BassBlaster

Ken Cook remembered, Classic pH pattern, Patterning fish tip

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Today’s Top 4

We lost a great bassin’ man.

 

 

As you probably know by now, Ken Cook passed on unexpectedly of a heart attack last week. Everyone in the bassin’ world who has ever known him has fond memories of him. Paul Elias called him a gentleman and he was that for sure, as well as a heck of a bass fisherman.

In my eyes he also was a bassin’ pioneer. A scientist — fish biologist — who decided to fish professionally, Ken was for sure bent on scientifically figuring them out. Part of that effort was putting together a database of tournaments and conditions that enabled him to look at history on water bodies and water body types (types is key) to give him a starting point each time he went to a lake. It was a significant advantage for him.

If that sounds familiar, it is: I had a similar idea years later, talked to him about what he did, and ended up getting his data to form the foundation of BassGold.com (don’t subscribe yet if you haven’t — the app is coming out soon).

The point is: Ken was so far ahead in thinking about harnessing the power of science to find fish, the sport has lost a huge mind in that respect. I was always surprised that some electronics manufacturer didn’t hire him.

He wanted to make bassin’ as simple as possible — as targeted as possible — and used that scientific stuff plus one of the simplest lure selections ever (spinnerbaits, spinnerbaits and a couple other things) to do dang well, including winning a Classic.

But really that’s just one small piece of Ken. Also admired how the guy could be gentle and a competitive fishing machine. Wish I’d asked him about that, but never thought of it — and he probably would’ve just laughed and said something nice like he always did.

Gotta end with this quote from Kevin Short about Ken:

> “…when the tornado blasted my house, he and Tammy were the first ones there except for my brother, who lives close by. They stayed for 3 days and literally picked my crap up out of the dirt and they were there until the last piece was picked up. I can never repay that for as long as I live.

> “Those are the kind of friends you want to have, and that’s the kind of person he was.”

Also this great recollection from Alan “Guck” McGuckin, an eventual legend on the biz side of the sport (he’s not old enough yet). The part about Ken’s Classic map is nuts!

Please say a prayer for Ken’s wife Tammy and family. I hope folks step up to honor Ken’s memory. Talkin’ to myself too….

How Ken won the ’91 Classic.

 

 

 

On the Chesapeake Bay. Either you don’t know about this or forgot, either way you need to know — you’ll never read anything like this now:

From here:

> A practitioner of scientific fishing, Cook places primary emphasis on the pH factor of water, contending fish bite best when optimum oxygen content makes them feel perky. He said he continually tested his prime fishing areas and quickly went elsewhere whenever the oxygen became too high or too low.

> He settled on a bed of grass in the lightly fished Elk River, where not even locals had done much damage to a growing bass population in the last few years. “It may have been the only grass in that river.”

> …mostly on a handcrafted noisy spinnerbait retrieved in a slow-rolling manner accented by jerky pops of the tip of his rod. “It seemed the best way to get a bite was to pop the spinnerbait. I was doodling it, shaking the rod tip at a rate of five or six shakes per second.”

> He also used a popular liquid bait scent….

More from here:

> All three days he got most of his fish — many in the 3-lb class — on a spinnerbait he designed himself, which he modified in the tournament. Originally it was double-bladed, but he cut the small front one off and let the medium-size willowleaf back blade of copper do the work in conjunction with a red, chartreuse and blue skirt and soft-plastic combination.

> He also used a [trailer] hook…tied to 20-lb test line…he didn’t lose a good fish once hooked. He fished varying tides, but on the finale he defied tradition and worked the incoming.

> Much of his fishing was in 3-5 feet…he worked the spinnerbait midway down, reeling it in an erratic fashion mostly with rod tip action to make it dip and change speed.

After winning a few tournaments several years ago, I was determined to elevate my game. To do that, I needed a worthy goal, and one was to win the Classic.

 

 

What Ken said after he won the Classic. Got that? He won the Classic because he wanted to elevate his fish-catching game, not to be bass-rich or bass-famous or bass-whatever. #truebasser #bassstout

He was one of the first guys in the ’80s to stand up while he fished.

 

Randy Blaukat talkin‘ ’bout Ken, just in case you thought everyone always stood up in bass boats. Here’s guys competing intensely old school:

The folks who pioneered the stuff we now take for granted I have mucho respect for.

 

News

 

1. TX: New record spotted bass.

Josh Helmstettler, weighed 6.02 in the boat, 5.98 on certified scales, out of Alan Henry. No word on the bait. Record was 5.62, also Alan Henry, also January (2011).

2. Uncle Josh discontinues pork products.

What?? More coming on Thurs.

