Welcome to Daily Limit, where we try to take a different look at all things bass. Come back every week, daily during tournaments, and submit your thoughts in the comment section.
First cast
The Skeetser? Really?
TNT most likely did some research on the bass fishing world to come up with its storyline of an angler’s murder, but apparently only a little. Very little.
Steve Bowman was watching “Rizzoli and Isles,” and the latest episode had him spitting tea on the floor with all its fishing inaccuracies. Titled “Bassholes,” the episode backlashed into the tournament world with some serious faux pas, painful enough that Bowmen penned a column about the Hollywood perceptions of bass fishing.
He said the only realistic comparisons was the naming of one angler, Skeet. Yep, they borrowed Skeet Reese’s name, but not much else. Skeet in the show went around hitting on Angie Harmon’s character while wearing a gold and blue trimmed satin jacket with “The Skeetser” embroidered on the back. Coool.
Bowman, a lifelong angler who began covering Bassmaster Classics when “The Love Boat” was airing, didn’t show much love for the show’s boat shenanigans, among other fishing atrocities. Read his take here.
Second in the well
After finishing second at BASSfest, Kevin VanDam went directly to Big Cedar Lodge on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake for some R&R with the fam. Of course, he got some work in at the U.S. Open Bowfishing Championship.
KVD, an avid bowhunter who writes that he’s done his fair share of bow fishing, helped Bass Pro Shops’ John Paul Morris introduce the Archenemy Z-21, a Trakker tricked out for the nighttime endeavor. 
Kevin VanDam and John Paul Morris with the Archenemy. (Courtesy Bass Pro Shops)
While VanDam and his twin boys got out one night to stick some carp, KVD also worked the World’s Bowfishing Fair in Springfield, where the 260 teams from 28 states registered.
Morris, himself keenly interested in bowfishing, has built the event to huge proportions, with a top prize of $30,000. A four-man team from Clinton, Mo., took that home after one night of shooting and reeling gathered 393 pounds of rough fish, including an event record 60-pound grass carp.
At the fair, the push to take out these species to help sportfish was furthered by an education push that carp are indeed edible if you cook them right. Things like carp burgers and chili-con-carp were on hand, as well as a chef for a campaign called “Eat MO Carp.”
The Springfield News-Leader even offered some recipes, like Jamaican Jerk Carp, Fried Asian Carp and Silverfin Carp Cakes, and polled folks if they would eat carp. Twenty-five percent responded no way, 20 percent said maybe and a resounding 54 percent said yes, if prepared in a tasty way.
Three’s company
An “invasive species” fishing derby on Maine’s Moosehead Lake has anglers up in arms with the state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The tournament that offered to pay $300 for the heaviest amount of smallmouth bass was brought to the attention of Jerry McKinnis.
“That is the worst thing I have ever heard,” he wrote back to Michael Briglia’s Facebook. “Please fill me in and I will personally take the lead and the B.A.S.S. organization will raise the roof over this.”
McKinnis isn’t the only one to takes this event as an affront. Wayne Hooper of Seacoastonline.com was similarly outraged, and described that the MIFW is engaging in a disturbing double standard. He called for any bass angler to go there and protest. Let’s hope the B.A.S.S. Nation in Maine showed out.
Four on the floor
Speaking of McKinnis, he was also taken aback when a fan accused him of not giving an autograph to his grandson. One can see where Jerry might have been really focusing on something and the man not capturing his attention. But not signing when asked? Really? No way.
McKinnis’ Facebook fans quickly came to his defense, one offering a tangible experience of how gracious McKinnis is with his time. Ronnie Kelley said that negative post bothered him and related a story from years ago when he met McKinnis and Mark Zona at a restaurant on Sam Rayburn.
“Y’all invited me and my buddy to sit and eat dinner with ya’ll. What an experience. Then you wouldn’t let us pay … We were sleeping in our truck just to be able to afford gas to watch the pros fish and we got to meet you, Zona and Rick Clunn. I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”
That’s a limit
Bernie Schultz tackles the Marshals vs. co-anglers issue in his latest column. The Elites have now had Marshals in the boats for seven years, and his look back said having co-anglers wasn’t that bad – some even clued him in on the fish.
There were bad occurrences once in a while, he admitted, like guys fishing over pros’ lines, but he also said he felt sorry for some co-anglers as sometimes his pattern didn’t allow them any real chance to catch fish.
Conversely, Tom Jobson wrote what it was like to be a co-angler in the back of the boat.
“I’ve done the co-angler thing and honestly I’ve always felt funny catching fish from a guy’s area … he prefished sometimes two weeks to find … It just feels ‘odd’ to me. No matter how kind you are to them and they to you, it just has a feeling like you are fishing THEIR fish.”
That’s where the Marshal program works, allowing a hopeful angler to ride with the pro, observe his every move and learn.
For those other minded, you can still be co-angler with a pro in the Opens. Just saying.
Culling
- So what does Edwin Evers do the week after winning an Elite event? Host a kids tournament wasn’t your first guess, was it? Evers and brother-in-law Terry Butcher, a former Elite, ran the Oolagah Kids Fishing day, with 283 youngsters showing up, reeling in fish and prizes and doling out lots of smiles.
- The Elites have almost a month and a half between events, so what will they be up to? Some will compete in events, others will fun fish, attend ICAST, and some will rest. Japanese angler Shin Fukae? He’s learning to become a redneck. See him noodle a catfish.
- Jonathon VanDam was one pro among many who have taken the pledge. That is to snap a picture of himself with a fish (left) – this is being called a fishie — add the hastag #fishie and join the movement at teachachildtofish. To get this program rolling, JVD says to join, donate and challenge five friends to do the same.
- If you paid any attention to the U.S. Open golf championship, you’d have known Kevin Lucas, Elite angler Justin Lucas’ youngest brother, qualified for the event at Chambers Bay. Sadly, Kevin missed the cut, but just making it made Justin pretty proud.
- Matthew Schwolert is taking his fishing to work, kind of odd since he’s an algebra teacher in Flower Mound, Texas. The B.A.S.S. life member is using reels and their gear ratios to help teach slope and rate of change. No, not slope of the bank and how fast weather can change. It’s about, umm, well … just check out John Neporadny’s story to see if you can figure it out.
- Our gratuitous big bass comes from James Capps. He caught this hawg on Toledo Bend during the Pro-Bass Class with Kurt Dove. He won a St. Croix rod and the admiration of his classmates and pro instructors, including James Niggemeyer, Keith Combs, Dave Mansue and Harold Allen.
- Greg Vinson is quietly standing fourth in the AOY standings, and he recently wrote about struggles in his early days and how he overcomes them. Average Pro – Part 5 shows Vinson is anything but average.