Bass Pro is supposed to be offering a padded case for the 998’s. Didn’t have them yet the last time I was in.

Coming from an area where we fish relatively small lakes, often 100-200 acres. We have his some larger lakes in Iowa though for the tournaments we put on. I don’t know if this came from Iowa’s regulations or where we got it. The general rule we go by is a 15 boat limit on below and up to 100 acres. Once you get to lakes over 100 acres it switched to a limit of 10 boats per 100 acres. We use this up to about 300 acres in Nebraska. 20 boats on 200-300 acres is a little crowded. At some point to that ratio should be dialed back some. We fish a 3000 acres lake in Northern Missouri and set a max of 50 boats in that. There are only so many features in a lake that size to fish and when you put 1 boat on each of those it is pretty crowded there as well. We have one 200 acres lake that could handle 30 boats bases on all the coves, cuts, and feeder creeks. Plus it has several islands and offshore structures as well. If you state doesn’t have a regulation about the number of boats per acre I think you kind of have to look at each body of water individually.

It’s too bad Tackle Wharehouse doesn’t have these reel in stock for their demo program. I wouldn’t mind trying one out for a week.

My favorite set up was with a Kistler Helium LTX with a Daiwa Steel Spinning reel. I loved this combo for drop shot. It was so light and sensitive. Well in the fall of 2009 I broke the rod and had searched for a replacement last year. I wanted something light and didn’t want to drop a lot of money and wanted a good warranty. I ended up going with a $99 Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite rod to match up with the Steez reel. I tried a bunch of rods, but all of them were too heavy for the very light Steez. The CarbonLite Light matched up really well and made for a well balanced drop shot set up. I see they are coming out with CarbonLite reels this year. I like the rods so well I plan to give the reels a try as well.

The extended forcast is calling for 40 degree temps coming this weekend.

There are a few NBAA division in Wisconsin. NBAA Wisconsin There are also a couple divisions in Iowa. I know they have a two day on the Mississippi. NBAA Iowa I’m not real familiar with that area up there. The NBAA is a national organization with no entry fee national championships. The NBAA has been growing a lot the last few years. If you don’t see a division where you want to fish we would sure welcome some new directors.

Here are the results if you can read them.

We will be extending the St. Croix Rod give away until the weigh in at the Spirit Lake Open.

Here are the results from the Okoboji Open earlier this month. We also took a few photos of the teams as they weighed in.

If you are available please come and check out what the NBAA has to offer. The Spirit Lake Open will be on June 12th launching from the Templar Boat Ramp. We will launch at safe light and fish until noon. Then entry fee is $140 per team. If you would like to compete for points and wish to purchase a membership you may do so at the ramp. Annual membership is $40.

I like the Solar Bat Pana’s with the mossback color lense. Great for site fishing.

We were down at the Lake of the Ozarks over the weekend and stopped at Mozingo Lake just east of maryville Missouri on the way back. I was surpised to see it was totally open. We can’t be too far behind up here. I was told last Tuesday Mozingo was 60% open and it cleared off by saturday. Some warm weather and a south wind will clear the ice pretty quick.

Kurt, from my experience I’ve never really had to downsize baits for smallmouth. I use the same baits I use to catch largemouth bass. Depending on the lake all downsizing tends to do is downsize that fish that you catch. What I like to use for smallies are lucky craft slender pointers (MR97), any shakey head type of bait, Venom Hot Rods on a standup jig head, any stick worms and any of the lucky craft Skeet Reese line of crankbaits baits. Venom hot Rods are basically a 5” uncut tube. Rigged on a chompers standup jig head they act much like a shakey head, but better. That time of year the fish will be relating to rock more than anything else as most vegetation is just starting to grow. Like Wade has mentioned about the only difference between the smallies and largemouth would be the spawing locations. The largemouth will spawn much shallower than a smallie. Largemouth will spawn in 2-4 feet of water in a location protected from the wind and weather. Now a smallmouth can spawn 12’ or deeper depending on water clarity and Roy is pretty clear. Because of thier depth they are well below the wave line so they don’t need to spawn in the very backs of protected areas. Like the largemouth smallies will seek out a hard bottom, but may relate more to rock and/or gravel. Hopefully, this info will help you out and you guys should have a great time.

I had a genesis for several years. The first year it worked great the second year it was pretty touchy and in and out of the repair shop. I alway had to take it in and have the board reset. As you know there were a lot of problems with them. They were a great motor and a great concept, but were know for their problems. I don’t know if they still do it, but at one time Minnkota had an upgrade program. It allowed you to trade the motor in through a service center and you were offered a replacement Minnkota of equal or lesser value. I traded mine for the biggest Maxxum they had at the time. They were doing the trades because the motors were no longer in production and I was told they were using them for parts. I don’t know if they still do that, but it might be something to check into.

