BassBlaster

First trophy buzzbait? Coldwater dropshot schoolie rig, Insanest bassin giveaway?

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on October 15, 2020

Fall bite slow gettin’ going where you are? Been a dog here…hope you get on ’em this weekend (if not before)!

>> If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!

Today’s Top 5

First truly big-fish buzzbait?

Now this is something that seems to make a lotta sense:

Posted by @bullshad_swimbaits — genius is apparently a guy named Mark Easterling. I called Mike Bucca and was like, “Mike is this bullshad or what?” And he’s like, “Yep it’s bullshad.” I was all, “Glad you’re honest about it anyhow….”

HAHAHAHA! Just kiddin’…but it IS complete and utter BULL SHAD!

Okay I’ll stop now…love the idea of a big swimbait on a buzzbait….

Gitcha derp rodeo rounded up lil dawgie!

Yeah buddy! Clockwise-ish from top L:

1. @sunshineandsmallies must win with this 5+ smallie caught on a top secret lake with a top secret bait

2. Brian W caught this chunky river derp on a western PA bassquatchin’ trip with a Z-Man TRD (new money).

3. FLWer Chad Grigsby got underbit by this derp brownie — Neko-rigged a Duo Realis Wriggle Crawler worm on Lake Pokemon.

4. Corey H caught this OUTSTANDIN’ specimen AND was gifted another one 2 weeks later on the same northern MI lake, where the rare wooly manatee roams free. Both were caught on a 1/2-oz Strike King Structure Jig (gp) with a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw (gp).

5. Target Walleye main man Brett McComas “finally” (he said) caught a MN derp largie: “The fish was actually pushing 4 lbs = a good one in MN.” Caught it droppin’ a Power Team Lures JP Hammer Shad on #2 VMC Finesse Neko Hook with a 3/8-oz VMC Tungsten Teardrop Drop Shot Weight.

6. @katchinfish dropshotted this river derp on a Lunkerhunt Bento Minnow — which come to think of it I need to find mine to get ’em in my boat.

7. Randy S was on Havasu, AZ — used a snipe call and a Sammy (ghost threadfin shad) to rattle up that durp.

8. Steve D got this KS derp lookin’ for a boat ride on a 3/8-oz JH Hula Jig (brown/gp/orange) and Bruiser Baits Crazy Craw (gp party).

9. Matt T jumped on the northern MI derp run with this grab n go, didn’t get the bait info….

Top 10’s baits at the Ozarks ‘Yota.

No surprise — mostly docks, brush and jigs, includin’ for winner, local Corey Cook. He flipped a 1/2-oz football jig (looks gp/brown?) with a Zoom Super Speed Craw (gp) to brush he’d sunk around docks. Some tiddlebits from FLW:

> The moment they announced his name to take off, his motor stopped working…he was able to swap into another boat, but his luck really never turned around much, from only catching 3 keepers by midday to a lost big fish to even making a few-mile run to hit 1 dock only to have 2 guys stomp across it while he was fishing it.

> Cook spent most the year sinking brushpiles around docks for this event in the Grand Glaize area, though he didn’t even bother to mark them other than in his memory. …he also says only 1 in every 5 piles he sinks is any good….

Here’s what the top 10’s baits looked like:

Jig (includes football) = 60%

Topwater = 20% — Whopper Plopper and Vixen

Buzzbait = 20%

Spinnerbait = 20%

10% each = Flip plastics, Shakey head, Vibe jig, Crankbait (Norman DD22), Drag plastics deep (not a C rig), Free rig (Japan rig with a sliding dropshot sinker out front of a TX rig)

Shout-outs:

> Lawson Hibdon finished 6th. A little surprised he didn’t use a little tube too but he’s his own man!

> Brent Chapman finished 7th.

> Joe Wieberg (9th) fished deep with that DD22 and dragging a critter bait:

> KY’s Brian Wilson (8th) and Japan’s Takayuki Koike (10th) were far from home — props to ’em for doing well among all the local hammers. I think both might have been first-timers at that lake? Here’s Takayuki’s baits:

Insanest bassin’ giveaway ever??

Okay fishin’ with Z or G def would be pretty insane, but I mean insane levels of product — talkin’ a NEW Tundra and NEW Bass Cat for starters, and even more stuff on top of that. Black Rifle Coffee and Sea Foam behind it:

BRC’s not quite there on the 2nd Amendment but we’re tryin’…HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

I think Jamey Caldwell has something to do with this deal but based on this pic gotta say I’m a little afraid to ask:

Was gonna tell him all that gear ain’t needed for pond fishin’ but maybe he can read it here instead….

They’re sellin’ swimbaits with mohawks now.

Or maybe they have been but I just saw it:

@carolinafishingtackle says it’s the Attic Lures Flat B.G Jr. Wonder if it listens to Black Flag and is rude to authority figures…lol.

