All posts by hellabass

Setting a FLW Fantasy Fishing Lineup for Kentucky Lake

June 10, 2009 hellabass

Kentucky Lake is in a big time upward cycle right now and kicking out a ton of fish and some real big ones. Both big smallies & largemouth could likely factor in during this event.

Fishery Details:
Type of water: Kentucky – Tennessee River (TVA) impoundment,
Barkley – Cumberland River impoundment
Surface area: 160,000 acres for Kentucky, 58,000 acres for Barkley
Shoreline: 2,064 miles for Kentucky, 1,004 for Barkley
Average depth: 20 feet for Kentucky, 12 feet for Barkley
Max depth: Approximately 60 feet on both lakes
Primary structure/cover: rock, grass, bushes, lay-downs, points, off-shore ledges, brush
Species: largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass
Length minimum: 15″ for largemouths, 18″ for smallmouths, 12″ Spotted bass

All indications is that this tournament will be a full on ledge bite.

Here are my other anglers to watch:
Dan Moorehead
Jim Moynagh
George Geane, Jr.

Basically I am sticking with the strategy to keep littering my lineup with anglers that are hot right now and have past experience and lots of wins & top 10’s this week.

Finally, my FLW fantasy fishing picks:

Kentucky/Barkley Lake Roster		Tour Stats
	Selected Anglers	Events	Earnings	Missed Cuts	Avg Finish	Top 3	Top 10’s	Top 25’s	Wins
1	TERRY BOLTON	84	$ 422,100	77	65	2	7	25	0
2	ANDY MORGAN	90	$ 747,854	75	48	3	13	31	1
3	DAVID DUDLEY	88	$ 1,348,100	71	43	7	16	35	2
4	DAVID FRITTS	79	$ 836,548	64	69	7	14	21	5
5	BRENT EHRLER	31	$ 789,000	26	47	1	5	13	1
6	RAMIE COLSON JR	29	$ 143,000	26	87	0	2	7	0
7	DAVID YOUNG	34	$ 84,200	33	81	1	1	4	0
8	MICHAEL BENNETT	32	$ 1,401,850	26	52	3	6	13	2
9	STETSON BLAYLOCK	34	$ 302,975	28	48	3	6	12	2
10	SHINICHI FUKAE	38	$ 645,650	27	47	2	10	17	2

It’s not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

Setting an ESPN Fantasy Fishing Line-up for Mississippi River – Fort Madison

June 9, 2009 hellabass

The Mississippi River is one of the great bass fisheries in this country, but this particular section (Fort Madison) I think is under a little bit of hard times from last year’s flooding. This time of year, fish should be really starting to gang up in pads and eel grass edges, but from the sounds of it, not much of it has grown back from last summer. So if you can find some good stretches, they could be loaded, but also very crowded. A strong wood flipping bite could play as well. Either way, its nice to see the Elites visit the upper midwest for a change, should be a very exciting tournament, they will catch plenty of fish. Look for Swimming Jigs to be a big player here.

I am making some fairly serious changes this week to try to make some big moves, Alton Jones had to go, he was just too safe.

Here are a few guys that I think would be solid fantasy fishing picks that are not on my team. Chris Lane, Tommy Biffle, Iaconelli and Jami Fralick. The breakdown on my team is as follows:
KVD – He catches them every where, probably have a solid spinnerbait pattern going.
Matt Herren – For the money probably on my roster until the bitter end, should have a solid finish, strong shallow water angler.
Skeet Reese – To good to cut loose, should catch plenty of bass slinging Lucky Crafts around rocks & wood.
Dean Rojas– Come on Kermit, don’t let me down. Hoping the bass will eat a frog even if there is no grass.
Bill Lowen– C’mon wood flipping bite, that is Lowen’s deal!

So here are my Fort Madison picks, two signifigant changes from KY Lake:

Rich’sRoster
Angler 1	Angler 2	Angler 3	Angler 4	Angler 5

Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI	Skeet Reese Auburn, CA	Dean Rojas Lake Havasu City, AZ	Bill Lowen North Bend, OH	Matthew Herren Trussville, AL
MKT: $24.9 (+0.4) LKD: $24.5	MKT: $24.2 (+0.4) LKD: $23.8	MKT: $21.1 LKD: $21.1	MKT: $17.3 LKD: $17.3	MKT: $14.0 (+0.9) LKD: $13.1

Its not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Sponsors

Beaver Lake Fantasy Fishing Group Winner!

