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Thank you to everyone who's emailed about recommendations for the Kumars movin' to the #bassin'life! Waaaay better than surfing the internet. Keep 'em coming!
Forgot one thing about Boone, our 1-yr-old black Lab – he's incredibly hard-headed. I mean, he makes me look soft-headed...😂 One example from today: Little dude eats everything all the time. Does not seem to associate some stuff with getting the trots, so we've gone through more canned pumpkin in the last year – to try to get his guts back to normal – than we have in 10 years for our other Lab. Crazy.
Friend who used to train dogs told me the hard-headed ones often make the best hunters. Dang sure hope so!
Let's get to it!
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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.
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How Alton Jones Jr won the MLF Heavy Hitters in LA
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I love the MLF Heavy Hitters idea. Qualify by catching bigger fish and then you have to catch bigger fish when you get there. And then I guess if you're Alton Jr you want to win the deal by at least 50 lbs to show the world what an ultra-heavy hitter you are! 💪 Here's how he blasted his 2nd win by 59 lbs.
Practice
> "Going in I was a little bit bummed at how far ahead in the spawn things were at Caney, but I was able to find just enough fish to scratch by. I had a good first day of the tournament, but after that it was a terrible grind.
> "I did spend a day of practice at Bussey [Brake] because I'd never fished it before. I really liked it. I didn't catch any giant ones, but just the number of bites. I had about 15 bites doing something unique...flipping that white [Geecrack] Bellows Shad around.
> "It was a bluebird day...flipping your typical creature baits and colors around. Then later in the day I picked up that white bait just to flip it a few more times and got 3-4 more bites. I thought that was kinda cool, something not many people would do.
> "I thought if I could just get to Bussey, that's a technique and pattern I could ride to a good finish."
Tournament
Like he said, he scratched his way into the Championship Round, a 1-dayer on Bussey Brake. Here's what Bussey looked like:
> "I started out in deep willow trees [5-7']. It was slick calm, shad were flickering and fish were blowing.... An hour in, the wind kicked up pretty bad, and from experience fishing deep willow and mesquite trees on Amistad and Falcon, I know those fish don't like to be in those trees [when it's windy]...they just don't like it. I don't know if they leave the trees, but they don't position themselves in an aggressive manner.
> "So when the wind the started to blow in the 2nd period, I ran over to some cypress trees I got bites on in practice – it just looked like it was right for a spinnerbait.
> "I picked one up with the same white Bellows Shad on it...big trailer and the bulk it gives the bait allows me to reel the bait so much slower than a typical spinnerbait...keeps it higher in the water column at a slower speed.
> "The way the fish were positioned, I instantly went to catching them off the cypress trees and never left.
> "We had a 3-lb minimum – I had 19 scoreables but caught just as many non-scoreables that were [chunks]."
Baits
> Flippin rig: 3.8 Geecrack Bellows Shad (white), 5/0 Hayabusa Straight Shank Flipping Hook, 5/16-oz Reins Tungsten Sinker with bobber stopper, 65-lb braid, Kistler Chromium Reel (7.3), 7' 3" 4.5 power Kistler Helium 3 Rod.
> Spinnerbait: 1/2-oz BOOYAH Covert Spinnerbait (white, silver willow/gold CO) with a 3.8 Geecrack Bellows Shad (white), 20-lb Gamma fluoro, Kistler Chromium Reel, 7' 3" H Kistler Alton Jr signature Chungus Rod ("what's special about that rod is the top 18" is fiberglass...for reaction baits").
> "No trailer hook. If I can get by by throwing a trailer instead of a trailer hook...I feel like it improves the hookup ratio. Having a big, bulky trailer, when they open their mouth it's something they grab ahold of. I feel like it makes them bite more aggressively."
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Couple more deals
1. The guys didn't fish out of their own boats, which is an even bigger now with electronics, but he said there was one benefit:
> "One of the things that was helpful, even though I did not like not being in my own equipment, was in Bussey Brake getting in and out of those trees...that 19' Phoenix was really nice...being 2' more nimble than I would've been in my bigger boat, being able to squeeze in and out of tight places."
2. He's a big Scoper and said he definitely missed his LiveScope.
Shout-outs
> "The biggest shout-out has to be Kelsey, my wife. We have a 3-week-old at home. This was my first tournament since he's been born, and saying leaving was tough would be an understatement. It was pretty emotional, tough to leave. Being a champ the way she was, while I'm chasing little fish around...she's done an amazing job...I'm thankful for her."
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5 Qs with the Heavy Chungus
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1. Is this is another case of new baby = win in pro bass fishing?
