BassBlaster

How to make bedders mad, Parrot bite now covered, If you kiss your fish

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on May 26, 2020

Y’all have a good weekend? Ultra-huge thanks to all those who serve us in the military. Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day — these folks are celebrated every year for a dang good reason (obviously). Love from one bass-head.

Almost June!! Couldn’t be more excited to see the professional anti-social fishtancers go at it again. Amazing how much I missed it — how ’bout you?

>> If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!

Today’s Top 5

**“You better get your b*tt out there and catch some fish!”**

– And here we learn the real reason behind Ott DeFoe’s success. That’s his wife Jennie talkin’ when Ott was mopin’ about a tough day 1 at Smith Lake, AL back before anyone really knew who he was. Full quote:

> “I was pretty down and knew this was definitely a breaking point. We could only afford to fish one more tournament financially and that was it. It would all be over. Jennie asked me if this is what I felt I was supposed to do and where God wanted me to be…then ‘you better get your butt out there and catch some fish!'”

Pretty sure that’s how it went down at the Classic too…. Ott:

> “She’s the only person I know who is more determined than me.”

Believe this security cam footage from their courtship says it all:

Lol DeFoes! Anyhow, that’s all from a good post on the MLFers site.

How to cut your noise.

Good stuff from Elitist Jason Williamson on the Bassin’masters:

> I start my noise control by fishing with a cable-driven motor. Mine is the MotorGuide Tour Pro. It seems to me that the cable models make less noise than the electric-driven ones when you turn the head. …that’s my opinion. I haven’t been involved in any scientific tests.

> Something else I want to mention about your trolling motor is lubrication. When a trolling motor starts to get some wear on it, it’ll squeak and crackle when it moves. A little oil or spray lubricant will really cut that noise down. I lubricate my trolling motor regularly.

> Another way to control noise is to turn your sonar off when you’re not using it. I don’t mean to put your unit on standby…actually turning it off. I do this on my back unit whenever I’m up front fishing. I think it helps….

> Open [lids] gently and close them even more gently. Sound travels a long way through water.

On the on/off trolling motor deal he says:

> I don’t think it hurts to engage and disengage your prop when you’re fishing. I know some anglers say that putting them on a constant speed is better. That has not been my experience.

“It’s been like a super-long rain delay at a baseball game.”

– Classic champ Hank “both sweet and tart” Cherry talkin’ to Bassin’Fan ’bout the tourney-fishin’ pause…and weirdly I know what he means. Meanwhile he’s doing this:

> “I’ve been fishing a lot at night with big wakebaits to take advantage of the shad spawn. It starts to get good at 9:00 or 10:00 at night, but the best time is usually 1 am to daybreak.

> “You’re listening when you’re fishing the points — sometimes it sounds like somebody’s throwing riprap into the water….

> He said the key is to keep your bait as close to the rocks as you can and for as long as possible.

> “The biggest fish I’ve caught doing it was a 35-lb blue (catfish). That one sounded like somebody dropped a car in the lake.”

Peeps in Hank’s boat are like:

When the parrot bite’s on…

…lucky for you “there’s a bait for that” — the Chasebaits USA “The Smuggler” in the color “budgie:”

That’s 2.5″ and 3.5″, 7 colors, TW has 4 colors, the rest are on the Chasebaits USA site. Btw Chasebaits has a pretty cool new craw — check the underwater vid:

That bait’s also on the TW.

If you kiss your bass, why do you do it?

The Cajun Baby axed this question on the Insta: “Does anybody else kiss and tell the fish I LOVE YOU before they release the fish or is it just me?

My answer would be “no” but one dude said:

> Always, so they’ll tell their chubby sister what a good kisser I am and she’ll come see for herself.

HAHAHA! Now that’s a good’n. Btw here’s Cliff after a hard day on the boat…not sure what’s up with how he’s dressed but I can’t judge:

Bet that diaper saves time…kinda like ultra-runners I guess…?

Lol! That’s a Cajun Baby baby…I mean toddler….

News

1. Please help the Martens family if you can.

GoFundMe set up by fellow pro G Spo (thank you man!) for their medical bills. Believe it or not, most bass fishermen aren’t millionaires. Aaron’s not and his medical bills will be significant so…here’s a GoFundMe to help the Furious Hawg Snatcher if you can. And please keep praying.

Btw, Shaw Grigsby says he’s doing great — please keep praying for him too.

2. Cliff Pirch won a tourney!

Cliff and bud Clay Randall won the Wild West Bass Trail’s Rumble on Roosevelt (I believe) with 20.32 lbs, 4+ lbs better than 2nd. Cliff and Clay had two 6s to seal the deal. Here’s the lowdown from Cliff, who used his 6 as a laser gun at the weigh-in:

> Big Bite Baits Pro Lizard (gp) on a Carolina rig caught the two 6-lbers. About 15′, main lake point, bottom covered with flooded trees and rock.

