Bill Babler

Grand is the same weekend and I know alot of Local fisherman are going down there. Really poor planning by the BFL folks. These lakes are to close together to have them both have the same derbys on the same weekend. Grand is getting alot of attention. "Wonder." I am sure they will have a monster field down there. MIght want to look on the non-boater side for that pond. Probably still be full. Good Luck

I have 10 Excellers in the 1500 series, and they all do the same thing. If it is under 40 degrees, they all fish the same. No Drag, No Bale and No anti Reverse. All of these I use for trout. Gets to 40 degree and they work perfect. I used to have a Beretta shotgun that was similar. If you put one drop of oil on it you were in trouble. Shoot it dry and no problems.

Great point on the reels. If you remember you told me that before when I was having problems. I cleaned them up and put a very small ammount of Steez oil on the gears, I mean miniscule. The Exceller is still givin me fits. Smallest for me is the 1500 series and you are right about the size. All my bass stuff is at least 2500, but it is all shimano. Good Info.

All I got to say to that day is WOW!!!!!. That kind of Brown Bass fishin anywhere with that quality is simply fantastic. Ha. we get to do it in February. Thanks.F&F.

I used to have some photo's and cannot find them since I switched computers, but one year Buster and I caught I'm gona say at least a 1/2 dozen Big Walleye up at the pot hole with trout in they gullets and a couple even sticking out their mouth. Here is a question, How in the frig can they be so picky and so hard to catch and then you catch a 6 pounder with a 1 pound trout sticking out of its mouth and it still tries to eat a stickbait. You could take everything I know about these fish and maybe half fill a thimble.

Got a feeling their Sunbathing in Crisco.

Was wondering about that C14. Believe me guys he would know. That is quality information on equipment Thanks much.

You guys can have all of that Kings River you want. I feel like I'm completely surrounded up there. That river can fish extremely small. It is nothing like the James. At times In March, the wart bite can be the best on the lake up there and if the water is clean a jerkbait is the deal. I remember a few years ago Beck and I were Jerkbaiting about that time and I posted something and the next day, you could not get into the ramp at Viola or Sweetwater. Just a little to crowded for me. If you have a choice put in at SK. the area from SK to Baxter and on to point 9 is at its best during March. Lots of stagging fish in front of the major spawing pockets, and Big and Little Indian are always just on fire that time of the year. Not to mention Big Creek. "Champ will get me for that one." He and Donna call that area Home Base North. Good Luck

Looks like they changed everything for 2013 I believe it would be the 100XS at 5.4 oz and 7.1 with 11 bearings. Mine are 2011 models and they are just Steez 100 series. Looking at tackle warehouse the price of these reels has came down. When I bought mine they were in the low 7 hundred range. "I did a little better." Don't now what they did but the Steez line for 2013 is all priced at $599.99. That is about $150 less than they were in 2011. Had to change something to lower the price that much. I have not had very good luck with the spinning reels by Diawa. Seem to really give me problems in cold weather. Drags not working-anti reverse not working, bale sticking. Shimano spinners work reguardless. I do like the extra heavy bale on the the diawa. I also have some very upper end Diawa spinning reels that are flawless. The are just under the Steez and I got them in 2011 they were 6 hundred bucks and are Diawa made in Australia. Cerderi Got a great deal on them for under 200 bucks and bought 3. That was all I could get at the time and they are the best spinning reels I own. Never have had the guts to pony up for a Steez spinner or a Shimano Stella Both at 7 bills plus. WBerkley has a handfull of Stella's, and he can tell you about those. I think they are thru the roof great.

Pretty much. I have 2 Shimano Core's and that is it on the casting stuff. I am now using Lew's and Diawa Steez only. On the Spinning Shimano Sustain and Stadic. Probably will give the Core's up soon and replace them with the Steez. I really believe that upper end Lew's is maybe a littler cleaner right now than the Core. Got a feeling Shimano in the very near future will try and upgrade it. It is still a fantastic reel however, one of the best in the world. It is not however a Steez. Not Near. Really not apples to apples as the Steez is so much more money, but it is just butter and light as a feather. They are so easy to maintain and as the guy in the Classic said on Stage. You can really throw them a long ways. As far as the Revo. Probably more internet talk about this reel in the last 3 years than any other. Mostly bad. Don't believe they are in the same boat as the 3 we have talked about here Back to the Reese rods, I have to have some multi purpose usuage out of my equipment. I need my flipping and heavy jig rod also to throw an A-Rig don't believe that 8' rod will work as well as the 7'6" down. Just to much rod. If you don't need multipurpose rods, thats fine. Lots of guys are not throwing the Rig, so it may not matter. That is why I so much like that McClellend flipper or the Amastead, both with do a 1/2 dozen tasks. Good Luck

