Duke Jenkel

Heading to the Big Show...

2012-02-15T14:05:00.000-06:00

I'm getting a few ducks in a row for an upcoming trip to the Bassmaster Classic. No, I'm not fishing it, I'm headed down to work for fellow PAA fisherman and boat builder extraordinaire Gary Clouse and the Phoenix Boat company. The classic is a great show, all the new gadgets are there. All the latest stuff with all the bells and whistles right where you can put your hands on 'em. Pretty cool actually. If you ever get the chance to go, do it, it's worth the trip. I'll let you know how it goes.
God Bless,
Duke

High School Bass Fishing

2012-02-06T13:53:00.001-06:00

Yes, you read the title correctly, I said High School bass fishing. Some of you may have heard about it, some of you maybe haven't. The state of Illinois has sanctioned bass fishing as a sport, yes, I said sport. This will actually be the 4th year for the IHSA state bass fishing tournaments. For the record, I believe there were over 240 participating schools in last years events. How's that for a program that doesn't "cater" to the masses? Regardless, the number of participating schools has continued to grow each and every year which is encouraging. It only leads to getting more folks involved in the outdoors.
We held our first team meeting last week, a meet and greet with new students and their parents, as well as a chance to talk to our returning students. It looks like we are going to have a pretty good number of kids involved in the program this year. We've got a lot of underclassmen involved this year, which is great, it leads to longevity of the program, as well as a chance to teach and hone an angler's skill for several years.
If you happen to live in a state outside of Illinois, you too can still start a fishing club at your local high school, get involved and take a kid fishing!
God Bless,
Duke

Talking Fishing...

2012-01-30T09:43:00.000-06:00

I spent some time the other evening with the local 4H club, talking a little fishing. We discussed not only fishing in general, but professional fishing as well. How the whole tournament process works, how you prepare, that sort of stuff. We also talked about fun fishing, the lures and techniques that work very well when you just want to go out and catch a few fish. All in all it was a great time, with a lot of great questions. So I'd like to give a special thanks to the PC Panthers 4H club for allowing me to come and spend some time with them.
One last note, if your not familiar with the Anglers Legacy, take a minute an go to www.takemefishing.org look it over, see what you can do.
God Bless,
Duke

Here's a few pics from the other night....

Deep in thought...

Lots of youngsters, its never to early to introduce them to fishing

Where did the time go?

2012-01-23T13:21:00.001-06:00

I'll start with acknowledging that I'm a little behind in blogging, I recognize that and apologize to those who regularly visit. So how far behind you ask...about 60 days...for all practical purposes two months. A fairly significant amount of time in most people's lives, 16.6% of a year or 1/6th if fractions are your deal. Why all of the discussions about 60 days? It is the exact number of days a person in southern Illinois is allowed to duck hunt, for that matter it is the maximum number of days most states allow for their duck seasons. And you ask again why does this matter? In the last 60 days, I have spent 45 of them afield, doing what I love to do, guiding waterfowl hunters. Instead of the normal 60 days afield like most years, I experienced a duck season ending spill in the field on December 30th, tore my MCL (ligament in the knee) and strained my ACL (yep, also a knee ligament) and consequently took myself outta the duck hunting game. But, as I sit here and think about the last 60 days, what a pleasure it was to watch ducks, sometimes by the thousands swarm into our field of flooded corn, with no inhibition whatsoever. Sharing that sight with fellow duck hunters who may have never seen such a thing is what makes a day guiding feel more like recreation that a job. I'll add a side-note...at about the 40th straight 12-14 hour day, you sometimes forget that you're blessed to be afield for so many days, but by the end of season, but you start to remember how blessed you are when it's all coming to an end.
It's a little tough to think that so much can happen in 60 days, but I watched my oldest lab Callie, show me that age does matter, as she can longer get in and out of the pit on a daily basis, its looking like a hip or leg issue. She just turned eight years old on opening weekend, but at the end of last season she had eclipsed 2500 lifetime retrieves in the field, so I'm figuring the issue is related to high mileage. Since I wasn't able to hunt Callie, I took my young dog Harley to the field and was able to put quite a few birds on him, which really turned him on, and with another 10 months of training between now and next season, he should be ready to go .
All in all, despite a few set-backs there were some silver linings to the clouds, which makes me ready for next year. So, to all the duck hunters I got to share a day in the field with, "Here's to ya!" I hope to see ya next year, and if you didn't make it to the pit with me in 2011-2012, come back next season I believe it will be a great one!
God Bless,
D

And we're off...

2011-11-26T19:20:00.001-06:00

If the opening three days of duck season are any indication of how season is going to go, then it's gonna be a wild one! So far we have been covered up with ducks. Watching a bunch of mallards wad up and fall into your decoys never ceases to amaze me, or the times when you hit 'em with a good five note call and they turn on their side to get back to you, that's the stuff duck hunters dream about. So far it's been a dream come true. I know tougher days in the field are likely ahead of me, it's just nice to relish in the not-so-tough ones. If you like to duck hunt, come spend a day in the pit blind with me at Pike's Hunting Club, I promise it'll be a hoot. I'll keep ya posted on how the season is going.
God Bless,
Duke

Twas the night before...

2011-11-23T11:34:00.000-06:00

Nope, not Christmas, Duck season! That's right, my annual pilgrimage to the Waterfowl hunting club takes place in the morning. We put the final touches on the club yesterday and as of right now we have got a lot of ducks in the field. It looks like we're going to have one whale of an opening weekend. I'm sure I'll make the trip home a few times for sure, so check back to see how the season is going. You can also see how season is going by following me on Twitter @Duke_Jenkel or if you'd like swing by Pike's Hunting Club in Marion, IL and hunt a few ducks with me. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to be thankful for the many blessings we're given each day, that all too often we take for granted. Check back, and I should have a report on opening weekend of waterfowl season.
God Bless,
Duke

Second chance at some late season doves

2011-11-06T09:24:00.001-06:00

Southern Illinois' late season dove season came in yesterday. So this afternoon, I'm going to give them one more shot, thanks to the fact the cornfield next to my house has been harvested. Since then, the late migrating doves have flocked into the field pretty good. The only issue with late season hunting is the fact the doves won't take much hunting pressure, but hopefully we'll get a few before they move to the next harvested field to avoid hunting pressure. I'll let you know how we do.
God Bless,
Duke

Barren River Lake BFL Regional...Patterns and baits

2011-10-30T09:13:00.001-05:00

Here is a quick recap of the baits and pattern I used for the Barren River Lake BFL regional last week. I started the week of practice fishing shallow in the backs of the creeks, and had a pretty decent day doing that, a rough estimate on weight would have been around 12 lbs.
I started day two of practice looking for some deeper fish, as they were dropping the lake approx 6-8 inches per day (the winter drawdown had begun). I spent 6 or 7 hours fishing deep and managed only a few bites, no decent keepers, so with a few hours of daylight left I went shallow and caught 3 nice keepers on a trap.
Day 3 began still trying to force the deep bite, after a few hours of fishing and only two bites, I began to fish shallow again and immediately caught two keepers. It was at this point I ran into my travel partner and we discussed the shallow bite and agreed that everytime we went up shallow we caught better fish. We then decided to work together and we ran the upper half of the lake looking for specific areas that matched the type of areas we were catching them in shallow. In the next few hours we had approximately ten keeper bites between us, which only solidified our decision to stay shallow during the tournament.
I fished the entire tournament running flat shallow pockets on the main lake, upriver and in Skaggs creek. I abandoned fishing in the backs of the pockets, there was too much fishing pressure in these areas. You could run the lake and identify the areas by sight that matched the pattern I was running, which in turn allowed me to run and gun all day, never fishing anything twice, trying to cover as much water as possible each day. My day one weight was four fish for 8lbs 5oz, I lost a three pounder on a buzzbait that would've given me my limit. My co-angler had a limit weighing 13lbs 2 oz. I was in 30th, he was in 2nd.
Day two of the tournament switched from cloudy skies and wind to high blue skies, little to no wind. I believe that fishing pressure and weather conditions combined to change the fish I was catching. It seemed that the fish pulled up tighter to cover on day 2. I switched from topwater baits to a squarebill crankbait, a lipless crankbait and a tube to catch a limit weighing 9lbs 8oz, which moved me up eighteen places into 12th, the last man in the cut.
Day three started with a two hour fog delay, I was about two pounds out of 6th place (the top 6 anglers qualify for the All-American), so I knew I needed to have a decent day. I again caught my fish early on a squarebill and a tube, but late in the day I began to run shady pockets throwing my spook, with 25 minutes to go I caught a 2.75lb fish on my spook. I ended the day with 5lbs 13oz and moved up 7 spots to 5th place, qualifying for the BFL All-American next May on the Potomac River.
Despite the falling water levels this week, I caught all of my fish this week in water that was less than 3 feet deep, and often in less than a foot of water. I found the majority of my good fish, and I identified the pattern I ran by throwing a Zara Super Spook jr and a Lunker Lure buzzbait. When weather conditions changed I had to adjust, the topwater baits found them, on day two the squarebill caught them, but ultimately it was one last bight on the Spook that put me in the All-American. Below are some pictures of the rod/bait combos I threw this week.
I'd like to take the opportunity to praise my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for providing exactly what it took to to qualify, despite what seemed like not enough weight to make the All-American.

