2-15-10

Outkast Tackle announces their national Pro Staff for 2010

Duluth MN, Feb 15, 2010 – Outkast Tackle, the premier source of precision, tournament-quality fishing tackle in Minnesota and around the country, announces today their 2010 National Pro Staff.

North Carolina Bassmaster Elite Series Pro and 5 time Bassmaster Classic contender Dustin Wilks has joined us in 2010.  “Dustin is really excited about our Pro Swim Jig along with our other flipping jigs and we feel he can bring a lot of good input to our company” said Mike Dahl of Outkast Tackle.  Dustin finished 13th overall on the Elite Series in 2008 and qualified for the Bassmaters Classic in 2009, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 1999.

 

 

Minnesota’s Brian Brown has been with Outkast Tackle since the beginning and is set to fish the FLW American Fishing Series – Central Division.  Brian’s 2009 highlights include 1st place at Prairie du Chien (BASS Weekend Series)

 

 

Todd Schmitz of Indiana is fishing the Northern Bassmaster Opens. Todd finished 7th place last year overall on the FLW American Fishing Series including a 7th place at the Mississippi River.

    Every job requires a tool of some sort and with fishing there is no exceptions. The two tools everyone needs in fishing are a rod and reels and this year I will be fishing with two new lines of tools. First for the first time in 10 years I will be running a reel other than Shimano, as I am the move to Quantum to help patronize their support of our support with PAA. Quantum has a revolutionary line of reels that some of and the best in the business use. I will be running the Kinetic PT series on my jig and carolina rig rods this year.
This is a 7 ball bearing reel with 7.0:1 gear ratio with a deeper spool for holding larger diameter lines.


For my reaction style baits I am going to go with the Catalyst, which is another 7 ball bearing reel, with ultra high speed 7.0:1 gear ration that has a shallower spool which means less spool wieght and great casting ease. I am very anxious to throw my favorite Outkast Tackle swim jig on this reel along with get the crankbaits out on these famous Kentucky Lake ledges this spring.





    I will also be running some new rods this year as I have partnered up with Powell rods for the up coming season. Keith Bryan makes an awesome stick and one for almost every situation. I have never cranked with a glass rod before and it seems everyone has their opinion about if you need to or not but with the two of the best fisherman in the world using glass on their reaction baits I figure it can't hurt to try. I got my first shipment of rods in on Saturday and have played around some with them in the house and let me tell you that glass rod is as light if not light than the graphites. I will be running two eight footer this year, one for cranking but in a graphite blank built on a mod fast blank. The other I will use for throwing C-rigs and the Outkast Tackle Touch down head on the ledges this summer.

What is Maxumfiber?

You can find your Quantum and Powell "tools" at Bass Tackle Depot, click on the banner below to stock up on your new "tools"

Happy belated New Year to all Hype fans!!! This will be a real new year for me as most of you know I am living in a new state, Kentucky, with new home over looking one of two new home bodies of water, Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. I will obviously be fishing new tournaments from those back in MN against new faces I've yet to meet. I am going to jump to what most would call the triple A level and fish the American Fishing Series (old Stren, old Everstart) Central division, with tournaments on Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Ouachita, and here on KY/Barkley Lakes. I am also in the works of starting a guide business here on the lakes which means getting a captains license, which I found out from the USCG is mandatory for ANYONE who is a guide for hire on any body of water in the United States. 

    Exciting news this year also includes the partnership with two new sponsors for the 2010 season as I will be working with Keith Bryan of Powell rods. Keith a former tour level angler himself has done an incredible job of bring Powell a Fly fishing rod company into the bass arena. These are awesome rods with all the quality fuji components you would expect from a high end stick but with a price point every angler can afford. With 49 models to choose from they have a rod for your every need, you can check them out at www.powellco.com. 

    I will also be working with the theFish Harder Companies to help promote their, Tru-Tungsten, Picasso, and  Mihatchii product lines. I am very excited to get to work on some of these Kentucky Lake bass with the new Mihatchii hooks this year. With the innovative plastics keepers on the new flip hooks you will be able to yet more use out of your favorite baits and more time
fishing and less time rigging. 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Also this for those of you who are big finesse fisherman, GAMMA , has introduced a new fluorocarbon to the market specifically designed for you in mind. The GAMMA TOUCH is a 100% SUPER fluorocarbon line, with ultra high tenacity, ultra feel and sensitivity, is combined with high strength properties and incredible softness all brought about by their molecularly altered propriety process. 

     This year I will also be working on new bait development with Outkast Tackle . as we continue to offer a premium product to enhance your fishing experience. Last year saw us add 2 new products with the Texas rig jig and and the finesse jig.





                         


*** If there is a product that you would like to see us make let me know by dropping me a line and tell me what you would like it to do and what you would use it for.

I hope everyone has a great 2010 on and off the water and looking forward to meeting all the HYPE fans across the country as I visit the different venues. Thanks for your time reading these posts and don't forget to send me your emails for the monthly drawings during Jan.- June. from my great sponsor network.

Tight Lines,
B 

    WOW! Am I glad that tournament is done. That was THE most brutal bite I have fished through in 20 years of tournament fishing. We thought going to Old Hickory for our regional was going to be tough, Dardanelle made that look like a fish factory. Mary and I rolled into Russellville on Saturday night so we could be on the water right away on Sunday morning.

Day 1 - Practice - We got on the water 6:30 and put the boat in on Illinois Bayou and fish the lower end of the lake today. I started the day fishing a shallow crank along a stretch of rip rap while Mary was throwing a 1/4 oz spinnerbait. We fished roughly a half mile of this rip rap bank without a bite and I knew we had a tough bite on our hands. The water conditions didn't help anything either with the region getting 6'' of rain the week before we arrived and the lake was still coming up and the Corp. was pulling it hard to get it back down. From the rip rap bank we headed for some off shore structure as every where I looked there were 2-3 boats on every bank. We fished ledges for the next 6 hours and never had a bite! Deciding maybe we should go look shallow again I looked for some shallow grass to flip with an 1/2oz Outkast R/T jig while Mary was throwing a 1/4oz Outkast Pro swim jig and this brought the same results, not a bite. I had to check in for the tournament between 4-8pm at the place where we would take off from and wieghin at so we ran over there at 4 and checked in. On the way out I decided to fish the rip rap wall that protected the marina with the shallow crank again while Mary was chucking the spinnerbait and finally Mary caught a 14" Spot. I noticed that the shad were very tight to the rock and some cases right up inside of it and this was the first bait I had seen.

