BassBlaster

One KVD secret revealed, Transition time crankbait, Sick bassin’ shots!

Today’s Top 5

This IS one of KVD’s secrets.

Read carefully — from the MLFers’ website:

> I’m an avid weather watcher across the U.S. at all times. Big floods and droughts across the country have a huge bearing on how bass behave overall.

> A drought in TX 2 years ago may have created an influx of shoreline bushes and deep grass due to prolonged low water levels. Big winter floods 2 states away from where you live might bring increased water flows and more current to your region for the entire summer. A big hurricane during the fall can bring higher water levels to the entire eastern third of the country through the winter.

> These broad weather patterns and trends impact the waterways that link our lakes and reservoirs, and ultimately affect bass behavior. Therefore, keeping up with weather across the country is a part of my daily routine, even in the offseason.

Didja read ultra-carefully? Lemme pull some stuff out — I read it this way:

1. Weather across the whole country affects how bass behave across the whole country.

2. All waterways are linked, pretty much, and thus can be affected by one another.

3. Regional weather can affect bass in a lake even if that lake hasn’t necessarily experienced those weather conditions.

4. He keeps up with national weather even in the offseason.

My conclusions:

1. Believe this is the most Kevin’s ever said about that Top Secret weather/bass computer he keeps upstairs.

2. He 100% knows things about bass and weather that either most of us or none of us know. Hope he shares it all one day.

3. Don’t doubt any of what he says. Kevin is relentlessly honest…and sometimes nice about it (hahaha! I blame your influence Denny!). Also, one of my fave sayings in bird hunting is, “Don’t doubt the dog.” If she says a bird’s there, it’s there. Not saying Kevin’s a bird dog but he KNOWS stuff man, believe it.

KVD also likes to be as far out of the water as possible between spots:

How ’bout this work ethic.

Yep fish as much as you can, but check this:

> For hours after school Wall would practice pitching or flipping jigs onto plastic targets stapled to pieces of plywood, emulating casts he’d seen on televised bass tournaments and believing that one day he’d be that guy.

That’s OR native and 2019 FLW Tour rookie Jacob Wall as a kid, guess before he was old enough to run a boat. Which I think he is now, but you can’t tell without seein’ his ID:

Hahaha! Very cool Jacob, keep on bassin’ man….

Sick bassin’ shots!

Lovin’ these, had to share:

1. Casey Yoern (of Daiwa) took one of the best bassin’ shots I’ve ever seen:

Believe that’s western coolio bass-head JD Blackamore.

2. Andy Crawford (B.A.S.S.) took this Open shot of Kenta Kimura:

3. Rapala shot — kinda amazing ain’t it? That’s a Shadow Rap Shad and Shadow Rap Deep in a color not yet available in the US but wow:

4. @teckellure.official posted this @backwoodsbassfishin88 shot of a slop melon. Caught it on a Teckel Maracker frog, which sounds like a topwater ‘Trap to help bass find it in the serious stuff:

How many things are wrong with this pic….

Sick pics up there ^, here’s the opposite. Some media agency shot it:

Legal fish? No.
Baitcaster? Nope.
Filet knife??
Teeny weeny tacklebox??

C’mon man….

What up western bass-heads??

Take a look at this map:

Looks like most bass fishermen are eatin’ right, but not sure about the West…and the Northeast?? Here’s some help for ya, brand new:

Oh mama….

News

1. Elitist Jason Williamson likes big walking baits in the fall.

> It seems like they catch the bigger fish. But, if the baitfish are small where I’m fishing I will downsize.

2. BPTer Scotty Suggs is fishing Tues-nighters.

On the AR River:

> “…times during the season when you’re tired of traveling and always being on the move. To be able to come home, see my buddies, and reconnect with them is so great.”

3. How Justin Lucas can tell when a bait doesn’t work.

Oops, I mean “does” work. That’s a Berkley Cane Walker….

