AlabamaSpothunter

@Fishlegs Thanks friend! Katie, not much of a story but she sure was a blast to catch on the pixie wand. Some fish are just destined to be caught no matter how much the angler screws up, and the opposite seems true as well. She ran under the boat and then jumped on the other side of the boat before I knew it, couldn't believe she stayed hooked up. I feel like big LMB are akin to bucking broncs or bulls. Every Bass seems to buck differently, they truly do have their own personalities. That might be my favorite quality about LMB. They really do seem like individualistic critters.

Magnificent and scary looking fish Dwight! Fish like that remind me why every day I don't wake up as a Bluegill is a good day 😆 Finally got an Elephant to eat my favorite little peanut bait, the Flashback Mini.

Only on the Coosa chain of impoundments, and I don't think it has very much or anything to do with Alabama Bass in particular. They laid out the data from a very extensive multi year study. These lakes get absolutely hammered by derbies. The study finds that larger, older females are disproportionately negatively affected. The mortality figures were quite alarming to me when reading them. I fully support this proposal, and I think the biggest impact it would have would actually be on larger female LMB. we funded a three-year research project to examine the impact of bass tournaments and mortality of Largemouth Bass and Alabama Bass on Neely Henry Reservoir near Gadsden. Research findings estimate that a total of 45% of bass weighed in during tournaments suffered pre- and/or post-release mortality, with mortality rates potentially ranging from 50 – 80% during hot weather. Additionally, females are disproportionally selected by tournament anglers because they are heavier than males, and because the maximum size of males is generally limited to about 18-inches (≈3 pounds). Research indicates that tournament participants weighed in 50% more females than males, with this disparity being greatest among bass older than Age-6, where nearly 70% of all bass weighed in during tournaments were females. Female survival is essential to the continuation of the fishery, yet female bass suffer higher rates of tournament mortality. The Coosa River reservoirs are small, and more vulnerable to the effects of tournament mortality. They cannot support the tournament pressure that larger reservoirs receive. Research also indicates that recreational anglers’ harvest is responsible for a negligible amount of the total annual mortality, and that regulations related to recreational angling would not result in noticeable improvements in the quality of these fisheries. In an effort to eventually restore the trophy Alabama Bass fishery in the Coosa River reservoirs, a tournament-only slot limit is being considered in order to significantly improve bass size structure over time. Research suggests that a 14-inch to 20-inch protective slot limit for all black bass during any tournaments utilizing live weigh-ins on all six (6) Coosa River Reservoirs (Weiss, Neely Henry, Logan Martin, Lay, Mitchell, and Jordan) is a sound management step to address concerns related to the resource and to lead to higher quality angling opportunities in the future. This consideration of a protective slot limit for tournaments is intended to conserve and improve the resource for future angling, to include higher quality tournament experiences.

For me it's in order to allow the fish to get it deeper and delay my response, as a side bonus it doesn't rip the bait to quickly away from cover.....both points have been covered above. All I know is that a glass composite rod (Alpha Angler Chatterbound) made all the difference in the world for me. For whatever reason, hooking fish on a full sized chatterbait is one of the toughest baits for me. The glass rod corrected most of that for me.

I actually just watched a really fascinating video on this subject Besides the above story I told, I've had two really close incidents with lightning in the past. I managed to get one on video where lightning struck a metal fence about 5yds from me.......beyond terrifying.

Easily the 70s-90s. Look at when so many of the state records were caught. Forget about technology, the most important thing imho is when did the most trophy Bass fishing opportunities exist. They stopped impounding new reservoirs for the most part in this country, and it's no coincidence that many of the state's best days for catching exceptional record sized Bass are in the past. Those days of the new lake effects are long gone outside of the reservoirs that go through droughts and then re fill like the west Texas lakes. Look at the number of 15-20lb Bass caught in the 70s-90s vs. 2000s-2020s. Texas is the best trophy Bass fishing in the U.S., and I believe they have caught two fish over 17lbs in the last several years at the very best big Bass factory in the country. That was a good weekend on a number of the Cali lakes in the 80s and 90s.

Yes both the SV TW and HD TW models. Totally different reels, equally as smooth.

Look at what the guys who aren't sponsored by a reel or rod company use. It's hard to find one that isn't sponsored by one or the other, but a bunch of guys don't have a reel sponsor for example. Almost all the guys I see who aren't sponsored by a reel company like Ben Milliken run nothing but Shimano or Daiwa. ETA: Some guys work out a deal with reel companies for a steeply discounted rate, or even free but aren't a major sponsor. They don't advertise for the reel companies, but the fact they are using the reels is good enough for the companies for what little they had to invest.

Back in May I got trapped in an absolutely massive lightning and thunder storm for about 2.5hrs in the middle of the night. I talked to God quite a bit during those hours. Closest I've ever come to sinking a boat, and ruined about $300 in electrical gear but I made it home which is all that matters.

Congrats Big Fish Pat!!!!! I feel stupid paying $150+ for glides now 🤣

This is a man who was convicted of violent rape and assault and served 2+ years in prison. Biting a dude's ear off was child's play. This is a man who has the faces of Mao and Che tattoo'd on his body, yet he's beloved by Americans 🤔 🤣 If this wasn't an exhibition, I'd love to see Jake Paul knock Tyson out. Zero % chance either fighter gets knocked out, or even punished imho. It will be like the Roy Jones Jr/Tyson exhibition.

