From Harris to St. John's.

This is my first season doing fantasy fishing.  So far, I haven't much to complain about.  My Classic picks were ho-hum, but four of my guys made the final cut at the Harris Chain.  I'm pretty psyched about that.  I haven't really talked about my picks much because I don't really have a lot of time to really come up with any sort of strategy other than making picks based on consistency.  So, I'll break down my Harris picks and talk a little about St. Johns.

Harris:

A)  KVD - Picked because he whooped my be-hind at the classic and really, there are few as consistent as this guy.
B)  Bobby Lane- Local stick.  I was disappointed with how it turned out, but that's why it's called fishing and it happens.
C)  Rick Clunn- Honestly, I had no clue who to pick.  Clunn just stood out in that bucket.
D)  Chris Lane- Same as Bobby, except performed way better.
E)  JVD- I was on the fence between Palaniuk and JVD.  Swapped them Wednesday night before I went to bed.  It was a pure gamble that paid off nicely.

St. Johns preliminary picks:

A)  KVD - Cookies.  I've got nothing else to say.
B)  Scroggins - I'm not sure where he's actually from, BASS says Palatka and Bassfan says San Mateo which is supposed to be farther downstream near Jacksonville (depending on which website you choose for maps because Yahoo puts it 10 minutes out of Palatka).  But I do know one thing, the last Bass open there, he placed 7th in.  He's got very local knowledge, a positive record, and will have his own bed to sleep in.  Now.  Here is where the bait-monkey shows up with a nice shiny wrench to throw into the works.  Shaw.  This will mostly likely be a bed fishing show - supermoon style.  After Harris, do you really want to bet against him in favor of someone who finished nine places behind?
C)  I'm still not sure who so I'm going to say Clunn again
D)  I'm between Lane and Thliveros but I'm leaning toward P-T.  They're both locals but P-T won here a while back so that gives me some confidence.  But here's the catch:  He won that in mid-January.  No spawn then and it's been fairly widely acknowledged that this will also be a bed tourny.  How well does he do with site fishing?  Well, let's just say that the Harris event has made me a little leery of jumping in the 'gator infested canals with P-T.
E)  JVD  I'm fairly set on this one.  He placed third in the same open event on the St. Johns that P-T won, and given his performance at Harris, I'm willing to take another swing here.

So there you have it.  I have two picks that I'm solid on (and I don't care how hard you roll your eyes.  They both have cookies.) and three that I'm really soft on.  I'll likely spend the remainder of tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday second guessing myself going over stats and trying to find out more about the river itself  but the biggest theme seems to be this:  bed fishing.  As a side note, interestingly, Shaw only has 5.2% ownership as of this writing.  If he promises to bring more pork chop sandwiches....

Odd Finds In Odd Places

It's rare when a posting on a fishing blog starts with "This morning, while grocery shopping", but this is one of them.  You see, I live way out here.  I like it, one of the cool things is that we have a super Walmart -quit rolling your eyes...-.  I usually cruise by the sporting goods section just because I can and noticed that they had changed the layout of the fishing section.

I grunted a little, that indifferent, lackadaisical response that says "Dang.  I'm going to have to go through it all again" in one cohesive sound.  I started moving on and a yellow box caught my eye.  It said Strike King.  Square bill.  1.5.  KVD  "I thought these were sold out everywhere".  So, I decided for $5.5something that I'd pick a few up.  I wasn't planning on picking up any cranks until the Northwest Sportshow in March/April so it was completely spur of the moment, but it goes to show you that when everyone else is sold out that you can find things where you least expect them.

Winter Bassin' - Minnesota Style

Most of Minnesota's water is ice locked. On the local lakes we had 20" of ice and probably a little more after the cold this past week. So, obviously, there aren't many places to scratch that open water itch.

Well, I wasn't ready to put down the long rod in favor of my ice sticks so I decided to do some searching. You see videos of guys hitting open water spots in the dead of winter and figure "there are only so many places that can happen at".  So I did some research and read a few forums and for a while the only thing I could find was pool 2  (edit- I meant to say pool 4) on the Mississippi.  That's a long way to go from my town so I kept looking.  I finally found a spot that's only a little over an hour away.

My first trip out was 1/3/11.  I forgot my waders at home so I was hoping the water would be drawn down a little bit so there would be a bit of shoreline to walk.  When I arrived, no luck, water was high and the surface current looked pretty quick.  So I fished from the launch and managed to land a couple decent smallies.  The first smallies I've caught that are worth mentioning, in fact, seeing as how I've only typically fished waters containing only largemouth, or very minimal amounts of smallmouth.

