Quick semi-analogy. Did a little milk run of geetar stores Saturday. Got a legit incredible amp that sounds like a Marshall stack in a small package, but that's another story. Anyhow, realized that whenever I was tuning up, a store guy would run over and get me a digital tuner. Great helpful little piece of tech, right?

Except I don't need it and don't want it. My ears work fine for that, and I gotta say that if you know how to play guitar and can't tell with your ears whether something is in or out of tune, that's weird. Also, if each string on a guitar is 100% in tune, it's actually out of tune but...that's another story.

You see the bass fishing analogy? If someone literally needs [insert whatever tech here] to help them find or catch a fish, isn't that weird? I mean, some tech can be cool, but do you really 100% NEED it?

Notice I said NEED, meaning REQUIRE – and apparently a lot of people now do need guitar tuners! Not sure if any bass fishermen NEED fishing tech – for sure no tour-level fishermen do. So who knows.

Maybe this just means I never really stop thinking about bass fishing – JUST LIKE YOU! 😆 Let's vamonos compadres!

Big Bad Bill Lowen got another blue trophy – and you could maybe say he stole it because he only weighed 4 fish the last day! Has that ever happened in FL – a win with less than 20 fish??

Anyhow, Bill's an ace in rough conditions and on rivers, and the St Johns lined up thataway. And as it happened, he found "a spot," which is still how a lot of tournaments get won. Here's what happened:

Going in and practice

> "I have no preconceived notions when I show up to an event. Just fish the conditions. I knew we had a cold front coming in, and I kinda had a gameplan that if I concentrated on deeper-style creeks and things, maybe those fish wouldn't be affected by the front, maybe those fish would be pre-spawn.

> "That's kinda what I went looking for on the 2nd day of practice because the 1st day of practice was al most a bust.

> "I had no idea I found that caliber of fish. l had some bites in 3-4 different areas during practice and I caught some 3-lbers and shook some fish off. So I really didn't know what I was around."

Tournament

> "The first morning of the event I run into my first spot and I think I had a 20-lb limit in the first hour. My first bite was a 5.... And the rest is kind of history man – I just kinda milked that one area for all it was worth.

> "The other areas I had that I was saving, the water temperature in them got really cold, like 54 degrees.

> "I had a primary area where I got most of my bites in practice. That's where I started...concentrating on places in that creek where that deeper water swung up against the bank. It seemed to be an area less affected by the cold front.

> "...on the 3rd day that area kind of dried up. I found another little stretch – kind of the same type of deal. I was fortunate to get my big bites off it the 3rd day. I thought going into the 4th day that maybe I found something a little special.

> "The 4th day was pretty much a grind. I had some bites that I lost, I had a lot of fish follow my jig and not commit to it. It almost reminded me of fish that had plopped down on the beds and were just trying to run that jig off or push it out of the way.

> "3 times I lost my 5th fish. 2 of 'em were just keepers, and 1 of 'em was a 4-5 lb class fish."

The stuff and how he fished

> "The main deal in there was hard cover. You don't hear a lot about hard cover when we talk about FL, but when you run north of Palatka a lot of the stuff up there is hard cover. Wood, trees, laydowns. You'll get some isolate lilypads and pennywort mats that kinda float around with the tide.

> "...for the most part it's predominantly hard cover – almost like traditional river-style fishing.

> "[He was fishing] anywhere from a foot to 12'. Some areas in that creek were 20-30' deep, but mostly it was in the 1-10' depth range.

> "...it was really hard to get a bite if your bait was on the bottom. So what I figured out in practice is they wanted that swim-jig as slow as you possibly could reel it. That's why I chose to go with that Zoom Super Speed Craw because it allowed me to fish that swim-jig really, really slow – almost float it around that cover.

> "That Zoom trailer has really big legs on it and helps slow you down. It kind of reminded me of bulging a single-blade CO spinnerbait around.

> "Basically I was just throwing that jig around whatever visible cover was in front of me. Most of those fish were keyed in on little drain-type areas coming out of the wood. They could be sitting on the base of a tree, or a laydown, or the edge of a mat, or some little overhanging bushy stuff. It kinda was just 101 junk fishing, swimming that jig around whatever cover was available.

> "Another key deal was there'd be some wood hung up on the edge of the dropoffs. It might be sitting in 2' on the edge and it might drop into 10'. If I swam that jig to up to that piece of cover and almost flutter it and kill it, sometimes I'd get a couple key bites like that....