@TnRiver46 Certified TN River monster LM there 💪

Some folks like myself are wired hyper sensitive and trigger happy, having a little duller sensation and significantly slower action inherently imparts some delay into the equation, thereby allowing fish to eat the bait better before the angler both detects the bite, and then sets the hook. If you have a natural delay built into your game, than I don't see why you wouldn't just go with a parabolic graphite action. In some situations and for some anglers, too much sensitivity can actually negatively impact hookup and landing percentages. All that said, were kind of splitting hairs here. Individual angler preference is many times based more on confidence rather than theoretical advantages of a particular piece of equipment or bait. If you buy a glass rod and have success with it, most likely you're going to stay a glass rod man.

Imho it's not the noisy vs. subtle aspect as much as it's the reactionary vs. realism aspect. I feel like big fish outside of really deep water situations have far too good of eyesight and experience to be easily fooled on slow moving bottom contact presentations during daylight. On the other hand, I catch the majority of my 7lb+ fish at night using slow moving bottom contact presentations. I think those same fish are way more easily tricked into biting a reactionary moving bait during daylight in my experience. Force them into a position where the bait surprises them, and their predatory instincts take the wheel. I.E. speed cranking a crankbait into the bottom or cover. They might be following that bait from splashdown until the boat/bank and never commit, but once that bait slams into a rock or branch, boom she eats. Fishing big glides will teach you quickly how many big fish will follow a bait, and as you evolve you learn how to trick some of those big girls into committing by forcing her hand through speeding that bait up or spinning it right back around into her face. You learn they'll never commit based on realism alone, it takes a triggering mechanism to get a commitment. Sorry kind of off topic but @king fisher touched on something I think quite often about. 4/5 of my biggest fish the last two years have been off moving baits.

I've personally never seen a correlation between cloud conditions and Bass feeding activity. I had some of my best days when it's sunny, and also when it's cloudy. The only conclusion I can make is go fishing when you can, cloudy or sunny......you never know when you're going to catch your white whale.

A guy named Austin Neary has a youtube channel called Frostin Austin. He's a big bait specialist, and just did 3-4 different videos on Fork doing exactly what you're looking for. He's not a local so his approach would be similar to one that you'd take. If it were me, I study those videos and try to recreate it. He caught a bunch of big fish, a number of 6s and 7s. Don't want to link the videos here, but they're easy to find, and then ones I'm talking about are just a few weeks old.

Great job, and hope the recovery and treatment keep going well for you friend!

Ironically I just bought a Berkeley Magic Swimmer the other day but had never heard of the OG before. I didn't learn it was a soft bait until this thread. Now I want the soft version lol. Little pricey though at $15. I immediately caught fish on it, think I caught 5-6 fish on with a nice 3lb+. Very cool bait, and it's one of those baits that seems to shine best when fish are actively feeding. It's a very aggressive bait on any kind of retrieve except a slow steady retrieve. Jerking the thing produced most of those fish, if not all of them. It kind of blows out when you jerk it but it certainly triggered the fish. ETA: 125 size in the Olive Chrome

Only the flagship models from Shimano and Daiwa are currently made in Japan. Yes, if they moved the production of the high end models to China that would indeed upset me.

All that I can gather thus far points that this new change will negatively impact the middle of the road guys the most. Those guys who average an AOY finish between 15th and 50th. The guy who consistently got a top 50 cut almost every event. The guy who might not have ever fished on Championship Sunday/Monday but was always good for a top 40 finish. That guy went from taking home $10k checks for a 37th finish(minus $5k for entry/$500 for fuel/$500 for lodging/$300 for misc.) to a $500 check for making 37th in a 2025 event. That dude went from making close to $4k to actually losing close to $1k after expenses. You basically have to finish 27th or higher to cover your expenses. Honestly the more I think about this, the more I see it's going to be a really bad deal for the anglers. To me one of the biggest problems with the MLF is that the top 10% of the anglers absolutely feast, while the bottom 90% fights for the scraps. I feel like BASS will now have a similar problem, they are making it easier for the top guys to earn more money, meanwhile the middle guys are taking it straight on the chin, and the bottom guys are still losing money just like before.

The sales rep at a Dakota Lithium booth told me it was BS, and a marketing ploy when I asked him about it. I brought up how Ben Milliken is always pimping a 16v dedicated battery for electronics.

The gamble is no different today with the change in entry fees as it was before when they paid them. Jacob Fautz does a good break down what it costs each derby in terms of expenses.....fuel, lodging, food, and tackle. It's ridiculously expensive to fish the Elites even without having to pay entry fees. Imagine driving your $120k Skeeter towed by your $80k Toyota all the way to the SLR from Alabama, rent an AirBnB for a week, buy a week's worth of groceries, beat 60% of your competitors, and your reward is driving home to your family with a $500 check. That same dude last year would have taken home a few thousand dollars for his troubles. As somebody said in a comment section on FB......"nobody in a pro sport should be competing for a $500 check".

The plot thickens......that's a pretty damning example of the financial aspect in terms of a true tier one pro angler in Drew.

Easily the biggest news in the pro derby side of things in a really long time. Nobody saw this coming, and I'm really interested in learning why Bass felt the need to do something so radical. Good for the anglers, but BASS is still riddled with problems that make the product close to unwatchable for about half the events. https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bass-elites-pay-103024.html

Congrats on such an amazing year Katie! It's been a real pleasure to read your reports and see your beautiful fish. You've grown into one of the best anglers on this site in a relatively short period of time as well.