Sport's Outdoors Blog

Lipless Cranks Article

Sport — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:31:00 GMT

With the recent Bassmaster Classic win, KVD reminded many anglers how effective a lipless crank can be in cold water. He wasn't alone as most of the top 10 guys were throwing trap style baits. I came across a good article that not only talks about fishing lipless baits but also on the differences between the wide variety of styles available and the techniques each is best at. It also touches on the best setups for fishing these baits and gives a sample worksheet to help you identify baits you should use. Here is an excerpt....

"Lipless cranks may all look somewhat similar, but an important point to realize is that not all lipless cranks behave the same - unless you just chunk and wind them. It's fair to say that most bass anglers today, that's all they do with lipless cranks - chuck them out and wind them back in. If that's all you want to do, then stop reading right now and go use any lipless on the market - and you should have success. Most are good to "chuck and wind" straight back.
If you want to do different things than that with them, you need to realize not all are the same. There is a big difference in what you can and can't do with different brands/models of lipless."

Check out the full article at http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/lipless-crankbaits.shtml
A good read and hopefully it helps you catch a few more bass this season.

We picked up a few subscribers over the past month or two and I wanted to welcome you to the site. If you are a frequent reader but haven't yet subscribed, you can do so by entering your email in the box to the left and clicking "Subscribe". That way you can get every entry delivered straight to your inbox.

Thanks,
Sport

2010 Ice Fishing Gear Review

Sport — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:59:00 GMT

As the weather warms and ice fishing draws to a close, most anglers have started to prepare for the upcoming open water season. Plenty of good panfish fishing can still be had during late ice as melting snow brings warm oxygen rich water into lakes and streams. I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about new gear items that helped make my winter fishing better than ever this past season. Maybe you can pick up a deal at the end of season sales that some retailers are having for ice fishing gear.

Mobility has become key in Ice fishing in recent years. Sitting on a bucket in one place waiting for fish to swim by is no longer what the sport is about. Power augers have been the biggest advancement in mobility and allow anglers to drill holes all day. I was not an early adopter of the power auger. I would normally find fish during early ice when my hand auger could drill holes easily and often. Once the ice got to 18" or more I would settle in and beat on the spots I had found earlier or invite a fishing buddy with a power auger. This year I broke down and got a Strikemaster Electra 12000dp.

The auger works great and I love not having to deal with gas and oil. It is also nice that it doesn't smoke up the inside of the wheel house. If you are in the market for a new auger. Check it out.

Last year I started selling Rod Slicks and have been using them on my bass rods for some time. This winter, I used them on my ice rods and was very happy with how the worked. If you keep your rods in a bucket you know how often the get tangled. I also use them to protect those higher priced jigging rods. They are great! If you are interested in getting a few slicks drop me a note.

I use a MrHeater Buddy for warming my various shelters. One thing I have always hated is the number of empty 1Lb propane tanks that seem to fill up my truck and garage. This year I got the fitting from Bass Pro Shops that allows me to refill the canisters. Now I keep about four tanks around and can simply fill them off the BBQ grill when I need to. It is quick and easy and it saves you lots of money in the long run.

Filling the tank is very easy. Connect the brass adapter to the 20lb tank and tighten it with a wrench. Then connect the 1lb tank. Turn the whole setup upside down and open the valve. Leave the valve open for one to two minutes then turn the valve off. Your done. The small tank has been refilled. You cant really get the tank as full as when you bought it due to air in the tank but close enough to surely justify the $20 purchase.
Click the picture (left) to take you right to the adapter.

There is a few items I added to my winter fishing. Hope they help you too.

Sport

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Welcome A New Sponsor! Mad Bass Custom Baits

Sport — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:27:00 GMT

I am very happy to announce a new partnership I have joined with Mad Bass Custom Baits.

Mad Bass is smaller family owned bait company based out of Washington State. That area of the country has a very good but little known smallmouth fishery. They specialize in "Finesse" baits as well as smallmouth offerings but offer a fairly complete line up including hard baits and plan to be adding to the product line in the coming months.

I am very excited to have partnered with Mad Bass. As anyone who has fished with me knows or if you have read many of my fishing related entries you will know that I consider finesse fishing one of my strengths and enjoy having a spinning rod in hand whenever it is applicable. You may also know that if given the choice, like most bass anglers, I will chase smallmouth over large mouths any day. That makes Mad Bass baits a perfect fit for my style of fishing.The unique designs and colors that Mad Bass is producing will surely help me put more fish in the boat this upcoming season.

If you are interested in looking at some different smallmouth and finesse type baits, check out the Mad Bass website at www.madbassbaits.com or drop me a note and I can fill you in.

Sport

Tip Up Flury

Sport — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:24:00 GMT

I spent a few days last week in the UP of Michigan and got the chance to do some fishing. One day we chased panfish with only limited success. I did manage to learn some new water though and spent some time on the ice with friends.
I spent another day and a half setting Tip Ups for Northerns on a lake in the Hiawatha National forest. This area was my stomping grounds as a kid so it was fun to get out and enjoy the country again.

Michigan regs changed in the past year or two and now allow for 3 lines per angler and 2 hooks per line. This meant the party of 5 of us could put out a dozen tip ups and still have a couple rods in hand for panfish. The panfish bite was slow with only one perch being landed on day one. The northern bite however was excellent. On day one we had 15 flags landing 8 fish in the 20-25 inch range and broke off a couple fish that felt much bigger. The fish were obviously active. They were tearing line off the spools. Several fish had half a spool out with in 30-40 seconds of the flag going up. One fish bit threw the heavy fluorocarbon leader just like they do so often in open water.

                            Jackie lands a nice one.

We had our spread starting in about 3 feet of water going out across a channel of 20+ feet and then back up onto a point with some milfoil and pencil reeds in 4 or 5 feet of water. On day one every tip up produced at least one bite even though the depth ranges varied so widely. On day 2 however the shallower lines produced best.

                        Old fashioned but still effective!

Most guys would never think to put out baits in 3 feet of water under 20 inches of ice. They should! This is not the first time we have had success in very skinny water. The action can be fast and furious as big Northerns get up in shallow water looking for an easy meal. The second day we got only 5 flags but landed 4 fish in the 23-34 inch range. We pulled the set in mid afternoon to pack up and head home after a nice fresh fish fish fry for lunch.

                              This 11.5 lb prespawn female took a golden shiner and lots of line

All in all a great couple days. We released most of the fish to hopefully catch next year. Only a couple weeks left in most states to get out and chase toothy fish so get out there now before you have to put the tip ups away for another year.

Minnesota Crappies

Sport — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:20:00 GMT

I recently took a few guys out and tried to catch a few of the big crappies many lakes of northern Minnesota are known for. We worked with Rick Grabko from the Boy Lake area. Rick lives on the lake and runs a guiding operation on the lake. He rents a few fish houses so we fished out of one of those and stayed in Longville.

The house was sitting in one of the deep holes of the upper basin. We were in roughly 38 feet of water at the base of a ledge running up to 23 feet. Too deep for the Aqua Vu so I borrowed a Vexilar from a fishing buddy. We marked plenty of fish but just couldn't get them to bite. We only managed one crappie the first day and 4 more on day two. Earl had never been ice fishing before so it was good that he caught the majority of the five fish.

                                        Earl shows off the catch of the day.

                                                     Good size fish even if the numbers were down.

Everyone had an extra day before having to hop on planes etc. so we headed back to the cities and hooked up the wheel house to the truck. Off to tonka to bend a rod a few more times.
We parked the house on a weed edge that drops off into a deep hole. I have had luck here in the past and it didn't take long till the action got hot. The Aqua Vu showed fish everywhere. Ray took up a comfy spot on the couch while Earl landed fish after fish from a corner chair. Bill (my dad) and myself took turns catching fish out of another hole and laughing at the almost constant yelling of "Fish On!"

                                                Ray liked his spot on the couch.

They might not have been the biggest fish but we caught plenty (probably around 50) and brought home enough good ones to have a real nice fish fry with the girls back home. We also got one decent northern on a tip up on top of the weed flat.

                                        Earl lands a big one

                                           Celebrating the catch

All in all it was a great three days on the ice. It was great to spend time with friends and to introduce the sport of ice fishing to a newcomer.
If you are interested in the trip we took and want more info about the places we went or the gear we used, feel free to drop me a line.

Sport

New House Fun

Sport — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:30:00 GMT

We picked up a new wheel house a week ago and I wasted little time getting Sarah and myself out in it. No major lunkers caught but probably 30 gills got pulled up in a couple hours of fishing. About half of those by Sarah.

Sarah had a blast and with the extra room she could watch a movie and wrestle with the dog when she got bored. I hope to get Andrea out this weekend.

Quick post since I am very behind. Hopefully I will get a few more out this weekend.

Thanks
Sport

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2010 Ice Fishing Events and Tournaments

Sport — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:23:00 GMT

Ice fishing is in full swing here in the Midwest and below is a list of all the fun events you should think about getting out to and catch a few fish for prizes. I am a bit behind with this list but there are plenty here for you to choose from.

