AlabamaSpothunter

Hey now, every fish is pic worthy ?

Very cool, I have caught Sauger below the TVA dams in North Alabama, but had no idea they had a hybrid b/t the two. Figured Sauger needed warmer waters, which they still could, but I guess the hybrid nature allows them to survive in the same places Walleye can.

Shame to hear this about a top tier rod company. Makes me very appreciative of the experience I've just wrapped up with Alpha Angler. I bought a new Chatterbait rod from them a week or two back, received it with cosmetic damages (residual glue in a couple areas), and a slightly canted guide. Sent an email right away to them with a few pics. Within an hour I heard back from the GM, he said that was unacceptable and thanked me for allowing them to get the rod back. He then proceeded to ship out a brand new rod which arrived today with the pre paid shipping label for the return rod included in the rod tube. To say they earned my rod business for the foreseeable future is an understatement, and I imagine I'll buy at least one or two more rods from them within the year. I say all that to illustrate how it's far more profitable for a company to stress customer service, and go the extra mile even when the payoff isn't immediate. Studies have shown that it's vastly harder to gain a new customer, than it is to retain one. Top tier rod makers shouldn't get people's hard earned money if they can't at least communicate in a timely manner, and honor warranty claims in a reasonable time frame. That's the minimum effort a company should make when you are spending hundreds of dollars on a rod imho. It's easy to forget that every single dollar spent on Bass fishing is disposable income, and in a world where Americans have less and less disposable income.....companies in these market segments should keep that in mind. You have to make your $300 car payment, you don't have to make a $300 rod purchase.

Dang those are some beautiful fish, while not a Walleye guy, I can't remember seeing any prettier than those. The "marbling" pattern is awesome. Sure hope I can catch a Muskie one day......childhood dream. A little redneck boy from Alabama dreaming of catching a monster Yankee fish, I blame Babe Winkelman and Saturday fishing shows

Like everyone else in this thread you sound really squared away. For those in your life that choose to carry but aren't squared away, have them watch this video. Best lecture I've ever heard on having a proper self-defense mindset.

Very cool, I want to play with that tech so badly. Watched some really cool stuff on my sonar today speaking of tech. First pic shows a large pod of 1-3lb Bass, both Spotted and LGM on the outskirts of a huge shad ball that were being funneled up by channel current and wind. Second is really cool as it shows several Bass swooping into a massive wave of shad, and you can see the shape of the Shad ball/wave change. Last pic shows lots of these 1-3lb suspending on a flat right off the channel. Another excellent day for moving baits. Best Crankbait bite I've had of the year as well. Caught 4-5 on the Chatterbait Flashback as well.......love this little lure. Saw a D Day painted DC3 I think as well.

Yeah I'm not one to leave a gun in a car ever, nor do I open carry. Certainly, don't advertise I'm a gun guy with stickers or apparel. All that said, everybody's situation is different. To this day, a "truck gun" is still a very common tool to see in a truck in rural America. That same "truck gun" would be stolen in a heartbeat in an urban and even many suburban locations in America. Thankfully even in 2022, there are many places in America where people don't even have to lock their home doors at night.

Oh yeah, I love catching some Carp. Haven't caught them in a long time, but growing up I used to get into 5-10min fights with those big silver Grass Carp. I like the idea of using fly fishing ties

Those are the proper places for these big tax generators when you look at the future, and equally the past. The last thing we want in the South is for these corporations to inject a huge source of tax revenue into a city like Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, etc. Hopefully us Southerners have learned from the mistakes of those once great industrial cities. Good for Tennesse. Alabama's industrial base has exploded over the last two decades. We should be mindful to not enact the same policies that drove these companies away from the North if want to keep them here and continue to grow in the right manner.

You bring up a good point about insects. While I don't know the Crappie's diet like I do a Bass's, I do know that insect activity plays a much bigger role in catching game fish than most anglers understand. Whether the Crappie eat the insects, or more likely the Shad come to the surface to eat the insects, thus brings the Crappie and Bass to the Shad. I believe this is the case for me, the insect activity has significantly increased at about the same rate as the Crappie have been blowing up Shad. I also think Insects naturally detect important weather conditions that are coming that relate better to when Bass will actually be eating than a human expecting a big cold front to push through in a few days based on weather data.

And if you ever start feeling bad for the Mackerals....? I often think about the circle of life while fishing, it's so easy to observe all around you. It's sometimes easy to forget that we as humans are the supreme predator on the planet.

Wow, very nice fish friend! We can basically use each other's fishing reports to know if the fish are biting.....seems the fish turned on for both of us within the last 24hours. More importantly it's great to see your hands feel well enough to hammer a pig like that

More handguns are stolen from unlocked cars than any other source. Countless CC pieces have been left in restrooms when folks remove them to do the business. No excuse not to secure a firearm on your person when carrying, part of the huge responsibility of being a concealed carrier. This is why folks need tor research their CC setup extensively and find an option that carries comfortably, and for a long period of time. You should hardly notice your CC, thus you shouldn't be wanting to take it off at every chance.

