B.A.S.S. has successfully discovered how to wear out their pros before the biggest tourney of the year! 😁 Everyone's runnin' and gunnin' this week before the Classic starts so let's get after it!
Forgot to mention about fishing with Hank Parker: We did talk about the best sausage we ever ate so you know he's a bass-head lol!
|
|
Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry bout that – email programs keep changing stuff.
|
|
Buddy Gross got him another blue trophy!
|
|
> "...hard spot, about 6' deep, it just had some shell on it and the fish were relating to it. The last day of practice is when I found it...on Lowrance Down Imaging – I have all 3 [electronics brands] on the boat. I just happened to be idling a grass patch and saw a hard spot.
> "The first day of the tournament I started there and all the fish were over 3 lbs. The day before they were smaller, but I only made 2 casts. ...pile of fish there, a big school. I caught 30 of them – I caught 'em as much as I could, pretty early in the day.
> "I started looking and ran into another school bigger than that. I made about 5 casts and they were 4s and a 4.5 and I caught a 5. It was a better spot than what I just left.
> "When I fished 'em I used 360 to pinpoint them. Every fish within 500 yards was right there in one little group. I'm thinking now it might have been a shad spawn.
> "Day 2 I went back to the same [1st] spot and didn't get a bite. Then I went to the 2nd spot where the big school was and didn't get a bite. The conditions didn't change – the fish were just moving with whatever bait they were chasing.
> "I was running points. Some were 400 yards apart, some half a mile – all were in about a 1-mile square. All were hard bottom, no vegetation. I went to the 3rd point and caught 'em.
> "I caught them on a mix of a 5" Scottsboro Swimbait, natural light, on a 3/4-oz Recon Head and the Aruku shad. [Same rod, reel and line for the swimbait.]
> "Day 3 got slower. I started on all 3 of those spots and didn't catch any. The 4th spot I went to I caught 1.
> "Then I left the lake I was on and started fishing grass clumps, isolated stuff. I caught 3 more on a Zoom Z-Craw Worm [junebug], Texas-rigged with a 5/0 Owner Needle Point Round Bend Hook, a 1/4-oz weight, 20-lb P-Line Fluoro, and the same rod and reel.
> "I was casting at those clumps. They were submerged, about 7-8' deep.
> "Then I had one deep piece of hydrilla that came almost to the surface. It was 10' deep. I flipped a 1-oz Z-Craw in the middle and caught a 4-lber. So I had 14 lbs.
> "Day 4 I started on the 1st spot, no bites. Same with my 2nd-best spot – no bites. I bypassed the 3rd and 4th spot and went to a new spot...shell bed with the wind blowing in on it. I started 100 yards up the bank and was coming down the bank – no bites – when on my 360 I see 15 fish out to my right, just hanging out, off the break 12-14' deep.
> "I Power-Poled down and tried the Aruku Shad but I couldn't get it deep enough. So I picked up a Carolina rig, threw it out there and it hardly hit bottom when a 3.5-lber hit the bait. I drug it again, no bite, but then the next 6 casts I caught 'em.
> "...3/4-oz weight, 20-lb P-Line 100% Fluoro main line to 15-lb P-Line CXX green mono, a 5/0 Owner Round Bend Needlepoint Hook, a Zoom Z-Craw Worm (junebug), and the same exact rod and reel.
> "I switched over [later in the same spot] to a 1/2-oz TX rig – I like the hookup ratio better with a TX Rig than a Carolina rig. I culled several times with it, then picked up the swimbait and caught like a 5-lber. I caught about 20, all on that same spot."
|
|
More
> "The Lord just blessed us. I give all the credit to Him.
> "I'm a [Humminbird Mega] 360 fan. I've got the Garmin LiveScope on mine and I turn it on periodically, but they cross pop a little bit. I pick which one I want to use that day and leave that one on. I like my 360 – I can tell all the structure...Spot-Lock down and I can tell everything going around me. Unless I'm chasing a fish, I use the 360 more [than Live].
> "My electronics are set up really nice with BoatLogix mounts. They keep me less fatigued so I can look at them all day long.
> "That 7' 3" H [Fitzgerald All Purpose Rod] is my favorite rod. It's just a good all-around rod. I throw a ChatterBait on it, big 'Traps, a spinnerbait, all my swimbaits – I probably own 20 of that rod. That H rod is not super-heavy. I use the MH on smaller stuff and the XH if I'm in real heavy grass."
|
|
3 Qs with the 2-time champ.
|
|
1. Did you ever think you would ledge-fish (sorta) in FL?
> "No."
2. Did you ever think about fishing the Booger Blade just to say the word "booger" multiple times on camera? 😁
> "I didn't think about it but I wish I had."
[Lol! Then he coulda popped one of these in his mouth to really mess with Sanders, Zona, Davy and the rest of 'em: 🤣]
|
|
3. How did you know the Lord was with you all week?
> "I can feel Him constantly – when I go to Him in prayer and stuff. Me and the Lord talk and I get emotional...I was emotional all week. It is the Holy Spirit and I promise you He is real and is constantly around me."
|
|
2nd-5th Harris Chain baits.
|
|
2nd: Drew Benton
> "Sight-fished and threw the prop bait around while I looked."
|
|
3rd: Ray Hanselman
> "Fishing over a hydrilla flat, 4-7'. Mostly fishing the edge with the bigger one, targeting the isolated clumps off the edge or corners on the edge. The smaller one I would fish over the mat. Aggressive retrieve for the most part.
