West Texas Jerk Bait

Interview: Ex-Pat Fisherman Jim Purtell

2010-04-07T09:48:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine, Scott Miner, told me about an old fisherman who knew the area. Jim was willing to share some advice and suggestions that really helped this eager fisherman progress into a bonified journeyman of the green monster. As it turned out, Jim is a fan of the blog and we howdied. Emailing each other, I learned that this fisherman was the real deal as well as a heck of a nice guy. I thought an interview would be good as this resource can do a lot to help us new to intermediate fishermen.

WTJB: Name and Hometown

JP: Jim Purtell – Born (1946-old codger) & raised in Brownfield. Spent 17+ years in San Angelo, 21 years near Tampa, Fl, back to San Angelo 3 years, then to Sanford, NC past year (wife's home town)

WTJB: Member of any bass clubs?

JP: Just fish for fun now. Was a member of San Angelo Bass Club, Concho Bass Club and GTE Bass Club when I lived there in the 70's-mid 80's.

WTJB: Favorite local lake?

JP: Fished Twin Buttes more than any others mainly because it was close and had water. Back in the 70's-80's I fished OC Fisher (North Concho then) and Spence pretty often.

Loved Amistad back when it was new. Also came back 2-3 times a year after moving to Fl and would fish Ivie & Alan Henry with my Dad on those trips

WTJB: Favorite techniques?

JP:
#1. Soft plastics
#2. More soft plastics
#3. Bandit crank baits

WTJB: 3 favorite lures?

JP:
#1. Green pumpkin tail dipped in chart die soft plastic. Lizards in the spring worms most all the other time.
#2. Chart Blue Back 300 Bandit
#3. Black & Silver Pico Pop on Amistad.

WTJB: Advice for local fishermen?

JP:
#1. Enjoy what you have in San Angelo. Not many places you can leave work, go home get your boat and be unloading in 30 min. Back in the 70's and 80's you could be unloading at any of 3 local lakes. Sort of ruined me when I moved to Tampa area, took 30-60 min to get home depending on traffic, then 30-90 min to get to a decent lake again depending on traffic. Reason I sold my boat soon after moving.
#2. Learn to fish what you can't see. Everyone fishes the “good looking” spots. My son & I caught lots of fish day and especially at night on the humps in the south part of the main body of water on Twin Buttes. They were about 15' deep back then and far from any banks/brush.

NOW is the time to scout and mark spots on the local lakes while they are so low ---- hopefully some day they will be under water again. There is an old railroad dump (my term for it) that runs across Twin Buttes just off Middle Concho channel, you can see the old trestle on Middle in Nasworthy. It was always good when Twin Buttes was full, find it now and mark it.

WTJB: What is your opinion of the condition of the local fishing?

JP: I really enjoyed my last 3 years back in San Angelo. Water is low and I primarily fished Twin Buttes, but caught lots of quality fish---not SAL's but your large fish today is larger than what it was back in the 70's & 80's. I attribute that to the TPWD introduction of Fl strain bass---it has definitely helped the fishery.

Plus with Ivie and Amistad as close as they are, San Angelo is in the middle of some great fishing withing 1-3 hours drive.

WTJB: Favorite TRUE fishing story?

JP: Too many to list. When you get to be 60+ and have fished most of your life with family & friends you accumulate lots of memories that make nice stories.

I remember the days when Amistad was new and Dad & I would catch 100+ 3# fish a day on top water. You would see a bass come completely out of the water and catch a dragon fly in mid air, cast a black & silver Pico Pop at the spot and he would nail it.

Also will never forget couple of years ago in the early spring when I was back in San Angelo, my son who now lives in NJ came down to fish. We made it to Ivie 1 day and in a 10 min span he boated his person best ever of 5-12 and I boated mine of 9-13.

Then there is the day about 3 years ago when I was back in San Angelo I took my Dad who is now 95 and living in Iowa to Alan Henry. He managed one 3+ fish that made a nice picture for our last of many many fishing trips.

WTJB: Catch and release? If not, favorite recipe?

JP: GOOD QUESTION. I keep a few fish to eat since we really enjoy fresh fish. Since I have been in NC been keeping/catching a lot fewer----miss San Angelo fishing.

On this subject though there was an article in Bass Times based on interviews with TPWD biologist that catch & release had gotten to the point it was detrimental to many of the fisheries. Too many fish and they were tending to get stunted. Really advocated keeping more not so much trophy bass but 2#-3# eating size fish.

WTJB: Personal Hero?

JP: Probably have to be my dad. Taught me how to work, taught me how to fish, taught me to enjoy life so I have managed a very enjoyable life to 64 young years. Not quite as industrious as in my younger days or as my father who farmed until he was 85. Today I tell people I fish 3-4 days a week, golf 3-4 days a week BUT I work all my FREE days.

WTJB: In your opinion, who are the 3 best local fishermen?

JP: Today I could not tell you since I didn't fish tournaments or hang out with people really that fished them while I was back there. Back in the 70's & 80's there were some really good fishermen I remember. Back then you had the big boaters (now bass boats) and you had the Lampro Kayak “dabblers”. From that period there was Russ & Barney Baumann, Junior Powell, Jimmy Mahaan that I recall that always could manage to catch fish. I am sure there are others but after 30 years I have forgotten many names.

A person that taught me a lot about San Angelo fishing and did a lot to support the Bass Clubs and fishing in San Angelo was Ken Wilson that had the Wilson Marine boat store on Arden Road. Ken was a little cantankerous at times, but he loved to fish. Taught me how to use a crank bait. Put on tournaments, built ramps when lakes got low, generally supported the clubs, had his monthly Big Bass jackpot. Always knew where to catch the next fish.

Big thanks for Jim taking the time to talk with me, even if it was by email. He is truly a gentleman and a great guy!

If you have any questions and want to bounce ideas off a knowledgeable guy, you can reach him at jl.purtell@gmail.com .

Have a blast with the time of year!!!!!!!!!

