Dobyns Rods It Is

The rod hunt is over! Yeah it didn't exactly take very long. As of yesterday I am the proud owner of two Dobyn's rods. Gotta say, I'm very excited.
I hadn't indented on buying two rods. No, honest I really didn't. It started with an invite by two of my brother-in-laws to visit Capra's with them. I had never been and according to these two fine members of the BC Pro Staff, it is a store unlike any other. Variety and deals abound. I wasn't disappointed.
I had particular interest in visiting Capra's because they carry G. Loomis, Fenwick, St. Croix and Dobyn's rods. This was a great opportunity for me to be able to really compare all the various lines I had been thinking about. It didn't take long for me to land on Dobyn's being my next rod brand of choice.
I was able to check out the Savvy line and the Champion line of spinning rods. Unfortunately they didn't have any casting rods in stock. Both lines were exceptional. Well balanced. High quality. Extremely light. I ended up picking up a Champion 702 SF and a Savvy SS 703 SF.
The Champion 702 SF is a Medium Light rod with Fast action. I am actually going to use it as a drop shot rod even though it says it is more for shaky, darter heads, ect.
The Savvy SS 703 SF is a Medium rod with Fast action. This is going to be a really versatile rod for me. I plan on using it for almost every application. No limits on this bad boy.
The Champion retails for $240 and the Savvy $160. But that isn't what I paid on this fateful day at Capra's. I paid $160 for the Champion and $99 for the Savvy! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Both rods are brand new. Both rods are backed by a lifetime warranty. Both rods are amazing and are going to catch me tons-o-fish.
It was a terrific deal. Now to put them to the test in less than 4 days on Lake Fork.
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Golden Fishing Nugget by Wired2Fish

I've been spending a lot of time thinking, reading, dreaming, preparing, worrying about the BC Pro Staff Lake Fork trip coming up. I've been all over the place in terms of my mental state. Most of the time I'm excited but as the date draws closer I'm not beginning to worry that we will have missed the bite because of how far ahead the season already seems to be due to the weather. I mean for pete sake, even up here in Minnesota we are talking about moving the bass opener up by a whole week. While that might not seem like much, a change like that with our DNR is nothing short of a miracle.

Anyway as I was out surfing the web as I've been doing literally every single night, I came across a very interesting article on Wired2Fish. I like those guys and their site. Very informative and visually appealing. Sorry, got off track there. So yeah I came across an article on fishing ahead of the curve. This specific paragraph I thought was a good reminder about the way bass move;

"Obviously, if you don’t fish a lot with consistency it’s hard to know where the fish were or are at any given point in the year. But the spring is a rapidly progressive transition for the bass. They are out on the main lake, then move to secondary structure in bays in creeks, then up shallow in the pockets and flats, then they begin working back out, stopping along familiar secondary areas and shallow cover laden areas until the finally reach their summer destinations back out deeper yet. Sometimes, this all happens in a month. Sometimes, it seems like it takes several months depending on factors like water clarity, water levels and water temperature."

That will be something that I will keep front of mind as we get down to Fork. My natural inclination will be to fish shallow. It will be important for us to be disciplined and remember to hit all of those locations mentioned above.

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Farewell Fenwick?

I'm in a pickle. Perhaps not a terrible pickle just yet but a pickle all the same. For the longest time I have been a devout Fenwick rod guy. No real rhyme or reason for it other than it happened to be the first brand of rod I bought with my own money way back when. I can't even remember what influenced that decision all these years later.

Today I own several (understatement) Fenwick Elite Tech rods. I love them. There is only one thing I would change about my current Elite Tech line up, I'd make them all split grip handles. But that to me is a minor change, the rods are just that good. They are balanced well, ultra sensitive, cast a mile (when paired with my revo's), and have been very durable. So what is the issue? I've got two and a half of them. First, is that the new Elite Tech rods seem to have dipped in quality. Yes the price has come down significantly as well. The new ET rods are $139.99 vs. $200+ of the old ET's. Maybe I'm being hypercritical but I can't get past the feeling that the lower price point also means a lower quality rod.

The second issue, probably the more significant one to consider, is that I'm unsure I like the ergonomics of the new style grips and reel seats they are using on the ET line.

And third, the new Elite Tech line is specific to smallmouth fishing. That in itself isn't a big issue but more of a "huh...interesting concept" type thing. I guess my current ET's are necessarily specific to largemouth and yet I use them for any fishing I do. Again, not really an issue but when I start picking them apart I always list this in the "con's" category.

