BassBlaster

Todays anglers too good, Rig swimbaits faster, Melons of the week

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Today’s Top 5

Feeshn freak-out over electronics and social media.

In MN and not about bass, but still remarkable insanity:

> …a growing number of stakeholders worry how walleye populations can continue to withstand increased angling efficiency by men and women who continue to invest in ever-improved fish-finding electronics and satellite-guided navigation.

> A related change — announcing fishing success in real time over Facebook and other social media — intensifies fishing pressure over hot spots.

Let’s break that down:

> I agree that electronics and GPS practically catch the fish for you. Sometimes you don’t even have to cast!

> And I’m totally down with the travesty of fishermen posting their actual waypoints on social media — that can kill a spot quicker’n you can say “root-a-toot-toot-tooty.”

Thank you Mr. Yogurt! Where the heck do these crazy MN thoughts come from? They’ve prolly been listening to too much:

Hahaha! Okay let’s be real for a sec. The quickest thing that kills a spot? An Elite Series fisherman on it. Seriously — I think that’s true. A week after the Classic leaves Conroe those spots will look like this:

Ditch melons of the week!

Kickin’ ‘er off with the 13.36-lb blimp Dave Gliebe got in the New Year’s Day tourney at Lake Camanche, CA. Said he was fishing some dredger tailings on a flat between the north and south shore in about 20’, fooled her with a Bass Patrol Jig (brown/purple). Lake record there is 18+!!

Patrick P. nailed this 10-11 dock melon on a Zoom Speed Craw (Cali 420) with a belly hook. All cool but check this setup he borrowed from his boy: medium-action Galyans rod, beater $20 spinning reel, 10-lb braid and a 16-lb Gamma fluoro leader. #sketchy

Not sure of the weight of this swamper, but Blake Smith spanked it somewhere in FL with a TX-rigged Strike King Shim E Stick (black blue flake blue tail):

Zimbabwean Bruce Cooke spanked this safari melon during a three-wins-in-a-row run where he caught his biggest fish each time on a Bill Lewis StutterStep topwater…which actually was invented by his bud in Zimbabwe:

KVD’s hook choices.

Do you obsess over the exact right hooks? All the Elitists do. Kinda makes sense since that’s the only thing connecting you and your $100K rig to the fish…. Anyhow here’s KVD:

> I use three styles for Texas rigging and they’re all the Mustad Grip-Pin variety. I’ve used a lot of different hooks, but the Grip-Pin does the best at securing the head of the plastic to the hook shank.

> I also include various sizes of the Mustad Power Lock Plus swimbait hooks that have a spring keeper on the front and many are belly weighted.

> For trebles, I stock sizes 6 through 1/0 KVD Triple Grip Elite trebles which are what I use most of the time. However, I also maintain an assortment of KVD round bend trebles in sizes 6 through 1/0 for special applications.

> I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to change out treble hooks on hard baits. …when grinding on the bottom, they do take a beating. I know some anglers use a hook sharpener…but I don’t believe you can get these hooks as sharp as they are new.

> A new item I’ve added is the Mustad Lure Ryder stinger hook for swimbaits that can add extra bite near the end of the swimbait. You simply tie a short leader on the stinger, fasten it to the line tie of your main swimbait hook, and bury the stinger in the back of the swimbait.

> If you…examine your hook and say, “Aww, it’s sharp enough,” you could be making a mistake. Pay extra attention to your hooks and use the perfect size to maximize action and get the best penetration.

Best bassin’ names of all time.

Thanks for all the suggestions, compiled them right here on BassBlaster.rocks.

Here’s a pic of my favorite bassin’ mag cover of all time (I know I did it but it’s still my fave) with my favorite bassin’ nickname of all time:

Collector’s issue cuz we never did another one! lol

You know you’re raising your kids right…

…when they bring a bait in for show and tell, in this case a SPRO BBZ-1 Swimmybait. Too cool:

News

1. Palaniuk gets Seaguar and Zoom.

Can’t believe Pure Fishing would let Brandon go. If I were a fishing co, I’d be recruiting him like D1 coaches recruit 5-star high-schoolers. Guess Zoom sent him a few baits:

2. Paul “Kneel n Reel/A-Rig” Elias running a Bassin’ Cat.

Here he is in his new rig. Not sure what’s on the back but I think it says “Panda:”

3. IN: KVD, Lowen, McLelland, Feider at Bass U.

Wild Outdoor Expo at the Kokomo Event & Conference Center, Jan 11-12. Bass Us always rock and KVD is a great speaker, but don’t expect him to tell you his secrets because:

4. NY: Menendez will be at Niagara show.

Greater Niagara Fishing and Outdoor Expo, Jan 20-22 at the Conference and Event Center Niagara Falls, NY.

