If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s because a bud signed you up!
Happy St. Pats to any fellow Irish out there! (My mom’s off the boat, which I guess is where I get this sense of humor — that and being hit in the head a couple times.) Best way to celebrate: fish for green fish. Go!
Today’s Top 5
Toledo Bend has had record high water, but seems like that lake has more big bass than the entire rest of the United States so folks are still catching DDs — as long as they’re using Zoom stuff.
Here’s Austin Hebert with a 12.11 caught in a creek near the T-Bend dam. He was casting to the shore in muddy water with a Zoom Brush Hog (watermelon orange):
Brenen Hebert with an 11.27 T-Bend wallerer he fooled near Indian Mounds flipping a Zoom Speed Craw (red/black) in buck brush:
Matt Allen of the famous Tackle-Tickle Bassin’ bros guided this dude to 11 lbs of green ham and eggs I believe on Clear Lake, CA — took a dang good picture too:
What?? A DD from Lake of the Ozarks? 10.11 lbs, caught by a guy fishing with Jack’s Guide Service on a Chompers spinnerbait. #stout
1-lb rat hits Rat-L-Trap, attracts 10-lb bass that hits Rat-L-Trap — never seen that before:
Honorable mention is this 9.75 caught in a Kentucky Lake derby with a Strike King 4S crank (chartreuse/black back) — by a guy named Perch:
You know a feesh is big when you can grab the side of his mouth like that.
Done. Over. Soon after the MD DNR closing off some creeks, check this from the same outfit:
> The Department wants to work with tournament directors to reduce the number of large fish coming to the scales.
> Beginning in March, this management action will limit possession of 15-inch or bigger largemouth bass to one per tournament angler for tournaments held in Potomac River and upper Chesapeake Bay fisheries between Jun 16 and Oct 31. Tournament anglers will still be able to possess up to five (5) bass that are 12 to 15 inches.
Well that’s friggin’ great! How ’bout one bass, three bluegill and a snakehead?? “Logic” for this:
> A lag in reproduction in recent years has and could continue to reduce numbers of older fish. This raises concern because older, bigger fish are the least common in the population and often the most retained during tournaments. These large fish are also more susceptible to post-release stress and/or mortality, especially during warmer water months.
Somewhere in that note — which you can read in full here — Joseph “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout” Love, Ph.D., MD tidal bass manager, wrote:
> I know that this action will lower the weights of bags and this may be disheartening to some anglers. It should not affect a competition for a lunker or the spirit of competition.
Dang, Joe, not sure that even qualifies as lipstick on a pig — more like a pretty lame attempt make a bomb smell like flowers. Even the neighbor’s cat is sick about it:
Still think many DNRs somehow think their customers are critters rather than license-holders.Unless there’s some exception, the Potomac Elite this year is gonna be a SNOOZE. Bet we see a lot of Beetle Spins.
#boycottMD
– Boyd Duckett talkin‘ ’bout today on the St Johns…or should I say Lake George:
> The majority of the field will take a roughly 30 minutes boat ride south on the St. Johns River to Lake George.
Opening day of the Elites sounds like opening day of trout in the Northeast:
…in pro bassin’. In other words, how the Elite Series guys break out in terms of how and what they get paid aside from payouts. Innerestin’ fo sho. Choice quote:
> The Haves: This group probably has 35-40 members in any given season. They are generally driven to perform, but perhaps not as driven as the upper two tiers for the simple fact that they don’t have to be. They’ll be able to pay their bills regardless of what they catch each day.
Read it all here. Visual illustration of the Elite classes:
Booyah Blade spinnerbait with the soon-to-be-available Yum Pulse swimbait,
2. Ike and Lefebre explain the Shadow Rap Shad.
Here’s the deal: The Shadow Rap slowly sinks. The Shadow Rap Shad slowly rises. This lets you not just cover sinking and rising, but how baits (and fish) react in different water temps. That’s the key.
Paul your phone there — did you have to Google how to do that??
6. FLW gets Old Spice…
…which I would link to if I could find it on their website (eyeroll).
