AlabamaSpothunter

Or more likely there are a lot more people out there with okay credit and a willingness to pay for a Bass boat over a decade +. It's like anything in America today, many people are overextended and have empires built on credit. But from the outside nobody sees the scramble to make payments each month. Had a few buddies lose top of the line Bass rigs after getting swallowed by the payment book.

Can't wait to see the first toad you post caught on it! The Ghost Trout actually looks better to me, looked like it would throw even more flash. Your gonna have a blast fishing it. You are constantly engaged with the lure which keeps things exciting.

Haha, all I know I need is a gucci Zillion like that, heck I just need another stock Zillion ? I love the way Zillion SV TW looks. Literally the only complaint I can come up with since late Aug. is that they don't use an AI drag dial like on the Zillion TW HD. Eventually I'll get around to replacing it with something like you got going on. A metal drag dial just fits this reel better. See I can knock the Zillion too.

This is where I'm at. I'm happy to know that she likely spawned a bunch during her lifetime, and she was likely near the end of her life, but on the other hand this story could have ended totally different if she had eggs and was a bit younger.....something ON DNR could not know until they killed her, or at least her age.

Haha, yeah that's the tank that destroyed that made for such a pretty strike. The bigger Spots are still fat, but the last two heavy 4/light 5lb class fish looked to have lost that awesome fat and eggs they had during the winter. This has been a very confusing time to be fishing, but it seems to at least be improving.

Don't or can't post the video from the father/son's friend, but anyway the fish was killed which we knew by the ON DNR so they could conduct these tests. It was a female, she was 16 years old, and was without eggs. I'm still saddened by the fact the fish had to die, and adds more fuel to the FFS/Giant Bass argument, but given she didn't have eggs, and was 16 years old......surely she was at the end of her life anyways. Imagine how special of a fish, how much it must defy the odds to reach 16 years old, and 10lb+. I'd say greater than the powerball winner who won 2bil. The thing I would love to know the most is the growth chart for this fish. How fast did it reach 10lbs, did it ever get to 11 or 12lbs? It's very possible this fish was a half to pound heavier at some point in the last few years before the ON DNR killed her.

I don't wanna post the short the tacticalbassin video I just watched a bit ago, but Matt said he threw it on a 7'4 H jig rod. I think that will be just fine. It's been a bit over a month since I had confidence as in, "I can't wait until tom., I'm going to tweak this approach or lure and get even better results" The more I play with this Shimano bait, the more I dedicate myself to only fishing it, the more magic is happening. I mean the 3lb Spotted Bass strike today was the greatest I've ever witnessed, on top with a huge explosion of water and like a mack truck hit your line. I thought the bait would be broken ? I'm gonna get the Rainbow trout color maybe tom., that and the BW Shad that I got were the only two colors. The Ghost Trout looked killer. If I had them all at my local shop I'd grab the ST Gizzard. The Purple looks awesome too.....HAHA, I want them all.

testing @TNRiver46 Beers on me if you ever get around central AL, you've helped me from forum troubles, to IDing critters, to helping grow my Bass fishing knowledge. Thanks for being a huge part of BR!!!!

Dang it, I had a reply typed out about sending me a PM when you are ready to dump it cheap so that I could then give it to a kid ? It was obviously a joke, or the ultimate faux insult for a high end high dollar fishing reel.....it's only worth giving to a kid. I get it though, there is always somebody who doesn't like a particular product, in the Zillion SV TW's case, you are the first however that I've seen. I'm sure that kid will be thrilled, there are many adult Bass anglers who never have owned such an expensive and nice reel.

This one is slightly under two ounces, but more importantly is vastly more aerodynamic than anything else it's size so it doesn't require the same effort on the cast. Beyond that, I tell you Katie it's just got that magic in it. I mean I'm throwing other baits these last two sessions, but nothing is really producing, the lake is still super hard, yet the amount of fish that at least follow and reveal themselves from this bait is a first for me. I've had followers on other big swimbaits, A-rigs, occasionally on Jerks/cranks/etc., but this thing brings fish from a lot further away to check it out I think. I got some really cool strikes on video, hopefully I get some more tom and i'll post it up.

