National Geographic on Bass Fishing Culture

Video "Master Angler Tactic" – A champion bass angler shares insights into the secret of his success.



Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/feeds/cv-seo/Animals--Nature/All-Videos/If-You-Love-Bass-Youll-Love-This-1.html

Here is the email I got.
Hi Dave -

My name is M.O. and I work with National Geographic Channel to promote the programs online. I typically work with online editors and bloggers to identify programs that are appropriate and interesting to respective sites, and provide program information such as press releases, photos, and embeddable videos.

I came upon your writings while looking for folks who might be interested in our upcoming program, Hooked on Bass, and wanted to reach out to you with some information to see if this program would appeal to you and your readers.

Below is a brief program description and broadcast time/date, as well as some embeddable videos.

HOOKED ON BASS

Monday, February 2 at 10pm ET/PT
Saturday, February 28 at 8pm ET/PT – Encore Presentation

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/wild/4026/Overview

The largemouth bass is more than just Americas most sought after freshwater fish. It fuels an entire culture of followers that pursue the bass at all levels for different reasons: weekend hobbyists, professional tournament anglers, and obsessed record hunters. Some fish to spend time with family and for relaxation, some for the challenge and the connection with nature, and others for the money and obsession. The pursuit of the bass has a $60 billion dollar effect on our economy by the 30 million bass anglers, a sport which has become the most popular outdoor activity in America. Three stories typify the culture of bassfishing, and happen on three different lakes across the country. In Texas, on Lake Sam Rayburn, weekend angler Rusty Clark fishes in one of the worlds largest amateur bassfishing tournaments. In New York, on Lake Oneida, Kevin Van Dam tries to secure his year-long quest to be the top professional in the sport. And in California, on Dixon Lake, three world record hunters obsessively hunt one fish that they believe to be the biggest bass of all time.

Video "Big Bass Obsession" – These three men are infatuated with a beauty named Dottie – but their wives don't mind.



Link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/feeds/cv-seo/Animals--Nature/All-Videos/If-You-Love-Bass-Youll-Love-This.html

I am sure it will be a good show, National Geographic does quality programming.

Need a Knife or Multitool? Plus more Blogs

Bass Pundit reader Kris Anderson has an online store called Knives Infinity where he sells axes, knives, knife sharpeners, multitools, saws, and shovels. So if you need any one of these things consider Kris.

Also Check Out:

Stream Stalker blog- This is a blog out of Illinois that is all about catching Smallies in streams and rivers.

The Daily Crank- This is a sweet looking BassNblog by Lucky Craft. Apparently Lucky Craft is making spinnerbaits now. They look cool, but how much are they gonna cost?

Are you into Bluegills? Personally I am not. Sure I don't mind catching them through the ice or in the Spring when crappie fishing and other times when they can be low hanging fruit, but "bruegers" just don't do it for me. I caught so many of them when I was a kid, I have a psychological tick that fails to see the sport in it. You see I could always catch sunfish off the dock, but crappies, pike, bass, and walleye were more difficult to get, therefore a more rewarding fish when I would catch them. If the mighty bluegill does turn your crank I suggest you check out BigBluegill.com and it's BigBluegill Blog.

Found: New Bass Fishing BassN blogs

From the BassNblog Capitol of the World:

Ross Talks Fishing Started om July last post is from August. I hope this one didn't fizzle out already, that would be to bad because it was off to a great start.

Other Blogs:
All About Bass Fishing- This excellent Wordpress blog is out of South Florida. He only started in December but has lots of really good stuff up already.

Largemouth Lures- The 1st bass fishing blog out of Cheesehead land and it is written my a Fisherwoman. She has just started out but already she is building a Blog Franchise Empire with these other blogs:

how to fishing-This Blogger blog is a little overboard on the adds.

I love Largemouth Bass Extreme- I am not sure if this Squidoo Lens thing is an actual blog or not. It kind of looks like one, but only time is going to tell me if content is continually added or not.

I think this Blogger Amber is trying to make money as a BassNblogger. Good luck with that.

What is this? Another Cheesehead BassNblogger, can you believe it!!!
South East Wisconsin Fishing Report This is the blog of Milwaukee area Fishing Guide Chris Terry who apparently guides for bass much of the time. This blog has been around since March 2007, so it is older than those first two Sconni blogs.

Lunker Hunt- I was just alerted to this one in my comments by BassfishingDem. It looks like a really good veteran BassNblog that has been around since 2006. It is another BassNblog out of IL, which makes 4 for that state.

dark art caster- This is not a bass fishing blog, it is out of Malaysia, but it is pretty cool. Check out this post of the Mangrove Snake caught on Berkley Powerbait.

You could win $50 of Subway Sandwiches!!!

New Minnesocold BassNblog and Bass Fishing Forum:

I have decided that Fishwrench can be classified as a bass fishing blog. I was made aware of Fishwrench more than a year ago thanks to the Excel Bass Circuit online Forum. From what I recall Fishwrech was only an online message board/forum. I was recently reminded of Fishwrench as I was browsing on the Excel Forums and found out Fishwrench is now bloggish and has a new message board/forums because apparently the old site crashed.

I recommend that Bass Pundit readers take the time to go to the Fishwrech Forums and register and then post at least once because after you post you will have a shot at winning a $50 Subway Sandwich Card. I don't know about you, but I love me some Subway

Bass Tournament Fishing From the Back of the Boat (Co-Angling)

Over at the Bass Fishing Forum of FishingMinnesota.com Carl Spande of Carl's BassAckwards Fishing Blog asks this question.

Co-angler Tournament Strategies

I'm thinking about fishing a few circuits as a co-angler this upcoming season, and I'm curious what pros and co-anglers alike recommend for co-angler tournament strategies. For example, lure selection, bait placement, and other things that will help a co-angler be as successful as possible when competing against other co-anglers in other boats.

This past year with the Baxter Bass Snatchers I was fishing the tournaments as if I was a Co-angler and I only took time at the front of the boat when my partner needed me to run the trolling motor as they had something else they needed to do. I think I fished from the back of the boat fairly successfully, but how well I did from the back of the boat is difficult to measure against others because some and possibly most of the non-boaters took half the day at the front of the boat as is their right according to the club by-laws. I do know if it was Co-Angler vs. Co-Angler that I would have been 1st at Serpent Lake and second to last or last at Big Birch.

