Got the last of my tackle redoing and sorting done this weekend. Took about 1.5-2 days total, which on the one hand could've been precious fishing time, but on the other hand it's my job to try out a bunch of new stuff – plus maybe like you I have non-stop curiosity about all of it. So I have more rods and baits rigged up than I usually do and am stoked to try some stuff including:
1. A-rig – YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr with the YUM Scottsboro Swimbaits (rainbow shad) – and dropping little swimbaits with Live sonar. Not gonna spend a pile of time on it, but after seeing it done – including way deep – what the heck, might as well.
2. Some baits:
Plus more plus all the stuff I already like! Also gonna try out those strange-shaped SpearPoint hooks hopefully. Need to be catching enough fish to experiment tho....
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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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How Ryan Salzman won the Watts Bar Bass Pro Tour event.
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Whoa! AL rookie Ryan Salzman beat a final-day field hammers (including sizzlin'-hot Jacob Wheeler) to get his first major win last week. He did it fishing like he did in college, when he couldn't afford the gas to make longer runs. Here's the deets, also on the BB website:
> "I was guiding a lot on Pickwick and Guntersville, and we were starting to catch a lot of fish dropshotting a pink Roboworm on the ledges. I was like, Man if I can figure out a bite [on Watts Bar] with that setup – on boat docks, points, brush or something – I think I'll be good just catching fish.
> "It turned out to be really tough when we got there. First I went to the Ft Loudon dam...the closer I got to the dam [the water] got dirty. So I turned around, put the boat on the trailer and went down to the [Watts Bar] dam...scanning, marking brush and whatnot – finding structure, seeing where the fish were.
> "I got to that wall [where he won the tournament] at 2:30 in the afternoon. TVA was generating about 40,000 cfs and thousands of 1-inch minnows were along the edge of the wall in the current – and literally hundreds of bass were feeding on them, schooling. I camped there and decided to figure it out.
> "In the springtime I fish a lot of dams when I'm guiding. The 'high side' is the top of the dam – in college we used to fish those a lot in local tournaments. We didn't have a lot of money for gas so we'd catch them close.... We figured out how to catch them close to those walls...in Wilson Lake especially."
Tournament
> "I'd go straight [to that wall] every day and wouldn't leave til the end. The 1st day I probably caught 50-60 bass, but only 8 of them were scoreable. So many 1-lb to 1-06 fish were there.
> "I had 14-something lbs day 1, and day 2 came in with 10 lbs which was enough to make the Knockout Round. But I lost 2 that day that would've given me 18 lbs so that gave me confidence to go back there...."
The first 2 days TVA didn't pull current and the bass didn't school like they did in practice, but days 3-4 they did and that was all she wrote:
> "The key to winning was TVA pulling current the last 2 days like in practice and the fish starting to chase the bait."
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> "The sun was really key to getting them on the wall, and the current. Every morning the baitfish were off the wall about 20-30' in their balls, 5-8' deep. As the sun came up the baitfish would slowly rise to the surface...bass would come out and eat them a little bit and I'd pick them off with Active Target.
> "[When the sun came around to where it was full on the dam it] would put the baitfish right on the wall. Then bass would come up and feed on them, school and chase."
Baits and Electronics
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> Why the weedless rig sometimes: "I was fishing high side of the dam, straight vertical, 40-50' deep. ...metal grates that were intakes – they stuck out 4-5'. If I used an open hook I would get hung up on them."
> Dropshotting: "I used [Lowrance] Active Target to see how deep they were, then I'd free-spool it to whatever depth they were at and just hold it and let it pendulum back. Some hit it on the initial drop, and some would follow it off the wall and eat it. If there wasn't any current I'd pitch to individual fish and work them with the dropshot.
> "When they ran a lot of current, you couldn't see the fish because they were so tight against the wall.
> "The key for me to catch extra fish was to pitch to fish roaming off the wall [using] Active Target.
> "The swimbait deal...the wind was blowing into the dam, creating lot of chop and distortion on the surface of the water. If the wind would blow, I would throw the swimbait – or [sometimes] if the current was on."
Shout-outs
> "Just shout-outs to all my sponsors and everyone who's supported me along the way, especially my parents."
Love that! 🤙
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5 Qs with the rookie lord of the memes.
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> "Yes I still make time for the memes even when traveling at the tournaments. It's something I just really enjoy. And while home I definitely still do guide trips. Now I try to gravitate toward the teaching side – electronics and different techniques, mostly college kids and high school kids."
