BassBlaster

New veggies key in win, Biggest college bag ever, Great bassing invention

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Today’s Top 5

Melon balls of the week.
Kickin’ it off with a RIDICULOUS 42.97-lb father-son Toledo Bend limit — Luke Clausen DO NOT READ THIS. Lane and Hunter Martin with (in order) a 8-11, 9-13, 10.24 (marina scale, in pic below), 8-08 and I believe a 6+.
Vid here, not a great one tho. Deets:

> “We started trying to catch a few topwater fish in the hay grass because we were trying to catch the tail end of the shad spawn…. We fished with a Ribbit and caught a couple, but it wasn’t paying off.

> “I told Hunter, ‘Man we need to to do something else, and back off and see if they’re a little deeper.'”

> Both father and son were fishing with a punch rig, including a 1/4-oz Reins tungsten sinker, a G-Money Punch Skirt and a matching Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver in magic craw swirl. They worked the edges of the hay grass in 7 to 18 feet of water….

 

> “We were fishing very, very, very slow. Painfully slow. Just dragging it, not even popping it. That’s hard for me to do.”

Next up: @thedonnguyen hung this Cali 11 on the 3:16 Rising Son weedless:

 

Not a DD but a great pic — rad feeshn beard. 7-08 caught by BB reader wcampbell with an 8″ Hudd “slathered” in Megastrike. Was fishing prespawn travel route edges:
New veggies key for Pickwick FLW win.
GA FLW rookie Buddy Gross had 74-05 last weekend, won by 3 lbs over Michael Neal, his bunk mate. Interesting stuff:

> Gross fishes Lake Guntersville quite a bit, and over the last few years he has seen a change in Guntersville’s vegetation…eelgrass.

> “From my experience on Guntersville, I kind of knew where to look for it and what it looks like on my electronics. On day 2 I was graphing down a ridge along the river and I saw my first clump of it.”

> “…clumps of eelgrass positioned perfectly between a large spawning flat and the main river in about 8-10′. “I found about a 1/2-mile stretch that included about a dozen large patches of it. Some of them were as big as a tugboat.

Bait was a 1-oz HogFarmer Baits Hair Jig (white). Buddy ‘splained:

> “You can’t really fish an open hook hair jig in hydrilla. It’s too soft and stringy. But fishing a hair jig in that eelgrass was not a problem at all. Even when I got hung up in it, one quick snap of the rod completely cleans the bait off.”

Btw totally do NOT agree that “no more secrets in fishing” as Robby Newell wrote in that article. But I DO agree that there are no secrets on B.A.S.S. Live…lol gotcha B.A.S.S. peeps!

Other Pickwick tiddybits.

Who says spinnerbaits are dead? Been a factor in MANY derbies this year. Here’s a breakdown of what the top 10 finishers used:

Spinnerbait = 50%

Crankbait = 50%

4th: Jamie Horton threw both the Strike King 10XD (citrus shad) and the 6XD:

8th: Travis Fox caught some on a Rapala DT-6 in Helinski shad.

Hair jig = 20%

Swimbait = 20%

Chatterbait = 20%

6th: Barry Wilson put the new YUM Pulse swimbait (white) on the back of a 1/2-oz Z-Man ChatterBait:

Fluke = 20%

Swing-jig = 10%

One of the best bassin’ inventions ever?
You seen this Trailer Hook Pal thing yet? One of the owners (I think) demoed it for me recently, here’s the vid:

Lots more legit uses too, like:

 

Seems pretty durn awesome. Some Elites using it too. Tackle Warehouse carries ’em.

Heaviest college bag ever?
Late shout-out to BB readers Daniel Marshall and Ryan Habenicht who blasted a 28-08 limit at Clear Lake, CA in late April to win the FLW College Fishing Western Conference derby. Heck of an avg, and apparently is the heaviest college 5-fish limit of all time. If so:
Ryan says he was using a VMC Gliding Jig with a Senko (shad) in creek channels, and a wacky 6″ Senko (gp) on deep sea walls “when the fish moved up in the afternoon.”

Two nos:

> Believe that’s the first tourney mention, let alone win, of a VMC Gliding Jig. Cool idea, learn more about it here from Randall Tharp (vid).

> To all pros: Ryan sent me these pics proactively. #rawk


News

1. KY: Young basser passes on at Barren River Lake.

Dang it. RIP bassin’ brother.

2. IL: Wake of Illini bass club president.

 

4-9 pm Friday at Davenport Family Funeral Home in Barrington.

3. don barone talks to Dean Rojas.

