Super User Jigfishn10 Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 OH NOOOOO! @AlabamaSpothunter, that’s awful! Hope you get it back. I’ll keep my fingers crossed 1 1 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 1 minute ago, Jigfishn10 said: OH NOOOOO! @AlabamaSpothunter, that’s awful! Hope you get it back. I’ll keep my fingers crossed Thanks friend! The worst part is that I'm debating whether I wished I didn't even catch her yesterday, went from being on cloud 9 at the top of the world, to feeling like I want to vomit since last evening. Hopefully this serves a purpose and helps others in the future. Take pics from multiple sources, don't rely on technology. 6 Quote
Super User Jigfishn10 Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 A 9 lb 12 oz is one heck of a memory even without pics. Cheer up buddy, I’m certainly happy that you caught that fish I spooled some reels yesterday, a 9.12 oz fish would have been thrilling for this iced out angler Wanna trade? Hahaha 3 1 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 Really appreciate the good vibes @Jigfishn10 ! There's a little backstory to this fish, and the current obsession I've had for 30 straight months now. I grew up fishing a lake that I dreamed about catching a DD on. Then I moved out and went to college, did the adult thing for years, and somehow the universe brought me back to that same lake where I could try to fulfill one of my true lifelong goals. Few things in my life have I ever pursued as much as this goal over the last 2.5 years. @Swamp Girl is best aware of the madness, frustration, and sometimes incredible highs I've had during this process. She's helped mightily along the way keeping my attitude in check, and showering me in positivity. At many points along the way I've felt there wasn't a DD in the lake including hours before I caught the 9.12 yesterday afternoon. To me that fish represented 2.5 years, and it was finally a fish big enough that if I never ended up catching an actual DD from the lake, I could sleep at night knowing I did everything in my power to make it happen. In some ways not having pics or a video doesn't erase that fact, but I'm the type that will absolutely stop fishing if I realize I don't have a scale or camera, so obviously capturing the memory is paramount to my fishing experience. Sounds stupid crying about catching a big Bass, but I felt I needed to vent to friends who actually understand what I'm talking about. 6 Quote
Super User Swamp Girl Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 9-12? 9-12?? 9-12??? 9-12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take comfort in this, Alex: Whether you can recover the images or not, the images inside your head are intact. You saw her. You touched her. YOU BOATED HER, my friend. So. Proud. Of. You. 1 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: Had an incredible yesterday and caught a 9lb 12oz absolute beauty of a fish. Also had close to a 26lb bag with another beautiful 5.5 fish. I was so in a hurry to let her go; I didn't bother with a cellphone pic because I had the Go Pro rolling. Get home and my computer corrupted the MicroSD card....... my best friend does IT for a living and tried some things last night to recover it but no luck yet. I'm praying and willing to pay or do whatever to get back those files. If anybody knows someone who can recover my data, I'll make it worth your while. Absolutely heart broken and gutted is an understatement, but hopefully I can recover the data 😰😱 First Congrats on a great bass - and you know it's a great bass. We all do. But losing the video is no doubt Such a GIANT Downer. (and my worst nightmare and one reason why I run two cameras.) Really hope you can get the data back somehow. I would really enjoy hearing another basshead besides just me 'begging' for the fish to stay pinned and go in the net. And we both know you did plenty of that . . . 😎 Either way Congrats again on a Great Bass . . . And it happened once. . . . . . . . . It could happen again. #fishhard A-Jay 4 1 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 Thanks Katie! I really want to share the beauty of this fish with you, and all my other friends here. There was a guy on a dock who saw me catch her, and I thought about motoring over to get him to snap a pic. I don't regret at all how fast I released her though, she didn't have a single flaw on her, she's no doubt in the prime of her life. I do feel incredibly blessed to have the interaction, but I gotta get at least a pic of her. God willing, I can find a data recovery company to restore the files. @A-Jay Thanks buddy! I know you really do get the pain of losing data from gopros. I actually thought about you and the two-camera system last night. You're a role model for us all on how to handle, film, and immediately release trophy caliber Bass. Really