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Bassmaster Marshal - The Ultimate Fan Experience

6/27/2018

BASSMASTER ELITE BRIAN SNOWDEN WAS MY DAY#1 PRO IN LA CROSSE, WI

WHAT IS A BASSMASTER MARSHAL??

In past decades, the Bassmasters would match a professional angler with a co-angler in every event. The pro in the front of the boat competed against all of the other pros in the tournament, while the co-anglers all competed amongst each other. During the past several years, the executives at Bassmaster decided to change this layout for the Bassmaster Elite series, and keep the co-angler format just in the Bassmaster Opens level. The new program was called the "Bassmaster Marshal" program. This gives the hard-core fans of professional fishing a chance to sit in the back of a professional angler's boat, monitor that he and other anglers are abiding by the tournament rules and state laws, all while learning how the "best of the best" anglers fish a body of water that is possibly in your neighborhood.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A BASSMASTER MARSHAL?

When you arrive to the meeting room of the Marshal briefing, you will be greeted by the top tournament officials of Bassmasters, the registration team, as well as some event sponsors. In the La Crosse event, one room held the marshals meeting, and the adjacent room held the tournament anglers meeting.

During the meeting, you will meet the senior tournament director who will go over the tournament rules in detail. He will explain that the role of the Bassmaster Marshal is to be their "eyes and ears on the water." He will give you his personal cell phone number and tell you that if you have any issues with the anglers - contact him. Your role is not to tell the angler that he is in any violation, you are to report any infractions at the weigh in to the tournament officials. When anglers are competing for $100,000 trophies, the amount of rules are very high and the tournament officials are extremely strict. As a Bassmaster Marshal, you can not assist the angler in any way when it comes to landing fish, handling fish, operating a livewell, boat positioning, driving, holding on to docks for fishing. All of these things will give the angler an "unfair advantage" and is prohibited.

BASSTRAKK & BASSMASTER.COM

Another key role of the Bassmaster Marshal is covering the angler in which you are assigned for the day. Since ESPN2 can't throw a cameraman in 110 boats, they rely on updates from the Bassmaster marshals in 2 forms - BASSTRAKK & blogging reports. BASSTRAKK is an app for your smartphone that Bassmaster gives you in the Marshal briefing. Each tournament has a secret login code needed to run the app, which is announced in our briefing. The app is very simple to use - when your angler catches a legal fish that goes into their livewell, you enter the weight in lbs and ounces of that fish into the app. The app automatically estimates the daily weigh in bag and culls out the smallest fish weight with every entry. Media and fans can track these weights during each event live on www.bassmaster.com and get a rough idea of what an angler is at for the day at any point. There is always a margin of error since most of these anglers estimate these weights without a digital scale. Since this live technology is accessible to anyone with mobile devices, BASS prohibits a Bassmaster Marshal from using the internet during the tournament. They do not want the anglers finding out what the other anglers are up to, what lures they are using, what their weights are at, what their location is. They do not want this live technology interfering with the raw competition found at this level of professional sports. Live blogging is explained in this briefing as well. Basically the Marshal takes a picture of an angler, beautiful scenery, wild animals, etc and email them to the producers of Bassmaster to post on their Marshal blog on the website. Here is an example below:

THE WALL OPENS- MEET YOUR PRO ANGLER!

When the angler and Marshal briefings were complete, a wall opened up between the banquet rooms and we are then joined up with the greatest professional anglers in the world. At this point, BASS Tournament Director Trip Wheldon comes to the front and takes over. He introduces the Marshals to the pro anglers and they all give us a round of applause. The mayor of La Crosse and the local tourism officials come to the front and thank Bassmaster and the pros for helping their economy by drawing in the fans with this event, and thank them for getting children into fishing, as well as influencing families to spend quality time together in the outdoors. The mayor also stated that role models like bass fisherman teach people how to enjoy positive time on the water instead of getting involved in crime and drugs. It was a great moment watching city officials pay their respects to the Bassmaster community.

CHECK YOUR PHONES - YOU HAVE A TEXT!

When the angler & Marshal briefing is complete, Trip Wheldon asks you to check your text messages. You then receive a text with your boat #, weigh in time, flight number, professional angler's name, and his personal cell phone number. Trip asks that you find your angler in the short social by calling the angler and making agreements on meeting location, time, and arrangements for your food/drinks/ice, etc. I was very happy to check my texts and find that I landed Bass Pro Shops sponsored BRIAN SNOWDEN. Alex and I had previously met Brian in Escanaba, Michigan during the 2014 AOY event. Brian took 4th on Little Bay de Noc with giant smallmouth bass and happened to be camping right by us that weekend. He even took a picture with our General Lee boat "The Crawfish Bandit" in the campground as we were leaving. Brian is a super laid back guy, so I was really looking forward to Day #1 as I figured I would learn a lot while being stress-free with a super polite professional angler in the boat with me. After the meeting was done, I walked outside and had conversations with some of my super hero anglers as they were headed out - Brandon Palaniuk, Mike Iaconelli, and Skyler Hamilton. One thing a fan would realize in a hurry meeting these people for the first time - they are the most friendly, down-to-earth, celebrities you could ever meet! 99% of Bassmaster anglers are fantastic people! After we chatted a while, I headed to the campground to get some sleep and prepare for my big Day #1.

BRANDON PALANIUK WITH HIS TOYOTA TUNDRA AND SKEETER BOAT

BRANDON ALWAYS TRAVELS IN STYLE!

OFF TO THE CAMPGROUND!

DAY #1 -

Day #1 started off with rain. And ended with rain. It never stopped the entire day. That didn't stop me from having fun! Its a good thing that I packed the essentials for a fishing trip - SAVE PHACE mask, Dude Wipes, still camera, UV BUFF, and a rain suit! The Save Phace really did save my face as we got into rain at full speed in the 250 hp Nitro. But before I get into the events later in the day, lets start at the meeting. Brian wanted to meet at the boat ramp around 5:30 am. I arrived a little early since I was so wound up about this experience. I ran into Bassmaster Elite John Crews at the ramp so we chatted as he prepped his boat for the big day. He asked me to help him uncover his boat which I did. It is a blast interacting with these big time anglers at their Elite events. I asked him how he was doing, how Missile Baits has been doing, all good stuff. One thing that the tournament officials mentioned is that there is ZERO information sharing in Bassmasters, so you have to watch what you say and ask the pros when conversing with them. Only anglers can talk to each other about the fishery, the conditions, the lures, the patterns, etc. I was not allowed to talk to them at all about fishing La Crosse. Fortunately for me I have never fished there before so I had nothing to say. Another thing that I had to keep in mind all weekend was that I couldn't tell an angler about another angler's spots, patterns, lures, etc. I believe the rules are very fair but as an excited fan you really have to think before you talk. The anglers know the rules and they never bring up the prohibited conversations with fans or marshals.

A few minutes later, my pro angler Brian Snowden showed up with his wife, and we hopped in the boat to start our day as his wife hauled the truck and trailer out for us. We grouped up under the Clinton St. bridge as Trip Weldon and his crew checked in angler boats, checked livewells with the Marshals, called out the flights, and started the tournament. We circled by the Veteran's Freedom Park dock, while BASS Emcee and Facts of Fishing star Dave Mercer announced the anglers in front of the hard-core fans. I put on my Save Phace as Brian opened up his 250 hp throttle, and we were rocking, with rain pelting our faces! Brian pulled up to a spot he found in practice loaded with fish, and immediately started getting bites. He landed some small bass, a walleye, and his first keeper of the day, a nice smallmouth bass that went into the livewell and was fish #1 entered on Basstrakk. I entered the blog immediately and Brian was on the board!

BLOG #1

Brian Snowden starts his day off with a smallmouth in the livewell on his third cast
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Brian was catching several fish in this spot, but only one was a legal bass. He was using a technique I was familiar with, but something I don't use a lot. It was nice to see this professional demonstration in person. After a while, Brian said he can't put together a good bag of bass on this school of under-sized fish. We hammered down on the Nitro and moved on to a different spot. He said it was a very small area and if another pro was in there we would have trouble fishing it. Brian didn't feel that the area was big enough to share. As we pulled in, Mr. Snowden started catching bass after bass. I couldn't believe it. It was constant action in the flooded banks. They would not touch topwater at all, so he stuck with finesse fishing. I have never seen such accurate casts in my life. Brian can throw a finesse lure anywhere he wants with extreme accuracy. I loved what I was watching it was so much fun! After sorting through small bass, Brian hooked into one that was legal, and I was ready for Blog #2.

BLOG #2

Snowden's move pays off. He is catching fish steadily, and is sorting through the small ones to find a few that are livewell-worthy
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Brian continued working the stretches of flooded banks and timber in this area, catching bass steadily. He was not finding the quality fish he needed to contend for a win or make a top-50 cut, so he pulled his trolling motor up and we went for a very fast boat ride. Brian had great control and safely ripped us under bridges, over wingdams, in tight grassy channels. The boat ride was worth the Marshal fee alone! We pulled up into a new area that he was not very confident in, but he felt the bass sizes would increase. He fished a very long time without a bite, then he hooks into a beautiful 3+ lb largemouth, but the fish threw the hook and he got off. Brian was very disappointed, but from that point on, Brian found a pattern and started boating quality fish at a decent pace. He felt like the potential for a decent day had been found. Back in these areas we did see several famous Bassmasters cruise by, so as a fan I was loving all of this activity. Brian and I got along great, and he taught me a lot. On his off time from Bassmasters, he spends his time as a professional guide on Table Rock Lake, in Branson, MO. I highly recommend hiring Brian for a trip, as I hope to get down there and hire him in the next few years. He explains things very well and is a super good person. He does have a website at www.briansnowden.com for info on his guide service.

BLOG #3

Snowden still catching, still sorting his way towards a limit. Here is his 4th keeper in the livewell.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

At 11:30 am, Brian says he is tired of the rain. At this point we figured it would never let up. But the fishing was decent and he just boated his 5th keeper for weigh-in. Brian was hoping to cull the small ones out soon and replace them all with 3 pounders

BLOG #4

Brian Snowden says the first two hours of rain was ok. Brian says he is now tired of the rain as he boats a complete limit of 5 bass. He is looking to upgrade throughout the day as he feels he needs 16 pounds a day for a shot to win.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #5

Brian Snowden makes his first cull. He has changed presentations and is now finding more quality while catching less quantities.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

As the day rolls on, Brian appears to be timing out his quality catches that he could end up with 15 pounds by weigh in. The bass were biting, the sizes were big enough to cull here-and-there, things were looking positive. He sets a hook on a very hard-fighing beast, and we both new right away when we saw a reptile-looking head that this fish was not going to get into the livewell.

