Lund Explorer

I sure hope all the folks down there are safe and that property losses will be kept as low as possible. For those road-trip folks and others who have had the chance to visit Moor's Resort, the following link shows some of the current flooding on their property. And they seem upbeat and say the fish are biting! http://www.facebook.com/Moors.Resort#!/photo.php?fbid=10150170755362038&set=pu.167230412037&type=1&theater

Reed's Lake over in East GR has several new fishing piers. Not sure all what fish are in that lake, but I would assume there are bass in it. Did I see you mention going south to Gun Lake? If you two would consider about the same drive to the north, drop me a line. I'm sure with a week's notice I could get you guys out on the lake for a day. You can find my location if you look on the Member's Map at the top of this page. Steve

To begin with, thank you for your service. Michigan's catch and release season actually starts on the last Saturday of April and continues until the traditional openning day which is the Saturday before Memorial Day (or the 3rd Saturday in June for Lake St. Clair). Also of note, is the fact that you may qualify for a reduced fee fishing license because you'll be on leave from military service. If you have maintained a MI driver's license and/or voter registration while you are in the service, you can purchase a special $1 fishing license. You'll just need to take your military ID card and a copy of your leave orders to your license dealer. Here's the link to the MI-DNR website page that cover current fishing regulations. http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_52261_52262---,00.html

I really don't think you missed a thing. Went and looked at Hardy Pond on the Muskegon River yesterday. All of the spillways @ Rogers, Hardy, and Croton were wide open, pushing a mass of muddy sludge downstream. Throw in a heavy SE wind and there was no way I was getting out in the cold this morning. Wixom had to be just about the same so I'm pretty sure you would have just been going for a boat ride today. It's early in the season.... Thankfully.

That best thing about being retired is being able to pick and choose which days you want to go fishing. Today isn't one of those days!

Central Michigan? Howdy Neighbor! You're going to enjoy this place.

I fished for a number of years in team and draw tournaments and there are good and bad points to each. I'm not sure of this new fangled co-angler thing, but it seems that any skill of find fish doesn't come into play in that format. I'd suggest trying out both to see which you are more comfortable with. If you are used to having boat control when you fish now, it might make for a long day of getting short boated in a BFL tournament.

I hope all you folks down in that part of the country stay safe and as dry as possible. TVA website says they are going to restrict outflow the next couple of days? If that isn't a typo, the people in the cabin we stayed in are going to be fishing from the porch!

I've never fished over there this early in the year, but if Dwight is catching them on his end of Lake Erie now, you might do okay. If you give it a try, get us a report.

Why do I get the feeling that this same setup is going to be used on Hamlin Lake's North Bayou sometime this spring? That is if you can ever get Kelley moved in!

On a percentage basis, spend 10% of your time studying past results, 80% of your time locating fish, and 10% catching them. Pre-tournament study should include what it has taken to win this event, and reviewing what you have been able to accomplish at the same location. You should be able to find past tournament results, and you should also have your own fishing logs. These should give you an idea of what kind of weights it takes to win, the types of presentations used, and locations of prior catches. On the water, you should use all of the above to setup a primary and a secondary plan. Almost every fisherman will tell you that it is harder to locate bass than it is to catch them. Therefore, I would use most of your pre-fishing time setting up a milk run that covers a few locations where the bass may stage based on weather conditions. Log in waypoints on your GPS with some type of code that gives you an idea of each spot's potential. It shouldn't matter if you actually catch the fish so long as you find biters on these spots. There are a couple of ways to modify hooks so that you can use assorted baits with no chance of actually sticking the fish. Whatever you do, don't burn fish just prior to the tournament. If you have studied prior results you should know what it takes to win this event. If you find a number of spots and lures that produce bites then you'll know where the fish are as well as what they are hitting. The only thing left is to go out and do it. Try to make wise choices during the day and don't get stuck on any specific location or presentation if it fails to work out right away. Have your rods ready to make the changes necessary to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Finally, remember that you are only fishing against the top 5% of the field. If you have the confidence that you can beat this bunch going into the tournament, it will enhance your chances to do so.

Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. My brother had a custom built steelhead rod that he used to swear that he could tell the color of the rocks on the bottom were. The closest I ever came to anything like this was when I had a blind date with this girl who said she had psychic abilites. But who knows as she didn't show up. So what did that mean?

I'm surprised none of them could tell whether it was heads/tails up!

