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Daily Blog Achive October 1 - October 27
October 27, 2007
Another day off. This time, I headed up north to the cabin to get those, before the cold weather comes, jobs done. Put the boat to sleep for the winter, pulled the sprinkler pump out of the lake, winterized the camper and battened down all the other hatches.
As I pulled into the cabin drive around noonish I woke up a doe and she ambled past the truck almost nonchalantly. I parked the truck and had to walk down to the lake and out onto the dock to check the fish activity. There were bass up shallow enjoying the warmth from the muck bottom in the cove. As I turned to head back to the cabin, I heard leaves rustling and here came two young deer into the yard and walked right at me. The wind was right and they couldn't make out what I was and got within about 10 yards before I started talking to them, and they spooked a bit and cantered back into the woods. I saw one more deer out at about 1:30 sneaking along the lake. Quite a bit of activity for midday.
I worked until about 6:30 and then just chilled in the cabin and enjoyed the sunset. The sun as it sets this time of year really has a warm golden tone to it. Here's a picture I took, but it really doesn't do the splendor of the scene justice.
Autumnal splendor at its best!
Had coffee at the Na-Tah-Ka this morning with Larry, Craig, Beth and Charlie, and then met Rick Sr. there for lunch. Shot the breeze with him and talked about his hunting exploits of late. He's still waiting out a big buck. He told me about how he was using his trail cams to try to find the bruiser's runway. From what Rick has been seeing, the bucks are just starting to get a little rutty.
Boy, the moon was sure bright last night, eerily bright. When I got up around 3:00 am because my phone starting beeping notifying me of a voicemail that was made way earlier in the day, it was light enough to see easily across the yard and out in to the woods.
I had time to take a quick look at what has been going on out on Clear Lake in smokey California. I tell you what those are some big large heads that those guys and gals are reeling in. Check out this link to Day 3 on Clear Lake .
I checked out Clear Lake on Google Earth. It's looks to be due West of Lake Tahoe, just northwest of Sacramento. I've mentioned Google Earth before. It's a free download and you can really get some great views of, well, anywhere. One thing I would like to test out is how precise the coordinates that the program gives you as you roam around looking at things. I could zoom in on areas of the lake that had lots of docks versus areas that didn't. You could then transfer your coordinates to your unit on your boat and have quite a bit of advance knowledge of docks, points, islands, etc. Pretty soon we'll be taking our laptops out so we can Google information on the water. I can buy an external device that plugs in to my phone converting it to a modem. Wherever I can get phone service I can get internet. But, wait a minute, with the right mapping card my Lowrance can do that now. Aw... technology.
Don and I are leaving this coming Sunday. He's planning to pick me up around 9:00 am. We'll then head to Cabela's where he needs to buy a couple reels and rod socks. B.A.S.S. allows the National anglers to have 10 rods and two tackle bags. Once you get there you put your gear in one of their Tritons and they lock it up. You can not add to your tackle or get another rod if one breaks.
We're going to try and do some fishing on the way down, but that will all depend on the weather. Winning at Vermillion, Don gets a guaranteed entry into the Opens. We may check their schedules and see if we are going to be near any of those 2008 lakes and fish them.
I got a feeling though that once we hit the road, Don's going to want to get down to Florida and fish the lakes in the Kissimmee area, like East Lake Toho.
As I have said, I plan to take the laptop and continue the blog on the road. Let's hope that the trip ends with more pictures like these.
Don and our new best friend Ray Scott!
Ohio's hardware is nice Florida's even better!
So, there will be no messin' around looking for the Fountain of Youth on the Florida National adventure (FNA). We need to find a largemouth pattern that will put some big ones in the boat.
The parting shot today has to be one about Florida. Here is one made by Jerry Seinfeld, "My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."
Enjoy the day and remember next weekend to set your clock back an hour.
October 24, 2007
Took a day off on the blog. Haven't felt well and just didn't
get it done yesterday. Lots of things coming up fast here with the Florida trip and then having it back up into the firearms deer season. Don and I are still planning to leave Sunday, and try to make it back by the 13 so we'll have a day to get our hunting things together. We plan to stop at Cabela's on our way out. Don has some discount points that he'll loose if he doesn't use them by the 28th.
We haven't decided yet, how far we intend to drive each day. Don's mom lives in Kentucky and I have my sister and brother in-law in northern Alabama. Don's putting a topper on his truck so if need be we can throw out a couple of sleeping bags in the back and catch a few Zs along the road.
I have been hearing a lot lately about a jig called the Spot Remover . I found this short article on them on Bass Fan. I like the looks of them for use with the shakey head technique.
I spent some time yesterday on Bass Zone watching their videos that have in a segment they call "In the House" . I have mentioned this the other day, but hadn't spent too much time watching them. I watched all of Tim Horton's and Gerald Swindle's. The only thing I didn't like about the vignettes is that they are short 4 to 5 minute segments. Each starts with an intro that gets redundant if you want to watch them all the way through. I would expect that most people would want to see them all, and have to put up with the herky jerkiness of the short segments. It is always fun to see how the other half lives though and to see the anglers in a more relaxed setting.
I figure since we're leaving Sunday for Florida, I might as well throw in the article Bass Zone has on the Nationals . Here's the B.A.S.S. Fact Sheet on the Nationals.
I was checking out what's going on over at the FLW Outdoors site and I see a BFL angler from Kentucky, David Young, was in a pretty serious boating accident during a tournament. It appears he struck something in shallow water and the motor came up in the boat and hit him. Here's the link to that article. I am sure the Young family would appreciate any thoughts and prayers.
The FLW Series has a big tournament that starts today out on Clear Lake in Kelseyville, CA. Clear Lake, earlier in the year, during the spawn put up huge numbers. The Fall bite, I'm sure won't be quite as good, but you know that to win you're going to have to find a few of those big fish that Clear Lake is noted for. Here is the Clear Lake preview article . You can watch the live weigh in today at 3:00 PT which is, I believe, is 6:00 pm Michigan time.
Well let's go to the Doors, Van Morrison for the parting shot of the day.
"Well, it's a marvelous night for a Moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush
Enjoy the day! Light some fires.
October 22, 2007
Week six of the NFL season and the Lions have four wins. What's up with that? They tried hard to give it away including that first onside kick. It's good to see them winning, but ... it's hard to believe yet.
I spent the last hour or so on Bass Zone downloading their Bass Zone on XM Sports Nation -Replay Page. I must have downloaded and transferred to iTunes at least 30 of their radio programs. They'll make for some great listening on our Florida Nationals Adventure (FNA). They are really easy to download just a right click then a left click and once they are downloaded just click on the desktop link and iTunes opens up and shows you where it is in the library. Then I just go up to the pull down menu in iTunes and select "New Playlist" and then drag all the Bass Zone shows in to that playlist. You have to do them one at a time and with 30+ it took a few minutes, but it doesn't take long to have hours of bass fishing interviews to listen to transferred for FREE to your iTunes library. Remember, for you PC people iTunes is a FREE download. We Mac folks have it automatically on our machines.
Another really cool section on the Bass Zone website is their video In The House section. It is a series of short videos with professional anglers like Timmy Horton, the G-Man, Gerald Swindle, etc. They go to their house and the angler takes you through a day in their lives. Very cool. Similar to that MTV show "Cribs."
I might as well keep hammering the Bass Zone because they have a great site. I took a few minutes and read the article they had on the College National Bass Championship Virginia Tech won it. This college fishing league is a new venue and one that looks to be exciting. I hope we get some Michigan collegians interested in forming some teams at their schools.
Going down to to the Outdoorsman Pro Shop our local outdoor retailer to have them put some line on the reels of the rods I'm taking on the FNA. Need to have them also put a nock on one of my arrows I shot yesterday. I'm not taking a lot of tackle. Don has a bunch in his boat and there is only so much room.