Day 2 -  Practice - I decided to move up to the mid lake area today and put in the Piney Creek area. I really want to make a deep bite happen and headed for the mouth of large bay that had a really good creek channel that made some nice inside turns along with some nice points that I thought would hold some fish. We started on a main river ledge with a C-rig and a football head. The bottom felt right with either rock or muscles on it but not a single bite. We moved farther into the bay checking some of the points and inside corners along the creek channel but only could find soft bottom filled with leaves and dead black grassy moss. Very disappointed I can't get a deep bite to go I headed back to the bank with everyone else. I pulled out spook type topwater bait while Mary is still hucking the spinnerbait around, that is when she isn't napping! Finally I connect with a nice fish around 3lbs as it was chasing some of the what little bait we've seen. This would be the highlight of the day though we fished hard the rest of the day without another bite from anything! It's hard to know what to do with so few bites, are you in the right area wrong bait, wrong area, fishing to fast, to slow, wrong bait or color, I am very lost at this point and time and still every where you look there are 2-3 boats on every bank.

Day 3 - Practice - I decided we would put in up at the dam and fish some wing dams and rip rap retention walls. Well that all sounded good until we pulled up to the access and there was a pile of trees and debris waist deep and the water being dumped was unreal. There were white caps rolling down the shore a half mile down river so we headed back down river to the Spadra area. We ran some sweet looking green grass pitching the R/T jig, spinnerbaits and topwater and nothing. The biggest problem up here was the fact it is very flooded and today it is at it's crest and there is no bank to put the fish on. We ran to the back of one creek and worked our way out fishing solid banks and Mary caught another short on the spinnerbait. There was definitely more bait up here in the creek than out on the main river.

Day 1 - Tournament - Well tough practice or not it is time to get the game face on and catch some fish. I drew Mike Lawson from Dallas, TX today. I told him flat out I've got nothing and we are basically going prefishing again today. The only thing I did know was that I would stick around Illinois Bayou and maximize my fishing time, so we started right there at take of on the rip rap sea wall. After an hour with no action we worked our way up the bank fishing anything that got in our way without a bite. Next we ran over to the inlet to the steam plant which I haven't fished yet and fished around in there. There was some nice looking stuff to fish but still no action. We then ran farther up into the bay and fished some shallow grass on a flat that looked good in practice. I was pitching a 1/2oz white Outkast Tackle R/T jig and craw chunk and rolled a nice keeper. After no other action I decided to go into a rock quarry that I seen a couple of other boats fish and worked around it for a couple hours with only to very small fish to show for it. There where 3 other boats in there and only two keepers had caught. With only a half hour left we ran back to the check in area and cranked a rip rap bank with in 50yds of check in point. Mary walked down and watched us fish for a last couple of minutes and told her to go get the trailer so we could get the boat out right away. No more than I said that I boat a 15 1/4'' largie and I'm on the board!!! Today only 105 boaters out of 193 caught a fish to weigh and only 48 co anglers brought a fish to the scales.
  
(fishing by the check in dock, moments before boating my only keeper)

Day 2 - Tournament - Billy "BJ" Mithchel Jr. is my partner today as we are in the 3rd flight. We each managed one fish yesterday and are both thankful for it. Today I decided to start in the inlet to the power plant and began working a spinnerbait parallel to the grass. When I got to this one special little spot I made to perfect cast to without a bite but as BJ got to it he threw his crankbait in there and a 3.21lb spot ate it. This was not the way I wanted to start the day but was happy to see a fish in the boat already. Unfortunately that was our highlight. We ran back to the rock quarry and the shallow grass flat from yesterday without a bite. I even ran back to the inlet to see if another fish may have pulled up on the little sweet spot but nothing. I also checked a couple ledges again today but still nothing deep. So day two I get to go to the I have no fish to weigh line and get my partner for tomorrow, this line today is twice as long as I caught something to weigh in line!

Day 3 - Tournament - I drew Nathan today who hasn't caught a fish yet and with me blanking yesterday I'm not sure even what to do. I decided to start in the in let again and hope the little sweet  spot would have another fish on it but no it didn't! We then ran back to the rock quarry as I wanted to try drop shotting in there some today. This turned out to be a good idea as i boated a 15 1/4" spot right away and short largie. We thought we were on to something but only managed a few more short fish. We then ran some more shallow grass without a bite. Being in the first flight and needed to check in at 3pm time was flying by and with only an hour left I made the decision to check a ledge one more time but work it the opposite direction than I had been. This was my best call all week as in the next 45 minutes I boated 4 more keepers to bring in a limit and Nathan was able to boat his one and only keeper. I started out fishing down it with a C-rigged Outkast 4'' pigg which produce the first to fish. I then switched to a crankbait to boat the other two keepers. I was beside myself with a limit in the box considering I told Mary when she launched us this morning to pack everything up and checkout so we could head out right after we got checked in. Maybe I should do that more often as I had one of only 3 limits brought to the scales today which so far has been the best day of fishing thus far. With 5 fish weighing 11.38lbs I made the final day cut in 24th place with a 3 day total of 13.70lbs! 


(loading my limit from day 3)


(on stage with Lisa Talamage the tournament director, happy with day 3 results)

Day 4 - Tournament - This is the Championship day, the day you've worked all year to get to and it feels great to be here as part of the top 25. After getting everyone lined up in order and some special instructions for the weigh in process and the National Anthem we are off.


