Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i Bassmaster

To win the Bassmaster Classic, an angler must be laser focused on the task at hand. After all, scads of observers on the water can distract even the most seasoned angler. Hundreds of media members hovering with cameras and expectations certainly don’t help. Tens of thousands of fans at the weigh-in add an intense amount of pressure to catch something to hold up for the crowd. The $300,000 payday can change a life and make a career. So, adding the distractions to the pressure, it is little wonder so many young anglers get sidetracked. Jordan Lee is a shining exception. The 25-year-old Elite Series pro, fishing only his third world championship, put together the greatest comeback in Classic history. Now, the focus is on him to represent our sport as…

Full disclosure: This project will take you more than 10 minutes. Still, there may be no more beneficial do-it-yourself task for a boat owner. Whether you are navigating shallow rocks or beaching your rig for a weigh-in, the keel of your boat will get scratched and nicked. To protect the fiberglass in this high-impact area, add a KeelGuard from Megaware (keelguard.com). For most bass boats, you are looking at a $120 investment for the kit, which comes in a wide range of colors. Otherwise, you only need some rubbing alcohol and masking tape to complete the installation. 1 Using the KeelGuard as a template, tape off the area around your keel where the product will be adhered. This will ensure that you know precisely where to prep the underside of…

Most anglers are watching The Bassmasters on ESPN2 when there is time to turn on the tube. However, HGTV’s Tiny House might now be of interest. The tiny house movement has spread to Lake Guntersville, and it has a bass fishing slant, thanks to Elite Series pro Chris Lane. “The city of Guntersville is a bass-fishing mecca, and my personal goal is to make it the most fishing-friendly city on the planet,” Lane said. “So, when I heard of a new tiny house community being developed across from the boat launch next to Guntersville Municiple Park, I wanted to be a part of it.” River Rocks Plantation (256-677-7368, riverrocksplantation.com), a 12-acre community with a killer lake view and within walking distance of restaraunts and grocery stores, will feature around 80…

CASEY ASHLEY SAT in his boat answering questions from the media the day before the opening round of the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods on nearby Lake Conroe. “This is going to be a weird tournament,” Ashley predicted. “Whoever wins this has no clue right now that he’s going to win. In fact, he may not realize it until late in the tournament.” Really? How could he say that with a field laced with 12 former Classic winners; five Texans, including the heavy pre-tournament favorite; and a red-hot Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year champion? He did so emphatically. And his prophecy was dead on. Alabama pro Jordan Lee, who was mired in 15th place and 13 pounds behind going into the last day, shocked himself as…

River2Sea Whopper Plopper Word of pro anglers catching giant bass on this noisy surface plug leaked to the fishing media last spring, and sales have been brisk ever since. The Whopper Plopper features a finned tail section that rotates to create a major disturbance when the lure is retrieved. “It sounds like a cross between a Jitterbug and a buzzbait,” says Tennessee pro Brandon Coulter, who whacked a largemouth weighing nearly 8 pounds on this lure during his 2016 “Day on the Lake” outing for Bassmaster. Because of its prowess for catching lunker bass, Coulter recommends fishing the Whopper Plopper on heavy braided line with a stout baitcasting outfit. Berkley Dredger — Unlike several oversized deep-diving crankbaits that capitalize on the summer ledge-fishing craze, the Dredger has a compact body…

California has long been a destination for giant largemouth bass, with the Golden State being the epicenter of many quests to top the largemouth world record. But California also is making a splash as the place to catch a world record for a different species in the micropterus genus. News of giant spotted bass has been coming out of California with a frequency that’s hard to keep up with. (The way things have been going, it wouldn’t be too surprising if a bigger spot is caught by the time you read this.) The latest (we think) story comes again from New Bullards Bar Reservoir, where Nick Dulleck caught an 11-pound, 4-ounce spotted bass on Feb. 12. Dulleck and fishing partner Adam McAndrews had spent the weekend on the lake to…

All right, bassmasters, it’s your turn to write a cutline for your favorite magazine. Follow B.A.S.S. on Instagram (@bass_nation), comment with a clever caption on this cartoon that will be posted on our feed on May 2, 2017. If your caption is chosen, it will be printed in an upcoming issue. “Hey ... watch this!” said both of them. @thebrandenandrews…

