JHoss

I thought they were supposed to update Bass Track themselves in that case? And there was a $1000 bonus for whoever was closest to their actual weight?

Has to be a reception issue or something, right? Aint no way John Cox has 0 fish at 3pm in a Florida Derby. Or the Johnston bros for that matter.

I bought some of the Strobe Minnows and Strobe Shakers. Haven't had an opportunity to throw them yet, but have a Shaker on a jighead for the next chance I get. They look good, but suspect it takes the right jighead to make them roll correctly.

Scott just released a statement on his Instagram. Dude's as professional as they come. Sounds like the incident in question happened 3 weeks ago, so wouldn't have been real helpful for the derby by the time it rolls around anyway. Funny how it's all vets getting caught up in this and not the young kids everyone hated on last year. Makes you wonder if they're as bad as folks say or just better at circumventing the no info rule.

What are your favorite Bass Fishing Podcasts? Trying to find a couple more good ones to mix in to my current favorites: Bass After Dark, Bass Talk Live, and Better Fishing with 2 Bald Biologist (though only some of those episodes are relevant to bass fishing). I've tried Tackle Talk and KBN, but neither of those really do it for me.

It's a weird place right now. I think they're having a hard time getting the letter of the law to match the spirit of the law. There needs to be something to prevent folks from buying info, but these situations seem to have gone too far. I thought the rule stated that you couldn't "solicit" info, which it doesn't sound like either of these guys did. Completely unfair to punish a competitor who didn't plug his ears fast enough when someone else started talking about stuff they shouldn't. They fined him too?!?

Apparently he was talking to a local while rigging up and the conversation got too detailed about specific conditions in certain parts of the lake. He self reported and BASS decided he had an unfair advantage because of that knowledge. But to your point, highly unlikely that info would really help a local guy like Scott.

This is very true. I'm not very good with the scope, but it's on 95% of the time I'm fishing. Even when I'm not actively scoping, I leave it on and am marking any good cover that it happens to pan over. I picked up a few fish doing that last year and have plenty of waypoints I wouldn't have without it.

This lines up with my experience and understanding. I spent a lot of time spearfishing in my youth, and have seen so many predator species hunker down in rocks or other cover, that I'd have to think bass do the same. I haven't personally observed bass in a pile on my scope, but have seen plenty of videos from other people's scopes where bass certainly appear to be inside the pile. This makes a lot of sense. I guess with the traditional methods, you start casting away from where you think a pile is and slowly work closer until you start to feel it? I've approached them the same way as you by using a more power-fishing approach like a T Rig when going into a pile, but hear so many guys talk about dropshotting brush piles that I wondered if I was missing something by not trying to get in there more. I'd think with light line, spinning gear, and a big fish you'd be asking for breakoffs getting in them.

LOL, what a great answer. I suspect you have good insight on the question posed and I respect your opinion. Just seems like all to often these days folks see "FFS" and latch on to that- maybe I'm being too sensitive this morning or just in a bad mood because the latest TW order hasn't shown up yet like it was supposed to.

I couldn't agree more. If we know it's not reliable, why are we letting that dictate a guy getting DQ'd who quite possibly never violated a rule. That would be all well and good if that's how these organizations used them. But they're actually DQ'ing guys who fail, when we know that polygraph's are very fallible.

If I'm actually fishing, I probably spend less than 5% of my time graphing. If I'm pre-fishing a tournament, I may spend up to 80% of my time graphing if I think it'll be won offshore and I need to find some cover to mark for the tournament.

Can you please explain how me asking if you fish a dropshot in or around brush piles is looking for a faster way to get this done? By that logic, anyone who ever read an article about bass fishing is looking for a faster way to get this done? I appreciate that you took the time to respond, but you didn't answer a single question I posed and, instead, used this as a chance to get on a soap box about FFS. This is an interesting take. Most pro's I've heard talk about this say that bass will stage in the brush piles and wait for bait to swim within ambush range. When you fish around a brush pile and feel your bait contacting that pile, do you lift it up and over to the near side?

Just found this post from his son on another forum: "He got dq’d because we were talking on Tuesday about how he was spending all his time practicing down south. That’s where he spent his practice and all the tournament. I wasn’t thinking and made a comment hopefully this one doesn’t get one north in deep creek like a tournament that my buddy had fished the previous weekend just as a general comment talking fish. He never went there to look and went right back and put in at Astor the next day. I have fished opens and understand off limits periods but we talk fishing daily and I just wasn’t thinking when I said it. Polygraph examiner asked if he had received any information and told them I had said it on accident but never went in that direction(70 miles the exact opposite is where he went in practice and the tournament). That flagged it as soliciting for information and dq’d him. The rule states soliciting while trying to gain a competitive advantage so I don’t understand how mistakenly being told something and not pursuing the information or using it for any gains can fall into a disqualification." If all that is true, BASS messed this one up bad.

