Fishing Memories and More from 2008

What will your 2008 memories be?

For me they will be:

Going to see U2 3D with my older brother Jeff

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

Steve Kim Haley and Devin visiting Minnesota

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

Late Spring Cold and Snow

Platte Lake Ice Off April 24th

First Fish of 2008

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

Fishing at Rush Lake with Cyberfish and Lindmark


Breaking in new fishing reels.

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

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

Patti getting skunked on Fishing Opener.


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

Getting the "Lost Jig" back


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


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

Catching two bass at once on the Rapala Subwalk.

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

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



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


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

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


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


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


Fishing with FLW Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh

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

Patti Lou having surgery on her neck.

Staying with Jeff a couple of Times playing video games

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

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


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

Kicking off Fishers of Men Club blogging.


Putting Lilah and Patti to bed

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

More Snow

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

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

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

Shake & Bake

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

Cyberfish with the details at MT Buckett...

Bass Pro Shops Catalog Day!

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

5. St. Croix rods stay the same price.

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

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

8. No Denny Brauer Chunks.

9. No chatter jigs of any type.

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

Of coarse the Bears could always lose to Houston.

Pathetic Clock Management with under a minute to go.

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

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

Da Bears are losing at the half 14-10.

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

But the Bears are losing 21-17.

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

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

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

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

Ha! they missed the kick.

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

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

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

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

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

Hear Cyberfish sing Rudolph the Lunker Walleye.

Marley & Me

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

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

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

I guess it's a Merry Christmas to me.

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

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

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

BassNblog FLW Pro Dave Lefebre

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

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

Bait Monkey Strikes Again

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

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

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

Why do I even care????

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

Woes me to be a Viking fan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Fuego!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Yeah it's MinnesoCOLD!!!

16 Below Zero* Right Now

*Fahrenheit as always

How bout Dem Vikes!!!

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

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

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

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

Snowstorm

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

St.Croix Mojo Bass Rods

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

BP's Bass Fishing Christmas Gift Recommendation

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

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

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

Edwin Evers Ebay Auction for Charity

I don't know if there are any super wealthy BP readers out there who might be interested in this Ebay auction, but I thought I would put it out there because it looks like a heck of a good cause.

Bass Elite Pro, Edwin Evers is auctioning off a special fishing trip package to someone (maybe you) on a scenic private lake in Oklahoma. The exciting trip will not only be fun for the winner and one of their favorite fishing partners, but it will also help a huge number of folks in need. Evers, a 9-Time Bassmaster Classic Qualifier, will be donating all of the proceeds from this auction directly to a charity he is heavily involved with called "Standing in the Gap". Standing in the Gap is a Christian charity in Oklahoma that helps to provide groceries and basic life necessities on an on-going basis to people in need who can't afford to buy them. The greatest need inevitably occurs around the Holidays, but given the current tough economic times in America with more people out of work, the need has increased greatly. (To learn more about Standing in the Gap visit: www.sitgowasso.org) The Standing in the Gap Fishing Package includes: (Total value for special fishing package estimated at @ $5000) 1) A day on a private lake near Ardmore, OK spent fishing with Evers (winner may bring one fishing partner) 2) A tackle box with more than $700 worth of tackle, personally put together by Evers 3) Two brand new Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier rod-and-reel combos 4) One autographed Evers tournament jersey A few important notes: Winning bidder is responsible for their own travel expenses Winning bidder and Edwin Evers will determine date of fishing trip This package will be auctioned off as 1 total unit, items will not divided and / or bid on separately. So not only can you have a once-in-a lifetime experience spending a day fishing with Bass Pro Edwin Evers if you have the winning bid, but you'll also help to feed many hungry families and make a difference to folks in need.


I sure hope they can get at least $5000 out of it.

Update: The auction went for less than $2,500 which I think is a little disappointing. There are plenty of guys out there that don't think twice about putting nearly a $1000 into just one Daiwa Steez rod and reel combo. I am kind of guessing the auction didn't get the plublicity that it could have because right now is the off season for the Pro Bass Tours and so not very many people saw the write up in BassFan.

Bummer

I watched Da Bears/Saints game tonight and it really looked for a minute like the Saints were going to do the Queens a huge favor, but it wasn't to be. The Saints pretty much dominated the game but in the end they couldn't hold on. Of coarse the Saints choked vs. the Vikes too, so whataya gonna do?

At this point I would say the Vikes are probably going to have to win at least 1 game to make the playoffs, but it is possible that even 9-7 won't be enough cause the Bears could easily win out and be 10-6.

But does it really matter? Either the Vikes or the Bears are going to be the worst team in the playoffs in the NFC. Still if you make the playoffs there is always a chance.

FLW FBF News

WITH

IS NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION Click Here!

Welcome to the 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing season
More money, better navigation in 2009

World’s richest fantasy game just got richer
FLW Fantasy Fishing increasing winners’ prize pool to $10 million in cash, prizes in 2009; players can earn thousands of dollars through referral program
Hat tip: Rich Lindgren's Bassin Blog

If you are gonna play and get Players Advantage than you might as well use Dave "BP" Maas as the one who referred you which you can do by registering here.