> "The other deal was my 3/8-oz flipping jig. I caught some key fish on it every single day, then [day 4] I might have caught the fish that won the tournament on it – my last keeper. I had a black/blue Zoom Super Chunk on it.

> "The key with that was they didn't want it on the bottom.

> "The first day I caught a 20-lb limit on it...I figured out I could pitch it against that deeper wood and let it fall, and it they didn't eat it before it got to the bottom I'd snap it up and start swimming it down to that 3-4' depth range, trying to keep down lower in the water column.

> "It was hard to do because you'd snapping it around and swimming it and shaking it, and you'd get hung up...the wood was really soft so it was easy to get hung up in it. So it was really hard to do...and you also had to be able to do it really slow. It was just a really hard technique to do."

I asked him if he was making multiple casts to cover:

> "I typically wasn't making multiple casts. When the fish were there, set up, and the tide was right, they were very aggressive. ...I was trying to cover as much water as I could, trying to fish fast but fish very slow. The boat was going pretty fast but the bait was slow."

Baits

> Swim-jig: 5/16-oz LurePartsOnline Bill Lowen Swim Jig (blue craw skirt) with a Zoom Super Speed Craw (black sapphire), 30-lb Seaguar TactX Braid ("I always swim my jig on 30-lb braid – I feel like I get the most action of the jig I can on that 30-lb – and I like that TactX Braid for that technique), Ark G7 Reel (7.1), 7' 6" MH F Ark Invoker Pro Series Rod.

> Flipping jig: 3/8-oz LurePartsOnline Bill Lowen Flip Jig ("the same jig I won Pickwick on with a 'blue craw' skirt") with a Zoom Super Chunk, 22-lb Seaguar Tatsu Fluoro, same reel, 7' 6" H Ark Invoker Ltd Edition Flipping Rod.

> "In practice I did [try other colors] but [b/b] was the only color I could get a reaction out of. Most of that water in FL is that black tannicky type water, and b/b and junebug seems to excel the most."

Electronics

> "The big key for me finding trees that had deeper water on them – it's so easy to do with [Humminbird] Lakemaster mapping, so mapping was critical this week.

> "Everybody was like, 'Hey were you using [Humminbird] MEGA Live 2?' I had it on every day, but what I was using it for was not to look for fish. It was to keep me to where I could keep my boat positioned on a lip or dropoff and allow me to see where the deeper water swung up against the bank.

> "A lot of key bites were in areas where deeper water swung close to the bank. I wanted to stay off that lip for those isolated pieces of cover."

Shoutouts

> "I have to give a shoutout and big thanks to all my partners, my family and the fans – it's been overwhelming. I don't even know how I'm gonna answer back all the text messages and messengers. I just want to thank everyone for their support over the years."

😁 Drop that slice and pick up a jig! Let's go:

1. I've said before that tough tournaments are your thing. Was this another one of those?

> "Oh absolutely. I think anytime we go to the St Johns, especially in Feb, you know you're going to grind, it's gonna be tough. With a cold front on top of it, I think it definitely was a grind.

> "If the Ohio River did anything for me growing up, it taught me that when the conditions are tough...never give up and know that I'm going fishing for 5 bites day. ...I fished til the last minute, I never gave up, I never stopped trying.

> "I think that's why when there's grinders...let's face it – a lot of guys just get beat before the event even starts."

2. Do you know if there's ever been a tourney won in FL 1 fish shy of a limit??

> "I'm not sure. I can tell you that on my 12-mile ride back to the ramp yesterday, I knew wasn't gonna win because I didn't have a limit."

3. Gotta ask – did your son tell you to fish a swimbait? 😁 [His son smashes the bigs on 'em in FL.]

> "[Laughs] He tells me to throw a glide bait all the time. I don't have the patience he has with it."

4. What do you think you're doing winning a tournament on a jig in the no holds barred FFS league? 😁

> "I think it's awesome. I guess what I'm stick and tired of hearing is, 'Oh my gosh you're fishing old school' when that ain't old school. That's fishing."


5. How do you fish a swim-jig slow without it not swimming enough?

> "The whole key to that is the trailer you put on the jig. You need something that has a lot of water displacement or resistance, and...winding this thing as slow as you possibly can wind it to keep the legs of that trailer working, which is really hard to do. And that Super Speed Craw fits the bill perfectly for that."