BLOG #6

Brian Snowden hooks into about a 7 pounder, unfortunately he needs to release it since this isn't Dog Fish Masters!
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Shortly after the dogfish situation, Brian hooks into a beautiful 3 pounder, culling his smallest fish and puts a big smile on his face!

BLOG #7

Brian Snowden upgrades again, catching his heaviest fish so far. This puts his daily bag around 13 pounds as he continues to catch a quality fish here and there working new areas.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #8

Brian Snowden is still catching quality bass, culling up a few ounces this time hoping for a giant soon.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

DAY ONE IS COMPLETE!

Brian Snowden fished hard all day, tried multiple places with multiple techniques, and managed to boat a 5 fish limit with some culling. We headed back for weigh in and on the stage, he weighed in 13 lbs 10 oz. To our surprise, weights were up compared the the previous BASS events here. Brian figured he would need a huge day friday to make up ground and make the top-50 cut for Saturday. Here is a picture below of Brian on Day #2 at the weigh-in on a beautiful sunny day:

POST WEIGH-IN TEXT FROM BASS OFFICIALS:

After the weigh-in was complete, I headed back to the campground. Since I didn't have cell phone reception at the site, I had to call all my buddies and fill them in on this crazy experience that I just had as a Bassmaster Marshal. As I was telling my stories to my buddies, I received a text from BASS officials with my day #2 pairing. As I checked it, I was stunned again - Brent Erhler. Are you kidding me? You mean Forrest Wood Cup World Champion Brent Ehrler? This guy is one of the best in the world! I was super excited. And just like with Brian Snowden, I actually met Brent Erhler in the past - he camped right behind us in Sturgeon Bay, WI at AOY in 2015. He was a super cool guy, too, and I couldn't wait to watch this guy fish in person! We met at the boat ramp by Dave Mercer, and both got some quick interview pictures with him (THANKS DAVE!)

BASSMASTER EMCEE & FACTS OF FISHING STAR DAVE MERCER

DAY #2 BEGINS -- BLOG #9

A beautiful la crosse morning for fishing. No rain!
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

TACKLE PREP, INTRO TO THE FANS.....

Brent finished up prepping his rods and tackle at the docks, while chatting with his good buddy Brett Hite. Brent's wife delivered a rush-shipped package of secret baits from Gary Yamamoto for this tournament. As we moved out waiting for flight #4 to be announced, we got really close to some fishing superstars. I was boat-to-boat with Rick Clunn, and he politely thanked me as I wished him a good day of fishing. Fred "Boom Boom" Roumbanis came by and Brent told him that his new hollow-body frog is awesome and said he will be looking for royalties after he has been spreading the word. Brent told me that we would be fishing a spot that he found in practice on Wednesday morning that had a lot of 3 lb quality fish, but some other anglers were sharing water in that area. When our boat was checked in and we passed the fans, we headed out of the no-wake area and then Brent opened up the 250hp Ranger. Once again, the ride was a blast! We raced towards a lock that was closed, so Brent fished the area near the dam until it opened. We shared water with Marty "The Party" Robinson as he was bragging about the 4 pound brown fish he just caught. Later, in the lock, he admitted it was a freshwater drum, not a smallmouth as we laughed at him.

Brent Ehrler and his good buddy Brett Hite are ready for their flight to be called on Day #2

EHRLER HAS A FEW BITES, OVERALL A SLOW START....

The tournament started at 6 AM, and as of 9 am, Brent had only boated few small bass and several northern pike. He was sharing a large area and a few different key locations with Boyd Duckett, Timmy Horton, and a few others. He was covering a large area with "fan casts" looking for a reaction bite since topwater seemed to not be working well. One thing that I noticed about Brent Ehrler is that he is a very fast-paced individual. He is extremely energetic and he never slows down. He has very high expectations for himself, and has very high confidence in his fishing abilities. It was amazing to watch a person this successful go to work in an actual Bassmaster Elites tournament.

Brent began hooking into the largest average sized northern pike that I have ever seen in my life! One was over 40", but he was able to lose it on purpose right in front of the boat. I noticed that with every single northern pike bite he had, he checked the hook sharpness, replaced his plastic lures, and retied his lures. Even in a hurry under pressure late in the day, he followed this routine, STRICTLY. Both Brent and Brian Snowden were very particular in their ways and never took shortcuts when it came to there equipment. I suppose that professional anglers can't take risks with frayed line and dull hooks when their income is on the line. This was very neat to witness in person. I remember my 2 guided trips with Dale Stroschein of Wacky Walleye Guide Service in Sturgeon Bay, WI where Dale had the same habits, even after knicking a zebra mussel with a jig. He always checked the hooks for sharpness and looked for frays in the line. Around 9am, Brent landed a very nice 35" northern pike, and he wasn't happy. Minutes later, he landed his first largemouth bass for the livewell, a nice 2.5 pounder! He had his first Basstrakk entry for the day, and I began my Day #2 blog for Bassmaster.com.

BLOG #10

Brent Ehrler was very confident after a successful Wednesday practice, but is feeling frustrated trying to adjust to the rising water. After several large northern pike bit on multiple presentations, he finally puts a solid fish into the livewell. He hopes to built on this and start a pattern.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Unfortunately, this one nice bass was the only legal bass willing to bite for half the day! The world champion FLW star was very frustrated, and was losing faith in his gameplan. As Timmy Horton worked very shallow near us Brent lost all hope on his area and began working the lily pads opposite of Timmy's area. He tried topwaters and finesse baits, but was disgusted in the results. He went back to his waypoints from practice again, and was catching nothing but northern pike. Finally he had enough, and told me that if he does not catch another bass, we will leave his area at 11:30 am. He continued to fish the area until 11:45 am, when he told me that he is already 15 minutes past when he said he would quit, he can only keep banging in his head for so long, and after the next cast, he is giving up everything and making a 20-minute run and starting all over. On that "final" cast, Brent Ehrler figured out his pattern was there after all......

BLOG #11

Brent Ehrler, frustrated with his first day and a half of fishing, moved to a new location searching for bass. After a long period of time with no keeper bass, he told himself multiple times he was going to scrap his plans and leave everything behind. After second-guessing himself multiple times, a quality bass helps him commit to his original plan. He hopes to see things come together by the end of the day.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

As Brent struggled through the morning, he was experimenting with several presentations, trying to locate fish near his practice waypoints, and trying to establish a pattern. As the different presentations failed him (1 fish from 6:30 am - 11:30 am) he began believing his fish from practice were gone. The second legal bass, along with multiple undersized bass, gave him the confidence to commit to this area and try and make the top-50 cut for Saturday on Day #3. Soon after that, he found certain areas of weeds combined with open pockets that would produce a strike when he worked his reaction bait the same way as it hit the water. Also he needed the floating vegetation debris from the heavy flooding to open up long enough for a decent distance of lure retrieval. The debris would kill his lure action instantly, and the cast would be a waste. Even though the bites weren't often, he consistently called several of his shots and began hooking up with more and more bass in the second half of the day.

BLOG #12

Brent Ehrler adds number 4 to his livewell. He feels that he needs to catch at least two bigger bass to make a bag limit and cull this smaller fish to have a chance to make the 50 cut.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Minutes after putting his 4th legal bass into the livewell for weigh-in, he hooks up with his biggest bass of the day! Easily a 3+ lb largemouth bass, Brent was extremely excited as a landed this bass at boatside and scooped it up. The big bass landed on his lap, as we began high-fiving and laughing in celebration together. It was a great moment, as Brent realized the pressure was on and he did have a legit shot at making the top-50 cut with time running out. His confidence was high and he was ready to begin culling out the 2 little bass and work his way into Saturday's tournament.

BLOG #13

Brent Ehrler is ecstatic as a quality bass sits on his lap after a great fight at boatside. This gives Ehrler a 5 fish limit. His pattern seems to be coming together and improving as he hopes to cull at least his smallest two bass.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #14

Brent Ehrler is culling his first small fish, this one will gain him just a few ounces, he knows he has more work to do before weigh in.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Time is running out, will Brent cull enough to make the 50-cut??

As time is running out, Brent catches a few more bass, and is able to cull a few. With less than an hour to go, he catches a quality bass and upgrades a bit in the livewell. But as time expires, he feels he is at about 11 lbs 13 oz and one quality 2.5-3 pound bass away from making the cut.

BLOG #15

Brent Ehrler makes a decent cull and feels that one more solid bass could get him into Saturday's cut
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

EHRLER NEVER QUITS!

As Brent throws his last cast, his good buddy Brett Hite showed up and warned him that we need to hurry up as the lock was opening. Missing the lock would mean possibly missing weigh-in. Brent opened up the throttle on his 250 hp Mercury and we headed back towards weigh-in. We arrived in the area ahead of schedule, so Brent began throwing desperation casts. He still thought he needed one more quality bass for a huge cull. The bites didn't come, so he hammered down on his 21' Ranger again, and arrived in the no wake zone near a train bridge. Here several pros in our flight were working around the shorelines and the bridge. I looked around and couldn't believe who I was watching. Right in front of me was Morizo Shimizu, the angler famous for catching "BIG MAMA." I looked to my right as my hero Mike Iaconelli pulled up, and lowered his trolling motor. Way to his right was the most popular angler in the world, 4 time Classic champion and 7-time AOY Kevin VanDam. I chuckled to myself watching the always animated Mike Iaconelli setting the hook on his jig super hard under the bridge. Then he hooked into a fish, and I could see his excitement. When he got the fish to the surface, he calmed down as it was just another northern pike. The anglers had enough time to throw a few quick casts at the boat houses near weigh-in, so we headed up there minutes before their flight deadline of 4PM.

MIKE IACONELLI SETS THE HOOK ON A NORTHERN PIKE

Brent Ehrler & Mike Iaconelli head towards the boathouses near the weigh-in for a few quick, final casts

DAY #2 WEIGH-IN

BRENT EHRLER LOADS HIS BASS INTO THE WEIGH-IN BAG AS I HOLD IT

ALEX FINDS "G MAN" GERALD SWINDLE

NOT ONLY A FANTASTIC ANGLER, THIS GUY (ALONG WITH HIS WIFE LEANN "LULU" SWINDLE) ARE ALL AROUND FANTASTIC PEOPLE AND ROLE MODELS TO ALL. THE BEST TIP EHRLER GAVE ME WAS G MAN'S GNAT SPRAY - VANILLA BODY SPRAY w/ LISTERINE!!!

