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Archived Blog From January 3rd - 31st

January 31, 2008

Have you logged on to the ESPN's Free Tackle Give Away yet today. There was a contest before the first of the year on their site for a new bass boat, and a gal from Michigan won it. If we keep logging on, maybe we can get some more Michiganders winning some freebies.

I don't know if you have been following the progress of the Stren anglers in Bainbridge, GA fishing Lake Seminole. Today was day 2 and after a weather plagued first day that brought weights way down, there were some big stringers brought to the scale. Here is the story from day 2 on the Lake Seminole Stren Series tournament.

Some of you Lake Erie anglers may have heard about, or maybe even seen, the phenomenon that occurred yesterday on Lake Erie. One of the rarest events that occurs on that body, or others for that matter, happened yesterday. Sustained winds of 50-70 mph out of the southwest pushed water to the Buffalo end of the lake raising the water level over 8 feet. This rare event is called a seiche. The seiche caused the water on the Toledo end of the lake to drop 5 feet in three hours. It was the second highest seiche ever recorded by the National Weather Service.

I mentioned a while back that the FLW is having an East/West fish off. The event takes place next week down in Texas on Lake Amistad. Bass Fan has an article on its site that discusses Derek Remitz's bid to repeat on Amistad in this unique Eastern Series vs. Western Series event. He hopes to put it to his West Coast opponent Zack Thompson and if he does he qualifies for the Forest Wood Cup in August. You know, that $2,000,000 fishing contest.

Remitz is one of several Bassmaster Elite anglers to also fish the FLW Eastern Series and that's how he qualified for the East/West fish off. It should be a fun tournament to follow next week.

Remember that tomorrow again they will have the live weigh in for the Stren Series Lake Seminole tourney at 3:00 pm ET. Tomorrow, they will make the cut to, I think, ten.

Spring turkeys permits have to be purchased by February 1. Time is definitely running out!

Bass Trix started all the commotion early this year with the hollow bodied swim bait, which is still out of stock in most if not all of the online tackle web pages. A number of companies are coming out with their own version and Tabu Tackle has a clone that is worthy of a long look.

Another reminder for those of you that have Saturday morning open. Matteson Marine is having an open house and a series of seminars. Randy Ramsey and Peter T. will be there for the bass guys and Mike Martin and Mark Brumbaugh will be there giving seminars for the walleye guys. I wonder if young Jonathan Van Dam may show up to give a few jabs to Peter T. who beat him just recently in that St. John's River event where JVD took third. Should be fun just to talk to Pete about that break out performance by the young Van Dam, and of course hear about how Peter T. came from behind to win it. If you're in the Grand Rapids area, and want to hook up for a ride, shoot me an email.

Still in a battle of the bulge here with my exercise routine. Didn't get on the treadmill today, but did work in the crunches and push ups. If your in it to lose it with me keep working.

As I have been typing I have been watching the Pistons and Laker game. Pistons just won on a three pointer with four seconds left by Tashon Prince. Koby had 39 points.

Here's another physical fitness parting shot from some Edward Stanley. He said, "Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." If you make some time to do some exercise today, you'll find the self satisfaction that comes from it which is a big step in enjoying your day. Take care.

January 30, 2008

Happy birthday Carol! It's my sister's birthday today. Our family has a bunch of birthdays this week. I'll be busy on the phone making those contacts that I know I always appreciate when I suffer with another year older reminder.

Wholly cow! That expression about if you don't like the weather wait an hour surely got overused last night. I drove to Holland about 7:30 pm, and it was in the 40s and by midnight it was about 15 degrees and snowin and blowin. A record number of school closing today, up around 520 in the area. When Grand Rapids Public closes, you know it's not very nice out.

I was suppose to sub today, but that fishing money is out the window with the winter weather. Oh well, it is January in Michigan.

Most of us check the weather each morning when we crawl out of bed either by the direct, look out the window approach, or by turning on the tube, or on the radio as we head to work. I hear tell that many people like ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" not so much for a weather fix, but to catch up on sports chat. I just read that Mike and Mike are going to be broadcasting live from Lake Hartwell from 6 am to 10 am ET Friday, February 22. There is some more information at this Ultimate Bass Website on the Mike and Mike show.

I logged on to register again today for ESPN's Free Tackle Give Away If they are going to give it away, I'll give it a try.

Not too much happening on the major fishing sites that I cruise before writing the blog. I did see that the FLW Stren Series opener on Lake Seminole in southwest Georgia, starts today. Last year the event was won by Greg Pugh flippin matts. The write up linked above talks about the unpredictability of a specific technique this time of year. Too many variables to predict which method will produce the winning pattern. Here's the other article article from the FLW site that discusses Lake Seminole.

The live weigh in will begin today at 3:00 pm ET. The tournament starts today and ends Saturday.

I talked to an angler/lure maker, by the name of Phil Schafer yesterday. He had emailed me after seeing the web page and then gave me a call to talk about the hair jigs he makes for smallmouth fishing. Maybe he read the blog post about how I plan to recommit to using a jig more this year. In any case, he's going to send me some of his baits to try, and I'll give you a report on how I do with them. When he mails them to me I'll take some digitals and give you a look at them.

Well, that's about it for today except that I got two miles in on the treadmill with crunches and push ups done as well. Are you in for getting into shape a bit for the upcoming season? Might as well. I'm off to the driveway with the snow blower.

Here's the parting shot for today. The author of this quote is unknown, but ain't it the truth. "If your dog's too fat, you're not getting enough exercise." Enjoy the day and don't drive if you don't have to.

January 28, 2008

Even though there is hard water everywhere, the fishing season begins to heat up as boat shows and marine owners open houses become more prevalent. This Saturday, Matteson Marine of Shelbyville is having its second annual fishing extravaganza. If you're interested in going there are some pretty big names on the bass fishing side and a couple of very good walleye guys as well. Here is a link for a map from your house to Matteson's.

Yesterday I ended the blog before I added a link to John Crews website. If you link to the site, it comes up with a number of short video c lips. I watched several of the videos that he has, and they are certainly worth a few minutes of your time.

One of my favorite features off the ESPN Bassmaster site is the "Smallmouth Guru" . He has another segment on his blog and if you haven't been following it, this link will allow you to go back through the blog to read all of his posts.

While I was checking out the Bassmaster site I found a link to a free tackle give away that I logged on to qualify for the give away. You can keep this link and sign in once a day to increase your chances of winning.

There are a number of sites that are now featuring anglers who will be fishing the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. One such featured angler is Gary Klein, who has made the Classic 26 times and has never come away with a win. He had the fish to win in one of his appearances, but got caught in a lock and couldn't get back in time. Here's a very good article about one of the greats in bass fishing, Gary Klein . In the "Dock Talk" section on the Bass Fan site, there is a blurb entitled Big Bronze In CA , and it talks about and shows a picture of a 9.3 lb. smallie. Now that's a big fish! It was caught on the same day another nine pounder during a local tournament. Got to get out to California for some of those monsters.

Right under that smallmouth piece on Bass Fan is a brief article that talks about Clay Dyer. If you haven't heard of Clay before, he is really an inspirational man. He was born without arms and legs and fishes professionally. He has just released his biography written by Scot Laney called "The View from Down Here is Just Fine" . Clay fishes the FLW tournaments and has since 2004. He has yet to cut a check in an event, but did I mention he fishes on his own without arms or legs!! Unbelievable dedication and courage! I plan on getting his book.

