A unique opportunity will be available during the week of October 5-8, 2010.  Elite Series and FLW Tour pros Terry Butcher, Jason Christie, Sean Hoernke, and Matt Reed have come together to offer a special week of education and fishing on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.

The class will be open to the first 4 one or two man groups that register.  All 4 groups or individuals will rotate each day with the four tour pros and spend the day fishing on Grand Lake.  Only you or your group will be in the boat with the pro for the day The course is designed for all levels of anglers and tournament anglers looking for one on one instruction to help make them better and more successful anglers.  From beginners to advanced tournament fishermen each day students will learn how to locate and catch fish on a large body of water plus different techniques and tricks used on the Tour’s.  Students will also be able to work on and develop certain fishing techniques that they feel they need to improve to become better anglers per their request.  This course is centered on utilizing years of tournament fishing knowledge and delivering it to the student to make them better anglers.  The 4 day course is $2000 for one or two people. For more information email hoernke@hotmail.com

Had some time to finish molding some prototypes of the new crankbait.  This  is simple RTV Silicone that is used to build a mold for the new crankbait body.  Once the mold is complete then I can pour as many body blanks as I need.  Then I can work with the body blanks to get them how I want them.  The plastic dries very quick once you finish the mold.  You can make several baits in no time. 

Lake Norman was a little different than what we have seen the past few years on the FLW in the Spring.  It was a new challenge there this time with the fish being a lot more spread out and several different patterns working.  There were fish caught in 40-50 feet of water on the bottom with a drop shot and spoon and there was a shallow largemouth bite around brush and rocks around docks with topwater and worms.  I ended up catching almost all of my fish on topwater early then switching to a dropshot and my Porky's Revenge Shakyhead to catch all my fish this trip.  There is one more event to go till the qualification for the TTBC at Lake Conroe.  The good news is the next event will be at Lake Tawakoni near Dallas.  I'm very excited about this tournament because Tawakoni is one of the first lakes I started fishing when I grew up in Dallas.  My old bass club used to have many events there when I was in High School and I have fished many events there over the years.  I haven't been there in about 8 years and I'm excited about going back. 

 

 Starting on a new series of shallow to medium diving crankbaits today for Reaction Strike now that our Shakyhead is finished.  I have spent years carving, molding, and building my own crankbaits for personal use on Tour and I finally have the opportunity to build my own personal bait for production.  I am pretty excited about this project simply because I have been given the freedom to build EXACTLY what I want with nobody changing or tweaking the final product. I figured it would be kind of fun to show everybody as it progresses.  I expect it to take close to a year before the project is finished.  

The picture above is where it all begins.  I already have several good body shapes in baits that I made and have had success on but I have a few ideas I want to try before settling on the final version.  The first series of baits will be plastic.  The clay is for building a mock crankbait that is used in builiding molds for your prototype baits.    Once I get the mold made with the replica plastic baits then I can sand, tweak, and reshape the bait into what I want it to be when I am testing it.  I will do my best to show you how the process works and what we do along the way. I hope you enjoy watching this bait come to life!

Here's a clip with the new shakyheads from ICAST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqfk-NSvJRc

This was one of the tougher events we have been to in a while.  I really felt like Cherokee had good potential but things just didn't set up well when we were there.  I ended up getting the last place check in 37th place and was happy to leave there with good points towards getting back to Lake Conroe and the Texas Toyota Bass Classic. 

