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24 days later I can officially announce a very happy ending to my lost GoPro data saga. While I wasn't able to recover the entire cast to catch video, or other ones from that day due to not wanting to spend more money, they were able to recover the one video I wanted most which starts the moment the fish is in the net. It's total amateur hour with me being in half a state of shock hooking myself 50 ways from Sunday so don't judge me too harshly 😅 Jeremy at Recovermyflashdrive.com is truly a magician and miracle worker. He's extremely fair with regard to pricing. It should have been a flat rate to recover the full 128gb, however GoPro files require more extensive work. If he would have recovered everything on the card, it would have cost about $1450 which I just couldn't do. @Bluebasser86 It might worth sending your card to Jeremy, especially if you think you might not need everything recovered and you can help him home in where exactly the data is you most want off the card. Lastly, a huge thanks for all the love and support from my friends here when it happened......I was crushed and you folks made me feel better! Katie was even checking in to see how the progress was going.....everybody should be so lucky to have a pal like Katie in your corner.

Tournaments you have no choice but to go, Toledo Bend & Rayburn will beat you to death. Days I wanna go they tell me it's off limits. Got tired of that & decided to pick my days.

Lowe 1652MT Marine grade plywood decking with aluminum L-bracket framing and SS screws/bolts. Outdoor carpeting. Carpeted floors and bow with storage access. 24V TM at bow plus depthfinder. Dual battery charger. 9.9 tiller engine. Dual graphs at helm. Slotted tackle storage with 12V plug serves as deck extension. Control panel for lights, bilge, livewell w/recirc.

Alabama, TN, Arkansas , Texas, Minnesota, and Japan 😆

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say. If you run into heavy weeds this is where you may want to switch to a Grass jig or one of our Tungsten punch rigs. The Grid Iron Brush jig is one of my top sellers. The Owner XXX strong hook is one thing that sets it apart from many others. Just going off the pictures I'd say my brush head is thinner on the sides. Fishtank please PM me of ideas of what you are looking for. I'll see what I can do within the parameters of the website.

Many thanks Eric! Expect to hear a teenage girl screaming and fumbling around 🤣

Why would I? No sense in throwing away money

I fished a few tournaments many years ago. I was never really very good at it. I realized that competitive fishing just wasn't my thing. Now, I'm 67, and I like fishing in a slower more relaxing way.

Built hull up from a 1973 Alumacraft F-9 (predecessor to the V-14) after stripping the seats out. Shot of the aluminum framing for the deck

I fish out of a Alweld 1652VJT Marsh RD Package Tunnel. 16' length 14" extended front deck 52" tunnel hull Nauticus Smart Tab SX Tohatsu 40 hp

Now bob……… “can’t never could” their fur was currency 300 yrs ago, are we moving backwards as a people ? (Don’t answer that 😆)

I'm guessing you've already considered this, Bob, and perhaps tried it, but just in case, give some thought to outfitting your surviving bass with torpedo tubes. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing! #yeah,I'mthevillageidiot

When done properly, lacquer is another great option:

It's not even a close race in terms of which state produces the most pro anglers

Sagisi customs used to do a lot of creosote reels. My favorite was his TD ITO themed Steez CT.

A few times last year, I just took two rods with two lures to fish my pond in the evening. I took pliers and my cell phone too, but that was it. For 2025, after trying so many different kinds of tackle boxes, I'm going old school with the one below. It'll be easy to open to dry the lures when I get home and the hard shell will make it waterproof when raining. It has three trays and I'll appreciate the handle when walking through the woods. I came to find the utility trays within a soft tackle box cumbersome and water-trapping.

Thanks a bunch Scott!!! I can't tell you how many times I've thrown that red blade bait at the location I caught her at since then 🤣 I surely appreciate it Eric!!! It just never felt like a complete catch until I got to share her with folks like you pal. Outside of this place very, very few people in my universe "get it", it really is great to have friends to share these moments with 🙂

I load it up with all the random odds and ends that don't really fit in a backpack or tackle flat when I'm out.

Followed this estate Auction and ended up buying a 16' Alumacraft Maverick at a terrific price, but here's where the Senior Moment came in. There were a couple dozen lots of fishing supplies. This guy really loved his fishing, but more than that, he LOVED the Bait Monkey. There were boxes and boxes of vintage lures still in the package. I mean Hellbenders, and Jitterbugs still in the original boxes. At least a dozen tackle boxes spilling over and gobs of rods and reels. Some of the lots went for over 100.00. Anyway, one of the lots showed a Shimano Bantam B-Mag 1000 still in plastic. Well the "Bantam" got me unhinged and I started biding on it. Bid it up to 45.00 and won! I was high-fiving myself and slappin' my back! Giggling just like a juvenile, doing the Fargo Strut and laughing insanely. Got home, checked it out on E-Bay, and you can get one for 30.00 plus shipping! 😶 What! Dang! I spent 45.00 for a 30.00 reel? Well, I can't undo the celebration, but I can have fun with it and share the humor! Unfortunately, I told my wife, and with her memory, I will hear about this forever! Anyone else have a senior moment at an auction?

