|
Alright still runnin' 'n gunnin' after Redcrest, which was a time! Let's get to it – Elite coverage in the next one....
|
|
|
Gitcha Blaster video fix here:
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
How Jacob Wheeler won his first Redcrest Championship
|
|
|
Yep, Jacob won Redcrest. No one's surprised, not even people born in 2027. 😁 Because it's Jacob, and he also won the most recent MLF Bass Pro Tour regular season event, and he's got the most-ever BPT wins and AOY wins.
But look at the guys he was fishing against that last Redcrest day (weights zeroed so it's 1-day shootout):
2. Takahiro Omori
3. Zack Birge
4. Brent Ehrler
5. Drew Gill
6. Alton Jones Jr
7. Mark Daniels Jr
8. Spencer Shuffield
9. Jeff Sprague
10. Dustin Connell
Pretty dang stout group! Here's how Jacob won it – shortened a little from the full deal on the BB website.
Tournament
For the first time in MLF history, this Redcrest was a 3-dayer.
> "Day 1 I started on smallmouth. I had a really good [FFS] period, caught some that were still pre-spawn on a Mooch Minnow, caught some spawners...actually expanded in some areas rather than trying to force it.
> "Then I had to make a decision. I had a little bit of cushion from the cut, and I had a place I wanted to to check that was 50 miles away, way up the White River. ...I needed to get an understanding of how good it is up there, and if it's worth it or not to go.
> "...I ended up running all the way...in the back of this creek. I fished there the next 2 periods and caught some fish, but it was not nearly what I thought it could be.
> "I felt like I spread myself too thin anyway [with fishing up there] and I needed to get that out of my mind right off the rip. I knew I wasn't gonna win the tournament doing that.
> "Day #2...the biggest decision I had to make...do I go use my forward period to catch enough fish to make the cut and have 2 periods of practice...or do I go [where] I had 1 bite in practice on the lower end [in a creek] or do I go and just fish.
> "I said, 'You know what, we're gonna chance it. Period 1 I'm gonna go...just practice, I'm gonna run around [and fish] the pattern that worked for me in the other creeks, and run with it.'
> "The first hour I hadn't caught a scoreable and finally got on a stretch where I caught 'em really good throwing a ChatterBait. I caught enough fish just going down the bank...I was able to save my forward period for practice [in the 3rd period].
> "I knew there were a lot of smallmouth leaving...pre-spawn smallmouth that were leaving, spawning smallmouth that were leaving...and coming. So there were a lot of things I needed to know to set myself up....
> Day 3, we had a little bit of a fog delay...it was cold, the 2nd day of the front...the 2nd day of a front is always the toughest fishing.
> "I started with my [FFS] period...I catch a 4-lber really quick on a salted Ned Roll. I catch another good fish, another good fish...like 20 lbs the first hour. Then the next 45 minutes I don't even put a scoreable in the boat [a lot of shorts]. I shook fish off the day before I thought were good ones and they just were not.
> "...a really important time [was] about 35 minutes left in that 1st period – I had 6 more [smallmouths] that I'd marked [on beds] and shook off. If I could catch those fish, I could set myself up for a great day.
> "In the last 30 minutes I ran like 10 miles. I would pull up, make 3 casts, catch the fish, put him on the scale, pick up my trolling motor, they'd call the weight, I'd put the fish in the water, put my life jacket on, zip it up, take off. It was all about efficiency...."
|
|
|
He had about a 10-lb lead going into the 2nd period. He caught another spawner on the Salted Ned Roll, then ran to a "long creek," to his ChatterBait stretches. A bunch of local boats were there but he was able to go down the best stretch he had – and didn't get a bite:
> "The conditions were not right. It was flat, the sun was up high, I was like – I gotta go run new water. I look and...man that banks's still shaded...the wind's blowing on it, let me just run over there."
