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Fall Jet Boats, Philadelphia History, Riverbank and Mid-Fall Success

11/1/2020

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MAT EICHINGER, UNCLE JESSE, & NORB ROEGER HAD A BLAST FISHING WITH ALEX & ALAYNA IN 49 DEGREE SMALLMOUTH WATERS IN MID-OCTOBER
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EDUCATED IN PHILADELPHIA

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MIKE BREEDING OF GRATEFUL GUIDES IS A FANTASTIC TEACHER & BRINGS AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE ON THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER IN HIS CUSTOM JET BOAT

FISHING THE ULTRA-CLEAR SUSQUEHANNA RIVER

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As an aspiring fishing guide in the very near future, I planned on educating myself by hiring some of the best guides in the country, watching closely as they use their personal teaching methods, as well as understanding how each guide has a unique way of locating fish for clients, and how they handle the stress of a tough bite as they try to present a successful day for their customers. I feel very blessed to have shared the boat with Hall of Fame angler Dale Stroschein of Sturgeon Bay, WI few years back. The knowledge gained during that trip was huge, as we analyzed our extremely tough day that resulted in several trophy smallmouth by sunset in late-October. Also a treat with a highly-respected and high-priced guide in combination with their knowledge is the fact that you get to use top-notch boats and equipment. Dale has worked so hard over a legendary career to land a solid sponsorship with Nitro boats. Being in his 450 hp Nitro SZ-21v is such a treat on the brutal waters of the Great Lakes. An extra deep walleye boat design such as his can handle the rough waters so well, and the huge outboard can push his heavy boats at high speeds. At the opposite end of the spectrum is riding in the custom jet boat owned by Grateful Guides guide service of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

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GRATEFUL GUIDES TREATS THEIR CUSTOMERS WITH A 250 HP INBOARD JETBOAT
As a a long-time avid Mike Iaconelli fan, I have always enjoyed his work on tv, such as CITY LIMITS FISHING, GOING IKE, & FISH MY CITY on the major tv networks. One episode really caught my attention, as Mike fished the Susquehanna River with professional guide Mike Breeding and Bassmaster Elite Fletcher Shryock for smallmouth bass in a jet boat. I have never experienced riding in or fishing from a jet boat, and with the multiple rivers present in Wisconsin, it is something that I am interested in learning about. My expectations for the Susquehanna River was a dirty, or stained river around 8-12' deep running through a small village town out in the country. The education started as I neared the Capitol City of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, to meet Mike. I felt like a fool not knowing that I was fishing the capitol of the state in ultra-clear and super shallow waters. A lack of rain had brought the average depth of the river down to around 1 foot deep! The river is fed from the crystal-clear waters of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, NY. I have never seen a clear river before. It was very intense flying across 1 foot of water in a large boat and not hitting bottom. It was actually an absolute blast! I found it very hard to believe that these waters could possibly hold smallmouth bass in such low depths. Mike handed me some finesse plastics and we got to work. We fished a short time and Mike had a very nice 3 lb class smallmouth bass to the back of the boat, that threw his lure. Seeing a bass in this shallow water gave me the confidence to cast anywhere he instructed me to knowing that we were around them. Mike said to expect a brutally tough day in the low water conditions. He also spent the majority of the day focusing on teaching me how to read river currents, looking for very subtle structure changes my looking at the differences in bubbles on the surface near eddies and underwater cover such as rocks and boulders.  
FISHING SUPER TOUGH CONDITIONS CAN PRODUCE QUALITY BASS WITH PATIENCE AND AN ULTRA-FINESSE PRESENTATION - THANK YOU GRATEFUL GUIDES!
Mike and I cycled through a few finesse plastics, and one that I was very excited to throw was one of my confidence lures - a plastic jerkshad. Mike said that there wasn't much for wood cover present in the main river, so nose-hooking the lure is a better choice than fishing it weedless. I began casting and didn't take long to hook up on a quality Susquehanna River smallmouth bass.
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MY FIRST OF 8 QUALITY SMALLMOUTH BASS BOATED WITH GRATEFUL GUIDES
As we continued covering some key locations, we found it very difficult finding a pattern or a school of fish. It seemed that the fish were holding very tight to hard bottom with very minor depressions in the super shallow water. Mike pulled up to a grassy flat and instructed me to cast as far as I could across the river channel, and I instantly hooked up to a very nice fish. We didn't bother to use a scale or ruler, but I would guess throughout the day we landed several fish around or just over 3 lbs, and this one was approaching closer to 4 pounds. 
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OUR BIGGEST CATCH OF THE DAY - A NEAR 4 POUND SMALLMOUTH BASS!
After flipping from a swing shift at work, and the late-night flight from Minnesota to Philadelphia International Airport, I was feeling absolutely exhausted through the later part of our day. We had a stretch of a few hours without a bite, then Mike turned it around by finally getting us on the board with our 10th smallmouth bass of the day. Minutes later, I thought I felt a tiny bump on my lure as it hit the surface. I looked up and saw a boil where I had casted and felt sure that there was a fish present. I began to twitch the jerkshad as erratic as possible. I thought I may have felt another light bump so I kept the jerkshad darting at a high speed. Finally, my lure was absolutely clobbered as I pulled back and stuck the hook into the roof of the bass's mouth. The fish was probably our second biggest of the day and easily over 3 pounds, giving me an awesome battle all the way to the boat. Within a few casts, Mike hooked up on a smaller bass that would end up being our 12th and final fish of the day.
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THANK YOU MIKE BREEDING & GRATEFUL GUIDES!