> "I'd always heard of a new-baby pattern. You can call me a firm believer now. I'm not going to account all [of the win] to it, but I'm a firm believer in it now."
2. When Jett [his newborn son] fishes, will he be known as Alton III since that Alton Jones name seems to have some good mojo? 😁
> "No he's the first of his name. He's gonna stick to Jett. But Alton Jones and bass fishing does seem to go well together."
[He said later, "That win is the 2nd-best thing to happen to me this month for sure." No doubt!]
3. You won at Fork and now Caney and Bussey. Are you a big-fish guy?
> "That's a really good question. I'd like to say yes. A lot of that just comes with where I grew up. I basically learned to bass-fish from tournaments at Falcon and Amistad, and those are slug-fest kind of lakes...where 3-4 lbers don't get you paid...so I learned how to target the bigger bass.
> "But yes I'd say slugfests tend to fish to my strengths."
4. Do you think saying the word "chungus" has anything to do with your big-fish talents?
> "No but it's been fun to see it develop. I stole that from a buddy back home – actually his wife came up with it. Gotta give the Bowers a shout-out. It's been something fun I've been able to say and roll with it."
[Here's where the whole Chungus deal started on the interwebz – Bugs Bunny!]
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5. Are you disappointed you didn't win by 60+ lbs?? 😁
> "Uh no, I'm not disappointed by that. I'll take any win any way I can get it. It was good to know I would've won with 5 fish that day too."
Bonus Q 1: That's 2 wins with the score 'em all format. What do you think about the change to the best 5 fish in the regular events?
> "I still think it was a good change. I do think the every fish counts format fits me a little bit better. I just got really comfortable at it, just generating bites....whereas with 5 fish you can ride 1 big bite a little further.
> "It may be tougher for me, but I think it's the right move for the League and I think I enjoy fishing for 5 fish better. If it was 5 fish [at Heavy Hitters] it would've been a little more exciting there at the end. Somebody would've been within 1-2 bites of catching me...."
Bonus Q 2: Do you have a Bible verse for the year?
> "Galatians 6:9 is kind of my life Bible verse. [Paraphrasing] 'Do not lose faith doing good works for when the time is right you will reap a harvest if we don't give up.'
> "There's lots of ups and downs in bass fishing and life, so don't give up and keep doing what's right. God's timing is perfect, and when the time is right, it'll happen Just don't give up. It's kind of a Biblical version of 'Never give up.'"
[You hear that Ike? Read Galatians 6 man!]
Check Al Jr's "Trimmed Up" on tour vids on YT.
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How Luke Palmer won the Santee Cooper Elite
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It's not every day that a guy wins his first blue trophy by 14 lbs. In fact, not sure it's ever been done before, especially in a "grind 'em out" tourney. Yep Santee was a grind – Luke was the only guy who weighed a limit all 4 days. Crazy! Here's how it went down.
Going in and practice
> "I was thinking it was going to be very similar to how it was last year except we didn't have the extreme cold [this time], but we did have some cool weather during practice.
> "I was really expecting to find the shad spawn. I tried every morning of practice but never found it. And there's tons more grass than what was there last year.
> "I couldn't get bit flipping trees or throwing a wacky worm or whatever. I wasn't Scoping fish at all. I was kind of depressed really.
> "...thought [the best thing he had going was] a Chatterbait in the grass. That was my gameplan for the first day."
Tournament
> "I lost my first 5 fish on a buzzbait...a 7, 8.... I was like 'You gotta be kidding me.'
> "By 1:30 I had no fish in the box [Chatterbaiting]. I happened to go up to a tree, saw 2 fish on it [Scoping] and caught both of them. But I kept running the grass. Then I went to a tree where I did have a bite [in practice] and caught a 7.5, a 3 and a 4 off that same tree.
> "Day 2 I did Chatterbait eelgrass in the morning, thinking if I can get bit doing this that will be a bonus. I did catch one on a jerkbait [on] some piles I caught 1 on on a Chatterbait.... Other than that I almost solely flipped trees. I found a few key trees with multiple fish on them that day.
> "Day 3 I caught a big one early on a bed I'd seen before, then I caught a good one – a 5+ – on a jerkbait. Then everything else was back to the trees [including on day 4].
> "A lot of tree fish were spawning. You had to find the sweet spot on the tree, and every one of them would come off that one spot. I'm 90% sure it was a bed. It was [at] the base of the tree.
> "I couldn't get dialed in on what exact [type of] tree...deeper trees [3-3.5'] were better for me. I thought it was trees with grass around them with a void, but 3 trees I caught 'em off didn't have a lick of grass. I don't know if there was different bottom hardness....
