Welcome to the BassBlaster, your daily email about all things bassin’. Hey – take a sec to forward this Blaster to a bassin’ bud! Click here to forward to a bud(s)

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Today’s Top 3

1. How much time do I have to spend throwing that stupid thing?

– FLW pro Randy Blaukat on the question all FLW pros ask themselves about the A-rig. He wants it gone. More:

> Prior to last year, FLW pros would pack their tackle for an event based upon the lake, conditions and seasonal patterns. We would use the variety of techniques we developed over years of hard work…. Locating and catching bass became our “art” form – a finely honed process.

> Now, when everyone heads to an event, the question on their mind is, “How much time do I have to spend throwing that stupid thing?”

Is the bell tolling for the A-rig?

2. My throat was a little sore from the radiation, but I had all the right medications and overall I felt good.

– Chase Heaton fishing the youth Bassmaster event recently held at Clear Lake. Also said:

> “Radiation was a piece of cake after all the other treatments I’d had. Going fishing was the best medicine I could have at that point.”

Awesome. If you pray, pray for Chase!

Btw, he won the event…dropshotting in 10-12′.

3. It becomes a little difficult to gently place a jig under a small dock with each cast and feel for a subtle bite while reminiscing about the the 1982 weather conditions and the invention of the Helicopter Lure.

– FLW pro Dave Wolak talking about shutting up and focusing.

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News

1. Ranger-Skeeter crash on Rayburn yesterday.

Sounds like all 4 occupants (both boats) ejected, everyone okay.

2. Bethel U wins ACA College Open.

3. Tyler, TX: Kids charity derby this weekend.

4. Ike jersey now in St. Jude’s auction.

5. Palatka, FL: Kids hospital tourney in May.

6. Norman, NC: Eating largies also not advised.

7. Guy catches WR brown trout…

…after seeing it feed on pellets. So: get yourself a pond, put a pellet feeder on it, wait until four FL largie is 25 lbs, then catch it. Presto, a world record…sheesh….

8. What a WR ‘cuda looks like…

Oops, I mean this one, 102 lbs! Guy said it looked like a croc with no legs….

9. WI: Sex-change chemicals (fish) a concern.

Been a long-standing issue in MD and VA, now MN and WI too…probly a lot more places….

Headline of the Day

Color choice can be important when selecting lures

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Tip of the Day

Larry Nixon: Swimming a tube.

> During the 2004 Dardanelle Elite 50, Nixon was looking for something to entice bass that were feeding in shallow grass along the shore. “The bass were chasing shad that were spawning there,” he said.

> Nixon tried the obvious stuff – worms, spinnerbaits, jigs and buzzbaits…they weren’t getting the job done.

> He had a tube rigged for flipping, but needed to keep distance between himself and the grass or the fish would spook. He started making long casts to the shallow grass, swimming the tube among the stalks. He kept a steady retrieve, twitching the rod tip to pop the lure free as it banged around the grass. And the bass ate it.

> “I missed a few because most of them were just swatting at it. But those that missed often came back and hit again.”

> The tube-swimming technique emulates shad flitting in shallow grass where they like to spawn on some lakes.

> Nixon rigs swimming tubes with a light sinker, 5/0 hook and fluorocarbon line on baitcasting gear.

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Quote of the Day

I finally had to break down and borrow a spinning reel and some 6-pound line. I don’t carry that stuff with me.

– Ricky Clunn at the Bull Shoals Elite. Fellow vet Paulie Elias said this about spinning gear at the same event: “I don’t like fishing those things.”

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Shot of the Day

Check out where this bass is hooked. If you caught it and it was your personal best, would you count it?

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