that I haven't been on before and it's going to take me a while to achieve that same consistency.

Two trips north for Canadian smallmouth, walleye & pike. One trip will be a bucket list fly-in.

Some of you are beginning to see what it's like to live on the West Coast. It's virtually impossible to be a part of any major circuit. Can you imagine moving your family, finding a new job, house, etc just so you can fish tournaments? But that's what it takes.

Havasu will be filled well in advance. West coast anglers are ignored by the big leagues, so they're hungry for any event, and will travel a full day or two to get there.