I have been toying with getting in shape or at least getting a little exercise for a number of weeks now. There are always the articles on the web after the first of the year with resolutions that focus on weight reduction and physical fitness. I use to jog regularly and ran a number of races from 10K to the Chicago Marathon. I never was a serious contender, but running is a sport that allows you to compete with yourself to constantly improve and run a personal best. After knee surgeries on both knees, I decided I wanted to be pain free and be able to walk my way into retirement so I switched to fishing.

The other day my wife commented that a lot of the TV pros looked like they hadn't missed a meal in a while. I'd have to put myself in that same category and need to work to shed some pounds and get in better shape. Maybe some of you are at that same point, and we can make some changes together. I plan on posting each day mileage from the treadmill and whatever else I work in ie. push ups, sit ups etc. By doing so it will help keep me "regular." So today I did two miles on the treadmill and in two different sessions totaled 80 crunches, and 60 push ups. What have you done today to help yourself get in better shape? No better day to start than today.

Time for the parting shot of the day. This quote comes from a fitness instructor Carol Welch, "Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states." Enjoy the day and consider trying to get in shape with me.

January 27, 2008

Man the month is slipping away like, "sand through the hour glass." I promise, I don't watch that show, but my mother always did and its still is on TV!

For all of you procrastinators, the time is nigh for hunting spring turkeys . If you want to apply for a turkey permit you need to do it in the next few days or your permit application window will slam shut. No turkey for you.

Well, "King Kenney, the Overlord of Okeechobee" hung on to the lead on Lake Okeechobee, his home lake, where his years of guiding there has garnered him the moniker King Kinney. In the article from FLW, Kinney attributed his win to having found a football field size depression on a large flat back in 2001 when the water on the Big O was also very low. The depression is just about a foot deeper than the surrounding flat, but it was enough of a difference to hold the bigger bites he needed to win. He claimed that most of the day his graph read .9 ft. deep as he made casts to the depression. Guiding on Okeechobee for as long as he has gave him the definite home lake advantage. For some, that home lake knowledge, has been a curse and for others it's been a boon, and for Kinney it has proven that knowledge is King!

Coming up directly for some FLW pros is going to be an East West showdown on Lake Amistad. It's a head to head match where the number one seed from each division fishes against the 30th seed in the other and so on down the line. There will also be 30 coanglers doing the same thing. There is an overall purse for the winner with the heaviest sack on the pro side of 25K and 5 K on the co side, but the real prize is that 30 winning pros and 30 coanglers will qualify for the $2,000,000 Forest Wood Cup in August.
It should be fun to watch and see how the heads up matches go. I tried to determine from the article if the two pros were in the same boat, but I don't think so, not with the coanglers involved. That would really be exciting if they were. It would be like the Ultimate Match Fishing, that Joe Thomas does on his show. I'll post reminders as this East vs. West duel draws closer.

After cruising the FLW pages, to see what was happening on their side of the coin, I did some flippin' through the Bassmaster site. There, I found a JVD article. I have already posted an article and picture of young Jonathon VanDam that discusses his third place finish on the St. John's River in Florida. (His buddy, Luke Gritter, went with him and finished 9th, but he doesn't have any famous relatives to command much ink. Not to downplay Jonathan's accomplishments, but it does help to have connections.) This article I found on Bassmaster is a bit different and has a very interesting and more detailed background piece on JVD. I think you will find it interesting. Here's the VanDam link .

Just an F.Y. I., here's the 2008 Elite Series schedule.

I was going to add one more article about John Crews, but I have been trying to figure how much is enough in terms of offering up articles for you all to read. Unless you're really board these three articles should quench that cabin fever bass fishing thirst.

With that said, here's the parting shot for today. With winter solidly entrenched and cabin fever working it's way up from mild to severe, here's a list of "Weather Facts" that may warm your heart a bit.

Weather Facts

At 60 degrees Californian's turn on the heat. People in Michigan plant gardens.

At 40 degrees Italian and English cars won't start. People in Michigan are driving with the windows down.

At 32 degrees distilled water freezes. The water in Lake Michigan gets thicker.

At 20 above zero, Californians are putting on thermal underwear and winter gear. In Michigan, people throw on a flannel shirt.

At 15 above, New York landlords finally turn up the heat. People in Michigan have the last cook out before it gets cold.

At zero degrees people in Southern California head for Mexico. People in Michigan are just getting our their winter coats.

At 10 below zero, Hollywood is no longer. In Michigan Girl Scouts are selling cookies door to door.

At 20 below zero, Washington runs out of hot air. People in Michigan are letting the dogs sleep in doors.

At 50 below zero, Santa abandons the North Pole. In Michigan folks are frustrated because the mini van won't start.

At 460 below, absolute zero, people in Michigan start saying..."Cold 'nough for ya?"

At 500 below zero, Hell freezes over and Michigan public schools have a two hour delay!

Enjoy the day, Spring's coming.

January 25, 2008

Another day in the salt mines today, so I'm late at getting an entry in today. I actually had a fun day, and they pay me to do it. After attending the Humminbird seminar, I need to work a bunch of days this winter if I even remotely consider a new side imaging unit.

One of the first things I did tonight was to check the FLW site to see who was leading after Day 3 on Okeechobee. J.T. Kinney hung on to the lead he posted yesterday with a much smaller 9 pound something bag of bass. The Big O was rough and muddy today with a cold front knocking the temps down to the low 50s. I know from experience that a cold front in Florida has a mega impact on the bass. However, 109 pros boated limits by moving to what they call the "Rim" Canal. Here's the article on today's catch and the list of the top ten pros who will be fishing tomorrow.

The material pumping the upcoming Bassmaster Classic is starting to fill up the various fishing web pages. The Classic is on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, and it's one of those deep clear lakes that can really be a challenge. One angler who feels he has an edge on Hartwell and feels confident that he has the strategies he needs for that body of water, is last year's Classic winner Boyd Duckett. Bass Fan is featuring an article by Duckett that will give you his take on the lake.

Another item that caught my eye on Bass Fan's site was a blurb about an upcoming episode of Bass Edge television which airs Saturday, January 26 at 7:30 am. For those of you who are not retired, and know what day of the week today is, you know that the show is on tomorrow morning. If you don't want to get up early and are going to be home the Tuesday following, the show will air again then. The show features Sean Hoernke, and follows him as he demonstrates how to approach large bodies of water, a.k.a. Lake Erie. They demo how to catch big smallies from deep off shore structure. Several features on the show focus in on, must know knots and a look at how zebra muscles and gobies are affecting our waters. I'm planning on watching this show.

I was checking out an article I saw on Dave Lefebre, an FLW pro I have been considering for my Fantasy Fishing League team. He was fishing a jig, and as I have said earlier, I plan to be sure I get back to more jig fishing this next year. He has been tossing a prototype bait that is not yet available from a company called Tabu Tackle . You just may want to check it out, that is if you're not fishing the Tear Drop or the BFL's this year, and if you are, don't bother looking.

Before I sign out tonight I thought I would pass along some information that I picked up on Dan Kimmel's site, Great Lakes Bass. Vince, a contributor on the site, relayed some information about crossing over into Canada when fishing St. Clair and Erie. You may or may not know that because of 911, they are tightening the border and in 2009 you will be required to carry a passport if you cross over into Canadian waters and then come back into US waters. Right now, if you do, it is a good idea to have your drivers license and a raised seal document like your birth certificate or voters registration card. Most times if you don't tie up to another boat, anchor, or touch Canadian soil your all right. If you do though, before you come back in to US waters you're required to call customs. For instance, if you are coming back in through Lake St. Clair or the St. Clair River the US Customs number to call is 810-985-9541 ext. #235. If you want more specific information, get in touch with Terry Ruff, Chief A-TCET, US Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection, 2321 Pine Grove Avenue, Port Huron, MI 48060, 810-985-9541, email at terry.ruff@dhs.gov .

