Out with the Old and In with the New

Only a day away until we look back at 2008 and look ahead to 2009. I for one am really looking forward to the New Year.

As you can now see the new version of JoshDouglasFishing.com is up and ready to rock. We followed a lot of the same guidelines that the old version went by, but with the help of Roth Knight, and his company Cantankerous Design, we put a whole new and improved face on it.

Some new features to the site is you can now subscribe to my blog. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the blog page and click on the appropriate link, fill out the information and then you will receive a email when I have submitted a new post.

Another nice feature to the blog is the archive, where you can look back at older posts a lot more efficiently by looking up by month and year.

Some other changes for the new year is the sale of Stick 'Em Lure Company and Guide Service. Because of this, I will now be doing guided bass trips under the name Josh Douglas Guide Service. Look for the link to the guide service on the home page. Trips are starting to book up quick for next season so please contact me soon to set up your next fishing outing.

The bad news is the extended forecast isn't ringing in the new year in the way I would have hoped. Instead of day time temps in the 30's, it's more like the teens. Making fishing close to impossible, unless of course I wanted to go ice fishing, which most of you know just isn't my thing. I'd rather hook up the boat and head south for a bassin' get away. Which this year looks like it won't be until the first week of April, when I head down to Grand Lake, in northeastern Oklahoma. I am very much looking forward to this trip, Grand has been good to me in the past and is quickly becoming one of my favorite fisheries.

I also have been using this down time to get ready for next season and get my tournament schedule all figured out. It's sure to be a hectic one. My tentative plans are to fish the Silverado Tour, the BASSMASTER Weekend Series MN/WI Division, the Denny Super 30's, the Denny's Wednesday Nighters, and a few solo events like the Pan O Prag, St. Jude, MN Federation TOC, and more. As well as some of the Gopher Bassmaster events. My plans are to start to prepare for 2010 when I plan to be competing in the BASSMASTER Opens and FLW Stren Series to continue my push to fishing at the Elite levels of both BASS and FLW.

I would like to hear people's feedback on my newly updated website. Feel free to send me an email by clicking on the Contact link of the website or by simply emailing me at my new email address of Josh@JoshDouglasFishing.com.

That's all for now. I'd like to wish all a safe and wonderful new Year! See you in 2009!

All I Want for Christmas is the Chance to GO FISHING!

First off I need to apologize for the lengthy amount of time since my last blog entry. I usually am a lot better at keeping up. This is the time of year for me to catch up with some things that get put on the back burner during the lengthy fishing season. I usually spend a lot of time chasing around cold weather smallies, but I think I have only been out once or twice since mid November, due to the horribly cold weather we have been having. Trust me, I'm no fair weather fisherman, but when the temp dips under 25 degrees, standard fishing becomes impossible because of line and spool freezing and it's been hovering steady around 0 degrees!! It simply makes it impossible to cast and reel in, especially when a slow retrieve is standard this time of year. So instead I've been saving some money, doing some sponsor work, getting in my entry forms for next years tournaments, and most importantly spending some quality time with my wife Bri and dog Madison. Bri and I are also getting ready for the new member of the family to be able to come home, our new rottweiler puppy! He should help make sure the rest of the winter flies by.

I also have been doing a little equipment upgrading. I recently just got a few of the new Shimano Curado reels in and I have to say that they are even nicer than I was expecting. I'm also real excited about getting my new Power Pole installed. I just know it will compliment my style of fishing so much by the versatility and anchor support it will provide.

On another note, hopefully some of you are making plans for your winter get away. My good buddy Chris Campbell just got back from a business trip to Palm Beach, FL and was able to sneak out one morning for a guided trip on one of Florida's world class bass fisheries. Chris hooked up with Captain Art Canahan, who with his brother Doug Kimball run a very successful guide operation for largemouth bass, peacock bass, and also saltwater species like snook and tarpon. Chris, who is an avid basser himself said that this was the best guided trip he had ever been on, if not one of the better fishing outings to date. They caught both size and numbers of both largemouth and more notably, the beautiful peacock bass. If planning any trips to the South Florida area, give either Doug or Art a call for a awesome day on the water. http://www.palmbeachbassin.com/

I am excited to share that www.JoshDouglasFishing.com is currently being reconstructed and so far the results have been awesome. I have teamed up with Cantankerous Design and we're hoping to have the newly upgraded version up by very early in '09. I will post a link in the near future. Also look for my 2009 schedule to be updated soon. It's already looking to be an exciting season.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday. Merry Christmas!!