First I need to apologize to Marty Stone. Had his made-up BassBlaster nickname in the last deal as "Droid." In fact it should have been "Borg." 😁
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Hahaha just messin' man! Like to see a Pay Per View deal with him and Boyd Duckett locked in a room, 2 men enter 1 man leaves....
This morning I found another Bible verse that applies to me big-time – John 21:3 NKJV:
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.
Bahahaha! Not laughing at those men or Scripture, just cuz I for-sure feel that whole "I'm going fishing/caught nothing" deal! But then Jesus appears and tells them where to fish and they literally load the boat. Don't think I've had that happen yet....
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Jacob Wheeler won a 3rd one! 🤯 🤯 🤯
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Wheeler activated!!
Told Jacob my 2c is this is a BIG DEAL – duh, but what I mean is it's a season we'll be a-talkin' 'bout 20 years from now. Believe it man, the dude is so hot right now it's scary. How hot?
- He eats chili dogs for breakfast, with a whole bottle of ghost pepper sauce.
- His wrap started peelin' when he put his hand on it.
- He has to wear oven mitts to respool.
- Optimus Prime offered to pull his boat home.
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He had 3 different dropshot setups, but caught a few on a Ned (1/4- and 3/8-oz heads) as well:
> Baits: "...several different baits throughout the week...different Ned Rig-style baits in different colors: green pumpkin hues, shad/smelt hues, and perch-color hues...Googan Baits Rattlin Ned in 'smelt' was one I used a lot.... On the Fluke-style baits...imitate perch with more of a green pumpkin or imitate alewife with more of a shad look...were about 3 inches long."
> #2 VMC Finesse Neko hook – "I'm a big fan of threading plastics on [the hook]. I feel like I get a better hookup ratio, and I can reel fish in and be more efficient that way, with more gap.
> "I was rotating between a 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4-oz VMC Tungsten Teardrop Drop Shot Weight. I used 1/2 the most. It seemed like sometimes I could get them to react with a 3/4...sometimes they wanted a 1/4. It was just trial and error, figuring out the mood of the fish every given hour.
> 7' 2" MH Duckett signature Jacob Wheeler Spinning Rod: "It's more like a M+, a heavier dropshot rod than most people use. I was also using heavier line – 10 and 12 consistently. Sometimes I'd throw 8. If it seemed like the fish were a little more line-shy at times, I would go down to 8 or 6. I event went to 4 at one point to see if made a difference...it did not. It's just trial and error, what a lot of bass fishing is.
> "I used a 7' M-action [signature Duckett] rod with lighter line...allows me to take my time with the fish a little more.
Electronics
> "The biggest thing was [Lowrance] Active Target. This year I swapped from Garmin [LiveScope] to Active Target. I would jump in the boat with Hunter Shryock last fall and saw some things I thought were better than Garmin – that's why I swapped.
> "I feel like I can see fish further with Active Target. I can see fish 100+ feet away from me – that's a huge deal when you're talking about 1-2 more fish, especially 3+ lb smallmouth. For isolated fish like that it was a huge deal.
> "...Active Target 98% of time and [Humminbird Mega] 360 the other 2%...."
More
> "I'm just prayerful, thankful to be able to do this for a living. I think lot of times we don't step back as professional anglers and appreciate the opportunity we have to travel this country and chase these bass. That's a big thing for me...."
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5 Qs with the 3-TIME champ!
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1. First, how are your buds doing man. We're concerned about 'em.
> "Everybody's good. I talked to DC...I talked to Mark...think everybody's on the recovery route. It was definitely a little scary and definitely weird not having them out there. Heck I had to hang out with Lucas and Jordan Lee the whole week [he loled]."
[Good to hear! Please keep 🙏ing for 'em!]
2. What's your next challenge, Everest or three 12,000-lb blue marlins??
> "[Laughed] I'm gonna go with the marlins. Let's do that. Everest sounds like it would be fun though. I always thought it was cool people actually did that, but I don't think that's in the cards for me."
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3. Are you at all concerned that this MLF format actually makes competition EASIER? 😁
[Meant as a joke, he laughed, then answered serious:]
> "Man I would not say that. I feel like it definitely takes a lot of work and you don't have any chill time. That's the difference. A lot of times when I was catching a good limit of them I would be done by 9 in the morning...can just chill. Very seldom are you so far ahead [to do that in the MLFs].... By no means do I feel like it's easer."
["Very seldom" huh Jacob? 🤔 Lol just messin' but come on!]
4. How many Live transducers do you have and how many would you like to have?
> "I have 1 live transducer and I'm planning on keeping it just to 1. Actually this is the 1st tournament I've won I would say exclusively from forward-facing sonar.... The other 2 [wins this year] were visual and specific boat docks, not an electronics thing."
5. Would you ever run more than 1 brand of forward sonar unit?
> "I don't know how it would work? I'm all about using whatever the best is out there, in my own personal opinion – what works best for me. I don't know if I see the value of running 2, and would have to figure out interference, if they cross-talk or don't...lot of technical things go into it when you start adding transducers.
> "Typically I will pick the best [current live sonar unit] for that year. I haven't had a chance to run the [Humminbird] Mega Live...will check every single one and determine what's best, and run that one next year."
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Wasn't able to get with 2nd-place finisher Jacopo "Jack" Gallelli yet...and not sure how he got to fish in this one...?
3rd: Ott DeFoe
> Rapala OG Slim (bream and Helsinki shad), 14-lb Bass Pro Shops XPS fluoro, Johnny Morris Platinum Reel (6.8), 7' MH Bass Pro Shops cranking stick.
