WELCOME to JAMES GANG FISHING Co.

Holiday Lure GIVEAWAY Contest, Early Winter=Earlier Ice Fishing, New "How-to" Manuals, 2019 Wausau Show

12/11/2018

"BELOW-AVERAGE" LATE FALL TEMPERATURES BROUGHT ON EARLY ICE IN 2019

JAMES GANG LURE GIVEAWAY CONTEST

WINNER WILL RECEIVE A LOVERTAIL 2, BEE WHACKER, 2x 3/8 oz THIN-WIRE SPINNERBAITS, AND A COPY OF OUR NEW JAMES GANG "HOW-TO" MANUAL

During the remainder of the Christmas season, James Gang Fishing Company will be running a lure-giveaway contest. No purchase is necessary. All that we are asking to do is to sign up for our Newsletter (usually bi-weekly during the open water fishing season) with your email address. You can opt out at anytime. When we complete a new fishing report and lure update blog, we will immediately send a copy to your email. A random winner will be selected and the package should ship around Dec 29, 2018.

Each person who signs up with receive a free PDF e-book of our new "How-To" manuals for using our premium, hand-crafted fishing lures.

Our NEW James Gang Fishing Company "HOW-TO" Fishing Manuals

Alex and I recently designed and wrote a 45 page "HOW-TO" manual that instructs anglers on how to use our lures. This was inspired by the extreme customer service and the sheet of tips that lure manufacturers commonly provided in the 1900s-1950s. We have a chapter devoted individually to six of our lures, including:

-LOVERTAIL 2 Weedless Inline Spinner
-BEE WHACKER Inline Buzzbait
-DUNKIN' FROG Inline Buzz Frog
-NEST INVADER Weedless Skirted Swim Jig
-BASS JERKER Suspending Jerkbait
-BOOTYKICKER Paddletail Swimbait

This manual is available in paperback version for only $3.58 on Amazon.com, or $1 as an e-book. If you are interested in the e-book version FREE, simply sign up for our newsletter and we will email a PDF copy to you!!

JAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY WILL BE AT THE 2019 CENTRAL WI SPORTS SHOW IN WAUSAU!!!

Alex & the gang are excited to announce that we will be selling lures at our trade show booth in Wausau WI in 2019 at the Central Wisconsin Sport Show. We plan on bringing a decent inventory of wire-bodied musky lures, inline spinners, buzzbaits, buzzfrogs, a few jerkbaits, and our soft plastic swimbaits, and skirted swimjigs. We will be giving away a FREE paperback copy of our new "how-To" manual to each paying customer until supplies last ($3.58 value.) The show will take place Feb 15-17 in Rothschild, WI at the Cedar Creek mall. Entry fees will be $8 for adults, children 12 and under are FREE. Show hours are as follows:

FRI FEB 15 - 3PM-8PM
SAT FEB 16 - 9AM-6PM
SUN Feb 17 - 10AM-4PM

ST PAUL ICE SHOW/LOCAL ICE REPORTS

HALL OF FAME ANGLER GUIDE DALE STROSCHEIN OF STURGEON BAY WITH JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER DOC GILLES AT THE 2018 ST PAUL ICE FISHING SHOW

With the below average temperatures of October & November in Wisconsin, the ice fishing season came on very early and very fast. As lakes froze over in NW Wisconsin in mid-November, fearless anglers began fishing and catching on small ponds and bays. on just a few inches of ice (we recommend staying home until the ice reaches a minimum of 5"!) With the beginning of the ice fishing season brings the annual Ice Fishing Show in St Paul, MN. At this giant expo, several big name anglers appear to work trade show booths for their sponsors, conduct seminars on fishing tactics through the ice, and demonstrate how to use new equipment and ice fishing clothing to save yourself in the case that an angler would break through thin ice. From brand new ice augers, to flashers, to shacks, to tip-ups, to rods, to jigs, the St. Paul River Centre was jam-packed with equipment and anglers! Big names that appeared for this event included Dale Stroschein of Wacky Walleye Guide Service and frequent guest of the John Gillespie Waters & Woods Show, Josh Teigen of Iron River, WI, also from John Gillespie Waters & Woods show, Pro Walleye Anglers Gary Parsons & Keith Kavajecz, famous ice guide Brian "Bro" Brosdahl, Dave Genz, Jason Mitchell, Tony Roach, with representatives from Frabill, Clam, Eskimo, Strikemaster, Beaver Dam, Acme Tackle, Aqua Vu, Marcum, Vexilar, and many more. We had a blast chatting with some of the big names in ice fishing over 4 hours as well as the fellow anglers in the crowd.

Jason, Matt, & Josh took pictures with us!

JOSH, TONY & GARY

DOC GILLES, WALLEYE PRO KEITH KAVAJACZ, & JESSE JAMES

DALE STROSCHEIN & JESSE JAMES

LOCAL ICE IS THICKENING & THE GILLS ARE CONTINUING TO BITE!

8 OF 15 BLUEGILLS KEPT FOR A MEAL IN EARLY DECEMBER ON 8" OF QUALITY ICE

The reports for northern Wisconsin have been very positive, as the ice continues to thicken and the fish continue to bite. I managed to get out last week for just a small window of time, and managed to trick 15 bluegills into biting, keeping 6 solid ones and 2 smaller ones for a meal. After failing to get bit on a larger chartreuse jig, I downsized to a 3mm golden Acme tungsten jig, and used a Gullickson's Beavertail sliced in half to similate a silver wiggler. I treated the jig hook with JB's Fish Sauce in "crawfish" scent, which left an oil trail all the way up to the top of the hole! It was a difficult bite, as you had to alternate from aggressive to ultra-finesse constantly to get a fish to commit. It seemed to have been picking up as I had to head out for the day. My biggest 2 were measured at 8.25" in length, but had a lot of meat on them for their size! The bluegills were cooked using the James Gang recipe (found on this website), and they were absolutely delicious! If you find yourself on a pile of fish that are afraid to commit, downsize, use subtle colors, and slap some JB's Fish Sauce on your jig. I recommend using Gullickson's beaver tails over live bait as they never molt and they last you all season long when sealed properly. They are also more durable than live bait.

