Josh Jones on Facebook

[KP Duty]

I think part of the excitement of fishing is not knowing what is at the other end of your line until it surfaces.  

[NorthernBasser]

6 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Haha, I thought that rod was gonna snap.   What a feeling that must be to know you are setting the hook on a monster, and then you feel the load of its weight on the rod.

 

I'd get Bass Fever, I'd be shaking like a leaf.    Every time I catch a 5lb+ fish I shake.   When I stop shaking, I'll know it's time to quit

And he was like ho hum, it came off. That's a sign of a guy who's used to catching giants.

 

And I hear ya on the 5 pounders. A 5 pounder is a big fish anywhere in the country. Obviously here in WI they're more rare than down south, but I catch a handful every year. Maybe if I ever get FFS I'll get even more. Mt largest bass is 6 lb. I can't even imagine hauling a double-digit beast into the boat. Some of those 13+ pounders look like friggin'mutants! 

[GReb]

He’s making well into 6 figures between his guide service and sponsors. Why would he want to fish bass tournaments. Most of those guys don’t make a dime fishing tournaments after entry fees and expenses. 

[WRB]

The heaviest 5 bass limit I know of was Bill Murphy @ 72 lbs. San Vicente a Public lake.

Western Bass tournament at Lake Casitas produced 63.26 lb bass limit by Dana Rosen.

I caught a 62+ lb 5 bass limit at Lake Castiac topped by a 17.6 lb bass.

Butch Brown caught a 65+ 5 bass (topped by 18.5 lb) limit on film at Lake Castiac lagoon.

Josh can claim a Texas 5 bass weight limit record.

Tom

[Big Swimbait]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

The heaviest 5 bass limit I know of was Bill Murphy @ 72 lbs. San Vicente a Public lake.

Western Bass tournament at Lake Casitas produced 63.26 lb bass limit by Dana Rosen.

I caught a 62+ lb 5 bass limit at Lake Castiac topped by a 17.6 lb bass.

Butch Brown caught a 65+ 5 bass (topped by 18.5 lb) limit on film at Lake Castiac lagoon.

Josh can claim a Texas 5 bass weight limit record.

Tom

I think his claim is the largest caught on film, cast to catch.

[813basstard]

72 LBs!?!! 
 

That’s like having a 3rd grader in the live well. 

[WRB]

18 minutes ago, Big Swimbait said:

I think his claim is the largest caught on film, cast to catch.

Like Butch Brown did, it’s been on utube for years.

Tom

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 hours ago, WRB said:

The heaviest 5 bass limit I know of was Bill Murphy @ 72 lbs. San Vicente a Public lake.

Western Bass tournament at Lake Casitas produced 63.26 lb bass limit by Dana Rosen.

I caught a 62+ lb 5 bass limit at Lake Castiac topped by a 17.6 lb bass.

Butch Brown caught a 65+ 5 bass (topped by 18.5 lb) limit on film at Lake Castiac lagoon.

Josh can claim a Texas 5 bass weight limit record.

Tom

That video of Butch Brown's stringer with him releasing them all is on youtube. 

 

I also watched a few videos of his with "Cast to Catch" monsters.     

 

Josh reminds me of Butch, you, and all the other guys that only cared about catching super sized Bass.     He's a big Bass savant just like you guys, he's just a new generation.    

 

Most anglers are extremely jealous over guys like you, Josh, Butch, etc.   It's not easy to put aside your own ego and admire true greatness when you see it in your own passion pursuit.

 

FFS is the way many choose to undermine Josh's success, or the younger guy who didn't catch but found the 10lb Erie SM with savant FFS skills.  

2 hours ago, Big Swimbait said:

I think his claim is the largest caught on film, cast to catch.

Yeah it's on youtube, not great video but it's there.   Handy Cams and Go Pros have come leap years just in 20 years.     He's a really cool dude, lots of neat videos about him.   A true legend in my book, and I love his approach and using the same boat all those years and how he came to get that boat. 

[Big Swimbait]

I had a DM conversation with Tom about the cycles these lakes go through. California, Florida and Texas all had their times when these 16+ giants were being caught. Not so much anymore. When I caught my 13.75 in 1992, I don't think I cracked the top 100 in Texas at the time. Now we are seeing the 13+ class at O.H. Ivie. I hope it continues like Lake Fork did. I can only imagine what Tom could have done with FFS!

[Big Swimbait]

Video is out.

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, Big Swimbait said:

Video is out.

Just Remarkable ~ What an insane bag of bass 

https://fb.watch/hA9B0Hp8Yy/

A-Jay

[Jar11591]

Incredible. Love the cartoonishly bugged out eyes the giants get, like that 2nd 13 had. Like golf balls. Makes me wonder what this dude could do on Lake Baccarac or other Mexican lakes with FFS. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

Incredible. Love the cartoonishly bugged out eyes the giants get, like that 2nd 13 had. Like golf balls. Makes me wonder what this dude could do on Lake Baccarac or other Mexican lakes with FFS. 

The eyes on big LGMs always amaze me too.

 

I really can't wrap my head around things like this or what the guys did in the heyday of SoCal.

