|
You're gettin' the 2nd BB of the week today instead of yesterday (sorry about that!) because of a possible medical deal yesterday (appendicitis) that turned out to be not exactly a false alarm but no big deal. It was amazing – we stood on God's word and my son was all good. For anyone interested in that, check out Curry Blake and Norvel Hayes on YT. All 100% Scriptural.
Have we seen any trends so far this year on the tours? I'd say yep:
- Shallow fish
- Not much forward-facing sonar vs the hype
- Home lake curse is toast
- Ott DeFoe and Brandon Cobb are smashin' it
Anything else you see? Pls lemme know. Let's go!
|
|
If your email program cuts off the bottom of the email click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry bout that – email programs keep changing stuff.
|
|
|
5+ Qs with your Elite AOY points leader Brandon Cobb
|
|
|
Been meaning to catch up with him and then all of a sudden there's another tournament (or 2) and then he's still leading again. Get a load of how insanely hot he's fishing this season:
Okeechobee Elite -- 3rd
Seminole Elite -- 20th
TN River Classic -- 8th
Murray Elite -- 6th
Santee Cooper Elite -- 4th
Lay Lake Elite -- 7th
That stout or what! Last season he finished 20th in the points with 1 top 10 finish – not terrible at all, but he sure didn't light it up like he is this year. Here's 5+ with him:
1. WTHeck is going on this year man wow!
> "The schedule so far has obviously helped. I tend to do well in southern tournaments every year. We have 1-2 that – I don't know, they're just different. I miss it or I try to fish shallow and it doesn't work. But there's been a shallow bite at every tournament we've had this year. Obviously I've done a little bit better than normal...."
2. Was this a long time coming or is this a surprise to you?
> "I wouldn't say it's a surprise. I've just been more consistent than normal. ..this time I just haven't had any slips yet."
3. You thinking about an AOY win yet?
> "You can't not look at it to see, but I feel like you don't really worry about that til the last 2 tournaments because things can change so much.
> "Yeah I have a big point lead, but we also have 4 [more] tournaments. You gotta expect [1 bad finish] so I'm trying to get all the points I can."
> "You try to win AOY every year so you can't really do anything different. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen."
4. Any baits or techniques different for you this year?
> "No. Honestly I think 80% of the fish I've caught this year have been on a wacky-rigged Zoom Fluke Stick [with the tail cut off].
> "I always threw green pumpkin and then at the start of this season I was looking through the catalog [and he liked gp/green purple flake] so I was like, Why not? I think I've used 90 packs of 'em.
> "I always throw a wacky rig a lot in the spawn, post-spawn – it seems like even more this year."
|
|
|
5. How much of you doing well is the well-known fact that forward-facing sonar just makes fish-catching automatic? 😆
> "[Laughs] I probably shouldn't say this, but I unplugged mine at Okeechobee and I haven't used it.
> "I'm competent with it. I actually spent the entire winter getting better with forward-facing sonar – ActiveTarget. But I haven't felt the need for it at a tournament so far this year. Yes we've had 2 won on it so it still works, but I haven't felt the need with my style of fishing to do that yet.
> "Not that I'm not gonna – obviously up north I will have it."
Bonus Q 1: Do you feel B.A.S.S. should have at least 3 tournaments a year in SC from here on out? 😁
> "Yes absolutely. That's clearly helped my cause this year.
> "It's kind of funny though...I'm real familiar with Murray, but Santee I've only fished Elite tournaments there. I just never went down there [except for] catfishing when I was younger [and a few other times].
> "It's just the style of lakes down here. I understand them, just southern lakes in general. Things make sense to me."
Bonus Q 2: What's your fave of these new small Yo-Zuri 3DR-X baits?
> "The Crank SR is the one I use the most. It's [a slightly different version] of what me and Clent [Davis] used to call 'the auto-bass.' I caught a bunch on it at the Classic.
> "If it's cold I throw the craw [colored] one, and if they're eating shad I fish the sexy shad one. I also have a chartreuse/black back if it's muddy.
