Archived Blog Entries
Archived Blog From July 1 through July 31st, 2008
A Year of Archived Blog Entries - May 07 through May of 08
July 31, 2008
I didn't do a blog entry yesterday so that I could spend time getting the Tear Drop Tournament Trail article done on Portage Lake. It's now up on the main page under "2008 Articles."
Most of the buzz on the bass sites concerns today's contest on Lake Erie. The B.A.S.S. Empire Chase contest out of Buffalo, New York took off this morning at 8:00 am. The AOY title is definitely on the line and KVD and Todd Faircloth are going to battle it out. However, if you followed what happened in the FLW AOY race you saw where Lake Erie took the favorites for the title out of the running and a sleeper David Dudley came along and stole it.
The Elites do have one more event that follows this one on Lake Oneida so not all the marbles will be on the table here on Erie, but it just may very well solidify someone's bid for the $200,000 Toyota Title. The weigh-in will be at 5:00 pm ET and you can view it using this live link: Streaming Video the Empire Chase Weigh-in . Here is one more article from Bass Fan , that gets into a little more detail on the event preview. I guess you can't miss the Bass Zone video preview at Erie either. Jeffries and Allen are always fun to listen to.
Yesterday, in the Grand Rapids Press, on the front page, was a picture of one of my former sixth grade students holding up a big walleye. It was Josh Vanderweide, and he had just won the Bays de Noc FLW Tour season finale and took home the $100,000 first prize check! I remember Josh well because we both have always had interests in fishing. Josh and his dad, Tom, have fished walleye tournaments together for years. I saw them at Matteson's Marine this past spring and talked with them for quite a while. Josh had just graduated from dental school and is now a practicing dentist, that in itself is quite an accomplishment. He and his dad had both just bought new Ranger walleye boats, and it looks like they put them to very good use. Here's an article from FLW describing Josh's Walleye Tour Victory .
Before I sign off today you have to watch this video from You Tube entitled Master Casters - Skeet Fishing .
Well that's going to be it for today. I'm going to be packing it up and heading back up to the cabin to prefish a half day up on Green Lake, and in order to do that I have to leave by noon to meet my buddy Ron.
Here's the parting shot of the day, and it comes from Dan Rather. He once said, "Americans will put up with anything as long as it doesn't block traffic." Ain't that the truth! Take care and make sure you take time to enjoy your day.
July 28, 2008
Good morning! It's been beautiful in the north country. You can't beat the weather we've been having. I'm up at the cabin working with dial-up, which makes the blog today a painstakingly slow process.
I came up to fish the Tear Drop Tournament Trail's fourth stop on Portage Lake in Onekama. In two words, we sucked. We caught four small fish and just couldn't get that fifth fish in the boat. Five fish every tournament pretty much secures you an end of the season Classic berth. We have had several tournaments now with just four fish and we find ourselves in eleventh position going into the last two events. With our points situation, we have to do well the next two tournaments or we'll find ourselves out of contention. I took a bunch of pictures at the weigh-in, but I forgot my device that I use to mount the memory card so I can plug it in to the USB port to upload them. So, the screen shots will have to wait till I get home.
The results for Portage Lake are up if you want to check them out. Click on the "Rules and Info" button on the main page.
For those of you that check the results frequently, Dennis can update the overall results on his end, so they are often up the day of the event. I have to wait to get his email and then update my results page for the individual lake link. Even if you don't see the most recent lake link, which may take a day or two due to get uploaded, the overall standings are probably there to puruse.
At Portage Lake, Dennis addressed the group about rules as he always does in the pretournament meeting. He correctly announced that Portage Lake is considered a "Drowned River Mouth" and consequently you can't dropshot there. As soon as you leave the pier heads, however, you are in the Great Lakes where it is legal. All of this drowned rivermouth stuff came about because the DNR has had problems with people snagging fish. Bass anglers get there undies in a bunch discussing it because they feel it's pretty obvious that by the way they are fishing no one would ever classify this technique an attempt at snagging. In any case, here is a link to Dan Kimmel's greatlakesbass.com where he has copied the regs concerning drop shotting. It contains a section where it lists drowned river mouths by county and Portage Lake is listed. Here's the portal to the drop shotting link .
I don't know when I'll get the time to write the Portage Lake article especially with Green Lake coming up this Sunday. I'll try, but it takes me a lot longer than one would imagine to write up each article, and not getting paid by the hour, wait a minute, not getting paid at all, it sometimes takes a back seat to other things that are higher in the day to day "Things to Do" list. Remember you shouldn't start any day until you complete it on paper. Time management tip No. 1.