My thoughts on tournament fishing from the back of the boat:
I think your main goal from the back of the boat should not be to win the tournament, but to try and get a limit by catching as many fish as you can. You do this by throwing baits you are comfortable throwing and that you think will catch fish in the environment to which your boater brings you. It is definitely helpful if your boater gives you a general idea of what kind of water you are going to be fishing for the tournament day, but you do have to be prepared to be flexible as the boaters plans might change. I think fishing from the back of the boat is a test of your flexibility and adjustment abilities as an angler.

I don't think you should have any hard and fast rule about not throwing the same thing as the angler in the front of the boat. You throw what you want to throw and what you think will work but you definitely want to be in tune with what the guy in the front of the boat is doing to give you input on what might or might not be working. If something they are doing starts working and it is practical for you to do the same thing than you might want to make that switch but the beauty of it is you don't have to. I want to emphasize again, do what you think will work. If the guy in the front of the boat proves you are around fish than you probably should keep making adjustments until you find something that works.

If your boater is catching fish and you are not it is easy to get frustrated. You can let the frustration be a negative that wrecks your confidence or you can let the frustration be a positive and allow it to motivate you to think and be more creative. One of the big keys is not to let your frustration distract you, but channel it to become more focused.

Focus is very important for the Co-Angler because when an opportunity prevents itself you have to be ready to take advantage of it. In tournament bass fishing you are only as good as you are successful at taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves during the tournament day. You may have lots of opportunities in a given day or you may have no opportunities if you are unlucky and over water all day that doesn't hold any fish. More likely than not you are going to have an opportunity to catch some fish in an 8 hour day.

As a Co-angler you don't have to allow your mind to be caught up in the decision making process that goes along with deciding where you should be fishing and not fishing at a given moment, this is the boaters burden. Your focus needs to be on trying to make the best presentation possible in the water that is available to you. It is up to you and you only to make the right call on presentation and that is what your sole bass fishing focus should be directed towards.

The two big questions:
Are you throwing the right bait in the right place? Are you going to be aware if a bass bites? I think that is your world as a Co-Angler

I just read in a Bass Snatcher email that our tournament dates and lakes are tentative at this point and won't be finalized until the next meeting. However, I am guessing there is a 99% chance that these will be the dates and lakes we fish. I can't imagine what would come up to change things.

My 2009 Baxter Bass Snatcher Tournament Schedule

Today we had our first Baxter Bass Snatcher club meeting of the year, and the big item on the agenda was dates and lakes. Here is the schedule we came up with: Saturday, May 30th Gull Lake Sunday, June 21st South Long Lake Saturday, July 18th Birch (Hackensack) Saturday, August 8th Pelican Saturday, August 22nd Leech Saturday, September 19th Cullen Chain (I am not sure if we can fish 3 lakes or 2) Date Analysis: Basically, any thought I had of doing some Minnesota Federation of Bass Angler Series tournaments is out the window. I was really leaning towards entering the MFBA on E&W Rush to try the Series out, but we put a Bass Snatcher tournament the same day, June 21st. The Snatcher July 18th tournament at Birch is a day before the MFBA Series Tournament at Osakis. I don't think I can physically handle back-to-back tournaments in July if the weather turns out to be hot, which it most likely will be. This Birch tournament also conflicts with the day my Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities will be at Lake Koronis. I caught my biggest tournament limit ever in July on Koronis, and I was looking forward to getting back there to try and tie into some of those summo smallies. I guess I am going to have to make a decision, but I will probably go with the Snatchers to Birch. The August 8th Pelican tournament is a day before the MFBA Series at North Long, so there is another no-go due to my physical limitations in hot weather. The last Snatcher tournament may conflict with the Fishers of Men Fall Outing, but I don't think the dates we have listed on the Fishers of Men website are correct. Lake Analysis: Gull- I have only fished Gull one time, and that was a tournament on June 6th, 2004 which is just a weekend later than our Snatcher tournament on May 30. I got into a lot of fish at that June 6th tournament, so I should be able to contribute a spot. In fact, I have a place in mind that I think could be a good gamble on where to start the day. South Long: South Long is about 15 minutes away from me between here and Brainerd. I have never fished South Long other than for a few minutes from shore one time where the Nokasippi river flows out on the SW end. I have wanted to fish in this lake, and now is my chance. With it being so close, I may actually pre-fish this one on my own, possibly multiple times if I like the lake. I think it is supposed to be a pretty decent bass lake. The DNR lake survey is from 2007, and it shows a lot of 15-24 inch Pike and a respectable population of good-sized Bowfin. I may have to hit up this lake before the bass opener. According to the DNR electrofishing, there were many little bass in 2007, which may mean a bumper crop of keepers for 2009. Birch by Hackensack Cass County- Never been there, never really heard about it until now. The club has fished it a few times, and the one thing that stood out to me is that it has produced several 4 & 5lbers. The last time the club was there was in 1999, and at least 5 bass over 4lbs were caught. Hopefully, my partner will be willing to take me prefishing because I don't know what to expect. Pelican- Pelican, is probably the 2nd most popular lake in the Brainerd Lakes area behind Gull, and it boasts the famous Minnesota Resort Breezy Point. I've never been to the lake. It is over 8,000 acres and looks like it could get a bit rough in the wind. I really am not aware of its reputation as a bass lake, so I will have to research this one quite a bit further. The club was last on Pelican in August of 2006 and over 19lbs won it with 13 of 28 anglers coming in with 6 fish limits. It looks like this one could be fun if the wind stays down. Leech- Yeah, Baby. This is one of the lakes I hoped we would be fishing. Leech has big fish in heavy cover that sets up as prime frogging habitat. Many club members have a lot of experience with Leech. The club last fished it in July of 2006. In 2006 there were two bags over 20lbs, and there were 18 limits out of 30 anglers. Leech has produced 3 fish over 6lbs for the club. I may have to get into the club's big-money rolling big bass pot that only gets collected when a contributor to the pot catches one 5 1/2lbs or bigger. The club had one fish that big at Pokegama last year, but he wasn't in the pot, which made many guys very happy. Cullen Chain- I don't know much of anything about these lakes North of Brainerd. The club last fished here in early June of 2005 with 18 limits coming to the scales out of 29 anglers, but the winning weight was just 13 1/2lbs, and only 1 fish over 4lbs was caught. It looks like these lakes should be good for some action. The DNR reports indicate these are clear water lakes with visibility over 10 feet, which very well could mean a solid buzzbait bite. Overall I think we have a strong slate of lakes this year. Carl "BassAckwards" Spande has a tentative schedule for 2009 out as does Art Simms and Josh Douglas.

