2009 Bass Pundit: A Look Back. Part: 2 (Summer/Fall)

Of Coarse there were my Baxter Bass Snatcher Tournaments

May 30th: Cedar Lake (Aitken)
June 21st: South Long
July 18th: Ida
August 8th: PelicanAugust 22nd: Leech
Sept.19th: Gull
Oct 3rd: Challenge Cup Upper and Lower Mission.

June 1st: Shore Fishing Mille Lacs and Cyberfish showed up.


June 15th: Brush with Greatness


June 16th: Missed my 3rd Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship by 1 day...

June 23rd: Eddy's Launch with Dad...

New World Record Largemouth Bass???? (Just this week new info was added in the comment section as the the status of this fish)

July 28th: Mississippi with Pete and Greg Jones of Mid-West Outdoors

August 1st: Added The Animal Rescue Site Widget to Blog Sidebar (Please Make Clicking to this site a daily habit.)

August 18th: Cheesehead Legend Pretty In Purple: Farve A Minnesota Viking

Sept 27: Brett Favre Miracle Win at Metrodome!!!


Fishers of Men Fall Outing...

Oct 6th: Twins vs. Tigers 1 game play-off liveblog of extra innings... Great Game!

Oct 7th: Purple Favre Cuts Down Packers

Pam Martin-Wells to 2010 Bassmasters Classic... She has a real shot of making my Fantasy Bass Fishing Bassmasters Classic roster.

Nov. 1st: A Victory!!! Favre Takes Two From Packers

Jason Holmer of Minnesota Bass Fishing Blog wins the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby 2009with 28.92lbs and Big Bass with 7lb Toad!

Nov 25th: Bass Pundit 5 Year Blogiversery

Dec 7th: Bass Pundit's 50,000th Site Meter Hit.

And that should do it for my blogging highlights of 2009. Happy New Year!

Update: 19,779 Site Meter Hits Counted for Bass Pundit in 2009. (I'll be really happy if I can repeat that for 2010.)

2009 Bass Pundit: A Look Back. Part: 1 (Winter/Spring)

I've got nothing else to do tonight, so why not.

To start 2009 off:
Playoff Day: Vikings lose to Philly 26-14 Favre wasn't even on my radar screen, but the need for better QB play certainly was.

For a laugh: The Wonder Boner

BP Essay: Bass Tournament Fishing From the Back of the Boat (Co-Angling)

Gotta love that Puppy Bowl! I loved it so much I blogged it twice.

Filed under "This Just Ain't Right Either"
The $50 topwater popper.

BP FLW Fantasy Bass Fishing: Stunned and Confused

I liveblogged the Bassmasters Classic:
Day 1 Day 2 Day Final and all of my Bassmasters Classic blogging set Bass Pundit site visit records.


I won the Bassholes.com Forums Bassmasters Classic Top 12 Contest.

I found out Minnesocold has a new Bowfin State Record Catch at 11-4.

I did a review of U2's New Album No Line on the Horizon.

Bait Monkey Attack... (One of many)

March 22: First Day in the Tackle Warehouse

March 27: I discover I can attach labels to my blog posts.


Bait Monkey Resistance Fighter


The GOMH Old and New


Grumpy Old Men

Favorite Fishing Song: Fisherman's Blues by The Waterboys

I Won from Fishing Hype... Thumbs up for the Gamma Copoly.

April 10th: First Jumpin Bullhead of the Year...

4-17 Ice Out at Platte Lake.

Golden Bullhead at GOMH


The GOMH with Pete...

April sets Bass Pundit record with 2,386 Site Meter hits.


Fishers Of Men Fishing Club Spring Outing Camp/Lake Wapo

2009 Minnesocold Fishing Opener... It was a pretty good one.


Bass Opener with Pete Round 1... Round 2... actually there are a total of 5 Rounds but Pete is only in the first 2.

May 29th: The Great GOMH Whackfest of 2009... Ahh yes the best fishing of 2009.
I caught at least 57 jumpin bullheads and 3 toothy bullheads. It was AWWWWWWWWWWWN!!!

Blogging Note:

I do not plan to do a 2000's decade retrospective. I may or may not do a Bass Pundit 2009 round up.

Adrian Peterson Fumble Facemask Brouhaha

I will give the refs a break on this one, I can see how they missed the facemask. That block in the back on Da Bears first long kick off return, however, was inexcuseable as it was blatent and at the point of the run. That run back and a questionable pass interference call resulted in 7 points for Da Bears. Without that I think Da Bears would have lost.

