Saturday, May 30, 2009

Perry County Golden Gobblers "Jake's Day"

To day was a busy day, I worked with Chad Morgenthaler at a fund raiser for the Perry County Humane Society. There was a good crowd , so overall it was a success.

I left there and went to the "Jake's Day" event that the Perry County National Wild Turkey Federation Chapter puts on as a youth education event. They cover everything from turkey calling, to hunter ethics, clay bird shooting, hiking and of course fishing. There were approximately 25 kids at the event. Suprisingly to me, it was about 30% girls, which was pretty neat.


I have attached some pictures of the Jake's Day and would encourage anyone to get their children involved in the outdoors. It's something they can enjoy for the rest of their lives.



































Tuesday, May 26, 2009

PAA Tournament On Versus Network

The PAA Event on Neely Henry will be aired on the Versus Network next week. Currently the dates and times that I am aware of are:
June 1st 6:30 a.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time)
June 4th 5:30 a.m. EST
June 4th 9:30 a.m. EST

There will be more airings, I do not have those dates and times yet. I'll post them as soon as know.

Also, if you're in the Southern Illinois area, Saturday May 30th I will be working with Jasper Engines and Transmissions Pro Chad Morgenthaler at a fund raising event for the Perry County Humane Society. The event takes place at Holt's Prairie Baptist Church in Pinckneyville, IL from 9a.m. to 11 a.m.

See you there!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Sturgeon Bay Open on Lake Michigan

I just got home this morning from the Sturgeon Bay Open Bass Tournament on Lake Michigan. This is a team tournament, where two anglers team together to get their collective five or six fish limit (most tournaments are a five fish limit, this one was a six fish limit). I fished with my good friend Chris Cox from Belleville, WI. He has spent a lot of time on the great lakes, both lake Michigan and lake Erie, so needless to say, I had a good partner for this one. We managed to catch a limit that weighed 26.44 lbs to finish 21st, quite a blessing considering this whole smallmouth game is pretty foreign to me. We never could get a big bite. All of our fish were "cookie cutters", apparently from the same mold, as they all weighed between 4.25 and 4.50 lbs each. I have some pictures coming that Chris took during practice, as soon as I get them I'll post them.

This definitely was a great learning experience for me, I now feel a little more comfortable chasing these brown fish around. Apparently they like to move A LOT!! I know, major understatement right?

See ya after the Kentucky Lake Tour Event!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Kentucky Lake Stren Series Event

Whew!! I totally missed the boat on this one. I started the week's practice flipping flooded bushes and willow trees. You could catch a hundred fish per day doing this, but end up with your best five keepers weighing only 10 lbs. I knew I would need more weight than that to do well, so I ventured off-shore, in search of productive ledges.

In five hours of fishing ledges, I had a limit that weighed around 17 lbs. So I dedicated my whole last day of practice to finding more ledges.

On day one of the tournament, I went flipping to get a quick limit, which never materialized. At around 9:30 I started fishing ledges, and managed only two keepers by days end. I probably fished 30 -40 ledges in 6 hours, all of them places I had found in practice, places that were holding good quality sized fish. Needless to say I was not in the best of spirits knowing I had put myself in terrible position after day 1, I beleive I was in 147th place. Not where you want to be considering the Stren Series is a four tournament series where you accumulate points at each event (the higher you finish, the more points you get) to qualify for the Stren Series Championship.

Day 2 started much better, by 11:30 I had approximately 15 lbs of fish with four keepers, knowing one more good bite would put me in real good shape, it never happened. We experienced severe storms, high winds and a torrential downpour that when it ended, apparently shut down the fish in the area I was fishing. I never boated another keeper, however, I did end the day with 15.01 lbs of fish that moved me up to 89th place. Not great, by any measure, but definitely a huge improvement. Thank God for one good day to keep me from digging myself into too big of a hole in the points race.

With all of that being said, this experience is yet another chapter in my endless attempt to figure out the why's and how's of Kentucky Lake. And of course, a little more work in the character building area. Enough said, about Kentucky Lake...I need to start thinking about the Detroit River, that's stop number 2 for the series. Until then God Bless!