A video demonstrating Mark Zona's "Shark Knot."

September 28, 2011

Well, I have been working for several hours this morning on getting la caza y experto en pesca, Nick Vawter's 2011 Classic report ready for the web. I think I have it ready to go. Here it is.

2011 Tear Drop Tournament Trail Classic

2011 Classic on Long and Green Lakes

Written by guest blogger, Nick Vawter

The long awaited Tear Drop Classic was held September 17th and 18th on Long and Green Lakes in Interlochen, MI . I flew up from my home in South Texas the Thursday evening before wearing shorts and a tee shirt. Going from 100 degrees to 49 was a shocker. Once on the ground in Michigan, it didn't take long for me to zip the legs on my fishing shorts.

Brent was picking me up at the airport, and we were to head to a local marine repair shop to pick up our boat. As most of you know, we have had an issue all season long. The boat just wouldn't get up on plane. We were very hopeful that it would be fixed. When I landed, however, I received the sour news that they didn't know what was wrong. We had dumped over $2000 this year into repairs trying to find the problem. So, we resigned ourselves to having to go to the Classic lakes and use the big motor for just idling around. Our frustration was palpable!

We ventured half way up to Interlochen that evening, stopping at our cabin in White Cloud to spend the night. It got down to about 30 degrees that night which made sleeping with a little blaze going in the wood stove, just about perfect. The next day after getting around, we took our time enjoying the rest of the trip to Interlochen State Park on Duck Lake. We had hoped to fish Duck just for fun that day, but the wind was pretty stiff, so we opted for setting up the tent in the daylight instead. We usually fish way too late and end up setting it up in the dark.

We camped next to Myers, Kaiser, and the Skinners. We spent most of that evening conversing with our neighbors and readying our equipment for the big day on Long Lake (Scroll Down) . We set our alarms for 5:30 a.m., and attempted to get some shut eye.

Saturday morning seemed to come much earlier that most of my Saturday mornings. The campground was a bit noisy, and I'm a light sleeper. But thanks to adrenaline, a hot shower, and a morning temperature of 37 degrees, we got moving rather quickly. All the anglers gathered to fish the Classic look forward to fishing Long Lake at this time of year. There are lots of big smallmouth just waiting to be caught.

I am sharing with you all of our misfortunate events, so none of you will feel alone when something unfavorable happens to you. Just remind yourselves the Vawter's have these things happen all the time.

We arrived at the launch around 6:20 a.m. The water was still cloaked in darkness except for the area around a flood light at the ramp. I immediately backed the trailer in and dumped the boat and Brent into the water. I parked, and started socializing with some of the guys. After 15 or 20 minutes, I didn't notice Brent anywhere. After launching the boat, he usually beaches it and meets me on shore. I ventured across the road and back down to the waters edge. In the darkness, I could see a figure hunched over the bow of what I figured was our boat. He was working on the electric motor pull rope. Once we launched he was just going to use the trolling motor to pull up to shore, and the rope broke when he tried to lift it up. Our morning was off to our typical dysfunctional normal start. After fixing the broken rope, he found himself stuck in the sand several feet from shore. He decided to try to start the gas motor to pull himself off. When he turned the key to start the big motor, nothing, it was dead as a wedge!

Every man has his breaking point, and with how poorly the boat has run all year, the ton of money invested into useless repairs, an authorized Mercury dealer not being able to fix it, the trolling motor rope breaking, and now the motor not starting... You probably thought I was going to follow with "priceless", but not this time. I found the maximum Brent was going to take. In fact, if Brent would have gotten into the lake at that moment, the 65 degree water would have boiled and sizzled.

At that moment, Dennis Cook called for a pre-tournament meeting. We walked away from the boat. We had our quick get together, and Dennis announced that due to the fog on the water there would be a 30 mph speed limit, and our tournament would run to 4:00 p.m. Didn't bother us, we weren't going anywhere very fast very soon any way.

It was time to get started, and all I could think to do was to take off and fish with the trolling motor all day. We got back into the boat, and Brent tried one more time to start the motor. This time was different though, as he turned the key, the lights and buzzers were acting funny. Brent noticed that when he put some side pressure on the key it would actually crank and try to start.

Danny Warner and Wes Skinner were starting to call off numbers for takeoff. When it came to us we waved everybody on. As we pondered our situation, I instructed Brent to drop the trolling motor and fish while I played with the key switch. We hadn't gone 10 yards when I got the idea to hot wire the motor. I told Brent to go back to the dock and get me a wire stripper from his tool kit in the truck. Once we retrieved the cutters, Brent resumed casting while I cut and spliced wires. Having only seen this method of overriding the key on TV, I had little confidence of it working. But after a few minutes, I had gauge power, and had the motor cranking. Another minute later she was started. Brent literally, in one motion, jumped down from his butt seat up front, slung a life jacket on, and we were off.

By this time it was fully light out, and the fog had lifted a little. Brent was having a "Need for speed," and he pressed the hotfoot down hard. We shot up on plane, and were running 70 mph plus in seconds. Maybe that switch was the problem that has plagued us all season?

We started fishing a large flat with plastics. After a bit, we both made a cast at the same time, landing 10 inches apart. Usually that is not a good thing, and you'd typically just reel your lure right back in. However, before I could even turn the reel handle, my line took off, and I instinctively set the hook. Brent did the same. We had a double on! I horsed mine a little too much, and it came unbuttoned, however, we boated Brent's. We continued with plastics, but couldn't get another bite.

Brent switched over to a spinnerbait, and my work started for the day. I'm our teams honorary weigh master, cull man, livewell operator, etc. Brent went on to catch about 15 keepers, which culled us up to an estimated weight of 19 lbs. The couple of fish that I actually boated weren't big enough to take a ride. As we moved around on the lake, despite having to twist the sparking wires to start the boat, it ran perfect all day.

We arrived back to the launch just prior to 4:00 p.m. to find ramp traffic heavy with other recreational boaters trying to launch. It took in excess of 40 minutes to get us all out of the water and start the weigh-in. We were one of the last boats to get trailered.

The scales were set up in the parking lot across the road from the launch. I was at the water's edge waiting to take pictures. Usually opting to take pictures on the waterfront, keeps me to far away to hear what the weights of each team are. As each team comes down to release their fish, I usually ask them what they weighed. I knew it was going to be close, because Braunecks weighed a big bag, as did Warner and Skinner.

Wes Skinner and Danny Warner had a good day on Long.

Wes Herndon with a couple of his and Brian's first day catch.

