abkeenan

Maybe there is a correlation there? Congrats on the fine trip and thanks for the pics. Not sure how you trained that small jaw to pose like that for the camera mid aerial release. Impressive.

Reminder that the "Elites" (quotations for Champ) fire up tomorrow at Lake Fork. Get your lineups set.

Did you mark the location of your lost setup? Then go back and try the "open stringer" dragging trick? Nice fish and thanks for taking a kid/s fishing. Lasting memories for sure.

What time should I come over for dinner? What side do you want me to bring?

Swimbait Universe is also a great wealth of information on Facebook Groups. Mike Bucca (creator of the Bull Shad) gets on there pretty often with swimbait advice and info on his baits.

Just started getting into swimbaits the last 2-3 years or so. I have both soft and hard varieties. For soft I have some of the pre-rigged Storm and Berkley. They are decent and cheap. So when you lose one in a treetop you don't sweat it. I also have some of the bigger hollow belly paddle tails like the 6.5" Lucky Strike Magic Shad. They have a nice tail thump/wag and body roll at any retrieve speed. Like was mentioned, the Savage Gear Shine Glide is a good bait especially at it's cost. Bait is nicely done and has a nice glide. I prefer it over the S-Waver's although you can't go wrong with the S-Waver either. When I say cheap and people see the $20-40 price tag they think that is EXPENSIVE. Well in the swimbait world that is now CHEAP. Lots of insane price tags on some baits. Talking anywhere from $100 to $500. The Dobyns Fury 795 is hard to beat for a budget friendly swimbait rig. I have one paired with a Tatula 200. I use 20lb Suffix Advanced mono but Big Game is also a great option. It can throw any midsize swimbait in the 1-3oz range which is about right for TR. I even chuck the 130 size Plopper on it sometimes. And yeah, Bill, don't think I haven't forgotten about that time when you taught us a lesson with that big ol' 5lb bronzeback.

Or just release the ballast tanks/bags and he should be floating again right away. 😆

I sign up first thing when registration opens and then print off this and wave it in her face: 3.03 There will be no refunds of the Entry Fee unless an event is cancelled in advance. In the event a Participant needs to cancel an entry (for any reason), the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Tour will move the Entry Fee forward to a subsequent event as a one time courtesy. Subsequent withdrawals or removals from competition will cause the forfeiture of the Entry Fee. Sorry Hun......no refunds! It's my ONE power move of the year with the wifey.

Good deal. Earlier the better when telling the wife I'll be fishing on these dates no ifs, ands or buts.

Thanks for chiming in BBT Staff. You guys run a class act. Thanks for giving us the stats as well. How many entrants participated this year if you don't mind me asking?

They don't release or announce the scheduled tournament dates for the next year until around November.

That just isn't feasible in the BBT format. You can't have people weighing their own fish and have it as an official score. You need a 3rd party aka a "ref" in the boat with them. There were something like 700+ boats this past weekend. It works for MLF and could work for BASS as they already have marshals in the boat. But it ain't happenin' in these amateur events like the BBT.

Would be really nice if it could be done. It COULD be done but would cost a fair amount dollars and effort to do so. Not sure who would pony up the dough for that study. Johnny.....you out there?

Unfortunately that is impossible to collect data on. Unless you put a tracking device on every single fish and keep tabs on them for about a week or so. Or put some type of heart sensor monitor on them to see if they are still alive or have kicked the bucket.

I can only speak for last years BBT release toon but suspect this year was similar to last year (and even years beyond that). Last year we stuck around weigh in after the tournament ended on Sunday afternoon. The release pontoon behind the stage trailered away from Long Creek Marina as checks were handed out and the tournament was wrapping up. On the way back to Old 86 Park to put the boat on the trailer the release toon was chugging along heading back towards Long Creek after having launched at 86. So it must have dumped the day's fish at some point between those two locations on the lake. That's all I got.

