Anyone have an "unfixed" male dog and a "fixed" female? My wife is fighting a 2nd dog but our little bud needs one (social dude) and I want another female – but my adult kids think that's unwise. If you have an opinion, love to hear it and thanks!

Also, don't forget this is the LAST MONTH of this year's Ditch Melon Derby – poach you some insane Abu and Berkley prizes! Just download the FishDonkey app. Literally takes only a few minutes to sign up and it's just $20 (plus FD's $5 fee). Peeps have been cleaning up!

Lemme tell you a quick story. I used to be an angry man. (Honestly I still fight it once in a while.) And believe it or not, Shaw was too. Shaw Grigsby angry! Can you even picture it??

About 15-20 years ago, I heard Shaw talk about how he had been an angry dude, and then Hank Parker sent him a tape (cassette! 😁) about that and Jesus, which helped lead Shaw to the Lord...where he got peace and the joy we all see in him every day.

Man that story worked on me. Because that was me too, and I didn't want to be like that either. I wanted whatever Shaw had.

So fast forward – Shaw is part of my faith story. Hank is too and they both know that.

After I sold BassFan in the mid-2000s, I had a non-compete for 3 years. That's when I came to know the Lord. So when I was allowed to go back to the bassin' scene, I went to a Classic, came out of the elevator, and there was Shaw and his wife Polly. I had to tell them the Good News.

Shaw was blown away. That's how this little bassin' world rolls. So let me just say, for that and other reasons, I'm a big Shaw fan.

Got 5 Qs with him, and as usual when a guy retires – I am not even gonna come close to justice for this 1 in a million man and Hall of Famer. Just a quick talk:

1. How are you feeling about this retirement deal?

> "I'm good with it. Obviously after 41 years and it's really been a lifetime...everything that defined me as a person was fishing. So stepping down is a tough decision, but it's the right decision. I felt good about it and I still feel good about it.

> "Your body just doens't handle the day after day grind of being a professional angler, and my mind's not as sharp to make those decisions.

> "I still have some fishing left in me and I'll still compete in some tournaments – maybe Toyotas or the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals. But I know the circuit is not calling me anymore."

2. You mentioned your body and mind – is that the whole deal?

> "Pretty much. You age...everybody ages differently. I mean, Clunn won at 70 or 71, so that's what an amazing angler Ricky is.

> "...I can tell it takes me so much longer to recover from a tournament. And then on the water I don't always make the quickest, fastest and best decisions. So my competition level has decreased a bit.

> "That bothers you because you're used to performing as a professional at a top level and then you no longer do.

> "And of course I was always concerned about retiring and not having anything to do – being at home and being a lump on my recliner. So I got into a really exciting occupation which is nuisance gator trapping.

> "It's fishing – we use rods and reels. I use my Lew's and my Super Duties and my Trokar Hooks and Seaguar TactX Braid – everything I did bass fishing except you up it a level because you're going after anything from a 3-footer to a 11- or 12-footer.

> "You're doing a service so that's really cool...people are really happy when you get this gator away. Maybe it ate their pet...maybe it's in their pool or in their yard. So you're doing a service. We catch them alive and relocate 'em.

> "It's very demanding, it's scary – you could get hurt...as [actor] Lucas Black would say, You have to do dangerous things very carefully."

3. Do you wish your last tournament was for green fish in FL?

> "No. Oh my gosh I couldn't have scripted a better final tournament in my lifetime. I love catching largemouth, I love catching big fish [in] FL and all the rest. But my passion has always been to go up north.

> "I'm a sight-fisherman so to be able to catch smallmouth in that clear water to me is exceptional.

> "I could not have been more blessed – you talk about a blessing. It was like Jesus said, 'Hey you're gonna get a camera on the final day of your career.' That's like ridiculous, you know?

> "...I didn't end it on a win, but I still had incredibly blessed tournament. That's another reason I'm retiring. It would have been easy to do very well to make top 4 or top 5. [He was 4th going into the last day and finished 16th.] One fish I had on at the end of the day – probably a 7-lb smallmouth – would have. Then it just pulled off.

[You can see him hook and lose that fish on this 3-min YT vid, kinda a little farewell deal from the boat at the St Lawrence Invitational.]

> "I also didn't make decisions properly. So that tells me, Hey it's time to retire.

> "But that's a storybook ending."

4. Give us a couple favorite bass fishing memories real quick – what comes to mind?

> "Well one of 'em of course is gonna be Lake Falcon [2008 Elite]. I've got all my wins and all that, but Falcon was so special.

> "...Paul [Elias] caught that 132 lbs and I just remember pitching into trees and watching the whole tree – some of them would be the size of a car, big trees – the whole tree would shake when a big fish would come through to eat your bait.

> "To have to have 25 lbs a day every day just to make the top 50 [actually the top 41!] – that tournament will always sit in my mind as one of the favorite tournaments of my life. I think I finished 17th [yep, a 3-way tie with Davy Hite and Dustin Wilks]. Everybody in the top 12 went over 100 lbs.

