Tackle Update: Stocking up for '08

Now that the 2007 season is all said and done, it is time to start planning and preparing for the upcoming tournament season. There is a lot of different things that I can do now so that when it's time to fish, I'll be sure to have more time on the water. First and foremost I have to make sure my boat is all ready to go. I'm so excited because this year I got a new boat! I've already had it in to be fully serviced by Frankie's Marine, now it's just a matter of getting the boat fully rigged. I just ordered two Lowrance sonar/GPS units, a Lowrance LCX 37 C for my console, and a Lowrance LCX 27 C for the deck. These units are very important because they are my eyes underwater. Not only are they a sonar but they have built in GPS to help navigate the water. A few companies offer mapping data chips for these units that will give you high definition mapping. I suggest either Lake Maps or Navionics. I am also looking into new batteries. These are real important. A matter of fact they cost me a great finish in a tournament last year. So you can imaging that is a priority to me to make sure my batteries are the best.


**From left to right: Lowrance LCX 27C and a Lowrance LCX 37C

I also make sure to stock up on tackle and make sure to keep up with new products. During the course of a season a guy can go thru the tackle. I never truly know what I am going to use in a single day but I do have a good idea. The first thing I go threw is my "go-to" baits. These are the ones that I feel most comfortable with and use on a regular basis. Some of my every day tackle consists of the Ten K jig by 10000 Lakes Tackle, Net Bait's Paca Craw, or Lucky Craft's Sammy. There are many more baits that follow under this category and I want to make sure I am fully stocked on these before the season starts. Usually it's easier to get stocked up during the off season when I have more time on my hands but most importantly, I can find what I need. Way to often I will need something in a certain color and won't be able to find it anywhere because their more likely to be sold out in the middle of the season.

Another thing I take into importance is my terminal tackle. Lets be honest, it's not as fun to buy hooks as it is to buy some new Japanese crankbait, but it is more important. I make sure to stock up on things like fishing line such as P Line fluorocarbon, Power Pro braid, and Berkley Sensation for mono. I also stock up on Gamakatsu hooks for everything from trebles to Super Line to the drop shot. I also am a huge fan of the Reaction Innovations BMF hook for all my flippin'. Also I make sure I have a huge selection of Tru Tungsten Flippin' weights and Worm weights in all different sizes.

Probably the most fun I have is stocking up on new products. This year I am really excited to be using the new line of baits by Amp Lures. These Japanese influenced baits are sure to fool many bass this year. I'm especially excited for their Air Shot Jig matched with a High Low 5.5". I'm counting on this lethal match up to entice those finicky bites from a 6 pounder.


**From left to right: Amp lures Air Shot Jig and the High Low 5.5" and 10,000 Lakes Tackle, TEN K Jigs

Also new is the one and only Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube. By far the most sought after bait on the market. This hollow belly swimbait has been silently cashing paychecks for pros for a few years now. Now let me assure you the cat has been let out of the bag. This lure is extremely hard to come by. There are alternatives that will do a great job such as Poor Boy Bait's Silly Rabbit or Berkley Power Bait's Hollow Belly. Although all are fantastic lures, in this case I tend to lean in favor of the Basstrix. Each one is hand made for the perfect presentation and it's hard to beat the original. Chatterbait used to be a "craze lure" until it became more accessible, now there are dozens of imitators. Some of them are real nice baits but I think Chatterbait is still number one.


**Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube Swimbaits.

Also I spend a lot of time studying maps of lakes I will be fishing. I try to figure out what the primary forage is and what the cover and structure are like. This usually helps me come up with a good idea of certain patterns that may work. From there I have an idea of the baits that I may want to stock up on as well. I better get going, I have some work to do!!

A Weekend of Fishing and Watching the BASSMASTER CLASSIC!!

With the weather starting to show small signs of Spring, I got one last opportunity to get out and catch some smallies! Today is the last day of the fishing season here in Minnesota. Since bass season won't be reopening until May 24th, there will be a lot of time to practice in other areas. Coming up in the early part of April I have planned on spending some time on Grand Lake, in Northeastern Oklahoma. From there I will spend a lot of my time fishing the Mississippi River between Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, but mainly concentrating on pools 4 thru 7. I will also spend some time preparing for early season tournaments on a few lakes in Wisconsin.

So needless to say I was ecstatic to be able to get one last time before the serious work begins! Both Pops and Matt accompanied me on this trip and after a quick trip to Cabela's, we arrived at our fishing destination to find that everyone else including their mothers decided to take the same opportunity as we did. IT WAS PACKED!! There were fisherman every where! Most were live bait fishing for walleye and catfish, but that really didn't matter. This area is extremely small and I had never seen it so busy. I guess with being the last day of the season and almost 40 degree's everyone was thinking fishing.

We must have fished for around two or three hours and had very limited success. I caught 4, Matt caught 4, and Pops 2. I would have been pretty disappointed with my limited success except for two reasons. One, all four of my fish were nice ones all being two pounds or better and I caught my personal best walleye ever. The brute weighed in at 7 pounds! I know that there are people out there who have caught better, but I spend literally every available second fishing for bass, so to catch one of that size was pretty cool! I have to admit though, down deep a good portion of me wished it had been a 7 pound smallmouth! I was able to get a couple quick pictures and released her unharmed back to the waters for another angler to appreciate.

After fishing I was eager to get home and watch the final weigh in of the 2008 BASSMASTER Classic, at Lake Hartwell, SC. This Classic was holding up to all its hype! The weather was nasty and some of the top names made the top 25 cut. Most notable were Kevin VanDam, Aaron Martens, and Mike Iaconelli, although in the end Alton Jones, from Waco, TX, took home the most coveted trophy in our sport, with a nice 3 day total weight of 49-7 lbs. and claimed the winning check of $500,000.00 dollars!! Jones targeted bass in 25 to 30 feet, on the inside edge of the standing timber submerged in Lake Hartwell. Alton used three lures to catch his bass: a Booyah Pigskin jig and a Booyah AJ's Go-To jig, both rigged with a Yum trailer, and a Cotton Cordell CC Spoon.

As much as I look forward to watching the Classic every year, I can't help but dream of one day being there competing. Or better yet of being lucky enough to hold that trophy up in the air! God willing with endless days of hard work and practice, I'll be able to one day live up to my childhood dream.......Winning the Bassmaster Classic!

Give It Up for the 2008 BASSMASTER Classic Qualifiers from Minnesota

In just two very short weeks, the 2008 BASSMASTER Classic will be kicking off at South Carolina's, Lake Hartwell. Among the 50 star studded anglers that will be competing are two from my home state of Minnesota, Derek Remitz and Brent Haimes. Remitz, who now resides in Grant, Alabama will be fishing his second Classic in two consecutive years. Remitz is a former member of the Sunrise Bassmasters, a Minnesota BASS Federation Club. After spending just a few short years at the state level, Remitz went on to try his luck at the national level, fishing in the Bassmaster Opens. From there he qualified for his first Classic and earned a spot on the Bassmaster Elite Series. At the first event of the 2007 Elite Series Tour, Derek beat the whole field on Lake Amistad to earn his first Elite Series win. From there on he rode through his highs and lows and snatched the 2007 Bassmasters Rookie of the Year title.

