If you’re getting the BassBlaster for the first time it’s cuz a bud signed you up!
Bass scribblin’ legend Louie “the legend” Stout wrote this for Bassin’master mag — so either it’s legit or he was puttin’ one over on James Hall (Hall IS the suspicious type, but not of Louie):
> Try Lee Sisson’s Dangle Berry rig. The former Elite Series pro and lure designer says his creation is what helped him get into the Elite Series before he retired from professional tournament fishing….
> The rig consists of a 4/0 offset Mustad hook with a free-sliding weight on the hook shank. The uniquely molded weight [Lee used to sell them] has a hole in which the sinker can slide up and down the shank, and the hook has a spring-like bait keeper on the eyelet for securing plastics.
> “One advantage this has over weighted hooks is it doesn’t dampen the action. The free-swinging weight allows the bait to roll side-to-side during the retrieve.
> Dangle Berry rigs work best in clear water 6′ or less. “The secret is to fish it slow and let it settle to the bottom. It fishes great over grass because the weight doesn’t dig in like other weighted rigs.
> “When I was experimenting, I discovered getting the precise weight is critical. I have no idea what it weighs — I just know the weight and hook are perfectly matched to achieve the action I desired.”
And here it is/was:
…from ’78. Thinkin’ he was onto sumpin’ the rest of bassin’ is only just now gittin’ on:
> Charlie watched minnows in clear water, move through the water in a smooth way with no action. They were just sliding through the water with ease.
> He designed and experimented until everything was in balance. Charlie designed, made, and modified a jighead to work with this type fishing. The head was flat with the hook exposed. This design kept the hook turned upward and allowed the rubber worm to slide through the water.
> The size of the rubber worm was adjusted downward to 4″. This seemed to be the right size.
> This method of fishing was called “Slider Fishing.” This was completely different from conventional methods at the time but it proved to be a way to increase fish catches especially during tough conditions.
Remind anyone of the small swimbait deal? Dare I say…Flanders Rig??
Still won’t Ned, but I would do the Slide. Gitcha Slider heads on the TW.
You’ll never guess (from here):
> …Pensacola was an active seaport in the early 1900s that brought sailors to town…helped support a thriving red light district. Biggs said the houses of prostitution were located on Zaragosa Street and remained in business until World War II.
> One of the [fishing] store’s regular customers was a man named Angelo Capaduca. Capaduca carved a wooden fishing plug that worked well on the speckled trout…. He gave his handmade plugs to other regulars at the store.
> “All the artificial lures in those days were called minnows. One of the regulars, a Greek who spoke heavily accented, broken English, used the minnow. One day, after a good catch, he said, ‘That minnow, it do the hoochie coochie, just like the girls on Zaragosa Street.'” The hand-carved plug thus became the Zaragosa Minnow.
> During the Great Depression, a representative from James Heddon & Son Lures in Dowagiac, MI called on the Pensacola sporting goods store. Hearing about the Zaragosa Minnow…the Heddon salesman took one of the lures with him. It wasn’t long before Heddon was making its own wooden Zaragosa Minnow.
> When Heddon began experimenting with plastic lures in the 1950s, the lures were called “spooks” because they were transparent. Thus the Zaragosa Minnow became the Zaragosa Spook. The name was eventually shortened to Zara Spook.
And it still kicks tail! I prefer the Jr. — and the name “hoochie coochie!”
Bottom line: Bass ice fishing ain’t bassin’. No offense ice-belt peeps!
Post any weirdo bass you’ve caught on FB or dm me them on the Insta!
1. Bass Cat founder Ron Pierce passes on.
81 years old, started Bass Cat out of his garage. Awesome story. RIP bassin’ brother, hope to see you again.Here’s Ron and his son Rick (right), and a few older Cat shots:
Should also mention: Dave Davis of Crossed Industries is the new West Coast sales mgr for Bassin’ Cat.
2. Elias back in Elites thru Legends exemption.
Word is kneel ‘n reel and the Alabama Rig were Legendary enough…okay not really…Paul has won some stuff too. Plus Shaw Grigsby and Donny Barone were threatening to do a hunger strike at B.A.S.S. HQ.
Okay made that up too….
3. KVD’s perspective on the Elites.
> There was a time when an Elite angler could consistently do well during a season with an “all-or- nothing,” fish-to-win mentality.
> That worked pretty well for me in the early years of my career. But the Elite Series field has grown a lot more competitive. Now, if you throw caution to the wind every day of an event, it can cost you a season.
> That’s because we’ve seen an influx of proven FLW winners joining the Elite Series. These guys aren’t rookies.
> Sure I could say I had a pretty good season with 3 wins, but the end result was disappointing. I recorded some of my worst-ever finishes because my stubbornness near the end of the season prevented me from recovering from bad starts and finishing higher overall in the AOY.
Yep, that’s right Kevin. 3 wins is:
Just “pretty good”??? KVD also said:
> I’ve come to realize that I can’t continue to rely upon strategies that worked 2, 5 or 10 years ago.
4. New Elite Tyler Carrier still looking for sponsors.
> I’m still trying to lock up some sponsors. It’s hard to get somebody to commit.
