AlabamaSpothunter

My word, that last picture is what I imagine Heaven looking like. Beautiful fish, beautiful pics! Those sure are some beautiful Bass Brian! Very rich in color, and healthy looking. Big fish are relative it seems, they are as much a reflection of the body of water/locale as they are to a particular fisherman. Thanks for your service as well!

Thanks brother! Got the video finished but atlas like I kind of thought, the end where the fish were turning the water into a boiling pot didn't make it. The battery started saying low right when I got to the other side of the lake. Still got a little action from that part and threw in a fish in from yesterday. Next time I know better than to run mouth before I got true A-Jay skills on the GoPro lol ? Today solidified my decision to go ahead and get one of those battery holders that has USB ports. That and get another GoPro battery. Just another thought from the day I forgot to mention before.....you hear lots about how a certain dock in a row of dozens will hold all the fish, or most. There is this one dock now that I've got a 6, 5.5, and 4.3 from in the last month. Big catfish, and another lost big catfish as well. In this dock's case I think it's the feeder combined with its perfect location to deep water. The others have the same deep-water access, but no feeder. This dock also has studs in the water which I have more luck on. I watched a video on this several weeks ago where a guy showed what made good docks via his Side Scan. Seems there's lots of truth in this notion. I know right......looks like one of those beautiful deep rich dark colored Maine Bass of yours as well. I'm noticing a pattern on the coloration at least on my homelake, if they come from a dock, they are usually very dark and rich in color. Nice, looks like a big ole' Crappie by the mouth

My excitement level came really close to blowing a fuse today.....was past the point of talking out loud to yourself, entered the realm of casting straight in the air/or water ? I'll preface this session by saying that yesterday was the first time perhaps since I've gotten Sonar that I couldn't find heavy bait presence in the area of lake I was in and thought they'd be in. So today I figured I'd start out on that part of the lake and hit a few specific targeted locations with the BD Shad looking for the White Whale, then I'd satisfy my curiosity by running to opposite end of the lake which is a true gamble with my current boat setup/lake size. Within 20mins of starting the session a 5.5lb absolute beautiful dark pig smoked my BD Shad on one of the targeted locations, at that point I was house money the rest of the day and I took off for the other side. She was so healthy, and fat. She'll be my White Whale in a few years. Upon arriving at the other side of the lake I see massive eruptions in a creek arm with less than 1ft of water in most places......without a push pole I couldn't get most of the way back there, it was crazy watching Herons and hundreds of Bass destroy thousands of Shad. About 20 mins later the main event started, and for 30mins I've never seen anything close to this level of feeding activity. Over the size of 2-3 acres of lake with an average depth of 2.5ft I'd say, thousands and thousands of Shad were trapped. I thought this was going to happen yesterday, it's extraordinarily hot here right now, and yesterday I almost saw 62 degree water temps. Today I hit 63.8 where the main event happened. Big girl and some of the other fish are on the video I'll upload in a bit, but hopefully I captured a fraction of what was happening in the above scenario I'm describing. At points you could have seemingly netted the fish blowing up on Shad so close to you. Another unique thing was I caught fish on a big Swimbait, a finesse jig, the Shimano WM Flashboost Jerkbait, and lastly caught two on a Buzzbait. They disappeared like literally a switch was flipped. I feel very blessed to have witnessed such a spectacle of nature like that. I have no idea how many times that happens, but I imagine a complicated series of things all had to come together perfectly in order to produce such an epic feeding frenzy. I'm talking hundreds of Bass, I can remember seeing vividly a 3lb+ fish clear the water. Next pics are good representations for the size of both the LGM and Spots I was then catching, 1-2lb fish.

On Lay Lake coming around a small Island one morning I watched the last Duckling in a line swimming behind momma get absolutely inhaled by a huge LGM. Still the most shocking thing I've witnessed. One minute it's so peaceful watching this beautiful family of Ducks, the next second Jaws literally eats a Duckling ?

They really are a blast to catch. I love how they pack together like Sharks. I was watching a video about the WR caught out in CA, and while catching the WR one, they also caught several more over 7lbs. I honestly can't imagine the fight of a 10lb Alabama Bass ?