> "It was kind of random really...[fish] enough trees to run into the right ones."
Baits
> Main bait: YUM Wooly Bug (virgo red), 3/0 straight shank flippin hook, 3/16-5/16 oz Rougarou Tungsten Weight, 20-lb Sunline Shooter fluoro, high-speed reel, 7' 3" XH Falcon Cara Amistad Rod.
YUM says that color is a black and smoke laminate – the smoke side has a lot of red glitter, and the black side has blue glitter but less of it and it's smaller-sized. Sounds kinda like a "black neon" but different.
> Luke: "It's got blue flake and red flake, which kinda gives me the best of both worlds in that water color [which was] kinda clearing but a brownish color.
> “The Wooly Bug is my go-to bait for flipping and pitching because of how the bait falls. It glides rather than falls straight down, which really entices those finicky fish, especially when they are bedding fish."
He fished the exact same bait and color last year at Santee when he finished 4th. Looks like right now you can only find that color Wooly Bug on Lurenet.com.
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He also flipped a discontinued YUM Bad Mamma:
> "I've caught 'em on it every year. They might have to bring it back for me now. It's the only thing I like to [flip] besides a Wooly Bug."
Electronics
> He said he was just "regular Scoping," meaning not perspective mode, looking for fish and also watching them bite here and there – but "mainly a locator." Even if he didn't see any he "would still flip the trees – you can still miss [seeing] 'em on LiveScope.
> "The main thing other than LiveScope was Power-Poles. I had to have those or I would not have won. I spent 30-45 minutes on a certain tree. I spent 30 minutes on my big fish on day 3. I'd seen her the day before, then day 3 kept I kept pitching to one knee. I finally repositioned the boat, and as soon as I did...it was over."
Shout-outs
> "Amped Outdoors lithium batteries...so much lighter. I'm able to get in shallower water, and it makes me more secure not having to worry about running out of power. I'm running 4 graphs on 1 battery and never have to worry about power issues.
> "Horizon Tracker and Marine [dealership]...definitely good to be in Phoenix and have that Huk raingear because it was bad the last day – 4, 5, 6-footers going across the lake...."
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5 Qs with the Sledgehammer
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1. Did you get into the "Sledgehammer" tune from working at the hardware store? 😁
> "No I didn't. That was actually one of my buddies, Josh – we were at his house one night and that song came on...[now] I always listen to it. I think it's funny. I always think of him when I do it...."
2. What are some other tunes you sing when you fish?
> "A lot of stuff goes through my head. It's liable to be anywhere from Christian music all the way to rap to country in the same day.
> "One of the trees [he fished] had a cross on it. The guy in the boat, his son goes to a Christian school...had that one tree [they] called the Jesus tree. Instead of 'Jesus take the wheel' it was 'Jesus take the rod and reel.'"
3. When you flipped up that catfish in practice, was that a sign? 😆
> "...when I said 'Don't catfish me Santee' [on social], on day 1 at about 1:00 I said, 'Why did you say that??'"
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4. How is it possible you were the only guy to catch a limit all 4 days?
> "I don't know because it looks like we just trashed them on paper, but it was 7-10 bites a day. [Day 4 he had] more bites than I'd had...probably 12-13 bites.
> "I think these grinder tournaments play better to me. Normally I'm not a big-fish guy.... It seems like whenever we go to a fishery that takes giant bags, normally I think the Oklahoma guys don't do well.
> "This lake was, okay you have to put your head down and fish. You couldn't run around and do well on this lake, just gotta grind it out.
> "On day 4 I didn't start the big motor from the time I got [to his spot] til 11:30 or 12:00."
5. Before this win, your 2nd best Elite finish was a 4th last year at Santee. Did that experience help you this time around?
> "Yes history actually did not bite me in the butt this time. Normally it does.
> "[After trying other areas of the lake, he went back to his 2022 area – from Eutawville all the way to the canal]...areas they spawn and live...gonna put my head down and fish. So history definitely helped."
Check Luke's "Livin' the Bass Life" series on YT.
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1. TN: Inflatable did not inflate in bass boat accident.
At South Holston. From the post:
> TWRA says...hit a submerged log running 65 mph and as a result, he was ejected. He was wearing an inflatable life jacket that did not inflate but was picked up by other anglers.
Glad he appears to be okay. Gotta say it's only been a few times I've heard about that happening with inflatables, but for what it is it HAS to work.
2. Toyota Serieser Jake Lawrence on BassEdge Radio.
> ...about his recent winning pattern and on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes and why/how he adapted to fishing for smallmouth to claim the trophy.
