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.

 

Bass Fishing Podcasts, BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Multimedia

March Madness

Since my office bracket had Missouri over Florida State, I am not talking about the NCAA basketball tournament.  The madness that is going on for me, is frantically preparing my boat for the early open water this year, listing more stuff in my Bass
Fishing
eBay
Store, because I have been on a tackle organization kick and trying to keep momentum going after picking winners in the last two fantasy fishing events.

So this week, the Elite Series is on the Big O.  If you have not checked out BassRankings.com, its a great new site for doing Fantasy Fishing research and keeping up with which pros are fishing the best!

So here are my picks:

As always, check out our podcast page to get more insight to these picks and some of my runner up choices for each bucket and my co-hosts picks (use their picks at your own risk).  Good stuff can be found at BassUtopia.com as well!

Also, I finally got around to making a quick video from my Lake Falcon trip back in December.  We had terrible wind & rain, so not much video to work with.


Also, I will be posting several G-Loomis rods and other tackle in my Bass
Fishing
eBay
Store over the next few weeks, going to be replacing them with Dobyns Rods!

Also, MLF Spoiler Alert!!! Congrats to Brent Ehrler, showing he is truly an elite angler!

 

Bass Fishing Podcasts, BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, Multimedia

Basketball smasketball….

Sure this is an exciting week because of March Madness, but what has me all geeked out right now is the warm weather in Minnesota, on the bring of open water bass fishing in March and the Bassmaster Elite Series starting tomorrow on the St. John’s River.  So here are my picks, listen to the podcast to get the 411 and the logic.




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Mean while, I need to remember to call tomorrow and check if my hot foot will be done so I can pick my boat up before the weekend!   I did fill out a few NCAA brackets, but I spent more time thinking about my Fantasy Fishing lineup.

Still need to get caught up on the latest Major League Fishing episode.

Bass Fishing Podcasts, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner, FLW Tour, Fun Fishing

2012 Bass Closer & More

I did get out fishing for a few hours on the Minnesota Bass Closer, it was hard to leave the laptop and all the Bassmater Classic coverage, but I decided catching was better then watching.  Air temperatures were tolerable, but the wind was ridiculous.  I did catch 7 smallmouth pretty darn quick on a homemade smallie beaver bait on a 1/8oz shakey head.
 
Then the bite just died on me, I switched to a jerkbait and only mustered one follow.  Next up was an Ima Square Bill and that produced 3 nice chunky smallmouth to round out the trip.  It is always nice to catch a few open water winter bass to keep the cabin fever at a minimum.  On a positive note, it was 55 degrees and in all likely hood I will be fishing the Mississippi River in March and catching a few bass out of my boat.

I continue to be tuning into Major League Fishing every week, and it continues to be a solid product.  This week in the first Sudden Death Elimination round, 6 anglers fished for two spots, the first two to get to 40lbs moved on, the rest eliminated.  Spoiler Alert: Cream rose to the top, KVD & Ehrler advanced.  KVD DOMINATED!

FLW Hartwell tournament starts on Thursday, still time to lock in a Fantasy Fishing roster or make last minute adjustments.  Below is my roster, soon a Podcast will post here, breaking it all down!

Lake Hartwell

SELECTED WINNER


 

BASS Tour

2012 Bassmaster Classic Final Day – Red River

If you were glued to your laptop. tablet or phone all day you probably had a pretty good idea that this was going to be a two horse race at the final weigh-in.  BASS does a good job of getting you a feel of what is going on and who the players are but leave just enough detail out to make it exciting to watch the final weigh-ins online and the following weekend on ESPN2.

Congratulations to Chris Lane on becoming the 42nd Bassmaster Classic champion.  More details will come out this week with exact details on locations, lures and patterns, but I think there are a few things that are already interesting. 
Chris Lane
Photo by James Overstreet

I thought the biggest part of Chris Lane’s victory was his game plan and his decision to fish a pattern rather then just devote his Classic hopes to a single area.  He really did the best job of managing his fish, the spectators and executed very well.  Day 1 he milked an area for a solid 16lbs bag that tied him with his brother for 6th.  Then on day 2, he fished completely new areas feeling his day 1 spot was depleted.  He fished in both pools 4 & 5, locking midday.  Part of the reason was, he thought spectators could be an issue in his Pool 5 area, so he chose to lock down to start his day in 4 and then return midday to finish up and fish for bigger fish in a smaller area and maximize the end of his day closer to the ramp.

Pile of used Ugly Otters building up on Day 3 of his Classic Victory!

He credits a few G4 tube bait from Luck E Strike and a Gambler Ugly Otter creature bait, predominantly in Bowen’s Silver.

