Seven Eleven Pandemonium

July 11th 2010-
Since the honey hole is getting opened up to the public soon, I put out an all points bulletin to everyone that's been asking for me to take them to the secret spot. I assembled a pretty motley crew of some good friends I haven't seen in a long time. We met at my house at 6AM and headed out in search of MONSTER LargeMouth Bass.

The bite was pretty quick off the bat. Everyone got involved early in the action. Hoss was the first on the board with this nice fish, his first of the 2010 season.

We were getting bites and it seemed promising. We were all catching a few but the bite was slow. I fully expected it to be wild, especially if you're getting up that early in the morning. Ray caught a really nice one in the corner, in fact he said it was the biggest one he'd ever caught. I didn't get a picture because i was waste deep in water trying to find a 7+lber. I had a big ol bass on at one point and broke my damn rod! Just snapped it right in half! Luckily Ray had an extra rod that hooked my reel on. I ended up with 4 smaller ones.

Then it stopped.

Completely shut off. Not even a nibble for about an hour.

Hoss and I started throwing night crawlers and the bluegill weren't even biting. Hoss caught a pretty big snapping turtle that was not too happy to be on the end of his line.

We tried everything. Every type of lure, presentation, color...i fished every level of the water column. Couldn't even get a bite. The most fun and yet the most frustrating part about fishing is trying to put the puzzle together. What's it going to take to get the fish to bite...we just couldn't figure it out.

We decided to walk down to the Darby and fish for Smallmouth. I was pretty pissed off to say the least. I just drug 4 of my buddies out to the honeyhole at 6 in the morning promising to put them on fish and it was closed for business.

I put on a white jig with a white twister tail. We found a slack pool right by some current and started casting. Hoss caught this smallmouth on his first cast

And then it happened.

All hell broke loose

On my second cast I connected with a smalley. Next cast I caught my first ever Sauger!!!

pretty fly for a white guy

My very next cast my bait got CLOBBERED!!! I knew I had a good smalley on...man do those fish fight. Largemouth pretty much roll over and let you muscle them in, but smallmouth fight you to the death. I had to strip off drag, open the bale and let him swim...basically wear the dude down to the point i could land him. and boy did it ever pay off!!!

Personal Best Smallmouth!

2.5lb 18 inches

ON THE VERY NEXT CAST I hooked up AGAIN with another Giant!! We thought it was a smalley, but it ended up being a 19 inch Sauger! Look at this huge Marble eye!!

I love catching fish with teeth!

It was quite a scene. All 5 of us casting into this same small slack pool with the same bait. After my 3rd consecutive fish everyone was scrambling through my tackle box to put on the jig rig. It's a damn good feeling as an angler to establish a pattern and have everyone else you're with trying to duplicate the magic that's happening. It might be the best 5 minute span of my fishing career.

I ended up catching quite a few more smalleys on the Darby. All in all, I had 4 LargeMouths, 7 Smalley's, 2 Sauger's and 1 Rock Bass. I turned a terrible day on the water into one of the most memorable times I've ever had in my short fishing career.

Let's do it again tomorrow!

Redneck Golfing 101

July 10th 2010-


I went fishing with Dad today at Liberty Hills in Bellefontaine. After shooting 40 on the front I stopped at my car and grabbed my pole that was pre-rigged with a Senko. There's an awesome pond off 11 and I wanted to make a couple of casts to see if there's Bass living in there. I hooked one on the first cast that wasn't very big, but he spit it out right at the shore. I made one more cast and saw a biggun swim up and inhale the senko. I reeled down and set it so hard I MADE HIM CROSS EYED!!! Nice 2.5 lber
















My round quickly went to hell. I 3 putted on the par 3 for bogey and carded an 8 on the next par 5. scrambled to shoot 44 on the back. So that aint too bad...84 on 18 and a 2.5 lber on the second cast.

If you carry a fishing pole in your golf bag, you might be a redneck...

Independance Day Giant!

July 5th 2010-

A few of the boys and I braved the 90+ degree heat for an Independance Day excursion to the Honeyhole. Unfortunately, it looks like our worst fears are going to come true...it's getting opened to the public. They've laid gravel lot with parking blocks and they've put up one of those bulletin board things like you see at parks. Our secret honey hole is about to get ravaged by the local yokels. We've gotta take every chance we get to catch the big ones before they're in some white trash guy's freezer.