> "...there's a few wins that really stand out. One was Seminole [the 2000 Top 150] where I catch one 7-8 lbs, throw it in the livewell, throw another fish out, and idle real hard through the stumps to get in on time. You know whole run in that you've won. That's kinda cool. [He won by 10 lbs.]

> "The Harris Chain [2011 Elite], the final one I won, where I caught a 10-lber the 2nd day – I sweated that one, whether I could beat Grant Goldbeck or not...that was a good win."

5. Do you know who you're gonna pass the title of "OG bassin' stache" on to yet? 😁

> "[Laughs] Oh my goodness. I don't know man. You know I really haven't kept up on the B.A.S.S. side lately, which I should but I haven't. I'm sure there's some good ones over there.

> "But every 'stache is different...mine was so thick and bushy.... I don't know – there's a lot of 'staches. [Jared] Lintner's growing a good one.

> "You guys have to pick that out and pass that on on. I'm not gonna be able to do it."

Bonus Q: Now that you don't need to sandbag anymore 😆 – pick any technique: What's something guys either don't know about or are doing wrong?

> "Wow. I don't sandbag but...are there little secrets or tips I've kept that I didn't want to share? I really don't have any. My whole career has been teaching. I love teaching. I want people to be successful on the water.

> "...I did a podcast with...Bass Talk Live. Matt Pangrac he said he ran my name through 'AI' [and Matt said], 'Here's what AI said about Shaw Grigsby: Shaw Grigsby's career wasn't just catching fish. It was about connecting with people, sharing knowledge and leaving a legacy of joy and faith in the sport.'

> "...I thought was really stunning, that AI would come up with that. I look at it as I always wanted to teach people so I tried not to keep anything that could help somebody catch fish.

> "...I'm kinda puking on this question [laughs]. That's another reason I retired – my brain doesn't work like it used to! [laughs]"

Btw, Shaw actually WAS wrangling a gator when I was trying to get with him a day ago! Check this text which he said I could share:

Hahaha love it! He talks about gator "fishing" just like he does bass fishing – super excited. So great.

- From this post talkin' 'bout how Jay's role model in pro fishing initially was his dad Jason.

Never mind that Jason is a wally-eye guy who probably fishes with cocktail shrimp and whatnot (🤣 lol wally guys!). Shouting it out because when kids see someone they know, or are related to, achieve something, it becomes much "closer" to them – they know they can do it.

I personally think every kid can do it with encouragement and guidance, but it's different if you KNOW you can do it, if you know what I mean.

No particular order here we go:

1. Best bait name goes to Nomad Design: the Chug Norris! 🤣🏆

Looks like a bass-sized salty popper – and I believe the Aussie Nomads came from the salt:

2. Ever seen the Classified Customs Homewrecker?

Good-lookin' minnow with ONE bulb tail. Reflection makes it look like 2...which might not be a bad idea....

3. Put eyeballs on a Coike and it looks like this

Sorta – that's new Hideup Coike Fish L which Hideup says is new but not sure if it's in the US yet.

Looks good but put eyeballs on a COKE and it looks like this:

🤣

4. Is this what the fuzz baits mimic?

This the new (I think?) Deps Wigglebug:

5. Amazing-looking Polish bait should catch something!

6. Would you fish this color frog?

One of the most old-school color combos. Would a bass eat it? For sure. Would he eat it better than other colors though? 🤔

7. Can you get a more no-action Neko than this??

Looks like pork to me?

Saw it on Bassmaster.com, it's called the Parkit360 Force 5K – electric dolly that can move up to 5,000 lbs. Cool little idea.

A thing that post does not talk about is driveway slope and gravity, and the weight of the boat vs all that. Website says "safe parking on grades up to 6%." I have to think that's not much of a grade?

$1,800. Also comes in 3.5K and 10K.

Never heard of it, but it's a salty commercial fishing term that means this (from NationalFisherman.com):

> "'Carpet sign' is when the fish spread out during the day and get close to bottom [on sonar]."

And the latest insanely-expensive ($100K), bottom of a boat sonar (could never work on a bass boat) made by Furuno can see 'em:

> "The CSH10 can show you the structure of the fish aggregations. It's kind of a green light red light thing. Are there enough cherries in there to make it worth the risk of setting [nets]...."

Also does this:

Sounds like AI is gonna be incorporated too:

> "...it can help generate intuitive routing, based on bottom type and ocean conditions, to help users get on fish, and it can overlay on the plotter so you can correlate where there's fish with other features."

Some future sonar stuff maybe coming in some form to a boat near you....

1. We lost Jim Morton

Apologies that this is belated – thought I had it in a BB but I guess I lost track of it around ICAST time.

Jim was in the Army, then the OK State Police and I met him when he was also doing work for Storm Lures. He was always stoked to talk bass fishing – even to a young long-haired Yankee like me – and had a great sense of humor.

One time we were talking about the no longer made Storm Thin Fin and he said, "It casts like a potato chip." 🤣 Cracked me up!

That and other memories are on Alan McGuckin's IG post about Jim. Guck is like the bassin' record keeper of OK seems like – keep it up Guck!

