Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2014 i Bassmaster

This year’s feature on the hottest fisheries in America is likely the best we’ve ever developed. “IMITATION IS THE sincerest form of flattery,” according to an old proverb. I have a tendency to lean more toward Samuel Johnson’s opinion of the act: “Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.” These quotes came to mind when I read a list of 100 top bass lakes published on a website just before this issue went to print, which includes the third annual Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes list (page 26). It shouldn’t bother me. Seems silly, really. But couldn’t the website at least change the name? How about coming up with more lakes, or fewer? How about fracturing the list into small-mouth and largemouth…

Unmanned aerial vehicles (the PC name for drones), which buzzed around Classic contenders like giant, GoProcarrying hummingbirds, are super cool but can also be super invasive. Livingston Lures should give Randy Howell a raise. You can’t put a price on a guy winning the Classic with a prototype lure. Cha-ching. Who said you need a boat to be a Classic spectator? With Randy Howell fishing alongside the U.S. 431 causeway in Guntersville, all you needed was the grit to dodge highway traffic. The GEICO gecko is much taller in person. Elite Series pro Boyd Duckett’s new crib on Lake Guntersville is cooler than an unmanned aeri … uh, drone.…

Fewer but larger Florida-strain fingerlings are being stocked in Louisiana waters this year. The hope is that more bass will survive with this tactic ➾, ➾ says Mike Wood of the state’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. | Drained six years ago for revitalization, Lake Darling in Iowa is expected to be full by the end of April, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. | Ice coverage on the Great Lakes this winter should increase water levels. Lake Michigan had fallen to record level lows last year. ❘❙…

Lake Baccarac Some 30,000 acres at full pool, Baccarac lays claim to a 19.1-pound lake record largemouth. The lake, about 90 miles east of Los Mochis on Mexico’s western coast, stretches 25 miles amid steep, rocky shorelines, much of it covered with brush that grew up when the lake was low. Accommodations: Lake Baccarac Lodge; www.lake baccaraclodge.com Rates: starting at $1,595 (four nights/three days of fishing per person) Lake El Salto In the foothills of the Sierra Madre, just an hour and 15 minutes from the Mazatlan airport, El Salto is probably Mexico’s most well-known bass lake. This impoundment of the Elota River ranges from 17,000 to 25,000 acres, depending on the season, and consistently produces both stunning numbers and eye-popping giants. Accommodations: Anglers Inn El Salto; www.anglersinn.com Rates: starting…

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 or a smallmouth bass weighing 6 pounds or more, from Jan. 1, 2013, to the present. New Lunker Club members will receive an official certificate with holder and a Minn Kota hat. Vernon Grafton Georgia 11-2 Lake Varner, Ga. ◆ 12-inch Zoom ribbon-tail worm (junebug) Owner twist lock 6/0 straight shank hook ◆ Water clarity: Clear ◆ Depth: 3 feet ◆ Weather: Clear Keith Poulin Maine 7-13 Lake Wassookeag, Maine 4-inch tube (dark melon/ purple flake) Fabian Lynch Ontario 7-0 Lake Simcoe, Ontario Lunker City Shaker swimbait on jighead Graham Morgan North Carolina 10-9 Lake El…

“We have to start looking at technological improvements, layouts, creature comforts and other amenities.” A THOUGHT KEPT racing through my mind as I marveled over the new bass boats on display at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods. What on earth can be done to make today’s rigs better than what we have right now? Apparently, that is a question that boat manufacturers are asking themselves, as well. “We’ve probably reached the end of functional use in regards to maximum size,” says Ben Jarrett of Skeeter Boats. “We’ve sold the same guy a bigger, longer boat every decade until now. We have to start looking at technological improvements, layouts, creature comforts and other amenities that will make your day on the water even better.” Jarrett says…

