Did you plant to get your garden planted next Friday? When I was growing up Good Friday was the traditional date to get warm weather vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, okra and corn in the ground. Based on history, a freeze was unlikely to kill the young plants after Good Friday each year.
Sometimes it doesn’t work out. About 15 years ago I left Griffin in late April to fish a Top Six tournament at Lake Seminole. On the way down near Bainbridge I passed hundreds of acres of newly planted commercial tomato fields.
It got so cold the weekend that I went into town and bought the last electric space heater at Walmart. My small motor home had propane heat but I did not want to use it, and it was way too cold without any heat. There was frost on the boat Friday and Saturday mornings.
By Tuesday afternoon on the way home the temperature was in the low 80s. But those hundreds of acres of small tomato plants had wilted and dead plants. The farmers lost every plant in the ground. But if they had waited to plant they might have missed the peak of the sale season.
Farming is a big gamble.
At home we always had a huge garden and ate home canned and frozen vegetables all winter. Every night during the summer was dedicated to snapping beans and shelling peas and butter beans. The next day mama spent all day putting them up.
Our big corn patch usually was ready for pulling in mid-June. We would go down to the patch at daylight the day daddy chose to pick and a few hours later the bed of the truck would be full to the top of the cab with ears of corn.
Back at the house we got a huge pot of water boiling under the carport on daddy’s fish cooker. We had a production line, one would shuck the corn, the next cut the end and any bad places from worms off and silk it. Then a third person would drop it in the cooker in batches and time it.
After about three minutes the basket was pulled out and carried inside where mama had a sink of ice water waiting. After cooling for a few minutes, we either rolled each ear in tinfoil and froze it or cut it on a board made for creaming corn and put it into containers to freeze.
One June I was staying at my camper at the lake for a week and the fish had been biting pretty good. Daddy came by late in the afternoon and told me to come on, we would pick corn the next day. As much as I hated leaving the lake I followed him home.
The next day was a typical madhouse of activity from daylight until about 2:00 when we finished processing several hundred ears. Although I was tired I got in my van and headed to the lake where my boat floated in the water in front of my camper. For the next five hours, until dark, I had one of those days we all dream of having.
It seemed every point I fished with a Texas rigged Jelly Worm had a quality bass on it. I caught about two dozen largemouth, with four weighing six pounds or more on my DeLiar scales. There were several more in the three to four pound range.
I have never had such good fishing since then. And every time I eat corn I think about that afternoon and my seeming reward for hard work.
I really miss the great food those gardens produced and wish I could still do the work required to have it!
Surprise, Surprise. Two years ago on a Saturday it poured down rain all day for our Flint River Bass Club April tournament at Oconee the week before a Sportsman Club tournament on Oconee. Four of us braved the cold wind and water falling from the sky to land 13 bass weighing about 21 pounds. There were two five bass limits and no one zeroed.
My five weighing 8.45 pounds won and Brent Drake had five at 8.16 for second with a 2.24 pound bass for big fish. Zane Fleck came in third with two at 2.75 and JR Proctor was fourth with one weighing 1.47 pounds.
We took off in the rain and I managed to get to my favorite point but there was a boat fishing it. A Po Boys tournament took off at Long Shoals just before we did and an ABA took off from Sugar Creek a little before we did, so the lake was crowded.
After about 30 minutes and two missed bites on my crankbait lightning started flashing and I got back in the same ditch I hid in two weeks ago. This was worse, with a flash, crack, boom with no time between them. Luckily it lasted only 20 minutes and was gone for the rest of the day, all I had to put up with was cold wind and rain.
I didn’t get a bite until noon when I caught a bare keeper on a Carolina rig. I was fishing back in a creek where I was protected from the wind somewhat. As I fished down one side I could not help but watch a guy fish down the other side.
He was by himself and intense, leaning forward and concentrating hard on every cast. He hit every post on the front of every dock down that side as I watched. I did not see him catch a fish.
When we got near the back he cranked up and left. I started to go somewhere else but I was mostly out of the wind and had a fish so I kept fishing the bank he had just fished.
I went behind the docks and landed four keepers right against the seawalls on a whacky rigged Senko. I am glad the other guy concentrated on the outside posts!!