Playing with my BassNblogs blogroll

With about 100 Bass Fishing Blogs now on the Blogroll-O-BassNblog I thought I should do a little better job of organizing and highlighting them. Of coarse I give the most prominent position to all the Minnesocold blogs. Next I rewarded blogs that blogroll Bass Pundit. Next came blogs that blogroll Hellabass with the exception of Billy Harris who doesn't link to anyone, but he is one of the first to blog about bass fishing and he is friends with Rich. Next came blogs that I think are good reading that I want to keep my eye on. The "The unwashed masses" are a mixture of bass fishing blogs that just don't stand out to me that I will check less often. I don't know why I have "The Pro's Blogs" where they are as these are blogs that I try to keep up with on a regular basis especially when the tour season is on. I think it is pretty self explanatory why blogs that haven't posted in more than a year go at the bottom.

After getting done organizing everything I redid the order of the Minnesota bass fishing blogs.

This just in...

Tackle Tour Forum poster Bowfin 13 has this to say about bowfin and chatterjigs:

They absolutely love them , especially in florida, try putting a swim senko as a trailer to bulk it up, or try a 4.5 paddletail swimbait.

So basically you can look for me throwing chatter jigs the second the ice goes off the lakes in April.

MT Bucket Picture Poll

I encourage all Bass Pundit readers to head over to MT Bucket and share an opinion on which fish picture is the best. To vote you have to leave a comment as that Cyb didn't use one of those "Make a Poll" tools that are available.

I blogged about Cyberfish's lousy dark pictures yesterday...

BASS Elite Series Changes

As I blogged about yesterday, BASS came out with changes to the Elite Series today. For full details see Hellabass and BassFan.

To sum up the major points:
BASS cancelled the Elite Series Tournaments at Pickwick, Bay De Noc, and Champlain.
BASS added a 12 man two event Angler of the Year playoff.
BASS changed entry fees and payout schedules.

I want to officially put lakes Platte and Sullivan here in Minnesocold into the hat for possible AOY playoff venues. It's only 12 guys, so these two lakes combined are plenty big enough and between the 3 public accesses there is enough room for 12 rigs, while space would be limited for those pesky on the water spectators. Weigh in location would be the only issue. I want to see KVD take down Platte lake. LOL

Tournament Bass Fishing Culling System's

In an email today I received a press release from Ardent Outdoors (Ardent: made in the USA fishing reels fame) about the fact that their SmartCull fish culling system was given an Editor's Choice Award at Tackle Tour(Click on the link for Tackle Tour's review.) I am assuming they sent me the press release to post on the blog, which I am not going to do, I figure linking to the Tackle Tour review is better than the press release.

The press release has inspired me to share my thoughts on tournament bass fishing culling system's. I think if you are a professional or semi-professional tournament bass fisherman paying significant entry fees with significant prize money on the line than you are going to want the best culling system possible. The Ardent SmartCull looks like a very good system but at Futurebass I was recently made aware of a culling product called Accu-Cull that looks like it would be pretty good too. Then there is the Cul-M-Rite system that costs $200 bucks. I'll leave it up to others to decide which is the best among those three different approaches or if the best is even something different from them.

For myself, fishing club tournaments with nothing much on the line other than pride, the culling system that I choose to use isn't all that important. I have never culled by weighing a fish on a digital or sping scale. I instead cull by length of fish and by sight on fish that are of similar size. I did use my partners balance beam once at Serpent Lake this past year. What I do is certainly not the most exacting method but it is quick and I would rather be fishing than sorting fish.

Last year and in the past I have used Bag-Em Bass Tags:
I ran into a problem last year with the Bag-Em's clips coming off the fish, which creates a hassle and in the case of Serpent Lake some confusion that led to culling the wrong fish. I think the Bag-Em's are generally ok if it is just my fish in the livewell but where I had problems was in the boats without divided livewells and so I had 12 rather than 6 fish swimming around and bumping into each other. For this year I bought EZ-Cull-RZ ropes.

As you can see EZ-Cull-RZ ropes have locking clips so the rope will stay with the fish. I just spent to much time last year messing around with fish that got off their clips.

Culling Side Note- It has been my experience fishing tournaments with club partners and watching professional bass fishing that most anglers do not start the culling process right from the first fish. I on the other hand always put the tags on the fish as I catch them and record the length right away before I get back to fishing. I think the way I do it leads to more time fishing and less time playing with fish. I suppose the people who don't start the culling right away do so because they don't want to take the time to weigh a fish when the "iron is hot;" While there might be something to that, I would think they would want to at least put a culling clip on the fish to make for easier retrieval, but more often than not this simple and quick step doesn't seem to be done. I don't get it, maybe they are putting on clips and I just don't see it, but I am generally in the back of the boat where the livewell is and I would think I would see the clips when they box their fish.

Breaking News:

BassFan has just reported in Dock Talk that the BASS Elite Series is going to cut 3 events from the tour schedule. Is this just a false rumor or is it gonna happen. BassFan says BASS is going to say something official on Friday.

I wrote Elite Tour tournament dates in pen in my Day Timer calender this year, Oops.

Smallies are friends, NOT food.

I don't get it!

"I know this sounds bad, but I haven't really looked at the schedule yet. I know we're going to Guntersville first, but I don't know what's going on after that."
David Dudley to BassFan on the upcoming FLW tournament season.

How can this guy be such a great angler, I swear he has rocks in his head.

