Missing My BPS Catalog

HMMM my 2012 Bass Pro Shops Master Catalog has gone missing.

Like It!

B.A.S.S. Bans Alabama

Well at least for the Elites and Classic. I guess this isn't that big deal, we'll soon see if FLW takes any action.

Grilled Cheese!!!

Well Rogers clearly sold out "the Belt" for the Discount Double Check. Looks like Rogers should of kept the money as his game winning mojo was gone. Didn't even make the NFC Championship.

Bye Bye Cheese!

Bass Snatchers Meeting Today

Unfortunately I will not be attending not so much do to the stroke, but because of my cold. Oh well!

Anyway the club is going to bring up lakes and I don't have any brilliant suggestions. I hear Bay lake is going up, but that's the only one I've heard of for sure. Should be interesting to hear what they come up with.

Update: Here are the tenative lakes
Bay Lake
Leech Lake
Whitefish
Pokegema
North Long
Alexander

I like the looks of the schedule and hope the lakes stay the same. We also are gonna have a tournament of Hubert. Not sure what that is all about.

Fall Outing Last Year!

Amazing this had not made it up here by now. This is video of me and Cyberfish catching some nice fish on the 2nd day of the Fall Outing. The biggest was 36" and more than enough to put me on top for FallEE WallEE.

Think Tank Lures Triggerfish

I won these three Triggerfish from The Bassholes in a contest.

More MLF

BP had a Stroke!

On Dec 23rd I had a stroke. I was in St. Cloud until Tues. and then was transfered to residential faculty in Pierz. Tomorrow I get to go home.

Thank You!

The MLF Promo

To be honest up until this point I had been kind of lukewarm about Major League Fishing. Maybe it's that I haven't fished in a while, but this promo got my juices flowing. I'm pretty sure I'll do the online Pay Per View, which is suppose to be available in January. I don't know what they were thinking matching Marty Stone up with that blonde babe Sheli Sanders. Who wants to look at the Stone Pony when you can look at her instead?

Mike Hart Convicted

From WONnews.com: Mike Hart Case Closed, Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor

My Commentary: Actually it's impossible to know if justice was served in this instance. It is possible, but I think unlikely, that this was the first and only time he tried to cheat. In that case he probably got what he deserved. However if he cheated more than once and profited from it, which I think is more than likely, than justice would only be served if he got the full force hammer blow indicated in the article. I am pretty sure a $1000 bucks is pretty meaningless to this guy, really a paltry slap on the wrist. The only true punishment is the disgrace he brought upon himself and the fact that he will probably never be allowed to fish a bass tournament again. But there is one caveat to my thinking on that. Most bass tournament organizations are secular in nature and are under no obligation to be forgiving. However, I do not believe the same holds true for Christian faith based tournament organizations. With that type of tournament trail or club, if there is evidence of true repentance then I think those trails/clubs would be betraying their core principles if they did not offer forgiveness and a path to reconciliation. I think that fact puts the Christian trails in a very tough position. On the one hand I think it would be wonderful if Mike Hart could find some measure of redemption for himself, but on the other hand the guy should man up and reap what he sowed. He doesn't deserve the privilege of the pursuit of the passion because criminal fraud is just not acceptable; it should be one strike and your out. I really hope he doesn't seek out a Christian trail to fish, but I think seeking to fish in a small Christian fishing club along the lines of the Fishers of Men Fishing Club would be ok, in fact would be a good thing.

Jared Allen Is Justifiably Pissed

In the post game interviews Vikings Star Defensive End and one of the only good reasons to watch the team at this point was a unhappy camper in post game interviews. Apparently he was held out against his will towards the end of today's blow out loss. Jared is having a great season and is within reach of NFL and MN team sack records. YES stats and records matter or we wouldn't keep them. What in the heck was coach Frazier thinking?

Terrible! (Terrible for the player and Terrible for the franchise and fans)

I'm now starting to lean towards Frazier being fired. I'm going to have to give this some thought.

Liveblogging Vikings vs, Saints

I've got nothing better to do

End of 1st 7-3

Saints defense is looking pretty good, our offense not so much.

Fumble #2 Saints

and then a screen to Kliensauser that doesn't connect, what?

man does our offense look bad today, AP loses 6 then Ponder sacked
Offensive line playing terrible but at least Longwell hits 7-6 Saints

Note- We had yet another CB go down Asher Allen. Not good!

