Bass Edge’s The Edge – Episode 263 – Justin Atkins
September 1, 2017,
Bass Edge Radio, presented by MegaWare KeelGuard features 2017 Forrest Wood Cup Champion Justin Atkins in this most recent episode of their top-rated podcast. Bass Edge hosts Aaron Martin and Kurt Dove talk with Justin about his Cup ‘Win’ as well as tactics he will lean on while bass fishing in early September.
Guests on this week’s show were Bassmaster Elite Series Pro and owner of Ducket Fishing and Ducket Marine Boyd Duckett and Host of Facts of Fishing and Bassmaster Elite Series MC Dave Mercer.
If you missed the show, you can listen to the podcast here.
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Jacob Powroznik of Port Haywood, Va., won the 2017 Bassmaster Classic Bracket held out of Grand Rapids, Minn., Friday, earning a berth in the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
Sept. 22, 2017
Powroznik Earns Fourth Straight Classic Berth As Last Man Standing At Pokegama Lake
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GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. — For the past three years, Jacob Powroznik has qualified for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods by finishing inside the cut in the season-long Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points standings on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
This year, he had to work overtime to get to the Classic.
But he’ll be there just the same.
Powroznik defeated four anglers in five days to win this week’s Classic Bracket on Pokegama Lake, outscoring Steve Kennedy in the two-day first round, Dave Lefebre in the semifinals and Ish Monroe in Friday’s closely contested finale.
The Virginia pro caught 16 pounds, 11 ounces of bass Friday — compared to the 14-8 landed by Monroe — to earn the tournament’s automatic Classic berth.
“It’s unbelievable, man,” Powroznik said with tears in his eyes. “It’s just such a relief. It’s the most pressure I’ve ever fished under — and I mean ever.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
The Classic Bracket featured the Top 8 finishers in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings who failed to qualify for the Classic. The seeds were: 1. Kennedy, 2. Michael Iaconelli, 3. Jonathon VanDam, 4. Kelley Jaye, 5. Lefebre, 6. Monroe, 7. Adrian Avena and 8. Powroznik.
All 24 hours of the catch-weigh-release event were aired on Bassmaster LIVE online at Bassmaster.com and on ESPN3 — and by Friday, only Monroe and Powroznik remained. As is often the case with competitive bass angling, early-morning decisions were big for both anglers.
Powroznik, who spent much of the earlier rounds fishing boat docks with a spinning reel, switched to a baitcaster and a swimbait and scored early with a 3-4 largemouth on his first cast. He added a 1-2 on his second cast and steadily built a solid five-bass limit of 11-4 before an hour had passed.
He upgraded with a 3-14 largemouth around 10 a.m. and then had one of the strangest occurrences of the Elite Series season when he landed a solid bass with a yellow cull tag clipped in its mouth.
The tag had likely been placed there by an angler in a previous tournament who then somehow failed to remove it when the bass was released.
Monroe’s on-boat judge, B.A.S.S. Nation Director Jon Stewart, originally ruled that the cull tag had to be removed before the fish could be weighed. But Powroznik objected.
“That’s the way it was when I caught it,” he said. “If the bass had a bluegill in its throat, I would get to weigh the bluegill. If it had a lamprey stuck to it, I would get to weigh the lamprey.”
Stewart consulted B.A.S.S. Tournament Director Trip Weldon, who advised him to weigh the fish both ways — with the tag and without. The weight in both situations was 3-3.
“I’ve fished over a thousand tournament days, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Bassmaster LIVE commentator and former Elite Series pro Davy Hite.
Once the sun began to break, Powroznik moved away from his largemouth areas and went looking for smallmouth. That’s when he put the tournament away with smallies that weighed 4-3 and 3-0.
“That place I started this morning, I had fished it so many times,” Powroznik said. “I knew they were there because I had been catching every time I went. This morning, I decided I was going to do something different and I started with that swimbait. It was the right move.”
Monroe’s early-morning strategy carried him into a small, picturesque canal that led into a weed-lined pond known as “Little Pokegama.” The decision proved to be a tough one, as Monroe got only two bites in the area — both of which came from northern pike.
He finally caught his first bass — a small 1-3 largemouth — at 8:53 a.m. and followed quickly with a 3-6 at 8:57. But the big bite like the 5-1 smallmouth he landed during the semifinals Thursday never came, and he wasn’t able to catch Powroznik.
