Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Bassmaster

1 April Fools’ Day. The annual holiday where all anglers are invited to celebrate the legend of Ken Gomez. 5 National Dandelion Day. A reminder to stock up on braided line and terminal tackle needed for warm-weather fishing in the weeds. 12 Walk On Your Wild Side Day. Take a trip back in time and make some tracks around a small pond while bank bassin’. 15 That Sucks Day. A real holiday tailor-made for anglers to gather around the grill and lament those double-digit bass that somehow got away. 26 Arbor Day. A great excuse for rounding up a group of angler volunteers and organizing a shore cleanup or native tree planting in your area.…

The playing field at the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite on the Harris Chain could feel the direct effect of aquatic vegetation management practices this month. In Palatka, Fla., the St. Johns River Water Management District received a permit for and has gone forward with a plan to “control” 30,000 acres of hydrilla on Lake Apopka, arguably the most productive fishery on the Harris Chain of Lakes. The fishery could be adversely affected by measures like the potential eradication of its hydrilla. “Lake Apopka was once one of Florida’s most polluted lakes, but better water management practices and the expanded hydrilla growth has finally gotten this lake clean enough to support some of the state’s most spectacular bass fishing,” Bassmaster Elite Series pro and Florida resident Scott Martin wrote on Bassmaster.com. In…

Dustin Nethery The weather is shaping up to make this one a slaunch fest I wouldn’t be surprised to see the top 5 all over 100lbs Lance Deal Going to be some Monster bags caught in this one!! Best lake in the country right now! Bubba Howell Jr. Lots good bass my favorite lake we live in Louisiana Nick Cool Let’s get it going. Time for them boys to hammer them Steve Witzigman Neat lake! Up here in Minnesota, we have very few man-made lakes Or reservoirs. Looks like bass heaven!…

How do you pull up your Power-Poles if they won’t come up when pushing the button? This hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’m guessing that hydraulics can break? I just don’t want to get stuck! @abbyjanebassmom, Instagram Sometimes it’s not a malfunction of the hydraulics but more of a matter of a pole getting stuck in the mud. Red clay and thick muck can act like jaws holding a pole tightly in place. Curt Hill of Power-Pole says there is a built-in relief valve in the pump that allows for drive-off protection. Driving forward at idle speed with the up button depressed often releases the pole and it automatically retracts. “This valve also allows you to manually stow the anchor in an event where the anchor gets stuck down,”…

IN BASS FISHING, certain things are difficult if not impossible to teach. However, it doesn’t make them any less important. Quite the opposite. Without a guidebook or rules, they are often the critical elements less analyzed and more left to the moment. One of these is stubbornness. Among the professional ranks, perhaps no one has benefited more greatly or suffered more conspicuously from the yin and yang of being stubborn than 2022 Bassmaster Classic champion Jason Christie. Self-admittedly stubborn, this Oklahoman doesn’t run from the label; he embraces it. “Stubbornness is my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. I’m not saying it’s the right way; I’m just saying it’s my way, and I’ve had a damn successful career out of it.” Even so, when it came to his Classic performances,…

Water type: Current spawners on a Southern river Water temp: Upper 60s to low 70s Clarity: Zero to 1 foot Depth: 1 to 8 feet Structure: Rock, laydowns, stumps Cover: Docks, grass, overhanging trees Forage: Shad, bluegill, crawfish Weather: Mild, mostly sunny Wind/current: Calm morning with warm afternoon breeze Experts: A trio of Elite Series pros explain how they make the most of spring’s multifaceted potential 1 SLOUGH VIEW Joey Cifuentes III Clinton, Ark. First move: When Cifuentes expects spawners, he’s looking for backwater areas out of the current. One of his favorites is a slough that opens into a wider section with slower current. Baits/tackle to use: For searching the shallows, Cifuentes uses a Berkley Swamp Lord Hollow Body Frog. For targeting key structure, he switches to a wacky-rigged…

I REMEMBER NOT so very long ago riding a little train within the giant golf ball ride in Disney’s Epcot theme park, thinking, “That’s never gonna happen.” The ride is called Spaceship Earth and it focuses, at least at the end, on future technology we can expect to affect our everyday lives. The year was 2009 and one of the displays showed a parent talking to their kids through a live video screen. It was so far-fetched … until it wasn’t a couple of years later. Now, FaceTime and Zoom meetings are an integral part of everyday life. One point for the golf ball. I mention this because technology has recently disrupted our sport in a way never before seen. Many anglers are worried about how high-tech gadgets may negatively…

Located about 50 minutes northwest of Orlando, the city of Leesburg is the official host of April’s Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain. A one-time home to legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Leesburg is a modern-day hub for anglers loading into and out of Lake County, Florida’s abundance of fisheries, totaling more than 1,000 lakes in all shapes and sizes. Stroll through Venetian Gardens Park to get a firsthand glimpse of a Franklin Roosevelt-approved Works Progress Administration-era series of canals before bellying up to a table at Ski Beach Bar & Grill for a snack alongside Lake Harris. 77-11 Winning total for Buddy Gross at the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain 219 Square miles of water located within Lake County 36-7 Weight of the five-fish limit brought in by…

