BassBlaster

Fish big baits now, Mimic giant gobies, Learn something new fast

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Today’s Top 5

How to get good at a new technique, fast.

Brandon Card talkin’ on the Bassin’masters — real innerestin’:

> People think you need to fish any given bait or technique for a long time to get good at it. I don’t believe that. If you experiment with something new when the conditions are right for it, the odds are that you’ll start catching bass with it right away. A few good days of fishing will give you all the confidence you need to utilize that technique in a tournament situation.

Example:

> This time the conditions were perfect for the Neko rig, and I slayed them with it. I learned the feel of that bait and the way bass wanted it fished. Now it’s something I throw a lot.

Flipside — how to get bad at a technique fast:

> [At Cherokee, TN] I fished the Damiki rig [named for the Damiki Armor Shad] all day several times without getting a bite. Every trip hurt my confidence in it. By the time the tournament rolled around I was so fed up with the Damiki rig that I wouldn’t use it. Other pros dominated that event with the Damiki rig, and I had the worst tournament of my career.

Remember that Brandon’s pretty mellow — til he’s either on the fish or not on ’em:

What gobies you mimicking?

For you Great Lakes peeps and others who wish their lakes had gobies, check this (from here):

> …the nest-guarding parental males were big, black and had wide heads. The small female-like sneaker males were tiny, mottled brown and had narrow heads.

How big’s big? Check it:

Top: The big black (NOT gp!) one is the nest-guarding male — all 12.5″ of him. The other one is the “sneaker” male.

Bottom: Just in case you think that “yuge” black one isn’t real, there’s another one — that’s what they look like man….

Bet some of this is why a certain bassin’ TV host designed this jighead:

Gitcha ultra-wide-headed giant-sized gobies on! #gobyswimbait

Kevin Short puts the lie to “have to” winter finessin’.

Not sayin’ finesse doesn’t work, but Short’s showin’ us that’s not all that works:

Check that shad tail in the back!

Think about it:

> Prey in a lake doesn’t magically shrink when the water temp drops.

> Yep, the basses slow down but SO DOES EVERYTHING ELSE!

> Never seen any science on it, but I bet a bass’ mouth suction doesn’t get much if any slower or less effective when it’s cold.

Just one bassers 2c….

Do you test-drive your sonar?

Here’s Mikey McClelland talkin’ ’bout the Garmin Panoptix LiveScope, but could be talkin’ any new sonar:

> Rotate your trolling motor side to side slowly. Go over the top of the boat ramp to see what riprap and rock look like. Take a look at something you can see running from above water into the water so you can understand what it looks like under the water.

I’m always itchin’ to fish so bad I really don’t spend enough time shakin’ down my gear. You feel me?

Little more from Mike:

How ’bout that hat!

Hahaha! That’s el ultimo dude in el Primo Clasico, Matthew Robertson, a 32-yr-old bass-head from KY who I guess doesn’t know what sandbaggin’ is??

Here’s how he (and his pard) caught ’em at the Harris Chain, FL:

> Many of the nearly 400 anglers competing this week fished grassbeds and shorelines… Robertson, however, opted to fish 150 yards offshore in about 9-10’…no visible structure there, just a hard spot….

> “…pulled out some big swimbaits, a big spinnerbait and a big crankbait…key lures included a SPRO Big John crankbait (citrus) and a 7″ swimbait with a 1-oz jighead.”

No idea what a SPRO Big John is (maybe Johnny Crews in the weight room sluggin’ down some creatine??) but maybe it was the SPRO Little John XL?

Congrats man! And wear that hat at the Classic…it’ll for sure mess with peeps….

News

1. LA: Little fishin’ dude just wants Christmas cards.

8-yr-old boy has an inoperable brain tumor. Send a card to:
Drake Quibodeaux
2412 Hwy 388
Vinton, LA 70668

2. Mark Rose talks the Neddy Flanders Rig.

Uh-oh heeeeeeeere we go on the BPT! Mark’s a ledge hammer, so to see this makes me a little…nauseous? Fearful? Sad?

3. Wes Strader thinks the Neko rig will make him better.

> “If I got that one down, I think I’d be even more competitive than I am.”

He saw Brent Ehrler at the ramp the other day and was like:

Here’s a total Neko rundown vid with Brent.

