Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2025 i Bassmaster

November 20 Use Less Stuff Day. Know that tacklebox with everything in it? Leave it at home and fish with just three baits. 27 Thanksgiving. Some families watch a parade and football; other families watch a parade of fish being caught. December 15 National Cat Herders Day. This holiday wasn’t created to honor tournament directors, but it should have been. 21 Winter Solstice. After today, the nights get shorter and you’re 24 hours closer to those summer sunsets. 23 Festivus. What started as a Seinfeld skit has turned into an actual holiday for everyone. It’s also your last day to fish before Christmas. 25 Christmas. Here’s your best chance at getting free tackle until your birthday.…

  Prouder Every Day As a member of B.A.S.S. for decades, I thought I’d send this photo and brief description of my wife Kathy’s personal-best largemouth after undergoing breast cancer surgery and radiation last year. We’ve been fishing together since 1979, and I’ve never been prouder of her than I am right now! She’s one year cancer-free, and we fish once a week. This fish was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and she caught it on a drop-shot rigged Roboworm at Santa Margarita Lake. I just thought it might make her day/month/year to see this photo in the magazine’s Mail Call column! Thanks so much, Will Hesch Central Coast, Calif.…

If you were told to fish an entire day and could use only one bait, what would it be? @radarfitz, Instagram Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cooper Gallant No question it would be an X Zone Lures Rally Shad minnow bait that has won me more money and tournaments than anything. It’s a very versatile bait, which is what makes it so effective. You can throw it on a drop shot or a jighead, cast it — even put it on a Ned head or fish it weightless like a Fluke. That makes it great for a range of depths and situations. I would go with a 1/4-ounce jighead if I could only pick one. I would use the color Gallant’s gas, which has a dark topside and a little…

Huk Atoll Half Zip Hoodie $60 | huk.com Features: Upgrade your style on and off the water with this comfortable half-zip hoodie Ultra-lightweight, high-stretch material has a UPF 50+ rating and a hood to keep you protected under the sun The half-zip design allows for more airflow on hot days or more coverage in cooler weather The sleeve and underarm panel were designed for full range of motion while casting Brazalo The Schlapper Pro Bushwhacker $10.99 | brazalocustomlures.com Features: Two-time Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series winner Pat Schlapper used this buzzbait to secure his first win on the Sabine River earlier this year Comes in two blade sizes and six blade colors The blade contacts the oversized bead on the wire to create a unique sound The thin body makes it…

WHEN THE WATER temperature drops in late fall and early winter, it’s time to make some changes to your bass-fishing strategies. The metabolism of bass, baitfish and every other cold-blooded creature decreases in cold water, and all life beneath the surface moves more slowly this time of year. Under these conditions, flat-sided crankbaits excel because their tight, subtle wiggle is more in tune with nature than the aggressive wobble of a typical round-bodied crankbait. That’s why Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series angler Beau Browning has at least one rod on his deck rigged with a flat-sided crankbait when the water temperature drops into the low 50s in late fall and early winter. If the bass are reluctant to nab a fat crankbait, a flat crankbait generates more bites for him. “On…

Date: July 28, 2025 Venue: Lake L, a small, flatland reservoir Weather: Clear, light breeze, high of 94 Angler: Don Wirth, 80, Nashville, Tenn. Wirth is the most senior of Bassmaster’s Senior Writers, having written for the magazine nonstop for 54 years. He’s the creator of the “Day on the Lake” feature, and this is the first time for him to occupy the front deck. Boat: Caymas CX 20 with a Mercury 250-horsepower Pro XS outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Power-Pole shallow-water anchors and Humminbird and Garmin electronics AFTER 54 YEARS of writing for Bassmaster Magazine, Don Wirth, who turned 80 this year, has retired. The originator of popular features, including “Harry ’N’ Charlie” and “The Weekend Angler,” Wirth is most closely associated with — and proudest of — his…

WHEN I WAS a kid, most boys asked Santa for bikes, a poster of Farrah Fawcett or the latest Atari cartridge. (Yes, I’m Atari old.) I wanted a tacklebox. Not some sleek, hold-a-hundred lures model — I’m talking about a plastic box from Kmart that had a single tray to hold my handful of pawn-shop baits. One Christmas, the jolly ol’ elf delivered exactly that. (I also got the poster and wasn’t mad about it.) Inside that little Plano box was a handful of bargain-bin baits to add to my arsenal. To me, it was the greatest gift ever. That morning, I sat cross-legged on the floor, rummaging through my new treasures, convinced I now possessed the weapons that would unlock the secret to catching every bass in Wichita County.…

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, Arkansas anglers will have the opportunity to participate in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) Legacy Lunker Program. Anglers can donate any largemouth bass weighing 10 pounds or more caught from public water in Arkansas from Jan. 1 through March 31 each year. If the fish is deemed healthy enough to survive spawning, the AGFC will transport it to the recently renovated Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery where it’ll serve as a valuable resource for collecting essential data and be used as part of a bass stocking program. All anglers who donate a bass 10 pounds or larger during the spawning season will receive a prize package, including a replica mount of their fish, and a chance to win an Xpress boat. Visit AGFC.com for…

