Justin's Outdoor Blog

where is spring?

2011-01-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

After getting in some ice fishing over break with our friend Jody White, I have been really looking forward to spring. We have got some good perch and Ben continues to catch some good eating fish.

Our first tourney is in March on Smith Mountain Lake. We are looking forward to fishing this and are hoping to practice before the event. Its been a cold winter and were ready to get the Triton back on the water. This should be a good event with a lot of teams ready to get back into the fishing season. Were hoping this is a pre spawn event because that will give us a good chance to do well even though we may not make it to practice.

At VTC, our club has a few new sponsors were excited to be affiliated with. A new company, Wiskey River Bait Company, is releasing some workhorse plastics that will benefit our team and will certainly catch more fish. These baits are high quality, low in price, and are not lacking anything. The color selection is amazing and they are working on adding more. I will post some pictures when the time comes and we can start using them more and more.

Successful Summer

2010-09-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

After a great start to the FLW College fishing series, Ben and I walked away with a 2nd and a 3rd place finish. We had a trip to regionals after the first event at Mountain Island Lake, NC, and the Potomac River was a bonus for us.

The summer was good fishing, we fished alot of new lakes and smaller ponds this year and learned a few new techniques that we were not familiar to us. We got some good sized bass on frogs and learned to throw a jig, really throw a jig, not just a flip or two, all day.

Before that, Turkey season was great to us all. Opening morning there were 3 birds down, Ben nailed 2 on film in one shot, and soon after I tagged one after calling them back in. Following week I took my father out and he shot his first bird of the season. A week later, Ben and I took him back out only to have him tag out, with another bird, on camera as well.

We have been back to college for about 5 weeks and we are now planning our trip to North Carolina for the Northern Regional coming up in November. We practice starting in a few weeks on Jordan lake.

This coming weekend is the start of the Vermont Bow Season. I will be following Ben around with the camera trying to capture him kill yet another deer, or bear, on film. Shoud be a fun season!

Mountain Island Lake

2010-03-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

The first event of 2010 took ben, my dad, his dad, and I to North Carolina's Mountain Island Lake. We had some idea what was going on but we had both never fished this lake. Tournament morning brought a nice little cold front which we thought might mess with our fish. We launched and headed to the back of a small bay flipping docks it senkos and shakey heads. Nothing. We then threw some reaction baits only to find nothing. Our plan was to fish some trees we knew of by placing spinnerbaits back up into the trees. As the day began I got 2 short fish, and 2 other fish that combined 4-4. Not bad. We kept pounding the trees looking for the other 4 fish. I soon after lost a nice bass on the spinnerbait. We fished the same trees a few more times and finally ben got his 1st keeper, and only keeper of the day, a 4-6 largemouth to top off our day. It didnt seem like alot, but these 3 bass went 8-10 and was good enough for a 2nd place finish and a bid to regionals for team Vermont Tech.

Lake Champlain Recap

2009-08-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

After making 2 top 6 finishes at the first 2 events, the 3rd tournament brought Ben and I to Lake Champlain. A good pre-fish the week before had us excited for the start of the event. With our luck, the perfect weather suddenly changed and a cold front brought a lot of rain to the Plattsburgh area. But with all this going on, we were still under no pressure to make regional’s and we just went fishing.

We got to Plattsburgh later on Friday night and we could not sleep from excitement. Rain on Saturday morning was expected but the wind was surprisingly not horrible. We launched a little late but the (expected) 20 minute run north only took just over 10 minutes. Our first stop was the opening into one of the passages. We immediately had 3 keepers in our box after only 10 minutes of fishing. We moved onto the next opening and I got my second keeper. The best start we have had to any of the college tourneys. As another college team moved down the riprap fishing towards the marina we were going to fish, they stopped and turned around. We then moved in and continued fishing down when I got my 3rd keeper, a 5 pound largemouth. This was the best start we have had.

We got to the docks where we expected to catch our quality fish only to have a giant largemouth miss a spro frog. We fished the docks only to have nothing biting except a rock bass. We moved onto a rocky shoreline with scattered weeds and lily pads, only to find the wind was too strong to fish it like we wanted to. Our next stop was a weed bed with docks, once again no fish. Time was getting short when we made a decision to move to another bridge, there were 2 teams fishing. We pulled in and I slammed 2 fish that culled out my smaller ones. Ben culled one also. We went back to the openings and the wind was absolutely howling, making it tough to fish. We only got a few fish. Onto the next opening we found no fish until the last cast when Ben culled out his smallest fish, with his biggest fish.