With extremely high expectations from what happened the day before I am ready to get after it. We are partnered up with the co anglers that fished in the same position as we had and today I am fishing with Jeff Wheeley. I ran to the channel my ledge was on and started on the opposite side fishing down the shoreline break which had to little rock points sticking out on it. That didn't give up a bite but it was worth a try as couple of guys had been catching a keeper there each morning. We then idled over to the ledge side and started working down that with C-rigs and once we hit the end I would turn around throw a crankbait working back up it. After 3 hours without a bite I had to bail for a while and headed back to the rock quarry thinking I could get a couple keepers on the drop shot. As we worked down the ridge between the flat and deep water I was able to boat a couple short fish but a least it was a bite. We notice some fish starting to bust some shad towards the back of the quarry and put the trolling motor on high and headed for them. As normal the shad along with the fish sank down from the surface. Jeff was able to get a 15" spot with a shakey head right on the bank while all I caught were small white bass yoyoing a small lipless bait. With the quarry not panning out I decided to give the little sweet spot a shot again in the power plant in let but nobody was home. The wind had picked up and we ran to a point the was on a creek channel bend thinking some bait may up. Well the bait may have been there but the bass weren't. With 3 hours left I decided I was going back to the ledge and came out for the day, it was going to be down or die. And unfortunately die it was. The only bite I had out there was a 14 3/4" largie and it was time to go. In the end this was the toughest bite of all four days with 1/3 of the boaters blanking to day and 3/4 of co anglers blanking today.

(day 4 on stage with Morris explaining the tough bite and being thankful of making the final day cut)

I end the National Championship in 25th place with a 4 day total of 6 fish for 13.70lbs and check for $1500 + another $1575 in contingency monies from Triton, Mercury and Motorguide. Not the finish I was hoping for when I left the house a week ago but I could be happier after the practice and tournament I had. Now it's time to start planning on getting back here and getting the schedule layed out for next year. Now that I am in KY our first Weekend Series is March 20, they'll still be shoveling snow in MN. 


(Morris "MO" Sheehan and my hardware, check and a top 25 finish at the National Championship)

    Well the title says it all for my past two months. Starting the last week of August we loaded a 16' tandem trailer with a load to bring down and put in the garage of our new place here in KY. We made that trip in a 48 hour turn around. Then spent the next week and a half packing and running a week long garage sale. Then it was time to go down Minnetonka for the final Silverado tournament before the T.O.C which would be back there in the following week. I returned home to pack for a couple days again before we left for the final Weekend Series event in Wabasha on the river, which I fished after not qualifying for the Silverado T.O.C.. We returned home from Wabasha to begin loading the UHauls for our trip to our new home in Kuttawa, KY. We closed on our house in Breezy Point on Weds and closed on the house down here on Friday morning and began unpacking to have the UHauls back by Monday morning. We spent the next week unpacking and organizing the new place. That Sunday we left for TN and Old Hickory Lake for the BASS/ABA Midwest Weekend Series regional and now that that is done here I am finally taking a minute to catch up. 

    Minnetonka Silverado didn't go as well as I hoped. The water was much warmer than I was hoping and the fish weren't set up shallow as they normally would be. I spent one day of practice shallow trying to make that pattern work for me but it was just not going to happen. The other day of I spent trying to catch fish deep on the rocks and that didn't go much better and in the end I had caught a fish pretty much any where I had fished but there was no pattern to any of it. Tournament day arrived and I decided to start on a confidence rock spot and after 45 mins without a bite I had enough and jumped up shallow on an inside weedline. Working a couple hundred yards of that mixed with a couple docks I only had two small squeakers to show for it. I then ran to some other docks that generally hold fish this time of year and they did but they also were just keepers. With the day slipping away I decided to put the trolling motor down and go fishing. In the end that was the best decision of the year, no it didn't get me a win or a check or even qualify me for the T.O.C. but it did take me from 6 fish for 7lbs to 6 fish for 14 with a couple 3's mixed in. Every fish I caught came flipping a craw tube on 20lb GAMMA Fluorocarbon line, with a 1/2oz tungsten weight. This was the end of a pretty dismal year on my first year fishing the Silverado with 3 finishes in the high twenties or worse, it's time to look forward to the river next weekend.

    September 19-20 brought the final BASS/ABA Weekend Series of the year to the river on pools 4&5. This is a week later than the MN federation nation state tournament last year which I had led day one and ended up 10th after a stupid mistake. Anyway I had an awesome practice last year and was looking forward to this tournament all year. Unfortuneatley the Mighty Miss had something else in store. We arrived to very low water and virtually now flow and weeds choking out normally clean waters. I gave myself 2 1/2 days of practice on day on each pool and a half day to resure what I had found was right. In the end I spent the first day Weds. the half day on pool 4 checking past memories and was able to catch some fish throwing topwater and some fish on swim jig. My second l spent down on pool five. I started by checking some wing dams with a C-rig to no  avail then moved to the bank with a crankbait. I caught a nice smallie and good green one doing this on the main river. I then began running some backwater areas with a swim jig and top water toad. The bite was tough but I did notice quite a bit more current down there. Day 3 I spent back up on pool 4 checking what I had found on day one and running some new water. The fish were still there that I had found on Weds so I began checking some new stuff. For the most part it was very tough going until I found the mother load. I found this little sand spot that normally is choked out by the weeds but for some reason this year it was clean while everything else was choked out. I had caught two nice 2 1/2lb fish on a swim jig and show a couple off before I went up to look at the area. As I got closer I started seeing fish cruise by the boat and not small fish, these are legit 3-4lb class fish. I pulled off and watched the area for a couple hours and no one was even close to finding them. Needless to say I am stoked for tournament day and a little nervous, I never like having my eggs in one basket. As day 1 arrives I find myself blasting off as one of the last boats and am sick someone else will be on those fish. To make matters worse the lock is broke so the entire field is on pool 4 today. As I rounded the corner I noticed that there wasn't a single sole on those fish and my excitement level went thought the roof. I thought this might finally be one on those tournaments that you just blow everyones doors off. Well it didn't take long to figure out that that wasn't going to happen. After fishing for a couple hours around the the area I had two okay keepers to show for it. Not only did the fish scatter I to fight off one other angler that had happen to find this small sweet spot also. I decided to make the run to the fish I had found on Weds. and this paid off nicely with 3 quality keepers giving me 5 for 12lbs. Day 2 I was one of the first boats out and knew I would be on the sweet spot first but with those fish not going yesterday I decided to reverse my run and go to them in the afternoon and start where I left off yesterday. This worked out in the morning with 4 keepers including a nice 4.44lb smallie in the well but things slowed quickly after that. So I decide to go back and tr the sweet spot but as I got closer I could see a boat on it and it turned out to be the same guy I kepted off it the day before. I knew he wasn't going to let me in there today so I just scratched around the outside and was able to boat my fifth fish and weighed another 12lbs.  With a two day total of 10 fish for 24.56 I ended up in 18th place and made the top 40 that qualify for the Midwest regional down on Old Hickory Lake in TN, Oct. 5-10.

