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Lotta bassin' last weekend! Gonna have the deets from Jason "single Colorado" Christie in the next Blaster, this one has the Murray BPT. Got some good stuff from Jason.
Interesting thing a college fisherman told me. He said he would rather not fish the jighead minnow but has to to be able to compete. Just in case you think younger folks all love the minnow....
That's what it takes to do well in college, so they all have to get real good at it – they're competing against 200 or whatever teams doing the same thing at pretty much every tournament. So you might say the bass are raising them up different. FFS boot camp.
So far B.A.S.S. and MLF have chosen not to restrict FFS for college-level fishermen.
Hope you and yours are doing well!
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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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How Drew Gill won again (already!) at Lake Murray
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Drew had some rookie year last year on the MLF Bass Pro Tour: a win, a 2nd, a 3rd and two 4ths in 7 tournaments. Kinda insane. So far this season he's finished 7th, 11th and now 1st on the BPT, has a 2nd on the Invitationals and two 10ths on the Toyotas. I mean, do you think he's got it going on?? 🤯
Here's how he put this one to bed. As usual he dropped a lot of unique "Drew juice" (Gill juice?? 🤔) – this version is shortened, full deets on the BB site here.
Going in and practice
> "I spent the entire practice figuring out the best way.... I figured out that the highest bite percentage for me fishing with Scope was fishing for deep ones – 25-35' [most guys were Scoping in 10-15']. ...fewer [fish] than everywhere else, but I could stay around a lot of them and they bit...and that was the most important thing.
> "...fish that are deeper is another way to get fish further from the boat. Your casting distance is fixed – you can only cast so far. If I throw an 80' cast [to a fish] 5' deep, he's closer to the boat than if I throw an 80' cast and he's 30' deep. So it's a good way to put distance between you and the fish....
> "...be efficient by being in a zone of the lake that doesn't have as many darn stripers. The mid part of the lake had the most insignificant striper population."
> For the non-FFS periods: "Because I couldn't directly target a fish, I had to have the other aspect of it which is, What is the highest bite percentage I can get while still being confident that I can put a bait directly in front of bass? ...led me to the docks.
> "You could [skip a bait under a dock and] at first they would never react. After a few seconds they'd swim down and look at it. Sometimes they'd swim away. And then they'd come back and eat it.
> "...I knew that some would come and eat it within a 5-10 second span...but most times in practice it was taking me 30-45 seconds...to get one to eat.
> "I wanted to fish the shallowest docks I could that I was still confident there would often be fish under. [Shallow ones because he would] not have to wait as long for them to close the distance to the bottom, and...I could still pull one down [because it could see his bait]. ...led me into the 5-8' zone.
> "That Neko rig had the best bite percentage in general, but I knew I had to be really patient. I'd let it go to the bottom and I'd wait. I'd shake the slack a couple times – I'd shake it in place without moving it – and then I'd wait.
> "Pre-Scope, we'd have thought we were fishing for bed-fish...which was not the case. They were suspended under the floats, but they were acting so odd."
Tournament
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He chose to use FFS period 1 of each day:
> "It was kind of that typical herring lake ditch deal where it only really played in the morning. You had to go out and get it quick because it fizzled at 9-9:15 in the morning.
> "Due to daylight savings...having that extra hour of the morning bite is the reason I won. I had between 25 and 30 lbs the first 3 days during the Scope period, and then I had 45 [lbs day 4].
> "The 1st day I went out and fished for my minnow fish trying to catch them as efficiently as possible and figure out what zones [areas] I wanted to be in. It was dead in the beginning of the period, then I smoked 'em...dead again and then I smoked 'em at the end.
> "...this is gonna be a deal where you're going to have to get in a hot stretch. It's not going to be that you can nickel and dime. You're gonna have to get in a zone [area/spot] where they set up right and catch them fast, and as soon as you recognize it's starting to trail off you've got to move.
> "The dock deal I found in practice was shallow and it was up-lake so it was dirty water. ...I was like, If it's this cold [which it was day 1]...their radius of distance that they're going to be willing to come follow my bait will be [less]. I won't be super efficient fishing in this dirty water when the water temp's dropped 4 degrees....
> "So if they're not willing to come as far to find [his bait], I have to find clean water that allows the fish to be more aware of it. If they can see it, it will increase the odds of one being willing to follow my bait.
> "So I looked for cleaner water the afternoon of day 1 and put together a pretty good final period....
> "The 2nd day I know I realistically don't have to catch more than 20 lbs.... I start fishing new stuff in the Scope period. I get in an area and noticed a school of fish, a group of 25-30 of them...alright that's gonna be a deal. If can get around some groups, I can catch them pretty fast.