Nick and Brent Vawter with 4 of their Day 1 leading bag.

Reed City's Smallmouth Gurus Harry Swank and Chris Mieras

Meysar and Skinner's limit from Long Lake

Matt Kaiser and Dave Yeager with some Long Lake brutes.

Tony, of the Maddox and Miller, team with two nice smallies.

Jeff and Fred Brauneck's with 4 of the 5 they caught on Long Lake.

Neither Brent, nor I heard Dennis make the announcement of the places. I was still down at the water, and Brent was wrapping up the boat. We were in a hurry to get to Cadillac, as earlier in the day I had called and bought a key switch over the phone from one of the Tear Drop sponsors (Page 3 of the ad flier found on the main page), J & D Marine in Cadillac . Jerry was going to leave it sitting outside for us to pick up. We dropped the boat back at the campground, plugged in the charger, and took off.

It wasn't until returning to the campground 90 minutes later that we found out we were leading Day 1 with 19.52 lbs. Fred and Jeff Brauneck were right on our heels with 19.43 lbs. In 3rd place, was Dan Warner and Wes Skinner with 18.20 lbs. They had big bass also that was around 5.5 lbs. Harry Swank and Chris Mieras were in fourth with 17.59 lbs, and in fifth were the anglers of the year, Wes Herndon and Brian Macdonell with 17.44 lbs. It was sure to be a slugfest the next day on Green.

That evening we ate dinner with Josh and his family. Brandy, Josh's better half, had invited us to dinner weeks earlier. They served BBQ chicken, hobo potatoes, taco salad, and we had some corn on the cob Bruce Mitchell had sent over from his campsite. Having feasted heavily, I went back to install the key switch.

With that little project done, we made our way down to the end of the row where Dennis, Bruce, and the Brauneck's were having a big campfire. We sat and chatted with the group for a long time, until we finally made our way back to our tent to hit the sack.

The next morning the alarm went off, and you could hear the wind blowing through the trees. Not the sound you like to hear as you get ready to fish. We showered, and headed to the gas station for some drinks and ice. We then drove off to the launch. We knew it was going to be tough to hang onto the lead today. Both Long and Green Lake are waters that can make or break you. The lakes certainly hold fish big enough to allow for a team to make up a disparity in the Day 1 weights very easily.

This morning the temps were a little higher, somewhere around 57 at launch time. The wind, however, was starting to kick up and zooming across the water made it feel just like yesterday when it was 37 degrees.

Our motor started up without incidence and before you knew it we were screaming across the water at 70 m.p.h. We pulled up to a familiar spot we like and started to fish. We boated several largemouth, but all were just short of 14 inches or just barely legal. We finally had out limit in a couple hours, but it was only about six or seven pounds. This was not the Green Lake we knew. We passed Miller and Maddox, and they said they had a limit around eight pounds. We knew we had to step things up a notch. We roamed around through the day and picked up a couple nicer smallies that put us up around 10 lbs., or so we thought. When calling out the weights to Brent so he could tally them, we both forgot that one of our fish was over three lbs. Later we deduced that we had counted the ounces, converted then to pounds, and then only gave credit for a two pounder.

As the tournament time ended, and we made our way back to the launch, a familiar figure was standing on the dock taking pictures. It was none other than your blog host Dan Shine. Dan, and his wife Jude had driven up for the weigh in with the Cementman and his wife Jean. Rick was going to help Dennis trailer his camper back to Ludington. I think the real reason they came was that they heard about the cookies Ruth Brauneck made for the anglers.

When Brent got to the scales we were pleasantly surprised with 11.43 lbs. We knew that there were several of the guys who always fish well on Green, and it was going to be a close race. As I took pictures, I noticed that there were only three other limits brought down. Any of those three teams from Long could take the lead away from us.

After the weigh in was done, Dennis tallied up the numbers. He started a count up from 12th place. Before Dennis starting presenting checks, however, many of the contestants were doing their own math to see where they would place.

Josh had brought a big bag of smallies in, and he and Kasey ended up the winner of the daily side pot they had just for Green. He already peeked at the weights, being the weighmaster he is right at the scales. He they had to make up a little over four pounds. There 15 lb. plus bag was the best on Day 2, but would it be enough to make up the deficit they had from Long.

When everyone had weighed, he let it slip that we had won before Dennis made his announcement. Seconds later it was official, Brent and I had won the weekend event with a two-day total weight of 30.95 lbs. With our boat issues etc. we never expected to win. What we had accomplished really didn't sink in until the ride home. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Two fun days of fishing with my son, excellent weather, an extra $1,000, and the boat was running better than ever. Wait for it, wait for it...priceless!

Coming in second place was Josh Myers and Kasey Kyser with a two-day weight of 30.37 lbs. As I mentioned, Josh and Kasey won the separate $120 pot for Green Lake. They also had big bass for the day which garnered them $120. Adding those two amounts to the $500 the won for taking second, and it made for a pretty fai pay day for the duo.

Edging up from sixth place after day one, to third, was Mike Mesyar and Ricky Skinner Jr. with a combined weight of 29.26 lbs. Fourth place went to Dan Warner Jr. and Wes Skinner weighing in 28.53 lbs. The fifth place slot went to the Cadillac team of Brian Miller and Tony Maddox who brought in 27.22 lbs. for the weekend. All the anglers get a pay day for making the Classic, $300 went to each of the remaining teams.

Justin Brown with a couple of his teams Day 2 catch.

Dave Yeager showing off his Green Lake fish with the help of young Mr. Cook.

Kasey from the team, Meyers and Kuyser, with two of their big smallies from Green.

Mesh, and a great picture of Ricky, from Day 2 on Green

Danny Warner and Wes Skinner's Green Lake catch.

The Vawter's with just enough to win the 2011 Classic.

After the weigh-in, Dennis made a presentation to the team that won the Anglers of the Year plaque. This year, it was won by the Traverse City team of Wes Herndon and Brian Macdonell. Two nicer guys you'll never meet. This team are smallmouth experts, and are always in it to win it, especially when smallies are the predominant species. They are very good anglers! So, from all the Tear Drop guys, congratulations Brian and Wes!

The 2011 Tear Drop Tournament Trail Anglers of the Year

Wes Herndon and Brian Macdonell

I'm already looking forward to next year. I will be making plans to fly up for the tournaments from South Texas to Michigan to enjoy Michigan's Great Northwest Corner with a great bunch of Tear Drop anglers! Each year the friendships are getting a little closer, you couldn't ask for a better group of guys to fish with.