This year I tried to organize the events by state. Let me know what you think. Feel free to send me any event I may have missed and I will add it to the list.

Minnesota

StrikeMaster Ice Augers World Ice Auger Drilling Championships
Time:8:00AM Saturday, January 9^th Location:Brainerd

Join us for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza!
January 23, 2010 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
On Gull Lake - Brainerd, Minnesota

01/30/10 The 35th Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby
Hosted By: Maple Lake Property Owners Association

01/30/10 The Original Ice fishing Contest (Part of the St Paul Winter Carnival)
White Bear Lake
http://www.icefishingevent.com

01/31/10 57th Annual United Northern Sportsmen's Ice Fishing Contest
Island Lake, Duluth, MN
http://www.unitednorthernsportsmen.org/Events.htm

02/6/10 12th Annual Park Rapids Legion Community Ice Fishing Derby,
Saturday, February 6, 2010. Start time 1 to 3:30pm
Over 110,000.00 in Prizes Grand Prize Raffle, 2010 Ford 4 wheel drive truck, Polaris ATVs Cash and much more.
http://www.parkrapidsfishingderby.com/

02/13/10 Hunters Point Resort Perch and Pout Hunt
Mille Lacs Lake Fishing hours 7am-2pm
2pm awards and door prizes (lots of them)
Contest entry and details at Hunters Point Resort 320-676-3227

02/13/10 10th Annual Alexandria, MN Ice Fishing Challenge
http://www.icefishingchallenge.org/index.html

02/19/10 - 2/21/10 31st Annual International Eelpout Festival
Leech Lake, Walker MN
http://www.eelpoutfestival.com/

02/20/10 Fountain Lake Sportsmens Club Ice Classic 2010
This years extravaganza will be held February 20th 2010 in conjunction with the City of Albert Lea Winter Carnival.

02/20/10 Ducks Unlimited Ice Fishing Tournament
Noon to 3 PM on Garrison Bay. $30 per hole per person. Max 2 holes per person. $40 per hole after Feb 15th. Top 75 fish weighed win prizes. Truck, 4 wheeler, Ice Castle fish house, Aqua views, etc. Location: Garrison - Mille Lacs Lake
http://www.fishingforducks.org/

02/20/10 Mille Lacs Perch Extravaganza
Feb 20th out of Hunters Point Resort
$$ for biggest perch & TONS OF DOOR PRIZES
http://www.johnsonsportside.com/

02/20/20 3rd Annual Lake Minnetonka Kids Ice Fishing Challenge
Anglers between the ages of seven and seventeen will converge on ice to compete in an ice fishing derby.
10AM-12PM on Carsons Bay of Lake Minnetonka.
http://fishtonka.blogspot.com/2009/11/kids-ice-fishing-challenge-on-lake.html

02/27/10 8th Annual Little Hole On Big Lake
Lakeside Park in Big Lake, MN (12:00-3:00)
http://www.littleholeonbiglake.org/

03/14/10 VFW Ice Fishing Derby
Baudette, MN
2:00 P.M. VFW presents an Ice Fishing Derby on Baudette Bay
http://www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com/calendar.asp

Wisconsin

01/16/10 Big Elk/Musser Lake Association Ice Fishing Contest
Phillips (www.pricecountywi.net)
Ice fishing contest (9am-3pm) plus raffle and paddle wheel contests and hot food & beverages throughout the day in the heated/carpeted tent on Musser Lake. Cash prizes will be awarded for the largest fish Northern, Walleye, Crappie, Blue Gill, and Perch. Entry fee is $5.00. Trophies, cash prizes and raffle prizes will be awarded at 4pm. This event is being sponsored by the Musser Lake Association.

02/27/10 SYAA'S 6th ANNUAL 2010 BASS LAKE ICE FISHING CONTEST
Bass Lake, Somerset, WI. (12:00-3:00)
http://www.basslakecontest.com/

Pelican Lake Ice fishing Tournament (Not sure if this one is going this year)
http://www.wiicefishing.com/index.html

NAIFC12/19/09 Boom Lake, WI [Champ]
01/10/10 Richmond Lake, SD [Qual]
01/24/10 Lake Wissota, WI [Qual]
01/31/10 Hamlin Lake, MI [Qual]
02/07/10 Delavan Lake, WI [Qual]
02/21/10 Lake Thompson, WI [Qual]

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What is a Blind?

Sport — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:55:00 GMT

The past few weeks have been spent traveling, hunting and spending time with family. My mind often wonders while doing these things and I recently had a few thoughts about what a hunting blind really is. I recently sat in a duck blind constructed of 4 posts a plywood floor and some burlap wrapped around it with 3 other full grown men. The blind was situated in about 2 feet of water on Michigan's Little Bay De Noc. As we scrambled to abandon ship with the whole thing starting to crumble under our weight, I thought of all the wide variety of blinds I had found myself in.

As a boy my father and I would scrounge driftwood and other debris that had washed ashore to make our duck blinds. Each one was different and over the years we saw each as an individual work of art. One year a very large pile of rocks was our crowning achievement. The ducks weren't quite as impressed as we, but a few fell in front of it all the same. We also used layout boats and a sheet of burlap for a few years. Although extremely effective for luring ducks close, the chill of water running down your waders while laying prone in a leaky old wood boat does grow old in the later part of the season.
As a young man I would scramble up a tree in the fall with hammer and a few scrap 2x4s in hand. I would fashion a crude platform just big enough to hold my 90 pound frame and then don a camouflage shirt and wait with my bow and arrow. I never shot a deer from one of those tree stands, but I watched more deer from there and at a closer range than any blind I have sat in since.
In my early years of riffle hunting for deer we were not allowed to be in a tree. I would sit on a bucket behind a pile of brush. Sometimes I would be watching a run or a swamp edge but most of the time I was watching the squirrels and jays stealing corn and apples from my bait. I have graduated now to roomy enclosed blinds with propane heaters and sliding windows. It is not uncommon for some fellows I know to remove their boots while hunting whitetails. I do wonder if it is really hunting at that point but I must admit I like to warm my hands by the fire every now and then.
They make pop up blinds, roll out blinds, snap together blinds and on and on. But what do these various and widely different devices have in common?

I remember a few years ago being asked by a non hunter what I meant when I said "blind". I actually had to think for a minute before trying to explain. A dictionary will tell you that the word blind has many, many meanings. The one to which I am most currently referring to is "a lightly built structure of brush or other growths, esp. one in which hunters conceal themselves". Although mostly accurate, I believe this definition does not do the blind justice. There is so much more that defines a blind. So now you will glimpse into the rambling thoughts of a man driving long distances, hunting (unsuccessfully) and spending holiday time with family.

A blind can be a work of art. The tinkering of a master craftsmen. A blind is often a place to spend time with good friends. To laugh at the missed duck that was sitting 25 yards out and applaud a good wing shot or nice retrieve. A place to get wet in freezing temperatures and to enjoy the smell of your dog when he is wet too. A place to take a nice nap (aka work off your hang over from the night of poker before) or maybe read a book by a small propane heater. A small library of sorts. It can be simply a quiet place of reflection to watch a few animals and learn how they really act without the bars and plexi glass of a zoo. In recent years we have taken to cooking breakfast in the blind. To that end our blind could now be considered a 4 star restaurant. The 5th star was recently removed when the proprietor was caught letting the dogs clean the plates.

It can be a place of worship. If you have never been accosted by your wife, mother or girlfriend over missing Sunday morning church, you probably aren't a hunter, or else you come from a family of atheists. Next time you catch that look when you are preparing camouflage on Saturday night, just remind the would be protagonist that watching the sunrise with a light breeze to your back (for you duck hunters, to your face for you deer hunters) and listening to the sounds of gods creation, as it wakes to a new day, that you couldn't be any closer to God. Remind her that the bible says we were put here to rule over his creation and that your Remington is the only way you know to carry out God's great plan for us. My dad once used a slightly better analogy than this to render a nun speechless after being called out on poor attendance at Sunday mass. I know I have had many a conversation with God while in a blind. God I hope that deer comes closer, God I hope the outboard starts, God I hope my gun fires again after kicking it in the drink, etc,etc.

There is nothing quite like a good blind. Be it small, big, smelly, cold, warm, wet, dark, etc. We love them all and they hold a place near and dear to our hearts.

