BassBlaster

Jerkbaits in summer, What Faircloth fishing now, Bassin clowns

Today’s Top 5

You have to have the right kind of makeup to fish bass tournaments. 

– IN bass-head Chris Myers who won a BFL, talkin’ in an FLW press release. Gotta assume he means:

Bassin’ clowns!! C’mon — we all know at least one…lol.

Todd Faircloth likes to punch it right now. 

As promised, here’s what another Elitist likes to do right now. This time it’s Todd Faircloth, who remains one of the best fishermen you don’t hear about enough (now 12th in the AOY standings):

> “I like to fish a slither rig in thick grass. Hydrilla, milfoil, hyacinth or anything that creates a mat for the fish to get under. I pitch it in, and will hop it up a couple times and go to the next target. 90% of the bites will come on the initial fall.

> “If it’s a small mat, like the size of a coffee table, I’ll normally go right to the middle of it and make maybe 1 to 3 flips around it. Larger mats I will fish the points and higher-percentage spots.

> “That’s a Strike King Slither Rig (black/blue) — 1- or 1.25-oz — with a Menace Grub (green pumpkin) as trailer and a 4/0 Hack Attack hook. I fish it on 50-lb Sunline SX1 braid with a 7′ 6″ Castaway flipping rod and Shimano Metanium 7.4 reel.

> “My other favorite right now is a Strike King Cut R Worm in red bug, my favorite color in the summer. I fish this bait in and around any type of cover. It gets a lot of bites. You can swim it or fish it slow on the bottom. It really shines when fished on the outside edge of grasslines.

> “I fish it on a 3/0 offset round-bend hook with a 1/4-oz Strike King tungsten weight,
16-lb Sunline FC Sniper, a 7′ Castaway MH rod and Shimano Metanium reel (7.4).”

BOOYAH coming out with foam crankbaits. 

Yep, foam. Not like this:

Or this:

Or this:

But like this — Flex II (chartreuse black back):

And this — Streak IV (moon glow):

Deal is they’re supposed to be durable/tough and have different sound from the material and construction. Video on the Flex II squarebill:

Is this a top BB item because BOOYAH sponsors this-here Blaster? Nope. It’s cuz it’s a brand spankin’ new thang. Will these baits be all that? The fish will tell us, mang!

And you too — stay tuned, gonna be givin’ some away semi-soon….

Misc cool bassin’ stuff. 

From Japan

Clockwise from top left: centipede-ish worm, flattened Beaver-like bait, froggy plopper [SO want to fish that!], apparently baits specifically for derp bass:

Custom-painted reels are becoming a thing

ICAST stuff trickling out

New Bill Lowen swimbait:

New Megabass bait:

SPRO’s next swimbait? 

Check it:

BBZ Mole — comin’ at ya, mang!

News

1. Russ Lane can still pitch and hit (vid).

Used to do it for a livin’ at one point….2. Ehrler gets Braven Audio outdoor speakers.

Check ’em on Tackle Warehouse.

3. Latest Chapman Pro vs Joe.

This one’s in south FL canals:

4. Bryan Thrift wins second FLW AOY.

Congrats man! He said:

> “The Angler of the Year is the greatest accomplishment you can have in professional fishing.”

Okay but I was watching Jeopardy the other night with my grammy and her yipper dog and:

Props to Brad-Lee Dortch of Ally-bama for winnin’ FLW ROY.

5. T-Roy has a stuffed monkey.

T-Roy the swamp man overdid it when he finished 2nd at the Sabine River Open last weekend, so here he is recovering…with his stuffed monkey:

Props to T-Roy for not being embarrassed to show off his feel-good pal. Guess gator-hunters can be sensitive dudes.

6. MLFer Champeenship on CBS Saturday.

12 guys in it: Kevin VanDam, Mike Iaconelli, Greg Hackney, Edwin Evers, Boyd Duckett, Gary Klein, Tim Horton, Mark Davis, Aaron Martens, Jeff Kriet, Bobby Lane and Mike McClelland. Not too shabby. TV schedule here.

7. Forrest Wood Cup field set.

8. MN: Fishing for our Heroes derby this weekend.

9. MD: Jersey homie won Nation Regional!

Michael Sentore won it with 59-07 over 3 days. Said he fishes the upper Chesapeake Bay every weekend — the fishin’ ain’t THAT good there man! Anyhow he won it:

> “My basic pattern was to run up the North East River in the morning and fish docks and wood cover on low tide. When the tide came in later in the day, I fished grass flats in the bay.”

