Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Bassmaster

8 Best Friends Day. Call up your best buddy and make time to hit the water. 14 Flag Day. Dust off Old Glory and make sure she’s flying high on the front porch. 18 Father’s Day. Take a visit to your favorite watering hole with Pops or the memories of his favorite honey hole. 22 World Rainforest Day. Take time to finally research that peacock bass fishing trip you’ve been pining for. 25 National Catfish Day. Make a trip to the world’s catfish capital in Paris, Tenn., and cast a line on Kentucky Lake.…

Members of the Georgia B.A.S.S. Nation’s E3 Bassmasters and the Marietta Bassmasters are working alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Lake Allatoona Association to enhance habitat in the picturesque lake near Cartersville, Ga. In conjunction with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, 35 volunteers recently showed up to the shores of the lake to plant nearly 400 buttonbush plants. “The immediate goal is to increase the abundance of quality largemouth bass spawning and rearing habitat,” Fisheries Biologist Jackson Sibley said. The plantings are necessary due to a dramatic annual drawdown in which most native plants predictive of largemouth bass year-class success are absent from the lake. By introducing buttonbush, both refuge and foraging habitats for juvenile bass are created. “Aquatic vegetation plantings represent one element of a…

The images below were submitted by Bassmaster readers, and our antique tackle expert, Rob Pavey, appraises the value of each fascinating find. To submit yours, email editorial@bassmaster.com. Shakespeare Swimming Mouse Timothy Hasse, email $10 to $15 Like most major tackle manufacturers, the William Shakespeare Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich., offered its own line of mouse lures beginning in the early 1920s. Its creation, the Swimming Mouse, was a fat, wooden bait with glass eyes and a string tail. Its blunt nose was notched Darter-style for jerking close to the surface. Later versions had pressed/painted eyes and were made smaller for spinning tackle. South Bend Bass-Oreno Robert Hamilton, email $15 to $20 The Bass-Oreno is South Bend Bait Co.’s signature lure. This famous fish catcher hit the market in 1915 as a…

ACTIVE ANGLER Joseph Webster knows a thing or two about the dog days under the sun. The 48-year-old Alabama Elite Series pro has put in countless miles on some of the Yellowhammer State’s most well-known fisheries: places like Guntersville, Pickwick and Wheeler lakes. Though ultra-popular with recreational boaters in months like these, the lakes of north Alabama are generally fishable year-round. And for a bonafide bassin’ addict like Webster, that means his hours spent under the sun are nearly incalculable. It’s no surprise then that in the middle of this year’s Elite Series schedule, Webster is being summoned by dermatologists to undergo what’s become a routine surgery for anglers — the removal of potentially cancerous spots on his skin. BLUE-COLLAR BREAKDOWN According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, more than 9,500…

Water type: Postspawners and fry guarders on a Southern river system Water temp: Mid- to upper 70s Clarity: 1 to 2 feet Depth: 4 to 12 feet Structure: Stumps, rock, laydowns, bridges Cover: Docks, overhanging trees Forage: Shad, bluegill Weather: Mostly sunny with afternoon clouds increasing Wind/current: Light winds all day 1 BACKTRACKING Kyle Welcher Opelika, Ala. First move: “The first place I’m going to look is the deeper areas in the shallow backwaters where I feel like the fish have just spawned,” he said. “I’ll go back to the flats where they were spawning, look on isolated cover, anywhere I feel like there could be congregations of fry and bass guarding fry. From there, I’ll move to the channel swings with deeper water or deeper docks.” Baits/tackle to use:…

DESPITE WHAT YOU may have been told about the dangers of assuming, there are certain assumptions that can be safely made. You can assume tonight that people will argue about politics on social media tomorrow. You can assume today that many bass anglers won’t be completely truthful with you about which baits they intend to use in a tournament tomorrow. But one thing you can never assume is that any lead — no matter how large — is safe in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota. Just ask Jeff Gustafson. When the Day 2 weigh-in of this year’s Classic on the Tennessee River in Knoxville came to a close, Gussy led by nearly 6 pounds, and in six days in two major events on the fishery,…

MY WIFE IS a ranker. We finish a delicious pizza from Domino’s: “Do you like it more than Papa Johns?” she asked. We watch Iron Man 3: “Where would you rate it compared to the other two?” she asked. We get a new French bulldog puppy: “What breed of dog could you like better than this?” she asked. So, it came as no shock to me that after attending the Knoxville Classic this past March, she asked me how it compared to the other 23 I have attended. That query actually made me think for a bit because it seems like every year the Classic keeps getting better. Still … My very first Classic holds a special place in my heart. Being at that 1999 event held on the Louisiana…