As I alluded to earlier, working with dial-up makes surfing the net almost a tortuous adventure. I did check out a few of the bass fishing sites and have found some articles you may be interested in.
The first one focusses on fishing the Great Lakes and using the aforementioned drop shotting technique. It's getting its play on the net because of this week's B.A.S.S. Empire Chase tournament on Lake Erie. Here's the link to "How Wind Affects Great Lake Tackle Choice" .
A second article which segways well here is one that Mike Iaconellli did on selecting the right line .
From techniques, to line choice, and now how about a "lab report" on selecting the right rod. Here's an article from Hamilton's Lab discussing fiberglass rods.
The last article is one of my favorites, and I guess it's because I like gadgets and looking at new and novel products. ICAST, which has just concluded out in Vegas, is undoubtedly the biggest outdoor showcase of what should be hot in the upcoming 2009 season. Here is an article that talks about some specific items featured from ICAST 2008 .
Time to wrap things up today and the parting shot is just going to be a recommendation for you take advantage of Toyota's Fishing With the Pros Sweepstakes . If you win though, you had better take a bunch of pictures and write up a good article for the blog. It certainly would be a big adventure and really isn't that what life's all about, a series of adventures. Take care and find yourself an adventure that will spice things up a bit today.
July 26, 2008
Hey all! Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Had my EGD scope done yesterday, and it appears that things are looking good, so that's over with for another two years. I have chronic heartburn so it's Nexium twice a day for me. If you're an old guy like me, then chances are you experience the same thing. If you are having regular heartburn for heaven sakes don't keep taking tums and over the counter stuff like I did for too long. What happens is you get repeated irritation that over time causes scar tissue that leads to a precancerous condition called
"Barretts." See your doctor and get on some medication like Nexium. If you are on Nexium already, I have a deal for you that could save you some big bucks. Go to purplepill.com , and get their savings card. It's free, and even if you have prescription coverage, it can save you $30 a month for six months. There is a lot of good information at the site as well. When I'm looking to save money to buy more fishing gas, I try to look under every rock for deals.
Speaking of deals, I was out yesterday getting some drop shot weights and bought a package of five for over seventy cents a piece. Ouch ooch ouch, that's expensive, especially if you're planning on fishing Erie where you can loose 10 a day easy. So, I put up a query on my favorite forum greatlakesbass.com ,and it didn't take long to get a response from Mr. Tim Cook. Tim is a buddy that is also a coangler and sitting eighth overall in the Michigan BFL's. He hooked me up with an email address from a guy that pours his own and will sell them for about sixteen cents a piece. Much more reasonable, and it hopefully will become my new source. Let me know if you're interested in the email address, and, or if you want to place an order together.
Another GLB forum member Seth Valentine, who also fishes the BFL's as a boater, says you can pour your own weights for about a nickel a piece. Another thought to consider and provide some entertainment and cost savings. It could give me something to do over the winter.
If you hit the link for drop shotting up above you saw where it takes you to Seth Burrill's site . I have Seth's drop shotting DVD set. You get two DVDs for $20 and it is the best drop shot instructional DVD that you're going to find. I highly recommend it, even if you have been using the technique.
While we're on the drop shot/Erie theme here is an article that previews the B.A.S.S. Elite Tournament on Erie out of Buffalo, New York.
One more tidbit of information before I have to run and pack the car to head up north for a tournament tomorrow, is a link to some very good tips on fish care. It's getting hot and taking care of fish is very important. This link is one of those that everybody should read, even if you already know about how to maximize your fish's livewell and post weigh-in longevity. It's just a good reminder.
The parting shot today comes from a visionary who has been giving words of wisdom for years, Homer Simpson. He's quoted as saying,"Son, if you really want something in this live, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers." Take care and make sure you set aside some time to enjoy your day.
July 24, 2008
Well if it isn't the "Dog Days of Summer," I sure feel like a old dog today. Not much motivation to get up and get going on any projects of which I seem to have many. I did something to my back yesterday and I've been in pain ever since. This getting old is not what it's all cracked up to be.
The weather sure has been fantastic, almost perfect temperatures and humidity. The forecast for the weekend bodes well and even the long range looks like it will be good for at least the next ten days.
I did the usual morning computer surfing routine today and didn't find a whole lot. After being out last week on Erie and utilizing the ole drig, I came across a dropshot article that caught my eye, and so I read it. It was pretty good. It was written by a guy by the name of Tom Branch and here is the link to his "Drop Shotting Is Easy With Good Electronics " article. What I like about the article is that he gives a lot of technical information about using the electronics. You can certainly spent some time perfecting the technique.