That brings us to the pickle I currently am in. I am due to replace two of my older casting rods (one will be used for pitching weightless soft plastics and the other jigs in 15+ ft of water)and two spinning rods either this year or for sure next. The brand that has been my mainstay doesn't feel like a viable option. So what are my options? I've got a few ideas in mind but want to keep an open mind. So rather than list out the current brands I've been eyeballing, I thought I would list out my buying criteria and solicit ideas from all of you. Here are the things that come to mind, please feel free to make specific rod suggestions or even call out things I should be thinking about when making this all important decision.

Price- I'm looking to keep the price below $200 a rod.
Warranty- If I'm spending $100+, I expect a lifetime warranty.
Handle- now that I've gotten into split grips, I think I prefer them. I could be swayed on this one but I think it's a requirement. A cork handle is absolutely a requirement. I just can't get into the EVA handles. To me it is a bit like the issue I have with the new ET rods, feels a bit cheap.
Microguides- I haven't landed on a firm decision on this. One minute I love the idea and the next I hate it. I'd welcome any thoughts on this. Do you have any experience with them? Good, bad, indifferent?
Cosmetics- arguably this shouldn't be part of the criteria, it should be function over form but hey, I admit that if I don't like the look of the rod I will feel less confident in the rod. Not a good recipe for success on the water.

Leave a comment or shoot me an email at thebasschroniclesATgmailDOTcom with your thoughts and suggestions.

TFR

This report was just posted by Fork guide, Lance Vick. I really hope the hot bite holds through our trip in April. I'm starting to worry we are going to be too late.....

Last Tuesday March 20th we received about 5 inches of rain that give the
lake about three foot of new water that bought the lake to a little more than we
where at the same time last year . What does this mean ? It means all the shoreline
growth -grass -willow trees-so on. are now providing bass with tons of cover.
And it took no time for bass to get right in it ...The low water over the last couple of years dried the bottom and created excellent spawning grounds that we have not had for years. I believe with the new bottom and new cover we are going the have a awesome spawn this year ..
With all the new water and cover fishing has been awesome you can catch them
fishing many techniques .As far as locations there seems the be fish everywhere
....its bass haven ...only places haven't seen alot of fish are where the water
is dark brown ..

During the morning while the sun is still low
we have fishing a Grandebass Swimming rattlesnake on a belly weighted hook in the Houdini and real shad and a weightless Grandebass flash same colors . This technique is working in the backs of the pockets .Look for shad spawning around floating grass. Fishing these lures on 17 lb and 20 lb fluorocarbon line.
When the sun gets high enough to see them we are sight fishing, there are
plenty of fish on the beds everywhere. We have been catching the spawners with a bubble gum colored 4.5 rattlesnake and for the big ones a texas rigged
diamond back rattle snake in the magic shad color will do the trick . I have this
7-6 extra heavy action rod rigged with 65 lb braid for the big girls .The diamond back profile really tick off a big bass....
When u cant see um winds to bad or waters off colored but u can still see bedding areas back out with ur boat and cast over the bright spots with a
tx rig or clamp a clam shot weight a foot in front of a 4.5 inch Grandbass rattlesnake fished slow around bedding areas .


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Fatty Pike

Check out this 46 pound Pike slounch that was caught across the pond in merry old England.


You can get the full story HERE


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TFR

This just in from Fork....Drop Shotting is HOT HOT HOT!!!

I had the pleasure of fishing with a TFF Member, Galen and his buddy GQ! We spent the morning drop shotting catching both quanity and quality. Galen picked up on the technique quickly and soon after boated a nice 7#, shortly after loosing a big girl in a tree. Once the sun was up good we went looking for a fat girl on a bed. It took awhile to locate a big girl but did manage quite a few good slots and a few easy unders while hunting for that big one. We ended up finding a beautiful pair in some clean water and it took less than 10 flips to get her hooked up and landed! Dropshots, wacky work & bed fishing is what has been best for us!

Baada Boom!!!




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Gators on Fork!!

What the HECK?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me!!








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TFR

Wow, this is a long report but waY, wAY, WAY, too good to pass up putting on the blog. While I have no idea how one might estimate the percentage of fish that have spawned, I'm sure he's got a fairly good idea having spent as many years on that lake as he has. So without further delay, I give you the TFR, enjoy;

I’d estimate maybe 30% or 40% of the fish have spawned already but there is a bunch yet to do their thing. With prespawn, spawning, and postspawn fish all available, fishermen have a lot of patterns to choose from. The cornucopia of options allows you to find some fish biting in just about any conditions Mother Nature throws at you. If you’re not getting bit, keep changing up tactics and locales until you find them.