ALEX FINDS TOURNAMENT LEADER AARON MARTENS

OUR CAMPING NEIGHBOR IN ESCANABA & STURGEON BAY, THIS GUY IS A GOOF & A SUPER GOOD GUY

LOCAL HERO SETH FEIDER & HIS BEAUTIFUL HAIR MADE THE TRIP TO LA CROSSE!!

THIS GUY CAME FROM NOWHERE AND BECAME A FISHING ROCK STAR IN THE PAST 2 YEARS. THANKS SETH FOR THE PICTURE!

EVER HEARD OF KVD, KEVIN VANDAM??

4 BASSMASTER CLASSIC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, 7x ANGLER-OF-THE-YEAR, 25 BASSMASTER VICTORIES, $6,402,476.33 CAREER WINNINGS. ENOUGH SAID.

THE IKE FOUNDATION WELL REPRESENTED IN LA CROSSE, WI

OUR CEO, ALEX JAMES, IS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY THE IKE FOUNDATION. The Ike Foundation is a non-profit charity that provides fishing tackle to inner-city kids to introduce them into the outdoors for a positive life experience. Since Alex was 8 years old, Mike Iaconelli proudly told Alex in Mille Lacs, MN that he could be his first sponsored angler. Alex has taken this sponsorship very serious, and spreads the word at trade show booths as well as a speech at UW-Stout at a campus hall full of college anglers. Alex was very excited to see his buddy Mike Iaconelli and was able to meet Ike's awesome wife and two youngest children, Vegas & Stelly. According to Mike's wife, Becky, Stelly gets a little camera-shy, but Vegas loves pictures. Becky is a great person, and had a lot of positive complements towards Alex's efforts while chatting with our family on Friday and Saturday at the weigh-ins. Vegas Iaconelli & Alex James got together for this awesome picture below:

VEGAS IACONELLI & ALEX JAMES PROUDLY REPRESENTING THE IKE FOUNDATION

MIKE TOOK TIME TO GIVE ALEX A MOMENT AS WELL....

ALEX JAMES WITH HIS HERO AND SPONSOR, BASSMASTER MIKE IACONELLI

THE IKE FOUNDATION ON DISPLAY!

THE IKE FOUNDATION SPONSORED ALEX JAMES PROUDLY GIVES A "THUMBS UP"

ALEX JAMES SIGNS THE IKE FOUNDATION BOBBER DISPLAY

ALEX SHOWS HIS SIGNATURE TO THE CAMERA ON THE IKE FOUNDATION BOBBER DISPLAY

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE IKE FOUNDATION, CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

CLICK HERE FOR THE IKE FOUNDATION INFO

SO, HOW DID THE WEIGH-IN END?

BRENT EHRLER WAITS IN LINE TO SEE IF HIS BAG IS ENOUGH FOR THE TOP-50 CUT

THE FLOOD IS RISING AS THE WATERS ARE KNEE-DEEP FOR THE ANGLERS. HERE MIKE IACONELLI TAKES TIME TO TALK TO JAMES GANG PRO-STAFFER MAT EICHINGER ABOUT HIS NEW "IKE" REELS COMING TO iCAST

As Brent Ehrler expects disappointment on stage during the weigh-in, he is shocked by Dave Mercer as his "11-13" was actually weighed 14 lbs 7 ounces! Because of this weight, Brent finished Day #2 in 43rd place, and was fishing on Day #3 in the top-50 cut after all! It was so amazing to spend the day in the boat with such an accomplished and talented angler and witness the lows & highs in a day of tournament fishing at its highest level. Even though I learned a lot about how he works lures and manages his equipment, the decision-making and mind-control is what I loved seeing the most. With Brian Snowden & Brent Ehrler, I watched two world-class anglers struggle in the beginning of a day, and I watched both of them turn it around to manage a strong finish by the time they were ready to weigh in. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience!

THANK YOU BRIAN SNOWDEN & BRENT EHRLER FOR YOUR RESPECT, FOR TEACHING ME, AND FOR MAKING ME COMFORTABLE IN YOUR BOATS!
BOTH DAYS WERE INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES!!

To learn more about Brian Snowden & his guide service on Table Rock Lake, please click on the link to his website below:

CLICK HERE FOR www.briansnowden.com

To learn more about Brent Ehrler, please click on the link to his website below:

CLICK HERE FOR www.brentehrler.com

MORE WEIGH IN PICS..........

DAVE MERCER FILMING BASSMASTER LIVE AT THE WEIGH-IN STAGE

RANDALL THARP & ISH MONROE BAG THEIR TOURNAMENT-LEADING FISH ON DAY #3 AS JACOB POWROZNIK BACKS HIS BOAT WITH A LIVEWELL FULL TO CHALLENGE THEM

RANDALL THARP

ISH MONROE

JACOB POWROZNIK

ADRIAN AVENA, JESSE JAMES, JACOB WHEELER

MIKE IACONELLI BAGGING HIS FISH ON DAY #3 AT WEIGH-IN

MIKE IACONELLI'S FAMOUS TOYOTA TUNDRA DECKED OUT BY BRITT MYERS' CS MOTORSPORTS

MIKE IACONELLI'S HOBIE KAYAK GOES EVERYWHERE HE TRAVELS

MIKE IACONELLI'S FAMOUS SHARK TEETH BASS CAT BOAT

DISAPPOINTING DAY #3, BUT IKE MOVES UP THE AOY LEADERBOARD WITH THIS EVENT

BRENT EHRLER DISAPPOINTED AS WELL ON DAY #3-AWESOME GUY!!

BACKSTAGE WITH DAY #3 TOURNAMENT LEADER RANDALL THARP

BACKSTAGE WITH WESLEY STRADER - SUPER COOL GUY!!

THE TOP 12 ANGLERS (OF 107) GOING INTO CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY!!

BRENT EHRLER'S TRUCK AND BOAT SPOTTED WHILE WE WERE GAMING AT CHUCK E CHEESE'S

MORIZO SHIMIZU'S BOAT

LIKE MANY OF THE BASSMASTERS, WE CAMP!!

IF YOU ARE A HUGE FAN OF BASSMASTERS, YOU NEED TO CONSIDER BEING A MARSHAL!!!!!!
Registration typically starts in December for the following season.....

GO TO:
www.bassmaster.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION

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2018 James Gang Bass Invitational Results!!

6/11/2018

2 Comments

Rice Lake WI brought in a FULL FIELD and 112 bass were weighed in and released!!!

A FULL 20 BOAT FIELD FILLED VETERAN'S MEMORIAL PARK IN RICE LAKE JUNE 10th

The site chosen for the second annual JAMES GANG Bass Invitational Major League Fishing event was Orchard Beach Park in Rice Lake, WI. There were several factors considered in choosing this location, including reported bass abundance, parking ramp/park quality, surface area, and most importantly CELL RECEPTION. For Major League Fishing events, anglers use the internet on their mobile device to run Scoretracker Live. This gives you a Real Time scoreboard that tracks updated fish catches throughout the day. This means there is no weigh in, no live well use, and virtually no "fish kill." Anglers use their own digital scale to weigh their fish, and then photo themselves with the scale and a card with a PIN number (issued by the tournament director at the start of the day.)

KAYAK ANGLER LOR LEE PROPERLY PHOTOS HIS FISH FOR VERIFICATION

On the eve of the tournament, 4 of us James Gangers camped up near the lake and enjoyed a camp fire and some delicious meat off the grill. After a night of very little sleep, the 22' Hurricane Deckboat was trailered up and towed down to the park where the festivities could begin.....

ALEX, PAPA STEVE, & MASON TRY TO RELAX AT THE CAMPFIRE BEFORE HEADING TO BED IN THE CAMPER

THE TOURNAMENT BEGINS....

ALEX & MASON MINGLE WITH JAZ & GAVIN DUNCAN AND CHRIS PERRY'S TEAM AS THEY HEAD OUT TO CLAIM THEIR SPOTS

MAT EICHINGER & CRYSTAL SMART TURN THEIR BOAT AS THEY BEGIN THEIR JOURNEY TO FIND THE EARLY MORNING BASS BITE

LUKE & TYLER KRUMENAUR SHOWED UP WITH THEIR IACONELLI-INSPIRED ALUMINUM BOAT

IF YOU THINK FULLY RIGGED BASS BOATS ARE INTIMIDATING, YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN A LOADED FEEL FREE KAYAK! CHANG LOR (LAST YEAR'S CHAMP) & LOR LEE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO TAKING ON THE FIELD OF POWER BOATS

"Lines in" at this year's event was 7 am. This means after the 6am-7am launching, you can go do a "drive around," and then claim your spot (you can't cast your line until 7am!) The anglers in this event were from all different levels, we had returning James Gang pro staffers, amateur anglers, returning veteran tournament anglers from the previous fall event, and the kayak boys. In the fall event, the team of Mike Etzel & Tony Nelson spent the day battling it out on Dairyland Flowage vs Doug Helmuth & Zach Nelson. After both of their solid performances, we figured these were the teams that would be hard to beat on Rice Lake. After 3 rough pre-fishing trips to Rice Lake, it seemed that the bite was extremely tough. The tournament started off fast, as Doug & Zach took off with an exploding lead right away, pulling away from the entire field within just the first 3 hours. Doug & Zach already boated 16 lbs 10 oz of bass! Holding 2nd place was James Gang member Kevin Rogalski & Alex Whitmire with 8 lbs 12 oz, including a 3 lb 8 oz largemouth landed on our BOOTYKICKER swimbait. That fish was probably around 18-19" in length. Bobby Gibson was sitting in 3rd, and James Gang member Mat Eichinger (with the help of Crystal Smart) were in 4th hoping to get a good frog bite going to beat out Kevin's biggest bass. Last year's fall winners Mike & Tony were in 5th with 6 lbs and starting slow much like the last event. This team really likes to start slow and come back strong to try and claim a victory it seems. Jake & John got on the board early, Shawn Malison & Jesse Goss found a bay that they liked and slowly caught one here and there throughout the day. We were pleased to see our 11 year old buddy Douglas Stevenson on the board already with 3 lbs 15 oz.

11 YEAR OLD DOUGLAS STEVENSON STARTS THE DAY OFF STRONG WITH HIS FIRST BASS

BILL HAMM WEIGHS IN HIS THIRD FISH IN A BAY NEAR LILY PADS

ALEX JAMES STARTS HIS DAY...

JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES FINALLY BREAKS HIS MLF BAD LUCK AS HE WEIGHS A BASS EARLY IN THE 2018 BASS INVITATIONAL

Since we had to hand out PIN cards to every team at launch, we left the ramp at 7AM to start the day. Being that my practice fishing was completely worthless, we started over. We had no solid game plan other than we felt like the bass were post-spawn and not tight to shore. We chose to fish very close to the ramp in a shallow bay of lily pads. We fished shallow and deep, tight to shore, out in open flats, lily pad pockets & points, and nothing was happening. We were using frogs, buzz frogs, spinners, soft plastic finesse baits, and the struggles from practice continued. As we worked around the lily pad field we found several other tournament boats. Out in the middle of the bay, Ron Wojahn and Bill Hamm were seen setting the hook on a legal bass. Then another one, then another one!!! It was obvious that they caught their fish no where near shore, it was an off-shore deal. We then switched up to a finesse worm that I poured at home in a discontinued kiwi iridescent color that looks very much like a live nightcrawler. On the first cast I felt a bite, gave the rod to Alex, and WHAM! Fish on! I grabbed the net and Alex let out a loud IACONELLI scream! We put it on the bump board and it was legit - a 1 lb 2 oz largemouth bass. Alex was very relieved that he finally got on the board after failing to do so in the last 2 events. This bass put him in 11th place out of 20, and Team Wojahn put themselves up to 8th place with their 3 catches in a row. We worked the lily pad edges on the deep side 2x, and missed one tiny bite. We wanted to give Ron & Bill space and saw other boats so we decided it was time to find another spot.

LOOKING FOR A TROPHY SMALLMOUTH BITE...

JAMES GANG BASS JERKER IN "GOLDEN SHINER"

During memorial weekend, John Beaudette & I did some scouting on Rice Lake looking at the cover and structure as we tried to learn the look. To our surprise, we found a bunch of crazy huge smallmouths on their beds protecting their eggs. The sizes of these fish were unreal! We saw 3.5 pounders all over the place, we had a run in with a 4 lb and we were above a 5 lb for sure hanging around by the bridge. This is the same location that I caught a few the previous trip on my Bass Jerker. Also throughout that day we ran into the DNR, and after he checked our licenses and looked over the General Lee boat for life jackets, etc, he told us that the orange fish smacking our bass lures are golden shiners. Later in the day we got a good look at a few that definately were shiners. Perch, bluegills, and rock bass were all over our bass lures all day that day too. So I decided to take some Lucky Craft Pointer blanks and paint up 2 of these in a new Golden Shiner color for the tournament. Jerkbait fishing is my #1 confidence method and my favorite way to fish. After fishing the bay by Team Wojahn and Team Malison we headed to my spot full of smallmouth and threw the jerkbait. On the first cast I hooked up on what I thought was too small of a fish to weigh. Alex grabbed the net and get it in for me and it was 12.25"! This fish would count as #2 for us. Alex weighed it and we were on the board again!

ALEX JAMES WEIGHS A 1 lb 1 oz BASS CAUGHT ON A "GOLDEN SHINER" BASS JERKER

While Alex and I were celebrating, Papa Steve and his partner Mason K (8 years old) were starting to get into some northern pike. As we excitedly looked at Scoretracker Live, we were amazed how fast Doug & Zach continued to catch bass. We were not surprised that Tony & Mike put another big comeback charge on as they tried to run them down. Alex was very proud to be in the middle of the field in 9th place (fell to 11th quickly) among so many teams. Doug & Zach already boated 15 bass by 11 AM, Tony & Mike landed 7, and their buddies Team Gibson were not far behind them. 11-year-old Douglas Stevenson and his dad Mike were doing well with 3 bass weighed in at this time, sitting in 9th place. A team moving up slowly is Luke & Tyler Krumenauer in their small aluminum boat decked out to match BASSMASTER Mike Iaconelli's. They were in 10th place with 3 fish, hanging out at the inlet of the Red Cedar river. Much like the kayak guys, they used their lightweight craft to get into areas the big boats could not. Luke & Tyler used a push pole to advance them into this area and take advantage of a great largemouth bite as the river current came through the thick weed growth. 11 year old Douglas Stevenson helps out his father, Mike, as he catches his 2nd MLF legal bass, at 1 lb 3 oz.

DOUGLAS STEVENSON WEIGHS HIS SECOND FISH OF THE DAY!!

DOUG HELMUTH & ZACH NELSON WERE HOPING FOR QUALITY BUT CATCHING VERY HIGH QUANTITIES - A GREAT WAY TO WIN IN MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING!!

STUNT PLANE FLYBY TAKES PLACE OVER CHANG LOR'S KAYAK

Chang Lor & Lor Lee were competing in kayaks and combining their weights for the tournament. They were off to a slow start, but at the day progressed, Chang began getting bites from pike and bass, legal and undersized, on the BOOTYKICKER swimbait. All while he sat on his comfy feel free kayak watching old planes put on a show over his head for Rice Lake's Aquafest.

A LIGHTWEIGHT KEEPER GETS CHANG'S LATE START GOING

SMALLMOUTHS NOT COOPERATING, PIKE WERE A DIFFERENT STORY.....

TODD LUNDQUIST & DOC GILLES GIVE A HUGE THUMBS UP TO SHAKE OFF THEIR STRESS OF LOSING 2 GIANT BASS ON VIBRATING JIGS

After we fished around the bridge points, we headed to the rock pile with the loon flag. Papa Steve landed another pike, and unfortunately must have not noticed nicks in his line. Within just a few casts with his spinnerbait, he hooked into a very nice bass. This bass shook his head in the water and SNAP! Nothing but a broken line. He tied on another spinnerbait and within a short time got into another pike. We bailed from that area and headed to where I thought I could win big bass with giant smallmouths. We worked the 5-10 foot range of boulders, gravel and deep wood cover. We tried plastics, topwaters, and lots of jerkbaits. The area was completely dead for all of us. Senkos didn't get the job done either. We ran into several of our fishing buddies that were on the move, and Team Lundquist/Gilles lost 2 giant largemouth on a vibrating jig. Team Martinek were struggling (like us) to get their first bass to weigh in and were on the move too.

KEVIN MARTINEK & HIS PARTNER MICHELLE RELOCATING IN SEARCH OF SOME BASS

JOHN BEAUDETTE & TREVOR MEEKS WORKING ON SOME SMALLMOUTH BASS LOCATIONS

CRYSTAL SMART & MAT EICHINGER WORK THE SHALLOW WOOD IN THE EAST BAY

Crystal & Mat have caught fish here and there throughout the day. Crystal was catching a lot of fish, but unfortunately they would be just undersized, or the wrong species....

Sorry guys, that's not gonna work. But just as I want to make fun of them, they catch one that does work - a very healthy 16" largemouth!

TEAM EICHINGER WITH A HEAVY 16" BASS WEIGHING IN AT 3lbs 2oz!!

PIKE, PIKE, PIKE, MORE PIKE, KRUMENAUER'S AND TEAM NELSON/ETZEL TRY RUNNING DOWN THE TOP TEAM AS MEEKS AND BEAUDETTE MOVE UP

As Mike Etzel & Tony Nelson try putting the pressure on Doug Helmuth & Zach Nelson, The Krumenaur boys are hammering fish in the Red Cedar River inlet. No one is catching giants, so this has become a game of who can catch the highest number of fish. Chris Perry & Chuck Deutsh finally got some of their Booyah frog bite rolling, and landed 3 MLF bass in the second half. Meanwhile Trevor Meeks finally hooks into a beautiful 3 lb 2 oz smallmouth bass, putting their weight up to 8 lbs 5 oz. They are sitting in 8th place right behind Kevin Rogalski & Alex Whitmire, who are still holding on to the "DAILY LUNKER" at the moment....

CHRIS PERRY WEIGHS IN A FINE LARGEMOUTH BASS AFTYER STRUGGLING THE EARLY PART OF THE DAY

TREVOR MEEKS IS A HAPPY ANGLER WITH A GORGEOUS 3 lb 2 oz SMALLMOUTH BASS

THE SHORES ARE LINED WITH DEER, ENJOYING THE SHOW!

CHRIS PERRY & CHUCK DEUTSCH PHOTO A FEW FANS IN ATTENDANCE

Up near the Red Cedar River inlet, Luke & Tyler Krumenaur came out of nowhere and shot up the score board. Fish after fish after fish, they landed 11 more bass late in the day. They had an issue with their scale, and they thought they may have beaten Kevin Rogalski's big bass. After calling us asking what to do, we had them keep their fish in a livewell as I called 4 different game wardens. I called others in the tourney to see what is legal and what to do. We came to the conclusion that weighing in fish for them at the end is against the law and we were not licensed for a live weigh in. As I called the boys to tell them the bad news, the scale dried out in the sun and came back to life! They were able to start weighing fish again and their beautiful fish weighed in at 3 lbs 1 oz, 7 oz short of the Big Bass leader.....

LUKE KRUMENAUER ADDS ANOTHER BASS TO HIS TOTAL, TRYING TO CATCH THE TOP 2 TEAMS

TYLER KRUMENAUER IS HELPING HIS TEAM GAIN GROUND ON THE LEADERS IN THE FINAL HOURS OF COMPETITION

LATE CHARGE BY NELSON & ETZEL COMES UP SHORT.......

During the second half of the day Mike & Tony seemed to be on pace to catch the leaders. Doug & Zach were stuck at 26 lbs for quite a while, while the 2nd place team was boating fish after fish. As they closed the gap to make this a high pressure battle, Doug & Zach shut the door on the second place team and finished off strong - weighing their 21st fish of the day! Their daily weight of 37 lbs 12 oz is the highest weight ever achieved in our 3 tournaments. Tony & Mike finished with 15 fish weighed in at 28 lbs 6 oz. The Krumenaur boys took 3rd, but almost over took 2nd with 14 fish weighing 23 lbs 3 oz. The ending of this day turned out to be a very exciting one. Unfortunately in our boat we never dialed in anything worthwhile in any of the pre-fishing or the tournament visits. We had opportunities on just one quality fish each per team today - I lost a bass on Lovertail 2 that was probably a 17" bass around 3 lbs or more, but even with that fish were were struggling in the standings. Papa Steve dominated the pike in our boat with 7 landed. A bonus rock bass gave us a visit, too. We were pleased to find out that end the end of the day our good buddy Kevin Rogalski held off the field and did end up winning the Big Bass Award - on our JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER swimbait!!

