Bass Bloggin

Warner's Dock

2012-01-05T12:12:00.003-06:00

If your looking for something fishing related to do over the weekend. Come on out to Warner's Dock in New Richmond WI. They are having a Customer Appreciation Weekend Jan. 6th thru the 8th. They will have some seminars and local tackle vendors on site. I will be there on Sat at the Outkast booth so stop by and see the new jig colors for 2012. Check out the link for times and directions. www.warnersdock.com/OpenHousePromotion2012.htm Hope to see some of you there.

Gull Lake-FOM

2011-10-13T07:02:00.002-05:00

July 16th Steve and I fished the Gull Lake Fishers of Men tournament. We traveled up on Friday and were delayed getting on the water by nasty thunderstorm that rolled in just as we got to the landing. After getting on the water we decided to try some new water for us this year and headed north. We found fish just about every stop we made but the size was not there. Finally we found some better fish and had spot to start. Friday night we got a decent boat draw and were confident we would be able to get our spot. On Saturday morning we had 2 boats head the same way as we did and they both stopped short of where we wanted to start. It didn't take us long to start putting them in the boat. We had a limit in no time but as usual they were not as big as the day before. We did catch a nice 2 1/2 before moving on. We then moved though the spots from practice and did upgrade a few times. We then moved back down toward the launch area to a spot we always catch one good one and this time we did as well. I fired my tube on Outkast Money Jig to the target and it just kept going. I set into our biggest fish of the day a 3.13 Largemouth. It was time to head to the scales. We weighed in 11.02 lbs which was good for 13th place and moved us up in the yearly standings. The next FoM tournament is in August on the Whitefish Chain.

Wow

2011-10-05T12:23:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe it's October already. I really have fallen behind on my posts. Over the next few week I will get up to date on the tournaments I have fished this summer and report on the fall fishing as I get out. This really is my favorite time of the year. Fishing gets better and better and the big ones are packing it on for winter. Football is going strong both the Packers and Badgers are looking really good. But then the time comes to put the boat in storage for the winter and a well received time away to recharge the batteries for next year. But spring will soon be here and it's time to start all over again.

Green Lake (Spicer)-FOM

2011-07-08T06:26:00.005-05:00

Saturday June 18th Steve and I were back on Gren Lake for the second Fishers of Men tournament of the year. We got on the water Thursday evening for a few hours to look around and see what was going on on the water. We found a few things we liked and were back on the water Friday morning to expand on what we found the night before. We only were able to fish till around noon when a storm blew up and kicked us off the water. At the tournament meeting we drew boat 10 so we felt we could get our best starting spot which we did. I got us on the board right away with a top water fish on a Pop-r. I switched up to a tube and got 2 more with one being our big fish of the day at 3.41 pounds. Steve finally joined the action getting our 4th fish. We then ran to our next spot and quickly finished out our limit and culled two more times. We then kept moving to our other spots looking for upgrades. We caught a lot of fish just not any more that would help. We weighed in 14.95 pounds of smallmouth and a big bass of 3.41 pounds . That tied us for 7th place and got us a check. We moved to 12th place in the standings which is huge after our dismal showing on Clearwater. We caught most of our fish using tubes on Outkast Money Jigs. We also caught them on lizards, crankbaits and top water. Our next stop is Gull Lake in July.

Fun Fishing

2011-06-24T12:38:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning I had few hours to go hit a small lake near home just to fun fish. I started out fishing deep and was not catching much at all. I moved in shallow and worked a tube around rocks. The action started to get better. I caught a 4.32 and a couple 3 lber's and a lot of smaller bass. After I had worked down the shore I went to another area I had like that and all heck broke loose. I was on them big time. As fast as I could cast out there I would get bit. The smallest fish I caught in the hour feeding frenzy was 2 1/2 lbs. The two in the picture above are 4.85 and 4.78 lbs. On my Rapala touch screen scale my 5 biggest would weigh 20.98 lbs. Not a bad few hours of fishing. I went back out on Sunday morning as well and did not do as well but still caught a couple that went over 4 lbs.

Maple Lake-RB

2011-06-23T12:49:00.004-05:00

Sunday June 5th was the first Tournament of the year for The Renegade Bassers. We fished Maple Lake near Annandale. I was next to last to take off and was partnered with Darin one of the guys in the club. I started in the big shallow bay the west side of the lake. I was chucking a frog over the mats. It dadn't take long and was putting my 5 in the livewell and Darin was starting to get the hang of frog fishing. We made the pass through and went to the back lake to a spot I had found the week before and got a few that would help and Darin secured his limit. I the went into the middle lke and fished a row of docks that good the week before. I worked with a tube and a senko and got a few more that bumped up my weight a few ounces at a time. we then hit a deep weedline with the hope some of the post spawnwers had moved out. It started out good as I landed my big fish of the day 3.08 largemouth. We kept catching them but they were all small and you had to get through the toothy critters to even get a bite. We went back to froggin and Darin caught one that would help him and I lost a giant that got tanlged in the mat and pulled off. At weigh in I weighed in 9.85 pounds and that put me in 5th place. Congratulation to Pat P for the win with 14.19 and to Chris A for Big Bass at 4.16. Our next club tournament is in July at the Whitefish Chain.

Clearwater-FOM

2011-06-23T12:38:00.003-05:00

Steve and I fished our first Fishers of Men tournament of the year on Sat. June 4th on Clearwater. We had been out the week before prefishing and the results were so-so. At the Friday night meeting Steve won the Boat take off position 1 in the raffle. To bad we didn't have a great staring spot. We hit our first spot and put 5 in the boat in no time at all. It was the challenge of the day to upgrade. As we worked through or spots we could cull up ounces at a time until Steve got out big fish of the day a 3.53 largemouth. That was it for big upgrades. We ended up in 35th place with 11.62 pounds. Not a good way to start the year. Our next FOM is on Green(Spicer) a lake we tend to do well on. I am looking forward to that as it is an awesome smallmouth fishery.

Wisconsin Opener 2011

2011-06-22T06:50:00.002-05:00

Friday May 6th Guy and I headed to Wisconsin for our annual trip to the Cable area for the opener. Once we arrived the group formed the morning plans. Our first stop of the day was to the "Nam". It didn't take long and Guy put the first walleye in the boat and he followed up with another nice one. I finally got in on the action but mine pulled off at the boat. A short time later I got one for the well and the walleye action all but stopped. We decided to go look for some smallie action. I was working a jig and minnow down a point when I got a tap and set into a nice fish. As it would turn out it would be my best fish of the weekend a 18 1/2" smallie. We worked the area some more but couldn't entice another. We left the Nam for our secret lake. The water was cold and the bass just were not ready for our assault. We would get a few here and there but it was slow. That was pretty much the story for Sunday and Monday morning as well. We had a fun trip and enjoyed hanging with the sconi boys again. I am already looking forward to next year.

First Trip 2011

2011-05-06T11:23:00.000-05:00

I'm off to Wisconsin for the first trip of 2011. Here's hoping for nice weather and lots of bass action. Look for a report next week.

Cabelas-Rogers

2011-03-17T07:31:00.000-05:00

If your in the area this coming weekend March, 19 & 20. Stop in to the Rogers Cabela's and say hi. I will be there Sat. and Sun. to answer questions and sell Outkast Jigs. It will be a good time to fill up that jig box before the season gets going. Cabela's carries the RT Jig, the Finesse Jig and the Pro Swim Jigs in the most popular colors and sizes.

Renegade Bassers Banquet

2011-03-17T07:20:00.000-05:00

Renegade Bassers 2011

Saturday Feb. 26th The Renegade Bassers held their first club banquet at Angeno's in Maple Grove. After dinner we had a short meeting to discuss our jerseys and club business. It was then time to hand out the 2010 awards.
14th Place Dave McCrone
13th Place Ken Krass
12th Place Mark Nistler
11th Place Brian Burandt
10th Place Daryl Larson
9th Place Mike Juskiewicz
8th Place Steve Walker
7th Place Nick Madison
6th Place Steve Oswald
5th Place Chris Asbeck
4th Place Jason Titus
3rd Place Pat Porter
2nd Place Guy Knudson
AOY for 2010 John Pozarski

Thanks to all the guys who helped get the banquet set up and to our sponsors for donating for the gift bags. Outkast Tackle, Leena Lures and Culprit. Thanks to my wife for the work she put in on making the flowers for the wives.

