 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: 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 [email protected] 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!!  
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 JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES HELPS HIS GRANDPARENTS CATCH SOME DELICOUS BLUEGILLS FOR SUPPER PRE-SPAWN BASS FISHING IS HERE! JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER JOHN BEAUDETTE CELEBRATES HIS DAY OFF IN STYLE, HAMMERING BASS ONE AFTER ANOTHER - JUST A WEEK AFTER FILLING HIS DINNER TABLE WITH BIG CRAPPIES The Wisconsin game fish season finally arrived May 5, 2018 after a long and brutal winter. The ice came off many of the lakes in Northern Wisconsin just days before the opener. Luckily, the weather changed dramatically and allowed the lakes to heat up very quickly, which also created a few feeding binges by the crappies and largemouth bass a few days after opening day. While I had very limited time on the water so far this season (and struggled at best) our James Gang of wildmen had a pretty solid start to their seasons. Kevin Martinek & Doc Gilles got into a few gorgeous largemouth bass on a secret lake in Washburn county on a tough opener. The bite picked up later in the day as the sun heated the lake and they managed a few fish on our new Bootykicker and our Flappin' Jig.  JAMES GANG PRO STAFFER DOC GILLES WITH A SOLID LARGEMOUTH ON THE JAMES GANG FLAPPIN' JIG W/ BOOTYKICKER TRAILER  DOC GILLES WITH ANOTHER LARGEMOUTH CAUGHT ON A "ALBINO BAITFISH" BOOTYKICKER MAT EICHINGER & KEVIN ROGALSKI competed in the CWBA Chetac Open in Birchwood, WI on May 12. This event is ran by Craig Kloth of Medford and is always a very well ran event and a lot of fun to compete in. 80 anglers battled for 7 payouts + big bass. Although the boys were disappointed in their finish, they placed in the top half of the field with some quality bass and avoided being one of several teams that blanked out at the weigh in. They reported that the bite was much tougher after the cold front moved through the previous day, after having an incredible practice run before the "off-limits" week kicked in. Here are a few pictures below of their awesome practice day, as well as the tournament weigh in from Saturday:  MAT EICHINGER WITH A BEAST 4 LB LARGEMOUTH ON LAKE CHETAC  KEVIN ROGALSKI WITH ANOTHER AWESOME LARGEMOUTH IN PRACTICE    WEIGH IN PREPARATIONS WITH CWBA's CRAIG KLOTH  ON THE SCALES, FINISHING ABOVE 8 LBS FOR 4 FISH ON A TOUGH DAY  MAT EICHINGER & KEVIN ROGALSKI DISPLAY THEIR FISH BEFORE RELEASING THEM BACK INTO THE LAKE Alex and his grandparents have found that the bluegills are slowly getting into their prespawn rhythm as they landed 25+ bluegills Saturday night on Red Cedar Lake. They have been keeping only enough to make a fresh meal, and making sure to concentrate on conservation. As the bite will peak out in a week or two, the numbers of older fish will begin showing up and we are careful to not keep too many of the larger fish with the better genetics and more eggs. The fish from the past weekend were running smaller than they do during the prime, but they sure tasted great with our recipe below:  PAPA STEVE cuts up some delicious Red Cedar Lake bluegills for the frying pan. Scaled with skin and bones left on for MAXIMUM FLAVOR!!  JESSE JAMES WITH A BASS CAUGHT ON THE "OSHA RECORDABLE" BASS JERKER  LOCAL ANGLER TREVOR MEEKS SUBMITTED THIS PICTURE OF A FINE LARGEMOUTH CAUGHT ON OUR NEW JAMES GANG BOOTYKICKER SWIMBAIT IN "ALTOONA PERCH"  JAMES GANG FISHING VICE PRESIDENT ANGELA PIONTEK SHOWS A BROOK TROUT SHE CAUGHT RECENTLY, ONE OF MANY SHE LANDED IN THE LOCAL CREEKS MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING JUNE 10th RICE LAKE  Our MLF event on June 10th is approaching, and we expect the lake to be at a great stage of the bass season when it takes place. This is a brand new lake to most of us, but what we are hearing is that Rice Lake has an abundant bass population. We have done a little scouting and found heavy vegetation, but also rocky bottoms near several shorelines, and a lot of downed timber. This look looks fantastic as far as cover is concerned! The lake has a heavy stain already, and the shallow bays have some nasty matted slop all over. I got a feeling by tournament Sunday in June, this could be a power fishing, topwater showdown! We should be near a full 20-boat field with a great payout at only a $25 entry fee per angler. Click the link below to RSVP and get your name on the invite list. If invited, you will receive an email from James Gang Fishing with entry fee info and deadlines. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUGLAS! DOUGLAS S. CELEBRATES HIS 11th BIRTHDAY WITH A GIANT LARGEMOUTH BASS. DOUGLAS COMPETES IN THE JAMES GANG MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING EVENTS AND IS LOOKING FORWARD TO A HIGH FINISH IN OUR NEXT EVENT. CONGRATS DOUGLAS!!!  |
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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