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Be safe out there this weekend bass peeps! Lot of folks will be operatin’ inebriated so maybe drive like an old lady merging onto the Indy 500…. As I remind my kids, most people who own a boat have NO IDEA how to drive it safely — know I’m a-preachin’ to the choir but please keep that in mind! Bless you, and check these Coast Guard stats from ’18, just released:
> Alcohol continued to be the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents….
> Operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, machinery failure, and excessive speed ranked as the top 5 primary contributing factors in accidents.
> Where the cause of death was known, 77% of fatal boating accident victims drowned. Of those drowning victims…84% were not wearing a life jacket.
Life jackets, kill switch, granny driving, head on a swivel — catch some fish too!
>> If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!
Today’s Top 5
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Starbucks finally gettin’ with it.
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Check it:
Hahaha love it! Shot sent in by bass-head John S, who got it texted to him from his better half — how cool is that! Whole fam’s infected with the bassin’itis!
Really wanna try that “color” — I’m cool with the green but not sure I want pumpkin in my coffee man eeeeew.
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The most political lake in America?
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Talkin’ ’bout this because I find it disturbing — fish “management” decisions based on what MIGHT happen rather than what actually IS happening or DOES happen.
The lake is Mille Lacs, MN — known for being a big-time walleye lake, but also an amazing smallmouth fishery. The MN DNR seems intent on “preserving” the walleyes but not the smallies. Here’s what’s going down:
Aug 12 meeting
> Mille Lacs fisheries manager Tom Heinrich stated that the Mille Lacs [walleye] fishery was at 91% of the seasonal [kill] allocation.
The DNR creates that allocation so who knows whether it’s legit, and that is an ASSUMED mortality % based mostly on catch/release-only fishing and water temps.
> Heinrich said that though the lake was at 91% allocation, projections for the rest of the year did not show harvest exceeding both the allocation and the 10% overage cap.
In other words, all good through the rest of the season.
> …Heinrich explained that since the harvest of the previous year had been approximately 10,000 lbs under, those lbs could be put forward towards the overage this year [if the catch went over].
So the 2018 ASSUMED harvest was under the DNR’s own limit, and thus they could carry that “underage” into 2019, which they said should also be under.
> MN fish chief Brad Parsons: “When the 2013 [year class was] the only game in town, that’s why we got super conservative. It doesn’t look like they are the only game in town anymore.”
So…there’s lots of fish now, so the DNR doesn’t need to be conservative anymore.
Aug 26 (2 weeks later) announcement by the MN DNR
> Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs Lake will close Friday, Sept 6, so state anglers do not exceed a safe walleye harvest level.
2 weeks ago you said everything was cool (based on your own limits)??
> “We’re glad anglers had the opportunity to harvest walleye in May and fish for walleye through much of the open water season,” said Brad Parsons…. “Because angling pressure and walleye catch rates were high, the coming closure is necessary to stay within established limits.”
WERE high, not ARE high? Either way, you just said a closure wouldn’t be necessary. So what changed…in 2 weeks?
> High angling pressure and catch rates in Jul and Aug when water temperatures were at their warmest increased hooking mortality, resulting in a larger-than-expected walleye kill.
C’mon man. That’s an assumption. No evidence/data given.
> “…it’s still important to proceed with caution to ensure continued recovery of the lake’s walleye. The restrictive regulations we enacted in previous years protected young walleye, allowing the population to increase to a number not observed since before 2007.”
So the walleye population is at its highest #s in 12 years?? Everyone who fishes there knows you can walk across the lake on walleye backs and never get your feet wet….
What a fire drill. Here’s how I read all the above:
“The walleye fishery at Mille Lacs is the best we’ve seen it in over a decade and alleged fish mortality is UNDER the limits we set for the last 2 years, so we are shutting down the fishery — after we said we wouldn’t.”
WTHeck?? Not sure if the DNR is pulling the strings or someone else, but dang: If that’s solid fish management, I’m a ham sammich. Be worried MN folks! And the rest of us, let’s keep our eyes open for this bunk in our own states.
Did I mention that the MN DNR is still letting folks fish with live bait? On one of the best smallmouth lakes in the country? And that folks who can”t keep walleyes there will keep smallmouths?
Is the Mille Lacs smallmouth fishery next for this regulatory nonsense? Will it expand to other lakes? Does the MN DNR understand that they WORK FOR the folks who buy fishing licenses, including folks who make their living on and around lakes?
Dang I’m fired up. Just one guy, just my 2c, but to me this stinks like:
Maybe this is just the most poorly managed lake in America?
If I’m wrong and/or missin’ somethin’, pls lmk.
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2nd-5th BPT Redcrest Championship baits.
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On the upper Mississippi River:
Championship round:
> “The other bait I used was a 3/8-oz Hack Attack Select Buzzbait [only at Academy] with a Strike King Gurgle Toad (pearl). Fished it around current breaks on islands. Qualifying rounds:
> “I caught all my fish on offshore hard spots, some as deep as 12-14′ and some as shallow as 3’…fishing backwaters off the main river that had lots of shad.
