When you’re a pro angler with a tournament coming up and the bass are biting like crazy, one of the last things you want are any obstacles getting in the way. But for MLF bass pro Brian Latimer, that’s just how things went down. Before heading out to Pickwick Lake, he has two hurdles to clear: dialing in his tackle and tightening up his yard. Thankfully, he has two secret weapons to make his lawn cleanup marathon even easier—Exmark’s Lazer Z E-Series and Commercial 30 V-Series electric mower.
Three Problems, One Solution
As BLat explains it, he has three problems keeping him from fishing: His gear is a mess, his yard needs some serious love, and, worst of all, the fish are biting.
So, the only way to get to Pickwick guilt-free? Start working. He’s going to tackle the tackle and the lawn first—then hit the pond with his son, Brooks.
Organizing His Gear
Before heading out, Brian has some serious organizing to do. Not just with his fishing gear—but with his lawn, too. Because, when you’ve got a trip coming up, it always seems like your yard picks the worst moment to demand all your attention.
So, he gets a head start on reorganizing his tackle. He sorts his plastics, drops a few hard baits in the boat, and (most importantly) preps to spend some time on the water with his son, Brooks.
But first, he does a quick check on Brooks’ rig: a soft plastic tail paired with a Choppo Topwater. Then it’s back to the lawn.
Perfecting His Lawn
To kick off the lawn cleanup festivities, BLat fires up his new Commercial 30 V-Series mower—a 30-inch, lithium battery-powered mower from Exmark. Normally, he’d jump on his Lazer Z and start cutting, but this job requires something different. He’s working on “resetting” his warm-season lawn after a rough patch. Literally.
His yard has burned spots, patchy areas, and plenty of unwanted weeds creeping in. So he’s scalping it—or, cutting it as low as possible. It might not look all that great right away, but Brian says that’s not the point.
Cutting it really low helps remove dead, built-up debris and stimulates fresh growth, giving the lawn a clean slate. And, thanks to his new Commercial 30, he can use the bagger to keep clippings off the turf. Helping his lawn breathe while avoiding thatch buildup.
Dialing in the Height
While on the topic of mowing, BLat offers up some helpful mowing height advice—something a lot of homeowners tend to get wrong. He keeps it simple: match your mowing height to your grass type.
For warm-season grasses like Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede, and St. Augustine, he says to stay under three inches. For cool-season varieties, like Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass, go a tad taller—anywhere from three to four-and-a-half inches, especially during the late summer.
But the most important rule of mowing? The Rule of Thirds.
To make it easier for avid anglers to understand, he breaks out a plastic worm to demonstrate. He says to think of the worm as a blade of grass and then divide it into three parts. Taking some scissors and chopping off the top third, he says you don’t want to mow any more than one third of the lure (or, grass blade) off at a time. This helps keep the grass healthy and encourages it to grow back even stronger, preventing it from going into shock.
Fishing Time
Now that the lawn lesson is out of the way, it’s time to fish! Brian and Brooks hit up a nearby pond with light setups in hand. Brooks with an ultralight crankbait, and BLat with a mini rattle trap and 6’8” medium-light rod, which he says is closer to an ultralight.
Brooks hooks a fish quickly—but it puts up too much of a fight and breaks the line. But that doesn’t stop him. Before the day wraps, he gets his moment, finally reeling in his own to complement his dad’s small largemouth he caught earlier. Unfortunately, he isn’t quite as excited as Brian to get back to the house and wrap up his lawn cleanup before the sun sets.
