Why aren't the MLF Anglers catching them at Rayburn? I can beat those pros on my home lake...

I can beat those pros... I had a bigger sack than any of them this weekend!

If you or a loved one has ever made this statement, you absolutely need to watch this video! Inspiration for this video was spawned from all the questions and comments I have seen this week regarding the MLF BPT event at Sam Rayburn. Lots of people are wondering what is wrong with the lake or why aren't these "Pros" smashing them because the local tournaments have been taking big weights just to get paid. This video not only covers Sam Rayburn but any lake in the country that shows up on any of the pro tour schedules. Additionally, I cover a lot of information that will help you fish Sam Rayburn or any lake in the Spring. Please take a few minutes to watch or just listen (watches like a podcast, not too many graphic elements) and share with someone else that needs to get educated. This is Part 1 of 2. I will post the 2nd part on Monday.

Are non-public boat lanes considered public information or is that considered providing information?

What in the world is a non public boat lane?

Boat lane cards made by individuals such as the lake Fork card. Not certain of the name, but certain lakes have boat lane cards specifically made to run that lake that are not shown on your typical Humminbird or Lowrance graphing cards.

Interesting, looking forward to video #2

Always easy to monday morning arm chair quarterback it, a lot harder when you're actually in the game. Good video, something people should already understand but dont

Those are legal in every pro tour I know of. What isn't legal is some dude showing you or telling you how to run an unmarked lane especially if there is collusion to do so. The grey area IMO lands when a Tour Pro decides to follow a local that is running one anyway. In my eyes, he is getting information albeit he did not solicit that info. Grey area rules can be debated until we are blue in the face but most Pros interpret the rules as a guide that says if you are gaining an advantage by doing something relative to the written rule, you are breaking the rule. A small percentage however have made a living skating on verbatim or their manipulation and personal interpretation of the rule. There can be a fine line.

Skating is better than NASCARS philosophy of "if you ain't cheatin you ain't tryin". You can make a rule as black and white as possible, and when you think it's just that, someone finds a way to make it grey. Human nature to want to break rules or find ways around them.

Totally dead on. There's a reason they're bass pros and to borrow a quote from PGA Golf that applies, "These guys are good"...

1)We built a custom private bass lake and we know every inch/contour/hole/bedding area of our lake. In the middle of August a few years back we had a Bassmaster elite pro come out and fish it for 3 hours and he caught over 60 bass in that short time that was nothing like we'd ever seen or even gotten close to doing ourselves. He is THAT good.

2)As a former college athlete where my team sent 13 guys to the NFL people would always ask me, "did you ever think about trying out for the NFL?", my response is always, "are you kidding me?, I played with many who are in the NFL (including my lake partner), and these guys are unbelievable athletes!"

I think most of the shallow fish are just pressured and the rest are locked on spawning. Weights always go down in full spawn in my opinion. My buddy found over 20lbs today sight fishing. We'll see what happens tomorrow

Good luck but you know if you found 20 - someone else found 30

Actually not right now, it's one of the easier times to win on rayburn with the lowest weights. In a few weeks there will be piles of post spawners then it'll be brush pile fishing for 5 months.

Interesting.

It can get funky when they go full blown spawn. Maybe they are all under the boats and on the edge of the hay grass just out of sight and people are fishing where they arent

Good video!

Castnetters!

Not a lot of areas to actually see well enough to catch a big bag unless you really know where to look. Most are spawning back in brush in accessible

What about Shin, Todd, and the other fairly local anglers that have fished Rayburn a lot over the years? Are you saying you are better than them. Perhaps you need to get on the same playing field., What a difference some cold water makes from day to to results.

Did you read the post or watch the video?

Some folks never read past the thread title

He obviously didn't... Your name alone says all that needs to be said for someone who even remotely knows fishing!!

Thought it was a good video and looking forward to part 2!

Is it safe to say that in MLF it is a lot harder to call an audible? Its not that you are just against the fish in MLF, you are also up against the scoretracker and period time limits. If you wanted to audible you have to make a decision IN the period to make a run, thus you lose precious fishing time, as in between periods your boat cannot move. It seems as though in the Rayburn event some guys were on a specific bite that they tried to force to work. As they don't have much practice and don't have the time to find a secondary pattern. It was painful to watch them flip bush after bush after bush for non-scorables.