2010 Bass Pro Shops Catalog Day

Ahh, Yes it is becoming a Bass Pundit Blog tradition. The goods arrived in the mail today. Happy Times.

I may or may not get to a catalog review, today.

Update: I have now looked through the catalog one time and the Bait Monkey didn't reach out and grab me on anything in particular, in fact if anything I was turned off by a number of items. I wish I could find a picture of the new purple Rick Clunn BPS rod, man it's ugly.

I also don't care for the new look BPS Crankin Stick; The graphic they added is cool but the color scheme should have stayed the same because the new one is butt ugly.

I also give a thumbs down to the graphics and color scheme for the new BPS Carbon Lite rods. However, if Bass Pro Shops want to send me a Carbon Lite rod to test and blog about, I'm open to that because the rod intrigues me as it might very well be an innovative product.

Another down note: BPS no longer marketing Tom Monsoor Enticer Swim Jigs. BOOO. Maybe Capra's will still have some of the color and size I crave.

Stren Series Loss of Sponsorship: My Thoughts

In the FLW hierarchy of fishing trails the Stren Series, formerly the Everstart Series, is like a AA or AAA level of Professional Bass Fishing. Stren has now pulled out as the title sponsor and now the circuit will be title sponsorless and be called the American Fishing Series.

I can see why Stren would drop out as I don't think the sponsorship probably did much for fishing line sales.

I think the FLW people should aggressively seek out a beer, soft drink, or national fast food chain title sponsor for this trail. I think each one of those types of businesses could gain something by niche marketing to bass fanatics. I would say most fishermen use those products anyway and some well thought out sponsorship would tip the balance in their brands favor. It would work with me.

Vikings vs. Da Bears Liveblogging

Why Not?

Pre-game:
As always I hope the game starts with our opposition getting the ball. I think it is better to get the ball to start the 2nd half.

Hopefully Percy shows up big tonight along with AP. I am sure Chestor will be his usual reliable self.

Kickoff:
Ok I've got the computer back.

Not a good start. What is that with Pat Williams out, not good.

That drive ending in a fumble was bad ju ju.

Bears field goal 6-0.

A touchdown solves this problem real quick. How about Percy Harvin for 94?

End of 1st Quarter: Defence squandered opportunity for a turnover and the offence and Special teams making mistakes. Yuck!

Nice Kick Kluwe, this is some ugly football the Vikes are showing. I don't so much have a problem with the run on 3rd down that didn't work, but we should have them pinned way deeper than this.

Bears in field goal range again. Leber missed his 2nd chance for a pick.

Officially this is BAD. Bears 13-0

3 and Out plenty thanks to the refs. Just what we need another factor against us.

3 and out for Bears

No urgency for the Vikes. Two minute warning. The Vikes really need to convert this 3rd Down.

Once again poor pass blocking and that play was doomed from the start. Bears get the ball back with enough time to drive for yet another score.

Bears fieldgoal.

16-0 Halftime.

Well it's clear the Vikings original game plan to dominate the game by dominating the run game is shot to pieces. Bears with a huge advantage at this point. We are well on our way to three straight prime time embarrassments.

What is wrong with this team? Answer: Right now, just about everything.

Honestly, I don't know that we have any shot at winning the game at this point. No Pat Williams is just a killer with EJ Henderson gone and it is pretty clear to me that the Vikes expected to win this game with Adrian Peterson leading the way and that plan is probably out. Yuck!

Once again you can't pin down what is wrong to one thing, Peterson slips, Favre poor throw Peterson drops, Favre good throw, Berrien drops it. Punt.

Defence holds, Renaunt doesn't catch the ball (Come ON!) and we get lucky that Bear picks it up early or that might have gone 10 or more yards.

We need 7!!!

Oops 6, this isn't our game. (But it's still two scores to tie, so it isn't that big a deal)

OK it can't stop here. How about one of those patented Cutler meltdowns. (a boy can hope)

How did the refs miss that full extension block in the back at the point of the run, unbelievable!!!

That pass interference was crap, the replay clearly showed no holding going on.

Well, TSBR (Totally screwed by Refs) certainly applies on that drive for a Bears TD.

I'm done liveblogging until the end of the game!

Bottom Line- We lost the game. I don't feel that the Vikes in the end were really outplayed or even should have lost, but it is what it is thanks to Viking miscues and some poor Ref play.