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A SAFE ICE FISHING SEASON FROM JAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY!!

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2018 James Gang Fall Invitational RESULTS!!!

10/16/2018

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18 Anglers, including 5 children, in a low entry fee, $360 payout MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING EVENT!!

On October 13, 2018, 8 boater teams and 2 kayak anglers took on Lake Holcombe in northwestern WI to battle for the James Gang Fall Invitational trophy and cash prizes. In an effort to promote getting kids out fishing, and to spread the intentions of THE IKE FOUNDATION, we decided to create a Big Bass Award and cash prize, strictly for the children 12 and under. The winner of the kids big bass award was to win a trophy, $90 cash, a Rapala decal, and a snapback hat from THE IKE FOUNDATION. This event had our lowest entry fee yet, at only $20 a child could join with their parent and have a chance to win the team weight trophy, the big bass trophy, and the kids big bass trophy. Also, just for showing up, we gave the kids 12 an under a participation trophy, a signed poster by Bassmaster and MLF champion Mike Iaconelli, and a Rapala Pro Staff youth t-shirt (thank you BASSU member discount!!) The kids were thrilled to receive these prizes, and I was even more thrilled to see their reactions!

FIRST PLACE TROPHY, CHILD'S BIG BASS, CHILD'S PARTICIPATION TROPHY, THE IKE FOUNDATION HAT PRIZE

10 AM = "LINES IN"

KAYAK ANGLER DEWEY LOR STARTS OFF HIS DAY WITH A QUALITY WALLEYE

The day is started as the anglers receive their PIN cards and they are then permitted to claim their starting locations. Cards were handed out beginning at 9 am. Anglers were allowed to travel anywhere within an hour to find their location, but were not allowed to cast until 10AM. Minutes into the day, Dewey Lor tried putting his teammate TouFue Moua on the board with himself, but the kayak guys knew this was a BASS tournament, and a quality WALLEYE will not count!

Since we lost our 1976 Evinrude 40 hp back in June, we had to clamp a 1969 Evinrude 6 hp in efforts to bring the 16' Lund Big Lakes back to mobility status. In 4 awful trips pre-fishing the main lake, I never had a single bass bite! Word from the other anglers was that they were biting very well in the rivers entering the flowage. So on this day, my partner Todd Steinhorst and I braved the wicked currents from the recent flooding, as well as the strong southern winds, and we went on a slow 4-6 mph voyage towards the Chippewa River. We had no idea what kind of waters we would be fishing, and we had very low confidence in what the outcome would be when we had virtually zero ability to cover water in tough conditions, would be losing at least 2 hours of fishing due to travel time, all while competing against boats up to 250 hp. As we headed up we enjoyed the fall color and figured we were just out to have fun and maybe learn a thing or two. about 70% towards our destination, Todd informed me that we already burned an hour of time traveling, so we stopped our voyage short and began casting shallow wood cover near a fast structure change and a current seam. No bites were found, and a lot of dead vegetation was hooked on every cast. Were not not feeling it, so we headed up to a creek inlet and were very happy with what we found - current, a deep channel, and excellent cover around the seams. We worked the area hard and were having no luck at all. I took a glance at MLF Scoretracker, and found that Beau & Chad were the first on the board, with a bass weighing 1 lb 2 oz. Beau is only 7 years old and was hoping to land a legal bass that could give him a shot at the Kids' Big Bass Award. Moments later, Shawn Malison & Jesse Goss landed a 2 lb 1 oz smallmouth and put themselves in the lead....

Shawn Malison & Jesse Goss jump out to a small early lead over Beau & Chad Ducommun with a 2 lb 1 oz smallmouth bass early in the event

38 minutes into the event, and 2 teams were on the board!

TEAM PIONTEK/STEINHORST FIND SOME FISH, DOUGLAS GETS ON BOARD, AND THE OTHERS TURN UP THE HEAT!!!!

11 YEAR OLD DOUGLAS S. JUMPS INTO THIRD PLACE WITH A QUALITY SMALLMOUTH BASS AT 2 LBS 1 OZ AND TAKES OVER THE KID'S BIG BASS LEAD

After Shawn & Jesse G. took the lead, they landed another nice smallmouth, but Team Ducommun came firing back with another small one, hanging right with them. Then the scoreboard sat idle for a long period of time, with 2 teams and 4 fish registered in total. During this drought, Todd and I spent a long period of time fishing around the creek mouth both deep and shallow with search baits and finesse lures, without any luck whatsoever. We had a feeling that the other two teams that were on fish were on the main river catching them off of the heavy current, so we worked our way into the main river channel and were slapped by MOTHER NATURE right in the face. High winds and heavy currents made controlling this light boat impossible and making it a nightmare when attempting to give the bass a good presentation of our lures. To get out of the elements, we made a screaming quick run across the river at full throttle (around 4 mph) and found ourselves a small bay with decent depth. We worked the shorelines, caught a few trees, but were still searching for bites. We checked the scoretracker live and found that Douglas and his dad Mike were sitting in 3rd place, and Douglas was in the lead for the kid's Big Bass Award. Douglas is a great bass angler at his young age and has whooped me personally on multiple occasions, including two tournaments and a filming of the Alex Fishing Show (coming out soon!) Todd and I found a unique area near the opening of this bay in which the screaming current of 3.5 mph had a current seam around some wood cover and shoreline irregularities that gave the bass some slack water to ambush right on the edge. It set up perfect, but after hours of no luck, I was honestly day dreaming and fishing with very little confidence. At this time, I cast in between 2 docks by some dead lily pads and I felt what I thought was a snag. Then it moved. I was not excited at all, because I assumed it was a northern pike after 4 bass-free sessions on this body of water. As I reeled the fish half way to the boat, I was stunned to see that I hooked a very respectable smallmouth bass on a Redhorse colored James Gang Bootykicker, freshly loaded with JBs Fish Sauce in Black Magic! We put the bass on the scale and it weighed 2 lbs 5 oz, as I proudly took the lead in the DAILY LUNKER contest for big bass of the day!

