Balog’s Bass War
Tension Mounts

Current Columns

• Timing Is Everything

  Thursday, May 25, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Jacob Wheeler again made headlines with another dominating performance at the recent Lake Guntersville BPT event. While I was taking note of this extraordinary more

• Adaptation To Change

  Thursday, May 18, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Last month, Keith Poche’s catch was disqualified at the Bassmaster Open at Toledo Bend, a decision that was later upheld after appeal. The rule infraction and more

• Some Must-Have Stuff

  Thursday, May 11, 2023 By Joe Balog

  For the most part, I leave the how-to columns to the pros. While I once contributed regular tips to readers on ways to catch more bass, today I find it better more

• The Power Of The Blueback

  Thursday, May 4, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Coverage of the Lake Murray Bass Pro Tour event left me dreaming of a road trip. Hometown hero Anthony Gagliardi added to his win list, but just as big of a story more

• Moving In That Direction?

  Thursday, April 27, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Have you seen the new trolling motor by Power-Pole? The Power-Pole Move? I got a chance to dive into this thing recently at a big consumer show, thanks to a more

• Tin To Win?

  Thursday, April 20, 2023 By Joe Balog

  You’ve wondered about aluminum. For decades, we’ve been programmed to assume that big, shiny fiberglass boats are top-tier. The best thing a bass fishing junkie more

• Desert Jewel

  Thursday, April 13, 2023

  With five fish weighing over 23 pounds, Ray Arbesu and team partner Don Iglinski had a great day. Their bag was heavy enough to win, though not by much, as another more

• Outside The Spotlight

  Thursday, April 6, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Let’s look further into the evolution of our sport. I want to let you in on a compelling detail I came across recently at the highest level of competition. more

• A Pioneer Among Us

  Thursday, March 30, 2023 By Joe Balog

  With his recent Bassmaster Classic victory, Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson became only the second international angler to capture the crown, his Canadian roots and fishing more

• Classic Primer

  Thursday, March 23, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Who will win the 2023 Bassmaster Classic? That’s a very, very good question. This Classic is the hardest to predict in recent memory, due to a number of factors. more

• REDCREST Crowns The King

  Thursday, March 16, 2023 By Joe Balog

  “Everything worked out as planned.” Those were the words of Bryan Thrift during the press conference following his 2023 REDCREST victory. As planned. more

• Epic Battles Of March: Part 1

  Thursday, March 9, 2023 By Joe Balog

  The first of our sport’s two World Championships begins this week, with REDCREST kicking off at Lake Norman, near Charlotte, N.C.. Norman is known as the Ocean more

• One For The Books

  Thursday, March 2, 2023

  Cracking open the storage tub gave a bit of a pirate feel. The label indicated logbooks inside, and there they were, much like I’d packed them away years before. more

• Willpower

  Thursday, February 23, 2023 By Joe Balog

  We all have our favorite pros. You’ll recognize mine as the old-school guys. To me, power-fishing shallow water defines the sport. Competitors who stick to more

• Kong Lives

  Thursday, February 16, 2023 By Joe Balog

  This week brings the beginning of a new season in pro bass fishing, along with the end of an era. As competitors kicked off the Bass Pro Tour campaign, Kevin VanDam more

• On Again, Off Again

  Thursday, February 9, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Regular readers will recognize my affinity for getting the inside track from the best in our sport. More specifically, I often attempt to define just what makes more

• Two-Word Answer

  Thursday, February 2, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Scanning through a social media business platform, I came across a good question. It involved young anglers trying to establish a career in fishing. “What more

• Threats To A Favorite Pastime

  Thursday, January 26, 2023 By Joe Balog

  This year is shaping up to be a good one for tournament bass fishing across the country – 2023 brings a number of venues that are really cranking out the lunkers. more

• Winter Wonderland

  Thursday, January 19, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Never trust a weatherman. There was time in my life when I took pride in my ability to predict the weather. Growing up in the Midwest and spending an extraordinary more

• Rod And Reel Scientists

  Thursday, January 12, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Browsing the weekly bass fishing news, I had to go back over what I’d just read. Surely, these guys weren’t talking about hydrilla. “It’s great news to see more

• Putting ’22 To Bed

  Thursday, January 5, 2023 By Joe Balog

  Before we move into the new year, I thought we’d take a minute to reflect on the biggest stories of 2022. Professional bass fishing has seen quite a transformation more

• Dog Eat Dog

  Thursday, December 15, 2022 By Joe Balog

  With the Bassmaster Team Championship Classic Fish-Off in the books, Collin Smith became the final qualifier for the 2023 Bassmaster Classic. Smith is a solid more

• The Purge

  Thursday, December 8, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Tackle collection is a big part of bass fishing. I use that word on purpose. While many lures serve roles as fish-catchers, just as many, if not more, wind up more

• Losing On A Royal Flush

  Thursday, December 1, 2022 By Joe Balog

  I want to dive a little deeper into the recent format change adopted by MLF for the Bass Pro Tour, taking the majority of events from a “catch-all-you-can” standard more

• Chosen Few

  Thursday, November 17, 2022 By Joe Balog

  As a columnist for a few different publications, I frequently cross back and forth with my subject matter. Such was the case when I recently interviewed a bunch more