SuddenLink Open Bass Tournament

2010-03-07T16:16:00.009-06:00

The SuddenLink Open Bass Tournament was held March 6th at Ivie. Weather was a little windy with highs in the low to mid 60s. The overcast clouds and light chop favored the fishermen. Water was surprisingly warm with some parts of the lake registering 53-55 degrees compared to the 48 from a few weeks past. Well, see for yourself.

Corey Peddy took a moment to talk with us about the turnout for this year's participants.

Not long after I got there, I hooked up with Romero Galvan, the photographer for the SL tournament. He really knows his stuff. we planned to go to the dock to beg someone to take us out for some pics. Lo and behold, Dean's Marina was there with the Skeeter Texas Demo Team to save us the humiliation and took us out to get some pics.

Kenny Rooke (left) drew the short straw, but was gracious to Romero (right) and I. He even tried to help us toss our cookies on the demo ride by showing how well the new Skeeters turn. I have to admit, this is an amazing boat!

Weigh-In loomed so we heading in but not before we got a chance to get some pictures of the fishermen.

Tad Box and Shane Lemoine were working the shore over. Shane was fishing the Junior BassMaster Federation as well as the Suddenlink tourney.

Anticipation grew as the results were being tabulated.

Finally, the wait was over!

The Teen Division was announced first.

Winners were:

Shane Lemoin took 3rd. Andy Ortega squeaked 2nd. Gareth Fulks won the division.

Next, the Adult division was announced.

Bandy Watkins walked away with 10th with stringer if 14.20.

Dale Dixon snagged 9th with a stringer of 15.15.

Richard Seals came in 8th with a weight of 15.40.

Bob Ellison won 7th with 16.26. You may recognize him.

Tanner Wood came in 6th with 2 fish. Weight was 16.95.

James Vance snared 5th with a bag of 18.99.

Joshua Goode got 4th with 21.03. What a day!

Brian Bollinger cranked it to 3rd place with a weight of 22.37.

Randy Porter came in 2nd with a huge stringer of 24.50.

And the Winner was .......
(Drum roll please)

J. R. Howard of Del Rio with a winning weight of 28.19. The 2 9-pounders were great to see!

Bob Ellison had the Big Bass, just shy of being a Share Lunker, at 12.23. What a wonderful fish!

Big shout out to the folks at Sudden Link for their hard work putting this event on for the guys. The proceeds went to Hospice of San Angelo in memory of Tony Gibson. Family and friends were participating and their hard work contributed to the success of the tournament as well as spread the word of what a great man Tony was.

I want to personally thank the participants who took time to talk to me. It is because of them that I am able to do any of this.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog. I hope you enjoyed it!

SuddenLink Open Preview

2010-03-07T12:19:00.003-06:00

Hi Guys!

I'm working on the write-up for the SuddenLink Open that took place yesterday, 3-6-10, on Ivie.

Here are some of the Hogs caught.

J.R. Howard caught 2 9-pounders. Wow!

Bob Ellisor caught this 12.23. Biggest fish I ever laid eyes on!

Tanner Wood caught this 11-pounder on a crank bait. He said he knew he was in trouble immediately. What a fish!

James Vance caught this monster 11.

Like you, I have kept hearing about the big fish on this lake, but MAN! It is a little different to see it in person!

I'll hopefully have the write up soon!

SuddenLink Open

2010-03-04T08:45:00.002-06:00

Hi Fellow Fishing Jerks!

I'm covering the tourney on Ivie March 6th. If you have great stories or just want to say "Hi", just look for the bald yo-yo in the WTJB gray shirt!

Hope I meet you and see you there!

Jay

Lake Falcon Bass Biting

2010-02-23T19:59:00.005-06:00

Pinch me, I am Dreaming... South Texas was Tropical compared to the weather around here. Saturday morning we woke up to 59 degree air temps and expected to be around 80 degrees and no wind for the 2nd Basschamps in the south division. All this turned out to be true but I still thought I was having one of those dreams of a perfect day of fishing.

Ronnie Wallace and I waited with anxious tension for our boat number to be called at take off that morning and were excited to be on one of the hottest Bass lakes in the country . Not knowing how the day would unfold is a big part of why I fish Bass tournaments and with a game plan in mind you cant wait to put it to the test.

Lake Falcon did not dissapoint as Ronnie and I pulled up to our 1st spot in the mouth of Solado Creek, a big creek arm on the Mexico side of the lake. A fat 5 lber crunched a DD-22 crankbait I worked near a dropoff then soon after that we headed to the shallow water for some spinnerbait and flipping action. Working my spiner through some small green willow bushes I saw a 7.5 lber inhale my bait near the boat and lit the water up with a thrashing you could hear all over the lake. After Ronnie netted the fish we noticed a very bloody tail and that told us we had made the right decision to move up and stay shallow.

We moved a few miles up the Rio Grande and started working some small pockets off the main river channel that were loaded with log jams that were remnance of the flood that had filled the lake a few years ago. Ronnie picked up a spinnerbait and fired it across the logjam only to see a bass rollup on the bait but not taking it. Instinct told him to drop the bait quickly after the fish missed it and he let it flutter down only to have the fish inhale it and set the hook. This fished weighed around 7 lbs. and after a quick release into the livewell he tossed his spinnerbug back into the same spot only to quickly set the hook on another 7 lber. After a short fight the fish wedged in a fork of a laydown and got free.

After the shock of losing the fish I flipped my trusted Ragetail SpaceMonkey into the very same spot and lost another fish around 6 lbs.

Now we were not happy about loosing those fish, but we were pumped because we had a workable pattern that we could duplicate in several areas on this same bank. Going into another pocket that looked simular to the last Ronnie flipped up another 7 plus lber on a Brushhog then shortly after that I got the bite we needed. Using the same Green Pumpkin SpaceMonkey, I flipped over several big logs in about 3 ft. of water.I hopped the bait one time and I felt the familiar "thunk"that I know is going to be the big one. After setting the hook the rod bent heavily as I pulled hard with very little give at the end of the line. "Big One"I grunted as Ronnie went for the net and I wrestled the chunky 9 lber over several logs in a worried state and into the boat.