    Well after getting moved and most of the house unpacked and organized it was time for the Weekend Series Midwest regional at Old Hickory in TN. My boys Connor Summers and Josh Douglas made the trip down Saturday night to see the new place. We all left the house and headed for O.H. which is now only a 11/2 hrs away rather than 14. We had all done a bunch of research as what to expect and it all came back the same, very tough fishery and hard to duplicate day to day weights. Day 1 of practice found me up river East of the 109 bridge looking at shallow pockets along the main river. I was throwing an Outkast swim jig and a Strike King 1 XS crankbait in dirt shallow water, I mean six inches to a foot! I managed to get 5 keeper bites and boat 3 of them. That night we sat down and discussed what we had all found and for the most part all had the same thing going other than a couple deeper flipping bites. Day 2 I spent about the bridge again but got away from the super shallow bite and worked water that was 2-3 feet deep and had little better day boating 5 keepers -15"ers and had a few more short fish to boot. I was still throwing the same crankbait and swim jig and added a little deeper diving crank to the mix a Lucky Craft RC 2.5. I would throw the swim jig on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon and 12lb on the crankbaits. Day 3 I decided I had better at least look at what I consider to be the lake portion of O.H. which would be everything West of the 109 bridge. Running a bunch of ledges with a Fat Free Shad and C-rig I ruled out this bite as I only boated 3 shorts fish. I ran into Connor and he had caught 4 quality keepers by noon fish that dirt deep water and shallow grass. So off I went looking for some of the same stuff and was only able to boat a couple small keepers and a few short fish. Day 4 I was going to get as far away from everyone so I thought as I could and run to the farthest good looking creek on the map. I did manage to get away from most of the crowd but did run into a few boats but not enough fish to make the run on tournament days. This also turned out to be the most frustrating days on the water ever physically mechanical wise, I couldn't keep a bait out of the trees and brush to save my ***! With talking with the guys as to what they had found it was clear there was a pattern building and that is what I worked on the final day of practice. Day 5 I went back up river to the first major creek arm and began running flats that had a creek channel swing into them and it was like clock work. Not all the fish were keepers in fact only two but I caught a whole lot more fish today. Again throwing a Strike King 1 XS crank in ultra shallow water mixing in a chatterbait .

    Day 1 of the tournament brings excitement of what could be, I didn't come planning on winning but to make the top 50 so all I felt I would need is 3 keepers a day and I would be golden. So off I went boat 24  with co-angler Greg Freeman heading up river for a 30 min run. As I rounded the corner I noticed only a couple boats in the area but fishing much deeper than I was. We put the trolling motor down and didn't pick it up for 6 hrs fishing everything in sight that was in less than a 2' of water. Switching back and forth from a chatterbait, baby 1 minus and the 1 XS crankbaits I was able to boat 4 keepers for 6.43lbs good for 42nd and possible a 5th but decided to throw him at the bump tank as I didn't want to take the chance at loosing a pound over a short fish. Overall it was a productive day with 20-30 short fish boated and 3 other keepers that came undone before the boat. At weigh in I find out that Connor had blown his lower unit and needed a ride back to his boat to retrieve his truck keys. So he jumps in and we head for his boat only to have my lower unit gear blow out in the exact same spot in the river!!! After rounded up some friends to help tow me back and run him to his boat we need to get stuff fixed and fast. Off to C and O Marine we are headed as they have the only to lower units for a Mercury Pro XS motors in the states. These guys are awesome and have truly talented guys working there. It is 5 pm on a friday and they would rather be going home instead they are working their butts off to get us back on the water and that they did. We were both out of there by 8:30 and with plenty of time to get tackle taken care of and something to eat.

    Day 2 I am just excited to be back on the water and able to go fishing. I am boat 146 today but get and extra hour to fish that turns out to be very beneficial. My co-angler and ran back to the same creek arm I was in yesterday and began the same trolling motor down and fish everything in sight attitude. Today was much slower fishing than yesterday the only good thing there are a lot less boat up here. I am still surprised to see there is only one other boat fishing this same super shallow water pattern. My co catches a keeper right away to start the day off and I boated my first keeper within 10 yds of that on our second pass down the bank. As we worked into one of the pockets there was another boat in there fishing another tournament today so we jumped around him and I immediately boat my second keeper. I am now stoked that I am one fish away from my goal for the day of 3 which I figured would get me to the National Championship. We jumped across the creek to another shallow bank that had a lot of short fish on it yesterday and began working down that. As we reached one of the small coves I notice a bunch of shad being chased and fired my crankbait into the middle of them and came back with a nice 16" keeper and my goal of the day met. Now it's time to catch a bonus fish and with time running down I decided to run back down river to a secondary point in a major creek arm. With about 30 minutes of fishing time left we noticed bass busting shad all over on top of the point and with a long a cast with the crankbait I was able to boat a fourth keeper and knew I had made it into the National Championship. I had the chance to bring 5 to the scale again today but had 3 more fish pull off on the point there at the end of the day. Todays 4 fish weighed 7.14lbs giving me a two day total of 13.77 good for 30th place out of 169 boaters well with in the top 50 and a trip to Lake Dardanelle in Russelville,AR at shot for $205,000 and a spot in the Bassmasters Classic.