With such a warm spring, I expect the spawn to continue for about another month. After that, it’s topwaters for post spawners and our best deep water structure bite of the year for big fish with deep cranks, Carolina rigs and football jigs from May into July.

Lake Conditions: Regular rains are slowly bringing up Fork’s water levels and most boat ramps are in good shape. The lake level is currently 398.55’ and holding steady (about 4’ 6” below full pool and up nearly 4’ since the fall). Water temps in the main lake are in the low 60s and some shallow creeks are considerably warmer in the afternoons. The rising water and wind has Fork more stained than normal, especially on the northern half of the lake and in the backs of major creeks. In general, I like the clearer water on the cloudy and windy days, while I feel more comfortable in muddier water when it’s sunny and calm.

Location Pattern: For prespawn and postspawn fish that are staging on their way in and back out, key on points and creek channels near spawning flats. With virtually no grass in the lake this year, bass are relating to the timber so make sure you are casting tight to the stumps. During warming trends, follow bass back into the creeks and check the edges of flats and creek channels. After the fronts, drop back to deeper water adjacent to where the fish were before the front and you’ll quickly relocate them. For spawning fish, look for protected bays in the north end of the lake or at the very backs of major creeks. As the water continues to warm and we move through April, bass will start spawning nearer the mouths of creeks and in deeper creeks. The main lake flats are typically the last areas to spawn, often as late as early-May.

Presentation Pattern: Just about every category of lure in the tackle box will be working by later this month. For prespawn and postspawn bass, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, and lipless crankbaits will catch bass, especially on overcast and windy days. A great search tool are lipless crankbaits like the new Lucky Craft LV RTO. Red and crawfish colors are most popular and they often work well, although oddball colors often produce better on any given day. ½ oz spinnerbaits with tandem or double willow blades with white or chartreuse and white skirts will produce some nice bass in the same areas that the lipless cranks work, as will shallow running crankbaits like Lucky Craft LC 2.5 or BDS4 square bills. Square bills are notorious for losing fish and missing bites, so I use the fiberglass 7’ Dobyns 705CB MF for my shallow cranks. The fiberglass rod lets bass take the bait a bit deeper and the soft tip also keeps them hooked up. For big bass, try swimming a 4.5” Live Magic Shad on the back of a ½ oz bladed jig and fish it in the same areas you’d throw a spinnerbait. White or white/chartreuse bladed jigs with Sun Perch or Albino Shad Live Magic Shads work well. And for a real prespawn monster, pitching heavy cover along the first breakline and creek channels with a jig or TX rig is the way to go. I go with a 3/8 oz MPack Jig in black and blue or green pumpkin with a Lake Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer in matching colors. For the Texas rig, I’ll pitch a Lake Fork Flipper or Craw Tube in black neon, Bama Bug or watermelon/red with a 1/8 to 3/8 oz bullet weight and slowly work it around cover.

For bass that have moved onto spawning flats, weightless Texas rigged or wacky rigged soft plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads, Live Magic Shads, and the Hyper Stick become your best option. Shades of green pumpkin and watermelon are normally top colors, but don’t forget Magic Craw Swirl and Blue Bruiser with the muddy water this year. These shallow fish are often spooky, so long casts result in more fish. For weightless soft plastic jerkbaits, I like using the Dobyns Champion 733C. The 7’3” rod whips the baits out there, while it still has enough backbone to drive the hook through thick worms on long casts. A finesse Carolina rig with a ¼ oz sinker and a 12” leader is another great way to present those same soft plastic jerkbaits to slightly deeper fish in 4’ to 8’ and it also keeps you in contact with your bait in shallow water when the wind is howling. When everyone is up beating the bank to a froth, move out a little deeper with the light Carolina rig and you can catch fish from under where everyone else’s boats are sitting.

Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed.

-Tom Redington- Lake Fork Guide


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Night Fishing at Fork

This young lad caught his personal best fish last night at Fork. This beast was 9.6 lbs, 25 1/4 inches and 19 inch girth. Man what a great looking fish!




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IHL All-Star Team

I know this isn't fishing related but one of my other passions in life is hockey. I play in a men's league here in Minnesota called; Integrity Hockey League. It is run by Fellowship of Christian Athletes. My team had a good run this season and I was fortunate enough to be voted onto the All-Star team and we played against our South Division rival All-Star team. The end result was a W for us, 10-5 final score. Pictured below are the boys of that team. Nice work fellas!