FYI- If you played FBF with FLW last year, all you have to do to register is hit the "Log-In" tab and enter your email and password from last year and then you have to approve the rules and terms of use and your in. You will be automatically entered into the leagues you participated in last year and will even be given a team of anglers for the first event, of coarse you can edit that team to get the anglers ou want.

BP Commentary-They are going down 430 places with prizes this year as opposed to 639 last year and the scoring is the same lame system from last year with those bonus points for Top 10 picks and super bonus points for a Top 10 pick exacta. I suppose the change in prizes and the lack of change in the scoring are hardly surprising. I can't say I am that disappointed with the change in the amount of prizes because this game is so exceedingly generous it's almost preposterous even with the changes. $100,000 for 1st place and they could stop with the prizes right there and I would think they were nuts.

I am not really happy that they kept the same exact scoring system from last year because I think it just brings luck into the equation more than it has to be. I can see giving a big exacta bonus for getting the winning angler right but to have smaller but crucial exacta bonuses in the 9 remaining spaces of the Top 10 rewards blind luck over the skillful picks of a strong team inside and outside of the Top 10 where I think the Fantasy Bass Fishing points should rightfully be decided.

Herb's Dilly

Several years ago I read on article in Bassmaster Magazine where one of the pro's said his favorite lure to use in lily pads and certain other slop applications was a thing called a Herb's Dilly. The Herb's Dilly is a lure that has been around a long time, in fact some say it was the first buzzbait ever made.  It was most recently made by Luhr Jensen, but as far as I know they have been out of production for a number of years. As you can see from the picture a Herb's Dilly is part buzzbait, part spoon, part inline spinner. Not long after reading the Bassmaster article I was shopping at Trail's End Bass Pro and I happened to spy a lone Luhr Jensen Herb's Dilly on the wall. Since the pro was so high on the bait I thought I would buy it. I am glad I did because this buzzbait was slick when it came to fishing certain types of cover situations where just a few reaction baits excel. One day at a tournament I was throwing it on lighter line than I should have been and ended up losing it to some vegetation that I snagged. Normally the Dilly is quite snag resistant coming through vegetation, but it was super windy on this day and my line got bowed which caused it to snag up.

That was several years ago and I have been keeping my eye open for a Luhr Jensen Herb's Dilly ever since. This lure:

The Nemire Spoon Buzzer is quite similar to the Dilly and is a lure in production that I can find in stores and I picked up a few, but I don't think it works quite as well as the Herb's Dilly, so the search continued. Nemire Spoon Buzzer's sell for more than 6 bucks per lure.

Probably the best place in the world to have a shot at picking up a favorite discontinued lure is Ebay. Herb's Dilly's are auctioned on a fairly regular basis, but every time I have checked the one's being sold were antiques that didn't have the modern buzzbait blade that you find on the Luhr Jensen Herb's Dilly that I lost and wanted to acquire. Just by chance after not having looked in a long time I did a Ebay Herb's Dilly search a few nights back and low and behold there was a lot of 6 Luhr Jensen Herb's Dilly's with the modern buzzbait blade up for auction. I jumped at the chance and was the only bidder so I picked them up at what I consider to be a pretty good bargain at under 3 bucks per lure shipped and insured (Yea!).

This lure is a perfect match for the Rock Platte River Outlet.

New Look

Bass Pundit's Tourny HQ has a new look. The picture is from a Team Bass tournament at Koronis Lake.

Bass Pundit's Fishing Log Blog has a new look. The picture is of the GOMH (Grumpy Old Man Hole) and the 3 main Grumpy Old Men: Willard, Lee Ander, and Lewis.

The only major disadvantage to me not switching over to the new blogger Layout style here at the flagship BP site is that it isn't easy for me to put a picture in my header and that is why I don't have one.

Blogging Around

So today was the day I finally decided to experiment and see what would happen when I converted a Bass Pundit Blog Franchise Empire blog from the old Blogger Template style to the new Blogger Layout style. Fortunately I have the little used Bass Pundit Fantasy Bass Fishing HQ blog on which to do the experimenting before I would do anything I might regret here at the flagship. These two blogs shared the same layout and had a lot of common side bar information.

The results were mixed to negative. Since I don't have to I won't be converting this Blog to the Layout style anytime soon. I may however switch over some of the smaller blogs in the franchise because I don't think it will make that big of a difference with them.

Frustrating

I was in the process of trying to add something new to my blogs. I was going to try it first in the Derby Blog because that blog has the new and easier "Layout" format rather than the old way of doing everything through an html template. Anyway I get to my Layout Page Elements page and the thing is screwed up. The "Add a Gadget" feature that is supposed to be there, isn't there. Therefore, I can do nothing. Hopefully this is just a short term glitch in Blogger.

Frustrating

Updated immediately: So anyway I closed the Derby Blog window, but I forgot something so I clicked on my Derby Blog link here at the flagship and up comes the derby blog. Just for ships and giggles I clicked on New Post then Layout and low and behold there is my Layout page with the "Add a Gadget" feature right where it is supposed to be. Screwy!

Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities New Webpage

The Url is the same http://fishersofmenclub.org as the old one but different from the older www.fishfair.com which no longer works. The Fishersofmenclub.org site is still a pretty run of the mill web page but we do have a blog now. It is a Wordpress blog which frustrates me a little bit because I don't know about the capabilities of a Wordpress blog. Unfortunately Cyberfish was kept out of the loop when the webpage was put together. The plan was to have Cyberfish start a Blogger Blog and link that at the webpage, but somehow that step got missed and we have the Wordpress instead. Maybe things will work out or maybe they will be changed. I will keep you updated just in case anyone cares.

Hopefully I will find out how to Blog at that blog and me and Cyberfish can add a little life to the site.

Updated: I have been doing a little research on Wordpress and it sure seems like it does have a lot of features and you can do all of the usual blog fair, but how user friendly will it be? Blogger is user friendly and fairly intuitive. Something interesting about blogging with wordpress is that you can have different levels of users on a multiple contributer blog.

Fishers of Men Banquet-Last night we had our annual December Fishers of Men Fishing Club Banquet at Old Country Buffet in Friendly Fridley. We had a very good turn out and it was a pretty good time. I got a few lures and a Big Mouth Billy Bass that I am going to re-gift to my 2 year old niece Mallory as she seems to dig these kind of things. I also won a couple of ice fishing reels that I gave to Dave Lindmark for GEM. Pete showed up and brought his duck boat for me to take North. Cyberfish filled me in on some up comming ice fishing he is doing, I am thinking about joining him.

On the way there we stopped at Vados and I got maggots and at Thorne Brothers so I can get that rod repaired.

Reel Deals

I like Team Daiwa X & S 103 or 100 fishing reels, the S is a less expensive version of the X. I like how they feel in my hand and I like the way they cast. Two years ago the Team Daiwa S reels went out of production and Team Daiwa X reels, which were the Daiwa flagship reel for a long time, went out of production this year. Since they are now both out of production I figure now is the best chance I will have to be able to get my hands on them. For the past 2 months I have bought up a number of new and used S and X reels on Ebay because I have found the bidding being done on reels at this time to be quite light, thus I have gotten good deals. It seems like the reels have been selling anywhere from $20 to $50 off of what they were going for last Spring. I think because it has been mid to late fall has a lot to do with the lack of interest in buying the reels right now; yet because it is the end of the season there has been a fairly high number of reels being put up for auction. I don't know how much longer the buyers market will last but I am at the saturation point with reels and now I am only making bargin basement offers. Because the reels are out of production I don't think I could ever have to many in reserve.

In addition to the X's and S's, I snapped up a great deal on an almost new Team Daiwa Sol

The rod I'm going to put the Sol on is a 5'6" Loomis G3 that needs several guides replaced and because of that I haven't used the rod in several years. I figure the combo will make a perfect match for small jerkbaits. Then later in the year I may swap out rods to use the Sol for Frenzy Poppers.

Note of Interest: I have won 3 TDX reels on Ebay from BASS Elite Series Angler James Niggemeyer. One reel was new and the other two have cosmetic defects but they don't appear to be reels that saw heavy use and are smooth and perfect mechanically. Apparently he is going to be selling a few more reels.

Yikes! the Vikes are in 1st
I am almost in shock, the Chili led Minnesocold Vikings beat Da Bears 34-14 to take sole possesion of first place in the NFC North with only 4 games to go. Once again Adrian "All Day" Peterson was a beast pushing himself to the front of the pack among all NFL Running Backs. Frerotte threw one rotten pick, but he also set a team record with a impressive 99 yards TD pass to former Bear Bernard Berrien. The Vikes D was impressive vs. Da Bears especially with a game changing 4 down goal line stand. Chester Taylor was also very impressive when he got the chance to play.

Even with this great victory my expectations are tempered. Da Bears have a much easier schedule in the final 4 games than do the Vikes who will face 3 teams that will most likely be in the playoffs this year, including the most impressive looking team in the NFL, the New York Big Blue Giants. After the way the Giants ran to the Super Bowl last year I think there is no way the Giants coach is going to take it easy in the final game even if they do have home field advantage for the playoffs locked up.

Will the Vikes make the playoffs? We may not know till after Christmas. But if the D plays the way they did against Da Bears, than there is at least a fair chance.

This is our dog Patti Lou who appears to be all better from the surgery she had to remove the infected fatty deposit from her neck.

Thanks sickening

This year was a Thanksgiving to forget. I woke up feeling quite nauseated. I laid in bed for a couple of more hours and started feeling better around 11am. I took the dogs outside and when I was playing with Patti I threw up 3 or 4 times. After that I did feel better again. So I went in to watch the end of the Macy's Parade, the Lions game, and the National Dog Show. While I was sitting there I started to get a headache and not feel so well. Todd and the girls had not arrived yet, but I knew there wasn't going to be Thanksgiving Dinner for me, so I went back to bed. Whatever I had wasn't the nastiest of bugs but I still didn't feel very well and I slept for most of the day. My neices Isabelle and Mallory kept there distance but did come in to visit their sick uncle. I got a card with a drawing/scribbling from Isabelle. It sounded like the girls were having a good time. I am not really sure what time they left.

