BassBlaster

Jelly bellys of the week, What jerking slow means, Listen to Hackney

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on January 18, 2018

Today’s Top 5

Fatabulous jelly belly melons of the week!

Jellllllllleh bellllllllleh!

Check @bassjak_‘s DD and new PB on a supa-high-dolla Roman Made Madre:

@jeffspraguefishing got him 11 lbs of TX phat on a Gene Larew Hammer Craw:

Here’s a lunch break at the farm ‘Trap bass for Aaren Moore, weighed 11 lbs. Not sure what else is in that pond but when you gotta fish with a rifle handy sounds kinda sketchy:

Stick Marsh, FL 10 ketched by LT Reynolds with a Tackle Sprackle frowg (bone) next to a mat:

Limit o’ the week and….

This one’s a 2-fer: Slammin’ limit, and also today’s #winner for the most hilarious “have to hold all 5 fish up” shot:

That’s FL bass-head Trent Hill, who barely won the American Fishing Tour fruitjar on Seminole Jan 7 with that 28.99 limit. Check the top 5:

1. Trent Hill — 28.99 lbs

2. Steve Phillips — 28.68 lbs

3. Doug Davis — 27.28 lbs

4. Allen “Lee” McVay — 25.85 lbs

5. John Adams — 24.59 lbs

Not only that, the weather was: “Cold start of 24, high of 48 for the day, and the wind was 10 NE. Water temperatures were in the high 40s.” With those conditions and weights, thinkin’ the bait o’ the day was:

Important Hackney Attackney post.

Greg talks about how and why winter bass aren’t always as deep as you think, or deep at all. 100% on the screws and against conventional wisdom, which is why you need to read it:

> Don’t think that dragging a jig on the bottom at the deepest point in your local lake is the only option you have between now and spring. You’ll catch a few doing that, for sure. But you’ll catch a lot more if you think about finding the baitfish in warmer, shallower water and fish at their depth.

Reminds me of the cold-water Classic at Grand Lake, OK. BassGold showed it should be won shallow, which it was, but even with that prediction a bunch of guys seined empty water out deep and got zip. Guess they didn’t read the BassGold prediction…which has been 92% correct across all water bodies…PREDICTING AHEAD OF TIME…seriously.

[BassGold really is all that, but please DO NOT try to subscribe to it. The payment system doesn’t work — because we’re in the middle of making it free (dang straight!). Will let you know when it’s ready….]

Hack told me his next post is gonna be about how to tell what a bass is eating by smelling its mouth:

Love that classic Z “what the…” look hahaha!

Another inflatable that didn’t inflate.

Saw this incredible vid the other day — one boat completely running over another. Scary as heck:

Sounds like it happened in August. Here’s what got me: According to this article, 2 of the 3 folks who had to ditch from that boat were not wearing PFDs and the 1 person who was had an inflatable on but “…it didn’t inflate.”

What…the..heck. Remember that FLW tourney where two guys were ejected from their boat and neither man’s inflatable PFD inflated? Word came later it was because they were the kind that had to be manually inflated but who knows.

Has anyone ever done tests on failure rates on inflatable PFDs? Does anyone know what maintenance has to be done on ’em so they work right…hopefully? If you know, pls hit me back with a link.

Not a big fan of the whole fear movement, but startin’ to think I need to wear a PFD at all times if the water temps are cool to cold. Who knows what can happen.

Meme of the Day yo!

Bass-head Kevin Herlitzke sent this in a while back:

Lol! Btw that NEVER happens on the Elites. Never. Ever. No no no no no no.

HAHAHA!

News

1. TX: Angler drowns on Lake O’ the Pines.

Since I’ve been mentioning it, article did not say whether he was wearing a PFD. RIP fishin’ brother.

2. Nik Kaylor service details.

> …will be held at 10:30 am Saturday at Journey Christian Church, 1965 S. Orange Blossom Trail, in Kayler’s hometown of Apopka.

3. Brandon Card speaking TONIGHT in VA.

6:30, First Baptist Church, 155 Shady Elm Ln, Weber City, VA 24290.

4. Sounds like Dean Rojas is past his wrist issues.

Had surgery last year. Also said in that Bassin’Fan post that he’ll be helping Blazer design a new melon-huntin’ tub, which is cool.

5. Chris Zaldain running a camo wrap?

Megabass-related maybe?

6. Ehrler’s been lifting.

Dude you don’t even look the same!

7. Skeet’s advice to Pipkens.

He was like, “Look I don’t care if you get the rods first or the hair first, but you gotta have both to be the king.” And:

But Chad’s not down with Skeet’s chocolate milk I guess?

Those yella rods are Wright McGills….

8. How Zona caught ’em at Kong Island.

Vid on baits and such.

9. MN pro Chad Grigsby on FLWs now.

Was an Elitist last year.

10. Berkley brands sign 7 anglers.

One Elite, IL rookie Chris Groh, and 6 FLWers including FLW cup winner Justin Atkins.

Big props to the PR folks for putting the guys’ social addys in the release. Some guys don’t have Insta pages?? #fixit

11. FLWer Randy Haynes gets Garmin and Hi-Seas.

12. BASS’s Stevie Bowman in AR Waterfowler Hall of Fame.

Cuz he has a green head or something? Lol, congrats Bowman! Dude is catching up to Louie “the Legend” Stout in the Halls of Fame thing.