appreciate it friends, I already feel better thanks to you guys! 2 1 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 11 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: @A-Jay Thanks buddy! I know you really do get the pain of losing data from gopros. I actually thought about you and the two-camera system last night. You're a role model for us all on how to handle, film, and immediately release trophy caliber Bass. Really appreciate it friends, I already feel better thanks to you guys! Thanks for the kind words my friend, I certainly appreciate it. Any of us who puts in the time and effort into preparing to capture once in a life time moments and then it doesn't work out well, KNOWS 'The Feeling' - It's pretty brutal. I say that to let you know that I do share your pain, so I hope you can get past this soon. And let's Focus & Celebrate the hard work & effort you put into catching that awesome bass. Revel in that success. btw- it's 3 degrees here. 🥶 A-Jay 2 Quote
Super User Jigfishn10 Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 Well, having goals is what drives us on the daily. You should at least take away that YOU know that DD lives there and is only a cast away. The last thing I think you should do is calibrate you scale, I am almost positive that it's 0,88 lbs off I'm glad you have a friend on here who provides that positivity for you. I personally think it's rare, so that's a really nice support system you have. Either way bud, again, I'm happy for you. John 1 1 Quote
Super User Team9nine Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 Well, you landed the fish, got a witness - that's the greater accomplishment. Two and a half years is a drop in the bucket of time, especially on a lake that produces the quality of fish for you that it does, so it's just a matter of time. I've gone 35 years without any picture/video proof of my personal best fish, not even knowing the exact weight, and wondering if it was a true DD or not. There were no digital culling scales or cell phone cameras back then. Got a close measurement, a partner with me who saw the whole thing go down, and said my fish was definitely bigger than the 8-12 he landed and weighed the year previous. I'll never know, but have lived with those thoughts bugging me for most of my fishing life, so I kind of get the feeling of having one little piece of the big puzzle missing and incomplete...but I DID catch her, and recall everything about that trip all these years later 5 1 Quote
Super User Swamp Girl Posted January 5 Super User Posted January 5 1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: I don't regret at all how fast I released her though, she didn't have a single flaw on her, she's no doubt in the prime of her life. You and me, my friend. We hear the clock ticking when the great bass are in our boats and for us, it's not a ticking, but a thundering. 1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: God willing, I can find a data recovery company to restore the files. FWIW, I lost data once and a specialist company retrieved it. It cost me about a grand, but I felt it was money well spent. 1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: Really appreciate it friends, I already feel better thanks to you guys! I'm happy we're helping. I'm even happier you landed a bass that was a tiny perch away from a DD. 4 minutes ago, Team9nine said: I'll never know, but have lived with those thoughts bugging me for most of my fishing life, so I kind of get the feeling of having one little piece of the big puzzle missing and incomplete...but I DID catch her, and recall everything about that trip all these years later If you were to ask me about any of my bigger bass from the past two years, I could take you to exact spot where I caught them. I could tell you the weather and share the details of the fight. Big bass memories are indelible. 2 1 Quote
Super User N Florida Mike Posted January 6 Super User Posted January 6 Nice fish man. Hope you can recover the pics. I got a 7 pounder once that was one of the 2 chunkiest bass I ever caught. I couldn’t get a pic and it still bothers me a little. 1 1 Quote
The Baron Posted January 6 Posted January 6 6 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: The worst part is that I'm debating whether I wished I didn't even catch her yesterday, went from being on cloud 9 at the top of the world, to feeling like I want to vomit since last evening. Oh, man - I hope you can recovery at least a photo from that card. Don’t let it ruin your memory though! (darn - no pun intended. 😬😝). Good on you for prioritizing the release though. Fish like that deserve such respect. 👍🏻 3 1 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted January 6 Global Moderator Posted January 6 Had some heavy rain but it stopped for a while , got the kayak out with some nightcrawlers. It was about 33-34 degrees but I got a nice SMB and yet another walleye. I’ve caught more walleye than bass this year! That’s a first . Todays was just over 22” 20 Quote
