Was gonna go to the Bassin' Hall of Infamity this week to make sure I was there for a few buds gettin' honored but ain't gonna make it. Reason: My daughter's 18th birthday is Saturday, and so many flights are canceled to/from the Northeast now I just can't take a chance on missing any of that day. So to everyone who'll be there: Huge congrats and will miss seein' y'all...even the sketchier ones (you know who you are...lol).
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Norman Southern Open baits breakdown.
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Big congrats to NC's Cody Hoyle who had 40-04 and won by 3-09 over Joey Nania, who won the Pickwick Central Open in May. How he feeshed:
> ...caught most of his fish on a homemade 1/2-oz Arkie-style jig with a Zoom Twin Tail trailer. Using green pumpkin and orange for the head and skirt..."I tied that jig to look like a bream or a crawfish. The crawfish on this lake have a green back and their bellies are orange. That's what the jig looked like."
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Jig = 70% – all some type of gp
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Swimbait = 40% (smaller swimbaits on a head)
Crankbait = 20%
Dropshot = 20% – both 6" Roboworm, both some type of margarita pink
Jerkbait = 20%
10% each = Carolina rig, Bladed jig ( JackHammer), Finesse jig, Flip plastics
Shout-outs
- Masayuki Matsushita got 5th. The trend Tak Omori started is startin' to eat some lunch!
- Charlie Hartley (9th) olde-skooled it with a Carolina-rigged lizard! Wouldn't be surprise if Charlie has that deal rigged up every tourney....
- Elitist Shane Lineberger got 10th.
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Taku fished this rig at the Sabine – still looks bizarre to my eyes, a "power finesse Neko rig with a Nories Sankaku T San paired with a Yamamoto Grub Guard and a 2/0 Ryugi Infini hook." That Grub Guard deal looks intriguin':
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Ryugi "Beets" Carolina-rig weight – innerestin' shape:
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Ryugi Deep Tracer to get your cranks deeper. Reminds me of the Lindy Rig (not the original), which I've been reeeeeeeal tempted to try in bassin':
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Saw this little 2.75" Mizmo Teaser Tube and was like: Wait...is the Ned Rig kinda just tube-dragging without the tube? And if so, why not drag a small tube? Check these 3 Mizmo colors – T to B it's "crawdad," "roadkill," and gp:
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"One man wanted a custom color with no glitter – you can't get that from a larger producer."
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- Well that's innerestin'. If 90% of soft-plastics have glitter, stands to reason that something different might work better, at least sometimes. Quote's from 12-yr-old Heath H of LA, who pours plastics for his bait biz, 2 Deep Lures. One of his baits is named the Stanko so you know he's got a bright future in bassin'! 😁
Also this:
> "I've learned the responsibility of cleaning up your work area and making sure everything is perfect, like closing the plastisol container tightly so moisture doesn't get in. You have to have what the customer wants – you can't slack – and you have to love what you do."
> "I'm gonna try to be a Bassmaster one day too."
Don't be bettin' against a kid with that much get up 'n go!
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Is YouTube censoring fishing channels more? 🤔
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From Newsbusters.org – here's the URL, can't link it sorry: www.newsbusters org/blogs/free-speech/catherine-salgado/2021/09/24/angling-censor-youtube-bans-demonetizes-hunting-and
Post seems legit because they have examples. Hope YT's not going down this road but would not surprise me one bit:
> ...several YouTubers with channels focused on hunting and fishing have said that sporting channels are being randomly demonetized with vague allegations such as "animal cruelty." The channels also said the platform has not clearly explained why they are being censored.
> ...said that YouTube has created various demonetization troubles for hunters and fishers for around "4 or 5 years now."
> Mettam denied any "animal abuse" in his videos. "I'm just, um, catching fish, and if I want to eat it, I'll kill it humanely. And that's within their rules."
> ...announced he was putting his fishing videos on hiatus until he was monetized again because the channel provided "the bulk" of his income. "[I]f I'm not getting paid anything, I need to go get a job."
If true, not surprised because it'd really just be an extension of what's been going on across all social media, and I don't mean just politically. One example: Censoring and shadow-banning veteran-owned businesses that show firearms.
Anyhow, kinda a bummer so here's some random funny:
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HAHAHA those deals always crack me up! 😂
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That's right, Walker ain't as right as he looks! 😆 Same goes for Shimano School host JP DeRose, who is part of the "infiltration not invasion" Canadian feesh mafia....
2. On Em got in the NY Times.
His hat did anyway, don't have a link sorry – that's real talented/hard work geetar man Billy Strings who I think knows On Em and follows him on the Insta:
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Wonder if Strings is on 'em...?
Word is he got bonus ounces for having the nicest truck...lol!
David Williams of Newton, NC, Jacob Foutz of Charleston, TN and Josh Douglas of Isle, MN. Congrats!
And Jacob Powroznik leads Opens AOY standings. 👀 Lookin' like he's headin' for the Elites....
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Cali dude who won his second 'Yota Western in a row. He won at the Delta in August and then won the next one, at Havasu (he finished 44th at the 1st one). Few Havasu deets:
> Fishing a 1/4-mile stretch of the north end of the basin, Loberg had a pair of sweet spots on deeper points loaded with grass. "I just had to keep winding that crankbait through the grass until I made one react."