> "To me it's like a finesse squarebill...doesn't get hung that much. It's like a squarebill that anything will eat."
|
|
|
[He fishes it on a 6' 11" M Ark Cobb Series Rod, an Ark G7 Gravity Reel (usually 5.4) and 12-lb Yo-Zuri T7 Fluoro ("because I'm not trying to get it deep").]
Bonus Q 3: I saw you post about the Duel Hardcore Shad. That bait has always mystified me – what kind of bait is it, a crankbait or a jerkbait, and when do you fish it?
> "That bait I feel like doesn't sell because people don't know what to do with it. Everyone knows the #5 Shad Rap is the most popular coldwater crankbait in the South for a certain time of year, and what that bait is is a replacement for the Shad Rap because it casts. It's got the same action, but you can cast it – it has a weight transfer in it.
> "Even since before I was with Yo-Zuri – when I was 13 years old – that's the one I cranked with. The nickname for it is the 'Hill Killer' [as in Clarks Hill Rez]. For years that was bait everybody caught them on. That really good cranking bite in Feb, that was the bait that dominated there.
> "It's a Dec-Feb coldwater bait. They're really good. I use the little one mostly...will run 6-8'. The bigger one is decent, but it doesn't go much deeper...."
|
|
|
2nd-5th Lay Lake Elite baits
|
|
|
2nd: Brandon Palaniuk
> Dropshot: Xzone Deception Worm (gp blue flake), #1 VMC Finesse Neko Hook, 1/4-oz tungsten weight, 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown Braid to 10-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro, Daiwa Exist 3000 LT Reel, Alpha Angler DSR Rod.
> "I fished that thing everywhere – it was the main player. 6 inches to 3' of water targeting spawners, bream beds, stumps, cruisers and fry-guarders. Pretty much anything I could see with my eyes or on my Mega 360 got a cast.
> "The 4th day I noticed a bunch of bait pushed in the back of a ditch and caught a couple I weighed on a Megabass Vision 110 in 'Ito wakasagi'." 12-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro, Daiwa Zillion SV TW Reel (7.1), Alpha Angler Slasher Rod.
|
|
|
4th: Bryan New
Bunch o' different baits:
> 3/8-oz Z-Man Mini Max ChatterBait (spot remover) with a 4" Zoom Boot Tail Fluke, 16-lb Sunline FC Sniper, Ark G7 Reel (6.4), 6' 10" MHF Ark Reinforcer Rod. Shad spawn, bank grass.
> 3/8-oz Greenfish Tackle Gaff Swim Jig (shad) with a Zoom Z Craw Jr (green flash), 50-lb Sunline FX2 Braid, Ark G7 Reel (8.1), 7' 4" Mag H F Ark Essence Rod. Shad spawn, thicker bank grass.
> Greenfish Tackle Brandon Cobb Toad Toater Buzzbait with a Zoom Horny Toad (blue glimmer), 50-lb Sunline FX2 Braid, Ark G7 Reel (8.1), 7' MH XF Ark Essence Rod. Any bank shad spawn.
> 1/2-oz Greenfish Tackle Brandon Cobb All Purpose Jig (craw) with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk (gp), 20-lb Sunline Shooter Fluoro, Ark G5 Reel (8.1), 6' 10" MHF Ark Brandon Cobb Series Lil' Skipper Rod. Skipping docks, 3-8'.
> SPRO Little John Baby DD crank (cellmate), 12-lb Sunline Crank FC, Ark G5 Reel (5.4), 7' 2" M Ark Invoker Pro Rod. 13' river bar.
> 1/8-oz Greenfish Tackle Clean Up Shakey Head with a Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm (gp) with a Floatzilla tail, 14-lb Sunline Shooter, Ark G5 Reel (7.1), 6' 11" Ark Brandon Cobb Series Century Rod. Same 13' river bar.
> Wacky-rigged Zoom Zlinky (gp blue) with 1" cut off ("adding BaitFuel made a huge difference"), 2/0 Gamakatsu Weedless Wacky Hook, 12-lb Sunline SX1 Braid to 10-lb Sunline FC Sniper, 7' 1" M XF Ark Invoker Pro Rod. Last day only, bream bed 2' in a pocket.
|
|
|
5 with Kevin VanDam halfway through his swan song season (allegedly) 😁
|
|
|
Keeping track of the best of all time, here we go – talked to him Wednesday:
1. How do you feel the season is going?
> "For me it's been real up and down – kinda the way it's been for me the last handful of years. Just when I feel like I get some momentum going, I get slapped back to reality. It's tough."
