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If your email program cuts off the bottom of the 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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Bob Downey outed one of the best squarebills ever
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You know what that bad boy is? I've mentioned it a few times, seen a few of the pros mention it – it's the Luhr Jensen Speed Trap. What Bob says about it:
> "This is an old-school crankbait with a proven record of winning a Bassmaster Classic and other tournaments. It’s a classic squarebill but with a flat bottom, flat side and almost a triangular shape that is productive in early spring around rock and grass."
Early spring, colder water, smallmouths in particular (but not only). Gotta have it! Good underwater vid of it here.
The rest of the crankbaits Bob shouts out in that Bassmaster deal were all designed by Ott DeFoe!
Btw is Bob Downey also Robert Downey Jr?
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🤔
Has Bob ever mysteriously been absent during a tournament day or night?
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2nd-5th Smith Lake Elite baits
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2nd: Robert "E-F" Gee
> Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm (natural shad), 3/8- and 1/2-oz jighead.
> 3/16- and 1/4-oz hand-tied Juice’s Jig hair jig (TN shad, a color Robert designed).
> 7’ 1" M G. Loomis NRX 852 Rod, Shimano Stella Spin Reel (3000), 8-lb P-Line 100% Fluoro.
> "The areas I fished were definitely bait-related – a mix of threadfin and herring, mainly threadfin though.
> "The area I mainly stayed in the bait was more scattered and in bigger groups, along with a bunch of stripers around. That's where my bigger spotted bass were."
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5th: Tyler Williams
> 3/4-oz Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig (PB&J) with a 3.75 Yamamoto Flapping Hog (gp purple), 22-lb Seaguar Tatsu fluoro, 7’ 6" H Duckett Black Ice Rod.
> "I was fishing 8-30’ of water but mostly around 12’, brush and docks. Everything I fished could’ve been fished without FFS. Half the targets I could see with my eyes, but having FFS I was using it to watch my bait fall next to whatever I was throwing at – out of habit and to get a better idea of what’s happening on the target."
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2nd-5th James River MLF baits
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2nd: Jeff Sprague
> 3/8-oz bladed jig (gp) with a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad (tilapia), 17-lb fluoro, 6.3 reel, 7' M rod. "Current seams, grass and docks 1-6' deep. Ripped it like a 'Trap out of grass to trigger bites."
> 4.5 Lake Fork Live Magic Shad (magic shad) rigged weightless with a 6/0 screw nose hook, 50-lb braid, 7.3 reel, 7' 4" H rod. "Fished lilypads and laydowns. Twitched it and worked it subsurface like a frog. Looks like a dying shad/bream and was key for bites in pads and holes in grass."
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4th: Bryan Thrift
> TX-rigged Zoom Speed Worm (junebug), 3/0 hook, 1/4-oz weight, 17-lb P-Line 100% Fluoro, Fitzgerald VLD 10 Reel, 7’ H Fitzgerald Stunner Rod.
> 4” Damiki Armor Shad (pearl white), 3/0 Owner Flashy Swimmer, 15-lb P-Line 100% Fluoro, same rod and reel as Speed Worm.
> 3/8-oz Z-Man ChatterBait Mini Max (b/b), 15-lb P-Line 100% Fluoro, 7' 3" MH Fitzgerald Stunner Rod.
> "1-4' grass and wood."
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5th: Michael "Top 10" Neal
> "I think I caught 2 on a dropshot, but every other scorable came from these 2 baits."
> SPRO Little John MD crankbait (clear chartreuse). "I think [that color] mimicked the blue crabs. You could see them swimming. They had a blue hue but also some pale yellow on them. I only threw the MD so I could use heavier line for the barnacles."
> 7’ 2” Denali AttaX Cranking Rod, 6:1 reel, 16-lb Sunline Sniper.
> Big Bite Scentsation Skinny Stick (double purple) on a 3/16-oz Big Bite Limit Maker Jighead, 10-lb Sunline Overwatch Braid to 14-lb Sunline Shooter, 3000-size reel, 7’ 6” M Denali Kovert Rod.
> "Ran brush/logs/washed-in wood in 1-4' along shallower, flatter marsh banks on low tide, where the fish had to pull out to the nearest cover. Any wood had lots of barnacles on them making me go to the heavier line for each setup.
> "I idled a lot in practice marking them. I did use LiveScope to know exactly where to make my cast, but no true Scoping as far as seeing a fish and throwing to it or watching them eat my bait.
> "Biggest technology key for me was 10’ Power-Poles so I could hold still in the tide current and be able to make exact, accurate casts. My boat was sitting in 6-8' most of the time."