Boy it's been a looong time since I've been there, the whole place is completely overgrown which made casting from the shore extremely difficult. That's a good and a bad thing...

It's a good thing because I'm pretty much as ghetto as it comes for a white boy. I wore my swim trunks and and basically waded out in the pond about 10 feet from the shore so i could cast to the shore like you're fishing from a boat. The water protected me from the scorching sun and was quite pleasant. With the brush overgrown and the sun blazing sky high, i was certain there had to be bass hanging out in the cool shadows of the brush waiting for an easy meal to swim by.

I kept switching from the green Senko to the ol standby motoroil ribbon tail senko that caught me hundreds of bass last year. I realized I hadn't thrown it yet this year at all, which was a good sign. I've really diversified my baits and presentations this season. I caught 7 small bass but nothing over 2lbs. I saw a few giants swim right by my legs...I knew they were there, I just had to be patient

I was reeling in the motoroil senko and about 10 feet from me it felt like a cinderblock fell on it. After catching several smaller bass you know when you have a hog on. I set the hook so hard I MADE HER CROSS EYED!

I quickly realized I never thought out how I would land a biggin if I actually hooked one. It's hard enough to land one from the shore, let alone in the water with them. So I'm standing in waste deep water with a monster bass that doesn't want anything to do with me. I did what any good redneck would do in that situation...

I grabbed the line and wrapped it around my arm a couple times and dropped my pole into the water. i pretty much dove on top of the fish and bear hugged it until i could lip her. Noodling Bass...that's a new one. Once i secured the death grip on her mouth I went completely bonkers

Giant Kentucky Spotted Bass!

My tackle box is 18 inches, and as you can see the fish is hanging off both sides. I'm sure it's Fish Ohio size, but of course the one time I needed my tape measurer I didn't have it in my bag.

The fish was at least 4lbs, pushing 5 I'm sure. It's definately the biggest Largemouth I've caught this year, and there's bigger one's to be caught at the honeyhole. we just have to find them before the white trash does!

May- A Montage

May 2010

What a crazy month. We closed on a house May 11th and my fishing life took a week vacation right in the middle of spawn. I got out 3 times in 3 weeks, which is absoultely pathedic. I don't want to waste my now precious time posting detailed reports on trips from a few weeks back. I'd rather, you know, fish. Like I did today after work for about an hour

I haven't been to Bridgestone all year, so I thought I'd run over there real quick and try to catch every fish in that tiny pond. I damn near did. Absolutely hammered 5 really good sized bass in an hour. There's a bunch of scum up around the edge and they were hiding out in there to get away from the sun. The senko showed its supremacy today, at one point i ran it through a little pocket in the scum. The water is super clear, and i could see a big ol bass come from under the scum and just demolish the senko. I waited a brief second to make sure he had it and HIT HIM SO HARD I MADE HIM CROSS EYED. i'm tellin you, it was one of the coolest strikes and catches i've ever had

Had another trip with Jason and we caught em one after another. It was in the neighborhood of 40 between the 2 of us in just a few short hours. Here's Jay's first fish of the 2009 season:

that's no reason to smile

One of the most insane things i've ever seen in my fishing career happened with Jay. I caught a pretty good sized Bass that hammered a senko. I released him and Jay was coming through the weedline with a spinner bait. The timing was impeccable...We both watched the fish swim out of my grasp and directly to the spinnerbait and slam it! Jay caught the same fish within 2 seconds of release!

Chuck and I went out for a couple hours on a Tuesday after work to a new spot off 62. I saw this spot on the GPS and actually hiked back to it in Feburary with Nate but it was obviously frozen over. I've been wanting to go all summer to check it out. It was right in the middle of the cottonwood falling, and it was everywhere on the water. It gets tangled up in your reel and on your line and makes the fishing frustrating.

I caught one small Bass on the senko and the bluegills were all over it. They nip at it when you're retrieving and it gets annoying. They damage the plastic worm and you end up going through a ton. At one point the worm was all beat up, and instead of putting a new one on I decided to just wacky rig it and cast it out. As soon as it hit the water I made 2 cranks and BIG OL Bass come up and hit it like a ton of bricks.

Ain't that a pretty fish? Big ol kentucky spotted bass.

