Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

What Is the Most Important Improvement In Bass Fishing?

Unlike my picture taken in 1994 that accompanies my Griffin Daily News article, I have aged a lot in the past 30 years. I have also seen many changes in fishing, especially bass fishing, during my life. Some I like, some others like but I don’t appreciate. To each his own, I guess.

I think the most important change in bass fishing is the development of the electric trolling motor. I will never forget the fun I had sculling an old wooden jon boat for my uncles. Back then one person sat up front and fished while the other in the back used a paddle to move and position the boat for casting.

That back seat job often went to us kids. We learned a lot watching and listening, but it was frustrating, too. Sometimes we got to make a few casts, with the adult taking over the paddling, but usually it was expected our turn fishing would come when we were adults. We were not spoiled like kids nowadays.

Sometimes we tried fishing by ourselves and sculling from the front. It worked pretty well, but it meant positioning the boat, putting the paddle down, picking up your rod and reel and trying to get a cast in before the wind or waves moved the boat out of position.

Now with the touch of a button and rock of the foot you keep the boat in position perfectly, freeing your hands to cast at all times. Newer trolling motors even allow you to push a button and the trolling motor will hold you in one place, allowing you to move around the boat to fish or sit and tie on a new lure without worrying about where the boat will go.

My first ‘depthfinder” was a heavy cord with a used spark plug on the end. Knots were tied every foot, and every yard a double knot marked it. I even used freezer tape to put a numbered tag every yard to keep up with how much string was out.

My newest “depthfinder,” a Garmin Panoptix Livescope, shows everything in front of the boat out to 100 feet in detail, even showing fish as they move in the water. With a little practice I have learned to identify the kind of fish I am seeing and make a pretty good guess if they will bite. Most of the time.

The Panoptix cost a bit more than a ball of cord and spark plug weight. A paddle is a little cheaper than a spot-lock 36 volt trolling motor.

Fishing line is another huge improvement. I will never forget Edgar Reeves, Mr. John Harry’s son who was 15 years older than me, taking me with him to Clarks Hill in May. I mostly skulled his boat while he cast a Devil’s Horse topwater plug to flooded button bushes and sweet gum trees.

He told me I could cast some but when I picked up my Mitchell 300 spinning reel loaded with monofilament line, he said it would not work with topwater. The new-fangled line was not any good compared to his braided line.

He was right in a way. Monofilament has improved a lot over the past 60 years since my trip with Edgar. It is much thinner, stronger and limper than the old stuff. But I use much more fluorocarbon line when fishing since it is not visible underwater and does not stretch as much.

Unlike monofilament, fluorocarbon sinks so it is not suitable for topwater baits. But I seldom use mono for topwater, new kinds of braid, very similar to what Edgar used, are now the best line for topwater most of the time. What goes around comes around!

Spinning reels were introduced to eliminate the problems with bait casters. The first bait caster I tried to use had no free spool, the handle revolved backwards when you cast. It was called a “knucklebuster” for a very good reason.

And there was no level wind, you had to move the line with your reel holding hand thumb across the reel spool as you reeled in to keep it even. And there was no drag system.

Spinning reels had problems of their own, from loops forming when you cast that made a mess on the next cast to line slipping under the spool and jamming. But they were much easier to use.

Then spincast reels, also called closed face reels, were developed to make casting even easier but the first ones jammed way too often, and dirt and debris collected inside the closed face. New ones are much better.

I fell in love with bass tournament fishing the first time Jim Berry took me to a Sportsman Club tournament in 1974. I still fish three club tournaments each month. But the intensity of many young fishermen, “grinding” it out and not having fun but turning it into work while fishing, worries me. There are hundreds of other great developments in fishing. I hope I am around to witness a few more!

When Bass Fishing Does the Big One Always Get Away

The big one always gets away.

An article in “Bassin Times” about a pro’s memories of fish he lost that really hurt him in tournaments made me think about losing fish. Few tournament weigh-ins go by without someone telling about losing a big fish or a key fish.

All this makes me remember some of the big ones I have lost or been in the boat with a partner that lost a big one. They range from fishing with Linda to Top Six tournaments fishing with future pro fishermen. Too many of the loses were at the end of my line!

Back in the 1970s big largemouth were common at Jackson Lake. I landed my first eight pounder there in a tournament in 1976 and my second in another January tournament in 1979. But one I lost in practice around 1980 stands out in my mind.

The fish hit a crankbait on a rocky point on a November trip. I fought it for several minutes, seeing it flash in the water and knowing it was much bigger than my eight pounders. When it came to the surface about ten feet from the boat and turned on its side, I just knew I had the bass we estimated to be at least 12 pound.

I pulled a little too hard trying to drag it to the net and the lure popped out of its mouth. It slowly swam out of sight taking my heart with it.

Linda hooked a bass at Clarks Hill on a big seven-inch-long plug fishing a rocky bank in the early 1980s. It too came to the top and turned on its side, with the plug sideways across its mouth. It did not go all the way across! Then it turned and swam off. Linda did nothing wrong, and we never figured out how those treble hooks came loose.

