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VanDam Picks 3 Lures for Easter Weekend
For Kevin VanDam, most Easter weekends have involved a huge in-store promotion at his family’s well-known D & R Sports Center retail store. Kevin met many of his fishing heroes at the store as a young man, and has since served as one of many famous pros who attend the annual event to meet with fans.
There’s no actual show this year at D & R, but Kevin chose three categories of lures he says should work just about anywhere in America as Peter Cottontail comes hopping down the bunny trail.
“April is a time when everything heats up in the bass fishing world, even up north,” says VanDam. “And across the south, bass are totally relating to the spawn. So there’s a ton of fish shallow, and Easter weekend is just a great time to be on the water.”
Shallow squarebill crankbait – “There are very few lures that rival a KVD 1.5 squarebill in water less than 6-feet deep. And because there are so many fish shallow at Easter, it’s a great choice. The whole key is to make sure it’s crashing into logs, rocks, or stumps when you’re retrieving it.”
Jerkbait – “This is just a phenomenal pre-spawn bait anytime you’ve got fairly clear water. From Table Rock to Lake St. Clair, and all sorts of fisheries like those, a KVD 300 jerkbait is pretty tough to beat at Easter time. And because the water is getting warmer, you don’t have to pause for several seconds between jerks like you do in late winter.”
Frog – “Some people might be surprised that I’d pick a topwater frog as one of three baits at Easter time, because a lot of people think of frogs as summer lures. But that’s not true. Anytime the water temp gets around 58 or higher … it’s frogging time. Especially when the water is high in the springtime and a lot of great shallow habitat is a little flooded.”
“Man, I think if people will try one of these three lures over Easter, it should make a great holiday even better. We’ll go to church, then head to my mom and dad’s for a ton of great food. They’ll be an Easter ham of course, but we’ll be grilling too. And who knows, maybe we’ll even deep fry some bluegills we caught through the ice this past winter,” grins VanDam.
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Prespawn, Spawning Season Tip / Skeet Reese
Skeet Reese shares a quick tip that will help you put a few more fish in the boat this spring when you are faced with slick calm conditions. Give it a try and get ready for some exciting bites!
https://amzn.to/2OmaJYH
#PreSpawn #Spawn #Spring #Crankbaits #SkeetReese
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Top Freshwater Lure Picks Now
Daiwa and Ever Green offer fish-getting baits you need to know about
Cypress, CA (March 29, 2021) – It’s time to make space in your tackle box for some innovative and effective multi-species baits from Daiwa and Ever Green. Prime time fishing is upon us and it’s the perfect opportunity to try something new—and proven—by pros and everyday anglers alike. From crankbaits to topwaters, Daiwa and Ever Green are on the scene with some imaginative new baits unmatched in the fishing tackle market.
The fishing market’s comeback kid, Daiwa is reintroducing the prolific and petite SC Shad, a shad-style crankbait like none other.
You’ll immediately appreciate its picture-perfect-profile, a dead ringer for the real thing. Equally exquisite is the SC Shad’s signature wobble. There are numbers of other realistic looking shad-style baits, but none tuned this perfectly and capable of summoning so many bites. Fish them head-to-head. You’ll appreciate the results.
At only 2 inches long and 1/8-ounce, Daiwa’s SC Shad ideally matches adolescent shad, which are mainstay forage for freshwater gamefish. Typically schooled, young shad often ball-up just beneath the surface. To that point, the SC Shad dives only 1- to 2-feet on the cast, modestly deeper when trolled.
The SC Shad casts to perfection as well. An internal counter buoyance sound weight not only stabilizes the bait but adds an alluring sonic rhythm. And when it’s time to set, know that a pair of VMC #12 treble hooks are up to the task.
Daiwa recommends 6- or 15-lb. test J-Braid x8 braided line to maximize running depth and sensitivity, along with an 18- to 24-inch J-Fluoro fluorocarbon leader.
The dynamic SC Shad is available in both natural and eye-popping colors. Prism Shad, Rainbow Trout, Himenmasu and Crystal Black Pearl get the call when matching native forage, while Gold Orange and Bubble Gum demand to be seen.
Beyond bass – largemouth, smallmouth and spotted – Daiwa’s SC Shad is effective on walleyes, trout and outsized panfish.
MSRP $9.99
EVER GREEN PICCOLO
Searching for a diminutive crankbait that gets results? Look no further than the Ever Green Piccolo silent crankbait with fixed weight. Designed to dive three to four feet, the Ever Green Piccolo is a bass and panfish catching machine.
Perfect for shallow water or suspended fish just below the waterline, the Ever Green Piccolo is a breath of fresh air in a marketplace overrun with large crankbaits. While there’s a time and place for large cranks, sometimes smaller is better. Think casting and running docks, cruising sandy flats or weed edges, or bouncing rocky areas where bass are set up and ready for the attack.
