Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Bassmaster

2-4 St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN, Logan Martin Lake, Alabama 8-10 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Qualifier presented by Lowrance, Mississippi River, Wisconsin 9-12 Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite, Lake Murray, South Carolina 16-17 Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas 18-19 Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series scored by TourneyX, Lake Guntersville, Alabama 19 Strike King Bassmaster High School Series, Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas 19 Bassmaster Junior Series, Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas…

Braxton Wensel Hanover, Pa. Aubrey Stemp Fishers, Ind. Joseph Kasian Webster, N.Y. James Barron Horseshoe Lake, Ark. Summer Of Smallies My son Ethan loves to fish! The species really doesn’t matter to him. Last year we concentrated on smallmouth on the Wisconsin River in Wisconsin Rapids. Much to my surprise, Ethan took to fishing with jigs, tubes and Texas-rigged soft-plastic crawfish and worms with ease. Ethan caught over 100 smallmouth that summer from shore — some nice fish, too. Ethan is a big fan of Googan’s Bandito Bug and Yum’s CrawBug as well — he caught this 21-inch smallmouth with a CrawBug. Thanks for your time, Shane Rucker Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.…

A ROUGH RIBBON of asphalt unfurled before Pam Martin-Wells as she lifted her fingers from the radio dial of her black Chevrolet four-wheel drive. Bouncing her way from the Georgia pine forests wrapping her home on Lake Seminole toward Texas, the 21-year-old angler was driving to a date with destiny. The year was 1985. And though she could have barely dreamed it then, 25 years later the Bainbridge, Ga., native would stand before a crowded 18,000-seat arena in Birmingham on the final day of the Bassmaster Classic. She would share that spotlight with all-time legends of the sport like Kevin VanDam, Mike Iaconelli and Aaron Martens. In a final cut littered with former Bassmaster Angler of the Year and Bassmaster Classic winners, Martin-Wells more than held her own — she…

The folks in southern Indiana will tell you Rex Remington knows Monroe Lake about as well as anyone. The 60-year-old manufacturing engineer at Valeo Lighting Systems has been fishing the lake since he was a kid. He’s caught a lot of 5- to 7-pound bass there over the years, but none match the fish he caught one Sunday morning in early March. Remington loaded up his 2004 Skeeter that foggy morning for his first trip of the year to Monroe. He spent the first hour or so in the cove at Paynetown Boat Ramp waiting for the fog to lift, then motored to one of his favorite spots. He immediately caught a small keeper largemouth, lost one and then caught a 4-pounder all on a Berkley Stunna 112 jerkbait in…

THE COBWEBS SPANNING the old slider windows of the boathouse were as thick as icing and multilayered. It was hard to tell if the spiders were weaving out of boredom or if they actually knew what was about to flit their way. We were three weeks into May, which meant, at least on the red clay banks of Lake Arrowhead in north Texas, that we’d go to bed with sheets of window icing as pure as the wind-driven snow only to wake up the next morning with a buzzing mayfly cake. For me and my brother, visiting our grandparents’ lake house during the summers of the late ’70s represented the best time of year to load a minnow bucket full of bluegill, which our grandfather would use on a nearby…

The host for not one, not two, but three B.A.S.S. events in May, the city of Jasper, Texas, sits on the precipice of the legendary Sam Rayburn Reservoir. When college, high school and junior anglers converge on the lake this month, they’ll find themselves within a 15-minute drive of the ramp and within striking distance of another iconic fishery, Toledo Bend. While in town, grab a cup of coffee at rustic Cafe 257, overload your plate at the Cedar Tree Restaurant’s classic American buffet, indulge in street-style tacos with Tex-Mex flavors at El Flamingo or venture out to The Stump Restaurant & Club to dine amongst bass fishing history. 7,285 Population of Jasper 705 Acreage of nearby Martin Dies, Jr. State Park 3,221 Yardage of golf courses available to play…