Future pro Tony Couch was giving me a lesson on fishing spinnerbaits in a Top Six at Eufaula in 1980. We stopped at a small pocket and he said there was a big bass spawning by a stump in it. When he ran his spinnerbait by the stump his bait stopped. When he set the hook an eight-pound bass, worth several hundred dollars in the big fish pot, jumped completely out of the water and threw his bait back at us.

In a 1980s tournament Jim Berry was fishing with me at Sinclair and we had not caught much. Late in the day he cast a Countdown Rapala between two docks and hooked a big bass. When it cleared the water on its first jump, giving us a good look at its eight pounds, it threw the plug!

More recently, at a club tournament at Oconee three or four years ago I was having a bad day. With 30 minutes to fish I caught a keeper bass on a small point and felt a little better. Then if fished some docks past the point.

A bass hit my worm by one of the docks and immediately ran around a post. Somehow my 14-pound Sunline held and I pulled it back to open water. As it got it near the boat it surged back toward the dock twice but I stopped it. It was close enough to see it was an eight pound plus bass.

The third surge toward the dock was its charm, the hook pulled loose and it went back under the dock!

I have had many fish I never saw break me off in brush under the water. Since I never saw them I have no idea how big they might have been, but some pulled like huge one. I have landed flathead catfish up to 35 pounds on my worm rod so I have an idea how big fish pull.

One winter at Clarks Hill I did see what hit. I was jigging a spoon for hybrids on a channel edge when a striper lazily came to the surface chasing bait. It was about 20 yards from the boat and I saw it plainly, guessing it to be over 40 pounds. I quickly reeled in and cast my spoon in the direction it was headed.

A hard thump was following by a line screaming run, with the fish running near the surface straight away from the boat. As my line peeled from the spool I hit the trolling motor button and followed it. After about 100 yards I started to gain a little line back, then felt sick. The fish was headed straight toward one of the three underwater trees I knew about in that creek.

As feared I felt my line start to rub on the tree for a few seconds, then break. That was the biggest freshwater fish I ever hooked.

I have lost many other big fish over the years but have landed some of them, including the big flathead, a 35-pound big head carp and common carp up to 30 pounds. I have also landed seven bass weighing more than nine pounds each.

But it seems harder and harder to hook a big bass each year, so it becomes more important to try to land them!

Kyle Welcher Crushes Two AOYs on Two Tours in Two Years

Wins 2024 NPFL title with four top tens in six events and won the BASS AOY last year

Alabama bass pro Kyle Welcher, fresh off a dominant 2023 Angler of the Year campaign on the Bassmaster Elite Series, likewise ruled the roost at the National Professional Fishing League in 2024. His second AOY effort included four top-ten results in six events, and he never finished below 18th.

“It felt very similar to 2023,” he said. “I was able to fish intuitively. I’d show up on Day One of practice and quickly get a good sense of what was going on. It was another one of those amazing seasons when I was able to get in a flow state, using my instinct to make things happen. The most important thing was to just get out of my own way and let my brain tell me what was going on. It was important not to overthink it.”

AOY Is Always the Goal

During Welcher’s AOY season at BASS, he ripped off three top 20 finishes to start the year – 13th at Okeechobee, 15th at Seminole and 18th at Murray. This time around, he upped the ante. In the 2024 NPFL season opener, he finished 7th. Then at Hartwell, he was 3rd, followed by 5th at Pickwick. He closed out the season with a 4th at Murray. In between, he finished 19th at Saginaw Bay and 11th at Lake of the Ozarks. The former could have been better had he not suffered mechanical issues.

From his days of playing poker for a living, Welcher understands the mathematical realities of life on tour.

“My goal every single time is Angler of the Year,” he said. “And I know that there are a finite number of points in play, so I try to get as many as I can every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first day of the season or the final day of the final Elite, they all count the same.”

Indeed, in addition to being a strong starter, he’s proven himself a closer, too. This year he finished 4th in the last derby to claim the NPFL title. Last year he came in 5th at the St. Lawrence to do the same on the Elites.

Better Tools Produce Better Results

Welcher held off fellow Elite Series pro, Drew Cook, by a slim 8 points in the NPFL AOY race, and as he thought back over his exceptional season, he was buoyed by the good finishes, and also by the times when he maximized his points.

The tour visited Lake of the Ozarks at “probably the worst time we could be there, so you had to grind each day.” On Days Two and Three he fell one fish short of a limit and felt that an additional keeper on one or both days could’ve provided valuable points. That’s how razor-thin the margins were. But there’s also the flip side of that – having the right tools to catch four a day, instead of three or two or fewer, allowed him to salvage a hard-earned 11th-place result.

Knowing that he had the best lures for tough situations provided him with the confidence to charge forward.

