LAKE IRVINE, CA
DATE: FEB 5, 2011

February 5th 2011 was the final day for local anglers to qualify for a seat on the 2011 Bassmaster Federation Nation State Team. Four seats remained on the twelve man team going into the tournament.

The main pattern most anglers used involved fishing small plastics or jigs in deep water (15 to 30 feet) and fishing slow…normal wintertime fishing techniques. James Smiley pulled up onto his first spot in the morning and quickly landed a fish over 4lbs which would eventually take Big Fish honors at the weigh in.

By 9:30am the bite really slowed down and most anglers reported the fishing was extremely tough the rest of the day. James had three fish in the livewell at this point and didn’t catch another fish until 1:45pm when he changed patterns and moved to shallow water to fish flooded bushes being warmed by the afternoon sun. He fished a Lucky Craft Slender Pointer MR 97 in Ghost Minnow and a senko. In the last hour, James and his co-angler scored more than 12 bass working the shallow water. He and his co-angler both filled out their limited before weigh in.

At the weigh in, James weighed 11.92lbs to take the winning check ($1200 total) and Big Fish honors.
James now advances to the Bassmaster Federation Western Divisional at Lake Navajo, New Mexico in May of this year. If James beats the 12 anglers in his division at that tournament, he’ll advance to his second Bassmaster National Championship in a row.

http://www.jamessmileyfishing.com/

I ended up 17th place. With my left hand tendinitis I made good adjustment. Thanks for all the support from everyone. I’ll continue to take care of my hand. During off season, I was really worry about this season might not be able to compete. I have 4 more weeks to heal my hand until next tournament.
takahiroomori.com

Read Full Blog>>

Brent Ehrler Blog
Date: 2-7-2011
Okeechobee was a tough one for me, I caught a lot of fish, but just didn’t get any size. I guess 3no size2 is a relative statement.

On day one I was able to put an over 20 pound limit in the boat which I actually thought would be pretty good. I weighed in early in the first flight and there were already a handful of bags in the mid 201s before I even got to the scales, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. By the time the day shook out I sat in the high 401s on the leaderboard and knew I1d need to get bigger fish if I was going to move up the leaderboard. On day 1 we had an hour delay before blast off due to fog and with my early flight it was a short day. Since I was still able to get a decent 20 pound bag, I had some positive thoughts going into day 2 because it was going to be a longer day on the water for me.

On day 2 I ran to a new area that I though I could get a solid limit from. I seriously thought I could catch them there, but it never panned out. Overall, on day two I don1t think I fished very smart. I spent a few hours too many at my first spot before I moved on. I actually had three spots I wanted to fish and after I left the first spot I ran to the second and found a 6 pounder on a bed. She rushed my bait once, but didn1t take it. Then she left the bed and hid a few yards away, so I stuck around the area fishing hoping I could go back and get that fish to go and it never panned out.

I started to feel the pressure and I know a big mistake a lot of us make in times like this is to pull the trolling motor and run around. So I forced myself to leave the trolling motor in the water, turned up high and I instead ran around the same area. In hindsight, it probably wasn1t my best decision. My day 2 co-angler caught a 5 and lost a 5 and I never caught one much over three pounds.

The baits I used this week were the Yamamoto Swim Senko, which I swam pretty fast around the cover, a Trixie Shark from Reaction Innovations, which I fished like a buzzbait, a regular Yamamoto Senko and awhole host of other baits. One thing I reinforced to myself was how great the Lucky Craft MH Pitchin1 rod is. It’s the most versatile rod I have ever owned, I fished about 8 different baits on it and its just a solid stick. The soft tip and good backbone make it the perfect combination for precision casts and good hooksets, I1ve used a lot of high end rods over the years and this rod is by far my favorite.

I am on the road right now to Arkansas where I hope to spend a couple days on Beaver to get some pre-practice in. Only problem is its going to snow and rumor has it that some of Beaver is actually frozen over. That’ll make practicing pretty tough and probably wouldn1t help a lot even if I do get out on the water. Ice? Really? I’ve seen the movie titanic and running across a potentially ice laden pond doesn’t sound to inviting.

Skeet’s Beat – SRI #22
Date: 2-6-2011
It took longer than I wanted, but the Lucky Craft / Berkley Big Rig and Stratos Elite 210 is on the way to New Orleans for the Bassmaster Classic.
The last couple of weeks had been pretty stressful because I had a couple of things up in the air last minute and they caused me to wait for the final packing until recently.
skeetreeseinc.com

Read Full Blog>>

Brent Ehrler Blog

The new year has arrived and the race to get everything ready for the first big road trip has me all over the place. Breaking in the boat, setting up the new Humminbirds, organizing tackle and coordinating the travel for the season is a lot to get done. I leave for Florida this week to the first FLW Open of the year on Lake Okeechobee.