To the basics and really pair things down? Don't get me wrong I like having tons of rods and reels and endless baits..fun to tinker with crap and have tons of options. But I think if all I had was 2 medhvy bait casters and a med spinning rod,some 15lb big game and 8lb trilene, couple poppers, a few spinner baits, some 3/0 hooks, 1/8 and 1/4 bullet weights( lead not that new fangled tungsten!)and a few bags of worms and lizards I'd catch fish. Sorry maybe that's my inner old man talking...trying to shun new technology! Am I the only one who feels this way some times?

The cost, and I've discovered over the years that I like fishing by myself, where and when I want to fish.

All during my youth enjoyed competing in serval sports so bass club derbies were another event to compete in. I liked tournament fishing but thought winning was everything and too driven to enjoy the events. Gave up fishing tournaments to focus on my goal to catch a world record bass. I could pick when and where to fish and avoid weekend club derbies or local bass tournaments. When my son wanted to fish local tournaments we fished charity night events that we both enjoyed without any pressure to win. Tom

I'm on personal tournament with myself every time I go fishing.. I give myself prices for a big bag and big fish.

Regardless of how it got posted thank you both for sharing your slice of what I would call paradise.

Wasn't what I had in mind but 👌 Pros come from the amateur levels, if you can't compete on the amateur level don’t even think about Pro level. Lot of talk about sponsorships, I can tell ya this much, it doesn't matter how slick a talker you are, ya gotta be able to catch em first. Straight up talent wise, there's quite a few that can compete but simply choose not to for whatever reason. There are members here who are or have been guides, & I have friends who guide. In my personal opinion these anglers are better than Pros, they have to be on em everyday.

Reminds me of the scene in Pulp Fiction where the mob boss is going to go Medieval.

BR friends, this is my place in Tennessee. Swamp Girl was kind enough to post because I am too inept. Thanks Katie!

My new boss would put my head on a pike! She told me otter is her spirit animal when we were discussing an issue at a wetland. She goes “please tell me you never trapped otters….. wait….. nvm…… don’t tell me anything”

We could all throw in some money and hire @TnRiver46 to do the needful.......we wanna see Otter heads on pikes 🤣

Y'all need to re-read 😉 Where y'all think Pros come from?

I could get by quite happily with a flippin stick and a heavy moderate moving bait rod. Beaver, worm, bladed jig, spinnerbait, swim jig.

This is the one I use. When I tie it, the hook and the big loop are basically in the palm of my hand hidden and the eye down to the lure keeper are exposed. I make all of the wraps right behind the eye, using the pressure of the next wrap to slide the previous wraps back towards the lure keeper. After the last wrap I use my thumb to pinch everything from the keeper to the eye in place and thread the tag end back through the big loop. Skip step 4 in the diagram below. Note, I only tie the snell on straight shank pitching hooks and throwing heavier setups (1/2 oz and up, 20# mono/50# braid and up). I'm not convinced about the benefits of always hooking them in the roof of the mouth (though I usually do). I'm more concerned about the weight banging on the knot coming through heavy cover and the overall 'cleanness' of the rig.

Many that fish the BPT fish the Toyota Series and sometimes the Phoenix league and they don't dominate every tournament. I've heard that Jacob Wheeler sometimes fishing a weekly wildcat tournament on Chickamauga. I don't know what his record is in those tournaments. When I say average Joe I'm not talking about someone that fishes twice a year. I'm talking about serious anglers that fish at lower levels. Ike once said the best angler he knew was in a club that he used to fish in. Again, I'm not saying the Elite guys are not good. They are amazing. I'm saying that an Elite level angler fishing in a local club tournament might be favored to win but would not be like Derick Henry playing in a junior college football game.

@AlabamaSpothunter Heck of a catch and gopro saga! Congrats!! I hope you get to visit with her again soon. scott

These work well too!

