All posts by hellabass

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

SHINICHI FUKAE

Clear water should fit his finesse game

ANDY MORGAN

He is a stud, almost 2008 AOY

ROBBIE DODSON

Local Favorite

BRENNAN BOSLEY

Good spring cranker

BRENT EHRLER

Fishing well & Table Rock fishes like West Coast

JAY YELAS

PreSpawn Angler, fished Rock with BASS

DAVID FRITTS

Should be a crank bite, but he won’t go back 2 back

DION HIBDON

Too close to Ozarks not to be in my Top 10

DAVID WALKER

Good finishes with BASS

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

Announcements, Product Reviews, Sponsors

Elite Series Pro MENENDEZ SIGNS WITH RETROTEC

March 9, 2009 hellabass

MENENDEZ SIGNS WITH RETROTEC

Retrotec Inc. is very excited about a new partnership with long time Elite Pro angler Mark Menendez.” We have followed Mark’s career. Mark has done things differently from other anglers as far as his ideas with saving weight on his boat. This saves wear and tear on not just his boat, but on his tow vehicle as well. This saves money for him and also saves energy for the planet. Mark has already found a way to save thousands of dollars every year on his approach of weight control and how his rigs are set up. We are very happy to join him in a new adventure this year. Marks new boat is carrying the Stay-N-Charge Systems. He won’t have to worry about his batteries not making it through a day on the water” said Jim Payne.

Stay-N-Charge products are designed to take power already generated from the tow vehicle
as well as the outboard motors to recover lost power in batteries. This process will keep batteries at a higher rate of charge with less heat build up. Stay-N-Charge allows the batteries take the power needed to recover faster without the need of power from the power grid.

“It is the system that is perfect for the angler needing an edge,” Menendez stated. “I run a Skeeter 20 I-Class bass boat. This boat rates for 250hp. This makes my third boat rigged with a Yamaha 225 HPDI. I have reduced the weight my boat carries to maximize performance. I have removed my heavy on board charger from my rig. My batteries are Optima Bluetop Marine Batteries (D34M) that weigh 43lbs each. This reduces approximately 190lbs from my boat. This boosts my top end performance by nearly 2 mph. The Stay-N-Charge All Charge system is continually passing power to all of my batteries as the outboard is running. I never have to worry about having enough power to troll. The Stay-N-Charge also charges my batteries from the alternator of my tow vehicle on my way home from the water. This allows my boat to utilize manufactured electricity that is lost in most cases. I do not have to pull power from the power grind on a regular basis like most anglers. The Stay-N-Charge is helping me to be ‘greener’ to the planet”, said Menendez.

An additional benefit to the weight reduction is that my tow vehicle does not have to haul the additional 190lbs across the country. This gives me better fuel economy for my vehicle. This all translates to more fishing and less costs”, claimed Menendez.

To find out more on the Stay-N-Charge System, visit Media Contact
Stay-N-Charge Systems www.stayncharge.com

Get to Know'em, Multimedia

2009 Bassmaster Classic Champion – Skeet Reese – Video

March 6, 2009 hellabass

This is actually video 4 of 4 in his post classic follow up, this one talks more about the area and the mental game of approaching his 10th classic vs. his first classic.

The other 3 videos are good as well, you should be able to pull them up in this window after this video is over.
Video #1 – Focuses on the Win itself and talks baits a bit
Video #2 – Touches on the keys to the area he fished, the presentations he used
Video #3 – Skeet breaks down in detail the Lucky Craft Redemption Spinnerbait

Enjoy your weekend, check back next week for Fantasy Fishing Picks for both tours.

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

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Sponsors

Tru-Tungsten Jigs, Bass Fishing Seminars, & Fantasy Bass Fishing Info

March 5, 2009 hellabass

Kind of a clearing house blog entry today. First of all, if you had read this blog much, you know I catch a ton of fish on Tru-Tungsten bass jigs. They are a great jig, have many advantages and really catch bass! Many people ask me where they can get them and often do not want to order them online. Many of us bass anglers like to touch & feel before we buy, kind of old fashioned in that respect. After working with Capra’s Sporting Goods, they now stock the Tru-Tungsten Bass jigs, they have them out at their store in Blaine and they are priced very reasonably at $4.99, most places charge between $5.39 & $5.99. So when you are in the area, swing in and check them out, buy 1 or 2, I am positive you will not be disappointed with their performance.

Read about many of my Tru-Tungsten Jig success here.

If you are looking for something do this Saturday morning, check out these great bass fishing seminars presented by the Minnesota BASS Federation Nation at the Medina Entertainment Center – they are free & open to the public.