Blue Raider Bob Posted January 6 Posted January 6 18 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: Thanks Katie! I really want to share the beauty of this fish with you, and all my other friends here. There was a guy on a dock who saw me catch her, and I thought about motoring over to get him to snap a pic. I don't regret at all how fast I released her though, she didn't have a single flaw on her, she's no doubt in the prime of her life. I do feel incredibly blessed to have the interaction, but I gotta get at least a pic of her. God willing, I can find a data recovery company to restore the files. @A-Jay Thanks buddy! I know you really do get the pain of losing data from gopros. I actually thought about you and the two-camera system last night. You're a role model for us all on how to handle, film, and immediately release trophy caliber Bass. Really appreciate it friends, I already feel better thanks to you guys! What did you catch her on? The bait monkey really wants to know! 2 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 6 Super User Posted January 6 Thank you guys so much for the kind and encouraging words!!!!! Means the world to me as nobody else would understand and get it. My best buddy spent hours last night trying to recover them, but no luck. So I just packaged the card up and sent it to a repair lab in CT. No charge if they can't get it back, but it'll be $354 if they can. I didn't realize how much a memory is worth in terms of dollars until I got put into a situation like this. Luckily it's not as much as Katie's recovery at $1000. I suspect many people who do this professional recovery have lost finincial data, passwords, etc. Knock on wood, the tech in the lab is going to see Bass fishing videos and think I've lost my mind 🤣 I'll be sure to keep you guys updated since we're all invested in the outcome at this point. 11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said: What did you catch her on? The bait monkey really wants to know! Small little silver lining is that at least I'll always have the bait that got retired. Caught it on a Red Craw 1/2oz Damiki Vault blade bait with upgraded hardware.....Owner Hyper Wire #1 or #2 split rings (can't remember which size) with Owner STX-38s in size 6. I can't emphasis enough how much changing out the OEM hooks for STX 38s makes a difference. If you notice she broke one of the treble hook points which I suspect was caused by me having to re bend it in place a few times after freeing the bait with a lure retriever. I should really learn from that and start changing out the hook as soon as I have to rebend it once. 11 1 Quote
Pat Brown Posted January 6 Posted January 6 @AlabamaSpothunter - that's such a huge bummer. At least you know where she lives and what she likes to eat. I don't think the big fish flood gates are really even open yet this winter - if that makes ya feel any better. She's certainly a good sign of things to come this winter and probably not the last fish that caliber you'll run into before summer. Just keep at it and by golly - take some pictures every single time and then send em to a friend and email em to yourself lol Upload em to a cloud. All I know is phones and cameras fall off boats and break and stop working spontaneously and all sorts of stuff and I'm fairly certain next time you'll be ready to document it 6 ways from Sunday (and now YOU can see why I'm insane about taking a million pictures when I catch a big fish! 😅😉) I am still hopeful for your file recovery though! Who knows!?!? All I know is - get back out there and catch her Grandma! 😎👍🏼 If anyone can do it - it's you, bud! Another small piece of advice that may be worth sharing - as it is something I had to grapple with. It's very easy to make a very nice DIY livewell with a large cooler and some air pumps and a little DIY grit. I have let 8 lbers recover in my livewell before taking pictures and I can tell you they seem to very much appreciate the extra O2 being pumped in and a chance to catch their breath. 🙂👍🏼❤️ I built it primarily to keep fish alive and take them to the marina for small tournaments and such - but it has proven very useful for reviving big fish (and helping my friends stock their private ponds!) 4 1 Quote