“During every single tournament I weighed in some or most of my bass on CrushCity™ or Rapala® Lures,” he said. “At Logan Martin, I caught fish on a #5 Shad Rap® and then on a Pigstick™ on shallow wood cover. On Hartwell, I started off with a 6-pounder and a 3-¾ pounder on a 3” Mayor. At Lake of the Ozarks, I caught them on a Freeloader® and a new prototype CrushCity™ bait. At Saginaw Bay, I used the Ned BLT® and the Mooch Minnow™. And then at Murray, I caught over half of my fish on the Mooch.”

He’s not giving up the goods when he talks about how many top pros are using both The Mayor® and the Mooch Minnow™. The results speak for themselves. Nevertheless, he’s fully aware of why he can depend on them when times are tough.

“Ever since COVID, there’s been a ton of pressure on our fisheries,” he explained. “More realistic lures make a big difference. The Mayor® has a lot of things going for it when bites are tough. It doesn’t have a lot of tail action, but it has a subtle tail kick and a good body roll. The Mooch Minnow has a subtle corkscrew small tail kick. On forward-facing sonar, you’ll see a lot of fish swim up to your lures and they don’t get it. With the Mooch Minnow™, you can get those followers to bite.”

He doesn’t think it’s coincidental that the peak period of his career so far has coincided with his partnership with Rapala® and CrushCity™.

“I’m proud to be associated with the most prominent name in hard baits,” he stated. “You always want to be aligned with quality products that have a good reputation. CrushCity™ has been riding a wave for the past couple of years. I get so many questions about them and it just makes everything more fun because of the hype they’ve been generating.”

Two Tours Make Him Better

The drawn-out nature of the NPFL season meant that Welcher was “in contention for 11 months.” Oftentimes, an otherwise competitive angler has his AOY dreams squashed by one bad tournament. Welcher never had that. He was able to bite off each one as it came, allowing him to focus on the task at hand.

The spread-out nature of their schedule also allowed him to compete on two tours without burning the candle at both ends. He said he still feels like he’s at “the learning stage” of his career, and each additional event on a major tournament fishery allows him to hone his skills better and refine the instincts that have carried him this far.

The 31-year-old champ is thrilled to add more hardware to his mantel, but in some respects, he’s also relieved: “I have a ton of respect for all of my competitors. After two titles I feel like I proved that the first one wasn’t a fluke.”

“Overall the goal is to win more trophies,” he concluded. “But I also know that I’m still learning every time I go out. I feel like I need to get better, to make better decisions, and to be more efficient.”

How Many Bass Do You Have To Catch To Find A Pattern?

A few years ago a friend fishing with me caught a small bass and said “Now we know the pattern to fish today.” I just laughed. I am no professional fisherman, but I do not think one fish sets a pattern.

Bass fishermen search for a pattern each day, the kinds of structure, cover and depth fish seem to be holding and feeding, and what kind of food they are eating. Discover a good pattern and you can catch fish all over a big lake doing the same thing. Pro fishermen are pros because they can usually find a good pattern.

On the other hand I work to catch every fish I can find. In my mind there are always some bass shallow and they are more likely to be feeding and easier to catch. Sometimes I find a small pattern, maybe fishing the front edge of a grass bed, the back post on a dock or a rocky seawall.

In a recent tournament a club member stated, “The bass are not in the grass beds today, I never got a bite in them.” My response was that was odd since my biggest three fish hit in grass beds. Patterns are elusive for fishermen like me!

The Sportsman Club Classic last Sunday at Bartletts Ferry proved this to me. In the tournament that 8 fishermen qualified to fish, we landed 29 bass weighing about 29 pounds. In eight hours of casting, there were three five-bass limits and no one zeroed.

Wayne Teal won big with five weighing 10.69 pounds and his 3.85 pound largemouth was big fish. Raymond English came in second with five at 5.86 pounds, my five weighing 5.49 pounds was third, Jay Gerson placed fourth with two sat 5.09 pounds and Kwong Yu came in fifth with four weighing 3.77 pounds.

Two weeks ago I fished Bartletts four days, three in practice and one in the Potato Creek Tournament. Last week I camped and fished Friday and Saturday and then the tournament Sunday.

Bartletts Ferry has many water willow grass beds and are usually a good place to find bass feeding. In the 7 days I fished I tried many of them and worked a variety of baits through them. I never got a bite.

Of course, Wayne said all his fish hit in grass beds on baits I had tried!

Finding a pattern is great and I have found a few over the years. At Guntersville a few years ago I caught four bass, three over four pounds each, by pitching a jig to the right front post of docks in less than three feet of water. My partner and I never got a bite around other posts that day!

Sometimes two fishermen can be casting the same bait to the same places but only one will catch fish. Often there is a slight difference in the way the bait is worked or some other unnoticed factor.

That is why I find it difficult to figure out a pattern. I get frustrated and think maybe the fish are there, I am just doing a little something wrong.

Once again I camped at Blanton Creek Georgia Power campground. Knowing their discriminating rule against boat owners, I reserved a site on the water. When I arrived after 4:00 PM there was a map on the board with my name on it. A sign said set up and check in the next morning.