March 7, 2009 at the Medina Entertainment Center
9:30am Sport Smith – Tackle Craft & Modification
10:15am Rick Billings – 2008 Divisional & National Tournaments Recap

Lastly, Bass Pundit has a great breakdown of the ESPN BASS Fantasy Fishing anglers and salary cap, so check it out here! Below is an excerpt from his entry
The worst deals among the top priced Elite Anglers
Kelly Jordan ($21.00) BWR #42 Home Run Hitter, Strike’s Out a lot.
Klien ($20.30) BWR #35 Consistently good, but not great.
Howell ($20.20) BWR #45 Was good in 2008 not so good 2007

Here is something kind of cool, I was watching WFN the other day and they were promoting their website and showing screen shots of the website on TV, they talked about their blogs and show a screen shot, you could see my name! Since I had DVR, I backed up a bit and shot a quick shot with my camera.

Click on image to see reel deal!

More stuff added to my eBay store last night as well, jigs & swimbaits.

Until next time, I will be out of town this weekend, probably no blogging, but next week we will focus on strategies for setting lineups for both FLW on Table Rock & BASS on Amistad.
RichLindgren.com
Bass Fishing Today
Rich’s Bassin’ Forum
Bass Fishing Tackle Blog

General

Spring Cleaning leads to Tackle Sale

March 4, 2009 hellabass

Last Saturday’s Tackle Swap meet inspired me to get into the basement and garage to do some sorting or my gear. Time to decide which stuff I really use and which stuff could be sold or donated. The past couple years I have donated a couple totes worth of stuff to youth fishing groups. As I obtain more gear and tackle, some stuff has to go, most of it never even used, kind of like my wife’s shoes

As I came across stuff, it went into 1 of 3 piles:
1. Keep & Use
2. Donate
3. Sell on Ebay

As the ebay pile started to grow, I started listing some stuff in my ebay store. I have more to go, but I have a decent amount of stuff up there now, including a G-Loomis baitcasting rod, Shimano Castaic reel, power craws, jigs and other stuff. Check it out if you need some gear at a good price, I start all my auctions at $.98 with no reserves, the bidders set the fair price. I will continue to add more gear, so check back often or save me as a favorite seller. My tackle problem creates opportunity for all of you to get good deals on stuff. Maybe your tax rebates will go a little farther on ebay…..
My Bass Fishing eBay Store

Just noticed a new email subscriber, so welcome #88!

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

Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Sponsors

Red River Fantasy Fishing Group Winner!

March 2, 2009 hellabass

Congratulations to Jason Mayer from Indiana, he was the highest scoring member of my Bassin’ Blog group for ESPN Fantasy Fishing.

Brief email interview with Jason and this is what he had to say on his strategy:
“Skeet and Bobby Lane is always at the top, Ike usually steps up for the big tourneys. Bill Lowen is a river god and he also fishes the same pool as I do on the Ohio. Just mostly went with my gut, every year Skeet and Ike are always on my team.“

For Jason’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!

Threadfin Shad Sidearm - Click Image to Close

I am sure Jason 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

Announcements

Fishing Tackle Swap Meet – Feb 28th

February 27, 2009 hellabass

Plan to attend the 1st annual Fishing Tackle Swap Meet presented by the MN National Guard and MFBA (a TBF affiliated organization) on Saturday, February 28th from 9 am to 6 pm at the St. Paul Armory at 600 Cedar St, St Paul, MN.

There will be booths by Bass, Walleye and Muskie Pros along with MN Tackle Manufacturers displaying and selling used, new, non-current stock and blow out specials.

Seminars will include:
10:00 am – Rick Pelletier, President MFBA
11:00 am – FLW Bass Angler of the Year David Dudley
1:00 pm – FLW Walleye Champion Tommy Skarlis
2:30 pm – Local Muskie Pro Travis Frank

Ranger and Stratos Boats on display, the MN National Guard wrapped Ranger boat and climbing rock, the MFBA Reel Kids Casting and other fun events for the whole family! – Admission is $3.00 with children under 12 free.

That’s right, free Fantasy Fishing scratch off tickets to the first 1,000 adults (18 or older) at the Fishing Tackle Swap Meet this Saturday at the National Guard Armory in St. Paul.

Prizes include free Players Advantage memberships, Fantasy Fishing t-shirts and up to $1,000 in cash!!!

Plus, there will be lots of guys selling all kinds of fishing stuff for great prices, kid’s casting event starting at 12:00, National Guard climbing wall and target shooting simulator, Ranger & Stratos boats on display, not to mention FLW Angler of the Year, David Dudley will be speaking immediately following the MFBA Informational Meeting which starts at 10:00.

Doors open at 9:00, so get there early to make sure you get your free scratch off ticket.

Here are a few specials the MFBA will have at Saturday’s Fishing Tackle Swap Meet:
Yamalube – $15 gallon / $50 case (4 gallons)
Castrol Oil – $10 gallon / $25 case (3 gallons)
MFBA T-shirts – $10

Cash or check only.
Hope to see everyone Saturday!!!

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