ICAST 2016 COVERAGE

Dear Readers,

Well, ICAST 2016 is finally here and IBASSIN.com has you covered. So, how do you see all the latest and greatest videos, press releases and photos? This year we have a three prong approach to covering ICAST.

PRESS RELEASES
All the news will be put here daily. Often the official press releases trickle out and are only available after the show. Don't worry, we'll get them to you. This is especially helpful with rod and reels to find out the specs of the product you're after.

PHOTOS
Best to like us on FACEBOOK. Photos will be uploaded on the fly. Out first round of photos starts today at the LIVETARGET special press release at 4pm.
Click here or link directly
or   https://www.facebook.com/ibassincom-265989363495983/?fref=ts

VIDEOS
Videos will be staggered throughout the week and into next week. Find them here or on our YOUTUBE page.

 or find the link on the right.

Well try to give you the best coverage possible but its hard to stay focused as we drool over the newest tackle and gear.

Enjoy!

IBASSIN.com

THE LUNKERHUNT LINK

THE LUNKERHUNT LINK

Click here to link to video.

When you see the Lunkerhunt Link^TM up-close, you will marvel at its realism and patterns.   You will immediately think of a dozen places where you want to fish it. You can tell it is a fish catcher just looking at it.  It is when you make that first cast, and the Lunkerhunt Link^TM springs to life, that you will get truly excited.  You get caught up with it, playing with different cadences and retrieves as it walks its way across the water.  The action comes effortlessly.  Whether you are casting a chasing baitfish body style or a snake design, the strikes they generate are ferocious.

The Lunkerhunt Link^TM replicates some of North America’s most popular forage and it comes in two styles: chasing baitfish which replicates fleeing minnows, and serpent, which mimics the slithering action of a snake or eel along the water’s surface.  

The Link^TM is available in two sizes, 4.5 inches and 6.75 inches.  It is also available in 9 natural forage patterns.

The Link is constructed around a reinforced internal stringer that has been designed to withstand the punishment of fish, after fish, after fish.   The Link also features three super sharp premium black nickel treble hooks that keep fish locked when they bite.

Lunkerhunt Link Features:

·       Innovative hinged “Link” technology

·       Chasing Baitfish and Serpent body patterns

·       Two sizes: 4.5 inch - 1/4 ounce and 6.75 inch - 5/8 ounce

·       Reinforced internal stringer for durability and strength

·       Two body styles: Baitfish and Snake

·       Three premium black nickel treble hooks

      

       LUNKERHUNT LINK MSRP: $12.99 to $13.99 USD

2016 ICAST: Freedom Tackle Corp Marabou Jig

Freedom Tackle Corp. is please to announce the following additions to their line of Customizable Swing Hook Products for 2017.

    Marabou Jig

The Freedom Marabou jig is a must for any serious walleye or smallmouth angler. Features the Freedom changeable swing hook that doesn’t allow the fish to get leverage using the jig head. Coming in two sizes, 1/8 oz. & 1/4 oz., and 6 popular colors, the keel weighted head keeps the razor sharp hook in the upright position ready for your hookset. Want to switch to live bait or a weed less lure? With a simple twist of the hook you can replace the marabou hook with your own hook and rig anyway you want giving you the ultimate in customization. The Freedom Marabou head is also eco-friendly and can be fished anywhere in North America.   MSRP is $3.99 USD

 

Casey Smith Wins 2016 Northern FLW Costa Series Potomac River with 51-06lbs!

Smith's first Costa Title. 

by David A. Brown

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Opportunity knocked and Casey Smith did not allow thoughts of a later appointment to prevent him from capitalizing on another opportunity — one that ultimately lead him to victory at the Costa FLW Series presented by Plano on the Potomac River.

Keitech king for Casey. (FLW photo)

With limits each day, Smith caught 14 pounds, 14 ounces on day one to place 22nd, but rocketed into the lead on day two by whacking a 20-pound sack. In the final round, the pro from Macedon, NY added 16-8 and earned his first Costa FLW Series win with a three-day total of 51 pounds, 6 ounces.

“This is incredible,” Smith says. “I’ve been wanting to step up to this level for a while."

Smith caught most of his weight from a broad grass flat in 4-6 feet of water along Aqua Po Beach, just south of Aquia Creek. Location, he said, was the key to his success.