It was awesome to watch another angler achieve a life long dream and secure a career in personal bass fishing, seems like every time someone other then KVD wins a classic, I get goose bumps and chills as the scale locks in and they clinch victory!

 

BASS Tour

2012 Bassmaster Classic Day 2 – Red River

As expected, things changed on day 2, from the weather to the conditions to the fish to the leaderboard, it was a ripple effect.  Greg Vinson still holds down the runner up spot, but instead of being an ounce behind Mr. Poche he is a full pound behind a surging Chris Lane who brought a tournament’s best 19lbs 4oz to the scale today.

Photo by James Overstreet

For me, their were two surprises today following today’s coverage, there is a fair amount of sight fishing happening as bass are moving up on beds and the other was Timmy Horton’s super sweet throwback jump suit.  I didn’t expect bedding fish to be factor, but it is obviously happening.  Even sweeter was Horton’s tournament attire, I am guessing he will wear it again tomorrow as he was tied for 3rd biggest bag of the day.

The top two anglers do have a little distance from the pack, but not much.  I think it is pretty wide open down through the top 6 or so and the top 12 are still in the game.  Outside of the top 12, it would take some serious 20lb plus bags and some stumbling on top to make that happen. All reports point this to being a grinder’s tournament, jigs and soft plastics seem to be dominating.

Everything is shaping up to be another exciting Bassmaster Classic final day!  I am putting my money on Vinson, but Lane is surging, either way a huge career booster for either angler!

On a side note, my fantasy team surged from 19% to 45% and I still got 3 guys alive fishing day 3 that can move me up, but only 1 is a any threat at all for the top spot, which is Keith Combs and he is a long shot at 11th.

 

BASS Tour, Multimedia

2012 Bassmaster Classic Day 1 – Red River

Interestingly enough the top of day one’s leaderboard is not held down by the biggest stars in bass fishing.  The top spot is held down by a home grown Cajun by the name of Keith Poche with a stout 17lbs 13oz, but his lead is ultra slim as Alabama’s Greg Vinson is only a single ounce behind.  Quite possibly the bigger issue for the leaders is the 6 anglers with 16lb bags right on their heels and there are some heavy hitters in that bunch of anglers (Edwin Evers, Lane Brothers, Ott Defoe, David Walker & Dustin Wilks). See Full Standings

Photo by Seigo Seito

The top two anglers have nearly a 2lb lead over the next group and a positive for them is that they both commented that they did not have much company and have a good amount of water to themselves.  This could be a very positive sign over the next two days for Poche & Vinson, but I would be very afraid of Evers and Walker, look for these guys to make a move tomorrow.

In all reality, anybody with 10lbs or more are not completely out of it if they can put 18-20lbs on the scales the next two days.  Overnight lows are supposed to drop a bit tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, calm & sunny.  This is more then likely to cause a shake up in the leaderboard come tomorrow afternoon.  So yes, anglers like KVD are still in this, but they need to make a move tomorrow to be in the hunt on Sunday.

Man do I regret taking Keith Poche out of my fantasy fishing line-up and inserting Brandon Palaniuk during our podcast on Wednesday

Make sure to tune into Bassmaster.com tomorrow, great coverage from BassCam, War Room, & BassTrakk, but do keep in mind, there are always errors on the BassTrakk.

We’ll close out this entry with a neat little video from Poche’s practice….

 

Bass Fishing Podcasts, BASS Tour, Contests, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

Ready for the 2012 Classic?

While a February Bassmaster Classic almost assures it will never be in my back yard, I do admit it if fun to look forward to this time of year.  Today was the last official day of practice for the 49 anglers, tomorrow is media day and the tournament action starts Friday morning  Hopefully we do not have the fog delays that plagued the 2011 Bassmaster Classic.

For those that have been part of my Fantasy Fishing leagues in the past, I have joined forces with Bass Utopia.  So join the Bass Utopia League, they will be doling out the prizes, I think the winner of Classic week will be winning a Abu Garcia Veritas flipping stick!!!!  So be sure to join the group, play every week and you could be a winner!

If you need help picking a lineup, check out our Fantasy Fishing Insider podcast.  Too lazy for that, check out my starting lineup for this year’s Classic.  I will be posting my lineups here all season long, but you will have to tune into the podcast to get the logic and details.

Along with the Classic, comes the itch to start buying tackle and gear, so to make room, I have been adding things to my eBay store this week, so check it out for some bargains!

Also, quick report on the 2nd Elimination Round from Major League Fishing, it may have been more exciting then the first show.  Couple of notables:
Alabama Rig or Meat Rake was a factor again
IKE goes psycho, big surprise???
Jerkbait is a major player again
Flipping Bite is found

Anticipation grows for the next episode, waiting a week between episodes has been only downside thus far…



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