Time for a quick movie review. We went to see Into the Wild a movie done by Sean Penn adapted from the "Best Selling" book of the same name. It is definitely not one of those feel good afterwards films. I found it to be slow and a bit too morose for my liking. Call me old fashioned, but I want to go to a movie and not come out of it feeling sad and down.
I don't know if you are aware or not of the promotion that B.A.S.S. is having right now to give away a new Triton. You can enter the sweepstakes daily and I have put the link in my favorites where I see it everyday so I remember to punch in another entry. Here's the link to the new Triton give away.
I don't think I have referred to this article before, but there is a piece on ESPN that discusses Piloting Rough Waters . Dandy Don is a good rough water boater. I still find myself a bit intimidated by big rough water. However, living around the Great Lakes with St. Clair, Erie, and Grand Traverse Bay, so close, being safe in that big water is important. This wasn't the quintessential article on the topic, but I think it offers s, is one by Joe Balog that I have mentioned once before. Here is the link to Joe's article.
Time to get to work for me today so take care and enjoy the day.
The parting shot today is from an exasperated Steve Sloan. Steve was an All American quarterback who later went on to coach. This must have been a quote from a down turn in the schedule, "The sun doesn't shine on the same dog's butt every day, but we sure didn't expect a total eclipse." Make sure to walk your dog today before it rains on your parade. Have a good one.
October 21, 2007
What a pretty morning. We won't be seeing many more of these in Michigan. The temps are coming down with the leaves. But, in less than a week Donny Boy and I are going to be heading south for our Florida National Adventure (FNA). I talked to Don a little, and he asked me if I had started packing yet. I haven't. I still need to make a run up north to get some fishing gear and winterize the boat before I go. It's going to be a busy week.
My sister's son, who is a high school senior, got a spike with his bow a week ago. Here is a picture of Spud looking pretty proud. The second picture has Shreck, the family dog, in the picture. Spud and Shreck are out in Nebraska pheasant hunting this week. Sounds like a pretty good life to me.
Nice job Spud!
Looking pretty happy! Off to Nebraska for Pheasants!
I called down to Alabama to see if my southern brother Charles was going to be around to run down to Decatur for me to shoot a few pics of the final day weighin of the B.A.S.S. Southern Open there. As I thought though, he had left Thursday to fly out to Colorado for a hunt. Oh well. I haven't seen a final day story filed yet for the event. I did find the final standings page. Frank Ippoliti of Mercersburg, PA won the event with a three day total of 38-1. One of our Michigan anglers, Art Ferguson, of St. Clair Shores came in 12th with 29-13 just a few ounces behind the G-Man, Gerald Swindle.
By now many of you have probably gotten an email from me introducing you to Billy Raymond's Bass Feed . I don't intend to intrude upon your email space, but these podcasts are a good deal. They're informative, entertaining, and the best part is that they are free. If you are interested in more podcast sites or want some help getting on iTunes to explore the thousands of different podcasts available there let me know. Remember, you can go to the September 18th archived daily blog and get a "How To" segment I did on that day.
I ran across a site that advertises a rod sleeve that you can slide your rod into so when you store it in your rod locker it doesn't tangle with other rods. I know that many boats, mine included, have storage tube systems but the sleeves really do help protect the rod and keeps them from tangling when you go to get that bottom rod out. I haven't used or actually seen one of these sleeves but they sounded like they would be worth a look. They're from Strictly Bass Lures , and are called "Rod Shields."
Well, if you have time before the football games start you may want to read this pretty good article by Aaron Martens on split shotting .
Hey, it's time for me to shoot some arrows off the deck. So, the parting shot today comes from another football great Joe Theismann. "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." I'm all for graduation requirements if you play football. Enjoy the day!
October 20, 2007
Can't drag my fat butt out of bed early enough on Saturday to catch all the early ESPN fishing shows. I did watch Zona and Tommy Sanders and their show on the Empire Chase out of Buffalo, New York. I tell you what, catching big smallies like that, fish after fish, it doesn't get much better than that.
Angler after angler on the show remarked on how important it was to have good electronics to find the fish. Once on in a general area they would idle around until they located the fish on their sonar, and then sat on top of them and caught them on a variety of drop shot baits. I have mentioned this 20 times before, but if you don't have Seth Burrill's Drop Shot instructional DVD you are missing a valuable and relatively inexpensive addition to your angler library.
I have made several calls down to my Alabama brother-in-law, but he may be out in Colorado hunting. He's only a half hour away from the take off site for the Wheeler Lake, Southern Open, in Decatur. If have it right, Wheeler Lake is simply a section of the Tennessee River between Wheeler Dam and a dam down by Decatur. I am going to have to take advantage of my in-laws and make a trip down with the boat this Spring. Might have to combine it with a turkey hunt and spring fishing trip. My southern brother Charles, can hook me up. If nothing else I would get to go to East End, a gas station/bait shop. For a little shop, they have the largest selection of Lucky Craft lures that I have ever seen in one spot. Here's a couple of pictures I took last spring when I went down.
"West End" in Athens, Alabama
Those are all Lucky Craft Lures!!
There were five Michigan anglers down at Decatur in the Open. Finishing 146 after Day 2 was Mickey Thomas of Edwardsburg, then at 97th was Gerald Gostenik from Dearborn, and at 86th was Jeremy VandenBosch, of Lowell, and at 76th was Scott Lakey of Augusta, an 18th, after a top ten at Lake Pickwick a week earlier, was Art Ferguson of St. Clair Shores.
Here is the Day 2 article from ESPN . Today the top 30 anglers are fishing and the live weigh in is at 4:00 PM ET.
Both B.A.S.S. and the FLW have announced their 2008 schedules. Here is an article detailing the FLW events for 2008. The 2008 Elite Series Schedule can be viewed here .
I listened to the Muskegon Big Red and Rockford Rams game last night. Muskegon was rated number 1 in the state and in the top 20 in the nation. Rockford has a very good team every year in the OK Red. However, this year my boys' old school beat them in conference play. The OK Red is probably the toughest league in the state. Any way, Rockford looked like they were going to get blown out, and were down at half time only to come back in the second half with a vengeance, and won the game. As I said yesterday, the two schools were being filmed for a special to be aired on the Versus Network at 8:00 pm on Nov. 1. Here is an article from the Muskegon Chronicle about the show.
As I was reading over some of the winterization tips that I have been posting, one of the tips I read was to tape off the vents to the gas tank so that moisture couldn't enter. I have never done that and wonder if that is something to add to the winterization checklist. I'll have to ask around and see what others do with their vents. Makes kind of good sense though. When you're storing the boat, you want to reduce the possibility of moist air entering, and then condensing in the tank, adding water to your system. I know after what happened to Rick Sr. with that mouse filling up one of his cylinders with corn last year I plan on taping off the exhaust ports on the outboard. I want to try and find some tape won't leave that sticky residue that's hard to get off.
Plan on watching a few football games today and listening to the Grand Valley State game to see if they set the new record for consecutive wins. Go Lakers!
Well the parting shot today comes from one of my favorite football players from da Chicago Bears, Dick Butkus, "I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important like a league game or something." I think Butkus and the Nuge ought to get together for a hunting trip. We could get a bunch of good quotes from an outing like that. Enjoy the day!
October 19, 2007
Got up and went over to the West Walker Sportsman's Club today. My buddy John was putting in some volunteer hours, and I went over to visit and have him show me around. Nice place, and $60 a year for a membership is cheap enough.
