The field was narrowed down after Friday’s weigh-in, to the final ten anglers. After high winds the last few days, quite a few of the FLW pros were looking forward to calmer seas on the waters of Lake Erie. Some are sticking to their game plan that includes targeting fish found in Lake St. Clair. For more on the story, click on ” Chevy Open “, and get caught up on the news of the final tournament on the FLW Bass series.
Archive for July, 2007
FLW in Detroit, Last Day
Sunday, July 15th, 2007Weekend Report and Service Info
Friday, July 13th, 2007I got a hold of Captain Mike over at the Matthew’s Bait to get a weekend report for the Lake. Heading out for a little day/night/day fishing getaway this weekend.
WALLEYE ARE BEING TAKEN STEADILY STRAIGHT OUT FROM THE E BOUY 2 MILES TO THE
EAST. THEY ARE ALSO BEING CAUGHT ABOUT TWO MILES PAST THE LAST SET OF BOUYS OF
THE RIVER RAISIN. JETS & SPOONS AND REEF RUNNERS RAN 100′ TO 120′ BACK HAVE
BEEN WORKING BEST!
PERCH ARE BEING TAKEN AT SPUTNICK AS WELL AS DOWN NEAR TURTLE ISLAND.
Also, if you have a big catch and dont have the time to clean all those fish, you can take advantage of the fishing cleaning service that the shop offers. Prices are $1.25 per walleye, or if you haul in a ton of perch, they scale and butterfly for $1.25 a pound. Pretty fair pricing.
Good luck.
Can winter come soon enough?
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007With the temps we have had before today, all I could think about was the upcoming winter. Give me a frozen lake to cool my heels anyday. As I was straightening up some of the items in the shop today, and seeing my buckets of ice rods, my thoughts returned to wandering the frozen lakes of Michigan and the rest of the Midwest.
How soon is too soon to start getting ready for the upcoming winter season? Well, July might be a lil’ premature, but is actually a good month to start planning and prepping for the ice season. Why wait until you need your tools for ice fishing, and then find out that an item needs to be repaired or replaced.
Here is a short list of things to do before the fall hunting season consumes your time before the start of the ice season.
Charge your Batteries: Actually it is reccomended and a good idea charge your 12 volt batteries on your flashers and underwater cameras once a month during the off season.
Test your Augers: If you use a hand auger all season, this can be put off for obvisious reasons. Check the blades regardless, look for nicks or cracks that can effect their cutting ability. Order new blades now, or have a check list ready for when your local retailer starts to stock the shelves.
Power augers, get them down and fire them up. Again, check your blades, but look over your wires and check the spark plug. They may need to be replaced or simply cleaned.
Inspect your Shanties and Sleds: Now is the perfect time to look over your sleds and shelters. If your shelter/shanty has a rip or hole in it, repair it now. You can often find tarp material in local shops for patching, and even better if you contact the manufacturer directly. Definitely reccomend using 3M #77 adhesive spray, has worked really well for me the last few years. The warmer weather helps in the application, too cold and the material will not work.
Look for holes in your sleds, if you see them try some of these ideas. If the hole is small enough, apply resin to patch. Larger holes are a bit more tricky, you may have to patch them with other plastic materials. Often you can find a repair kit in a shop like Murrays that will work.
With shanties and sleds, you may want to look into installing runner kits to help preserve their bottoms.
As the winter season comes a little closer, I will have a lot more on the subject of runners, flashers, tubs and coops. I have the Ice Team championship the weekend before Christmas in Minnesota, so I will start shopping and getting ready somewhat earlier than most folks in the Monroe County area.
Stay cool.
FLW Bass Series comes to Detroit
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007The last few weeks you may have noticed a lot of Ranger boats on the water, parked in local hotels and in the Downriver area. That is because the anglers of the Walmart FLW bass series have come to the area to compete in the Chevy Open. This is a Pro Am, or Co-Angler event, where 200 of the best bass fisherman will team up with 200 amateurs to compete for 1.5 million in total prize money.
