19.5" Walleye Pike caught on a James Gang Fishing BABY SQUID BAIT in 10 feet of clear water in Washburn County between rain storms June 26, 2017 SUMMER FISHING IS HERE!Finally, the dragged out, awful (for me) messed up 2017 spawn deal is OVER!!! After water temperatures refused to rise for about a month it seemed, I simply failed to catch fish. I seen a lot of them sight fishing, and they were not in the mood to hit what they did last year when sight fishing, Everywhere I went was a struggle. I fished a tournament on Dells Pond on June 10th, and managed to boat ONE bass, under legal size, and weighed in ZERO pounds personally. My partner, JAZ DUNCAN managed to bring a few to the scales, but you can pretty much just say that I finished 18th out of 18 anglers. Bye bye entry fee.... Congratulations to BASSMASTER OPENS Angler Scott Pellegrin & his partner Dylan Kierstead for winning the Dells Pond Open in the UNDER 100 SPORTS LEAGUE. Justin Rowe ran a fun tournament and the competitors were great guys. I had a 2 day window this weekend to get out and fish like crazy. The barometer was high, which is about my biggest fear, and I went aggressive after them anyway. I got pounded with off and on storms, and the shallow water action was non-existant. I used my Marcum ice fishing flasher (since my 3 year old Humminbird died FOR GOOD) and located a mess of fish in deep water. After failing to even see a single bass whatsoever in the several hours I fished, I decided to tie on Alex's BABY SQUID BAIT design. This is the lure that saved my horrible Lake Michigan trip last year on Big Bay de Noc and turned it around for me. Well it did the same for me yesterday and today. Yesterday I caught a 13.5" Largemouth Bass in DEEEEEEP water. Then I lost about a 4+ 19" to 20" monster bass. I went "IKE" and screamed at the bass in joy knowing I started a successful pattern on a very difficult, clear lake. Other anglers came flying over after hearing me celebrate. To bluff them, I went back to the shallows throwing the Dunkin Frog like the topwater bite was happening. They hung out a while catching none, and left. I then went deep on the SQUID, and caught legal bass after legal bass. At one point I caught 4 fish on four casts in a row. I ran all over this lake looking for matching structure, and everytime I did, I caught fish. I landed an 18" largemouth at 3-10, a 17", a pile of 15s, and a few pike. It was an incredible half an hour late in the day. BABY SQUID BAIT PRODUCES 17" & 18" WASHBURN COUNTY BASS The following morning, James gang Pro Staffer KEVIN MARTINEK, joined me on a small lake in the Chippewa County forest. We hit the water pretty early and started with topwaters. We had steady action on small stunted bass in the 11-13.5" range the entire time, landing 12 and missing a bunch more. We tried for gills on bobbers later but they seemed inactive with the high barometer and heavy wind issues. We scored one on the Dunkin Frog, 6 more on a Stanley Baby Ribbit, and 4 more on the Molix Lover. We had a blast having the bass explode on our lures, even though they were all under legal bag limit sizes. A HEALTHY CHIPPEWA COUNTY BASS THAT FELL FOR THE MOLIX LOVER LURE DESIGNED BY MIKE IACONELLI THE LARGEMOUTH BASS WERE CHOKING ON THE STANLEY BABY RIBBIT IN THE SHALLOW LILY PADS! After Kevin and I left the Chippewa County forest lake, we hauled the CRAWFISH BANDIT back up to Washburn County to hopefully continue on my previous night's pattern. Unfortunately the pattern changed. It was still there but not nearly as effective as the previous night. Also some smaller bass moved in shallower and it seemed like the bigger bass went even deeper yet. But as it was getting boring, Kevin tied on a squid bait for the first time ever. He caught one on his first cast and a few more shortly after that. I found some luck on a DEEEEEEP brushpile, and was very surprised to find a complete multi-species location. My first fish I hook was another beast of a largemouth, around 18." He tossed my lure on the way in and hurt my feelings. We circled back and I landed a very nice 25" Northern Pike. As we circled back again, I was shocked to land a 19.5" walleye pike on our BABY SQUID BAIT. Jaz Duncan had informed us in a tournament pre-fishing deal on Red Cedar Lake, that the walleyes were hitting that lure. I had no clue they even existed in the lake that we were fishing, so it was a lot of fun pulling him into the boat. On our final pass, I boated a solid legal smallmouth bass that fought and fought and fought. He had a great attitude and I appreciated his company. It was a great 2 days of fishing and I felt like I accomplished a lot by learning more fish movement in clear water, expanding on tactics taught to me by Pro Guide, Dale Stroschein, and managing to catch a very strong weight of legal bass the first night, and a nice mix of species the second day on Alex's awesome lure. The time in Chippewa County was a blast as well, seeing smaller, more aggressive largemouth pound lures in the shallows. HATS & PERFORMANCE SHIRTS AVAILABLE NOW FOR ORDER...We have hats and performance shirts available to order now. Please contact us immediately if you are interested. Final orders WILL BE PLACED JULY 3rd. Hats are premium FLEXFIT Cool & Dry hats. Our performance shirts are 100% polyester long sleeve for keeping you cool on a hot & sunny summer day. We have an awesome hooded sweatshirt available that matches these shirts as well. PRICES (inc. sales tax) HATS $25 LONG SLEEVE SHIRT $25 HOODED SWEATSHIRT $50 CONGRATS TO CHRISTOFF K. OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA FOR CATCHING THIS NEAR 5 POUNDER AT ONLY 7 YEARS OLD. THANK YOU ELISHA KULL FOR THE PICTURE!! CONGRATS TO BRENDEN H. FOR CATCHING THIS GIANT BLUEGILL AT CUB SCOUT CAMP LAST WEEK IN NW WISCONSIN! Thank you Ben Heath for the picture! FRESHWATER DRUM, RIVER FISHING, & FLW BFL RESULTSJAMES GANG FISHING COMPANY CEO ALEX JAMES PATIENTLY WAITS FOR A BITE ON THE BANK OF THE CHIPPEWA RIVER AT NIGHT IN LATE JUNE CEO, LURE DESIGNER, & COMPANY FOUNDER ALEX JAMES headed out to the Chippewa River in search of delicious catfish at night last week. Unfortunately, the catfish were not biting at our spot. Fortunately, a 13" Freshwater Drum (aka Sheepshead) decided to eat our nightcrawler within the first 5 minutes of bank fishing. We proudly took our Sheepshead home to fry up with some crappies left over in the freezer Saturday. We used our Ultimate Panfish Recipe that is available on this website. In complete honesty, that drum was better than ANY crappie or walleye I have EVER eaten in my life. We fried the drum with the crappies, and the drum was much tastier. It made a fantastic breakfast before attending Mopar Man's wedding to his wonderful new wife Rebecca. CONGRATS TO JAMES GANG FISHING PRO STAFFER JAZ DUNCAN FOR FINISHING 7th AT THE FLW TOURNAMENT ON LAKE WINNIECONNIE JUNE 25th!! JAZ MISSED THE WIN OVER 149 CO-ANGLERS BY JUST 2 POUNDS!!PRO STAFF MEMBER JAZ DUNCAN (FLW BFL) POSES WITH JAMES GANG CEO ALEX JAMES IN A MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING EVENT IN 2017
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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. Archives
April 2024
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