THE BUSINESS NEWS OF FISHING.
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Helping you become a better angler and delivering interesting fishing news to you in a weekly email.
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Soft plastics are available in hundreds of colors from numerous companies. Manufacturers categorize those into categories that classify how many colors are included, how they are manufactured and how the molds are made during construction.
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Faircloth Talks Shad Spawn
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As bass anglers all of us have been guilty at one time or another of having a one-track mind. What I mean by this is that we are often so focused on what the bass are supposed to be doing that we overlook important events that occur throughout the food chain that supports them. One such event that we all need to pay attention to is the shad spawn. Shad of some type can be found in any body of water you would typically target bass. Bass know when the shad spawn, taking full advantage of the situation, and we as anglers should as well. About the time you first want to start wearing your short sleeve shirts is when I like to start looking for a shad spawn. Generally, that will be directly following the bass spawn, when the water temperatures reach the high 60's, to low 70's. The shad are going to spawn against any objects they can access. Whether it's grass, bushes, boat docks, boats, rocks, or anything in between shad will spawn there. I've even seen them spawning on floating grass or debris out in the middle of a lake, or even flat clay points with no cover, so keep your eyes and mind open when looking for where they may be. Shad like to spawn around full moon periods at night and will continue the spawn on into the early morning hours. It is essential to get out early and look for the signs that will clue you in, such as birds, and actually seeing the shad popping out of the water near where they are spawning. There are several ways to catch bass gorging on spawning shad, but by far my favorite way is on a spinnerbait. The first reason this is my favorite is that the shad will actually hit the blades and follow the bait back to your boat, which helps confirms you are in the right area. Secondly, I typically have a good hook to land ratio with a spinnerbait, especially if the cover I am fishing allows me to add a trailer hook. My next choice would be a swim jig, it's a great shad imitation, and you can get it in places that the spinnerbait can't go sometimes. Both baits are great choices when fished in a basic shad type color pattern, but my favorite is a solid white skirt and trailer on both. As far as my rod and reel set up goes for this type of fishing I am keeping it relatively simple. A
7'2" MH Denali Kovert rod
and 6:3:1 gear ration reel will do the job for both the spinnerbait and the jig. I will normally fish the spinnerbait on
16 to 20 lb Sunline FC Sniper
but opt for a
braided line
for the swim jig, unless the water is ultra clear.
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5. Baits Not Being Talked About
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Wakebaits are an often overlooked tool that many professional anglers carry in their tackle boxes. With the shad and herring spawn starting to kick off around the country this is definitely an option you should look into.
The Berkley Surge Shad
and the
PH Custom Lures Wake Up Topwater Wakebait
are two great baits in this category.
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6. What We're Watching & Listening To
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Who remembers Tommy Biffle playing with his Gene Larew Biffle-O in the bathtub? If you've never seen this commercial you definitely need to check it out
here.
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Ray Hanselman
Photo courtesy of Bassmaster
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Ray Hanselman is competing in his third season on the Elite Series after a successful run in the Opens. He also dominated the previous Costa Series and accomplished a feat that will likely never be duplicated by winning 3 regular season events and the Costa Championship in 2015. He represents a wide range of sponsors from the fishing industry and also from the oil industry.
Humminbird, Minn Kota, Skeeter, Yamaha, Costa, Shimano, Strike King Lure Company, Power Tackle Rods, Bass Mafia Tackle,
AFTCO
, Owner Hooks, Smith Industries, Energy & Automation, Viva Energy, Boerne Marine, Warhorse Services, FlowCap and Feherty's Troops First Foundation.
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8. Regional Recommendations
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Retailers across the country are adjusting to local and national guidelines for their businesses. We wanted to start a list of those retailers still operating by pick up, delivery or shipping. We will continue to update the list. You are welcome to send any additional ones for our list to info@bestontour.net. Please support these businesses if you can.
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Extreme Outdoors Branson West MO 417-272-0305
Dunns Pevely MO 636-475-4240
Hook Line and Sinker Rogers and Bentonville AR Bentonville (479-271-8118) Rogers 479-631-8118 Fish n Stuff Sherwood AR 501-834-5733
Get Outdoors Bryant AR 501-794-3474
Trader Bills Hot Springs AR 501-623-8403
K&K True Value Bettendorf IA 563-359-4474
Fin and Feather Iowa City IA 319-354-2200
Hanks Live Bait and Tackle Waterloo IA fishhanks.com (319-234-0711)
Denny Dennis Fenton MO 636-343-9447
Fitzs Fishing Osage Beach MO 573-693-9299
Aspire Mountain Home AR 870-492-2005
Lucky Lure Oklahoma City Ok 405-749-1808
Thousand Island Bait Store Alexandria Bay NY 315.482.9903
Fishermans Central, www.fishermanscentral.com
Murray's Outdoor Store, 563-252-3138
JCT Tackle & Archery Shop
,
417-546-4522
River and Ridge Outdoors,
563-538-4188
Cain Pole Richmond KY
Curbside service
McKee Outdoors Maryville TN
Curbside service
Backwaters Outfitters Lexington KY
Curbside service
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Missile Records To Showcase Big Bass
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Big bass and Missile Baits go hand in hand so the company is launching a new customer recognition program for big bass caught on Missile Baits and Missile Jigs called Missile Records. The Missile Baits web site will host Missile Records. Missile will also share catches on one their various social media channels. Top 5 catches and more will be recorded and shown for each bait they sell on their web site.
Missile Baits owner and pro bass angler, John Crews said, “We get so many pics and stories about big bass caught on our baits that we could not keep track of what the biggest was. Missile Records is a totally unofficial way for us to have a bragging board for people to see what type of big bass each one of our baits catch. It is going to be fun to watch the entries as they come in!”
Missile Records will keep track of the 5 biggest bass plus the biggest smallmouth or spotted bass caught on each bait or jig. The weight is going to be on an honor system to show the scales or Missile will guestimate the weight from the picture. The records are not going to be official. Missile will not reward any prizes of value. It is all about the recognition of big bass being caught on each one of the lures that Missile Bait and Missile Jigs puts out. Check out the cool new program at the link below.
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How much have you fishing during the social distancing guidelines?
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