Blog Archive for June of 2009

June 26, 2009

Wow! Massive heat wave Batman! I am about to go out and buy a kiddy pool for my computer chair. It looks like we finally may be able to get up north and enjoy a little cooler weather, maybe in the next day or two.

I have been reading posts from the various forums I frequent of KVD sitings up on Grand Traverse Bay. Kevin and his cameraman Dave were heading up there for two days of filming after their day at Rick's. I'm sure that with his rig and boat wrap that he draws a lot of attention. Here's a shot of Kevin and Dave, and one of me taking advantage of the opportunity for a KVD and me picture, taken at Rick's this past Monday.

KVD and Dave getting ready for a film session.

KVD and some old guy.

During the last B.A.S.S. Elite event on the Mississippi, Marty Stone dumped his Marshall just after launching. He stopped, of course, while his Marshall swam back to the boat. There were at least six other boats, according to the reports, that had stopped to render assistance. Tommy Biffle and Alton Jones were coming up on the scene as well and decided that with all the boats already there, that they would be more likely to be in the way rather than providing any help, so they went on by. For whatever reason, Stone filed a protest against Biffle and Jones for not stopping. B.A.S.S. then penalized the two. The penalty was delaying them an hour at the start of the final day. Biffle was hot over the whole deal and felt that the penalty cost him a real shot at winning the tournament. It ultimately cost him place points that may hamper his chances at making the top twelve and a shot at the TTAOY Title. Here's the article that Bass Fan had up on their site called, Biffle Still Burning After One Hour Penalty .

This is the fourth report of a Marshall being ejected from a pros boat, that I am aware of, during the 2009 Elite Series. I'm thinking that a number of these Marshalls have not had much experience in a bass boat. When I was down in Alabama at the Dixie Duel, we had some very rough rides. I know I had a death grip on the boat handle, hard enough to rub the skin off my left hand. Some of the runs down the Tennessee River were twenty miles long one way. Most of the pros only have single consoles, so as a Marshall, you are exposed to the elements. If you're signing up for one of these events you should have a helmet or a face mask, or at the very least a good pair of shatter proof sun glasses with a float attached. I would also recommend a PFD, like a Mustang, that self inflates, and when it does rolls you to your back. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

When I got the chance to spend Monday with KVD, we had lunch and were able to chat for a while. He was rather confident about the last event on Oneida, which is just out of Syracuse, New York. He's pretty well assured of a spot in the top twelve with the points he has now. That qualifies him to fish the last two tournaments that will be held in Alabama. Here's how they describe the final four days of fishing will be scored. I copied this from the Bassmaster's site and specifically from the "BASS Unveils Details of Inaugural Bassmaster Elite Series Postseason" article. "As previously announced, the scoring format for the postseason will ensure the integrity of the Angler of the Year award and provide for an exciting, down-to-the-wire race. After the regular season, BASS will determine the Top 12 moving into the postseason based on their final place in the regular-season standings."

"Postseason scores will be calculated by moving one decimal place to the left and rounding to the nearest tenth. Additionally, each angler will receive two bonus points for each regular-season win. For the two postseason events, anglers will be scored on a 50-point sliding scale."

It certainly will be an interesting end to the season, and one that should play fairly well into KVD's wheelhouse. He seems to excel on those Tennessee River impoundments, and these last two river system events down in the heart of Dixie should fit Kevn's strengths rather well. I for one, will be rooting for the "Kalamazoo Kid."

I have been following a thread on greatlakesbass.com which is under the "Bass Fishing Products" category title. If you traverse to the site and locate the category, read the thread and look at the pictures for the Tournament Ready Tackle thread. The swimbait that they are making looks really good. I would love to try dunking that in some of the West Side water to see how the smallies respond. I would think it would be a killer bait! I'll try and get some more info and a picture that I can put up on the blog. F.Y.I., if you go to greatlakesbass.com you can't view the pictures in threads unless you join the site as a member.

Yesterday, I had my outer seal in my lower unit replaced. The last time I pulled my prop, I found a bunch of line wrapped around the propeller shaft. Watching it closely I could tell that the seal had been damaged. Thankfully, I checked it before I lost all my gear lube. The outer seal cost $108 to be replace and pressure tested. A lot less than it would have been for a new lower unit. Moral of the story is to take the time regularly to pull that prop and check for fishing line.

The parting shot of the day reminds me of the phrase often used describing baseball as a game of failure. In baseball, if you're hitting in the .300s, you're doing very well. However, that means your out 7 out of 10 times at bat! Consequently, it's a game of failure. This quote from Matthew Keith Groves reminds me of what you often have to keep in mind while doing many of the things we like to do. He said, "Winners lose much more often than losers. So, if you keep losing but you're still trying, keep it up! You're right on track." Take care and make sure you take time today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 24, 2009

Okay, call me a groupy, actually call me anything you like, but Monday I sat and watched the man himself, the "Kalamazoo Kid," Kevin Van Dam for a little over twleve hours as he fished and filmed for some episodes of Bass Pro Team Journal .

My buddy Rick "The Cement Man" Skinner has a job working for a group out of Detroit that makes pallets. They have almost 2,000 acres of woods, ponds, streams, and a 75 - 100 acre lake that Rick oversees for them. It's a tough job but someone has to do it.

Rick travelled down to Alabama with me in April to Marshall the Elite Series, "Dixie Duel." He was lucky enough to draw Kevin on day 2, and during the course of that day the fact that Rick had this little piece of heaven tucked away in Michigan's Great Northwest Corner came up. The stage was set for KVD to visit and do some filming for the TV show. (If you would like to read the whole Dixie Duel day by day blog and look at the pictures, it is archived at the top of my blog page.)

Kevin, and his camera man Dave, got up to Rick's at about 7:15 am and graciously gave Rick and his family some time to sign autographs and take some pictures. Here's a shot of Rick, his son Rick Jr. and three of Grampa Rick's grandsons.

KVD and the Skinner Clan

After the meet and greet, it was boat launching time. The lake is a mile back in the Michigan backwoods. It has a healthy population of fish and simply put, a beautiful spot. It's a great place to do some filming. Kevin started the day with a swimbait and on his first cast caught a bass. Later, he said that the swimbait bite was in its waning moments of the day when they started, and it would have been better had they been there at dawn.

After trying to get some swimbait footage, they switched to a stick bait. Kevin's hands down favorite senko style bait is the Strike King Ocho .

