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We lost Ray Scott on Sunday as I'm sure you know. Ray was 1 in a zillion, and was not just "the father of modern bass fishing" or "one of" bass fishing's visionaries or whatever. He MADE it all! He created this bassin' world. Not alone, but it had to start somewhere and it started with him.
Ray's bass fishing life deserves at least a book-length tribute, and many people could do it better than me ( B.A.S.S. has a good factual tribute). So this small tribute won't even be close to enough. I will just give you a few personal thoughts and experiences about the man who made everything we know in bass fishing possible.
Think of the most charismatic person you know, then multiply it by 10. Or 100. That was Ray. How else could someone not just start a business but a BRAND NEW THING and ENTIRE INDUSTRY? Very few people in the history of the world have done that.
"Right place, right time" is just not true. He MADE both of those...God did but you know what I mean. You need to have a vision (he did – the "brainstorm in a rainstorm" to create B.A.S.S.), persistence/work ethic, passion, an amazing ability to sell, an ability to motivate people, grow and run a company, tons of energy, courage, conviction, faith, etc. He had it all.
Not saying he got an A in all categories but I wouldn't know. I didn't know Ray nearly as well as folks who worked with him every day, but I got to know him a little in the early '90s, then pretty well for a time in the BassFan.com early days – made a few visits to his place in Montgomery. What I'll always remember from those trips:
- Ray had a presence about him – he radiated confidence. That included a physical presence: he was a big dude.
- He loved to tell stories, and even though I didn't talk to him super regularly I heard several of the stories more than once! Who was gonna tell him "I heard that one already Ray." No one! The stories were good and funny every time.
- He told stories for a few reasons, one of which was just joy, another was to warm up the room before getting down to biz.
- He was always thinking, always listening, always multi-tasking mentally, always a step ahead, sharp as a tack. Always working an angle, always pushing something (I did respectfully push back a couple times! 😁).
- He was kind and generous.
- He would not back down from something he felt was right, especially when it came to bass and bass fishing. Ray was a fighter and I loved that.
- Those big-bass lakes he created at his Montgomery place felt like the Promised Land man! Every cast could be a PB. Never did get a melon outta there but caught some.
I could say more but you get it. Also gotta say this, with no offense to Dave Mercer or anyone else: Ray was the best Bassmaster Classic emcee there ever was, in my 2c. Because the whole deal was his show and he knew it. He wasn't the kindest – folks like Mark Davis were made fun of every time they got up there – but he was the ringmaster of his own circus and it was crazy fun. The crowd literally hung on his words.
The first Classics I ever went to, Ray was the emcee and wow were they amazing. Imagine a young-ish long-haired NJ dude at those deals – bet you can feel how wide-eyed I was lol! The bass fishing world BLEW MY MIND mang! Loved it!
Never got a picture with Ray (or Bob Cobb, one of my bassin' heroes). Always wanted to, but that was before cell phones with cameras and I never felt like it was the right time or whatever. But I did get to tell Ray several times that I loved him and was thankful to him for my bassin' gig and life.
Every single thing in bass fishing now and forever is because of Ray. Doesn't matter if it's big swimbaits, Ned rigs, kayaks, whatever – it all had a common starting point and that was Ray and B.A.S.S. I'm grateful for him, for his family who supported him, and for the many great folks who worked with him at B.A.S.S. and other places (like Forrest and Nina Wood at Ranger Boats) to help make his crazy vision a reality, an industry and a way of life.
Ray, a saved man, is one of my heroes forever. Love you Ray! Please lift up his wife Susan in prayer, and the rest of his family and friends. 🙏✝️
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"My first impression of Ray was of a young man who loved life. He had a knack, even in high school, of selling ideas and making everyone want to participate. He was very hard-working and gave all he had to each thing he was involved in."
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- Ray Scott's high school girlfriend Sara Smedley, talking in the book "Bass Boss." Sounds like Ray was wired thataway and glad he never changed!
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How Jesse Wiggins got his first tour-level win at Lake of the Ozarks.
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> "I'd never been there before, but by looking at pictures, videos [etc.] I knew that it looked similar to Smith Lake [AL] with all the floating docks and the mountain-type lake it is. So I just rigged up the stuff I always catch them on at my home lake [Smith Lake, AL].
> "The fish set up on docks exactly the same as back home. They spawn on dock cables, the back corners of docks, walkways, whatever it may be. They set up identical to Smith Lake – not similar, I'm talking identical. But at Smith they're spotted bass – [at Lake of the Ozarks] they're all largemouth."
> "I had a few fish found on beds, 5-6 of them, and 2 were 4+ fish I caught the 1st day. Knowing where they were got me off to a good start.
> "The 2nd day I didn't have any spawners, so I was just fishing like I do at home. I was just casting where I thought one should be laying.
> "I was close to the lead all day, and the winner automatically qualifies for the championship [round]. So then I was like, Heck I'm going for it. ...they were biting, so I went ahead and won, and automatically qualified.
> "I knew that when I allowed my fish, my areas, to rest for 2 days, I knew I could go back and catch them, and I knew more fish were coming. With my area resting for 2 days, I might have a chance at this thing.
> "[The last day] I went back in there and got it done. They weren't biting great – the water had come up, it got dingier...affected everybody. Luckily was able to get it done."
Baits
He used 1 rig, a shakey head, with 2 different weights:
> 6.6" Jackall Flick Shake Worm bit down to 5" (gp candy). "5 inches is the size of a normal stick bait. I like the Flick Shake because of the action the tail has. Green pumpkin – I just always throw it."
