It's been a while!!!

So sorry it's been a while since my last post. Maybe I should change the website from yourbasspro.com to youreverythingbutbasspro.com. Last weekend we fished the last regular season tournament for the "fishers of men"trail on Lake Erie. Considering that all we had to do was show up to make it to regionals, we looked at the day as a practice day for the regional tournament that is being held on lake Erie in two weeks. Although we went into the tournament with the mindset that we were just practicing, we surely wanted to catch more than on lousy fish.

A bad day, but still better than a sharp stick in your eye.

Stay tuned, in the next couple weeks I will journal the practice and preparation for our final big tournament of the year.

Wonderland Marine West Open Tournament

Last weekend was the 9th annual Wonderland tournament out of Erie Metro park near Flat Rock Michigan. This event brings out the best once a year for a winner take all team event. For the last 4 years, Nick and I have had average to slightly above average results. This year fortunately we were able to finish 16th out of about 110 boats. Our best finish yet for this tournament but still somewhat bittersweet. When you get as close as we have been this year, it's somewhat hard to swallow b/c it's been a while since we have experienced a win.

Mother Nature brought us 5 foot waves and cooler than normal temperatures, our decision to optimize our fishing time by staying close to the ramp turned out to be an extremely wise one. About half way through the day, we took a wave over the front of the boat that nearly caused me to lose balance and go in myself. If it hadn't been for quick thinking to immediately fall on my butt, I would have been swimming. One of the coolest things I experienced actually happened in the same conditions the day before. My buddy Craig Deck and I were pre-fishing when I hooked about a 12 lb sheephead. He asked me if I needed the net and I told not to worry about it. I simply timed the waves just right and when the peak of the wave went higher than the gunnel of the boat I slid the fish on the deck. Craig was amazed!! Plus he had just caught his first drop-shot fish so he was already in a good mood. Think GOD, because his tournament day turned out to be a nightmare, but we won't elaborate on that.

Above is a picture of my little boy Spencer. He was trying on my fishhedz mask while I was vacuming the boat last night. There was so much standing water that I had to empty Dad's 5 gallon shop vac four times.

This Saturday I have a Fishersofmen tournament on Erie as well. Wish me luck!!

Non-Fishing Weekend

Last weekend we were blessed to be able to go on a camping/canoeing trip with a group of my best friends. We canoed the upper platte river in Honor Michigan. Everyone had a great time!! I can honestly say that If I wasn't fishing, camping would be the next best thing to me! Attached is a picture of the beautiful women that joined us, our wives.

You win some, You lose some...

Last weekend we had an opportunity to go to lake Erie in the Loraine, Vermillion area and prefish for the upcoming BFL. What a bust. Unfortunately we only caught a handfull of smallies and a boat full of Drum (Sheephead, Poorman's lobster, etc) You can't go out and catch them good everytime. Lesson learned!!!

Another good Article about a father daughter trip to lake St. Clair

Guys and Gals, You must go to www.bassproz.com to read the article about Cecil Cole and his daughter Cierra. Cecil is a well known fisherman from the east side of the state. Whenever he has a chance, he takes his daughter with him. In this instance, he fished with her in a fishers of men tournament. It is a really good article, and another example of why it is important to introduce youngsters to the sport of fishing.

The reason why I fish...

As a youngster, my dad fished every weekend. I always knew that there was a spot in the boat for me. He never pushed me to go, but always invited me. I never will forget the gleam in his eyes when I would catch a big one. Because he never forced me, I never lost interest in the sport. While on vacation as a kid, while he was on the boat, I often times fished from shore and anticipated him coming back to take me.

Not too many kids these days are interested in fishing as much as the one I met over memorial weekend.
At about 6 in the evening the day before our the BBT memorial 100, Nick and I were looking for spawners and Nick took me to a channel which he said usually has fish. "There is a catch", he said. "The cove that I am going to take you in usually has a sprinkler on keeping fisherman out. This little boy's dad keeps the sprinkler on all day until him and his friends have a chance to fish for the bedding bass that lay all throughout this cove."