3. FL: First Okee derby winning deets.

Traditional Okeechobee kickoff for FLW, a BFL, deets are George Kapiton won with 31-00 thisaway:

> “I caught a small limit of staging fish early in the morning using a perch-colored Rapala X-Rap Prop bait [check a vid on that bait here]. After the sun came out, I went looking for more males in Harney Pond. I was able to dial in on staging fish that were coming in from the lake to spawn and basically intercepted them before they reached the bedding area.”

> Kapiton said he used a Texas-rigged penetration-colored Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver and a black and blue-colored Medlock Double Guard Flipping Jig rigged with the Sweet Beaver to flip mats and reeds.

> …he caught a 6.5- and an 8-lber on the Sweet Beaver, as well as a 6.5-lb fish on the Medlock Jig in one area of the pond between 11 and 1. He Kapiton stopped at an area near the boat ramp with 30 minutes left to fish and used the Medlock Jig to catch an 8-02 behemoth….

Keys to FL high finishes continue to be one or more of these: Chatterbait, Reaction Innovations, Gambler.

4. LA: First Bassmaster Open rescheduled.

Til fall because of flooding.

5. TX: Not sure if Texoma boater found.

Anyone know? Hope he is okay.

6. TX: Bass Champs starts this weekend.

7. New Bassmaster.com.

Looks good, more modern. Not how I would’ve done it but that’s okay.

8. CA: Check this San Vicente drone vid.

Killer:

9. IN: Lake Michigan has huge perch spawn.

Stock up on firetiger yo!

10. Jimmy Mason new T-H marketing director.

Jimmy has been a well-known AL guide and more. Congrats to him on the new gig.

11. Garmin adds a bunch o’ pro staff.

> Todd Auten (B.A.S.S.), Josh Bertrand (B.A.S.S.), Zack Birge (FLW), Ramie Colson (FLW), Chad Grigsby (FLW), Chris Johnston (FLW), Cory Johnston (FLW), Brad Knight (FLW), Russ Lane (B.A.S.S.), Matt Lee (B.A.S.S.), Jared Lintner (B.A.S.S.), Richard Lowitzki (FLW), Mike McClelland (B.A.S.S.), Cody Meyer (FLW), Cliff Prince (B.A.S.S.), Tom Redington (FLW), Mark Rose (FLW), Jim Tutt (FLW), Greg Vinson (B.A.S.S.), John Voyles (FLW), and Jay Yelas (FLW).

Unofficial word is the patent feuds involving Garmin ain’t such a big deal. Guess we’ll find out. It’s basically the Apple-Google-Samsung wars, just a little smaller $$$.

12. Bass U in Tulsa this weekend.

Like I always say, worth every dang penny and then some:


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Tip of the Day

Sounds simple but bear with me here: Ken was huge into finding patterns, a skill that has tanked because of electronics — but it’s a skill which ironically will become hugely important once again when we hit the electronics saturation point, which appears to be coming soon:

> The Oklahoma pro says there are three basic ingredients to establishing a pattern on any body of water: the specific region of lake, the structure of cover and the lure.

With those basic considerations in mind, Cook tries different lures, locations and retrievals until he starts catching bass regularly.

> It’s really nothing more than a process of elimination. Sometimes he pins down a pattern in an hour or two, sometimes it takes him all day to figure out exactly where the bass are and what they want. How long Cook sticks with a specific bait, technique or location depends on one thing: his confidence. He’ll make a change in as little as 20 minutes if he no longer feels good about what he’s doing.

> When Cook catches his first bass of the day, he takes a mental inventory of the conditions, including depth, cover, bottom configuration and where his lure was when the bass struck it.

> He considers lure presentation, the size and color of the lure and the line he’s using. He notes environmental components such as wind direction, light penetration and water temperature and clarity.

> With all those in mind, Cook looks for similar spots in other parts of the lake. “One fish doesn’t make a pattern, but it’s a good start. If I catch a few more doing the same thing, I’ll know I’ve got the pattern nailed down pretty good, and I’ll start focusing on those areas and techniques that produced the first three or four fish.”

Sounds simple, but this type of patterning requires an intentional methodical approach where electronics aren’t a crutch or addiction, but instead are only one tool in the box.

Quote of the Day

I caught 80% of the fish I weighed in at tournaments on spinnerbaits.

Ken Cook talkin‘ ’bout his dominance in the ’80s. Also said:

> “Most of them came on lures that I designed.”

Shot of the Day

RIP bassin’ brother, hope to see you again:

Meme of the Day

Had to get a little funny into this issue. LOT of good stuff coming later in the week.

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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’. His 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 Blaster on an app too:

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