Rich's Bassin' Blog

Bassin' Hiatus

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:14:00 PDT

Believe it or not, my wife has convinced me to go on a trip that will keep me away from the Minnesota Bass Opener

Bottom line, won't be much for bass fishing updates while I am in Ireland for next couple weeks. You might find a few updates from my phone or tablet on the Facebook Page, but no hardcore blogging. To not leave you hanging, I am going to leave my preliminary roster for Bassmater Fantasy Fishing on Toledo Bend.

Also, you still have two weeks to enter for a chance to win a $50 gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse, get the details here.

Also, here is a picture of some goodies from Evolve Baits. I will be fishing some of these Kompak Craws, Vibra Grubs & Darkstar Swimbaits, but in June you as a reader will have a chance to win some as well.

NABC Lake Winnebago Recap

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:14:20 PDT

Fishing the North American Bass Circuit with good buddy Josh Douglas came with much excitement and mutual high expectations for results. We were able to put some practice time in on the lake the previous weekend and the Friday before the tournament.

We found some things we really liked in our practice, but the main issue was how obvious these spots were and we had high certainty of plenty of company come tournament day. The primary pattern we found fish in was shallow largemouth that trying to spawn or just barely on the front or backside of their annual ritual. Our practice was pretty consistent, finding a few good fish here and there until late on Friday afternoon before tournament registration. We found a small little boat canal all by itself that was stuffed with bass. Josh and I both agreed it was one of the craziest things either of us had seen. This small shallow canal, was just loaded with bass, big bass, bluegills, slab crappies, gar, in fact it looked better then most Bass Pro or Cabela's aquariums.

After a long debate, we both agreed to roll the dice and put are eggs in the basket where we saw the huge load of fish. We drew boat #23 out of 42, we came around the corner and thought we were first boat into this small area. Although, there was a fishing boat catching bluegils just inside the front entrance, it also seemed water had gotten a little dirtier in this area. We kindly asked to pass them and we got in position to start fishing slowly into this area. As we started making our firsts casts we saw a tournament boat towards the back, obviously they ran past the front entrance and started in the back. Fairly quickly, both Josh & I got a short and then Josh put a nice 2.7lb largemouth in the box on a Havoc Pit Boss. Starting to feel good, another local bass boat emerged from way back fishing towards us.

Long story short, we tried to make this area work and blind fish it slowly, but dirty water, boat traffic and home owners fishing from their docks got the best of us; three hours into the tournament we still had just the one keeper. We bailed from the area and went to fish similar structure that was also sure to be community stuff. I quickly put a small keeper in the boat on a wacky rig (sign that things are not going well, when I am throwing a wacky rig). We were about to get to a back area to try to catch some bedders only to find another boat leaving from there. We continued to work these areas and tried to catch two bedders of our own, only to still have two fish with about 2 hours to go.

When things were looking super grim, I caught two decent keepers on a baby brush hog on an inside weedline. We tried to work that area and another area like it for that fifth fish, but were stuck on four with about 90 minutes left. We decided to live or die in our starting area, hoping some of the afternoon sun pulled more fish back into the canal that was so loaded just 24 hours earlier. We did manage one small male sight fishing to fill our limit and setup on a couple females that just would not commit before we had to weigh-in.

Still have to wear the Happy Face on a tough tournament day!

We weighed out disappointing limit for 11.88lbs, which out us in 32nd place. Not the what we had envisioned for this tournament, but felt pretty good about avoiding a near disaster and preserving some decent points toward the championship. On the long way home we mulled over our decisions and strategy, and formulated some plans for the Madison Chain. We both agreed, you learn the most from events that you struggle in.

Don't forget to enter the May contest for a free $50 gift card to Sportsman's Warehouse.

Bass Fishing in Virginia - Some Cool Stuff!

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:06:49 PDT

Cruising the web looking at bass fishing as I often do, this web page on Virginia's Department of Game and Inland Fisheries caught my eye. They actually have taken the time to rank their best largemouth bass fisheries by region in their state. What a great tool for both residents and tourists of Virginia.

I wish Minnesota and some of my neighboring states would put lists like this together for largemouth and smallmouth bass. Although somewhat interesting, Kerr Reservoir was #81 on Bassmasters' Top 100 lakes in the country, but was only ranked 10th in the South Region by it's own state's fisheries teams. Smith Mountain Lake was is #63, at least that is second in the South Region. The Potomac River is #31 on Bassmaster list, unranked by state, probably because it is largely a border water with Maryland.

Among other cool things that Virginia has is a Virginia boating safety course. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is gradually phasing-in mandatory boater education for all operators of PWCs and motorboats over 10HP. A new block of boaters will be added each year until July 1, 2016 when all boaters shall meet the requirement. This seems like a great program to create boater safety. With all the high speed and high powered vessels on our waterways, it seems like a no-brainer!

Every now and then, it is cool to take a look at what other states are doing for fishing and boating and maybe think what could apply to our local resources.

