It all starts in the morning...

Sometimes you think about what's happening around you, sometimes life happens and you never even notice.  Tomorrow morning marks the the start of my fourth year of professional bass fishing.  I think back and sometimes it seems like a blur.  Without a doubt, it's been a blessing, that I know for sure.  I'm excited about what tomorrow holds, Lord willing I'll have a successful day of fishing.  Hopefully, I'll catch a heavy limit, not so I can brag or boast, but be given the opportunity to tell others of how the Lord provided.  Either way, good day or not, It all starts tomorrow, and I can't wait!

God Bless,
Duke

Lanier is looking tough...for me anyway

I've spent two days on Lake Lanier and I've struggled.  It took a day and a half to get my first keeper, but after I broke the ice, O was able to catch a few more and put together somewhat of a pattern, only Thursday will show for sure.  Lord willing we'll catch us a few good ones Thursday morning and get this tournament started off on the right foot.
God Bless,
Duke

Made into Lanier...

I've made it into Lake Lanier this evening, I'm looking forward to starting practice tomorrow.  Lord willing I'll be able to get something figured out.  Stay tuned.
God Bless,
Duke

One down...one to go!

The BFL tournament is over, and the best description I can give you is "To God be the Glory", I won!!  I know, can you believe it!  It was an incredible day to say the least.  I'm headed to Lake Lanier, GA in the morning, so I'll post the details about my win when I get home in two weeks.  Lord willing Lake Lanier will go well also.
God Bless,
Duke

Kentucky Lake BFL

I left home a little early on my trip to Lake Lanier for the first PAA Tour event to fish a BFL on Kentucky Lake.  I like to fish KY Lake this time of year, so I thought I'd get a warm-up to the PAA event by stopping off at KY and fishing a derby.  I practiced yesterday and today, and I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's tournament.  I don't know how tomorrow will go, but Lord willing it will be like today and yesterday, and I can have a pretty decent finish.  I've done my best to find them, now it's time to go fishin' and let the Lord handle the fine details.  Hopefully, I'll have good news to report tomorrow!
God Bless,
Duke

PAA Tour kicks off 2011 season at Lake Lanier

The PAA Tour starts it's 3rd season next week on Georigia's Lake Lanier.  By all accounts it should be a great tournament.  At least in the regard for how the fish should be biting.  For those not familiar with the PAA it's a professional level fishing tournament circuit composed of anglers who fish the FLW Tour and the Bassmaster Elite Series.  It's a great organization that provides a great opportunity for professional anglers to compete for good prize money and gain excellent media exposure.  All said, the 2011 PAA Tour looks like it is going to be a good year with a lot of good fishing.  Lord willing I'll be able to have a good year.  We'll have to wait and see how it works out.  Stay tuned, I believe it's going to be an exciting year!
God Bless,
Duke

Check out my site...

Just a reminder, if you haven't seen my new website...just click on http://www.dukejenkel.com/ and check it out.  You can follow my blog from the website.  Thanks for stopping by!
God Bless,
Duke

I've been surfin' around the web...

I got home from my last tournament and took a day off, sort of.  I spent the day working on office stuff, and did a little surfin' on the web.  Of course it was looking at fishing related stuff, tackle retailers, fishing news websites, and personal websites of anglers.  So, in no particular order is a run down of what I would call some of my favorite sites to check out...For those of you whom I may have missed, I apologize...

1. Bass Tackle Depot (http://www.basstackledepot.com/) They are an on-line retailer, they have everything!

2. Bass Factory (http://www.bassfactory.com/) Very educational site, covers news, views, and how-to's

3. Chad Morgenthaler (http://www.chadmorgenthaler.com/) Good friend of mine, I traveled with Chad for a couple years, he's got a very good site, with good fishing information on it.

4. Mark Rose (http://www.roseoutdoors.com/) Travel buddy and fellow PAA Pro, great guy, fantastic fisherman

5. Wired2Fish (http://www.wired2fish.com/) Terry Brown and crew do a great job of covering the daily happenings in the bass fishing world.

6. Tami Curtis (http://tamicurtis.blogspot.com/) West coast co-angler, always has a great insight into the west coast happennings.

7. Glenn Walker (http://www.fishglenn.com/) Glenn lives in MN, he's a good young angler who also has some great tips on his website.

8. Chris Ricci (http://www.chris-ricci.com/) another West coast stick, Chris also provides a great look into the west coast world of bass fishing.

9. Future Bass (http://www.futurebass.com/) I spend a fair amount of time on their message forum, mostly upper midwest anglers, but overall a good informative site.

10. Bass Fan (http://www.bassfan.com/) Another site that covers the news and views from the fishing industry.

Enjoy your surfin'!
God Bless,
Duke

Cold water and Ozark Lakes...tough combination for me

In typical fashion, last week's Everstart Series event on Lake of the Ozarks was a cold water tournament.  Unfortunately, my track record on Ozark lakes in cold water is not very good.  I usually end up around the middle of the pack if everything goes right.  I was able to find a couple of areas on the lake that were producing fish, but I really never was able to fine tune a definitive pattern.  I had been able to generate bites on a jerkbait, but never very many.  I also found that you could get bit on a small finesse jig, I used a 5/16th ounce Lunker Lure Body Lok round head finesse jig (available at http://lunkerlure.com/online-store ) in the peanut butter and jelly color.  Both of these baits caught fish for me, the biggest issue in my "middle of the pack" finish lies in my inability to properly identify what type of rocks the fish were relating to. 
Locating what type of rocks, and what geographical locations the fish are in (main lake, 3/4 of the way back in a cove, 1/2 way back in a cove, on secondary points, etc.) is imperative in being able to do well on Ozark style lakes.   I managed eleven pounds on the first day, good enough for 49th place, and could only add 4lbs and 5oz on day two, for a final finish of 67th place.  I'm going to have to pick up the pace if I'm going to make the Everstart Championship. 
All in all, I was very fortunate to have a decent first day and not get completly blown out in this event.
God Bless,
Duke

2011 Central Division of the Everstart Series kicks off next week

The first event of the Central division of the Everstart Series begins next on March 10th at Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks.   Today marked my first day of practice, so it's a little early to make any predictions about how this one will go.  Lord willing it will go all right.  I'll keep you posted on how practice is going.
God Bless,
D

Great documentary...

If you've ever wondered what takes place during the course of a year for a professional angler, Costa Del Mar has filmed a documentary on Bassmaster Elite Series and PAA Tour Pro Jason Quinn.  It's about 40 minutes long, but well worth watching.  I have to give kudos to Bass Pundit (http://www.basspundit.blogspot.com/ ) for posting this on his blog, it's too good not to share. Hope you enjoy.
God Bless,
D


"Bass Life" - The Film from Proof, Inc. on Vimeo.