Left there to head downtown to have lunch with my mother, sister, and my wife at Taco Bob's . I got downtown earlier than they did and had to park down by the Sixth St. Dam so I walked over to the river's edge and found about 30 anglers in the river and along the bank casting for salmon. As I watched, I saw several salmon caught and several others bust off. It appeared that they were getting plenty of hook ups. Many of the people fishing were casting with fly rods with a single egg on the end of a three foot leader down from a lead sinker to get the egg down in the current. They were lined up just a flip cast from the water as it came over the dam and were casting up to the base of the dam. I didn't have my camera with me, but I may go down again tomorrow and will take some pics.
I did just a few searches for winterization tips again today, and here are a couple of things I found. Here is a checklist to use ahead of your winterization from Boater's World. Another piece from Boater's World deals with winterization tips.
While purusing the sites I ran across this product from PropLite . It looked like a really nice add on for boat safety, especially if you were going to be trailering your boat a long distance and or in heavy traffic.
The B.A.S.S. Southern Open down in Decatur Alabama on the Tennessee River at Wheeler Dam is in its second day today. As I'm typing, I'm watching the live weigh in . They cut to the top 30 anglers today. Florida's Bobby Lane is leading after day one with 19 lbs. 15 ozs., putting him ahead of second place Tim Horton by about 3 lbs. 5 oz. Here's the B.A.S.S. Day 1 article from Decatur.
On the road today, I listened to Sports Talk Radio, and they were talking about how ESPN will be doing a special on Muskegon High School and Rockford High School. The two schools play tonight and it is "The" game in the area and the state. ESPN has a series they are doing on high school football's biggest rivalries. They are not going to be broadcasting the game but doing more of a documentary of the two schools and their towns with excerpts from the game and even the radio coverage. It will air on the Versus Network at 8:00 on November 1. It should be interesting and I hope the game tonight is a good one. I plan on listening to it on wbbl.com because they offer a live stream on their website.
This weekend GVSU will be playing to break the longest winning streak in college football at Hillsdale. You can get streaming coverage of the game at gvsulakers.cstv.com . It's an away game so it looks like I'll be listening to that game Saturday as well. The Division II National Championship game is played in Florence, Alabama where Lake Pickwick is, and it's just less than an hour away from Decatur where they are fishing Lake Wheeler in the Southern Open final right now.
That looks like it's going to be it for the blog today so take care and remember to enjoy the day. I thought it would be fitting if the parting shot was a famous football quote. Bern Williams once said, "Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings."
October 18, 2007
Well let's see if I can stay focussed and do two things at once today. I have the Bass Zone on XM Sports Nation radio show on. They just finished interviewing Ben Matsubu and are now talking to Mark Zona recapping the 07 Elite season. They say on the site you can get an MP3 download, but when I tried it I couldn't get it to import into my iTunes library. I would like to do that so I could listen to them on my iPod. Instead I'm listening to them as I type on the computer. It's an hour show, and I started well before I opened the Blog page as I surfed the net. They are talking now about the $ made by pro anglers this year. Of course, Scott Suggs with his $1,000,000 win in the Forest Wood Cup and Boyd Duckett who won the BASS Classic and then made another $336,000 on the Elite tour did very well! They remarked that the average winnings for an angler in the Elite Series was almost $ 98,000. But, they also said that entry fees and expenses from the Trail was about $85,000. Let's see, retirement income, that means I could fish in about three years if I don't eat or pay any bills.
I did my usually cruising of my daily internet sites to see what was being discussed today, and I got involved in a winterization discussion about ethanol. E-10 ethanol based gas, that's gas with 10% ethanol presents some issues. First of all in boats that are older than say early 90s, the ethanol can attack the fiberglass in the tanks and play havoc with the systems. Ethanol has also been accused of hastening the deterioration of rubber fuel lines causing little pieces of the line to become ingested in the carburetors. Ethanol is also a water attractor and can cause your fuel to separate if it sits unused for 60-90 days.
An additive that popped up several times in articles I read on the subject was Star Tron by Star Brite. Several articles suggested this additive. Meijers in twon here, had it on clearance a while back and I looked at it and bought a bottle, but I am going to look and see if they still have it and if it's on clearance or not. They still recommend that you use a gas stabilizer, like Stabil, along with the Star Tron. Here is another article from Fishing.US that talks about the issue.
Continuing with the winterization theme, I had a couple of suggestions off of Grealakesbass.com and one was to put a gallon of the pink RV antifreeze in your livewells and in the bilge area and then turn on the pumps. I haven't done that before, but I also have never been late season fishing, late enough any way to worry about there still being water in those lines. I know I do trim my big motor all the way down for the winter in case there is any water in sitting in a line yet.
A buddy of mine had his big motor winterized last year and they ran the pink stuff through his big motor. I've never done that though. In fact, last year was the first year I winterized my bass boat myself. I have always winterized the Merc on my pontoon boat, and it has survived the test of time, so I decided to give it a go on the bass boat. You do run a risk though if you are mechanically impaired like I am. You just might be better off having it done.
While surfing today I found an article on setting boats up. Wrong time of year I know, but many start to think about getting that new boat in the Spring and may want to read this article from Bass & Walleye Boats Magazine that they did with KVD. He details how he likes to have his boat rigged up.
Don't forget that today they will have the live weigh in from down in Decatur, AL on Lake Wheeler at 3:00 P.M. ET. Here's today's article from ESPN talking about the event.
Terry Scroggins has won the first two Southern Opens! It would be something, if he could make it a sweep. How do guys dominate like that? It's beyond me. They're not fishing with just average Joes. It would sure be fun to ride a few days with someone like that and just see what kind of machine they are.
It's time to get busy today. I plan on cleaning out the truck. Hardly room for me to sit in it any more. Plus, I left the windows open last night and the thing got soaked.
The parting shot for today is my personal favorite. I use to jog a lot and had a running journal I kept. This quote was in there, and I have memorized it, but have forgotten who made the quote. Here it is, "Not in the clamor of the crowded streets, nor in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but within oneself lies victory or defeat." Having taught for as many years as I did, too many kids are consumed by what others are thinking about them. Before you worry about what others are saying you had better be comfortable in your own skin, because really "...within oneself lies victory or defeat." Enjoy the day!
October 17, 2007
Man, it is really hard to loose weight when all you do is eat. It is just not right. Went out last night for my brother's birthday, and this morning I was up and at 'em early to have breakfast with my buddy John and his walleye buddy Ron. Blueberry pancakes and a side of American fries can't be too fattening
I am probably going to bug a few of you with an email. I'm trying to win a baitcasting reel on Billy Raymond's site. He's giving it away to whomever sends the most emails of his podcasts out to people. I don't feel too bad about doing it because I have plugged his podcasts before and wrote up a "How To" for podcasts on the September 18th edition of the blog. They are great to listen to in the car on trips, or while your exercise or whenever you're tired of singing to the radio.
As promised yesterday, I have another link for winterization. Here is a page or two from Boaters World with products you may need. I was interested in their heater/dryers for the boat. I know after getting the boat drenched, that I have thought about putting some small heater in the larger compartments to get them dried out before they mildewed. I will keep scrounging for more winterization tips.
On the ESPN site, they are talking about the last Southern Open event down on Lake Wheeler, out of Decatur, Alabama. The top three anglers in points from the Southern Opens get berths in the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in Greenville, S.C. You can watch the live coverage on ESPN.com starting at 3 p.m. ET Thursday through Saturday, the 18th-20th.
Decatur is just down the road from Athens, Alabama where my sister and brother-in-law live. I've been down to Decatur when visiting the in-laws. I have made a side trip or two to the ramp in Decatur to chit chat with guys coming in or going out with their bass boats.
Big Bob Gibson's is also in Decatur and if you're ever down that way, and want some great southern barbecue, have the beef brisket at Big Bobs.