2. Are you taking time to smell the flowers once you're off the water like you said you wanted to?
> "Yeah I think so. It has gone so fast. Basically we're halfway through the year and it's flown by for me.
> "I've been traveling more and busier than normal. I think part of it is because it's my last season and I'm probably getting asked to do some extra things. But the last 2 months for sure have been like a whirlwind."
3. What's your plan for the rest of the season?
> "I didn't have a good start at Guntersville the first day – I gotta figure out how to make a comeback tomorrow.
> "I want to quality for [next year's] Heavy Hitters and Redcrest at a minimum. My plan starting [the season was] I wanted to compete for AOY. But I don't have the time to pre-fish these lakes anymore – I just physically can't do it. But that's what you have to do in this day and age to be a top-level competitor.
> "With the [MLF BPT] 2-day practice period, it's lot harder than when I fished on the Elite Series with a 3-day practice period. That 3rd day allows you more leeway to hunt things up. I'm not making excuses – it's the same for everybody.
> "When it comes to a lake I haven't fished in a long time and things change, like Guntersville...always have to relearn. I'm looking forward to the next stretch where we're in northern fisheries. I'm not saying I'm going to win all of them – these guys are really good.... But I do understand and know the fisheries probably better than the ones we've had.
> "I really enjoy the strategy of the 5-fish format. That's what I'm used to.... It allows you to sit there an be patient and try to make things happen – not get in a hurry. I like the idea of targeting big ones."
4. Any opinion on why the home lake curse seems to be out the window now?
> "...there's no substitute for experience and time on the water. We're seeing it here on Guntersville for sure...the people who live here or are from this area, they know and understand it. They see how the fishery has changed, how the grass has changed, and they have made the adaptations....
> "Gagliardi knew exactly what to do [at Murray]. ...just goes to show you that there's no substitute for time on the water."
5. Is there one new bait or color you seem to be fishing more this season?
> "I would say no. Because of the diversity of the schedule, you have to basically fish the techniques and patterns that work in those fisheries.
> "You've got to adapt to the conditions. I'm not fishing the way I want to at Guntersville, it's how I have to based on the floating eelgrass. And that's never a good thing. When you're fishing your techniques, your comfort level, that's when you're dangerous. When you have to get away from your strengths, that's when things get hard."
Things get hard for KVD?? Who woulda thunk it!
Sounds like a bunch of us weren't the only ones wonderin' if KVD would really retire – check what Tak posted:
|
|
|
Hahaha we'll see Tak! Notice he said Kevin wouldn't fish "full-time"...🤔
|
|
|
What's a Scrounger? Jerkbaits for bedders? Davis, Lucas, Cobb baits!
|
|
|
That's today's Sea Foam Top 5 in Bass Fishing Ep 50, hope you dig it:
Deets on how Will Davis Jr won the Lay Lake Bassmaster Elite, how Justin Lucas won the Eufaula, AL MLF Toyota, why Randall Cobb is leading the Elite AOY points and of course some gold bait info! Here's your Sea Foam Top 5 of the Week in Bass Fishing, Episode 50:
1. How Davis won at Lay
2. What's a Scrounger?
3. Lucas won offshore BUT
4. Cobb: No Live sonar?
5. Jerkbaits for bedders?
|
|
|
1. Will Davis Jr's Bomber Long A color was...
..."chartreuse/black back/orange belly":
|
|
|
Can't really see the chartreuse but there you go. Showed it on Bass U TV.
Btw, here's what Will did with his winnin's – bought him a fast car and a lion:
|
|
|
...maybe someone bought brownies from the wrong store? 🤣
3. TN: Not just catfish dying on Chickmauga?
> "We drove by one spot up by the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant and we were fishing a ledge up there, and we had to have seen over a thousand dead fish floating by the nuclear plant today."
|
|
|
> The TWRA in a statement said...they have not found any evidence of toxins or a chemical spill that would be causing these die-offs.
