ALMOST back in the saddle…. Hope you enjoy it bass-heads!
If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!
Today’s Top 5
> …a classic ribbon-tailed plastic worm. Hartley used a 3/16-ounce slip sinker pegged to 20-pound fluorocarbon line. The heavier line was a must in the barnacle-covered casting targets where Hartley caught his fish. Pegging the 7″ worm….
> “Nobody likes to use a ribbon-tailed worm anymore because it’s not the ‘it’ bait. There are so many other lures that are easier to fish. That ribbon tail worm gets wrapped around stuff and it twists really bad. It’s hard to cast.” [Charlie hit the weight room dude! lol kidding man!]
> “One of the tricks that I’ve learned is that tidal bass are used to seeing baitfish sweep by them in the current. So a bait with a vertical drop like a heavy jig or plastic lure will drop right through the strike zone. It also doesn’t look natural to them.”
> Hartley said the worm’s longer tail adds buoyancy and catches in the current…stays longer in the strike zone. “You have to cast ahead of the target and hold the rod at 45 degrees to allow the lure to drift past the object…. Soon as the worm makes it around the target the current catches the lure and speeds it up. That’s when you get a strike.”
Fished wood in the Chickahominy River. Here’s the actual bait he used — didn’t mention a bait name, but I’m thinkin’ it might rhyme with “scrambler.” Lemme know what you think it is on FB.
> “I approached this like a Florida river system. All the fish I was catching were staged just outside where I figured they would spawn.”
> …focused just outside the biggest flats he could find, reasoning the bass moved into the deeper water on the low tide.
> Hard-cover casting targets created current breaks…. “I purposely avoided visible cover and instead keyed on places overlooked by other anglers.”
Told me he used a 6.25″ Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper (gp red flake) with 3/16-oz EcoPro Full Contact Drop Shot Weight, and Storm Arashi Deep 10 and Rapala DT6 cranks, both in blue back herring to mimic bunker (menhaden). Here they are:
Gotta love how his bud doesn’t say a thing:
A few from a great recap by this dude…on the right (der):
> The first thing that jumped out to me was how he drove the boat. It was like a race car driver, not because of the speed but the path he takes. He runs right on the shoreline when he can (said it was smoother, and it was), as in you could touch it with a fishing rod, and cuts corners/points literally as close as you can. I knew that in some areas he was in less than a foot of water. …zero wasted time and not even a foot of extra distance traveled. None of the other pros seemed to take it to this extreme, including my day 1 pro (Cliff Prince).
[Do NOT try that unless you’re 100% sure you can do it. I’m sure KVD scouted his route multiple times for safety and possibility of other boats, etc.]
> As he was re-tying he pulled out a bunch of the new Poppin’ Perch frogs [not listed on TW.com yet] to show me and explained how he worked with Strike King for almost a year to get it how he wanted. [Betting he took that time because he knew he wouldn’t win.]
> He rigged up a 4″ Caffeine Shad and started skipping it quickly across the surface, trying to imitate the needlefish we get in the river this time of year. He cycled through colors every few casts before finally settling on one. This was the ticket for him…. [That cool or what? Needlefish pattern!]
> There’s a reason/purpose for everything he uses and/or has his name on. For example, we talked about the Caffeine Shad…he told me that he designed it specifically to be different from the Super Fluke. He said he wanted it to fall completely horizontal like a stickbait instead of gliding around like the Fluke.
> He knows this river better than any local I’ve met, which obviously includes me too. A few of the places he hit were some of my favorite areas and he had those places dissected to such detail that I never once thought “I wonder if he knows about ‘XYZ’ in this spot” — he knew it all. …it’s unreal to me how much detail he knew.
Kumars drove from NJ to the FL Keys in our boss high-mileage Toyota Sequoia. Been awhile since I’ve driven around that state — few random observations:
> 50% of vehicles are white, 99% of boats are white, and just about everyone has at least one Power-Pole.
> Bank fishing is huge, and about 25% of the dudes I saw bank bassin’ were the Buff/backpack crowd.
> Didn’t catch a single dang fish on the trip — was more about the kids than me, but still…pretty lame. Kids caught some tho. Did get out on the salt below the Everglades and let me tell you, the sugar cane dynasties and their pocket politicians have DESTROYED (as in, 10s of thousands of acres) the grass and fishing there. As big as fishing is in FL, amazes me that the peeps can’t defeat those bozos.
Gotta give props to two products:
> Costa shades — First saw Costas many years ago in FL, covering a redfish tourney. (Bowman was almost nice there….) Every guy in that derby was wearing the same brand of shades, and most were sight-feeshn salty guides so I figgered they must know the best eyewear. Found out they were Costas. Lots of good shades at all price points, but Costas still rawk. I was wearing the Fantails (amber/green mirror) and the Jose in amber/silver mirror, which after years of wearing amber/green is turning into my new fave lens combo.
Was a family vacation. If just me, I’d be on the blower with Mark Pack at Lake Fork or Matt Allen at Clear Lake or…where else? What lakes are on your bucket list? Lemme know by replying to this email.
Need to catch me some like this:
News
1. Larry Nixon recovering from 4x bypass.
He had a couple thousand bassin’ secrets cloggin’ things up. Get better soon Larry! Love that guy.
…right in his neighborhood. Fave quote:
> The government didn’t do us any favors back then [Katrina] so now we don’t wait for help.
3. FLW Champ Johnny Cox on Stray Casts.
Tonite at 7:30 pm CST on StrayCasts.net and YT channel Stray Casts Outdoor Cartoon Television.
Aka B-Rad Lee-Roy. Good one by donny barone.
5. J-Mac throws out first pitch…
…at Astros vs. Cardinals game. McKinnis is a diehard Cardinals fan and back when pics were black and white was a heck of a ball-player.
6. IL: 3 HS anglers save yak basser….
…having a heart attack. Gotta be:
7. MLFers get Sig Sauer.
Well-known sauerkraut brand…okay not really. Gotta give props for getting a German firearms brand involved in bassin’, believe that’s a first.
Personally I’d like Benelli….
8. South Africa to hold FLW derbies.
9. LA: K2 helping out flooded folks.
What kind of folks K2 are: #stout. Gitcha a great cooler and help some peeps:
Tip of the Day
Got me thinking:
> Ken Sherman is a perfectionist, paying close attention to every detail involved in catching fish. And one of the things he says many bass anglers overlook is the importance of boat-handling when approaching a log jam or tree.
> “I see people all the time get so focused on fishing that they don’t know where the boat is, and then they have to hit the trolling motor to stay away…. “They hit that tree with the trolling motor’s prop wash, and that’s it. They’ll never catch a fish there.”
> “I’m running the trolling motor very, very slow and I never take my foot off it. That way I don’t get the flush of the water (on the target) — the worst thing you can do is flush water into it.”
Quote of the Day
Fishing is a pretty laid-back sport.
– Crimson Tide bassin’ team captain talkin‘ in the Wall Street (Sux) Journal. Honestly have no idea what he’s talkin’ ’bout. Only time I’ve seen bassin’ derbies be laid back is…never.
Shot of the Day
How a walleye guy holds a bass:
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