Saturday, December 15, 2012

WackOjig - New Sponsor

I am proud to announce, I am now on WackOjig's Pro-Staff. It is a new an innovative way to fish a wacky rig and will help me put those extra fish in the livewell when they are needed. Combined with a PowerTeam Lures Sick Stick this will be a top choice for me all year!

The WackOjig™ comes in a 3 pack, and features a super sharp Black Nickel Finish 4/0 Mustad hook w/ wire weed guard. The WackOjig™ is designed to hold your soft plastic Stick worm, Senko, or "Sick Stick" so that it can be cast over & over again without the worm ripping off the hook. Simply insert your worm into the patent pending keeper ring, and position the ring in the center of the worm. You can swim the WackOjig™ through shallow or deep water, fish it on bottom, or you can flip it in heavy cover just like jig-n-pig. Our jigs are Powder Coated with premium paint, and oven baked for added durability. The WackOjig™ was developed with the fishermen's pocket book in mind, fewer worms lost equals more money saved.

Here's a link to the website: www.wackojig.com

Thursday, December 13, 2012

MBC Seniors - Dec. 8th - Lake Pleasant

Lake Pleasant (Lake unPleasant) can be a tough lake at times. During this tournament it was exactly that. After a decent prefish we decided to head back into Humbug Cove. The A-rig bite had been decent in practice so my partner and I decided to go with it for the tournament. After the long idle time, we finally made it to the back and started throwing, unfortunately with the cold water being influxed in and the weather making a change the bait and fish just weren't there like they had been. We covered water in the same area but could only catch a few short nonkeepers and a nice striper. We decided to make a move and hit another cut on the way out but that only produced another short fish. After a few moves the results were still the same, short fish with no keepers. We fished hard until the very last minute.
It was a very humbling tournament. I was looking forward to it with the bite we had in practice, but it just didn't work out like we planned. At least it was a nice day on the water with more lessons learned.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Saguaro Lake - A-Rig - 11/25/2012

I have been on a decent Alabama Rig bite at Saguaro Lake and decided to take some video. After 5 days of hitting the area pretty hard it still produced some fish. It was a fun hour early in the morning, here's a video of some of the footage. Enjoy, I sure did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwTneSf8VCw

Saguaro Lake - Thankgiving Day - 11/22/12

For the first time in years, we had another Big Dog - Big Fish Challenge. It was and always has been all about the bragging rights between a group of us. This year it was held on Thanksgiving morning, and we were fishing at Saguaro Lake from 6:30-10:45. I had been on the lake the previous days breaking in the motor on my Ranger and found a spot that was holding fish deep. Fred and I were hoping they were still there as they were quality fish. We launched and headed straight to the spot but we were there way earlier than I had been in the previous days, 6:40am. About 7:30 we had our first fish in the livewell and the day just turned fun after that. We were throwing A-rigs in deep water and swimming it up through the schools of fish that were feeding on yellow bass and shad in 25-40ft. It was one strong solid fish after another until about 9:45. By that time we had 10-12 fish and our biggest was just shy of 5lbs. Fred and I both had a ton of fun, hard to beat a day on the water, especially when catching 3-5lb fish that are aggressively feeding and make it feel as if they are ripping the rod out of your hands. We won the bragging rights with the 5lb largemouth and we had a limit that would have went over 17lbs. We took some pictures and released them all healthy to be caught again. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.