We caught alot of nice fish and had a few missed opertunitys but the 35.70 lbs of fish we weighed that day was one day I will never forget. These kinda of days don't happen all the time and to do it with a no practice and working a gameplan that came together was truly special.

In all the excitment we did not take any pictures and believe me Jay let me hear about it but I do have a couple of pics from the following day when Ronnie and I stopped at Choke Canyon on the way home. A fat 7 lber fell prey to my Gold RattleTrap in about 5 ft of water Then we saw another critter in the cove we were fishing that was truly a better hunter than we were. Ronnie snapped this picture then asked me to get out on the bank next to him to give the picture some scale.... I didn't think so!!! .... See Ya on the Water.

Local Boy on Tournament Trail

2010-02-22T04:47:00.001-06:00

Take a look at who finished top 10 out of 233.

http://www.basschamps.com/basschamps/results.cfm?tournament_id=96&type=team&yearSelected=2010

Early Valentine present on O.H. Ivie

2010-02-16T18:00:00.009-06:00

Feb. 13th on Ivie was a welcome relief from some frustrating days of fishing on Lake Belton the last couple of weeks.
My long time fishing partner, Ronnie Wallace, and I headed for the lake around 8 a.m. with our sites set on big bass and enjoying some decent weekend weather for a change.
Ronnie and and another talented fisherman, Chris Nock (Lubbock), are just coming off a big win on Lake Brownwood in the Media Team West Circuit where they braved the elements to catch over 13 lbs and a big bass of 8.05 adding $2000.00 to there wallets.
We launched at Concho Park and roared across the calm waters to the Leday area of the lake and alternated beween here and the cemetary area. Ronnie picked up 3- 3 lbers on a RED/BLACKBACK DD-22 crankbait in about 12 to 18ft of water near drop and steep ledges. I left my carry-on tackle bag in the pickup so I sifted through Ronnies arsenal and tied on a 3/8th oz. green pumkin jig with Rage craw trailer. I lost a fish in a deep tree then caught a decent fish in about 12ft. deep.
After about an hour, the wind showed its ugly face at about 20 to 25 mph so we decided to head up the Colorado. Once up there, we decided the runoff that had come down had the water too stained to fish so we headed to some mid-lake pockets that had some deeper water in them and that's where we hit pay dirt.
Pitching the same jig as before along a rocky bluff bank in 4 to 10ft of water my bait was inhaled by a fat 8-lber.
Then 10 minutes later, another fish that could have been his twin sucked down the jig and was not happy to see the boat. What a fight and we took another picture and a quick release.
Ronnie quickly joined in on the action with a fat 5-lb plus fish that munched on his jig and we knew the pattern was going to work well.
We started hopping around in these pockets and though we caught one or 2 fish in each one, none would compare to the first pocket we fished.
These fish were hitting the jig as it fell on the 1st drop and every one of then sucked the jig down in the mouth. It was around 2 PM when we really found the pattern. Water temp was 48 degrees and warming along the rocky bank with a wind blowing into them seemed to be the trick.
We had around 15 bass this day with our best 5 around 34 lbs.
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as Ronnie and I enjoyed catching them. Boy, we needed a day like this to get the blood going again!!! Headed to Lake Falcon this weekend for some Hawg catching (Hopefully) for the 2nd Basschamps event in the south division. See Ya on the Water.

Ivie Reservior 2-6

2010-02-07T05:34:00.003-06:00

Hi guys!

I got an invitation from Bob Whitt to go flog the water over at OH Ivie Reservoir Saturday, 2-6-10. You have all heard the stories and seen the pictures of the quality bass coming out of the lake and seeing as I have been out there only a handful of times I lept at the opportunity! I really want to learn more about this lake and possibly catch a biggun!

We launched at Kennedy Park on the east side of the lake. We got there by about 10ish and the parking lot was packed. This attested to the popularity of the lake.

You heard him and why he thought the day would be productive. The water was reading about 43 degrees in the NE areas of the lakes. Wind was pretty light, but so cold that driving the boat was a challenge and the stinging cold air caused our eyes to tear up something awful.

We started up fishing a shoreline with a combination rock and mud. This was a rough start as my casting was uncharacteristically off and I promptly lost 2 crank baits. Bob was casting away when he landed this beauty!

We hadn't been fishing long. Bob was showing me a technique he and a buddy were using the prior Thursday where they were casting spinner baits. Now, conventional fishing was to throw slow baits like worms and jigs in the cold winter. Supposedly, the fish are lethargic and do not want to hit something that struggles too much. I had this notion challenged Jan 1 and it seemed to be continuing. Bob is running those spinners just under the surface through the submerged trees. Last Thursday this was successful and his friend caught an 8-pounder with this technique. The spinner we were using were chartreuse and white with a gold willow leaf and gold turtle shell spinners. It produced a different sensation on the line and was flashing brightly. As he would bring it through the trees, he would stop and let it flutter down right in the middle of the mess. Late in the afternoon, the fish were coming out of their negative mode and started chasing his spinner out of the trees, but wouldn't snag it.

On this day it wasn't producing, but I stuck with it as I was learning something new. Bob was doing the same and he was chased out of the trees by some small bass.

Then it happened.

I watched this little booger come up and hit it. Bob said I announced the catch before I even set the hook. Interesting info on the teeth of a bass as an indicator on what they are hitting. Another knowledgeable guy, JR over at Field and Stream, said the bass will be feeding on crayfish soon for the minerals in the shells. This is when we start to see regurgitated crayfish in the live wells ... if your boat has a live well! Does anyone know if there is a live well for a little plastic boat??? Good info to have. I am also reminded of when Scott Miner showed me how feeling a bass stomach for the tell-tale sign of shells in the belly. This may change your tactics a bit.

We ended a great day of fishing with one catch apiece. We headed back to Kennedy Park and observed a tournament concluding. I walked over and talked with some guys to see what was going on. To my luck, this was what was happening.

What a great bunch! If you want more info on Still Waters out of Abilene, their website is

http://www.stillwatersbassclub.org/

Eric was very kind to take a minute to talk to me.

