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Daily Blog Archive March 2, through March 31st, 2010

March 31, 2010

Another teen ager hit the streets today in the form of my favorite granddaughter. Yep, she turns 13 today! Happy birthday Kayla!

I had breakfast yesterday with John's walleye buddies. They talked about getting things ready for this year's soft water season. A couple of the guys were discussing when they would be heading over to Saginaw Bay.

On greatlakesbass.com there have been several posts about the walleye run on the Detroit River. They say that boats are bringing in fish, but that it's not at the peak of the run yet.

My son has some buddies that said that they're getting walleye, and big ones, off the pier at Holland. They get there about sundown and fish till eleven or so. They are throwing husky jerks.

I'm sure that this warm weather, they're talking maybe 80° by Friday, is going to cause some fish to really start staging.

Myself, I'm thinking of heading to the beach with my flip flops. Not really, when you get to be my age the only time you should be shirtless is when you take a shower.

On Friday, John, Burt, and I are heading down to D & R Sports to hear VanDam , Martens , and Mellow Yellow Reese . We may take in Romanack's seminar as well. I've never heard him speak.

Speaking of Van Dam, he didn't have one of his stellar performances out in California on the recent B.A.S.S. Elite Series two week swing through that state. As he sits in the standings right now, he wouldn't make the Classic cut. It is, however, early, and being this year's Classic champion, he gets an automatic berth in the 2011 Classic. I don't think he's going to rely on that though. Smith Mountain is next and he won that last year.

Bass Fan has a pretty good article up entitled "Fished Better Than He Finished: VanDam Not Too Bummed About California Results." It's a pretty good read. It talks about how on Clear Lake, it was a case of unpredictable tidal fishing. Then on Clear Lake, it was a matter of the big ones that got away. I'm sure we will hear more of the details, straight from the horses mouth, on Friday when we go down to hear Kevin. I'm going to take a note pad and my camera, and so we'll have the rest of the story on the blog Saturday.

I've mentioned that my mother-in-law lives with us and today while receiving some physical therapy at home, her therapist, Nick, talked about his dad's cottage up on Burt and Mullet Lakes. I was talking to him about how they could learn more about the lake by fishing the Michigan BFL they will be having up there in early June. In fact, the Michigan BFL season starts there June 5th and 6th.

I would highly recommend that anyone who wants to get in to tournament bass fishing tyr fishing the BFLs a season or more as a coangler. You don't need a boat, the entry fee is nominal, and you have a pretty good chance of winning some money. Even if you don't cut a check, it's a good way to see what fishing a tournament is all about. You can learn a great deal.

When you fish a draw tournament like the BFLs, the boat owners fish the front of the boat and make all the decisions about where to go. They compete only against the other boat owners and you as a coangler compete against the other back of the boat coanglers. You meet a lot of great guys, and it's a lot of fun. The hot link above will take you to the FLW site where you can get all the information you need.

If you do decide to try the BFLs, don't wait till the last minute. Obviously they have to have an even number of owners and coanglers. If they don't have enough boaters, you won't be able to fish. To guarantee a spot, get on one of the fishing forums like greatlakesbass.com, and seek out a boater. If you sign up together you are guaranteed to fish. Chances are you won't fish with the boater you signed up with., because you're paired in a blind draw the night before the tournament. Another caveat is that you must attend the Friday night pairings meeting. If you don't show you don't fish!

My buddy Don Fowler with a nice Mullet Lake Smallie

Well that's going to be it for today. Not too much going on in the fishing world. In keeping with my last parting shot of the day, I'm going to use another quote from the basketball world. This quote comes from one of the great player coaches Phil Jackson. He once said,"In basketball - as in life - true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way. Of course, it's no accident that things are more likely to go your way when you stop worrying about whether you're going to win or lose and focus your full attention on what's happening right this moment."

Take care and make sure you spend some time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face even if its for only a few minutes. That might include making a list of excuses to give your boss for not working Friday, so that you can go down to D&R Sports Spring Sale. Take care and maybe I'll see you Friday.

March 29, 2010

Taking a new vocab word from Bass Fan this morning the Michigan State Basketball Team's iteration Sunday had me thinking again this morning about starting with the same mantra that I used Saturday, "How about those Spartans!" They're once again in the NCAA Final Four after beating a solid Tennessee team by a single point. Summers and Green are carrying this team a lot further that many expected.

Having been a devoted Izzo fan for the last seven to eight years, I watched just about all of the Spartan games this season. They started out a preseason favorite and then had some difficulties putting teams away. That plagued them the rest of the season. They ended up Big Ten Co-Champions in a very competitive conference. They now have the task of playing the Butler Bulldogs in Indianapolis on April 3rd at 6:07 p.m.

Butler University is in Indianapolis, so they will definitely have a home court advantage. The Spartan faithful, however, are only a few hours away, and 600 of the 3600 tickets allocated to MSU, will be going to the raucous Izzone supporters. It should be a good game. Go Spartans! The game will be televised on CBS.

Bryan Thrift, I don't know how I missed him when I went to pick my FLW Fantasy team. He has a fairly long history on Lake Norman, and he is considered a local on the lake. He's one of those guys I would have typically found in my pre-tournament research. Missed him I did though, and I also missed out on some big points. In the Norman Winning Pattern Quick Start, Afternoon Upgrades The Keys For Thrift article that I read this morning, it talked about how Bryan focussed the beginning of each day on a small little area near the launch. It was just a shallow spot with stumps that he cranked to catch spotted bass. After putting some spots in the boat, he would then feel better about moving up river to fish for a few bites a day hoping for quality largemouth. He threw a Damiki DC-100 (real shad) using fluorocarbon and a seven foot medium-action Damiki Dark Angel rod .

When Thrift wasn't throwing the crankbait, he was targeting brush piles in and around docks with a 1/2 ounce green pumpkin Shooter Jig . Plying the depths on Norman with his chosen baits won Thrift $127,500. Michigan's Nate Wellman, from right here in Jenison, Michigan won $12,113 smackers for coming in eleventh place. Here are the Standings from Norman with the pay-outs.

The next FLW Tour event will be in Knoxville on Ft. Loudon/Tellico Lakes . The lakes are Tennessee River impoundments. You have until April 21 to pick your Fantasy Teams for that event.

I don't think too many people, myself included, are going to take Mr. Thrift lightly in that event. He's on what you call a roll.

Before you start thinking too hard and long about that next FLW tournament, you have to make sure you spend some time selecting your B.A.S.S. Fantasy Team for the April 15th, Blue Ridge Brawl on Smith Mountain Lake in Huddleston, Virginia. The last time the B.A.S.S. pros fished Smith Mountain, KVD brought home another trophy to go along with all the others he has displayed at brother Randy's, tackle shop.

Speaking of D&R Sports , don't forget that this coming Friday and Saturday is their big Spring sale. If you are able to go down on Friday you can sit in on seminars given by KVD, Skeet Reese, and Aaron Martens. Aaron will also be there on Saturday but Kevin and Skeet will not.

I'm going to be heading down on Friday around noon with a couple of buddies, so if you have the day off and want to ride along, we have a couple of seats open.

For those of you in the Grand Rapids area, we are going to have a breakfast confab tomorrow morning at 8:30 out by GVSU at Murphy's on Lake Michigan Drive. Come on down and join us.

The final cast for today is in honor of the Spartan's win. It's a quote for one of the legendary coaches in the game John Wooden. He once said, "Don?t let what you can?t do stop you from doing what you can do." Words of wisdom from one of the great motivators.

Take care, and make sure you take some time out of your work day to do something that rekindles the flames and puts a smile on your face.

March 27, 2010

How about those Spartans! MSU beat the giant killers from Northern Iowa last night in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Despite having to play some walking wounded the Spartans used their bench depth to hang around and then win it late. It's hard to say how they will do against Tennessee tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. with only one day for the weary and wrecked to rest and heal. They had almost a week to let Chris Allen and Delvon Roe heal up some. With only a day off before tomorrow's game, it's going to be tough to have those two guys ready. Win or lose they've had another great run in the tournament.

