Off to el Clasico! Otra vez! If there's another BB this week – which usually ain't during Classic week – it'll be later in the week. Couple quick deals:
Beautiful memorial for Aaron Martens on Sunday in AL. Hearing some of the world's best fishermen share their hearts about Aaron was amazing. Will just say this: Aaron awed THEM fishing wise. How amazing is that man wow. He was also the most joyful person any of us ever knew. Amazing.
If anyone needs a pastor, preacher or just a dang good speaker to do any event, call the bass pastor Chris Wells. He's REAL dang good. If you have any spiritual questions, he'd also be glad to talk to you, anytime.
Shout-out to AL for having dang good BBQ. Had no idea.
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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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Some deets about Alton Jr's first big win.
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Big deal first tour-level win for Alton Jr, who ain't really a Jr but we'll get to that in #2! 😀 Here's some of his winning details – lot more good'ns on the BB site:
Going in and practice
> "Being 6' low, I actually went over there around New Year's and spent a couple days because I'd never seen Fork that low. What I found was kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. You could see all the timber you could never see before.
> "Day 2 of practice I went to some stuff I had history on, and knew it was good...ended up being where I won the tournament. When I got in there I was throwing a spinnerbait around and couldn't get bit but could see the fish on LiveScope. That's when I switched gears a little bit, picked up an OG Slim and was able to get some bites.
> "...pretty excited about that flatside bite. I knew a lot of guys would be doing it, but not everybody and not everybody would be LiveScoping shallow."
> "Day 1 I started in the back of [Little?] Caney Creek and that ended up being where I won the tournament. I started there because it's a community hole...thought too many guys would fish it. But the first morning I had it all to myself...shocked. I was super jacked up about that.
> "Fast forward to the end of the 1st period – I had 1 2-lber. But I had maybe 8-10 bites, and they'd hit the flatside so hard they'd knock it around backwards. I had no idea how I wasn't getting a hook in these fish.
> "Day 2...I was throwing a flatside. It's a great bait and gets bites, but it doesn't come through the cover all that well. I was getting hung a lot and was missing lots of fish. I got it in my head that the fish were just nipping at it. I was having to reel the bait so slowly and so gently through the cover that they were getting too good of a look at it.
> "One stump that was a little shallower I hadn't caught a fish on all week. ...bites, but never caught one off it. It was shallow enough to where I could get 2.5-series squarebill to it. So I wondered what would happen if I wound it around and banged it off things, trying to get a reaction bite. The water was still in the low 50s.
> "On my first cast I catch a 4-04. I'd fished that stump 10 times in the last 2 days, and the first cast with a squarebill I get that bite. But all the other stumps were too deep for that 2.5 squarebill so I couldn't get it to the fish. I needed something that would run 5-7'.
> "I called Jordan and was like, 'Hey buddy, do you have a squarebill that runs deeper?' I told him I was throwing a 2.5 and needed something that gets to 5-7'. He said he had one and was kind enough to open his tacklebox and said, 'Take what you want.'
> "Of course I ended up grabbing one of his custom-painted ones...that bait right there ended up being what I caught every bass on the next 2 days. It was a Berkley Squarebull – it's a little longer than the typical squarebill, and if you look at the end of it it has like a flat spot on the head...looks like a continuation of the bill. I thought there's no way it will get to 6' but it did.
> "It started out pretty fast that next morning. Something about that bait – they just gobbled it. The whole Knockout Round I had to get the pliers out. It's great when they come up and jump, and you can't even see the bait.
> "I went back to [Little?] Caney Creek...most bites I had in any one area even if didn't catch 'em. I pulled in there [the final day] and there's some other anglers in there from another group. But with the combination of that bait and being really dialed with LiveScope, I was able to fish behind guys. One guy caught 1, one guy caught 2 and I had 12 for 52 lbs.
