Joe Thomas Blog
Date: 11-19-2010

I just got off the water filming for the Ultimate Match Fishing show that airs on the Outdoor Channel.  Currently we are 9 days into the filming and its turning out to be a great season for us, you won’t want to miss it.  This is the seventh season of Ultimate Match fishing and it turning out to be one of the best. This years lineup we have named the “All-Star Edition” because its a mixture of past champions, fan favorites and people we have had a lot of requests for on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/UltimateMatchFishing).  Off the top of my head, the “All-Star Edition” lineup includes Lucky Craft’s Kelly Jordan, Boyd Duckett, Gary Klein, Greg Hackney, Mike McClelland, Jeff Kreit, Edwin evers and 5 more super anglers.

We are happy to have just resigned our contract with American Modern Insurance Group. They provide watercraft insurance and they are also a sponsor of Stihl’s Reel in the Outdoors which is my other TV Show. I am really excited about that they are very aggressive in the market.  We are also working on several other new companies.  Business is good we are happy to continue our relationships with Stihl Power Tools and obviously Lucky Craft and Evinrude and Ranger for this year.

On the family front I am happy to say the wife and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary and I am looking forward to spending some family time with the kids coming up. I am actually going to be home for the longest continuous period of time in almost 10 years starting Thanksgiving.

Next I am off to do a Kansas archery hunt and then its time to start getting ready for the boat shows and promotions.  The first one show is in early December and then lots of them in January.

To wrap up the blog I want to throw you out a fall fishing tip: In the fall the shad are really starting to die off and move up the tributaries.  I really love to throw the Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 112 this time of year. The Slender Pointer can be tremendous this time of year. Most years I spend a lot of time in the fall down in Central Tennessee through Alabama fishing for spotted bass and it’s a great lure for spotted bass as well. For a great color, the MS American shad is hard to beat.

Brent Ehrler Blog
Date: 11-18-2010

There is nothing like a nice relaxing getaway. Kelley and I have just returned from Hawaii. We spent a week in Kauai just relaxing. We did find time for a couple of hikes, but the rest of the time was spent just relaxing on the beautiful beaches and doing a little swimming. The weather was perfect and that island is amazing. I’ve never been to that island before, its really cool, its different than Maui, it’s smaller and less commercialized and really a lot of fun.

I have to say the seared Ahi in Hawaii is second to none. Just about every place we went that had it, I ordered it. It definitely seems to taste even better in Hawaii. I don’t know, it could be my imagination but, I am assuming since we are right near good Tuna fishing that it was really fresh.

This weekend I have the Bass-A-Thon at Angler’s Marine in Anaheim California. It should be a great show, Lucky Craft is bringing their full booth to the show this year and I will help out there with Roy Gray. Lucky Craft will have a few new baits at the show including the “Smasher”, a jointed swimbait and the Pearl Threadfin Shad and Light Hitch colored baits. I will also try to help out on the Ranger Boats side as well.

Speaking of Ranger Boats, I am really excited that next season I am going to be running the Ranger Z-521. This will be the first time I step up from a 20 foot boat to a 21 foot boat.

I do have one fishing trip planned early next week for a new online site. I am not sure where we will be filming but, I know we are filming early next week somewhere here in southern California. I know whichever lake we film on, I will have the New Pearl Threadfin Shad BDS-3 tied on and working for me. The BDS-3 is one of my favorite baits anytime of year but, especially in the fall/early winter time frame with the LV-500 coming in a very close second.

Skeet’s Beat – SRI #12 11-22-2010
Kim and the rest of the ladies on the Fishtales team finished their 201 mile Ragnar Relay race across the state of Florida . The race started at Port Richey and ended up at Daytona Beach . Each of the team members take turns running their shifts over the two day race.
skeetreeseinc.com

Read Full Blog>>

Today I went Area Fishing for the very first time in my life. In the morning I fished a bunch of Sea Bass and from the afternoon I went Area Fishing. Today is all about fishing. And not only that, it was my first Area fishing experience. This time we went fishing at a place called “Fish On Ouzenji” (www.fishon-oz.jp) located in Kawasaki. Mr. Nagai, an Ouzenji professional instructor had taught me Area fishing. His unique concepts were great!! Every cast I got to catch a fish!!

Lure: Pointer 78DD Flash Minnow 120DD
Color: Stain Red Gold, Anchovy Nasu

Daily Flash Minnow in Japan project! This is the Tokyo Bay Sea Bass report part 2!

