I'm headed to Percy Priest

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

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!!

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!

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!

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

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

5 days and counting...

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

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...

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...

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