BassBlaster

New integrated boat n motor? Best Bassoween stuff! How to straight line deep

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on October 31, 2019

Today’s Top 5

Check out BRP/Evinrude’s Project Ghost.

Not sure this’ll be the future of all boats but is innerestin’:

Tiddybits from the BRP (‘Rude owners) Oct 29 analyst and investor meeting presentation (pdf):

> Delivering a better boating experience by designing for the first time an integrated outboard engine and boat product for consumers delivered from factory.

> Increased deck space due to unique architecture.

> Outboard completely out of sight.

> Leveraging our know-how and innovation from the PWC [jet ski] industry.

Also looks like they’re working on a pontoon that’ll burn the soles off your feet:

“When you look at it, it’s so dumb-looking.”

– THANK YOU Micah Frazier hahaha! Talkin’ ’bout the Nedacious Flandoroious Rigalicious. What else he said:

> It’s small, it has no action, but when I finally realized how effective it is, it reminded me of something I’m seeing more and more in fishing — how we’re circling back to simpler things. Bass get so much pressure, and they see so many baits, sometimes the simplest, dumbest thing like the Ned rig is the deal.

He uses the new YUM Ned Dinger:

> It’s different than a plain Dinger pinched in half because the Ned Dinger has a hollow cavity in the tail that creates some buoyancy to help keep the nose down and the tail floating off bottom. I use a bunch of different generic heads, but they all have good Gamakatsu hooks no larger than 1/0.

Was lookin’ at this shot again from when he won his first blue trophy on the St. Lawrence on the Ned Dinger — doesn’t he sorta look like he’s TRYIN’ to smile holdin’ that deal up?

Gitcha Bassoween on!

Some stuff that caught me:

Opens angler @joeyfishing posted the scariest dang smallmouth I’ve ever seen:

Might rather be in the boat with that than Pat Renwick from StrayCasts who looks like a slasher, and I don’t mean the Alpha Angler rod. Truly scary part is this is what Pat looks like all the dang time: #run

Always thought Derek Hudnall was a nice dude but now I’m thinkin’ he needs to stay away from kids, coffee, blueberry pie and chimneys:

Confusing my childhood guitar hero with Worldwide “Top Jimmy” Watson is something I find very — extremely — disturbing:

Post says: “When a customer service member shows up as a Bob’s [Machine] True Tracker stabilizer plate for Halloween, you know they love their work!” Or…maybe they want a raise…? lol

Custom painter @horseshoecustom calls this “skull craw.” Looks pretty dang cool, and because it’ll be in the water a bass’ll eat it:

@guckfishing convinced Brandon Lester to try one o’ those topwater spiders but don’t think that sucker’ll float?

Speakin’ of 8-legged critters, the Lunkerhunt Phantom Spider has 2 new colors, Fang and Huntsman. Not sure which is which but pretty sure the bass’ll smash either:

Or you could just bass-feesh with a pink skeleton?

Hard to find a better punkin carvin’ job than this, from the Bassin’ Hall of Fame hahaha! #CmonMan

Speakin’ of the Hall, here’s the best “costume” I’ve seen yet — the Hall’s and Bassmaster’s Steve Bowman:

Never thought a koala could look scary, so props to ya Bowman!

Best Bassoween scare ever?

Check it:

Hahaha that dude’s prolly still scared! Don’t blame him a bit…. Might like to see that happen at a few community holes around here…. Full vid here on the Insta.

Doesn’t this look like Todd Faircloth is fishing in an aquarium?

I mean, how else would you see the “edge” of the water like that and the bottom underneath it?

Okay, yep, that’s a wave hittin’ the shore, but I had to look at it big to figure that out…maybe it’s me….

News

1. Aaron Martens says no to Palomars for dropshots.

Never doubt the A-Mart:

> “A lot of anglers still use a Palomar knot to tie their dropshots and that’s just not ideal. A Palomar knot can take so much punishment from the fish when you set the hook because there’s no weight in front of it — it’s just straight line. What I choose to tie instead is a double uni knot. It works better for me and is more reliable.”

