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I messed up the survey – sorry about that. Here's the correct link. If you would take just a couple minutes to fill it out, it'd be a big help, thank you. And if you already filled out the other one, all good, thank you. One randomly drawn person will get a box of baits.
Father's day coming up. All you dads, bless you for doing one of the toughest gigs. Us guys don't talk about it much because we're "not supposed to," just like we are supposed to magically "know it all" when we have kids. Nope. Men's groups at a solid church can be amazing.
The deal in Maine I was at was a memorial for the Irish Gal's uncle. His 3 sons, wonderful dudes, spoke and did an amazing job – and had the courage to talk about some not so great stuff they had to endure. I get it, maybe you do too.
Fwiw when I did my words, I said 3 things:
1. There's one perfect Father who had one perfect Son. The rest of us dads, no matter how hard we try, are imperfect. At times hurtfully imperfect. Which sucks.
2. Their dad was a huge encourager to many people – some actually said he saved their lives = big love. And of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest.
3. Jesus said:
...every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Those 3 good men and their fams are his fruit – plus all those people he poured into and their fams. Good job Uncle Tom.
Btw when I dropped the Lord on the gathering, I got a standing O! Just kidding. 🤣 A couple folks let me know they didn't appreciate it, all good. That's expected – He is the dividing line. Had a couple good talks from it.
Got the crud from the trip – made me think about all the pro peeps who practice and fish with the crud in the heat, cold, rain, etc. That's got to hurt man. Once again they have my mad respect.
Hope you stay crud-free and lip some basses this weekend! Happy Father's Day!
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Gitcha Blaster video fix here:
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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 does Trey "T-Rex" McKinney do it?
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What is it about Trey? How does he just catch 'em – and bigger ones? It even mystifies the guys he's competing against, a psych-out "factor" that has worked for guys like KVD and Jacob Wheeler so I assume it must be working for Trey too.
He's leading the Elite points going into the last 2, and has finished 2nd in the points the only 2 years he's fished the Elites. He also won Elites in '24 and '25. Pretty amazing start to a career, here's 5 with him.
1. How does it feel to be leading the points again?
> "It feels good. The main thing is to not worry about it, keeps the stress levels a little bit down."
So you actually have stress levels?
> "...one thing that definitely gives me a little bit of stress is the AOY – just because we've been so close for 2 years."
Is it good not to have Chris Johnston ahead of you? [But Cory is right behind him!]
> "Absolutely. Any amount of points I can put between him and me is better just because of this northern swing. That's one thing they always have in their favor for the points race...Champlain and the St Lawrence most of the time at the end of the year."
2. In a recent Dave Mercer podcast, Lee Livesay told a story of you pulling into an area I think on the AR River that him, Mike Iaconelli and a bunch of other guys had been seining. You pull up and catch a bigger fish than any of them caught, which apparently is not unusual. Do you know how that happens?
> "I really don't. [But] when I find 'em I know exactly what those fish are doing sometimes in certain areas. It allows me to lock in on that perfect cast, perfect presentation type of deal.
> "I like it when there's a lot of boats and pressure like that because the more spots I can find like that, the better off I am in the tournament usually. Especially in those tough ones where a few bites matter.
> "I try to find 1-2 ares like that where maybe people would overlook this little bitty area right here."
So are you saying that maybe the other guys haven't found this sneaky little thing that you did, so you can pull up there and make that cast that you know you've gotta make to catch that fish if he's there?
> "Yeah, you're just hoping that they don't find the spot on the spot on the spot. That's how I would describe it.
> "So like a point, that's a spot and that's what everybody fishes around – everything that's visible on it. ...I fish everything on that point – whether it's cover, a grass clump, rock, all that – every single bit of it once or twice. So I know exactly which pieces of cover I need to put my time in.
> "Those are the ones I can pull up [to], the most high-percentage areas in that place – whether they've already caught the fish and it's just the highest-percentage place for another one to take that one's spot, or that's just where the most amount of fish will be.
> "That's what I focus on in high-pressured areas, and that's why I feel like I have a really good chance to pull in [and catch one]. Because I've practiced hard enough in that area...."
