AlabamaSpothunter

Haha, dinner will be on me. I've gotten so obsessed over this that the longer it goes without a DD on my homelake, the more I have no idea how I'll react. I know this one will be much more meaningful. I took the first one for granted in my early 20s and in college. This one will mean a lot more if it happens. The 7.8lb I caught in early August got the ball rolling, but when an old friend who has access to the lake sent me this pic from last February, all I do is think about trying to catch this fish. She was 10.6. Over the summer the lake biologist got a 9.4 on a fly rod lol. Lake was built in the late 60s, and over the decades it's produced a number of DD fish. I go to bed thinking about how many others are out there like her, or if this old girl is still swimming and has even gained a lb+. The wonderment of fishing, not having a real clue what's swimming down there is one of the things that doesn't change whether you are 10 years old, or 90 years old. My friend's fish from last Feb.

After some research they do both have a "threadfin" just to update my bad info.....much harder to tell apart than I thought. Thanks again for letting me know. Congrats, glad to see you fishing, much less catching a pig

Buy the biggest screen you can afford....there is no such thing as too big of a screen If you don't need a chart plotter/Maps.....don't pay for those features, if you do, make sure they are included Side scan sonar is awesome, and super useful for locating structure. It's a must have feature in my book That's a nice unit you are looking at, just make sure you need all the features, otherwise you can get a cheaper unit with potentially a 9" screen.

Thanks! All of them had the quintessential "threadfin" including the big one. Do Gizzards have the threadfin too? Dang now I have no idea how to tell them apart.

I posted a Gizzard Shad I found half alive a few months ago that was hand sized.....not all uncommon for Gizzards although seemingly uncommon in a small lake. Today I snagged the mother of all Threadfins. Everything in this lake gets big. Today I found threadfins stacked so thick I could have caught one every retrieve with a snag. I felt my bait bumping into thousands......never quite experienced anything like that. Snagged them from 7"+ all the way to 1". Caught half of dozen Bass, but now that my lake has dropped from 65 to 55 over the last 7-10days, fishing has dramatically slowed. Seeing that monster threadfin reaffirms why I'm going to be fishing so hard this winter regardless how frustrating it's going to be. My dream fish is swimming somewhere in this lake. Baits that caught fish were the 3/16th mini underspin Gama head with 3-3.5" swimbaits, a Shimano Flashboost Jerkbait, and a Flashback Mini with 3" Armor Shad. Happy Thanksgiving all! The Threadfins....

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful for my new friends on this forum, the amazing fish I was lucky enough to catch, the family and friends in my life, and my cat.

That license plate ? Sweet ride!

I hope I go the rest of my life without seeing snow again ?

Great tools should be scratched, and your boat name matches your fishing personality....a Rockstar ?

Nice one, be interested to see you compare the BD Shad with the Bull Shad should you ever get one.

I've yet to see a Bald Eagle fishing around central Alabama, and even then, they'd have very rare chances to grab a 5lb LGM. 5lb+ fish makes me giddy like a kitty

Keep messing around and see what #BigFluoro does in your sleep ?

That's what makes that such a special fish brother, congrats. That's likely a much older fish than a 5lb fish in my home lake, maybe 5-7yr old fish. Giddy Kitty sized fish down here have no predators outside of man that I know of.

Dang, and here I clicked thinking this was going to be about using big Goldfish to catch trophy class Bass lol. That's one ugly fish.....same as every other carp ?

By baitcooler, you mean your stomach....don't lie ?

Nice one, and lol at the tie off. I do the exact same thing, but with a bobber since I'm in a boat. I come back out with my heavy duty lure retrieval tools.

Use 6lb vs 8lb mono while fishing tuffies or small threadfins, you'll see real quick line diameter matters to fish of all types. Like others have said, might be as simple as it effects the bait. I do however think fish can detect the line, whether that negates the strike is another story.

The Certate LT is nothing short of brilliant. Used it for a couple days now and caught a single fish on it today, but as you already know......it's next level refinement, fitment, smoothness, and design. It's easy to find yourself just admiring the reel while fishing with it. That Exsence is beautiful, and I imagine very similar. Those are so sexy, I'd stare at them all winter too

LOL......lots of oldschool mixed with new school stuff. I always love to look at you guy's big hauls and pick a favorite. From a fish catching perspective, I'm taking that Chatterbait in threadfin color, sentimental.....those two Rapalas beside each other....fire tiger, and brook trout colored ones. Nice haul, lots of sadness mined ?

With JDM reels at least, the 21 refers to the year. So it's the 2021 model

Yeah braid certainly helps. Stuff never touches my reels though ? You might be joking, but this is largely true for me lol. Sometimes I count a "quick release" too ?

You can break this down further into two types of topwater fisherman: 1. Folks who throw a topwater as a search/power/coverage bait. 2. Folks who throw a topwater only when they see what baitfish and Bass blowing up. I'm in the second category, so most of my fish come 10-20ft into a retrieve because I've thrown past where I believe the fish are going to be. For the first category folks, I suspect your theory is correct.

I find it's a really big tradeoff between cast distance and hook up percentage.....this is especially true on top water baits. On one hand like you say, you don't spook fish the longer you cast, however on the other hand the longer the cast, the more stretch involved in the process. Things like line selection, rod selection, and reel speed help overcome some of this. The best hooked fish I catch come in between those freight train heart attack hits within 10ft of the boat, and then those bomb casts where they hit close to impact. I lose a ton of fish at both extremes, but when I hook them 20-30ft out, more times than not it's a quality hookset and the fish get boated. I don't think I bomb cast much besides cranks and chatterbaits. I was mentored by a bottom contact guy, I've personally broken away from that mold in adult life, but that mentality always stays with me. I'll never bomb cast bottom contact stuff for sure. Like most things with Bass fishing, I doubt there is a true right or wrong way.

So beautiful Bob, what a piece of paradise you've built. I can see the feeder. I'm going to buy one just like it. Wish I could convert my deer feeder. Do you use the Purina Gamefish Chow.....about 60bucks a bag. I love watching the volcano of fish when feeders go off. The entire food chain including birds get it on the action.

That's good news! Small steps add up to big ones in the end.