Got out for about 20 minutes the other day – before a storm that wasn't on the radar showed up. You can tell it wasn't really a serious deal from this pic of my 3 girls:
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Lol, still fun, my daughter drove the boat a little and got some casts in. Quick note: I asked her whether she remembered meeting Trait Zaldain many years ago and she said yes right away. Real sure she wouldn't say that about any of the male fishermen so Trait is doing important stuff man...like keeping the pressure on Chris lol!
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How Bryan Schmitt won at Champlain.
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Short answer is bigger fish. Der, but that's the whole deal – a consistent 1/4 oz better wins that slugfest and everyone knows it. So you need the heavier green fish and that's what Bryan went after though he didn't get as many as he'd hoped. Here's some of his full pattern info, all info is on the BB site:
Mindset and strategy
> "I needed a really big tournament [for Classic points], and that's the one I looked at at the beginning of the year and said, 'That's the one for me. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen there.' You can get lucky and and figure out something special on lake you don't know...but l know that lake pretty good.... I needed it to happen and it did.
> "I wanted to hit a big bag of largemouth at least 1 day, but I never did that. I had 2-3 smallmouth in my bag every day [9 total over 4 days].
> "I sampled so many things – grass, shallow spots, deep spots, docks. I'd get little hints here and there, but it ended up being isolated clumps of really clean milfoil was my deal...8-10'...could be anywhere on that lake.
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> "I would try to throw tight at [a clump], but many times I'd go past it or to the left or to the right on accident."
> "I would throw it on shallow bare places...on nothing...bare bottom, sand and I would say 8-10' – mainly on the main lake.
> "This is how stupid that bait is: Throw it out and reel it in real slow."
> "I would use LiveScope...I was throwing to stuff before I got to it – real long casts. LiveScope was 100% critical because I could pull up, see the clump of grass and make long casts...sometimes I'd see the fish swim up and grab my bait. Some places I'd see 2 of them – gave me the confidence [to stay and catch more].
He did say that sometimes he'd only see the clump and no fish on LiveScope, and sometimes he'd catch fish anyhow.
More
> Asked him if he experienced the deal where releasing smallmouth shut down the bite: "If you lost a smallmouth or largemouth, it seemed to really [kill] that spot...had to leave. It would calm down...let it rest at least 2 hours or so and you could probably get lucky again."
> Shout out: "I'm really good friends with Austin Felix and Bryan New, and both of those guys got on that spin bait deal and clued me into it. That gave me the confidence to run that. And I needed to do that in order to get a couple key fish. I'd like to give them a little shout out."
Btw, Bryan says points-wise he's now the last man in to the 2022 Classic....
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5 Qs with the newest Elite champ.
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Never really talked to him except I think to say hey maybe once, so this was new for both of us!
1. Were you just sandbagging after Pickwick til this one? (He had an 8th at the St Johns, then an 8th two tourneys later at Pickwick, then not so great til the win.)
> "Uh...yes!" [Laughs.]
2. Did your Open win at Champlain in '16 help you in this one?
> "Negative. Nothing that worked back then worked now."
[The '16 win was in the fall.]
3. Has John Crews ever threatened to withhold baits if he did not get certain information or at least an iced coffee every morning? 😁
> "No John has not yet, no sir."
[Not YET...🤔 Bryan's a Missile guy, and it's a well-known deal that John has some crazy demands...such as making guys spot his 125-lb bench-presses...lol just messin' Crews!]
4. Are you aware that you might be the only bass fisherman in history with a horse-drawn carriage logo on your jersey?
> "I did not know that."
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How's that make you feel?
> "Special."
5. Is there even any fresh water around Deal, MD?
> "Yes! I'm 30 minutes from the Potomac and about 40 minutes to the upper [Chesapeake] Bay. The upper Bay is so awesome."
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"...took me 3 lost fish to realize that the point on my dropshot hook had bent in."
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> "I was able to overcome those kinds of mistakes – somehow."
