If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!
Today’s Top 4
Hahahaha! Funniest thing is the guy holding the bag didn’t see it. So if no camera was there to prove it, it prolly woulda gotten all UFC like this:
It’s ON!
Guess if you’re in a smallie derby, a little Valium in the well might be a good idea….
Lots of recent pics of smallies with black spots, but don’t know if I’ve seen one washed- out-looking like this’n — you?
Don’t believe me?
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Seriously tho — don’t know how smart that is cuz that’s like a magnet to the greys. Buddy of mine put this in a field just messin’ around…
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Naked squid! lol
Interestin’/odd stuff I noticed:
1. Dropshotting on the James River??
Randy Gillespie from CA won it (kidding…he’s from NC):
> “I caught 6 of my 8 keepers flipping a dropshot rig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Finesse Worm. It’s definitely an unusual tactic. In practice, the fish wanted something small and compact. I left only an 8″ leader between the sinker and the bait.”
Mike Sitko won it:
> …ran to Lake St. Clair and targeted isolated weed patches along a mid-lake stretch that he estimated at 200 yards long by 50 yards wide.
> “I dragged minnow baits on a dropshot and then I would snap tubes [aka “cracking” a tube — read Z’s explanation of that technique here]. The dropshot was more of a search-type bait. I dragged it through the cover, and when I got hung up on weeds, I flipped the tube in there and snapped it a couple of times.
> …used a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on the drop-shot rig and a 4-inch green-pumpkin-colored Poor Boys Tube.
3. Do-nothin’ tube on St. Clair.
Kyle Greene did the opposite of crackin’:
> …targeting scattered weeds. He said he moved along a 300-yard stretch and fished in 6-10’….
> “I used two baits — a fiesta melon-colored PROvider Performance Series Tube and a natural-colored swimbait.
Have I said this before? My son’s “when nothing else works pattern” is to cast out a soft-plastic, put the rod down and leave it. Literally has worked every…single…time. Crazy — and I still can’t make myself do it.
News
1. Ike on Stray Casts tomorrow night.
Zaniness for sure. Will be on the Bass Buzz segment — 7:30 pm Central on straycasts.net or YouTube channel Stray Casts Outdoor Cartoon Television.
Also: Ike’s First Annual Ike Celebrity Pro-Am Bass Fishing Tournament & Family Fun Fest (y’all need a few more words there Ike) is this Saturday at the Camden, NJ Waterfront on the “dry hole for bass” Delaware River (lol). Derby with peeps like KVD, Ish and Zona, family fun zone 11:00-2:00 and more.
Proceeds benefit The Ike Foundation and the Mid-Atlantic Youth Anglers & Outdoor Program. Wish I coulda fished it but cain’t….
2. Wesley Strader on BassEdge Radio.
Wes is pretty funny sometimes….
3. Jacob Wheeler prioritizing Elites.
Next year:
> “I’m looking at fishing both if I can, but if I can’t, I’ll be fishing the Elites. It’s not easy to qualify for the Elites — I’ve been trying to do it for several years and it wouldn’t make sense to pass up that opportunity.”
So now the Elites’ll have J-Pow, J-Lu, J-Lee and J-Wheels — oh yeah, and J-Mac: McKinnis loves it when you call him that. Go ahead, do it….
4. Anesthesiologist fishing FLW Cup.
Competitors: If he offers you a cold drink on the water, don’t take it….
5. OK: Jimmy Houston in OK Sports Hall of Fame.
Congrats to Jimmy, great guy. Roland Martin on him:
> “He’s got the best personality of anyone. He just loves to talk to people. He strikes up a conversation with just about everybody. He is always giggling. He’s always patting people on the back.
> “His personality is just so over the top. Gosh, I look up to that. If I could do just half of what Jimmy does with people, I would be so far better off.”
6. Getcha some tears from barone’s latest.
Lotsa good barone scribbles, that one’s up there.
7. AL: Gville lacking 2- to 4-lbers?
Because of a few poor spawns?
8. PA: State DEP still won’t help Susquehanna.
Background: DNR says there’s a problem, DEP won’t lift a finger apparently because if they say there’s a problem it’ll trigger measures that the ag folks and others won’t like.
DEP folks seem to have no stones, and apparently no mirrors in their houses….
Steve Voros won it with 67.05 over 3 days — sounds like he made about a 40-mile run. Not sure why I can’t find any real coverage of it, but here are the results.
> “Slow is not our preferred way to fish. I hate it. But it was our only way to be consistent.”
> “We knew there were lots of fish on those channel swing points.”
11. CA: Delta Ultimate Frog winners.
Jamond Andrews and Harvey Pulliam won it, check those plaques!
> Rob Goffredo, owner of the Bartel Bait and Tackle Shop in Brewerton, said he’s encountered folks driving golf balls intentionally at him and others while bass fishing on Oneida Lake.
Probly Canadians on vacation….
13 CA: 180 lakes have too much mercury.
14. Latest Angler’s Port Marine deal.
2014 Ranger Z520c with 2013 Yammy 250hp SHO. Has all the stuff — even American Racing Wheels rims on the trailer!
Tip of the Day
Excerpted from a good piece on the Bassin’Fan:
> Todd Faircloth opts for pitching a Texas-rigged Strike King Structure Bug on bright, sunny days when the cover creates shaded areas to target. “So instead of having a hundred different targets to pitch at, I can be more precise in knowing where the fish are going to be.”
> …he avoids pegging. “I just feel like I get more bites that way.”
> Shady areas of flooded bushes and laydowns…. When his lure enters the water, he lets it fall on a slack line to create a more natural descent.
> “If it falls short of the bottom it has either hit a limb or a fish has it. I’m not one of those guys who soak my bait very long.”
> When Jason Christie needs a bite in the clutch, he pitches a Texas-rigged Yum Christie Critter to flooded willow trees and other wood cover. …a bobber-stop for pegging the weight.
> Christie keeps his boat about 15 feet away from the target and pitches tight to the trunk of the willow tree first, and then tries the overhanging branches.
> “The closer you can drop your bait on that fish, the more apt it will be to react. Even if it isn’t feeding, if you drop your bait close to that fish, it is going to be surprised and it’s going to get that bait.”
> “I believe in a day’s time a guy is better off making more pitches than fishing the bait longer in a spot. You’ll cover a lot more water and put the bait in front of the aggressive ones better than trying to fish the bait around the cover.”
Apparently I don’t fish fast enough, which means I must be in the sweet spot between not slow enough and not fast enough. Derp.
Quote of the Day
I wouldn’t call myself a good shallow-water fisherman.
– Elitist Paul Mueller talkin‘ craziness. Paul, how can you be an Elitist — and a dang good one — and not be a good shallow-water fisherman?!?! I get not being “great” at it, but not even “good?” That’s full-moon crazy mang! Like all of a sudden changin’ into a dad-blamed werewolf:
Shot of the Day
Random
Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” got a big boost in the Wayne’s World days, someone’s gotta give this kick-tuckus American classic a boost somewhere. Still rips after 40 dang years!