I'm going to call Charlie, my southern brother, and see if he's going to be around this weekend. If so, I'll see if he can run down to Decatur to take some digitals of the weigh in. This may be his week that he's gone out to Colorado hunting. I'll check.
Found another Basstrix paddle tail tube knock off on the Tackle Warehouse site made by Money Lures . They are still pretty pricey. Hope they're not another "Chatterbait" phenomenon and cost big bucks for a year and then turn up everywhere some months later much cheaper. Can you say "Cabbage Patch Kids."
Well the wife has plans for me.... shopping for groceries. So I'm off to cross off another job from the "Honey Do" list. Gotta keep her happy because you know what they say, " If momma's not happy then nobodies happy."
Can't leave that as the parting shot for the day so today's quote comes from Shaquille O'Neal after missing 11 out of 15 free throws. "I'm trying my hardest, but I can't have everything. I can't have the looks, the rapping ability, and the scoring ability, and shoot free throws too. But, I'm going to hit 'em one day." Had to have a basketball quote today because the Pistons are in town at the Van Andel Arena to play Denver. If I can dig up some last minute tickets maybe I'll go. Time to check craigslist.com for people selling theirs. Enjoy the day!
October 16, 2007
I don't know about where you live, but today outside my house it's gray, and the rain has been steadily falling since I got up. I went out to Beaners for coffee with my buddy John. I had his trailer that I used to haul some firewood home from his place. He had had several trees cut down. Stacked and split it yesterday. Going to have to take most of it up to the cabin. Plum out of wood for the winter up there. I do have some standing dead wood up there to get at. Maybe I'll make the trip north this week. I have to get all those cabin jobs done before the Florida Nationals Adventure because once that's over we'll be getting back here just in time for the November 15 firearms opener.
Haven't heard tell from any of my buddies about a big buck yet. Ronnie, down in Polk County, Illinois, has missed a 160-180 class buck. One of the cushions on his rest came off and he didn't notice it till it was too late. He's going to be down in Illinois for all of October and November so I'm sure he'll have his chances.
Thought I would start providing links to sites that have winterization tips. Hate to think about it, but it will soon be time to put the boat to sleep for the winter. Here is a Bass Resource page with some tips.
Haven't gotten around yet to writing the Hawg 07 article, so I will drop in a couple more pictures from the event.
Ron Fasel of the Fasel - DeFilippo Team
Brian & Wes - My Nemesis The Last 2 Events
Two Nice Guys Though and Great Anglers
Got a reminder today that Cabela's is having an email only sale. I poked around some, but didn't see anything to buy. Saving all my money for the Florida Nationals Adventure, FNA.
I saw the Ardent reel being discussed again and I keep hearing nothing but good reviews. Saw on their site that they are closing out this year's model at a discount. Check it out here . I have been seriously considering one, but I emailed them first to see if they make one with a left handed retrieve. I'll let you know what they say.
Messed around some more with Google Earth. You need to download it, if you don't already have it. I was at Don's this weekend and his machine, for some reason, wouldn't load it. I have a son who is a computer guru that lives out in Lake Tahoe. Got him on the phone and after a bit he had us up and running. If you're ever in a bind, he's a good source for help and can remotely manage your computer to fix your problem. Haven't talked to him about doing this for people, but he might consider it for a fee. He's pretty busy though, and I don't know if he would be willing to be a computer gun for hire or not. He saves me a lot and was the designer of the Tear Drop web page and came up with the logo as well.
There are a number of good articles right now on the FLW Series page. The Quick Bites from Day 4 on Pickwick is a good one. The Rose Survives.... is a good read as well.
I just read on Bass Zone where B.A.S.S. is going to move the first Southern Open event because of them being double booked with the FLW on Okeechobee. Here's there announcement, " BASS announced Thursday afternoon that the first 2008 Southern Open will be moved to Jan. 17-19 on the St. Johns River in Palatka, FL. The event was originally scheduled Jan. 24-26 on Florida's Lake Okeechobee." The two organizations had double booked events and with the water being so dangerously low on Okeechobee BASS decided to blink and be the first to move. I think it's a wise decision, and I would bet the participants would rather fish the St. John's rather than Okeechobee with much of the lake unfishable.
Well time to get moving around here, got some jobs to do and it's my brother's birthday today so we're going out for dinner. The parting shot today comes from the "Nuge," Ted Nugent. Ted was recently being interviewed by a French journalist. The journalist asked, "What do you think the last thought is in the head of a deer before you shot it. Is it, Are you my Friend? or is it Are you the one who shot my brother?" Nugent replied, "They aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, What am I going to eat next, who am I going to have sex with next, and can I run fast enough to get away from any enemies. They are very much like the French in that way." Only the Nuge....Have a great day.
October 15, 2007
It's got to be the morning after... isn't that how the song goes from the "Poseidon Adventure?" In any case, it is the morning after the Hawg Tournament up on Duck and Green in Interlochen. Dandy Don and I gave it our best shot and came up what you call just a skoosh short, exactly 2 hundredths of a pound. We had a two fish total of 6.96 lbs. and coming in third place for $140 was our nemesis this year Wes Herndon and Brian, "I always screw up the spelling of his last name" Macdonell from Traverse City. They had 6.98 lbs. The Skinner Boys came in second place after leading the whole she bang after the first lake with a 5.34 smallie that ended up being big bass of the day. Rick Sr. and Rick Jr. are good friends and I was very happy to see them do well. The weight that I recall them having was 7.24 lbs. ( The Tear Drop anglers represented well taking first, second, third, and fourth place out of around 30 boats.) Coming in first place by a hair with about 7.3 lbs. was the Cadillac, MI team of Mike Miller and Tony Maddox. I believe first place was $1,700 and second was $440 with the big bass pot about $560. Great job guys!
Our Hawg adventure started when we left Cadillac to drive up to the lakes at about 5:45 am. There was a thick layer of frost on the vehicle, and the cover on Don's Cougar was stiff as a board. Once up at Green, it took a while to dump all the boats in. Out on the water, the fog was pea soup, idle only thick. Thank goodness for GPS and mapping cards. We were able to negotiate the fog and pretty much find where we wanted to start. Don hit two fish on back to back casts that ended up being our two biggest fish of the day. I broke off on something that felt big and lost a good fish on topwater. Hard to say if either would have help us, but it's always nice to get those fish in the boat to decide that.
We heard the Skinner Boys and several other boats in the fog, but it was so thick that when you made your cast you couldn't see where your bait hit the water. The fog never lifted until 10:30 and then blew off to bluebird skies. We caught a number of fish on Green and saw a number of good size cruisers, but our biggest smallie weighed 3.46. It sure looked bigger than that.
We headed over to Duck and launched at about 1:00 pm. We headed to Don's favorite spot and caught a 14 incher. His spot produces much better when it's sunny, however the clouds had rolled in and it looked like rain. We then headed to another of his spinnerbait spots and nothing. We went to one of my spinnerbait spots and meandered around and found nothing there as well. We then went to where I usually start and I caught the 3.5 pounder. We stayed in that area with just a short or two. We were having perch pepper our baits in the area where I had caught the smallie and actually caught a couple good size ones. We decided to head back to it thinking that smallie was there because the perch were there. Don proceeded to hook a largie that weighed 2-11 when he checked it on his hand held scale. That was it for us, and the weigh in was suspenseful but discouraging from our point of view. Here are some pictures. I didn't get one of Miller and Maddox and will have to archive some for the article later.
Rick Senior's Big Bass of the Tournament
My 3.5 pounda from Duck Lake
Don's 3.46 Smallie off of Green
Mike Mesyar's Come Back Smallie from Duck
Skinner Boys Smiling All the Way to the Bank
I don't know it you watched the conclusion of the FLW Series Pickwick event down in Florence, Alabama, but Michigan Pro Art Ferguson came in third. Here's the article that recaps the event.