Another tackle related item, I came across, was some info on a new swimbait. What I liked about this bait is that it was small. Those huge West Coast baits just seem oversized for our fishing here in Michigan. I could be way off base, and maybe someone will whack them on those bigger baits, but when I try them out it's going to be this new Tabu Tackle Tiny Tim Swimbait .
Another tackle related find was the new Sonic Superline by Berkley that was recently unveiled at ICAST. The new aspect of this line is that it is specially coated, allowing it to cast farther and will not wear on your guides like other braids do. Another plus is that it doesn't loose its color like you find with many other braids. I may need to check it out. Why not, I've got everything else, and it's only money.
Speaking of money, now that many of us will be home more because of gas prices, you may want to check out a new website I've found. It's hulu.com . The website has movies and reruns of TV shows from the major networks. It has old TV series like Flipper to new ones like the Simpsons. I took an hour and a half off the blog work and watched "Men In Black." It ran well on the computer, but they do interrupt the movie a few times with short commercials.
I saw where hulu.com is an effort of NBC's, but I'm not sure about that. What I am sure of is that it could be something to fill the void when we travel and have a wifi signal.
One last article that I read today was concerning Bass Zone's article on Charlie Hartley . You probably recall the affable Charlie Hartley who was the Day 1 leader in this year's B.A.S.S. Classic down on Lake Heartwell. He's the little guy that you'd love to see win because of his exuberance for the sport. Charlie has had a tough year despite the great Classic showing. The article is one of those that makes you keep rooting for the underdog. It's a good read.
Time for me to go see "Paul the Barberian" to get my hair cut. The parting shot for today is some Olympic Trivia. "Caffeine is on the International Olympic Committee list of prohibited substances. Athletes who test positive for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine may be banned from the Olympic Games. This level may be reached after drinking about 5 cups of coffee." Rats, I'm going to have to scratch my Olympic debut as a javelin catcher. Take care and be sure to take some time to enjoy your day.
July 23, 2008
Good morning! I talked to Dennis Cook, the Director for the Tear Drop Bass Tournament Trail, yesterday and he informed me that he had talked to Jay Van Reed from Bass Anglers United and Jay is going to give those that decide to fish on Portage a $10 discount on membership. If you decide to fish the Portage Lake event, on the BAU side, you will only have to pay $140, which is the membership and entry fee. The next Tear Drop/BAU event will be on Green Lake and that will only cost you the $100 entry fee that BAU has. The Tear Drop entry fee is $60 and there is a $25 per person membership fee.
If you are in the Tear Drop and decide to fish the BAU please download the BAU Entry Form and have it filled out and ready to go Sunday. If there are 20 or more that sign up, BAU will be giving away boat batteries and tackle, just to juice up the pot a bit. Payback on the BAU side is one place for every five boats entered.
I was cruising the net and read an article off Bass Fan about Art Berry. Art is a western angler living out in California. He fished the FLW Tour and has had four second place finishes with FLW. He also just missed qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic through the Western Opens.
Art lost his Suave sponsorship and had several other calamities befall him which caused him to have to drop out of the Tour. He now is living in an austere apartment as he claws his way back. Presently he can't afford to pay for heat and has to endure some cold apartment times while he often shares dry cereal with his dog. He makes ends, such as they are, meet by guiding on a local Californian lake waiting to get back on his feet and back in the Tour events. His story is quite motivational and epitomizes the dedication one needs to accomplish goals. Here's Art's story , and here is a link to his website .
I talked to my buddy John down at Fenwick Marina in Ohio last night and he has been slamming the walleye. Every trip out they have been catching nice limits. Yesterday he said they were hitting on "Rattle Tots." He's staying down there for a couple of weeks and by the time he comes home he should have a pretty good freezer full of fillets. He uses one of those vacuum sealers to bag his fish before freezing and says it works great.
One of the things I've been seeing more of, as the summer pattern settles in, are articles about night fishing. I've been enjoying the Smallmouth Guru's blog on Bassmaster and as of July 18 he has entered a new addition to it on night fishing. He makes three important statements about what you need to do to improve your odds at night. Here's the Smallmouth Guru's most recent blog entry on night fishing.
Coming up in August the 14th through the 17th is the FLW's million dollar contest, the Forrest L. Wood Cup Championship . Culminating championships like this are always exciting and with the FLW's Fantasy Fishing League, just about anyone and everyone can be in the game.
