Things I Learned- The Hard Way

December 15th-

I've managed to get out a few times in the past few weeks, but most of my normal spots are frozen over. I've gotten some great tips from local anglers on places to continue catching fish throughout the winter. I plan on continuing to fish the entire year.

But in the mean time, I'll be posting some random thoughts to help buy some time before the spawn starts!

Here's things I learned this year in the manner in which I normally learn them: the hard way

-Treat a treble hook like a loaded gun
-Put the dip in BEFORE you handle the worms
-If you think you won’t cast into the tree, you’re definitely casting into the tree
-Consequentially, tree bass are impossible to land
-Have Poppa Rob’s permission slip signed by a notary if you get up before 5AM to fish with him
-It’s hard to close sales deals when you out-fish your customer
-“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Apparently Einstein never fished.
-Avoid touching Pike with your bare hands
-Never stand downwind of either of the Schiffer boys
-Just cause you caught one in that spot yesterday does not mean you’ll catch one there today
-If you buy a fishing license you’ll never need it. Fish once without it and the Game Warden WILL show up and take your gear
-Fishing poles don’t float for some reason
-Contrary to popular belief, fishing is NOT cheaper than golf
-There’s a good chance the 3 year old with the Scooby-Doo pole is going to out-fish you
-Grandpa wasn’t being completely honest when he used to tell us that talking would scare away the fish
-Let someone else check to see if the ice is indeed 4 inches thick

Best Day of the Year

November 14th-

Who'd a thunk it? This late in November and the weather continues to be phenomenal. I never imagined that the best day of the season would be on the same day as OSU's last home game. After catching a big cat last night I was pumped to catch more fish. Otter just moved into a house with the Darby practically right in his back yard. We had yet to fish it, so we went with live bait to scout it out. As we were hiking in you could see 2 huge lakes about a quarter mile away in the middle of the woods on the other side of the river. After an hour on the river with no luck we decided to cross and check out the lakes. We took off our kicks and waded through the freezing cold water to the other side. A short hike further we found the 2 quarry ponds and decided to fish the bigger of the 2.

It was slow at first but the sun was shinin so good we didn't mind. Around 1pm the sun was so bright i took my shirt off to catch some rays on my pasty ohio skin. Next cast BANG. Bluegill the size of my hand. Okay, this is a start. A few casts later BANG the smallest bass i've caught all year. A bass was a bass at that point, and Otter said "catch one on the next cast." sho nuff, on the next cast another small bass. A few more bluegill here and there. Everything was 1 to 3 feet from the edge, where the water was warmer than the deep part of the quarry. We decided to give the smaller lake behind us a try.

That's when the fun started. We're slayin fish. Old school night crawler and bobber style. Otter's catchin bluegill and bass on every cast. I had 2 poles out and it was tough to manage both in the water at the same time. I saw my bobber disappear and set the hell out of the hook. After catching small fish all day, you know when you got a good one on. Big ol healthy 3lb bass.

Here's the best part. I broke my hook off on the 3lbers mouth. We went ahead and released him and affectionately named him Captain Hook. I'm going to catch that fish again. He must be my Moby Dick.

This pond was unreal. We worked around to every corner of the lake and just killed em on every cast. At one point, I had one fish on one pole and my bobber on my other pole disappears. i bent down and set it with my left hand while still holding the other pole. For about 2 hours we caught around 10 bass a peice, I caught a white crappie and probably a combined 50 blue gills, most of which were hand size.

It's taken all summer to find the secret fishing hole, and I never dreamed it would be in November. Old school worm and bobber fishing. Getting Sunburned. By far the most fun i've had fishing all year.

Friday the 13th Indeed

November 13th-

The indian summer continues to roll on in Ohio with temps getting up in the mid 60's today. I met Poppa Rob after work to try to get my November bass. I'm trying to catch a bass every month of the year, which is no easy feat here in Ohio. I went out to old faithful in Hilliard and tried a new spinnerbait but didn't have any luck. A customer of mine who's an excellent angler has been having luck on spoons lately. I have never tried one but i have a couple in my tackle box so i gave it a whirl. I think i'm hooked (no pun intended). You get some crazy action on these things. I caught a few bluegill on it and had some nice strikes but didn't land a bass. Poppa Rob and I decided to throw some live bait on and take it easy since the sun was sinking quickly.

I stabbed a night crawler onto 4 different poles and casted out. I wasn't even paying attention when Ryan noticed one of my bobbers disappear. I set the hook and had something big on the end. I thought YESSSSS here's my november bass! I got the tank landed and couldn't believe my eyes. Big ol Cat!

here kitty kitty...

That's only my second cat of the year. I rarely fish with live bait anymore since i'm targeting bass. This is by far the biggest cat i've caught in the past 2 years which isn't saying a whole lot. Poppa Rob is an avid Catfisherman (amature) and needless to say, he was not happy to take this picture. My smile says it all.

What a wacky Friday the 13th indeed!