God Bless,
Duke

Powell 704CB rod - Super Spook jr on 30lb Power Pro Braid

Powell 705cex rod - 1/2 oz Lunker Lure Original Buzzbait on 20lb Fluorocarbon

Powell 703CB glass rod - 1/4oz Lucky Craft LVR mini on 10lb Maxima Monofilament

Powell 766 Flipping Stick - 3/16oz weight, Gamakatsu Heavy cover Flipping hook - 20lb Fluorocarbon

Powell 703CB Glass - Lucky Craft 1.5 - Maxima 15lb monofilament

My 2011 BFL Regional is in the books...

2011-10-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

It's done, it's over, and miraculously enough, I did well. At what? The Barren River Lake BFL Regional last week. I managed to finish in 5th place and qualify for the 2012 BFL All-American, and I'm absolutely stoked! I had a decent practice and an ok tournament. I never really whacked them any of the three days, but I just managed to stay somewhat consistent and on a tough fishery that'll do ya real well. I owe a thanks to my roommate Aaron McManaway, who I worked together with to figure out what these fish were doing. He also made the final day cut, but fell just two pounds short of making the All-American. It would have been pretty awesome if both of us would have made it! I'll post more info about the baits and patterns shortly, right now I'm a little tired and a nap sounds like a good idea.
God Bless,
Duke

BFL Regional is right around the corner

2011-10-09T08:23:00.000-05:00

Other than a few local events, my last out of town tournament will take place next week at Barren River Lake in Glasgow, KY. I spent two days there late last week, prior to the off-limits period, and it seems to be a pretty decent little lake. It's not a real big lake, you can travel from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes, but I think it will fish fairly big, I'm hoping anyway. Regardless, I feel like a couple of days there riding around and fishing a little have been a big help. I did manage to catch a few fish, even a couple nice ones, we'll see if I can expand on what I learned when I get there later this week, Lord willing I will be able to that. Here's a pic of one of the nicer ones I caught.
God Bless,
Duke

Five of these a day would be SWEET!!!

Can't shake the bait buying bug...

2011-09-29T19:52:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, I think I'm an addict. Yes, it's true, I'm sure I have an addiction. To what? You might ask, buying fishing tackle. I'm an absolute sucker for a good looking shallow crankbait or topwater plug. You throw the words "custom painted" or "handmade" into the description and it's as good as bought. I'm not sure if there is a 12 step program for this or not, if there is, I may have to go twice. lol, all kidding aside, I just picked up some sweet 3/8 oz Aruka Shad lipless crankbaits. I almost drooled when I saw them. I'm thinking they'll get put to use at my BFL regional, I hope anyway. For now, though, I am going to have to get off of the internet, I fell the urge to go to Bass Tackle Depot and look around. That's definitely not a good idea.
God Bless,
Duke

Shelbyville does it again...

2011-09-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

When it comes to writing about a tournament recap for Lake Shelbyville, I beleive I could just save one in Microsoft word and then keep re-using it every time I go there. Minus two good finishes, I hve had my brains beaten out on this waterhole too many times to count. I used to go there, have terrible practices, and even worse tournaments. But now, the lake has decided to start messing with me. By that I mean I have a good practice, establish what I believe is a decent pattern, you guessed it, in a performance that resembles Lucy jerking the ball out from in front of Charlie Brown when he goes to kick it, my pattern disappears and I struggle during the event to get enough bites to build another pattern on the fly. I'm going to have to remedy this, I think a fair portion of what takes place is in my head, I get a little too dialed in and try to force a two day old pattern that may have changed with existing conditions and I don't adjust with them. We'll get it fixed though. With that being said, all was not lost, I finished in 38th place and qualified for the regional. I ended the year in 20th place in the points, and only fished four of the five events in the division, so that's not too bad. Regardless of last Saturday's finish, I accomplished my goal of making the regional and now my focus turns towards Barren River Lake in Kentucky. From the looks of the lake, I'm looking forward to this one. Thanks for stopping by, I may get a chance to go the Barren River prior to the off-limits, if I do, I'll be sure to post a few pics. Also, if you're on Twitter, look me up @Duke_Jenkel follow along, if you'd like.
God Bless,
Duke

Got my last BFL in the crosshairs...

2011-09-14T18:59:00.000-05:00

Lord willing I'll be leaving for Shelbyville Lake in the morning. It's the site of the last Illini Division BFL. I'm pretty excited about hitting the lake, I have a fairly well chronicled love/hate relationship with this lake. I'll admit, it's mostly hate...well, a strong dislike anyway. I've got a couple of days to beat around the pond, so come Saturday afternoon, we'll know what I was able to muster up. Lord willing it'll be a good report. I believe the recent turn of the weather should have 'em biting. We will see, Check back Monday.
God Bless,
Duke

Neely Henry Baits and Patterns

2011-09-09T07:56:00.001-05:00

Neely henry is a lake that I'm beginning to really like. It just seems to be one of those bodies of water that you feel comfortable with, despite the fact that I have spent a grand total of eleven days fishing there. My last trip as you know was the final stop on the 2011 Bass Pro Shops PAA Tour. I was fortunate to make the final day cut, a blessing indeed. So let's dig in to the patterns and baits I used in route to a 17th place finish.

Practice:

I actually discovered the main pattern that I fished on the first day of practice at 5pm. I had been on the water since daylight and had concentrated on areas near the main river, mostly on wood and grass and had failed miserably in figuring anything out. What I initially thought was act of desperation turned out to be one of the best moves I could make all week. I was in a major creek arm and noticed a long stretch of rip-rap at the back-end of the creek. Out of frustration I ran to the back of the creek to make a pass down the rip-rap. I hadn't been to the backs of any of the creeks, and I hadn't fished any rocks as of yet, but when I arrived I realized how many bait fish had migrated to the back of this creek. In my intitial pass, I caught 3 keepers, two were what I would call "good ole big-uns" a 19"er and a 20"er. I truly believe the 20 inch fish was pushing 5lbs. With only an hour or so of daylight left I got out my map and looked for similar situations, found several and the first one I fished, within three casts I caught a nice 2.5lber. I immediately stopped and felt confident this was a pattern I could run all over the lake. Day two of practive I spent up the river above Gadsden, AL I managed a pretty decent limit, but no big fish, but I also was able to establish a pretty decent pattern for those fish upriver. Day three I spent back down lake looking for more stretches of rip-rap that had all the right ingredients. I found several more areas. I quit at noon to work on tackle and get ready for the tournament.

The Derby...
I started the tournament downriver towards the dam, by 10:30 I had cobbled together a pretty small limit. Fearing, I had made a bad decision, I ran 40 miles from where I was to the areas upriver where I had caught them on day two of practice. I managed to cull four or five times, but never had a quality bite. My day one total was 8.17
On day two of the tournament I ran back downstream in hopes of catching those bigger spots I had found. I decided that I would spend all of my time on the lower end, slowing down to see if I could locate and catch these fish. I knew I needed a pretty decent limit to make the cut, I felt like the lower end had the ptoential to produce bigger bites for me. Day two ended, I had a limit that went 10.09lbs, landing me as the last man in the cut...Halelujah!...Payday!
Day three was pretty uneventful. The fishing got tough, I managed another limit, and moved up two more places to finsish 17th. Overall it was a great tournament, I never did connect with any of the big fish I had found in practice. Undoubtedly, I was in the right areas to do well, I just never got a big bite. I'm thankful for what I did catch. Below are some pictures of the baits I used during the tournament. Until the next tournament,
God Bless,
Duke

I initially found the fish on the rip-rap with this Original Little John crankbait in Citrus Shad color.
I used a Powell 703cb glass rod and 10lb maxima monofilament with this bait.

This is a Lunker Lure Shakee Head in 1/8th ounce. I used a Zoom trick worm in Red Bug Color on 8lb Seaguar fluorocarbon and a Powell 733 mef spinning rod.

In the tournament, the fish seemed to shy away from my Lunker Lure Buzzbait, but it helped me locate several areas holding fish. This is a 3/8 oz white on white buzzer, I fished it on a Powell 704 cef rod with 20lb Maxima monofilament line

Twitter....Do ya Tweet?

2011-09-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

If you are a 'Tweeter" (is that a word?) or should I say if you use twitter, look me up, I just set up an account. I'm thinking it's a better way to be up to the minute, with your group of friends/followers. I believe it will be pretty neat. Who knows, maybe it won't, guess we'll find out. At any rate it seems worth trying, so if you're on Twitter, look for Duke_Jenkel and click on the follow button. It should be an interesting ride.
God Bless,
Duke

A switch of venues...just for a few days anyway

2011-08-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

I just loaded my truck and I am headed for Paducah, KY for the Kentucky early waterfowl season. A good friend of mine and Kentucky Lake fishing guide Dan Dolack invited me down to help guide some clients of his during the early waterfowl season. I'm pretty stoked. We'll hunt Honkers in the morning and evening, and squeeze in a dove hunt or two in the process, as well as doin' a little cooking on the Big Green Egg. What's not to be excited about. I still have some photos to upload from the Neely Henry PAA tournament, so check back, I'll have the patterns and baits report for ya soon.
God Bless,
D

Broken Hearts and shattered dreams revisited...

