Today’s Top 5
My kinda crazy.
As you probly heard, he DQd his day 3 AOY tourney weight because of WI’s “can’t catch them outside the mouth” reg (passed in 1683) — a jerkbait fish had a hook in its mouth, but by the time it got in the boat it didn’t. Yes, he DQd himself — called Trip and told him. (Mark’s FB post about it here.)
> With his third-round catch of [14-03] disqualified, Menendez dropped from 11th to 39th in the [AOY] championship standings, and from 41st to 50th in AOY points. Jonathon VanDam, who had lost a tie-breaker to Menendez for 41st in AOY, moves up to next in line for a Classic bid.
Here’s the context:
> Mark lost his wife and best friend Donna last year to cancer (those words don’t in any way do that justice). He spent 2 years away from the Elites to care for her and his kids.
> This year he wanted to do well on the Elites and make the Classic — which he could’ve made if he didn’t DQ himself.
His son said: “Why did you do this? We wanted to go to the Classic.” And that’s why he did it — so he could explain it to his kids and all of us. THAT’s what bassin’ is all about: good people.
Stone cold crazy awesome. How do you not love this guy. Deserves the craziest most awesome #STOUT I could find:
Can’t get no stouter than a oompa-loompa.
Duuuuuuude…dude. Doritos?
Okay, not that kind of weed (kids, that ain’t cool) but this kind:
If you’re dealing with that, you need one of these, a Ninja Grass Blade:
Created by northeastern stick Steve Lucarelli, been around for a year. Word from buds who would know is it works great, installs fast and is the real deal. Get one here on TackleWarehouse.com.
I’d call the Yum Warning Shot oddly shaped for a dropshot bait:
Alton Jones and Jason Christie — who both did well at the last Elite smallie derbies — love them. Yes, they’re both Yum guys but they actually used these baits and feel like they’re an advantage. Here’s Alton talking about it:
Anyone try ’em yet? Get some here on TackleWarehouse.com.
In case you misinterpreted the weed thing:
Believe it or not: 100% for-real photo by Kurt M.
Me neither. No such thing, but if there were this is what it would look like, caught by Rick LaPoint:
News
1. Brent Ehrler wins “Rookie” of the Year.
Said:
> I’m honored to receive this, but after 11 years on national fishing circuits, I think my eligibility should have come into question. Congrats to the runner up and true rookie this year Jordan Lee.
How #stout is that?
2. Ike’s fanbase column off base?
Heart in the right place but implies the bass fishing fanbase is way bigger now (not true far as I know), and says the big sports make big $$$ because of big advertising…but they make big $$$ from TV rights because they have a lot of TV viewers. Bassin’t really doesn’t, but that’s okay.
Here’s the deal: Participation in “enthusiast” categories has mostly been declining as people have more to do, less time, more technology and more free-time options. But bass fishing has pretty much been holding its own year after year, a huge achievement. Be happy.
3. New Butch Brown Deps swimbait.
4. MO: Fishing for Freedom derby on Truman.
Oct 10-11. Over 150 vets and wounded warriors with volunteer boaters.
5. CA: San Diego anglers did well at US Open.
4 of the top 10 spots, which I guess means the bass fishing around San Diego is…bad?
6. CA: PG&E drains reservoir, kills bass.
Mountain Meadows Reservoir. They said it was because of the drought. Uh-huh.
7. PA: Speedwell Forge refilling next spring.
8. LA: Bass biting on Atchafalaya.
Spinnerbaits.
9. Megastrike: Find Floatin’ Frank.
Cool contest.
10. MI: Detroit River habitat work.
…as endangered, even though eel biologists say it’s not needed. Eels are everywhere and eaten by everything so that would be bad.
12. 8 trillion microbeads pollute U.S. waters DAILY.
Don’t know if that’s Chix Little stuff, but if not that doesn’t sound good. Microbeads are the stuff in shampoo and soap.
_____
Line of the Day
Topwater fishing for bass seems to be somewhat out of favor.
Thank you Shimano
Been traveling a little, using rods/reels that weren’t not my own. Pretty durn frustrating. Had an hour to hit the lake yesterday, picked up my #1 setup — older Shimano medium/extra fast tip V Rod with a Curado reel — tied on a Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher, made one cast and was literally amazed at how far it sailed out there. No backlash. I’d forgotten how good it can be. #countonit
Hey!
Tip of the Day
In his case, the Strike King KVD Splash. My fave line from the vid: “Bloop—-bloop-bloop-bloop.”
Quote of the Day
I don’t fish to make a living. I fish to be the best at it.
– Aaron Martens. Also said:
> “I’ve always wanted to be #1 in the sport. It’s why I’ve worked so hard at this sport and why I started fishing. I wanted to be the best at it. Watching Kevin and Gary Klein and those guys over the years, I wanted to be at the top.”
Shot of the Day
Shot of the year, maybe?
Random
Killer whales chase boat off Cali coast:
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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