A Gift From Above

Oct 30th-

TALKIN BOUT A HEAT WAAAAVE! Friday Oct 30th was an interesting day to say the least. I was out sick the day before with a sore throat and fever. I woke up Friday morning feeling like hell. I took a nap from about 10-3 and woke up at 3 with the sun BEATING down and about 72 degrees. I went outside for the first time for the day and just couldn't sit inside with the weather like this. I decided that sitting in front of the TV was the same as sitting in a chair watching a bobber. I got a bunch of live bait and went out to see what was biting.

About an hour later I was bored catching bluegill and needed to meet the yak shortly to go Halloween costume shopping. (fun times indeed...) It was actually windy-er than a sack full of farts (thanks Grandpa) and I decided to roll a black spinner bait on the side of the pond that the wind was blowing to. I figured the wind would blow the baitfish to that end and the Bass might be down there feeding.

On what was to be my last cast, something came up and creamed the spinner. I had the hook set but he spit it out before i could land him. That's happened so many times to me with spinnerbaits this year. i need to get a better hookset or something. I decided to run it through the same area one more time and sure enough he came back for it. WHAM!!!!!! This time i wasn't about to lose him, so i kept setting the hook as i reeled like all hell to get the whopper landed. I could not believe my eyes when i got the donkey on shore.

I couldn't be happier for a late October bass. I never thought I had a chance at something this big until April when the water warms up and the fish are in Pre-Spawn. It's amazing how quickly an illness leaves your body when you catch a 4lb bass!! Cross October of the catch list!

Blame it on Football!!

Sept 2009-

Football or fishing...football or fishing. I found myself repeating this quandry every weekend. Football and beer are hard to beat, and needless to say my fishing suffered. I got out a few times but didn't catch anything I deemed "blogworthy." After a great run in August, I pretty much shut it down for the fall. A decision I'm sure to regret come January.

My goal now is to catch a bass every month of the year. I've got March through October down, but that's the easy part. This outta get interesting.

How did this happen?

August 15th-

Fishing at the honeyhole in Hilliard has been pretty slow the last 2 times out. i seriously think i caught all the big bass in there and they've told their buddies "when you see the yellow senko swim like hell!"

Took Shawn out there to roll some bass saturday morning and we worked it for about an hour without any luck. We decided to run to Walmart and get some live bait and have a bluegill catchin derby. in 45 minutes we caught over 70 fish. we were literally throwing the bait in and pulling a bluegill out. Result:

Shawn 36
Tim 34

Shawn's technique was questionable and being reviewed by the B.A.S.S federation. I'm certain he wasn't taking the fish off the hook and throwing it back out. However, it's bluegill so there's not much to be proud of. at least we were out there catchin fish. it was actually more fun than hunting bass for an hour. BEST 2 OUT OF 3 PROTHRO!

Coldwater Fishin'

August 8th-

FINALLY made it up to the Schiffer's "Straight up and Scatter" lake house on Coldwater Lake in Michigan. Had an amazing time with the family and got in some quality fishing. The weather pattern had been a little screwed up and the fishing was a bit slow. Nate, Brian and I took out Uncle George's boat to roll some crankbaits, which only further made me itch for my own boat. I had a brand new shallow crankbait i just bought that day and on the second cast i tossed it into the back of someones pontoon boat and had to cut the line off. in my defense, it was windy as hell.

Nate quickly hooked up with a nice Pike! Check this slimey bastard out

It was a little slow back in the channels, so we found this sweet drop off out on the main part of the lake. we trolled up and down casting out crankbaits. Nate hooked into this sweet largemouth

nice lip heat

After an hour or so i hadn't caught anything and said "super put me on a @$&^% fish!" next cast i caught a pike. it was a small guy, and the damn thing was so slimy i had trouble holding on to him. the picture turned out like crap, but it was my first pike i've ever landed. thanks super. Did i mention at this point brian was skunked and nate had a monster smalley throw the hook?

Anyway, we went back to the crib and caught bluegill for some cutbait catfishin later that night.

that snoopy pole is the biggest pole nate's ever handled

Even Super Junior Jacob caught a gang of fish. guess that wifebeater tanline is how they roll in delaware county

Went back out later that night with George and Brian and B finally caught a pike, but Uncle George and I got skunked. Had an awesome time and i can't wait to get back up there and roll some bass and pike

August 6th- day of days

August 6th-

What a day to catch only catch 2 fish, and they ended up being 2 of the biggest fish of the year. I was at the spot in Hilliard on a solo mission with about an hour and a half to kill. I was slow rollin the yellow senko had all these little annoying nips from bluegill. Then i felt something smash it! I set the hook and this thing took off. it leaped out of the water like a black marlin and tried to shake the hook! i could tell it was a smalley when he jumped! he fought like all hell, even as i was trying to grab his lip. can you believe that??? 3lb smallmouth out of an apartment pond!?

biggest smalley of the year!

A few casts later i felt a bass lighting inhale the bait and i let him swim off with it. I've been getting alot more patient with my hook sets, so i thought, "wait, wait wait" and BOOOOM! almost came out of my sandals i set it so hard. it felt like a cinder block was on the end of the line. i got that tank landed and was yelling like an idiot. easily top 5 fish of the year.

warmin up for coldwater lake!

