AlabamaSpothunter

Dang that's like my whole budget for the year lol. I want one of those K9s super bad, might be priced out of that game though.

8" Zoom Mag Lizards have always been a big fish catcher for me. An all black one accounted for PB during one summer. I'll fish a lizard year round. Perfect combo of creature bait and worm.

Luckeeeee ?

Agree 100%. Just wish they had the full "cheat code" poundage like they do right before they spawn.

Thank you for contributing, and to others, please share your tips......I should have made that more clear in my OP.

This thread is really for the Northern folks who have yet to get on the water and start fishing in that pre spawn period. I wanted to start this thread for a few reasons, first being that I now fully understand this is a Bass angler's best chance of catching trophy fish, the fish of a lifetime. This is your best chance to break your PB, let the FOMO fuel you! Secondly because of how fast it all happens, or at least did for me. If you fail to realize it by a week or two like me, you'll be chasing your tail the rest of the spawn cycle. Every body of water, and particular Bass is unique in regard to spawning but after reading an article about 30mins ago a real "eureka moment" happened. February 3rd I caught this 6.4 in 30+fow on a Damiki 1oz Axe Blade. The water was in the low 50s, and this fish had a big sore on it's tail that was dripping blood. This fish was only a couple hundred yards away from a spawning cove and flat, but in my mind even though I thought the tail injury could be a result of fanning a bed, I thought the much more likely explanation was some kind of injury/infection because it's Feb 3rd and the water was in the low 50s after all. Otherwise, the fish was a perfect healthy looking big prespawn fish. The quote that really made me flip and realize that this was a fish that had already moved up and at least started to prepare a bed was " Before releasing ‘em, check their tails for fresh sores or even dripping blood." I knew to examine the tails and overall look to them to decern which stage of the Spawn cycle they are at, but not that early. Had I connected the dots better I wouldn't have stayed offshore for another week or two wondering where all the bloated big fish went, where did my 50 fish days go. I was still catching some, still catching some quality, but something was shifting majorly, and I didn't listen to the obvious clue. So my tip for you folks not on the water yet.......check the condition of the fish, listen to the clues in front of your face even if it goes against what you've read or heard. "Before releasing ‘em, check their tails for fresh sores or even dripping blood." - Walker Smith

I'd first run the main lake body to see if I could find huge wads of Shad with schooled up Bass on them, then I'd run a A-Rig, Damiki Axe Blade, Jackall Deracoup, or if you've got FFS a sonar minnow or similar type bait. If they aren't there, I'd then move on to main lake points that are close to channel ridges and have some cover on flat areas. Not there, I'm following creek channels to secondary points. I highly doubt the fish would have progressed further than that in their prespawn journey, but I'm a rookie on Bass biology.

The duality of opinions on the internet.....back to back replies, one says 16lb is super manageable, the other says it's not super manageable ?

JDM Daiwa Zillion HD TW 17lb Pline Ultimate Fluorocarbon 7'9 Alpha Angler Wide Glide rod edit: 7.1 reel

Sniper is awesome stuff. The 16lb is super manageable. I could see the 8lb being in line with InvisX which I use on my spinning gear. Might try it on there next.

Another one we have that is the same way but doesn't droop is a Cherry Blossom. Absolutely beautiful, and sadly short lived-in terms of blooms.

Yeah I've caught a few myself, and besides Sailfish and Bass I'd say they are the most exciting fish I've caught. Those Skipjacks look darn close to Tarpons though, and according to TNRiver46 IIrc they even jump haha.

Poor man's Tarpon......don't like TNRiver46 fool you with his uppity Tennessee Tarpon terminology ?

Man if I had the boat I was fishing out of today brother we'd already have gone. It's a full sized Bass boat hull at 18' and 90" beam, but has been flat topped over with fiberglass and then has a cool non slip bed liner deal. Couple of compartments and two seat posts. My friend must have had a dozen+ combos, and I could have taken half that many easy. I couldn't dream a more perfect boat for this lake sans having two 12" screens up front, FFS, and maybe Spotlock lol ?

I'd contact MegaBass USA customer service first, they are fantastic to deal with. I needed new hooks for 110jr baits, they don't sell them aftermarket so they sent half a dozen for free. They will either tell you the right thing to buy, or send you them as replacement. Great company.

