mikeybalzz fishing

Most anglers spend hours searching for the perfect jig when the truth is you can build one yourself. In this video I walk through how I build my custom offshore football jig designed specifically for summer bass fishing around structure. Using a unique stand-up football head, custom skirt combinations, and a bluegill-inspired trailer modification, this jig has become one of my favorite confidence…

In this video, I take the frog hook Coike rig that exploded after Jason Christie’s recent Bassmaster Elite Series win and make what I believe is the ultimate upgrade for fishing Coikes, urchins, and other fuzzy-style baits. After posting my last video, a lot of anglers had questions about weight placement, bait retention, and hook positioning, so I started experimenting with a simple modification…

This is something I’ve chased for a long time — a true goal of a lifetime in bass fishing. In this video, I break down a day on the water where everything finally came together, and I caught over 50 pounds with my best five fish. It’s the kind of day you dream about but rarely ever achieve — something only seen at the highest levels of the sport, like Dean Rojas’ legendary 50-pound day in…

Pink has quietly become one of the most dominant colors in bass tournaments this year — from Morning Dawn plastics to the ultra-rare Z-Man Morning Dawn JackHammer, this color is showing up in top 10 finishes everywhere. In this video, I take inspiration from a viewer who sent me a custom jig photo and build my own custom pink FFS drop jig designed specifically for forward-facing sonar. The ironic…

Most anglers throw a chatterbait, but very few actually fish it the right way — especially in tournaments. In this video, I sit down with a local tournament hammer Kevin Atkinson who consistently wins on a Z-Man JackHammer, even during winter tournaments when most anglers put it down. We break down the most common chatterbait mistakes anglers don’t even realize they’re making, the retrieve…

The Alabama Rig might be banned in most major tournaments, but when the water gets cold and bass stop eating chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, and worms… this thing becomes an absolute cheat code. In today’s video I break down exactly how to fish an A-Rig — including the Stealth A-Rig, one of the most natural-looking and subtle umbrella rigs on the market — and why it continues to crush when…

I’ll be honest — this might be the most personal video I’ve ever made. A few weeks ago, I had a serious health issue that sent me straight to the hospital for surgery… and for a while, I thought that might be the end of this channel. In this video, I open up about what happened, what it made me realize about life, fishing, and creating content — and how close I came to losing it all. If you’ve…

This might be the biggest leap forward in finesse swimbait fishing we’ve seen in years. In this video, I put some new NetBait finesse swimbaits to the test against the classics — the Keitech and Cast Prodigy — to see which truly performs best in cold water during the late fall and winter bite. We test these baits underwater, breaking down how their unique tail actions move differently and how…

Randy Blaukat, one of the loudest critics of forward-facing sonar, designed a jig that might be one of the BEST forward-facing jigs ever made. In this video, I put the Randy Blaukat Jig to the test and break down why it’s a deadly weapon for late summer and fall bass fishing. It’s basically open-water flipping — dropping a custom jig on fish you see in real time with forward-facing sonar. I’ll…

Bass fishing is changing fast, and younger anglers might just have the edge – and we just saw it in the Ultimate Angler Championship where Tucker Smith won one of the biggest tournaments ever on Lake Guntersville. In this video, we break down whether young anglers are actually better at fishing, or if it’s simply that the sport has evolved. From college and high school tournaments to Bassmaster…

I finally got my hands on the new 2026 Nitro Z20 XL and I’m already running into a big decision that could be a huge mistake if I get it wrong. In this video, I walk through the tournament rigging options I’m looking at — from custom boat colors to flooring choices (carpet vs foam) and the all-important trolling motor debate (Minn Kota Ultrex Quest, Power Pole Move, or Lowrance Ghost). I break…

The Ultimate Angler World Championship is coming to Lake Guntersville with over $1 million in payouts, a $500,000 first-place prize, and a bold ban on forward-facing sonar—making it the biggest tournament in bass fishing history. In this video, I break down how the qualification process works, why grass fishing and old-school techniques will dominate, and what this event means for Bassmaster,…

A wild day on the lake turned into one of my best mornings of the year, and it all came down to a fluke trick I learned last fall. Another boat pulled up right next to me and couldn’t buy a bite, but with this setup I caught fish after fish. In this video, I’ll show you the simple adjustments and sneaky rigging tricks that make a fluke so deadly in fall conditions — especially for pressured bass…

Lake Guntersville is legendary for giant bass and the host for the biggest tournament ever – The Ultimate Angler Championship — and flipping heavy grass and thick weeds is one of the best ways to catch them. In this video, I head back to the same area where I finished 3rd in a tournament and break down the exact keys to flipping and pitching in heavy cover. From picking the right flipping bait…

Flipping and pitching heavy cover is one of the deadliest ways to catch giant bass—but the real secret isn’t just the bait or the setup, it’s how you work it once it hits the water. In this video, I break down 4 sneaky retrieve tricks that pros don’t talk about but use all the time to pull fish out of thick grass, weeds, and heavy mats. From subtle shakes to reaction-inducing pops, these…

When bass are pressured and the water is clear, you need something different to trigger bites—and this fluke rig might be too good. In this video, I break down a power finesse fluke setup that swims and vibrates almost like a crankbait, giving you flash, action, and subtle vibration that bass can’t resist. It’s perfect for fooling big, smart fish that have seen every chatterbait, swimbait, and…

Sometimes the smallest adjustments catch the most bass. In this video, I put the Megabass Karashi—a tiny Japanese twitch bait—to the test in brutal late-summer and early fall conditions and caught 25 fish in just 2 hours. This bait might look small, but its unique walk, glide, and hover action or I-motion is unlike anything else and triggers pressured bass when nothing else works. I’ll walk you…