Current News

Daily Blog Archive January 2, through January 25th, 2009

January 25, 2009

I spent the day volunteering down in Fennville. It was a good day, and working with the kids there always makes me feel like a contributor.

I talked to Dandy Don a couple of times this week. He went with four other guys over to Standish to fish Saginaw Bay this past weekend. He said it was very disappointing. The five of them caught one walleye and five perch. It's the first time he's been over there and not done real well. This past weekend a strong front pushed through, and it just killed the bite. Don said he used his underwater camera and could see the fish come up to his bait and then just turn away.

My buddy, John Baker, is heading over to the Bay to try his walleye luck on Wednesday, tomorrow. Hopefully, he takes some pictures.

Bass Fan had a couple of articles that I read today that were interesting. The first article was about Jay Yelas . Yelas, an bass fishing icon for the last twenty years answers questions in a Q & A. He discusses his switch from Skeeter to Ranger, talks a little of his 22 years of tournament fishing, and makes his picks for the Bassmaster Classic. It's not a long read and has some interesting answers.

The other piece I read on Bass Fan concerned Dean Rojas. He's signed on with a new soft plastic company company called Big Bite Baits . The comment on Bass Fan talks about how Rojas has developed this new frog as a subsurface bait that can be used as trailer. Its claim to fame design prevents the bait from balling up on a hook set impeding hook penetration.

I also spent some time today on ESPN because the first Southern Open takes off on the Harris Chain in two days on the 29th. I fished some of that water a year ago, and what I remember most was the number and size of the alligators!

The weigh-in on the Harris Chain will be on Bassmaster.com starting at 3:00 pm ET on Thursday.

The other day I got an email from Herman Barry. Herman is a buddy of T. Cook. Tim and Herman came up and stayed at my cabin while they fished a tournament on Lake Cadillac, a tournament that they ended up winning. Anyway, Herman sent me some pictures he found. I'm not sure if it's somebody he knows or not. They show a couple of albino deer . Here they are.

Browning Trademark Deer

They look like true albinos.

According to Herman's email, these deer come in to a restaurant up around the Grayling area. I believe he said they have been coming in to eat for several years now.

Bill Brunner, my second day partner down on Cherokee Lake in the BFL Regional, has been sending me emails regularly. Today he sent me one that I am going to use as a parting shot for the day. It's a tad bit lengthier than most of the closing quotes I use, however, I think you will find it well worth the read. I also did a little research to verify the story, and its the real deal. Here it is. It's titled

"Kurtis the Stock Boy and Brenda the Checkout Girl."

"In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the loud speaker asking for a carry out at register four. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get some fresh air, and decided to answer the call. As he approached the check-out stand, a distant smile caught his eye. The new check-out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman, maybe 26, and he was 22 and in love.

Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at her card, Brenda. He walked out only to see her start walking up the road. Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work. She simply said it wasn't possible. He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn't afford a baby-sitter, so he offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday.

That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and canceled. To which Kurtis simply said, "Well, let's take the kids with us."

She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed. Finally Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had an older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic with Down Syndrome.

Kurtis asked Brenda, "I still don't understand why the kids can't come with us?" Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities - just like her first husband and father of her children had done. Kurtis was not ordinary, he had a different mindset.

That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids, went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything Kurtis would take care of him. When he needed to use the restroom, he picked him up out of his wheelchair and took him. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.

A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children. Since then, they have added several more kids.

So what happened to Kurtis the stock boy and Brenda the check-out girl? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Warner now live in Arizona, where he is currently employed as the quarterback of the National Football League Arizona Cardinals and will be playing the Steelers in this year's Super Bowl.

Is this a surprise ending or could you have guessed that he was not an ordinary person?

It should be noted that he also quarterbacked the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

He has also been the NFL's Most Valuable Player twice and the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player.

One last part of this story is that when Kurt and Brenda go out to eat with their now seven kids, he has one of his kids pick a family in the restaurant and then Kurt tells the wait staff he is picking up the tab for that family's dinner anonymously. He remembers the days he was working nights in the grocery store and feeding his family on food stamps. "

Great story right? I'm suddenly a Cardinals' fan.

Take care and have a great day.