Continuing my report on Tokyo Bay Sea Bass fishing, we then decided to take a lunch break. In the afternoon, instead of fishing under the airport runway, we went fishing in a structured area and wall sides. I was aiming around other steel towers which were built among some sort of operation located off shore of Tokyo Bay. Also aimed at a wall side which was for cargo ships, and here I caught so many. Instead of long casting like this morning, I casted within 10m close to the barriers, precisely aiming and pulling back was the key. It was my first time fishing at a wall side area so I wasn’t able to throw the lure between the water surface and obstacles which was only about 1m wide. So as an unskillful angler like me, I hit the lure against the wall and broke a valuable lure. But with this experience, I’ve realized how inexperienced I still am. In the vast ocean of America, I never thought of casting to such a particular point which also made me realize the toughness of fishing in Japan. However with this experience, I would like to practice back home (in America) my casting skills while imagining casting in the structured areas of Japan.

Next report will be about my Area (Trout) fishing experience.

See you soon!

Sandy
The Daily Flash Minnow
Catch: Sea Bass x10

I went Sea Bass fishing at Tokyo Bay. We had camped out to enforce testing for an upcoming new product next year. We caught so many. Lipless Pointers are GREAT!! As I expected, 3 jointed lures catches a lot of fish. Especially in tough conditions its swimming action had such a great effect. Sandy from Daily FM also caught some Sea Bass in Tokyo Bay. For more detailed information, please visit “The Daily Flash Minnow” site (Website: http://www.luckycraftlure.com/fm/).

Lure: Varid70HW
Color: Day Game Basic, Gold Hollow Red Back

Daily Flash Minnow in Japan project! This is the Tokyo Bay Sea Bass report.

This time in Tokyo Bay, I had gone fishing with the 2 people who are incredibly skillful with the ESG series: Lucky Craft staff member, Mr. Takita & Mr. Tomoyuki.

We had departed off Tokyo bay for about 40min… and finally arrived at our main fishing spot! Under the new runway at Haneda Airport Tower! 40m near the runway is a restricted fishing area. From the yellow tower to the steel poles underneath the airport runway, I made a 50m long cast!! I get absolutely no effect from the Bass unless my lure reaches all the way underneath the runway (my 2^nd cast). So this is when the Varid comes in! It reached deep into the area I was aiming for with no problem at all! Now I just need to catch a Sea Bass!!…. I got a bite! It was an impact I’ve never felt before! It finally came~!! My very first Sea Bass!!!!!

To a certain extent, I learned that at any situation, when casting barely through the steel poles, there is a high change you get a hit. Considering the water flow and the direction of the wind, I cast and started pulling while examining the tide flow as well. On this day, aiming around the left side of the steel poles lead me to catches.

Varid:
http://www.luckycraft.co.jp/lures/swich/varid/

Next will be Tokyo Bay Sea Bass report part 2!
See you soon!!

Sandy
The Daily Flash Minnow
Catch: Sea Bass x10

Mr. Okamoto of Sea Kuro has again helped us out very much. I couldn’t believe we caught so many Sea Bass… Especially the Varid lure caught us so many. I am looking forward to coming back next year again. If you want to experience some fun and exciting Sea Bass fishing, please try out this Sea Kuro （http://www.seakuro.com/）.

Our pro staff, Skeet Reese and Brent Ehrler has participated in an event called the “Monster Bass Jam 2010”. This event is held by a huge internet shop that represents the West Coast: Monster Bass. Here, the new Lucky Craft color was announced as well as Skeet Reese’s new model rod by W&M was also on display. These designs are available to view here: www.tackletour.com/reviewmonsterbassjamrods.html.

Casey Ashley
11-16-2010 Blog

I went fishing for the first time in quite a while with my dad just the other day near the Georgia/South Carolina border. I always enjoy fishing with my dad, he was the one who got me started fishing and getting a chance to get on the boat with him is something I look forward to. We started fishing team events when I was about 10 years old. We probably caught about 40 spotted bass, a lot of them on a jiggin’ spoon. I did catch some fish that were suspended over timber in one of the creek arms. I caught them on a Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 97 in Misty Shad color.

I’ve been doing a lot of Bow Hunting for deer here in South Carolina and I did get one just a few weeks ago. Here in South Carolina I hunt a lot with fellow Elite Series angler Davy Hite. Davy is pretty much a neighbors, he lives just thirty minutes down the road in Ninety-Six, South Carolina. I have a couple of hunting trips coming up here pretty soon including a bow hunt with Gerald Swindle in Illinois .

Other than that, I started building a house in the summer and I’ve been working on that. I work on the house a little bit, hunt a little bit and then work on the house a little more. This last fishing trip really started “fanning the fire” inside of me and I am itching to get back on the water soon.