[Gotta add that Trey's talent/gift for finding fish others don't was apparent his rookie year, when he won at Fork on fish he had all to himself – which ain't exactly common on Fork.]
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3. You're good with and without FFS. How did you do that and how would you advise a younger person do that?
> "...it's hard. Trust me, it is hard in this day and age. If anybody has a desire to get into fishing and a desire to catch big fish...[that's] why it's hard for me to fish without it...because I know my chances nowadays are a lot better with it than without it.
> "So it's a lot easier for people not to really care too much about learning to fish without it. Because most of the time, if they allow it you can find some kind of fish to do that – pattern with LiveScope.
> "What helped me is I was in that perfect group. I started fishing right before [FFS] hit. When me and Rick [his mentor] went down to KY Lake we flipped bushes, willows trees...and for 3-4 years of my tournament fishing, that's pretty much all I knew how to do. We had fished offshore a little bit, but nothing to the scale of what you have to know now.
> "So for me I hit that perfect zone...where I got the chance to learn both.
> "For somebody that wants to what I call get back in the groove with it [not using FFS]...I love going to dirty-water fisheries, just turning everything off, bring 3 ideas whatever that is – a jig rod, a frog rod and maybe a spinnerbait or ChatterBait....
> "Just work my butt off for 3-4 days, and then all of a sudden all that instinct I forgot about [comes back]. Like noticing where I get a bite on a laydown – at the end, halfway up or at the base. All of a sudden that starts making sense and you're right back to where you never left."
4. When you're pre-practicing, are you trying to up your game somehow?
> "Absolutely. Some people say pre-practice is just idling and not fishing. I pre-practice a little different because I just want to go figure 'em out. That's it.
> "Not even learning the most I can about the lake. I'm just learning how to be quick and up my game in finding them.
> "...I'm gonna go out there with an open mind. Maybe for the 1st day I do go scan to find what cover's in the lake, look at different creek arms, look at where I want to fish, where I like.
> "Then the next day I go check out everything I idled...then I pretty much fish from then on and try to find a pattern.... That way it gives me a little bit of confidence that I can do the same thing when I come back. And if it is different, I know where I left off at."
How about fun-fishing? Are you fun-fishing or do you have a hard time shutting it off?
> "I don't shut off that well. Even if you want to go fishing [for fun], I'm still always trying to catch as many as I possibly can. It doesn't matter...how many people...if we're in a pond or what, I'm not gonna stop. It's definitely hard for me to shut off.
> "But...if I stay too worked up and my mind's racing...I get myself really burned out. Then I just look forward to hunting season. I try to mix it up a little bit...always stay pretty serious but at the same time keep it fun."
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5. What's your least-favorite fishing technique?
> "...punching grass flats. I've never learned how to find them. I've never really caught 'em like that. Every time I do it I'll punch for days...and I'll get 2 bites. I have never had good luck with it ever.
> "Punching grass mats? Not that big a deal. I love doing that. But the flats of grass...I psych myself out. I want to see it, I want to feel it, understand it and that's one thing I've never been able to understand."
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Hunter Shryock breaks down "the flurry"
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Did you see Hunter's insane 3 bigs flurry on day 4 at the 'Tank? If not, here it is on YT. One of the most amazing bassin' moments ever on camera – not just the catching part.
Before we get into it, I gotta say that many amazing moments happen literally every single tournament, whether they're on camera or not. One of the many things that make tournament bass fishing amazing. Thank you Lord!
1. Have you ever had a 3 big fish in 10 minutes moment like that before in an Elite tournament?
> "No. I think I've caught several good...anywhere from 4 to 6 lbs in a real fast flurry, but nothing to put you from 20 lbs to 30 lbs in 10 minutes.... Never happened before in my life."
2. Have you ever weighed 30+ the last day of a tournament before?
> "Especially never on the last day. The only time I've weighed 30 has been at Fork, and I really don't consider that to be as legit as somewhere like the Pasquotank.
> "Its not that the Pasquotank doesn't have 'em...but Fork is its own entity...for 30-lb bags. To me, that was definitely my biggest bag.
> "Truthfully I knew – I saw those fish there all week, and...other areas too. ...such a risky deal to get them to bite. Because you'd get them to follow [the glide], but actually getting 5 of them to eat it was the problem.