"Chasin" Bass

August 5th-

Mike was able to get us permission to fish the ponds outside of Chase's headquarters off of Polaris. These ponds rarely get fished and Mike has had alot of success out there lately. It was a bit slow at first and then the bite turned WHITE HOT. i caught 2 tiny guys on back to back casts, and then caught a really nice sized Bass in the 2-3lb range. moments later in the same spot Mike hooked into a tank. One of the better fish in weeks.

We took Mitch out with us and it was his first fishing trip in years. After a quick crash course on rigging Senko's and some basics, Mitch looked like a natural. Right after Mike caught the tank, Mitch got hot. He caught a few small fellas and then yelled down the bank, "I gotta good one on!"

I was thoroughly impressed by Mitch's Skillz for a rookie!!!

Senko Bass!!!

Gettin Out-fished by a Girl!!

August 2nd-

I somehow convinced Heff to come fishing with me on a lovely Sunday afternoon. I spent a good part of the morning putting worms on hooks. Heff "undid" most of the fish herself by the end of the day. She had a really nice big bass on at one point but it threw the hook at the bank. Her purple Zebco reel was tearin em up. The result:

Heff: 19 Bluegill 1 monster rock bass
Tim: 16 Bluegill 0 bass
yes, i lost to a girl.

here's the monster White Bass Heff caught. Thing was about 14 inches and had bright red eyes. I thought it was a smalley at first but it was so white. Checker out:


















Awesome way to spend the first day out with the Wife. and she beats me. I'm never taking her again.

rollinbass on 7-11!!

July 11

Got up at 5:30am saturday morning and went to the pond off 670 in grandview. poppa rob was supposed to meet me but slept in as expected. the lake is disgusting. there's a ton of trash and the water was so dirty my line was black after the first cast.

I decided to go to the honey hole and i'm glad i did, except i had to shit really bad once i got out there.you can tell by the look on my face in the pics that i was in pain. the fish started slamming though, and i didn't want to leave and miss the early bite.

poppa rob finally showed up and i quickly caught this nice 3 1/2 lber

Slammed this one on a black soft plastic lizard. i love these things, you get so much action from the tail, arms and legs.

At this point i had to go so bad i couldn't stand it. decided to make one more cast and man i'm glad i did. i casted the black lizard in the corner of the lake where i've caught several big ones and i felt the fish inhale the lure and start swimming with it. i set the hook and it felt like i had caught a cinder block. check out this tanker!!! she's all of 4lbs, pushing 5lbs

i packed up my gear and headed to the gym to deliver the baby. had a great workout, met the fam for dinner and then got crunk and watched the UFC fights. what a hell of a day

Poppa Rob's Senko Bass!!

7-11

Poppa Rob finally got up and met me at the honey hole saturday morning. Fish started slammin about 8am. Ryan caught this nice beauty, it was his first Senko bass.

It's about freakin time

July 9th-

It's been waaaay too long since i've wet a line. stupid life keeps getting in the way. Went out after work with Mike to Osprey Lake and I got skunked. Mike caught 1 smaller bass, but at least he got somethin. All I got was wet from falling in the damn lake. Luckily, the only thing hurt was my pride.

We decided to move to the honey hole where our chances were better. I was on the phone with Poppa Rob reeling in my senko and felt a slam. I set the hook and thought i was caught on some weeds. I kept yelling "please be a fish! please be a fish!"

nice ol 3lber

Heatin up a bit

June 14th-

What better way to nurse a hangover than to stand in the sun and catch fish. Caught 3 bass over 14 inches at the honey hole on the yellow powerworm senko. They seem to be loving that color.

Finally!!!

June 13th-

I went to the pond in Hillidard to kill some time on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. As i was walking to the pond I normally fish, a guy came out of his apartment and said that he catches big fish all the time in the big pond, but he puts all of them into a small pond that sits between buildings. I didn't think there was anything but blugills in there, but I decided to give it a shot. Within 20 minutes I had caught 7 Bass. They were all somewhat small, but at least the fish were biting. Since the bite was on at this spot, I decided to go back to the big pond and see if they were hitting there too. I wasn't getting many bites and was about to head back to the small pond. I noticed a school of small fish that must have just hatched and was hoping that there might be some bass hanging around for a snack.

I had a normal Senko worm texas rigged and slow rolled it through the baitfish. Sometimes when you hook into a fish you think it's a big one and it ends up not being as big as you thought. Other times, you know right away you have a whopper on. this was one of those times.


















Easily the second biggest fish of the year. It's been weeks since i've gotten one over 3lbs. this one measured over 18 inches and had to have been pushing 4lbs. I figured i shouldn't press my luck and called it a day.

Sloooow

June 3rd-

This week was jam packed with work. I spent 4 of the last 7 days in the sun at Muirfield watching a classic Tiger win. I did manage to get out one evening after work for about an hour. The pond was stained from the rain Wednesday and the fishing was still slow. I was about to take off and decided to give this black spinner bait a shot. Mike has been killing them on the black spinner and i got a cheap-o one at walmart for a buck. With the amount Mike has been breaking them off, he may want to switch to the dollar version.