TEAM PIONTEK/STEINHORST DISPLAY THEIR PIN CARD WITH A 2 LB 5 OZ BASS

We found a little excitement as we drifted that current seam, since much of that shoreline irregularity looks similar. As we attempted to start a new drift through the same area looking for a current ambush pattern, Todd hooks into his first smallmouth of the day! We put the bass on the scales and we took over the lead and I was still holding on to the Daily Lunker award at this point.

Todd Steinhorst jumps his team to a small lead with this 1 lb 15 oz smallmouth bass

STEINHORST TURNS UP THE HEAT!

Nervous about the competition, we frantically checked Scoretracker and we were holding the lead as the other teams were sitting still. We did see that Todd's arch-nemesis Scott Wilczek was on the board, as he was using a secret weapon named Carson to try and topple Todd. Scott and Carson were trying to use a little Holcombe experience and a sweet 250 hp Skeeter to take us out, but since we believed we may have found a winning pattern, we fought with our General Lee boat looking for victory. We decided to continue running our pattern and re-cast the prime current seam, since most casts were "wasted" casts covered in dead grass, killing the presentation of that cast. Also with the 3.5 mph current, we were missing several prime casts in the time it took to shake the vegetation off of our lures. On our third float, we passed the 2 areas in which we caught the first two bass, and as we headed a little distance down river, Todd hooks up! And this one leaves no doubts! As I went for the Frabill to land it, all I could see was height on this fish! As we scooped it up, we knew Todd landed a special one. This fish appeared to be all of 18" or longer. Todd placed it on the scale, and the beautiful smallmouth weighed just 4 oz shy of 4 pounds!!!!!

Todd Steinhorst solidifies our lead and takes the Daily Lunker lead away from me with a gorgeous smallmouth bass weighing 3 lbs 12 oz threes hours before weigh-in

DUCOMMUN, WILCZEK, AND MALISON BRING ON THE PRESSURE ON THE UPPER CHIPPEWA RIVER

As we sat on top in full control of this event, we continued to work our pattern. Unfortunately, the bites came to a stop and the pattern no longer held. We made several more drifts down the seam with no luck. So we then made a short run farther up river, smashing small logs and firewood with our boat facing the fast current and floating debris. We found a few spots that looked like they had potential, but they failed to give us a bite as well. We decided that if we stayed on this pattern, someone would steal the win from us as we failed to produce a fourth or fifth quality fish. We gave our productive area one last float, then proceeded to find new areas with current seams down river in the direction of our weigh in. We also had to allow extra time to get back than the others with the lack of speed that we were running with our outboard. As time kept clicking, our lead remained. Beau and Chad Ducommun got on a roll and were right on us, pressuring us hard as we only had a 2 oz lead. During their rally, Beau landed a beautiful 2 lb 15 oz smallmouth to take over the kid's big bass lead. He also put a bonus pike in the boat for fun. During this time, Shawn Malison and Jesse Goss are back in the game after outboard issues and are one quality fish from the lead as well...

7 Year old Beau takes over the Kid's Big Bass Award with a very nice 2 lb 15 oz smallmouth bass late in the day as Team Ducommun runs down our lead

This picture sums up how Scott Wilzcek felt to register his first fish
when he was down by 8 lbs to us on a lake that he has experience on

Another James Gang MLF event, another quality walleye for Pro-Staff member Kevin Rogalski as he smiles big with a 24" girthy walleye Saturday

Gabe & Aaron Knutsen struggled to find bass, but had fun with some nice and angry northern pike, the biggest measuring 25"

Alayna and Pro-Staff member Mat Eichinger focus on fun in the bays near Pine Point, as they run into trolling motor issues at the start of the event

Working the main river currents, Shawn & Jesse G. are back in the hunt with a very nice 2 lb 2 oz smallmouth, only 1 quality fish from taking the lead from us

After sending an under-sized bass airborne, landing a quality pike, and his opening walleye, Dewey Lor gets the kayak team started late in the day with a very nice 2 lb smallmouth bass

ITS A BATTLE OF 3 OZ, AS THE EVENTS CLOSES DOWN, THREE TEAMS ARE DOING EVERYTHING TO LAND ONE SMALL FISH FOR THE WIN!!!!!!