One angler that I will be keeping my eye on is Nathan Wellman from Jenison, Michigan. Nathan was in my classroom as a sixth grader and has been fishing the FLW Tour since 2006. He's been in the money four times this year with 13th place on Toho being his highest finish. He currently sits 35 in the current 2008 FLW standings.
He's been fishing hard for a number of years now and has steadily moved himself up to where he's competing in one of the biggest professional events around. It is numeral uno in terms of dollars to be won. I wish Nate the best and what a thrill for all of us if he followed Scott Suggs with another million dollar check!
That's it for the day and the parting shot comes from the Art Berry article. Art has a number of inspirational notes on his walls and this is one of them, "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I'm Michael Jordan." Make sure you set aside some time to enjoy your day.
July 21, 2008
After a ten day hiatus I'm back on the blog schedule. As I said in the last entry, I was heading down to Lake Erie for the Sandusky BFL. The article for the BFL is up on the main page. Just look for the "BFL Article" button and then select the Sandusky event.
The trip was memorable, but not particularly successful on the tournament end for me at least. I hooked three smallies during the tournament and landed only one of them. My finish dropped me from 20th place down to 25th overall. There were 88 boats that fished last Saturday down about 50 boats from the first BFL up at Aloha on Burt and Mullet.
I drew a local who has fished Erie a lot, and he said he was on fish.
I liked the area we went to. It was between two islands along a shoal. He was fishing specific spots on the shoal and with the wind and waves he stayed on the trolling motor to hit his spot. I had to throw to either side of it and did hook three fish, but as I said above, I only landed one. One of the fish I hooked was almost under the boat when it hit. We were in about 18 feet of water and when I hooked it, it shot straight for the surface. It jumped alongside the boat so I could see it was a dandy, well over four pounds, but it came off and that was that. No other smallmouth the rest of the day for me.
My boater caught about nine keepers and was using a dropshot rig and Gulp. I didn't have any of the Gulp he was using. I just had some Gulp Shad and they didn't work for me.
Oh well, I'll get another chance up on St. Clair August 9th in the next BFL.
We stayed down in Ohio at my buddy John's trailer at Fenwick Marina. John's a walleye guy and keeps his boat there. Here's a couple shots of him taking off one morning to walleye fish. He did real well, catching his limit of walleyes each day.
John leaving his dock at Fenwick Marina
John with Ohio's Three Eye Nuclear Plant in the backgournd.
I was going to put in my obligatory home front duties a few days this week then head up to try and prefish Portage Lake a day to build some confidence for our Tear Drop event up there this weekend. Ends up though that I have to have some minor outpatient surgery Friday so it looks like I won't be prefishing.
Now that I'm home again I have been doing some surfing and probably the biggest news out on the bass pages is that B.A.S.S. has decided to do away with having coanglers in their Elite events. That has caused a lot of buzz on the blogs. Most pros seem to like the idea, and as you would expect, the average joe seems to think it's an elitist move. The pros like the idea of not having another angler catching fish in their spots. They feel this is the way they earn their living and why have a part time coangler catching fish that might deplete their area and impact their overall catch. Instead of a coangler the Elite Tour will use observers.
B.A.S.S. also announced their 2009 and 2010 Tour schedule. Here is a link to Bass Zone where a number of the current pros comment both on the schedule and the coangler change. There going to be fishing an event in the UP on Bay De Noc. How about that.
Another event that is currently going on is ICAST out in Las Vegas.
I would really like to go out there sometime for that event. I've only been to Vegas once and would like to go back to especially tramp through the ICAST exhibits. Here is a link from Bassmaster.com that showcases some of the winning products.
I signed up for another contest on Bass Fan to try and win some Zippers . I have fished Zipper worms for some time and like them on a carolina rig. They are a smallmouth catching bait. Check them out at the link above.
I forgot to mention that I won a $20 BP gas card on FLW's Fantasy Fishing . Had I not made a stupid last minute change, and if my first place pick had caught four more ounces, I could have won big money. Paul Sacks on our Tear Drop Fantasy Team, won $1,500, Tim Cook, a BFL and GLB buddy, won $400, and Matt Hoogerhyde won a Berkley Gift Pack. Not a bad haul! This last tournament was a $ for many of our Michigan buddies. If you haven't signed up for Fantasy Fishing you still can. Give it a try and who knows you may win some big money, I'm talking $100,000 or maybe even a million dollars. It's free to join so why not.
Time for me to actually unpack and repack my fishing stuff so here's the parting shot for the day. It comes from one of our famous Olympians miler Jim Ryun. He has a quote dealing with motivation that I read and liked because of its simplicity. Ryun, a great athlete, and a famous track runner won many events but in three tries never won an Olympic Gold Medal. Here's his quote, "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." Take care and make sure you take some time to enjoy your day.