I for one, am a little sad the season has ended for me here in Michigan. I will convert my equipment over to do battle with some of the bruisers down here in Texas on Falcon Lake this Fall. That entails removing my 8 lb. Vicious Pro Elite Fluorocarbon and winding up some Vicious 30 lb. braid . It's always a struggle for me down in Texas this time of year. Do I go fishing and end up having to reel in those big fish, or do I go out to my stand and hunt pigs or whitetail? The bass season is year round, and hunting season starts in just a few days. Just what does one do? Tough job, but somebody has to do it!

Thanks to all of the Tear Drop sponsors. Check them out in our flier. There is an online copy to view on the main page. Also, a big thank you to Dennis Cook for the time and effort he puts in to getting a schedule settled, putting together an ad flier, as well as doing all the work at the weigh-ins.

Until then...keep a tight line.

Once again great job Nick! Thank you for taking to time to put it all together and for sacrificing your time at each tournament to take pictures! Thanks to Brent too. I know he's taking care of all the other boat duties etc. while you're busy with the photography.

Speaking of photography, I have been finding that when I take short videos with my pocket camera that it really helps get so much more of a feel to the scene. If a picture's worth a thousand words, a short video must be worth quite a bit more. Here's one of the short videos I took as Mike Meysar and Ricky Skinner got their fish out of their boat prior to the Classic weigh-in on Green Lake.

Ricky and Mesh deboating their Green Lake fish.

I was doing a bit of net surfing today and the B.A.S.S. site has a new "Livewell" video up. Evidently, in their last posting of the Livewell, Tommy Sanders went over the new Elite Schedule with Davey Hite, and when they did they omitted Toledo Bend. So, this week Tommy made up for that by spending pretty much the whole episode with the Frogman, Dean Rojas. Dean, if you recall, won the Elite Series event there this past summer by an ounce over Gerald Swindle. Here is this week's episode: Tommy Sanders, "The Livewell" .

Well, I guess with all this rain we've been having, I will try to find an indoor job today. I do have to go mail some smoked frozen salmon to my son. I made a cooler out of a Priority Mail box and packed it with some Lake Michigan salmon that I had smoked. I hope they enjoy it.

Take care and make sure you safety harness up if you're climbing a tree for the opener of bow season this weekend.

September 26, 2011

Good Morning! The weather hasn't been cooperating for many of the plans that I have had in the past few days. Down here, in the SW corner of the state, we've been getting more than our share of rain. Up north, in the Irons area, they have been almost in a drought state. Our lake is lower than I have seen it in several years.

The forecast for this week doesn't look like it's going to dry up much down south here. Just my luck, I need several days of dry weather to do some work on weather sealing the deck and for doing some masonry repair.

Last week we went down to the Water's Building to the Art Prize opening of Mic Carlson's gallery .

Mic is a local Grand Rapids artist that sculpts and paints. He's had major sculpting pieces entered in Art Prize since it's started. This year, he is doing a "Michigan Fallen Soldier Memorial" that will be displayed down in front of the Gerald R. Ford museum. If you get a chance to visit Art Prize, make sure you stop at the Water's Building and check out two of Mic's large sculpting pieces. While you're there you can also visit his gallery to see some of his smaller bronze pieces, and a number of his paintings and prints.

This is one of Mic's prints selected as an Art Prize Poster.

You probably know by now that Ish Monroe won the B.A.S.S. Northern Open on Lake Oneida going wire to wire for the win. Ish frogged the lake to a froth and even mentored Mike Iaconelli to a top ten finish with the frog. I guess there are all kinds of effective Fall baits, but I have never spent much time during this season tossing a frog. I am definitely going to have to give it a try!

Here is a link to the final standings for Oneida: B.A.S.S. Northern Open, Lake Oneida Final Standings . Here are a couple of articles on the event. One is the piece detailing Ish's win, and the second is how Ish introduced Ike to the "Phat" Frog . Here is the piece on Ish: Fun, frog key for Elite angler's victory on Oneida . Here's Ike's story in which he explains how he's become a frog convert, adding the new weapon to his fishing arsenal: Ike gets new weapon - Oneida experience adds frog to arsenal .

I mentioned in the last blog entry that we got a chance to head up to the cabin for a few days. The leaves were starting to change, but were probably 30% of peak color. Here's what it looked like down most roads.

Last week's northern color. It's getting better by the day.

During our drives around the area we saw the color changing, and we also saw a number of deer out eating the acorns that are beginning to fall like rain. If you can find a white oak, you'll find the deer. It's not that the deer won't eat red oak acorns, but they will definitely clean up the whites before they move on to the bitter tasting reds. Here's a quick reference for telling the difference between the two: The difference between Red Oaks and White Oaks .

These deer have found a white oak. The fawns are just now loosing their spots.

Speaking of deer and deer hunting, this past weekend was the "Youth Hunt" weekend. Young Mr. Trevor Skinner was out in his dad's deer blind and harvested this nice six point.

Trevor Skinner's Youth Season Six Point

This past weekend, I had a chance to spend some time with my granddaughter. She and I met my good friend John, his neighbor Jim, and their football buddy Betty, at GVSU for the Saturday night game against Findlay, OH.

Grand Valley has been a perennial football power with a history of stringing record numbers of wins. Well, this year they are on a two game losing streak and unfortunately they extended that on Saturday to three games. My granddaughter and I enjoyed the game nonetheless. Here's a picture of Miss Spoiled Rotten.

My beautiful, talented, bestest, granddaughter!

Well I'm ready to put this blog piece to bed, but before I do, I just wanted to say that Nick Vawter just sent me the Tear Drop Classic pictures and his write up of that event. I have already started working on editing the pictures, and will have the story typed up and coded soon.

Well take care and keep shooting that bow. Archery season starts this weekend, and did I mention I just purchased a Ten Point crossbow off of Craigslist? Can't wait for some tree stand time.

September 20, 2011

It's a not so early morning here in Michigan's Great Northwest Corner, but no matter what time it is, it's a great place to be. We made a late decision on Saturday to jump in the car and head up to the cabin. We haven't been up here in about a month and a half. When our visits are infrequent it means that when we do get here there is a lot of maintenance jobs that have to be done. I find though, that working up here takes on a different persona than working on similar things at home.

As I'm typing, I occasionally make a scan of the lake shore, and the edge of the woods around the property, looking for critters. No more, than a minute ago three deer, one looked like a little buck, walked out of the woods, across the little bay we're on. They began chasing each other up and down the water's edge. Of course, by the time I looked for my camera, which I had by my computer just last night, they decided that recess was over and meandered back into the woods.