May Contest brought to you by Sportsman's Warehouse

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:52:02 PDT

We are stepping up the prize level this month. Sportsman's Warehouse is offering up a $50 gift card to one of our loyal Bassin' Blog Readers. YES, you read correct, that is a Free $50 Gift Card, which is like straight cash if you are an outdoors person!!!

How do you win? Pretty simple, but there will be a couple steps. First, if you are not a Bassin' Blog subscriber, enter your email in the upper left corner to become one. Then go to Sportsman's Warehouse website and check out their goods, come back to this blog post and post a comment with a link to the product you would use the $50 gift card towards. (Take a look at some of the great products they carry from Optimum Baits)

Earn bonus entries by going to my Facebook page and adding comments with product links to an existing contest post and if you can tag Sportsmen's Warehouse Page in the comment, extra entry as well. This is a great prize and we want lots of people to get a chance to enter, so you can enter comments until June 1st!

Good luck, should be a fun contest to see what hot products are on everyone's short list! Remember this gift card is good online or in a store, so you do not need to live near a store to enter.

Win a chance to fish Big Bass Derby from Kruger Farms

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:31:09 PDT

Here is a cool contest from KrugerFarms.com where you can enter to win an expenses paid for two trip to fish in a tournament on Lake Minnewaska and be teamed with a professional angler. Click the picture below register and get all the info! The event is being hosted by Paige Duke and will take place June 23rd on Lake Minnewaska in Starbuck, MN.

A fun weekend of good fishing, good food and Miller High Life! You can enter daily until May 14th, 2012.

Check out this video for all the details!

MHL from Krugerfarms.com on Vimeo.

Mississippi River Pool 2 Warm Up Tournament

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:26:08 PDT

The title of this blog posts makes me chuckle a bit, because I fished this tournament as a fun tune-up for some other up coming events, but nothing about the day because of weather was warm what so ever. It was 44 degrees, raining and a stiff east wind when the tournament started and it only got colder that day.

Even with the brutal conditions, it seemed there was a decent morning bite in the backwaters where we started. I had a limit by shortly after 8am casting a Big Bite Baits tube to shallow wood, rocks & weeds. I caught some small fish and some 16-17" class fish early in the day on this pattern. I stuck with it the rest of the day mixing in occasional reaction baits. I did catch a few bass on a 1/2oz Ayu Biovex Stangun spinnerbait, one fish on a D-Bomb and a couple on a jig, but I think all the fish weighed came on a tube.

Not much for pictures, because it was a paper/measure tournament. I did take one quick pic of my 18-5/8" Largie!

My best 5 fish:
18-5/8"
17"
16.5"
16.5"
16.5"

That converted to 15.44lbs which was good enough for 4th place. I fished pretty clean, just never made adjustments to get the bigger bites needed! It was great just to get to put some of my newer Dobyns Rods to the test, they never disappoint! This weekend of to Lake Winnebago chain for some practice for an upcoming NABC tournament.

Watch for a contest announcement tomorrow!

Aquateko Contest Winners & Douglas Fantasy Fishing Picks

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:57:14 PDT

Thank you to all entries! And your winners are......
Knot2Kinky Leader Material - Chris Van Eyde - we expect to hear how it holds up against Musky & Pike!

And the 3 winners of Invisa-Swivel Sample Packs:
Brandon Olson, Mark, Samuel Groves & Jesse Heinecke - can't wait to hear your thoughts on how they work!

Winners will be contacted shortly. If you missed out, I will start a new contest in the next couple days for a much bigger prize. So make sure you subscribe to this blog via email or RSS and/or tune into my Facebook Page.

Below are my Lake Douglas picks, might tweek this, an Elite Series pro sent me a message and said to pick some flippers, not sure to go with this info or not.....

Who knows, I am feeling less committed to this roster the more I think about it!

Bull Shoals Fantasy Picks and much more...

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:57:22 PDT

Recorded the Fantasy Fishing Insider podcast earlier this morning, hopefully it edits and drops in time for all of you to listen in, but if not, here are my picks.

Last Saturday was so beautiful, had to get out on Pool 2 if only for a few hours. Tried some new water, for the most part unproductive, caught a few fish though.

I am also excited for the Minnesota Bass Expo this weekend, looks like it is going to be a really cool show, check out the list of vendors. I will be there from 4-8pm on Friday, probably find me walking around or hanging near the TBF or Kruger Farms booth. FYI - Kruger Farms had some killer deals at the Northwest Sportshow, do yourself a favor and stop by their Bass Expo booth, they might surprise you, plus they should have some Dobyns Rods on display if you have not checked them out yet.

Don't forget about the Aquateko contest, you still got 12 days to enter that contest for free tackle!

Last but not least, I did another quick video showing my system for organizing and storing my soft plastics for bass fishing. Check out the video.

Aquateko Tackle Contest

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:28:11 PDT

In the near feature I will do a review on a couple products from Aquateko, but in the mean time, no reason some of my readers should not get a chance to field test them as well. Aquateko has two unique products, the Fluoro-clear InvisaSwivel and Knot2Kinky Leader wire material.

