THE LATEST NEWS
Denali Rods Signs Elite Pro Jeff Kriet To Pro Staff
Denali Rods is excited to announce that it has signed B.A.S.S. Elite Pro Jeff Kriet to its Tour Level Pro Staff. Jeff Kriet is known as a versatile angler with expertise in finesse tactics. He brings a wealth of experience to the Denali team and is known for his outstanding humor. Jeff has eight Bassmaster Classic appearances, 19 Top 10 Elite finishes and one win to his credit in his career and is a member of the B.A.S.S. Million Dollar Club.
Jeff Kriet says “I am pumped to tackle the 2016 Elite season with what I feel are the best tools I’ve ever used. Denali Rods are light, sensitive and bend in all of the right places. I have been at this game for a long time, these are the best rods I have been privileged to use in my career”.
Scott Estes, President of Denali Rods adds “We are excited to add an angler like Jeff to our Tour Level Staff for the 2016 fishing season. We look forward to Jeff’s input in developing Denali Rods in the near future, and have plans for him helping us to bring new rod designs and actions to our customers”.
Denali rods are known for high quality at a great value with cutting edge appearance and unequalled strength and warranty. To see the full line of the Denali Rods please log onto www.denalirods.com.
Day 1 at the Bass University
The Bass University kicked off today in Boxborough, MA with a great line up of presenting pros. Day one topics covered all the basics from fishing in tough conditions and finesse tactics to power fishing with spinnerbaits. John Murray began the morning with his explanation of how to target tough suspended bass which was followed by Carl Jocumsen and Mike Iaconelli discussing tactics for high pressured fishing with finesse tactics like the Ned and Neko rigs. Students, consisting of youths to seasoned vets, then had the opportunity to pick the brains of some of the best in the industry while on breakout sessions. Students had the chance to chat one-on-one with the pros, one individual saying “I love the fact that they fill in the gaps on techniques I already know, while introducing new practices at the same time”
The afternoon was a hardcore focus on Smallmouth fishing. Topics included all the different ways to target smallmouth with different tackle and techniques in different conditions. The Bass University had a great curriculum put together with a day full of information that was enough to fill the Bass University notebooks that were provided to all students. Just for registering for the 2-day class, students received a great gift bag with items from Flambeau, VMC and Rapala among many other great companies.
If you were unable to attend this class, or any other of their classes coming up, be sure to check out The Bass University here. While on the site, be sure to look into the great deals they have for the Bass University TV in the Online Training section, which includes all the recorded class sessions from not only this weekend’s speakers, but videos from all the classes from around the country.
Stay tuned to BassEast.com and the BassEast Facebook page for coverage and great offers from The Bass University.
If you want to up you game on the water check out a Bass University near you!
Good Fishing Doug Cameron
Find out more about Doug on his Facebook page.
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Strader Wins A Squeaker At Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open
Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., wins the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open #1 held on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes out of Kissimmee, Fla. Strader brought 13 pounds, 1 ounce to Saturday’s weigh-in, giving him a three-day total of 50-5. Photo by James Overstreet/Bassmaster
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A slim 2 ounces separated winner Wesley Strader and his closest challenger, Cody Detweiler, in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open on the Kissimmee Chain.
Strader finished with a winning weight of 50 pounds, 5 ounces to punch his ticket to the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro, if he competes in the next two Southern Opens. Detweiler weighed in a three-day total of 50-3 to finish as the Open runner-up in the pro division.
Despite a tough practice, Strader bounced back with solid limits each day, including a 13-1 bag in the final round.
“I hadn’t caught a fish over 2 1/2 pounds in all of practice,” said Strader, who won the pro division grand prize of a Nitro Z20 bass boat with a Mercury Pro XS 225-horsepower outboard engine valued at $45,000.
The Spring City Tenn., angler credited the copper rose lenses of his sunglasses for helping him locate spawning fish in practice. When he didn’t have a bite by 11:15 the first morning, Strader ran to the spot where he saw the spawning fish the day before.
