I remember the good ol days when you could post some big fish pictures and get a lot of compliments. Now if you do you are a no good, lying, cheating, forward sonar using, live bait fishing, treble hook snagging, illegal fishing son of a bitch! Hallelujah and Amen!

You been throwing a lot of somethings lately.

Did you get permission from Wheeler to use DING?

It’s all about the clicks, unfortunately negativity sells.

it doesn't even matter what he's caught. I can't believe this is what we have evolved into. So if I'm following along correctly the next "amazing" video gamer who isn't that good at "bass" fishing could become the next "best" fisherman ever because they masted the cheater machine more than the other guy. It's no longer called fishing it's called seeing or watching...I thought the whole "lure" to fishing was the unknown and trying different techniques. I would bet the same people who use LS frown upon live bait....and yes I've been on a boat with it and seen it and no I don't use live bait lol

You're grossly oversimplifying it. A better fisherman who learns to use LS will outshine someone who learns LS that has not developed all those skills. You cant just drop trolling motor and catch a DD, you have to know where to look which is the ability to find fish in the first place. Then you have to know how to present and what to present. LS is just another tool, albeit on an exponential curve following our advances in technology.

I am 72 years old. Social media is ruining this sport. Most haters would never say what they post to the persons face. Haters seem to be making a game out of hating. I taught my kids to be positive. If they were negative then they would have to tell me what would make it better. It is easy to hate but hard to be positive. It is not how big your boat is or how many followers you have. If the sun comes up in the morning I am going to have a good day. If it don"t come up I'm in trouble. If you think you have it bad just remember the sun came up this morning.

I'm sure he is a great guy. I'm sure the far majority of guys on this site are great guys.

I can be best friends with someone and not see eye to eye on every single topic. Hell my wife and I disagree all the time, I still love the hell out of her.


All we can go on are the statements both gentlemen made. Best I can tell their comments don't contradict each other.


If my best friend witnessed someone buying a license and called to report this guy fished without a license the previous day, I would tell him to his face that he is petty.

If an officer tracked down a guy fishing weeks after fishing for 1 day without a license, especially knowing the fact that he learned his mistake and bought a license the following day, and wrote him a citation for fishing 1 day without a license, I would tell that officer he is petty as well. Seems like a lot of effort to address a situation that was already resolved. I think anybody with any common sense would believe this man with his publicity wouldn't intentionally fish without a valid license. More boats on the water equates to more licenses being sold, which equates to more money headed to TPWD. Certainly they realize JJ has had an influence on the number of non-residents traveling to this state to target these trophy bass.


I think the gentleman was disappointed that his home lake was about to be exploited and was trying his best to stop it. If I knew that was going to happen to my home lake, cant say I wouldn't be disappointed. But I surely wouldn't be calling the game wardens unless I knew without a doubt the anglers in question were breaking the law. What we had here was a bunch of speculation and no evidence. So I'm just having a hard time understanding what JJ did that was wrong.


As far as JJ, it seems like the haters believe if you don't criticize JJ or if you defend him you are infatuated with the guy. I don't know JJ. All I know is the people that I personally know that have met him have had nothing but nice things to say about the guy. I also know that I have watched enough of his footage to verify he is catching a ton of giant fish with artificial lures in the mouth. I also know it would be darn near impossible to go out and snag a fish using livescope in 40' of water.

I think anybody that faced false accusations like JJ has would be a little defensive and maybe even a little cocky when he has video evidence to prove others wrong. Did he handle every single accusation the best way possible? Perhaps not. I just appreciate how this man is living the American Dream and is responsible for his own success.

I'm glad Chris and Trait gave him his opportunity to tell his side of the story. If someone else has facts to dispute what he said in that interview, I would love to hear them as well.

Get em for your truck and be a hero.

You left out spot-lockin’ & power-polin’- I decided many years ago not to catch any more big bass in order to stay out of the controversy.

This is one of the things that I have thought about as well. The ability to locate those monster bass is the #1 key to his success. Take away all the speculation about how he is catching them, and focus on that one aspect. That's his real talent.

I actually think it's boat control, presentation, and identification that's his number one talent. Anyone can go out on Ivie and troll around over the salt cedars and stumble across a big bass. Being able to stop the boat, relocate the fish, determine which direction it's heading, then make a cast that doesn't spook the fish. That's the hard part. If the wind isn't blowing a lot of guys can probably do that as well. Add in any kind of moderate wind though and the whole game becomes vastly more challenging.

All those skills and can't turn a scale on when claiming world records.

He'll I don't have a spot,lock trolling motor FFS or Power Poles. Very seldom do I even turn my graph. Fished Fork long enough that I don't need all that stuff to have a good fishing. Still tie up to stumps to fish a spot and if there's not a stump close enough I still carry an anchor. He'll it's all about just getting away and going to the lake to relax and fish. If I catch some or one that's fine. If not I will be back the next day or the next. Some people take it.way to dang serious. Go Fishing and have fun. Never know when you may not be able to go anymore

You keep repeating yourself. I’ve only watched a handful of his videos and it’s been dead calm in all of them

The guy is talented no doubt but let’s not act like Wheeler and a few other high level pros couldn’t do the same thing on Ivie.