When I went to my site the wind was blowing fairly big waves into the bank, so I set up and parked my boat on the site, completely out of the road and off the grass. An hour later the campground host drove up in a golf cart to tell me I could not park my boat on the site.

We talked for a while and he was very nice, explaining a few years ago someone with a boat caused a problem how they parked, so Georgia Power made a rule no boats in the campground. So they punished every boat owner for the past four years for the actions of one.

He let me leave my boat there for the night since it was Thursday but insisted I move it first thing the next morning.

Unfortunately, two club members that had reservations to camp but not on the water had to cancel since they could not charge their batteries.

Maybe someday Georgia power won’t punish all boat owners due to the past action of one slob.

B.A.S.S. Announces High-Powered 2025 Elite Series Field

B.A.S.S. Announces High-Powered 2025 Elite Series Field with 104 Anglers Qualifying for the Trail

By The Fishing Wire

Birmingham, AL — On the heels of a record-setting 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series, where attendance and viewership numbers were equaled only by record weights and nail-biting finishes, the competitive field for the 2025 season has been set. Although last year’s rookie class took the Elites by storm, the young guns stepping up to the big stage this year are just as fierce. However, the veterans will have something to say about who will be holding the blue trophies when the scales settle.

All 104 anglers invited to join the 2025 Elite class accepted the challenge, including seven former Bassmaster Classic champions and eight former Angler of the Year champions. The rookie class is led by Easton Fothergill, who won two Bassmaster Opens events in 2024 and the points race in the 2024 Elite Qualifiers division to punch his ticket to the big show. Cody Meyer, Tucker Smith, Paul Marks, Emil Wagner, Andrew Loberg, Dakota Ebare, Beau Browning and Evan Kung are also part of the stacked freshman class.

Two legends will be joining the 2025 Elites, both dragging a Classic trophy alongside them. Randy Howell won the world championship in 2014 and has almost $2 million in B.A.S.S. winnings. Cliff Pace hoisted the Ray Scott Bassmaster Classic trophy in 2013 and has almost $1.7 million in career earnings.

Each event will kick off with the full field of 104 anglers on Days 1 and 2 before the field is cut to 50 for the semifinal round. The field will then be cut to the Top 10 on the final day, with the winner taking home the title and the $100,000 first-place prize.

The 2025 Elite Series will kick off with the Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River February 20-23. From there, the competitors will rattle rods through six other states while battling for the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year title and a berth into the 2026 Bassmaster Classic.

2025 Bassmaster Elite Series Field

Matt Arey, Shelby, N.C.

Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala.

Drew Benton, Panama City, Fla.

Stetson Blaylock, Benton, Ark.

Beau Browning, Hot Springs, Ark.

Scott Canterbury, Odenville, Ala.

Blake Capps, Muskogee, Okla.

Brandon Card, Salisbury, N.C.

Hank Cherry, Lincolnton, N.C.

Jason Christie, Welling, Okla.

Joey Cifuentes III, Clinton, Ark.

Brandon Cobb, Greenwood, S.C.

Keith Combs, Huntington, Texas

Drew Cook, Cairo, Ga.

John Cox, DeBary, Fla.

John Crews, Salem, Va.

Will Davis Jr., Sylacauga, Ala.

Greg DiPalma, Millville, N.J.

Bob Downey, Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Tim Dube, Nashua, N.H.

Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas

Seth Feider, New Market, Minn.

Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn.

Easton Fothergill, Grand Rapids, Minn.

Jacob Foutz, Charleston, Tenn.

Marc Frazier, Newnan, Ga.

Kyoya Fujita, Minamitsuru, Yamanashi, Japan

Cooper Gallant, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

John Garrett, Union City, Tenn.

David Gaston, Sylacauga, Ala.

Robert Gee, Knoxville, Tenn.

Wesley Gore, Clanton, Ala.

Buddy Gross, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Jeff Gustafson, Keewatin, Ontario, Canada

Greg Hackney, Gonzales, La.

Justin Hamner, Northport, Ala.

Ray Hanselman, Del Rio, Texas

Jamie Hartman, Newport, N.Y.

Matt Herren, Ashville, Ala.

Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala.

Cody Huff, Ava, Mo.

Mike Iaconelli, Pittsgrove, N.J.

Taku Ito, Chiba, Japan

Carl Jocumsen, Toowoomba, Australia

Chris Johnston, Otonabee, Ontario, Canada

Cory Johnston, Otonabee, Ontario, Canada

Jonathan Kelley, Old Forge, Pa.

Steve Kennedy, Auburn, Ala.

Kenta Kimura, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan

Evan Kung, Pickering, Ontario, Canada

Caleb Kuphall, Mukwonago, Wis.

Logan Latuso, Gonzales, La.

Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala.

Shane LeHew, Catawba, N.C.

Brandon Lester, Fayetteville, Tenn.

Lee Livesay, Longview, Texas

Andrew Loberg, Guntersville, Ala.

Wes Logan, Springville, Ala.

Ed Loughran III, Richmond, Va.