How one goes about getting to that level of fishing can be done in numerous ways. Never easy though. Brent Haimes, from Mazeppa, MN, qualified for the 2008 Classic by succeeding so well through the grueling BASS Federation ladder. Haimes, a member of the Zumbro Valley Bassmasters, a Minnesota BASS Federation Club, started his road to the Classic in 2005, by qualifying through is club for the 2006 BASS Federation State Championship, held on Gull Lake, MN. At Gull, Brent went on to place 11th, and the top 12 advance on to the 2007 BASS Federation Northern Regional Championship, which was held on none other than Lake Erie. At this stage, the top place angler from their own state advance. Brent took 11th overall, but was first among the Minnesota anglers, advancing him onto the 2007 BASS Federation Championship on Florida's very own, Lake Tohopekaliga (Better known as Lake Toho). At this tournament it is all on the line. The top angler from each region goes onto fish the BASSMASTER CLASSIC! Brent worked extremely hard to take 7th overall, and 1st in his region, and qualified for his first Classic appearance!

**From left to right: Derek Remitz, showing off his Lake Amistad catch and Brent Haimes, going to the Classic!

I recently went to a seminar hosted by Brent Haimes, at one of our Minnesota BASS Federation State meetings. His topic was very interesting in the fact that he shared with us his road to the Classic and all the ups and downs he went through. For me this was a great learning experiance. It is my life long goal to one day be lucky and good enough to qualify for the Elite Series and the Classic. To see and hear how one of my fellow Minnesota tournament anglers did it, I would have to say it was motivating to say the least. I personally wish both of these fine anglers the best of luck at the Classic. I know I will be watching from home and rooting them on the whole way! Stick 'Em Boys!!!!

Smallmouths Curing my Spring Fever

It has been a miserable couple of weeks since my last bass outing entry. The weather has been awful for a die hard fish lipper such as myself. It has just been brutally cold. So cold to where it is beyond shivering, your bones actually hurt. I can recall jumping into my frozen Chevy Suburban on a frigid Saturday morning and my temperature gauge read -19 degrees. Hopefully the housing market gets better so my beautiful wife Bri and I can move somewhere in the South. But until then, I'll suck it up and not take for granted the couple of "lucky for me" spots that I have where I can still stick football sized smallmouth when the weather permits.

Today Matt and I where blessed with a "heat wave", all of 35 degrees, and made it a point to get out and exercise the smallmouths. It was blue bird skies when we started the air temp was only 20 degrees, but trust me, it felt like 70. The fishing was good right away. I caught a dozen or so pretty quick. The only issue was the lack of size. They were all dinks. I was using my bread and butter, a 3" YUM Mega Tube (green pumpkin), with an 1/8 oz. Kalin's tube jig. I was working the tube near a laydown, that was serving as an ambush point for the smallmouths. They like to hide on the down river side of the brush and when some food source comes by they ambush it. I am limited to the angles I can cast to being that I was fishing from shore. I don't think it is a good idea to dump my 20 ft. Ranger in a super shallow, rock infested body of water in the dead of winter. Matt was fishing some scattered rock mixed with sand and really wasn't getting many bites. After a while my laydown stopped producing and I to was looking for a new spot. We stumbled across an area that was very shallow and the water was moving across at a pretty good rip. I thought with the sun getting higher and the temp warming a bit that maybe this area would hold a nice school of fish. It turned out it did. Nice ones to. After a few unsuccessful casts I laid into the best of the day, and after that it was one good one after another. Smallmouth bass are like that. They tend to hang out in little wolf packs. If you can get one to bite you can really stimulate the activity level of the school. It is really common to be fighting a fish to the boat and seeing two, three, or even four smallies with him. They're actually competing for the bait. Although like I said before, if you break one off or don't get a good hook set, it is just like you turned the light switch off, they're done.


**From left to right: Myself with a beautiful Minnesota smallmouth bass, and a victim of the Mississippi River Fathead.

After a quick burger stop we decided to try another spot. It was much slower though. The sun tucked behind the clouds and the fish were few and far between. After close to an hour without a fish I decided to make a switch. I put on a prototype lure from Stick 'Em Lure Company called the Mississippi River Fathead (green pumpkin w/ black flake). It is a 3.5" soft plastic with a fat head and a ribbed body. Fished properly it imitates a feeding minnow pecking at the bottom. Not having the right jig for the job I decide to give it a try any way. I was thinking maybe the crawfish bite turned off and the minnow bite may entice more bites. In five minutes I caught five fish. I was pretty excited when I set into a HUGE bass. It was easy 4 plus pounds. She started dancing and jumping all over and on one jump managed to come unbuttoned. Wouldn't you know it that fish ended up proven my earlier point, the school vanished.

Looking at the forecast I can see nothing good about the upcoming weather. More negative double digits. But hey, on the bright side, for every day that passes brings me that much closer to Spring. I can't wait for my upcoming tournament season!

Tackle Update: Amp Lures

Since the weather is so brutally cold around here. 0 degrees. I think that says enough. I thought it is time to add a tackle update to the blog. Today I received some new crankbaits by Amp Lures in the mail that I am very excited to try. Japan born, Texas based Amp Lures is new to the US. Although don't let that fool you, they have been around for a long time. Known as Biovex in Japan, they have been steadily taking over the market, putting out quality baits at reasonable prices. Part of their success is due to Katsushi Umeda, who is responsible for the designs of many of their high end baits. BASSWEST USA recently ran an article on the Amp Lures, Midshooter, a medium diving crankbait, that runs 5 - 8 feet deep. They are quoted in saying, " Their colors are amazing in that many of them have a translucent external color and inner color". They also go on to say, "In field testing the baits ran true right out of the packaging and are sure to catch fish.", and "In a few hours on Clear Lake in September, we were able to catch 5 fish on 5 consecutive casts on the midshooter."

**From left to right: Amp Lures Midshooter, Pop, and Musashi Spinnerbait.

I received both their Midshooter and their Shallow Runner. The colors are great and the quality is next to none. I am soon putting in a order for their Pop, Musashi Spinnerbait, and their Heavy Hitter. Not to mention, I am also very excited to hear that they are adding a deep diving plug to their already fantastic line of baits. Rumor has it that it will dive to 30 feet! Smallmouths beware! For more information go to http://www.amplures.com/ Please keep in mind that the website is still under construction. Amp is working very quickly to get it all put together. Check it out, it's a pretty sweet site!

Hopefully this cold weather will move out of here and I can get to lipping some smallmouths. It isn't that bad though. I can watch the NFL playoffs from the comfort of my warm house, to bad for the Giants and Packers though. I hear it will be below 0 at kickoff time. Until next time, Happy Fishing!!

One More Time Before the Real Cold Comes Back

My buddy Matt and I decided we just had to get out one more time before the weather hits single digits again across Minnesota. We left the Twin Cities and the temp was 30 degrees. When we arrived to our destination it was all of 19. Burr. I started strong with 3 quick smallmouths. All of which were over 2.5 lbs and one weighed in at 3.6 lbs. After that quick stint of greatness everything starting unraveling on me. I was faced with a problem I haven't encountered here in a while. I am generally always a fluorocarbon guy but after trying all sorts of different lines in the cold over the years I have found that in this certain area and using this particular fishing style that 8 to 10 pound Berkley Sensation line fits me best. It isn't as brittle as fluorocarbon and has some nice stretch to it. Usually I wouldn't want that but since this area has so many rocks and snags it helps. Usually once I get dialed in I can differentiate what's a snag right away and can usually use the stretch to my advantage to snap the lure off the rock. It also allows me to cast a light weight tube far on the light line. Also when the air temp is between 20 and 35 degrees it is easily manageable in that kind of cold. In the summer I would opt for 6 to 10 pound fluorocarbon but in the cold the mono works better for me. Although not this time. I'm not sure if it is that we were fishing in the teens or not but my line was freezing up like crazy. Literally into icicles. I snapped nice fish off, I snapped off on casts, I dealt with the line freezing right on the spool, it was a nightmare! I spent an hour retying up baits. I probably retied at least 12 times in that hour. Mean while Matt was using my other rod that was spooled with 10 lb Vicious Fluorocarbon and was pulling in fish hand over hand. The fluorocarbon wasn't freezing up half as much as my mono. Everything that I thought I knew went right out the window. After an hour and a half, Matt was at 9 and I was still chilling (literally) with 3.