The plan is to keep the contest fairly simple, so here is what you have to do for a nice sample variety pack (7 sample packs) of InvisaSwivels or some Knot2Kinky 25lb leader wire.

All you have to do, is head out to the Aquateko website, check out the products and then leave a comment on this blog post about what application you best see for your fishing for any of the products. The best three comments about the InvisaSwivel and best Knot2Kinky comments will win a sample pack, so yes a total of 4 winners for this contest. You can leave a comment between now and April 30th.

To double your chances, head to my Facebook Page, "Like It" and repeat your comment under the one of the Aquateko contest announcements.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, there are several more contests coming to win free stuff, so make sure you subscribe to this blog via email or RSS and/or tune into my Facebook Page.

On the move

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:10:43 PDT

Been traveling and busy doing many fishing related activities, but have not been on the water in a few weeks. First off all, thanks for all that visited me at the Kruger Farms booth during the early part of Northwest Sportshow. If you are not familiar with Kruger Farms, they are making a big push into fishing, they are one of the newest Dobyns dealers, plus they have tons of other great hunting & fishing gear.

Been lots of activity in the background on the blog, look from some contests and chance to win free fishing stuff reel soon (probably next week), so if you are not a subscriber, you might want enter your email on left side of page next to orange button that says Subscribe.

I have also been doing tips videos in my boat out of the garage, check out the following video tip for managing Alabama Rigs. I think you will find it to be quite the time saver if you are gonna throw these multi-armed contraptions. Basically how to make any Alabama Rig Better!

As you probably know, I have been phasing in more Dobyns Rod, but after Loomis rejecting a completely valid rod warranty, I have decided to ramp things up and sell off all my remaining Loomis rods. If you are interested, hit up my Bass Fishing eBay Store. I will likely be adding some more tackle and possibly some reels as well. I got some crazy good deals at the Sportshow, need to make room.

Minnesota Bass Fishing in March

Rich "HellaBass" Lindgren — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:59:57 PDT

What a wonderful lack of winter and early spring we have had. Could not have been more welcome considering I had to stare at the BassCat that I bought in November all winter long. This past Sunday I got out to the Mississippi River for some bass fishing. Super happy that in less then an hour from my home in Lakeville, I can be on Mississippi River for some completely legal bass fishing even in March.

Fellow Gopher Bassmaster member Chong joined me out on the water. We started on a couple points leading into known spawing coves as the water was 55 degrees when we launched. The second point gave up a 3lb plus smallmouth to Chong and 2lb largie to me on a black tube. We then made a run back to some backwaters, as the main reason Chong came with was to learn a little about how to navigate the river.

The water was 58-59 degrees in this area, I caught two quick largemouth on shad colored Shad Rap along a rip rap bank, the next spot gave up a couple more small largies on a Sexy Shad Megabass ITO Vision 110 jerkbait. As we idled to next area, I saw some shad balled up on the edge of the grass. I shut it down, Chong instantly bowed up and landed a 5-6lb walleye on a swim jig. From there I did some work on that Megasbass jerkbait, I caught about 10 before we left that area, including 2 over 3lbs. I also picked up a couple small fish on a spinnerbait.

Only one I weighed, had to test new scale 3lbs 8oz

Did not take long for Chong to tie on a jerkbait, on his second cast he got a nice chunky 3lbr on a Smithwick Rogue. We covered a bunch more water in this backwater, most of our fish came on jerkbaits, but we did get a couple on jigs & soft plastics.

We decided to make our way back towards the ramp, we finished up in a side cut of the main river. I ended up breaking my jerkbait on some rocks, breaking it right at back hook, causing it to only have 2 hooks. I kept throwing it and just a few casts later I bowed up on a donkey of a smallmouth. Had it up next to the boat and it jumped as I reached it and spit my bait, that 3rd treble would have been handy there. Oh well, still fun, I did catch a 3lb smallie two minutes later on a drop shot with a hand poured wacky finesse worm.

Total I caught 22 or 23, Chong had 7 or 8 with a big walleye & a big drum. We both probably had 16-17lbs for our best 5 bass. Glad I could get out, should not have a problem catching a legal bass in every month of 2012 now!

In summary, although water was creeping towards the 60 degree mark, which is super warm for this type of year, the fish behaved much like the water was in the lower 50's. With water likely hitting 60 plus very soon, I think the actual spawn will lag behind the water temp a bit, because the bass biologically just have not had time to get ready to spawn. I am guessing it takes time for the females to produce those eggs, so keep that in mind fishing this spring.

If you are going to the Northwest Sportshow this week, you should be able to find me hanging out in the Kruger Farms booth, they have come on as a new Dobyns Rods dealer, come by and let me show you some rods that have balance and feel like no other! If not, I will be selling some more Loomis rods in my Bass Fishing eBay Store.

In other news, if you follow my facebook page, I have mentioned we got some good stuff coming soon. Should be several new product reviews and giveaways for my readers, one in particular I am excited about is Evolve Baits, check out some of their offerings.