The event will be held at the marina in Elizabeth Park, in Trenton, Michigan. This Thursday through Sunday with three o’clock weigh-ins at the park marina on Thursday and Friday. After the field has been thinned down to the top ten final anglers, the weigh-in will be shifted to Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit, with a 4 pm deadline.
The Chevy Open is the final event in the series, and serves as a qualifier for the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup to be held in Arkansas in August. While you wait for the anglers to return to weigh-in on Saturday and Sunday, there are special events being held at Cobo. There will be giveaways for the kids both days, for the first 300, fourteen and younger, to get there, starting at noon. On Sunday someone in attendance will when a trip to the Arkansas championship, and while there will be entered to win a new Ranger Z20 fiberglass boat.
If you have never attended a weigh-in at a fishing event, it is well worth going to. You will be able to visit vendors, and learn a few tips from the pros. Not that any of the amateurs are not worth listening to, as well. These folks know their home waters, and you might be able to pick up a few bass tips for Lake St. Clair, Erie, the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers.
Harness Kit
Sunday, July 8th, 2007While I was in Saginaw buying some beads and blades in Frank’s, I was thinking how much I wished that I had brought my crawler harness building materials with me. They sat back at the house in a loose collection inside
plastic grocery bags.
When I got back I started to look for ideas on how I could keep all the parts in one location, and be able to take it on the road with me. Just a plano tray wouldnt work, the beads would become a jumbled mess of colors.
What I came up with was a reel bag that had ten slots in it. I’ve had the thing sitting in the shop for about 5 years, and have never used it for anything. My ice fishing reels, add up to more than 10. It is padded, and each dividing wall can be adjusted by their velcro sides. When I zip the top, everything is firmly held into place and ready for travel.
Click on the link, for some reason the insert image function isnt working too well today, and you can see the layout of the reel/harness kit .
Trolling Spreads
Friday, July 6th, 2007With having talked about the use of planer boards already, thought I would kick back a little and reflect on some of the thoughts and discussions I have had over the years on how to spread your lines out while avoiding tangles.
If you want to fish the maximum number of lines per person in the boatn a working plan or concept of how you are going to spread your lines out is well worth taking a few minutes. Say you have four people in the boat, in most cases that allows for the boat to have 4 lines out in the water. Easiest thought is to put two on each side.
With the use of heavy bottom bouncers, its probable that you will come up with several working combinations. Going from bow to aft in these scenarios, run the 3 or 4 oz bb straight down off the side first. Then set up your secondary rods slightly behind and run your crankbaits or diver spoon/harness combination back to the desired depth. If you like using inline planer boards in shallow or deep water, then run the board rods out again in the second position.
With three folks in the boat, you can run a set of board rods first, then heavy bb, then another set of boards. Remember when running multiple boards, it is important to run your outmost board with a heavier weight, deeper diver or deeper running crankbait. This allows you to bring in your outer board without tangling with the second. It will run under that boards line, which you will have set up for either long lining a crank, using a lighter weight or running a diver even deeper back. Allow for a greater distance away from the boat for the boards, 100 to 135 feet is not unheard of.
Another way to run lines for three, is to run one set of boards, then bb’s and then a diver or long line straight from the back of the boat. Again, it is important to run a heavier weight or deeper diving lure or diver on the board to avoid tangles with the back lines.
Four anglers can equal 8 lines out. In most cases this can be the max amount, when you start running more than eight, you are really tempting fate. It can be done, but not reccomended. In this case, run your first set of boards out 100 ft or more, then your bb’s, then another set of boards out about 75 ft. Finally run either a diver or long line a crank out the back of the boat.
With these set ups you can cover various depths of water, or still target a specific depth range. Allow for the amount of line let out, and use the running depths of the lures, divers and weights. When done correctly it will enhance your experience, by allowing more fishing time. You aren’t spending a lot of time dealing with tangles, and you have the max amount of lines/lures in the water productively searching out fish.
good luck
Negative Sports Reporting
Thursday, July 5th, 2007One of the deals was I could actually write just about anything I wanted to when I signed on to write about fishing on the blog site.