I tossed in right beside a no fishing sign and a decent sized largemouth smashed the spinner. pathedically enough, it's the biggest fish i've caught in the last 2 weeks

That's about the only "blogworthy" fish lately. hopefully the spawn is wrapped up and it's time to roll some bass.

Cat Time?

May 31st-

The bass fishing has been really slow the past 2 weeks. What few fish we are catching are all in the 6 to 12 inch range. It's been a strange spring...

The cats seem to be biting since the weather is warming up. Mike was fishing the pond at Sports Ohio in Dublin which is known for decent bass and big fat bluegill. Mike was fishing a spinnerbait off the drainage pipe and hooked into this monster cat:

I was shocked he caught a cat at all at this pond, let alone on a freakin spinnerbait

Ryan hooked into this beauty at a paylake in Middletown

i still think he paid Dre 5 bucks to let him act like he caught the fish.

I caught an idiot

May 26th-

For people like me, life is full of moments you'd like to forget. And this story isn't getting any easier to tell. If you're a fan of my misfortunes, and it seems there are many, keep reading...you'll enjoy this one.
After work last night I went to fish with Kughn at the AEP ponds outside of the business mecca of the free world, better known as Zanesville, Oh. These old strip mines are legendary for big fish, mainly due to the remote location and difficult access. I've been waiting eagerly to get some of the action. On the drive to the pond we saw a wild turkey run across the road. Shortly after that a Red Tailed Hawk flew down and almost picked up Kughn's Jeep. Saw a Cyote on the side of the highway. We were pretty much off the grid.

We had to hike in a decent distance hauling the gear necassary for the bellyboats. Bellyboating is basically an innertube that you sit in with waders that allows you to access areas that you normally couldn't fish. It was my first time using a bellyboat and it took me a while to get used to the gear.

The day didn't start off too well. After wrestling with the gear for some time i noticed that one of my fishing poles fell into the water and was gone. Luckily it was my older beater pole so i wasn't too upset. Some clouds started rolling in and lighting was starting to strike. I'm stuck out in the middle of this lake still uncertain how the hell to navigate in this boat. As I was making my way across the lake to the shelter Kughn found, I looked like what Kughn described as a Shipwreck flapping helplessly in the water. what a freakin ameture.
Finally the rain stopped and I was starting to get used to all the gear. I caught a few nice bass on spinnerbaits and wacky rigged Senko's. We got to the back part of the lake and Kughn caught 2 fish back to back on a topwater bait. I decided to follow suit and tie on a Heddon Tiny Torpedo.



Heddon Lil Torpedo
<-Treble hooks AKA: oh shit that hurts

I got one of the treble hooks snagged in a mesh part of the bellyboat as I was tying it on. I was trying to pull it out and somehow managed to put the other set of treble hooks RIGHT THROUGH MY DAMN FINGER. it was DEEP. and nasty. it was right across the top of the middle knuckle on my left hand. It went across the finger from one side to the other and was buried. barb and all. Kughn paddled over and the first thing out of his mouth was "please tell me you have a camera to take a picture of this for the blog." How compassionate. Unfortunately, I did not. Kughn and I sat there for what seemed like an hour debating on whether we should go to the hospital, or how to get the damn thing out. Generally you push the hook until the barb pops out the other side and you cut the barb off and then pull it back out the entrance wound. It was waaaay too deep for that. Hospital was out of the question at that point. Obviously no cell coverage. We were about a half mile down the lake and a good hike out. If I let the hook stay in and try to get back to the car, there was a better chance that the other set of hooks would get lodged too. Quite the pickle. I moved the hook around and it felt like it was only in the skin and no tendons or bone was involved. I looked at Kughn and said aight, im going to pull the damn thing out. I gritted my teeth and gave it the biggest yank i possibly could. As the hook came out, some white tissue was stuck to the barb. It ripped as i yanked it out. Blood started squirting and it immediately swelled up to the size of a grape. Kughn was dry heaving beside me and couldn't believe i just pulled it out. This is coming from a guy who guts Deer in the woods and ties them to his bumper and drives to church that way. I paddled back as best as i could being careful not to get the wound in the dirty water. To make matters worse, there was a Beaver in the lake that kept messing with me. He kept slapping his tail on the water and then would dive down. It was the first time in my life i was trying to avoid the beaver.

By the time I made it back to Columbus it was 11pm, about 4 hours after I hooked myself. I decided to wait until the morning to go to the doctor.
Doctor said there was no tendon damage, the white stuff i pulled out was tissue thats under the skin. The nurse came in to give me a tetnus shot and asked if i was ready to get the shot...uhhh i just pulled a hook out of my finger, i think i'll be okay.

I only caught 4 bass and Kughn caught 17. to make things worse, i didn't even get any good pain pills. What a shitty day.

Smallies on the Darby

May 23rd-

Fishing is all about networking, and today was a prime example. Todd gave me some coordinates for a spot on Big Darby Creek where there's good Smallmouth fishing. I met up with a client of mine who is relatively new to the area and looking for good Bass spots. Networking in full effect.