“I don’t know what happened overnight, but those fish showed up … and I caught them,” he said.
Throughout the week, Strader caught most of his fish on a Zoom Fluke or Speed Craw and an Old School Twin Spin topwater bait.
“Yesterday, I got on a little deal in some hydrilla and caught some on a (homemade bladed jig), so this morning I decided to start there,” he said. “So when I pulled up on that hydrilla bed, they were biting like crazy.”
Despite fishing in 58-degree water, Strader was able to coax bass into slamming the topwater bait. “Those fish came up and smoked it, so I caught every fish on that Twin Spin in about 20 minutes.”
Detweiler relied on a variety of lures to catch his bass throughout the week. He threw a Chatterbait in the rain the whole first day of competition, and when the weather turned sunny the next day, he threw a Humdinger swim jig and flipped a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver with a 1 1/2-ounce weight to isolated mats. He also relied on the swim jig and flipped the Sweet Beaver to mats the final day to catch a 15-8 limit.
Other Top 5 finishers in the pro division were Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., third place, 50-1; Eric Panzironi, Longwood, Fla., fourth, 48-2; and Chad Morgenthaler, Reeds Spring, Mo., fifth, 45-4.
Virginia Beach, Va., angler Chaz Carrington flipped a Big Bite Baits Yo Daddy to catch a three-fish 9-10 limit in the final round and win the non-boater division. His three-day total of 25-9 earned him the top prize of a Nitro z18/Mercury 150 Pro XS outboard rig valued at $30,000.
Brad Knight, Lancing, Tenn., and James Bailey, Warrenton, Va., tied for the $750 Big Bass Award on the pro side as both anglers caught 9-6 largemouths. Nathan Bloom, Winter Springs, Fla., weighed in an 8-14-pound largemouth to earn the $250 Big Bass Award on the co-angler side.
Strader received the Livingston Lures Leader Award of $250 for finishing as the top pro on Day 2. Finishing as the Day 2 leader on the co-angler side, Rob Walker of Deland, Fla., received a Livingston Lures gift pack worth $250.
Stader also earner the A.R.E. Top Angler Award of $500 for being the highest-finishing angler using A.R.E. products.
Elite Series pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., earned the Power-Pole Captain’s Cash award of $500.
The local hosts for the events are Visit Kissimmee and the Central Florida Sports Commission.
2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Title Sponsor: Bass Pro Shops
2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, GoPro, Huk, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Yamaha
2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Series Supporting Sponsors: A.R.E. Truck Caps, Carhartt, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, Lowrance, Power-Pole, Rapala, Shell Rotella, Shimano
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 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, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, B.A.S.S. Nation, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.
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2016 2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open Kissimmee Chain of Lakes 1/28-1/30 Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee FL. (BOATER) Standings Day 3Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Wesley Strader Spring City, TN 15 50-05 200 $54,283.00 BIG ———————————————————————– 2016 2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open Kissimmee Chain of Lakes 1/28-1/30 Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Chaz Carrington Virginia Beach, VA 9 25-09 200 $30,000.00 BIG ———————————————————————– |
University of Central Florida Wins FLW College Fishing on Crescent Lake
BUNNELL, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2016) – The University of Central Florida team of Hunter McKamey of Geneva, Tennessee, and Kyle Oliver of Winter Garden, Florida, won the FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference opener on Crescent Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 22 pounds, 3 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“It feels great to win this tournament and bring some prize money back to campus,” said McKamey, a junior majoring in marketing. “We felt confident coming into today and everything seemed to work out the way we wanted.”
“It’s Hunter and I’s last season together, so to qualify for the College Fishing National Championship is really exciting,” said Oliver, a junior majoring in business management. “Our college fishing career has been quite a run, but I think we’ve got some more left in us.”
The duo said they primarily flipped Cypress trees in Dunn’s Creek just north of Crescent Lake. They said they used one bait – a Backatya-colored Gambler Why Not – to put together their winning stringer.