I eventually had some soup and that went OK so now I have even had a little turkey, mash potatoes, stuffing, and corn to eat. Hopefully I will feel much better tommorrow.

My 4th Blogirthday...

...has passed and I failed to take note of it. So this is a belated blog about it. My blog is only slighty younger than my neice Isabelle who I will be spending Thanksgiving Day tomorrow with. Hopefully I will get a few pics of the girls.

Click to view the BP's first post evah...

ICE NEWS:
I believe Platte is totally ice covered and is probably safe for foot travel provided you don't go out to far from shore. I bet I could safely catch fish.

Will I ice fish this winter? At this point I think I will, but I don't have my stuff together like it needs to be. I am kind of hungry for some fresh Crappie. I will buy some maggots at Vados when I go in for Fishers of Men Meeting in December provided that there is not a snow storm that day.


In the Mail:
So yesterday I get a package in the mail that is in a big zip lock bag and looks like it got beat up at the post office. Upon closer inspection the package reeked of beer and said "Get Blastered" on the front of the box. In the address Bass Pundit was given under my name. Hmmm yet another product somebody must want the BP to check out and sure enough it was.

What is the Beer Blaster you ask? Basically it is a squirt gun for shooting beer or any other carbonated beverage. The package had a Pabst Blue Ribbon that got a pin prick leak and so that was where the beer smell came from. I am a little puzzled on why someone would think the BP is worthy of this gift. Because of my medications I don't drink any beer and it's not like Bass Pundit blog is dedicated to anything having to do with a brewski. Maybe they thought it would be cool if I added the moniker The Blaster Pastor.

Find out all about the Beer Blaster at Beer-Blaster.com

I haven't actually used the thing yet. I think we will try it out when the family is here for Thanksgiving tommorrow. Luckly I have a bunch of beers that Pete left. Maybe my neice Isabelle will think it's cool, although for her it would be the Root-Beer Blaster.

BassFan has an article about Al Lindners son Troy who has put together a health and fitness manuel for tournament anglers.

Here are some tips excepted from the manual on tournament day nutrition with my impressions on the advice:

Rules of thumb:

Don't let your blood sugar crash, and thus lose energy. (Sounds good)

Bottled water or pure fruit juice is better than sugary pop or even sports-type drinks. (I go with a Coke and a gallon of water so I'm half way there)

Try to eat foods that are easy to eat and easy to keep in hot/warm/or cold weather. (Okie Dokie)

Eat food that doesn't require forks, knives or spoons. (Duh! Although that sandwich Herman made for me on Farm Island might have required a utensil to make, I forget)

Unsalted trail mixes with almonds or cashews and dried fruits are good – however, it's best to lose the chocolate. ("lose the chocolate" SACRILIDGE!)

Fruit-nut bars, like Kellogg's, are among my favorites. (Whatever floats your boat, I'm keeping my Kit Kats, Reeses, and Hershey Bars)

Fresh fruit like apples, peaches, pears, etc. are all good. (I don't think I'll be taking this advice anytime soon.)

Food that takes a lot of processing usually isn't all that good. (So what your saying is the bologna or sliced ham and processed cheese have to go, No way Jose!)

The fewer steps between nature and stomach, the better. (Not on my watch)

Of coarse I am competing for a couple of ugly plaques, not my livelihood over 4 days.

Hellabass has blogged about the 2009 Bassmaster Classic field...

I don't know who is going to be on my Fantasy Team at this point, but Kim Bain probably won't make my cut.

Cyber Sippi Smallies

Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson of the blog MT Bucket got out and rocked some big smallmouths in the Mississippi River on Sunday...

Had Sunday been the 15th instead of the 16th, Cyberfish would have pulled ahead of me in the Derby but as it stands he is a day late and a dollar short.

Ikeslayer wins Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Derby 2008!!!

He caught the biggest bass.

He caught the biggest 5 fish stringer, so he is the WINNER!

4.47lbs
4.68lbs
5.62lbs
5.50lbs
5.06lbs

Total 25.33lbs

Although there really is no honorable mention for anyone beneath 1st. I did manage to beat out rivals Cyberfish and Duffman despite the fact that I really didn't catch any really big fish.

Vikes Blogging

Well the Vikes managed to get beat by Tampa Bay today 19-13. I knew going in this would probably be a tough one for the Vikes to win because the Bucs are a pretty good team and they were at home. Still I hoped that the Vikes just might be a better team then I give them credit for.

The first half was played pretty even and the Vikes went into half-time with a 13-6 lead. Adrian Peterson had something like 70 yards in the first half. The second half was dominated by the Bucs offense.

The Vikes just did not have an answer for the scrambling Jeff Garcia who made play after play with his feet. If the Bucs would have had an immobile QB like Ferotte, they probably would have gotten beat. I think the key play of the game for the Bucs was a 2nd and 25 where Garcia threw a perfect pass to his Tight End for 31 yards and a first and goal on the 1. It had to be a perfectly thrown ball or else the pass would have been broken up or intercepted by Darrin Sharper. This perfect pass set up the Bucs only TD.

