Please pray for former B.A.S.S. Federation director Don Corkran. At the Bassin' Hall of Fame ceremony, Dewey Kendrick (former Bassmaster TD) said Don is battling prostate cancer. Bless you Don! 🙏✝️
Dewey also mentioned that his dad fished Ray Scott's 2nd bass tournament ever on Smith Lake. Pretty cool – didn't know that'n!
Also, can anyone recommend organic Doritos that actually taste like Doritos? My wife gets the organic kind which I guess nail the organic part but not the "taste so good I have to eat a whole bag" part. Come to think of it maybe she does that on purpose...🤔
|
|
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.
|
|
How Keith Combs won another one at Rayburn! 🔨
|
|
Keith Combs + 6XD + Sam Rayburn = win. That little piece of bassin' math has been re-proofed many times over the years, and the most recent was this weekend at the last Central Open of the season. This time it wasn't all about the 6XD though. Here's some of how it went down – full deal on the BB website (most of it is here):
> "Until this week we hadn't had much cool weather...the baitfish usually would start to relate to the bottom – drops and channels in the fall – but they weren't doing that yet. They were just out there on flats in relatively open water. The fish were out there chasing them but were not schooled. With how flat that lake is, those were expansive areas. It's hard to target a big population of fish when they're out there doing that.
> "I had a couple places where I was casting a worm to catch a few keepers, then I'd throw a crankbait and a jig on 1-fish type places hopefully to catch a big one every day."
> "The first day I had a real late boat number and there was definitely a good bite in the morning. That day I felt like my timing was really bad. I think I boxed 3 keepers pretty quick, one 3-lber, and mid-day I caught one about 5 on a shallow ledge on a worm. I had a late weigh-in but my afternoon was nothing....
> "On the 2nd day I had a real slow morning despite getting out early. Mid-day I just randomly decided to stop on a place – I hadn't practiced on it – and caught about a 5.5 on a crankbait. That was key.
> "Then later on in the day I filled out a limit...decided late in the day I had to make a few upgrades so I fished grass with a Thunder Cricket [bladed jig] and caught 6-7 keepers late. I thought that's probably what I have to do – start out deep and go shallow.
> "The 3rd day I felt like my timing was good. I started off with 11 or 12 quick, then moved and caught 2 key 4-lbers, then later in the day I caught a 3 on a Thunder Cricket.
> "So I was figuring out as the tournament progressed where I needed to be at certain times of the day....
> "...a variety of depths – no pattern out there honestly. I caught a couple fish on brushpiles in 15' of water and a lot of my fish off hard-bottom areas. Some of those were in 4-5', one was about 12' deep and...had some isolated stumps in 6-8' where I caught several key fish. The Thunder Cricket fish were in about 3'. Overall it was pretty shallow for Rayburn."
|
|
Baits
> Cranking: Strike King 6XD (chart/blue) and 2.0 5XD (TN shad), 15-lb Seaguar InvizX fluoro, Shimano Curado DC 150 Reel, 7' 2" MH Shimano Zodias 172 glass rod.
> Jig: 1-oz Strike King Structure Jig (gp) with a Strike King Rage Craw (gp), 20-lb Seaguar InvizX fluoro, same reel, H Shimano Zodias 175 rod.
> Worm: Various worms (mostly red bug – "that's a really good Rayburn color") including the new 9.5" Strike King Zeus Worm (melon bug), 4/0 Owner Offset Wide Gap Hook, 3/8-oz Strike King Tungsten Weight, same rod/reel/line as for the jig.
> 1/2-oz Strike King Tungsten Thunder Cricket (white/chart – "I'm really liking that small bait") with a Strike King Blade Minnow (white), 20-lb Seaguar InvizX fluoro, Shimano Curado DC 150 Reel, 7' 2" MH Shimano Expride 172 glass rod.
|
|
Electronics
> "Mornings in practices I would fish to try to get a pattern going, and realized it got slow late in the day. So I sat down and graphed. The lake is 6' low so a lot of my history is thrown out the window.
> "I was just graphing and trying to find something away from other competitors. I found 2 places that were out on flats – places I would never really think to fish, but I was looking for isolated cover. What I ended up finding was hard-bottom areas out on flats...small schools moved up on those places early in the morning and that was key.
> "Without really good side imaging to see those differentiations in the bottom, I would not have found 'em. I use Humminbird Side Imaging...that was everything.
> "I did use Mega Live – it just made me a lot more efficient. When I pulled up on places, like the area where I was fishing stumps, it just made it a lot easier to make those perfect casts. As far as seeing fish and targeting fish, I wasn't doing that. I wasn't fishing that way."