2011-08-28T10:16:00.000-05:00

Well, sort of...I got home a few days ago from Neely Henry Lake in Gadsden, AL, what nice lake, in a super nice area of Alabama. You may remeber I finished 2nd in the PAA tour event held there in 2009, and as I practiced for last week's event, I ran through a couple of areas where I caught them really well in '09. As I rounded the corner of one particular slough, I saw the sight in the picture below, there it was, the old dock, make that all that remained of the old dock that reached out and swiped $25,000 out of my pocket! How did that happen you say? On the final day of the '09 PAA Tour tournament, I hooked a 5 or 6lb bass near these dock posts and when I set the hook, I could do nothing with her, she ran on the backside of the posts and I could do nothing but hang on. As I worked the fish back around the posts, it wrapped around the very last post between her and the awiating dip net. Before I could get the fish loose, she twisted off of the hook, gone for ever. I got beat by 1lb in that tournament, had I caught that fish, I would have been able to cull a smaller one from my livewell and gain about four pounds of total weight. More than enough to win the event, and that is how the old dock posts whacked me for $25k. Ouch, that hurt. I will go on to say that, I truly was blessed to finish 2nd in that tourney and I truly have no complaints, it was neat to see where some of the areas where I fished in '09 and relive a good tournament finish.
God Bless,
Duke

There it is...the dirty rotten thief!!

Lunker Lure Freebies?

2011-08-28T08:53:00.002-05:00

Yes, Lunker Lure is giving away a prize pack valued at $25 to all of those who like their page and leave a comment about their favorite Lunker Lure Product. Got to www.facebook.com/lunkerlure like the page and leave a comment to qualify to win. It's that easy! Go ahead check it out.
God Bless,
Duke

A little face time with Pete...

2011-08-25T21:09:00.000-05:00

Pete Robbins is an outdoor writer...that is after he does his daily gig, which involves some sort of law degree/working in Washington/I really don't know the details, but sometihng like that. He's actually a darn good writer (he fishes too), which brings me to my point, Pete writes a blog, it's the Pete Weighs-In blog, and if he accomplishes nothing else, the blog snaps the ordinary reader out of their spoon fed "how to catch a biggun" coma that we often fall into while reading every available piece of bass fishing literature. He also has a pet project, it's the PWI patch, yup, the "Pete Weighs-in" Patch, for the angler who is sponsored by everyone, even Pete. Here's a link to a familiar face that just so happens to be part of the PWI Team...go ahead, take a look...Duking it out in Alabama Hope you enjoy, I say bookmark the site, it's well worth it.
God Bless,
Duke

Another shot at Neely Henry...

2011-08-19T17:25:00.000-05:00

I'm currently at Neely Henry lake in Alabama fishing the last event of the PAA tour. As you may know I finished 2nd here in 2009. Based on my practice I was hoping to have a decent event. Practice went ok, not great, not terrible. O managed a limit that weighed only 8.17 on day one, landing me in 32nd place. Today I caught a limit that weighed 10.09 and moved up 13 places to 19th place. Landing me as the last man in the cut. So tomorrow I'll go out with one more shot at Neely Henry and her famous Coosa Spotted bass. I was blessed to make the cut, Lord willing I'll move a little further up the leader board.
God Bless,
Duke

Lure comapnies and their social media

2011-08-09T07:35:00.001-05:00

Do you know of any lure companies actively blogging? How about Facebook or Twitter? I've found one doing all three...Lunker Lure You can see them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lunkerlure and their blog can be read at http://www.lunkerlure.com/ They definitely have been putting out some neat stuff. Check 'em out.
God Bless,
Duke

Rollin' on the River

2011-08-07T10:12:00.000-05:00

Well, the BFL at the Ohio river is over, and for all practical purposes it was a decent event for me. I finished tenth in the event with a limit that weighed 11lbs and 11oz. The weights for this event were tight, there were only 7 oz separating 5th place through 10th place, with ties at 5th, 7th and tenth places. A few more ounces could've really improved my finish, but I'm happy with tenth, blessed to have had a good finish. Regardless of the tournament, anytime you can finish in the top ten, you've done well.
As you know in my previous posts I had mentioned spending sometime on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, these rivers can be accessed from the marina we launched from by running down river and locking through to the next pool. It takes a lot of time from your fishing day to do this, but it seemed that this was the only place I could catch any quality fish. So on tournament day, I locked through to the next pool of the Ohio and ran to the Cumberland river, then up the Cumberland to nearly the Barkley Lake Dam. Counting the time it took to lock, it took an hour and 20 minutes to get to my starting spot, roughly a 51 mile run. I started fishing around 7:25 and left to comeback at 11:35, so I only got about 4 hours to fish, but it turned out well and I thank the Lord for a safe trip and a good limit of fish.

I did get to practice a couple of days in the pool we launched from and man were the fish biting. We caught approximately 20 keepers a day out on the main river, but managed only one fish better than 2lbs. So the decision to lock was a no-brainer. I've added a few pictures of my practice, hope you enjoy them. I'll post more information about my patterns and what I used to catch these fish. Here's a hint: If you're on a river system, especially one that has decent current flow, never forget about the Lunker Lure buzzbait, even in the hottest part of the summer, it will still catch them.
God Bless,
Duke

Here's a nice Cumberland River keeper on a SPRO Little John Crankbait

Here's a nice keeper largemouth on the Ohio river
that fell victim to a Lunker Lure buzzbait.

Gearing up for another tournament, headed to another river...

2011-07-19T09:06:00.001-05:00

It's the second river system I've been on this month, of course the last was the mighty Mississippi, this time it was the Tennessee. I'm getting ready for another tournament that takes place the first part of August, it launches upstream of the Tennessee river, on the Ohio. To get to the Tenn. river, I'll have to lock one time, not too bad, but locking always introduces the chance of not being able to return to weigh-in on time if the locks are busy with commercial boat traffic (barges to be exact). The commercial boats get priority over pleasure boats, so it can be gamble. I got to spend an entire day on the Tennessee a few days ago and it turned out to be ok, not great, not terrible, just ok. I managed to catch quite a few keepers, but couldn't really catch anything of any size. So my next scouting trip will be to the Cumberland river, you see, when you lock down one time from Golconda, IL (that's where the tournament is taking off from), you enter the pool of the Ohio where Paducah, KY is located, this too is the area where the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers dump into the Ohio. So as an angler you have a choice to run up either the Tennessee or the Cumberland, both can offer some excellent fishing. Normally I don't practice this far in advance of a tournament, but I haven't been on the Tennessee or Cumberland in several years, so I wanted to give myself an opportunity to get re-familiarized with the rivers, before I make a judgement about where I am going to fish on tournament day. The good thing is it is summer, and fish habits shouldn't change a whole lot between now and the tournament, so most of what I find in these early trips should remain as a viable option come tourney day.
Stay tuned, I'll continue to post how its going. I will say it's been fun just getting back to some of the waters I fished early in my career, Lord willing I'll get to experience some of the same great results.
God Bless,
Duke

All the latest gadgets and goodies...

2011-07-17T09:31:00.000-05:00

ICAST, it's the fishing worlds biggest new product showcase in existence. I've never been, want to, just haven't, but the good folks at Wired2Fish go every year, and they always deliver, in a big way. take a minute and check 'em out, then you can see what we all would like to have seen in person...ICAST, I definitely gotta get there one of these days.
God Bless,
Duke

Lunker Lure fires up it's blog

2011-07-11T07:14:00.000-05:00

Check out the blog at one of my sponsors http://www.lunkerlure.com/ . They have got their blog going, and from what I understand they will be providing tips, product reviews and some comments from their pro-staff, swing by and check it out.

God Bless,
Duke

The river was a little high and a little tough...

2011-07-11T07:12:00.000-05:00

The Ol' Mississippi river was a little tough on me. I only managed three keepers for yet another middle of the pack finish. Don't get me wrong, I'm not terribly upset with my finish, I can't expect much on only 6 hours practice, I still don't like getting beat though. Anyway, I managed to catch the few keepers I caught flipping wood cover in the back of some oxbows off of the main river. I also caught a few fish on a spinnerbait. On a good note, I'm up to 33rd in the points standings, after missing the first event of the season, so that's a good deal. I am going to have to kick it up a notch to ensure that I stay in the top 40 and qualify for the regional tournament. I do have a couple of neat things to share. Check back as I'll post them when I get the pictures ready.
God bless,
Duke

Re-group and Re-focus

2011-07-03T12:34:00.000-05:00

It's time to shake off the funk that Table Rock put on me and focus on the next event. Lord willing Friday I will be headed to Ft. Madison, IA for a FLW Outdoors BFL. This year the Illini division scheduled an event at Ft. Madison, on the Mississippi River. I'm looking forward to getting back on the river, I haven't fished there since August of 2009 when I competed in a Stren Series event. I was blessed to have finished well in that event, and am hoping my good relationship with the river continues. One issue that has me somewhat concerned is the high water levels. The areas around FT. Madison, and many areas up stream have been inundated with rain, large quantities of rain and it has the river up in a big way. Hopefully I'll be able to pulll a rabbit out of my hat and catch a few, or more accurately stated, Lord willing, I'll have a good finish and leave Ft. Madison in good shape in the points race. I'll keep ya posted on how it goes.
God Bless,
Duke

An old fashioned hind-end kickin'...