2. Here’s the rigs MDJ and B-Lat used to win…

…that international freezing cold tourney deal in Canada:

> …alternated between two bait styles…a green pumpkin Finesse TRD [on] a 1/5-oz black Finesse ShroomZ jighead…. “Both a green pumpkin and EZ money-colored Finesse WormZ…on a 1/4-oz dropshot….”

3. B-Rad Roy’s HS tourney used a combined 5 fish/MLF format.

Sounds like 5 fish on day 1, MLF on day 2.

4. Matty Reed had a good FLW Tour this year.

Good to hear. If you don’t know, Matt’s LONG-time TX pro.

5. Couple things Zona does when he’s a-trailerin (vid).

T-H Marine Motor Sticks and Steer Stop. Quick and good vid:

6. Here’s the 2020 MLF Bass Pro Tour schedule.

Several repeats, Fork will be interesting, St. Lawrence and Champlain should be in-dang-sane:

> One — Feb 7-12 — Lake Eufaula, AL

> Two — Feb 21-26 — Lake Okeechobee, FL

> Three — Mar 13-18 — Lake Fork, TX

> Four — Apr 3-8 — Jordan Lake, Falls Lake, Shearon Harris, NC

> Five — May 15-20 — Kissimmee Chain, FL

> Six — Jun 5-10 — Winnebago, Butte des Morts, Green Lake, WI

> Seven — Jun 26-Jul 1 — St. Lawrence River, NY

> Eight — Jul 21-26 — Champlain, VT

7. B.A.S.S. hired its first chief revenue officer.

Believe it’s the first, anyhow. Guy named Tim Sullivan. Don’t know him. Interesting parts for me from the announcement:

> B.A.S.S. prioritizing what appear to be revenue beyond just sales, and also digital initiatives. If so, good and smart.

> Dude comes from big companies BUT he worked a bit with MLB Advanced Media, which does some great digital stuff.

> Judging only by the text and photos in the announcement on Bassmaster.com, he doesn’t fish…so a steep learning curve for him.

Will be interesting to watch.

8. TX: Teener caught on Houston County Lake.

Jim Crockett caught it on a 1-oz Rat-L-Trap (perch) — fishin’ from the shore! Guessin’ it’d weigh another 2+ lbs if caught in the spring:

> “There’s a creek channel out there that winds right up next to an old boat dock. The shad show up there just about every afternoon. You’ll see an occasional swirl when the bass start to feed. Sometimes they jump clear out of the water. It’s a pretty good spot.”

> …said his lure was about 10 yards from the bank when he got the bite he was waiting for. “I knew right away it was big. The fish was really strong. I was using 20-lb test line, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to hold or not. It pulled a lot of drag.”

> The lakeside marina had already closed for the day, so there was no place to weigh the fish on scales that had been verified for accuracy. Crockett said he didn’t want to risk killing the fish by holding it overnight, so he weighed it on a digital scale, took a picture and released the bass back into the lake. The angler said the hand-held scale read 14.1 lbs.

9. MN closed Water Gremlin plant, workers want it back open.

> …state regulators said the company…hadn’t put procedures in place to keep its workers from taking home lead dust on their clothes. At least a dozen children of Water Gremlin employees had elevated levels of lead in their blood, with 2 of the children posting levels above state-issued health limits.

10. Check you the Vexus “Dream Room.”

My bass tub dreams have a few more fish in ’em than these (hahaha!) but here are some of my faves from the new Dream Room section of the Vexus site:

11. Rapala restructuring in other parts of the world.

12. Shimano fishing sales up 5.4% year over year.

Sales solid in the US and Japan.

13. Garmin had record Q3 results.

> …revenue of $934 million, which was a 15% increase over the prior year quarter. All of the company’s segments — aviation, fitness, outdoor and marine — collectively increased 24% over the prior year quarter.

> The company had a gross margin of 60.7%, compared to 59.4% in the prior year, with an operating margin of 28%.

Those margins are pretty crazy.