Just before the final round ended, Monroe — who has long been known as one of the fiercest competitors in the sport — hooked a fish and lost it, causing him to throw his rod in frustration.
When time ran out, he cranked his outboard and motored back toward the launch in total silence.
The local host for the event was Visit Grand Rapids.
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Sept. 22, 2017
Bassmaster Southern Open On Smith Lake Will Fill Another Classic Spot
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JASPER, Ala. — There may be no professional bass angler in the sport who understands the potential of Smith Lake better than David Kilgore.
The native Alabamian lives and works just minutes from the 21,000-acre lake, and he won a 2014 event on Smith with a three-day total of 54 pounds, 11 ounces, that easily ranks as the heaviest weight ever caught during a B.A.S.S. event on the fishery.
But as much as he’d like to believe the fishing will be that good during next week’s Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open on Smith, he thinks the timing could be just a little off.
“I still think there will be a lot of fish caught,” said Kilgore, a two-time qualifier for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. “But as far as the lake really showing out, we’re probably another two weeks away from the good fall fishing.
“We just haven’t had enough cool weather in this part of the country yet.”
The tournament will be held Sept. 28-30, with takeoffs each day at 6:30 a.m. CT from Smith Lake Dam access and weigh-ins Thursday and Friday at 2:30 p.m. back at the access. The final day weigh-in will be held at Bass Pro Shops in Leeds, Ala., at 3:45 p.m.
Through the years, winning weights on Smith Lake have been in the 35- to 38-pound range for most B.A.S.S. events. Even the earliest B.A.S.S. tournaments on the fishery — the ones that featured a 10-bass daily limit instead of the five-bass limit that is standard for today’s events — didn’t crack the 50-pound mark.
But during the past 10 to 15 years, an invasive species of baitfish known as the blueback herring was illegally introduced. Though it is unknown what effect herring will have on the long-term ecology of the lake, they’ve had a profound short-term effect on the bass fishing.
“Before the herring, things were totally different,” Kilgore said. “After the winter and spring fishing, you just didn’t go to Smith unless you went at night.
“Now that the herring are in there, you can go a lot of times during the summer and actually catch several fish.”
Even with the herring, things are still best during cooler temperatures — and Kilgore said the current 10-day forecast, which calls for highs in the upper 80s and nighttime lows in the mid-60s, won’t be enough to have a positive effect on the lake.
“I’ve been way off before,” he said. “But I think, if you give me about 41 pounds for the week, I’d feel really good. If I could catch 13 to 13 1/2 pounds a day, I would be happy.”
Kilgore, who is one of the tallest anglers in B.A.S.S. history at 6 feet, 9 inches, said he’ll be “going for the slam dunk instead of the layup.” It’s a clever analogy that means he’ll only be satisfied with a victory and the automatic Classic berth that goes with it.
He’s made the Classic twice before via Opens victories, including the 2015 Classic on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell where he finished a respectable 22nd and came away believing he should have done much better. The 2018 Classic is also set for Lake Hartwell.
“I’d love to get back to Hartwell again,” Kilgore said. “I felt like I had things dialed in the last time I was there, and it just didn’t quite work out.”
As for what he expects to see happen on Smith, he said 95 percent of the field will likely be sitting on points “herring fishing” — which means they’ll be waiting for giant schools of baitfish to surface and targeting the hungry spotted bass that are busting through them.
Regardless of what happens, he expects the event to be good for his hometown.
“There are a lot more tournaments on Smith than there used to be, and that has meant a lot more pressure on the fish,” he said. “There probably isn’t a bass out there feeding on those herring that hasn’t seen some kind of artificial lure by now.
“But that’s obviously what you want. You want more people to come visit. It’s good for the lake, and it’s good for Jasper.”
In addition to the Classic berth, the winner in the pro division will receive a Skeeter ZX200 powered by a Yamaha SHO 200. The co-angler champion will receive a Triton 179 TrX powered by a Mercury 115 ELPT Four Stroke.
The event is hosted by the Walker County Chamber of Commerce.
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SUNDAY MORNING BASS SERIES
FALL CLASSIC Oct 22, 2017
$100 Entry Fee
100% Pay Back
7:00am – 3:30pm
Plaques for 1st, 2nd, 3rd & Big Fish will be awarded.