At the Hawg tourney, Tony DeFilippo, fished with Ron Fasel one of our Tear Drop oldies but goodies, and who is also good friends with Dandy Don. Tony hadn't heard that Art won and was happy for him. Tony says he talks to Art almost every day. Tony is also an FLW pro who will be back out on the trail next year. He lives up in Cedar and is a Traverse City and Great Northwest Corner angler. I bugged Ron again about getting me the picture of he and Tony with their 30+ pound, five fish bag of smallies that they got off the Bay last year. What a sack of smallies that was! Maybe he'll send it to me yet.
I was looking at the ESPN Bassmasters' site. Haven't seen too much new on the site lately, but did noticed a slide show of the last Lake Toho event. It's pretty cool! some great pictures. There are 20 shots to scroll through. Here's the Zoom Gallery . Be sure to check it out. It really does have some great shots.
Well, I have to unload a pickup and trailer full of firewood so I had better get going. The parting shot comes from Henry David Thoreau, Walden - "There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of nature and has his senses still. There was never yet such a storm but it wasn't music to an innocent ear."
October 13, 2007
Going to head up north in a few minutes to go and do some prefishing for the Hawg Tournament up on Duck and Green at Interlochen. Hopefully, this cool down has those big smallies on their Fall feed. I'll be taking some pictures and hoping we go back to back wins up there.
I said yesterday that I would relay some of the info from the podcast from Bass Edge. They had Alton Jones on and he talked about how in the fall, in the southern reservoirs, that the bite is often in the backs of the creeks. He talked about the move being timed to the Fall turn over in the lakes. Between the bottom layer and top layer of water is the thermocline and the fish often hang out there because it's an area that holds oxygen better. Hot water doesn't hold as much oxygen. When the turn over occurs it causes the turbid water quality and disperses the O2 so the fish end up all over the place and tough to catch. Alton suggests at this time to seek out those creeks off the main lake that have a well defined channel with at least 5-8 feet of water. Work those channels to the very back of the creeks. He likes a shallow water crankbait for this on his first pass followed up by a jig.
Those FLW anglers down on Pickwick in Alabama aren't being affected by Fall turn over yet and most are connecting on deep rock. I watched the live weigh in for a while today. Saw Art Ferguson weigh, and he's currently in 5th place. They cut to the top ten anglers today. Another Michigan angler was successful down there and has big bass of the tournament so far. Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, caught a dandy smallmouth that weighed 5 lbs. 13 oz. Here's the link to the write up for today. The live weigh in will be on the FLW site tomorrow as well.
Also on the Bass Edge podcast today was a discussion about fishing line. A representative from Vicious Fishing talked about mono, copolymers, and fluorocarbon. First of all, he said that the fishing industry itself rates line not on lb. test but on its diameter and that from company to company that can differ. Mono and copolymers are both nylon lines. Copolymers are combinations of nylon. Just like they mix metals for different reasons including hardness, they mix nylons with a variety of results. Sensitivity, in the Vicious Reps opining, was a matter of line density. Fluorocarbons, which are not nylon, are more dense and therefor more sensitive. Ever see those old westerns where they put their ear to a railroad track to listen for the train that is not yet in sight? Those iron rails are very dense and carry vibration a long way.
Density also will cause that fluorocarbon to sink. Toss two cans of Coke in the lake, one diet and the other sugar pop. The diet will float and the sugar pop will sink. The sugar in the pop makes it more dense.
Fluorocarbon also is said to be less visible and that is because water has a refraction score of 1.3 and fluorocarbon's is 1.4 and mono's is 1.5. The closer the refractive score is to water the less visible the line is.
Some interesting stuff. If you have any line questions the folks at Vicious encourage you to email them.
Well I'm ready to head north to do some fishing so here's the parting shot for today. It comes from one of my favorite presidents, Grover Cleveland. " In these sad and ominous days of mad fortune chasing, every patriotic, thoughtful citizen, whether he or she fishes or not, should lament that we have not among our countrymen more fishermen." I told you I like that Grover! Have a great weekend!
October 12, 2007
Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day....consider yourself lucky that you're not one of my neighbors and have to put up with my singing around the house with the windows open. Any way, I am still psyched about being able to be in a boat as an observer during the B.A.S.S. Nationals on the infamous Lake Toho. Got the email yesterday and the confirmation call today, and they will be getting back to me with more information soon. For volunteering, I get a Mustang inflatable PFD and lunch every day. They don't know it, but I would have paid them to go, so anything coming back my way in product is just gravy.
As you might guess, I have been cruising the net for information on Florida fishing, specifically the Kissimmee Chain. I have found some good sources, one being an Orlando newspaper that gives weekly fishing reports. The Florida Wildlife Commission, FWC has also been helpful with information. I, of course, have checked out the FLW and B.A.S.S. articles on Toho. Got this picture from KVD's webpage showing a coangler flipping a bass in the boat on Toho. He or she must of loaded up on this one thinking it was a whole lot bigger.
Flippin Largemouth
That bass must of thought he was at Disney World, what a ride!
I don't know if it's the repetitiveness of writing this blog each day or a function of my aging brain, but I don't believe I have shared this article on an interesting technique yet. If I have, pretend you haven't read it. When my kids at school said they had read a book before, I always assured them that a second time through often gives you a different perspective. In any case, on BassFan.com there is this article on "Flick Shakin'." It's another finesse strategy for pressured water, but I liked what I saw and thought maybe you might too. Here is Kotaro Kiriyama's "Makin' Bacon With Flick Shakin.'"
The FLW Eastern Series is down in Florence, Alabama on Lake Pickwick. Florence is where Grand Valley State won it's fourth National Championship this past November. I went down to the game and had a blast. It was a little hard though knowing I was that close to some great fishing water. I did get to fish a little slough off the Tennessee River near Wheeler Dam and caught a couple little bass. However, I really wasn't down to fish and couldn't commit to more fishing time. I did make it to West End, a gas station/bait shop that has more Lucky Craft lures than any Bass Pro Shop or Cabellas I have ever been in. It's called West End because it's at the West end of Athens, Alabama on M72 about 30 miles east of Florence.
Here's the FLW article that talks about that Pickwick tournament. The live weighin for the event can be viewed at 3:00 pm
Central Time which I believe is an hour earlier than our Eastern Standard Time.
I did my four miles today and listened to a Bass Edge podcast that had Alton Jones on talking about Fall fishing and another guest from Viscious Line. They had some interesting things they talked about and I am going to save my recap for tomorrow's blog. So, take care and try not to get in trouble at work leaving too early on a TGIF day.
The parting shot today comes from a angler by the name of Patrick McManus, " Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary."
October 11, 2007
Hey all. Checked for snow in the driveway this morning when I got up. You know what they say about if you don't like the weather, wait a day. Talk about some temperature swings.
Talked with Don a couple of times today and we're trying to figure out the date for our Florida adventure. We're thinking of heading south around the end of the month. We may just fish our way south. Don's mom lives in Kentucky and I have a sister and brother-in-law that lives near Wheeler Dam on the Tennessee River in Alabama. Both spots have some pretty good fishing, and as the water cools down we ought to hit the Fall bite. We have to be in Florida for a day or two before Don's tournament starts to test the waters there as well.
Was doing my usual surfing and ran across a make it and take it piece of, well I guess for lack of a better term, equipment. It's a lure wrap . You know, one of those things you wrap around a crankbait or topwater bait so they don't hook everything on your deck. I know there are too many tournaments where I'm pulling out a bunch of rods and never sticking them back in the locker till they are piled on the foredeck. The hooks from the treble hook baits in seconds tangle every rod in the pile. I could use a bunch of cheap wraps.