5. Stetson Blaylock and Alton Jones Jr get BOOYAH.

Best comment on that FB post was Dewayne Blaylock’s “Alright cuz:”

6. Bill Lowen says side-scanning works in skinny water.

7. J-Wheels used to be a…nanny.

Gotta be another name for a guy who watches someone’s kids?? Either way, that’s a cool nickname Wheeler!

8. Elite rookie Skylar Hamilton talks Xpress.

Why he’s fishing out of one.

9. FLWer Brandon McMillan gets Yo-Zuri.

10. Zona talks HydroWave.

Says he’s seen stuff happen with it he can’t explain. If you’re not convinced yet, watch it fo sho:

Git one on TW.

11. T-H Marine expands staff.

Greg Buie was promoted from national sales manager to VP of sales and marketing, and new sales managers are Thomas “TJ” James and Zack McLanahan.

T-H still killin’ it!

12. GA/SC: Thurmond/Clarks Hill getting better?

A couple recent 27+ limits:

> …one reason for the larger fish is that more fishermen are sinking brushpiles to replace the fish cover lost by fluctuating pools over the years.

Plus hydrilla, herring and other baitfish….

13. MN: Classic Bass using MLF format.

14. DC: Trump will be given anti-ethanol petition.

Sign it here. #ethanolsux

15. Learn about Gene Gilliland.

B.A.S.S.’s head conservation fish-head. Great thing about Gene is he’s a bass fisherman, which too often it seems like biologists are not. Plus he’s got “gill” in his name so….

16. SPRO giving away Fat Papas.

In honor of Russ Lane now being an MLFer.

17. Kistler’s having a warehouse clearance.

18. Shimano lookin’ fer Retail Services Coordinator.

19. Cool bass eating jerkbaits vid…

…from the boys at Tack-Tickle Bassin’:

Matt, you remind me of Bobo from the TV show “Finding Bigfoot,” which should be named “Finding Not a Dang Thing.” You guys have the same laid-back, super-into-it Cali thing going on. No funnin’ here man, all good!

20. Boating has class.

Middle class that is:

> Boating is predominantly “middle-class,” with 72% of boat owners having a household income of less than $100,000.

But…to afford a bass boat you need:

Doh!

Seems boatingworld.com got the Champion, Charger, Challenger thing wrong [they’ve corrected it], and since I excerpted what they wrote, I did too. Stupid of me assuming a boating media source would get the facts right..??

Anyhow, Kelly Power emailed me this: “We are building true Champion boat hulls and decks, not Challenger copies.”

Sorry man. There you have it bass peeps!

Tip of the Day

Michael Neal: How to rig swimbaits straighter.

Rig ’em quicker and straighter with this little tip from the FLWer (good dude too):

Believe that swimbait is a Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad.

Quote of the Day

…it was a live bass fishing show on TV. Those are words that should never be in the same sentence.

Sportscaster Joe Buck, who admits he knows zero about feeshn, talkin’ the first attempt by Fox to air a live bassin’ derby (wasn’t that the Ranger Cup? or was it an FLW?) and his participation in it. Also said:

> …somebody forgot to tell the bass between 4:30 and 6:00 on that particular night to bite because we were going on all these different boats and talking to these different anglers, fishermen, and none of them are catching anything.

Maybe it won’t work live on network TV, but the Bassin’master Live deal rawks. Mike McKinnis needs to get Tommy and Z to do 10 hours of that a day. Wait — Mike, make it 12! Let’s talk about this at the Classic man!

Shot of the Day

Two bass after one shad! It’s like the bottom one knew the top one wouldn’t get it. Screen cap from another tedious but lots of views vid:

Random

“All the time this happen.”

Quote from a guy who fishes for stripers from the shore of the Hudson River, NYC, talkin’ ’bout seeing “floaters”…meaning dead bodies floating down the river. Crazy.

Sign up another bass-head!

If you’re forwarding every Blaster to other bass crackheads, tx much — or you can email me the addys and we’ll take care of it! We’ll never send spam, sell the list or anything else crazy….

Use the best!

Git on these yo!

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Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin’. Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster is a daily-ish roundup of the best in bassin’, and is the #2 daily read on any given day in the wide world o’ bass. Get the Jay Kumar’s BassBlaster app:

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Gitcha Bassin' Fix

The best, worst and funniest in bassin'! Jay Kumar is the guy who created BassFan.com, co-hosted Loudmouth Bass with Zona, was a B.A.S.S. senior writer and a whole lot more in bassin™. Make sure you sign up for the BassBlaster email!

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