Category Archives: General

Contests, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, General

Bassin’ Hiatus

Believe it or not, my wife has convinced me to go on a trip that will keep me away from the Minnesota Bass Opener  

Bottom line, won’t be much for bass fishing updates while I am in Ireland for next couple weeks.  You might find a few updates from my phone or tablet on the Facebook Page, but no hardcore blogging.   To not leave you hanging, I am going to leave my preliminary roster for Bassmater Fantasy Fishing on Toledo Bend.

Also, you still have two weeks to enter for a chance to win a $50 gift card to Sportsman’s Warehouse, get the details here.

Also, here is a picture of some goodies from Evolve Baits.  I will be fishing some of these Kompak Craws, Vibra Grubs & Darkstar Swimbaits, but in June you as a reader will have a chance to win some as well.


 

Conservation, General

Bass Fishing in Virginia – Some Cool Stuff!

Cruising the web looking at bass fishing as I often do, this web page on Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries caught my eye.  They actually have taken the time to rank their best largemouth bass fisheries by region in their state.  What a great tool for both residents and tourists of Virginia.

I wish Minnesota and some of my neighboring states would put lists like this together for largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Although somewhat interesting, Kerr Reservoir was #81 on Bassmasters’ Top 100 lakes in the country, but was only ranked 10th in the South Region by it’s own state’s fisheries teams.  Smith Mountain Lake was is #63, at least that is second in the South Region.  The Potomac River is #31 on Bassmaster list, unranked by state, probably because it is largely a border water with Maryland.

Among other cool things that Virginia has is a Virginia boating safety course.  The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is gradually
phasing-in mandatory boater education for all operators of PWCs and
motorboats over 10HP.
A new block of boaters will be added each year until
July 1, 2016 when all boaters shall meet the requirement.  This seems like a great program to create boater safety.  With all the high speed and high powered vessels on our waterways, it seems like a no-brainer!

Every now and then, it is cool to take a look at what other states are doing for fishing and boating and maybe think what could apply to our local resources.

 

Advanced Bass Tactics, General, Multimedia, Tips and Techniques

On the move

Been traveling and busy doing many fishing related activities, but have not been on the water in a few weeks.  First off all, thanks for all that visited me at the Kruger Farms booth during the early part of Northwest Sportshow.  If you are not familiar with Kruger Farms, they are making a big push into fishing, they are one of the newest Dobyns dealers, plus they have tons of other great hunting & fishing gear.

Been lots of activity in the background on the blog, look from some contests and chance to win free fishing stuff reel soon (probably next week), so if you are not a subscriber, you might want enter your email on left side of page next to orange button that says Subscribe.

I have also been doing tips videos in my boat out of the garage, check out the following video tip for managing Alabama Rigs.  I think you will find it to be quite the time saver if you are gonna throw these multi-armed contraptions. Basically how to make any Alabama Rig Better!

As you probably know, I have been phasing in more Dobyns Rod, but after Loomis rejecting a completely valid rod warranty, I have decided to ramp things up and sell off all my remaining Loomis rods.  If you are interested, hit up my Bass
Fishing
eBay
Store.  I will likely be adding some more tackle and possibly some reels as well.  I got some crazy good deals at the Sportshow, need to make room.

 


Announcements, Fun Fishing, General, Sponsors

Minnesota Bass Fishing in March

What a wonderful lack of winter and early spring we have had.  Could not have been more welcome considering I had to stare at the BassCat that I bought in November all winter long.  This past Sunday I got out to the Mississippi River for some bass fishing.  Super happy that in less then an hour from my home in Lakeville, I can be on Mississippi River for some completely legal bass fishing even in March.

Fellow Gopher Bassmaster member Chong joined me out on the water.  We started on a couple points leading into known spawing coves as the water was 55 degrees when we launched.  The second point gave up a 3lb plus smallmouth to Chong and 2lb largie to me on a black tube.  We then made a run back to some backwaters, as the main reason Chong came with was to learn a little about how to navigate the river.

The water was 58-59 degrees in this area, I caught two quick largemouth on shad colored Shad Rap along a rip rap bank, the next spot gave up a couple more small largies on a Sexy Shad Megabass ITO Vision 110 jerkbait.  As we idled to next area, I saw some shad balled up on the edge of the grass.  I shut it down, Chong instantly bowed up and landed a 5-6lb walleye on a swim jig.  From there I did some work on that Megasbass jerkbait, I caught about 10 before we left that area, including 2 over 3lbs.  I also picked up a couple small fish on a spinnerbait.

Only one I weighed, had to test new scale 3lbs 8oz

Did not take long for Chong to tie on a jerkbait, on his second cast he got a nice chunky 3lbr on a Smithwick Rogue.  We covered a bunch more water in this backwater, most of our fish came on jerkbaits, but we did get a couple on jigs & soft plastics. 