‘Tweener Bass Season: Postspawn (early to mid-May) Water type: Lowland impoundment Water temp: 75 to 80 degrees Clarity: 1 to 2 feet Depth: 25 feet average Structure: Points, flats, ledges, channels, humps, bridges and pilings Cover: Docks and marinas, rock, riprap, hydrilla, milfoil, shellbeds, blowdowns Forage: Threadfin and gizzard shad, crawfish, panfish Weather: Sunny and clear with air temps in the high 70s to the mid-80s Wind: 10 to 15 mph out of the southwest Experts: Three Bassmaster Elite Series veterans who specialize in the “tween” zone between spawn and summer 1 Don’t Just Chunk and Wind First move “I’m going to start in the midlake area. The bass should be staging on main-lake points or the first secondary points before they go to their summertime locations. I’m expecting to find…

Falcon: After a few down years, this 84,000 acre reservoir on the Texas-Mexico border has regained its standing as one of the nation’s best bass fisheries, in terms of both number and size of bass. Anglers are reporting high catch rates with numerous 4- to 6-pound fish and an occasional trophy bass exceeding 10 pounds. Five-fish tournament limits exceeding 30 pounds are again becoming common. Water level fluctuation is key at Falcon. Increasing water level, which has been the case in recent years, inundates terrestrial vegetation, which in turn yields higher survival and faster growth for Falcon bass. Amistad: This large, deep Texas-Mexico border reservoir has a storied past of producing phenomenal bass fishing. Stable water levels over the past few years have promoted the expansion of hydrilla and other…

OVER THE PAST two years, Alabamian Gerald Swindle, the 2016 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year, has been refining a finesse tactic that he believes will win a future Elite Series tournament. The heart of the bait is a homemade aspirin jighead that has a screw-lock keeper around the shank of a No. 1 Gamakatsu hook. The 1/16- and 1/8-ounce sizes are Swindle’s workhorses, but he will go as heavy as 1/4 ounce when fishing deeper than 15 feet or so. Zoom’s beefy 5-inch Mag Finesse Worm performs especially well for Swindle with this jig. After he threads the straight-tail worm onto the screw lock, the bait appears to be an exposed-hook shaky head. However, it doesn’t react in the water as a Texas rigged shaky head does. “It falls…

When it comes to pulling hooks from fish, carpet or, heaven forbid, your arm, having a quality pair of durable pliers within easy grasp at all times is a must for any serious angler or boat owner. The 9-inch Aluminum Needle-Nose Pliers from Berkley fit the bill perfectly. The anodized aluminum body repels corrosion and won’t rust, allowing for a long life of hook removal and nut tightening of all sorts. Near the hinge there are replaceable carbide cutters that will cut any type of fishing line with minimal effort. Pliers are likely an angler’s most utilized tool and, as long as you don’t drop them in the drink, they’ll be the last pair you own. berkley-fishing.com In the bass fishing tournament scene, knowing exactly how much weight is in…

“The claws on this bait flap and flutter, and I think they mimic a fish tail. Fish tails don’t twist and turn like a prop; they flap and flutter.” — Greg Vinson THE PACA HOLE is located midway down the Coosa River, at Alabama’s Lay Lake, and it’s the birthplace of a summer pattern that Greg Vinson discovered one day while practicing for a local tournament. Perfect for shallow bass in grass and on beds, Vinson says it can, at times, have the impact of an Alabama Rig. The trick? Swimming a 5-inch NetBait Paca Craw. “The first time we tried it, it blew my mind,” he says. “The fish would come out of the cover and eat this thing when they shouldn’t have been coming out. We were in…

Pflueger Trory Minnow Offered in both luminous and nonluminous models, the wooden Trory Minnow is among collectors’ most highly prized Pflueger plugs. Initially made by E.F. Pflueger’s Enterprise Manufacturing Co. around 1899, the sinking bait with five sets of treble hooks was advertised as “A Great Killer For Casting … a strictly First Quality Bait throughout.” Priced at $10 per dozen, the Trory Minnow has fore and aft propellers and swims with its head tilted slightly downward. Expensive and difficult to make, the bait sold poorly and was discontinued by 1907. Collector value: $6,000. Fly rod riches I have seen your page in Bassmaster Magazine and thought you might be able to help me put a value on some bamboo fly rods that I have. I have four rods; all…

The 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods was not your everyday fishing derby. Well, the Classic is always special, but this year’s version was something to behold. The weigh-in was held inside Minute Maid Park, where the Houston Astros play. The stage was built on top of third base, and the anglers were wheeled in from the outfield. Each weigh-in started with a first pitch, and the crowd cheered on reigning Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle as he went low and outside to Skeet Reese. The final-day Super Six anglers appeared from a dugout, and high-fived the entire Classic competitive field before weighing in their catch, hoping to knock young Jordan Lee off the hot seat. However, Lee’s final-day catch of 27-4 was fishing’s…