Well, ole Ed Dyer is tearing them up on the FLW Fantasy Fishing League. He's accumulating some big points, and he looks the strongest going in to the final day. Only the top five fish this final day and my team is down to a lone hopeful, Brian Travis.

Bryan Thrift is leading the pack of five on this final day of competition. He has a five pound lead, which on Lake Norman where ounces are critical, is a monster lead.

Thrift, Andy Morgan and my guy Brian Travis, are considered Lake Norman locals, and are using their extensive knowledge of the pond to pick it apart as the bass move from their prespawn staging areas to the shallows to nest. Most are fishing shallow. We're talking two feet or less, which indeed is some skinny water. They must be making some long casts to spooky fish if they are fishing for those shallow cruisers. Thrift is said to be pounding docks and using a small crankbait in between the piers.

Southerners refer to their docks as piers and they cabins as camps. The piers on the southern impoundments are much more substantial than those you find up here on our lakes that freeze. They don't have to take their docks out of the water like we do, so they become more or less permanent pieces of structure. Many of the piers have brush piles that the homeowners build to attract and hold fish. Year in and year out they provide some good fishing for anyone out there chasing bass and the king of kings in the south, crappie.

If you haven't been following the tournament on Lake Norman, here is an article from Bass Fan that will bring you up to speed. It's entitled "Morgan First Out Thrift Continues Dominance, Leads Norman By 5-02" .

Jenison native and my old sixth grade student, Nathan Wellman ended up his three days on Norman in eleventh place. He'll take home a nice check and garner a pile of points toward the Forest Wood Cup. Nate has qualified for the Cup two years in a row, and it looks like he's making a statement to compete three years in a row.

Nate Wellman back in his B.A.S.S. State Federation Days

Nate is in the center standing next to my buddy Ron Hicks

My Day 2 partner, in the BFL Regional I fished down in Tennessee on Cherokee Lake, was Boo Woods. Boo and his dad are traveling together and fishing the FLW Tour. Boo is fishing as a Tour Pro and his dad Ken is fishing as a coangler. Neither had great tournaments on Norman, but they're both great people who hail from Hazard Kentucky. There the "Dukes of Hazard" and I'll be rooting for Nate and the Woods in the rest of the tournaments. I'll be watching the live streamed video of the FLW weigh-ins to see how they do. You can use that link to watch today's final day weigh-in at 4:00 p.m.

FLW Tour Pro Boo Woods

I got an email yesterday from a buddy of mine that was talking about riding down to the D&R Sports Spring Sale. Aaron Martens, Skeet Reese, and KVD himself, are going to be at the Friday and Saturday wing ding. Reese and Kevin will only be there on Friday. I'm going to try and head down Friday around noon so that I can attend all three of their seminars. Should be a good time, and the weather for next Friday is suppose to be in the 70's!

My buddy Burt, is the guy that emailed me about going down to D&R. He's a retired State Police Fire Investigator, and a while back he emailed me a safety video that I have been saving to use as a final cast of the day. I have the "Thin Ice" video hot linked at the top of the blog and with Spring now here, and most all of the ice gone, I'll be taking that down. Maybe I should put the fire safety video up. It shows what happens when you have a hot grease fire.

Many of us fry up some fish from time to time. I have a "Fry Daddy" in the house and a outdoor fryer as well for turkey, fish, etc. It goes without saying that when you use these fryers you have to be very careful. I won't mention any names, but a close friend of mine had a little kitchen fire not too long ago and could have benefitted from watching this video.

Burt was telling me in his email that during his fire training they use a deep fryer and demonstrate what happens when you put water on a grease fire. Water is more dense than grease and when you toss it on a fire it sinks. It becomes super heated in a matter of seconds and in effect explodes at the bottom of the pot forcing grease to erupt in a volcano like effect. It can be devastating and cause tremendous property and personal damage. So, for the final cast today watch this very short safety video and spread the word to your loved ones. Here is this Life Saving Video . Take care and enjoy your weekend. Go MSU! They're on at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

March 24, 2010

Along with the March Madness NCAA Basketball which starts back up tonight, (Here's the TV schedule for tonight's games.) the FLW Tour Pros are out on Lake Norman competing for only $125K. The exciting news in that contest is that my old sixth grade student Nate Wellman is currently in fourth place. Go Nate! I'll definitely be following the reports throughout the day on FLW Live . Using the aforementioned link you can get the current standings after Day 1, and when you scroll down a tad you will get their hour by hour chase boat commentary. The live streamed video of the weigh-ins begins at 3:00 p.m.

I got an email yesterday from my ole buddy up in Manistee, Steve Block. He's been sending the great "Trail Cam Pictures of the Week." He has another one for this week, he called "Cats and Dogs." It's a shot of a bobcat defending its food as a coyote circles the carcass.

Just a little cat and dog action.

I'll have to shoot Steve an email back to see how the fishing action is up north. I would bet that he's been out trolling for browns along the beach already. Steve has one of the prettiest mounts of a big football brown that I've ever seen. Living in the Great Northwest Corner, Steve is within minutes of some of the best Big Lake, inland lake, and river fishing to be found anywhere.

As we start gearing up for Michigan's soft water fishing season, there a lots of things to do to get ready. One handy website that I recently ran across is a take on Google Maps Street View. If you go to vPike.com , and the hot link will take you there, you can actually see a picture of the houses, etc. in the area of your destination. You can also, by clicking on the arrows, move up and down the street. In that way, you not only can get directions, but you get a visual that you can keep in the back of your mind to help you navigate. If you haven't ever tried "Street View" in Google Maps you really need to give it a try.

Not all streets are camera ready. If you see a blue line on the map then you can use "Street View." The area around my house has not been photographed yet so I can't use it to show you where I live. The link above is the address of the Harley Ensign Boat Ramp on Lake St. Clair. It's a ramp that I've used many times, and if you are a member of greatlakesbass.com , it's the ramp they will be using for their Spring fishing outing in May.

If you are transitioning from the hard water to soft water bite you have to remember to get your new 2010 Fishing License . I always buy my fishing license online. In my opinion, there are some real advantages in doing so. First of all, it's very easy. Secondly, I like being able to print as many copies of the license as I want. I always print a half dozen or so. With that many I can put one copy in the truck, leave a copy in the boats, and have some spares. I buy clear contact paper at Meijers to use to cover my license that I carry in my wallet. Even though they are covered it's nice to have backups because at least once during the summer my wallet ends up getting wet. Remember if you buy online, that you will only be able to print your licenses that first time, so print all you need. You can't go back later and print more!

I've been corresponding with Curt Johnston and Jeri "Sweetpea" Toner from the Zipper Worm Company . I have always liked to throw the zippers. They are a killer smallmouth bait. You'll have to talk to me, and maybe trade me a fishing secret, to get out of me my most productive Zipper creature. As I said they are deadly little smallmouth baits. We'll see if the company is interested in me spreading the word and their product around here in Michigan.

Today, I'm going to spend some time preparing for my trip down to Alabama to Marshal Pickwick and Guntersville. Rick and I have to do some logistical work. My brother and sister-in-law live about halfway between to the two famous bass impoundments. We'll be staying with them some.

I am going to have to see exactly where the launch sites are, in order to determine if we want to drive it every day or get a motel room. We may even want to take Rick's camper. Now that I'm thinking about doing that, I'm gong to get off the computer and get 'er done.

The final cast of the day is going to be the latest Dave Mercer, Facts of Fishing video. Take care and make sure you take some time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face.

March 23, 2010

F.Y.I. announcement. Make sure you have selected your new FLW Fantasy Fishing team for the Lake Norman. The FLW pros will be taking off from Lake Norman, North Carolina tomorrow morning. The word has it that the spawn is behind so unless some very warm weather heats up the shallow coves the sight fisherman had better be prepared for what the Elite Pros found on Clear Lake. They may just be spending a good deal of time plying those funnels that the bass will be staging near waiting to move up. It looks to be a finesse bite, and possibly it's still cool enough for the traps and jerkbaits to be effective. All I know is the guys I picked on my team all have fished Norman a number of times, and I hope that experience will pay off. I need to do some catching up in our Tear Drop League standings.