The directions for the lure wraps above look very simple and quick. I'll be making some for our Florida trip.
Rick Sr. gave me a call today to ask about the Hawg Tournament up on Duck and Green Sunday. Just to be sure I have the right info., I gave Chris Mieras a call. I'll let you know, hopefully tomorrow morning, what he says, otherwise from what he said earlier the tournament starts on Green at 7:00 am the 14th, which is this Sunday.
Just checked one of my email accounts and found this, " I believe we have room for you as an observer all three days. How about sending me a phone number so we can work out the details. Thanks, Tom Mahoney" Florida Federation Nation. Looks like I have a ride for the Nationals on Toho! Wahoo!!
Well I'm too pumped up about the Florida news to focus right now, so the parting shot for today comes from none other than KVD, "When it really gets tough out there I just pop a Gatorade and think about the 10-pounder that could come on the next cast."
Ten pounders, Florida, me, "YES!"
October 10, 2007
Visited the old dentist today. Things went much better than the wasted trip to the sleep lab. All I had to do was get my teeth cleaned, but it's still not one of my favorite things to do. Flash back to when I was a kid and when I had a dentist who work on me with his forearm in my chest. Got even with him though. One visit I wasn't feeling well, and he wouldn't let me up to use the bathroom. He ended up with a full frontal spew. It wasn't pretty, but as a kid, I walked out with a bounce.
It's a cold and wet Michigan Fall day. Made for napping and home made soup. The wife has a pot of beef soup on the stove, and she's making dumplings. They are these huge jiffy mixed pillows of dough that she cooks in a frying pan using some of the broth from the soup. We eat them on a plate cut up with butter. I spoon broth from my big bowl of soup over them. Mighty tasty.
Spent some time cruising the net looking for information on the Kissimmee Chain and Harris Chain. When we go down to Florida in a couple weeks we're going to try and fish the Harris Chain and maybe the Stickmarsh ahead of the Nationals to see what the neighborhood fish are up to.
It's getting closer and closer to the jump off time for the big adventure. Don and I haven't talked about when we were leaving yet. I have been pounding the emails off to the tournament folks in Florida, hoping to volunteer as an observer in one of the contestant boats. Haven't heard a thing yet except some basic information from Paul Sacks the Michigan B.A.S.S. Federation President who will also be going down for the event.
I noticed an article on Bass Fan about how next year the FLW will be having an off limits and a rule pertaining to "no outside help" like B.A.S.S. has for the Nationals and I assume on their Elite Series Trail. There hasn't been really any off limits period for the FLW Tour Pros. The FLW Series Pros have had one. In 2008, the FLW Tour contestants won't be able to fish for 12 days before the official practice days and won't be able to consult with any one for purposes of finding fish. They can't even fly over the water during the off limits. The article above, discusses the new rules and how some of the FLW pros like the change.
I still haven't heard anything on the order I sent in for Bass Trix paddle tail tubes . In fact, when I went to Tackle Warehouse it says that, " Tackle Warehouse is currently not accepting back orders on Basstrix products." I'm not quite sure what that means. Sounds like if I have a back order, which I do, that I won't be getting it. Fortunately on the Great Lakes Bass Forum, there recently was a post by someone who is supposedly making look alikes. Here's the GLB link for Kamikaze's paddle tail post.
Well as the days seem to get shorter the blog seems to be as well. When we head south I'm sure I'll more to talk about. Take care.
The parting shot from today comes from Helen Keller, "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.. '' Make sure your glass is always half full.
October 9, 2007
I got a late start today after spending the night in a sleep lab for my sleep apnea. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. I have been through this several times before. They were doing a titration study just to try and check things out to be sure my cpac machine settings were where they should be. They attached about 15 or 20 wires, no kidding, to your body from head to toe. Then they monitor you all night. I fell pretty much right to sleep but woke up at around 2:00 am feeling very uncomfortable. Spent the rest of the night waking up fitfully until they finally gave up at 5:00 am and sent me home. Hope my trip to the dentist for a checkup tomorrow works out better. Don't believe what anyone tells you about the "Golden Years."
Spent some time on Billy Raymond's Bass Feed forum today. It's a fun place and I already picked up some good info. On Billy's podcast he interviewed Lee Bailey an Elite angler who also works with other anglers designing gear, boat wraps, web sites etc. His site is called ProBassAnglers.com . A site with a lot of good info to check out.
I also spent some time surfing the net today looking for information on Lake Toho. As you all know by now I hope, Don is going down to fish Lake Toho in the B.A.S.S. Nationals. The rules don't allow him to get information from anyone or to prefish before the designated two practice days. He can access any public information, like that which you could find on the internet.
I am going to ride down with Don. He's pulling his own boat down to fish some of the lakes in Central Florida hoping that the fish will be on similar patterns. Once the two official practice days start the anglers will board a bus each morning at the Orlando Sun Resort and they will be transported to the boats that they will be using.
Don's trying to anticipate what he will need in terms of lures and terminal tackle because there are also rules as to how many rods and tackle bags that you can bring. You also may not add any tackle once the practice days start or during the three tournament days. You can bring your rods to the motel room to retie, but are cautioned not to add any tackle. The tackle bags are locked in the boats each night.
Saw another good looking spinnerbait site today. This sites spinnerbait has a unique name. It's called The "Secret Weapon" . Don and I will be heading up to prefish Duck and Green this week. The "Hawg Hunt" takes place on the lakes this coming weekend. I mentioned the event before, but for those who missed it it's a big fish tournament, a winner takes all event. You start on Green at 7:00 am and fish until 11:00. Then you take the boats out and head over to Duck for the afternoon. You get to weigh one fish from each lake.
I have an article and pictures from last year's event on the main page of the website under 2006 articles, and yes that's Don and I with the winners money fan. It was fun, and I could certainly go for a back to back money fan.
The parting shot for today comes from a man who had a bright idea or two, Thomas Edison. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
Have a great day!
October 8, 2007
Howdy, it's Monday again already! I went looking for work today, and signed up to substitute teach. Thought I'd get ready for winter. Have to do something to afford to buy more worms. Actually, I got up early with a little help from my friend John. We had plans to go out for breakfast, and I overslept. John graciously gave me a couple of minutes and we were off. I had to pretend to be interested in some trash fishing for walleyes, just kidding I eat those fish but always release my bass.
Last night my wife made "THE" decision to buy tickets for Florida. So, we are going down to the B.A.S.S. Nationals as Fowler groupies. Don and I are going to pull his boat down early and fish some of the area lakes. The Toho chain is off limits, but he would like to see what the fish are doing in some of the surrounding lakes. The wives are going to come down for the five days of the tournament. The tournament has two practice days for the anglers and then the three tournament days. The Nationals are the first week of November, 5-10, on Lake Toho. I plan on hijacking the wife's laptop and making sure I have a road show version of the daily blog. I'm really getting excited about going. I have never fished in Florida before. We took a trip to Florida once years ago when my boys were younger and we did drive down to Rolland Martin's place on Okeechobee. I stood on the levy and looked at the lake, but I never have had the opportunity to fish for the Florida strain green fish.
I checked the Bass Anglers United site and they had the results from their Championship. If you check out the standings you'll see names like Randy VanDam, KVDs brother, and Greg Mangus, Tad Hepler and Herman Barry and Tim Cook. Dandy Don and Ray Dillon are the Tear Drop entry and gave it a ride, but no bananas that day. Herman and Tim, my new GLB friends, fished Leelanau for the first time and came in place third. Wow, a real accomplishment when you look at all the great anglers on that results page. I also just noticed Chris Schalk's name on the list as well. He was on the State B.A.S.S. team that fished down in Vermillion, Ohio. Congratulations to all who made the B.A.U. Classic and to Tad Hepler and Dave Eggers who won the boat.
