Blogs

Tournament - Angler's Choice Region 2 TOC - 9/21-22/07 - 17th Place - 22.11 lbs
My partner Jeff Billings and I ventured down to Lake Havasu for the Region 2 Tournament of Champions. Jeff had been to Lake Havasu a couple of times and struggled, I had never been to Lake Havasu to fish before. I had been there a couple times to wakeboard with my sister, brother-in-law and family before but, never to fish. Lake Havasu is an interesting place and there are certainly big fish to be caught there but, they are not easy to find nor catch. Jeff and I couldn't really get anything going during pre-fish but, we did stumble into an area where we could catch a large number of fish in a short amount of time. We just weren't sure if they were the right fish to help us win one of two Legend Boats!

On day 1 we headed for the spot where we new we could catch a lot of fish. Of course its the furthest possible run we could make on the lake. After about a 45 minute run in the Legend we finally arrived at our spot. It took us a while to get into the fish but, once we started catching them we went through about 10 in 30 minutes. Funny thing is, we saw 3 other boats in there and at the weigh in none of them had a full limit. Not sure if it was the bait or the technique but, something we were doing was working. We left that spot after about 2 hours and moved to the main lake. At this point we only had about 8 lbs and we knew we'd need to upgrade to the 11-12 pound range in order to stay in the running. We did just that. We pulled into a couple of different spots and were able to cull 3 fish out of our original small limit. At the scales we were pleased to have 10.61 and in 42nd place out of about 150 boats.

On day 2 we knew 8 pounds wasn't going to do us any good so we bypassed our first spot and when straight to the spots where we upgraded our limits on day 1. Jeff was onfire. The fishing was TOUGH everywhere as the weather was changing rapidly. We even encountered some rain! Over the course of the week we were at Lake Havasu the high temperatures for the day ranged from 114 degrees down to about 80 degrees. Thats a huge difference, and the fish didn't like that much! Back to the fishing, Jeff was ON FIRE... I doubt anyone on the lake caught as many fish as Jeff did... I know I certainly didn't! I guess that is why it is team fishing - sometimes one partner gets them - and other times its the other partner who gets them! We were able to weigh in 11.51 on day 2 and felt like there was a shot at a check. Sure enough we placed 17th and got a check for our efforts.

While we were down there Jeff found his new boat. A brand new Legend Alpha Series 211 and it is flat out gorgeous. I have held steadfast that my boat was the prettiest boat on the water... well, not any more! Jeff's new boat is yellow, white and silver and is flat out beautiful! I think it says a lot that Jeff would buy a Legend over another brand after riding in my boat quite a lot over the past year! Jeff will be a great asset to Legend and Legend will be a great fit for Jeff. Congrats on the new boat Jeff and thanks for catching all those fish on day #2 at Havasu!

Next stop The California Delta TOC!

Tournament - Lake Mead Classic - 8/25/07 - 46th Place - 11.00 lbs
I am not sure why the heck I would want to venture down to the Las Vegas area and fish in 120 degree heat, but something keeps me going back for this tournament every year. If the heat weren't enough 6 foot waves were there to great me and my fishing partner Alex "Ocho Cinco" Rupert. We'll get to the "Ocho Cinco" part in a bit - for now back to the Lake Mead drama. So we are basically barbequeing ourselves on purpose - hanging on for dear life in 6 foot waves and catching fish that are about a pound on average! Not exactly my favorite set of circumstances. However, this is the most fun event of the year - by far! Why? Because of the group of people that get together for this event every year and of course Vern and the great sponsors making this a one of a kind event. Back tothe great people that I enjoy seeing every year at this event. I don't have the time nor memory to list all of them - but here's a few that I always look forward to seeing on Mead. Eddie Rodriguez and Dr. Joe Ramos, Jamie Cyphers, Greg Cyphers, Murph and Mel McBride, Tim Klinger, Kurt Howard, Marc Higashi, Tom Matsunaga, Dan Hoover, Roy Hawk, Bruce Martin, Trent Doser of course Vern Price and his wife Sarah and so many more!