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Lake Fork Tackle

Drum roll please.........I give you the........LFT Zig Zag!!

Okay so it's a senko, dinger, stick bait worm that appears to have slightly larger ridges. Very similar to baits I have and yet just slight different enough that I think I'm going to have to pick some up just in case.

Click HERE to check out some other cool looking soft baits from Lake Fork Tackle.

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TFR 3/16/12

I came across a new post by one of the Lake Fork guides, Jason Hoffman, on lake conditions from today;

After a nice start, we struggled for a bit to find some fish that would bite. We went to lunch with only 6 fish in the boat, and we only had 7 by 2:00 when I decided to move out to the main lake and fish for some staging fish. I could kick myself in the rear for not making the move a lot sooner. From 2:00 to 4:00, we boated 14 more and missed a couple more. Shaky head LFT Zig Zag, Carolina rigged LFT Zig Zags, and drop shots all caught fish in the 5-10 ft range. All but a couple of these fish were prespawn females.

It's hard to leave the spawning pockets when you are seeing 63-70 degree water temps, but we just couldn't get a consistent bite. Those fish will show up very soon, so keep your eyes open for cruisers.

I'm actually starting to think that all my research might be confusing me more than it's helping me. Unfortunately I cannot keep myself from checking several times a day for updates.

So far I've read reports that pretty much indicated people are catching them in almost every zone, with nearly every presentation. More than likely I'll end up just throwing what I'm comfortable with but hopefully we keep enough presence of mind to check back to the blog to reference other things people have been using.

Now it's off to research the "LFT Zig Zag".



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Mustang Sally

I'm calling it now, Mustang and Little Mustang are going to be the spots where we will catch our best fish while at Lake Fork.

Again, it is all about the western side of fork and the abundance of stumps and creek channels.

And.....maybe because I just booked our place on the western side.....at Pope's Landing.......mmmkay

Fish On!!

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TFR

Very exciting fishing report from one of the guides on Fork was just posted. I really think the fishing is going to be unreal in April.

Lake Fork Fishing Report
by JW Peterson
J&J Guide Service
Lake Fork Pro Guides

Submitted 3-12-12

Lake Fork :
The Bass fishing this past week was slow on some days and very good on others and the weather did play a big part in catching fish. Although we need the rain here in East Texas, the storms kept us off of the lake and from fishing most of the day on Thursday and Friday. On Monday just about everyone in our group boated over 25 fish per boat with the largest Bass weighing 8 lbs. Tuesday was a slow day and on Wednesday everyone caught from 35-40 Bass per boat by the end of the days fishing. We caught Bass on Baby Brush Hogs and Rattle Snakes up shallow and on 3/4 oz Jigs out as far as 30 feet deep. The water temps ranged from 58-68 degrees depending on where you were located and the lake is stained and now with all of this run off, probably muddy in the back of most of the creeks. There were a lot of male Bass moving up in preparation of the spawn and the females can't be far behind. It has rained in most of the area over the weekend and we will have to take a look on Monday to see just how much effect this will have on the water level here at Lake Fork. The forecast for this next week is much better and the fishing should bounce back real quick. To schedule a fishing trip with us contact me at 214.236.3320 or email jjguides@hotmail.com or jjguides@lakeforkproguides.com. We will have another report later this week or by this next weekend.
Until next time, Good Luck and Great Fishing !
JW
J&J GUIDES SERVICE
US, Mexico, Canada, & Brazil

If you would like to book a fishing trip with J&J Guide Service:
Call: 1-214 236 3320 or Email: jjguides@lakeforkproguides.com
Visit our website at:www.LakeForkProGuides.com



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No Record For You

Bass Pundit was good enough to give me the heads up that the dude that recently caught the Arkansas record didn't have a valid license. As a result his catch and record was rescinded. Nice work dude, epic fail.


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Challenge Cup Elimination Round 2

The open montage of the MFL is great. Sort of an updates American Gladiator type intro.

Very excited about the line up in this round; #3 Mike Iaconelli, #10 Tommy Biffle, #7 Denny Brauer, #12 Edwin Evers, #27 Todd Faircloth, #6 Shaw Grigsby, #21 Alton Jones, #9 Takahiro Omori.....wowzers. That's a heavy hitting line up. You've got what, 3 classic winners in this group?!

