#bassfirst

[bassfirst]

Check out this handful of images from the Bassmaster Elite Series tourney on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

[bassfirst]

The first Walmart FLW Tour Invitational tournament of 2016 will visit North Carolina Sept. 15-17 for the Walmart FLW Tour Invitational at Lake Norman presented by Lowrance. Hosted by Visit Lake Norman, Visit Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Parks & Recreation, the tournament will feature competitors casting for huge cash payouts and a coveted spot in the world championship of bass fishing - the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup.

"Lake Norman is one of the most diverse fisheries that we can visit," said Quaker State pro Matt Arey of Shelby, North Carolina, who has 20 career top-10 finishes in FLW competition. "There are a ton of different options to catch bass, and anglers have won tournaments all over the lake. They'll be catching them as deep as 40 feet and as shallow as six inches. I think you're going to have to hit a lot of different areas and mix up patterns to win. "It's definitely going to be a junk-fishing deal," Arey continued. "There's some rain and cooler weather coming, which means shad and bass will be in transition. Patterns like topwater fishing and running docks will be strong. The river is also going to be a player because of the current. A lot of spotted bass live in the lake, and if someone can dial in on those deep schools, the spots could definitely be a factor."

[bassfirst]

The full field of 107 Bassmaster Elite Series anglers will be putting it all on the line for the final regular-season tournament of 2016 during the Plano Bassmaster Elite at the Mississippi River presented by Favorite Fishing out of La Crosse, Wis., Sept. 8-11.

A very exciting 2016 season will come to a close for many of the anglers at La Crosse, but the Top 50 in Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year points will advance to the AOY Championship on Minnesota's famed Mille Lacs Lake Sept. 15-18. Elite anglers sitting within several spots either side of 50th place know that making good decisions and catching the right size bass will make or break how and when their season ends. For those anglers looking to move up in the rankings and earn an invitation to the AOY Championship, this is their last chance. The other race heating up is at the top of the AOY leaderboard. Gerald Swindle of Warrior, Ala., currently holds a 37-point lead on Texas pro Keith Combs. But anything can happen in this sport, and nothing is official until the Angler of the Year is crowned. Pools 7, 8 and 9 of the Upper Mississippi River are in play and will kick out a good number of fish. In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the entire field weigh a five-fish limit of bass on the first two days of competition. Regional pro angler and outdoor writer Glenn Walker has been bass fishing this stretch of river for many years, and he said there will be plenty of both largemouth and smallmouth bass caught and weighed at this event. "The sheer number of 2- and 3-pounders is amazing," Walker said. "The fishery is in excellent health, and I expect the Elite Series anglers to really put on a show. This is a numbers fishery, but you won't likely see many fish over 6 pounds. If you do see one, it will likely be a smallmouth."

[bassfirst]

Oh the times they are a...forget about it. No cheesy song lyrics quotes here. Instead, let's talk about the changing nature of pro bass fishing. Boy, it sure has changed since its inception in the 1960's.

So, who better to ask about the changes than the blonde bombshell of pro bass fishing, Jimmy Houston? Jimmy has been fishing pro events for 50 years. He's seen almost everything as far as the evolution of the sport. BassFIRST.com asked Jimmy to share what he thought were the most important changes over the years to his sport and he obliged. Check it out. Fishing for a living. "I think the biggest change in pro bass fishing over the last 50 years is that somebody can aspire to fish for a living now," said Houston. "When I started in 1966, nobody fished in tournaments for a living. Sure some guys guided, but usually part-time. Most anglers had regular jobs and fished tournaments when they could. It was unheard of to fish for a living. "A lot more people fish for a living now. It's now something a youngster can aspire to do for a profession. I can now look a young angler in the eye and tell them they can do it. I couldn't really do that just 10 years or so ago. "Of course, you need to get your education first and when you combine the total of pros on the Bassmaster Elite Series and the FLW Tour there are only 280 or so, but still something to aspire to be for sure. "Plus, there are so many other ways to make a living in this industry that never existed before."

[bassfirst]

Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Brandon Card was the first collegiate angler to qualify and fish the Elite Series. "College bass fishing has grown so much since I graduated from University of Kentucky in 2009, and now high school bass fishing is huge too! I have wanted to host a tournament to give back to the younger anglers for some time now, and with the help of my great sponsors, I am able to finally make it happen!" said Card.