4. Edwin Evers still hand-washes his own boat and truck.

So far KVD is the only pro who has minions who do such work, but it comes with a lot of risk. They always get carried away man:

5. FLWer James Niggemeyer: Soft-plastic tricks for the fall (vid).

6. T-Roy Lindner swears this color kills smallmouths.

VMC Sleek Jig with a Biobait Swimbait: “You may know that one of my favorite X-Rap colors is hothead….” Didn’t know but I know now! Lindner clan loves them some bright colors.

7. OK: Tenkiller will mess with your head man!

If you’re an Elitist right now…cuz of this:

> The water surface temperature is hitting 90 degrees at midday. The water level has been falling. There’s no significant aquatic vegetation. And the real kicker is that there’s a 16″ minimum length limit on largemouth and smallmouth bass. Spotted bass have a 12″ minimum….

> Those 16″ largemouth and smallmouth bass on the other hand are like digging for diamonds. In 3 days of practice, Zaldain said he caught 2 one day, 2 another day and 3 the third.

Dang. #nailbiter

8. TN: Chickamauga now on ’20 Elite schedule.

Fills one of the holes in the schedule, Feb 14-17. Valentine’s Day so all pros have been instructed to do something special for Trip before the day 1 weigh-in….

9. Looks like MLF website now has angler columns.

Good to see, definitely needed. Make sure Hackney has one — his Bassmaster one was great.

10. VA: Smith Mntn Super BFL winner made 1K casts/day…

…with crankbaits! Serious work, ‘specially since he wasn’t getting many bites. Rick Hawkins:

> “…finding baitfish that were relating to structure in that 20′ range and throwing crankbaits.” …Rapala DT14 and DT20s, a Strike King 6XD and a 6th Sense Cloud 9. …stuck mainly with shad-colored baits — lots of grays, silvers and whites.

> “I landed 6 keeper bites each day. However, I did have a couple come off that would have helped me. The key was relating the baitfish to the cover at the right depth. If there were baitfish but no cover, there was no fish. If there was cover but no baitfish, there was no fish. I also made around 1,000 casts each day. I just kept plugging — so many casts and only six bites a day.”

Here’s what his forearm looked like after day 2:

Hahaha! Big congrats to him.

11. Couple more BFL Super win deets.

Guntersville

Check this quote from winner Jim Leary, who’s a local: “The TVA was only pulling 12,000 [cfs] on day 2 so I went to my spots where I knew the fish didn’t need the current to turn on.” Think he knows the lake? Anyhow, fished mats with a Castaic Boyd Duckett BD Frog and yo-yoed a NetBait Paca Craw with a 1.25-oz tungsten weight.

Lake of the Ozarks

Local Roger Fitzpatrick takes your money. Dude won this’n and 6 other BLFs so far. This time he fished a jig: Omega Pro Mega Structure Jig with a BioSpawn VileBug (both b/b) — docks in the a.m. then ledges. Innerestin’ quote: “…takes heavy boat traffic for me to catch them, so I had to be patient and not go to the ledge fish too soon.

Shout-outs for both derbs:

> Gville was sponsored by Cortland Line. Famed fly-fish brand I guess now coming over to the green side.

> At Ozarks, 2nd was Lawson Hibdon, carryin’ on the tradition of Hibdon’s bein’ sticks. And 4th was ’13 BFL AA winner Marcus Sykora.

> Believe that’s the first mention of a BioSpawn VileBug in a bigger win.

12. NC: Special Ops Survivors tourney on Norman Nov 9.

Love and hugs to those folks and their fams.

13. Lookit one of the BOOYAH Covert spinnerbaits.

Dang! Never thought spinnerbaits could be pretty but:

Check it on the TW. Full range here.

Alton Jr posted:

> I’ve never been super technical with my spinnerbaits but I’m going back to school this offseason and I plan to change that! Hey @christiefishing you giving lessons?

14. How great is this T-H Marine tee.

Bass + America = heck yeah:

Git one here, then maybe click around to start makin’ up your Christmas list….

15. Doesn’t the new Hula Popper look bluegill-y?

Color’s called “blue kill” — check it in the water:

16. New Shimano Stradic FL spin reels now sellin’.

Walkthru vid here, couple new features:

> MicroModule II gear system to reduce vibration for even-smootherness.