(But then again I don't have the FLW schedule memorized either. Off the top of my head I know they hit Guntersville, Norman, Beaver, Kentucky Lake, Pittsburgh and Champlain but I don't know the correct order. (I forgot the tournament at Table Rock)

Check out this article on David Dudley from Rob Newell of FLW Outdoors...

My MT Bucket pet peeve.

MT Bucket is my fishing buddy Mike "Cyberfish" or "Shake" Thompson's blog. (No not the Mike Thompson that one won the million bucks in FLW fantasy fishing) Mike goes fishing a lot and he usually blogs about his trips with pictures. My pet peeve is this:
The picture is far darker than it should be. Lots of Mike's pictures are not the greatest to look at because they are too dark. Now look at the same picture after I do 30 seconds of work on it:
Big difference in the quality of the photograph. I would guess that Mike does have some kind of photo viewing and editing software and brightening up photo's is one of the most basic edits there is. If I can do it, anybody can do it. So come on Mike start brightening up those dark pictures before you post them, your fan base will thank you for it.

Spro Frog modification video on Basseast blog... Check it out.

BassNblog Count

Another Update: I found 2 more active BassNblogs and 2 more inactive one's. So the active total is now 100.

Update: I Googled "Bass Fishing Blog" to prospect for more BassNblogs and I found 18 more active BassNblogs and 2 that were inactive, that brings the active BassNblog count to 98. Naturally Hellabass was the 1st Google entry. Bass Pundit didn't show up until the 12th page and much to my shock and amazement I am a bass fisherman blog was unheard from in the top 10 pages. I do not understand search engines.

By my count there are 80 BassNblogs that have been active within the past year. I just checked through my "Inactive" blog list and Bassin the Net and Bass Hog Blog both posted an entry within the last year so I have upgraded them to active. I have blog Getting Reel in the "Inactive" pile even though they posted in 2008. Unfortunately this excellent BassNblog closed it's doors at the end of July.

80 (100) is a large number, so you may ask what are my favorites?

Naturally all the Bass Pundit Blog Franchise Empire blogs are Favorites:
Bass Pundit
Bass Pundit's Fishing Log Blog (For hyperlinks go to right side blogrolls)
Bass Pundit's Tourny HQ
Bass Pundit Preach
B.P. vs Cyberfish
Bass Pundit Fantasy Bass Fishing HQ
Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Derby 2008
Fishers of Men Club Blog

Favorite Non B.P.B.F.E. blogs
Rich Lindgren's Bassin Blog (Hellabass) (I regard this site as the King of BassNblogs)
MT Bucket
GEM (Great Expectations Ministries)
JoshDouglas
Nick's Bass Blog
Carl's "BassAckwards" Fishing Blog
Art Simms Bass Fishing
Bob's Fishing Blog
Bass Fishing in the Midwest
Sport's Outdoors Forum
Minnesota Bass Fishing
AJ Rods and Tackle
Fishing Hype (his blog entry's have disappeared)
I am a bass fisherman
JP Derose
Rattletrap Ramblings
On Tour
Clay Dyer
Sean Hoernke
Boyd Duckett

Some of the other BassNblogs are pretty good, but I don't check them often (probably because they don't post entries very often) or they are to new for me to give them my seal of approval.

BP Bass Tournament Memories:
Blast from the past blogged at the BP Tourny HQ. I found the Excel Bass Singles Archives from 2004 when I fished 3 of their tournaments. Ohh the memories.

Found: New BassNblogs:
Bass Madness is a very nice new BassNblog that started up Dec 20 of 2008 and already has 26 posts. This one is worth checking out. I found it thanks to Fishing by P. Roberts Blogger Profile.

Reney's bass fishing blog was also found thanks to P. Roberts Blogger Profile. Another Newbie BassNblog that started November 13th 2008, but unlike the prolific Bass Madness blog, this one only has 4 posts so it is hard to say how committed to the long run this one is. The guy who runs the blog is new to tournament fishing, so I hope he keeps blogging and tells about his experiences. This blog is out of Texas.

Tritongirl is a Blogger blog that reminds me more a My Space page then a Blogger Blog. I was half tempted to ignore the site altogether because the second you view the website Cyndi Lauper and Girl's Just Want To Have Fun comes blaring over the speakers and you have to go all the way to the bottom of the page to turn it off. Automatic audio or video on blogs is kind of a pet peeve of mine and a big reason why I don't care for My Space that much. Anyway this blog is about Triton Bass Boats and Triton Bass Boat Apparel for women and children more than it is about bass fishing. Still it does qualify as a BassNblog so I'm blogrolling it.

So I click on Tritongirls profile and come to find out that she has a "Blog Franchise Empire" that consists of 8 different blogs. I have decided that 6 of them qualify to go on the BassNblog blogroll. I am not going to bother with linking them here because linking them once on the blogroll is enough work.

Bassin with Allen is a BassNblog out of Texas that I found thanks to Tritongirl. The first post was December 30, 2008 just 8 days ago, so this BassNblog is brand spankin new still Hellabass managed to find it before me as he was on the "Followers" bar.

Humor: The Wonder Boner

In the Mail

Delivery from the UPS man of goodies from Tackle Warehouse today. I got the back ordered clown color Spro Bronzeye Frog. The Tackle Warehouse picture makes the bait look more chartreuse than it actually is. The clown color has more of a clear chartreuse than solid chartreuse. I think it might be a good color frog for clear water rather than stained were you would think clown color would excel.

I also received some toad/frog hooks with spiral wire plastic keepers, a bunch of 1/2oz blue black Strike King Pure Poison Chatter Jigs and some junebug Zoom Utra Vibe craws. I still have several things coming on back order.

Frog Rod On Sale: If I was in the market for a new frog rod I would snap up the Daiwa Light and Tough Frog Rod that is on sale right now at Tackle Warehouse for $129.95. I have read that these are some of the best heavy cover frog rods out there. So if you need a frog rod, get hopping.

Wow- Josh Douglas has 25 tournaments on his schedule that he intends to fish in 2009 and he doesn't have dates for his bass club yet so he may add more. Rich "Hellabass" Lindgren doesn't have his 2009 schedule posted yet. Actually it seems that Josh is the only Minnesocold BassNblogger to have a schedule for 2009 posted.

BP vs. Cyberfish round up for 2008...

