This is the Daily Flash Minnow Weekly Report!

It’s been awhile since I came to Redondo Beach. In the morning I went to an area called Malaga where it was famous for Flounder (Hirame) fishing. The last time I was here, the fisherman next to me was using a drop shot and was catching a lot of Flounder. So I tried to do the same thing, but in result I got 0. Right about the time the low tide was approaching, I moved to a place called Jetty.

Waves on the outer area were very high so it was impossible for me to fish there, so I started aiming in the inner sea region. Since it was at low tide, using a Wander I pulled very slowly towards me while shifting it left to right at 15 degrees interval. Searching everywhere, I continued to cast and retrieve.

While color rotating lures, I traveled almost half of Jetty. From looking at the time of the rising tide, I changed my lure to a Flash Minnow 110, Pointer 100, then to a Pointer 78DD, targeting my range to a deeper area. I rotated lures so I may possibly aim the rising banks. But that didn’t go too well and I ended up with no catches. Can it be a bad time?? Is it not Okappari (shore fishing) season anymore…??

P.S. Next week I am planning to go to my good friend and also the owner of Optimum Baits, Mat’s factory tour. So please stay tuned.

See you soon!

Sandy
The Daily Flash Minnow

Brent Ehler Blog
The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy ones getting ready for the second stop on the FLW Tour and doing a few seminars.
Following the Okeechobee event I dropped the rig off near Beaver Lake in Arkansas and flew home. Last week I headed up to a boat show in Illinois where I did a couple of seminars and supported the Ranger dealer in the area. The Ranger dealer, Belleville Sport Sales in Belleville Illinois, is the oldest Ranger dealer in the world, they’ve been selling Ranger boats since 1969!

From there I flew to Phoenix where I stopped at Cabelas for Abu. Phoenix is a great place and there are lots of good anglers in the area that come up with some great questions. It’s always great to share fishing information with people who are as passionate about the sport as I am.
Last week was the Bassmaster Classic and Kevin VanDam did it again. It’s hard to believe in a field of angler that could that one person can be so dominant. It looked like a fun tournament with lots of different fishing styles available. I would have liked to have been there mixing it up with my Lucky Craft 1.5 square bill crankbaits. I hear from others often how they think I am a finesse angler. Sure I like to finesse fish when its necessary, but my favorite technique is the shallow running square bills and that seemed to be the ticket at theclassic. Could have been fun!

For me its of to Arkansas and Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake is an interesting place to fish because the fishing can be great in bad weather and horrible in good weather. Which might be a problem this week as its supposed to rain during prefish and be nice during the tournament. This one could be tough. In 2009 I had some success on Beaver Lake and finished in 10th, but in 2008 I finished in 54th place and back to 2007 I finished in 50th exactly. All three tournaments I made the check line and that’ll be the goal again this week.

One interesting note about fishing Beaver Lake is the smallmouth rule there. It’s actually against the rules to weigh in a full 5 fish limit of smallmouth. This really shouldn’t be a problem as there aren’t many smallmouth in the lake, but should an angler find a smallmouth bite they would also have to find a way to catch 2 spotted bass or largemouth each day to fill their limit. I know that played into the tournament when Andre Moore won the event in 2005 he would catch 3 smallmouth and then run and catch a couple of smaller spotted bass in order to fill the limit. No matter how it works out it’s fishing so it will be fun!

When you’ve climbed your sport’s highest mountain, you have two choices: lament the absence of a bigger goal or embrace the totality of what it took to reach that summit and then work your butt off to polish that rare package of skills and aptitude. Takahiro Omori — the 2004 Bassmaster Classic winner — has chosen the latter. That’s why he’s enrolled in IMG Academies’ programs for the past seven years.
takahiroomori.com

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This is my 2011 boat. Ranger Z520 with Yamaha SHO 250 with Minnkota, Dual Power Pole, etc. Do work.
takahiroomori.com

Here’s a quick look at the new bait colors Skeet Reese unveiled in his booth here at the NOLA Classic. That’s blue crack [chartreuse belly /blue back] on the left, T rock [chartreuse belly/purple back in the middle and black crack [white belly/black back] on the right. (Posted on www.bassparade.com)

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This is part 2 of two videos featuring pro Rick Clunn discussing his signature series crankbaits built by Lucky Craft and available at Bass Pro Shops.
The Daily Crank

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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

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This is part 1 of two videos featuring pro Rick Clunn discussing his signature series crankbaits built by Lucky Craft and available at Bass Pro Shops.
The Daily Crank

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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.