I'm hoping I can start getting out once or twice a week now that the house is somewhat under control. It was a loooong, crazy month and hopefully there's still bass that want their picture taken with me

Better Make a Minnow Run!

Senko-Dey-Mayo 2010

With the Ohio Game Fishing Crappie Tournament coming up over the weekend, I figured that I should actually fish for Crappie. I grabbed 2 dozen minnows in my Soccer waterjug and headed to Otters to hit Crappie at the Honeyhole in Orient.

It was slow at first, but Otter found the honeyhole AT the honeyhole. The only word to describe the next hour...FRANTIC. One after another after another after another. We'd cast out, the bobber hit the water and it'd DUNK. HIIIIIIIII-YAAAAAA. set that hook like karate kid! In the first hour we caught roughly 40 fish...Crappie, tiny bass and blue gill.

Dude, we better make a minnow run...

In 1 hour we went through 2 dozen minnows like it was nuthin. 40+ crappie easily. I LOVE the Crappie bite. You cast out, jig it back an inch or 2 and they hit it like a bass...but you barely have to set the hook. It's a simple flick of the wrist. That's why they call em "papermouths." Unlike Bass, where you're conditioned to HIT EM SO HARD YOU MAKE 'EM CROSS EYED!

I made a Minnow Run and picked up another couple dozen. In the meantime, Otter tossed out a Mini-Carp type minnow that was in the bucket and waited for me to return with the goods. He caught a couple good sized Channel Catfish, which were the first cat's we've caught at the honeyhole. A sign of things to come?

Minnow Run!!!!

I came back with some more minnows and we proceeded to slay crappie, gills and Bass. Otter caught a nice 2lb+ Bass on a minnow right by the shoreline as we were about to make our last few casts. I developed a "Crappie Call" which was a sure fire way to draw in the Crappie. Hopefully it'll come in handy for the Ohio Game Fishing Crappie Tourney on Saturday...

All in all, we probably caught close to 80 fish in the 4 hours we were out. If Crappie bite like this all the time, I'd be an exclusive Crappie fisherman. 48 weeks out of the year Crappie are out off the shore suspended in water and hard to catch unless you drift cast or troll the water column. Yet another reason why I need a boat...

Killin Em With Kughna

May 3rd 2010-

There's got to be some law against waiting until May 3rd for my first trip out with Kughn. We hit the honey hole in Orient looking for big numbers of large mouths. The weightless Senko had been on fire for me, so I decided to stick with it. The action was fast and furious. In the first 1.5 hrs I had 12 bass to Kughn's 4 and thought I was running away with the title. When you go fishing with another person who knows what the hell they're doing, it isn't just about going out and catching fish. It's about First Fish, Most Fish and Biggest Fish. You want the Tri-Fecta.

I was lucky enough to catch the first fish, and the weightless Senko was the ticket for the first few hours. I'm Texas Rigging these Strike King watermelon and chartreuse Senko Worms and cast them about 10 feet off the shore and rolling em down the shoreline. You let it sink til it hits the bottom and then jig it up to the surface and let it fall again. They're KILLING it on the fall. It either starts swimming, or you feel the boompbommp and you set the hook so hard you MAKE EM CROSS EYED!











Wife beaters and waders. That's how I roll...






The spawn is days away...I caught a big fat female Bass and she started spewing eggs all over my boots. I really felt bad about it, but what can ya do. It ain't my fault she can't resist the Senko...er wait. strike that. reverse it. thank you.

In an effort to close the deal on the trifecta, I was eager to close out the day and take my victory against a veteran angler like the Kughna.
Alas, the wiley ol veteran (aka old fart) that the Kughna is...was not about to be shut down by the 2009 rookie angler of the year.

The following events are currently under investigation by the B.A.S.S. Federation.

Kughn puts on a white and chartreuse 1/8oz spinner bait, and proceeds to do what we call "slay bass." Keep in mind I'm ahead like 12 bass to 6 bass. Kughn goes unconscious and just nails fish after fish on the spinnerbait. I had lost both of mine earlier in the day and Kughn had a sale on his extras...15 bucks a spinnerbait. Supply and Demand at it's finest my friends.

We took turns leapfrogging each other and worked our way around the entire lake which surprisingly I've never done. The Master had a lesson for his apprentice on this day. Just when i was confident I was finally going to outfish Kughn, he does what an angler does best...catch fish.

Boom, boom, boom. One after another. The spinnerbait was EN FUEGO. Cast after Cast, Kughn was catching fish. (small fish btw). But fish none the less. I was up 8 bass which went to 5, which went to 3, which went to 1 which went to -2. So on and so forth.

By the time the dust settled, Kughn caught 21 Bass and I only manged 16. All in all, you can't be upset by the sheer number of fish we caught, but at the end of the day Kughn mounted a Michael Jordan-esque come back and kicked the crap out of me. Guess I still have a long way to go....

Now That's What I Call Bass Thumb!

April 28th-

What a hell of a day. Had a terrific day at work selling my ass off and I decided to cap it off with a trip out to the honey hole. Mike came along because he hadn't caught a fish yet this year and I wanted to make certain that streak ended today. Boy did it ever.

Within a few casts of the buzzbait Mike dropped it right on top of a bass's head and he immedately blew up on it. First fish of the year and it was on topwater!

I started out with a white spinnerbait and caught 5 within a few minutes. The spinner bait bite died off pretty quickly so we switched to Senko's. I started out with green and they just absolutely went ballistic. I was catchin em left and right. I hooked up with this nice 3lber which is a damn good size for this lake. After catching 10 smaller bass it was nice to hook this giant!

We continued at this pace slaying bass. Mike would get hot and catch them on consecutive casts, then I'd hit 3 or 4 in a row. I set the hook on one fish and thought it was a nice bass and it ended up being this GIANT 10 inch bluegill!! That's fish ohio size! It's the biggest blue gill i've EVER caught in my life. This thing was bigger than both of my hands!

We caught bass on every color and size of senko. I'd cast it out, let it sink and then pop it up and make a few reels. They would grab it and take off and I'd just lay back and cross their eyes I hit them so hard. I even broke a rod landing one of them! That's how hard we hit them...broke a freakin rod on their asses.

I ended up catching 31, yes 31 largemouth and a 10 inch Fish Ohio Bluegill. Needless to say, I've got some CRAZY bass thumb going on!!

"That's the Biggest Bass I've Ever Seen with my own eyes!"

April 3rd-

You'd have thought today was April's fools day, but brotha I ain't kiddin...we MURDERED em today!!! This is without a doubt the most productive and impressive day that I've been a part of in my entire angling career. All 1 year of it. I really don't know where to begin, or even if blogspot handles the amount of pictures I'm about to post. Today was in every sense of the word, Epic.

Eric met me for the super early bite at the honeyhole behind Otter's. If you remember, last time we came to this spot Otter and Eric were catching Fish Ohio sized Crappie and Bass and I couldn't get Nary a Nibble. I wore my "have a crappie day" t-shirt to ward off the evil spirits. The weather report was 77 and windy with a chance of thunderstorms, but when we got to the lakes they were as calm as glass. I was eager to throw a topwater bait which I've yet to do in 2010 in Ohio. There was action all over the surface so I knew they'd be biting.

I'm trying all different kinds of rythmns with the Torpedo topwater trying to figure out what the fish wanted. About 20 casts into the day a monster bass exploded on the lure! I had to have woken up the entire county as loud as I was yelling.

"Top" o' the mornin' to ya

There might not be anything better than a big ol bass blowing up topwater. The commotion on the surface slowed down so I switched to a watermelon Paddle Tail Senko with a 3/16oz slipshot sinker. What a fantastic decision that ended up being, as you'll see below. I was walking around the bank pitching and flipping it into the brush surrounding the shore. I'd let it hit the bottom and pop it a few times, then let it fall. They were CRUSHING it on the fall. Pop, pop, sink BOOOOOM! Slayin em.

Do yourself a favor and pick some up from Bass Pro Shops

After a 20 minute hike back to Otters to move our cars out of his neighbors driveway, Eric and I were back on the pattern. I switched the Senko Strike King fluke style soft plastic in shad. The pattern was still white hot and I caught 3 more in a matter of moments

Suddenly we hear a roar off in the woods. A wall of wind drilled us straight in the face and didn't stop the rest of the day. Of course, we had found a fool proof pattern that was resulting in big bass every few casts, and the wind had come to screw it up. However, fishing in windy conditions can be pretty productive. The wind blows the small bluegill, shad and other baitfish to one side of the lake because they hate the current. And let me tell you this, where there's baitfish, there's big fish.

Eric had caught a few small guys until he hooked into a "blogworthy" fish. He was having a tough day on the water. He missed multiple fish and was getting hung up alot. I'd gladly trade that for what was in store for the lucky bastard

Look closely at the size of this fish to give you perspective on what you're about to see...

The wind was getting pretty out of hand at this point and I was tempted to call it a day. We had been on the water since 7am and we were working the hell out of baits. Otter and I were about to start throwing nightcrawlers in the windy end of the smaller pond. Eric had ventured down to the far shoreline where the wind was coming in determined to get more bass on the watermelon fluke rig.

That's when I heard shreeking screams of words I cannot publish even on the internet, with the word "giant" in between. Otter and I took off sprinting. I could see the monster from 500 yards away. We catch up to Eric right as he's lipping the fish and all 3 of us go absolutely bananas.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the show...

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

6LB 10oz -Fish Ohio Largemouth

This is the condition I found Eric in when I walked up. He was bent over clutching the Behemoth to catch his breath. Look at the belly on that toad!!!

She was so full of eggs it looked like she was about to burst. Just kinda hanging out up in the flats about to spawn, which the only reason he had any shot to catch her. We quickly weighed her, took our pictures and safely released her back into the water. CPR- catch, photo, release. That's why the spring bite is so critical. The LUNKERS that lurk in the deep water 10 months out of the year move up into the shallows to spawn, and it's the only chance you'll have to get your picture taken with them.

We were pretty much acting like the Bengals won the superbowl. 6lb 10 oz Largemouth bass!!!!!! All 3 of us said "That's the biggest bass i've ever seen" at one point or another. My, how Eric's luck had changed. He turned frustration and persistance into the biggest bass that he may ever catch. He wisely decided to call it a day considering it can't get any better. Truly one of the greatest walk off performances I've ever seen.

How do you follow up a 7lb bass? The wind was so feirce at this point you could hardly cast. Otter found a digital camera by the bank and we looked through the pictures on the memory card and the guy caught some nice fish. A few minutes later he comes poppin up out of the woods looking for his camera. He said he caught 15 bass in 1 hour there yesterday. Otter and I threw on some night crawlers and decided to see what happened. BANG BANG BANG BANG. 4 consecutive casts I caught a Bass, 2 hand sized blue gill and a Crappie. THAT'S THE CYCLE BABY!

Even "Lil' Super" got a monster! That fish is bigger than he is!

And to all you losers who stayed in bed this morning instead of participating in history, have a crappie day. All in all, Eric caught a damn near 7lb Fish Ohio Largemouth and I caught 11 Bass, 1 Crappie and 10+ bluegill. I caught fish on 5 different baits and presentations. It actually kinda felt like we were Anglers, and not just guys going fishing on a Saturday afternoon. Congrats to Eric on a career size Fish Ohio Largemouth, and congrats for releasing her to get bigger!

April Fools!!!

April 1st-

What a terrific day! 76 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. You get about 30 days a year like this and I'm so thankful it's happening now. The waters are warming up and the fish are on the move looking to gourge themselves before the spawn. I'm happy to help them eat. Kinda. Until I rip a hook through their mouth!!

I went out with Toby and we've been anxious to fish together all winter. Hell, at one point he and I were standing outside in the snow messing with equipment. Toby has a 10 foot pelican boat and frequents a great spot in Mt. Vernon. Within about 10 minutes I caught a small Largemouth but it was great to get the first one in the boat. Still slow rollin the white spinnerbait! They're tearing it up right now.

About 5 minutes later I felt a fish bump the spinnerbait but i couldn't hook him. He came back and slammed it...I damn near fell out of the boat setting the hook. I knew right away it was a giant, it felt like I had a swimming cinder block on my line. He was fighting so hard that I had to strip drag out. Finally I get him up to the boat and Toby lips him. This is the point where I go psycho apeshit. YEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a fat cow!!!! Easily a top 5 fish

I threw it on the scale and it measured 3lbs 11oz. Damn near 4lb Largemouth at this point in the year! Once she feeds for a couple weeks she's well over 4lbs.

Off to a hot start!!! Moments later I caught another tiny guy. 3 fish in less than 30 minutes, one of which is a tank.

That's when things changed.

The bite disappeared. We weren't getting bumps and we threw everything in our tackle boxes. Nary a Nibble...The joke became "Doesn't this bait look good?" "Yep, if I was a bass I'd eat it."

I felt bad for Toby because it was his first time out in 2 years (how do you own a boat and go an entire season without fishing!?) I wanted him to get his first fish. But all in all, it was a fantastic day on the water and we had a ton of fun. It's heating up right now, I'm really excited for a marathon on Sunday!

Have a Crappie Day!

March 20th-

I've been waiting since November 13th to hit this spot again. Otter and i stumbled across it when we were fishing the Darby and had the best day of the season. The weather turned horrible and we haven't been able to get to it since. The river was finally running low enough to cross and we waded over hoping to find some monster bass. Within the first 5 minutes we were catching fish. I caught a small bluegill and was trying to get him out of the rocks when Eric hooked into an 11 inch Crappie. It's one of the bigger Crappies I had ever seen, and damn near a Fish Ohio size.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Eric hit another one a few casts later and it was even bigger. That was 12.5 inches. Dude was on fire!

He hooked up again! This time he knew he had a good one on...a fat 2.5lb largemouth

Otter moved around the bank to some brush on the far side. He smashed a giant! From where Eric and I were standing we thought it was a big Largemouth. Otter comes around the lake with this thing and it's the biggest Crappie I've ever seen. Look at the freakin size of this monster:

13.5 inches 1.9lbs an absolute beast. Fish Ohio Crappie. Fish Ohio size for a Crappie is 13 inches and as you can see Otter's well past the mark. Heck of a first fish!

At this point these 2 are slamming pigs and I haven't had a bite. I said "Dude i'm not measuring another fish or taking another picture of you @$$#&!$@# catching fish!!"

The madness continued when Eric caught a gorgeous spotted bass. It was a clinic at that point. These 2 can't miss, and I can't get a bite. That's freakin fishin for ya...

They were biting on these berkeley minnows texas rigged. The bite slowed down and we tried a few other spots without any luck. All said and done, I'm not even proud to say i caught the first fish, Eric destroyed the most fish and Otter caught a Fish Ohio Crappie his first trip out. Hell of a way to start 2010!! Now when I text you and tell ya'll we're goin fishin' we're out DOIN WORK.

Oink Oink!

March 19th-

70 degrees and sunny, you can't ask for better weather than this in March. Heck, even Heather wanted to go fishing! We picked up some live bait and an 18 pack of bud light and headed out for a day on the water. Heather caught the first fish of the day, this MONSTER bass! Her first fish of the 2010 season!!

Cute pink pole! Leave it to Heff to make fishing with worms look cute.

The bite was slow so we moved to a new spot in Hilliard that a guy on the Ohio Game Fishing Forum gave me. He said there were alot of hawgs in this pond and i've been anxious to check it out. The sun was shining and there was a little bit of wind. Perfect spinnerbait weather. I was slow rollin a white spinner bait and had 2 fish blow up on it on back to back casts. Neither were much over 2lbs, but good healthy bass none the less.

Nice lip heat

Brian "Rag" Schiffer joined us at this new spot and was also rollin a white spinner bait. A few casts after I caught my second spotted bass Brian hooks up. I yelled down to him, "you gonna need the scale for that one?" He said OH YEAH!! It's a big-un!! When you have a fish on your line, it's always the biggest fish you've ever caught. At least until you land it and realize it's not the giant you hoped for. This time, it truly was. This fishes mouth was so big you coulda fisted it!! Look at this giant!!

You don't mind tellin your buddies you hooked up with a pig when she looks like this. Probably not the only pig B hooked up with this weekend...

I'm normally happy when someone I'm fishing with catches a big ol bass. However, me and nate have been fishing our asses off this year and haven't caught anything over 2lbs. Brian goes out here on his second trip out and slays the biggest fish of the year. The fish weighed in at 2lbs 10oz, but you gotta remember this lake was frozen 2 weeks ago. In a month that's a 4lb fish. The day ended with Heather catching the first fish, Brian catching the biggest fish, and I caught the most fish. I think Heather took home the award of catching the most Buzz...those bud lights were goin down preeetty dang easy! All in all, one of the funnest days i've ever had fishing. THE BITE IS ON PEOPLE!!!