2011-06-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

That sums up my experience at the PAA Tour event on Table Rock lake. Apparently my timing was off, but truly, my best answer as to why is...I do not know. Practice was good, I had a solid gameplan, result: Terrible! I know I was doing the right things, by that I mean fishing a good solid pattern, I believe the area of the lake I stayed in just got over-pressured. When I called an audible (started running new water), I never connected with a good school of fish. How do I know I was on the right track, and that it was my timing? My good friend and sometimes travel partner Chad Morgenthaler made the day three cut doing exactly what I did for the first two days, he just fished a different area of the lake. Live and learn I guess. I'm going to have to get a lot smarter in a hurry!
God Bless,
Duke

I'm here...

2011-06-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

Made it into Table Rock last night, got up this morning and had a flat tire. That's a great way to start practice. So I'm sitting at the local Walmart getting my tire fixed. Who needs an early morning bite anyway? Lol. Stay tuned, I'll eventually get out on the lake

PAA Tour Heads to Table Rock Lake

2011-06-15T21:01:00.001-05:00

The second stop of the PAA Tour will take place next week at Table Rock Lake. Currently the lake is eleven feet high (roughly). Which, should make for a good shallow bite (I'm stoked about that). If it doesn't, I'll be sure to check out a few deep places to keep em honest. I'll be picking up a little care package of baits from my friends at Lunker Lure (http://www.lunkerlure.com/) on Friday. I'll shoot some pics and try to load them prior to leaving. Good Lluck and Good Fishing.
God Bless,
Duke

Passing it on...

2011-06-11T18:25:00.000-05:00

I remember as a young boy, digging worms around the barn, putting them in an old coffee can with some dirt, all in an effort to go fishing. Well, I dug a few worms the other day, not for me but for my four year old nephew, he went on his first fishing trip with me. And wouldn't you know it...

He caught his first fish. So maybe he's not ready for the FLW Tour just yet, but it's a start. I think we actually waded and threw rocks in the water more than we fished, but the end result was a fun couple of hours in the afternoon. Fulfill your angler's legacy, I've got one so far for 2011.
God Bless,
Duke

Angler's Legacy...Have you heard of it?

2011-06-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of Angler's Legacy, and you enjoy fishing, then you need to follow the link below. Angler's Legacy is a great organization with an even better goal. So take a minute, click on the link and by all means, take the pledge. You'll see what I mean.
God Bless,
Duke

http://www.takemefishing.org/community/anglers-legacy/home

Busy weekend...

2011-05-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

I covered a few miles this weekend, on Saturday I fished a small tournament at Lake of Egypt with a good friend of mine. Ryan Wachter. We had a pretty good day, we managed to catch a limit that weighed 15.75lbs. That ended up being good enough for second place. Not too bad, considering neither one of us had any practice prior to the event. Early in the morning, we were fortunate enough to figure out a few things about how the fish were located and how they were positioned in these locations. This allowed us to move around a good bit and expand on what we had found. All in all I think we boated 10 or twelve keepers throughout the day, most on a Spro Bronzeye frog, which is definitely a lot of fun.

After the Lake of Egypt tournament, I hopped in my truck and drove to Paris, TN to fish another derby with my good friend Mike Walker from Phoenix Boats. I had not been on Kentucky Lake in about two months and Mike had spent one day prior to the tournament looking around. At take-off we decided to spend a few hours shallow flipping flooded bushes. Mike had caught several good fish the day he spent on the lake, so we thought a quick limit flipping would be the way to start. Then we would move out onto the secondary ledges and try to find a school of fish that might give up a big one for us. There's a saying that goes something like this: "The best laid plans go to waste" that may not be a word for word quote, but you get the idea. That describes our day perfectly. We did manage to catch a limit flipping, but bites of any size (big fish) were non-existent, ay least for us. We caught no less than three limits, but size was an issue. We ended the day with a limit of 13.46 lbs. It took a 21 lbs and change to win the event and I believe 13 something got a check, I don't think we did (Mike needed to get home so we left right after weigh-in). I'm not 100% sure on the check weight, but I do think we just missed one. Either way, it was a good day on the water, we caught an increduble number of fish. That in itself is a blessing.

God Bless,
Duke

Shot a new video...

2011-05-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

I recently shot a new video for Bass Factory (http://www.bassfactory.com/), I believe it turned out pretty well. Te video can be viewed at my website http://www.dukejenkel.com/ or at Bass Factory (http://www.bassfactory.com/) it's posted on their home page. Check it out, let me know what you think.
God Bless,
Duke

Home for a while...

2011-05-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

I've got a few weeks off, actually about six weeks. I'm not sure what thats going to be like, but I'm ready. My next event is the PAA Tour event at Tale Rock Lake in mid-June, so other than jackpotting a few local derbies, I'm gonna kick back, relax do some fun fishing and do my best to light up my Big Green Egg on a daily basis. I'm sure I'll have a post or two about what I'm up to, I'm sure there are going to be some food pictures involved, so check back often.
God Bless,
Duke

A few pictures from the road...

2011-04-26T10:55:00.000-05:00

I've been fortunate enough to have some good friends around during the last few events who took the time to snap a few photos during weigh-in or while I've been on the water...Here are a few of 'em...I hope you enjoy them.
God Bless,
Duke

BFL Win on Kentucky Lake March 26th

Day Two Take-Off Lake Lanier PAA Tour

Day Two Weigh-in Lake Lanier PAA Tour

Day One PAA All-Star Event...Hooked Up with a Big One!

Day One PAA All-Star Event ...The fight is on!

Got Her!

In the boat! What a way to start day one!

Day Two PAA All-Star Event..Pluggin' Away

PAA All-Star Event Day Two Weigh-In

Talkting to Lurch during the Day Two Weigh-in

Don't cry over spilled milk!

2011-04-23T08:28:00.000-05:00

The title phrase may say it all. I had some excellent opportunities on day one to have a pretty big bag of fish. I just failed to get them in the boat. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I made some bad decisions, or made some major mistakes, I had some things happen that I hadn't experienced in quite a while. On day one I had several big fish pull off of my crankbait after I had them hooked and out in open water. No clue why this happened. Brand new needle sharp hooks, I wasn't putting a lot of pressure on them, and just like that, gone! In another instance of odd happenings, I hooked a pretty large fish on a senko, as the fish headed out to deep water I was unable to get her turned towards the boat, and again in open water around no obstructions, my line breaks. That was pretty much how day one went, unfortunately I ended the day with three fish for 9.51 pounds, well short of what I should of had. Day two was a total reversal, I had a limit by 7:35 am, and culled at 7:40. I ended the day with a five fish limit weighing 11.18 lbs. Not a real good weight, but had I executed better on day one, an 11lb limit would have given me enough weight to get paid, and be real close to making the cut. Regardless, I feel blessed to have made the adjustments on day two to boat a limit. The next event will be the PAA Tour on Table Rock Lake in Missouri, that should be a good one.
God Bless,
Duke

PAA All-Star Event on Lake Ray Hubbard

2011-04-20T14:32:00.000-05:00

The first day of the PAA All-Star tournament starts tomorrow morning. Practice has been ok, not great, not terrible. I'm on absolutely no pattern at all. I've figured out a few things, but am lacking a few key ingredients to completely get dialed in on what these fish are doing. This lake has quite a few big fish in it, so I won't be surprised to see a 25 pound bag. I will be surprised if it is me though! Hopefully the wind will lay down a little bit the next three days, it has been brutally windy, gusting up to 40mph on Monday. In turn, that has made getting around the lake a little bit difficult. But, I'm excited to be here, and look forward to a good day on the water tomorrow. Lord willing, I'll whack a big bag full of 'em and start this tournament off on the right foot.
God Bless,
Duke

PAA All-Star Event

2011-04-17T13:40:00.002-05:00

Rolled into Garland, TX last night. Practice for the PAA All-Star event starts in the morning. Lord willing we'll figure 'em out! I'll keep you posted.
God Bless,
Duke

Got to hang out with some friends...

2011-04-10T13:47:00.002-05:00

One of the neatest things about fishing professionally is the great people you get to meet, I have to say that probably tops the list. So last week at the PAA event at Lake Lanier I got to run into a couple of my good friends Shinichi Fukae and his wife Miyu. Shin and Miyu are two fantastic folks, Shin thinks I'm crazy...well, he might be on to something, personally I think it's a close race between us as to which one is the craziest. lol. All said, it's been a pleasure to get to know both of them, as well as getting to learn a little bit of the Japanese language. Here's a pictue of Shin and I at the final day weigh-in, we had to take the picture twice, Miyu didn't approve of the first one. Like I said, I think Shin might be the crazy one!
God Bless,
Duke

New video from Lanier PAA posted on my website...