THIRD PLACE TEAM - LUKE & TYLER KRUMENAUR
14 bass - 23 lbs 3 oz

WINNERS OF 2 STANLEY JIG HATS, JAMES GANG/JB'S FISH SAUCE TACKLE KITS, & TWO SIGNED POSTERS FROM MIKE IACONELLI (PROFESSIONAL EDGE FISHING)

SIGNED TOYOTA POSTER FROM MIKE IACONELLI.COM WON BY 3rd PLACE

SECOND PLACE TEAM - TONY NELSON & MIKE ETZEL
15 bass - 28 lbs 6 oz

JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES POSES WITH OUR 2nd PLACE WINNERS TONY NELSON & MIKE ETZEL. WINNERS OF $100 CASH!

CONGRATS TO OUR 2018 JAMES GANG BASS INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONS - DOUG HELMUTH & ZACH NELSON!!

21 fish - 37 lbs 12 oz

2018 CHAMPION DOUG HELMUTH, CEO ALEX JAMES, MASON K, AND CHAMPION ZACH NELSON POSE WITH THEIR TROPHIES. THE WINNERS ALSO RECEIVED $675 IN CASH WINNINGS!!!

"DAILY LUNKER" BIG BASS AWARD WINNER

KEVIN ROGALSKI

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER KEVIN ROGALSKI USED A JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER TO CATCH THE BIGGEST BASS OF THE 112 WEIGHED IN AT 3 LBS 8 OZ. KEVIN WON A BASS UNIVERSITY EDITION UNDER ARMOUR PREMIUM HAT (THANK YOU BASS U/BECKY IACONELLI) AS WELL AS A FRAMED CERTIFICATE AND $225 CASH!

TAKE A KID FISHING!!! THE IKE FOUNDATION

We are VERY PROUD of the turnout of kids in this tournament! Our 9-year-old CEO Alex James is proudly sponsored by THE IKE FOUNDATION, and encourages children to spend time in the outdoors fishing, camping, hunting, and exploring. Our tournament had 4 competitors entered under the age of 12. We will try and promote more of this in our future tournaments and looking forward to seeing the children whoop up on many of the adults. Congrats to Douglas Stevenson for weighing in the most weight out of the children in this event!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MIKE ETZEL FOR DONATING FISHING TACKLE TO THE CHILDREN INVOLVED IN THIS EVENT! VISIT MIKE THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE IN LADYSMITH AT FLAMBEAU RIVER OUTFITTERS FOR YOUR HUNTING AND FISHING NEEDS OR FOR HIS PREMIUM MUSKY GUIDE SERVICE!

FUTURE EVENTS

The James Gang Pro Staff team will plan on future events, and discuss dates, locations, and invitees. We have had a fantastic time fishing the last three events, are very pleased with the respect of the "honor system" in regards to weights and scoring, and have had decent sportsmanship from anglers in all three events. Our goal has always been to invite amateur anglers, children, small craft anglers, and people that generally don't fish the big tournament leagues in the area. We will begin to work on the future event planning and would like to thank all of our awesome participants for coming up to Rice Lake and fishing their tails off!

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ELK MOUND HIGH FISHING TEAM WINS WHITEFISH OPEN, HEADS TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ON PICKWICK LAKE!!

6/3/2018

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WHITEFISH OPEN CHAMPIONS COLE STEINHORST, COACH SCOTT WILZCEK, AND BLAZE TODD PROUDLY DISPLAY THEIR TROPHIES AFTER DEFEATING 96 OPPOSING TEAMS IN CROSSLAKE, MN

BASS PRO SHOPS HIGH SCHOOL FISHING - WHITEFISH CHAIN OPEN CHAMPIONS!!

In spring of 2017, students, teachers, and parents all got together to form Elk Mound's first bass fishing club. High school fishing teams have been exploding with popularity in the past few years, after so much positivity was generated by the FLW and Bassmasters in the college ranks. These high school tournaments are composed of 2-angler teams, with an adult mentor as a boat driver. Since the schedule only allows a very small season, the anglers must find success immediately in order to move to up to higher competition levels. This season the Elk Mound team only competed in two events. The first event took place in La Crosse, WI May 19th on the Mississippi River.

In the first event, Cole Steinhorst had his typical showing of consistency, dating back to last year. Cole has a habit of finishing in the top half of the standings in every event he fishes, which is extremely tough to do. In that event, he teamed up with his brother Carson and finished in 20th place. His high school buddies Blaze Todd, Marcus Kinblom, James Javanovich, and Reuben Riek all competed as well. All three Elk Mound teams weighed in fish in that tournament, which was ran by the FLW series.

The final event took place June 3rd in Minnesota, with 96 teams competing. Naturally the tournament was full of teams from the Brainerd area with local knowledge and experience. Cole teamed up with Blaze Todd in this event, and with Cole's uncle Scott driving them around, the boys accomplished an unbelievable feat - beating a local team from Brainerd by just TWO ounces and winning the entire event!

This event was extremely challenging, considering the size of the field. The sport of tournament bass fishing is the toughest sport on earth - every other angler is out to get you. Also, fishing success is often associated with "luck." As any tournament angler can explain, there is no time for "luck" in competitive fishing. There are both controllable and non-controllable variables in every event. But the anglers that are consistent and can block out the negative moments and setbacks from controllable variables are the ones that find their way to victory. There is a reason why Kevin Vandam consistently wins at the highest level, and no one comes close to finding success similar to his. Clearly that is not "luck." It is a sport of roller-coaster moments of extremely low moments, and on this day the highest of high moments. Team Todd-Steinhorst will be headed down to Pickwick Lake in Alabama to represent their high school and compete for the honors of National Champions of the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Series.

CONGRATULATIONS COLE & BLAZE!!!!
BEST OF LUCK ON PICKWICK LAKE!

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The DOG DAYS of Memorial Weekend.......

5/29/2018

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STEVE PIONTEK LANDS A 19" PRE-SPAWN BASS IN WASHBURN COUNTY ON A SPINNERBAIT

Fishing reports from the James Gang have been coming in from all over Western Wisconsin, and some very impressive fish have been landed. From smallmouths, to largemouths, to bluegills and perch, and even a baby musky, the action is heating up! As of Sunday, we have come to the conclusion that the bluegill and perch bite is absolutely on fire! The smallmouth bass are on their beds, the largemouth bass are very moody in a late pre-spawn funk, pacing around their upcoming bedding areas ignoring or running away from most lures. On occasion we managed a few on finesse techniques over the weekend, and these fish were decent-sized. Last week our pro-staffer Kevin Rogalski absolutely lit up the largemouth on his first batch of James Gang BOOTYKICKER swimbaits. Andrew Draper managed a giant near his home, our kayak boys had a stellar couple of weekends fishing for bass, pike, and panfish, Mat Eichinger got into some occasional bass and frequent quality bluegills in Chippewa County, and John Beaudette continued to light it up on his secret canoe lake full of aggressive largemouth bass. We will break it down for you in addition to the pictures below:

James Gang Pro Staff Member and SMALL CRAFT OUTFITTER kayak guide Tyler Theide put his bull bluegill LOVERTAIL 2 to work, and once again landed another 5+ lb largemouth bass on it. Once again, it was all captured on video. As usual, Tyler soaked his Lovertails in JB'S FISH SAUCE for added scent. He was later a guest on Dan Small's "OUTDOOR WISCONSIN" radio show, which can be listened to by clicking the link below:

SHOW 1321 TYLER THEIDE INTERVIEW (44:00 in)

By the way, Tyler has added to the species that are willing to eat a James Gang Lovertail 2 over the holiday. The YELLOW PERCH has joined the party, in addition to largemouth bass and channel catfish!

Tyler's fishing buddy and guiding partner Chang Lor was not about to be outdone by Mr. Theide. After feeling a strike on his Lovertail 2, he followed up with his trusty buzz bait and WHAM! another 20+ inch largemouth bass was measured up in his Feel Free kayak. These guys are way too good. I notice that they same to catch trophy bass at a much higher rate than anyone else in the area. I credit their skills, but more importantly, their ability to fish better waters with their kayaks. These guys know where the big bass are living and can get to these places that the big boats can't! Check out www.smallcraftoutfitters.com and book a trip this summer in their awesome kayaks!! By the way, Chang was so used to catching fish, he even let out a "yawn" while boating a 3 lb smallmouth! Must be rough boys, go take a nap!

OUR LITTLE SOUTHERN BOY KALEB STILL HAMMERING BASS.... NOW WITH A BAITCASTER!!!!

ROGALSKI ON FIRE!

Kevin Rogalski had a blast fishing our new Bootykicker 5" swimbaits. He had struggled with a straight retrieve, so he adjusted and switched to a "hopping" presentation on a lake that he had a lot of history on, and it paid off big time. Kevin reported that this was the best day he has had on this lake in quite a long time, and actually got together with Mat Eichinger and designed a new Green Pumpkin wiht flake design of our Bootykicker with the great Randy Henderson at Lethal Baits. We are looking forward to seeing their designs, and we have a few new designs of our own coming out in June. Anyone interested in ordering our current colors of Bootykickers should email us at jessejames@jamesgangfish.com and we will get your order in to Randy ASAP!

ALAYNA SHOWS MAT HOW ITS DONE!

James Gang Pro Staffer Mat Eichinger took his little fishing buddy Alayna out for some bass and bluegill fun on Memorial Day. It was Alayna's first time ever using a spinning rod, and Mat reported that she learned how to cast it VERY quickly. Congrats Alayna on your largemouth bass, and maybe in the next few years you can partner up with Mat for one of our Major League Fishing Tournaments and take our money away from us!

DRAPER CATCHES A TROPHY!

AND A PIKE ON OUR BABY SQUID BAIT!!!!!

PAPA STEVE WITH A 3 LB SMALLMOUTH....

THE AUTHOR STRUGGLES...........

Yeah, I can admit it, I have been struggling. Much like a year ago. But in my defense I have been spending my time learning new water. And I found fish, I just need to learn how to find a good tournament pattern for the upcoming MLF event. So much changes during the pre-spawn season, and I am pretty confident the tournament will take place during post-spawn or after full recovery. Hopefully I can put it together and have a non-embarrassing day (Dairyland tournament was forgettable for me!!!!) I managed a few largemouth over the weekend, nice healthy fish over legal size, and I hope to build on that in the upcoming weeks.....

WHILE BEAUDETTE WHOOPS HIM....

IN SUMMARY.....

