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.