Andrea Shoots Her First Buck

Sport — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:34:00 GMT

November 15th in Michigan takes on a holiday feel. This past holiday weekend we headed back with a single goal in mind. Get Andrea her first Buck. Last year Andrea passed on a buck because it came in within 15 or 20 minutes of getting in her blind. Obviously a bigger buck would come by right.... She never saw another buck that year. After learning her lesson, she had vowed to drop any buck that crossed her path this year.
We borrowed a nice .243 Weatherby for her to use this year. After shooting at the range a couple times, it was apparent that she was comfortable with her new gun. She was punching the ten ring at 100 yards and we rarely shoot much past 50 in the cedar swamps of the UP. I wouldn't want to be a buck in one of her shooting lanes.
We both sat several times the first few days of the season. Nothing but does and fawns for Andrea not a single deer for me. The weather was just too warm and too nice for the deer. They didn't need to move and when they did, it was at night. Then last weekend they seemed to start moving just a little more and we sent Andrea to a different blind that I had heard a buck grunting at a day or two earlier. I sat in a blind about 80 acres away with my cell phone on vibrate. When I heard the shot I knew it was her but sent a quick text to find out for sure. Buck down! was the reply. I left my blind and we met up back at camp and got the gear to start tracking and dragging.

He didn't go far but the blood trail was pretty light so it took us a few minutes to find him. Andrea was pretty excited when we did and was making phone calls while I started the messy work of field dressing the nice six point deer. Back at camp we washed fresh cooked heart and belly loins down with a few celebratory shots. I caught a little grief about how Andrea had shot two deer in the past couple years and I had not shot a one. I was still very happy for her and the meat goes in the same freezer. Next year I will probably hunt a little harder though and Andrea may get a little less special attention. (Although she may very well not need it)

Sport

Food For the Blind and Beyond

Sport — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:39:00 GMT

Jerky is a snack enjoyed by many if not all outdoorsman from time to time. About this time of year I always end up making some from whatever wild game I can find in the back of my freezer. Venison gets the call often, so does duck or goose. I am playing with the idea of trying pheasant this fall as well. I will let you all know how that works out.
I like making jerky for a variety of reasons. First of all, I am cheap and beef jerky is pricey if you buy it at the store. Second It is a great way to use up some less than favorable cuts of meat. It is fun, you can add whatever spice you like, it is great in the blind, boat, or truck... the reason go on and on. That being said I thought I would share a few of the tricks that have worked for me.

I have already mentioned the different types of meats I have used. Any lean meat can work for you. Make sure you trim all the silver skin and fat off the meat before drying it. It will cause your jerky to go bad faster not to mention that it is tough to chew.
I recently bought an electric knife to help with the slicing of strips. This has made that portion of the process much easier than years past. It is great for taking those just a little too thick slices and making a perfect cut in half to get two thinner slices. I paid 20 bucks for the knife I got. You can pay more but this one seems to be getting it done. Plus I can use it to carve the turkey in a couple weeks.

After slicing the meat, I have started running a Jaccard over the meet. This is basically a mechanical meat tenderizer. It allows the meat to better absorb the marinade and it helps to even out the thickness of the strips allowing for even drying. Some folks like to make jerky out of ground meat. The end product is easier to chew but the grinding process is labor intensive not to mention you have to clean the grinder and the tube gun that lays the strips in the dryer. I find the Jaccard to be an easier option.

Marinades are as numerous as stars in the sky. I even read a recipe lately for jerky ice cream. I dont know about that.
You can buy pre-made marinades, you can find recipes on line or you can buy a book. As you look at them all you will find a few ingredients make up 80% of them. soy sauce, teriyaki, salt, brown sugar and liquid smoke are in most of them. Add some garlic, ground pepper and any hot pepper and you have them covered. Mess with these, add some hot sauce, beer or whiskey and enjoy.

Original jerky was dried by smoking it. If you have a smoker, have at it. I don't, so I have used the oven. The lowest heat with the door cracked will work. A dehydrator does work a little better however. The air movement dries the meat more evenly. Either way you will enjoy your tasty snack while hunting for more meat for your next batch.

I hope this gives you a few ideas or motivates you try making jerky yourself.

Good luck in the field,
Sport

Ice Fishing is Coming

Sport — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:15:55 GMT

If you are like me, you have started to think about ice fishing season. Although hunting is in full swing now, you can still take the time to get a few things ready for the hard water.

Clam Ice Fishing recently released a new web site. They have several new shelters for the 09/10 season as well as a bunch of accessories. If you don’t have the itch yet, looking at their site will probably give it to you.

StrikeMaster is offering an early season online special with 30% off auger blades. New blades make such a big difference if you want to pop a bunch of holes but they are not cheap. Check out the StrikeMaster site for details on this offer.

They are also offering a tune up deal. (From strikemaster newsletter...)

Who Needs an Auger Tune-Up?

Print this post and bring it to StrikeMaster's warehouse with your power head and receive 10% off a tune-up while you wait. In house tune-up only. Ice fishing is getting closer. Are you Ready?

"Don't catch them all"
Sport

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Duck Hunting Forum

Sport — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:48:00 GMT

I stumbled into a new forum the other day. FowlNation is a duck hunting themed forum that recently got off the ground. Looks like there will be a few fishing discussions thrown in as well. They will be giving away a dozen decoys when they hit 500 members, so get over there and sign up if you are looking to add some decoys to your spread.

What Would I Rather Be Doing?

Sport — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:13:00 GMT

As I look out the window at my poor bass boat covered in snow, I cant help but think of things that would be better than this day. It is only the second week of October, the leaves on my maple trees are still green and I have one more tournament scheduled to fish this year. I usual have the boat tucked away in a nice warm garage before the snow flies. Yet there it is. If the boat could talk it would have words for me I am sure.

I could be duck hunting. Snowy cold weather is good for duck hunting. My mind continued to wander.... Deer season is right around the corner, phesants just opened as well.
It was about this time last year that I was fishing in Mexico (see Fish and Cervesa in Cancun). No snow in Cancun. That would be nice....
I saw a few pinks a week ago at the base of Goose Berry Falls running up from Lake Superior. During the fall of every odd numbered year, Pink Salmon run up the Skagit river in Washington state, eventually spawning in the streams that flow past a cabin I still own out there. Pinks/Humpies are a favorite of mine, mainly because they are aggressive hitters unlike most Salmon during spawning.

Male Pink Salmon caught on the Cascade River.

The river is probably full of them by now...and it doesn't snow there very often.

Well the list could go on but my 2 year old daughter wants to make a snowman so playing in the snow is what I will end up doing today. Until my next day dream.....

Sport

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Michigan Duck Opener

Sport — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:27:00 GMT

I made the trip home a week ago to hunt the duck opener with my dad and a couple hunting buddies back in Michigan. The weather for opening day was far too nice. So nice in fact that a newly discovered leak in my waders didn't even bother me. With no flight ducks down we only managed a few of this years hatch green heads and missed a few local geese. The dog did a pretty good job though and it was nice to fire the gun for the first time this year.

After calling it a morning and pulling in the decoys, we headed up to the lake place to try for a few fish. Fishing was pretty slow but the new pontoon was pretty comfortable and Sarah enjoyed the room to roam. There is a lot more room for a 2 year old on a 21 foot pontoon than on an 18 foot bass boat. We did manage one decent largemouth before calling it a day. The next day we had winds in the 40+ mph along with a 30 degree drop in temps so we decided against trying to get out to the blind to hunt. Instead we dumped the fishing boat in the afternoon above dam number 3 on the escanaba river and tried for some smallmouths. My dad hadnt been on this piece of water in 25+ years. I had never been on it. It is always fun to hit new water. We took the boat up river till the river got shallow and started fishing back down. The trolling motor blew a fuse so we were at the mercy of the wind and current. We were able to get a few decent drifts over a few holes and caught a couple nice smallies on a small beetle spin. Considering the conditions and time we spent fishing, this water is probably worth another trip to fun fish.

I made it out one more day to hunt and managed a hen gadwall. We should have had a few more but Gary was so hung over that he was sleeping on the floor of the blind when a small flock landed in the decoys. I of course was out in the decoys tweaking the set a little. As any duck hunter will tell you, they only seem to come in when you are in the decoys, eating, standing up, yelling at the dog or just plain messing it up and not ready. Thats what makes it fun I guess.

2009 TOC Recap

Sport — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:13:00 GMT

The cabin came to life about 4:30 on the morning of the first day. The smell of bacon was in the air and the weather channel was on TV. Dense fog warning until 10:00am. "This should be fun" was what many thought. Last year day two was greeted by a 3 hour plus delay and it looked like day one this year would continue that trend.

I picked my partner up at his hotel and headed for the ramp. After putting the boat in it was obvious we would be sitting for a while. My GPS was the only reason I made it to the take off area a few miles from the ramp. Visibility was slim. Boat were beached all along shore waiting for the tournament director to give us the go ahead. 3 hours later we started to push off.
I had drawn a good boat number in the first flight. My original plan had been to hit some community holes and burn those fish before going to the water I had found in practice. The fog delay however changed my plans as I figured a limit was going to be the most important thing that day. I started on a weed line turn that had held a school of 2 pound largemouth in practice. As is usual in tournament fishing things had changed. The shallower water largemouth bite was gone, dead, evaporated, eliminating about half of the water I had found in practice. I scrambled around a little and managed to find a few quality smallmouth out in my deeper water spots. The biggest weighing in at 3.92 pounds. He fell to my drop shot with a 4" Berkley Gulp minnow on it.