Shout-outs
> "Everybody. It's been a trying last couple seasons, but all my sponsors, family and friends have been very encouraging – 'Just do what you do,' and that kind of encouragement really helps out...to get your butt in gear and go catch 'em."
|
|
5 Qs with El Jefe de Rayburn.
|
|
1. What's more of a pro benefit tournament: you on Rayburn or Ike on the Delaware River? 😁
> "I'll go with Ike – he's got that."
[Hahaha yes he does!]
2. Shouldn't the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce be paying you at this point? 😁
> [Laughs] "It would be nice, but no I'm just here to represent the lake."
3. Is it more important to win on Rayburn or fish a chartreuse/powder blue back 6XD there?
> "It's kind of the same thing isn't it?"
[🤣 Love it!]
4. Why is it always that color 6XD?
> "I mean I do use other colors, but in that color of water like at Rayburn – which has the same color of water as Conroe or Falcon ["murky, dark water"] – I believe that color, when you're able to catch 'em reeling it fast – it's just a reaction thing. It's definitely not natural and definitely not moving natural, it just makes them react.
> "Big fish, it takes a reaction to get them to eat."
5. If you had to pick just one crankbait to fish all over the country, what would it be?
> "It would have to be the Strike King 1.5 in TN Shad because that's something I could use to catch fish everywhere I went. If I had to fish all these different lakes, that's my #1. That'll put a limit in the boat quick."
[Same rod/reel/line for cranking that as for the crankbaits above.]
|
|
Rayburn Open top 10's baits broken down.
|
|
Kinda kitchen sink deal in this one – and I'm shocked that Keith Combs was the oinly one in the top 10 ketchin' 'em on a crankbait:
Bladed jig = 30% – JackHammer 10%
Dropshot = 30%
Jig = 20% – both heavy
Swim-jig = 20% – both white
Soft swimbait = 20%
Punch rig = 20%
Jerkbait = 20%
Flip plastics = 20%
10% each = Crankbait, Worm, Spoon, Topwater
Shout-outs
1. Bryan Schmitt won the last Elite of the season partly dropshotting a Missile Magic Worm on a Hayabusa hook and Logan Latuso (2nd) almost won the last Open doing the same – different color worm and in this case the Hayabusa Drop Shot Hook vs Bryan's Hayabusa 957 Offset Shank Worm Hook.
|
|
2. Tristan McCormick just won the Hartwell Open and finished 4th in this one.
3. Tyler Rivet (5th) said this was his most important tool – I think that's a first for a top 10 baits deal:
|
|
4. Former pro Cody Bird (7th) is still rollin' on the Opens!
5. Kenta Kimura (8th) got his 5th Opens top 10 this year, and had 2 top 10s and 3 top 20s in the Elites this year. Pretty stout! And no he didn't fish that floaty bug deal in this'n – but he did fish some unique stuff:
|
|
Fishin'
Went out for 5 hours Sunday with my buddy Mike. We had a plan, stuck to the plan til the last hour and...caught 2 dang fish! Little smallmouths like this'n:
|
|
Backstory: We fished last weekend at the same lake – come to find out it's Deader than the Dead Sea. Explain why in a sec. Anyhow, a bass-head from PA is pulling out right when we are and said he caught 7 (we didn't get a bite) – fishing the exact stuff we were! Spinnerbaits and soft swimbaits. So I figured we were in the wrong place.
Checked Google Earth, showed the back side of this lake – which takes forever to get to on just the troller – was flatter off the bank than the steep sides we were fishing. So our plan was to hit that and catch 'em. We caught 2 off the windiest stretch – like a half mile apart – and then NOTHING around the still-green weedbeds that were all over the place back there. Not a single bite and we tried everything. It was nuts.
Took a little time to research WTHeck is going on with these lakes. Turns out that the NJ DNR about 20 years ago stocked herring as baitfish and later stocked lake trout for "another fishery." They found out that what happens is the lakers crush the herring so bad that all the gamefish populations crash...which is the case in the 3 most local bass lakes to me.
In other words, the lakes are bad fisheries. What has the DNR done to help since finding that out? Zip. Nada. Zilch. What does the NJ DNR do to help bass fisheries in the entire state? Same deal – nothing. But they love stocking hatchery trout in creeks...🙄
Oh yeah: This new lake is Deader than the Dead Sea because it has way clearer water (less fertile) and WAY less baitfish (herring). Brutal. Sometimes I fall asleep dreaming about bassin' in TX...or even in IN! 😁
These are the 2 baits that fooled 1 bass: each but shoulda caught a lot more – a 1/2-oz Berkley Power Blade Compact Double Willow Spinnerbait (shad spawn) with a YUM Grub (smoke/silver flake), and a 3.5" (89 mm) Yo-Zuri 3DR Jerkbait (real smelt):
|
|
Knottin'
Part of our gameplan for that lake was re-rigging some spin rods for light swimbaits. That meant braid to fluoro knots – and everyone who told me spin rods are way better with braid, you're 100% right. One bennie of spin rods: You can cast into the wind without getting a backlash!