4. TN: Pros doing classes at church again.

Ott “er” DeFoe (Jan. 3)
Brad Burkhart (Jan. 10)
Brandon Card (Jan. 17)
Brian Ooten (Jan. 24)
Jake Lee (Jan. 31) [no relation to Ozzy’s former guit-player]
John Carroll (Feb. 7)
John Murray (Feb. 21)

Jeremy Swanson (Feb. 28)

All classes Thursday nights at 6:30 pm — at Grace Point Fellowship, 130 VFW Road, Kingsport, TN 37663.

5. Kick some bass!

B.A.S.S. writer Robert Montgomery’s bassin’ book is on fie-ya at amazon.com yo! Kindle version too.

6. I missed this: BPT winning weight is final day only.

I think I’m reading this right?

> Tournament champion will not be determined by cumulative weight, but by weight caught on final day, reminiscent of how the Forrest Wood Cup champion was determined between 1996-2000.

Believe FLW did it after that? The bracket-style deal where weights were zeroed on day 3 then again on day 4, and regular-season derbies where weights were zeroed after the first 2 days.

Back then the pros and fans hated the zeroing out, which is why FLW scrapped it. Wonder if peeps feel differently now.

7. TX: State record meanmouth now official.

Cody Morrison caught it at Ray Roberts in Oct on a chart/white spinnerbait, weighed 6.01 lbs — supposed to be a spot/smallie hybrid:

8. MI: Registration for bass derbies opens Jan 1.

9. NY: Mercury, PCBs falling in Onondaga Lake smallies.

However vape use is on the rise…hahaha! Okay vapes ain’t funny….

10. DC: Will EPA rollback of some Clean Water Act stuff be bad?

Depends who you listen to….

11. WI: NPAA conference is Jan 4-6.

12. If you’ve ever been involved in high school bassin’…

…but not as a HS angler, take this survey.

13. AFTCO’s got women’s bassin’ apparel.

Will leave the ladies to judge it, but looks like the stuff the gals in my house wear so…. Check it on aftco.com — I can’t link it.

14. Canadian use of Asian Carp for bait is happening.

The company that published this is also figuring out how to live-transport KY/TN Asian carp to Asian markets:

> …recent approval from the Department of Fisheries in Canada allowing Live Stor America to import Asian Carp into Canada for lobster/snow crab bait. This invasive species product must be frozen and cut in pieces.

> The bait industry on the east coast of Canada uses hundreds of millions of lbs of bait per year, and the existing lobster/snow crab biomass of herring and mackerel are in decline due to overfishing and warming water temperatures….

Tip of the Day

Why Aaron Martens likes to dropshot…shallow.

I’m betting one reason is cuz he thinks hardly anyone else is doing it. But now the cat’s ex-caped so:

> “I’ve done really well with a good shallow dropshot bite…like pitching and flipping it. Even though I don’t really like the dropshot technique….

> “I usually use light weights. In heavier cover, I’ll go up to 20-lb line, a flipping hook, and a 6″ worm. In less cover, or dealing with more skittish fish, I fish a lot of the 12-lb braid, 10-lb leader, 1/0 hook and 4” worm.

> [It] catches them quick, and it really works better than guys wacky-rigging and floating worms. It works fast.”

Guess in MLF/BPT land, fast is much more important now?

One time Aaron and I were fun-fishing — but against each other. My phone dings, I look and he sent me this:

I yelled at him, “You been saving that up for someone or what?” Then he set the hook on a 5-lber. I was like, “Come on man, WTHeck!” I’ll never beat that dude…..

Quote of the Day

“Those guys [already in the Classic] don’t know who I am right now. But come March, I want them to show them what I can do.”

– That’s the dude who got the last Classic spot, Matthew Robertson, talkin’. Not sure whether to high 5 him for having some stones and a great attitude, or hit him with the eyeroll emoji cuz he’s gonna be up against some sho-nuff hammers….

Shot of the Day

Check the emotion on this dude after winning the fully-rigged Phoenix given away every year by the FL DNR as part of the TrophyCatch program. Looks like he couldn’t even stay on his feet!

Winner gets drawn from 5 finalists, which is pretty cool. The winner this time — bass-head Benjamin Porter — said:

> “I still can’t believe I won the boat. This is life changing.”

No doubt! Any bassin’ rig is, but a brand spankin’ new one is like it’s your birthday every day man….

Random

City frogs have sexier calls than country frogs, study finds

Maybe because there’s hardly any city frogs? And they don’t have to worry about stuff like our friend Larry the Largie creepin’ up on ’em?

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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