My second trip was 2/11/11.  I remembered to grab my waders and grabbed my muck boots, just in case.  It's a good thing I did because when I tried to put my waders on, I found that my socks and thermals were too thick and I couldn't get my feet into them.  On with the muck boots and so with the fishing.  I had far better luck this time.

I walked upstream a little ways from the launch and threw upstream toward the main channel.  I started popping it slow, crawling along the bottom.  Rock.  Snaaaag!  Crap.  Walked back toward the launch site and manage to shake it free.  I bet that photographer that was camped out in the Dodge was having fun watching that.  Heh.

Back at it I go.  Except I'm noticing different texture than my first trip.  Mud bottom with a transition to a rocky-sandy-rubblish-whateveritwas.  That's where I was getting my hits.  Not in the eddies, but on that transition.  Pull it up, stop it, shake it and crawl it.  Bite.  Nice.

I had ten smallies in three hours, a mixed bag of runts and a few pretty nice ones. We won't talk about the missed fish or the ones that got off.  We'll chalk that up to "operator error", learn, and get better.

But all things come to a close and this was also my last open water -and bass- trip of the season.  You see, our season closes at the end of the month, but I'm fresh out of days off during the week and from what I've heard this spot can be a zoo during the weekend, and that just doesn't turn my crank.  So I'm solely on the ice now and looking forward to some new friends coming up from Missouri for some ice fishing over the seasons closing weekend.  That's always a good time.

Here are a couple photos from my recent open water winter excursions.

1/3/11

2/11/11

It's Pitchin'.

The one technique that probably gave me the most trouble when I start using it was pitching.  You know how it's supposed to go.  Raise the end of the rod tip from down to up and the bait flies a mile and barely makes a ripple when it enters the water.

How it actually went:  Whip the end of the rod too high, too fast and watch the practice plug get tangled in the tree limbs overhead, or maybe circle around completely and whap you in the back of the head!

I'm  a visual kind of guy, you can tell me how to do it until the Earth runs out of oxygen, but unless I can see it and combine the two, forget about it.  Fortunately, there have been a few videos that have helped me...  refine... my technique, and I wanted to share those with you.

This is the first video that really helped me put it together.



These last two were put out after I was more comfortable with the technique, and after the welts on the back of my head had healed.  They still have some helpful information.

Guitars and Fishing Rods...?

I'll bet you never thought that guitars and fishing rods ever had anything in common.  Well, that would be true when you look at it on paper.

Guitars:
Made of wood

Rods:
Made of graphite or fiberglass.

Guitars:
Heavy and unbalanced.

Rods:
Generally are light and I'd be willing to bet that you could probably balance some of them on a pin head.

Though they are not so different when it comes to picking one out.  When a musician goes to their local music shop with the intent to purchase a new axe, it can be an hours long - yet incredibly fun experience.  First, you walk up and down the rows, taking in the scent of wood and polish, and finally pick something based on how it looks.  Then you play it for a while.  It either feels right or it doesn't, and God help you if you buy a guitar that doesn't...

Maybe I'm over complicating things and I'm dragging my music experience, kicking and screaming, into my fishing.  But let's look at the other side of the coin.

I mean, have you ever gone to Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop, grabbed the first casting stick you see and go line up at the check out?  No way!  You stand there and play with it a little bit first.  Maybe push the end against the floor, check the balance, maybe even shake the tip in the air, make the motion of a cast, etc...  Same thing as with the guitar, if the feel isn't there, you'll put it back. 

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that with all the different rod makers out there, how do you choose?  Do you let price dictate you decision?  Sometimes, but you can also get some pretty decent rods for under $100.  I picked up an Abu Garcia Vendetta last season for fishing in heavy cover, but I wouldn't use the rod for cranking because it doesn't feel right, the weight is funny for long casts. 

That said, should you make your decision based only on feel (like one might with a guitar)?  That depends on your wallet and whether you can get permission from your significant other!  Some of the rods that feel perfect to me usually make me turn white with sticker shock when I look at the price tag!  But my favorite rod is still the first baitcasting rod I got when I got into bassin, a stout yet sensitive stick that cost $70 off the rack.

So you see, the Casual Basser has to pull a little from each criteria.  I'd love to put the blinders on and go based on feel alone, but my wallet (and wife) says "I don't think so".

That's my process of picking out a new rod, how about you?

How It All Started.

Passion starts somewhere.  A little flicker of a glowing ember in a darkened void yearning to be stoked into a flame and, eventually, a fire.