D.C. For Three! Alabama’s Dustin Connell Claims Third Championship Title At Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented By MillerTech Energy At Lake Guntersville
By The Fishing Wire
Clanton, Alabama pro goes back-to-back, wins second consecutive REDCREST title with 27 bass weighing 87 pounds, 11 ounces to earn another $300,000 payday
Huntsville, AL – The 2025 iteration of Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by MillerTech on Lake Guntersville marked the third time Major League Fishing’s championship event has been held in the bass-fishing mecca of Alabama.
For the third time, pro Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama, is keeping the trophy in his home state.
Connell ran away from the field on Championship Sunday, both figuratively and literally. After making a roughly 70-mile trek away from the history- and largemouth-rich waters of lower Lake Guntersville to the tailrace below the Nickajack Dam, Connell stacked up 87 pounds, 11 ounces on 27 scorable bass. The best single-day total of any angler at the event (despite a 65-minute delay due to weather), that was enough to hold off a late charge from Wesley Strader by 8-5.
Connell earned $300,000 for the win and further cemented himself as the best big-event performer going. The only angler to win REDCREST multiple times, he’s claimed the title in back-to-back years and three times total – he previously won on Lake Eufaula in 2021 and Lay Lake in 2024. He’s now just the third angler ever with three tour championship titles. Only Bass Fishing Hall of Famers Kevin VanDam and Rick Clunn have won more with four apiece.
This also marked his seventh total win on the Bass Pro Tour. Shortly after it became official, an emotional Connell said that, in some ways, it’s the most special one yet.
“I think just me winning the tournament doing my own deal, winning it with my style of fishing that I love, and then coming off of a couple tough tournaments and just a lot of adversity, I was very, very, very shook up,” Connell said.
Ironically, to keep his REDCREST track record perfect in his home state, Connell ventured all the way to Tennessee. Connell grew up fishing current on the Coosa River, and he said he’s been thinking for months about venturing to the Nickajack Dam so he could fish in his comfort zone.
That flew in the face of conventional Guntersville wisdom, which Connell admits gave him pause.
“I had this in my mind literally six months ago,” he said. “I was like, I want to go up that river, I want to go up that river. But Guntersville is such a badass lake, and on the way, I just didn’t think that I could compete up there. I was like, I feel dumb even going up here.”
So, Connell started Day 1 trying to target spawning largemouth at the lower end of the fishery. Pre-tournament chatter suggested that would be the dominant pattern, but Connell caught just one scorable bass during the opening period of the event. He ran to Nickajack in Period 2, but strong winds made for a long trip. He only added one more fish during that period, and at the end of it, he sat in 47th place out of 50 anglers.
“I just wasn’t catching them,” Connell said. “The wind was blowing again, and there was pollen everywhere. It just was not the deal.
“I get to the dam, and I caught 20-something pounds at the dam late in the day. So, I said, screw this; I’m fishing the whole tournament up there, good, bad or ugly.”
Connell, who caught all three species of bass (largemouth, smallmouth and spotted) in the tailrace, steadily climbed SCORETRACKER® throughout Day 2. Still, he needed a last-minute flurry to earn a spot in the Top 20 and advance to the Knockout Round. He caught four bass totaling 12-6 in the last 13 minutes before lines out to jump from the wrong side of the elimination line into 17th.
Connell attributed that rally to a bait change. After spending most of the day throwing a 2.5-inch CrushCity The Mayorswimbait, he switched to a CrushCity Mooch Minnow. Even without the aid of forward-facing sonar (he didn’t catch a bass all week that he first saw on his screen), he was able to shake it in the current breaks along the dam’s concrete walls and trigger bites.
“The sun was out, and they kind of quit biting,” Connell said. “I was initially catching them on a Mayor, and I was winding it down the walls. … Well, late in the day, I picked that rod up with a Mooch Minnow on there. And I made like three casts with it, and I caught two back-to-back. And I figured out the bait that they were really wanting, and the action of it.”
It’s not just the REDCREST champion that will be familiar to MLF fans but the baits that won him the trophy. While Connell said he caught a few fish on both a CrushCity Janitor worm and a Rapala Mavrik jerkbait, the two tools that did most of his damage were a Mooch Minnow and a CrushCity Freeloader – the same baits he used most often in his win on Lay Lake last year. He rigged the Freeloader on a scrounger head and threw it on baitcast gear with 17-pound Seaguar Invizx fluorocarbon. The Mooch Minnow he affixed to a 3/16-ounce VMC Redline tungsten jighead.
