Well we went to BlackBerry Smoke on Fri night and it was 100% worth it – REAL good!

If you like southern rock, blues rock, country rock or classic rock and want to feel like you're at a "rock show," if you know what I mean, definitely go. Told my bud who pestered me to see 'em that a) the albums, which are good, don't really convey the energy of the live show and b) based on them live I'm real surprised they're not a bigger band.

If you're curious, here's a pro-shot show from 2018 (on YT).

Live shows used to be the most important deal for a band, though it didn't always work out that way. I'm thinking of King's X, GREAT band and insanely good live. Anyhow, go see BBS!

BUT I didn't get to go to Fork, which significantly bummed me out. Love seeing the fellers and the B.A.S.S. folks. Reason: Every week I get a call from the body shop saying my truck will take another week (or 2) to get done. All that FL tornado body damage finally getting fixed. I hope....

Been a real good test of how cool I can keep myself. I think I've been 90%. Maybe 85%...😅 They said they have 110+ vehicles, 5 repair technicians and 1 paint guy. If you're in that biz, does that make sense??

Let's go!

Tucker's a rookie, but are you surprised he won? He's won at literally every level he's fished (except the Opens) and he's won some big ones. So I doubt this will be his only overhead press of a Bassmaster trophy. Just my 2c.

Here's how he got this one – by 13 oz over his bud and the guy who won the last one, Paul Marks Jr. This is shorter than the full meal deal which is on the BB website.

Going in and practice

> "Going into it it's May so I was expecting to find an offshore bite.... My favorite way to catch 'em is fishing for schools of fish, so that's what I tried to find....

> "What I ended up catching them on mostly in the tournament was a few hard spots – smaller hard spots that were holding schools of fish. ...10' [wide] hard spots and 10-15' [wide] hard spots [using] Humminbird Apex Mega Side Imaging.

> "...just hard bottom [vs rocks or whatever]. You can see it on your graph. I was dragging a jig on it as well – it felt like it was super-hard bottom, [maybe] a little bit of smaller rocks.

> "I had 2 places in 6-8', I had a few places in 12-15' and then I 2 places that were in 25-28'. Some of my best stuff was on the main lake...on points and also I had a really good place I caught 2 overs on...in the middle of a timber patch. A little sneaky hard spot kind of on a point...between 2 spawning bays."

> "I used side imaging all 3 days of practice and made barely any casts. I side-scanned every single day non-stop and found about 7-8 places I felt comfortable I could catch fish on."

Tournament

> "[From the water rising and the current] those fish kinda disappeared the 1st day of the tournament. I only caught 1-2 fish each place. I caught 25 lbs...

> "...high water and they opened up the flood gates. The water was ripping and those fish aren't really used to that. My research told me that that water stays stable most of the year.

> "But the water every day of the tournament got more and more stable, and the fish started to show back up on those hard spots. The 2nd day there was like 10 fish on each place, the 3rd day 15-20, and the last day 50+ fish were on each place.

> "The 1st day I was still trying to figure out my rotation.... I scanned a lot in practice [vs fishing] so I didn't know my rotation. The 2nd day I...figured out what times the fish were biting [on each spot]...caught 34 lbs.

> "The 2nd day after I had 34 lbs I actually went and graphed about 2 hours and found 2-3 new places that had fish on them. Then I used those in my rotation on days 3 and 4.

> "The 3rd day I figured out my rotation even better. I caught a 33-lb bag, but I caught a lot more fish and was figuring out the places I was catching them on better and better. Every day I got my rotation more dialed in and figured out to the hour what time to pull up to a school to get them to fire...[when they] get tight on those hard spots and feed.

> "There was a bunch of bait around, especially in the mornings.That's why my bite didn't get good until 8:30 [when] the bait cleared out of those places. It was gizzard and threadfins. The big ones were feeding on gizzards.

> "The last day in the morning I was trying to look for a new spot because I wasn't catching them til 8:30. I saw bunch of birds on the bank...shad spawn. I picked up a swim-jig, tied it on and my 2nd cast I caught 6.25 first thing in the morning. So I was pumped. It gave me a lot of confidence.

> "After that I went and started running my rotation. I hit my 2nd spot and couldn't catch anything. So I picked up a 3/4-oz Picasso Tungsten Football Jig with a 3-inch Yama Craw and slowly drug it on that hard spot. I ended up catching one almost 7 lbs, which was my 2nd fish.

