AlabamaSpothunter

Katie's eyes never lie, that's a beautiful fish. Congrats @TnRiver46 on an early XMAS present Merry Xmas and happy holidays everyone!

Hope all you guys and gal have a very merry Christmas, and happy New Years! Please stay safe and enjoy your families!

Interesting......I still have a handful of these baits new in my box from the early 2000s. Don't have that model, but have that color in a bait or two. Never fished them because they were too beautiful, and JDM cranks were far more rare back in the day. Good luck with the search.

I took a 10+ year break from the sport, and I feel like that gave me a unique perspective on how far and fast the technology of gear changed within the sport from the early 2000s......and then from the 2020s. For the most part I only buy Made in Japan reels, so the reels before and now would be considered the higher end models from both Shimano and Daiwa. Reels like the Calais and Steez from the early 2000s, and reels like the new Zillions from today. What I learned is that the differences b/t early 2000s and 2020s reel technology is not nearly as significant as most other aspects of the tackle markets. I don't feel like a Calais or Steez from 2007 era is all that behind the Zillions of today in terms of tech and usage. For me I feel like reel technology evolves extremely slow, with very small incremental changes happening to them. On the other hand, it's beyond mind blowing how much both hooks and lines have improved. The hooks and lines of the early 2000s are no longer usable for me given the massive gap in effectiveness and tech in the current ones. Look at lures innovation from the early 2000s to now......insane. Whole new categories of baits like Glides, A-Rigs, Jighead Minnows, etc. Look at electronic innovation from the early 2000s to now.....beyond insane. Literally real time tracking of fish using sonar. The thing that has changed the least from the early 2000s to today is reel technology. Like the AR-15, the modern day Bass reel has been refined to death, and any technological advances are happening on such a small scale year to year that's its hard to notice.

My starting spot is a 7' MH Fast for casting rods. If the bait doesn't work well with that 'control' rod, I usually find that I need a technique specific rod for the bait. Jerkbait......doesn't work well on that control rod, so I've got a p5 Destroyer 110 stick Chatterbait.....doesn't work hardly at all on the control, so I got Alpha Angler Chatterbound rod. For spinning rods, my starting spot is a 7' M Fast. Everything I want to do on a spinning from skipping senkos, to shaking a minnow, to throwing a neko rig......all perfect on that rod. I don't own a single technique specific rod in terms of spinning gear.

Awesome fish Pat! I guess that's why you get a lure color named after you 😎

Like Jig Man, it's not uncommon for me to fish 5+ times a week, and everything really does start to blend together making it almost impossible to pick out individual details of importance from a particular day. I write about a paragraph worth of info in Notepad for each session with a few main data points that always get listed.......Hours fished, number of fish caught, sub species breakdown, baits used, big fish, and water temps. I don't worry about weather or moon phase because I can always look those up using a historical weather app. On a true banger of a day, I'll record every single detail I can remember that I think might play a factor.

Honestly that's why I stopped following his content even though I learned a number of great things from him. I can't think of another influencing Bass angler who treats Bass as poorly as Milliken. It's shameful the way he handles these fish when you understand who many of his viewers are......and those are young adults or kids. It's such a terrible example for the future of our sport. Like most humans, Ben is a complicated, and flawed individual. On one hand, he's a very talented Bass angler, has lots of charisma, and has built a nice comfortable life in the sport of Bass fishing coming from a very humble background without any connections to the industry. On the other hand he's quite arrogant, has shown his willingness to play fast and loose with rules, and shows a terrible lack of respect for the creatures we all love.

I have no idea the exact math that calculates the guys who are dropped each year, but it's a bit complicated IIrc. Some how he qualified without a legends exception though because Howell and Pace received the only two for the year. Ike finished 94/103 anglers in AOY standing for last season. He's on borrowed time either way imho. He really is statistically one of the worst anglers on the Elite Series.

I watched him celebrate like a sugar high kid on XMAS on Day 1 at Champlain event this year, then he produced his typical results on day 2 and melted down, then refused to speak on stage, let alone thank the fans, his sponsors, or his family......the ones responsible for him being there. How many kids were watching that day? I mean he's thrown dozens of tantrums, and even a number of more serious incidents over the years.....how many kids watched all that stuff. He's acted like a child his whole career, he deserves to be judged as one imho. Most adults in the real world have to control their emotions.