“I found a ditch that led down into a hole and the fish were sitting right on the corner of where the ditch met the hole,” he says.
TOP Ten Below

2016 Walmart FLW Kentucky Lake Day 3: Lambert Leads Legion of Ledge Masters

Lambert leads with 68-2!
by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Things are really starting to heat up at the Walmart FLW Tour on Kentucky Lake presented by Mercury and hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau – literally and figuratively.

Focused on small schools help Jason grab lead.
(Photo: FLW)

Not only have the daytime temperatures reached 95 degrees, but Tennessee River ace Jason Lambert of Pickwick Dam, Tenn., is also bringing the heat in the form of giant bags of Kentucky Lake bass.

Yesterday, Lambert weighed in the biggest limit of bass to that point in the tournament – 24 pounds, 4 ounces. Today, he cranked up the thermostat even higher with a whopping 25-pound, 5-ounce catch that earned him the day three lead with a total of 68 pounds, 2 ounces. He now leads the event by a pound and a half going into the final day.

Today, Lambert remained committed to what he has dubbed the “outlier pattern,” referring to his program of idling around the fringes of traditional megaschool locations to find fragmented groups of bass that have pushed away from the main school to seek safe haven from the constant barrage of fishing pressure being applied on Kentucky Lake.

2016 Walmart FLW Kentucky Lake Day 1: Brad Knight Leads by Ounces Over Fukae

Knight Leads with 23-6

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Best start of the year for FLW Cup Champ
(FLW Photo)

Since winning the Forrest Wood Cup in August of 2015, Brad Knight’s 2016 follow-up Walmart FLW Tour season has not been what he had hoped, collecting just one check in the first four events. Today the Lancing, Tenn., resident took the first step in righting the ship with a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 6 ounces for the day-one lead at the FLW Tour on Kentucky Lake presented by Mercury and hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Man, I’ve had enough of the bad this year,” Knight says. “It’s time to get this thing turned around and what better place to do it than on the Tennessee River.”

Knight’s limit was anchored by the day-one big bass, weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces.

2016 BASSfest Lake Texoma Day 1: Casey Ashley Grabs 20 Pounds in Flood.

Ashley Surges Ahead!

By Thomas Allen

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Flooded shorelines and muddy water didn’t stop some Bassmaster Elite Series pros from finding big bass during the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino and Resort at Lake Texoma.
 


The day's big bass helps Ashley grad lead. (BASS)

After a very difficult and unproductive practice, Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., “just went fishing,” and put together the day’s heaviest five-fish limit of bass that weighed 20 pounds, 1 ounce. His lead eclipsed Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill., who is in second place by only 11 ounces with a total of 19-6.
 


Ashley’s limit included the tournament’s current Phoenix Boats Big Bass that tipped the scales at 6-15. If the 2015 Classic champion can hold the big-fish lead for the duration of BASSfest, he’ll earn a $1,500 bonus.
 


“I had no idea I was going to catch them that good today,” Ashley said. “The first bite of the day was my big one, and when you start things out with that kind of momentum, it really helps you to settle in and make good decisions for the rest of the day.”
 


The South Carolinian is unsure if he can replicate today’s success on Thursday, but he’s sure going to try.
 


SEM Outdoors Mega Jigs Tube jigs with IBASSIN

The best jig for the job!
By Joel Isenberg




The Mega Jig Tube jig heads are one of the finest on the market. Each jig is tear-drop designed for easy insertion even with skinny tubes. Each jig is poured with a 4/0,  60 degree flat eye hook in your either Mustad or Gamakatsu.
These tube jigs are available in: 1/8 , 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 1oz.

Tackle: http://semoutdoorscom.ipage.com/store/page5.html

Wacky Bass Candy Hook with IBASSIN

Awesome hook for Senko fishing
By Joel Isenberg



If you love to fish a Senko or stick bait then you have to try the Wacky Bass Candy Hook by S.E.M Outdoors Mega Jig. They've added 1/16oz of weight to a 3/0 Gamakatsu wacky hook to help you get to the bottom faster and deeper. The great part is that you don't have to use any nail weights. Learn why this hook should be part of your tackle.

Tackle: http://semoutdoorscom.ipage.com/store/page5.html

Buddy Gross Wins 2016 Walmart FLW Tour Pickwick Lake with 74-5lbs!