Clearwater-RB

2011-02-03T12:41:00.004-06:00

The Renegade Bassers last tournament of the year was Sept. 19th on Clearwater. There were up to 6 guys that could win Angler of the Year so the fight was on. I was holding on to the lead that I had held since the 2nd tournament of the year. I really just needed to go out and catch 5 fish and hope nobody caught a huge bag. I was paired with Guy as he was boatless still. We prefished on Sat. the day before and found two really good spots that we would hammer the next day. We had a middle of the pack take off spot and no one went our way so we got to our first spot and I took me 2 casts to break the ice and box my first fish. I was throwing a texas rigged Lake Fork Tube Craw. I proceeded to catch my limit over the next 25 minutes. Guy was struggling unable box a fish. We moved as the bite slowed to nothing and tried another spot that had produced in the past. Guy finally was able to get a fish flippin some bullrushes. We left that spot and moved to our other hot spot from Sat. I caught 1 on a frog on my first cast but it would not help. Guy then started to catch them flippin shallow cover. He was able to catch his limit and we went looking for some biggins. As the day went on the bite slowed big time. We finally moved to the bay where the access was to kill the day. We caught some fish but nothing that would help. With about 2 minutes to go Guy yelled net and I netted a 3.93 dandy for him that he was able to cull a 1 lb fish out. It was time to head to the scales and see how we all did. I weighed in 12.26 lbs that was good for 2nd place. Guy was the winner with 13.39 and had Big Bass at 3.93. With my 2nd place finish I was able to secure the Renegade Bassers "Angler of the Year" title. Guy made a charge and went from 5th to 2nd. Thanks to all the guys in the club who made our first year a success. I am already looking forward to next year and defending my title.

2010 MNBFN TOC Day 2

2011-01-06T06:50:00.002-06:00

Day 2 of the TOC I meet Aaron at the dock at Fletcher's. I told him it was his day to do as he needed to win the TOC. As we talked it seems we fish very similar spots. We started fishing a deep weedline and Aaron started the day off with on and I got bite and broke off right away. That really set the tone for my day. I got rigged back up and we moved on. Each spot Aaron would catch 1 but that would be it. About noon I finally caught one but that would be it for me for the day. Aaron got his limit and was able to secure 2nd place in the TOC. My one fish went 2.09 giving me a 2 day total of 11.89 pounds and a 98th place finish. Final standings are here:
http://www.mnbfn.org/TOC/2010/2010finalind.pdf
Congratulations to Aaron on his finish in the TOC and good luck next year at divisional tournament.

2010 MNBFN TOC Day 1

2010-11-16T12:29:00.003-06:00

September 9&10 the Minnesota Bass Federation held their TOC on Lake Minnetonka. The TOC is 2 day total weight tournament. You qualify through the federation bass clubs. At the tournament meeting you are paired with another angler for each day. Its up to the two of you to decide on boat and fishing strategies. I was paired with Larry R from the Lakes Area Bass club on day 1. We decided to use his boat and we mapped out a game plan. We started the day on one of my spots and we were able to each get one keeper. We then moved to another on of my spots as it was close. I had a few docks that had produced some big fish in the past and they did again as boxed a 5.15 largemouth. we moved around to Larry's spots and had little going on. We finally made the call to finish the day where we had started. I managed to finish out my limit and Larry was able to get 4 fish. My day 1 weight was 9.80 pounds putting me in 60th place. After weigh in I found my Day 2 partner and we decided to go with what he had as he was in 4th place overall. I then headed home to get ready for tomorrow.

RB-Lake Waconia

2010-10-22T09:42:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning we hit Lake Waconia for the 5th Renegade Bassers tournament of the year. I was glad to be on Waconia. It is one of my favorite lakes to fish. I was needing to get some confidence back after the beating I took the day before on Rush. The was not starting out very good as the wind was howling before the sun came up. It would make it tough to fish some of mt better spots. Brian was my partner for the day. Brian grew up near the lake and he and I have spent many a day on Waconia. We started near some cabbage beds where we had both done well in the past. Nothing was working and the wind was blowing harder. I finally caught a keeper on a Outkast stick worm to break the ice. We then went to the spot where I had done so well last year. I managed to catch one on a tube craw but that was it. I wanted to try a off shore spot but lasted about 10 minutes as boat control was an issue in the wind. Back to the shorelines we went. I picked up another for the well on a jig worm. Brian had yet to put one in the box. We then moved to the cat tails to try the flippin bite. That was where Brian finally put his only fish of the day in the boat. I struggled to catch my last 2. At the scales I weighed 10.58 pounds good for 3rd place. My big bass was 2.54. The wind really controlled what we did as we could not fish the areas we wanted to. Congratulations to Pat P. for the win with 13.85 and to Ozzy with the big bass at 4.03. Our last tournament is in Sept. on Clearwater. The Angler of the Year points battle is getting close and any one of 6 guys have a shot.

RB-Rush Lake

2010-10-12T12:45:00.002-05:00

Saturday Aug. 14th brought the Renegade Bassers to Rush Lake. I was scheduled to fish alone but Guy had to leave early so he jumped in with me for the 3 1/2 hours he could fish. We started fishing a shallow reed bed in the west side. I was flipping a Texas rigged tube craw and a jig. Finally I connected with a good fish and had one in the box. Guy followed up with one of his own. We moved to a new area and Guy scored right off the bat and followed with another. Guy had to leave so we weighed his fish and he was off. I then ran to a few other spots that I had caught fish pre fishing but all I could catch were short ones. I ran to some new water but could not get anything going. Finally I ran back to where we started and put a 3rd fish in the box. That was it for me for the day. I weighed in 3 fish for 5.91 pounds. My big fish was 3.75. It was just one of those days where everything I did was wrong. I had to put it behind me as on Sunday we fished another club event on Waconia. Congrats to Chris A for the win with 12.45 pounds and Steve W for a 3.85 Big Bass.

FOM-Gull Lake

2010-10-12T12:30:00.002-05:00

Steve and I headed to Gull Lake on Friday morning to pre fish for Saturday's tournament. We put in and headed for areas we had each fished before. We caught fish at each stop but finding bigger fish was the days task. It was a task we never really accomplished. We were confidant we were going to get our 5 but getting the kickers we needed was going to be a chore. We had a middle of the pack draw and ran to out starting spot and put 5 in the well to get started. Of the 5 we had only 1 that was decent. We ran to few spots and kept up grading but weren't getting the ones we needed. We went to some new water that we had not fished the day before and Steve tied in to a good one that went 4.16 on the scales but that would be it for the day. We ended up 15th with 11.17 pounds. We fished hard and sorted through a lot of fish. We just never could get another big bite.

2010 Viking Tournament-Minnetonka

2010-10-04T10:40:00.007-05:00

6.94 Lake Minnetonka Largemouth

Sunday Oct. 3rd my cousin Greg and I fished the Viking Invitational on Lake Minnetonka. Saturday we hit the lake to pre fish and spent the day trying to figure the fish out. We were having little success at doing that till late in the day we found some active fish and hoped they would be still going on Sunday. We had boat 33 at take off and were able to get to our spot and get after them. The fish were still there but not as active as they had been the day before. We got our limit by 9:00 and then started to move around looking for bigger fish. We went to a spot where we had in the past put a few bigger fish in the boat. We worked the area flipping jigs and soft plastics in the reeds. Just about to the end of our run I flipped in and felt the tell tale thump and set into something solid. Before I could yell net, Greg was standing there ready to net it. We got it in the net and a 22" beauty went into the well. It was the biggest bass I have caught in a tournament and one of the biggest I have ever caught. A true Minnesota trophy. We ended the day hitting a few points on the way back to weigh-in and were not able to cull out 2 of the smaller fish we had. At the scales the Big Bass went 6.94 pounds and our total weight was 15.34. We finished in 3rd place and took home the Big Bass pot. What a way to end the 2010 tournament season. Thanks to Greg for being "extreme net man" for the day. The bass was caught on an Outkast Tackle RT jig with a beaver trailer.

Lake Koronis-RB

2010-09-28T07:01:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning we traveled up the road to Lake Koronis. I had never been on the lake until Friday when we stopped to prefish it for a few hours. On Sunday I had drawn Daryl as my partner for the day. I had two spots that I caught some fish prefishing so we picked a big main lake point to start on. I was starting to question myself on the spot then a 2 1/2 pound smallie destroyed my Chigger Craw. That was it and it was time for move to the other spot. My second spot was of the edge of a large rock and gravel flat. I quickly put 2 largemouth and 2 more smallies in the box for my limit. Daryl was getting frustrated as he was fish less still. We the moved to another point without any action. I asked Daryl if he wanted to hit some docks and we went and hit a stretch. I gave Daryl the front of the boat and it was on. I caught a nice largemouth and was able to cull. Daryl then put 3 in box on the next two docks. I threw to an overhanging willow and pulled another 2 1/2 largemouth for another upgrade. Daryl had caught 2 more for his limit as well. We decided to finish the docks. The next one I pulled a 4.08 largemouth for my big fish of the day. We both caught more as we worked to the end. Daryl was able to upgrade a few times. We then ran to a spot that held some bigger smallies that finally had no boats on it. Daryl whacked a 3 lb smallie and then a 3.83 smallie for his big fish of the day. I was not able to find one and finally it was time to weigh in. The scale said I weighed 13.78# which was good for 2nd place. Daryl weighed 13.17# good for 3rd place. Congratulations to Ozzy for the win with 15.82# and Brian for Big Bass with a dandy 4.78 smallie. Daryl and I had a great day on the water and were able to do so well by changing on the fly. We tried some stuff that had not really paid off on friday. I guess we didn't get stuck on one pattern and kept looking till we found the active fish.

