5 Year Blogirthday (Last Friday)

Or is it Blogiversery? Anyway I missed noting it on November 20th again this year.

I Googled and apparently Blogiversery is the more commonly used of the two.

View the first post: Welcome from the BP to the Bass Pundit Blog

Somethings

Rich has been fishin and Art Simms actually has pictures of a couple of his Derby bass.

Vikes Hawks Recap & Fantasy Football

1st Quarter- Not so good.
2nd Quarter- That's more like it.
3rd Quarter- If you can stop Adrian you can't stop Favre.
4th Quarter- If you can stop Adrian you can't stop Tavaris.

For the most part the D played a good game, maybe it's best of the season. It really looked like the Seahawks Defensive game plan was to stuff Peterson and they did a pretty good job of that for the most part. Too bad for them we have the old gunslinger.

Bring on Chicago, hopefully Philly will rough Da Bears up this week and have them weak for next week.

Minnesocold BPboys Fantasy Football Update: So far it has been a pretty strong week up and down the line up, so I am cruising to victory.

Vikes vs. Seahawks @ the Dome

At this point it isn't must win, but should win. But I think to be a contender you must win, "should win" games.

As for this week for me in Fantasy, it's pretty much anybodies game. I am in a 3 game losing skid and hopefully the bleeding stops this week.

Ha Ha Ha Cheeseheads

Detainees at Camp in Iraq Use Favre To Tease Wisconsin Soldiers

Hmmm

When was the last time I looked at one of my fishing magazines? I now have several of them from the past few months in a pile.

A missive

I actually wrote something at my Bass Pundit Preach blog. The essay is entitled: No Matter Where You Go, There Are You

The Derby Is Over!!! MN Bass Fishing Blog Wins

Acording to the rules the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby 2009 ended 2 days ago.

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion after Sept 13th that Jason Holmer of Minnesota Bass Fishing Blog was going to win.

Story of the 7lber here.... Of coarse this fish was Derby Big Bass.

This was Jason's Bag
7.00lbs
6.06lbs
5.81lbs
5.25lbs
4.80lbs Smallie

Total= 28.92lbs

2nd Place went to Art Sims Bass Fishing Blog with 5 For 25.27LBS

3rd Place went to Casey's Catch of the Day with 5 For 23.94LBS

Good Job MN Bass Bloggers- I have already decided that next years Derby will be a big bass contest.

Vikings Lions Win Analysis

How does AP get caught from behind? That sucked eggs.

Although the game was kind of ugly, it was a solid win in a game we were expected to win. Would like to see the D getting some interceptions. Jared Allen dropped one and we had several instances of unlucky deflections that just didn't find there way to our D. Once again it's clear that the Vikings are good, but they have lots of room for improvement.

Skoal Vikings!

Yes I did get out!

No fish but I did get to see 2 good shooting stars.

Fished Indian Point on the advise of some muskie guys who came in.

This very well might be the end of my open water season.

Could it be?

Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs...

We have been getting things ready for 2 hours now; It's just getting dark at 5:30PM. It's kind of a sad commentary that Pete has been here for more than a week over the past couple of weeks and it is taking this long to get out of here. I was pretty much ready to go in 1/2 an hour. I wonder what Pete was thinking and doing all day while I was resting?

Update: It's now about 10 after 6PM, I think we are getting close. Pete gave me a dirty job and I ended up getting grease on my orange fleese pull-over.

La-de-dah!

Update: 6:30PM MISSION ABORT! MISSION ABORT!!!

New ETF: Sometime after the Vikings game tommorrow.

This Just In (to me...)

Although I haven't seen anything official it looks like Berkley has totally discontinued the Frenzy Hardbaits.

Fortunately I have built up significant reserves of Frenzy Poppers. I just wish I had a few more gold ones.

I looked on Ebay and I was a little shocked that there were 0 Frenzy Poppers listed. It wouldn't surprize me much if now that they are out of production, they have been snapped up like candy.

Pete and I

Once again we did not get out last night. Funny, feels like I have been in the boat with Pete for the last couple of hours as we have been looking at things on the internet. (Mostly of his choosing)

Now he is sitting on the floor messing with all the new tackle he bought on clearance at Gander the last few days. He did get some deals. I got there on Veterans Day and the Snagproof Pro Tournament Frogs were all gone.

Bait Monkey:
I did pick up some tubes, beavers, and spinnerbaits.

Thank You to all who have served for the defence of freedom and liberty.

I was wrong.

Turns out that getting trailer lights to work with Pete's Jeep Patriot is kind of complicated. Pete didn't get it trailer ready from the dealer and so he has to get some special equipment for everything to work right.

Now I have no clue when fishing might happen.

Mille Lacs Fishing- What!!!

Pete had the boat ready to go for tonight, but we didn't have a vehicle to tow it to the water.

Tomorrow nights, the night and this time I really mean it.

Good Bye

Bye as in Bye Week for the Minnesota Vikings. While we didn't play a game but the division lead was extended to a full 3 games over the Da Bears and the Cheeseheads who both lost important games. The Bears lost at home and Green Bay lost to a bad team. If the Vikes can win their next 3 games (Lions, Seahawks, Bears), which are all at home, then the division title should be in the bag.

Watching the Packers lose to previously winless Tampa Bay was awesome.

As for my fantasy team, I was up against Kurt Warner the wrong week. He had 5 picks last week and 5 TD's this week. My score was OK, but I got blown out by 43 points with 1 of my wide receivers yet to play.

The top team in the fantasy league is in danger of losing this week, which would be nice.

Yesterday Report

Pete had a headache so he didn't get working on his boat until later in the day and I slept in until it was getting dark. Pete was not super motivated to get out and so we didn't.

FYI- Gander Mountain Brainerd/Baxter

Some very good deals to be had up there on clearance fishing items.

90% Plus Chance

The weather should be nice and I don't think there is anything that will deter Pete from getting me out to Mille Lacs Lake tomorrow sometime in the afternoon or evening. Now whether we will fish or not depends somewhat on if the boat motor will start or not. But my guess is that even if the big motor doesn't start, Pete will go to the electric motor.

Japan BassNblog

Keep Chasing The World Record is a blog started by Manabu Kurita. Manabu is the guy that caught that World Record largemouth from Lake Biwa in Japan.

His english isn't that good, but you can kind of understand what he is saying.

Some MN bloggers on big bluegill

Cyberfish of MT Bucket blog and Greg Clusiau of Life and Times in the Great Outdoors blog went bluegill fishing with guide Crappie Keith and they slayed em. Both Cyb and Clusiau blog about it.

A Victory!!! Favre Takes Two From Packers

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Yes, it's a huge win but that D needs to get much better.

Skoal Vikings!!!



It looks like my fantasy team is getting spanked this week, so far my top performing guy has 10 Points, while my opponet has players with 34, 19, 20, and 12. I still have Brees and the New O D yet to play but I'm down 67 points:(.

A feeling

I'm getting the feeling if the Vikings D can't force a turnover, this game will be lost.

Question:

How can that Vikes defence go from looking so good, to so bad, so quickly?

No predictions on whether or not we can hang on.

Brian Robison

I like the guy as a player, but that was the most colossally dumb play I've seen in a long time. Hold it with 2 hands and go down, you are on the 40 yard line for goodness sakes.

"A little bit cautious" (Come On!!!)

Troy Aiken grumbled that the Vikes were "a little bit cautious" and didn't really try to score a TD at the end of the 1st half.

Hello!!! Percy Harvin dropped a pass that would have put us 1st and 10 inside the 15 yard line. I have no problem with the next play where they ran Chester, in fact, I thought a running play was called for if the 1st down pass was incomplete. On 3rd down you can't take a sack and the guys were not open so Farve dumped it. 3 points is success and we get the ball to start the half.

If the D can match the first half, GAME OVER!

Vikes vs. The Pack Part 2

Do you think Farve will do the Lambert Leap?

Skoal Vikings!!!

I am a little concerned about my Fantasy Team this week. I am on a 4 game winning streak and currently have the 2nd best record in the league, however I am facing a guy with Adrian Peterson, yes All Day AP not Chicago AP, and Aaron Rogers. If I can get by this week, I'm good.

