OCdockskipper

You are correct, I saw that as well. On the last one, they cut away quickly, so if there was a penalty, we never saw it called. I wonder if it had anything to do with the rain, i.e., that pinning a fish against slick & wet rain gear is allowed. Other than that, I'm not sure what it could be. There was also an editing error following an AMart catch. They showed the Scoretracker and Biffle was now ahead of him at 19 plus lbs. They didn't show Biffle for about a minute & then cut to him catching 2 out of a laydown to get to that 19lb weight. The way the show was edited, you got the feeling that AMart was going to qualify and Biffle wasn't.

You are correct. It appears among the rule changes for this year is a more liberal approach to what a fish landing penalty is. It seems to better fit the reason for the penalty, which is to try to lessen fish mortality by having them lose their slime coat while flopping around on the carpet. As much as I like the protecting the fish, I do like the change of not nitpicking incidental contact. Another non-call that I agree with was on a fish release by Bobby Lane. He was in some heavy vegetation and as he was about to release the fish, he seemed to notice that the area next to his boat was choked with vegetation. Had he released the fish right there, it would have flopped around on top of the mat. So instead, he gently flipped the bass out about 2 feet so that it went headfirst into a hole in the mat. In doing so, he technically released it above the gunnel of the boat, but no call was made. Correct judgement in my opinion. BTW, one of the best episodes ever...

To keep them fresh, I just put a hook in the back area by their tail, attach it to a rod with 20 lb test and let them meander about the lake. Only problem is it seems that before I am ready to leave, they always metamorphosed from an 8" trout into a 8 lb bass. Plus somehow, the hook moves from their tail to their mouth...

So you caught the bass & the bass caught the turtle. I wonder if he posted that on Turtleresource.com? Too cool

I think where one fishes has much to do with it. The person who continually fishes a variety of contrasting lakes often has to be proficient at a variety of techniques to consistently catch fish. To contrast, most of my fishing has always been done on a "home" lake, where the techniques that don't work well end up being rarely used. When I was young, my home lake was a deep, rocky impoundment with almost no vegetation. The water had visibility of about 18" and the lake had a lot of water skiers and boat traffic during the day. With my smaller boat, I couldn't go out & fish a channel bend in 30 feet of water at 11:00 am, I would have been run over. So most of my fishing was limited to early mornings in no wake zones and the weapons of choice were topwaters & crankbaits. I got good at fishing them but almost never picked up a jig, plastic worm or anything that would produce in a environment that would require weedlessness. Fast forward a few decades and my home lake now is a shallow development lake, loaded with docks, summer weedbeds and water clarity of about 4 feet. Now my effectiveness is with slower moving and smaller baits, while topwaters and crankbaits only tend to be effective on cloud covered, rainy days. I find that on those times I do fish another body of water, my comfort zone is to start with the slower bottom bumping baits while years ago, the first thing I would throw was a crankbait. Sorry if this veered a little off topic, the point I was getting at is if you don't fish a variety of waters (or a lake large enough to have variety itself), it is difficult to get better at a technique that is not suited to that body of water.

I know that despite being on the over side of 50, I always have a lot to learn on most any subject, so this thread got me to thinking about how I control & land fish. I thought if back-reeling was something that would make me a better angler, I should incorporate it into my repertoire. Yesterday, I decided to focus for a day on exactly how I fight fish, actively watching myself doing the things that have become rote over decades. Boy, was I surprised. I hadn't noticed how much of the time I am fighting a fish with spinning gear, I am doing it with one hand. Of course, the initial hook set and getting the fish under control requires one hand on the rod & the other on the reel, but as the fight got closer to the boat, my left hand was rarely on the reel. For fish surges, I noticed that I often use my left hand about 12 inches ahead of my right, lightly balancing the underside of rod (not holding) against the fish to relieve pressure on my right hand. I believe this is effective because the right hand then only has to hold the rod while the left hand is taking the pressure of the surge. At other times, I must look like a sword fighter, shifting the rod left & right with one hand to control the fish and guide it where I want. And for landing, I have about 7 plus feet of line out, so the right hand holds the rod high while the left hand lips the fish. This is helpful because it means I have about 15 feet of line, rod and arm to absorb the shock of a late, boat side surge. At any of those times, having the reel in a reversible mode would have meant disaster. So while back-reeling is an effective way to control fish, it looks like it is one that require a huge change in the way I fight fish in order to incorporate. Since boat side control is not an issue & I don't have any problems landing those fish I get close to, I think I am going to pass on attempting to add this to my arsenal. Nonetheless, for those of you who have fished for over a decade, focused self-awareness on how you do something is an interesting exercise.

Thete is a good chance I would clumsily get a finger caught under something, dislocate it and be off the water for a month...

I truly need to move someplace where the grocery store sells fishing gear. All they have here are sushi & kale Sorry I don't have anything meaningful to add to your post.