2011-04-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

Swing over to my website http://www.dukejenkel.com/ and click on the video tab. Check it out!

Narrowly avoided the crash and burn...

2011-04-04T06:46:00.001-05:00

The PAA event at Lake Lanier last week definitely falls into the category of a "learning experience". In other words that usually means you figured something out, but a little too late to do you any good. Case in point, I managed to have one decent day of practice throwing a jerkbait and a shakey head on the lower end of the lake. I caught just enough fish to make me think I could expand on it the first day of the tournament and probably have a good bag of fish. That didn't happen, I caught one keeper and had one other fish that felt pretty good pull off and that was it for the entire first day. Terrible! Too add insult to injury, most of the anglers fishing the upper end of the lake, the area up river with flooded bushes and trees, caught a bunch of fish, fishing the very way I like to fish. Shallow dirty water with a flipping stick. So on day two I headed up river with my flipping stick, chatterbait and a square-billed crankbait in hand. I avoided the main river, as most of the top competitors were fishing up there and I didn't want to intrude on their areas. When it was all said and done, I had caught a limit of fish that weighed a little over 11 lbs. That is where the term "learning experience" comes in.
I tried to force the jerkbait bite into working for me, and it didn't. I did not practice up river at all (2nd mistake), had I, it is quite possible I would have fished up there on day one and had a lot better finish. The lesson I learned? You can not work too hard, you can't look at too much stuff during practice, and you can not make fish do what you want. An angler needs to fish to their strengths, and never completely ignore that. You have to keep an open mind and not over complicate things.
With all of that said, I was very blessed to have caught an 11lb limit on day two, it saved my year in terms of the points race and for that I am very thankful. I'll be posting some pictures and video from the event here and on my website, so stay tuned.
God Bless,
Duke

It all starts in the morning...

2011-03-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

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

2011-03-29T21:45:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-03-27T20:40:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-03-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

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

2011-03-25T20:16:00.000-05:00

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

2011-03-22T09:15:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-03-21T16:08:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-03-15T10:13:00.002-05:00

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

2011-03-13T09:32:00.000-05:00

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

2011-03-04T19:53:00.000-06:00

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...

2011-03-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

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.

Home from Percy Priest

2011-02-28T08:25:00.000-06:00

I made it home from Percy Priest, fishing was pretty tough, but it was definitely a good event to get the season started. I fished a small two-man team tournament with good friend and Phoenix Boats sales representative Mike Walker. The event had around 70 boats, we finished just outside the money. That's ok, my goal before I left home was to fish an event, get a little more jerkbait fishing under my belt and also a little more physical conditioning. Mission accompliahed. My first pro-am event of the season starts next week, so getting a tournament under my belt prior to that event was a good thing. It helps to get your mind working like you want it to, thinking about the fish, trying to establish a pattern and so on. Just competing in a tournament will help you get prepared for the tournament season. Like I said, we missed cutting a check by a small margin, but it was a good day on the water. The Lake of the Ozarks Everstart event is next week, Lord willing I'm leaving on Friday to start practice. So check back often for updates.
God Bless,
Duke

We're on our way to

2011-02-26T04:30:00.001-06:00

We're on our way to the lake. Practice has been tough, cold water always beats me up. I'll post our results later.
God bless,
D

I'm headed to Percy Priest

2011-02-24T07:51:00.001-06:00

I'm headed to Percy Priest reservoir in Nashville, TN for the first tournament of the year. I'm ready to get the season started.

A Little Surprise from Lobina Lures

2011-02-23T10:15:00.000-06:00

I got a package in the mail several weeks ago that I'm pretty excited about, the package came from a company named Lobina Lures. If you're not familiar with this comany, chances are you've heard of at least one of their baits if not several. Lobina Lures is the manufacturer of the Rico, it was designed by Rick Clunn and Norio Tanabe and is undubtedly one of the best topwater lures available on the market today.
The package I received had not only the Rico and the Rio Rico, but another bait from the Rico family, the Rico Suave. I've posted some pitcures of the baits below, you can see more of their products at http://www.lobinalures.com/ Recently several new colors for the Rico and Rio Rico have been developed, one of those is Pictured below, it is the Rico in "Ricci's Recipe". You can also read more about this color at http://www.chris-ricci.com/
With the weather warming, It won't be long before some serious topwater action will be taking place.
God bless,
Duke

This is the Rico, the color is Ricci's Recipe, although the picture doesn't show it well, this bait is very translucent (clear), an excellent choice for clear water.

This is the Rio Rico (7/16 oz), larger in size than the Rico(1/4 oz) this color is Holographic Shad.

This is the Rico Suave (4 1/2" long and weighs 1/2 oz) in Bone Color, this is a gliding/walking type topwater bait.

The Lobina Lures Topwater Family.

Checkout the Web!!

2011-02-18T10:39:00.000-06:00

Some of you may know, if you dont, read on: http://www.dukejenkel.com/ is up and running. So, if you follow my blog, and I'm glad you do, book mark the web address above, my blog is now attached to that site. Take a few minutes to check out the site, and let me know what you think. I've got a few minor additions, but other than that, the site is fully functional. My thanks to Rick Byrnes for helping create my new site.
God Bless,
Duke

Bass Tackle Depot and Bass Factory come on board!

2011-02-09T17:42:00.001-06:00

I talked about some exciting news in the sponsor department, and here it is...I have joined efforts with Bass Tackle Depot (http://www.basstackledepot.com/) and Bass Factory (http://www.bassfactory.com/) for the 2011 season. I'm pretty excited, about both opportunities. I'll be writing in the blog section of Bass Factory while I'm out on the road, basically blogging about how my practices are going for a particular event and then again after the event has finished. As well as providing some video content for the How-To section of the Bass Factory Website and Product videos for Bass Tackle Depot. Stay tuned, it's going to warm up one of these days, and we can quit talking about fishing, and start doing it!
God Bless,
Duke

I survived!

2011-02-01T08:27:00.000-06:00

The title is a little misleading, but as I sit at my computer this morning, I think back on the previous sixty-eight days of waterfowl season, and realize it wasn't a fight for survival (although by 35th day in a row you start thinking it might be), but more like an incredible blessing just to get to spend that much time doing what you love to do. Canada goose season ended yesterday, so it's time to switch gears, get out the fishing stuff and get busy preparing for the first tournament of the year. It's a mere four weeks away.
Check back frequently this week, I've got some great news on the sponsor front that I've been dying to talk about, and now that I'm home for a while, I'll give you the full scoop.
God Bless,
Duke

Its the last day of

2011-01-31T05:30:00.001-06:00

Its the last day of season...for a waterfowl guide its the most anticipated / dreaded day of the year.

5 days and counting...

2011-01-26T21:53:00.000-06:00

Out of the 68 days that comprised the 2010-2011 waterfowl season, only five days remain, and I've got to tell ya, I'm one tired dude. When duck season ended on January 23rd, we had 8 more days of goose season, three are down, five to go. Goose hunting is a little more relaxed that duck hunting, more of a gentlemens sport. Geese wait til a little later in the day to start flying (translated: you don't have to be up hours before dawn preparing for the day's hunt). On our club, we hunt geese on dry land in grain fields (translated: No more waders, no more breaking ice in the pre-dawn darkness, no more numb hands!!), this affords a hunter to wear his favorite insulated hunting bibs to the field and leave the waders on the wader rack. FYI, my Drake Waterfowl insulated bibs are like wearing your favorite sweat pants when compared to my 5-mil waders. So with 63 days of hunting in the books (I've been in the field for 61 of those), I'm ready for some R and R. I hope your last 63 days have been as great as mine have, so if you call me Tuesday morning at 8am and I don't answer, call back around ten, I might be up by then. lol.
God Bless,
D

Home at last...but only for a minute

2011-01-19T04:35:00.000-06:00

I made it home again, but only briefly. I didn't have any hunters today, so I made a mad dash home to take care of a couple things that needed some attention. I can say, that the ducks have come back to Southern Illinois in a fine fashion. Or at least they have returned to our field. Monday and Tuesday's hunts were some of the best duck hunting we have had in a week, I think we just might end the season with a few good days of hunting. There's a fairly big snow predicted for Thursday (Jan 20th), if that doesn't push the ducks back south, then we should have a good end to the season. Hopefully they'll hang around, it would be nice to end the season on a good note. That's it for now, hunting season is drawing to a close, and the fishing season is just around the corner.
God Bless,
D

My how things have changed...

2011-01-01T19:03:00.001-06:00

My last post talked about how waterfowl hunting had been pretty tough. Since then, the time of my last post, things have changed considerably. The Canada goose hunting had been pretty good. In the last ten days, we have had several days of migrating geese, which increased the number of birds on the refuge by our club, which in turn has allowed for some very good goose hunting. The last few days we have experienced a pretty significant warming trend, and this has brought the ducks back in a major way. Today we had an excellent day in the field, with huge numbers of ducks coming into the field.. It was a welcome sight to say the least.

Well, It started with a bang...

