Bass Pundit

Monday, April 04, 2011

Winner Winner Havoc Grinner!

Thanks to the Outdoor Blogger Network I will be getting some free Berkley Havoc baits in exchange for an honest Bass Pundit product review.

From OBN: Each winner will receive 2 bags of each bait (2 different colors, specified in the details of the bait) for a total of 8 bags. At $3.50 per bag, you get $28 worth of new baits to try!

The baits are Bobby Lane's The Craw Fatty™, Gary Klein's the Deuce™, Skeet's The Pit Boss™ and Ike's The Devil Spear™. I think I am most looking forward to trying the Devil Spear as a swim jig trailer. According to the rules I am suppose to do the review within 4 to 6 weeks of receiving the product. Hopefully it will take a little while for the baits to arrive as Bass Opener is 7 weeks and 5 days away. However at a minimum I will be able to use them to try for dogfish and pike.

SON-OF-A...

Actually by the time this posts this afternoon it should be all gone, but darn it if I can't see my driveway again, if just for a little while.

Minnesotans for an Early Bass Fishing Season Organize

It's no secret that I really do not like the fact that the closed season for bass in Minnesocold means catch and release fishing for bass is illegal. It's a law with absolutely no biological justification in terms of conserving the resource, and it makes zero economic sense as well. I find it sad that so many bass fishermen in this state are satisfied with the status quo. Apparently, there are some guys who aim to change the game. They have started a Facebook Group and Message Board. You can bet I am joining. I hope you will too!!!

This Week...

I have decided I'm going to get out and throw a few casts at the GOMH this week for bullheads. I'm thinking Wednesday Night. I would say there is a 90% chance I won't get a bite, but at the GOMH you never know.

The 10 day forcast has temps in the low 50's for 9 out of the next 10 days, which would mean temps slighlty above average amazingly enough. Depending on wind, rain, and sun the ice could maybe be out in 2 weeks. I definitely should be catching bullheads before Easter (24th).

Update: Wednesday night is Survivor and American Idol. I suppose I can record both. I'll have to see what the weather is doing Thurs., maybe I will go then. Oh yeah, and Pete might be coming up this week. That may change my plans too.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #8

TODAY!!!

Last night we had a bit of rain and it didn't get cold and it was in the upper 40's today, and that did the job. I am calling the driveway clear today even though there are a couple of spots where snow is on the side of the driveway.

Last year it took 7 editions of "When will I see my driveway?" over 8 days and the driveway was declared clear on March 13th 2010. This year it took 8 editions over 10 days.

This is the view from the garage.

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March 24th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #1
March 28th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #2
March 29th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #3
March 30th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #4
March 31st 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #5
April 1st 2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #6
April 2nd 2001 When Will I See My Driveway? #7

The Wolverine Takes 2nd

Derek "The Wolverine" Remitz took 2nd at the first 2011 PAA Tournament Series event at Lake Lanier in Georgia.

Congratulations D!

Hmmm I can't find any mention of the pay out.

True Story- "It Could Have Been Me"*

This video reminds me of an accident I had back in 2001. I lived in Champlin MN at the time (NW of MPLS outer suburb) and was a member of the Vikings Bassmasters. Our last club tournament of the year was in August out at the Horseshoe Chain which is 20 miles SW of St. Cloud. A bunch of us stayed at one of the guy's homes out by Maple Lake to get us closer for the morning drive. This club liked to start it's tournaments right away at safe light so our convoy of 3 trucks with boats and me in my truck traveled in the dark. I brought up the rear. From the route we took the entrance to the Public Access was towards the bottom of a fairly long hill. Because of the incline, I could see up to the two lead trucks tail lights as they slowed and prepared to turn and I was watching for where they would turn. I didn't know it but they went past the access. The truck and boat in front of me knew where the turn was and because of oncoming traffic they had to stop before they could turn; As that I wasn't watching his tail lights I didn't know he was coming to a stop until it was too late.