> That often meant snapping his Rapala DT16 when it hit the grass so hard he snapped his line a few times and even broke the lip off one bait. But it took that level of aggression to surprise a bass enough to open its mouth.
Whoa! You sure that was grass?? Anyhow, here's a quick top 10 baits breakdown:
Crankbait = 70% (many different kinds)
Flip plastics = 40% – Tube 10%
Frog = 20%
Neko rig = 10% – Kazuki Kodama... Zoom Swamp Crawler (June bug) on a Neko rig with a 5/64-oz weight... popping it out of shallow grass to prompt a reaction bite like...with crankbaits.
Shout-outs:
- Mike Williams and his bro Mark finished 2nd and 4th.
- Roy Hawk finished 3rd.
- Frankie Mueller (5th) made the tube Chris Kinley (7th) used but didn't fish it himself.
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Flip/punch plastics = 60% – Beaver 30% (top 3 finishers)
Topwater = 30% – Frog 10%, Popper 20%, Whopper Plopper 10% (1 guy used a popper and a Plopper)
Spinnerbait = 30%
Shout-outs:
- LA's Nolan Gaskin (3rd) set a bold new standard in tourney jerseys:
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- SC's Danny Shanz (10th) put these bait combos together in the pitch dark and danged it they didn't catch a few:
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🤣 Just messin' fellas, congrats!
Hmmm...a Hibdon winning at tourney on Lake of the Ozarks...where have I heard that before...? Lol just mesdin'. Congrats to him, MLF says he won it on a "Guido Jig." Amen to that! 👊 Payden is Dion's son.
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I don't get it, maybe you do, either way they look kinda amazing for what they are. Gotta lead with Pikachu ($30), then Kyogre ($60):
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Reminds me of that time when Trip Weldon and Dave Mercer were playing Pokemon Go and Trip got all mad because he thought Dave cheated...then Dave insisted he needed a Canadian polygrapher because of the "language barrier"...not sure how it ended up...😂
Might sound good but check the last part:
> ...compiling evidence that a previously undescribed fungal parasite has infected and weakened the crayfish, making them more vulnerable to predators such as great blue herons, perch and bass. A member of the microsporidian genus Nosema, this fungus is related to the deadly Nosema apis, the parasite that is devastating honeybee colonies around the world.
What about it Great Lakes peeps?
> ...a 13-year-old boy caught an 8.75-lb gaspergou [drum] on his birthday...curious about why the fish had such an overly swollen stomach. The gargantuan "goo's" stomach was chock-full of zebra mussels. Others have told me carp and catfish also eat them.
Have pointed out before that this is a new/trendy thing for states. Sounds sorta good but what does it do exactly? How does it interact with the DNR/rest of the DNR? Who funds it? (Just us again?) Is it just another bureaucracy? etc.
Line of the Day
Give you one guess what state the prof that wrote that deal lives in.... Maybe if the guy actually fished for bass, he'd get it! Can't not get that jig bite mang!
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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Bertrand knows things. Some are things that can hurt. You. Badly. Inside. A tournament. 😁 Listen up on this deal – the pro peeps have really just scratched the surface on it:
> "10 years ago you had some good jerkbaits that caught tons of fish, but they were so hard to cast.... Everything about jerkbaits now is better because they cast better and have better hooks and paint jobs. They're all really dialed in and will suspend, slowly rise or slowly sink.
> "I do have some general rules of thumb. I like to use much shorter pauses when it's warmer and longer pauses when it's colder water, and deeper baits in the cold and shallower divers when it's warmer.
> "The most important thing is to have some slack in your line when you rip the bait. That slack in your line lets your bait dart much harder from side-to-side, and I want to hear that line slapping the water when I'm doing it. That's what I am always trying to do most of the time unless it is really cold and you want a more-subdued action.
> "You're seeing guys win tournaments on venues that were never considered jerkbait lakes, just because of forward-facing sonar...has allowed anglers to target suspended fish over brush and timber that were too hard to target before.
> "I'd say a jerkbait and dropshot are the two best baits for watching fish with forward-facing sonar because you can keep the bait right in front of the fish.
> "If you're just learning to use (live sonar), you may get too aggressive and have your range set too far and you lose a lot of detail. I suggest setting the range at 50-60' out, which will be less than your cast but it will let you dial in what the fish are doing and how they react much easier."
"Black belt plus red beard equals many heartache."
Okay I made that deal up, not sure why....
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"By about 1980 the whole industry realized that the professional fisherman had a greater influence on the consumer buying their product than any other method of advertising."
Gotta say: Hate that word "consumer." We're talkin' 'bout CUSTOMERS, real peeps, not just buying robots man, come on. #petpeeve
Hank didn't mention – nor has he ever talked about – how powerful a bassin' 'stache can be if worn correctly, meaning with the right attitude. Someone needs to ask him about that, and also about his alleged insane tourney boat drivin'...like maybe me...? 🤔 Pat??
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Jay Kumar's BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best and funniest (sometimes worst) 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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