Toronto Sportman Show Next Week!

Bass Master Classic Berth of Canadian Anglers

Shortcut to the Bassmaster Classic for two Canadian Series!

CSFL Release

January 28, 2014In the bass fishing world the pinnacle of achievement has always been and continues to be a berth in the Bassmaster Classic. For most of us as serious as we may be about our beloved sport, participation in the Classic has always been an unrealizable dream. Though qualification routes exist through the Bass Nation and their regional chapters in Canada, an angler must succeed at 5 different levels of competition to earn a spot at “The Show”. Furthermore, the Canadian culture of competitive bass fishing has been entrenched in the team tournament format and qualification through the ‘Nation would require you to participate at each level alone. This is about to change.

With the introduction of the Toyota Bassmaster Team Championship, North America’s most successful fishing teams will soon be able to prove their skills against competition from throughout the Continent.

Got Plans for Sunday?

New Sneak Peak from Shimano, Jackall, G Loomis & Power Pro

Shimano and Jackall will be revealing many new products at the 2014 Bass Master Classic in late February. Well, IBASSIN has a man on the inside, and we'll have the first word on these new products.

Trusts us, you'll be impressed when we all find out.

Visit us later in the week or weekend. 

Van Soles wins 2014 BASS Bass Pro Shop Southern Open on Lake Toho!

By Ken Duke
BASS Press Release

ORLANDO, Fla. — He started slowly, but in the frigid weather that marked the first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open of the year on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Van Soles was like a snowball. He gathered speed and eventually rolled over his competition.

Frigid temps were not enough to cool Van Soles.
(Photo: BASS)

For each of the final two days Soles posted the heaviest catch in the field. After being mired in 30th place on the first day, he posted catches of 19 pounds, 4 ounces on Day Two and 21-9 on Day Three. His three-day tally totaled 50-15, giving him the win in his first B.A.S.S. professional event.

"I fished the southwest side of Lake Kissimmee all three days, focusing on matted vegetation that had floated up against buggy whips, cattails and Kissimmee grass," Soles said. "The bass were really lethargic and the bite was slower on the last day than on Day Two."

Soles pitched and punched the matted vegetation with a Gambler BB Cricket (Emerald Blue, Black and Blue Flake and Bowen Silver Shadow) fished on a 3/0 Cobra Flipping Hook behind a 1 1/2-ounce Elite tungsten sinker pegged to the line by a Jethro Baits bobber stop. His line was 65-pound-test Power Pro braid spooled on a Lew's Speed Spool casting reel (7.1:1) and mounted on a 7-foot, 11-inch Halo XXX flipping rod (the same rod Jesse Tacoronte used to finish second in the Bassmaster Wild Card presented by Star brite back in December; Soles borrowed it from Tacoronte).

Chris McCall Wins the 2014 Rayovac FLW San Rayburn Event

Story by Kyle Wood 

FLW Press Release

In tough conditions and an even tougher bite there can be no better tool for an angler than experience. That’s where Chris McCall of Brookeland, Texas, comes into play. McCall consistently put fish in the boat this week to bring home his second Rayovac FLW Series title on Sam Rayburn with a two-day total weight of 33 pounds, 15 ounces.

Despite snow and cancellation of Day2, McCall was able to
figure out San Rayburn to win. (Photos: FLW)

McCall started his week with a solid limit of fish that weighed 14-8 to put him inside the top 10 despite the wind, rain and falling temperatures. As a winter storm rolled in and temps plummeted under freezing, Rayovac FLW Series officials decided to cancel day two of the event for safety of the anglers. This led to the decision to fish all 112 pros and 112 co-anglers today to decide the champion.

“I’m pretty grateful of the weather this week,” said McCall. “I think it helped me out. I fish tournaments on Rayburn basically every weekend and most of the time I can’t even get to the spots I want to fish because they are so crowded. But this week I got on spots that you just normally can’t.”

Being that the 43-year-old pro has such vast experience on Rayburn he didn’t feel the need to practice much.

“I fished a tournament out here last Saturday and another one on Sunday and did all right,” said the Texas pro who has 11 top 10s on Rayburn with FLW competition. “I went out for a little bit on Monday morning and tried some silly stuff on Wednesday but I pretty much knew what I wanted to do.”

McCall knew it would be one of the toughest tournaments he has fished when throwing traps has been in play. With this in mind he decided to make a milk run of areas he knew would produce the best.

“I fished the same 10 spots each day. The first day I had about 12 bites and was able to narrow down the heart of every spot for today. Basically, I was fishing around 20 miles up the lake by the 147 bridge in a square between four creeks. I focused on the outside grass edges in 5 to 8 feet of water. I was keying in on the main points on these spots where the drains were. The fish were up in the drains further on Thursday but the water temp dropped about 8 degrees today so those fish pulled back out some.