> "By that time the bait had all cleared up. The next 3 places I caught 2 5-something lbers, the next place I pulled up to I caught 3 over 6 in a row. My next place I pulled up to after that I caught 1 almost 8 lbs, got them fired up and caught a couple more 5-something lbers."

He said he fished about 7-8 spots per day.

Baits

He said he also caught a couple on a deep-diving crankbait but the first 2 below were his main rigs:

> Minnow (sexy shad and gizzard shad – he didn't even want to reveal even the length!) on a 1/4-oz Picasso Tungsten Jighead, 15-lb P-Line Spin X Braid to 15-lb P-Line 100% Soft Fluoro, Shimano Stella Spin Reel (3000), 7' 2" M G Loomis NRX+ Spin Rod.

> 3/4-oz Picasso Tungsten Football Jig (gp amber) with a 3" Yamamoto Yama Craw (gp), 20-lb P-Line 100% Soft Fluoro, Shimano Metanium MGL Reel, 7' 2" H Shimano Curado Rod.

> Swim-jig (1 fish): 3/8-oz Picasso Hog Snatcher Swim Jig (white) with a 3" Yamamoto Yama Craw (white), 65-lb P-Line No Fade Braid, Shimano Curado DC 150 Reel (8:1), 7' 5" H Shimano Curado Rod.

Electronics

> "I used the Humminbird Lakemaster VX Premium [chip] and that thing was unbelievable for seeing the contour lines, the points, dropoffs, the channels wings – it was key.

> "Humminbird MEGA 360 I was using to see the hard spots and the fish sitting on them. Then I used FFS to pan over to it to cast straight onto those fish."

> Minn Kota Ultrex QUEST troller: "In my opinion it is the quietest and fastest trolling motor. It's key having a quiet trolling motor like that. Those fish are so smart you have to be really stealthy. ...not much current, they're kind of just swimming around. So if your boat is really loud around 'em they're kind of skittish.

> "...hard spot in 6' I was using my 10' Minn Kota Raptors to fish that place...not get blown around...sit still even when the wind was blowing."

Shoutouts

> "Shoutout to my Impulse Lithium Batteries. Those things were solid all week. I ran my trolling motor on 8-10 all day long and never had any issues with 'em.

> "Also my Nitro G21 XL. It got pretty tough the 3rd and 4th day with the wind. I didn't have any problems, I didn't take any waves. I was able to stay on those offshore holes in the middle of the lake with ease...cast to them without getting beat around.

> "AMart – especially because of him winning the tournament on mothers day, the Elite Series tournament at Lake Havasu [in 2015] and I was able to win this Elite Series tournament on Lake Fork on mothers day. It really hit me at weigh-in after I won. It wasn't just a coincidence. It was really special.

> "It made me break down because I knew that AMart was watching and proud. He told me years ago I was gonna win a blue trophy one day. I didn't think it was ever gonna happen, and for that happen it gave me chills."

Let's learn a little more about Tucker and college feeshn, including whether the Auburn bass team even goes to class lol.

1. What was better, winning this one or winning the Johnny Morris million-dollar deal with Logan?

> "Man I will say that I've only had 2 feelings like this before, and those are the only 2 tournaments I've ever had that feeling. So I can't really say one is better than the other.

> "I had the same feeling and it's a feeling I will never forget. Being able to win a tournament of that caliber with tour best friends and family around you, it's super special to me."

2. You finished 2nd at Hartwell to Paul, then won this one and Paul finished 2nd. Coincidence or...?

> "Paul is one of my best friends. He's an incredible angler, one of best fishermen I know. We were 14 oz apart at Hartwell and I'm pretty sure we were 14 oz apart at this one [actually 13 oz at Fork – crazy!].

> "He said after Hartwell, 'You're gonna win the next one, just watch' and I didn't believe him.... To be able to win back to back tournaments, your buddy winning one and you winning the next one – it's something we couldn't dream of."

3. What do you think is the one thing that has helped you the most on the Elite Series that you learned in college?

> "I would say it's being able to handle the stress of a tournament with a lot of boats and a lot of good fishermen. I've fished a ton of tournaments now, and just being able to take a step back and not stress and keep your calm is a big deal.

> "There's lot of times you want to get stressed out and want to spin out, but something I've been able to figure out over the years through college and the Opens is trying to stay calm and just knowing you will run into them eventually.

> "Just run your deal and stay calm the whole time. If you're around the right fish, it's gonna happen."

4. Be honest – does the Auburn bass team ever have to go to class? 😁

> "[Laughs] We did, we did go to class. But I don't know how much [laughs]. It's important to to go to class if that's what you're trying to get me to tell the world."