> "...19-20 lbs on the Moeba in the morning, and then...okay this is what I'm gonna go do. If I get a bite it's gonna be a big one.
> "Everything lined up on that 4th day. We had wind, we still had current coming out of the creeks, so it just set up perfect."
How did it go down?
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> "...the first one is like a 7.5. This is on a brushpile [and] typically a brushpile is one [big fish] and done. You catch 2 maybe. The very next cast I catch a 5 and there's about 4 of them with it. That's about the point I got goosebumps...something's happening.
> "I didn't even expect to catch another one. I'm thinking...where do I go to duplicate this because they're getting the bait right now. That's the key with that [Berkley] Chop Block [or any glide]: They'll follow that bait all day long, but getting those fish to hit it and eat it is the biggest thing.
> "As I'm sitting there thinking that, one literally swims right through it. When I hooked that one and saw how big it was – it was just under 8 – it just shook me. Because everything happened so fast.
> "To go from 19-20 lbs to 30 lbs in 10 minutes, I went from 'let's have a good tournament' to 'hey you're potentially in contention to win it.' I never felt like I won the event, it just shook me to the core that something like that happened on the 4th day....
> "People talk about how things can't go wrong when you win. ...dude it's finally happening for me. Win, lose or draw was not the point. When I lost it, it was just...this is the perfect day, and nothing can take that from me."
3. What was it about that area?
> "I think the biggest thing was the influx was all the saltwater this year. ...I caught 97% of my fish out of a creek in June, and typically that's not where you want to be. A river like the Chowan, those bigger fish would want to be on the main. ...freshwater in those places...was keeping those fish around and the bait around.
> "...that wind current was the biggest factor. We had a sustained S/SW wind which prolonged the current coming out of that creek.
> "[The brushpile] was at the mouth of that creek...right on a break...off the channel, current is flushing over top of it, and they were just set up to feed up...just floating in the middle of the pile.
> "I'd thrown a Moeba to those fish before...and it almost wouldn't even get their attention. That told me...maybe had already been pressured. So...that Chop Block is such a big presence, and when you put it around big fish they just do not like something like that being around."
4. Why that bait and that color?
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> "...I've never been a glide bait guy. I own thousands of dollars of hard glide baits, and probably caught 2 on any of them before getting my hands on the Chop Block.
> "[When Berkley sent him a few] I thought, It's just another glide bait [and after fishing it a bit] I'll stick it away and I'll never see it again. But I caught my first fish on it within the first 20 minutes of throwing it. It ended up turning into a really big confidence bait for me.
> "...very slow sink, it's not hard to get it to glide, it's very user-friendly. So for someone like me...that was the difference-maker.
> "I also think the bait being soft increases your hookup ratio. So when the fish hit it, an 8-inch bait, they can fold that bait in half. So they're gonna get the hooks...and having that harness detach from it allows you to land 'em.
> "I've got pretty much 2 colors – [burnt bone] and [greenback]. I will throw 'bone' [actual color name is 'raw'] if the water's dirtier than what we had."
5. When guys get raw and emotional like that, which are kinda rare in life, God uses it to minister to other men. Have you seen or heard of anything like that yet?
> "Man just the amount of people who've messaged me – 'you inspire me'....
> "...if I won that event, my life wasn't gonna be any different today. So I think almost the moment itself was better than what I could have ever expected, whether I blew out the tournament or not.
> "A lot of people on social media jumped on me about it...about crying and stuff. But I think everybody that knows fishing gets it. Everybody on the Elite Series deserves to win. The bad thing is is we're not going to. But to just feel like you had that chance, that opportunity – for it to happen the way it happened – it really shook me.
> "For whatever reason I had this overwhelming – we drove 2 hours each way every day...all I could hear was, 'I need you to be the man that I made you to be.' That's all I could hear all week.
> "...for me personally...we all are guilty of being hotheaded or cussing or this or that. I'm the first one to admit I'm not perfect and I'm also...not going to church every Sunday. But I talk to God as much as I can.
> "When you hear something like that and then that [flurry] plays out, that struck me. It's almost like, Here's a bread crumb, here's a bread crumb, here's a bread crumb.