MBC Seniors - Nov. 17th - Alamo Lake

With the weather stabilizing after a front and bluebird skies, along with the lake turning over, the tournament at Alamo Lake looked like it was going to be a tough one, as had previous tournaments all month. The tough conditions didn't disappoint, it was some of the roughest fishing I have ever suffered through.
The weather was gorgeous and we were hoping to get on a reaction bite throwing crankbaits, topwaters, and A-rigs. After a couple hours and a few mainlake points and pockets we still had an empty bag. We saw some birds diving in the water and headed to the area. There were shad everywhere and birds eating them, but we couldn't buy a bite. We decided to make a move to some main lake structure near flats and fished those extensively without any luck as well. About 12:30 the wind started picking up and we chose to change up our plan and fished across the steep points. Within a few minutes we hooked up with our first fish of the day, a solid 3lb largemouth. That fish gave us some much needed energy and we ran that pattern the rest of the day. We made another pass fishing with the wind to our backs and picked up fish, a decent slot. That was it for our day, two bites, and we were very proud of those. We finished 6th place, 4.22lbs, and took the Big Fish honors with the 3.00lb largemouth. There were 9 teams that blanked and 6.49lbs won the tournament. We caught our fish on carolina-rigged baby brush hogs, it was just a pressure bite, you'd move the bait and they were just there.
The trip was the inaugural trip for the new tow vehicle. My partner bought a 2010 Dodge Ram 2500 MegaCab diesel. That is one of the nicest riding diesel trucks I have been in, and it has so much room its ridiculous. The ride back home was long but entertaining. Let's just hope the next tournament the fish are cooperating a little better.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

MBC Super Teams - Lake Pleasant - Nov. 10th

Tournament number 3 of the 2012-2013 for MBS Super Teams was a cold one. With temps all week in the 90's until tournament day, where it rained all night and the high was 58 created less that favorable conditions. It was a slow start to the morning after launching at 6:33am, my partner and I made a short run to start throwing A-rigs and Skinny Dippers around some drop off near a channel. All we could get were some small followers on the Skinny Dipper and a few bigger followers on the A-rig but none would hit it and hook up. After a few hours and a couple short fish later with the clouds moving in with the wind, we made a move. It happened to be the right move, it was a cut with a slight breeze blowing into it with scattered trees. The first pass through produced out big fish of the day a solid 2.54lb largemouth and another quality fish. We made another pass and got our third keeper. We decided to hit some other similar areas, we had success but didn't catch any that would keep for the end of the day. We then went back to the same cut and caught number four and a few minutes later number 5. We had a decent limit especially for Lake Pleasant and we were now in the search for a kicker fish. We hit a few other areas in hopes of a bigger fish but once again the fish would only follow and do Z-patterns under the A-rig and never hit it. We fished to the last minute never upgrading the limit.
We finished 4th place with a limit just shy of 10lbs, which we were proud of. It's a very tough lake and the added cold front made it even tougher. We started and finished the day looking for the bigger fish on the A-rig but it was a shakey head that did all the damage for the day. It was the right bait for the situation and the fish almost choking it, which gave us all the confidence in throwing it the rest of the day. I was throwing the Omega Custom Tackle Savior head in green pumpkin. I have to give a ton of credit to my partner for figuring out the bite and sticking to what he does best and not letting the time of the season switch his thinking. Also thank you again to all my sponsors that make my fishing possible.