• Big Changes Coming

  Monday, November 14, 2022 By Miles Burghoff

  My 2022 tournament season has officially come to an end. This year will certainly go down in my record books as one that offered some hard lessons. On one more

• Double-Digit Smallmouth A Reality

  Thursday, November 10, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Big news around the sport this week centered on an outstanding catch from my old stomping grounds. Visiting the Canadian waters of Lake Erie, Ohio angler Greg more

• Two Items of Business (And A $1 Charger)

  Thursday, November 3, 2022 By Joe Balog

  This week at Balog’s Bass War, we take on the extraordinary task of tackling two subjects in the space of one column. While this circumstance may seem rather straightforward, more

• SaveJT.com

  Thursday, October 27, 2022 By Joe Balog

  In a world of doubt, today we focus on hope. We’ll breathe a collective sigh of sadness, as each and every one of us reflects how good we have it, and just more

• No Place For Hypocrisy

  Thursday, October 20, 2022 By Joe Balog

  “That’s not bass fishing,” my buddy said. I had to agree. We watched the tournament angler in what now could be called “bass pro pose." Foot on the trolling more

• An Unbiased Look

  Thursday, October 13, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Today’s media offers lots of options for learning about bass fishing. Whether an accomplished angler or new to the sport, without question there’s video material more

• Cheaters Never Win

  Thursday, October 6, 2022 By Joe Balog

  The tournament fishing world came to a screeching halt this week with the release of news covering a cheating scandal on the Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT). This more

• Holding Out

  Thursday, September 29, 2022 By Joe Balog

  I finally have a hero. Since the inception of this column, I’ve been reluctant to ever pin the hero tag on a professional bass fisherman. First responders who more

• Grow Facility

  Thursday, September 22, 2022 By Joe Balog

  While lake managers across the country continue their war on aquatic vegetation, in North Carolina, they’re growing the stuff. The recent story on AFTCO’s more

• Testing The Best

  Thursday, September 15, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Recent events renewed my internal struggle as to what constitutes the ultimate bass tournament. Are the toughest grinds the real test of the best, or do slugfests more

• Hot New Lures? Not

  Thursday, September 8, 2022 By Joe Balog

  With another Bassmaster Elite season in the books, it’s time to dig in and uncover what patterns took the top spots. More accurately, let’s have a look at the more

• A Lifetime Ago

  Thursday, September 1, 2022 By Joe Balog

  A death in the family had taken me back 30 years. Close friends of my parents had earned “aunt and uncle” status long ago without need of relation. My dear aunt more

• Inherited Greatness

  Thursday, August 25, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Spencer Shuffield’s got a story to tell. It ends just about the way you’d imagine. Son of a legendary bass pro, excelling in a sport he was brought up in, taking more

• One Man’s Story … And a River Runs Through It

  Thursday, August 18, 2022 By Joe Balog

  My job as a content builder takes me to new places all the time. I’m rarely in front of the camera anymore, instead concentrating my efforts on providing cool more

• Never A Lock

  Thursday, August 11, 2022 By Joe Balog

  With time running out, we’ve got a clear leader in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year competition. Brandon Palaniuk holds a 41-point edge with two events to fish. more

• Drip. Drip.

  Thursday, August 4, 2022 By Joe Balog

  I make it a point to tune in to most big-league bass tournaments, blasting a live broadcast on one computer while I work on the other. Office jobs are a bore and more

• ICAST 2022

  Thursday, July 28, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Last week found the bass fishing world at ICAST, the annual tackle show that showcases new items, reveals notable industry trends and hypes up just about everything. more

• The Last Frontier

  Thursday, July 21, 2022 By Joe Balog

  History was made last week when two anglers broke the 100-pound weight mark with bags exclusively composed of smallmouth bass at the Elite Series event on the more

• Sixth Sense

  Thursday, July 14, 2022

  "Go with the flow." I always thought that saying was a hippie thing. Turns out, it was coined in the 2nd century Roman Empire by Marcus Aurelius. more

• Guided By Fear Of Failure

  Friday, July 8, 2022 By Miles Burghoff

  I’ve been writing this column for BassFan for well over a decade now. In that time I’ve written about a multitude of successes, challenges and opportunities. more

• Modern Athlete

  Thursday, July 7, 2022 By Joe Balog

  “Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.” –Professional more

• Unstoppable

  Thursday, June 30, 2022 By Joe Balog

  The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win. The origination of this quote remains a mystery. I’ve seen it credited to Bear more

• Their Nets Began To Break

  Thursday, June 23, 2022 By Joe Balog

  It’s been a few years since I’ve interviewed Nick LeBrun. At the time, he was chasing down the Forrest Wood Cup, not long after posting an All-American win more

• Turnkey Operation

  Thursday, June 16, 2022

  It ain’t easy being a fishing guide. Romanticized by those who don’t understand, the job of a guide is anything but dreamy. Waking at ridiculous hours, fishing more

• Free Pass

  Thursday, June 9, 2022 By Joe Balog

  Automatic berth. That’s a popular phrase this week at the Bass Pro Tour event on Watts Bar lake. Unique to the BPT format, the auto berth allows winners of more

• Father Of Finesse, Vol. I

  Thursday, June 2, 2022 By Joe Balog

  “Oneness is a pursuit of perfection.” That's what Ned Kehde told me. You’ll recognize his name as the leading pioneer in today’s finesse craze, coined “Ned more