June 5, 2009 hellabass

Congratulations to Tricia Heinecke from New Richmond, WI; she was the highest scoring member of my Bassin’ Blog group for FLW Fantasy Fishing.

Brief email interview with Tricia and this is what she had to say on her strategy:
“My husband & I have Players Advantage. My husband made list of fishermen and my 5 year old son helped to pick his mommy’s team! Wish I could have had a couple exactas for a really big prize!! ”

For Tricia’s efforts, he has won a 5/16oz Threadfin Shad Secret Weapon Lure Sidearm Spinnerbait and will get a 30% off promo code to order anything he wants in the Secret Weapon Armory!

I am sure Tricia & her family will catch plenty of bass with this great spinnerbait! Thanks to Secret Weapon Lures for helping out with the prizes.

Its not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

All About Bass Shows, Multimedia

Presenting “All About Bass” – An Online Bass Fishing Show

June 3, 2009 hellabass

If you have been reading this blog and paying attention, I have been hinting & eluding to the possibility of some new video content. Well here it is! “All About Bass” will be an online bass fishing show that I will be working on, this blog will be one of many places you will be able to view it. Check out My YouTube Channel!!!

The Inaugural episode (webisode) is a 20lb Minnesota Bass Opener Challenge on a small south metro lake. I invite my buddy Josh Douglas to help me catch 20lbs in 7 hours of touranment style fishing. You may remember I blogged about my Bass Opener outing here. There are 4 segments to this first episode, posted below are all the segments.

UPDATED JUNE 12
Part 3 Added for your Viewing Convience:

So what do you think? We learned a ton from this first shoot, we already have ideas to improve the audio and other things. I would appreciate comments after you have watched. Segment 4 will be coming soon, so check back to the blog often. Or better yet, consider signing up with Email or RSS subscription so you never miss an episode!

UPDATED JUNE 19
Part 4 – “The Weigh-In” Added for your Viewing Convience:

If you are looking for Ring Frys, find them here!

You can also find these videos by searching YouTube or checking out MN Sun Newspapers or check out My YouTube Channel!

RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

Setting an ESPN Fantasy Fishing Line-up for Kentucky Lake

June 2, 2009 hellabass

Kentucky Lake is one of the great bass fisheries in this country. This time of year, fish should be really starting to stack up on ledges. Sounds like water levels have dropped, so flipping bushes probably won’t play much, but you never know.

By the way, you need to get it in by tomorrow 8am central, this tournament actually starts on a Wednesday and ends on Saturday to allow travel time to Iowa next week.

The next 3 events Kentucky Lake, Mississippi River, & Lake Oneida are all vastly different fisheries, so trying to set your lineup to fit all 3 may be a bit of a challenge.

Here are a few guys that I think would be solid fantasy fishing picks that are not on my team. Kelly Jordan, Kevin Wirth, Edwin Evers & Timmy Horton. The breakdown on my team is as follows:
KVD – With a 3rd & a 1st last two June events on KY Lake, he is a lock.
Matt Herren – For the money probably on my roster until the bitter end, should have a solid finish, hopefully he does not get caught chasing shallow fish and misses the ledge bite.
Skeet Reese – To good to cut loose, should catch plenty of bass slinging Lucky Crafts on Ledges
Alton Jones– Hot hand & should have solid finishes all 3 events.
Jami Fralick– Hopefully Jami can repeat last summer’s Kentucky success both on Elite Series and Open tourney, I am hoping he can produce on the Mississippi river as well, but he is for sure gone before Oneida.

So here are my Guntersville picks, just one change from Smith Mountain:

Rich’s Roster
Angler 1	Angler 2	Angler 3	Angler 4	Angler 5

Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI	Skeet Reese Auburn, CA	Alton Jones Waco, TX	Jami Fralick Martin, SD	Matthew Herren Trussville, AL
MKT: $24.7 (+0.2) LKD: $24.5	MKT: $24.0 (+0.2) LKD: $23.8	MKT: $21.8 (+0.2) LKD: $21.6	MKT: $15.8 LKD: $15.8	MKT: $13.8 (+0.7) LKD: $13.1

Its not too late to join my group, prizes will be awarded at every tournament and year end.

Best regards,
The Commissioner
RichLindgren.com
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Tournament Info

Mississippi River – Bassmasters Weekend Series Tournament #1 – May 31, 2009

June 1, 2009 hellabass

Based on my practice, I realized that winning this event would take some good fortune and the bass in my areas to grow, but I thought if I fished hard and fished clean I could put together a respectable finish and have chance to cash a check. My practice had not been stellar, but I had found a couple of areas holding fish both on Lake Pepin and down in the top of Wabasha backwaters; plus a few back up spots if I needed a fish near Red Wing. This tournament was a little unique, because I had never fished an event that launched out of Everts Resort on the north end of Pool 4 before.