July 12, 2008
My last minute change on my Fantasy Fishing team sent Kim Stricker to the sidelines and brought Jay Yelas to the fore. Not a very smart move, and I knew better. Stricker is a stick on St. Clair, and with the bite favoring that lake over Erie, I should have never switched the two anglers. If I hadn't, I would have had four anglers in the top ten.
I really thought that Art Ferguson would do better. He really fell apart and St. Clair is probably considered to be his home lake. Clapper and Balog weren't factors because of the slow bite and west wind on Erie. The St. Clair bite is proving to be the ticket.
A number of years ago Don and I fished the Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation Classic Series and the last event was on the Detroit River. We were in contention for a top ten Classic berth and needed one more decent day to make it. We were fishing out of Elizabeth Park, like the pros are today, and had gone to St. Clair on Saturday and caught a medium size limit that kept us in the hunt. We strategized that we needed to go on Sunday to Erie where the bigger sacks were coming from. Well, we went to Erie, and the wind came up, and we only managed two fish. As it turned out, if we had went back to St. Clair and caught an average limit, we would have made the top ten. So, I can relate with some of the pros who struggled with whether to go to St. Clair or gamble on Erie.
Don and I are leaving tonight to head to Detroit to watch the FLW pros on Sunday. Don plans to put the bass boat in and play a bit of follow the leaders. We'll be groupies like those you watch on TV cheering for the pros.
After the tournament we'll leave and head down to Ohio and stay in my buddy John's trailer on the water in Turtle Creek, Ohio. His placed is about 25 miles west of Sandusky where we will be launching from next Saturday in the BFL.
What a rush it would be to draw one of the local pros who will be fishing Saturday. I know I read where Joe Balog plans to fish.
It's always a bit of a crap shoot as to who you draw when you're a coangler. I sure hope I draw someone who's going to fish for smallies and not stay in the harbor to fish for largemouth.
I am not going to be taking a computer with me down to Ohio. I won't have a wireless connection, and it's always kind of a pain to have to find some wifi and then sit wherever that may be until I get the blog done. So, there will be about a week of no blog entries.
If you have been following the Detroit River FLW event you know that today eight of the pros headed to St. Clair and 2 decided to make the run to their spots on Erie. The leader was running 70 miles, and I heard he was fishing down near Vermillion. Vermillion is where Don won the Northern Divisional, and is a place that we plan to prefish next week.
Here is the latest article from FLW and you can use the links at the top of the article to see where everybody finished that is not in the top ten.
You may also want to use this Bass Zone Wide Open link to hear the latest live interview from Detroit.
I'm up at the cabin struggling with cell phone signal and with this dial up connection so I'm signing off for now and will be back on in a week. Take care and make sure you take time to enjoy your day.
July 10, 2008
Good morning! Well the FLW Tour Pros took off this morning from Elizabeth Park on the Detroit River for the first day of a four day event there. I have fished several tournaments that left out of Elizabeth Park. It's a nice launch site, but pulling your boat out is always testy there because it's one of those ramps that is quite steep. It does has room to launch at least eight boats at a time. It is right on the Detroit River almost at the mouth of where the river meets Lake Erie. To run to St. Claire doesn't take too long in the morning, wide open maybe 20 minutes. The return trip, especially on the weekend, takes much longer because of the waves caused by the boat traffic.
The waves in the river down by Cobo Hall, and well passed the Ambassador Bridge, come at you from all angles. Because of the breakwalls, the waves don't dissipate much at all. As they bounce of the break walls they roll back out toward the center of the river. It can be treacherous.
When Dandy Don owned my boat he sank it in the Detroit River. He got caught between two swells and dropped into a trough and both waves broke over top of the boat. He figured they were at least six feet under water. The boat finally popped back up, and they were able to bilge it out and get it back up and running, but it was a scary situation. I know of this happening to at least two other guys we know. The pros had better figure at least an hour in the river on the return trip if they go to St. Clair.
I finalized my Fantasy Fishing team last night. Made some more changes and hopefully the local guys will show up big again in this event. Here's a couple of articles about the event. First, there is this article from Bass Fan , and here is a second article from Bass Zone .
Don't forget to get online at 3:00 pm today to watch the Live Weigh-in . Remember to watch it you have to log in with your email address and password.
I talked to Dandy Don yesterday and he's talking about going down early to prefish for our upcoming BFL on Lake Erie out of Sandusky. He said that Tony DeFilippo spun a prop and was having some motor issues and that he may have to run his boat down to Elizabeth Park for Tony to use. I have to film a "Dirt Track Demons" West Michigan Off Road Race Saturday night, but if we have to leave early to get down to watch the final day of the Tour event I may have to miss the race.