Green Lake (Spicer)-RB

2010-08-24T09:43:00.002-05:00

Green Lake Smallies

On July 24th the Renegade Bassers tournament was held on Green Lake in Spicer. Friday was a prefishing day and I scouted the spots we fished this spring for the FOM. I had limited success at a few of the spots and had some good bites at others. I decided to start on the north end of the lake on a spot that was rocky and had some good drops. Steve also started in that area as well. My draw partner for the day was Mike J, so at least I could get a good laugh all day if we did not catch any fish. I started throwing a Pop-r and it was not long before I was hooked up with a good smallie. mike netted it and I was on the board. We worked down the break and I was working the deeper side. I saw some surface activity and threw at it and another bass just exploded on the Pop-r. After 1 more on the topwater the bite seemed to have died. I started throwing a tube on a Outkast Money Jig. I caught number 4 for the well and Mike caught 2 as well. The action just went away and was time to move. I hit a deep weedline that is better known for largemouth and finally got number 5 for my limit. I caught it on a crankbait and it had 4 or 5 bigger smallies chasing it to the boat. We worked the area and were never able to catch them. The wind really picked up as the day went on. We moved to the south side of the lake which was the windy side to kill the day. With about 20 minutes to go I yelled net and a 3.63 smallie replaced the 2 pound largemouth. At weigh in I weighed 14.72# good for 2nd place. Congrats to Chris A for the win with 17.36 bag of smallmouth and for Big Bass with a 4.47 beauty. The next day we fish on Lake Koronis.

FOM-Minnetonka

2010-08-02T09:48:00.002-05:00

We drew the 32 take off position and were off to our first spot. We got off on the right foot with 4 fish in the first 15 minutes. Steve got 3 on the drop shot and I had 1 on top water. We moved to spot number 2 and quickly got our limit and culled a couple times. we moved around to our different spots and were culling up ounces at a time. We finally made to one of our better spots and with a couple hours to go I set into a good fish. Steve grabbed the net and it just came un done. It was a 4 lb plus fish that would have helped a ton. Made another pass thru and got bit again. This time the fish jumped and threw the lure. Not a good way to end the day. When it was all said and done we weighed 12.74 pounds for 23rd place. We managed to hold on to 8th place in the standings with 2 tournaments to go. We hit Gull Lake on the 7th of August. We hope to have a better finish there. Those 2 lost fish were a killer.

Green Lake-FOM

2010-07-20T07:15:00.002-05:00

I need to get caught up here. It's been a month since I posted anything. So I will do a few here over the next few days. We fished the FOM on Green Lake in Spicer on June 17th. On our practice day of Friday we notice a few fish still on beds. The water was much dirtier than normal which made it hard to spot the bedding fish. The wind was blowing from the southwest at about 20 mph which made it harder to road hunt. We tried a few things in different parts of the lake and decided to start on the same area we started the past few years. We had a middle of the pack draw so we were surprised that we were able to get our spot. Things started out good as we had a double. Steve boated his and mine broke my line at the boat. We then just moved around trying to just get a limit. We finally were able to that and culled up to 11.09 pounds which was good for 23rd place. Our big bass was 3.13. We were able to stay at 11th place in points for the year. Our next FOM tournament is on Lake Minnetonka on July 17th.

RB-Medicine Lake

2010-06-16T07:08:00.003-05:00

Saturday June 12th was the first tournament of the year for the Renegade Bassers. We fished Medicine Lake in Plymouth. My draw partner for the day was Mark N. We were boat 3 to take off. Mark started the day off by putting a nice 3 pounder in the boat on a spinnerbait. I was struggling to put a fish in the boat. We moved shallow then deep but just could not get them to go. I finally got number one on a spinnerbait. There was a stretch of docks that I wanted to hit but someone had started just ahead of me. I waited for a bit then went in behind them. I fired a Lake Fork Ring Fry in the dock and the line started swimming away I set in to it and knew right away it was big. Mark got the net under it and a 5 pounder was in the boat. Between docks I was burning the spinnerbait and got another 2 1/2 for my 3rd fish. we moved to some mid lake humps and Mark caught number 2. we then hit some shallow milfoil patches and I was able to fill out my limit. We spent the rest of the day covering water. I was able to cull up a few times but in the end I ended up a bit short. I weighed in 13.50 pounds and a 5.01 Big Bass. Mark ended the day with 4 fish for 7.89. Congrats to Guy K for winning with 15.04 pounds. The next Renegade Bassers tournament is on Green Lake in Spicer in July.

FOM-Clearwater

2010-06-15T07:19:00.002-05:00

So much for improving on last years 3rd place finish. We started the day on a familiar spot that gave us four keepers. 1 was a three pounder. We mover to another spot that I caught some nice ones prefishing the week before. We did catch our fifth fish and culled one time for a small upgrade. After moving around to a few other areas we had we tried some new water and struck pay dirt. I caught three fish in three casts that all went in the well. We stayed in that area the rest of the day catching fish after fish. It got down right silly at times. In the end we were able to weigh in 13.43 pounds that was good enough for 11th place. .07 pounds out of the money. That was a tough way to end a great day on the water. Our next FOM tournament is June 19th on Green Lake in Spicer. I can't wait to get out there and tangle with the smallies.

First Tournament of the Year

2010-06-04T09:53:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the first tournament of the year for the Fishers of Men. Steve and I are hoping to better our 3rd place finish of last year. We prefished last Saturday and did OK. The weather looks good for most of the day. So its time to get it done. I will post our results and tactics next week.

Wisconsin Opener

2010-05-27T06:40:00.002-05:00

Lake Owen Smallie

Friday night April, 30th Guy and I headed for Wisconsin for the opener. It rained most of the way up there. We made the stop in Hayward for minnows and headed for Saz's cabin at the Nam. We were up early Saturday morning and greeted with winds that would not die down all weekend. So we dumped the boats and headed for the usual spot. It did not take long to get our 2 fish limit. We moved around a bit and the fishing just died. So we loaded up and went in for lunch. In the afternoon we went to "Secret Lake". Guy and I headed to the bass spot right away. To bad it was in the windiest part of the lake. On Guy's first cast he set the hook into a dandy but it turned out to be a toothy critter about 8 lbs. we then started to catch some bass. The Sunfish R.T. Jig was the ticket. Boat control was really an issue so we only made 2 passes before we had to move. We did catch fish in our other spots, just not the quality. Sunday was more of the same with the wind. We did the "Nam" in the morning and in the afternoon we hit Lake Owen. Lake Owen is really clear and deep. we got the boats in and Guy and I just dropped the trolling motor and started fishing. Guy got it started with a largemouth on a jerk bait. I followed shortly with a smallie on a Red Eye Shad rattle bait. I caught 4 more in short order then the sun went behind the clouds and couldn't catch any more. We moved down lake and started fishing wood. Guy caught 5-6 off one tree on an R.T. jig and I caught a couple on a tube. Jimmy and Mark caught a 22" walleye. Monday was travel day so we just went to the "Nam" to finish the weekend. Got our 2 fish limit and then packed up and headed for home. It was a great trip again this year. The wind really hampered what we wanted to do but we made the most of it. Thanks again to John for opening the cabin to us. It was nice too see the crew: Saz, Dewey, Mark and Jimmy again. Can't wait for the first Saturday in May 2011 to do it again.

Outkast Pro Swim Jigs

2010-05-13T07:11:00.002-05:00

As I have fallen behind on posting I remember that I had not posted the new colors for the Outkast Pro Swim Jig. The one on the left is Sexy Shad and the one on the right is Glitter Shad. Both colors are now available online from Outkast and if you are in the Metro area. Cabelas has them in the store. I usually put a Outkast Fat Tail Grub on as a trailer and fish it like a spinner bait. Just reel it in pumping the rod tip a few times to create an erratic motion. It is great for fishing through cabbage and over the top of coon tail. It also comes through pads with ease. I fish it on a 7' med rod with braided line so when you hook up it cuts through the weeds and you can get the fish out. If you have not tried a swim jig yet you are missing out on a new technique that puts fish in the boat. Take a look at Outkast website for all the colors and sizes: http://www.outkasttackle.com/product_pages/proswim.html and for the Fat tail Grub:
http://www.outkasttackle.com/product_pages/fatail.html. Give it a try and weigh the results. Remember to use the Outkast offer and get 10% off.