As we rounded the bend, sure enough, the sprinkler was on. Knowing how determined Nick is, he went under the sprinkler and found the mother load of keeper bass. About 4 to be exact. All of them around 2 - 3 pounds. About 3 minutes in the cove, out came the boy's dad to talk and describe why he keeps this sprinkler on. Little did he know that Nick talked to him 2 years ago about the same thing. The gentleman was extremely nice and asked that we don't catch them because of his son David who is an avid outdoors men. He said that his son would be back in a minute and would love to talk fishing with us. He even went out of his way to ask us if we wanted a cold drink. Although we were both really thirsty, we kindly declined on his offer but told him that if he can get his son out by the time we double back from fishing the remainder of the channel, we would love to give him a few baits and talk with him. In the back of my mind, I surely thought with a little barter, we might get them sprinklers off for the tournament the next day.

As we turned around to head out of the channel, out came David with a grin from ear to ear. We talked to him quite a bit and even offered the bounty to possibly fish his cove the next day. Nick offered him a 7'0" American Eagle baitcasting rod and a pinnacle reel (the exact combo that he lost over the side of the boat 3 weeks later) in return to fish his spot in the morning. David rubbed his hands together like he was making a business deal, thought about it pretty hard, but decided against it. We told him that even though we were going to stay away from his spot, we couldn't promise him others would do the same. He still agreed that his friends would be really mad at him if he let us catch all of the fish out of his little honey hole. David's Dad again invited us in their home to talk fishing, and perhaps get something to eat or drink. We obviously couldn't deny them twice so we went in to take a tour of their home, which was absolutely beautiful. We exchanged numbers, used their facilities, and were off on the water to launch the boat before it got dark.

The next day we entered their channel to fish another spot and saw two tournament anglers get under the sprinkler and catch a few of David's pet fish. I didn't quite feel sorry for David by the end of the day though. We shortly ran in to him and his Dad in another marina where David was catching anything he could put his eyes on. While Nick and I only had 2 fish in the boat. Attached is a picture of his stringer from that day. He himself could have cashed a check during that tournament.


David is the reason why I fish. I can only hope that my little Spencer grows up to be just like him. I sure know that I will sleep better at night with him in his bed, excited to get up and fish with me in the morning. Now I realize why my Dad had that gleam in his eyes while fishing with me.

Detroit River Open 2008

Saturday the 21st of June was the much anticipated Detroit River Open put on by NBAA (National Bass Anglers Association). The tournament morning started like many for Nick and I. We stopped and got some snacks for the boat, listened to some good music and proceeded to talk strategy for the day. When we arrived at the ramp, much to our surprise, we drew boat #1 out of 98. To add to the excitement, most of the states big names were in attendance including last years FLW winner Steve Clapper. We launched at 7am and had a 15lb limit by 8:30am. The only mistake we made was not to leave that spot sooner. IT IS SO HARD TO LEAVE BITING FISH!!! By 11am we finally decided that we couldn't get any bigger fish from our spot and we had to make a move. Our second spot was nothing more than a large flat in about 10ft of water with a weed bed in it the size of our boat. On about my 3rd cast with my chrome and blue rattle trap I hooked and landed a 4 pounder. From 11:30 until 2pm we proceeded to upgrade (by ounces) every fish in our live well. Nick had a little honey hole were he caught about 6 fish in a row, including our biggest fish of the day. Needless to say, he was in a zone for about a 1/2 hour, kind of like a dog on point.:) At 2:15 we made a decision to leave and head back towards the launch ramp leaving us considerable time to maybe find that elusive 5 pounder that haunted us. Fortunately for us, that decision turned into the best one of the day. We only had about 20 miles to run but about half way down we started to see flashes of lightning and hear rumbles of thunder coming from what looked like the mouth of the Detroit river, right where we were headed. We stopped for a few moments, put our rain gear on and battoned down the hatches. Whenever you are on a body of water like Lake St. Clair, you have to respect the fact that it can turn ugly extremely fast whenever there is a hint of bad weather, and that my friends is exactly what happened. With about 20 minutes until we had to be back, our thoughts of upgrading our limit turned to concern about making it in, in time. The area from just before windmill point to the lauch at St. Jeans had a visibility of about 40 feet and winds kicking up to around 40 mph. It was extremely hard to see let alone not worry about other boats seeing you. We had about 10 minutes and an 1/8th of a mile to go when it decided to pelt us with nickel sized hail. I hunkered down while Nick had to keep his head up and eyes peeled on the surroundings. Thank GOD for gps or at any moment we may have hit ground or worst yet even something on shore. Fortunately for us we made it in with about 2 minutes left although 18 teams did not make it back in time and were disqualified from the tournament. Although I feel for the teams that did not get back in time, I also respect them for not trying to push it and risk their lives as well as others. At the end of the day, we finished 3 pounds out of the lead and ended up in 19th place. This tournament, like many others this year is somewhat bittersweet. We did have a great time and the adrenaline rush from that storm will last with me forever. They say, hind sight is 20/20 but we were only 2 giant smallies from winning a new boat and I am confident that if we would have went to that second spot sooner, we may have caught them. Tournament fishing is all about making the right decisions and in a tournament like that one, you have to go for broke because second place is like kissing your sister. We gave it our all and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Fathers Day!!

