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Daily Blog Archive October 1, 2008 through October 31, 2008

October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

It's looking more like I'm going to have to break down and get a laptop that I can travel with. We decided at home to get one stationary machine and one laptop, but that just isn't working out too well. I left Michigan with the plan that I would make entries and updates on my son's computer out here in sunny California. However, I have run into a few unanticipated problems. I use my iPod at home, and as I travel, as an external hard drive. Each day when I make a blog entry I save that entry on my stationary machine and on my iPod. That way, when I travel, I have all my pictures and files ready to use. It works very well if I have my Mac laptop. Out here though, my son has PC stuff and his machine doesn't like to read my iPod. It wants to reformat it and that's not happening. So, in order to get my Cherokee Lake article off the iPod, and make the corrections that I made coming out on the plane on a paper copy, I will have to try and stop by a friend of my son's to open the iPod and then email the article to his computer where I then can access it to make the changes. My son tells me there is another way, but I'll need his help I'm sure. Hopefully though, I'll get that article posted like I've been promising to do for a while now.

When I left Michigan Wednesday, I had to drive to Midway in Chicago to catch my flight. Traveling down the eway near St. Joseph, I saw a Flying J Truck Stop that had gas for $2.27 a gallon! I didn't need gas, but pulled off any way just to make sure I could say I bought gas at that price. Since then, I have seen on some blogs that gas is as low as $2.15 in the Detroit area. Out here in Tahoe City, the price of gas is $3.19 a gallon. Not only is the gas higher, but like many touristy areas of Michigan many things are higher. My son, a friend, and myself went out for a burger, fries and some beverages and the bill for the three of us was $49. It was a good burger though and the view from the restaurant was spectacular. In fact, since I've been here it's hard to get from one place to the next in a timely fashion, because I have to stop an take pictures. Any place you stop could be a postcard picture. Here are a few I've taken thus far.

Obexer's Marine - West Lake Tahoe

The Truckee River up near Squaw Valley

Looking up the Valley toward the Squaw Valley Ski Resort

The golf course and village at Squaw

A rare cloudy day over Lake Tahoe

A look at the map

If you look at the map from the picture above, you can see where Tahoe City is. My son lives about eight miles north of there.

There is a two lane road all the way around Lake Tahoe and there are a bunch of little resort towns that you pass through. About half the lake is in Nevada and the other in California. The map shows the dividing line. The drive around the lake is truely spectacular! The pictures just don't do it justice.

My son does computer work for a few companies out here. He's worked primarily for a businessman who has Michigan roots, Mt. Dave Wilderotter. Dave went to school for a time in East Grand Rapids, and is a University of Michigan alum. He now owns a group of stores around Lake Tahoe called appropriately Tahoe Dave's . Dave has been more than an employer to my son. He's one of those rare individual's who has made his mark in business, but is way more than a businessman. Just one of those people that everyone admires. I know I feel very fortunate that my son has had the opportunity to work for him. In fact, at one point in time all three of my son's have been out here and have worked for Dave. He's an extraordinary individual. His persona infects those he has working for him as well. When you go in to one of Dave's stores, the people that work there show you that old fashioned down home hospitality that you rarely see any more. They are super friendly and take the time to get to know you and make you feel like you've lived here for years. By the time you're ready to leave, you're hugging everybody. There are three Tahoe Dave's stores side by side in Tahoe City. The first building is there office headquarters, then the Board Shop, and finally the Ski Shop.

Tahoe Dave's, October 31st

The Snowboard Shop deck out for Halloween

Tahoe Dave's Ski Shop

The Tahoe Dave's shops in Tahoe City, as do all the Dave's stores, have all your snowboarding and ski needs covered. They also rent bikes, have a skateboard shop, and have a ton of clothing and apparel. If you're coming out winter or summer they are definitely the place to stop, if not for anything more than a few hugs. That last statement sounded like a promo, and I guess it kind of is, but it is the truth and you owe it to yourself to put the Tahoe area on your vacation agenda and stop and see the folks at Dave's. It's definitely a bucket list entry.

I have done a little bit of surfing through the fishing sites looking for things that pique my interest since I've been in Tahoe. Granted, I haven't been spending a lot of time reading fishing articles with all that there is to do out here, but I do feel an obligation to the blog. Sometimes though, I think I've created a monster.

One of the articles I recently read was concerning the BFL Wildcard on Lake Pickwick down in Alabama. Pickwick is just thirty miles from my sister and brother in-laws in Alabama and is one of those fabled bass waters that I hope to fish. As I've said, it is the BFL Wildcard lake which means if you fished all of the BFL events as a boater or coangler, and you didn't make the Top 40 Regional, then you are eligible to fish the Wild Card. Following either route, you hopefully qualify to fish the All American.

The Pickwick article gives you some very good fishing information, especially for this late fall season. It's some current info. to be sure. Even if you're not fishing it though, I like to save these "Bass Recon" articles so that when I do finally make it down to fish that particular body of water, I have some reference material.

Another article that I read yesterday, was one that Bass Fan did on one of my favorite anglers, the G-Man , Gerald Swindle. The G-Man has had one of those very tough years. Gerald lost his older brother this year to pancreatic cancer. Losing a family member, especially at such a young age shakes you to the core. Losing him slowly over time makes it just that much more difficult, I would think. However, Gerald's a competitor, and I'm sure he'll be back in the butt seat hard at it again next year, and he will undoubtedly have an angel on his shoulder to boot.

I think I'm getting the swing of using this PC vs. my Mac, and I'm going to try and get more entries up on the blog while I'm out here. For now though, I'm headed out for another Tahoe excursion.

I don't have a parting shot for today, so instead I thought I would just give you some Tahoe Trivia.

The Tahoe area is considered a high desert. Lake Tahoe is the largest Alpine lake in North America. It's depth is 1,645 feet making it the second deepest lake in America. It's average depth is 989 feet! The lake is twenty-two miles long and twelve miles wide, providing 192 sq. mi. of surface area. It's a 72 mile drive around it, but if you drive it, plan on it taking a full day with all the pull offs for pictures. Lake Tahoe's elevation is 6,200 ft. above sea level. The largest fish caught in the lake was a thirty-seven pound and six ounce Mackinaw Lake Trout.

That's it for today except for these shots of some of the Trick or Treaters that stopped in for some goodies at Tahoe Dave's.

Some Cher fans, Gypsies,Tramps,...

I couldn't get this lion to smile.

October 26, 2008

A cold and rainy few days on tap for this part of Michigan. The leaves are falling fast and the bucks should be rutting.

I went up to the cabin to take care of some season ending jobs, and I got most of them done. I didn't get the boat winterized though, but I still have some time to do that, I hope.

I took a computer my son built up to my buddy Rick, and we got it set up. He's on the net now and can become a regular blog reader. After we set his computer up, he took my buddy John, who had went up north with me, out to see some of the property he manages. He takes care of about 4 square miles of up north woods for a family that makes pallets in Detroit. There is a 50 acre lake in the middle of the property, and we went back to see it.

Once back at the cabins that are on the lake, we walked around a bit and then John noticed what looked to be a large puffball fungus type growth up in an old apple tree. As we investigated, we found what appeared to be several attached honey combs. Here are a couple pictures.

A feral bee colony in an old apple tree.

None of us had seen exposed combs before.

MI Beekeepers Assoc. said that this was unusual.

When I got home I emailed the Michigan Beekeepers and they emailed me back with an explanation of what we saw. Here's a link to their website where they used my email and pictures and then wrote a response.

Old Mr. Skinner caretakes for a beautiful wilderness area near Irons, Michigan. They rent cabins to folks as well. Two of the cabins are back on the lake which is a great multispecies fishing lake. The cabins are a mile back in to the woods on the lake so you will be by yourself, and see a wide variety of wildlife. If you're interested in a quiet get away opportunity email the website, and I'll put you in touch with Rick for the details. Here's a couple of pictures from back on the lake.

Back At The Lake

One of the cabins back on the lake.

Yesterday I got a called from one of my former students and current FLW Tour pro Nate Wellman. He was driving back from Clarks Hill in Georgia where he had just finished three days of fishing in the Walmart BP Eastern Stren event there.

Nate was in 9th place after day 2, but just didn't catch that one quality kicker fish he needed to stay in the top ten. He ended the tournament in 18th place and garnered a $9,406 check which makes the long drive back to Michigan a little easier. Here is the link to the final standings for the event.

Nate told me that the water on Clarks Hill was very low and the humps that were normally underwater poked out as little red clay islands. He caught his fish mainly burning a rattletrap around these humps. Many of the humps formed a saddle from the island to shore and Nate fished the grass along these saddles.

On the third day the weather got nasty with strong winds and waves. These little hump/islands being composed of clay, muddied up quickly causing Nate to have to fish his secondary shoreline pattern.

He caught plenty of fish, but unlike day one and two, he just couldn't boat that kicker fish he needed to make his limit more competitive.

Nate had a good year cashing a number of checks and qualifying to fish the $1,000,000 Forest Wood Cup. He said he learned a lot this year and plans on working hard next season to improve some more and hopefully zero in on that Angler of the Year title. I hope he does it! I plan to keep in touch with him and follow his exploits online. We should get some interesting first hand accounts from Nate by phone. Thanks Nate for calling!

While I was on the FLW site I read an article by Jay McNamara, a Ph.D., who specializes in sports psychology. He has some advice for all of us to help make our next season more productive. Use this link to read Pro's Pointers No. 5: What's your job?

I still haven't gotten to work and finished the Cherokee Lake Regional article. It's certainly a weight around my neck. I like working on the blog and the webpage, but I'm about at my limit for the year in terms of writing articles. They just take so much time. I do plan on working on it today though, and who knows I may surprise myself and get it done.

While I've been typing this morning I have been listening to FSN and watching their coverage of the BFL All American down on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. You may remember that Lake Hamilton is where Scott Suggs won the first milion dollar Forest Wood Cup. It wasn't the first Cup event, but it was the first, and so far only, $1,000,000 fishing contest.

The last thing up on the blog today is a boat that Ron Hicks has for sale. I'll be putting it on the webpage, "For Sale" page as well. Ron is selling a flat bottom boat that he bought to use duck hunting. It has a six horse evinrude that Ron says purrs like a kitten. He's asking $1,000 for the boat, motor, and trailer. The contact information is on the "For Sale" button to the left.

Flat Bottom Boat, Motor, and Trailer

Six Horse Evinrude

The parting shot of the day comes from Brian Tracy. He once said, "The amount you laugh in your relationships with others is the true measure of the health of your personality." Take care and make sure you take some time out to enjoy your day.

October 23, 2008

I'm up and at 'em early today. I plan on driving up to the cabin with my buddy John to winterize the bass boat and the camper. It's been in the twenties up north and the bass boat is in the garage, but the camper is sitting out. I think though it's okay, because I never put in any potable water and it has the pink antifreeze in it still from last year. In any case, I am heading up to make sure those two things are set for winter.

I'm flying out to Reno, NV next Wednesday, where my son will pick me up and take me to where he lives on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. It's picture postcard territory wherever you look out there. He's going to be transitioning to Milwaukee and needs to drive one of his vehicles from Tahoe to Milwaukee and I'm going to road trip with him. We're going to spend a few days in Tahoe and then head east. He's going to be living about three weeks every month in Milwaukee and then flying out to Tahoe the other week.

He photo shopped a picture of Kendall and Dave Reault for me. When we were in Morristown for the BFL Regional they had a spot where they took the point leaders picture in front of a scroungy old piece of paper hanging on the wall. I posted those two pictures a couple of days ago on the blog. If you didn't see them scroll down and you will. My son took those pictures I emailed to him along with some scenery of Cherokee Lake and melded the two together using photoshop. They turned out rather well. Here they are.

The photoshopped picture of Kendall

Dave Reault's MI Boater Point Leader

Much better picture don't you think?

If I weren't going up to the cabin I'd have the Cherokee Lake article done today. However, first things first, so I'll have the article don when I get back on Friday.

My son built a computer for my friend Rick "The Cement Man" Skinner and I will be delivering that today as well. While we were running through the computer set up last night I noticed that some how the "2008 Articles" had somehow gotten lost in the webpage html language and weren't showing up. I emailed my son and he said he would relabel them and hopefully they're up today. I haven't check them yet this morning to make sure they are.

I have several winterization articles for your perusal. One is a winterization checklist from Boaters World. It's pretty extensive, but again it's just a handy list and if you are sure of what you're doing make sure you have your mechanic take care of putting your boat to sleep for the winter. The small cost of winterization may allay some huge costs in the spring.

If you're dead set and plan on doing the winterization yourself here is a second Boaters World article that is more of a Winterization "How To."

I'm going to have to run today because I have to be at John's by 8:00 am and it's already 7:35 am. I'm going to be late so adios.

The parting shot today comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt. He once said, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." Take care and make sure you take time to enjoy your day.

October 20, 2008

I'm starting to catch up on my sleep, and I don't feel so groggy today. Driving all night after a two day tournament takes it out of you.

This morning, I transferred the pictures I took in Tennessee and resized them for the Cherokee Lake article that I plan to start today.

I won't be starting it though until I get back from a fishing outing. I'm going tonight to the West Michigan Walleye Club meeting with my buddy John. They're having a fisheries biologist from the MDNR talk.

I plan on taking some of the DVDs and planer boards that I have from Seth Burrill's Angler's Xperience .

I've been talking about Seth's "How To" DVDs for several years now. If you need to learn the basics of a drop shot rig, or you want to hone your current drop shot technique, Seth's "Drop Shotting Secrets," is a real buy. It's a multi species technique and Seth shows you what you the rigging and how to fish it with several species of fish. He also has two other DVDs that are exceptional: "Secrets to Catching Big Fish," and Knot Tying Secrets Revealed." Make sure you check his axfishing site out. Right now he has a video on his home page that demonstrates how River2Sea's Stand'n Yabbie crayfish imitator catches some quality fish.

You can sign up to access all of Seth's videos in his library with his online subscription he offers. It's well worth the $30 a year. You get a ton of good entertaining and informational material.

On Bass Fan they have a two part article now available that covers the techniques that seemed to be the most successful this year on the pro circuits. Use this link to access the "Special Report: Which Techniques Dominated?"

I was unpacking today and found the card that Boo Wood's dad Ken gave me down in Tennessee. Here's their webpage: H & K Gun & Pawn . Here is a picture of Boo from Day 2 of the Cherokee Lake Regional. Boo ended up cashing a check in the event.

"Boo" Woods Day 2 Weigh-In

I was reading an article yesterday about B.A.S.S.'s decision to go to the far north, Escanaba, MI. Big and Little Bay de Noc will be the site of an Elite tournament next July. I am thinking very seriously about going up in advance of the event and fishing the bays and maybe trying to hitch a ride as an observer on one of the pro's boats. Here's the article on Will Michigan's Upper Peninsula Be Better Than Erie?"

The Southern Opens are now done. I have been following them to see how JVD, Jonathon VanDam, did in his first season fishing all of the Southern Opens as a boater. Luke Gritter, who I assume is JVD's friend and traveling buddy, also fished the trail. Here's an article on the Southern Open Guntersville event.

That's going to be it for today. The parting shot today comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He once said, " It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Take care and make sure you set aside some personal time each day to do something you enjoy, even if it's just for a few minutes.

October 19, 2008

I'm home and starting to catch up on my sleep. We left Tennessee right after the tournament and headed home. We drove all night and I don't recommend it. It's not a very safe thing to do, and I won't ever be doing it again. We had the two of us to drive and Don drove till midnight. I drove from then till we got to Hudsonville at 5:30 am. Don drove the rest of the way home to Cadillac.

I left off the blog with Danny Roberts from Stealth Charging Systems installing Don's new charging system. As I have said in the past, I have really been impressed with the Stealth system. I have fished on Erie and St. Clair with Don on numerous occasions where after a full day of fishing we didn't even need to put the batteries on the charger. The Stealth system charges while your big motor is running as well as off the AC. Danny says that charging while on the water saves your batteries from dropping to low. When they get low they start to sulfate and that weakens them slowly over time. Not allowing them to get that low, while charging on the go, really prolongs the life of the battery.

Don's had the system for five years, and yes this one took a puke, but they all do that eventually. When others go bad, you don't have the support like Danny provides to keep you up and running. If you need a charging system be sure to give them a try. You won't be disappointed.

The morning of the tournament I met my boater Kenneth "Boo" Woods in the parking lot of our motel. The Days Inn, where Boo was staying, was adjacent to the Motel 8 and so it worked out well for meeting up.

Boo is a young gun, about 25 years old. He taught school and coached basketball for a couple years, but now works with his dad running a gun shop in Hazard, Kentucky. He's hoping to fish the FLW Tour next year.

Kenneth "Boo" Woods

I was feeling very fortunate to have drawn Boo. He was very familiar with Cherokee Lake, and I felt that tipped my odds of putting some fish in the boat in my favor. We lined up, and as we waited, Boo said he wanted to fish a hump that was usually good for at least one good fish. He also knew that others would be there and that 58th place would give them first chance. We'd have to be lucky to get to fish it.

We ran up river and the spot we wanted had two boats on it. So, we ran further up the river to a slough that looked very good. There was one other boat in it so, we took one side and they the other bank. I'll save the rest of that story for the article that I will get to writing soon.

My second day boater was another experienced angler, Bill Brunner. He has fished the Bassmaster trail and is an very experienced tournament angler. He also raises beagles and has six all white choptalk beagles that he runs. He raises some award winning rabbit dogs, and if you're interested you can email him at fishbrunner@yahoo.com.

Bill "Choptalk" Brunner

I see where the FLW has posted the 2009 BFL schedule . The Michigan Division tournaments are a repeat of last year. It doesn't really say where the Regional will be held. It looks as though it might be Kentucky Lake.

While cruising the net I found a reference to a new product by Navionics which allows those who have an iPhone to access navigational data. It would provide a backup in case of a malfunction on the boat.

Berkley has a couple new products on their plate for this year. They have Fireline Braid and Fireline Tracer. Here's an article from Berkley that discusses these two new braided firelines .

Time to watch a few football games so I'm going to end today's blog here. The parting shot of the day comes from Brian Tracey. He said, "Most people achieve their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure." After a one fish in two days of tournament fishing, I'm feeling pretty low. I need to take heed and look one step beyond. Take care and make sure you set aside some personal time each day to do something you enjoy.

October 15, 2008

Well, when it rains it pours. We got up this morning and checked the batteries, and they hadn't taken a charge. It is really hard to stay positive when things start going wrong in bunches, but were staying upbeat. It can only get better from here.

Don had been on the phone for an hour and a half Tuesday night with the owner of Stealth Charging Systems , Danny Roberts. He was trouble shooting over the phone with Don, and they thought they had the charging system working, but as I said when we got up Wednesday morning the batteries hadn't charged. While we were standing with our hands on our hips in the predawn darkness, the phone rang, and it was Danny making sure things were working. That's what you call service! He called at 6:15 am and was checking to make sure things were as they should be. When he found out we still had a problem, he told Don not to worry. Even though it was a three hour one way trip for him, he would be packing up and bringing a new unit over and putting it in himself. That's enough right there to convince me that a Stealth Charger will be going in my boat, and I do need a new charging system.

Danny Roberts from Stealth working on Don's boat.

Learning about Stealth Chargers from the master.

We did get to fish some today and we ran and check some water up in Ray Creek. I caught my first keeper a twelve inch spot off a bush on a jig. That was the only fish we caught today. We came in early because we needed to register for the tournament between four and six. The pairings were to occur at 7:00 pm. The VFW hall, where the meeting takes place is right across the street from the Motel 8.

At the meeting, Kendall Ulsh and Dave Reault were given a check for $500 and a plaque for being the Anglers of the Year on the co-angler and boater sides in the Michigan Division.

Co-angler of the Year, Kendall Ulsh

Boater of the Year, Dave Reault

Waiting for the co-angler/boater draw usually is a time of some anxiety, not high anxiety, but who you draw is important. I got very fortunate, and drew a young gun out of the LBL Division (Kentucky Lake) who use to live on Cherokee Lake. How lucky is that! Whether I end up catching them tomorrow or not, I'll get a good look at the lake, and you can't ask for anything more.

It's now 10:00 pm and I need to think about getting a couple of last minute things done before bedtime. I'll get up around 5:30 am and meet my boater at 6:30 am. We'll then head to the ramp, where the launch is scheduled to take place at 7:30 am. We're boat number 58 which makes us the last boat of the second flight. We'll be due back in at 3:45 pm.

Don drew a co-angler, Rod Yoder, that sells tackle and has a website called RedShad.com . Rod told Don that they had been catching some nice fish, four and five pounders. Hopefully they'll find some of those pigs and have a great day.

Time for me to put up a few last pictures and then get the last few things done and hit the rack. I'll try to be back on tomorrow and let you know how we did.

Kendall and Mike Elkins getting rigged for Wednesday's prefishing.

Kendall tying on his secret baits.

Cherokee Lake Scenery

A beautiful lake to fish, if you can find the fish.

Cherokee Lake Scenery

You see many areas where anglers have dropped fish structures.

October 14, 2008

It's been a week, I guess, since I've been on. It doesn't seem like it's been that long since I've penned a blog entry. I guess it has though. Last Thursday, I took my mother-in-law to her sisters and that shot that day. And then on Friday, I worked, and we left immediately afterwards for Milwaukee to see my son. We were really anxious to see he and his girlfriend. We had a great weekend and came home Sunday night and met Don in the driveway and loaded up. We left within the hour to head down to Tennessee. We drove all night and finally ran out of mental gas at about 6:00 am. We stopped in Kentucky and slept three hours and then drove the rest of the way to Morristown, TN. We got here just after noon. We checked in to the Super 8 Motel and then headed over to the Walmart to get our Tennessee licenses. It cost $25 for a ten day license.

I had tried to get my license over the internet, but didn't find the right link, I had thought. Someone since told me you can't buy an out of state Tennessee license via the internet. I'm not really sure though that that is the case. I'll have to do some more checking.

Right after we got the licenses, we headed to one of the launches on Cherokee Lake. We had seen the launch filled with a bunch of boats as we came in to town. The launch, compared to the most meager in Michigan, was pitiful. There are no docks, and with the lake down as far as it is, you had only one of two ramps to choose. We had backed the truck as far down one ramp as we dare and pulled it back out because it was so shallow. We moved to another ramp that was a few hundred yards away. You had better have a keel guard if you fish in the South I reckon, because the shoreline is all rock, and you have to beach it to get in an out.

These impoundments vary in terms of pool level quite a bit. Usually they draw them down in the Fall and Winter, so putting in docks wouldn't work very well I guess. However, it would seem that they could perfect a floating dock that would move with the reservoir levels. They must have them, but not here, at least at the ramp we were at yesterday.

I guess I'm rambling a bit because it's hard to get to the worst part. We put the boat in and went maybe a mile and the "No Oil" light and buzzer came on. Don has had a bunch of engine work done and hadn't really given the boat a workout since. That may have been a mistake. We messed with the boat, and Don called Bill Rose at Rose Marine and tried to determine what the problem might be. No luck with an on the water fix, so we limped back in, fishing with the trolling motor all of the way back. We didn't catch any fish or even have a bite as we tossed baits at the bluff walls of the lake.

There was shad schooling and busting the surface all around us, but with the temperatures in the 80s there was certainly no shad to the creek mouth's pattern developing yet. In fact, it looked like it was going to be a very tough bite with fish following roaming shad. The cold weather won't be here in time to get them moving to the bank.

We didn't get back to the motel until after dark. We're trying to stay positive and not let the frustration overwhelm us, but it was tough.

The plan today is to take the boat to one of the marinas around, there are about three close by, and see what they can do for us.

By the way, we talked to Kendall last night and they were in Ohio on there way down with an ETA of about 3:00 am. We have yet to hear from them this morning.

Limping in to the landing last night enabled us a see a beautiful sunset. The moon is full right now, so it made its contribution to a gorgeous evening. The owls were raucous, and the lake was like glass and the sunset was a brilliant one and the moons reflection on the water all made for quite a picture. As luck would have it though, I left my camera in the motel room in my haste to unpack. I hope there's no Cherokee jinx in the making here. Hopefully, we find that the boat can be fixed quickly, and we will be able to get out on the water today.

I'm waiting now for Dandy Don to get ready and out of the shower, so we can head out. I'll get back on the computer later today and put up some pictures and fill you in on where we are at thus far.

The abode for the next ten days.

I'm back and it's late so this is going to be fast and furious. Don took the boat in to a local marina and after spending $400 and waiting for four hours he was back at the motel at around 1:00 pm.

We loaded up and headed to the launch and we finally were off and running. The lake is surrounded by rolling hills and maybe I should be calling them mountains because we are just north of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

As I have mentioned the lake is way below normal pool. Hazardous area buoys are laying on dry land and that makes other shallow areas that are normally deep enough to run over a very real danger. Don forgot his chip for his Lowrance with the topo information on it and so we had to navigate carefully.

We looked around some and tried to familiarize ourselves with a small portion of the reservoir. We found more shad busting and fished around them and finally Don caught one small spot that just made the legal limit of 12 inches. Smallmouth here have to be eighteen inches and largemouth 15 inches. We fished a lot of shoreline and didn't catch but one more small spot. I caught it dragging a Gulp minnow along the surface through the shad balls.

We left the lake around 6:30 pm in order to drop the boat back at the motel and head to a Bass Pro Shop that was about 20 miles south of Morristown.

While we were back dropping the boat Kendall and Mike Elkins drove in. They were just coming from dinner. They had driven all night and slept a few hours in the Walmart parking lot and then spent the day on the water. They were beat, but Kendall jumped in the truck with us and headed to Bass Pro.

Don wanted to pick up a Navionics card for this area so we could negotiate the water a bit more safely. Don had seen nine boats that were at the marina he went to that had just lost their lower units on Cherokee in the last week.

We got back to the motel at about 10:20 pm and I got on the computer and check to see if my son had uploaded the Super BFL article for me. I spent the morning working on the blog and finishing the Super BFL article. It's up and can be found on the left under "MI BFL Articles 2008." I'm going to add the pictures from today and then I'm hitting the sheets. No parting shot of the day today. Here's the pics.

Cherokee Lake Hamblin Boat Ramp

Cherokee Lake Hamblin Parking Lot

No Chip - Navigating the old paper map.

Should we skip grubs under pontoons?

Some Cherokee Lake Shoreline

Our first and only keeper of the day!

Our last stop of the night.

October 7, 2008

I made a run up to the cabin today to get my rain gear and tackle boxes that were in my boat that I had not brought home after the last tournament. All I had at home was the tackle bag that I use on St. Clair and Erie and I needed to repack for my upcoming Tennessee trip. It's hard for me to know just what I'll need, so I grabbed just about everything.

I'm thinking that the shad should be schooling and moving toward the creek mouths. The weather forecast for Morristown, TN is calling for lows in the fifties and highs in the seventies. With the cooler temperatures the fishing should pick up and the action should be shallower.

I'm sure we all have read that the southern impoundments require expertise in deep structure and ledge fishing. Most of the articles I have read seem to focus on cranking and using football head jigs. If we should get down to Tennessee, and find that the water hasn't cooled significantly enough to cause the bait to move shallow, then tossing that football head or throwing the sexy shad may be the ticket.

I have been stocking up on the Koppers' Live Target cranks, and I also have been buying some jigs. So hopefully I'll be prepared if I need to go deep.

I've been looking for some technique tips for these types of baits as well. Berkley just put up an article, featuring Jay Yelas, where he talks about swimming a jig . I have never spent time swimming a jig, but it may get some of my attention in Tennessee.

While I was cruising the net, I saw on the FLW site that this coming Sunday, October 12th, FSN is going to air the Bay de Noc Walleye Tour. What interests me there is not only the fishing, but the fact that one of my former students, Josh VanderWeide won that event. Josh went to school and became a dentist, but is contemplating a full time pro walleye fishing career. Both Josh and his dad fish professionally. Here is a picture of them from earlier this year at a sport show that they were helping out at.

Pro Walleye Anglers Josh VanderWeide and His Dad

The Bassmaster Elite Tour will be fishing Bay de Noc next year. There are some pretty interesting comments from some of the pros concerning where the heck Bay de Nock is. It will be very interesting to see what kind of smallies they find up there. I doubt many, if any, have been there before.

Speaking of former students, I ran in to another one of my old sixth graders at the Super BFL. Nate Wellman, who has been fishing the FLW Tour for several years and qualified this year for the Forrest Wood Cup, fished the Detroit River Super BFL event. Nate ended up coming in seventh just ounces out of the top three. I tracked Nate down, and we had an opportunity to talk for quite a while. It was great to see him and know he is doing well. Nate told me that his next event will be the Clarks Hill Eastern Stren Series tournament. I'll be watching an rooting him on.

Forrest Wood Qualifier and Tour Pro Nate Wellman

Another young angler that I've had an opportunity to meet last November in Florida was Jamie Laiche. Jamie qualified at the 2007 B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Championship to fish the Bassmaster Classic. He's qualified again this year through the federation tournaments to fish the National Championship Nov. 6-8 on Kansas' Millford Lake. Hopefully he'll win his division so that he will get another crack at the Classic. Here's the first part of a two part article featuring Jamie that Bassmaster did called The Quest to Be Elite .

I got an email from my friend Rick Mast, and I got a quick update on some of his most recent fishing adventures. He told me that he just finished up the "Fishing With The Pros" annual tournament that takes place up in Traverse this time each year. He mentioned he saw FLW Pro Tony DeFilippo up there. It reminded me that Tony had given me a call not long ago and wanted me to put a new trolling motor that he had up for sale on the Tear Drop "For Sale" page. There are several new items on the "Items For Sale" page that you need to take a look at. Use the "For Sale" button on the left side of the screen.

Rick said that he would email me back with some more news about his fishing season. Maybe he'll send some pictures along to post.

Well, I have to work tomorrow, and it's already 11:15 pm, so I had better end this blog entry here.

The parting shot is one that is inspired by the presidential debates tonight. After listening to inane commercials for months now, and watching piles of money spent in campaigns, I would hope that we will see some fundamental changes in what is allow in presidential election campaigns. I would like to see a much shorter period of campaigning, limited government funds that would give each candidate the same amount of campaign money, eliminate political ads, and promote more debates as a way to learn about the candidates. With all that said one of the great things about this country is expressed well in a quote from Harry C. Bauer. He said, " What's right with America is a willingness to discuss what's wrong with America." Take care and make sure you take some time to enjoy the day.

October 6, 2008

It's getting down to crunch time around here. One more week and I'm off to Tennessee. My week is really booked with something every day. I have to run up to the cabin which will wipe out a day, I have to work two days, and I have to take my mother-in-law to her sister's. All this prefaces a week in which I will have to get ready to go to Cherokee Lake .

Last night I was working on finishing up the Super BFL article and the power went out. It's done that twice in the last couple of days. Well, I hadn't saved what I had been working on, and I lost a couple of hours worth of work on the article. So, I have to try and make up that work as well. The articles certainly hang over my head. They're easy for me to put off because they take a lot of work to get done. There's not as much pressure with the blog entries. I seem to crank those out with more ease.

I have talked about the Western Series event this week. It's taking place out on the Delta and starts this week. Brett Hite has a winning history going in to the event and Bass Fan had a Q & A with him. He talked about the upcoming opportunity to win three in a row out on the California Delta . Use the link to read the article, and if you're interested in another featured article on the Delta, use this link to read what the FLW site has to say on the event.

I was on Bassmaster's website and looked at their "Showcase Article" . It attracted my attention because the first item showcased was P-Line. I go back and forth using different line manufacturers' products, but usually end up with P-Line Floroclear on my spinning reels. As you see if you clicked on the link, they're coming out with a new mint green color line. They also show their CX style line which I have used and found to be as tough as nails. I usually use the CX gold on a bait caster for my spinnerbaits. It's some really tough stuff.

Check out the "Action Minnow" that's also spotlighted on the showcase link above. I'm going to have to get an in hand look at that bait. What's up with the centrifugal fan? Sounds like some pretty unique bait designing is happening with this bait.

I have been trying to stay consistent with my exercise regimine and each day when I'm on my four miler I have my iPod on and I'm listening to fishing shows. One of the regular downloads I listen to is Bass Edge podcasts. They are about 40 minutes long and contain a lot of useful and interesting information. Their website also has some very good articles as well and I read one this morning on using a buzz bait for Fall bass . I'm looking for those articles give me some ideas as to what might be a key technique down on Cherokee. Looks like Brent Chapman says I'd better not overlook a buzzbait.

As I said, this is a super busy week for me so I'm off to work on my lengthy to do list. The parting shot, during this baseball frenzy fall classic time, comes from Tommy Lasorda. He once said, "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." Take care and make sure you take some time off during your day to charge your personal batteries.

October 4, 2008

As you can see, I didn't get back to the blog yesterday. I didn't get home from work till 5:00 and then we went out for dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Classic article is up on the site. I realize after reading the blog over that I talked about going to the home page to access the various buttons, but when you read the blog you are at the "Home Page," and the buttons are right there to your left.

When I write the blog, I have to do so on a separate simple text document that has the html coding. So, what I type looks a lot different from what you read, and like I said, it's on another page. Long story short, I'll try and keep my pages and looks in mind so my references are a bit more clear. This last little explanation reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, " A sparrow that flies high can't build a dam with a beaver's tail." Clear a mud, right?

I got a couple of emails today. One was from a guy looking for information on the Hawg Hunt up on Duck and Green, October 12th. He was looking for a contact number for the guy that runs it. I don't know who that is, and if you're reading the blog and do know, shoot me an email.

I have fished the Hawg Hunt before and the entry fee has been around a $100 per boat. They typically meet in the parking lot at Interlochen State Park at the ramp for Duck Lake. They fish four hours on Duck and then take an hour for lunch and then they finish up on Green Lake. Contestants weigh one fish from each lake and whomever has the most weight takes home the cash. Typically they pay just one or two places. If you win you usually end up with around $1500-$2000. I won't be fishing the tournament this year because of a prior commitment, but several friends of mine are fishing it.

A second email I got was from Tim L of Ohio. He was looking for some information on Grand Traverse Bay. I wrote a reply and sent the email, but it came back saying it's a faulty address. So, Tim if you're reading this, please resend your email and check your email address from the last one to see if there is a typo.

One last email was from Dennis Cook with some information about the BAU Fish Off up on Lake Leelanau. The event takes place on October 11th. You must have qualified to fish. There will be a pretournament meeting and banquet the 10th at Eagles Ridge Building at the Sands. Prerigistration is from 6-7 pm. The cost is $100 per boat. Rooms are available at the Leelanau Sands Casino for $53.

My buddy Larry Coleman, the 2007 Illinois State Champion, had sent me some tickets for the Illinois B.A.S.S. Federation Nation raffle they were having. The drawing was September 28 and I guess I wasn't lucky. Thanks though Larry for sending me the tickets.

I'm about 50/50 in raffle drawing type events. I was the "lucky" winner of number 80 in the draft lottery and won a six year commitment to the Michigan National Guard and a trip to Ft. Jackson S.C. for basic training. My wife and I did win one Christmas Eve $10,000 on a scratch off lottery ticket. I don't know if you can consider the two wins a 50/50 win loose proposition, because there were really aspects to both situations that were good and bad. They are, however, two of the highlights in my life story when it comes to drawings or lotteries.

I plan to work on the Super BFL article today and hopefully by the time the weekends over I can have it finished and posted.

I have been doing some of my usual purusing of the bass sites and came across an article on a new super line that Berkley has on the market. In reading the EZ Braid article one of the things I learned was that they recommend you buy braided line in the diameter you are use to fishing with. If you typically use twelve pound test then buy the 50/12 (fifty lb. braid 12 lb diameter) EZ-Braid. Like many of you, I'll probably be trying at least one box of the this stuff. I have a spinning reel right now with some Crystal on it. I've liked it, but just can't get use to it being bright white. I colored it up with permanent magic maker. As far as line goes this year, I have liked the strength of Seaguar InvizX , and the smooth casting capability of P-Line Floroclear .

