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Today’s Top 3

Yo ICASTers, still have some open spots Wed and Thurs – IF you want to reach the most rabid bass-heads in the world. Hit me back fast if’n you’re interested!

1. Next evolution of A-rigs?

This looks cool. Up ’til now A/U-rigs have been almost all stiff-wire, though I did see one that was fluorocarbon. Booyah’s changin’ the game with the Boo Rigs:

> Why are swimbaits the only lures to adorn the business end of castable umbrella rigs? Because the stiff wires impede the action of crankbaits and other lures. The Boo Rigs change that with a center lure arm made of super-strong, flexible, nylon encased wire that allows crankbaits and other lures to swim naturally.

These bad boys are available in different weights. Let the experimentation begin…and I’m thinkin’ at least a couple o’ these are Elite Series legal?

2. Reaction Innovations Vixen coming back?

A return to hard baits had been rumored, nothing on the Facebook page but there’s the telling “pre-order” word at that link…. Btw, if you’re unfamiliar, the Vixen had a heck of a rep.

3. A $10K Old Milwaukee fish.

> Eric Dellinger, 52, of Queen (PA) was fishing with his son, Seth, 21, out of their bass boat on Lake Glendale at Prince Gallitzin State Park when a 19″, 3-4 pound largemouth took Eric’s jig…. Eric noticed that the fish had two orange tags attached to its dorsal fin. One of the tags was plain, but the other had an 800 phone number printed in black ink on it.

> Turned out, the fish was tagged by representatives from the Old Milwaukee Brewing Co. – one of six such big-money bass that had been stocked in lakes throughout the country. Dellinger later found out that the catch would bring him a cool $10,000 before taxes.

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Watch the vid!

BassGold News

1. Now over 5,000 patterns!

Freakin’ great, but don’t take my word for it:

BassGold takes a lot of the guesswork out, which allows an angler to focus on execution instead of on the wrong patterns.

– Pete Gluszek, The Bass University, 2x Bassmaster Classic qualifier

News

1. TX: Fork accident victim update…

…looks like the 11-year-old boy injured in the accident is going to make it. Hope so.

2. PA: Where to fish in 3 rivers.

> Of the 121 smallmouths sampled at Allegheny Lock and Dam No. 3, only 21 were legal. Significantly fewer smallmouths were documented at the Ohio River at Montgomery Dam, but 50% were of legal size. “I’d want to fish on the Ohio at Montgomery,” said Lorson.

> Analysis of data collected over time tells another story. Over the past 25 years, the Allegheny River from The Point to Freeport has produced the highest catch rates for smallmouth bass. But the Monongahela River has grown more legal-sized smallmouths than the other rivers.

3. IL: Man fails most-fish WR attempt.

> Johnny Wilkins came up short of the world record 2,649 fish…. “I ended up with 2,011 fish. I was kind of heartbroken about 4 a.m. when I was doing the math in my head and I am really tired and I just thought, There is no way.”

> “I am all pruney-hand and carved up from catching fish. 2,000 fish is kind of a lot for one day.”

Made me think:  When prunes get wet, what are they like??

4. WI: More same ‘ol.

> The state’s recent decision to remove largemouth bass from the north’s early catch-and-release season starting in 2014. Smallmouths must still be released then, but as long as a largemouth meets length and bag-limit restrictions, you can take it home for dinner.

> By removing a few more largemouths, they hope they’ll spare more young walleyes, Wisconsin’s most coveted fish.

Oh yeah, largies are the problem. Couldn’t be this…

…or this….

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THIS is why you should be using this shaky head:

Buy ’em here!

Tip of the Day

Randy Howell: Choosing a swimbait.

> “People see that swimbait I throw a lot, and they think it’s really big, but I always tell those people that I catch 2-pound bass up to 8-pound bass on the swimbait nearly everywhere I fish. I’ve seen bass eat shad much bigger…. Really it’s a matter of whether the bass will be tempted for a big meal or not. Not how big the fish is.”

> Howell has…worked closely with legendary swimbait creator Jerry Rago to design a new line of swimbaits to be released soon called the Livingston Lures Randy Howell Flat Top Swimbait by Jerry Rago.

> “I really fell in love with those flat-top-style swimbaits like the Top Shelf swimbaits because they seemed to balance well and fit my style of fishing. Now I’ve got this new Flat Top from Rago that has that right action and has saved me in a bunch of big events.”

> With his new Flat Top, he gets the best of both worlds: a good balanced body roll and a fast kick on the tail. With the slower retrieve Howell likes, he keeps his swimbait in the 2- to 5-foot depth range and feels like he can call bass from a great distance because of how the bait rolls, flashes and steady kicks.

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Quote of the Day

There were jonboats with guys sitting on the bow, paddling with one hand, fishing with the other and runabouts that you might use to pull skiers.

– The late, great Ray Murski of Strike King, talkin’ ’bout Ray Scott’s first one, the All-American Bass Invitational held in 1967 at Beaver Lake, AR. First prize was $2,000, and 106 anglers from 15 states paid $100 entries.

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Shot of the Day

Beauteous shot of the large non-walleyes available in the Red Lake Reservation in MN. No one fishes for them – doh!

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