After Carson took away our lead by 1 oz, 2nd and 3rd place are within ounces of each other to the finish of the event

Going into the final hour, the top three teams all can win this event with one small bass, and the 4th place team could jump over all of them with just one more quality fish. Shawn and Jesse have averaged around 2 lbs 1 oz on every fish they caught, so they are well within the victory as well. We felt that one 12" bass would give us the lead, and either 2 small ones or one more quality one (our average fish was 2 lbs 11 oz) would give us the victory over Scott and Carson. We were very worried about the very fast comeback brought on by Chad & Beau, as they were just 2 ounces behind us. We knew we were stuck in a rut of no fish and someone was going to catch them. We covered some bays and points looking for a bite, and may have missed a weak bite or two. We checked the scoretracker and it was still the same. Basically a three way tie with Scott and Carson being favored. We ran south towards the weigh in and worked some of my pre-fishing spots near birch creek where there was an abundance of baitfish last weekend and some others had some luck. This way we were close to the ramp with the 6 hp and we could fish until the final 5:20PM "lines out." As we arrived to Birch Creek, we saw that Scott & Carson had landed a bass and extended their lead. We knew we still had a chance, as Todd had a good bite while I was just getting us to move forward with the outboard as the lure ripped out of the fish's mouth. Team Ducommun was still stuck as well, and as we went into the final casts. In desperation we worked some lily pad edges and it was over. We failed to boat any more fish after the 2:30 PM flurry as we took second place. As we pulled into the ramp, the rest of the anglers were pulling their boats out and chatting about the event. To my surprise, all of the kids 12 and under made it the whole day, in heavy flood conditions with wind-burned faces. I made a final check on Scoretracker Live and found that Scott Wilczek and Carson Steinhorst sealed the deal with their final fish late in the day and are the 2018 James Gang Fall Invitational Champions with 10 lbs 7 oz of smallmouth bass on a very tough day! 7 year old Beau won the Kid's Big Bass Award with a 2 lb 15 oz smallmouth bass. And my partner, Todd Steinhorst, held off the field with his 3 lb 12 oz smallmouth that wasn't even closely challenged by the others as he claims the Daily Lunker Award for the biggest bass caught in the event!

Carson Steinhorst helps his team gain some ground, and then this second smallmouth gave Team Steinhorst/Wilczek a lead by just 1 ounce over Team Piontek/Steinhorst!

In the final hour of the day, Scott Wilczek boats a nice 2 lb 6 oz smallmouth that extends his teams lead. as he and Carson put us away for the victory!

CONGRATS TODD STEINHORST FOR THE EVENT'S BIGGEST BASS!!

CONGRATS BEAU D. FOR WINNING THE 12 & UNDER BIG BASS AWARD!!!!

NICE HAT BEAU!!!!

CONGRATS TO ALL THE KIDS THAT CAME TO FISH!!

THANK YOU to the kids and the parents that encouraged them to join this event! We had a blast with these kids and will try to expand on this at future events. I am glad that the participation trophies were well-received by the youngsters and they all really seemed to love the signed posters from Mike Iaconelli. My favorite picture of this event was the final picture at the tree by the ramp where the kids were displaying their trophies. Looking forward to more of this in 2019!!

CONGRATS TO GABE, BEAU, DOUGLAS, & ALAYNA FOR FISHING IN A BASS TOURNAMENT AGAINST ADULT TEAMS IN TOUGH WEATHER!

JAMES GANG FALL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2018

SCOTT WILCZEK
&
CARSON STEINHORST!!!!

Scott Wilczek & Carson Steinhorst are smiles as they win the event and $180

READY FOR WINTERIZATION???

After the fall feed is over and the lakes ice up, give our new champion Scott Wilczek and his buddy Mike a call and they will professionally wrap your boat or camper at great prices and top quality work! Check them out at:

PRO TEKT
WRAPPING & STORAGE SOLUTIONS

and click on the link below:

CLICK HERE FOR PROTEKT

HAVE A FUN LATE FALL PERIOD!

CATCH SOME FISH, EAT SOME DEER HEARTS,
AND GET READY FOR ICE FISHING!!!

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KAYAKS, BANK FISHING, RIVERS, & TROY LINDNER- SEPT 2018 End of summer fishing report....

9/15/2018

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ALEX GIVES A "THUMBS UP" APPROVAL AFTER FISHING A DAY WITH
SMALL CRAFT OUTFITTERS KAYAK GUIDE SERVICE

THE END OF SUMMER IS HERE.......
BRING ON THE NOVEMBER LATE FALL BITE!

James Gang Pro Staff member Kevin Rogalski with a 2 lb bass in mid-September

SMALL CRAFT OUTFITTERS - KAYAK GUIDE SERVICE IS A BLAST!!

The month of September has been a struggle, but has been fun! Although we have had some fantastic, "fall-like" cooler weather, they seem to occur on my work days and I have had to take Alex out fishing on the hot, summer weather days. The conditions were ok for great days of fishing, but we have been challenging ourselves again by fishing new waters. We had a blast when we took a trip with Tyler & Chang at www.smallcraftoutfitters.com guide service out of Western Wisconsin. We fished near Spring Valley, WI, and were challenged with a very tough day. We managed a few smaller bass here and there, and Chang landed a solid bass on his dual-Bootykicker "umbrella rig" that he came up with. Always there to educate, Tyler showed us how bloody your hands can get when you let a northern pike rip it open with their razor-sharp teeth. Thanks for the demonstration, Tyler!

KAYAK GUIDE TYLER THEIDE, OF SMALLCRAFT OUTFITTERS, IS GIVING BLOOD SAMPLES TO A 30" NORTHERN PIKE

CHANG LOR HAS LIT IT UP WITH THE BOOTYKICKER ALL YEAR LONG

JAMES GANG LURE CRAFTER JESSE JAMES & CEO ALEX JAMES ARE ENJOYING THE TANDEM LURE II BY FEEL FREE KAYAKS

CEO ALEX LANDED 2 SMALL BASS ON THE KAYAK TRIP ON A SLOW DAY OF FISHING

CHRESTMAN ON FIRE IN MISSISSIPPI WITH LOVERTAIL 2's

THANK YOU LEE FOR SUBMITTING THESE PICS OF YOUR MISSISSIPPI BASS CAUGHT ON OUR JAMES GANG LOVERTAIL 2 INLINE SPINNERS!!

