Big lizards=Big Fish???

[shimmy]

Bamabass pays a yearly fee to fish the private lakes he has access to. Learning about lures from him is as useless as learning about lures from Bill Dance on his stocked ponds. Why people follow him for advice blows my mind. 

[CroakHunter]

1 hour ago, shimmy said:

Bamabass pays a yearly fee to fish the private lakes he has access to. Learning about lures from him is as useless as learning about lures from Bill Dance on his stocked ponds. Why people follow him for advice blows my mind. 

He doesn't give bad advice. He's not out there drop shotting a hollow body frog catching 30lbs on 5 fish. Basing your success off of his success is where people need to stop and realize he does fish private water that holds giants and he does fish in Alabama where the fish grow larger than say indiana.

[RoLo]

 

I realize this thread is about "lizards", but it seems more centered on the length of soft-plastic baits.

The lengths specified in this thread could also be applied to plastic snakes, grubs, creatures or leeches.

Actually, "lizards" are land animals that quickly drown in water. In fact, all species of American lizards

live on land or in trees. Salamanders are aquatic creatures, but they're built noticeably different than lizards.

 

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

[BassB8Caster]

21 hours ago, shimmy said:

Bamabass pays a yearly fee to fish the private lakes he has access to. Learning about lures from him is as useless as learning about lures from Bill Dance on his stocked ponds. Why people follow him for advice blows my mind. 

Is it possible that a good number of people don't know he dishes private lakes?  I had no idea. I don't do research on everyone who hosts YouTube videos. I take them at face value. If I see a technique that could work where I fish, I give it a try. One still has to execute, even on private waters. To me, this is still better than fake catches on fishing shows. That is a disgrace and an insult to the sport. Yet we call them pros. Anyway, that's another topic and thread all together. 

[shimmy]

1 hour ago, BassB8Caster said:

Is it possible that a good number of people don't know he dishes private lakes?  I had no idea. I don't do research on everyone who hosts YouTube videos. I take them at face value. If I see a technique that could work where I fish, I give it a try. One still has to execute, even on private waters. To me, this is still better than fake catches on fishing shows. That is a disgrace and an insult to the sport. Yet we call them pros. Anyway, that's another topic and thread all together. 

No doubt people still have to catch fish on private lakes, but it is extremely discouraging for beginning to moderate anglers fishing their heavily pressured or unproductive public waters and watch videos from guys that fish private reservoirs and then expect to get some kind of similar results. Bamabass has every right to do what he does and i wish him luck. He is doing great with his business approach with it and there is nothing negative to say towards that aspect. Furthermore, I don't think he ever says that only this ONE lure will work and that is why i have respect for him. I just think that the people who watch the videos should be aware that he is fishing private and paid for waters for a reason...I take a lot more stock from people who fish public waters and catch big bass than those who do not. I have a youtube video of catching big bass on Lake Baccarac and i would never consider it a go-to video for how to fish a reservoir. I am fishing a lake that is world class and requires a plane ticket and a guide. Sure i had to work to catch the bigger fish and understand how to fish structure, but the big fish being caught are not indicative that I am teaching the most important techniques and fishing the best baits for big bass. 

[craww]

22 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

He doesn't give bad advice. He's not out there drop shotting a hollow body frog catching 30lbs on 5 fish. Basing your success off of his success is where people need to stop and realize he does fish private water that holds giants and he does fish in Alabama where the fish grow larger than say indiana.

 

Good points...I used to fish a couple spots like that and was fortunate to catch some very big bass for the area. Got some snark from locals to the point I just quit discussing it or showing pics. However, this put me on a dramatic uptake in catching bigger fish in public waters and I learned nuances that may take decades in a few years.  No reason to dismiss the guy what he may share just because of oppurtunity.  Having access to and being able to learn from a body of water that holds big fish can teach you things at a very, very rapid pace. The fisheries may be different, but the bass themselves have a lot more in common than haters seem to think. 

[CroakHunter]

1 hour ago, craww said:

 

Good points...I used to fish a couple spots like that and was fortunate to catch some very big bass for the area. Got some snark from locals to the point I just quit discussing it or showing pics. However, this put me on a dramatic uptake in catching bigger fish in public waters and I learned nuances that may take decades in a few years.  No reason to dismiss the guy what he may share just because of oppurtunity.  Having access to and being able to learn from a body of water that holds big fish can teach you things at a very, very rapid pace. The fisheries may be different, but the bass themselves have a lot more in common than haters seem to think. 