Kentucky Lake

2010-05-10T06:56:00.002-05:00

I have been so busy that I have been letting my posts slip here. I need to take a few days and catch up on these reports. On March 30 6 of us left for Kentucky Lake. Pat P, Ken K, Guy K, Chris M, Steve and I drove the 12 hours to New Concord, KY. We stayed at the Missing Hill Resort right on the lake. Kentucky Lake is a huge body of water with tons of places to fish. We started out in the cove where the resort was located. Steve was the first to boat a Kentucky bass and I caught a gizzard shad. We were throwing a bunch of different lures just seeing what they wanted. Steve was getting bit on the Zoom lizard texas rigged and I was having success with the Zoom magnum finesse worm in Green pumpkin on a 1/8 oz Outkast Money Jig. We caught fish everywhere we stopped. We just could not get the bigger fish to bite. We basically ran that pattern all 3 days we fished. We would catch a few in the backs of coves on spinnerbaits but they were not all over it like they were the soft plastics. All in all it was a good trip. I did catch a Largemouth, Smallmouth and a Spotted bass on the trip. I think we were a week or two ahead of when the lake would have been on fire. I hope at some point to get back there it has so much potential and with the numbers of smaller fish we caught it should stay in good shape for years to come.

Getting Ready

2010-03-24T07:18:00.002-05:00

The countdown is on. My 2010 fishing season will star next Wednesday on Kentucky Lake. 5 of us from the Renegade Bassers are hitting the road for a 4 day trip. I have been busy getting rods and tackle ready. It will be a quick trip but worth it to be on the water. The reports are starting to look like we might hit it at the right time to catch some fish. The water is warming and fish are moving up. I hope to post some pictures and a report when I get back.

Mn Bass Federation Seminars

2010-01-05T12:50:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year again. Waiting for the cold and snow to go away. On January 16th the Mn BASS Federation is presenting free Bass fishing seminars before the meeting. January's speakers will be Randy Wilcox and Jeff Gilmer, they will be talking about Lamiglas Rods who just became a Federation Sponsor. Then at 10:15 Rapala Pro Mark Fisher will be talking Lake Minnetonka. Minnetonka is the site of the 2010 MNBFN State TOC. What a way to spend a Saturday morning talking fishing. The Fed meeting will then start at noon. The seminars will be held at the Medina Entertainment Center just west of Plymouth on Hwy. 55. Hope to see some of you there.

Fall Fishing

2009-11-18T07:01:00.003-06:00

The fall fishing has been spotty this year. After a really cold and rainy October November has been really nice. I have had the chance to get out a few times for a few hours at a time and done well each time. The above photo is from 2 weeks ago on short trip with Brian and Evan. I caught this one on a Leena Lures spinnerbait that really has been the go to bait this fall. On Sunday I hit a small local lake for smallmouth bass. I usually try and hit it a few times in the fall. I launched the boat and saw the water temp was still 43-45 degrees. I started throwing the Finesse jig as that usually gets them turned on. But not a bite. I then picked up a tube and on the first cast had one break me off. Retied real quick and got bit again. This time a 15" smallie came aboard and it was on. I caught close to 20 fish over the next 2 1/2 hours. The biggest was 18 1/2". Not a bad way to finish the year. I brought the boat home and winterized it as it was such a nice day. Better than when I usually do it in the cold and snow. So my year is complete unless I can find someone that has not put their boat away and wants to take me fishing. Now the task will be to get the boat cleaned out and start going through and organizing tackle for next year. I will post through the winter on new lures and fishing products that catch my eye. I do know Outkast has two new color swim jigs that are coming out in December. I will put them up when I get a few. Have a great winter season. The Bass opener is only 6 months away.........

Double Discount

2009-10-21T10:05:00.002-05:00

I just want to pass this along. If you use the code johnp at www.outkasttackle.com Between now and Oct. 31st you will receive an additional 10% discount for a total of 20%. Its a great way to stock up for next year and save a few bucks.

GHB-Green Lake (Chisago)

2009-10-07T09:47:00.006-05:00

Saturday was our last GHB tournament of the year. The top 4 anglers were all within 4 lbs of each other so there was some drama to be had. The weather was terrible to say the least. Windy, cold and rain made it to tougher to say on the game. I had pre fished twice and had nothing going. My partner for the day Steve W had made a few trips out as well. He had a set of docks that had produced each time he was out. We decided to stop there first and hit them. Being boat 2 we thought it was ours. But boat 1 headed for them and beat us to the spot. I then headed for the area where I had my best fish in practice. The bad thing it was in the wind. I was throwing a Sweet Beaver on a Money Jig looking for rocks that were scattered. After about an hour of working the area I finally got number 1 in the boat. Over the next hour and a half I caught 3 more for the well. The rain had quit but the wind still was howling. We ran to a few other spots without any takers. We finally decided to kill the day at our starting area. At the weigh in I weighed 4 fish for 7.55 pounds good for second place. With 16 guys fishing we managed only 19 keepers. Congrats to Pat P for winning the tournament with 3 fish for 9.74 and taking Big Bass honors with a 4.21 largemouth. Pat also clinched the Angler of the Year title. Way to go Pat. I jumped 1 spot to finish 3rd for the year. See the tournament results here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourny7.htm and the AOY results here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/results.htm It was a good year and we had a lot of fun fishing. Now I will have to get out a do some fall fishing before the lakes ice up for the winter.

Great Customer Service

2009-09-16T12:31:00.002-05:00

I just want to post on some great customer service I received this week. My Pro Mariner on board charger quit working 2 weeks ago. I ran through the test procedures in the manual to no avail and called the service center for my options. The guy told me to box it up and send it in for them to look at. Yesterday when I got home there was a box by the door. I saw it was from Pro Mariner and was surprised because I had not heard from them. I opened it and found a brand new charger to my surprise it was an better model than I had. Considering it was 4 years old they went above and beyond what I had expected. So thanks to Pro Mariner for some great customer service. If you are in need of a new on board charger take a look at the Tournament Series chargers. If you should ever need it their customer service is second to none.

FOM-Horseshoe Chain

2009-09-10T07:57:00.005-05:00

Steve and I went into this tournament with very little confidence. We had prefished twice with little success. We drew boat number 9 at the Friday meeting so our wait would be short. We had one spot that had shown some promise so that was our starting spot. We fished the deep break without a bite so we moved into the docks and Steve got us on the board. I followed with 2 more. We made the decision to fish docks the rest of the day. We finally got a limit around 9 o'clock. We then worked docks and culled up to 9.31 pounds which was good for 21st place. We ended the year 5th in the overall standings. Our 2009 FOM season was good as we improved 5 spots in the standings. With the regional tournament in Alabama our season has come to an end. We can now start to look forward to 2010 and see what we can do to improve on the lakes that gave us fits this year. I will post a season review over the next few weeks.

Lake Waconia-GHB

2009-08-27T06:49:00.003-05:00

Sunday morning we were back on the lake at Lake Waconia. I was fishing alone today as my draw was out of town. I had been out a week ago and found a few spots that I wanted hit so I made a plan and hoped to stick with it. I was boat 2 out so I hoped I could out run a few guys to my starting spot. Well that did not happen and I had to revise my plan already. I started throwing a buzz bait over the shallow weeds on big flat. With no action I headed in to a few docks that had produced in the past. I threw a stick worm in the first boat lift and got bite as soon as it hit the water. Then nothing must not have got a good hook set. I had drifted down past the docks so I threw in behind under the walkway and got bit. Number 1 for the day in the well. I caught 6 fish on my next 7 casts. All keepers so I had my limit and culled twice and it was not even 7:00 o'clock yet. I worked down the run of docks with no more action. I had a spot with some cabbage and coon tail at the end of the run that I caught 2 on a tube. I was able to cull with 1 of them. With that I was off to hit two areas I found last week. As I pulled up I had the area to myself and it did not take long for the fish to cooperate. I pulled a 3 pounder and 2 more that were able upgrade my limit. I moved the 200 yards to the other spot and got fish there to. I was down to beaming as they were all about the same size. After working that for an hour or so I moved the 200yards back to the other side. After about 10 casts I felt the thump and set into something that just wouldn't move. My first thought was musky as last week I had a huge 45-50" fish in the same area. But as I got it out of the weeds I saw that it was a big bass. A quick one handed net job a 5.16 pound bass went in the box. My limit was starting to look good. I switched up my lure selection for awhile from a tube craw to a tube. But got nothing that would help. Back to the other spot. 2 quick ones from there with 1 going in the box. Things seemed to have slowed down. So I left to try a few other spots I had fished in the past. I caught a few but nothing that would help. So I made the call to go back to those two spots and kill the day. I was able to cull up 2 more times but by just the slightest of margins. It was finally time to head in for weigh in. I weighed in 15.10 which was enough for 1st place and my big fish was 5.16 was Big Bass. Full results here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourny6.htm It was a great on the water. I caught alot of fish and the weather was great. We have 1 GHB tournament left on October 3rd on Green Lake. It should be dandy. The top 4 anglers are within 4 pounds of each other and with the throw out it could be any ones game.