The same goes for panfish—the Ever Green Piccolo is ideal for targeting perch above weeds or schools of crappies feeding near the surface. Cast or trolled, the Ever Green Piccolo is a winner for crappies, largemouth and smallmouth bass, white bass, perch, and more.
The Ever Green Piccolo is available in eight forage-matching colors including Baby Gill, Bleeding Brown Craw, Bleeding Sunfish, Blue Back Chartreuse, Flash Silver Shad, Chartreuse Shad, Fire Craw, and Blue Back Flash.
MSRP $14.99
EVER GREEN GIZMO
Designed to match the profile of a wasp, dragonfly or other near water insect, there’s never really been a bait like the Ever Green Gizmo floating rubber bait to hit the water. This is great news for anglers who love fishing topwater, what with all the excitement of splashing and boiling water and adrenaline-filled strikes.
A deviation from classic topwaters like frogs, the Ever Green Gizmo is designed with a weed guard and rubber legs and appendages and looks like a cross between a spider and a wasp, two creatures frequently smashed on the surface by bass and panfish.
The bait is designed to be shook and will vibrate accordingly, not necessary “popped” or walked on the water’s surface. Preliminary fishing trials have proven the bait is killer in a variety of situations – around lily pads, bulrushes, assorted aquatic vegetation, fallen trees and other timber and even open water.
Designed of elastomer, the bait is rugged and will withstand tearing and ripping after many fish catches. In terms of patterns, the new Ever Green Gizmo is available in eight different forage colors to match your individual fishing condition.
If you’re a fan of frantic surface strikes, you’re going to want to add the new Ever Green Gizmo to your arsenal—it’s one bait that promises loads of topwater mayhem…
MSRP $10.99
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EVER GREEN LOUDBUZZ New for 2021, Ever Green introduces LOUDBUZZ. A classic buzzbait at first glance, LOUDBUZZ is constructed of premium components that not only endure hearty strikes, but also deliver a best-of-class performance. LOUDBUZZ’s custom offset aluminum prop throws a wave of water while keeping the bait tracking on a straight plane. The prop is affixed with an aluminum rivet and mounted on a stainless-steel shaft, yielding unmatched toughness. Daiwa and Ever Green pro Cody Meyer is a big fan of the new LOUDBUZZ, having caught countless fish on the MLF Tour thanks to its premium, fish-attracting performance. Meyer comments: “For starters, the name is LOUDBUZZ, and it’s extremely loud. I’ve always liked loud buzzbaits, not the quiet ones. With the LOUDBUZZ you really aggravate the fish and draw them in from a far distance and thick cover. Second off, because of the keel design, the LOUDBUZZ always tracks straight and looks more natural, and the hook-up ratio is really, really good because of the way it tracks. A lot of buzzbaits will track off to the side, to the right or left, not so with the LOUDBUZZ.” “The LOUDBUZZ also tracks straight and spits a lot of water at slow speeds. Most buzzbaits on the market you have to really crank to get that blade moving and keep the bait on the surface. The way the LOUDBUZZ is designed with the big blade and the whole head configuration, you can work it slow and keep it on top. It also features a premium hook, and I feel like we nailed it with the colors for any fishing situation. And all of the skirts are handtied. I’m just super impressed. It’s really a deadly buzzbait—everything I’ve been looking for in one and more.” Daiwa Field Marketing Manager Marc Mills sums up the bait, “With the LOUDBUZZ, our lure designers worked long and hard on creating the ultimate design in buzzbaits. The goal was extreme volume and accuracy in tracking and solid hookups in a bait design that would draw strikes whether worked fast or slow.” “One feature that may not stand out to a lot of anglers but is the shape of the head, which allows the bait to plane and come to the surface quickly and keep LOUDBUZZ in the strike zone longer. Also, the angle and design of the blade is a huge factor, much like the combination of the bow and the propeller of your bass boat. The result is a one-of-a-kind buzzbait that caters to the needs of pros and everyday anglers alike—and we know it’s going to quickly become a go-to lure.” Ever Green’s new 3/8-ounce LOUDBUZZ comes in eight proven patterns, including Green Pumpkin, Fire Craw, White, Black, White Delight, Chartreuse Shad, Clearwater Shad and Golden Shiner. MSRP $16.99. |
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For Daiwa’s latest color catalog and/or information on Daiwa dealers in your area, call Daiwa’s Customer Service Department at 562-375-6800 or e-mail inquiries to: info@daiwa.com. The URL for Daiwa’s web site is http://www.daiwa.com/u |
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Epic Frog Fish!