YOUNG FISHING STAR KALEB G. DOMINATING LOUISIANA WITH HIS BOOTYKICKER CUSTOM COLOR & SCENT

BEST PHOTO POSE IN THE HISTORY OF ALL PHOTOS.... GREAT JOB, KALEB!!!

FISH SAUCE + FLAMBEAU RIVER = FATTIES

14" Flambeau River smallmouth bass at 2 lbs 9 oz!!!!! JB's Fish Sauce on a James Gang Bass Jerker 3.25" in "Golden Shiner"

JB's FISH SAUCE - ITS LIKE CHEATING!

CLICK HERE FOR JB'S FISH SAUCE INFO

MURPHY FLOWAGE - THE BABIES WERE BITING!

NOT QUITE "GIANT" BASS STATUS

........BUT THE 1969 EVINRUDE 6 HP FIRED RIGHT UP!!

TEAMS EICHINGER & ROGALSKI CATCHING SMALLMOUTHS & SHEEP

From the shores of Lake Wissota, to the great peninsula of Door County, our pro staff team is jacking lots of fish. Congrats to Alayna on catching her first smallmouth bass, and to Alex Whitmire, MLF tournament angler, for catching two GORGEOUS freshwater drum for the dinner table. The smallies looked fun, too..

Young Miss Alayna with her first smallmouth bass experience

Alex Whitmire showing how us all how he gets work done in Sturgeon Bay, WI

Mat Eichinger with a pile of smallmouth bass caught off the banks of Lake Wissota

Kevin Rogalski puts the hammer down on some gorgeous smallmouth bass in Sturgeon Bay, WI. Kevin says the bite is great but the bass being caught are the younger ones

TROY LINDNER VISITS THE NEW FLEET FARM!!

photo by STAR TRIBUNE

TROY LINDNER, host of Lindner Media's ANGLING BUZZ, as well as ANGLING EDGE, visited Fleet Farm's brand new store in Eau Claire, WI SEPT 15-16 to promote their fishing department. Troy is an avid bank angler, and decided to check out the local rivers in downtown Eau Claire. Troy met up with our very own CEO Alex James at Phoenix Park, under the Dells Pond dam, and at the EC City Shops in hopes for carp (and other rough fish) and a battle with a lake sturgeon. Troy also spent some time casting lures for gamefish. The trip started out with Troy landing a nice smallmouth buffalo. Not much longer, he landed a much larger buffalo. After a slow spell, he picked up his spinning rod and traveled up the Eau Claire river casting for bass, walleye, and pike. Troy landed a nice 15" smallmouth that gave him a nice leap like they usually do. When he was headed back, CEO Alex thought he had him beat but when he reeled in his fish, he found it to be a 4" yellow perch. When Troy returned to the scene, I had a huge bite on my heavy action rod. Troy noticed the bite and we were hoping for some fun with a big old sturgeon. But when I went to set the hook with my 50lb braid, my line instantly snapped. I am sure we found ourselves a lake sturgeon with some size, but I believe the reason why the line broke was because it had become weathered and brittle. Moral of the story - ALWAYS REPLACE WEATHERED LINE!!!! We tried under the EC dam with no luck, then finished the night at the EC city shops. At the shops, Troy was popping a jig with a swimbait looking for gamefish, and coaxed a rock bass into biting it. After a good laugh, Troy and I saw some movement on my heavy duty crawler rod again. This time the fish stayed on, and the 5" channel catfish made it to shore. Troy had a young buddy named Zach fishing with him that hooked up on a quality smallmouth bass on a spinnerbait, but the bass threw the hook when it was coming close to shore. A disappointing night as far as fish-catching, but overall it was a blast fishing with such a talented angler as Troy Lindner. Troy's father Al is a fishing legend and is a hero of mine dating back to the In Fisherman days in my childhood. Thank you Troy for contacting us and spending the afternoon and evening with us. I learned a lot watching you work your jig and Alex was watching closely as you loaded up bread on your hook for the two biggest catches of the day. Safe travels to your next adventures and we hope you enjoy your James Gang lures we sent with you!

DOC GILLES, TROY LINDNER, & ALEX JAMES HANGING OUT AT PHOENIX PARK

THE BOYS WERE ALL SMILES AS TROY LINDNER LANDED THE FIRST FISH OF THE DAY, AN EAU CLAIRE RIVER SMALLMOUTH BUFFALO

ALEX IS ON THE BOARD WITH A YELLOW PERCH, AS TROY, DOC, & ZACH WORK THE BRIDGE IN THE BACKGROUND FOR SMALLMOUTH BASS

TROY LINDNER USES BREAD ON A HOOK TO LAND A SECOND BUFFALO, THIS ONE MUCH LARGER THAN THE FIRST!

ALEX SETS UP A NEW OFFICE OUT OF A ROWBOAT AS TROY PREPARES HIS TACKLE TO WORK BELOW THE EAU CLAIRE DAM

TIME TO INTIMIDATE TROY!!!!

THANK YOU TROY FOR A GREAT FISHING EXPERIENCE!!!

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Fishing with kids and making memories......

