One of my greatest joys is taking road trips. Jon and I often find our selves driving as much as 24 hours to go fishing. Along the way we often stop and fish and we also stop to admire all the road side attractions we pass. I recently found a sight dedicated the roadside attractions, which includes many fish attractions as well! This year, as we travel around Canada, and the United States we will be sure to check out more sights and take photographs.
If you live near Wisconsin, or find yourself driving through, be sure to check out the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and their “Angler’s Shrine” which is a giant walk-through muskie with an observation deck in its mouth.
Visit www.wlra.us for other road side attractions found around the world!
Adams and Ramzinsky Win Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series Championship
Adams and Ramzinsky, who have been fishing together competitively for two years, led the field after day one with a two-redfish limit weighing 13 pounds, 11 ounces. They slipped to third on day two with a limit weighing 11 pounds, 5 ounces. On day three, however, they rebounded with the second largest limit of the tournament “13 pounds, 15 ounces ” to win the event by 15 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were Peter Young and Matthew Morel, both from New Orleans (six redfish, 38 pounds, $21,000); Scott Ritter of Dauphin Island, Ala., and Robert Abruscato of Mobile, Ala. (six redfish, 35 pounds, 15 ounces, $16,000); Pat Motal and Chad Motal, both from Kyle, Texas (six redfish, 35 pounds, 6 ounces, $13,000); Chris Chapman of Winter Park, Fla., and Dan McGatlin of Lake Mary, Fla. (six redfish, 33 pounds, 6 ounces, $10,000); Troy Mell of Islamorada, Fla., and Jason Swensson of Key Largo, Fla. (six redfish, 32 pounds, 1 ounce, $6,500); Steven Auld Jr. of Baytown, Texas, and Jeff Larson of Friendswood, Texas (six redfish, 31 pounds, 5 ounces, $5,500); Sean Middleton and Brandon Buckner, both from Fort Meyers, Fla. (four redfish, 23 pounds, 9 ounces, $4,500); Danny Coppin and John Guerra, both from Belton, Texas (four redfish, 23 pounds, 6 ounces, $5,000); and David Nesloney Sr. and David Nesloney Jr., both from Rockport, Texas (four redfish, 23 pounds, 1 ounce, $4,500).
Adams and Ramzinsky pulled off a major win on the final day of the tournament, the previous day was lead by the father and son team Motal and Motal.
Niggemeyer Wins Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Regional Championship
Niggemeyer’s winning three-day catch of 15 bass weighed 50 pounds, 4 ounces. In addition to the new truck and boat, Niggemeyer earned a ticket to the 2006 $1 million Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League All-American, one of the most prestigious tournaments in bass fishing, where the winning boater will earn up to $140,000 and the winning co-angler will earn $70,000. Niggemeyer flipped a 1-ounce jig around matted hydrilla in the main-lake basin of Lake Ouachita to catch his bass. With a 3-week-old son at home, Niggemeyer called his win a “blessing from the Lord.”
By a “blessing from the Lord”, he probably means that he can give the new truck to his wife so she won’t throw him out of the house. Not that he’d have problem sleeping in that new boat.
The top six boaters and the top six co-anglers fishing the event also earned a berth into the All-American. Rounding out the top six boaters were Dicky Newberry of Houston, Texas (15 bass, 39 pounds, 11 ounces, $6,000); Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Mo. (15 bass, 38 pounds, 11 ounces, $3,000); Dennis Berhorst of Holts Summit, Mo. (13 bass, 29 pounds, 14 ounces, $2,500); Glen Freeman of Converse, La. (13 bass, 25 pounds, 15 ounces, $2,000); and James Carper of Wright City, Okla. (nine bass, 24 pounds, 15 ounces, $1,800).
For more tournament results check out Fishing World.
The Chronicle Journal reports that northwestern Ontario anglers may be fishing in some new “zones” by 2007. The Ministry plans to chop Ontario’s 37 fisheries management divisions almost by half, replacing them with 20 zones.
“New recreational fishing regulations relating to species, seasons and limits in the new zones are being developed.”
via chroniclejournal.com
More information on the proposed rules will be added to the ministry’s website as they become available.
When Hurricane Katrina hit new Orleans earlier this year, many people evacuated and many people stayed. Among the evacuated where three fishermen who left behind their new Skeeter fishing boat. Several weeks after the hurricane, once the water had receded enough to allow travel, the three fishermen returned home to check out the damage. The new boat was of course gone, but they searched for it, and incredibly enough, they found it. While checking the damage to the boat they found a message on the side: “This boat rescued over 400 people - thank you! - Ken Bellau,” along with a telephone number.
What they didn’t know was that Ken Bellau had borrowed their boat and taken it on an epic adventure to aid victims of the hurricane.