If you can find them you might check out the Bass Pro Shops new Kermy Frogs. They look identical to a Spro or Tru Tungsten frog. The main differnce is the $3.94 sale price tag. They have been a sale item during the Spring Classic and have been hard to keep on the shelves. I think regular price is $4.99.

After owning a 997 and looking at the smaller units in the store there is no way I would be happy with the smaller unit. I try to pretend the 1197 isn’t there when I walk by the electronics. If you can swing the price difference the 998 is the way to go. I’ve found to really benefit from the SI is you want that image as large as you can afford to be able to easily visualize what the SI picking up. With the smaller screen you will miss items. I’ve missed things on my 997 and gone home and looked at screen captures on my laptop and found all kinds of things I didn’t see on the water. So I’d say buy the biggest unit you can afford

Someone did a demo in the tank at the Altoona BPS, but I missed it. I worked the first weekend of the Spring Classic there and they had a lot of them in stock. The Council Bluff’s location has a lot of them on stock as well. I guess they haven’t caught on around here.

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I was just thinking about when the Flicker Shads first came out a few years ago. They were working so good I would go into a store and buy them out just so nobody else could get their hands on them. Them were the days . Now my lovely wife has me figured out.

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So that’s what you were doing yesterday. You saw those new colors so you cleaned off a couple pegs so no one else could buy them

There are a number of things you can do. I’m not sure what you are looking for or what kind of regulations you have in your area. One of the best ways to meet a lot of anglers and make friends is by becoming a director. The NBAA offers both team and individual tournaments. We are kind of laid back. You can put as much work into a division as you wish. Some guys build their own websites and market their division with their own branding and such but affiliate with the NBAA to allow all the benefits to transfer over to their anglers. Some just run divisions as a standard NBAA division. One of the benefits is our directors get to fish their own tournaments. Most divisions are kind of on the smaller side (around 20 boats). So this gives the division a club like feel. Everyone becomes friends and you don’t deal with the BS of meetings and stuff. You get to set the schedule that works for you at the places you want to fish at the best times of the year. Then you put the work out and anglers show up, they talk and more and more show up for each event. I really enjoy tournaments.

Over the weekend I worked the Bass Pro near Des Moines and heard a lot of guys talk about tournaments on the Mississippi. There seemed to be some dissapointment with schedule/fees and stuff. If I lived up there I’d get a division or two started. That area could have one of the largest NBAA division in the region. All it takes is one person to step up and get’r done. If your interest is to start a division let me know. I can fill you in on all the benefits and what types of tournaments would work best for you.

I was at BPS at 9am on Friday and there were a lot of people waiting to get in. I saw guys with carts full of some of the special sale items. I didn’t look real close at what they had. After ordering my boat I was at BPS all weekend in Altoona Iowa. Each year during the Spring Classic runs on special items can go fast. The Red Eye Shad lipless crankbaits were going very fast. I know they sold about 300 or so on Saturday alone. There were a couple customers who hit the Flicker Shad first thing in the morning friday and wiped them out as well. For some anglers the first morning of the Spring Classic is black friday for them so it is very possible they were wiped clean before 10am. From what I saw Friday morning it was the case with several items. It would be hard for any store to prepare for a sale when one customer is willing to buy 100 or more baits at one time.

PM sent

Nice job,it’s not everyday you catch a hog like that through the ice!

We’ve been busy working on the 2010 schedules. Here are a list of the tournament divisions and schedules for tournaments in South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska & Missouri.

Iowa Great Lakes Challenge

5/08/10 Okoboji Lake

6/12/10 Spirt Lake

7/17/10 Spirt Lake

8/21/10 Brushy Creek

9/25/10 Okoboji Lake

Iowa Premier Bass Series

4/17/10 Icaria

5/29/10 Rathbun Lake

6/12/10 Saylorville

7/10/10 Brushy Creek

8/07/10 Red Rock

8/29/10 West Okoboji

Missouri River Challenge

5/22/10 Missouri River Verdel

5/23/10 Missouri River Verdel

6/19/10 Missouri River Yankton, SD City Ramp

7/17/10 Missouri River Scenic Park Public Ramp

8/14/10 Missouri River Yankton, SD City Ramp

Ozark Tour Challenge

3/20/10 Lake of the Ozarks Pa He Tsi Ramp, Grand Glaize Rec Area Time 7 – 3 pm

4/10/10 Table Rock Lake Mill Creek Ramp Time 6:30-2:30 pm

6/26/10 Stockton Lake State Park Marina Time 6 – 2 pm

7/24/10 Truman Reservoir Stereet Creek Time 6-2 pm

9/11/10 Table Rock Lake Mill Creek Ramp Time 6-3 pm $250 Entry Fee/One Event with 9/12