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Fishing with Mike Breeding was an absolute treat! Mike has a lot of enthusiasm and makes your fishing outing feel like a party as he is out for a good time. But he also is a very talented angler and really understands his water in which he runs his guide service. Mike has spent 17 years running the Susquehanna River in his jet boats and has very strong teaching skills. It was quite the experience being in such clear water with super low levels. And riding over that in a jet boat was so fun! Thank you Mike for helping this Wisconsin boy boat 8 of your prized beautiful smallmouth in conditions that most anglers wouldn't understand where to begin or how to generate a single bite all day. I understand why Mike Iaconelli chose to feature your service on his tv show and I was extremely impressed with the entire experience. Mike has very affordable rates for his top-notch, unique service, and you can find more information by clicking on the button below. 

CLICK HERE FOR GRATEFUL GUIDES INFO

ATTENDING BASS UNIVERSITY WITH IKE LIVE'S BTC & PETE GLUSZEK
​
UPPER CHESAPEAKE BAY, MARYLAND

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3X BASSMASTER CLASSIC PRO PETE GLUZSEK & IKE LIVE PRODUCER BRIAN "THE CARPENTER" ARE HAVING FUN CRACKING JOKES & CATCHING BASS
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THE CAST OF IKE LIVE: DAVE B, MIKE I, BECKY I, PETE G, BRIAN THE CARPENTER
During the past several Bassmaster Classics, legendary world champion and world-famous "goof-ball" Mike Iaconelli has hosted an "after-party" after the champion had received their trophy. I was privileged to find vacation time for a 46 hour experience in 2019 to fly to Knoxville and watch Ott DeFoe become a world champion, and attend the IKE LIVE-sponsored party after the event. I was very excited to mingle with some professional anglers that I followed on ESPN for so long, people that I also had previously met briefly at weigh ins in the past. What I was excited the most for was to meet the Ike Live crew for the first time, as I had been a fan of since the beginning in 2013. As expected, Mike was super busy giving time to every single attendee and finding ways to interact with all of them. I had a lot of fun chatting with Brian "The Carpenter" and Pete Gluszek as we talked about fishing in Wisconsin and the local fishing scene near New Jersey. I asked Pete about his guide service availability on Lake Champlain and the Upper Chesapeake Bay. He told me that late April is prime for giant largemouth bass, so we agreed on a future trip in 2020. When the time was near, the trip was booked for both Pete Gluszek's Guide Service & Grateful Guides. As COVID19 hit the world news, we felt forced to re-schedule for a fall smallmouth trip to avoid any travel bans or restrictions. Finally October arrived and I was able to travel to New Jersey and fish my two guide trips planned so long ago. Brian took time out of his very busy schedule to join us on the water as he accepted my invite. With the crazy year and hectic schedule, the two friends hadn't had an opportunity in 2020 to get in the boat together and were very thankful that I got all three of us to line it up for the day of fun.