The Darby is said to be one of the best spots in Ohio for Smallmouth, and I've been waiting all spring to fish it. The weather has been unseasonably warm and we haven't had much rain so wading through the river sounded like a great way to spend Memorial weekend. We threw on some old sneakers, plugged the coordinates into the GPS and set out to find Smallies.
Pretty quickly Mike hooked up with a Rock Bass on a Buzzbait. The day was off to a good start.
We waded through knee deep water casting around some awesome cover. Todd really put us on some fantastic spots. Aside from the terrific cover there were large pools and pretty good weed beds, but the fish had other things in mind. In particular, the dirty. It's prime spawining time.

We came up on some unique cover with stumps and downed trees. I threw a flashy yellow powerworm Senko in a small pool by a downed stump and KAPOWWWW!!! a nice smallmouth came up and wacked the hell out of the Senko. It was more of a reactionary strike than anything, but i was actually shocked when he hit it and barely managed to set the hook. The water was crystal clear and i didn't even see him come up on it.






I look like I'm fishing in the special olympics.







We left the Darby and moved down to Osprey Lake which at one point in time was a quarry and then a paylake. It's now open for fishing. I took Otter and Poppa Rob there once and didn't have any luck, so I wasn't very optimistic we'd find fish. Boy was I wrong.
Mike and I immediately spotted a big Largemouth right up by the shoreline. It looked like a good 3lber and we were excited until we saw a Bass twice it's size swim past; Then it got serious. This looked like the spot...Boy, was I wrong again. There were 3, 4, 5lbers all down the shoreline and we threw over 20 different types of baits at them. Buzzbaits, spinners, numerous colored senkos, live nightcrawlers, rooster tails, Heddon torpedos, topwaters. even tried a jig and pig right onto the beds. The Bass would either swim right up to it and just go the other way, or they just didn't care whatsoever. I'd definately never seen anything like it. We threw every single bait we had with us. They had one thing on their mind. BOWCHICKABOWWOW
Does it get more frustrating than that? Seeing giant Bass and not being able to catch them.

On a positive note, we found some great spots to hit in a week or 2 when the spawn stops. And the Copperhead snake we saw didn't see us. But most importantly, we weren't at work.
Mike hooked up me up with a Swivel, which lets you easily change baits without retying your knots. How the hell did I not know about these things??? He also had a hell of a nice set up for carrying baits that I need to get hipped to. Can't wait to hit these same spots with Mike after the spawn. So all in all i guess it was a successful outing. But next time we'll be expecting more "blogworthy" fish.

Fat Chicks on Golf Carts

May 16th-

Luckily, the weatherman sucks because they were calling for rain again all day Saturday and it ended up being a perfect day to fish. 70 degrees, overcast and just a little windy.

After a disappointing outing last week, we were bound to not waste our time. Nate went to O'Shaugnessy to check the Crappie bite, and Brian and I went to a lake by an apartment complex near his house. (for the record, Nate got skunked)

We were fishing senko's and there was alot of action in the clear water. B hooked up with a nice bass on his 2nd or 3rd cast. A few casts later he hooked up with this beauty.

2 decent bass in 20 minutes and it was heating up. I switched senko colors because they obviously liked what B was throwin. We decided to go around the opposite side of the lake and hit some drainage pipes. All of the sudden we hear this shrill from behind us, "YOU MUST NOT LIVE HERE." I turn around and there's 2 fat chicks sitting on the golf cart lookin pissed. Normally, when you see girls on golf carts it's a good thing. They're bringing you more beer and snacks. When you're fishing in a private pond and they're fat chicks from the rental office, it's not so awesome. The conversation went something like this..."Oh, i'm sorry, we didn't see a no fishing sign so we thought it was alright." "thats right. there isn't. it's in the rental agreement papers which state that fishing is a $100 fine." She went on in the same condescending fashion for some time and i basically stopped paying attention and started packing my gear. Brian was fixing his line when they rolled up and i could tell he wanted to make another cast. Guess that wasnt the battle to choose since B's ridin dirty without his fishing L's.

We called Papa Rob who was on his way out to meet us. We went over to a pond by Island Club that we fished last year. I caught quite a few small Largemouths off the bank line on the same color senko we were using earlier. I was jigging the hell out of this thing and they'd pop it right as i let it sit. Ryan caught his first ever Bass on the senko, but I wasn't sure if the bass was bigger than the senko itself. It was good to see a big ol smile on his face knowing the senko works for him.

I hooked into a nice one but it got away. It was so big I'm going to take this hook with me:

Ryan knew a place for Crappies, so since we already caught a good amount of bass we figured we'd check it out. We roll over to this park and get set up ready to slay em, and the Park Rangers walked up. Luckily, my birthday present from my Mom was my fishing license. Brian and papa rob on the other hand: ridin' dirty. The rangers were really friendly and let us know the lake was for kids 16 and under and the fishing sucked. Ryan, you're fired. We decided to call it a day, and luckily we did because it rained about 20 minutes after we got home. Not a bad day.