The ride back to Plattsburgh was spent taking rain drops on our faces feeling like needles in our skin. The giant waves were killer and the Champion Boat help up. We knew we had a decent bag but we also knew our hopes of winning were gone. When the scales were turned off we were in 7th place. The 3 tournaments we fished we finished in the top 7. We had a great year with FLW and we look forward to regional’s scheduled for November 2009.

Special thanks as always to the National Guard for making this experience possible.
Also, Ben and I would like to thank our boater, Rex Johnsonbaugh. We had a great time on the water. Good luck the rest of the season!

1000 Islands Tournament

2009-07-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

The 2nd of the 4 qualifying events of the northern division of the National Guard FLW College Fishing was held on 1000 islands this past weekend. After coming off a 2nd place finish at the Potomac River in Maryland, Ben and I had no pressure of making a top 5 and we just went fishing for a paycheck.

When we arrived to our first spot after a 30 minute run north, we began throwing top waters to only find no fish. Speaking of no fish, the first 5 hours of the 7 hour event was spent catching 5 Rock Bass, (Justin Fish). With our patience running low, and the wind howling, we finally decided enough is enough and we moved shallow to the grass. Ben threw a frog and I flipped worms into pockets on the way to catching our 1st keeper, at 12:15, on the frog. We were slowly finding the bass.

With the weigh-in at 1:45 for our flight, we left the spot with 4 of the 6 fish we needed to complete our limit. We left about 10 minutes to fish boat garages before we headed in. we arrived with 10 minutes left on the clock, as Ben hooked up and landed his 3rd and final keeper. We continued to fish back to the bridge (off limits) with 1 minute remaining…. I saw a boil and immediately threw a Senko to the splash with no luck. Second cast and large amounts of shaking the worm led to a strike, my 3rd and final fish.

When we arrived to the stage and weighed out 10 pounds of bass we sat in second place. After we cleaned our Harry's Boat, we took our rods to the truck and made our way back to the weigh-in... We were still sitting in 2nd place....
With 15 teams left to weigh, we were jost hoping for the top 5 finish. As teams brought big fish to the scales, we were sitting in 5th place with one team left....... and of course they had big fish. We ended with a sixth place finish. We were a little upset but to finish in the top 10 in the first 2 events was great, including a 2nd place finish in Maryland. Overall it has been a good tour for us so far and we are greatly looking forward to Lake Champlain next month.

2009 Potomac River- FLW College Fishing

2009-06-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived to Small Wood State Park, Maryland, and right away, without unpacking, Ben, Cody, and I headed down to check out the River. The Day 2 weigh-in of the Stren Series was kicking off and we knew right away there were a lot of bass in the River, and some of them were good bags. The top Ten included Bobby Lane (we fished with his brother, Arnie, he was our boater), Dave Lefebree, and 8 other of the top pro’s on the Tour.

When 4:30 came, we woke up on Saturday morning and made our way to the launch ramp where we were slowly beginning to meet other College Anglers, as we all awaited our Registration. The registration began and were immediately thrown a number of free products, which was cool. We were introduced to our boater, Arnie Lane, and we drew our launch number at the pre-tourney meeting. As we finished the preparation, we made our way to the “Fully Wrapped, 20 foot Ranger” and loaded our gear. I backed Ben and Arnie into the water and we prepared for the launch after the number 12 was called… ok… now the fun stuff…

We decided last minute to change our plans from running north to the 95 bridge to staying near the ramp and fishing the creeks. The wind on the main river would increase travel time and limit the amount of fishing time. We had not had the luxury of pre-fishing, so we were looking for the longest amount of fishing time we could find. The first place (only place) we stopped was with-in a mile of the ramp and we began with CHAOS…..

First off, with no spinning rod in the boat, I was trying to throw a weightless Senko and it was not going well at all… I tried the Frog, and immediately while trying to cast, the 65 pound braid snapped and my frog landed 50 yards down the creek… Ben on the other hand, wasn’t doing so bad… after no fish on a Luck Craft "Sammy" he missing the first fish. We looked like clowns for the first 20 minutes of the day but were able to turn the day around early and stay focused.