While I was typing the first few lines, I remembered the Cementman said that he was coming over for coffee and it was getting on toward noon, so I called to see where he was at. My call caught him lazing around the house, so I reminded him that I said I'd gopher for him while he replaced his well pump. He decided to get busy, and told me he'd be ready by the time I jumped in the truck and got over there.

I didn't tell him that I have a poor track record working from the top of deep holes in the ground. When I was going to college, I worked for a construction company in the summer. We were cleaning out manholes that had been built for a new sewer line that our company was installing. The manholes had debris and globs of mortar in them that had to be cleaned out before they were inspected. I was topside hauling up bucket loads of junk via a rope tied to the bucket. The manhole was a good fifteen feet deep.

I would haul up the bucket and walk it to the curb where I'd dump it in the parkway which would later be covered with black dirt. On one of my trips, I felt the rope tangle in something, so without looking, I gave it a jerk. It had caught it on a long handled shovel, and when I jerked it, the shovel went straight down the manhole like a spear. Man, I didn't want to look down that hole. There isn't much room down there, and I could imagine that shovel decapitating my partner. When I got up enough nerve to look down, he was glaring up at me with a "What in the .... are you doing?" look on his face. Fortunately the shovel just glanced him, and he wasn't hurt. So, when the Cementman climbed down the well pit, I made sure the pipe wrenches and any other potentially deadly projectiles were well away from the hole.

Any how, that job and a subsequent trip in to Scottville to pick up some corn delayed my blog entry 24 hours. It's now Wednesday morning, and I am going to persevere today and get this blog entry done.

The corn we picked up is going to help entice some whitetail activity come October 1, which isn't very far away. According to the new Rules for Baiting and Feeding Deer you can put out up to two gallons of feed. I'm not going to even get in to the debate over whether to bait or not bait because I'm just not up to speed on it, and certainly cannot be considered a master baiter. When it comes to that you'd have to talk to the Cementman.

As I mentioned, my wife and I came up on Saturday. Sunday we drove up to the DNR Ramp on Green Lake near Karlin, which is near Interlochen, with the Skinners. The Tear Drop would be weighing in there concluding their two day Classic competition.

We got to the ramp early and waited for the group of 11 competitors who had earned their trip in to the Tear Drop finale. The Vawters were in first place after Day 1, with a little over 19 lbs. The group fished Long Lake Saturday, Green Sunday. The Braunecks were only an ounce or so behind Brent and Nick, and there was another team with a bag in the 18 lb. range as well. It would be a close weigh-in.

Mrs. Brauneck was at the weigh-in with a big batch of her cookies, mighty tasty!

The Vawters coming in to the dock after Day 2 of the Tear Drop Classic.

Chris Mieras and Harry Swank coming in to put their boat on the trailer.

What's that I see? The Red Ranger being towed in?

Rick Skinner and Mike Meysar bagging their Day 2 catch.

Behind the scenes at the weigh-in.

Let's just call this Classic Bruce. Second place big bass for Mitchell and Cook.

The Vawters survived a tough day on Green, and won by about a half pound.

The Tear Drop AOY team of Wes Herndon and Brian Macdonell received their plaques.

I didn't get many fish pictures, because my good friend, Nick Vawter, was down on the dock doing that job. He'll be sending me the pictures soon with his write up of the two day event. The Cementman was at both weigh-ins and also has some pictures, but he is a tad bit slower in getting them on and off his computer. I'll bug him though, and hopefully we'll see his as well.

I did take a couple of short videos at the weigh-in that I can share with you. If you click on the four corner icon in the little strip below the video it will go full screen.

Green Lake - Tear Drop Tournament Trail Day 2 Classic Weigh-in

Brent Vawter weighing in their team's Day 2 fish.

While I was up at the Classic weigh-in, I talked to Wes and Brian about KVD being up in the Traverse City area smallmouth fishing about a week ago. He was up there with Mark Zona, and B.A.S.S. owners Jerry McKinnis and Don Logan. Brian said that during the days they visited he got several texts and phone calls from friends reporting on their whereabouts around town. I know they ran in to some unseasonably cold weather, and got blown off East Bay. KVD, in a recent blog article, reported that they fished some "area lakes." I know Kevin is partial to Charlevoix and Leelanau, but there are so many great smallmouth lakes in the Great Northwest Corner that it's hard to say just where they fished. Here is a link to KVD's account of the trip: Michigan Smallies Can Blow You Away! .

Before I forget, I want to be sure to give you a heads up on a potentially good program on the net today. On Bass Zone's Bass Talk Live (BTL) today at 1:00 p.m., Dave Mercer is going to be on. Mercer is always a hoot, and I would bet he's going to have fodder for a great discussion today.

Another "program" of sorts is B.A.S.S.'s The Livewell . During this short video, Tommy Sanders has a phone interview with Davey Hite. They discuss this year's Elite Series schedule and show several clips of Davey on Pickwick boating his last minute louie fish that seals the deal for the win at that venue. If you recall, I had a video clip that I took when I was down at that event as a Marshal. If you didn't see it, it's certainly worth the few minutes it takes to watch it.

Davey Hite's emotional response to his win on Pickwick 2011

My first trip down to Pickwick to Marshal, I drew Dave Wolak. Dave, as you may already know, just won the FLW Tour Open on Lake Champlain and Bass Fan has an article up on how he sealed the deal on that win. It's interesting and worth the read, especially if you like to chase smallies. Here's the link: Champlain Winning Pattern - Wolak Followed Fish-Shift From Grass To Rock .

I've Marshaled now for 14 different pros. I have drawn Dave twice now, once on Pickwick and once on Wheeler. He is a stand out young pro and has a real sports background. He's a baseball player, mogul ski instructor, marathon runner, and a great dad. We talked about his young son quite a bit. You could really tell he enjoys his role as a father. Here is a picture of his young son and wife. They were down to Wheeler to surprise him for Father's Day.

Dave's young son and his wife were cheering him on in the Lake Wheeler B.A.S.S. event.

Just a quick side note, tomorrow the B.A.S.S. Northern Open begins on Lake Oneida. Here is an article from B.A.S.S. that gives you a little preface to tomorrow's competition: Oneida, where it all started .

