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Today’s Top 3

1. Biffle wins PAA with, yep, Biffle Bug.

In case you were born yesterday, Tommy Biffle is flippin’ foo’. A foo’! He won the PAA derby on the AR River with 46.45 lbs over 3 days, winning by a huge 7.70 lbs. He flipped a Gene Larew Biffle Bug in blackberry/sapphire – here ’tis:

Key for Tommy was flipping backwater wood: stumps day 1, brush day 2, logs day 3. That definitely was key because runner-up Mark Tyler zipped up and down the river fishing main-river targets with a crankbait, spinnerbait and plastics. 3rd place finisher Mark Rose fished shallow creek grass with a Strike King crank and tube. (Pattern deets will be in BassGold soon.)

In other words, backwater wood was the deal. What up with Tommy lookin’ all gansta?

2. Ozarks EverStart winner went old-school…

…as in, flipping a Brush Hog (gr pumpkin) to docks. MO’s Dennis Berhorst had 47-08 over 3 days and won by 2-01. Keys were docks in shallower areas in Gravois Arm and focusing on bass suspended in 10 feet.

3. I would throw the lure in and leave it there, not moving it at all. Fish would come up and swim away with it.

Seriously. That’s ‘Maine-uh’ Jonathan Carter, member of the Full Throttle Bassmasters club and winner of this weekend’s 2012 Cabela’s Bassmaster Federation Nation Eastern Divisional, talking about his pattern.

He fished “as shallow as possible” on the Mystic River with a 1/2-oz Dinner Bell Lures lead-free jig and 4″ Berkley Chigger Craw trailer (black/blue) – I mean ‘trail-uh’ (that’s the Maine accent…).

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Tip of the Day

Brent Chapman: The follow-up punch.

About Guntersville, but applicable elsewhere:

> “You’ve got the frog bite, and then you’ve also got what I call the follow-up bite, which is often more productive than straight froggin’.”

> “I use the frog as mostly a locator bait when the fish are in the moss. But I have a second rig right there and ready with what most people call a punch bait, a heavily weighted soft plastic. When a fish blows up and misses, I come right back to the spot it came up, as quickly as possible, with that soft plastic.”

> “I wouldn’t even try it with less than 3/4-ounce, and I often use an ounce and a quarter. A lot of anglers think that’s too much weight, but you’ll be amazed at how much better that rig goes down through the mat than a lighter one, and once it gets down where the fish can see it, they’ll eat it just as quick as they would a lighter rig.”

> He said that his favorite soft plastic for Guntersville is usually a Tightlines UV Beaver, a crawfish imitation with metal flake. “Crawfish baits are generally the best bet for fishing under the weeds….”

> “It takes a lot of time to just flip the mats not knowing where the fish are. If you find them first with the frog and then follow up with the craw, you’re improving your efficiency and catching a lot of bass that other anglers will miss.”

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Quote of the Day

I would tell them to shut the hell up, have a good time fishing and enjoy what the day has given us.

– Okeechobee guide Mark Shepherd, when asked what he’d do if he had Obama and Romney in the boat with him.

The interview was because there’s a new book out that he co-wrote with his polar opposite. On that note, Shepherd also said: “I’d tell them if we don’t stop this stuff and stand together we won’t be able to build a strong nation for our children. It’s important Americans, whether on the left or right, come together and work out our major issues.”

Shot of the Day

Dave Mercer with one bass with weird smudges and one that’s a perfect largie. Odd, eh? (Not Dave…the basses.)

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