Funny story, I have fished the plastic yacht for a few years now and dream of the day I migrate to a real boat. I have been begging a few friends to teach me how to drive a boat and Bob has been gracious enough to agree to teach me. We were in a cove and he put me behind the wheel. We were in 12-feet of water and in the channel. After getting started going, we were puttering out and Bob told me to give it some gas. I stared to, but was doing it slowly. Just as I was about to open her up a little, the front of the boat shot up and I felt a HUGE thump on the front. A second later, I felt a thump under me and the back shot up. I about keeled over! Apparently, I found the only tree in the "safe" channel. Neither of us saw it! I had visions of a hole in the hull or even a Titanic-like tear and we would sink immediately. I was freaking out! Thank God that Bob was A LOT calmer than I and he was telling me that this happens. He was great!

There was not damage done to the boat, but I was rattled. I did manage to safely pilot the boat the rest of the day, but MAN! If this is an omen, maybe I just need to stick with the putt-putt.

Big shout out to Bob Whitt for taking me fishing and teaching me a few things! It was a lot of fun and he is a blast to pass the time with!

Thanks for taking a minute to read the article and check out the videos. Please feel free to comment as I and many like me are always looking to learn!

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

PABC Weigh Ticket Tourney Results and Fall Season Results

2010-02-05T08:20:00.004-06:00

The January Weigh Ticket Tourney finished. PABC had 12 people participating this month. The results are:

1. Watkins, Bandy 14 4/16 (Big Bass at 6-pounds even)
2. Cavaness, Roy 10 14/16
3. Miner, Scott 10 6/16
4. Leeper, Jay 10 5/16
5. Whitt, Bob 8 15/16
6. Lucas, Jesse 6 11/16
7. Dorman, Mike 3 8/16
8. Dorman, Bryan 3 2/16
9. Palko, Chip 2 14/16
10. Cavaness, Stephen 0
11. Morris, Jeff 0
12. Gagliano, Scott 0

The PABC Fall season has wrapped up. The top 8 will have an invite to participate in the Tournament of Champions at the conclusion of the Spring Season (Feb-Jun).

1. Cavaness, Roy 53.32
2. Leeper, Jay 51.87
3. Watkins, Bandy 44.72
4. Miner, Scott 44.23
5. Whitt, Bob 35.37
6. Palko, Chip 34.63
7. Lucas, Jesse 33.52
8. Dorman, Bryan 31.48
9. Morris, Jeff 30.77
10. Snyder, David 23.32
11. Dorman, Mike 15.75
12. McAlpin, Thomas 14.92
13. Day, Garrett 9.02
14. Gagliano, Scott 6.81
15. Day, Jim 5.33
15. Carter, Randy 5.31
16. Lucas, Travis 4.81
17. Hall, Jason 4.34
18. Brumley, Justin 3.57
19. Elloitt, Carl 3.06
20. Rutledge, David 3.00
21. Strange, Cameron 1.25
22. Allbright, James 0.00
23. Cavaness, Stephen 0.00
24. Knight, Andy 0.00
25. Moseley, Cody 0.00
26. West, Tom 0.00
27. White, Steve 0.00

Congrats to the participants. This was a break-out season for several of us. The Spring Season promises to be a good one.

If you would like to fish with the PABC in a monthly tourney, the first tourney of the Spring Season will be Feb. 27th 7 AM to 2 PM. We will meet at 6 AM at the Town & Country on Sherwood Way over by the Academy. We would love to have you there!

Fishing Gallery

2010-01-27T08:39:00.001-06:00

I just figured out how to put a fishing gallery up. Take a look. If you have some great pics, send them in!

Twin Buttes 1-17-10

2010-01-24T12:24:00.005-06:00

Twin Buttes continues to be good to me ... and not just me.

Scott Gagliano and I went out on this nice day to out favorite haunt up the Concho. We were not alone and watched Roy Cavaness pull in ths three pounder.

That was a nice fish!

Scott and I pushed up and fished the rocks. I managed to catch a 5.10 on my first cast with the big crank bait.

We had some minor technical difficulties recording, but the fish was a blast to catch. I did also catch this one.

We also saw Chip Palko beating the banks.

It was a great day and I look forward to getting back out.

Amistad was fun but Stingy

2010-01-19T18:39:00.004-06:00

My long time fishing partner Ronnie Wallace and I ventured to the Big Friendly for our 1st tourny of the year on Jan.16th.
Basschamps is the largest team fishing circuit in the country and with a guaranteed 1st place prize of $20,000. clams it makes your mouth water in excitement as does fishing against some of the most talented fisherman in the state of Texas. Ronnie and I took a year off fishing team tournys but are back and we took on the blue gin clear waters of Amistad in hopes of catching a big sack of fish.
The day started with a few clouds in the skys ,48degrees and light northwest winds. We ran up the Rio Grande arm of the lake to an area around Mile Marker 24 that we are very familiar with and have caught goods stringers before. Since we did not get to practice much at all we started with a spot we thaught we could get bit.
Starting witha DD-22 Crankbait we caught a nice 3 lber and thinking things were fxing to get good we chunked and cranked until are arms were sore. Ronnie picked up a Zoom Magnum finness worm Texas rigged and began filling out our stringer. We hit several spots that day but could not catch a good fish to our dissapointment. We caught about 3 limits of keepers but nothing better than 3 lbs. and ended up 66th place out of 201 teams. The Magnum finess worm caught most of our fish in depths of 15 to 30ft depths. near points and ledges that dropped into deep water. Keep this in mind when things get tough and nothing else seems to work. On Amistad this always works for me when I cant get any other baits to work.
See Ya on the Water

PABC Standings

2010-01-10T13:10:00.002-06:00

The PABC December Weigh Ticket tourney concluded 1-5-10 with the following participants recording weight.