As the afternoon wore on the temp got up over 20 and luckily for me my line issues stopped. Good thing for me I over come things relatively quickly and the hook setting followed. In the next 20 minutes I evened us up 9 a piece. When we left that spot I had a small advantage of 14 to 9.

We arrived at the same spot that Rich Lindgren and I had fished a couple nights back. I started right where I left off and landed a nice 3 pound smallie. I really wanted to catch a 4 pounder before the night was over since I hadn't seen one all week. Matt feeling the exact same way decided he was going to try to find some new water that no one had fished. He did just that. I saw him pull in two consecutive 3 pound smallies back to back and thought I better do the right "friendly" thing and move to where he was. Matt snickered at the move but accepted me nicely, even pointing out his newly found strategy. He said that it was extremely shallow in front of us for about 20 feet then it dropped of quickly. The drop off was full of basketball sized rocks, which made it also full of nice sized smallmouths. With only about ten minutes of light left in our day we worked the heck out of that area. In the end we finished with 34 smallmouth total. Matt caught 14 and I had 20. No four pounders, but still a nice day none the less.

I learned something interesting today and yet I am still not totally convinced it would happen that way again. I will have to test both lines in the same conditions another time to be 100 percent certain that is the way it is. Maybe it was just that particular spool of line or maybe it wasn't. Looking at the upcoming forecast I can see that I will have a while to ponder it. Until then...Happy Fishing!! Or better yet, Happy Dreaming of the Day You'll Be Fishing! Unless of course your in the South, then I'm jealous!

2008 Gopher Bassmasters Tournament Schedule

MN B.A.S.S. Federation Club

Last night my fellow Gopher Bassmasters had our monthly Federation club meeting. This particular meeting was set for us to layout our 2008 tournament schedule. I am very excited with the lakes that were chosen for this upcoming season. This year we are headed to a lot of well established "big bass" lakes. Lakes known for their huge largemouth and or their huge smallmouth potential. It is real critical that I do well in these tournaments. They are the starting point of qualifying for other qualifying tournaments that lead to the MN B.A.S.S. Federation State Tournament, than divisionals, nationals, and the ultimate goal of a birth into the BASSMASTER Classic. Due to my strong finish in the 2007 club tournaments I have already qualified for the 2008 MN State Tournament, but with another strong season I hope to qualify for the 2009 State Tournament. Which could potentially be held at a body of water I am really excited to fish. So as you can imagine I have already started my research on our tournaments to come. The following is the list of the 2008 schedule:

May 17th, 2008 Chetek Chain of Lakes, Chetek, WI
May 18th, 2008 Chetek Chain of Lakes, Chetek, WI
June 21st, 2008 Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN
June 22nd, 2008 Green Lake, Spicer, MN
July 26th, 2008 Lake Waconia, Waconia, MN
July 27th, 2008 Lake Minnetonka, Wayzata, MN
August 16th, 2008 TBD (2009 State Waters)
August 17th, 2008 TBD (2009 State Waters)

Click here for more details.

The Chetek Chain in Wisconsin should give us a good mix of pre spawn, spawn, and post spawn. This is also a diverse lake in that it offers both lake and river scenarios. Lake Koronis and Green Lake are equally known for their big smallmouths and numbers of bass as well. Lake Waconia and Lake Minnetonka are both heavily pressured lakes, being that they are both in the heart of the Twin Cities, yet they both produce HUGE largemouth bass. I am not very familiar with these lakes with a notable exception of Lake Minnetonka. Planning starts now!!! Wish me luck!

You'd Have to be Crazy.. or Just Crazy about Fishing

After a day like yesterday, how could anybody not want to go out and do it again. Although it wasn't the easiest thing to do. Rich Lindgren and I had decided that we just had to sneak back to the old honey hole. The problem was that Rich couldn't get out of work until about 3pm in the afternoon and we would have to be at a fellow Gopher Bassmasters house by 6:15 for our monthly club meeting. That's not all. It would also take us about an hour to get there, and we expected it to be dark by 5:30. So as you can see we would have to be nuts to drive all that way just to fish for about and hour and a half, and then fight rush hour traffic all the back to our meeting.

So we were fishing by about 4 o'clock. Oddly things actually started real slow. After about 45 minutes Rich had 5 and I only had 3. Although my second fish ended up being the biggest of the day, roughly 3 pounds. After struggling for the first hour we opted to check out another area that I had fished a few years back. It was a relatively shallow area, but it offered a main boat ramp that I knew got pretty deep all around it. I figured if we fished the rocks around the ramp we should be able to get a couple nice ones, and at least try to hit double digits. With only about a half hour to fish I caught a couple real quick. There was no time for screwing around now with the tally favoring Rich. I had started throwing a Jackall Flick Shake worm, 5.8"(green pumpkin), with a 1/8 oz. Zappu Inch-Wacky jig rigged wacky style. That only got one little bite in the first 20 minutes I threw it. I opted to switch back to my bread and butter, a 3.5" Strike King Coffee Tube(green pumpkin), with a 1/8 oz. Kalin's tube jig. Rich and I switched off catching one here and there, and with the sun nicely tucked away we both agreed since we were tied at 10 apiece we would make one last cast. Rich brought his tube back in unsuccessfully, as he was packing up his gear I set the hook on a nice 2 lb. smallie. You would never believe what happened next. Rich, I mean "Luke Clausen", came running over and grabbed my line and rod, all while I was fighting the fish. He kept screaming "Ultimate Match Fishing Style!!" I attempted to get to the fish right as he spit the tube from his mouth. WOW!! But hey, fair is fair. I should have seen that one coming. I mean I know I probably would have attempted the same thing had the role been reversed. The good thing for me is that now I owe Rich one. I hope for his sake I am not around when he has a whopper on the end of his line.

The tally ended at 10 apiece. Not bad at all for an hour and a half of fishing. We made it to the meeting and even had extra time to stop by Taco Bell. At today's club meeting we decided dates and locations for our 2008 Gopher Bassmasters tournament schedule. I will be sure to post those upcoming events very soon.

Breaking in the New Year - One Smallie at a Time

Welcome to 2008! I don't know about you but I can't think of a better way to break in the New Year in Minnesota than catching a ridiculous number of bass on a luke warm day in early January. So needless to say when I saw the forecast showing the possibility of 40 degrees I had to round up the troops. Joining me on our rare trip to smallie heaven was some good friends and fellow Gopher Bassmasters Ryan Brant, Rich Lindgren, and John Haynes.