2. What up with that shaka surfing lid?
> "I used to film with Mikey Ballz a lot before traveling more.... He always wore a flower hat. I found one online, wore it [when they filmed]....the Shaka Kai people reached out and said thank you. ...I reached out to them with a proposal and they liked it, and we began working together."
3. Was "how now brown cow" just in the moment or do you say that all the time when you catch a smallmouth??
> "That is something we have said for years catching smallmouths below the dams. I think it somehow comes from Ron Burgundy, somehow. I think it's a quote from a movie in some form or fashion."
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4. As a guide, what is the one thing you would tell bass fishermen to improve on to catch more fish?
> "Attention to the little details. That can be your knots, paying attention to baitfish flicking in a certain area – the little details. If you can start paying attention to them, it's going to put more fish in your boat."
5. How does a rookie show up and beat these guys? Aren't you supposed to wait your turn? 😁
> "Well I think that the way they have this set up, you're a rookie in name but by the time you make the Bass Pro Tour I don't think your skillsets are. You have to finish in the top 10 in the AOY from the Pro Circuit and a lot of Bass Pro Tour guys fish those also. So to make it there, you definitely have to know your stuff."
100% agree and the BPT rookies are doing well overall. In a way these guys are actually kinda a new type of tourney bass fisherman – meaning guys who are starting younger in that format. So it might be that we haven't yet seen the best guys ever in that format...which is hard to believe in some ways but you get what I'm sayin'!
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2nd-6th Watts Bar BPT baits.
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Did not get Dakota Ebare (3rd) but did get KVD (6th):
2nd: Jacob Wheeler
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> "It was a little bit difficult to dial in. The first part of my week I spent fishing brush, grass and white bass schools. The white bass schools had a handful of largemouth in them. I started off by throwing a DT10 because most of them were in 8' of water. I kept catching white bass on the DT10 and that's when I switched to the DT14 for a bigger profile in hopes the white bass would leave it alone, and it worked.
> "After the qualifying rounds I eliminated the offshore school pattern out of my rotation. I focused exclusively on brush, grass and any isolated cover like rockpiles. I had about 100 places that I rotated on throughout the week and I narrowed it down to about 40 by the Championship Round.
> "Depth for a lot of that stuff was as shallow as 6' and as deep as 22' depending on the area where the isolated cover was located."
4th: Randall Tharp
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> Handmade hair jig ("not sure where it comes from"), same line, same reel, Ark Tharp Series Offshore Special Rod.
> "Hair jig was offshore, 15-25' on a main river ledge. Carolina rig was the same. The jig was fished around shallow wood cover and docks, main river and creeks."
5th: Mark Davis
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> Shallow grass and wood.
6th: Kevin VanDam
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> Shallow rocks, docks and laydowns. Jerkbaits on riprap around bridges.
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This no-name braid to fluoro knot might be good?
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Tripped over this on YT – anyone know if this deal already has a name?
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Tied it this weekend. For whatever reason it took me 5 tries to tie the first one, and I had to half-hitch the fluoro but maybe I did it wrong. The YT tutorials always use huge braid and mono/fluoro which is way easier (I assume) than braid to 6-lb fluoro. Second time I tied it I did it the first shot and didn't seem like I needed a half hitch but did it anyhow.
I don't like the half hitch because I think it makes the line weaker at that point....
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"Always make sure that you have a heavy-duty cutter in the boat... [so] you can at least free the lure from your body."
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> Featuring SPRO's Dura Tuff material and Amino Bite scent....
Check it:
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Did I know that? Have I heard of Nomad before? Have you? I can't remember right now for some reason.
Yammy, Ultrex, 'Birds with 360 and Mega Live, Raptors, laser beams and Star Trek transport tube. 😁 It does NOT come with any XD cranks and don't even ask him about it man....
> YUM Pulse: "If I want to swim my jig across an expansive milfoil flat, more than likely I will run it deeper. I go with either the 3.5- or 4.5-inch YUM Pulse paddletail as my trailer. Its hydrodynamics are such that when you make a long cast and reel it fast, it won't rise on you."
> YUM Craw Chunk: ...won't sink in the water very fast. It stays up because it creates that 'plane' effect."
> YUM Spine Craw: "I used it at Sam Rayburn because the water was very clear. They wanted a small profile and the bait reeled fast."
> "We want to push Grand Lake to a place where the big bass in a tournament is not 6.83 but it's 10.24 or 11.15, something like that."
> He is a lifetime member of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and has been active in bass fishing clubs throughout his life.