Back to the actual tournament stuff. As I mentioned before Ocho Cinco (Alex Rupert) was my partner and we had a blast for four days in the heat. We actually had a pretty good pre-fish and were looking to do some damage when the tournaement started up. We got a decent draw and got to our first spot with not to much trouble. A couple other boats arrived shortly and we all fished top water for what we thought was a wolfpack of decent sized bass. I was able to get a 2 lber to eat within the first 30 minutes and then Ocho Cinco got a nice 2.31 in the boat soon after. That was it for spot one. Spots two, three and four all produced exactly 1 fish to give us a limit. Late in the day we caught a couple more fish that didn't help us and we headed in for the weigh in. We ended up with 7.42 lbs and in 25th place only about .5 lbs from check range.

On day 2, we weren't able to get much going. After a very slow start the heat, and long days were definitely wearing on us. We had no idea that it was so tough for everyone out there. Some of the best anglers on Lake Mead either blanked or came in with one or two fish for the day -- so the fact we only had 3 fish wasn't too bad. However, it wasn't enough. Late in the day with under 2 hours left Ocho Cinco earned his new nickname. Fishing only a few yards from Jamie Cyphers, Alex gets bit on a drop shot. There was definitely no doubt he got big as he started hootin' and hollerin' and dancin' on the back of the boat --- all prior to getting the fish in the boat. Well, as we all know that just doesn't work to well... and that fish ended up getting away. So Ocho Cinco was born (in reference to Chad Johnson of the Cincinatti Bengals - who is the king of celebration) - No worries - he had fun and is a great fisherman --- Man we are in a world of hurts when these youngsters start fishing tournaments against us. Alex is one of the best young anglers I have ever seen, along with Scott Trummer, Sonny Hawk, Zack Schmidt, Corey Schlieden (already fishing as a pro) and several other youngsters they are all well on their way to the big leagues of bass fishing.

Back to the event - the tournament wrapped up - we dropped to 46th place out of about 90 or so boats and were happy to get into the air conditioning to enjoy the food, raffle and awards ceremony. Congrats to teh winners and all the other anglers catching checks and we'll see you next year! \

Tournament - A.C. Delta 7/21/07 - 3rd Place 23.63 lbs
I teamed up with Scott Trummer, the youngster well on his way to a bass tournament career. Scott is a member of the Quantum and Sufix Pro Staff with me and I enjoy fishing with him several tournaments a year. I believe this was Scott and I's fourth tournament as a team in 2 years.

With no pre-fish we had to go with a milk run of "best guesses" and see what the day would bring us. We started off making the 30 minutes run down to the Big Break area from Russo's. When we pulled up to our first spot I told Scott, we just need one good fish from this spot and we'll be in business. On about the 4th cast I caught a small 2 1/4 pound fish on a spook. About ten minutes later I switched to the big bait looking for a big bite. I was throwing a 3:16 Wake Bait Jr. bait (a 7" long hard swimbait). On about the 5th cast I had a fish attempt to eat it. Since it is a surfact bait I got a good look at the fish and it was a pig. Had to be 7 or 8 pounds but, it just didn't want the bait enough to take it in its mouth. Literally two casts later I tried a little faster retrieve and "BAM" I get drilled by another hawg. I see the fish eat the bait about 30 feet from the boat and the flash from the gold sides of the fish was HUGE. I yelled back to Scott... get the net its a toad! Hurry Hurry Hurry... Scott was quick with the net and when this fish hit the net neither of us could believe it. It was a "GIANT"! Wow... we both figured it was over 12 pounds... and I was hoping it was 13 pounds which would put me in the " teen club." Either way, it was a hell of a start to the tournament for us. Two fish in the boat and we are already looking at 14 lbs. Three more 3 pounders and we would have a chance.