January 24, 2009

Okay, I'm starting this Saturday morning out on a down note. Got up with the intention of watching fishing on ESPN2, and it was not on! Pre-empted by XGames and the Austrailian Open. Vesus, which is Channel 55 on my Comcast Cable, has fishing on, but I wanted to watch Zona and Bassmasters.

I had planned to watch Hook and Look and Bass Edge on Friday, but I decided to go in to work with my wife and help some kids. Working with kids on academics is what I'm good at, and the kids at her school are hurtin' buckaroos, who can use any extra attention they can get. That 1:1 time is invaluable to a struggling reader. The importance of early intervention, with a child who is having trouble, can't be emphasized enough .

With the economy in the tanks, more and more cuts are being made in education (as they have been for the last several years). Most people think that schools are rolling in the dough because of the lottery money. They don't know that the lottery money does go to education, but for each lottery dollar the schools get, the state takes out a dollar and puts it in the general fund. It's a government scam! They make the gambling look like it's a boon for education, but in actuality it goes into the general fund to grease their pet projects. If the lottery money was on top of what the state gives schools, amazing things could be done. Off the soap box and back to the blog.

Today I'm heading over to GVSU to watch them play Wayne State. The game starts at 3:00 pm. The ladies play before the men, so I usually try to get there early enough to watch their second half. It's a pretty cheap ticket to some good basketball.

Mr. Mast sent me ane email recently, and as usual, he had some good information to share. He gave me this Army Corp of Engineers site that gives you regular updates on Great Lakes water levels. Rick, being a very successful tournament angler, keeps up with this type of information to keep that competitive edge.

I was on Bass Fan today and was reading an article about the Texas "Share A Lunker" program. It's quite a deal in Texas. If you catch a bass over 13 lbs., you can enter it in the program. The state takes the fish then and uses it to get eggs from so they can rear that next generation of big bass with quality genes. The angler that catches the fish gets all kinds of attention and gear. Here's a link to the Share a Lunker program site. Check it out because it gives you a good list of dos and don'ts on how to handle and care for big fish.

Some anglers who keep these fish for photos, don't support the weight of the fish correctly and end up breaking the lower jaw of the fish. Then, even though they release the fish, it's doomed to a slow death.

Like many anglers, I have been intrigued by the catches coming out of Texas on Falcon and Amistad. I read as many of the articles that I can on these two exceptional bass fisheries. Here's another article that gives some specifics on catching fish on Falcon .

I've been reading several reports about Boyd Duckett and Mike Iaconelli signing sponsor deals, and pretty good ones at that, with LazerLures . The company is based in Lousianna, and with this year's Bassmaster Classic being down in Shreveport, they are making a move to set up a couple of anglers that they hope can win it and win it with their bait.

The lazer light only blinks when it gets activated in the water. If you check out the link above you can see how the bill of the bait lights up. They claim that you get about 80 hours of fishing time from the batteries. That's probably 79 hours more than I would have mine before I lost it on a snag or broke it off on some quagga shells.

I know Ike is now on their payroll, but according to what he wrote, he really feels that they may have a new wrinkle that in certain situations could give you the edge you need. Looks like I'm buying a few more crankbaits to go with the C-Flash, RC's, Sex Shads, and tons of Bandits I already have.

Well, I have the granddaughter spending the night, and she's still sleeping in. I'd better get ready though to fix her some waffles and then take her up to her favorite dollar store.

The parting shot of the day comes from Patrick McManus. He once said, "Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary." Take care and make sure you take some time for yourself to enjoy the day.

January 20, 2009

A memorable and historic day today! Dianne Feinstein called it, " ... a historic moment etching another line in the stone of history." I like our new president, and he gives me hope for better things to come. His calmness and eloquence draws me in to what he has to say. In many ways, during these stormy times, he's just what this country needs. It's my prayer that God keeps he and his family safe, and grants President Obama the powers needed to lead this country to its greater destiny.