OK, you have piqued my curiosity. I understand someone with hands like Andre the Giant could just wrap his big mitt around the entire rod and reel handle, but for normal mortals, how pray tell do you you do that?

Congrats!!

I learned that when bass have begun making beds and a cold front comes through, they don't always move deeper. Some just move & hide out under docks at the same depth. I also learned it only takes a small uptick in temp following the cold front for the bedmakers to return. Not there in the morning, back by the afternoon.

I know Mark Davis likes to back reel, but I don't. I sit when I fish and often will extend the rod in one hand to steer a fish around the trolling motor around the front of the boat. In doing so, I take my left hand off the reel, which is a no-no if the anti-reverse is off. Also, for lighter lb test, it isn't a bad thing for the drag to release a little on the hookset. If you are using a hook that requires more torque than that to set, you should probably use a heavier test line (& possibly a casting setup). Light line and a light wire hook work well with a drag set at about 33% of the rated breaking strength of the line.

I'm with Tom, it is about a 3 lb bass. It only felt like 5lbs because you long armed it for the camera, which after a few moments makes things feel heavier than they actually are. Pick up a 16lb bowling ball and hold it near your chest, elbow bent - you can hold it there for an hour. Now try to hold that same ball with your arm extended - after a few moments, your elbow will snap at the joint and you will never be able to use a baitcaster again...

Have you ever tried Don Iovino's doodling technique? It's popularity faded before you were born & I thought that it was now pretty limited to the West Coast. How about the recoil rig, a dropshot where the line to the weight is elastic (so the weight stays on the bottom, but the lure bounces up & down)? Lastly, how about the Chicken McNugget rig (remember that guy in Texas last year who caught a 10lb plus using a McNugget)? To fish this one, you must have orange hair & big floppy shoes.

Spybait, mainly because I was raised that a lure with props on it should be floating on the surface. I could drill a hole in my Devils Horse & give it a go. I am pretty open to giving most every technique a decent shot, you never know what you don't know. Trying out the Ned Rig following Bluebasser's and Team9nine's suggestions was eye opening after decades of fishing.

We are keeping a close eye on you, any more comments like that and your Ned Rig certification will never be processed...

Yes it is, but notice that he is still long arming it. That throws the perspective off & in my opinion, messes up the image. There really is no need to push a 15 lb bass closer to the camera & away from you, it is awesome enough with the correct perspective. But it is his lunker, he can do with it as he pleases...

Those numbers don't make those 3 legends by any means, but IF they are the beginning of legendary careers, those accomplishments will be cited as such years from now, probably when you & I are fishing St. Peters Creek (if you let me in the back of your boat) . Mentioning Bobby Murray was not meant as a slight to him, but rather an example of how time changes how anglers are looked upon. At the time Murray won his second Classic, he & Clunn were probably looked upon as having similar careers. It wasn't until decades later that separation occurred between their career results and their placement in a ranking of greatest ever.

I am probably the wrong person to ask about handle length, I like them short. My favorite casting rods for crankbaits & spinnerbaits are pistol grips , again old school. I like casting with one hand with most baits, if I do use a second hand, it isn't for a full-on grip so a shorter grip is my preference.

Well, legendary status is something that takes time. At one time, both Rick Clunn & Bobby Murray had both won 2 Classics each. It was only years and additional accomplishments later that Clunn was considered a legend and Murray wasn't. As for setting themselves apart from the crowd, how about these legends in the making: Wheeler wins the first 2 Elite events he enters and finishes 3rd in AOY in his "rookie" year on the Elites; Palaniuk is in the top 5 in his first Classic as a Nation angler at a time when most Nation Anglers finish in the bottom 10 of the Classic (with one notable legendary exception). He wins an Elite title his rookie year, and in his second year, suffers a crushing disqualification while running away with a tournament only to turn around & win the next tournament by making a 100 mile run everyday to his area. Last year, he crashes to a 103 place finish in the 2nd tournament only to turn it around & win AOY. C'Mon, if those things aren't legends in the making...!! Lee, like Clunn, gets his first major tournament win at the Classic. Not only does he charge back from 14th place, he did it only catching a dozen fish to the other contenders 15. Had he caught 15, he would have won by 15 -20 lbs. Although Lee had a solid year last year with a 4th place AOY finish, all Classic winners say the commitments after winning a Classic can't be anticipated and I think that may have slowed him down a bit. With that experience under his belt, a huge 2018 wouldn't surprise me. Can you say back to back Classics for his first 2 victories? That would be very Clunn like. As an aside, I grew up watching Clunn, Nixon & Klein, so I don't dismiss their accomplishments at all. Some of the things they did at the time, considering where equipment and electronics were at, was amazing. KVD & AMart had their own set of challenges that they mastered as they rose to the pinnacle and the newer anglers will have newer obstacles as well.