Follow-up: Why would you not use a lower gear-ratio reel?

> "Because typically the bites on a swim-jig are so fast and so violent, I feel like if you go with a lower gear ratio reel, they'll get you out of position every single time."

Are you a resident of the pingdom kingdom? All good either way, but here's some non-jighead/minner options for you in cold water and the pre-spawn. Starting with a few options from Hunter Shryock from a couple-year-old Bassmaster post:

> Slower is generally better in cold water, but that isn't always the case. I tend to fish fairly fast in warm water, and there are windows when the water is below 50 degrees that I don't have to slow down much at all. The best windows happen on sunny days during a warming trend.

> ...you can still go down the bank with a crankbait and get bites in 45 degree water. Of course you can get bites in cold water by dragging something like a jig. The problem with that approach is that you cover too little water.

> ...by covering water in that 6-8' range, I'm betting I can get quality bites. I concentrate on steeper banks that give the bass quick access to deep water. Finding good rock has always been a big key...whether it is chunk rock or big flat rock.

> A jerkbait is a good choice in clear water. Sometimes they want a jerkbait that suspends. Other times they might want one that sinks slowly during a pause. The Berkley Cutter 110 has been a good one for me. ...casting parallel to 45-degree banks, especially banks that have sun on them.

[Berkley no longer makes that bait – they do a salty version of it – but some guys really liked it. Here's what it looked like:]

> I fish parallel to the bank with crankbaits too, typically in 4-8' of water. A Berkley Dredger 10.5 works well for this. When I feel it digging into the rocks, I slow down and let it rumble over them.

> I've even caught bass fishing the same way with a ChatterBait. I chirp it off the bottom...feathering the blade so the bait makes a little vibration as it barely comes off the bottom and falls back again. ...with a Berkley Grass Pig Jr [swimbait] or a Chigger Craw.

Here's some older-school jerkbait options – from this post:

> Suspending Rattlin' Rogue – ...the lure that put early spring bass fishing with suspending jerkbaits on the map. ...dives 4-6'...4.5" long and...it rattles. Its action is subtle – a classic "Rogue roll."

> Perfect 10 Rogue – ...a larger Rouge with loud rattles, a steep dive angle to get to the zone quickly and the capacity to hit the 10-12' depth range....

> Pro Rogue – ...Jason Christie's favorite Rogue model is the same length and shape as the Perfect 10, but its dive angle, running depth and subtle rolling action match that of the Suspending Rattlin' Rogue. ...at 1/2-oz...like the other 2 the Pro Rogue suspends in the water column when not in motion.

Btw about those Frank Scalish-designed Pro Rogue "FX" colors:

> Scalish points out that many baitfish-imitating lure colors on the market look quite a bit like the real thing when you hold them in your hand but just look grey when you see them in the water.

> ...the FX Colors mimic the way baitfish look in the water – the way fish see them....

Does Frank see like a fish?? 🤯🤔😁

- From a recently-published study. Before unduly weighting that statement, be aware that:

1. The study was on one lake – Clinton Lake, IL.

2. That 12x number = 1 tagged fish dying early in the season vs 9 tagged fish later in the season – I believe out of 50+ fish per tournament. Their math is correct, I am jost not giving all the deets here.

So in my 2c:

1. You could retitle the study to: "Barely any fish died in these tournaments – good job bass-heads!"

2. Some Qs: What was the pH of the water? What type of lake is it (eg, lowland, highland, etc)? What were the conditions at each tournament? What kind of fish care was done from tournament to tournament? You probably have some too. In other words: That is a very specific study without enough info (in my 2c).

3. I am glad this keeps getting studied because the outcomes are pretty much always good!

Here's a nugget from it even though you already know it:

> The 59 tournament-caught largemouth bass tagged with acoustic transmitters spent 25-50% of the 50-day monitoring period at the release point after returning to the lake.

One more deal: Seems like most of the studies on largemouth bass are done by China scientists for aquaculture.

1. Matt Herren's St Johns finish DQd

Here's the entire B.A.S.S. announcement, which in my 2c ain't 100% clear:

> B.A.S.S. officials announced today that Matt Herren has been disqualified and fined after it was determined he had violated "Rule C3. 3 PRACTICE AND COMPETITION (ii) a. and j." concerning the receipt of information to gain a competitive advantage from a non-competitor.