1/2. Cavaness, Roy 13.88
1/2. Miner, Scott 13.88 (Big Bass: 8.94. The biggest bass caught in PABC History.)
3. Leeper, Jay 13.75
4. Watkins, Bandy 9.31
5. Palko, Chip 2.31
6. Lucas, Jesse 1.63

This shook up the standings considerably. The current overall standings going into the final month of the Fall Season are:

1. Cavaness, Roy 38.29
2. Leeper, Jay 35.93 (Who'da thunk?)
3. Morris, Jeff 30.77
4. Miner, Scott 29.26
5. Palko, Chip 28.87
6. Dorman, Bryan 25.26
7. Watkins, Bandy 24.47
8. Lucas, Jesse 23.33
9. Snyder, David 23.32
10. Whitt, Bob 23.03
11. McAlpin, Thomas 14.92
12. Day, Garrett 9.02
13. Dorman, Mike 8.75
14. Gagliano, Scott 6.81
15. Day, Jim 5.33
16. Carter, Randy 5.31
17. Lucas, Travis 4.81
18. Hall, Jason 4.34
19. Brumley, Justin 3.57
20.Elloitt, Carl 3.06
21.Rutledge, David 3.00
22.Strange, Cameron 1.25

The next meeting for the PABC is February 1 at the Paul Ann Baptist Fellowship Hall. Food served at 6:30 with the meeting starting at 7. This will conclude the Fall season. The first tourney for the 2010 Spring Tourney will be at Twin Buttes on February 27.

Concho River: January 1, 2010 (I hope this is a good omen on the upcoming year!)

2010-01-02T15:48:00.003-06:00

Wow! Wendell said it already, but .... WOW!

This day had great weather, friendly faces, and some big fish to include a personal best! It's always a great learning experience for me as my partner put me to the test on a quality experience.

Wendell and I took the plastic yacht up the Concho. We were tossing creature baits and he lost a couple of quality fish on the first set of bluffs. On our way up the river, we saw a few friendly faces from the Paul Ann Bass Club: Jesse and Travis Lucas as well as Scott Miner. Scott caught a nice fish.

We headed on up where the above mentioned yo-yos just left and started fishing. We cast at some rocks in the channel for a bit when I saw Wendell tying on a big crank bait. I thought he was nuts. Within a couple of casts he caught 2 fish to include this one.

Please note the Bass' Revenge on the camera.

For reasons which will hopefully become apparent soon, I cannot post all the fish that Wendell caught. Just note that I believe him to be a bass magnet. It seems that whatever he ties on almost calls to the green monsters. He claims that isn't so, but I have to wonder and the camera doesn't lie. If the fish get much bigger, I'll have to quote Brody from Jaws, "You're going to need a bigger boat" as my plastic piddler might start to look like a top-water.

After a bit, I got into the action with this one.

Dig the rubber boots?

This was my second catch of the day. Wanna see my first?

Now, THAT'S the way to start the new year! The funny thing is that this wasn't even the big fish of the day (although it was up there). It was; however, my biggest kick fishing-wise of the new year! Man, I gotta check that scale!

We had an unexpectedly great day. The winter has been good to us and I am appreciative of the relaxation and thrill bass fishing gives me. I know you share similar beliefs.

I want to post this last fish Wendell caught just because of how unusual the circumstances were regarding it. It is good for a few laughs.

Thanks for logging on and checking out the blog. Big shout out to Wendell Ramsey for taking time to take me out and show me a few things. He is an incredible fisherman. I hope to continue to bring you great info on the best west Texas fishing has to offer. I also hope to continue to bring in some great writing and writers from the area. This experience has definitely been worth while.

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and be kind to the guys in the plastic boats!"

*PS: For the record, Jesse Lucas was finally nice to the guys in the plastic boat! ;-P

*PSS: I'm still tinkering with format and some feedback would be appreciated. Do you like the above text-with-video-component format as opposed to the webisode format? Let me know!

2010-01-02T09:25:00.002-06:00

First Trip a great start in 2010
It was Jan. 1,2010 at 11:45 a.m. and after I had just got off work ,headed to Jay,s house, loaded his 9ft.2 man buster boat, we were headed to Twin Buttes. My boat is out of commision for another week or so so when Jay offered taking his little boat I did not hesitate to go wet a hook. Dropping the boat out in the middle concho river we trolled to a couple of rocky spots along the banks. We started with creature baits and soft plastics ,slow and methodical but only one bite for our efforts. Then at about 1 pm I tied on the only Deep Diving Crankbait I had in my little carry on tackle box. A Berkly Frenzy Crankbait in a color that kinda looks blue green??? Anyway a couple of casts later I swung the rod hard and with a slow heavy pull the 1st of several big fish came to the boat.
After my 2nd fish(a 5+lber) it was time to get Jay set up and let him fill the power of one of these brutes. Jay tied on Bomber Fat Free Shad in (Citrus Color) and fired it along the rocky bank. It wasnt long before his rod loaded up heavy and I new it was a giant. Sure enough after a brief fight and a scoop of the net we were high fivin and getting the camera a good work out.
Jay and I never expected to make a video that day. Maybe a few snapshots and do a little story on an afternoon of fishing. But as you will see things changed that day.
I dont want to spoil it to much for you but as soon as Jay gets the video up you will see what an exciting few hours of fishing was all about. We caught 7 or 8 quality fish ,nothing under 2.75
lbs and Jay with a personal best.You cant ask for much better when your catching 5-7 lbers and your best 5 are well over 20lbs......
Maybe it was the full moon, maybe it was light winds with 48degree water temps. Maybe Jay is good luck charm? "NAAAAA that aint it" We will see ya on the water. Wendell

2009-12-22T19:42:00.003-06:00

A New Year With New Goals
First of all Merry Christmas to everyone and hope your stocking is stuffed with Plastic worms and spinnerbaits. .. Ok ,maybe thats my stocking wish list but I hope you get what you wanted and have the best of New years.
I would like to Thank Jay for inviting me to write in the WTJB Blog and hopefuly share in the outdoors activities we all so much enjoy. This upcoming year I will try to keep you posted on tournaments in the West Texas area, Local anglers that are on a winning streak, tips and tricks that are happening as current as possible on certain lakes and stuff that floats between my ears that will hopefully translate in this Blog in keeping you entertained in a manor that will keep you reading ,or get you in a debate with fellow anglers. Some of it will make sense, some will come off the top of my head and not make sense. But that is what it is all about, figuring out the madness of trying to catch a fish that we put on a pedistal. We all chase the Gilled Green Monster for different reasons ,but it pulls us together with a common goal of Knowledge,competition,companionship and memories.
Jay and I will do more videos for your pleasure and in some cases your amusement. We will hopefully get to see new lakes in West Texas and show you different baits along with techniques that will help you catch more fish. Talk to you soon .See you on the water. Wendell

2009-12-22T19:31:00.002-06:00

Hello Everybody ..or anybody. My 1st Blogging expierance and like alot of older guys like me I am taking baby steps. I am sending this now to see what I am doing. Reporting back soon.

