ICAST is next week but you won’t have to wait that long to get a sneak peek at some great new stuff. Stay tuned bass-heads!
If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!
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[Is that Chris Bowes eating an ice cream cone back there??]
How does this happen?? Dude doesn’t even fish for smallies except once a dang year and he waxes everyone? Congrats to Will Hardy, who won the Bassmaster Open with 53-13 over 3 days, beating Jacob “J-Wheels” Wheeler by 3.25 lbs. Interesting they both weighed only smalls. Deets (from here):
> Hardy said the area he fished had a “whole lot of everything” including scattered gravel, zebra mussels and cuts of grass. “I found that spot last year (in the Open) but I never really caught them that good there”…. Most of the fish he caught were about 11-13′ deep.
> …Carolina-rigging a green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw and dragging a 3/4-oz Greenfish Tackle Creeper Jighead tipped with a green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw along the bottom.
Remember Mike Iaconelli’s line that spot pirates are not “true fans” of pro bassin’? Here’s former NFL QB Jake “the Snake” Plummer recently talkin’ fans:
> True fans root for their team though thick and thin. A true fan doesn’t belittle a player on social media for not throwing more touchdowns. A true fan finds enjoyment in watching an offense execute four straight scoring drives to win by 2 in the fourth quarter. A true fan marvels at a defense making the best quarterback in the league look like a rookie.
> I watch the game to witness teams overcoming adversity and fighting until the end, players leaving it all on the field for the guy next to them.
Bottom line for me: True fans really enjoy the watching. Spot pirates run out of the stands and mess up the game. Only confusion that could happen is when a spectator is, in fact, a pirate:
By the score looks like that guy is about to order some plank-walkin’.
News
1. KVD’s check record a record?
I ain’t no Kenny Duke but sounds like one:
> Kevin VanDam has earned a check in an astounding 235 of his 288 B.A.S.S. events, a success rate of 81.6%.
And that’s why this — Kevin’s house on Lake Michigan:
3. Largie smacks Feider in, uh, family jewels (vid).
4. Brauer getting in shape for FLW Cup.
> “I’m trying to tone up a little because I know conditions will be tough weather-wise” [heat].
5. FLWer Cooksey recovering from surgery.
After single-car accident. A little late on the uptake here, missed it. Sounds serious. Get well soon bassin’ bro….
6. Why the pros run pickup trucks.
Some interesting info in there, might be the only article I’ve ever seen like that. But not all pros drive pickups. Here again is Dave Lefebre’s “vantastic” rig:
Not sure it’ll go anywhere but good on B.A.S.S. for saying it and props to Todd Masson for doing the reporting.
8. MN DNR wants Mille Lacs smallie reports.
MN also now requires you sign a card stating you are available with their invasive species laws when getting/renewing a license.
9. IL: Privatizing water a growing issue in IL.
Fight it bassin’ brothers and sisters!
10. OK spotted bass record has stood 58 years.
8-02, 23.5″ long, 17.5″ girth and…caught from a pond. That’s a heck of a long-standing record…maybe because it was caught in 1958 and misidentified? You tell me:
12. ME: New mid-Maine bassin’ site.
13. NY: Seneca fish populations down?
14. MO: New Ozark Triple Crown includes smallies…
…plus two kinds of trout.
15. U of AL wins School of the Year in college bassin’.
Troll tide! Or something like that…gimme a better one somebody….
16. Climate change good for smallies.
> For other fish, climate change is creating more sui habitat — smallmouth bass populations, for example, are expanding.
Thank you Al Gore!
17. IN: New online license-buying site.
Fish there are so educated that all bass weighed were caught on bare hooks…lol, sorry Maple leaf bass-heads….
19. Bassin’ tub sales increase big-time.
> Sales of bass boats grew by a whopping 29.9% in the 12-month rolling period ending February 2016….
> [Rick Pierce of Bassin’ Feline:] “The parents don’t want the kid driving a 20′ boat with a 250 on it, they want to start them on something smaller and less powerful, like a 19′ with a 150. For us, that represents a growth opportunity because many of these kids will become lifelong anglers, and will move up to larger boats down the road.”
So a STARTER boat for a teen is a 19 with a 150?? Wow! I’d be guessing something more like this ’76 Charger:
20. Boat engine damage from ethanol increasing.
I’m sure Henry Ford was like, “We need more corn in our fuel!”
21. Dick’s buying up Sports Authority.
22. Check Hoot Gibson’s patch jacket.
Sent in by Hoot’s son Jason (tx man!). Hoot was a MS and Bassmaster stick back in the day, and maybe still is. Word is he’s 74 and still fishin’ derbies. #stout What up Hoot!
Headline of the Day
Live Bait Works When Nothing Else Will
Said it before: If you can’t catch one on a wacky-rigged Senko, YUM Dinger, Ocho, etc., put it back on the trailer and go mow some grass.
Tip of the Day
From an older Bassin’master article about Denny doing well at Wheeler…where he’s fishing the FLW Cup next month:
> “In summertime fishing, most guys want to get out on structure – deep crankbaiting, Carolina rigging and that type of deal. …I think there are always fish shallow. So you’ve got a lot of water totally to yourself. I was fishing areas that most people, including a lot of the local anglers, didn’t think you could catch anything in.
> “Many anglers will say when the water temperature is in the 90s, that bass can’t live there. Well, that’s not the No. 1 requirement. They can live in hot water, but they can’t live in an oxygen-deprived environment.
> Brauer knew that bass would likely be in these shallow creeks when he saw plenty of bait in the water…shad and bluegills.
> “They did not want a jig, so I went to a Rage Craw. It’s just a naked crawfish-type lure…Texas-rigged. My bites really picked up when I went to the Rage Craw in a watermelon red flake. That’s a clear-water color for me, but it just seemed like they wanted that subtle, unobtrusive look.
> “I guess if there’s a lesson to be learned, once you find fish, don’t abandon them, give them several different looks because there might be a better way of catching them.”
> “When we fish shallow, we know exactly where the strike should come from. We can make our presentations a lot more precise, and we can make repeated presentations to try and aggravate a fish into biting.”
> He believes that to be another big key: oxygenated water [from water flowing in]. It also helps if there is structure to provide a shade canopy in those situations.
Quote of the Day
What the hell have you got in my driveway?
– Mom talkin‘ to 19-yr-old aspiring bass angler who brought his first bassin’ boat back home and parked it where we all park it.
What is it with ladies and boats in driveways? Even Wonder Woman can’t take it:
Shot of the Day
If you’re forwarding every Blaster to other bass crackheads, tx much — or you can email me the addys and we’ll take care of it! We’ll never send spam, sell the list or anything else crazy….
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