When I did realize he was slowing down to a stop I had to slam on my breaks but my momentum and the distance was such that I slammed pretty hard into Mike Jacobson's (Guy who works at Vados Bait Store) motor. Steam went flying up and his boat surged forward pretty good. The bow stop and winch pole broke, but thank God the tow straps held. After a quick inspection, we drove the vehicles into the public access parking lot to get a better look. It was still sort of dark out so we had to use flashlights to start until it got lighter. Mike's boat and motor didn't look to be in too bad of shape, but the front of my truck, a Ford Ranger, was smashed in pretty good.

We decided there was nothing more we could do, so we launched all the boats and went fishing. I was a mess for most of the morning and it was the hardest time I've ever had concentrating on fishing during a tournament. I just felt terrible about what happened and all I could think was things were gonna work out for the worst. It was such an adrenaline rush that I was shaking even a couple of hours later. My partner that day was great and eventually got me settled down and focused on the fishing. My partner won the tournament catching several pigs and easily sealed up the club AOY. Towards the end of the day when I settled down, I managed to put a couple of nice fish in the boat, but I didn't get a limit. I can't remember if I still was able to qualify for the State Team as an alternative or not, but with the accident and anticipated repair bills that was out of the question.

I thought for sure I poked a hole in my radiator and was going to have to get towed, but after the tournament was over we would find out that wasn't the case. I was able to drive without any problems up to my parent's cabin on Sullivan Lake and Dad was able to fix my truck at the pole barn at the property where I live now. I also thought for sure I did major damage to Mike's expensive bass boat and motor and figured my insurance rates were going to skyrocket. As it turned out the damage was minor enough that I just paid a bit over a hundred out of pocket and we didn't need to involve the insurance companies at all.

Even though it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, it still sucked!

* "It Could Have Been Me" is a song by the band The Call on their Into the Woods album

Now that I think about it this story could have qualified for the Outdoor Blogger Network writing prompt "Damaged Goods" This was by far my biggest fishing train wreck ever.

Also Read: My Biggest Fishing Train Wrecks
My Biggest Fishing Train Wrecks Pt. 2

Saturday, April 02, 2011

2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #7

At this point I think the driveway has 2 more days to be clear, 3 Max

Spring Note- Today the cat murdered Theodore. Simon better be on his guard tomorrow.

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My 2011 Baxter Bass Snatchers Club Tournament Schedule

Saturday June 4th Platte/Sullivan- If you don't know Platte/Sullivan are my home lakes in this area and I have been fishing Sullivan since about 1999 and in Platte since 2001. Since 2001 I have fished 4 bass tournaments on the lakes with 2 total bombs and 2 respectable performances. I came close to winning or placing very high in August of 2004, but I was 1 fish short of the 6 fish limit which put me 1lb 3oz out of 2nd and 2lb 7ozs out of 1st. In that tournament I had a freak malfunction of my Shimano Calcutta reel with a good fish on and lost the bass because of it. Because of my checkered tournament history here and my inability to pattern quality fish early in the season over the past couple of years, I am a bit leery of this one. The Tournament is just a week after bass season opens and the lake goes off limits on Thursday. Fish numbers seem to be pretty good in the lakes right now, so I will expect to be able to catch a limit. This is one tournament where I might actually take my allotted time of half the day in the front of the boat.

Sunday June 19th Cullen Lakes- Never fished this Chain of 3 lakes North of Brainerd and at this point don't know much about them. The club last fished here June 5th of 2005 and it took a modest 13-8 to win and there were 18 limits caught out of 29 anglers, no skunks. When the club fished the lake in August 2001 the weights were better but less fish were caught. Need to do more research on this one.

Saturday July 16th Le Homme Dieu Chain- Never fished these lakes before but I know they host lots of tournaments and are fish factories but the size doesn't tend to be all that great. I thought the club had fished here once a few years ago, but now that I took a closer look they didn't. With high gas prices it could very be that my boater and I will go into this one blind. Need to do more research on this one.