Yesterday I pretty much covered my tour of duty at the Ultimate Sport and Fishing Show in downtown Grand Rapids. I did go back down on Sunday for a little while. Walleye John had given me some free passes, and I thought some of my nephews were going to come down, but they were too wrapped up in NCAA Basketball. I'll have to admit, when I first drove down I was thinking about whether I could give up watching MSU play. (Actually I left to be sure I could watch the second half.)

One of the booths I wanted to revisit Sunday was the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation booth. I have a bit of history with the President of the State group, Paul Sacks. We spent some time together when Don Fowler and I fished our way down to Lake Toho for the Federation Nation National Championship.

Paul Sacks, Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation Nation President

If you have a bass fishing club or tournament group you ought to consider becoming affiliated with the Federation. It involves having a member attend a couple Presidents Meetings through the years, and the dues are not much. Once affiliated, you are eligible to send members to the State Championship, and who knows you may end up making it all the way to the Bassmaster Classic.

I have the trip Don and I took to the Nationals archived at the top of my blog. Just click on the 07-08 Blog entries and you'll get a pretty good idea of what the experience is like. I also have made a DVD of the State, Regional, and National fish-off. If you want to get an idea, in video format of what it's like to fish your way to the Bassmaster Classic as a Federation angler, let me know. For a couple of bucks I'll send you a copy. Use the "Contact Button" on the website to get a hold of me.

Another contact I made down at the show was with my old buddy Jason Frolenko of Strike Zone Charters . I met Jason when he fished the Tear Drop Bass Tournament Trail. He has been a charter boat captain for quite a while now. He is a very knowledgeable guide out of Manistee on the Big Lake, and he also knows the Big Manistee River very well and takes clients there as well. You many recall the new World Record Brown Trout came out of the Manistee River last year.

Captain Jason Frolenko of Strike Zone Charters

Jason was another charter boat captain that was interested in trying out the Vicious Fluorocarbon . Jason says he's using fluoro almost exclusively now. Jason also told me that he is doing a lot of walleye charters on Saginaw Bay. He has built up a stockpile of waypoints on the Bay. If you are at all interested on a trip for some good eating fish, salmon, walleye or trout, give him a call.

One other booth that I made it to on Sunday was Ted Garneau's Garneau Baits . I met Ted when we were paired up in a State Championship on Lake St. Clair. During that outing he was telling me that he was starting to do some hand pours in his garage. We ran across each other a few times through subsequent years. When we met, I would hear about his hand pour tackle business and how it was growing.

Ted partnered up with Bernie Pepin. Bernie had a very successful business making aluminum storage boxes for ATVs. My buddy John Baker was a multi state rep for Bernie. I met Bernie when John and I were at a Matteson Marine Open House a few years ago. Bernie and Ted now are working hard to promote and grow Garneau Baits.

Luke Gritter, another Kalamazoo Kid, is sponsored by Garneau Baits. I had a chance to meet Luke last year when I Marshaled down on Lake Wheeler in Alabama. Sunday Luke was down at the show and I got to talk to him for quite a while. He was telling me about the Northern and Southern Opens that he plans on fishing this year. Luke will also be at the D&R Sports Spring Show.

Ted Garneau has a new bait that is causing some stir. It's called the "Bed Bug." If you use the link above you can get a underwater look at the bait.

Luke Gritter and Ted Garneau

Yesterday, I mentioned that after the Elite Series event out on Clear Lake there would be a number of articles coming out detailing how Byron won that event. In the Bass Zone article out today, it talks about several of the top anglers there and how they caught their fish. Bass Fan also has an article up today that talks about how Velvick utilized an area he found back in 2000 to win this year's tournament. Both sites are good reads.

Bad news for Spartan fans today. Lucas has a torn achilles tendon and will be out for the rest of the season. Chris Allen is also hobbled with an arch problem that has the bottom of his foot purple. Delvon Roe is nursing a knee that will require post season surgery. The good news is they have till Friday night to rest. We'll have to hope that MSU's bench steps up and will carry them in to the Elite Eight.

The final cast of the day will come from Pat Riley. We're in that March Madness frame of mind, so its apropos that we have a quote from one of the great player/coaches. Riley once said, "You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again." I like that attitude, because with most things that we do there is only one winner, so you playing a game of failure most often. You need to be sure that you maintain that positive attitude to stay in the game for the long haul, putting yourself in a position to win each time out.

Take care and make sure you take some time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face.

March 22, 2010

I didn't make it back to the blog yesterday after my initial mini post. I did make it down to the Grand Rapids Ultimate Sport Show and spent most of the afternoon down there.

As I always do when I go down to the show, I parked by the Sixth Street Park along the Grand River. There is metered parking on the west side of the street there, and it's only twenty-five cents an hour.

Walking from there to the DeVos Place is kind of fun because you can use the river walk and be entertained by the steelhead anglers that are shoulder to shoulder along the river.

Grand River Steelhead Fishing

The DeVos Place On Monroe Ave. In G.R.

The price of admission is kind of steep at the show, $9.00. Fortunately for a poor retired school teacher, there are some pretty good guys out there that take care of me. One of those is Captain Wayne Carpenter from Xtreme Tackle . I usually make Wayne's booth my first stop. He makes some of the best tubes on the market and each year he always has some cutting edge colors and laminates. This year he has a Muskegon Lake Golby. Cyrus Ruel, another one of the good guys, helped come up with the color for this West Side bait. I had to be sure to buy a pack, and in the next day or two I'll try and take some good close ups of the bait.

Captain Wayne Carpenter and I

The attendance on Saturday looked to be very good. The main aisles were shoulder to shoulder. I made my way down from Wayne's booth to Dan Kimmel's greatlakesbass.com booth. Dan's website is one of those that I visit several times a day. It is a great resource with some very knowledgeable members. Whenever I have a question, technical or otherwise, the forum members will come up with some very good advice and or answers.

Dan shared his sport show booth with Brian McCarter's Nemesis Baits . Brian is making some pretty cool baits and his football head jigs just may find their way into a BassCat that I am familiar with.

Brian McCarter and Dan Kimmel

From the GLB/Nemesis booth I started to work my way through the aisles, and I caught a glimpse of my buddy JB. I could see his yellow Michigan hat, but then I took my eye off of him for a second, and he disappeared. So, I decided then to head over to the NBAA Stage and sit in on a seminar.

NBAA Seminar Stage

While I was taking the picture above I saw Brian Tagg, my camera saving friend from down at D&R Sports . Not to get off the subject too far, but on April 2 and 3 D&R is having their big Spring Fishing and Boat Sale. There are going to be some pretty big guns their: KVD, Aaron Martens, Skeet Reese, Luke Gritter, Jonathon VanDam, Mark Romanack, and Chris Noffsinger. You may just want to put those dates on your calendar.

As I was interrupting Brian's notes in the seminar, I got a phone call from my walleye fishing friend John. He was coming down the center aisle so I moseyed over that way. His buddy Les sells for D&R and was over by their boats.

On my way to meet John, I spotted a booth with Zipper Worms adjoined to the Camp & Cruise boat area. I have been a long time fan of Zippers and have caught many a smallmouth using them. Years ago, I started using them on the flats of the Great Northwest Corner smallmouth lakes. I especially liked to throw them on a Carolina rig. If you fish for smallies at all, you learn you have to make long casts for those skittish brown fish. A Carolina Rig enables you to use a heavy weight to get that distance while still fishing a finesse type bait. I learned from Jeri Toner, the Zipper Pro Staffer working the booth, that the Zipper company disappeared for a time and now has been bought out into the daylight and is back in business.

Jeri Toner, Zipper Worm Pro Staffer

After talking with Jeri, I met John, and we headed toward the D&R area. On the way, however, John spotted Dave Kolb a walleye pro that belongs to John's West Michigan Walleye Club whom we chatted with for a while. He has quite a professional resume. Dave was helping out in the Matteson Marine boat area.

Dave Kolb, a Rockford area walleye pro.

From Matteson's booth area, we continued on to the D&R boats, John called his buddy Les Tharp and was going to wait to meet him, so I went back over to the Camp & Cruise to check out the Legend Boats . I've heard quite a bit about this new line, so I wanted to get a close up look.

Justin and Cy, From Xtreme Tackle, Checking out an Alpha Legend

Dual console and plenty of bling.