Wow crappy late hit call and then 2 penalty's for saints. Lots of penalties so far

rough pass int call gives Saints ball on 1 after 1st and 25

Saints 14-6

This sucks!

Saints onside kick, we are very lucky to recover. The way our O is performing can't say it was a dangerous call. Shows a total lack of respect for our team. Will our guys respond?

AP for 39. I don't think he is full speed or he would have been gone
2 crap plays with Webb, than Toby takes it for a TD 14-13
Credit to the Vikes for answering the insult

Just not getting pressure on Breeze

My prediction- we will be down 21-13 at half

Yep Saints get the TD, however there is enough time for the Vikes to get a score if we can complete a few passes. Right now Vikes are 3/8 passing for 18 yards and 10 of that was a shovel pass

1st down Ponder sacked
2nd down pass for no gain
man this is terrible
3rd 8 yard run
Saints will get ball back with under 30 left- Sheesh!
27 sec left
come on Jared level Brees

Halftime 21-13

Analysis- We are getting almost no pressure on Brees and our QB's are pressured on every play. 18 yards passing for us 247 for them.

Vikes 1st series
3 and out thanks to QB pressure and a dropped pass by Aoamashadou. Intentional grounding or he would have been sacked yet again.

Another Saints screen for big yards.
Man our pass D is bad, another Saints TD

my prediction. Vikes 1st upcoming play will be a pass
Nope I was wrong
Great Hutch is down

Have I said our O line is bad yet? This is just pathetic, Ponder just had to run for his life on a rollout pass and got creamed as he tried to throw.

And 3 plays for 53 yards and another Saints TD 35-13

Wow Ponder had time to throw the ball, but he missed on the pass. Down came the boo's. Vikes basically go 3 and out.

D Line isn't having a very good game, even with best pressure of the day can't get a sack.

3rd and 20 can vikes get stop?
Nope penalty (kind of a crap call IMO)

I don't think Sproles quite got in. Will be interesting to see what they do on replay
yep no TD
next play TD 41-13

Seriously, why does this announcer sound like he wants Ponder benched. It isn't Ponders fault he's getting no time to throw it.

why isn't the crowd booing the D fense. They Suck!
and then the D finally stops them (back up qb) and missed 50 yard fieldgoal. If your the Saints coach you can't feel good about that

Breaking news Packers down 19-7 with 5min to play

And Ponder gets a TD pass- good for him. Amazing what can happen when he gets a little bit of time and a good play call.

Yes the Vikes are getting killed by the Saints, but Da Bears are getting killed by the Seahawks in Chicago

Pack lose Pack Lose!
Ha Vikes crowd gives quite a cheer.

Ponder gets picked on last play. Pathetic effort by Aromashadou to make sure that doesn't happen.

Analysis: What can you say, the Vikes got their ass kicked. I didn't realize the Saints D was that good. They are gonna be dangerous in the Playoffs.

Another Frog, Booyah! (And Another)

I see that a new hollow body frog has hit the market that I wasn't aware was coming. It's the Booyah Pad Crasher and it sells for a very reasonable $5.79 a frog at Tackle Warehouse. It only comes in a 1/2oz size and is suppose to have really soft plastic body. The frog has a drain hole so it's not very likely to sink. Not sure what kind of hooks. I think they kind of look like the Knoppers frog only not as detailed. The 3 reviews at TW were all positive, but I can't find anything at Tackle Tour or Bass Pro for reviews.

And under the frogs that I will not be trying:
This is the new Jackall Lobee Frog which goes for $12.99 at Tackle Warehouse. At that price I can't believe they are gonna sell very many

In more frog news I have been racking up the deals on Ebay with Spro's, Snag Proofs, and Zoom Horny Toads. I don't think I will every need to buy a Horny Toad again and probably am set for life on hollow bodies at this point, but at $3-$4 a frog I'll pick up as many hollow bodies as I can. Next Spring I am going to need to buy a box for Spro's and a box for Snagproofs. I'm probably going to try to sell off a bunch of the Horny Toads for $2.25 a pack (retail on Horny Toads is $3.50 a pack).

Ha!

One of my Japanese Facebook Friends doesn't quite get it right.

Worst Vikings Team Ever?

Possible, but I don't think so.

