Of course, it’s easy. Just fish every weekend at the same lake and when the tournament comes to town, go collect. Of course, when you’re busy divining every acre of the local pond, how will you also be able to get up to speed on all the other tour lakes?
Just for drill, I picked out 25 spots (more…)
EHRLER WINS, and Pro-Line Jigs two of his weapons...
UPDATED [Ehrler winnings]–How come you didn’t catch me on this? He’s got almost $1.25 million from FLW tournament fishing. My bad.
It seems like eons ago that I took my first pictures of Redlands’ Brent Ehrler at Lake Perris, El Capitan, and finally Diamond Valley. (And he doesn’t even like the latter. ) But the thing is, this guy can just as quickly hook up his trailer, drive all the way across the country and win a hundred grand on any given week.
And he did it yet again on Sunday, pocketing $125,000 at South Carolina’s Hartwell Lake on the FLW Tour. This was the fourth tour type event he has won, to go along with an equal number of championship events in his short career.
Can you believe it? He’s almost reached (more…)
WHAT HAD BEEN DRY was flooded for two days...
While stable water and weather are the watchword for western reservoir fishing, those who tap tidal waters know it well. Things change, and when they do, the fishermen better change as well. But even those tidal changes are predictable. You can know months in advance if the low tide will be very low, or the high very high. At Lake Skinner in the Inland Empire, change often comes suddenly, without a heads-up.
True, it’s spring yet much of the bass population doesn’t seem to vacate the reed lines most of the year. But from one day to the next, the MWD is pumping water (more…)
Lots of people want to participate in a worthy cause, but when it comes to bass fishing, sometimes logistics and especially, quagga mussel inspections interfere. Therefore, it’s good to send out announcements now that there will be a Wounded Warriors angling event at Lake Castaic on April 22. (more…)
Keeping track of historic bass fishing data has never been one of my strengths. I lived and covered some of the western scene, but chasing the ardent, younger cadre of anglers now on the water, there’s just not a lot of time to gather up so many past moments. However, that doesn’t mean the work won’t be done. (more…)
THAT LITTLE add-on barb really holds 'em...
Getting on a hot bite with soft worms has triggered some searching on my part. We know a lot of stuff, but sometimes we need to put ideas into action. For one thing, how lucky we are out West to have the ReBarb hook. Think about it. There may have once been a line of baits called “Jelly Worms,” but California hand-pourers actually use real jelly–or so it seems.
You know what I mean, the Bonzai, Robo or Bass Chow baits. They may melt in the fish’s mouth, but sometimes they almost melt off your hook. (more…)
MORE BASS should be approved today to add to the existing Elsinore population.
UPDATED, 8:45 p.m.–Just returned from the City Council meeting. The staff report from Mr. Pat Kilroy was accepted and the Council voted 5-0 in favor of the bass stocking. Those fish are anticipated to arrive in late March or early April.
It may not cause ripples across the land, but maybe across three local counties when the Lake Elsinore City Council votes tonight on a measure that would bring some 7000 largemouth bass to the lake sometime in the next four weeks.
They won’t all be adults, but the plan (at this point) is to have about 500 catchables go in along with thousands of 10-11 inchers and another group of fish roughly half that size. (more…)
On a weekend that was supposed to feature the NBA All-star game, the Daytona 500, Bassmasters Classic, an EverStart tour event, plus Hollywood’s premier awards ceremony–the Oscar Presentations–let’s kick out a few awards–no statuettes, but at least a semblance. Call them ‘Scars for short. (more…)
Today you get an offer in the mail every week. But when I graduated from college, the thing I got the most of were offers from credit card companies–hopefully banking that my degree would somehow morph into a healthy income where I would be charging up a storm.
The parallel now is the way college bass anglers are being given priority over the guys (more…)
TONY LAIN shows a couple of umbrella versions...
I thought we’d put that umbrella rig thing behind us. It’s not going to soil sportsmanship, innovation or professionalism–and shouldn’t that be enough? Obviously, the bass fishing world doesn’t think so and continues to spin in assorted directions–like so many dangling wires and snap swivels.
Yet, the one area that surprised me the most has been within the fishing industry–read, manufacturers. While the original Mann’s Slick Lures Alabama Rig, continues to sell at roughly 30 bucks, there are all kinds of “alternatives” for as little as $11 and by my count, as high as $35.
But hey, nothing new there. (more…)