So after all the disaster, we started to clean up our images and look halfway decent, and we began catching fish. Ben leading 2-0, I hooked about a 2 pounder and caught up. Next fish for me was about 4+ pounds and that tied us at 2 apiece… 1 short of our 3 fish limit.
Ben then caught 2 smaller bass and I followed with another solid bass and completed my limit of 3. Ben all this time was catching smaller bass, then finally a decent chunk. We fished the same shore line (200 yards) the entire day, making short runs to the other end and fishing down. I caught 5 bass all day, they came slow but very intense bites. Ben caught a lot of bass including a 5 pound chunk. The “Possible” lunker of the whole Tourney.

We had to be at the ramp for weigh-in at 2:10, but decided we had about 13 pounds (estimate at the time) and headed back a few minutes early. We arrived to cameras flashing and people everywhere. We loaded our bass (6) and headed to the tanks, where we waited to be the 5th team in line to weigh-in… when we stepped on the stage and waited to weigh the bag, the team to beat had 9 pounds. We were confident we had them beat with our estimated bag of 13 ish. We each added our 3 bass each into the tank, which was exposed to the crowd, and waiting teams to weigh fish. We soon learned we were “horrible” at estimating bass when 15-04 pounds showed on the big screen. We were in the lead after 4 teams…. Out Of 40.

As the bags hit the scales and the low numbers came up, we still lead. 25 teams went by and we were still winning. Wow. Team 31 hit the stage, and we had a feeling the bag would be close. 15-05 showed and we were surprised to have been put into second place by ONLY ONE OUNCE. As the teams finished weighing, we ended the Event in second place, winning a check for $5,000. $2,500 to the School (VTC) and $2,500 to the club (Ben and I). Still not bad….

Keys to the event were fishing differently and fishing slow. Ben threw Yamamoto Senkos and I was throwing both yamamoto senkos and Alchi Sticks (www.alchibaits.com) texas rigged with a 1/8 Tru Tungston Weight. The important part of the day was fishing slow. We Sprayed our worms with CB's Hawg Sauce, Garlic Scent. We have tremendous comfidence in Hawg Sauce and were were fishing pressured fish, in an overlooked area, with-in a mile of the launch. The scent really kept us both focused and helped me put my 5 bass in the boat. Ben had about 10 fish and we sprayed the baits every 15-20 minutes.

A special Thanks to the National Guard for supporting the Event and Giving us colleges the opportunity to be introduced to a special tour, designed just for us.

Also a thanks to our boater, Arnie Lane, for a great day on the water. Arnie is a great guy, we enjoyed his company and his great Filming Skills. Check out some of his amazing sponsers who allow him to do what Ben and I can only dream about- Professional Bass Fisherman

http://www.power-pole.com/

http://www.costadelmar.com/
http://www.gambler-lures.com/

The whole experience was Incredible and the National Guard and FLW setup was sweet. It was a great experience to be a part of. Check the website http://www.collegefishing.com/ for results, pictures, and videos of the event.

LCI Weekend 2009

2009-06-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

With Rain as the forecast, Mike, Cody, and I Headed off to bridport Friday Night. After the 2 hour ride, we got to grams and unpacked the gear and then headed off to Laphams Bay and launched the Triton for some last minute fishing. With VERY Muddy water in some spots, it made it hard to fish, not to mention the abundance of weeds. The decision was made that we would spend our weekend At Shelburn Bay.

I have not had alot of experience in the "Big Water" of lake champlain so I was looking forward to smallies in new water. The morning began at 3:30 and we took the 45 minute drive to shelburn and began fishing at about 4:30. Right off, The "Sammy" bite was ON for me... as mike and cody followed along with tubes and senkos, we were constantly catching fish. 1-2.5 pounds. good fun, decent fight, not LCI bass. we continued down the shore, fishing rock Piles as we decided to try our luck somewhere else....

Click, Click..... was i heard when i tried to start the 150 OptiMaxx. Ouch, we forgot to turn the lights off and it drained the Cranking Battery... We ended up flaggin the Game Warden down and a little bit of switching wires, we were back in business. We spend an hour at the launch ramp letting the battery charge. Ok back to the bass...