2010-12-18T17:55:00.000-06:00

Duck season is 23 days old, and I have to say that it couldn't have started any better. We absolutely were covered up with ducks for the first week. Since that time we have went through a series of ups and downs, with several really good days, either followed or preceded by some really tough days of hunting. In the last ten days, we have experienced some of the coldest weather in December that I can remember in a long time. Daily temps (highs and lows) are running ten to fifteen degrees below normal. When it gets terribly cold, water sources begin to freeze, and when that happens the ducks will not fly very well. When the cold weather lingers for very long, the ducks will migrate to warmer climates. We are currently dealing with that very situation. Lord willing, it will turn around, but until some new birds migrate, or it warms up, I believe we are in for some tough days in the field.
God Bless,
Duke

Duck season is under way...

2010-11-30T08:27:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving day marked the start of 2010-2011 waterfowl season. So far it has been a good one. We got some much needed rain (3.5" in one day). It made for some wet conditions, but the ducks sure didn't mind. I guess that's where the old saying "Good weather for a duck" came from. I don't have any pay hunters today, so I'm going to take Harley my young dog on his first duck hunting trip this afternoon. This should be interesting. Hopefully y'all had a good Thanksgiving.
God Bless,
Duke

Twas the night before...

2010-11-24T07:27:00.000-06:00

Ha! I bet you thought I was going to say Christmas didn't ya? Nope, Duck Season, that's what I'm talking about. Tonight marks the night before the opening day of duck season. For waterfowlers, there is no difference between these two nights (as far as anticipation goes), tonight it is our "night before Christmas". With that said, tomorrow's weather forecast shows the signs of weather that is only fit for a duck. Rainy, windy, cold, I'm getting goose bumps thinking about it. Tomorrow marks the first day of a 60 day adventure called Duck Season. Some would call it battle of wills, others a testament to a person's insanity. Me? I call it the best, most wonderful time of the year!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, take a minute and give thanks tomorrow.
God Bless,
Duke

I got together with Bass Tackle Depot and we shot some video...

2010-11-13T19:05:00.001-06:00

I shot a video with Bass Tackle Depot (http://www.basstackledepot.com/) promoting Powell Rods (http://www.basstackledepot.com/powell-rods.aspx) . I had a blast, it was a little windy, but otherwise it was a gorgeous day for mid November. Check out the video below.
God Bless,
Duke

I got some great news...

2010-11-12T07:22:00.000-06:00

I recently got the privilege to join the Powell Rods Pro-Staff, and am I ever excited. Powell Rods is a west coast based company, that makes not only some of the best rods on the market, they make them at a very affordable price point. Personally, I think they are one of the best values in the fishing rod market today.
For the last month I have put some serious time on the water with my new fleet of rods, and I have no complaints. I'm usually pretty candid about products I use and their capabilities, regardless of my relationship with the company. I have to admit, these rods exceeded my expectations, they are an extremely sweet rod, regardless of cost. With only a month of use under my belt and hunting season around the corner, I guess I'll have to wait until spring to put some serious time on them. But that's ok, I know they'll be ready when we go! I'll leave you with a picture of the "new crew", they are nice!
God Bless,

Duke

It's getting closer...

2010-11-08T08:03:00.000-06:00

With only two and a half weeks until the start of waterfowl season, I still have a few last minute items to take care of. I'm headed to the local home improvement store to pick up some flat gray paint to touch up my Green Head Gear Full body Mallard decoys. After two seasons of use, some of the gray on the Mallard drake decoys has taken some abuse, so a little touch up painting is in order. Other than that, I just picked up a new complete set of Drake waterfowl gear, including waterproof insulated bibs, a windproof fleece jacket (new in the Drake lineup this year), a waterproof quarter zip pull over, fleece cap and neck gaiter. All items are on the Realtree Max-4 pattern. I'm pretty stoked about the new gear, I can't wait to use it.
We atarted pumping water into our field Saturday, it's been so dry in Southern Illinois that we will lose a lot of water to absorption, but we should have enough water to get the job done. Which is good, as a few ducks have already begun to migrate. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
God Bless,
Duke

What do you do with over a month of downtime?

2010-10-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a fishing tournament since the first week of October, I think I now understand the term "Stir Crazy", that, or I'm going through the DTs, haha. I have been fun fishing several times, and that was a hoot, no pressure, just plain old catch em if you can, if you don't, no big deal.
I have spent a few days getting ready for duck season. The pit blinds are ready, firewood is split, the only remaining item is to put the pump in and add some water to our field. Duck season doesn't start until Thanksgiving day, so that still leaves a month of what to do? There is a buddy tournament at Kinkaid lake on November 7th, its an Anglers Choice event. I think for lack of a better thing to do, I'll go fish this one.
Other than that, I'll spend the next month working my Labrador retrievers, Calli my oldest dog is seasoned veteran, Harley, my youngest dog (just over a year old) has been getting some training every day, he's at a pretty critical stage in the learning curve (he's learning hand signals right now) so I'm sure I'll be busy with him. Other than that, not much going on here!
God Bless,
D

The season is over...

2010-10-18T08:20:00.000-05:00

Last week's PAA event marked the last tournament on my schedule. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, so minus a buddy tournament or two, the 2010 fishing season is over for me. That's a bummer! I'll spend the next few weeks storing tackle, checking inventories of baits, and trying to decide what direction to go next year. I have a couple of leads on potential sponsors, they're slim chances though. This is the area of fishing that I have had the most difficulty in getting going. I have been able to acquire several tackle sponsors, Lunker Lure and Hawg Caller Baits, my newest sponsor Powell Rods (www.powellco.com) , even with over 22 million media impressions in the last two years, it has been difficult to acquire any paying sponsors. So, It looks like, Lord willing, I'll start 2011 with enough revenue to get the year started and see if anything materializes. I'll just have to let the Lord guide the business, and do my part with preparatory work. On a bright note, duck season is about 5 weeks away, and it looks like we are in position to have a fantastic season. I'll post more about that later.
God Bless,
Duke

BFL Regional is finished

2010-10-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

I just competed in a BFL Regional event at Lake Barkley in Eddyville, KY. To tsay the least this was not a very good event for me. I was able to locate a couple of areas holding quality fish, but never capitalized on the bites that I got. My day one co-angler did however manage to catch all of teh fish that bit for him, as he finished day one in 2nd place. On day two of the event, I managed to catch several nice fish, but it was not enough to pu tme in the check line, or advance me to the BFL All-American. My day one co-angler made the cut in the strength of his day one catch, and managed only one keeper on day three, but it was enough to give him a berth into the All-American. Congrats Louie!!
For me, it looks like the season is over, I have opted not to compete in the last PAA Tournament at Table Rock Lake, or the American Fishing Series Invitational on Lake Wheeler. Hopefully, I can get a few things going in the sponsor world and be able to fish again next year.
God Bless,
Duke

BFL Regional on Lake Barkley

2010-10-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

3 full days of practice are complete and two have been good, and one has been brutal. I'm looking at a pretty long run to get to where I am fishing, Lord willing the wind won't blow too bad. I'm going to spend a half-day on the water tomorrow, closer to take-off to see if I can locate a back-up plan if the weather is rough. Lord willing I'll be able to get to where I'm wanting to fish, and have a successful day. I may not have any internet service during the tournament, I'm switching from the hotel where I'm at, to a friemds house. so I may not be able to update until after the tournament. Stay tuned!
God Bless,
Duke

The BFL Super Tournament is over...

2010-09-27T22:37:00.000-05:00

The Illini Division super tournament is over. I finished somewhere in the mid-forties. I could give you a laundry list of reasons, but all boils down to this: if you don't figure out what the fish are doing, it makes it very difficult to be successful. I had practiced a day and a half for this event, and actually thought I had an idea of how to catch a few. I thought I could catch 8-9 lbs if everything went right. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The river rose an additional 6-12 inches overnight, which I believe repositioned the fish I was targeting. Regardless, I finished the event with three fish for 3lbs - 15oz. I did however finish the year in 17th place overall, which qualifies me to fish in the BFL regional on Barkley Lake next week. I'm looking forward to this tournament. I like Barkley Lake, it should be a good event. I'll keep you posted on my practice.
God Bless,
Duke

Final event for the 2010 Ilini Division set to take place this Saturday

2010-09-21T07:57:00.000-05:00

The last stop of the 2010 Illini Division BFL is scheduled to take place this Saturday and Sunday at Golconda, IL on the Ohio River. The final tournament is titled the "Super Tournament", it is the only regular season two-day event on the schedule. 20% of the field will advance to the second day. Lord willing I'll be one of those. I'm hoping to head to the river on Thursday. That will give me a couple of days to figure out what the fish are doing. Stay tuned, I'll post the results.
God Bless,
Duke

A few pictures from the PAA Event at Lake Tawakoni

2010-09-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

Standing for the National Anthem on the final morning

Just about to weigh-in on Day 3

Some more video from the PAA Event at Lake Tawakoni

2010-09-13T22:35:00.000-05:00

Day one:
http://www.anglerschannel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=radio.home&filename=2010-09-09-05-paa.wmv

Day three weigh-in:
http://www.anglerschannel.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=radio.home&filename=2010-09-11-06-paa.wmv

Some Video from the Final Day Weigh-In

2010-09-13T22:20:00.000-05:00

Here's some video from the final day weigh-in taken by my friend Chad Morgenthaler's wife Debbie.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/3d1b24b3b956d42c6c994910ecb2aa6b/video/18330941

Check back, I'll have some more video links posted form Angler's Channel.
God Bless,
Duke

PAA Tour: Lake Tawakoni...finally, a good tournament!