To all of those Dads out there reading this site. Have a great Day.

Next week we will be practicing for the Detroit River open. I will post some reports as soon as I get back.

Muskegon Recap

First of all, let me apologize to everyone folowing this site for my lack of posts lately!!! Things have been quite busy between fishing, work, and dreaded honey do's.

Our tour of Michigan didn't quite go as well as planned. The first stop in Saginaw bay went okay, but we uncovered a trolling motor problem that ended up hurting us for the whole weekend. We ended up weighing 19lbs of smallies, good enough for another top 10. Primarily all of our fish were caught on rattle traps in about a foot and a half of water. Saturday night we began our pre fishing for our muskegon tournament and were able to find quite a few smallies on beds on a lake way north of muskegon. Things were looking good until we looked at the forecast for Monday and it called for 15 - 20 mph winds out of the southwest. By Sunday afternoon we were becoming quite pessimistic on being able to run to our spot from Muskegon up lake Michigan. We decided at the last minute to try to go find something on Muskegon lake in case our plan to run back fires due to the weather. While pre fishing that evening we met quite a pleasant family with a 10 year old boy who might be the next Kevin VanDam. I plan on writing another post about him real soon. Kelly, Ken, or David Micheal, if you are reading this please send me DM's pix. I promised him I would put them on the site!!!

Monday morning I awoke at around 3am to rolling thunder and howling winds. Not a pleasant sound when planning a 80 mile run up the big lake in a bass boat. Nick and I decided after blast off to go to the pier heads anyway just to see what the lake looked like and eliminate the thought of making the run. While in the channel, 4 other boats turned around, one of them being some well known lake erie anglers. Nick stated, "if they aren't running, we aren't running." Which I thought was a pretty good idea considering as the salmon boats were heading out, they would dissapear in the troughs of the waves.

Throughout the afternoon, we fought a broken trolling motor and a lack of knowledge about Muskegon lake. It was a pretty dissapointing day to say the least. We left the lake early after only catching 5 really small male largies.

The moral of the story.... Never put all of your eggs in one basket! Especially for a tournament the you have been looking forward to for the whole year.

Random Info...

Congrats to Nick for finishing 8th in the BFL on Patoka Reservoir in Southern Indiana. Whats awesome about his finish is that he did it without a motor. The day before while practicing he blew his lower unit but stayed to fish anyways.

This weekend him and I will be touring the state fishing two tournaments on opening weekend. First we will be on Saginaw bay on Saturday fishing the Fishers of Men season opener, and then we will be heading over to Muskegon to defend our titles at the BBT Memorial 100 on Monday. Stay tuned to see how we did.

Pre Fishing Shortcuts -Nick Neves Legend Pro

Over the years I have been on various waters that adjoin state land, or have empty lake lots, and or public marina's. I learned years ago while pre fishing an event in Southern Indiana that I could actual pre fish from the shore and cover water much faster. There are multiple advantages to this technique. The first is huge. With todays prices of fuel, instead of driving around a whole lake and iddling endless channels, park the boat and trailer and walk marina's, walk the woods around the lake and observe. This is a real benefit when the fish are spawning. Most beds are shorline and marina spawn oriented and what better a way to see them than above looking straight down. There is less glare, no engine or trolling motor noise and zero mud kicked up in shallow area. Prior to GPS I would also utilize blaze orange tape and mark a twig directly above a hard to re locate bed. While I will not advocate littering, the bio degradable orange survey tape used by hunters marking trails and surveyors work great and will break down.

I will give 2 words of warning involving this method however, first make sure the marina doesn't have signs posted "no fishing" a small bribe may be all it takes, and lastly with the woods in spring and tall grasses CHECK FOR TICKS !! I had the sickening find of two ticks on my body after walking the banks of Barkley Lake in Kentucky, the fish were worth it as Matt Morgan will attest and we covered alot of water via foot, but I still itch writing this tip as I think of my afternoon find.

Give it a shot and good luck on the lake.