Paul Ann Bass Club Standings

2009-12-08T07:58:00.003-06:00

We have 28 guys in the PABC mix with the below registering their weight.

1. Morris, Jeff 30.77
2. Dorman, Bryan 25.26
3. Palko, Chip 24.26
4. Snyder, David 23.32
5. Whitt, Bob 23.03
6. Lucas, Jesse 20.07
7. Cavaness, Roy 18.81
8. Leeper, Jay 15.93
9. McAlpin, Thomas 14.92
10. Watkins, Bandy 10.36
11. Day, Garrett 9.02
12. Dorman, Mike 8.75
13. Gagliano, Scott 6.81
14. Miner, Scott 6.44
15. Day, Jim 5.33
16. Carter, Randy 5.31
17. Lucas, Travis 4.81
18. Hall, Jason 4.34
19. Brumley, Justin 3.57
20. Elloitt, Carl 3.06
21. Rutledge, David 3.00
22. Strange, Cameron 1.25

Roy Cavaness won the Weight Ticket Tourney with a 6.50 pound bass. Nice catch, Roy!

The PABC will be conducting a Weight Ticket tourney for the month of November and December. This means we will be recording the top 3 legal bass we catch for the month as a tourney and adding this to our standings. Our single biggest fish also gets added seperately if we participate in our Big Bass Weight Ticket tourney.

Big shout out to the guys participating in this!

Catch and Release Tips

2009-12-07T08:09:00.004-06:00

I was approached last week by Sawyer Warwick, a senior at Central, who is completing a project for an Environmental Science class he is taking. His project was to, in his area of interest, "make a difference in the environment." Sawyer chose to research Catch and Release Tips and try to get a fishing blog to post them. You can imagine that I was a hard sell! ;-P

Thanks, Sawyer, for the info. Hope it helps our fishing community!

Catch and Release Tips

1. While fishing with artificial lures, consider replacing treble hooks with single hooks. Single hooks are quicker and easier to remove, which causes less tear and damage to the fishes mouth. By pinching the barb on your hooks, fish can still be caught without a chance of losing them and are less harmed during release.
2. Plan your release strategy. Decide whether to keep or release any fish prior to angling or at least before removing the fish from the water. Familiarize yourself with any regulations in effect for the species targeted, and gather any items that will facilitate handling and releasing the fish.
3. When a fish is hooked, use a steady retrieval technique. This can reduce the amount of stress a hooked fish undergoes when pulled up from the depths too quickly, or when physically exhausted from an overly slow retrieve. Stress causes lactic buildup in muscle tissues which removes oxygen from the fishes muscle and often result in death.
4. Once you have decided on releasing the fish, avoid netting or even removing it from the water if possible. Use needle-nosed pliers to pry the hook from the fish while it is still in the water. Fish that can be lifted by the line can easily be removed by a "dehooker" end of the fishing line to the lure or hook – can easily be released over the rail using a "dehooker." If live bait or a lure is deeply embedded in the fish’s gill, cut the leader close to the fish’s mouth and let the fish keep the hook. Studies have shown that fish can get rid of the hook up to 120 days later.
5. When landing the fish, it is important to minimize out-of-water time and any fish contact with surrounding surfaces or objects.
• Avoid using landing nets if possible. If a landing net must be used, one with a neoprene bag rather than natural twine should be used. Neoprene removes less of the fish’s mucous coat.
• Keep hands moistened. This helps prevent removal of the fish’s natural protective mucous layer, and reduces the chance of subsequent infections in the fish’s skin.
• Minimize handling, particularly of the gills and soft underbelly. Gently prevent the fish from battering itself on surrounding hard surfaces.
6. Return the fish to the water headfirst. In most cases, it is best to point the fish’s head straight down and allow the fish to plunge down into the water.

Thanks again to Sawyer!

PABC November Tourney

2009-11-29T15:00:00.002-06:00

Man, its been a while!

The November PABC Tourney was held 11-21-09.

We had a special stipulation allowing for 10 legal crappie to be caught. It had a significant effect on the outcome. It was an interesting tourney!

Many thanks to the participants of the tourney.

December and January will be weigh ticket tourneys which means that the guys catching their top 3 bass will turn in the weight. We figure that if you need to cheat a small church fishing group ...

I'm looking forward to the next tips and hopefully bringing you some new webisodes. Also, I am hoping to introduce you to some local fishermen posting on this blog so keep checking back.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Blog Update!

2009-11-23T15:25:00.001-06:00

Hi folks!

Sorry for the down time. I will be posting a few webisodes here soon and results from the Paul Ann Baptist Bass Club soon. Please check back!

PABC Standings

2009-10-08T09:31:00.003-05:00

The PABC current standings after 10-5-09 are posted below.

1. Whitt, Bob 23.03
2. Morris, Jeff 19.38
3. Lucas, Jesse 17.32
4. Dorman, Bryan 17.26
5. Palko, Chip 15.26
6. Leeper, Jay 13.50
7. Snyder, David 13.13
8. Day, Garrett 9.02
9. Cavaness, Roy 8.78
10. Gagliano, Scott 6.81
11. Miner, Scott 6.44
12. Day, Jim 5.33
13. Carter, Randy 5.31
14. Lucas, Travis 4.81
15. Brumley, Justin 3.57
16. Watkins, Bandy 3.00
17. Dorman, Mike 2.69
18. Strange, Cameron 1.25

The PABC will be sponsoring their next tournament 10-17-09 at Lake Ivie. Start time is 7:30. We will meet at Concho Park. If you are interested in attending, we allow non-club members to fish twice a season (we are currently in the Fall Season).

Our Novembr Tournament will take place on 11-21-09 on Lake Nasworthy tentatively set for 7 AM to 1:30.

Hope to see you there.

PABC Tourney Results 9/26/09

2009-10-04T17:53:00.003-05:00

The PABC held its September tourney at Twin Buttes. It was an interesting tourney with some interesting results!

Leeper, Jay 8.81
Snyder, David 6.88
Dorman, Bryan 6.88
Whitt, Bob 5.31
Day, Jim 4.19
Morris, Jeff 4.00
Gagliano, Scott 4.00
Palko, Chip 3.56
Watkins, Bandy 3.00
Lucas, Jesse 1.88
Brumley, Justin 1.38
Strange, Cameron 1.25
Cavaness, Roy 0.00
Cavaness, Stephen 0.00
Dorman, Mike 0.00
Miner, Scott 0.00
Lucas, Travis 0.00
Day, Garrett 0.00
Carter, Randy 0.00
Moseley, Cody 0.00
Knight, Andy 0.00
White, Steve 0.00
Albright, James 0.00
McAlpin, Thomas 0

The big fish was caught by your's truely and it was 5.50.

If anything, this proves that anyone can get lucky!

Twin Buttes: Month of September

2009-09-25T10:04:00.002-05:00

It's been a rough month. I have been out twice to Twin Buttes and once to OC Fisher. On Labor Day, Jaime Robinson fished an area over by the old boat ramp on Buttes and Jaime caught a bunch of whites, a 2.14 and 3.7. We had so many whites popping around us that it looked like a jacuzzi. They love crank baits, BTW. I manages a couple of dinks and some whites, but it tickled me pink that Jaime caught a couple of nice fish. Scott Gagliano and I decided t ogo out to OC Fisher Sunday the 20th. This was a memorable trip not so much because of the fish we caught (me=0, Scot=1 fingerling channel cat), but because of the battery on my little plastic boat finally dying (**insert Taps here**). With its last dying cell, it got us back to the ramp from the penninsula (no longer 3 islands). We thought we had found some big bass jumping on the sheltered side of the island, but we discovered that it was carp. Big ones, too! I didn't know they jump like that. The PABC had it's September tournament Saturday, the 26th. Wait until you see the yo-yo who won that one. He's a real dufas! Stay tuned for more.

Interview: Tad Box and Shane Lemoine

2009-08-30T21:22:00.000-05:00

I had the great fortune to sit down with Tad Box and his protégé Shane Lemoine. Tad is an old pro at the sport we so love and have in common and very approachable to anyone wanting to learn a few things. Shane is a great up and comer that keen intellect, quick learning, and pleasant personality makes him a blast to watch as he grows up. These two were kind enough to welcome me into their homes and lives to talk fish and I came away with a new perspective on life, learning, and bass!

This is a bit late in coming, but I think well worth it!

WTJB: Hello fishing jerks! This is Jay Leeper conducting an interview on this 11th day of June. I have Tad Box and Shane Lemoine They have both agreed to sit down and talk with me and you guys about the fishing in the area.

Are there any folks you want to say “Hi” to?

TB: What’s up, fishing jerks!

SL: What’s up, fishing jerks!

WTJB: Cool! Name and hometown?

TB: Tad Box. Midland, Texas

SL: Shane Lemoine. Midland, Texas

WTJB: Names of any fishing clubs or any awards from the recent past?

SL: Concho Bass Club and West Texas Junior Bass Masters. I recently got the Angler of the Year for my age group and a few years back I won the Casting Kids Contest here.

WTJB: Do you want to talk a little about your award winning the Junior Bass Masters?

SL: The Angler of the Year?

WTJB: Yes. How did you win that award?

SL: Fishing real hard and using my favorite techniques.

WTJB: Cool! Tad?

TB: On which subject?

WTJB: Choose one! (laughter)

TB: On fishing associations Bass Masters mostly. I use to be associated with a bunch of clubs, but not like I use to. I’m kinda in a transitional phase right now. I’m getting back into a mopre competitive type of fishing.

WTJB: Did I understand that you both were involved with the Permian Bass Club?

TB: At one time I was in the Permian Bass Club, the San Angelo Bass Club, the Concho Bass Club, and the Silver Bullet Bass Club. Years ago, I use to fish on the Bass Masters Circuit. I started with the Centrals and worked my way up to the top 150s which are now the Elite Series.
WTJB: Shane, if I understand correctly, you fish in the same Bass Club as Garath Fulks and some of those guys?

SL: Yes.

WTJB: Any stories you could tell me about those guys?

SL: They catch a lot of big fish. It’s tough to compete against them.

WTJB: Alright! Let’s talk about local lakes. When we talk about local lakes, we are talking about San Angelo area lakes. Which is your favorite local lake and why?

SL: I like Nasworthy because I can take the Bass Buster out, go flip, and catch a lot of big fish.

WTJB: When you talk about big fish, what size are you talking about?

SL: Four plus.

WTJB: Cool! Tad?

TB: Well, being from Midland, we use to have a house here so my favorite local lake has got to be Ivie. Next in line would be Nasworthy and then Buttes. I don’t know Buttes as well as most of these guys do, but since it has come back up it seems like a whole lot better lake. Years ago, it was known for big fish, now it is known for the number of big fish; five plus pounds. Ivie has come back now. It’s incredible and it’s supposed to be like that. I think what a lot of people miss out on is not fishing Nasworthy like they use to when all you has to do to fish Nasworthy was flip the reeds. I think a lot os guys, since they dredged the lake and seen what’s changed, instead of only flipping reed they’re out Carolina rigging. They’re fishing some points and areas we didn’t understand that we have to go find with our graphs and it’s changed. I mean, you really have to adapt to it. You have to throw some deep crank baits and stuff like that to get these fish. There are some other techniques out there that some people will eventually find out or I can tell them what we have been doing to catch these fish that have basically in the past 2 months spawning in the 7 to 10 pound range. I think that people are going to laugh at that when I say it, but they wouldn’t laugh when I show them all the pictures. That is actually a true story.