I've been doing some reading and found a couple articles from Sunday's Grand Rapids Press, on " Quaggas taking over the Big Lake." Quaggas are a cousin of the zebra mussel. They look very similar with the Zebra's ridge being more prominent than the quagga's. Quagga's are about the size of a dime, and are tremendous filter feeders. They suck up and filter the life out of the Great Lakes at a rate of one liter of water a day per dime size mussel. There are estimated to be over 330 trillion quagga mussels on the floor of just Lake Michigan. They take the nutrients from the water and through their life processes these nutrients are transferred to the bottom of the lake. There are some fish species that eat the mussels, however, through their vacuuming of nutrients they have decreased prey species of fish by 94% since 1989. Smaller prey species are now at an all time low, and this has had a direct impact on the larger prey species, ie. salmon and whitefish whose numbers and size have similarly decreased. The data shows the average size salmon over the past ten years is down from 16 pounds to 12.

In 1989, when these exotic mussels were first discovered, there were 881 million pounds of prey fish. This year the experts estimated that there is only 46 million pounds. Definitely something to ponder. I'm glad my income doesn't depend on catching fish in the Great Lakes. In this economic environment, and with the status of exotics in our Great Lakes, charter boat captains have their work cut out for themselves.

I've been thinking about taking my reels off and sending them off to Dave Valentine so he can get them ready for next season for me. Dave does an outstanding job, and I recommend him highly. You can reach him at The Angler, 7430 S. SR 327, Hudson, IN 46747. He also has given me permission in the past to give you his email. It's devalentine@auburngear.com.

It seems that I'm not the only one here in Michigan trying to weather the winter, of maybe not a lifetime, but one like we haven't seen in probably 15 to 20 years. KVD, the Kalamazoo Kid, has also been whiling away time this winter preparing for his 2009 season. Here is an article that I found on the Bass Fishing Resource Guide that talks about "VanDam at Work in a Blizzard."

Just got sidetracked by a call from my son. His water is froze at his trailer he lives in. It's 10:30 pm, and I'm going to have to bundle up and dig my way under his trailer, then crawl around in the claustrophobic crawl space and see what I can do before the pipe breaks. Looks like this is going to end up a Wednesday blog entry.

Well, it's now 7:20 am and I'm back plugging away at what I hope will be today's blog entry. I got home last night around 1:45 am. My son and I got the frozen water pipe thawed and the water is running without any flooding. Whew!

Now, I am waiting for my wife to get ready so we can go to her school. I am helping out there this morning, covering for teachers who have to do some reading testing with their students.

Well I'm back again typing. My apologies for such a truncated blog.

Michigan State just lost and I did three miles on the treadmill and I have a few minutes to finally get this entry done.

A while back I hot linked an article on the blog about Stetson Blaylock. Stetson is the 2008 FLW Co-Angler of the Year. He's moving to the front of the boat in 2009, but after winning his $25,000 as the top co-angler on last year's FLW Tour, he sat down and wrote a couple of articles on what he feels a good co-angler has to do to win. Here's his second of a two part article entitled Blaylock's Back Deck Wisdom . I read both pieces, and felt he did a very nice job. Whether you fish in tournaments as a coangler or not, it's an interesting piece.

I ran across an article on Bass Zone talking about Aaron Martin's Bass Edge TV show. I listen to Aaron on my iPod often. He does a podcast that is free to subscribe to on iTunes that I've mentioned many times.

This week on Bass Edge TV Aaron is doing a show with JVD, Jonathan Van Dam, shot on Minnesota's Lake Vermillion. The show is on the Outdoor Channel, which I get, and I plan to watch on Friday at 2:30 pm right before Kim Sticker's "Hook and Look" show. Kim's show is on FSN though.

The PAA, Professional Anglers Association, is a group of professionals that are trying to start their own tour. The first event of the season was down in Florida on Lake Toho. Brian Snowden beat the likes of Todd Faircloth, Shaw Grigsby, and Steve Kennedy, on the final day to come from behind and take the win. Here's the article on How Snowden Got It Done In Florida .

After having spent those couple weeks down in Orlando last year I'd love to go back to Toho. Maybe that might have to be in the works for next year.

One recent little trip that I took that didn't involve any fishing, and only one stop at Cabelas, was a jaunt that the wife and I took a week ago to Chicago. We went to meet my middle son and his girlfriend for a weekend of kicking around the Windy City. Getting there proved pretty exciting, and down right harrowing.