We decided to make our way back towards the ramp, we finished up in a side cut of the main river.  I ended up breaking my jerkbait on some rocks, breaking it right at back hook, causing it to only have 2 hooks.  I kept throwing it and just a few casts later I bowed up on a donkey of a smallmouth.  Had it up next to the boat and it jumped as I reached it and spit my bait, that 3rd treble would have been handy there.  Oh well, still fun, I did catch a 3lb smallie two minutes later on a drop shot with a hand poured wacky finesse worm.

Total I caught 22 or 23, Chong had 7 or 8 with a big walleye & a big drum.  We both probably had 16-17lbs for our best 5 bass.  Glad I could get out, should not have a problem catching a legal bass in every month of 2012 now!

In summary, although water was creeping towards the 60 degree mark, which is super warm for this type of year, the fish behaved much like the water was in the lower 50’s.  With water likely hitting 60 plus very soon, I think the actual spawn will lag behind the water temp a bit, because the bass biologically just have not had time to get ready to spawn.  I am guessing it takes time for the females to produce those eggs, so keep that in mind fishing this spring.

If you are going to the Northwest Sportshow this week, you should be able to find me hanging out in the Kruger Farms booth, they have come on as a new Dobyns Rods dealer, come by and let me show you some rods that have balance and feel like no other!  If not, I will be selling some more Loomis rods in my Bass
Fishing
eBay
Store.

In other news, if you follow my facebook page, I have mentioned we got some good stuff coming soon.  Should be several new product reviews and giveaways for my readers, one in particular I am excited about is Evolve Baits, check out some of their offerings.

 

General, Product Reviews

Fresh Baits Getting Bit in Florida

There are lot of newer baits and prototypes making several pros lots of money as of late.  Here are a couple examples:

Skeet Reese seems to have found his dominating form again.  While he caught plenty of fish on his name sake Pit Boss & a jig.  He claims that he got several key big bites on a new Berkley Havoc Sick Fish swimbait.

Photo by Tom Leogrande

Then the week before, the new Havoc Rocket Craw fueled his high finish on the St. John’s River.  Skeet tells us in this video that the bait was designed by FLW Pro Scott Suggs.

Photo by BASS & Seigo Saito

Back to the Big O, Ish Monroe dominated the field and the big fish on a new beaver style creature / flipping bait called the D Bomb from Missle Baits.


Ish used the D Bomb on a heavy tungsten weight with punch skirt and on a Medlock Jig.

Yes, the same Medlock jig that Brandon Medlock won an FLW tournament earlier this year and the year before.  Check out Monster Fishing tackle to buy the Medlock Jig online.

So if you are an angler that has to have the goods, might want to keep a close eye on some of these hot baits.  The D Bomb and Medlock jig are available to buy now and I expect the Sick Fish & Rocket craw will come out around July and ICAST.

 

Announcements, General, Product Reviews

Early Returns on Major League Fishing

I finally finished up watching first webisode of Major League fishing.  I signed up for the the $18 Bass Pass which either gets me all the events or you can pay $3 per event.  The first episode at the Challenge Cup at Lake Amistad was 114 minutes long, so for $3 you are going to get 8-10 hours of web coverage, pretty sound deal.  I got a basement of $3 soft plastics not getting used right now.

The format is pretty unique, preliminary rounds where top 4 move on & bottom 4 go home, real-time scoring shared with all competitors, penalties, 3 periods of fishing, cumulative weights & no limits, immediate catch & release, restricted fishing areas, no practice, no GPS coordinates,  I am sure we will find out more new stuff.

Cool Highlights from Round 1:
No Surprise KVD gets of to great start on a 6XD
Aaron Martens whines some
Jason Quinn does some work on Alabama Rig
KVD switches to what looks like MegaBass ITO 110 jerkbait late day, definitely not a Strike King Wild Shiner
Brent Ehrler & others spin out based on results from real time leader-board
Jack Link’s Sasquatch makes several appearances, always entertaining

But for me, the coolest things what to get an inside look how these pros break down water with only 15 minutes of scouting and make on the water adjustments.  If you are bass enthusiast or tournament angler, I say this is definitely worth the money!

Watch the podcast page, our next episode will break down the MLF in more detail.



Fun Fishing, General, Multimedia

Making Lemonade

About 11 months ago, I had a whole pile of lemons and now I about to have glass of super sweet lemonade this weekend.  Early in January, you may have read this blog post about I how I justified to myself that it wasn’t so bad that a dream trip to fish in Mexico fell apart in the 11th hour.