Special thanks to my sponsors ; Legend Bass Boats, Mercury Motors, Poor Boys Baits, Mizmo, GAMMA, Snack Daddy Lures, American Eagle Rods and Remax Mid-Michigan

Nick Neves

Las Vegas...

I will be gone to Vegas from now until next Monday. Good fishing to all!!! To the left is a picture of one of many fish that Nick and my Dad caught today on Lake St. Clair. If I were you, I would get there as fast as you can. Reports of 80-100 fish are common and many fish over 5lbs. Remember, Please release them immedietley so we can do this for many years to come.

Bed Fishing

Now that we are in the heat of the spawn here in Mid-Michigan. What is your favorite bed fishing technique? I have tried some really off the wall stuff but my two favorite lures to use when the bass are on their beds are a poorboys craw on a small ballhead jig or a 4 inch senko on a weightless hook. I first throw the craw to see how aggresive the fish is. If it doesn't bite right away, I reel in and throw the senko. The senko really works well once the fish is aggrivated b/c it just kind of sits in that strike zone for an extended ammount of time. I don't throw the senko first b/c it is harder to make a precise cast with that then it is with the little craw. Once the fish realizes that there is something in it's territory then it is easier to pick off with the weightless senko.

I'ts also very important to try and cast from the side of the bed as opposed to directly in front of it. Fish with escape routes to deep water feel less pressured then those in which are trapped with nowhere to go.

My most off the wall presentation for bed fishing is a suspending jerkbait. It's a sure fire bait when bed fishing, especially if you put a split shot up about 3 inches off the line tie. I resembles a minnow trying to look for eggs. The downside of using this rig is that you can only really use it on beds in open water because of the two sets of trebles on the bait.

Posting Comments...

Guys and Gals, I opened up the comments for everyone to post not thinking that someone was going to be childish enough to post as someone else. From now on, all of the comments will be previewed by me before they are published. Mark, Sorry for the smar@$$ post by me in regards to the comment that I thought was yours.

What a day...

Nick and I started the morning at 2:45am Saturday and headed southeast to Sandusky Bay. We arrived at the launch ramp at 5:30 after making a few random stops. The weather was looking grim but Nick and I still held are hopes high that we were going to catch them as well as we did last Sunday. We launched and headed to our spot and for the first hour and a half we were wondering if we made the best decision to fish at all. It was raining off and on and the wind gusts were at my guess about 25mph out of the south west. Without a fish in the boat, Nick was still very optimistic but I was turning a little envious of the other people in the distance netting fish left and right. At about 9am we began to catch them on our pre tournament pattern of throwing lucky craft jerkbaits in and around 10ft of water. The bite wasn't nearly on as well as it was the previous weekend but never the less we were starting to tune in to exactly how they wanted it. At about 11:30 after Nick just landed a 10lb sheephead a huuuuge smallie hit my jerkbait about 3 feet from the boat. I yelled for Nick to get the net and he instantly netted the fish with his bait still in the net. It was very quick thinking on his part and looking back, it was the pinnacle of the tournament. The smallmouth weighed 6lbs even and eventually won us big bass.
Once the bite turned off a bit, we made a few moves and were able to cull up a bit. With about 1 1/2 hours to go, we decided to batton down the hatches and head in. I was starting to get worried about the weather but Nick on the other hand, kept singing the Edmund Fitzgerald song and laughing about the 5 footers that would soon soak us to the bone on the drive in.
At the weigh in, we were a little dissapointed to only take second place with 24.69 lbs but the gentleman that we lossed to is quite the fisherman on that side of lake Erie. Jared Rhode is his name and him and his Dad also run a full time charter service out of Port Clinton. You can locate their site at http://www.dickrhode.com/. From only meeting him yesterday, I can already tell that they run a top notch business and I plan on booking them soon for a walleye or perch outing.
All in all we had a great day and knowing that for the next few weeks I will be fishing locally, I'm kind of bummed that I will have to wait until next year to catch them toad ohio smallies again.

Fishing Reports 4/24/2008

The smallmouth bite is on fire right now on Lake Erie in Ohio. We have been catching them in various depths on various lures! LOL!! All you have to do is go out there and fish. The perch and walleye are on fire down there as well. We have been near south bass island but there are bass boats all over. Locally there have been quite a few bass beds seen but I wouldn't recommend fishing for them until this Saturday the 26th. I think that is when the catch and release season opens.