B.A.S.S. fans react to three-time Lunker Club inductee Carol Chelette’s trifecta of bucketmouths. Theresa Zierlein Hairston Incredible!!!! You’re my new hero Ms Carol! Great job. #goals2024 Mike Seifert Met her & her husband staying at the burn’n stump at lake fork. Nice folks. Annette Mason Butler I’m not sure if I like the bass or her smile more! Awesome!! Kalli Wahls-House Way to go ma’am! I want to be like that one day! My pb is only 6.4 pounds. Michael Arnold Congratulations on your great catches, Carol!!!!…

With battery weight changing drastically in recent years, can you explain weight distribution and its effect on boat speed and handling? @mpuckett_fishing, Instagram We assume you’re referring to how lithium battery technology has impacted the amount of weight in the transom area. Lithium can reduce the total battery weight by 200 to 400 pounds depending on the number of batteries employed. Lithium’s battery life and performance are certainly key attributes. But when it comes to boat performance, it gets somewhat ambiguous. Phoenix Boats owner and pro angler Gary Clouse says it was simple 25 years ago: Take weight out of your boat and it went faster. Put as much weight in rear compartments, get on plane, trim up the engine and go. “Today, most bass boats carry weight better, and…

WHEN WAS THE last time you fished an Arbogast Jitterbug? Did you answer in days, years or decades? If you’re less than 50 years old, it’s likely that your answer was, “Never.” What if I told you that the Jitterbug — and most particularly, the Musky Jitterbug — is the greatest big-bass lure of all time, hands down, no exceptions? As evidence, I point to the big-fish contest run by Field & Stream from 1911 to 1977. More big-bass entries were credited to the Jitterbug than any other lure by far. What’s more, there are still four state-record largemouth on the books that were caught on the Jitterbug. Ancient history, you say? Hardly. The last state record to come on a Jitterbug came in 2016. So, not only does the…

[Spawn/Postspawn Transition] Date: May 5, 2023 Venue: Lake P, a small flatland reservoir Water: 66 degrees, murky Weather: Scattered showers, high of 60 degrees Pro: Derek Hudnall, 42, of Baton Rouge, La. Hudnall qualified for the 2019 Elites and earned a berth in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic via the 2018 Bassmaster Opens. Boat: Skeeter FXR20 with a 250-horsepower Yamaha outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Garmin electronics on Bass Boat Technologies mounts and twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors WHEN LOUISIANA NATIVE Derek Hudnall graduated from local tournament competition to the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN, Florida pro John Cox was mopping up Elite Series tournaments nationwide with a wacky worm — a short, stubby finesse worm hooked through the middle and fished on a spinning outfit. Hudnall took notice. “Cox was…

By The Numbers Age: 25 Total Tournaments: 20 Classic Appearances: 0 Top 10 Finishes: 1 Times in the Money: 10 Top 30 Finishes: 7 Total Weight: 579-8 Career Winnings: $53,580 Editor’s note: The above statistics only pertain to B.A.S.S. competition. Let’s talk about winning the 2021 Bass Pro Shops Amateur Team Championship. You won a Nitro boat, a new Toyota Tundra and $500,000. How much did it help your career? It was definitely a game changer for me. I wanted to pursue professional fishing, but at the time I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do it. Luckily, I met some great companies through fishing in Auburn and fishing in college that had already signed on to sponsor me for the next season. So, I was already signed…

In February, Scott Martin boated a record-setting 90-pound, 6-ounce winning total at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee presented by SEVIIN. “People will see how I caught them [at the Open] and they’ll say, ‘Oh my gosh, Lake Okeechobee is amazing’ — and it is,” Martin said. “But it’s dwindling. Last year, there were about eight or nine places to catch good fish. This year, we’ve got about six places. Next year, we might have five places.” What gives? The Corp of Engineers is keeping the lake 4 feet higher than normal. The high water is killing the vegetation that makes the lake so good. Martin is asking bass anglers to write letters to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Jacksonville District Office of the Corps of Engineers.…

