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Today’s Top 4
How unlike him…lol, tho what you might not know is that when Ike stirs the pot, he usually does it UNINTENTIONALLY. He’s just being him and being very NJ (yeah bro!). Couple excerpts from his very good B.A.S.S. writin’s:
> I’m talking about the jerks who follow us around during practice and in competition to see where we’re fishing and then move onto our spots and fish them. Sometimes they wait until we leave but at other times they move in right on top of us in the middle of a tournament day.
> At Toledo Bend a guy fished my spots the moment I left them — same guy more than once — even though Sam Rayburn is only about 30 minutes away and is every bit as good a lake as Toledo Bend.
> The other one was at the TTBC. This guy…cut in front of me as I was fishing a bank and then fished everything in front of me with a vengeance. This was in the middle of the tournament. Really, how many other hot bass lakes are around Lake Ray Roberts? Was my spot the only one he could fish?
> I’m told that the game with these guys is to see if they can catch more weight from a spot than we catch.
Second, this has ZERO to do with it being public water. This is about people with issues.
Third, the guys who do this know exactly what they’re doing and have been planning it for weeks. It’s not a spur of the moment thing.
Fourth, this happens at “lower” levels of the sport too. Same deal — folks with issues.
> My friend decided to go fishing at Ray Roberts yesterday. Knowing that the TTBC was going on, he launched a little earlier than normal to avoid the traffic at the takeoff. He gets to his spot, drops the trolling motor and starts fishing.
> Fast forward 30 minutes…and a boat comes screaming through the timber headed straight for him. It was none other than Kevin VanDam — pulled straight up to the other side of the willows he was fishing. They exchanged a couple of waves and both kept fishing.
> A few minutes later a spectator boat trolls up to my buddy and starts chastising him for fishing so close to KVD. He explained to the spectator that he had been fishing this spot for a full half hour before anyone showed up. KVD was quietly watching, still close enough to hear.
> The spectator continued nagging him for a bit longer when finally he had enough of it and said, “If you don’t stop I’m coming inside your boat and I’m going to whoop your a**.” The spectator trolled away and my buddy looked over to see KVD laughing his behind off.
Props to all. Love it.
Too good not to include, from the TFF:
> This happened at a Bama Division Redman [now BFLs] on West Point Lake [AL/GA border] back in the late ’80s. I’ve known the guy that told me this for several years…plus the tournament director verified his story later.
> This guy had found some fish on a point day before the tourney and ran directly there first thing on tourney day, put his anchor down and pulled his trolling motor up. Rules at the time were you couldn’t fish within 50 yards of an anchored boat with the trolling motor up.
> Our guy caught a big fish the first cast and another contestant saw him landing the fish, stopped, dropped the trolling motor and headed toward the point with the intention of getting between our guy and the point.
> Our guy hollers at him twice that he’s anchored. The intruding boat ignored him and the guy operating the trolling motor made the comment over his shoulder, “Screw you you little SOB, you don’t own the lake.”
> That was the wrong thing to say. Our guy pulled his anchor up, dropped his trolling motor and headed toward the intruder’s boat. The intruder never turned around and continued to fish and ignore him.
> [The guy who had been anchored] picked up his paddle and proceeded to break it over the intruder’s back…. “I intended to jump in his boat and whip his a** but when my paddle broke, I fell and hit my shin on the boat rail and ended up on the bottom of my boat with my leg hurting so bad I couldn’t get up for a few minutes. When I got up, my partner told me that the guy in the back of the other boat had jumped down, cranked the engine and took off with the trolling motor still down.”
> When he got to weigh-in that afternoon, the other guy had already left but apparently told the tourney director his version of getting a paddle broke over his back. The tournament director asked for his version, then told him, “I don’t blame you…but I have disqualify you for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
> He told him that he was welcome to continue fishing the Redman trail, just don’t be breaking paddles over people’s backs.
HAHAHAHAHA! Would LOVE to see some version of that on the Elites (no injuries), but alas too many skirts would get in a twist.