> …docks and wood cover, he flipped a 1/2-oz Riot Instigator Jig with a Riot Tantrum trailer. On the grass flats a 1/2-oz Riot Recon Bladed Jig dressed with a Riot Streaker swimbait….

Shout-out to Bassin’Fan sales guy (I think he still is?) Tim Carini who finished 2nd fishing “shallow grass flats with a 5” Gambler Big EZ swimbait Texas-rigged on a hook that had a 1/8-oz weight molded to it.”

Check the full derby name: Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation Eastern Regional presented by Magellan on the Upper Chesapeake Bay. That’s 15 words and 93 characters minus the spaces. Record?

10. Canadian gov’t gets semi-friendly again.

About dang time:

> Under the new law, American boaters who do not anchor their boat or step foot on Canadian soil will not have to report to Canadian Customs.

> In addition, the measure will also exempt Canadian boaters from being required to report to their customs officials when they return to Canadian waters, as long as they met the same requirements while they traveled in U.S. waters.

Never got it cuz Canadians are our way-nicer cousins. Here’s one super-angry Canadian protester:

And for the record, I’ve never seen Dave Mercer angry…tho I’d like to…lol.

11. MT: Boat crash at Nation derby.

Sounds like it was a 1-boat crash and everyone’s okay. Hope so….

12. TX: 2018 Bassin’ Champs schedule.

3 tournaments, 2-fish limit.

Just kidding, but Chad Potts is buying Bass Pro Shops. Okay not really.

13. AZ: Bass population getting better in Havasu.

14. AR using derby anglers to stock bass.

At this weekend’s Big Bass Bonanza:

> …oxygenated bags of fingerling-sized largemouth bass for anglers to take with them and place in high-quality habitat during the tournament.

How cool is that?

15. CA: Baits now working at New Melones.

> …Whopper Ploppers, Bubble Poppers with a trailer can produce an explosive hit. Pop-Rs and X-Raps have some extreme action.

16. IA: Structure GPS points for 60 lakes.

Believe there are bass in IA so might help….

17. Crooks targeting Yammy outboards too.

Not just electronics:

> One VA marina recently reported six 600-lb engines stolen….

Security cam captured this, not sure what it means:

18. NM doing boat checks.

Surrounded by states that have zebra mussels so just a matter of time….

19. Alpha Rods giveaway reminder!

Alpha Angler Rods and Brandon Palaniuk are giving away 6 rods — gitcha entry deets here.

20. MD: White marlin derby “winner” (sorta) loses in court.

Not bassin’ but polygraph-related. All you need to know:

> Officials believed Heasley and his shipmates violated tournament rules by catching the fish prior to 8:30 a.m. – the official start time to cast a fishing line.

> Heasley was the only participant to catch a qualifying white marlin.

> Following his victory, Heasley and his crew were required to take a polygraph…. Heasley failed the test resulting in the withholding of his earnings, officials said.

> “The odds all the polygraphs were done wrong was less than 1%,” president of the White Marlin Open Jim Motsko said….

At stake: $2.8 million 1st-place prize. One fish caught. Dang. Like them odds!

Line of the Day

Bream fishing has been good on crickets and worms.

Uh…when is it NOT good on crickets and worms??

Tip of the Day

Bernie Schultz: Fish jerkbaits around grass.

For some reason, everyone thinks jerkbaits are only an early-spring deal. Not necessarily. They are fish-catching baits and can work all year, just depends on where and how you fish ’em. Here’s Bernie talkin’ jerkin’ grass:

That’s the Rapala Shadow Rap Shad and Shadow Rap Shad Deep.

Quote of the Day

This kid will be my partner in the Bassmasters Pro-Am when he’s old enough. We’ll take the bass fishing world by storm.

Actor Chris Pratt talkin’ in an Instagram post. Guess he hasn’t been a bassin’ fan since he was a kid cuz believe that format (was it the Invationals?) was gone about 20 years ago. Maybe he means the Opens….

Shot of the Day

Either fishing is stupid easy in Colorado because the fish don’t spook, or these folks are into fishing more than catching lol:

Money photo caption says in part:

> …try a different approach to fishing by wading chest deep to try and catch walleye or trout fish….

Just trout fish? Why not walleye fish? From now on I’m fishing for bass fish. Do you fish for bass fish? Haaaaaaaaail yeah I bass fish for bass fish!

Random

Redneck Thunderstruck, as in the AC/DC tune on banjos and such. GREAT! Who knew there’s rednecks in Finland too. Git it fellers!

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, sell the list or anything else crazy….

Use the best!

Git on these yo!

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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.

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