The Prior Lake Hooksetters are putting on their annual event on the lake this weekend. This is a great way to get the kids out for a few hours and enjoy some time on the water. Each boat gets free minnows and the Hooksetters have done a great job of getting sponsors to help with grab bag prizes.

You can take as many kids as you like in a boat but only two adults. Each boat will weigh ten crappies. All fish that  appear to be releasable will be released to catch again next year. Cost is $30 per boat with payouts going to top places and big fish. There is also a raffle with more prizes to be won.

7am-9am Registration at Captain Jacks on Sunday (4/29/12)
Blast off will be at 9am and weigh in will be at 2pm.

Should be a great event and the weather folks are calling for a fairly nice day for this time of year so grab the kids and dust off the boat. You could win some great prizes and the kids are sure to have a blast.

Check out the Hooksetter facebook page for details and questions.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Priorlake-Hooksetters/100001793771656#!/people/Priorlake-Hooksetters/100001793771656?sk=wall



Sport



 

The guys over at Mad Bass Custom Baits have been busy this spring updating the website to include some new items for the 2012 season and to incorporate a shopping cart for easy ordering of baits. In the past you had to contact them through email or by phone but now when it is 11:00 at night and you realize you are running low on tubes or finesse worms you can just pull up the site and use your credit card to order a few more packs.

To celebrate and encourage everyone to check out the new site, I am offering a sample pack give away. Place an order through the site between now and May 31st and you are automatically entered to win a 10 pack of some proven Mad Bass baits.

You can also be entered to win by going to the Mad Bass Facebook page and putting a comment up there. Tell us which of the new baits for 2012 you are most excited about or like and you could win another 10 bait sample pack.

Winners will be drawn at random June 1st and will be notified by email when they win. I will send the baits out within a few days after that so you can start using them to catch some big ones. 

Go check it out at www.madbassbaits.com

Thanks
Sport

A pretty good one sent to me by John at Lindberg's Cove. I thought it was worth sharing with all my fishing friends. Enjoy!

Marriage Counseling:
After 35 years of marriage, a husband and wife came for counseling. When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a passionate, painful tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married. On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured. Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, embraced and kissed her passionately as her husband watched with a raised eye brow. The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze. The therapist turned to the husband and said, "this is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?"

'"Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I fish."

I was contacted a while back by a fellow Mad Bass Custom Baits pro staffer and told about these great rods being made by a smaller company down in Arkansas. I looked into them and was excited to try them out. I contacted them and talked back and forth a bit and decided to get on board. I am very excited to have joined the Denali Pro-Staff.



Denali means "the Great One" in Athabascan, a widely spoken indigenous language of North America. A great name for a great rod company. They haven't been around that long but they have gained a large following `quickly and are selling rods as fast as they can make them. One of the
things that attracted me to Denali Rods was the complete line of rods. From entry level rods priced under 100$ to technique specific high end rods with cutting edge features, Denali has
a rod for every anglers need.

Another unique feature found only in Denali rods is a stabilized hardwood fore-grip. This foregrip allows better sensitivity and transmits the subtlest bite to the anglers hand. This concept isn't new
if you are a believer in fishing tungsten weights. Many rod makers have done away with the fore-grip in order to achieve this sensitivity at the sacrifice of comfort. This leaves your hand gripping a small metal ring that rarely fits your hand and usually the harsh edges and threads underneath. These hardwood grips provide the comfort to flip heavy cover all day or shaking a small jig while still maximizing sensitivity.

If you are looking for a new rod or two this season, you owe it to yourself to check out Denali . A new supply of Jadewood should be available next month.

Sport

Spring came quick this year and I am scrambling to get things ready for the open water season. Tackle organization was put off all winter when it should have been done and now is getting rushed through. My reels are all currently being cleaned and lubed by my reel guy who always does a great job. He is also fixing a few minor problems with a couple.

I haven't been out much at all this winter. Family obligations as well as a very warm winter made it difficult to get out as much as usual. I was very happy however when I was asked to take out a corporate group just over a week ago. I jumped at it and called a few fishing buddies to help me with the work that these kind of events require.

The group was about 14 people from all over the country and one or two from even further. Many if not most were first timers but all were game and willing to try. Add a case of beer and a bottle of whiskey and I knew we would have a good day.

I got out 2 days before hand and found bluegills and a few northerns on a weed flat in 8-10 feet of water. We setup in that area the day of the event and of course the fish had moved. We tracked them down in 12-14 feet and pretty soon had everyone catching at least a couple fish. Big ones were hard to come by but that is how mid winter fishing can be.

All in all a great day and a great group. I look forward to getting out with them next year. Below are a few pics from the event.


    First fish of the day for a first time ice angler.

'
    "Pucker up"


    Nothing to this ice fishing!


