Major League Fishing Episode #3 Liveblogged

Here is my recap of Episode #3

Today's Anglers
Skeet
Kelly Jordon
Jeff Kriet
Mike McClelland
Boyd Duckett
Ish
Rojas
Byron V.

Starts with McClelland telling us they are loading up and switching Zone due the the win.  They will be going into it blind not having that the previous evening to study a map.

Shelli Sanders is looking especially nice today.
Stone calls it the "high maintenance group"
They can start fishing immediately no 15 minute scout time.
Find out about Rojas' injured thumb.
Kriet tells us he's a nervous guy and will have to bring it down a notch

Sasquatch farting it's time for Period #1
McClelland gets first fish 2.5lbs on a spinnerbait. on 5th cast of the day
Kriet says he don't want to know what other guys have
They are on the far East end of the lake
Byron finding out the KJ went to the same spot.  It's bridge pillings
Byron makes a big deal of not casting when KJ goes
Rojas gets a fish 2.75lbs and into the lead
I notice Dean's Ref handles the fish to be weighed presumably because of his injured hand
Byron talks about how he got his hotel.   "I never thought I'd be a Texan"
Duckett gets a 1.25lber on a jerkbait,   thinks he should be catching more than he has
Kriet gets a fish 45 minutes in 2.25lber
Skeet gets a keeper 2lbs
McCelland takes the lead on a spinnerbait, he contests the weight but then realizes he read it wrong.
Dean Rojas takes the lead 5.75lbs
Byron takes out the Alabama rig for his 1st time ever.
Skeet ends up missing a couple
Ish gets a 2.5lbs punching the grass.
Kriet says he hasn't fished anything I like
Edwin Evers talking about the boats being 18' with a 150hp
Kriet moves into 2nd
Byron gets a 1.5lber on a plastic
McClennand fishing the bridge piers and gets a little one on the McStick into 2nd
Kriet catches one and into the lead- he says it main lake points
Skeet gets a fish and moves to 3rd
Mike misses to on the McStick then catches one and takes the lead
McCelland thinks he found something fishing in the wind as the period ends
Jordan caught one just as time ran out, so he's on the board

Period 2:
Dean talking about his injured wrist
KJ misses a fish in a buzzbait says he's 1 for 4 on bites
McClellad pulls a school and you can kind of see as a 2nd fish hooks itself, McClelland is excited got in on the McStick it's a 2.75 and 2.75
He says there were 20 fish in the wolf pack
Hooks up on next cast on 4.25
Kriet misses a good fish says it was 5lbs
McCellend says Kriet is a "Spin out Case" "He can spin out with the best of them"
McCellnand hooks a striper "we do not need you, dadgummit I thought was another largemouth"
Skeet moves into 2nd
Kriet moves into 2nd
1 minute later Skeet hooks up "My blood is pumping now, boys!"
McCelland brings in 3.25lbs talks about how they wanted a hesitation in the retrieve
Dean catches one moves into 3rd
McCelland  hooks a fish while being interviewed by Stone says to tell em "I'm gonna put a McStick on and lay a smackdown on 'em"
The go to Kriet talking about how Mike is probably out throwing a jerkbait in the windy points
Show McCellend talking about rooming with Kriet and wants to see him make the cut. "I want to go to the final round with Jeff Kriet."
Marty Stone talking with Kriet asks if he can connect the dots and Kriet talks about Mike and a jerkbait
Duckett caught one and said he thought it was a "walleye" Huh!
Dean catches one and they confirm the Ref is handling fish because of the injury puts him into 2nd on the Fighten Frog. says he's gonna fish that place the rest of the day.
Kriet is out in the wind on a point and gets one immediately
KJ says "look at this dumb looking thing" as he goes to the A-Rig gets hammered on the 4th cast., it's 3.5lbs "I heard they hit it hard, that sucker crushed it"
Interview with Denny Brauer talks about catching fish on a shallow crank "that lead him down a path I wish it hadn't"
KJ gets another A-rig fish 4.5  moves him up to 2nd
1st time he's ever thrown it
Kriet gets one on a worm out of the wind moves him into 3rd
KJ gets another as does Rojas who moves into 3rd
"I boogered up 5 or 6 fish and it bothers me, bad"
"I'm getting my butt whipped I don't wanna hear who's catching them" Kriet

