Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2021 i Bassmaster

November 14 World Diabetes Day. Your annual reminder to get a checkup after a year of sweet tea and barbecues. 25 Thanksgiving. We’re still working on the 50-foot, inflatable bass for the Macy’s parade. In the meantime, gather ’round whatever table you can find and settle in for the coming winter. December 13 Ice Cream Day. We’re not sure why a holiday for frozen treats falls in the winter, but we’re not complaining about it either! Celebrate Alabama-style by putting your ice cream on top of a pie. 18 National Roast A Suckling Pig Day. Do we go out of our way to find strange holidays? You bet. Did you need a reason to get creative for holiday meals? You found one. 30 Bacon Day. If you’re not celebrating this…

Dovetail Games has announced the full lineup of playable Elite Series anglers in its new game, Bassmaster Fishing 2022. Launching this fall, the game is set to bring the authenticity of changing, real-world conditions to PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. The lineup includes Hank Cherry, Taku Ito, Jeff Gustafson, Stetson Blaylock, John Crews, Buddy Gross and Carl Jocumsen, along with Scott Canterbury, Skylar Hamilton and Scott Martin. The game focuses on the hunt for a Bassmaster Classic championship. Players can choose to cast their lines from eight meticulously crafted venues. For more info, scan this QR code with your smartphone’s camera.…

Whirl-A-Way Combo Sam Weiss, email $40 Great Lakes Whirl-A-Way. Made in the mid-1950s. As time progressed they made a change in the bottom part, extending a small portion. It is called a built-in or combo. Value $40. Minnow Lure Wallace House, email $45 Mustang Minnow. 1930s. Value $45. Bamboo Fly Rod Jim Reed, email $200 This is a Wright & McGill Aristocrat bamboo fly rod. They quit making bamboo rods right after WWII, so this rod would have been made before. Wright & McGill is a major company, Eagle Claw. Anything made by a major company was made in mass. The value I would have to put on this would be around $200. Shakespeare No. 1924 Reel James E. Brooks, email $15 This is a Shakespeare Direct Drive No. 1924,…

ACTIVE ANGLER A few days after the 2021 Bassmaster Elite Series event on the St. Lawrence River, the final tournament of the Elite season, Bill Lowen stood on the deck of his bass boat, bobbing on Lake Ontario. Below, he watched scattered smallmouth bass cruising around rocks 15 feet beneath the waves. “Son, would you please let me catch one?” he joked to 9-year-old Fischer at his side. Fischer was hooking the eighth smallmouth he’d spotted on the Humminbird MEGA Live. The elder Lowen would soon boat his first. BLUE-COLLAR BREAKDOWN Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging is the Johnson Outdoors answer to Garmin’s LiveScope and Lowrance’s LiveSight, sonar innovations that by now are no mystery to readers of this publication. Like its competitors, MEGA Live Imaging allows anglers to see real-time…

Feb. 11-14, AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River Rookie Bryan New kicked off his Elite Series career by winning here convincingly and turning back some of the sport’s heavy hitters. New caught a few fish off shellbars but had his best success targeting spawning fish around lily pads on the lower end of Lake George. He said he had most of his success where the pads weren’t as thick or bunched up. He did most of his damage by dragging lightweight Texas-rigged worms through the open areas around the pads. Key baits: 1/2-ounce Berkley Warpig (bleeding shiner); 5-inch black/blue Zoom Zlinky rigged on a 5/0 Berkley Fusion hook with 1/8- and 1/4-ounce weights. Conditions: The lake had very little eelgrass and other vegetation. The fish were spawning. Other key…

THERE’S NO ARGUING that New Jersey pro Michael Iaconelli is one of the more colorful characters in the history of professional bass fishing. He’s been known to pull a prank or two in his life. But in spite of all that, he insists he’s not goofing around by making us all wait to see if he’ll accept an invitation to fish the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series. In fact, he wishes he knew the answer because it would make his life a lot easier. Iaconelli, a Bassmaster icon who left the Elite Series in 2019 to pursue other pro ventures, requalified this year by finishing second in the Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Opens points standings. The automatic berth is his for the taking — that much he knows for sure. But there…

BRUCE AKIN WON our company fantasy fishing league for the past two years in a row. I’m a little on the competitive side, so I chalked up the first year to luck. Getting shellacked by him this year was just downright aggravating. After all, Akin, CEO of B.A.S.S. for the past 10 years, had never held a fish when he took the reins of this organization. He should not be beating me in the Rapala Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing contest, right? But like every corner of the B.A.S.S. business, he dove headlong into the competition and came out on top. Well, he managed to upset me again. This time, I’m somewhere between sad and forlorn. Akin announced that he was taking down his shingle at the B.A.S.S. corporate offices to enter…

Home to St. Johns River State College, the St. Johns River Water Management District and 2022’s kickoff Bassmaster Elite Series event on the St. Johns River, it’s no secret that Palatka, Fla., is one of America’s worthiest bass cities. It’s a regular stop for the most prestigious tour in bass fishing, with a deep connection to some of the legends of the sport — both on and off of the water. Visitors to the area can enjoy one of the Sunshine State’s most dynamic bass fishing environments, along with a rich area history connected to indigenous history, trading posts and steamboats. Today, Palatka is even accessible via Amtrak thanks to connections to Orlando and south Florida via the Silver Meteor and Silver Star trains.…