With about 30 minutes to go, I still needed one fish for my limit, so I headed for the 169 bridge pilings. With drop shot in hand I quickly caught my limit fish. A 14" largemouth. I sat on the back deck and told my partner "go get 'em". He was still a couple fish shy of a limit. He never managed another keeper as we ran out of time and headed for the weigh in.

11.25 pounds put me just out of the top 20. Just .01 pounds behind my day two partner. That meant I had to go back to the cabin and get my gear paired down to fish out of his boat.

Day two had us in the last flight. We started on one of my partners spots. A deep water break going up to some reeds. He didn't want to fish the reeds. He was keeping the boat in 40-50 feet of water and casting a soft plastic jerk bait just below the surface. I guess that is how he caught his fish on day one but it wasn't really getting it done on day two. Every so often he would drift in a little close and I could hit the weed line with my drop shot and I would catch a fish. It didn't take too long and he was digging into his rod locker for a spinning rod. We moved to one of my areas. A small point with good weeds dropping out into 20 plus feet of water. I had seen quality fish on the camera there but didn't get a single bite. My partner however manged to school me catching 4 keeper large mouth on a wacky rigged senko. Nothing big but enough to make him feel a little better.
From there we moved to my big fish spot from day one. The fish had moved a little but I found them and landed two quality smallmouth in the 3.5 lb range. My partner then asked me for a Gulp minnow to put on his drop shot. I obliged but he only caught rock bass on it.
We jumped around on a few more of his spots and couldn't find any active fish. We finally went back to the spot we had started on and tried out deep again. Nothing. When I was asked where next, I mentioned we should at least give the reeds a quick try. First cast with my hand tied jig, I put a 2+ pound Largemouth in the well and culled a 13 incher. As I slid him in the box I told my partner I may have just won myself a trophy. I hadn't been nervous the whole tournament. I fished clean only missing one bite and not breaking off any fish. Although it was a slow bite, I had stayed focused and confident. Once I had that fish in the box however my nerves hit me. Even though we had a little over an hour left to fish, all I could think about was getting my fish into the scales.
Weights were up on day two. Bags in the teens were being called off as we waited for room to beach the boat. My bag came in at 12.05 and was good enough for 20th place. Good tournament and my highest finish at state. I got that trophy but not a chance to fish divisional next summer. Maybe next year.

Minnesota State Tournament of Champions 2009 Practice Recap

Sport — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:47:00 GMT

Earlier this month I headed up to Grand Rapids to start prefishing for the BASS Federation Minnesota Tournament of Champions. 4 days of practice would be followed by a day of off limits and then two days of tournament angling. I had high hopes for this tournament and managed to get up to Pokegama for a couple days prior to the off limits period earlier this summer. The lake fishes to my strengths with big smallmouths and clear water. I did well in club tournaments up there last year and was looking to redeem myself after a disappointing day two at last years TOC.
Day one practice was nothing short of amazing. I managed good fish everywhere I went. I located several schools of fish and was able to narrow down baits that they seemed to prefer. A texas rigged Berkley Chigger Craw worked through healthy weeds and inside turns produced 2 to 3 pound large mouths.

I found a few rock piles in 8-14 feet of water and was able to catch a few nice (3 pound plus) small mouth on my drop shot. I was excited but a little nervous too. I have never had a TOC practice day that good. Surely everyone else would find fish too. Back at the resort I found that many of the other guys in the club had not done as well. That made me feel a little better as I passed on what pattern tips I could to the other Gopher members.
Day two was not as good. I tried to go out and replicate the pattern I had figured out day one on new water. I think I was over confident and working too fast because I only caught a few small fish. I did look at lots of new water though and figured I could always go to that water if I struggled during the tournament.
Day three I decided to check out the river. Just in case my partner dragged me up there at some point. It was a beautiful ride for 15 -20 miles up the river. The sun was out and there wasn't a ripple on the water. The fishing on the other hand wasn't anywhere near as nice. I had two blow ups on a cane toad in about 5 hours of messing around. No current and no wind probably had the fish scattered in the wild rice and made for a poor bite. In the afternoon I pulled my boat and trailered back to the lake and set out to camera a few areas I had found during my trip up earlier in the summer.
Working an under water camera by yourself is not real easy but I managed to setup a nice little rig that allowed me to use my trolling motor, keep an eye on my graph and an eye on the camera.

I found a few fish doing this and decided I would use the camera all day on the fourth and final day of practice. Wayne Lindgren and I headed out together on the final day of practice so I didnt need my fancy tie down rig. Wayne ran the trolling motor and I watched as we verified the number and size of fish on both of our spots. At one point we came upon a school of walleyes so numerous that I quickly lost count of how many we had seen. The occasional smallmouth was mixed in with them as we cruised our boat over 25 feet of water. Doing this the day before a tournament was a fantastic way to see how the fish were positioned on the cover/structure and gave me a ton of confidence in the water I planned to fish. Now it was just a matter of making the fish bite.

Stay tuned for the tournament recap.

Two days on Tonka

Sport — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:20:00 GMT

The thermometer in the truck read 45 degrees as I headed for the lake. It was August and I was about to fish two tournaments on Lake Minnetonka over the next two days. I hadn't caught a lot of fish in practice but I had found areas that I felt would hold fish. The weather however was not going to help matters.
My bass club had decided to split the big lake into two halves. We would fish the west side on Saturday and the east side on Sunday. Since I spend most of my time fishing the east side, I had spent some timing practicing on the west side. Dave Cindrich and I decided to start on a point that had held fish for me in practice we would then move to a weedy bay that we had fished together in practice.
We got out before sunrise and made a quick run to our starting point. As we came off plane I noticed a fisherman in waders standing waist deep just feet from the best spot on the spot. He was casting a big topwater in all directions and did so for at least an hour while we worked the weed line out of his casting range. I have had boats on my starting water before but never a guy in waders standing right on my spot. The bite was slow (as we expected) but we did manage a few fish by hunkering down and fishing painfully slow. Dave was throwing a Berkley Chigger Craw and I went into junk fishing mode throwing a drop shot, jig, wacky worm and several other baits trying to find something the fish might like. We both managed a couple keepers before heading into black water bay. We worked some lily pads and I managed a solid keeper on a buzz frog. We got a couple other blow ups but couldn't get the fish to commit so we headed to a row of docks. I filled my limit skipping my hand tied jig and dave managed a solid keeper on a weightless ring fry. I wasn't able to upgrade after that although we did try several other areas. 7.98 pounds was only good enough for 10th place. The bite was tough for many and only half the field brought in a limit. Although I had hoped to do better, the 10th place finish did help my angler of the year status a little.

Sunday morning temps were about the same. I was prepared though and was optimistic since we were fishing the side of the lake I am most familiar with. To make matters better, dock talk hinted to the fact that many guys had struggled to put anything together on that side of the lake.
Steve Brumer was fishing with me that day. We had gotten out and looked at a few areas and decided to start on an inside weed edge that always produces for me. By late august, the quality fish have usually moved deep on Tonka and are often caught on deep rock piles. This year however the fish seem to have stayed shallower and were not being caught on the deep hard bottom. At least thats what practice had taught me. Of course nothing but small fish were on my first two spots but we finally located a school of fish working an inside turn in about 12-15 feet of water. Steve and I both manged a few good keepers off the spot before we ran a few more spots. I managed most of my fish throwing texas rigged plastics and upgraded a couple times using my drop shot. Not what you might expect as a typical tactic but hey, it worked. As the sun got higher and temps rose, Steve wanted to pitch some heavy cover. As it turned out it was a good idea. We worked a large milfoil mat and both managed a couple solid upgrades.
10.37 was good enough for 5th place. A solid finish to close out the club season. My sight were now firmly fixed on the BASS State Tournament.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but such are the joys of running the weigh in.

Smith Mountain Lake and a Family Reunion

Sport — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:31:00 GMT

If you are one of my subscribers you may have noticed a little delay in my entries this month. I spent the past two weeks in Virginia for my mother in law's family reunion. I may have picked up a little bit of the slower pace that the southern folks are sometimes known for. I will try to catch up on my entries both here and on Sarah's site over the next couple days.

Now many of you may think It would be crazy to drive cross country with a two year old just to spend time with your in laws and a bunch your wifes family that you have never even met before, but this reunion was going to be held on the shores of Smith Mountain Lake. A beautiful lake in western Virginia full of large mouth and smallmouths, not to mention a fantastic striper fishery. My father in law had setup a striper trip for wed morning so Monday after the knife lake tournament I packed up the truck and we headed south, driving straight through. 22 hours and god knows how many miles of road construction, we made it. A short night sleep and we were getting up at 4am to hit the water.