3. Bait designer Isaac Payne now with Mustad/Livetarget.
Huge get for Mustad and seems to say a lot about how seriously they're taking bait development. Isaac designed baits for Bass Mafia, including the new Daingerous swimbaits, and Googan.
4. IL: Biggest bass ever caught in HS tourney.
Hunter P caught the 7.25-lb largemouth Apr 23 at Clinton Lake. Ate a jig in 10'.
5. CA: Bass angler won trout tourney on Amador with...
...a Megabass jerkbait, presumin' the V110. 14.42-lb cutbow:
> Bettencourt saw the big trout swimming near the surface. So he threw out the Megabass jerkbait that he was catching largemouths with to entice the fish. On his 4th cast towards the fish, the trout finally decided to grab the lure.
6. Huk parent hires 2 from Columbia Sportswear.
> Dean Rurak is Marolina’s new CEO while Bill Ferreira becomes senior VP of sales and merchandising.
7. Leadership changes at Academy.
> Ken Hicks...chairman, president and CEO, will transition to executive chairman of Academy’s board of directors.
> Steve Lawrence, EVP and chief merchandising officer, will become CEO and a member of Academy’s board. Lawrence will continue to serve as CMO until a successor is appointed.
> Michael Mullican, EVP and CFO, will become company president....
8. Anything Possible Brands CEO retiring in Sept.
> John Weiss joined Anything Possible, the company behind the Proficiency, KidCasters and Perfection Lures, as CEO in 2021.
9. Rapala has a new website.
Looks like a bunch of our fave bass guys featured...💪
10. Seaguar has a new website.
Knot guide, line advice, tips, etc.
PSA
BassBlaster apparel is 30% off this week! On the down-low – prices will be going down at least another 10% if inventory lasts.... Gitcha deals! These items won't be available again once they're gone...
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Why do huge bass get caught on crappie jigs?
Not really sure other than bass eat everything, but this excerpt from a Z-Man post called "Microbaits for Macro Bass" might 'splain things:
> Turns out, bass of all sizes feed on small stuff – invertebrates like baby crayfish, insect larvae and tiny minnows – much more often than we realize. One study of largemouth bass diets...sample size of 43 adult bass, 30 of their stomachs contained invertebrates (insects and larvae), while only 19 contained fish – or 257 total invertebrates versus 118 fish.
> A separate study of smallmouth bass...95 bass stomachs containing food, 58 contained small crayfish while only 13 held fish.
> ...artificial softbaits from 1-3" in size rarely fail to entice strikes – even on the toughest days – because bass detect fewer negative cues as bait size shrinks.
> As Bassmaster Classic champ Jeff Gustafson likes to say, tiny baits are like an after-dinner mint for bass. Even if they've already fed, bass simply can't resist the temptation.
[Do you really say that Gussy? I think that says something about Gussy and mints...😂]
> Rigged a Micro Finesse LarvaZ on a #8 to #12 hook and finesse dropshot rig...positions the morsel perpetually above bottom. In essence, the bait almost fishes itself....
> Rigged on a 1/10- to 1/30-oz Micro Finesse ShroomZ jighead, the same bait slightly slows the overall lure's rate of fall – critical for sluggish bass unwilling to chase. Beyond their reduced rate of fall and natural hovering action, ElaZtech microbaits allow you to tie on a slightly heavier jig.
> To further slow the lure's rate of fall, consider tying direct to 6- to 10-lb braid. Like micro superplastics, braided 'superlines' float....
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"It's even had me wondering if I’m going to have to become one of those guys."
- Bobby Lane talkin' 'bout Scopin'. Full quote on Bassmaster.com:
> Guys like me who like to sack bass in shallow water have been blindsided by the “scopers.” They’ve dominated the first two EQs [Opens] by catching offshore bass with forward-facing sonar. It has even had me wondering if I’m going to have to become one of those guys.
This is interesting too, and Drew Benton said he saw the same thing on Murray:
> Even with water temperatures in the 70s, the bass have been holding back. Normally they hang around a little bit after they spawn. This year they’ve been leaving immediately.
Is that maybe partly BECAUSE of getting hooked out deeper first? Don't really see how that could affect a whole lake tho...?
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Think Adrian Avena was stoked?? Very cool shot on the Grundens IG – and no that was not in NJ...😁🥺
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Aussie fatal shark attack classified as "provoked"...
...because people allegedly were fishing in the area – witness thinks he remembers seeing bait in the water. Sounds nuts to me to call that a "provoked" attack – what's next, no fishing around sharks??
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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'!
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