13. FLW, ‘Rude behind “Fishing Funds the Cure.”

Once again can’t find a link on the FLW website so here’s an excerpt from the email:

> Participants in the campaign are encouraged to take a child fishing and post their catches to social media and tag…#FISHINGFUNDSTHECURE. Friends, family and coworkers are then challenged to make a donation to the NPCF based on a dollar amount assigned to one of the following parameters: the total number of fish caught, the length of the fish in inches or total ounces caught.

To help childhood cancer. #stout “Fishing Funds the Cure” website is here.

14. FLW competitors are now “competitor members?”

Guess cuz competitors don’t get discounts but members do? Interesting….

15. FL: Kissimmee River BFL won on “mud mats.”

Never heard of ’em so:

> Winner Robert Crosnoe: “When Hurricane Irma hit Florida, lily pads weren’t able to grow on Lake Kissimmee because the water was so high. Eventually their roots dislodged from the bottom and floated to the surface to form these mud islands, along with some grass.”

Said the bass liked the mats because they were warm…FL has been cold. Flipped a Sweet Beaver (hematoma, like a gp-purple) with a 1.25-oz weight.

16. CA: What up with Oroville?

Lot of theories in that thread, but here’s the stich accordin’ to some guy named Gary Dobyns (lol):

> Most if not all the fish we caught were skinny and had body shape of a trout. That’s the best description I’ve heard. I’ve fished Oroville for years and I’ve never seen the fish in this condition.

17. MN may expand HS fishing statewide.

18. Cashion has a Shad Rap-specific rod.

First one ever?

Check the rod and Shad Raps on TW.

19. FL: Bass Pro Shops one step closer at Okeechobee.

20. Johnny Morris wants Cabela’s execs to pony up…

…some of their payout $$$ for Cabela’s employees who will lose their jobs. Says he will match their contributions up to $10 mil.

21. List of first Gander Outdoors stores.

69 total to re-open.

22. Distributor Big Rock will only have 1 show next year.

23. Is IA to blame for ethanol in gas?

Sounds like a bunch of folks want it gone now but:

> So who likes the program? Big Corn, politicians who represent corn country, and presidential hopefuls who want to win primaries and general elections in corn-rich IA.

24. New 3DS game will have fishing reel controller.

Maybe only available in Japan?

25. CA: Some people want to split Cali into 2 states.

Wonder if we can do this in NJ….

26. Line vs line vs line.

Where do you come out:

> Mono casts better than fluorocarbon on both baitcasters and spinning rods — it’s simply more limp and less inclined to take a set than most varieties of fluoro. Not to say light fluorocarbon is problematic…but if you have casting difficulties with fluoro in heavier tests, a switch to quality mono will often solve them.

> Mono also handles better than braid on baitcasters in tests up to about 40 lbs. After that, the braid diameter is thick enough that it won’t cut down into the spool and cause jams, as lighter braids often do.

I’ll always like a good mono — good being the important word. If line ain’t good, don’t fish it!

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

Giant stickbaits coming, Carolina rigs coming back, Fish the deep spawn

What I wear in cold weather

Why we buy baits!

All past BassBlasters are archived at BassBlaster.rocks!

Tip of the Day

Alton Jones: How to cold-water jerk.

The toughest thing to understand about cold-water jerkbaiting is how slow or fast to do it. Because you can’t do it too slow or your bait won’t be where it needs to be, and you can’t do it too fast or the bass might not get on it (you hear that KVD? hahaha!). Anyhow, few excerpts from the Bassin’masters.com:

> …after making a long cast, I’m going to quickly jerk it several times to get the bait down to depth. This is when cadence comes into play and every day you have to try and determine what pace the fish want.

> The basic rule of thumb is that the colder the water, the slower you want to move your bait. And by “slow” I don’t mean the speed at which you jerk it — I mean the length of time you let it pause.

> …extremely cold days where each jerk is just a 3″ twitch of my rod tip — just enough to make the bait dance before pausing. …on warmer winter days when the water temperature reaches into the upper 40s, it’s going to be more of a jerk-jerk-jerk and then the pause.

> Figuring out how long each pause should be really comes down to experimentation, but I can say that if you’re not catching fish, it’s usually because you’re not letting the bait pause long enough.

> Some days, you may need a 20-second pause between bait movements. That’s painstakingly slow.

It’s also nuts, but that’s why he’s an Elite and I’m not yo!

Alton Sr. likes the original Smithwick Rogue and the deeper-running Perfect 10 Rogue. On 10-lb fluoro they get down to 6′ and 10-12′ respectively.

Quote of the Day

They react and swim more slowly, but they still react, and they can catch any lure you care to throw.

– Ex bassin’ biologist Hal Schramm on the In-Fish talkin’ winter bassin’. Good, looooong post. Couple more highlights:

> …deer season is my favorite season for bass fishing. Lakes are empty and that’s when I usually catch my biggest fish.

> Small and slow is the way to go, but search-baits retrieved at medium speed can work in milder conditions. And big slow-moving lures catch big bass. Mix it up, as moods shift during the day.

Shot of the Day

Bassin’-head Bob Greene hammered some on Table Rock with a Storm Wiggle Wart (brown craw), SPRO RK Crawler (red craw) and a BassBlaster digital camo hoodie yo! Bob wasn’t sure if the hoodie was good luck or bad luck…lol:

Random

First drone-aided surf rescue

> …new drone — called the Little Ripper — dropped an inflatable rescue pod to the boys, allowing them to make it to shore three times faster than a normal rescue….

Pretty cool. Wonder if it could be used on lakes somehow.

Ya got me

Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup

of the best, worst and funniest in bassin’, as curated by me — Jay Kumar. I started BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a bunch more in bassin’. The Blaster is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass so thanks for readin’!

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