Even after his strong finish to the Qualifying Round, Connell wasn’t sure he’d found the winning pattern. However, during Saturday’s Knockout Round, he noticed how well the bass were biting during early-morning, low-light conditions. Knowing the forecast for Sunday called for storms all day, he started to get excited.
“Yesterday morning, I was like, dude, this tournament just got real interesting,” he said. “I was like, there is a chance this could go down.”
Thunderstorms delayed takeoff, giving Connell less time to catch up after his long run, and made for a rough ride. But once he arrived, it didn’t take long to see that his hopes were well-founded. The storms both ignited a feeding frenzy below the dam and killed the sight-fishing pattern much of the Top 10 had relied on to get to the Championship Round.
Connell arrived at his starting spot around 9:35 a.m., 45 minutes after lines in. On his second cast, he landed his first scorable bass. By 9:50, he’d caught three more and brought his total to 14-15, taking a lead he would never relinquish. In all, Connell caught 31-0 in the span of 36 minutes before the period break.
While Connell consistently added to his total, Strader – who also made a long run up the river, albeit not all the way to the dam – stayed on his heels. It seemed like every time Connell had pulled away, Strader would cut his lead to 10 pounds or so. Connell didn’t catch a scorable bass during the final 47 minutes before lines out, and Strader trimmed his deficit from more than 20 pounds at the start of Period 3 to less than 9. However, he could never quite get over the hump.
Connell called the final period “the most stressful period of bass fishing I’ve had in my life.”
“I know how big it is of an event, and I knew it was mine to lose,” he said. “I was like, dude, if I could just add on a few more fish – don’t light it on fire, just catch some. And I did my job.”
Key for Connell was the caliber of fish he found during the Championship Round. Strader actually caught two more scorable bass on the day, but Connell boated six weighing 4 pounds or more, including three over 5. His average scorable bass weighed about 3.25 pounds compared to 2.72 for the rest of the field – more than half a pound per fish.
“I knew there were some big ones up there,” Connell said. “But I did not expect to catch the quality I caught today. I mean, it was unreal.”
Connell didn’t have an explanation for why he’s become so dominant on the biggest stage. He said he prepares for REDCREST like any other event. But he did note that, once he makes it to the Championship Round, he’s not easy to beat. Indeed, nearly half the time he’s made the Top 10, he’s wound up in the winner’s circle (seven out of 16). Connell attributed that to his fish-to-win approach. He’s always looking for the winning bite rather than settling for a pattern that can earn him a check.
“When I make the Championship Round, I’m normally really dialed in,” he explained. “That’s the thing about me. If I don’t feel like I’m on a winning pattern, I typically don’t do well at all, because I’m always trying to win.”
Even though he’s been there plenty of times before, Connell called this win extra special. In the moments after lines out, he sat on his front deck, and tears began to flow. He said he was “more shook up with this one” than any of his previous wins.
Connell admitted the start to his 2025 season on the Bass Pro Tour hadn’t been up to his standards. He finished 55th at the Harris Chain of Lakes and 36th at Lake Murray, and that wore on him. To not only bounce back but do so with his wife, Victoria, and nearly-one-year-old son, Trent, on hand to celebrate with him for the first time after one of his victories made this one particularly sweet. A dozen or so family members joined him on stage as he lifted the trophy.
“Lately, it ain’t been easy on me,” Connell said. “The last three tournaments, two tournaments I’ve had have been absolutely brutal. I go to Lake Murray, and it’s just a brutal tournament. Florida was brutal. And you’ve got all these people just hating on you and saying, ‘Oh, you can’t catch them without this and that,’ and it just weighs on you.
“I try to surround myself with positive people, and my family, my wife, my little boy – he was here last year, but he wasn’t where I could hold him. And to win this tournament with him and my family here, oh my gosh. I can’t believe it.”
The top 10 pros at REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy at Lake Guntersville finished:
1st: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 27 bass, 87-11, $300,000 2nd: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 29 bass, 79-6, $50,000 3rd: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 17 bass, 44-12, $40,000 4th: Paul Marks Jr., Cumming, Ga., 15 bass, 43-5, $28,000 5th: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 15 bass, 38-10, $25,000 6th: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 16 bass, 38-10, $20,000 7th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 14 bass, 37-12, $18,000 8th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 33-8, $16,000 9th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., six bass, 15-2, $14,500 10th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., three bass, 8-5, $12,500
Overall, there were 152 scorable bass weighing 427 pounds, 1 ounce caught by the final 10 pros on Sunday. Throughout the entire four-day event, the 50 competitors in REDCREST 2025 caught a total of 1,614 scorable bass weighing 4,456 pounds, 4 ounces.
