THE LATEST NEWS

Salem, Va. – April 20, 2020 – 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.
https://missilebaits.store/pages/big-bass-records

MISSILE BAITS is a small company dedicated to creating SERIOUS soft plastic baits to help anglers catch more fish. The designs are straight off the top-level professional bass tour. Based in Salem, Virginia, MISSILE BAITS works relentlessly to make the best baits, show their customers how to use them, and stay on the cutting edge of bass fishing. Founded in January 2012, new products and videos will continue to be launched. Log onto www.MISSILEBAITS.com for videos, tips, forums, and more.

The post Missile Records To Showcase Big Bass appeared first on Bass365.com.

Carhartt pro Matt Lee admits he’s discovered himself to be in a bit of a career identity crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic. His heart is torn between his Yamaha powered Ranger and a bright orange piece of heavy equipment.

While Lee is certainly finding great pleasure in fishing safely five minutes from home at Smith Lake, the pause in organized pro events has also provided a chance to do a lot of work around the house with wife Abby this spring – and that includes piloting a Kubota skid steer loader his good buddy Grant Hopson loaned him.

In fact, Lee admits he loves the skid steer about like fat Smith Lake spotted bass love to eat a platinum white colored 3.8” 6th Sense swimbait. “Abby is spending a lot of time inside doing her woodwork projects, and I’m constantly outside on the 24 acres we bought next to Smith Lake riding the skid steer,” says the former Auburn engineering major.

So far he’s used the Kubota to clear nuisance brush he replaced with rye grass for an expanded lawn, and pushed a ton of dirt around with hopes of restoring an old dried-up pond on their property. But his most admirable effort on the Kubota came last week when deadly tornadoes tore up Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

“I don’t normally get too nervous about tornadoes. I’ve grown up with them as part of life in Alabama. Plus, Abby and I have a basement to take shelter in. But when the TV weather radar shows you’re directly in the path – it’s a whole different level of anxiety – and last week it was headed straight for us,” says Lee.

The great news is their home was not damaged, but a large pine fell across their front road, and took out their power lines too.

In a dark pouring rain, Lee launched into action with the skid steer, and once he and others determined the electrical lines were dead, he cleared the fallen pine off rural highway 222 to free passage of local traffic.

“Abby jokes that I became the newest member of the Brushy Pond, Alabama fire and rescue squad that night,” grins Lee.

But really, if you know Matt Lee, his willingness to provide help is really no surprise.

Make no mistake, he’s had a blast getting to fish so much more than normal on Smith Lake where tons of talented local anglers call home, including the formidable Wiggins brothers – but there’s just something about that Kubota that Lee loves too.

“Riding that machine, pushing dirt around, and making things better than I found them is the greatest therapy in the world,” says Lee. “In fact, aside from pro fishing, this unexpected time off from the tournament schedule has helped me realize a career as a heavy equipment operator would be my second dream job,” he concludes.

The post Pro angler Matt Lee Discovers Another Dream Job appeared first on Bass365.com.

BENTON, Ky. (April 20, 2020) – In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Murray State University announced that it will not host any summer camps this year. As a result, FLW is replacing its traditional High School Fishing Camp, scheduled for July 22-24, with a series of FREE minicamps held in conjunction with three Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit tournaments. Campers already registered will receive a full refund and are invited to participate in any of the FREE minicamps.

Each camp will be held on a Saturday in conjunction with a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event and will provide valuable instruction from top pros and industry executives for students, coaches and boat captains.

Participants will check in on site and receive a free camp t-shirt, free product from participating sponsors and a free lakeside cookout. Campers will have time to practice their newfound skills with some fishing from the bank and will be invited to help mentor grade-school children during an FLW Foundation Unified Fishing Derby held at the same location. Each of the first two camps will conclude at the start of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit weigh-in with participating campers recognized on the popular FLW LIVE webcast. The third camp will be held at the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit TITLE championship with camp integrated into opening-day festivities. FLW is hosting these exciting new camps to help encourage high school anglers throughout the country to pursue their passion for fishing.

“We are disappointed to announce the cancellation of our annual High School Fishing Camp, but we are excited to replace it with three minicamps that will allow many more young anglers the opportunity to attend,” said FLW Executive Vice President and General Manager Kathy Fennel. “We believe the minicamps will provide students, coaches and boat captains a fantastic opportunity to learn and network.”

Registration for the minicamps is now open. To sign up for each camp, or for more information visit FLWFishing.com/camp.

Minicamp Locations:
Sat., June 13 – TVA Dam Boat Launch (Cherokee) – 2805 TN-92, Jefferson City, Tenn.

Sat., July 25 – Lake Dardanelle State Park (Dardanelle) – 2428 Marina Rd, Russellville, Ark.