Brett Hite Birthday: Sept. 15, 1978 Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz. It’s been nearly a decade since you last competed at the top level of B.A.S.S. competition. How’s it feel to be back? It’s great. If you have a lot of friends, it’s hard to keep up with them when you don’t see them all the time, so it’s great to see a bunch of old friends. At this point in my career, I have a lot of good sponsors, and B.A.S.S. is the gateway to help me promote them. What went into your decision to return to B.A.S.S. competition? I’m fishing both B.A.S.S. and FLW this season, and I’m staying busy. Last year, FLW cut a bunch of our major tournaments, so I only had six major tournaments. You can’t make…

Keith Bryan of Novato, Calif., caught a giant spotted bass in February that may be the next world record for the species. Bryan, chief executive officer of Powell Rods, was fishing a California Tournament Trails event Feb. 22 on 12,500-acre New Melones Lake when the 10.48-pound spot hit a wacky rigged 5-inch Yamamoto Senko (green pumpkin with purple and copper flake). Bryan rigged the Senko on a 2/0 Gamakatsu WG Weedless Finesse hook and weighted it with a 3/32-ounce nail weight in the head. He used a Shimano Stradic 3000 paired to a Powell Inferno 6103 MEF spinning rod. The reel was spooled with PowerPro braided line with an 8-pound-test Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader. If the International Game Fish Association approves Bryan’s record application, it will top a 10.27-pound spotted…

The eyes of the bass fishing world will focus on this small town when the Bassmaster Elite Series returns to Lake Dardanelle May 15-18. And with Dardanelle’s fishing on the upswing of late, it’s a great destination for the weekend angler, too. Starting point. Current Bassmaster Classic champ Randy Howell notched his first — and only previous — tour-level victory on Dardanelle in the inaugural Elite 50 tournament in 2004. 50 Length in miles of Lake Dardanelle 11 B.A.S.S. events held on Lake Dardanelle, including the 2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship 34,000 Surface acres of Lake Dardanelle Lake Dardanelle is a part of the Arkansas River Navigation System that fishes like both a river and a lake, depending on location.…

Floating fish basket When the bass in my local lakes quit biting, I like to catch panfish, and I’ll often bring several bluegill or perch home for a fish fry. I keep my catch in an ordinary collapsible wire fish basket that I’ve turned into a floating basket by zip-tying one of those soft foam pool noodles around its side. This works a lot better than a stringer because it keeps the fish fresher and prevents critters like turtles from munching ’em before I get to! Isaiah Vogler, Michigan Tennis anyone? Priced a good quality boat cover lately? You’re talking big bucks, so you’re smart to protect your investment as best you can. The standard way to keep sharp-edged boat surfaces like mooring cleats and metal windshield frames from wearing…

“You’ll be amazed how shallow fish are once the ice is out.”— Elite Series pro Joseph Sancho HEADING UNDER COVER With the record-setting cold this winter in the eastern U.S., how will the major shad die-off affect the spring fishing? Eric Croley, Kentucky Chris Horton, Midwestern states director, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation There is an upside to a winter shad kill in that predators, like bass, take full advantage of the situation and gorge themselves on the weak and dying prey. It’s perfect timing in that many bass will be fat and healthy going into the spawn. From a fishing technique perspective, you probably won’t notice much until late spring. If the kill was so severe as to significantly reduce shad numbers, and there are no other major pelagic (open water)…

Don’t call him a rookie: Hite is classified as an Elite Series rookie, but with a long history in the sport, including Bassmaster Tour competition, some take exception to that nomenclature, including Bassmaster Classic champion Randy Howell. “Randy told me, ‘You’ve got the wool pulled over their eyes.’ I’ve been doing this since I was 21 years old, and I’m 35 now, so I prefer to call myself a ‘young veteran.’” The Newlywed Game: Hite married his longtime girlfriend, Courtney, in November. They spent their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii. Favorite Food: “Dude, I’m from the Southwest, so it’s got to be Mexican food.” He’s looking forward to fishing: “The Delaware River and Cayuga in New York. My inspiration and fulfillment is going and finding fish on my own in new…