News

1. We lost former FLWer Robert Beatty.

Dang. Big C got him. Chris Lane talkin’ on Bassin’Fan:

> “He was a nice guy on and off the water. But one thing about him, if you asked him where he was catching them, he’d always send you in the other direction.”

As he should! Lol love it. Bless you bassin’ brother.

2. We lost a fishing brother in LA.

Hate hearing this — 2 lessons in it for us all:

> [LA Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries] Agents said they believe that Batiste was attempting to lift his trolling motor out of the water when the rope broke causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water.

> …body was recovered without a personal flotation device.

Bless you fishing brother.

PSA: Check out T-H Marine’s G Force Trolling Motor Handle/Cord. Worth having in the boat as a spare if for no other reason (I’m talking to myself!)….

3. Santee was 1st junk-ish fishing win for Brandon Palaniuk.

Also here’s more on the gear he used, on the Rapala site.

4. Clark Wendlandt is leading AOY by 37 big points.

They’re at the Chick this week, then to Clark’s home state of TX (Fork) for the last Elite. Here’s the top:

1. Clark Wendlandt- 587
2. Cory Johnston – 550
3. David Mullins – 540
4. Drew Cook – 528
5. Seth Feider – 522
6. Austin Felix – 522

5. Ish Monroe is on BassEdge Radio.

6. Zack Birge breaks down the Yo-Zuri 3DB 1.5 Squarebill…

…on Sam Rayburn (IG vid). Check the bait n sick colors on the TW.

7. Tank Fralley shouts out his son.

You’ll know why it’s here when you click it n read.

8. Mark Menendez has new YT shows up.

9. Mark Rose is movin’ to Bass Cat.

Bass Cat head man Rick Pierce calls Mark “an upstanding citizen” which I honestly found shocking. But he said the same thing about Kevin Short too so that ‘splains it….

Lol! They know I love ’em….

10. 3 generations of Chapmaniacs are tourney fishin’.

I think that’s Brent on the right? (heehee sorry Mr Chapman!)

11. Lookit this dropshot worm Greg Vinson’s been fishing.

Says it’s the NetBait Crush Worm — I’d like to crush it too? Or something?

12. NV: Tim Klinger won the US Open.

Former FLWer, congrats to him cuz that’s still a derby full o’ hammers. Here’s how tough (or normal?) Mead was fishing:

> Klinger started the tournament with a 7.66-lb limit on day 1…42nd place for the day. …brought the heaviest 5-fish limit of the tournament to the scales on day 2 [13.49]…included a 5-lber, to move to 2nd place. On the final day…he posted the only double-digit limit of the day, a 10.92-lb bag, bringing his 3-day total to 32.07….

> …8.5″ Berkley PowerBait Power Worm [motor oil and gp with] 5/16- to 1/2-oz tungsten weights and a 4/0 Hayabusa HD Worm Hook…. He also mixed in a PowerBait Chigger Craw….

> He spent half of the first day in the Vegas Wash area but ran to a backup area in the Overton arm. “I found a spot that had some deep trees on it many years ago when the lake was low, and I visited it several times, they finally showed up on it late yesterday,” he said. “I was fishing in 18′ of water….”

Shout-outs from the standin’s:

> MLFer Roy Hawk finished 2nd on top with an Evergreen Showerblow and a Duo Realis Pencil 110.

> More good MLFer finishes: Jared Lintner (10th), Brett Hite (12th), Josh Bertrand (17th).

> Stoked Aaron Martens was able to make the long drive and finish 28th!

13. FLWer Casey Scanlon gets Tackle HD.

Heard Tackle HD makes good stuff, but that was from Worldwide Watson so…heehee!

14. GA/SC: Dude caught a 10-lb tourney bass on Clarks Hill.

Had no idea bass got that big there:

> …53-yr-old Brad Collins’ victory in the Mr. Clark Hill Bass Fishing Championships….

> “I started looking for a big fish and about 2 pm I had a strike. But it turned out to be a 15-lb striped bass…. I cast again, got another strike and it felt like a catfish. Those fish don’t jump and just hug the bottom. I could feel it shaking its head just like a catfish, so I grabbed my pliers because I wasn’t going to put that nasty thing in my boat. I was planning to use the pliers to unhook it without taking it out of the water.

> “When I finally fought it to the surface and saw what it was, I nearly had a coronary! I dropped the pliers and grabbed my landing net. It was a big female bass…I was able to cull a 2-lber…and replace it with the 10-lb 13-oz fish.”

Caught it on a 3/4-oz Greenfish Tackle Jig (brown) with a Zoom Z-Craw.

15. AL: Neely Henry has too many tourneys now?

Local bass-head says maybe stocking or 3-fish limits can help?

16. FL: Okeechobee bass should start spawning soon??

Maybe means pre-spawn? FL peeps?

> As the fall closes in Okeechobee will start to fire up with giant spawning bass as well.

Also this sounds good:

> …water level is over 16′ which opens up areas of the lake to new areas that have been unfishable in the last couple of years.

17. LA is drawing down Bistineau…

…partly to help flush out giant salvinia.