To make this process simpler the Department of Homeland Security is working on a credit card size minor version of a passport for crossing into Canada and Mexico. The cards will contain information that can be scanned quickly and easily by officials. Check out the United States Passport Card site and get on their emailing list. Once you do, they will contact you when the system is in place so you can get your card.

The parting shot for today comes from Slammin' Sammy Snead. He once said, "The only reason I ever played golf in the first place was so I could afford to hunt and fish." Ain't that the truth for most of our us with day jobs. Sammy never had to worry about coming up with cash for side imaging units though, or he would still be playing golf! Enjoy the day!

January 24, 2008

Missed a good morning this morning by about 10 minutes, so good afternoon! Last night John, Hoogie and I went down to D & R Sports to one of their weekly FREE seminars. We listened to an hour presentation on the new side imagining sonar by Humminbird. When I talked about going yesterday I said I'd take notes and I did. However, if you have six minutes, go to the this Humminbird Link and click on "See Side Imaging in Action" and you will get an good introduction to what side imaging is. I should probably caution you first that this Humminbird unit is what you would call pricey. Here's a link to Cabella's where they have the top of the line Humminbird in the catalog. At the Cabella's link, you really don't get a feel for how large the screen is on that unit. If you mount it on the drivers side rail you would need a pretty fat girl, Don, or me to sit in the passenger seat to level the ride out. It's a big screen with great detail. Side imaging, without a doubt, will cause the other manufacturers to be scrambling for their own models. It gives you a realistic 3D view 240 ft. out both sides of the boat! For us low brow fisherman, it would be hard to rationalize the expense, but if you had one, it would certainly give you a distinct advantage. I guarantee you every pro will have one.

After watching the seminar we shopped around the store a while and I spotted JVD. Jonathan Van Dam was working in the store, and I talked to him a while about his recent third place finish in B.A.S.S. 's Southern Open on the St. John's River. JVD led after day 2 and fell to a third place finish on the final day as Peter T. came storming from behind with a huge sack to win it. JVD took home a nice $20,000 pay check. Not bad for a 19 year old in his first big pro event as a boater. Jonathan went down with a buddy whose name I believe is Luke Gritter who is also from Kalamazoo. Luke was fishing his first big pro tournament with the big boys finished a strong 9th place out of 197 pros! Two excellent finishes! I snapped a picture of JVD, and here he is working his day job.

The Newbie Jonathan Van Dam $20,000 Richer

FLW Series Eastern Division anglers are fishing the Big O, Lake Okeechobee in Clewiston, Florida. In fact, as I'm typing I'm listening to the live weigh in and J.T.Kinney just weighed in 23 lbs. to take the Day 2 lead with around 43 lbs. His coangler had a few ounces more to lead the coangler side with about 25 lbs. for two days. If you are in the the Fantasy Fishing League you may want to see how these FLW pros are doing as they warm up for the first FLW Tour event. The FLW has several levels of tournament anglers. The minor leagues start with the BFL's, then the Stren Series, bumping up a level is the FLW Series, and then the top level is the FLW Tour. A number of the top pros who fish the Tour are fishing this Series event to sharpen skills and to make a little more money before their season starts. Several of these anglers are probably on your FLW Fantasy team. You may want to refine your team based on how the anglers in this event are doing. Fishing is like most sports and when you are on a roll, the momentum often carries over to the next event. Confidence is everything. Tomorrow you can watch the live weigh in on FLW Live .

I talked to Don yesterday, and he told me that he was going to go down and fish the FLW Tour opener on Lake Toho with FLW pro Tony DeFilippo . Tony would make a great addition to your Fantasy team. A Michigan angler that has many friends here in Michigan. You won't be able to pick Don this time, because he's fishing as a coangler.

The February 28th, Toho tournament is the first Fantasy Fishing event. It takes place a little bit late in the bedding time frame for Florida. However, bedding fish are strongly affected by moon phases and that full moon triggers those big fish to move shallow. According to the moon phase chart Toho should be in a post spawn mode. This means there will probably be a few fish on beds, but most will be moving out of the shallows and hanging on those first drops. It will be fun to follow Tony and Don and root them on as they take a shot at the big money.

The parting shot today comes from an old English proverb, "In the morning be the first up, and in the evening last to go to bed, for they that sleep catch no fish." I doubt that the meaning of that quote is just for those that fish, but it is certainly true enough. Enjoy the day!

P.S. I'm still watching the FLW Live weigh in on the Big O. There have been several eight pounders weighed. Chad Grigsby just weighed in about 23 lbs. I also saw Ron Fazbiak, one of our Florida National Buddies, come across the stage. One of the coanglers lost his fifth fish at the boat when a big gator ate his bass before he could land it! That's Florida fishing. You never know if you are the angler or the bait.

January 22, 2008

Got up, got dressed, drove to work and found that no one was there... a snow day. Before I retired, someone called if there was a snow day. Now I'm just a sub and nobody calls. I learned the hard way that I had better check the television for snow days before leaving the house and that subs are really a dime a dozen.

I typically do turn on the news for a few minutes before I leave, but this morning, I wanted to upload to the internet last nights blog. In order to post to the web page, you have to access what is called a file transfer protocol, FTP. I use FETCH. You have to pay for the privilege, and once you do, you log on to their site and upload your pictures and information to your host. The typing is all in html language that gets assembled on your computer according to the coded information, from the web host, at lightning speed. It's really amazing how it all works. Doesn't really seem possible, but there it all is.

While trying to upload I found we didn't have internet. I tried to trouble shoot, but ran out of time and had to leave to get to school on time. Wasted trip caused by a faulty wireless router. Sixty-two dollars later we're back up and running.

While I was home Hoogie called and we set up a time to meet to drive down to D & R Sports for the electronics seminar. My buddy John and I will meet Hoogie at 4:30 and head toward Kalamazoo. I'll take notes and let you know what we learn.

If you've never been down to Randy VanDam's shop, you are missing out. Randy's brother, the infamous, KVD has his trophy plaques hung up around the shop. They are something to see. Besides the plaques, D&R really is an sports persons paradise. They have what hunters and anglers use. It's always a place you can spend time purusing the isles. With all the selection available it's really hard to leave without a lighter wallet.

As you probably already know, Jonathan Van Dam, Randy's son and KVD's nephew, came in third in the Bassmaster Southern Open on the St. John's River. Not bad for his first appearance as a boater. He fished several tournaments last year as a nonboater. JVD was said to have been catching a number of his St. John's fish on a crankbait. Taking a closer look at the bite on the St. John's, here is an article about how "Preston Clark Fished the St. John's River"

I have been corresponding with a company called Fin-tech . I started talking with them after I heard a podcast about their company. Checking out the web page I was intrigued by the design used in a number of their products. I really liked the design of their Nuckle Ball Jigs . It looks like I may be getting some of their product to test, and just maybe, I'll be added to their Pro Staff team. I'll keep you posted on what happens with that opportunity.

If you have been on Bass Fan's site you probably have seen the link which takes you to the Berkley website. It profiles anglers and different types of baits, like the jig. As I said yesterday, I plan on devoting more time to my jig fishing this coming year. Toward that end here is another article FLW Pro Tom Monsoor did on swimming a jig.