I hope everyone is catching them good right now! This weekend I will post the results from the tournament that Nick and I fish in Sandusky on Saturday. The weather is looking a little sketchy with that cold front coming in Friday night. Hopefully our fish are still where they were last weekend. Cross your fingers.

A Few Things....

Guys and Gals, I changed the blog site so everyone can comment. When commenting, please leave appropiate, pg comments! Thanks..

Also, after selling all but one of my rods, I received all of my new ones today. They are American Eagle rods based out of Oklahoma and they are AWESOME!!!

Now that fishing season has started, it is making it harder to blog as much as I would like. A few of my friends are going to start helping me with my mission to provide great information about new products, services, and fishing reports. Coming soon you will see a fishing report from Jerry Smith about his weekend, and a report from Nick and I after this weekends tournament on Erie.

Good Fishing!!

Swimbaits...

Guys and Gals, I have been doing a lot of research on the latest and greatest hype regarding bass fishing tackle. The plastic swimbait in the 3.5 to 6 inch version have been a mainstay lately on the pro tour and this year I am bound and determined to figure them out. The most important thing that I have learned about them is that you have to use a weighted hook when fishing them. The weight has to be on the belly of the hook or else your bait will roll and not swim straight. Unfortunately they are really hard to find!! If you are able to get your hands on a mustad power lock in the 2/0 size, you will have your best success when throwing the smaller 3.5 inch version. The larger sizes can be used with a 4/0 hook. The poorboy's silly rabbit comes with a few hooks and I have found them to be perfect for that size.

Just a little tid bit to help you before your next outing.

Stay tuned and I will be giving reports of my success while using them.

Flourocarbon...

Tonight I did some research on flourocarbon lines. My research came from tackletour.com, The results are interesting.

The top chart compares the strechiness of the lines. 10 lb gamma FC and 10lb seagaur invisx are the definit losers in this category.

The middle chart compares tensile strength or breaking strength. The 12lb Maxima F C broke at 16lbs of pressure and the 10lb Gamma Edge FC broke at 14lbs fo pressure.

The bottom chart compares the abrasion resistance compared to regular 12lb trilene XL. Toray Super Hard was the winner in this category.

I will let you take what you want from these comparisons but I am very pleased with Gamma FC but in the future I might try the Bass Pro Shops XPS Flourocarbon as well.

Snow this Weekend?

I just heard that it is supposed to snow this weekend. I think I'm going to cry!!!

Rare Event Witnessed

As the majority of you that read this know, the weather has been extremely nice lately here in southern michigan. Yesterday I had the opportunity to take a couple of friends out on the water with for some fishing but most importantly some R and R. While we were fishing we had the opportunity to witness a deer swimming across Lake Colombia. You can double click the image to enlarge it.

Rods for Sale

Guys and Gals, I have some rods for sale.... All $100 each.

* Casting *
1 - 6'0" Medium Action "SPB172M"
1 - 6'6" Med Hvy Action "SPB178MH"
2 - 7'0" Med Hvy Action "SPB184MH"
* Spinning*
1 - 6'6" Med Hvy Action "WSB178MH"
1 - 7'6" Medium Action "J190M"
* Not Pictured"
1 - 7'11" Heavy Action Flipping Stick

All Rods were used 1 year only!

Should I go for it?

Today my thoughts were consumed by how I could raise enough money to fish the Wal Mart BFL'S this summer. I would need about $2000. This is an ongoing dilemna that I have been fighting for some time but has really reached the fore-front of my mind by finishing well in Kentucky. At the end of last year, I planned to take this summer off and practice on St.Clair and Erie and maybe fish 3 or 4 tournaments with Nick. The BFL schedule is only 5 tournaments but I also HAVE to fish the Wonderland open. It's a must fish for anyone that competes on the east side of the state. Wonderland Marine West is a marina around the Brighton area that puts on this open tournament every year and the best of the best fish it. Tomorrow evening I will start putting together some sponsorship packets to hand out to local business people like myself.

Wish me luck!

Reflections on Kentucky lake

All I can say is WOW, I heard today that this afternoons buddy tournament out of KY dam had 3 fish over 9 lbs weighed in. That place is unreal. Almost as highly regarded in my eyes as Lake St Clair.

We had such a good time down there that we are planning on taking a whole week next year.

A few of my favorite places that I would reccomend to anyone going down there would be the Catfish Kitchen in Draffenville, the Aurora BBQ pit in Aurora and the Cabin bait and tackle shop near eddyville.