The gages and an adjustable steering wheel.

Coangler rod storage

The Legends look like a solid boat, but I would like to drive one before I give it a final verdict. One of the things that really caught my eye on the boat was the coangler rod storage. If you look carefully at the last Legend picture above, you can see that there is a storage lid that opens so that the rod tips are laying under the lid instead of on top of the deck where they bounce around and tangle. Having a spent a year as a BFL coangler I would have really liked that feature, especially on long runs. I spent about a half hour looking over the Legend, but until I win the lottery, I am still in the window shopping mode.

After drooling over the Alpha Legend, I decided to see if I could find where ole Jeffery Brauneck was helping out at a Charter booth. It didn't take long, and I spotted him eating pizza at the Riverside Charters booth.

Captain Paul and I

While I talked to Captain Paul and Jeff, we got in to fishing line. The charter captains are pretty much exclusively using fluorocarbon line. Captain Paul was very interested in trying some Vicious Fluorocarbon . The walleye guys and the big lake salmon trollers use a lot of line, and you're not going to find a more economical brand than Vicious. You just have to make sure when you use any fluorocarbon that you wet it and use a good fluorocarbon knot. The line is much denser than the monos, and it heats up that much more when you're tying the knot. You have to much more careful with it. One of the knots that is highly touted for fluorocarbon is the Duncan Loop Knot .

The Duncan Loop was recommended to me by a long time friend Dr. Tom Kuieck. Tom was the associate superintendent of Jenison Public Schools. He is now retired, and he's pursuing a long time passion, trout fishing. Tom and his son run River Quest Charters . They are on the Muskegon River almost daily. Tom says that they are using fluorocarbon now and would also like to see how the Vicious line would hold up over the gravel bars. They need a good abrasion resistant line and Vicious fits that bill. When I talked about using the new fluorocarbons, he concurred that using a good knot and making sure you wet it well before you cinch it tight is a must.

Dr. Tom Kuieck of River Quest Charters

If you check out the River Quest link up above, you can see their new lodge that they are using. You can book a room at the lodge as a bed and breakfast for $95 a night. It's a beautiful place about 2-3 miles upriver of the bridge in Newaygo. You would get big brownie points if you took the wife up for a get away.

This is getting to be a pretty long blog entry, , believe it or not, I have some things I have to get done today. Before I go though, I had better put in one link for Mr. Byron Velvick. He won the Clear Lake, B.A.S.S. Elite Series event yesterday. The former "Bachelor TV star" lead the event wire to wire, and he ended up winning by over six pounds. There will be more and more articles out on the event in the next couple days, and I'll put some links on the blog tomorrow along with my day two adventures from the Ultimate Sport Fishing Show.

The last cast today is a old quote from Lawrence Sterne. He once said, "To have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have a deference for others governs our manners." Take care and make sure you take time out of your work day today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

March 20, 2010

Just a couple notes today. I have several things on my plate that will take me away from the computer. One is that I'm picking up the Skinners from the airport. Once that gets done, I hope to get down to the Grand Rapids Ultimate Sport Show for a little while. If I don't make it today, I definitely will tomorrow.

The B.A.S.S. Elite anglers out on Clear Lake on in their third day and only the top 47 are fishing today. Byron Velvick is still in the lead after Day 2. The leaders are catching around 20+ pounds each day, and there may will be several that end up in the 100 pound club after the four day event concludes. Check out the Bassmaster Site for photos and stories as well. You can tune in for the 6:30 p.m. weigh-in on ESPN 360 .

As I've said, Bass Zone has been doing some cuttin' edge things to cover the event Elite events. I've been listening to them as I type this. They have been saying that several guys already have twenty pound sacks this morning. The weather has been a bit overcast this morning. They are fishing jerk-baits, jigs, and shakey heads trying to intercept fish that are moving up funnels to the spawning flats. The swim bait bite hasn't been as good as it can be and the fish just seem to be mouthing them. If it stays cloudy and the wind picks up some that method may improve.

I hope to get back on computer tonight and throw some pictures and info up from down at the sport show. Until then...

March 18, 2010

It's 9:41 a.m. here in southwest Michigan with the sun shining, birds chirping, and the spring peepers croaking their little lungs out in the local ponds. I don't ever recall having a period of weather this warm, for this long, this early. I really can't. We usually get a tease of Spring where a day or two gets warm, but for temps in the 50s and even 60s this long, this early, I can't ever recall it in my 60 years.

The Elite Pros, who are just about to launch out on the West Coast on Clear Lake this morning, have been saying that the weather out there has been cooler than normal, and the bass are not nearly as far along in their spawning sequence as they were when they fished there in 2007. The weather has been sunny and warm during their practice, and, Steve Kennedy who wacked a 100 pound plus four day total to win that year, says he's been practicing for where they are going to be and not where they were when the official practice started on Monday. Here is a link to the Clear Lake Scouting Report and Watch List .

I hope you have your B.A.S.S. Fantasy Team picked for Clear Lake. The rosters are now locked, and it's too late if you haven't. My picks on the Delta were not very good, so I hope my team of VanDam, Reese, Monroe, Roumbanis, and the GMan, do me better this week. It was hard for me to pick Reese over Iaconelli. I just like Ike and he is on such a roll that he could just wack a bag this week. I had to go with Reese's record on Clear Lake. He's done very well there quite a few times. I have some serious ground to make up, and hope my picks save the day for me.

If you have time through the day you can use a couple of different links to keep up with the live action. Here is the link from Bassmaster , and one from Bass Zone . Remember to take a few minutes and look at the great photography that the Bassmaster photojournalist put on the Bassmaster Photo Gallery .

I got an email today from a former Illinois B.A.S.S. State Champion Larry Coleman. He has been volunteering to help get Bishop McNamara Catholic High School's bass fishing team ready for competition. Here are some pictures of the team.

Bishop McNamara High School Bass Fishing Team

The Fishing Team and Coaches

Two McBass Attack Team Members with some green fish.

Larry was asking me in his email if we had any high school teams in this area, and I told him that I didn't know of any. I know that MSU and Western Michigan have college teams, but I don't know of any high school teams.

As I'm typing, I'm listening to the live Bass Zone Coverage from Mark Jeffrey's and the Legend, Harold Allen. They are doing an incredible job! The Legend is on the water and uses a cell phone and they dialogue over the phone and then send pictures in to Mark who mans the computer back in the motel. The word is that there is at least one 20 pound limit already. VanDam is moving around and presently dragging a shakey head out in 20 feet of water. We'll have to wait and see what's weighed in, but it's not looking good for the Kalamazoo Kid.

I got a phone call last night from Rick "The Cementman" Skinner who is down in Florida. He went fishing with Harry Zwank yesterday. Harry, is a long time bass tournament contender that many people around here know. He winters down in Florida, and Rick said that he and Harry killed them yesterday. Both had big fish. Rick had a personal best. He said he thought his big bass of the day was an eight pounder! I don't have any pictures yet, but Rick said that he would try and email some to me.

I'm trying to piece this blog together quickly today because my son and his beautiful wife are visiting for a couple days. I don't want to be sitting around too much on the computer. So, the final cast of the day is another episode of "Facts of Fishing" . Take care and make sure you take time out of your work day to do something that puts a smile on your face. Maybe that might be taking off early today and walking around the Grand Rapids Ultimate Sport Show . I want to be sure to thank Wayne Carpenter from Extreme Bass Tackle Booth #2052 for sending me a free pass and some two for one tickets.

March 15, 2010

The Duel in the Delta is over and the winner is P.A.A. President John Crews . Crews cruised into the win by a couple of fish scales. In fact, it was just one ounce over second place finisher Skeet Reese. Crews caught one of his biggest fish of the day on his last cast to cement his winning margin!

Crews, a Virginia native, has never won a B.A.S.S. Elite Series title. After looking at his website, and watching a few of his You Tube videos , you see him as an exciting and very affable young angler. When you saw him celebrate with his wife and kids on stage you couldn't help but be glad he won.

In the next couple of days, there will be several articles out detailing how the young gun made his way to center stage on the Delta. Here is one of the first articles out on Crews' Win from Bass Fan.