We stayed in the area for another 20 to 30 minutes with no luck. I ran to another nearby area I thought would have some good fish on it and we fished that area for about 30 minutes as well. No more fish. The rest of the day we ran around looking for a few 4 or 5 pounders to put with our big fish and give us a chance. We did manage to get some more 2 1/2's to maybe 3 pounders to round out our limit... but, we just didn't think it would be enough to get in the money. This tournament was loaded with 40 of the Delta's best teams... guys like Hall of Famer Dee Thomas, Chris Raza, Jim Stich, Gene Bucholtz, Kenny Schmidt, the Porters, the Rosetti's, Don Davis and more.. we figured we'd be in about 10th place. When it all finally worked itself out we ended up in 3rd place with the big fish of the tournament... a mere .33 from second and .38 from winning the event. I was happy for fellow Legend owner Jason Wood and his partner Rod Blevins as they won their second tournament in a row on the Delta, Nice Work Guys!

All in all Scott and I had a good time and we were happy to come away with some extra cash to load up on Wake Bait Jr.'s! This was Scott's first time getting a check in a tournament and he is now "officially" a pro. Since, a Professional athelete is one that gets paid for his participation or winning of an event. Congratulations Scott and keep it up kid - you are going to be one to wreckon with in the future! Scott's dad Dave loaded up with photo's and had the look of a proud dad when I dropped Scott back off at his house following the event - thanks for loaning me Scott for a fun day of fishing!

Tournament - A.C. Clear Lake 7/15/07 - 9th Place 23.43
My partner (Jeff Billings) and I started off the morning with big baits on top water. We were throwing the Black Dog Baits Shellcracker and Lunker Punker as well as the 3:16 Wake Bait Jr in Chartreuse Shad. My specialty is the big bait while Jeff is a jig specialist. It shows that the large number of events are rubbing off on us as Jeff was the successful one with the big baits. Catching 3 good fish with 2 over 4 pounds to start the morning off. With the large number of boats in the area and the top water bite dying off we made the switch to deeper water jigs. We ran to some of our favorite spots and fished Pepper Jigs. This is where I finally started to catch 'em. I caught a 4.80 and a 4.44 on the jig to go with Jeff's 3 early fish for a total of 23.43. With over 50 boats we didn't think we had a chance but, we caught a check for 9th.

Tournament - ABA Clear lake 7/8/07 - 6th Place 22.67
With my regular team partner (Jeff Billings) off at Havasu having a good time, I teamed up with Dave Schaeffer. Dave is a Product Manager at North Face and a very avid angler. This would be Dave and I's third event as a team and I think Dave's third time bass fishing in the past 10 years as well. In our first two events we had a 5th in a small field on lake Sonoma and a bad finish on Lake Berryessa. Since I won the day before we felt we had a pretty good chance. However, I was pretty nervous about following up that 27.77 from Saturday thinking we might have stuck all the good fish and not left much for Sunday.

We pulled up to our first spot and found a fun fisherman sitting right on top of our honey hole from the day before. I was a little upset, but it's part of the game. Luckily the guy didn't know he was on the spot and just sat right on top of it, fishing outwards from actual best spot. I hung in there telling Dave he was right on it and that meant he couldn't fish it, so we were still o.k.. As he started to pull off of the spot he turned and made one cast back to the best spot and nailed a 8.5 lber right in front of me. Wow, that was hard to watch. He pulled it up and claimed it to be a 12 lber. To which I said, "Well it's only 8 or 9 but, it's still a nice fish." The guy realized we were in a tournament and was nice enough to leave the spot for us. A little frazzled I kept fishing and was able to catch 4 of 5 good fish in spot with a couple over 6 lbs that would help. These fish came on the 3:16 Wake Bait Jr. and the Lunker Punker. Dave was able to catch a couple decent fish in the Am on a popper and a spook. We then started throwin the Jig on some key spots and picked up a good fish on a couple spots. We came to the scales with 22.67 after a fun day of fishing. We actually missed the award ceremonies trying to revive a deep water fish after the tournament.

Tournament - A.C. Clear Lake 7/7/07 - 1st Place 27.77
It was 7/7/07 and I was due some good luck after a bad start to the 2007 tournament season. I was feeling pretty good about my chances, after all I love summertime fishing and Clear Lake is my favorite lake. Jeff Billings was out of town so I was planning on fishing this event solo. On the way to the lake I remember my neighbor Andy was interested in doing some fishing. He is an avid fisherman but, fairly new to bass fishing Andy has been bass fishing with me once before, and was interested in seeing what a tournament was all about, so I figured what the heck, lets see if he wanted to come along. Andy was up for it and met me at the lake the morning of the event.

