Rich's Bassin' Blog

Super Bass Tackle Savings all Labor Day Weekend!

Rich Lindgren — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:37:00 GMT

Discount applied after items added to your cart, free shipping over $50 and add a free T-shirt if spend a $100! Happy Labor Day & Happy Shopping all!!! - http://www.basstackledepot.com/laborday-10.aspx

Sale ends Tuesday 12:01am ET
http://www.basstackledepot.com/laborday-10.aspx
Offer good while supplies last (No rain checks or back orders).

Back to School Bass Fishing Style

Rich Lindgren — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:31:19 GMT

Back to School for the kids and soon for the bass!

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20%
DISCOUNT COUPON

Back to School Discount on All Lures, Rigs,
& Tackle Packs!

B10820

(expires 8/31/2010)

Here's an economic stimulus plan that actually works. Keep more money in your wallet while putting more fish in your livewell.

Children are not the only critters going to school these days.

Get ready for fall schooling action! Now is the time to build your Secret Weapon arsenal. And to help you be ready when the fish are, we're knocking off 20% on all Secret Weapon spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, Recoil Rigs and component kits when you use this code on check-out from the SWL Online Armory: B10820. Consider it your fall fishing stimulus package

USA-made quality and service, greater selections, unparalleled value and performance... at a savings of 20% through August 31 only at Secret Weapon's Onine Armory.

Hopefully y'all can use the coupon above to get some great deals on some great tackle!

Also, check out Twin City Limits latest podcast, we interview KVD and talk about all other kinds of great stuff!

Powered by Podbean.com

Also, been busy listing stuff on ebay, fishing rods, line, sunglasses, lures, MegaBass, Lucky Craft and all kinds of other good stuff!
So check out my Bass Fishing eBay Store!!!

IMA Newsletter - August 2010

Rich Lindgren — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:50:00 GMT

Welcome to the IMA Emailer -- August 2010 Issue

The IMA EMAILER brings you news from IMA pro staff members across the USA and worldwide.

It's a month after the annual ICAST show in Las Vegas and we're finally starting to see things settle down. Between the big trade show, the end of the Bassmaster Elite Series season, the Forrest Wood Cup and the US Open, it's been an unbelievably hectic time for our sport. Add into that mix the big changes at both BASS and FLW and shakeups in the boating world and our sport is ready to expand.

Recession? If the mood at ICAST is any indicator, everyone is past that mode of depressed thinking and expecting big things in the coming months. Here at IMA we've been fortunate that rather than cutting back we've been able to expand our bait lineup and our pro-staff while other companies have either been treading water or in some cases they've even gone under. We've continued to innovate -- constantly. You'll see new baits from us in the coming months but the big news right now is that we've added new colors to our existing products, at the request of our pro staff as well as from you, the loyal customer.

The new color patterns are as follows:
Rattlin' Roumba: Bone
Shaker : Chartreuse Shad, Double Cheeseburger, Hot Crawfish
Rock N Vibe : Ayu, Water Bug, Power Blue
Skimmer : Blue Back Herring, Bone

And all of the lures will be available in completely clear plastic.

No guts, no glory! Check out our clear baits lineup!

Elite Series pro Fred Roumbanis is exceptionally excited about the emergence of the completely clear lures. He's used them on gin-clear, high-pressured waters in the past with great success, but he also sees another purpose for them.

"What's nice is that you can keep a set in your boat," he said. "Then if you go to a lake and see a baitfish and you might not have a bait that color, you can just take out a permanent marker and add some highlights that match the hatch. That's so much better than just taking something out of your box that's kind of similar."

In the past, he had to spend valuable time scraping the paint off of lures to get this effect, a process that could upset their delicate balance, but now they're good to go and ready for "customization" straight out of the package.

The other development that has him amped is the creation of a bone version of his signature lure, the Roumba.

"I've already caught a bunch of fish on them," he said, noting that the different plastic used in this version makes a different noise than the standard Roumba. "It's almost like a one-knocker. It's louder because the plastic amplifies it a bit more so you can fish it in windier conditions."

He especially likes bone and clear lures when fishing for spotted bass, which he believes then to "key on smaller profile baits."