14. DC: How to get more peeps fishin’?

A few “findings” from a study, only ones I thought were interesting are:

> More urban fishing — pretty sure someone named Mike or Ike has been trying to do this).

> “Participants reported that license purchasing is confusing” — I’d say regs are too.

> Zero mention of what I thought would be the #1 thing: media.

15. MD: Exelon will pay $200 mil for Conowingo dam impacts.

Over 50 years, various projects will be funded.

16. Zebra mussels also a problem in England.

Only one thing to do: stock bass (and gobies).

17. Few innerestin’ weather deals.

> UT -43.6 F temp today may be lowest Oct temp ever recorded in the continental US.

> Here’s what weather.com says is the weather for next month — guess bassin’ in the West’ll be good for a bit:

> Pat Boone says the scientist who started the whole global warming deal wouldn’t reveal his data in court after the court told him to. Not taking a position, just pretty darn interesting….

Line of the Day

“…2019 is the first year in a long time that I’ve fished using spinning gear more than I did fly tackle. And it was a hoot.”

Just imagine if this guy got to use baitcasters for the basses….

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

> New pro trail? Kentucky Lake not so bad, Do frogs imitate gophers??

> Record smallie caught twice? Massive derp explosion! Boat n trailer wintering tips

> Tommy Biffle gives up the Hardhead/Biffle Bug juice!

Note: The TackleWarehouse links in this email are affiliate links, meaning if you go through them to make a purchase I might earn a commission…at no cost to you. Click here if you want to learn a little more about links in the BB.

Tip of the Day

Line: How to fish deep better.

For some reason my focus on whether I can fish deep is always wind — or whatever might cause a lack of feel. I do think about line in the whole deal, but not really like this…because I didn’t realize this was possible. Check out what Chris Zaldain says about his feeshn at the Lanier Elite this year:

> “I spent much of my time at Lanier chasing pre-spawn spotted bass that were staging in 40-50’…. Those fish were set up on rocky points that led out into deep, cold, crystal-clear water. I needed a stealthy approach to trigger those big spots….

> Zaldain positioned his boat over 60-70’…and relied on long casts…. “I was spooled up with 15-lb Seaguar Smackdown [Flash Green]. The smooth, slick finish of Smackdown helped me make the long casts I needed to reach those fish, while positioning my boat as far away as possible to avoid spooking them.”

> Zaldain’s primary lure was a 3″ [Megabass Spark Shad] swimbait rigged on a 3/8-oz jighead, which he linked to his Smackdown mainline with a…Seaguar Tatsu [fluoro leader]. “I used a 9′ leader of 8-lb Tatsu, joining my braided main line to the fluorocarbon leader with a 40-wrap FG knot. Tatsu is exceptionally soft and supple with outstanding knot strength….”

That’s the background, here’s the meat:

> “One critical line factor that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves is diameter. Seaguar lines aren’t just strong — they pack all of that strength into exceptionally thin diameters, which means they cut through the water with less resistance.

> “On Lanier, the combination of Smackdown and Tatsu helped get my bait down…faster, without any bow in the line at all. Having direct contact with my lure on a straight line was a tremendous advantage for bite detection, and the no-stretch characteristics of Smackdown delivered positive deep-water hooksets.”

A straight, non-vertical line at 40-50′ — never occurred to me that was possible. Glad to learn that, and it’s good to hear Chris can “get down” better now than he did in his high school musical:

Quote of the Day

“When hunting dogs go out for the day, they make sure they’ve gone to the bathroom. I’m the same way.”

– BPTer Shin Fukae talkin’. He’s 100% right except in the Bassin’Fan deal it says he does his bidness at the motel room, the gas station and the ramp. Dogs just git ‘er done once and are good to go.

Might be more than I ever wanted to know about this kinda stuff….

Shot of the Day

‘Yak basser Chris Hollingsworth (@wishiwazfishin) posted this sick release shot — which I guess proves that bass can hit the water with their mouths open and not drown:

Random

Stealin’ this from the DeerBlaster Insta (@deerblaster.official) — spooky trailcam shot man:

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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