BassBlaster

Cheater stopped, Kilgore’s new U-rig, FLW win by 14 lbs!

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on March 10, 2014

Welcome to Jay Kumar's BassBlaster, your daily-ish email of the best o' bassin'!

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Today's Top 5

1. LA cheater stopped.

Good, but too bad they didn't catch 'im/'em:

> A cage, or basket, of big, live bass was discovered in Lake Fausse Pointe’s Sandy Cove the week before the Children’s Hospital Bass Classic held March 1 out of Doiron’s Landing, Stephensville.

Here's my favorite line:

> A commercial fisherman reportedly stumbled across the trapped bass, emptied the cage and ate the fish.

Bwahahahaha! More:

> "Since the fish were taken home and eaten, they didn’t have any evidence to pursue and have not been able to investigate any further."

Polygraphed the winter of that derby…for some reason. He passed.

2. Kilgore wins with new U-rig.

Strike King's new Tour Grade Titanium Umbrella Rig (say that 5x fast) was announced at the Bassmaster Classic. Couple week's later, David Kilgore nailed down his second consecutive Classic invite by winning this weekend's Southern Open on Smith Lake, AL.

> …with Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Swim'n Caffeine Shads. If a bass smacked his umbrella without getting hooked, Kilgore followed up with the jig… a 3/8-ounce Strike King Hack Attack Jig dressed with a Strike King Rage Tail Chunk.

> He was targeting docks that were the farthest from the main lake in short pockets. The bigger female bass were staging there prior to moving shallow.

> Kilgore slowly retrieved his umbrella rig along the shady side of the docks. It often took repeated casts to coax a strike.

> Although both anglers were fishing around docks, Kilgore was retrieving his umbrella rigs no deeper than 6 feet. [2nd place Todd] Auten was running his 10-20' deep.

Kilgore's 54-11 was exactly 6 lbs more than Auten. Stout, but:

3. Ashley wins Hartwick by 14!

Two-tourer Casey Ashley won the FLW at his home lake – by 14.5 lbs!

> [Fishing deep brush] in 25 to 40 feet and set up over ditches under boat docks. Once he stopped on these areas, Ashley fished incredibly slow.

> "I’d look towards the bank and there were boats everywhere. You can do well that way, but I don’t think you can win that way. Those shallow fish just don’t replenish.”

> [Used] a 1/2-ounce Shooter Lures jig (green pumpkin) with a Zoom Super Chunk Jr. (green pumpkin), and a custom Mountain Man Lures 3/16- or 1/8-oz shaky head with a Zoom finesse worm.

> “Most of the big ones came on the jig, but the shaky head was great for filling a limit. I learned a long time ago that gourd green is the best color (for a finesse worm) when the water is cold. The last two days I used watermelon candy, which is better in the sun."

4. 12.82 out of…Pickwick??

Seems like it:

Remember a 14.58 was caught outta there 2 years ago.

5. Top 25 Classic patterns.

Yep, I notated 'em from the Classic, on Bassmaster.com. Enjoy 'em fellow pattern junkies.
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Help the Menedezes.

Mark Menendez isn't fishing the Elites again this year because his wife Donna's is battling cancer again. Here's a way to help them, please do if you can.

Menendez Family Benefit Account
Paducah Bank
PO Box 2600
Paducah, KY 42002
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News

1. Fuji re-ups with Bernie Schultz. > Bernie Schultz has signed an expanded, multi-year agreement with Anglers Resource, North American distributor for Fuji Rod Components. Schultz will add Fuji's new TORZITE rod guides to his tournament arsenal. > Schultz: "Gram for gram TORZITE is a much stronger ring material, making it perfectly suited for braided fishing lines. And the lighter, thinner rings increase sensitivity, which applies to so many techniques involving light line and various soft plastics." > TORZITE resulted from a multi-year project between Fuji and the world’s leading developer of task-specific, high-grade ceramics. 2. Kurt Dove gets Dixie Electric. > Dove: "Providing recognition and doing PR work for Dixie Electric on and off the water will be fun and refreshing, after all they love to fish." 3. Rookie Lester into Mud Hole. 4. LA: Can keep more bass? > At its regular monthly meeting last week, the commission passed a notice of intent to allow anglers to possess three times the daily limit of black bass below the saltwater line. Guess there are too many bass in LA?? 5. FL: Lake Jackson hot. 6. MO bass forecast. 7. 10% off Luhr-Jensen. LJ has some dang good bassin' baits, like the Speed Trap for one: 8. National habitat legislation. _____ *|FACEBOOK:PROFILE:152313681470315|*

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Didja watch this yet??

Tip of the Day

Keith Combs: One-rod crankin'.

> Keith’s choice is a Power Tackle PGC170-70 fiberglass cranking rod. It’s a seven foot rod. Combs has sampled 7-1/2 foot rods which are considered long distance casting rods…yet he can throw just as far with his 7-footer just because of the way it loads.

> That allows Keith to use this same rod for everything from his squarebilling and lipless crankbaits to medium-divers and on up to his deep cranking (Strike King 6XDs). He even throws his super deep stuff (10XD’s) on this same rod.

> This goes against the grain…which is to make many different cranking rod models specific to many different cranking purposes. Most anglers follow that approach…but not Keith. "One rod really makes it simple.”

> “I want to be able to do just about anything with a crankbait during the course of an event. I may want to pull close to the bank and make a few shots around a little riprap point or I may want to go offshore and crank a ledge and I want to have all those options and more on every cast. With this rod, I can…."