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> The sharp V-Bend holds your worm tightly, and allows the rod action to travel directly and precisely to the worm. It also locks the hook into the fish’s mouth for fewer lost fish. Combined with the Hayabusa Original Semi-Twisted Hook Point for lightning fast penetration....
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Keith Combs' 2nd-place baits.
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The guys are going b2b at the St. Lawrence so haven't gotten all of 2nd-5th yet but will. Here's Keith Combs' baits – he did NOT use an XD, which I double-checked on and he told me that yes, he's okay: 😂
> Shallow rocks on points in 4-12'.
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Ever been bassin' 'n caught one of these?? 👀
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How 'bout 200 miles from the ocean??
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> "I thought it was a pretty good bass. We've been catching some good ones with the river staying full this year. Then the fish didn't come up, and I said, 'Something isn't right here.' When I got it up and it came by the boat close enough, I saw that messed up brown color, and I thought it was a flathead.
> Wayne was fishing a stretch of the Ocmulgee River just below the Highway 441 bridge along the Telfair-Coffee county line. That's about 200 river miles from the brackish water at the coast....
> The flounder hit a [Carolina-rigged] Zoom Lizard, pumpkinseed with a chartreuse tail.
Fwiw the flounder rigs here on the Northeast coast are basically Carolina rigs.
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Chris is good people – also a little nuts, but folks with the Holy Spirit in 'em big-time sometimes seem thataway! Lol Chris it's true man!
Mentioned it in my Classic rumors:
> San Francisco Giant first baseman...Brandon Belt is hosting what many are calling the biggest amateur fishing event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The event will be Feb 3-5, 2022....
> ...400 boats...top 20 from the cumulative weight from Thurs and Fri will move on to Saturday. No one fishing in the tournament will be allowed to fish on the lake Mon-Wed leading up to the event.
> Fishers of Men Ministries will be bringing out their trailer which will allow for a proper weigh in of the catch. The event will also be used to raise money for the non-profit that helps orphans in Brazil.
> "We have a mission program called Fishing to Feed and we partnered with an orphanage in Brazil called the Father's Heart," director of ministries Dick Polk said. "They have about 75 kids...and our program is designed to help feed those kids down there. They really need help right now. Some of the missionaries have not been able to get back down there because of [covid issues]."
> The entry fee per team is $800. 1st place will win $100,000. 2nd place will win $30,000. 3rd will win $25,000. 4th will win $20,000 and 5th place gets $15,000. The top 50 places will get money.
> ...the hatchery also stocked just over 8,000 fingerling smallmouth bass from hatchery ponds back into the upper Ouachita River.
> [Covid] safety measures prompted organizers to use the dock of a private home to allow participants to submit their live catches and have [them] weighed before leaving to release the fish back into the lake without having to leave their boats.
Reminder that Brunswick is public company, owns MotorGuide too (and much more) and just bought Navico/Lowrance:
> Mercury and [Brunswick's] Advanced Systems Group together will launch 5 electric propulsion products by 2023, with the first one launching in 2022.
> Advanced Systems Group expects to have installed 15,000 advanced battery systems replacing internal combustion engine generators by 2023.
> Brunswick Boat Group will have launched electric boats in 4 different segments by 2023.
> Brunswick plans to showcase its Next Wave strategy during the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)....
Sales up 80%, moving to new 206,000 sq ft distribution center in Stanford in Oct:
> ...providing 1-stop purchasing for several thousand retailers of fishing products in 49 states and a few foreign countries, including all the major sporting goods chains such as Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, Dick's and Walmart. It benefits from KY's logistically advantageous location to fulfill orders to the majority of customers in 1 or 2 days.
Gotta little pushback on this from a few folks the last time I mentioned it – do your research (not just a few internet searches) and I think you'll find the whole 30x30 deal is not what it's being portrayed to be:
> CA isn't the only state to attempt to enact Draconian regulations that would close off waterways, reduce fisheries, and restrict boating use of waterways. There are efforts underway in coastal states from FL to ME, out west to CA, and in many boating states in between.