Friday, November 9, 2012

MBC Super Teams - Roosevelt Lake - Oct. 20th

Tournament 2 of the MBC Super Teams was one I was looking forward to. I had fished the week before and had found some quality fish and was hoping to capitalize on that. My partner and I had an early draw number and planned to head to the same area as where I had fished the week before. Another tournament was going out at the same time that did a shotgun start that created some havoc but we safely made it to our first area. The plan was to throw squarebill crankbaits in the shallow grass with brush. Within the first few casts we had our first fish in the boat. It looked like the same bite was still there, the only difference was that the water had fallen almost 2ft from the previous weekend. We fished the area thoroughly for the first hour plus and had 2 in the livewell with plenty of short fish. The quality wasn't there, we think they moved out due to the falling water and the bigger trees and brush were almost out of the water at this point. We made a move to an area my partner had caught two nice kicker fish last weeks in hopes of the same luck. We threw topwater, jigs, and flipped the trees but couldn't get a bite out of the area. We made a move hoping the buzzbait bite would still be on, on the shallow flats. We worked that flat and the drop near it with everything we had but no luck. We took a minute to regather our thought to try and figure the day out.We decided to go back to what was working and throw squarebills in flats and over points. The idea worked as we headed to our next area we had a fish within a few casts and another a few minutes after that. With 4 in the livewell and catching plenty of short fish we knew we had the right pattern. We worked a massive area for that 5th keeper but couldn't find it there. With 30 minutes left we headed back to where we started hoping for that last keeper. It was the right move, all the way in the back of a cover over some rock and grass, we got that limit fish and it felt like a huge pressure was lifted. It gave us that extra boost we needed and we fished as hard as we could for a kicker that last 20 minutes. We came in to the scales with a small limit that we grinded out.
Looking back I think we missed the small clues that the winners picked up on. The falling water pushed the bigger fish out to the next drop. They were still eating shad and bluegill but a little deeper that they previously were. We had the right basis but should have mixed it up shallow with the squarebills and also a little deeper on the secondary drops with deeper running crankbaits. Congrats to the winners, the Kreuzers, they did a great job figuring it out when everyone else struggled to find that bigger bite.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

MBC Seniors - Roosevelt Lake - Oct. 13th

This was the first tournament of the season for the MBC Seniors Series. 47 boats turned out along, which was a great turnout consideringthere were 3 other tournaments on Roosevelt that day. My partner and I found some fish the Sunday previous and were hoping they were still there since we were the first day out of a nasty cold snap. We had an early number and made the short run to our spot and beat nine other boats that were right behind us. We started throwing squarebill crankbaits and that seemed to be the ticket. Within a few minutes we had out first fish, and were culling by 7am. We kept switching it up but the sqaurebills seemed to be the ticket and we just made sure each of us threw a different color so see if they had a preference. As the day progressed it seemed the fish in the grass were chasing bluegill instead of shad and the bigger fish were eating the bluegill crankbait. We moved around throughtout the day but each time we came back to the cut we started we culled a fish. We found a massive bait ball as we were searching deeper water for a kicker fish, threw out the A-rig and instantly hooked up, figured it was the kicker we needed. It ended up culling but nowhere near the kicker size we needed. We kept trying that pattern but to no avail, we couldn't find those fish on that bait again and we had to head back into launch. We weighed 8.41lbs, good enough for 13th, we lost a few that would have really helped, but that's fishing. All in all the bite was better than we were hoping and was a great day on the water. Can't wait for the next tournament on Nov. 17th at Alamo Lake.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

MBC Super Teams - Alamo Lake - Sept. 29

With my boat in the shop, I figured fishing was out of the questions. My friend Mike called me up and asked if I wanted to go, we'd take his Ranger Z20. It had been too long since I had gone and I had to say yes. Alamo Lake is one of those lakes where anything and everything could work at any given part of the day. Without any prefish, it was a total guess, so we planed to power fish reaction baits, if that didn't work we'd rely on soft plastics and jigs the rest of the day. The ride up Friday night was long but the conversation fun, and even better once we got to the lake. You have to love hanging out with friends the night before a tournament, never a dull moment.
The morning came super quick, and we loaded the Ranger in the water about 5:15 waiting for safe light, around 5:45. We were third flight due in at 3:30. We took off down the lake towards the dam, hoping to find a topwater and squarebill bite. Within minutes the bite was on and strong. The sight of blowups on a Rico, and the brutal strikes on a squarebill make for some fun fishing. We kept catching slot fish after slot fish which, we could only keep 2 between 13 & 16 inches. Once the bite slowed we decided to keep moving around and try new water. After a few stops and fish that wouldn't help our weight we went to a cove with flooded grass with stickups and stained water. While we caught fish on Senkos and buzzbaits, we just couldnt cull up. We decided to try the outside on the point leading in on a drop that was covered in grass at 7ft and dropped to 22ft covered with rock and brush. I threw a deep crankbait and my partner switched up from a shakey head to a senko anytime fish boiled next to the boat, we filled our limit with the smaller fish right away and once I switched to the carolina rig, we were culling cast after cast. That rock pile was holding fish that were demolishing a Baby Brush Hog and my partner was catching them on a Crazy Legs Chigger Craw. We decided to make a move because we needed a kicker fish, we decided to head towards the river side which once we got there was nearly pure mud and 1-2 inches visibility. We tried sqaurebills, pitches t-rigs, and spinnerbaits but could seem to find any fish to help. We then made our decision to hit rocky points with soft plastics, since it worked for us earlier. It was a great move since we caught and culled many more times. We worked each and every point, trying to get an over (16+ inch fish) but to no avail. All in all, it was a great time out on the water with tons of fish caught. While we didn't win, it was much needed time with friends and competition on the water and a learning experience. Sorry for no footage, the fish didn't cooperate, everytime the camera was on, no fish, everytime it was off we got bit! Guess they must have known.
Congrats to Doug and Dean on the win, it was much deserved. Thank you Paul and MBC for putting on such a great tournament. I would also like to thank all my sponsors, without you I wouldn't be out able to do what I love. It was a great start to the season and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