    "Good Times on Ice"

Thanks for visiting!
Sport
 

At one of our last Gopher Bassmaster meetings, a member of our club put together a presentation on swimbaits. Dave has been fising these baits for years and has gained much knowledge on this way of catching fish. I brought along a video camera and captured the talk and fiured I would post it up here for others to enjoy.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HnqWxhaAnkY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks to Dave for sharing his Knowledge as well as the Richfield American Legion for the meeting space.

Sport

A lack of cold weather (along with a few other issues) as kept me off
the ice this winter. As I write this today however it is -6 degrees at
noon with the sun shining. That will make some ice. I hear the warm
weather as had the bite going pretty well but guys have to drag
portables out. I need a good 12-14" to get the diesel and wheel house
out so hopefully by next week.

As a boy growing up in Michigan, We used worms for bait when chasing just about any species of fish. In the spring a river near my home was host to a spawning run of suckers. They provided hours of fun for me and my friends. If we weren't trying to snag them with big treble hooks, we would get them to eat a big gob of worm. The brook trout in that stream fell for fresh dug worms as well. Perch would take a double hook rig baited with worms in Lake michigan during their spawning runs in lake Michigan, Walleyes on spinner rigs, bluegills, etc. If the ground wasn't frozen and we were going fishing, we probably had to dig a few worms first.  

I got good at finding these simple yet very important creatures. It was rare that one of the standard spots wouldn't produce a good ice cream pale full of slimy brown gold. The leaf piles under the eaves of the garage or the tool shed were always an easy place to start. Move the leaves and get to the wet ground and there they would be. Sometimes a stick would be needed to scratch up a little earth if it hadn't rained in a week or more. A keen eye was needed to differentiate between a worm and a wet stick but I mastered the skill. Replacing the leaves back on the pile ensured future hunts would be successful. 

From there you could always count on the slightly less pleasant, large pile of dog poop behind our bird dogs kennel. This location provided some of the fattest worms but was most likely responsible for the women in our family never touching a worm during a fishing outing. (Although the women in my family loved to fish, it is hard to tell a leaf pile worm from a dog crap worm) There were several tricks to hunting this spot too. Most important was that worms are rarely if ever found directly in the pile. Even they must not be able to handle the pure fecal power. Instead you had to use a shovel and dig at the very edge where the poop meets the topsoil. Here a couple shovels of dirt could be over turned and broken up to unveil a trove of wiggling beauties.
 
Now when you were away from home and had to find a few worms for a last minute trip or maybe had run out during a hot bite, there are some standard locations one could look. Tipping over the logs used as seats around a fire pit always has potential, as did turning over large rocks. Soil type of the area however could have a great affect on success rates. Rocks on a sand beach dont have worms under them. Worms aren't really the beach type I guess. I was also scolded by a young native boy for attempting this technique on a trip to Belize. Apparently Scorpions, Snakes and other mean critters like living under things too. Safety tip for you.

This past spring I had cabin fever something terrible. The weather was nice enough but seasons were still closed here in the north country so I couldn't hit the water. It had rained during the day so I decided to teach my daughter one of the most fun ways to catch the biggest worms. Sarah loves worms and regularly collects them off the driveway following a storm. This night however, we were taking a more direct approach. She was allowed to stay up past bedtime and armed with a flashlight and plastic cool whip container, we hit the front yard. Watching a four year old in princess PJs diving on a night crawler as it shoots back down its hole in the grass is a priceless sight I would recommend to any father who has a daughter. We had a blast. The worms won most of the time but Sarah and I did manage to outsmart a few. If you have never tried to catch a worm using a flashlight at night you would be shocked at how fast they are and although they have no eyes, they can tell when you shine the light on them. You need to pull slowly as Sarah found out once or twice or you will find yourself holding half a worm. Once we had scared all the worms in the front yard back down, It was time for bed. I got a big hug and had to promise another worm hunt soon. A promise I gladly made.

I dont use live bait very often anymore. Worms made from plastisol make up most of my arsenal these days. I will always have a place in my heart though for the wiggly little guys and I am guessing the fish will too.

   

Mad Bass Custom Baits has released a completely new and updated website this spring to help customers learn more about their baits and help you catch more fish.

New to the lineup this year are a few baits I am very excited about. The Mad Stix are a stick worm bait that is going to be a solid fish producer. It is slightly fatter than many of the other senko style baits on the market and will appeal to a slightly larger bite.



The Mad Creature is a flipper bait and will pull double duty both as a jig trailer and a flipping bait. Both of these soft plastics are available in standard colors as well as several that can only be found from Mad Bass.

Dont forget to check out the hard baits as well. The crank baits have been completely redesigned for the 2011 season.

Check out the new site it has a great new look (especially the pro staff page of course). If you want to get your hands on some of these baits, let me know and I can help you get the ones you need for that next trip to the lake.

Sport