One Last Note: The play of Antonie Winfield the past two weeks. Ouch! And where was Jared Allen, that boy has to step it up too.

Favre was clutch but a little bit lucky too, kind of like Cutler.

Must Win

I took it for granted last week that the Vikes would beat Carolina. Obviously I was quite wrong. I've been wrong about a number of football outcomes in the past couple of weeks. However, I don't think I am wrong to say tonight's Monday Night showdown with Da Bears is a must win. If the Vikes lose tonight than there is the very real potential of a train wreck of an ending to what looked to be a very good season. However if we win the next two games there is a very real potential for the season to end up in the Superbowl and that is just about as good any fan can hope for their team. You can't win the Superbowl if you don't get there and if you get there anything can happen; The New York football Giants proved that vs. the best team in NFL history.

To win we need the real Adrian Peterson and Brett Favre to show up, unlike those guys who showed up in our last two losses. Hopefully we will start fast and the game won't even be close.

Update: Started slow and were unable to reel it back all the way in at the end.

Skoal Vikings!!!

2nd Wow!

Thanks to a New Orleans choke @ home, the Vikes now actually have a realistic shot at home field advantage for the playoffs. I think that scenario is the only way the Vikes get to the Superbowl. It's a pity that the team didn't play better last week in Carolina because that game was winnable if the offence would have played up to par.

Update: Vikes loss at Chicago means NO gets home field throughout the NFC Championship Game.

Wow!

Maybe the Vikes getting killed in Carolina last week wasn't such a bad loss after all. The New York Giants who are fighting for a playoff spot in their final game ever at home in the Meadowlands and are getting blown out by the Panthers even worse than what happened to the Vikes last week. Maybe Carolina has just been woefully underperforming until the last couple of weeks.

Stupid Stupid Stupid

This is what is known as a "slat socket" they are used to anchor the bows that you use to hold up a boat cover. Unfortunatley the heavy snow we got Christmas day was to much for the top rim of two slat sockets that were holding the bows on my friend Pete's boat which we are storing outside at our place. When the metal top rims gave out the fiberglass bows ended up ripping holes in the boat cover. Not good at all.

When I looked at his boat yesterday everything seemed fine and it looked like the wind was helping to keep some snow from accumulating on the boat cover. Because of the depth of the snow in the yard I did not go over for a closer inspection. I am a bit surprized this happened because the snow we got up here while not powder was not super wet and heavy either. Apparently it was wet and heavy enough combined with the colder temps we experienced last night. I think the colder temps made the metal of the slat sockets brittle enough to give way.

This winter we are also storing The Trophy outside and I put two covers on it, but it's set up is pretty flat across the top. The double cover held up just fine.

Not that good.

I just got done watching the San Diego Chargers destroy the Titans in Nashville. I hate to say it but my Vikes are not that good. We have proven over the last three weeks that we cannot handle prime time away games when the other team plays well. The Vikes will get another chance this week vs. Da Bears, but Chicago is a bad team and we better be able to beat them.

If I'm the Colts I'm hoping somebody upsets the Chargers because they looked awesome.

Oh Yeah!

Have A Very Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Snow Storm

Well, Minnesocold is under a Winter Storm Watch for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The MPLS Star/Trib is hyping things big time.

My Christmas plans are to go down and see my nieces in Bloomington on Christmas day, but if things are bad that may get put off a day. If things are still bad on the 26th then things get put on hold until the New Year because my bro's family is headed to Florida.

Last Minute Stocking Stuffers for Bass Guys & Gals

I don't think you can go wrong with a rattle bait and almost ever tackle shop is going to carry at least one brand if not more. Pictured is theStrike King Red Eye Shad in the famous shade "Sexy Shad." Pretty much every size of these baits has it's place, so I don't have any size recommendations other than to say 3/8oz and up will cast a mile and covering water is a big part of this baits appeal.

Salmon Retriever

Hat Tip to Lunker Hunt:

While the video is fun to watch, it wouldn't surprize me if this was illegal and caution should be taken by dog owners to keep their dogs away from Salmon/Trout. Raw Salmon can give dogs a nasty and lethal infection.

Shake and Bake Win Again.

Mike & Jack once again prove why they are the hottest fishermen on ice, winning yet another Ultimate Panfish League Ice Fishing Tournament.