Pro Brent Ehrler earned Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with a 5-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bass that he caught in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
Television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy at Lake Guntersville will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 5 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, July 19. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel and Vice TV.
Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour and REDCREST 2025 include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sports Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech Energy, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine and Toyota.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing (MLF)
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
This is from January 2024, but it is always true. In March Lake Martin was as muddy as I have seen it in 50 years and the next weekend Jackson was September clear, unusual for April
Fishing conditions can change fast this time of year. Last weekend Lake Sinclair was very clear, so clear I blamed the tough fishing on it. But the flooding rain Tuesday most likely changed that.
For many years our lakes got very muddy in the winter and spring from rain run-off. Muddy water was the norm back in the 1970s and 80s at my place on Germany Creek at Clarks Hill. But now it is not unusual to see the bottom three feet down like it was the week before Christmas.
I think farming practices are the reason. Fewer plowed fields mean less muddy runoff.
Sinclair has always been a popular bass fishing lake in the winter, mostly due to the warm water discharge from the power plant there. The warmer water made the fish more active than they were on other lakes in middle Georgia. After the power plant was torn down conditions changed.
Last Sunday I could see the bottom three to four feet down on Sinclair. And in anticipation of the coming rain, Georgia Power had lowered the lake about a foot to accept the runoff. But like other lakes, run off from a heavy rain will muddy up some of the lake. The bigger the lake the less it muddies.
Small lakes like Jackson can get muddy from dam to headwaters in a few hours. Sinclair usually takes a couple of days. And huge lakes like Clarks Hill almost never get muddy near the dam but the creeks and rivers upstream do get muddy.
The lower the water the more it muddies up. If the lake is full the muddy inflow just pushes the clear water downstream some, making it go higher. With the lake low the muddy water flows downstream with less clear water to slow it down.
One of the worst experience I have had happened at Jackson a few years ago. I was on the lake a few days before the tournament and caught nice spots off every rocky point from near the dam upstream to Tussahaw Creek. I could not wait for the tournament.
When we took off it was still a little dark. We could see well enough to run but details on the bank and in the water were vague. I stopped on the first point going upstream, planning on working my way up hitting every point.
Within a few minutes I caught a nice keeper spot on a crankbait. When I decided to go to the next point something didn’t look right. About 50 yards above the point I was on, the water changed from a greenish clear to red mud. It looked like someone had drawn a line across the lake and colored above it with a red crayon.
A heavy rain had hit the day before the tournament, but I never expected that change! The mudline moved past the point I started on within a few minutes. The whole lake was muddy upstream at daylight and to the dam by 10:00 AM.
And I never got another bite.
I don’t mind fishing cold water too much. My rule of thumb this time of year is that if the water temperature is above 50 degrees, I have a pretty good chance of catching a bass. If it is 45 to 50 degrees, I may get a bite. But if the water is colder than 45 degrees I might as well go home.
Muddy cold water is much worse. It is the worst possible condition this time of year to me.
Other factors affect fishing, too. I had information that a lot of bass were out deep on Sinclair, deeper than I expected. Some of my friends were catching bass 50 feet deep.
I planned on trying to catch a fish shallow this past Sunday then going out and looking for schools of deep fish. But the wind made it miserable fishing open water and boat control was very hard.
I did find one ball of bait 35 feet deep and another ball of either gizzard shad or crappie down 40 feet deep but got no bites around them.
Bright sun is not good when the water is warm in the summer, but it can help this time of year. I do get a laugh when I hear fishermen say sun warms underwater rocks and that warms the water the water around them. Water dissipates heat way too fast for that to happen.
Bass are attracted to shallow rocks and sun on them does seem to help in the winter. There is lots of food like crawfish living around rocks so bass feed there in the winter. And the sun may warm them some like it does us sitting in it, but I am not sure.
No matter the reason, fishing around rocks is a good tactic this time of year.
Many other factors affect fishing this time of year so the most important thing is to be adaptable.
Last Sunday only three members of the Flint River Bass Club showed up for our January tournament. Since there were less than four fishermen, the club paid our entry fees.
