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Bass are the toughest critters IN THE WORLD!
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How ’bout that bass swimmin’ and eatin’ and such with a chunk taken outta its spine man! Okay maybe that’s not possible, but lookit that!! @allen_whitten89 shot
Bass can even survive when they have the rare but not unheard of Kermit eye — @reel.legend.bobby shot:
That fish fell for a BOOYAH Pad Crasher in “bullfrog.” Nothing gonna stop it from gittin’ that frowg!
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Been getting more merpy derps than usual, here’s some:
How ’bout an 8.5-lb bank-shotted CA derpopterous melon. Freddy S caught her flippin’ matted grass with a 3/4-oz 6th Sense Divine Hybrid Jig (gp blue magic) with a Gambler Ugly Otter (winter craw):
Lake Anna, VA guide CC McCotter had a couple guys out throwin’ 3″ Berkley Ripple Shads (pearl white) on VMC Neon Mooneye Jigheads for schooling fish feeding on small threadfins, and one dude was lucky to bang this big-headed little derp:
Upper Miss Reever broom-tail derp caught by toothpick-wieldin’ Randy B on half a YUM Dinger (smoke purple — don’t see that color) on a 1/8-oz Nedward head:
Gitcha Erie splerp on with this one, caught on Erie (38-29 water temp!) by @captainmorganlegend — on a custom-poured tube in Army green:
Leavin’ the derp world with this line a bass-head emailed me:
> “Cracks me up every time I get the email. My new goal in life is to have a derp featured on the BassBlaster.”
Hahahaha you and everyone else man! Stay tuned — strongly considering starting a derp contingency program….
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Corpulent beefy stock melons o’ the week!
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How ’bout diehard cold-water basser Dave Mercer with this — guess how big that Erie smallmouth is:
Give you a hint — the fish on the right weighed 5.2 lbs…sooooooo Dave’s weighed — wait for it — 7-08!!! Howg! Jacked it with a 4″ Berkley Maxscent Flat Worm (brown back), #1 Trokar Drop Shot Hook and a 1/2-oz Woohoohooo Tungsten dropshot weight — this pic reminds me that I need that reel:
CA melon-hunter @collin_degough got him this fatabulous 11-08 after a 2-hr drive straight from work — #stout. Didn’t call out a bait, but check the bottom left of the post:
Lookit this 10-lb “angry sock puppet” ($$$ bass name on the post!) caught by a dude fly-feeshn at Lake Zebco, TX, which is the 1.2-acre pond at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. Previous Zebco largie record was 7.5.
Gotta show ya the list of approved baits at the pond:
> Shrimp (marine/saltwater)
> Beef hearts
> Cheese sticks
> Chicken gizzards
> Chicken livers
> Hot dogs
> Worms
> Crickets
> Grasshoppers
> Commercial baits (in original containers)
> Flavored corn
Ate most of those at a county fair once….
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Interesting Japan spinnerbait c-lector graphic graphic.
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Check it — I like the idea:
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News
1. KVD equates Johnny Morris with Teddy Roosevelt.
> He is the Teddy Roosevelt of our time, the greatest conservationist of the modern era by far!
Weeeelllllllll…gotta say I haven’t done the research and guess I shouldn’t doubt Kevin, but when it comes to bass fishing specifically anyhow, I’d have to see a lot of evidence before I feel anyone’s done more than Ray Scott and the old B.A.S.S.
2. BPTer Justin Atkins running a Falcon.
3. How Timmy Horton got his flip back.
Says he needs it for MLF/BPT:
> “When I had a week or 2 at home, I would take a couple days and fish boat docks all day long, even if boat docks weren’t really the thing to do on the lake at the time.
> “When somebody asks, ‘What can I do to add to my arsenal?’ I tell them to take the thing you have the least confidence in and leave the other tackle at home. Don’t go to the lake with that stuff because you will be tempted to pull it out. Just work on the parts of your game that need the most work.”
4. Why Tommy Biffle is hilarious…
…sometimes when he doesn’t mean to be:
The MLFers’ YouTube channel is pretty good!