Things are going very well at James Gang Fishing in 2018! Lure sales are on track to put us at another record year. The increase has been steady since the beginning. My book "NEVER FISHED? GIVE IT A TRY!" has been selling at a decent amount on Amazon ($6.50/each.) Our BOOTYKICKER swimbait won't stay in stock, our amazing colors are selling very well, and fish pictures are coming in on them. Our Lovertail 2 and Bee Whackers are available at multiple sport shops now, and the new weight on the Bee Whacker has helped the casting distance tremendously. Our Major League Fishing Bass Invitational is a hit, we appear to have a full field and a waiting list, and should have a very fun event on Rice Lake June 10th. We started a poll on Facebook on a good fall location, we encourage you to vote if you are in NW Wisconsin. Our link to our book is below, click on it if you are interested in buying a copy, and until next time, GOOD LUCK FISHING!!

CLICK HERE FOR FISHING BASICS BOOK (AMAZON.COM)

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FISHING SEASON IS OPEN!!! MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING RICE LAKE JUNE 2018

5/15/2018

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JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES HELPS HIS GRANDPARENTS CATCH SOME DELICOUS BLUEGILLS FOR SUPPER

PRE-SPAWN BASS FISHING IS HERE!

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER JOHN BEAUDETTE CELEBRATES HIS DAY OFF IN STYLE, HAMMERING BASS ONE AFTER ANOTHER - JUST A WEEK AFTER FILLING HIS DINNER TABLE WITH BIG CRAPPIES

The Wisconsin game fish season finally arrived May 5, 2018 after a long and brutal winter. The ice came off many of the lakes in Northern Wisconsin just days before the opener. Luckily, the weather changed dramatically and allowed the lakes to heat up very quickly, which also created a few feeding binges by the crappies and largemouth bass a few days after opening day. While I had very limited time on the water so far this season (and struggled at best) our James Gang of wildmen had a pretty solid start to their seasons. Kevin Martinek & Doc Gilles got into a few gorgeous largemouth bass on a secret lake in Washburn county on a tough opener. The bite picked up later in the day as the sun heated the lake and they managed a few fish on our new Bootykicker and our Flappin' Jig.

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER DOC GILLES WITH A SOLID LARGEMOUTH ON THE JAMES GANG FLAPPIN' JIG W/ BOOTYKICKER TRAILER

DOC GILLES WITH ANOTHER LARGEMOUTH CAUGHT ON A "ALBINO BAITFISH" BOOTYKICKER

MAT EICHINGER & KEVIN ROGALSKI competed in the CWBA Chetac Open in Birchwood, WI on May 12. This event is ran by Craig Kloth of Medford and is always a very well ran event and a lot of fun to compete in. 80 anglers battled for 7 payouts + big bass. Although the boys were disappointed in their finish, they placed in the top half of the field with some quality bass and avoided being one of several teams that blanked out at the weigh in. They reported that the bite was much tougher after the cold front moved through the previous day, after having an incredible practice run before the "off-limits" week kicked in. Here are a few pictures below of their awesome practice day, as well as the tournament weigh in from Saturday:

MAT EICHINGER WITH A BEAST 4 LB LARGEMOUTH ON LAKE CHETAC

KEVIN ROGALSKI WITH ANOTHER AWESOME LARGEMOUTH IN PRACTICE

WEIGH IN PREPARATIONS WITH CWBA's CRAIG KLOTH

ON THE SCALES, FINISHING ABOVE 8 LBS FOR 4 FISH ON A TOUGH DAY

MAT EICHINGER & KEVIN ROGALSKI DISPLAY THEIR FISH BEFORE RELEASING THEM BACK INTO THE LAKE

Alex and his grandparents have found that the bluegills are slowly getting into their prespawn rhythm as they landed 25+ bluegills Saturday night on Red Cedar Lake. They have been keeping only enough to make a fresh meal, and making sure to concentrate on conservation. As the bite will peak out in a week or two, the numbers of older fish will begin showing up and we are careful to not keep too many of the larger fish with the better genetics and more eggs. The fish from the past weekend were running smaller than they do during the prime, but they sure tasted great with our recipe below:

CLICK HERE FOR ALEX JAMES ULTIMATE PANFISH RECIPE

PAPA STEVE cuts up some delicious Red Cedar Lake bluegills for the frying pan. Scaled with skin and bones left on for MAXIMUM FLAVOR!!

JESSE JAMES WITH A BASS CAUGHT ON THE "OSHA RECORDABLE" BASS JERKER

LOCAL ANGLER TREVOR MEEKS SUBMITTED THIS PICTURE OF A FINE LARGEMOUTH CAUGHT ON OUR NEW JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER SWIMBAIT IN "ALTOONA PERCH"

JAMES GANG FISHING VICE PRESIDENT ANGELA PIONTEK SHOWS A BROOK TROUT SHE CAUGHT RECENTLY, ONE OF MANY SHE LANDED IN THE LOCAL CREEKS

MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING JUNE 10th RICE LAKE

Our MLF event on June 10th is approaching, and we expect the lake to be at a great stage of the bass season when it takes place. This is a brand new lake to most of us, but what we are hearing is that Rice Lake has an abundant bass population. We have done a little scouting and found heavy vegetation, but also rocky bottoms near several shorelines, and a lot of downed timber. This look looks fantastic as far as cover is concerned! The lake has a heavy stain already, and the shallow bays have some nasty matted slop all over. I got a feeling by tournament Sunday in June, this could be a power fishing, topwater showdown! We should be near a full 20-boat field with a great payout at only a $25 entry fee per angler. Click the link below to RSVP and get your name on the invite list. If invited, you will receive an email from James Gang Fishing with entry fee info and deadlines.

CLICK HERE FOR RICE LAKE MLF EVENT RSVP

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUGLAS!

DOUGLAS S. CELEBRATES HIS 11th BIRTHDAY WITH A GIANT LARGEMOUTH BASS. DOUGLAS COMPETES IN THE JAMES GANG MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING EVENTS AND IS LOOKING FORWARD TO A HIGH FINISH IN OUR NEXT EVENT. CONGRATS DOUGLAS!!!

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100,000 Website views - HUGE SALE on Lovertails & Bee Whackers in stock / MLF RICE LAKE WI JUNE 10 RSVP / New book on fishing basics on Amazon / Spring Market 2018

4/28/2018

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WE HAVE REACHED 100,000 VIEWS ON OUR WEBSITE!

TO CELEBRATE, WE ARE HAVING A HUGE SALE ON ALL LOVERTAIL 2 WEEDLESS INLINE SPINNERS & BEE WHACKER BUZZBAITS!

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF NEARLY 50% OFF, PLUS FREE SHIPPING AT OUR ONLINE STORE! CLICK BELOW TO ORDER:

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click here to purchase Bee whacker buzzbait firetiger

click here to purchase bee whacker buzzbait white

AND DON'T FORGET TO STOCK UP ON SOME JB'S FISH SAUCE FOR BOTH OF THESE LURES!!!

CLICK HERE FOR JB'S FISH SAUCE INFO

MLF RICE LAKE WI RSVP INFO

The 2nd Annual James Gang Bass Invitational will be on Sunday, June 10th, on Rice Lake, WI. This will be a Major League Fishing tournament, with 2 person teams. Entry fee will be only $25 per angler. $5 per angler goes directly to MLF Scoretracker Live's fees. The rest of the entry fee money will be paid out 100%! We have a 20-boat limit, for more information, clink on the linkj below. If you are interested in the tournament, fill out the RSVP on that link!!!

2018 James Gang Bass Invitational Rice Lake

BOOK ON FISHING BASICS

I am VERY proud to have written a 111 page paperback book on the basics of fishing. Basically this book is an introduction on how to get started fishing, for a person that has not been introduced to fishing and would like to spend more time in the outdoors. This book would be fantastic for an adult that isn't familiar with fishing, as well as children in the middle school to high school years. This book is selling on Amazon for only $5.95. A percentage of the profits will go to the Fishers of Kids charity as well as The Ike Foundation. Links to purchase the book and the 2 mentioned charities are below:

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE OUR FISHING BASICS BOOK

FISHERS OF KIDS CHARITY - FACEBOOK

THE IKE FOUNDATION

SPRING MARKET 2018 WAS A SUCCESS!!

JOSH C OF MISSOURI WASTED NO TIME WITH HIS LOVERTAIL 2 - LANDING THIS GIANT WITHIN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF RECEIVING HIS LURE!!!! 24" 6.2 lbs!!!!!!!!!

BEST OF LUCK DURING THE 2018 WISCONSIN FISHING OPENER MAY 5th!!!!!

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ARRIVAL OF BOOTYKICKER SWIMBAITS, WAITING FOR OPENER, UW STOUT SPONSORSHIP MEETING, JBs FISH SAUCE, THE IKE FOUNDATION

4/15/2018

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SPRING IS FINALLY HERE.....???

We are excited that spring is finally here, but so far it really doesn't feel like it up in Wisconsin. The water temperatures in the rivers are doing ok, but the lakes are a different story. Its amazing that in late December we were so warm and were begging for some safe ice on the lakes, then the next thing you know, our air temperatures dropped below zero, forever! The ice thickness was incredible this year around February and March, and now with the much lower than average temperatures this April, the ice is hardly melting. The only fishing that seems to be taking place is on the river systems, and currently the water temperatures are around 40 degrees. Just a few bright, sunny days will boost that up a few degrees and the river fish will begin feeding like crazy. Last week I managed to get out for about an hour in the light snow and caught my first open water fish of 2018, a small Lake Sturgeon measuring roughly about 24." I got a quick picture with this gorgeous little guy and let it go right away since they are out of season, even for catch-and-release. Pretty soon the suckers, redhorse, carp, mooneye, walleye, yellow perch, and freshwater drum will go crazy in our rivers, and the anglers that have been hiding in the house from the cold will finally be able to get out and relax.

YOUNG LAKE STURGEON AROUND 24" CAUGHT ON A NIGHTCRAWLER ON THE EAU CLAIRE RIVER

BOOTYKICKER 5" PADDLE TAIL SWIMBAITS FOR SALE NOW!

Our production-run James Gang BOOTYKICKER 5" swimbaits are here! Lethal Baits did an outstanding job at taking our prototype recipe, finding a mold that resembled it closely, and injecting them into our custom colors. We are so glad that we chose to hire a pro to inject them for us, the final product looks incredible in person, and in the water. The swimming action is so perfect, and the colors that Randy Henderson has made us are just stunning. They are available only through email at 6lbsmallmouth@gmail.com, and on eBay. We will send your email address a PayPal invoice for $5.25 per 4 pack plus shipping for your orders. We offer them in 7 forage-matching colors, including Altoona Perch, Randy's Gill, Emerald Shiner, Silver Baitfish, Albino Baitfish, Redhorse, and Baby Bass. We sold out of Randy's Gill in the first 2 hours, and the Altoona Perch in 24 hours. Don't worry, Lethal Baits is already on the job sending a second order of those colors, and they should arrive very quickly. Below we will show all of the colors available as we do our best to "match the hatch" while showing the fish something different from the standard store brands of products. For tips on using the Bootykicker, check out our "Fishing Tips" menu on this website.