I was also looking at the Bass Zone site and reading an article about how, many of the more prominent pros, will be joining the prestigious "Millionaires Club" this year. It appears Tim Horton will be the first. The minimum you make fishing the Classic is $10,000 and very shortly he'll be in South Carolina with 50 other pros looking to join that multi zero club.

Our buddy Larry Coleman from Illinois emailed me asking about the ice fishing now that the deep freeze has settled back in. I really haven't checked on what the ice is like and will do that tomorrow. It did cause me to look back at some of my pictures from previous ice fishing outings. Here is a couple pictures of my current Tear Drop partner Ron Hicks. The first picture is at the beginning of the year on the ice jigging for walleye. The second picture is a shot of him later that year with the plaque he won in the State Championship on St. Clair where he qualified third on the State Team.

How A State Team Qualifier Starts His Year

Qualifying Third Overall For Michigan's State Team

The parting shot for today is a link to the website for those who think they have one of everything when it comes to lures. Check out the fish catchin' Miracle Fishin' Loors by Sven and Ole. Enjoy the day and look up Sven!

January 21, 2008

Retired and can't find the time to get a daily blog done on a regular basis. Go figure. I subbed today in my old building. I worked with third graders on a geometry benchmark that dealt with composing and decomposing geometric shapes. They had to determine how many equilateral triangles would fit in a hexagon and then how many rhombuses would fit etc. We also did similar exercises with squares and rectangles. I worked with some first graders on determining the importance of text while reviewing and dealing with various conventions in nonfiction texts. I'm sure you did all that by the time you were a third grader as well, right? I doubt it, I know I didn't. The requirements for kids these days are stiff. What schools are doing to teach reading, etc. is so much better than the "good ole days," but it is a ton of work. Asking one teacher to try to do this with 25 to 30 kids, is really asking one to do an almost impossible job. If you don't think so, put 25 kids in your living room and try to teach them all a new skill. Without some real management skills and curricular knowledge your goose would soon be cooked.

Dedicated teaching professionals do this every day despite the fact that school funding and programs are getting slashed year after year. We need to make sure educating children gets more of our attention and more of our state funds. Simply expecting more with less doesn't cut it!

I can't help myself sometimes and use this forum as a soap box of sorts. I have thrown my two cents in a couple of times and probably will a few more times. For now though, it's back to fishing related topics.

Wednesday, Matt and I are going down to D & R Sports for an "Electronics In-Depth seminar by Bryan Plenzler. Anybody interested in hooking up for a ride down with Matt and I, give me an email. I know Hoogie is working out a ton lately and eating right, but he's about to meet and ride with a "Parlour" veteran. The Parlour, just east of D & R has the best peanut butter sauce and the biggest ice cream sundaes around. A must stop on the way down. The seminar runs from 6:30 - 7:30.

Just recently, I read an article on smallmouth fishing by Joe Balog. He's an experienced St.Clair/Erie specialist and anything he writes, I'm reading. Check out Balog on Great Lakes Smallies .

One of my favorite lures has got to be a jig. There are years I find myself using it less and experimenting more with the newer techniques like shakey heads, or drop shotting, but the jig is a tried and true tournament winner. I plan on making sure I have one tied on regularly and get back to sticking pigs with the jig. Here's an article by pro Randy Howell that should get the jig juices flowing.

I have one other jig article that I recently read, but I'll save that one for tomorrow. I have to make things short and sweet tonight because I'm back with the little guys tomorrow. More geometry and conventions.

Two pretty good football games yesterday. New England was an odds on favorite over the sentimental Chargers, and I really would like to see if the Pats can take it all the way. So, when they won I was, I guess you could say, was okay with it. When Green Bay and the Giants played, .... well I like Farve. I was disappointed. It was a good game in horrific conditions. I thought when they won that coin toss in over time that destiny might be creeping in. Wrong. The third field goal was the charm. So the parting shot today is in honor of the cheese heads in Green Bay where the Packer Fans still cling to one of Vince Lombardi's quotes, "Winning isn't everything, ... it's the only thing." Tomorrow the sun will come up and more games will be played and maybe Brett will play one more year. Enjoy your day!

January 19, 2008

No frost on the pumpkin tonight. The ole jack-o-lantern is frozen solid! It's 7 degrees here and headed down to zero or below.

We need some of the weather our buddy Alan Earl experienced down in Islamorada, Florida just recently. He sent me an email and said he caught four sailfish, two dolphin and a king fish. He didn't send me any pictures of the fish though?? Here are a couple of the pictures he did send from The Outdoor Channel's Offshore Classic.

The Weapons At Hand

The Blue Water of the Keys

The Killer White Ride

Sitting out on the deck of a boat in 85 degree weather doesn't sound all bad right now. But, you'd have to remember the sun screen, get ice for your drink all the time, get salt stains in your favorite hat, etc. I guess I'll just stay here under a blanket and hope the wife hires the neighbor kid to shovel the drive.

It seems that the year is full of family dynasties. You have the Bush's, now Hillary is trying to establish the Clinton dynasty, and then there is the VanDams. Jonathan Van Dam was leading the Bassmaster Southern Open yesterday and looked very good going in to the final day today. However, he couldn't get any big fish today and Peter T. loaded the boat for a come from behind victory. Here's the St. John's River Southern Open story.

To add another byline to the St. John's story, I saw Jamie Laiche on the final weigh in sheet tied for 53rd. That's out of a 183 angler field. Jamie was one of the Federation Nation anglers that will be going to the Classic in February. Way to go Jamie!

On the ESPN site they have a video montage of the ten best catches of 2007. They're short little clips with several ads thrown in, but they are fun to watch as we wait for soft water here in the north country.

One of our old Tear Drop friends, Steve Wever, called me yesterday to say that he's selling his Pro Craft. If you're in the market for a nice boat this one is a beauty. It is one of the nicest looking boats around. It is a 21 ft. 2000 Pro Craft that has been garage kept, and for the past two seasons, hasn't been used but a hand full of times. It has a 225 Merc EFI, three bank onboard charger, dual axle trailer, in dash flasher with two Hummingbird graphs, etc. I am hoping to get Dennis Cook to go over to Steve's (They both live near one another in Ludington.) to take a couple of digital pictures. Steve didn't have any to send me. Steve is asking $18,800. If you're interested give him a call at 231-845-6483.

I know it is some times difficult to really believe Spring is coming when your nose hair freezes on the way to the mailbox, but if you want to hunt turkeys this spring you need to get your permit in by February 1.

Staying with the football theme as a prelude to tomorrows play offs here's a quote from Lou Holtz. "If you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough enough getting that boat to shore with everyone rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his jacket on." Enjoy the day!

January 18, 2008

Good afternoon! I hope you're doing better than I am today. I'm fighting one of those rotten winter colds. Clammy, runny nose, sore throat, and the just want to stay in bed type of motivational level.

I have been struggling with the Fantasy Fishing League page on the FLW site. It wouldn't let me select a roster for my team. Finally, I tried using a different browser. I'm a Mac user and always use Safari, but I tried using Firefox, and when I logged in with this browser, I was able to build the team without a hitch. Something about the platform I guess.

I did some research and compiled a list of anglers that looked like they had had several years on the tour, liked sight fishing, and have had decent finishes on Toho. Here's the list in no particular order: Joe Thomas, Dan Moorehead, Terry Seagraves, Jim Moynah, George Cochran, Andre Moore, Chad Morganthaler, Jacob Powroznik, Larry Nixon, Dave LeFebebre, Ron Shuffield, David Walker Greg Pugh, Chip Harrison Luke Claussen, Gary Yamamota, Bud Pruitt, Scott Martin, Ken Wick Glen Browne, and Matt Heren. My 10 member team came from this list.