I don't remember if it was Wired2Fish or Bass Brigade that had asked the question on their Facebook page asking when you got passionate about bass fishing.  I didn't answer the question then, but I knew when.  Exactly.

I remember my first largemouth like it was yesterday.  Every major holiday weekend, my family, grandparents, uncle and aunt, and some friends would spend time at a campground up north in between Osakis and Alexandria in Minnesota.  I was eight years old and it was 4th of July weekend.  We had just finished launching the boat and getting it back to the public dock, only to find that it was full.  Thankfully, one of the permanent campers, Ted, was kind enough to let us use his dock

I was heading down to the boat later that afternoon to fish for pannies, because that's what eight year olds did on the dock.  We fished for sunfish.  I was sitting there having a fine time watching that red and white bobber float around in my little piece of water and the lack of a bite naturally led to me being curious about other things.  That's when I saw him.  A largemouth bass tucked underneath the dock that I was sitting next to, not a foot and a half away from me.  I reeled in my rig and started digging around in the tackle box that my Grandfather had given me and put on a round head jig and a mangled old cream colored plastic worm.

When I finished all this, I looked again and the bass was gone, I must have spooked him with all the racket I was making.  Well ok then.  I went back to the camper for supper and came back the next day.  There he was again.  So I dropped the bait right in front of him, and I mean inches.  Nothing.  I shook it, moved it, whatever.  Nothing.  Just when I had given up, WAM!  Scared the hell out of me and I nearly dropped my rod in the lake!  But he wasn't hooked.  I kept this up for a little longer, replaying the same situation except this time I got him.  I don't know how big he was, but when you're eight, everything is huge.  But it was fun to catch him! 

This isn't where my passion started though.  Not yet, no, this was just the ember.  Fast forward 18 years.

I married my best friend, Jess, in 2005.  In 2007, we were lucky enough to have the resources and time to travel to Louisiana to spend Christmas and New Years with much of her side of the family.  I was told "bring your fishing pole", so I did.  One of my wife's uncle and aunt's have a little place on one of the lakes near Vacherie that is tucked into a network of canals.  The first thing that was truly weird to me is that it was the weekend after Christmas, and I was fishing.  In open water.  I'm from Minnesota, and most of us spend our winters staring down a hole in the ice wondering how we can snag the the six pack we just kicked through the hole!

The afternoon we arrived was hot and sticky.  I've never felt humidity like that.  Holy crap!  We tied on 1/4 oz. beetlspin type baits.  We caught a few the first day, but not many.  A cold front had come through overnight and our second day was "cold".  But the bite was just on fire.  The fish were right up against the wooden retaining walls looking for warmth, but they were willing to chase your bait down.  On one of my last retrieves, I had bruiser follow just behind.  Immediately I repeat my cast a few more times, hoping to coax a hit but with no luck.  That's fine, I'll be sure to find him again next time we're down.  But it sure would have been nice to see him up close.

That is when my passion flickered from an ember, to a flame.  A weekend spent walking the shoreline along a canal in Louisiana.

Most Productive of 2010.

Here in MN, most of our water is now locked underneath 6+ inches of ice.  It's time to reflect on the year that is now in the books and to look forward to what's to come once the water thaws and bass season reopens in May. 

This year, because of my penchant for screwing around with different baits and presentations, I fished a little bit of everything.  Frogs, poppers, cranks, spinnerbaits, plastics, jigs, just about everything.  But one stood out as my top producer this year that really surprised me.

The Lake Fork Ring Fry, was by far my top bait.  I say it surprised me because I've never felt very confident with plastics before.  I've always been a spinnerbait guy.  Always.  Period.  I haven't used the Ring Fry until this year and I think that the pungent scent of the bait (it stinks garlicky good though) and the ribbed body made the difference between this and the other plastics I've fished.

I was able to use it in a variety of ways, but my two most common was as a weightless worm on a 4/0 EWG hook and the other, of course, was wacky rigged.  What really caught my attention with the wacky rig was when I popped it, I could feel the bait vibrate, which was huge for me because the water that I fished the most could be called very stained on its best day.  I think that is also the reason it outfished the Senko.

Another thing I noticed in clearer water is that the fall rate was a little bit slower, but the "wiggle" was a little bit faster compared to the Senko.  I'm not sure how much of a difference that really made, but add the vibration from popping it off the bottom and I've seen fish come from 20 yards away to eat the thing while sight fishing in the spring.

One thing I'm already thinking about for next year is giving this drop shot rig a try with this bait.  I think it would make an interesting combination.