> "3/16- and 1/8-oz shakey head – "If the docks were really shallow and I needed to skip it into tight places I used the 1/8 because it skips so much easier. If it was deeper dock, like 5-6', I'd throw the 3/16. I had areas where there'd be 6 deeper docks in a row, then 5-6 shallow docks...."
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> Boat positioning: "I would make sure that when I made a cast, if I threw it over a cable I was able to get to it quickly. Sometimes I would stay back to skip it under a cable...stay back to where the angle of line would not hit a cable when I set the hook straight up."
Electronics
> "With Lowrance C-Map mapping I could look at the pockets and could see where the contour lines hung tight to the pockets. ...always at the deepest part of the back of pockets – that's where they spawn at home too. There's a pile of fish that spawn where you can't see 'em. That's what I looked for.
Shout-out
> "MTech Lithium, my trolling moror batteries. I had it on 10 all week, weaving in and out of boat docks, and my trolling motor performed flawlessly. I had that sucker burning up every day – I fished for 2 days of practice and 3 days of the tournament on 10, and they did great."
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5 Qs with the bone 'n fish collector.
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1. Would you say you're more of a bone collector or fish collector? Or maybe a bonefish collector? 😁
> "Long as they're getting collected I don't care what's getting collected."
[Lol love it!]
2. Can you name 3 things that are more fun than turkey hunting?
> "No I cannot. I wish I could. If I did I would do those things, and I haven't found anything yet that's more fun. I killed one today when I got back...."
[He's been doing it a long time:]
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😂
3. If you had to use a flogger to win this tournament, would you have?
> "I would've used anything that's within the bounds of the law to win this tournament, and I would recommend everyone use anything legal to win any tournament.... I'm not the fun police. If it's fun and legal, I'm all for it."
4. When docks and spinning gear line up, do you feel more dangerous?
> "I do. I don't know about dangerous – I feel very comfortable because I've done that literally my whole life, dealing with cables, docks and spinning rods."
5. A 4th at Smith and now this win – did you do anything different to get ready for this season?
> "I didn't do anything different, but last year...I had a pretty decent season. I barely missed the top 10 4 times, I was leading the Knockout Round a few times.... I decided to do what I was [good at] and throw the shakey head if at all possible. It started in 2021.
> "I went into [this season] with confidence in my decision-making,...the decisions I was making were working....
> "I don't know what changed, but it did change my mindset to do exactly what I wanted to do. If I was gonna get beat, you have to beat me [when he was] doing what I want to do. It's really easy to get smoked by these guys...so you gotta do what you know how to do."
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2nd-5th Lake of the Ozarks BPT baits.
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4th: Stephen Browning
> "JackHammer was used around chunk rock and pea-gravel banks, tube was pitched around wood. JackHammer 85% scoreable, tube 15% scoreable."
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5th: Jacob Wheeler
> "I caught most of my bass all week by sight-fishing. In practice when the water was lower and the conditions were a little bit more rainy and cloudy, it was hard to see them. I found several deeper spawners by throwing a Rapala BX Waking Minnow in pockets, and then marking their location and coming back to them when it was sunny."
> "I rotated between a few different plastics in the tournament but mostly caught them on a white creature bait and a gp creature bait depending on the mood of the fish.
> "One of the biggest keys for me when I'm sight-fishing is being able to put a big hook in a smaller bait. I lost zero fish this week because of the setup. I was using a 4/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flipping Hook with am unpegged 3/8-oz VMC Tungsten Weight.
> 20-lb Sufix Advance Fluoro, Duckett Jacob Wheeler signature Paradigm Reel (8.3), 7' 3" H Duckett Jacob Wheeler signature Rod.
> "One of the biggest keys for being able to see them in cloudy conditions was changing my glasses' lens colors. When it was sunny or partly cloudy, I used my Wiley X Omega signature series sunglasses with the Captivate Green Mirror. When the clouds and rain came in, I would swap to same Omega glasses but with Captivate Bronze Mirror.
> "I also caught several fish on a line-through swimbait."
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> ...largemouth bass regulation changes for Fellsmere Water Management Area, commonly known as Headwaters and Egan Lakes.
> The rules include catch and release of all largemouth bass in the Fellsmere Water Management Area and the required use of circle hooks when fishing with natural bait greater than 3" in length.
> The roughly 1,000-acre property has an approximately 100-acre lake stocked with bass.
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Dang! Donate it to Bass-Heads United for a tax break! 😁
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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Real innerestin' info from the MLF site I guess shows the benefit of a same-brand system, though I'd be surprised if in the real near future it all has to be 1 brand:
> "Say you're fishing multiple waypoints offshore and want to troll to the next one that's 50 yards away – you can just touch the waypoint and have the Ghost take you there,. I can sit down and retie a crankbait real quick and not even look up and know it will get me there and keep me on the waypoint with Anchor Mode. It's a big time-saver.
> "It has buttons for Anchor Mode and constant on, but you can program the other 2. You can set it so one will make a waypoint or have them control your Power-Poles. It's cool that you can program them however you want to.
> "If you're going to spend the kind of money this all costs, it makes sense to take advantage of the integration and have it help you be more efficient and informed. Electronics are more than just marking waypoints and finding fish. They can do a lot more."
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"The show's got to go on and I know B.A.S.S. is going to go on. But it's going to be a whole lot better show with me."
- Ray Scott after leaving B.A.S.S. (he sold it and stuck around under Helen Sevier's ownership, then left). Ray for sure wasn't modest! 😂 Quote is also from the book "Bass Boss."
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🤣 At a "Star Wars-themed campsite" (actually 1 "glampsite") in Bethel, NY.
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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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