If you haven't yet had a chance to look at some of the pictures from the Bassmaster site, make sure you do because they always have some great pics. Here's the link to the B.A.S.S. Photo Gallery .

I followed the tournament weigh-ins and the online updates during the course of the tournament on bassmaster.com. However, I did some surfing and found on one of my regular go to sites, Bass Zone , some great coverage of the Delta Duel. Mark Jeffrey's and the Legend, Harold Allen teamed up to do some fantastic reporting. The Legend was out on the water and Jeffrey's was back in their motel room with a cell phone and a computer. While the Legend gave a cast by cast description, Jeffrey's worked his magic filling in the gaps on the computer. During there telecast, they accepted call ins. I thought, why not, and made a call and actually talked to Harold Allen in the boat as he watched Greg Hackney fish. Besides answering my questions about Hackney, they fielded my questions on Clear Lake by putting up satellite maps of the Lake for me to look at on my computer as we talked. It was very cool and very cutting edge! Make sure you check out their site starting Thursday as they move on up to Clear Lake and cover that tournament.

Speaking of driving up to Clear Lake, Jared Lintner and his son were driving up Sunday, and they got side swiped causing their boat to tumble off the trailer and the truck to roll. It was a scary deal, but fortunately no one was hurt.

The official practice for Clear Lake starts today, and Lintner is scrambling to get a replacement boat. He also has a hodgepodge of tackle to go through that he picked up along a quarter mile stretch of expressway. I would bet that Jared doesn't go wanting for anything though. The guys on the tour will undoubtedly take care of him. However, the whole hair raising experience, and having borrowed equipment, will most certainly be a huge distraction.

Make sure you don't forget to redo your B.A.S.S. Fantasy Fishing team. The Clear Lake tourney starts this week Thursday. If the cut off for your team entry remains similar to the Delta you will have until 8:00 a.m. Thursday.

I got an email from Jeff up in Manistee, and he said that the Steelhead have been running and the bite has been good. He's dusting off the boat and getting ready very soon to start trolling for browns along the beach.

You may recall that Jeff was in that big ice fishing tournament on Whomplers this winter. I had some pictures and a breif story of the event on the blog. One of the celebrity pros at that tournament was Dave Genz. Dave took a picture of Jeff in his Ice Armor suit and has it on his website.

Another email that I received recently, was from mi amigo in Texas, Nick V. Nick said he has been working a lot, but did have a "business outing" on a lake in the Sonora Desert called El Novillo . The aforementioned link is not to the lodge Nick went to, just one I Googled to get an idea where this place was.

Nick and his buddies were hooked up with some guides in some pretty small boats.

"Not much bigger than no boat, but at least it'll go when you row, row, row..."

As luck would have it, Nick and his guide were out on the lake and got caught in a quick weather blow up. The waves swamped their boat, filling it with water. They were able to drift to the nearest shore with the boat full of water. Once ashore, Nick said he had to get out on a ten foot bluff wall and stand on a one foot ledge for over an hour before the calvary arrived.

The wind and rain cometh

... and then there was light and blue sky.

... and then there were big bass.

Nick said they went in and changed clothes, and except for wet shoes, and minus several of his bait boxes that floated off, they were back fishing and boated about fifty bass. Nick's biggest bass weighed about five and a half pounds, but one of the guys he was with beat him out for big fish. The seven pounder and its captor are in the picture above.

If you watched the opening slide show on the website, Nick is in the line up holding a ten pounder he caught last year on Falcon. He and his partner Carl will be fishing the Falcon Lake Blast Tournament on April 10. I'm hoping there will be big fish pictures coming our way after Nick fishes that tournament.

I've let this blog edition sit on my desktop all day, and it's time to put it to bed before I litteraly hit the sack. As a parting shot today I thought I'd use a John Crews "Top Ten BS Lines" You Tube video. It's not really very funny, nor is it all that good, but when you win a big tournament a lot more people laugh at your jokes. Give it a look and see what you think.

Take care, and take heart for March Madness follows the Ides of March.

March 12/13, 2010

My Fantasy Fishing season has not started well. My B.A.S.S. picks had me with Aaron Martens as one of my top level contenders. Little did I know he was injured and could barely make it to the boat Thursday morning. My other long shots, guys that have some California experiences but have moved East, have not been panning out. I didn't go with Reese because of KVD's long standing battle with him. It's just hard for me to pick him. Then there's Stephen Browning, the Day One leader.

Live Target Baits, Stephen Browning, Delta Day 1 Leader

I was very close to going with my gut and picking Matt Herren and Stephen Browning, guys that I had just seen and talked to down at D&R Sports. However, my head said that they weren't West Coast guys, so I decided to pick some Westies. The five I picked will have to go some to make the top 50 cut, let alone make it in to the top twelve. Whoa, hold the phone! One of my guys, Gary Klein, is in fourth place after Day 2.

I picked Gary because he grew up on the Delta and worked at a marina as a kid. There he met and buddied up with the legendary Dee Thomas . Thomas tutored Klein in his "Tule Dipping" which evolved in to what we now call flippin'. With Dee's blessing Klein went pro using the new technique and made his professional name out of what he learned from Thomas.

I dated this entry 12/13 because I started it on the twelfth and am now working on it the morning of the 13th. My picks that I was talking about above didn't move far enough to make the top fifty cut. Gary Klein is my only entry fishing this third day, and he has a very good shot at making the top twelve to fish on Sunday.

I've been watching bits and pieces of the weigh-ins. If you want to watch the weigh-in today it will be on ESPN 360 which is what Bassmaster broadcasts from. The weigh-ins are at 6:30 p.m. EST.

If you haven't read an account of yesterday's action or looked at the leaderboard, here is a link you can use: "Browning Extends Advantage, But Ike Makes Big Move" .

During each B.A.S.S. Elite Series event Humminbird will be giving away a complete sonar unit. You can sign up daily for the give away at this Van Dam Your Boat link. I also still try to remember to sign up daily for the Bassmaster Gear Up Giveaway .

There has been some good basketball on the tube to fill up the day while the Duel on the Delta is evolving. MSU stunk it up yesterday. Free throws, free throws, missed a lot of free throws. That was the ball game for them. Michigan lost a heart breaker. A prayer of a shot with no time remaining beat them. There will be a lot of second guessing the defense that Michigan used during that final 3 seconds.

There is still a couple of days of pre March Madness and then it really cranks up when the NCAA Tournament starts March 16th. Should be fun.

One more FYI for this coming week is the Grand Rapids Ultimate Sport Show , which starts Thursday. Should be a good time with some interesting seminars and a chance to see a bunch of fishing friends while cruising all the fishing booths. I should be down there for several days.

Gramma seems to be doing better and may come home today. That should lighten our schedule up a bit. One of the reasons the blog didn't get done yesterday, is because my wife's car wouldn't start when she went to leave the hospital Thursday night. We had to leave it up there until I could get it started on Friday. I then had to take it in. I had Walmart instal a new battery and hopefully that was the source of the problem.

The battery in our Chrysler Concorde is one that you can't get at until you take the wheel off, and the air box and it's a forty-five minute process. Glad I took it to Walmart. They put the battery in for you and only charge you their store shelf price of the battery.

Before I forget, I had a video I found while I was visiting in Wisconsin. It caught my eye because the subject matter was white or albino deer. We have several "white deer" up near the cabin that we see fairly often. Here's some pictures that I have had on the blog before back in September.

This is the larger of the two does.

The eyes show the flash that went off, because I took the picture from the driver's side out the passenger window.

This deer appears to be smaller than the other doe leading me to think that this pair is a mother and daughter.

In the northwest part of Wisconsin, there are some pockets that have unusually high concentrations of white or albino deer. The video on these micro herds is about six minutes long and is quite interesting. Here's the link to "The Ghosts of the Forest."

With March Madness upon us, I thought I would make the final cast a quote from probably the greatest college basketball coaches ever, John Wooden. He once said, "Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." Some very simple truth there. That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

March 10, 2010

March showers bring April flowers, is I think how that old saying goes. Maybe I'm off by a month with the phrase, but the weather conditions are about right. We should be losing our snow this week. Although, I still have quite a bit in the front yard. No grass showing yet.