Cyberfish has a report with pictures @ MT Bucket. Mr. Humble does not reveal he won.

That was pathetic!

Vikings analysis:
NO it was not Brett Favre's fault.

Lousy Offensive Line play and frankly a poor effort on Defence.

Throw in an in opportune fumble on Sidney Rice's part and you have the second embarrassment in 3 weeks of football.

Chilly needs to get this team together for both of the next two weeks, because our level of play needs to increase dramatically over that "crapness" as my niece Devin would say.

Thank You Steelers!

I haven't heard anyone say it, but I believe the Green Bay loss clinches the NFC North.

Skoal Vikes!!!

Update: Vikings leading at half time 7-6. So far it has been a pretty lousy performance by the offence and that missed kick. By field position alone we should be up by at least 10 points.

Come on running game, show me something!!!

Ultimate Match Fishing Championship Round

I try to catch Ultimate Match Fishing Friday Nights on Outdoor Channel. It is now into the Championship Round with a match on Kentucky Lake between FLW pro's JT Kenney and David Dudley. Last night was the first part of the 2 part finally. With about 1/3 of the Match over as of right now Dudley is in the lead. Personally I am rooting for JT.

All I know is that they need to bring back Fish Fishburne every season.

You Gotta Meet Faith the Dog.

I came across the AP article Two-legged dog gives hope to disabled Army vets on Yahoo News and just had to share.

Faith the Dog has a blog

Cyberfish and Clusiau Are On Ice. Fisherbabe Holiday Greetings.

Report with Pics from Cyberfish @ MT Bucket...

Report with Pics from Life and Times in the Great Outdoors... True to Clusiau he has chopped up his report and pictures into many posts. To see them all you have to click on "Older Posts" when you get to the bottom of the page.

That bonnie lass the Fisherbabe is offering holiday greetings by video...

What To Buy A Bass Fisherman For Christmas Part 3

A Lucky Craft Pointer 100 is THE jerkbait. You can get them for $14.99 at Tackle Warehouse.


However, if pike are a factor where your bass fisherman lives, then you might want to consider getting them a couple of Rapala X-Raps instead because they are around $7 a lure.

Note: I have caught more fish on X-Raps than on Lucky Craft Pointers. However, I only have 1 Pointer and bought it last Spring. I have lots of X-Raps and have been fishing them for several years.

Live Blogging Vikes vs. Bengals

No Percy- Not Good

Winfield back- Personally would rather have Percy, if I had the choice.

Shencoe drops ball.

Favre throws pick- Ugh

Winfield is IN THE GAME!

Come on, lets get AP crankin'

Come on, catch the ball Berrein (Man was that lucky)

Farve you just should have run, stupid penalty.

End of quarter- I miss Percy.

The pass protection on that 3rd down, sucked! Sack!

It's good! I miss Percy and I think Brett does too.

Winfield- DOH!!

Nice return and thanks for the 15!

AP turns on the jets!

So close Sidney!!!

Favre eludes rush, touchdown!!! HUGE!

Lets Go D!

Not good, swiss cheese Defence 10-7.

Favre with sneak, that was big.

I guess 3 is better than nothing, especially when we get the ball to start the 2nd half.

Ha! Beautiful- It's just too bad Greenway didn't scoop that baby up and run it to the house.

And it's a 9 point lead. HUGE!

Halftime over was eating wings.

Huge touchdown by AP.

To bad that was no fumble.

Home field advantage, STUFF.

Lets put this thing away

3 and out, that sucked!

Long run but not a disaster, Come on field goal or turnover!

Another brutal penalty call, come on refs, this is football. What is he supposed to do, not hit him at all?

Fieldgoal, I will take that.

Come on O about 8 minutes off the clock or how about a Reanaut TD return?

3 and out, Brutal. Brett you have to make that throw, Chester had the 1st down easy.

How about some home field advantage?

Yeah baby, 3 and Out!

It's time to put this thing away ALL DAY!

That drive was a thing of beauty!!! Execution leads to execution.

It's nice of the Bengals to concede the game like that. Home field advantage!!!

FYI my fantasy team is smashmouth this week.

Come on Bears, upset those crackers! Oops that game is OVER.

Victory is Achieved!!! Just give us the NFC North Division crown, now.

Vikes Biggest Game of the Regular Season

Yes I said it and I believe it.