New Sponsor - PowerTeam Lures

I am proud to announce a new sponsor for the 2012-2013 season, PowerTeam Lures. I have been using PowerTeam Lure's products for the last year or so and their product quality is second to none. The baits are loaded with a garlic scent with an amino acid base, it's something the fish can't resist. They have made a massive difference for me this year and I can't wait for more success using these products. I am looking forward to the upcoming season and my partnership with a great company.

 


PowerTeam Lures offers some of the best soft plastic baits on the market today. Our truly unique designs were created for the hardcore angler that wants to put more fish in their livewell. Whether you’re the tournament pro that relies on a winning bag or the weekend warrior looking to land that fish of a lifetime, PowerTeam Lures is your key to success. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re flipping, pitching, punching, Carolina rigging, Texas rigging, drop shotting, wacky rigging or throwing a shakey head, PowerTeam lures has got you covered!
 
Here is a link that my friends can click to get a 10% discount off of their purchase!

 

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Canyon Lake 8/3/12 - Personal Best

My fishing partner, and step-father, Fred and I decided to go to  Canyon Lake for the full moon. It's been a while since we've both been there, but we had high hopes that our old spots would payoff with some fish and hopefully a trophy sized fish, since this lake is known to have a few. The weather looked like it would cooperate without any summer monsoon storms. The lake was 84-86 degrees but above the water it was over 100 degrees.

We started the evening off right, Fred caught a nice fish on a dropshot Roboworm withing 5 minutes of being there. We figured maybe the bite of flipping the canyon walls and rock boulder ledges was the right idea. We headed further into the canyon and I caught one on a texas-rigged Menace Grub. A few minutes later Fred caught one on a texas-rigged 10 inch red shad worm, it was about 3.5lbs. While he was tending to that fish I flipped into the exact same spot and set the hook and yelled FISH, GET THE NET! We knew it was a good fish when he told me "put it up" and I couldnt! After a few heart racing moments it was in the boat, my personal best at 6.94lbs. I was stoked to say the least and full of energy, took me a few minutes to regather my thoughts. A few minutes later I thought I had another big fish, turned out to be a good sized flathead catfish, fun fight but not what we were looking for.

After another pass through the area we decided to move since the sun had gone down and slowed things down considerably. The move didnt payoff but after we made another move a lesson was learned very quickly. We hadn't noticed that the aerators had been accidentally turned off and the big fish wasn't looking too good. She was quickly turning white and breathing rapidly. We flushed the system with fresh water and filled it to the top and poured in some U2 Pro Formula. It wasn't looking too good but after about 45 minutes she started to come around and turned dark green again and was staying upright on her own. The hard work paid off and she was good to go.