2010-09-13T22:07:00.000-05:00

I just finished the third stop of the PAA Tour at Lake Tawakoni, near Garland, TX. I finished the event in 23rd place, Yahoo!! Finally a finish in the money. The troubling issue is 23rd is not indicative of how well I had figured out the fish, it's more of an indicator of how well I could have done. I had a lot of trouble landing the fish that bit my lure on the las two days. I had about a 25% landing rate, in other words, for every four bites I got, I only landed one, that's just downroght terrible! The lost fish were due to the vegetation I was fishing, it was a very thick, tightly woven vine, I believe it's name is aquatic smartweed, it's very similar to the plant called Gator Vine found in Florida lakes, regardless, it's tough to land fish in this type of vegetation. Boy, did I learn that the hard way. With all of that said, I'm still excited about the finish, I was very blessed to put a good limit of fish together on day one, which helped propel me in to the final day cut. All in all, it was a great tournament!
Next up is a BFL tournament at the Ohio River in Golconda, IL on September 25th. Lord willing I'll be able to piece together another strong finish.
God Bless,
D

On my way home from

2010-09-12T06:21:00.001-05:00

On my way home from Texas. I finished 23rd. I'll post more when I get home. God Bless, Duke

PAA Tour visits Lake Tawakani on its third stop of the season

2010-09-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Lake Tawakani PAA Tour event will take place next week in Norhteast Texas. It looks like the lake is primarily considered a shallow water fishery which I hope will fit my strengths. Lord willing it will be a good tournament for me, I need to get in a better position in the angler of the year race. I don't know if I'll have access to the web, while in Texas, I'm staying at a private residence. So, check back next week I'll update as soon as possible.
God Bless,
D

Oh So Close Again....

2010-08-30T20:39:00.001-05:00

You might have saw the post I made about the 5th Annual Chad Morgenthaler Special Olympics Benefit Tournament, well, it took place last Saturday and I finished 2nd. It took 18.32 I believe to win, and I had 17.12 so it was another good bag of fish, just not good enough. But, I feel very blessed to generate a little revenue to keep me going. From that standpoint, the tournament was a success.
On a side note, I believe I overheard someone say that in five years, this event has generated over a hundred and thirty thousand dollars for the Illinois Special Olympics.
Lord willing I'll leave Saturday morning for Lake Tawakani near Dallas, TX for the third PAA Tour event.
God Bless,
Duke

Fifth Annual Chad Morgenthaler Special Olympics Tournament Aug. 28th

2010-08-24T06:50:00.000-05:00

The fifth Annual Chad Morgenthaler Special Olympics tournament is scheduled to take place on August 28th, this coming Saturday to be exact. It is always a great event. If you live in the Southern Illinois area, come out and compete. There is a pre-tournament meeting on Friday evening that includes an auction and a dinner, as well a lot of door prizes. Registration runs from 3pm-5:30pm with the meeting starting at 6pm.
If oyu can't make the tournament, don't miss the weigh-in, which will take place at 3pm at the Sailboat Harbor in Wayne Fitzgerald State Park.

PAA event at Lake Norman is over!

2010-08-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

Well, the second stop of the PAA Tour is over, and I bombed in this one. I finished in the low 70's, not where I wanted to be, but it's where I was. I ran into a little difficulty on the way to Norman, about 6:30 a.m. on the way there, I sheared four lug bolts on the wheel of my trailer and was stuck at mile marker 89 on interstate 24. I managed to get to Lake Norman and only missed one day of practice. In the little bit of practice that I did get, I never figured anything out. Well, not anything of any substance. So it's oof to Lake Tawakani in Garland, Texas for the third tournament of the series, Lord willing I'll get thigns figured out down there. I'd like to give a special thanks to Mike Walker of Phoenix Boats for helping me get my rig back into operating condition. Mike was able to contact a local boat dealer, Mid-South Boat Sales and get my boat in for repairs early Monday morning. So thanks to the crew at Mid-South and thanks Mike.
God Bless,
Duke

PAA Tour gears up for second event of 2010

2010-08-05T08:01:00.000-05:00

The PAA Tour will hold its second event of the 2010 season next week at Lake Norman, near Charlotte, NC
I started the season off with a middle of the pack finish (56th place) at Lake Cherokee, so I need pick it up a little bit at Lake Norman. There would be no shame in a top ten finish! lol. Seriously though, my intentions are to try and figure out what the fish are doing, fish hard, give the glory to God and let him take care of the fine details. I'm sure it will work out like it is supposed to, hopefully like I'd like it to. I'll keep you posted on how its going.
God Bless,
D

Illinois Bass Federation Open Trail at Rend Lake

2010-07-26T18:54:00.000-05:00

The IBF Open Trail event is over, and I narrowly missed another win! I finished 2nd with 15.29 lbs Check back, I'll be posting baits and pattern info for the Ohio River BFL and the IBF tournament soon!

4th stop of the Illini Division BFL is Complete

2010-07-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

Saturday I competed in the the 4th BFL event in the Illini Division. As you know I've had a "less-than-stellar" year in the Illini Division, I've had a string of 30 something finishes, pretty lackluster at best.
That all changed this week. Yep, I was finally fortunate enough to put it all together, almost. I finished 4th in the tournament, got a good check, and missed winning the event by one pound. By my best calculations, a 2.5 lb fish would have won it for me. As most of you know, you're allowed 5 fish per day, as you continue to catch fish, you can replace your smallest fish with a bigger fish (as long as you can continue to catch bigger fish), this is called "culling". In the limit I had, I weighed in a 1.5 lb fish, had I caught another 2.5 lb fish, I just might have pulled out a win. With all of that said, I'm confident that I was blessed to catch what I caught, so I'm grateful for that.
Stay tuned I've got an Illinois Bass Federation tournament at Rend Lake this weekend and in two weeks I leave for Lake Norman in Charlotte, NC for the second PAA Tour tournament.
'til then, God Bless,
Duke

PAA Tour - Lake Cherokee is in the books

2010-07-13T07:13:00.000-05:00

I think if I had to choose one word to describe the first event of the 2010 PAA Tour, the word BRUTAL comes to mind. I know there were fish caught, there always is, but other than one decent bag of fish brought in by winner Tommy Biffle, nobody elcipsed the 16lb mark. Two other anglers topped 15 lbs on day one, but that was it. A ten pound limit was worth its weight in gold, at least figuratively. I finished the event in 56th place, basically on the strength of my day two catch. I bombed on day 1, I had a late weigh-in on day 1, which means I had a long day of fishing, usually that translates into more fish. Not so, or at least not for me. My day 1 weight was 1.32 lbs, I never lost any, I just didn't get bit, period!
On day 2, I caught four keepers fro a total weight of 6.42 lbs, not great, but a ton better than day 1. My two day total was 7.74 lbs, it took 10.32 lbs to get a check. That is what has me frustrated, I lacked a little more than two and a half pounds to get a check, and limped in with one keeper on day 1, what a extremely poor performance that was. To add insult to injury, in the last fifteen minutes of day two, I made a bait change and caught my two biggest fish of the tournament. Had I adjusted sooner, like on day 1, I feel like I could have caught enough weight to not only get a check, but also make the cut (it took 11.5 to make the cut).
So that's how the tournament went, not a horrible finish, but not what you would call good by any standards. I'll be putting up the baits and patterns information later this week, I gotta get a few picutres first. Thanks for stopping by, and a special thanks to all of those who took the time to pray for me, I appreciate it.
God Bless,
Duke

Cherokee Lake...Wow, it's gonna be brutal!

2010-07-05T21:11:00.000-05:00

Quite often, I have struggled in practice and thought the fish weren't biting well, only to watch bags of bass get toted to the scale. I've got to say I don't think I'm off too far when I say this is going to be one tough son-of-a-gun! I've been in tournaments where I wasn't catching them, and then nearly every angler in the whole event whacks them. I don't think I am missing the mark too bad on this one, I have caught three keepers in two days of fishin. That's how tough this place is! Normally I would think I'm the only angler not catching them, but after talking to a couple anglers I trust, and they are having a tough time catching them as well. So this is going to be an interesting one. It'll be a tournament where every bite is critical. Hopefully I'll figure out a little something more. Check back, I'll update as the week goes on.
God Bless,
Duke

2010 PAA Tour kicks off next week at Lake Cherokee

2010-07-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

The first event of the- 2010 PAA Tour will take place next week on Lake Cherokee in East Tennessee. I'm heading out in the morning, with a day and a half stop over at my good friend Wesley Strader's house. We're going striper fishing below Watts Bar dam, or at least that's the plan. I'll keep you posted on my practice and on how the tournament goes. Stay Tuned!
God Bless,
Duke

Good Ole Shelbyville!