I too, am a senko fan, and Gary Y's baits are probably the number one bait in that category. However, after looking at the Ocho, I would have to say that I am a convert. It has eight flat sides. The octagon shape maximizes its prism effect giving it a lot of flash. As Kevin demonstrated, you can grab the Ocho in the middle, and it almost drapes so that the ends touch. Very pliable, very soft, and is over 50% salt. With its suppleness it has a very enticing fall. The Ocho also has that coffee scent that many of the soft plastics that Strike King makes contain.

Kevin said they were able to get about an eleven minute segment for the show with the Ocho. In fact, in their 12 hours on the water, he said they had enough footage for two eleven minute spots and a shorter four minute spot. It obviously takes a lot of time on the water to orchestrate segments that Kevin is proud to put on the air. He knows what he wants, and works hard to get it.

Kevin and Dave came in for lunch around 1:00 pm. Rick had went up to the Na-Tah-Ka for buffalo burger baskets which Kevin and Dave graciously bought. After lunch, Kevin again did some autograph signing for some new attendees that showed up. I'm always impressed by how gracious the pros are, and especially KVD, about taking pictures and accomodating autographs. Here's a couple of lunch time shots.

A keepsake T-Shirt for a future bass pro.

Some lunch time memories being made.

Even the big boys wanted those memory pics.

Getting questions answered from the number one bass angler in the world!

Kevin and Dave stayed on the water until just about 8:00 pm. It was hot, hot, hot, with the temperature in the high 80s. The sky was clear most of the day so there was no hiding from the heat. There were a couple times when Kevin and Dave would stop to do some underwater shots or film some dock talk pieces, but aside from that they were on the water all day. Dave, the camera guy, had to have a permanent dent in his shoulder from hefting that camera. It was no little piece of equipment. When I asked him about it, he said that it didn't feel nearly as heavy when they were catching fish. He said they had a great day on the water boating a bunch of bass. Here's a shot of Dave filming Kevin.

Dave the camera guy at the beginning of a twelve hour day on the water.

Some shoreline how to footage.

Dave had an underwater camera that worked like a reverse periscope. They could put it under water and film baits as they sank demonstrating the action of the lures rigged one way or another. I believe they did a stickbait Ocho segement, a frog segment, and one other short piece, but I'm not sure of the topic. Dave said that the pieces they filmed will air in the 2010 season.

When they pulled out about 8:00 pm there were some new KVD watchers that were there and Kevin once again never batted an eye when asked for more autographs and pictures, even after a grueling 12 hours on the water and facing a long drive up to Traverse City, where they were staying that night.

I told Mike Meysar, one of our late coming groupees, that I would put his mugshout with Kevin up on the blog, so here it is.

Mike Meysar with Mr. Kevin Van Dam

Mesh is one of our long time Tear Drop anglers and is one heck of a nice guy. He had come right from work, and maybe even snuck out a little early. You can see he him sporting the Fastenal logo shirt. His wife had let him off the hook on one of his family obligations, and took the kids to the t-ball game so Mike could come and meet Kevin.

It was a very relaxing day, and it was a real opportunity to have a chance to talk with the best angler on the planet and pick his brain a little. It was also a unique chance for some of the young and old alike to get some pictures and autographs from the number one angler in the world. If you look up Kevin's (KVD's Webpage) stats you'll find he's approaching $4,000,000 in career winnings with B.A.S.S. and the FLW! His list of angling accomplishments will stand unchallenged for a long time and may never be equaled. What makes the man, however is not just his fishing championships. He's a skilled orator and can present instructional material in a most charasmatic way. He's very personable with a great family story. When you get a chance to meet and talk with him he is most gracious with his time and fishing knowledge. A real class act!

Kevin and his cameraman Dave, were headed up to Grand Traverse Bay to do some filming on West Bay. Kevin had promised Dave a walleye dinner at the Apache Trout Grill , Kevin's favorite Traverse City eatery. Here's a shot of Dave waiting for Kevin to finish signing autographs and answering questions. He was a very patient man.

Dave, Bass Pro Shops "Camera Guy" and Rick

It was, to say the least, a very memorable day! I was going to add some more blog material, especially a piece about another Marshall being ejected from the boat on the Mississippi, but I think that this blog entry is just going to be about Rick and his new bowling buddy KVD. Here's one last shot of Rick, Kevin, and Craig Stumbrie, Rick's long time friend and fishing buddy.

Rick, his fishing partner Craig, and KVD.

The parting shot of the day, after a day of relaxing watching KVD doing his thing, comes from the one and only Yogi Berra. One of Yogi's famous lines that seemed to fit well here is this Yogism, "You can observe a lot just by watching." Take care and make sure you take some time out of your work day today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 20, 2009

Saturday morning and I'm sitting in town and not on the deck of my Basscat. I'm still hanging around taking care of family things, and trying to get some little boat wrinkles worked out. My 520C on the front of the boat shuts off every time I start the big motor. That's not a big problem, but when I'm bed fishing it is a real pain in the neck. I took the problem to Grayson at the Outdoorsman Pro Shop in Jension . He gave me another unit to take home to use to see if the problem happened with the second unit. It did. Next he suggested that I use the menu on my graph and select the screen that gives you your current voltage. The voltage that the graph senses should match what is on my dash or what you would get if you used a volt meter on your battery. That would tell us if it is a bad wire bringing in power. I am at that point now. I'll be checking that today to see what I'm getting voltage wise. In the meantime, I'm doing a little plumbing.

The wife got a refrigerator that needs a water hook up for the ice maker and the in the door dispensers. Of course, I went and got parts and there not just what I need, so I'm going to have to hit the road as soon as I finish the blog.

Zona is on the TV right now, and I'm listening to the "Zeason Finale" of "World's Greatest Fisherman." He's one funny, crazy, son of a gun. He and Gerald Swindle just crack me up.

The Bassmaster, Mississippi River Rumble is coming up next. It was one tough fishery. I've never really heard of anyone whacking them on the Mississippi and this tournament prove no different. As Iaconnelli said, "Ten pounds here is a big bag."

You may have read the article that Bassmaster had up on their site that I linked a few days back, but if you didn't here is another follow up article that gives you the skinny on Bass Elite River Rumble . You can get the goods on how Kevin Short took home the money from the stingy muddy Mississippi.

KVD has a 16 point lead over the California Kid, Skeet "Mellow Yellow" Reese in the AOY race. KVD, of course, is the home town hero and has always been the angler I've looked to as being consummate pro on the water. I've attended many of his seminars over the years and have followed his progress since his rookie season. If you have had a chance to attend one of his seminars you know that he's an accomplished speaker and never seems to duplicate a presentation. He always gives you the goods and delivers it in an interesting and effective way. I just may have some interesting news concerning KVD coming up soon. Stay tuned and don't miss next weeks blogs.