> Officials said they were made aware of the rule violation on Feb 23, 2025 based on statements made during a polygraph credibility assessment.

> Herren's 40th place finish at the 2025 FXR Pro Fish Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River in Palatka, FL has been vacated, moving Mike Iaconelli into a 50th place finish.  

Here's the 2025 Elite rules if you want to take a look.

Matt's son Josh apparently said this on the BBC boards (edited for clarity):

> He got DQd because we were talking on Tuesday about how he was spending all his time practicing down south. That's where he spent his practice and all the tournament. I wasn't thinking and made a comment, Hopefully this one doesn't get won north in Deep Creek like a tournament that my buddy had fished the previous weekend. Just as a general comment talking fish.

> He never went there to look and went right back and put in at Astor the next day.

> I have fished Opens and understand off-limits periods, but we talk fishing daily and I just wasn't thinking when I said it. Polygraph examiner asked if he had received any information and told them I had said it on accident but never went in that direction (70 miles the exact opposite is where he went in practice and the tournament).

> They flagged it as soliciting for information and DQd him. The rule states soliciting while trying to gain a competitive advantage, so I don't understand how mistakenly being told something and not pursuing the information or using it for any gains can fall into a DQ.

Meanwhile an Opens angler was fined (not DQd) for a violation of the no-info rule, though a different subsection of it (iv).

Why am I hoping for 100% transparency on this stuff? Because it kills a bunch of the speculation.

2. Jordan Lee giving away his signature rods to kids

Or at least he did at the St Johns. Bet they were double-stoked! Love it man....

3. Did you know Takahiro Omori trains at IMG Academy?

He says mind and physical training. Unofficial word is he got 2 Fs in the FFS class...🤣 Just messin' Tak!

4. Matt Arey likes the Sushi 110 jerkbait right now

Quick IG vid ^, says one of his fave colors is "green back:"

Looks like TW doesn't carry that color, but does carry this good-lookin' one – "common shiner":

5. Cooper Gallant got Monster Energy

Also 6th Sense's WaterLand sunglasses.

6. James Niggemeyer's fave 'Trap color is...

That's "red craw/chart belly" for stained/dirty water. TW doesn't have that color but the Rat-L-Trap site does. YT vid on how he fishes it here.

Bill Lewis has SO many different flavors of red...and for a good reason!

7. TX: A musical about Ray Scott??

What in the world? Happening during Classic week in Ft Worth, TX. Ain't a musical fan but I guess I'm going!

8. SC: Santee BFL had 2 dirty 30s and...

SC's Brent Riley won it with 35-03 and SC's James Gibbons had 31-03. Brent was on pre-spawners in eelgrass in 3' near 5-6' drops, and caught most of 'em on a Berkley Slobberknocker bladed jig. The smaller ones came on a Berkley Frittside.

Plus this 13-06 was weight by Gary Pope:

9. CA: Berryessa tourney had 2 bags over 30

Mark Cobey and Lawrence Rios won the Best Bass tourney with 33.37 and a 9.61 kicker. 2nd was 32.14 with a 9.16. 10th (last check) had 18.56.

Reminder that Berryessa has been closed because they "found golden mussels" – which really means they had to relocate a family of sasquatches...😁🤔

Thanks to Brian C for the heads up!

10. TX: First ever ShareLunker from Tawakoni

Clayton Braddock caught that 13.3-lb ditchie, making it 79 TX lakes that have produced a 13+ ShareLunker. Word is he caught it on a C-rigged supersized Happy Meal...😁

11. KastKing Speed Demon Elite Reels $30 off on TW

So they're $90 right now:

12. NY: Gobies have HURT Cayuga smallie population?

> "Gobies have no swim bladder so they can spend their lives in very deep or extremely shallow water. Because they populate many of the shallow areas that are ripe with spawning smallmouth bass, their vulnerable eggs are one of the goby's primary food sources."

> Hoefig, who watched the decline firsthand, estimates that gobies may have reduced Cayuga's smallmouth population by as much as 90%.

13. TN: Proposed bass reg changes now approved

Smallmouths: In Chickamauga, Nickajack and the TN portion of Guntersville used to be you could only keep 1 18+" smallmouth per day. Effective Aug 1, 2025 you can keep 5 per day of any length though only 1 can be 16+". This is because spots have hybridized with smallmouths and apparently you can't tell 'em apart visually.