Bill Lowen, Brookville, Ind.

Paul Marks, Cumming, Ga.

Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla.

Trey McKinney, Carbondale, Ill.

Mark Menendez, Paducah, Ky.

Cody Meyer, Eagle, Idaho

Ben Milliken, New Caney, Texas

Brock Mosley, Collinsville, Miss.

Paul Mueller, Naugatuck, Conn.

David Mullins, Mt. Carmel, Tenn.

Bryan New, Leesville, S.C.

Kyle Norsetter, Cottage Grove, Wisc

Cliff Pace, Ovett, Miss.

Brandon Palaniuk, Rathdrum, Idaho

Luke Palmer, Coalgate, Okla.

Logan Parks, Auburn, Ala.

Kyle Patrick, Cooperstown, N.Y.

Chad Pipkens, DeWitt, Mich.

Clifford Pirch, Payson, Ariz.

Jacob Powroznik, North Prince George, Va.

Jay Przekurat, Plover, Wis.

KJ Queen, Catawba, N.C.

Alex Redwine, Blue Ash, Ohio

Tyler Rivet, Raceland, La.

Matt Robertson, Kuttawa, Ky.

Cole Sands, Calhoun, Tenn.

Pat Schlapper, Eleva, Wis.

Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md.

Bernie Schultz, Gainesville, Fla.

Hunter Shryock, Ooltewah, Tenn.

Bryant Smith, Roseville, Calif.

Tucker Smith, Birmingham, Ala.

Caleb Sumrall, New Iberia, La.

Gerald Swindle, Guntersville, Ala.

JT Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga.

Patrick Walters, Summerville, S.C.

Kyle Welcher, Opelika, Ala.

Alex Wetherell, Middletown, Conn.

Brad Whatley, Bivins, Texas

Jake Whitaker, Hendersonville, N.C.

Tyler Williams, Belgrade, Maine

Jason Williamson, Aiken, S.C.

Matty Wong, Honolulu, Hawaii

Chris Zaldain, Fort Worth, Texas

About B.A.S.S.

B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting-edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series presented by SEVIIN, Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier Series presented by Lowrance, Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Strike King Bassmaster High School Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Team Championship, Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series presented by Native Watercraft, Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.

B.A.S.S. Announces Elite Angler Advisory Board and More

Tournaments

B.A.S.S. Announces Elite Angler Advisory Board, Modifications To Payouts, Enhanced Angler Services

By The Fishing Wire

Birmingham, AL — In an effort to facilitate better communication and collaboration with Elite Series anglers, the Bassmaster Elite Angler Board of Professionals (ABP) has been created, B.A.S.S. announced today. The Advisory Board consists of six Elite anglers who were voted on by their peers and who will speak on behalf of the entire field in communicating with B.A.S.S. in order to provide a more direct and efficient way of discussing any current challenges and future opportunities.

The ABP was assembled to include competitors who represent every career phase within the Elite Series ranks: rookies, sophomores, multi-year competitors and veterans. The 2025 Advisory Board roster is comprised of Ben Milliken, Alex Wetherell, Lee Livesay, John Crews, Drew Benton and Mark Menendez. See the Bassmaster Elite Angler Board of Professionals photo gallery here.

B.A.S.S. and the anglers who compete in the Elite Series recognize the importance of effective communication between the organization and the competitors in order to advance and promote the sport and better serve the fishing community. Challenges during the 2024 season revealed an opportunity to improve those communication channels, which led to the formation of the ABP.

“B.A.S.S. is the unquestionable leader in professional bass fishing and has been that way for over 50 years,” said veteran Elite angler John Crews. “The professional bass angler has long been the tireless, passionate competitor that simply wants to catch the biggest bass possible. In the past, the competitors and the league have not found a lasting structure to work together to help each other. Until now. The formation of the ABP, Angler Board of Professionals, is an organically created group of Elite Series anglers trying to help B.A.S.S. and the anglers stay in consistent, productive, positive communication. After numerous roles as an angler representative over the years, I am very excited about being selected as the leader of this inaugural group. It’s a truly humbling honor that I do not take lightly.”

The Advisory Board representatives and B.A.S.S. believe the formation of the ABP will ensure that anglers and the league can understand important topics from each other’s point of view, which will help to restore a foundation of respect and trust. The Advisory Board recently had its first meeting with B.A.S.S. to primarily discuss the recently announced payout structure for the 2025 Elite Series. B.A.S.S. and the ABP agreed on multiple options to be presented to the full field of Elite anglers to vote on, which included boosting the payouts through an angler-determined contribution.

After constructive discussion and multiple rounds of voting, the payout for 2025 (which already included an additional investment of $200,000 from B.A.S.S.), was restructured to better meet the current preference of a majority of Elite anglers. For 2025, the pros decided to make an angler contribution of $10,000 for the season, which will be applied entirely to the Elite Series and Bassmaster Classic payouts. Moving forward, B.A.S.S. and the ABP will discuss if an angler contribution continues to be the preference of the majority of the Elite angler field.