We ended sat. with Alot Of Bass... Nothing Too Big, but a few were 3 pounds. Ok....

Sunday Began, it was a North Wind wich made it impossible for me to control the boat, with the Hidden Boulders under the surface, we decided to move.... We took a chance and headed out of the bay into Very Unfamiliar Waters.... Almost to mallets bay, I was sick of running when mike though we should try a rock shore we could see. it was somewhat out of the wind. We pulled in and immediatly began to catch fish... we had 3 bass over 3 pounds in about 2o minutes with more smalller ones also being caught.

Because of prior plans for me, (Lunch Date), we followed the Trail on the GPS back to the Launch. when I returned, we decided to call it a weekend and headed home...

All and All... Great weekend of fishing... NO RAIN, Mike Caught his biggest smallie... I killed them on a "Secret Bait" ( Sammy).... and we HAd fun.... Perfect

Ben and I are headed to the POTOMAC RIVER This Weekend For the FLW College Fishing Tour.... Watch The weigh-in Online and check for results....

Bass of 2009

2009-05-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

This has been a pretty good season so
far. Ben and I have been getting some
pretty good bass this season.
Check out the Pictures and Let Us Know What You Think...

Day 19 Seems To Be The Start Of Feathers Flying Again

2009-05-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

At the last minute, we changed out plans from Bass Fishing, To going hunting again. Well we have not even heard a gobble since may 2nd, besides one day. The season has been rough and exhausting.

We woke up this morning, yawning, at 4 am and made the 20 minute drive to the ridge. Cold weather and a frost made walking easy on the wet leaves. we loaded up and walked down the V.A.S.T. Trail only to actually hear a GOBBLE... Or 3 Even... we proceded to inch closer to the sound and as we entered the woods, we flushed a bird off the roost and gone... Great start.

We decided to call and the boys were still talking... we continued to the top of the ridge and set the Jake and Hen Decoys up, ben went behind me up on the hilll and sat down and i went over the small hill overlooking a small clearing... the toms were still talking...

As the sun started to come over the hill into my eyes, ben began hitting the glass and mouth call, all the while, the tom would not shut up. He started quietly coming closer. Then i saw him, he came into about 70 yards and strutted... then gobbled...

As ben stopped calling, the bird got frustrated and gobbled a number of times, looking around...he could not see the decoys at this point. He then, being very smart, ran to some higher ground, 50 yards from me, off to my left. he then picked out the decoys, ben called, and he gobbled. He did not like the jake decoy and this was the last decision he would make in his life.

He ran to 20 yards, and stopped and looked.... Then with both beads on his white and blue head, the 870 went off and the Bird lost all conciousness as he fell over hardcore. THE END

Ohhhh, 17.9 pounds, 8.5 inch beard, and 7/8" kickers.

Did Someone Hit The Mute Button???????

2009-05-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

So after we tagged 2 toms on youth weekend, and then A Tom the opening Saterday... Someone told the birds the be quiet. Its frustrating to walk miles and miles and hear the same old woodpecker. But the season is young, and the Fellow Staff Members Ethan Persons, Justin Town, and Jeff Barwick are having no problem blasting the birds... They have killed 4 birds on film and they are off to a great start to the season, Congrats Guys...

Day 2 and 3....

2009-05-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

DAY 2
Sat morning was shown on TV as a decent morning... for Ben, his father and uncle, it was a long morning, they started off with no gobbles and ended with no birds talking. For me, i decided to sleep in until around 9 am, then i contacted ben and made some arragments for a late morning hunt. boy it could not have gone any better.

Ben picked me up at 10:30 and we drove 10 mins to a spot i knew some toms would be looking for some Females. We stopped the car, grabbed a call, and began clucking and purring. GOBBLE. he answered right back and was only 100 yards away, great, we got dressed, got the guns loaded, an got our hen decoy.. as we cressed the hill, only 40 yards from the car.

we got to a clear location, ideal for a quick set up, i set the hen in the ground and grabbed the closest tree... the toms were gobbleing still and headed in... where i was sitting, i could only see ben, and the top of the decoy... great.