BRIAN GOES "DOUBLE-UP"

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Before our day began, I had told Pete that I was a very weak crankbait angler, and wanted to work on crankbait fishing if the bite presented itself. Pete is a very skilled angler in multiple categories, and crankbaits is one of his strongest methods he uses to catch fish. We started out throwing crankbaits near points, rocks, rip-rap, and wood cover. Pete and Brian were very good at using their time efficiently, covering high-percentage areas with fast and slow lures, then moving on quickly as they searched for fish. They definitely chose to not waste time fishing "dead" areas void of fish. As more time went on, Pete decided to hang it up and make a long run with his 250 hp Bass Cat 21' boat to some other areas that he had found success on in the past. As we pulled up, we switched over to some ultra-finesse soft plastics. It wasn't long and I hooked into a young smallmouth bass. But as I got it to the side of the boat, a school of better bass were with it trying to steal the lure. Not wasting an opportunity, Brian quickly dropped his favorite ned rig set up and hooked up with a quality smallmouth bass. We reeled both of our fish up at the same time, making Pete proud as we smiled with the first two fish of the day. That area remained hot with the finesse bite, and we continued to catch numbers of smallmouth bass, some of them in respectable sizes.
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PETE GLUSZEK PUT BRIAN & I ON A SOLID SMALLMOUTH SCHOOL IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
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BRIAN BOATS THE BIGGEST SMALLMOUTH OF THE DAY, REDEEMING HIMSELF AFTER LOSING A BIGGER ONE AT BOATSIDE EARLIER
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ONCE AGAIN BTC PULLS HIS "DOUBLE-UP" TRICK TRYING TO STEAL THE SHOW
After we burned out the school on multiple presentations, Pete shot us across the bay looking for more schools of feeding fish. Brian landed another smallmouth bass near a log that Pete instructed me to cast to that I kept missing as I battled the wind with poor casts. We continued on, covering points, small bays, and grass edges, with no luck. Pete and Brian gave me the option of running to areas in which they believed a mix of largemouth and smallmouth were present, and I agreed we needed to keep moving. But before we would leave the area entirely, we had to try and land one more smallmouth from our previously "hot" area. We failed to land a smallmouth, but were surprised as I boated a largemouth before we bailed.
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I LANDED MY FIRST LARGEMOUTH BASS OF THE DAY ON A SLOW-SINKING WORM THAT SLOWLY SUNK BTC'S DAY. JUST KIDDING BRIAN....

We made a move to fish a heavily-pressured area of wood cover, and saw boats everywhere. It was a windy day and this area was protected and calm. Bass boats, jon boats, and a kayak were all hitting the wood cover hard. As Doctor Kayak rounded the corner, I had began casting in the open shallow flats next to the wood cover and began catching some more largemouth bass on the slow-sinking worm. Pete decided to join the party as SENKO CLAUS landed his first bass of the day!!

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GETTING EDUCATED BY THE DEAN OF BASS UNIVERSITY TV, PETE GLUSZEK
We made the final run to the area where smallmouth and largemouths would be mixed. This is another area Pete was confident that I could generate a crankbait bite. Immediately after my cast towards the rocks, I hooked into a possible largemouth bass of a lifetime. Halfway to the boat, I lost the fish as I fought it with 100% of effort.

​Both Brian & Pete were awesome as they watched my mechanics and coached my many flaws in casting as well as my issues losing fish on the retrieve. I hooked into a ridiculous battle on a crankbait, and right away we knew it wasn't a bass. In end result was a common carp snagged in the tail by the DT-Fat crankbait.
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A TAIL-SNAGGED BATTLE WITH "BUGLE LIPS" WAS A FUN FIGHT!
Moments later, our favorite podcast producer hooked into a bass fishing near some docks. It appeared that a lot of baitfish were busting near the surface and the area was full of life. As we fished the area with multiple presentations, Pete caught himself a striped bass on a crankbait. We were running out of time when I finally hooked into a largemouth bass on crankbait as we ended our day on the water.
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BRIAN GIVING ME STRAIGHT UP CHIP DIAMOND DISRESPECT BUT I KNEW DEEP DOWN HE WAS A PROUD MENTOR AS I FINALLY CRANKED UP A LARGEMOUTH

A SINCERE THANKS.....

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The time spend on the water with Mike, Pete, and Brian was very special to me. I know that Mike Breeding and Pete Gluszek felt humbled that I would make a trip so far to fish with them, and it was totally worth the time spent traveling to climb in the boats with such elite anglers in very unique fisheries. I learned so much as I was exposed to such a different atmosphere from Wisconsin waters. We made a lot of great memories and had many laughs in the boat as I studied the fishing game and the guiding styles of these fine professionals. Thank you Pete, and I will be rooting for you in the coming years to win another Bassmaster Open to send you into another Bassmaster Classic. Thank you Mike Breeding, I have intentions on returning in a few years with my son to fish the river with you once again. Thank you Brian, your support, trash-talking, fishing tips, and the time out after fishing- it was truly appreciated! You are a casting machine, by the way. I hope an opportunity comes along in the coming years that you guys can fish the premium waters of Wisconsin with me and find ourselves some under-pressured slobs in the lily pads, under the trees, and in the eddies. 