> "That day I found a couple new zones.... I ended up catching a couple at the very end of the period on some deep stumps in like 30'. They were the easiest to catch...they were dumb When I saw that I was super excited.
> "The average size was better. The average size of my minnow fish was right at 3, and the average size on the bottom fish was more like 3.5. So I was like, I'm going to integrate that where I can....
> Knockout Round: "I had struggles getting them to bite...gave me mixed emotions on what I wanted to do. Those bottom fish were easier to catch and the minnow fish had gotten a little harder to catch.
> "The 2nd period I started with two 4.5-lbers and a 3 skipping docks. It was 73 degrees, full sun, a beautiful day for skipping a worm under a dock.
> "I caught 2 more toward the end of the period. At that point I started just looking – skip and shake [off], skip and shake. I felt pretty good about it.
> "I thought...if I can win the Scope period [the final day], if I catch more than 40 lbs I think I can win the tournament. I was pretty confident I could catch no less than 25 lbs just fishing [the later 2 periods]."
Day 4 he started by catching singles or 1 out of doubles, and 3-4 off the bottom:
> "All were on 1 little zone of stumps about 30' deep. They were so easy to catch you could even catch them after you'd hooked and lost them.
> "Things were not going well in the 2nd period. I started period 2 9 lbs above Jacob and now I was 6 lbs below...within 1 bite of Jacob at the end of the 2nd period.
> "I had to find a way to beat Jacob in the last period. I beat him in the 1st, he beat me in the 2nd, let's beat him in the 3rd.
> "...another hour and 45 minutes [left in the last period], we've got time to get a couple more scoreables – at that point it just went dead. The last hour and 45 minutes I did not catch a bass and he caught 1.
> "Somehow those 4 I caught [in that period] was enough to stave him off. It was a very stressful day...the most stressful hour of bass fishing I've ever experienced in my life."
Baits
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> Jig n minnow – 4" fork-tail minnow (wakasagi-ish color, clear/brown back), 1/4-oz 90-degree ball jighead, 22-lb braid to 12-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Platinum Spin Reel (200 size), 7' L Phenix Ultra MBX Spin Rod.
> Neko for docks – 7" Big Bite Baits Nekorama Worm (gp/black flake), #1 Roboworm Rebarb Hook, 1/16-oz BPS XPS Tungsten Neko Weight, 22-lb braid to 12-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, BPS Johnny Morris Signature Spin Reel (300), 7' 6" ML Phenix K2 Spin Rod.
Electronics
He is now all Garmin:
> "I run my Scope 100' out, 45' down, and had it dialed pretty hot on the gain to see them deep and far out from the boat. I wanted to have as much distance to work with them as I could.
> For the docks: "A big thing was the depth shading feature on my Garmin units. I was shading that 5-8' zone on my unit, and could look on my units [to see how many docks were floating over that depth]. If it was a floating dock over 5-8' water I would get pretty excited about it."
His LiveScope is on a GPSMap 1643 and he has 3 EchoMap Ultra 2 12s.
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3 Qs with The Human Bassin' Calculator 😁
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Drew's a good sport and quick-witted – nailed 'em all no problemo! Even got to preachin' one time – let's go:
1. What did you say to Jacob Wheeler before blastoff on day 4 – was it:
- "2 men enter, 1 man leaves." [Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome]
- "You can take away our fish, but you can't take away – our freedom!" [Braveheart]
- "Hey Goliath – this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand!" [David vs Goliath]
> "[Laughs] I like the third one, that's a good one. Because of the fact that I didn't catch them super good the rest of the day, he was delivered into my hand. I did not deliver him myself."
2. After a 7th, an 11th and a win this year, can you now confirm that younger guys who are good with FFS can't catch 'em any other way? 😁
> "[Laughs] Yeah they're only good because they know how to look at a dot on a screen and throw at it.
> "It should have been a point that didn't even have to be argued. What would that say about our field of anglers, if somebody could show up [who knew FFS]...and beat [everyone] because they throw at dots.
> "[With FFS] we've been privy to the ability to watch [bass] live their lives, and there are facts and truths about that that are universal regardless of whether we can actively see them. ...it teaches us how to catch 'em even when we can't see 'em. Because we now know how they think.
[Dang, we do?? 🤔 I need to go to Drew U....]
> "The people that are now becoming dominant in bass fishing...they're becoming so great because they're learning about how bass live their lives...not because they throw at dots on a screen.
> "Anyone and everyone can throw at dots on a screen. We all have Scope [on the tours] so it's not a separating factor. [Younger Scopers at the top have] taken the time to know what [the fish] actually do and apply those truths to how they fish, regardless of whether they're actively looking [with FFS].