Margaret is the wife of a gentleman (Mark) that plays golf with my father in law. She is pretty much a fishing addict. Pictures on the wall in their house prove she has caught her share of Smith Mountain Lake stripers (and helped other to do so as well). She is also your typical southern hostess and greeted us with a hug, fresh made biscuits, eggs, and coffee when we got to their house. We readied the deck boat, packed breakfast up and were on the water before sun up. Mark isn't as big on the fishing as Margaret but he does what he is told which was, "speed up, slow down, go over there, no back there, turn back past that, speed back up, your getting to shallow," etc. We all were laughing as Mark calmly did what he was told and Margaret worked the rods in the rod holders. We were using live shiners dropped down about 10 feet on heavy tackle. Shimano Calcuttas on Shakespeare rods. The bait was kept lively in a 25 or 30 gallon bait well with twin aerators. Southern heat can be hard on live bait so Margaret and Mark added ice occasionally to keep them lively. Margaret also ran a bucktail jig out on a planner board for a while.

The most bites came right in front of the house and mostly when we were all working on the biscuit and egg sandwiches. Only real problem was the bites were all coming from a school of white bass. We caught several and lost a few more baits before deciding to fire the big motor and try a few different areas. I enjoyed the ride on the Blackwater river arm of the lake. I had not been that far up the blackwater and like most of the lake, it is ringed with beautiful homes. We stopped to troll around a rock point at the mouth of a creek. As we got a little close to the point I could see big chunk rock in about 6 feet of water. I couldn't resist the temptation so I grabbed one of my baitcasters and slung a shakey head worm out onto the point. Mark slowed down some and I let out line as we slowly dragged the worm over the point. It didnt take long and I was fighting a nice 3 1/2 pound chunker largemouth at the end of a lot of line.

We gave up on the stripers a little while later and tried for some more largemouths but didn't have much luck. As lunch time approached we decided to call it a day. It was a great morning on the water. I look forward to fishing with Margaret and Mark again.
I have some more pics coming from a few different fish I manged to catch while in Virginia so I will post those when they come in.

As far as the reunion goes, it was a pretty good time. I ate so much I had to loosen the straps on my life vest when I got home.

Sport

Knife Lake Recap

Sport — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:59:00 GMT

After a night of adult refreshments around a camp fire, the 4:30 alarm came all too quickly. My truck thermometer read 44 degrees as I waited for it to warm up. Not what you would expect for a mid July morning. A quick stop at the local gas station and a line of bass boats headed down the back roads on way to Knife lake.

Expectations were high as stories of 21 inch fish and 5 or 6 pounders caught in practice stirred around. I myself was cautiously optimistic after catching a lunker in practice (see a past entry). The cold front would be a wild card and it was also rumored the lake had an algae bloom going on. Many still felt it would take 18 or 19 pounds to win the day. The lake had proven that any cast could produce a Minnesota trophy

My partner (Clay) and I started in the area where we had caught the 5 pounder in practice. As we came up to the area we noticed a pan fisherman was sitting right on it so we started nearby and worked an adjacent stretch of pads. It only took a couple casts and Clay had a small keeper in the boat. A couple more casts and Clay was hollering for the net. As I turned to see what he had on I could see something that didn't look right. Clay noticed it to and said "what the ...". A 19" walleye had taking his pig and jig in the middle of the pads we were flipping. A little known walleye pattern apparently.

The pan fisherman said hello as he moved down the shore so we turned the boat and headed back towards the "honey hole", A family of otters barked and huffed at us as we fished. Popping up and down in the water like wet furry Jack in the boxes, they stayed a safe distance and kept an eye on us. This is one of the neatest things you can see during a calm morning on the water. I have seen otters do this a couple other times but it is still fascinating to me.

As we worked down the bank I flipped into a bush tight to the bank. As soon as my jig hit the water the whole bush shook. Something big wanted the black and blue jig. A few seconds later Clay was netting a nice 3 1/4 pound bass for me. We continued to work shallow wood and pads until about 8:00 when we moved to a row of docks that had produced good numbers in practice. About 30 minutes later I managed my fifth fish. It was a nice 2 pound fish and was especially fun to catch because a competitor boat was within ear shot as I hooked, landed and boxed the fish. They had not yet caught a limit and promptly pulled their trolling motor and sped off. Clay too was a couple fish short of a limit so he took over the front of the boat.

It began to rain and the bite slowed. As the sun came out later in the day, the bite picked back up a little. For Clay at least. He started to cull a few of his smaller fish as I started to diminish my jig supplies. I had tied three jigs specifically for this event and had a couple already in my box. As northerns took a few and I straightened a couple horsing fish out of thick cover, I found myself out of the color and size that had produced for me in the morning. I decided to make a change to brown and orange. I was almost immediately rewarded with two nice culls. We ran around a little more but all the areas we moved to had turned to pea soup. The algae bloom we had heard about was in full swing and we didnt manage a single fish, of any size, in that green water.

Lots of guys were saying they had a couple nice ones while we pulled the boats for weigh in. Once on the scale however most fish seemed to shrink. Only one fish was brought in over 4 pounds. There was plenty of 3 pounders though with 15 guys weighing a big fish at or above 3. My 12.26 was only good enough for 9th place. A little over 2 pounds from the 1st place bag. Two solid finishes over the weekend did help me in the yearly standings though, moving me to 9th overall with two tournaments to go. Minnetonka will be the next two and I have been able to get out there a few times this year. We will see if I can move up a few more spots by years end.

Sport

Rush Lake Gopher Tourney

Sport — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:46:00 GMT

Last weekend was tournaments 4 and 5 of the Gopher Tournament Season. Saturday we headed to Rush lake near Rush City Minnesota. The lake is made up of two sides connected by a long narrow channel. The water was pretty dirty which limited weed growth to 5 or 6 feet of water. I had a late boat draw so I knew it would be tough to make it to a couple of the best deep weed/rock spots. I had caught a fish or two in practice off a lone dock with scattered logs and other cover that had obviously been thrown out by the property owner. I figured I could start there and get a fish or two to start off the day then I would move to a deeper weedline and try to find a school. The dock was a bust and there was boats all over the weed line I wanted to fish so we worked a few areas near the spots I wanted to fish and managed one small keeper.
I decided that the deepwater bite wasnt going to work for me so we ran into West Rush to check a short row of docks that my dad and I had found in practice. Most of the lake was choked off with weeds and slime in anything less than 3 feet of water. Low water conditions made for an even more limited number of docks that actually had fishable water on them. This row was a clean sand bottom and 2-3 feet of water. To make them even more attractive the wind was blowing in on them. We pulled up to the first one and each caught a fish. From that point on we knew we were on something. Each dock gave up at least one fish and a second pass down the docks produced again. Rick managed the big fish for the tourney after missing him the first time. It always pays to throw back in after you miss one.

We ran around for a couple hours looking for more docks to duplicate the pattern but couldnt find any on west rush so we made one last pass through the best 5 or 6 docks allowing me to cull a few fish before heading to east for the last hour of the tourney. As we ran down the east lake I spotted a small set of docks that looked to be similar in make up to our hot spot. Rick still needed a few fish to fill his limit so I held the boat in the wind so he could fish. After he had casted some of the best looking spots I flipped a Lake Fork Tube craw under a lift and was hit immediately by a nice 3+ pound fish. I had to horse him over a lift rail as Rick fumbled for the net. We managed to get him in but only after the wind had blown us in onto the docked boats leaving a little battle wound in the Skeeter. The fish was bleeding pretty badly so I quickly culled a 14" fish, added some stress reducer to the live well and headed to the weigh in area. As it turned out my big fish was 1/100 lighter than Ricks. The two biggest fish for the tournament coming out of my boat. If the fish hadn't being bleeding so much, Would I have gotten big fish?

My 11.11 lb bag was good enough for second place. Not enough to win the match fishing match up that day. A good finish all the same and definitely gives me boost in the yearly standings.
Stay tuned for a recap on Knife.

Sport
www.SportSmithFishing.com

Knife Lake Pre Fish

Sport — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:09:00 GMT

Sunday I headed up to Knife lake in Kanabec county to prefish for an upcoming Gopher tournament. I also had to meet the local Sheriff water patrol to finalize our permit for the event. My partner for the day had been on the lake in the past and had nothing but high hopes for multiple picture worthy fish. He says it will take 20 pounds to win when we fish it. We will see about that although I have heard similar tales from other guys.
The lake is a dirty water lake with visibility at about 6 inches when we were there. It is also a shallow lake with the main basin only dropping to 13-14 feet. These things together add up to me leaving my spinning rods at home. All shallow water fishing.

Nice Knife Lake bass caught on one of my hand tied jigs and a Trigger X trailer.

We managed a few nice fish including this one above that was pushing 5 pounds. Hopefully I can find a couple more like this one on tournament day. My partner wasn't happy however with how we did. Too many of our fish were small and some of his best areas didnt produce. I figure that is a good sign for tournament day. I have had too many bad tournaments after a good practice and visa versa so I am ready for this one. Hope fully I can post a few more pictures of some big ones in a few days. Check back and see!

