AlabamaSpothunter

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 ?

A Shimano SLX fits at the bottom of your budget, and is a fantastic rod! I sadly broke mine a few days ago, but it was dynamite. It was the 7" MH Fast though. They offer a M action in the same lineup. Shimano SLX A Spinning Rods - Tackle Warehouse

Nature never fails to amaze me.....look at just how well the female Mallard blends in.

Go figure I catch a couple Crappie after trying to catch them for 3 days with Tuffy minnows lol. Caught 4 other Bass, all small fish. 3 Spots and a LGM. Bass on the MiniMax, Crappie on the Flashback mini. The amount of Bass, and seemingly large Bass I'm seeing stacked and suspended on the edges or around the edges of the main lake channels is frustrating. I'm just picking off some random fish. The big fish have been offshore seemingly for a few weeks now. I'm sure a pro could catch these fish, and with enough time I could learn what they'll eat.

Dang that stinks......that almost creates a "photobucket situation" where tech threads that had pics no longer have pics because the OP had to delete them. Same goes for threads in general, many people read old threads. Figures you'd know, and help out.....you are without a doubt one of the most helpful, and informative members on this site. Thanks!

So regardless of what thread I try to reply to......it says the max total size I can upload a file is 4.88kb. Up until this point in my forum usage, I could post 1.46mb files IIrc. Did I somehow max out my limit for posting pics or something like you can for emotions? I can't post pics at all now because of this. Any help would be appreciated

I remember just a few short years ago when America was energy independent, and I was paying $2 at the pump. The guys cashing the largest checks in Bass fishing are using copious amounts of fluorocarbon, maybe they are doing it just because #BigFluorocarbon has their greedy little hooks into them ?

Greenpig is a Spotpig ?

If you eat lots of fish, don't worry you've already eaten lots of worms.

Perfect pic, that looks the most like what I saw. What an awesome bird! Appreciate it pal