Gram did not have a good day in the hospital yesterday. We are finding out that elderly folks do not tolerate drugs like they could when they were younger. The same medication for pain etc. at a more advanced age sends them off to flying monkey land. The only med difference for Gram, this hospital stay, has been an antibiotic that they are giving her. She did fine with it for two days, maybe because she slept the whole time, but starting Monday she was having problems with lucidity. My wife suggested they try a different antibiotic and this morning she is much more cognizant of what is going on around her. At 87 years of age hospital stays are very taxing.

I would again suggest, that if you have any loved ones in the hospital that you have a family member stay with them as much as possible and be a strong advocate. It's not that the medical staff does a bad job, but they are stretched very thin. Also, we have not had the same RN and LPN two days in a row. She has had different staff every shift since she's been there. When you have new people that really don't know the patient they can't be expected to know much except what's on the chart and that's pretty much basic meds and stats.

I just got off the phone with my buddy John. He's off and about in the Chicago area today. He is buying some bulk Vicious fluorocarbon to use on his reels down on Lake Erie. John has a boat down there near Sandusky, where he fishes for walleye all summer. He hasn't had fluorocarbon on his rods before, so this will be an inaugural season for him using the new line.

Steve "The Rock" Block sent me another pic for our "Trail Cam Pic of the Week."

I'll have to email Steve today to see how the ice is holding out up in the Manistee area. This warm weather may finish off the ice fishing season early. In my last communique with Steve, he said he was at five coyotes and one gray fox so far this winter during his predator hunts. Here's a shot of one of the critters that has been nosing around Steve's place.

Fresh from an Oscar Nomination, "The Fantastic Mr. Fox"

Speaking of Oscar performances, Irwin Jacobs recently issued an Open Letter on Bass Fan talking about what he sees for the FLW Organization. You can either use the link to read it, or use the link within a link to watch his speech. It, I think should reassure some FLW anglers as to the state of professional bass fishing as we move through these recesionary times.

I updated my B.A.S.S. Fantasy Fishing team last night after doing some last minute research. That may have been a mistake, because I've often found that going with your first instincts is best. We'll see. Here is a Pundits Picks for the Delta. Remember, this is your last day to create or edit a team. The tournament starts tomorrow.

For those of you that may be interested in the Grand Rapids Ultimate Sport Show , it begins March 18th and runs through Sunday the 21st. Check out the link for all the seminars and booths.

I have to run up to relieve the wife at the hospital so I'm signing out for today. The final cast will be a link to Facts of Fishing #8 . It's five minutes of bass fishing mayhem and fun. Take care.

March 9, 2010

I think our string of unusually sunny winter days is going to come to a rainy end very soon. It sure has been nice seeing some sunshine!

I've been spending 13 hour days up at the hospital with Granny. She will be in for at least a day or two more. My wife, however, came home last night, so we can now share the hospital duty. In fact, she's going to go up to the hospital this morning and that will give me some blog time.

Usually, when I travel or spend time up at the hospital, or just time away from home, I have the wife's laptop to work from. I have the different programs on it that I need to work on the blog and upload the files. When my wife was gone, she took her laptop with her. I had Granny's mini, but it's not set up for me to blog from. We're looking at getting some Eee Netbooks that we can use for internet work. If we get one I'll set it up for me to travel with. I said I'll, but I really won't be doing much of the tech part of it. The "I," really refers to my number two computer son. He'll be setting it up for me.

I had some time this morning to resize and blogerize the pictures that I took down at the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop's Spring Sale this past weekend. Here they are in all of their glory and splendor.

Grayson, one of the owners of the Outdoorsmen

The Outdoorsmen carries a good selection of Poor Boy Baits

My favorite cranks and jerkbaits - Live Target

Bulk Spools of Vicious Fluorocarbon

New Gamakatsu Wacky Head Hooks

You won't find any of the Wacky Heads at the Outdoorsmen. I bought them all. Nate, one of the Outdoorsmen's finest, took notice and will probably be restocking. They're an interesting little hook for wacky senko fishing. That's all I have to say about that. They're really top secret.

While I was at the Outdoorsmen, I got to meet up with Ed Opalek. Ed runs the Shoreline Bass Tour . He's a very personable guy, and we spent quite a while talking about fishing. The Shoreline group opens on Cadillac and Mitchell the day before the Tear Drop does. They fish it Saturday and the Tear Drop anglers fish it Sunday, May 30th.

I got a nice letter yesterday from All Outdoors Radio Network KCBQ, San Diego, CA . They thanked me for calling in the night that they had Kevin VanDam on for a phone in post Classic show. They also sent me a package of Mustad's KVD signature Size 2 Ultrapoint Elite Treble Hooks . Great looking hook, and I'll be changing out some baits with them and taking them with me to Alabama.

If you go to the aforementioned All Outdoors link you can click on their button and listen to the show that Kevin was on. It's pretty good, and they cover a bunch of things. I'm caller number one.

Last night I updated my B.A.S.S. Fantasy Fishing team. You have until, I think, 8:00 a.m. on the 11th, Thursday morning. That's the morning that the B.A.S.S. Elite Pros take off on the California Delta.

If you haven't signed up yet, go to the hot link I just put on for B.A.S.S. and click on "Sign Up For a Free ESPN Account." Once you've done that, you can "Join A Group." Ours is Tear Drop Bass. Once you do that, you can go to "My Entry." There you can select your 5 member team. You have to pick from their rated groups of anglers. Your first two picks will be from the upper echelon, the next two from the middle of the pack anglers, and the last pick will be from the bottom ranked contenders.

If you want to do some reading before you pick, here is a link to a page that Skeet Reese had a few words to say about it, and then there are some pieces up on the Bassmaster Site .

I've been making some trips to Milwaukee over the past year or so, and while I was there I was surfing the net and found a pretty interesting smallmouth article. I just found the link that I had bookmarked. If you have some time read this "Great Lakes - Smallmouth Bass Change Habitats."

That's going to be it for today. The final cast is a quote from one of my favorite sources Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He once said, "A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books." It pays to be an eclectic.

Take care, and make sure you take time out of your work day today to do something that puts a smile on your face.

March 7, 2010

Ehrler wins his first FLW Tour event down on Table Rock, MO. Not only does he win it, but he runs away and hides with it crushing the field winning with just over a 13 lb. margin! Ehrler hasn't won a Tour event since he won the 2006 Forest Wood Cup. He was naturally excited by the win and with the drop in sponsorships this year, he can really use the $127,000. Here is an article from Bass Fan giving just a few of the details describing how Ehrler Smoked the Table Rock Contingent .

In our Tear Drop FLW Fantasy League, Brian Wilson showed what happens if you can pick the eventual winner. He received 5,200 pts. just for picking Ehrler to win. Most of his other points came with picking another of the top five Mark Rose. Craig "Back Up and Dump" Stumbrie had three of his picks in the top five, but he didn't pick Ehrler to win. I thought I did well having a large group in that top twenty, but with this new program of only fishing five anglers on the final day, you really have to refine your picks. We'll see how ole Brian and Craig do with a few of us chasing them over the long haul. Were they lucky or were they good. Time will tell.

I have been thinking that we should have a little winners pot for the end of the season. If any of y'all want to contribute something we'll build a little pot and see who wins the FLW Tear Drop Fantasy Fishing League. I'm going to throw in a couple of fishing DVDs and some Vicious Fluorocarbon Line , one of those big bulk spools. What do you have for the pot?

I'm going to make the blog short and sweet? Nah, I wouldn't call it sweet, but short will be the byline. I have to do some gramma sitting today. Thursday she felt ill while getting ready for a doctor's appointment and she spent the day in bed. Friday, I took her in to see the family doctor at 1:30 p.m. and he felt she should go in to the ER. So, we went from there to the hospital and waited quite a while as they did some testing to see where some gastro bleeding was coming from. They finally admitted her at 9:00 p.m. that night. She has diverticulosis and when a flair up occurs it becomes diverticulitis. That's what they figure is the problem.