After running south through the Wisconsin channel, I started on a rocky area of Lake Pepin, my partner had one fish on that looked to be a keeper on a spinnerbait, other then that we caught several close but short fish on finesse jigs and Fork Craws. From there I went to my second spot on Pepin, my partner caught 1 on his spinnerbait and another on his jig. I ended up catching 1 quality fish on a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten PB&J jig tipped with a Green Pumpkin Rage Chunk, plus several other smaller fish.

We hit another area on the way down to Wabasha, caught several fish that were barely keepers or short on jigs & tubes, nothing we kept. It did not take long flipping a steep bank with some wood on it in Wabasha that I caught a quality largemouth on Black/Blue Crazy Legs Chigger Craw rigged with a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten Flipping Weight and 4/0 Super Strong Youvella Hook. The bite was pretty slow, but when I got a fish it seemed to be decent. I ended up catching 2 decent smallmouth on my TT jig and got a 3.71lb largemouth on a chatterbait that I had rigged up special the night before.

Tru-Tungsten Jig was my work horse & chatterbait score my kicker fish!

I had caught some decent fish on a regular chatterbait with the split tail in practice. Because I felt I would need some bigger bites in the tournament, I upsized the trailer to a full white super fluke to give a bigger presence in the water. Its nice when a plan pays off like that! It ended up being the 3rd biggest fish weighed on the boater side. All my better fish came on baits that had a some moved a lot of water in the pretty dirty water that we had.

We spent some time around Red Wing trying to find my partner his 3rd fish, he had lost a couple earlier and could not get that last keeper bite at the end of the day, but we still had a great time!

I ended up with a mixed bag for 12.03lbs in 12th place out of 82 boaters, which got me a nice little check. Kudos to my buddy Josh Douglas for winning the event with over 15lbs, by finding some really nice smallmouth! Watch his blog for details. I am anxious for the next tournament on June 28th, in the mean time i have a couple club tournaments to keep me busy!

Tight Lines,
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Product Reviews, Sponsors

SECRET WEAPON RECOIL RIG TEARDROP GIVES ACTION

May 29, 2009 hellabass

SECRET WEAPON RECOIL RIG TEARDROP GIVES ACTION

Last year Rodney Long snapped the fishing world to attention with the introduction of his truly revolutionary fishing system, winning Best of Show at the Bassmaster Classic. Today, the Secret Weapon® Recoil Rig Teardrop Field Kit™, provides everything the angler needs to learn this new technique and start catching more and bigger fish the first day.

Secret Weapon’s patented Recoil Rig is not a lure; it’s a new rig and technique that can be used to make any soft plastic lure more active and more effective. The heart of this rig is Secret Weapon’s patented SpecTastic™ material – an elastic core with an outer sheath of strong Spectra® fiber. Thin and pliable enough to stretch three times its original length yet strong enough to cast or flip heavy weights without breaking, this rig makes soft plastic lures follow each subtle motion of the rod tip in every direction. And it can do this while remaining in one place – making it ideal for targeting bedding fish, those hanging tight to docks and other cover, or heavily pressured fish that need a little extra coaxing to open up and say “Ah!”

When attached between a lure and weight drop shot style, the Recoil Rig gives new life to any soft plastic bait – worms, minnows, craws, grubs, you name it. No special hooks or knots are needed, and plastics can be rigged weedless for heavy cover. It goes beyond the popular technique of drop shotting by producing life like action in every direction instead of just up and down. The Secret Weapon Recoil Rig can also be used to great effect when conditions call for Texas or Carolina-rigged plastics. The 15-lb. test shock cord allows the sinker to be dragged across the bottom, yet you can stop and work the lure in place when you see fish or get near likely ambush points. Unlike traditional rigs – where working the lure means pulling it away from fish-holding structure – the Secret Weapon Recoil Rig keeps the action right in the strike zone. Fish aren’t used to seeing a bait move this way – unless it’s real and alive – and that gives you a competitive edge.

