AlabamaSpothunter

That was so cool watching Cory see that big Stripe on FFS and drop down 30ft and watch the fish spin on it and eat. FFS might be bad for the sport, but man is it some crazy cool technology.

Come on Taku!!!!!!!! I'd have to say him or Cox are my favorite pro anglers.

Man that's a soul crushing blow. That 7 minutes potentially cost him a blue trophy, AOY trophy, and $200k ETA: and it cost him the Crush City monster bag....would have been tough to top 16lb+ WOW......his weight was just now DQ'd for the entire day because a family member actually called him on the phone and alerted him he was late. He self reported. Absolutely mind boggling. McKinney's Day 2 weight disqualified at Smith Lake - Bassmaster Finished 93rd.

The crazy thing is I watched him every event last year in the Opens, and I can't recall him being penalized for anything.

Really is inexcusable, same with him not watching a Bassmaster rules video earlier this year. Very simple things, not like he's Poche out there getting penalized for gray areas. For a guy that makes catching Bass look easy, it's hard to imagine him making these massive mistakes. ETA: Dude could have won the derby, especially with his bag today. Now he won't even make the cut. Wild!

WOW.....Mckinney with a 7lb late penalty for being 7 mins late. This dude is off to a terrible start with regards to penalties and his young career.

Pro Bass fishing is the only sport I've watched where I want almost all the competitors to win. This sport attracts some fantastic human beings, these weigh ins always remind me of that fact. Hope that young man makes a full recovery!

G-Ratt Sneaky Pete in a Bass pattern he painted himself. ETA: Could also be the smaller sized Pistol Pete

Yeah it was a big soft swimbait IIrc. He spent like $10k on big swimbaits right after that event, said he still has some left 🤣

Steve Kennedy shows the world why the big swimbait is the most exciting bait in Bass fishing. If those two catches don't fire you, you aren't a Bass angler He won on Clear Lake with some stupid amount of weight with CA's hooked in the mouth rules being enforced. He had to throw back a DD that ate his big swimbait but ended up being hooked outside the mouth because he added a stinger hook to the bait.

The War Eagle Bill Dance 😁 The Auburn fingerprint on the Elite Series is pretty cool, you got Kennedy, Jordan Lee, and Logan Parks. I might be leaving out another as well.

Watching Steven Kennedy shake after catching a huge Spot on a swimbait is what it's all about. Whole wolfpack of big Spots followed the fish in. Awesome camera work.

Hackney is in 77th and Walters is in 51st.

Never seen the weights as tight as this, this one is going to be super exciting!

Alpha Angler Wrench 7" M Fast. The ultimate whacky rig rod.

I use them in the Spring around the spawn because I feel like it makes the fish more angry. The red comes off after a few fish, but this still feeds into my theory. Be it red, or just a shinier hook that emits some extra flash, I feel the fish want to remove the threat from their bed area. I've used them other parts of the year and haven't noticed myself getting less bites than with the standard black Gama EWGs, but now that the Nano Alpha models have been released, I just use those the rest of the year. It's a confidence deal like most things in fishing....if you think they'll work, they probably will, if you don't think they work, they probably won't work.

I use tear drop tungsten free rig weights. You want tungsten because they are significantly smaller and way more sensitive than lead weights of comparable weights. I don't like the tungsten long and skinny tear drop weights that many times are being marketed as "free rig" weights these days. I want the most compact, completely free swiveling, and open eyelet I can find. That happens to be the fatter tear drop tungsten drop shot weights with the round eyelet instead of the half crimped ones. The ones you posted will work though. Just about how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, just like any other bait in the Bass fishing universe.

Bought a pack of Bellow's Gill 3.8 a month or two ago.......was very worried about their durability.......make a few casts, catch a small fish on one, and immediately the bait goes flying off with its first jump. So much to like about the bait, the SAF material, the design, but ultimately their is no way I'm fishing a bait that cost over $1 per bait, and lasts only one fish. Hopefully the Deps Bull Flat are more durable, gonna try those one of these days.

Hopefully the owner pays them a handsome reward.....that's a ton of money tied up in those hunting dogs. Happy ending, job well done to those men!

@king fisher Amazing fish, congrats on the mega!!!!! I'd take a treble through the arm for a DD any day of the week and twice on sunday 😁

Jay Kumar's Bass Blaster just had some more info. The State has underwritten the prize purse so I'd imagine this thing is going to go down how they say it will. The payouts are amazing. Some interesting parts: "1. $500K for 1st in the UA Championship, 2nd is $130K, 3rd $80K, 4th $70K, 5th $50K and it goes all the way down to 100th. 2. No entry fee but at $500 fee (I think annual?) to join the nonprofit. It's possible that the membership – maybe along with the state of AL? – will own the nonprofit. If there's a backstory to this deal, it appears to be that someone(s) managed to push through the AL state gov't the idea of a huge "birthplace of bass fishing" tourney that will help publicize, promote and fund AL bass fisheries. I think. The team's concept was driven by passionate pro anglers and other industry folks looking for a way to unite and raise bass fishing to an entirely new level for "the love of the game." In combination with the state of AL – as well as local partners City of Scottsboro, Jackson County and state leadership – the group also wanted to raise awareness of the state's healthy bass fisheries and help raise funds for conservation, ultimately to fund grants for federal-matched dollars for conservation grants."

Didn't Chris Johnston still win $60-70k for winning it? I agree though, the turnout on the Lanier one was a bit disappointing, however that derby was loaded with absolute hammers. That was basically an Elite Series event without FFS. I've read they've already secured the prize purse, but who knows. I suspect this one will be different....or maybe I'm just hoping it will be different. The fishing world only benefits from having more non FFS events, @gimruis shared a story about his parents and the Walleye derbies they fish that really illustrates this point. At the top level this isn't as big of a deal, but it trickles down to even parking lot derbies. Whether age, finances, or personal objections to the tech, a lot of derby anglers are getting pushed out of that side of the game because of this tech. It's also eliminating the co angler aspect of the sport. Nobody wants to fish co angler anymore because of this technology, and the B.A.S.S. numbers show this to be the case.

The only thing I dislike about Bass fishing is when I injure them which is just part of the sport. That part never gets easier, and I feel a great sense of unfairness when I hurt a fish at the expense of me having a good time. I'm not there to harvest these fish, and to some degree it feels a bit like a cat playing with a mouse.

$500k to the winner, and over $1mil total in the purse. Now that's a real derby

This one has a huge purse as well. B.A.S.S. should pay close attention to this derby, and if they were wise they'd realize there is a huge demand for non FFS derbies. This is the second major derby that's being marketed as a non FFS event.