> 7′ 6″ H Phenix K2 Rod, 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG Hook, 3/4-oz bullet-style lead weight, 15-17 lb fluoro.

3. MDJ outed the new Favorite Pro Series sticks.

I’ve learned that MDJ won’t settle for anything less than real good so I’m assumin’ these fish sticks are all that.

4. FLWer B-Rad Hallman is selling his Phoenix.

Loaded ’19 920 Pro XP with 250 Merc ProXS, Minn Kota and Garmins.

5. Former Elitist Jeremy Starks almost had a live birth in his boat.

Y’all heard of this happening in cars on the way to the hospital, well check it:

6. OK: FL-strain bass haven’t done well in Grand…

…but they’re stocking them again at a bigger size to see if they can maybe survive the cold better.

Can’t link it but it’s at oklahoman.com.

7. TX has some new bass regs.

For some waters, too many to list here.

8. AR: Good results from Swepco electrofish survey.

Good bass and forage populations.

9. AR sprayed Conway again for alligatorweed.

Not so much about vegetation just that stuff attracts the wrong crowd:

Lol — reminds me of this stoner gator FLWer Blake Smith caught flippin:

10. Check the Lunkerhunt Gambit.

Gotta shout this out again, get ’em here on the TW:

I haven’t fished it yet but it sure looks sick….

11. Watch bass-heads’ reactions to Vexus rides.

Spoiler: They love ’em.

12. Looks like the Santone Lures folks are colorblind?

Hahahaha! Sick! Believe that’s the Santone Pro Football Jig in “pinto beans and carrots” with a Rage Craw.

13. TN: Check the new Normandy Lake fishing pier.

How ’bout ya some structure — props to the TN DNR:

14. LA fishing licenses are way up.

Like a lot of states = good!

15. Here’s a Minecraft smallmouth.

Who knew:

16. Africa: Hippos and crocs are killing fishermen at a couple lakes.

Yikes. We’ve got it pretty tame over here….

Line of the Day

“Bait” is a much more generic term and refers to living or dead organisms or edible parts thereof, natural or prepared organic food and chemical attractants.

Bait = edible organic food?? Guess folks in WY look at things differently….

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

> Ditch hog melons! Post-spawner tips, Changed up flip locations?

Note: The TackleWarehouse links in this email are affiliate links, meaning if you go through them to make a purchase I might earn a commission…at no cost to you. Click here if you want to learn a little more about links in the BB.

Tip of the Day

How to make a bedding bass mad, then catch it.

Dude relating a story about fishing with Elitist Jay Yelas — or rather watching Jay fish. Can’t link it but it’s at thegazette.com:

> “So Jay flips a baby craw TX rig into the bed and both fish scatter. Then they come right back and he makes another pitch and gets the same result. We’re talking the whole time and we ask him why the craw? He says he’d rather use a tube but he didn’t have any in the boat.”

> After a couple of casts, Yelas told Smith and Wirth he would catch that bass.

> “We were carrying on a conversation as he’s fishing, but it was like he was sitting up there drinking coffee with us. Anyway, a few casts later the female stops moving off the bed, but she shows no interest in his craw. The next couple of casts, Jay hits the fish with his sinker and actually is missing the bed. We ask what’s up with that and Jay says, ‘They don’t like to get hit in the tail.”

> That’s what Yelas did for the next few minutes, whacking the bass 10 or 12 times. “After that, Jay says, ‘She is getting mad and is gonna bite.’ About 2 casts later, he brings that craw over its back and the fish just explodes on it and misses. He looks up at us and says, ‘Did you see that?’ Before we could even answer he fired another cast over its tail, the fish attacked it and Jay caught her.

> “It was so impressive to have him explain his thought process and what he was doing. Obviously, his mechanics were incredible, but his demeanor and wanting to teach us is what stands out in my mind.”

Quote of the Day

“Without bass tournaments back in the day, I’m sure the fishing industry would just be a few guys trading tackle in their kitchen.”

– Word! Bassin’ rules! And it for sure did and has driven the feeshn biz.

Shot of the Day

When you get paired up and don’t get along with the dude at all:

HAHAHA!

Random

Bumble Bee will offer plant-based tuna fish.

Question: So If these plants are so great and all, why are they always being made to taste like fish and animal protein?

My answer: Because they taste bad on their own, and we all know that stuff that tastes bad is our body’s way of saying, Don’t eat it!

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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