This league forms differently than the Bassmaster's does. On their league, you get a base number of points. When you use them, upper echelon anglers cost more points. On this new FLW League, you can stack your roster with just the big names. There are always new guys beating out the old guys and vice versa so it will be fun to see how the various teams in the league do.

The FLW anglers should be hitting the Toho during the spawn, which would give the sight fisherman the edge. If they miss it early it will be a cranking, large plastic bite. My roster is stacked with sight fisherman so I hope the moon is full. ( I already checked and it isn't.)

I keep saying to myself that this winter I am going to sit down and try my hand at making some of my own lures. Pouring some jigs and or making some spinnerbaits. There is an article that just appeared on the FLW site that talks about making jigs at home . Maybe it will be provided the impetus to get me moving and trying to get a little inventive.

Bassmaster's Southern Open started today yesterday down in Florida on the St. Johns River. Chris Daniels stormed his way to the head of the pack and leads the field after day one by a little more than eight pounds. A huge lead when you look at the caliber of pros that are in the event. We'll have to see if Chris's pattern holds up. Here's the link to the live weigh in today at 3:20 ET.

Berkley usually announces its new lures for the coming year about a month before the Classic, which is right now, and Bass Fan has them featured on their site. Check out the new Berkley products for 2008. Some good looking stuff that I'm sure you're going to want to take a look at.

Our new buddy Larry Coleman, the Illinois champion we met down in Florida, is wanting to hunt wild boar and was asking if anyone has had an experience with the preserve called Bear Mountain ?

I just finished watching Kim Stricker's new show "Hook and Look." It's on three times a week. On Friday's, it airs at 3:00 pm on the Versus Network. You can also watch it on Tuesday at 5:00 am and Wednesday at 8:30 am. All times are EST. Today Kim was on Lake Ouachita with Mark Davis. Very interesting show. Next week they are going to be doing some filming of smallmouth. Could be the footage Kim shot up on Crystal. You may want to give it a look.

Sticking with the football, Super Bowl theme, the parting shot today comes from one Theodore Roosevelt. He made this point in a letter to his children, "I am delighted to have you play football. I believe in rough, manly sports. But I do not believe in them if they degenerate into the sole end of any one's existence. I don't want you to sacrifice standing well in your studies to any over-athleticism; and I need not tell you that character counts for a great deal more than either intellect or body in winning success in life. Athletic proficiency is a mighty good servant, and like so many other good servants, a mighty bad master." Enjoy the day.

January 16, 2008

Well, let me start out by saying I'm dead dog tired tonight, and I have to get up early and work tomorrow, so I'm probably going to make this a short entry.

Yesterday was the first day that you could work on your roster for your FLW Fantasy Fishing League roster. If you haven't signed up yet use the link and navigate to the Tear Drop Bass League and use the password "Michigan." You may need to use this number 10569 to sign in as well. They are hawking a service to help you with your pick that cost $40, but with a little elbow grease you can find out quite a bit about angler profiles. For instance, at Bassfan.com you can check out the FLW 2007 Angler of the Year list. Once on the list you can click on individual anglers and it will take you to a page which shows you the lakes that angler has fished and how they did. If you look for the first lake, which is Lake Toho, then you can glean some pretty good info for your roster. I'll be putting up more links that help you in building your fantasy team. Remember you can edit your list prior to each FLW event.

Now a little something near and dear to anyone who fishes for brown fish. Here is another entry in the Smallmouth Guru's blog. In this entry, he focusses on blade baits. It's a good read, especially if you're like me and always wanted to learn more about how to use those silver buddies.

Here are a couple of links that will help you take better care of your equipment. The first one is about a product that I have used for a couple years. They're called "Stick Jackets" . They are a heavy woven plastic socks the slide over your rods down to the reels. They are much heavier than the nylon type rod sacks. They are much more substantial than a nylon type sack and will protect your rod more out of your boat and laying in your buddy's pick up bed. They fit in your rod lockers as well, but if you always transport you rods in the rod locker then the nylon sacks work fine.

The next link is the first part of a two part article on organizing your tackle . Not a lot of new ideas here, but some good reminders of what we all should be doing so we're more efficient in our efforts maximizing our chances for success.

With the Super Bowl looming here is another parting shot from the football field. This one comes from MSU's Duffy Daugherty. Duff said, "Football isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport." Well put Duff! Enjoy the day!

January 14, 2008

One DVD down and one to go. I started the second DVD featuring the 2006 Federation Nation State Championship and the 2007 Northern Division Federation Nation Regional at Vermillion, Ohio. I don't have a lot of footage or pictures from the State Championship in Saginaw. It was a drizzling, windy couple of days, and I just didn't get many pictures. It's tough to fish and get pictures at the same time. When I get these three tournaments done I'll have the series for federation anglers almost complete. A trip to the Classic would finish it off, and I'm working on that. Any body interested in a trip to the Classic? Here's a couple of pictures from the State Championship.

Saginaw River Fish

2006 Federation Nation State Championship Team

They are still talking about the Stren Series tournament down in Zapata, Texas on Falcon Lake. Some phenomenal weights, breaking all the old records. In fact, the first three places all had more than the old record. Here is an article Bass Fan did on the event.

On stage, during the live weigh in a number of anglers made the comment that the fishing had been even better when they were down there practicing for the event between Christmas and New Years! Unbelievable!

While I was cruising on Bass Fan I read another article about the upcoming 2008 Elite Series . They too will be going to Falcon and the other Texas big bass factory, Amistad. The article was interesting and talked about a variety of things concerning the Elites. Can you guess which state has the most Elite Series anglers? You might, but I bet you won't guess the second. Can you guess within 10 lbs. what the lowest weight ever to win a three day Bassmaster event was? It was on the Harris Chain in Florida where Don and I recently fished. Out of 319 anglers, I bet you can't guess within 20 of how many 7 fish limits were caught over the three days? Here are the Tournament Stats for the 1992 Harris Chain event. Over 60 pro anglers blanked all three days and that's with a 12 inch size limit!

My young friend Zach, who works at Gander Mountain, sent me an email and said that the Gander Guide Series IM8 rods are on sale. They are normally $70 and are on sale for $40. I have a Guide Series spinning rod, and I really like it. I have heard that Gander really stands behind their rods if they break.

Time for the parting shot of the day. I'm going to continue with the football theme. I hate to pick on the poor Buckeyes, but.....Bob Hoying, an Ohio State Buckeye quarterback, said after winning a Big Ten title, " I'm really happy for Coach Cooper and the guys who've been around here for six or seven years, especially our seniors." You can probably bet for those seniors, that fourth grade was the best three years of their life." Enjoy the day!

January 12, 2008

My friend J.O.'s dad passed away this week, so I attended the funeral today with my buddy John and his wife. J.O.s dad, Bob was a long time angler who raised turkeys in Middleville.

For a number of years, when school ended in June, a group of us would go on a canoe adventure. We went up the the Boundary Waters and to Isle Royale several times. One year we decided to bring our dads. J.O.'s dad Bob came, as well as my dad, and Tom Burkman's dad. I posted a picture on the blog of our Isle Royale group a couple of months ago. We had a great time and enjoyed each others company. I still have many memories of my dad and I from that trip. I'm sure J.O. remembers that week with his dad as well. I know he has had many more experiences with his dad that he will be able to cherish in the years to come. Our condolences and prayers go out to J.O. and his family.