I'm what they call multi-tasking today hoping to get all my irons out of the fire on time to make all my time limitations. I have a 2:00 pm graduation open house to get to today to as well as several other appointments that I need to make.

Last weekend, they had the Outdoor Writers Association of America convention here in Grand Rapids. My son rode across Lake Michigan with Dan Small who is a well known outdoor celebrity in Wisconsin and beyond. Dan is a partner with Ben Hobbins, the inventor of the brand new Ironclad Lures . My son, as you know, is my website guru, so he seized the moment and started talking bass fishing with Dan. It eventuated in me meeting Ben Hobbins Monday afternoon. He spent two hours talking to me about his new baits. Ben used some cutting edge technology to design a membrane that creates a plastic bait that won't rip or tear! You flat out can't break it. In fact, once you put the hook through the bait's inner membrane you can't back it out. You have to cut the line and pull the eye of the hook through it. The soft plastic fishes like a rapala, meaning you can leave the hook in it, and it will last as long as a hard bait would. I have a bag of his senko baits, trick worms, jerk shads, etc. and will give them a soaking and let you know what I find. Here is Ben's Popular Science Award article that talks about this new soft bait innovation. You will need to scroll down to see Ben's section.

Well, as I said I have a full plate today and have to get busy. The parting shot of the day comes from Ann Geddes. It's a quote I've heard many times before, but always have been impressed by its simplicity and its message. She said, "Any man can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a dad." Take care and enjoy your Father's Day weekend.

June 16, 2009

Lots of things have been in the works. I have been up north, and without a traveling computer, for several days. My laptop, or I should say my wife's laptop's, super drive died. My son took the ferry over from Milwaukee this past weekend and put one that I ordered in it for us. The Apple Store wanted a minimum of $350 to fix it. He also put brakes and rotors on my wife's car while he was here. Nice to have a handy son. I know where the gas goes, and I know how to put air in the tires but that's about it.

Before my wife picked up my son in Muskegon, I headed up to the cabin. I needed to mow the grass, which was knee high, literally. I also had to get the place spruced up a bit because Paul "The Barberian" was coming up to go fishing for a day. Paul has been cutting my hair for about 30 years, and he's cut all my boys' hair over the years. He's become a good friend, and I have always kidded him that I didn't come for the haircuts, but to listen to his jokes and stories.

Paul is an avid Texas Hold'em player, and has fished a lot with his dad growing up, but hasn't done a lot of fishing in the past 20 years. His kids have treated him to some charters for salmon, but he hasn't done any bed fishing for smallies before.

It took him only a few minutes to get the hang of what to look for, and before I had a chance to "school" him much, he landed our biggest fish. It was his first smallie in quite a number of years and maybe the first ever. Here's a picture of Paul and his first "Northwest Corner" smallie.

Paul the "Barberian" and a great Northwest Corner smallmouth.

We got most of our fish in the morning, and all were on beds. As the day wore on, the wind picked up and the fish got more fussy. The baits would have to be right on the bed in order for them to get interested in them. The typical baits worked, tubes, french fries, flukes, grubs, spinnerbaits, etc. I wanted to see if I could up my fish to cast ratio by using a drop shot, but never really took the time to tie one on. We got twenty to thirty fish in an eight hour day. I didn't always fish a bed wanting Paul to get as many as he could. So, if we really had wanted to push it, we could have had even more fish. We never caught a real hog, but just about every fish was a good three and a half pounder, and a number certainly would have pushed four. We didn't weigh any. Should have, but then we couldn't have embellished our stories without feeling a little guilty. Here's some more of our fish.

Paul caught on pretty quick and began boating his share of smallies!

It was an almost perfect weather day for spotting fish.

Occaisonally, between getting Pauls sandwiches and drinks, I was able to catch a fish or two.

Are we having fun yet?

Paul didn't get up to the cabin on Saturday until around 5:00 pm. Once he got there, we decided to take advantage of the late sunsets this time of year and headed to Manistee Lake to check out the lake and test out the boat. We blanked on Manistee. Don't really know why. I think those fish were stacked outside the spawning flats and with only a couple of hours to fish we never really found them. I had one nice fish on, but didn't get it to the boat.

While we were headed in to the Stronach Ramp, we saw a guy in a 14 foot v-bottom and also saw a bunch of stuff floating. As we neared him he started hollering that there were two people in the water. Immediately we thought they were under the water and dropped the trolling motor to use the Lowrance. About that time his boat turned and we could see that the two people were clinging to the back of his boat. He was rowing them to shore. He wasn't far from getting them to shallow water, so we concentrated on getting the boat, which had just the bow near the surface. We got a rope on it and then started towing it to the ramp. Manistee has a bunch of old slabwood piles, and we had to tow their boat around one so it wouldn't get caught up in them. It took us a while, but we got it to the ramp and handed the rope over to the local rescue squad who arrived just as we were happening on the scene.

Our old buddy Steve Block is a Manistee County Deputy, and he was at the dock when we came in. Steve is a good guy, and it was great to reconnect with him. He's had a lot of on the water experience in that area. He's an accomplished multi-species angler and an avid hunter as well. He was there overseeing the rescue. Here's a couple pictures of our rescue scene.

Paul and I's Manistee Lake rescue effort.

Don't try dislodging the anchor from the back of the boat, while standing, if you're in a small boat.

The couple were in a small 12 foot boat and both were pretty good sized individuals. They tried lifting an anchor, while standing, in the back of the boat. Water came over the back and the boat quickly flipped. They were both suddenly in the water without life jackets on. The rescue squad was there in a hurry, but if the man in the fourteen footer hadn't been coming in with his grandson when he had, things may not have turned out as well as it did. They also were lucky to get most of their gear back.

My Fantasy Fishing picks, for this past weekend's event, were not too good this go round. It did keep me in second place, but I didn't gain any ground on Jeff Brauneck. If you haven't read about or watched the live weighins from last weekends FLW Tour contest, then you can read this report on how the FLW pros faired on Kentucky/Barkley .

One of the things I noticed going over the final standings was that Nate Wellman, our Grand Rapids connection on the FLW Tour, finished one ounce away from a $10,000 check. Another FLW Tour pro that I fished with down on Cherokee Lake last year was Kenneth "Boo" Woods. Boo finished 10th in this last FLW event! It's Boo's first year on the Tour. I'll have to check to see how he's doing in the Rookie of the Year race. Here's a picture of Boo from last year's BFL Regional on Cherokee Lake, TN.