Why Not!

I couldn't find any fishing ghosts or pumpkins.

Not Gonna Do It (Maybe)

Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I'm stupid, maybe I'm lazy.

I was given the chance to do an interview with Bass Legend Denny Brauer and CEO of Ardent Reels Mike Brooks for the blog, but I just don't feel like doing it, so I am not going to take advantage of the opportunity.

Basically they wanted to do some promotion for the Ardent F700 Denny Brauer Flip-N-Pitch Reel

It sells at Tackle Warehouse for $200

I guess this reel is an upgrade from the original F500 Flip-N-Pitch about which I heard some mixed reviews. The reel is definitely a unique concept. I don't do a whole lot of flipping and pitching so it isn't really a reel I would ever consider purchasing for myself.

I am sure that doing the interviews would have contributed something to the blog, but what that is I'm not quite sure.

I am hoping that the same offer will be extended and accepted by bloggers Rich Lindgren and BassfishingDem because I'd like to see what they would do.

Update:After thinking about it some more I emailed the contact to see if I changed my mind down the road if the offer would still stand. He seem to indicate that this would be the case. Maybe it will happen after all. I just need to think about it some more.

Bait Monkey Attack

It started out innocently enough. I was at Gander Mountain browsing around not planning to buy anything but on the look out for clearance deals when the bait monkey struck. On the shelf for $100 was a Shimano Crucial CRC-X68M which is a X-Fast 6'8" Medium Action rod. $100 is 33% off the regular price. Oh man, visions of Berkley Frenzy Popper magic went off in my head and I just had to have it.

One thing does have me a little perplexed. It is called a Medium rod but the lure weight specs are 3/8 to 3/4oz which is the same as the lure weight specs for my Crucial CRC-X610MH which is their 6' 10" Medium Heavy rod. The rod specs diverge on the line lb test range with the CRC-X68M recommend range being 8-17 lbs and the CRC-X610MH's being 10-20 lbs. The CRC-X70M is their 7' medium rod and has a line rating of 8-17lbs, same as the CRC-X68M, but it's lure rating is 1/4-1/2oz.

Upon further review of the Crucial Casting Series line there are a number of inconsistencies in the way the rod actions, lure specs, and line specs come out.

Why all the concern about specs? Berkley Frenzy Poppers are 5/16oz which puts them well under the 3/8oz range.

I guess I will just have to do some product testing when I get a chance.

Maybe Mille Lacs Walleye today???

Actually the forecast for today isn't looking that good.

Fall Walleye on Mille Lacs???

There is a pretty good chance I will be trolling the big pond with Pete this evening. Reports for this year have indicated the fishing has been on the slow side and the fish size has tended to be small with many of the fish being keepers.

Hellabass reports the bass are in a funk...

While Ikeslayer seems to be catching a few...

Update: Pete thinks it's too windy and who am I to disagree. No walleye lunch tomorrow.

Vikings Lose to Steelers

Well the luck O the Purple had to run out sometime and today was the day. The Vikings played the Steelers well enough to win in my opinion, but they had a couple of unlucky breaks that put the game out of reach.

The first bad break of coarse was the touchdown that was called off on a bogus tripping penalty. Without that call the Vikes take a 4th quarter lead, something that would not happen. Instead of the TD, 2 plays later the Steelers get a fumble for a touchdown.

However the Vikes strike back immediately with the Harvin return for a TD. Still we are down by those 3 points instead of up by 4.

The D does it's job getting the ball back and the offence drives down the field. The highlight of the drive is when AP just runs over a guy after catching a pass and this puts the Vikes well into fieldgoal range. Then the second unlucky break happens when Chester Taylor fails to catch a screen pass and the ball defects to a Steeler defender who takes it to the house. 10 Point lead Game Over.

It was good to see the D play as well as they did and the offence come alive in the 2nd half. Today just wasn't our day.

A few casts...

I threw a few casts in Platte at Jenny's. Yesterday I had a pike swirl at the brown Snagproof Frog a couple of times, but I quickly decided I didn't want a pike messing up or stealing the frog. Today I saw the signs of a fish but it apparently just spooked. Also tried Bulldog today with nothing. Saw signs of fish further out in the weeds.

Update

I am not going fishing tonight. Just not that into walleyes as of right now.

Glad to see the Angels beat the Yankees. They deserved to win the game after that terrible ball call that should have been strike three.

Brutal on Platte/Sullivan for the Range Bassmasters

Last Saturday the Range Bassmasters Bass Club had their last club tournament of the year on Platte and Sullivan. I would have gone to the weigh in, but I was taking the dock out with Dad. I did see 3 of their tournament boats including In-Fisherman's Steve Quinn. The results are now online and they had a tough go of it.

They had 14 people fishing and 7 of them came in skunked. The winning bag was 3 fish for 7lbs even. They had 2 two fish bags and 4 one's. The big bass was 3lbs 5ozs. Emmet Smith who I fished with at the Challenge Cup caught 1 that was just over 3lbs. Can't say I would have done any better, those lakes have been known to be cruel to me at times.

How much do I want to fish?

My friend Pete has been talking for the past several weeks about coming up so we could fish Mille Lacs and I thought he might show up tonight, but now it's about midnight, so I don't think he's gonna show. My guess is he saw tomorrows wind forecast and decided it wouldn't work out. Although not particulary good for getting out in a boat where I know to troll in the Fall, that wind forecast could be good for shore fishing off of the Eddy's Jetty tomorrow night. It would be cold and nasty but that can trigger the fish. I am not sure I'm that enthusiastic, but you never know.

Pam Martin-Wells to 2010 Bassmasters Classic

I am glad to see that Mrs. Wells is going to get an opportunity at the big show next year on Lay Lake. I consider her to be the best professional woman's bass fisherman in the world today.

She has a website...
but it doesn't look like it has been updated in a few years.

Good Luck at the Classic Pam.

Despite Vikings Defensive Collapse- A Win

The Vikes may be 6-0 at this point but that record pretty much comes down to some incredible luck, not just once but twice this season. The way the Vikings defence fell apart yesterday was astounding. In the collapse the Ravens did make a few plays on downs that were reasonably well defenced, but there were also some key plays where the Vikings just didn't make tackles that should have been made. The D absolutely must clean things up or else the team will have little chance of being a serious contender.

On the bright side was the offence that put up 33 points against the Ravens D without the help of turnovers or big special teams plays that put the ball deep in Ravens territory. The offence certainly showed they are ready for prime time and a force to be reckoned with that can carry the team when necessary.


The big plays that were not quite big enough:

While the close call collapse is the story of the game, the Ravens were also a little bit lucky not to be completely out of it in the first place. The Vikings had a total of 3 huge plays (63 yards, 58 yards, and 58 yards) of long distances that in 2 out of 3 cases were just a little bit short of going for touchdowns. In all three instances the long plays resulted in field goals. Had Rice scored on the 63 yard pass and Peterson scored on the 58 yard run than I think the game would have been out of reach for the Ravens even with the defensive collapse.

Anyway as a Vikes fan I know I have a lot to be thankful for. Hopefully the injuries to Harvin and Windfield are not that serious.

Vikings For Real???

The lads in Purple are 5-0 but 3 of those wins were against bad teams. Today is the first of 3 consecutive games that will tell us a whole lot about where the 2009 Vikings are headed.

SKOAL Vikings!!!

WBT Championship News

Go to I am a bass fisherman blog for some good info...

I'm just sayin'

It's a good thing I didn't try to liveblog the Twins/Yankees Series.

Recently noticed on BassFan Dock Talk the rumors and news about dropped or decreased sponsorships of the FLW Tour. I can easily foresee the the sport of professional bass fishing taking some significant steps backward if the economy continues on it's decline.

My 2009 Bass Snatcher Review Part 2 (Lessons Learned)

In the comments of the intial review Hellabass wrote:
"But I guess the other important thing, is did you learn new stuff fishing with these guys?"

In light of that question, I am doing this 2nd installment of the Review that will anwer this question.

Lesson 1
1. The use of GPS in conjunction with and lake mapping software provide an angler who can maximise their utility a definite advantage in finding and catching fish.

Lesson 2
2. I got outfished with a jig around cover on several occasions this year. I think this is a combination of being a back of the boat thing, a deficiency in my jig fishing skills, and something to do with my prefered fishing style which tends to be more horizontal than vertical.

Lesson 3
3. I have had a good experience with every guy I have fished with in the club so far and I would take any of these guys as a partner again in a heartbeat.

My 2009 Bass Snatchers Season Review

In 2009 I fished all 6 Baxter Bass Snatcher tournaments.

In the clubs official standings for the year I accumulated 160 points, which with my worst showing deducted came to my official total of 142 points which put in a tie for 12th place out of the 32 guys who fished this year. Last year I had 152 total with an official total 134 points and I came in 15th place.

This year I weighed 32 fish for a total weight of 52.06lbs or 8.68lbs per tournament and 1.63lbs per fish. My big bass of the year was 3.19lbs.

Last year I weighed 36 fish for a total weight of 65.13lbs or 10.85lbs per tournament and 1.81lbs per fish.

Even though I collected more points this year, it is pretty obvious from the other statistics that 2008 was a much better year for me in terms of the fishing. I feel I should have done better at 3 tournments this year (Cedar, South Long, Leech) where as I felt pretty good about all of the tournaments in 2008.

Even with the frustrations and tough tournaments it was a good year and as of right now I plan to fish with the Bass Snatchers again next year.

Purple Favre Cuts Down Packers

Didn't think I would let this go un-noticed did you? Yes it was a beautiful thing watching the wily veteran cut his old team to pieces on Monday Night Football. Hopefully he can go into Lambert on November 1 and do the same thing.

I just noticed that the Vikes play the Lions and Packers twice before we get to the Chicago Bears for the 1st time.

We should go 5-0 playing the Rams next, but then that schedule gets a bit tricky with the Ravens, Steelers, and Pack at Lambert. The Vikes are for real if they can win 2 of these 3 games although I think they can afford it if they only win 1 of the 3.

Should I Twins live blog, why NOT!

It's 4 to 4 in the bottom of the 9th in the Twins vs Tigers one game playoff for the Central Division Championship. My brother Todd, Sister-In-Law Kirsten, and neices Isabelle and Mallory are at the game and boy has it been a good one. Both teams have blown great opportunities to score.

Bottom of the Ninth: Punto walks then is bunted to 2nd. Tigers 3rd basemen makes a play and gets 2nd Out. Mauer will be walked, putting up Gomez??? Yeah that's who you want batting-NOT. He grounds out and the inning is over.

Twins Ace reliever Joe Nathan who was brought in to pitch in the 8th inning after the Tigers already tied the score is now done, won't pitch in the 10th. Jesse Crain to pitch.

Top of 10th:
One Out
Hit batter-Huff
Strike Out
Tigers score on double by Inge
3rd Out

Bottom of 10th:
Cuddy- With a dome lost in the lights lead off triple.
In field Out D. Young
Walk Casilla
TWINS TIE IT up on Tolbert base hit.
Casilla at 3rd
Punto at bat.
Play at the plate, Out #3 but I'm not sure where the 2nd out came from. Ahh Punto flied out to left field and left fielder Raburn nailed Casilla

Top of 11th:
Crain starts inning with Strike Out
Now Gardy in his infinite wisdom is replacing Crain with Mahay
Mayhey gets strike out and now in his infinite wisdom Gardy is replacing Mahay with Keppel.
Line drive Out.

Bottom of 11th:
Twins have top of the order up.
Span out on a good play by outfielder Granderson.
Cabrera struck out
Mauer grounds out to 2nd
Quick 1-2-3 inning.

Top of 12th:
Keppel will pitch
Fly Out to Center Field
Tigers best batter Cabrera up- 3and2 Walk (Keppel was ahead in the count and let it get away)
Tigers get double with Cabrera to 3rd
Intentional walk to load bases
Inge to bat
Inge claims he was hit
2 strikes
ball in the dirt 2-2
foul ball
Ground ball Play at plate: OUT!
Laird at bat 3-1 count
foul ball
STRIKE OUT!!! would have been ball 4.

Bottom of 12th:
Single Gomez
Cuddy at bat
Cuddy moves Gomez to 2nd on grounder to 3rd.
Delmon Young walk
Casilla at bat
Casilla hits ground ball to right field
GOMEZ SCORES TWINS WIN!!! 6-5

Minnesota Twins are American League Central Division Champs 2009

Bass Snatchers Win Challenge Cup 2009

Today was the Challenge Cup which is a longstanding contest between the Baxter Bass Snatcher Bass Club and the Range Bassmasters. By virtue of the fact that other more highly seeded Bass Snatchers didn't want to fish I was allowed to be on this years 6 man team. There were 3 Snatcher boaters with 3 Range non-boaters and vise versa. My boater was Range Bassmaster Emmet Smith.

Going into the tournament the scuttlebutt on Emmet was that he was going to take me into the shallow junk all day and that I should use my allotted 4 hours in the front of the boat to hit weedlines. That isn't how it worked out.

The weather: From the low 40's in the morning to the low 50's in the afternoon. It was cloudy with a couple short rounds of light sprinkles. Wind was out of the North around 10mph.

Emmit started us off on a weedline spot on the West end of the upper lake. In the first hour Emmet managed 2 keeper bass around 2 pounds and a 10lb pike. I had a couple of hits on my black spinnerbait but they didn't hook up. One of those bites felt big. After about 45 minutes with no action we ran to the NE end of Upper Mission to a weedline spot I had fished before. I caught a pike and had my spinnerbait get bumped a couple of more times.

Next we headed to Lower Mission to try some docks, that was a bust, so we tried some reeds and that was a bust so we tried some weedlines and that too was a bust. We headed back to Upper Mission to our starting spot.

We spent a couple of hours flogging our starting spot and Emmit got a 12 incher and a pike, while I had a pike bite off and that was it. Totally perplexed we went right to a spot that I wanted to fish, even though I didn't mention the area to Emmet. We were fishing down a weedline towards Range boater and In-Fisherman Bass Guru Steve Quinn. We watched as Snatcher Bill Ludenia caught a small keeper. They were struggling like we were struggling and word was that the bite was very tough for everybody except Snatcher Chuck Steinbauer. We passed the Quinn boat and I got a bite on my tube, but it was a pike. Shortly after the pike Emmet caught 2 keeper bass on a jigworm off of the used water. We worked the weedline up the side of a point with no action so we decided to head back over the water where Emmit got the last 2 fish.

I was throwing my black spinnerbait and I hooked up, but once again it was a pike. Emmet caught a short, then Emmit got the idea that we should move a bit shallower. He was rewarded with his biggest bass of the day on a spinnerbait in the little reedbed up by shore. We kept working shallow into a slop bay. I thought I might have had a fish on for a second on a Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig when the next thing I knew Emmet was hauling in a 2lb bass. I picked up a Herb's Dilly Buzzbait and finally was rewarded with a bass just a little under 3lbs, at this point there was just an hour and a half left to fish; I was mighty relieved to have the skunk out of the boat with a good fish. We worked from the North side of the slop bay around to the South side of the slop bay where Emmit caught another 2lber on a craw tube pitching into the pads. Emmet had to cull, so I took the front of the boat and worked the rest of the South shore of the slop bay then I headed us quickly back to the North side. On the North side Emmet caught another 3lber on the craw tube and I got a pound and 3 quarter bass on the Herb's Dilly. Those would be our last fish although we would both miss bites in the reeds on our way back to the landing.

I don't and probably won't have the official numbers but I can report that 4 out of the 6 snatchers won in their boats. Chuck Steinbauer won with about 18lbs and Lunker that was right about 5lbs. I think Snatcher Dennis Lothspeich got 2nd and Emmet got 3rd. I think our Snatcher Club won total weight by around 4lbs.

Preview: Challenge Cup- Baxter Bass Snatchers vs. Range Bassmasters

This tournament is for club bragging rights between the Baxter Bass Snatchers and the Range Bassmasters, which is another Brainerd area bass club. This year the event is being held on Upper and Lower Mission Lakes. I will be partnered with a boater from the Range Bassmasters Club named Emmit Smith. I know Emmit has a reputation as a very good bass fisherman and I've been told by guys in my club that he is a shallow water guy that will most likely take me up into the reeds and pads. This tournament poses a dilemma for me in that I normally don't care about getting my half the day in the front of the boat. However, the way this tournament sets up for the sake of the club I have been advised to take command of the ship for the 4 hours alotted me according to the rules.

The only time I have fished on Upper and Lower Mission was at the last Bass Snatcher tournament of the year last October, so all of the spots I know on the lake are those of a guy in our club; he has given me the go ahead and use them up tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be cool/cold with rain possible and a 10mph wind out of the N NW. I have no clue what the cold snap this week will have done with the fish, especially shallow fish. If I can hold my own in shallow I may just do that all day, but if things are not going well I will definitely take it to the weedlines. Hopefully fishing will be good and I will bring in a better bag than several of the Range guys. I figure as long as I can beat a few of the Range fishermen that I will have done my job.

Fishers of Men Fall Outing 2009 Sept 24-27

My 1st Bass on Three Island Lake.

I fished all 3 days (Thur-Sat) out of the GEM pontoon with Dave Lindmark and Mike Thompson.

Day 1 Thursday Sept 24th-
I met Dave Lindmark and Mike Thompson at Lutherdell Bible Camp around 1PM. We got our stuff put in the cabin and then Dave wanted to take a nap, so I picked out a couple of rods and went to fish off the camp docks. At the last of the 3 docks, usually the best spot, I made a cast between the dock and a pontoon boat with a smoke tube and was rewarded with a 15 inch largemouth. I headed back up to the cabin pretty much as Dave was getting ready to roll. We took on a Teen Challenge graduate named Aaron, and two Fishers of Men Club boats were going to follow us. Dave had decided to go to Three Island Lake because it is close and we would be coming back for supper at 6PM. Three Island had been a good bass and pike lake for GEM this summer. It turned out to be kind of a bust for us under the sunny and calm conditions. We caught a few really small bass and a few small pike. Mike and I lamented the fact that we were going in for supper and wouldn't be on Mule Lake for the prime time evening bite.

Day 2 Friday Sept. 25th-
Since the Minnesota Teen Challenge group brought their own boats I wasn't needed for taking guys out in the camp pontoons, so I ended up in the GEM pontoon with Dave, Mike, and a Teen Challenge guy named Dave. The Day 1 Tournament allowed for the length of my best pike, bass (largie or smallie), walleye, and muskie combined. We picked Mule lake not so much for the tournament as for the opportunity to catch the largies and smallies in this bass catch and release only lake. Mule has clear water and conditions were sunny, then partly cloudy until about 3:30PM when it looked like it might rain but it never did.

We started off fishing on the South End of the lake by a downed tree. I tossed my smoke tube by the tree and missed a bite. Teen Challenge Dave cast his tube into one of the branches and we broke him off. I tied him another tube and when I casted back at the tree I got the first fish of the day, which was a rock bass. Mike Thompson worked us out onto the weed flat going East. I picked up a couple of small pike on a black spinnerbait while the other guys caught some bass on plastics. Eventually I switched up to a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig and landed my first bass (1st picture) and this healthy 16+ incher.

A little later on I caught a 23 inch Pike on the Pure Poison.

Eventually we stopped working the SE corner of the lake because it was sunny and calm. We headed towards the access to work the West side of the lake which had some wind blowing on it. As we worked this shoreline Dave Lindmark got the only two smallmouth we would catch. I did see one nice smallmouth follow in a largie that Mike had hooked. As we worked this shore it was kind of slow but one of us would pull a fish every 10 minutes or so. Action picked up some as we got to the North end of the lake when I popped a couple and missed one on a smoke tube, while Mike got one, and Dave caught then lost one. It had clouded up at this point so the fish were probably turning on a little bit.

After another lull Mike hastily worked us towards the North Narrows Southern Point trying to get us there before the sun would pop out again. Mike got a quality hit on his popper and I threw in behind him with my smoke tube. I was reeling in quickly to make another cast when a bass swirled on the tube and missed. I let the tube sink and it was inhaled by this 17incher.

Mike thought we were going to get into a flurry but I think those were the only two fish we pulled off the Southern Point. As we were working that point the wind came up quite a bit from what it had been out of the East. As we worked our way to the North Narrows North Point I got a 16" largie that hit the tube on the drop. As we worked our way into the wind along the North point I switched up to a white/chartreuse gold bladed Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig and I immediately nailed a couple of small pike and then had a quality 28 inch class pike get hooked up and take a run but before I could get it in it pulled off. I was super disappointed because that was a money fish. I got a couple of largies on the Pure Poison, including a 15", and then the lure got bit off. It was the only white/chart gold blade that I had and my efforts to replace it were in vain as I stopped catching fish while the Dave's and Mike managed to get a few and miss a few. We worked all the North end points and went back to the North Narrows Southern Point one more time and then it was time to head in.

I had 40 inches which was 4th best for the day, but got me 3rd place in the money pool. Had I got the big pike I missed I would have been 2nd.


Day 3 Saturday Sept. 26th-
Day 3 was FallEE WallEE Trophy Day where the top 3 for the days tournament would get to put their name on the back of the plaque/trophy. The tournament would be decided by the length of one's 3 biggest bass and 3 biggest pike which is the same way things were decided last year when I got 1st Place. Because of tournament parameters the smart move was to hit Townline Lake because it has decent sized bass and an excellent average size for pike including many 30 inch class fish. Townline was where I won it last year. Today I would just be fishing with Dave Lindmark and Mike. It was fairly breezy all day out of the SW with clouds early giving way to warm sunshine in the afternoon.

I started off fishing a silver buzzbait and was rewarded with some solid pike from 24 to 26 inches. Mike Thompson started catching bass on the inside weedline with tubes, so with 3 nice pike under my belt I switched up to that. Mike was out fishing me on the bass but I managed to pick up 2 on a junebug Powerbait tube texas rigged on a jig. We got to some slop and I lost a bass on a Horny Toad but soon after that picked up my 3rd keeper bass on the Toad. Fish were in the slop but we didn't do a very good job of catching them. It's hard to say if they were mostly bass or pike. The sun came out and we decided to head back to where we started. Lindmark still didn't have a fish at this point and it was after noon. Mike and I started off working the inside weedline again and we both managed to upgrade our bass but Mike had the edge with bass while I had the bigger pike. Eventually it seemed we had run the best bass water so we headed out and tried for pike. Mike slowly started to upgrade his pike and Dave eventually got a few fish. I struggled to get bit and switched lures, eventually getting bit on a white with silver blades Terminator Spinnerbait, but after catching a couple of fish it got bit off and once again I struggled to get bit. Eventually we worked our way to the NE end of the lake where there is an abandoned beaver dam that can hold some nice bass and unfortunatley for me it was Mike who pulled a 17incher out from under the pads. I got an 18incher from the same spot the previous year.

Next we went to work the weeds off of one of the points on the North End of the Lake. We pulled a couple of pike and were working our way across the flat when I had a bruiser of a pike come out of the water while missing my spinnerbait, the fish followed to the boat before darting away. Mike Thompson threw after it and it struck at his spinnerbait and missed. Mike did a figure 8 at the boat and hooked up with the 29" inch fish which would win him his 1st FallEE WallEE title.

As time was closing in I had the brite idea to put on a Mann's Minus One crankbait and I upgraded a half inch and got a couple of other nice pike. I was kicking myself for not thinking of this lure sooner.

For the Day I got 3rd Place behind Mike who beat Lowell Borgan by a half inch. Lowell also had a 29" Pike, unbelievably from Mule Lake. However Mike forgot to get in the money pool, so I got the 2nd Place money.

So FallEE WallEE for 2009 is:
#1 Mike Thompson
#2 Lowell Borgan
#3 Dave Maas

Note: Lowell and I are both on FallEE 4 times and both during the exact same years (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009)

Brett Favre Miracle Win at Metrodome!!!

This time the Vikings were on the winning end.

It's a game that the Vikes deserved to win, as they did out play the 49ers. A blocked field goal touchdown is a fluke play that probably doesn't happen more than once or twice a season in the whole league. I am sure some years it doesn't happen. Still the penalty that made that field goal a 47 yarder instead of a 37 yarder was inexcusable.

I think it sucks that our Punt Returner pulled a hamstring.

Also the Vikings receivers need to stop dropping the ball and Favre needs to work on his accuracy. If the Vikes were fundamentally sound they would have wiped the field with the 49ers.

Gull Lake Bass Snatchers Sept. 19th

The Weather: It was a sunny day in the low 80's with light wind in the morning picking up to about 10MPH out of the South in the afternoon.

Here are a couple of Snatchers (Darren and Owen) waiting for blast off:

On the phone my boater Art sounded confident we would get fish but before blast off he informed me that he thought he would be lucky to get a limit under the expected weather conditions.

We blasted off a little before 8AM from the Government Point Public Access and we headed SW to Wilson Bay where we stopped on a weed flat on the South side of Hunters Point. There was a light ripple on the water and I started off throwing a buzzbait, but eventually switched to a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. After about 7 minutes I put a 12.5 incher in the boat. That fish was followed by a 13.5", 12.75", 13.75" that totally went airborne when it hit, and 13.10" that started bleeding pretty good so I threw it back. We got off the flat and as we were making our way back on I threw a smoke tube along the deep weedline and got a 13". I started throwing the Popper again and got a 12.5" and a couple of shorts. At this point we were about an hour into the tournament. My partner Art had two fish at this point. The wind died and so did the action on top. I think I got a couple of fish that did not help on the tube.

Around 10:30AM we made a move to Green Lake which is a small round bay ringed by slop and docks. I pulled a 15.75" on a black blue jignpig on the edge of pads and slop. I got a couple that didn't help on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke off the docks and slop. Eventually I started throwing the smoke tube out into deeper water and I culled up to a 13" and got a few more that didn't help. Once we fished around the bay, we made a run to a spot on the South end of Wilson that had rice and pads near deeper water. Art had a fish miss his topwater frog. He had me throw in with a jig and I pulled out another 12.5" that didn't help. As we made our way down the rice I had a good fish swirl on my jignpig as I was swimming it but it didn't get hooked. Eventually we moved to a weed flat were I had a fish rise to but not hit the Frenzy Popper and Art got a couple of keepers.

We probably spent the last 3 hours back at our starting spot. On the first pass I threw a black spinnerbait because the wind was blowing pretty good and I got a small pike, a rock bass, a short and a 12.5 plus I lost one that was most likely a 12 incher. On the next pass I tried a chatter jig without any luck. Art pulled out to the deep weed edge and started catching fish, so I went back to the smoke tube and started catching fish; some short, some keepers that didn't help, and my final cull with a 13.5. I caught quite a few fish in the last 3 hours. Art filled his limit and culled a couple of times fishing with a red jigworm.

At around 20 to 4PM we headed in to Ernie's where we would have the weigh in. We tied the boat up on the dock and Art took this picture of my biggest fish which cut off my head.

Art went to the bar to get a drink and I decided to throw a cast out towards a dock with some boat lifts that was within casting range with the tube. I had a fish nail the tube but I didn't hook up. I couldn't get a re-strike as our tournament boats started coming in.

My 6 fish ended up weighing 8lbs 7ozs which put me in 12th place out of 24 guys. My boater Art had 7lbs 9ozs, so this is the 3rd time out of 12 Bass Snatcher tournaments where I "back seated" my boater. The tournament was won with 13lbs 4ozs caught by 2009 Baxter Bass Snatchers Mr. Bass Dennis Lothspeich which made this his 3rd win of the year. I back seated Dennis at Pelican this year.

Kevin Van Dam is Angler of the Year Again.

Somehow I missed the fact that Elite Series Angler of the Year race final 2 tournament days were on Thurs. and Fri.

Congratulations to KVD for pulling it out. I didn't think this was going to be his year.

Snatchers Gull Lake Quick Report

I didn't have any problem catching a limit today. I probably caught 3 limits worth of keeper bass but almost everything was right around 13 inches. My 6 bass went 8lbs 7ozs.

Full Report when I get the final results.

Two Tournament Weekend- Preview

Originally this Saturday's Baxter Bass Snatcher Club tournament on Gull Lake was going to be my last bass tournament of the year, but now I am going to fish in a tournament that pits the Bass Snatchers vs. The Range Bassmasters on Sunday at Mission Lakes.

Gull Lake Tournament- Apparently water temps are about as warm as they have been all year, so it is quite possible that more of a summer pattern will prevail. Still I plan to look for fish first on buzzbaits and spinnerbaits which are stronger Fall than Summer patterns. If those two things don't pay off then I will fall back on topwaters, tubes, and jigs. I suppose I better bring a rod just in case my boater Art wants to go in the reeds.

Mission Lakes Tournament- This tournament is for club bragging rights between the Baxter Bass Snatchers and the Range Bassmasters which is another Brainerd area bass club. I will be partnered with a boater from the Range Bassmasters Club, but that is about all I know about how the tournament sets up at this point. This tournament poses a dilemma for me in that I normally don't care about getting my half the day in the front of the boat. However, the way this tournament sets up for the sake of the club I probably should take command of the ship for 4 hours.

The only time I have fished on Upper and Lower Mission was at the last Bass Snatcher tournament of the year last October, so almost all of the spots I know on the lake are those of a guy in our club and I'm not gonna give those spots away. I figure that leaves me with the spots the Range Bassmaster takes me to, fishing in and along the reeds, and maybe hitting a large sunken island with coontail on it in Lower Mission. I think I'll just have to be ready to be versitile. Hopefully fishing will be good and I will bring in a better bag than several of the Range guys.

Update: Mission Lake tournament postponed.

Skeets to Lose

The first Elite Series Angler of the Year "playoff" tournament is done and Skeet is in the drivers seat. He hasn't Vblogged about the situation.

Jason Holmer Takes Massive Derby Lead!

This one went 7lbs and Jason's five fish Derby Limit is now a whopping 28.92lbs which puts him just short of 5lbs in front of 2nd Place. See Full Coverage at my Derby Blog.

Leech Lake Bass Snatchers August 22nd

This is the tournament I was looking forward to more than any other on the schedule and I ended up with a great partner draw for the lake. I rode up from Baxter to the Horseshoe Bay resort with my boater Bill Ludenia. Horsebay Resort on the map above is by the Y in Agency. There was some pretty good fog on my way to Brainerd, but it really wasn't to bad until we got up to Leech. Despite a fairly good fog we blasted off early at around 7:30AM. It turned out that after we got out a couple of miles the fog disappeared.

Our starting spot was a reed bed towards the NE side of Bear Island (Bear Island is the big Island on the SE side of the lake). Another club boat also started in this reed bed. I didn't even have my rods organized and Bill was pulling his first bass into the boat on his 2nd cast. We worked the area for about 30 minutes and I think Bill got one more fish.

Next we moved to some of the heavy cover in Headquarters Bay, which is South of Boy Bay. I think it was our third stop in Headquarters that I had a massive explosion on my white Zoom Horny Toad and I landed a thick 17" bass. We were fishing rice and the fish bit close to a nice sized clump of rice that had a pretty good open lane beside it. As we worked this rice bed Dennis, my boater from Pelican, pulled in a pretty good distance in front of us and Dwight, my boater from South Long, was also fishing in the general area. I had a couple of fish swat at my Horny Toad and one solid blow up that I should have hooked up with as we worked the area. I think Bill got 1 fish and we say Dennis land a bass and his partner catch a big dogfish. To be honest I think we worked through this rice a bit quicker than we should have because fish were definitely there. After about 45 minutes we moved a little ways to some undercut banks with pads and rice, but that was dead. We kept moving North along some good looking rice and I think Bill landed a fish or two before we made a move to some rice on the East side of bear Island. There were lots of signs of fish in this rice but we didn't catch any. The day was bright and sunny and the fish on this particular spot were spooky.

We moved North to the reed bed where we started the day and I got a bite on my tube jig but missed it. I cast right back to the same area and got hit again and this time I landed a 13.75" largemouth. I don't remember if I got one more fish in these reeds or not. I don't think Bill got a fish this time.

Next we moved up to Boy Bay to try some docks. On the very first dock my bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke got bit off. On this same dock Bill landed a 3lb bass. I think Bill got a 2nd dock bass before I connected with a 12.5" bass. I think Bill got another dock bass before I had a fish that I thought was a bass swim out and take the Fluke but when I set the hook I was bit off clean, so it was actually either a pike or muskie. Once we got to the end of the docks we pretty much kept working East in a mix of rice and reeds. Bill in the front of the boat was pulling an occasional fish while I was throwing the white Horny Toad, a brown Bobby's Perfect Snagproof Frog, and a tube jig hauling water. One time when Bill was culling and I was in the front of the boat I cast the tube a ways into the rice and pulled out a 15". We jumped around and worked some reeds and then more Rice with Bill pulling more fish and me getting blanked. We were working rice and I threw into an open area with the Bobby's Snagproof frog and got a strike which I landed but it was under the 12 inch minimum. You don't catch shorts on Snagproof frogs very often.

We moved to the South side of Boy bay into some awesome looking water and I landed another short on the Snagproof Frog, what is with that. After a long lull Bill moved us to an area where he thought I could fill my limit with some small fish. I managed to get a 12.5 on the Snagproof frog on this water.

Time was starting to run short, so we headed back to the area where I got my big fish. Unfortunately the long day in the sun was wearing on me pretty good at this point and I wasn't at my best. Right away I had a bite on the Horny Toad and missed it. About 5 minutes later I had another great bite on the Toad and I came up empty again. A few minutes after that there was a massive explosion on the Horny Toad but I didn't hook up this time either and that was my last bite of the day.

On the way in we did throw a quick hail mary for me in the reeds where we started. I was worn out and highly disappointed in my execution. I ended up one short of my limit with 5 fish for 9lbs 4ozs which got me 17th out of 24. If I would have landed my bites I probably would have been 14th or better. My partner Bill had 13/11 and got 10th. The winner was Dennis with 19/13 and big bass was only 5/0 and went to Art Becker who will be my boater at Gull Lake.

Analysis: I just did not have a very good day on the water.

Maybe today

Man I thought I was going to have that Leech Lake report done by now.

Maybe sometime later today.

I will...

I will get around to a tournament report on the Leech Lake tournament soon.

In the meantime the Derby blog is now updated again.

The Call- Getting updated on the band.

(Cover of their 1st, self titled album)
I have joined Facebook and I found a page their dedicated to The Call which was my favorite band up until U2 came out with All That You Can't Leave Behind and U2 went from #2 to #1. I have tried in the past to find out about what The Call has been up to online but my searches turned up almost nothing.

From Facebook I discovered some later albums that I didn't know about, found some You Tube Video's, and even a fan website and Wikipedia page that I never knew existed. I went to Amazon and will be updating my collection of their music.

Here is a taste:
I Still Believe from the album Reconciled


I think I Still Believe was the first Call song I ever heard and I was drawn in as much by the lyrics as the music.

The lyrics:
I've been in a cave
For forty days
Only a spark
To light my way
I wanna give out
I wanna give in
This is our crime
This is our sin

But i still believe
I still believe
Through the pain
And the grief
Through the lies
Through the storms
Through the cries
And through the wars
Oh, i still believe

Flat on my back
Out a sea
Hopin' these waves
Don't cover me
I'm turned and tossed
Upon the waves
When the darkness comes
I feel the grave

But i still believe
I still believe
Through the cold
And through the heat
Through the rain
And through the tears
Through the crowds
And through the cheers
Oh, i still believe

I'll march this road
I'll climb this hill
Down on my knees if i have to
I'll take my place
Up on this stage
I'll wait 'til the end of time for you
Wake everybody up

I'm out on my own
Walkin' the streets
Look at the faces
That i meet
I feel like i like i want to go home
What do i feel
What do i know

But i still believe
I still believe
Through the shame
And through the grief
Through the heartache
Through the tears
Through the waiting
Through the years

For people like us
In places like this
We need all the hope
That we can get
Oh, i still believe

Fantasy Football: The Robo Draft

Yesterday was the automated robo draft in my fantasy football league. I guess I should be thankful it was a robo draft because I would be pretty clueless after the 1st couple of rounds had we done it the old fashion way. Here are my selections by Round:

1st: QB Drew Brees Saints- I pretty much consider myself a very lucky fellow because I got Drew with the 8th pick. I considered him to be the #2 QB behind Brady and there were 5 picks in front of me that I would not have wanted over Drew.

2nd: Steelers Defence- Ladanian Tomlinson was available in this slot and I'm disappointed I didn't get him. Randy Moss was also available but his inconsistancy has to be a worry. There were 2 other Defences picked in this round after me, so I'm hoping that a Defence this early in the draft wasn't a bad thing.

3rd: RB Ryan Grant Packers- I am not sure this guy is all that good. I know he was a rookie sensation but wasn't all that good last year. Have no clue what kind of offensive line the packers have.

4th: RB Kevin Smith Lions- Have no clue who this guy is. Apparently he is the Lions #1 running back.

5th: K Stephen Gostkowski Patriots- 1st Kicker selected in the draft. Not sure this is a good thing especially because I didn't have a wide receiver yet.

6th: WR Hines Ward Steelers- May very well have been the best wide reciever still avaiable or maybe he is getting old.

7th: WR Anthony Gonzalas Colts- Taking over Marvin Harrisons spot. Has a big upside.

8th: WR Steve Breaston Cardinals- Don't know who the guy is but I needed a 3rd receiver. He caught 77 passes and was over 1000 yards last year in his 2nd season, so this could be a solid pick.

9th: TE Owen Daniels Texans- I needed a Tight End to fill out my team, don't know much about him but he is supposed to be pretty good.

10th: QB Big Ben Steelers- Will be a good fill in when Breeze has his Bye week.

11th: RB Felix Jones Cowboys- I think he is the 2nd string RB in Dallas, so I don't know where that leaves him. He didn't play much last year as a rookie.

12th: WR Derrick Mason Ravens- May be the Ravens #1 receiver so he may get used.

13th: RB Cadillac Williams Bucs- This one may be a steal. If he is healthy he could possibly be the #1 back in Tampa. Saw him in pre-season game and he looked good.

14th: TE Bo Scaife Titans- expendible, but I will need a TE when Daniels has the bye.

Hmmm

I'll get to that Leech Lake Tournament Report eventually. Pete has been here all week and that tournament kind of took the wind out of my sails physically and motivationaly.

I'm going to be in a fantasy football league this year. At this point my heart really isn't in it as I am just doing it to be a warm body in my brother Steve's league. I am just a casual football fan and nothing close to an expert so I kind of expect mediocre results.

7 to 1

7 to 1 was my strike to land ratio on a Zoom Horny Toad at today's Leech Lake tournament. I ended up coming in 1 fish short of a limit and that just killed me because those Horny Toad fish were probably big.

Full report in a couple of days when I get the final standings.

Also I forgot my camera in the car, so I didn't get any pictures.

Leech Lake Bass Snatcher Club Tournament Tomorrow

We are taking to Minnesota's 3rd biggest lakes at 113,000acres. The forecast is for the wind to be light and out of the SE, which is the best direction you can have. I really hope the forecast is right because getting bounced around on a long run stinks and everybody in the club will have to make a long run on big water because of where we are blasting off and weighing in.

Leech has a great reputation as a walleye, muskie, and bass fishery but only certain area's of the lake hold bass, most of the lake doesn't. The bass tend to have a good average size with some true lunkers. The record 6 fish bag for the Bass Snatchers club (22lbs 9ozs) came on Leech in July of 2006. My boater Bill was the one who caught that bag.

The scuttlebutt is that the bass mostly in wild rice, reeds, or undercut bog banks. Wild rice and reeds requires heavy gear and muscling fish. My partner says it will be a lot like fishing Platte Lake, which suits me just fine. Hopefully the fish will be jumping on topwater slop frogs, otherwise you have to flip and pitch for them. My big rods are ready to rock. I also have a couple of swim jig rods rigged up.

Hopefully I can nab a few big fish, get a limit, and nab a Top 10. It may take as much as 14lbs to get a Top 10.

Bonus- Once again it is going to be a mild day temperature wise and for that I am grateful.

Moss Moons Packers (Video)

As long as I am in full Packer hater mode this week with the Farve signing. I looked up to see if there was a You Tube video and there is:

Joe Buck is a weenie.

Visitor

We have been dog sitting for a skinny black lab named Lucy the past few days. Lucy is a really good dog for the most part. She is a young dog, not sure how old, maybe around a year. She isn't super rambunctious or needy although she did whine and talk a lot the first day she was here. The cat and Lucy don't really get along, but Lucy seems to be scared of the cat and isn't agressive towards him. Our dogs Patti (Black Lab Mix) and Lilah (Chihuahua mix) are not thrilled about another dog being around, but they are very mellow in their dislike of the situation. Lucy leaves today.

Cheesehead Legend Pretty In Purple: Farve A Minnesota Viking

Ha Ha Ha Packer Crackers!!! At least for today the Vikings Nation has something up on Cheeseheadland.

My Analysis: Obviously everything depends upon how healthy Farve is and if he will stay healthy. Farve was on his game two years ago with the Pack and did improve the Jets from being a poor team to an OK team. If Farve is even 90% he should be an upgrade from Gus Frerotte of last years reasonably successful season. I haven't looked at the schedule yet, but I have heard it is the 2nd easiest in the league on paper according to last years standings. Certainly things change from year to year, but an easy schedule can't hurt. However, I would assume that because the Vikes share so many games with division opponents that the Pack and Bears also should be in a good position. If the defence can be as good or better than last year and Farve is and stays healthy then a division title and shot in the NFC Championship Game are reasonable expectations. I am definitely more enthusiastic about this year than last.

And for the record I was never a Farve hater. In fact I rooted for the Pack throughout the playoffs the year Farve won the Super Bowl (Temporary Insanity). I was at times frustrated by Farve's four leaf clover but at times Farve had his struggles against the Vikes too.

Update: Just noticed I am spelling Farve's name phonetically, but differnt from how he spells it. Favre, I used to mock the FavREE or FavRAY.

Holmer Retakes Derby Lead!!!

That's right we have a new leader

Jason Holmer of Minnesota Bass Fishing blog caught this 5.25lber on Tonka

5.25lbs
4.70lbs
4.80lbs Smallie
4.70lbs Smallie
4.70lbs

Total= 24.15lbs

Check out the action at my Derby Blog

Bass Pundit Visits in Decline

Apparently August and September are months when less people are interested in bass fishing than they are at other times of the year. Last year September saw less hits on Bass Pundit than any other month in 2008. Right now my average of visits per day has dropped sharply from the last few months. Still I am on pace to double the number of visits I had in August of last year.

To those who are still coming around, thanks for stopping. I still have 2 more tournaments to report about and I will probably start fishing more in Sept. if I do something about my boat motor situation.

Elite Series Oneida Day Final

OK I'm a little late with this, so what. The big news is that rookie Chad Griffin holds on for the win. Congratulations to him. Between the choice of Rookie of the Year or winning and Elite Series Tournament, I think you would have to go with winning the tournament.

Here is the Top 12 that will compete in the Angler of the Year Playoff.
1. Kevin VanDam: 205
2. Skeet Reese: 204
3. Alton Jones: 198
4. Kelly Jordon: 182
5. Todd Faircloth: 180
6. Randy Howell: 180
7. Tommy Biffle: 180
8. Mark Menendez: 180
9. Gary Klein: 179
10. Cliff Pace: 177
11. Mike Iaconelli: 175
12. Gerald Swindle: 174

I wasn't sure after Ike's choke at Oneida that he was going to make it. I thought he would but knew it would be close.

Minnesocold Bass Blogger News

Brian "Fishing Hype" Brown and Rich's "Bassin Blog" Lindgren have just completed fishing the BASS Federation Nation Northern Divisional tournament at Big Bay De Noc in Michigan. Brian finished 26th and Rich finished 39th. I assume they will both have blogs up about the experience in the near future.

The reining Minnesota Federation Nation Champion Randy Wieczorek came in 2nd and will be Minnesota's representative at the Federation Nation National Championship. Apparently Randy is a actually a cheesehead who belongs to the River Rats which is a MN Federation Nation club.

There were not any Bass Snatchers in this years State Team. I expect that to change for the 2010 team with the State Championship being on Pokegama this year.

Elite Series Oneida Day 3

The Griffin looks like he is going to win. BassFan reported that this will be only his second bass tournament victory ever. I wonder if that is excluding club/small field tournaments? Surely he has won some of those.

I have not yet heard if the Top 12 for the Elite Series AOY Post-Season has been finalized. Had it been the normal AOY race than I believe Skeet Reese would have slightly edged out KVD. 2009 has been a banner year for Skeet. I should check his voice blogs more often(Apparently he hasn't really been keeping up until now.).

Elite Series Oneida Day 2

Chad who?

Chad Griffin, a rookie, took the lead today. I can't recall EVER seeing his name before.

Here is the Top 12
1 Chad Griffin 5 15- 3 5 18- 8 10 33-11
2 Bernie Schultz 5 15- 7 5 16-12 10 32- 3
3 Jason Quinn 5 15- 7 5 16- 5 10 31-12
4 Randy Howell 5 17- 9 5 13- 8 10 31- 1
5 Greg Hackney 5 13- 7 5 17- 4 10 30-11
6 Dean Rojas 5 14- 8 5 15-15 10 30- 7
7 Takahiro Omori 5 16-11 5 13- 4 10 29-15
8 Pete Ponds 5 15- 9 5 14- 3 10 29-12
9 Matthew Sphar 5 12- 1 5 17- 9 10 29-10
10 Terry Butcher 5 15- 6 5 14- 1 10 29- 7
11 Jeff Kriet 5 13-12 5 15- 9 10 29- 5
12 John Crews 5 14- 0 5 15- 2 10 29- 2

Huge surprise is that Ike didn't make the 50 cut.

Another thing I noticed was that all 98 anglers got a limit both days. Lowen and Lane had their fish DQed and that's why they have 0's on Day 1.

I have now looked it up and my Fantasy Team is:
KVD 33rd
Skeet 17th
Herren 76th
Fralick 74th
Hackney 5th

Mediocrity reins again.

Elite Series Lake Oneida Day 1 (Yesterday)

So this is the last stop of 2009 for the top levels of Professional Bass Tournament Fishing. Who's on my fantasy team anyway?

I know I've got KVD, Skeet, and Herren, but I don't recall my other two.

Anyway Randy Howell who is having a good year was tops on Day 1 with 17-9.

Bobby Lane and Bill Lowen both made the mistake of boxing 6 fish then throwing the extra fish back when they realised the mistake which resulted in a DQ for the day for both of them. It's unclear whether or not if they would have brought 6 back to the weigh in if a DQ would have resulted. Under BASS rules when a fisherman brings back to many the biggest fish gets culled until you reach the tournament limit of 5 and then those fish are weighed. However, the NY limit is 5 bass, so having 6 in possession might put them over the limit if the Marshal doesn't have a fishing licence. I would think a Marshal with a fishing licence would make it a case where the boat could legally hold 10 bass.

Anyway, it's a mistake that should never happen. If you only carry enough culling tags for your limit and then always immediately tag fish that are going in the live well, there is no way to get your numbers in the livewell wrong because to cull you have to take a fish off a tag to put a new fish in the well. Simple/Easy.

Bass Snatcher Pelican Lake August 8th, 2009

The Weather: Morning light fog with a 5 to 8 MPH breeze, fog lifted around 10:30AM but it was a heavy overcast until about 1PM when the skies cleared and the wind died.

Pelican is an 8,000 acre lake just a bit North of Brainerd MN and it has clear water. We launched out of a small bay on the SW corner of the lake. I was in the first boat out but we were making a long run North in one of the slowest boats in the tournament, so my boater Dennis was worried about possibly not being 1st to where he wanted to start. We had a total of 12 boats and 23 guys fishing. As it turns out his worries were unfounded. We started by what I think is a big sunken island where a sand flat met a breakline with some weeds. Dennis had found a good school here during prefish and was quite confident in the spot. It didn't take long and I got a bite on my smoke tube but the bass was not a keeper at just over 11 inches. I think Dennis then caught a rock bass and things slowed down, Dennis was kind of miffed the fish were not cooperating but he eventually did bring the first keeper into the boat.