Joe no problem with peoples endorsements and speaking of a sponsor. Its just the lack of preparation that i'm concerned with. That guy had had that merchandise and for some time knew he was going to get a chace to promote it on bass fishing biggest stage. He had all the time in the world to think of a very nice way to promote the equipment and should have done this with some thought and care. its important. Very important. Instead he gets up and blerts out just about the dumbest endorsement for any equipment that I have ever heard. Procrastination at its highest level. Come on. If the folks at Shimano are willing to let you use promotional gear and give you a buck or two the least you can do is make a coherent endorsement of the product. Really showed me he could care less about shimano or their product and was getting something out of the way just as easy as he possibly could. Would have been really easy for him to say. " Hey, the bite was really tough for me out there and I struggled a plenty. The one bright spot in my day was my New Shimano Core. Just don't believe I would have put the fish I did catch today in the boat without it." There were a million things he could have said, if he had cared. Was way aparent that he didn't. Money and product are hard to get, even for these guys. You just need to be a little smarter about it. Who knows, he may have done a great job. We are all for sure talking about shimano.

I was totally wrong about Pace. Back to Back 7 pounders on Grand on these conditions is magnificent. Not going to win big bass two days in a row very often, I am impressed. and take my hat off to him. He is for sure on a Big Fish Deal. Not so much with his Basstrakk saying 14 pounds however. Think they might have missed there guess abit, weighing in 21 pounds.

Some of those guys sat in line for over 2 hrs. yesterday. That is After they got to TULSA. Just not right the way they are doing this. They froze their Butts all day and this is the way they and the fish get treated. Some of those fish were out of the lake for 13 hrs. yesterday. They said today there was not a single death. Maybe, but common sense would dictate otherwise.

Yesterday it took 45 minutes to get this deal started. Why would you make those guys sit there with their fish for that length of time. Today is going the same way. Why in the world would you not start all the prelims at 3;30 or 4 oclock and be ready as soon as the fisherman get there. Just boggles my mind. Really so much BS that it totally ruins it for me. Weigh the Friggin Fish.

Heard the water temp at K dock this morning was 36 degrees. That is still pretty chilly and it didn't warm up much today.

I thought the same thing. At 8 ft. you put a big heft as is natural and that 10 pound carbon will snap like 4 pound.

Ouestion? Why did you go with the Johnny Morris Reels? Those things weigh a ton at 8.6 oz. Why in the world would you not go with the Lews? Completely different animal for just about the same money and you have lopped off about 1/2 the weight and came up so far in quality it is uncompareable. At least tell me you bought the reels at the outlet. There were at least a 100 of them over there the other day. Sounds like you did well on the rods. I have a buddy that loves his Reese Rods. Good Luck

I think for the first time in the 43 years of the Classic, conditions other than the weather and the fish are going to be major contributors in the outcome. With each participants every move being monitered by not only enormious crowds of followers but also tracked on the internet and by helicopter, it has created an enviornment that makes accual fishing more than a challange for the competitors. As has been mentioned Classic waters are not restricted and the locations that the participants are fishing are also getting extreme fishing prussure from outside anglers. Between now and dusk, thousands of anglers will be fishing the locations that have produced fish for the elite series anglers. Not only that, but when the participants are on the water the huge gallerys are getting in the way and creating extreme prussure on the locations, with the sheer ammount of boat traffic on each location. Not to mention electronics and fishing while watching. For me this is taking away lots of the glammor. It is just making it to hard. There are games within the game. I will be really suprised if there are not some real shouting matches on the final day, between fisherman and spectators. It has pretty much went over the top here and I believe this is just the beginning. We are headed into a new world of fishing as a spectator sport.

