Getting Ready

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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.