AlabamaSpothunter

Never thought I'd see Bill Dance catching Muskies.......nice fish Bill! 🤣

My friend just won the MLF Invitational on Lake Champlain using them. He took 6th at the MLF Invitational at Kentucky Lake on it and is currently inside the cut for qualifying for the MLF BPT tour. If I ask him what bait got him there the most, he's say a Sakamata Shad no doubt. Fujita has won multiple Elite Series blue trophies using them, most recently Toledo Bend to start the season. I've got quite a few of them, but they don't hold a candle to Jackall's Drift Fry for mid strolling imho. I've yet to find another minnow that compares to the Drift Fry.

Upon initial rigging I do it, but inevitably after the first fish, or the first couple of times you have to reset the placement, the bait slides down. It's a good idea because of the way a T-Rig weight slams down on the knot. That's not a concern for me since I've abandoned the T-Rig 90% of the time in favor of a free rig

Katie, have you caught any SMs in the lake where you caught your monster PB LMB earlier this year? I'm curious if your best big LMB lakes have SM populations as well. Beautiful fish as always!

Really hate to hear that, and that puke feeling in the pit of the stomach is hard to deal with when you lose a special fish. Please don't let that fish crush you though, in time you'll see how much of an amazing experience you just had. One that 99.99% of other Bass anglers in Indiana won't have. You got to hook, fight, and witness lightning in a bottle. You'll never forget that fish, she's forever part of your Bass fishing history. Try to take pride in the fact your skill made that experience happen. You got to much awesome JDM fishing tackle to take a break anyways 😉

That's awesome Katie, way to expose him to Bass fishing. Doesn't seem like much needs to be done to protect LM Bass fishing in Maine, but if it does now you have a real ally to call on. There's a reason why Texas is currently the best Bass fishing location in the world, and that's because the politicians and significant tax dollars go to make it that way.

3000 is the goldilocks of spinning reels imho. Perfect size for Bass fishing.

You fish so many different places that it makes it harder for your fish to learn your baits, but I imagine as you stack up more hours on your new true home lake, you'll find baits that absolutely throttled one summer, only to get a fraction of the action the next summer.

I've always believed what Catt said above to be accurate, but at the same time I've never personally noticed the bite died for an hour after dark. I've caught some of my best night Bass within that first 1-1.5hr after dark. The cheat code within the cheat code is to fish areas and boat docks that have strong lights on them. I've got one milk run just based on hitting up all the strongly lit areas and docks.

Awesome day Katie! Always love seeing the unmolested nature you get to fish in. I have no idea how your thumbs last through the summer though.....I bet they look like a piece of mangled sand paper 😁

To me one of the biggest reasons why Bass are so special is their ability to adapt and learn baits. Moreover, I love the fact that there is always a better way to catch them. Buying cool tackle is part of the sport imho. I watch a lot of Elite Series pros YT content, they do travel videos, and it's amazing the amount of stupid tackle they buy in every city they go to just like myself. They all buy tackle like @NorthernBasser 🤣 Just got home from buying tackle.....bought the stupiest thing I've bought in a really long time......Geecrack Cue Bombs 😆 Geecrack Imo Kemushi Cue Bomb 4pk | Tackle Warehouse

I've got both, and while the Curado 150mgl is a nice real, it's not even in the same league as the Zillion. The thing I can't get past with the Curado 150mgl is the geary feeling, the Zillion will straight ruin you in regard to how smooth a baitcaster can be.

Arguably the best part of catching a big, special fish for me is watching it swim away. I don't care if she was "old", "only had a year or two left", "was done spawning due to age", etc.......at the end of the day the last thing I want to be a part of is killing a fish that has somehow managed to defy the powerball lottery odds against her. Broke my heart when recently a big DD SM was killed on Erie. So stupid the State required that massive, incredibly old fish was killed. Then they come out and say "she was done spawning", "she was gonna die soon, she was really old", etc.

The only time a light comes on is when I'm fighting a fish bigger than 5lbs. You don't need light, and not using light actually makes night fishing more effective for me as you don't try to make the perfect cast. You're more patient, you work things slower, you work the bait further back to the boat, etc. Night fishing should be just that, you do it in the dark.

D Bomb no doubt about it for me. 1. Bruiser Flash 2. Super Bug 3. Toxic Grape I've burned through about 12 packs the last couple of months. Recently switched over to the D-Stroyer for a bigger profile for night fishing though.

There was nothing boring about watching a 5lb 12oz Spot caught in the last 1.5hrs on the final day to win an Elite Series event imo. Wasn't boring watching one of the Elite Series most liked anglers win a trophy Wasn't boring watching Steve Kennedy do his thing with a big glide on day 2 First two days were dominated by non FFS techniques. Only when the shallow bite died the last two days did the scope become the winning technique. It was worth watching just to see Taku's baits, and powders. If I had to pick I'd choose traditional Bass fishing, but sadly I don't have a pick. I can either accept the current state of professional Bass fishing with regards to FFS or move along. The tech isn't going anywhere, there is no putting that genie back in the bottle.

Can't make everybody happy, but I can say this fan loved every minute of this derby! So happy for Taku!

LOL....

I already loved Jake's take on Mercer podcast, but I can't wait for this weds. now. He's the real MVP as far as the fan is concerned. The fact he was able to bring this fish catch to the world is amazing, hopefully he gets the credit he derserves. Not to mention Taku will always have this memory to look back on. What a fish! ETA: Caught using a dropshot fuzzy dice.....peak Japanese bait awesomeness 😎

Imagine catching a 5-6lb Spot on the final day of an Elite Series derby to win it. I got chicken skin just watching all that. I didn't think Fork could be topped, but this one has been just as exciting for me. And to think we still have SLR left.

Absolutely EPIC catch....Jake's camera went down and he still captured it all on his cellphone. Absolutely unreal, most exciting catch of the year. Second place goes to Hamners 11+ on Fork. UNREAL!!! Never heard Jake that excited.

Let's GOOOOOOOOOOO! Taku time just caught 5.4 😮 Please let that be a Spot. This thing might just be over after that fish.

Really hate to hear that buddy, just said a prayer for you guys.

When you listen to the interviews from guys like Taku and Carl J on Mercer's podcast, it's incredible to see what they've achieved. It's dang near impossible to become an Elite Series angler as an American but imagine doing it leaving your entire universe on the other side of the globe.

Really want Taku to win it, but I'd be okay with Robert winning as well. I don't won't anybody but those two to win it though. Those two are arguably the most likable guys on the Elites. The Japanese anglers fascinate and impress me the most, just look at the baits Taku is using. Two rigs I've never seen before, I've seen the baits but never rigged that way.