Big Dreams My son actually was looking at the magazine and came running. “Dad, will you get my picture in there please, like those little kids?” I said, “Son, you need to catch a big one.” “OK, Dad.” Well, three weeks later he did. He caught that fish last night and asked today, “Dad did you send my picture in?” “I’ll do it right now, son.” Wyatt Vyborny, personal best of 2.4 pounds. (5 years old) Eric Vyborny, Sorrento, Fla. Editor’s note: If you have a favorite bass fishing photo, story or a reaction to something in our magazine, share it with us! The best responses will be printed in upcoming issues of Bassmaster Magazine. Simply email your submission to editorial@bassmaster.com.…

PLANO ATLAS TACKLE PACK — With the strength of a hard-sided tacklebox and the lightweight portability of a soft-sided tacklebag, the Atlas Tackle Pack features a skid-resistant and waterproof HDPE base, a body surrounded by durable EVA panels that provide protection and upright rigidity even when empty and padded shoulder straps for comfortable transportation. Also included: a bungee-cord rod holder, tool holders, a water-resistant cellphone storage pocket and a patented magnetic Dropzone, which holds tools and lures in place. Three Plano 3750 StowAway utility boxes are included.($219.99) planomolding.com BIG BITE BAITS PENDULATE JIGHEAD — Created with forward-facing sonar techniques in mind, this jig has a swivel molded directly into its head to prevent line twist. This design not only eliminates line twist, it minimizes the jighead profile and allows the…

Cory Johnston Cavan, Ontario It feels like you set up shop in the Top 10 at some point each season, but you haven’t topped the Elite Series podium just yet. Tell us about what that blue trophy means to you. I mean, that’s kind of what everyone in the Elite Series wants. I’ve been all around it, but I have yet to put my hands on one. It’s going to mean a lot the day I get to hold one. Tell us about the business model you and your brother use. I think it’s pretty unique. You guys actually combine and share profits from fishing? Yeah. So, we have one bank account, and all of our entry fees and winnings come and go into and out of it. We have…

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has confirmed a report from a bow angler that invasive silver carp are populating Choctaw Creek, a tributary of the Red River about 15 miles downstream from Lake Texoma. Stephen Banaszak provided TPWD with two specimens of the carp earlier this year. “These are the first reports of silver carp from Texas waters,” said TPWD fisheries management biologist Dan Bennett. “They have been previously found in other areas of the Red River, including just downstream from Lake Texoma in Oklahoma waters in 2019.” Silver carp now join bighead carp as a documented invasive species in Texas. In response to the threat posed by these invasive species — which closely resemble shad when small — TPWD has made it illegal to transport any live nongamefish…

John Lewis Vaccaro Ike is the GOAT bro. Jill Kelley Congratulations Jonathan Kelley. You have an amazing road ahead of you for the 2022 Elite Series. Your passion, dedication and hard work paid off. Very well deserved. Jason May I heard that guy in 2nd place (Ike) is pretty good. Kody Starkey Fished against Alex Redwine Fishing through youth and high school tournaments … it’s awesome seeing ya up there with the big dogs man. Way to go, man you deserve it 100%. Richard Elliott Now that’s close! Tight Lines. Kevin Angela Nator King Congratulations to all.…

I have a G3 boat with a 90-horsepower, 4-stroke Yamaha. Most boat (bows) rise about 20 degrees when they first take off, but mine rises between 30 and 40 degrees. The boat is rated for 110 horsepower, so how do I correct that and a porpoising problem? Harry Burton, Instagram Excessive bow rise during hole shot and porpoising can be caused by a variety of things, says Ry Landry of Yamaha, and it could be a combination of issues. It could be incorrect trim angles, weight distribution, a propeller that isn’t a good match for the boat or even hull design and engine combinations. “Start by checking Yamaha’s performance bulletins to make sure that you have the recommended propeller for that boat,” says Landry. “If a performance bulletin isn’t available,…

DID DR. DOLITTLE actually talk to the animals, as in speak their specific language? Or, did he simply understand how to interpret signs, gestures and responses? Debatable, but the same line of thinking seems relevant to Takumi Ito’s impressively rapid mastery of smallmouth bass fishing — and his intriguing claims of communicative ability. Quick refresher: Qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series through the 2019 Basspro.com Bassmaster Central Opens, where he notched three Top 10s, including a second at Toledo Bend, Ito entered his rookie season with zero smallmouth bass experience. At 2020’s conclusion, the standout from Chiba, Japan, owned a trio of Elite Top 10s — all on smallmouth fisheries: St. Clair (10th), Lake Champlain (10th) and the St. Lawrence River (sixth).   Flash forward to July 2021, and Ito closed his sophomore…

Water type: Postfrontal funk on a Southern grass lake Water temp: Upper 50s Clarity: 2 feet Depth: 5 to 25 feet Structure: Bluffs, rocks, secondary points Cover: Fragmenting grasslines, laydowns, shallow bushes and bank grass, docks Forage: Shad, bluegill Weather: Calm and clear Wind: No wind Experts: A trio of Elite Series pros offer their insight on how to find the bites during the dreaded postfrontal conditions 1 CHANGE IS COMING Mike Huff Corbin, Ky. First move: Knowing that most of his competitors will be looking for cover, Huff takes a different route to less-pressured fish. “That time of year, everybody is going to grass, and I’ll do something different and target bluffs in the lake’s river portion. This habitat allows fish to move up and down in the water…