Hopefully B.A.U. will have some pictures up on their site soon.
I am not quite sure if I mention a new take on the Chatterbait/Spinnerbait by Ka Ru Lures called the "Vibraspin" . It's another reason I was out looking for work today. It looks like something I really got to try. I love the erratic action of the chatterbait and to incorporate that with the flash of a willowleaf and its got me interested. Check it out.
Saw on the news how they canceled the Chicago Marathon yesterday mid race. The heat was dropping the entrants like flies. Running the Chicago Marathon goes down as one of my biggest accomplishments. Running a marathon is as much a mental accomplishment as it is a physical one. Running 26.2 miles is a long way, and I although I ran, what's considered a mediocre time I felt it was a real feat for me personally. The machines that win those races are just amazing to me. I can hardly believe they can maintain such a pace.
Some more good baseball coming up this week and the radio sport shows were certainly bustling with diatribe concerning the college and pro games from the weekend. How about Stanford's win.?! What about the Green Bay Lions giving that game to Da Bears. Shouldn't be too critical. I know they certainly are not trying to loose, but boy they had it in hand. Got to get going myself. Haven't got in my 4 miler yet today. So take care. Here's a parting shot today from the 200/400 meter Gold Medal sprinter, Michael Johnson, "pressure is nothing more than the shadow of great opportunity."
October 7, 2007
The heat has definitely gotten to me. I haven't had the motivation to even type. I don't know it its the heat or the fact that when I had my physical Thursday they gave me a tetanus booster and a flu shot, and I got a little lingering after effect from the shots. Just have been off my feed, so to speak.
It's suppose to start a cool down Tuesday after one more day of hot humid temperatures. These temps should be giving these northern bass a little longer growing season this year.
Talked to Tim and Don about their adventures in the Bass Anglers United Classic Tournament up on Lake Leelanau west of Traverse City on Saturday. Tim and Herman did well coming in third place with a bag of fish weighing around 17 lbs. Third place up there, with the level of competition as high as it was, was a very good finish. They said they got there fish in spots in the south lake. Finding green weeds was a key to their catching fish. Don and his partner Ray "Red Beard" Dillon couldn't get any numbers of fish. In practice, they found some big fish, just not numbers in any one spot. On tournament day, they had two four pounders, but just couldn't get that limit they needed. From the scuttle butt at the tournament, the winners got their fish in 30 feet of water.
I'll keep checking the BAU site out to see when they post the standings and some pictures that I can pass along.
Tim is from down in southern Michigan and my wife and I took a van we just purchased for our son down there on a little shake down cruise. We had a free night at the new Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo. I am not completely sold on this Casino thing and figure another vice is not always good. Gambling can really become an addiction that can be the bane of one's existence. Like most things, you really need to monitor its hold and be sure it remains simply a past time. Kind of sounds like I'm talking about bass fishing. In any case, you have to monitor those vices carefully.
The rooms at the Four Winds were very nice. You walk in to a sitting room with a flat screen TV on the wall, microwave, refrigerator, and bar area partitioned with a long computer desk area. There was another flat screen TV on the wall opposite the bed. The bathroom had a walk in shower with a whirlpool tub.
My favorite was the food! They have a great buffet. It's pricey at $20 a piece, but they comped one of our meals. It's a Vegas style buffet that has sections of cuisine for every taste. Very nice salad and bread area and an excellent dessert section - the banana foster was particularly good. You certainly won't go away hungary. It was a nice getaway and ended up being a very cheap one at that.
The Stren Series event on Lake Gaston, Virginia ended yesterday and was won by a crankbaiter, David Wright. Here is the link to that article.
While following that event I went to Google Earth to find Lake Gaston. I tell you what, if you haven't used "Google Earth, as a tool to check out bodies of water you're missing a valuable resource. You can get an aerial view of the lake and then use the controls to zoom in quite close. I was able to check out the various creeks and could actually zoom in on docks to see how big they were. You could also see shallow humps, shallow points, etc. quite easily. Check it out it's a free download.
Ran across an article today that was rather interesting. I found it after joining the forum at the Bass Feed website that Billy Raymond has. It's a take on the drop shot and they call it the "Wiggle Rig." This guy has come up with a rubber band type line that is used for the dropper line and this stretchy piece of line gives the lure above it a ton of action. Very interesting concept. Interesting enough to get me thinking I gotta try this.
Watching Green Bay and Da Bears. Good game so far. I like both teams, but it's hard not to root for someone like Farve. By the way, my alma matre, GVSU, has now won 33 consecutive football games with their 59-7 victory over Mercyhurst PA. They are 1 win away from tying the D2 all time consecutive game streak record. GVSU has won the D2 National Championship four times in the last five years! They have won 91 out of their last 100 games! Chuck Martin, their coach, was on CBS Saturday on Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year program. Hope he gets voted in. You can vote for him on
GVSU's website.
After a great football weekend, (I guess we can look past the Cubs losing, dang!) it's only fitting to have the parting shot come from one of the all time great coaches Vince Lombardi, "The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important that the events that occur."
Have a good evening!
October 4, 2007
If I hurry I can make this a "Good Morning" entry instead of a late afternoon offering. I really didn't sleep in. I had to get up to go see the family doctor for my annual physical today. Got poked, probed, and questioned. Got my tetanus booster and a flu shot. They drew enough blood to back up a heart transplant.
Dandy Don called me from Lake Leelanau this morning. He's up there for the first practice day in the Bass Anglers United Classic. Tim, Herman and "The Fishing Pollock" as he calls himself, from GLB are also fishing the event. Come to think of it, I don't know if the "Pollock" is or not. In any case, I hope to get some pictures from Tim and Herman. Don never takes any despite my prodding.
Ron, my Tear Drop partner, called from Pike County, Illinois. He's got a bunch of land down there he leased with a couple other guys, and they sold some hunts. He says they have been seeing some monster deer and can't wait to get hunting. He's going to be staying down there for the next two months. Hopefully, I can get some pictures to post from him. He doesn't have a computer to access down there, but his wife is going down for a week to hunt, and I bet I can get her to take some pictures and bring them back north.
Got on the FLW site this morning and checked out the Stren Series. They are fishing Lake Gaston in Virginia as we speak, read, type, whatever. If you are so inclined, the weigh in is live on their site at Lake Gaston Live weigh in starting at 3:00 pm . Here is a link to the article that was written this morning about the event which started yesterday. They had a three hour fog delay this morning.
Purusing the FLW site I also came across an article about David Wolak. I read about his recent finish down on Amistad and about how he missed the BASS Classic at the end of year points wise on Toho. Amistad was a Central Open contest, and his finish there earned him his Classic berth. Two years in a row he has been the angler on the bubble in terms of end of season points on the Elite Series Trail. He missed a $10,000 check on Toho by 2 ounces and missed the Classic by one place. Ouch! His finish in the Opens though, put him in to his third Classic. While reading the Wolak article it referenced another piece that was done on him about fishing fall smallmouth .
The parting shot today comes out of the East. Confucius says, " Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." Have a great day and have some
Chinese for lunch.
October 3, 2007
Good afternoon greeting today. Got up and did the four miles and listened to Bass Feed. One of the references on the podcast was to Ultimate Bass, so when I got home I punched it up. I have been on the site before, but this time I took a little more time with it. One of the things that caught my eye, was an article on deep hooked fish.
I have never been a big believer in simply biting the line hoping the hooks will rust out. I don't think they do. I have always tried to at least cut the hook with side cutters so that you can remove as much of it as possible. I just bought some "Bite Me" jigs today @ 4 for $2.99 so it hurt$ the fish and the angler when you have to cut that hook. So... when I saw an article on a technique to help remove hooks from those bass who take it deep, I took noticed and read it twice. Here's the technique from the Ultimate Bass "Tips Page" .
