AlabamaSpothunter

Absolutely Katie. I've always been fascinated by fish since a boy. It's the start of Camellia season in Alabama, our state flower. Lots of variety within the genus. I love all the blooms, big, small........all equally beautiful just like Bass.

LOL.....cute puppers, but the real criminal is not pictured.......I see evidence of feline activity ?

I knew you'd appreciate it, you and Pat have a ton in common. Some of the same reasons why you guys are so successful is preparation, mindset, and stealth. He talks about scouting for lakes like you do, and his whole setup is based around stealth and portability like you. eta: yeah I'm inclined to believe him as well. He spent his entire adult life catching monsters and not really telling anybody about it. It was only when he stopped going full throttle that he told his story it seems.

So I came across this fellow named Pat Cullen of Valdosta, GA. This man caught over 1100 fish weighing 10lbs or more. The article is old, his equipment is archaic, but his life story, process in which he goes about fishing, and ultimately the results are nothing short of stunning to read about. His style is spartan and caught almost these fish on one of four models of tailor made black on black buzzbaits fished at night. He fished upwards 320 nights a year while maintaining a full-time accountant job. The man combines many of the things I love about members here......he exhibits @WRB tenacity and lifelong dedication to catching the next WR(in the 80s Pat believed he was truly going to break the record), and his fishing style reminds me of Katie @Ol' Crickety. Give it a read, it should brighten up your morning. 1,113 Giant Bass… And Counting – Georgia Outdoor News (gon.com)

Thanks Katie! I really thought the Spot was beautiful as well. something about them pleases my OCD. They are rather perfect fish in comparison to LGMs.

Lol, I have the fat squarebill in threadfin. What swimbait is that, looks really nice? I'm glad I don't have many in my waters because I doubt I'd fish for anything but lures if so ?

Another big numbers day yet the big LGM eluded me today. Today's high was 84 degrees, and at one point I saw 70 water temps. Close to 20 Bass, and a dozen or so big Crappie. Biggest Bass was a 2.6 Spot taken on an Alabama Rig....absolutely murdered it lol. The Flashback Mini accounted for most fish, crank took a few fish. Most fish were in the 1-2lb range. Almost all of them had large to extended bellies, and a number of them puked shad up on me. Took a few months to crack the Crappie code, but over the last several days I've worn them out like I've heard people do when they get on a hot Crappie bite. Fun fish to catch, but certainly not like Bass.

Honestly the color doesn't matter as the fish end up tearing the paint off the heads. I also don't use the included swimbodies. 3" Armor Shad in whatever color you think matches best with the smaller sized Shad in your waters.

2020 was the year that blew my fuse, this is the right way to live life imho. 85 degree high here....but I don't fish nekid as I don't want a hook in a particular place ?

I threw my shoulder out with a big swimbait setup, and have been trolling about 75% of the time, and then only casting on places I feel are holding big fish. Troll that Flashback Mini 1/8th with 3" Armor Shads.......it's like magic. Trolling this last week or two has been a real eye opening experience. I never trolled for Bass until this year, and didn't do it but from spot to spot. I can see why some tourneys ban it, when it works or when you match that perfect speed they want.......it's non stop fishing that's hard to achieve casting. I find the scounger head best works for me when I throw them around shad pods, and then yo yo them through the pods. Spots usually slam them on the downfall. The Live Magic Shads are my favorite for the trailers.

They are picky, play with the bill a bit....if not you just got to move on to another company that makes ones that run true. TW has a dozen plus models.....only a few have great reviews. It's not easy getting these things to run right, but they catch a ton of fish, especially down here South with the abundant Threadfins

If I was dying of thirst and the only way to buy a bottle of water was to use paypal, I'd happily die of thirst. Imagine stealing people's money because you disagree with the perfectly legal act of selling firearm parts. Imagine stealing people's money using old exchange rates. Imagine stealing people's money because you hate free speech, and democracy. Paypal is the debil, why proud Americans use it is beyond me.

From yesterday, but I just now got around to uploading the video and noticed the rainbow at the end. Not sure I'll ever see a sunset like that again.

You're on a roll catching giddy kitty sized fish. I don't know what it is, but once they hit 5lbs they just feel so special. That handsome young man is truly blessed if he enjoys fishing, I can't imagine having a dad who was a diehard Basser. Lucky young man!

Dude that's fantastic.....I've been meaning to start a thread asking for options for carrying your rods to and from the boat. Beening using a Spro that is 30yrs old. Works good but I like that design better. I'm going to try that out. Sweet big swimbait as well.

