(Hat Tip: Bassin with Allen)
Tackle Tour has a picture of the lure.
I am betting it's not gonna come in under $15. It looks like a lure that pike would have a hard time with and if the thing floats there is a very good chance if a pike did cut you off that you would get the lure back. It's topwater and unique, I actually am considering buying one if they ever go on sale. They have a website that doesn't work. Click it maybe it's working now.
Update: Website is up, but there aren't any lures available.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Check this Tackle Tour Ad (Now that's what I need for the blog)
Production values and a hot model, or vice versa
Baxter Bass Snatchers Annual Liar's Meeting.
Yesterday was the last formal meeting of my bass club, The Baxter Bass Snatchers, before the tournament season begins. It also marked my 1 year anniversary with the club as it was the March meeting last year when I was accepted as a member in the club. The March meeting is called the "Liar's Meeting" because it is when the top 3 finishers in each of the previous summers tournaments is supposed to tell all about how they achieved their victory.
I learned a couple of interesting things. The first was that while the smallmouth beds on Big Birch that my partner had found in pre-fish were abandoned on tournament day, the same thing did not happen to all the beds on the lake. In fact, the winner won by going to beds he had made waypoints for in pre-fish. The other item of interest was to see just how far the top finishers traveled on the river to get their fish. My partner took us up the river a long ways in the morning and several of the top finishers went well beyond where we went. I also learned where on the map I fished at Serpent Lake when I came in 3rd and my partner came in 2nd. I wasn't totally sure exactly where we were but the others were able to point it out to me; My partner at Serpent Lake was not at the meeting and he was the one driving the boat, so he knew where we were and all I knew is we were somewhere toward the middle of the lake on the North end.
I don't remember if I have blogged about this before, but at the February meeting some of our lakes got changed. I blogged all about the original schedule, thinking that changes were unlikely. Apparently there were some conflicts that came up unfortunately, I really liked the lakes we were going to fish. They ended up switching dates on Gull Lake because of the Minnesota Fishing Challenge for Teen Challenge, and put Cedar (Aiken) on May 30th. I wish they would have switched dates instead because I would have liked to fish in that Minnesota Fishing Challenge. (I see that in addition to the $100 entry fee that teams must raise $500 more in sponsorship, Ouch! Maybe I don't want to fish it. I don't know if I could come up with that kind of sponsorship ging; I am not exactly the extroverted salesman type.)
They dropped Cullen on September 19th for Gull and also dropped Birch (Cass) for Ida (Alex) in July . It turns out the September 19th date for Gull conflicts with a big 2 day pike tournament. At this point it will now take a 90% vote of the club in favor of switching to Whitefish Chain, in order to stop the train wreck. Hopefully the voting will work out.
I learned a couple of interesting things. The first was that while the smallmouth beds on Big Birch that my partner had found in pre-fish were abandoned on tournament day, the same thing did not happen to all the beds on the lake. In fact, the winner won by going to beds he had made waypoints for in pre-fish. The other item of interest was to see just how far the top finishers traveled on the river to get their fish. My partner took us up the river a long ways in the morning and several of the top finishers went well beyond where we went. I also learned where on the map I fished at Serpent Lake when I came in 3rd and my partner came in 2nd. I wasn't totally sure exactly where we were but the others were able to point it out to me; My partner at Serpent Lake was not at the meeting and he was the one driving the boat, so he knew where we were and all I knew is we were somewhere toward the middle of the lake on the North end.
I don't remember if I have blogged about this before, but at the February meeting some of our lakes got changed. I blogged all about the original schedule, thinking that changes were unlikely. Apparently there were some conflicts that came up unfortunately, I really liked the lakes we were going to fish. They ended up switching dates on Gull Lake because of the Minnesota Fishing Challenge for Teen Challenge, and put Cedar (Aiken) on May 30th. I wish they would have switched dates instead because I would have liked to fish in that Minnesota Fishing Challenge. (I see that in addition to the $100 entry fee that teams must raise $500 more in sponsorship, Ouch! Maybe I don't want to fish it. I don't know if I could come up with that kind of sponsorship ging; I am not exactly the extroverted salesman type.)
They dropped Cullen on September 19th for Gull and also dropped Birch (Cass) for Ida (Alex) in July . It turns out the September 19th date for Gull conflicts with a big 2 day pike tournament. At this point it will now take a 90% vote of the club in favor of switching to Whitefish Chain, in order to stop the train wreck. Hopefully the voting will work out.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Found: Minnesota Bass Fishing Blog
Mike's Blog- The Blogger MikeD was a member of Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters which has had their club blog since 2005; Mike's Blog started just a month earlier. It doesn't appears Mike dropped out of the BLB club in 2007 and he hasn't done any blogging about bass fishing since 2006. So it appears he is a semi-retired BassNblogger who has other things on his plate (young family). Still he's going on the Blogroll.
Bait Monkey Attack
Today I was in Brainerd and hit up Fleet Farm and Gander Mountain. At Mills Fleet Farm they had some Dean Rojas Bronzeye, Bronzeye Jr's... 
and Bobby's Perfect Frog's on "Clearance." Unfortunately the Clearance lures at the Baxter Mills Fleet farm aren't really heavily discounted, but saving a buck or two per lure was enough to get me to stock up with 3 clown Bronzeyes, 1 toad Bronzeye, and 1 sparrow Bobby's Perfect. You rarely see these lures go on sale here in Minnesocold. The Spro Jr's cost 50 cents more and I elected not to buy any. When it comes to slop frogs I have traditionally thrown the larger size, which I think is an advantage because you get bigger hooks and a bait that makes more commotion on the surface. Am I missing out by not going with the smaller size?In the clearance bin I could not pass up a pack of Swim Senko's which are supposed to make outstanding trailers when you are swimming a chatter jig. Maybe they will be good on swim jigs too.
At Mills the new X-Rap Shad Shallows were on sale so I picked up a glass ghost(3rd down) and pink, which are my 2 favorite colors for X-Rap jerkbaits and Husky Jerks for bass.
I had thought that Mills was no longer carrying Cubby Mini-Mite's because there weren't any in there normal place but there were several of the knock offs on the shelf.
An employee was stocking near by and I asked him if they were no longer going to carry Cubby's. It turns out the Cubby's were all out of the way over on a far wall with the ice fishing lures. I am now stocked up with glow Cubby's. I went through a full 5 pack of them last year. I elected to go with the 5 pack again instead of the 3 pack with the extra bodies.I was tempted to buy a panfish rod on clearance because it had the action I look for in a pannie rod , but I think I can get something similar for less than $30. They had quite a few of these rods and so maybe they will be marked down more. I would really like to get 1 more good panfish rod.
Next I headed to Gander Mtn. so I could look there for panfish rods and also see what inventory they will carry for 2009. Last year MT Buckets Mike Thompson and Dave Lindmark from GEM bought some great panfish rods at Gander, but I don't think the Brainerd store ever carried those same rods and it doesn't look they will have them this year either. I did manage to pick up a couple of 100yard spools of 40lb moss green Power Pro; I can't say that I've ever seen Power Pro come in 100 yard spools, but you can bet I was willing to snap up the $5 price difference from a 150yard spool. Generally the Team Daiwa reels I use have smallish line capacities and a 150yard spool is overkill and I end up having 30-40 yards that I can't put on the spool, so the 100 yards is perfect. Gander also had some Yum Tungsten hybrid bullet sinkers on clearance that I couldn't pass up. Turns out these sinkers are going for 99cents a pack online at lurenet.com. It's pretty obvious to me that these things didn't sell, but I haven't found anything negative being said about them, so maybe the idea of a scent carrying sinker was just not a brilliant idea; I most certainly didn't buy them for the scent feature.
And thus ended the bait monkey attack.
2009 Minnesota Fishing License & Walleye Stamp- Check!!!
Even though I don't need it until May, I bought my 2009 Minnesota Fishing License yesterday. I was even generous and chipped in for the first ever Minnesota Walleye Stamp. Get this, I paid $5 for a stamp that isn't required to catch or keep walleye but for that $5 I don't actually get a walleye stamp; To get the actual stamp is another $2 which I did fork over. I don't collect stamps, but I may start a collection of these Walleye Stamps since I am in on the ground floor. In all it cost me $25 for the privilage of fishing in Minnesota this year through April 2010. I'll probably have to pay something close to that or maybe even more for 2 days of fishing in WI in May.
Weather Report: We are supposed to have good ice melting weather on through the middle of next week when it is supposed to cool down some. There is some talk about there possibly being a significant rain on Mon/Tues. A warm rain or lots of sun and warm temps are the best weather to have for melting lake ice.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Kevin Van Dam writes...
The State of the Sport Address
I think it would have been nice if KVD would have thrown in a paragraph or two about the wealth of information and opportunities for sharing community on the Internet. Between kevinvandam.com , his message board, and the blogs he writes for Bass Insider KVD is one of the Pro anglers that is doing an excellent job of leveraging the Internet for the benefit of the bass angling public. Obviously, he was writing for BASS on their website which might have made directing people towards other sources of new media a no go. There could also be the assumption that anyone who reads the article is familiar with online bass fishing resources. Under the circumstances what I wanted to hear is something beyond what anyone could expect.
Boyd Duckett has a new blog post up along with a voice blog...
Elite Series Pro Scott Campbell is doing voice blogs... (My question: Scott Campbell who?) Never heard of him before I saw the BassFan Dock Talk talk about his voice blogs. His bio says he has been in the Elite Series for 3 years. Maybe I knew about him one time and forgot who he is.
I think it would have been nice if KVD would have thrown in a paragraph or two about the wealth of information and opportunities for sharing community on the Internet. Between kevinvandam.com , his message board, and the blogs he writes for Bass Insider KVD is one of the Pro anglers that is doing an excellent job of leveraging the Internet for the benefit of the bass angling public. Obviously, he was writing for BASS on their website which might have made directing people towards other sources of new media a no go. There could also be the assumption that anyone who reads the article is familiar with online bass fishing resources. Under the circumstances what I wanted to hear is something beyond what anyone could expect.
Boyd Duckett has a new blog post up along with a voice blog...
Elite Series Pro Scott Campbell is doing voice blogs... (My question: Scott Campbell who?) Never heard of him before I saw the BassFan Dock Talk talk about his voice blogs. His bio says he has been in the Elite Series for 3 years. Maybe I knew about him one time and forgot who he is.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Take Monthly Fishing Survey & Win Prizes
AnglerSurvey.com is a website where you take a monthly survey about your fishing and fishing equipment and get a chance to win $100 Gift Card to a sporting retailer of your choice.
They have a blog.... Which is basically a bait store picture wall.
They have a blog.... Which is basically a bait store picture wall.
I heard...
... a red wing blackbirdtommorrow is Spring
I just love red wing blackbirds. They provide the background noise to so many places I fish, especially in the Springtime when the males are singing for a hook up. I can't say that I have seen any robbins yet, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they were around.
Are We Bass Fishing Millionaires or Billionaires or More?
At the BassNblog Bass and Me, which I just found, blog author Nitewraith has a post entitled: Fishing Has Made Me Wealthy. He starts out by saying;
As I sat today waiting for my Fraternal Order of Eagles district meeting to start I had time to contemplate my life, and I came to the following conclusion — Every man or woman, rich or poor, who has fished is a “millionaire.”
Now you might think to yourself, “What in the blue blazes is he talking about?” And normally you would be right, but think about it this way. It may not be reflected in the fishermen’s wallet or checkbook and you may have a poor credit rating, but even the modest fisherman is a millionaire — his wealth is in his heart and in his experience.
The sentimentality of that may be right on, but how about a literal interpretation.
How much is the real worth of time spent in the pursuit of bass?
I suppose one might answer that this is mostly a subjective question because Rich Lindgren will give you one answer and Paris Hilton would probably give you another and every individual would probably appraise the value differently.
I suppose if I were a trained economist, accountant, statistician or mathematician I could run the available numbers in a scientific manner and give answers that would have an heir of objectivity. Since I am none of these things I have a few very unscientific approaches as food for thought.
If you are interested in the rest of my ramblings on this topic check out the full essay at Bass Pundit Preach (click here)...
As I sat today waiting for my Fraternal Order of Eagles district meeting to start I had time to contemplate my life, and I came to the following conclusion — Every man or woman, rich or poor, who has fished is a “millionaire.”
Now you might think to yourself, “What in the blue blazes is he talking about?” And normally you would be right, but think about it this way. It may not be reflected in the fishermen’s wallet or checkbook and you may have a poor credit rating, but even the modest fisherman is a millionaire — his wealth is in his heart and in his experience.
The sentimentality of that may be right on, but how about a literal interpretation.
How much is the real worth of time spent in the pursuit of bass?
I suppose one might answer that this is mostly a subjective question because Rich Lindgren will give you one answer and Paris Hilton would probably give you another and every individual would probably appraise the value differently.
I suppose if I were a trained economist, accountant, statistician or mathematician I could run the available numbers in a scientific manner and give answers that would have an heir of objectivity. Since I am none of these things I have a few very unscientific approaches as food for thought.
If you are interested in the rest of my ramblings on this topic check out the full essay at Bass Pundit Preach (click here)...
Bass Pundit Blog Notes:
I have added a new blogroll to the sidebar entitled Bass Educational and it features links to some good bass fishing educational sites.
I have found some new BassNblogs recently:
Jon's East Tennessee Fishing Blog
Bass and Me Out of Cali
Fish3R/Bass This one is a bass fishing news and blog aggregator. The main site is Fish3R and it aggregates information from a bunch of different fishing websites. Apparently it is big on Bass Pundit and has picked up over 200 of my blogs. It's "Sources" contain's a pretty extensive array of fishing blogs. If you have a fishing blog you might want to check it out and make sure you are a "Source" that they highlight. For instance LunkerHunt and Rattletrap Ramblings are not listed. I don't know how much traffic this place will draw to a site, but if it's better than 0 you have gained something.
I have found some new BassNblogs recently:
Jon's East Tennessee Fishing Blog
Bass and Me Out of Cali
Fish3R/Bass This one is a bass fishing news and blog aggregator. The main site is Fish3R and it aggregates information from a bunch of different fishing websites. Apparently it is big on Bass Pundit and has picked up over 200 of my blogs. It's "Sources" contain's a pretty extensive array of fishing blogs. If you have a fishing blog you might want to check it out and make sure you are a "Source" that they highlight. For instance LunkerHunt and Rattletrap Ramblings are not listed. I don't know how much traffic this place will draw to a site, but if it's better than 0 you have gained something.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
And so it begins...
Minnesota's Lake Ice-Out Status - 2009 This is a website that keeps track of MN lakes as they go from ice cover to ice out. Right now they have the ice out dates for 2008 up and that will give an idea about what lakes are monitered. I would guess that they will probably get rid of the 2008 info next week. With the long range forecast being what it is I think ice should be going off some of those Southern Minnesocold lakes sometime next week.
Don't miss the description of how lake ice melts
Don't miss the description of how lake ice melts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
2010 Bassmasters Classic at Lay Lake in Bama
From BassFan Dock Talk:
Classic: It's Lay 3/17/2009
When BASS originally announced the site of its 2010 Bassmaster Classic, the area was identified as Birmingham, Ala. BASS today announced the official Classic waters, and once again, it's Lay Lake near Birmingham. Dates are Feb. 19–21.
Lay Lake has hosted three previous Classics, most recently in 2007 (won by Boyd Duckett). The Birmingham area itself has hosted six previous Classics.
Shelby County manager Alex Dudchock said in announcing the news: "Shelby County's excited about the opportunity to showcase our natural resources and attract an international audience as we host our fourth Bassmaster Classic. Lay Lake continues to be a destination for anglers and water-recreation enthusiasts, and Shelby County will continue to promote tourism through these types of events in our local, regional and state economy."
Could we see a Skeet repeat? I believe he was 2nd to Duckett. Had Swindle not been DQ'd in 2007 he might have been a contender. KVD was leading on Day 2 of the 2007 Classic and came in 3rd, so I think he would have to be the prohibitive favorite going into the tournament. Aaron Martens also got a 2nd at Lay in a Classic but that was in the Summer.
Classic: It's Lay 3/17/2009
When BASS originally announced the site of its 2010 Bassmaster Classic, the area was identified as Birmingham, Ala. BASS today announced the official Classic waters, and once again, it's Lay Lake near Birmingham. Dates are Feb. 19–21.
Lay Lake has hosted three previous Classics, most recently in 2007 (won by Boyd Duckett). The Birmingham area itself has hosted six previous Classics.
Shelby County manager Alex Dudchock said in announcing the news: "Shelby County's excited about the opportunity to showcase our natural resources and attract an international audience as we host our fourth Bassmaster Classic. Lay Lake continues to be a destination for anglers and water-recreation enthusiasts, and Shelby County will continue to promote tourism through these types of events in our local, regional and state economy."
Could we see a Skeet repeat? I believe he was 2nd to Duckett. Had Swindle not been DQ'd in 2007 he might have been a contender. KVD was leading on Day 2 of the 2007 Classic and came in 3rd, so I think he would have to be the prohibitive favorite going into the tournament. Aaron Martens also got a 2nd at Lay in a Classic but that was in the Summer.
Why it be? St. Patti's Day
Spring is on it's way...
My favorite Green Lure:
This colored Mann's Minus 1. I think I have this color in Full size, Mid, and Baby.
My favorite Green Lure:
This colored Mann's Minus 1. I think I have this color in Full size, Mid, and Baby.
I like the looks of this color:
But I don't have a single bait with it. I used to have one but lost it to rocks in the St. Criox River.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Beautiful Day!!!
It was a beautiful day
Beautiful day
Don't let it get away
U2 Beautiful Day
It had to be pretty darn close to 60°F today maybe even warmer than that in the sun. Oh coarse this meant it was time for the annual sump pump ritual here at the house. The house has not been landscaped properly and so we have water issues in the SW corner. Once the snow starts melting pretty good we have to pump water or it will start making it's way into the house. Today was heavy duty pumping with the main pump in the window well pumping continously, it's after 10pm and it is still pumping continously.
There is still a lot of snow left to melt and tomorrow is supposed to be pretty close to the same temp. wise as today and the long term forcast is a string of above average temps in the 40's. Potentially the snow could very well be gone by this time next week. Still with Minnesocold you never know what the weather is going to do and there is a lot of potential yet for cold temps and even significant snow. Check out this blog from April 11, 2008 and this blog from April 26, 2008.
Hopefully the mild weather will continue and open water in this neck of the woods will be sometime before April 15th.
Beautiful day
Don't let it get away
U2 Beautiful Day
It had to be pretty darn close to 60°F today maybe even warmer than that in the sun. Oh coarse this meant it was time for the annual sump pump ritual here at the house. The house has not been landscaped properly and so we have water issues in the SW corner. Once the snow starts melting pretty good we have to pump water or it will start making it's way into the house. Today was heavy duty pumping with the main pump in the window well pumping continously, it's after 10pm and it is still pumping continously.
There is still a lot of snow left to melt and tomorrow is supposed to be pretty close to the same temp. wise as today and the long term forcast is a string of above average temps in the 40's. Potentially the snow could very well be gone by this time next week. Still with Minnesocold you never know what the weather is going to do and there is a lot of potential yet for cold temps and even significant snow. Check out this blog from April 11, 2008 and this blog from April 26, 2008.
Hopefully the mild weather will continue and open water in this neck of the woods will be sometime before April 15th.
Baghdad Fishing Tournament
From: Multi-National Force-Iraq
Pro Anglers Visit Troops, Host Fishing Tournament in Baghdad Canals
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Professional anglers Sondra Rankin, Eric Maninno and Joe Mercurio were on hand to host the event. Rankin is a country music singer as well as the star in her own TV series, “Turn up the Bass.” Maninno hosts his own show as well as being co-host of Operation Catch Fish with Mercurio.
Servicemembers enjoyed a few hours off from their normal work to enjoy a fun and relaxing day of fishing. “It is nice to get out of the office and relax,” said Master Sgt. Betty Rupp, who won second place in the female division with a catch of 3 lb., 15 oz.
Gifts were handed out to all the participants while the top winners received special prizes like fishing reels and watches. Jason Sparkman, the first place male winner, won a TV for his fish weighing in at more than 13 lbs.
Taking first place in the woman’s division was Pfc. Ariadna Lee, with a catch weighing in at nearly five lbs. She was awarded a watch and a bag full of various fishing lures and hooks.
“I love it [Operation Catch Fish],” Rankin said. “We are giving the troops an opportunity to get a day off and win a few prizes.”
(By Spc. Eric Glassey, 13th Public Affairs Detachment)
Hmmm I didn't even notice that Sondra Rankin wasn't at Table Rock. FYI-Rankin is an FLW Tour Co-Angler.
I wonder if the National Guard Team with FLW has ever done something like this?
Another Picture that caught my eye:
Staff Sgt. Clayton Hendricks, a combat engineer assigned to the 731st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, takes time away from searching for bombs with the EOD technicians to play with a friend March 3, in Baghdad. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell.Skeet Reese has a voice blog post Amistad...
Is KVD blogging???
It sort of looks like he was blogging, but things seemed to have stopped with the Classic. WOW there is some good stuff here, check it out!!!
OK I found it now, this "Van Dam's World" blogging is being done at Bass Insider which is a pay service. I am guessing that after a certain length of time, the blogs are being released to his website and that is why it appears things stopped at the Classic.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Bass Zone Wide Open Live Amistad (Liveblogged)
Tonight at 7:15pm (which is now) The Bass Zone is going to have Jason Williamson on.
They are on, check it out here...
Update: I believe you can watch a replay of this Wide Open at Bass Zone.com.
They are showing the winning swimbait. It is like an Optimum with kind of a clear green color to it.
Apparently the Legend was following Jason on the water today and saw him catch a lot of his fish.
Talking about Jared Lintner who got 3rd who also kind of came out of nowhere.
Everybody was going for the win today.
Legend "Alton fished the perfect tournament"
Talking Stephen Browning who came in 4th another guy not talked about much.
"What a great way for Rojas to start the season." Apparently somebody non-Elite was in Rojas area today and they smacked a couple of toads.
Ike was just glad to get some points and get out of town. Never found that big load of fish today.
Gary Klien's deep fish pulled off the structure and suspended and he couldn't make them bite.
Bragging about being on the guy today who was on the big fish. Too bad I missed Wide Open earlier today.
Jason Williamson is now with them.
"I was the most consistant guy in Texas last year...this year to be the most consistant you had to win."
Main area was muddy the 1st couple of days. Fished deep to get in the cut and then his area was primed for the last two days.
The area that I am fishing is just a spawning flat with 10 or 20 feet of water with a drain in it. He has caught them in there every time he has fished the lake. Not a whole lot on Navionics chip to give it away. The locals do fish it.
The winning bait not a whole lot special about it, you just have to fish it slow. Does not think the big swimbaits are for covering water. It is the biggest Osprey Swimbait straight out of the package.
His sack didn't go over 30lbs until the last hour.
Talks about the support of his family.
25lb Flouro missed Brand, Falcon 7'6" Cara with a Abu Revo. #1 Gamma 2 extra strong hook.
"I try to keep my cool, but you can't help but hollar when you catch an 11-3"
"Light Hitch" is the color of the Swimbait.
On his way back in he didn't know what to think. Had no idea he had 34+ thought he had just over 30. Thought if he was catching em then somebody else would.
When it gets over 25lbs guessing weight goes out the window.
He thinks the area is a pre-spawn/post-spawn spot but probably.
He finished in the top 10 with only his last 2 days wait.
A lot of guys swing for the fences and it doesn't happen, but this time it happened.
The key to the swimbait bite is to reel it besides the tree. A proper cast is key.
Impact of Marshals, the sport really needed it. Claimse that his Marshal learned more by not fishing than had he been fishing.
Lost maybe 1 fish all week. The last two days culled over 20lbs both days.
Was not sharing his area. There were some local boats were up shallow.
"I learn something every time I put my boat in the water"
"I like to fish for big one's"
Talking Dardenlle, not scared of dirty water. If they bite a jig than I should be OK!
Says his back and arms are sore from throwing the swimbait.
Today was the biggest limit he has ever weighed. His hands were all beat up.
"Bass hands"
Sometimes he did use 2 other swimbaits of the same color with different size and action.
"Last 2 days nothing but a swimbait"
Got a few the first 2 days on a Zoom Monster Worm.
Would retie after every big fish on the swimbait. When the fish is hooked the swimbait runs up the line exposing the line to those sandpaper teeth.
"This solidifies what I am doing and shows me that I can compete"
Jason will take off now, they go to the break before wrap up.
Apparently Mark Jefferies is getting to keep the winning swimbait.
Legend has a Stren Tournament coming up.
Doing their Thank You's: Rudy's Bar-B-Q, Skeeter, Yum, I missed the others.
Will have a twist for Dardenelle. Looking for viewer comments.
"Beer and Ribs, we're otta here!"
Brian "Fishinghype" Brown Bass Fishing Blog
Last year Brian sort of blogged on his main site with dated journals on the front page of his Fishing Hype.com and that is why he made the blogroll. For this year he has started an actual blog: Fishing Hype. Be sure to check this Minnesocold BassNblog out and add it to your favorites. The last several years Brian's fishing has really come on.Apparently he started the blog last May, but didn't do much with it last year and didn't do anything about pointing people to it off of his main website. The only reason I found it was because I sent him an email and he emailed me back and told me about it. He has a link that doesn't link in his "Links" section. I found the blog by Googling Fishing Hype.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Day Final
For the 2nd year in a row it is a monster come back that wins at Amistad
1 Jason Williamson 5 16-12 5 11- 1 5 33-13 5 34-12 20 96- 6
2 Alton Jones 5 24- 0 5 22- 4 5 22- 7 5 19- 4 20 87-15
3 Jared Lintner 5 15- 4 5 17- 4 5 22- 6 5 21-12 20 76-10
4 Stephen Browning 5 15-15 5 15- 0 5 27- 0 5 17- 9 20 75- 8
5 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 5 12- 6 4 7-11 19 74- 8
6 Dean Rojas 5 12-15 5 15-15 5 29- 5 5 15- 9 20 73-12
7 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 5 16-10 5 13- 7 20 73- 9
8 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 5 18- 2 5 13- 3 20 68-12
9 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 5 12- 9 4 8-10 19 68- 2
10 Kevin Short 5 20- 4 5 15-12 5 22- 6 4 8- 9 19 66-15
11 Kenyon Hill 5 15- 0 5 19- 7 5 26-14 2 5- 8 17 66-13
12 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 5 13-10 4 11- 8 19 66- 5
Maybe it's because I didn't do hardly any Fantasy Fishing homework, that Jason Williamson was not on my radar screen. In fact I didn't even realise until his big Day 3 bag that he was even fishing the Elite Series this year. Other then at Falcon and Amistad, I don't think he did very well in 2008. He was 46th in AOY points in 2008 which was enough to re-qualify him for the Elite Series.
Anyway a huge congratulations to Jason for this phenomenal win. This is guy who obviously knows how to catch big fish.
My Fantasy score and pretty much everbody elses improved just a bit with the KVD move to 8th.
1 Jason Williamson 5 16-12 5 11- 1 5 33-13 5 34-12 20 96- 6
2 Alton Jones 5 24- 0 5 22- 4 5 22- 7 5 19- 4 20 87-15
3 Jared Lintner 5 15- 4 5 17- 4 5 22- 6 5 21-12 20 76-10
4 Stephen Browning 5 15-15 5 15- 0 5 27- 0 5 17- 9 20 75- 8
5 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 5 12- 6 4 7-11 19 74- 8
6 Dean Rojas 5 12-15 5 15-15 5 29- 5 5 15- 9 20 73-12
7 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 5 16-10 5 13- 7 20 73- 9
8 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 5 18- 2 5 13- 3 20 68-12
9 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 5 12- 9 4 8-10 19 68- 2
10 Kevin Short 5 20- 4 5 15-12 5 22- 6 4 8- 9 19 66-15
11 Kenyon Hill 5 15- 0 5 19- 7 5 26-14 2 5- 8 17 66-13
12 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 5 13-10 4 11- 8 19 66- 5
Maybe it's because I didn't do hardly any Fantasy Fishing homework, that Jason Williamson was not on my radar screen. In fact I didn't even realise until his big Day 3 bag that he was even fishing the Elite Series this year. Other then at Falcon and Amistad, I don't think he did very well in 2008. He was 46th in AOY points in 2008 which was enough to re-qualify him for the Elite Series.
Anyway a huge congratulations to Jason for this phenomenal win. This is guy who obviously knows how to catch big fish.
My Fantasy score and pretty much everbody elses improved just a bit with the KVD move to 8th.
FLW Tour Table Rock Day Final
Weigh-in Live blogged
I had to run an errand so I am coming to this a little late. It looks like 6 guys have weighed in and Dan Moorhead is up.
The only guy to weigh over 10lbs so far is Walker with 11-09
Moorhead
5 for 11-09
and he moves to first.
Walker interview
"I want to thank my sponsors...says his boat is the best tournament boat he ever has... caught his big stringer on the James river... culled a 4lber with a 6 knew he would be in the lead at that point...caught the big fish on a jig.
Gags is up
needs 9-12 to beat Moorhead
5 for 14-08
New Leader!
Interview with Gags family
"Good luck, I love you" from his wife.
Moorhead interview
"fishing today was tough... I saw a 15lb bag of fish follow my jerkbait and turn away"
Scott Suggs
needs 13-01
5 for 12-07 just short 10ozs
"That's a hard one to swallow...I owe my whole week to Berkely...I caught em on a hollow belly, caught them 30 feet down...could tell it would be a tough day by the way the fish were taking it."
Interview with family
"Scott gets emotional anytime he fishes...we are excited that he got another top 10"
"Put stripes in their swimming pool so he could test his lure"
Interview with Scott Canterbury's wife
"I told him not to be in the lead after day 3 again"
"She had a check up in Dec. and is cancer free"
Scott Canterbury
needs 12-15
has weighed over 12-15 each day
Gags interview
is OK with 2nd place thanks sponsors
Apparently they have a big crowd.
"I was fishing for the fish to win this tournament"
4 top 10's in 8 events
He is bringing out fish that get a cheer
Only has 3
10-
Gagliardi Wins!!! $125,000
"Feels like it's been a really long time"
Final Standings
Gags
Suggs
Canterbury
Moorehead
Walker
Ehrler
Bennett
Bohannan
Morganthaler
Fukae
For some reason Fukae's weight's are zero for both days. I wonder if he was DQ'ed. If Fukae holds true in 10th then I have my second Exacta bonus and they have both been with Shin.
I was rooting for Canterbury, but Congratulations to Gagliardi!!!
You can send him Kudos through his website...
I had to run an errand so I am coming to this a little late. It looks like 6 guys have weighed in and Dan Moorhead is up.
The only guy to weigh over 10lbs so far is Walker with 11-09
Moorhead
5 for 11-09
and he moves to first.
Walker interview
"I want to thank my sponsors...says his boat is the best tournament boat he ever has... caught his big stringer on the James river... culled a 4lber with a 6 knew he would be in the lead at that point...caught the big fish on a jig.
Gags is up
needs 9-12 to beat Moorhead
5 for 14-08
New Leader!
Interview with Gags family
"Good luck, I love you" from his wife.
Moorhead interview
"fishing today was tough... I saw a 15lb bag of fish follow my jerkbait and turn away"
Scott Suggs
needs 13-01
5 for 12-07 just short 10ozs
"That's a hard one to swallow...I owe my whole week to Berkely...I caught em on a hollow belly, caught them 30 feet down...could tell it would be a tough day by the way the fish were taking it."
Interview with family
"Scott gets emotional anytime he fishes...we are excited that he got another top 10"
"Put stripes in their swimming pool so he could test his lure"
Interview with Scott Canterbury's wife
"I told him not to be in the lead after day 3 again"
"She had a check up in Dec. and is cancer free"
Scott Canterbury
needs 12-15
has weighed over 12-15 each day
Gags interview
is OK with 2nd place thanks sponsors
Apparently they have a big crowd.
"I was fishing for the fish to win this tournament"
4 top 10's in 8 events
He is bringing out fish that get a cheer
Only has 3
10-
Gagliardi Wins!!! $125,000
"Feels like it's been a really long time"
Final Standings
Gags
Suggs
Canterbury
Moorehead
Walker
Ehrler
Bennett
Bohannan
Morganthaler
Fukae
For some reason Fukae's weight's are zero for both days. I wonder if he was DQ'ed. If Fukae holds true in 10th then I have my second Exacta bonus and they have both been with Shin.
I was rooting for Canterbury, but Congratulations to Gagliardi!!!
You can send him Kudos through his website...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Eden Prairie Eagles 2009 Minnesota State High School Hockey Champions
Congratulations to the Eagles in winning their first State High School Hockey Championship!!!
Their 5th trip to State was the charm as they beat Moorhead 3-0 at the Xcel Energy Center. Moorhead has now lost 7 title games, which is a new record. Moorhead has never won the State Title, Poor Spuds.
Breck scored 2 empty netters to beat Warroad 7-3 to win the small school title.
Minnesota High School Hockey on Wikipedia...
Bass Zone Wide Open from Amistad Day 3 Recap
Liveblogged
They are not on yet. Will Duckett show his face again? Will anyone else show up?
Dean Rojas
Hands are beaten up.
"They ate and they ate good"
Giving Ike a hard time about puking with the big fish.
"Practice was totally different from what I am doing now"
Livefeed goes dead
Back on with Echo.
Talking Kermit
"No lead is safe"
Apparently Rojas had a Marshal hold onto the dock to long and ended up going in the water.
I wonder if they are broadcasting and I am not getting anything. They have been off for quite a while.
Kenyon Hill
I haven't heard a good part of his interview, tech problems.
Is fishing transition spots.
Will be throwing a jig tomorrow, thinks it gives him the best shot.
"A good attitude is the best lure in your box"
Apparently Kenyon and Mark J. are gonna do an online show.
Zona is up next.
Mark Zona
"The sun is going down and Jekell and Hide are coming out of me"
"How much more does this lake have?"
"It will be interesting to see who caught big bags today can do it again tomorrow."
Picks Klien to win.
"Some guys are fishing dirt shallow"
"Here is what I have learned in Texas, anything can happen on the final day."
Apparently there is No Boyd Duckett tonight, I'll have to check his blog.
Kurt Dove
"You've got some inconsistancy at the top, except Alton Jones"
He picks Klien for the win.
Wrap Up:
Legend goes with Alton Jones
Mark predicts 2 bags over 30.
Tommorrow the Legend will be on the water.
They are not on yet. Will Duckett show his face again? Will anyone else show up?
Dean Rojas
Hands are beaten up.
"They ate and they ate good"
Giving Ike a hard time about puking with the big fish.
"Practice was totally different from what I am doing now"
Livefeed goes dead
Back on with Echo.
Talking Kermit
"No lead is safe"
Apparently Rojas had a Marshal hold onto the dock to long and ended up going in the water.
I wonder if they are broadcasting and I am not getting anything. They have been off for quite a while.
Kenyon Hill
I haven't heard a good part of his interview, tech problems.
Is fishing transition spots.
Will be throwing a jig tomorrow, thinks it gives him the best shot.
"A good attitude is the best lure in your box"
Apparently Kenyon and Mark J. are gonna do an online show.
Zona is up next.
Mark Zona
"The sun is going down and Jekell and Hide are coming out of me"
"How much more does this lake have?"
"It will be interesting to see who caught big bags today can do it again tomorrow."
Picks Klien to win.
"Some guys are fishing dirt shallow"
"Here is what I have learned in Texas, anything can happen on the final day."
Apparently there is No Boyd Duckett tonight, I'll have to check his blog.
Kurt Dove
"You've got some inconsistancy at the top, except Alton Jones"
He picks Klien for the win.
Wrap Up:
Legend goes with Alton Jones
Mark predicts 2 bags over 30.
Tommorrow the Legend will be on the water.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 3
1 Alton Jones 5 24- 0 5 22- 4 5 22- 7 15 68-11
2 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 5 12- 6 15 66-13
3 Jason Williamson 5 16-12 5 11- 1 5 33-13 15 61-10
4 Kenyon Hill 5 15- 0 5 19- 7 5 26-14 15 61- 5
5 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 5 16-10 15 60- 2
6 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 5 12- 9 15 59- 8
7 Kevin Short 5 20- 4 5 15-12 5 22- 6 15 58- 6
8 Dean Rojas 5 12-15 5 15-15 5 29- 5 15 58- 3
9 Stephen Browning 5 15-15 5 15- 0 5 27- 0 15 57-15
10 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 5 18- 2 15 55- 9
Jason Williamson holy freakin cow!!! I didn't realise this guy was still in the Elite Series.
Gary Klien Ouch!!!
KVD Mr. Consistant
What happened to Faircloth? 12th Suck! Your losing me points Dude!
My other Fantasy Guys:
Hackney #20
Evers #25
Both improved their positions a little bit.
Oops I thought the cut was at 10 like FLW, so Faircloth could jump up
11 Jared Lintner 5 15- 4 5 17- 4 5 22- 6 15 54-14
12 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 5 13-10 15 54-13
FYI- Boyd Duckett is blogging...
2 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 5 12- 6 15 66-13
3 Jason Williamson 5 16-12 5 11- 1 5 33-13 15 61-10
4 Kenyon Hill 5 15- 0 5 19- 7 5 26-14 15 61- 5
5 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 5 16-10 15 60- 2
6 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 5 12- 9 15 59- 8
7 Kevin Short 5 20- 4 5 15-12 5 22- 6 15 58- 6
8 Dean Rojas 5 12-15 5 15-15 5 29- 5 15 58- 3
9 Stephen Browning 5 15-15 5 15- 0 5 27- 0 15 57-15
10 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 5 18- 2 15 55- 9
Jason Williamson holy freakin cow!!! I didn't realise this guy was still in the Elite Series.
Gary Klien Ouch!!!
KVD Mr. Consistant
What happened to Faircloth? 12th Suck! Your losing me points Dude!
My other Fantasy Guys:
Hackney #20
Evers #25
Both improved their positions a little bit.
Oops I thought the cut was at 10 like FLW, so Faircloth could jump up
11 Jared Lintner 5 15- 4 5 17- 4 5 22- 6 15 54-14
12 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 5 13-10 15 54-13
FYI- Boyd Duckett is blogging...
FLW Tour Table Rock Day 3 Weigh-In Live Blogged
Hmmm for the TBF Championship I had to go through the mothership FLW website to watch the FLW Live weigh-in and I was able to blog that without things locking up. I am going to go through the mothership rather than through the Fantasy Fishing site and see if I just might be able to live blog it.
Introducing Al Lindner
"FLW Outdoors changed this sport forever."
Al's son Troy fished in the TBF Championship
I won't bother with the Co-Anglers except the final two and Zac Cassill who is "bass addict" at the Futurebass.com message board. Zac was in 3rd place after the 1st two days. They zero the weights for the final day but he got to fish with Scotty Suggs.
As it stands Zac needs to weigh 14-3, which is some serious weight.
Zac is from Fairfax Iowa
Only got 1 moster smallmouth 5-7
"I live near LaCrosse WI were there is awesome smallmouth fishing"
The guy with the lead is Patrick Majors from Rogers Ark.
The last guy to weigh is James Watson from MO and he has 3 for 6-11 so Majors WINS!!!
He wins $20,000.
"I was really lucky the first two days, only weighed 4 fish but they were all big"
Pimp N Fantasy Fishing and Players Advantage (What has PA done for me?)
The Pro's are Up:
Scott Canterbury last years rookie of the year
"Never seen this lake before and you run out of fish" then he pulls his limit fish.
5 for 16-00
"I like to keep moving a lot"
"I lost the biggest fish I've had all week, maybe I'll get him tomorrow"
Greg Bohannan
3 small fish 5-11
"Our area got a bit crowded today"
Fishing near Bennett
"This is my favorite lake, you can legitimately catch a 4lb spot, smallmouth, and largemouth"
Gags (Former AOY)
5 for 14-06
"Your never out of it on a lake like this"
Fishing a Lucky Craft jerkbait.
Dan Moorhead (Former AOY)
5 for 12-09
My partner caught the big fish (Co-Angler won)
"Never got the quality bite like I got yesterday"
Throwing a jerkbait, might go to a jig.
Brent Ehler (Former Forrest Wood Cup Champion)
4 for 9-08
Special Guest:
Brent Ehlers wife shows up from Cali. Booked her ticket last night. "Had to lie to him this morning and tell him I was in bed while I was at the airport"
Shinchi Fukae (3rd FLW Angler of the Year to weigh-in)
5 for 9-02 into 5th place
"I'm 5 years old in the United States"
"I just run up the river and keep cranking"
Chad Morganthaler
"It's always great to come to Table Rock and fish this great fishery"
1 for 2-04
"I took a chance and it didn't pay off"
"I had 11 bites the first 2 days"
Scott Suggs (2nd Forrest Wood Cup Champ to weigh)
5 for 15-13
"I was wanting the pressure to be on somebody else, there is a lot of money riding on this tournament, think about it Canterbury"
"Shin has whipped our tails for 5 years, think about it Canterbury"
Michael Bennett (3rd Forrest Wood Cup Champ to weigh)
2 for 4-01
"Things went South pretty quick"
"I didn't do anything different, I think the cloud cover hurt me"
"Unlikely, but feasible" on chances
David Walker (4th FLW Angler of the Year to weigh-in)
This is one solid Top 10
5 for 11-08
"Suggs isn't gonna get much sleep tonight"
Everybodies weight is down and we are all in it.
1. Canterbury
2. Suggs
3. Gagliardi
4. Moorhead
5. Walker
6. Ehler
7. Fukae
8. Bohannan
9. Bennett
10. Morganthaler
At this point any Exacta's for me are long shots, the closest at this point is Fukae for 10th.
Introducing Al Lindner
"FLW Outdoors changed this sport forever."
Al's son Troy fished in the TBF Championship
I won't bother with the Co-Anglers except the final two and Zac Cassill who is "bass addict" at the Futurebass.com message board. Zac was in 3rd place after the 1st two days. They zero the weights for the final day but he got to fish with Scotty Suggs.
As it stands Zac needs to weigh 14-3, which is some serious weight.
Zac is from Fairfax Iowa
Only got 1 moster smallmouth 5-7
"I live near LaCrosse WI were there is awesome smallmouth fishing"
The guy with the lead is Patrick Majors from Rogers Ark.
The last guy to weigh is James Watson from MO and he has 3 for 6-11 so Majors WINS!!!
He wins $20,000.
"I was really lucky the first two days, only weighed 4 fish but they were all big"
Pimp N Fantasy Fishing and Players Advantage (What has PA done for me?)
The Pro's are Up:
Scott Canterbury last years rookie of the year
"Never seen this lake before and you run out of fish" then he pulls his limit fish.
5 for 16-00
"I like to keep moving a lot"
"I lost the biggest fish I've had all week, maybe I'll get him tomorrow"
Greg Bohannan
3 small fish 5-11
"Our area got a bit crowded today"
Fishing near Bennett
"This is my favorite lake, you can legitimately catch a 4lb spot, smallmouth, and largemouth"
Gags (Former AOY)
5 for 14-06
"Your never out of it on a lake like this"
Fishing a Lucky Craft jerkbait.
Dan Moorhead (Former AOY)
5 for 12-09
My partner caught the big fish (Co-Angler won)
"Never got the quality bite like I got yesterday"
Throwing a jerkbait, might go to a jig.
Brent Ehler (Former Forrest Wood Cup Champion)
4 for 9-08
Special Guest:
Brent Ehlers wife shows up from Cali. Booked her ticket last night. "Had to lie to him this morning and tell him I was in bed while I was at the airport"
Shinchi Fukae (3rd FLW Angler of the Year to weigh-in)
5 for 9-02 into 5th place
"I'm 5 years old in the United States"
"I just run up the river and keep cranking"
Chad Morganthaler
"It's always great to come to Table Rock and fish this great fishery"
1 for 2-04
"I took a chance and it didn't pay off"
"I had 11 bites the first 2 days"
Scott Suggs (2nd Forrest Wood Cup Champ to weigh)
5 for 15-13
"I was wanting the pressure to be on somebody else, there is a lot of money riding on this tournament, think about it Canterbury"
"Shin has whipped our tails for 5 years, think about it Canterbury"
Michael Bennett (3rd Forrest Wood Cup Champ to weigh)
2 for 4-01
"Things went South pretty quick"
"I didn't do anything different, I think the cloud cover hurt me"
"Unlikely, but feasible" on chances
David Walker (4th FLW Angler of the Year to weigh-in)
This is one solid Top 10
5 for 11-08
"Suggs isn't gonna get much sleep tonight"
Everybodies weight is down and we are all in it.
1. Canterbury
2. Suggs
3. Gagliardi
4. Moorhead
5. Walker
6. Ehler
7. Fukae
8. Bohannan
9. Bennett
10. Morganthaler
At this point any Exacta's for me are long shots, the closest at this point is Fukae for 10th.
TBF National Championship
Today is the Championship of The Bass Federation, which if you don't know is the FLW's lowest grassroots level. The tournament is at Bull Shoals in MO. The top fisherman and co-angler in a Division wins entry to the BFL All-American, and the winners of the whole tournament get an entry into The Forrest Wood Cup, $10,000 and the "Living the Dream Package." The package includes use of a "Living the Dream" wrapped Chevy truck and Ranger boat powered either by Evinrude or Yamaha, sponsor merchandise and paid entry fees into the winner’s choice of either the 2009 Walmart FLW Tour or Walmart FLW Series to compete against the world’s top bass anglers.
A guy from Sconni has a 4lb lead going into today, which is the final day. Minnesota boater contestant Bob Perkins, bobsfishing on the Fishwrench forum, cashed a check finished in 17th place out of 44 anglers. Bob owns a tackle business here in the Brainerd lakes area called Tournament Tackle. He has been at the last two Bass Snatchers Club meetings but I have not met him. He will probably be at our meeting next week, so I will congratulate him then.
The Minnesota Co-Angler is a very well known Minnesota bass guy named Scott Bonnema. Bonnema used to be on the Fuji Film team, but I don't think he ever fished the FLW tour. Scott came in 13th and cashed a check.
Also of Note- Al Lindner's son Troy fished it representing California and came in 2nd to last. Troy is trying to make his way up in the pro ranks out West.
The Weigh in is on right now 3PM Central on FLW Live.
Nick Smyers from WI only caught 2 today and lost by 11ozs. He lost a fish that cost him. Bob Harkness from West Viginia gets the come from behind win with the days biggest bag.
A guy from Sconni has a 4lb lead going into today, which is the final day. Minnesota boater contestant Bob Perkins, bobsfishing on the Fishwrench forum, cashed a check finished in 17th place out of 44 anglers. Bob owns a tackle business here in the Brainerd lakes area called Tournament Tackle. He has been at the last two Bass Snatchers Club meetings but I have not met him. He will probably be at our meeting next week, so I will congratulate him then.
The Minnesota Co-Angler is a very well known Minnesota bass guy named Scott Bonnema. Bonnema used to be on the Fuji Film team, but I don't think he ever fished the FLW tour. Scott came in 13th and cashed a check.
Also of Note- Al Lindner's son Troy fished it representing California and came in 2nd to last. Troy is trying to make his way up in the pro ranks out West.
The Weigh in is on right now 3PM Central on FLW Live.
Nick Smyers from WI only caught 2 today and lost by 11ozs. He lost a fish that cost him. Bob Harkness from West Viginia gets the come from behind win with the days biggest bag.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 3
Catch the Bass Zone Wide Open Broadcasts today 10-Noon.
The Legend is reporting that Niggemeyer and Ike are fishing right on top of each other. Within 30 feet of each other. Niggemeyer fishing with baitcasting gear and Ike with spinning gear with both fishing vertically.
Conditions: Windy NE to 15mph and sparce cloud cover
Saw Steve Kennedy drop-shotting. He had 1 small fish and broke off 4 using 6lb test.
Boat traffic is light for a Saturday.
Heard Gary Klien is struggling so far.
Apparently yesterday Jami Fralick took off without his rods in the boat.
Water Temp 56.1 main lake.
Legend Just saw Aaron Martens fly up to the area Niggemeyer and Ike are in take a look and then take off again.
They think most anglers are on the Texas side and with the way the wind is, the Mexican side is getting beat up.
Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of boat movement.
Legend says the Marshals in Ike and Niggemeyers boats are talking to each other but Ike and Niggemeyer are not.
Niggemeyer has 4 and lost a big one that broke him off.
Legend is now on Kevin Short- Kevin just caught a 3lber or so on a swim bait. He did not cull. He has 3 fish as of 11:30am Central.
Looks like it is clouding up a bit on the water rather than clearing out.
They didn't answer my question about whether or not Marshals are allowed video camera's.
Now watching Skeet Reese who gave the Legend a thumbs down. Is covering a lot of water. Not a whole lot of boat traffic.
Legend tells story about hitting seagull on Champlain after report that Bill Lowen got hit by a bird yesterday.
Now with Todd Faircloth, who is struggling today but does have a limit. He is now fishing a big swimbait (1:10pm Central)
Rumors are that the fishing has gotten tougher today. Lots of boats are running and gunning. Wind about 10mph so it is not as strong as it was in the morning.
The Legend is reporting that Niggemeyer and Ike are fishing right on top of each other. Within 30 feet of each other. Niggemeyer fishing with baitcasting gear and Ike with spinning gear with both fishing vertically.
Conditions: Windy NE to 15mph and sparce cloud cover
Saw Steve Kennedy drop-shotting. He had 1 small fish and broke off 4 using 6lb test.
Boat traffic is light for a Saturday.
Heard Gary Klien is struggling so far.
Apparently yesterday Jami Fralick took off without his rods in the boat.
Water Temp 56.1 main lake.
Legend Just saw Aaron Martens fly up to the area Niggemeyer and Ike are in take a look and then take off again.
They think most anglers are on the Texas side and with the way the wind is, the Mexican side is getting beat up.
Doesn't seem to be a whole lot of boat movement.
Legend says the Marshals in Ike and Niggemeyers boats are talking to each other but Ike and Niggemeyer are not.
Niggemeyer has 4 and lost a big one that broke him off.
Legend is now on Kevin Short- Kevin just caught a 3lber or so on a swim bait. He did not cull. He has 3 fish as of 11:30am Central.
Looks like it is clouding up a bit on the water rather than clearing out.
They didn't answer my question about whether or not Marshals are allowed video camera's.
Now watching Skeet Reese who gave the Legend a thumbs down. Is covering a lot of water. Not a whole lot of boat traffic.
Legend tells story about hitting seagull on Champlain after report that Bill Lowen got hit by a bird yesterday.
Now with Todd Faircloth, who is struggling today but does have a limit. He is now fishing a big swimbait (1:10pm Central)
Rumors are that the fishing has gotten tougher today. Lots of boats are running and gunning. Wind about 10mph so it is not as strong as it was in the morning.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 2 Part 2
Looks like the Live Leaderboard actually worked today, here are the Top 11
1 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 10 54- 7
2 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 10 46-15
3 Alton Jones 5 24- 0 5 22- 4 10 46- 4
4 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 10 43- 8
5 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 10 41- 3
6 James Niggemeyer 5 21- 2 5 19-14 10 41- 0
7 Mark Tucker 5 12-10 5 28- 0 10 40-10
8 Matt Reed 5 23- 2 5 16-13 10 39-15
9 John Murray 5 22- 1 5 17- 9 10 39-10
10 Kelly Jordon 5 18-11 5 20- 5 10 39- 0
11 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 10 37- 7
Looks like Gary Klein is in command. I called Klein a bad deal as far as fantasy value goes, but I did say both he and Kelly Jordan could be factors at Amistad. It is cool to see that BassNblogger Boyd Duckett is catchin' em up pretty good.
My fantasy team improved ever so slightly with the jump Faircloth made, Evers was my biggest dropper. I am very disappointed that Matt Herren did not make the cut. I don't know who else among the low value anglers I could have picked but Herren I don't think is nearly as experienced at Amistad as a lot of the guys. Still I would really like all my fantasy picks to be in the top 50%.
BassZone Wide Open- Recap Show
4 out of the top 5 refined their pattern from Day 1 today.
No Rookies made the cut. Speculation that the rookies weren't able to make adjustments.
They have an interview tournament leader Gary Klien, but the video cuts out on me just like the one with Ike did yesterday.
They are gonna have Mark Tucker who caught 28lbs today and Boyd Duckett who is in 2nd.
Tucker:
"It was one of those days I could do no wrong"
Caught 2 4lbers on a single crank at one time and landed them. One of the fish got thrown back cause it wasn't big enough.
Saw a bass spit up a shad and it clued him in and the bass were just choking his bait.
Found the fish that he caught today on Tues.
Thinks his fish are pre-spawn.
On the Marshals: His guy came from WI and had a great day. Says it really helps him with boat positioning because he would always try and give co-anglers a shot at the fish sometimes to the detriment of optimal boat position.
Sounds like he was fishing a crank, but the fish that clued him in came on a jig.
Was saved on his big fish by a softer rod when he had to put the breaks on to keep a fish out of a tree.
"I turned back two 18lb bags of fish today"
Says tomorrow he will know quickly where his fish are because in his area they will be in one of two places.
Duckett:
Thinks there is good chance somebody will make the century mark but upcoming weather could make it tough.
Has 2 deals going: Drop Shot and hollow belly swimbait. Today was the swimbait.
Using about 5 area's in 2 creeks. Big area's.
Having to move around to catch fish, no magic tree.
You need cloud or wind or both for the swimbaits bite.
On a sunny day the fish will bite early on the swimbaits
Is fishing 17lb Berkley 100% Flouro which he considers light.
Thinks lots of fish will be spawning next week.
Talking about Ducketts superstition point, the shoes.
It will be cold tonight and cloudy tommorrow so water won't really warm up till Sunday at the earliest.
His expectation coming in was that it was gonna be a site pig fest, but the weather knocked it back. Thinks it will blow open next week.
Thinks tomorrow will be good for the swimbait.
Key for swimbait in clear water is a long cast.
Prefers 7:1 reel for pick up when the fish is on.
Wrapped up for the night.
1 Gary Klein 5 25- 4 5 29- 3 10 54- 7
2 Boyd Duckett 5 21-10 5 25- 5 10 46-15
3 Alton Jones 5 24- 0 5 22- 4 10 46- 4
4 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 9 5 15-15 10 43- 8
5 Todd Faircloth 5 17- 0 5 24- 3 10 41- 3
6 James Niggemeyer 5 21- 2 5 19-14 10 41- 0
7 Mark Tucker 5 12-10 5 28- 0 10 40-10
8 Matt Reed 5 23- 2 5 16-13 10 39-15
9 John Murray 5 22- 1 5 17- 9 10 39-10
10 Kelly Jordon 5 18-11 5 20- 5 10 39- 0
11 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 9 5 17-14 10 37- 7
Looks like Gary Klein is in command. I called Klein a bad deal as far as fantasy value goes, but I did say both he and Kelly Jordan could be factors at Amistad. It is cool to see that BassNblogger Boyd Duckett is catchin' em up pretty good.
My fantasy team improved ever so slightly with the jump Faircloth made, Evers was my biggest dropper. I am very disappointed that Matt Herren did not make the cut. I don't know who else among the low value anglers I could have picked but Herren I don't think is nearly as experienced at Amistad as a lot of the guys. Still I would really like all my fantasy picks to be in the top 50%.
BassZone Wide Open- Recap Show
4 out of the top 5 refined their pattern from Day 1 today.
No Rookies made the cut. Speculation that the rookies weren't able to make adjustments.
They have an interview tournament leader Gary Klien, but the video cuts out on me just like the one with Ike did yesterday.
They are gonna have Mark Tucker who caught 28lbs today and Boyd Duckett who is in 2nd.
Tucker:
"It was one of those days I could do no wrong"
Caught 2 4lbers on a single crank at one time and landed them. One of the fish got thrown back cause it wasn't big enough.
Saw a bass spit up a shad and it clued him in and the bass were just choking his bait.
Found the fish that he caught today on Tues.
Thinks his fish are pre-spawn.
On the Marshals: His guy came from WI and had a great day. Says it really helps him with boat positioning because he would always try and give co-anglers a shot at the fish sometimes to the detriment of optimal boat position.
Sounds like he was fishing a crank, but the fish that clued him in came on a jig.
Was saved on his big fish by a softer rod when he had to put the breaks on to keep a fish out of a tree.
"I turned back two 18lb bags of fish today"
Says tomorrow he will know quickly where his fish are because in his area they will be in one of two places.
Duckett:
Thinks there is good chance somebody will make the century mark but upcoming weather could make it tough.
Has 2 deals going: Drop Shot and hollow belly swimbait. Today was the swimbait.
Using about 5 area's in 2 creeks. Big area's.
Having to move around to catch fish, no magic tree.
You need cloud or wind or both for the swimbaits bite.
On a sunny day the fish will bite early on the swimbaits
Is fishing 17lb Berkley 100% Flouro which he considers light.
Thinks lots of fish will be spawning next week.
Talking about Ducketts superstition point, the shoes.
It will be cold tonight and cloudy tommorrow so water won't really warm up till Sunday at the earliest.
His expectation coming in was that it was gonna be a site pig fest, but the weather knocked it back. Thinks it will blow open next week.
Thinks tomorrow will be good for the swimbait.
Key for swimbait in clear water is a long cast.
Prefers 7:1 reel for pick up when the fish is on.
Wrapped up for the night.
FLW Table Rock Day 2 Results and Fantasy Fishing
Here is the all important FLW Top 10 for Table Rock
1 DAVID WALKER SEVIERVILLE, TN 5 26-11 5 13-12 10 40-07
2 MICHAEL BENNETT LINCOLN, CA 5 20-02 5 19-00 10 39-02
3 SCOTT SUGGS BRYANT, AR 5 17-10 5 17-12 10 35-06
4 CHAD MORGENTHALER COULTERVILLE, IL 5 17-00 5 17-10 10 34-10
5 SHINICHI FUKAE MINEOLA, TX 5 22-05 5 11-15 10 34-04
6 BRENT EHRLER REDLANDS, CA 5 17-11 5 16-08 10 34-03
7 DAN MOREHEAD PADUCAH, KY 5 14-05 5 19-03 10 33-08
8 ANTHONY GAGLIARDI PROSPERITY, SC 5 15-04 5 17-15 10 33-03
9 GREG BOHANNAN ROGERS, AR 5 15-08 5 17-11 10 33-03
10 SCOTT CANTERBURY SPRINGVILLE, AL 5 18-06 5 14-08 10 32-14
I've got Suggs, Fukae, and Bohanan. I did have Morehead on my team but switched him for Jay Yelas which any way I slice it except for what actually happened comes out as a good bet that Yelas should finish higher than Moorehead. Also Luke Clausen who I dumped at the last minute choked today and is in the 11 spot so I actually did make the right move in dumping him for Suggs.
Ehler was on the radar screen and was on my Dad's team but he got switched out due to his negative report on the BassFan Scouting Report. What are you gonna do when a guy says he is struggling? You gotta drop him. Dad's team came out better than yesterday but doesn't have a single angler in the Top 10, which is a total buzz kill for any asperations of end of the year prizes.
I am a little disgusted that I am missing out on Canterbury and Bennett who I think are among the top fishermen in FLW. FLW guys that always are a good bet as far as I'm concerned: Andy Morgan, Scott Canterbury, Michael Bennett, Jay Yelas, David Dudley, Brent Ehler, Shin Fukae, and Brian Thrift. If I just go with this all star line up there are 4 guys in this top 10.
Well if I lock in a couple of Exacta's I'll be well into the prizes. I have Bohanan in 3rd, Suggs in 9th, and Fukae in 10th. I think Bohanan is the most likely candidate but you never know.
1 DAVID WALKER SEVIERVILLE, TN 5 26-11 5 13-12 10 40-07
2 MICHAEL BENNETT LINCOLN, CA 5 20-02 5 19-00 10 39-02
3 SCOTT SUGGS BRYANT, AR 5 17-10 5 17-12 10 35-06
4 CHAD MORGENTHALER COULTERVILLE, IL 5 17-00 5 17-10 10 34-10
5 SHINICHI FUKAE MINEOLA, TX 5 22-05 5 11-15 10 34-04
6 BRENT EHRLER REDLANDS, CA 5 17-11 5 16-08 10 34-03
7 DAN MOREHEAD PADUCAH, KY 5 14-05 5 19-03 10 33-08
8 ANTHONY GAGLIARDI PROSPERITY, SC 5 15-04 5 17-15 10 33-03
9 GREG BOHANNAN ROGERS, AR 5 15-08 5 17-11 10 33-03
10 SCOTT CANTERBURY SPRINGVILLE, AL 5 18-06 5 14-08 10 32-14
I've got Suggs, Fukae, and Bohanan. I did have Morehead on my team but switched him for Jay Yelas which any way I slice it except for what actually happened comes out as a good bet that Yelas should finish higher than Moorehead. Also Luke Clausen who I dumped at the last minute choked today and is in the 11 spot so I actually did make the right move in dumping him for Suggs.
Ehler was on the radar screen and was on my Dad's team but he got switched out due to his negative report on the BassFan Scouting Report. What are you gonna do when a guy says he is struggling? You gotta drop him. Dad's team came out better than yesterday but doesn't have a single angler in the Top 10, which is a total buzz kill for any asperations of end of the year prizes.
I am a little disgusted that I am missing out on Canterbury and Bennett who I think are among the top fishermen in FLW. FLW guys that always are a good bet as far as I'm concerned: Andy Morgan, Scott Canterbury, Michael Bennett, Jay Yelas, David Dudley, Brent Ehler, Shin Fukae, and Brian Thrift. If I just go with this all star line up there are 4 guys in this top 10.
Well if I lock in a couple of Exacta's I'll be well into the prizes. I have Bohanan in 3rd, Suggs in 9th, and Fukae in 10th. I think Bohanan is the most likely candidate but you never know.
FLW Tour Table Rock Lake Day 2
Developing...
Something to do if you have Players Advantage while your waiting for weigh in time is to go and watch the On Demand Video highlights of Day 1. I hadn't watched any of the highlights from Guntersville and it was good stuff. There was a really interesting interview with David Fritts and David Walker on the last morning of Guntersville where they were talking about the hole they had to dig out of. Of coarse, David Fritts managed to do just that and won the tournament when Canterburry stumbled.
I'm thinking about trying the video feed only to see if I can liveblog the weigh-in. Another thought I had was to try watching out of Mozilla Firefox to see if my computer doesn't get so stuffed up.
Oops I fell asleep and have missed about 45 minutes of the weigh in. I don't have it on FLW Live with the Players Advantage features but just the streaming video so I can blog it
David Dudley 5 for 13-00 This will make Hellabass happy.
George Cocheran 6-13 Oh oh
Guido Hibdon moves in to 5th for now.
Dion Hibdon weighs 17-1 for 30-12 and moves into 6th
however my computer froze up so live blogging may not work, I'll give it one more shot.
Ok not gonna work. Guess this is the end of the live blog.
Something to do if you have Players Advantage while your waiting for weigh in time is to go and watch the On Demand Video highlights of Day 1. I hadn't watched any of the highlights from Guntersville and it was good stuff. There was a really interesting interview with David Fritts and David Walker on the last morning of Guntersville where they were talking about the hole they had to dig out of. Of coarse, David Fritts managed to do just that and won the tournament when Canterburry stumbled.
I'm thinking about trying the video feed only to see if I can liveblog the weigh-in. Another thought I had was to try watching out of Mozilla Firefox to see if my computer doesn't get so stuffed up.
Oops I fell asleep and have missed about 45 minutes of the weigh in. I don't have it on FLW Live with the Players Advantage features but just the streaming video so I can blog it
David Dudley 5 for 13-00 This will make Hellabass happy.
George Cocheran 6-13 Oh oh
Guido Hibdon moves in to 5th for now.
Dion Hibdon weighs 17-1 for 30-12 and moves into 6th
however my computer froze up so live blogging may not work, I'll give it one more shot.
Ok not gonna work. Guess this is the end of the live blog.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 2
Don't miss Bass Zone Wide Open web broadcast from Del Rio today from 10-Noon. (Actually I have missed the 1st hour)
Update: I just went to watch and they were not broadcasting.
Update: They are on as of 11:18AM
Looks like there is no Bass Cast live streaming or Bass Trakk unofficial standings at the BASS/ESPN site. From what I understand there was some Bass Cast transmission early in the day, yesterday but it didn't last very long and I am unsure if the video that was there was from Amistad or not. Apparently they had Skeet idling around at the take off and KVD fishing.
The Live Leaderboard now has the standing but whether it will work or not come weigh in time is anyones guess.
On BassZone Wide Open "The Legend" Harold Allen is reporting good fishing conditions. It is warming up, cloudy, with a light wind. Apparently Fralick and Snowden are fishing the same water which they also did in the 09 Classic. Reporting that Jamie Fralick has about 10lbs, Evers has a little over 10lbs, Bobby Lane has 12-14lbs.
BassZone Wide Open is supposed to be on again sometime pretty soon just after noon.
BassZone Wide Open next on just after 1PM Central.
Word is Amistad has gone slick, the BassZone guys are saying weights may go down today, but in the morning they were saying weights would go up.
Update: I just went to watch and they were not broadcasting.
Update: They are on as of 11:18AM
Looks like there is no Bass Cast live streaming or Bass Trakk unofficial standings at the BASS/ESPN site. From what I understand there was some Bass Cast transmission early in the day, yesterday but it didn't last very long and I am unsure if the video that was there was from Amistad or not. Apparently they had Skeet idling around at the take off and KVD fishing.
The Live Leaderboard now has the standing but whether it will work or not come weigh in time is anyones guess.
On BassZone Wide Open "The Legend" Harold Allen is reporting good fishing conditions. It is warming up, cloudy, with a light wind. Apparently Fralick and Snowden are fishing the same water which they also did in the 09 Classic. Reporting that Jamie Fralick has about 10lbs, Evers has a little over 10lbs, Bobby Lane has 12-14lbs.
BassZone Wide Open is supposed to be on again sometime pretty soon just after noon.
BassZone Wide Open next on just after 1PM Central.
Word is Amistad has gone slick, the BassZone guys are saying weights may go down today, but in the morning they were saying weights would go up.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
No Hockey Title for the Edina Cake Eaters This Year!
The hated Edina Hornets boys hockey team beat my home town Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars in the Section Final to make it to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Edina was last years State runner up and was seeded as the #1 team in the tournament. It was not to be for Edina however because they choked in the 1st round as they were upset by Moorhead 5-2. I think that soundly puts Eden Prairie in the favorites position, but EP went into overtime in their 1st round game. None of my favorites are in the tournament this year.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 1 Part 2
Not a great day for my Fantasy Team, but it is only Day 1 which don't mean Jack Squat! My order of Angler value was the same order of today's placement.
KVD 11th with 19-9
Evers 15th with 18-05
Faircloth 21st with 17-00
Hackney 36th with 14-06
Herren 58th with 12-06
Note- It is somewhat incomprehensible to think that the top weight at the FLW Table Rock Day 1 was in the same league as the Elite Series top Day 1 weight at Amistad. No wonder David Walker was grinnin' ear to ear today.
I watched the BassZone Wide Open recap show from Del Rio and they had Matt Reed 4th and Boyd Duckett as guests. I was kind of nodding in and out so I didn't pick up a whole lot. Reed and Duckett were very vague about what they were doing. They had an interview with IKE after he had just weighed in but the video didn't hardly run on my computer. I don't know why that is but certain video's just don't work right, but the live streaming was just fine.
KVD 11th with 19-9
Evers 15th with 18-05
Faircloth 21st with 17-00
Hackney 36th with 14-06
Herren 58th with 12-06
Note- It is somewhat incomprehensible to think that the top weight at the FLW Table Rock Day 1 was in the same league as the Elite Series top Day 1 weight at Amistad. No wonder David Walker was grinnin' ear to ear today.
I watched the BassZone Wide Open recap show from Del Rio and they had Matt Reed 4th and Boyd Duckett as guests. I was kind of nodding in and out so I didn't pick up a whole lot. Reed and Duckett were very vague about what they were doing. They had an interview with IKE after he had just weighed in but the video didn't hardly run on my computer. I don't know why that is but certain video's just don't work right, but the live streaming was just fine.
FLW Tour Table Rock Lake Day 1
Developing...
I would live blog the weigh in, but FLW Live eats my computer resources to the point that trying any operation but watching the weigh in isn't a good idea.
So in the meantime I'll fill you in on my Fantasy Fishing moves. As you may have read I was going with Clausen, but after a look at his Table Rock history with BASS I dropped him like a rock in favor of Million Dollar man Scott Suggs. Another move prompted by the BASS standings was a switch of Dan Morehead for Jay Yelas. Morehead's Table Rock resume isn't the greatest while Yelas had fished there 5 times and never was out of the top 20. At the last minute I read the BassFan scouting report and I got spooked by Clark Wendlandt's comments so I switched him out for Gentleman George Cocheran who had an 8th place finish with BASS at Table Rock in early March 2004.
Of Note- In Addition to Luke Clausen another angler who was highly touted was Larry Nixon, but Nixon's BASS Table Rock resume isn't very good at all.
Weigh in now over- When the video feed finished FLW seemed to freeze up the computer so I couldn't get the Day standings there but they had them right away at FLW mothership.
Here are the Top 10:
1 DAVID WALKER SEVIERVILLE, TN 5 26-11
2 SHINICHI FUKAE MINEOLA, TX 5 22-05
3 CHRISTIAN ROMANS CARROLLTON, KY 5 21-04
4 AARON MCMANAWAY ALTAMONT, IL 5 20-13
5 MICHAEL BENNETT LINCOLN, CA 5 20-02
6 LUKE CLAUSEN MOUNT JULIET, TN 5 20-01
7 RANDALL THARP GARDENDALE, AL 5 18-10
8 SCOTT CANTERBURY SPRINGVILLE, AL 5 18-06
8 CHRIS ELLIOTT MOREHEAD CITY, NC 5 18-06
10 JACOB POWROZNIK PRINCE GEORGE, VA 5 18-05
My only top 10 angler is Shin. You may say I made a very bad call on Clausen at this point but he said he caught way more than he thought he would and Day 1 don't mean Jack Squat, so he could easily slip.
Looks like Hellabass made the right call with Walker. Bennett, Canterbury, and Powroznik are dangerous anywhere, but I didn't give any of them a look for this tournament. I think Guntersville ace Tharp is a bit of a surprise and the other 3 guys are not really familiar to me.
The thing is there are a lot of solid bags out there and even 78th place with 13-00 has a shot tomorrow with a 21+ pound bag of which there were 3 today, so lots of guys are still in the running and I could see a lot of movement in and out of the top 10 tommorrow. If Fukae stays strong and I get a few rally's I could have anywhere from 2-6 anglers in the top 10, but really anthing beyond 2 is really a long shot and I could easily have none.
Dad's Team: Ouch!!! 5 anglers at 100 or worse including #148 and #151. His best angler is in 30th.
I would live blog the weigh in, but FLW Live eats my computer resources to the point that trying any operation but watching the weigh in isn't a good idea.
So in the meantime I'll fill you in on my Fantasy Fishing moves. As you may have read I was going with Clausen, but after a look at his Table Rock history with BASS I dropped him like a rock in favor of Million Dollar man Scott Suggs. Another move prompted by the BASS standings was a switch of Dan Morehead for Jay Yelas. Morehead's Table Rock resume isn't the greatest while Yelas had fished there 5 times and never was out of the top 20. At the last minute I read the BassFan scouting report and I got spooked by Clark Wendlandt's comments so I switched him out for Gentleman George Cocheran who had an 8th place finish with BASS at Table Rock in early March 2004.
Of Note- In Addition to Luke Clausen another angler who was highly touted was Larry Nixon, but Nixon's BASS Table Rock resume isn't very good at all.
Weigh in now over- When the video feed finished FLW seemed to freeze up the computer so I couldn't get the Day standings there but they had them right away at FLW mothership.
Here are the Top 10:
1 DAVID WALKER SEVIERVILLE, TN 5 26-11
2 SHINICHI FUKAE MINEOLA, TX 5 22-05
3 CHRISTIAN ROMANS CARROLLTON, KY 5 21-04
4 AARON MCMANAWAY ALTAMONT, IL 5 20-13
5 MICHAEL BENNETT LINCOLN, CA 5 20-02
6 LUKE CLAUSEN MOUNT JULIET, TN 5 20-01
7 RANDALL THARP GARDENDALE, AL 5 18-10
8 SCOTT CANTERBURY SPRINGVILLE, AL 5 18-06
8 CHRIS ELLIOTT MOREHEAD CITY, NC 5 18-06
10 JACOB POWROZNIK PRINCE GEORGE, VA 5 18-05
My only top 10 angler is Shin. You may say I made a very bad call on Clausen at this point but he said he caught way more than he thought he would and Day 1 don't mean Jack Squat, so he could easily slip.
Looks like Hellabass made the right call with Walker. Bennett, Canterbury, and Powroznik are dangerous anywhere, but I didn't give any of them a look for this tournament. I think Guntersville ace Tharp is a bit of a surprise and the other 3 guys are not really familiar to me.
The thing is there are a lot of solid bags out there and even 78th place with 13-00 has a shot tomorrow with a 21+ pound bag of which there were 3 today, so lots of guys are still in the running and I could see a lot of movement in and out of the top 10 tommorrow. If Fukae stays strong and I get a few rally's I could have anywhere from 2-6 anglers in the top 10, but really anthing beyond 2 is really a long shot and I could easily have none.
Dad's Team: Ouch!!! 5 anglers at 100 or worse including #148 and #151. His best angler is in 30th.
Elite Series Battle on the Border Amistad Day 1
Shortly I will be over at the Bassmaster site to see what's up.
Well it appears nothing is up. Lake Amistad must be sufficiently remote to cause issues with the Basstrak and BassCast live on the water features. If you don't know Basstrak is an electronic system where every observer/marshal in the Elite Series boats will send in weights for the fish caught during the day, which should result in there being an unofficial scoreboard during the day. It's something to keep your attention during the tournament day. It appears there isn't going to be any BassTrak for Amistad at least not on Day 1.
BassCast is a webcam live feed from a couple of the Elite Series boats. Not working either.
Also, it looks like there won't be any streaming audio of the weigh in so those of us without ESPN 360 are out of luck. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Although this doesn't matter so much for Amistad, because I will be paying attention to FLW weigh in which I think runs concurrently with the BASS weigh in. Hopefully BASS will ad an audio feed for the next Elite Series event.
Update: It looks like the Live Leaderboard didn't work today. Looks like the first hint I am gonna get about the BASS action is on tonights BassZone Wide Open at 7PM. Looks like I will be recording survivor.
Well it appears nothing is up. Lake Amistad must be sufficiently remote to cause issues with the Basstrak and BassCast live on the water features. If you don't know Basstrak is an electronic system where every observer/marshal in the Elite Series boats will send in weights for the fish caught during the day, which should result in there being an unofficial scoreboard during the day. It's something to keep your attention during the tournament day. It appears there isn't going to be any BassTrak for Amistad at least not on Day 1.
BassCast is a webcam live feed from a couple of the Elite Series boats. Not working either.
Also, it looks like there won't be any streaming audio of the weigh in so those of us without ESPN 360 are out of luck. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Although this doesn't matter so much for Amistad, because I will be paying attention to FLW weigh in which I think runs concurrently with the BASS weigh in. Hopefully BASS will ad an audio feed for the next Elite Series event.
Update: It looks like the Live Leaderboard didn't work today. Looks like the first hint I am gonna get about the BASS action is on tonights BassZone Wide Open at 7PM. Looks like I will be recording survivor.
I Won, I Won!!!
Actually this is kind of old news that I am just reporting now. Over at The Bassholes Bulletin Board they had 4 Contests for forum participants about the Bassmasters Classic. There was a guess the weight contest, guess the winner contest, and two separate guess the top 12 contests. As luck would have it I won both of the top 12 contests. In one of the contests I won a jig or two. In the other contest I struck gold.
The big prize is a large Reaction Strike spook signed by most of the top finishing Pro's in the 2009 Bassmasters Classic.
In case you can't tell the lure is signed by Classic Champ Skeet Reese, 2nd place finisher Mike Ike, 2008 Classic Champ Alton Jones, 2007 Classic Champ Boyd Duckett and 2009 Classic Top 25 anglers Dave Wolak, Kelly Jordan, Aaron Martens, Kevin Wirth, Terry Fitzpatrick, Brian Schmidt, Casey Ashley, Greg Hackney, Greg Pugh and Edwin Evers. I haven't received the lure yet so there may be a couple more.
Here is the total package of things that I won:
The big prize is a large Reaction Strike spook signed by most of the top finishing Pro's in the 2009 Bassmasters Classic.
In case you can't tell the lure is signed by Classic Champ Skeet Reese, 2nd place finisher Mike Ike, 2008 Classic Champ Alton Jones, 2007 Classic Champ Boyd Duckett and 2009 Classic Top 25 anglers Dave Wolak, Kelly Jordan, Aaron Martens, Kevin Wirth, Terry Fitzpatrick, Brian Schmidt, Casey Ashley, Greg Hackney, Greg Pugh and Edwin Evers. I haven't received the lure yet so there may be a couple more.Here is the total package of things that I won:
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Yes, Warm up on the way!!!
In case you didn't know we had a Blizzard here in Central Minnesota yesterday into this morning and today it got cold. We are 30+ degrees below the average temp. It will warm up some tomorrow and in 3 days we will be at or above average for the forseeable future. Hopefully we get into a mild weather groove and ride it on out until the middle of April, which would lock in an early ice out.
FLW and BASS/ESPN Fantasy Fishing Reminder
Get those line ups in. The roster lock times are approaching quickly.
I think I had more confidence in my FLW line up going into Guntersville. I kind of think Table Rock is a little more wide open.
As for Bass I think I have a strong line up. 3 of my anglers are in the BassFan World Rankings top 10 and another guy has been in the top 10 quite a bit, ranked as low as #2.
I think I had more confidence in my FLW line up going into Guntersville. I kind of think Table Rock is a little more wide open.
As for Bass I think I have a strong line up. 3 of my anglers are in the BassFan World Rankings top 10 and another guy has been in the top 10 quite a bit, ranked as low as #2.
FLW Fantasy Fishing: Changes Have Been Made.
Yesterday I did a fair amount of homework on Players Advantage and came up with my line up for Table Rock. Today I visited Rich's Bassin' Blog and today's blog was about Flw Fantasy Fishing at Table Rock. He clued me in on taking a look at BASS results for Table Rock. I didn't realise BASS had fished Table Rock so much in the last 10 years and there was some great information. I quickly came to realise that the pick of Luke Clausen, who I mentioned a couple of posts ago, was not a good bet because he has a dismal record at Table Rock. Thanks to that study I booted two guys from my roster and added a guy that is a no brainer. I then got my other replacement from Players Advantage info.
I think my roster is probably locked down now, but I will check for late breaking news out of Players Advantage tomorrow.
I think my roster is probably locked down now, but I will check for late breaking news out of Players Advantage tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
James Niggemeyer wins BASS Central Open Toledo Bend
Man that is one ugly Fishin' Jersey. Congratulations to James who I had some business with this winter. I posses several reels that used to be his.
U2: No Line On The Horizon Initial Listening Review.
U2 is my favorite band and today I bought their new album No Line On The Horizon. I heard a few of the songs performed on Letterman last week and liked what I heard and my little brother Todd blogged about the album so my pump was primed to buy it when I went into Brainerd today.
Here are my thoughts on the songs on a first or second listen if I heard the song on Letterman.
No Line on the Horizon- Cool song, I like the music and the Oh oh oh oh's are great.
Magnificent- 1st heard on Letterman and I liked it live. I think the lyrics are pretty clear that this is a "Praise" song or "Psalm." Not only do I really like the lyrics but the song has a good flow. "Justified till we die, you and I will magnify"
Moment of Surrender- A slower song and kind of familiar, not the strongest song but I like the parts where Bono and the Edge Sing together.
Unknown Caller- Another slow song once again I really enjoy the parts where Edge gets in on the singing.
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight- Heard it first on Letterman. This song sounds a lot like a song from How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb maybe City of Blinding Lights. It is a solid U2 offering but not original.
Get On Your Boots- Being the 1st Single I heard this one online and then on Letterman. Get On Your Boots is the biggest rocker on the album and I like it, but I don't think it is as good as Vertigo which I think is the Bomb.
Stand Up Comedy- Up tempo but not a rocker, I like some of the Edge guitar riffs. Not the strongest song but not bad.
Fez- Being Born- This actually two songs. The Fez part reminds me of stuff that Edge did for the Captive movie soundtrack in that it sounds really experimental. Fez doesn't last very long. Being Born is slow, one of the two weakest songs.
White as Snow- Didn't make a big impression on me the first listen through. It is a slower song, a spiritual, and the most stripped down song on the album.
Breathe- Heard it on Letterman and really liked it live. It's a very good song, but I think with a little more work it could have been better as it has several parts that are catchy but there are parts where that gets lost.
Cedars of Lebanon- I need a second listen to make heads or tails of this song. This is one like Being Born is on the weak side.
I think the best songs are No Line, Magnificent, Boots, and Breathe. Nothing here has blown me away but I think it is an album I will enjoy as I listen more.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Storm WildEye Swim Shad
Today I was at Mills Fleet Farm looking around in the Fishing Dept. and the new for 2009 Storm Wild Eye Pro Paddle Tail (Not picture above) caught my attention. They are an awfully nice looking swimbait and they are relatively cheap for a paddle tail. Next to these Pro Paddle Tail's were the Storm WildEye Swim Shad (Pictured). The Swim Shads have been out for several years and I even have some but I saw that they come in a small 2" 1/8oz size which is something I had never noticed before . Maybe this is new size, I don't know. Anyway they have a fantastic appearance and look to me like they would be better than the similar sized Northland Mimic Minnows which I had just looked at.
A light went off and I imagined that these little Swim Shad's would make an outstanding "Bullhead" lure, so I bought a couple of packs. Now if Spring would just get here.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Dang Weather
After some warmer temps last week it looks like Spring is taking a break for most if not all of this week here in Minnesocold. I think on Wed. we are supposed to have highs only in the single digits. We are also under a Winter Storm Watch until Wed. but I haven't heard that we are going to get dumped on, maybe just a couple of inches if that.
I want me some ice melting weather.
I want me some ice melting weather.
Need to get my FLW Fantasy Fishing act together.
The FLW Tour tournament on Table Rock is this week and I haven't done a single thing about putting my line up together for Fantasy Bass Fishing. I think I am gonna put Luke Clausen on my team and that is about all I have right now. Thanks to Players Advantage I shouldn't have trouble getting my line up done by the Wed. night deadline.
This week is also the Elite Series opener at Lake Amistad. I wish that FLW and BASS didn't put tournaments on top of each other at least not this early in the year when I am not fishing and devote more time to tournament watching. I would say there is a pretty good likely hood that I will be watching the FLW weigh-ins rather than listening to the Elite Series weigh-ins hopefully on the final day the weigh in won't be on top of each other to much.
I put that fantasy line up together for Amistad over a week ago. A dark horse for this tournament might be Jami Fralick as he has fished Amistad a lot and usually fishes it well, I am not sure if he has cracked a top 10 but his consistency on the lake could make him dangerous.
Full Disclosure: Jami is not on my fantasy team.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Wake Baits and the Strike King Wake Shad
I was watching Strike King Journal on TV last night and Mark Davis and the President of Strike King Lures were absolutely slaying the fish on the new Strike King Wake Shad and it really perked me up. Several years ago there was an article in either In-Fisherman or Bassmaster that focused on waking hardbaits. I remember being impressed with the potential of the technique which lead me to an attempt to modify a big Jointed Rebel Minnow in the hopes that it would wake; My modification really didn't work and I kind of forgot about it. However from time to time waking was mentioned as a technique in tournament results and my ears would perk up a little but I really didn't pursue the technique.
After watching the show I really think I want to give waking another shot. However the Strike King Wake Shad costs over $20 bucks a bait. I know the Strike King King Shad's which are similar have had durability issues with the joints. I don't know about paying $20 for a bait where the durability is questionable. On the other hand I am sure Strike King would stand behind their bait if I were to buy one and then have a problem. The issue of Pike and Muskies stealing the lure is less of an issue because it floats; Lots of times the toothers won't get hooked up and you can go and retrieve the lure. You only have to worry if they really choke it which is something the average hammer handle doesn't do very well with a moving surface bait.
The Wake Shad is not the only alternative. In the last couple of years several lure manufacturers have come out with lures specifically designed for waking.
Among them are: (All Prices Tackle Warehouse)
The Bagley Bulgin' B's $5.99-$6.99
The Ima Rumba $15.39
The Deps Buzzjet $25.99
The Jackall Cherry Zero Footer $14.99
The Lucky Craft Bull Fish $24.99
Lucky Craft Rick Clunn Wake Action Crankbait $17.99
Mann's Waker Elite $4.49
River2Sea V-Crank Wake $11.99
XCaliber XW6 Wake Bait $9.99I think I like the idea of a jointed bait best but picking up a couple of Mann's Waker Elites is affordable, although I have several Mann's Minus One's and they wake as long as you don't burn them too fast. There is something about that Strike King Wake Shad that I like, but the Rick Clunn Lucky Craft is cheaper. I am going to have to put some more thought into these wake baits before the season starts. It doesn't help that probably the best time to fish them is before the weeds get up in the Spring and for the most part our bass season in Minnesocold is closed during this time frame.
Hmmmm, to be continued...
Friday, March 06, 2009
Did something fishy today.
It was a little over 40 today and I put 14lb Fireline smoke on a couple of reels and then went outside walked out the line then reeled it in under pressure to pack it tight on the spool. Yes, March is here and it's time to start doing some fishy things. Who knows tomorrow I may head to the GOMH and see if there is open water so I can test drive some of my new equipment for 2009.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Skeet Reese Basmasters Classic Champion Video 3 of 4
I'm not embeding this one because all it contains is Skeet pimping the Lucky Craft Redemption Spinnerbait. The Lucky Crafts go for $14.99 at Tackle Warehouse, which means they are about $9 more than I am willing to pay for a spinnerbait. In the past I may have shelled out around $8 for a Terminator, but that was ancient history.
Be sure to check out Skeet's Voice Blogs...
Be sure to check out Skeet's Voice Blogs...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Very Cool Website
Network with the Pro's-Profishingresearch.com
This site sends out survey's to Bass Pro's about fishing lures, rods, baitcast reels, line, and bass lakes and compiles the answers to give bass anglers a wealth of information. This is a must read site for the serious bass angler.
Monday, March 02, 2009
ESPN/Elite Series Fantasy Bass Fishing Angler Breakdown and Analysis
Now that the BASS Elite Series is about upon us, I thought I would fill some blog space by doing a breakdown on how I see the top anglers in the Elite Series fitting into a Fantasy Bass Fishing plan. Basically what I am doing is not rocket science and I am guessing that a casual BassFan will reach most of the same conclusions that I do.
The Game Basic's:
This year as in years past the ESPN/BASS Elite Series Fantasy Fishing game asigns each angler with a point value based on the anglers perceived worth and places a limit on the total number of angler value points you can have on your 5 angler roster. In the past several years the team limit on angler value was set somewhat low which forced a great deal of creativity in crafting a fantasy line up. This year the anglers are given a monetary value and the new team limit on angler value ($100.00) is quite a bit more liberal than in years past. The upshot is that it is much easier to stock a roster with high priced anglers than it has been in the past.
So who should a fantasy player be looking at?
Angler Breakdown:
Your #1 pick should absolutely be Kevin Van Dam ($24.5). He is the #1 Angler in the BassFan World Rankings. He was the 2008 BASS Angler of the year, was 2nd in 2007 AOY race, was 3rd in the 2006 AOY race and he did that with a disqualification that really cost him the AOY title which he would have won going away, and he was 7th in the AOY race in 2005. 2004 was the last year Kevin was not a major player in the AOY race. Kevin seems to be in his prime and anyone who does not anchor their team with him is a fool.
The Elite of the Elites:
Skeet ($23.70) BassFan World Rank: #4 How will Classic Championship effect his fishing???
Faircloth ($21.20) BWR: #2 Has been very consistant but might be cooling off.
McClelland ($20.80) BWR: #5 Tied with Van Dam for most Elite Series wins.
Martens ($20.70) BWR: #9 2005 AOY, #4 2006 AOY #3 2007 AOY
As you can see, all of these anglers ended 2008 in the BassFan World Ranking Top 10. If you are not familiar with the BassFan World Ranking they are rankings of angler performance over the previous 2 years. As of the writing of this analysis they do not have updated rankings to reflect angler finishes in the 2009 Bassmasters Classic. If you followed the Classic you know that the only one that really stumbled in this group at the Classic was Todd Faircloth. I think in addition to Van Dam you should have at least 1 and yes you can even get away with 2 out of this elite group on your fantasy team.
3rd Tier Elite of the Elites
Evers ($21.90) BWR: #8 I feel he is coming on and will contend for AOY.
Rojas ($21.80) BWR #13 Stepped it up in 2008, very talented.
Ike ($21.60) BWR #18 Can Ike get back to top form?
Alton ($21.10) BWR #15 Had a very good 2008.
Scroggins ($20.20) BWR #12 Always Dangerous
Davis ($19.50) BWR #19 IMO a great one.
Once again my analysis has almost a direct correlation to the BassFan World Ranking; All of these anglers are in the Top 20 of those rankings. The only Elite Angler in the BWR top 20 not included in this tier is Fred Roumbanis.
4th Tier Elite of the Elites
Steve Kennedy ($20.50) BWR #21 Has cooled off significantly since early 2007.
Rook ($20.00) BWR #26 Good 2007, Ok 2008
Roumbanis ($16.30) BWR #16
I think these guys are good, but have a lot of question marks.
The worst deals among the top priced Elite Anglers
Kelly Jordan ($21.00) BWR #42 Home Run Hitter, Stike's Out a lot.
Klien ($20.30) BWR #35 Consistantly good, but not great.
Howell ($20.20) BWR #45 Was good in 2008 not so good 2007
Jordan and Klien could be players at Amistad.
Reminder: Roster locks at March 12, 9:00am ET and BE SURE TO HIT THAT SAVE ROSTER BUTTON AFTER YOU CHOOSE YOUR LINE UP!!!
The Game Basic's:
This year as in years past the ESPN/BASS Elite Series Fantasy Fishing game asigns each angler with a point value based on the anglers perceived worth and places a limit on the total number of angler value points you can have on your 5 angler roster. In the past several years the team limit on angler value was set somewhat low which forced a great deal of creativity in crafting a fantasy line up. This year the anglers are given a monetary value and the new team limit on angler value ($100.00) is quite a bit more liberal than in years past. The upshot is that it is much easier to stock a roster with high priced anglers than it has been in the past.
So who should a fantasy player be looking at?
Angler Breakdown:
Your #1 pick should absolutely be Kevin Van Dam ($24.5). He is the #1 Angler in the BassFan World Rankings. He was the 2008 BASS Angler of the year, was 2nd in 2007 AOY race, was 3rd in the 2006 AOY race and he did that with a disqualification that really cost him the AOY title which he would have won going away, and he was 7th in the AOY race in 2005. 2004 was the last year Kevin was not a major player in the AOY race. Kevin seems to be in his prime and anyone who does not anchor their team with him is a fool.
The Elite of the Elites:
Skeet ($23.70) BassFan World Rank: #4 How will Classic Championship effect his fishing???
Faircloth ($21.20) BWR: #2 Has been very consistant but might be cooling off.
McClelland ($20.80) BWR: #5 Tied with Van Dam for most Elite Series wins.
Martens ($20.70) BWR: #9 2005 AOY, #4 2006 AOY #3 2007 AOY
As you can see, all of these anglers ended 2008 in the BassFan World Ranking Top 10. If you are not familiar with the BassFan World Ranking they are rankings of angler performance over the previous 2 years. As of the writing of this analysis they do not have updated rankings to reflect angler finishes in the 2009 Bassmasters Classic. If you followed the Classic you know that the only one that really stumbled in this group at the Classic was Todd Faircloth. I think in addition to Van Dam you should have at least 1 and yes you can even get away with 2 out of this elite group on your fantasy team.
3rd Tier Elite of the Elites
Evers ($21.90) BWR: #8 I feel he is coming on and will contend for AOY.
Rojas ($21.80) BWR #13 Stepped it up in 2008, very talented.
Ike ($21.60) BWR #18 Can Ike get back to top form?
Alton ($21.10) BWR #15 Had a very good 2008.
Scroggins ($20.20) BWR #12 Always Dangerous
Davis ($19.50) BWR #19 IMO a great one.
Once again my analysis has almost a direct correlation to the BassFan World Ranking; All of these anglers are in the Top 20 of those rankings. The only Elite Angler in the BWR top 20 not included in this tier is Fred Roumbanis.
4th Tier Elite of the Elites
Steve Kennedy ($20.50) BWR #21 Has cooled off significantly since early 2007.
Rook ($20.00) BWR #26 Good 2007, Ok 2008
Roumbanis ($16.30) BWR #16
I think these guys are good, but have a lot of question marks.
The worst deals among the top priced Elite Anglers
Kelly Jordan ($21.00) BWR #42 Home Run Hitter, Stike's Out a lot.
Klien ($20.30) BWR #35 Consistantly good, but not great.
Howell ($20.20) BWR #45 Was good in 2008 not so good 2007
Jordan and Klien could be players at Amistad.
Reminder: Roster locks at March 12, 9:00am ET and BE SURE TO HIT THAT SAVE ROSTER BUTTON AFTER YOU CHOOSE YOUR LINE UP!!!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Good Read from BassFan...
It'd be nice to have a picture of the bait to show you, but alas, it belongs to Guntersville now. On day 2, Martin was paired with another pro (who shall go unnamed), and that guy also wanted to try the magic rattlebait after seeing it produce a couple more chunks for its owner. But a mighty cast resulted in a nasty backlash, followed by the popping sound that's familiar to anglers everywhere – amateur or professional.
Day To Remember, A Day To Forget Check out the whole story about Yelas getting schooled by a Co and the tale of another lost wonderlure.
I hope the Pro that lost the magic bait compensated Martin handsomely.
Day To Remember, A Day To Forget Check out the whole story about Yelas getting schooled by a Co and the tale of another lost wonderlure.
I hope the Pro that lost the magic bait compensated Martin handsomely.
Found: More Minnesocold Bass Fishing Blogs
BC Bassin- Is the blog of MN Bass Tournament fisherman Brent Carlson. Brent is well known is Minnesota bass fishing circles as a good fisherman and Manager at Gander Mountain. Although I don't know if he is still working for Gander or not. He used to be the Fishing Manager at the Fridley store which closed a couple of years ago. He has the Gander Mountain logo on his tournament jersey so I would think he is still working there. Like Rich "Hellabass" Lindgren Brent has a mothership non-blog webpage: Also titled BCB Bassin.
There are a couple of new franchise blogs from Minnesocold BassNbloggers:
BASSFISHINGTODAY: Is yet another BassNblog by Rich "Hellabass" Lindgren. The content on this blog seems to be taken from his others.
MT's Art Studio: Is a blog to showcase MT Bucket's Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson's artwork which is usually fishy in nature. He only has 2 posts up so far that highlight a couple of different books he illustrated.
There are a couple of new franchise blogs from Minnesocold BassNbloggers:
BASSFISHINGTODAY: Is yet another BassNblog by Rich "Hellabass" Lindgren. The content on this blog seems to be taken from his others.
MT's Art Studio: Is a blog to showcase MT Bucket's Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson's artwork which is usually fishy in nature. He only has 2 posts up so far that highlight a couple of different books he illustrated.
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