BassBlaster

No entries but even bigger deal than that, Derps and melons, Lucas’ Spook gear

Today’s Top 5

BPTers do the right thing: NO ENTRY FEES.

I’m sure you know about this already, but if your flight’s been stuck on Jupiter, the Bass Pro Tour pros voted to have NO DANG ENTRY FEES! Huge…or as some of us in Yankee-land say: YUGE.

Already gave you my 2c on this last week so will only add this: We really don’t know what this could lead to, not just for BPTers but for the bassin’ biz as a whole. May cause changes elsewhere, maybe not. Fun to watch.

Anyhow, good job to all involved:

And once again, I am NOT taking sides tour-wise. Only “side” I’ve ever been on is pro anglers not risking their families’ financial health to fish, which is why I’m so stoked about what’s a-happenin’.

Even BIGGER deal than no entries is…

…could this be the FIRST thing ever in the sport of bassin’ where there’s no haters?? Last time I checked the MLF’s Insta post on it, didn’t see 1 single negative thing about no entries, tho a few folks got their shots in about small basses.

Seriously — this might be the only announcement in the history of bassin’ where there’s no hatin’ on it. BUT the MLF’s like:

Hahaha you know it’s true! It’s bassin’!

Hambone wallerin’ ditch melons o’ the week!

Blastin’ off with a mean-lookin’ meanmouth caught by @caroncrawdadfishing posted by @swimbaituniverse. Maybe the trout hat gave the swimbait some extry mojo:

Check this almost 7-lb ON brown fish! Dang! Reminds me of that ol’ Commodores classic “She’s a Brick House.” @cousvis_fishing shot:

Pro Pete Ponds caught him a question-marker on what I think is a Bandit 200?

Chris W got him a ? too, posted on the Blaster Facebook group:

Ever seen a Sam Rayburn, TX derp? Here you go! Jarrod W hit the jackpot with a 1/2-oz Rat-L-Trap (chart silver shad):

This is one of 175 [!!] Van P caught in ONE DAY on Rainy Lake, MN, and it’s fer sher the best one! The MN special — 1/16-oz black marabou jig — was the deal:

Polaris gets a minority stake in FLW.

Too big a deal just to be in the News section — here’s the announcement. Haven’t talked to anyone about it, just a few thoughts:

1. Good! Hopefully it came with some cash….

2. This had to be in the works for a while, partly because…

3. …Polaris is a public company (NYSE: PII). Not sure how that works exactly, but I assume it will have to disclose the size and terms of its FLW investment at some point.

4. Is Polaris maybe planning on buying a bass boat company? They bought their first boat manufacturer in May, a big pontoon boat company. If they do, it would be kinda full circle cuz back in the day Irwin Jacobs developed FLW to sell Ranger boats.

> …customer demographics across the off-road vehicle and boating segments are similar, with approximately 30% of Polaris customers owning a boat.

The Polaris pro on the FLW Tour will remain Spelling Bee champ David Dudley — lol brother Dave!

Think I solved the Asian carp problem….

Called the Wels catfish — from the semi-reliable Wikipedia:

> Most wels catfish are about 4′ 3″ to 5′ 3″ long. Fish longer than 6′ 7″ are normally a rarity. At [5′] they can weigh 33-44 lbs [that’s it??]….

So KY Lake folks — would you rather have piles of useless, gross, dangerous (jumping) Asian carp, or giant catfish?

News

1. Jared Lintner is on the edge of BassEdge Radio.

2. Seth Feider finally has a la-la-llama shirt…

…and I own one. Get ’em before they’re gone. Do llamas say “woo?” instead of moo? [chin scratch emoji]

3. B.A.S.S. will have a new 2nd-8th grade division in ’19.

Two will qualify for the Classic…KIDDING! But seriously, good to her and smart of B.A.S.S. too.

4. AL: Gville SPRO frowg winnahs were…

…Jett Loach and Jeff Sparks from GA — 18.39 lbs won it on a super-tough day: Only 67 of the 308 boats even weighed a fish. Winnin’ bait was a Bronzeye Poppin’ Frog in nasty shad, a color that I heard is named after Dean Rojas’ hamster…maybe:

5. BFL happenin’s.

Chickamauga, TN — Gil Summerlin won the Regional on a Fluke after his walking-bait bite slowed way down. That’s a great “next bait” when you see fish up but they won’t come up. Check this good vid I did with Russ Lane on it.

Kentucky Lake, KY — Lloyd Pickett Jr C-rigged main-lake gravel bars and secondary points in 1-7′ that had skipjack. Bait was a Zoom Brush Hog (gp, watermelon candy and blueberry.

St Johns River, FL — Troy Morrow won it fishing docks with a big worm. Rig was a Zoom Ol Monster (black grape) on a 5/0 Gamakatsu offset round bend hook, 1/4-oz pegged tungsten weight, 20-lb Sunline Sniper fluoro, 7′ 6″ H Duckett Micro Magic Pro Rod, Duckett 360 high-speed reel.

6. Meet a couple bass-heads.

Todd Klein got bored of surfing around great whites so for an even-bigger thrill he now bass-fishes (vid). Heard he catches one once in a while too…hahaha! Now doin’ ‘Lectric shades.

SPRO sales mgr Syd Rives gives away more baits than he owns! Every time I see him he’s had a smile on his face EXCEPT when he talks to John Crews…which I understand…lol Johnny!

7. And a couple foot-baw fish-heads….

Check Andre Powell (left), RB and special teams coach for the Pitt Panthers, and Buck Buchanan, head coach at Hendrix College, AR gettin’ some down time semi-recently. Get your teams doin’ it coaches!

8. Yammy renews with Cabela’s college fishing.

9. Lake algae being removed with ‘alum.’

Aka aluminum sulfate. Turns the lakes clear too.

10. Invasive fungus could kill amphibians.

Frogs and salamanders. Found on the same critters from other countries. USFWS has banned some imports, “herp” hobbyists (what they’re called lol) are fighting it.

Tip of the Day

Justin Lucas’ total setup for topwater walking baits.

Love these total setup vids…. He’s talkin’ fishin’ the new Berkley J-Walker but applies for all walkin’ baits:

His gear:
Berkley J-Walker
Berkley Cane Walker
Abu Garcia Veritas Winch Rods
Abu Revo STX Reel
Berkley X9 braided line
Berkley Big Game mono

Quote of the Day

Fishing offshore isn’t complicated…if you think of it as nothing more than fishing a shoreline that’s covered over with water.

Mark Menendez talkin’ in his latest Bassin’masters post. Is that helpful or what! More good stuff:

> If you’re doing some really precise fishing, you might want to go even farther back into those old days and throw out a marker buoy or two. No matter how good your sonar and your GPS might be, there’s always an error factor, and it varies from one day to the next.

> I throw my markers out over the same shoulder, usually towards open water and at about the same distance. I always know exactly where it’s at in relation to the structure I’m targeting. It’s a habit I learned years ago that’s made my fishing more efficient and more productive.

Not tellin’ any secrets, but for whatever reason Mark’s boat always has a mallard around it:

Shot of the Day

Steve B sent this in: “Fishing a private duck club pond in Wasco, CA. Was getting them good on the black camo Terminator Frog and caught this 3-lb fish with a blackbird in its throat. A-Mart was right — they do eat the blackbirds! Always wondered why the black camo Terminator was the color to fish….”

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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