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. Kelly “Indiana” style side-mount reel David Pogue, email $200 (due to angler modifications) This interesting contraption is a member of the “Indiana” family of reels that were popular in Indiana and nearby states from the teens into the 1970s. Dozens of inventors and companies (some still unknown) made these gearless, single-action, side-mounted casting reels. Due to their similarities, we turned to reel expert Jim Schottenham for help on this one. This reel, he said, was made by Dennis Kelly, who was advertising his product as early as 1918, when it was manufactured by the Wolverine Temperature Regulator Co. of Marshall, Mich. The reel…

ACTIVE ANGLER Kyle Welcher is the guy other Bassmaster Elite Series anglers go to when they need a hook. When supplies are low and they’re in a bind, most anglers know they can turn to the Alabama pro for a helping hand. Generally speaking, he has a solution within seconds. “I fit more hooks and more tungsten in my boxes the way I do it,” Welcher explains. “I can basically fit a two-year supply of hooks and weights in the box now that I’ve figured out how to organize it.” While Welcher’s boat doesn’t feature any more storage than most other anglers in the field, he feels that he’s found a way to pack more tackle into the same square footage. BLUE-COLLAR BREAKDOWN “I didn’t have a ton of tackle…

SPAWNING IS STRENUOUS and, just like human mothers, female largemouth need two things after they’re done: rest and food. We know the fish “slide off the beds and chill out for a while,” but what specifically does that mean? Elite Series anglers offered a look at what they expect from postspawners and how they approach this transitional time. For starters, Bryan New describes a two-part postspawn stage. The initial “don’t bother me” phase followed by the “I’m eatin’ everything” phase. “A lot of times the postspawn fish are kinda funky. They don’t want to bite; they just want to rest,” New said. “But there is a point — and when they reach that point, it’s game on. It’s like, ‘We haven’t eaten in a while,’ so they’re ready to eat.”…

ALTHOUGH IT HAPPENED over 35 years ago, John Crews remembers the day as if it were yesterday. He’d cast a plastic worm near a line of cattails, felt a bite and set the hook. A bass rocketed out of the water and just kept jumping until he finally pulled and dragged the fish up on the bank. He was 8 years old, and it was one of the first bass he ever caught. “It felt so heavy, I could hardly lift it,” he remembers, laughing, “but actually, it barely weighed 3 pounds. We took some pictures with a Polaroid camera, then released it, but to this day I remember distinctly how that bass made me feel. All I wanted to do from then on was catch more of them.” In…

Water type: Mayfly hatch on TVA lake Water temp: Mid 70s Clarity: 1 to 2 feet Depth: 6 to 20 feet Structure: Bluffs, rocks, laydowns Cover: Docks, overhanging trees Forage: Shad, bluegill, mayflies Weather: Sunny and warm Wind/current: Light winds Experts: A trio of Elite Series pros explain how they capitalize on the annual mayfly hatches 1 DANGER CLOSE Alex Redwine Blue Ash, Ohio First move: “I want to look for the trees or bushes closest to the water, because mayflies falling to the water will attract bluegill, and then the bass will target those bluegill,” Redwine said. “The mayflies like that sunshine, so I’ll start by looking for the banks that get [the early] sun. That’s where those larvae will hatch first.” Baits/tackle to use: For paralleling a steep…

AS MANY OF you likely know by now, South Carolina angler Bryan New was disqualified from the St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN held March 7-9 on the Santee Cooper Lakes. New was reported by fellow competitor Andrew Upshaw for violating Rule C7 of the Bassmaster Opens Series, the Angler Code of Conduct, specifically, for intentionally interfering with an angler’s ability to compete. According to B.A.S.S. officials — and by New’s own admission on his social media platforms — he fished unsuccessfully for a bedding bass on Day 2. When he gave up, he intentionally muddied the water over the bass’s bed in hopes of coming back and catching it later. This was deemed an egregious violation because it created an obvious obstacle for other competitors. Disqualifications are a…