Lookit what got dropped on the porch yesterday! 👀 Haven't taken 'em out of the packages yet, but stoked to. Never been much of an A-rig guy, but after watchin' it go down in FL last week, gonna make sure I have one tied up at least for pre-spawn and maybe the immediate post-spawn. Get so few bites here in NJ, every one counts:
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Jason Christie dropped some sho-nuff spinnerbait juice!
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Wintertime stuff
1. He's fishing a 1-oz double-willow spinnerbait in 45-degree water! If that's what you would do too, props to ya but man I was shocked! And he caught a 7.36!!
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2. He fishes that 1 spinnerbait and can cover water from 1' to 20'.
3. "You don't want your skirt strands overloaded to one side." I've never paid attention to that!
Gear he was fishing:
Master class
More of a basics deal but still good. Here's an easy one to remember:
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Looks like Jason upgraded his YouTubin' for this season so 👀.
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Rayburn Pro Circuit top 10 baits breakdown.
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Dropshot: 60% – 4 were "morning dawn" Roboworms, and 1 "margarita mutilator"
Crankbait: 40% – 3 were Rapala DTs...2 DT10s " Caribbean shad" and "red crawdad") and 1 DT20 (I think in "Ike's disco shad")
Lipless crank: 30% – 2 were Rat-L-Traps in "Rayburn red"
Carolina rig: 30%
Soft-plastic swimbait: 20%
Stick bait: 20%
10% each = Hard swimbait (KR Custom glide bait), Jig
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This is the exact Berkley Snap Jig I was fishing last week, pic posted by Berkley bait designer Dan Spengler who I was in the boat with:
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Few things:
1. You might recognize the "fins" + jighead shape as similar to the Rapala Jigging Rap, aka the "ice fishing jig." If you ice-fish or walleye-fish, I feel sorry for you...lol I mean if you do those deals, you know about the Jigging Rap.
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2. You might remember that some dudes named Jacob Wheeler and Brandon Palaniuk, along with new Elite "Code E" Huff and a few others, have fished the Jigging Rap in tourneys...and I believe it's a pretty well-known thing in Cali?
3. Even though I'm lucky enough not to have to ice- or walleye-fish EMOJ I do know that the Jigging Rap has been "copied" a bunch (each one is different), but have no idea if anyone besides Berkley came out with one that's just a jighead that enables soft-plastics to be used.
4. I've watched Al Linder catch open-water walleyes on the Jigging Rap where he's on the troller and he's yanking it off the bottom. But that was NOT the right action for the Snap Jig because it's a lot lighter. So it's more like a lift of the wrist, not a jerk up. Almost feels like you're crawling it or "moping." When I started doing that, I caught 'em...in cold water.
5. Also caught 2-3 fish right after the rig hit the water. Could be those fish were real aggressive/stupid, or could be that the Snap Jig doesn't fall straight – it pivots and heads off at an angle.
All I got for it – if you have anything else, pls lmk!
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This would kill all fishing as we know it.
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Just gonna say a few things:
1. That would all of sudden be the #1 threat to all fishing because it would kill the entire food web (duh!).
3. Are these people crazy? Does seem that way. Would "authority figures" lie to us? I personally believe so, and 20th century history (10s of millions of citizen deaths at the hands of their gov'ts) proves it.
4. Sure seems like the crazies like to tell us what they're going to do before they do it so...?
5. You might recall that "climate change" used to be called "global warming," but the data didn't support warming (despite that Bloomberg headline) so the term was changed – because for sure the climate will change one way or the other...it's a dynamic system! Plenty of science on both sides of warming, so a few people deciding to block out the sun for everybody seems nuts.
Here's the legit world temperature data from U of AL Huntsville again – and some scientists actually say we are actually in a global cooling cycle ( one example and another and another):
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That's on the website of former NASA scientist Dr Roy Spencer – can't link it here but it's at drroyspencer com. Here's another chart with longer-term data which never gets shown:
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Disclaimers
1. Is this deal "political"? Well...seems like everything is made out to be these days, but my 2c is it shouldn't be. If you read "politics" or whatever into this, not intended and is on you man!
2. Please don't believe me. Don't "believe" anyone. Encourage you to do your own research. God gave us all an amazing brain to make decisions with. He also warned us all several times to take care to not be deceived...by other people....
3. I always cover every threat to fishing in the BB because it's important! Just need to be aware of it and act where we can. That is the successful Ray Scott model of protecting our fisheries, and it works. We wouldn't have the fishing we have now without it.
4. It this deal turns out to be an April Fools joke or whatever, great. Til then, not going to pretend it is!
5. If it matters, here's some bona fides again: Long-time conservation/environment reporter, several of those years in DC, have talked to politicians, environmentalists, animal rights folks myself, I understand from the inside how the mass media biz works. Not saying I'm smarter than anyone, just that's my personal knowledge/experience.
6. Like you, I just wanna fish and not think about bad stuff and bad people, let alone put it in the BB. But that ain't possible sometimes.
7. We're all in this together. Love 'n hugs from me.
Other bad/questionable stuff is going on too – we cover it in the DeerBlaster more because the bad guys' moves in the hunting/shooting area are more overt.
One of the more subtle ones continues to be the intentional attempted hijack of the word "conservationist" (along with the middle ground it implies) by animal rights and radical environmental groups. Not cool. Makes me feel like:
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Jersey's from the AOY season yo!