Ike simply can't compete anymore, and I'd love to see him forced out. Imho he's terrible for the sport anyways. Terrible attitude, and terrible random childish acts. Easton will no doubt be a huge player, and he'll likely win a blue trophy next year. He knows how to close out wins. Some anglers can fish a whole lifetime without learning how to close, G-Man comes to mind. He fished for college right now the road from me. I hope Jon Cox wins every event including the Classic....if that happens the sport will never have been better 😎

I use an Alpha Angler Wide Glide that's 7'9 XH with a moderate tip. I've never had problems landing or hooking fish with it, I just find the A-Rig to be nuance in general. When it works, it's fun though 😁

Somewhat related, but a guy on my home lake had a really nice folding dock umbrella somehow get blown off during a storm. I showed him it on 2D sonar, but we couldn't recover it without hooking the fabric or something with a big treble hook. It was standing vertically in about 18ft, and the top of it was about 10ft deep. I think his main concern was his kids jumping off the dock and swimming. I'm out there fishing yesterday and lo and behold I see a freaking scuba diver out there in 52d water. Apparently, the guy called a local Dive school/shop and found a guy who does recoveries for an hourly rate. Just something to keep in mind if you lose something, many communities have a diving school/shop in the area. I suspect these guys are more than happy to put their skills to use. Scott Martin lost a drone during an Elite Series practice, and they found a local diver to recover it for them. Imagine how much more effective of an angler you'd be if you were able to scuba dive all your favorite spots and see how the fish are setting up on them.

Tactical Bassin recommends using them on A-Rigs along with other baits, and they've never steered me wrong. Personally I've have never used them, but if you're looking for a more sneaky/finesse type rig, a Spunk Shad would be a great fit. On almost everything else I prefer a straight tail or subtle tail, but on A-Rigs I go with paddle tails. I need to experiment more with different baits, but I hate throwing the A-Rig when the fish aren't biting it, such a chore and pita.

Him and Pat will be smashing on them in a few weeks, and we'll be back to feeling sorry for the Bass, not the anglers 😁 In all seriousness, I try to remember those rare special days when they're biting so good you actually feel a little bad for them, or at least I do.

I too had the exact same thing happen to me as a little boy and I was at a Birthday party, and several Bees were inside a Coke can I took a drink out of. Was stung multiple times inside the mouth. Pretty sure I wigged out and cried.

@Swamp Girl Spot on Katie, and in regard to the purple more faint returns, I'm not totally sure. My guess is that's its straggler Shad, or bait that isn't as compressed into the ball, but it just as likely could be some clutter from the returns.

Thanks Katie! Worst case scenario, I just wait until the Spring, buy a ticket to Maine, and hire you as a guide 😎

Amen Pat, got to say I feel better about the last few weeks knowing you're seeing similar things......if you ain't catching em, what chance do I have 😎 1000% agree with you on the weather, to me consistent weather that aligns with the historic norms of the time of year make for the very best times to LMB fish. I will say that whenever I've reached a level of frustration and feeling of being totally lost like I'm currently at, inevitably the dam breaks and setups for spectacular fishing. I really need to find a new hobby from about mid October to mid December 😁

You're describing my fishing the last couple weeks.......I've actually skunked twice over the last week. I haven't skunked before that in a year or two. I thought the last few days were going to be epic with the warm up after the water finally cooled down into the low 50s. The more I Bass fish, the more I realize that every year is totally different, if you rely on past success things aren't going to go well most of the times. If they aren't going bananas by XMAS, I'm going to be one sad boy

@Fishlegs Great report, and great to hear our tax dollars are being spent to help our fisheries. That seems like a really good thing especially the question about how much you spent on the trip. Ultimately at the end of the day, dollars and cents matter the most, and if the powers at be see how big of an economic impact anglers make, they'll be more inclined to listen when we say DON'T SPRAY THE GRASS!

Built like a Swamp Girl Maine fattie 😁

I can't imagine catching a 6-7lb Meanmouth......."we're gonna need a bigger boat" comes to mind. That's about as alpha of predator as it gets 😎 eta: I would have gotten a repro mount of that fish no doubt

Like Glenn said, the main thing this incident did for me was make me question his character and integrity. I think back to when lots of people thought he cheated during the Elite on Smith Lake where he threw back what appeared to be a dead fish with a fin clip still attached to it. To be honest, I already felt he was the type to play fast and loose with the rules and laws, and this just kind of confirms it for me. The only problem I have is that it's fraud, not cheating.

That looks like textbook balls of bait to me. You're likely correct about the Threadfin, as they'll die off starting in the low 40s. Crappie will stack up more vertically, with a bit more space in b/t the returns. You're certainly on the right track being around those areas. One thing I always try to remember in the winter as a general rule is that you can find bait without Bass, but you can't find Bass without bait. Many times including yesterday I'll see what your seeing on sonar, lots of bait without Bass feeding on them.......which just tells me I missed the feeding window or they're just not actively feeding. On the other hand, every single one of my epic days in the winter was around huge swaths of baits. Literally every single time. I've never had a magical day where I was catching fish without bait nearby. In your videos, I didn't see much in the way of Bass, might have been some small ones in the last video. Either way if that were me reading it, my interpretation would be lots of bait, no Bass. When you see 'spaghetti' above or below those bait balls, it's going down like donkey kong. That's when they are absolutely fired up down there screaming through the bait. Other times you'll see them on the edges of the bait stacked up like sharks circling their prey. Below are screenshots from days where I smashed them