Today’s Top 5
Baits of the Classic.
Here you go: Fish-head spin, football jig, shakey head, crankbait, dropshot, jerkbait, swimbait. Those were the top baits, but not the only ones. You can look at it this way:
- Fish-head spin (deep)
- Football jig (mostly deep)
- Shakey head (shallow)
- Crankbait (shallow)
- Dropshot (deep)
- Jerkbait (shallow)
- Swimbait (mostly shallow)
See any pattern there? Me neither….
Btw, BassGold.com was dead on AGAIN. We are changing it to be even more awesome, more news soon.
I’m betting some company is scrambling to do a deal with Casey Ashley and his dad to sell that fish-head spin. That’s cool — I’d buy one. Either way, whatever happened to the $$$ that could be made from the Classic-winning bait? Check this:
> 2015 — Casey wins with homemade bait.
> 2014 — Howell wins with a prototype Livingston bait (now the Howeller) that doesn’t hit the market for months.
> 2013 — Cliff Pace wins with 2 Jackall jerkbaits, a Jackall crankbait and a V&M Football Jig.
> 2012 — Chris Lane wins with a Luck-E-Strike G4 tube and Gambler Ugly Otter.
Gotta ask: Do you own those baits? Didn’t think so. But back in the day, the Classic-winning bait was THE deal. Whatever happened to that?
I still remember Davy winning with the Gambler Bacon Rind!
[Yep, Rapala supports the BassBlaster, so add however many grains of salt you want to this, but they don’t know I’m writing this.]
Trying to launch something at the Bassmaster Classic is like trying to have a conversation at an AC/DC show. Whole lotta rosie noise — in this case meaning lots of stuff launched at the Classic. (Launching this time of year makes a whole lot more sense to me than waiting til the mid-summer ICAST show, but whatever.)
Either way, Rapala went for it with its new Shadow Rap jerkbait, hoping to give their anglers (Ike, DeFoe, BP, Tharp, J Wheels) something to use, talk about and maybe win with. That’s smart, other companies have tried it before.
The Rapala guys didn’t win, but I stood in the Dick’s booth watching Shadow Raps fly off the pegs, so I guess it worked. I haven’t fished it yet, but a buddy of mine loves it.
[All you Shadow Rap weeners, I’ll mail your baits out this weekend or next week.]
Get ’em here on TackleWarehouse.com. The Classic guys all used the moss back shiner color, Ike’s was the deep version.
Btw, Ike said:
Butch Brown and Swimbaits
Do you know who Butch Brown is? If you’re a kid who fishes from the bank with high-dollar swimbaits for giants, you absolutely do. That unassuming guy/swimbait guru had zero free time when I saw him at the Classic Expo. The underground swimbait scene — on Instagram — is for real, fishin’ biz folks.
Here’s Butch’s favorite swimbait, the Deps Slide Swimmer.
Mann’s Reel ‘N Shad
Scotty Wall might not like me saying this, but: I can’t remember the last time I wanted to buy a Mann’s bait, and the only two I can remember besides a spinnerbait are the 1- and the Ike-designed Stone Jig.
But as I was talking to Paul Elias in the Mann’s booth, this vid caught my eye. Watch it, you’ll see why:
Git it here on TackleWarehouse.com.
PowerPro Maxcuatro
PowerPro has an exclusive on this — called Maxcuatro, available for preorder on TackleWarehouse here:
> Honeywell announced today the launch of Spectra HT high tenacity fiber, the newest generation of high-strength Spectra fiber and the world’s strongest fishing-line material of its size.
Freddie Boom Boom Roumbanis took me through Garmin’s new Panoptix sonar stuff — it’s nuts. The easiest way to say it is it shoots out a sonar cone from the front of your boat that allows you to see what fish are doing in REAL TIME.
You can see fish under docks, you can see fish chasing your bait. It’s crazy.
Below’s the intro vid, here’s the website.
WANT!
One question I had: Is Garmin ever going to get serious about the bass market? Boom Boom says yes, so let’s see.
News
One of the few companies to sponsor Casey Ashley btw.
2. FLWer Wendlandt doing well…
…after heart attack. Good to hear. Btw I saw Stacey King at the Classic, and even though chemo gave him a beating he is now cancer-free.
3. TX: TTT T-Bend limit = 35.56 lbs!
Team derby, kicker was an 11.42. Bait was a Rat-L-Trap in Rayburn Red…which you can either see in the Rat-L-Trap graphic below or right here on Tackle Warehouse.
So…I guess no one at Chevy or Ford fishes or has ever heard of fishing?? #derp
Btw, here’s the new Ram 1500 Rebel, purdy sweet:
5. Weighted Mustad Grip-Pin hooks.
6. TX: Wave Worms still in biz.
Relocated to Plano.
Tip of the Day
As used by Gambler owner Val Osinski to win the Big O Ray-o:
> …the rig originated in the Everglades where anglers hunt miles of grass-filled water for individual fish with the trolling motor at max speed. A swimbait that can be wound in quickly without constantly snagging is a perfect search tool.
> This rig outperforms a swim jig and even a swimbait rigged on a standard weighted swimbait hook because the bullet-shaped sinker helps “part” the vegetation. “That rig is so efficient for casting and reeling because it never gets hung up in anything.”
> His rig: pegged tungsten sinker, Gambler KO Starflash Punch Skirt, 6/0 wide-gap Gamakatsu hook, Gambler Big EZ or EZ Swimmer swimbait.
> Usually Osinski uses the Gambler Big EZ, but on the final day at Okeechobee he switched to the smaller EZ Swimmer because fish were swiping at his rig and missing the hook.
Quote of the Day
It was like they just disappeared.
– Greg Hackney talkin‘ ’bout the 3-lbers he found in Hartwell. Lots of folks said that. The fish were there one day, gone the next. So much for fish not moving much in cold water….
Shot of the Day
T-Bend hog-ketchin’ yo!
Check these recent fence donkey pigs:
This one was caught practicing for that TTT event, an 11-09 by Joe Gilbert:
> …mid-lake area near the Pendleton Bridge to fish a nearby creek on the Texas side. “We found a point with some hydrilla on it in 12- to 13-feet of water on the outside edge.” Gilbert was fishing a Carolina-rigged Senko in about 6 feet of water.
> At 4:30, the anglers launched together from South Toledo Bend State Park and motored to an area on the southern end near the Toledo Bend Dam. “We were throwing in 6 feet of water which held some hydrilla…I threw the rig and retrieved it slowly where it made contact with the grass.”
> Glass was fishing a bladed Alabama rig baited with light hitch-colored V&M Thunder Shads with a pearl/white Reaction Innovations Big Dipper in the middle…with 65-pound PowerPro braid….
Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. His BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 or #3 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass. Also available as an app:
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