The first angler to qualify for the Georgia Bass Slam in 2026 had the unique distinction of catching all his qualifying catches on a single bait from Rebel Lures.
“One on the Cata Crawler, and it looks like it’s big enough,” Jeff Forester announced. I looked up and saw that his lightweight rod was bent and that he was carefully playing a fish. A couple minutes later he had in his hand a Bartram’s bass that would qualify for the Georgia Bass Slam. We both got a couple photos and then he waded to an exposed rocky area where he could pull out his measuring board and get a few photos of the fish on the board to complete the documentation.
Forester didn’t actually need that fish to add a Bartram’s bass to the year’s slam tally. He had caught, measured, photographed, and released a fish a half hour earlier that would have qualified. The first one was on a Rebel Crickhopper, though, and he really wanted to submit a fish caught on a Rebel LIVEflex Cata Crawler. He had already turned in qualifying fish of five black bass species – largemouth, spotted bass, Coosa redeye, smallmouth and shoal bass – caught on a Cata Crawler in the Catalpa color – so he wanted to add one more caught with the same lure.
Five species is the minimum number for achieving the Georgia Bass Slam, and Forester was the first angler to hit that mark in 2026. That was in March, when a qualifying shoal bass became No. 5.
Catching all on a Cata Crawler wasn’t intentional, initially at least. It simply fit situations and was a lure he was using a lot to catch bass early in the year, while the water remained cold. After he caught the first few species on a Cata Crawler, he became intentional about fishing it even more with the fun goal of achieving the Slam with it.
Georgia Bass Slam
Georgia has some of the nation’s most diverse black bass offerings, including multiple upland river bass species that are only found in specific river drainages. To celebrate the rich species diversity, educate anglers on the species, and reward an angling achievement, the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division established The Georgia Bass Slam.
To achieve the Slam, an angler must catch and document qualifying fish of at least five black bass species during a calendar year, all from Georgia waters. Even if they are released, all fish must be of legal size for the species and the waters where they are caught. Where no legal minimum size applies, they must be at least 8 inches.
Twelve distinct black bass species call Georgia waters home. Two pairs of species (largemouth bass/Florida bass and spotted bass/Alabama bass) are very difficult to distinguish in the field, hybridize extensively, and have spread significantly outside of native ranges. For the purposes of the Georgia Bass, those pairs are looked at together, so there are ten possible species.
The WRD’s Georgia Bass Slam page includes details about rules and prizes, along with information about all species and where they can be found in Georgia.
Cata Crawler & Crickhopper
The LIVEflex Cata Crawler is obviously an important lure for Forester, who mostly fishes in creeks and rivers, mixing wading and fishing from his kayak. It’s extra valuable when the water is cold, but he continues catching fish on it year-round and has one tied on one rod much of the time.
Forester mostly fishes the Cata Crawler as it comes rigged in the package, on a KEG Head Jig, working it along the bottom with gentle hops. However, in waters with more snags, he’ll sometimes turn to a light Texas rig, especially if he is wading without his kayak, which can make it more difficult to go get baits that get hung.
As much as he likes the Cata Crawler, Forester’s true go-to lure is a Rebel Crickhopper in the original size. He is an all-species angler who loves catching a variety of species and no other lure “catches everything” for him quite like a Crickhopper. Often, he has a Cata Crawler on one rod and a Crickhopper on another and either chooses which bait to cast based on the specific spot’s characteristics or uses both as a 1-2 punch to pattern the fish.
For the Crickhopper, Forester typically casts to the far bank, beside a piece of cover or just upstream of a run that looks promising. He’ll pause for a moment and then twitch the rod tip a time or two to see if a fish blasts it on the surface. If none do, he starts reeling slowly and steadily to make the lure dive and to engage its wobbling crankbait action.
More days than not, Forester catches more fish swimming the Crickhopper than on the surface, but he likes to provide both opportunities with most presentations because each appeals to different fish. Plus, when fish hit a Crickhopper on top, they tend to hit it hard, and it can be a lot of fun!
On days when a lot of fish are pouncing on the bait while it’s still on top and fewer are eating while it’s swimming, he’ll keep it on the surface for bigger portions of retrieves. Conversely, when very few or none are hitting it on top, he switches mostly to straight cranking.
More to Follow?
A couple of day after tallying the Bartram’s bass, Forester added a qualifying Chattahoochee bass to his 2026 catches. He caught it on a Crickhopper, though, and was unable to catch one with the Cata Crawler. He lives in Northwest Georgia and only gets the opportunity to target Bartram’s bass and Chattahoochee bass during an annual family vacation to the northeastern part of the state. So, probably no Cata Crawler Chattahoochee bass, but who knows what opportunity could arise?!
And maybe he’ll find his way to waters where one or more of the other three species live before the year is over. Last year, he caught a qualifying Tallapoosa bass in addition to the species he has tallied this year, bringing his 2025 species total to eight.
Forester logs all his catches, whatever the species, on Fishbrain. Since beginning on Fishbrain, he has photographed and logged more than 3,000 catches of 51 different species. Follow @Str8slayem to keep up with his fishing adventures and catches!
