AlabamaSpothunter

Yeah it doesn't sound like much, but when you are depending on a battery/TM setup to cover 150 acres it matters over the course of half a day. This also applies to anybody who kayaks with a TM. My top speed was 3.5mph at 5 speed. It's now closer to 3.9mph at 5 speed. However 5 speed on a non variable motor eats up the battery.....and at speed 4 it was 2.20mph.......now it pops over 2.75mph. .5mph gain on 2.2mph is extremely significant in my book. We're not talking 150HP outboards after all. The props are so cheap, I took a gamble on the 50lb Minn Kota and as mentioned with some washer playing around, it fit perfectly. I imagine if the shaft size is the same as Minn Kota's, it will work. Folks are using these on 30lb TMs I read in the comments.

I watched a Youtube video a few weeks ago about how you can add a $4 R/C plane prop to Minn Kota 55lb TMs.......guy had a voltmeter and odometer, and he was gaining .5-1mph while doing so with less battery draw. Well I ordered a pair of these $4 props, and while it took a bit of playing around to find the right washer, it was a direct replacement for a OEM prop on the super common Minn Kota Endura 50lb TMs. I gained .5mph @ speed 4/5, however was only getting about .25mph gain on the 5 setting. Either way, the efficiency alone is worth the swap if you aren't around a place that requires a prop for weeds. I have weeds on my lake but not in the open, they line the shores and back of coves. I lost "torque" or that immediate get up and go changing props, but top speeds at all speed ranges increased notably. Lots of YT videos about this, but I'm just now figuring it out. Minn Kota stock vs apc prop is the video I found. 10x5M-LH - APC Propellers

Night fishing cured my arachnophobia, than again they are the larger water type spiders.....not exactly black widows or brown recluses. You'll get murdered down here without 40% deet lol. Way to hang with it, I've never heard of place where they wouldn't bite at night.

The lo float nature of the 190 SF is kind of what makes the bait so successful for me, not to mention the visual nature of it.....the excitement level is fantastic with that bait. It's a very user input-oriented bait the way I fish, seeing it makes a huge difference. You can always add some lead wire to the hooks or add suspend strips or dots to make it a SS, or even a suspender.

I love black, and if I could only fish one color of soft plastic it would be black or purple, that's why my favorite is black grape. That said, there is so many options that play well with black that going with all black in 2023 seems rudimentary. Personally, I just think black pairs so well with blue, red, and purple. A mix of those is what I'm usually fishing. Green pumpkin if the viz gets beyond 3-5ft range, but I mainly fish in that 3-5ft range.

The longer I fish I realize there are only two ways to truly achieve success in Bass fishing: 1.) Spending more time on the water than the other anglers that fish it and do so especially during the times where it's uncomfortable for others to be doing so. This means fishing at night, during the rain, during the winter when it's freezing, and any other time you know others won't be on the lake. 2.) Get lucky, everybody has a story of a kid catching a DD on a Zeb33 and a Beatle Spin. I can tell you my exact honey holes, but if you don't put in the work, and get a splash of luck, you're not going to match my results. Legendary Big Bass hunter LJ Brasher fished for 72hrs straight at a time with the knowledge that during that window of time, eventually the big Bass will turn on. He caught over 1000 DD fish. Night Hawk Publications - John's Journal Pat Cullen another Big Bass hunting legend, and another who caught over 1000 DDs, fished exclusively at night, all night, after working a full time job and raising a family during the day. 1,113 Giant Bass… And Counting – Georgia Outdoor News (gon.com) Those two men could give you all the tips and honey holes in the world, but you can't substitute for their sheer dedication to time on water.

Braves keep doing Braves things......Acuna Jr continues his assault on the history books We're entering into the most magical time of year, Braves can be as dominant as they want, but they got to pray just like the others they capture that Fall magic.

Bluegill

Yeah with my current boat setup, bottom contact slow retrieve fishing is quite a chore in even 5mph winds. I think that's another reason I love summer night bassin so much, one of the few times of the year I don't have to deal with the wind. Every night is slick calm for the most part. I need to buy some 5/16th, 3/8th and even some 1/2oz free rig weights so I can fish them in the wind during the day over the upcoming months.

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It's a species thing ultimately, if you're fishing for Largemouth Bass especially, they'll bite exceptionally well during typical "good nights", "feeding windows", etc. the same they will during the day. Some nights the first two hours after dark are the best, and the bite slowly dies to nothing after the 4th or 5th hour and I'll leave. 7-10 days ago this was happening quite often. Other nights, I can't buy a bite from 8-10pm, and then BOOOOOM......I'll blast three 5lb+ fish in less than an hour like on the 30th., and the bite continues to stay on until I get too tired to fish. Then even more some nights you'll be out there not catching a thing, next thing you know you're caught in a thunder storm getting rained on and catch two 5lb+ fish in 10mins. That happened the 28th. So it was most likely an environmental window. My point is the way fish bite or not bite is no different than during the day.....some times it's like shooting fish in a barrel, other days you wonder if somebody poisoned your lake. You keep fishing at night, I'll 100% promise you'll catch fish. Time on water friend, applies to night the same as day.

PhishLi proves it's not regional that's for sure, night bassin on Long Island is hardcore, and he doesn't have to do it to avoid the heat like us in the deep south. Agree though about night bassin being really special. Ever since I started doing it in high school, it's been the closest I've gotten to the feeling of being in Space, or 10,000ft under the sea.......it's absolutely a foreign environment, a place where humans aren't naturally supposed to feel comfortable at/in. It's a hostile environment with all the bugs, dew point which makes everything wet, not being able to see more than a foot in front of you half the nights of the month. We have no wind down here at nights as well, the level of quietness is unmatched in my universe.