He caught 4-5 good ones there, was up 18-19 lbs and had confidence that pattern was still holding up. He caught some more, but then the wind died so he decided to run to the lower end where there was some "tea-color"/tannic water – and caught some keeper fish there.
> "It made it to where that lower end fished more like an upper end because the water was more stained and those fish weren't set up as deep.
> "...shallower, dirtier water, throwing a ChatterBait, fishing wind-blown banks. I was fishing shade because the sun was up – that was a big deal for generating a couple bites.
> "It was just really tough fishing. It was a tough fishing day. I needed to lock in....
> "When you're up a decent amount of weight, every single fish is so important. It adds so much more distance between you and the rest of the field."
Baits
|
|
|
> "Early in the tournament I caught fish on a [Rapala CrushCity] Bronco Bug (gp blue) flipping laydowns, but it didn't really happen the last 2 days." 4/0 VMC RedLine Straight Shank Hook, 3/8-oz weight.
> Rapala CrushCity Salted Ned Roll (gp blue and gp magic), 3/16-oz shakey head, 8-lb Sufix Revolve Braid (neon lime) to 12-lb Sufix Advance Fluoro, Shimano Stradic Reel (3000), 7' M Duckett JW 2.0 Spin Rod.
> "That really played a big role the final day. ...little rockpiles, stumps, any little isolated piece of cover. A lot of times I didn't see the fish...cast it out and just drag it. It was probably the biggest bait the final day for generating bites."
> Minnows: 4.5" Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow (green shad) on a 3/16-oz head and 4.25" Rapala CrushCity Freeloader (green shad) on a 1/8-oz head. "I could throw [that] Freeloader...way better...about 30% further in the wind than [the Mooch because the Freeloader is a heavier bait]. The bait was not blown around as easily." VMC RedLine Tungsten Swimbait Jighead and unnamed jighead.
> 1/2-oz Z-Man JackHammer (bluegill – "in that tannic water I wanted a gold blade") with a Freeloader (sungill and then gp magic because he ran out of sungill), 17-lb Sufix Advance Fluoro, KastKing Skeet Reese Icon Reel (7.2), 7' 4" MH Duckett JW Select Rod ("that's my favorite ChatterBait rod").
Electronics
> "I used FFS to catch 'em, but it just made me more efficient during that time I was using it to be as dialed in as possible. I'm finding little rockpiles, little places fish were setting up...need to parallel this bank a little differently. It was not a 1-trick thing....
> "Shoutout to Wieda's Marine – they sent me an extra [Lowrance] Active Target 2 XL Transducer so I had 2 XLs on my boat this week.
> "That new transducer has a higher frequency [which is better] when picking put the bottom. Lowrance has always been really good overall, but Garmin had better target separation. With the XL there's a lot better target separation – you can see the detail, you can see what's going on...a really big deal [the] shallow-water target separation.
> "I could see a lot of subtle details in the bottom with Forward – even Scout mode was cleaner and crisper."
> "Power Brakes are unbelievable. Not for just Scope. ...when going down bluff walls...get a bite, I'd have the Poles down halfway and just reverse it, back up, pitch back in there and catch that fish.
> "I just like the extra things you can do with trolling motors in the back of the boat. I toyed around with the idea [of brakes] for 3 years but I didn't know if I really wanted to do that. I put them on the first tournament of the year...found more uses out of them just general fishing than I ever thought I would."
Shoutouts
> "I really want to shout out the whole Suzuki family. They had a big party last night after the win. Things happen for a reason...it has been unbelievable.
> "My wife, my kids – my daughter Olivia, she's my biggest fan and expects dad to win a lot. Nothing's more important than my family. There's a satisfaction and fulfillment you get out of [family moments]...you can't earn through tournament wins."
|
|
|
5 Qs with the man who has won just about everything
|
|
|
What's left for Jacob to win? Well, he's won everything MLF except Heavy Hitters – so far. And in case you forgot, on the B.A.S.S. side he's won an Elite (sort of 2) but not an Open...or the Classic. Or a B.A.S.S. AOY.
