BassBlaster

2 records in 1 night, Top Chick Costa baits, Crazy-looking new swimbait

Today’s Top 5

Bass-head breaks lake record 2x in 1 night…in a tourney!

That’s George Trosper who must be a tall dude cuz that’s a 11.03 (24.75″ long) and 11.15 (25.4″) he’s holding. Was fishing a night tourney on Fort Phantom Hill Lake, TX, where the previous record was 10.54 set in 2010.

Baits were a Recon Custom Baits Gunny stickbait and a Joe Stache Crankbait (neon shad).

Fave line from the post:

> Some people have said his record breaking catches were luck.

Hahaha happens every dang time man!

Top Chickamauga Costa baits. #lipless

Congrats to TN’s Brent Butler, who won it by 5.5 lbs (68-08) after an INSANE 37-05 day 2 limit!! You might think that was helped by him fishing an A-rig, but FLW said lots of his bass-feesh came on a Lucky Craft 100 Flash Pointer jerkbait.

Here’s how the baits used by the top 10 finishers broke down:

Lipless crankbait = 80% — Half of ’em used a BOOYAH One Knocker or the highly similar XCalibur version, no longer made. Here’s Cody Nichols (4th) with both versions:

Chatterbait = 40%

A-rig = 30%

Crankbait = 30%

Jerkbait = 20% — MUST shout out Dustin Evans (7th) for feeshn the Rapala Original Floater “in areas where he had to cast to a foot of water or less and wanted to match the shad in the area.” Haven’t seen that bait mentioned for a top tourney finish in a looooooong time but it still kills:

10% each = Jig, Shakey head, Swimbait, Spinnerbait

More misc Classic stuff.

1. Guess the Classic couldn’t be won with all smallmouths….

2. Forgot to say that on the evening of day 2, Ott DeFoe’s worst day when he was thinkin’ maybe he messed up big-time, he was the most peaceful (calm, joyful) I’ve ever seen anyone in that position. Ever. Amazed me. Here he is that night with Fat Cat Newton…who does not exude calmness lol:

3. Who WINS the Classic?

Ott won it, but who WINS it — Ike with his crowd surf or Matt “On Em” Robertson with his fur coat and water-splashin’ deal?

4. Quick tour of some new stuff — Only a little over a min cuz as usual I gave all the guys 5 seconds to say what they had to say:

Shoutin’ out one of the cooler new things I saw — Jewel Baits’ new Gem series of jigheads and spinnerbaits specifically designed to work with Keitech Fats. I know no one uses those Keitech baits but it’s still a cool idea…lol but seriously, those big heads are NOT heavy — believe they go down to 1/8-oz with that head size.

5. Merc’s slowest engines were there — not tiller-steer, these ones:

What Cali swimbait dudes look like.

Some of ’em anyhow — check this @lloydgomez shot:

Even though I’d probly walk a little faster if I saw those dudes at night (lol), personally I LOVE that bassin’ has so many different parts of the family now. Shoot, if you don’t wanna own a boat and wanna make a million casts with saltwater tackle for 1 dang fish, more power to ya man!

One of my goals for this year, hopefully, is to get out to Cali and spend some time with folks like that to really get a taste of that scene….

Wanna guess the action of this bait?

Believe it’s called the Manifold Castellanon, will be out in May, no vids I could find yet. Looks crazy!

News

1. AR: Body of brother we lost on Beaver found.

> The body of a man who fell from the back of a bass boat into Beaver Lake has been found, according to the Washington County Coroner’s Office.

> Aaron James Loewer, 30, of Prairie Grove went missing on Tues (Mar 20) when a friend said Loewer fell off the back of a boat into the lake.

Bless you bassin’ brother.

2. TN: Basser rescued at Center Hill.

> …was almost sucked over Center Hill Dam Fri afternoon when his bass boat got a little too close to the structure.

3. Ike’s DT-6 call-out is “in your face.”

If’n ya didn’t hear/watch him yellin’ that at the Classic, now you know. More on his Rapala DT-6 Classic fishin’ here, 1 highlight:

> …his best color pattern was Caribbean Shad, an Ike’s Custom Ink offering…. After 15 mins without a bite on the 3rd and final day of competition, he switched from Caribbean Shad to the Smash color pattern…. The very first cast with a Smash colored DT-6 produced a quality largemouth and he proceeded to catch them….

4. Greg Hackney gets Academy.

5. Chris Zaldain’s wife Trait got his head right at the Classic.

> When I came in [day 1] I only had about 9 lbs. So when I saw Ott’s 20-lb sack I was disheartened. I told Trait that he was going to run away with everything.

> She stopped me in the middle of my lament and told me to knock it off. She didn’t want to hear that. She pointed out that tomorrow would be another day and that in a 3-day tournament anything could happen. She told me to go out the next morning and fish. She was right.