After a not so quick stop to Cabela's we arrived at our first honey hole. To be honest time went way to fast. Everything was perfect, the weather was great and the fishing was non stop action. Ryan and I were both very close in the tallying and at one point we couldn't make a cast and not catch a fish. There were a lot of nice ones weighed in but lucky for me I weighed the heaviest in at 3.6 lbs. Ryan secured most fish with 72 and I trailed with a very close 71. Between the four of us we caught and released 210 smallmouths. Rich also caught a huge carp. I believe the scale read over ten pounds! Most of all the fish were caught on tubes (green pumpkin). Yum and Berkley Power Tubes seemed to be the preferred choice today. We were rigging them with 1/8 - 1/4 oz. Cabela's Tube Jigs. I was using 8 and 10 lb. Berkley Sensation Line (low vis green).

The Best Christmas Present Ever - I Got to Go Fishing!!!

Today the weather was cold but good enough for me. Matt and I got to our stretch of river at about 1:00 in the afternoon. It was cold and snowing a little. The temp was 23 degrees but there wasn't much for wind. We trampled through about two feet of snow until we got to our favorite spot. On my very first cast I caught my biggest of the day, a 4 pound smallmouth. I caught her on a YUM 3" tube (green pumpkin). I casted out to a underwater rock pile that always has fish on it. As soon as the tube hit the bottom my rod almost fell out of my hands. That's how bad the fish wanted it. It was on from there. The smallmouth action was pretty intense. We didn't catch a crazy number of them but definitely the size was there. Matt even caught two walleyes, one was his personal best, 6 lbs!! Both the walleyes bit on a 3" YUM tube (green pumpkin) as well.

As the afternoon wore on the fishing seemed to slow down a bit. The stretch of river is very rocky so snags are extremely common. It's nothing for use to each have to retie a dozen or more times in just a couple of hours. I have to be honest though. When your hands are frozen like ice cycles, it is very hard and time consuming to get your fingers to work for you. So needless to say we had to take a couple defrosting breaks. However it is definitely all worth it. To me there is nothing in the world more enjoyable than feeling a fish fight on the end of your line. It can make 20 degrees feel like 80 in no time. It started getting to dark and windy a little before 5 o'clock, so we decided to end our day. I finished with 19 smallies and Matt with 15. The awesome thing about it is 8 to 10 of mine were all over 2.5 pounds. Awesome!!

The forecast doesn't look to great in the near future with highs in the mid teens. The bass season doesn't end until the end of February so hopefully there will still be a dozen or so days to get the line wet. My wife Bri and I are headed out to Colorado for the New Year. We're leaving the day after Christmas and coming home on New Years Day. We're planning on spending some alone time in Denver and then meeting up with my Dad. My Dad and Step Mom Judy live in the mountains about an hour outside Denver. I know we have planned on going to watch the Colorado Avalanche take on the Detroit Red Wings, we are also planning on watching the one and only Minnesota Vikings take on the Denver Broncos. My Dad swears he is still a Viking fan but I don't believe him for a second. Hopefully the Vikes get a big win and prance their way into the playoffs!! I also have planned on stopping by Bass Pro Shops in both Council Bluffs, IA and Denver, CO. I'm going there just to look.....right?? We'll just have to see.

Until next year, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and GO VIKES!!!!!!

Tackle Update: Swimming and Crankin'

The weather has taken a turn for the worse around here and with the high temp averaging 15 degree's the fishing has been impossible. Not being one to settle for ice fishing I just have to sit and wait until the temps get back into the 30's. Then at least my line won't freeze up instantly on me. Next winter I'm planning on competing in some national tournaments to get me out of the frozen winters around here and to help me climb the ladder of professional fishing. So until then, this means I have some time on my hands. I decided I would add an entry devoted to some of the new tackle I have been adding to get ready for next season.

Lately I have been stocking up on my swimbait selection. This is unusual for me since I rarely if ever throw a swimbait. I have always been weary to throw such gigantic, awkward looking lures, at our northern bass. Originally I thought that swimbaits where for other areas such as California, Mexico, or even Texas. I am quickly realizing that may not be the case. Steve Kennedy fished a hitch colored Basstrix Paddle tail tube on Lake Onondaga, in New York, during a BASSMASTER Elite Series event, and caught a crazy limit of fish to claim a close second place finish. Onondaga is a similar natural lake to what we have in Minnesota. It really got me thinking. It is almost unheard of to throw a swimbait around here. If I can manage a way to effectively make this a part of my arsenal it can only help me become more of a diverse angler.

Lately I have been scouring through my latest editions of BASSWEST USA magazine researching all the different makes and models of swimbaits. BASSWEST USA is out of California and the west coast is responsible for the blow up of the swimbait. After much reading I came to a conclusion that soft plastic swimbaits would probably be my best choice for the conditions I will be facing in my upcoming tournaments. For one they are generally less expensive than their more durable counter parts. With all the toothy critters around here, the thought of loosing a $60 dollar bait on a two pound pike isn't that tempting to me. Sure their teeth can tear up the soft plastic body of the bait however there is a new "must have" product available called Mend-It. Mend-It is the first non-sticky, no mess soft plastic bonding system of it's kind. Not only will it repair your expensive swimbaits but it will patch up your last Gambler Cane Toad in a quick hurry as well, possibly saving a tournament for you. Here is a list of some of the hottest soft bodied swimbaits on the market:

1. Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube
2. 3:16 Mighty Minnow
3. Huddleston Deluxe Shad
4. California Swimbabies Baby E
5. Poor Boy's Baits Silly Rabbit

Also I have been stocking up on my deep crankbaits as well. Towards the end of last season I started really having some good success crankin' deep structure for big bass. It made me realize how much more I could develop this to give me more confidence and better my odds of doing well in tournaments all over the country. This technique catches some of the biggest bass literally all over the U.S. and yet it is probably one of the least used techniques. I decided to get a couple rods that I will devote to this style of fishing all year long. I went with a 7'0" Lamiglas XCF 705 R for my deep crankin' and a 7'0" Lamiglas XC 704 C for all my mid range crankin'. For crankbaits I opted for a vast range of styles but a small range of colors. Instead of getting all caught up with the color possibilities, I am going to concentrate more on the area I am fishing and my retrieve, than on the color of the bait. I'm sticking with the four colors that have always proven successful for different conditions. Colors such as Chartreuse Blue, Red (craw colored), shad, and natural. Murky water I'll go with more my vibrant colors, clear water would call for natural colors, and any where that shad is dominate I would go with shad imitators. Here is some of the crankbaits I have added recently:

1. Strike King Pro Model Series 5 and 6 (Sexy Shad)
2. Lucky Craft Flat CB D-12 and D-20 (Green Apple, Mad Craw, Chartreuse Shad)
3. Jackall Lures Muscle Deep 15+ (Purple Chartreuse, Chartreuse Shad)
4. Jackall Lures DD Cherry 48 and 55 (Chartreuse Shad, Crawfish)
5. Rapala DT-6, DT-10, and DT-16 (Parrot, Red Crawdad)

Well the good news is that the 10 day forecast is giving the possibility of 30 degree weather towards next week. I'm really hoping that will actually hold up and I can get out for some pre Christmas fishing. Until then I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Exercising the Smallies

The forecast called for high skies and temps in the mid 40's. Days like this are going to be very limited for the next several months so needless to say I was off to take full advantage of it. Fellow Gopher Bassmaster and good friend Rich Lindgren joined me for some non stop smallmouth bass action on the Mississippi River. We made our first casts at about 11 am and it didn't take but a minute for us to start getting bit. This certain stretch of river has been very generous lately and Rich and I made a bold goal of 100 bass each. I have to say, by the way things started out it seemed like we were going to easily surpass that number. We decided that the challenge was not going to be how many but how big. I believe Rich's quote went something like "It's not the number of fish you catch it's the size that cash's the paychecks". Being that Rich and I are naturally very competitive, you could guess that a good old bet came into place rather quickly there after. We decided that whoever catch's the heaviest fish wins and the looser buys dinner. It wasn't long after that Rich sets into a nice smallie, unfortunately for him the fish got off right at his feet. We continued to catch fish but they were all pretty much under two pounds a piece. These are not the kinds of fish that are going to get either one of us a free dinner. No sooner did that thought come into my head then I got a nice bite right next to a laydown tree. A good fish, a real good fish but it managed to bury me up in the limbs and before I could do anything my line went slack. That hurt. It also didn't help that Rich found it very humorous and got a pretty solid chuckle out of it. It really stung when 20 minutes later Rich was fighting a nice one out of the same brush pile. This one was weighed and Rich posted the mark at 2 lbs. 14 ounces.