I have used a pair of BPS Carbonlite rods for the past 4 years and just picked up a 3rd one at the Spring Classic. I use them for lighter bottom bumping baits and Ned rigs and have been really happy with them. I went 6'6" Medium on the first 2 and 6'6"ML on the new one because it will be exclusively used for Ned rigs. I am old school and don't enjoy using rods over 7 ft. One minor feature that stands out for me on the new rod is the Winn grips, I just really like the feel, I believe these rods go for $119. I paired mine up with Shimano Spirex 2500 reels, both RG & FG, but from what I read, The Presidents are great reels. I choose the Spirex because they are the only spinning reels I found that have dual handles, Quikfire line pickup and and only stop at top dead center. Again, old school, not necessarily what others want. Also, plan on using braid or a super line. I use Nanofil, but I know there are a lot of other good lines out there as well. It will increase your casting distance and make wind knots non-existant.

I use Megabucks floor mats at all of my doors!! In 10-20 years, I think Jordan Lee, Brandon Palaniuk & Jacob Wheeler may well be the KVD's & Aaron Martens of today. There will be many over that time who have great runs for a year or two and are solid anglers, but don't distinguish themselves as the top of their field. I think of someone like Bill Lowen who had a fantastic season the last time Martens won AOY. He has since slid back to being a dependable Elite angler who cashes a majority of the time. Many really good anglers will fall into this category. I also think you may see less anglers fish competitively into their 60's in the future, at least in the current BASS or FLW tournament formats. The MLF format is actually more forgiving to someone who is older and may reward those who have a plethora of experience. Instead of 3 days of practice & 4 days of fishing, you have 3 days of fishing spread over 5 days or so, on smaller lakes with less travel. A little easier for older bones to recover.

While this applies to me as well, I think it doesn't play a role because I (we?) weren't "Elite" level anglers when we were young. We had a lot of room to grow, whereas someone like Jordan Lee is already well past where we will end up and will not get better exponentially. I don't fish tournaments, but I catch more & bigger fish on my home lake than the couple of younger guys who do fish it. The main reason is because they are casual fisherman, i.e., me when I was younger. If any of them had the drive to become a pro, they would most likely surpass me. I believe stamina has alot to do with it. The sport (game?) I was competitive in was bowling and when I reached my 50's, I found I could still be the top average in a league full of twenty-somethings. However, that was bowling 3 games once a week. If we bowled a 10 gamer for 4 nights in a row, I believe the younger bowlers would pass me. Technology also plays a role, but I believe differently than what others have said. Technology allows younger anglers to catch up to older anglers without having to put in the time on the water, it kind of negates a lot of the experience that use to give older guys an edge. That applied to bowling as well, where the skill of learning how to read the lanes has been negated by the ability to just choose a different ball that reacts to the lane conditions in the way that you want it to. I see this in fishing big time. For example, look what Larry Nixon & the others had to do to create and figure out how to make & fish a jerkbait. Younger anglers don't have to go through that process, they just buy one. Lastly, an obvious factor is there are more anglers under 40 than over 60. Last year, Clunn & Grigsby were in the bottom 10 of AOY, but the other 8 spots were 20 & 30 year olds. The Elite series is also getting tougher, there are less & less Charlie Hartleys on it and more Jason Christies & Brent Ehlers, so the Clunn's & Grigsbys (or any of the top anglers for that matter) don't have the built in edge they once did.

Not for everyone. Where I live in Orange County, there are exactly zero homes valued at $100K and only a fixer upper in the 800 sq ft range (old WWII homes) go for under $250K, Median price for a normal sized tract home is nearly $500K and that is inland, 20 miles from the beach. Gt close to the shore & everything starts at 7 figures. That is why so many folks here move when they retire, almost elsewhere else you get so much more house for so much less money. The only negative with the move is that you get weather too. As far as the OP's question, I have always wondered if trolling motors could be in-hull. Instead of mounted on the deck taking up space, there could be a slot in the hull that deploys the TM at the push of a button (like anchors on large ships). It would probably be expensive and require some engineering, but it could be pretty trick. Heck, you could even have some kind directional arrow in the bow of the boat or near the foot pedal since you would't be able to see the head of the TM.

I recall watching the coverage of the 2011 Classic at the Louisiana Delta, where KVD and about 8 other anglers were fishing in the same area. As KVD continued to land 5 pounders while those around him landed 3 & 4 pounders, Scott Rook was caught quipping "That guy has a lucky horseshoe stuck up his rear". Back to back AOY & Classic winner and a competitor claims he is "lucky". Wheeler won the first 2 Elite events he fished, at very different fisheries at different times of the year. That alone shows he has an ability to find and coax larger fish to bite than his competitors. If that is luck, then he should play the lottery.