Apparently Cliff's been taking 'roids too:
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By the end of the vid he gets a little loopy from all those fumes...just messin', he's always that way...hahaha just kiddin' Ed!
4. Elite rookie Jonathan Kelley gets X-Zone.
Don't think a barefoot local with a heart condition will won this one, but you never know! (Hopefully no heart conditions of course.) Last one was a crank-fest with several bran new cranks having an impact, so bettin' we will see the same next year.
First time, I believe.
8. Can you help TX bass-head Brady Winans?
> The lake is at 14.5'.... For example, an area like the Monkey Box might typically have an average of 3' of water in it in early Feb most years. This year, the average depth is closer to 4'.
> ...a tow ran into and damaged the upper miter gates in Oct.
Only bassin' connection is Savage Gear. Talked to the founder/owner of Savage a few years back at ICAST, had a tank to show off some swimbaits – they looked good!
Good, long, comprehensive vid by bass-head Kyle Cortiana. Doesn't say where he is but it doesn't matter. Can learn a bunch from this deal, especially (for me) how tough it can be to tell what's a fish (and what kind of fish it is, depending on your lake) and even see your bait at times:
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Would he have caught it without LiveTarget? Doubt it because seemed like he didn't even feel it hit way way down deep.
Said he was fishing a Kistler KLX Rod, Kistler Series 1 Reel, 12-lb line and an unnamed YUM bait which kinda looks like a YUM Pulse swimbait from the brief look I got at it. (I skimmed thru the back half of the vid so if he says what he used, I missed it....)
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Not a prob! Katana prop helps, was designed by an actual Ninja – can't tell you who it is because, you know, Ninjas are secret but here's his pic:
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🤣
Fishing's Future, Friends of Reservoirs Foundation, the Mille Lacs Smallmouth Alliance.
Lol that's genius! Actually called "Hireton," which I guess translates to Karen? Coming this spring:
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16. SC House voting on bill that would cap outboard tax.
> ...is expected to vote on H. 4504 this week — a bill which would cap the sales tax on outboard motors at $500. Right now the range of sales tax applied on a new outboard motor depending on the county is between 6% and 9% – costing boaters and anglers thousands of dollars.
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Git on your state reps SC peeps!
In Amistad:
> "Quagga mussels can inhabit greater depths and are also able to settle on soft substrates like mud or sand in addition to hard surfaces like rock or infrastructure – unlike zebra mussels – meaning they can colonize more of the lake."
Believe Amistad does have smallmouths and spotted bass so...stock gobies? EMOJ Just messin'....
If you're on big water a lot, especially by yourself, and/or in rough water, might be a good idea to have something like this:
> ...a compact satellite communication device with two-way texting and SOS capabilities...provides up to 30 days of battery life, as well as integrated location and situational awareness features such as TracBack navigation....
Makes ladders, etc. Did I know T-H was part of a public company now??
> ...OneWater Marine Inc. (NASDAQ: ONEW) announced today that its subsidiary, T-H Marine, has acquired JIF Marine LLC....
Been found in freshwater fish and mammals for decades. Last time I looked into this, bottom line was sewage/water treatment facilities aren't equipped to remove these chemicals.
Headlines of the Day
Better have a whole lotta hot sauce 'n cheese to get that deal to taste decent! 🤣
Noise, bubbles, 'lectricity, and cars dropped from helicopters:
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Okay not that last one....
They ain't gonna quit! Keep pushin' back FL bass-heads! 👊
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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> The topside of the [vertical] break needs some kind of cover. Hackney says winter bass want to cling next to something, whether it's a brush pile, standing timber, grass bed or rocks.
> "During summer they will roam on structure chasing shad, but during cold months they hang on the key spot of the structure and generally the cover closest to the drop."
> Anytime you're fishing a jig during cold weather, it's important to make multiple casts to a likely target. Hackney will hit a spot 4 or 5 times before moving to the next.
> "If it's the right spot, I will fish it for 15 minutes, give it a rest and go back in 15 minutes and hit it again. Work every piece of cover thoroughly. The bigger fish have seen a lot of lures, so they are reluctant to jump on the first thing that comes by."
> Hackney doesn't hop his jig in the winter – he pulls it, maintaining contact with the bottom and cover at all times.
> "Remember, you're fishing for a few bites a day, but the ones you get could be from the biggest bass you'll catch all year."
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"What kind of banks do crawfish prefer? Bass seem to know. If we did, we could look for those banks when we know bass are targeting them."
> When I went to survival school a few years ago, I shared my knowledge with the group about bass fishing. At one point, an old Apache Indian told me I was doing it all backwards.
> "I've listened to you all week, and you obviously know what you are doing," he said. "But if you want to understand the owl, study the mouse that controls him."
Makes sense. Aaron Martens knew a bunch of that stuff. Does this mean we should spend less time fishin' and more time observin'? Or just more time observin'??
Tell you what, the next time I go to my local savings 'n loan I will very carefully look for crawfish! 🤣🤪
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This guy killed a 13', 900-lb gator 🤯 on a private FL lake – at 320 yards with a 7mm STW rifle! Very cool, all safe there sounds like, plus apparently little cows had been showin' up gone:
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Best line:
> Borries plans to mount the alligator in his home.
Hahaha right over the mantle I hope! 😂
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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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