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Today’s Top 3

1. Big O FLW won with…Bass Assassin?!

Look, I know and you know that Bass Assassin baits work, even if that company’s been mostly focused on inshore saltwater over the last however many years. But when’s the last time you heard anyone name-check ’em those baits a derby, let alone a major one.

Welllll FLW rookie Drew Benton used these baits to win the Okeechobee FLW this weekend:

> A custom PMG vibrating jig with a Bass Assassin Die Dapper trailer in South Bay

> A Bass Assassin Vapor Shad in Turner’s Cove.

> When he sight-fished, he used a Texas-rigged Bass Assassin Pure Craw.

Here’s a pic of the baits (L-R): Bass Assassin Die Dapper, PMG vibrating jig, Bass Assassin Pure Craw, Bass Assassin Vapor Shad.

2. Ehrler said he developed no real pattern as every day was different.

– FLW stick Brent Ehrler fishing that same event.

Interesting because I can’t recall a high finish in a multi-day Okechobee event where someone didn’t have a pattern.

3. 13.40 ShareLunker from Falcon.

Caught in 2-3′ of water about 11:30 a.m. Fish was 26.5″ long with 20″ girth.

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News

1. LA wants 14″ min gone in Atch Basin.

> LDWF has said overflow swamp is simply too harsh of an environment, with an abundance of predators and frequent tropical systems, to allow fish to live long enough to push much past the 14-inch minimum.

> “The 14-inch minimum will not produce a significant number of bigger bass.”

> Surprisingly, studies have shown Atchafalaya Basin bass take 3.4 years to even reach the length at which they can be harvested.

2. FLW pro Billy McDondald gets tired.

As in General Tires.

3. FL’s Blue Cypress lake getting better.

> “Four- to five-pounders is a good average for our customers right now but we’re also seeing bass to 8 and 9 pounds.”

4. This is the most exciting format in fishing.

– FLW pro Brent Ehrler talking about the MLF in an announcement that the following mouthful will air on NBC:

Championship Round of the 2013 General Tire Summit Cup of “Jack Link’s Major League Fishing.”

It’s an Outdoor Channel property airing on NBC, which is a little weird since the new NBC Sports channel (formerly Versus) is a competitor of Outdoor Channel. But…whatever.

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Tip of the Day

Night-fishin’ for trophy spawners.

In FL, but I guess it could be true just about anywheres:

> The bulk of the biggest spawning bass are on flats at nigh. Thus after-hours fishing for true trophies is very productive.

> Anglers who search shallow, clear flats at night with high-powered lights often locate prime areas holding fish. Lights usually spook bass out of the shallows for a few minutes, but anglers can return to the area and catch bedding largemouths after resting the spot for a short time.

> Most heavyweight largemouths spawn in deeper water than mid-size bass in the 2-to-5 pound range — and the biggest fish in any body of water usually spawn the deepest, often much deeper than many anglers realize.

> In clear lakes it’s not unusual to have heavy largemouths spawning in 5 or 6 feet of water, and I’ve seen and caught bass in the 10-pound class from beds in 8-feet of water in spring-fed lakes and rivers.

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Quote of the Day

Kevin VanDam once told me that if he had room for 20 rods on his front deck, he’d have them all spread out there, rigged and ready.

– Fishin’ writer Frank Sargeant. Raise your hand if you don’t believe this. Didn’t think so….

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Shot of the Day

Not much of a shot (black & white?! – what did they have, a Polaroid camera?), not nice enough to make today’s Top 3, but a DD fish.

Deets:

> Caught from Richland Parish’s Poverty Point Reservoir

> 12.24 pounds (released)

> Slowrolled a homemade 1/2-oz spinnerbait (white/chartreuse) around logjams in 11.5′

> Lake record is 13.06 caught on Feb. 2, 2012

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