Catchin Minnows on Minnows

May 12th-

I got a "hot tip" from a dude in a kayak when I was fishing last weekend with Ryan. He paddled up and told me there was a spot on O'Shaugnessy Resivoir where guys were catching 100+ Crappies a day. He gave me instructions on where to park and said to walk north a little ways and I'd find the spot. I was pretty pumped about the prospects...I dont really care much for Crappie but if they're biting like that count me in. What the kayaker didn't tell me is that there is 17 miles of shoreline on O'Shaughnessy. It's pretty much an 8 mile stretch of the Scioto River that runs down Riverside Drive that they have dammed off. It's one of the top 10 Largemouth spots in ohio.

I headed out to scout out the location and Nate and Brian were following when they got off work. Evidently they don't have "salesman hours." There were spots off Riverside Drive that you could pull off and park and fish. I hit a few of them and caught a couple Largemouth and a nice crappie. Nate and Brian met up and we headed up north to the Kayakers spot. I casted in and caught a nice crappie on the first cast on a minnow. Seemed like a good sign.

then nothin.

Jason came out to test his luck and we moved spots closer to the boat launch. There was a group of 8 or 9 Mexicans in the first spot I caught the fish at. Why did they have ladders on top of their minivan Nate? Anyway, these Mexicans were slayin Crappie. Brian saw a stringer full of big ones.

It was getting late in the day. 3 hours of fishing and the sun was going down. Nate and Brian caught a few small bass and crappies at the very end, but other than that it was pathedic.

Embarassing, Super.

I've come to the conclusion that I need a boat. That's a whole nother blog post itself...

Morning Bites

May 9th-

For some reason Ryan and I decided to get up at 4:50AM Saturday morning and hit the morning bite at Alum Creek. I had never fished at Alum before, but there are alot of different species and it's one of the better spots in central Ohio. On the way to the lake Ryan and I were talking about how we hadn't had that 1 epic catch of the spring. Today might just be our day.
We tried quite a few different spots but caught only some Crappie, Sunnies and a small Catfish. Nothing worth posting a picture of. It was pretty frustrating, especially being up that early in the morning. There's about a 10 fish minimum for each guy when you're out of bed that early on a Saturday morning. What a pitiful attempt.

Fishing With Ryan

This is a picture of poppa rob when he was a young angler

Makin Believers 1 Senko at a Time

May 2nd-

It was tournament status Saturday afternoon. Ryan "Poppa Rob" Robinson was blowin my phone up at 10:15 to wet a line. 4 hours later, he finally showed up with his entourage. Not helping any stereotypes there buddy. His cousin Dre and 2 of his friends came along for an afternoon of fishing for Smallmouth on the Darby. We were going to meet Otter too, so we were rollin 6 deep. I was pretty pumped about this trip. My cousin Todd gave me some coordinates on the Darby were he's caught Smallmouth. We drove out to meet Otter and noticed the water on the Darby was MOVIN. Why the hell didn't I think of this? We got rained out yestereday with tornado force storms and my dumbass wanted to go fishin on a creek. Since we were out in country we stopped to hit Osprey Lake which used to be a quarry and at one time was a paylake. What a waste of time. Nothin but tiny bluegill. The mexican beside us did catch a big snapping turtle. mmmm turtle tacos...

Poppa Rob ready to DO WORK SON

We decided to move camp to a pond at an apt complex off Bethel. It was a pretty good spot and we started catching big bluegill right away. After nothing more than a few Gills I decided to ditch the live bait and target some Bass. I switched to a swimming senko and set off around the far side of the pond. The pressure was on because I've been talkin so much game to Ryan that the senko HAD to pay off. The bluegills were biting the senko like crazy but they're too small to catch on the rig. I knew eventually a Bass would hit it. I felt a tug and set the bejesus out of the hook. It was the biggest Bass of the day! I caught 2 more the same size and had another one get away.

I left my camera over with the gear so I didn't get pictures. Brian and Dre ended up catching 8 bass on live bait.

Brian showin how they do it in FLA

Brian and Dre play football for Ohio State. Its always a blast to fish with those guys because they both can fish well and it always fun to talk football. After those 3 nice bass Ryan was sold on the senko. I set him up with a Senko starter kit...hooks, all different kinds of senkos and showed him the different rigs.

Hopefully soon he'll be able to catch at least one fish. That's alot of gear to haul around and not catch anything. Next time Poppa Rob, bring more 6 packs...

I want to be a weatherman

May 1st 2009-

Weathermen have the greatest jobs. "eh, i'd say about 40% chance of rain." it may or may not rain. I'm qualified to figure that out on my own. Needless to say, their accuracy rates aren't on say, a doctors level. Would you want an architech getting things right about half the time?

