Sometimes things in bassin’ just gotta change so:

Step off normal sculpin baits! (And I guess never mind hook gaps?)

Step off regular Jitterbug!

Step off regular-sized livewells! Not big enough for the TicTacTickle Bassin’ dudes:

Step off regular bass-crawfish relationship!

Step off tired old “largemouth” word!

Guess I have the wrong number for Casey Ashley (4th) so here’s Brandon Palaniuk (5th) and Andy Montgomery (6th):

BP

(Top)
> 3/8-oz swim jig (white/black/chartreuse) with a Zoom Super Speed Craw (white)
> Fished it around shallow grass in the morning around shad spawns, and targeted non-visible spawning fish later in the day on days 3-4.

(Bottom)
> 1/2-oz bladed jig (gp/orange) with a Zoom Z-Craw (Cali 420)
> “First 2 days I fished submerged grass in 4-10′ on shallow humps where the fish were staging, coming and going from spawning areas. Cast out and let it fall, then retrieved it as slow as needed to tick the grass. Several fish ate on the initial fall due to the fact that I think I was targeting specific grass clumps that I could see on my 360.”

A-Mont

> 1/2-oz Strike King Tour Grade Skipping Jig (blue craw) with a Strike King Rage Bug (blue craw) with a 7′ 1″ Daiwa Andy Montgomery Tatula Elite Skipping Rod, Daiwa Tatula SV reel (8:1), 25-lb Daiwa Fluorocarbon.

> Skipped anything that had shade: docks, trees, bushes.

…after winning this weekend’s potluck at Cumberland, KY. Pretty stout. Little quiz for ya. He credited that stat to:

a) Gettin’ an Ugly Stik beatin’ from his bass-head dad every time he lost a fish as a kid.

b) Usin’ some of his staff to scout the interwebz for stray waypoints:

c) An ultra-rare assortment of Helicopter Lures:

d) Being willing to fish places he’d never fished before.

e) All of the above.

If you said “d” guess you’d be right but what fun is that?

Scott actually credited Beaver Lake for helping him…which might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about that lake….

Here’s the Blaster breakdown of the top 10 baits at the Cumberland FLW. Some oddball stuff:

Jerkbait = 50% — includin’ Scott Martin, and I’m puttin’ his Bomber Long A “wake bait” as a jerkbait too. He refused to name or have a photo shot of the jerkbait — is this it?

Gotta shout out ex-Elitist Matty Reed (4th) for still bein’ a stick…in this case with a SPRO McStick 110 (chartreuse shad):

Spinnerbait = 30%

Check these crazy spinnerbaits! First Chris McCall (6th) with a pink Santone Pretender…

…then Casey Scanlon (8th) with a Chopper spinnerbait with chartreuse and hammered gold blades:

It’s like a dang fashion show out there!

Jig = 20% — Martin used an M-Pack Flippin’ Jig.

Crankbait = 20% — Barry Wilson (2nd) said he used a prototype BOOYAH squarebill, but the shot FLW published ain’t that bait. Just in case you wanted a sneak peek….

Swimbait, trick worm = 10% each — Shoutin’ out Cody Meyer (7th) for stickin’ with the Cali swimbait thang (a Strike King Rage Swimmer in what looks like ghost shad) and NOT USIN’ A WIP STICK!!!

#manup lol

Ain’t easy bein’ out on the water day after looooong day chasin’ pros around and never wettin’ a line. So Overstreet and Stevie Wright put they brains together and here’s what was borned:

Got a built-in cooler and stuff. Bowman needs to get in shape, so his new blogging rig is this…

…cuz the kayak didn’t work out:

HAHAHA just kiddin’ brother!