Sunday July 31st Mississippi River- Now I haven't heard this explicitly stated but I'm almost 100% sure this is for the Mississippi out Brainerd which opens up some traditional river fishing in some pretty good smallmouth water along with fishing Rice Lake, which I don't know anything about. The club last fished here in 1999 in a no-prefish blind tournament and the results were not that great numbers wise, but the size of fish was pretty good. Need to do more research on this one.

Saturday August 27th Fish Hook Lake Park Rapids- Never fished here, but have had a birdie in my ear tell me about it and they say it's a good lake with lots of options. The club fished here in August of 2007 and it looks like it was a pretty good tournament with lots of quality fish; Probably why we are going back. The DNR says there are Smallmouth in the lake, but they didn't show up in the 2007 survey.

Saturday October 1st Birch Lake (Hackensack)- We almost fished this lake in 2009 and I did a little research on it then and was excited to fish it, however it got voted down at the final lake schedule meeting. The club last fished here in August 1999 and while th numbers or fish caught were not all that great fish size was pretty good. You never know what your gonna get with an October tournament in Minnesota weather wise, but hopefully we won't hit it at turnover but when the hot fall bite is on.

If anyone out there has insight into any of these lakes I'd like to hear about it. Either leave a comment or email me at basspundit@hotmail.com

Thanks
BP

Friday, April 01, 2011

2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #6

If I would have taken pictures this morning the driveway surface would have been all white thanks to the 1/4 inch of snow last night. I figured it would be all gone by later in the day and as you can see in the pics. I was right.

Spring Note-Smokey aka Meow Meow our cat murdered Alvin today. It was the cats first "large" kill of the year. Kitty doesn't seem to be much of a bird killer, but if it's furry on 4 legs an 1/3 the size of our cat or smaller it's in trouble.

BTW-The dog is Lilah who is fearless and foolish. If she wasn't on a leash she would run off and probably start chasing cars. She's a bit of a spaz and used to bolt out of the house given the chance, but for the most part she is broken of that behaviour and now sits and waits for her leash to be put on to go outside.

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2011 Ice Out By Easter Update #1

Yes it's that time of year again, time to monitor the ice going off lakes across the state of Minnesocold. As you may know from my previous posts this week ice was off my area lakes by this time last year. What a difference a year makes! A cold Winter combined with a cold March has all MN Lakes locked up as of April 1st this year. Normally ice is off some lakes in the Southern part of the state by now.

The MN DNR has a web page devoted to tracking Ice Out on quite a few lakes spread all over the state. The URL is http://climate.umn.edu/doc/ice_out/ice_out_status_11.htm; if you change the 11 to 10 you get the information collected in 2010 and you can go back all the way to 99. In the 12 years only 2001 and 2008 didn't have some open lakes in MN by April 1st.

The screen capture at the top of this post is of a map the DNR does showing certain selected lakes.

And be sure not to miss the description of how lake ice melts.

Luke Clausen Catches 10lb Leech Lake MN Bass

This is a Bass Pundit Blog Exclusive.

Last Summer FLW Fishing Pro and 2006 Bassmaster Classic Champion Luke Clausen was on vacation at Sucker Bay Resort on Leech Lake in August when he caught this behemoth bass in Sucker Bay. Apparently it weighed 10lbs 12ozs on his Zebco De-liar scale. He caught the fish on a Z-Man Joker in the color "Fools Gold". Luke was not aware that the MN State Record Largemouth Bass is only 8lbs 15ozs and since he was only fun fishing he snapped the picture and let her go.