The first annual event will take place on Norris Lake, TN on November 5, 2016. The Brandon Card College & High School Bass Open has a unique format as it will be two tournaments in one. The college anglers only compete against other college anglers and high school against high school. The two divisions will be competing for separate trophies, payouts, and prizes where the fist place collegiate team will win $2500, and the top high school team will walk away with $1500. "Having one huge event will be a lot of fun for the anglers and fans, and great exposure for all my sponsors that have made it happen." Norris Lake is the lake that Brandon grew up on and where he learned to bass fish. It is a deep, clear, highland reservoir that has a great population of smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass. "My favorite time to fish Norris is during the colder months, and we are hitting it perfect at the first of November. Big smallies will be caught deep on the main lake and the largemouth will found in the shallows of all the many creeks that Norris Lake has to offer." The presenting sponsors that make this event possible are Campbell County Chamber of Commerce, Suzuki Marine, and Buff Inc. Associate sponsors include Yo-Zuri, Fishsens Technology, Abu Garcia, Lowrance, Empire Covers, Gary Yamamoto, Bob's Machine Shop, and Boater's Insurance Agency. For more information visit the Facebook event page on https://www.facebook.com/BrandonCardFishing/

[bassfirst]

So, ya know, it's the end of summer. Boo, hiss, boo. Depending on where you live, that means lousy weather is just around the corner. However, fall is also the time to whack some quality bass as they start to feed heavily for the cooler or in some cases icy weather ahead.

Today, BassFIRST tasked Bassmaster Elite Series pro Aaron Martens to whittle his lure selection down to his Top Three for chasing bass when the cooler weather starts to set in. "I'm not sure I can just pick three," said Martens. "I mean I'd usually have 10 or maybe 12 options available on the deck, but I guess I can pick the first three I usually go to in the fall." Topwater "For me a topwater bait is always available on the deck in the fall," said Martens. "It may not always be the bait to use, but I will have it ready to go. "Usually a walking bait. Size depends on the bait the fish are feeding on, but this is usually the style of topwater I start with, but a buzzbait can also be killer this time of the year. Either way, a topwater is always at the front of the boat in the fall." Jig "Either a swim jig or a football jig are also on deck," said Martens. "A jig is so versatile. Swimming it or on the bottom, the bass usually prefer a reaction retrieve this time of the year." Swimbait "Fish feed a lot on fish during the fall," said Martens. "The crayfish thing can happen in late fall, but usually more on fish. "I like to use a swimbait to get on that bite. Usually a 4-to 6-inch swimbait. Either on a jighead if fishing the open water or a swimbait hook weedless if I'm fishing the shallower grass. This can be a real good bait for bigger fish in the fall."

[bassfirst]

A top executive with the Bass Anglers Sportsmen’s Society visited Washington a number of years ago, promoting the big, national, organization and bass fishing in general. Fully aware, of course, that a majority of our sport fishermen/women much preferred chasing salmon, steelhead and trout over that funny green fish so beloved by anglers in most of our other states, she hung the title “a bass-ackward part of the country” on the Pacific Northwest while speaking in the Seattle area.

he was semi-serious.

But even as steeped in the salmonid mystique as we are, we can still fully appreciate the breaking of a state bass record set way back in 1977, because it would have to be a huge fish to accomplish what some good bass fishermen thought might never happen. And it was, indeed, an awesome largemouth caught early last week — 12.53 pounds, 20 inches in length and with a girth of 22.5 inches. It destroyed the previous record of 11.57 pounds, caught nearly 40 years ago in Banks Lake.

Bill Evans of Bothell caught the monster bass Aug. 8 in Lake Bosworth, a small lake about two miles south of Granite Falls and a popular opening-day trout water. Evans is a veteran of four decades of bass fishing but moved here a few years back and only broke out his tackle this summer. He fished several lakes in the area; last week being his first trip to Bosworth.

The lucky lure was a 5-inch Strike King Shim-E-stick, wacky-rigged on a 1/0 hook. The Strike King folks tout the plastic worm as a good alternate to sinking stick bait-type lures, and Curt Kraemer of Marysville says “wacky-rigged” means simply hooked part way down the worm to give it more of an off-center, erratic movement.

[bassfirst]

Ed Casey, of Whiteford, had the top catch at the FLW Bass Fishing League tournament held this past weekend on Oneida Lake in New York.

Ed Casey of Whiteford weighed a five bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the fourth FLW Bass Fishing League Northeast Division tournament of 2016, presented by Power-Pole, held on Oneida Lake in upstate New York.

For his winning catch, Casey took home $6,009 in prize money.

Casey said he spent his day fishing mid-lake shoals that had a lot of mussels and scattered grass on them.

"The shoals were good in practice so I went back there figuring they'd still be holding fish," Casey, who earned his second win in BFL competition, said in a news release from tournament organizer FLW. "I threw a drop-shot rig with a baby bass-colored Jackall Crosstail Shad and Dark Melon goby-colored Strike King Coffee Tubes, and had a limit in the boat by 9 a.m."