If anyone wants to travel with us next year, look me up. The more the merrier.

Tourney Day, March 22, 2008

The day started with the typical tournament day jitters. The cool thing about this tournament was that we had a caddy. My Dad dropped Nick and I in the water left for the day and at the end of the tournament I called him on his cell and he came and picked us up.

After Dad dropped us off, we met up with Nick's buddy Tadd by the docks in the marina. I have to say that it was pretty cool to put a face with a name. I heard him on the phone a half a dozen times but this morning was the first time I met him in person. The thing that stood out about our conversation was when Nick told him that I found some good fish yesterday and he said, "Well (in his southern draw), you guys might screw around and get 19-20 pounds and cash a good check in this thing." We wished each other good luck and seperated in order to launch.
Nick and I touched fists and said our typical "Do what we do" pre launch routine.
The temperature in the morning was a blistering 39 degrees so we pulled our phishhedz masks over our face and headed down the river 38 miles to our first stop. Despite Nicks flu symptoms, I didn't take it easy on him and he let me know it once we finally stopped. That Legend Alpha 199 handled everything like a charm and like I promised, we passed at the minimum 6 boats.

Once we arrived to our first spot at about 7:30am I hurried to make the ceremonial first cast while Nick was still complaing about how I broke his back. I was a little scared when we didn't get a fish until about our 20th cast. Unfortunately it was too short, but we then proceeded to, as Nick would say, catch the fire out of them. We had a limit by about 8am. During that time we caught a double of 2.5 pounders. It was pretty exciting to say the least, but it was hard to stick to the plan because we couldn't get any size out of them.

By 10:30 we decided to make a short run to another unnamed creek for some more fish that I found the day before. I was optimistic that we may be able to get some more bigger fish from it but this was also the spot that Dad and I wore em out on the day before.

We were able to upgrade to about 16 or 17 pounds before we made our final move to a deeper ditch a little closer to a main lake point. At first I could tell Nick wasn't feeling it, or he was just a little under the weather. Regardless, after he boated and landed his 6.7 pounder, I could start to see a little skip in his step through the way he was carrying himself. About 5 minutes later I proceeded to catch two 5 pounders almost on back to back casts. By that time Nick and I both were getting the shakes with the possibility of really making some noise in this tournament. We had one 3.4 pounder that we had to cull to really make this thing interesting and both of us knew it.

This is the point that I will never forget. I was trying to hold the boat in about a 20 mph wind and believe me, it was taking almost all of his 101 lb thrust minnkota. I was slow rolling my revenge spinnerbait in the front of this brush, right over the ledge of the trough when I felt some tree branches or sunken brush in about 6 foot of water. I told Nick that I was going to slow down and fish it again b/c I was afraid he was getting a little frustrated with me back boating him. On that next cast I hooked a bass that immedietely pulled drag and headed straight for the bushes. At the same time that I reached down and turned the trolling motor up to maneuver the fish to deep water, Nick jumped to the front deck. He assisted me through words on the propper way to keep him from wrapping me up and before I knew it, he landed the fish in the net and sat the fish on the deck and proclaimed, "It might be over, It might be over." We culled the 3.5 pounder and for the next 2 minutes decided back and forth to either keep fishing and risk not making it back on time or allow ourselves 1.5 hours to get back and hopefully not put to much strain on the fish. We decided to batton down the hatches and head for the weigh in. Kentucky lake was looking a bit like Lake Erie but again the Legen handled it like a charm.

We arrived to the marina with about 30 minutes to spare. I called Dad to come pick us up when he immedietely asked me, "So you must have had a bad day then didn't ya, you are coming in a bit early?" "Yeah" I told him, We are ready to go home. Boy was he surprised when Nick loaded the weigh in bag with what we knew was our biggest weight to date. It took both of us to carry our bag to the scales and to prove how nervous we were. A gentleman from Jet A Marina told us to hold up our fish so he could get a picture and Nick and I proceeded to hold up our bag as opposed to what everyone else in the tournament was doing by getting their fish out and showing them off for the camera. When we arrived to the stage the announcer proclaimed, "Looks like a nice bag here" and proceeded to state that the leading weight was 24 pounds even and went as far as to ask me what I thought we had. I told him that I thought we had around 24 pounds and when he uncovered the digital reading and I read 23.14 I was excited and a little bummed at the same time. It was the wierdest feeling I ever had. How could I be bummed for weighing in our personal best and knowing that we had the potential of cashing a good check? Nick on the other hand, couldn't talk, mainly b/c he thought he was going to thow up. Was it the flu or nerves or a little of both. He will never admit it was nerves, and personally I have never seen him not able to talk on stage! We ended the day in third place and missed first and $5,000 by a minimal 4 ounces.