9/12/10 Table Rock Lake Mill Creek Ramp This is a combined weekend event with the event on 9/11

Overtime Division 54 Lincoln, Nebraska

4/20/10 Wildwood Lake

5/11/10 Yankee Hill

5/18/10 Wagon Train Lake

5/29/10 Desoto Bend Middle Ramp

6/01/10 East Twin Lake

6/08/10 Branched Oak Lake

6/22/10 Wagon Train Lake

6/29/10 Czechland Lake

7/13/10 Wildwood Lake

7/20/10 Wagon Train Lake

8/03/10 Branched Oak Lake

8/10/10 Czechland Lake

9/00/10 TBA DIV CHAMP – Date & Lake TBA

Overtime Division 55 Omaha, Nebraska

5/06/10 Standing Bear

5/15/10 Summit- SATURDAY

5/20/10 Desoto Bend- Eastside middle ramp

6/03/10 Standing Bear

6/17/10 Czechland

6/26/10 Bilby Ranch Lake, MO- SATURDAY

7/01/10 Standing Bear

7/15/10 Summit

7/24/10 Czechland- SATURDAY

7/29/10 Standing Bear

8/12/10 Standing Bear

8/21/10 Summit- SATURDAY

9/04/10 DIV CHAMP, LAKE TBA

One on One Lincoln, Nebraska

5/04/10 Wildwood Lake

5/25/10 Czechland Lake

6/15/10 Wagon Train Lake

7/06/10 Holmes Lake

8/17/10 Branched Oak Lake

March 27, 2010

Mozingo Lake Open NBAA Season Kick Off Open

April 17, 2010

Mozingo 4-Man Open

June 19th

Lake St Clair Open

April 28th – May 1st

NBAA National Championship – Patoka Lake

August 29th

1 on 1 National Championship – TBA

Riley said he liked catching the big walleye. It measured 25″ by the way.

Coming through Kansas City over the weekend we saw gas as low as $1.39 and diesel for $2.40.

Jason

Yep, I got another email saying they were from the Ft. Calhoun area. They guy must have put the photos on his disk. My buddy swears he pulled it out of that camera right in front of everyone. I figured they weren’t real, but they are pretty cool. We had one on our farm a couple years ago and it makes you think twice about what you might be doing turkey or deer hunting.

Nope, I started bow hunting a few years ago and like it a lot more.

On a side note my buddy said a co-worker brought his trail camera into work and pulled these photos off a disk. I don’t know if he is pulling my leg. He sent them to a lot of people. He said they are taken near Woodland Hills Golf course out by Eagle. Wether or not it is true they are some interesting photos. I sure makes me want to sit in the woods with my bow and a turkey call this spring.

The last season of the northern opens they fished Lake Erie out of Buffalo, the Hudson out of Catskill and Smith Mountain in Virginia. So the travel wasn’t any easier for us in the central US. So I don’t know what they mean by north. For all I know north might be north of Texas since the centrals are just as far south at the southern opens.

Jason

That’s a great benefit Wade I wish you had it a year ago. The prices are really reasonable too.

Jason

This time of the year the fish a deeper. You might try some bluff ledges or some brush in 20-30 feet of water. Jigs work pretty well for that. You can also fish the same areas with deep diving crankbaits. I know a few guys who do a lot of night fishing this time of year. They use big black spinner baits and topwater baits. You should also be able to find fish under the docks. Cast into the hardest to reach places for the best opportuntiy to get bit.

Jason

I’m sure the observers will have to pay. They will do most likely do those tournaments similar to the way the ran the Elite 50 tournaments a couple years ago. They didn’t have co-anglers fishing out of the boat, but they had observers that paid to ride in the boat with the pros all day. If they do it the same you still get a chance to spend time with a pro, you just don’t get to wet a line. It would still be a good learning experiance though.

I also like the addition of the Northern Opens, why is the West left out again? It was much tougher to get into the opens this year. Last year we didn’t see a full field and this year I was boat 250 and they only take 200. So hopefully, the addition of the Northern Opens will allow more people the opportunity to fish.

Jason

Congrats again on your win! Great video, thanks for sharing.

Jason