I think there were a few key plays by the Vikes that cost them the game. The first was in the 3rd Quarter when the Vikes were at mid-field and went for it on 4th and 1. They tried a pass where Frerotte nearly got sacked, but he got away only to throw an incomplete pass to Adrian Peterson. I think had Frerotte thrown a better ball with a little air under it that AP probably would have scored a TD because he was behind the defence.

Another key play was what I considered to be a bad play call at the end of the 3rd Quarter. On first down AP was hit in the backfield for a 3 yard loss. No big deal I figured give the ball back to AP cause he will most likely get at least 5 yards if not more. AP had some big runs in the first half, but it turned out the 3 yard loss was to be the last rush of the game for AP. Instead of handing off to AP Childress went with the more predictable play of a pass and Frerotte got sacked by Chris fricking Hovan of all people. I believe it was Hovan's first sack of the year. Frerotte then got sacked again on 3rd down.

The last key play came in the 4th quarter with under 4 minutes to play and the Vikes needing to make a 80 yard drive for a touchdown. The Vikes had two timeouts left so there was plenty of time on the clock for running the football. The Vikes were in a similar position last week and AP took the game over. On first down Frerotte threw an 8 yard pass to Bobby Wade. At this point you need to be thinking first downs rather than big plays, so I would have run AP on 2nd down because that would most likely move the chains. Instead of a run it was 3 straight incomplete passes.

Amazingly enough the Vikes got one more shot when the Bucs missed the 36yard field goal attempt. However Bobby Wade got a pass interference penalty. What in the world was Frerotte thinking throwing a jump ball up to little Bobby Wade? Sidney Rice or Bernard Berrien are our jump ball guys. Then Frerotte got sacked and Chester Taylor fumbled and the 2nd half Buc domination was complete.

I am not very optimistic about our chances next week vs Jacksonville even though they probably are not as good as the Bucs. At the dome I think the Vikes win, in sunny Florida, not so much.

I just noticed that Chad Greenway had 16 tackles. WOW!

Smallmouth Trip

Cancelled due to snow. When I got up to go this morning there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground with accumulation on the paved road and it was still lightly snowing. I didn't think the risk of putting the truck in the ditch was worth more than my desire to catch fish so I wimped out and went back to bed.

I am sure Cyberfish will have a report posted tonight.

The Last Day.

Today is the last day of the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Derby 2008 . Cyberfish tried to get me to add an extention because there are still big river smallies to be caught in open water, in fact Cyb and I are going to fish the Sippi tomorrow. However, the fact that I am leading Cyberfish at this point and that the Nov 15th cut off date has been in the rules since day 1 closes the door on the prospect of the Derby going on longer. I don't think anyone has a shot at catching Ikeslayer even if I left the Derby open until Dec 31st.

I really hope that I get into the smallmouth tommorrow. I like the thought of having an open water option for Winter days that are in the 40's. If I catch fish than there is a good chance I'll try and go back if we get a warm day here and there.

FLW Fantasy Bass Fishing News

I got an email from FLW about the 2009 Fantasy Game and much to my surprise they are apparently not cutting the prizes way back but are expanding them for 2009. Unbelievable!!!

Also Players Advantage feature is only going to be $10 instead of whatever it cost last year. For those who don't know, Players Advantage allows one to easily gather information about the anglers fishing the tournament, thus helps you make a more educated guess. I had it this year and totally bombed out anyways.

Vikes Beat Packer Crackers


It's been a while since I football blogged and probably even a longer time since the Vikes beat the Pack. Today for the first time in Coach "Chilly" Childress' era the Vikes beat our #1 rival. It didn't look good even though the Vikes outplayed the Packers by a pretty wide margin. It wasn't decided until the final minute when the Packers kicker missed a long field goal.

All Day AP Adrian Peterson had 192yards rushing and the go ahead touchdown on a 29 yard run and he now leads the league in rushing. Our other Running Back Chester Taylor made a great move on a pass reception and went 47yards for a score. Our QB Frerotte and punt coverage special teams did their level best to give the game away and the D got 2 saftey's which was key in the 1pt win.

Skoal Vikes!!!

This team might actually be pretty good if they can just cut down on the bad bounces and key mistakes.

The Titans beat the Bears and so now we are tied for the division lead at 5-4. Next week the Bears are at the Packers and we have a tough game in Tampa Bay, who had a bye this week. At this point Chicago has the easier schedule but that is also a team that could meltdown. The Packer schedule is also easier than that of the Vikes which makes absolutely no sense in light of the Packers great record last season. The division may very well come down to who can beat .500. If Frerotte doesn't improve his play than the Vikings probably won't make it.

Election Day Shore Bassaction

The weather was once again unseasonably warm and so I wanted to get out and do some fishing. I had to go to Onamia to pick up pills so I was going to try Mille Lacs, but there was stuff parked where I wanted to park at Eddy's and there was a guy blocking the road in the Cemetary Jetti. This worked out for me just as well.

Bulldog- A small pike followed the spinnerbait in on my first cast but I couldn't get it to hit and so it was on to Rock.

Rock 1- As I pulled up at the ramp a boat was coming in. They were running around in my casting area so I nixed Rock until later.

Jenny's- I had a fish swirl at my bait and miss. I couldn't get it to hit again.

