All posts by hellabass

Setting an ESPN Fantasy Fishing Line-up for Lake Dardanelle

March 25, 2009 hellabass

Lake Dardanelle is once again much different then Amistad, but probably a little similar to the Red River classic site, so if you have guys on your roster from that event, maybe think about keeping them. Lake Dardanelle is kind of hybrid body of water that is kind of lake, kind of a river, so keep that in mind. For the most part, from what I read, its a fairly shallow fishery. Based on what I have read & seen of this fishery, probably a power fishing technique will win.

It also seems that on river systems, home field advantage can be a little more important. Guys like Scott Rook, Greg Hackney & Kevin Short have done real well in past tourneys on different sections of the Arkansas River. I think it has to do with these small little quirky spots and trees and stuff like that, seems like you can bank on some of these spots for a few key fish in tournaments, that looms large in a tough bite, as reported right now. It also sounds like there could be a little sight fishing if weather warms.

Hopefully somebody beat Mr. Mayer this week, he is hawging all the prizes

Here are a few guys that I think would be solid picks that are not on my team. Randy Howell, Scott Rook, Bill Lowen. The breakdown on my team is as follows:
KVD – He will likely be on my team all year, plus he has been strong here in the past, but where does he not catch them???
Clark Reehm – When I dropped Velvick, I looked down the list for a bargain pick, this is my bargain pick, local angle, good value, hopefully he has his best finish of the year here, cause I probably will rotate him out for Wheeler.
Iaconelli – When I picked up Reehm, I had all kind of cap space, so I added the Space Monkey, he is fishing hot.
Hackney – He remains on my team, actually doing research on whether I wanted Rook or Short, made me feel better about Hackney, he has been awesome on this system
Kevin Short – I wanted to pick Scott Rook, but searching through archives, especially old BFL results, Short is my guy this week.

Do not be surprised if only KVD & IKE are left on my roster for Dardanelle.

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

Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI	Michael Iaconelli Runnemede, NJ	Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA	Kevin Short Mayflower, AR	Clark Reehm Russellville, AR
MKT: $24.6 (+0.1) LKD: $24.5	MKT: $21.9 LKD: $21.9	MKT: $19.7 (+0.2) LKD: $19.5	MKT: $17.9 LKD: $17.9	MKT: $14.2 LKD: $14.2

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

General

Don’t Wait

March 24, 2009 hellabass

As I drove home last night, at times, driving rain, I thought to myself bring on the rain. Sure it was tough to drive in at times, but warm rain really melts ice, and I need open water bad! Plus most of the lakes I have drove by of late seem pretty low. I thought we had received a lot of snow this year, but it does not seem like much of it ended up in our lakes, guess it evaporated instead of melting and going into our lakes.

Regardless, my boat is now ready as soon as the water opens. The guys out at Extreme Marine did a great job, they always do. I would not drive from Lakeville to Andover to get my boat worked on if they were not good. My recommendation would be to put some of your tax rebate to good use (don’t waste it on some big TV) and give your outboard a tune-up for preventive maintenance. Easier to catch something before it breaks and takes out something else with it, plus you will have that peace of mind when you do go fishing for the first time this spring, your motor will start Nothing worse being that guy/gal hogging the boat ramp trying to get your motor started.

Not too mention, a good tune up will probably save you on oil & gas over the summer, they usually pay for themselves. Things are starting to pick up at the marine shops as the weather warms, but you can still beat the rush if you can get your boat in before April. My advice is to give the guys at Extreme Marine a call and get your boat in now, so you are not waiting to get it back on the first warm weekend when I am already out fishing!!!

Extreme Marine is located just north of the cities on HWY 65, 763-413-0025, ask for Mike or Bill and tell them I sent you, they will hook you up!!!

Good fishing,
RichLindgren.com
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

Announcements, BASS Tour

ALABAMA’S LAY LAKE SELECED FOR 2010 BASSMASTER CLASSIC

March 23, 2009 hellabass

LAY LAKE IN ALABAMA’S SHELBY COUNTY TAPPED AS FISHERY FOR 2010 BASSMASTER CLASSIC

BASS announced Tuesday that the 2010 Bassmaster Classic will return in February to Lay Lake in Shelby County, AL, site of three previous Classic competitions – 1996, 2002 and 2007.

Fifty-one Classic qualifiers will hit the Coosa River impoundment Feb. 19-21 for the 2010 Classic title. As previously announced, the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in downtown Birmingham, AL, will be the site of the daily weigh-ins and accompanying 2010 Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo. This weekend BASS firmed up the location for the morning festivities at Beeswax Creek Boat Ramp, 537 Beeswax Park Road, near the town of Columbiana, AL.

“Shelby County is excited about the opportunity to showcase our natural resources and attract an international audience as we host our fourth Bassmaster Classic,” said Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock. “Lay Lake continues to be a destination for anglers and water recreation enthusiasts, and Shelby County will continue to promote tourism through these types of events in our local, regional and state economy.”

Alabama is no stranger to the biggest event in the sport. The state has hosted 10 Classic events, including three contested on Lay Lake. The most recent, in 2007, is famous for being the first to be won by a home-state pro: Bassmaster Elite Series pro Boyd Duckett of Demopolis. He laid to rest the myth of “home-state jinx” when he won with 48 pounds, 10 ounces of Lay Lakebass.

Duckett bested fellow Elite pro Skeet Reese of Auburn, CA, by just 6 ounces.

Reese, who landed his first Classic title less than a month ago at the Red River in Louisiana, said another Classic on Lay Lake could be his chance to extract about 6 ounces’ worth of revenge.

“Another Classic on Lay Lake is great news. I will get the opportunity to go back to Lay Lake and try to win. Finishing second to Boyd in 2007 was a little tough to swallow,” he said half-jokingly.

“I feel a Classic on Lay also will be an opportunity for me to repeat as champion, and I’m excited about going back there.”

With the defending champion’s automatic qualification for 2010, right now Reese is the only angler with a secured berth – the other 50 will qualify through various BASS tournament circuits.

“Birmingham is excited to host the 40th Bassmaster Classic and we anticipate another fantastic event,” said Mike Gunn, vice president, Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is our seventh time hosting this prestigious, major sporting event.”

More info Bassmaster.com

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Multimedia

Don’t Judge

March 22, 2009 hellabass

You may or may not have noticed the new Twitter feed on the left sidebar of my Blog. Before you judge, I never though I would actually Tweet either, but I started looking into it and basically it seemed like a cool way to have a mini-blog update tool. So my main reason to have the Twitter Feed on the Bassin’ Blog is so that I can give more short & quick updates using that. Its also really easy to do from my phone. I still kind of feel like a Twit for adding it, but what the heck….

I hope to give quicker tournament results and other bass fishing notes via this new feature. So if you are not a subscriber (we are at 88 email subscribers), when you stop in to check the blog for new entires, glance at the Twitter feed as well. If you are using Twitter, you can follow me there as well at – http://twitter.com/HellaBass

I will have my Lake Dardanelle picks for Bass Fantasy Fishing posted as well before Wednesday.

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

Announcements, Sponsors

20% off all Swimbaits at Bass Tackle Depot!

March 19, 2009 hellabass

20% off all Swimbaits at Bass Tackle Depot!
SIMPLY ADD SWIMBAITS TO YOUR CART TO SEE THE DISCOUNTS!!!

Offer good while supplies last (No rain checks or back orders).
Prices shown are in U.S. funds and are subject to change.
Some restrictions may apply

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Sponsors

Lake Amistad Fantasy Fishing Group Winner!

March 19, 2009 hellabass

Congratulations to Jason Mayer from Indiana, he was the highest scoring member of my Bassin’ Blog group for ESPN Fantasy Fishing AGAIN!!!. Someone needs to step up at Dardanelle, take Mr. Mayer down a notch or he is going to run away with the overall title as well, just kidding, Jason is doing a great job
Jason has not won any BASS prizes, but he is cleaning up here and likely scored some Tackle Warehouse group prizes. He is 16th overall on the total site right now.

Brief email interview with Jason and this is what he had to say on his strategy:
“I kept the Skeet, Ike, and Hack from my Classic line-up. Then I just did some research on the web and ended up picking up Short and Williamson.“

For Jason’s efforts, he has won a SWL Recoil Rig Field Kit, another decal & another promo code, guess he will have to give that promo code to a friend, because he already used it for SWL Expedition Kit, so he is set on Spinnerbaits & Buzzbaits!! I think the boys & girls in Indiana better watch out if there is a good blade bite this spring!!!

I am sure Jason will catch plenty of bass as well when he employs the Recoil Rig to the already deadly Drop Shot technique! 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. Only a week until the next tourney, time to sharpen your lineups to catch Jason!

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

Product Reviews, Sponsors, Tips and Techniques

Secret Weapon Lures’ Economic Stimulus Plan

March 16, 2009 hellabass

Up to

20%
OFF

Pre-season Price Cuts on All Buzzbaits
Spinnerbaits
& Tackle Packs!

Secret Weapon Launches
Pre-season Saving Event!

An economic stimulus plan to keep more money in your wallet while putting more fish in your livewell.

Get ready for the hottest spring fishing action of your life! Now is the time to build your Secret Weapon arsenal. And to help you be ready when the fish are, we’re reducing prices 15-20% on all Secret Weapon spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and kits. Consider it our own, little stimulus plan!
Purchase at the Secret Weapon Lure Armory

USA-made quality and service, greater selections, unparalleled value and performance… all at a savings of up to 20%!

Howell’s Recoil Rig Tips

Bassmaster Elite Series angler Randy Howell’s weapon of choice is the Recoil Rig. Howell used this rig in the past to upgrade his drop shot presentation, and he’s discovered a number of new ways to employ it.

Jump Shot — retrieve baits like you are Carolina-rigging, pausing to work the lure by each piece of cover. The Recoil Rig increases the soft plastic’s action a few inches off the bottom as it dances in place.
Slap Shot — pitch the weight onto a dock, shore, or floating milfoil mats, put a little tension in the line, and slap the lure on the surface to make it look like a struggling critter. An 8-pound Guntersville largemouth exploding on this presentation convinced him that this approach works.
Brushpiles and timber — On the Red River, one tactic that paid off for Howell was pitching a soft plastic on a Recoil Rig next to a tree stump or lay-down that was likely to hold fish. He was able to work the lure for three, four, even five minutes in one spot without moving it away from the fish’s ambush zone. This is an improved version of the Flip Shot rig recently discussed in FLW Outdoors Magazine.

Here’s a tip you can use: As spring creeps northward, bass are heading to the beds. The Recoil Rig with a creature bait or lizard, shaken hard right over the bed, then letting it drop into it, catches fish quicker than anything else out there.

Learn more Recoil Rig information and techniques on Secret Weapon’s Website.

Keep an eye out for a post that I am working on called: Bass Fishing in a Recession!

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

BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, FLW Tour

Iacnonelli & Walker set the pace

March 13, 2009 hellabass

Couple notes from Day 1 on both major tournament tours.

Ike bags giant donkey of a bass, that weighed almost 13lbs to take the lead at Amistad, he also had a fish around 8lbs. Those two fish anchored his 27-09 lb bag. The weights were off as Amistad goes, but still 9 bags over 20lbs. Don’t think anyone will reach a 100lbs this week, but you never know. My fantasy team is middle of the pack, but my lowest guy (Bill Lowen) is in 60th, so I got a good shot of my whole team fishing Day 3 which really helps. Could be doing better if Velvick would have boated fish #5.

Photo from BassZone.com

Here is a brief update from the guys at BassZone.com and the anglers they got updates from on the water.
Weights from the Water on Day 2 as of 12:30 CDT. I know Fralick had a few fish as well.

Evers – 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Snowden – 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Bobby Lane – 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Morizo – 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.00
Tak – 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Kriet – 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00

David Walker set the bar high on a very cold day 1 at Table Rock. His first keeper of the day was a 7lb 7oz toad largemouth which paved the way to a 26-11 creel. Walker is well on his way to following up his Top 10 finish at Guntersville. Other then walker, Fukae is my only other angler in Top after day 1 but a couple guys are lingering and could make a move today.

You may have noticed I have updated my Blog layout and colors, mainly to fix a problem I had with my posts dropping to the bottom of the page sometimes. Hopefully this is a long term fix!

Hope to see some of you at the Northwest Sport Show this weekend, I will be walking around on Saturday.

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

BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

Setting an ESPN Fantasy Fishing Line-up for Lake Amistad

March 10, 2009 hellabass

For starters, if you missed the link to this breakdown of the BASS salary cap, click here to read one by BP.