> Rapala OG Tiny (hot copper green shad), 12-lb Bass Pro Shops XPS fluoro, same reel, 6' 6" M Johnny Morris Platinum Rod.
> "Isolated wood on flats in 2-5', also concrete channel markers. Humminbird 360 was key for seeing some of the wood under water. I fished both baits in the same places."
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4th: Tim Horton
> Fished algae mats on top of milfoil in 2-4', Ticonderoga area.
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5th: Bryan Thrift
> Grass in 4-7'.
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"Many fishermen don't realize how much you can fine-tune a dropshot for smooth or rough bottoms, clear or stained water, or even for the activity level of the bass."
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- Aaron Martens talkin' back in 2008! 🤯 Based on that statement I don't think I deserve to be in the boat with him because he's so dang far ahead of me, wow! Been in his boat several times, lots of times just messin' around. Obviously I need to pay way better attention....
Btw Aaron DID fish at Champlain, got 33rd, gave a little vid update here:
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Says he doesn't see as well, takes him 20 minutes to tie a dropshot vs 2 before, gets sleepy during the day and more. Love you brother. Please keep praying for him peeps! 🙏
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Congrats! Serious battle there at the end:
> "I had so many people come up to me congratulating me on such a great season. I feel like I didn't do really well this year. I'm just fortunate that I did a hair better than the rookies that were behind me. I don't think any of us had a spectacular season."
KJ Queen still won the rookie tow vehicle battle by a mile:
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🤣 love that!
...and a bummer cuz the MLF Pro Circuit champeenship is at his stompin' grounds, the upper MS River.
3. Huk signs NBA rookie Keon Johnson.
Can't link it, at newswire com:
> "My message to the younger generation of anglers and athletes would be to fall in love with the grind, no matter how hard times get."
> ...on 580 acres of giant cutgrass and giant salvinia around areas in Lake Marion throughout the month of August.
...how 'bout doing that with the aquarium trade and aquaculture? Anglers are suffering for their choices, and DNRs – using "our money" – have to deal with it too. Not cool man!
Duh, but remember some people think that hooking fish is "mean," like maybe these scientists:
> Unhooked control fish and fish that were hooked-unhooked did not significantly differ in their overall behavioral patterns....
This is the concerning part (to me) – we are talkin' 'bout FISH!
> Recreational catch-and-release angling is prevalent and growing in popularity, along with concerns over the welfare of released fish. ...there is growing interest in understanding and minimizing any sublethal consequences of recreational fisheries interactions with the aim of improving fish health and welfare.
"Sublethal consequences"?? Gimme a break man....
Headline of the Day
If that's true, American rednecks will wipe 'em out fast! 😂 #BBQ
Line of the Day
Dude is talkin' 'bout Arctic grayling – don't think his smallies look like ours??
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On BassBlaster.rocks right now...
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If you remember Woo, you know he loved him some worms. Split-shotting, Carolina-rigging, you name it, he did it. Check this gold that I bet just about everyone has forgotten about or never learned – from the Bassin'masters:
> One problem he was originally trying to solve...was retrieving a heavy weighted Carolina rig through rocks. "The first thing I changed was my weight. I changed from my normal 3/4-oz bullet weight to an elongated, banana-shaped Lindy No-Snagg Rattlin Weight developed for walleye fishermen. Most of their fishing is in rocky water, and this particular sinker comes through without snagging. I have really tried to snag it, but I can't."
> An added advantage of this particular sinker...is the way it rides in the water – each time he twitches his rod, it causes his lure to rise higher off the bottom....
> The 2nd change Daves made was to a larger plastic worm. His favorites are 8", 10" and 12" Zoom Ol Monster worms. "One of the problems we all have with a Carolina rig is that it catches a lot of small fish. I would rather not catch those fish and have to release them right back into the area I'm fishing, so I changed to the larger worm."
> Even though he uses an unusually large worm, Daves prefers a surprisingly small hook, either a 1/0 or 2/0 wide-gap Mustad. Smaller hooks allow the worm to fall just a fraction slower, he explains.
> The final aspect of Daves' Carolina rig technique is that he fishes it quickly...until he feels some change on the bottom. When he detects clay giving way to gravel, for example, or the weight hitting a piece of cover or falling over a dropoff, he immediately slows his presentation dramatically. At that point, he barely twitches the worm along the bottom.
Crazy! Bet it works great and I'm a-gonna try it!
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"In the moment it doesn't even register."
- Jacob "JJJ-Wheels" Wheeler talkin' 'bout winning 3 tourneys this season. The rest:
> "I just don't even know how explain it. Like a tournament win is in itself a lot of passion, pride, you're excited – 'Yeah we did it!' But...feel like I don't appreciate everything til a few months later, sometimes a year later. I try not to live in the past so....
> "I just try to reel them in and do everything I can [to win]...."
That reelin' deal is workin' for ya man!
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Check this grouper-lookin' giant bass feesh caught by Todd Kline somewhere in SoCal! Todd was like, "Gotcha Kelly Slater, I win dude!" 🤣 (lol lame Kumar surfin' joke – Todd was a pro surfer 🤙)
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> Spain has ordered vessels of 15 meters or less from sailing near the coast...after reports of more than 50 encounters with orcas, including as many as 25 incidents involving rudder failure in which boats had to be towed to shore. [The whales intentionally disabled the rudders!]
> The 2-week [navigation] prohibition is the second time in 13 months that Spain's ministry of transport has taken action to address a spate of extraordinary orca encounters....
> ...the attacks are reported by those on board to be coordinated by the whales.
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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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