AlabamaSpothunter

I love Digitaka a little too much, they need to screw something up before they end up with all my money ?

Yeah these Zillions are ruining me because of how user friendly they are. Never had reels even come close to being this easy to setup. I love high end Shimano reels, but I hate how un user friendly they are. Also, the smoothest reels I've ever owned by a significant margin. Clicker drag is another killer aspect to them. The TW HD's handle is truly awesome. Daiwa killed it on these reels all the way around. Everybody who gets one says the same things. The SV TW for $230 or whatever is still the best deal in premium fishing kit imho. They need to put a metal drag star on it like the TW HD...only thing that gripes me.

Wow, look at how cool the head on the last one is.....has an almost Salmon elongated shape to it. Such special fish as always Katie, these are seemingly unmolested fish devoid of human contact.....the way you are able to unobtrusively sneak into their magical realms where other humans think "naw, too much work", or "not worth the risk for a skunk", adds to the magic of your fishing style. In regard to a camera, you fish in about the worst conditions possible to take pics. You fish early, early in the morning, lots of fog usually, and with your spartan form of fishing, water is getting on everything at some point if only droplets. Heck when I paddle I end up more wet than water ? I bet you caught hundred + quality Bass since you called the season, God bless stubborn addicted Bassheads Oh snap, I'll go check the article out right now!

Spot on correct in my view......dude on my home lake caught a 9.4 recently on a fly rod, meanwhile I'm driving myself crazy throwing big Bass baits lol. It's lonely, frustrating, and seemingly every outing it's a battle with your confidence.....but atlas as you mentioned, it's the 1 in 10,000 fish that gives me a high I can't find anywhere else in the world besides women lol.

I've found there is a massive difference b/t catching a DD Bass, and then trying to target and catch a DD Bass. The majority of people who catch that fish of a lifetime do so as a byproduct of Bass fishing in general. Targeting DD Bass is not a whole lot of fun. Agree with Capt. Phil for the most part. Up here you don't have to flip nearly as much for pigs.

It's a really old Sony point and shoot. I need a new one. I do really like the way it takes pics, but it's beaten up. To me there will always be a place for a traditional camera verses a smart phone cam.

So the Rainbow Trout stocking back in the day in theory could have lived year-round given the Bass didn't hammer them all? I've often wondered this. Here in the South, trophy managed lakes will stock them in the winter knowing that when the Spring hits and temps start to reach 60 the Trout apparently begin to slowly die off and makes for easy pickings for the Bass.

Man those first two fish are magnificent! Really cool looking fishing location where the big kitty came from as well.

Proverbial coach still has me on a pitch count, but the lake is fully turning over, crazy the stuff that comes floating up. Water still is ponging in between 64-67 degrees, and we got 80 degree days coming this week. Big fish especially have been super sketchy, been several weeks now without a 5lb+ fish. Caught 4 Species today......Bluegill, Crappie, Spotted Bass, and LGM Bass. Most notable fish was another pig Crappie. Just a little over a pound caught on my Steez BFS setup. I caught the Bluegills on live worms. Wanted to see size, coloring, and overall health/population in the lake. Sampled half a dozen locations, and just like I remember as a kid.....non stop catching, baiting the hook and washing your hands of the dirt is the hardest part lol. This lake has a ridiculous forage base. On one hand everything that swims in this lake gets massive, on the other hand these fish have so much forage that I think it makes them harder to catch. The most beautiful species of the 4 imo, the Alabama Bass. Chunky little LGMs The slab Crappie and a smaller one

My observation has been the further north you go, the more spinning reel usage ticks up in regards to Bass fishing. A spinning reel is arguably the more used tool for targeting smallies, whereas easily baitcast gear is used to target big LGM. I'm 80% baitcasting, 20% spinning reel. If I'm fishing for big LGM, the spinning gear is up full time.

Great point it's very convoluted. To me you have two types: Small Swimbaits: Most of which are soft plastic rigged on a jighead of some style Large Swimbaits: Both soft and hard baits. You could even have "Micro swimbaits" as well like the sassy shad style baits

Those are big in my book, but I'm coming from mostly catching Channel kitties. What kind of rig did you catch them off of, and I assume since there Blues, you used cut bait? I forgot how much fun these fish are once hooked.

I don't own any new Shimano reels, but it's the same size to the naked eye as the Zillion SV TW, and not that much bigger than OG BFS Steez model. These Zillions are much more ergo, palm and weight friendly verses my last older Shimano still in the lineup....a Calais 100. I really like both companies, and they are the only companies I look at for reels, but these Zillions are really amazing reels. Lot of performance for the money. The SV TW is the most user friendly, smooth, overall just awesome baitcaster I could imagine for it's current price at Digitaka. I just love it.