Anyone have more info on his side of the story? I saw a tidbit about his brother posting a comment on his Facebook page which was considered illegal info. Meanwhile at the Bass Open on Rayburn, a guy who finished in the top 10 gets a $4000 fine for violating the rule instead of DQ'd because "it didn't affect the outcome of the event" or some excuse like that. Rumors are another Elite will be DQ'd before the Okeechobee event for violating the same rule.

Probably gonna sound like a newb asking this, but that's ok because I'm a shallow water guy trying to get better offshore... I always hear guys talking about dropshotting offshore brush piles. My question is, are people getting their drop shot into the thick of a pile or working the edges of it? I have Livescope on my boat and use that to line up on offshore cover, so I can see if my drop shot is landing where I want it. But how do guys without/before scope know if they were landing in it or next to it. Does everyone just fish a Texas rigged bait on their drop shot when around cover? Feel free to throw any other pertinent brush pile tips in while you're at it.

I would highly recommend going the used route. I made the mistake of buying my first yak new before realizing I could've had a much better 1-2 year old boat. My first yak was an Ascend 12T which I was fortunate to buy right before their substantial price increase (went from $650 to $800 a month after I bought if I remember correctly) and sell after that increase, so I didn't lose but a few hundred bucks. My second yak was a very well rigged NuCanoe pursuit I picked up for $900 and sold 4 years later for $1700 (with a busted Xi3 Spotlock I had added). I've moved on to a jon boat now, but would never buy a kayak new again. Not sure how much kayak fishing experience you have or what your goals are (fun fishing vs tournament), but once you experience fishing from a kayak with a motor or pedals, you'll never want to go back. You can't fish effectively with paddle in your hand, so you're giving up a lot of actual fishing time by paddling. If you're tournament fishing, you don't really stand a chance in a paddle kayak against guys in pedal or motorized kayaks. I'd think if you spent enough time on marketplace or similar, you could find an older pedal drive yak for around that price point. And if you decide to upgrade again in a few months, you'll be able to sell it for close to what you paid.

Yeah, exactly. You have to wedge them in pretty good to not bust loose if you drop the box, which can make it slightly difficult to get out. I just grab one of the 100 hooks in the box and use the eye end to pop them out. You can also take the foam block out and use those compartments empty if that suits your needs better. I've heard some great things about the BKK terminal storage system, but haven't seen one in person yet.

This box from Academy has worked well for me and costs 1/4 of the Plano Edge. I put a couple cheap desiccant packs from Amazon into it to keep rust away. On rare occasions, the smallest of hooks can slide to the next compartment. https://www.academy.com/p/h2ox-premium-terminal-tackle-utility-box

We live on a few acres with a lot of oaks, so squirrel hair is plentiful as long as the 22's still sighted in. But I'm surprised that hair is long enough for bass jigs?

Makes sense. I remember this being a thing when I did some fly tying in my youth. And some guys swear by this for traditional jigs, spinners, and buzzbaits so that tracks in the bass world too.

I'd love to see some. When I used to do some fly tying, there were patterns to follow. I haven't found anything like that for hair jigs, so I reckon I'll pick some that look good and try to replicate them. Seems like a combination of bucktail and feathers seems popular and has good action from what I hear. This is what I've mostly seen pros do on TV and how I expect to fish them. Seems like a bait I'll use primarily with LiveScope targeting fish/bait or working over submerged cover. What are the three colors in the tri color? Interesting concept. I've always seen them fished pretty quickly and that's what I'm envisioning- another option to throwing a minnow at them with Scope. That looks good. Is that the VMC Mooneye Jighead you're tying on? When you bottom stroll, are you watching your bait with scope or just feeling it along?

I think I'll need to keep them off the bottom for the most part. We don't have many lakes or rivers with much hard bottom, so I'm assuming they get fouled up or snagged if I let them sink all the way. Are you using them for smallies or largies? I assumed browns and blacks would be more Smallie colors imitating a craw, but was expecting to be imitating shad or some other baitfish. I like the profile on that one. Are you using that color mostly for largies or smallies?

I want to start playing with hair jigs this year. I have a bunch of old fly tying stuff laying around I'll use at first. My big question is, what weight jig heads should I use? I suspect 90% of the time I'll be using them in 10-30' (with FFS if that matters). I've tied plenty of flies and saltwater bucktails in the past, so I'm assuming it will be very similar. Any other advice on tying or fishing hair jigs?

Just throwing it out there... a 20hp Tohatsu with a $3 9.9 sticker is identical to a true 9.9. OR an aftermarket carb will convert a 9.9 to a 20 and keep your 9.9 serial number- just remember to swap back if you ever need warranty work. I'm not sure I would be able to get my decked 1448 on plane with a full load of gear and a second person on the boat with anything short of a 20.