Brooklyn Strelow Oak Forest, Ill. Paul Zeytoonian Sudbury, Mass. Justin Gomes Nashville, Tenn. Becky Potter Winchester, Wis. First Bass, But Not The Last This is my son Micah. When he was 6 years old, we’d fished for bluegill with a kid’s pole plenty of times. On a grocery run, he looked me in the eye and said, “Daddy, I want to catch a bass!” So I picked out a spinning reel, he picked out a fluorescent green worm, and we got to it. He picked it up like a pro, and after a few casts he landed two bass all on his own. Knightstown, Ind. Abraham Salazar…

By ROB PAVEY 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.   Burke Chain Worm on card Deon Grandon, email $5 to $15 The Burke Flexo-Products Co. of Traverse City, Mich., was one of the key players in the artificial “worm wars” of the 1960s and 1970s. The earliest advertising I could find for the company’s Chain Worm was in 1969 and included a colorful, cartoon-like graphic of a smiling worm claiming to be the “world’s strongest worm.” Burke made and sold dozens of other soft rubber baits, including plugs, minnows, frogs and flies. Al Foss orange tin lure (box only) Bill Gratsch, email $35 to $50 Al Foss was an…

ACTIVE ANGLER Shane LeHew never gave them a second thought. His constant companions on the road, at the gym and on the water, the simple pairs of cotton socks riding along between his feet and his shoes were absolutely an afterthought — until this year. Now, the veteran Elite Series angler is armed with an upgraded arsenal of socks made of more carefully composed materials that he says have resulted in much more comfortable days behind the wheel and on deck. “A lot of my socks had holes in them,” says LeHew. “They were just cotton socks I found at Walmart.” That simple oversight resulted in decades’ worth of discomfort at the end of a long fishing day — so many so that LeHew, like many anglers, simply grew accustomed…

“THE WIND IS your friend” is a common refrain among bass anglers. The basis for it is that bass are generally more inclined to feed when the wind blows. A choppy surface also confuses light penetration, which makes it harder for a bass to detect that your lure isn’t the real deal. Advancing into the wind affords the most precise boat control with a bow trolling motor. However, there are instances in which going with the wind is more advantageous. And when the wind is so stout that your trolling motor can’t hold or make headway, the only option is to go with the flow. Crosswind Corruption Whenever Bassmaster Elite Series pro Bryan New confronts blustery conditions, he casts directly into or with the wind whenever possible. A crosswind bows…

AFTER SCOTT MARTIN’S record-breaking victory in the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee presented by SEVIIN, I called to chat with him for a few minutes about the impending crisis at Okeechobee. While things may look like they’ve never been better on the famous 145,000-acre Florida fishery — Martin caught 90 pounds, 6 ounces in three days — there’s actually a storm brewing that could take Okeechobee to a dark place. Due to a number of matters converging, the lake is being held far above historic water levels, and because of that, much of its vegetation is disappearing. In talking about the problem and how he might fix it, one suggestion Martin made was actually planting some hydrilla. At that point, I thought about stopping the interview — or…

  When did you know you were going to be an Elite? The last tournament of the year, I was down in Florida and I had a pretty good lead going into the last day. It was one of those tournaments where I knew all I probably had to do was catch one fish to make it. I got to the first spot. I set the hook in some grass, and a 3-pounder rolls out and comes off. I was trying not to let the moment get to me, but right then I knew it was. So after that, I locked in. I realized this was a moment I had waited for my entire life, and I just put it in my head to calm down and fish clean. After…

In January, the American Sportfishing Association spearheaded a first-of-its-kind meeting of federal agencies and members of the sportfishing community to discuss shared priorities and improve dialogue on fisheries management. Around 30 representatives of the sportfishing community representing organizations like the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation and Yamaha convened with government officials in a work group in Washington, D.C. Government agencies in attendance included the National Park Service, NOAA Fisheries and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Federal funding allocations have tremendous reach in the world of bass fishing, where they can affect angler access, habitat restoration projects and scientific research, in addition to regulations that guide fisheries.…

It’s your turn to write a cutline for your favorite magazine. Follow B.A.S.S. on Facebook (@bass) and Instagram (@bass_nation) and comment with a clever caption on this cartoon that will be posted on our feed on March 14, 2024. If your caption is chosen, it will be printed in an upcoming issue. Last Month’s Post Last Month’s Caption Winner: “To catch the bass, you have to be one with the BASS” @mike_loughlin_fishing…

IF YOU’RE A sports fan, you know that statistics tell a story that cannot be told with even the purplest of prose or the highest of hyperbole. Sometimes, it takes raw numbers to properly capture an athlete’s performance and to explain how far, how fast or how deep that person’s accomplishments go. In the world of competitive bass fishing, Rick Clunn’s numbers are staggering. They tell the story of an athlete who has gone as far, as fast, as deep and as high as anyone in history … but don’t take my word for it. Look at the numbers. A Classic Career The foundation of Clunn’s legacy was built on the biggest stage in bass fishing: the Bassmaster Classic. He qualified for his first championship as a rookie in 1974,…