An up and coming FLW Tour rookie, "Boo" Woods

There's been some more controversy with the FLW Kentucky event. Two pros, as I talked about in a recent blog, got penalized for following a B.A.S.S. angler on the first day of the FLW practice and the last day of the B.A.S.S. event. A third pro Jerry Green had his day one weight taken away, and he too was relegated to fish only Barkley for the remainder of the touranment. Alvin Shaw is another angler on the hot seat. He took a polygraph test and he is waiting on a ruling yet to be made. Here's the article about all this from Bass Fan entitled, Green's Weight DQd, Shaw's Status Uncertain .

The B.A.S.S. pros finished their tournament on the Mississippi this past weekend as well, and Kevin Short won his first Elite Series tournament. Here's the Bass Fan article on Short's First B.A.S.S. Win .

The fishing on the Mississippi as the article relates, was very tough. KVD blanked the second day and that just doesn't happen. He still has a slim lead over Skeet Reese in the Angler of the Year race, but look out, coming from behind is a charging Alton Jones. Here's a B.A.S.S article on the on the TTAOY race that they are calling, Train Wreck .

Time to get off this computer. I've been plunking away at this blog literally all day. Some days I can crank them out faster than others. Today was a test of will. The parting shot comes from Mahatma Ghandi. He once said, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Take care and make sure you take time out of your work day tomorrow to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 12, 2009

It's Friday morning and the bass boys are hard at it on Kentucky/Barkley and on the Mississippi. I don't know how I missed it, but the B.A.S.S. Elite anglers went back to back again and fished yesterday as well in Iowa on the Mississippi River . As expected, I guess everyone expects it anyway, KVD is once again in the hunt sitting twelfth. Skeet finished the day in 46th place, so KVD will jump about 100 points in the AOY race. The Elites are calling that race the TTAOY race after the title sponsor Toyota Trucks .

The Mississippi River fits right in to the power houses of flippers Tommy Biffle and Matt Herren. I spent a day in the boat with each of these anglers during my Marshalling experience down in Alabama this spring. If you haven't read that day by day account and looked at the pictures, just scroll to the top of this blog page and click on the Dixie Duel link that you will find there.

Both Tommy and Matt are in the top ten, but according to what Matt Herren was saying he's not quite sure that he's on the right group of fish to hang in there. Matt was fishing Pool 18 on the Big M and was fishing a community hole with two other Elite anglers. He wasn't saying how he caught his fish, but it would be my guess that he and Tommy both were pitching a Sweet Beaver in the skinny water. In between targets that they pitch to, they each like to throw a spinnerbait. They are both great guys, and I hope they continue to do well today.

Matt, a FLW switch over pro, is a rookine on the Elites, and he will undoubtedly up his stock in his bid to become the "Rookie of the Year" race if he can put together a decent sack today.

I have been watching Kalamazoo's other entry in the Elites, rookie Luke Gritter. Luke is sitting 49th after Day One, and I'm sure he would dearly love to put a nice limit in the boat today and move up in that top fifty and cash one of those $10,000 checks. I would think Luke is fishing shallow as well tossing plastics. Being sponsored by a local Grand Rapids based soft plastic company Garneau Baits gives Luke a chance to capitalize on some of the great looking baits that this young company is designing and putting on the market. If you haven't been to Garneau's website, take a look. I'm a big fan of paddle tails and they make a number of different offerings with that feature. They also are putting out some very unique designs that offer a chance for anglers to be using a bait that noone else yet has.

One last note about the Elite Pros is that Derick Remitz hit a log on the river shortly after take off on Day One, and the impact was significant enough to have caused a pretty serious injury to his Marshall. His Marshall had to be hospitalized, and the report I read was that he was doing OK today, but he was still in the hospital. If you sign up to ride with the big boys you had better hold on tight. Remitz went on fishing, but only boated one two pounder for the day.

Here are some pictures of Matt, Tommy, and Luke that I took down in Alabama.

I would bet this looks very much like the Mississippi water that Matt is fishing today.

Tommy wackin' and stackin' with the sweet beaver.

Luke stylin' with the Old English "D" and supporting the Garneau Baits web address.

The FLW pros side tracked me because of a bit of a preoccupation I had with the Fantasy Fishing roster that I was hoping I could put together to catch ole Jeff Brauneck with in our Fantasy Fishing League. Jeff has me by about 200 points. After day one, I'm in the hunt, but will need a couple of my anglers to make up some ground today if I'm going to catch Jeff. Jeff and I both have the same two anglers in the top ten, but I have a couple of guys that could join them if they spit on their worms right today.

One of the old guys, Larry Nixon has taken the Day One lead fishing Kentucky Lake and he looks pretty confident going in to Day 2. You can read Larry's day one story, but most pros don't say much about what they are doing during the tournament. However, there seems to always be a story within a story. The big news thus far is that one of the favorites (One of my Fantasy Fishing picks naturally) Mike Hawkes was penalized for a rules infraction. It seems that during the first day of practice Hawkes and a couple other FLW pros ran south in Kentucky Lake and watched some B.A.S.S. anglers fish. That in and of itself isn't a problem, but according to the rules you can't follow another boat to a spot and as the B.A.S.S. pros that they were watching moved they did to, breaking the rule. Hawkes and Hoernke were reported and instead of being disqualified, their penalty was that they had to fish in Barkley and couldn't make a cast in Kentucky Lake. Hoernke did alright with 15 pounds or so, but Hawkes stuggled and didn't bring in a limit. Here's the report from Day One on Kentucky/Barkley that Bass Fan had up on their site.

The Tear Drop anglers are up on Duck Lake this weekend and from the reports that I'm getting, it has been tough fishing. They are not finding many beds, and they are not seeing many old beds. I just don't think the spawn up that way has hit full swing and those fish are still staging to come up. The moon went full on the seventh of this month and the new moon won't occur until the 22nd. I would bet that as the new moon approaches we'll be seeing a big push on the northern inland lakes.

Grand Traverse Bay should see a later spawn as well. The word is that July 4th is the time to hit the bay for the spawn and that may be a bit early this year. We've had a very cool spring and that water temp is just not where it needs to be. We'll see what happens up there, because that's going to be where the Tear Drop anglers will compete on their third stop of the season on June 28th.