If there are Strippers, throw a bucktail jig, and hold on. Fishlegs likely said the best in my experience, small swimbaits fished anywhere you can find current breaks. Fish hold on the actual Dam walls I've found as well, whether you can get to them is another story. The RipRap on either side of Dams is always good for cranking

That's just what these fish do from fall to winter transition. Some fish stay shallow, some fish move offshore and suspend, others hold on deeper drop offs near shallow water. Fish are everywhere and unpredictable during this time. Best advice I've read recently was to keep moving water and find the aggressive fish during times like those. If the shallow fish were aggressive, do as Bluebasser86 suggests, don't fix what isn't broke. I get it though because many if not most of the fish I see deep are solid to big sized fish. It's frustrating knowing big fish are right under you.

No I don't but this one was fresher so I took a picture of the information on the tag. There is no reason to be tagging fish on this lake, so I imagine its someones own little project. The state used to put tags in bigger Rainbows and if you caught them and reported the info you got a reward. Not sure they are still doing that.

Absolutely take care of those eyes brother! I'd love to see Tom in a long form podcast or interview. 4-5 hours of Tom's stories chasing monsters over decades of time on water.

Thanks Gary!

Monkey didn't tag me too hard for BF.....my only purchase during it was a small TW order. Got some metal and a tactical crank because I watch too much Tactical Bassin. Got a bigger BD Shad because big fish love the 5" model, why not a 6" lol. Lastly got a few more Flashback Minis with a few more coming due to back order because they are magic. Your move Monkey!

Been slammed with work, but finally slowing down so I got out for the first time in over a week.....all I know is it was terrible lol. Water temp was almost 61 degrees in some areas lol......such is life in central Alabama. Bite was really slow oddly enough but I got lucky and found a nice little pattern that produced a number of really quality Spots. Caught 5 Spots, 4 of them were well over 2lbs, and the biggest was in that 3-4lb class......second fish I've caught now with a tag. First was a 5.8lb LGM at the end of summer. Fishing dropoffs with a 3/8 Finesse Jig a Strikeking 3x bitsy bug trailer. Half of them picked it up on the fall.

Amazing job brother! What an amazing fish, and trophy! I've been tracking the big fish in this thread since joining, and this is the new big fish. I joined in August.

Dang I can't believe Boston lets so many studs walk. Padres are looking like the new Dodgers. "Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres are in agreement on an 11-year, $280 million contract."

Maybe with inflation by then those numbers will fly for the Yanks crowd, but I doubt it. They don't support their players....I'd hate to play there. Trout and Harper certainly haven't earned their record deals although at times they were easily the best player in the game. Harper is going to be out most likely all next year plus all the stuff this year. Same with Trout except he's been stuck on purgatory island with the Angels lol. Sherzer straight ripped the Mets off, love to see it though ?

I would have bit on that. I like their stuff

Doubt it now, but he doesn't seem in any better position.

I'm in central Alabama but am following.

Yep the exact opposite of what we just saw with the classy Cardinal fanbase and Pujols The Braves fans are true class, the ownership is the scum of the earth. Dansby is going to walk. Meanwhile Philly gets Trea. LIFE IS NOT FAIR ?

Agreed for sure......I mean what are the chances he hits 60+ HRs in a season again. I just thought he was gonna get more because he bet on himself and won in the most epic manner. It would be a hard pill to swallow as management paying a player based on a 60hr year when you know he's likely to not repeat that same year. I don't remember all the numbers now, but to me it sounds like he basically got the same money as Harper or Trout, and on a per year basis as Sherzer as well. That 40mil a yr. level.

Wow, thought he'd get more money as crazy as that sounds. I guess he really did want to stay a Yankee to some degree. Philles are paying 6 players a billion dollars next year.....they make the Yankees look poverty tier ?

If it's got good Bass fishing, that's all that matters to me. Goals, location, and size of fish are considerations as well. Luckily my home lake meets all three of those and makes life easy for me in that regard.

Not 55, but this exact same scenario thread comes up often in a General Discussion part of a much bigger forum I participate in. The overwhelming opinion from men that were in your spot was to cut bait and find happiness. Kids are gone, you did the noble thing. Now it's time for you to be a little more selfish and look after your own happiness and mental health. Only you know how much you want to remain with your wife, but if you feel in your heart the love is gone, and you aren't happy.....you don't have to keep living that life. Never too late to start over either. Maybe she feels the same way, and you guys can work something out where you won't get destroyed and you guys can remain friends.

waiting for this to be marked as the solution ?

Sure that didn't come from Digitaka? ? That's awesome shipping on their part.