Big Birch Lake-GHB

2009-08-25T06:40:00.004-05:00

Friday I drove up to Big Birch Lake to prefish for our Club tournament on Saturday. I drove thru some small rain bands and when I got to the lake it was already starting to clear but the wind had really started to blow. I started on a long point that dropped off fast with a good weed line. I caught a few northerns on a crankbait and the slowed down to fish with some soft plastics. I caught a few along that weedline and then moved on looking for similar areas. I had about 6 spots marked on my GPS that I wanted to fish offshore but the wind made that impossible. After doing some looking in the west side I moved to the east side and found a few spots that I would hit on Saturday. At around 3 pm we called it a day and headed into town for the night. Saturday morning was really cool and the wind had laid down. We headed to the lake for the start of the tournament. When we got to the lake the fog rolled in so it delayed the start to almost 7 am. We took of at idle speed as it was still foggy. Luckily my starting spot was close. My partner for the day was Steve M so I filled him in on what I is was going to do. I got my first two on a tube and the threw a Strike King Ocho and picked up 2 more throwing it on the drop and dead sticking it. Steve then got a few for the well throwing a senko. I finished out my limit with the tube and it was only 8:15. The fog had lifted enough to move at a greater speed than idle so we ran to my next spot. There was a gradual sloping rocky point that I really did not fish on Friday because of the wind but it looked to good not to fish. I threw the tube and got bite immediately and before I could yell for the net it came unbuttoned. It looked like a nice fish and really would have helped. We ran a streach of docks and Steve picked up another. We then ran to the east basin. We fished the outside weed line without any success so we moved in and hit the docks. I got one that I could cull and lost another one that would have helped. Steve wanted to fish the reeds so we ran those and Steve got his fourth fish. We then went back to the rocky point and I got what would be my big fish of the day a 3.30 smallmouth. We worked it for 15 minutes without any more bites. Back to my starting spot and I was able to cull another small one out. We then ran the reeds and Steve finally got his limit fish. By that time it was time to head in for weigh in. I weighed in 11.19 which was good for 2nd place and my 3.30 smallie was Big Bass for the day. Congratulations to Pat P for winning with 11.58. Full results are here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourny5.htm It was time to head home and get ready for Waconia on Sunday morning.

LHD-FOM

2009-08-06T06:35:00.002-05:00

Saturday Steve and I were on the Le Homme Dieu Chain of lakes in Alexandria for the 4th Fishers of Men tournament. On Friday we prefished to find some new spots near where we knew we would be fishing. As we moved from spot to spot we seemed to be able to catch one here one there and nothing of much size. We were focused on the weed lines and breaks. Finally we hit on a great spot 3 fish in 4 casts. They were all decent size too. A quick way point was added and off we went. Friday night at the meeting Steve drew boat 21 so we were in the 2nd flight giving us an extra 15 minutes to fish on Saturday. Saturday it really cooled off and the wind was howling when we launched the boat. After checking in we retied a few rods and waited to take off. We got to our first spot and caught 2 fish that just made 12". We then went to another spot that we usually catch at least one nice one, but nothing there either. On to the spot we had found on Friday. We filled out our limit pretty quickly there but not with the size we had caught there yesterday. I was throwing a Lake Fork tube craw texas rigged letting it settle down in the coon tail. Just dragging through and popping it once in a while. We then went and got out of the wind and went froggin for awhile. Steve got a decent one that we were able to upgrade a few ounces. We then went back to the Friday spot and finished the day there. We were catching fish and hoping we could hit on a couple good ones. I finally got a good one but was to little to late. We headed for the weigh in and weighed 8.62# which tied us for 19th place. We were able to keep our 3rd place in the standings. With 1 tournament left at the end of August on the Horseshoe Chain our chances for the title are slim but we will give it our best shot.

GHB-Pokegama

2009-07-30T07:11:00.002-05:00

After Saturday's disappointing day on the water I was looking for a lot better day. I was paired with Mark N one of the newer guys in the club. We were boat two this morning. As I didn't get to prefish Pokegama I had no idea where to go so we just found a weed flat and I started with a buzzbait. We moved up the channel to Jay Gould and I had a blow up on a frog but didn't hook up. Mark got one for the well on a worm on a deep weedline and there was no more to be found. We then went up the channel to the small lake. We were throwing spinnerbaits over the weeds and all we could catch were northerns. We moved further up the lake to a deep shoreline that had rock and wood where I finally got a 2 pounder on a RT jig flippin the wood. But no more takers there either. We worked down the opposite shore throwing spinnerbaits. I got what would be my biggest fish of the day a 2.81 largemouth. So we took off from there and headed to the main lake. At noon I was still really struggling with only 2 fish in the livewell. We fished down a shoreline that had a steep drop with a few inside turns on the weedline. I finally got a 3rd fish in the boat and Mark got his second. We decided to work the area as there was only an hour or so to fish. Mark hooked up with a Rattle Trap and I failed to get the net under it and it came unbuttoned. (sorry Mark) I was using a 3" Chigger Craw on a money jig. I then caught 2 more 15" to fill out my limit and Mark got 2 more to give him 4 as time was running out. On what was our last casts I was stowing everything and getting ready to go. My line jumped and I brought my last fish to the boat. It would help so as I culled Mark finished getting ready to go. At the weigh in. I weighed 9.35 which was good enough for 6th place. Mark ended up with 4 fish for 4.52 pounds. Again congratulations to Ozzy for sacking 14.26 pounds and beautiful 4.04 pound smallmouth for Big Bass. He is just on fire right now. Pokegama looks like an awesome fishery and I wish I had gotten out to prefish. There was just so much good looking water. Full results are here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourny4.htm Our next GHB tournament is on Big Birch lake on August 22nd. I hope to get a few practice days out ther to make up some ground I lost.

GHB-Wabana

2009-07-29T06:28:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday the Golden Hook Bassers were on Lake Wabana north of Grand Rapids. A few of us traveled up early Friday as most of us had never been on the lake. After driving through the rain and storms on the way up we got to the lake with the sun shining. The prefishing was so-so with alot of small fish caught. I found a few spots that were candidates for starting locations. Saturday is paired with Wayne Pacyga and we were using my boat. We had take off position two. We decided to start in a reed bed right at the take off spot. I dropped the trolling motor and we were off. About half way around I put the first fish in the boat a 13" largemouth followed quickly by another 13" fish. They were both caught on a swim jig. We then moved to sheltered bay as the wind was really blowing and I had broke the rope on the trolling motor. As I fixed that Wayne was working some pads and a deep break to no takers. We worked around the island working wood and reeds. I picked another 14" fish on the swim jig and Wayne finally got a 16" fish in the weeds. I proceeded to hook into a big northern that broke my rod so I was not a happy camper from that point on. We started to work pads with buzz frogs and Rage shad baits. Wayne caught a couple more and I caught 2 more to fill my limit. All my fish were small. I did get to cull one out with another 14" fish caught on a craw tube. Wayne filled out his limit finally around noon. We then ran back to the reeds were we started. Wayne got a really nice smallie and a another nice largemouth. All I could get was fish that wouldn't help. As time was winding down we hit some pad fields by the landing. I missed two really blow ups on a Rage shad and Wayne was able to get another to cull a small fish. In the end I weighed in at 6.39 and Wayne had 10.68 good enough for 2nd place. Congratulations to Ozzy for winning with 10.92 and Big Bass of 3.30. Complete results are here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourney3.htm.
The unstable and windy weather did not help the day. It was hard to fish any offshore structure as the wind usually would blow you right off it. It was time to re rig as tomorrow we would be on Pokegama for day two.

