Anyone know anyone who does apparel? Might be needin' some help there – pls lmk!
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Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry bout that – email programs keep changing stuff.
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Ott DeFoe won another Easter MLF tourney in TX! 🤯
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That's 2 years, 2 wins in a row for him soooooo...is it no longer a coincidence when it's twice or 3 times? Can't remember but it doesn't really matter man, Ott won again! Here's his baits and a little about how he did it this time, full deets on the BB site:
> "I started in that creek the next morning, on the shad-spawn deal. I was in group A...Saturday and there was a high school tournament that had 250 boats in it out there with us. So the particular spot I wanted to start on, 2 high-schoolers were on it already. I waited on them to move off of it, then went there and caught 5-6 and a scoreable [2-lb minimum].
> "I ended up catching at least 15-20 fish and 1 more scoreable on the shad-spawn deal...went to the spawning deal right at the end of the period. Right as the period started, I broke it off [a spawning fish] and 2 pitches later I caught it – on a Tokyo Rig.
> "That was the start of that pocket where I knew several were. I didn't leave that 100-yard stretch until about the last hour hour and a half of the day. I ended up going to little canal-type stuff close by, and caught my last 2 there that day. That ended up being really good the next day as well as the final day. That's where [Alton] Jr caught the 8-lber and the 6 – we were sharing that water.
> "The 2nd day I fished the same water. [First the] shad-spawn deal – the shad were going crazy, even more than the 1st day. I caught 1 striper and 3-4 non-scoreable bass. So after an hour, hour-15 I had nothing to show for it."
He hit the spawning fish again, won the group and got to go straight to the Championship Round where the minimum size went up to 3 lbs.
> "The 2nd day I didn't catch any shad-spawn fish that were scoreable, so I had that indicator, and when I was looking I saw more pairs on beds...more fish were actually spawning. So I felt like there was no reason to spend any time on the shad-spawn deal that morning.
> "I started on [his best] pocket. I fished all the way around it methodically. I couldn't see them because it was early, but I knew where they were. I had 1 decent bite that I did not catch, and that was it – in a place where I knew there's a lot of fish. So I was a little flustered at that point. I knew I was around them but they just were not biting.
> "So that was the first time I left that creek...went to the lower end of the lake, to some pockets down there. At the end of that period I was looking at a bed fish that I didn't know if it would score and a 7-8 lber. That gave me some confidence I was in an area that had 'em.
> "I spent like 30 minutes on them and finally caught the male – it was 2-12. The female wouldn't do anything. I never could get her to lock down. I went a little ways and caught a 3, then a little further and caught a 5-lber. That put me a few ounces within Dustin at that point, who was leading.
> "I was in good area and seeing lot more fish, but I milled around there a while longer and couldn't get anything else to happen. So finally at like 90 minutes to go, I started heading back to where I started [the day, that creek again]. I made a couple stops here and there – nothing.
> "...back in that one pocket where I started. I caught one with 40-45 minutes to go, a 4-10, then a 3-10 with like 30-35 minutes to go. That 3-10 was the same fish I caught my first day of competition.
> "I knew I was always in it. When I caught that 5-lber in the 2nd period, I felt like I'd have a legit shot at it, but not catching any the 1st period – it's hard to go a period without catching one and still win."
Baits
For the bed fish he had 2 setups. He caught most of them on a worm:
> TX-rigged Bass Pro Shops Magnum Fin-Eke Worm (Sooner run), 3/0 VMC Heavy Duty Worm Hook, 3/16-oz VMC tungsten weight, 40-lb braid to 17-lb Bas Pro Shops XPS fluoro, BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Reel (8.3), 7' 1" MH BPS Johnny Morris Platinum Rod.
> "Sometimes I used the Tokyo Rig strictly as an aggravation tool. I'd get them super mad with that...if I felt like I could catch them on the worm."
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[TJ DeVoe pic ^]
Shad spawn rig:
> 1/2-oz Swim Jig (white) with a 3" Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad (hologram shad), 17-lb BPS XPS fluoro, BPS Carbonlite Reel (7.5), 7' M BPS Carbonlite Rod.
Electronics
> "We were fishing in their boats, so I actually took the front [screen] off the boat the last day so I didn't even have to step over it. So nothing was in my way."
😂
Shout-outs
> "Definitely sunglasses. Seeing those fish was the single biggest key in catching them. They were hard to see this week, that's for sure...dirty water....
> "I wear the Costa Reefton, grey/silver mirror. Everyone likes amber and copper...all I want is the polarization and just a little bit of tint, to block a little bit of sun. I want a bass to still be green, I want grass to still be green, I want the sky to be blue...."