Well, for sure you don't want me picking your lottery ticket numbers on a powerball, but if things whould have gone as I thought I would have been pretty close on some guys. Just thought the locals in the derby would catch them a little better. The jig is the deal early and the guys throwing the stickbait from start to finish struggled abit this morning. Ike is gona be hard to beat. Going by Basstrakk, which was not close on some but right on the money on others. I had Pace with 15 pounds today Cherry and Carter about where I thought with 10 or 12 pounds. I just knew KVD and JVD were going to struggle, and hind site is 20/20 but I called it. I still thought KVD could get 16 to 18. Also thought someone would come from middle of the pack today and they have. in Lane and Palaniuk. Still I do not believe anyone outside of the top 10 after the first day has ever won a Classic. I can stand corrected if there has been one. Boy the local boys in Biffle, McCellend, Evers, and Christie had to work today. My deal had them lapping the field, but that is why you weigh-em. We'll see how close the BassTrakk is today. Those guys might have gotten a dose yesterday and not been totally forthright today. Would not blame them. Evers probably has 20 pounds. One of the Blogs said lots of people were slinging stickbaits on Cherry's and VanDams junk. "Really." Looked to me like the crowds were way to close and put to much prussure on the water on a very hard day. Got to feel all that boat traffic and wakes did not help on little iota.

Of course everything I thought would happen last night is not happening. KVD is on entirely different water as well as JVD. You don't win 4 Classics by being dumb. I underestimated him big time. "Bet that has been said before." Cherry is pounding the same water he was on yesterday. Christie and McCelland are on new water and the entire bunch that went up the rivers are in the mid-lake to lower lack section with them and the floatilla. 7:45 Just as I say that KVD moves back over to the exact location he fished all day yesterday. HUMM!! We'll see.

F&F you must be reading Champ and my mind. I guess old fools think the same. ie me and Champ I don't know how old you are. We have been texting all day and both of us agree that there will be people on KVD's junk at daylight. Some no doubt thinking they are doing the local favorites a favor. At any rate this is a far different animal than we have ever seen, and Champ for sure agrees with you about the Basstrax. I don't think Christie or McClelland need any help, they are good enough on their own on Grand. Both have fished Grand in huge derbies. with hundreds of boats, not just 53 plus locals. Granted the lake is fishing smaller than usual, but those two boys know that pond. I wish I knew Table Rock as well as they know Grand. If I could live anywhere but here and I for sure love this place, I would no doubt live in Grove Oklahoma. I simply love that lake. It is a Lake of the Ozarks Jr. with just as many Bass and more other fish. It is for sure the best fishery I have ever fished outside of Alaska.

Champ you hit the nail on the head. These boys will really earn this deal. it is kind of like in Pittsburg a few years ago. Take away the bed fishin, and make them figure out baits and locations. Kind of like Lay Lake. When Alton Jones won and KVD's last two wins, both those boys caught all their fish from one location for 3 days on pretty much the same bait everyday. I will just about bet you not a sole fished either of those 3 locations other than the derby winners. Not gona happen here. As F&F said, this is public Water and it will be fished and fished and fished. Same pattern may win, but you better have several locations to fish it. F&F has also got it right. That dam area should be the ticket. Good Luck to all tomorrow.

What an idiot. If I was Shimano I would get rid of him immediatly. Shimano used to be very hard to get product from. Guess they changed. If I had to represent a guy like that I'd go out of the tackle business. Frankly who cares about a reel that pretty much didn't catch a fish all day.

You are absolutely right, but you would think there would be a degree of respect there. Instead it is just all about me. I just cannot understand that way of thinking. You are there to watch the best fisherman in the world. Watch Them. If you are following someone, he is someone you admire and wish to do well. Why in heavens name would you even want to catch a fish he might be able to catch in the next two days. Just way to much all about me. Kind of turns my stomach.

Another huge Gripe. Nascar drivers go to public speaking classes and learn how to represent a sponsor. If you are in the back of the pack or last place you keep your mouth shut. Just about as pitifull as I have seen, with some guy catching 8 pounds trying to sell you a bait or a boat. Shut Up and get off the stage. Mike McCelland has so much class it is unbelieveable. He rides a top 10 and carries himself like he has been there before. Goes back to a KVD quote, " Just because I use it should not matter to you. I get paid."