FOM-Minnetonka

2009-07-21T07:16:00.006-05:00

Saturday was the 3rd tournament of the year for the Fishers of Men. I met Steve at the Maxwell landing so we could drive across Lake Minnetonka to the take off spot at Maynards. The morning was cool and a little breezy. I drew boat number 13 at the Friday night meeting so we would not have to wait long to take off. With our game plan finalized all we had to do is wait. When our number was called we took off for our first spot. We got started and another boat just pulled in behind us and started fishing. We pulled around the other side of the point and continued to fish. Steve got us on the board with a 12" fish but that would be it there. We moved to a point we had caught some fish on pre fishing last week. We gave it a 20 minute try and didn't get a bite. We moved to another tried and true spot. The only thing we got there was a 5 pound toothy. At this point we made the decision to hit our best spot a little earlier than we wanted as it usually is a later bite there. We fished a string of docks going in. We quickly caught four 12"-13" fish to fill out our limit. But on Minnetonka you need a lot more than that. We then hit our good spot and Steve got a 3 pounder and I quickly followed with a 2 1/2. In the next hour we had culled out all the smaller fish and were getting a respectable bag. We still needed one good fish to put us where we thought we needed to be. I had that fish on but as it rolled to the surface it came unbuttoned and we were still searching. With the bite shut down there and 20 minutes to fish we had one spot to hit on the way to weigh in. We pulled up and had less than 10 minutes to fish. Steve then called for the net and soon a 3.85 largemouth was aboard. We culled out our last questionable fish and it was on to weigh in. We weighed in 15.76 pounds with a big bass of 3.85 pounds. Then the waiting started. We finally settled in the 7th spot which was a huge improvement over last year. We moved up to 3rd in points only 1 point behind 2nd and 13 points out of 1st. We put our fish in the boat using a variety of soft plastics on Outkast money jigs. Our next FOM tournament is on the Le Homme Dieu chain in Alexandria on August 1st.

Back at it

2009-07-15T06:41:00.004-05:00

After a nice 4 week break from fishing tournaments and doing a little fun fishing. Saturday we'll be back on Minnetonka fishing the 3rd stop of the Fishers of Men series. We have been out pre fishing a few times and caught fish just not the kind needed to do well on Minnetonka. We have been fishing new water and not fishing our normal stuff. We have confidence in our normal stuff that we should do ok and hope to catch enough to stay close in the point standings. Next week is the GHB two day tournament Day 1 will be on Wabana and Day 2 on Pokeagama. I have not fished either of these lakes so I am going up on Friday to spend 4 hours or so on each lake to see what they are about. The next weekend is Le Homme Deiu for Fishers of Men. It will end a long 3 week stretch of tournaments. But in Minnesota with the limited fishing weekends you have to fish them as they come. I will post results and tactics after each tournament. Keep checking back for updates. The break has been nice but am looking forward to being back on the competitive waters.

FOM Green Lake (Spicer)

2009-06-24T06:54:00.003-05:00

Saturday Steve and I fished the second Fishers of Men tournament of the year on Green Lake. We went out on Friday for the practice day and found the smallies were on the tail end of the spawn. We marked a few locations on the GPS to check the next day and went to look at our spots from previous years. Each spot we tried we would get a few bites and shake them off. Things looked good for the next day. At the tournament meeting Friday night. Steve drew boat 7 for Saturday's take off. Saturday morning we ran to our starting spot and there was already 2 boats in the same general area so we moved off a bit and started fishing. Steve got us going with a nice 17" fish on his first cast. We had our limit by 6:50 but finding upgrades proved to be a challenge. After running around a bit we discussed a spot we had found on Friday that held some largemouth and we decided to give it a 20 minute shot. I caught a couple small fish that would not help. Steve then tied into a dandy. It finally gave in to the net and would be our biggest fish of the day a 4.38 largemouth. We hit a few more spots till it was time to weigh in. We weighed in 14.22 lbs which tied us for 13th place. Our 4.38 Largemouth was good enough for 2nd big bass. It was a great day on the water. We caught a lot of fish but could not get that kicker fish to put us closer to the top. We did drop 1 spot in the points race to 4th but are still very much in it. The next FOM tournament is on Minnetonka in July. So I hope to put a little time in out there before hand. Most of our fish came on soft plastic using a Outkast money jig. The tube and Chigger craw were the most productive.

GHB Washington/Stella

2009-06-23T06:52:00.003-05:00

The second tournament of the year was on Washington/Stella or should I say Washington. With the water so low no one could get into Stella. A couple guys tried but were unsuccessful. I had prefished the Sunday before and had a really good day locating fish. Really nice fish for that matter so I was really pumped for tournament day. I was paired with James and we were boat number 7. I ran to the spot where I had the best concentration of fish during practice. It started really slow. I finally caught my first fish toward the end of the first run on a Lake Fork Tube Craw. A few docks later I landed another. We then ran to another stretch of docks with no takers. From there we ran to some reeds where I had 2 really big fish the week before. I hooked up in the reeds with a nice fish in the reeds but it shook off when it got stuck on a reed. I ran back to near my starting spot and caught 3 quick fish to fill out my limit and James finally got a fish in the well. So went the day just running and gunning. With all 9 boats on Washington things got tight always running into someone. Aside from breaking of a really big fish on a milfoil clump the day was really uneventful. I ended the day in 12th place weighing 8.40 pounds. Jame only managed to catch 2. Congratulations to Nick for winning with 12.58 pounds and to Ozzy for catching the Big Bass with a 4.17 largemouth.

GHB Sylvia/Twin

2009-06-03T12:08:00.004-05:00

The first Golden Hook Bassers tournament of the year was on Sylvia/Twin on Sunday. As it was the first of the year everyone showed up early and was ready to go. I was paired Daryl one of the new club members. I was drawn as boat 9 which was last out so I directed everyone out and finally got to go. I had found a productive area last Saturday prefishing so we headed there as our starting spot. When we arrived I just stepped on the front deck and Daryl already had a fish. I grabbed the net and he was on the board. I started throwing a Outkast stick worm but all I could get was panfish tugging on it. I switched to a texas rigged Lake Fork tube craw and it was on. I had a limit in 45 minutes and was culling. We made a final pass through the area and I picked up a nice 2 1/2 pounder. By this time the wind had picked up again and boat control was becoming an issue. I had a lone dock that produced a couple nice fish last Saturday so that was the next spot we hit. I caught a few shorts and then I brought what was my big fish for the day a 2.68 pound chunk to the boat. Daryl continued to push his way toward a limit. We ran a stretch of docks and he still was at 4. I ran to an area I had fished 5 years ago when we fished there the last time. We caught fish all along but nothing that would help. Daryl finally got that 5th fish for the live well and was pumped because it was his first limit. Great job Daryl... The rest of the day we just ran spot to spot trying to upgrade. I ended up with 9.28 pounds which was good enough for 5th place. Congratulations to Dave M for winning with 12.01 pounds and to Pat C for Big Bass at 2.88. For full results check out the web site: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/results.htm
The next GHB tournament is on Washington/Stella on June 13th.

FOM Clearwater

2009-06-03T07:06:00.003-05:00

Saturday Steve and I fished the first tournament of the year for the Fishers of Men on Clearwater. When we got to the lake the wind was already blowing at a pretty good clip. It would continue to blow harder thru the day. We drew boat number 21 at the Friday night meeting so the wait was not to bad. We ran to our first spot that I found the Saturday before prefishing. On about my 5th cast I hooked up on a 3 pounder on a Leena Lures spinnerbait. We worked the area and on the return trip I got another on the spinnerbait. After fighting the wind there we moved to another spot. We caught a few rockies the I picked up 2 more for the well. Steve then score what was our biggest fish of the day a 3.19 largemouth on a steep drop bank. With a limit secured by 8 o'clock we could just look for big fish the rest of the day. On our next stop we were able to cull a few out. At each stop we made we caught fish. Finally the wind got the best of us and we found a bay out of the wind. With about 20 min to go, I thru a Outkast stick worm to a cluster of lilly pads and got a solid 2 3/4 fish to upgrade a bit more. It was on to weigh in we were about the 10th team to weigh and took the lead. It held up till toward the end of the first flight when we dropped to second. We stayed there till toward the end of the second flight when the team that won weighed in. So we ended up third out of 50. Our weight was 14.14 lbs. It was a huge turn around from last year as we were toward the bottom. Thanks to our sponsor's Outkast Tackle and Leena Lures. Our next stop is Green Lake in Spicer. I am already looking forward to those big smallies.

The results are in

2009-06-01T06:53:00.004-05:00

My tournament season is under way and it could not have started any better. Saturday Steve and I fished the Fishers of Men on Clearwater and finished 3rd with 14.15. It was a complete turn around for us from last year as Clearwater was one of our worst tournaments of the year. I will post a complete report later this week. Sunday was the first tournament for the Golden Hook Bassers on Sylvia/Twin. I was able to wade though lots of fish for a final total of 9.28 which was good enough for 5th. I will post another report on this as well. Let me say this the wind was a big factor on both days. It was a great weekend on the water.