Traps plus a jig helped put enough bass in the well for McCall.

“I didn’t change anything up today from the first day. I caught my first fish around 8:30 this morning and that gave me hope that they would bite some. Once the water warmed up around 11 o’clock it was on. I caught a bunch of fish after that and around 1:30 I put a 6-pounder in the boat. I never thought I had a chance to winning when I started the day. But I ran into Jay Yelas (who started the day in second) around 2:30 and he said he had 1 fish and I thought that I might have a chance.”

McCall’s limit was one of only 15 brought to the stage and his weight of 19-10 was the second largest to hit the scales and secure the win by over 2 pounds.

His primary bait was the Rat-L-Trap. He had six different Rat-L-Traps tied on in a variety of colors including red, white craw and gold. McCall threw those on 17-pound fluorocarbon on a heavy action rod with a 6.1:1 gear ratio. He also caught some fish on a 6th Sense squarebill and a Santone football jig with a Gambler craw trailer.

Humminbird's 2014 Bass Master Classic Grand Prize

Humminbird is offering an All Access Pass to the Bass Master Classic. 

Click here to win!

Don't Get Froze Out!

It seems that more people have caught a cold than a fish these days. The deep freeze is back. It even dipped below freezing in north Florida according to the weather channel so no place is safe.

IBASSIN is always trying to find something interesting to write about or news to tell but life seems very quiet these days. Don’t worry, we will not be going into hibernation. We have a lot planned.  

Here is a list of what to look forward to in the next few weeks:

• FLW tour will start their season on Lake Okeechobee
• Shimano has some super new releases slated for Bass Master Classic (we'll have a special advanced sneak peek
• Jackall has numerous new baits hitting the North American market
• Power Pro line tips
• Interviews with Jonathan Van Dam (JVD), Cody Myers and several other pros
• New videos from Top B.A.S.S. and FLW Pros
• More Facebook giveaways
• New industry products from the Toronto Sportsman Show in early February
• The Bass Master Classic  

Win a Jared Lintner Autographed Jackall KAWASHI Mikey Swimbait

Facebook fans, now is your time to win a super lure from Jackall!  This Bassmaster Elite touring pro, Jared Lintner autographed KAWASHI Mickey swimbait can be your once you like our fan page on Facebook.

 Like our fan page here to win.

Promotions from Minn Kota

Some great promotions from Minn Kota. If you're in the market for a new motor, we strongly recommend them.

Keith Fels Wins 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Southeast Division Event On Lake Okeechobee

by Rob Newell
FLW Press Release

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – For an entire year Keith Fels of Ocala, Fla., has had to live with the nightmare that occurred last year at the Rayovac FLW Series on Lake Okeechobee.

In that event, Fels entered the final day of the event in fifth place. Everything was going according to plan on the last day, including the 20-plus pounds that was swimming in his livewell. Then his cranking battery died. He was able to jump it off and made a fateful decision to keep the outboard running in neutral while he fished from the front deck without his kill switch attached.

Luckily, Fels day 2 bag was super heavy because
he almost let it slip away today.
(Photo: FLW)

The grievous error constituted a rules infraction that requires the kill switch to be attached to the pro anytime the motor is running. As result, Fels catch for the day was disqualified, costing him his first Rayovac Series win.

Today, Fels redeemed himself from the mistake, holding a Rayovac FLW Series trophy in his hands.

“Redemption,” sighed an exasperated Fels, who is a driver for Fed Ex in Ocala. “This helps make up for last year for sure. That’s 40 grand I can use to pay off my truck and boat.”

Fels took a healthy 12-pound lead into the final day, but his four-bass bag weighing in at only 7 pounds, 15 ounces today left the door open. Jared McMillan tried to take advantage of the opportunity to rain on Fels’ wire-to-wire parade, but Fels had built up too much of a lead overcome with his previous days’ bags of 20 pounds, 9 ounces and 26 pounds, 7 ounces, respectively. In the end, Fels held on to victory with a three-day total of 54 pounds, 15 ounces, winning by 2 pounds, 4 ounces.

And Fels might forever remember the 10-pound, 9-ounce monster he caught on day 2 – that he had to hand-line in after his line broke – which pushed him over the top.

Fels’ week centered on pitching a Gambler 1-1/4-ounce Jigzilla, trailed with a Gambler Megadaddy trailer (both black/blue), into holes in hydrilla in several feet of water. He fished the big jig on 65-pound braid with Fitzgerald’s Rods in lengths of 7-foot, 6-inches and 7-foot, 10 inches.