See the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series and AOY payout structure and 2026 Bassmaster Classic payout structure.

B.A.S.S. also announced the creation of a new Angler Services program to assist Elite Series pros with marketing, improvement of pitches to sponsors and professional development off the water. Former Elite Series pro and Classic champion Davy Hite has been named angler liaison lead to ensure that communication channels remain open between all Elite anglers and the league. B.A.S.S. Director of Marketing Will Flowers will spearhead the Angler Business Services program designed to provide angler marketing and brand support.

“We are excited to be working with the ABP to ensure consistent and clear communication between B.A.S.S. and the Elite anglers,” said Chase Anderson, B.A.S.S. CEO. “There have been challenges trying to communicate with 103 anglers who, understandably, have 103 different priorities when running their individual businesses. We consider the formation of the ABP an opportunity to build a more constructive relationship with anglers as we work together to advance and grow the sport of bass fishing. We remain committed to being the leader in the sport of bass fishing and believe that working with the ABP will strengthen our leadership position and better prepare us for the future.”

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting-edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

PrevPreviousTATULA Spins Another Web

A Bartletts Ferry Tournament Shows Never Give Up!

We knew fishing would be tough at Bartletts Ferry for the Potato Creek Bassmasters tournament last Saturday. The weekend before it took only 11 pounds to win a local tournament with 47 teams fishing. In local tournaments like that there are usually some very good fishermen that know the lake well and fish it several days a week to keep up with what will catch bass.

In our tournament 18 fishermen cast from 7:00 AM to 3:00 Pm to land 51 12-inch keeper bass weighing about 64 pounds. There were three five bass limits and two fishermen didn’t weigh in a fish.

I managed to win with five weighing 7.26 pounds, Doug Acree had five at 7.05 for second and Stevie Wright came in third with four weighing 6.01 pounds. Glen Anderson had three weighing 5.90 pounds for fourth and his 3.71 pound largemouth was big fish.

I went to Blanton Creek Campground on Wednesday to practice and try to figure out something on Thursday and Friday. Blanton Creek is a very nice Georgia Power campground about five miles by land and three miles by water from Idlehour Ramp where our tournaments are held.

I like camping there, it has nice shady sites with electricity and water hookups and a good bathhouse with hot showers. As usual, when I pulled up to check in the attendant said “you know you can not park your boat in the campground.”

I have run into that problem every time I camp there. My boat batteries have to be charged every night or I can not fish the next day. They want me to leave my boat in the ramp parking lot, where there are no outlets. And I have to take off all my electronics and take all my tackle with me. I am very uncomfortable leaving it exposed in a parking lot.

Some trips in the past I have been able to park my boat on my campsite, assuring the attendants I would not park it outside the gravel area or on the roads. This time I had gotten a site on the water, one of only about ten that allow you to keep your boat in the water and run an extension cord to it to charge your batteries.

Although written rules in the campground say no vehicles should be parked anywhere other than on the gravel camp sites, there were six to 12 trucks and cars parked outside campsites beside the road every day.

So they do not allow anyone to park a boat in the campground since someone might park outside their campsite, but they do not enforce the written rules for cars and trucks.

Seems very unfair to me.

I was shocked to win the tournament. My elbow started hurting the week before the tournament and I got a sharp pain in it every time I tried to cast. Thursday I tried to learn to cast with my left hand, and got pretty good at it, as long as I didn’t care where my bait went.

I cast about 20 times Friday and my elbow hurt so bad I stopped. I spent most of Thursday and Friday riding points, looking for places where I could drop a bait over the side or heave it out with no target, let it sink then drag it around with the trolling motor.

I started Saturday morning on a rocky bank where I could heave my spinnerbait toward it and not care much where it hit. I hooked and lost a fish on my third cast, then lost another a few minutes later. That was not a good start.

I next went to a hump with some hydrilla on it and heaved a topwater bait out, and got a good keeper on my second cast with a topwater plug. After that I caught three on Trick worms on seawalls. Fishing them allowed me to cast in the general direction, often landing my bait on the bank, then pulling it into the water.

After the sun got high I got my fifth keeper dragging a small jig on a point with some brush. Then, with less than 30 minutes to fish, I went back to the hump where I caught my first fish.

With five minutes left to cast I hooked and landed a 2.5 pound largemouth on a spinnerbait. It was my biggest fish of the day and culled a 12-inch spot that weighed less than a pound! That made the difference between first and fourth or so.

Never give up – even when every cast hurts!

Is September the Meanest Month for Bass Fishing?

Last Sunday five members and guests of the Flint River Bass Club fished our September tournament at Lake Oconee. After eight hours of casting, from 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM, we weighed in eight bass weighing about 15 pounds. There were no limits and one fisherman didn’t have a keeper.

Alex Gober won with three bass weighing 4.93 pounds. Brent Drake placed second with two at 4.31 pounds and had big fish with a 2.92 pound largemouth. Don Gober had two keepers weighing 3.62 pounds for third and my one bass weighing 1.80 pounds was fourth.