8/16/2018

3 Comments

ALEX JAMES (10), DOUGLAS S.(11), & NATE S.(8) ARE ALL SMILES AFTER A SUCCESSFUL 4 HOURS OF BASS FISHING IN RUSK COUNTY WISCONSIN

On August 14th, Alex and I met up with our 11 year old buddy Douglas, whom we have fished against twice (and lost against twice) in Major League Fishing tournaments in NW Wisconsin in 2017-2018. We picked a small lake in Rusk county that we fished a lot when Alex was 4 years old, one that we actually first tested our James Gang Spitter Pop out on and caught 15 bass on the first try! This lake has always produced well, but the bass were always very small in size. I like to fish it every once in a while just for the fun, steady action. So we loaded up the rods and tackle, but we couldn't go yet. We had blown our 40 horse outboard motor, so we took the time on Monday night to pull it off of the "Crawfish Bandit" General Lee boat and just clamp a trolling motor to the jack plate for now. The forecast was looking like a calmer day, and this small lake didn't need an outboard to get around on

THE CRAWFISH BANDIT (1976 LUND S-16 BIG LAKES) CAN PUT A SMALL WAKE OUT WITH ITS 55 LB THRUST MINN KOTA

FISHING TIME!

As we launched out from the public boat ramp, we immediately were drawn to the large fields of lily pads, hoping for a topwater frog or plastics bite. Unfortunately it was not happening. As we snuck through a small channel into the main lake, Douglas did get one bass to explode on his topwater frog, but it didn't grab his lure. We continued to work the lily pads and slop, but we found no luck or sign of life. We worked shallow areas around an island and shore, and noticed the lack of rain caused this natural lake to lose about 1-1.5 feet of depth. We didn't notice any bass swimming around at all in the shallows, but we continued to work the shallow areas around heavy cover and docks. We had a few missed bites from small bass around some shallow cover, but it just wasn't happening. Alex threw his James Gang Bootykicker near a deeper lily pad point, and he felt a hit. I followed up with a Berkley Powerworm in Junebug, and I missed the small bass as well. Douglas's little brother Nate was nearby in a bass boat with his mother and their family fishing friend Stan Miller. Stan already had boated 5 bass on some deeper structure on the other side of the lake on some beaver baits, and was coming over to give Douglas a few to try out. While we were chatting, Douglas sets the hook on a bass hard, and finally gets one in the boat. He hooked this bass on a floating worm in "bubble gum" color that I poured at home. While we were excited about Douglas's first fish of the day, little brother Nate casts near the pads where Alex and I missed that bass, and he hooks up. Nate lands the bass with ease and makes us James Gangers look like rookies. Stan and the gang decide to work the shoreline nearby, as we decide to check out the docks on the opposite side of the lake. We tried a few different lures, but nothing was working. We finally gave up completely on the shallow water bite, and then Douglas went on a roll. He began skipping deeper dock poles to get his pink worm in the shaded areas, and was getting bites and setting the hook hard. His second fish of the day was a beauty - a 16" largemouth bass that probably weighed around 2.25 lbs. It was the largest bass I ever seen caught in this lake, and since it was of legal length, we put it in the livewell for later pictures.

DOUGLAS S. SHOWS HIS 3rd KEEPER OF THE DAY - A 14" LARGEMOUTH BASS

Douglas worked the few docks found on the small lake very well, and was getting consistent bites. His hook sets were so fun to watch, and he did a great job landing all of his bass. Alex and I were taking turns with a baby bass and bubble gum James Gang Bootykicker, a Flappin' Jig, a Spitter Pop, and a Roboworm. Finally Alex got hooked up on his new Abu Garcia Venerate rod and Pfleuger Supreme 30 combo and lit up a 12" largemouth. He followed shortly with another 12" largemouth on a sinking worm in chartreuse and silver.

JAMES GANG CEO AND THE IKE FOUNDATION SPONSORED ALEX JAMES WITH HIS SECOND BASS OF THE DAY

As we continued to cover water by fishing Douglas's red hot dock pattern, we ended up running into our other anglers. All three of them took turns wailing on decent sized bass one after another. Nate hooked up with a few right in front of us and ended up catching a personal best 7 bass in one day. Great job Nate!!

NATE S. WITH HIS BIGGEST BASS OF THE TRIP

NATE S. JUST KEEPS ON CATCHING THEM!

Overall the 4 hours of fishing could not have gone better. The average fish sizes were way larger than I ever seen for this lake in past years. The bite among out group was very good, as I believe Douglas landed 7, Nate landed 7, and Stan and the boys' mother landed several more. In the end, Douglas managed to land the biggest bass of the day, and was the angler that got to hold the Sarona Cup for the day. Will he win it for the season? Stay tuned and watch for the next Alex Fishing Show coming to YouTube very soon and find out who will win it. We plan on filming at least one more trip with a fishing buddy before the school year starts.

Thank you Douglas, Nate, Stan, & Karen for spending the morning with us. It was a great time and a memory that we will never forget!

ALEX, DOUGLAS, & NATE HOLD UP DOUGLAS'S 3 LEGAL LARGEMOUTH BASS TOGETHER

DAILY LUNKER GOES TO DOUGLAS WITH HIS 16" LARGEMOUTH BASS. CONGRATS!!

SOME FISHERMAN TELL TALL TALES, BUT WHEN YOU SEE AN ANGLER WITH "BASS THUMB" THERE IS NO DENYING THAT HE WAS CATCHING FISH LIKE CRAZY

TWO ADORABLE ANGLERS CALLING IT A DAY AND HEADED HOME

TAKE A KID FISHING!!

www.theikefoundation.org

DOUGLAS STRIKES GOLD THE FOLLOWING DAY AGAIN!!!

11 YR OLD DOUGLAS S. LANDS A FLAMBEAU RIVER 3 LB 1 OZ SMALLMOUTH ON HIS 1ST CAST ON OUR HAND-POURED BUBBLE GUM WORM THAT HE MODIFIED THE LENGTH AND TAIL ON!