I signed up today for another fishing contest. Chevrolet has a "Fishing With The Pros " contest that you can enter. Unlike the Toyota "Fish with the Pro" contest you can only sign up once for the Chevy promotion. The Toyota one runs through August and you can sign up once a day.
My young buddy Ross sent me some photos his dad took of he and I during the Thursday night tournament we fished on Manistee Lake. Here's the picture.
Ross and I in the BassCat on Manistee Lake
I'm usually taking the pictures so I don't have many, if any, of me on the water in my boat. It was great that Bob took these and Ross sent them to me. I had to do some fiddling to copy and resize them, but I finally figured it out. Thanks Bob and Ross!
If you're waiting for the Tear Drop Manistee article I really do intend to do one, and hopefully I can get after it today. I've been spending a bunch of hours on a DVD project that actually pays me some $, and there isn't any money in the Tear Drop article, so that obviously gets the back burner.
I did a little bit of surfing and found a couple of articles that are worthy of a bit of your time.
The first article is from ESPN and talks about summer fishing. It's part one of a two part series, and it's called "Big Bass with Kelly Jordan."
The other article I ran across was from Berkley and it details a couple of new baits that they are coming out on the market with. Here's the link to Berkley's Catch More Fish announcement.
That's going to be if for today. Time for the parting shot, and with everyone over on Erie and St. Clair, you had better have a good fishing recipe for those walleyes that you catch while fishing for bass. Here's a pretty interesting link that has Cooking Fish Tips . Take care and make sure you set aside some of time to enjoy your day.
July 8, 2008
Wow, some gaps in the ole blog lately. All I can say is that it's hot and muggy, I've been fishing, and it's summertime.
Speaking of fishing, the results from the Manistee Lake event are up on the website under "Rules and Info." The overall results are there as well for the three tournaments fished thus far. I am going to be working today on getting the Manistee article and pictures up too. Here is a picture of the Manistee Lake winners, Harry Swank and Chris Mieras.
The Tear Drop's Manistee Winners
If you have been a regular blog reader you already know that besides fishing, eating tends to be high on my list. After the Tear Drop events, a group usually stops to eat and last Sunday was no different. We stopped at Rico's which is just a couple miles from the Stronach ramp. My buddy Great Grampa Skinner had himself a burger and I do mean a burger. It was two half pound patties with bacon and the works. No cheese though, he hates cheese. Check this bad burger out.
Just a little burger at Rico's.
The FLW Tour event on the Detroit River starts this Thursday. If you haven't finished selecting your Fantasy Fishing team, time is running short. Even if you have picked your team already, you may want to reconsider a few picks after you read these two Bass Fan articles. The first one is called "A Tough Way to Finish." The second article is more of a blurb about Joe Balog, a long time Erie expert. The "Will Balog Play."
The Smallmouth Guru has another installment up on his blog. It's about night fishing. I haven't been out at night with the boat, except to watch fireworks, in a long time. My brother-in-law loves to go out at night with a black jitterbug. He catches some of his biggest bass that way.
Another short piece for your viewing pleasure is a new Dean Rojas "In the House" video on Bass Zone. The short six minute video has Dean in his living room showing off his memorabilia and telling you about his peanut career that he had before becoming a professional fisherman.
Speaking of fisherman, I just downloaded Casey Ashley's song, "The Fisherman" off iTunes. If you fish, you are going to love this song. It is very well written and Casey Ashley can relax while he fishes, because he definitely has a career ahead of him in the music business.
I hear our ole buddy Rick Mast, fishing with his nephew Aaron, won a Shoreline Bass Tour event on White Lake with over 20 pounds! I've talked about Rick's fishing prowess before and he can flat out catch em. Aaron is no slouch either and use to wax the locals up on Big Bass Lake years ago when he was just a kid, in the annual John-Paul Tournament they use to hold up there. Here's a shot of their winning catch.
The Masts' Winning Catch from White Lake
Rick wanted me to be sure to tell folks that one of the biggest payouts of the summer will occur this Saturday on Muskegon Lake in the Super Bass Tournament being held there. Last year first place with 49 boats paid $4,500 for first place.
