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ALMOST back in the saddle. Got a couple new things installed and updated all the electronics, though today Humminbird came out with a new update! Thankfully that One Boat Network App makes it pretty easy.
Spent 10 hours Saturday working on the whole deal. An hour at Rockwall Marine making sure everything was working together and I understood it enough to use it.
Then 9 hours at home cleaning the real pretty rig (love the white with black and red), and going through the boat to a) remember what I had in there and b) changing out pretty much everything because what I wasn't catching fish on in NJ won't hold up in TX!
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Haven't finished the tackle yet. My new bud Doc (aka "Big Eye" 😆) says all I need are jigs and shakey heads. I told him I can't disrespect my tackle or boat compartments like that – I need to cram as much in there as I can lol.
Ton of wind/storms in the Dallas area all week, so I hope to get out this weekend. And hope you've been smashin' 'em!
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Gitcha Blaster video fix here:
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If your email program cuts off the bottom of the 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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Is there a best troller for FFS?
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Oooo this might get some folks going. But I have been told by flat-out FFS hammers (younger cats I won't name) that the Minn Kota Ultrex QUEST is the best. And not just for FFS.
Gonna get into what Brandon "Baskin-Robbins" Palaniuk says about the QUEST rules, but before that a few things:
- Yep Brandon is sponsored by Minn Kota/'Bird.
- Yep MK/HB sponsors the BassBlaster.
- Yep you might have a 100% different opinion, all good.
And then there's this factoid: I believe 43 (ish) Elites are running the Ultrex QUEST, and MK only sponsors 11. (Also 60-ish Elites have Humminbird MEGA 360, same 11 sponsored.)
With all that disclaimered, heeeeeere's BMP talkin' in a Minn Kota YT vid:
> "One of the biggest things in forward-facing sonar is knowing which angle to make your cast at. A lot of people overlook how important the precision of your trolling motor is....
> ...being able to have that actual cable drive with the electric assist so you get the quiet, smooth operation of the steering of your trolling motor. As you do it more and more...that's where that cable drive, being able to know exactly how my foot is positioned, is exactly where that head is pointing.
> "You'll get to a point you don't even have to use the directional head.
> "[The QUEST] allows you to better pinpoint and stay locked on your target, as well as give you better bait tracking throughout the water column.
> "As fast as these fish move and change, their angles change, their attitudes change, your equipment has to be able to keep up. This is especially important targeting fish at further distances. Being able to make micro adjustments as those fish are moving and swimming, chasing bait.
> "...improved torque and efficiency for open-water searching or burning down the bank. ...sneak up closer to the fish. ...50% more torque and 30% more efficiency with the Ultrex QUEST compared to trolling motors of the past...it's also more quiet."
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Top 10 baits breakdown from the no-FFS Grand Lake Open
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Congrats to AL's Wyatt "Earp" Burkhalter who B.A.S.S. said "took a terrible practice and a lure he'd never thrown before" and won – by 11-10 in a no-FFS tourney!
He fished rocky main-lake points with a shad spawn, and his main bait was a 1/2-oz chart/white spinnerbait with a single gold CO or gold OK (turtle back) blade, and the trailer was a Zoom Grub with the tail dyed red:
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The jig is a 7/16-oz, and that swimbait on the left is the Z-Man Swag LT in what looks like a real nice color.
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New B.A.S.S. Nation record set with HideUp Coike
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TX's Andrew Rickman won it at Toledo Bend with a giant 95-15 over 3 days. He caught 'em on the Coike, which he's been fishing for about a year, and said it's his "go-to" confidence bait.
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😁 He caught 'em around stumps at the edge of 5-10' flats that dropped off into deeper water:
> The key, he said, was a simultaneous shad spawn where the flats dropped to 30' or more.
> 14 of the keepers he weighed came on a HideUp Coike (gp/blue flake). ...a 7' 4" spinning rod with a solid tip that aided accurate casting. He fished with 10-lb Seaguar braid and 17-lb Seaguar leader.
> "Once you set the hook with that set up, nothing is breaking off. That was huge because my fish were hungry. All of them were post-spawn and they were heading out deep. It was like their last stop before heading out."
Heard at Redcrest from someone that had been in Japan that the Coike craze (for the fish) lasted 4-5 years. BUT they have a lot fewer bass lakes there so...🤔
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1. Beaver Lake tidbits from Wesley Strader
He fished there a bunch when Beaver was the old FLW "close to Wally-Mart HQ" regular stop. What he said on the MLF site:
> I'm always looking for the gravel mix – maybe it's where gravel and chunk rock come together or some other rock transition. That's always a big deal on these lakes....
> It should be very similar to what we saw on Table Rock because Beaver Lake is usually a little behind. With our event right around a full moon, there's a chance that we could see a full-blown spawning event. [Paging Keith Carson....]
> ...our minimum weight for a scorable bass on Beaver Lake is lower, at 1-08, which could put a lot more of those spawning spotted bass in play.
> Another staple in the Ozarks this time of year is a crawfish crankbait.... Beaver Lake is a notorious Wiggle Wart-style crankbait lake on those rock transitions.
> Beaver has so many crawfish in it...some of the biggest ones I've ever seen in my life...as big as the tips of your fingers to your wrist.
2. Trey McKinney uses 1/2 a spool of backing on his spin reel
Quick YT video, doesn't say what he uses for the backing but says that way he can get 2 spools worth from 1 spool. His braid in the vid is Seaguar JDM PEX8, and he's spooling up using one of the Seaguar line/leader management bags.