[Lol I am not trying for anything, all good!]

5. What's the 1 thing that stands out in your mind that you learned from Aaron?

> "Have fun. 100%. He just had a good time every time we went fishing. He always told me, 'Just have fun with it, don't get too stressed about anything. Everybody loses fish, you're not gonna win every single tournament, you're gonna lose a lot more tournaments [than you win].

> "'So just have fun with it and don't take it for granted' – because being able to fish is such a blessing...especially being able to do it for a full-time job. It's something a lot of people dream of doing. It's something I've dreamed of doing my whole life.

> "I am definitely not taking it for granted and am enjoying every moment that I can."

Sometimes tough to get 2nd-5th on back to backers, especially with cell service like it is on the Sabine. Did not get JT Thompkins yet.

2nd: Paul Marks Jr

> 7.5" Zoom Winged Fluke (TN shad) on 1/4- and 3/8-oz prototype Greenfish Tackle Jigheads, 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown Flash Green Braid to 17-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, Shimano Stella Reel (3000), 7' 1" M XF G Loomis NRX+ Spin Rod.

> Post spawn schools of bass in 8-27'.

3rd: Trey "top 5" McKinney

> Unreleased 6th Sense minnow on a 3/16-oz ball jighead, 15-lb Seaguar Gold Label fluoro leader, 7' 1" MF St Croix Legend Tournament Spin Rod.

> 6th Sense Crush 400DD and 500DD crankbaits fished on 15-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro.

> Targeted schools on breaks from 8' to 25' depending what area of the lake.

4th: Kyoya Fujita

Got some info this time, big thanks to a bud! Any mistakes are mine and apologies if so:

> Jackall Drift Fry, 50-lb Daiwa Braid to 28-lb fluoro, Daiwa Exist Reel (LT2500S-XH), Daiwa Steez Real Control S68MH-SV Rod.

> Jackall Vividus Swimbait, 20-lb Jackall Red Spool Line (fluoro?), Daiwa Zillion SV TW Reel, Daiwa Steez Real Control C73H-SV ST Rod.

[Kyoya designed the Daiwa Steez Real Control rods for Daiwa Japan.]

1. We lost Paul Allison of Allison Boats

Hull and prop innovator, passed on at age 100:

Check this:

Bless you and thank you bass-boatin' brother and all the folks at Allison. ✝️🙏

2. Zack Birge breaks down how he fished Guntersville (YT vid)

During Redcrest, in case you're ever on that lake in stormy weather.

3. Johnny Cox says a key to the Stank Bug is erratic claw action

In that IG vid, John says it took years to perfect that bait and one key deal was that he wanted the claws to have action but NOT the same action all the time, like most/all baits like that have.

He said Berkley actually tried to stop that from happening, but turned out John caught more fish with it thataway. Interesting:

And it is MaxScent! 😍

4. Nick LeBrun likes a Yammy SLINKO for spawners (IG vid)

Also pre and post, but since the Slinko floats and he fishes it on a 3/16-oz Buckeye Spot Remover Head (gp), it stands up with drives the big mamas nuts.

5. Keith Carson talks the Berkley Gilly for spawners

Says he TX-rigs it:

> "I will pitch that Gilly to the far side of the bed, let it sink and slowly swim it across the bed, killing it near the middle. I'll then hop it up and down and it usually gets finicky bass that have yet to lay eggs to bite.

> "After they lay eggs, I'll add a weight to my presentation to keep the bait on the bottom where the eggs are.

> "I used to start with jigs or the Berkley General, but they wouldn't eat it in this case because it doesn't look enough like the baitfish. By using the Gilly, it's certainly opening doors to new possibilities to catching fish we have not seen before."

Be aware: Keith and good bud Johnny Cox came up spending a PILE of time fishing for spawners, partly because FL seems to have spawners for a big part of the year. They definitely know some stuff...finer deets....

6. Austin Felix's Dream Stroller head is on TW

7. NPFL hosting charity tourney NEXT WEEK

For on of their fishermen, NC's Chad Poteat wo was diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease:

> NPFL pros will be taking donor co-anglers out on Cherokee Lake on Wed, May 21. The tournament will launch at the Cherokee Dam boat ramp on Renfro Road in Jefferson City, TN.

> A donation of $200 per pair of co-anglers is required to participate and they will be paired together with an NPFL professional. 2 paired donor co-anglers will be randomly assigned to a professional's boat, and the boat will compete as a team...3-bass limit.