Oddly enough, a Facebook memory showed up Sunday showing one year ago I placed fourth in the Flint River tournament at Oconee with one bass weighing about 1.80 pounds. The more things change the more they stay the same, I guess.

I always say September is the meanest month for bass fishing. The water is as hot as it gets and the oxygen content is as low as it gets all year. The fish have been beat up since early spring, seeing artificial baits just about every day. So they are as smart and wary as they can be.

I used to say by September bass in local lakes know the name and price of every lure Berry’s Sporting Goods sells and can probably tell you where to find them on the shelf in the store!

I had a good feeling I could catch a bass out of grass beds on topwater first thing that morning, and I guess I was right. A few minutes after starting I caught a 13.5 inch largemouth on a floating worm. Unfortunately, the size limit at Oconee is 14 inches so it did no good.

After more than an hour of trying that pattern with no more bites, I saw a lone dock back in a cove. Often a single piece of cover like and isolated dock is a good bet for a bite.

I got no bites around the dock but while scanning around it with my forward facing sonar I spotted a small brush top off to the side of the dock. It looked like a fish was holding beside it. I cast a small jig to the brush and it never hit bottom.

I set the hook as my line moved out and landed my one keeper. Without the Garmin Panoptix I would never have known that brush and fish was there.

Later in the day, as seems usual lately, as I idled over a point I spotted some brush and rocks out in 15 feet of water on my sonar. I took the boat out of gear and cast a shaky head behind the boat as it stopped. When it hit bottom my line jumped and started moving toward deep water.

Unfortunately, that direction was across the back of my boat. I set the hook and a strong fish pulled back, and I could not control it. It cut my line on my prop!

I fished grass, blowdowns, docks, rock piles and boulders the rest of the day and caught a few short bass, but no keepers.

The last one hit with less than five minutes to fish. I cast my weightless worm to the edge of a grassbed, saw the grass a foot to the left wave as a fish came out of it and hit my worm.

Just like the first one that morning, it was 13.5 inches long! But thats not why i fish!

From Hook To Release: How Gear Can Make A Difference For Fish Survival

If you want to do catch and release, remember From Hook To Release: How Gear Can Make A Difference For Fish Survival
from The Fishing Wire

By Greyson Webb

Your odds of success on the water can hinge on the gear you use, and the same principle applies when it comes to releasing fish. From not meeting size requirements to being caught out of season, there are many reasons why you might land a fish that you’ll need to release.

While released fish can go on to survive and be caught again, there are a variety of stressors a fish can experience throughout their landing and handling that can result in injury or death. Simply letting a fish go does not guarantee its survival, and the use of proper gear is a best fishing practice that can be adopted to help minimize stressors and improve a fish’s chance of recovery and survival.

What makes certain tools more effective in minimizing stress and injury than others? This article explores how the tools used throughout the catch and release process can boost the survival rates of released fish to keep populations healthy for the environment and anglers alike.

Non-Offset, Non-Stainless Steel Circle Hooks

It all starts with the hook—the first point of contact between angler and fish. The right hook will minimize hooking injury, reduce stress, and improve the ease of hook removal—all factors that influence a fish’s chance of survival. This is where the circle hook can make a difference. Circle hooks are designed to catch a fish in the jaw, which is the safest area if release is needed. Less likely to be swallowed or snag vulnerable areas like the gills or eyes, circle hooks decrease the odds of a potentially fatal hooking.

Not all circle hooks are the same, though. Non-offset circle hooks and non-stainless steel circle hooks go the extra mile in improving a fish’s chance of survival after release. Non-offset hooks are easier to remove than offset hooks, meaning less time out of the water for the fish, less bleeding caused by removal and less stress overall. In the case a hook cannot be removed, a non-stainless steel circle hook provides the benefit of degrading and shedding up to three times faster than a hook made of stainless steel or other non-corrodible metals.

Pro tip: If you’re wondering whether a hook is stainless or non-stainless steel, “Tournament Approved” labeling usually indicates non-stainless steel. For a quick test, you can also use a magnet to check the material. Simply place a magnet on a hook: if it sticks, the hook is stainless steel; if it doesn’t, you’ve got yourself a non-stainless steel circle hook.

Knotless, Rubberized Landing Nets

While not necessary for landing every fish, landing nets are a functional tool that help shorten fight time, reduce stress on the line and rod, and prevent potential poking or piercing by hooks, teeth, or spines as you land your fish. However, landing nets with coarse mesh can inadvertently damage a fish’s delicate fins, scales, or protective slime layer—increasing their vulnerability to infections or injuries. Made from a smoother and friction-reducing material, knotless, rubberized landing nets help in preventing these potential traumas. With the protective slime layer preserved and more scales and fins intact, a fish landed with a knotless, rubberized net is a fish that has a better chance of survival after release.

If you prefer to use your hands to land a fish, using wet hands or rubber gloves provides similar relief to that of a knotless, rubberized landing net.