Although there is a lot of great fishing to be had yet this fall, you're going to have to start thinking about winterizing your boat soon. I have been trying to surf the net to find as much information as possible about that process. With the new E-10 and possible E-15 ethanol blends, it's even more important that you pay close attention to how you store your boat. Here is a very good link that gives you what they feel is the latest concerning ethanol, and storing and protecting your boat over long periods: Articles on Ethanol .

Well, that's it from me today. If you have some time in the next two weeks, plan a trip to downtown Grand Rapids. Art Prize begins today and goes through October 9. Not being very artsy myself, I didn't get too excited about the competition when it began three years ago. However, last year we went downtown for a walk through and ended up going back two more times. We even booked a room downtown so we could spend more time and take part in the night life as well. You cannot see it all in a day or maybe even two. There are literally thousands of exhibits covering every facet of the creative arts. You really won't be disappointed if you make the time to go down. If you do try the thin crust pizza or ribs at Z's , the soup bar at the Ottawa Tavern , or get a Funny Taco from Taco Bob's . Those are just a couple of the great eateries in downtown GR. There a ton more. Come check it out the art and enjoy the food. The Marriott's Courtyard would be a good place to stay if you want to be right in the thick of things.

Take care.

September 17, 2011

I don't think we are going to be seeing too many more of these mornings in Michigan any way.

Aah, where did our summer go, and when are you coming back? Far too long I fear.

Summer is certainly on its last legs. Just six more days actually until the official day of Fall. However, those short few weeks of spectacular color that most of us call fall albeit beautiful is only the harbinger of gales of November. It won't be long and the snowblower will leave it's summer cave, and will appear once again in the garage ready to do battle.

Speaking of a battle, well maybe not a battle but a stiff competition to say the least, the Tear Drop anglers are on the waters of Long Lake in the first of a two day Classic competition. There will be some big smallies caught, weighed and released today. Mr. Vawter should be behind the camera at days end to record the event on digital data which later will hopefully end up on the blog with his written account.

Me, I'm off this morning on an errand with my buddy John to help instal some art works for the Grand Rapids Art Prize competition. Art Prize begins September 21st and runs through October 9th. Artist from all over the world will converge have been setting up their creative pieces all around the downtown area of Grand Rapids. Some pieces are literally in the Grand River, some are outside in a myriad of locations. Many are in the Art Museum,the Gerald R. Ford Museum, the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Frederick Meijer Gardens, and even more are housed in area restaurants and downtown businesses. It is quite a spectacular show and one you should put on your list of things to certainly do in the next couple of weeks. Whether you are an art connoisseur or not, you'll enjoy visiting the city of Grand Rapids during this special time of year.

You may have notice a seven day hiatus that I took from the blog. Part of it has been a lack of motivation lately, and the other has simply been a difficult time for our family. Lots of stressors with having to place my wife's mother in a nursing home. We just no longer could give the kind of care she needed here at home. We were very lucky though to find a great care facility for her not far from our house. The move though was necessary, and it will be best for everyone.

Since my last entry, there has been some serious fishing going on with the over a 125 boats competing on Lake Champlain in the FLW's Tour Open there. If you happen to peruse the list of contestants though it would appear at first to be a B.A.S.S. Open, because there are so many of the Elite Series anglers fishing there.

Today, will be the third day of the competition, and only the Top 20 anglers will be launching their boats. Tied for the lead right now is Gary Yamamoto , who also lead Day 1, and Dave Wolak. Gary's name is certainly one of the most recognized names in bass fishing. His namesake bait company has produced many of the soft plastics that have probably won more tournaments than any other. His grubs, skirted jigs, senkos, etc. have been a standard that many other lure manufactures have tried to emulate.

Matching Gary fish for fish, though has been one of B.A.S.S.'s young guns Dave Wolak. Dave is a talented angler and a fierce competitor. He grew up in New York State's Five Finger area, and has won on Champlain as recently as last year in the Open held there. I have had the opportunity to ride as a Marshal in Dave's boat on Pickwick and on Lake Wheeler. He's a class act. I will be rooting for him in this competition, and would think that he's got a great chance to take home the FLW's Tour trophy, and a pocket full of cash. Here are some pictures of Dave.

Dave talking to the Frogman Dean Rojas

David comparing notes with Alton Jones and Denny Brauer at Pickwick

Dave cranking up a bass on Lake Wheeler

Another shot of Dave ledge fishing on Wheeler

They probably aren't ganged up as much on Champlain as they were on Wheeler's sweet spots

A nice Pickwick bass, but the pics from Champlain of his catches make this one look small.

I really enjoyed my time on the water with Dave. Great fisherman, multi-talented athlete, and a great dad.

Here is an article that Bass Fan has up on it site discussing yesterday's competition: Yamamoto, Wolak Tied After Post-Frontal Day 2 . The weigh-in today will be at 4:00 p.m., but I'm not sure if that's Eastern Time or not, so you might want to check it. I'd look some more on the FLW site to try and find it, but I'm running up against the clock and have to leave pretty quick to go help my buddy John. I don't like the FLW site, and find it way to busy, don't like black backgrounds, and finding things like weigh-in times and links is not as easy as it is on other sites. Oh well, T. Boone Pickens, one of the new FLW partners, will have to try and help them out like he is the rest of the country with his energy initiative.

Well as I said, I have to run today. Maybe, I'll have some time later to call and check on the Tear Drop Tournament Trail Classic is going and give you an update. Have fun fishing, watching football, or whatever you're doing today. That reminds me, I have a picture from my neighbor up north. It's getting to be that time of year where the bow hunters will be hanging stands. This is a "picture" of my neighbor's deer from last year.

I hope I see one like this when I'm in the woods this Fall!!

September 10, 2011

It's 9/10/11 day today. Tomorrow will be a very memorable day for all of us. "Where were you?" will certainly be the catch phrase of the day. Myself, I was in the classroom teaching. I happened to be right next door to the teacher's lounge, so I could make short dashes in to catch up on what was happening. It was unbelievable, literally.

The administration's decision, early in the day, was to not have us tell the the students in the elementaries what was going on. By the end of the day, they did have us tell the upper elementary students, so they would be prepared for what they were going to see on TV. A number of the older students would be going home to an empty house, and wouldn't have an adult there to talk to about what had and was happening.

I can't remember if there was a decision to have teacher's lead a class discussion in the lower grades before those kids went home. I know they were concerned with young kids thinking that this was something that was happening in Grand Rapids. Kids going home to an empty house would be faced with some very emotionally charged TV accounts, and it was a slippery slope trying to give them enough information, but not too much, before their parents got home to be with them.

