1. We lost Wade Bourne.Been feeling “but I just saw him”…can’t believe he’s gone. We spent a bunch of time visiting at the Strike King media deal last month. Here’s Wade (left) with fellow B.A.S.S. legend Dave Precht:
Wade is a major reason I’m in this biz cuz he encouraged me to do it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one because he was one of the greatest guys ever, for sure a southern gentleman. Everyone who knew him feels the same.
So bummed I won’t be at the service today. Thank you Wade, missin’ you man. Hope to see you again bassin’ brother.
2. AL: Bass Attacker owner accused of murder.
13-yo son found the victim, his mom. The kids’ dad died last year. GoFundMe account for the kids is here. I’m sick about this. Pls pray for these kids.
3. TX: New deets released in Falcon murder.
> …the two men were fishing on the lake when they heard someone yelling at them to get off their boat. Gonzalez described the other boat as “all blacked out.”
> Gonzalez, who was behind the wheel of the boat, said he immediately tried to drive the boat away when he noticed one of the unidentified people holding what appeared to be an AK-47. He said he heard gunshots being fired at them as they attempted to flee.
> Gonzalez then jumped off the boat and tried to swim to the shore, but was only able to reach a buoy before calling for help. He witnessed the blacked out boat head to the Mexican side….
Love to see some of our military boys clear that place out.
_____
That’s some heavy stuff. If you pray, please say one or a few for the above folks. More news:
4. David Fritts is back!
Did I somehow not mention this before? Don’t think I did so: David Fritts is fishing the Elites next year! Too cool. Can’t wait to see him crankin’ while everyone else is flippin’ again.
5. Didja miss Ike Live?
I was there Sunday eve, yappin’ with Mike and Pete and the rest of the nutty crew (sorry Becky!). Among other things we talked to Fritts about crankin’, electronics and giant crustaceans. Fun stuff yo! See it on IkeLive.com.
6. Card now in a Bassin’ Cat.
7. Micah Frazier gets Fitzy Rods.
8. Get to know new Elite Skylar Hamilton.
Good piece by Mark Hicks, who does a good job scribblin’ when he ain’t complainin’ about the fishin’…lol.
9. Tommy Martin recovering from heart attack.
Glad he’s still here. If you don’t know who Tommy Martin is, gitcha learnin’!
10. FLWer Holland gets Gambler.
11. Great Lakes have grass carp????
Not only that, they’re fertile/spawning! This sounds pretty dang bad, even tho grass carp aren’t the worst kind of Asian carp:
> Week after week, month after month over the past year, headlines have denied the presence of Asian carp in the Great Lakes. But there are Asian carp in the Great Lakes….
> Though grass carp have been found in Michigan’s inland water and rivers occasionally for years, generally they are sterile. Or at least there was no evidence of reproduction — until recently.
> A few individual grass carp were reported in Lake Erie. But there are much more than a few. Newcomb told the Free Press last week that “there are estimated to be tens of thousands.”
Buh-bye largies…?
12. NY/VT: Champlain released fish have low mortality.
> The Lake Champlain Research Institute ultimately concluded…that Plattsburgh [NY weigh site] has a relatively low smallmouth and largemouth bass mortality rate.
> …smallmouth bass dispersed greater distances than largemouth bass following their release, but both species usually took more than 60 days to leave Cumberland Bay where they were released during the 2012 Walmart FLW Tour tournament on Lake Champlain.
Wow 60 days is surprising.
13. MO: River smallie reg changes.
14. Ranger officially launches pontoons.
I’m sure they’re cool but will say again: Like Ferrari coming out with RVs….
15. DC: Fishing biz folks like Zinke for Interior Secy.
16. VA: DuPont fine money will help smallie hatchery.
Love lines like this:
> …DuPont will pay more than $50 million but admit no fault….
17. Scout Media in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
From the article, sounds like things are kind of a mess…. Scout is home to Wired2Fish, what remains of the North American Fishing Club and a few other feeshn thangs among other men-type media.
18. Outside Mag hit 100mph in the desert in the new Ford Raptor.
I don’t get truck envy — except for Brandon Palaniuk’s…and Matty Lee’s unwrapped flat black one was cool too. Okay, maybe I DO get truck envy a little — like every time I see a Ford Raptor, especially the redesigned 2017:
19. Winter bassin’ weeners!
Thanks to all of you who sent in pics — awesome you’re out doing it! Here are the two winners of “Jay Kumar’s tackle pile grab bags:”
Here’s Cody H. on the shore of Lake Chelan, WA. Caught this brown fish on a T-rigged Brush Hog-like bait (watermelon black/orange/red flake) made by Big Hawg Baits:
And @catchinjaints ketchin’ ’em on swimbaits with ice on the water!! Tho it is MN, where fish seem to eat like they’re about to die all year long. That’s a $110 [!!] Deps Slide Swimmer 175 (flash carp):
Guys, get me your mailin’ addys asap please! Here’s Paul Mueller doin’ the crazy with his new Elite rig — he says it’ll look way different once it’s wrapped: