Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i Bassmaster

With the effectiveness of the Neko rig being exposed more every day, anglers who do not have the components to create the rig need to be creative. Although only a few hooks are ideal (see page 52), just about any small, straight-shank worm hook will work. However, nail weights can be hard to come by. So, if you are desperate and need a quick fix, try one of the following weight hacks to keep your Neko in hand. 1 Steal a screw-lock off a swimbait hook. Now, grab a small bell weight or drop shot weight (whichever is cheapest and available) and slide it over the hook portion of the screw-lock. 2 With pliers, crimp the hook portion of the screw-lock to hold the weight in place. 3 Now, simply…

Ott DeFoe Hometown: Knoxville, Tenn. Birthday: Sept. 17, 1985 This is the issue that falls in-between seasons, so let’s look both back and forward. For starters, give us your thoughts on finishing ninth in the Toyota Angler of the Year standings in 2016. I’m happy with my season, for sure. My first couple of years on the Elite Series, I finished in the Top 10, but I hadn’t done that the last few years. And to win a regular-season event (Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wis.) is something that we all want to do. What about the season in front of us? Any event in particular that you’ve got circled on your calendar? I’m looking forward to the very first event at Lake Cherokee. It’s right in my backyard. The very…

January 1 New Year’s Day. Just 39 days until the new Bassmaster Elite Series season begins. 16 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. (observed) Actual birthday is Jan. 15. 21 Squirrel Appreciation Day. Because Mepps spinners couldn’t exist without them. 26 Australia Day. We’re including this one just for Bassmaster pro Aussie Carl Jocumsen. 28 Chinese New Year. Elite pro Greg Vinson isn’t Chinese, but he’s probably hoping more than anyone that it really is the Year of the Rooster. February 5 Super Bowl Sunday. Just a warmup for the Bassmaster Classic. 14 Valentine’s Day. Forget a box of candy; how about a box of tackle? 22 National Margarita Day. “If life gives you limes, make margaritas.” – Jimmy Buffett 28 Mardi Gras. Not just a…

Michigan’s Indian River gave up a nearly 10-pound smallmouth bass Sept. 11 that set a new standard for brown bass in the state. According to the Detroit Free Press, Robert Bruce Kraemer of Treasure Island, Fla., caught the 23.10-inch, 9.98-pound bass in Cheboygan County, besting the previous record of 9.33 pounds from Alcona County’s Hubbard Lake in October 2015. Kraemer caught the fish on nightcrawlers.…

A Philadelphia woman sustained minor injuries but a major shock when she was struck by a catfish falling from the sky while walking in downtown Philadelphia in early September. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Lisa Lobree was headed to a morning fitness class near the Philadelphia Art Museum when she heard a rustling in the trees and looked up, only to be struck in the face by a falling catfish. Witnesses reported seeing a bird flying off about the time Lobree was struck. Lobree said the fish fell from a height of about 50 feet, based on the size of the trees. She said the fish hit several limbs before landing on her face. “I was freaking out,” Lobree said. “It definitely hurt me, and I didn’t know what happened.…

LE ANN SWINDLE scribbled an inspirational message on husband Gerald’s sandwich bag during the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. The message read: “Fight like you’re the third monkey trying to get on Noah’s Ark. And brother, it’s starting to rain!” Her notes are daily rituals she provides as she packs his lunch on tournament days. “They may sound silly, but like all of them, this one hit home,” says Swindle. Swindle’s lead going into the championship on Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, fell into jeopardy after a poor start the first two days. Second-place AOY candidate Keith Combs was catching them pretty good while Swindle languished near the bottom. Smallmouth lakes have always been his Achilles’ heel, and this was no exception. He’ll be the first to admit he…

Had the Swindles waited until the next day to go back to the hospital, the doctor said his leg likely would have been amputated. Gerald Swindle has a hitch in his giddy-up. The 46-year-old Alabama pro is happy to be limping, though, as the alternative was a prosthetic right leg. Only five days after Swindle won his second Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, he elected to have surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee and clean up some arthritis that had become increasingly painful. The result was disastrous. “It was supposed to be a simple surgery. I woke up at 4 a.m., drove to Birmingham, had surgery at 7, woke up and headed back to the house. But by the time I got home, my thigh…

“An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won’t let him do it at home.” — Author unknown A monument to one of the most famous bass in history is back in Eufaula, Ala., after spending the past decade at B.A. S.S. founder Ray Scott’s Legacy Lakes property near Pintlala, Ala. Leroy Brown was the name given to a small largemouth caught by legendary angler and fishing industry innovator Tom Mann from Lake Eufaula in 1973. Mann wrote in his 2002 autobiography Think Like a Fish that Leroy Brown had personality and smarts. Mann took the fish home and kept it first in a pool and later in a giant aquarium at his popular attraction Tom…