Some parents did come that day and pick up their kids. It was one horrific long day for all of us. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families that lost loved ones that day, and to those brave first responders, many of whom lost their lives as well.

Switching gears, how about that old gristly Tommy Biffle. He's smoking the field after two days on the Arkansas River, in the second B.A.S.S. Central Open event.

Biffle, and six to ten other contestants, have been using tin boats with jets on them to traverse the skinny water, to get to some unpressured water. It appears that Biffle has found just such a honey hole, and with almost a ten pound lead, it would appear that if he went out today, and just caught five two pounders, he'd be pretty hard to beat. Here is a write up of yesterday's fishing found on Bassmaster's site: Biffle in Command . Here is a link to the Leaderboard for Day 2 . If you're interested in watching the final twelve weigh-in, it will occur at 4:45 ET. Here's the weigh-in link: Day 3 Weigh-in Link to the Arkansas River Central Open . Here's some pictures I have from my day on the water with Mr. Biffle down on Lake Wheeler in Alabama. By the way, T. Biffle won that tournament.

Tommy doing what he does best, fishing the Biffle Bug.

They were definitely in the bushes that day. He's one heck of a flipper.

He had five like this one at the end of the day.

He looks pretty comfortable with those big ones in the well.

He is one fierce competitor. I enjoyed my day with him!

I'm sitting at home, waiting for the Cementman to drive down. He has to pick his wife and daughter-in-law up at the airport today. They are getting back from Florida. They drove down to the Orlando area with their grandson who will be starting a marine mechanics school down there. He needs wheels, so Rick's wife and daughter-in=law are flying back.

Rick and I will go have lunch and peruse a couple of the sporting good shops in the area. While we're out, I have to pick up my muzzle loader that I won last February. I had an area shop put mount the scope and bore sight it for me.

While I've been waiting, I've been putting together this blog entry. I also have been reading some online articles. One that was pretty good dealt with how bass respond to flash. We all know that spinnerbaits, jigging spoons, etc. trigger fish, but this article will make you think again about what you thought about how fish relate to blades and flash. Here's the link to the article: Fish Science - Understanding Flash And Its Limitations .

Take care and the final cast of the day is a quote by Charles Reade. He once said about 911, "Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows."

September 8, 2011

If you have time this afternoon you may want to tune in via the computer to the B.A.S.S. Central Open #2 Day 1 weigh-in that starts today at 3:45 p.m. The Central Open is being held on the Arkansas River, out of Muskogee, Oklahoma.

The 2011 B.A.S.S. season is winding down to a close with one more Northern Open and after this Open event, one more Central Open left. They are quite significant, for one the winner of these last events gets a Classic berth, and second those hoping to qualify for a spot in the Elites have to garner enough Open points to get an invitation to fish.

The Open events are making it quite exciting for a couple of the Elite anglers, like Kelly Jordan, who would move in to the Classic if one of the Elite anglers happen to win and double qualifies for the Classic. The "Squirrel," Jeff Kreit, came out just the other day, and said the only reason he was fishing the Centrals was to try and win to put Jordan in the Classic. Two Elite anglers, Kreit and Live Target angler Stephen Browning are the two B.A.S.S. pros who may help KJ out. You might wonder why KJ isn't fishing himself. Well, even if he was to win the Arkansas Open, he didn't fish the first one, and therefore wouldn't get a Classic invite. You have to fish all three Opens to get the Classic berths. The strategy is, of course, designed to keep the numbers up in the Open events.

During the last couple of weeks, I've been watching Bass Talk Live, BTL on Bass Zone quite a bit. Mark Jeffries hosts the show with some of his "Side Kicks." They have an hour show each day. They have regulars that visit via Skype. Pros like Boyd Duckett, Kelly Jordan, Ken Brown, etc. They cover all the topics of the day, and it has been quite interesting. Well worth the time spent. They are on each day at 1:00 p.m.

I was out Tuesday of this week purchasing a couple of excess doe tags for this fall. Today I got an email from the DNR saying that they had excess fall turkey licenses on sale. Here is a link to the three DMUs that have licenses left: Left over Turkey Licenses in Three DMUs .

My ole buddy Dean "The Frog Fishing Machine" Rojas was on the net today talking about his newly revamped webpage. Here's the link, so you can check out his new and improved site: DeanRojas.com . Here are a couple of pictures from the day I spent with Dean on Pickwick this past April.

Rojas and Klein getting Ready for Pickwick Day 1

Pregame interview

Dean "The Frog Fishing Machine" Rojas

Rojas with a good one on.

Getting ready to give a green fish a ride to the weigh-in.

We are in the process of having my wife's mother go in to a care facility today, and it's a bit hectic and very emotionally draining. We've cared for her now for almost 11 years, and she is at a point where she needs more care than we can give her here at home. Suffice to say, this is going to be it from me today. Take care, shoot those bows, and plan those next fall outings for those frenzied smallmouths.

September 4, 2011

The rather long and video/photo laden August blog is now archived above. The September blog page should now load a lot faster.

With the end of August comes a transition time that sees an amalgam of hunting, fishing, football, etc. It's the beginning of a season that can be one of the most spectacular, but one many find is all too short.

Last Thursday, I went with some friends to watch the season opener for the GVSU . They played a West Coast team, Western Oregon. Grand Valley has a tradition of playing some pretty high rated schools in their opener.

The first half was a bit slow. The Lakers have been known to dominate the first half, and then pretty much ride it out with bench players the second half. Their young quarterback needs to grow some. Their defense looked pretty good. They look like they could have another great season though. We ended up leaving early in the fourth period because of a swarm of gnats that invaded the stands. The score was thirty something to six when we left. The final score was 44-20.

The next couple weeks finds Grand Valley on the road against Hillsdale and Indianapolis. They play again at home on the 24th of September. Here is a short video of GVSU taking the field and gathering at the student's section, which was expanded over the summer to accommodate the large crowds that the Lakers draw.

GVSU Lakers, Opening Day, 2011

Yesterday, I was invited to attend a get together at Nate Wellman's home. Nate had created quite a little feast for a group of family and friends to celebrate his recent Northern Open win on Lake Erie. He had a delicious crawfish, shrimp boil. It included corn, sausage, mushrooms, and was in a word, delicious. I got a chance to reacquaint myself with the Wellman family and meet some of Nathan's friends and neighbors.

I don't recall ever having a chance to sit down to a plate of crawfish. They had been Fed Ex'd from Louisiana. I got a lesson on how to eat them. You're suppose to pinch and pull the tall off, and then suck the juice from the head. I could eat the tails one after another, but I'd have to admit that I must not have any Cajun blood in me, because I couldn't make myself suck the juices out of the head. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday.