Sport

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Minnesota State Jr Tournament of Champions

Sport — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:44:00 GMT

Last Friday I had the opportunity to be a boat captain for the Minnesota Jr tournament. This tournament is for the youth of Minnesota to get together and compete for a chance to fish with the adults at the next level at divisionals. This years tournament took place on Waconia lake in the south west metro. I drew a young person from both the younger and older age groups. Both kids were capable anglers and ran the boat all day while I caught up on a little reading (Bass Times, Field and Stream, etc.). Boat captains are not allowed to help the kids. We basically can step in for fish care and run our boats to keep them out of harm. Otherwise the kids are supposed to make all the fishing decisions. This can be extremely tough on an avid angler like myself. I wanted to pick up a rod several times.

All in all it was a pretty good day. I think all the kids caught at least one fish and the wining bags were in the mid to high teens. I added a few pics of the boys from my boat below. After the smoke cleared, the Gopher Jr team was announced as the winning team for the event (the Juniors from our club). Congrats guys!

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FAB Cedar lake recap

Sport — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Last week the FAB tour hit Cedar lake in Wright county. Since I won the tournament out there last year I had high hopes of a similar finish. John Haynes had spent some time pre fishing for the event so we went out one night to look at the water he and another guy had found. First thing I noticed was that the area that produced most of the winning fish for my team last year was closed to fishing. The DNR had buoys out blocking off the whole area as a spawning area until July 1st . We figured that would be alright since John had found some other areas.
We tried to expand on those areas with out much luck. At one point I was throwing a shallow running crankbait around some scattered weeds and got absolutely crushed as I pulled the lure off a weed. Just like the books say right. I thought I had a monster. Then I got the fish closer and saw it was a big Northern with my crankbait down his throat. I was very surprised when I managed to get the fish to the boat netted and retrieve my lure. The 12lb bioline held up to the teeth like a dream. I was impressed and am loving this line more and more as I use it in different situations.

Tournament day was tough. John struggled to catch a fish and I didnt fair much better only landing 3 keepers. We didnt finish last as a couple other teams brought in even less but the winning team did manage 5 for 11+ pounds. I suspect they caught the fish in the slop as that is where we watched them start the night and never saw them leave. 2 of our keepers came off reeds and one was positioned way back on a dock. All of them fell to a Senko style bait. The hand tied Jigs didnt find a single bite that night. Neither did the crankbait.

This week the FAB tour hits Green lake in Chisago county. Since we just fished a club tourney out there, I am hoping I can put together a better showing this week. Stay tuned.

Sport

Tournament Recap June 10-15

Sport — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:39:00 GMT

I had three tournaments over the past week. Last wed John Haynes and I headed out to Minnetonka to fish the Denny's Wednesday nighter. I have never fished this circuit so I was excited to see how they ran things and how many boats would be out there. I knew the competition would be pretty tough because a few very good anglers were rumored to always win the events. I hadn't had the best practice for the event due to a recent cold snap so John and I just went fishing. I managed to catch 5 fish for 7 pounds fishing shallow but John struggled and couldn't help add to the weight. 18+ pounds won it so we didn't fair that well. It was a beautiful day on the water though and Denny runs a nice laid back tournament.

This past weekend was the Gopher bass tournaments over in Chisago City. Saturday we hit Big and Little Green. This is a fairly big body of water but the water is fairly low and the DNR recently sprayed the entire lake for weed control. That messed up a milfoil pattern I had found in practice and forced lots of anglers out to a single rock point at mid lake. At one point there were 7 tournament boats plus walleye anglers and a couple other bass boats out on this one point. The big lake fished pretty small. I managed a couple fish early flipping the dying milfoil with one of my hand tied jigs but couldn't boat another keeper after that. Finishing with 3 pounds put me in 20th place. My non boater never caught a fish. The winning bag came off the point early and totaled 16+ pounds. I was pretty down after this tournament. I even threatened to sell my boat and go buy a motorcycle. I wouldn't do that, but I was pretty upset about doing so poorly.

Sunday morning came early after fishing all day Saturday, running the weigh in and then driving home to retie and get the Skeeter ready for Sunday. I was fishing with Art on Chisago and Lindstrom that day. Art and I get along great and we even spend time in the fall chasing pheasants together. I was relaxed because of this and it may very well have helped me slow down and let the baits do the work. We started on a road bed that has scattered rock on it in about 9 feet of water. Chisago lake is also down a few feet so we weren't sure if the road bed would be holding fish. We manged a keeper each off the roadbed and recorded the lengths on our record sheets. This tournament was a paper tournament due to a catch and release only regulation on these lakes. Although this makes for a less dramatic weigh in, it does make for some lunker fish in the lake. It also means you need to snap a quick picture of good fish before you can throw that next cast.

We worked our way up the bank after giving up on the roadbed and managed the fish you see above on a ring worm off the inside weed line. Art got another fish as well before we fired the big motor and moved to the next spot. We tried a deep water area and couldn't get much going so we moved up shallow to look at some docks. That was it. We never fired the big motor again. We spent the rest of the day catching fish off docks and holes in the pond weed. The fish were chasing bluegills that were schooled up on beds. Some fish were still relating to beds as well. We could spot fish on beds, circle back and fish the area and usually catch one or two, In Minnesota we don't get a chance to bed fish much so that was pretty fun for me. After I had a decent bag put together I took a few casts with a swim bait in order to try to upgrade. Anytime I could see a large bluegill bed in the distance with fairly low weed growth, I would throw it. I did manage a small fish on the bait. My first ever on a swim bait. No lunkers though.

My hand tied jig with a Strike King Rage tail craw trailer did most of the work that day, catching probably 8 of the 12 legal fish I caught. Pretty much all 14" or better. I also caught a few on a Lake Fork Ring Fry. I finished the day in 6th place with 15.5 pounds. A much better day than the day before and a great confidence builder for my jig fishing. Considering Green is literally across the street from Chisago, it is amazing how different they fished. I guess that is why fisherman should fish different lakes when ever they get a chance.

I have a week off from tournaments so I will probably prefish once or twice and enjoy some time with the family. I will let you know how it all goes.

Sport

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Sarah Helps Dad Pre-Fish

Sport — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:56:00 GMT

The wind finally died down today and the weather was almost perfect, so I decided to get out and check a few spots on Minnetonka. I packed a bag with snacks and toys and Sarah and I headed out to the lake.

Water temps were in the high 60's and Gills are on the beds. I didnt get to fish a lot but I did manage one decent fish off a dock and a couple smaller fish off some clumps of millfoil. All three were caught on a YUM Dinger stick bait. Sarah even took a break fishing for toys in the live well to reel one of the fish in. Although she had no interest in touching the fish, she did enjoy watching them swim away. A two year old fan of catch and release I guess.

We got the boat up on plane whenever Sarah got bored or when she asked to go fast, but after a few hours we had to head home for nap time. I have had some great days on the water in the past but this one was special. Sarah has been on the boat with me in the past but today she settled in like never before and thoroughly enjoyed herself. And we caught some fish! can you beat that?

I don't have any pics of the fish we caught but I do have a few of Sarah playing in the livewell.

If you want to see more pics, check out Sarah's blog in the next day or two.

Sport

FAB Tour Event Sugar Lake 09

Sport — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:06:00 GMT

Tuesday was the first FAB Tour event for the 2009 season. John Haynes and I made it out to sugar lake in Wright county to try to catch a few fish. My boat spent some time in the shop late last week and that meant no prefishing for this event. I fished sugar lake 4 years ago and remember small fish being the norm and figured 8-10 pounds would probably be pretty good. John fished it last year with Dave Larson but I dont know that they really figured them out.
The wind was howling 10 -20 out of the north but we decided to rough it out and fish the docks that line the southern shore. We were boat number one and were fishing the first dock before the other boats had even blasted off. John pulled a short fish on the first or second cast and I followed a cast later. All the other boats headed to the calm side of the lake so we thought for sure we were on to a good pattern that no one else was fishing. An hour into it we were whacking 11" fish on every dock but only managed two legal fish and neither one was too big. It is the toughest part of tournament fishing to leave fish (even though they were all small) to go find fish but we decided we were going to have to do something. Because we hadn't prefished we were flying blind so we bounced around a few spots trying deeper out and a nice rock point with scatter reeds on it. The water looked great but only produced more small fish. With 20 minutes left we moved back to the south end of the lake where we had left a couple docks and small reed patch close to the ramp. John pulled a 1.75 pound fish on a Jig off the reeds. It is funny how large a fish like that looks after catching 20 or 30 11 inch fish. We thought we had caught our kicker. I managed a 13 incher on a texas rigged worm a couple casts later with 4 minutes to go and rounded out our 5 fish limit.
Six and a half pounds of monsters put us in the middle of the pack. 11+ pounds won the night and set a new lake record for FAB. The winning sack was caught up shallow but I couldn't get any other information out of the winning team.
If you are looking for a place to catch a record size bass I wouldn't spend any time on Sugar lake but if you want to catch a limit of feeder fish for the family this may be a great place to try.