It was a tough pill to swallow at the time, but my airline ticket was purchased in my name by the would be sponsor of the trip, so I had a nice credit with US Airways in my name, well this weekend I am using that credit for a flight to San Antonio and driving down to Lake Falcon to fish with my father.

Bummer that I don’t have some extra time off at work to fish more then Saturday & Sunday, but I’ll take my chances for two days on Falcon.  My dad has been dialing in on a deep bite lately.

I am going to pack the video cameras, so I hope to get some good footage of some Falcon monster to share with you in the near future!  Goals for this trip:
Exceed personal best of 8.3lbs
Double Digit Bass
Whack some Bass & Have FUN!

Here is a video of Tom Redington & Justin Rackley whacking some Falcon Bass from last week!

Leave a comment if you got any tips on the bite down there right now



General

Sneak Peak into Major League Fishing (MLF)

If you follow bass fishing, you have probably seen rumblings from Boyd Duckett, few other anglers, BassFan.com and a few other outlets about Major League Fishing (MLF).  A few weeks back they held their first event on Lake Amistad, but interesting enough, no results posted to internet or shared in the news.

Supposedly there are some real unique things to MLF format, real-time weights for whole field, so you can see what your competition is doing and results for public won’t be released until it airs on Outdoor Channel of pay-per-view web format. These are supposed to be ready for viewing sometime in 2012.

Other cool things, its only 24 anglers, supposed to be a week long event, no gps coordinates coming into event and immediate catch, weigh,  & release.  This week they also released a few photo albums on Facebook.

Looks like all competitors are fishing from BassCats or Nitro Z7 boats.  Most anglers have very similar jerseys, not the full customization you see on the Elites Series.  Also, Bass Pro, Scott’s, Geico, Busch Beer, & Jack Links appear to be a few of the key sponsors.

Supposedly the new style is made for the TV and internet fans, so it will be exciting to see how this all unfolds!



Announcements, Fun Fishing, General

Boat Week

Ever since my old boat died at end of August, I have been casually shopping for a boat, about a month ago, I found a deal that I felt that I shouldn’t pass up and now this weekend I am going to Missouri to go pick it up.  Pictured below will be my boat for next year, its a BassCat Pantera Classic with a 200 Merc.


Thanks to those that shopped my ebay auctions and clicked a few ads to help me get a few extra bucks in my boat fund!  I will be fishing Lake of the Ozarks on my trip this weekend as well.  Watch my facebook page to see more pics & vids from the trip and of boat all weekend long.

Hopefully weather will remain nice and I can get my new boat out when I get back and get some more smallies like this one that I recently caught.

I thought about getting an Alabama Rig for my trip to Lake of the Ozarks, but lead times are just too long after Dan Morehead won a tourney on Kentucky Lake and ebay seems a bit crazy to right now for the A-rigs.

So if any of my readers have fall fishing tips for Lake of the Ozarks, leave a comment or send me an email.  Or if you got good food or lodging recommendations around Warsaw, MO, comment on that as well!  I think the plan is to fish out of Brown’s Bend area this weekend.



General, Humor, Top Lists

Tackle Junkie Support Group on Twitter #LBA

Are you a compulsive fishing gear shopaholic?  Bait Monkey on your back like a bad smoking habit?  Have to have all the newest lures, reels, rods, etc?  Take me for instance, I recently vowed not to buy any more gear to save money for a new bass boat to replace the one I broke.

 I have fell off the wagon several times:
1. Bass Tackle Depot had a 25% off sale, how could I not get a few items to restock for next year?
2. I found another place offering 30% off sale, Yikes!
3. Lost a big fish during a tourney under a dock on 20# Fluoro, went back to 30% off sale to get 25# Abrazx
4.  Local Gander Mountain had Yum Wooly Bugs & Money Craws for $1.48 a bag
5. Went to other local Gander Mountain to get more Wooly Bugs

Well, turns out you are not alone and maybe we can help…..  There is a support group that meets online on Twitter at hashtag LBA or #LBA.  We may not be able to cure you, but maybe we can turn you onto some hot deals, might as well save some money and hey there is safety in numbers, right?  “Collectively our biggest fear is that after we die, our spouses will sell all our gear for what we told them we paid for it!”

As a charter member on Twitter (HellaBass) of this group, I am adding an LBA tag to my blog as well in support of this group.

How does one join?  Pretty simple, check out this #LBA list on Twitter, follow the list and everyone on it, then start telling us your problems with Tweets with #LBA at the end.  We’ll likely follow you back and you’ll get added to the list!

Hey at least I am selling some old stuff to pay for my lapses, check out my ebay store!  See, I even sound like a junkie!

But seriously, I got Shimano, Loomis, All Star, Daiwa, Lakemaster, Lowrance and a bunch of Tackle to sell.