3rd Period:
Kriet starts jerking on points and gets one taking into 3rd
KJ gets a 1.25 on the A-rig
Skeet fishing Byron who's catching fish says "I'm letting Byron kick my ass, you kidding me"
Kriet hooks up on a 3.25 and gets into 2nd, Kriet's talking and quickly gets another on the jerkbait
Kriet gets another and then he pitches a jig and gets a toad 6.5lbs "When I pitched in to that clump and he hit it, I almost had an accident in my britches"
Ish has moved into 4th
Kriet gets one and moves into 1st
McClelland thinking about what Kriet is doing
Skeet lands a 3.75 and he goes into 3rd
Kriet catches a couple and increases his lead on the jerkbait'
"I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but if Mclelland is catching them he's jerking it" Kriet
McClelland talks about maybe going to see Kriet to see what he's doing
McClelland gets a 2.75" then another and another but Kriet gets one and stays ahead
"McClelland thinking he wants to win, he's greedy" Kriet
Boyd moved into 4th
Kriet gets another
Boyd misses one and cuts his finger
KJ gets a little bump on the A-rig
Skeet gets one that barely makes  it with 1.25lber into 4th and then he gets another on a worm
Ish gets a 4lber that puts him a half pound down on Skeet
Skeet gets another on the drop shot and then another and he moves into 3rd
Kriet's says he needs to get another cause he's 3.25lb up
McClennand gets one that's 2lbs
"I'm gonna be pissed if I get beat" Kriet with 2 minutes left
McClelland gets "the wrong kind, Kriet you are so lucky right now"
He hooks up again and it's a largie "take that Kriet!"
And time ends
"1st period was the game changer"

1st McClelland 38.5lbs
2nd Kriet 37.5lbs
3rd Skeet 23.25lbs
4th KJ  21lbs
5th Ish 19lbs
6th Boyd 16.75lbs
7th Rojas 12.75lbs
8th Byron 11.25lbs

"This group learned to play the game" Stone

The End

They let us know next round is 1st one to 40lbs

MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING™

The cat is now somewhat out of the bag on the newest idea in Professional Tournament Bass Fishermen called MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING™. . The Outdoor Channel along with some of the biggest names in the sport are putting together what they hope will be a made for TV League that has "more emphasis on personalities, the struggles, the strategies, the conflicts and the emotions of the anglers."

The League will start out with 24 anglers. Brent Ehler is the only true FLW guy, which I am sure pisses off David Dudley to no end. Retired Tour Pro Marty Stone is in the mix. Probably most notably absent is Gerald Swindle or Rick Clunn. The big Kahuna KVD IS one of the guys. All of the Pro's are big names within the sport with Jason Quinn probably being the least accomplished of the bunch.

Some of the features:
Surprise Venue
No Pre-fish
No GPS waypoints until the competition starts
No limit on the number of fish that can be weighed
Real-Time Leaderboard in all boats

The timeline is as follows:
A weeklong event – the MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING CHALLENGE CUP - will be held later this year. The event will be broken down into episodes and aired in the second quarter of 2012 on the Outdoor Channel.

I think it unfortunate that we are going to have to wait so long to see the finished product. I would much prefer it start right after the holiday's at the start of 2012.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out. I plan to watch.

Bass Parade!

Duckett: No Info, No Problem If you haven't, go read it.

To Boyd Duckett (and Kevin Short): I Disagree

On his two blogs (Boyd's Blog, Boyd's Biz Boyd Ducket writes a blog post entitled: "To Kevin Short: I agree" or at Boyd's Biz: "Dear Kevin Short — I agree with you"

Boyd is responding to Kevin Short's essay found on the blog Bass Parade entitled Short Challenges Duckett, All Elites

Boyd writes:
...But let me address another thing that Kevin said, because he made a great point. He said he would be happy if we, the pro anglers, could receive no information at any time about the bodies of water we’re going to fish. No help from locals, in other words.

I agree with that 100 percent.

I think a “no help rule” would be outstanding — a great thing for our sport.