Minnesota Bass Opener 09

Sport — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:58:00 GMT

Bass Season officially opened a little over a week ago here in Minnesota. I was able to get out for just a few hours with John Haynes on Lake Minnetonka. The boat ramp was packed by 6:00am. Lots of guys cruising shallow water looking for fish on beds. Things started a little slow for us. We moved in and out checking the deeper water for post spawn fish and up shallow for fish on beds. the deeper water only produced one small fish. Fish seemed to be up shallow but not very hungry. I managed one nice fish on a white swim jig casting to shallow wood.

We made a move to a flat that we thought would have some spawners on it. The fish were there but the wind was blowing on it pretty hard and clouds had the light bad for sight fishing. We couldnt see the fish until we were right on top of them and spooked them. After another short fish or two we moved to a 6 foot flat and managed to finally find a small pod of fish. I caught a few 14 inchers out of the school before calling it a day. Not a great day but it was nice to just go fishing.

First Tourney of the 09 (Pool 2 recap)

Sport — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:29:00 GMT

About a week ago I hit the water for the first tournament of the season. Although Bass Season was not yet open throughout most of the state, pool 2 of the Mississippi river is open to catch and release fishing year round. That makes for a great way to start the season early. I wasn't able to prepare as much as I would have liked for this tournament and because of that I had set my sights on just catching a few smallmouth. They typically can be found closer to the main channel and are almost always in a bad mood. Since I only caught one small fish in practice I felt a limit would land me in the middle of the pack and not get me too far behind for the rest of the season.
My partner Rick and I headed for a cut off the main channel first thing in the morning but the two boats in front of us swung in there too. Not good since it was one of the few places we had gotten a bite during practice. We moved on to some bluff rock and didn't get a bite. We moved again to a culvert that was dumping lots of water into the river. This is where I had caught a keeper in practice. They weren't there and we moved again. I was basically just going fishing now and we moved into water I had flown past in practice but said we should look at it on race day. Turned out to be a good idea. Although there were lots of boats in there, we managed the majority of our 6 fish there. I missed my first bite that ran straight at me with my hand tied jig in his mouth but did manage a nice plump 17" smallie on a shakey head. Rick caught his 3 large mouths on a Yum black neon tube.

3 fish for 5.73 landed me in 17th out of 28. Not as good as I had hoped but past May tournaments have often been much tougher. All but 3 guys caught some fish. 5 smallmouth for 18.23 won the day and showed how good the fishery can be. That bag was caught just a couple hundred yards from the area Rick and I had caught our fish. There was boats on it most of the day so we never moved over there. In hindsight, I guess we should have. It is amazing how 35 miles of water fished so small. If we fish pool 2 in the future, I will have to work much harder on finding some out of the way spots.

Sport
www.SportSmithFishing.com

Pre Fishing and a Few Other Tid Bits

Sport — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:34:00 GMT

It has been a little too long since I posted anything so I need to get my loyal readers caught up. I will get back to the bait study guys I promise.
I have been busy working with a few new sponsors over the past couple weeks. I am very happy to have teamed with these companies so check out the links to the left and feel free to let me know if you are interested in any of the products they offer. I can help answer any questions you may have about them as well as get them ordered for you at competitive pricing.

Mothers day is right around the corner and Minnesota has announced that mothers fish free this weekend. If you are going out for the Walleye/Northern Pike opener this weekend, think about taking mom along. Better yet if you weren't going to be able to get out because you had too many things to do around the house, maybe this is the perfect way to get out of the honey do's and into your honey hole. (you can use that one if you like it)

I have been out pre fishing for the first tournament of the year. Pool 2 of the Mississippi has pretty much had my number. I have only managed one small keeper and a few white bass. I have figured out where I can safely run the boat though after a few hours of dragging bottom with my hull. I will have to get out one more time and find some fish before the tournament. The fish haven't spawned yet so in two weeks they could be on the move.

I was out at Weaver lake park this evening and noticed the DNR has begun it's annual battle with aquatic vegetation. They sprayed Aquathol last week and have the orange "Do not drink the water" signs up around the beach. I thought it was amazing that as I finished reading the long list of things you shouldn't do with the water, I looked up to see a guy water skiing. I think I would just wait the two or three weeks before enjoying a long dip in the lake but to each their own. When I came home and did a little research on Aquathol I was surprised to find articles stating Aquathol was toxic to fish. It was also stated that it shouldn't be used in waters with food fish. I guess I wont be eating fish out of Weaver any more. It also kills coontail which is sad for us bass guys since coontail almost always holds bass. Here is one of the links I looked at. Keep an eye out for the orange signs on your favorite lake.

Get out there and don't catch 'em all.

Earth Day Events

Sport — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:53:00 GMT

Happy Earth Day!

As many of you may know, I am a bit of a closet tree hugger. I drive a hybrid when I am not towing the Skeeter from place to place. My daughter wears cloth diapers, I bring my own bags to the grocery store and my wife is always getting told not to throw things away that could be reused or recycled.

With Earth Day rapidly approaching, I wanted to take a moment and let you all know about a few of my favorite conservation initiatives as well as special earth day events that may be happening in your area for you to take part in. For a history of Earth Day and lots more information check out the Earth Day Network. You can search for events by location and by date. The Minneapolis area alone has well over a dozen events planned including multiple watershed cleanups including the Mississippi river and several area lakes.

I would urge all outdoors people to look into earth day events in your area. It isn't just a hippies & Birkenstock movement. It is a great way to show others how important our natural resources are and to give back a little to your environment. Pick an issue and find a way to make a difference. Is this the year you get active?

I also wanted to share a couple conservation concerns of mine.

Ballast water and the great lakes is a topic that is getting more and more attention in the press. It probably deserves a lot more. Exotic species like the Round Goby and Zebra Mussels are being introduced at an alarming rate. Ballast water discharge has been identified by the EPA as a major cause of these introductions. Requiring bilge water to be sanitized by all ocean going vessels that enter the lakes is not too much to ask if it helps to protect the largest reserves of fresh water in the world. What is very frustrating about this issue, is that many regulations are in place to help with the problem yet enforcement is minimal if at all. For more info on this topic and others affecting the great lakes check out the Great Lakes Commission site.

The Pebble Mine project in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. If you have ever been fishing in Alaska you know how special it is, If you haven't, you most likely want to and as well you should. It is an amazing place. The Pebble Mine project would put a vast portion of this great wilderness at risk, Including one of the largest (if not the largest) Salmon runs in the world. The magnitude of this project is mind boggling with retention dams for toxic tailing piles that will be miles long and hundreds of feet high. All in an area that is more prone to earth quakes than southern California. The area is also home to two National parks. Katmai which is famous for it's Grizzly Bears and Lake Clark Park and Preserve. Allowing a mining corporation to gain a short term profit at the expense of an extremely valuable renewable natural resource is shameful and irresponsible. For more information about this issue, check out the Renewable Resources Coalition. This site has lots of info about the project as well as information about how you can help. You can join the coalition but you don't have to. There are plenty of other ways to help out including writing newspaper editors and email addresses for Governor Palin and much more. Check it out and think about writing your congressman regarding this issue.

Lastly a little more fun is a promotion Tropicana is doing this year with Coolearth to save some rainforest. Buy specially marked Tropican products and then go online and enter a 12 digit code. Tropicana will then purchase 100 square feet of Peruvian rainforest . The site will even show you a google earth map of what you helped to purchase and details a little more information about the project goals. If that wasn't enough, they will be giving away prizes so sign up and participate at www.tropicanarainforest.com

Thats probably enough soap boxing for today. Get out and enjoy the spring weather.

Sport

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Forage Fish Study... The Fat Head Minnow

Sport — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:33:00 GMT

Sorry for the delay in this second edition of the northern bait fish study. Things have gotten a little hectic around the Smith house hold. That being, said here ya go, number two.

If you have ever bought live bait in the Midwest, chances are you have had the opportunity to purchase some "Fat Heads". They are a favorite bait for anglers chasing Perch and Walleyes in many parts of the country especially in the winter. A little known fact is that a strain of the fat head known as the "Rosy-red Minnow is commonly sold as a feeder fish in US pet stores. I guess domestic fish like to eat fatheads as much as wild fish. Many Fatheads found in bait shops are captured from wild populations.

This minnow's range extends throughout much of North America, from central Canada south along the eastern side of the Rockies to Texas, and east to Virginia and the Northeastern United States This minnow has also been introduced to many other areas via bait bucket releases.

The fathead is quite tolerant of turbid, low-oxygenated water, and can be found in muddy ponds and streams that might otherwise be inhospitable to other species of fish. It can also be found in small rivers and streams.

It can grow to a length of about 4" with a one year old fish ranging from .5" to 3 " depending on growing conditions. The fathead minnow in its wild form is generally dull olive-gray in appearance, with a dusky stripe extending along the back and side, and a lighter belly. There is a dusky blotch midway on the dorsal fin. Breeding males acquire a large, gray fleshy growth on the nape (between the head and dorsal fin), as well as approximately 16 white breeding tubercles on the snout. They can become almost black in color. The females will remain somewhat drab in color.