I hope you had a chance to watch the "Ice Video." If you haven't seen it be sure to click on the link above.

In a short while, there are two live weighins on the FLW site. One of the weighins is of the tournament on Falcon Lake in Texas. That weighin starts at 4 pm Central Time. The other weighin is in California at Lake Shasta . The Lake Shasta weigh in is at 4:00 Pacific Time. Both are FLW Stren Series events. Oops the Falcon Lake weighin is on right now. I'll be back.

I'm back. I watched the weigh in, and if you did too, all I can say is, "Can you believe that!" They weighed in over 30 bass that were 10 pounds plus during the four days of the tournament! It took 70 lbs. to make the final cut! Big bass was 12 lbs. and some ounces. Guys said they were throwing back numbers of four pounders, catching 15-25 keepers a day. Sounds like I had better throw the dream trip to Lake Fork out the window and concentrate the dream on Falcon Lake in Texas. Tomorrow or Monday they ought to have the wrap up article done. It should be a good one. What an amazing fishery.

I actually didn't get to see the last couple of anglers weigh in because I went to the GVSU basketball game with my buddy John. The undefeated Lakers played Ferris State. Grand Valley clobbered them by about 30 points.

I see MSU lost to Iowa and only could manage 36 points. What's up with that! I'm a tad bit upset about the whole Big Ten thing since most of the games are not televised unless you have the Dish Network and the Big Ten Network on it. MSU is a public university and you have to "dish out" dollars to a predatory marketing program called the Big Ten Network. In my opinion the whole thing stinks!

There was another Stren event that ended today out in California. There is a great story coming out of that tournament as well. Matt Beller, a disabled Marine veteran, signed up for the tournament at 6:30 the night before. He faced some very tough conditions and had a yoyo 4 day run, but ended up winning it from the passenger seat. Quite inspirational, so make sure you take time to read the Matt Beller Lake Shasta story.

I have watched many a fishing program and read a number of articles that have dealt with tournaments that are fished on tidal water. I doubt that I'll ever get to a place where I have to worry about tidal schedules, but nonetheless it intrigues me. Here is a pretty good article on Rolling with the Tide .

It's 1:00 am, getting a tad bit late, but I'm waiting up to hear from my number two son. He is flying back home to Lake Tahoe from Denver, where he spent a week visiting his girlfriend and her family. He should be arriving in Reno pretty soon and I asked him to call me as he drives from Reno up to Tahoe. It is time though for the parting shot of the day. With the football season winding down to Super Bowl time, I had to dig out one of my favorite Dick Butkus quotes. I have used it once before on the blog, but here it comes again. Butkus said, "I'm not so mean. I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something." Da Bears! Enjoy the day!

January 11, 2008

Good morning! I ran across a video clip on Great Lakes Bass. I didn't waste any time getting to the blog after I saw it. It's one of those really good informational news clips that every member of your family should sit down and watch. It is a must for anyone who lives in a cold clime where there is water and ice. If there is ice covering a pond or lake, someone, sometime will go through it. If it's you, you better have the knowledge that just may save your life. Make sure you watch this Life Saving Video!

We have a lot of fun out on the ice, but you better make sure you never take things in "Mother Natures" world lightly. Here's a couple of pictures of one of our favorite ice fishing spots introduced to us by Sensei Steve, a.k.a. Rico. A short distance from this spot, on two separate occasions, Steve has pulled people out of the lake! There is a section of the lake that has numerous springs and the ice never really gets thick there. When they went through the rest of the lake had over 20 inches of ice on it.

Out on some "safe" ice.

A nice northwest corner walleye!

This hot tip, or maybe it's the cold tip theme, reminded me of a page I found on Ultimate Bass's they were announcing the winners of their fishing tip contest . These kinds of tips, ideas, etc. are always a favorite of mine. Many different publications print them, and there is always some great, "Why didn't I think of that!" ideas.

If you haven't read about the FLW's new Fantasy Fishing League, you need to give it a minute or two of your time. You really don't need to be a fishing geek, like many of us are, to enjoy the league. You pick a team, after looking at a roster, and then see how you do when they fish a given scheduled tournament. You can look up all the statistics you like on the internet or just go with your hunches. So, give it a shot. You may just win some real hard cash. How does $5,000,000 sound! Check it out at Fantasy Fishing League . Sign in to our Tear Drop Bass League. The password is Michigan and the number you may need to sign in with is 10569. If you have any problems or questions, you can email me. You won't be able to do anything except sign up now. Starting January 15th you will be able to work on your team.

To help people get to know the FLW pros I'll try and put up some info pages periodically. Here is an article toward that end, about the FLW National Guard Team . One last item is that Kim Stricker's new show "Hook and Look" on the Versus Network is rebroadcasted Fridays, at 3:30 pm. It has been getting rave reviews!

Time for the parting shot , and it comes from the author of Calvin and Hobbs, Bill Waterson, "I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood." Shake the mood and let the sunshine in, one way or another, and enjoy the day!

January 10, 2008

Hey! Looks like this blog is getting to be an every other day daily blog. I must admit there seems to be less on the net during the winter when it comes to fishing, however it's starting to pick up.

I talked to Don yesterday, and he informed me that he was picking up a new hobby, predator hunting. He bought himself a remote control decoy/call and he's out looking at flat shooting rifles now.

The first time he took his decoy out he had a coyote come in right away. Of course, he hadn't taken a rifle. The next time out he had the rifle, but no coyote. With the coyote population quite high in his area, it shouldn't take him long to bag a varmit and have a pelt.

Don also told me that he is also in the market for a pool table, so if you have one you want to sell or somebody that does give him a holler or me an email.

I told him that I would keep an eye out on Craig's List for a table. I see them on there all the time. If you are not familiar with the site, it is one that you will find yourself addicted to once you start frequenting it. It is a form of eBay, but local. It's an online garage sale of sorts. People post items they want to sell, and you simply email them and make arrangements concerning price and pick up. It's a very user friendly site. I have set the link to open up at the list of Michigan cities that have a Craig's List. Click on the city closest to you and then check out the site. I know people who use Craig's List to look for Florida rentals for vacations. I have used it to look at rentals in Tahoe as well. Lots of prospects.

Under the "For Sale" area there are lots of categories and I have bought furniture, washers and dryers, electronics, household items, sporting goods, and more. I have found some really good deals. I sent Dandy Don the ads for three pool tables from the list. Check it out, but I warn you it's addictive.

A few days back, I had the pictures that Rick Mast sent me about his fishing outing on Hardy, New Year's Day. Since then, he emailed me back saying they went out again, after the warmer weather hit, and caught some more walleyes. Looking at those pictures makes me shiver a bit and reminds me of the times I've sat on a bucket on the ice jigging for walleyes and panfish. It is a bit dangerous fishing when the water temps are low, so it behooves us all to read an article or two on cold weather fishing now and again. We almost lost one of our buddies in the Cadillac area, Ray Dillon, one year when he flipped a boat in November. Things can happen fast, and that cold water literally becomes a killer. Here's an article from Ultimate Bass that talks about things you should have on board in cold weather. Make sure you read it. It has some good reminders.

Another site I found on my rounds today had an article from the Coast Guard entitled "Vessel Safety Check." Those of us here in Michigan often find ourselves on Great Lakes connective waters, and if you haven't ever read about what you should have on your boat when you do, you may be surprised.

If you fish St. Clair or Erie, it looks like they are putting off yet for another year the need for a passport. Right now it is wise to be sure you carry along with your driver's license, a copy of your birth certificate. You may not have plans of touching Canadian soil on your trip, but you never know when you may have to stop for gas or have a breakdown.