(I must say that BP vs. Cyberfish blog layout is whole lot nicer looking than what I have hear at the Bass Pundit flagship)

Blog Notes: I have been doing some work on the sidebar. I have added "Classic Bass Pundit" which is a list of links to classic Bass Pundit Posts. I moved the Minnesota Featured Adoptable Pet a little farther down than it was. I haven't received any feedback on this widget, so who knows if it is doing any good. I like to look at the dogs, but at the same time it is depressing that those cuties don't have homes yet. I put the Blogroll-O-BassNblog above the Pro Bass Info blogroll. I also moved the 2008 BP Bass Derby results and links down to the bottom of the sidebar. I will do a Derby again in 2009 if the Lord so tarries.

BassNblog reports: Hojin at Rattletrap Ramblings has a tournament report. He says he "skunked it up" and called it "Skunk City" but he caught bass and even some keepers. That is not a skunk in BP's book. Anyway I encourage BP readers to go and give Hojin some encouragement.

JoshDouglas.com blog has gotten a facelift and he has recently added some posts. I think that his new background color makes the blog a bit more difficult to read than it should be.

ULTIMATEBASS blog has some outstanding content up right now. I should drop by that blog more often. There is an excellent blog entry about bass fishing in South Korea. It is really too bad that South Korean bass fishing bloggers The Lost Nomad and The Bass Hole have gone silent.

Sadly it looks like the blog Fishing the Trail by David Gnewikow is no longer around. This guy had an excellent blog with great tournament day stories.

Boyd Duckett has added a recent blog entry. He is going to be doing a monthly column called "The Duckett Exchange." This month he talks about the state of the economy and bass fishing.

In the Mail

I got an offer to try out a DM Custom Baits Chatter Jig (They sell them through an Ebay Store). I thought they were just going to send me one to try out, but today I was surprised to receive 11 of them in two different types.
They sent 3 Mat-Rat's which have a head similar to a Booyah Swim Jig head and I am guessing it's purpose is to be used around pads and other sparse hard matted vegetation. They sell this bait in 3/8oz & 1/2oz.

The 2nd type of lure is called a Piranha Swim Jig and has a rounded head. These came with shad/swimbait bodies and grubs. They sell this one in 3/8oz, 1/2oz, and 3/4oz.

Unfortunately it is going to be a long wait before I get to try these out and compare them with the Strike King Pure Poison.

Some Pics

Patti Blurr

Dad and Lilah before we go to take pics of Jenni's van accident, camera check.

This just ain't right!

The Vagabond Persimmon $68.99 at Tackle Warehouse.

Playoff Day!!!

The time has come. I expect the Vikes to lose, but I hope they make it a good game.

If I were Chilly I would start Frerotte. I just don't trust Tavaris, I think he is still a little to green.

Skoal Vikes!!!

Halftime: 16-14 Eagles

Certainly things could be worse with the Tavaris pick-6 and Chilly's exceptionally poor clock management to close out the half. The defence has played well but only has one fairly meaningless turnover near the end of the half. If the Vikes play as well in the 2nd half, they should have a shot.

Update: 6 minutes left Philly ball and I would say the game is over at 23-14. The Vikes offence has shut down in the 2nd half and we gave up the big play that made it a two possession lead.

Update:Well Tavaris makes a good play with his legs, the Birk hands up a bad snap Philly ball with under 3 remaining. That should pretty much do it.

Final Score:26-14 Philly

Post Game Anaylsis-Tavaris flat out did not play well enough for us to have a chance to win the game. Can't say this is a big surprize. We saw the Bucs shut down the Vikes offence in the 2nd half earlier this year and the same thing happened tonight with the Philly defence posting the 2nd half goose egg. And although the defence played well enough to keep us in the game, they could have done much better. Twice the Eagles were able to get off the goal line in the 2nd half, depriving the struggling Vikings offence of excellent starting field position. The Defence did give the Offence field position one time in the 2nd half when Jared Allen forced a fumble.

Final Analysis: the Vikes just are not good enough and without some better quarterback play next year, they won't be good enough then either. Maybe if Tavaris gets to play a full preseason than he will be ready next year, but I have my doubts; I would much rather have Aaron Rogers as a starting QB. If the Defence stays the same or gets a little better next year, we might get another shot at the playoffs.

I would like to see Chilly get fired and be replaced by Brian Billick, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Birthday and Christmas Presents

Today we had a family double Birthday party and belated Christmas with my two neices and Belle and Mal had a blast openning presents. I gave Mal a Big Mouth Billy Bass because she likes those animated animals. I gave Isabelle the board game Husker Doo! Husker Doo! is a memory game and while we were teaching it to Isabelle she got a couple of the hidden matches in a row and I called her a shark, which she seemed to take a little offence too. A little later I got a couple of matches in a row and she proclaimed "Uncle Dave, you are a shark." It was hilarious. The girls got several nice toys. My neice Mallory is a doll and she really gets a kick out of playing with uncle Jeff.

For presents I got a really nice picture frame with picture of Belle and Mal from when they were in a wedding as flowergirls, a $50 Gift Certificate from Reeds Family Outdoor Outfitters and
The Great Minnesota Fish Book It is a cool book with awesome illustrations and info on all of Minnesota's species of fish minus a couple of recently introduced exotics.

Happy Birthday to BP!!! (1 year to go until the big 4-Ohh!!!)

BP found:

Bassholes: I wonder if these guys are the same Bassholes that used to have a website and message board by the same name a couple of years ago.

They have a message board that looks pretty good. Hellabass has been posting there for a while.

found thanks to Rattletrap Ramblings blog who's blogger Hojin is fishing a tournament today down in Florida.

Bass Fishing by P. Roberts Due to Bassholes I found a brand new BassNblog out of Illinois. Go give the new guy a look.

Apparently Google is going to add a search engine just for blogs. I put in "Bass Fishing" to see what would happen. I thought Hellabass would be first up but he didn't come up for several pages. Bass Pundit was 1st entry on the 2nd page. Anyway I found 1 new BassNblog out of that. It's simply called Bass Fishing.

Fishing Rod Nightmare

Last night I had an honest to goodness nightmare about one of those G Loomis 783c's with a Team Daiwa X that I have recently bought going missing on me. I was in a group of people that were going to go fishing or do something with fishing rods and I set the G Loomis down. When I went to pick it up a few moments later it was gone. I was checking out all the fishing rods other people were holding but they didn't have it. The group then went to a place where there was a bunch more fishing rods and I was frantically checking all the rods out. I thought I had found my combo a couple of different times but on closer inspection they were not it. I woke up and was so glad it was only a dream.

All is quiet on New Year's Day,

A world in white gets underway,
And I want to be with you,
Be with you night and day.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day.
by U2


Youtube Video of U2 New Year's Day Here...

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!!

Fishing Memories and More from 2008

What will your 2008 memories be?

For me they will be:

Going to see U2 3D with my older brother Jeff

No ice fishing winter 07-08.
Getting stuck in the snow at Jenni's access and having to get pulled out.

Steve Kim Haley and Devin visiting Minnesota

Visits with Isabelle and Mal Mal (Not the part about getting sick Thanksgiving).

Late Spring Cold and Snow

Platte Lake Ice Off April 24th

First Fish of 2008

Getting soaked at the FOM Spring Outing at Big Sandy Lake.

Fishing at Rush Lake with Cyberfish and Lindmark


Breaking in new fishing reels.

Time spent with the grumpy old men at the "Grumpy Old Man Hole."

Losing the Glass Purple Perch Husky Jerk on the 1st cast on Fishing Opener midnight.

Patti getting skunked on Fishing Opener.


Catching a nice pike on the "Lost Jig" (before it was the "Lost Jig") at the "Grumpy Old Man Hole."

Getting the "Lost Jig" back


Having Mike Thompson show up at the "Grumpy Old Man Hole" on his way home from his annual family outing at Woman Lake and fishing with him on a pallet as Mike hammered the "jumpin bullheads" one after another.


Getting beat to the SPRO on Bass Opener. (Pic is 1st Bass of the season)

Catching two bass at once on the Rapala Subwalk.

Losing my brand new Rapala Subwalk to a Pike, getting it back a few days later and losing it to another pike the same day I got it back.

A dogfish in 2008 (3rd Place Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship)



Going out on 4 Eddy's launches on Mille Lacs lake with my dad.
#1 #2 #3 & #4


Fishing with Pete Kemmer and having him pretty much move in for 4 months.

Fishing the Mississippi River for smallmouth with Pete and his friend Greg.


My first year fishing with the Baxter Bass Snatchers Bass Fishing Club:
Farm Island(16th), Big Birch (23rd), Pokegama (15th), North Long (17th), Serpent (3rd Place & Lunker), Mission (20th)
Catching my limit at every Bass Snatcher tournament.


The FOM Fall Outing, specifically fishing with Art and Dave Lindmark both days with an emphasis on catching bass and pike at TownLine lake on a buzzbait and jigs to capture 2008 Fally Wall-E honors.


Fishing with FLW Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh

Catching nice bass and pike from shore at our place on Platte Lake from shore on election day.

Patti Lou having surgery on her neck.

Staying with Jeff a couple of Times playing video games

Reading all those BassNblogs, especially MT Buckett which Cyb started this year.

The SHOCK of FLW Fantasy Fishing prizes in 2008.
Not winning a thing in FLW Fantasy Bass Fishing, but hitting the prizes in BASS/ESPN Fantasy Bass Fishing.
The Vikes beat the Giants on a last second 50 yard field goal to make the playoffs.


All those deals I got on fishing equipment on Ebay Oct-Nov.

Kicking off Fishers of Men Club blogging.


Putting Lilah and Patti to bed

I hope you have many fond memories of fishing and more from 2008.

More Snow

We got another 8-10 inches today and it's cold. Gotta love Minnesocold.

I don't think it is looking good for getting the permanent ice house out this winter.

Update: I went out to play ball with Patti and was surprised to see only 3 or so inches on the drive way. The drifts that I saw just outside the garage fooled me. I don't think we got more than 5 inches.

Shake & Bake

The tandem of Mike "Shake" Thompson and Jack "Bake" Halverson got 1st place in the Ultimate Panfish League Tournament on Linwood Lake.

Cyberfish with the details at MT Buckett...

Bass Pro Shops Catalog Day!

A couple of days later than last year, but who is gonna quibble. I don't think I ordered a thing from Bass Pro Shops last year but I look in their catalog quite often and keep it right by the computer. I don't know why, but Basspro.com does not contain the full selection of things you find in the Catalog. I like BassPro.com and Cabelas.com because they have cutomer reviews of products. Of late my online fishing equipment shopping has gone to Tackle Warehouse because they have had sales or were the only one selling what I wanted to get. At Tackle Warehouse there is a "Submit Feedback" button for products, but as far as I can tell there is no place that you can read the feedback that is left.

1st Run through things that caught my eye:
1. The Rapala X-Rap Shallow Shad P.240


2. Strike King Perfect Skirt with Magic Tails P.346

This is the skirt that the Pure Poison Chatter Jig uses, 2 Skirts are more expensive than I paid for the lure itself at Tackle Warehouse.

3. Sure Enough Daiwa Fuego and Sol reels are $20 more expensive than last year.

4. G Loomis GLX 783c's are $21 more expensive and IMX 783c's are $15 more expensive than last year.

3&4 Make the deals I got on Ebay on these products look that much better.

5. St. Croix rods stay the same price.

6. Shimano Crucial's go up $20 a rod. (Had I not won the Loomis rods on Ebay I would most likely have gone with a Crucial or two)

7. The New Berkley Powerbait Chigger Chunk but no Chigger Craw to be seen.

8. No Denny Brauer Chunks.

9. No chatter jigs of any type.

Vikes Do or Die Day!
This morning the guys at Fox were saying the Giants are going to rest their best players. That should help the Vikes but will it be enough?

Of coarse the Bears could always lose to Houston.

Pathetic Clock Management with under a minute to go.

