Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry bout that – email programs keep changing stuff.
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5 Qs with your MLF BPT AOY points leader Jacob Wheeler.
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1. Are you surprised to be leading AOY again?
> "It's a goal of mine – I'm not going to say surprised, I'm not going to say I'm expecting something, but it's definitely a goal. I'm happy to be in the position I'm in right now, but obviously it's a year-long season and one hiccup changes a lot.
> "So I'm not surprised, but it really doesn't matter being in the lead right now – it just matters at the end of the deal like we saw last year." [You might recall that AOY was decided in the last tourney – Jacob and Ott DeFoe battled it out.]
2. Are you seeing higher weights or bigger fish needed this year? Because it seems like more big fish and limits are being caught all over the country.
> "I feel like this season...we've had to fish for quality vs quantity. And that's always the dilemma [in this format] – okay am I going to target 4+ lbers or be able to compete with the 2-lb minimum. For me, for the most part – other than maybe Smith Lake – they have not been fast-paced events. If you do catch 7-10 scoreables in a day, you're going to be up there.
> "That slowed down the pace a little bit and allowed me to run around and fish more isolated stuff...go back into a pocket and fish for a couple fish I saw back there. But in some tournaments where there's a lot of bites, like if you go up north to places like Champlain, you can't make those adjustments because ScoreTracker is going off so fast."
3. Is it true you and a bud caught a 30+ limit in IN one time?
> "That is factual. 30.5 lbs. I remember the spot we caught them off of had ice on it the day before the tournament. No joke, the water temp was 42 degrees.
> "We caught them on a jerkbait. My buddy Brian Johnson...figured out the cadence on a jerkbait...move your rod 3 inches. Just twitch it like that – it would just lock up and you'd get a big one. You would never actually jerk it.
> "It was Geist Reservoir, which is still probably one of the best bass lakes in IN. It's northeast of Indianapolis about 20 miles or so."
4. Is Live or 360 more important to you?
> "Live is more important. 360 has its time and place when it's really the key, but in my mind Live day in and day out allows me to understand fish behavior better."
5. What's your preferred forward-facing sonar brand right now?
> "So I started off with Garmin [a few years ago] and then the last 2 seasons have run Lowrance Active Target. That what I prefer – #1 because I have everything connected, but the key is I feel like I can see my bait further with Lowrance than I could with the original LiveScope.
> "I have not tried LiveScope Plus – I'll try that in the off-season and see what the deal is about it.
> "Overall I felt like Lowrance had the distance better, and that to me was a huge deal if you're talking about pressured fish and fisheries. If I can make a cast to a bass 80' away when everyone else is using 60'...I'm getting more bites and more fish in the boat."
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Bonus Q: If you had to fish one crankbait in one color all summer long, what would it be?
> "I'm gonna say – that's tough. Gonna say a [Rapala] DT20 in 'green gizzard.' The reason why is I can adjust my line size and make it run 14' on 20 and 20' on 12. And that color...I want a natural hue, typically. I can fish brush with it, rock, wood. That's what I would pick if it was a deep-diving crankbait.
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> "If we're talking shallow, I'd go with a DT6. People still think it's a pre-spawn crankbait and it does play huge role then, but I catch them cranking grass...in the summertime. It catches them all year long.
> "Ott's gota a couple little baits, one coming out I can't talk about right now – I would add that one to it."
👀
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Guess this is more proof it's a Jason Christie year.
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Already won 2 tourneys, now it's 2 fish at a time. First a double he caught on a Spook at Fork:
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Accordin' to this rundown on Bassmaster.com, that stilla killa exact bait – in "citruse"...that color and "citrus shad" are gotta-haves – is one of Jason's fave baits right around now:
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What's your blade telling you? 🤔
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> "I'd been detecting these minor changes and interruptions in the lure's vibration. Although you weren't feeling any sort of strong bite signals, the change in vibration was enough to suggest bass were occasionally boiling on the lure – taking a stab at it – but not entirely committing on the first cast to a spot.
> "So anytime I'd detect this slight change in the blade's pulse, it prompted me to make a few more casts to these particular trees. In several key situations the decision to make multiple casts produced a bigger bass."
He was talkin' fishin' the JackHammer to win that recently-televised MLF Patriot Cup. Pretty dang interestin'!
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The Sea Foam Top 5 in bassin' from last week!
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If ya missed it here 'tis – and if you haven't checked these deals yet, they run about 3 minutes and are similar to but different than what's in the emails because email and vid are different mang! Can have a little different type of fun in the vids:
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Please gimme some feedback – shorter? Longer? Less of me?? 😂
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1. Patrick Walters won the Watts Bar, TN NPFL.
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Wire to wire deal, had 45-09 over 3 days, won it by 2+. Sounds like he was junkin':
> Walters fished a run and gun pattern.... "I was fishing high-percentage areas, brush and stumps, and I was running a ton of spots every day. Yesterday we had clouds and they were not set up correct and it was a tougher day. Today the sunshine came back out and it got them set up where I could catch them."
> ...not fishing for the fish on Live sonar, Walters was able to locate his high-percentage targets with dialed in electronics set up and installed by Sonar Pros.
^ deets from thenationalprofessionalfishingleague com – can't link it.
Could happen, his wife is expecting...in ID. Hopefully everything works out!