We decided to make another move to where we started and it proved to be the right decision. The wind was blowing down the channel and across the area and there was a small area that was very calm. After pass or two I popped a brush hog over a rock on the ledge and the bait just stopped. I set the hook and knew instantly it was another good fish. It was dark but the fish made a splash on the water that sent water everywhere trying to shake the hook. It jumped again trying to get in the back of the motor then dove deep. It made a massive run then as it came up Fred completed a great net job and the fish was in the boat and I was speechless and adrenaline filled. We both looked at the fish and knew it was way bigger than the other fish we caught earlier. We weighed it on the Accu-Cul and Cul-M-Rite and it went 10.11! It took me a few minutes to settle my emotions and get my brain back to functioning properly to finish out the night. We made a move and Fred caught another fish at about 4.25lbs. At 1:00am we weighed the 3 biggest at 21.30lbs!

21.30lbs, what a night! It was a night of personal best and a team best. We may not have caught a ton of fish, but we caught the right ones. It was a night we won't soon forget, I couldn't be happier and glad Fred was with me on a night I broke the 10 pound barrier.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

MBC Seniors - April 28th 2012

Well while the tournament didn't turn out like I planned it still was a fun leanring experience. I prefished and located a spot filled with fish and shad as the shad spawn was in full effect. We headed there first thing and caught some fish right away but the size shrunk from practice and left me at a loss for words. It officially got to me mentally and threw me off my game a little. We still caught fish on the same pattern but just couldnt catch any of size. The baits of choice were both the squarebill crankbait and Assassinator spinnerbaits. All the top finishers were using the same baits just different locations and had more success. Not only did this tournament make me realize that you can't put all your eggs in one basket(area), I also learned that the mental side of fishing may be the most important.

Here's a video from the event - http://youtu.be/Qg9vK14sQyI

Thursday, April 26, 2012

MBC Seniors - Apache Lake - March 31

Sorry for the late post, but things have been hectic. I prefished the for the tournament and decided to cover as much water as possible since I hadn't been to Apache Lake in years. I launched out of Burnt Corral and headed West towards the marina. I was fan casting a crankbait while looking for bedding fish. I caught fish shallow on crankbaits but none of size. I decided to keep moving and found a drop near shallow water that indeed held some bigger fish. The rest of the day I threw an Assassinator Spinnerbait for a search bait and bed fished. I found some decent bedfish and GPS'd them for the tournament.
Tournament morning my partner and I decided to head to the biggest bedfish I had found in practice. We made the long run and hit the cove where my biggest fish has been. We started casting prior to getting to the back of the cove and my partner had a fish within a few casts. We got to the bed, hoping she was still there. With the light low it was hard to tell but thought I saw some movement in the same place and on the 3rd cast she was on and in the boat. She was just under 4lbs. We decided that was the bite we were going to stick to. We headed to another decent fish I located but when got there, another boat was on the fish and they weren't leaving until they caught her, 4 hours later they finally did. We had a limit fairly quick and continued buring up shoreline to cull up weight. A smallmouth and an exploding life jacket made the day interesting for about 5 minutes. I had a fish engulf a Warmouth but never felt it so missed it on the hookset. Within the next minute I heard an exlosion of sort and hissing sound, which scared me enough to make me jump about out the boat. I look down and my partners PFD canister went off and his lifejacket was expanded. After we both calmed down for a minute, I threw back on a rock where I thought the fish had been and it was game on. The smallmouth went nuts, jumping out the water, ripping drag, and tackling up my line with my partner's, he was runnign to net the fish I was all over the deck trying to keep it from breaking the line it was something I would love to watch over and over. We got the fish in but it definately wasn't our best moment!!!
We ended up with a good limit but some of the other guys found a deeper prespawn bite and had some impressive weights. Two 9 pound largemouth were weighed along with one over 7 and another over 6. It was great to see that lake making a comeback and putting out some awesome fish. I will definately be going back!