We’ve reported on the father-son team of Jeff and Jack Danos and their Tactibite Fish Call, a castable floating device that emits sounds designed to attract gamefish. Now the Danoses have some serious investment capital after a fall 2016 appearance on the ABC television show Shark Tank. The inventors say the device has attracted both saltwater and freshwater fish — including largemouth bass, trout, flounder and mackerel during product trials. The Danoses told the “sharks” that they had $350,000 in online sales in five months, attracting interest from Robert Herjavec, who agreed to give the Danoses $150,000 in capital for a 10 percent stake in the company.…

Chris Pratt, the star of last fall’s movie The Magnificent Seven, said during a taping of SiriusXM’s “Entertainment Weekly” radio show that he did quite a bit of bass fishing during downtime on the outdoor Louisiana set. Until, that is, the landowner found out about it. According to PageSix.com: “This set they built was on a huge chunk of private land, and there were a couple ponds on there stocked with bass,” Pratt said. “I must have fished 100 to 200 hours.” But Pratt’s downtime fishing ended abruptly after he posted a fish photo to Instagram. “The owner of the place saw it and was like, ‘Is he fishing my pond?’” co-star Ethan Hawke said. “All of a sudden, we got the red alert; we had to stop fishing.”…

The 2017 season will be the first under a new rule that allows anglers to use rods up to 10 feet in length. B.A.S.S. regulations had limited anglers to rods no longer than 8 feet since the 1970s. Anglers proposed the change, arguing it would foster development and innovation in the tackle industry and wouldn’t provide competitive advantages any more than other equipment advances that have been allowed. The B.A.S.S. rules committee and tournament director Trip Weldon agreed to the change. Veteran bass fishing writer Jay Kumar held a contest, asking fishing fans to send potential names for 10-foot flipping rods. The feedback included some humorous suggestions, including Manute Pol and Flippy Longstickings.…

CASTING A 1/16- or 1/8-ounce weighted fly dangling beneath a slip bobber on 5- to 6-pound-test line with a spinning rod — if you haven’t tried or heard of it, you’re probably thinking it’s yet another Western finesse technique designed to catch relatively small bass under ultraclear water conditions. The float-and-fly, however, is not what you may, perhaps, be envisioning. Gary Dobyns, one of California’s winningest pros and the founder of Dobyns Rods, is known as a power fisherman. It’s not uncommon for Dobyns to spend an entire day covering vast amounts of water, committing to a single setup with a jerkbait, a spinnerbait or some other offering designed for fishing fast. It’s also not unusual to find a float-and-fly rig in his hands. “The float-and-fly was developed back East…

Congratulations to the newest members of the Bassmaster Lunker Club™. Membership in the club is free and open to any B.A.S.S. member who catches a largemouth bass weighing 10 pounds or more, a spotted bass weighing 5 pounds or more, or a smallmouth bass weighing 6 pounds or more, from Jan. 1, 2016, to the present. New Lunker Club members will receive an official certificate with holder and a Minn Kota hat. 8-3 Dworshak Reservoir, Idaho ◆ 1/2-ounce pepper custom jig (brown) ◆ Water Clarity: stained ◆ Depth: 25 feet ◆ Weather: clear 12-0 Roadside pond, Florida Yamamoto Senko 6-7 Mattawamkeag Lake, Maine Zoom Super Fluke (white) 11-1 Lake Walk-in-Water, Florida Senko 11-9 Kingsley Lake, Florida 10-inch Berkley Power Worm 10-9 Lake El Salto, Mexico Strike King 10XD (chartreuse/blue black)…

The Neko rig is the next big thing in bass fishing. Elite Series pros ... have been quietly sweetening their bankroll with the rig. IS IT JUST my observation, or is the Texas rig going the way of flip phones and road maps? Sure, people still use those things, but mainly because they haven’t been introduced to something better. Texas rigs have especially fallen out of favor in finesse fishing circles. The time was, not too long ago, that I could go out on my favorite lake with a bag of 4-inch worms, 1/0 hooks and 1/16-ounce slip sinkers and get bites pretty much all day. That is so 20th Century. Today, it’s all about drop shots, Neko rigs, shaky heads and wacky jigs. If you’re not familiar with these…

GREAT JIG DEBATE When do I throw a finesse jig instead of a standard jig?@Z_bartlett_, Instagram Elite Series pro David Walker For me, there are four situations where I opt for finesse jigs. The first is super-clear water. Sometimes a bulky jig will be too obnoxious in this situation. Secondly, if you are getting short-strikes on typical jigs, swap to a smaller version. Also, if I am fishing specifically for spotted and smallmouth bass, I opt for the finesse jig. The smaller morsels are easier for these species to inhale. Lastly, when water gets below 50 degrees, I also lean toward the finesse jig. It’s easier for bass to grab when the water is cold. SKIRT SELECTION What is the best jig-skirt material to use when the water is really…