If we win this game I think we can pretty much guarantee an NFC North Division Title and the NFC's #2 Seed with first round bye and 2nd Round home game. If we do not win the Vikes are on the precipice of a collapse that could cost them the #2 Seed and possibly even the Division title.

The Vikes need to bring playoff intensity to this one.

Skoal Vikes!!!

What To Buy A Bass Fisherman For Christmas Part 2

I'm going with the Sebile Magic Swimmer because this is something I would like someone to buy me. The Sebile has an outstanding reputation but comes with a somewhat expensive price tag for a lure. You can get them for $15 to $20

Here are the sizes and model #'s
Magic Swimmer 95 3-3/4" 3/8oz Slow Sink
Magic Swimmer 110 4.5" 3/4oz Fast Sink
Magic Swimmer 125 5" 3/4oz Slow Sink
Magic Swimmer 165 6.5" 1.5oz Slow Sink
Magic Swimmer 228 9" 4oz Slow Sink

For Northern Strain Bass and Smallmouth I wouldn't recommend going bigger than the 110.

What to Buy A Bass Fisherman For Christmas Part 1

One of the most versatile lures in a bass anglers tackle box is a swim jig. It can be fished horizontally or vertically from top to bottom.

You may want to inquire if your bass fisherman has a prefered brand of swim jig and if they do, buy that brand.

If they don't have a favorite or you don't want to tip them off than I recommend.

Outkast Pro Swim Jigs

Brovarney Swim Jig

Super K Swim Jigs

Bass Pro Shops Tom Monsoor Swim Jig

The standard size is 1/4oz and I don't recommend going any smaller

For a jig trailers I recommend

Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craws

Zoom Super Speed Craw

Action Plastics 5" Super Mag Grub
Action also has other grub sizes that you can buy in bulk.

Sunny Sailor Boy-Luka Bloom

A good tune for a cold, snowy, windy winter day.

ArmyBassAnglers.com

ArmyBassAnglers.com

Blog Party!

Yesterday my Sitemeter hit counter topped 50,000. I think about 40% of that total came in 2009.

Thank You to all my loyal readers and everyone else who stops in.

MN Fishing Blog For You To Check Out

Journal of a Minnesota Angler- I'm going to blogroll this one as a BassNblog even though he is more of a multi-species guy than bass addict. He has tabs for pike and walleye but not bass. However, he has about as many bass fishing posts as either pike or walleye and he has several pictures with bass and that's good enough for me. This blogger has a thing for Zoom Super Flukes.

Unusual Fishing and Ice Rescue

Glyndon angler stranded on icy lake near Perham...

A few years ago Cyberfish and I were out in his boat on Shakopee Lake near Mille Lacs in late November. I believe we had to break ice to get out on the lake. We stayed until after dark when the whole lake started freezing up on us. Cyb had almost no gas left and that boat landing is hard to find in the dark without a spotlight or gps. The Lord was with us or we were not getting off the lake that night.

Speaking of ice. I believe Platte is now iced up and probably safe for foot traffic, if you are really careful, with the cold weather we have had the last few days.

No word yet on whether or not Cyberfish is on the hard stuff.

Thoughts On Vikes Cards

Post-Game: It was not good to see the Vikes get dominated. The Steelers game was a lot closer than the final score reflected, this game was worse than the final score reflected.

We really need to crank up the running game down the stretch and tonight's performance was horrible. We have been seeing far to many runs that go nowhere or backward the last few weeks. We have been compensating with excellent pass protection, but that didn't seem to be the case tonight.

It was good to see the Defence come back with a fairly good performance in the 2nd half.

In my view it is far more important that we win next week vs. the Bengals than it was to win this week vs. the Cards. I knew if the Cards came with their A game than it was going to be very tough to win and would require the Vikes best game of the year. Favre was definitely off his game tonight and so we had no shot IMO. Things were just compounded in that AP added little running the ball.

If the Vikes lose next week, it may be time to hit the

...on our play-off chances.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right Now it's half-time and we are down 21-10.

With the New Orleans come from behind victory today I think tonights game is a lot less crucial. I don't expect New Orleans to lose with their semi-easy schedule and I think the Vikes are probably going to lose at least 1 or 2 with our tough end of the year schedule. We just need to cruise in with the #2 seed. We can lose tonight and do that.

The Bad: Tonight it looks like our secondary is getting exposed. Not good when you consider the teams we might have to play in the playoffs (NO, Cards, Eagles and Pack) We need Winfield back, bad.