We started off in a spot Jeff and I had fished the week before and I had dialed in during the past few days. The fish wanted top water, BIG top waters. The bigger the better. The Lunker Punker by Black Dog Baits is 9" long and looks like a trout. Funny thing about this bait is, there are no trout in Clear Lake, but the big fish still wanted this bait. In the fist 30 minutes of the event, we were able to catch 5 good fish, with the biggest one going about 7 lbs and the smallest around 4 lbs. The seven pounder ate the bait with the smallest of splashes and I knew it was a big one. I let Andy know earlier in the day, that if I got a big bait fish on, the fight would be short so get the net fast. I was yelling at Andy, "quick, quick, quick" as I horsed the fish to the boat over the top of the weedline. A big fish like this with just one headshake can throw a 5 to 7 ounce bait out of its mouth with no problem, so racing them to the boat is necessary. Andy was quick on the net and the 7 lber went into the livewell! We caught over 30 fish to start the morning and Andy was pretty thrilled. I did tell him that the fishing was going to get slower as the day got hotter so enjoy it.

As the day got hotter we moved to deeper water and started throwing jigs. We pulled into a spot I had known held big fish but, hadn't tried for a couple of months. I made a cast and couldn't feel the jig. The more I lifed up on my rod and reeled in the slack line, the more I realized I couldn't feel the jig. So I reeled down fast and set the hook... Sure enough a bass had picked up the jig and started swimming towards me, which is why I couldn't feel the weight of the jig. I knew right away it was a big fish and told Andy to get the net fast... fast... fast.. and he did. As the fish came to the boat it jumped one last time, a foot from the boat and out popped the jig, Andy was able to catch the fish in the net in mid air before it hit the water. Nice net job Andy! This fish ended up being our big fish for the event and weighed 7.90.

One of the great things about this tournament trail is the number of great anglers that fish it. Teams like RJ Bennett and Zack Thompson or Greg McCosker and Randy Marshall or Darron Hage and Steve Seals can win anytime anywhere. The quality of anglers in Northern California has to rival anywhere else in the world and just to compete with these guys in an honor let alone finally WIN ONE! With 27.77 on 7/7/07 Andy and I were able to put together enough to win. RJ and Zack got second with 23 and change. Great job Andy and great working the net.

Tournament - A.C. Clear Lake 6/23/07 - 3rd Place 25.92
Finally my favorite lake during my favorite time of the year. Jeff Billings and I were on a pattern of top water early and jigs late and we were hoping to get a good limit and maybe win this thing. We started off with top water early. I had the Black Dog Lunker Punker tied on, the 9 inch version. When we pulled up to spot #1 and I threw that monster out Jeff had to ask, "Are you really going to throw that thing?" I let the splash of the fish on my first cast answer that question. The fish went 4 and a half and was a good start to the day. We kept on the morning fish until around 8:00 at which time we had about 22 lbs for our best five. Jeff landed a few on a spook and a few shellcracker fish while I landed mostly Lunker Punker fish. we moved to some jig spots and Jeff was able to boat two nice 6 lbers in a row to get rid of 2 of our 4 lbers and move us up almost 4 lbs for a total of 25.92. We knew we needed one more big fish to win, but, just couldn't get one to eat. We ended up in thrid behind RJ Bennett and Adam Perry and Randy Marshall and Greg McCosker both of which had a 9 pound or better kicker... which is what we knew we needed!

