Welcome to Jay Kumar's BassBlaster, your daily-ish email of the best o' bassin'!
Today's Top 3
1. 12th man ain't great at Classic.
Interesting how because of spectator boats the Classic isn't as simple as fishing your best water – least for KVD it ain't:
> The biggest thing that I have to plan for in fishing the Classic is deciding the best way to approach my areas if there are a lot of spectator boats following me.
> I remember a summertime Classic where an angler was on a boat dock pattern and did really well the first day. When he launched on the second day, there were a lot of boats with him. They created such a big wake that he couldn't pitch and skip his best spots and he dropped in the standings.
> I used to think that a shallow bite was more affected by all the traffic than a deep bite, but now I believe the opposite is true. In the shallows, a lot of the noise is absorbed by the bottom pretty quickly. Deep water is more affected because it's usually clearer and the fish are more sensitive. When a bunch of boats are nearly directly overhead and running their electronics, it can turn a school of bass off in a hurry.
> I led the first day of the 1996 Classic on Lay Lake in Alabama, catching suspended spotted bass in deep water near the dam. Word got out about where I was fishing, and about 35 boats were waiting for me when I got there on day 2. It killed the bite.
> Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a good Plan B and fell out of contention. It taught me a big lesson.
> Now I work very hard to make sure I have a lot of spots to fish in the Classic. It's rare that one is enough unless you have a way to mitigate the impact of a lot of traffic.
2. Havasu top 5 all fished differently.
This weekend's Rayovac, won by Bill Skinner with 59-05. Don't see this often:
> 1st fished a ChatterBait in a spawning bay.
> 2nd fished an A-rig on flats with big breaks.
> 3rd fished a Basstrix hollow belly swimbait on the back of an island.
> 4th ripped an Evergreen vibration bait off the bottom
> 5th fished deep with spoons.
Weird, but not this weird:
Colt McMahan's and Jody Johnson's 35.4-lb limit:
> Johnson said they probably would have headed for the discharge channel to fish had they been one of the first boats to launch in the tournament, but they launched last. So they tried to find someplace on the water away from the crowd.
> “It was just a luck deal, really,” he said.They found a school of black bass chasing bait fish that were boiling up near the surface in the middle of the lake.
> “We just started throwing at them and about my fifth cast, I caught one that weighed 7-1. After that, we just sat there and wore them out.
> "We culled a 20-pound sack. We threw back one that was over 5 (pounds) and a couple over 4 and six or seven over 3. It was just unbelievable.”
> The anglers caught their fish on swimbaits, Rat-L-Traps and crankbaits. “We used 4-inch swimbaits in smoking shad color. We also caught some on the new Storm Arashi crankbait in that same black-and-silver shad color."
Tx to everyone who sent in pics.
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News
1. Scott Ashmore gets St. Croix.
3. FLW gets iON cameras.
GoPro competitor:
> As part of the relationship, the iON Air Pro 3 Wi-Fi wearable, high-definition (HD) video camera will be used on all of the final-day, top 10 FLW Tour competitors’ boats….
4. JVD's new wraps.
5. 32.02 wins Gville derby.
Alabama Bass Trail this weekend, but…pics or it didn't happen.
> Water temp 36 degrees at takeoff.
> Early bite for winners (before 7::30 am).
> Most anglers said they fished rattlebaits or jerkbaits for their catches, but some also reported heavy fish on jigs and swimbaits.
Maybe Old Hickory, Percy Priest, Normandy.
9. NY: Elite now out of Union Springs.
10. ME: No action on soft-plastics ban.
> In 2013, Maine’s legislature considered two bills: one to ban soft baits and another to mandate degradable hooks.
Seriously?? Peeps doin' that also responsible for this:
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- Dave be stoked about this!
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Tip of the Day
> Howes' most lucrative retrieve is one he calls 'worming the 'Trap.' "I cast the bait out and let it fall to the bottom, just like I'm fishing a Texas-rigged worm. If I don't get a strike on the fall, I'll lift the bait sharply (you want to feel the vibration of the lure) about 3 feet off the bottom and let it flutter back down. Most strikes come on the fall."
> This retrieve is best from late winter through the pre-spawn, when water temperatures run from 40 to 55 degrees. "After that, a faster retrieve is usually more effective."
> Howes likes a 1/2-ounce model for depths 10 feet or less and a 3/4-ounce model for deeper water. He'll even use this retrieve in vegetation, but likes a lighter Rat-L-Trap then (1/4-ounce) so it doesn't get mired in the grass.
> His go-to line is 17-pound-test fluorocarbon. "If the cover's heavy, I'll use heavier line, and if the cover is sparse or I need to make a long cast in clear water I'll go lighter. I'll also go to heavier line if I want to keep the bait higher in the water column."
> "Monofilament is particularly good for this. Heavy mono will really keep your bait up. It's also good when the bass are not taking the bait very well — almost slapping at it. The stretch in mono seems to help in getting those fish hooked."
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Quote of the Day
These are road fish that are kind of like carnie fish – they travel all over the country.
– Elite pro Michael Simonton talkin' 'bout Hawg Trough fish. Cool behind the scenes piece on the Trough on BassZone.
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Shot of the Day
Casey Laughlin, Lake Palestine, 13.02 caught in a Media Bass derby. He looks stoked, bet he was!
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