Just south of St. Joseph we were in the midst of a white out that caused about a 30 car pile up. Fortunately, I had been thinking about just such an event and was on guard. I managed to get in between two semis just at the right time that were traveling slow. We came upon the accident scene and there were two crusiers already there with their gumballs on. When I stopped I immediately began to scan my mirrors. Almost immediately two semis came by in the other lane and both hit the median causing a huge cloud of snow. Another car was behind them and hit the semi cab in front of me. I eased over as far as I could and used the two semis as a shield. We watched another car leave the expressway and fly through the trees on our right and then a red truck hit the back end of the semi behind me hard enough to jack knife the semi. By then so many cars had stacked up that we were no longer in much danger of getting hit. I was afraid they would be closing down the expressway, so I eased passed the semi in front of me, and meandered through the tangle of cars and trucks. That was way too close for comfort. All I can say is that if you're going too fast you're going to get into trouble on our winter roads.

After checking in to our hotel in downtown Chicago and using some smelling salts to overcome my nausea after seeing that parking would be $48 a night, we headed downtown.

We roamed around the "Miracle Mile," and ate the first night at Gino's East. They specialize in Chicago deep dish pizza. The second night we ate at Ditka's and had a pricey meal, but a good one. Here's a few shots of some of the food and us at Gino's and Ditka's.

Some great pizzas at an historic old landmark.

Baby It Was Cold Outside

Ditka's Signature 20 oz. Porkchop

My Son With a Tasty Platter of Ribs

I had parmesan crusted chicken breast over grilled veggies.

We spent most of the day Saturday at the Museum of Science and Industry. I could literally spend a week there. It was fascinating. We had a great time with the kids. They are a great couple! Here's a picture of the two of them. Good looking kids huh!

Two super young people that make their parents very proud!

I had better put this blog entry to bed. I actually had two more bits to include, but there are other days. Too tired tonight to even look for a parting shot of the day quote. Suffice to say, take care and make time to enjoy your day.

January 17, 2009

Well, by now you have undoubtedly heard that B.A.S.S. has canceled three of it's 2009 tournaments and revised their 2009 tournament dollar payout. They did away with the Bay De Noc, Pickwick, and Lake Champlain events. Their move was obviously based on the economic condition of the country which has caused several sponsors to withdraw their support. With money as tight as it is, B.A.S.S. must have felt that to stay solvent, and keep a full field of anglers, that they had to go to this schedule. ESPN/Disney also took money out of the payout schedule for Angler of the Year and put it in the individual event payouts. By doing this, they keep pace with the FLW by continuing to pay $10,000 down to 50th place. If you're interested in reading some of the fallout concerning the schedule and payouts here is an article from Bass Zone and some information straight from the mouse at ESPN/Disney .

I have reported before, that Rick "The Cement Man" Skinner, Steve "Reno" Block, and myself had signed up for the Cold Water Clash up in Escanaba on Big Bay De Noc as B.A.S.S. Marshals. Needless to say, we were all quite disappointed when B.A.S.S. decided to cancel the event. I got my phone call from B.A.S.S. last Saturday as I was cruising Cabelas down in Indiana on my way to visit my son and is his beautiful girlfriend in Chicago. I had gotten wind of the downsizing of the schedule the preceding Thursday. As the news started to trickle out of unofficial sources, Pickwick was the only venue mentioned. The next day, Friday, the official announcement came from B.A.S.S.

When B.A.S.S. called to inform us of the decision, we were given the option of getting our money back or applying it toward another event. I chose to apply it toward the Decatur, AL event down on the Tennessee River at Wheeler. I have talked to B.A.S.S. a second time to try and get any information on the viability of gaining entry into that event at this later date. We were in the first 50 to sign up for the Cold Water Clash, so we were guaranteed to ride for three days. However, now that we have been bumped, there is no priority given and sign up continues to be on a first come first serve basis.

Gretchen, at B.A.S.S., told me that we should hear from tournament division in the next two weeks as to whether we made it in to the Wheeler event or not. Here's some pictures from down at Wheeler. Two are Don and I from Halloween day 2007 and two are from the Spring of 2007.

A rattletrap bass with the AL 72 Bridge in the background.

We caught these bass down toward the dam on Wheeler.

Looking east toward Decatur on the Tennessee

Anglers fishing a slough off of Wheeler.

