BassBlaster

Squirrel eating bass, Million dollar bass boat, More Elite bait info

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Today’s Top 5

Squirrel-eatin’ buttah howgs.

Looks like fish are gettin’ their Golden Corral on for the winter — here’s a few that look like they chowed a squirrel, mink, otter, beaver or a 2fer Chalupa at Taco Bell.

Dave Luhrs caught this 6.49 on a Chug’n Spook (he said shad color — foxy shad?) in 2′ at Lake Pillsbury, CA. Said: “My brother and I couldn’t believe the shape of this thing when it came out. Honestly, the pics don’t do it justice…it had me saying “what the h*ll did that fish eat” for about the next 2 hours. I bet man!

Guess they have squirrels in Japan too? Here’s the always-accurate Google translate: “Since the wind was with a bus Burutanku came floating in the timing ceased useless original approach rainy day instinct hit size is is about 45 , but the belly pan amazing.” Sure do!

Alton Jones’ upper Miss baits.
Alton Jones (3rd at the upper Miss Elite) rotated three baits on his magic rockpile: a 1/2-oz BOOYAH Boo Jig with a YUM Christie Craw, a YUM Christie Critter and his “never leave home without it” bait, the YUM Dinger — all green pumpkin. Kept switching ’em up. Here’s what he said about how he fished:

More on Ott’s swimbait rig.

Assuming you heard abut Ott using a rivet to rig his swimbait? Case you don’t have a riveter, solder gun or welding torch handy, he gave these tips on rigging a solid swimbait with a treble:

> Using a line-threading tool, run your main line through your swimbait’s nose and down through its body, exiting just short of the middle. “This will end up putting the hook about dead in the middle of the bait.” If you don’t have a line-threading tool, a needle or a long, thin-wire hook like a VMC Neko Hook will “do the trick just as well.”

> Attach a VMC split ring to a #1 VMC Round Bend Treble 1X hook. Tie your line to the split ring.

> Stick one of the treble’s three arms/hooks up into the swimbait’s body, vertically ed. The other two treble arms will flare out slightly to the sides. “This will keep everything settled on the cast.

If you’re wondering where Ott got the rivet idea, he told me he was home by his pond and heard this:

Feider declassifies something.

I’m talking to Seth after the upper Miss derby, and he’s like, “I don’t want anyone to know about that” — that being the leader length for his Carolina rig, which he says is key. I respected his request, but then he gave the info up for a Rapala email that went out to the world. So here’s what he told them:

> Feider was throwing a 3/8 oz. weight with a 12″ leader. “The really short leader is key. You’ll feel and detect bites better. With a long leader like with a traditional Carolina rig, your bait just gets blown all around by the current.

> “That current I was fishing in was running super hard. If you’ve got a 3′ leader behind your sinker downstream and the fish eats it, you’re not going to feel him until you move that sinker 6′.”

> The short leader also keeps your bait on the sweet spot to which you often must make repeated casts. “You use the sinker to kind of feel around where the best little spot is and then that short leader keeps the bait right where it nees to be.”

Huh. Next time I see Feider, gonna give him this look:

That leader length (and weight) is in line with the finesse Carolina rig semi-trend right now. Give it a shot.

Million-dollar bass tub??
Check it:

So you could buy one for $100K, or one for $1 mil, or one for:

News

1. Will someone weigh 30 lbs at Mille Lacs?

And will it be won with only smalls? Here’s my prediction, in watermelon red:

As evidence, sorta, here’s Ish on that lake with the biggest smallie he says he’s ever caught @ 23″ — on a Missile Baits Drop Craw (gp):

2. Elite seminars at Mille Lacs Saturday.

Jared Lintner, Keith Combs and James Elam, noon-3pm at the Shimano booth in the B.A.S.S. Expo at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs in Onamia.

3. BP DID fish the Storm Arashi squarebill…

…on the upper Miss, same bait he was crushin’ ’em with when he was DQd the time before last. But this time he said it wasn’t working as well as:

> Terminator Popping Frog (black camo)

> Dropshotted a Berkley Powerbait Fight’n Bug (gp/purple flake) with a 1.25-oz Eco Pro Tungsten weight and 4/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flippin Hook.

[Here’s the Arashi squarebill on TW.]

4. KVD on BassEdge Radio.

You know you gotta listen to that one!

5. Will Mark Davis be a TV star?

Not fishing TV — comedy TV. If you remember, “Catch-Em Lane” is the name of a comedy series he and a guy named Mark Maness have been showing around. Well, at the recent Action on Film International Film Festival in Monrovia, CA, it won “Best TV Series Pilot.” #stout

True story: A while back I sent the pilot to two friends in the entertainment biz (movies and TV — not fishing TV!). They both said Mark can be a star. Not sure he believed me when I told him, but that’s what they said. Hope it happens brother!