At about the half way point the count was 30 for Rich and 24 for myself. The bite slowed and we decided to head out and check another good stretch a couple miles down river. Knowing I needed to get a bigger bite I switched from a 3" YUM Tube (green pumpkin) to a 3.5" Strike King Coffee Tube (green pumpkin). I found a nice little drop that went from rock to sand and cast my lure right down the edge. I worked it very slow up the slope when I felt a subtle "tick" in the line. There she was, 3 lbs 13 oz.

We fished until dark and in the end Rich finished with 76 smallmouth bass to my 65. Not bad cosidering it was his first time fishing this area. He was just smoking them there for a while on a 3" Berkley Power Bait Finesse Tube (green pumpkin). He did have a couple of nice fish get off, but in the end I won the bet. Just for good measure my 65th fish weighed in at 3 lbs. 12 oz. I like my burger medium with american cheese please.

On the ride home we talked about other ways we could have caught them and think with some adjustments we could each get to 100. Sounds like a good time to me.

"It's not the number of fish you catch it's the size that cash's the paychecks." -Rich Lindgren

From left to right: Me with the winner 3.13 lbs., me with the runner up 3.12 lbs, Rich with a nice 2.14 lb (sorry about the bad picture), and my lure of choice, a 3.5 inch Strike King Coffee Tube (green pumpkin) with 1/8 oz. Kalin's Tube Jig.

A day on the River Fishing with John from Mizzouu

About 6 months ago I met a good friend, John Sapp now nicknamed Pops. Being new to the Twin Cities, and looking for a good watering hole, he bellied up to my bar. For those that don't know I bartend in the evening. We got to talking and he showed a lot of interest in fishing. Needless to say I found a favorite regular pretty quick after that. We made plans to go fish my favorite stretch of river and of course Pops was all in. Pops, Matt, and I all met up for breakfast and then headed north. At breakfast Matt and I made a point that we were going to try to catch 100 smallmouth bass that day. We got out to one of my best spots and after a quick lesson (very quick I might add) we were on our way to 100.

We may have fished for about 4 hours and after it was all said and done we caught 93. I caught 45, Pops 17, and Matt 31. Although we did catch a few nice ones we really didn't get any hogs. I do have to admit though, Pops caught the biggest of the day. Not bad for a guy from Missouri. Which brings me to another point. We would have definitely cleared 100 if one of Pops's family members would not of called and left him a message stating that Mizzou lost to K St., that was a mean joke, because after hearing the message Pops stopped catching fish and started hooking rocks!!! Personally I thought it was pretty funny. Mizzou did win. Go Tigers!

The weather is starting to get nasty around here. Soon the lakes and rivers will be completely frozen over and my depression will kick in. However, I usually try to offset that by gearing up for next years tournament schedule. Nothing like buying a new rod or reel or both to cure the insanity. I have been adding in some new tackle and equipment to get ready for the season. Soon I will do a tackle update and go over some of 2008's upcoming products. Although I do have to say, hopefully in the next couple of years, Bri and I (and the dogs) will be moving back to Florida or possibly Tennessee. Anywhere that I can fish year round and be a little closer to the heart of bass fishing . Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Congratulations to Rich Lindgren for earning a top 50 finish in the BASSMASTER Weekend Series National Championship on Clarks Hill!

Blastin' Bronzebacks

Mississippi River, MN

Today was a great day! My long time pal Matt and I headed up to the Mississippi River for some good ol' smallmouth bass fishing. I have to say this stretch of river is some of the most beautiful area I have ever been around and it is where I cut my teeth learning how to fish for smallies. For those of you that think Mississippi River and associate barges, wing dams, murky water, need to think again. I'm talking north of the Twin Cities area, where the river is only 300 yards wide, shallow, lined with rocks and boulders, and loaded with giant smallmouths. I'm generally way to busy to fish this area during the summer because of my tournament schedule, but when everybody heads up north to do some hunting, I head up with my 6'6" medium action spinning rod and some 8 lb. line. Over the last couple weeks I have been heading up there and fishing has been o.k. I have caught good numbers but no real big ones to boost my self esteem. Today was not one of those days.

Matt frequently joins me on these particular trips and we always have a good old fashioned gentleman's bet going on for who catches the most bass. The first few times this year it had been close, but I just keep barely edging him out. Today, I am happy to say was no different. We were only able to fish for about 3 1/2 hours. I ended the day with 34 and Matt with 20. The awesome thing was at least 20 of mine were over 3 lbs. We generally use all sorts of lures, jerkbaits, tubes, jigs, drop shot worms, and more. Although I have to say, most fish today definitely came on tubes. I was testing out some tubes I haven't used before, the new Strike King Coffee Tube (green pumpkin). It seemed to work great. At first when I heard of the Coffee Tube I wasn't impressed. Coffee scented?? I mean come on. Really?? But hey, I have to admit, it had great action and the fish obviously were in the mood for some caffeine. I also have to admit I prefer the smell of coffee over garlic crawfish any day. We would just cast out into the current and slowly bounce the tube of the rocks. Light line is the way to go, it really makes a 4 pound fish a challenge to land. Once on a school it was easy to activate them into biting one after another, however the second one broke you off, the game was over. Then we would just move along to the next eddy and start setting some hooks.


All said and done it was a fantastic day. These are the kind of days that got me hooked on bass fishing, and they are the kind that keep me hooked. Tournaments are great but there is something special about hanging with a good friend, talking some trash, and fighting some bull smallmouths! Well, at least until he beats me

Tackle Update: New "Must Have" Products

Well, with my tournament season getting ready to go into hibernation until April, I decided it was time to post about some of the new and hottest tackle that have been plastered in all the fishing magazines and television shows. First and foremost, the Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube. This lure has been responsible for some serious big limits of fish in the 2007 tournament season. Because of it's huge exposure this lure is almost impossible to get your hands on. These lures retail for anywhere between $9.99 and $11.99 , yet I've seen them sold for $60 on Ebay. Crazy! There is no doubt that these lures are a must have, although you don't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money threw ebay and other areas to get your hands on these baits. There are similar lures out there that will do close to the same things and possibly even suit you better.