ANGLER APPRECIATION TOURNAMENT
Sunday October 29
$120 Entry Fee (includes $10 big fish)
Payback is 1 in 7 Boats
100% Payback after expenses
(expenses are trophies, advertising, food, etc)
Flight Number One – Boats 1-50 7:30am-3:30pm
Flight Number Two – Boats 51-100 7:45am-3:45am
Flight Number Three – Boats 101-150 8:00am-4:00pm
2017 FISH TALES OPEN TEAM
TOURNAMENT
Sunday November 5, 2016
7am-3:30pm
$120 Entry Fee (includes $20 Big Fish)
80% Payback
Payback is 1 in 5 Boats
100% Payback for Big Fish
1st & 2nd Place Big Fish
($15 & $5 goes towards Big Fish)
GET READY FOR THE FALL FISHING BONANZA!!!!!!!!!
October is the month of change around lake Anna. Archery season begins on October 7, what does that have to do with fishing you ask? Well simply put, it means less fishing pressure on the lake. The leaves begin to change colors and the fish get very active. The water temperatures begin a steady fall, the bait fish begin to push into the backs of creeks and the bass and striper alike follow them. The crappie will move to their fall feeding areas. It is just a great time to be on the lake.
BASS- Start looking for the bass to be shallow and very active all month long. You can catch them on a variety of baits in super shallow water.
Squarebill crankbaits, Rat L Traps, Dave’s Tournament Tackle Tiger Shad Spinnerbaits, Damiki MTB Noisy Buzzbait, Poppers, Walking baits, Whopper Ploppers and my favorite, Double D CC Twitchin’ Shad Soft Jerkbaits.
As always, Shakey Heads (check out SG’s Heavy Metal Shakey Heads), Drop Shots and Jigs will also catch their fair share of fish. Start looking in the back third of all major creeks throughout the lake.
They will be on laydowns, willow grass, rocks and boatdocks. Look for rocky points with deep water near by, same for boat docks. The deep water will come into play when a cold front comes through. With water temps dropping, they will be feeding heavy for thew cold winter months to come.
STRIPER- The linesides will start to make their move up into the rivers early this month. Look for them to be chasing shad and herring early and late in the day. A 4″ paddle tail swimbait rigged on a 1/4oz jig head is my bait of choice. Start looking for birds to give locations of the fish away. Be respectful of other anglers already fishing in an area, do not run all the way into them with the big engine, this will spook the fish and then you will be dealing with an angry angler!!! Once the heavy feed has ceased, locate them on your electronics and drop a Damiki Vault or SG’s Heavy Metal Blade down to them.
Towards the end of the month, you should be able to find them around the bridge in Terrys Run, the S-Turns to Little Florida in Pamunkey and around the 522 Bridge to the mouth of Goldmine Creek over on the North Anna arm of the lake. They should stay put in these areas all the way through November or until the water cools down to below 40 degrees or so.
CRAPPIE- The Specks will still be located on bridge pilings, deep boat docks (12-20 feet) and rock piles early in the month. As the water temps drop into the upper 60’s, look for them to make a move to shallow feeding ( 3-8 feet) areas up lake.
Try skipping a 2″ Curly Tail Grub on a 1/16oz jig head under boat docks in the upper North Anna arm, same with Pamunkey and Terrys Run. Small minnows rigged on slip bobbers will also produce the best eating fish in the lake.
Lake Level- 15″ Low
Water Clarity
Up Lake- Slight Stain
Mid Lake- Clear
Down Lake- Clear
Water Temps
Up Lake- 74-80
Mid Lake- 76-82
Down Lake- 76-82
Dike 3- 83
Chris Craft
Anna Point Marina
Fish Tales Tackle Manager
540-895-5900 Ext5
Raymarine Axiom Software Update:
New LightHouse 3.2 Offers Additional Enhancements
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WILSONVILLE, OR (September 21, 2017) – One of the best ways to get the most out of any marine electronics is to update software when it becomes available. Make this a habit and you’re sure to stay on the cutting edge—all without any additional investment.
For boaters and anglers using Raymarine Axiom units, the new LightHouse 3.2 operating software update provides numerous enhancements and an even more intuitive, seamless, and fluid user experience.
Installing the new update is simple via wireless network or PC. For updating via wireless network, simply connect your Axiom to your home Wi-Fi or your phone’s mobile hotspot. Yes, you can actually update your Axiom software while you’re on the water! You can also download Lighthouse 3.2 via Raymarine’s website here.