Yep boys and girls, it’s hard even at that level. Maybe harder than ever. Used to be it averaged about 3 years of hanging around the Elites to get some decent/good sponsor deals. Now I think it’s more like 5 unless you crush it.
5. Am dude gets final Classic spot.
At Nation Champeenship on Kentucky Lake. How psyched does the winner, MO’s Scott Clift, look here:
Possibly dazed/shocked to be going to the Classic?
> Clift primarily fished with a Megabass jerkbait (elegy bone) for the first 3 days of competition [team derby then individual fish-off]…found success around channel swings and on flats when the sun shined.
> …with no luck under cloudy skies and frosty temperatures…Clift opted for a stickbait with a green back [M shad color, same bait], some silver on the side and a touch of purple on the tail. Saturday’s limit was boated at the mouth of the Big Sandy River.
> “It seemed like I had to twitch that stickbait in front of them forever to get them to bite. It was very methodical. I only had 8 keeper bites all day.”
Runner-up Barron Adams (GA) was making a 45-minute run south to the New Johnsonville area. He fished in 2-5′. Primary bait was a red Rat-L-Trap (looks like 1/4-oz in the pic), but the last day also used a jerkbait and spinnerbait.
7. FLWer J-Wat gets Swagger weights.
8. FLWer Redington gets oxygenated water.
Not for his livewells….
9. MN meeting about Mille Lacs smallies.
Let’s hope the DNR doesn’t do to the smallies what they did to the walleyes there. Sheesh.
10. CA: Trout plants coming for Wohlford, Poway.
Gitcha swimbait rig on standby!
11. Lucas Oil’s Forrest Lucas Interior Secretary candidate.
Wow would that be a good change.
12. T-H Marine picks up another.
> T-H Marine Supplies and Wave Away LLC of East Olympia, WA announce they have entered into an agreement that grants T-H Marine exclusive global rights to manufacture and distribute the Wave Away Sonar and GPS Screen Cleaner product line.
Cool, check the Wave Away stuff on TW.
13. Check the new Rapala apparel.
Rapala and related brands’ apparel been getting better the last couple years. I like these but lots more there:
15. Fitzy Rods supports LSU and South Carolina teams.
Fishy story of the week
Dude was bass fishing on the Cape Fear River, NC and ended up catching this:
Pretty sure that’s a cave boar. Said it was 112 lbs:
> Caught it on 10-lb line, took 30 minutes to land it.
> “I knew that he was a monster. I just picked him up and ran him up the hill.”
> “After taking some photos and weighing the fish on a set of hand scales, Brewington ignored the urging of his friend to take the fish and have it officially weighed. Instead, he took it back to the water’s edge, where he revived it and watched it swim away.”
Listen, if you can somehow weigh a 100+ lb fish on hand-held scales then pick that fish up and run it up a hill, you have my eternal respect because you’re obviously ex-Special Forces.
Lol, good catch, glad they released him.
Some more options for ya:
Will continue to say that I believe rod choice is HUUUUUUGE. Also beginning to believe that it’s very hard to pick out the right rod without a bait on the end of it.
> A lot of Elite Series anglers I come in contact with typically use a rod that’s slightly heavier than they might need. That’s because you can get a better hookset with a heavier-action rod and you can get them to the boat more efficiently.
> Fighting a big bass in circles around the boat might be fun, but it’s not the way to get her into the livewell. I like to get them in as quickly as possible, so having the right rod is a must.
> Beyond what I’ve said already, I’d suggest that before you buy a rod you play with it for a few minutes. Make sure it has the action and feel that you need for what you’re going to be doing the next time you go fishing. Don’t buy one just because some pro tells you that’s what he uses or because it’s super light.
> There’s no standard in rod making. A medium-heavy action from one maker isn’t the same as a medium-heavy action from another, and a fast tip isn’t always a fast tip.
I’m no Elite but wanna say this:
> Great point: No one standard so bear that in mind the next time you do an internet buy.
> Sometimes heavier rods may not suit your hookset or line choice and you actually may get hooks in the fish LESS, believe it or not. Experienced this myself fishing with the G. Loomis folks, and was told yep, that can happen.
> I don’t fish enough right now [insert loud shriek here] to get crazy specialized with rod choices. So 99% of the time I’m using a medium-heavy/fast tip between 7′ and 7′ 6″ no matter what I’m throwing. I like the lightest-weight, least-chunky rods possible.
> Whenever I pick up a new rod in a store, I always choose that same (as above) rod length and action — because I know what the rods I have feel like so I can do an apples/apples comparison.
Hope that helps ya bass-heads!
I don’t have any friends who want to fish as much as I do.
– Hahahaha! I feel ya bud! Some dude on a forum post talkin’.
Reminds me of the last time I went fishin’ with a bud. Insisted on anchoring and fishing the same stretch of riprap for an hour. I caught two in the first 5 minutes, nothing the rest of the time. Good times….like fishin’ with Mercer when he gets his Canadian on:
I was like, “Dave, it’s wabbit season.” And he’s like, “What are you talking about?” And I was like, “You got any snacks on this boat?”
Weird shot, kinda like a bass jumpin’ at the camera, but I like it:
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….
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:
