Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Friday, October 10, 2025
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By Al McGuckin
Ashley Talks Football – and St. Lawrence River Is Full of ‘Em
As a tight end for the Dixie Hornets in rural South Carolina, 2015 Bassmaster Classic Champ Casey Ashley didn’t get to touch the ball much.
“We ran the wishbone all the time, so my job was to block,” says Ashley. “Every team in the county knew what play we were gonna run next, but the tough part was stopping us.”
After two full days of practice at the 2018 Huk Bassmaster Elite on the St. Lawrence River separating New York and Canada, Casey has already had his hand on several footballs -- big, fat, bronze colored footballs with fins, better known as smallmouth bass.
“I ain’t gonna lie, I’ve already touched a handful of smallies over 4-pounds, and I think a whole bunch of other pros probably have too,” grinned Ashley. “I actually think the fish have gotten bigger on the St. Lawrence since we competed here last summer.”
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Yamaha Report
Ish Monroe with a Frog
When Yamaha Pro Ish Monroe won the Bassmaster Elite tournament on the upper Mississippi River this past June by fishing his favorite floating frog lure over shallow vegetation, the victory validated two of his primary beliefs about river fishing.
First, bass in rivers nearly always concentrate in specific areas more than they do in lakes; and secondly, water movement and habitat put bass in those specific areas.
“Most rivers have fishable water from one end to the other, so you have to move around more to find the fish,” he explains. “At the same time, most, but not all rivers have an abundance of suitable habitat where fish might be.
“As a fisherman is moving and searching for those concentrations, he/she also has to be fine-tuning his/her selection process, and one way to do this is studying how water movement relates to that habitat.”
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By Al McGuckin
The Forgotten Lizard Still Catches ‘em – Just Ask the Pros!
In my little universe around Oklahoma, April is as much about soft plastic lizards as the Easter Bunny and the Masters at Augusta National. In fact, while the Chinese Zodiac calendar spotlights 2018 as the “Year of the Dog” -- I’d like to go ahead an officially nominate April as forever being bass fishing’s “Month of the Lizard.”
Like my Carhartt raingear, I don’t leave home in April without several bags of soft plastic lizards during this often rain-soaked month centered on various phases of the annual spring spawn.
And don’t overlook it the rest of the fishing season, either.
Yet, you’d be hard pressed to find a professional bass tournament in recent years where a lizard was credited with being the winning lure, or even playing a huge role in the victor’s creel.