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BOOTYKICKIN', WACKY WALLEYE, & Alex's Fishing Show

8/6/2018

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JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER IN "GREEN PUMPKIN/PURPLE FLAKE" WITH A TOUCH OF SPIKE-IT BLUE ON TOP, CHARTREUSE ON TAIL

KEVIN ROGALSKI'S MONSTER DAY

James Gang Promotional Staff team member KEVIN ROGALSKI lit up a local lake Saturday with his family as a weather front was approaching. After a tough week of fishing, he touched up a James Gang 5" BOOTYKICKER with some Spike-It dyes, and worked his lure ultra-finesse on a weighted EWG weedless hook. He managed to land a 5 lb 3 oz trophy largemouth bass, his wife landed the biggest of her life (just under 20,") then he followed up with the biggest bass of his life - a SIX POUND THREE OUNCE bass!! To top the 6 lb mark in Wisconsin is extremely tough to do, so not only are we extremely impressed with Mr. Rogalski's accomplishment, we are also very proud that our lure design and recipe (that we sent to Mr. Randy Henderson of Lethal Baits Soft Plastics to pour for us) was able to produce a fish of this caliber. Pictured above is JUST the 5 pounder!! Below is the incredible 6-3# monster, along with a hilarious shot of Kevin going nuts reading his digital scale.

6 lbs 3 oz LARGEMOUTH BASS by KEVIN ROGALSKI ON JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER

KEVIN ROGALSKI WEIGHS HIS MONSTER BASS ON A DIGITAL SCALE

TO ORDER OUR 5" BOOTYKICKERS, PLEASE EMAIL US AT 6lbsmallmouth@gmail.com. We sell them at $5.25 per 4 pack, and the complete order will have $3.75 shipping added. Each new customer receives a sample of JBs FISH SAUCE (while supplies last) with their order. To view more color options, click the button below:

BOOTYKICKER COLORS

HALL OF FAME FISHING LEGEND CATCHES HIS PERSONAL BEST IN DOOR COUNTY!!

JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES CELEBRATES WITH DALE STROSCHEIN A FEW HOURS AFTER HE CAUGHT THE LARGEST BASS OF HIS HISTORIC GUIDING CAREER

Well known walleye & smallmouth bass guide, Dale Stroschein, has been catching fish and breaking records ever since he entered the world of guiding and professional fishing. Dale runs WACKY WALLEYE GUIDE SERVICE of Sturgeon Bay, WI and is known for getting his customers on the largest smallmouth bass and walleye in the world. His works have gotten himself inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, he has been featured in several TV shows over the past several decades, including a show by Byron Velvick called "Guides Eyes" in which Dale was mentioned as one of the greatest and most respected guides in the country. Dale has been honored by Johnny Morris of Bass Pro Shops alongside the greatest fishermen in the history of Team Tracker/Nitro, and during his Pro Walleye run broke multiple records for fish sizes at weigh-in. On Saturday, Dale landed his biggest bass of his career, a 7.36 lb smallmouth. Not only is this fish a huge accomplishment, an angler must realize that this fish was caught at the time of the year when it is likely to be the most lean - August. This fish was probably extremely void of eggs, and has not even begun to feed heavily for the winter season. If Dale managed to land this giant in pre-spawn or late fall, there is a possibility that he could have landed a new state record smallmouth bass. Door County Wisconsin will produce the next state record, in my opinion, and the best of the best is right on them. I highly recommend booking a guided trip with Dale and his elite buddies Marc Jackson and Caleb Zorn. Dale is extremely talented, knowledgable, passionate, and kind. And the best part - he has a GREAT sense of humor. Dale is quick to become good friends with his customers and truly cares that you enjoy your experience and have a successful day of fishing. He hooked me into my top bass of my life in just 2 trips, and I can't wait to come back for more. His waters are premium waters and you will have opportunities for fish of a lifetime any time you are in the boat with Dale Stroschein!

The link to his website is below:

Wacky Walleye Guide Service booking

CONGRATS DALE!!!

ALEX FISHING SHOW will be filming in the next few weeks. A new video will be coming soon!!! Who will win the Sarona cup in 2018?? Will the 10 year old CEO pull it off again for a repeat?? So far he is trailing one of our pro staffers for 2nd place....... MORE TO COME.......

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Nest Raiders, Waterfalling, Hatching Chicks, Fireworks, and Kickin' Booties

7/22/2018

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JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES GIVES A THUMBS UP WHEN THE FISH WERE BITING!

MID-SUMMER REPORT

Summer fishing is well underway. Unfortunately our 1976 Evinrude is no longer in service, so our fishing has been VERY limited this season. We did manage a few trips with our good buddy Kevin Martinek in Chippewa County, and on both trips we did very well. Our new Nest Raider skirted weedless swimjig was the deal on our first trip, and on our second trip a green pumpkin creature bait rigged a strange way by Alex and I got the job done! This blog will be limited on text and will be mainly pictures sent in by our customers and the anglers we sponsor as we haven't gotten out much at all. The Elk Mound High School team made it to the national championship on Pickwick Lake, Alabama. They finished in the middle of the field, and landed a 5 lb 15 oz GIANT largemouth bass on our new Nest Raider in "Mississippi Mayhem." These lures just became available and are ready to order in 1/4 , 3/8, & 1/2 oz sizes in about ANY custom color skirt and trailer pattern. The trailer on the 1/4 oz is a Kalin's Sizmic Grub, the 3/8 and larger version will have our red-hot BOOTYKICKER swimbait on the back.