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DeFoe Wins Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir
Tennessee Pro Wins Nail-biter over Washington’s Luke Clausen in Closest Margin of Victory in Bass Pro Tour History
JASPER, Texas (March 26, 2021) –In one of the craziest endings to a tournament in Major League Fishing (MLF) history, pro Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tennessee, caught two key fish late in the day to overtake Spokane, Washington’s Luke Clausen and win the Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole with a final day total of 13 bass weighing 30 pounds, 2 ounces.
The ending was crazy because of the area that DeFoe had been fishing in – a secluded spot way up the Angelina River on the north end of Sam Rayburn. Cellular coverage was extremely spotty, so when Defoe boated a back-to-back 2-12 and a 2-13 with about 20 minutes left in the event to overtake Clausen, it didn’t register on the SCORETRACKER leaderboard until very near the end of competition. His first bass – the 2-12 – tied him with Clausen, and the 2-13 earned him the victory by that margin.
“I just love fishing this time of year,” said DeFoe, who earned his second career Bass Pro Tour victory – both in Texas. “The end of the day was a bit of disaster due to the area that I was in… the service was bad, but the fishing was really good.”
DeFoe said that he found his area on the first day of practice and committed to fishing it for the entire event.
“The very first day of practice I spent up there and got a fair number of bites, and I liked what I saw,” DeFoe said. “I spent the second day of practice down the lake and saw how much boat traffic there was, and there wasn’t much traffic up on the north end, so that is where I committed to. I ended up fishing there every single day.
“I had one really key little spot that there were so many bass in, and really just going through a rotation of baits is what worked for me this week,” DeFoe continued. “My key baits were a squarebill crankbait; I caught some fish on a Rapala DT4, another homemade squarebill crankbait that will eventually be in the OG line from Rapala, a Bass Pro Magnum Fin-Eke Worm ended up being a big player for me, and a Bass Pro Wacky Stik worm was also a big deal.
“I give all of the thanks to God – he gets all of the credit for everything,” DeFoe went on to say. “I just love this time of year – the Easter season is upon us and I am so excited for next week. This week has been incredible, though, and I just can’t believe it. All I can say is God Bless Texas!”
Clausen lost an estimated 5- or 6-pounder in Period 1 that ended up being the difference maker for him.
“I’ll be thinking about the one that I lost for a long time,” Clausen said. “I knew today when it happened, that fish, if I didn’t win it was going to hurt me pretty dang bad. And it did.
“I really don’t know that I could have done anything different today, other than land that fish,” Clausen continued. “I didn’t have a lot figured out, and I knew it was going to be one of those kind of deals where I knew it was just going to be about me going fishing. I could catch them on a ChatterBait and on a stickbait, and other than that it was just grinding it out. I did what I thought I needed to do at the right times and got some of the right bites, but obviously it was not enough.”
The top 10 pros at the Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:
1st: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 13 bass, 30-2, $100,000
2nd: Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., nine bass, 27-5, $45,000
3rd: Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., nine bass, 26-8, $38,000
4th: Tommy Biffle, Wagoner, Okla., nine bass, 20-3, $32,000
5th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., six bass, 20-0, $30,000
6th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., six bass, 19-1, $26,000
7th: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., five bass, 14-1, $23,000
8th: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, three bass, 8-3, $21,000
9th: Cliff Pace, Petal, Miss., two bass, 4-14, $19,000
10th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., one bass, 4-2, $16,000
Full results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Link to Photo of Sam Rayburn Champion Ott DeFoe
Link to Video of DeFoe’s Trophy Presentation
Link to Video of Fish Catch Highlights from DeFoe’s Final Day
There were 63 bass weighing 174 pounds, 7 ounces caught by the final 10 pros Friday.
Clausen won Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in a 5-pound, 3-ounce largemouth that bit his wacky-rigged worm just 20 minutes into Period 3. Connell won the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the largest bass of the event with his 9-pound, 5-ounce bass that he weighed in on Day 1 of competition.
Television coverage of the Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Aug. 28 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.
The MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented by Power-Pole was hosted by the Jasper County Development District and the Jasper/Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce.
The 2021 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship. The next event for Bass Pro Tour anglers will be the 2021 General Tire Heavy Hitters Event, held April 9-14 at Falls Lake, Jordan Lake & Shearon Harris Reservoir in Raleigh, North Carolina.
| The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action each day of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com. and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
For complete details and updated information on the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. |
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About Major League Fishing Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, Sportsman Channel, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). According to Nielsen ratings, Major League Fishing remains the number one series on Outdoor Channel for five years and MLF premiered as the number one outdoor show in their time slot on Discovery in 2019. In 2019 MLF acquired FLW, which expands their portfolio to include the world’s largest grassroots-fishing organization, including the strongest five-biggest-fish format professional bass fishing tour, the MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit presented by Bad Boy Mowers, as well as the MLF Toyota Series, MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine, MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI, and MLF U.S. Army High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing. |
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