Marty just said that if it weren't for KVD ("skinny kid from Michigan") the world would really know how good Evers is....hmm...I think people do know how good he is. But if you want to be considered the best you gotta beat the best.

My picks for the 4 that advance- Ike, Evers, Jones and Faircloth. Evers goes #1 overall this round.

Evers starting shallow in the back of a creek on Amistad. That is always my first instinct as well, go shallow to start.

Grigsby starting shallow as well. With a spinnerbait no less.

Haha the farting Sasquatch cracks me up every time. That 10 second clip is almost worth the $18 by itself. But then I am a big kid.

Ike, always a sales man. He's pimping the MLF format. I love ya Ike, I paid the cash. Fish on!!

Biffle tossing a frog to start. Throwing up "shallah" or shallow for those of us up north.

Ike says "starting in an area I've fished before, have some familiarity with", this goes to my point before, I wish they would have gone somewhere other than Amistad.

Evers on the board first. Nice! 2.25 pounds. Laughs that he caught the first fish of the day wonders if that is a good thing. KVD struck first in round 1 and made the cut. We will see if that pattern holds with E2.

Is Ike the only angler fishing out of a Bass Cat?

With 2 hours of coverage, I can't believe we don't see every fish catch for each angler.

Ike finally gets on the board. Says he had one follow and gives a lecture on the importance of throwing back quickly.

Fishing jerseys are sweet. I want one.

Biffle keeps missing fish. He's fishing very shallow area. Just missed a four pounder.

How do I convey the signature high pitched voice Grigsby uses when he has a fish on?! Classic.

Ike goes with his patent "it's a big one, it's a big one" only to swing in a 2 pounder. Also classic.

Faircloth with a blank so far. Ruh roh.

Grigsby fishing windy points, mainly on the back side or into the wind. Likes that it creates current.

There is a ton of mutual respect between all the anglers.

Whoa and Biffle lands a game changer, 6 pounder. Guess I shoulda picked him.

Sheli=good. Lurch=creepy.

At the 1st break apparently Faircloth goes from zero fish to 4th place. Um.....I thought we had a real time scoreboard? His scoring pad must have been broken.

Faircloth is fishing a drop shot in submerged trees. 20-25 feet of water.

Biffle giving the guys a head fake, went to a new area to start the 2nd.....and he smokes a 3+......on a Biffle Bug.....how fitting.

Brauer is struggling but choose to stay with a flipping presentation.

Two shows, both had guys catching fish in flurries. 3, 4, 5 fish in 15 minutes. Unreal.

Boom goes the dynamite. Brauer lands a 3 and moves into 4th. Bugger!

Very slow period 2.....fast forward.

The Nitro Z-7 is a way better looking boat than the Bass Cat.

Cool, Biffle took the legs off a Biffle big and put it at the top of a senko. Genius.

These guys keep cranking even when it's slow. My head would have had me drop shotting. They are so talented.

Alton mastering a "twitch bait"; shallow running jerk bait I think.

I like Ike but he was too much for even me this time around. Yelling is okay, flopping around in the boat and into the officials lap? Come on Ike. He is dominating though.

Faircloth makes an interesting point, when you are on a water as big as Amistad it makes sense for a guy to throw at what he can see, I.e. visible cover and structure.

Biffle is bailing.... And eliminated. Epic fail.

Hahaha Alton says in response to Ike screaming; "that boy is squealing, someone put wd40 on that boy"

I was close on my guesses, sort of. Ike, Faircloth and Jones made it. Evers bombed.

I look forward to the next round.






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Lake Fork Pig

Oh man, I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything but fishing today. As such I've been surfing around, trying to find some new sites specific to fishing in Texas. Well wouldn't you know it, Bass Parade had a new post asking anglers to post where they like to surf. It was as if I had called up Mr. Jay Kumar and asked him to post that very question today. Anywho, in more than one response I saw the site; Texas Fishing Forum

Of course I could have clicked fast enough to that site. Know what I was treated to? Yeah you guessed it, a pic of this ManBearPig of a fish!! And it was caught yesterday!!!!





Um, yeah! I'll take two please!! This is the type of fish we hope to get into when we head south to Lake Fork.

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New Arkansas State Largemouth Caught

A 36 year record was broken in Arkansas when this dude smoked the 16-5 Largemouth pictured above. This gentle giant was bagged on a Mann's 6" Jelly Worm in Tequila Sunrise. Apparently this fish should have heeded Jose Cuervos advice; don't eat the worm.

Check out the full story from Bassmaster Magazine here.

