BassBlaster

Most expensive topwater?? Cool Japan stuff, Tip: find backstops

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on November 6, 2018

You vote today yet? Got this from a couple MLFers:

Hahaha!

Today’s Top 5

Most expensive topwater??

Check this engagement:

Riskiest engagement for sure — so many what-ifs! If he lost that bait it woulda been ‘spensive in 2 ways: Lost ring, maybe lost gal…. Guess it didn’t go down thataway so big congrats!

More cool stuff from Japan.

Place is a cool bassin’ stuff factory. I wanna go! The latest:

1. Check the OSP SS Gill. Sorta a stubby Beaver — vid on it here:

$$$ Google translation:

> Because there is a volume of the lure itself it is rare to be drunk.

2. Wild-lookin’ nail sinker…bet it won’t come out:

3. New punch shot screw-lock weight:

4. They copying Ike’s logo over there??

2c: Ike’s new show is important.

Just my 2c:

Lotsa talk/hope that the BPT/MLF format and multiple TV airings will get more peeps bassin’. Not saying it will or not, or whether that’s good or bad (depends on how much pressure your home lake gets already), but either way we can’t tell the future.

But that’s not the only thing happening right now that could move the needle in fishing. What am I talkin’ ’bout? Ike’s new show on the Nat Geo Wild channel.

Sure wouldn’t hurt and probably would help if we could get more folks fishing, and it’s fine if they DON’T think they needed to have a spendy bassin’ tub or whatever. My 2c is that Ike’s show could do that…

…and not just because it’s a general-fishing show. It’s actually really good. I watched 3 episodes before having an opinion, here’s what I saw:

> Ike is himself — maybe even more himself than when he’s bassin’. The best guys on TV are the same way “in real life” — Zona’s that way all the time man, for real. Mercer, Jimmy Houston, etc. Ike too.

> He’s humble. In no way does he come off as all that, look at me I’m a famous pro bass-head or whatever. He’s just an ordinary fisherman.

> It’s real. Nothing I saw seemed staged, and Mike told me later that nothing was. He also genuinely loves catching fish — any fish – and that comes across.

> Somehow Ike’s kinda ageless — he appeals to all ages. This is GOOD and not easy to find in a host.

> He’s a good fisherman so you get that perspective/insight too. Not a fan of those fish shows where guys barely know how to cast a spinning rod….

Bottom line is it hits a sweet spot in fishing that otherwise doesn’t exist. It’s not fishing for “jants” in the Amazon, it’s not just bass fishing, a lot of the time it’s not even stuff you need a boat for. It’s just fishing, in non-traditional (on TV) places.

Here’s the bottom line: Hope you support the show. Watch it, DVR it, whatever, let me know what you think. My 2c is that if Ike can hit it out of the park and get this show renewed, and it lasts for years, and it stays more or less the same, it could be win for the whole biz.

Check this rig on the show: #sketchy

A-rig dominated Costa Champeenship.

Tourney was on Guntersville, won by FL’s Kyle Walters punching mats. Dude is 6′ 7″ and used a 7′ 11″ stick, so I’m figurin’ the bass were 4′ in the air right after the hookset hahaha!

Kyle punched with a Gambler Stinger (bb/gp) and another Beaver-style bait and a 1.5-oz Picasso tungsten sinker. BUT half the guys — including Bryan Thrift in 2nd — used an A-rig. Here’s the top 10 baits broken down:

A-rig = 50%

Punch/flip plastics = 20%

Swimbait = 20%

Soft jerkbait = 10%

Vibe jig = 10%

Crankbait = 10% — BOOYAH Flex

Lipless crank = 10% — Rat-L-Trap

Spinnerbait = 10%

Buzzbait = 10%

What the heck are these things??

I think I love these frog-eyed swimbaits man:

News

1. James Niggemeyer is staying on the FLW Tour.

Had been an Elitist til this year, had an offer to go back.

2. Cliff Pirch has MS??

Dang I never knew that! Hope you keep beatin’ it back brother!

3. Randall Tharp and Ark Rods giving to hurricane victims.

Buy you a honey badger hat and help the cause.

4. Ike gets Gerber tools.

No link….

5. Check Terry Scroggins’ kicker-tail worm.

Cool idea — anyone seen one like it anywhere else? Asked a real worm expert about it and he was like:

6. Mercer on Stray Casts tomorrow night.

Wednesday night live at 7pm CST on Facebook Stray Casts and StrayCasts.net. Word is the show could have a reenactment of Cheech n Chong’s “Dave’s not home,” and magic tricks with misbehaving big cats.

7. Open Championship winnin’ baits.

Chris Lane said he fished all the same stuff as in the AOY Championship (Whopper Plopper and Top Notch topwaters), and here’s what Swindle sent over — a Rapala DT-something (hot mustard?), a Zoom Trick Worm (gp blue), and a James Watson Worldwide Spoon:

8. NC: MLF (BPT?) will be on the Pee Dee.

No timeframe given:

> “…the lakes of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River watershed.”

9. MX: US Team won bassin’ world champeenship.

Dang straight!

10. NY: Erie smallies being caught on pink Rogues.A “cotton candy” color I can’t seem to find, maybe a custom paint job:

> “…jerk the Rogue once, then twice and let the line go slack. Let the lure set for a second or 2, then pick up the slack and be ready.”

Check ya some Rogues on the TW….

11. Lew’s/Strike King buys Southern Plastics.

Thought they might buy one of the Pure Feeshn brands next but…. Southern Plastics is in Eufaula, AL and “pours” soft-plastics for Strike King, Zoom and many others. If you’re keeping track, Peak Rock Capital bought Hunter’s Specialties, then Lew’s, then Strike King, now Southern Plastics…pretty fast.

> Peter Leibman, managing director of Peak Rock: “Strike King and Southern Plastics are highly complementary, and we’re excited to utilize the capabilities of Southern Plastics to support the continued strong growth of Strike King.”

Could that mean Strike King will be gettin’ a discount relative to the other companies = market advantage? Total speculation but [thinking emoji]

Btw Southern Plastics was founded by Tom Mann (and his brother) of Mann’s Jelly Worms.

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

> Even bigger deal than no entries, Derps and melons, Justin Lucas’ Spook gear

> Power-Pole alternatives, Where to jerkbait NOW

> Fork trip highlights, Secret jig, We might need longer worms….

All past BassBlasters are archived at BassBlaster.rocks!

Tip of the Day

Bill Lowen: Find a backstops when cover’s flooded.

Gitcha this tip from a vid of Bill hitting the semi-mythical Grosse Savanne Lodge in his Xpress boat:

Quote of the Day

“…this kid will sit down, slam half a Mountain Dew and fall asleep in 30 seconds. How does someone do that?”

– Elitist Chris “bro” Groh talkin’ ’bout one o’ the potential highlights of the upcoming behind-the-scenes vid series he’s doing with his compadre Seth Feider. That comment is about Feider, and gonna attempt to answer it with another couple questions: What if you drank the Dew all day long? Would it kinda make you immune? Or wiped out?

Here was Seth’s Christmas tree from last year — good job trimmin’ it man!

Shot of the Day

Teckel’s Hideki Maeda was at this tackle store somewhere in Japan (I think?), which proves that redneck bassin’ nicknames are everywhere man! Lovin’ that cartoon bass too:

Ya got me

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of the best, worst and funniest in bassin’, as curated 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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