Just about here........

2009-05-19T07:06:00.003-05:00

The Minnesota bass opener is just about here.... Finally It has been a long time since I have been bass fishing on the home turf. Trips to Missouri and Wisconsin have helped but it just not the same as driving down the road and being on the water chasing the green fish. Saturday I was able to sneak away from home for an hour or so and run the boat for the first time this year. I ran the way it was supposed to. Everything worked and it should be ready to go on Saturday. I will spend 2 days prefishing for tournaments the following weekend. I hope to spend a day on Clearwater prefishing for the FOM. The other day I hope to be on Syliva/Twin giving it a go for a GHB club tourney. Monday will be a little closer to home for a few hours on my favorite lake. For all of going out on Saturday good luck. I will post a report next week.

Wisconsin Opener Days 2 & 3

2009-05-07T12:33:00.004-05:00

Day 2 found us back on the new secret lake. The bass continued to be very aggressive. The jig bite was on fire. Dewey and Saz and Mark and Jimmy tried the walleye thing and caught a few. We stayed on the lake till just afternoon and then left to meet up with Matt, Roger, Steve and Steve. We tried a new lake again and found it was a wasted trip. We fished for an hour and left. We all then went back to the "Nam" and finished out the day. Guy and I had our 4 fish in an hour or so and then just fished for the fun of it. Day 3 was going home day so Guy and I only planned to fish till noon. We went to secret lake again. Guy scored a 17 3/4" walleye to start the day I soon followed with a 19". The walleye bite was really slow so we headed to the bass spot. I started with 2 quick ones and a few misses. Guy just couldn't get on track on Monday. We then moved to a spot we had tried Sunday but it was so windy we just couldn't fish it right. I caught a few more there. Guy was still struggling. After talking to the crew on the water. They had done ok on the walleyes. Dewey had boated 3 walleyes and Mark finally caught a walleye a dandy 21". Jimmy caught a largemouth on a bass jig so that made his trip. Saz caught another nice smallie. By then it was time to call it a trip. This years trip was one of the better openers we have had. The fishing was outstanding. Thanks to Saz for letting us stay at the cabin. It was great to see the guys again.

Wisconsin Fishing Opener Day 1

2009-05-05T14:37:00.007-05:00

Guy with a nice Wisconsin walleye

Friday evening Guy and I traveled to Cable, Wisconsin for the fishing opener with our opening day crew. This year we met up with Dewey, Saz, Mark and Jimmy. Saturday morning was soon upon us and we were on the "Nam". Guy scored the first Walleye on his second cast. We had good action for the first 2 hours and then it slowed. We had 3 of the 4 we could keep with the limit restrictions. We should had 4 but I threw one back I shouldn't have. Then we couldn't catch another under 14". After a mid morning lunch break we tried a new lake (sorry I am sworn to secrecy on the name) Guy and I were going to start bass fishing and on his 5th cast he hooked up on a 19" walleye on a DT10. He quickly followed that up with a 15" smallie and a 15" largemouth on a jig. After moving to another spot he was flipping the jig again and connected with a 23" walleye. As we moved to the wind blown end of the lake Guy just started hammering the largemouth on a jig. I finally broke the ice with a nice 17 1/2" on a RT Jig. We continued to catch them the rest of the afternoon. Saz and Dewey got in on the action as well. Dewey scored a fat 20" as well as a nice 18" largemouth and Saz caught a 18" smallie on a jerkbait.

Outkast Tackle Offer

2009-04-23T12:44:00.007-05:00

For anyone wanting to try Outkast Tackle products. You can use this code johnp in the coupon section when ordering online to receive a 10% discount on your orders for the year. If you have any questions you can email me or leave a comment. Thanks to Outkast for letting me extend this offer to you. I hope you can take advantage of this offer. Outkast has a great selection of jigs and soft plastics.
www.outkasttackle.com/products.html

Ozark Report Part 2

2009-04-21T06:50:00.004-05:00

On Thursday the weather turned for the worse. It started raining mid morning and got windy. The fish still bit but still on the small side. Money jigs with finesse worms or a small trailer was about all that would work. It rained most of the day with a few breaks to dry out a bit. I did catch a nice one on a Lenna Lures Pro seris spinnerbait (www.leenalures.com/spinner_pro_series38.html) in White Shad. It was still raining a bit on Friday morning and the fish just shut down. We fished till 11:30 without a bite before coming in for lunch. After lunch the rain had quit. I planned a different approach for the afternoon. I tied on a Outkast RT jig (www.outkasttackle.com/product_pages/rt.html) jig in crawdad color and a Rage trailer. It presented a lot bigger profile bait. I started to catch them right away. I spent the rest of the afternoon pitching the jig to shore then just slowly working it down the rocky slope. Most of the time they would hit it on the fall as came off the first break. We really didn't catch any big ones but had a lot of action. Saturday morning was clear and cold. Steve did all the catching on Saturday. I did not catch a fish till 7:15 that evening. Overall it was a fun trip. We all caught fish and got to fish some new water. I think if the weather had stayed stable it would have been better. A few words of advice if you go to Lake of the Ozarks. Fish during the week. Boat traffic got crazy on Saturday. My next on the water adventure will be the Wisconsin fishing opener the first Saturday in May.

Ozark Report

2009-04-16T06:54:00.005-05:00

We arrived at the Rock Harbor Resort on Wed. afternoon around 4:30 after a 10 hour drive from the Twin Cities. We had spent an hour at Bass Pro Shops in the Kansas City area stocking up on fishing stuff for the upcoming year. Not enough time for a store like that. After getting unloaded and the boats in the water we hit the water for a few hours. Steve and I headed to a cove a short distance from where we were on the lake. I started throwing a spinner bait around the docks. I also had a jerk bait ready to go. As we headed toward the shallow end of the cove. I picked up my junebug Outkast Stick worm (www.outkasttackle.com/product_pages/stickworm.html.
I had it rigged wacky style and flipped it toward the outside corner of a dock. The line tightened and I set the hook into what was my best fish of the trip. She weighed just over 5 pounds. What a way to start the trip and the year. We continued to work around the cove till just about dark before heading back to the resort. We each caught a few more small fish on Stick worms and Money jigs with small finesse worms. We met Dave and Nick back at the resort and compared notes and they had caught some small fish as well. So it seemed we were off to a good start.

Back from Lake of the Ozarks

2009-04-13T07:08:00.002-05:00

We got back yesterday afternoon from Lake of the Ozarks. I will post a full report over the next few days. It was nice to be on the water again after a long winter. We caught some fish. The weather was inconsistent the whole trip we saw it all warm, cold, sun, rain and wind. It really was a cool lake to fish. We were able to catch largemouth, spots and even a few drum.

Lake of the Ozarks

2009-04-07T07:20:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow morning I head to Lake of the Ozarks for my first open water fishing trip of the year. I have never fished on Lake of the Ozarks so it will be a learning experience as well. Reading some of Internet reports puts the fish in pre spawn so jerk baits, jigs and spinnerbaits will be how I will start the trip. Looking at the maps there seems to be a lot of coves and indents that will hold fish. Weather does not look to be very stable. Ranging from sunny to rain for the 3 days I will be there. I will post a report when I return. Hopefully with a pic or two to post.

April MNBFN Seminars

2009-03-19T12:23:00.002-05:00

The MNBFN is again having bass fishing seminars before their April meetings at the Medina Entertainment Center. Ross Evans will do a "Super Finesse Fishing" seminar at 9:30. He will cover topics such as Drop Shotting and wacky head fishing, fighting fish on light line and proper rod and reels for finesse fishing. At 10:15 Rich Lindgren will present "Extracting more bass from shallow cover" Covering lures, techniques and gear to put more shallow water bass in the boat. These seminars are free and open to the public. Check out the MNBFN website for more info. www.mnbfn.org

New Club Sponsor

2009-03-13T21:28:00.003-05:00

I just want to thank Leena Lures for becoming a new sponsor to the Golden Hook Bassers.
Leena Lures is a Minnesota company that specializes in spinner baits and buzz baits. They make a great product. They also carry some soft plastics and jigs as well as ice fishing jigs. Leena Lures is also a Rouge Rod dealer. Check out their website sometime and support our local lure makers.
http://www.leenalures.com/

Bass Fishing Seminars

2009-02-19T07:20:00.010-06:00

If your looking for something to do on Sat. March 7th. The MNBFN is presenting some free Bass seminars. They start at 9:30 at the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina. The first seminar will be put on by Sport Smith. He will talk on Tackle Craft and Modification. Seminar two will be put on by Rick Billings who represented the MNBFN at the Federation National Championship. He will talk about his experiences at that event. These seminars are free and open to the public. You are then welcome to stay for the Federation meeting. Its a great way to spend a morning talking Bass fishing and learning some new things. Hope to see you there.