Lake Place- It was thundering and threatening rain when I arrived at our lake place on Platte. I was working the "lost jig" through the weeds and had a miss, I worked the area hard but couldn't get a follow up. As I worked a little more West I got a strike from a 14.5" bass right next to shore. I cast over the same water and had a miss. I kept working the spot and was rewarded with a 13" bass. It started to rain hard and I went up to the car to wait it out. After the rain I brought down a white Outkast swim jig, a pumpkin Terminator JigNpig, and the "lost jig."

I started off throwing the white swim jig and was rewarded with a 14" bass. On the very next cast over the exact same spot I had another bass annihilate the swim jig. This bass put up quite a fight and measured in at 19." All of these bass came within 10 feet of shore. I worked the white swim jig with no more luck, so I switched up to the jig and pig and had a fish bite off one of the legs in the area the last two bass came from. I started working the white swim jig again and got the attention of a small pike. After repeated casts I caught it. The pike bit off the tip of the grub tail, but there was still plenty of tail and it had good action.

I started working my way towards Jim's and was rewarded with another 14" bass on the white swim jig. Then I caught a pike. I started throwing the "lost jig" and got a 15" bass quite a ways farther out than any I had caught yet. I switched back to the white swim jig and got another northern.

I moved over to Jim's dock and got a 12" bass out from under it on the white swim jig. I then got the biggest northern of the day to the West of Jim's dock. I threw a bunch of casts from Jim's dock and did miss a bite casting towards our place. That was it, 7 bass and 4 pike.

Rock- I got a small pike on a black spinnerbait.

Shore Fishing Report

Trophy Away and Bonus Bass...

Shore Fishing Report

I caught some today...

Review: Rapala Fishing Frenzy Video Game for the Wii

It's that time of the year again where the weather is turning more and more hostile towards getting out fishing; Soon the ice will be covering Minnesocold lakes. What does one do to scratch that fishing itch?

One thing that I found that works is playing fishing video games and that is where the Rapala Fishing Frenzy video game for Wii comes in to play.

The Rapala Fishing Frenzy video game for Wii was designed by Activision in consultation with the people at Rapala to provide a enjoyable angling experience when you can't be on the water or a fun substitute for actual fishing for gamers. As you see in the picture above the game comes with a special Wii controller and nunchuck holder that simulates using an actual fishing rod. You can play the game with or without the fishing rod holder. Using the rod is OK and adds something to the game, but I think it is easier to play the game without the fishing rod holder.

I have found that the game is quite challenging and is good for many hours of video angling enjoyment. The game is centered around the pursuit of various types of gamefish. You can practice your skills in an "Open" mode and also fish in challenges/tournaments where you are trying to reach a goal in a set amount of time. One thing I like about the game is that you are awarded for a progression of achievement. By catching fish you get stuff added to a "Anglers Den."
By achieving challenges you get bonuses such as a wider selection of lures or getting the option of fishing more lakes.

Learning to cast is a bit tricky so here is the secret: The toggle on the nunchuck needs to be pushed towards the top of the nunchuck, then you simply lift and "throw" the wii controllers like you were using an actual fishing rod. It is important to master the skill of long casts because the longer the cast the more likely you will be able to "set the hook" into a fish.

One good thing about the game is that when a fish bites you use the controllers to "set the hook" just like you do in reel fishing. In addition to that as you are reeling in the fish you can and need to perform maneuvers and "combo's" with the controllers that will help you in the game. I was surprised by how active you have to be to play this fishing game well.

Being that the game is tied in with Rapala, you have a wide assortment of Rapala lures to choose from to fool the fish. I was surprised that they included Rapala Jigging Raps in the lure selection because I consider it to be an ice fishing lure. One thing that could have made the game better would have been realistic sound effects for the Rapala Skitter Pop and Rapala Skitter Prop. For surface lures they also offer the Rapala Skitter Walk.

As you can see from this still shot the graphics are pretty good.

The one thing that really bugged me about the game is that fish lengths and weights don't match up to reality. The fish weights are much heavier than a fish of a given length would ever be.

I would rate the Rapala Fishing Frenzy video game for Wii as a 4 out of 5 stars.

Minnesocold BassNBloggers Round UP

Minnesocold BassNbloggers finished 1-2 at a late season tournament on Big Marine.

Art Simms went to his honey hole once again...

Carl Spande and Team Bassakwards close out in the money...

Also Minnesocold BassNblogger Josh Douglas runs into some bad luck fishing the BASS Weekend Series Regional at Kentucky Lake....

Sport has been out and about...

Minnesota Bass Fishing has a great blog about Fall Bass fishing here in the North country...

4 Shore

BP Fishing Log Blog...

New Leader in the BP Bass Fishing Derby...

BP Fishing Reports at the BP Fishing Log Blog

Shore 10/18/2008...

The Trophy at Rock...

New York Times covers Illinois High School Bass Tournaments

Illinois, the first state to organize tournament bass fishing at the high school level, has set state finals for May 2009. Teenagers like Bathon, a junior at Pinckneyville Community High School in the seat of Perry County, have started joining teams to fish in the inaugural season of formal statewide competition. Classified as an activity alongside chess, debate, journalism, music and spirit, bass fishing has drawn interest from coaches and administrators across the state.