(Pictured above from left to right: Basstrix Paddle Tail Tube, and Poor Boy's Baits The Bug, Silly Rabbit, and Drop Shot Goby)

I would start with looking into the Poor Boy's Baits Silly Bunny and Silly Rabbit. These new age swim baits have been out for a while and are quietly winning tournament pros some nice paychecks. The Silly Bunny is 4.5 inches long and the Silly Rabbit is 5.75 inches long and comes with it's own hooks. Poor Boy's is the innovator of the Drop Shot Goby, a staple for Great Lakes smallmouth bass fisherman. I personally am a giant fan of their Bertha Bug and Bug. I like to use them as a trailer on my jigs. The feet have incredible action and the bait really help add bulk to my presentation. Check out the full line of Poor Boy's Baits.

Another hard to get lure right now is the Sebile Flatt Shad, Possessed Series. This may look like just another lipless crankbait, but that is not the case. The principle behind the "Possessed Series" is the glitter filled fluid in the cavity of the bait. When being ripped threw cover the fluid gives off a look of loosing scales, like an injured baitfish.


(Pictured above left to right: Sebile Flatt Shad and the Shimano Core MGFV)

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a huge fan of Shimano reels. New this year is the Shimano Core. I am definitely getting a couple of these before my tournament season starts. They offer the Core in two styles, standard and Flippin' versions. I am definitely all about the flippin' version. It comes in a 7.0:1 gear ratio, has a magnesium frame to give it it's light weight, and comes with the flippin' handle. Couple this reel with a nice light weight graphite rod and you will be able "flip" all day long without getting fatigued.

Unfortunetly for me I have scheduled to have my boat winterized and stored. I will be getting it back out on April 1st for my trip to Oklahoma's Grand Lake. Until then I have a few smallmouth winter spots that don't freeze up. I'm not one for ice fishing, so thank God for those couple areas of open water! Happy Fishing!

**SOLD** 2001 Ranger R71 Bass Boat

2001 Ranger R71 Bass Boat
125hp Mercury Outboard

I am selling my 2001 Ranger R71 bass boat. It comes with a 2001 125 hp Mercury outboard, a 65 lb. thrust Minkota trolling motor, a Lowrance 102c color sonar unit, a Lowrance 27c color sonar/GPS unit, built in oxygenator, brand new Trojan cranking battery. This boat both runs excellent and is in near mint condition. 100% tournament ready.

$10,000 OBO

For any questions or to set up a time to take a look, please contact me at Josh@JoshDouglasFishing.com

My New Boat!! 2006 Ranger Z20 Comanche

What a great day! Today I brought home my new boat, a 2006 Ranger Z20 Comanche. It came equipped with a 225hp Evinrude E-TEC outboard. Ranger makes some of the nicest boats built and I am very excited to keep up the trend. Hopefully this coming year I can earn myself some serious Ranger Cup money.

Fun Day Out Fishing with the Love of my Life

Lake Mille Lacs, Garrison, MN

My wife Bri and I headed up to her cabin in McGregor for a nice relaxing weekend. We decided to go try the smallmouth action on Lake Mille Lacs, one of the biggest lakes in Minnesota. For anyone who is not from around here Mille Lacs is a world renown walleye fishery. Not just trophies, but numbers as well. Leave it to me to be on that good of a body of water and not be fishing for walleye at all. No way, not me. I was after the giant smallmouth bass that roam that lake. I may have failed to mention but good ole' Mille Lacs is also a trophy smallmouth bass and muskie factory as well. Known for its awesome shallow rock reefs and abundance of life that makes up the lake, all these fish have trophy potential. My wife Bri, aka the "muskie hunter", which is self named after her 42" muskie she caught last year on Lake Minnetonka, decided to devote her time on the water to one of those 50" monster muskie that roam the reefs as well.

The day started out pretty nasty. It was about 45 degrees, windy and rainy. We launched out of one of the lakes many launch sites and I instantly headed for a couple well producing areas for both smallies and ski's. I threw tubes, dropshots, crankbaits, jerk baits, topwater, and jigs. I bounced around between 6 inches and 20 feet, and ran from spot to spot. The result was nothing, not one little bite. Bri was lobbing at giant 12 ounce handmade wooden plug that she was just dying to try. It sure was a trophy only kind of lure. She managed to throw the lure to every reef around us and she also didn't get a single strike.

As the afternoon moved on, the weather started getting real nice for us. I decided to try to work some of the boat docks that were in the sheltered marinas. What an excellent idea that was. The fish were in there and they were biting. The only thing was that they were all largemouth. We had a great time the next hour and a half. I caught between 15 and 20 and Bri caught close to 10. I think she even may have caught the biggest of all them and it was on her last cast of the day. I was using a 3/8 oz. 10,000 Lakes TeN-k Jig (green pumpkin), tipped with a Guide Series 2.75" Chunk (green pumpkin). Bri was going all finesse with her 6' 6" St. Croix Avid M spinning rod, Shimano Stradic reel, and she was skipping a 3" YUM tube (green pumpkin) with a 1/8 oz. Kalin's tube jig. What didn't smoke my power style jig would grab her finesse tube for sure.

All in all it was a great day. Neither one of us caught what we were looking for, but we still managed to put together a successful outing. Hopefully next time one of us will have a trophy story to tell.

19th Annual Sunrise Charity Bass Tournament

North and South Center Lakes, Lindstrom, MN

Wow! What a tournament. This event was my last of the season. All in all, I feel like I had a pretty successful season, but would really like to end it on a good note. Possibly even bring on some early momentum for next year. My partner was my good buddy and fellow Gopher member Ryan Brant. We spent some time last week practicing, I went to North Center and he took South Center. At the end we decided that we were both on a strong dock bite. We had narrowed down a couple real good stretches on both sides of the lake, and was pretty confident in our game plan. We were both getting bites by pitching jigs underneath the many boat docks that wrap the lake. I was getting my bites on a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (fall craw), with 20 lb. Viscous Fluorocarbon or a 1/4 oz. TeN-k Jig (green pumpkin) (black and blue) by 10,000 Lakes Tackle, coupled with 15lb. Seagur Fluorocarbon.

On game day we blasted off and headed right to a spot on South Center that Ryan had the majority of his success during practice. After the run down there we come to realize that his docks had been taking out for the winter. Not exactly the start we were looking for. However lucky for us it was just one of those perfect days. Not wanting to completely waste time and run all the way back up to North Center we decided to work some of our back up areas. Right away Ryan caught about 3 keepers. I saw a nice pontoon, pitched to it and set on an awesome 4.5 lb. fish. That's what we needed! One minute later Ryan boats another nice one, 3.9 lbs to fill our limit. We continued on our pattern and we continued to cull fish, mostly an ounce at a time. We decided to head up into North Center and work my areas that I had found in practice. I was very excited to see my area had held up nicely. Right away Ryan caught a nice 5 pounder and minutes later I boated another that weighed every bit of 5 lbs. This left us close to 18 lbs and it was only 10 o' clock!

As the afternoon moved on the weather picked up. Rain and wind moved in and the bite slowed. Knowing we had a REAL good sack of fish we agreed to move water and hog hunt! Look for one more kicker fish. With about two hours to go Ryan catches another giant! It weighed in at 5.2 lbs! That fish put our limit at over 20 lbs! Time ran out and we decided to head back to the weigh in a tad early to insure we had no problems getting back on time. We watched the first flight way in and the leaders were at 15.5 lbs. We took to the scales and won the tournament with a whopping 22.45 lbs.!!! We even beat the record for biggest 5 fish limit in that event ever! I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the season and build momentum for next year!

This tournament was a fundraiser tournament, put on by the Sunrise Bassmasters, for the Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau. Together all involved raised $1071.00 dollars for the charity! What an awesome way to raise money for a great cause!

