Mostly Japan stuff, here we go:

1. From LureNews, was on in last week's Top 5 of the Week – believe it's made by Imakatsu, not sure what it's called. Started as a joke but then a guy won a tourney on it:

2. Check this very cool Little Jack blade bait:

Action looks real good too:

3. If ya can't gitcha OSP fuzzy dice get this HideUp Coike Full Cast:

4. Not sure WTHeck these things are but believe they're called Mother Lake Attraction and I'm thinking they don't have much action?

6. Abu Garcia Japan is releasing a rat?? Check it:

Not a rat guy so I don't know if that short tail is a thing here but:

> Comes with a hollow tail, PVC long tail, and worm keeper.

Also:

> The hook is equipped with a double hook [not trebles] as standard.

> Interference noise is generated between the body and uniquely-shaped metal fittings.

> Joint body prevents water pushing and water swaying! Can be [I think turned side to side] with short travel distance.

7. Not sure why the Savage Gear XL lipless has that tube on the treble but it's interesting – done on some salty baits:

8. This is the Pitch and Strike Raijin Shad (ragin' shad?) and it looks goooooooood:

9. Would you fish this rig? Posted by @rig_syokunin:

How 'bout now?

10. Not a spinnerbait but a swim jig with a blade – 1st Gen Flash-X Swim Jig:

1. Elitist Cooper Gallant is on BassEdge Radio.

Cooper will talk about how to smuggle certain bass baits across the border (and back), and how far to lead a bald eagle to bring it down with 1 shot. Okay just messin':

> Cooper talks about map study and the importance of understanding the fundamentals of bass fishing including seasonal behavior patterns while implementing new sonar technologies into his strategies of fishing.

2. MLF Invitationals field is out.

150-boat field, 137 signed up for all 6 tourneys including Kelly Jordon, Keith Carson, Drew Gill and Keith Poche from the BPT, and former BPTers Paul Elias and Shaw Grigsby.

MLF also mentions that former Boston Red Soxer Mike Greenwell – who looks like he's been having a rough time in the Toyotas - will also be fishing 'em.

Like the Opens, looks like a lotta good fishermen in this field too.

3. Another YT vid update on that $300K tourney.

Sounds like one now for sure will happen next year?

4. Forgot to mention the 31-06 bag at the BTC.

Rodney (dad) and Aaron Yavorsky got 31-06 on the final day of the Bassmaster Team Championship to win it by almost 14 lbs. 30+ anytime is amazing, in the winter in FL is pretty dang stout.

> "We caught them deep, mainly on hard spots, with moving baits – crankbaits, some shakey heads. Color doesn't seem to matter in this area. We just had to match the water clarity."

5. Pursuit Channel reups with Timmy Horton Outdoors.

We call him Timmy, his friends call him Tim, his wife calls him Timothy...when she's mad. 😆

6. Bridgford Foods suing defunct Wild West Bass Trail?

7. Is Lake Martin a spotted mess?

Steve Kennedy talkin' on the Bassmasters:

> They put the blueback herring in there about 10 years ago, and the white bass have almost disappeared. Now, the lake has been taken over by stunted spotted bass.

> Now we can catch 80-100 spotted bass that weight a pound and a quarter in a day.

Here in NJ the DNR ruined the lakes by stocking herring, then trout, then stripers. What's the obligation of a DNR to fix these deals?

8. AL/GA agree on minimum water flow into Seminole.

9. B.A.S.S. will have a bassin' history series on Fox.

Good! Very cool IF they get it right (Bowman, McKinnis, whoever). I think they will and hope they do, though doubt there's a way to do all those guys right in 7 episodes.

This origin story and the related stories need to be told over and over because bassin' peeps need to know and be continuously grateful, in my 2c. Bass fishing wasn't always here – it happened pretty recently through a God-given dream given to one of the most charismatic, energetic people ever (Ray Scott), who then empowered many peeps (like Johnny Morris, Forrest Wood, Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Tom Mann, Larry Nixon, Hank Parker, Darrel Lowraance, etc) to do what they loved.

Thank you God and thank you Ray! And I think thank you Chase Anderson because if I remember right I think he's the one who asked that this be done in the 1st place....

10. Kenta Kimura's fave reel finally for sale in Japan.

It's the Abu Garcia Zenon MG-X, which is already for sale here! But...it's $450. 😬

11. Does your ChatterBait have a melodic vibe? 🤔

From Z-Man:

> If you're paying attention, it's impossible not to detect the musical, melodic vibration of a ChatterBait bladed jig. When you hit the sweet spot, speed-wise, the blade sings, producing a pleasing rod-strumming cadence.

Guess I'm a-gonna pay more attention to this!

12. GSM bought Phenix Rods.

Rumor is this poster is in GSM feeshn head man Crispin Powley's office:

13. MLF is selling a bunch of Nitro Z19s.

14. Convicted walleye cheater gets forgery sentence.

Not related to the walleye deal.

Headline of the Day

Bass fishing could be the gift that gives forever

It gives, takes and like having kids, gets more and more expensive. 😁

Fletch Shryock: Yamatanuki advantages

That that tail the 'Nuki is a little different than other heavy soft-plastics, aka "turd" baits, but I assume what he says will apply to 'em all:

> "It's very much like a Senko in that you can slide it to a fish in 6 inches of water and skip it up to them and you're able to come away with that fish. There's a lot of lures, like a jig, that are not weightless and don't have that profile [so] you don't get a lot of those bites."

> Shryock loves skipping the Yamatanuki more than anything else. For one, it's a heavy bait with a slender profile.... Additionally, the 5/8-oz bait is heavy enough to target those hard-to-reach fish that might be suspended deep below a dock or marina slip.

> "Suspended fish around marinas – that's a big deal, getting the bait back to fish that don't see baits. You see a fish suspended over 50' in a slip back in some gnarly marina, there's not many options. That's where that bait really shines. It's a 4x4 truck. It goes anywhere.

> "The biggest thing I like about the 'Nuki is that I'm able to put it places where I don't have confidence to put any other lure. The way the bait's designed and the way it holds a hook, when you put it back into places and heavy cover and stuff, you're not going to be snagging and dealing with all that. It's extremely weedless."

> ...when fished weightless on an EWG hook, you need to emphasize your hookset a little more than with a jig, but that's why he opts for a 19-lb Vicious fluorocarbon leader tied to 40-lb braid. That combo – paired with the right rod – eliminates line stretch....

"If I wasn't fishing, I'd be a psychologist."

- Former Elitist Destin DeMarion talkin'. Destin allow me to rephrase: "If I wasn't crazy, I'd be a psychologist." 🤣

Destin and bud Tyler Woak recently finished 4th in the Bassmaster Team Champeenship. Destin said this about finding a good team partner:

> "A lot of good fishermen have big egos and they end up butting heads in the boat."

For real. Couple of the biggest-ego guys I've run across are guys who thought they were all that on one lake or river.

It was a good day – or in NJ, this pic would be the day of the year or a few years! 🤪 That's Murray State U basser Grant Meisenheflter, sounds like at KY Lake:

Man caught trying to smuggle two otters and a prairie dog in his trousers

> Stuffed into 3 separate socks and then taped into the man's boxer shorts, the animals are believed to have been purchased from a market in the Thai capital.

I hope he tranquilized those critters, dang that dude's crazy! 😂