“We were looking at other activities we could offer students in our schools to hit a different student instead of just the typical athlete,” said Dave Gannaway, the assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association. “It gives them something to look forward to.”

Read the whole thing (Even an all girls school is signed up)...

BP Fishing Report

Mille Lacs Fall Trolling 10/14 into 15 with Pete...

Bass Snatchers Mission Lakes Oct 4th

I had one goal going into this tournament and that was to catch my 6 fish limit, so I would have caught a limit in all 6 tournaments on the schedule. Accomplishing this goal would be a mark of distinction especially fishing from the back of the boat. Up until this year in the 31 year history of the Baxter Bass Snatcher Club a total of only 7 different anglers had ever caught a limit in every tournament in a season and those 7 did it only 16 times. I was pretty hungry to achieve this goal and at 1pm with only 2 keepers in the well I began to feel the pressure. Did I rally or fall flat? Full Story at the BP Tourny HQ...

New Minnesocold BassNblog and more

Aj Rods & Tackle Blog: This blog is mostly being done by Isaac "Ikeslayer" Karow who is in the BP Derby and a regular at FishingMinnesota.com Bass Forum. The blog looks really good so far.

The Wired Angler: I found this blog thanks to Hellabass and it's a good one if you are into swimbaits. At first glance it looks like this blog is a lot about tackle and fish catching technology. This post (1st post) will get you up to speed.

A Couple BP fishing reports

Shore Again 10/7/08

Out in the Trophy on Rock

Shore Action

I got a solid 34inch Pike and more, check out my report Shore Nuff at the BP Fishing Log Blog.

Boat Conversations with FLW Tour BP Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh

In case you did not know, I went fishing with BP (fuel) Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh from Carver MN. We fished lake Minnewashta for about 5 hours. This blog is about the conversation we had on the boat, which was basically me asking questions about things I was curious about. Here is some of what we discussed:

FLW $1.7 million plus Fantasy Bass Fishing Game:
Jim thought it was just fantastic and thought it will probably help the anglers out down the line. He thought the payoff would probably come in the next few years. He did not have any knowledge as to whether the prize structure will be significantly reduced in 2009.

The 2009 FLW Tour Schedule:
The 2009 FLW Tour features 3 bodies of water (Norman, Kentucky Lake, Champlain), half the tour schedule, that Jim has a history of success on. I wanted to know if Jim was especially looking forward to 2009. He took a measured approach saying he really does not get excited anymore about having certain lakes on the schedule. He has had enough tournaments that he was really looking forward to and then bombed out on to get over confident or excited about anything.

FLW Field Size Cut for 2009
Jim was not super enthusiastic about the cut in field size, like you might think he would be. He is really concerned about the entry fees going up and the prize money staying level or even going backward a bit. It seemed to me that he would not mind 200 boat fields if the purses were increased.

Training Regime
I think it really helps a professional bass fisherman to be in good physical and fishing condition. Jim does work out on a regular basis, sometimes even during a tournament if he can swing it, doing a combination of strength training and cardio. He believes that there is no substitute for time on the water for being on top of your game. Jim absolutely loves to fish and said he is known for being a guy that puts in long days.

Tournament Formatting FLW Tour vs. FLW Series
Jim says he likes to get a guaranteed 3 days to fish which is what the FLW Series offers. As far as weights being set to zero, it doesn't really matter to him.

Alliances, Rivals, Respect:
Jim is kind of a loan ranger and does not team up and collaborate with any of the other competitors on tour. He said he really does not have a nemesis on tour and has the utmost respect for all the anglers that he fishes against.

Co-Anglers:
Jim said he thought all Bass Pro's including himself would prefer to be the only fisherman in the boat during a tournament. However he thought that Co-Anglers were a big help to keep the integrity of the sport intact. He brought up a article by BassFan with Rick Clunn and said he basically agrees with everything Clunn said. He said most Co-anglers are great to fish with and has had only a few that caused problems.

Jim had a story about a co-angler that made a cast that connected with a Canadian goose as 3 of them were flying bye. The Co was fishing with a Chatterbait, at the height of the Chatterbait craze when they were scarce, and it was his only one. Jim said the hooked flying Goose broke the line without even breaking stride and boy was that Co-angler mad to loose his Chatterbait.

The Bubblegum Super Fluke:
Jim asked me about the type of fishing that I prefer to do and one of the things I brought up was that I have a lot of confidence in a bubblegum colored Zoom Super Fluke. This remark brought a smile to Jim's face. He said he doesn't usually fish with flukes, but he did absolutely get schooled by a Co-angler on Lake Champlain that was using a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.

Favorite Kind of Fishing:
Jim's favorite fish is the smallmouth bass and he is a happy camper if he can get away with fishing them on topwater or with jerkbaits.

Favorite Body of Water:
Jim said his favorite kind of fishing is successful at Rainy Lake and he has had a lot of tournament success on Rainy with the big smallies, so that is the lake he likes best.