Tournament - A.C. Delta 6/16/07 - 16th Place 15.56

Tournament - A.C. Delta 6/3/07 - 8th Place 22.83

Tournament - Won Bass 5/23/07 - 9th Place 23.80

Tournament - A.C. Clear Lake 4/21/07 - 3rd Place 24.97

Tournament - A.C. Sonoma 3/25/07 - 5th Place 14.06

Mon. January 15, 2007 - Happy New Year to everyone! Well, the early part of the year is always "Show Time" literally. This year is no different, I just got back from the International Sportsman Show in San Mateo. It was fantastic to meet so many readers of the magazine at the show. The positive feedback I received was almost overwhelming. I really appreciate everyones kind comments. There was some exciting new stuff at the show. While I was there I met with the Cheetah Energy drink people, who are doing a great job marketing to the bass fisherman. They have recently picked up Ish Monroe and a good friend of mine Aaron Coleman on their pro staff. Back to my point, I had my first Cheetah and it was pretty darn good. I have been a big Mtn. Dew kind of guy but, I think this energy drink thing could make sense. With Mtn. Dew there are so many highs and lows based on the caffeine. An energy drink that can keep up my energy through a 10 hour day on the water without sending me into a near coma sleep afterwords would be kind of nice!

Now its off to the Sacramento show this week where I get to meet even more readers of the magazine. Be nice :) Following the Sac show it'll be time to start getting ready for the tournament season. Man I am ready to do this in 2007... make a run for some victories. When I started this whole fishing mess about 4 years ago, I had a 5 year plan and year four had my first real victory in it. Then in year 5 it was time to make a run for an AOY title. So here we go, there is some outstanding anglers competing out here, but that's what its all about. Competing with the best in the business and seeing how I stack up! We'll see!

Sun. December 16, 2006 - Went Striper fishing for fun on the California Delta today. Fishing with Mark Mendez, Owner of MAM Marketing and MFB Development, we were able to boat 20 or so stripers with most in the 4-5 lb range. I did land a 32 pound striper on a swimbait around 2:00. We were fishing the Discovery Bay area. After fighing the fish for 15 minutes or so and landing it, there were several other boats and people on the docks checking us out. Mark and I gladly passed on some of the Optimum Swimbaits that seemed to be working so well. A few minutes later one of the home owners fishing from their dock nearby hooked into another giant with one of the swimbaits we had given him. The fish were on the chew in Disco Bay! Stripers aren't typically my target fish, but, they sure are fun when the weather is cold and the largemouth are lethargic.

Mon. August 7, 2006 - Another month gone and no posts. Ok Ok, If I really wanted to get some work on my website done, I wouldn't have moved to Clear Lake. Speaking of Clear Lake, the fishing has been off the hook lately. You can catch them on about anything you throw in the water. Two to four pounders are a plenty just about anywhere wet in Lake County. I caught my personal best last wednesday on a Red and Black Norman DD-22 crank bait. The fish weighed 10 lbs 8 ounces and was big fish in our wednesday night "turkey shoot" tournament.

This was also a big weekend for western fishing as my good friend Brent Ehrler won the $500,000 FLW Tour Championship in Alabama on Logan Martin lake. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy (even if he is from my childhood rival city of Redlands). Congratulations Brent, now how about a loan!

Also, over the past few weeks Scott and Dave Trummer returned to Clear Lake for some fishing and the Westernbass.com rally. We got on them pretty good for a couple days before the event and that paid off for Dave. Dave was Big-Nut of the event, meaning he caught the biggest fish of the event at 8.31 lbs. Scott struggled a little and finished mid-way in the pack.... but, I expect big things from Scott in the near future!

Also, over the past 45 days I picked up my new Legend boat. This boat is amazing. I love it, it rides like a dream, flat out flies clocking with the GPS well over 70 mph! She looks good too... the black fading to Cal Lu purple (My alma mater California Lutheran University, Go Kingsmen!) is awesome. Legend builds the finest boat in the industry hands down. If you don't believe me try one for yourself or let me show you.

So it's been a fun 2 months, and I we're catching up with the magazine. I am excited to be currently writing two features at this time. The story of Brent Ehrler and the Jimmy Reese year in review stories. Brent's piece will be going to press soon and Jimmy's in the following issue. These are two of the best fisherman ever from the west and I am happy to call both of them my friends. One is the current FLW World Champion and the other is the Best Angler in the west hands down! Until next post.... good fishing!

Thurs. June 8, 2006 - Wow, I have been neglecting my own site for months now. Time for me to get with it and start updating it. A lots been going on since my last post. Lots of tournaments and even more work.