I decided conditions were conducive to a topwater bite so I put on a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. After about 5 minutes the popper was smashed by 21 inch pike. After fishing for about 10 minutes with nothing I tried a white Spook, but that hauled water and Dennis decided it was time to move to a new spot. We moved to a depression in a flat that had weeds in it. I started throwing a bullfrog Frenzy Popper thinking I might need a little brighter bait in the heavy overcast. I had a fish miss the popper but it came back for a second try and hooked up; It was a 14.5" bass, so I was on the board. A little while later I had a fish miss the Popper 3 or 4 times before it finally hooked up and I landed the 15.5 incher. I think Dennis caught a couple on a Texas rigged tube, so I went back to throwing the smoke tube and I caught 12.25" squeaker. Dennis had a nice bass follow a blue/black tube to the boat which got me thinking that maybe the fish would be willing to chase something swimming so I put on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig, however I didn't get anything on it at this spot.

Eventually Dennis decided to move and we went to a weed bed on the North side of an island where the wind was blowing in pretty good. I thought it was perfect conditions for the Pure Poison and I was right. I nailed a 15" on my second or third cast. A few casts later and I was reeling in 18.25 that just engulfed the Pure Poison. Dennis was not quite pleased that I pulled a big fish off one of his big fish spots, so he was giving me crap. A few minutes later I was hooked up with my limit fish which was a quality 15.25" largemouth. We worked back over the area a second time and I had a couple of bumps that didn't hook up and I think Dennis missed a bite too.

Next we were off to another one of Dennis' big fish spots but a pontoon was sitting right on it. The next two spots Dennis wanted to hit were covered up by Bass Snatcher boats and we ended up fishing a little ways from 3 Bass Snatcher Boats. I think Dennis got a fish on the next couple of stops while I caught nothing.

Eventually we ended up at our starting spot and I started chucking a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. I believe Dennis filled his limit and started culling which gave me confidence fish were in the area, so I kept throwing the Popper. On one of the retrieves about 20 feet out from the boat I had a strike and was able to land the barely hooked fish that went a little over 15 inches, which got rid of my squeaker. At this point I was pretty pleased that I would be weighing a pretty good bag of fish. Things kind of got slow for me for a while.

Around 1PM the sun came out and it got calm. We quickly tried the area by the Island again before the pleasure boaters would start to show up, but we didn't get anything. Next it was back to one of the weedy depressions.

I got a fish that didn't help then I got another hit that didn't hook up so I threw right back to the same area. I got another hit and it was a good fish that just inhaled the smoke tube; this fish went 17.25 inches. A little while later I had another good hit from a bigger fish but it got off before I was able to see what it was, I think it might have been a pike. About 2 minutes later I had another hit on the tube and brought in a chunky 17.00 inch bass. Dennis thought I was probably 1 more quality fish away from winning. I did get a couple more fish that didn't help and it turns out Dennis was right on the needing 1 more good fish.

My 6 fish went 14 even which ended up putting me in 4th, just 3 ozs out of 3rd place. 1st Place was 15lbs 7ozs and 2nd was 15lbs 6ozs and they came from the same boat; They spent a lot of time in one of those depressions on water Dennis wanted to fish. My partner Dennis was not so unhappy about getting "back seated" when he found out his 12/11 put him right behind me in 5th place.

Analysis:I owe my success in this one to my boater Dennis who was on good fish and made good decisions about where we should be fishing and when. Dennis also kept me entertained all day with his curmudgeonish trash talk. It is possible that I had the bites to win with that one good fish getting off but I'll never know because I never did get a look at the one that got away.

I am now tied for 11th Place in the club standings (32 fisherman club) but I am 9th over all in terms of weight of fish caught for the season which I think is maybe a better barometer about how you actually fished for the season.

Bass Snatchers Pelican Lake Tournament Quick Report

I had a pretty good day on the water thanks to my boater Dennis who was on good fish. I ended up 3 ozs out of 3rd Place. Unfortunately a picture of me holding my two biggest bass didn't turn out. I will have details/a full report in a couple of days.

Bass Snatchers Pelican Tournament Preview

Tomorrow is my Bass Snatchers Bass Club tournament at Pelican Lake near Breezy Point MN. Pelican is a fairly large lake at 8,253 acres. I did not pre-fish and I have never been on the lake before but I understand it has very clear water with secchi readings in excess of 12 feet even in August. My boater Dennis is one of the best fishermen in the club. He has won Mr. Bass, Club AOY, 4 times including last year and in 2006. I fished with Dennis at last years final tournament of the year on Mission Lakes. Dennis won a club tournment on Pelican in late August 2004. If possible Dennis likes to fish deep and Pelican has lots of deep structure. Dennis did pre-fish and he thinks he has a couple of good schools of fish located.

I have 7 rods rigged and going with me. My primary plan is to throw the same exposed hook tube I used at the last tournament on Lake Ida. Apparently the weeds are not very dense so an exposed hook should work out OK. If not I can go to jignpigs (3 rods) or texas rig a tube or Beaver on the tube rod. I also have a rod for topwaters/chatter jigs, a spining rod for jigworms/paddletails, and a drop shot rod.

I hope that I can keep up with what Dennis catches and put myself in the Top 10 on the day. (Note: Dennis beat me by 5lbs at Mission)

2009 Forrest Wood Cup

Will a relative no-name non tour pro pull it off? Going into Day 4 the no-names are stacked up 1 2 3, so there is a pretty good chance it could happen. Personally I am rooting for Lefebre, but it will probably take an almost 9 pound bag for him to come from behind and take it.

Update: And the winner is Greg Hackney!!!

This means they are only giving out $500,000 rather than the million.

Also of note is that Ike finished 2nd, just as he did in the Classic this year.

Sidebar Addition: Click It!

I have added this widget to my sidebar below the Petfinder widget.

The widget takes you to a website where when you click on a button once per day, food is donated to animals in rescue shelters. It is totally free and worth a second of your time. Hopefully with the widget on my blog I will remember to click it every day.

Again: Miss with Pete and Greg.

Thursday July 31st

As discussed we were able to get out on the Mississippi again with Greg Jones of Mid-West Outdoors TV & Magazine. Originally we were going to meet him at 6PM but that got kicked back to after 7PM. On this night we would launch by Royalton which is a pretty good distance up river from where we launched on Monday. I ended up recognizing this stretch of the river from fishing it last year.

We started out drifting right from the launch on the East side of the river and I was throwing my white/chart Spinnerbait. It didn't take long and Gregg was hooked up on a Smithwick Devils Horse topwater. Greg got another fish and so I switched up to a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. The popper didn't produce any fish and Greg got another couple on the Devil's Horse, so when we ended our drift and headed up river I asked Greg if he had a Rapala Skitter Prop and he did in kind of a lime green color and he put a feathered Mustad Triple Grip on the back.

We ran up a little ways close to where we started on last year. It was not long into the next drift when I had a good strike on the Skitter Prop. I was hooked up until the fish jumped and sent the lure flying back right at us and into the boat just missing me and Pete. A little farther down river I had a hit and miss, hit and miss, hit and miss, but the 4th time was the charm and I landed this nice smallie.


On one cast the Skitter Prop was just annihilated by this smallmouth, it was awesome:


As we were rolling down river Pete and Greg got into an argument about where Pete should be making his casts. Greg made a suggestion and Pete was having none of it. While they were sniping at one another Pete landed an 18 inch smallie which was the big one of the night. Pete also caught a 22+ inch pike that he insisted go in the livewell over my and Greg's protests.

The fishing wasn't fast but we were getting bit and the average size was a quality fish around 15.5 inches. As it got dark I put on a bullfrog Frenzy Popper and we got in a hot stretch of water and I pulled my last to fish of the night. It was dark enough that I really couldn't see the bite, I would just hear and feel it.

For the night I had 7 to 9 fish caught total which isn't bad for about an hour and a half of fishing.