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Myfishingpals.com

I was out surfing the world wide web when I happen to stumble upon a site I hadn't ever visited before. The site is called; Myfishingpals.com




I've been cruising around the site for a couple of days now and it's pretty cool. It's a forum type site driven by those members that have registered with the site. I know what you are thinking and no it isn't a pay membership site. It's completely free.

Like I said, there are a number of forums to read and participate in. Many have had active participation within last day or even hour. They also have a blog listing. Right now they list out 77 blogs that are run by site members. However it looks like only 4 of those blogs have updated posts since the first of the year. Of course I know exactly what it's like to fall behind in updating the old blog so perhaps like a lot of Minnesotans they have gone into hibernation for the winter.

Anyway I thought it was a neat site and wanted to pass it along to other anglers here in the great state of Minnesota.


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2nd Annual Anderbrodton Classic

I finally loaded up one of the video's I shot during the Anderbrodton Classic up on Vermilion. It's about a 7 minute video that I didn't yet edit. I was hesitant to even post it because...well.... I look and sound like an idiot...and the camera added 10 pounds thus making my face look really fat.

Anyway hopefully my video adventures end up being a whole lot more professional in the future. Maybe I'll actually give some thought to what I want to say, add in some voice over and theme music. Probably not but you can imagine.

So sit back and enjoy viewing some small fish. I mean really, who takes video of fish totaling maybe a couple 13-14 pounds?!

Vermilion Video

Rather than have a link I'd prefer to be able to play it right from the blog. However there seems to be a limitation with my blogpress app on my iPad. I've got to figure out a work around. Better get the kinks out now so I can post the future TFR's.

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The Fork Report

I've got important breaking news! Josh "Aaron Martens" Anderson has committed to the Lake Fork trip.  That now makes 3 members of the Bass Chronicles pro staff making the trip down south for some big ol' bass.  Having Josh decide to come along makes the entire trip so much better on a variety of levels.  He brings a lot of humor to things and if you check out his profile, he's deadly accurate with a spinning rod.  It will be great to have three guys throwing three different things so that we can zero in on the bite that much faster.  While we'd like to have a full roster, the trip was planned on very short notice so we will take what we can get.

And if that wasn't enough great news for one day, the fishing reports coming in from Fork right now are signaling a lake that is going to fish really strong over the next 4+ weeks.  Water temps right now are ranging from 55 in the morning to 62 as the day gets on.  Guides on the lake are starting to consistently catch fish up in shallow water, think less than three or four feet of water.  While the spinnerbait, chatterbait and lipless rattle trap continue to solid offerings, we are starting to see a spattering people getting healthy catches on Zoom Trick Worms and Baby Brush Hogs.  Interestingly enough the drop shot is apparently heating up.  Josh actually called his Babe Ruth shot today shortly after confirming he was making the trip.  He has predicted that he will catch a 13+ while drop shotting a Jackall Crosstail Shad.  I gotta say, I like his style.

In addition to the soft plastics picking up momentum I was excited to see that other colors outside of Black/Blue are being discussed.  Trick worms, brush hogs and Havoc Craw Fatty are catching big fish in the watermelon candy and green pumpkin colors.  This gets me pumped because I have a lot of those three baits in those two colors.  In fact, the Havoc Craw Fatty is a bait that I have a lot of confidence in.  We absolutely whacked them on Vermilion last year with the Craw Fatty in watermelon candy.

I'll be trying to shoot as much HD video leading up to and during our trip.  I hope to be able to post it up each evening on the blog but we'll see how that goes once we get down there.  We are staying in a very remote area in Eastern Texas.  I'm told we have wireless internet at our cabin but I have no idea what the connection speed will even be like.  With any luck I'll be up and running and can give full reports each evening.

Stay tuned for more TFR in the near future.  I am certain that we will continue to make crazy predictions and I can't wait to look back and see which ones we hit on and which we missed on.

Major League Fishing Thoughts

Amistad. Great fishery but would have preferred something these guys hadn't fished before, especially when there are only 24 competing.

Love the small boats (18 footers w/ 150's, Nitro Z-7's), no practice time. Why do I like this? Because it shows can catch great fish without having to drop 70k on a bass boat. I wish BASS went to smaller boats.

KVD catches 2 within first 15 minutes. He's unreal.

The live update on catches is AWESOME. I'm not sure if guys where playing it up for the camera but it clearly messes with some of the anglers heads.

Aaron Martens, love him but man he is a whiner...and Ehler must be a relative because they share that trait.