    Tackle that I used this week was a 6'-10" med. hvy. action rod with 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon line for throwing the Outkast swim jig and the chatterbaits. A 6'-6" med. action rod with 12lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon line when throwing the baby 1 minus and 1 XS crankbaits.












 















 





















 



















  

    It's been a crazy few weeks since my win at PDC. The following weekend Mary and I drove back down to Kentucky to finally put an offer in on a new home. After looking at another 8 houses we settled on a beautiful home over looking lake Barkley that we had looked at on our first down. Now with the house hunting over with we can start the fun packing part. The following weekend we left Friday for Escanaba, MI for the B.A.S.S. Federation Northern regional. After fishing Big and Little Bay de Nocs for a week we left Escanaba on Friday night to head back to Starbuck, MN and Lake Minnewaska for a Silverado Pro Am event Saturday morning.

    Little and Big Bay de Nocs are not the same fisheries as Lake Erie and I unfortunately did figure this out until the third day of practice. Lake Erie you have a lot of 30+ foot  flats with small rises in the bottom and throw a drop shot on it or drag a tube on it. Well not so much at the Bays. Here you are fishing gin clear water and catching fish in 4-10 feet of water. I tried for two days to find those little rises in the bottom and they for the most part don't exist. The third day I picked up a spinnerbait and jerkbait and had an absolutely fabulous day on the water. I throw a 3/8oz chartreuse skirt with double gold willow leaf blades on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluoro and X-Rap, Lucky Craft, and Smithwick jerkbaits all on 12lb GAMMA Copolymer. The wind was blowing perfect and the sun was finally shining after two days of clouds and on and off rain. Tuesday the fourth and final day of practice brought clouds again in the morning and fishing wasn't as good as Monday. I started the day where I ended Monday and started catching fish but not the same size but did catch fish but that was the end of the excitement with the rest of the day being a bust.

    Day 1 brought the first day of flat calm and sunny weather for a week. My partner  had a spot he wanted to check in the morning and then the rest of the day we would be fishing the same areas I had found on Monday. He started out throwing a stick worm and I decided to start with a jerkbait on which I lost a keeper in the first couple of cast. I then decided to pickup the spinnerbait and with in a  couple of cast I boat a nice 3 1/2lb fish burning it just under the surface. After he missed a couple bites we moved over to Big Bay on to a shallow shoal where I boated two more quick fish on the blades. Being able to see the fish I started pitching a drop shot at them and was able to catch two more for my limit. My partner was finally able to work a limit into the boat and we started moving around looking for some bigger fish. I continued to chuck and burn the blade with good results being able to cull up with each fish I caught. With a hour or so left we ran back to his starting spot and after making one trip around it I noticed a big black critter swimming a long the boat. Reeling in my jerkbait and picking up the tube I pitched it out in front of the boat and that big black critter ate it up and was my biggest fish of the day a solid 4lb smallie. This gave me a solid limit weighing 16 1/2lbs.

    Day 2 paired me with a partner that was on fish in Big Bay also. He and his day one partner caught a limit in one area in 50mins but were on able to upgrade throughout the day. So we decided to stop on a big fish spot first and he was able to boat a nice 3lber on a blade but that was it. We then decided to run to his limit spot from day one but it took a lot longer to get our limits today. In the end this was our down fall as we spent 4 plus hours of our day trying to get a limit in the boat and not going to other big fish areas. Today I was unable to boat a fish on the spinnerbait but caught everything dragging a tube on 8lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon. Todays limit was much smaller than yesterday weighing just under 11lbs. 

    Day 3 I knew I was going to need to weigh at least 22+ pounds to have a chance to win my states birth to the national championship. Our leader Randy was sitting with 33lbs and Dean was in second in our state with 30lb. and I figure they would both bring another 16lbs to the scales today which means I would have to catch 22 or better. My buddy Jim Pinke had found a spot that 3 bags over 20 had been caught on so that was the plan. I would follow him down to this hump he had been fishing and hope for a 5 big bites it was my only chance. The unfortunate thing for me my partner has a major bum back and doesn't want to be running the rough water and this morning it was rough with 5-6 seas already and forecasted higher winds in the afternoon. We did try to head down but Pinke had to turn around as he was unable to keep the prop in good water and not blowout with his three blade. That's all took for my partner to turn it around and head for calmer waters. We headed for a river and fished as hard as we could. My partner kept throwing at the bank so I decided to throw a jerkbait out over the deeper channel and was able to boat 3 short fish and 2 keepers my only ones of the day. As it turned out I would have had to catch 23lbs to catch Randy as he brought in another 17lb bag to win or state and take second overall with just under 51lbs, Dean brought 18lbs in to stay in second in the state and 4th overall with 48lbs. I ended the tournament with 12 fish weighing just over 31lbs good for 3rd in the state and 26th overall.

    Now with the Federation Northern regional over and Randy being crowned the MN champion and Wes being crowned overall champion and WI state champion it was time to head to the room for a shower and something to eat and hit the road back to MN. Back on the road to Starbuck, MN around 6pm we had an 8 1/2 trip ahead of us so we pushed it straight through only stopping for gas once and arrived in Starbuck at 2:30 am. I grabbed a quick two and half hour nap before getting up at 5 to get boat gas and figure out where the ramp and weigh-in were located. I also need to respool and repack the boat for Lake Minnewaska versus fishing the Bays. I ran into Scott Bonnema at the gas station and was able to get me sent in the right direction as to the ramp and blast off and check in location. My buddies Josh Douglas, Ryan Otto and Brent Carlson were all there to try in guide me in the right direction fishing wise as this was the first time I've ever seen Lake Minnewaska or the Starbuck, Glenwood areas. I started the day running down the lake to a flat on the Glenwood end. My partner lost a key 3lb+ fish on a rattle bait on the flat and then put the first fish of the day in the boat of a reed patch also on the rattle rap. I then decided to throw a 3/8oz spinnerbait on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon around the reeds and also boated a nice 3 1/2lb fish. This made me decide to stay with the reeds a bit longer which was a good decision as I added to more very quality fish along with a couple small keepers that at least gave us a limit. In the end it was a good move as we weighed 6 for 14.16 good for 8th place, which with the one lost fish of the day would have been second and a $4000 payday rather than a $600 one. Nothing good ever comes from a lost fish but that is why it's called fishing and not catching!  
     