“Little did he know that in his first two weeks home, he would end up as a guide to a battalion of 462 California National Guardsmen, rescue more than 400 people trapped in the floodwaters, help capture two looters by ramming their boat, bluff five gang members into a peaceful outcome of an armed standoff and use his connections to bring 500 donated hot pizzas. He would also help with 600 donated steaks to give the Guardsmen and another unit their first normal meals since they’d arrived in the disaster zone.”
via fishingworld.com
Saturday October 29th, 2005 @ 5:41 PM | Clive Mathias | Comments
Guy Eaker on tough spinnerbaiting
Guy Eaker lays out a perfect foundation for spinnerbaits in tough conditions, breaking down water clarity, temperature, slow fish response, and which blades will work best under which conditions. Spinnerbaits have been a go-to bait of mine for a long time, and Guy has turned me on to a few new combinations I’ll have to try. For the most part Clive and I use inline Mepps spinnerbaits for covering water, but when the weather gets tough I often switch to a white double willow spinnerbait fished extremely slow over rocky points. The Mepps spinners don’t attract much attention when falling, but a standard spinnerbait with a big rubber skirt and two willow blades clapping together can attract quite a bit. Study this one hard, you’re going to need it for those late fall bass when the weather gets tough.
Eaker also likes to slow down his spinnerbait presentation when conditions get tough. “When high pressures come in, I like to fish it slow. I mean real slow. Just barely wind that bait, keeping the blades turning while I’m watching it sink all the time.”
Case in point: At a 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Southern Open on Lake Eufaula, a fall front had come through and shut down the activity the pros had enjoyed during practice. Flinging a blade, Eaker was able to bring five bass weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces to the scales in the opening round, while most of the field struggled.
“Most everybody else was pitching tubes, cranking and fishing a jig,” he recalls. “The baitfish had moved under the willow trees hanging way out over the lake. I was making little short underhanded casts under where the shad were, and winding. Nobody else was doing that. Everybody else was fishing on the outside. The shad were there, and the bass were lying underneath those willows, eating that spinnerbait.”
Scroggins on the French fry
The “French Fry” has to be my favorite bait for bass. There is little more exciting than fishing heavy slop waiting for that vacumm-like hit from a huge bucketmouth. My personal favorite combination is the Berkley Gulp! Sinking Minnow, weightless, with a Gamakatsu G-Lock Worm hook. Simply put it is the deadliest combination I have used that can handle big fish and heavy cover. All of the Berkley Gulp! baits are extremely tough and can last for a dozen fish easily, unlike other “french fry” baits like the Senko baits which last only a fish or two.
Scroggins adaptation of the “french fry” is simple, yet innovative. Honestly, Im kind of jealous I didn’t think of it before, because its so simple. Scroggins inserts a nail weight in to the tail of the bait so that when he allows the bait to free fall it actually swims away from him.
Scroggins, 36, has risen from local phenom (winning more than 300 small tournaments in northern Florida) to top Tour pro by being resourceful. Evidence of that can be seen in his modifications of the simple “French fry” lure.
“One of my best tricks is taking a nail and putting it in back of a Centipede or a Fish Doctor,” said the two-time BASS winner. “That’s the latest, greatest thing I’ve got. It works all around the country. Everywhere I’ve been they’ve bit it.”
Both Zoom products, the Centipede is a 4 1/4-inch worm, while the 3 3/4-inch Fish Doctor is similar but doesn’t have rings on its body.
While both are best known for Carolina rigging, Scroggins has transformed them into a Texas rigged tool that works in a variety of situations.
“What that does is when you pull your worm up and release it, the worm goes away from you. It works really well. It really looks natural. To me it imitates a shrimp or crawfish the way they glide through the water. It’s an excellent dock bait because it skips so well. It probably skips better than any bait I’ve ever used. And with the weight in the tail end of it, it sinks about right. Plus, it slides away from you, so it gets way back up under the dock.”
Simple but effective.
Unfortunately the BASS INSIDER Animated Videos are only available to paid subscribers.
* The pictures of Clive and I were taken in Ontario, Canada- Fall 2004
Luxist, the blog about things I’ll never be able to afford, recently posted about big game fishing at Kenya’s Hemingways resort. Now I know Clive and I both have our eyes set on eventually going to Kenya, for fishing and other reasons. But, I doubt we will be staying at the Hemingways given that rooms range from $100 to $1,500 a night. However we can still dream of landing massive Barracuda all day and then retiring to our executive suites with a bottle of Cristal.
via Luxist and Gadling
Are you getting restless waiting to shred some snow? If you happen to live in a climate where snow is simply never going to happen, or you’re just so anxious and crazy you’ve got to find another way to get your kicks. We’ve got the perfect remedy, you won’t even have to find 200 tons of crushed ice.
Friends Sam and Lewis hit the hills for some Sandboarding!
If you are anything like us, you probably can’t wait until Snowboarding season starts… You know the itch… It begins when last season’s snowboard videos are playing in the middle of summer… Then your board is removed from that lonely corner in the closet to be displayed in the center of your room while you visualize getting huge air and pulling deep carves…And like anyone who enjoys a sport with such a passion you are strapped to your board running through the motions on the floor before you know it…Be warned however that for safety’s sake advanced snowboard maneuvers should NEVER be tried in a confining dorm room!… For those of us unlucky enough to live in a place where constant snow and daily riding of deep fresh powder is only a dream, we have found the solution to not being able to snowboard in summer; SAND BOARDING!
Be sure to watch the videos.