Dude isn't having a run, he's the new standard. How does he do it? Here's a little insight.
1. Is the name of the game either getting a free pass into the Championship Round or just squeaking into it, and then winning from there?
> "Typically the best move is to squeak in and win – if you have a lot left in the kitty.
> "There's been times when you gotta dip into the well and the well's dry when get to Championship Round, and pretty much at that piont you're in a tough [spot]."
2. In Knockout Rounds, how do you make sure you don't fall out of the top 10? Are you just always 100% sure what that weight will be?
> "That's what's so awesome about ScoreTracker. If you don't have ScoreTracker, you can't make those decisions on the fly.
> "You sort of let the horses run, and then you pull them back. Then you let them run a little more, then you pull them back a little bit. You're waiting for your time to make your move – you just want to fall too far behind.
> "It's a game of chess more than anything."
[Okay it's one thing to say all that in the context of sports, but as we well know in our sport we have fish that have minds of their own. Pretty amazing.]
3. On a lake that big with that many species of fish and fish in various phases, how do you know what to focus on?
> "That's very much gut intuition. And it's different for every person.
> "You look at Tak, you look at Zack, myself – everybody's doing what they feel like is right for them. ...everybody's doing what they feel like is right for them. So what's right for me, might not be right for everybody else.
> "I think that's something that makes fishing really cool. Everybody's got confidence in their own way, how they do things and process information.
> "Gut intuition and gun instinct is something that you can't teach, and that's something that all the best anglers have. They make those gut instinct decisions that might make not sense to you, but it makes sense to them in their mind."
4. Does Andy Morgan know that he's the one that inspired you to take it to the next level?
> "I've hunted with Andy a lot. I've never straight-up told him that, but I think he knows now after that speech [check top item #3 below].
> "There's certain people in the sport that you look up to, and Andy's always been one of those for me."
5. You told that story about his work ethic inspiring you, but by that time you had already won a bunch of stuff. So weren't you already working hard?
> "I think I worked hard but...put it this way: Like in family life, quality and dedicated time to your kids is different than just being a dad. So I was putting the work in, but was I putting that dedicated time to it and really getting serious about it? Maybe not as serious as I could be.
> "So being intentional with your time is everything, and I think that's...what I got out of that."
|
|
|
Jacob: What's different now? Tons of 'silent grinding'
|
|
|
The Wed night before the tourney started, MLF had their annual Thunderstruck Ball named after the AC/DC tune...okay, it's the ThunderBOLT Ball, but I always hear that tune in my head when I see that word lol.
Anyhow, Jacob made his what seems like annual AOY speech, and once again it was good. And personal. This time he talked about 2 related deals I want to highlight.
Andy Morgan
One is Andy winning his 2nd consecutive (and 3rd overall) FLW AOY in 2014. Jacob noticed that after a tourney they both fished in, instead of hanging out with all the guys Andy went and got what Jacob calls "unseen reps" at Kentucky Lake before the cutoff.
Jacob said that lived in his head, and he wondered "how to kick [his] work ethic into beast mode."
What he settled on was...pre-practice. In a way. Not making tons of casts, but riding the lakes, graphing and "making notes":
> "That gave me time to strategize certain scenarios and think them through ahead of time."
The young'ns
He said that type of work ethic is now common – "24/7" he called it – especially in the younger cats:
> "The work ethic...in professional bass fishing has risen to unprecedented levels.
> "There's more silent grind than ever before."
Young anglers have "more work ethic than anyone before them:"
> "They're hard-wired in beast mode. They know you're only as good as your last tournament."
He closed it out by saying:
> "I am thankful I am competing against all these bulldogs. I want to be challenged by [them]."