Wire to wire for rookie.
by Rob Newell
FLW PRESS RELEASE
There are no more secrets.
That phrase has become cliché in tournament bass fishing. And to a large degree, it’s true. With the advent of modern electronics, which feature mapping and imaging, every square foot of a lake bottom can be scoured, mapped and captured on an SD card.
But what grows on that mapped lake bottom can change and these days true bass fishing secrets tend to hide in the seams of environmental changes to waterways. For instance, consider how exotics like gobies and zebra mussels have changed fisheries in the Midwest.
Anglers who ply the same waters day after day, year after year are the first to notice these changes in ecosystems and how the changes begin to influence bass behavior. Once these anglers detect a change in how bass relate to the ecosystem, they discover approaches and tactics that give them huge advantages in tournaments.

Gross wins despite poor last day. (Photo: FLW)

One such angler who has seen just such a change along the TVA system in recent years is Walmart FLW Tour rookie Buddy Gross of Ringgold, Ga. Gross fishes Lake Guntersville quite a bit and over the last few years he has seen a change in Guntersville’s vegetation that can best be described with one word: Eelgrass.

2016 Walmart FLW Tour Pickwick Lake Day 2: Gross Extends Lead by 9lbs!

Local advantage paying off for Gross and Neal.
by Rob Newell 
FLW PRESS RELEASE
Day two of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Quaker State and hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism on Pickwick Lake was much calmer and tamer than day one. The wind waned and there were no lock issues for those venturing to Wilson. Given the calmer conditions, many thought more big bags would be brought to the scales since pros could actually fish in the main drag of both lakes. But on day two, only three limits crossed the 20-pound mark as many of Pickwick’s best sticks were left scratching their heads as to why more fish are not stacking up out on the ledges for the post-spawn feedbag.

Its become a battle of the roommates and Gross and Neal go for the win. (Photo: FLW)

One of those 20-plus limits belonged to day-one leader Buddy Gross of Ringgold, Ga., who weighed 21 pounds, 3 ounces to extend his advantage over the rest of the field by nearly 9 pounds.
Though Gross is an FLW Tour rookie, he has had an experienced shoulder to lean on this week in the form of his roommate, well-known Tennessee River ace Michael Neal, who is always cool under pressure. Neal has not only helped Gross stay focused this week, but he also tipped Gross off to the lure that has been Gross’ go-to bait thus far. The real irony of this whole scenario, however, is that Neal is in second place and will be gunning for his own roommate going into the weekend.
Top 10 below

Stren's Power Knot: Great Line for the Price!

Stren’s Power Knot 

By Luigi De Rose

Line is only as good as its knot and that’s the focus of Stren’s Power Knot. Power Knot is self-lubricating, giving knots extra security when cinched. Expect easy handling from this low memory line which will be offered in green and clear from 6lb to 20lb test 220yard spools. MSRP $5.99 -$6.99.

Sufix's NanoBraid for Light Line Anglers

Sufix's New Nano Line

By Luigi De Rose

 

NanoBraid features an ultra-thin diameter for extreme sensitivity and long casts without sacrificing strength. Made from 100 percent Dyneema fibers, it boasts a uniform diameter, increased abrasion resistance and superior knot and shock strength. Expect uniform spooling, easy casting plus tremendous strength. Available in Sufix’s Aqua Camo in 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 pound tests, it is a great match for small outfits. MSRP $34.99

Denny Brauer Approved Seaguar Flipping Fishing Lines

Seaguar Flippin Line

By Luigi De Rose

Designed by legendary flipper Denny Brauer, Seaguar’s Flippin Line focuses on big bass in cover. Offered in both Fluorocarbon and braid, expect ultra-abrasion resistant, tremendous power with great knot strength. The Fluorocarbon comes in 20lb, 25lb and 30lb tests for anglers who want the invisibility of Fluorocarbon yet demand control. Flippin braid is constructed using 8 ultra-thin strands in a tight, round profile weave in green, 50lb and 65lb tests MSRP $20.99 - $35.99

Scott Canterbury Wins Walmart FLW Beaver Lake with 62-07lbs!