Largemouths: In Pickwick, Watts Bar, Tellico, Ft Loudon and Chilhowee, the limits are all the same which is 5 black bass (all species) with a 15" minimum. Not sure when this is effective.

14. Shimano slightly down in FY 2024

But Japan and North American fishing sales were solid.

15. Daiwa slightly down in FY Q3 and...

...sounds like fishing revenue was up in the Americas but profit was down. I assume that's year over year but it doesn't say.

16. DC: Bill would close excise tax loophole

Sounds like it would make for a more level playing field vs some foreign companies. Hope our fishing folks check the heck outta that bill to make sure there's no funny biz in there that could mess up the excise tax program.

Maybe add something to it that the states that get the funds from it have to recognize who butters their bread.

17. Keep an eye on....

DC: USFWS is now saying ice fishing can "spread" stuff

> Invasive species and diseases don't take the winter off. They can spread through bait, gear, and even frozen water, threatening fish populations and water quality.

Where is this going? Call me skeptical – because I am – but I think it could eventually go like this: "No more fishing here [X lake or river] because all you careless fishermen are spreading Y [bad thing]."

Keep an eye on it and remember – almost all these policy peeps DON'T FISH!

Headlines of the Day

Anglers will share small areas during Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee

"Share" sounds so nice, like it's a cookie or a pizza. 😁 My Q: Will they share nicely?

Giant Largemouth Bass Caught in Texas Weighed the Same as a Dachshund

Since Zona is a former sausage dog owner, I'm pretty sure he can do something with this...?

Line of the Day

...most fishermen are on the same plan, working the banks one after another with plastic lizards.

Talkin' the TX spawn bite. Man if everyone is still throwing lizards, there's a lotta plastics those feesh still need to see!

More about heavier, shorter leaders

From a Seaguar post:

> For line, Matt Becker prefers 18-lb Seaguar PE-X8, a micro-thin braided line that cuts through the water and gives his bait better movement. He then mixes in different fluorocarbon lines as a short leader.

> "That PE-X8 also casts extremely well, which is important when trying to bomb a bait out there.

> "Leader size is such an important topic, and I want the braid doing the work, so my leader is going to be 2' long or less to give the bait better action. I start with 10-lb Tatsu for the leader and can go up or down. If I want the bait to stay higher, I'll go up to 12- or even 15-lb which I think is much heavier than people think."

> Drew Gill: "Line size is critical when talking about how it impacts your minnow because this type of fishing is all about your pace and the lift of the bait. The biggest thing to pay attention to, besides just the break strength on the line box, is the diameter of the line. I also took into account how much stretch a leader line has.

> "For fishing deep water when you need to get to them quickly, I like a thin diameter [leader] like 8-lb Seaguar Tatsu or Gold Label, but I'll also use a 15- or 17-lb leader when I want to target fish that are within 6' of the surface.

> "...other times when you want a line with a little stretch, like when making short casts to fish in shallow water. That's when I would use a softer line like 15- or 17-lb [Seaguar] Fluoro Premier or InvizX because the stretch in those lines has shock absorption from hooksets...."

"This afternoon I noticed that they quit biting. They wouldn't react to the bait anymore on LiveScope."

- AL's Austin Shields talkin', who won the Guntersville BFL this weekend. Interesting. More:

> "I grew up fishing old school without LiveScope, so I've kind of been rebellious toward using it. I have not wanted to use it. But all this past winter, I made myself use it to make myself get up to date with it because in central AL...if you're not using it in the wintertime, you're getting beat.

> "So I had to figure it out. But it was refreshing to pull up (on the causeway with the ChatterBait) and just kind of fish instinctually."

Does this bass look real long to you or is it me? Is it a 2-lber smushed up to the lens? Either way a real healthy-looking fish, caught in Japan somewhere and posted by @kentaonishi_okguide on IG:

Great-grandfather surprised with world record after building largest brick collection

8,882 bricks! Not sure if he has any from Pink Floyd or the NBA...😆 How 'bout this line – remind you of anyone who spends too much time on Tackle Warehouse?

> "Collecting anything, it kind of gets away from you."

So...are we really bait collectors? 🤔

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