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5 Qs with Ott who has a T for Texas and a T for Tennessee.
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> "I'd rather drink your muddy water, sleep down in a hollow log."
Okay maybe not but that's a line from that tune hahaha! Here's 5 with him:
1. How hard are you gonna push for a TX tournament right around Easter next year? [Since that's 2 years in a row now.]
> [Laughs] "If I have anything to do with it, I'm okay with TX the whole year! But most definitely the tournament prior to Easter, no doubt about that."
2. Ever wondered if you were maybe born in TX and adopted by a TN family? 😁
> [Laughs] "It does seem like a legitimate possibility. I don't think they there's any chance of that...don't think that was the case."
3. How many wins have you had without fishing a crankbait?
> "This would probably be the first one. Well, in WI, in that Elite in 2016, that was primarily a swimbait – I don't think I caught anything on a crankbait that week. So maybe it wasn't my first one, but certainly there's very few."
4. How do you choose what hook to use for sight-fishing?
> "I don't really base it on sight-fishing. I just pick it on whatever fits the bait best."
5. How do you rig the weights on your Tokyo Rig? Upside down, right side up, what?
> "I think the first one I had was point down, the next one was point up and I might have even used one with a football weight. It was very random. I don't think it made any difference.
> "If I was dragging it on the bottom or punching grass, there's reasons to point them a certain way. But not for fishing how I was."
Btw if you're wondering what the breakfast of champions looks like, here you go:
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2nd: Justin Lucas
> Cypress trees and bushes in 1-2'.
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3rd: Ish Monroe
> Flippin' and froggin' bushes 6 inches – "yes 6 inches."
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4th: Fletcher Shryock
> "Every fish came out of less than 18 inches of water in and around flooded bushes."
> He is working on new flipping baits for Yamamoto.
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5th: Alton Jones Jr
> He bed-fished like a boss.
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How 'bout this deal: Dead bass caught in the mouth!!
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How does that even happen? Was it floating through the water column?? Crazy!
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Ever fish a spinnerbait with an orange or red head?
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The only reason I have is because I got a couple of the BOOYAH Coverts with those color heads, and who am I to second-guess anything Jason Christie does with a spinnerbait man. But maybe you haven't and you wonder why you should. If so, here's BOOYAH's Chad Warner with a quick little deal about it.
Before watchin', fyi here's what I know about Chad:
1. He's a good fisherman, a tourney fisherman and knows a ton about baits (duh!).
2. He's an Okie so he knows dirty water and spinnerbaits.
3. He fishes outta a tin boat.
4. He has yet to beat Jason Christie in a tournament despite numerous threats and trash-talkin'...😁 just messin' (a little).
Anyhow, if you ever wondered why the Covert spinnerbaits Jason designed for BOOYAH have orange head AND red head options, here's why:
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> I used to be one of the young guys, and now I am one of the older guys. You just don't know how many wins you have left in you.
Rick Clunn says he's the youngest guy on tour...😁
If that sounds a little long to ya:
> ...like to throw mine on an Ark Invoker Series 7' 6" MHF. Reason I like the longer rod is I tend to fish fast, and with the longer rod it helps the hook-up ratio.
Check the Bass Cat – so retro-cool had to call it out:
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Comes in a Jr size too, both are on TW. I'm sure they won't work in FL so don't even bother...😁
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6. 10,000 Fish redesigned 2 of its baits.
Mechanical harvest, grind up the veggies, spray 'em on local hayfields/skunk ape foraging grounds.
Sounds like they're in 24 waters in the state, and the state still thinks that only boats can spread 'em (not true).
Line of the Day
Beware of the round GOB! 🤣 Maybe they need...GOBSTOPPERS! 🤣🤣🤣
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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Little older vid on fishing the Rapala Shadow Rap, but some nuggets in there. For me the throwing slack into the line part – key for more baits than we realize, I think – and the worm-twitchin'-like deal for colder water stood out:
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"Maybe because they are the favorite food of a bass as well, all of this crawfish eating will help my success on the Elites."
> "Back in Japan most of the steak we ate was at Korean barbecue joints, and while it was tasty, the portions were small. Here I've learned to love a ribeye cooked medium that's as big as my face – maybe bigger. It's not quite as addictive as crawfish, but it's a nice change of pace."
Everyone who comes to the U.S. should go through TX! And maybe we all need to start eating shad? Good perspective on what it's like to come here from Japan to "make it."
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The one before that was supposed to taste like "space," like outer space. So pretty much these deals can taste like anything because those things taste like nothing. Not sure where this is going but it appears some peeps will sell and buy anything....
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