I got an email today from Larry Coleman, the Illinois B.A.S.S. Federation Champion. I sent him a copy of the Florida DVD. Larry was a ton of fun down in Florida. He's always ready to fish and have a good time. Here's a couple of pictures of him from down at the Vermillion Northern Regional.

Larry cutting it up with Mr. Scott

Larry out on Lake Erie

As I mentioned earlier, the fishing lines both prose and mono are getting spooled for the coming season. There was an article about a Bass Champs tournament this coming weekend down in Texas on Lake Amistad. I don't know about you, but I would love to go down to Texas and fish Lake Fork, Amistad, and several others. Maybe some of those lotto tickets will finally hit for me. I won $10,000 once, so it can happen, and I hope again soon! Here's Bryan Velvick's article on Lake Amistad . Check out the date on the article, talk about recent.

The parting shot for today is from one of Don's emails. He sent me a video clip of Uncle Ted Nugent being interviewed on gun control by Texas Monthly. Uncle Ted, even though he tends to get a little too right wing at times, can be very articulate. Enjoy the day!

January 8, 2008

Hey! A wet and dreary day here in southwest Michigan. The weather unseasonably global warmingly mild for January. It was 65 Monday! Unbelievable! It won't be long and we'll be planting Florida strain bass in our northern lakes.

I got an email today from Sheron "Big Show" Brown, one of our buddies from down at the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation National Championship. He sent his address so I could send him my Florida DVD. I think he will enjoy it and find it a nice intro to the ESPN coverage of the event that's coming up mid February.

I also received an email yesterday from another of our Florida friends, Alan Earl. Alan has been hunting for deer in Georgia and Alabama and is now down in Islamorada, Florida to fish the Outdoor Channel's Offshore Classic. Sounds like Alan the "Duke" of Earl is living the high life this winter. I hope he sends some pictures so we can post them on the blog.

When I was teaching, I would on occasion talk about fishing. Several years ago I had some sixth graders that were very interested in the outdoors and fishing in particular. There were several of them that would get together with me and attend fishing seminars etc. One of the boys lived on a local gravel pit lake, and at the end of the school year, he and his family invited our group over for a cookout and a fishing tournament. The event turned into an annual event and has continued for six years, and will hopefully continue on for many more. The boys all graduated this year and two of them went into the military. I hear from the guys through the year, and I see one of the guys Zach a little more than the others, because he works at Gander Mountain, one of my frequent haunts. Zach emailed me several pictures from a recent 2008 trip up on the Manistee River. Here they are.

A Skipper out of the Manistee

Tanner's 2008 New Year Steelhead

A Beautiful Northwest Corner Brown

Some nice fish to be sure by a couple of Lakers, from GVSU! Keep the pictures coming guys and keep hitting those books!

Hoogie called me today and talked about going down to one of the seminars at D & R Sports in Kalamazoo. There are several topics on their seminar list that look good. We're thinking about the one on using your electronics on the 23rd. Check them out, they are usually well done and it's an excuse to stop at "The Parlour" a restaurant just east of D&R that has the best ice cream around. If you're ever near, stop and try their peanut butter sauce on some ice cream. If you have room they have good sandwiches as well.

I got an email that Bass Pro Shops sent around about their 50% off sale . I took a look at it and there look to be some buys if you were in the market for a new reel or need to pick up some crankbaits, etc.

I saw on the D&R seminar list that Randy Van Dam is doing a seminar on swimbaits. I read a post by TCook on GLB that directed people to a set of video clips by a guy named Butch who was catching some big, and I mean big Californian bass. Check the videos out.

I know we're 8 days in to the New Year and it's a little late for resolutions, but I found a list of them that I am going to use for the parting shot for today. Here is a set of New Year's Resolutions highlighting one for each month of the new year. Enjoy the day!

January 6, 2008

Rainy days and Sundays ... and who would have thought that the first week of January would find us in a cloudy, foggy, rainy, 50 degree day.

Brent Vawter got back to me several days ago with some more details about their December hunting trip down in Texas. A few days back I posted a picture of him and his hog. It was a lot of bacon on the hoof, but Brent said he saw one that was probably another hundred pounds bigger that was too far away for a good shot. He was using a 7mm and was hunting just south of San Antonio. His dad has a corn spreader that he tows behind the truck. It has an electrical cord that plugs into the cigarette lighter and when powered up tosses corn as they drive down the sendaros (openings that have been cut in the brush). The guys hunted from a portable ground blind and several elevated blinds. The three Vawter boys all got deer, although I don't have a picture of Bryan's. The only one to get a hog was Brent and he got two hogs. They brought back a bunch of pork chops and left the rest of the meat down with their dad to have sausage and hot sticks made out of it. Here are the pictures of Brad and Brent's deer.

Brent's Texas Buck

Brad's Texas Buck

I thought I would beat up the crank bait theme a little longer so I dug up a couple pretty good articles that are short reads. This first one is by John Crews , and it focusses on a crankbait he designed with Spro called the "Little John."

The second article is by on of the most respected and talented anglers of all time, Mr. Rick Clunn . Rick talks about fishing smallies with crankbaits using the RC 1.5 DD which he helped design with Lucky Craft.

The parting shot for today comes from an email that Dandy Don sent me. It dovetails well with the shot from the last blog entry. Again, its author is unknown. "Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach a person to use the internet and they won't bother you for weeks." Enjoy the day!

January 4, 2008

It's 11:42 pm and I'm listening to my iTunes Top 25 most played songs. I secretly would love to have had a career in music if only I could have had a little talent. I do like the music loud, and I am a bit of an eclectic when it comes to music taste. Songs on the list are from Five For Fighting, Goo Goo Dolls, Train, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Nickelback, Jack Johnson, Lifehouse, John Mayer, Snow Patrol, etc. Country, metal, alternative, rock, folk, and throw in a bit of Andrea Bocelli and you have my attention.

Well enough about the tunes. Today I started off by running down to the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop to get my name on the list for their seminar on using your GPS unit on March 29th. It's an all day seminar and GPS units will be provided to work on. The seminar is being taught by Lance Valentine. (I saw Lance's name on the list of presenters for the Ultimate Fishing Show in Novi next weekend.) There is a $75 fee for the workshop. Lunch is provided.

While I was there talking with Nate and Grayson, I got a chance to meet Rick. For now, I'll just use his first name, but if you fish bass and frequent the Outdoorsman you already know who were talking about. Rick and several members of his extended family are real sticks in this area. Rick was telling me he regularly volunteers in the Fishing With the Pros event up in Traverse City each year. Dandy Don Fowler and Tony DeFilippo are a couple guys that I know that also fish up there. Don of course was the Michigan Champion fishing this past November in the Federation Nation Nationals in Florida on Toho. Tony has been fishing the FLW events the last couple of years.

Rick and I talked quite a while. He was saying that he's been catching walleye in his bass boat out on Hardy just recently. In fact, he was out New Year's Eve breaking ice. He said it took them about four hours for he and his buddy to get a limit of walleye. Check these pictures out.

It takes a "Hardy" soul!

Rick's New Year's Eve Walleyes

There wasn't much open water where Rick and his brother fished New Year's Eve and it has now closed up. With the warm up that's forecasted, they're looking to get back out as early as Sunday. Thanks for the pictures Rick and keep them coming.