That night Dad and I reflected on the tournament and Dad proceeded to ask me if we used this bait or that bait, or how he would have done this instead. We both realized that hind sight is 20/20 and we all knew that Nick and I did the best that we could.

In reflection, Maybe we could have stayed and fished a little longer but neither Nick or I made a single mistake that day, and our decisions to leave biting fish to find bigger fish acually paid off.

Stay tuned to my next blog, I will talk about the drive home and the non-fishing things about or trip that made it special.

Kentucky Lake Practice day #2

Well, Let me first apologize for not updating on a regular basis.

Friday my Dad and I practiced on Kentucky lake south of the 68-80 bridge. We launched in the Blood River and fished around in the mud soup for about 1 hour. Needless to say, I was getting very discouraged. Especially since my right hand man and tournament partner was back at the hotel with the flu. By flu I mean endless fever, gut wrenching pain, and lung shattering coughs.

Dad and I decided if we were going to make any sort of progress in our tournament practice, we needed to find some clearer water. Nick talked to a guide the night before named Tadd Ladd who is also a friend of his and throughout the conversation, Tadd told him that the LBL (east) side of the lake was going to be clearer and warmer and not to be afraid to look shallow. We headed over there and still managed to suck up the earth!! At about 11 am we headed back to the end of ginger creek to the buck brush just for the heck of it. Boy was that the best move I ever made. Dad and I proceeded to catch or shake off about 6 fish. Mind you we only caught 3 the day before. We recognized about 300 little black birds diving under the water we assumed feeding on minnows. At first I was a little pessimistic on our pattern and proceeded to check another creek to perhaps solidify what we found and maybe put something together for tomorrows tournament. The back of the other creek also had little black birds feeding on minnows and about 25 bass that made our thumbs look like hamburger. At about 2pm we decided that we had enough proof that the fish were back there and decided to go get Nick for dinner and register for the tournament. At the time, we weren't sure if he was going to be able to fish, but if he didn't maybe Dad could stand in for him, or worst case scenario, I fish by myself. At the registration we managed to spend about $300 in new Ranger clothing and a few other necessities. Nick bought me a real nice ranger jacket and when I thanked him for it, he responded "Thats alright, I will tell you why I bought it later." Sigh, man this vacation is getting expensive but when we overheard we were getting almost 8 inches of snow at home, we decided to spend our sorrows away. After registration we stopped at the store and gassed up, pick up some bottled waters, and I think Nick bought out the store in flu medicine.
That night we put together our tackle and a nice strategy for the next day. Nick informed me that I was driving the boat and running the trolling motor. I felt very comfortable with his decision but a little nervous. I began psyching myself out b/c noone else I saw was fishing in the brush and I overheard someone at the marina talking about how much fish love jigs in this lake and how he was catching as many as he could on main lake and secondary points. You know what they say about dock talk and how you are supposed to ignore it, well a few times that night I was having mental battles with myself about wether or not our day was a fluke, or if I was really on to something. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but this wouldn't have been the first time I caught them good in practice and flunk in the tournament.

Stay tuned and I will post our detailed tournament day results as well as some interesting drama.

Day 1 in KY

Today was a decent day on the water. We eliminated Barkley lake b/c it is way too muddy and dangerous to run because of the floating debris. Kentucky lake was in better condition and we did manage to catch 3 nice keepers from there in about 2 hours. 2 of them were smallies and one was about a 4 pound largemouth.

Tomorrow we are going south to Paris Tennessee to find some clearer unpressured water and put something together for our tournament.

Randon thoughts....

Blogging is all about random thoughts, so throughout my blogging career, I may use this title quite a few times.

Today is the day we are leaving for Kentucky lake. We will be shipping out tonight at 9pm and driving straight through. We should arrive in Benton around 5am just in time to get some BBQ for breakfast and launch the boat at 6.

Keep visiting throughout the weekend, I am going to try and update the site everynight.

Jerry, If you are reading this, you are going to have to get your you know what's out of Laura's back pocket and go with us a few times if you want me to put you on the site. haha!