Sorry HYPE fans that's been a month since I've last been here. Mostly due to my little break I had for a couple weekends and a very poor performance at the Silverado Tour tournament on the Le Homme Dieu chain in Alexanderia, MN July 28. I generally look forward to fishing this body of water but this year it's was a tough bite. I spent the Friday before the 4th and the next Friday over there prefishing and really wasn't able to get on anything. I did catch one 3lber and a bunch of 14" fish on lipless cranks which is always a goto bait if nothing else produces over there. I then spent Thurs. and Friday before the tournament trying to get a feel as what to do and just could not get a pulse as what to do. My biggest problem was not fishing shallowing enough due to my past success out on the weedlines. With the off spring and early summer weather we've had the weedlines didn't grow up the way they normally would but were much shallower and alot of stringy grass type weed with no leaves on it covered the flats. With nothing to go on I tied on 3 different types of lipless crankbaits and a swimbait and covered as much water as possible tournament day and still only had a limit of 6 fish for 9.69lbs by far the smallest limit I've ever weighed in and ended up 38th out of 49 anglers.

 Now with July almost over and no checks in the bank due to not so good performances and getting a little depressed as to how the year has gone so far things need to turn around. What better place than my favorite water the mighty Mississippi River. PDC ( Prairie du Chien)  WI, is the next venue for the BASS/ABA Weekend Series a place I haven't been for at least 12 years when I was a nonboater in the old RedMan now BFL events. With only two days of practice I decided to stay on pool 10 rather than locking up to 9 and with the info I could find and guys I had talked too one pool really wasn't any better than another. As I looked at the map I found to areas of the pool I wanted to check out. One area being close to our launch site and the other mid pool.

This tournament found Mary not traveling with me and Bri was not coming down the good friend and competitor Josh Douglas so he decided to stay with Connor Summers and I and make it a guys weekend out of it. We decided to go down Thursday night so we didn't have the long drive early Friday morning, which was 6 1/2 hours for me, 5 1/2 for Connor and 4 hours for Josh. Getting on the water early I headed north from the ramp about 3 miles to a little cut of the main river channel. It had rip rap on both sides of it with decent current running through it. Small fish were busting shad at the entrance I caught a couple on a buzz bait before making my way into the cut still throwing the buzzbait I was able to hook up with a short fish and a nice fat 15" keeper. My phone rang and my buddy Josh had spun a hub and was limping his way back to the ramp from about 7 miles down river so off I went to help him out couldn't leave my boy hanging. With Josh taking care of, back to the cut I went and spent the rest of the day in that area fishing 3 little lakes that had current at the mouths but none running through them, this will prove to be huge. They also all had pad lining them with deeper water under them. Pulling into the first lake still throwing the buzzbait and not getting bit for sometime I switched to a 1/4oz Outkast Swim Jig and Fat Tail and almost immediately starting catching fish. Paralleling the outer pads seem to be the best bite and held up through all the lakes. 

After talking with Connor and Josh back at the room it sounded like Josh down south didn't do so well and Connor north of where I was doing fairly good also I decided to stay north. The weather is going to play a huge part in what happens at this tournament also as severe thunderstorms raged throughout the area dumping large amounts of rain and causing mud slides that closed some roads in the area. The water as you might expect turned to chocolate milk and I knew the bite was going to get tough. Day two of practice found me fishing with Loren Berg my link for the series which was nice to have another stick in the boat. Connor had wanted me to check an area he had found to see if we should both start there. We didn't get as much going but did eliminate a lot of water which can be just as good as finding that secret honey hole. We did manage to catch quite a few fish and a couple decent ones on swim jigs and shallow running crankbaits. With practice over I decided I would spend the tournament fishing those 3 little lakes that I found on Friday. 

Tournament morning my co angler Nick and I were boat 34 out and headed to my first spot which has 3 other boats in it. I started the day throwing a pumpkin/orange tip 1/4oz Outkast swim jig on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon. I boated a nice 2 1/4lb fish to get things started then a 3lber and small keeper, with nick boating a small keeper also. I decided to run to the second lake to get on some fresh fish before guys started running around to much and it paid off. Nick was able to boat another keeper and I was lucky enough to boat the big fish of the tournament a beautiful 4.33lb largemouth. Off to the next lake this gave up another keeper for me and a 3lber for Nick. Back to the second lake we caught some more key fish and decided to run back into our starting lake. Thinking I needed one more 3lb fish I picked up the flippin rod and started pitching a craw tube into the thickest stuck I could find but wasn't able to find a good fish. In the end I didn't need another fish as my 5 for 14.71lbs was enough to top the 70 boater field. This is my first major win and it couldn't have come at a better time. I thank the good LORD for all the blessings he has giving me and this victory definitely being one of them. 























   

We are heading into July and I am looking at a good break from the spring fishing season. It hasn't been bad really by any means and actually as close to getting a check in all the events as you can without getting a check. It has also been disappointing because of being so close and expecting to do well and with the last ABA/BASS Weekend Series tournament on the the Mississippi River not going so well I am mentally ready for a break.

Mary and I finally got to our first Fishers of Men tournament this year which was back over on Green Lake in Spicer, MN. With only one day to practice, the friday before the tournament, I decided to look to see what if any fish are still up on beds. With in the first 50 yds from putting the boat in I knew there were going to be plenty of fish up so I put it on high and and covered as much shallow water as possible. After 6 hrs we had marked 50 some beds holding descent fish but now it was time for a back up plan and look for some deep fish. This didn't go so well and we only boated one fish in 3 hours so the plan for tournament day is going to be shallow. As we start tournament day there is another competitor on a group of beds so we pulled up farther to try a top water bite. With only one small fish after the first hour we had to move running to check a couple specific beds we boated on and couldn't get the other to bite and made another move to a bigger flat. When we pulled up on this flat it was a fire drill! In the first couple of minutes we boated 3 fish to fill out our limit. With a couple of other boats up on it we just milled through them and got on the fish we had marked and over the next 4 hours were able to up grade our catch every 20 minutes or so. After running out of fish to catch we made one last move to a small hump and found a nice big black smallie just waiting to be caught, so I thought, but not to be so. In the end that fish meant the difference between 15th and 2nd but that is why it's called fishing and not catching. Other than one fish caught on a topwater and a drop shot the rest came on a mojo rig, with a 3/16oz sinker and a 1/0 Owner circle hook all rigged on 8lb GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line.

The Mighty Miss (Mississippi River) didn't treat me so well so far this year and this past Weekend Series was no different. I headed down early Friday morning to get a full day of fishing in. I decided to spend the day on pool 5 which came with mixed results. I found fish in ultra shallow water cruising sun fish beds and some fish on cut bank and a couple on wing dams but nothing that made me all warm and fuzzy inside. Saturday I spent the day on pool 4 which started out raining but turned out to be a nice day and the fishing wasn't to bad with fish coming on topwater and Outkast swim jigs but again nothing that really got me excited. For the tournament  I decided to start on 4 and make my way down to 5 in the afternoon that was all great until there were 4 foot rollers on my first to stops. Making my way to my next area I decide to stop short and fish some productive stuff from the past. This proved to be a good decision with three fish in the boat all on different baits, a new Outkast 5/16oz finess jig and swim jig and a top water. At 10 o'clock I locked down to pool 5 and ran some cut bank flippin the finess jig and a Outkast Naughty Bug catching my final 2 fish to finish out a limit. At 1:30 I decided it would be a good idea to get back through the lock to make the 2:30 check in time. When we came around the corner my heart sank as there is a barge in the lock and with a few boats waiting around I kept a positive attitude that we would make it through. In the end we got in the lock and made check in with 3 minutes to spare though my 5 for 11.22lb was only good for 41st place but it has me in 20th place overall in points well within the top 50 they will take to regionals.

So over the next couple of weeks I am going to enjoy some down time and do a little prefishing. Hope that all of you also get on the water and enjoy the 4th of July.

Tight Lines,
B












  

My first trip to Green Lake in Spicer, MN didn't go as planned and left me with a lot of ground to make up in the points to make the Silverado Pro-Am Bass Tour T.O.C. Finishing a dismal 33rd out of a 49 boat field and them taking the top 14 guys in points I have some catching up to do. This was my first experience here and it is one heck of a smallmouth fishery though it is very small! I had to things to get over at this tournament, one is fishing in crowds and the other bed fishing which is not my thing. Not knowing the deep water bite has been the dominate winning pattern there I went with the perception this was going to be a bed fishing deal. Well come to find out the night before the tournament there are some guys finding quality fish and less beat up fish in some extremely deep water it was a little late to change my game plan so I stuck with what I found in practice. Spending 3 days scouring the shallows looking for those 6 big females that would put me over the top I marked over 150 beds around the lake except where I should have been. Drawing boat one for this tournament as I got to my spot I watched as a dozen boats headed for one flat on the lake I didn't prefish and a I got a little sick to my stomach when only two other boats started around me, that's when you know you are probably not on the right fish. During practice I tried not to stick to many fish and kept the trolling motor on high and looked for as many beds as possible and it became very apparent that was exactly what many others where doing also as I was always following someone or was being followed. I did manage to find some quality fish up but the majority seemed to be smallers males.

Tournament day I decided to start in an area that I had marked 3 good fish and being boat one felt good about having first shot at them. Well even the best layed plans do not work all the time. With a West wind for 3 straight days we wake up to rain and 25mph East wind for the tournament day with 50 degree temps. As we approached the first two beds they are both vacant but the third one still had a nice coal black smallie on it and with a quick pitch of a tube to her she is hooked for about 3 seconds as she jumped and threw it, not the start I was looking for! With the waves from the wind and rain beating down on the water it was very difficult to see the beds and many had been vacated either done spawning or moved off do to the weather. We did manage to get our limit by 9:30 and culled a couple of times using a drop shot and a mojo rig with 8lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon and copolymer lines on a 7' MH Tactical Series rod couple with a Shimano Stradic spinning reel. The most disappointing thing was thinking we were having a good day and had good weight considering all our fish were over 17" which should be a 3lb fish. Thinking we had somewhere around 18lbs, not enough to win but maybe check, we felt good about our day. They scales at the weight in told a different story with our 6 fish limit only weighing 15.53lbs which was way of the pace of the 19lbs it took to take a check. So now it's time to buckle down and make up some ground at the next stop in Alexanderia and the Lake Le Homme Dieu chain of lakes. First though I will be back here in 2 weeks with Mary to fish the Fishers of Men tournament and you bet I've learned a little from this trip that I will be looking at then, until next time Tight Lines.

Hello Hype fans!!!! Well the spring started out a little slow as it usually does but the end of the month was all go. Mary and I headed down to Kentucky for the Triton Gold Elite tournament and to do some more house hunting on May 21 and ended May on the 31 in Red Wing, MN for the first ABA/BASS Weekend Series tournament for the MN/WI division.

I can't say enough about Kentucky Lake, it didn't go so well last year for the Weekend Series regional in October but I did catch my personal best 7.9lb Largemouth. This spring though WOW!!! I went down with the total mind set that the major spawn was over and I would concentrate on the ledge bite. We started prefishing on Sat. the 23rd after looking at houses all day Friday. Craig Powers was staying at the same hotel we did on Friday night and with talking to him there was still a strong shallow top water bite going on with a some good fish still up on beds and lots of little fish out on the ledges. Well with my mind already made up to fish deep I spooled up with 10lb and 12lb GAMMA EDGE and Copolymer and Strike King Series 5 and Bomber Fat Free Shads and yes even tied on a top water.

First morning of practice I decided to visit a bay I had fished in October to familiarize myself with the water conditions and started by throwing a top water and Mary throwing a swim jig. After fishing about a 150 yds of bank it was obvious that there where fish shallow but not much size so we headed for the ledges. There seems to be a school of fish on every ledge in this lake it's just a matter of what size they are and from what I've seen this lake has an extremely bright future as there are hundreds of thousands of fish in the 12"-14" in class with 15" being a keeper. On any given spot you can make 50 repeated cast and catch a fish on every cast!!! with multiple doubles on the same bait. Second morning of practice started out with a bang as I boated 6 fish on my first 3 cast yes I said 6 fish on 3 cast, 3 good keepers and 3 shorts. Over the first two days of practices we kind of put a little something together and that was to keep the boat in 10 -12 feet of water and fish the tops of the ledges in 5' with most fish coming on the points, with gravel, rock, of mussel beds on them.

Day 3 of practice I decided I wanted to run south past the New Johnsonville area and see what was there for grass and maybe do some flipping. Well that wasn't going to happen as we pulled up to the first flat I didn't see a stitch of green weed to pitch to. So out came the crankbaits again and we started cranking a creek channel that ran through this flat. On maybe every third cast you would come back with a 3' stock of hydrilla and few fish. So with that not panning out I put the cranks away and went to the bank to flip what ever got in the way. This did produce a 5lber and  a couple 3lb fish but nothing worth running all the way down for.

Day 4 found us back up by Paris crankbaits in hand out on the ledges again with the same results, lots and lots of short fish with an occasional descent keeper thrown in. It wasn't the practice I had hoped for but I did learn and that is what it's about. So I at least have a few place I can fish the first day of competion.

First day of the tournament I go out boat 74 out 82 and planning on starting on a total community hole as I watched boat after boat work it in practice after I had caught a couple good fish on it. As I rounded the corner to my surprise no one was on it so I sat down on it and pulled out, you guessed it, my trusty sex shad series 5 on tied on 12lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon and began dredging the top of the ledge. After an hour of beating the place up and only one keeper and a bunch of shorts it was time to move. Stop to produced the same thing so off to stop three. As I approved my spot there are several boats in the area but luckily none of them on what I wanted to fish. I started fishing a short distance from my way point and never made it there. The fish had moved off the point and down the ledge about 50yds and it was a fish on every cast for an hour, I've never seen anything like it. Needless to say I left there with my limit and decided fish some new water on the way to my fourth stop, wise decision. I began cranking this long road bed and for the first 200yds never felt a thing on the bottom and then that tell tail tick tick tick as the bill on my bait started but into hard bottom. I caught a short fish on the next cast and hooked another short on the following cast. As I was reeling that fish to the boat and about to lift it in a 5lber come out of now where and eats the bait also that made the day. At the end of day ones weigh in I am in 21st place making the top 25 cut with 15.81lbs. 

Day 2 we are going to fish from 5:15 to 4 pm yes that is 11 hours of tournament fishing!!!  Normally 4 hours into a tournament I am having sandwich for lunch but that is only 9:30 here at that makes still breakfast. Well I decide to make the same rotation as I had on day one and it started out well with a nice 3lb smallie and a keeper from stop number one. Stop 2 gave up nothing and stop 3 which was loaded with fish yesterday had a boat parked on it and I managed on keeper and a few shorts from it. So bailed on the deep stuff to try a shallow spawning bay to see if I could get a couple quick keepers on top water or possibly flipping. With only on good fish swirling short of the bait in the bay I headed back for the ledges. I decided to give stop number 3 one more shot there where just to many fish to leave it even with other boat boat pressure. On the first cast I lost a nice fish in the 3lb range and boated a 3lber and thats all she would give up. So I decided to run to the mouth of a creek that ran through a shallow flat that had a school of small fish in practice hoping something bigger moved up. There I was able to get my limit fish and cull one but with time running out I made the move to run back to were I had started the tournament both days. When I pull up to the spot there is another competitor sitting smack dab on the "spot". This was a blessing in disguise as I decide stay there but start out farther and work my way in. I didn't make a dozen cast and hooked a 5.78 that jump 3 times and looked like a 8lber out there after netting and a couple high fives from my observer it was time to check in. With 5 fish weighing 17.13lbs I jumped from 21st - 16th not bad for my first time there in the spring.

Now with the Gold Elite Tournament over Mary and I spent Friday continuing our house hunt and then in the truck for the trip back to Red Wing. We got into Wabasha at 4a.m. Sat. morning and got an hour and half nap in before Connor shows up to get me going. He had spent Friday on pool 4 and was going to stay there today also so I went down to 5 to maybe put something together for us down there. The bite turned out much tougher than expected and from what was being said at the meeting there had been a decent bite until the dropped the water. I was able to put together a deeper wood pattern but that was about it. Connor seem to find the same thing up on 4 along with finding our fish from the St. Jude tournament hadn't left yet either. So Connor was going to stay on 4 and I was going to run down to 5. As my co angler John Peterson and I arrive at the lock we find a barge in it so I turned the boat around and head for the fish that Connor and I had going in the St. Jude tournament. Not sure which part Connor was going to start on I picked a side and started fishing and boating 3 nice fish right away. Connor stop short on his way in not knowing it was me and I didn't recognize it was him coming and not showing up John and I continued to fish the entire area. John broke off probably the biggest bass I've seen on the river on 50lb braid on the hook set. I did manage a limit from the area but with some nice fish missed that definitely cost me a check and also cost John in a bring a zero to the weigh in. All my fish were caught flippin a craw tube with 20 GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon line on a Tactical Series 7'-6" flippin rod and Shimano Castaic reel. With 5 fish weighing 11.62lb I was the first guy out of a check in 17th place with 11.72 being 16th. Congrats to my buddy Josh Douglas for whacking a sack of smallies for 15.85lbs and a well deserved win, with a 2nd and 1st place finished in his first two money tournaments he is on a roll.