So many methods, so little time. Depending on what part of their seasonal cycle there area number of options. Here's a brief rundown of some of the ways I go after gills based on the season. Starting with early season/prespawn, I like to target shallow water that has a dark bottom with good exposure to direct sunlight. This water warms up first and brings bluegills in to feed. My favorite method at this time of the year is flyrodding with a small spider or fishing a small ice fishing teardrop tipped with a waxworm. When the fish have moved onto their beds, I'll stick with the same baits as above but will move to their spawning flats. I'll also use a small leaf worm under a bobber as well. Post spawn gills up here like to suspend over deeper water for a few weeks. Many times, these fish will only be a foot or so under the surface as it coincides with a lot of hatches of assorted water borne insects. I've found the best success this time of the year throwing UL jig/twister tail grubs that I slowly retrieve just under the surface. 1" soft plastics on a 1/32oz jighead seem to work best. Later in the summer, I switch back to live bait when the bigger gills move onto the deep weedlines. For years I fished crickets on a slip bobber rig, but have lately been having better results using a quasi-drop shot rig. I just keep moving along the deep weedline until I find a school of fish. Hope some of this helps.

Nice fish there kid.... Looks like your hand has started to heal up. How did you do in your last tournament with that wounded paw?

I had one of these encounters on the first day of the road trip. We were fishing a point less than a cast and a half from the bank when two guys in a gel-coated beast cut right between us and the shore. "How's the crappie fishing?" the guy (who hopefully was having a really bad tournament day) asked. Duh.... Without a minnow bucket hanging over the side of the boat, nor a bobber or ten foot pole in sight the guy knew he had crashed in on a pair of bass anglers. I didn't see any reason to say much, guys like this have a bigger handicap than anything I could have given him. My advice when this happens? Tell the guy that you saw he didn't catch much. Then explain how you caught a limit there the other day, and how good they tasted. Make sure you add a little about the hawg you put the filet knife to last week. Ask him if he has any extra nightcrawlers you can borrow. Rest assured that he'll seriously think about dropping this spot from his milk run!

Good report buddy! I'm looking forward to spending another day or two on the lake with you next year.

To begin with, welcome to Bass Resource. This place is packed with some great information and outstanding people, you're about to learn a lot here. It will help in the future if you add a few things to your questions or profile so people can understand where you are fishing, etc.. I am located in Mecosta County near the Village of Rodney, and have many good largemouth lakes and a few that have smallies. In this area, I've found that you can start working topwaters close to Memorial Day weekend. It mostly depends on how water temps progress during the spring. For largemouth I like to throw almost all kinds of topwaters, but am partial to the Pop-R and Torpedos. For smallmouth, one of my most productive baits on the Muskegon River is a #9 or #11 floating Rapala that I will let drift with the current and twitched as it comes over cover. Hope this general info. helps.

The clothes are unpacked, washed, put away, and the boat and tackle is well on the way to being cleaned and reorganized. This old fart even got a fairly decent night's sleep and is well on the way to healing up all the little aches and pains that a week's worth of fishing creates. About the only thing left to do is to come on here to reflect on this trip. Suffice it to say, there is no way to put into words all of those thoughts. Nor was there any way to spend the amount of time needed getting to properly meet with everyone who attended. I'm sure that would take at least a month, so if that ever is a possibility, let's hope it isn't held in a "dry" county! To Glenn and Keri..... A plain thank you just doesn't seem to be enough. I've been lucky in my life's work to meet a number of people who have successfully started a venture of one sort or another, but never has that come to a more gracious couple. Whether in casual conversation or in the time you spent talking to us as a group, it is easy to see why Bass Resource has become what it is today. I'm looking forward to seeing grow into everything you want it to be. To Deb..... Well girl, you got your own post located here: To Gary & Mary..... Thanks for hosting a great get together Saturday night. It was the perfect way to start our trip. To the Burger Gang.... Great eats guys. Mike was surely correct when he said these dinners gave all of us a chance to gather in the evening. To the Big O..... Sir, your nickname should be EF Hutton. When you talk, everyone should listen! I don't think I've ever had the pleasure to talk with such a knowledgeable and entertaining fisherman before. I'm looking forward to next year's trip, and next year's batch of new Rage Tails. To MNGeorge.... Yup, I finally broke that new rod in on Thursday with a bunch of fish caught using a short C-Rig on it. I'm looking forward to bringing many more fish with it, thanks. Last and absolutely not the least to Alpster my fishing partner for two days..... The time we spent both onshore and on the water were the best. Without a doubt there will be memories that will be coming back to me throughout the year. I hope that we will be able to team up again next year, and if our luck improves, you'll have your camera with you the next time my boat floats off down the bayou on its own! Then again, maybe the young man who gave me the boat ride to retrieve it will take up my invitation to join us here so you'll have another witness! I guess the only thing left to do is to thank everyone else who I got to meet but didn't list here. I'm looking forward to spending more time with all of you next year. Now I think I'll go in search of Steezy's report on how that new rig of his is pounding those Houston bass.