Shoreline is one of the bigger trails, if not the biggest in Grand Rapids area. Another tournament group, participating in conjunction with the Tear Drop Tournament Trail on Portage Lake and Green Lake, is the Bass Anglers United Tournament group . This is a rather unique cooperation between the two tournament groups. Tear Drop anglers will have the option of paying the entry fee for the BAU event and actually be involved in two tournaments at the same time on the same lake. If you do well and paid the entries for both groups you would get two separate payouts. Also if you fish both Portage and Green Lake, and finish in the top half of the field, you qualify for their fish off in October where you could win a boat and trailer. Check out the rules and entry information on the BAU site. Do the same thing on the Tear Drop site if you are considering fishing one or both.
Time for me to get going on a couple of projects today. Let's make the parting shot today a quote from part of Casey Ashley's "The Fisherman.
"I can catch 'em shallow,
I can catch 'em deep,
Open water or the back of a creek,
The wind, the rain,
to me it's all the same,
I make a living playing this game,
I thank the Lord above every time I can,
I get to be a fisherman.
July 4, 2008
I 'm not quite sure of the greeting for the 4th of July. Is it "Happy 4th of July?" I guess maybe it is. I can't ever recall hearing anything but that, even though it doesn't sound just right. Happy birthday, happy anniversary, etc. seems right, but "Happy 4th of July" just isn't something I would say. Oh well, in any case I hope you have an enjoyable 4th of July.
I'm up at the cabin, and the fireworks have been going off around the lake all day, and as you might expect, they have been increasing as it gets darker.
I spent 15 hours Thursday on Manistee Lake prefishing for this Sunday's Tear Drop Tournament Trail event. I went over early Thursday with Ross Parsons and his dad Bob. They're going to be fishing the tournament Sunday. It will be the first bass tournament for either of them.
I met Ross and his dad at Tiny's Trading Post at 5:15 am and we headed to the Stronach Ramp. We launched the two boats and went on our way.
I caught two fish on my first two casts on topwater. I then moved around the lake and met up with Ross and Bob several times to compare notes.
The weather was cool and the morning winds were calm, but by 9:00 am they began to build. By noon the wind was stiff, out of the north, and it made fishing very tough. When the wind is either out of the north or south their doesn't seem to be a place to hide on Manistee.
The lake, actually a swollen river mouth, was quite muddied by all the recent rains. The Big and Little Manistee Rivers, that empty into the lake, were over their banks and flowing hard.
The channel out to the big lake was riled up as well, and it was tough to navigate with just the trolling motor to fight the current.
Bob caught a nice largemouth that they boxed and brought to show me. Here's a picture.
Bob and his first Manistee Lake Largemouth
We weighed the fish on my hand held digital and it went 3-7 lbs.
I caught about eight keepers through the day, and I would like to say that that gave me a good idea of a pattern for Sunday, but I still have no real strategy. I did catch most of my fish on three baits, but I spent the whole day on the water and covered just about the whole lake, leaving me with more than a few concerns as to where to start Sunday.
The Parsons and I decided to hang it up around 5:00 pm, and when we started taking our boats out we met Danny Warner's Thursday night tournament group gathering to put their boats in.
Ross sounded like he really wanted to stay and fish the Thursday nighter. For an old guy like me, another three hours, after 11 hours on the water, seemed a bit much, but I thought why not. With the price of gas being what it is, I thought I might as well maximize my trip time. Besides, taking Ross out for his first bass tournament would be a memorable trip for both of us.
Just before we came in at the end of the day Ross had gotten in the boat with me as his dad headed over to the ramp. We fished together for about a half hour and caught a couple of keepers and several shorts. So, when the three hour tournament started at 6:00 pm we headed to our spot we had just left. We fished it for about an hour and only had about 10 redeye and several short smallmouth to show for our efforts. We decided to move down the lake, but found the wind was still making the main lake tough to fish.
We covered some shoreline until Ross mentioned he wanted to try the spot where he and his dad had caught their big largemouth. We motored over to it and on my first cast I caught a 4-11 smallie. On my next cast a keeper largemouth. We were getting pretty pumped up now with a couple of fish in the boat.
We fished the honey hole for a little while longer and then left for another spot we had plied earlier in the day. We fished the weedbed for another half hour, and with five minutes to go in the day, Ross had a good fish hit his lure, but not well enough to get hooked up. Just after that I was reeling in my bait for another cast and a 16 inch largemouth ate it.
We headed in almost immediately and found a number of the boaters talking abut how tough the fishing was.. We were cautiously optimistic about our chances.
When we weighed our fish, we had a little over eight and a half pounds. That was good enough for first place and big bass! Definitely a case of beginners luck, but it was great to best a field of some very good anglers. Here's a picture of Ross with a big smile and a couple of the fish we caught.
Ross with a couple of nice Manistee bass.