Lighthouse 3.2 enhancements include:
LightHouse 3.2 includes all features added in version 3.196, including:
3D Sonar GPS Track Mode: This is the new default operating mode for RealVision 3D. The 3D image responds in real-time to inputs from its internal gyro-stabilization, plus the GPS system. When you turn, you’ll see the 3D image turn as well. When you speed up, it matches your speed. When you stop, it stops. As you make multiple passes around the same area the 3D image continuously updates and gets larger. Adjacent passes are stitched together into a comprehensive view of the bottom, structure and water column. Fish and bait that were in one location on pass one and shown in their new location in pass two, three, four, etc. Depending on the depth where you are fishing, the system can display 10 minutes (or more) of prior history. Deeper water gives you more time.
Sonar Scroll Back: You can now pause and rewind any sonar channel on the system. If you’re looking at more than one sonar channel simultaneously, pausing one pauses them all and when rewound, they all rewind together. This lets you go back and take a second look, add waypoints, etc.
Historical Sonar Sensitivity: If you adjust any of the sonar sensitivity settings (gain, filtering, etc.), it not only applies to new data coming in, but also to all of that prior scroll-back history, too. For example, you might increase or decrease the surface filter or gain and suddenly see fish in your past history that were previously concealed.
3D Waypoint Placement: You can now touch anywhere on the 3D display and drop a waypoint. There is a mechanism there, too, that allows you to fine-tune that waypoint to get it right on the desired spot.
Wi-Fi connectivity to RayRemote and RayControl Apps for Apple and Android Devices
New SideVision and DownVision Default Settings: Raymarine sonar engineers have re-adjusted the default levels for target intensity and gain on SideVision and DownVision channels. These new settings offer increased clarity and definition without additional user adjustment.
Evolution Autopilot Control Interface
Expanded Support for RMK-10 Wired Keypad
During the semifinal round of the Bassmaster Classic Bracket held on the Pokegama Lake out of Grand Rapids, Minn., Ish Monroe defeated Michael Iaconelli and Jacob Powroznik defeated Dave Lefebre to advance to the championship match on Friday. The weights will go back to zero and both anglers will fish six hours, from 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. CT.
Sept. 21, 2017
Monroe, Powroznik Win Bracket Matches, Will Battle For Berth In Bassmaster Classic
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GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. — When the Bassmaster Elite Series season began, 110 of the best pro fishermen in the world had a chance to qualify for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
Now, after eight months and thousands of miles traveled on the nation’s interstates and waterways, that race for a last-chance berth is down to two.
California pro Ish Monroe and Virginia pro Jacob Powroznik both won their matches during Thursday’s semifinal round of the Bassmaster Classic Bracket event on Pokegama Lake, Minnesota. That means they’ll battle head-to-head Friday from 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. CT for an automatic Classic berth.
The Classic Bracket started Tuesday with the Top 8 anglers from the final Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings who failed to qualify for the Classic. All of the action from the catch-weigh-release event has been carried by Bassmaster LIVE online at Bassmaster.com.
Here’s a look at how the semifinals played out.
Ish Monroe vs. Michael Iaconelli
The two anglers, who are close friends and frequent roommates on the Elite Series, were close in the standings most of the day, with Monroe using a plastic frog to catch largemouth around shallow grass and Iaconelli relying heavily on a jerkbait to catch offshore smallmouth.
But one frenetic stretch provided separation just after noon.
After Iaconelli had taken a slim lead with a largemouth that weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces, Monroe jumped back ahead with a 3-0 smallmouth that was weighed and released just seconds later.
Then Monroe had the moment of the week so far, landing a monster smallmouth that tipped the scales at a whopping 5-1. The biggest bass caught from Pokegama this week provided Monroe a cull of more than 2 pounds and gave him a hefty lead of 16-7 to 13-3.
“I think I caught that same fish in practice, roughly about 30 feet from where it was today,” Monroe said. “That was definitely the one I needed today.
“I think those fish stay out in deep water a lot of the time. But then when they want to feed, they move up onto a shallow flat — and that’s where that big one was.”
Iaconelli made one small upgrade during the final 10 minutes, but Monroe still triumphed 16-7 to 13-5.
For Monroe, the victory means he still has a shot at his 11th career Classic appearance. For Iaconelli, the loss ended his chances of earning a 17th consecutive Classic berth and the 19th overall for his career.