Now that's some cold bass boating! Our weather though has not been as severe as the weather my son is getting out in Tahoe. They have a blizzard out there that is forecasted to dump 10-12 feet of snow over the next few days. My son has a flight out of Reno tomorrow, but it doesn't look good that it will actually leave or that he can get there if it does. The winds over the passes last night were in excess of 120 mph! They're suppose to subside tonight to a measly 85 mph. Lake Tahoe doesn't ever freeze because it's so deep, but I would bet there are none of those Californians out there catching fish in there bass boats like the tough West Michigan anglers are.

After leaving the Outdoorsmen, I went to the post office to check out packaging to send out DVDs. I am f i n a l l y mailing them out today.

I had to cancel the trip tomorrow with my buddy John who's attending the Michigan Fisheries Seminar in Ludington. Just can't make it. I'll have to pump him for information so we can get the scoop on what the DNR and the Feds are up to.

I did spend some time perusing the fishing websites and have the follow up crankbait article that I had on yesterday from Bass Fan. Here's the second part of that crankbaiting article The article talks about Rick Clunn's RC baits that Lucky Craft has made. On Toho, when we were down for the Nationals, Jamie Laiche, who is going to the Classic, used a RC 1.5 to catch several of his bigger fish. Don and I each bought one on the way down to Florida, but I don't know if Don threw his or not.

When it comes to hardbaits a big name in the business that does a lot of custom work is Brian Bees . Another specialty hard bait site is Hughes Custom Painted Baits . These are a couple of sites that you may want to check out to get some custom, one of a kind, type baits to catch those big ones on this coming season, or if you're ridin' with Rick maybe you can use them this Sunday on his Champ as he's busting ice.

Just took a break and called my son out in Tahoe. I was a little worried after watching the weather channel reports. Not to worry though, because he's out with his friends on the neighborhood streets snowboarding and sliding and enjoying the blizzard. He said it is really dumping, but if you're not driving and you have the snow gear on, you're okay. He's just a few blocks away from Lake Tahoe, but everything away from the lake goes up. His neighborhood is built on the side of the mountain and has some pretty steep areas.

Well it's 1:08 am and I want to get up to watch fishing shows tomorrow so I had better throw out the parting shot for tonight. "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish." I don't really know what it means, but it sounds like something an ardent fisherman may do. By the way the source claims that the author of the quote is unknown. Enjoy your Saturday and remember the Spartans play at 8:00 pm.

January 3, 2008

If I hurry, I can make this a good morning entry. It's 11:05, and to be truthful I slept in this morning until 9:30. I was up though until 2:00 am working on the covers for the DVDs that I'm sending out to our friends we met down at the Florida B.A.S.S. National Championship. My promise of sending them a DVD is about to reach fruition. My last hurdle is to get the yellow ink cartridge for the printer replaced so I can make the covers. I think they'll like them. A lot of memories packed into an hour DVD. I know have been watching pieces of it everyday, and haven't tired of it yet. Once the National DVD gets mailed, I have to work on getting the stills and video from the Saginaw B.A.S.S. State Championship and the Northern Regional at Vermillion put together. I don't have as much video, etc. for those two events so it should go faster.

As you can see, I have broken the Blog here and have started the new month and year. And, because I won't have my son available to help me reset the website for a couple weeks, (He's off in a couple of days to fly down to meet his girlfriend's parents in Colorado.) I am putting the tentative Tear Drop 2008 Trackn' Trail Tournament Series schedule up again.

2008 Tear Drop Tournament Trail Tentative Schedule

May 25th Cadillac/Mitchell

June 22nd Crystal Lake

July 6th Manistee Lake

July 27th Portage Lake

August 3rd Green Lake

August 31st Hamlin Lake

Sept. 20 & 21st Classic Weekend on Duck and Long Lakes

Host Tournament June 29th Cadillac & Mitchell

Coming up this weekend, is a Great Lakes Fisheries Workshop presented by the MSU Extension Service that I went to last year up in Ludington. They have a day long conference that is attended by primarily Charter Boat Captains concerning fishing in the Great Lakes. Last year they had speakers talk about bio diesel, VHS virus, cormorants, new exotics, gill netting, etc. Most of the speakers were from the DNR in one capacity or another. I will be attending again with my buddy John and a mutual friend Bruce on Saturday, January 5th. It cost $20 and is held at the Ramada Inn, right off the US 31 Expressway exit. Lunch is included, and I found it was a good way to spend a Saturday. I'll definitely take notes and report back on the Blog.

Also coming up fast is the Ultimate Fishing Show in Novi, which is near Detroit. You can get door to door directions on the Showspan website that I linked here. Let me know if you're going down. I may be able to hook you up with a ticket. I hope to go down myself on one of the days so maybe we can car pool from the west side. I see where KVD, Kim Sticker, Gary Gostenik, and a host of others are going to be there. I also read where Jason Frolenko, an old Tear Drop competitor, will be there presenting.

I did some of my usual cruising of all the major fishing pages and read several articles. There seemed to be a focus on cranking so here is a link to an article on the resurgence of square bill crankbaits . From that article, I jumped over to read another one off Bassdozer called "Classic Crankbaits . They were both good reads.

I would like to again mention that I have started an FLW Fantasy Fishing League . The FLW is pumping some $ into what can be a fun way to spend some off duty time. You might as well take advantage of it by joining the league. You simply pick 10 anglers before each FLW event from their list of rostered anglers and depending on how they do you earn points. The Tear Drop Bass League's password is Michigan and the league number is 10569. If you have a problem signing up give me a shout.

Well, the Vawter Boys are back from another of their big adventures. You may recall that they headed down to Texas to see their dad, Nick. Nick is a long time friend, a long time Tear Drop angler, and an avid outdoorsman, so these boys don't fall far from the treestand. They hunted whitetail and hogs down in the Lone Star State. Brent relayed that they had some flight delays that weren't very fun and left them sitting around on the tarmac eating peanuts way too long. Once they finally got down there, they had a three hour truck ride to where they hunted. He didn't say what part of Texas, so I'll try and pull more of the details out of him and fill you in tomorrow. They all shot, what they called mediocre deer for Texas, but to me they looked like great bucks! One of the hogs that Brent shot was a hoss at over 250 lbs!! Here's a picture of the brute. I'll put the deer up as soon as I get some more details from Brent.

Now that's some pig!

The pig reminded me of the joke about a farmer that had just bought a farm and was driving home one night and slammed on the brakes as a pig with three legs ran across the road in front of him heading toward his neighbors. Intrigued by a three legged pig, he took the opportunity the next day as a way to meet his new neighbor. After they greeted one another, the the new neighbor asked about the pig. The farmer simply said, "That's some pig all right! The new neighbor asked about how it came to be that he had three legs. The farmer said that one day while plowing his field he hit a large rock and flipped the tractor over on him, pinning him in the mud. He was struggling to breathe when he felt someone digging him out, and to his surprise, turned out to be the pig digging up the ground around the farmer. The farmer again said, "Yep, that's some pig!" The neighbor still curious about it being three legged asked again saying, "Yes I can see it is a pretty special animal saving your life like that, but it still doesn't explain how it got three legs." The farmer began again, "Well one night my family and I were sleeping and I was awakened by a banging at the front door. I arose to find the house full of smoke and on fire. We were able to get everyone out safely because that pig had pawed at the door of the house alerting us to the danger. He is some pig!" The neighbor again chimed, "I agree a pig that saves your life twice is some kind of animal, but it still doesn't explain the missing leg. The farmer simply replied, "Well, with a pig like that you just don't want to eat him all at once!"

That will have to suffice as the parting shot of the day. I hope you make time to enjoy your day!