Wanted to try out Ark rods, so i got one of the new Wes Logan Leatherman do everything regular Action rods. Then the baitmonkey wanted another SS Air for the 7'6 Cashion BFS

On my re-up for the tw sale I decided to get a quick qube for my fishing bag. So far so good and keeps all my plastics in one place. Can't wait to put it to the test once the weather warms up

Thanks so much Katie and A-Jay!!! Seeing her swim away healthy and unharmed was my favorite part as well. I know if we ever cross paths again, she's likely going to be well north of 10lbs. I suspect as I type she already is.

Fished the power plant lake with my buddy today in our yaks. Weather wasn’t bad but pretty chilly, 21 at launch and 37 at take out but winds were pretty light so it made it more tolerable. The normal rock was was very unproductive, and Stony wanted to fish some different places we normally couldn’t get to, but I wanted to fish my flat point first, so we went there. We were immediately on fish, both fishing a Ned rig. I caught a football of a 17” fish that weighed 3.60. But I hadn’t even released mine when Stony hooked up with a tank that went 6.25. We caught several more small fish before it slowed down a little. I was slowly dragging my Ned rig on 10lb Seaguar TacX and 8lb Seaguar Pounce leader when my bait just disappeared. When I caught up set the hook, the fish bulldogged for deeper water and then under the kayak before sliding into the net. Not quite as heavy as most fish with a fish this size, but still a 4.73lb fish. We caught a few more little ones before we decided to go fish some other areas of the lake. I hung around a little longer than Stony and started to notice what looked like schooling activity to me and caught a few fish before I left and caught up with Stony, but I kept thinking about those fish. A couple hours later, I had one small fish and lost a big one on a crankbait. I told Stony I was going to spend my last couple hours on the flat point and he thought that was a good idea. They were biting again right away and the schooling activities had ramped up. They were chasing shad on the point and into the shallow pocket next to it. I caught several small ones off the point, but the fish in the pocket looked bigger. I caught one on a 2tap that was a little bigger and called Stony over and told him what was happening. He took that information and immediately stuck a good one. I don’t think he weighed it but it was another 4-5 pound fish. I rotated through several baits trying to find something different. I took off the 2tap and put on an Ima Suspending lipless. First cast I pulled it down and paused and got thumped. I knew it was a good one, but the mini blimp that surfaced was bigger than I expected, and it liked what I was throwing. I though she might go 7 but not quite long enough, still a little over 6.5lbs, biggest of the year so far. We made a few more cast but both had to get on the road. A great winter day on the water.

The chad shad has been my most successful glidebait for numbers. I weight it for a super slow sink depending on water temps, and get most bites on a chop/pause style retrieve. Killer full moon bait. I think it's worth owning. scott

Pros in any sport are pros for a reason. They are the best in the world at what they do. I played high school football who ended up playing in the NFL. The dude was next level at a very young age. Went to a **** public school and had very little money growing up. look at Ike. He didn’t have a real bass boat till he won it at a pro am as a co angler. He started from nothing. It can happen in fishing and I am sure there are people who do miss out because of money. The point is the pros in any sport just have something special.

How bad are you at fishing?

If he's having trouble casting a fluke try a heavier soft jerk like a strike king caffeine shad. I also often fish them with a light (1/16-1/8oz) belly/keel weighted hook which will give it a subtle glide bait like action on a steady retrieve.

Home lake put every boat in a 30-day quarantine with golden mussels being "discovered" well over an hour away, and after being rather upset my annual pass was worthless the past month it lessened the sting just a tad when they decided to allow non-motorized kayaks to access the lake without any quarantine or inspection. I had a short work day and figured I'd dust off the kayak to see how the lake was doing after no pressure for the past month. Afternoon air temps were in the 60's and water temps were upper 50's... no complaints there. Only had a couple hours to fish so figured I'd start with a ned since it tends to do well here in the winter. It did not disappoint with a solid spot within the first few minutes. Not going to complain about an almost 18" spot in January! Worked my way around the bridge mindlessly casting finesse baits while taking in how odd it was to be on an empty lake. Since finesse wasn't delivering any consistent bites I figured I'd switch it up and throw a swimbait. I almost couldn't believe my hands when I felt that hit! Couldn't have been happier with that plus-sized spot and figured it was the perfect time to call it a day.

Big fan of those Bass Patrol jigs.

We made it above freezing today , got out in the kayak and caught a few. One LM had a lamprey on the top of its head, thankfully it fell off while boating the fish. You can see the scar on its head in the picture Tried to go back upstream of the dock to catch some crappie and the water was frozen…….. called it quits after that . Beautiful day, fun paddle

Good ol’ California, got this guy in a small local lake in about 2-3ft of water in the evening flipping a rage bug near some tules. Weather has been very nice, but we definitely need some rain.

Who wants to tell him it's only January 17th?