THE FIRST 20 CUSTOMERS WILL GET A FREE SAMPLE OF JB'S FISH SAUCE WITH THEIR BOOTYKICKER ORDER!!!!!

BOOTYKICKER COLORS AVAILABLE

ADDING JBs FISH SAUCE TO OUR BOOTYICKER IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! THE SCENT "BAITFISH" OR "BLACK MAGIC" SHOULD BE YOUR CHOICE FOR THIS LURE!!!!!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON JBs FISH SAUCE

UW-STOUT NATIONAL BASS FISHING TOURNAMENT TEAM MEETING / THE IKE FOUNDATION SPONSORSHIP

Two weeks ago, the UW-STOUT bass fishing team held their team meeting at Jarvis Hall on campus. They were kind enough to invite Alex and I to speak about James Gang Fishing Company, our lures we have to offer, and about a sponsorship opportunity to them as we represent each other while supporting each other. After explaining our lure designs to the team in the campus room, 9-year old Alex took over the speech and explained to the room all about his opportunities he has had at a young age in the bass fishing world. He spoke about fishing his first adult tournament at 7 years old competing in the CWBA Opens (ran by Craig Kloth - fantastic tournament director) also about the beginning of James Gang Fishing Company, his idea that came to life beginning when he was four years old, to designing successful lures at 7 years old, to spending time with Mike Iaconelli in Minnesota after a meet-and-greet fan expo, and to eventually landing a sponsorship with The Ike Foundation, signing papers from Mike Iaconelli's attorneys to be his first sponsor to represent that fine organization.

Alex went into great detail about what The Ike Foundation is, and how it was established to introduce children into the outdoors and have positive hobbies in their life, especially in bigger cities where violence and crime begins at a very young age. He talked about Iaconelli's silly sense of humor and about how nice of a guy he is. Alex did a fantastic job with his speech and made all of his family very proud! Alex stated he was not nervous at all because he "talks to people all the time on his YouTube Channel YG4Kids." For more information about THE IKE FOUNDATION, go to www.theikefoundation.org.

GREAT JOB ALEX!!!

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BOOTYKICKER SWIMBAIT, "BIGGIN" WILLIAMS, BASS JERKERS, BIG MINNOW BAR & GRILL

3/22/2018

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BIG MINNOW ADDS JAMES GANG LURES IN 2018!

We are very excited that the wonderful owners at the Big Minnow Bar & Grill/Bait Shop have added our Lovertail 2, Dunkin' Frog, Bee Whacker Buzzbait, Dunkin' Frog Musky, Bee Whacker Musky, and Lovertail 2 Musky Waaker to their bait shop line in 2018! The Big Minnow bait shop is seasonal to the open water months, and will open their doors around mid-April. We will have our lures stocked up for their opening weekend and keep them filled all season long. If you have never been to the Lake Holcombe area, it is a great place to camp, fish, boat, or hang out during the summer and especially the holidays. With the Jump River and the Chippewa River entering the Holcombe Flowage, there are plenty of fish species to chase, including bass, northern pike, musky, walleye, catfish, sturgeon, panfish, and many more! With the weed cover found in the shallow areas, our weed-friendly designs will work excellent! The owners asked that I keep them stocked with a variety of colors per lure design, so we will supply them with the best fish-catchers for that style of lake, based on the typical stained water clarity of the Chippewa River system. Swing by the Big Minnow this summer, grab one of their burgers off the menu, crack a cold one, and check out the bait shop!

WELCOME CHAD "BIGGIN" WILLIAMS TO THE JAMES GANG PRO STAFF!!

We proudly add Chad "Biggin" Williams to the James Gang! Chad is an avid bass angler from Florida, that spends the bulk of his time fishing the famous Harris Chain of Lakes. When he gets an opportunity, "Biggin" will be seen on Lake Okeechobee hauling in trophies when Mother Nature permits him to. Chad has caught multiple bass over 10 lbs in his life, including a 13 lb 9 oz monster! Chad supports getting kids fishing, and when he told us he is a huge Mike Iaconelli fan, we just had to get him in the gang. We are thankful that Chad is helping us spread the word about our hand-crafted lures in the central Florida area. Welcome, Chad, and have a great year on the lake in 2018!!

BOOTYKICKER - FROM PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION!

We finally gave Randy at Lethal Baits the "green light" to produce our first run of our James Gang Bootykicker weighted swimbait. Randy sent us 10 baits in our "Emerald Shiner" pattern, and when we took them to the river, they tested GREAT! The tail action is incredible, and the lure looks amazing in the water. This will be a fantastic lure for several species of gamefish, and will be magical around weed cover on a weedless hook, as well as down deep in late fall on a 1/2 oz swimbait jig. Watch the tail in action down below on the youtube video link:

BASS JERKER PAINTING SEASON IS BACK!!

GHOST SHAD, (custom) BLOODY CISCO, GHOST MINNOW, YELLOW PERCH

Now that spring is finally here in Wisconsin, we began painting our custom colors of our BASS JERKER suspending jerkbaits. Our custom colors that we have been working on are our super successful "BLOODY CISCO," a new "FATHEAD" pattern that mimics fathead minnows very well (black body/silver belly,) "DAN'S GILL" imitating a male bluegill (navy blue top, blending into a silver mid-section, orange belly) and a neat new color called "SHINER" which mimics common shiner forage quite well. I cover these paints with a layer of clear coat to add some natural shine to them. After gluing on the eyes, I attach a pair of HD stainless steel upsized split rings, and some upsized blood red 1x VMC treble hooks. The rear treble is put in a fly vise, as I tie on three feathers by hand, wrap them , and seal them. This lure is comparable to a $17 Lucky Craft Pointer 78, but better, and at almost half the price ($10!) The factory-painted colors are terrific, and are very good at catching fishing. Visibility is a factor with jerkbaits, but I don't use obnoxiously bright - they seem to only do well in somewhat clear water anyway. So if its cloudy outside or the water has a decent stain to it, I just go with a more solid silver color or the Ginrin Swirl color for better visibility. They still look pretty realistic. The ghost colors are awesome on a bright sunny day in crystal clear waters, especially on Lake Michigan. Overall the #1 fish producer has been the "Bloody Cisco" and its fraternal twin brother, the "OSHA RECORDABLE." To order, send me an email at 6lbsmallmouth@gmail.com and we will set you up with these fantastic lures ASAP. All custom orders or out of stock lures do take 2-4 weeks, so be patient as I wait for parts and pick the right day out to paint your lures. I highly recommend picking up some JB's Fish Sauce in "Baitfish" scent to treat your lure while you are using it. Its made from natural fish oils, so you can't go wrong!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER OUR BASS JERKER BLOODY CISCO

Bass Jerker in "BLOODY CISCO" ready for clear coat

"BLOODY CISCO" Largemouth caught in CWBA tournament practice

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THANK YOU MADISON WISCONSIN!!!!

2/27/2018

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THE JAMES GANG HAD A BLAST AT THE 2018 WISCONSIN FISHING EXPO.....

CEO & LURE DESIGNER ALEX JAMES PROUDLY DISPLAYS HIS IKE FOUNDATION PLEDGE AS HE BEGINS HIS BOOTH SETUP FEBRUARY 23

What a fun weekend we had at the Alliant Energy Center! We attended our second trade show ever, and fortunately this one is 100% fishing related. We really appreciate the people at Bast-Durbin for stressing that when choosing which vendors were allowed in the building. It really made the weekend a lot of fun talking fishing with everyone. Attendance was thought to have been up about 11% from previous years, which would put it well over 20,000 people. I know we personally sold lures to people from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and even South America! He did buy our musky lures to try for peacock bass down there too. Remember to email us your fish catch pictures at 6lbsmallmouth@gmail.com and we will post them on this fishing report/blog every few weeks during the open water or prime ice fishing season!

Madison Wisconsin was rocking this past weekend!!

Click below to watch the Alex Fishing Show in Madison!!

PETE MAINA, KEITH COMBS, & SETH FIEDER ALL HUNG OUT WITH ALEX AT THE EXPO!!

We were excited to see some professional anglers at the show, and we weren't surprised to find that they were all awesome people, much like the majority of the professional fishing world that we had met in the past. Keith Combs, a superstar angler from Texas, has met us a few times prior when he was pretty new to the Bassmaster Elites, but in the last few years he has been the most dominant "big bass" angler on the tour. Keith has won the Toyota Texas Bass Classic THREE TIMES, and has been one consistently nasty angler on the Texas lakes with giant largemouth. Keith told us he caught twin 14 lb largemouths already! He almost won the Bassmaster AOY last year and came up a little short on Mille Lacs, but stressed out the eventual winner Brandon Palaniuk as much as he could in 2017. Keith has always been friendly to myself, Alex, and our buddy Doc Gilles, and it was nice chatting with him about the Classic coming up in March and his fun he has fishing on Sam Rayburn Lake. Best of luck Keith, thank you for spending time with us, you WILL be a Classic champ very soon!

It was our first time meeting professional musky angler Pete Maina. I always found him funny watching him fishing on TV wearing his goofy ski mask with his rock star hair hanging out of the ear holes. He is a great guy, very friendly, he signed one of our Musky Lovertail 2 weedless inline spinners, and he even took one for himself that we offered him to try out. I think that he will be impressed. We gave him the heads up on the healthy population of muskies where we fished an MLF tournament and hopes he goes to check it out, maybe even film a show there. You can watch Pete on the John Gillespie Waters & Woods show all the time, as well as The Next Bite show with Keith & the Parsons boys, walleye experts. Thank you Pete for being classy and kind!