Also I feel that MLF is better suited for smaller lakes, unlike Rayburn, where guy's can make a short run and make that audible and not lose as much time. The Raleigh lakes are 12k acres or less. These guys will crush them in Raleigh I have no doubt. Took 35 lbs to win 2 weekends ago and high 20's at Falls and Jordan this past weekend. It's easier for them get practice in to figure out the lake.

I really wish I would have started the YouTube sooner but even now my wife refers to it as "A Time Thief" because of the amount of time it takes to edit videos. I may do a retrospective video from last year's FLW Title Championship at Sturgeon Bay which was my only foray in the MLF Format to talk about my experience with it and the audible situation. I've currently got so many video ideas that will get more views and be of interest therefore it probably won't get done however I will touch on it now briefly. Long idle zones in the area I was fishing ate up a ton of time!!! When you aren't putting points on the board and you know what other boats are in your area and can see what they have done... you know that something isn't right fairly quickly. I had to make a move which was a 20 minute idle. At the end of the day/last period I opted to dance with the one that brought me and started the idle back. On Day 1 I had lost 9 giant smallmouth and should have been leading/making the cut on day1 alone. I watched John Cox catch every single fish he caught that day and I was matching him bite for bite but lost or broke off more fish on that day than my entire year combined. Zebra Muscles &@%$#@*#&!!! I made one fish famous if you saw the live broadcast on Day 1 going into the final period that I relive constantly! I knew they were there, they just didn't bite in the first period on Day2 and my unfamiliarity with that body of water killed me with currents and fish behaviors. The 2nd period ended during my idle and I had to just sit there and do nothing. I wish I would have hopped up and anchor locked with the Ghost so I wouldn't move but I would have had to do that prior to the period ending. I drifted due to wind and currents 200+ yards during that 15 minute break. I essentially ate up almost an hour of the day idling. I also made one long run to a lighthouse in the 2nd period where I thought I would be able to put a scorable fish on the board because I was so close to the cut line. it was calm but it took me longer to make the run than it did to fish the dang thing and I still didn't catch one there. Had to make the run back across the lake. I ate up probably 1:45 minutes in idling and running that day because when you are throwing the audible or in scramble mode needing to score(You know where you are sitting due to the scoretracker)It takes its toll in decision making that is for sure. That is the difference in Every fish has value opposed to a five fish sack. You can make a gamble to go try to get a big bite because you only need one that matters. You can't do that when you need to put points on the board.

I can attest that most pros on any Tour would rather fish bigger lakes where the field can spread out or places that the fish won't get beat up in practice. Most guys would rather fish patterns than look for magical spots and by spreading out it allows guys to do that without as much conflict.

I fished a two day tournament on the lake during the same time as these guys, I shared water with Bobby Lane, Jacob Wheeler and many others I found most to be very nice guys. Bobby Lane amazed me in that he had found every good area in one of the areas I was fishing and was a big reason I stunk it up. He is a pro because he is very good at what he does. Before the no information rule on the Bassmaster elites most pros found fish with the aid of local help I have witnessed that first hand. Now that is different and the weights are down, but these guys are better than the average weekend guy because they have a gift and do it very well. Just as a MLB pitcher has a gift for throwing a heater these guys have a gift for fishing. Rayburn is fishing tuff right now because the fish are in full spawn and are not spawning in the typical places and there is waaaaayy to much pressure. If you find a school of big ones there is the MLF, outlaw, ABA and a High school tournament in addition to the every weekend crowd. I always try to remember for me fishing is supposed to be fun and with that comes being courteous even to the jerks of the world. And Im not speaking of the MLF guys when I talk about Jerks.

Part 2 Just dropped!

Here's why....

This just happened to me this past week at the Toyota (my first and my home lake) at Texoma. I found fish in practice, not many and not the "right" size in my mind. 12-13 a day was all they would be good for. Going off my history and the time of year I was thinking that 18-20 a day was what was needed so I decided to keep looking. A top 5 finish was on those fish and 42 won it for 3 days. I put too much stock in history instead of fishing the moment.