> "Truth is truth, and universal truth is what is starting to rule bass fishing. Not age, not Scope. The ability to know objective fact from fiction."
3. Always wanted to ask – is your parents' favorite fish a bluegill?
> "[Laughs] They always had a joke that they were going to name my sister Ima Blue Gill.... That would have been very funny.
> "So I would say yes probably there's some partiality in there. But I think they've probably got an affinity for the largemouth bass over the last few years."
Follow-up: Is it true your parents put a transducer and a calculator in your crib for you to play with? 😁
> "Um I mean to be honest they let me have a lot of uninterrupted screen time – transducers, calculators, I spent more time with an iPad than my own family so I could be more in touch with technology than humans. Obviously that's all a joke.
> "I wish they did because maybe if they did I'd be 10 times better than I am now. But I was too busy watching Little Einstein."
Hahaha good job Drew!
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2nd: Jacob "four" Wheeler
> "From the beginning of the week...a [Rapala] DT6 in 'mule' played cranking rocky shoals and rocky points. This pattern for me had to be more main lake and first 1/3 of the creeks. Those fish were a little bit further behind and were set up pre-spawn, eating crawfish big-time.
> "As the tournament progressed, the threadfin shad moved into the back of several pockets and creek arms – specifically in the morning. I was fortunate to find a couple places that mostly had bass on those shad. A lot of guys didn't get on this deal because there's so many stripers in Lake Murray....
> "For the FFS period I used a CrushCity Mooch Minnow in 'gizzard shad' with the new 1/8-oz VMC tungsten head. Most of the fish were suspended in 5' over 10-15'. The key with that lighter head was I could float that bait so naturally over those fish to get them to bite.
> "I tried a 3/16 but felt like the 1/8 was twice as effective in getting them to bite if they saw it. The tough part about that was when the wind would blow, you were at least twice if not 3 times less efficient – so it was a tossup on what head size to throw."
> Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow (gizzard shad "with the bottom tab cut of to make the tail action even tighter and have more body roll on that 1/8-oz head"), 1/8-oz VMC Tungsten Jighead, 8-lb Sufix Revolve Braid to 10-lb Sufix Advance Fluoro, Shimano Vanford Spin Reel (2500), 6' 10" ML Duckett Jacob Wheeler 2.0 Spin Rod.
> "For the rest of the tournament I caught bass [on a Neko rig] that were staging and some that were spawning on the walkways of the docks. During practice, a lot of the bass were on the floats pre-spawn before they went up to spawn. Some of the males were on the walkways, but it didn't seem to be the quality fish...to win the tournament.
> "As the tournament progressed, even though we had several cold nights it seemed like the days were getting longer. It got a lot of of those bigger females up there on those walkways.... I couldn't see the fish but I have a weird suspicion that probably 50% of those bass were spawning.
> "The fish were on the docks that were in flatter areas and pockets – specifically the docks that had a longer walkways with wooden poles supporting them. Most of those fish were set up on the poles that had 2-4' of water on them."
> Neko rig: Rapala CrushCity Janitor (gp magic), 5mm VMC Crossover Ring, 1/16-oz Neko weight, 1/0 hook, 8-lb Sufix Revolve Braid to 10-lb Sufix Advance Fluoro, Shimano Vanford Spin Reel (2500), 7' Duckett Jacob Wheeler 2.0 Spin Rod.
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3rd: Marshall "JMP" Robinson
[If you are a 'lectric guitar player you'll know – or should know 😁 – the JMP was and is the best Marshall amp ever!]
> Neko rig: 5" Yamamoto Senko (watermelon), #1 and #2 Gamakatsu Neko Hooks, 1/16-oz tungsten nail weight, and 2 rods: a 7' 1" and a 6' 9" M Phenix Feather Spin Rod.
> Dropshot: 6" Roboworm Straight (morning dawn/red flake), same hooks, 3/16-oz weight, 7' 1" L Phenix Feather Spin Rod.
> Both: 8-lb braid to a 12-lb fluoro ("for fighting them around the dock poles, boat lifts, etc").
> "Focused on docks all week with pre-spawn fish holding on them differently – under them – depending on the conditions. Used Scope to see their behavior and pick off as many as I could, then I could run with what I learned that period over the rest of the day.
> "Once I found an area where I could get bit, I would just fish every dock in that area. There was no pattern. I tried to pattern it but I couldn't."
He used both rigs all periods.
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5th: Brent "all steak, no sizzle" Ehrler
[He's on the carnivore diet!]