3. John Crews autism jersey auction for charity
All proceeds go to the VA Institute of Autism.
4. AR: OK's Rickey Morris won Millwood NPFL
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Sounds like he flipped/punched the whole time. Here's your top 10. Jared's practice was shortened by being under the weather – he punched and fished a buzzbait.
1. Rickey Morris - 48-0
2. Jared Lintner - 47-0
3. Brock Mosley - 46-12
4. Shane Lineberger - 45-2
5. Matt Herren - 44-15
6. Barron Adams - 43-12
7. Ryan Satterfield - 43-5
8. Ray Hanselman - 43-1
9. Keith Bardolf - 42-11
10. Greg Hackney - 41-7
Zack Birge finished 11th, his 2nd WORST finish of the year across the NPFL and BPT!
5. Kristine Fischer almost cracked the top 10 at Grand
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She finished 11th. I can't remember a gal finishing that high in a major event in a while. Maybe I'm forgetting someone?
Will she be the first woman to crack the bigs? She hasn't exactly been tearing it up on the Opens (yet), but I've said it before – it 100% could happen, and I think it will at some point. The bass don't care who's on the other end of the line!
And I gotta point out that it seems like a lot of women just have a different "touch" (energy?) with the rod than us guys do. Which is an advantage sometimes.
Reminder that this Open was no FFS.
6. Former Elite Clent Davis is the new Montevallo U coach
Cool deal. Not sure what happened with the old coach who apparently did a stellar job. Either way, the announcement says Clent graduated from Montevallo, and he of course had a stellar pro career (FLW ROY, FLW Cup champ, Elite angler, Classic qualifier). Cool story:
> "I met Justin Lucas through college fishing, and he was trying to find a place to move into down here. He lived at my house for about a year and talked me into fishing a regional event as a co-angler.
> "I entered my first regional event in 2010 and was very successful out of the back of the boat. The next year (2011), I fished the FLW Tour as a co-angler and won Pickwick, which made me enough money ($25,000) to pay my way into the front of the boat for the next year, and that's how I fished my first year of the FLW Tour."
Be careful listening to Lucas! lol
7. CA stocked 3 species of bass in a 7.5-acre pond??
The park pond at Gibson Ranch in Sacramento County. Maybe they were leftovers from stocking other places?
8. Frog Factory has 3 new baits...which are all frogs 🐸 😁
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6 colors, not on TW yet but you can get 'em on the GSM site.
There's also a new Baby Boom that's also only on the GSM site right now.
9. 25% off Sufix 832 150-yard spools at TW!
A lot of folks like that braid...Jacob Wheeler for one....
10. Humminbird software update: screen vids
For XPLORE, gen3 SOLIX and APEX units:
> ...anglers can now capture what they're seeing directly from their units, while also taking advantage of a much simpler, Wi-Fi-based update process across their system.
> Screenshots recording is available across all 3 platforms (up to 30 seconds back and 2 minutes forward), with XPLORE also offering on-screen video recording.
> Content can be reviewed on the unit or sent straight to a phone through the One-Boat Network App, making it easy to save and share fish catches, structure and sonar returns without extra gear.
> Once Update 6.090 is installed, connect your XPLORE, APEX, or SOLIX G3 to Wi-Fi, and download future software updates over Wi-Fi. Download updates on one device and install them on all connected units, making individual unit updates a thing of the past.
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Couple good shakey head tips
Working it and the hookset – Luke Clausen and Shin Fukae from the MLF site:
> Luke: "...easy to overwork, negating its effectiveness. ...I simply drag it along while holding light tension on the line, feeling the bottom.
> "...when I do shake it, I'm just lightly shaking the slack in the line because that's all it takes to make the worm kind of 'peck' at the bottom."
As for hooksets, go easy.
> Shin: "For hooksets, I sweep the rod and reel into the fish easily. A hard hookset is bad."
> ...Fukae said a hard, violent set tends to startle a fish, making it panic and go wild. Leaning back and loading the rod while reeling into the fish doesn't seem to startle the fish as badly.
I gotta train myself to do that somehow...with jigs and flip baits too...maybe. 😁
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"I learned a lot from Drew, which is one of the benefits of fishing as a team partner or a co-angler."
- Mike Ike and Ellie talkin' 'bout fishing with Drew Benton on B.A.S.S.'s new Tuesday Night Live deal, which in my 2c is a great idea.
Think about that for 1 sec – Mike is a 30-year pro, Classic winner, a Hall of Famer, and he's learning from being in the boat with a another pro. So when I say you 100% can't know how good these guys are til you're in the boat with them, maybe that gives you an idea what I mean.
What they do looks the same as what we do, and some days a select few of us can flip, spinnerbait, ping, etc as good as some of them. But ask yourself this: If you fished for a living for like 200+ days a year at the tippy-top level of competition (in multi-day tourneys), do you think you'd maybe be at another level?
Heck yeah mang!
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MO's Justin Layton don't need to stinkin' tourney jersey! 💪 Take that Matt Robertson! 😁 He finished 9th at the Grand Open. Not sure what's mo betta – the no sleeves or the safety-pinned patch on there lol – love it man!
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest stuff in bassin', hand-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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Check out BassGold.com! It's FREE!
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 or whatever....
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GITCHA HANDS ON THE BEST STUFF!
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Gitcha BB social at these links
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