Dehooking Tools

The clock starts ticking the moment a fish is brought out of the water—its chances of survival dropping the longer it stays out of its natural environment. This is when a dehooking tool can help fish and anglers alike. Designed to rapidly remove hooks while causing minimal injury to the fish, time is not wasted struggling with a tough hook and the risk of injury during hook removal—for both the fish and the angler—is greatly reduced. It’s a win-win.

That said, there are situations where it is better to leave the hook in place. If a fish is deeply hooked in the gut or throat, attempting to remove the hook can often do more harm than good. In these cases, it is best to simply cut the leader close to the hook and leave it in the fish—particularly if it is a non-stainless steel hook, which has a greater chance of being shed. Research indicates this is less damaging and gives the fish the best chance for survival.

Descending Devices

If you land a fish and notice it has bulging eyes, bubbling scales, difficulty swimming below the surface, or organs protruding from the mouth or anus, it is likely suffering from barotrauma. Similar to the bends experienced by divers, barotrauma is an injury that can occur when a fish is brought from the high-pressure environment of deep waters to the low-pressure environment of the surface. This change in pressure can cause the gases in a fish’s swim bladder to expand, damaging organs and making it difficult for the fish to return to its original depth. Barotrauma is particularly common in deep-dwelling species, such as some snappers and groupers. Untreated, a fish experiencing barotrauma becomes vulnerable to predators, the elements, and the injuries of barotrauma itself. Fortunately, the right tool can help reverse this condition.

Descending devices are tools that use added weights to lower fish back to their depth of capture. As the fish is pulled down the water column by a descending device, the swim bladder recompresses, and the fish is given a better chance at survival. Descending devices all work to return a fish to their original depth, but they come in different forms: inverted hooks, weighted crates, and lip clamps.

An inverted hook is a barbless hook with an added weight that is inserted either through the original hook hole or through the soft tissue on the fish’s lower jaw. Rigged to a rod and reel, the inverted hook guides the fish back to its proper depth. Once there, a gentle tug on the rod will release the fish if it hasn’t already slid free.

Similar to an inverted hook, the lip clamp is a descending device that uses an attached weight to pull a fish back to depth by attaching to a fish’s lower jaw. However, instead of piercing the jaw, the clamp securely grips it. A lip clamp can be pressure triggered or spring triggered for release. A pressure triggered lip clamp includes a pressure-sensor mechanism designed to automatically release fish once the desired depth is reached. A spring triggered lip clamp requires you to manually open the lip clamp by pulling up on the rod once the fish reaches the desired depth.

A weighted crate, often referred to as a fish elevator, is a crate with an open top—such as a milk crate—that has a rope attached to the closed bottom along with weights. To use one, place the fish in the crate, quickly flip it upside down into the water, and let the attached weights sink the contraption. Acting as a bottomless cage, the weighted crate will bring fish back to depth, where they recompress and can swim away on their own.

A good rule of thumb when using any descending device is to use one pound of added weight for every five pounds of fish.

Given their benefits, many of these tools—such as descending devices, dehooking tools, and non-offset, non-stainless steel hooks—are required to be readily available or in use when fishing for or possessing snapper grouper species in federal waters off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Eastern Florida. Interested in learning more about the practices and requirements that give snapper grouper species a better chance at survival after release in the South Atlantic? Check out the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Best Fishing Practices campaign for more information and ways to get involved.

Why I Fish

A Yamaha Outboards ad on the Elite Series online coverage over the weekend got me thinking about why I fish. Then an article in Wired2fish online magazine added to my thoughts.

The Yamaha ad has a bunch of professional fishermen saying something along the lines of “if you want to relax don’t fish with me.” And the article gave reasons why so many tournament anglers “burn out” after a short time.

I have been tournament fishing since my first one with the Spalding County Sportsman Club in April 1974 – more than 48 years. For most of them I fished at least two tournaments a month, and for the past six I have fished at least three club tournaments a month.

Until a few years ago I fished many more days for fun and relaxation than I did tournaments. A few years ago I fished 443 days in a row without missing one, fulfilling a childhood dream of fishing every day for a year.

Many hours were spent sitting on my pond dock catching bluegill and bullheads. I would sit on the docks at Raysville Boat Club catching small bluegill for bait to run on jugs and trotlines that night. And I spent hours dabbling jigs around button bushes for crappie.

Maybe that is why I never burned out, all fishing was fun. Although I took trying to win every tournament very seriously, I did not “have” to win to pay my next entry fee or tournament expenses. Tournament fishing was fun even if not really relaxing.

For the past few years I pretty much go fishing only to practice for a tournament or fish one. And most of my practice is riding around watching my electronics, trying to find school of fish and hidden structure and cover.

I can still make a lot of casts and work hard to catch a fish in tournaments. Sometimes it gets frustrating that my old body won’t let me fish as hard as I want to. But I try not to think of it as a “grind” as many tournament anglers, especially young ones, complain about nowadays.

I will keep fishing as long as my body will let me. But I will never let it become a “grind” trying to catch a fish. If it is not fun it is not worth the effort.

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