Prayer folks, please pray for Big Jim's family and friends. ✝️🙏

2. Brandon Palaniuk walks thru the new Humminbird UI

UI = user interface. New one is standard with the new XPLORE units, and the latest-gen Solix and Apex units can be upgraded to it.

Young pros: Take note of how good BMP is at explaining stuff. He's one of the best at it and will do just about anything to help a sponsor. In my experience, most of the best fishermen are the best at that stuff too.

3. BPTer Justin Cooper threw out the first pitch...

...at a Brewers game.

4. MI: Last time the BPTers were at Saggy Bay...

...it was 5 fish. Now with every fish counts, some think green fish will play more. We will see!

5. MO: 8 schollies given by the Bassin' Hall of Fame

4 of the kids have the last name Bowman which is weird...just messin'! 🤣

6. Check a few Canada-only Rapala CrushCity baits

Meet the 2.5" Creeper, the 2.75" Suspect and the Heavy Hitter (3, 4 and 5.5):

The Heavy Hitter looks like The Mayor but it must be different beyond just length. Last year The Jerk, now out in the US, was Canada-only and guys found ways to get 'em and fish 'em here so....

7. TW's Bargain Bin Sale is restocked!

8. Registration open for the KY Lake college Big Bass Bash

Sept 20-21, sponsored by BPS and Berkley.

9. Here's the 2026 Phoenix Elite X (YT vid)

10. New Skeeter color 'fire red flake' looks good! (IG vid)

Wish I could show it, couldn't find a good pic.

11. IL: Dog treat company adding Asian carp as protein

They say it's hypoallergenic too.

12. ME: Swollen bladderwort now in 8 lakes

Found in 1 lake 3 years ago. Whoever named that plant probably drank a gallon of coffee that morning lol.

13. Yamaha Marine down in first half YOY

> ...$1.8 bil, down 5.9% from the same period of the previous fiscal year. Operating income was $251 mil, down by 26.5% from the same period a year before.

14. Suzuki FY Q1 was up

> Marine segment revenue increased 5.7% from the year-ago fiscal quarter to $216.5 mil. Operating profit increased 13.4% to $62.4 mil.

> The company said...he revenue increase was mainly driven by robust sales in North America, despite the impact of tariffs.

15. Sportsman's Warehouse has a new CFO

Jennifer Fall Jung, latest gig was in the wine biz.

16. Was Atlantis actually found with sonar??

> ...after 8 years of work using sonar and LiDAR scanners, he has identified 3 submerged concentric walls carved into the seabed. According to Donnellan, the dimensions and layout match the city described by Plato....

Headline of the Day

The US has a bullfrog problem

Uh no, and they're talking about the West only. So they exaggerate that and this too – makes me wonder if the guy who wrote it has even seen a bullfrog:

> ...the frogs – which are forest green and the size of a small house cat....

Man if they're that big, just put a bunch of LA folks out West and problem solved! 🤣

Another solution: Stock bass!

How salty striper fishermen mod their flutter spoons

Flutter spoons took off for salty striper fishermen 2-3 years ago, and I believe now are a staple bait for a lot of guys. Of course those fish can get huge and they have ocean muscles, so they can't just fish a flutter spoon stock – or I guess a freshwater-like flutter spoon stock.

This YT video is one example – the guy uses a heavy-duty barrel swivel with split rings to attach the hook. I'm assuming that doesn't kill the action of the bait.

Even though many bass flutter spoons come with a single split ring for the treble hook, these baits are notorious for fish jumping off. So would this swivel deal help significantly?

Also could not find anyone using braid instead of splitrings on spoons but I assume some folks are doing that? Pls lmk if you are or if you tried it and didn't like it.

"The [Garmin LVS 32 trannie] has a wider beam and it's perfect for what I do...I won't upgrade to the [LVS 34] unless I have to...."

- Might sound like crazy talk, but that's Lake Fork crappie guide and recent Crappie Masters champ Jordan "Tommy" Sanders talkin' in the latest Target Crappie email (sign up here!).

A little more crappie juice from it that might apply to bassin':

> "I realized it wasn't just standing timber. It wasn't just about creek channels or bait. It was about the [specific] tree.

> "We often forget about that. We just see trees on 'Scope and think, Oh, there's fish on it. But it was the specific tree that mattered. I was targeting true bodark trees [horse apple trees] – anytime I saw one I saw tournament fish.

> "...I'd drop the trolling motor and look for bodark trees that were 15-20' wide in 14-32' of water.

> "Anytime I saw one of those trees with branches that were 15, 20, even 30' wide...with a trunk at least 18 inches wide...sometimes up to 3' thick...there'd be a little 'glow' down in the root system on LiveScope...those were the tournament-winning fish...."

Just blown away by this pic – posted by TX mega-melon guide Kyle "city" Hall on IG: 🤯🤯🤯

It's a dang mutant!

Smokey the Bear helped arrest someone who was stealing Smokey the Bear signs:

Always thought Smokey wasn't real – who knew?? 😆

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