Super User AlabamaSpothunter Posted January 6 Super User Posted January 6 Great stuff Pat, and really appreciate the pep talk!!! The livewell is a great suggestion, and I recall watching Doug Hannon use a similar setup with a beneficial solution like SureLife in it. He would dunk them in the livewell and then release them. My gut and stats tell me she's the biggest fish I'll ever catch out of the lake, but you can never discount pure luck. Thanks again everybody, and I don't want to hijack a picture thread anymore than I have considering I didn't even post a picture.....here's to being able to post a pic in a week though 🙂 4 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 6 Global Moderator Posted January 6 21 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: Had an incredible yesterday and caught a 9lb 12oz absolute beauty of a fish. Also had close to a 26lb bag with another beautiful 5.5 fish. I was so in a hurry to let her go; I didn't bother with a cellphone pic because I had the Go Pro rolling. Get home and my computer corrupted the MicroSD card....... my best friend does IT for a living and tried some things last night to recover it but no luck yet. I'm praying and willing to pay or do whatever to get back those files. If anybody knows someone who can recover my data, I'll make it worth your while. Absolutely heart broken and gutted is an understatement, but hopefully I can recover the data 😰😱 I feel your pain. My SD card from Day 2 of the Kayak Bassmaster Classic got corrupted and I haven't been able to recover it. I got a quote recently from a company that said it would be $900-$2400 depending on the amount of data needing to be recovered (there's a lot, I was catching them good all day that day). Kills me not to be able to even watch the video again, but I can't spend a house payment to get it recovered. I'm in a year long challenge of sorts called Catch and Release Alive for 2025. The goal is to CPR 2025 bass by the end of 2025. So I'll be tracking all my fish this year. I got out Saturday right before the big winter storm hit. It was 27* pretty much all day with 10-20mph east winds and 41* water. I fished from 7-12 when the freezing rain started and I wanted to get home before the roads got bad. Ended up with 34, bringing my yearly total to 36 fish and 477". I only brought 3 rods and fished with 2 of them most of the time, a Ned rig and Jackyll Bling. 14 Quote
Blue Raider Bob Posted January 6 Posted January 6 18 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: I don't want to hijack a picture thread anymore than I have Nobody thinks you're hijacking a thread. Your story is what we crave as anglers. We rise and fall with each other. You're success encourages anglers like myself that struggle to catch a 3 pounder. I know that sooner or later, a larger fish will strike my offering because Alex, Pat, A-Jay, Team9, Katie, and countless others have taught me so! I will borrow you're techniques, lures, and persistence, and I will succeed! 5 1 Quote
Super User T-Billy Posted January 6 Super User Posted January 6 3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said: I can't emphasis enough how much changing out the OEM hooks for STX 38s makes a difference. I became a big Owner fan this past year. ST-36 in 1/0 - 3/0 have served me very well on my smaller muskie cranks. They're easy to get sticky sharp and are super strong for their wire diameter. I feel your pain on the lost footage. I was standing on the front deck with my PB LM in hand when I realized the digital camera was home on the computer desk. I had left it there the previous weekend after uploading pics of my new PB caught that day. 🤦♂️This was prior to me carrying a phone. 1 2 Quote
Super User Team9nine Posted January 7 Super User Posted January 7 They say it hit 50 briefly today, but it didn’t feel like it. The sun barely appeared though they said it would shine, and they claim the winds only blew NW @ 6-10, but they seemed stronger than that. Cold rain came through overnight, and water temps are now down to 43-44 degrees and still stained - and the Arctic blast and possible snow is now just days away. All that to say I made one more afternoon run to the lake. Only got one bite, but it was a decent fish over 3-1/2 pounds, cranking. 19 Quote
Pat Brown Posted January 7 Posted January 7 Here in central NC it barely cracked 38 today and we had snow last night and it's supposed to barely crack 38 again tomorrow.🥹 Haven't seen the sun in days. We might get actual sunlight tomorrow - I expect that to maybe be good? I'm hoping! Nice fish everyone! 3 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted January 7 Global Moderator Posted January 7 Nice fish @Team9nine, sounds like you’re experiencing the renowned accuracy of meteorology in the southeast 😂 1 2 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 7 Global Moderator Posted January 7 It's not supposed to make it above freezing here anytime in the next 10 days according to the long ranger. My oldest son has his first BB game of the year Saturday and we're finally getting both boys birthday parties in on Sunday, so no fishing this weekend, and I'm not real upset about it 🥶 It was -2 on my way in to work this morning and not supposed to warm up much today. All the local lakes are locked up. 2 Quote
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