Bass Pundit's 9th Blogoversary!!!

Well I made it another year.  Thankfully no major health issues this past year.  My ability to blog was definitely impacted a bit by my stroke in December of 2011.  Thank You to everyone who still reads what I write about.  

Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bloggers Derby Now Closed for 2013

However again this year I am behind on getting everyone's weights recorded.  Hopefully I'll do that by January 1st. I'm not sure who the winner is going to be this year.

Here are some of the fish I haven't counted yet.

6.87lbs BassMN

5.50lbs Jason Dudek Fishing

4.41lbs Justin Lundborg Fishing

Bass Snatcher On Extreme Angler TV Fishing Leech Lake

The first 12 minutes of this video has fellow Baxter Bass Snatcher Keith Tuma in it fishing on Leech Lake.  Fishing on Leech is a lot like fishing on Platte/Sullivan except there is a ton more water on Leech.

Viking Reels in a Romomouth Bass

Check out Brian Robison's sack dance.

Vikes- What I think they should do now.

The Vikings made the decision to rush Josh Freeman out to see what he could do versus the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. If you didn't see the game, then you are lucky, because it was Uuuugly!!!  Josh was obviously not ready to play for us yet.  He needs more time to learn the system.  He needs to get his mechanics fixed. And he needs to get his head right.  If I were the Vikings Management and Coaches I would sit Freeman for our next three games minimum.  I would start Ponder verses Green Bay next week and put Cassel as back up.  That is what I think they should do now.

My New Phantom's

I spotted these Stanley Phantom's in an Ebay auction for 70 assorted lures.  I asked if he was willing to sell me all the Phantom's separate and he was, so we agreed upon a price.  The bone and white one are back ups for one's I already have.  The blue one is the same one I lost these summer when I got broken off.  The black, bullfrog, rainbow, and white with the spot and scales are ones I've never seen before.  With the way the weather is looking I probably won't be trying any of these until next year.

Josh Freeman Signing With The Vikes- My Thoughts

I paid a little bit of attention to the Josh Freeman saga over the past week, but I didn't think he would end up with the Vikings, so I didn't pay a ton of attention to it.  I was shocked when I heard he was going to sign with the Vikes last night.  So I have spent the past couple of hours reading peoples reactions and learning more about Freeman.

How Josh Freeman became Greg Schiano's enemy #1 by Bleacher Report pretty much sums up what Vikings fans need to know about how Freeman ended up leaving the Bucs.

As far as reading fan's reactions that is usually pretty worthless, but every once and a while you read something that makes reading through the crap worthwhile.  The comment I thought made the most sense came from the Minnesota Vikings Facebook Page.  This is what some guy named Skyler Geer wrote:

Listen uneducated fans, when Freeman is good he's better than every QB on our roster. That being said he doesnt know our system yet, Cassel is the hot hand.
I think a lot of this signing is to motivate Ponder/Cassel.
Start Cassel the next few games while Freeman learns the playbook see how he does. if it's not good we can throw ponder back in or if Leslie thinks Josh is ready he could be very scary he will throw it which opens up field for AP. Which we just saw Cassel do.
Don't expect to see freeman for 3-5 weeks if one of others plays bad. If we stick w/ Cassel & he plays well freeman may never get a shot here.

The thing that I think it important to realize is that Freeman chose to come to MN over apparently a few other teams.  I think that speaks well of both Frazier and Spielman.  It's pretty clear that Freeman has been seriously regressing and he and his agent believe MN is the best place to get his head straight and turn it around.  Both Ponder and Cassel are now on notice that the future of the MN quarterback position is up for grabs.

Updated 10/9:  The more I have read the past couple of days the more I am liking this deal. At worst if Freeman doesn't work out the Vikes will probably get a compensatory pick.  It seems that Freeman's stats were pretty good last year until the last few games where he threw a bunch of picks.  That apparently coincided with the Bucs not choosing to extend his contract.  That decline continued into this year.  It's pretty clear that the situation in Tampa under coach Psycho had turned toxic for Freeman.  This guy could easily turn into a Stafford like Franchise QB for us. 

My Thought On The Vikings Going Into The Bye

Well the 1st quarter of the season is in the books and the Vikes are lucky to not be 0-4 and unlucky to not be 3-1.  I will say this: the Browns were NOT who we thought they were.  Unfortunately we can't say the same thing about Ponder and our pass defense.  They are the two biggest reason's we are not 3-1.  Ponder has improved a little bit, but his turnovers have just killed us.   However, our porous Defense is the biggest reason we are not 3-1.  There is no way in heck we should have given up 31 points to the Browns at home.  There is little doubt at this point that we finish last in the North unless the Defense improves markedly.  I see no reason to be optimistic about that happening.

As far as Ponder versus Cassel, I think Ponder should ride the bench for a while.  Let him learn from Cassel.  I don't know that the Vikes have to give up on Ponder totally at this point.  He wasn't the only reason our Offense was struggled at times the first 3 weeks of the season.  There are times when Ponder flashes, but he is just too inconsistent. Our Offensive line really struggled against the Lions, Bears, and Browns.  Having Jerome Felton back makes a big difference in Peterson's play and no doubt the whole O line's play as well.  To me Felton's presence was as the big a factor in the win as Cassel.  I think had Felton been able to play the first three games we might have won both the Bears and Browns game.

I say let Cassel play and see where it takes us.  With our D, I don't think it will be very far.  If he can't take us beyond a .500 record over the next two quarters of the season then they should re-insert Ponder for the last 4 games of the season and see if he cleaned up his game.  If not it's time for a new QB plan next year.