Those of you who don't know Jerry, he is a member of Southcentral Michigan Basscasters and I met him 2 years ago (I Think) from another member Trent Wilson. I have fished against Jerry 4 times, and all 4 times he has beaten me. Every time he acts like it was a fluke and that in no way should it ever happen. At first I though he was really modest, but now I'm starting to think that he's stroking my ego in the hopes that I continue to take his angling skills for granted. Little does he know, I'm stroking his ego until he starts putting some good money on the line. :)

Weather Outlook for KY

So, The weather for today and tomorrow looks a little wet for the Benton KY area. They are expecting anywhere from 4-7 inches of rain.
Thursday - Saturday looks great though. The temps will be in the 60's and partly sunny. I'm a little concerned with the amount of rain they are getting now and how muddy it might make the lakes.
I guess I should be happy b/c while we are there it doesn't look like we will get rained on. Perhaps I won't even take my rain gear, yeah right!!!

A Blog From The Wife of a Bass Fisherman

I wake up to find that the bed is warm and cozy on my husbands side, but not from him, the dog is snuggled in his place. He has abandoned his warm covers to sneak into the world of the worm! With all his tackle in tow and and a buddy along with him, he is headed to launch at a faraway lake somewhere.

I know that sleeping in does not appeal to some, and that is definitely my husband. He gets up before dawn, to get on the lake and start "catchin' 'em". He pulls out his Setyr rods and hooks on a crainkbait to see what's out there. He tells me now is the prime time because the bass are about to spawn.

After a full day on the lake he comes home with rough thumbs from lipping bass and smelling like Gulp spray, which he thinks doubles as cologne! He has the funnies looking farmer tan, and a windburned face to match from all the "running" on the lake at full plane.

He tells me stories of the ones that got away, and says that he out fished his buddy, Nick. He tells me how peaceful is is to watch the sun rise over the water and to hear all of nature during the day. This does sound intriguing to me, and maybe someday I will join him, but for now, I just look at him, laugh, and resume my scrap booking!

My Visit to the tackle shop.....Technology Vs. Old School

Those who know me, know that I'm leaving for Kentucky Lake this Wednesday. I thought today I would head on over and see Kyle Lafountain at Lafountain's Gun Shop in Marshall (buyfishingstuff.com) and purchase a few things that I might need for the trip. My main goal was to look for a few shallow crankbaits in a chartreuse color for the muddy water down there. One hundred and sixty five dollars later, I did manage to get 8 new little john crankbaits by Spro Bait Company, 6 packs of tungsten sinkers, three packs of hooks, a pack of baby brush hogs, a series 5 Strike King crankbait, 4 new Poorboys football jigs, 2 Poorboys flipping jigs, and some rubber core sinkers. Wheew. I think I saw dollar signs in Kyle's eyes when I was checking out. Now I'm just hoping that I can sell some of this stuff to the other two guys that are going with me.

I think bass fishing has come a long way in the last 5 years. The boats now look like Nascars with all of the ads on the sides of them and the better tv exposure, but most importantly in the innovations in tackle. Part of me wants to believe the hype, which is obvious if you have seen my basement and went with me today to Lafountain's, but part of me also believes that if I went to Kentucky with an old KandE pre-rigged worm and a few spinnerbaits, I might be better off.

Evidently the latest and greatest tackle won today!

The first outing of the year.

Yesterday started with a ton of excitement and adrenaline. Craig Deck and I took the ranger down to launch at the Raisin River in Monroe Michigan for a little hot pond action. The ride down seemed to go really quick b/c we talked to a guy who was in their catching them. Once we got there we launched the boat and even remembered to put the plug in. After some slight hesitation, the HPDI fired right up. We idled down the Raisin river to the mouth of lake Erie, only to find ice blocking our exit. We loaded the boat back on the trailer and headed to bolles harbor to launch instead. Our adreneline was starting to wear off but never the less, we were still really excited. Once we got in there, the water temp was 56 at the front and around 58 in the back. My first fish came right in the heart of a down tree. It was so awesome setting the hook and have something tugging back. At the end of the day, we ended up catching (and releasing) 44 fish and to top it all off, the last fish of the day was caught on a swimbait!

Please post any questions in the comments section and I will answer them ASAP.

First Official Post

This is my innaugural post. Coming soon you will get to follow myself and my teammate as we fish this 2008 season. First up, my preparation for the season, and our maiden voyage in my Ranger Z21 Comanche. Check back tomorrow to see how it went.