5. Mark Daniels Jr is selling his ’18 Ranger 520L.
6. New Elitist Dale Hightower is running an Xpress.
Tin boat! He made it through the Opens.
7. Second BPT stop is Conroe, TX.
Let’s do a quick pause and check a few things:
> Toho, FL Jan 29-Feb 3 then Conroe, TX Feb 12-17. Never been a pro but that sounds like a tight turn?
> The TV show for Conroe will air in the FOURTH QUARTER 2019, but I’m assuming streaming during the tourney will gitcha bassin’ tank filled.
One more thing: Since this is a new tour, each lake they go to the first year seems (maybe just to me?) to have a special meaning. Or could. I know they’re behind the 8-ball in getting the tour lined out, but I have to believe they’re being pretty careful about where they go. MLFers hit me back if I’m off-base…or to give me some Squatchin’ tips….
8. MLF has a no-info rule.
> From the time an MLF Bass Pro Tour angler learns of a scheduled event, there will be a strict “no information” rule in place. That means that anglers cannot receive any private information, waypoints, etc. from that moment through the end of the event
Good! Here’s the 2018 MLF rules.
9. AR: Study shows climate warming could help/hurt smallies…
…in the Buffalo River. Hurt AND help. So….
10. Bass Pro Shops sponsors ABA…too.
> …a multiyear partnership…Bass Pro Shops will become the Title Sponsor of American Bass Anglers and will support a new 150 hp bass tournament trail.
I like the 150 hp thing! If it’s dry where you are, just ask Johnny Morris to:
Hee-hee….
11. Significant changes to 2019 FLW college trail.
From a good anglr.com post:
Good: Champs go to the FLW Cup, multiple runners-up go to the BFLAA, new School of the Year Race.
Bad: New entry fee (had been free, no increase in payouts), tournaments moved from Saturdays to weekdays.
That last one sounds nuts — these kids are in school man, and believe they don’t get excused absences like other sports do. Sign this petition to try to get the FLW college tourneys back to weekends.
12. Did you know VMC makes a treble replacement single hook?
Called the Inline Single 1X, for salt but comes in sizes 6 and 4. Note the eye orientation so the hook rides like this:
Click the pic for a rigging vid — and did you know VMC has a new bucktail jig? Check it on the TW.
13. Couple fire-hot items right now are…
…the AFTCO Reaper Fleece, which may end up being AFTCO’s best product launch ever — and the BOOYAH Squelcher buzzbait…Japan wants every one it can get, and you hardly ever hear that about a ‘Merican bait!
More top-sellin’ stuff is on Tackle Warehouse right here.
14. New book on the history of Flippin, AR bass tub buildin’.
Put together by Keith Daffron, grandson of Forrest Wood, former head sales dude at Ranger and now one of the head cheeses at Vexus Boats. Keith talkin’:
> A limited number of these books have been printed. During this holiday season, 20% of the proceeds will go to benefit the Flippin School District Clothes Closet. This is a program my wife Lisa started in 2009, and it is near and dear to our hearts.
I bought one already and it better be good Daffron hahaha! Btw Vexus is a year old now, and if you get too close to this boat some of your drool might splash on the gunnel lol:
15. Berkley has a new contingency program.
Good they’re gettin’ after it but it costs $30….
16. MI gov’nr pledges $8 mil to fight Asian carp.
17. DC: Izaak Walton League wants us to say no…
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Just for BassBlaster-heads!!Check it:
40% OFF!!!! BUFF UV Headwear
> Valid only on buffusa.com — use code BLASTER40 at checkout.
> Good through 11:59pm PST on Friday 12/14/2018.
That means the BUFF UVs are like 50 cents apiece! Okay, not really but not sure you’ll get a better deal ever man! Here’s some of my faves:
Stuff yer stockin’s with BUFFs before Santa drops somethin’ in there you don’t want that you’ll have to fake a smile for hahahaha!
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Tip of the Day
Why FLWer Dicky Newberry likes ‘Traps.