I read a couple of pieces on the FLW site and one dealt with the FLW Series Fish-Off on Falcon Lake in Texas. Nick Vawter, a long time friend and Tear Drop angler, lives down in Texas, and he's not too far from the fabled lakes of South Texas, Amistad and Falcon. He plans on fishing down there this winter and hopefully he'll send me some pictures of what the lake looks like and a snapshot of a few of the denisons of the deep.

I also was reminded while cruising the FLW site that tomorrow at 11:00 am on FSN they are having the wrap up of the Forrest Wood Cup. I've been following the story concerning Michael Bennett, and he seems to be in seventh heaven. He recently, however, slipped in the bathtub and struck his head doing damage to his nose and cheek bone. Enough so that he had to withdraw from one of the Western Series events.

The FLW Western Series is going to be fishing the California Delta this week the 8th through the 11th. I'll probably try and watch a couple of the live weigh ins on FLW Live.

I'm going to be going out to Northern California at the end of the month or first part of November. I wish the event was a tad bit later. I might have took decided to make a side trip down to Sacramento to watch the weigh in.

I'm going to be seeing my son out in Lake Tahoe. After a few days enjoying the Tahoe area, we're going to bring one of his cars back east to Milwaukee where he is relocating. It should be fun and I'm really looking forward to spending some time with him.

I have a couple more articles to reference today that I have read, but I think I'm going to save them for another post so I can get my four mile run/walk in and also spend some time on the Super BFL article.

The parting shot for the day comes from a quote I read on the wall of Discovery School in Fennville yesterday. The author of the quote appears to be the late George Carlin. He supposedly once said, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but rather by the number of moments that take our breath away." Take care and make sure you take some time to look for or enjoy one of those moments that takes your breath away. With the opening of bow season this week, it just might be the sight of that big ten pointer walking quietly through the woods toward your stand.

October 3, 2008

Good morning! First of all I am "working" today at school. Therefore, I only have a few minutes to throw a blog entry together and hopefully I'll have time to return to it later tonight.

I stayed up late to finish and upload the Classic article. It is in the drop down menu under 2008 Articles on the main page. I proof read it a couple of times last night, but it was around 1:00 am and wouldn't be surprised if reading it again today I wouldn't find some sprucing up needed to be done. In any case, I wanted to get it up and I did and any "fixes" will come later today.

I have to run because lunch time is over and I'm back in the trenches.

October 1, 2008

As you can see, I have broken the blog and archived September's entries and placed them in the link above.

I have been working on the Tear Drop Classic article, and I have it ready to post to the Manistee, but my son who helps me with the coding for the site, has to add a spot on the drop down menu on the main page. He should have it done very soon so that I can upload the article as well as the article on the BFL Super Tournament.

I made reservations last night for five nights down in Morristown, TN where the BFL Divisional is going to be held. Don and I both made the Divisional and we plan on heading down on the 12th or early on the 13th of October. We hope to get at least two days of prefishing in. It's more critical for Don being the boater. I'm really at the mercy of the draw and need to be ready to fish wherever the boater sets us down. However, some boaters don't prefish and may defer to whatever knowledge I accrue on the lake.

Last year Don and I left to fish our way down to Florida about this same time. We found at several of our fishing stops that the shad were beginning to move shallow and when that happens, look out, because it can be some fast and furious fishing.

It should be an interesting trip. There is going to be the top 40 from at least three to four other BFL regions so we should have as many as 200 boats.

Whatever happens tournament wise, going down to a big tournament like this becomes a big adventure. It's a lot of fun and make no mistake we will certainly do our best to win it.

The cost of the trip always plays in to your overall psyche some. You really have to try and be frugal, but you have to somewhat put the expense part on the back burner. Expense wise I already have put $300 on the credit card for the five nights at the Morristown Super 8. Of course, Don and I will split the expenses and that helps, but it still becomes a pretty substantial capital outlay, especially paying for the gasoline for the truck and boat.

In cruising the fishing sites today, I found an article on Fall fishing that focussed on shad. It was an article from Bassmaster called Shad and Fall Bass . It talks about where the shad in the Fall can usually be found, and gives you the reasons why they travel where they do. It also gives you some good information about the differences between shad and gizzard shad.

My son Nathan recently headed to Texas to work on the clean up from the recent hurricane. He has called a number of times, and he has describe the devastation he's seen down there. BassFan has an article up on their site that was written by one of their editor's that lives in the Houston area and who rode out the hurricane there. If you read Jason Bryant's account of Ike's furry you can get a feel for what that area endured and will have to recover from. Check out the links at the bottom of the page for some pictures that really tell the story rather poignantly.

One of the last articles I read today was from Bass Zone and it dealt with sponsorships . It took what it consider to be the top six sponsorship stories of the year and gave each a brief run down. It's a quick and interesting read.

Well that's going to be it for the opening day of archery deer season. I know my ole buddy Richard Skinner sat in a tree till after dark tonight. I'll have to give him a call tomorrow and see if he had any opportunities at an opening day buck.

The parting shot for today comes from an early 19th century philosopher and medical doctor and the brother of novelist Henry James. William James once said, "The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook." Take care and make sure you take some time to enjoy your day.