 The other great news this year is the PAA's new All-Star Series in 2011.  This will be a no entry fee series that many anglers have been looking forward to and wanting for years.  If this series goes according to plan it will be the most exciting thing to hit professional fishing in many many years.  The goal of the PAA is for there to be a legitimate qualification process Tour with no entry fee.  We all know that there are many talented anglers that are not on Tour simply because of the $30k-$60k a year it takes to get out there.  I was lucky because when I graduated college it only cost me $12k to fish the Bassmaster Tour (now called the Elite's).  There would be no way I would have ever been a professional angler now straight out of college trying to come up with $60k.  NO WAY! Period.  That is why you are seeing guys like Justin Rackley (a previous national collegiate champion) fishing the PAA Series.  Several other good talented college fisheremen have found a home this year on the PAA Tour. The younger TRUE talent anglers know that even if they made it through the Bassmaster Open Series and qualified for the Elites then there would be no way they could even afford to compete with the best in the world.  That is not where our sport needs to be.  A professional sport in my opinion should showcase the best talent in the world not the best money.  The majority of the fans know this and they want to see an event that brings the best talent that our sport has to offer.  I don't question the talent level of the player in the NBA, NFL, and MLB but the number one thing I hear as a professional angler is..."aren't those guys on Tour just rich?"  That makes me cringe every-time because the truth to the question is YES, many are simply loaded with money, but many are not and made it on raw talent but should a "professional sport" even have those level players? 

The PAA All-Star Series will not reach it's full potential overnight but I believe it is the best format and concept that I have seen in Professional fishing since I have been in the business the past decade.  I am a fan of fishing just as much as a participant and I want to see the best talent have a chance at competing at the highest level.  If the PAA makes this series work we will see a new motivation in guys that we all know locally on your favorite lake or area of the state that have great talent but never tried hitting the Tour before because of the dollar factor involved.  The great thing about the PAA is it's a not for profit business and the money goes back to the fishermen rather than private interest.  In all these tough times that people are talking about daily there is a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.....

Guntersville was our final event in the FLW Tour this season.  It was nice to be at one of the best bass fisheries in the country.  I started the event in 19th place with a 20lb 5oz. bag.  Quite a change from our usual low weight FLW events.  I caught everyone of my bass last week on a 1oz. Black/Blue/Purple Jig flipped in the Matted Milfoil.  For me that is about the most fun you can have fishing and what bass fishing is supposed to be.  When I was a kid watching Bassmasters I used to get excited when I would see Tommy Biffle and Denny Brauer jacking them out of the bushes on a flipping stick that is why I wanted to fish.  Little did I know then I would end up spending countless days with a spinning rod in my hand and a little tiny worm dangling from the end of it.  Overall it was a decent tournament ending the year with another check with a total weight a little over 55lbs.  

Spent the evening preparing for the upcoming PAA event at Lake Cherokee.  It's going to be an exciting year on the PAA Series with Live Weigh in coverage at www.fishpaa.com.  The event begins next Thursday July 8,2010 with Live weigh ins beging at 2pm Eastern time.  My main goal for the PAA Series is to finish inside the top 15 for the season and make another trip back to the Texas Toyota Bass Classic at Lake Conroe.  I would really like to win that thing, this year it will be the first TRUE world Championship in bass fishing with the top 15 in the season ending points going to the event from the PAA Series, FLW Tour, and Elite Series.  Should be exciting!

Fishing was a little off this week, it was a little strange with perfect sight fishing conditions but the fish were not up spawning yet.  Some said it was water level but if you look at the water level charts from the last few years it was right on the mark for that time of year.  No telling what it really was but fishermen always have good ideas at least that sometimes make sense. Lol!

I spent my tournament on the far end of Lake Tellico.  I had a good first day starting out in 13th place but that was about all I had to give them.  Day 2 and 3 was a struggle just to scrape up what I could to get a decent finish.  I generally don't like fishing Tellico for that same reason it's just hard to hang in a multi day tournament.  I didn't even go down there until the final half day of practice when I wasn't on much at Loudoun and I was happy to find what I did.  I caught most of my fish on a frog skipping under bushes and any cover that had shade in pockets. The largemouth were moving up to spawn but still not ready.  Overall it was fun catching so many fish on a frog in really clear water you could see them come from a mile away to get it.  Overall it was a fun week of fishing. Heading to Lake Ouachita next!

Had a great week of Coaching sessions last week.  Spent one day over at Lake Fayette County west of Houston.  It was my first time over there and man is that place awesome!  I had a great client Eric Galasso from Maryland come down and we worked on some flipping techniques over there in the cattails.  Then the next day it was over to Lake Conroe to work on some sight fishing techniques.  It was a great several days of fishing and we had a great time!  Getting things ready to go over to Lake Norman for the next FLW event.