Today’s Top 4
Actually Gene Bishop of Ridgeland, MS won it, with a substantial 55-14, but using a “Barnett Special:”
> …8-inch junebug Zoom Lizard…Texas-rigged with a 4/0 hook and a 1/4-oz bullet sinker. “I was barely crawling it back over the pad stems lying on the bottom in 2 feet of water.”
Was also old-skool butt-seatin’ it:
He tweren’t the only old-schooler neither:
> Jay Brainard of Vinita, OK….finished a close second with 54-08. While all the other anglers that made the top 12 cut fished shallow pad stems and reeds, Brainard skipped a 3/8-oz Strike King spinnerbait under boat docks.
> He swapped the original No. 4 blade for a bigger No. 4.5 gold blade and slow-rolled the spinnerbait 4 to 5 feet deep. “If I got a hard strike, I couldn’t hook them. Even a trailer hook didn’t help. I missed a lot of fish.” [Weird….]
Some guy named Tommy Biffle ended up 3rd:
> …Carolina-rigged Gene Larew Biffle-O Lizard, which he dragged through pad stems.
Tommy was Carolina-rigging?? That’s older-school than my man LL with his gen1 iPod:
At the Grand Lake BFL, won by Zack Birge with a stout 29-01:
> He found warmer water in a pocket and figured the big females he caught in practice would be moving in there. “I stayed in there all day and netted 20 to 25 fish in 2 or 3 feet of water.”
> …a chrome sexy-colored Rat-L-Trap…was the only bait he used…. “Everyone else was throwing umbrella rigs and jerkbaits. I threw the Rat-L-Trap because nobody else was, so I figured the fish hadn’t seen it.”
…for bass. Here’s what it says, then I will debunk it:
> Fishing under strictly controlled conditions, using identical gear and for the same lengths of time, the researchers presented six different coloured Senko-style soft plastic stick worms….
> A total of 120 largemouth bass were [caught] on Lake Opinicon for analysis. The data suggests that lure colour, when lure type is standardized, does not influence CPUE (catch-per-unit-effort), hooking depth or hooking location.
> Interestingly, even lures that represent colours that are not “normally” found on prey items in Lake Opinicon (e.g., pink, orange), CPUE and hooking depth are similar among lure colours.
> Although there are numerous factors that influence CPUE…lure colour does not appear to be an important factor.
News
1. Chapman gets Picasso Lures.
Good story about a good dude. Be a fan. No idea he had hoops scholarship offers — and instead chose to deliver milk and fish for basses. #stout #borderlinecrazy
3. Kurt Dove helps youth club.
4. SC: 42.30 limit on Cooper River??
Why this is a big deal: Derbies are won there with 1/4 that much weight. This was an SC Nation tourney, Brian Tyler won it, 2nd was 25.12, 5th was 18.36. Brian had a 10.87, two 9s, and two 6s, said he caught ’em on an unnamed swimbait. #giveitupBri
> …all of the fish came out of one spot, where Brian marked them on his fish finder bunched up in a ditch with a brushpile.
Tucker Martin, 17, bank fishing on the Chipola River, spinnerbait under a bridge. 4.49 lbs, 20.3″ long, 14.4″ girth.
6. FL: 15er leading TrophyCatch.
TrophyCatch is FL’s “submit pics and win stuff” program. This 15-09 was caught on Kingsley Lake:
7. B.A.S.S. HS events announced.
8. How Classic anglers fished with gloves.
Cool, interesting piece by the BNG (B.A.S.S. New Guy) Bryan Brasher.
9. LunkerHunt baits now at select Ganders.
11. OK: New yak/canoe bass trail.
12. LA: Truck/bass rig gets carjacked.
Carjacker crashed the truck and boat. Dang.
13. Design a new PFD, win $10K.
14. Group wants to stop invasives spread…
…with “Clean, Drain, Dry” Initiative. Heart in the right place but it won’t matter. Spread = inevi, so don’t waste $ and time on it.
15. Shane’s Baits sale.
Here’s Shane from Shane’s Baits pumpin’ his sale yo!
Tip of the Day
As we learned above: olde skool can be cool.
> Buzzbaits remain a valuable tool as a big-fish lure…especially when fishing early spring on lakes that are beginning to warm up.
> There is no magic temperature, but the lure shines when the water temp is between mid-50s and 60s, especially when bass start moving onto the flats and into spawning areas.
> What makes this lure a good choice then is it’s so efficient at covering water and attracting big fish.
> …a little stain is ideal…it’s imperative to work it slowly. You can slow it down by choosing a bigger blade, using a bulky skirt for lift and adding a planing-style soft plastic as a trailer.
> I like Strike King’s 3/8-ounce KVD or Tour Grade Buzzbait. The KVD has a gold blade, the Tour has a nickel blade. I prefer gold blades when the water is stained. Strike King also offers a “Perfect Skirt” that is a larger profile and creates more drag to slow the bait. I include a Rage Bug, a flat-style creature bait with great action, as a trailer.
> I keep my color choices basic; darker skirts in stained water and perch or bluegill colors in clear. I always add a trailer hook, too, and prefer a larger 3/0 size like Mustad’s Trailer Hook that has a short shank.
KVD also likes the blade to “squeak loudly.” Read on Bassmaster.com here how he makes that happen.
Maybe what big mama bass are thinking?
Quote of the Day
Instead of watching a basketball game, I’ll go out and build 10 spinnerbaits.
– Jacob Powroznik, aka J-Pow, aka “single and ready to mingle,” as he says in this Bassin’Fan interview. ‘Splained:
Shot of the Day
This Matt Lee selfie cracks me up…for some reason:
Killah baits yo!
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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