It certainly was a fun three hours! It will be a time that both of us will recount and talk about with big grins on our faces for years to come. Great job Ross!
Ross is going to be a junior in high school this coming school year. He runs track and plays football, and now he can say he's a bass tournament veteran as well.
Hopefully some of Ross' beginners luck will continue over to Sunday when the third stop of the $5,000 Tear Drop Tournament Trail takes off from the Stronach Ramp at the east end of Manistee Lake. We'll let you know.
I did some internet cruising today and found several good articles. One was a story from ESPN called "Don't Be Fuelish." It talks about some tips to help get the most bang for the buck when it comes to fuel economy to and from the lake and out on the lake..
I was plagued with battery issues all last season, and I think I finally have gotten everything taken care of after buying three new batteries and making a decision concerning an onboard charging system. With batteries on the brain, this article from Bassfan called "Behind The Batteries: Good, Better , Best" caught my eye. . It's an piece full of good information, and they plan a subsequent article to talk about charging systems. Check it out.
I'm running out of time today so I'd better get to the parting shot for this 2008 Fourth of July. It comes from Dwight D. Eisenhower. He once said, "Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."
Take care, and make sure you take time to enjoy your day.
July 1, 2008
As you can see, this morning I broke the June blog off and started July. The month of June's entries for 2008 can be accessed using the link above as can all the months of 2007 through May of 2008.
I was over to my sister's house last night and she has a heck of a deal for somebody. She has a 300 Kawasaki 4 X 4 quad and a 14 ft. trailer for sale. The four wheeler is a 1999 with only 765 miles. The trailer was custom built. Trailer ramps are built in and stored under the trailer. The sides and tool box are all "Diamond Clad." Here's some pictures. The prices are firm.
Custom Built 14 ft. Trailer $1700
Kawasaki 300 Quad 4X4 (765 mi.) 1999 $2100
If you're interested in either of the two items email me at the website.
I hope to head out today and run up to the cabin for a few days to do some fishing over on Manistee Lake. It will be interesting to see where the water levels are with all the water coming down the Big and Little Manistee Rivers. Manistee Lake is a swollen river mouth and for years the water has been low. The recent deluge that has hit the area has all the rivers and creeks with their banks full to over flowing. All that water is moving downstream and only a prefishing trip over will tell how it is going to affect the fishing. The Tear Drop Tournament on Sunday will be taking off from the Stronach Launch which is at the far east end of Manistee Lake. I believe that area is called East Lake.
Make sure you're careful if you decide to go there fishing.
There are numerous slab piles that dot the lake. Remnants of the old logging days on the river. When they milled the logs on the ice the old slab wood was left in piles and ended up sinking and forming little islands of wood. I have also been hearing stories of all kinds of things being in the water washed down by all the recent rains. Take it easy and keep your eyes open and have your life vest and kill switch on.
I did a little surfing of the net today and found a few articles that I found interesting. One was an story that focussed anglers in on the bluegill spawn. In many of our northern lakes, that spawn is still going on and the bass are definitely focussed in. Here is the article entitled "Taking Advantage of the Bluegill Spawn" from Bass Edge.
Another article, actually it is a series of articles, is from the FLW site where they offer a tutorial of sorts for coanglers. Being a first time coangler in the Michigan BFLs this year, I thought I'd read through to see what they have to say. If you're interested in reading them here is the Coangler Article Link .
If you didn't get a chance to watch the live weigh-in for the recent B.A.S.S. Elite Series Old Hickory event you may want to watch Bass Zone's final Wide Open video. Harold and Mark run down the final day particulars and interview the winner, Kevin Wirth.
After most of the big tournaments, there are usually several sites that cover what the other anglers that came close to winning were doing in terms of lures and patterns. Here's one of those articles from Bass Fan .
With only two more B.A.S.S. Elite Series events left the AOY race is really tightening up. KVD is in first, but only by a slim lead over Todd Faircloth. Skeet Reese and Mike McClelland are definitely in the hunt. It should be exciting to see how it all shakes out. Here's an ESPN article on the B.A.S.S. AOY Race
One last little diddy I found that looked interesting was a link to a product that could help you with your crankbaiting. They make a titanium O ring that you can use to replace the out of the box ring. The titanium rings are of course much stronger and supposedly will hold, so if you get snagged up, the hook will bend before the o-ring does.
Time for the parting shot of the day. The last word is going to be a bit different today. With everyone having had a chance to get on the water it should be about time for some good eats. Here is a fish chowder recipe that could be your parting shot after a good day of fishing. Take care and make sure you take some time from your busy schedule to enjoy your day.