Prior to departing for this year's road trip, I had jokingly posted of my plans to make our first stop of the trip at Fisherman's Headquarters. The goal of the visit was to not only pick up licenses for my wife Jackie and I, but also for her to pick up some "secret" lures with Deb's help. I can gladly report that Debbie was more than happy to help out. You see, one of my goals for this trip was to include my wife in this adventure. While she doesn't post on these forum pages, she has always been supportive of my fishing. Besides trying to maintain our home, she is also a mother, grandmother, and now a great-grandmother to a tribe of fifteen. If the fact that she does all of this rather well while holding down a fulltime job isn't enough, she also has spent the last year or so becoming more immersed with the care of my mom as she slowly slips into elderly dementia. That is my wife Jackie. Like a lot of the women we all know, family has always been put first. So while this road trip was a fishing adventure for me, it was also a chance for her to try to escape the many demands she faces each and every day. Into this picture came Debbie. Not only did she help her pickup a selection of baits, but she gave her the confidence that she would succeed. The following Monday, Deb jumped at the chance to coach her along again when Jackie told her she was still having a hard time keeping up with this old fart. While the rest of us were standing around chatting, Deb and Jackie were down on the shoreline. Jackie with pole in hand and Deb giving her advice. Part of the end result shows in the picture below, but it surely isn't the whole story. Our last day at this year's road trip was going to be Friday as we would be leaving a half day early. Mom had a few issues that we needed to get home to address, so the plan was to hit the water by 8am, and be back at the cabin by noon to pack up for the long drive home. Then about 11:30, it came to pass that the last place we stopped in Kentucky was going to be the first place we had visited. As luck would have it, we pulled into the parking lot just as Deb and CWB were arriving from their fishing trip that day. As I stood there with CWB lamenting the fact that the Jensen boys got their collective butts kicked that day, these ladies celebrated Jackie's catch. Just two gals, one helping the other accomplish much more than just catching a fish. To the end of my days, I will never be able to thank Deb enough for the memories she gave to my wife and I. For the record, that fish weighed in on my scales at 4.71lbs. Not the biggest fish caught by the Bass Resource gang, but it was a priceless catch up here in the little Village of Rodney.

Speaking of broadening the scope of the argument, I'm sure you realize that went a ways beyond what I was trying to get at. While it is probably useless to try to make a point with one of the gentlemen who is in charge of seeing that all of us obey the forum rules, including the part about respect for certain illegal activities, we could expand this to cover a wide variety of subjects to see where we all could agree or not when a law can be bent, stretched, or broken. It's all subjective to each person's pain threshhold. While someone might think just going 10mph over a speed limit is okay, until it is your child's school bus driver does the same maybe. This discussion could go to fishing regs to the guy that ignores rules about seasons or size and possession limits too. In my profession though, the subject of evading taxes comes up quite often. Whether its the guy who skips paying the tax on a $100 order, or the business owner who skims a few thousand a month, we each must ultimately answer to ourselves. Does the guy who only bends a little just more honest than the guy who stretches a lot, or is it that some are just better at it than others? I don't think I want to go there.

Gosh, this thread wasn't what I expected..... I was sure one of the first five posts would mention beer pong!

If your state charges sales tax on items purchased through a retailer (in-state or mail/internet order), you will also find that there is a portion of that law that deals with purchases inter-state sales are completed without the tax added to the price. The tax is called a Use Tax. If you read that law, you will find that it is up to you to file a use tax return and pay the tax yourself. It is not a political issue but a legal and possibly a moral one. Anyone who knowingly breaks this law runs the risk of getting caught. They should also fully understand that they have lost the right to "tsk-tsk" the next guy who breaks another law they may wish to see enforced. If you were to research the amount of lost tax revenues many of these states suffer, you would see that current tax rates wouldn't need to be as high as they are. The bottom line is that it is your responsibility to abide by the laws of the state or locality in which you live. If you are going to try to justify any other actions, I'm sure you'll gladly support the guy who takes home twice his limit of fish. Think about it.....

Bingo! Even though my son and grandson want to go wash lures for walleyes on Saturday, I'm hoping to go try to find some of bass action the next day. The Martiny Chain is calling me.

Just a short note for now to say that the War Dept and I made it home safe and sound. Probably not the best plan to go fishing on the morning before a 12 hour drive home through light rain, heavy winds, and finally fog. So after a few hours of sleep, I need to unpack all my goodies, clean out the boat, and try to figure out how to put into words all of who I met and what I experienced over the last week. You're all a great bunch of people, and I'll post more later. For now, I need to put my longjohns back on. By the way, I can report that Ronnie is on the mend.... He released all his own fish Thursday, and I'm sure that habit he picked up of ducking every time I casted will be easily overcome!!!!