BassBlaster

Five for 42 lbs, What Ott Defoe’s doing now, The gator pattern

Today’s Top 5

5 for 42+! 

Not a derby, but a guide trip on Fork: 9+, 9+, 8+, 8+, 7+ — and they caught more than that. Here’s a few:

All caught at a community hole called “the blur”…lol check the backgrounds.

> We caught almost every single fish on a Santone Football Jig. We caught them from 15′ to 25′.

> We did well on a Paca Chunk, Rage Craw and Double Tail Grub. All green pumpkin. I honestly just grab the first one within reach most of the time.

Jig looks brownish?

Santone has a lot of brown colors. One of ’em is named “pinto beans and carrots”…hahaha!

Lookit those fish, wow. Gonna hit kayak.com now….

Does your bluegill imitation look too much like a bluegill? 

Maybe green pumpkin with a chartreuse tail ain’t all you need. Check this:

Black-n-blue gill?

Uh-oh what’s Rapala got now! 

Coming out at ICAST, called the RipStop — a little bummed it’s not called the Shadow Rip Shad or the Rip Rap Stop (hahaha Rapala peeps!) — but a couple things:

1. Believe the deal is after you rip it, it stops like it hits a wall (check that tail).

2. Pretty dang hilarious 13-sec vid:

As usual…can’t wait to fish it!

T-Roy was fishing the gator pattern. 

Gator hunter T-Roy — which I think is Louisianian for “Troy” — said this about where he was a-feeshn and almost winnin’ the Sabine River Open:

> “I was in alligator holes where I’ve hunted and fished all my life.”

Here’s what one of his holes looked like:

Fished a 5″ Strike King Caffeine Shad (KVD Magic and watermelon red) on a Lew’s Super Duty setup (rod here, reel here).

Also made sure he was packin’:

“I’m almost there.” 

17-yr-old WA HS fisherman talkin’ ’bout becoming a pro fisherman. Gotta love the confidence and hope his dreams come true — I think Palaniuk hit the scene when he was like 15 or 16? Right Brandon??

But here’s the deal. Until you love fish this much, you ain’t a-gonna make it:

News

1. Ott talkin’ leadin’ the Elitist AOY race.

> I’m happy to be leading at this point but we’ll shift gears now. There’s still so much fishing left, and I’m glad to know God’s got this regardless of how it turns out.”

Amen brother! Check the standings here.

2. Hack Attack’s structure-spoon tips.

Some good stuff in there, these ones got my attention:

> I never wind my structure spoon back. I always pull it. Honestly, I don’t know why pulling works better, but I know that it does.

> …you shouldn’t think of them as only deep-water baits. They’ll catch as many bass at 5 feet as they will at 50 feet.

5 feet? Love to see Hack flip a spoon! Naturally he likes the Strike King Sexy Spoon….

3. Alton Jr. got hitched.

Fished his first Classic, first year on the Elites and during the Elitist break had a weddin’! Dang what a year and he’s still got half to go — congrats AJ!

4. Check Matty Lee’s bassin’ cam setup.

53″ YOLOTek POWERStick and Garmin VIRB:

5. How FLWer/MLFer Wes Strader sets up his electronics.

11-min video, but these electronics vids are usually money:

6. Woo wants to fish til he’s 75.

Guess that means competitively. He’s 71 now, fishing the Opens, wants to make another Classic.

7. How FLWer Andrew Upshaw caught ’em at the Potomac (vid).

Used a Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 (pro blue and ghost minnow) on 20-lb mono to make it run more shallow.

8. MLFers name champeenship trophy after Johnny Morris.

Is it only a matter of time before Johnny owns that too?? Not starting any rumors…. THe trophy is 2′ tall and weighs 63 lbs so I guess it wins the Interwebz on that score.

9. Bassin’masters says Mille Lacs is best bass lake.

For sure a great smallie lake, always has been, hopefully always will be unless the MN DNR wrecks it with their new promotion of catch/keep there. But gotta ask: should a smallmouth lake be the #1 bass fishery in the nation?