> The kicker that jump-started this flurry of uber-conservation was a report released by the United Nations, setting a goal of protecting 30% of the world's lands and waters by 2030. It acquired the catchy label "30x30," which has been embraced by governments bent on preserving their ecosystems, as well as politicians looking to give themselves a conservationist glow. The result, quite simply, has been legislation and restrictions going off half-cocked in all sorts of ways.
A bunch of states mentioned in that post.
I'm still personally a little disappointed so many fish/hunt groups have a 30x30 thing even though it's supposed to be to make sure they're part of the process if 30x30 really gains traction – I highly doubt their input would be valued in that case, but whatever. Fwiw B.A.S.S. is part of the group, MLF is not.
Lastly, none of the above is in any way "political," at least how I read it. It ain't fun but it is important....
Headline of the Day
They 100% do NOT work, and please send all purple packages to the Kumar Fund for Average Fishermen, c/o the BassBlaster, thank you.
🤣
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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> Jones said he has a Mobster Swimjig tied on at least 1 rod about 300 days a year. Except through the dead of winter, it is part of his plan and often it is plan #1.
> "I did what I've always learned to do on the river – swim a jig, swim it some more, and whenever they aren't biting, you swim it some more."
> A shad spawn was occurring at the Classic, especially on the first morning when Jones amassed his best catch. He fished with "the cleaner," which is all white, matched with a "pearl silver flake" YUM Spine Craw and worked close to flooded bushes, pitching to every little hole he could get his bait into.
> He moved quickly, with short presentations, to hit as many holes as possible and to maximize time with his bait in the prime zone while the morning shad spawn remained active.
> At the AR River Open, Jones used a color that is named "too tall" for him...blue, chartreuse, black and purple. It is his favorite color on the river any time bass are relating to bluegill.... matched with a "blue/black shadow" YUM Craw Chunk...cast or pitched it to water willow and worked it erratically through the vegetation to imitate a scared bluegill.
The jig comes in 9 solid solid colors, here's 4 of 'em – clockwise from top L: the cleaner, too tall, enforcer, badabing:
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Reeeeally diggin' the "too tall" and older-school "badabing" black/yellow colors. Comes in 5/16- and 1/2-oz. Little history on the bait:
> The Mobster was created in the early '90s by the late Rick Short, a longtime tournament angler from western AR. Short...made his swim jigs at home and sold them locally, passed away a few years ago.
> Jones and other members of the Muddy Water Mob [serious AR River bass-heads] convinced BOOYAH that this bait still needed to be made and modified Rick Short's design to create the BOOYAH Mobster, with top-quality components, skirts and paint schemes.
> The Mobster excels because of its...ability to plow through all kinds of cover and because of its lifelike wiggling action...head design and 30-degree line tie contribute to both. Other important features include pro-selected skirt colors, a double-wire keeper to securely hold trailers, a weedguard with optimal stiffness and an ultra-stout large hook.
I was like, "Chris since I'm form Jersey and the for-real mob is still here, we kinda have this is common man!" He was all, "I don't think so." So I was like, "Okay cool man...." 🤣
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"...I finally got my first real bass boat and I couldn't be more excited."
> "So anybody who knows me knows how much I love fishing and how much time I spend out on the water. For years I've wanted to get like an actual nice bass boat and I've just obviously never had the money to do it. And thanks to the good over at Tracker and the good people at Bass Pro, I finally got my first real bass boat and I couldn't be more excited.
> "I'm losing my mind, it's got everything I've ever wanted on it and I'm just like feeling like a little kid right now."
Got him a Tracker ProTeam 175 TXW Tournament Edition that replaced these starter deals:
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Cool! And crazy.... Sounds like it ain't like the Spanish version – our guys just run away from 'em, jump over 'em, etc.
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best and funniest (sometimes worst) 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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