[Big Swimbait]

For those of you that do not know the history of O.H. Ivie, in 2017 it was only 17% filled due to the extreme drought in West Texas. During this time, everything on the shore basically died. After a few years of reasonable rain, all of that cover became flooded. The bait fish thrived and the bass stocked from the Sharelunker Program started growing along with very little fishing pressure. I believe it's still only 40% filled so with some help from the weather, she could be good for years to come.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, Big Swimbait said:

For those of you that do not know the history of O.H. Ivie, in 2017 it was only 17% filled due to the extreme drought in West Texas. During this time, everything on the shore basically died. After a few years of reasonable rain, all of that cover became flooded. The bait fish thrived and the bass stocked from the Sharelunker Program started growing along with very little fishing pressure. I believe it's still only 40% filled so with some help from the weather, she could be good for years to come.

Typical robust habitat when a lake is drawn down for a few years then flooded the new shore plant growth.

O.H.Ivie had a decent population of Florida strain LMB before the current boom.

With all the hype the lake will be subjected to extreme fishing pressure from all over the country seeking giant bass that usually results in a bust period.

looking at the video posted it appears Josh is strolling his swim jig (using the TM) then reeling as a bass approaches with Live Target. Also noticed his line is heavy test with high memory after casting and stripping off line so the swim jig sinks straight down to the bass.

Give credit where it’s do, congratulation Josh!

Tom

[RB 77]

That is one hell of a video. Cheers JJ for an all time epic day of Bassin'! 

[Big Swimbait]

He just posted $2K a day guide trips and sold out Jan 2023 in minutes ?

[Dwight Hottle]

On 12/21/2022 at 10:54 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

My guess is his goal is vastly bigger than competing in fishing tournaments.   The man wants to etch his name in Bass fishing history and lore.     

 

He's pursuing history more than a career.   Dude sleeps for days at a time in the back of his truck/rig while travelling all over looking for the next headline fish.   

 

Beyond that, he gets paid big money by the best tourney Bass fisherman in the country to learn FFS.  He still guides, but I couldn't even imagine how much he's charging, and how long you'd have to wait to fish with him.  

 

As also noted, he's sponsored up like a tourney fisherman as well.  

He posted a video about 24hrs ago of him losing a 13lb fish.    He was watching the fish on FFS and you can see him set the hook on her, talk about a huge rod bow.     

 

Texas forum said he was charging $2000 per day. They also said he was fishing but giving his angler first try on fish spotted.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

Texas forum said he was charging $2000 per day. They also said he was fishing but giving his angler first try on fish spotted.  

He's still charging less than what it costs to go out with a run of the mill Charter boat captain in the Gulf fishing for a limit of Snapper and Groupers which is amazing if you think about it.

 

Most good guides around here run $1k for a full day.    For a thousand more you can fish with the sport's most exciting angler.    Given his uniqueness, and how many days he actually can guide......$2k sounds like a really good deal oddly enough.      His last guided trip I can recall was a couple months ago where he put a client on a 8lb+ SM.     That's what's crazy, he can put clients on trophy fish on multiple bodies of water it seems.   

 

He fascinates me as much as the big fish he's catching do.   

[Big Swimbait]

What could be really exciting is that last year, his big fish came in January after the late fall, early winter feed bag these fish fatten up on. In January and especially February there could be some really big ones caught. His guide buddies had a 17 and a couple of 16's. I bet someone surpasses those.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

11 minutes ago, Big Swimbait said:

What could be really exciting is that last year, his big fish came in January after the late fall, early winter feed bag these fish fatten up on. In January and especially February there could be some really big ones caught. His guide buddies had a 17 and a couple of 16's. I bet someone surpasses those.

Here is some background on that fish, and a pic.......these are the several guides who are plugged into Josh Jones I was talking about earlier in the thread.         

I'm thinking of booking Nick for two days during that time frame.   He does Fork and OH Ivie.   

[TnRiver46]

Reckon why he throws the braid swim jig but doesn’t use braid??

 

also to all those folks that carry on like largemouth don’t pull hard, definitely watch fish #3 and #5 

[Basseditor]

On 12/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, Big Swimbait said:

All but a few are using FFS now. Plus he gets $1K a day guide fees and has the same sponsor type deals.

He bumped his Jan-Feb rates to $2000/day. Sold out Jan. in a span of a few hours.

[Basseditor]

52 minutes ago, basseditor said:

He bumped his Jan-Feb rates to $2000/day. Sold out Jan. in a span of a few hours.

My bad for not reading all of the comments before chiming in. The $2000 was mentioned several times. OH Ivie is about 3 hours from me. I'm going to start hitting it regularly from mid-Jan to Mar. 1. There a few other lakes that have potential this year too.

 

Three years ago I wrote an article about Ivie and predicted it was ready to break loose. Here we are now. You have to give these guys credit who are consistent. There can be 100+ boats on some days, but only a few of the top guys are catching.

[Cdn Angler]

I don't much care for fish caught using FFS as I don't use it. I'm sure it requires a great deal of skill to maximize the technology, but to me it is a step beyond what fishing is supposed to be about. 

 

If one guy can figure out how to target Double Digit Bass using FFS then you can be sure others will as well. Ultimately that likely means fewer big fish or that it'll become increasingly hard to catch them without FFS. 

 

For me 95% of fishing is finding fish by working areas that might have them. Knowing that they are there and watching them react to your bait in real time takes away most of the magic of the sport. 

 

If someone went and caught DDB at a tiny stocked pound where they stuff the bass with caught bait I'd think the same way. 

 

This isn't progress IMO, it's regression. 

 

Same as baseball bats and golf clubs, there need to be limits. Even more so in fishing as it is a finite resource.