As I said in an earlier post, I have recently purchased a tool to use to cut hooks that are lodged deep in a fishes gullet. It's called a D-Barb "Fish Medic." It's a pliers type tool that allows you to grab the barb straight on and cut it. It also has a magnet, near the cutter, that the barb will stick to once it's cut. This makes it possible to get all of the hook out. The tool is laying on my dining room table, and I hope not to need it, but I know I'll be running into that situation again many more times. With this new knowledge and tool, I will be better equipped to make sure the fish that I catch and then release are in the best shape possible. I will let you know how both work.
I have to go to the Secretary of State today and transfer a title on a vehicle I bought off an ad on craigslist.com . If you are unfamiliar with craigslist, it's a site that has just about anything and everything. You can buy and sell all kinds of things. It's not like eBay in the sense that you don't bid on things. You deal directly with the seller. If you click on the link above you'll see that it is a list for the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. If you look at the right hand side of that page you'll see that there is a list of states that you could select. Within those states you will find a list of cities that have a craigslist. Be careful, because checking the sites becomes addictive. I have bought the car, a washer and dryer, house wares, furniture, sporting goods, etc. and have sold a few things as well. Believe me, I think you will have fun with this site.
Busy day today, so this entry is going to be a short one. The parting shot today is from the great UCLA coach John Wooden. "Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." Have a good day!
October 2, 2007
Afternoon already. I met a friend of mine for breakfast to discuss putting together an iMovie of his recent Alaskan cruise. I enjoy working with Mac's iMovie program and often get asked to help out or make a DVD for someone. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon trying to show him the ropes.
I also went back through the iTunes program and showed him how to get podcasts. He's a scoutmaster and there are quite a few podcasts pertaining to scouting we looked at at the iTunes Store. Remember, if your interested in checking out bass fishing podcasts, which are all free, go back to the September 18th blog entry. There I wrote out the directions of how to find them and play them.
Last night a friend of mine emailed me some old photos of a trip to Isle Royale that we made in 1982. We went to Isle Royale several times on backpacking canoe trips. We also went to the Boundary Water Canoe area in Minnesota on one trip. Here's a picture of the group of us that went that year. The guys that went regularly decided we would try and take our dads up with us on a trip and in 82 we did that. That's me in the lower left and my dad is in the upper right.
Walleyes For Dinner!
We always canoe camped an portaged between lakes on the island. This was one of our favorite walleye lakes, Chicken Bone Lake. We pigged out on walleye that night and fed several other campers as well. On each of our trips there, we also caught pike over 40 inches. Some excellent fishing and a real wilderness experience.
I am still contemplating going down to Florida and following Don's journey through the B.A.S.S. Nationals on Toho. Having to make ends meet on this retirement income makes it tough to just jump up and take off for a week or two to Florida. Would be fun though. I called down to see about whether or not I could be a rider in one of the boats. Each of the contestants has to have a rider, and if I could do that it would really tilt the scales in terms of going down or not. If I can't fish the next best thing is to be in the boat and take pictures of the angler fishing. I'll keep you appraised of my decision to go or not to go, for that is still the que$tion.
I went to
Google Earth and typed in Lake Toho and got a look at the lake. If you don't have Google Earth on your computer, you ought to consider it. To get a quick look at a lake any where in the country, I don't think there is any better site.
I was on Bass Fan and they have a two part article talking about the Pros who have not been in the spotlight lately and what they have been up to. They're short articles that are good quick interesting reads.
I was back out pounding the pavement on my morning constitutional and was listening to Bass Edge , an iTunes podcast. They had a segment on ICAST, which is a big fishing showcase they have out in Vegas where vendors hawk all that is new in the outdoors. They spotlighted a reel made by Ardent . They really liked the reel and especially the fact that Ardent is now making their reels with interchangeable spools. You can therefore quickly change from fluorocarbon to braid, etc. in literally just seconds. I hadn't heard of the company before, and their website is kind of sparse, so I'll have to look for more information. I'll have to ask around on some of the forums to see if any one has used an Ardent reel before and get an idea from them as to how they like it.
Going to have to keep it short today. I'm still out used car shopping, and I have to go look at a vehicle. So, I'll cut to the parting shot for today. It comes from a fighter, maybe the greatest, Muhammad Ali. "It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."
October 1, 2007
Opening day of the Michigan Archery Season today. Looks like it will be a wet one for many across the state. I must confess, that I haven't been shooting and plan to start today. I haven't been bow hunting like I use to. Lost access to a couple of spots that I hunted for years, and all I have left now is public land. Just haven't taken the time to scout it out.
My buddy John has 60 acres up near Tustin, and has invited me up to gun hunt again with him. He has offered, in the past, the opportunity to bow hunt up there. I may take him up on it this year. I wish I had a back door spot that I could go to. That is always ideal. I love sitting in a tree and enjoying what comes my way deer or no deer.
I'm sure the Skinner Boys are out today. They are hunting fools when it comes to whitetails. Rick Sr. said they still have land to lease if anyone is interested. Goes for $20 and acre. I don't know if there's a minimum. I know I jokingly told him I wanted half an acre and that one tree is all I need.
I know it's about time, but I finally posted the 2007 Classic article last night. I failed to mention in the Classic article that Shelly Meyers contributed some of the photos. Shelly, is Josh's mom. She's also the County Clerk for Lake County. She, for years, was the Secretary/Treasurer of our Big Bass Lake Association. Very nice person and I want to be sure to thank her again for taking pictures for me.
I knew it! Fowler didn't take any pictures at the "Fishing With The Pros" weekend up in Traverse City. He said he sat next to Mike "Ike" Iaconelli , talked with Kim Stricker , saw KVD who showed up but didn't fish, and hob knobbed with Mickey Thomas , Shaw Grigsby , Tony DeFilippo , Scott Lakey , Chip Harrison , Derek Remitz (B.A.S.S. Rookie of the Year), and a bunch more who he couldn't recall off hand.
Don said he took his riders to Green Lake in Interlochen, Crystal Lake in Beulah, and Platte Lake on the way back from Crystal. He said they caught a bunch of fish, but no monsters. He said that Ike caught a 6-3 up on Charlevoix. I'm sure KVD steered him onto some good spots up there. KVD's family vacationed for years on Charlevoix.
Got an email from Herman and a phone call this morning from Tim, guys I met through GLB. They were up on Lake Leelanau prefishing for the Bass Anglers United 2007 Championship. They said in two days they caught about 30 keepers and that Herman lost one that looked like it would go six pounds at the boat. Tim and Herman won the BAU Second Chance Tournament up on Lakes Cadillac and Mitchell not long ago. Here's a couple of pictures from that day.
Good Job Guys
Cadillac & Mitchell Big Bass Winner
I watched the FSN final day coverage of the Forest Wood Classic yesterday. They did a good job covering the fishing and man the way they did the weigh in looked like it almost gave Scott Suggs a heart attack. He weighed first on the final day. If you watched the show you saw how he only caught two fish on the last day and dejectedly drove back to the weigh in sure he had lost it. Fortunately for him, one of the two fish he caught was a pig. Any way, he still won by a pretty good margin, but waiting for those other eleven guys to weigh in, knowing he had only two fish the last day, was a killer.
On the ESPN site, they have an article on three more pros who qualified through the Opens to fish the Bassmaster Classic. They also mentioned that the Nationals, that Don will be fishing in, will be televised February 16th at 9:00 a.m. on ESPN2.
The parting shot today comes from Ben Franklin. "You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again." So pick 'em up and lay 'em down, it's Monday! Carpe diem!