Anyhow, my bud Mike uses the FG, which I still can't tie right. Even tried what looks like a great method – the FG in under 1 minute – but couldn't get it. Then I tried the SC knot – nope. Ended up here: the RMF knot which is based on the Albright knot (👈 That's the YT vid, here's a longer explanation). I didn't get it as neat as it can be gotten, but it holds real well and that's where I'm at now! 😅
Forgot to mention – Lucky the Lab was lovin' life out there:
|
|
6-month old Boone and hooks aren't gonna get along real well...
|
|
Sea Foam top 5: Colors pros use 👀
|
|
Probly no surprises for you but maybe some tidbits in there you didn't know:
|
|
1. Just announced: MLF Bass Pro Tour going to best 5 format.
Interesting. More thoughts about this on Thursday.
2. Team USA won gold in AL!
Heck yeah they did! (They better! 👊)
|
|
3. Congrats to the new Elitists.
All sewn up after this last Open, they are: B Rad Lee Hallman (OK), Keith Poche (AL), Cole Sands (TN), David Gaston (AL), John Soukup (OK) and Cooper Gallant (CAN).
If you thought Hallman was just a pretty face on Bass Live, you're right – but dang if he doesn't ketch 'em too...😁
Heart goes out to James Niggemeyer who was the first man out – but "thanked God in all things." Awesome. Next year mang!
4. NY guide caught 82 smallies on 82 casts!
Dang!! Capt. Jeff Hippert of Lake Erie Trophy Bass Charters – outta Buffalo I believe.
5. TN proposing reg change on Douglas to boost fish size.
Can comment on it til Nov 15:
> If approved, the catch and keep number of largemouth and smallmouth bass...would be reduced from 10 to 5. From Jun 1 to Sept 30, the 5-fish limit would allow only one largemouth or smallmouth over 16" in length. From Oct 1 to May 31, there would be a 12" minimum length limit in addition to the 5-fish limit.
> "They asked us to look into, 'hey Douglas Lake is a great reservoir, it's got a lot of fish and it is very fertile but a lot of those largemouth bass in there are small. So look into...how you might rectify that situation through our regulation process."
6. KY tourney raised $40K for flood victims.
#stout
7. TN: 2 HSers sign with Carson-Newman U.
Congrats!
8. CO: Broomfield High team won the state Nation tourney.
Congrats to Riley Petrone and Joey Punko! 💪
9. Boating Mag "reviewed" 3 new bassin' tubs.
2023 Bullet 21XRS – 80 mph??!!
2023 Triton 21XrT – Check the dual screen layout:
|
|
What's the best version of green pumpkin?
Ran across this deal with former Elitist Mark Burgess on the Bassmaster site:
> "The most common one is more of a brownish version of green pumpkin." That's the one Burgess relies on in most cases [but he doesn't fish them straight out of the package].
> For Burgess, the first option is to use a marking pen on the claws or tail. "...I use an orange Spike-It pen. A lot of fish have orange on their bellies. Golden shiners have bright orange fins, and of course yellow perch have a lot of orange on their undersides. Crawfish do too.
> ...occasions when he puts down the orange marker in favor of a blue one. He particularly likes this when he's focused on a concentrated group of fish and is making repeated passes through the area.
> "When I'm fishing a marina and have been through it several times, the next time around I'll mark my green pumpkin plastic with a blue marker. Especially if I see bluegill around."
> On his 2nd or 3rd pass through an area, he'll begin the alteration process. Sometimes it's just a matter of going to a different size or shape plastic. Other times he'll try a different colored flake. While he'll often use a black or red tungsten sinker to accent his flipping baits....
> ...also experimented with them in the dropshot context. ...asked him to experiment with dozens of shades, and the one that works most often is "a green pumpkin with a purple hue toward the back of it."
|
|
"Years ago, every serious bass fisherman had a spare rod rigged with a Senko. Now they have a spared rod rigged with a shaky head jig."
- NC bass-head Brad Staley talkin' 'bout the new back then (2012) technique of shakey-headin'. Guess we can add a dropshot and Ned to the spin-rod takeover....
|
|
@cheydasilva with a cool camo-lookin' smallie on I think Lake of the Woods in ON, Canada...which I think is 1,000 miles south of Jeff Gustafson's house?? 😁
|
|
Semi hauling 22,000 lbs of catfish crashes on I-95 in Cumberland County, NC
Glad it seems like everyone's okay but...lucky that deal didn't happen in MS – pretty sure you could get fired, jailed and cut off from family for wasting all that catfish there! 😁 And if it was crappie, the dude would be exiled from the United States! 🤣
|
|
Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest 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:
|
|
|
|
|