Tidewater expert Captain Karl Bunch was the driving force behind the original addition of our "Double Cheeseburger" hue to the Roumba lineup, and now we've added it to the Shaker as well. Like all good names, there's a story behind this one:

"My old team partner and I used to fish lures in this color, a color that we could no longer get," he recalled. "We knew a teenage kid with an airbrush. We'd strip down lures to get him to paint them and in exchange we taught him to fish. While he painted he ate McDonald's double cheeseburgers, so that became our code name for the color around other people. We'd either cut them off or put on lure wraps before we came in so no one could see them."

The bright green, orange and chartreuse that make up this pattern replicate a yellow perch, he believes, and "that's a delicacy to bass on east coast tidal rivers and lakes." While it may be gaudy, even around clear water grassbeds it's deadly. "Perch don't change colors and it's not so bright that it's unnatural in clear water." It's an absolute killer in muddy water, where the Shaker's vibrations draw fish in and the color pattern finishes the job."

Elite Series pro Mark Tyler hails from the west coast, fishes most of his tournaments in the east and lives in between in Oklahoma -- so it's imperative that he have colors that work from coast to coast, as well as regionally-specific favorites.

He's a big fan of the Skimmer , which he believes to be a must-have for anyone who fishes for bass on lakes populated by blueback herring.

"That slim profile is a lot more natural that other lures in its class," he said. "We fished Clarks Hill this year and (Lake) Murray is on next year's Elite Series schedule. The fish on those lakes live and die for the blueback herring and now we have that actual color. It's a perfect match and I'm really excited."

He'll carry other colors of Skimmers with him to adjust to water clarity and sky conditions. One of his favorites is another new addition to the lineup: bone. "When it's overcast or heavily turbulent I go to a more solid hue to help fish get a bead on the bait. This really rounds at the arsenal."

Tyler's also stoked by the addition of the hot crawfish pattern to the Shaker lineup . It's been a west coast staple on waters like the Delta and Clear Lake for years. In fact, one of his two BASS wins, at Clear Lake, came on a hot craw colored shallow crank, so he's begged the company to produce it. Now his wish has been granted. And while red cranks are "a trigger in the pre-spawn" he said it's a mistake to put it away at any time of year on any shallow natural lakes or river systems. "The water just has to be slightly turbid," he explained.

On the strength of a 20th place finish in the ultra-competitive Elite Series Angler of the Year race, Ohio's Bill Lowen will be heading to his third Bassmaster Classic in February when bass fishing's bigest event travels to New Orleans for the first time since 2003.

"Missing the Classic last year was like a punch in the stomach," he said. "Now we're back on track and that means a lot to me and my sponsors."

The Louisiana Delta is a shallow water fishery and that should play directly into Lowen's hands. He'll have some new products available that we'll tell you about in coming months, but one of the items he's most excited about (for New Orleans and numerous other events) is the addition of the chartreuse shad pattern to the Shaker team. Similar paint jobs have taken the pro tours by storm in recent years and with good reason, he said.

"So many colors are season-specific," he said. "This one is so versatile, you can use it from the early spring all the way through the fall. Any place you have shad, bluebacks or crappies it's going to excel. You can use it in all water clarities from clear to stained, even in dirty water. When the water is dirty, 90 percent of the fish are shallow so light penetration is still good."

The comparatively small profile of the Rock N Vibe has taken lipless baits to new heights -- you can cast it a country mile, burn it, slow roll it or yo-yo it, and it'll always run true and relatively snag-free, even through thick grass. IMA initially brought the lure to market in a handful of proven colors, but now we've decided to expand the palette.

For help with that task, we enlisted Jun Shoji, one of Japan's top bass pros. Shoji could compete well on any US bass tour, and has substantial experience on American waters, so we asked him to use his imagination and make his lipless dreams come true. We'll have more insight and input from him in upcoming emailers, but for now we'll focus on the result of the collaboration, which three new patterns. The first is Ayu, based on a prolfiic Japanese baitfish of the same name. It should fare well wherever a highly natural baitfish finish is appropriate -- whether those prey be shiners, shad or herring

Rock N Vibe Ghost Ayu-JPN SP

Rock N Vibe Power Blue-JPN SP

Rock N Vibe Water Bug-JPN SP

The second and third options are a little more off-the-wall. There's "Power Blue," which as the name indicates transitions from a royal blue near the belly to a darker shade of blue on top. There's also "Water Bug," which is even darker, virtually black at first glance but when holding it up it's a transparent dark purple with green flake. You may not currently have lipless cranks in these colors, but surely you have dozens of soft plastics and jigs that match these, so why not hard baits?

