July KID fun

Pretty simple blog this week:

 

Pond fishing with little friends, their faces say it all.

Revenge on the RIVER

The title says it all for the last two weekends of fishing for me.  The weekend of July 13/14th was a good weekend of fishing on Pools 9 and 10, but the tournament I was in left me and teammate Ken Lunsford in the middle of the pack.  We had some good things going in practice, but with the water dropping quickly, the bass quickly relocated.  We still found enough fish on Sunday to put together a limit of 6 bass and then some, but middle of the pack is not what we expected.  However, in the end on our 3-hour trip back home, we had many laughs about the fishing, and enjoyed our time on the water.
This weekend, the 20/21st of July was "revenge" time.  This time it was with partner Trent Beier, and the Cedar Valley Bass Club event.  I spent practice day with my mentor and long-time friend, Kevin Christensen.  It is always a privilege to fish with Kevin, as we don't get to very much.  Looking back, we probably tried to cover too much water when fishing on Saturday, but we were on a mission to locate some schools of fish in Pool 9.  We did find one good area, and then it was off to Pool 10 to look around. I did find a couple areas with a lot of current that the fish were using to feed in.  It was a start for the tournament on Sunday.
Sunday rolls around and with a game plan in mind for Trent and I.  We hit the two current areas, but after 10 or so minutes in each area, we both knew that it was not going to cut it.  We quickly decided to go to pool 9.  That was the best decision we made all day, as it turned out we didn't waste too much time on fish that were not cooperating.  Something that we tend to do from time to time. We hit some more main channel areas in Pool 9, but things were not what we expected, one keeper smallmouth is all we had after a couple hours into the 7.5 hour tournament.  Time to hit the scramble button.  We basically, "punted" and just went fishing that were easy to drive to quickly, and hit as much variety that the river had to offer.  In July, however, CURRENT was always in our conversations.  We knew we had to be close to it.  We decided to hit an area in Pool 9 around the middle of the pool.  This place offers current, weeds, and some logs to throw at.  We both knew the area well as we have been fishing there for years. 
As we entered the shoot off the main river, I spotted a few weeds, FROG time.  I picked it up and on my second cast, BOOM, a nice 2.5# keeper. Things were looking up, but we knew we had a long way to go.  We continued to follow the current and the weedlines.  This was another good decision we made.  It wasn't much longer and I picked up another good keeper on an Optimum Baits Furbit Frog.  Trent was working the edges with swimjigs, but as time went on, it was all about getting back into the plethora of weeds available.  We both were slinging the Furbit Frogs for the majority of the rest of the day.  A decision that once again turned the weekend around, and made for an awesome fishing day.  After securing a limit in this area, we decided to give some other water a look.  It was about 10 more miles north, but we were willing to spend the time to get to an area that was similar to the weedlines we were catching them on. 

Optimum Baits Furbit Frogs

This was another good decision we made on this day.  We hit a few more weed lines similar to the first area, and the action picked up once again, and again, it was all about the frog.  We moved quickly from one weed line to another.  The more weeds the better, and when we saw something that looked good, we stopped and fished it for awhile.  Things were going great, but time was running out, we were a long way from the weigh-in, and we had to go through a lock and dam too.  One more area and we had to go, well that turned out to be a good decision too, 3.10# in the last bit of weeds and we were on our way back to the weigh-in. What a way to finish the day!  We ended up with about 13.40# and got 3rd place. 
All our fish that were headed with us to the weigh-in were caught on Optimum Baits frogs.  As Trent brought up during this day, frog-fishing has a lot to do with your equipment, and that is so true.  A medium-heavy action 7-foot rod is perfect for this presentation, and a high speed reel with braided line completes the setup.  I was throwing a medium-heavy 7-foot Quantum Smoke rod, and a high speed Quantum Smoke reel with 60# braid. This is the perfect setup for slinging frogs all day and getting them out of that heavy weed cover. Tie on a Furbit Frog...the bass have no chance!
An awesome day on the water with a good friend, and in the end, that is what it is all about.

Good decisions and teamwork led to a great day

 of fishing and another Top 3 event

Just for FUN

Just one of the many 15 inch bass we caught

Saturday morning, friend Ken Lunsford and I headed toward Hawthorn Lake.  There was no upcoming tournament there, this trip was purely for fun.  The lake was recently renovated by the IOWA DNR.  Fish were stocked 4-5 years ago, and the fish are plentiful and numerous.
We knew going to the lake that we wouldn't catch any big bass, but again, this was simply a fun fishing trip. 
Ken and I were able to use multiple lures to catch bass throughout the day.  Crankbaits, swimjigs, and slower baits like plastics and jigs worked very well.  The weed growth in the lake is taking off, but we could not convince the bass to come up and hit frogs or swimbaits. 