I won with two bass weighing 3.41 pounds and my 2.44 pound largemouth was big fish. Zane Fleck had one keeper weighing 1.77 pounds for second. That was it, the third fisherman zeroed.
I had two bites on a jig, one at 9:00 AM and the second just before 10:00 AM around rocks. After that I looked for deeper fish but never got another bite all day!
SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. (April 4, 2025) – Don’t remove wildlife from their habitat! Before you pick up or attempt to assist any wildlife, no matter its age or condition, remember that it is best to leave all wildlife, including young birds, bunnies, or fawns where they are found, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (DNR WRD).
“We know you want to help. But sometimes the help we want to provide is actually doing more harm than good,” explains Ben McCullar, wildlife biologist and program manager of the Georgia DNR WRD Urban Wildlife Program. “Wildlife, even young ones, rarely need interference from humans. In fact, taking wildlife out of their natural environment and bringing them into your home often takes away the animal’s ability to then survive in the wild, where they belong,”
The best thing people can do when they see any wildlife of any age is to immediately move away and leave it exactly as they found it for at least 24 hours. If the animal is still there after this wait time, reach out to a local WRD office for guidance (GeorgiaWildlife.com/about/contact).
But what if the animal is “orphaned”? McCullar says that “While it may appear that a young animal is alone, the adult animal is usually close by even though you may not be able to see it. Adult animals, such as deer, spend most of the day away from their young to reduce the risk of a predator finding the young animal.”
Wildlife, especially young animals, demand a great deal of care and have specific nutritional requirements. If they are not cared for properly, they cannot be released or retain the ability to survive on their own. Persons not licensed and trained in wildlife rehabilitation should not attempt to care for wildlife. Georgia law prohibits the possession of most wildlife without a permit.
THE O-FISH-IAL WINNERS OF THE 2025 FISH ART CONTEST®
Perry, GA (April 4, 2025) — The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is proud to announce the Georgia winners of the Fish Art Contest. The Wildlife Forever Fish Art Contest, which includes the Georgia Fish Art Contest, is an international competition designed to ignite children’s imagination and inspire them to discover more about fish and fishing. The program is free to enter and open to youth in kindergarten through grade 12 anywhere in the world.
“The Fish Art Contest offers a unique opportunity to connect students to the outdoors through science and creative art,” said Chrystal Sherwood, Georgia State-Fish Art Coordinator. “Since it started in 1997, this free program has received artwork from over 85,000 students across 46 countries. We appreciate the teachers and parents that encourage participation as we believe that learning more about these species helps create better future stewards of the environment.”
GRADES 10-12 First place: Luca Camay, Marietta (Flathead catfish)
Second place: Kierstyn Lukehart, Elko (Lionfish)
Third place: Adesola Aluko, Marietta (Tarpon)
Go Fish Georgia Award: Hannah Yang, Suwanee (Shoal Bass) GRADES 7-9 First place: Steven Ju, Marietta (Brook Trout)
Second place: Siyu Diao, Suwanee (Largemouth Bass)
Third place: Crystal Zhen, Watkinsville (Sailfish)
Go Fish Georgia Award: George Cheng, St. Mary’s (Atlantic Tarpon) GRADES 4-6 First Place: Sarah Tan, Duluth (Mahi-mahi)
Second Place: Isabella Ann Puzyreva, Cumming (Yellow bass)
Third Place: Lucas Kutz, Dacula (Lionfish)
Go Fish Georgia Award: Emily Han, Suwanee (Rainbow trout) GRADES K-3 First Place: Ryan Gu, Duluth (Largemouth bass)
Second Place: Enya Deng, Suwanee (Bluegill)
Third Place: Anne Kongoasa, Duluth (Cutthroat Trout; also nominated for the Western Native Trout Award)
Go Fish Georgia Award: Xin Chen, Duluth (Yellow Perch)
Mighty Minnow Award(this is a new award selected by each state. It celebrates the creativity and talent of kindergarten participants in the K-3 age group, giving the youngest artists a chance to be honored for their efforts and abilities, based on age-appropriate expectations).
Ambrose Byers, Blairsville (Bass)
About the Go Fish Georgia Award: This award was created to celebrate fish species commonly sought by Georgia anglers.
Artwork on Display: Artwork from Georgia winners will be on display at the Go Fish Education Center (GoFishEducationCenter.com/) in Perry, Georgia for one year (starting June 2025).