Nice Fish Luke!!!;)

In the Mail: From The Bassholes.com

Yesterday this package arrived from The Bassholes.com

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This was my prize package for tying for 1st Place in their annual Bassmaster Classic Top 12 Contest. The package included:
1 Rod Glove
1 Fish Candy Sample Pack
1 Pack Mega Strike Mega Bug
1 Pack Fish-N-Fool "Sink-N-Fool" 6"
1 Pack Fish-N-Fool "Sink-N-Fool" 5"
1 Pack Get Five Dinero

Thursday, March 31, 2011

2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #5

Well March comes to an end today and as I write this post, it is currently snowing outside. Weather.com says "no significant snow accumulations" so that's nice, tomorrows edition of WWISMD will tell the tale.

Spring Note- Today I saw my first robin of the spring. It was a round fat one right outside the bathroom window. I got to witness first hand why it was a little chub; As I watched it the bird caught two different worms to eat. I was impressed.

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March 24th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #1
March 28th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #2
March 29th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #3
March 30th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #4

A Year Ago Today....

I got my first open water fish of 2010. My post that day was entitled Wide Open!!!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #4

The drive way is now about where it was before we had the snow storm last week, but not on the driveway it seems like there is double or more snow currently on the ground. We got to 40 today and tomorrow it is suppose to hit 45, which is now the average temp, with showers in the evening.

Note- Today I witnessed two sandhill cranes flying around in circles at a pretty high altitude before they eventually flew off to the SE. I could tell they were sandhill's by their call. I wouldn't have had any clue they were up there had they not been squawking, they were way up there and hard to see.

March 24th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway? #1
March 28th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #2
March 29th 2011 When Will I See My Driveway #3

A Year Ago Today....

Shocking Development My how things change from year to year. At this point I think we will be in good shape if Platte Lake is open by April 20th. (Note- that is 5 days later than my previous hope date) Hopefully I'll catch a fish this year before ice is totally off the lakes.

I think I can also say it's official: I will not have done any ice fishing this Winter.

OBN Prompting- Why I Started and Still Blog and Un-Frame Worthy Photo

The Outdoor Blogger Network (OBN) is a blog dedicated to networking, encouraging, and enhancing the sphere of the blogosphere that is inhabited by outdoor enthusiast bloggers. One of the things they do is "prompt" us bloggers to write or photo blog about certain things. I'm knocking out the last two prompts with this post. I'll start with the most recent which is a writing prompt.

Why do you blog about your Outdoor Experiences? What got you started with that first blog entry? Are the reasons you started blogging the same now as when you started? Has blogging changed anything for you? And so on…

I started Bass Pundit blog on November 20th of 2004 and in my very first post I wrote: This Blog will be a true fishing weblog with Pics of the BP's fishing exploits, successes and misses starting in 2005, along with being used for other miscellaneous purposes such as Commissioning a Fantasy Bass Fishing League, ripping or praising products, and commentary on bass fishing issues, personalities, and news.

I basically started this blog to enhance my experience with my bass fishing and fishing hobby. I had a heart attack in 2003 that left me disabled and I had a lot of time on my hands and this was something productive that I could do that I thought might be fun and interesting. Although at times in the past 6 years my enthusiasm for blogging has wavered I kept at it and in the past few years blogging has become a much more important part of my life. I blog because I enjoy doing it and I do find it fun and interesting. Through blogging I have met some pretty cool people and learned a great deal. I have certainly enhanced my overall bass fishing experience.

The second earlier OBN Prompt was a Photo Prompt: post the photo that most likely will never find itself in a photo frame in your house.

So here it is, a genuine Tiger Bullhead

I took the picture so Tami Curtis would know what a tiger bullhead looked like.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

First Grumpy Old Man Sighting of the Year

Today I went to the Grumpy Old Man Hole to take a look at things. The Grumpy Old Man sighting wasn't at the GOMH. I first drove over to the Platte Lake public access to look and see if I could see some ice fishermen. Sure enough Grumpy Old Man Willard was there looking out onto the ice in his minivan. I didn't talk to him. On my way back I stopped to look at the GOMH and it was about 50% more frozen than on March 21st. The water level was up a few inches from March 21st.