We’re now publishing the BB here with a delay. So if you want it hot and timely, you gotta sign up for the daily email at the top right of this page or here. Takes about 5 seconds.

Welcome to the BassBlaster, your daily email about all things bassin’. Hey — how ’bout forwardin’ this to a bassin’ bud yet?

*|FACEBOOK:LIKE|*

Today’s Top 3

1. Hot = fish shallow.

Lately it’s been HOT a lot of places. Not a little hot, not just summer hot, but HOT. And fish have been caught ultra-shallow.

Take the recent PAA tourney at Neely Henry, AL. Winner Fred Roumbanis fished banks in 0.5-1.5 feet. Greg Hackney, who led after day 2, said some of his fish were so shallow their backs were out of the water. And now we have Gerald Swindle on summer junk-fishing, which he’s awesome at:

> “The misconception about summertime fishing is that you have to find deep ledges in 17 or 18 feet of water and throw big, deep-running plugs. Not me, man. I’m going to throw a small finesse jig or throw small crankbaits in shallow cover. I’m going to really swap it up.”

> “I love to throw small crappie crankbaits up on shallow flats where most guys would think that it’s just too hot for there to be any fish.”

> “Junk fishing is about being able to take four or five baits, such as a drop shot, shaky head, crankbait, Texas-rigged worm or a finesse jig, and apply them all over the lake. If you’ve got a big pile of rods out on the deck just flailing baits at the bank, you’re just hoping to get lucky.”

> “If you’ll rig up a couple of spinning rods with 8-pound fluorocarbon line and tie on a shaky head worm and a little finesse rig, you’re halfway there.”

2. Dave Wolak loses it.

Couple excerpts:

> He sunk his boat to get under a bridge then had his observer push him off a sandbar after he ejected the dude off the boat earlier that day at high speed because he installed a nitrous oxide system to make his boat exceed 100 mph at blastoff…oh and he also had the boat made with less fiberglass in the hull…actually paper mache…so that it’s lighter and goes faster.

> He got information from 152 different people during the cutoff and paid 27 co-anglers’ entry fees so he could get their spots too during official practice. He talked to other buddies on his cell during the tournament about spots and blasted Metallica during the National Anthem in the morning while burning flags and spitting on old ladies in the crowd. While fishing the rest of the day he jumped everyone’s spots and started an average of 4.7 fights per hour….

Whoa Dave. Funny stuff….but it’s funnier that he took the time to write it all down. Therapy maybe?

3. Check this pot-bellied smallie!

Sent in by BassBlaster reader Kent. Said he was fishing a lake where you can only keep one over 21″ and had no scale (doh!). Said it was 19 7/8″ long, figured the girth made the fish over 6: “It was the biggest, craziest-looking SMB I’ve ever seen!” We might have to agree with ya there, Kent! Smalliesquatch?

*|FACEBOOK:LIKE|*

 

More News

1. Beginning today, pro and Amistad guide Kurt Dove is the new co-host of Bass Edge‘s The Edge podcast, presented by KeelGuard. “I am stoked to have Kurt at the mic.  He’s extremely familiar with our audience and is a preparation machine that is sure to translate into more success for our listeners while their on the water,” said Bass Edge Host Aaron Martin.

2. New length limit in western NC.

Was 12″, as of today is 14″:

> The new minimum length limit will apply to all western North Carolina waters except for small portions of the New River in Alleghany County, where a special regulation conforms to Virginia regulations. The New River in that area meanders back and forth across the border of North Carolina and Virginia.

> The new length limit will replace the statewide general length limit of smallmouth and spotted bass, which were managed under a 12-inch limit previously. In addition, largemouth bass in waters in and west of Madison, Buncombe, Henderson and Polk counties, as well as in Public Mountain Trout Waters, will have the same 14-inch regulation.

> “We analyzed the data and found an opportunity to apply a single regulation for black bass in North Carolina,” said David Yow, warmwater fisheries research coordinator. “In the past we believed that black bass in these western waters grew too slowly to be managed for the larger sizes, but our recent work indicates that most of our stream and reservoir bass populations will perform well under the 14-inch limit.”

Tip of the Day

The evolution of the Alabama Rig has to be some kind of fishing record. For example the YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr., also available in an ultralight version, works great on spinning tackle. You can literally cast one of these things with five 1/8-oz jigheads and five 4″ grubs on 15-pound mono. That’s how this fish was caught. Pretty dang amazing stuff….

*|FACEBOOK:LIKE|*

 

Shot of the Day

FLW pro Dave Lefebre using a cool pic to artfully show off a sponsor. Doncha wish you were there with him that day…?

*|FACEBOOK:LIKE|*

Comment on any of these items here.