My partner made this video of the time out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-ZZ-G-R8E4

Monday, March 26, 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

MBC Seniors - Feb. 25th Roosevelt Lake

I finally got back on the water to prefish for the tournament and was lucky enough that I had my uncle in town. He was one of the people that got me into fishing and taught me how to fish and use different equiptment etc. We got up early and launched out of Windy Hill. It was a cold morning but we had fun. First fish came off a Strike King 6XD. We left the area and headed to some points to throw a carolina rig with brush hogs. It paid off with a couple bites and missed fish. Then decided to hit some other areas and run to other side of the lake. Same result some bites and fish in the boat. It was a fun time and helped me figure out what I wanted to throw for the tournament and where I wanted to go.
Tournament day came and my partner found a area in prefish he was pretty sure held some fish. We decided to head there first thing. It paid off within a few minutes and we caught one on a KVD 1.5 squarebill. It ended up being just under 4lbs and was third big fish of the tournament. We decided to keep running around that area and picked up another fish on the 6XD. We made a run to some shallow flats with no luck put found a secondary point with some trees and hooked up on the carolina rig. We ran near the dam right after that and picked up another fish on the 6XD and the day was looking good. A few minutes later we lost big fish on the 6XD which cost us, because that was our last bite of the day. We hit tons of spots after that but never got another bite. It was a tough day but it was gorgeous outside and we took a check so it was definately worth it. I'll be ready for the next one and learn from that day as I always do.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

HDS's Finally

Well after fishing the last few years and upgrading tackle etc, I decided to upgrade my electronics. I went from the Lowrance X-15s to new HDS 7's with the Navionics chips. I can already tell its going to make a huge difference. I use my graphs all the time and having all the new upgraded technology will help this year without a doubt. The install was actually very simple, especially since it has already been wired before and I was just replacing all the new power cords with the new blue connector power cords. I programmed them, and they are ready to be used. Hopefully I can get out a little later this week and use them while prefishing at Lake Pleasant. The next upgrade will be Structure Scan but in the meantime I'll be trying to perfect using the HDS and its capabilities.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Thank You to My 2012 Sponsors

As the new year is finally here I want to thank all my sponsors that are backing me for 2012. I look forward to making our partnerships productive and profitable. I want to thank you for giving me the chance to promote your companies in a very professional and fun manner. Thank you to The Bass College, Quantum Fishing, Mercury Marine, Motorguide, A & M Graphics, Dad's Used Cars, FNO - Failure's No Option, Omega Custom Tackle, Akamai Detail as well as the people behind the scenes that help make it all possible. Thank you all again and I look forward to a great 2012.

New Years Day Road Trip - Bartlett Lake

I decided to start the new year off right by going to the Bartlett Road Trip. It had been gorgeous all week and I was ready to fish! I also wanted to try my new A-Rigs I had just got, I realized the night before that I needed some extra neccessities for them so hit up Bass Pro at the last minute, found out they close early and New Years Eve! I don't think I've ever moved through that store so fast, but at least I knew what I needed (hitchhikers, scrounger heads, and snap swivels). I got home rigged up my A-Rig and had to test it at night in the pool to see how it swam, INCREDIBLE! I was stoked and ready for the morning. The morning was cold and windy! There hadn't been a breeze in a week, but could tell we were in for it. I took off and headed towards Yellow Cliffs and grabbed the A-Rig. Fifth cast and BAM, hooked up a good fish, I played it too long and lost it just under the boat. I happy though to see it work. I threw it off and on throughout the day with only one other hit but not on one of the two hooks. The wind really picked up so I decided to throw Carolina Rig on shallow reefs with deep drops. That was the ticket for me. Each point I went to I caught a few fish and kept a rotation going all day on 3 specific ones, with a few others mixed in. The high winds made it tough to detect some bites at times the Quantum Smoke rod and Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon made all the difference as they allowed me that extra sensitivity that I needed. All in all it was a fun day on the water to start off the new year with a bunch on friends, I didn't catch that kicker I needed, lost it early, but I learned alot and am looking forward to the new year.