Ken reeled in a rare feet, one cast,
one crankbait, 2 BASS!!!

There were a few key areas that held a lot of fish.  Windy points seemed to be great, as well as any bank that fell into about 10 feet of water.  On these areas, the coontail weed was starting to grow off-shore, and the fish were there.  Moving slower baits through and around this coontail certainly was a pattern we picked up on.  Every time we found this coontail growing off shore, we were able to catch a few bass off of it.  When this key area was on a windy bank...WOW, just hold on tight to your rod, because the fish were really piled up with both of these key features present.
It was a great day, we never caught any bass over 16 inches, but the number of bass we did catch topped the 100 mark for sure.  If you are looking for a little F-U-N, Hawthorn is the place to go!

Hanging with BASSMASTER Pros

This past week I had a rare opportunity to spend two days in the boat with a professional bass angler.  It has been my dream since junior high to be a "pro bass fisherman", and although that dream is out of reach, I was able to live that dream for a couple of days. 
I signed up to spend two days in a boat with a pro angler.  Each day was a different chance to learn from one of the best in the world.  The first day I drew Charlie Hartley.  CLICK for more info on Charlie  The second day I was paired with Skeet Reese.  CLICK here for more info on Skeet



Pro angler Charlie Hartley and some beautiful
 Mississippi River scenery.

Both anglers were in an event where the winner would take home $100,000, and if you get 50th our of 100, you get $10,000...pretty serious money.  They were competing in the Bassmasters Elite Series, which has seven major tournaments scattered out all over the eastern part of the United States.  This week, the stop was LaCrosse, Wisconsin on the Mississippi River.  I love the river, it is my favorite place to fish, and throw in the chance to be a part of a professional tournament, you bet I had to go!

The opportunity was to ride along with these anglers while fish in the tournament.  In a nut shell, we were in the boat to make sure they were safe, and they didn't break any rules.  Being a "Marshal" as they call it has many advantages.  As a Marshall you were able to be around all the pros, talk with them, ask them questions and most importantly ride along with 2 pros for a full day.  Both anglers were very generous with information and they both taught me a lot about fishing, and how they approached the river in LaCrosse.  It was truly amazing to ride along with them, and to see other pros like, Kevin VanDam, Tommy Biffle, Ish Monroe, Gerald Swindle, Rick Clunn, Mike Iaconelli, Dean Rojas, and the list goes on and on.  It was like a dream!  I also found myself talking to Tommy Biffle for about 15 minutes on Friday night, and he eventually became the tournament champion, pretty neat, and I am glad he came away with the win.


Professional Bass Angler Skeet Reese

As for riding the in boat for two days with Skeet and Charlie, it was an honor, and very educational.  Both days, we were laughing at jokes, and Skeet and I have the same kind of sense of humor, so we were going back and forth all day long laughing like old fishing buddies.  I never made one cast, never caught one fish, but it was two days that I will not soon forget, and hopefully in the long run, it helps me to be a better angler.

Father's Day Fun

As usual, my family found ourselves back in Independence for Father's Day.  After a nice Sunday breakfast, asked my boy if he wanted to go to a pond.  Of course, he said yes, and we were off to town to borrow a couple fishing poles from my dad and grab some worms.  I didn't think I would do any fishing at all this particular weekend, so with an extra hour in the morning, we were off to the pond. 

Bullheads, or "little Catfish" were the catch of the day

My boy and I have fished numerous times this year, and he has caught bass, crappie, bluegills and plenty of each of those species.  One species of fish that he has never caught, but always talks about is a catfish.  I just don't fish for them, but this day was different.  A good friend of mine, Kevin, has an acre pond that is full of bullheads from a recent flood.  Simply put, he wants them out of there.  So, I told my boy we were off to catch some "little catfish".  Bullheads are probably on the bottom of my list of fish to catch, but they are just like a catfish, and I knew Ranger would enjoy catching a few of these fish.
He was thrilled to catch a couple dozen of these of fish, and although they were all about 6-8 inches long, it didn't matter.  He was curious about there slimy skin, their "whiskers" and how they stung people.  He learned all about them, including breaking the myth, that bullheads/catfish sting people.  By the end of the hour he was picking them up safely and playing with them like any other bluegill or crappie we have caught this year.  It just goes to prove, that any fishing trip can be a great one, no matter how short, or no matter what you are catching.