My plans are to do some fishing this week as well, and I hope as soon as I finish this blog entry, that I can pack the truck and head up to the cabin and get my boat wet. I won't be able to take my laptop up with me because my son is coming from Milwaukee this weekend to install a new super drive in the old Apple laptop. Right now, I have Rick Skinner's pictures on a disc stuck in the drive. The Apple Store said it would be at least $350 to send the machine in. My son, who does a lot of computer work, and builds some pretty nice machines for people as well, is going to tackle the super drive replacement. I may get online with the old machine we keep at the cabin, but it's like using two tin cans and a string to communicate. The dial up is slow, slow, slow and the machine is old, old, old.

I guess I just talked myself into ending this entry and jumping in the truck. The parting shot for today comes from a feisty old crumugin Thomas Alva Edison. He once said while in the heat of a discovery work session, "Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something!" I think that may be how a lot of successful people operate. It's not that they break legal or ethical rules, but they operate outside the box and think in ways that are unique, to come up with original items of ways of doing things. Might be a lesson for all of us to think about when we tackle a problem. Take care and make sure you take time from your work day today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 10, 2009

Tomorrow the FLW Tour pros will follow up the B.A.S.S. anglers who fished Kentucky/Barkley just last week and attempt to duplicate or exceed the weight, which was nearly 100 pounds, that Bobby Lane had to win. You may get to watch more of their effort live because the FLW is beginning some new on the water coverage for this tournament. Here is the article that talks about what new on the water coverage that the FLW has in mind.

Don't forget you stll have time to join Fantasy Fishing and pick a team that could earn you $100.000! I went over what you need to do to join and how to pick a team in the June 8th blog, which you can simply scroll down and read. Remember too, that the site gets $2 if you use the banner in the June 8th blog to order your "Players Advantage."

There hasn't really been much news from the FlW webpage concerning how the pros are doing during their practice on Kentucky. I would suspect that sometime today the articles will start popping up. I usually wait till then to finalize my Fantasy Team. I have one or two guys that I may yet change. Bass Fan did have an article yesterday that went in to a little more depth about the B.A.S.S. Top 5 on Kentucky/Barkley .

I see where Berkley has just released a new line to its retailers. It's a mono that seems to be photochromatic. It changes color in the water. It is also touted as having great knot strenght, and is said to be very abrasion resistant. Here is Berkley's ad page for their new Trans Optic line .

This past weekend the first Michigan BFL of 2009 was held up on Burt and Mullet.

Aloha State Park, Michigan BFL

Take off out in front of the Aloha State Park, 08

Weighin Trailer Burt and Mullet BFL

Chad Pipken of Mason won the boater side of the event, and Bill Schroeder of Jonesville, won the nonboater's side. The tournament was a bed fishing slugfest with over 27 lbs. winning it on the boater side and Bill Schroeder's back of the boat effort totaled almost 21 lbs. If you're interested in the article check out this Michigan BFL Inaugural Event for 2009 piece. You can check out the standings for the tournament using this Boater NonBoater BFL Results link. Of particular note in this event was a local from the Wyoming, MI area, Jay Van Dyke who came in third winning $428 with 20 pounds and two ounces. I do believe Jay is my nephew Kevin's good buddy. At first, I was thinking of another Jay from the Grand Rapids area and then it hit me that it was Kevin's friend Jay Van Dyke. Jay graduated from high school last year with Kevin. He has been fishing the BFL's for several years as a coangler, sleeping in his car for many of the tournaments. We met several times at the various BFL's last year and he stayed with us a time or two. Congratulations Jay!

I put a call in to my sister this morning to see if anybody there could fill me in with the details from Jay's win, but no one was home. Hopefully, I can get the rest of the story from her, or my nephew, and maybe some pictures.

I have been vascillating between fishing and not fishing a couple fo the BFLs this year. Seeing Jay's results is getting the juices flowing, and maybe I'll have to sign up for the Metro Park and one of the Elizabeth Park events. The only bad thing about it is I have to spend the extra cash to buy a Canadian, and Walpole Island Reservation license. That's about $80, and the entry fee for the BFLs are around $100. I have been trying to economize this year and trying to be more frugal with my fishing dollars. Maybe frugal isn't the right descriptor, maybe learning to live on an austerity budget is more accurate. One other clinker is that I was summoned to jury duty for the month of July.

I'm headed over to check out the Farmers Market that GVSU is kicking off today, so it's time for the parting shot. Today's salvo comes from J. Sidlo Baxter the author of "Majesty." He once said "The difference between an obstacle and an opportunity is our attitude towards it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity." Take care and make sure you find time during your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 8, 2009

By now you probably have heard that Bobby Lane won the B.A.S.S. event on Kentucky Lake . Bobby just missed the 100 pound club with 97-9 lbs. about five pounds ahead of second place finisher Kevin Van Dam. Kevin came back on Day 4 and bested the "California Kid" A.K.A. "Mellow Yellow 2," Skeet Reese. That will keep KVD in a slight lead over Skeet in the AOY standings. Should be very interesting to see how that race plays out again this year.

With the B.A.S.S. anglers recuperating from their outing on Kentucky the FLW pros are finishing up their practice there. They will begin their tournament on June 11.

If you haven't picked your Fantasy Fishing team yet, you have a couple of days. Don't forget you can still join Fantasy Fishing even though the season is half over. You could always be one of those 'beginners luck" people that joins and wins on their first attempt. It's happened before. Someone will win the $100,000 Fantasy Fishing prize for Kentucky/Barkley Lake, and it might as well be you or me.

If you do decide to take a few minutes to join, go to Fantasy Fishing . During the sign up, you'll see where it says to "Join a League." When you click on that option it will ask for a league number, and ours is 10569. Next it will ask you for a password, and ours is Michigan. Done with that, you will go to "Team" and select "Create/Edit Team" from the pull down menu. It probably selected a team for you, but you can click on the red x to delete an angler and then from the roster below click on the green x to select a different angler. You can move your anglers around by using the arrows on your ten man roster form. It generates big points if you pick an angler in a given place and they finish in that place. It's a crap shoot to be sure, but it is fun, and I hope I can catch ole Jeff Brauneck this week! If you sign up and want some help picking your team you can get some excellent info. by joining "Players Advantage." I didn't do it last year, but I did join this year, and it has helped. If you click on the logo below, the Tear Drop website will get $2 if you join. Every little bit helps to keep the webpage going.