> "LiveScope was so important because some of these stumps I was making 10 casts to and then I'd catch...multiple fish. LiveScope gave me confidence to make cast after cast after cast. It was almost like fishing a summertime school: It might take 10 casts to catch 1, and if you could get in there somewhat quick, a lot of times you could get a second or a third.
> "I was fishing shallower and was LiveScoping shallower than anyone else. I think that's the final frontier of forward-facing sonar – the guys who can master the shallow side of it. Anybody can see a bass when it's suspended out over 30' of water. But the guys who can master it shallow, that's the next step in the fishing world."
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> Custom-painted Berkley Squarebull: "[Color] wasn't much different than any other red crankbait except it had almost a tint of yellow-orange."
> 7' 2" MH Kistler Alton Jones Jr signature series Reaction Rod, available around ICAST (July). "It's in the Feel N Reel Series. It has a normal composite base with a lot of backbone, but the top 18-20" of the rod is fiberglass. So it has the backbone of a normal rod with a soft tip."
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5 Qs with the younger Alton.
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1. Hate to break this to you but did you know that technically you are not a Jr because your middle name is different?
> "I know that, trust me. I've had to deal with a lot of issues at the banks and tax documents where people just assume my legal name is Alton Jones Jr and the IRS does not see it that way.
> "My dad is actually a Jr. He's the real Jr. His first name's not even Alton – he's a fraud!"
[Lol I didn't know that!]
2. Your dad also said your mom found you in a reed basket in a river and adopted you - that might be spiritually significant.
> "I was not aware of that. That's the first I've heard of it and I don't know if I believe it because I look and sound a little too much like my dad. The scary part is they can see me in him, then I look at my grandfather and my dad's starting to look like him – and I'm like, Oh man...."
[😂 My son is scared he'll look like me one day too. 😂]
3. Do you think your dad really roots for you or is that just what he says not to seem like he wants to beat you like he used to beat you when you did something bad as a kid? 😁
> "No he definitely wants to beat me. There's no ifs ands or buts about it. I think he wants to beat me just as bad as I want to beat him.
> "That being said we root for each other and I know...he was super proud. It was a really cool deal.
> "I know he really cheers for me, but he's one of the most competitive people I've ever met, and would love to take $100K from me in a bass fishing tournament."
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4. This next tourney is in AL. A-L. Does that mean anything to you since you are an Al - formerly Jr?
> "I think it's gotta be a good sign that it's the first 2-letter match with my name...but I'm trying not to claim AL too much. Last time I was in AL saw a possum crawl through the rafters of a restaurant I was in."
[Hahaha that's great! Sounds more like AR or OK! 😆]
5. What or when made you decide this whole pro fishing deal was something you wanted to do and could be good at?
> "I always enjoyed fishing. I've loved to bass-fish ever since I was a little kid, and I had a front row seat to it. But just like every other kid...I wanted to be a pro baseball player, a fighter pilot, a pro golfer...if look at the trend there, I like competitive things.
> "I was really pretty old when it clicked, probably about 15. I started fishing some tournaments...I'm controlling the boat, I'm making the decisions, I'm putting up the $20 in jackpot money.... Once I got a taste of the competition side of things, I was like, Wow – I could maybe do this for the rest of my life if I'm good enough make a living at it.
> "My dad supported me the whole way through it all, no doubt, but he was the biggest realist about it...he knows how hard it is...I've seen [many] guys in the Elite Series walk across the stage crying because they can't afford the next entry fee. It's a hard deal and a lot of people fail at it.
> "There were times in college, at Baylor, when I was fishing pretty good but my grades were horrible. He was like, 'Hey you gotta get the grades up. Sophomore year I was an A-B student but I wasn't fishing much...he's like, 'Hey man if you're going to fish, what are you doing?' So he taught me to walk the line – fishing but also taking care of business. So he really prepared me well."
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2nd-5th baits from the Fork BPT.
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Haven't gotten with Jacob Wheeler (3rd) yet but here's the other guys. Hope to have Jacob's soon.