Ben started some soft clucking and purring on the glass call, they answered, but seemed to stay just out of sight, ben motioned to me he saw the birds, and he was going to stop calling. it worked and the tom came to 25 yards, stopped, and he soon fell with the impact of the 3" shot shell...

A 16.5 pound tom, he wore a 8.5 inch beard, and walked with 7/8 inch spurs.

DAY 3

Day 3 started at 4:30, we headed to a location in town, and heard absolutly nothing. we went to another, took a small walk, and nothing... jesum, this sucked... around 10 we decided to head to a spot we hunte during youth weekend and we took the 30 minunte drive. we arrived to 2 toms in a field, and we went down through the woods, and slowly walked and sat down on the edge... NO TOMS IN THE FIELD... What???.

We sat and called anyways.... an unknown amount of jakes, all hammered our yelping. they were probably 400 yards away, moving slowly to our double calling... 2 mouth calls.

With the time reading 11:45, we knew this was going to have to happen quick, the clock struck 12:00 and we decided to leave, as we left and go back to the car, we called. they all gobbled, within 70 yards of where our set up was... COOL... a LONG Day and nothing to show... We will update the blog on tuesday after our hunt... thanks

Day one was quite a bang...

2009-05-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

We woke to music, loud music, at 3:30 Am... we (My cousin Jeff and I) got dressed ans slipped into the truck and made the 10 minute drive to the field we would be hunting. The weather was warm and the sky was far from inviting... we grabbed the gear and headed into the field, getting drenched with rain and blown by the wind...

The blind set up very hard because of the wind, and we never had the stakes in the ground correctly, once again, the WIND. We decided that it was as good as it was going to be. So we sucked it up and we started the wait until light. As the wind got stronger, my arms got sore, from holding the blind over top of it.

The birds hit the field in order and the hens were putting around within 30 yards. As i held the blind, the hens continued to scratch around and a jake hit the ground at about 70 yards. since i couldnt use my hands, i had Jeff grab my mouth call and i suckered hit to about 47 yards. I think this was the same bird Mike missed on youth weekend. Jeff had a shot at the bird for a split second before he left the field to hunker down in the woods... with all that happened this morning, i was ready for it to end. i was covered in water from the rain spattering in the windows... We packed up and left.... Better Luck Tomorrow

Tomorrow Is The Big Boys Turn

2009-04-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow brings us the opening morning of the Vermont Spring Turkey Hunting season. We have our birds picked out, calls packed, everything is ready. Tomorrow morning, Dad and Brian will be blind hunting in Middleburry, my cousin JJ and I will be in bridport, and Ben and Mariah will be hunting in bethel.

Check back for the updated blog tomorrow after the hunt.... Good Luck Everyone...

Youth Weekend Recap...

2009-04-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sat morning came at 3:30 when the alarm went off. we were welcomed by thunder, rain, and lightning. What a way to begin turkey hunting... we decided to head into the field and set up out blinds, put the decoys to work, and just hunt...

Micheal and I's hunt began with no gobbles. when the birds felt safe, they all came a flyign down into the field, and unfortuantly the toms landed about 80 yards in the field. we were surrounded by hens. the hens mingled and the (3) toms and (1) jake left and went to the other hens waiting 400 yards away. This was a repeat of last years youth and we were patient and sure enough, the hens left and the toms were willing. the first bird to leave the woods and become caught up in my calling was a young jake, he was very cautious and he refused to come closer than 40 yards. we decided to take him, even though the Mature Tom was gobbling in the woods. When he stepped out into the opening, i stopped him quick with some calling, he lifted his head, and mike gave him the lead..... unfortunatly, he didnt want anything to do with it... and he got away clean...

Now, i have seen mike shoot birds flying at 50 yards, same gun. Something Didnt seem right... anyways, back to the hunt..,

After a few mins of talking the miss over, i decided to call, as my yelps made itsway through the timber, the tom gobbled... but he refused to leave his hens.... a few more gobbles and nothing... I have seen this same situation before and i decided to irritate the bird so much, he couldnt refuse our 2 decoys... I began calling a few seconds, and he answered right back... i then followed up with 2 quick gobbles with my shaker... he was not happy...