Often found in large schools around submerged structure, they spawn from early May through August when water temperatures reach 60-65 degrees. The adhesive eggs are deposited on the under surface of floating objects such as wood and aquatic plants, and the male guards them. The eggs hatch in 5 to 6 days. Both males and females die within a month or two of spawning although they may spawn multiple times prior to that.

Click here for a PDF document that has a good description and more pictures of this common bait fish.

So what does this mean for the average angler? Well if you use live bait you should give these little guys a try. Pond managers will all tell you that these guys are quickly eliminated from any pond that has Largemouth in it. The spawning habits puts these guys in the cover commonly inhabited by bass in many of our northern lakes. From a color perspective, the dark stripe running down the minnows side is a common characteristic we will see in several other species in this series. If you are using artificial baits anything in the 3-4" range with a dark lateral line fished around floating cover could likely trigger a response from predatory fish. Check with your local fisheries managers and see if your favorite lake has fatheads in it.

Next week we will look at the shiner family.

Forage Fish Study... The Rainbow Smelt

Sport — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:47:00 GMT

When I was a kid, spring time meant smelting season. The rivers flowing into lake Michigan near my home in the UP of Michigan would be swarmed with folks looking to cash in on the plentiful spawning runs of this little fish. Usually there was plenty of beer and camp fires to go along with the dip nets and waders. Yes I have gleefully bitten the head off many a smelt ( a traditional first catch for the year practice) and watched others swallow smaller specimens whole with the help of 40 ounces of good old American pilsner. The runs aren't as plentiful these days and to my knowledge, very few people spend a night knee deep in cold flowing water with a dip net trying to scoop up a meal. The reason for the decline in numbers can be argued, but many will tell you it is because game fish like Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Salmon and trout all learned to feed on this exotic species of bait fish.

Some other common names for the Rainbow Smelt include frostfish, American Smelt, freshwater Smelt, Ice Fish, and Lee Fish. Rainbow Smelt have an average adult body size of 7 to 9 inches, and weigh around 3 ounces. They can reach sizes of up to 13 inches. These fish have very slender bodies, and prefer dark cool waters. They have a long pointed snout, a mouth full of teeth, an adipose fin, and a deeply forked caudal (tail) fin. When viewed underwater they appear primarily silver with light green backs, and have an abundance of pink, purple, and blue along their incomplete lateral line. The belly of this fish is white. This coloration may explain why bubblegum pink can be a fantastic color for Smallmouths. An interesting fact about Smelt is that they smell like cucumbers when freshly caught. Maybe we should be rubbing cucumber on our jerk baits instead of garlic.

Smelt are an anadroumous fish, meaning they live in fresh and salt water and are a very important commercial fishery on the east coast. They are also found on the pacific coast of Canada and Alaska. Anglers will often catch them on hook and line through the ice in fresh water lakes where they were originally introduced to as a bait fish for the more sought after sport fish such as Salmon Trout, and Walleye. They can be found now throughout the entire Great Lakes region and some parts of the Mississippi River. The St Lawrence sea way can be thanked for the introduction into the Great Lakes. Many anglers do not realize that the Smelt is an exotic species just like the zebra mussels and gobies we hear so much about these days.
They ascend freshwater streams in spring to spawn and are often seen in large schools in rivers during the spawning migrations. Smelt prefer cooler waters during the warm months and tend to move offshore to live in deeper water in summer. They feed primarily on crustaceans and small fish. This predatory nature has even prompted the Wisconsin DNR to do studies on the effect they may have on juvenile Walleye survival.

For some more pics and pretty dry scientific info, Check out zipcodezoo.com.

So what does all this mean to the everyday angler. The basis for this whole series is to encourage anglers to look into the bait fish that live in your area lakes. If you are fishing waters where you know there is a smelt population. Think about throwing baits in the 7-9 inch range. That might seem huge to many Smallmouth or Walleye anglers but that is the size of the fish they are used to feeding on. As far as color goes, pinks, purples and laminated colors with silver, blue and watermelon may provide you with an edge over everyone else throwing green pumpkin or crayfish colors.

There ya go. I hope you learned a little and check back for the next post in the series as we will cover the Fat Head Minnow.

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Bait Fish Study For Northern Anglers

Sport — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:26:00 GMT

If you are an avid angler, you probably have heard the phrase "Match the hatch". Although mostly used by Fly Fisherman, this concept holds true for all forms of fishing. Knowing what your target species of fish are eating is crucial to having a good day on the water. Ever wonder why a certain color works in one lake but not the lake across the road? It is probably due to the forage base in the lake that doesn't exist in the other. Rick Clunn and other Elite Series bass pros, will often talk about the importance of understanding what the bait fish or crayfish in a given waterway are doing or will do. Most anglers don't have this knowledge however.

The problem is somewhat compounded for northern anglers. Most every Bass fishing magazine you pick up to learn a new technique or presentation will refer to Shad and impoundments / reservoirs. Although the Mississippi River does have some Gizzard Shad in it, most all northern lakes do not. The reason is that shad can not handle the cold winter temperatures we experience in the north. The Bass and other game fish still do ok though by preying on other bait fish that live in our northern waters.

Do you know what bait fish live in your favorite lake? Do you know how big they get, when they spawn, where they prefer to live and what they look like? That is going to be the focus of series of post I will be doing over the coming weeks. Each post will focus on a species of bait or forage fish. You wont be reading anything about shad or bream (what those silly southerners call gills) but you will be able to read about a few species you may never have known were on the menu of your favorite game fish. Make sure you subscribe to the blog so you don't miss a single species.

First up will be the Rainbow Smelt. Stay Tuned!!

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Local Anglers Fight Back Against BASS Marshals Program

Sport — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:15:00 GMT

If you were thinking about fishing as a co-angler this year for any of the BASS Elite series events, You were probably a little upset to learn about the demise of the co-angler. I myself have been fairly vocal about my feelings on the topic. Well some local anglers in Virginia have taken a stand to show how they feel about the "Marshals". They will be holding a tournament on Smith Mountain Lake at the same time as the Elite series pros.

www.BeatTheElites.com

The tournament will be a four day event with cash prizes for both boater and non boater divisions. Bonus money will be paid for bringing in a larger sack than the winning Elite Series Pro.

I think this is a very interesting concept. I can only assume this event will pull from the Marshals program. It will definitely affect the way guys fish. It will be interesting to watch the footage following the event and see how much the additional pressure affects the tournament outcomes. Had I known about this event a little sooner I would have made an effort to go down and fish. My in laws live on the lake and I have fished it several times including the last Elite Series event that was there. I think I will be a little too busy to get down there next month.

For more on my thoughts about the Marshals, check out my past entry "BASS Elite Series squashes the little guy".

Kayak Fishing the Salt Water Marshes of Hilton Head Island

Sport — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:03:00 GMT

As I write this, I have a cold drink in my hand and am looking out over the pool and the spring breakers sunning themselves poolside. I know there is probably still snow on the ground at home so I am fairly happy to be down in South Carolina visiting my inlaws. They come down every spring to play some golf and enjoy some warmer weather. This is the second year now that I have taken my family down to visit. Last year I spent a fair amount of time walking the banks of the golf course ponds fishing for large mouths (see an entry from last year Golf, Gators, and Bass). This year I plan to do the same but thought I would also try my hand at a little salt water action.

I took a trip out with Outside Hilton Head to try and catch a few fish. They offer a variety of trips but I settled on the kayak fishing for Redfish and Speckled Sea trout. I have fished from a Kayak before but never from the Hobie Mirage Outback. I know Hank Parker is a big fan so they must be "Really Cool" right? To be honest they were pretty neat. The ability to pedal with your feet leaves your hands free to fish. I could see it working pretty well for jump shooting ducks as well. I may have to look into getting one for next fall.

It was myself and one other client on the trip. Our guides name was Joe. He was a Jersey native who moved to Hilton Head a couple years ago to escape the cold weather. When he isn't taking people fishing he leads Eco-Tourists on kayak tours around the island . As a licensed home inspector, he also does some of that work (although not much lately I would guess). If that wasn't enough, he plays in a band at night at a few of the local watering holes. Joe stays busy. The other client on the trip was named Bassum (bassem? not sure on the spelling). I knew I was going to like him as soon as I heard his name. He was from Ohio and spent his free time chasing steelhead on the rivers and streams near his home. He also mentioned catching the occasional lake Erie Smallmouth. Surely three accomplished anglers such as us would have no problem catching a few fish on the falling tide.

I will spare you all the gory details but in the end we all got skunked. Not a single fish amongst three of us. We covered lots of water and tried a variety of live and artificial baits but never found the fish. We did get to watch a few dolphins feeding in shallow water and birds feeding on the exposed oyster beds. All in all there are worse ways to spend a morning.

Well my drink is almost empty and I think I am going to go through some top water on the pond across the street so I will call it an entry. Check back and I will let you know how the golf course ponds produce.

Sport
www.SportSmithFishing.com