Shout Out

I just got a comment on that Facebook post from Wolfy of the blog flowing waters. They were kind of enough to link to Bass Pundit on the blogroll. Although it looks like the blog is a lot more diverse than just bass fishing, I'm putting it as a BassNblog anyway. It looks like that blog is doing something right as they have had almost 15,000 visits in a little over a year in existence. He just had a giveaway of some awesome bass fishing tackle. He is going to have another giveaway of a "Big Game package." So check it our and get entered for that giveaway.

Wow I just found out that Hojin of the blog Rattletrap Ramblings missed going to the Bassmasters Classic through the Bass Weekend Series by .22lbs Great Job!

What is a Blind? I found this blog post by Sport Smith to be highly entertaining, especially when he got into the theology of hunting:
It can be a place of worship. If you have never been accosted by your wife, mother or girlfriend over missing Sunday morning church, you probably aren't a hunter, or else you come from a family of atheists. Next time you catch that look when you are preparing camouflage on Saturday night, just remind the would be protagonist that watching the sunrise with a light breeze to your back (for you duck hunters, to your face for you deer hunters) and listening to the sounds of Gods creation, as it wakes to a new day, that you couldn't be any closer to God. Remind her that the Bible says we were put here to rule over his creation and that your Remington is the only way you know to carry out God's great plan for us.

Kind of reminds me of friend Tom Goodrich who said "a fathead minnow has no higher calling than to be cracked in the cranium by your fish hook."

Thinking About Starting A Bass Fishing Blog?

If you are let me suggest you check out the Outdoor Bloggers Summit blog.

Here is their Mission Statement:
The Outdoor Bloggers Summit will do the following:
Support conservation efforts and positively portray the value of outdoor pursuits
Encourage and support the efforts of existing outdoor bloggers
Offer incentive and support for new bloggers who might wish to blog about the outdoors
Unite the voices of bloggers so we can speak as one about critical issues that affect outdoor pursuits.
Provide a clearinghouse for information about outdoor pursuits

I have just barely looked into what they offer at this point, but what I have seen so far is really good stuff. If you are thinking about doing an Bass Fishing Blog or any type of Outdoors related blogging, you should check this place out.

Also if you are going to start or have started a Bass Fishing Blog be sure to let me know so I can get you on the blogroll.

Facebook

I spent the better part of yesterday into this morning (it's now 1:40AM) diving into the bass fishing world on Facebook. I've been on Facebook for a couple of months now and pretty much restricted myself to keeping in touch with friends and family. But today for whatever reason I jumped on the bandwagon of friending certain select fellow bass fisherpeople, some of whom I know and some not. I also ended up joining a bunch of Groups and Pages as well. As I stumbled along I did some blog promotion and as a result my blog traffic yesterday was the highest it's been in more than a month, but that isn't saying much.

I think if I had the day over again, I would have started a separate Bass Pundit Facebook account because I don't think much of my blogging is of much interest to friends and family and what I "Share" with friends and family probably isn't too interesting to the fishing people. I may end up starting a separate Bass Pundit FB account anyway or I could do what BassFishingDem and Rich Lindgren have done which is to do a "Page" dedicated to the blog.

Something to think about.

MN Bass Fishing Blogger to Compete on FLW Tour

If I am reading this right it seems Minnesocold Fishing Guide Matt Peters will be on the FLW Tour this year. It's possible that Matt could have won the BP Bass Derby this year had he been diligent about anouncing weights and length of fish and specified that he caught them. He caught a 7lber this summer. You can check out pictures of the Brutus bass he caught this summer at his blog FishwithMatt.com.

Hmmm

I had something I was going to write about today, but I forgot What? it was.

In case you haven't been paying attention, like I haven't, Boyd Duckett is doing some new things on the web. I am not sure if he will be chucking his old blog, because it looks like he started a new one along with a main BoydDuckett.com website. Anyway maybe you have not heard that Boyd has started up his own fishing rod company called Duckett Fishing. I think he intends to expand beyond rods at some point. His new rods are going to be called “MicroMagic” and are designed around the concept of "microguides" whatever that means.

Good Luck Boyd.

Rapala's New Lure- Flat Rap

First there was the Fat Rap, now we have yet another Rapala Minnow/Jerkbait named the Flat Rap. I presume it is named thus because of mostly flat sides to the lure. No I have not seen one in person yet. Apparently they are 3 and 1/8th inch long and will retail for over $8.00 per pop (if Landbigfish.com prices are accurate). You can see the color schemes here at Landbigfish.com..