The bird left the hens, looking for a fight... and all he found was our decoys, looking pretty as could be feeding gently in the corn field... hehe.... he spotted the set up and marched right in, strutting and gobbling... we decied to let him walk passed the 40 yard maker and come close... he crossed a small farm road and made his way through the ditch (30 yards). He stopped, picked his head up, something didnt seem right... BOOOM... the bird fell over, but instead of dying, he picked himself up and ran off.... another miss.... WHAT?????

We decided to shoot the gun when we got home, somethign was not right... we set the target up abou 40 yards... first shot.... Not one BB in the paper... huh??? 30 yards, not anything...

We moved the red dot scope a few clicks up and shot again... little better... 6 more clicks, perfect..

The Gun was shooting 18 inches low at 40 yards... thats why we missed... What a good day of Luck we have... Anyways, on sunday AM, nothing, high wind, and henned up birds... Mike ended up tagging a decent jake around 10 AM this morning...

Erica's Hunt was a tad different... after watching the birds roost the night before, they (Dad, Cody, and Erica) headed out into the field at 4:15, got set up and the action happeded... a few BIG males entered the field but wanted ntohing to do with codys calling... 2 males ( a Jake and a Tom) made their way to the decoys, only to find Erica was waiting with the shotgun... she bagged her first tom, a 19 lb 3 oz tom with a 9.5" beard... great bird...

When the bird fell the jake decided for some odd reason, he liked he decoys so much he was gonna stick around... cody was ready for the 35 yrd shot, but decided to pass the young bird and try his luck on sunday... as of now ( 11:45), nothing...

4 Days Until The Lead Flies

2009-04-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

As the season approaches, we have been doing alot of last minute scouting. Recently we viewed 43 male turkey in about 4 hours. We have alot of spots and are looking for a killer spot for On The Ground Outdoors. Jeff is bringing his camera down and we are looking for a decent bird to be the star of our video.

May 8th the staff will be heading out trying to find some willing birds. But even more recent, the Vermont Youth Hunting Weekend will be here this SAT!!!!!!! we have a few young hunters looking for birds and the excitment levels will be at maximum.

Erica passes her hunter course with a 100, so she will be joing my Father and Brother on Sat morning and Her Hunt Kicks off on Sunday. The camera will be rolling and the footage will be recording.

Look for a Vermont Video to be released entitled "BushWhacked." Going to be Amazing

Vermont Turkey Season Is Approaching Fast...

2009-04-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Before you know it, The first morning of Vermonts spring turkey hunting will be here. Its been a long winter and the wait has been totally worth it. After taking 5 birds last spring (Mike, Cody, Cody, Dad, Me) and a hen in the fall (Mike) we are all ready for some gobblers.

Recently in Georga, Ethan, Jeff, and Farrel have been very successful hunting for On The Ground Outdoors. Ethan was successful bagging a nice tom. Jeff has taken 2 NICE toms and Farrel bagged a wet bird in the rain...

Back in VT, I have been spending my Free Time (not alot) listening at favorite spots and driving and viewing birds with the optics... We have found alot of birds and this season should be very exciting.

Jeff, from Georgia, will be joining us here in VT on May 8th and he will be with Ethan a few mornings before joing My brother Cody and I in the champlain valley chasing some BIG field birds...

Check Back in in the next few weeks for updates and Youth weekend on the 25th and 26th will be very interesting... we will be taking Mike, who shot his first tom, a 19 pound bird last spring. Cody, who is chaising his second big tom, after taking a 21 pound Record Book bird in 2007. Erica, who is taking hunter safety this next weekend and she as well will be chasing her first turkey.

Secret Weapon Lure Company

2009-02-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

Secret Weapon, perfect right, not as perfect as the "Top Notch" spinnerbaits that this company produces. I always had my brand of spinnerbaits, but when my buddy Adam, a pro-staffer filled me in on these baits, it turned me on to them. One of the only spinnerbais that you can "Freely" change the blades, with very little hassle. I have not used one of these yet but I will be ordering some soon. Check out the website by clicking on the picture... Or you can email adam and he will be glad to help you out with anything you need. Thanks, Adam. hurleyyamaha@yahoo.com