Talked to my buddy John this morning, and he's at his place on Lake Erie. He had taken a group of Colorado guys he knows out for several days of fishing on Lake Erie for walleye. They did quite well and their group boated 79 eyes for the 4 days they fished. The biggest was around seven pounds. John's suppose to be sending me some pictures.

John's got some time to kill down there because on the third day of fishing he lost the lower unit on his motor. When they pulled the prop at the marina, it had a bunch of fishing line wound around the shaft, and it ruined the seal, causing him to loose the gear oil. It behooves us all to make sure we pull that prop regularly and check for line. A few minutes of prevention can save you a bunch of money and valuable time. Here's a blurb off Boats.com that may be a lower unit saver. "Here's a shad-tree way to give your gearcase a quick check. With the boat on the trailer and outboard in neutral, give the prop a spin. The high-viscosity lube in the outboard gearcase should arrest the motion of the prop quickly. If the prop spins free, however, the lube could be diluted with water. I know an aspiring bass angler who has made it a habit to spin his boat's prop every time he walks past the back end of the boat, and he knows just how it should spin when the lube is OK. He claims to have discovered water in the case twice using this method." If you would like to read the whole article on this subject just click on this Boat.Com link.

I don't have much time for blog work today so this is it for today's entry. The parting shot of the day comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He once said, "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." Take care and make sure you take time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 6, 2009

The Bassmaster Elite Anglers are fishing Day 4 today. The top twelve are out on Kentucky Lake fighting boat traffic to get to their fish, hoping the locals haven't come out to camp on their spots. Also the FLW pros, 150 or so, are out today on Kentucky Lake practicing for their upcoming event. Yesterday I spent some time trying to research a Fantasy team for that contest.

Bobby Lane has been waxing the field in this B.A.S.S. event. He's been limiting out very early then camping on his spot to protect it. He's even be napping for as long as 45 minutes! Trying to protect his spot and conserve his fish has been both exciting and quite boring. Today, on this last day of the four day event, he can swing on each bite with abandon. Hopefully, like I said above, there wont' be any locals camping on his spot ruining this last day for him.

KVD and Skeet continue to make Kentucky Lake a battle ground for the points lead for the Angler of the Year. They are in a tie going in to the final day and Skeet holds about a four ounce lead over Kevin. These two guys have just been a dominant force on the Elite Trail this year. It's amazing that they can be so overpowering when you look at the 1-100 roster of pros that fish the Elites. It is chock full of legends from top to bottom, but yet these two guys have been killing it. It should be an exciting last day, and I can't wait to watch the coverage on the ESPN2's Bassmaster show.

If you're interested in reading a recap of the day you can find one on just about all of the major bass sites. They all provide very good coverage, but I like how Bass Fan places the standings at the bottom of their article. So, here's Bass Fan's take on Day Three of the B.A.S.S. Elites on Kentucky Lake. Make sure though that you take a minute to puruse the pictures on Bassmaster's site. They have some great shots from Kentucky Lake .

This morning I watched ESPN2's fishing coverage and finally caught up with Zona's "World's Greatest Fisherman" show down on Ray Scott's President's Lake in Montgomery, Alabama. I missed the day one coverage of this year's Calabamich Cup, but caught the Day 2 coverage today. The Zona's Cup tournament was started last year. This year Skeet Reese and Gerald Swindle teamed up against Kevin VanDam and Mark Zona. Ray usually throws a little wrinkle into the competition and this year was no different. He had them start Day 2 in car top battery powered puddle jumper. The teams had to use four pound test while in these mini rigs and could only jump ship to their bass boats when they had caught a three pound or better fish.

The four of them had a ball catching fish and taunting each other throughout the day. They fished a no cull six fish battle with Skeet and the G-Man nudging out KVD and "Z" by two pounds. Zona and KVD didn't have their six fish limit. Tossing one of their fish back a couple hours before the end of the contest cost them the ball game.

You might get sick of hearing it, but I will never get tired of telling about my trip down to fish Ray's President Lake last April. We, that's Dandy Don Fowler and I, got down to Montgomery in the early afternoon and then were directed in to Ray's estate. We spent some time in his office meeting staff and taking pictures. Ray then took us for a ride around the property and over to the little local church where he and some of the angling greats have been making contributions through Ray's "Eagles of Angling" program. Ray and his Executive Director Col. Jimmy Kientz couldn't have been more hospitable. After our visit to the church we headed back to Ray's house where his son came over and grilled us some steaks. Ray's contribution to the meal were his favorite clorabi greens. We had a great meal and then sat up late and listened to Ray's stories of old. In the morning Don Corkran, B.A.S.S.'s Federation Nation Director came over, Don ate dinner the night before with us as well, and he and Ray fished out of one bass boats as Don and I fished out of the other.

We made a gentelman's wager on the biggest fish and then shoved off on his President's Lake. We fished the famous "Rick Clunn" hole and caught several fish, but not any monsters. Ray decided, after a few hours, that the lake was fishing slow and put in a call to his staff to meet us at the ramp to haul us out and take us over to another one of his big ponds. Once we made the move, I put on a sexy shad 7-10 crankbait and commenced to wacken the fish. We had a ball and I caught several doubles on the crankbait. I was lucky enough to boat the big fish of the day and got a souvenir $10 bill with Ray and Don's signature on it. Here are a few pictures from our couple of days with the "Bass Boss."

The Fearsome Foursome in Ray' Office.

Checking out the Pintlala Baptist Church.

Ray's after dinner recollections, priceless!

Ray's mountain cabin guest house where we stayed.

Let the contest begin!

The famous "Rick Clunn Hole."

One of my biggest bass off President's Lake.

Trying on one of Ray's trademark Stetsons.

The 2008 Flemich Cup awarded to the host Ray Scott.

My trophy from the April 2008 trip!

That's going to wrap it up for today. Saturday is a busy day, and I have to make hay while the sun shines. The parting shot today is not having anything to do with hockey. I fear I may have jinx the Wings by talking about them too much ahead of their last two games. Not another word about Motown hockey. Today's shot comes from a motivational speaker by the name of Dennis Waitley. He once said, "Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and they enjoy working in the present toward the future. Take care and make sure you take some time today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 4, 2009

It's Day 2 for the Elite B.A.S.S. anglers down on Kentucky Lake. KVD is about a pound behind the leader, Bobby Lane who brought in 29-14 lbs.! They were whackin' em on the ledges with the crankbaits again. The reports say that you need to find the right shell beds (mussel beds) and be in the right spot when they begin pulling water through the dam. There were guys in eyeshot range of Lane who watched him catch his fish while they struggled to put 11 pounds off their own fish in the boat. Right place, right time was key. Here's an article entitled Day One Notes and Quotes from Kentucky Lake . If you're looking for the overall report and a list of the Day One totals here is an article from Bass Fan titled Lane Snatches Early Lead, KVD Right Behind .