Also kinda lame to fish two lakes in South Carolina - back to back. Not knocking South Carolina or it's fisheries but let's spread the love BASS. I'm sure other states/lakes would be tickled to have a BASS Elite event held there. I've always kinda had an issue with the way BASS schedules their circuit. We've covered that argument in the past so don't want to dig up the dead horse but man......surely there are other venues that 1- Have the interest 2- Have the space that can support the weigh in setup and fan interaction and 3- Have the local business support with room/board accommodations and revenue generation.

BBT Crew.....perhaps next year there will be a side pot for trash fish or other oddity catches?

I believe most of the big fish were caught in the clear water sections of the lake. So from the dam to mid-lake. Nearly all of them caught on the A-Rig. The winner with the 9.02 actually caught a 6.42 a few casts BEFORE he caught the 9 on the same location. Where exactly that was I do not know but what a honey hole! I usually stick around the last day to hear the winners story but this year I did not. Maybe someone that stuck around at Long Creek Marina at the end of Sunday to pick up a check or listen to the winner talk can fill us in on the exact scoop.

They were for sure tubs. They look like they weigh about 4lbs when you get them in the boat. Then throw them on the scale and they are like 2.75-3.00lbs. Hard to have any weight when you have to step on them for them to be a legal 15". 😆 I think the best adjective to describe them is "rotund".

Was a great time as usual even though didn't cash this year. As others have mentioned just couldn't top that 2.5-3lb range. Mostly Kentuckies that were ready to pop. Fishing was a bit tough with a fish or two here and there but nothing stacked up. At least we didn't find any locations like that. We fished Long Creek Day 1 and it was a ghost town for fish. So day 2 and 3 we fished from the dam and up towards Spring Branch. The fish definitely aren't starving and have to work very little to fill their bellies as there are tons of shad balls and also dead shad from Beardsley to Spring Branch. Spring Branch specifically. Just too much food for them right now for the fishing to be great. I did have a 5 or 6lb'er break me off in the main lake pocket just east of Spring Branch. So if anyone finds a Norman Flake McStick floating around there or the big girl still attached to it go ahead and remove it and I'll send you my address. Tried to horse her out of a tree top, she breached the water spraying everywhere then had ideas of going down back into the next tree over and I leaned on her too hard plus had the drag too tight and pop......she gone! Also nearly weighed in a Heron. Made a cast with a DD22 and the stupid thing took off just as I released and flew about 20 yards left directly into my line between myself and the lure. Thought for sure I was going to have a mess on my hands as the DD22 made it's way towards her as she flew. Thankfully, somehow, the trebles didn't get anything but a couple of the under feathers. NO IDEA how I didn't stick it with the Gammy size 2's that I had just put on there the night before but they didn't. All in all a decent weekend with some stories to tell. Saw lots of beds in the back of pockets. Sunday in the back of our cove in Beardsley there were probably 50 fish cruising and guarding beds. Wanted nothing to do with any baits. Congrats to the winner. A 9.02 is a beast for TR. Can we go ahead and ban the A-Rig already? Seems like 90% of the fish brought to the scales were caught on it. Couple of said 16" 3lb football spots:

One more option I saw on TW that has the foil molded into the bait. It's a 3 inch'er though. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Northland_Tackle_Impulse_Live_Paddle_Minnow/descpage-NTIPMNW.html

Not a paddle tail style but is around that 3.5" size and has the flash molded inside the bait. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Doomsday_Tackle_C-Shad/descpage-DDTCSD.html

The answer is no. But in tournaments on lakes that have slot regulations anglers will cheat and cut the tails in order for that fish to fall into that slot. So that is why I said it makes no sense for a clipped tail on Table Rock. Champ may have found the only reason why someone would do it on TR.

Seems odd that any bass in TR would have their tails clipped. We don't have a slot regulation, so it doesn't make much sense to clip a tail.

I knew you and Johnny rubbed elbows more than you ever let on.