2010-06-28T22:21:00.001-05:00

Right now, if I could, I'd let out the best imitation of Charlie Brown's "AAARRRRGH!!!" I could muster, but I don't think it would help. It would be fitting though, just like when Lucy sets the ball up for Charlie Brown, he eyes it up, feels good about it, and off he goes towards Lucy to give that ball the best kick he can deliver, and just at the last minute Lucy jerks the ball away and good ole Charlie Brown swings and misses. That scenario pretty much sums up my tournament last weekend at Shelbyville. You see, I too have a long lasting realtionship with Lake Shelbyville, just like Charlie and Lucy, and for years Shelbyville has been jerking the ball away at the last minute, just when I think I got it lined up perfectly, Shelbyville changes the game plan and I deliver a Chrlie Brown style "swing and a miss". Case in point, I had an excellent pre-practice trip a week before the tournament. I didn't set the world on fire, but I caught them pretty decent. Which left me feeling pretty good about last Saturday's tournament. That's when it all began to unravel...well, sort of. It rained every day, practically from the day I practiced until last Friday (the day before the tournament). Which in turn raised the lake about 7 feet. I never could relocate the fish I found the week before. So I limped in to the weigh-in with 1 keeper that weighed right at a pound and a half. That my friends is terrible! But, on the bright side I survived both events at Shelbyville this year (that's a new trick for me) so maybe I am learning a few things out on the road, that can help me at home. I fell from 23rd in the points standings to 25th, so no major damage occured. The top 40 anglers at the end of the season advance to the regional championship. The last two events of the year are scheduled to take place on the Ohio River at Golconda, IL. I haven't been to the river in about 5 years, but I always did like fishing down there, so maybe, just maybe, I can get this ship turned around and headed in the right direction. Lord willing, I'll get it together.
God Bless,
Duke

Spent some time on Shelbyville

2010-06-23T05:46:00.000-05:00

I got to spend a day on Shelbyville last week. Actually, to my surprise, the fishing was ok. I didn't get very many bites, but most of the bistes I did get were keepers, so I'm somewhat encouraged about this next tournament. I'd like to say I'm pretty fired up about it, but having played this tournament game enough, I know that a lot of things can change between now and tournament day. I caught seven keeper fish (big enough to make the 14" minimum lenght requirement), I caught all of them on a Norman DD 22 crankbait. Which, is another reason I'm a little bit excited, I really like deep cranking, I doin't always have an opportunity to do so, so when I do it's a refreshing change. Anyway, we'll see how my practice plays out in real-time on Saturday. I'd like to think everything will stay together, and overall I think it will. It'll be a situation where I have to pay attention to where and how my bites come to determine exactly how the fish are positioned, if I am capable of figuring that out, I should be in good shape! Lord willing I will be.
God Bless,
D

Two weeks until the BFL at Lake Shelbyville

2010-06-15T07:37:00.000-05:00

I've got two weeks until the BFL at Lake Shelbyville. I decided this year to fish the Illini division of the BFLs in hopes of qualifying for the end of the year regional that is on Kentucky/Barkley lakes. With that said, Shelbyville has always been my arch nemesis, I mean it has treated me pretty badly in the past. I think I have probably fished 20 events on this lake in my life, and I know for sure that I have blanked nine of them. Yep, never caught one in 9 of 20 events, that's downright terrible! Hopefully, the tides are turning, I have learned a few things since those early trips to Shelby-town. I finished in the top third of the field at the last BFL (at Shelbyville), but the fish were shallow, now that warm weather has arrived, it is most likely going to be a off-shore bite, which is good, if you can get your timing right. It has always seemed to me that on this lkae you can get out of time with the fish, and when they're actively feeding in a ledge, and miss the best bites the entire day, only to have fellow anglers tell you that they clobbered them on the very places you fished. Ugh, that just adds insult to injury. Anyway, Lord willing I'll bag me a few, or maybe even better catch enough to get paid and move on to the next one. We'll just have to see.
God Bless,
Duke

Fun fishing complete!

2010-06-08T17:17:00.000-05:00

I went to the lake Saturday, didn't get there until about 10:30 a.m., yep, I was in no hurry. I spent the day on the lake with a friend of mine who I fish buddy tournaments with, and his 8 year old son. We had a blast! We caught a lot of bass, even located a couple areas I am going to go back and look at this week for my tournament. We kicked back, dodged the pleasure boat traffic and absolutely whacked 'em, I mean clobbered em (go ahead and plug in any other term you use for having a great day of fish catching). I even managed to catch a giant...I'll post a pictue of it in a second. I know a lot of things can change before tournament day, but as far as I am concerned, mission accomplished, it was FUN fishing at it's finest!

Oh yea, the big fish, well here ya go...

(Did I mention it wasn't a bass? Oops, sorry)

Heading to the lake in the morning...

2010-06-04T19:35:00.000-05:00

I'm heading to the lake in the morning with a good friend of mine. On a fun fishing trip! yep, fun fishing. I have tournament on this lake in two weeks and it's too early to try and "figure out" what they're doing exactly, but we're going to go beat around the pond and see what we can come up with. I'm ready for tomorrow, no pressure to perform. We'll probably clobber 'em, catch them like crazy, that's what always happens when you don't have to have them, they bite like crazy. If they do, I'll post a few pics.
Have a good weekend!
God Bless,
Duke

The Egg is in action!

2010-05-29T16:50:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I own a Big Green Egg. It's been neglected this spring, but since I have a few weeks off from fishing, I'm going to make up for some lost time. Here is the first project from the egg.
An 8lb bone-in pork butt! I cooked it for 16.5 hours at 190-200 degrees. When I took it off the egg, I shredded it, added a little seasoning, and man it is crazy good!

Here are a few pictures of the project in progress:

(Just a few key ingredients are all you need)

(The Egg is lit and the pork butt is going in)

(It's ready to come off after 16+ hours of cooking)

(Shredded to perfection!)

Pinckneyville High School Bass Fishing Begins...

2010-05-29T16:22:00.000-05:00

Today was the first qualifying tournament for the 2010-2011 fishing team. Our team runs it's qualifying events in the summer to prevent any conflicts with the school's traditional sports schedule.
Today's tournament was held at the Pinckneyville City Lake, a small lake of about 150 acres. The top three finishers for today's event were:
Ryan Chapman     10lbs 8oz
Eric Tabing           9lbs 6oz
Brad Baudison     7lbs 8oz

Congradulations to these anglers!

Got a few weeks off...

2010-05-23T10:12:00.000-05:00

Since the American Fishing Sereis central division wrapped up last week, I have until July 2nd before I leave for the first event of the PAA tour (http://www.fishpaa.com/). So, I think I'm going to take it easy for a while. I'm going to try and go back to Kentucky lake and get in some good ledge fishing, and probably fish a few local events to stay tuned up. I'll might even fish a BFL or two, other than that I'm looking forward to some fun fishing. Yep, that's right, fun fishing, I can't wait. No pressure to perform, just plain ole fun, if you catch one great, if not, who cares! Fishing and of course, I'm going to fire up the Big Green Egg for some long overdue cooking. I've slightly neglected the egg in the last couple of months, and I'm going to do my best to catch up...I can smell the baby backs right now. Check back, I'll be posting some photos of my off-time adventures. It's going to be like a vacation.
God Bless,
D

Baits and Patterns for Kentucky Lake American Fishing Series

2010-05-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are the baits and patterns used last week during the American Fishing Series event held on Kentucky Lake.

During practice I had been able to find a few fish in the flooded bushes and trees in the backs of the creek arms and along the sides, near secondary points. As the tournament neared, the Tennessee Valley Authority began to drop the lake at a rapid rate. This brought a lot of the fish out to the edge of the flooded bushes and creek mouths. It also provided a little better access to the fish living in the flooded trees and bushes located on secondary points.

On day one I ran secondary points, creek mouths and small pockets on the sides of the creek arms that had only a few flooded bushes or willow trees in them. I ended the day with 16lbs and 15oz, just 3 oz out of tenth place. I caught most of my fish this day flipping a Dunn's Premium Baits Big Bite Honey Bug and throwing a Fire tiger Rapala DT6.

On day two I managed only 12lbs and 5oz. I never had a big fish on, so I have no complaints. I caught all of the fish I weighed this day on the Dunn's Honey Bug. I did manage a keeper on the DT6, but culled it out a little later in the day. One other bait I used this week was a Lunker Lure Ultimate Rattling Jig, a 3/4 ounce jig in Black, Blue and Purple color with a Zoom Super Chunk jr trailer in Sapphire blue.

Pictured below are the baits I used in this tournament:

The Dunn's Honey Bug was fished on 30lb Maxima Fluorocarbon line, a 3/8ths ounce or one-half ounce Penetrater Tungsten weight and a Paycheck Lures Punch Hook.

The Ultimate Rattling Jig was also fished on 30lb Maxima Fluorocarbon, both the jig and the Honey Big were fliiped with a GLoomis 7'5" Flipping stick model # BFR894

The DT6 was fished with a 7' GLoomis crankbait rod model # CBR845, on 10lb Maxima monofilament line.