"I'm a big fan of solid brown or black as a base color for hard baits," Bill Lowen said. "It's a great dirty water color, especially in heavily pressured conditions."

Mark Tyler agreed: "I throw a black lipless bait a lot. I was always intrigued that people would throw a black jig or chatterbait, but few people throw it in a crankbait, either billed or lipless. Sometimes the primary purpose of a color change is just to be different. There's a reason that hot baits are hot, so always try to keep an open mind."

Congratulations to IMA pro staffer Sean Stafford for his 10th place finish at the recent US Open on Lake Mead, an event often referred to as "the Iditarod of fishing."

A key component in his three days of quality catches was the his use of the IMA Skimmer , which he credited for outfishing other walking baits by a substantial margin. It provided a slimmer profile but he was still able to cast it a mile on tackle capable of hauling in big fish.

(Photo courtesy of WON BASS)

As if to prove the point of this emailer, no single color got the job done. Sean used ghost minnow, chartreuse shad and a clear skimmer to react and respond to changing conditions and jaded fish.

Remember, in addition to lures we also sell apparel that allows you to show the world that you proudly use the finest hard baits on the market. We have short and long sleeve shirts available in both white and navy blue, boat towels and beanies, along with baseball hats . They're high quality and will make a splash at your next bass tournament or out on the town.

As always, we'd love to hear about the bass that IMA lures produce for you, whether on your home body of water or on the trip of a lifetime. Please send pictures of your fish, preferably with an IMA bait in its mouth, and a short description of what made the catch memorable.

Each month we'll pick one winner who will get to choose the apparel item of his or her choice as a thank you for supporting and using IMA products.

This month's winner is Darren Brooks (pictured) with the nice Striper he caught on the ima Big Stik in the Delaware River. By the looks of the photo it looks like he can use a shirt!

FIND ALL THESE GREAT IMA BAITS @

More Tonka Time

Rich Lindgren — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:20:00 GMT

Spent some more time on Tonka this week in preparing for the upcoming TOC. Mixed results, did not set the world on fire, but learned lots of new water and found a handful of things I am pretty excited about. Keep pecking around and you find a few fish like this fish on a Picasso Fantasy Football Jig .

This fish was 18.625", estimated a little over 4lbs

In the end, I was not super concerned about catching fish this week, but spend time finding areas that will produce in about 3 weeks.

Also, been busy listing fishing stuff on ebay . Polarized sunglasses, Fluorocarbon line and even a G-Loomis Flipping Stick!

Putting in my Time

Rich Lindgren — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:19:00 GMT

Not much for tournaments lately, I kind of been busy spending time on Lake Minnetonka preparing for the Minnesota Federation Nation Tournament of Champions in early September. The lake goes off limits for me and my competitors this Friday. It really is a shame that I have not spent more time on Tonka since I have essentially lived in the Twin Cities all my life.

The thing about Tonka, there is so much water and so many contours and stuff to learn. That being said, I have been spending quite a bit of time out there mainly driving around with my electronics searching for new deep water spots. The learning curve is still super steep on this lake, but I am trying to do as much homework as possible. I did manage a few nice fish on new spots this past Sunday, as well as an 18" Fatty Smallmouth that I had camera malfunction and did not capture.

Not sure what I will be doing during the off limits, maybe doing some fun fishing or maybe trying film some more for "All About Bass". So who knows how regular the blogging will be here in the short term, but in the mean time, take a listen to the latest "Twin City Limits" podcast . Lots of talk about the BASS Post-Season, Sale of BASS, interview with Zona, and much more. It is a real solid listen. Listen to the embedded player here or check it out on TwinCityLimits.podbean.com or on iTunes.

It is a lengthy podcast, but I think it is a good one!

1996 Lake Minnetonka Bassmasters Top 100 Videos

Rich Lindgren — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:41:00 GMT

With the Minnesota State Bass Tournament of Champions coming up in just a few weeks, I got a bit of Tonka on the brain. So I thought it would be fun to share these old videos from TNN Outdoors. These videos are from Bassmasters Top 100 1996 on Lake Minnetonka where David Fritts won cranking deep. You can also see videos I posted from 1995 tourney here.

