Bassfan Feedback

• Dennis Pentecost of Milford, IL writes:

  Wednesday, December 23, 2020

  Pro Bass Fishing has become a commercial for high-priced equipment that most regular guys cannot afford!

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• Errol Duckett of Charlotte, NC writes:

  Sunday, December 20, 2020

  Twas the week before Christmas and all across the lake,
  were 298 Santas, dressed to the hilt for Pete's sake.

  Seeing two boats full of toys would give anyone pause,
  Yes this was all for a really good cause.

  Toys for Tots would be trying to fill their long list,
  we were all more than happy to give them assist.

  Fishers of Men weighed every fish brought to the scale,
  I was hoping for more weight, but to no avail.

  Well, there's always next year to find different spots,
  but it really doesn't matter, because it's all for the Tots.

  BassFan says: Nicely done, Mr. Duckett!

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• Dan Phillips of Lawrenceville, GA writes:

  Friday, December 18, 2020

  RE: Winter safety – Always wear a life jacket. On Dec. 12, 2019, I put my boat in and tied up to the dock at Lake Lanier. I caught my foot on my coat sleeve and fell in, hitting my head on the end of the dock. It stunned me. My Bass Pro Shops auto-inflate worked and brought me up. I hand-walked the dock to the cables to the bank. You think it will not happen, but it will.

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• John Orchard of Winston-Salem, NC writes:

  Tuesday, December 15, 2020

  RE: Ugly Stik Santa tournament – This was a fantastic event. More of these events needs to happen.

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• Dennis Pentecost of Milford, IL writes:

  Monday, December 14, 2020

  All the talk about attracting more people to bass fishing may work to get them to take a look, but once they see the expense most will walk away.

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• Corey Gue of Kenova, WV writes:

  Saturday, December 5, 2020

  RE: Christie back to Elites – Boyd duped the majority and the rest just fell in line in fear of being left behind. Roots run deep and it will be a yearly migration for the foreseeable future.

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• Matt Schmitt of Sullivan, MO writes:

  Friday, December 4, 2020

  RE: 2021 Elite Series schedule – What happened to Missouri? We have four of the best bass fishing lakes in the United States. They haven't been here in a long time.

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• John Gaulke of Ithaca, NY writes:

  Tuesday, December 1, 2020

  RE: Canadian organizer sanctioned – The sad truth about the St. Lawrence event with the massive fish kill is that level of mortality is close to the norm up there. I have heard from numerous sources – both competitors and observers – that those smallmouths do not do well after being caught there and transported around in livewells. One competitor told me that it is normal to see fish go belly-up after just 20 minutes in a livewell. The angler who told me this wasn't a hack who doesn't know how to take care of fish. He doesn't know why it happens, but it does.

  The damage these events are doing to the modest bass population up there is considerable. The pressure changes from dropshotting bass on the bottom in 40 or 50 feet of water can easily kill fish. I have caught smallmouth bass on bottom in Lake Ontario in 100 feet of water. It isn't a pretty sight. Their eyes are bulging out, gills bleeding and stomachs extended. You can fizz those fish as much as you want, they aren't going to recover. I've seen blown-out swim bladders just from dropshotting in 25 to 30 feet of water. And this isn't about cranking the bass up too fast – often they come up on their own.

  Lake Ontario has not produced a significant class of smallmouth bass in around 15 years, despite favorable conditions in many of those years. Biologists have no idea exactly why this has been the case. In the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s, when we had above-normal water temperatures and a warm spring and summer, smallmouth spawns produced massive classes of fish. It could be the gobies or a virus/bacteria, but DEC is trying to look into it.

  But this whole thing isn't on the tourney organizer in Canada. Yes, he broke the law by not reporting the kill and wasting all those fish and he was appropriately fined and punished, but in terms of the mortality, unfortunately it's much too common up there.

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