18. Check the FishLab Bio Minnow swimmin’.

Pretty sweet:

New colors already on TW. Full swimmin vid here (YT).

19. Seen on TW’s Insta: Flat Worms update.

Keep hittin’ refresh, you might get lucky. Same on MaxScent Flatnose Minnows….

20. Big trailer on a mini jig?

BioSpawn posted this mini jig with their ExoPod trailer — I dig the little/big combo:

21. BB apparel has free shippin’ til the end of the month!

No code needed but lmk if you find out different (hope not!). Such like:

22. KastKing intros new finesse baitcaster.

Remember when I said looks like light weight is a new trend?

> …KastKing Zephyr BFS [Bait Finesse System] baitcasting reel. BFS originated in Japan…for largemouth bass fishing in highly-pressured areas with smaller, lighter lures and fishing lines.

> …the Zephyr uses an extremely lightweight (9 gram) and shallow spool made for use with lightweight lines from 4- to 8-lb. …for making accurate short-range casts using light line and extremely light baits down to 1.5 grams [0.05 oz??], or filled with heavier line it can be used for high-velocity, low-trajectory skipping and pitching around docks and heavy cover.

23. “Grasshopper” is a tube color?

In AR?

24. All-‘lecvtric GMC Hummer EV “Super Truck” coming.

Supposed to take the wraps off it on Oct 20.

25. IL is having Asian carp cookouts on Sat.

Across the state. If anyone goes and tastes these fish — that allgedly taste like crappie — pls lmk.

26. VA: Zebras might not do well at Smith Mntn?

Scientist says the water might be too warm (TX tho??) and not enough calcium. Hmm. Hope he’s right but I’m gonna short that stock….

27. TX store sells crawfish ice cream.

Says it sells out…I assume they’re selling it to bass cuz that sounds a little…nasty? Like puttin’ Smelly Jelly in it??

Anyone ever try it?

Headline of the Day

New Vault Toilet by the Fish Cleaning Station at Indian Creek

Only a fisherman can appreciate what that means….

Lines of the Day

…the fish aren’t quite as sanguine.

WTHeck does that even mean man. At Lake of the Ozarks. No idea you needed a dictionary to fish that lake….

Even a bad twitch can still lead to good days of bass fishing….

Seen a good twitch help in Seth Feider’s boat for sure (#MntnDew) but not sure about a bad one:

Update

Heard from bass-head Bill H that the GT knot is a real good braid-to-fluoro knot. In the YT vid it looks pretty easy AND says the IGFA tested knots and found this one was the strongest.

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

> Santee winning and top baits, Couple 30+ limits! Quicker braid fluoro knots

> How Brandon Palaniuk won the Santee Cooper Elite

Note: The TackleWarehouse links in this email are affiliate links, meaning if you go through them to make a purchase I might earn a commission…at no cost to you. Click here if you want to learn a little more about links in the BB.

Tip of the Day

Anthony Gagliardi’s crazy cold-water dropshotting deal.

Is Anthony crazy? Guess you’ll have to ask his relatives — nope, scratch that. Ask the local 5-0…HAHAHA! Anyhow, this rig is different but after readin’ I might rig up a deal like this for the weekend — from the MLFers site:

> …a 3/16- to 1/4-oz belly-weighted hook, a 1- to 1.5-oz dropshot weight on a 5′ to 6′ leader, 14-lb fluorocarbon and a casting rod.

> That heavy dropshot weight carries that bait all the way down to the bottom really fast, and then you just fish it like a spoon.

> Once it hits the bottom, you pop it back up and let it flutter back down to the bottom. That weighted hook is going to help as well because you’re going to have a lot of resistance with a lot of line. I want that jerkbait to get down there as fast as possible, so that weighted hook is very important.

> Most of the time I can barely get it to the bottom before a bass comes over to grab it.

> Back home on Lake Murray, I use this technique in about 28′ of water…but if I’m on Lake Lanier I wouldn’t be shy trying this at around 50′. As long as you can see shad or bass on your electronics….

> The biggest thing is that you want this bait to fall on slack line.

Quote of the Day

“Imagine a little 20′ bass boat bouncing around.”

– Little?? Was about to be all offended (lol) but that’s a Coastie talkin’ ’bout shadowing a bass tub headin’ back to shore in 8 FOOT SEAS on Erie. Dang! Thank the Lord for the Coast Guard man…except when they waste your time on that boat check deal (kiddin’).

Shot of the Day

Primo West Coast/Daiwa shooter Casey Yoern pulls another new look outta his brain/machine. Don’t know how he does it but I’m bettin’ that Polaroid’s in his hands all the dang time:

Random

Couple:

1. Van Halen live in Fresno, CA, Sept 22, 1978. Insanely cool and good (YT vid).

2. Man Slowly Eats Bag Of Cheetos All Day So He Won’t Have To Wear A Mask

If you haven’t seen the Babylon Bee funny stuff yet, you need to!

Ya got me

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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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