BassBlaster

Special BassBlaster post spawn baits and gear issue!

Is it the post-spawn yet? Haaaaaaaail yeah it is! Depending on where you’re at latitude-wise, it may have been the post-spawn a while back. But hole up, hole up: Post-spawn baits and stuff work all dang year, so here you go, the Special-Like BassBlaster Post-Spawn Special Issue!

Featurin’ some stuff you’ll want to check out. Not all BassBlaster sponsor-related, but givin’ ’em some love no doubt.

Since the ICAST fishin’ trade show is next week, just one Blaster for ya then. Back to the regular schedule after that. And…a killer post-ICAST Special Issue comin’ at ya soon!

Shallow stuff

Startin’ off shallow cuz there ain’t a bass-head in the free world that don’t like to catch ’em up shallow — except maybe some Left Coasters. Plus there’s ALWAYS bass up shallow. So:

1. Storm Arashi Cover Pop

Not out yet but comin’ out soon:

Might guess from the name that the deal is to work it in and around shallow cover. Word is it’s heavy-ish, tail-weighted and can be worked in place right next to a piece of cover.

If you don’t believe it, here’s Elitist Ott DeFoe slammin’ a nice almost DD ditch melon on it at this year’s Bassin’masters Classic. Check how he fishes it — seems to feel there’s a big fish in that one spot so he stays with it:

That’s the “summer gill” color, which says it all. Deal is it’s a different look for the fish because it pops like a Pop-R and swims like a crankbait — for real. Here’s new Elitist Stetson Blaylock explainin’ it:

Picture a grassline or weed patch with a dropoff or open water in front of it, and you got the right pic!

When one be post-spawn bassin’, one be needin’ a frowg…which is Tennesseean for “frog.” And for whatever reason, poppin’ frogs have been gainin’ ground on regular frogs for about a year now. Maybe it’s versatility, maybe it’s this:

Yep, fashion — or in that case, “fashion.” Yeesh. Anyhow, that Poppin’ Pad Crasher color is called “sunburn,” which is Jason Christie’s fave…which kinda fascinates me because I haven’t met a single other person who fishes the snot outta a brown frog. Here’s Jason talkin’ when he likes the regular Pad Crasher vs the Poppin’ version:

Everyone’s gone plum cray over the Whopper Plopper and the froggy version of it (sorta), but have we all forgotten the Lunkerhunt Lunker Frog? Those crazy paddlin’ feet are different and have crushed many a bass, as you might recall from this vid that now has 2.2-mil views:

The Alpha Angler Slasher was built for jerkbaits, but Jake Boomer from Alpha Angler and the almost-as-important Brandon Palaniuk (lol) found that it’s a killer topwater rod…which I can say from personal experience is 100% right. After a few casts I was more into that rod than tree sloths are into hypnotizing people:

Here’s Jake talkin’ ’bout the Slasher, which was one of the rods Brandon used in his win at the Rayburn Elite:

6. Seaguar Smackdown braid and Rippin’ Mono

A great topwater rod is important, but y’all better have the right line(s) too. For topwaters, Elitist Keith Combs likes braid with a short mono leader so the braid doesn’t get tangled around the hooks. In this vid he says he uses Seaguar Kanzan braid — all good if you still have some, but Smackdown is more recent and better. Mono is the sweet Rippin’ Mono:

Mid-depth stuff

 

You COULD fish mid-depth with plastics and jigs, but for now we’re gonna focus on crankin’, which is money pretty much year-round. Over cover, through grass, bumping wood, covering water, all good. So away we go:

Here’s the deal with the 3DB Squarelip: Japanese precision + wide wobble + SICK 3D prism colors + more flash + big eyes (which I happen to like on all baits) + wave-motion belly ribbing = ketches bass.

Check FLWer Braxton Setzer talkin’ ’bout the bait. He’s talkin’ fall, which everyone does about squarebills, but they ain’t just for wood in the fall. Don’t be hemmed in by conventional bassin’ wisdom:

Here’s the question to ask about this bait: Why would the folks who make Rat-L-Traps make ONE lipped bait? Answer: Because it’s different than what’s already out there.

Like it’s name says, it’s kinda between the 1.5 and 2.0 sizes, and the sound and action are a little different too. Here’s a good video on the bait — plus rod/reel/line setup — by FLWer Brian Latimer, aka B-Lat…who calls the 1.75 “the 4 wheel drive of crankbait fishing:”

Comes in a silent version too.

First of all, this bait was designed by Elitist Johnny Crews, which makes it suspect…because look at how everyone is scared on this ride but him:

What up with that Crews? No one’s that calm on the Jurassic Park ride, man! Weird. Okay, back to the bait: He wanted a bait that was still shallow-running (to 8′) but a bigger body — or as he says in the vid, “a big, deeper-running, shallow-running crankbait.” Okaaaaaay:

Rapala DT cranks (DT = “dives to,” as in a specific depth) are must-haves in the boat, same as the Strike King XDs below. As Elitist Seth “do the Dew” Feider says in this vid, “They’re straight-up fish-catchers.” Tighter, more-subtle balsa action…nothing like it, and MANY good colors:

5. Strike King 5XD and 6XD

Point 1: Some college kid won the Classic this year with a 5XD. Combs, you shouldn’t have told the world about that bait on Conroe man hahaha!