It was over 80 here today and the water temps were as high as it's been in weeks, I saw 68 at one point. Shellcrackers are awesome, I don't need to tell somebody like you who enjoys eating fish that though. Very feisty fish too. This weather is supposed to hold for a couple of days, has me excited, but that's usually when the pattern dies lol ?

Electric fishing again today, but atlas after several weeks without a 5lb+ fish I got one today. A super rare day when I got Katie numbers, somewhere I'd say around 20 Bass, and 5 big Crappie. Biggest was 5.3, several solid 3lb fish, and at least half dozen 2lb class Spots. This is the biggest fish I've caught that was offshore chasing shad like the 1-2lb school sized fish. She hammered a 6th Sense Crush Flat 75x in Shad Scales. She burned the drag so much I thought it was another dang big Cat. This is the second big fish I've pulled off this bait in the last 2 months. The other was a 5.8. Great affordable bait that produces. Spots.....

I agree Katie about respectful disagreement on this subject. All the regular members I see post here have a great respect for Bass and seeing them thrive including the Braided Bambino @T-Billy ? I'm not sure, but I see your side easily just in regard to trophy Whitetail Deer management. Nobody in this thread is advocating killing large Smallmouths, so I think we are likely debating over a unique case that doesn't happen very often. Perhaps if I'm just being honest, it just makes me sad to see such a magnificent specimen die. Death however is part of life, whether natural, or through a predator's hand which was the case for this fish.

He also said if he had to guess it was a younger fish, and then said it was a 16 or 17 year old fish. He again said if he had to guess it was a female. What I gathered is he doesn't really have a clue until they dissect the fish. You could tell they were aware of the fact that people like me exist and would be critical of them killing one of the most amazing fishes of a generation.

I never said it was illegal. I guess I'm just selfish and want a once in a generation genetically unique fish to create as many offspring during her natural life as possible. We could debate this all day long, I'm a firm believer in every Bass over 5lbs should be released....Spot, LGM, or Smallmouth. Genetics are a huge part of our fisheries success. Just my 2cents.....I expect to be the contrarian here so no hurt feelings.

Wow, just got to that part of the video. Changes my thinking on this whole story and catch. What an absolute SHAME that fish was killed for a record in a book. Man that angers me, call me a tree hugger I don't care. I know for a fact you'd release that fish A-Jay, it's what I always compliment and appreciate about your big brown Bass videos. Those two anglers would have wanted it released but they got swept up in the mania. Ridiculous outcome, shameful. eta: If you try your best to keep a fish alive during certification in order to release afterwards, and the fish dies, I have no problem with that. But for the process from jumpstreet to call for the fish to be killed is again ludicrous.

15 minutes in.....not a huge smallmouth guy, and I can already tell this is one of the best fishing tales, and two of the humblest likable Bass anglers I could imagine. Beyond that my takeaway is obviously FFS will no doubt be the driving factor in WRs being broken. By all practical purposes this is a fish that was targeted through FFS. They saw the fish on sonar before she bit. FFS will lead to the Smallmouth WR being broken......the others prehaps, but Smallmouths are so vulnerable to FFS. FFS is as cool as the current NV/FLIR tech.......wizard cool stuff.

According to our B.A.I.T. program that uses tourney data to compare the state fisheries. Pickwick IIrc was at the top right besides Wheeler and ahead of Guntersville and Eufala at under 100 hours fished per 5lb Bass. Some places like Lake Martin IIrc were like 5,000+ hours to catch a 5lb fish lol. I'd say Wheeler is the hottest lake in the state, and perhaps hottest in the country at the moment. Once it became a dynamite lake for LGMs too, it seems it took the lake into that elite class of fisheries. Apparently, it's because they've allowed grass to come back in places.

Way to go man, 21lb bag is awesome! Just these last two days have the fish started to get like you describe......yesterday it was packs of Spots trying to rip the bait from the hooked one, today it was both LGM and Spots that ate a bladed jig right by the boat, as you say......"rod ripping" hits. So exciting and startles me to death every time. My biggest might have been close to 3lbs. Only took 2 rods, no sonar or tackle besides a fanny pack as it's been raining all day. Being OCD I had to at least see what was going on. Crappie still holding on the same pattern as well. These are the patterns that make it so tough when they inevitably stop working. I was rewarded with feisty fish, and the most magnificent sunset I've seen in my entire life, and I deck handed summers on the Gulf. The storm and sunset timed perfectly to create a visual that left me stupefied.