> “7′ Lew’s Hack Attack cranking rod and Lew’s BB1 Pro Reel (6.6) on crankbaits, and 7′ 3″ Hack Attack Special Jig Rod with Lew’s Custom Pro Reel (8.6) on the worm. I used 14-lb Gamma Edge fluoro on both.” > Topwater — 4″ walking bait (sexy shad), 7′ 6″ MHX CB907 Cranking Rod, Shimano Metanium Reel (6.4), 40-lb Seaguar Smackdown Stealth Gray Braid. “Cast topwater to rock corners and schooling fish in eelgrass beds. 7′ 6″ rod and braid were critical for hookups on long casts and for moving fish out of the grass.”
> “Depth was mainly 1-2′ max. Primarily small cuts next to a main source of current flow. Any little nook or cranny that had some water movement with a cut bank or some duckweed had fish in it.”
Freddy said he fished “super shallow:”
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2nd-5th Cayuga Elite baits.
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> “Caught all my fish on these two baits: 3/4-oz football jig (Gammy hook, wire weed guard) with a Z-Man Turbo Crawz, and a 3/8-oz football jig — made by my pal at home, Jamie Bruce, with an Owner hook — with a Z-Man Hula Stickz (all were gp). The jig had a little orange in the skirt but gp was all I was really going for.
> “The yellow — or any colored braid — is key for 2 reasons. You can watch for bites while the jig is sinking, and you know when it hits the bottom — so it keeps you efficient. I was pitching it around in 20-30′ and wasn’t wasting any time wondering when it hit bottom. Most times it would hit bottom and a fish would have it within 10 seconds, or I would reel it and pitch it out again. Almost like flipping in deep water, if that makes sense.
> “Found all of my fish with my Humminbird Helix 10 machines. Found some with Down Imaging and my best school with Side Imaging on the edge of some grass in 20′.
> “For real, I relied on these machines huge at Cayuga. I think I only caught 2 fish the last 2 days of practice, I spent all my time idling, looking for fish. When my wife picked me up at the ramp on the 3rd day of practice it hurt to stand up!
> “Spot-Lock was very important during the event as well because some of my spots were little clusters of rock that were specific casts. Once I caught a fish I could lock down and pluck off everything I could.
> “I caught nearly all of my fish at the St. Lawrence on the Hula Stickz as well — it’s a legit fish-catcher everywhere. It’s a Ned rig bait that is consistently straight, full of salt and a little bigger profile than a TRD. I’ve probably gone through 500 of these baits this year.”
> “I thought I could win Cayuga on deep largemouth relating to hard structure, since the milfoil growth was behind schedule. I’m talking 25-35′. But my early morning/early tournament largemouth turned into late smallmouth. I recognized this and made a swimbait adjustment.
> “I weighed 5 smallmouth on day 4, and had the big brown bites that would have got me within an ounce of that blue trophy.
> “Smallies were picky, but I figured out they were eating yellow perch on rockpiles. I switched to a 3” Megabass Spark Shad in baby bass (silver, yellow, green colors) on a 3/8-oz ballhead jig. I HAD to bump it off the deep rocks to trigger the bites.” Fished eelgrass in 12-15′:
> “Flipped grass in 7-11′.
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TX is buildin’ a new bassin’ rez!
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Did I know this already? In northeast TX — from a good Athens Review article:
> Bois d’ Arc Lake…16,600-acre reservoir is the first major impoundment built in TX in nearly 3 decades. The last was 19,000-acre O.H. Ivie, which opened in 1990.
Huge deal cuz:
1. Big reservoirs don’t get made anymore in any state, partly because of cost — this one’s $1.6 bil (with a B) — and partly cuz of stuff like Endangered Species concerns.
2. This is in TX where they grow the basses big and the state intentionally tries to make ’em bigger. #props
3. It’s a brand new bass lake!
4. Could this actually decrease crowding on other nearby lakes??
Should be ready by 2022. More mouth-waterin’ factoids:
> Most of the timber and brush is being left in coves and the lake’s upper half…. The lake also will inundate a complex of county roads, bridges, culverts and close to 250 stock tanks ranging from 1/4 acre to 10 acres.
> …will be about 70′ at its deepest point with an average depth of 20-25′ at full pool. “It’s got a pretty complex shoreline of about 67 miles too…suspect the lake will fish pretty big….”
> …about 2,000 advanced growth (6-8″) Toyota ShareLunker offspring will be stocked in the rearing ponds this fall. More FL bass stockings will follow when the lake undergoes partial filling next year.
Someone I know please buy a house on that lake….
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Tip of the Day
What do you look for on your ‘lectronics?
This line from a Chris Zaldain Bassin’mastery tip makes me think — makes me KNOW — I’ve missed some basses down deep:
> Always keep in mind is that fish don’t always show up on your screen as an arch. I know you hear about that proverbial “arch” all the time but that only happens when conditions are perfect. It’s much more common to see a line or even a smudge. Experience is the best teacher here.
Now I think I see some fish on my phone…and laptop….
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Quote of the Day
“Bouncing a crankbait off an underwater stump is like lighting the fuse on a firecracker.”
– Great line from this post. Guess the bass is the firecracker?
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Shot of the Day
Yep, bassin’s FUN even when you ain’t castin’! This-here’s @brentehrlerfishing doin’ the boat version of driftin’:
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Ya got me
Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup
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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