Fels could not confirm whether the fish were bedding in the holes saying, “the water was too dingy to see down that far.”

As to why his catch fell off so dramatically today, Fels said that the wind wreaked havoc on his boat control in the matted hydrilla.

Keith Fels Wins 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Southeast Division Event On Lake Okeechobee

More details coming...

Rayovac FLW Series Lake Okeechobee Day2: Fels Take Command

Florida pro compounds lead with 10-9 giant

    Story and Photos by Rob Newell FLW Press Release
    

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – After a rather lackluster day one of the Rayovac FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee, anglers were certain day two was going to be better.

After all, much warmer air and intermittent sunshine drove the water temperatures up into the low 60’s. The bite did improve a tad, but overall it still was not the Okeechobee bag-buster everyone was hoping for.

One man who seems to have the Okeechobee bite wired is Keith Fels of Ocala, Fla.

The bite definitely improved for Fels today as he added 26 pounds, 7 ounces to his 20 pounds, 9 ounces from yesterday to compile a commanding lead with 47 pounds even, some 12 pounds heavier than second place.

Fels's big bass show why Florida is always a great place
for a tournament.

Fels’ limit today included the day-two big bass weighing in at 10 pounds, 9 ounces. He has been the only angler to crack the 20-pound mark each day.

“I had those by 9:30 this morning and I was done,” Fels said. “When I caught the 10-pounder, it culled my little fish and I left the area to save it for tomorrow.”

Fels did reveal he is pitching, but the way he managed to get the 10-pounder in the boat borders on miraculous.

“I made a pitch, got a bite, set the hook and missed,” he said. “I pitched right back in there, got another bite, set the hook and it was on. I fought the fish until it bogged up into a huge wad of vegetation. As I was heaving on the line pulling the wad in, my 65-pound test braid broke up in the rod. The tag end of the line laid across a mat of hydrilla. The fish was so bogged down, it didn’t move. I reached out, grabbed the tag end of line and basically hand-lined the giant wad of weeds to the boat and wrapped up inside was that 10-pounder.”

Ware second

Kent Ware of Wadmalaw Island, S.C., moved up eight spots to second place on the strength of his 19-pound catch today for a two-day total of 34 pounds, 11 ounces.

Ware was the Angler of the Year in the Southeastern Division of the Rayovac Series last season. And here’s the unique part: he did most of it with a spinning rod.

Ware uses a spinning rod most of the time, including here at Okeechobee, to punch vegetation like most do with conventional baitcasting gear.

“It’s what works for me,” Ware said. “I’m just a lot more efficient with a spinning rod. It’s faster and quieter for me and I can get away with lighter baits.”

Here at Okeechobee, Ware’s spinning rod set-up is a heavy action 7-foot G. Loomis rod spooled with 50-pound braid.

Rayovac FLW Series Lake Okeechobee Day1: Fels Leads Tight Race

TOP TEN

position/angler/hometown/weight (#of bass)

1	KEITH FELS	OCALA, FL	20-09 (5)
2	THOMAS HELTON	CHARLESTON, TN	19-08 (5)
3	JARED MCMILLAN	BELLE GLADE, FL	19-04 (5)
4	JARED DIAL	WINTER HAVEN, FL	18-08 (5)
5	VU AU	TUCSON, AZ	16-03 (5)
6	LIONEL BOTHA	OKEECHOBEE, FL	15-14 (5)
7	TRENT PARDUE	TROY, NC	15-12 (5)
8	STEVE DANIEL	CLEWISTON, FL	15-11 (5)
8	BRANDON MCMILLAN	CLEWISTON, FL	15-11 (5)
8	KENT WARE	WADMALAW ISLAND, SC	15-11 (5)

Win with X-Zone

This week we want to hear everyone's fishing New Year's resolution! 

Are you trying to learn a new technique? Trying to get out on the water more? Spend more time fishing with friends and family? We want to hear what you're trying to do different in 2014!

Just comment on this post with your resolution to be entered in this week's contest.

Deadline is 12pm Friday

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FREE OKUMA HOODIE WITH PURCHASE OF KRIOS

WIth a full aluminum frame, 6-bearing drive system and dual cast control systems, the Okuma Krios packs a ton of performance into a retail price that's often less than $100.

Purchase an Okuma Krios baitcast reel and receive a free Okuma Hoodie by mail.  

IBASSIN Rules #5 3 Soft Stickbait Presentations You Must Know!

Starting off 2014 with a new IBASSIN Rules. This video explains 3 Soft Stickbait presentations you must know! Senkos or Stickbaits are amazing and learning how to rig a wacky, neko and texas rig with these baits will help you catch more bass.

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