Sat., Aug. 8 – Massena Intake Boat Launch (St. Lawrence) – 1415 State Hwy 131, Massena, N.Y.

Saturday Minicamp Tentative Schedule:
10 – 11 a.m.                            Registration and check-in

• Collect your camp t-shirt and swag from participating sponsors
• Meet your fellow campers

11 – 11:15 a.m.                       Welcome address

11:15 – 11:45 a.m.                  Session 1: Finding fish in all seasons & practice strategies

11:15 – 11:45 a.m.                  Adult Session 1: Best practices for sanctioned teams

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.          Lakeside cookout with the pros

12:30 – 1 p.m.                         Session 2: Flipping & pitching instruction

1 – 1:30 p.m.                           FLW Foundation Unified Fishing Derby

• Free fishing time and help youth in attendance

1:30 – 2 p.m.                           Session 3: Lure building

2 – 2:30 p.m.                           Session 4: Sight fishing with Wiley X sunglasses

2:30 – 3 p.m.                           Session 5: Backing a boat trailer

3 – 3:30 p.m.                           Session 6: Off the water fishing careers & resume building

• Explore careers in marketing, PR, editorial and social media

3 – 3:30 p.m.                           Adult Session 2: Fish care at weigh-ins

3:30 – 4 p.m.                           Session 7/Adult Session 3: Ethics & etiquette on the water

• What’s cool and what’s not when tournament fishing
• Practical applications of the Golden Rule

4 – 6 p.m.                                Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit weigh-in

• Campers recognized from the stage during FLW LIVE

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, FLW and its partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe.

FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show while Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. Acquired by Major League Fishing in late 2019, FLW is expanding its programming in 2020 to the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel as well as on-demand at MyOutdoorTV (MOTV).

The post FLW Replaces High School Fishing Summer Camp, Announces Free Minicamps in Conjunction with Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit appeared first on Bass365.com.

Out of all the college fishing success stories circulating the outdoors industry nowadays, the story of Drew Sanford and Dalton Wilson should rank as high on your list as any. The southwest Missouri natives still bass fish competitively on the regional circuit, and Dalton’s Tundra qualifies him as a proud Toyota Bonus Bucks member, but that’s not what makes their story special.

Dalton and Drew are young men, but they are salt of the earth type dudes who embody the American dream. The kind of guys who helped grow one local propane business into a rapidly expanding enterprise, who have their company logo embroidered onto Carhartt shirts for their employees to proudly wear; reciprocating the support Carhartt gave to college fishing in their formative years.

These bygone Carhartt Bassmaster College Series anglers may have impressive fishing careers, but the true success story lies in the incredible progress their businesses have realized since 2014. And it all began with bass fishing.

Connecting and college fishing

Drew and Dalton have roots in central Missouri, but the two didn’t get to know each other until joining the University of Alabama fishing team. Growing up in Missouri wasn’t the only thing these fellas had in common; they also loved to bass fish. Drew, a few years Dalton’s elder, actually transferred to Alabama from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri where he helped start Drury’s college fishing team.

The Missouri transplants decided they could stand one another, and lived together in Tuscaloosa while attending school and competing in college fishing derbies. Things were going fine up until Mother Nature decided to drop a bomb in the form of the horrific F5 tornado that devastated parts Alabama and Mississippi in the spring of 2011 before leaving several other states in its wake of destruction.

The 2011 Super Outbreak was one of the largest, deadliest, and costliest tornado events ever recorded. Drew and Dalton’s Alabama living quarters, their college home, was destroyed. This series of events changed their futures immediately and sent both young men on different paths.

After returning to Missouri and dusting themselves off, Dalton ultimately received a scholarship to college fishing powerhouse Bethel University; while Drew graduated before heading to chase his bass fishing dreams at the next level, competing in the Bassmaster Opens.

Dalton went on to have an incredible college fishing career, winning major events and remaining a threat at any tournament he entered. Drew excelled at his pursuits, too. While near misses and mishaps plagued his Elite Series goal, Drew continued to be competitive in the Opens and FLW Costa Series competition. That progressed until 2014 when Sanford decided it was time to go to work; so he headed back to Rogersville, MO to run MS Propane.

Green-LP is born and quickly grows

MS Propane is a retail propane store that handles residential propane delivery. By the end of 2014, Drew owned and operated MS Propane. His honest, hardworking nature helped the local store experience continued growth when he hired Dalton at the beginning of 2015. Dalton had a similar unrelenting work ethic as Drew.

Dalton was hired to paint residential propane tanks, but he would keep a change of clothes in his car and go door-to-door handing out flyers in search of new business when he finished painting. Drew took notice of Dalton’s above-and-beyond efforts, along with new clients he was bringing to the store. After only two weeks, Dalton was promoted to manage sales for the company.