The zones and periods is an interesting concept (3 periods). I'm not sure how the zones work but I like it.

KVD never just reels in his 6xd crank bait. He is constantly flicking the rod or making swift down strokes as he reels. Oh he is also fishing a jerk bait, that might explain it then.

These guys can read a graph better than I can read Wired2Fish

The catch, weigh and release Is a beautiful thing. When you've got the live leader board you don't need the end of day weigh in. I think this is an improvement.

I understand the commercials but at the same time I don't. It is pay-per-view, should I really have to watch commercials?! I admit, seeing the Jack Links Sasquatch sitting there farting is pretty darn funny.

Wow, Alabama rig is in full effect; Ehler, Quinn, Hackney all throwing it

1st episode was 114 minutes long. Certainly getting my moneys worth if they all end up being that length

Not sure about "Lurch". Terrible nickname.

Ehler read his graph, made his adjustment, switched to spinning tackle and lands a 5 pounder. Impressive example of a pro reading conditions and adapting

Some of the camera work could be a little better. Pretty darn good overall but some of the off angle shots make me dizzy

Have to finish 4th or better to advance out of the group. Group 1 came down to the wire. Jason Quinn and KVD nearly double the weight of the lower end guys. Ehler and Martens duked it out for that critical 4th place. It was actually really fun to watch.

I had some technical difficulties with the feed but that may not have been MLF, could be Comcast. It would be great to be able to download the shows so I didn't have to stream them. I'll have to email them about that.

This was the "random thoughts" blog post today, sorry about that. I was jotting stuff down as it came to mind.

In summary, it's worth the $18. While I've never been a huge Boyd Duckett fan, this MLF deal was a great idea. I liked pretty much everything about it. In fact the true litmus test is; am I excited to watch the next round?

The answer my friends is yes. (if you thought I was going to say blowin' in the wind....you're on the wrong blog)

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Put a Fork In It

It's official. Half of the BC pro staff has committed to go back to Lake Fork. It's a trip about redemption. It's time for us to avenge our previous trip where we didn't catch a bass over 10 pounds. I hate to even open the wound again but we nearly did it. The 10+ was hooked, she fought, we held our breath, the line broke. Slammin' if you're reading this, I am sorry. Sorry to bring it up again. But like any champion we will learn from our mistakes. Even though we will be fishing Fork in April and the spawn is likely to be wrapping up I still believe we can crack the 10 barrier. According to Texas Fish and Game, several "share a lunker" fish have been caught in April the last 3 years. So....it could happen.

The one variable that we always deal with when trying to plan a fishing trip in advance is the weather. It's unseasonably warm everywhere. Even here in Minnesota, a state renown for cold temps and snowfall. The warmer temps are likely to move the start of the spawn up. I'm not sure, nor experienced enough to know, if it will be days or weeks. My info comes from the guides on Fork and it is safe to assume on some level they know something about it. My brother-in-law believes we will hit pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn fish. The more I think about it the more I buy into his way of thinking.

The water level is still 5ft low. This makes me a bit nervous not so much as how it may affect the fish but rather how it will affect Sam and I. Like any angler I tend to fish where and what I know. Yeah, yeah I know, don't fish history. Fish the present. I've read and heard it hundred if not thousands of times in Bassmaster Mag, BTL, FLW Mag and the like. But honestly, how do you not go back to where you caught them 2 years ago? The low water level could make some of the water we fished last time inaccessible.

Speaking of inaccessible that is sort of what I'm most nervous about. Navigating Fork is a challenge. We hit so many trees last time when the water wasn't low. I can hardly imagine what we are in store for this trip. Fork is hard on equipment. I pray I don't bust off my lower unit. That would be a real buzz kill.
We will still need to hit up those spots though, especially where Sam caught the 7.2 and the spot he lost the 10+. However past that, I've got this hunch we will want to fish the western fork of Fork. I was looking at the Navionics mapping for Fork and specifically Mustang Creek is a spot that I feel really good about.




The western fork seems to have a greater concentration of creek channels that come close to possible spawning flats. If we do hit post-spawn, which we certainly will, fish will have moved off the beds but won't venture too far to find slightly deeper water, current and ambush areas. Hence the importance of creek channels.