While cruising the net I ran across this article from Barkley that discusses their attempts at camouflaging the new braided lines. Check out some pictures and their rationale for SpiderWire Camo and Code Red Braid .

While I was checking greatlakesbass.com I read an article on a "fizzing tool." When you can a bass from deep water, you need to deflate the swim bladder or risk losing the fish and incurring a dead fish penalty. Here is a tool that is sold for that purpose. Of course, unless you perform this procedure in the right way, you can end up killing your fish or causing damage that the fish may not recover from and become a delayed mortality statistic. Here is a set of instructions from Bends Mender that leads you through what to do for Fizzing Bass .

Just to get those springtime smallie juices going here is a short video with Joe Thomas and Jim Vitaro on some smallmouth fishing on Lake Erie .

Being Saturday, I have a few errands and jobs to do, and I want to get them done by 4:00 pm when the Spartans play. They play Illinois today, and it should be a good game. They're going for 11 wins in a row.

With the inauguration looming, I thought I would look up some quotes to use as the last word of the day from some of our past presidents. Here is one from John F. Kennedy. He once said, "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

Take care and have a good day.

January 6, 2009

A few days ago, I received an email from Dennis Cook the tournament director for the Tear Drop Bass Tournament Trail. He's put together a schedule for the 2009 bass fishing season.

May 31, 2009 - Hardy Pond

June 14, 2009 - Duck Lake

June 28, 2009 - Grand Traverse Bay

July 12, 2009 - Portage Lake

July 26, 2009 - Cadillac and Mitchell

August 9, 2009 - Hamlin Lake

August 30, 2009 - Host Tournament on Hamlin Lake

Sept. 12 & 13, 2009 - Classic on Long and Green Lake

If you have any questions about the schedule or specific tournaments you can contact Dennis at turfy@verizon.net.

I came across a new fishing website yesterday. It's Wired2Fish.com . It is a storefront type site with a number of very good vendors, one of which is a favorite of mine and of many here in the midwest, Poor Boy Baits . If you haven't tried their products, your missing out on some great lures. They are my go to baits for that tough drop shotting bite. Their gobies and darters are always tied on my dropshot rods when I'm on the East side fishing St. Clair and Erie. They will most certainly be in the boat when I trek up to Bays De Noc for the Elite Series Cold water Clash in July.

I was on greatlakesbass.com and was reading a thread that one of the forum members started entitled "Who is the best fisherman?" The thread started slowly and then it began to roll right along with discussion detailing who was the best jig fisherman, drop-shot aficionado, best east sider, west sider, pro, etc. Loe and behold whose name showed up several times, none other than Mr. Rick Mast. Rick has been on the blog several times with pictures of some of his fishing escapades.

Rick has quite a reputation for his fishing prowess and probably is best know for his work with the pig and jig. He and his nephew Aaron have taken a lot of West siders entry fees over the years. I've said it before on the blog, he's not only a good stick, but a nice guy. Who says nice guys finish last.

Going from who's the best to what's wrong with bass fishing is a segway to good to pass up, so I'll just jump to an article on Bass Fan that's gives a darn good summary on "What's Wrong With Bass Fishing." The article is by Chuck Medley. Chuck has posted before with Bass Fan. In this piece, he gives us his thoughts on where he feels we may have gone astray in our fishing of late. It's worth the read.

After digesting that article, you have to jump into a story about a bassman that seems to have the fish under his spell. A pretty entertaining You Tube video.

I was at the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop in Jenison today, and I was shooting the breeze with Bill, Grayson, Rick and his brother, and Walleye Jerry. We talked about the Lowrance seminar that the Outdoorsmen is hosting featuring Lance Valentine . The seminar, I believe, is going to be March 28th. It will cost $100 and lasts all day. It's limited to the first 25 signees.

I attended the workshop last year on my buddy John's advice. I remember being very skeptical that they could spend that much time, eight hours, just on the GPS part of the Lowrance. Well, we went well over 8 hours and no one left early, and many stayed late. It was very good. A lot of information.

Last year, Lance brought a 520 in for each two participants. They were networked, so you could actually go through all the steps right on the machine as he showed you different things. I'm thinking quite seriously about taking it again. If you go to the archive section of my blog, you can look back to last March. Once there, you should be able to see the pictures and write up I did on last year's seminar with Lance.