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They're cherry red, have red lenses and are called "the Jerkbait" – lol just messin'. Not at TW yet, here's the link, here's a pic – they're $99.99:
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He didn't spell it in Redneckian but it's cool – not sure where he got it:
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Last post was from a hospital bed – says it was kinda good news though. If you're a prayer, please pray for him. 🙏✝️
7. What is going on here??
Not sure if it's a before or after deal? 😁
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9. Couple dudes outed a new Berkley bladed jig.
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Couple deals:
- I made a few casts with it down in FL earlier this year. It hit hard but I didn't A-B it with a JackHammer.
- As I recall, the blade-head connection is a little different.
Other than that, that trailer on Justin's bait might be a new deal too...?
Check it – looks like Bill Siemantel's influence already:
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ICAST release.
...from UPS so sounds like he might be comin' for AZ tourney anglers: 😁
> He and Teresa started Won Bass AZ in 2007 when someone in CA asked them to start a fishing circuit in the state.
Bet Tracy will accept deliveries from Tackle Warehouse tho hahaha!
...even tho the NJ gov'nor waived park entrance fees...in a state that is deeply underwater debt-wise. Is it me or does it seem like a lotta gov'ts don't act like money is real and needs to be taken care of??
Good idea – tourney is on Lake Nipissing July 22-24:
> "Anybody from the community can join," said Matthew Koprash, president of North Bay Bassmasters. We have boaters and non-boaters so anglers just interested in tournament fishing can come out and join our club and we will partner you up with a boater and they will take you out to the water for a tournament situation."
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On Pickwick/Wilson:
> Bryar Chambers and Clent Blackwood from Wallace State take top honors with 46.91 lbs. Auburn University anglers Logan Parks and Tucker Smith finish in 2nd place, and Brock Bila and Dylan Chambers of Drury University wind up in 3rd.
> Allowing anglers to fish for bass would present a risk to steelhead due to the use of similar gear.
Largemouth Bass Virus:
> Through all the study area, more than 75% of fish sampled were positive carriers of LMBV. The majority of this also had a secondary bacterial infection of either Aeromonas or Flavobacterium columnare.
> The goal was to make a spinnerbait rod that covered all the different ways a person can fish a spinnerbait," said Gayle Julian.... At 6' 9" with a MH action and a fast tip, it allows anglers the ability to be accurate but have the power to land fish.
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My first reaction is to tell 'em to stay the heck away from our fish! Here you go:
> ...19 black bass species in the tree of life. Importantly, the analysis revealed that 2 popular species – the largemouth bass and Florida bass – have been misclassified over the past 75 years. The scientific names Micropterus salmoides and Micropterus floridanus have been incorrectly applied to the largemouth bass and Florida bass, respectively.
About FL-northern hybrids:
> When the 2 species are stocked together, they will start producing hybrids.... "Overall hybrids tend to be less fit and less able to survive to reproduction. When fisheries mix 2 species, the resulting hybrids can end up crashing both species populations."
Yep and if you walk outside you can end up crashing into a tree...🤣 Just where I'm at man – if you disagree don't get mad, just disagree!
Knowing nada, I'd say it's a good move – very cool-looking products....
...and ammo ban on some National Wildlife Refuges (pdf ^):
> Such policies or actions also handcuff wildlife managers by removing a critical conservation tool while needlessly alienating one of our original conservationists, sportsmen. Phasing-out lead ammo and tackle on wildlife refuges would disproportionately affect lower-income households and those that depend on hunting and fishing for their subsistence as lead alternatives are often more expensive.
Not gone but way down, sounds like.
Because they want to grow more of these:
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🤔 Line and pic don't match but love the matchin' hat + yak....
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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> "The fish see it falling, and you get a bunch of bites right when it falls or within a few pulls of the rod"...this is the reason he prefers a jighead with a collared bait keeper instead of the screw style. "The collar to keep the bait secure puts a little bend in the worm when you rig it and that gives it a spiraling action as it is falling. The screw style rigs the worm straight and will still catch fish, but they just sled down."
> In most instances, he opts for a 3/16-oz jighead but will change to a bigger hook...when fishing a bigger worm offshore...or around brushpiles in big bass locales in TX.
> While many bites occur as it is falling, Wiggins...will still work the bait more thoroughly if he is around cover. "If I'm fishing it around something on the bottom, I am going to work it back to me and make sure I fish it all.
> "The biggest key anytime you are fishing a shaky head is to try to shake the tail of the worm and not just the jighead. I do this by shaking it on a slackline, and that lets the worm wiggle while the jighead stays in the same place."
Another deal where slack is key! 👀
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"Hey, if fishing were supposed to be an exact science, Noah would have worn waders."
- 🤔 Not real sure what that dude means but he's talkin' 'bout wanting "fish-seeking sonar" off boats. Well gotta couple deals for him:
1. Noah never fished, at least that we know about. Maybe he meant Peter??
2. Sonar obviously doesn't "seek fish." It just shows "whatever's down there." Seeking feesh is our gig.
3. Sonar's been on recreational fishing boats since around 1960 so....
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Man if this is legit, it's gotta be one of the sickest bank doubles and swimbait doubles of all time – @wildlures on Insta:
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest stuff in bassin', 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'!
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