> Solid construction from cold-forged Hagane gear. Shimano sez: “Cold-forging is the best (and most expensive) process to form metal.” Does it with fish reels and bicycle stuff, which Shimano is big in.

Thought FL stood for “Fruit Loops” or maybe “Fine Lookin” but turns out it stands for “Fat Larry”…as in Larry the Largemouth.

Not really…but it should….

17. IA says no moving crawfish from Storm Lake…

…cuz it has invasive rustys in it.

18. Is it wrong to dig this…

…from @beastcoastfishing:

Little colorful but…. That trailer’s a 4.25″ Beast Coast Marauder.

19. If you hunt ducks….

I don’t but after seein’ this Power-Poled rig I kinda wish I did. My Lab does too….

20. Dude put a GoPro on a turtle (vid).

Outstanding. Who hasn’t been curious about that….

21. Innerestin’ pickup sales #s.

Full-size trucks:

> In the US last year, Toyota only managed to sell 118,258 Tundras. This was a slight increase from the year before, but it’s nowhere near the 536,980 Rams and 585,581 Chevrolet Silverado trucks that were sold in the same timeframe. Of course, the F-Series dominated the competition as the automaker sold 909,330 full-size trucks in the US and more than a million units globally.

Had no idea ‘Yota was that far back:

Updatin’s

1. Heard from my bud Jim G up Northeast way that he and his buds also see smallies on beds in the fall AND largemouths too…? Said they hadn’t told anyone cuz they knew people’d say their driveways don’t get all the way up to their garages, if you know what I mean. On second thought, the fact that Zona and Jim are the only two I’ve heard this from makes it even more suspect….

2. Looks like Nishine Lure Works is in Canada, not Japan. Doh! Thank you Mathew K.

3. On summer Classics, bass-head Clint T said: “Best summer vacation of my life was the ’84 Classic at Pine Bluff, AR. I was just a little kid that summer when we took the family station wagon from IL to AR for the Classic. I remember the weigh-ins and Expo like they were yesterday…. I wish B.A.S.S. would move the Classic back to summer so I could take my kids and they could have the same memories.” Word.

Winner-wise the same memory could happen — Rick Clunn won in ’84 and the dude’s still walkin’ the walk!

4. SO many derps comin’ in, can’t run ’em all, been thinkin’ ’bout what to do. Lmk if any ideas. Decal still in process….

Tip of the Day

Quick not yet fall crankin’ tip from Mike McClelland.

Talkin’ ’bout his Wiggle Wart-like (but different) SPRO Rk Crawlers:

> “…are times of the year when you want that tight, true action, but once fish start edging shallow again at the end of summer, the RK 50 is the first crankbait I’ll pick up because of that [hunting] action.

> “I really believe that when fish are a little more lethargic — like they are when they just barely get out of summer mode — the action of this bait will generate more strikes.”

Quote of the Day

“It’s just a standard textbook bass lake and there’s nothing squirrely about it.”

Brian “Frosty the” Snowden talkin’ Guntersville, as in the 2020 Gville Classic it looks like he’s gonna be fishin’. My only Q was: What if Jeff Kriet is on it? Is it squirrely then??

Means I gotta run this Ike Live actual photograph again:

Kriet has 5 squirrel deals I’m aware of:
1. Jewel Jeff Kriet Squirrel Head Jig — Kind of a football shakey head.
2. Big Bite Flying Squirrel — Critter bait.
3. Big Bite Shaking Squirrel Worm — Told him to call it the “rat tail worm” but he didn’t listen to me.
4. Big Bite Squirrel Tail Worm — Good bait but would be an ugly squirrel tail.
5. This prototype topwater:

Wait, wasn’t this deal about Snowden? Only bait I for sure know Brian has right now is the Azuma Brian Snowden Boss Hawg Crank.

Shot of the Day

Got this prop on Craigslist, can’t wait to see what my hole shot is like: @wade_middleton

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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