6. New Mark Menendez Strike King crank colors.

Best name of the five: sexy rockstar. Not on TW, not sure where you can get ’em but here they is:

 

7. AZ: WON Bass US Open won.

 

Used to be fished by a bunch of national guys who don’t time for that anymore so it’s all Westies. Still a good event. This time an AZ dude named Johnny Johnson (fishing his 22nd US Open) took it with a mere 27.65 over 3 days — the first 2 were very windy, and the last slick calm. NV’s Clayton Meyer finished 2nd for the 2nd time in a row. What Johnny did:

> “I relied on two lures primarily to catch my fish, a 1/2-oz white Persuader spinnerbait and a 4″ Roboworm in oxblood light and Aaron’s magic. I bucked 3′ rollers on points to catch the spinnerbait fish in the wind, and slowed down to catch them when it slicked off.”

Guessing the Robo was on a dropshot.

8. New Deps Bullshooter coming.

Check it:

 

9. BFL bait highlights.


TX: First Popping Perch win?

Jason Bonds won the BFL Cowboy Division derby using the new Strike King Popping Perch day 2, fishing main lake shorelines with haygrass. Also caught fish with a Texas-rigged Double Z Custom Lures 10″ Bull Whip Worm (bug bug).

Not sure where he got the Perch since it’s not at retail yet, but I want one! Or 3. Or 4. etc.

Incidentally, Strike King baits were a part of two more recent Super Tourney wins: a Coffee Tube (magic goby) on St. Clair, and a KVD 1.5 squarebill (green gizzard) on Erie.


KY: Spinnerbait only bait needed.

Stephen Barga won the LBL division slow-rolling a War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) about 6′ down, with a stake bed being a key spot.

Lots of evidence this year that the spinnerbait is far from dead.

10. LA: Pontchartrain bassers rescued.

11. History of Kistler Rods part 1.

Had no idea Trey Kistler was in a tank in Desert Storm. #Stout

Love this kind of stuff. Some GREAT folks in the fishing biz, and Trey is one of ’em. Check his fishin’ sticks here on TW.

12. VA: Upper James smallies are back…

…after getting hit by a trout virus a few years back.

13. NH: 2 HS derbies coming up.

One in Sept, one in Oct.

14. Abu sponsoring college school of the year.

15. New Gary Klein Duckett Rod.

Forgot to hip y’all to this previously. Gary Klein designed a new Duckett rod, the White Ice II Pro Series – Gary Klein. Gary says it’s “a true, balanced 8′ flip stick that was built to my specs. I shortened the handle length and it has a true parabolic bend, and improved nano-light inserts which are the hardest ceramic inserts available. The rod also incorporates a double-flange tip which eliminates insert loss. My personal experience with this system has totally eliminated any guide failures.”

Here’s a Tackle Warehouse vid of Elitist Kelly Jordon talkin’ ’bout the rod — Kelly does a good and entertaining job. Rod not available yet, but should be soon.

Btw, not sure if you’re aware that Boyd Duckett tried to trademark the name “Vanilla Ice” for the rods but got this cease and desist and backed off:

 

Doh!

Gotta call some of you out for thinking there’s a real DeFoe-Biffle conflict vid even after the koalas, the just kidding and the gas line. Don’t skim the Blaster too fast yo! What’s that word again — oh yeah: Gotcha! Didn’t even mean to….

Tip of the Day

The other idiot-proof lure Gary Yamamoto designed?

I think he designed it? Anyway, not the Senko but the Hula Grub:

Article about that bait I saw recently prompted this, a tip my son came up with — he’s 14, been doing it for about 3 years. When fishing is tough, do this:

> Rig up a green-pumpkin Hula Grub on almost any jighead up to 1/4-oz.

> Cast it out anywhere. I’m convinced rocks help, but he doesn’t care what’s there. Does not have to be a long cast. I’ve seen it work at just 10 feet out.

> Put the rod on the deck, dock or shore. DO NOT touch it. DO NOT give the bait any action whatsoever.

> At some point pick the rod up and — bingo — there’s a dang fish on.

Has never failed, not one time. Even donny barone could ketch one thisaway. (Hahaha don!)

Quote of the Day


There was no way a respec bass would eat such a stupid-looking soft-plastic.

Kevin VanDam talkin‘ ’bout “stick worms” aka Senkos and similar baits. Of course, he uses the Strike King Ocho. Even though the Ocho seems to have a football-ish name — as in Chad “Ocho cinko (Senko)” Johnson, former Bengals WR — it’s really cuz the bait has 8 flat sides, which helps it move on the fall.

Here’s bait designer Steve Parks explainin‘ it.

All good, but this part of what KVD said stopped me in my tracks:

> Some companies offer weedless hooks, but I like to make my own. I will create a loop with 40-lb monofilament to cover the hook and wrap the ends of the line on the hook shank with fly-tying thread. It’s not perfect, but it helps protect the point when fishing around heavy cover.

 

I know, right coach? Did KVD really say that??


Shot of the Day

Couple pretty MN largies gittin’ a massage in the well, sent in on the Insta:

Random

Here’s a doozy that makes me wonder (again) whether scientists ever get outside.Dinosaur’s camouflage pattern revealed

> A study of a well-preserved Chinese Psittacosaurus fossil shows it had a light underside and was darker on top — an arrangement called counter-shading.

Well dang a lang dang dangy! You mean…what every animal, fish, bug, etc. has? #geniusness #wonthedanginternet

Use the best!
Git on these yo!
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. Get the Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Dillon rekey

    August 8, 2017 at 7:36 am

    so much now

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