Complete information about the Fish Art Contest available at FishArt.org.
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About the Fish Art Program: The award-winning Wildlife Forever Art of Conservation Fish Art® Contest, is supported by Title Sponsor Bass Pro Shops, International Game Fish Association, the USDA Forest Service, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and National Fish Habitat Partnership. Bringing youth, art, and conservation together, the Fish Art program is free to enter. Visit FishArt.org.
About Wildlife Forever: Our mission is to conserve America’s outdoor heritage through conservation education, preservation of habitat and management of fish and wildlife. Wildlife Forever is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to investing resources on the ground. Recent audits reveal that 96% of every dollar supports our award-winning conservation programs. Join Today and learn more about the Art of Conservation® Fish Art Contest™ and Songbird Art Contest™, Clean Drain Dry Initiative™ and Prairie City USA® at WildlifeForever.org.
Mad dogs and Englishmen may go out in the mid-day sun, but 11 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club went out in the thunderstorms at Oconee last Sunday. I wonder about my sanity fishing in weather like that.
Weather guessers “forecast” some thunderstorms but light rain most of the day. Wrong. It poured down rain and almost constant lightning all day was much worse than predicted. There was more than 6.5 inch of rain in my gauge in 24 hours.
We were supposed to start at 7:30 AM but a strong storm kept most of us on the bank in our trucks until about 7:45. We had a short break, then the lightning started flashing and the thunder crashing within a few minutes after we took off and continued until about an hour before weigh-in.
In the tournament, 11 of us brought 36 14-inch keeper largemouth weighing about 71 pounds to the scales. There were six five bass limits and three people didn’t catch a fish in the eight rainy hours.
Raymond English won with five weighing 12.79 pounds and Niles Murray was an incredibly close second with five at 12.78 pounds. My five weighing 11.26 pounds was third and I had a 4.55 pound largemouth for big fish. Jay Gerson came in fourth with five weighing 8.72 pounds and for about the third time this year Billy Roberts placed fifth with 5 at 7.92 pounds.
When we took off I made a short run to a rocky point where I caught a 3.5 pound fish in our March tournament two years ago. It was big fish in that tournament. On about my tenth cast with the same crankbait I landed the 4.55 pounder. That was a good start.
After catching a 13.5 inch non keeper out of some grass on that point on a swim jig, the lightning drove me to the back of the cove where I felt the overhanging trees gave me some protection. I ended up sitting against a seawall there trying to cast every few minutes for two hours! I had to run my bilge pumps to keep the boat from filling with water. I did catch three short fish in that time.
I kept looking at my phone and saw the next county south was under a tornado watch. The lightning seemed to be what some call “sheet” lightning, bolts that jump from cloud to cloud rather than cloud to ground. But every few minutes the lake would get bright and the air shake from a nearby ground strike.
It was so bad a very nice homeowner came down to his dock and asked if I was ok. When I said I was just trying to stay in a protected area, he said if it got too bad for me that I could tie up to his dock and come up to his basement, the door was open! There are some nice folks still in this world.
At about 10:00 the storm let up a little and I fished out of the cove. On the point where the big one hit I got my second keeper out of grass on the other side of it on a weightless trick worm.
I made another short run to another good cove and caught several short bass going into the cove, then found a ditch with water dumping into the lake. Back-to-back casts to that muddy inflow produced keepers on a jig and pig. Four in the live well a little before noon, one of them over four pounds, made me feel pretty good.
At 1:00 I cranked up for the third time and ran a half mile to another good series of coves, but they produced nothing but a few short fish. I was getting worried about filling my limit.
At 2:45 I went back to the muddy water inflow and caught a short fish from it. Working up the bank I cast my jig to a grassbed and my line started moving straight to the boat. I set the hook and a solid keeper came up and came off.
I hate to set the hook on a fish swimming toward me. I think they get the lead on a Texas rig, shaky head or jig in their mouth and are clamped down so hard the hook does not move on the hook set and they come off, just like this one that made me feel sick.
I got the boat closer to the bank and cast ahead of it. A few casts later my line moved out and I set the hook and landed my fifth keeper. Since it was 15 minutes to weigh-in I didn’t make another cast, just headed to the ramp.
I felt lucky to land a limit on such a messy dangerous day.
Mad dogs and Englishmen may go out in the mid-day sun, but 11 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club went out in the thunderstorms at Oconee last Sunday. I wonder about my sanity fishing in weather like that.