Much like the first 2 FLW tournaments are completely different venues, its probably even a greater difference between the Red River and Lake Amistad. I have fished Amistad both for fun and as a Co-Angler in an Elite Series tournament. Amistad is a very deep clear canyon lake that is chocked full of flooded brush and a good amount of hydrilla grass.

The one nice thing, is that BASS has been coming to Del Rio for the last 3 years near this time of the year. So you got a solid comparison to work from, but its always a little different every time. Plus you have a handful of new anglers from the Opens that can always make a splash. In my mind, here are the patterns that could play depending on weather. Swimbaits, Flipping or Cranking Bushes, deep structure with big worms or football jigs or if timing is right, bed fishing could loom large. Picking BASS fantasy fishing lineups can be a little tricky, because you kind of get penalized for switching anglers, if a angler is fishing well, you want to keep him because you are locked in when you own them, if you drop them & try to pick them up, you could end up paying more. I like to lock in my top 3 or 4 horses and then adjust the bottom 1-2 slots to match up the lakes.

Talked to my dad last week and he said the water is warming and fishing are moving shallow, a buddy of his caught a 10 lb fish pretty shallow over the weekend, cool weather & clouds could push some fish back. Sight fishing will play a role, just not sure how big of a role at this point.

So below is my lineup, from the Classic I dropped Rick Morris and picked up Velvick, he is bound to well on his home lake, right? KVD has been a stud at Amistad & will probably never leave my lineup all year, Hackney has been up & down there (like him at Dardanelle as well) & KJ loves big fish & TX. As far as Lowen, he has had some success there, he has made the 50 cut every time at Amistad plus I can’t really find anyone I like that much in his price range or below, and he should do well on Dardanelle as well.

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

Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI	Kelly Jordon Mineola, TX	Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA	Byron Velvick Del Rio, TX	Bill Lowen North Bend, OH
MKT: $24.5 LKD: $24.5	MKT: $21.0 LKD: $21.0	MKT: $19.5 LKD: $19.5	MKT: $17.6 LKD: $17.6	MKT: $17.4 (+0.1) LKD: $17.3

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

Setting a FLW Fantasy Fishing Lineup for Table Rock

March 9, 2009 hellabass

One thing to know for sure, Table Rock will fish much different then Guntersville did, we are moving north so the water will be much cooler and from a lake with healthy vegetation to a lake that may have 4 to 5 strands of grass in the whole system. FLW has never fished Table Rock at the Stren Series or higher but many events on Lake of the Ozarks just up the road, so you may want to look to anglers that fair well there. You can also search through old BFL results, but most of those event happened in April or May. I would also say that guys that fair well on Beaver Lake, could also find Table Rock a comfortable place to fish.

Details on THE ROCK:
Type of water: highland impoundment of White River
Surface area: 43,100 acres
Shoreline: 745 miles
Average depth: approximately 69 feet
Max depth: 220 feet
Primary structure/cover: docks, ledges, points, chunk rock, bluff banks, standing timber
Species: largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass
Length minimum: 15 inches for all species

Cold weather & snow have been keeping water temps cool and this will certainly be a pre-spawn event. So thinks of guys that like clear water, prefer pre-spawn conditions. Also, typically this time of year, reaction baits, like jerkbaits and wiggle warts will be predominant in the Top 10. Also, consider the angler that wins, sometimes beats a slightly different drum, so don’t rule out the shakey head, drop shot & finesse football jig guys.

Bassmasters fished a few March events on Table Rock in the not so distant past, see results:
Mar 4 – 7, 2004 – Mark Davis
Mar 31 – Apr 3 – Greg Hackney

Seems like every tournament, there is the local angler factor. There are a lot of great anglers from the Missouri & North Arkansas region where this tournament is located. Stacey King practically lives on the lake, but at 60 years of age, can he be a factor in the Top 10? Guido & Dion Hibdon call home just up the road at Lake of the Ozarks, similar water, I am sure they have fished their share on Table Rock as well, but oddly enough neither have fished an Table Rock tourney with FLW, but have with BASS. In fact 27 anglers live within 3 hours of Table Rock.

Below is my tentative roster at this point:

GREG BOHANNAN

Almost won 2008 Stren