I have been to Lake Okeechobee a few times and it’s a great place. I haven’t done very well there in the past but, I am excited about this year. Okeechobee is a huge lake with tons of vegetation, canals, backwaters and huge fish. It should be a slugfest and a lot of fun.
This season I will be fishing all of the FLW Opens and the FLW Majors. The schedule looks like this:

FLW Open : Lake Okeechobee : 2/3 – 2/6
FLW Major : Beaver Lake : 3/3 – 3/6
FLW Major : Lake Hartwell : 3/24 – 3/27
FLW Major : Lake Chickamauga : 4/14 – 4/17
FLW Major: Table Rock Lake : 5/5 – 5/8
FLW Major: Red River : 5/19 – 5/22
FLW Open: Potomac River : 6/2 – 6/5
FLW Major: Kentucky Lake : 6/16 – 6/19
FLW Cup: Lake Ouachita: 8/11 – 8/14
FLW Open: Lake Champlain: 9/15 – 9/18
FLW Open: Lake Guntersville: 10/20 – 10/23

When I look that schedule over a couple things stick out to me. First, Lake Ouachita for the FLW Cup. I won there last year but, it was a different time of year then the Cup is being held. It will fish different and its going to take something special to beat Scott Suggs on his home water.

Next I see Kentucky Lake and Lake Guntersville down the road a bit. Both of these are events I am looking forward to for a couple of reasons. They are both great fisheries and should be a lot of fun. However, I have not had great success at either of these places so I am looking for some redemptionthis year at both of those lakes.

The rest of the schedule is exciting and I plan to work as hard as ever at bringing home the AOY. The FLW has a talented group of anglers so it won’t be easy but, that’s my ultimate goal. For now its off to wrap up my final preparation duties before hitting the 10 freeway for 3+ days on my way to Okeechobee.

In Portugal, Bass fishing is very popular. A team supported by Lucky Craft had won in a tournament again. The national team jersey in the colors of the Portugal flag has left a strong impression. It would be nice if next time we could publicize ourselves as one of the tournament sponsors.

I went to go watch the TBC Tournament which is based around Tonegawa (Tone River). Mr. Oishi had a dominant win. Unfortunately Mr. Mitsuo wasn’t able to make it due to his work, but he was awarded for 4th place in the AOY race. He showed everyone that he is still thriving. This TBC tournament held in Kanto brings many passionate people together, what a wonderful event~.

Date: 11/9/2010

You know its cold when your livewell lids are “iced” shut. That’s how my partner Jared Miller and I kicked off the “fish” portion of the Fish ‘n Chips tournament on Grand Lake. We solved the problem by pouring some lake water on the lids which melted the ice enough to get our first fish into the well. It was actually a pretty nice day, it was just cold about 32 degrees.

The Fish ‘n Chips event was fun, Mark Jefferies of BassZone.com does a great job putting it together and it was fun seeing all of the guys in a little less competitive environment.

As for the tournament Jared and I finished in 17th place after a pretty rough start in the poker end of the event. The fishing was good with most of the fish we caught coming on a Lucky Craft RC 1.5 or 2.5 square bill crankbait in shad patterns. We did catch a few on a Buzzbait & Spinnerbait in the event as well. We caught some nice fish with a couple of solid 16 pound days but, we just couldn’t get that kicker fish to move up in the standings.

Coming up I will be headed out to fish the Ultimate Match fishing show which is hosted by Joe Thomas, refereed by Mark Randolph and Fish Fishburne is the analyst. If you haven’t seen this show you should check it out as 12 anglers are bracketed head to head in elimination matches. Both anglers fish from the same boat with four 90 minute quarters. Each quarter the anglers switch ends of the boat. There aren’t many rules other than not crossing to the other half of the boat so almost anything goes out there. I think the filming we are about to do will air early next year on the Outdoor Channel.

Other than that, I’m just itching to get out in the woods for some good South Texas hunting very soon!

I just finished the Fish and Chips tournament that Mark Jeffreys from BASS ZONE.com put on at Grand lake in Oklahoma . The format for the tournament is a team event that gives anglers points for their performance in a poker tournament, followed by a two day team fishing event…
skeetreeseinc.com

Read Full Blog>>

At the “Kayak” Tournament held in France, our pro angler and also our France sales agent, Didier has won!! How wonderful!! I must say, his fishing skill is a legend.  kayakfishingtour.over-blog.fr