One last article before I close is one I read on Bass Zone. It was a good article about "Six Things to Watch on the 2009 Elite Series Schedule" . It probably should have been titled the "Five Reasons Why KVD will Repeat as AOY."

KVD admittedly doesn't have a stellar history in Florida despite his win last year. There won't be any Florida events, much to the Lane brothers chagrine, but that has to make Kevin happy. Also KVD is The Man on the Tennessee impoundments, and in 2009 the Elites will be fishing three or four events down there this year. I don't know how the Bays De Noc fish for KVD, but they are in Michigan, and that's got to be a plus for him, despite the fact that they are 400 miles from Kalamazoo. Give the article a read and see if you don't agree that it sets up pretty well for a Kalamazoo Kid repeat.

Before I close, I want to remind you all to sign yourself up, and your family and friends for that matter, for the FLW's 2009 Fantasy Fishing League . If you would like to sign up with our group, use this number -10569- and the password, Michigan. They give away a lot of prizes and I personally know a number, myself included, that won money last year.

The parting shot today comes from one of the all time great comedians, Red Skelton. He once said, "I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can find something to laugh about if you try hard enough." Take care and make sure you take time to enjoy your day, even if it's just for a few minutes.

January 2, 2009

Happy New Year all! Its my sincerest wish that the new year brings you better days. I'm a music freak more so than a fishing fanatic, so I love a good lyric. I usually try and steal them from time to time for my own use or to simply mull over. Toward that end, the Goo Goo Dolls song "Better Days" is usually on my Christmas CD that I put together for family and friends, and when you think about the year to come, you can't ask for much more or make it any simpler than just a chance for maybe better days.

One of the things that I've done this morning is spend another $10. I decided it was time to look up the new information on the 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing . Some of you may be on the league that we had for last year, and if you care to join this year, there is plenty of room. The FLW offers some serious cash, and truly anyone could be a winner even if you're not a bass angler or a serious follower of the tour. A number of people, including myself, won money last year. It's free so why not take a chance. You could win some serious cash. Use the link above and then to join our League. You need to sign in with this number, 10569 and this password, Michigan.

Last year it cost about $40 to get the player advantage, however this year they are only charging $10. I decided to bite and pay the ten spot, and I was really surprised to find all the information that's there once you spend the money. It not only will help you in your FLW Tour picks, but it also has quite a bit of general fishing information. I really like the lake profiles. If you decide to pay the $10, use this link to join and I get $2.00. Not much, but it will help pay for the site cost that I incur. Once you use the Fantasy Fishing Players Advantage Link to join, you'll get a link that you yourself can use to refer friends that will then generate two bucks for you. I don't feel bad at all hawking the service for FLW, because it really is worth the $10. It's easy to sell something to someone if you truly believe it has value. Think about it, but the clock is running, only 40 days until the first event. If you never tried Fantasy Fishing here is another article that explains it inside and out.

There are a couple of fishing shows that I think are worth watching that are on again this year. One of my favorites is Mark Zona's, "Worlds Greatest Fishing Show," on ESPN2 Saturday mornings at I believe 8:30 am. I like Zona, and consequently, I like his show.

Kim Stricker's Hook and Look is on the Versus Channel at 5 a.m. Tuesdays, 7:30 a.m. Wednesdays, and at 3 p.m. on Fridays. Because of the times that Sticker's show is on, I haven't seen many of them, but the ones I have would have to rank up there with the best informational TV fishing shows out there. His underwater photography really provides a very unique and informational perspective. I am going to program my cell phone to remind me of his show dates.

Another show that I haven't seen yet, but plan to, is Bass Edge . It's in its third season, and this year it will be on the Outdoor Network Thursdays at 8 a.m., Fridays at 9 p.m. and on Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. I really like their podcasts that they do, and I have always wanted to tune in to their TV show. Now it's on the Outdoor Channel, I can.

I guess that's going to be it for today. Not too much happening on the fishing sites. Most are probably off until Monday. The parting shot for today is a quote from Lenny LeBlanc. In one of his songs he sings, "Give a little joy to sorrow, say a prayer for tomorrow and remember it doesn't take much to make someone's day." Be safe and enjoy the day.