Tournaments - The Angler's Choice Pro-Am on Clear Lake was a tough event for me. I had several "Bed fish" found and ready to eat for the event when on the evening before the event it started raining. This pushed those fish out off their beds and were nowhere to be found. However, I had a good draw for the event drawing Marvin Dixon for day 1 and for the second event in a row I drew Martin Brian for day 2.

On day 1 Marvin and I ran down to the spot I had found 3 bed fish over 8 lbs during the week. I was hoping I would be able to see them and get them in the boat. However, that wasn't the case. Marvin was able to put 5 fish in the boat in the first 20 minutes of the tournament while I threw big baits for the first hour. I had some followers but no takers. We then moved on to a spot Marvin had been fishing all week to give it a try. When we arrived just to the North of Long Tule point there were at least 15 boats in the area. We worked our way in on a tule island and proceeded to boat about 30 fish between the two of us. Unfortunately, I dumped a 5 pound plus fish and Marvin dumped another about the same size. Mine actually hit the net at one point and Marvin lost his about 5 feet from the boat. This would have helped us about 4 lbs in total. We weighed in 17 1/2 pounds and had me in 14th place after day 1.

On day 2 I Martin Brian and I fished Long Tule point for most of the day. We struggled until about 1:00. With 2 hours left in the event I tied my favorite bait, the "Big Daddy Strike 3" on my Performance Tackle rod and fired it out. It's funny, I hadn't thrown that bait all week but, something told me the reaction bite would be turning on as the storm moved closer. For the next 30 minutes I "Whack'd 'em" on the Lucky Craft BDS 3 in Ghost Minnow color. I caught two 5 pound fish, unfortunately one was a catfish and the other was a black fish or hitch looking fish. The rest of the 10 to 12 fish that I caught were bass with the biggest going about 3 1/2 pounds. Another funny thing that happened out there was Martin was complaining to me about not having caught a 5 pound bass in over 6 months. He wasn't even done with his story of how he caught 5 pounders for 6 straight days and ever since has been in a big fish slump. Right in the middle of the story he gets bit and hooks up. Well it wasn't quite 5 pounds but it was 4.91 and helped out tremendously. We ended up with 14 1/2 pounds. Unfortunately, the weights went up on day two, which is actually pretty odd. Usually the weights go down on day 2 of a two day event, but the guys got on them and I dropped from 14th all the way down to 28th place.

Following the event I am in 21st for the 2006 points race and am pretty much a lock for the Tournament of Champions event in March of 2007 on the California Delta.

Work Related Stuff - This week I spent the week fishing with Mark Higashi of Peformance Tackle, FLW Tour Superstar - Tim Klinger, Triple Trout maker Scott Whitmer and one of the future superstars in our sport David Valdivia on Clear Lake. Mark of Performance Tackle Custom Rods brought me 3 new rods to try out. A swimbait Rod, a flipping stick/Frog rod and a reaction bait rod. Thanks Mark, these rods are amazing!

For 2 days the bite was pretty slow. We caught some Frog fish and some drop shot fish and a few reaction bait fish as well. However, on the third day... the day we had slated for an "Uncensored" story these guys turned it on. Catching 40 or 50 fish between the group with the biggest bass going to about 6 lbs and missed a few 8 to 10 pound fish. Why is it that the big fish have the worst aim? Anyway, we got on a top water bite in swimbait cove. Throwing Frogs, Spooks, 22nd Century Rats, Triple-Trouts and Buzz-Baits these guys went on a terror and it should make for a good story in the next issue of Basswest. In fact, with that said, I am off to write that story.

Mon March 13, 2006 - Finally got my first event under my belt for 2006 yesterday, March 12. Went about as well as could be expected giving th low number of hours I have put in on the water this year. I had a new team partner for the event on Clear Lake. Fourteen year old fellow Quantum Pro-Staffer Scott Trummer fished as my co-angler for the event. Scott and his dad Dave came up for the Angler's Choice California Foothills division team event. During a 5 hour pre-fish we were able to put 17 or 18 pounds in the boat so we were pretty excited on our shot at getting around 20 lbs in the event.