After three years of extensive drought and low-water conditions, Diamond Valley Lake — a backbone of southern California’s water storage system — is predicted to fill to capacity by the end of 2023. On the heels of a series of winter storms that eased drought conditions across California, state water management officials released water from northern California into the lake at 600 cubic feet per second. Metropolitan Water District officials say the storms gave California “a lifeline” to refill the 810,000-acre reservoir to full capacity. This winter, snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains boosted water supplies enough that state officials were able to increase allocations from 35% to 75% to their member agencies, which supply water for 27 million people. Last year that figure reached just 5% during an extreme…

Raymond Cardona Ormond Beach, Fla. Jessie and Ella Rearden, Wash. Mike D’Amico Silver Lake, N.J. Mason Groff Wind Gap, Pa. A Gift That Keeps Giving For Father’s Day in 2021, I surprised my dad Jim Bailey with a fishing license for me to fish with him. Over a year later we are still fishing together and making new memories each time we throw that first cast. We have many “fish stories” and some photos to prove these stories to be true. While I love to fish and take photos of our catches, the best photos are the ones I take of my dad fishing in the early morning fog or as the sun rises above the lake. To many more fish stories, Dad. Love, Lisa Howe Your new fishing buddy…

THERE WAS SOMETHING about his smile — an eye-twinkling grin that seemed to hint at more than Jeff Gustafson was saying. Now that the Canadian superstar owns a Bassmaster Classic title, it seems like the suspicion was valid. After weighing in on Day 1 at the second Bassmaster Elite event of the year at Lake Seminole, I was discussing the potential for Gussy to repeat, at least in some form, the eye-opening smallmouth domination that delivered his first Elite Series win at the 2021 event on Fort Loudoun and Tellico lakes. For clarity, there’s no implication of dishonesty or misdirection. Gustafson would be the first to admit those Tennessee River smallmouth can be a frustrating lot and, as he’d find out through his painfully difficult Day 3 at the Academy…

  Talk to us about growing up on Alabama’s Coosa River. What makes fishing there unique? I think spotted bass are really what the Coosa River is known for. They’re strong and they’re fun to catch. Also, they predominantly live shallow, so everybody likes to fish there because it’s a challenge. Do you see anglers from other parts of the country on the water there? You know, I think there are a handful, but as far as tourism goes, I don’t know that it goes too far beyond 80 or 100 miles away. Those people will come in once or twice a year to catch spotted bass, but other than that I don’t know that it’s a destination quite yet. How did those home waters help you out when you…

The home of Fort St. Jean Baptiste, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the host city to Bassmaster College, High School and Junior events at Red River during the 2023 season, Natchitoches offers a blend of French-Creole architecture and a historic, brick-lined downtown featuring a river walk littered with shops for exploration. The nearby Cane River National Heritage Area draws visitors to sites like the Badin-Roque House, Magnolia Plantation and Cane River Heritage Scenic Byway, while stops along the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail showcase the story of civil rights in the region. 2 Number of Bassmaster Classics held on the Red River 57,00 Average flow of the Red River in cubic feet per second 1,360 Length of the Red River in miles 37-12 Keith Poche’s winning weight during…

B.A.S.S. fans react to Jeff Gustafson clinching the 2023 Bassmaster Classic title and becoming the first-ever Canadian Classic champion in history. Landy Filyaw He’s a True Classic Champion from wire to wire!! The Snow Leopard getting it done!! Congratulations on a well deserved Title!! Rich Wilczynski Jeff you made some great history today and nobody can take it away. Congratulations again!! Todd Spurgeon What an epic weekend! Thank you Bassmaster still making dreams come alive! For Anglers and fans! Blake Raider Some have tried for years for this moment. Unreal no doubt…

I’m a longtime boat owner with a new boat that has a hydraulic jackplate. Please provide any tips on getting acclimated to this feature. @rddesimone, Instagram There are several advantages to a hydraulic that you can use effectively as you get more experience with it, says Luke Dunkin of T-H Marine, manufacturer of the Atlas Hydraulic Jack Plate. “The biggest advantage is it allows you to fine-tune your boat’s performance based on lake conditions and weight changes in the boat [like adding a partner, full livewells or fuel load],” says Dunkin. “You’ll get increased hole-shot performance and find it easier to get in and out of shallow-water areas.” You can make those adjustments on the fly, something you can’t do with a fixed jackplate. Because every rig is different and…

WE LIKE TO paste labels on just about everything. Something is either in or out, trending or not. Bass fishermen, it seems, are especially fond of their school names and not necessarily those filled with shad. To further complicate the situation, tone matters. Call something or someone old school or new school, use the wrong inflection and suddenly a casual launch-ramp conversation feels like a tense moment at the Long Branch Saloon circa 1875. In other words, “You’d better smile when you say that, pilgrim.” Obviously, there are pluses and minuses to both schools of thought. The trick, of course, is knowing what to keep, what to leave behind and when to do it. Someone who has successfully ridden the eternal rollercoaster of this old school/new school dilemma is 2020…