Sun Protection Summer is just around the corner, so it’s time to beef up your sun protection. As many as one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime, according to www.skincancer.org, and the risk is greater with increased exposure. Sunscreen BullFrog Mosquito Coast This sunscreen and insect repellent in one should be applied 15 minutes before exposure. Water resistant for 80 minutes and DEET free, you can safely use this on children. The insect repellent lasts up to eight hours. www.bullfrogsunscreen.com Sun Protection Shirt Solumbra UV Expedition Shirt A cotton T-shirt has a surprisingly low UV-protection factor of 5. Solumbra is one of several companies that produces clothing with enhanced UV protection. At nearly $95, this shirt is worth it to prevent skin cancer. www.sunprecautions.com Wash…

Cinco de Mayo. How do you say “bass” in Spanish? 9-11 Toyota Texas Bass Classic. A fishing tournament wrapped inside a country music festival. Mother’s Day. Time to take mom fishing. 12 Limerick Day. Celebrate the birthday of poet Edward Lear with this fishy limerick: There was an old fish called a bass, It lived ’neath a mat made of grass, An angler pitched in, His lure flicked a fin, The fish said, “No thanks, I will pass.” 26 Memorial Day. Personal watercraft use and angler frustration are on the rise today.…

“The smallmouth’s golden sides glistened brightly in the sunlight and spray. All I could do was hold tight and hope.” THE EMBERS FROM our campfire were rising with the smoke into the dark windless sky. My friend and I sat quietly and watched them drift upward and fizzle out. The day had been long and good. Now our stomachs were full, and our spirits were easy. Soon we’d crawl into our sleeping bags and drift away. But not yet. Not until after a little longer of doing what other men had likely done here for centuries before we’d come: sitting and looking into the fire, listening to wood pop and feeling things that were too deep — or too sacred — to talk about. We had come here to hunt…

JUDGING FROM BOBBY Lane’s 2013 Bassmaster Elite Series season record — which included four Top 10 finishes, three more Top 20s and fourth overall in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings — you know he’s doing something right. It’s been like that most of his eight-year career, too: an Elite win on Kentucky Lake in 2009, more than 20 other Top 10 finishes, nearly $1 million in prize winnings and a seven-time Classic qualifier. What Lane is doing right is Carolina rigging, but he’s not doing it the way nearly everyone else does, which is dragging in deep water. Instead, the Lakeland, Fla., pro Carolina rigs almost exclusively in shallow water, 1 to only 8 feet deep, where he’s caught largemouth weighing 9, 10 and 11 pounds in…

CALL THEM REEDS, bulrush or tule beds if you will, but learn to fish this shallow-water jungle at the right time or place, and you can hook into some of the best bass of the season. Flipping and pitching to cover is the essence of bass fishing for many anglers. Show them a dock or laydown or stump, and they know their target. But stretch out an endless field of reeds around a lake perimeter, and the game changes considerably. How do you fish them, and where do you begin? Bass anglers who prowl these jungles successfully regard reed fishing as a matter of time and place. TIME FOR REEDS If you live by the motto that “a bass is a bass” no matter where he lives, reed fishing becomes…

When the wanderlust strikes him, he goes on “sabbatical,” which is a Hebrew word that means “gone fishing.” THE PROBLEM WITH being prematurely gray is that people keep asking me when I plan to retire. I usually grit my teeth, smile and offer one of my stock, tongue-in-cheek responses: “I would have retired by now had the Great Recession not changed my 401K to a 104K.” “If I retired, I wouldn’t have time to fish as much.” “I plan to retire the day before people think I should.” Actually, as long as my bosses aren’t asking that question, I’m fine. I’m having too good a time to quit now. Still, when the annual 100 Best Bass Lakes list comes out in Bassmaster, it’s a reminder that so many great fisheries…