Dude is going to get a half a BIILLION dollar contract in the offseason. He's paying me lottery ticket money, because that's what I indeed caught, and what it would fetch on the open market. No crying in baseball either ?

Thanks Katie! I wish all my new friends on here could have witnessed it, again nobody else gets it. I was so excited that at points I was casting straight into the air, straight into the water, casting lures off.......I've just never seen anything like it ? If you could get any moving bait to where they happened to be blowing up at that moment, it was an instant hookup.

What a difference 24 hours can make. Kind of a 2part report: Today for a period of about an hour, it was as close to saltwater fishing as I've ever experienced while Bass fishing. By that I mean I was watching hundreds of 1-3lb Bass launching themselves out of the air over about a 5acre section of water. They were pushing all these threadfins back into a huge creek arm of the lake. You could see the entire lengths of full sized Bass going aerial. You could see all these little tiny wakes rushing towards your boat, and then Bam, a Bass would bust the top and shad would go flying 2-3ft in the air. I hooked and caught a Spot that jumped about as high as I've seen a Bass jump. I'd say 2-3ft in the air, seriously. Mid flight it spit out several threadfins. Really incredible visuals, I'm gonna setup a GoPro after today. The fish were so riled up in this one hour period that I didn't have to pick up a single bottom contact bait, everything was a moving bait. Caught a number of Spots using the Chatterbait Flashback which is just a fish magnet I'm finding out. Also caught a number of fish finally on a high dollar crankbait....that same RC 2.5 in Bluegill from yesterday. I got so excited in the heat of the moment that somehow on a bomb cast the line severed, and the rest of the line on the reel backlashed LOL. Thankfully it was a floater. I didn't have time to retie another setup so crankbaits were done for the day. Part 2: During all this madness, I was near one of my favorite places for big fish, so I decided to put down the small tackle stuff, and slow roll a chatterbait over a big pine tree laydown in about 10ft of water. On the first cast I was rewarded with my second biggest fish of the year....a 6lb 7oz LGM, and the biggest since I caught a 7lb 14oz on Aug. 4th. This is the first fish I've wanted to measure because of how short it and round it was. Jumped 3 times, really great 1min+ fight, and one of those fish that when you release you just sit down and soak it all in. The piggy and chatterbait setup.....this is the best big fish bait I've seen, I thought a big lizard was until I started throwing these chatterbaits in July. It's a big bait though in general, and doesn't get hit by small fish unless you have Spots in your waters I've found. Next pics are representative of the size fish I was catching in the frenzy, both LGM and Spots. Note the one Spot's belly ? Lastly, an Alabama sunset

You guys cost me so much money......just had to run to wal mart to get some barrel swivels, and some fluke jrs ?

Great idea about the Double Fluke/Donkey rig.....I think I might try that this afternoon. I know the concept, but have never tried it before. I have to imagine that it triggers the same "bait fish school" strike that makes an A rig unique, but maybe to just a less degree. I guess when you think about it, spinnerbaits are using this same concept to a lesser degree. I've been reading that multiple baits in a single presentation triggers a different reaction strike from Bass.

Tell me about it, felt temp is 96-97 today. An hour ago, the actual temp was already 92. I'm not one of those folks who say bring on the fall and winter, I just want those 70 to low 80 days that make your time on the water bearable. We are back to temps where you basically have to night fish

Yeah, Umbrella rig is another name for them

Sure wish pro sports and most of society in general had Bassresource's policy on that matter. MLB is the last major sport I watch. One thing nobody talks about is Yankee Field's right porch. I mean come on, a little league player could crank bombs over that. Wonder how many of his 60 were over the right porch there.

It is amazing to see the predatory instinct of game fish, had the same thing a month or so ago on crankbait

Wow, talk about some great replies. Gonna take a minute to digest all the excellent info here. Obviously, folks like you guys and others wouldn't go through all the hassle of slinging this thing around a lake if it didn't produce results. The bigger fish angle really attracts me. I was too cheap to use my Live Magic Shad on this thing, those things just catch fish on everything.

LOL....second time now I've seen that rat of yours and I laugh every time. It's a big as the fish that will hit it. Crazy the things Bass will hit. Beautiful fish, and congrats on the pig. A real fish to be proud of to be sure. That's a very healthy looking Bass, the ones that give you motivation in the belief a fish is twice it's size is in the same body of water. Down here usually if a lake produces fat 5 and 6lb fish, you can count on it having DD Bass in it. My old fishing buddy who also fishes my home lake sent me a pic of a fish he caught in February from it that went 10.6. So much more exciting when you think or know DD Bass swim in the waters you are fishing.

Very nice, and yeah you can buy a brand new top of the line rod/reel setup for the same money.....but buying sonar a month ago was the best tackle purchase I've made besides a recent rod. Both things instantly boated fish. Caught lots of smaller fish because of it, and almost caught my first bigger fish today because of it. Side scan wasn't around before I took the long break from fishing but man does it make a huge difference, and the images are super cool. First time I saw a 75 ft pine laid out into the water with all it's limbs in perfect clarity I knew I spent money wisely. Congrats, that's a big purchase, you should be excited