Signup form is here.

All you prayer warriors, please send 'em up for Chad and family and I hope someone lays hands on him and prays! ✝️🙏

8. FL: Charity event on St Johns THIS SATURDAY

Wolfson Children's 35th Annual, Palatka City Docks, tournament is Saturday ($140 entry) and there's a drawing for a new Bullet 21SDC.

9. Blast from the past: Woo Daves' C-rig weight was a...

...Lindy No-Snagg Rattling Weight. Stumbled across that yesterday, wild to me because I bought some a year or 2 ago for C-rigs. Can't wait to drag that bad boy with that ultra-juicy-looking FishLab Slam-A-Mander:

10. What Ned Kehde's best April day bait was...

Ned of the Ned rig:

> 87 were caught on a 3.5" Z-Man Trick ShotZ (twilight) affixed to either a red 1/15-oz Z-Man's Micro Finesse ShroomZ Jighead or a red 1/16-oz mushroom-style jig.

Always amazed how much the jigHEAD color seems to matter in his reports.

11. OR won't recognize 9.3-lb spot as a state record...

...because it does not recognize spotted bass as a gamefish because they were not intentionally stocked by the state. But the guy who caught says those fish have been in at least 2 lakes in OR for 20+ years.

Post on Outdoor Life has more deets.

12. TN: Old Hickory Sanders Ferry ramp reno is done

It was a Bill Dance Signature Lakes project.

13. They're TX-rigging worms for salty stripers now

Guy talks about using 10" Berkley Power Worms and 7" YUM Ribbontail Worms. Does not mention the reason for the odd weight setup:

Headline of the Day

Pre-spawn bass fishing offers great fun and has not hurt the fishery in Michigan

Word! Maybe because of pre-spawn fish like this 8-lber: 🤯

Line of the Day

There are few things more relaxing than going fishing. I know because I've done it twice, and they were very nice days.

Definitely was not a co-angler in a bass tourney lol.

Quick C-rig bait guide for all you draggers...

...myself included. From a deal about Toledo Bend but I think is useful anywhere – and I really don't think a whole lot of folks drag anymore? Not like it used to be. Check this line from an old Carolinasportsman.com post:

> The Carolina-rigged lizard proved so effective and became so widely used some anglers said largemouths became conditioned to plastic lizards and wouldn't strike them as readily.

They always do get conditioned, but if anything I bet this generation of bass could only be condition to a Baby Brush Hog for C-rigging? Anyhow here's the guide, from a Louisianasportsman.com post:

> "A craw worm, a Fluke, a lizard, a Brush Hog, a big worm, a Senko, a French fry – you can put anything on the back of it. ...it's a 12-month [rig]....

> "Jan and Feb I start off throwing 8-inch lizards looking for big pre-spawn females. I target staging areas in water 12-15' deep, at points off the ends of ridges and flats.

> "From Mar to May I go to smaller baits – 6-inch lizards, creature-type baits or Flukes. It's spawning season so I fish the tops of ridges and flats in 10' or less....

> "With summer – Jun through Sept – I switch to 6- to 8-inch worms for numbers of fish and 10- to 11-inch monster worms for size."

Not sure if anyone makes baits called "French frys" anymore, but here's some options if you're curious:

4" Zoom Centipede

4" Zoom Double Ringer

3.5" and 4" Lake Fork Ring Fry

4" Smash-Tech Bubble Fry (looks interesting)

"I saw a blob in 50', 2' off the bottom, threw my stuff at it and it never got to the bottom."

- Mohave BAM Super 60 winner Karl Okerman talkin' 'bout ketchin' a 6-lber on a dropshotted OSP Saikoro Rubber Dice (Fred's candy).

Lookit the double chin on that 🐷 smallmouth! Posted by Great Lakes Finesse. That bait is the new 2.3" GLF Ned Bug (gp watermelon) on a 1/8-oz GLF Ned Head (1/0 Gamakatsu 604 hook):

Wisconsin Fat Bird Week Crowns a Winner

Well I guess looking for fat birds beats watching TV! 😆 Man WI sounds like a WILD place. Maybe too wild for most of us...🤣

Fishers of Men Tournament Trail

Bass Chaplain podcasts

Contact Chris Wells the Bass Chaplain

CullGear.com - Versaweb

Advanced Angler

StrayCasts crazy web show!

BassEdge Radio

Champion Jigs

Trophy Bass Co.

National Professional Anglers Assoc.