BassBlaster

Vids you gotta watch, Open winning baits, Shake your Flanders

By (mostly Jay)

Posted on February 8, 2018

Today’s Top 4

Pillow-swollerin’ howgs o’ the week.

Kickin’ ‘er off with this AL 12.55 wrassled in by @alyfromalabama and @cody_hall14 on a — wait for it — olde-skoole spinnerbait. #medieval How ’bout 27.5″ x 20.5″ of howg beef: #gogirl

Check 6′ 4″ Andy McNew’s 9.03 from Tradinghouse Creek Rez, TX. Post says he “was fishing along a riprap bank using a shakey-head worm” in about 5′. Lake record is 11.15:

@jdblackamore gits his share of swolled howgs, believe somewhere out West, here’s his latest. No weight, no bait, but a sho-nuff buttah melon:

Fave comment from the post: “You make fishing so much more dope.” Is there any higher compliment? I mean, what’s more dope than more doper feeshn? lol

How Bobby Lane won the Kissimmee Open.

Well first he started like this:

That sure helps! All the deets at bassblaster.rocks here — keys were finding the fish at high speed (seriously) and then fishing slooow. But here’s his baits:

Had 2 main baits, and 3 more he fished. Fished hydrilla shallow:

> Berkley PowerBait Rib Toad (watermelon red, and black), 6/0 Trokar TK130, 50-lb Spiderwire Ultracast, Abu MGX Reel (8:1), 7′ 3″ H Abu Fantasista Premier Rod.

> “That’s my frog. You can throw it 3 times further than any other frog out there because it’s a little heavier…when it sinks, it actually has a frog action going down — it sinks side to side….”

> “Throw it as far as you can, swim it all the way back to the boat and when they wake it, drop it and then bury the hook.

> Berkley Powerbait MaxScent The General (junebug), 5/0 Trokar Big Nasty Worm Hook, 5/16-oz Flat Out Tungsten weight, 17-lb Berkley 100% Fluoro, Abu ALX Reel (8:1), 7′ MH Abu Villain Rod.

> “I fished it slow…Texas-rigged. When you thought it was too slow, you needed to go slower…like a minute or 2 before you moved the bait.”

Said his Power-Poles were key. The other 3 baits:

> 3/4-oz Yo-Zuri Hardcore Flashi’n Vibe (I think that’s metallic silver black?), 17-lb 100% Trilene, ALX Reel (6.4:1), 7′ M Abu Veritas Rod. “In Toho…just the standard yank it out of the grass, let it go down.”

> 1/4-oz 4×4 Swim Jig with hand-tied skirt (black/blue/purple) and 3″ swimbait (black/blue). Same rod, reel, line as frog.

> The final day he flipped Toho with a Berkley Creature Hawg (gp), 5/0 Trokar TK135 Hook, 1.5-oz Flat Out Tungsten weight, 65-lb Spiderwire, Abu STX left-handed reel (7:1), 7′ 6″ H Villain Rod.

Brandon Lester’s Kissimmee baits.

Couldn’t find standings for some reason, but believe Brandon finished 2nd:

> “My main deal was punching hydrilla mats in 1-2′ with the X Zone Muscle Back Finesse Craw (Okeechobee craw), 4/0 Mustad Grip Pin Max Flippin’ Hook, 1.5-oz tungsten weight, 60-lb Vicious No-Fade Braid, 8:1 reel, 7′ 9″ XH MHX Custom Rod.

> “The first day I did weigh in a few on a topwater prop bait, but days 2 and 3 it was all about sticking with the flipping deal.”

4 vids you gotta see.

1. KVD runs down his drool-worthy 2018 rig — Talks about his switch to Minn Kota. Incredible rig, educational tour. I think KVD has every T-H Marine product Tackle Warehouse sells and then some.

Standout line:
> “I don’t make changes like this…but it’s something I just really had to do.”

2. How Ike organizes his boat — One thing cool about it is you can see that he’s got good baits from a lot of different companies, same as all the Elites just you don’t normally get to see that.

Standout lines:
> “I carry 25-30 rods with me for practice.” [It’s actually much more than that….]
> “I like to carry at least 3 packs of each color and each size [of soft-plastics], and that’s generally enough to get me through 1 tournament day.” [!!!]

3. How Greg Hackney keeps expensive tungsten weights from chipping — He uses Bass Mafia Weight Coffins in Bass Mafia Terminal Coffins.

Standout lines:
> “An ounce and half tungsten sinker…is 11 and a half dollars….”
> “Outta mind, outta sight…outta sight, outta mind, whatever works for you.”

4. Ricky “the kid” Clunn fishing spinnerbaits — At the ’16 Bassin’Festivus at Texoma. He’s throwing a 3/4-oz Luck E Strike Trickster Spinnerbait — says he loves that Trickster blade for displacing water.

Standout lines:
> “Crankbaits aren’t my favorite, a spinnerbait is.”
> “The key [to all spinnerbaits] is the blade configuration.”
> “We don’t really have any good spinnerbait fishermen left….”

News

1. Brandon Palaniuk gets Molix.

That’s along with Ike, J-Lu, Elam and Carl Jocumsen gettin’ mo’-licks:

2. Jason Christie bothered by AOY loss.

Of course he is! He’s also bothered by vegetarian chili but that’s besides the point.

He’s after AOY again…..