“In all honesty fishing is what helped instill that work ethic in both of us,” Sanford said. “Look at any successful professional fisherman and beneath their logo filled jerseys you’ll find a serious work ethic. Whether it’s propane business or bass fishing, you have to put in the time and effort to set yourself apart.”

Dalton’s list of responsibilities wasn’t the only thing growing. When they struggled to find quality propane hauling trucks to best service their customers, Drew began having them manufactured in-house out of necessity; and thus Green-LP was born. Green-LP produced bobtail trucks that were among the best on the road. With an already rock-solid reputation from their work at MS Propane, word quickly spread about Green-LP’s services and quality.

Green-LP began building bobtail and service trucks for neighboring outfits as well as performing regular maintenance and repairs. Their dedication to producing quality equipment now finds them selling Green-LP trucks nationwide.

The reality is, I could stop this article right here and it would be a sure-enough Americana success story. A couple young men finding success in their employment through diligence they credit bass fishing and the outdoors with disseminating into them… But the tale doesn’t stop there. At 32-years old Drew Sanford has gone on to open Green-LP Transport, building tanker semis to haul propane, ethanol, and biodiesel to a four state area surrounding Missouri.

Drew has also launched James River Manufacturing, a two-division business that started producing fishing lure components like jig, swimbait, and shaky heads. This small passion project Drew began to keep himself connected to bass fishing has now grown to refurbishing residential and commercial propane equipment; using the same processes he learned producing and painting jig heads. But we’ll save the rest of that story for part two.

(Editors note: We were introduced to Drew Sanford and Dalton Wilson after they served as photography talent on a Nitro Boats shoot for Michael Engelmeyer. Engelmeyer owns and operates Great Outdoor Studios, which produces breathtaking imagery for a myriad of outdoor industry leading companies like Toyota trucks, Bass Pro Shops, Carhartt, and Nitro boats among many others.)

The post College Fishing Builds Foundation for Success appeared first on Bass365.com.

Kevin VanDam clearly understands the stress, sadness and long-term economic threats of the times we’re living in. But in true superstar fashion, he’s made it a point to stay engaged with fans through a number of social media Live stream interactions, and he’s working hard to find the goodness in each day until we’re back to better days ahead.

Q: Fishing has been a favorable way for a lot of Americans to maintain sanity and safe distancing the past few weeks. Let’s start with you recommending two lures every bass angler should consider fishing with right now.

KVD: I’ll choose a Strike King 1.5 squarebill crankbait, and a KVD 300 suspending jerkbait. Both are great choices throughout the country during springtime.

The squarebill is like a 4-wheeler. I can take it anywhere – especially in off colored or dirty water. Through shoreline rocks, laydowns, stumps, whatever. It hunts that shallow zone where most bass want to be right now.

In clear clean water, the jerkbait will suspend as deep as 6 feet on 12-pound line to pull bass up to bite that may be a little deeper before heading ultra shallow to spawn.

Q: Amid the Live sessions you’ve done on social media lately, a lot of fans asked about your all time favorite places to fish. Give us your top two of all time.

KVD: Man, it’s nearly impossible to only choose two, but I’d say St. Clair, Michigan because I love to catch smallmouth bass, and they eat there from now through November. It’s full of big ones – and it’s not one of those places where they only bite a couple months a year.

Secondly, I’d say Table Rock Lake, MO. It’s sort of a sentimental pick because I’ve had such an awesome relationship with Bass Pro Shops and Nitro my whole career – and their headquarters are near Table Rock. I’ve shared so many cool experiences on Table Rock and at Big Cedar Lodge. Plus, it’s a great fishery – it holds quality sizes of all three species of bass – smallmouth, spotted and largemouth. And they’ll dang sure eat a squarebill and jerkbait there.

Q: Lastly, tell us two things or experiences that have served as really positive compensation to the tough times we’re moving through right now.

KVD: Well, my twins boys and I have been pretty inseparable the past couple of weeks. So when we haven’t been raking lawns for my in-laws, or mulching around our house – my two favorite things have been fishing with them, and grilling with them.

When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, we ate every meal as a family, and the challenges of recent weeks have brought us back to that.

My son Jackson is actually in a culinary arts institute in Grand Rapids, but one of our all time favorite recipes is a grilled wings recipe from Davy Hite’s wife Natalie that includes teriyaki marinade, hot sauce and brown sugar. It takes about 2.5 hours to smoke them on the grill – and they’re world class awesome!

I really believe these tough times have made us all think about what matters most in life. And mostly, that’s time with family in the outdoors. Whether it’s raking a lawn, chasing big smallmouth, watching gobblers strut, hunting wild mushrooms, or grilling – it’s about time in the outdoors with family.

So my hope is one of the greatest things that will come forth from all these challenging times is way more people will reconnect to the outdoors.

The post VanDam talks Favorite Lures, Lakes and Recipe appeared first on Bass365.com.