If you have been to ESPN's Bassmaster site for tournament information, you know that they have some of the best photographers in the business. Check out their Photo Gallery for Kentucky Lake .

You may be able to watch the weighin live if you have a internet provider that has contracted with ESPN for their ESPN360 service. My cable/internet provider is Comcast and they just signed up for the service, so I got excited that I would again be able to watch the weighins live. However, my excitement was soon turned in to frustration as I found that my current operating system doesn't support the necessary adjunct programs like Adobe Flash Player 8. I will have to be content to watch the live leaderboard which I can access with this old computer.

As soon as my son gets back from a business trip in California, we're going to do some major computer surgery. We're going to put a super drive in my wife's laptop and put a new hard drive in my computer and juice the RAM up as well. At the same time I'll be ugrading to the latest Mac OS.

Before I go too much further with the bass news of the day, I want to say that the 2009 Tear Drop Flyer is now up on the website as well as the standings for the last tournament on Hardy Pond. You can select "Standings" by clicking on the "Rules and Info" button on the left side of the main Tear Drop webpage to see how everyone did.

The Genmar buzz is still going strong. Genmar is a boat building company and is best known in bass circles because they produce Ranger Boats. On Monday, they filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy just as GM and Chrysler have. They too, hope that through restructuring they can emerge with their lines intact. Here's the latest on the subject from Editor and Chief John Storm from Bass Fan, with an editorial he calls, What Will Tomorrow Bring .

Now for a bit of the weird news. A video that someone allegedly took with a cell phone on Lake Champlain suggest there are strange things being sited on the lake. A relative of the Loch Ness monster maybe? Check this You Tube video out of the Lake Champlain Nessy .

I have been corresponding with Jimmy Kientz, Ray Scott's Executive Director, about he and Ray's upcoming trip to Canada. For years, Ray and a group of buddies have been going to Canada on a fishing retreat. They're leaving on their 2009 trip June 9th. I was able to wrangle up some fishing supplies for them from Koppers Live Target Baits and Vicious Fishing . A big thank you goes out to Grant Kopper and Terry Kellar for getting those great baits of theirs off to Ray and Jim so that they can use them to ply those Canadian waters for some big smallies and tasty shore lunch walleye and pike. While I'm thanking people I should also toss out a thank you to Seth Burrill from Ax Tackle . Last year when I went down to fish with Ray and Jim, Seth sent along several of his videos. I hope Ray and Jim watched his drop shotting video several times because when that sun gets high and the bite gets tough getting that drop shot rig out can save the day. Seth's "Drop Shot Secrets Revealed" is probably the best instructional DVD that I own. I also have a subscription to Seth's Anglers Experience On-Demand Video Gallery, and for the price he charges for a yearly subscription you can't go wrong. You get a ton of good things to watch and learn from.

Hopefully Jim sends me some more pictures from the trip. Here are two that he sent me from last year.

A nice Canadian wilderness smallie.

One of those big Canadian toothy critters.

While were on a picture roll I found the other picture that went with the one I had up the other night when I jinxed the Redwings before their first game in Pittsburgh. Here is Wes and Brian with the Stanley Cup in their Basscat. I apologize for not remembering who the two ex Wing players are with them in the boat. Maybe Wes or Brian will email me their names or if you are really interested in knowing you can go back through the old blog archives.

A true bass angler would drop that in for structure.

That's going to be it for today. The quote of the day has to be another hockey related quote with the Wings headed in to game four tonight. The quote comes from Jacques Plante and he said, "How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" I guess a goalie's life could lead him down the road to several kinds of complexes. Take care and make sure you take time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face.

June 2, 2009

First of all, as you may have noticed, I broke the blog in order to archive the second year of blog entries. If you're looking for a post from the past, just click on one of te links above, and it will open an allow you to click on individual months. Hard to believe I'm starting year three.

I haven't heard from Dennis Cook yet. Dennis is the Ice Mountain Tear Drop Tournament Trail 2009 Director. I don't know if he plans on posting results on my webpage or not since, I won't be fishing the Tear Drop this year. As I understand it though, they had 21 boats show up for the opener on Hardy Pond. I heard from Dandy Don Fowler that he came in fifth, fishing with MSU graduate student, Marty Williams.

Don went on to say that Wes Herdon and Brian MacDonnell won the event. That could be bad news for the rest of the Tear Drop anglers. Wes and Brian are smallmouth experts, and as they head north, closer to their home base of Traverse City, the odds of them being top contenders really rises. They can be very tough to beat up in that great northwest corner. Congratualtions Wes and Brian, and Brian I hope I spelled your last name right. I never can remember if its one or two n's and or one or two l's. Sorry. I need to come up with an "i before e" kind of rule for it.

Here is a picture that I've had up before of Brian and Wes with the Stanley Cup. They have several shots of Cup with them in their bass boat. I couldn't find where I had them stored though. I'll have to look back through the archived posts myself.

Brian and Wes are avid hockey players and know a couple of former Redwing players that got a turn with the cup when they won it in 08. Don't forget that the Wings play in Pittsburgh tonight. Go Wings! How about a sweep!

Brian and Wes with Lord Stanley's Cup

Some big news came across the wire this morning. There was an annoucement made stating that Genmar filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy. Genmar's CEO is Irwin Jacobs who also owns FLW Outdoors. Genmar, as you may or may not know, makes Ranger bass boats along with several other big name lines. Jacobs emphasize in a statement that they are certainly planning on reorganizing and hope to reemerge with a more viable and stable organization.

This economic downturn we're experiencing is certainly a tough one and quite scary. Who would have thought that such big names as GM and Ranger Boats would ever be in danger of fading away.

Tomorrow the B.A.S.S. Elite anglers will begin their next event, the "Tennessee Triumph" on Kentucky Lake. KVD won the event last year with around eighty pounds. He won it cranking Kentucky Lake's famous ledges. On these impoundment type lakes, when they are pulling water through the dam, it tends to fire up the fish and it bunches them up. One problem for the pros, however, will be that they don't normally pull water on the weekends. That means half the tournament will be contended with the larger fish on the feed. One other problem may be that the FLW pros will begin their practice period while the B.A.S.S. pros will be on the water. Here is an article from Bass Zone entitled "Staying Current on Kentucky Lake" .