> "[Getting ticked at folks when driving] is something I've been trying to work on. ...those variables you really don't have control over, but you have control over yourself. So 'be the man I made you to be'....
> "I enjoyed it, had a blast."
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"I was fishing 52 weekends a year. There weren't any weekends we missed."
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- Dang! That's Steve Kennedy's dad Van – who used to drive a BUS! – talkin'. Van was a stick too, and 1982 BASS Masters Classic (not the Bassmaster Classic back then).
From a looong but good post on the Bassmasters. Couple more highlights:
> Van: "Steve has been in my boat literally since he was a baby. He'd sleep in the rod box." [This actually might explain a few things lol Steve!]
> Steve: "Dad was buddies with Jack Chancellor. So we were throwing a lot of Carolina rigs. We'd pull up on a hump, me, dad and my brother Travis, and we'd drift with the wind. We'd each have 2 rods with a mix of color and baits, and we'd dial in the best lure and color. Dad would stay there until he learned how he could catch them, so I learned how to catch fish really fast.
> "We fished every day [on Martin, where he grew up], no depthfinders. I finally got one and all it did was kill my battery."
> ...when the Elite event on Martin this spring did not work out well for Steve, Van was apoplectic. "During the tournament he did not go to the places where he's caught big fish. He's hung up on these big glide baits. He was a Senko man, a jig man. He made them pay off. My wife tells me to shut up."
HAHAHA love it and I agree Van! Steve needs to pick up that white swim-jig and go to work! 😆
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FL bass are like smallmouths??
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Quote from WON Bass points leader Garrett Ellenson caught my eye:
> "The thing that I tell people is [Cali FL-strain largemouths] are a lot like our [WA] smallmouth bass. Our northern largemouth are completely different than the largemouth down there, but your largemouth are similar to our smallmouth. That's how I adapt to it."
Not sure exactly what he means except maybe where they're found – like mostly roaming? I'll try to catch up with him to find out more. Pls lmk if you think you know.
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Power for the bigs
Inline spinner redo?
Big teen win!
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Rodney Copeland won it by about 1.5 lbs with 40-13. Here's how he fished, deets from him and MLF:
> My local knowledge was a huge advantage because of the dirty runoff from massive rains. I also feel like my ability to run around on a lake/river that isn't easy to navigate was another big advantage.
> ...locking down to Kerr and throwing a BOOYAH Poppin Pad Crasher, a BOOYAH Pad Crasher and a BOOYAH Mobster Swim Jig.
> "I had about 5 places I rotated, and it was all grass and pads. Some areas were a little dirtier, some were a little cleaner. The conditions changed every day – not just water clarity, but the overall environment."
His main deal:
> 5/16 BOOYAH Mobster Swim Jig in 'too tall' (b/b with a few strands of purple and chart) and 'shorty small' (chart/white) with a 3.25 YUM Craw Chunk in b/b and white or 'pearl' til he ran out. "Rotated 2 colors because of water color."
> He fished in 3' or less, and the deal was to keep it over the submerged grass. "I just ran areas looking for cleaner water with the right habitat and the right amount of current."
> 65-lb Power Pro Braid, BPS Pro Qualifier and Abu Garcia Max Pro reels, 7' 3" H BPS Johnny Morris CarbonLite Rod ("designed for a bladed jig but I like the feel I get with that rod when swimming a jig").
Noteworthy: Fellow Okie Chris Jones – one of the co-designers of the Mobster Swim Jig and a 2-time Classic qualifier – got 3rd in that deal and won AOY. Folks in that area might want to look into that Mobster!
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"...if you're not competing against the best, you don't know how good you are."
- Tak "Hall of Fame" Omori talkin' in a good post on the MLF site. So go out there and dare your home lake hammer to put a Benjamin on the deck – get him! 😁
I'm gonna tell that Tak quote to my wife next time she says I'm being mean lol.
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How 'bout that urchin rig? That's an unknown urchin with a 1.8-gr Fish Arrow Wheel Head II. Daisuke Aoki used it to win Japan's JB Top 50 event – posted by @japanimporttackle:
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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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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 whatever....
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