The Vikes were moving the ball and getting close to field goal range. On first down, after calling their last timeout, with just about a minute left Tavaris throws a 9 yard completion. Instead of running a play on 2nd down he spiked the ball, which was a terrible decision. On 3rd down we ran Chester Taylor getting a penalty and failing to make the 1st down. So we go for it on 4th and 1 and instead of trying to throw it down field or handing off to AP we tried a quarterback draw that was a sack. Giants get the ball with about 40 seconds left and are able to kick a field goal. 10-9 Vikes with all the momentum on the Giants side and they get the ball to start the 2nd half.

We are getting almost no pressure on the QB and for the 2nd week in a row our run defence is not so solid.

Da Bears are losing at the half 14-10.

Vikes give up a TD to start the half, not good. Giants 16 Vikes 10.

But the Bears are losing 21-17.

Tavaris throws an INT with the Vikes goal to go. Oops.

Vikes down 19-10 with 11 to go. Can Tavaris lead a comeback? Or will the Bears come back from being down 24-17.

Just like that Tavaris gets 7 back. 19-17 so for the moment a field goal wins it.

Apparently our defence can't stop the Giants second stringers. At a minimum the Giants are going to get a field goal.

Ha! they missed the kick.

Tavaris throws a cluth pass on 3rd and long for a 1st Down just before the 2 minute warning. I actually didn't think they got the snap off in time.

Well despite another atrocious 2 minute drill with poor clock and field management, Longwell hits from 50 yards and the Vikes beat the Giants back-ups 20-19.

So the Vikes make the playoffs on their own efforts, but they would have made it anyway cause Da Bears lost 31-24 in Houston.

The Vikes didn't give me much in the way of optimism for any kind of a playoff run. We really need our defence to play better than they have the last 2 weeks and get some turnovers.

On the bright side I believe Adrian Peterson is now the 1st Viking in history to win a NFL rushing title.

Hear Cyberfish sing Rudolph the Lunker Walleye.

Marley & Me

For Christmas we went to see the movie Marley & Me. Click here for what I think is a pretty good review of the movie. I was not familiar with the book going in and I didn't really know what the movie was about other than a misbehaving dog. I wanted to see a feel good movie, but that is not really what Marley & Me is. Marley and me is a real life story about a dog and it's family with all the ups and downs that go with an all too short dogs life. Knowing what I know now, I would have rather seen the Tale of Despereaux.

In the previews there was a trailer for a movie with Renee Zellweger called New In Town that is set in New Ulm Minnesota. The previews sure made it look like a funny movie with quirky Minnesota as it's back drop. I doubt I'll go see it as that I very rarely go to movies, but the trailer made me want to see it even though it is obviously a romantic comedy.

The BP wishes you and your family a blessed Christmas!!!

I guess it's a Merry Christmas to me.

Tonight at about 5:30pm the doorbell rang and I was thinking that can only mean one thing. The UPS man is here with a Christmas present for me. Sure enough when I got to the door there was a 7 foot long package waiting. There was no doubt that this box was holding the GLoomis MBR 783c GLX and Team Daiwa S-103Pi reel that I won on Ebay for a phenominal price. I openned the box and the rod was not broken, the reel looked to be in excellent shape and there was even a bonus Terminator T-1 spinnerbait with the rod.

Yes Merry Christmas to me!!! It's to bad the rod won't see any action for another 4 months. I plan on reselling the reel as that it is the old Team Daiwa S type reel.

For those who don't know: A GLoomis GLX is the top of the line rod for one of the world's premier fishing rod companies.

BassNblog FLW Pro Dave Lefebre

FLW Pro Dave Lefebre has been blogging on his website davelefebre.com. The wierd thing is that I can't figure out where the main website acknowledges the blog which is called "Dock Post." It's like the blog is hidden within the site. The only reason I found it was because Bassfan linked to a blog post about how Lefebre and Gamma Line had a parting of ways. I'll put the blog on the BassNblogs blogroll and the main site in Bass Pro Site-ING.

The Bassfan article on the Gamma Pro Staff is interesting...

Bait Monkey Strikes Again

I won one of these Team Daiwa X-103H reels on Ebay for a very good price. I think the guy who listed the reel was confused because he called it an Team Daiwa S-Z. The reel however is clearly a TD X-103 because that is what it says on the reel. It is a reel that was made for the Japan market that was not marketed in the US. New these reels sold for $256.00 It looks a lot like the Fuego but is lighter and has a different/better reel handle. I am not really sure what rod I am going to mount it on next year.

I did it! I finally broke down and bought some Chatterbait style swim jigs. I just could not resist the $1.49 price that Tackle Warehouse was selling the Strike King Pure Poison for in their "Twelve Days of Savings" promotion.
Besides the price I was also influenced to buy because Mark Davis in Ultimate Match Fishing was just hammering the bass on a Pure Poison on Lake Dardanelle.

In addition to the Pure Poison's I picked up a couple of Spro Rojas Popping Frogs and regular Spro Frogs. I forgot that I wanted to get some Parasite clips and Zoom Speed Craws which Tackle Warehouse also carries.

Why do I even care????

I think the Vikings have proved they are an OK team this year, but are they really a good team? They most certainly are not a very good team and have about zero chance of making, let alone winning the Super Bowl. So why should I care if the Vikes, who just are not that good, make the playoffs? Watching tonights Packers/Bears game was like having my teeth pulled; the Bears were so lucky to win this game in which they were pretty well dominated by the Pack. The Bears had several crucial plays go their way and they stole the game and maybe the NFC North title. Of coarse if that Green Bay Field Goal Kicker had hit vs. the Vikes then we wouldn't even have a shot at the Division title.

Woes me to be a Viking fan.

Vikes Choking!!!
Tavaras Jackson is playing well but the Vikes are stinking it up with 4 lost fumbles, 1 messed up snap that gave the Falcons great field position that led to a Atlanta touchdown on an Atlanta Fumble that two Vikes had a shot at recovering. The score is 24-7 yet we have outgained Atlanta on offence. Yep that's my Vikes.

Update:The Vikes defence stiffened and the offence got a field goal and a touchdown to make it respectable and then the Vikes had a chance to drive for a tieing score with enough time on the clock to do just that, but they failed and lost 24-17. Without the key mistakes this was a winnable game and it just may cost the Vikes the playoffs. I don't like our chances vs. the Giants next week, so I am thinking a Chicago loss is our best shot.

