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.