B.A.S.S. fans react to the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series coin flip that determined which lakes would allow the use of forward-facing sonar for the 2026 season. Zachary Hebert Everyone complaining about Champlain with no FFS must forget some of Feider’s highlights from there. I can’t wait to see more of that from the field. Jed Baggett Young guys still gonna kick butt n the non FFS tournaments then everyone will realize where they stand… Dave Marshall Jr. Comedy As somebody who isn’t a fan of FFS in the pro circuit, I actually like the compromise. And the coin toss today was exciting. Really excited to see Guntersville and Champlain without FFS. Brock Fleming Fair and thought out. Really excited to see Guntersville without FFS and start the season early!…

GROWING UP IN New Hampshire, Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Tim Dube spent many winter days perched on the frozen surfaces of lakes Winnipesaukee, Winnisquam and Merrymeeting. Targeting white perch, yellow perch, crappie and the occasional smallmouth bass through holes in the ice helped him hone some of the skills that have served him well in professional bass fishing. “Early on, with 2D sonar and a flasher, ice fishing really helped me understand what I was looking at and made it easier for when I went into open water,” Dube said. “Now, with LiveScope, I feel like I’ve become more efficient at telling what species I’m looking at. “Targeting different species in the wintertime, I’ve learned how the schools look in the water. So now, I can pan over and…

AS IF YOU needed a reason to grab some new fishing tackle, Christmas IS coming. And our annual Christmas Buyer’s Guide shares all the best goodies from the 2025 ICAST sportfishing trade show. It has everything you need for a joyful season, whether stuffing someone’s stocking or stocking your own tacklebox. Yo-Zuri Pro Series Glide Bait This 7-inch, 2 5/8-ounce, chopping-style, single-jointed bait delivers high-quality performance at a budget-friendly price. Available in seven color options. ($24.99) yo-zuri.com Daiwa Ballistic MQ LT Reel Winner of Best Freshwater Reel at ICAST 2025, the Ballistic MQ LT (Light Tough) is a feathery, efficient package thanks to its compact body design and Airdrive bail, rotor and spool. The MQ body is made of carbon fiber, which yields a rigid, durable, corrosion-resistant reel. Daiwa’s Tough…

Raceland, La. You started a college fishing team at Nicholls State. Talk about that experience. It was a great experience. I tell all of the high school kids if they want to go pro, they really need to fish in college. I’m glad I started it because I made a ton of friends there that I’m still friends with to this day. And, it was a fun time, you know? What were the biggest challenges you faced starting a program from scratch? The main thing was trying to find an advisor, or somebody that can run it. Then you need to have your school allow you to participate by taking time out of class to go fishing. A lot of schools don’t consider fishing a sport, so you can get…

The 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series kicks off Feb. 5 on legendary Lake Guntersville. At the heart of the action lies the city of Scottsboro. Home to the world’s only unclaimed baggage retail store — as well as uncountable quantities of fishing tales — Scottsboro is one of bass fishing’s most history-laden places. The Elite Series returns for the first time since 2021, when Caleb Kuphall took home the win with 85 pounds, 14 ounces. 14.5 Weight in pounds of Lake Guntersville record largemouth 11,012 Surveyed feet within nearby Cathedral Caverns State Park 189.50 Eric Siddiqi’s winning total in inches at the 2024 Bassmaster Kayak Series event on Lake Guntersville…

ACTIVE ANGLER Carl Jocumsen remembers his early encounters with boat ramps on the outskirts of Toowoomba, Australia. In his early teens, his mother would drive him to the lake, head toward the ramp and hand over the steering wheel to the future Elite Series pro. From there, he’d back down the ramp and launch his boat. “People always laughed,” Jocumsen said. “I was a little kid backing a boat down.” Jokes aside, ramp skills are critical tools that every bass angler must master. And for a young Jocumsen, those early driving lessons while bopping down the back roads in a used Toyota Land Cruiser proved crucial for his eventual career. These days, Jocumsen finds himself plying the highways and boat ramps of America while raising a family with his wife,…

Water type: Southern reservoir Water temp: Upper 50s to low 60s Clarity: 1 to 2 feet Depth: 3 to 20 feet Structure: Rock, laydowns, docks, bridges Cover: Docks, grass, pads Forage: Shad, crawfish, bluegill Weather: Cloudy, drizzly rain Wind/current: Breezy morning with afternoon wind increasing Experts: A trio of Elite Series pros explain how they work with pre-frontal days 1 RUN INTO ’EM Brandon Lester Fayetteville, Tenn. First move: “I want to cover some water, fish my way back into some pockets and creeks, and feel it out to see where I start getting some bites,” said Lester of his approach in fall. Baits/tackle to use: Lester fishes a shad-colored squarebill in 3 to 5 feet. For grass and flats in the backs of creeks, he switches to a 1/2-ounce…