Mike Auten gets a bunch of face time in this video, Pete Cherkas wins the amateur title and several well known Minnesota anglers make cameos.

Full television show is broken into 3 YouTube clips.

Hope you enjoy watching these videos, if you like these types of videos, check out my YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/HellaBass

Crazy Happenings in Bass Fishing

Rich Lindgren — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:47:00 GMT

I was all prepared and inspired to document all the things happening in bass fishing right now, but then the guys at Wired2Fish did such a damn good job , I am going to give you a link there , do a little summary and get to bed early! So read W2F's blog and see my editorials below:

Triton, Stratos & Ranger boats all under same roof and ownership, good or bad, too ealry to tell. I see it can go 2 ways, either they use their clout and huge market share to control the price and make bass boats even more expensive for all of us or they use their economies of scale and give us all better products for a better price. Also, interesting to see what changes they make to Pro-Staff and tournament circuits they sponsor.

KVD is a beast, but I cannot yet dieceide if I like the Post-Seaon format or not, what do you think? Leave a comment, I think I kind of feel for Skeet.

I think McKInnis leading BASS forward will be a pretty good thing for all bass anglers, it will be great to have the right passion and knowledge leading the organization going forward.

I look for Bryan Thrift or Brent Ehrler to put the crown jewel on one of their awesome seasons!

Good night and see you on Tonka this weekend!

Celebration Tournament Win

Rich Lindgren — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:21:00 GMT

My tourney partner Ryan Brant and I decided that it would be a good idea to reinvest some of our Pan-O-Prog tourney winnings into the Celebration Outdoors bass tournament 3 weeks after that event. Didn't really have time to prefish with the Weekend Series tourney in Wabasha.

Last minute, Ryan had to work, so his brother Corey jumped in the boat with me, no big deal, as Corey is quite the stick as well, he currently sits in 3rd place for Silverado points after 2 events. We drew boat 12, and decided to start shallow like we did in Pan-O-Prog. The first area yielded only a single short fish, but Corey quickly boated a 3lbr in our second spot with a Ring Fry using a Force Bead as weight. We continued with the shallow pattern, I put two decent 2lb fish and a three rats in the well on a 3/8oz Green Pumpkin/Brown Tru-Tungsten jig . During that stretch I got sawed off by a good fish and had another 3lb fish get the best of me and spit my jig.

But now that we had our limit, we decided to test some deeper spots that had produced in the past, we were just about to leave our 2nd deep spot when Corey hooks up on a tube with a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten sinker in about 13 feet of water and lands a nice 3lbs plus fish that culls are first rat. Just as I was thinking it was time to move on again, i got picked up dragging my ring fry on a mojo rig , another 3lb fish to replace rat numero dos. We tried quite a few more lures for quite some time and that deep spot would not yield another good bite for us. Corey's fish was hooked deep, so I got to use some of my livewell care tricks to ensure his livelyhood.

With about 30 minutes to go, we revisited an area where that 3lb fish had given me the slip, I pitched my jig in between a dock and boat lift. As I started to lift my jig , a fish grabbed it and started to head for the lift. When I set, my 17lb fluoro got cut off pretty clean, feeling pretty dejected as it seems there is always a good fish or two that do this late in the day that cost me money. Grumbling under my breath, I grab a fresh jig from the deck of the boat and slap a used chuck on their quick and flip it under the front of the boat lift. It did not take long to get picked up again, it did not take long to realize this would be the best fish of the day. After a brief struggle, she was in the net, it was pretty obvious I had got my revenge on this fish, as it had 18" of my line hanging from its mouth and the old jig was already in her stomach. This tank was a huge cull over the 13 incher that was still in the well. Corey got wrapped right after that and lost a good fish. We hit a few more spots in the last few minutes, but could not improve on either of our 2lb fish. In the back of our minds, we knew we had a good day, but know we had 3 missed opportunities during the day to probably crack the 20lb mark, which is not uncommon on Lake Marion.

That 4.66lb fish is in my left hand, could not keep his lips of my Tru-Tungsten jigs!