These rigs stand up to hours of hard use and can be used repeatedly. According to Bassmaster Elite Series angler Randy Howell, “I used to say the Recoil Rig is like a drop shot on steroids, but it’s more than that. It’s the first thing to come along in quite some time that improves the way we can make fish bite.” Each Secret Weapon Recoil Rig Teardrop Field Kit includes 20 five-inch SpecTastic shock cords, six 1/2-ounce teardrop-shaped sinkers with Line-lock swivels for fast attachment, six Line-lock swivels for attaching the rig to your fishing line, and a special set of instructions to help anglers get the most out their new “secret weapon.” The entire kit retails for just $9.99.

Deadly for bass, the Secret Weapon Recoil Rig can also be used with soft plastic lures of all sizes to target any freshwater or inshore saltwater game fish.

Anglers and fishing tackle retailers can learn more about the innovative Secret Weapon Recoil Rig Teardrop Field Kit – as well as the company’s full line of proven spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, spoons, soft plastics and other tackle kits – by contacting Secret Weapon Lures

Tournament Info

Mississippi River Pool 4 Practice Day 2

May 29, 2009 hellabass

Yesterday for the most part was a struggle for my dad & I on pool 4, our first area produced two small keeper smallies and the next 4 areas had zero action. Then on a hunch we decided to check a two other areas and we actually found some keeper largemouth & smallmouth in those areas, nothing great, but much better then nothing.

Then with 5 minutes before we had to go, I caught this really nice 18.5″ smallie on a White Flash 1/4oz Super K swim jig. This was probably the lone bright spot of my two days of prefishing thus far. At least its another cull in the BP Bass Derby.

I will get out for a few hours on Saturday, but some of that time must be dedicated to finding Everts resort and best navigation route out of there. On a positive note, I have not burned my fish…… A strong practice does not always mean a good tournament and Vice Versa.

RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Tournament Info

Mississippi River Pool 4 Practice Day 1

May 27, 2009 hellabass

Memorial Day, my dad and I got out on Pool 4 to start preparing for the upcoming Bassmasters Weekend Series tournament on May 30th. We decided to launch from Red wing and check some areas in Lake Pepin and stuff closer to the launch ramp.

The first two areas we checked produced some decent bites on a Secret Weapon Lures Quickstrike spinnerbait that I custom built for the water conditions, which were fairly muddy just about every where we fished. I also picked up a few decent fish on a White Flash Super K Swim Jig. The 3rd area produced one good smallie, the next handful of areas were spotty to say the least.

At the very end of the day we found two more areas where we got several bites, a few keepers but nothing over about 2lbs. Again the spinnerbait & swim jig produced, I also finally got a few fish on my trusty 3/8oz PB&J Tru-Tungsten jig.

Overall, I think I got a few areas that can produce a check cashing bag, but on my next trip I plan to search out some other areas in search for some heftier fish to contend for a win. The most impressive thing is my spinnerbait caught the most largemouth and smallies by far, as well as a pike and two walleyes, the biggest 23.5″

See you on the water!
Rich
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Fun Fishing

Bass Opener Outing

May 25, 2009 hellabass

Josh Douglas & I headed out to one of our favorite south metro bass lakes, we were on the water around 7:30am, just after the rain had passed. We also brought along Greg, as he had a camera and were hoping to shoot some video footage of fish catches. We also decided to impose a challenge on ourselves. We had a goal of trying to catch 20lbs plus by 2pm for a 5 fish limit between Josh & I. We did a similar big bag challenge last year!

It took us about 20 minutes or so to get in the groove, but once we started catching them, it was pretty steady action for most of the day. We did about 90% of our damage with Lake Fork Ring frys rigged weightless on 4/0 Heavy OWG Super Strong Youvella hooks. I am really starting to dig both the hook up and land ratio with my new Youvella hooks.

We actually went through 3 full bags of the Ring Frys in the natural green colors, catching 2-3 fish on average per bait. We also caught a few fish on paddle tail swimbaits, Swim Jigs, Frogs, and TT Jigs. We caught a few fish off docks, but most fish came around emerging pads and old pad stem clumps.

Early on in the day, I actually busted a 5lb 5oz beauty. This was a great fish to put us on the 20lb pace. About mid day, I caught another nice toad that weighed 4 lbs 10oz; both fell for the LFT Ring Fry. To go with those we had a bunch of 2-3 lb fish. We knew we need one more 4.5lb fish to make our goal, but it never happened. We ended up with 17lbs 13oz, still a very good day and only a couple ounces different then last year.

Stay tuned, hopefully I will have some video to share with you as well! Next stop, time to start practicing Pool 4 of Mississippi River for the Bassmaster Weekend Series.

Hope all of you had a great MN Bass Opener as well!
RichLindgren.com
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog