EDITOR’ S NOTE
EXPERTO CREDE
The Latin motto“ experto crede” has been translated several ways, but it basically means to trust in the one who is experienced. That’ s kind of how I manage this magazine – by trusting the legion of bass fishing experts who fish the FLW Tour, Costa FLW Series, T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League and other tournament circuits to contribute great information for us to publish. They’ re the ones who continue to develop new tactics for catching fish. I also trust the staff and freelance contributors who produce the magazine to keep observing the pros and sharing what they’ ve learned.
Sometimes getting information is easy. On the final day of the Grand Lake Costa FLW Series event in late March, for instance, I watched Texan Jeff Sprague go to work with a spinnerbait in the shallow backwaters far up a major creek arm. Fishing a spinnerbait in spring is nothing new, but the way he fished it and the spinnerbait details got my attention.
Sprague chose a spinnerbait with a chartreuse skirt and double Colorado blades, with one blade painted fluorescent orange. Talk about making an impression. His“ loud” spinnerbait was noticeable to me watching nearby, and to the bass living in those muddy waters. Sprague caught a couple of giants that were living in no more than a foot of water by rolling that spinnerbait over their heads multiple times.
After watching Sprague work, I phoned him and quizzed him on the subject of painted spinnerbait blades, about which he shared the details that I eventually published in an article. I’ ll soon be writing another article on the situations where making multiple casts to a spot can be the key to getting more bites. Sprague, the expert, is thankfully forthcoming with the details.
Sometimes it’ s not so easy. Bryan Thrift, bless his world-class-bass-angler heart, isn’ t always the easiest person to glean information from. Thrift is probably the most versatile bass fisherman on Tour. He’ s always experimenting with new tackle and techniques and expanding his skillset, then putting the skills to work kicking his competitors’ butts. I want to publish everything he knows, but, understandably, he’ s guarded with the details.
At Lake Cumberland, when Thrift earned his sixth Tour win, I interviewed him after each night’ s weigh-in. I might as well have been asking for his credit card number. Thrift wouldn’ t spill on the juice.
But don’ t worry. This is where you can trust in the expertise of FLW’ s media team. We stuck an FLW Live camera in his boat for the weekend, birddogged him with photographers for four days and joined him back on the water to film the Day 5 video series( see it on YouTube) the day after the tournament to learn all we could about his winning ways. We eventually convinced Thrift to share some interesting details on subtle swimbait selection and light-line baitcasting tackle that we can all put to use on the water. You can read about it in the On Tour department on page 98.
Experto crede … You can trust experts like Thrift and Sprague to keep innovating, and I promise we’ ll never stop digging for more information to share with you, even if it means being a bit of a pest to make it happen.
Trust me on that. I’ m an expert.
Curtis Niedermier, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher Irwin L. Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief Curtis Niedermier
Production Manager / Graphic Designer Michelle Dowling
Editor Emeritus Colin Moore
Field Editors Rob Newell & Matt Williams
Contributors Joe Balog, David A. Brown, Dan Johnson, TJ Maglio, Sean Ostruszka, Paul Strege
Graphic Designer D. W. Reed II
Graphic Designer / Illustrator Matt Pace
Director of Advertising Al Chapman | 270.252.1628
FLWFishing. com Senior Web Content Manager Jesse Schultz
Senior Editor Kyle Wood
Associate Editor Jody White
Letters to the Editor FLW Bass Fishing 30 Gamble Lane, Benton, KY 42025 flwfishing @ flwfishing. com
Chairman & CEO Irwin L. Jacobs
President of FLW Marketing Division Trish Blake
President of FLW Operations Division Kathy Fennel
Chief Financial Officer Dave Mahler
Vice President, Controller Tommy Boaz
Vice President of Marketing Kelly Oettinger
Vice President of Operations Dave Washburn
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FLWFISHING. COM I JULY 2018