In the end, our 18.61lbs was more then enough and gave us a 2lb margin of victory, but my lake 4.66 fish was beat out for big fish by a 5.3lb beauty. It was nice to get a win for this year, now I will probably turn my attention to Minnetonka in preparation for the Minnesota State Bass Federation Tournament of Champions in early September.

Been doing some Bass Fishing

Rich Lindgren — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:44:00 GMT

Hard to find time to blog with the new addition in the house. I suppose I would have more time to blog if I fished less, but what would I blog about?

Last Sunday, I hoped to get down for some early practice on Mississippi River pool 4 near Wabasha, but things did not work out, so I just went to local Lake Marion for a few hours in the afternoon. I hoped to find some new fish for the upcoming Celebration Outdoors tournament this coming Saturday, that did not really work out, caught a few decent fish, but I did not feel like I unlocked any new secrets by any means.

I did get down and practice both Thursday & Friday for my Bassmaster Weekend Series tourney this past weekend on Pool 4. Both days were kind of short, only about 6 hours on the water each day. Thursday was very windy and it rained for all but the last hour, I learned a little new water at the top of Big Lake, got one big bite and found a few fish close to the ramp that I felt could be a good back-up plan. Friday I practiced with my dad, checked my Pepin fish, they were there but small and then loaded boat and headed to Wabasha, fortunately I found some good fish on one of my favorite eel grass lines. Checked a few more things, eliminated water after that more than anything.

My plan for race day was to get some solid keeper in the well on my grass line and then spend the afternoon on the upper end of Big Lake going for a big bite. I got some smallmouth bites early on a bone colored Vixen topwater, then found better quality fish flipping the edge of the eel grass with a beaver bait on a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten flipping weight with MiHatchii OWG hook . My last two fish were probably my biggest and they both came on a Mad-Maxx frog in Busta Slime color. The 2nd generation Tru-Tungsten frogs are unbelievably soft and durable, really hard to beat this frog.

In the end, I weighed 4 largies and a single smallmouth that went 13.93lbs, good enough for 5th place in a pretty good field. This next weekend, another tourney on Lake Marion.

Outdoor Channel Lures Mark Zona and his new show!

Rich Lindgren — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:55:00 GMT

Zona! Set To Air in 2011

TEMECULA, CA, July 15 -- Outdoor Channel (Nasdaq: OUTD), America's leader in Outdoor TV, today announced three new and highly acclaimed fishing shows. "Madfin Shark Series," "Spanish Fly" and "Zona!" will come to Outdoor Channel in 2011. Formerly on ESPN2, these three established shows enhance and solidify Outdoor Channel's commitment to the popular saltwater fishing genre.

"Outdoor Channel viewers are passionate about saltwater fishing, and we are bringing the highest quality, most established shows in the genre to our network," said Jeff Wayne, Executive Vice President of Programming at Outdoor Channel. "Broadcast in the spectacular clarity of 100% native HD, Outdoor Channel is the premier destination for best-in-class fishing programming in 2011."

"Zona!" features the incomparable Mark Zona in his unscripted and unpredictable angling escapades.

For these three series, Outdoor Channel partnered with CSE, a pioneer in delivering compelling content to the outdoor enthusiast via television programming, live events and online channels. CSE connects brands with fans through integrated marketing, media content, sponsorship, talent management, experiential marketing, digital and retail into big campaigns that drives business.

In addition to "Madfin Shark Series", "Spanish Fly" and "Zona!," CSE's programming includes The STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series, The Fishin' Hole with Jerry McKinnis and the Bassmaster Classic and Elite Series hosted by Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona. CSE has produced award-winning shows that connect with the viewer for 25 years.

"For 25 years we have used our fishing shows to take our viewers on worldwide adventures and tell great stories," said Mike McKinnis, Vice President of Media Content for CSE. "We are excited to partner with Outdoor Channel to reach its audience of avid anglers, outdoorsmen and women and to take them on the boat with us as we battle sharks, visit incredible locations and fish the best waters available. With Jose Wejebe and Mark Zona, I'm pretty sure we'll have some fun too."

Zona!

Formerly host of The World's Greatest Fishing Show and currently the co-host of the Bassmaster Classic and Elite Series on ESPN2, Zona! joins Outdoor Channel in 2011. Zona! focuses on the unpredictable. The special allure of fishing is not knowing what's going to happen next, and each episode of Zona! captures the spirit of the unknown. Join host Mark Zona as he fishes with the very best anglers on the planet. From bass to shark fishing, Zona! covers it all and will keep viewers guessing on what the next bite will bring.

Follow ZONA! on Facebook or http://www.markzona.com

About Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc.

Outdoor Channel Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: OUTD) owns and operates Outdoor Channel, America's leader in outdoor TV, and Winnercomm Inc., an Emmy Award winning production and interactive company. Outdoor Channel offers programming that captures the excitement of hunting, fishing, shooting, off-road motorsports, adventure and the Western lifestyle and can be viewed on multiple platforms including high definition, video-on-demand, as well as on a dynamic broadband website. Winnercomm Inc. is one of America's largest and highest quality producers of live sporting events and sports series for cable and broadcast television. Winnercomm also owns and operates the patented Skycam and CableCam aerial camera systems which provide dramatic overhead camera angles for major sports events, including college and NFL football. For more information please visit www.outdoorchannel.com

My 2010 Pan-O-Prog Review

Rich Lindgren — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:47:00 GMT

This past Saturday my buddy Ryan Brant and I fished the Lakeville Pan-O-Prog bass touranment on little ol' Lake Marion presented by the Gopher Bassmasters. This was the first year the Gopher Bassmasters ran the Pan-O-Prog event, previously run for so many years by the Minnesota Pole Benders.

I did get a chance to spend a little practice time out here the two weekends prior to the event. Man it was brutal, I never caught a limit either day and only caught one deep fish. I am kinda concerned all the weed spraying by the home owners on this lake is really taking its toll on the fishing.

Ryan & I drew boat #8 out of 40, we decided we would start shallow, because that is where we had the most bites and wanted to get to what few fresh biting fish there were, since we did not have any deep spots that we felt produced with any consistency. Ryan quickly caught a nice keeper on a 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten jig and I followed up by catching a quality fish on a Black Secret Weapon Lures buzzbait. We then follwed up with 2 more nice jig fish all in about the first hour or so. Nothing huge, but we were happy with our start.

Well things got really slow from there, about an hour later, I caught a 13" keeper on a Tru-Tungsten jig , then we did not get our last keeper until about 45 minutes to go, I did have one other good bite that I rolled arounda bluegill bed. So in total, 7 keeper bites, 6 fish caught that total 14.58lbs, which on a tough bite was good enough for 3rd place. Not pretty, but we stuck to our plan and ground out a nice check!

Check here for full results on this tourney! Hats off to Gopher for funning an excellant tournament! I am planning to take another crack at Lake Marion during the Celebration Church bass tournament in a couple weeks....

Tough Practice

Rich Lindgren — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:43:00 GMT

Spent two days practicing for upcoming Pan-O-Prog bass fishing tournament on Lake Marion, neither day went well. Not sure if I got too caught up with my new side imaging unit, but I spent a very full day fishing on Monday, only caught 4 bass and a pike, plus a few more bites. At least one of them was a good fish, I got this 19" largemouth off one of my spot, which gives me a little confidence for Saturday.

It was good to get out, most of my holiday weekend was consumed with out of town guests. At least this gives me one more fish for BP's Blog Derby! Guess I will have to work on fishing the moment on Saturday!

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Important Law Change for Minnesota Fisherman and Boaters

Rich Lindgren — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:59:00 GMT

Starting today, July 1st, 2010, if you have your drain plug in, while transporting your boat on any roadway in Minnesota, you could be subject to a $250.00 fine

Regulations on transport of water

As of July 1, 2010, the following regulations, apply to the transportation of water by boaters from all waters in the state (violations are misdemeanors):

a person leaving waters of the state must drain boating-related equipment holding water and live wells and bilges by removing the drain plug before transporting the watercraft and associated equipment on public roads; and
drain plugs, bailers, valves, or other devices used to control the draining of water from ballast tanks, bilges, and live wells must be removed or opened while transporting watercraft on a public road (marine sanitary systems and portable bait containers are excluded from this requirement).

This law is to help prevent spread of aquatic invasive species, particularly zebra mussels. I always do this, I think its a good practice, plus you don't want that extra water sitting in your boat anyways. Hope this heads up saves a few of you $250!