“It looks easy, but it isn’t,” Monroe said. “It’s tough having a Classic berth on the line against one of your best friends — and there’s still one more day.”
Jacob Powroznik vs. Dave Lefebre
At one point, Powroznik seemed to be catching bass at will off a short stretch of shoreline filled with boat docks. He landed a 2-12 and a 2-5 largemouth off the same dock on back-to-back casts around 9:15 a.m., and then followed with a 2-7, a 2-2 and a 2-4 in the span of about 15 minutes.
His biggest fish of the day was a 3-4 largemouth that also came off a dock just before noon.
“When you’re fishing a good stretch of docks, it can happen just that fast,” said Powroznik, who has qualified for the Classic three straight years.
Powroznik won the match 13-6 to 12-7 — and that slim margin is likely to haunt Lefebre, who had numerous chances to surpass the veteran Virginia pro.
Using a green pumpkin Terminator jig to fish around docks and offshore pencil reeds, Lefebre nearly matched Powroznik fish for fish. But he lost a bass that he believed to be a 3-plus-pounder before noon and another one in that range just before the round ended.
“That’s the really tough thing about our sport,” Lefebre said. “You can make the right decision, make a great cast, get the right bite — and things still just don’t work out.”
Powroznik was happy with the victory, but well aware there is work left to be done.
“I feel really good, but I’m also stressed out again,” he said. “There were a lot of fish caught today, but a lot of 2-pounders. You know the big ones are in here because Ish caught the 5-pounder. That’s what it’s going to take.”
The local host for this event is Visit Grand Rapids.
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Onstage, after winning Bassmaster’s 2017 Angler of the Year award, Idaho pro Brandon Palaniuk thanked family members for their support. On the water all season, baits in the Rapala family of brands helped him catch the bass that put himself in a position to win.
“I’ve got to say a huge thanks to my family,” Palaniuk said Sunday, moments before hoisting the Angler of the Year trophy above his head. “They’ve supported me all the way through [my career] – even when my mom told me I better have a Plan B and I told her ‘Why, if I’m not going to fail at Plan A?’”
Plan A succeeded for Palaniuk better than ever this season, seeing him earn an amazing six Top 12 finishes in 10 tournaments – including a victory on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. His game plan relied heavily on Rapala® lures and baits by other Rapala Respected Brands. As weather and water conditions changed across the country from one tournament to the next, Palaniuk relied on several key baits to get bites, including a Storm® Arashi® Top Walker, Rapala Shadow Rap® Deep, Rapala DT®s, Storm Wiggle Wart®, Terminator® Frog and Storm Arashi® Spinbait.
VMC® hooks helped Palaniuk keep his bites buttoned up. All his hardbaits come armed with them and he rigged soft-plastics on VMC Weedless Neko Hooks, Heavy Duty Wide Gap Hooks, Stand Up Shakey Head Jigs and Ike Approved Rugby Jigs.
Palaniuk clinched his AOY win Sunday on Minnesota’s Mille Lacs Lake, where he finished 20th and totaled 902 points. That finish earned him just enough AOY points to eclipse Jason Christie, who finished in 2nd with 888 points. Fellow Rapala Pro Jacob Wheeler was a close third in the AOY race, with 885 points.
“Who would’ve thought an 8-year-old kid from Idaho – Idaho where we’re known for catching trout, and for rivers and streams – could make this happen,” Palaniuk said onstage Sunday, after thanking his family and before hoisting the AOY trophy. “I didn’t know if it would ever happen. This has been a dream of mine since I was 8 years old. I decided 21 years ago that this is what I was going to do.”
Palaniuk, 29, first earned a berth to the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2011. He joined the Rapala Pro Team in 2012. He has competed in 89 Bassmaster tournaments and seven Bassmaster Classics. He has won three Elite Series tournaments and finished runner-up in three more. His best finishes in the Classic are a runner-up and a 4th place.
Topwater: Storm® Arashi® Top Walker
When Storm first released the Arashi Top Walker top-water plug last year, Palaniuk predicted he’d enjoy great success with it. “It’s the best walk-the-dog bait by far now,” he said at the time. “It’s going to up my odds of putting more fish in the boat.” His prediction was spot on. A Top Walker was key this season in both his late-May win on Rayburn in Texas and his 3rd-place finish on New York’s Lake Champlain in late July.