FLW College Fishing

2009-02-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the 2009 season, I will be going to Maryland (potomac river), New York (1000 islands), Lake Champlain (home lake), and Virginia (Lake Gaston). This tour is a great new event that FLW has decided to do to get more fisherman into the FLW system, they are making this an easy way for us college students to compete for hardly no money (still alot of money). Ben Cayer and I will be representing Vermont Tech starting June 27th on the Potomac River... Check Back for results and the full story...

www.collegefishing.com

Alchi Baits New Flippin' Bait

2009-01-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, I thought the first review of the year should be a great one. I recently got some new baits in the mail from Alchi Baits. They are not on the market yet, but i have the opportunity to try them out. Alchi just released a new bait for us "Flippers." Boy, they are going to help me out alot this year . Not only are they made from strong materials, they are pretty dense, which makes them sink faster, to get in the strike zone faster.

I can Not wait to make the first cast with these new soft plastics, to that post spawning Largemouth, down on the Potomac River in June 2009...

Where to buy: http://www.alchibaits.com/ ask for Chris- Justin Sent you...

Ice Fishing- Silver Lake

2008-12-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

The first trip of the year was a cold and windy one. High winds and deep snow made this a hard day to fish. Ben, Cody, and I decided on Silver Lake, in Barnard Vermont. We headed out aroudn 11:30 an started our walk through the 2 Feet of powder we just got over night. After Drilling a few holes in the ice, Ben, hooked up with 2 nice sized perch... As we continued fishing, I got a few smaller perch on our "Sweetish Pimples" and "Rapala Jigs," all of which were sprayed down with "Cb's Hawg Sauce- Shad Spray." The deep snow made this a tough trip and we couldnt drill as many holes as we usually do, which limited the amout of fish...

We Continued to crawl through the snow, moving to where Ben catches most of his fish on the lake. Cody hooked up a decent perch and we didnt catch even one fish at the other side of the lake.. on the way back, with the wind in our face, Ben hooked a Northern Pike... it was estimated at 25 Inches, 5 Pounds...It was a good day, not tons of fish, but we each caught some... Once again, we used the Hawg Sauc e, like always, to give us the edge over the weary fish..

JDC Baits- BLR Bommmer

2008-12-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

JDC Baits has recently came out with a new "Big Bass Bait." The BLR Bommmer, is a 9 1/2" monster bait. It was designed for wacky rig and texas rig, but you can fish this beast any style you like. It was also designed to have some action on the slow fall... sounds good right?

I have not had the opportunity to fish this bait yet but i was having thoughts about maybe even Carolina riggin' it???

Another great product by JDC Baits... you can order through Darby, http://www.jdcbaits.com/ for $1.35... Go Get em'

JB Lures, Ventilator Spinnerbait

2008-12-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

This last Spring, i got the opportunity to test out one of the Ventilator Spinnerbaits made by JB Lures. I figured this was going to be a regular bait, like ive always used. When i first "tested" this bait in my swimming pool, lol, I was surprised to see a small bubble trail behind the bait. This was caused by the vent in the blades. (Shown in the picture below)

The quality of these baits is as good as the high quality priced baits you fish with anyways, so why not have the advantage of the Ventilator in you tackle box? It has worked for me....

These baits can be purchased directly from the company for $5.24.....

Acadia Fishing Rods

2008-12-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Two years back, i needed a few more rods to add to my collection, before a tourney, and for the season. I received a flyer in the mail from Acadia Sports. They were Fairly new, and offering a great deal, buy one rod, get any rod Free. I planned on buying these 2 rods and using them for a while, until i could afford to get some better quality rods. I figured they would get me through with out breaking... Boy Was I Correct... They sure did last, and even stood up to the quality of some expensive rods...

Today, 3 years Later, I am still using these 2 rods frequiently, they are 2 of the best rods i have, they even beat out the more expensive rods in durability. I use my casting rod for a spinnerbait rod, it had the flex for accuracy and long casting, its has great "Feel" to feel them slight bites, and it still has the back bone to pull my bass out of the thick weeds. I will continue to use these great rods, and i will be buying more of their products to help me in my bass fishing career.

Where to buy: http://www.acadiasports.com/

Suggested retail: $45.95- $74.95.... buy one, get one free... until December 31st, 2008

"The buy-one-get-one-free offer will expire at the end of this year (12/31/2008)."