EMHS ANGLER BLAZE TODD LANDS A 5 lb 15 oz BASS WITH A JAMES GANG NEST RAIDER IN THE FLW HIGH SCHOOL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN ALABAMA

REGIONAL CHAMPIONS COLE STEINHORST & BLAZE TODD REPRESENTING ELK MOUND HIGH SCHOOL AND JAMES GANG FISHING WITH A GIANT PICKWICK BASS

BLAZE'S LITTLE 14-YR-OLD BROTHER CAN CATCH THEM TOO! ASHLAND, WI

JAMES GANG NEST RAIDER in "JUNEBUG"

JAMES GANG NEST RAIDER IN "MISSISSIPPI MAYHEM"

ALEX JAMES WITH 1 OF 12 CHIPPEWA COUNTY BASS ON HIS NEST RAIDER DESIGN

WE ARE LOVING OUR JB'S FISH SAUCE IN THE MIST SPRAY BOTTLE DURING WARM WEATHER FISHING!

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER KEVIN MARTINEK GIVES US A WHUPPIN WITH HIS TRUSTY TORPEDO AS WE ALL CAUGHT SEVERAL FISH ON THE SHORT DAY ON THE LAKE. PICTURED HERE IS A SOLID 17" LARGEMOUTH BASS

ALEX JAMES IS EXTREMELY PROUD AS HE LANDS A 17" BASS AS WELL - 2 lbs 5 oz

STOP N GO WAS THE KEY AS ALEX REELED IN THIS BASS ON A LAKE X FROG FROM ROSS'S SPORT SHOP IN PHILLIPS, WI

JAMES GANG-SPONSORED SCOTT WILCZEK WEIGHED IN THIS BEAUTIFUL 5.35 LB LARGEMOUTH BASS ON THE CHETEK CHAIN IN THE RECENT CWBA OPEN. THIS BASS MISSED THE LARGEST BASS AWARD OF THE 80-ANGLER FIELD BY ONLY 0.10 POUNDS AND OVERALL HE AND HIS TEAMMATE TOOK 3rd OF 40 TEAMS!

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER MAT EICHINGER BROUGHT A FEW SOLID BASS TO THE CWBA CHETEK WEIGH IN AS WELL. TWIN 3 POUNDERS, HERE, AS THEY STRUGGLED TO CATCH THE LARGER FISH, HE & PARTNER KEVIN ROGALSKI CAUGHT SEVERAL UNDERSIZED BASS IN THE TOURNAMENT

FLAPPIN' JIG SUCCESS

15-YR-OLD CHARLIE HAUSER LANDS THIS GORGEOUS 16" BASS ON A JAMES GANG FLAPPIN' JIG IN "BULL BLUEGILL"

ROGALSKI'S BUSY SUMMER OF BASS CATCHIN'

JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER KEVIN ROGALSKI HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY CATCHING QUALITY BASS ALL SEASON LONG ON OUR BOOTYKICKERS. THIS 18" BEAST WEIGHED 3.63# AND WAS CAUGHT ON OUR JAMES GANG DUNKIN' FROG RED BUZZ/WHITE FROG BODY

ONE OF MANY QUALITY BOOTYKICKER BASS THIS SUMMER BY KEVIN ROGALSKI

BONUS WALLEYE ON OUR BOOTYKICKER SWIMBAIT

LITTLE ROGALSKI CAN CATCH 'EM TOO!

JAMES GANG SPONSORED UW-STOUT ANGLER WITH A BABY SQUID BASS

UW-STOUT ANGLER ZACH HANSEN WITH A QUALITY SQUID BAIT BASS

LITTLE DUDE HAMMERS BLUEGILLS WITH DAD & GRANDPA

CLAYTON Z. FILLS DAD'S FREEZER WITH DELICIOUS WISCONSIN BLUEGILLS

JASON OLSON ON FIRE WITH KAYAKS & LOVERTAILS!

CHANG LOR, KAYAK GUIDE, STILL KICKING BOOTY AT SCO!

BEAUTIFUL SUNSET IN WASHBURN COUNTY

BIG MINNOW SALES RED HOT!

BIG MINNOW BAR, GRILL, & BAIT SHOP (Holcombe, WI) has been selling James Gang bass, pike, and musky lures all summer long. The lures have been selling very well, and our Bee Whacker Buzzbaits are selling as fast as we deliver them. If you are in a short distance or passing through the area this summer, stop by, grab a burger, and check out our lures. They have a great bait shop with all of your needs. Did I mention their delicious food? They have fantastic prices on their menu. Give them a visit soon!!

OEMIG'S SPORT SHOP IN STANLEY IS SELLING JAMES GANG LURES

If you are east of Chippewa Falls, WI or passing by on Highway 29, take a stop in Stanley, WI and check out Oemig's Sport Shop. Gary & Larry Oemig run a fantastic shop with fishing, hunting, and camping supplies all year long. They do gunsmith service and sell firearms as well. Check out our James Gang lures for sale and give them a try!

CEO ALEX BECOMES A CHICKEN DADDY

PULASKI LAKE FIREWORKS!!

CASCADE FALLS - OSCEOLA, WI

HAVE A FUN SUMMER AND KEEP SENDING US YOUR FISH PICTURES!

BOOTYKICKERS AVAILABLE IN 10 COLORS!!! INCLUDING OUR
NEW "MISSISSIPPI MAYHEM"
"BABY BREAM"
AND "PURPLE BEETLE"

$5.25/4 pack plus shipping!

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Bassmaster Marshal - The Ultimate Fan Experience

6/27/2018

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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

1 Comment

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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