Doesn’t mean any lipless — he loves him Rat-L-Traps, pretty much all the time. From a GREAT post on Insideline.net:
> …if you check out Newberry’s deck and rod box prior to any Nov-Apr event, you’ll find 4 to 10 1/2- and 3/4-oz Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps in various colors along with 1 or 2 rattle baits from other makers.
> …why does he prefer a ‘Trap over other rattle baits? “Confidence I guess…for me I just like the feel of the ‘Trap. I can throw a high- or low-frequency ‘Trap and get the same action, and a 1/2- or 3/4-oz bait and again, the feel is largely the same.
> “The Yo-Zuri is a great bait, but it is a 5/8-oz bait [one size is] — the speed you have to work the bait, the depth it wants to run, and how it feels is simply different than a ‘Trap. With the advent of all the newer high-dollar rattling baits out now, I may be an outlier — showing the fish something he hasn’t seen in a while.
> I like the bigger hooks on a ‘Trap, which produces a lot of the bait’s vibration. You may be choosing fewer bites with the bigger hook, but you’ll put more fish in the boat.” [First time I’ve heard that, wow!]
> “My go-to is red. I will always start a day with a red shad, a Rayburn red craw and usually a couple other crawfish pattern baits tied on. …when I go through an area that I have confidence holds a school of fish, I am really quick to change colors if the fish don’t show themselves. If I get a lot of fish slapping at a bait that tells me I’m close to the right color, but not dead on it.”
> “Over the last few years I find myself reaching more and more for the Knocker series baits.
> “When I rig my rods the night before, I only use my Lew’s reels with 6.4:1 ratios and all the reels will have exactly the same amount of 15-lb Seaguar InvizX on them. That way no matter which rod and bait I pick up, once I dial in the cadence I don’t have to think about changing the rate I am turning the handle due to a different retrieve speed.”
> Interestingly, when I’ve seen Dicky backlash a reel or break off a bait, that rod and reel are done for the day. “If I find a cadence that works on that rod with less line, I can’t replicate it as easily on another rod I pick up.”
Rod-wise he says, “I like a very heavy-action rod. My go-to is a Lew’s 7′ 4” LMPS, which is actually a Magnum Pitchin’ Rod.”
Dang that’s a good post. Read it all here. Dicky’s a ‘Trap-master. I once asked him how he reels that way and he was like:
Don’t know if all sensei dudes are crazy, intense, have a dark sense of humor or D all of the above….
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Quote of the Day
“Once a secretive sport, competitive bass fishing has blossomed into one where athletes find an advantage to sharing intricate details of their successes and failures.”
– Sharing?? That’s from a POV of a college bassin’ coach. I assume he’s talkin’ ’bout within his team cuz there’s no dang WAY — from locals to the pros — that guys are gonna share anything that’s workin’!
Reminds me: One time I asked my bud’s kid what he caught a fish on. It was even his birthday, but he was like:
I think it was a nightcrawler but whatever….
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Shot of the Day
This look may be the new bassin’ cool, or one of ’em. That’s Cali bass-head @jdblackamore sportin’ the ’80s-cool Viking ‘do and all black bassin’ duds (cuz last name maybe?), which only works cuz he’s in that mild Cali weather — all black would be a 911 call anywhere east of the MS River in the summer. @electric_fishing shot
Btw in this post JD gives a code for 20% off all ‘lectric shades — git Cali stylin’….
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Random
The latest insanity from the 26 cards short of a deck folks at Peta:
> Earlier this month, Peta rolled out…alternatives to anti-animal language: instead of “taking the bull by the horns” [it’s] “take the flower by the thorns”; don’t “bring home the bacon,” but “bring home the bagels;” rather than “kill two birds with one stone,” why not “feed two birds with one scone?”
All I got to say is, went to see a Metallica cover band the other night and in the mosh pit I shot this:
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Ya got me
Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup
of the best, worst and funniest in bassin’, as curated 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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Sign up another bass-head!
If you’re forwarding every Blaster to other bass crackheads, tx much — or you can email me the addys and we’ll take care of it! We’ll never send spam, sell the list or anything else crazy….
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