WHAT'S THE LATEST WITH THE JAMES GANG???The James Gang has been pretty quiet in the past 3 years, with reduced fishing report blogs and updates on lure success and reports. The truth is that Jesse has been battling some serious neurological struggles as the effects of borellia garinii, the European strain of Lyme disease, and Alex the CEO has been very limited on free time due to employment and attending school. We focused our efforts in 2024 very early on with the Knoxville, TN fishing expo. We felt that it was a very positive business adventure as we made many memories on the road trip, interacted with so many friendly customers, and introduced a reasonable amount of buyers into our premium quality fishing lures in a new region of the country. Once the show was complete, health struggles worked their way back, and we found ourselves limited in little time at all to fish or write in 2024 about adventures. Jesse was treated at a top Lyme center in the country in Dec 2024, and saw some improvement with a few of his many setbacks caused by his disease. He left the center about 20% better. With severe neurological issues, the future of James Gang Fishing is uncertain. As of this time, we have a POSITIVE outlook, and hope to work our way back to fully engaged in the fishing world. There was a very successful ice fishing trip that occurred after treatment, and hopefully more gradual medical gains will lead to more fishing adventures, more lure designs, and more communications to our friends that follow our story. The exciting news in 2024 is that we are finding that our 2023 design of the KATANA BLADE bait is really a solid smallmouth catcher in the peak of late fall fishing! Numerous fish were landed on this red-hot lure in November of 2024. As we struggled to find premium blank designs for crankbaits in our prototypes, we are steering away from selling crankbaits, other than the outstanding BASS JERKER suspending jerkbait. Jesse is now representing FAFO Fishing, which crafts premium crankbaits in Wisconsin, and uses them with great success in combination of the Bass Jerker by James Gang Fishing. We designed a prototype with great potential in 2024 called the LOG SPLITTER, which is a weedless jig design that incorporates our BABY SQUID BAIT into the trailer of the lure. This lure swam beautifully in the water, and expect to hear reports of fishing success and a lure release in 2025 with this design. The James Gang Fishing BOOTYKICKER 5" swimbait has been released in new colors for 2025, and are now poured by FAFO Fishing in Wisconsin. They nailed the recipe, and the action is identical with the same mold we purchased and hired LETHAL BAITS (no longer in business) to pour for us for years in Kentucky. We are very excited to share the new color release this spring, and are looking forward to fishing reports on this design with hot new colors for our customers. Our Fishing Log Journal was released in 2024, and is available for purchase on Amazon Prime. Search JESSE JAMES PIONTEK for this handy journal to document your fishing conditions and adventures! As of January 1, we are still hoping to showcase our lures at the Indiana Fishing Expo in Indianapolis, IN Feb 1-2, 2025. Keep us in your prayers as the coming weeks will be critical as at-home treatment for Lyme, Babesia, and Bartonella (brain parasites) continue. Any downhill effect in symptoms will surely prevent us from making it to the show. Positive gains will bring excitement to our business and bring the hope of 2025 tournaments in our local area, more content to share, and more! Thanks for being loyal customers and followers, and please enjoy our ice fishing report below! SAFE ICE & SUCCESS ON THE HARD WATER 9" BLUEGILL CAUGHT ON 3MM GREASE FRYER JIG FT KNOX COLOR BY FAFO FISHING FAFO FISHING FOR THE WIN! 9 inches of clear solid, strong ice was found on this beautiful late December morning. 31 degree air temps, no winds, a low barometer, what a morning. I was fishing in 28 feet of water when I would find 1-2 panfish at a time. I used 2 lb fluorocarbon line, and a SAN DIEGO JAM KNOT to tie on my FT KNOX colored tiny 3mm tungsten jig by FAFO Fishing. This knot held up all day, as I never broke off on a single fish! Remember, always wet your line before you cinch your knot to prevent weakened line strengths from burning your line! I carried my budget-friendly, wannabe Go Pro called the DRAGON TOUCH Vision3Pro on a cheap action camera tripod around to capture my fish catches on film. From 10 am to 11am, the bite was consistent. I learned quickly the fish were feeding but very spooky. When you drop a tiny jig with a live spike on it, and you see fish leaving as the jig lowers, you need to slow the drop speed and respect the anxiety of these fish. The good thing