For sure he is, and so far no one has taken Jacob/Thanos/Superman (depending on your perspective lol) down.
|
|
|
2nd-10th baits at the Table Rock Redcrest
|
|
|
4th: Brent Ehrler
> "In practice I was finding fish by throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer 78DD (ghost minnow)...it helped me find the areas where I ended up catching them. #4 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Trebles ("it's a small bait but the standard G-Finesse is a little bit lighter so I can run a bigger hook"), 12-lb Sunline Sniper fluoro, Daiwa Tatula SV Reel ("because that bait is a little smaller and SV spools are better for casting smaller baits"), 6' 9" ML Daiwa Tatula Elite Topwater Jerkbait Rod.
> Secondary points and pockets.
> Lucky Craft Sammy 100 (ghost minnow), same hooks, 30-lb Sunline X-Plasma Braid to 19-lb Sunline Super Natural Mono, same rod and reel. "I got on a pattern finding fish in the back of steep pockets on bait."
> No longer made Berkley Surge Shad wake bait (white and chrome), #2 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Trebles, same line, reel, rod as the Sammy. "I did that during my Scope period, chasing bait balls in the back of those pockets.
> "When the fish were low I threw a 3-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow (chart shad) on a 3/16 Buckeye G-Stroll Head." 12-lb Sunline Overwatch Braid to 12-lb Sunline Sniper, Daiwa Tatula Elite Spin Reel, 7' 3" M Daiwa Tatula Elite Howell Rod.
> "For bank-related stuff for fish that were up spawning or staging, fry-guarders, I fished a wacky-rigged Senko, a Neko rig [Senko] and a shakey head. 2-10', targets or where the water color changed."
> 5" Yamamoto Senko (gp), #1 Gamakatsu Ehrler Weedless Wacky Stinger Hook, 3/32-oz Ark Tungsten Nail Weight for the Neko, 12-lb Sunline Overwatch Braid to 10-lb Sunline Sniper, Daiwa Tatula Elite Spin Reel, 7' 1" M Daiwa Tatula Elite Ehrler Dropshot Rod.
> Shakey head: Yamamoto Sensei Worm (gp) on a 1/8-oz Buckeye Spot Remover Head.
|
|
|
6th: Alton Jones Jr
> "I caught all my fish up the White River on the 6-inch Geecrack Crackdown Swimbait in 'white' or 'pearl.'" 20-lb Cortland Fluoro, KastKing Icon and MegaJaws Elite reels, Reese Fishing Next 2 7055 glass rod.
> "I was fishing steeper rock banks leading into pockets – specifically the front third of the pocket, like the first deeper channel swing, and anywhere that had big rock that had cracks in it. It couldn't be a sheer bluff. It had to have like some steps.... I think most of the fish I was catching were spawning."
|
|
|
7th: Mark Daniels Jr
> Bill Lewis MR6 (Rayburn red and strawberry craw), 12-lb Seaguar InvizX Fluoro, Johnny Morris Platinum Reel (6.8), 7' M BPS CarbonLite Jerkbait Popper Rod.
> Straight rock in 4-10'.
|
|
|
9th: Jeff Sprague
> Custom-painted Lake Fork Lure Co 1.5 crankbait (available this fall), 12-lb P-Line mono, 7' Lake Fork Rico 705CB Squarebill Rod. "Targeting bass in 2-5', pre-spawn and spawn fish around chunk rock and secondary points."
> Neko rig: Lake Fork Flat Finesse Worm (watermelon red), 1/32-oz weight, 10-lb braid to 10-lb P-Line fluoro, 6' 10" M XF Lake Fork Rod. "Targeting shallow bass, cruising and light spots that I could see...in water less than 6'."
|
|
|
1. David Mullins passed his 2nd B.A.S.S. poly
You probably know already. Some interesting language in B.A.S.S.'s statement:
> ...a standard credibility assessment administered via polygraph.... ["Credibility assessment"? Is there a baseline/control?]
> During his initial examination he was unable to pass. [Doesn't say he failed, so does that mean not failing is not passing?]
> ...with an independent Bassmaster-approved examiner, which he passed. This outcome affirms the effectiveness and integrity of the B.A.S.S. credibility assessment process.... [How does it do that?]