We fished the eastern fork two years ago and did well but it took us two days to figure out how to catch them. I have been trying to research the history of Fork but I suspect that the eastern fork was created after they created the dam, meaning it is the result of them damming the numerous western creeks. I'll admit, I'm probably making something of nothing or am completely off on my theory, I am after all speculating. At the end of the day it is probably just me feeling that the grass is always greener or however that applies to water.
Another difference this trip, no guide service. We are flying solo. While Rick was great to fish with we both know we can do just as well if not better on our own. It's all about being observant; water temp, barometric changes, current, weather patterns and of course other boats.




Here is a screen shot of all the pins I dropped on the Navionics map prior to our trip last time. Sadly I only marked two spots correctly. Where Sam caught the biggest of the trip I hadn't marked. And the spot that ended up being our honey hole also wasn't marked pre-trip. Does that mean I suck at reading a map? Maybe. I think it shows I didn't know what I didn't know. I had now idea what the scale of the map would really look like in person on the lake. Our best spot last time is hardly discernible on the Navionics map. This trip no point, cut, creek, bend or bay will be left untouched. Obviously I don't mean we will cover all of Fork, that would be impossible in 3 days. But whatever area we end up choosing to fish we are going to be really through.

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Major League Fishing

I broke down and purchased the BassPass in order to watch all of the Major League Fishing pay-per-view events. I'm actually pretty excited and that surprising. I was really skeptical when I first heard Boyd Duckett pitch this idea. Anyway I'm just settling down to watch the first episode. Right now, I need the distraction. More to come on my thoughts and recommendation on whether you should invest the $17.95.


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Fantasy Bust

My squad laid a giant egg for the classic. I had really high hopes heading into the tournament but it's clear I need to do better research. Oh well, onward and upward!

Fantasy Team Results Day 1

I'm not exactly in the drivers seat after Day 1 with my fantasy selections.  It never fails, there are always about 3-5 other anglers that I felt like I knew I shoulda picked in the top 10.  Of course hindsight is always 20/20 right?


David Walker- 4th place, 16-8
Edwin Evers- 8th place, 16-3
Andrew Upshaw- 19th place, 12-8
Steve Kennedy- 21st place, 11-15
Jared Lintner- 42nd place, 6-8

Clearly picking Tackle Warehouse Pro, Jared Lintner, was my biggest mistake.  I don't recall who else was in his group to pick from but I think Vinson and Poche both were.  Man if only........
Overall I rank 1797 with 1212 points after day 1.  The only group I'm inside the Top 50 in is the Wired2Fish group.  Who knows, maybe my Day 2 will be better.

Also, I know I said it before but seriously, I cannot believe how many technical difficulties the bassmaster.com website is having this weekend.  I had thought maybe it was user error on my part but as I scrolled through many of the comments on the site (when it was actually working) it wasn't/isn't just me.  Bad on you BASS.

Hack Attacks Big Gamble

So on a recent Bass Talk Live show (1/17/12 I think) they had Greg Hackney on to talk about the classic. In that interview he said that "the classic is going to be won fishing close to the launch. The fishing is too good close to make a long run. Unless something changes anyone making a long run won't be in contention".

Well I remember thinking to myself that maybe just maybe Hack was sandbagging and that when the classic finally got underway we would see him make a long run. He's kind of a joker personality so you juste never know when he's serious or joking. Well anyway it seems that he has in fact made a long run. According to the liveBlog he hasn't even wet a line as of 10:23am. I sure hope whatever he is doing pays off for him. It seems like a huge risk. I just wonder if he isn't over thinking it. Having only an hour to try and catch a limit seems tough. I know it's feasible for a pro like him to do it but when you are fishing against KVD and gang who are putting in a full day actually fishing versus driving......I don't know, seems like a tall order.

Well just see what happens at the weigh in.

UPDATE: well it would appear that his bet paid off. Hack weighed in a very respectable 13-15 on day one. It's still very early in the weigh in but it's looking like he'll be inside the top 15 with that bag.


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Fantasy Team

Here is my classic Fantasy Team;
-Edwin Evers
-David Walker
-Stephen Kennedy
-Jared Lintner
-Andrew Upshaw

I joined 5 leagues this year;
-Tackle Warehouse (absolute best place to buy tackle)
-Wired2Fish
-Futurebass.com
-Bass Utopia
-The Bass Zone

Hopefully I can do well and win some tackle!!


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Bassmaster Classic Website Issues

I cannot believe the number of page loading issues the Bassmaster.com website is having today. It's day one of the classic!!! All we here about is how they want to grow the sport, well I've got an easy suggestion; for the Super Bowl of Bass fishing you might want to ensure people can access and consume your content. The fact that you can't consistently access the live blog is an epic failure.


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