For more information check out the Federation website: http://www.mnbfn.org

New Outkast Product

2009-01-28T07:17:00.007-06:00

Outkast Tackle's Texas Rig Worm Hook

Outkast Tackle has a new item this year for fisherman that like to texas rig their soft plastics. It's called the Texas Rig Worm Hook. It comes in three sizes 1/8 oz., 3/16 oz. and 1/4 oz. It has a 2/0 Gamakastu super line hook with the lead molded right to the hook. Meaning you will not have to peg the sinker to keep it tight to the bait. That will mean more fishing time as you will not have to keep sliding the sinker back down after a few casts. It should work great for skipping docks and over hanging trees. It will also shine for flipping heavy cover as it will keep the bait and sinker as one going thru the cover. I show it above rigged with a few different plastic choices. The first is a Outkast Spider Grub. There is plenty of hook gap there for good hook ups with the bigger plastic. I also show it with a Outkast Naughty bug for a compact flipping application and the with a 7 1/2" Plastic worm. I can't wait to get on the water to try these out. I am a worm fisherman and have always hated the pegging part. I will post results later this spring after I get on the water to try them out. Here is the link to the Outkast site so you can check them out. http://www.outkasttackle.com/product_pages/texas.html

Winter Project

2009-01-26T14:53:00.004-06:00

Sunday afternoon I finished a project I had started last Saturday. I was getting sick of my fishing rods just piled in a corner for the winter. I found this rod rack pattern on line and decided to make a few. http://minwax.com/projects/pdfs/2005_Fishing_Pole_Rack.pdf. I made this one with some oak I already had. It took me about 5 hours to cut out and assemble the first one. I need to stain and finish it now and that will add a few more hours. I am going to make a few more out of pine. I also am going to revise the pattern a bit so they will hold a few more rods. The one as shown will hold 7. I will post some pictures of the finished product in a few weeks.

2009-01-16T07:17:00.002-06:00

My truck thermometer read -35 this morning on my way to work. That is about as cold as I can remember seeing. It is supposed to be above 0 today for the first time all week.

Jack Plate Installation

2009-01-03T11:30:00.005-06:00

The off season is a good time to perform boat maintenance and boat up grades. I bought my Triton TR186 in May of 2007. I have known since I bought it it would need a Jack Plate to perform at its best. My numbers before were just ok. I could turn at best 5100 rpms with my 23 Tempest Plus. My top speed was about 52-55 MPH depending on load. I purchased a T-H Marine Pro High Jacker 6" jackplate this fall. Late this fall with the help of my friend Guy we found a Saturday to install it. Guy has a hoist set up in his garage so that was a bonus. We were able to unbolt the motor from the transom install the plate and drop the motor back down. The steering cables were long enough as were the throttle cables. We then set the motor height based on Guy's set up. The dim we set was 2 3/4" center of prop shaft to pad. Overall it was a fairly easy job to do with the right equipment. After we had checked and re checked the fittings. I took the boat to the lake to see how much improvement there was. It was a totally different boat handling and speed wise. I was able to turn 5800 rpms no problem and my top speed was 58.8 before I ran out of lake. This spring it will be fun to try and improve those numbers and dial it in for the best performance. Thanks to Guy for the use of his garage and help getting the install done.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T14:13:00.001-06:00

Wishing everyone a happy 2009

Season Review "Golden Hook Bassers" Tournaments

2008-12-29T09:37:00.007-06:00

My best 2008 GHB bass 5.26# Clearwater

May 18th 2008 Lake Wappogasset (WI)
My worst Tournament of the year I zeroed....

June 22nd 2008 Clearwater Lake
5 for 13.01# 3rd out of 21
Flipped reeds and rushes with a Outkast jig.

July 26th 2008 Fishtrap Lake
5 for 8.83 # 15th out of 20
As they say timing is everything. Right Guy?

July 27th 2008 Lake Alexander
5 for 10.84# 4th out of 20
Just a solid day. Culling up to final weight.

August 9th 2008 Lake Washington(St. Peter)
5 for 7.10# 3rd out of 21
Found 1 stretch of docks that produced a limit on a Outkast wacky rigged stick worm.
I hope to never fish this lake again. What a cess pool.

That was my year with the GHB. I did not fish the last points tournament of the year on Rush Lake as it was when Steve and I were in Detroit. Missing that tournament and having a zero made it tough to finish well in the final standings. I did end up in 10th place for the year. I hope that is good enough to qualify for the MNBFN State TOC on Pokegama in Sept. I also want to congratulate Guy K for winning GHB Angler of the year. Way to go. Just don't make a habit of it...

2008 FOM Midwest Regional Detroit,MI

2008-12-23T20:30:00.007-06:00

Steve with a 4.86 Lake Erie smallmouth.

The 2008 Regional was held Sept. 17-20 in Detroit MI. We could fish the Detroit River, Lake St.Clair and Lake Erie. We had 2 practice days to find something that would work for us. On our first practice day we traveled to lake St Clair. We tried a few spots but the wind really limited our options. We spent the rest of the day on the Detroit River. We had limited action and really had nothing to go on. Day 2 of practice was less windy so we ventured out to Lake Erie. What a huge body of water and where to start? We picked a spot and Steve broke the ice with a nice smallie and I followed with another. Marked the spot and moved on. We looked at the maps and hit another hump and had another really nice smallie and 3 walleyes. We then went back to the lower end of the river to spend the rest of the day. On day 1 the weather cooperated for us to run out to Lake Erie. we got to the first spot and caught fish right away. We got a limit on our first spot then left to check the other spot. We culled a few times there and called it a day. We weighed in 19.49# on day one. Good enough for 8th place. Day 2 was still good enough to run out on the big lake. We hit our starting spot and got 1 but then it just shut down. We had a few more boats around than we had the day before. We ran to our other spot and found it slow as well. After trying another spot. We came back and Steve caught a dandy smallie. I quickly followed up with one of my own and proceeded to lose it at the boat. We decided to spend the rest of the day there. We had a few more chances but could not bring them to the boat. We only weighed 2 fish on day 2 for 7.80#. Our total for both days was 27.29# good enough for 19th place and a trip to the FOM Nationals on the Red River in Louisiana in March.

2008 Fishers of Men Tournaments Review

2008-12-17T14:53:00.016-06:00

Steve and I have fished the FOM for 2 years. The first year we fished the MN East and last year we fished the MN West. Our 2008 season started out with us fishing the 2008 FOM National Tournament on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. Our pre fishing took us about 30 miles down river to a major creek arm. We had a mixed bag of smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass. We made the run down there on the first day and we only could manage 3 fish weighing 3.05 fishing in a torrential down pour all day. It rained 7 1/2" that day. Day 2 we also ran to our first spot. But with all the rain the water was really dirty and had come up a few feet. So we decided to just run and gun fishing deep points. We only got 2 fish weighing 5.22 on day 2. We missed the cut by 3 1/2# and ended up 46th out of 135 boats.

June 7th 2008 Clearwater Lake

5 for 8.47 47th out of 49

Worst tournament of the year. Enough said.

June 21st 2008 Green Lake(Spicer)

5 for 15.82 13th out of 43

Wow We caught some nice smallies. Just couldn't find 1 that was a bit bigger to move up.

I am really looking forward to this lake in 2009.

July 19th 2008 Lake Minnetonka

5 for 13.66 29th out of 51

Just couldn't find the big bite.

August 2nd 2008 Le Homme Dieu Chain

5 for 9.63 17th out of 43

Caught a limit on our starting spot, but stayed a bit to long. We watched a boat catch 2 3 pounders off our next spot as we pulled up.

August 16th 2008 Lake Waconia

5 for 15.65 9th out of 38

We just kept working our spots and would get a good one here and there. Just not enough. We were .03 from a check.

Looking back at the year it was not to bad. We finished 10th in points and qualified for the Midwest Regional in Detroit on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......

2008-12-15T12:36:00.001-06:00

What a day. It's noon and -6 with a 20mph wind.

yuck!!!!

2008-12-14T09:21:00.003-06:00

What a dreary day. Rain and 34 degrees. Rain turning to snow and getting very cold. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 1. It makes the fishing season seem so much further away. 5 months and counting...........

Welcome

2008-12-11T12:33:00.003-06:00

Thanks for checking my site out. I am just getting started so keep checking back