4. New 2.75-size BioSpawn ExoSwim swimbait.
|
|
|
Dang son! Here's the site, looks like they're all gone.
6. 4 innerestin' deals from Japan.
|
|
|
Clockwise from top L:
a) If you wanted 2 hooks and a giant trailer on your ChatterBait??
Guess it's for a reason so I'd have to see it in the water....
b) Little glimpse at a day of Japan finesse bassin'.
Little c-lection of baits posted by @d.aoki_bassfishing on IG – the baits are a SVSB-MEGA, Torque Straight 4.8, Virola 4 Magi Smelt and a DUBA 2.4. Don't ask me which is which!
c) For grouper but it'd work for bass!
Who's already done it for largies?
d) I would wear that T-shirt!
From the Japan brand BackLash, but I was dang sure backlashin' well before '96 and most times the ol' birdsnest does not help one have a wonderful fishin' time! 😂
7. New Connect-Ease troller and graph rigging kits.
Look like this:
|
|
|
8. New DD26 Belly Bomb fin clip weights.
For deep-caught fish in wells. DD26 makes high-quality stuff in my experience.
9. Bass can pass jigheads?
Looks like it from this shot posted a bit ago by PNW bass-head @jt.fowler_outdoors:
|
|
|
10. 2 guys hired for Quantum brand.
So if you were wonderin' looks like Rather Outdoors (Lew's, Strike King, etc) isn't just gonna kill that brand...good! Mike Rice is the new Sr VP of Quantum, and Gary Borland is VP of Quantum brand management. Doesn't say much about Mike's experience, but Gary was a salty guide at one point.
11. OH: 1/3 of total boating time is fishing.
People go out in boats and don't fish???😆
12. LA: New boat launch almost done at Clear Lake.
13. CO: Guess what the primary forage is in that WR laker lake.
73.29-lb lake trout caught at Blue Mesa Rez, primary forage there = kokanee salmon. Sound familiar? Same forage as in Bullards Bar, CA (mega spotted bass lake) and Dworshak, ID (mega smallmouths).
14. MS: Floating primrose a spreading problem in southern MS?
PSA
BassBlaster apparel is 50% off! Sellin' it all and it will not be restocked! This deal will not make us much if any $, we are just tryin' to get it gone so fyi and I gotta keep shouting it out to help so thank you!
|
|
|
Bryan New: Few post-spawn strategies
From a Bassmaster.com post:
> ...hitting isolated targets. I think this gives the fish something that's not too far from where they spawn, a place to rest where they're not getting thrown at constantly.
> Without a lot of fishing pressure, those isolated spots give the fish somewhere to recuperate. It could be a brushpile, a single stump or a small patch of grass. And...docks....
> ...speed can be a critical element. I like to cover a lot of water, but there's an important distinction to make here. If a fish is harder to catch, you may need to slow down. But when you do cover more water, you tend to get more opportunities.
> ...the deciding factor usually is the amount of fishing pressure. On lakes that are heavily pressured, you may be better off slowing down.
|
|
|
"...many times moping a jig[head] and Jerk ShadZ is way more effective than a dropshot."
- Whoa what?? That's of course Classic champ Gussy "I ain't crazy, I'm just Canadian" 😁 Gustafson talkin' YUGE about his moping rig. More from a good tho long Z-Man post:
> "At this point, given the success I've had moping on Canadian lakes all the way to GA and even TX, I'd have to say it probably works in more places than it doesn't. Late spring, summer and fall...anytime you've got largemouths, smallmouths or spotted bass feeding on suspended smelt, ciscoes, alewives, shad or herring, or using structure in 15-30', moping can unlock some crazy bites."
He also said in that deal:
> "The truth is, I caught fish with this same bait and method in at least half of last year's Bassmaster Elite tournaments."
Well we don't know if that's because it's effective or because Gussy can't put it down 😆 but I'm gonna ask him!
|
|
|
Bass-head Drew E caught this cool-lookin' painted smallmouth somewhere in MN:
|
|
Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest stuff in bassin', hand-picked 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'!
|
Sign up another bass-head!
|
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 or whatever....
|
|
Gitcha hands on the best stuff!
|
|
Gitcha BassBlaster social at these links:
|
|
|
|