10. Lew’s makes changes at the top.

> Gary Remensnyder has been promoted to CEO. [Founder] Lynn Reeves will remain actively involved in the business as chairman, continuing to provide strategy and product leadership to the company.

Congrats to both dudes. Here’s the board meeting where that was decided:

And here’s what Lynn was doing at the time:

Lynn, you’ve got your priorities straight man hahaha!

Okay I may have made that up…but Lynn IS bassin’ Santa!

11. AL: Auburn RBs coach likes to bass-fish…

…because his name is: Tim Horton. Seriously.

And Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is “a guy who used his first big paycheck to buy a bass boat and a used pickup that leaked oil just so he could sneak away and fish during his first years as a Virginia Tech assistant in the early ’90s.”

A pickup truck that leaked oil!! Wow how terrible…. Sheesh who writes for ESPN, a bunch of city slickers?

12. AL: 50K FL fingerlings going into Gville in May.

Privately funded. Peeps are serious about their bassin’ there.

13. CAN: Berkley B1 Canadian Bass Open waters.

> The tour first hits Belleville this weekend before it comes to Port Colborne. It then wraps up at its home base of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC in Sept.

14. Sunline coming out with Crank FC.

And here’s what it’ll look like:

15. WI yakker has caught 20,000 smallies.

Yep he’s retired…now he is, anyway. Says his best bait is a Kalin’s Lunker Grub, which is just a curly-tail grub, always a smallmouth killer.

16. TX: Zebra mussels in Travis.

17. New Shimano Curado K coming out at ICAST.

It’s…black? Ones before that were gray. So…no more green?

18. Patrick Sebile gone from Pure Fishing.

Bait designer who sold his company to Pure Fishing a while back. Gone as part of “restructuring,” whatever that means.

19. Savage bat bait.

Nope, we haven’t seen it all yet:

Check this illustration of it — a ’70s Meat Loaf airbrushed van mojo…I like it!

Tip of the Day

What Ott DeFoe is fishing now.

Ott likes a shallow rig and a deep rig this time of year. Breaks down like this:

> Neko-rigged Bass Pro Fin-Eke Worm (plum) with a 1/8-oz Swagger nail weight and #2 VMC Weedless Neko Hook [weedless version is not for sale yet]. “I fish this anywhere deep fish are holding, especially brush.”

> 7′ 2″ M Bass Pro CarbonLite rod, CarbonLite reel action, 10-lb XPS Hyper Braid with 8-lb XPS fluoro leader.

> “Shallow I fish a Rapala Skitter Prop (lime frog) in pockets around bream beds. Short twitches and pauses. And I always use a feather treble.”

> 6′ 6″ M CarbonLite rod, Johnny Morris Platinum Reel (6.8), 30-lb XPS 8 Advanced Braid, 17-lb Excel mono leader.

Quote of the Day

It’s a grind. An absolute grind.

NY Elitist rookie Jamie Hartman talkin’ ’bout the Elites. Yep, you better believe it. Ain’t as glamorous as it looks…or is made to look….

Several potential quotes of the day in that interview:

> I’m still waiting to get a good night’s sleep. I’m always thinking about the next day or what happened that day. I’ve been fishing non-stop since I left home back in December. If I’m not on the water every day I feel guilty. I figured I’d get some rest when I got home about a week and half ago, but I didn’t get any. I went up and fished the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain, and now I’m on Oneida. It’s non-stop.

> When I’m scrambling during practice fishing, I’ll have anywhere from 22 to 26 rods rigged and ready. During the tournament, I narrow it down to about 20 rods.

Narrow it down to 20! Raise your hand if you don’t even own 20 rods (mine’s up!).

Shot of the Day

In case you’re a-wonderin’ if bass still like the classic Chug Bug, check this shot. Wonder what reelin’ him in was like:

#boomerang

Random

Labs can sniff out whale poop from boats.

If they can do that on the ocean over deep water, gotta believe trainin’ bass-sniffin’ dowgs ain’t too hard?

Sign up another bass-head!
 

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Use the best!

Git on these yo!

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Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass.

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