One bright spot for me with this tournament is that I just got notified that Comcast Cable now has ESPN 360, so I will be able to watch the weigh-ins again.

While I was checking out Bass Zone I watched an "In The House" episode with Mark Zona. Zona is one of my favorite fishing personalities. He's a Michigan native and is currently a cohost on ESPNs coverage of the B.A.S.S. Elites, and he is also host of his own show, "World's Greatest Fisherman" which is on Saturday mornings on ESPN2 just before Bassmasters. Check out Zona In the House .

Well, that's going to be it for today. I'm heading over to Gander Mountain to return a rod that my son had the tip break off of. They replace rods you buy there (their brand that is) with no questions asked. Not many places do that any more. The parting shot of the day comes from goaltender Liane Carlos. He once said "Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking your potential." Good advice. Take care and make sure you do something today that puts a smile on your face.

May 31, 2009

The last day of May and the first day of the 2009 Tear Drop Ice Mountain Tournament Trail. The Tear Drop anglers are out on Hardy Pond today. It should be a pretty good day, although I got a report from Ed Dyer late last night concerning his day on Hardy yesterday. He said that the bass were still spawning, but the beds were few and far between. In his tournament, it took a little over 12 pounds to win it. If it would have been a true spawn tournament it would have taken near twenty I would bet. We'll see how many bass the Tear Drop crew can tempt to bite.

Yesterday, I was able to attend the Division II Lower Peninsula State Finals Track Meet at Zeeland High School. I went because my young friend and fellow bass fishing fanatic, Ross Parson, was there representing DeWitt High School. He qualified to run the 100 and 200 meter dash. I don't know at my age if I consider a 100 yards a dash any more. I'd have to pack a lunch. In any case, Ross covered the 100 yds. in 11.26 seconds, and took fourth in the state! He also ran a great second race becoming a medalist in the 200 meters as well, coming in fifth place with a time of 22.82 seconds. Ross had to run a number of heats as well as a semifinal race to make it to the medal round. It was a long arduous day for him, but he weathered it well and did himself proud.

Ross and his buddy Eric fished a couple of Tear Drop events last year, and they hope to fish some this year as well. Here a picture of Ross and Eric at a Tear Drop weigh-in and a couple of pictures from Saturday's State Finals Track Meet.

Ross and Eric at last year's Hamlin weigh-in.

Ross running the medal race in the D2 State Finals.

Ross getting ready to take the podium to receive one of his two medals.

Me hobb knobbin' with one of the state's best sprinters!

I haven't been to a track meet since I ran track back in junior high. It's been so long I don't even remember what races I ran. I think it was the hurdles.

I had a great time watching the best athletes from the lower peninsula. I also got a chance to talk with Ross's parents and his grampa. Ross's grampa is a fishalholic as well, and has a boat that he fishes the big lake with as well as a smaller boat for the inland lakes. Ross's grampa has a summer home on the same lake that I have my cabin on. Ross's dad, grampa, and I hope to do some fishing together this summer. Who knows maybe Ross and Eric and I will be able to get out and catch some bass as well.

I should also mention, that Ross is a 3.85 honor student as well. Being a junior he will have one more year of high school, and is looking forward to football and running track again next year. I wish him the best of luck and will be looking forward to watching another state final track meet next year.

I spent last night at the emergency room until 12:37 am. My 86 year old mother-in-law, who lives with us, fell and ended up breaking her wrist. We had to wait for almost three hours to be seen. She's not doing very well. The stress of this injury seems to have taken a toll on her. Hopefully, after a few days, she will gain some strength and get better, but at 86 that's not always a guarantee. Getting old and dealing with a body that is breaking down is tough. It is something though that none of us can avoid. Gram's a tough ole bird though and it wouldn't surprise me to see her bopping around here again soon.

I had a chance today to watch the FLW on Versus. They showcased the Lake Norman event from the end of April. Stetson Blaylock won $200,000 in the event held on Lake Norman. He won the big check and set a new record as well. He became the youngest to ever win a BFL Tour event. Stetson was the coangler champion on last year's FLW Tour. He decided this year to fish from the pointy end of the boat, and it looks like his four years fishing the Tour as a coangler served him well. From watching today's show it looks like Stetson is a great young angler. He handled the stress and frustration of the tournament like a seasoned veteran. At one point, on the final day, he hooked a five pounder on a bed and lost it as he was about to net it. There was no tantrumming or getting down on himself. He picked up his rod and kept fishing. After a bit, he went back after the five pounder that had made its way back to the bed. This time, to Stetson's credit, he hooked the fish again and landed it. It was the fish he needed to secure his first win, to set the new record, and fatten his bank account substantially.

I spent some time cruising the net and found a good article that was done by one of my very favorite anglers, Gerald Swindle. The G-Man could easily make a good living if he put up his fishing rod and went on the road doing stand up comedy. He is one funny dude, especially when he teams up with Mark Zona. Remember this shot I got of Zona and Swindle from down at D&R Sports this spring?

The G-Man, Me, and Mark Zona.

You can probably tell by the look on my face that these guys can not only cover fishing, but they can keep a crowd in stiches for more than an hour. It was one of the funniest comedy routines that I have ever witnessed, and I was at a fishing seminar!

Despite being two excellant entertainers, Zona and Gerald are two very good anglers as well. This article that Gerald did is really well done and worth your time to read. It's called Goin' Fishin' .

If you have'nt been able to read many of the fishing magazines or cruise the online sites, you may have not be privy to the buzz that the "Flick Shake" technique has been making. Many of the pros include it in their arsenals now and use it as a finesse technique right along with their shakey heads. Here is a "How To" article that Cliff Pace did on how the "Flick Shake Combo Is A Great Enticer ." If you haven't tried the technique this article may have you out buying some ball head jigs so when your next outing gets tough the flick shake can get going.

One last item today for your consideration, is that I got an email to remind me that the Museum of Science and Industry from June 1 to June 5 has free admission. I had a chance to go through the museum this past winter and it was very interesting. It can be a tab bit expensive though, especially if you are taking your whole family. With this free admissions period it may be a good time to take an over night vacation. Something to consider anyway. I think you would find that the museum will captivate young and old alike, and can easily fill most of your day.

I heard a great quote the other day that I am going to use as the parting shot for today. "Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or a lifetime, is certain for those who are friends." Call me sentimental, but I like that quote. Take care and make sure you take time today to do something that puts a smile on your face.