This goofball doesn't need any introduction to the fishing world, as he did a pretty fine job himself in the past two years. When the talk on ESPN2 and in the bass fishing world has been steady about Kevin VanDam & Mike Iaconelli for the past 15 years, all of a sudden Seth Fieder has been the guy that they can't stop talking about. Out of nowhere our local boy (Bloomington, MN) qualified into the Bassmasters by doing extremely well in the Bass Opens in his first 2 season attempts. Then after struggling most of his first season, he gave everyone but Ott DeFoe a huge beating in LaCrosse, WI, then the next tournament he destroyed everyone on Mille Lacs, weighing in 3 five fish limits over 76 pounds! All monster smallmouths! After his momentum built and he found his groove, he had an outstanding year last year, consistently fishing well all over the place, and wound up in the top finishers for Angler Of the Year standings. He qualified for his first ever Bassmaster Classic and will be going for the world championship in a few weeks. We have never met Seth before, so we didn't know what to expect of him. Within a few minutes, I figured out he is just like Iaconelli, a hilarious goofball that fits right in with us. We chatted a bit at his Daiwa booth, when I mentioned Alex's Lovertail 2 lure. Seth was so cool he actually asked to come hang out at our booth for quite a while and look at them personally. He chose his favorite color of Alex's lures, and hung out a long time telling fishing stories, talking about what its like fishing the Bassmaster Elites trail, and a lot about fishing his home areas in Minnesota. He is a super cool guy. He took time to take pictures with all of us, took our card, and even though he is very booked this summer, was kind enough to take one of our brochures to compete in our Major League Fishing tournament in Rice Lake in June. Now chances are this rock star probably can't make it, but the gesture was appreciated and maybe we will see a surprise RSVP. Any craft is allowed, so maybe he and Cade Laufenburg can show up in belly boats or a rowboat together as a team! Thank you for being cool, Seth, best of luck in the classic, keep representing the Cutlass Supreme driving rock star mullet heads of 1985 with that cool mustache and rack up some trophies this year!

TRAVEL, LODGING, SETUP, 3 DAYS OF EXPO, TEAR DOWN.....

Alex, Kevin, and I all enjoyed our first "business trip" with our fishing lure builds. It was a great vacation from back in our home area, the weather was nice, and the area of Madison in which we were working our show had everything close by. Our dinners, our hotels, gas stations, everything was within a 3 mile radius. We were moving a lot from Thursday to Sunday but didn't use hardly any gas or take any time. Everything was RIGHT THERE. The Alliant Energy Center sets up as a great place to deal with as a vendor.

ALEX BEGINS OUR SETUP ON FRIDAY MORNING. HE DID A GREAT JOB & WORKED HARD!

HARD TO BELIEVE HOW THIS EMPTY BUILDING FILLED UP SO FAST!

ALEX IS BUSY STOCKING LURES. HE BROUGHT 584 OF HIS DESIGNS TO THE EXPO

BEING A LURE DESIGNER CAN GET YOU PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES WITH PRETTY GIRLS, SUCH AS THE ADORABLE MISS HAYLEE FROM SMALL CRAFT OUTFITTERS KAYAK GUIDING & SALES

OF COURSE WE HAD TO CHECK OUT SCO GUIDE TYLER THEIDE'S BOOTH. TYLER & HIS GOOD FRIEND CHANG LOR ARE KAYAK GUIDES IN WESTERN WISCONSIN & PREMIUM KAYAK DEALERS. THIS 11.5 LURE KAYAK IS A BLAST TO USE, AND NOW HAS A PEDAL-DRIVE AVAILABLE!! OF COURSE HE HAD THE MUST-HAVE JB'S FISH SAUCE FOR SALE!

TYLER & HAYLEE PREPARED FOR THE LONG WEEKEND & HEAVY TRAFFIC IN THE KAYAK CORRIDOR

EXHAUSTED BOYS GOT SOME REST, AND EVEN BLUE BUNNY MADE THE TRIP. HE HAD FUN TOO!

RIGHT BACK AT IT SATURDAY MORNING. FACEBOOK LIVE TO KICK OFF THE DAY, AND BY 10 AM THE EXPO WAS PACKED!

THE LOCAL CONSERVATION CLUBS, THE COUNTY, THE STATE, & BAST-DURBIN WORK TOGETHER EVERY YEAR TO DONATE TO CONSERVATION EFFORTS. THEY ALSO BROUGHT THIS COOL TANK IN FULL OF WISCONSIN NATIVE FISH. THOSE PERCH LOOKED SO TASTY!

VERY SPECIAL PICTURE THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET

MUCH-NEEDED NIGHT OUT FOR FOOD WITH SOME OUTSTANDING GUYS IN THE KAYAK BUSINESS! THESE GUYS WERE ALL VERY KIND TO US & A LOT OF FUN! THANK YOU FOR INVITING KEVIN & I! WE LOVED IT!

I WAS VERY SURPRISED & EXCITED TO SEE THAT THE UW-STOUT BOYS SHOWED UP. WE ARE SPONSORING THEM THIS SEASON & ARE PROUD THAT THESE GUYS ARE THROWING OUR LURES. WE MAY EVEN HAVE A NEW "BLUE DEVIL" COLOR TWIST DESIGNED PERSONALLY BY PRESIDENT ZACH HANSEN (RIGHT.) BRADLEY LORRIGAN (LEFT) IS THE TEAM'S TREASURER. GOOD LUCK IN 2018!

AND A GUY I WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO MEET WAS OUR SALES REP FOR OUR ACME/KALIN'S PRODUCTS, CHRIS WILSON. CHRIS IS A SUPER COOL GUY AND IS BEHIND A LOT OF THE MARKETING OF THEIR KILLER SOFT PLASTICS. THE KALIN'S SIZMIC SHAD IS DYNAMITE ON OUR LOVERTAIL 2. I LOVE THEM ON CHATTERBAIT-STYLE JIGS AS WELL. ALSO CHECK OUT THE KALIN'S 3" SCRUB TRAILER AND THEIR 4" SIZMIC TOAD. BOTH HAVE PADDLE FEET FOR KILLER VIBRATION.

ALEX MAKES WISCONSIN OUTDOOR NEWS WITH HIS BABY SQUID BAIT CATCH!

THANK YOU CUSTOMERS FOR GIVING OUR LURES A CHANCE! PLEASE EMAIL US YOUR FISH CATCH PICTURES AND ANY CUSTOM COLOR LURE DESIGN ORDERS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE US TO MAKE FOR YOU!!

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WI FISHING EXPO FEB 23-25th updates, Ice Fishing Reports, New Book on Fishing Basics

2/7/2018

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Fish are still biting, but the schools keep moving!!

CEO Alex and his cousin Mason got out for some ice fishing on February 17th on Potato Lake in Rusk County. They managed to get on some large schools of crappies, but they could only catch a few in a row super fast, then the school would move. The speed of their movement was amazing. By the end of our 3 hour fishing day, the lake looked like an air hockey table from all of our holes. Good thing that our Jiffy 4GLite does such a great job, there was probably 2 feet of ice!!! Our auger was near bottoming out on every hole. A Flirty Girty, scented with some JB's Fish Sauce (Crawfish Scent,) tipped with a pink Gullickson's Beavertail did the trick on all 12 fish caught. 9 of them were fryed up at home, while the 3 small fish were released. Mason did most of the damage, reeling in 8 of the 9 keeper sized fish. Alex was too busy running around having fun with the kids on the ice on this beautiful 32 degree day. He did lose one small fish, as well as myself losing one very nice fish, probably a decent crappie. We had some bonus perch mixed in again, and they were tasting fantastic with garlic and butter in the cast iron pan.

MADISON EXPO ONLY 1 WEEK AWAY!!!

We are doing very well with our lure builds leading up to the big fishing expo in one week. It looks like we are still shooting for 500-600 lures to present at the show to customers. We were worried about our lack of Junebug Bee Whacker buzz baits but our supplier stocked their lure bodies up just in time for us to get a hold of them in time for the show. So far all is well at James Gang Fishing, as we were buried for a bit in bookkeeping, tax paperwork, trade show paperwork, and all of these crazy builds. We got all of the other work done and are well on pace to get all of our lures complete in time for the show. I have a feeling that our Lovertail 2 weedless inline spinners and our Bee Whackers will dominate our sales, much like the show in Eau Claire last spring. Now we are hoping for good driving conditions and a huge turnout. Hopefully seminar speakers Keith Combs & Seth Feider make a quick stop to visit with Alex and get a picture with him at our booth sometime during the show.

BEE WHACKER BUZZBAIT IN "JUNEBUG"

BEE WHACKER BUZZBAIT IN "FIRETIGER"

LOVERTAIL 2 "WHITE CRAPPIE" LURE BUILDS IN PROGRESS

BASSMASTER Carhartt College Series

Zach Hansen displays his Louisiana bass caught on a James Gang BABY SQUID BAIT

The UW-Stout fishing team competed on Toledo Bend in Louisiana in late January. The boys managed to catch a few bass in the tourney, but it was shortened due to weather and they didn't place as high as they hoped. I hope they had a blast and learned a lot about fishing deep in the South in the land of cypress trees, which is a huge change from their home waters of Wisconsin. Congrats to UW-Platteville for taking the win against 180 teams from all over the US!

NEW PAPERBACK BOOK COMING TO AMAZON IN SPRING!

Thanks to all of the positive feedback and crazy amount of views on our blogs and basic "how-to" fishing articles on this website, I was inspired to look into writing a paperback book on the basics of fishing. I feel that the web and the magazine and video world is loaded with advanced fishing tactics, something that I myself am not really qualified to teach since I am not an expert or champion angler. I do feel that there is a lack of basics, though. I am talking about for people that have ZERO experience in fishing whatsoever. If you have never ever fished and don't understand why people like it so much, this is a book to read. It will explain why to fish, what kinds of fish to go after, what equipment you need to fish on a budget, presentation methods, weather variables, etc. Remember this will be presented at a very BASIC level. I would be very happy if young middle schoolers got into this book. Or adults that did not grow up in an outdoors-driven household. This book will be of no value to tournament anglers, or hard-core "fish heads." Those people have much better options, such as hiring a fantastic guide, becoming a member of BASS U TV for the best seminars ever, as well as watching educational shows and DVDs such as Lindner's Angling Edge, John Gillespie's Waters & Woods, Zona's Awesome Fishing Show, and Bill Dance Outdoors. I don't have close to the experience or knowledge of Dale Stroschein, Josh Teigen, Mark Schutz, Caleb Zorn, Marc Jackson, Jim or Al Lindner, Jeremy Smith, John Gillespie, Mark Zona, or Bill Dance. As of today, I have completed 2 chapters and an intro to the book, which will need photos and a complete edit before self-publishing through Kindle in spring. I will have chapters devoted to tackle, locations, Panfishing, Pike fishing, largemouth fishing, smallmouth fishing, trout fishing, river bank fishing for power fish, and ice fishing for panfish as well as pike. I am looking forward to the feedback I receive from this experience and will be interested in doing more in the future if all goes well with it.

BEST OF LUCK ICE FISHING, SEE YOU IN MADISON, WI AT THE FISHING EXPO!!!!

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