Weather guessers “forecast” some thunderstorms but light rain most of the day. Wrong. It poured down rain and almost constant lightning all day was much worse than predicted. There was more than 6.5 inch of rain in my gauge in 24 hours.
We were supposed to start at 7:30 AM but a strong storm kept most of us on the bank in our trucks until about 7:45. We had a short break, then the lightning started flashing and the thunder crashing within a few minutes after we took off and continued until about an hour before weigh-in.
In the tournament, 11 of us brought 36 14-inch keeper largemouth weighing about 71 pounds to the scales. There were six five bass limits and three people didn’t catch a fish in the eight rainy hours.
Raymond English won with five weighing 12.79 pounds and Niles Murray was an incredibly close second with five at 12.78 pounds. My five weighing 11.26 pounds was third and I had a 4.55 pound largemouth for big fish. Jay Gerson came in fourth with five weighing 8.72 pounds and for about the third time this year Billy Roberts placed fifth with 5 at 7.92 pounds.
When we took off I made a short run to a rocky point where I caught a 3.5 pound fish in our March tournament two years ago. It was big fish in that tournament. On about my tenth cast with the same crankbait I landed the 4.55 pounder. That was a good start.
After catching a 13.5 inch non keeper out of some grass on that point on a swim jig, the lightning drove me to the back of the cove where I felt the overhanging trees gave me some protection. I ended up sitting against a seawall there trying to cast every few minutes for two hours! I had to run my bilge pumps to keep the boat from filling with water. I did catch three short fish in that time.
I kept looking at my phone and saw the next county south was under a tornado watch. The lightning seemed to be what some call “sheet” lightning, bolts that jump from cloud to cloud rather than cloud to ground. But every few minutes the lake would get bright and the air shake from a nearby ground strike.
It was so bad a very nice homeowner came down to his dock and asked if I was ok. When I said I was just trying to stay in a protected area, he said if it got too bad for me that I could tie up to his dock and come up to his basement, the door was open! There are some nice folks still in this world.
At about 10:00 the storm let up a little and I fished out of the cove. On the point where the big one hit I got my second keeper out of grass on the other side of it on a weightless trick worm.
I made another short run to another good cove and caught several short bass going into the cove, then found a ditch with water dumping into the lake. Back-to-back casts to that muddy inflow produced keepers on a jig and pig. Four in the live well a little before noon, one of them over four pounds, made me feel pretty good.
At 1:00 I cranked up for the third time and ran a half mile to another good series of coves, but they produced nothing but a few short fish. I was getting worried about filling my limit.
At 2:45 I went back to the muddy water inflow and caught a short fish from it. Working up the bank I cast my jig to a grassbed and my line started moving straight to the boat. I set the hook and a solid keeper came up and came off.
I hate to set the hook on a fish swimming toward me. I think they get the lead on a Texas rig, shaky head or jig in their mouth and are clamped down so hard the hook does not move on the hook set and they come off, just like this one that made me feel sick.
I got the boat closer to the bank and cast ahead of it. A few casts later my line moved out and I set the hook and landed my fifth keeper. Since it was 15 minutes to weigh-in I didn’t make another cast, just headed to the ramp.
I felt lucky to land a limit on such a messy dangerous day.
Berkley Unveils Two New Gulp! Saltwater Shrimp Shapes
By The Fishing Wire
Take your artificial shrimp game to the next level with the Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Turbo Shrimp and Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail.
Columbia, SC – Berkley is adding to their shrimp imitations with the introduction of two new Gulp! soft plastics—the Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Turbo Shrimp and the Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail. Engineered to provide constant action at any retrieve speed or style with the trusted superior scent dispersion of Gulp!, these new additions are built to help anglers catch more fish in any saltwater scenario.
The Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Turbo Shrimp is the next evolution in shrimp imitations, designed to create maximum attraction and scent distribution. Featuring a unique leg design that oscillates back and forth on retrieval, it generates turbulence and vibration that mimics the erratic movements of live shrimp. This lifelike action, combined with Gulp!’s proprietary scent dispersion formula makes the Turbo Shrimp an irresistible target for redfish, speckled trout, flounder, and more. Available in 11 natural and vibrant colors and three versatile sizes, it’s the perfect bait to match the hatch or stand out in murky conditions.