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"It would be like proposing to the person you've been dating for 5 years and she says, 'No.'"
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- Trey McKinney talkin' 'bout possibly not winning AOY after he had a big lead but his weight got zeroed for day 2 at Smith Lake.
Bassmaster's Steve "Ain't" Wright did a good post on what went down. I'm not surprised because it's actually the first thought I had when I heard about it – his mom was worried about him.
Short version: Trey was an hour late to check-in and his mom lit up his phone, worried because he's never late. Finally he thought it was a family emergency and answered. As bummed as Trey is, bet his mom feels worse.
Trey is still 2nd in AOY points, 24 behind Justin Hamner.
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Top 5 of the Week: 2 new winners, JackHammer's the best, New Neko bait
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Man that's a big loss for our bassin' world. Was 75, battled cancer.
Bob will forever be known as the man who held big bass events where anyone could get rich/make a big check and many did. Post says he started the Big Bass Splash events in 1984 – 40 years ago.
Somehow his path and mine never crossed in this biz, so here's some more about him by someone who knew him:
> There was no dimming the light that shined from Bob Sealy. His light was bright, it was warm, it was loving and loyal, and he invited everyone he met into his light so that their lives would be better, stronger, and brighter.
> Bob was genuine as a person and in his beliefs. He loved this country and the military veterans.
Bob also got inducted into the Bassin' Hall of Fame a few years back – good! Please pray for his family and friends. 🙏✝️ Sounds like he knew the Lord so no doubt that comforts them.
Believe the company will continue to be run by his family.
2. Mike Iaconelli says a tube on a buzzbait...
...makes it "skip like a stone." 👀
3. OR: Columbia River BAM won with 67-12
That's 3 20+ bags a day caught by OR's Chris Parks. Caught 'em with a was a Z-Man Finesse TRD ("the deal" color) rigged not on Ned head but on a 3/16-oz Bass Union Weedless Shakey Head (weedless = EWG hook).
4. Deion Sanders got a new Bass Cat – as a gift 🤯
Not gifted by Bass Cat but sounds like by a couple buds:
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5. CA: Threat to close 3 San Diego lakes averted
Because fishermen got ticked off and challenged the city gov't. 💪 #stout
Also sounds like the city has no solid data on why it "needs" to close 'em.
6. WI: Mercury laid off 300 folks
Dang. Hate to hear it. Sounds like they've stockpiled a bunch of motors and:
> The boat engine builder says the layoffs are a result of a decrease in boat sales.
> Mercury Marine is the largest employer in Fond du Lac. Although company officials say the nearly 300 layoffs is less than 10% of their 3,500 total employees – for those families, it's anything but a small impact.
7. Interesting deal about that new Okuma X-Series spin reel
> ...features CFR (Cyclonic Flow Rotor) Technology to ensure optimal airflow throughout the rotor system, increasing [I think they mean decreasing] drying time, and minimizing corrosion throughout the reel.
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Bill Lowen: Go to the back for hot bass
> ...suggest you start in the back of a creek arm or a bay. In most of those places the water's deep as you go back, then it shallows up, and then it gets deeper just before it turns into dry land.
> The last of the deep water is almost always good, but so is the shallow flat just before you get to it. My theory is that bass move on those flats from 2 directions. Some of them come from the main lake after they've spawned, and some of them come from the last patch of deep water after they've spawned.
> If it's deep enough to cover their backs, it's deep enough. Largemouth bass like warm water. It's what they're about. They don't need the air conditioning of the 20-foot depths to make them happy.
> Squarebills are the best option [for crankbaits] because you'll be casting into heavy wood most of the time.
> I also like a dark-colored, Texas-rigged 10" worm. My thinking here is that not very many anglers will throw a worm that big in shallow water. That gives me an opportunity to show the bass something different.
> Of course, I also keep a flipping and pitching rod rigged up on my boat deck at all times.
> My favorite bait of all...is a Lure Parts Online buzzbait [because of the bite and fight].
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My old man bought a big bass boat
When I think of that summer of hope, I choke
'Cause even if we didn't catch a little bit of something
We'd park that boat by the bluff at the Days Inn
- From Zach Bryan's new tune "Bass Boat." (Caution: Some cussin' in it.) Bass boats and bass fishin' ARE hope man, amazing. 💪🙏✝️
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Think I found out why Falcon and Amistad are so low – Alton Jr tunes his buzzbaits like this for hours at a time:
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Was on his Insta, can't find it now...probably because the TX Water Resources Board heard about it...🤣
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Never thought much about doing Legos til they just announced this deal – Jaws:
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best (sometimes worst) and funniest stuff in bassin', hand-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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Gitcha BB social at these links
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