Apparently Dr. Phil has a quote for everything.
Some other good stories about intruders fishing marker buoys at that link.
Speaking of Intruder, some old-school VH for ya.
News
1. Nicholas Huntley passes on.
23-year-old son of T-H Marine CEO Jeff Huntley, grandson of T-H founder Bill Huntley and brother of general manager Jeffery Huntley Jr. Very tough. If you pray, please send a few up for the Huntleys.
2. AL: Auburn wins Pickwick Championship.
We have the Cabela’s/BoatUS college deal, the B.A.S.S. college deal and the FLW/TBF college deal because…it’s bass fishing — but pretty soon it won’t matter cuz Johnny Morris will own them all.
Anyhow, Auburn U won the Cabela’s/BoatUS won on Pickwick by a huge 6 lbs. Cole Burdeshaw and Mitchell Jennings had 44.21 lbs over 2 days, a pretty stout weight. Threw a Strike King 10XD on ledges.
> “One of the keys to catching them off the ledges is something that we talked about with Auburn on the water, and that’s if you idled over your schools of fish first to see if they were still there then you wouldn’t get them to bite. You just had to pull up on your waypoint and in the first ten casts; you’d know if the fish were there or not.”
Do people actually learn stuff in college?? lol
3. MS stocks Floridas at Ross Barnett.
Hope biologists in other states are paying attention….
4. AL: Dude drives onto Howell’s Classic spot.
With a pickup truck…. #structure
5. TX: Bass Champs giving away $350K in June.
How is this possible? Chad Potts finally sold his piece of the island of Hispaniola to the Dominican Republic. Or something like that.
6. AL: Grass, bass back at Eufaula.
7. NH: No lead as of tomorrow…
…in sinkers and jigs 1-oz or less.
8. Kistler looking for lady angler pro staffers.
9. New Shimano Crucial combo deals.
Casting or spinning Crucial setups for $199.99 (originally $299.99). Check your local dealer.
How important is it you understand that? It’s…crucial. #derp
10. New Denali short-sleeve Ts.
Some cool ones. I like this’n:
11. Tackle Warehouse sale ends TODAY!
Memorial Day sale, 15% off and an additional 10% off for vets.
#stout
Very good idea, seems to be catching on with the ladies:
> …now there are estimated to be roughly 20,000 in the Potomac River, a population close to that of largemouth bass.
Not good! How big do those things get anyway?
Tip of the Day
Some good ones from the Bassin’master.com:
> …you’re going to be dragging a 3-pound bass back to the boat with 10 pounds of grass around her. You need heavy tackle that’ll get the job done and hold up….
> My Phat Frog is my go-to bait. The reason is that it’s tough, it will not sink, it’s made to look good and it’s designed to walk. You don’t have to cut a leg short on it to make it walk….
> The reason my colors are so basic [black and white] is because a frog doesn’t always look like a frog to a bass. Sometimes it represents a shad, a bluegill, a duck, a mouse, a bird or anything else that might be struggling in the water. A frog is a lure, not necessarily a frog.
> …90% of the time I walk mine. That’s the best way to get their attention, especially the giants. But when there’s a chop on the water or they’re not responding to the walk I’m not too good to chug one.
> …set the hook hard and keep reeling. Do not stop. I’ve had several bass come all the way to my boat just holding the frog in their mouth. They were never hooked. If I’d have let up on them, or tried to play them, they would have opened their mouths and swam away.
Quote of the Day
…it’s made out of lightning bolts, thunderstorms, tornadoes — it’s made out of chemicals that cure diseases, fight world hunger, and can even rebuild your daddy’s Peterbilt.
– Crazy man James Watson talkin‘ ’bout the T-H Marine Atlas Hydraulic Jack Plate. Of course he is.
Watson tries to dress his cat up like Santa every year, but never gets it done:
Good luck this year bro!
Shot of the Day
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, sell the list or anything else crazy….
Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass. Get the Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:
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