is, when the barometer is low and they act nervous, its probably a bigger fish. Color and size are critical in this situation! I slowed my drop speed, then held my lure slightly above the highest fish. A few jigs, then a dead stick, and the fish fired. The result was a undersized bluegill. I released the fish and dropped immediately on his competitive partner down below. Nerves were showing, so I slowly move up and down a foot above it, then dead sticked again. The fish gave a light bite and I set hard. I released some drag pressure while fighting, and there was some great drag peel. My ARDENT FINESSE 500 reel drag was so buttery smooth, there was no lugging of the line pull on the way up. I saw bright colors circle my feet as I watched the beautiful male bluegill circle the hole through the clear ice. I measured my nicest bluegill in a few years - 9" nose to tip of the tail on a public lake. This is a quality bluegill anywhere in Wisconsin!  8.75" BLUEGILL The bite was decent, but they made me work for them. These fish were nervous and stubborn. I was hopping holes in a small area to try and find some more aggressive towards feeding. I landed about 15 fish in the first hour, and about 5 of them were worth taking home to clean. The smallest kept was a 7" bluegill. I then hit a 2 hour window of inactive feeding, which I love to refer to as "LOOK & LEAVE." It drives an ice angler nuts! All you can do is experiment and learn reactions on the flasher to see if sizes, colors, drop speed, and bait bulk affect the bite. I was feeling lazy after intense Lyme treatment, so I stayed with my same jig/bait combo, as I focused simply on drop speed, bottom-pounding, and trying a competition or reaction bite phase. Nothing worked. 1PM hit and it was my planned time to leave. As I was starting to fill my sled with ice fishing belongings, some suspending fish appeared on the flasher. Usually this means feeding time! I dropped my jig on top of some quality crappies, and finally caught some keepers. The crappies in the morning were all under 9" long and released. My tip down built by Joe Holland dipped down once, but my reaction was delayed and I missed the hookset. I hole-hopped for another 25 minutes, and managed to land about 5 more fish - 4 of them keepers, including a beautiful 8.75" male bluegill and a black crappie near or at 12" long.  12" and 11" BLACK CRAPPIES CAUGHT ON GREASE FRYER JIG BY FAFO FISHING As my quitting time hit, I stowed away everything in my sled and used my walking stick with a spike on the bottom to keep myself upright on the trek back to the boat ramp. I loaded up my Jeep Wrangler and peeked into the bucket of 10 quality panfish. It was a fun, peaceful trip in nature, and the weather was probably the most comfortable I ever experienced in my decades of ice fishing. As the forecast shows 10 days of below zero winds in the mornings, I expect 5 more inches of ice very soon, and the ability to drive on with vehicles in lakes without springs or current. The barometer will be very high though, so fishing should be tough. Perch and walleyes are usually better to pursue in these conditions as I believe the air bladder effect in a high pressure shuts down bluegills, crappies, pike, and bass. The bluegills were outstanding and full of flavor as I scaled and gutted them but cooked them in skin and bones in bacon grease, clarified butter, garlic, dill, celtic salt, and cracked peppercorns. The crappies were filleted and had their expected mild (overrated in my opinion) taste, but full of size for their length. The fish in this small body of water are VERY healthy. Man, I love ice fishing!!  BUCKET OF SUCCESS!!  TIME FOR THE FILLET KNIFE  ORDER YOUR 3MM GREASE FRYER JIG AT THE BUTTON BELOW!! JAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY 2025 CALENDAR OF EVENTS FEB 1-2 - INDIANA FISHING EXPO - INDIANAPOLIS, IN MAR 14-22 - JAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY CLOSED (order delay) MAR 25 - CUSTOM BASS JERKER COLORS AVAILABLE APR 1 - NEW BOOTYKICKER COLORS AVAILABLE MAY 1 - JAMES GANG LOGSPLITTER LURE RELEASE JUN - (Tentative) JAMES GANG BIRCH LAKE MLF - BIRCHWOOD, WI OCT 3-12 - JAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY CLOSED (order delay) OCT 18 - (Tentative) JAMES GANG FALL MLF - TAINTER LAKE, WI  24/7 LIVE BAIT & TACKLE VENDING
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AuthorJesse James is an avid fisherman that loves smallmouth bass fishing, loves spending time with his family, with other family-orientated people, and loves seeing children fish. A huge fan of BASSMASTER Elite Mike Iaconelli, like Mike, he is known to be a little strange, and obnoxious, but only to have fun and make people laugh.
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