To be honest I don't see myself buying any of these because I have plenty of similar Rapala lures that I'm pretty sure would work just as well. I will be curious to see if this one takes off with so many Rapala jerkbaits already on the market. It says the lure is for 2010 and online I can only find them at Landbigfish.com and Ebay. I don't know if they are in stores, for Christmas or not.

Anyway in my research of the lure it turns out their is a blog dedicated to Rapala's off of the RapalaNation.com website. If you click on that link it will take you to their blog about the Flat Rap and other New lures from back on July 3rd. Whoever does that blog is quite tech savy.

Will the BP Ice Fish this Winter?

As my regular blog readers probably know, I have not gone ice fishing at all over the past two winters. The fact is that I just have not missed going very much. At this time I am not ready to make a firm commitment one way or the other.

I suspect it all might depend on how much of a craving I have to eat crappies.

Fantasy Football Come from behind victory!

Drew Brees exploded and Tom Brady imploded and I came back from a huge deficit to win in fantasy football this week. I was helped by the 2 Maroney touchdowns as well. In the end it wasn't even that close at 109 to 92.

Vikes Bears Recap & FF

Purple Pride! Purple Pride! as old Red liked to say.

That was the kind of game I like, Viking Domination just like last week.

I figure this win pretty much should have wrapped up the Division Championship. Our remaining schedule isn't a cake walk, but the Packers have some tough games too and we own the tie breaker.

I think the next couple of games will tell a lot about the team's prospects for playoff success. At this point I am not holding out much hope of home field advantage throughout the playoffs. I think New Orleans only loses 1 or goes undefeated and I would be shocked if the Vikes went 15-1.

It would be nice if we can get Winfield back for next week against the pass happy Cardinals and AP has to stop his fumbling routine.

MinnesocoldBPboys Fantasy Update: I have 4 players in tonights Monday Night Football game. I am behind by quite a bit right now and my opponent for the week still has Tom Brady and Jeremy Shockey yet to play. Basically it will take a miracle for me to win this week.

Fishing Hype has a story

Brian "Fishing Hype" Brown has blogged about his 25th Place finish at the Bass Weekend Series Championship @ Dardanelle

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

5 Year Blogirthday (Last Friday)

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

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

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

Somethings

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

Vikes Hawks Recap & Fantasy Football

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

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

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

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

Vikes vs. Seahawks @ the Dome

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

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

Ha Ha Ha Cheeseheads

Detainees at Camp in Iraq Use Favre To Tease Wisconsin Soldiers

Hmmm

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

A missive

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

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

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

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

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

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

Total= 28.92lbs

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

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

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

Vikings Lions Win Analysis

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

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

Skoal Vikings!

Yes I did get out!

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

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

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

Could it be?

Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs...

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

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

La-de-dah!

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

New ETF: Sometime after the Vikings game tommorrow.

This Just In (to me...)

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

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

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

Pete and I

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

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

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

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

I was wrong.

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

Now I have no clue when fishing might happen.

Mille Lacs Fishing- What!!!

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

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

Good Bye

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

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

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

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

Yesterday Report

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

FYI- Gander Mountain Brainerd/Baxter

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

90% Plus Chance

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

Japan BassNblog

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

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

Some MN bloggers on big bluegill

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

A Victory!!! Favre Takes Two From Packers

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

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

Skoal Vikings!!!



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

A feeling

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

Question:

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

No predictions on whether or not we can hang on.

Brian Robison

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

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

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

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

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

Vikes vs. The Pack Part 2

Do you think Farve will do the Lambert Leap?

Skoal Vikings!!!

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

Why Not!

I couldn't find any fishing ghosts or pumpkins.

Not Gonna Do It (Maybe)

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

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

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

It sells at Tackle Warehouse for $200

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

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

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

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

Bait Monkey Attack

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe Mille Lacs Walleye today???

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

Fall Walleye on Mille Lacs???

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

Hellabass reports the bass are in a funk...

While Ikeslayer seems to be catching a few...

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

Vikings Lose to Steelers

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

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

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

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

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

A few casts...

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

Update

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

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

Brutal on Platte/Sullivan for the Range Bassmasters

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

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

How much do I want to fish?

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

Pam Martin-Wells to 2010 Bassmasters Classic

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

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

Good Luck at the Classic Pam.