AlabamaSpothunter

It starts at the bottom of the food chain, isolated cover/structure in an area is a beacon for all the forage the big Bass want to consume in said area. Instead of expending copious amounts of energy chasing around bait in an area, why not camp out at the local hangout for prey fish. In saltwater/pelagic sport fishing, there are things called FADs(Fish Aggregating Device) in the middle of the ocean, many times 50-100 miles offshore. In turn they end up becoming home to the largest predators in that area. Anglers pay thousands of dollars to charter trips to FADs to catch huge Marlin, Tuna, Dolphin Fish, etc. These devices work because they start the food chain in the middle of a literal ocean. A piece of isolated cover/structure many times does the same thing on a smaller scale in a lake. The Bass come to those places because they provide easy meals in short imho.

Milliken said that during his weigh in.....said he culled like 13-14 fish without realizing he didn't have a 5th one in the boat.

If Kevin Brightwell (KGB Swimbaits owner/designer) thinks they're the right way to go......good enough for me. To me they look significantly more natural in the water than other tail types.

At Grand all the anglers were so complimentary of the local anglers giving them so much space, you hear this from time to time. Seems some places have more "respect" for the Elite Series guys than others. I don't have a problem one way or the other, if I was out there on my one day off, I'm not yielding to anybody if I was on the spot first.

Crazy watching these locals fishing so close to Mckinney. They could care less about an Elite Series guy fishing besides them 🤣 Florida man ain't moving over for nobody.

At least I was prepared to bomb with my fantasy picks. Florida is so hard to pick. I could get a re do and still not pick any of these top 10 guys lol. ETA: LOVE seeing the legend Clunn get a camera, how cool is that. It's his 499th BASS derby, that's unreal.

That last passage in the book is the last 20+ months of my life. Incredibly spot on. It's hard to describe the level of obsession. If I'm honest I've neglected many other parts of my life. On the other hand, I've learned more in 20 months than my previous 20 years of Bass fishing. Obsession is a two way street, it creates greatness, but at the cost of sanity and a person as a whole. It's really kind of embarrassing which is why it was such a relief to hear the author's passage, and Deep's reply. I have no plans of seeking treatment, rather doubling down.....I moving to Texas 🤣

No matter what Texas does, and they set the standard in big Bass management, could ever produce what CA, and especially S. CA has produced in the past. According to every Bass biologist I follow, this is because S. CA has the absolute perfect climate to grow trophy fish. The optimal water temperature for Bass growth is 70-75d. Texas's extreme heat, and traditional southern winters limits the number of "growing days" a Bass has. There was a number of CA lakes that have produced epic fish and they never received trout stocking. There are also NLGM strain only lakes in CA, they have produced epic sized NLGMs.....13lb+ fish IIrc. Alabama Bass from Smith Lake north of Birmingham were transplanted to the CA, and whereas the Spots only get to about 5-7lbs in Smith Lake, or Alabama......they reach DD+ size in CA. Climate is only one of the key ingredients, but no other place on earth has shown it has the perfect climate to grow WR sized Bass more than CA.

Between the two Zillions......I can pretty much cover every single technique under the sun. About as perfect Bass fishing baitcaster as I could dream up. I'm sure Steez are better and I have the OG one, but when you can get two Zillions for a Steez, it's a no brainer for me. Either way it's gonna be a Daiwa for me.

There's a really good chance the biggest fish have spawned once already. Heck it's mid April almost, I'd bet a lot of fish have spawned up there. I watched a video last night of Jason Christie where's he catching fish on bed in 55d water.

Big bait specialists like Ben Milliken use everything from 5-8 speed reels for various different types of swimbaits. There isn't a definitive answer on this subject, it's subjective. Personally, I use a 7.1 which handles all the baits I throw perfectly fine. I mainly throw glides, and I think a 7.1 is perfect for them. I also throw Magdrafts and Bucca Burritos on it. The juice is really in the rod imho, lots of reels make a good fit.

They 100% work. I couldn't imagine fishing in the spring or fishing big swimbaits without them.

This video really make me think about things, and it's from Oliver Ngy who built his big fish rep in Cali. Long but well worth the listen.

@PhishLI coming home after fishing 🤣

Careful Jake, those hats make you rant about FFS like a lunatic 🤣

Certate 2500 or 3000 size would be my pick if you want a higher end reel.

@deep I really dig your style, you seem committed to the big swimbait. Wasn't around when you were posting before. I haven't found anything in Bass fishing that rivals catching them on big swimbaits. Pure adrenaline from the moment they eat. That last fish is a beautiful freak show.....congrats.

Very hard to beat FC Sniper for anything but topwater. I'm also a big user of Daiwa J Fluoro and J Fluoro Hidden Concept for jerkbaiting. If you want a true jack of all trades setup, as much as I hate to admit it, FC isn't the best choice then.

To me, the Florida swing is the hardest stretch to make picks for. Two of my favorites on the bottom, and two really hot sticks in Johnston and Cook. Picked Benton because I liked him, and it was a safe move with close to 30% picking him in group 2. Group 2 was a pure crap shoot to me.

Too long......no Is it too much power for the technique.....likely but I don't know the rod specs. A 7ft medium fast is the perfect rod for a senko imho.

My bet is a 9-10lb fish will win; lake has been cranking out fish that size on the reg lately. The derbys this year have taken 30-35lbs to win. Lake is fishing great. Milliken caught a sharelunker there a 6 weeks ago IIrc.

Hardest working man in all of fishing......Mr @PhishLI 😎

@JayMac89 Congrats brother on such an awesome day, and fish......that's truly what's it's all about for me, the full Jimmy V experience. “To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think -- spend some time time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day.” ― Jim Valvano A 5lb fish is a fantastic fish for everyone, whether you live in Mexico or in Canada....a 5lber is a 5lber. It's the universal measuring stick for a big "Bass".

KGB rarely does repeats but over the summer they dropped the re design of the Chad Shad in a color called Threadfin. Sold out in seconds and I missed the first drop of 200 Oct rolls around and I'm quick on the trigger and I score one of the 200 batch....catch numerous fish on it during the Fall and Winter. Then in Feb. I lose it and a big fish inch from the net Now in April I scored another one in the third run albeit slightly different painted head and name.......blue headed threadie is the colorway.

I see that down here from time to time, and at least down here it's Muskrat/Mink doing it. I'd bet money that was done by a semi aquatic mammal.