ENJOYING THE GREAT HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA

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INDEPENDENCE HALL, BIRTHPLACE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
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THE GRAVE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
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THE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS LIBERTY BELL
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ENJOYING A PHILLY CHEESE STEAK

CRANKIN' THE FLAMBEAU RIVER IN MID-FALL

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We took to the Flambeau River the day after I returned from New Jersey, to chase some fall smallmouth on crankbaits. Pete told me during the guide trip to keep crankin' and keep learning as I add them into the mix more frequently. The DT6 Demon, a Cotton Cordell Deep custom painted in "Doctor Craw" and a Rapala Scatter Rap did a lot of damage on this fine outing in 48 degree water temps. James Gang Fishing Company CEO Alex Piontek boated all 4 smallmouth bass that bit his crankbaits on this day, as well as a very nice 12" yellow perch. His top two bass of the day are his new personal records, the biggest weighing 3 lbs 8 oz at 17.5"! Alayna H. landed an absolute giant at 16.5" that broke the 3# mark with a huge belly on it. Norb Roeger used his trusty jig around deep wood cover and boated another girthy sow over 17" as well. Pro staffer Mat Eichinger landed the heaviest bass of the day, a 3 lb 12 oz beast around 17.75"


DOC & ZIM SHOWING US ALL UP AGAIN

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GOOD BUDDY ZIM HAD FUN CRANKIN' A 20" & 18.5" SMALLMOUTH BASS ON THE FLAMBEAU RIVER
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CONGRATS TO ZIM FOR CATCHING HIS BIGGEST SMALLMOUTH TO DATE!
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CAN YOU SAY "WOW!" A TIGER MUSKY CAUGHT FROM SHORE, TROY LINDNER STYLE
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PRO-STAFFER DOC GILLES WITH A HUGE-BELLIED NORTHERN PIKE AT 35"
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SUPER PROUD DAD MOMENT! WAY TO GO ALEX!

THANK YOU CUSTOMERS & LOOK FOR OUR NEXT VENDING MACHINE UPDATES......

ICE FISHING TACKLE & LIVE BAIT COMING SOON!!!!!

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    Jesse 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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  • Our Story/Blog
    • ABOUT >
      • About Us
      • Lure Ads
      • Lure Records
      • Pro Staff
      • DEALERS
      • Alex & the Pros
  • STORE
    • LOVERTAIL 2 Weedless inline spinner bucktails
    • BEE WHACKER INLINE BUZZ BAIT
    • Dunkin' Frog inline frog buzzbait
    • Baby Squid Bait finesse tube spinner
    • NEST INVADER skirted swinging weedless jig
    • KATANA 1/2 OZ BLADE BAIT
    • 10 pk Bootykicker 5" weighted swimbait
    • DIRTY DAVE Hair Jig 1/4 oz
    • FREE James Gang "How-To" manual
    • 4 pk Bootykicker 5" weighted swimbait color info (SPECIAL ORDER ONLY)
    • BEE WHACKER MUSKY weedless buzzbait
    • BEE WHACKER MUSKY weedless in-line buzzbait custom color ordering
    • Natural TICK REPELLENT
    • Book on Fishing Basics
  • GUIDE SERVICE
    • Book a Guide Trip
  • Events
    • JUNE 2025 MLF BIRCH LAKE
    • JAMES GANG MLF RESULTS
    • OCT 2025 MLF ALTOONA LAKE
    • 2021 Western WI Riverbank Rally >
      • 2019 Riverbank Rally Scoreboard
      • 2020 Riverbank Rally Scoreboard
      • 2021 Riverbank Rally Scoreboard
  • Fishing Tips/Recipes
    • DEER CAMP CHILI RECIPE
    • UNCLE JESSE'S PICKLED EGG RECIPE
    • The Importance of Catch & Release
    • Ice Fishing Panfish for beginners
    • Alex's Ultimate Panfish Recipe
    • Lovertail 2 Snagless weedless bucktail tips
    • BOOTYKICKER & Other Swimbait Tips
    • Baby Squid Bait Tips
    • The Barometer and Bass/Panfish
    • Fishing Line Selection Tips
    • Fall smallmouth myths
    • Jerkbait Tips
    • Spinnerbait Tips
    • Rod/Reel Selection Tips
    • Cooking Deer Hearts
    • Living a Healthy Outdoor Lifestyle
  • Links
    • Contact us / Alex's Boat >
      • Alex's General Lee Boat "CRAWFISH BANDIT"
    • Fishing Show