> "Most of the fish were post-spawn. Shad were trying to spawn on that grass flat in areas during the morning."
Asked him about the Hybrid Hunter because it's been showing up in high finishes around the country:
> "I've been throwing it probably 15 years. It used to be called a Strike Pro 'Big Bubba'. Works great over grass. Obnoxious sound, huge wobble, fits a void in shallow-cranking depths."
|
|
4th: David Mullins
> Fished grass in 2-5'.
|
|
5th: Brandon Lester
> "I only weighed in one fish that I sight-fished all week. I was fishing reeds. Isolated patches were key. I'm sure most of the fish were spawning on the reeds but I couldn't see them. Water depth was 1.5-3'."
|
|
New forward-facing sonar wrinkle?
|
|
> Webb caught a 6.90-lber on an AL rig the 2nd day, but it didn't come easy. He said the bass knocked slack in his twice without getting hooked before swimming off the opposite direction.
> The angler used LiveScope to keep an eye on the fish as he followed it with his trolling motor and eventually sealed the deal. "I chased her for probably 100 yards. Once she finally settled down and stopped I was able to get her to bite again."
I'm sure he's not the first guy to do it, but chasing a fish with LiveScope and then getting it to bite again is kinda a new deal! I mean, we've done it with our eyes and maybe even sometimes with 2D (not really a particular fish?) if you're a 2D shogun warrior, but not like Live sonar can do it.
Here's the dude they're talkin' 'bout, Glen Webb of Bethel, OK:
|
|
Clean setup! 1 LiveScope unit at the bow on a Stowaway mount at to 31":
> In 2021 he claims he used the technology to win 11 of the 12 tournaments he entered on his home lake, Broken Bow Reservoir.
> More recently, Webb brought his Garmin LiveScope to Sam Rayburn on Feb 10-12. There, he used it to catch 14 pre-spawn bass weighing 63-12 in the Toyota Series Southwestern Division bass tournament. Webb topped a field of heavy hitting locals in his first pro-level event and banked $54,000.
> "Every fish I weighed in during the Toyota tournament I saw with my forward-facing sonar. And I saw them all eat the bait. It's a really valuable tool. You are definitely at a disadvantage if you don't have it."
Seems to me more and more that til forward-facing sonar prices drop, gonna have to do that different classes deal – meaning some in the tourney will choose to fish the "open class" for the big $$, some will choose the "2D only class" for less $. Otherwise we could be looking at some guys just not fishing tournaments as much....
|
|
Please check out Zona's beautiful tribute to Aaron.
|
|
Bass fishing is about friends and love. Fish and fishing are second. If you doubt that, and even if you don't, take a look at Zona's show tribute to Aaron Martens. Beautiful man, and funny too because Aaron was funny!
|
|
3. Look at what Greg Hackney texted me.
|
|
I was like, "Dude! Is that real??? Where you at??" He said, "Some island off Costa Rica!"
🤔 I don't know man...sometimes Hack messes with me...and what up with no rifle???
If you asked me even last year whether Cliff Pace had a sense of humor, I wouldn't know what to say. I mean, doesn't everybody?? But lately Cliff has been tearin' it up on his Insta with his semi-real bud. Fun stuff man!
...hires Worldwide "James" Watson to be out on the water heckling people 😁. Luke Dunkin is in the studio too. Fwiw I hope the NPFL allows them to be themselves – loose and not stiff if you know what I mean...good luck controlling Watson anyhow lol!
Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office. Guess the locals were so stoked about helping Gary they posted about it! "Hey Gary, can you sign my Senko man? No – not that color, a different one..." 😂
|
|
Wow! That's Stephen Tyson Jr fishing Lake Hamilton:
> "...I had found some nice bass. I saw this big fish (on his Garmin LiveScope) and my first thought it was a bass and I saw it come off the bottom and eat my bait.
> "When I released it, it really sank in, 'You let that one go.' The one thing I regret is not getting it weighed. But...t was literally the first 5-10 minutes of the tournament. I'm not going to stop fishing for bass. But then catching a striper that size, oh my god. It's a fish of a lifetime."
AR state record striper is 64-08 caught in 2000 outta the Beaver Lake tailwater.
Congrats!
Check it, called the VileTube:
|
|
Called the SMH (Shaking My Head) Worm and Jighead. Click the pic to see a quick teaser YT vid:
|
|
Z-Man is very smart with bait "systems"....
Short version is it now casts for you, makes you coffee and using Bluetooth handles all small talk with your spouse. EMOJ Okay not really but here's the high points:
> ...35% more target separation over the existing system with sharper resolution, reduced noise and Garmin's clearest images.
> ...capable of identifying and separating targets as small as 14" at distances 100' from the boat so anglers can see exactly what they need to with improved stitching, reduced noise and fewer on-screen artifacts....
