YOURBASSPRO.com

The Local Fishing Club

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:08:00 +0000

So I joined the local club this year. (Southcentralmichiganbass.blogspot.com) Kind of as a change of pace and really just to see how good I am on these smaller waters. The people that fish this club are really cool and pretty darn good too! Our first tournament of the year was a paper tournament where you go on the good faith of the other anglers. I finished second but what I was the most excited about was my friend Craig finished 7th. He is a beginning tournament angler who's love for the sport has somewhat reinvigorated me. Last year was a long year with lot's of $$ spent and at the end of it all, I feel like I may have lost a little appreciation for what fishing is all about. This year I plan to relax, listen to the birds chirp a little more, and just enjoy fishing with my friends. I'm sure my competitive drive may rear it's head a time or two, but really I hope it doesn't get in the way of the shear enjoyment of being on the water.

-Matt

It's been a while!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:25:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:19:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:35:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:29:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:48:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:03:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:46:00 +0000

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!!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:31:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:37:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:35:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:02:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:22:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:14:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:28:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:58:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:24:00 +0000

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....

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:16:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:41:00 +0000

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...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:05:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:49:00 +0000

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

Rare Event Witnessed

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:59:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:07:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:05:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Morgan) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:35:00 +0000

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.