Aug 17th Bass Snatchers Blind Tournament at The Cullen Chain

With our last tournament of the year being tomorrow I figured I better get this done.

We met at a parking lot in Brainerd at around 6:15AM on August 17th and found out we would be fishing the Cullen Chain.  I was alright with that as I like the lakes and my boater Guy won the last tournament there.  The weather promised to be warm, mostly sunny and breezy out of the SW.  We launched out of the middle lakes access around quarter to 8AM.  We were first boat out.  Guy didn't want to run the risk of getting caught in the Culvert going to the Upper Lake so we went to a sunken island on the middle lake.  There was a guy fishing topwater there already.  We came in to the SW of him and about 3 of our boats also came in on this spot.  I had what I'm pretty sure was a pike hit at my Stanley Phantom and other than that we got nothing.

We moved to a point off of some reeds and guy got two good quality fish right away.  I got a pike on a black/blue Chigger Craw.  Not wanting to retie I switched to a craw tube.  I got a 12.5" bass on that as well as a rock bass.  I think Guy landed a couple more small keepers.   We then went to another point off of some reeds.  I had tied on another Chigger Craw by then and was quickly rewarded with my best fish of the day a 15.5" largie.

We then fished some reeds and some slop.  Guy got a nice dogfish.  Guy made the call to head to the Lower Lake.  We had to get out and push but made it.  We started on a weedline spot just out from the channel and I was immediately rewarded with a 14" bass.  We then moved around a bunch of places not getting anything.  The wind had come up pretty good by now and there was a reed bed getting nailed by the wind.  Guy caught a a keeper than two quality fish the first 15 minutes we were in the reeds.  One of the fish was the 4/3 Lunker of the tournament.  I broke off my Texas Rigged craw tube with 3/4oz Tungsten Sinker twice getting caught on the reeds, so I switch to a Strike King Hack Attack jig. We stayed in the reeds and I managed to get one that was just short of 14" and two 14.5" bass out of them on the Jig.  I got my limit and I was happy.  I didn't fish the rest of the day very well only getting a rock bass out of some pads missing a few other hits.  Guy put together a pretty good pattern in the middle lake hitting pad and reed edges with the wind blowing in on them and picked up a few culls.  We quit about 15 minutes early.

Results:  My 6 fish went for 8/12 and put me in 20th place.  Guy managed to win the thing  by over 3lbs with 18lbs 2ozs

My thoughts:  My head just wasn't in this one, especially after I caught my limit.  I did enjoy watching Guy put on a show.  This tournament sealed my fate of not going anywhere in the club point standings this year. Oh well.

SKOL Vikings!!!

Today is start of Vikings season and just like last year I don't know what to expect out of this team.  I can see us starting out at  4-0 or 1-3 in the first quarter of the season.

Here are the big three questions in my mind that will have to be answered this year for us to have a good season:

1. Can AP stay healthy and play at the same level as last year?

If he can, than it's going to be a fun team to watch no matter what happens.

2.  Is Ponder going to improve from last year or is he not the answer?

Ponder could improve from last season and we could still start out 1-3 and have a losing season if AP were to get hurt or if our defense doesn't hold up. If Ponder proves not to be the answer then we will almost certainly have a losing record this season.  If so we can hopefully get a franchise quarterback in next years draft.  

3.  Will our pass rush and young secondary hold up?

If our secondary sucks than we will almost certainly finish last in our Division this year.

Post Game Thoughts:  What a hot mess that game turned into.  Ponder as erratic and mistake filled as ever.  The O-Line not giving Ponder or AP much help.  Musgrave's questionable play calling not helping matters either. The Defense had as many or more issues than the Offense today.  Giving up 34 points in a game isn't acceptable.  This game reminded me a bit of the total team meltdown we had in Chicago last year.  Also I have to give credit to the Lions.  They could be a scary good team if they don't shoot themselves in the foot.

On the plus side AP, the receivers, and Walsh looked good for the most part..  I'm not optimistic about next weeks game in Chicago, but I think we have a shot at going into the bye 2-2.

Bass Snatcher Catches Big Bass at B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Divisional

Chuck Steinbauer got yet more wood for the wall catching Big Bass of the tournament with this 3lb 8oz Lake Francis Case Smallie at the 2013 B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Divisional.  Chuck (31st Place) and Snatcher Dennis Lothspeich (27th Place) both helped Team MN take home the team title.  You can find all about the tournament here.

I'm Still Alive

Due mostly to car problems and hot weather I only got out fishing 3 days in August.  I just have been to lazy to blog about anything.  Hopefully I will get some more blogging done this week, maybe some fishing as well.  We'll see.

Cullen Chain Quick Report

The "Blind" Lake turned out to be the Cullen Chain.  I got a front row seat to Guy Henkensiefken's domination.  He won the last tournament on the chain back in 2011 and he won today and got Lunker/ Big Bass. He also caught a big dogfish.  I had another mediocre day on the water while my boater lit it up.  Once I got my limit I was happy.  I will have a full report after I get the official results.

"Blind Tournament" Tomorrow

What lake will we be fishing?  Find out at 6:30AM tomorrow.

I'm hoping it's on Pelican.

New Topwater Lures For Me

Another Stanley Phantom came up for bid on Ebay.  I snatched it up and I was the only bidder.  As you can see it's close to the same color I crushed them on earlier this year.  The new one has red gills and a black top and the black dot instead of black stripes, otherwise they are the same.  I'm going to just leave it in it's package for now.  It's always nice to have a back up lure.

I also picked up some Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg's.