Jason and I came extremely close to becoming the weatherman's next victim. Friday evening Jay and I went to the lake off Grandview and 670. It rained all morning but cleared up and the forecast called for clouds and a possible pop up shower. Clouds were moving in and out quickly but we didn't get hit. That was going to change quickly.
As soon as we came out of the clearing in the path you could see at least a dozen monster carp right up by the bank. We tried for a second to catch one on a worm, but there wasn't time to waste. We were there for the bass. We got a couple bites on live bait but there wasn't a fish to be had.
This lake is disgusting. There is trash EVERYWHERE. It sits right off the overpass and the first time i was there a bottle came flying down that had been thrown from a passing car. I think it's too nasty to hold bass. There were carp everywhere and they were active. Musta been spawning. I threw out some live bait and it slowly took off. I set the hook and it felt like a rock, but i knew it was carp right away. I got it up to the bank and yelled down to Jay to come with the pliers. The fish threw the hook and swam off. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Get that nasty bastard off my line. Welp, we're here and there's carp. We might as well try to catch em.

As I was getting ready to bait the hook again Jay looked up and said "I dont' like the look of those clouds comin." It was a wall of black. We were at least a half mile from the car and it was coming. The temp was dropping and it looked ominous. We packed our stuff up and high tailed it out of there. As soon as we got back to the car it started POURING.

After fishing we were in the mood to eat some fish.We came back to the house to grill some Salmon and the rain was hammering down. Then the tornado siren started going off and Franklin County was under a Tornado Warning! The only thing to do at that point was to go to the basement, drink daquiris and play darts. Guess it ended up alright.

40% chance of rain huh? Guess he was right afterall.

Don't get much better than this in Ohio

4-18-09-
Otter and Marcus arranged a tour of some of madison counties finest hidden fishin holes. The weather was unbelievable for Columbus. 74 degrees, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. We were thinking after 3 days of rain and 2 days of sun the fish would be active. We drive way out into the country and pull up on the side of the road to park. Directly across the street is an impromptu country biker bar with about 20 big bikers sitting on their bikes. I'm like uhh otter you sure we should park here? Marcus was good friends with the bikers tattooist, so we were good to go. A little unnerving that's for sure.

We walked under a bridge on Deer Creek and posted up in a spot that Otter had caught a big smallmouth the weekend before. Quickly I hooked up with a Rock Bass. I've never caught rock bass before but they were fun to catch and eatin up the live bait. Otter and I caught quite a few in the first hour.

otter with a rock bass

The weather was so awesome that we all tied up some live bait, put our poles on sticks and kicked back. All of the sudden my line took off. I jumped up and set the hook and it was a tank. After catching small rock bass all day i thought I had a monster smallmouth or a catfish. I got it up to the surface and it was a big ugly ass Carp. I was kinda let down, but it was a big fish and he put up a good fight. measured 19 inches. the nasty hooks otter had ripped that poor bastard up.

them's good eatin!

Deer Creek treated us pretty well. I was bummed to not get Smallmouth, but the fish were biting and I caught a good sized fish I had never caught before. We packed up and went to a private pond that Marcus's aunt owns. The fishing was slow, but we caught a few more largemouths on senko's and some blue gill.
All in all, we caught a gang of fish and the weather was perfect. It don't get much better than that. For the record, I caught the first fish, the most fish and the biggest fish. come get some marcus and otter

Not so much as a bite

4-16-09-

Hit a new pond off 670 and grandview ave that I've been wanting to fish for a long time. It had been raining and chilly for 3 days and today the sun was finally shining. You have to hike back about a half mile to get to the spot. There was great cover all over this lake for fish to be hiding. I worked the entire shoreline in a 2 hour span and didn't have a single bite. Don't know what I could have done differently, i tried every bit of gear i had. Guess you'll have that occasionally.

Schiffers first bass of 2009!

April 12th-

Spent Easter with Schiffer fishing the pond at Sports Ohio in Dublin. We fished there quite a few times last year back when Ryan's baby momma used to actually let him out of the house to fish. Caught some absolutely monster bluegill and some pretty nice bass. (Where da fish? Right under the willooooow treeeeee)

It was pretty sunny, but it was still in the low 50's with about a 20 mph wind. Too windy to throw a senko, but gave it a shot nonetheless. Schiffer was fishin a spinner bait all day and it finally paid off. His first bass off the season! it kinda startled me because we hadn't had a bite all day. Great way to start the season B!

Don't think you'll see Brian kissing a fish anytime soon...

April showers bring big bass?

April 14th-

Kughn had a burr up his ass today and was bound determined to wet a line, regardless of the fact that it was raining. Since I watched the movie "Yes Man" last night I figured what the hell. Let's roll some bass son.

By the time we got to the pond in Hilliard it had stopped raining and the sun was kinda shining. After a few casts the rain started coming down pretty hard. Kughn has all the mountain man gear and stayed comfortable and dry. Nice Galoshes dude. The thing i noticed quickly about Kughn is how many more casts he was able to make than i was...and how accurate he is with his casts. I guess if the baits not in the water you're not going to catch fish. Kughndog also made some *ahem "minor" adjustments to my gear.

I wasn't too happy to be out in the rain since the fish weren't biting. We moved to the other lake and I noticed there was a Crane stalking some prey next to a drainage pipe. We posted up over there and the rain started in even harder. Kughn was fishing a spinner bait and I was fishing "ol faithful," the Bill Cook specials.