“Every single day I caught a big one on it,” he said after his win on Rayburn, his third on the Bassmaster Elite Series circuit.
A long-glide, walk-the-dog action, a powerful wake and a multiple-rattle sound combine to help Arashi Top Walkers call in the biggest bass from the farthest distances. They come in two sizes, both of them big – 4 ¼ inches and 5 1/8 inches. They feature four bearings that broadcast a variable pitch frequency, mimicking the sound of schooling baitfish that predators can’t ignore. The 4 1/4-inch Top Walker weighs 3/4 of an ounce. The 5 1/8-inch model weighs 1 1/8th ounces.
Crankbaits: Rapala® DT® Series & Storm® Wiggle Wart®s
In placing 12th in the first tournament of his AOY season, a mid-February contest on Tennessee’s Cherokee Lake, Palaniuk exclusively fished Storm Wiggle Warts and Rapala® DT® crankbaits. Below freezing temperatures on the derby’s first day gave way to highs in the upper 60s by the fourth and final day. Slow-cranking channel swings and rock piles with a Wiggle Wart in the Phantom Brown Orange Craw pattern and DTs in Demon helped him kick of his season with his first of six Championship Sunday appearances of the year.
“In cold water, you want to just crawl a Wiggle Wart over the rocks,” Palaniuk instructed. “When you do that, it looks just like a little crawdad, scooting and scurrying in and out of those rocks. The action and the sound of that bait makes those fish bite.”
The legendary Original Wiggle Wart features an inimitable wide-wobbling action and rattle that mimics the movement and sound of crawdads. Crawdads make a better meal for fish in the spring especially, Palaniuk said, because they are bigger than newly hatched minnows and fry baitfish.
Wiggle Warts are available now in four new crawfish color patterns designed to help anglers to match local conditions: Phantom Green Copper Craw, Phantom Copper Craw, Faded Molting Craw and Brown Mustard Craw. The new designs will help anglers better match the hatch, as crawdad colors vary widely by species, water body and region.
Built from Storm’s original molds, the Original Wiggle Wart comes armed with premium, super-sharp VMC® Treble Hooks. Designed to run to depths of 7-to-18 feet, the Original Wiggle Wart is 2 inches long and weighs 3/8 of an ounce.
Rapala’s DT® Series of crankbaits dive fast to a pre-set depth and stay in the strike zone longer than any than other crankbait on the market. They combine carefully placed internal weights, a tapered fuselage and a thin tail to create the ultimate crankbait action. DT crankbaits are also available in new lifelike, seasonally specific crawfish patterns: Blaze, Delta, Mossy, Ole Blue and Rusty.
Rapala DTs were key for Palaniuk in another tournament this season also, his 12th-place finish on Arkansas’ Lake Dardanelle in early June.
VMC® Hooks & Weights
With post-spawn largemouth on the move on Sam Rayburn in Bassmaster’s May 17-21 Texas Fest tournament, two bait rigs armed and anchored with VMC hooks (Weedless Neko & Heavy Duty Wide Gap) and VMC weights were key components in Palaniuk’s arsenal. In his win, he weighed four 5-fish limits for a combined weight of 93 pounds, 12 ounces.
And on a muddy, fluctuating Arkansas River in early June, Palaniuk moved into third place in the Angler of the Year race with a 12th-place finish. Key to his success were two VMC jigs dressed with a thin soft-plastic worm – a 3/16th oz. Stand Up Shakey Head Jig and a ¾ oz. VMC Ike Approved Rugby Jig.
Stand Up Shakey Head Jig
Rugby Jig
Although he conceded it “sounds crazy,” Palaniuk caught all his biggest fish on Rayburn with the smallest thing he offered them – a Neko Rig comprising a 1/0 VMC Weedless Neko Hook, a 3/16th oz. Half Moon Wacky Weight and a 5-inch finesse worm.
“Every fish I caught over 8 pounds this week came on a Neko Rig,” he said after the tournament.
VMC’s Weedless Neko Hook features a black-nickel finish, a wide gap, 3-degree offset point, a resin-closed eye and a forged, long shank. It’s available in four sizes: 2, 1, 1/0 and 2/0. What makes it weedless is a unique snag-guard made from two heavy-duty fluorocarbon bristles. VMC’s Half Moon Wacky Weight is mushroom-shaped and features a long, ribbed shank designed to embed in – and stay put in – one end of a soft-plastic worm.