Congrats to Scott Canterbury on his first Walmart FLW Tour event at Beaver Lake, Arkansas. Him four day total of 62-07lbs beat Darrel Robertson by one pound. More to come

2016 Walmart FLW Beaver Lake Day 2: Darrel Robertson Leads with 31-02lbs!

Jeff Gustafson Grabs 10th!

FLW PRESS RELEASE

The Beaver Lake lead shuffle has begun. Day two of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Jack Link’s saw leaders from day one slide back and those with big limits made a run up the outside to take their positions. Similar to Daytona in NASCAR, the lead always changes often at the Beaver Lake FLW Tour event.

Robertson just 1 ounce ahead of tight field. (Photo: FLW)

Day two dawned windless with sunny skies, but by mid-morning it had turned overcast with a little breeze.

As the saying goes, Beaver Lake is all about getting the big bite and how true it is. For the second day in a row, he who had the big fish of the day is leading the tournament.

Yesterday, JT Kenney caught a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass to anchor his leading weight. Today, Darrel Robertson caught a 5-pound, 8-ounce largemouth – the big bass on day two – and it loaded down a limit weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces to propel Robertson to the lead; his two-day total now stands at 31 pounds, 2 ounces.

2016 Walmart FLW Beaver Lake Day 1: JT Kenney Grabs Lead with 18-05lbs!

Good fishing crams leaderboard.

FLW PRESS RELEASE

JT Kenney’s first bass of the morning to start the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Jack Link’s on Beaver Lake was a 6-pound, 10-ounce largemouth.

After landing it, he kneeled down in the boat and punched the water with his fist in an act of “punching Beaver Lake back.”

One big bass helps vault Kenney into lead. (Photo: BASS)

For most of his FLW Tour career, Beaver Lake has been JT Kenney’s nemesis. One year he zeroed in this event, failing to catch a single keeper in two days of competition.

“Yeah, that’s what the punch in the water was for,” Kenney laughs. “When I got that big one in the boat it was like years of misery delivered back with one punch. I’m sure it didn’t hurt the lake too bad, but it made me feel better.”

Kenney’s big bass claimed the big bass honors for the day and helped put him the lead on day one with 18 pounds, 5 ounces.

Lew's New Braid, Fluorocarbon and Monofilament Lines for 2016

Three Options of Great Fishing.

By Joel Isenberg

Lew’s APT monofilament

This legendary reel maker is now producing line. Their APT monofilament, braided and Fluorocarbon lines provides great choices. The APT Mono features enhanced cross-link polymer technology and will come in clear from 6lb to 25lbs tests. MSRP $12.99-$13.99

Lew’s APT Braid

The APT Braid is a green, round line made from 100% Japanese Dyneema Fiber in 6lb to 65lb test spools. MSRP $$24.99-$29.99

The APT Fluoro

Constructed with Japanese resins it provides great quality line that is consistent with Japanese exports. Spools from 6lb to 25lb tests. MSRP $22.99-$36.99

Brett Hite's New JackHammer Vibrating Jig from Evergreen.

Chatterbaits are king in spring!

By Luigi De Rose

Brett Hite with the new JackHammer. (Photo: James Overstreet)

The chatterbait has now claimed its second Bass Elite victory in a row and doesn't seem to be losing any steam. Any vibrating jig sporting a coffin shaped blade has been filing livewells across the south for over two months. When bass swim shallow its chatterbait time.

One angler who has built a career on the back of a vibrating jig has been Arizona angler Brett Hite. Hite needed to learn how to compete on grass lakes so he decided to learn the chatterbait. This investment had claimed both his FLW wins and another two victories on the BASS Elite Tour. Brett almost grabbed another win this past weekend at Winyah Bay but was edged out by Britt Myers who also fished a chatterbait to claim his first BASS trophy.

In the courts, Z-Man lures has received the rights to manufacture the Chatterbait and has laid claim to any versions of this popular lure. Choices have become very limited. Elite pro Brett Hite has turned to Japanese based Evergreen International, one of his sponsors, to craft his own version called the Jackhammer. We know almost nothing about this bait. All that has been released is that Morizo Shimizu and Brett Hite teamed up to create it and for many that is all that is needed to give it a seal of approval.

Don’t expect to find the JackHammer at your local bait shop. This is a web only purchase for now. If you like fishing something new or different than this is a great springtime purchase.