I think Boyd and Kevin Short are 100% wrong about this. One of the greatest things about the sport of fishing, any kind of fishing, is that the sport is heavily built upon personal relationships. Ray Scott had it right in the beginning when he recognized that bass fishing could and should be a fraternity. Getting help from others when it comes to fishing is a feature, not a bug. It's a feature precisely because it builds relationships and community and isn't that what we claim is important? I believe a "no help rule ever" sends the wrong message to bass anglers everywhere. The flip side of you can't get help, is that it is wrong to give help. There is already too much of that kind of attitude when it comes to bass tournament anglers as it is now.

I've seen it on Facebook where Professional anglers due to "no info rules" have basically had to tell someone to shut up and keep it to themselves when offered a simple helpful suggestion. Shutting out others especially with the technology we have at our fingertips now is the wrong way to go, period.

I add more thoughts at Futurebass.com Forums...

Kevin Van Dam 2010 Bassmaster Classic Champion- Analysis

Kevin Van Dam is so good at bass fishing it is shocking. Like golf, fishing is an individual sport that rewards good technical mechanics, raw physical abilities, mental toughness, mental intelligence, and something golf doesn't have which is anglers intuition. I think I can confidently say at this point that Kevin Van Dam has proven that he is the best bass angler ever to posses these skills and traits. Don't get me wrong, Rick Clunn had/has all these features in spades and is like none other. However, I think Kevin is showing domination in a time when the level of competition has never been higher.

A question that is entering my mind after the finish of this Lay Lake 40th Bassmasters Classic is whether Kevin had the best spot in crowded Beeswax Creek or whether he was simply the best dimensional fisherman in Beeswax Creek? The standings in this one bear out remarkably that the best place to be fishing on Lay Lake the past 3 days was in Beeswax. If I am not mistaken all of the so called Super 6 were in Beeswax catching fish. The top 3 all fished close to one another but not in the exact same water and they all hoarded their specific area for the vast majority of time in the tournament. I think the answer to my question is that there was a little of both. The fact that Kevin's area gave up the two biggest stringers of the tournament tends to favor the answer that he was in fact in the very best area. However, the fact that KVD, Jeff Kriet, and Todd Faircloth were all pretty much using the same category of lures I think favors the answer that Kevin was the best dimensional fisherman. While I don't know yet all the exact lures KVD caught his fish on I am confident that all of the top 3 guys were primarily on the very best pattern which was lipless crankbaits. Because KVD has an Elite Series win on Lake Toho that was a lipless crankbait pattern proves he is a virtuoso of that particular craft.

And lastly let me conclude that it speaks volumes to Kevin's level of ability that he bagged 51lbs 6ozs which blew almost every pre and during tournament prediction out of the water. I think measured by the numbers head to head this 2010 Bassmaster Classic will have proved to be tougher fishing than what went on when Boyd Duckett won in 2007; Still that did not stop KVD from convincingly beating Boyd Duckett's winning weight this year.

2010 Bassmaster Classic Day 2 Wrap Up

Once again Big Indiana Bass blog has run the Bass Trakk numbers vs. the real results and he doesn't like what he sees.

Boyd's Biz blog Not the outcome I wanted — to say the least

John Murray Blog Classic – 2nd and final day for me

Skeet Video Blog from Day 1... If your not watching these Skeet Video's you should, I think they are excellent.

AnglersChannel.com blog 2010 is Shaping Up To Be a Classic Alright! And if you go to the main AnglerChannel.com page there are video's.

“I actually caught two keepers on a frog today."
Dean Rojas as quoted at Bass Zone

Bassmasters Classic Day 1 Take 3

AnglersChannel.com Blog- Looks like it is a pretty good place for Classic Info

Big Indiana Bass is has run the unofficial Basstrakk numbers vs. the actual results.

Boyd's Biz blog- Nothing like blowing up your boat

Alton's Angle blog- Day 1 disappointment

Gary Klein's Classic diary... This was written and posted this morning but it is well written and worth the read.

Gerald Swindle appears on Skeets Classic Video Blog... Good Stuff! For some reason the video and audio are now synched unlike a couple of days ago.

John Murray Blog- Classic – 1st Day

Kramer Gone Fishing is writing off most of the field at this point.

Note- I am kind of a little shocked Hack did so poorly, I thought he might do well.