As the event got started with 44 boats, Scott looked excited to get his Pro-Fishing career started. The initial boat run at 6:45 AM with temps around 30 degrees and a strong wind from the south got a little rocky. Scott held on tight and when we go to the initial stop he said it was fun! Well, it wasn't all that fun to me... holding on to my non-hydrollic steering Basscat steering wheel was a healthy task. Anyway, at our first stop we battled 2 to 3 foot swells and couldn't manage to get a fish in the boat. We moved on to our second spot and it wasn't but a few minutes before Scott got our first fish in the boat. It was a 2 lber. Just 10 minutes later Scott hooked into another quality fish. Upon looking back on the day this was to be our biggest fish for the event, a 4 lb plus fish. Both of these fish came drop-shotting a 6 inch Margarita Mutilator Roboworm. Scott was using a new Quantum PT 6'6" baitcasting rod that I had hooked him up with the day before the event. I think the added feel in the PT rods helped out in feeling the very subtle bites due to the COLD weather. Scott landed a 3rd fish that was barely legal a little later.

At just before noon, I had no fish and Scott had three. That's when I reached into my pocket for a Nutri-grain bar that I had bought in the Konocti Vista Store earlier in the AM. I took my first bite of it and realized it was a Banana Nut muffin and not a Nutri-grain bar! OOPS.. A fishermans worst fear is anything with a banana in it being on his boat, that is the biggest bad luck item known to fisherman. So I immediately removed the item from the boat. It wasn't but a few minutes later and I had a fish on. A good fish a three pounder and now we were in business. Scott didn't know about the banana-omen but, I am sure he will remember it now! Around 2:00 we moved to one of my favorite spots on the lake and proceeded to get another 10 or 12 bites and I landed 2 more fish, whew... 3-3 and a decent limit in the boat. We culled Scotts 2nd fish and had 5 fish all over 15 inches. I figured we had around 12 lbs but, told Scott we had 10 so he'd be excited when we had more at the weigh in. We ended the day with Scott's 4 lber, two of my 3 lbers and a two pounder and a one pound kicker fish for a total of 13.01 lbs of bass. Good enough to finish in 22nd place right in the middle of the pack. Scott did great, didn't miss any fish with the net and got us going with three fish before noon. He's a good well mannered and smart kid, he has huge support from his family and he's got the fishing bug! Keep your eye on this kid, he's already a stick and I imagine he'll be winning tournaments very soon!

Pattern: Drop Shotting and Darter Heading 6 inch Roboworm Margarita Mutilator worms. We also used spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, swimbaits and even some C-rigged lizards. All of the fish cam on the dropshot from wood near State Park and Kelsey Creek and in the mouth of Lands End Slough. The last stop of the day was the mouth of the trailer park to the Southwest of downtown Lakeport. Fishings pretty good right now, but my favorite time of year is coming soon... sightfishing.

On to the Delta for 2006 event #2.

Wed March 8, 2006 - Wow, 1/5 of the year is almost gone and I haven't fished an event yet. Last week I spent time on the water with Matt Newman in search of some winning limits on Clear Lake for the Stren event. We didn't do very well finding them in the rain, sleet and snow. Matt had probably his worst tournament of his career and I was a big help! I am sure he'll bounc back and get 'em at Shasta and the Delta for the last two events of the Stren Series.

My focus is now turned to the Angler's Choice Pro/Am series with the first event only 13 days away on the Delta. I leave for that event on Monday, but in the meantime I am planning on fishing an Angler's Choice team event on Clear Lake. Young Scott Trummer will be venturing up the hill with his dad on his way to his first team tournament. The weather should be clearing up by sunday and the fish should be staging pretty much in the same places they were in the Stren event. Scott's a good stick, so hopefully he can teach me a few things! :) I expect there to be worm, senko and maybe a spinner bait bite for the Clear Lake event. As for the Delta Pro-Am I was hoping for a bed fishing event, since I really love to sight fish. Although, Mother Nature has a different frame of mind. She has cold weather for another week so the fish should still be staging. I am thinking Crank Baits, Giant Senkos and spinnerbaits are going to be the ticket for that event. Stay tuned to find out how it goes!