Gopher Bassmasters Fall Classic

Coon Lake, East Bethel, MN

Coon Lake was the mystery lake drawn for this tournament. I drew Brad Veech as my partner. This is the only Federation club tournament that is set up as a team format. Unfortunately for Brad and I neither one of us has ever seen Coon Lake, let alone fished it. We drew boat number 1 for take off and it was really quite ironic. All year I never drew boat number one and the one time I do I have no idea where to go. I quickly glanced over my GPS map and found a bay on the deep side of the lake that had some deep water. All in all, Coon Lake is a pretty shallow lake, with a nice weedline that wraps around the entire lake. It has got many docks, and some reeds, and also a few mats of some nice vegetation. I figured it being Fall, and the water temps dropping quickly, that the fish would start deep and then move shallow as the water warmed and the sun got high. We started at a nice point at the mouth of the bay. The point dropped nice into deep water and had a great weedline. The only problem was it was not harboring any bass, or if it was they didn't want what we had. We went into the bay and started fishing the boat docks. I wasn't sure if they would pay off, but I knew they would later in the day. Although as I was thinking that I set the hook on a small 15 inch largemouth, about five docks later I set the hook again on about a 14 inch fish. Not exactly what we were looking for but hey, it's two bass in the well in the first hour and a half. We'll take it. After spending about another hour or two in that bay without any more bites we decided to explore the lake and see what else it was offering. We fished a nice deep channel that resulted in nothing. We checked out the reeds and found nothing. We probably should have given them more of a chance, but we both agreed that there wasn't much water on them. In the Fall that is not a bad thing though. Shallow water that has a bunch of sand on it will warm up quickly. A few guys were catching smallmouths out of there. I didn't even know there were smallmouths to be had! I should have checked the DNR creel survey before hand.

After spending a few hours fishing we found a nice flat that fluctuated between 2 ft. and 8 ft. Brad caught a nice fish about 2.5 lbs on a spinnerbait. We worked it for probably an hour and only caught northern pike (AKA snot rockets). With about an hour to go I decided to hit the boat docks again. The sun was high and it was getting into the low 80's. The docks were highly pressured which was a bit discouraging, although I knew they had to be there. I pulled up to a couple docks, after a few skips I set the hook on a nice 3 pound bass. It was a bit nerve racking because he had me tangled up under the dock and my trolling motor didn't have much juice. I wasn't able to get a good charge on it the night before and between the wind and constant shallow water it took a beating. Lucky for us my 20 lb. Viscous Fluorocarbon line held up under the pressure and I was able to finesse the fish through the chains and into the boat.

With time running out and no trolling motor we opted to drift across a flat. Nothing. We headed back to the weigh in with only 4 fish. Nothing to brag about. We weighed in at just under 8 lbs. Rich Lindgren and Ron Smith won the tournament with 5 fish weighing a whopping 19.3 pounds. All fish came off the boat docks with about 2 hours remaining in the tournament. Hats off Boys! Just to show how impressive their victory was I believe second place weighed in at just under 11 pounds!

This tournament all my fish came on a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (fall craw), with a Yum Chunk (camo or green pumpkin). I was using a G Loomis IMX 7ft H rod and a Shimano Chronarch 100B reel.

I am excited for the next upcoming weeks. I am fishing the Sunrise Bassmasters Supporting Youth Charity Tournament with my buddy Ryan Brant. The tourney is at North and South Center Lakes, in Chisago, MN. We did pre fish for the tournament and did real well. We feel like we have a pretty solid game plan. I will post our practice details after the tournament on Sunday. Hopefully our practice will pay off and we can get a nice check before the end of the year. Next week I will be heading up to the Rum River to get dialed in on the smallmouths. Then my wife Bri and I, along with the two stooges (our dogs), will be heading up to the cabin next weekend in McGregor. We plan to spend a half day on Mille Lacs, fishing for 5 lb. smallmouths. I'm shaking just thinking about it! Then spend the rest of the time relaxing and enjoying a nice Minnesota fall weekend. Not to bad for a guy addicted to fishing!

Prefishing for the Gopher Bassmasters Fall Classic

Practice for the Fall Classic is really a tough thing to do. Mainly because we do not know which lake will be hosting us. A matter of fact we won't find out until the day before the tournament. It's a mystery lake. Personally I think it is quite a challenge that way. Since I didn't know where the venue was going to be, I decided to head out to one of my favorite lakes. Sorry but due to it's size I will again leave this lake nameless. First thing I noticed was that the water temp was on it's way down. We have been having some real chilly nights here in the Twin Cities lately and Fall is definitely around the corner. I started checking my deep spots right away. Rock piles, deep weedlines, humps, nothing. I made a decision right away that the bass may be moving into the shallows. I headed for the boat docks and started throwing my bread and butter, the 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Green Pumpkin/Brown). I started skipping and pitchin' the docks and within minutes I had my first fish, a 2 lb. largemouth. The fishing was hot on the docks. In fifteen minutes I had caught 5 fish. No giants though. I decided to make a switch. I thought maybe a bait with more bulk would get a big bite. I switched to a 3/8 oz. TeN-k Bass Jig, by 10,000 Lakes Tackle (green pumpkin). I also added a Berkley Chigger Craw (green pumpkin), as a trailer, and a Tru Tungsten rattle for sound. It took only a cast or two and I set on my biggest of the day, 4.5 lbs. Not bad! She was right up underneath a pontoon. The nice thing about the TeN-k jigs is that one side of the jig head is flat. You wouldn't believe how beneficial that can be when trying to skip a jig underneath something. I went on to catch a few more nice bass when all of a sudden my new jig was ripped off by a nice 30" muskie. Unfortunately for me that was my only TeN-k jig. I will be getting more before the tournament.

The dock bite stayed hot all day and into the evening. I did catch a small bass on a weedline point with a Rapala DT-6 (parrot). All in all it was an ok day. Not sure where the fish are going to be on Sunday when its tournament time, but I know I will find them! Saturday I will be prefishing for the Sunrise Bassmasters 19th Annual Supporting Youth Tournament. Which will be held on September 30th, at North and South Center Lakes. Nothing better than fishing for a great cause!

2008 Bassmaster Weekend Series Schedule

Recently ABA (American Bass Anglers) and B.A.S.S. released the dates and places for next years BASSMASTER Weekend Series Tour. I am definitely fishing all these events next year. This trail guarantees a minimum 5K for first place in every tournament. Also the top nine in the Angler of the Year standings get invites to the national championship to compete for a chance at the BASSMASTER Classic and an opportunity to fish on the Elite Series. I am real excited about the bodies of water we will be fishing.

June 6th, 2008 LeHomme Dieu Chain of Lakes

July 19th, 2008 White Fish Chain of Lakes

August 2nd, 2008 Pokegama Lake

August 23rd, 2008 Vermillion Lake

September 27th & 28th, 2008 Lake Minnetonka

Click here for more details.

Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions Day 2 (Final Day)

Leech Lake, Walker, MN

Not the day I was looking for! I woke up to a cold front with heavy winds and clear blue skies. I knew it was going to take some real good fishing to come up with the kind of weight I was looking for. I drew partners with Chris from Golden Hook Bassers and was fishing out of his 18 foot Ranger R81. Chris took us to the Headquarters area where he had done well yesterday on a topwater frog bite. I should have known I was doomed for a long day when I caught a nice fish on my very first cast. Two casts later I had another in the boat, both victim to the Sumo Frog (Black). Snake Bitten! I went hours without another bite. I made the switch to the jig pretty early. I knew the frog bite wasn't really going to get me into the top twelve, not with the type of conditions we were faced with. After hours of no fish and my partner still fishless, I recommended a spot in the north side of Boy Bay. Here is where my lack of preparation hurt me because I wasn't to familiar with this area of the lake. I had only spent a half day of practice in this area. I opted to fish some thick rice beds. I knew I would put myself in position to get limited bites, but if I could get three quality bites, I would have a chance. After about a half hour I had a big bite, set the hook , and caught nothing but rice. I got my three bites but didn't capitalize on a single one. Tough weather coupled with less than perfect fishing amounted in my 90th place. I weighed in 2 fish for 4.76 lbs. and a total weight for 18.44 lbs.

Not the finish I was looking for to say the very least. Maybe if I would have prepared for this tournament better and brought my boat for practice I would've done better or at least given myself a better opportunity. I also learned how important it is to do well in the Gopher Club tourneys to insure I qualify for the opportunity. Lucky for me I had a good season there and am fishing as a boater for the 2008 MN Tournament of Champions, on the Mississippi River. I guess practice starts now!

Congratulations to Rich Lindgren and Ryan Brant. Rich earned 4th place and a trip to divisional's. Ryan earned 13th and is the team alternate. Good work Boys!!

Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions Day 1

Leech Lake, Walker, MN

I drew Larry of Lakes Area Bassmasters as my day 1 partner. We were fishing out of his 20 ft Champion. Right away Larry took us to his patch of rice that proved productive for himself during practice. I quickly caught a descent fish about 2.5 lbs. on a 3/4 oz. Grassmasters Jig (Black and Blue),tipped with an Uncle Josh Phantom Craw Pork Rind (Black with Blue tips). I know it sounds weird using the pork. I haven't used pork since the real early 1990's, when I was a kid fishing with my grandpa. But it works real well up there. I was in the back of the boat so I figured to give myself the best odds I would have to work water that Larry was not. He was pitching the edge and the first 5 feet of rice, so I was forced to pitch deeper. I would pitch my jig into any possible open area of the rice about 10 to 15 feet past the edge. This proved to be productive since I was getting more bites. The downfall to this is that the wild rice is some real gnarly stuff. Unfortunately for me I boated only one bass and lost 2 real nice ones. Both fish almost made it into the boat but then managed to hang up in the thickest clump of rice. Frustrated I told Larry of a nice area that I had found in practice and explained that we could both fill a limit of fish there. With Larry only having one small fish in the livewell it didn't take much convincing. We showed up in the area near Steamboat Bay and I started throwing my Sumo Frog (Black). It didn't take but 45 minutes and I had a full limit and was culling. The problem was that I was only culling about an ounce at a time. Larry managed to pick up another three fish and then decided to take us back to his rice patch. Unfortunately for the both of us we didn't get a single bite. I'm sure this rice bed was being picked over pretty well by mid afternoon. With about an hour to go we abanded the rice patch, went back to my area in Steamboat. It was a bit slower but I managed to cull out one more time and Larry caught his 5th fish as well.

After a 20 minute boat ride back to the weigh in we got back 15 minutes early. I remembered a marina close by that Rich and I stumbled across in practice. We headed over there and on my first skip under the first dock I set the hook on a nice 3 pounder! That helped. I knew I wasn't sitting in the top ten or even twenty but more importantly I knew I would have a chance the next day to make a run at the top twelve. I weighed in at 13.68 lbs. Could be better, but could also be a lot worse. Larry weighed in at 10.22 lbs.

This isn't a money tournament. It is a qualifying tournament. The top twelve after day 2 go onto divisional's. If you can make it past divisional's you qualify for nationals, which is aired on ESPN. If you are lucky enough to get through nationals you can qualify for the BASSMASTER Classic! Also have a shot for the Elite Series. Since that is my biggest goal in life to compete at that high of a level, it's needless to say I was anxious to get out there on day 2 and make it happen. I figured I need 17 pounds on day 2 and I would have a chance. Sounds like a lot but Leech Lake is notorious for giving up big sacks. The day 1 leader was weighed in at 21.04 pounds. Hopefully it would work out for me.

Practice for the MN B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions

I arrived at Leech Lake Saturday evening and was very excited to get on the water. Unfortunately I drew as a non boater for this competition due to my place in the standings with my club, Gopher Bassmasters. I didn't bring my boat up although I wish I had. It would have proved smart since Leech Lake is a gigantic 120,000 acre body of water. So much to look at. Almost overwhelming. Although I was lucky I did get to practice with a couple real good sticks, Ryan Brant and Rich Lindgren. Last year Gopher had a couple club tournaments on Leech so both Ryan and Rich were pretty familiar with the waters.

I went out with Ryan on Sunday in his 20ft Ranger Comanche. It was a nice ride considering that Leech is known for it's power. It is not uncommon to run into 4 or even 5 foot rollers out on the main lake. We started out fishing some small marinas that Ryan had targeted last year. Given that these areas were small and not likely to recycle itself of bass we decided to just pull on the fish. No sense putting a hook in its mouth and then expecting to catch it a few days later. Some marinas were good and some were not so good. I was throwing a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (black and blue) and a 3/8 oz. Stanley Platinum Jig (Craw), Ryan was throwing a 3/8 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (fall craw) and a 3/8 oz. Stanley Platinum Jig (craw).

After spending hours in the marinas we decided to start looking for big ones in the rice. Leech Lake is known for it's endless bounties of wild rice. State law prohibits boaters from getting into the harvestable rice but as long as you are considerate and not idiotic this wouldn't be to big an issue. After limited success in some well known rice beds we stumbled across an area that was later nicknamed the "Monkey Box". The area reminded me of Florida's Lake Okeechobee, were they have a well known area called the same. At first it didn't look like much but I convinced Ryan to put down the trolling motor and give it a shot. I couldn't have been his second cast with a Spro Frog (Midnight Black) when all you heard was the explosion. A nice 3 pound bass. Seconds later I had one, and then another, and then another. We were pulling on fish left and right. We went in for dinner and then came back this time Rich joined us. It was fun. Lots of fish. We did our best not to hook them. I was throwing a Scum Frog (Black).

Monday I launched with Rich. We decided we would work the East side of the lake. Headquarters and Boy Bays. We did a lot of Flippin' and was able to find some nice rice beds. We also checked Boy Bay were Rich had done really well in last years club tournament. He was excited to see that the fish were still there. We moved a lot of water that day and probably fished more dead water than good water. But that is a good thing, it shows were not to go on game day. I caught most of my fish on a 3/4 oz. GrassMasters Jig (Black and Blue)

Tuesday was the final day of practice. Rich and I launched early and ran all the way up Steamboat River. We found some fish but were not convinced it would be a worthy spot during the tournament. We ended up finding some nice quality fish on some small rice points in Steamboat Bay. We also found a nice marina were I pulled on a real nice bass under a dock. Weapons of choice were a 1/2 oz. Tru Tungsten Jig (Black and Blue), 3/8 oz. Stanley Platinum Jig (Craw), 1/2 oz. Strike King Premier Double Buzzbait (Black), and a Sumo Frog (Black).

All in all it was a good practice. I got more familiar with the lake and had a real good idea were to go to find a big bag of healthy Leech Lake bass. Hopefully the boaters I get paired with will be on good fish! Wish me luck!!