Adding to the lineup, the Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail delivers a deadly combination of subtle action and maximum scent dispersion. Built with a finely tuned reverse curled tail, this bait produces a lifelike flutter even at super slow retrieve speeds—perfect for enticing finicky fish. Its heavily spiked prawn-shaped head and faceted body create extra turbulence, dispersing scent effectively through the water column. Available in eight lifelike and bold colors, the Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail offers the versatility anglers need to fish confidently in all conditions.
Whether you’re fishing grass flats, mangroves, or deep channels, the Gulp! Turbo Shrimp and Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail are must-have additions for any saltwater angler looking to catch more fish and land bigger bites.
“The Gulp! Saltwater Turbo Shrimp and Nemesis Prawn Curl Tail are something we have been working on for a long time and can’t wait for people to get their hands on,” said Will Pate, Berkley Saltwater Product Manager. “We are super excited to keep expanding the Gulp! Saltwater line-up, and this is just the beginning.”
Pure Fishing is a collection of the world’s favorite fishing brands. Every day, all around the world, someone experiences the joy of catching a fish with one of our products. From gear for epic battles at sea to a relaxing day with family at the lake, our portfolio includes the most recognized and admired brands in fishing tackle, lures, rods, reels and storage. Abu Garcia, Berkley, DAM, Fenwick, Fin-Nor, Frabill, Greys, Hardy, Hodgman, Johnson, JRC, Madcat, Mitchell, Penn, Pflueger, Plano, Prologic, Savage Gear, Shakespeare, SpiderWire, Stren, Ugly Stik and Van Staal.
Have all companies given up on making decent products or just some of the fishing equipment ones I have dealt with recently?
My $2500 Minn Kota trolling motor had a problem that a $25 aftermarket sleeve solved. Yet folks at Minn Kota told me they knew of the problem and there was no fix.
When I sent them proof there was a simple cheap solution they could implement, I got no response.
T-H Marine makes a replacement trolling motor pull handle that I have used in the past that worked well. I recently installed a new one and the eyes of the Allen set screws that came with it stripped out with almost no pressure. They would not tighten down.
When I contacted T-H Marine they said they did not see that as a big problem and they sold many of the handles. They are aware of the problem but it is not a big one to them. In their defense, they did send me new screws that seem to be good.
The AFTCO Bass Bus release boats have had another busy season in 2024 helping ensure the safe release of thousands of bass back to the lakes and rivers they were caught in that day. AFTCO sponsors and supports two release boats that are operated and maintained by Ulrich Marine Service in Branson, MO. In 2024, these two boats traveled to dozens of events across the Midwest to aid tournament organizations in releasing fish safely, but also to help spread them out for reduced harvest in the days following an event. Spreading the release of tournament fish out across the lake also ensures that an area does not receive too many fish to safely support them in that area. The Ulrich Marine staff is trained on the proper release methods including “fizzing” and operation of the boats to protect as many fish as possible.
The original AFTCO Bass Bus just completed its seventh season of releasing fish. This boat has supported 43 events in 12 states and released over 27,000 bass back into their waters. AFTCO support for a second boat was added in 2019 and the company now supports two boats in operation in conjunction with Ulrich Marine. AFTCO provides financial support for the operation of these boats free of charge at approved tournaments thru out the year.
In conjunction with the release boat at many events is the AFTCO Bank Bag program and distribution of the AFTCO Bass Care 101 guide for all angler and organizations to use for successful fish care management.
In 2025, both Bass Busses are already scheduled for dozens of events across the Eastern US.
About AFTCO
Family owned and operated, the American Fishing Tackle Company (AFTCO) represents unparalleled quality, performance, and reliability when it counts most. Worn across the globe, AFTCO’s performance fishing clothing and fishing rain gear is designed to handle the harshest elements. Whether you’re a tournament bass angler looking to stay dry in a late fall downpour or an offshore weekend warrior seeking protection from the sun’s harmful UV rays, AFTCO keeps you fishing comfortably.
AFTCO reflects a legacy of firsts. From former company Chairman Milt Shedd’s pioneering conservation achievements, to the invention of the roller guide and the introduction of the world’s first pair of true fishing shorts, AFTCO provides conservation leadership and innovative products proven to deliver performance on the water. Our passion for the outdoors goes beyond our product offering because of an unwavering commitment to help protect our fishing resources and angler rights. Through our 10% Pledge to Protect and Conserve, your purchase of any AFTCO product directly supports conservation initiatives.