Official Standings Here...

More to follow...

40th Bassmasters Classic Day 1

While I'm away get your fix at the official Classic Live Blog...

Think I need to take a nap

7:45AM- BassTrak is reporting Brent Chapman and Jody Adkins have small keepers...

7:40AM- Just saw a Bass Cam segment with KVD fishing, so that Countdown Clock was off by an hour, which I kind of thought it had to be.

7:30AM- From what I've seen there won't be any live streaming, but short video segments that are filmed periodically. Hmmmm.

6:30 AM- Just noticed the Classic Countdown clock and it says there is an hour and a half to go yet. Can that be right?

6:15AM Note- BassCam has just come on streaming live from Lay Lake. (for me the video is choppy) Actually I just learned that was not a live stream but was recorded.

From Yesterday Boyd's Biz Blog- Approaching the Classic

From a couple of days ago Bass Cam (lots of stuff with Boyd)...

It is coming up on 6AM and I've been on the computer all night. It's about time I did into the Bassmaster and Bass Insider websites so I know what is up for today. In the past couple of years they have had streaming video of the take offs. Don't know if they will have that this year or not

Alton Jones is blogging the Classic for ESPN

Read Alton's blog here, but it isn't up to date with actual info from practice...

Note- I guess the blog is called Alton's Angle

Looks like Boyd Duckett is also doing a blog for ESPN called Boyd's Biz.

Gary Klein's Classic Diary is another ESPN blog (I guess these journals are blogs, right?)

Hmmm

I had something I was going to write about today, but I forgot What? it was.

In case you haven't been paying attention, like I haven't, Boyd Duckett is doing some new things on the web. I am not sure if he will be chucking his old blog, because it looks like he started a new one along with a main BoydDuckett.com website. Anyway maybe you have not heard that Boyd has started up his own fishing rod company called Duckett Fishing. I think he intends to expand beyond rods at some point. His new rods are going to be called “MicroMagic” and are designed around the concept of "microguides" whatever that means.

Good Luck Boyd.

Boyd Duckett Controversy Voice Blog

Maybe you haven't heard, but Boyd Duckett had problems at Guntersville with fellow Elite Series competitor Kevin Langill. You can hear Boyd talk about his side of the story at his blog.

Boyd and Team Bassackwards

Boyd blogs a bad day... He did kick some serious butt at the Neely Henry PAA yesterday.

Team Bassackwards makes some announcements...

I may actually get some fishing in today.

Elite Series Dardanelle Day Final

I would put my money on Menendez at this point.

Boyd Duckett went out with his Marshal on Sat. in spite of the day being cancelled and his fish were going...

Skeet has been heard from...

Menendez edges out KVD by 2-3. Maybe if they would have fished yesterday KVD would have put another feather in his cap. My fantasy guy Herren moved down 5 places and with KVD only moving up 1 today was a net loser for my fanatasy team, still I believe this is my best ESPN/Bass Fantasy Bass Fishing showing so far this year.

Here is how the Top 12 stacked up:
1 Mark Menendez 5 17-12 5 21- 8 5 16- 3 15 55- 7
2 Kevin VanDam 5 15- 6 5 18- 6 5 19- 8 15 53- 4
3 Chris Lane 5 15-14 5 14- 8 5 17-11 15 48- 1
4 Jim Murray 5 12- 0 5 19- 3 5 14- 6 15 45- 9
5 Denny Brauer 5 16- 6 5 15- 5 4 11-13 14 43- 8
6 Skeet Reese 5 15-13 5 13- 9 5 13- 6 15 42-12
7 Cliff Pace 5 16-11 5 21-12 1 2- 1 11 40- 8
8 Fred Roumbanis 5 16-12 5 15- 5 3 8- 4 13 40- 5
9 Matt Herren 5 17- 1 5 15- 7 3 7- 0 13 39- 8
10 Alton Jones 5 17- 5 5 14-14 3 7- 0 13 39- 3

Well no rest for the weary as it is on to Wheeler this week. I've already done my Wheeler scouting and you can bet Kevin Short is a gonner from the fantasy roster. I think Hack might get the axe too.

Oops!

I didn't know till just now that Boyd Duckett blogged the Classic...