Beautiful, as dark as I've ever seen them.

If anything the fishing and certainly size of the fish get better during the night. I'd also say that I'm a significantly better Bass fisherman at night than during the day. I fish more patiently, fish casts that I'd otherwise reel back to quickly because "they weren't perfect", vastly more connected to what my bait is doing through enhanced senses once you lose your acute vision. The Bass will eat reaction moving baits as well as slow moving baits, however I prefer to use slow moving baits. Fish the same places and things you would during the day in the beginning, then you'll refine the nuances on your particular body of water and what they want differently at night vs. day. There is a huge psychological barrier to night fishing, and for myself I have to fight it every new season of night bassin which is in the months of July and August in Alabama. It's a confidence deal, it's hard to imagine you can do better in pitch black than on a sunny Spring day. After fishing for 6-8 weeks only at night, it's always so foreign going back to day fishing. A completely different world comes alive as well, a whole new crew of critters come out after dark and it's so cool to witness that aspect of nature. From the Supermoon night

After completely selling out to this pattern/technique for the entire month of August, I've blown away some personal benchmarks, and as I continue to refine my process over these last two weeks, the results are unlike any single month stretch I've had in terms of 5lb+ fish, as well as bags over 20lbs. Over the course of about 70 hours spent on the water at night in the month of August......all using a Free Rigged 5/0 Mag Lizard, Mag Worm, Mag Finesse Straight tail: Number of 5lb+ fish caught: 18 ( 2 fish over 7lbs) Largest bag: 8/30 Blue Supermoon, 5 for 23lbs........7.3 big fish, 5.14 & 5.13 fish, and then a pair of 2lb class fish. These are bags over half days (4-5hr sessions) ** 8/29 5 for 20.5.....however I lost a 5+ pretty close to the boat that would have put me close to or a little over 25lbs. Never got my August monster with a 7.3 being big fish, however unlike months where I've caught true monsters, I've never be able to ride a derby winning pattern for an entire month. 3.8 hrs fished for every 5+ fish Favorite baits: Zoom's 8" Mag Lizard, Blackberry, Black Grape, Black w/ Red Flake, Black, Green Pumpkin w/ Blue Flake this bait is the OG big fish night bait, my PB came on it, and it's dynamite when you alternate it with the other options listed below like with the Ol Monsters. Zoom's Ol Monster: Black Grape, Green Pumpkin w/ Blue Flake, Junebug w/ Red Flake this bait is just exceptional in every manner when it comes to big fish, and accounted for about 50% of my fish. Roboworm 7" Fat Straight Tail: Black Grape, After Dark, Midnight this bait excels when the bite is a bit tougher, but you are stilling looking for the 5lb+ bite. 6th Sense Boosa Worm 9.6": Pumpkinseed juice, Watermelon w/ Red Flake this bait floats and is a real sleeper......it's the bait that Milliken was throwing when I got inspired to throw the Free Rig. Colors: Can't see your hand in your face nights.......Black Grape, Blacks, dark stuff listed above. Blue Supermoon type of night.......you can't beat the Green Pumpkin w/ Blue Flake. *** I never believed much in scent or was too lazy to apply it in the manner where it would work......that's the only other gamechanger I can easily point to besides 1. Free Rig 2. Bulk plastics mainly 10" curly tail worms 3. religious use in Bang Garlic scent **** last thing I think is important to point out as well, first time I treated Gama hooks like disposable gear.....meaning if I felt the hook was even the slightest dull, I changed it out. This pattern is about over sadly though, already getting our first let up in the heat and the fish are going to be roaming more herding up bait.

This is a very common story, I finally saw the light on Fluoro fishing for SMs getting my tail handed to me fishing live threadfins. I have no doubt Bass can be line shy.

Most of the folks using it in the described application are using it for finesse ones, likely on pressured or line shy fish. Fluoro matters in those scenarios for sure. I also just think Fluoro hits way above it weight class in terms of strength, I have vastly more confidence in the strength of high end ones vs. mono or copoly. You're talking to a guy who doesn't run a braid to leader anything, so you can basically dismiss this post if you want lol.

Saw a really cool Facebook video of two water tankers refueling on the lake. Hope everybody is okay down there.

Shimano 190 SF is under 2oz and is friendly on the wallet. Outside of that bait and maybe the Spro Chad Shad, you get what you pay for sadly with swimbaits. They mainly throw that Magdraft and Burrito in the videos I watch.

Dang getting a Century Club belt must be epic......what a great derby even for a Scopefest

Here's a quick list of some of the most sought after $125+ lures that I've found KGB- anything Phoney Frog- anything Hinkle- anything 86 baits- anything HPH- anything 3:16 - most of their stuff Bucca Trick Shad/Bull Shad These are just the Glides and Swimmers that I'm into. There is an equal amount of companies and baits that are in the wake/rat/crank down category. Yeah I'd have trouble throwing even Jackhammers around ESOX fish. Heavy leader would kill the action on most glides anyways.

Weigh in is starting. BASS is just so much better than MLF, that's the biggest thing I take away after following the sport again after a long break, and now after both the Elites and BPTs are over. Shame somebody like Jacob Wheeler won't be fishing against these young Elite guys for years to come in order to see another KVD emerge.

My buddy has a box full of them lol, he LOVES them. There are about a dozen big bait makers that sell baits for $100-300, and sell out every drop within a minute or two. Some drops for things like Chad Shads go in 10-20secs. The high of actually "winning" a bait you've been trying to get is almost like fishing itself. They're the crack rock of Bass fishing imho.

Just don't look at his Trick Shad or Bull Glide though ? Trick is $175, and I think the Bull Glide is even more.