Rich

Got out for a little fun fishing

Rich Lindgren — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:24:00 GMT

Did some fun fishing this weekend on local lakes, overall fishing was not that awesome. The highliights would be getting first frog fish of the year on a Bluegrass colored Mad Maxx frog and today jacked a nice 20.5" Largemouth on a 3/8oz Green Pumpkin Brown Tru-Tungsten jig with Sweet Beaver trailer. I think the beaver on a jig does an awesome job of giving a profile of a big sunfish or craw at the same time.

Fish were scattered, some shallow, some deep, some patrolling bluegill beds. Caught them on inside weedlines, pads, docks, outside weedlines, hard bottom. Either way it was good to get out and spend some time learning with the my new side imaging unit.

Well with the long holiday weekend approaching, I see more fishing in the immediate future!

FLW Announces 2011 Tour Schedule

Rich Lindgren — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:49:00 GMT

Just a few days after the Bassmaster Elite Series released their schedule, FLW has released theirs. Kudos to them for some creative marketing, making it look like they are expanding to 10 tourneys, when all they really did is rename the Eastern Series to the Opens and called Tour events Majors.

The 2011 FLW Tour season is listed below and can be viewed atFLWOutdoors.com.

2011 FLW Tour Schedule
Date Fishery Location Tournament
Feb. 2-5 Lake Okeechobee Clewiston, FL - FLW Tour Open
March 2-5 Falcon Lake Zapata,TX - FLW Tour Major
March 23-26 Lake Hartwell Greenville, SC - FLW Tour Major
April 13-16 Lake Chickamauga Chattanooga,TN - FLW Tour Major
May 4-7 Table Rock Lake Branson, MO -.FLW Tour Major
May 18-21 Red River Shreveport, LA - FLW Tour Major
June 1-4 Potomac River National Harbor, MD - FLW Tour Open
June 15-18 Kentucky Lake Murray, KY - FLW Tour Major
Aug. 11-14 Lake Ouachita Hot Springs,AR - Forrest Wood Cup
Sept. 14-17 Lake Champlain Plattsburgh,NY - FLW Tour Open
Oct. 19-22 Lake Guntersville Guntersville, AL - FLW Tour Open

The prestigious Angler of the Year title for 2011 will be determined over the 10 events. The top 30 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Tour Majors will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup, which will consist of 58 pros and co-anglers. In 2012, the top 35 pros and co-anglers from the FLW Tour Majors, along with the top five from the 2011 FLW Tour Opens, will qualify for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup.

The full field will compete the first two days of each FLW Tour event.On day three, the top 75 pros and co-anglers will compete with the co-angler winner being crowned based on cumulative weight from all 3 days. Day four will feature the top five pro anglers with the winner determined by cumulative weight from all four days.

Pro anglers will compete for up to $125,000 and co-anglers will be vying for up to $25,000 in each tournament. With a full field, the paybacks will be $10,000 through 50th place on the pro side and $1,000 on the co-angler side.

Once again in 2011, there are 3 conflicts between BASS & FLW at the Tour level, so no 2 tour pros in 2011!

Guntersville FLW Fantasy Fishing Picks

Rich Lindgren — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:22:00 GMT

I finished the ESPN BASS Fantasy season super strong, moved into 7th over all out of thousands and thousands of participants. Looks like I won prizes from ESPN and other leagues I was in, now I hope to finish FLW Fantasy strong as well.

Conflicting schedules, we were not able to put together a podcast show for this week, so here are my FLW picks for this week!
Randal Tharp winning with 78lbs
David Dudley
Andy Morgan
Stetson Blaylock
Greg Pugh
Michael Bennet
Scott Canterbury
Bryan Thrift
Brent Ehrler
Shin Fukae

Little local flavor, some studs and some young guns!

Stay tuned, think I am going fishing Friday and Saturday this week!