3. Good post from KVD on keeping your line fresh.

Here’s one that made me feel stupid (not tough to do hahaha!) after I read it:

> Braid doesn’t have to be changed as often, but it will lose its potency after a while. A good way to tell is if you notice it’s starting to fuzz up or lose its original color. If that’s the case, here’s how to get more mileage out of it: Reverse it.

> In other words, strip it off the reel in an organized manner then reattach it with the end you’ve been fishing with tied onto the spool. Once you do, the end that had been unused will be as fresh as it was when you got it.

He talks like he does it himself but once again he has these guys do it:

Not sure how long KVD has had minions but you can hear ’em when you walk by his truck….

4. Fred Roumbanis’ signature frog can be pre-ordered now.

This is the frog with fur:

5. Seth Feider’s running low-pro Talons.

Vid where he runs down his rig. Check Talons on the TW.

6. Swindle vs Strader mano-a-mano in April.

New deal. Gonna be some trash-talkin’ in that one. Jason Christie vs Brent Ehrler will be after that…not near as much trash-talkin’ I’ll bet.

7. Reminder on the Andy Young GoFundMe.

FLWer who got hurt in the Okeechobee FLW boat collision….

8. General Tire new MLF title sponsor.

9. MLFers add 5 to Selects.

Elites Jordan Lee, Justin Lucas and Brandon Coulter, and FLWers JT Kenney and Jason Lambert.

Money line from the release:

> [MLF commish Donny Rucks] “The bass these anglers pursue have no respect for age whatsoever….”

Wellllllll…they’ve got a brain the size of a garden pea so concepts like age and respect and even justice and freedom probly don’t compute…. HAHAHA!

Summit Selects are on Saturdays, 2-4 pm ET on the Golden Moose Network (Outdoor Channel).

10. MS: Clay Dyer speaking at Clear Branch Church TOMORROW.

11. FL: Females getting on beds.

Woohoo it’s starting!

12. New BOOYAH Frog announced tomorrow.

Here’s their Facebook and Insta. Thing is for real. Hint: Christie at Rayburn. Everyone thought he was fishing a certain frog, but nuh-uh:

13. Keitech Fat comes in black blue flake now.

Dig it:

14. Vexus Boats ain’t messin’ around.

Check these shot of the plants and molds/parts under construction:

Lovin’ the #bigtime bet. Here’s a little tour from head man Keith Daffron — he doesn’t mention it, but Forrest Wood is his grand-pappy:

Keith, gonna say you got your truck washed before that video hahaha!

15. Costa sunrise silver mirror now in 580G Lightwave Glass.

16. Garmin and Lowrance mend legal fences.

17. Cool knot-tyin’ aid (tool) for the visually aged.

18. CA: Bass-head catches New Melones lake record rainbow.

14-01, by accident.

19. Marbled crayfish are cloning themselves…

…and taking over the world. Seriously. Luckily bass eat ’em….

20. Check the new Ford Ranger Raptor.

But not available in the US?? Now available in Thailand???

On BassBlaster.rocks right now…

Bass like chicken too, Will Trip DQ himself, Cold water topwater

New bassin’ exercise, How to really fish like pros, Lard bass of the week!

All past BassBlasters are archived at BassBlaster.rocks!

Tip of the Day

If you Flanders, you better shake yo’ stuff.

“The” Ned of the Ned Rig says doing the shakey shake is part of just about every Flanders technique:

> The Swim-Glide-Shake: “After the lure touches down, immediately begin shaking the rod, continuing to constantly shake as it sinks toward bottom….”

> The Hop-and-Bounce: “Drop the rod to the five-o’clock position after the cast and hold it there. Shake the rod as the lure falls to the bottom….”

> The Drag-and-Deadstick: “Cast toward the shoreline and shake the rod as the lure sinks…. You can occasionally shake the rod after the deadstick routine.”

> The Straight Swim: “You can enhance it with shakes and pauses too.”

> The Drag-and-Shake: “…just fast enough to get the lure to slowly travel along the bottom. As it does, we twitch our wrist, shaking the rod, line and lure.”

Ain’t heard of that much shakin’ since Seth Feider went to the Elvis impersonators convention sponsored by Mountain Dew…lol.

No this doesn’t mean that I’ll be feeshn a Flanders this year. #justsayno

lol all good….

Quote of the Day

“If I’m fishing a 1/2-oz jig on heavy fluorocarbon line, I like to try it out with several different rods.”

– Jordan “OCD” Lee talkin’ ’bout new gear. Full quote from Bassin’masterin’.com:

> “I have lots and lots of new rods and lures. I need to know how they perform. If I’m fishing a 1/2-oz jig on heavy fluorocarbon line, I like to try it out with several different rods. That’ll tell me what to expect when I’m in a tournament.

> “And then I need to see how that rod performs with different-weight jigs and with different-weight lines, as well as with different types of line. A lot of the time that makes a big difference.

> “It’s exactly the same with my topwater rods and baits as well as all my crankbait stuff. I need to know what each of them will do under different circumstances.

> “This might sound like overkill to some of you, but when you bass-fish for a living like I do you have to have the details nailed down. There’s no time in practice to fool around learning about your equipment and there certainly isn’t any during a tournament. When you pick up a rod and reel you have to know instinctively what it will do under the circumstances.”

Word. Raise your hand if you’re as OCD about that stuff as the pros. Didn’t think so…yep we don’t have the time neither….

Shot of the Day

FLWer Clark Reehm got him a merpy derp on Sam Rayburn hahahaha!

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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