First few hours I caught 8 + 2 Crappie, then a really nice gentlemen who has my dream small lake boat but hasn't had time to fish the lake extensively asked me if I wanted to front seat his rig and bring him up to speed on the lake. I'm jumped at the chance to get a fishing buddy, and parked my boat and only took two rods no tackle.......A Jackhammer, and a big swimbait as I only wanted to make limited cast, mainly focusing on just fishing together for the first time, laying out what I'd figured out these last 6months, and running a true Bass type boat from the front with a foot control in a long time. After switching boats and running my mouth for about 3hrs I managed to catch 2 more fish, however one was a fantastic 5.3 fully spawned out so she had that 6-7lb look to her. Obviously, I was thrilled, but my new fishing buddy got to net it/weigh it, and he was thrilled after not fishing since early in the Fall. He managed to get on the scoreboard as well with a fish on a shakeyhead. *** In Alabama we don't have prescription sunglasses ? So on yesterday's report I mentioned I graphed more than usual, and it paid off by finding loads of fish on the sonar for the first time since the fish scattered and really started spawning. Took the night to ponder how I might get them to bite and decided instead of running a DD in the ground, I'd find a bait to run right in that 3-3.5m range right above their heads. Decided to try a Frittside 9 in Kentucky Blue on these fish first, and as a backup a TN70 lipless in Threadfin Shad. Caught 5 quick fish on the Frittside 9, but they were all 1-2lb fish....and then my new fishing buddy got my attention. Hopefully I can grow on this. It's amazing how much you can learn on youtube. I thought I was learning lots from Tactical Bassin, but Ben Milliken's stuff is really helping me out. The way he breaks the lake down, then shows the fish on sonar, then scopes the fish while presenting baits. Here's the described fish at one of their spawn staging points on a channel ledge flat. This is elementary stuff for most of you I'm sure, but putting together what you learn from somebody on youtube, and then apply it with your electronics and then confirm it with catches makes me feel like I'm a little less lost out there. Last note for the day, I fished the Berkeley Slobberknocker in 3/8 Green Pumpkin Shad with the Berkeley 4.5" Tenn Shad Power Stinger trailer for a week+, caught one fish, lost a toad on it. Within 20-30casts of breaking out a brand new Jackhammer in 3/8 Bhite Delite with a Missile Green Pumpkin Delite 5.5" Spunk Shad trailer, I had that 5.3 fish, and then went on to catch another fish on it. I doubt I can fish the Berkeley bladed jig stuff when I know what every form of name brand Chatterbaits catch. Beautiful stuff, but the thump, and start up just suck in comparison.

Last one is super cool! Has a whole patch that isn't spotted up. The headwear in this thread continues to impress the Paris runways ?

Get better brother, I hear shoulders are a nightmare. I'd imagine you can't sleep in the bed right now, most I've talked to say they have to sleep in a recliner.

So both Steez models will fish like a Zillion SV TW? I've been holding out for a new model Steez SV TW, but if the A II is the same reel might as well just try one of those.

"whatever Dad" ?

Work smarter, not harder it sounds like. Impressive all around by you and your awesome girlfriend. In a decade or two you'll be saying this was the best decision the two of you made together.

What are you going to get your degree in? Congrats bro, that's a huge change and commitment to improving your station in life.

Ben's recent videos are really interesting, he says in Texas the Whites will run off the Black Bass, whereas on Eufaula they were mixed in together. Wouldn't bother me fun fishing, but imagine catching White after White in a big money Bass tourney, I'd hate the things ?

Yeah the best guys on scope in the world can't really tell the difference b/t black and white Bass on the screen. Ben Milliken had to wade through a ton of them while Eufaula, if he can't tell the difference, I doubt anybody can.

If I catch this fish again, I'll know it for sure. I'm calling it "flatline"......can't ever remember seeing one with such a long portion so flat and black. Nice little tank all fat full of shad. Caught about 10-12, 2 Spots on the Shimano Swimbait, 3 fish on a new Megabass SuWitch, and 5-7 fish on the flashback mini. Bigger Spot was the only quality of the day, I hope to figure some things out quickly lol. I'm scanning more and it seems to be paying off, today I really scanned the close areas near channel ridges/dropoffs, and found lots of fish in that 12-14fow with nearby ledges dropping into the 20+ ranges. 95% of them were belly in the mud mode. These fish are in trouble if I can ever figure out a DD crank, or really just take the gamble and invest in a proper setup and commit to running them into the ground in 15-25ft of water. I know that will work, it's just not easy to do. Wins a ton of money by the best Bass pros, and catches a ton of huge LGMs. Tomorrow it might happen, but today it certainly didn't. Amazing I'm still catching the chonker Crappie after the wave of Crappie fisherman have hammered them for weeks now. First livescope on the lake belongs to a dedicated Crappie fisherman lol. It's the total package too, makes me drool. I'm all for it, they eat Bass fry, eat up the Shad, and aren't trophy Bass...we happily co-exist, it's those darn Bass fisherman I have trouble with, first FFS Bass fisherman and my hand will be forced ?