I stayed till a little after 11:00 p.m. to make sure I talked to the staff about her needs. If you have someone in the hospital I strongly recommend that someone stay as much as possible with them. Lots of little things can be avoided and or insured if you are there. Not that the doctors and nurses don't do a great job, but they are very overworked and stretched thin. I'll be heading up there shortly and plan on being up there till probably 11:00 p.m. again tonight.

Last night my buddy JB and his wife came up to have coffee at the hospital with me. I really appreciated that. They are some good folks and special friends to be sure.

Like most trips I make, I can't go too long without talking about the food. The hospital has a very good cafeteria. I ran in to an old student of mine that is one of the chefs there. I tried their soups, wraps, pizza, and blueberry yogurt. Very tasty. One thing I found a little unusual is that they don't take cash. You have to use plastic to pay.

Speaking of food, I did put a dent in Grayson and Bill's donuts at the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop's Spring Sale . I got out of there fairly cheaply only dropping $90. They had some great sales, and I got to talk to a bunch of good guys. I took some pictures and will have the rest of the story and photos from the Outdoorsmen tomorrow. For now, I'm off to gramma-sit at the hospital. I will be watching the nice big flat screen in her hospital room. Michigan State plays Michigan today at 4:00 p.m., and JB's Wolverines are going down, and the Spartans will be co-league champs. I hope anyway.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

March 5, 2010

I don't have much time for blogging this morning. I'm gramma sitting, and she's not feeling well, so I'm going to take her in to have the doc check her out. My wife is still down in Alabama, so it's just me and granny. Hopefully it's just a touch of the flu or a flair up of her diverticulosis .

I watched part of the FLW Tour, Table Rock Lake, weigh-in yesterday. It didn't stream well on my computer and got too herky jerky, so I quit trying to watch it toward the end.

I was looking to see if Nate Wellman was still fishing. I didn't catch him walking across the stage or see his weight and thought maybe something happened, and he was wasn't fishing. This morning I read the Bassfan Report on Table Rock Day 2 and saw that Nate caught 7-02 lbs. yesterday putting him in 85th place. If he can find a good bunch of fish today he could make one of the major moves that were seen after yesterday's weigh-in. Nicholas Albus moved from 100th to 30th yesterday and Dion Hibdon made a major move all the way up to fifth as well. A few fish in the livewell for Nate could move him up in that top 50 for a $10,000 check.

Brent Ehrler is leading the tournament by a massive eight pounds after putting a sack of fish in the boat that weighed 22-08 lbs. His bag was anchored by a six pounder. An eight pound lead in a tournament which saw 83 anglers weigh in one or blank on Thursday is a lead that looks rather comfortable. There were fifteen more anglers that blanked yesterday than the day before, so it doesn't look like the fishing is getting any easier. Ehrler may be tough to beat.

Remember if you want to follow some of the action you can use the FLW On the Water Updates link. The weigh-in will again be at 4:00 p.m. our time, and you can log on using this Table Rock Live Weigh-in link.

My Fantasy Fishing Team went south in a hurry. As it stands right now, I have six in the top 20, but I need a couple of those guys to crack that top five cut to fish tomorrow. I do have Ehrler on my list, but unfortunately I didn't pick him to win.

Brian Wilson is leading the Tear Drop League, and "Back Up and Dump" Stumbrie made a big move, and is looking really good with his picks for the final day. We'll see what happens after the mist clears from today's contest.

The other day I checked out some bait that was advertised online. Check this new "Squirrel Tail" that Jeff Kriet has out now. I really like the looks of it on a shakey head. I also like how Jeff used KVD's nickname for him to name his newest creation. Very funny.

While you're at the Big Bite website check out their pro shirts that they have for sale. I really like the shirt, especially the collar. The price is not bad. Here's the link to the Big Bite Baits Pro Staff Shirt .

I just ordered some new Vicious shirts . I'm getting too much wear out of that red Vicious long sleeve that I put on for seminars. I also ordered some of their Vicious Panfish Ice Fishing Line and two more bulk spools of their Vicious Fluorocarbon Line . I have been fishing with Vicious line for a couple of years now, and I really like it. They are coming on big time on the pro fishing scene signing some big names like a couple of my all time favorites, Gerald Swindle and Timmy Horton.

I've had a few guys tell me that they tried Vicious and didn't care for it because they had some break offs. I'm wondering in those cases, if it's been a matter of knot tying. When you use fluorocarbon you really need to be careful that you use a good knot, but most importantly make sure you wet the line very well as you cinch the knot down. As dense as fluorocarbon is, you can heat it up when you cinch it down and make it brittle and weak at the knot. I had six pound Vicious fluorocarbon on my spinning reels all season, and I never lost a fish on a break off. That included several days of bed fishing where you have a short amount of line out and are making some major hook sets. If you haven't tried it you will want to. It's a great line at a price you're not going to come close to with another brand.

I should also mention that I use a line conditioner on most all my line. That goes for the fluoro, braid, and mono. KVD makes a good one and so does Vicious.

I just remember one more thing that I do when I use fluoro, and that is, I don't fill my spinning reels full, spooling only about half to three quarters of the reel capacity. On my baitcasters, I fill them full. If you don't, you really affect the gear ratio and lose performance on some baits because your retrieve speed is altered.

Don't forget to sign up for the Bassmaster Gear Up Giveaway . Also don't forget if you are in the Grand Rapids area on Friday and Saturday that the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop is having their 33rd Annual Spring Sale. For us bass guys they have all rods and reels 10% off, Poor Boy darters 3/$11.99, all Yamamoto's $1.00 off, Rite Bite tubes, $2.99, Kopper Live Target Crankbaits $2.00 off, along with many other discounted lures. Free donuts and lunch on Saturday, so bring the whole family. Bill and Grayson will give you a doggie bag and you can load up and not have to feed the family all weekend.

That's going to be it for today. The last cast of the day comes from the American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. She once said, "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul." Make sure you take some time out of your work day today to do something that puts a smile on your face. The weekend cometh!

March 4, 2010

The FLW anglers are runnin' and gunnin' this morning down on Table Rock Lake, near Branson, Missouri. Yesterday was day one, and despite an early morning temperature well below freezing, Greg Pugh found 18 lbs of fish to bring to the scales. Here is Pugh's FLW Table Rock Lake Day 1 story .

Over half the field yesterday, and they had a full field of 150 boats (Two anlgers left early because of family emergencies so 148 boats launched.). Of those 148 anglers that fished, half had one fish or zero. Nate Wellman, a local Jenison boy, and a student of mine when he was in sixth grade, was unfortunately one of those who zeroed. Nate has been doing well fishing the FLW Tour qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup the last two years. Hopefully he lights them up today.

I'm sitting fairly well with my Fantasy Fishing Team. Yesterday, I ended the day with 4,668 points. That's not too bad, but you really need to have a couple anglers in that final five, and if you pick that numeral uno you really get big bonus points.

If you're looking to follow the action a little during the course of the day you can use this On the Water Updates link to see if they have any news. So far this morning they are saying one of my Fantasy Team anglers is on fire! Go Brent Ehrler! In my top ten, I also have David Walker, and in eleventh I have Clark Wendlandt. If I can get some of my down the line anglers like LeFebre and Suggs catching em, maybe we can score some big points, and I can stay ahead of my nemesis Jeff Brauneck in the Tear Drop League. Rookie Craig "Back Up and Dump Stumbrie" looks like he may be a contender in the league this year as well. I think he's in sixth place. Don't forget you can join more than one league. You have to use the same team, but can be in more that one league at a time. Another good, win some goodies league is Tackle Warehouse's league.

When it comes to this year's FLW Fantasy Fishing, all of your fish are in one basket, so to speak. If you want to really score well, you have to pick that number one finisher. That means for me that Scott Suggs has to start cooking with butane this morning. I picked him to win it.

Yesterday, I watched the Table Rock Live Weigh-in , which starts again at 4:00 p.m. today, and when Suggs weighed he talked about fishing for suspended fish in treetops. When Pugh weighed, he suggested that he was fishing a similar pattern. Pugh said he was seeing the fish deep on his electronics and watching as he caught them. He was praising that Humminbird down imaging sonar big time.