Constructive reporting is one thing, whether its politics, traffic or sports. But when a reporter writes nothing but the same negative drivel, day after day, the guy or gal needs a new job or good ol’ fashion attitude adjustment.
I like reading the Detroit News sports section in the morning, they have some quality writers and they seem to carry the scores of later games than that of the Free Press. Besides Mitch Albom is with the Freep, and thats a good enough reason to avoid that paper.
So I am reading the paper this morning, and this guy named Henning is at it again. Like I said constructive criticism is one thing, but this guy likes (really enjoys) beating dead horses, and making issues out of non-issues.
I think he has a thing for Sean Casey, the Tiger’s first baseman. It seems like from day one, the attacks on the infielders power numbers began in earnest. Only during the playoffs when Casey was knocking the snot out of the ball did the writer back off a little bit and acknowledge the player’s contributions to the team’s overall success.
Why not look at the big picture, and analyze the needs of this particular team. Hitting is the one problem this year’s team does not have, ok, thats if you forget about the horrid start in April/May that the whole team had. Why did the Detroit team trade for Casey? They needed a left handed bat that did not strike out. Ok, that they got in Casey. He gets on base, moves runners around the bases and drives people in.
Is first base a traditional power position, yep, cannot argue with that. Is a power first baseman needed on this team, no. Looking up and down the lineup, there are three guys who most likely will not hit 20 home runs, Casey, Polanco and Pudge. Pudge could, but dont be too optimistic about the other two. So the lineup has plenty of power.
So what do the Tigers get from Casey. Stability in the club house. This is a guy that anyone would like, on a personal level, guess thats why they call him “the mayor”. Ok so they get a .300 hitter with a really good on base percentage, but what do they really get that Henning is totally overlooking?
A gold glove performance at first base. The guy not only hits, but he makes the other infielders and pitchers on this team look really good. Kind of amazes me that there hasn’t been more talk about Casey’s excellence in the field. On this year’s team, they don’t need another 30 home run guy to be successful. Lets face it, they are one middle reliever, and a steady performance from Todd Jones away from being up four or five games over their closest rival in the Central Division. Jones looked pretty good the last two times out.
I guess some writers just don’t have anything good to say, so they sensationalize the negative to get their pay checks.
Happy 4th of July
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007Just wanted to come in and wish everyone a happy holiday.
Have been working out on the Triton duck boat, aka pike and muskie platform. Crazy thing is that the company wanted to charge 70+ dollars for each mount/rod holder combination. For less than $35 I accomplished the same or better by installing Scotty flush and side mounts and using the “quick draw” holders I was already using on the bigger boat. Will have pics later on the new system.
Today is more than a day of hot dogs and ribs, corn on the cob and cole slaw, root beer and lager. Enjoy it with your families, and remember where we came from, and how far the nation has grown in the 231 years since it declared independence from King George and England. Celebrate the growth, and remember those who helped preserve what we hold so dear.
God Bless, and Happy Independence Day to all.
Chuck Mason
No wind = BUGS
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007Just got off the lake a couple of hours ago, there was absolutely no wind to speak of. Even the GPS was not recording any movement. I love to fish, I really do, but still. I am not a really big breakfast person, and fresh bug, just doesnt sound appealing in the least. So after the fifth one down the gullet, it was enough.
Caught several fish, and marked lots more right out in front of the bay, in 28 and 29 fow. Nothing to write home about, except the that one stray jumbo perch that will take a crawler harness now and then.
Weekend Fishing
Monday, July 2nd, 2007Was pretty good this past weekend! Captain Mike was dead on in his field report on where the fish were biting. After taking off in the morning, I headed right out in front of Brest Bay and fished between the point and the coal burner, from 26 to 28 foot of water (fow). Using 4 oz bottom bouncers, and Fishlander Lil’ Divers to get the crawler harnesses to the desired depths we had a limit of fish in an hour and half. No six pounders but we did get five 4 lbers and one five lb fish.