Nathan with his Open trophy from last year and his most recent one from Erie.

This looks about how my plate of crawdads looked. Mighty tasty!

I guess I can't avoid the "elephant in the room" when mentioning my get together with Nate. You may have read that he was fined and put on probation after his Erie win for some off handed comments he made to his coangler. Nate talked to me about it a little and said that he said some things, during the tension filled last day, that were meant to be in jest. His coangler felt uncomfortable with them and brought them to the attention of tournament officials. B.A.S.S. Officials investigated and interviewed both Nate and his coangler. Nate admitted he had made comments that he meant to be just fishing banter. Nate, however, now has seen how things can be misconstrued, and has learned a lesson about even joking about certain aspects of the tournament day. He was very apologetic, and realizes the uncomfortable position he's placed himself and others in. It is something that unfortunately will follow him for quite a while. He's going to have a tough road to hoe for a while. He'll have to simply put his head down, be humble, and let his fishing tell the story.

There has been a lot said on various forum sites, but for me, I am trusting that B.A.S.S., who has the real story in front of them, and has investigated this thoroughly, has dealt appropriately with the situation. Now it's time to move on, with a valuable lesson learned.

I don't think I have mentioned yet that I got part of my KVD Fishing Package that I recently won. Last Thursday, I came home from buying my GVSU tickets and found a rod tube had been delivered by Fed Ex. Inside was a KVD Signature Series 7 ft. med. action crankbait rod. Not knowing exactly what I had won in the contest, I was excited but at the same time a little disappointed by the rod. I thought I was getting a rod and reel. I have really been wanting a dedicated crankbait set up, and looking on the bright side, this was a good start. To my surpriese though, about an hour later, another Fed Ex van arrived, and delivered a box which contained, not only a KVD reel, but a plano full of crankbaits as well. A couple of wahoo's later I was making some calls to buddies letting them know what I had won. Very coo! A big thank you and shout out to Bass Pro Shop and Stephanie LaRue, who I dealt with at BPS's Marketing Dept.

Well, I have to run out and pick up some food for dinner. I'm today's designated gopher. I hope to add some more to this blog later. We'll see though. Take care and enjoy your cooler and less humid day. I also hope those folks up in the Grant and Newaygo areas have their power back on. On our way north yesterday, we saw many trees down and miles of area with no power.

August 31, 2011

I have been waiting anxiously to see what the 2012 Elite Series schedule was going to be. Well, yesterday they announced what it will be, and there aren't any tournaments in Alabama. That's disappointing to me, because I have connections in Northern Alabama that I can tap so that I don't need to use hotels. This allows me to keep my costs down when I travel there to Marshal Elite Series events. Here is the link to the the 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series Schedule and discussion, and here is just a quick look at the schedule .

If you didn't click on the "Schedule Discussion" link above, you probably didn't hear about the new wrinkle to the Elite Series Schedule. Next year they are putting a "Mystery Lake" into the mix. The seventh lake of the eight lake schedule will not be revealed until right before the practice period. I don't know how they plan on having enough Marshals for that event unless they are working through a state federation who might be able to supply enough Marshals.

Oh well, doesn't look like I'll be Marshaling an event next year. I've really enjoyed them, and was hoping to do it again next year.

If you've been reading the blog, you know that Nate Wellman won his second Bassmaster Open last Saturday. The event was on Lake Erie out of Sandusky, OH.

Sandusky, may be best know for the amusement park there, Cedar Point . For many years, it has been "The" destination for the young, and young at heart. The rides are thrillers, but I would bet that the best ride that Nate has been on there is the one he took past the amusement park as he went back and forth from Pelee ferrying his loads of smallies.

The best ride out of Sandusky, OH

Bass Fan posted a follow up story to Nate's win discussing his locations, baits, and techniques. You can check it out, and you should, using this link: Erie Winning Pattern - Wellman Cranked, Finessed With Pelee "Plan B" .

This is one of those blogs that gets added to in the 11th hour. I don't know if you call 5:00 a.m. the eleventh hour, but not being able to sleep, for some reason, in the wee hours, found me killing time surfing the net. I had trouble getting online with the Safari browser, so I popped up Fire Fox. I hit most of my usual sites, but in my bookmarks on Fire Fox Bass Zone stuck out, so I clicked on it. As I checked out Bass Zone, I saw that they did a Skype interview with Nate hours earlier, and I missed it. However, they archive their programs, so I was able to watch and listen to it.

Before Nate came on, they talked quite a bit about the new Elite Schedule, interesting. When they cued Nate they talked to him about his second Open win and got his impressions on the new Elite schedule. He also showed the three baits he used on Erie. One was a prototype crankbait that he says will crank down to 29 feet! If you have an extra thirty minutes of so in your day, you might want to check out Mark Jeffries' Bass Zone BTL program .

Well unless something else flashes on my screen this is going to be it from me today. The final cast of the day is a quote by David Barry. He said, "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic." Take care, and if you are looking for something to do Thursday night, GVSU plays Western Oregon at 7:00 p.m. at GVSU. They play some fun football!

August 30, 2011

Howdy, I'm sitting around the house as per usual, so I thought I'd get busy formatting an article that Ross Parsons, submitted to the blog. It's a story about his recent FLW Collegiate fishing experience on Lake Erie out of Buffalo, New York. I think you'll like it. I'm glad that colleges, and even high schools, are starting bass clubs. Here is Ross' report. (After checking the article online I see the Facebook links don't come up. Go to Facebook and enter the blue link title to get to the page referenced.)

2011 FLW Collegiate Fishing Report

Central Michigan Fishing Team Members Ross Parsons and Brandon Carmen are greeted by the FLW Stage and the dawn's early light.

CMU Team Report from FLW's Collegiate Fishing Event Buffalo, NY

A few weeks ago, at a local club tournament, I was surprised to find out Central Michigan University (CMU) had a bass fishing club . Immediately after emailing the president, he asked me if I would like to fish a FLW Collegiate event on Lake Erie . Because of students moving in for the new school year, a number of their regulars couldn't make the event. Lucky for me, not so lucky for them.

Lake Erie has to be the smallmouth capital of the world! Tournaments either on the Western or Eastern Basin typically require twenty pounds or more per day. Fish in the five pound class are fairly common, and big bass usually tips the scales at six plus pounds! For many, that's a fish of a lifetime!