Do-It Molds Finesse Drop Shot Sinker, $44.50 When it comes to finesse bass fishing, dedicated anglers would be amiss to not keep a healthy supply of drop shot weights in their arsenal. Drop shot weights are designed to easily break free once they become snagged in subsurface structure, and they aren’t cheap. Why not make your own for pennies on the dollar? Do-It Molds has you covered with a Finesse Drop Shot Sinker mold that will produce 1/32-, 1/16-, 1/8-, 3/16-, 1/4-, 3/8-, 1/2-and 5/8-ounce pencil-type weights. A 5-pound piece of lead will pour enough weights for your tackle requirements — and your co-anglers’. do-itmolds.com Seaguar Finesse Fluorocarbon, $26.99 Seaguar has taken finesse fluorocarbon to the next level by making it easy to quickly adapt to rapidly changing conditions —…

In September 2016, Bruce Kraemer caught a state-record smallmouth on Michigan’s Indian River weighing in at 9.98 pounds. That is more than a half-pound heavier than the previous record, a 9.33 smallie, caught less than a year before. | Duke Energy Corp. will pay a $6 million fine as a consequence of the coal ash spill on the Dan River in 2014. According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the payment holds the company accountable for violations of the Clean Water Act during and after the country’s third-worst spill of residue from burning coal.…

Lake Cherokee Knoxville and Jefferson County, Tenn. Feb. 9-12 It’s the Elite Series’ first visit to 29,000-acre Lake Cherokee. B.A.S.S. last visited the eastern Tennessee lake in 1981. Rick Clunn, the only current Elite angler to fish that event, finished 10th. Weather can be unpredictable this time of year in these latitudes, but it figures to be a true winter derby; the average low temperature for Feb. 9-12 in nearby Dandridge, Tenn., is 27 degrees; the average high is 49 degrees. Did You Know? More than 30 percent of current Elite anglers weren’t yet born the last time B.A.S.S. visited this lake. Lake Okeechobee Okeechobee, Fla. Feb. 23-26 After a likely wintery start in eastern Tennessee, the series takes a serious dip in latitude, returning to southern Florida’s Big O…

B.A.S.S. Nation members inspire us with their volunteer work and dedication to conservation projects around the country, but at the B.A.S.S. Nation Missouri State Championship, two competitors provided an entirely different type of inspiration. Jeff Sell of the Leavenworth Bass Club and Alan Daniels of the Kansas City Backlashers were credited with saving a woman’s life after she fell off her seawall, incurring severe cuts and struggling for half an hour in 71-degree water. According to an account written by Daniels, Sell was fishing out of the back of Daniels’ boat along a stretch of docks off the main channel during the second day of the tournament on Lake of the Ozarks on Oct. 16. The anglers were alerted to the struggling woman by her cries, so Daniels raced toward…

BASSMASTER’S REALITY SERIES puts leading Elite Series pros on small lakes they’ve never seen before, then gives them seven hours to locate and catch bass while we log their every move. This month, Paul Mueller accepts our challenge. Before joining the Elite tour in 2015, the 32-year-old Naugatuck, Conn., pro qualified for both the 2014 and 2015 Classics via the B.A.S.S. Nation. At the 2014 event held at Lake Guntersville, Alabama, he set the all-time single-day Classic weight record with a stunning five-fish limit weighing 32 pounds, 3 ounces and ended up in second place with 66 pounds, 8 ounces, just 1 pound shy of Alabama pro Randy Howell’s winning weight. When not competing in B.A.S.S. events, Mueller guides for bass and “everything else that swims” on Candlewood Lake near…

Speedy investigation Do Power-Poles make the boat run slower?@jessewsmith14, Instagram Well, yes and no, depending on the boat you own. Adding Power-Pole anchors adds weight and minimal air resistance. For example, Curt Hill of Power-Pole says the company’s heaviest model (10-foot blades) weighs 35.7 pounds, with 27.7 pounds being on the transom and the rest inside the boat. “The aerodynamic design of the Power-Pole anchors allows for the least possible wind resistance,” adds Hill. “Every boat performs differently, so you might see a slight loss in speed if you are running a fast, lightweight boat.” Fuse confusion My LED driver’s side trailer taillight isn’t working when the lights are on, but it does work as a turn signal and when the hazards are on. What’s up with that? I checked…

New record: longest bass This is a picture of the new world record longest bass. This bass is 27 1/4 inches long and was only 10-10. I never got this certified, so I know it will never count. Why don’t anglers target this record? It’s almost impossible to get the chance to hook into a 22-pound bass, but scores of anglers have the chance to catch a bass over 24 inches and get in the record books.Kris Taylor, Texas Amateur advice Love the magazine with one suggestion. I would like to see something like a beginners’ corner. While I’m older, I’ve only just started really getting serious about bass fishing and all the things that go with it. Much of the terminology is foreign, and when I search online, I’m…