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The Reel DealI spent today at my host boat dealer, Dixie Marine, for day one of their annual Customer Appreciation Weekend. I did seminars along with other pros, Joe Balog and Brent Ehrler. My favorite part of these type of events is getting to meet the kids! On the Road
The one thing that keeps my job interesting is without a doubt the travel, which for me means driving. Lots of driving. I average about 50,000 miles a year behind the wheel. Unfortunately, that can also get a little boring and borderline lonely. I find myself relying on the people I meet and the things I see to keep it interesting. Comments Off on On the Road
Ups and Downs on Beaver Lake
Brent Ehlrer Blog Then I switched to my signature series Phenix Casting jig. Beaver Lake fish like finesse jigs so I trimmed it up a little and used a YamamotoFlappin’ hog for a trailer. I casted that around and got quite a few bites. I started to think this was going to be a fun tournament. I had at least 15 bites that day and things were looking up. The next day it was really windy and raining in the morning and then it cleared up. I kid you not, I didn’t have a single bite until about 1:00 and then I caught a short fish. I went until about 5:30 PM before I caught a keeper. Which changed my thinking to “this is going to be a bad one.” On day three, I went out and fished all day and caught just 1 keeper. My practice was a real struggle. I threw the Slender Pointer 112, the Pointer 100 DD and the Pointer 78. I caught quite a few fish, but they were all small. It was not easy and left me feeling I only had a couple areas where I could catch fish. On day one I ran to an area where I thought I could catch fish with the crankbait. That wasn’t working, so I switched to a fish head spin with a Yamamoto grub. I was able to catch two, a three-pound smallmouth and a pound and a half spotted bass. I had four good opportunities to catch fish and I was only able to put two in theboat. After day one I sat in 85th place with about four and a half pounds. I fished a lot smarter on day two. On day one I didn’t fish smart, I wasn’t focused on how and where I was just going through the motions and not thinking about what I really needed to do to catch fish. I figured out on day 2 that I needed to fish a lot faster, which is not typical for this time of year there. I covered a lot more water and I bounced around a ton. I threw the same baits, a grub on a fish head spin. Right off the bat, I caught a three-pound largemouth. Then I started getting bites and I’d miss them. I had a shakey head with a Yamamoto 4” Senko tied on. When I’d miss a fish or I’d see one come out of the deep trees and boil on the fish head, I was able to throw back on it with the shakey head and they’d bite it on the sink. I weighed eleven and change on day two jumped up a little over forty places to get a check. I really put myself in a hole the first day, with the bites I had I should have been up at least another fifteen to twenty places from where I finished. You never know and I just didn’t give myself very many opportunities. IntenseThe rising water conditions were so intense the TVA had the Pickwick Dam wide open with all flood gates rolling. In spite of this, we had a banner day on the water! Lance Walker and I were able to use the intense current to pinpoint big bass up to 8 pounds in eddies just out off the main river within a few miles of the dam. Comments Off on Intense
Early to Rise….My day began with a 4:45 wake up! I left my house with my boat in tow at at 5:15 headed south to Pickwick Lake in southwest Tennessee. After meeting up with my producer Jim Kramer, in Northern Kentucky, we set out to shoot another episode on Stihl’s Reel in the Outdoors. Comments Off on Early to Rise….
Optimum Baits InfoLucky Craft fans all across the world~! It is again time for the Daily Flash Minnow! This time I went on an OPTIMUM BAITS Factory tour with Mat and had the opportunity to experience making some lures. The factory is located in Temecula, CA which is about 65 miles (~104km) from the Lucky Craft USA office. Southern CA’s famous Diamond Valley Lake was near the factory also. When I arrived there, Mat gave me a very warm welcome and said, “Welcome OPTIMUM BAITS Sandy-san!!”(By the way, Mat is also very fluent in Japanese). Unlike Lucky Craft, OPTIMUM BAITS is its own original and personal manufacturing company that makes lures for Bass and saltwater fishing. “How are these products being made?” will be the main subject this time. For a rookie fisherman like me, I was extremely curious to know! The OPTIMUM BAITS lure features a special liquid called the plastic sole which they bring to custom processing where you can freely construct its shapes to a fish, frog, and a bug. It is a soft rubber-like material so it might be in the same category as a soft lure. Also, the colors are unlimited. Mat told me that special pro models and even customer original models can be created too! There is even a Lucky Craft and OPTIMUM BAITS collaborating lure product now on sale so please try it out! (I will only show an image of the package. The inside is a secret) OPTIMUM BAITS information are the following: Home: http://optimumbaits.com/OB2/ See you next time! (I will be introducing the OPTIMUM BAITS lures on my next report) Sandy Monkey Gone, Classic HereG-Man Blog Comments Off on Monkey Gone, Classic Here
A Change-UpWell one thing is for sure…. when you make fishing and hunting shows for a living, you are at the mercy of the weather. I was scheduled to head down to Pickwick Lake in Tennessee today at noon so that we could begin shooting tomorrow with Lance Walker of Browning Eyewear who is “The Man” on that lake. Filming in Florida
Skeet’s Beat – With Captain Blair Wiggins Up A Notch: Fuel Up For Fishing
He used to carry soft drinks and junk food on his boat; now it’s protein bars and homemade sports drinks. That’s Takahiro Omori — a man who realizes that what he puts into his body affects what he pulls from the water. Since enrolling in IMG Academies seven years ago, Tak has invested much time and effort in a broad range of physical and mental conditioning designed to optimize his performance and put him in contention to add another Bassmaster Classic trophy to his 2004 prize. Comments Off on Up A Notch: Fuel Up For Fishing
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