7. TN: HS gal weighs in with crankbait in leg…
…then gets it pulled out. #stout
8. CA: ABA Delta derby had two 36+ limits.
Pre-spawn drops with these baits:
- 1st: Revenge Viberator (green pumpkin) with a Rage trailer, 3/4-oz Strike King Red Eye Shad (chili craw) and a Yamamoto Senko (green pumpkin).
- 2nd: Mostly a wacky-rigged Senko (watermelon red), also a River2Sea Biggie squarebill crank (orange/green) and a Chatterbait.
9. TX: Crazy amount of water in T-Bend.
Check out this dam/spillway vid:
10. NY: Why Lake Ontario bassin’ was bad last year?
> DEC aquatic biologist Jana Lantry said water temperatures this past year were about 15 to 20 degrees below averages recorded from 2004 to 2013.
11. SC: College kids fishing for Warriors.
12. DC: Money sought for endangered species.
Issue is that state DNRs have to spend angler/hunter money on endangered species work because they’re in charge of that work and that work is federally mandated — but the states don’t get any federal money to do it. So they spend our money on it…and a side issue is this whole thing probably means more animal nuts in DNRs. So:
> The Blue Ribbon Panel on Sustaining America’s Diverse Fish and Wildlife Resources recommended that $1.3 billion each year from the more than $10 billion in revenues from energy development (both renewable and traditional) and mineral development on federal lands and waters be redirected and dedicated to fund state-based conservation to address conservation needs for thousands of species.
> The panel was co-chaired by former Wyoming Governor David Freudenthal and John L. Morris, noted conservationist and founder of Bass Pro Shops.
13. Weird swimbaits.
Deps zombie ‘gill bait?
Gancraft furball?
Jackall carbon-fiber “Chibitarel” — sounds like something new from Taco Bell:
14. New Ima Schneider blade bait.
Coming May.
Tip of the Day
‘Run and shoot’ thermal refuges.
“Hot” tip by Bull Shad’s Mike Bucca:
> I’m concentrating on fishing “thermal refuges.” More specifically, INFLOW thermal refuges. A thermal refuges is a pocket or layer of water (both hot and cold) that bass seek for comfort depending on the time of the year.
> The very first fish that will move up will be in areas with the warmest water. A lot of time that warmest water is in an inflow area. Sometimes the water temp can be 10 degrees warmer or more in these inflows.
> Most of the good inflows are located in the very backs of creeks where the water is flowing into the lake. Sometimes they are cold inflows and some are warmer-water inflows. Thats where you have to do your homework and find out what is what, but keep an eye on your electronics for temperature variances. Typically the great the variance, the better the area.
> Now here is the key: Fish as many of those as you can in a day. That means you’re gonna use a ton of gas. I call it the “run and shoot offense.” Just fish the sweet spots and move on. Spend all your time in productive water. Hit whatever cover, drops, laydowns, eddies, etc. you can find in these types of areas.
Quote of the Day
The moment you step into Brent Chapman’s boat, you feel as if you are in a floating computer room.
– Guy talking about exactly what it sounds like:
> There are four Garmin high-tech electronic units humming, each set for a different function. One is used to scan the water that lies ahead, giving Chapman a video-game-like look at the structure and even the fish’s movement. Another gives him a high-detail look at what lies below.
> Another function uses GPS, satellite technology, to chart a dotted-line course back to waypoints – places where he has caught fish before. And still another gives him a view of what lies to the side of his boat.
Also from that article, here’s Bill Carson, field marketing manager for Johnson Outdoors/Humminbird:
> “We estimate that 80% of the people who buy our units don’t know how to fully utilize them.”
Make that at least 95%…myself included.
Shot of the Day
I love this shot — who cares that it’s a fly rod (Trait, she needs a pink rod yo!). Props to her dad:
Random
Since the St. Johns is tidal, might want to break off instead of retrieving that “they don’t make this no mo” bait….
Sign up another bass-head!
Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass. Get the Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:
Recommended for you
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Mike Brown
March 17, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Regarding the quote of the day and Bill Carson’s comment that 80% of their customers don’t know how to fully utilize them. He’s correct and it’s mostly due to the manufacturer’s doing a very poor job of providing easy to follow how-to written directions or videos. The consumers have to buy after market CD’s or attend seminars on how to fully utilize the products.