Stop The Bleeding- Artical From Bass Magazine

2008-11-15T14:41:00.001-08:00

I found this in my new issue of the B.A.S.S. Magazine, about stoping a bass from bleeding when he ingulfs your lure during a strike.

After you remove a deep hook froma bass's mouth, if he starts bleeding, you favorite lemon flavored soft drink such as a "Sprite, Mountain Dew, or 7UP" could do the trick for you. Simply pour some of the drink into the fish's mouth and the acids from the carbonated soda will make the "Capillaries shrink," stopping the potential death of the bass.

At a tournament where a dead fish means a 1 Pound penalty, this could be the difference in 1st and 10th... sounds like a good idea to me.

Source: B.A.S.S. Bassmasters Magazine, December 2008. http://www.bassmaster.com/

JDC Baits Bass Bone

2008-11-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Go To Lure in alot of situations, depending on the cover type, its the JDC Bass Bone. This bait is a senko type lure with a slight twist, it falls a little bit faster than a normal Stick bait, which allows my inpatient self to fish this in more deeper structure.

The worm is equipped with a special "Hook Sack" to insure proper hook placement, which can be altered to make the worm fall at different rates of speed. This bait is loaded with salt which keeps the bait in the Bass's mouth longer, which leads to a better hook set in the end.

I have seen a lot of cool things while fishing with a bass bone, but one special situation takes the cake. My father, brother and I were in a small creek south on lake Champlain, my father and brother were throwing bass bones, and I, Flipping a Jig. As we drifted down the weed edge, my father hooked a decent bass and it came off near the boat, Bass Bone as well as the bass. About two minutes later, we moved down further, and prompted to hear a splash up near where he lost the bass. we trolled back up and I, being in the front of the boat, softly Flipped my Jig back to where the splash was. NOTHING. so we started to drift back as my brother tossed his June bug Colored Bone near the boil. With in 5 seconds of that bait hitting the water, the bass nailed it and the fish was coming to the boat. i lipped the fish for my brother and removed the bass bone, in his/her mouth, i could see the end of my fathers "Missing Bait" sticking out. The bass literally sucked the bait off the hook.

I wish to this day we had a camera to capture the moment, but we forgot it on the table...

Since then, i have always believed in this bait, it has saved me in a number of situations, and the confidence i have in this bait is unmatched... well i am wrong, the only thing that i can think of that does beat it is..... A Bass Bone, but Smeared in Hawg Sauce.... yeah, thats where it is at.

CB's Hawg Sauce

2008-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

One of my "new" favorite products i got my hands on this year is Cb's Hawg Sauce. Before i started Using this Product, I deffinatly was not a huge fan of scent, I just figured, that it wasnt going to make a significant difference on the amount of fish i catch. I have now found my go to, "Magic In A Bottle" that works for me in many different situations. Because its 100% natural, it is totally safe for the water and the enviroment, and infact wont harm a thing, which, to me, is very important.

Some things i like to do is let soft plastics soak in it, the baits absorb to scent and makes it hold longer. I use the crawfish gel on just about any bait i use, jigs, worms, senkos, crankbaits. i use the gel in this situation because i think its stays on the bait longer and you wont have to apply it as often. I prefer the Shad Gel in the situation of Drop shots and Spinnerbaits. You can mix and match the different scents for a killer combo.

Now as i said before, i was not a big fan of scent. my brother and i were on Lake Champlain, anchored over our favorite rock/rock pile. we both had a Bass Pro Shops Tender Tube on. the only difference was i was using the Crawfish Sauce. Now we both were Catching fish, mine came more often and the fish inhaled the bait, his came slower, and most were barley hooked. i caught 2 fish to his 1. Now we were in the same spot, fishing the same rock, with the same bait. Was this a coincidence? I dont think that magically i was catching the bass that were in the mood to inhale it and his bass were just barley eating it. Just maybe the bass were watching it fall, going over, smelling it, then deciding it was a real crawfish, and then swallow it... We will never know..

Where to buy? You can buy some hawg sauce for yourself at http://www.cbshawgsauce.com/ or at my staff page for a dollar off each bottle. www.cbshawgsauce.com/justin

Give It A Try For Your Self

Also see:

http://www.hardkorefishing.com/ for another review.