“We hit a 300-yard stretch of water about six or seven times,” said McKamey. “We also focused on steeper banks, especially ones that were dropping off into 18 to 20-foot depths.”
The team said they caught 11 of 12 keepers along the stretch, with their kicker coming with just 30 minutes left in the event, from an isolated grass mat near the takeoff ramp.
“We used a ½-ounce weight on the Why Not which seemed to trigger a better reaction from the bass compared to the smaller weights that we heard other teams were throwing,” said Oliver. “The water was a little cold for this time of year, but the fish were still aggressive. Luckily the bigger ones pulled up for us.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2017 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: University of Central Florida – Hunter McKamey, Geneva, Tenn., and Kyle Oliver, Winter Garden, Fla., five bass, 22-3, $2,000 Club Scholarship
2nd: Florida Gulf Coast University – Beau Clymer and Hunter Bozeman, both of Ocala, Fla., five bass, 15-3, $1,000 Club Scholarship
3rd: East Carolina University – Austin Warmus and Michael Corbishley, both of Raleigh, N.C., five bass, 14-1, $500 Club Scholarship
4th: University of South Carolina – William Miller, High Point, N.C., and Ethan Ingle, West Columbia, S.C., five bass, 13-14, $500 Club Scholarship
5th: University of South Alabama – M.J. Vihnanek, Walnut Hill, Fla., and William Knapp, Birmingham, Ala., four bass, 13-12, $500 Club Scholarship
6th: Daytona State College – James Oltorik and Thomas Oltorik, both of DeLand, Fla., five bass, 13-10
7th: Appalachian State University – Matthew Reid, Clayton, N.C., and Kelly Johnson, Sherrill’s Ford, N.C., five bass, 13-2
8th: University of Central Florida – John Larsen, Oviedo, Fla., and Justin Brown, Margate, Fla., five bass, 12-14
9th: Georgia College & State University – Zachary Bennett, Loganville, Ga., and Chase Williams, Milledgeville, Ga., three bass, 12-14
10th: Southwest Mississippi Community College – Logan Morel and Cole Nunnery, both of Smithdale, Miss., four bass, 12-10
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
This FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference event was the first regular-season qualifying tournament in the Southeastern conference. The next event for Southeastern Conference anglers is a tournament scheduled for May 21 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 15 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit FLWFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.
The Molix SLIGONE Revealed
At first glance the Molix SLIGONE 5.5” may just look like another Senko knock-off but it is far from that. The overall fat body look is misleading. The body tapers down to a thin flat tail that truly resembles a reel night crawler. It produces just enough action to tempt even the most stubborn bass to bite.
The rigging options are limitless here are a few ways we fished the SLIGONE and the results were impressive.
Standard Texas Rig:
First option was a standard Texas rig for flipping and pitching shallow wood and grass. The SLIGONE performed as expected easily working though heavy wood and slipping through the grass with out any issues. However one simple modification was needed, due to the thin design of the SLIGONE it was necessary to trim the body down a bit to ensure proper rigging.
Offshore Football Jig Head
Next we headed off shore to test the SLIGONE on a ¾ oz jig head for some deep water dragging again the SLIGONE performed well it has just enough action when slowly pulled around to fire up any school of deep bass.
Soft Jerkbait and Wacky style:
When we rigged the SLIGONE as a soft jerkbat and wacky style, was when this bait really showed just how good it is. The walk-the-dog action while fishing it as a jerkbait was outstanding and when rigged wacky, the slow rolling of the body along with the off set weight of the body sets the SLIGONE apart from other similar baits on the market
Final Thoughts:
Overall the MOLIX SLIGONE is a lure you should not leave home without. The design and action is something different the fish are not shy of, the slow sinking design along with its overall weight make it easy to cast and fish. Add in the amino acids and salt for scent and taste, The SLIGONE is going to be a versatile choice that will put more fish in the boat under any condition.
See the full Molix line up here.