2nd: Dakota Ebare
> "I was throwing a jerkbait [matte shad?] on creek channel swings in 8-12' of water with 12-lb Seaguar Tatsu with a 6' 9" MH Hammer Rod."
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4th: Casey Ashley
> "Except for the magic dock. It was in 2-3' of water and had brush under and around it. I caught those fish on the same spinnerbait setup and also mixed in a Texas-rigged Zoom Z Hog (black sapphire). I was throwing that on a 7' 6" H Quantum Smoke Rod and a Quantum Smoke S3 Reel (7:1) with 20-lb Hi-Seas Fluorocarbon."
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5th: Alton Jones Sr
> "I was targeting big stumps in 7-10' of water. I used LiveScope to see if there were the fish by the stump or if there was a giant root system on the stump. I saw about half of the fish I caught prior to catching them.
> "My 11-02 came on the crankbait in about 7'."
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Hank Cherry could win his 3rd dang Classic in a row!! 🤯
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Y'all know that so you know I needed to talk to him before this'n. But did you know that there's been 3 other times in bassin' history when a guy was fishing for 3 Classics in a row:
> Jordan Lee won back to back Classics: 2017 and 2018.
> Kevin VanDam won 4 and 2 back to back: 2010 and 2011.
> Rick Clunn won 4 and 2 back to back: 1976 and 1977 (finished 2nd in '78!).
Will Hank Cherry be the only guy in bassin' history to win 2 in a row? No pressure...💪 Here's 5 quick ones with him:
1. When's the last time you won the same tournament 3 times in a row?
> "Uh...I don't know if I've ever won the same tournament 3 times in a row."
2. Will you ever put down that Stunna in this Classic?
> "Yeah I'll definitely put it down because the weather's gonna be warmer."
3. Is every tournament potentially winnable on a jerkbait?
> "Unless they are full blown on the bed, I think every tournament has a chance where a jerkbait could definitely play a part in winning it."
4. If you win this one, will you just retire or what?
> "If I were to win this one, there's a good chance that I would probably do other things."
[He wouldn't say exactly what that was, but did disclose it would most likely have to do with bringing manliness back to sandwiches, like such:]
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[He's like, "Avocados ain't sammich meat Jay!" 🤣 Okay I made that up but would love to see it happen.]
5. 4 years ago if someone told you that in 2022 you'd be fishing for your 3rd Classic win in a row, what would you have told them they were smoking?
> "Parmesan cheese."
HAHAHA love it! Amazing if he won it again man wow, but anyone winning it will be great!
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TX is still kicking out brick house melons includin' the new Ivie Lake Record.
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It's time. It's time to move to TX. Tak Omori I'm parking my RV in your driveway mang! 😁
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27.25" long, 23.23" around, on the 6th Sense Divine Swimbait which apparently is one of only 2 baits (the other is an A-Rig) you're allowed to use for ShareLunker bass in TX 😁.
Brodey drove from OK to fish Ivie to catch a DD – love it. Lake record stood since '92. Believe this is the 7th-melonest bass ever weighed in TX. State record is an 18.18 caught at Fork in '92.
Not sure if he had LiveScope but it for-sure looked cold – here's what I think is the bow of his boat:
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Here's 6 MORE bodacious teener melons! 🤯
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Top row, L to R:
Bottom row, L to R:
All of these fish are brought to you by The Commodores' "Brick House" – which Cliff Pirch listened to every day at the Harris Chain when he was ketchin' the bigs! Thanks Cliff!
Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now
Fwiw big ditch melons go with Motown like pbutter hangs with jelly...in my 2c....
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I highly doubt Rick means to be entertaining but he is – to me anyhow – and I don't mean funny, I just love what he says:
> I, frankly, never wanted to be good at [the biz side of fishing] because I didn’t want it to interfere with my focus and passion for the sport. I’ve seen it happen to many anglers — the business side and desire to make more money distilled their love of what they were doing.