The FLW goes all out for College fishing . Each school is given a boat with a volunteer boat driver. The Collegiate event is held the Saturday of an Everstart event and the Everstart pros are commandeered to act as drivers for the Collegiate teams. The driver can't share any information, but can take you within the boundaries set by the FLW. There is no entry fee, and the winning team takes home $10,000 for their school and club.

The FLW also provides a big stage, very similar to the one the FLW Tour uses. Unfortunately, the College fishing trailer was getting serviced, and the BFL trailer was used.

The tournament was on Saturday, August, 20th, 2011. My CMU partner, Brandon Carmen, and I left at 2:00 p.m. Friday. Driving through Toledo on I-90 it is 490 miles to Buffalo from CMU. It made for a long trip and we didn't get in to our motel until 10 p.m.

After getting checked in, and getting our licenses at Wal-Mart, it was midnight. Next time around, we will definitely leave earlier, or maybe take I-69 and go through Canada, which would have saved us a 100 miles.

After registering at 5:00 a.m., we got paired with our boater, Everstart Pro Chuck Pohlman , and packed our things in his 08, 21 ft. Triton bass/walleye boat.

With only a few days of preparation for this tournament, coupled with the fact that I had never fished Erie before, I did my best to research the Buffalo area smallmouth fishing. Several members from Dan Kimmel's greatlakesbass.com stepped up for me, and gave me some information on techniques, baits, and some general locations to key on. Thanks guys!

My partner and I decided to run a few miles to Seneca Shoal . The Seneca Shoals Departure Buoy is about 4 miles west of the south gap (The south gap is the gap in the breakwall when you come out of the small boat harbor of Buffalo Harbor). You can't miss it if you head west from the south gap. Seneca Shoals is about 4-5 miles south of the departure buoy. It is a popular rock pile that usually produces fish all year. Chuck, our boater, said that at least 35 boats had hit the spot during the Everstart tournament, which was still going on. (The top ten Everstart anglers fish Saturday for the championship.)

Once on the Shoals, we marked fish right away, but couldn't get a bite. An hour later, having tried tubes and drop shotting Berkley Gobies and minnows, we decided to change up baits. Dan Shine, from this site, told me a black Gulp leach is a great Erie smallmouth getter, so I gave it a try.

We moved the boat north, and started to drift. All of a sudden, I hear my partner's drag begin to sing, and it was fish on! I grabbed the net and was so excited! My partner had a 2.5 pounder almost to the boat. As I waited anxiously with the net, the thrill of victory went to the agony of defeat, as I saw the line snap. We were so pumped to have that first fish on, but that's why they call it fishing and not catching.

Keeping our focus though paid off, because about 20 minutes later, I hooked into a two pounder, my first Lake Erie bass! Boy was I smiling!

I was surprised how Lake Erie bass don't like to show themselves until you get them right to the boat. I had heard that they rocket to the surface, but that wasn't the case. They were bull doggers, and loved to stay under the boat.

We continued to make several drifts and finally found some fish. My partner landed a few twelve inchers, which keep in Buffalo. It took us three hours, in to our six hour tournament, to get a partial limit of three fish. We could almost hear the clock ticking.

We marked the area where we caught all of our fish, because we were told to find fish, and then sit on them. However, despite all our efforts we couldn't get another bite. With half of the tourney over, we decided to move to the north east side of the shoal, which was empty of boats. During our first drift, I got a wind knot in my braid putting my dropshot rod out of business. I picked up my rod that I was uncertain about bringing, because it was an older light action Fenwick. I didn't know if it had enough backbone for Lake Erie monsters.

With the lack of bites coming on our vertical presentation, I decided to cast the drop shot rig. After a few casts, I hooked into a nice fish! Wahoo! A 3.5 pounder! My light weight rod was tested to the max, and it bent almost in two as the fish fought to stay under the boat! A Very exciting fight on six pound test flouro. Minutes later I catch a 14 incher!! The fish are biting, and we now have our limit!

Having only about nine pounds, we went searching for some Erie pigs. Unfortunately, our new spot, in front of the windmills, only ate up time and lures. With only an hour left, we decided we better just fish the Seneca Shoal in hope of culling the small fish we had in the live well.

With the tournament only being six hours, it limits the spots you can hit. Once back at one of our earlier coordinates on the Shoals, I immediately hooked up! Another nice fish!

I had bought a variety quart of Gulp minnows and leaches , and my black leaches were gone. So, I decided to try the pumpkinseed ones, what a color difference can make! Quickly, I culled another four fish which helped a lot!. The MSU team was fishing near us, and was constantly looking over their shoulders wondering how we were getting all our fish, lol.

All we needed was a big fish to cull one of our 14.5 inch fish.

With five minutes to go, I picked up my line, and it seemed to be a goby. I start reeling, and I don't feel much weight. As I get my bait right at the boat my reel begins to zing! After a five minute fight, the hook pops loose from a solid five pounder. That really deflated my hopes, but it was still an exciting fight. With check in time closing in on us, and having to three footers to contend with and slowing our speed to around 25 mph, we had to head back in.

Once back at the docks, we saw our fish weren't in the best shape. The water temperature was pretty hot. The surface temp varied from 74-76 degrees. That's pretty warm for the smallies that like that deep cool water. Next year we will definitely have plenty of ice.

Our fish weighed in at 13-2 which placed us in the middle of the pack, in 17th place, out of 35 boats.

For my partner and I being the only college rookies out there, we did pretty well. We ended up catching about a dozen keepers. The winners boated 20 pounds, and said they fished clean the whole day. If I had gotten that five pounder in we may have culled up a number of places. I'm sure I'll have a few dreams about what may have happened, and those thoughts will keep me wanting to come back even more.

With the stipends I was given, my Erie trip ended up costing me around $150, and that included some tasty Buffalo, buffalo wings!

I can?t wait to go back to Erie next year! I will never forget my first big water trip, and my lessons learned their.

Ross waiting at the tanks in his first FLW Collegiate Fishing event

Ross and Brandon on stage.

Ross Parsons and Brandon Carmen with some Erie smallmouth

Thanks Ross for the story. It sounded like a fantastic time! Maybe, I should think about going back to school. I could get in to a trip like that! Back in my day, colleges didn't even all have football teams let alone fishing teams. (Yea, I know I'm older than dirt. I had to get that in there before the Cementman emailed me.) Good luck to you and your CMU fellow anglers! We'll be waiting to hear about more of your exploits.

Daily Blog Archive September 4, through September 28, 2011