The worst team in Minnesota Vikings history was the infamous Les Steckel team of 1984 that went 3-13. Currently the purple have only 2 wins with 3 games to play. I would say chances are better than not that the Vikes win at least 1 more game this season. I even think there is a chance this years club could upset the Saints in the next game and then run the table. I suppose a lot depends on what happens with AP and Ponder. Ponder clearly wasn't ready to play vs. the Lions and in my opinion should have been benched after he threw the pick 6. However, I don't blame Ponder for the 1st play fumble touchdown which was on Loadholt. I am guessing that AP will be back in the lineup vs. the Saints and barring re-injury will play the rest of the season.

This Viking squad has only been embarrassed twice this season, at Green Bay 45-7 and at Chicago 39-10 vs. a healthy Bears offense. The Vikings have pretty much been within a touchdown in the rest of the games (yes they lost by 10 in Atlanta, but the Vikes would have had another touchdown had Frazier challenged). The 1984 Vikings were blown out 6 times by at least 3 touchdowns, including a 44 point loss to the 49ers. In 1984 the NFC North wasn't one of the best divisions in the League. Clearly this team isn't 1984 bad even if they only finish with 2 wins.

Some people are calling for Leslie Frazier's head, but I am not among them. I do understand the sentiment as the level of coaching play seems to have been pretty poor this year in many aspects and respects. Still I think Frazier deserves a true full year of coaching, which he did not have this year due to the lock out.

KVD Cookie Auction

Have you ever wanted one of KVD's "magic cookies", well now is your chance to get one for a good cause. Tackle the Storm Foundation is auctioning off one on Ebay.

Ponder vs. Tebow (I'll take the Christian)

I will probably start bass blogging again sometime soon, but today it's about the purple.

In today's Vikings game our rookie QB Christian Ponder faced off against Broncos 2nd Year player and first year starter Tim Tebow. If you didn't know, the Broncos won the game 35-32 on a last second field-goal that was set up when Ponder made a bad throw while in Vikings territory with over a minute to go. Ponder also threw a "Pick 6" and lost a fumble in the red zone. Still I would not even think about trading Ponder for the 6-1 miracle man Tebow.

The Broncos have a pretty good Defence while the Vikings beat up secondary is probably the worst secondary in the NFL, maybe the worst in team history. The second half performance of the Vikings Defence today was an epic embarrassment with blown coverages and missed tackles. No doubt Tebow had the easier match up today in terms of Defence faced. Consider that previous to this game Tebow had not had a game with a completion percentage over 50%, but vs. the purple it was 66.7%. Ponder had a completion percentage of 61.7% with 3 times the number of throws.

Today's game not withstanding I think Ponder has a bigger upside than Tebow; Ponder is getting better and I think has the potential to develop into an above average QB, which is something I don't know is possible with Tebow. I don't know if Ponder can become an elite Quarterback, but he is already fun to watch, which is desperately needed in this lost season.

Ouch!

I expected my Viking were going to lose to the Packers, but I did not expect it to be that ugly, especially in light of the fact that the Purple was coming on a bye week. It was as if none of the problems from the first half of the season were addressed and instead things went backwards. The Packers deserve a lot of credit because they are a very good football team and they were at home. However, that doesn't excuse the miscues and mistakes, which were legion particularly in the 2nd half. The Vikes were pretty darn lucky they didn't get humiliated with a shut out.

On Ponder:
Ponder is lucky he didn't give up a pick 6. I thought his overall level of play was OK, but he needs help from the Offensive Line and the Receivers. He escaped the pocket multiple times where he had ample time to throw the ball and he had to just throw it away. The receivers have got to do a better job. I also don't think the Offensive Coordinator is doing Ponder a lot of favors in terms of play calling and game planning. OCMusgrave has shown no ability to make meaningful adjustments at half time.

Just went to Wikipedia to read about Bill Musgrave. Honestly from what is written there I don't know what Leslie Frasier saw to bring the guy in for the position. He doesn't have a very good track record at all in terms of the OC position. The guy is a quarterbacks coach, not a strategist. This guy either needs to show serious improvement or be fired.

Derby Updated

Yeah it's been a while since I blogged anything and far longer than that since I updated the Derby. But I think the Derby is caught up now with 2 Days to Go. Get those entries in if you have got em'.