Secret to the Fort Francis Canadian Bass Championship:
The Fort Francis Canadian Bass Championship is a 100+ boat field tournament on Rainy Lake that Jim has won 4 times (08,07,99,98) placed 2nd twice (00,97) and 3rd once (02). Jim said he wishes he knew what the secret was and could bottle it for other lakes. He said it just seems like at times on Rainy it seems like he can do no wrong, his decisions just always seem to be the right ones.

This year an off year for him on the Minnesocold tournament scene:
Jim said he has fished fewer tournaments in Minnesota this year than he ever has since he began tournament fishing when he turned 18 years old. He didn't really have a reason why that I can remember.

He said he hasn't even been on Lake Minnetonka once this year.

His future in the sport:
Jim wants to continue tournament fishing on the professional level for the forseeable future. He is very concerned about the rising costs that professional fishing is experiencing. I got the impression that as long as he is successful and remains competitive that he will continue to fish, but that he fears the rising costs and a couple of bad years could end up forcing him out.

We did talk about more than this but this is all I am going to blog about. Jim is a genuine and humble guy that is a credit to the sport.

Launch Trips now blogged

A couple of Eddy's Launch trips with Dad that I haven't blogged about until now...

A Day on the Lake with BP Bass Pro Jim Moynagh

On Thursday October 2nd I got to spend a few hours on Lake Minnewashta in SW metro fishing with BP (fuel) Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh. Jim Moynagh has won over a million dollars as a professional bass fisherman and is the most successful bass fisherman Minnesocold has ever produced on the elite levels of bass fishing tours.

Our day fishing:
We met at the Lake Miniwashta Regional Park a little before 10am and were on the water and fishing by 10:30am. We took a short boat ride down the shoreline so we could start fishing the deep edge of a milfoil covered weed flat. Jim chose to throw a Salmo Boxer Crankbait in a color that looked to be sort of bright orange.

The Boxer is a buoyant fairly large and fat crankbait and the one Jim was using dived to about 5-7' and had a straight rather than the bended lip. Jim is sponsored by Salmo.
It was just a few casts for Jim and it was "fish on." He landed a healthy 3lb plus bass. A great way to start the day. I started off using a black single Colorado blade spinnerbait with a rattle. I believe I caught the 2nd and 3rd fish but they turned out to be hammer handle pike. The wind was blowing straight onto the flat we were fishing and Jim got the 2nd bass of the day on the Salmo, it was another solid 3lb fish.

I had some items that I wanted to ask Jim about and I was more concerned about hearing the answers than fishing and that is my excuse for missing about 3 or 4 solid bites on the spinnerbait. I will do a separate blog on the topics that Jim and I spoke about while on the boat.

The fishing wasn't fast and it wasn't real slow. As we approached a point that comes off of the flat Jim tied into a solid fish, which turned out to be this 4lb bass:

Sorry about the Picture quality, it was a camera phone picture.

Jim managed to land a second bass off this point off the flat and I was getting nothing on the spinnerbait so I switched to a jignpig and did get a hit on that, but I missed it. Jim also switched up to a jigNpig missed a bite then connected with a pike. There were a lot of baitfish on this point and Jim had high hopes we would hit a good school but all we got were those two bass and a pike. Eventually we kept heading down the flat towards the access we launched at. Jim resumed throwing the Salmo Boxer. I think he landed a pike or two and I switched up to a Strike King Red Eye shad without any luck, than switched to a rattletrap that was similar in color to the Salmo Boxer that Jim was throwing. We were just about straight out from the access when I got a hit and landed a solid 2lb bass. As I was reeling in Jim hooked into another bass that was close to if not over 3lbs. I got my fish out from the boat and Jim got his close into the boat. Jim remarked that this goes to show that the fish are scattered and not bunched up in schools. We worked this area thoroughly but didn't get another fish. As we worked our way North, I think Jim got one or two more nice bass on the boxer and a pike, but I wasn't getting anything.

We tried retracing our steps and went back south, but we didn't have much action except for maybe Jim catching a pike. At this point we had about an hour and a half before I wanted to be off the water, so Jim suggested we try some pads and docks on the South end of the lake. It was pretty sunny and Jim thought the fish might want so shade.

I started throwing Snagproof frog and Zoom Horny Toad over the pads. I had a pike jump over the Horny Toad, had a small fish strike at the Snagproof frog, and had another small fish hit at the Horny Toad but not hook up. I mostly was leaving the docks we came across to Jim. He was throwing a wacky rigged All-Terrain Tackle Terrain Stick; I am unsure of the color.


We were seeing a lot of sunfish up shallow but almost no bass to speak of until Jim spotted a good fish that was just sitting out in the open in a hole in the weeds quite a ways out from the closest dock. The fish didn't even look at the Terrain Stick, but when I put the Horny Toad down there it inhaled the white toad. I set the hook and came up with absolutely nothing. Jim threw the Terrain stick back at it and this time the fish quickly inhaled it and Jim had yet another 3lb bass.

We kept working our way down the bank and Jim started pulling a few 12" to 14" bass off the docks. I started throwing a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke at the docks and missed my first pick up. I think I had one more shot at a fish underneath a boat lift, but I got hung up and had to break off. We came to the end of the bays docks and it was time to head in.

I think Jim out-fished me on bass about 10 to 1. Regardless of my lack of luck, it was a fun day on the water.