Hammering em in Marysville

March 12th-

There's the sunshine!!! FINALLY the ice is gone and the waters warming up. It's been a looong, painful winter. Just a few weeks ago I was staring at the 3 foot of snow on my back deck thinking I'd never get to fish again. At long last the sun has returned and turned the water soft again!

Nate met me after work out at the honey hole hoping the big bass were awoken from their slumber and hungry for a meal. We could see big brown spots swimming in the water, and they were all gathered up in one end. Nate and I threw about everything we had at them and they weren't interested. We decided to make the 30 minute drive up to Marysville to the farm ponds on our buddy's property. The move proved to be a good one.

I was on the dock hooking up live bait for my 2nd rod. Nate went to a tree that's fallen in the water and hooks up on the 2nd cast. I've been dying to use my new Rapala digital scale I got for Christmas, so we threw the fish on there. 1lb, 4oz. Not exactly what I'd call a cow, and not the weight I wanted to break the scale in with...But a bass is a bass.

Again Nate caught it on a white jig with a mister twister. That's the hote set up righ tnow. He caught another small one before I could get a line in the water. I run over and throw the exact same thing and almost immediately hook up. Cross March off the list! 1st Ohio Bass of 2010. Probably the same 1.4lbs.

We worked around catching a few more fish and tried the other smaller ponds. Nate caught 3 and I had caught 4. Nate left to go feed his face and got his van stuck in the mud. Brian showed up and we spent quality fishing time getting his Mexican painting van out of the mud. Nice work Super. Brian and I went to make a couple more casts before calling it quits. Brian finally hooked up and gets on the board for 2010. He's got some catching up to do....

It's like someone flipped a switch, we were catching fish left and right. That's how you do work in March! It's a real subtle bite right now, you have to fish these jigs really slow and be patient for the bite. I missed 3 or 4 by setting the hook too fast. Had 2 on about to land them and they got off. It's a tough hook set. Brian caught another one right away and I caught 3 on consecutive casts. Unbelievable for March. The last of those 3 was the best of the day. He actually hit the jig hard and about fell on my ass setting the hook. I yelled out "I HIT HIM SO HARD I MADE HIM CROSS EYED!"

Darkness crept in and lightning started flashing close by so we decided to call it a day. Scoreboard: Me 8, Nate 3, Brian 3. Heck of a day for early March! Just for the record, Nate's Bass was 1.4, and Brian weighed in this beast.

Febuary Smalley!!!

February 28th, 2010

That's right. The last day of February was celebrated on the Darby fishing for Smallmouth. After near monthly record snowfalls I wasn't sure if we'd ever get out to fish. The weather report called for highs of 38, which was a heat wave considering it hasn't been over freezing damn near all month. Our fishing licenses expired today, so we figured we'd head out to the only unfrozen water in Franklin county. Super got the pass from the wife, Kughn made the trip over from Zanesville, and thanks to Facebook I hooked up with Eric Dotson whom I haven't seen in close to 15 years. Thanks facebook...

We hit the Darby with high hopes. The water was surprisingly calm, and we figured the Smalley's would be hanging out in slack pools near the current. We tried almost every piece of tackle in our boxes. Noone was having any luck and we were getting cold and frustrated. I tested out the new waders and they worked great. It actually felt warmer in the water than on the bank!

Around 3:30 we were about to call it quits and outta nowhere Nate screams FISH ON!!!! Eric and I dropped our stuff and raced over to Nate who hooked up with a beautiful Smallmouth. Just as he was getting the fish to the bank, Nate said "I don't have him hooked very well" and the fish shook his head and threw the hook out of his mouth. Nate yelled out a few words not to be repeated as he scrambled to pull the fish out of the water bare handed. I'm confident he woulda went in head first after it if he needed to. He grabs the fish barehanded and throws it up onto the bank and we all let out a hellacious roar.

February Smalley for Super!!!!

Nate caught him on an 1/8 oz Jig with a small grub trailer. Boy how a fish will change the mood!!! Eric and I both tied one on started fishing the same technique. I felt my Jig stop and set the hook and was certain I had a fish on!! I reel like all hell getting it to the bank and it was a stick bass!!!! Broke my freakin heart...

We fished for another 45 mins or so without catching another one. At least we didn't get skunked! Kughn caught a fish barehanded, but it was a 2 inch Darter. Does that count?

The juices are flowing! I'm officially not participating in winter anymore. IT'S TIME TO ROLL BASS!!!

Disney Bass! First fish of the 2010 season!

January 19th 2010-

I was at Disney for a 5 day corporate event and Kughn and I were eager to do some fishing. We bought travel rods and packed up enough bait to catch every fish in every condition that Disney had to offer. We had it all planned out: we'd have 3 hours to fish before the event started, we'd fish with his customer the following day and then we'd fish for 5 hours after the customers left. We had no idea what lied ahead of us.

We arrived at the Orlando Airport and instead of waiting around for the free shuttle, we hopped in a cab and split the 50 bucks to high tail it to Disney. I checked in and the Disney employee told me my room was 2243, which was really close to the lobby. Both Kughn and I took off, luggage in tow, to my room so we could get the gear ready and hit the lake ASAP. We get to the room and the keycard didn't work, so we got a housekeeper to open the room. The room was trashed and hadn't been cleaned yet. Perfect. Kughn's room was on the other side of the resort, so we grabbed our luggage and marched the 1/2 mile across the resort pulling about 70lbs behind us. By the time we got to his room we were both dripping in sweat and totally pissed off because we missed 15 minutes of fishing. I called the front desk and they said, "Oh we're sorry we told you the wrong room. You're in 2244, not 2243." At this point I was so heated i couldn't even tie my own knot. But, after a few deep breaths I found some Zen and remembered we were in Florida about to fish, so how bad could it be?

We hustled out to a spot on the lake where a bridge accessed an island. It looked like a prime spot to hold Bass. We make 3 or 4 casts on spinner baits, and a woman pulled up in a boat and told us we couldn't fish between 11AM-5:30PM. Of course we plead our case but she wasn't having it. At this point, I'm seeing red I'm so mad. We got an employee to take us to my room on a golf cart so we wouldn't have to haul our luggage across the resort. Again.

I turned around in the golfcart on the way back to my correct room and Kughn snapped this picture. If you know me, you know it takes ALOT to get me fired up. Sending me to Florida with the mindset of catching Bass and then not letting me fish will certainly do the trick.

The time frame that they don't allow fishing was basically the times that we were going to be able to fish. Kughn's customer was crushed and so were we. I basically wrote it off for the week.

On the last full day of the trip we sat on the beach area of the resort enjoying 74 degrees of cloudless skies soaking up rays and drinking warm Budweiser. I stepped to the edge of the lake to put my feet in and saw several Bass swim away. That's it. I'm in Florida, in January...I'm catching a damn bass. Period. Kughn and I got our gear ready and stood by the lake waiting for 5:30. Numerous coworkers gathered at the beach to see if Kughn and I were ever going to actually catch something. I assure you, they were hoping we were not.

I started out throwing the same Heddon Torpedo topwater bait that I buried in my finger the last time Kughn and fished together. Topwater in January? Seriously? God I love Florida...I saw swirls everywhere, so I knew the fish were active. I just had to find the right cadence on the Torpedo to trigger a strike. About 10 casts later, a Bass EXPLODES out of the water and smashes the Torpedo! I've always struggled with topwater, because the tendency is to set the hook when the fish hits it. You have to wait for them to take it under and then set the hook. I set the hook so hard i nearly fell on my ass!! I landed the fish and let out a scream that had been building up over the last 4 days. Both treble hooks were buried in the Bass's mouth, he wanted that thing badly. But not as badly as I wanted him before Kughn caught one. A woman walking around the lake offered to take a picture for me and i should have checked it, but i was so anxious to get my lure back in the water i just turned around and threw the line back in.

First Bass of the 2010 Season!!!

Kughn was not happy I caught the first fish. He was running crankbaits and spooks on the other side of the lake. I yelled over to him to switch to topwater and pop it fast, not leaving it in the strike zone very long. The Padawan had become the master.

Moments later I hear Kughn shout out and he hooked into a beautiful pig on the Torpedo.

We fished for another hour or so and both landed only one more fish. Our competition that was expected to net amazing catch results over a 5 day period ended in a 2 fish a peice tie. I had the first fish, Kughn had the biggest fish and we both caught 2. It's one tie that I'm more than happy to take.

2010 started off the right way! Rollin Bass on topwater baits in January...Who'd a thunk it. Hopefully that's a precursor for how the entire year will go! Now I just have to figure out a way to make it the next few months until the Pre-Spawn starts...I'm open to suggestions.

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.