Pugh also said he caught his fish very late in the day. I don't mean to wish him any ill luck, but maybe his late big kicker fish were a tad bit "lucky louies." If so, that might open the door a crack for my main man Scott Suggs. I hope he finds a few in the trees this morning that are more aggressive than the ones he saw yesterday.

Before I go too much further, the Great Northwest Corner's own Steve Block sent me some more pictures for the "Trail Cam Pic of the Week." If you recall, the first picture he sent was of a beautiful bald eagle. One of the shots he sent me the other day, was of another, or maybe that same eagle. I'm partial to raptures, so I thought I'd use that picture today.

Block's Trail Cam Pic of the Week

Another friend of mine who did some reporting in the last couple of days is Dandy Don Fowler. He has been over fishing Saginaw Bay for walleye. On March second, he and his partner both got limits of walleye. Yesterday, Don got four and his buddy got five.

They were fishing 7.2 miles from the parking lot. They had they quads and rode them out to a spot where they fished that was twenty-two feet deep. They caught them jigging with minnows.

Don said that the upper layers of ice were getting very slushy. They were fishing the evening bite so the ride out was messy, but by the time they drove back in that slush had frozen. He did say that he had to jump one pressure crack that had some open water, and that made him a tad bit nervous. He said that he wouldn't be going back out again unless we got some cold weather. It doesn't look like that will happen though. The forecast through Saturday is for temps in the forties, flirting with fifty on the weekend.

Don't forget that the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop in Jenison is having their 33rd Annual Spring Tackle Sale today through Saturday. On Saturday, they will have free coffee and doughnuts, they had me hooked when I read that, and will also have free lunch. Chip Klein and Mike Harvey, from Hitman Charters will be giving a seminar at 10:30 a.m., and have a Q&A on Great Lakes Salmon Fishing and River Steelhead fishing. At 1:30 p.m. Dave Kolb will give a seminar on "How to Locate and Catch Big Water Walleyes."

I'll probably cruise on in for a short time on all three days. It's just a stone's throw from where I live.

Just another last minute reminder, LMR, is for you to make sure you have been signing up daily at Bassmaster Gear Up Giveaway .

Just checked the FLW on the water report at 11:12 a.m. and Brent Ehrler has found a tournament winning spot. He's caught 7 keepers in the last 45 minutes and has 17 to 18 lbs. Go Brent. "Suggs, I hope your in eyeball distance!"

That's going to be it for today, unless I have time to come back for an update. The final cast for today is going to be a link to a video that should put a smile on your face, especially if you're one of the "Old Guys" that reads the blog. If you're one of the young guns watch, because someday this will be you too. Here's the link A Different Version of "Listen, Do You Want To Know a Secret" . Make sure you watch it till the end.

Take care and enjoy this great weather. Soft water will be here soon.

March 2, 2010

After doing the blog prep work this morning for the new month, I have some left over time for a short entry today. As you can see, I have archived February up above and I have started the new month a day late. Yesterday, although we didn't get together to celebrate it yet, was my oldest son's birthday! We didn't have a birthday dinner because my wife flew down to Alabama to help put out any fires and add a bit of comfort to a stretch of bad luck that my youngest son has been having traveling from Texas to Michigan. We'll blow out candles when she gets back.

I mentioned that I had forgotten my camera when JB, the Cementman, and I went down to D&R Sports Center this past weekend. I also mentioned that Rick met a fellow Tear Drop Tournament Trail competitor there, Brian Tagg, who loaned us a digital to take some pictures with. It turned out to be one of those "small world" phenomenon's when I met Brian.. As we talked getting acquainted, I found out he now lives directly across the street from where I had bought my first house.

He lives in Wyoming, where I went to High School. I met my wife on a student council exchange trip to a rival high school. We ended up getting married and buying a house in Wyoming.

On the flip side, Brian had a relative that had a place up on Loon Lake near Irons, which is very near my cabin. He has been spending quite a bit of time up there, and it's where he got hooked on bass fishing.

I have heard about Brian because he fished with a mutual friend of ours in the Tear Drop. I also knew that he had outfitted his boat with a couple of Humminbirds and was pretty adept at operating them. He sat next to us during Bryan Plenzler and Mike Elkin's Humminbird Seminar. (Man, every time I type Humminbird I want to put that "g" in there.)

Our camera life saver Brian T. on the left.

Humminbird expert and rep Bryan Plenzler

As I mentioned in the post below, Bryan and Mike did an excellent job with their hands on Humminbird workshop. That machine is awesome and it can do remarkable things!

Brian T. sent along some other pictures. One is a picture of me getting Vicious with Stephen Browning and Jonathon VanDam.

A Rose Between Two Thorns

Stephen Browning, Me, and Jonathon VanDam

If you noticed, one of Browning's sponsors is Kopper's Live Target Lures . I started fishing with Live Target baits several years ago. I was introduced to them while fishing the Detroit River in the Michigan BFL's. Their Crawfish Crank was one of those hush hush baits for a while like the C-Flash. Only your closest buddies would clue you in to it. Then over time the word got out and they got quite popular. If you look at the opening slide show pictures you'll see a Colchester Smallie from Lake Erie that chomped a Live Target Perch . Live Target baits are quality, on top of quality. They have really taken the world of fishing by storm. They not only have caught on here in the states, but they have also gone international. I can't wait to get out this spring, on some prespawn smallies, with the Live Target Smelt . It's a killer jerkbait to throw along with the Live Target Crawfish Trap . I haven't tried some of their new for 2010 models yet, but they all look good. Do yourself a favor and get to Pilgrim Village in Cadillac, and if you are in the Grand Rapids area head to the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop . Of course, D & R Sports Center in Kalamazoo carries Live Target as well.

One other picture that Brian sent me was the one of Mr. Matt Herren and myself. It was fun to get to talk with Matt again at length down at Bass Saturday and to hear him give his seminar. I gave him about 100 pictures that I had taken down in Decatur when I Marshaled with him. I also had him sign some 5 X 7s for me for the wall. I didn't have a picture of Matt and I down in Decatur because at the end of Day 1 it came up a cloud and poured buckets.

The Pride of Alabama Matt Herren

Both Matt and Stephen will be driving out to California this week for the two B.A.S.S. Elite Series events. One is on the California Delta and the other will be on "Lunkersville," Clear Lake. You will have 9 days to get your B.A.S.S. Fantasy Fishing Team picked. They start on the Delta on March 11th.

Speaking of picking your Fantasy Fishing Team, you only have a few hours left to finalize your FLW Fantasy Fishing team for Table Rock Lake down in Branson, Missouri. You have till midnight tonight.

I don't know if you took my notice and listened to the "All Outdoors Radio Network" on Sunday night. If you did, you heard that I was the first caller in to Capt. John Grabowski and Ed Zieralski's show on the San Diego radio station KCBQ. The show featured Michigan's Kevin VanDam.

The KCBQ station does a regular Sunday night fishing program from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. EST. In fact, I just went to the site, and you can listen to the program from Sunday. Many of their shows are archived so you can listen to them if you miss them live.

The KCBQ program is a two hour show. If you check the site you will see for February 28th they have an hour one and hour two. IF you want to listen to Kevin select February 28, second hour. My question for Kevin is on air at about five minutes into the interview. I was the first caller.

The KCBQ Show downloads to your desktop as a MP3, and then iTunes, or whatever music player you use, will open it. I'm going to be checking out KCBQ and listening to their shows on my iPod as well as the computer if I'm at home.

Well, I've been at this for a while off an on this morning, and I guess I'd better get some other jobs done. Before I quit though, I wanted to put up a link that might help somewhat with your FLW Fantasy Fishing picks. It's a short piece from Bass Fan simply called Table Rock FLW Tour . It's a short report from Jay Yelas concerning his prefishing on Table Rock.

The last cast of the day comes as a You Tube video. It is Episode 7 of the Facts of Fishing Go KVD! World's Greatest Angler! Yes, he is that good!

Remember to take a few minutes today to do something that puts a smile on your face and Facts of Fishing might just be the five minutes you need.

Oops I almost forgot to mention that the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop is having their Spring Sale on March 4-5-6, this Thursday through Saturday. On Saturday, March 6th, they will have Factory Reps, Donuts & Coffee, lunch and free seminars. Check it out. I'll probably stop by all three days.