Good sign! Here's the shot that went with the announcement, another good sign:
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Local Jeff Defew:
> "Our lake has changed, but it's definitely getting better. Even on its worst day it's still a lot better than a lot of lakes you can go to."
> ...TPWD officials didn't say how many...will be stocked sometime this month in Dean Porter Park Resaca in Brownsville, Town Lake at Fireman's Park in McAllen, and in the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse Channel in Hidalgo.
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The subscription box, digital and bait powerhouse is expanding AGAIN. Dang watch out for these folks bassin' biz peeps! Some deets:
> Karl's Fishing & Outdoors...announced today the opening of its first brick-and-mortar store located at 1621 River Run, Fort Worth, TX.
> Located in WestBend, a 278,000 sq ft retail, office and dining destination in Fort Worth's University District with trails leading to the Trinity River, Karl's Fishing & Outdoors...combines retail with engaging hands-on experiences.
> ...the store will host fishing lessons and meetups, including philanthropic events and entertainment. ...features interactive, tech-enabled experiences that demonstrate how products are used to catch fish, such as interactive displays that let you touch and feel baits and see how they act underwater.
> "When we started Catch Co. 10 years ago, our goal was to help people discover quality products that would help them get outside and enjoy nature," said [CEO and founder] Ross Gordon.... "Opening our first Karl's Fishing & Outdoors store takes our mission to the next level...."
> Karl's plans to roll out stores in other locations throughout the U.S., with its 2nd location at Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN slated for later this year.
...a Fluke-style Z-Man StreakZ made outta that ElaZtech stuff (IG vid).
10x10 spots, have to apply.
Good news. Fishermen would not see them used but because of invasives, doesn't sound like that will be possible in FL where stuff grows like an inch an hour!
Great to see a post by my friend and mentor Robert Montgomery. More from Robert!
Was senior manager of digital production at MLF.
Not sure if they're aware that the Buccaneers' ship is wind-powered...🤣
18. Keep an eye on...
Apparently their Supreme Court banned it because releasing fish is "cruel"...which means none of those desk jockeys fish! Or maybe even understands basic biology. Or it doesn't matter because governments acting any way – including ways that make no sense – is the flavor of the day, seems like.
Anyhow, this for sure is a bad deal for our fishin' bros in Colombia. Hope they fight it, but not sure if common sense will win....
Line of the Day
"Pound for pound and inch for inch, these fish fight harder than most other freshwater fish in the state."
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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On the Bassin'masters, a post by Steve Price who allegedly retired some years back: 😁
> ...likes to fish long tapering points in his search for transition bass, and they can be the very points forming the edges of a cove where bass have spawned. These points...need something to stop the fish and hold them there.
> "It is difficult to say how long bass will stay on a point like this because fresh fish that have just spawned are coming to that same point while the earliest fish are moving out. I do know heavy fishing pressure will push bass further down the point into deeper water, but my advice is if you know the post-spawn transition is just beginning, the first long point that's nearby is definitely worth looking at.
> "Start shallow and gradually work deeper with a crankbait or worm until you either find bass or decide they aren't using that point."
> "When bass are utilizing channels and ditches in their movement, this intersection is probably the first place bass are going to stop on their way out into deeper water. On most intersections, there will be a hard spot, which is why there's an intersection there, and it may well be the 'sweet spot' where the bass will hold."
> New fishes an intersection like this by positioning his boat in the larger channel so he can hit either point of the smaller ditch without moving. He's sitting downcurrent of the intersection, casting upstream with a crankbait, swimbait, football jig or a big worm on a shakey head.
> "I make my casts up on top and cover both points that way, and try to make each retrieve so the lure also comes off the lip where the point drops into the deeper water. Typically the bass are right on the top of the break, or just off the edge, so I try to cover both of these on the same cast."
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"They have so many rods rigged differently on the deck there's very little room to stand..."
- Rick Clunn talkin' 'bout younger dudes on the Elites...and probably Mike Iaconelli. 😁 Rest of the quote:
> ...but they know how to use them all and are prepared for anything they anticipate will happen that day.
> Yes there may be names and faces that aren't household names, but this Elite field – from top to bottom – is way above what it was in the early years.
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Just a real nice and beefy-lookin' 12-05 FL largemouth. You know how lotsa times big FL bass look big-headed – this one looks proportional and YUGE! Posted by @gamblerlures on Insta, says it was ketched by @bassmanrand. Seems to be a growing feeling that Gambler baits are decent in FL...😁
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Now this is an outstandin' Father's Day gift hahaha! 🤣
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest stuff in bassin', picked 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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