Chicago is at home for a huge division rivalry game vs. the Pack and then they go on the road vs. Houston who lost in Oakland today. These are two games Chicago could just as easily lose as win.

Even though Tavaris played fairly well today I think Chili should give the start to Frerotte next week if the Vikes need the win.

The Fishers of Men Club blog by Wordpress has be banging my head up against a wall. Writing and posting a blog isn't that different than here on Blogger but trying to add the stuff that I want the blog to have in terms of layout and features was just not happening. Also for some reason when I did do the post the text was not wrapping with the picture like it is supposed to do and was showing it WAS doing in the "Visual" preview.

My advice, if you are going to start a blog use Blogger.

On Fuego!!!

Ebay'd Daiwa reel prices are in flux right now. The sold prices on some reels have been coming up lately, but still an occasional very good deal is happening along. I snapped up two new Team Daiwa Fuego reels at a price that was to good to resist. I am going to try one of the reels on a 7'3" St. Croix Avid rod that I use mostly for frogging to see how I like the lightweight reel. If it passes the test than I will start using the other reel as well, but if it doesn't pass then I will resell the brand new Fuego. I think there is a good chance if I sell the reel next year that I will make a profit because the retail price of Team Daiwa Fuego reels is going up in 2009.

Cyberfish of MT Bucket catches a nice pike through the ice... (Video)

Found another BassNblog thanks to bassfishingdem of I am a bass fisherman

Rattletrap Ramblings has to be the best BassNblog name of them all.

This is his "About":
My name is Hojin in Windermere, FL and this is a blog about my quest to figure out how to become a pro bass angler. I really have no clue how to go about it, and will be a challenge. All I know is that I’m consumed by trying to figure out these fish whether it be where they’re at or the latest gizmos to lure them in. I’m 35 years old and ready for a change from my career if possible. I spend all of my free time fishing and spend way too much money at Bass Pro Shops so there’s gonna be some thoughts on equipment as well.

I plan on fishing the Bassmaster Weekend Series this coming year and perhaps some FLW BFL, HT3, or Xtreme stuff as well depending on schedule. I’ve done most of my fishing on the Butler Chain and John’s Lake, so I’ll be spending the majority of my time on Harris Chain, Kissimmee Chain, and the St. John’s River for the remainder of this year since that’ll be where the events will be the held in 2009.


Because of Rattletrap Ramblings I found:
Charlie Hartley's Bass Wars which is a blog I kind of knew about already that is connected with the ESPN/BASS website. If you didn't know Charlie Hartley is an Elite Series Tour Pro.

FUTURECAST is a very nice looking blog by one Kevin Scarselli of Bassfishin.com which is the blogs parent site. This guy obviously knows a thing or two about website design because it is a really cool looking blog and main site. The downsides are that he has no blogroll or archives so he probably needs to learn a couple of things about blogging. I am definitely going to check into Bassfishin.com as it says they have Forums that are 10 years old.

HARDKOREFISHING.COM is by BFL Pro Co-Angler Sean McLoughlin. The first impression this site made was that it was annoying. The BP is not big on blogs or any kind of website for that matter that has auto playing music or video. The only way I could turn the racket off was to turn the volume down to nothing. The site however is definitely worth a look. Apparently it is a Blogger blog, but does not have a blogspot address. I wonder if you pay to do that?

Tackle Warehouse Vlog- The V is for Video and if you didn't know Tackle Warehouse is an Online Fishing Retail Store. Here is a chance to learn about all kinds of tackle with tips.

Yeah it's MinnesoCOLD!!!

16 Below Zero* Right Now

*Fahrenheit as always

How bout Dem Vikes!!!

For the 14th time this season my outlook on the Vikes chances wasn't very bright. Since when this season have we beaten a good team? (OK the Carolina Panthers in week 3 qualify as a good team, and the Bears and Saints aren't that bad) Arizona is having good season and the game was in Arizona where they are very tough. I was amazed, the Vikes pretty much crushed them in the 35-14. Back up QB Tavaris Jackson threw 4 TD passes and Adrian Peterson ran wild yet again. Great games offensively were also had by former Bear Bernard Berrian and Chester Taylor, Bobby Wade even scored a key long touchdown.

The defence held one of the leagues most prolific offenses in Check with 7 of the Cardinals 14 points coming on a blocked field goal return. Jared Allen was a beast yet again. Berrian and Allan have really panned out as free agent acquisitions for this season. Hopefully Pat Williams injury isn't that serious, that is the one huge item of concern.

One more win or a Bears loss and the Vikes are in. The Vikes end with home games vs. the Falcons and Giants both of which will be playing for playoff positions. The Bears get their most hated rivals the Pack on Monday Night Football and they end vs the Houston Texans who have been coming on of late, so the Bears don't have a cakewalk to 10-6 which is the record they will need to beat out the Vikes and even that isn't good enough if the Vikes can match it.

BTW- Did anyone see Randy Moss' touchdown celebration in Oakland vs his former team the Raiders. I thought it was hilarious, not as good as faux mooning the Packer Crackers in Lambert, but still pretty good. I don't think he would pull the same dis of the fans here in Minnesota as he did to the notoriously psycho Raider fans.

Snowstorm

It looks like we are going to get walloped today pretty good. 6-10 inches and windy. This is not good for the prospects of me getting out ice fishing anytime soon. But if the weather is warmer this week who knows.

St.Croix Mojo Bass Rods

I heard something about these new St. Croix rods but didn't check them out until today. I can't wait to inspect them up close in a store. They are being marketed as technique specific and they cost from $90 to $120. The one thing that I see as a draw back is they only have a 5 year warranty. They really are not that much heavier than the Legend Tournament Bass Rods. It will be interesting to see if Tackle Tour has anything to say about them.

BP's Bass Fishing Christmas Gift Recommendation

The Berkley Frenzy Popper is a fantastic topwater lure. Not only does it pop and/or chug, it also can walk the dog while popping.

Read the reviews from when they sold it at Bass Pro Shops.

If you buy in bulk on Ebay or go to Gander Mountain you might be able to get them for under $4 a piece though it is a lure worth at least 5 times that in terms of performance. At GEM camp in the summer, we let the kids throw these and they caught bass and pike.