Champ188

Thanks for that observation, Bill. I will openly admit, when I first came across Bo and his seemingly outlandish posts, I strongly suspected he was full of it. And full of himself. But as the years passed and he posted pic after pic of his trips, I never once caught him in a fib or came across anything damning in his photos. Believe me, I tried. 😂 I came to realize along the way that this guy could fish. He believed what he believed and he put it to practice like the expert he was. You want to see some spoon fishing talent, watch his YouTube videos. Pretty impressive, especially when you look at the outdated electronics he was using at that time. He never did buy into livescope ... heck, he didn't need it. There was one issue that we finally agreed to disagree on, and that was line visibility in clear water. In fact, both of us realizing the other wasn't going to budge might have been the point at which we realized that we had a lot of respect for each other. I believe Bo knew Jesus as Lord and Savior and that he is up there now in a shiny new BassCat dropping a spoon on mixed schools of river LM, SM and spots. I hope to join him one day.

Great job, Mike! All of this talk of a shallow bite has me thinking about going tomorrow.

Bet there aren't any left at HLS. 😁

Great report, Dave. And glad you got some catch-up time with Grandma. :)

Glad you guys had another successful trip and thanks for posting this report!

Doesn’t matter. All that matters now is he is sick and needs our prayers. Any update on him? I miss arguing with him about line visibility. 😁😂

But if you DO happen to find yourself in the James, you might want to consider throwing an old original Lunker Lure buzzer. I heard that once from a guy who fishes up there pretty often. 😂 Not to mention that he's a pretty good stick.

This topic is about Bo and him getting well. Prayers already up from here.

This debate could easily turn into a who's a better running back ... Jim Brown or Emmit Smith? Or who's a better home run hitter ... Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds. Us older guys are naturally gonna hang with the older guys on tour, while younger guys will tend to think the up-and-comers are better. Personally, I don't see most of today's young guys hanging with the Rick Clunns, George Cochrans, Larry Nixons or Denny Brauers when they were in their prime. But 25 years ago, I probably would've seen the younger guys as stronger. Good fodder for debate.

There was also talk of a lawsuit being brought by Boyd Duckett over some GPS coordinates during Palaniuk's 2013 win on the St. Lawrence that gave him the Angler of the Year title. The accusation was that Palaniuk was given those waypoints by a BASS staff member just prior to the start of that event. Duckett and others who brought the lawsuit alleged that the BASS staffer relayed those coordinates from a local guide to Palaniuk. Not saying he did or didn't but there was definitely a lot of smoke behind the BASS curtains for there not to be some substance to the allegation. Meanwhile, he still hasn't won "the big one" while Hank Cherry has now won two in a row. One might think with the diluted field now in BASS, he could win if he was as great as the BASS cameras have played him up to be for years now.

Maybe they felt bad for you and were trying to install a new Minn Kota when something interrupted them. (Sorry, you floated that one up in the strike zone and I had to take a swing 😆😂).

Halfway there already and there isn't a one of us out there over 50 who would EVER have expected us to see $100,000 bass rigs.

This was many moons ago ... back in the early 90s when Donna and I first started dating. It was cold winter time. We got in my truck one day and when she reached under the passenger seat for something she'd dropped, she came out with a freeze-dried keeper crappie. I had been crappie fishing several weeks before with a buddy in his boat and had taken home a dozen or so to eat. Didn't have an ice chest with me so I put my half of the haul in a couple of Walmart sacks and laid them in the passenger floorboard, and obviously one got away. Like Quillback's hot dog, there was no odor, presumably because of the cold weather.

Go to Bass Boat Central and buy yourself a good used Ranger, preferably pre-Johnny. That should take care of your hole problem. 😆😂

BASS would give TV time to Palaniuk and Zaldain if they were next-to-last and dead last, respectively. They are their "pretty boys" for sure but both have had years to win something big and neither has delivered. Give me Chris Jones anyday. I have a close friend in Oklahoma who has known him for years and said he's the real deal ... heckuva shallow-water fisherman and a genuinely darn nice guy. Not saying that Palaniuk and Zaldain aren't nice guys but I am saying they get more than their allotment of camera time.

And on the subject of the Ultimate Match Fishing's unfortunate broadcast crew, Fishburne was one of the biggest hole poachers that ever fished BASS. I know that to be true from a number of guys who fished against that clown. Grandma would not have been proud if she'd known the rest of the story.

My favorite Uecker line ... he's sitting as far out in the CF bleachers as you can get and he's yelling at the home plate ump, "HE MISSED THE TAG!!!! HE MISSED THE TAG!!!!" 🤣

I think what Wrench is saying is we have no evidence yet that any of the new entries (Garmin or Lowrance) will hold up under years of use. And for what they cost, they better last more than the standard-issue TM's of the past. Speaking of which, my 8-year-old 36v Fortrex continues to work as well as it did new. Wish I had switched from MG to MK way sooner than I did.

Good info, Brian. Thank you.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Donna catches them consistently on several sizes of swimmers out of the back of the boat. Me, not so much. Fortunately for us SplitG2, we know other ways to catch em. 😁

Who is bed fishing? If you're talking about Bill, he isn't sight fishing for two reasons. First, he said he was catching them 12-18 feet deep. Smallmouth don't bed that deep. Second, Bill wouldn't intentionally bed fish during spawning season. He can catch them half a dozen different ways at any time of year and besides, he's smart enough to leave the bedders to their business for the future of the fishery.

Amen and amen.

Great info, Phillip. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, some of those guys out there have fished upward of 30 FLW events and only have $1,600 in career earnings ... and only $420 of that in 6 years as a boater ... average of $21 per event. Hmmmm.

BLASPHEMY!