> ...3 unique vantage points with 1 mount that can be adjusted to fit...no tools required. Simply turn the transducer forward for a live look at what's out in front of the boat; point it down to see directly beneath the boat; or turn it sideways with the included Perspective Mode Mount to enable the 'top down' perspective mode to see a wide view of what's in front of the boat up to 50' away.
> With a free software update, the LVS34 transducer, sold separately, can be added to existing LiveScope System for customers who want to upgrade.
The new LiveScope System and the LiveScope LVS34 transducer are expected to be available in Mar for $1,699.99 and $1,199.99 MSRP respectively.
|
|
BUT it was crappie, no deets on the crappie fisehry at the lake, and no deets on how good/experienced the anglers were OR how experienced they were with LiveScope – doesn't sound like they were:
> However, anglers with more experience and expertise using [Live sonar] to target crappie were not considered in this study.
And yet the KS DNR says this:
> "This study is a fine example of how our staff continue to operate off of the best-available data to make science-based decisions that benefit not only the resource, but our users."
C'mon man. Studies are one data point, same as tournaments and angler experiences are. This one data point doesn't seem to say much...my 2c. To me it reads like: "Hey we parachuted some beginners onto a lake to use all this stuff and didn't find much of a difference vs fishing without it so there is no difference."
Langdale, Crow Hop and Riverview. Feds studying the silt behind 'em right now.
No deets – like which crypto – but my half-baked thoughts are:
- Would you rather have $1 mil that you can buy something with or $1 mil that you maybe can't buy anything with?
- What if the $1 mil is worth $850K (or whatever) a day later?
- What does this say (if anything) about the desirability of some folks (well-heeled billfish dudes) for more/fewer greenbacks?
Called the "forever contaminant" and is in water and fish too:
> Chemical manufacturer 3M is allegedly hiding files that could shed light on the role former CEO and chairman Lewis Lehr played as the company struggled internally to figure out how to deal with growing evidence its toxic chemical compound PFOS was widespread in the blood of the general US population.
Headline of the Day
Best learn quick if you wanna catch those basses! 😆
Doh!
Noticed in re-re-reading the Reds Special Issue I had one color as "WALTERmelon red." Wonder what color Walter's melon is? Possibly red?? 🤪
PSA
Someone posted about a company named Papaw E Pork Toads, believe outta KY. Yep, making pork "frogs," aka craws. Looks like Papaw fulfills orders with his grandson = great to see!
Craws come in small, medium and large, and these colors: blue, black, brown, red, green, gp, chartruese, pink, yellow, purple.
FYI only, I know nothing about 'em....
|
|
On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
|
|
After talking to Ray Hanselman about the unusual Strike King Hybrid Hunter crank he used at the Harris Chain, I looked up a little info on its predecessor, the Big Bubba, and found this good post on the MLF site. Few excerpts – and note that the Strike King version has 2 sizes and doesn't weigh as much as the Bubba did:
> ...the lure has been kept under wraps by secretive pros [notably in TX] that have been using it to reel in some heavy sacks of bass while remaining tight-lipped about how they were doing it.
> The unique stairstep [bill] design not only limits the diving depth, but also creates a significant amount of resistance when the lure goes in motion. According to Rayovac FLW Series Texas Division pro Stephen Johnston...the result is a radical wobble that will sometimes trigger vicious strikes when other lures fail.
> "I've pulled in right behind guys who weren't getting bit on other baits and whacked 'em on it,. It's a really big crankbait that you can do a lot of different things with in shallow water. You can crawl it over the tops of hydrilla beds, work it through lily pad stems and bushes, or crash it into rocks and stumps...gives them a different look they haven't seen before.
> "If you hold the tip high you can run it 6 inches below the surface, but if you poke the tip 3-4 inches down into the water you can make it run 2-3 feet deep at the same retrieve speed with 16- to 20-lb mono. You can throw it on fluorocarbon and get it a little deeper if you need to."
|
|
"I enjoy smelling the gas and oil burning in the morning. I'm good if I don't catch a fish. I love being out here."
|
|
> It is a golden anniversary for the bass club which started in 1972 due to racial tension on the Miss-Lou lakes, club president Jerry Brown said. Brown, who has been a member for 30 years, said he believes the club has stuck around so long because members had to stick together back then. At one point, the Club was about 30 members strong...since dwindled to 10.
> "Fellowship is important. It is why we are still here," Andrew Rounds said. "When someone gets in trouble we are there to help. When someone gets sick we try to be there for them."
Awesome. Lord bless them please. They're lookin' for new members – keep it goin'!
|
|
How about this 10-14 burly muscular ditch melon Zack Birge caught at the Fork Bass Pro Tour derbE on a dang jerkbait!! A Hardcore Minnow SP (ghost pro blue) on 12-lb Yo-Zuri T7 Fluoro:
|
|
Shoot what a deal, sign me up! der...
|
|
Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best and funniest (sometimes worst) stuff in bassin', 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'!
|
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 sell the list or anything else crazy....
|
|
Gitcha hands on the best stuff!
|
|
Gitcha BassBlaster social at these links:
|
|
|
|
|
