THE LATEST NEWS
5 Minutes with Shaw
Dynamic Sponsorships takes a few minutes with the living legend Shaw Grigsby, find out how Shaw got his start in bass fishing along with his other passions. Shaw and Alan also discuss who would be the ultimate Elite team partner.
Ike’s Go To for Cold Water
Elite Series pro Mike Iaconelli talks about one of his favorite cold water baits, the Molix Trago Vibe. This blade style bait has a few features that set it apart from other blade baits on the market.
The Trago Vib is a “metal concept lure ” excellent for vertical presentations or fast retrieves, made possible thanks to the excellent balance and irregular wobbling action during the fall. The special paint finished through the “electro-painting” process ensures maximum strength and durability even under extreme fishing use, both freshwater and saltwater, a territory yet to be explored for this category of baits. The double hooks offer a wider opening angle so as to allow ready and safe hook ups. During our tests the Trago Vib, during winter and autumn, was effective with slow vertical presentations while it is recommended a faster retrieve in the warmer months when predators are active. We understand that this little deadly bait have come in its own right among the favorite of many spinners that currently do not seem to have found its limit. Works with black bass, pike, asps, chubs, perch, sea bass, sea bream, wels catfish (yes, you red it right) and other predators both in fresh and salt waters.
Action: Sinking
Length: 5.4 cm (2-1/8in)
Weight: 14g (1/2oz)
Action: Sinking
Length: 5cm (2in)
Weight: 10.5 g (3/8oz)
GEICO Rewind from Cherokee Lake 2017
The first stop of the 2017 Bassmaster Elite Series proved to be an interesting one, weather conditions proved to be intersting. Day one met the field with freezing temperatures (in the 20’s) followed by a warming trend that left some wearing shorts by Saturday afternoon. David Walker and Mike McCelland recap their event at Cherokee Lake in this addition of the “GEICO Rewind”.
Mike McCelland
David Walker
Alton & Alton jr…. an Elite Moment
The Bassmaster Elite Series on Cherokee Lake marked a very special event. Alton Jones, a very familiar face on the Elite Trail was joined by his son Alton jr. Here is what the father son team had to say just after Saturday’s weigh in.
$150 in Crappie Lures Nets Scroggins $10K at Cherokee Lake Elite
As the first event of a brand new Bassmaster Elite Series season began, it was no secret the favored lure of choice by top local anglers for Cherokee Lake’s finicky smallmouth was a 3-inch Damiki Armor Shad rigged on a lead “Erie” head.
“People use the Damiki Shad because it has almost no action, and those fish at Cherokee are so lure shy, they seem to like that subtle presentation,” says Scroggins. “But they weren’t liking it for me, so my roommate Britt Myers and I had to call an audible after Day 1 of practice.”
The struggle forced Myers and Scroggins to lean on a lesson straight out of Bass Fishing 101 – when you can’t get a bite using a lure you think they should eat – try downsizing.
“I started thinking about lures that were even smaller than a 3” Damiki, and the next thing you know, I’ve spent $150 in the crappie fishing section at the Knoxville Bass Pro Shops,” grins Scroggins.
“I had everything in my bag from tiny little 1/8 ounce marabou jigs to curly tail grubs, and all shapes and weights of jig heads,” says Scroggins.
The buck-fifty wager worked in the end, but brutally strong North winds on Day 1 of competition nearly caused the panfishing strategy to backfire. Wild winds simply wouldn’t allow the Florida pro to feel the bite with a big unwanted bow in his 4-pound line.
“Trying to tightline a tiny 1/8 ounce marabou jig or grub in a 20 mph wind is next to impossible. I should have gone to the shoreline and thrown crankbaits or jerkbaits to save my day,” he admits.
Scroggins failed to catch a limit on Day 1, and found himself in a very concerning 86th place. But when the winds calmed on Day 2 and Day 3, he knew he had a chance to catch Cherokee smallmouth about the same way he catches crappie on Rodman Reservoir and Crescent Lake back home.
And catch ‘em he did.
His 16-pound limit on Day 2 vaulted him from 86th place to 50th – good enough for a guaranteed paycheck and a chance to compete on Day 3 when he caught a 15-pound limit – leading “Big Show” to a 32nd place finish, and a $10,000 check in the pocket of his Carhartt jeans.
Scroggins’ Equipment Notes:
Rod: Scroggins offered his mixed bag of crappie lures on a 7-foot medium light spinning rod, stressing the importance of a very forgiving light action when using such light fishing line.
Line: 4-pound Hi-Seas Copolymer Select in clear
Minn Kota Spot-Lock: The GPS driven technology kept Scroggins electronically ‘anchored’ directly over the school, or single fish, he was trying to catch. “When I’d drop that Damiki Shad, I could watch the bass swim up to it on my Humminbird and swim away. But when I’d drop a crappie bait on them, I could watch them hang around my lure, and eventually they’d eat it.”