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Lakes are icing up pretty good. Bummer because this time last year we we're still out fishing open water. Guess I'll be putting away the skeeter next weekend. Time to ready the ice gear!

It looks like we MIGHT get 40+ degrees next weekend? Guess I won't put the boat away QUITE yet.

I'm probably tucking the boat way also. Time to drop off the boat at my dads place and grab my clam thermal shack. Bring on the ice!

Wasn't on Mille Lacs! Was a bit windy to go up there.

I had a pretty darn good afternoon chasing smallies yesterday. My best five went for 19.88lbs. I used a Ned rig on a heavy 1/4oz head (custom made ones I get) with the coppertruse TRD & it worked all day. I didn't need any other baits. The fish were all offshore in about 15-18' around a 30' hole. There were very small rock piles around the bowl, which I was able to pick up on my side scan. It's funny how smallies will group up over the smallest of rocks. Some buddies of mine caught some nice ones up shallower in like 6' on a sandbar with swimbaits. I had the deep Ned bite dialed-in though. Working extremely slow what's the deal, which is much easier to do if you use a heavier head. The last couple years the Ned rig has been the number one Smallmouth producer for me. I still throw swimbaits and drop shot but the Ned rig comes out first almost every time. Coppertruse is definitely my confidence color for smallies. The fish in the pic was a 4.6lb

Me and a buddy are hitting Stella-Washington tomorrow. See you out there! haha

What does that mean exactly? I'm not smart on the whole moon phase thing.

Weather this week is looking good... might make a mid-week Mille Lacs run.

Just dragging them on hard bottom? I've been working a mop/football jig lately with no success. I kinda Chuck it out and just drag it in like a Carolina rig. Mop jigs are definitely not in my wheelhouse but I'm trying to figure them out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/business/professional-bass-fishing-bass-pro-tour.html NY Times actually did a story on the industry shakeup.

The exclusion list is.. long.

So I got out for a few hours last night on Independence. I went to one of my favorite points that has rock piles in 10-20' and saw NO fish on the sonar. I dragged around a football jig & ned rig and not a nibble. Water temp was 49. I then tossed a jig around a dock and caught two.. then I ran the rest of the docks down that bank and not a bite. There is still a lot of grass, although it's dying and turning very dark. So I went to the grass line and tossed a swim jig, jig, & chatterbait.. nothing. Then I remembered when the waters this cold sometimes fish can get RIGHT up on the bank. The wind was blowing a bit so i went to one of the windy banks and started tossing the chatterbait around in like 2-3' and just ripping it through the dying grass.. and BAM started catching a ton of fish down one stretch of the windy bank. I think I caught 7 or 8 fish, all 1-2lbers. When I go back out this weekend I'm going to try this pattern again but with a spinnerbait. I spent the rest of the time before sunset taking my 6yo son around to a few docks and letting him blast sunfish with his hair jig & powerbait. He loves fishing docks for panfish.

Has anyone found Daiwa Tatula rods on clearance/closeout? With the updated versions coming out next year you'd think there would be some fire sales of the outgoing model.

I've been fishing Independence for a few years now (we like camping at Baker) and I've caught some nice fish on that lake! There's the occasional +3lber. The last time I was out there this summer I hooked into TWO muskys fishing shallow around docks. I actually landed one of them haha.

Man I haven't had time to make a post lately! Work's been busy. I'm not putting away the skeeter yet! We're camping with our RV at Baker this weekend and I'm going to bring the boat with so I can hit Independence a few times. Final trip with the camper, hopefully not the final weekend with the boat. I havn't been out fishing for largemouth in like a month.. but I'm just going to slap on a spinnerbait & chatterbait and beat the bank. Probably drag around a jig up shallow too. Who knows.

You need an ultrex

I think there's a few factors there. Based on what Boyd has said publicly, and what the anglers have said between the lines, it seems to me that the TV package that MLF will have will be pretty substantial since they are partners with KSE (Outdoor channel, Sportsmen Channel, World Fishing Network). They all seem to feel the online & TV exposure that MLF will have will dwarf Bass & FLW. How extensive the media platform MFL has is still under wraps, but it obviously must be pretty amazing for everyone to rush to it. The other thing that the anglers seem to be excited about is having a say in how the tour functions. They keep mentioning that anglers will be involved in tour decisions & all members will have a voice. Boyd even said that the tournament structure and payouts can likely change before the tour starts based on the anglers decisions. It's not set in stone. Ike was pretty clear last night that they all feel fed up by Bass and their stagnet payout structure and overall lack of progressing the sport forward. Bass is stale and resting on it's name alone and not "advancing the sport".

Ike didn't "reveal" which tour he's fishing.. he cut the feed as he pretended to make the announcement. Ultimate troll. I love it.

Ike says he's having the MLF, FLW & Bass brass on Ike Live tonight.. wow that's going to be weird.

With MDJ jumping now all my personal favorite Bass anglers are on MLF... I guess I know what I'm watching next year. Did Feider and Zaldane make a mistake by turning down the invite?

What big names are left? Ike.. MDJ.. Almost the entire d**n field of the 2018 AOY tournament jumped https://www.bassmaster.com/results/tournaments/2018-toyota-bassmaster-angler-year-championship/1

Andy Morgan is a big shocker. Another bombshell

Well, let's break it down.. MLF = GREAT for them because they created a new tour out of thin air and acquired the biggest names in the sport in the first year of it's operation. They didn't have to build up the BPT over time. They basically got all the A list anglers right out of the gate. Best case senario for them. They havn't had a single BPT event yet and have the best roster in fishing locked in for 3 years. Bass = total disaster for them. They have to reboot their entire Elite division. All the time they have spent building up anglers and creating a prestigious brand has been decimated. To make it worse they have NOTHING to promote this next year. They lost all 12 of their previous Classic winners, and their reigning AOY is gone. Who do they use in their marketing?! They look terrible in all of this for not being able to retain.. anyone. Something stinks there and it's really obvious. Will their big sponsors pull out? FLW = They got some residual damage when their current AOY champion jumped, but their big stars are still in-tact AND they have the best minor league system in fishing. It seems they are going to not really benefit or be hurt while MLF rips all the meat off Bass's carcass.

The thing I find the most interesting is out of 50+ Bass Elite anglers that are jumping ship, EVERYONE is saying how GREAT Bass was to them and are thanking them left and right as they exit their organization. Nobody is keeping it real and explaining why they actually left. I wish one of them would tell the truth... hopefully Ike on his live show this week?

Yeah it seems pretty obvious that MLF is trying to devalue and destroy Bass. I think the end game is for a Johnny Morris to purchase Bass at a discount once it's brand is diminished.