2011 Bassmasters Elite Series Tour Schedule

Rich Lindgren — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:39:00 GMT

BASS recently released their 2011 Elite Series Bassmasters Schedule:

2011 BassmasterElite Series Schedule

Date
March 10-13
March 17-20
April 6-9*
April 14-17
May 5-8
May 12-15
June 9-12
June 16-19

Event
Sunshine Showdown
Citrus Slam
Alabama Charge
Battle on the Bayou
Pride of Georgia
Carolina Clash
Diamond Drive
Dixie Duel

Fishery
Harris Chain
St. Johns River
Pickwick Lake
Toledo Bend
West Point Lake
Lake Murray
Arkansas River
Wheeler Lake

Host City
Tavares, FL
Palatka, FL
Florence, AL
Many, LA
LaGrange, GA
Columbia, SC
Little Rock, AR
Decatur, AL

*Wednesday-Saturday event

The Florida whiners will be happy, Pickwick should be a sight fishing event. Toledo Bend and West Point should be good as first time Elite events. I actually fished West Point awhile back, interested to see the Pros there. Interestingly enough no Kentucky, Guntersville or West Texas fisheries, good to see they mix it up a little, but once again the lack of Northern venues is a major Buzz Kill!

Sooner Run Fantasy Picks?

Rich Lindgren — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:25:00 GMT

Well here is a great interview with Mark Zona about Sooner Run Bassmaster elite series picks for Arkansas river.

Hope you enjoyed the listen, as just a few hours ago, BASS moved this event to Fort Gibson lake just up the road because of high dangerous waters. So 1 day of practice on Fort Gibson and it's go time!
So now I go with:
Skeet & KVD because nobody fishes faster, better and reads conditions better than these two
Edwin Evers has some BFL experience here and some good finishes, plus he is fishing hot
Biffle because he lives across the street
Butcher, same reasons as Evers

Well, good luck to all the Elites and your fantasy rosters, but I think the best pure fishermen will rise to the top on this one!

Catching up a bit

Rich Lindgren — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:14:56 GMT

Things are hectic here at the Lindgren household with a new 1 week old addition to the family. Welcome my daughter Reese to the world, I am officially outnumbered for the long haul, with another daughter added to the mix. So not much fishing and not much computer time. Might even be another week or so before I let another line, maybe take my oldest daughter bluegill fishing on Father's day.....

On the bright side, my ESPN BASS Fantasy Fishing team is rocking, as this week, I had KVD, Evers & Butcher all in top 3 at Kentucky Lake, which surged me to 37th in the world with one tourney to go. So who knows, if I can pick the perfect last tourney on the Sooner Run, maybe I can be standing next to Zona on set telling you how I did it, probably a long shot, but you have to think big!

ESPN recently announced, it will stop the ESPN Outdoors block starting in 2011 and only air Bassmasters Elite Series events, thus no more World's Greatest Fishing Show with Mark Zone on ESPN2 starting next year. So this is a great time to check out the second half of the Mark Zona interview we did previously. Mark talks about "Crappie Fishing", World's Greatest Fishing Show, Minnesota Smallmouth fishing, Lake Vermillion, Mille Lacs and much more.

Zona is an awesome interview. Hope you enjoy! We have been stuck on 111 email subscribers for awhile, if you like reading this blog, enter your email in the upper left of the side bar and you will get entties emailed to your inbox or if you are savvy, add the RSS feed.

Bass Opener 2010 Recap

Rich Lindgren — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:42:00 GMT

Another bass opener has come and gone, I had big hopes and expectations for my trip to Pelican Lake. I had heard so much good about this lake. I went out fishing with buddy John Haynes, hoping to get some good footage for a future episode of All About Bass. Things started a bit slow, we found some fish loosely relating to inside weed edges and pockets in amount cattails, picking these fish off with weightless ring frys rigged on 4/0 Mihatchii OWG Super Strong Hook as primary bait.

As they day progress, fish seemed tighter to the abundant wood cover and more precise casting was required, by the time the sun was directly over head, I switched to a Okeechobee Craw colored Sweet Beaver rigged with a 1/4oz Tru-Tungsten sinker so I could get a vertical presentation next to the wood and that seemed to be the ticket, as the fish did not seem interesting in moving to come get our baits any longer.

In the end, numbers were pretty good, the boat landed 25 plus bass, but only a couple solid 3 pound fish were our biggest. None of the giants that this lake is know for showed themselves for our boat. The thick matted spring cabbage made fishing some what challenging.

For an audio recap of the trip, take a listen to the following podcast:

Tight Lines,
Rich