A lot of transparency from both guys, worth a full read. Dean doesn’t open up like that much.

4. Clausen’s final word on Wheeler.

Only thing I keep thinking about related to this is random polygraphing. Why random? Why not just the top 3 or whatever finishers? Let me know if I’m missing something here.

5. TN: Canadian wins B.A.S.S. Regional.

Another one?? This all started when Mercer crossed the border. Mark Cavanaugh, B.A.S.S. Nation Eastern Regional, Douglas Lake, 45-03 over 3 days, won by about 4 lbs.

> A series of secondary points near the main lake were his primary focus. The other spot was a deepwater hump, where he caught his heaviest weight.

> “I started deep and worked shallow. There was a short feeding window on the deep spot, so I began each day on that offshore hump.”

> …40 feet surrounded the hump in 14 feet of water. …the bass moved from the deep water to the hump to feed on baitfish. …he was there with a Strike King Pro Model 6XD (olive shad) crankbait.

> When the action ceased in deep water, he rotated through the series of points. Success came as he slowly retrieved a tube down the sloping bottom contour. His choice was a 3.5″ First Mate Lures tube (gp) rigged on a 3/8-oz jighead.

Were any TN boys in that derby??

B.A.S.S. Nation Central Regional also won with Strike King: a 3/8-oz Strike King Hack Attack Jig (skirt replaced with white/chartreuse) with a Zoom Z Craw (gp).

6. FLW gets doggy stuff.

 

> …a sponsorship agreement with Mars Petcare to feature the Pedigree Food for Dogs and Pedigree Dentastix treats brands.

Pets on Mars are a wee bit different:

7. MT: New state record smallie.Caught from shore by Jacob Fowler, south end of Flathead Lake on a plastic craw, 7.4 lbs and 21″. Former record was Melvin McDonald, Fort Peck Rez, August 2013, 6.7 lbs and 22.5″.

8. VA: First Smith Mountain Lake 9+ in 40+ years!17yo Brayden Smith was fishing off a dock yo-yoing a white bucktail straight up and down:

9. TX: Two 30-lb bags at T-Bend Bass Champs.How’d you like to catch 30.41 and not win — bummer. Winners had 30.90. Here’s how they caught ’em.

10. WI: Sturgeon bay giant smallie derby…

…is this weekend. Can’t wait to see the pics.

11. TX: Dude in bass boat tries to steal kayak.

Allegedly, I guess. Gets caught but…using a bass boat can give bassers a bad rep. Not cool all the way around.

12. Zoom reintros Original Zoom Worm.

> …a finesse worm that dates back 40 years. Except now, it will come in hand-poured triple laminate patterns instead of the conventional injection colors….

 

Not at Tackle Warehouse yet….

13. Where to find copper buzzbait blades.

Dave Lefebre mentioned using a buzzbait with a copper blade at Wheeler, and a few folks wondered where he found copper blades, which are now rare. His answer: Dave’s Tournament Tackle. Tx Dave…both Daves….

14. CA F&G infiltrated by environmentalists.

In “marine protection areas” but:

> …the president of [the California Fish and Game Commission] stated that he didn’t expect fishing to be restored during his lifetime.

Wasn’t supposed to be thataway. Marine, but watch out.

15. Hurts to look at….

Not sure if this is recent or not, hope all were okay, but dang:

 

Headline of the Day

 

Who says you can’t catch a big bass in flood water conditions?

Well someone not telling the truth…maybe this “retired” guy?

 

Got a need

Looking for a VERY GOOD UI/UX person. If you’re that guy, you’ll know what that is. Lmk.


Tip of the Day

Mark Copley from Strike King killed the smallies dropshotting a Rodent, a flipping bait. He talks about it below, but made me think that many of us don’t try non-[insert fishing technique here] for other techniques.

One more tip is that Copley wasn’t afraid to rip the bait in half for a more “finesse” presentation. Worked. Who woulda thunk.

Quote of the Day

 

It is with a rod and reel in my hand that I can count my blessings.

George H.W. Bush (the first one) talkin’. Amen.

This is the coolest shot. No capital-P Prez has read Bassmaster for a while…since James Hall took it over…just kidding Hall!

This shot not so cool:

Shot of the Day

 

Dude is Kim Jong crazy. Would you hold a treble-hook bait with two smallies attached?? Wouldn’t do it with just one smallie:
KJ:
Only the best!
Great stuff you need!
You fishin’ this stuff?
Git on these yo!
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’. Jay Kumar’s 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 Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:

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