Unlike wire, the 50-pound-test fluorocarbon bristles guarding a Weedless Neko Hook are practically invisible to fish. They also protect the hook from the kind of submerged trees and brush that Palaniuk was fishing on Rayburn.
Palaniuk’s confidence in his Weedless Neko Hook’s ability to avoid snags paid off early, when he caught an 8-pound, 4-ounce largemouth out of a submerged tree on the first of the tournament’s four days of competition. Without that confidence, he might not have tried a finesse offering around sunken trees as a follow-up to his Texas Rig (5/0 VMC Heavy Duty Wide Gap Hook, ½ oz. VMC Tungsten Flippin’ Weight and 10-inch plum-colored worm).
The last hook Palaniuk set on Sam Rayburn was indeed a VMC Heavy Duty Wide Gap, with which he stuck a 5-pound, 15-ounce largemouth with only 24 minutes remaining before the tournament ended at 3 p.m. Keeping that fish buttoned up and into the boat won him the tournament.
“Without that fish at 2:36, there’d be a different dude standing up here right now,” he said onstage after weighing the winning bag of bass. And that wasn’t just hyperbole – the tournament runner-up caught a 6-pound bass at 2:30 p.m. to take an unofficial lead. Palaniuk’s 2:36 p.m. catch gave him a 2-pound margin of victory.
Spies & Jerks – Storm® Arashi® Spin Bait & Rapala® Shadow Rap® Deep
About half the bass Palaniuk weighed in his third-place finish on Lake Champlain came on an Arashi® Spinbait in the Green Gill color scheme. Still more came on a No. 13 Arashi® Top Walker and a Shadow Rap Deep in the Haymaker color pattern.
“I caught lethargic, post-spawn smallmouth and needed lures to trigger reaction strikes,” Palaniuk told Bassmaster.com after the tournament.
Although similar in appearance to a topwater prop bait, a Spinbait is a finesse offering you fish deep for suspending bass. And although suspending bass are notoriously hard to catch, Spinbaits command their attention like other lures can’t.
“Subtle differences can be key,” Palaniuk said. “When this bait falls, it’s going to fall horizontal, and when it does that, it’s going to shimmy on the fall. And that triggers a lot of strikes. That draws a lot of fish.”
After Palaniuk determines a depth at which fish are suspending, he makes long casts to the area and counts down his Spinbait to the strike zone. He then reels it very slowly through the school.
Arashi Spinbaits measure 3 1/8 inches, weigh 1/3 oz. and comes in 10 fish-attracting color patterns: Hot Blue Shad, Bluegill, Blue Back Herring, Wakasagi, Ghost Hitch, Ghost Pearl Shad, Green Gill, Pro Blue, Black Silver Shad, Green Gold Shad.
Combining a horizontal struggle with a vertical fade, Rapala’s all-season jerkbait perfectly mimics an injured minnow’s last moments. Unlike a host of similar-looking jerkbaits, Shadow Raps neither rise slightly on the pause, nor strictly suspend in space. Rather, they combine a horizontal struggle with a slow vertical drop.
And while most jerkbaits follow a forward trajectory with each twitch of the rod tip, the Shadow Rap’s action stands out. Not only will it dart side to side, but with the right action, you can make it spin around almost 180 degrees. And with very little effort, an angler can fish a Shadow Rap practically in place, positioning its flickering fade right in a fish’s face. Featuring a metallic style body finish with textured scales, the Shadow Rap is designed to target bass and other gamefish in two to four feet of water.
The Shadow Rap Deep targets fish in four to eight feet. Both models come armed with three sticky-sharp No. 6 VMC black-nickel, round-bend hooks and are available in 14 color patterns: Albino Shiner, Blue Back Herring, Blue Ghost, Bone, Bud, Carbon, Clown, Ghost, Ghost Shiner, Moss Back Shiner, Olive Green, Purpledescent, Silver and Yellow Perch. Each measures 4 3/8 inches and weighs 7/16 of an ounce.
First was Ben Reynolds with
15.78 and had big fish of 4.95.
Awesome catch and much deserved as tough conditions were.
Second was Seth Brogan and Rodger
Castillo with 8.09.
Third was Custis Talbots’s and Lee Neighbors with 6.90.
Hope all enjoyed fishing and breakfast.
Thank you, join us this weekend 9-23-17 for our final event.
7-3 Saturday with BBQ following the weigh in.