> Ray Scott asked me during a media event [in 1997] why I was so positive, and I told him that I stay away from outside influences. I told him I never watch the news on TV, and if I read the paper, I only read the sports and cartoons. Afterwards, I found myself cornered by all of the big city editors who told me that if I ever say that again publicly they would make sure that I never got another ounce of ink.
[That's funny and also pathetic on the part of the media guys, sheesh!]
> Don’t misunderstand me – we need the media and most of them out there are very supportive of our sport. Many do an incredible job, but you can’t let them control you during the Classic. You have to control them.
Word! 😆
> During the offseason, I worked hard to get the most bites I could in a day. That’s never been my style – I’ve always tried to catch the 5 biggest fish in a day, even when I’m out fishing for fun. That’s been a big transition for me mentally.
Little info from Randy:
> I designed this jig for Baitwrx and it is specifically a live-rubber, hand-tied jig. We also trim the weedguard. The jig has a shorter-shank hook than most jigs, a good keeper, and the head design allows it to come through rock and weed very good. There’s been a tremendous interest in this old-school style of jig....
$9.99, looks innerestin' fo sho. Comes in 8 colors and 3 sizes: 1/4, 3/8 and 5/8. Says he's sold a bunch, and not just to relatives 🤣 just messin':
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5. Here's the Bassin' Hall of Fame's '22 class.
Aaron Martens, Tommy Biffle, Lonnie Stanley, long-time B.A.S.S. TD Dewey Kendrick, long-time MLF/FLW exec Kathy Fennel and In-Fisherman legend Steve Quinn.
I did see Tommy this weekend and his head didn't look any bigger...🤔 Also, if Steve's induction speech does NOT include something on bass biology I'll be shocked! 😂
Congrats to 'em all!
6. This week's pro jersey auctions for St Jude.
This one's about how we're all like a school of shad. Highly recommended readin'.
Click the pic to sign up!
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New bait, here's a pic and some highlights about how it was developed:
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> Buoyant enough to float a standard 5/0 EWG...belly hook slot.... Sculpted with a keel-shaped 'hull,' the bait's "V" belly yields stability and a quick-planning action on the retrieve.
> Topside, 4 dorsal ridges ride the ToadZ back, guiding rigging with a single or double frog hook. Ridges also help protect exposed hook points....
> "The bait's 10X Tough ElaZtech composition means the head and other parts of the body resist tearing. Even after multiple battles with bass through thick cover, that hook won't rip through the throat.
> "With help and suggestions from our fans, we tweaked and improved our kicker legs at least a half dozen times. Fan engagement helped us land on a specific configuration that gurgles in the water and produces a fish-attracting bubble trail."
> Jason Burroughs of Hodges, SC caught 5 bass...weighing 30 lbs 11 oz...during practice he had found areas that held 3.5- to 4.5-lb bass, and he expected to net 19 lbs....
> ...he focused on the edges of grass on the lower lake using a 1/2-oz shad-colored Buckeye Lures Double Willow Spinnerbait...said he fished in just one area throughout the day. “The females had moved up, and the fish were the right size...."
Look how at peace Jason looks about the win: 😁
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Same day, Senko from a marina dock. Amazing.
> ...contingency program Compete + Conserve adds 226 bass fishing tournaments, including 13 new tournament trails....
Internal promotion.
Never heard of either of 'em but there sure's been a lot of private equity gettin' after fishing brands. Who wants to start one??
Updatin's
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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"Honestly, working in this fishing store has done more for me than you could imagine versus being on the water."
- Don't hear that every day and he ain't talkin' discounts neither! That's Clemson bassin' team's Hunter Bond talkin' 'bout working at Lake Hartwell Fishing and Marine. That might sound a little crazy to you but seems like he's got his head on straight:
> “If I was ever in the position to go pro, I’d consider it. But there are other things that are a priority in my life, like I want to be a family man one day and build up my community."
Build up his community – how great is that! 👊
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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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