> Failure to pass an initial exam does not necessarily mean there is foul play. [Foul play?? I would hope not! From Google: "Foul play refers to unfair, dishonest or criminal behavior, most commonly implying violence, serious crime or murder."]
Alright it's easy to take shots from the peanut gallery. This is not meant to be taking shots, nor imply that B.A.S.S. is committing "foul play." 😁 Just reading carefully to try to understand what happens with these potentially life-changing tests and the administration thereof.
2. LA: Caddo yak tourney won on a Yo-Zuri lipless
|
|
|
Congrats to Casey Reed for winning the Bassmaster Kayak Series there – mostly on a Yo-Zuri Rattl'n Vibe (golden shiner). Surprised me around those cypress trees, but B.A.S.S. said he fished a small flat between some trees.
|
|
|
3. MLF put artificial habitat in Lake Waco
4. New KVD Elite rods and reels
Don't think they're out yet?
5. TN testing bass for AL spotted bass genetics
They are seeing what the spread is. Also, DNRs are constantly saying that fishermen are transplanting these bass. Wondering if that's true or maybe even possible. Have you ever heard of or seen anyone doing that?
6. CA: 6 injured in Delta HS tourney boat crash
Hope they are all doing better man, scary deal. Maybe boats need some kinda brake lights.
7. AR: New trophy smallie stream regs
> Establish a 1-fish, 15" minimum length limit for smallmouth bass in 10 newly designated Smallmouth Bass Blue Ribbon Streams (Buffalo River, Caddo River, Crooked Creek, Current River, Eleven Point River, Illinois River, Kings River, Spring River, War Eagle Creek, and White River).
8. WA will remove bass from a stretch of Chehalis River
Electroshocking 10 miles of the river around Centralia and Chehalis, to remove smallmouth, largemouth and rock bass to see if Chinook salmon smolts will benefit.
9. New VP corporate development at American Outdoor Brands
American Outdoor Brands is a NASDAQ-listed company which owns BUBBA among others:
> ...Tyler Lindwall has joined the company in the newly created role of VP of corporate development....identifying and evaluating acquisition opportunities, supporting transaction execution, and partnering across the organization on integration efforts.
> Lindwall...more than 15 years of experience in corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, and investment banking. Most recently, he served as VP of corporate development, FP&A and investor relations at Vista Outdoor Inc.
10. NC: Who knew there's a town named Lake Lure!
Headline of the Day
High School Fishing Doesn't Always Mean Bass
It does if you want to be in the cool crowd! 😁
Line of the Day
The Alabama rig is one of the most controversial rigs in bass fishing.
I would say that was true in 2011 when Paul Elias first outed it, but not no mo.
|
|
|
Greg Hackney: Fish topwaters over bluegill beds
Little deal by Greg "bigfoot attack" Hackney on the Bassin'masters:
> If you see big bluegills on beds, don't assume they're too big for bass to eat. Typically, the bass I catch around bluegill beds are in that 3- to 6-lb range or bigger on lakes that have bigger than average fish.
> ...it's a bite that goes on all day. The bass will hang around those beds then make periodical raids when something triggers them to race in and blast a bluegill meal.
> ...a handful of lures that work best, but a topwater is my favorite. I like the KVD Popper or a prop bait over a walking bait. But around grass, my go-to is the Strike King Poppin Perch frog-style bait.
> Topwaters will irritate the bass and catch the most aggressive and biggest. It's always my first choice.
|
|
|
Check the 15.24 melon bass-head Eddie Hyatt caught on a big worm in LA's Cross Lake (from LA Sportsman). He was pre-fishing for a tourney, weighed it and put it back in the lake:
|
|
|
|
|
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'!
|
|
|
|
Check out BassGold.com! It's FREE!
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 whatever....
|
|
|
GITCHA HANDS ON THE BEST STUFF!
|
|
Gitcha BB social at these links
|
|
|
|