Absolutely correct! I fish 3 bodies of water in southern indiana that are private but over 80+ acres. I feel that fishing these and learning things about catching good fish consistently has helped me with my pond fishing. And Most importantly it has given me the confidence to feel that I can catch the biggest bass in whatever body of water that day on the biggest of baits because I have done it with success in the more gifted bodies of water that I fish. But regarding the big bait big fish theory, the last tourney I fished that was true. 7lb 2 oz fish on a 10.5" worm, 6lb 3oz on a MAGNUM rage bug, 4.5lb or a rage craw, our other 3 came on a spinnerbait and were all close to 3 pounds. 

[BassB8Caster]

11 hours ago, shimmy said:

No doubt people still have to catch fish on private lakes, but it is extremely discouraging for beginning to moderate anglers fishing their heavily pressured or unproductive public waters and watch videos from guys that fish private reservoirs and then expect to get some kind of similar results. Bamabass has every right to do what he does and i wish him luck. He is doing great with his business approach with it and there is nothing negative to say towards that aspect. Furthermore, I don't think he ever says that only this ONE lure will work and that is why i have respect for him. I just think that the people who watch the videos should be aware that he is fishing private and paid for waters for a reason...I take a lot more stock from people who fish public waters and catch big bass than those who do not. I have a youtube video of catching big bass on Lake Baccarac and i would never consider it a go-to video for how to fish a reservoir. I am fishing a lake that is world class and requires a plane ticket and a guide. Sure i had to work to catch the bigger fish and understand how to fish structure, but the big fish being caught are not indicative that I am teaching the most important techniques and fishing the best baits for big bass. 

I agree with you 100%. I guess my angle (and my thought process for that matter) is to always take something at face value. You are right though, there probably are people out there that watch some of these videos and take away from it that its the gospel and THE way to fish. Like life in general, its all about perspective. We are all individuals and approach things differently. We also believe what we want to believe. Like you, i put more credibility in the guy who has success on high pressured lakes. Im very fortunate in that 9/10 bodies of water i fish are very low pressure. I fish out of a kayak and alot are small ponds that have no boat access. Now i cannot wait until i get my first boat. But that will change where i can fish, and how i fish. I look forward to being able to travel the country and fish some of the greatest fisheries. I also know and am ok with getting skunked. Im an outdoors guy so at the end of the day i win if i get to enjoy the outdoors. I dont have a chip on my shoulder where i need to prove to anyone im a great fisherman. I fish for the enjoyment of it. 

 

For those of us who truly want to get better every day we are out on the water, learning true technique is the key. If we simply emulate what we see on a youtube video, we could see success or maybe not. Every body of water is different. Every time out conditions are different. As a relatively new bass fisherman, i know this is the most important aspect i need to implement. I need to be able to recognize conditions, read contour maps, read the shoreline, identify as much structure and cover as possible (i have no electronics), etc. This makes me a better fisherman. That usually separates those from success and not. Granted, everyone has the chance to go out and find the feedbag turned on and have a day. One may even catch a PB or a lunker. But a true fisherman that is really passionate for the sport will never hang its hat on one catch, one one great day. Like every successful person will tell you, im where im at because i failed more than everyone else. The failure makes you better (unless you give up).  

[BarefootBassin]

Some very good points made here. Just to add a bit of my own experience, I believe BamaBass does present some great tactics, but as some have said, one will get discouraged if expecting the same results from the nearby public pond. I love fishing big worms, lizards, and creatures here in TX, but I don't catch a whole lot of bass over 5 lbs in public ponds, especially where catch and release is mandatory and bass become overpopulated. I have found that I still catch much bigger fish on average on with the larger baits, but there is a lot of large forage here.

To put things in perspective, I caught just as many bass over 5 lbs in CO, which is NOT known for big bass, using 3" jerkbaits and 4" slug-gos and of course, jigs. The forage in CO is much smaller and I also fished ponds that were private or had little to no pressure and were NOT overpopulated (very important). There are a lot of factors at work that are needed to get big bass.

And YES, I have used tactics I learned from BamaBass, Bill Dance, and plenty of others that still catch bass that are larger than average with respect to specific fisheries.

Long-winded, yes, but my point is that it's great to try new tactics from watching others and you should never stop learning. Just keep in perspective that your results are still somewhat dependant on the quality of the body of water you are fishing. KEEP learning and KEEP fishing! Your time will come.