Big fish are slowly returning and this was the first time in a month with back to back sessions with a 5lb class fish, and only the second day of month where I got my new benchmark 5/15lbs. These bigger LGM look post Spawn, especially the one today, beat up tail and looked hungry which is unusual compared to when I normally catch 5lb class fish. 8 quality fish......I'm getting more and more committed to big swimbait fishing because of this Shimano ArmaJoint. I threw it almost exclusively for about 5hrs, it's as addictive as Bass fishing itself. 6 fish including a 5lb class fish and 3lb Spot came from the Shimano bait, and I had at least double that on follows and explosive blowups mostly at the boat. This is a HUGE sleeper bait right now friends, I've got a few hundred dollars into 5-8" hard swimbaits, and a few soft ones, this bait is so unique from all of those. I really can't stress the drawing power on this bait. It has so much flash and electric action, that combined with its running depth of about 1ft., you can track the bait the whole time like a topwater which makes for indescribable levels of excitement and occasional fear. You can almost just tease this bait in place or let it slowly float as it's quasi suspending out of the box, and the fish come absolutely unglued on this thing. Every single strike is either at the surface, or visual and is like a freight train. Welp just wrote all that out and then tried to attach images.....no room left, went to delete pic in my attachments, no white boxes to click or green delete button. It's always so hard to share pics on here. Katie had this problem and started a thread about it but forgot the solution. I wish we could just post pics from a photo hosting site and not use the forum, anybody know a way to do this. Oh well, you guys know what Bass look like.

What an awesome guy and activity. He's helping everybody, anglers, fish, the river. Kind of nutty diving in cold water like that....then again you Yanks are born nutty in that cold ? Thanks for sharing

Lol, I just throw half a dozen in a ziplock bag and put it in the go pack....that's like Buzzbe storage compared to my system ?

Absolutely, being an Alabama lake I was watching closely. He's a super impressive Bass angler, not just a fantastic FFS user. I'm learning so much stuff from him, and then Matt and Tim from TacticalBassin. Wish I would have found Ben's stuff earlier.

He caught a 60lb bag on film. I can't imagine what your definition of a trophy is if those are dinks.

better update your avatar, great fish!

Memory test has me about to turn it off, I'll power on, but my own first hand experience tells me that PLine isn't coming in at the top 3 in memory and it's my favorite and most used Flouro lol.

Gosh I'm a sucker for MegaBass...whats a 110 R? They make you feel special buying their stuff. Nice, both of those cranks are on my list....if I ever find a DD crank that produces I'll start playing the lotto ?

He's a greedy pig when it comes to Alabama Bass....call him what he is, shame the man ?

That's a toad good sir, not a "decent one" ? Nice ones, quality fish for sure.....the more I fish the more I desire quality over quantity except if I have a topwater on ?

A couple of teeners were killed on OH Ivie this year from being scoped/caught deep, it was kind of a turning point for me in some regard. It's one thing to use it to catch and release, but to kill lottery odd fish saddens me deeply. I can't agree with people using it to catch teeners from 50ft+ after knowing they've already killed fish and run the risk of killing the next one they bring up.

My belief is that effective usage of FFS isn't cheating, it isn't Bass fishing, it's a brand new pursuit. You simply can't compare big fish legends, or big tourney legends pre FFS to current ones. Butch Brown is a big Bass fisherman, Josh Jones is a savant FFS user. One isn't better than the other in my book per say, but they are doing two totally different activities. Winning a Classic using FFS is vastly different than winning a Classic without one. I want it very badly, and when I can afford it I will have it, but I have no illusions that any big fish I catch because of it will be viewed differently than ones caught before it, and imho rightfully so. Josh Jones caught ONE DD before Garmin's Livescope, since getting FFS he's caught over 200 DDs. That's the only stat you need to know for how game changing it is.

GeorgiaSpothunter is a more appropriate screenname I say ?