Point 2: That bait and the 6XD have won a BUNCH o’ tourneys over the last 4-5 years so jump on ’em like these crazy Black Friday shoppers:

Oops those are zombies…same thing…. Here’s a crazy-cool Hook n Look vid of the 5XD digging the bottom, and here’s Elitist Mark Menendez talkin’ fishin’ the 6XD:

These dang good AttaX rods don’t cost an arm and a leg ($119.99) even though they have sweet Winn Grips (my fave) and good actions. Not sure how Denali does it price-wise, but I think it’s these guys:

Little yeller fellers are goofing off there, but they get stuff done. Anyhow, here’s Russ Lane talkin’ mostly about the AttaX grips — but remember, he’s a big-time cranker:

I haven’t fished these rods yet, but if you’re crankin’, these softer hybrid rods — “the light weight of graphite [with] the softer power of fiberglass” — supposedly do this: “This innovative blank composition compensates for recent innovations in the fishing industry, like surgically sharpened hooks, zero-stretch lines and high-speed reels, resulting in less pulled hooks and less heartbreak.”

Definitely makes sense. Trey, where’s my sample rod man? I keep runnin’ after the UPS man and he never stops for me hahaha!

Here’s Trey talking about the rods in his melodious gentle tones:

Deep stuff

 

Not as much stuff in this section, but the deeper Rapala DTs and the 6XD could be here too. Fixatin’ on a few plastics:

Big worms deep are money. They’re great shallow too — in fact a 10″ worm is my go-to pond/bank bait. Would rather catch the biggest one in the pond first….

Lots of worms out there, so the keys to the 10″ YUM Ribbontail are the size, the action of that longer tail and the baked-in scent. Here’s Elitist Jason Christie talkin’ ’bout it:

Doesn’t have to be a Brush Hog for Carolina-rigging, but for whatever reason that seems to be the world’s most-used C-rig bait. Cuz it’s been used the longest? The great colors? Who knows, but here’s the deal: Carolina rigs ketch ’em.

Sometimes I like to tie on a rattlin’ weight for some extra bass attraction. However you do it, here’s Elitist Mark Davis tellin’ you what you may have forgotten or never learned about a C-rig — like he likes a lead weight:

3. Deep swimbaits

Talkin’ the Keitech Fat, Basstrix or whatever your fave bait is, but the bottom line is you can’t omit the swimbait…pretty much anytime of year.

Here’s the Ticky Tacky Bassin’ guys talkin’ feeshn and riggin’ these baits. For some reason they prefer the Matt Allen swimbait head:

Lot of Elitists and FLWers use it, which says a lot. And it ain’t just for wimp-stickin’. Here’s FLWer Michael Neal talkin’ — says he uses 14- or 16-lb for worms on ledges, and 20-lb for swimbaits:

Story is that FLWer Mark Rose was born on a ledge, and his first word was “crankbait.” He also may have been kicked out of school for ledge-fishing year-round, but unfortunately none of this can be confirmed…except maybe by a polygraph? lol

Here’s the deal: Mark is a ledge-fishing monster. A good monster, like these dudes:

He designed these Lew’s rods — which even include heavy-duty wimp-stick versions — after literally decades of ledge fishing. So take that to the bank yo! Great, informative vid:

If y’all wanna go any deeper than Mark fishes, here’s the play:

More cool stuff!

 

Bassin’ is cool, and it’s even cooler if your social shots/vids have you lookin’ cool. Buff stuff is required cool wearin’ these days, and not just for bassin’ fashion: If you don’t have one on and one of the Elites sees you who’s battled skin cancer, they’ll be like:

Here’s a glimpse of some new Buff stuff…

…and here’s all of it on the Buff site, includin’ the new stylin’ Bucketmouth bassin’ lid:

Said it before: T-H Marine is like the boat candy store for bassin’ heads. One example of I guess hundreds is the new G-Force Conservation Cull System — no puncturing and comes with G-man Swindle’s thumbs-up:

And if you still haven’t gotten a YOLOTek PowerStick to video all your bassin’ catches and missed hooksets, do it! Mounts right in your nav light port:

3. Big ol’ hard swimbaitin’

I don’t do the big swimbait thang. Did it a few times, didn’t dig it much, not sure if I’ll ever get into it but it’s sho-nuff fun to watch. Check this vid of a dude in Japan fishing the DUEL Hardcore Noi-Z literally right next to the bank and hammerin’ feesh:

What that bait looks like up close:

One things for sure, you’re not gonna have a fun time fishing swimbaits on gear that’s not designed for ’em. So if you’re gonna try it, get started with a good, reasonably-priced swimbait-specific rod like the Okuma Guide Select Swimbait Rod. Learn ya more about it in this short vid:

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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