I was standing on the concrete above the drainage pipe and was reeling in. I about had my bait out of the water when I saw the fish come up and SMASH the senko. Setting the hook about pulled him out of the water. nice bass!! I grabbed the line to lift him up and the line broke. The shore sloped steeply toward the water line and the bass was making a break for it! I practically dove on this fish snatched him firmly in my grip. YEEAAAAHHH BOY!!! It was the only fish of the day after 45 minutes of standing in the rain. Stupid April showers.

Gettin Skunked with Super

April 4th- Skunked with Super

Baneberry 2009. Arguably the best of the 5th annual Baneberry Classic which we hold in White Pine, Tennessee every Spring. 4 days of golfin, boozin, eatin and general tomfoolery. Since we spend so much time looking for our ball by and in the water, we decided it made sense to take a few fishing poles with us this year for some late night bass action.

My cousin Nate, who we affectionately refer to as "Super" (short for supervisor) and I fished all 4 lakes on the front 9 while we enjoyed some Captain and cokes. The only thing we caught was a buzz.

Of course it's to be blamed on the cold front that was coming through. It certainly wasn't from lack of skill, or lack of drinkin...

First catch of the year!

March 22nd, 2009-

Hello Spring!!! Went out this morning to see if i could catch that first bass of the season. It's been a loooong painful winter, and the weather is just starting to break. I went to a pond behind some apartments I used to live at in Hilliard. We caught alot of nice fish there last season, but I'm bound and determined to step up my game in 09. And that first bass is oh, so crutial to get the season open. I only had an hour or so to fish before I had to go to washington courthouse with the yak. (I call the wife the yak for some reason)
After trying unsuccessfully with crankbaits and swimbaits i switched to a dark colored swimming senko. I was just thinking in my mind "man it's been so long since I've caught a fish I almost forget what it feels like to have a fish on."

Just then, I felt my line take off. heyyyyy i know that feelin!! then you yank that rod and start the tug of war. The fish was a pretty small largemouth. That didn't matter. It was the first fish of the season. I took a picture of me makin out with it. I'd like to give a shout out to Bill for hookin me up with the custom color swimming senko from San Diego California!!

After the exhilerating birthday party for our 3 year old Nephew, i came back in the afternoon and continued fishing the senko. I switched spots to a pond closer to the apartments I'd ever fished before. On the second cast I caught a good sized largemouth and was grinnin ear to ear. the bite was on.

A few casts later I thought my hook was caught on a rock and jerked it sharply to get it freed. The sucker took off and it was a monster. my drag was screaming. i got the big boy close and swung him up and out of the water onto the bank. it was a tank!!! YAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! i couldnt believe the girth on this thing. im goin apeshit at this point...people were looking out their windows at my dumbass yelling over this fish. The girl was obviously pregnant as hell and I didn't want to stress her out much. So I just grabbed a quick picture with my cell phone. It's by far the biggest bass I've ever caught, and an unbelievable way to start the fishing season.

You don't feel bad tellin your buddies you hooked up with a cow over the weekend when she looks like this!!

Tryin to step up my game

My technique last year was pretty basic: Pole, hook, bobber, weight and a dozen nightcrawlers.


We caught a decent amount of fish with the live bait, but nothing really over 3lbs. Caught way more bluegill than bass. While it's fun to catch bluegills, it's the bass you're really after. My mentality last year was "as long as i'm catching something i'm fine with that." Bluegill served its purpose. The mindframe changed late last year on one memorable trips with Schiffer to Waldrens house in Marysville. Brian and I used Senko's for the first time and caught a gang of bass all day long. Too bad it was late fall and one of the last fishing trips of 08. It left a taste in my mouth as powerful as a 3 aut hook.


I've gotten great guidance from 2 coworkers whom I consider master anglers. Bill Cook from Bakersfield California was in my seller onboarding class this winter. Bill runs professional bass tournements in California and is an accomplished angler. During our second week of training, Bill brought me a case full of all kinds of lures and senko's. I was like a little kid at Christmas looking at all this gear. This was exactly what i needed to kickstart my game.

Another coworker Jim "atomic trouser trout" Kughn is a "fish hunter." This guy sits out in a bellyboat fighting off turtles to catch monster bass. If you see a sasquatch fishing in an innertube and wearing a Mcain/Palin hat, it's gotta be Jim Kughn. Jim's one of the most knowledgable guys I've ever met when it comes to bass fishing. He's eager to share anything he knows about fishing. In fact, he's been calling me "grasshopper" lately. Can't wait to get out with "Troutman."

Welcome to my blog!!

After a long, torturous winter, the 2009 fishing season is underway. The DVR needs a break from the copious amounts of fishing shows I DVR'd over the winter trying like hell to get some tips for catching monster bass. And of course, as soon as I get out to the pond I can't remember a damn one of them. "Hmm what did they say I should do in cold water, windy conditions, weed cover and stained water?"

I've had some great times so far, so I figured I'd start a blog and share some of the ups and downs that inevitably come with hunting fish. I've been meeting some very interesting charactors which I'm excited to share with you as well.

As a coworker and fellow fisherman told me recently, any idiot with a snoopy pole and a worm can catch a fish. It takes a hell of alot more to become an Angler. This is my journey into the world of fishing. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for tuning in!