I figured as much, but this is my home lake, it's managed and Bass are catch and release only. Just sucks seeing such a good potential breeding fish dead. It'd be akin to owning hunting land and finding a nice dead Buck on your land I'd imagine.

Visually as well I could, but no I'm not educated enough to waste my time investigating any further. I do kind of wish I would have looked harder in her mouth, but if I was going to do that I was going all in. She had a big turtle bite out of back near tail, but I imagine that was postmortem. I'd imagine that is a 3-4 yr old Bass. Bloated, but by the length I'd say she was a 4lb class fish.

Took a few days off because of the darn shoulder and going ape with a 7'9 rod and big swimbaits....very, very stupid. Didn't take a rod over 7'2 today and ended up only really throwing a Flashback mini 1/8th on my BFS setup. Caught 4, and missed what I believe was a really good fish.....a giddy kitty size. Then I found a nice LGM dead and floating and my positivity for the session was done. First nice LGM I've found dead since starting back fishing over the summer, eats me up wondering how she died. ?

Haven't posted lately, but the Spotted Tackle Monkey has been on a tear. To be honest I'm exhausted researching and trying to figure out how to best fill holes and arrange a "starting lineup" since I started back fishing heavy. The stuff I get from JDM, or Digitaka.....basically the reels, perfect. No headaches, no QC control issues, just amazing products. At this point I've gone full Japanese monkey if it's an option. On the other hand I fell in love in with a small rod builder Alpha Angler with their Chatterbound rod purchase about a month ago. They are a QC nightmare after buying an additional two rods, only one of which I'm going to keep and sadly am moving on. So many things I loved about their company and rods, but they seem to be having problems building a consistent product. That said, their bladed jig rod, and big swimbait rod tailored for hard baits with trebles have a magic in them when it comes to pinning fish I've never had in rods before. Maybe one day I can re visit them. Most recent Digitaka order.....a Zillion TW HD 1000H, and a Jackall Gantarel in Ghost Gill, and a Jackall Chibitarel in Spawn Gill. These are the most beautiful baits I've ever laid eyes on. Got a really pretty 6th Sense Trace last week that was the prettiest.....big swimbaits are really cool baits lol

Luke, thanks for the fantastic comparison b/t the three rods I was looking at. Keith, as usual, thanks for lending your immense tackle knowledge. I'm just having trouble buying "made in China" $200+ rods, but I don't read bad reviews on any of these three.

Does anybody know where the new Levante spinning rods are made?.....thinking of buying one tomorrow at a local shop, but can't remember if they were one of the JDM brands that had "made in China" rod offerings when I was in there a week ago. I know the Daiwa Rebellion, and Shimano Zodius were.

Hate to hear that brother, but it sounds like you didn't fester in it and made the most out of your outing with that beautiful Smallie. Here's to hoping you get another chance or two before the ice-in.

I haven't heard anybody blast Glenn or the forum for sponsors, how else is a free to join forum going to keep the lights on. I think many members are just here to learn how to catch more, and bigger Bass for reasons other than cashing checks. Tournament Bass fishing, and the industry that supports it only makes up a portion of the Bass fishing universe, many Bass anglers could care less about competitive Bass fishing or needing sponsorships in order to do that aspect of Bass fishing. To this end, a Bass fishing "pro" doesn't have to be a tourney angler......a great guide is surely a Bass fishing pro, a guy like WRB is surely a Bass fishing pro, Josh Jones is surely a pro. More than one way to be a Bass fishing pro, and not all of them depend on paid product endorsement/placement. Just my 2cents I'm pretty sure Bassresource.com is worth millions fwiw. It's the biggest Bass forum on the search engines, and perhaps membership wise. The biggest AR15 forum using those same metrics within recent years sold for millions when it turned over ownership. While Facebook and new social media has killed 90% of tech forums, the ones that still exist are quite valuable, and still draw a ton of eyes and thus ability to generate revenue for sponsors. ETA: I never heard or ordered from TW before I joined here, now I've spent a couple hundred with them over the months I've been a member. It works for sure lol.

Awesome setup, those Silver wolfs look sweet!

Dang that's huge.....what that fish weigh, 2lbs+?

Awesome, I saw a family of deer swimming in a cove today as well, but it was right at dark. Not that deep though, maybe a foot or two. As for the Spot, now we're talking my man ?

Thanks Eric! Occasionally I catch an aquarium sized one and the smaller they get, the more striking they seem to be. 4" fish trying to eat another 4" bait.....why yes that's a Spotted Bass ?