Wonder if Chris fished with a couple bruises day 2…lol Zaldains!

6. Ott used to “bug” Jay Yelas at Classics…

…when Ott was just a kid. No mention of whether Ott was wearing shoes….

Unfortunately this means that both Jay and I are significantly older than Ott…? Btw don’t know if you ever saw a pic of Ott before he lost all that weight:

Lol @stray_casts edit

7. BPTer Terry Scroggins has his own Big Show plastics.

By Stanford Baits….

8. BPTer Paul Elias talks why guys went to the BPT.

27 minutes of talkin’ ’bout it, worth listening to if you’re curious about the pro perspective.

9. TN: B.A.S.S.’s Jim Sexton has a point on the TN River.

“Sexton Point, across from Saltpeter Bluff, named for Jim’s grandpappy. Too cool. Sexton is the head of B.A.S.S. digital.

10. NC: Dale Jr welcomed the BPTers in this vid.

Pretty cool fo sho. Emperor Johnny Morris was at the 1st one, former President Bush did a vid for the 2nd, now Dale Jr. Stop #4 in is TN so I guess the most famous person in TN right now is…Ott DeFoe? Can Ott welcome himself to TN??

11. CA: Fish crawdaddys on the Delta!

Science-type dudes:

> Non-native red swamp crayfish…were the most important prey for [Delta] largemouth bass…. Non-native centrarchids (including largemouth bass) and amphipods [little shrimp?] were important prey items as well. Prickly Sculpin (Cottus asper) were the most frequently consumed native fish.

And check this out — DELTA BASS DO NOT EAT SALMON…MUCH:

> Other native fish and pelagic fish species rarely occurred in largemouth bass diets….

> …over a sample size of more than 1,000 fish that measured more than 175 mm, native and pelagic fishes were only a small component of the diet of predatory largemouth bass.

> Instead, largemouth bass are a top predator of a largely non-native community of littoral fishes and invertebrates. Indeed, cannibalism occurred more frequently in this size group of largemouth bass than consumption of…native fish.

Take that and run with it CA bass peeps!

12. Yo-Zuri’s got a new bass-only Insta @yozuri_bass.

13. AFTCO Spring Open tourney on the Chick.

Apr 6, register here.

14. MI: Several pros at D&R Sports Apr 19-20.

KVD, JVD, Zona, Mercer, Feider…git there!

15. Melinda Hays leaving Costa for Huk.

Head of fishing marketing, and angler in the Costas, is going to Huk. Here she is in my boat — not really mine but it’ll look something like that!

16. PSA reminder: Have your flares expired?

Check ’em!

Line of the Day

No one — I repeat, no one — reading this, including KVD, is smarter than a bass. Not much smarter anyhow…hahaha!

Tip of the Day

Ever “worm” a lipless crank?

Older-school lipless techniques seem to be resurfacing now. Lipless cranbks ain’t all crankin’, rippin’ or yo-yo. Check this, from an older Bassin’masters post:

> [FL bass-head Rich] Howes’ most lucrative retrieve is one he calls “worming the ‘Trap”…. “I cast the bait out and let it fall to the bottom, just like I’m fishing a TX-rigged worm. If I don’t get a strike on the fall, I’ll lift the bait sharply (you want to feel the vibration of the lure) about 3’ off the bottom and let it flutter back down. Most strikes come on the fall.”

> For Howes, this retrieve is best from late winter through the pre-spawn, when water temperatures run from 40 to 55 degrees. “After that, a faster retrieve is usually more effective.”

> …Howes likes a 1/2-oz model for depths 10′ or less, and a 3/4-oz model for deeper water. He’ll even use this retrieve in vegetation, but likes a lighter Rat-L-Trap then (1/4-oz) so it doesn’t get mired in the grass.

Quote of the Day

“So many fish are getting caught that the fish don’t like to come to the bank.”

– Okie FLWer Darrel Robertson talkin’ ’bout Grand Lake, OK and how lots of derbies there have changed the fish. Pertinent line from the post:

> On Sunday, as the 168 FLW anglers spent their 1st day of practice on the water, a 150-plus boat tournament also launched from Wolf Creek.

> Robertson said it took a 27-lb bag to win Sunday’s tournament. Many of the anglers were using an AL Rig…not allowed on the FLW Tour.

Hope it gets a bunch warmer and wakes that fishery up for the FLW derby.

Shot of the Day

@leelivesaybasselite posted this shot on Fork — guess that’s one way to hold up a double? #risky

Ya got me
Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup

of the best, worst and funniest in bassin’, as curated by me — Jay Kumar. I started BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a bunch more in bassin’. The Blaster is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass so thanks for readin’!

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