> "First day it was a brushpile deal in the a.m. – 1/4-oz Buckeye-G Stroll Jighead with a Yamamoto Scope Shad, dropshotted 6-inch Roboworm (morning dawn, 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb Hook, 1/4-oz Ark Tungsten Weight), and a Neko-rigged 5-inch Yamamoto Senko (natural shad, #1 Gamakatsu Weedless Wacky Hook, 3/32-oz Ark Tungsten Nail Weight).
> "All with a Daiwa Tatula Elite Drop Shot Rod and 12-lb Sunline Xplasma Braid to 8-lb Sunline Sniper Fluoro.
> "Then after my Scope period it was a cranking and dock deal [wacky rig]."
> Cranking: Lucky Craft 1.5 DD DRS (TO craw, #4 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Trebles), 12-lb Sunline Sniper Fluoro, Daiwa Tatula Elite Reel, 7' 2" M Daiwa Tatula Elite Cranking Rod.
> Wacky rig: 5" Yamamoto Senko (gp), #1 Gamakatsu Weedless Wacky Hook, 12-lb Sunline Xplasma Braid to 8-lb Sniper Fluoro, Daiwa Tatula Elite Spin Reel, 7' 1" Daiwa Tatula Elite M Drop Shot Rod.
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Are schools not all that?
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Had to pull this deal out from what Drew said – and because it's Drew, I'm gonna say he's not sandbagging us all. 😁
Anyhow, we're all aware of the phenomenon of released smallmouths somehow turning off the rest of the fish down there. Well now with FFS, does it happen with largemouths (and I assume spots) as well? Here's Drew talkin':
> "When you think about opportunities to catch a bass, a lot of times you're like, Oh if there's schools around I need to be fishing in these schools of fish.
> "But once you've pressured them – if there's a group of 25-35 and you catch one of those fish...it's gonna act weird. And in groups like that, if 1 fish acts weird it tells all of them, Hey maybe something's not right.
> "So essentially you're decreasing your odds of catching one once you've pressure an area with groups. Because you've got fish in those groups that are kinda tattling on you.
> "Vs if you get in an area where they're broken up – ideally where there's groups of 1 or maybe 2-3 fish – the odds of one of those fish...having seen your bait before is not high.
> "So instead of having an area that has 3 groups of 30, so 90 bass, once they start getting pressured I would rather have...45 groups of 2 bass. Because 3 groups of 30 bass, that's 3 opportunities to catch 'em. Once you hook one it's done. ...it's 3 opportunities vs 45 opportunities."
Jacob Wheeler has talked about liking groups of 2-3 vs singles because he feels the small groups get competitive and are more likely to eat quicker. I wonder if maybe it has something to do with what Drew is talking about too.
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Some new baits rolling out for the Classic – a few of 'em getting announced now, deets below.
1. Cool Alton Sr and Alton Jr vid
From KastKing – I learned some stuff, you will too:
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Shin Fukae's fave pre-spawn rig is the Ned
From the MLF site:
> "Most fishermen use an open hook mushroom jig[head] for their Ned rig, but I don't like that because it gets hung up a lot. It wastes time."
> His choice is a 1/8-oz Gamakatsu G-Finesse Tricky Head with a 3" Senko, rigged TX-style.... He designed [that head] for a shakey-head worm but finds it every bit as effective fishing the Ned.
> "I'm always shaking a Ned worm, lifting it and allowing it to drop. On the fall, it will kind of spiral like a tube bait."
> Target areas include boat docks, laydowns, brushpiles and grass pockets along with any promising flat, contact point or staging area.
> "I cast it, let it hit bottom and then just lift and let it fall again. All the bass – largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass – hit it...."
Also says in that deal that he likes to Neko in the pre-spawn and his fave Neko bait (at least at the time) is a Yamamoto Kut Tail Worm. He also shakes the Neko.
That post is from Apr 2020 and it sounds like it's from today – so Shin was ahead of the game man!
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"Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."
- MDJ shoutin' out MLFer Jacob Wall in an IG vid for something that went down on Murray. Basically Jacob, who was doing poorly at Murray but well in the points, volunteered (he was not asked) to get out of Mark's way on a stretch of docks – because Mark had a chance to qualify for the Championship Round.
Mark sealed his spot with a catch off the very dock that Jacob was about to fish. Pretty dang #stout. Love folks who think of others man....
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Close-up of the FishLab BBZ Bio Rat topwater – one of the front treble hooks pointing at the mouth. That's some detail man – not sure who's gonna be angrier, the Rat or the fish trying to eat it!
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You thinkin' what I'm thinkin? Don't throw out those castoffs in the bottom of your boat – git to gluin'! 😃😆
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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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