WTJB: WOW! (I hated changing the subject, but …) When we talk about techniques, what would you consider your favorite techniques?

SL: Drop shotting for me because if the fishing is tough I can always go out and find some structure and catch my limit real quick.

WTJB: OK, so when we are talking about drop shotting, how do you do it?

SL: I find the structure and I pitch it around it and I just hop it around it. I get a lot of strikes doing that.

TB: Top water no mater what. That’s absolutely going to be my favorite way I can catch them. I surprise people sometimes because top water is a year round bite no mater what people think. There are always fish shallow. I’ve had fish blow up on buzz baits, spooks … spooks are probably one of my favorite baits to catch some monster fish on. I have caught them when it is absolutely snowing outside.

WTJB: That’s one of the things I find interesting about guys who talk about fishing top water is the same observation you have is that it’s not a seasonal type of deal that it is a year round type of deal.

TB: Top water is a year round deal and a lot of people don’t understand that.

WTJB: Do you think it is unique to the area?

TB: What I have learned in my past even going to Lake of the Ozarks and the way the fish pattern themselves the more northern strains in the dead of winter while it’s snowing and you can catch them in thirty foot of water on buzz baits just as fast as you can cast out on rock ledges. I’ve always got a spook tied on no matter what because something blows up in the middle of the lake the spook is flying and I’m going to get it. That fish most of the time bites, too.

WTJB: Let’s talk lurers. What would you consider your three favorite lurers and why?

SL: Texas Rig, drop shot, and a buzz bait.

WTJB: Why?

SL: A drop shot because I can find structure and catch them there. Texas rig because I can always go out on the bass buster and flip the reeds. Buzz bait because it is a fun way to catch them.

TB: For the local lakes I would absolutely have to say flipping creature baits. You will always find fish flipping. The second one has got to be the spinner bait. The third has got to be a top water.

WTJB: Excellent! This next question is a question near and dear to me; especially considering where I am at in my level of fishing. What is some advice you could give some guys like me to improve our fishing in the local lakes?

TB: The first thing is that time on the water is everything. The more time the better. It doesn’t matter if you just have 2 hours on the lake. You can learn so much in that 2 hours. Just because the fish don’t bite doesn’t mean that you can’t go observe. That’s one thing. The worst thing a new fisherman can do is get into a situation where they get too much information through too many people who are full of it. Some people will lead them astray. Just be honest with the new guys. Most of the new guys are just trying to get started. All they want to do is catch fish. For the new guy, you have to have the right set up. First of all, braid line is an absolutely must. 20 pound braid line, even on a spinning reel, is a must because you can feel what this stuff is doing.

WTJB: Cool! Shane?

SL: Try to have fun! You are going to rack your brain trying to catch fish. Just go out and have fun.

WTJB: What is your opinion of the condition of local fishing?

TB: We need more water first of all. A lot more water would help these lakes out; especially Buttes because we all know what Buttes is like when it is full. We need water, but the fishing is absolutely awesome right now. People go to east Texas and they say this and this, but when I go to east Texas those guys want to come out here. Now you have Amstead on the map. Falcon on the map. I fished Falcon many years ago and it was the same as it is today. Now we have Ivie with the grass. I talk to a lot of the elite pros who are still good friends of mine who talk about the lakes out here. Ivie is still the secret lake out there that no one fishes. It’s more of the local people who know that lake. A friend of mine, Ken Cook, and I still talk about that lake because he was out here for a bass tournament in 97 or 98 when he was all those 8 to 10s coming out of that lake. Ivie is the secret lake and Buttes is holding its own. Nasworthy is the silent lake that no one knows except the yakers. They know what it holds and they know how to get them. It’s incredible. West Texas fishing and the fishermen from west Texas are far superior to the guys in east Texas and that is a quote from Tad Box. It is the truth. The guys from west Texas dominate the tourneys in east Texas if they can get out that way. It’s just that way especially now that we have some grass that some people put out our guys are understanding the grass and how to fish it so that now they can go out to east Texas and fish with the east Texas boys at their own game.

WTJB: Cool. Shane?

SL: I can only agree with Tad about what he said about the lakes and their really starting to come back from where they use to be.

WTJB: OK! Here’s the next question. Favorite true fishing story?

TB: There are so many true stories that people think I’m BSing, but I’ve had great days fishing that people think I’m BSing. True fishing story? We are going to share with Jay a picture, and no discredit to the guy who caught the 18 pound hybrid, of a hybrid we caught on Thanksgiving Day in 2008 that I caught on Lake Nasworthy. I’ll share with you what the weight exactly was. We knew it was a monster, but we did not know that it was a record. It weighed in at 22 pounds and a few ounces.

SL: Myh favorite story was about the KDCD Tourney out at Lake Ivie a few weeks back. It was the last day of the tournament and it was a slow day. We weren’t catching anything. In the last couple of hours, we just grabbed the top waters and went to have some fun. We caught like 200 three pound bass every cast on top water.

WTJB: On top water?

TB: 3-5s.

WTJB: Catch and release?

TB: I’ll answer this one first. Catch and release is everything. It takes a 10 pounder 10+ years to get there. If you want to eat a fish, eat crappie. They can reproduce so fast. They are kinds like rabbits. Those guys keep coming and coming. I really don’t eat fish. My joy; my passion is just to catch the fish. My old saying when I was fishing professionally was “Why eat your profits?”

SL: I agree. Catch and release if a must.

WTJB: Just playing Devil’s advocate, how do you respond to the guy who says that too many fish are destroying the prey base?

TB: Absolutely! If this is the case, then keep the 14 to 16 inch ones. Most of the ones in that size are the male fish anyways. Just don’t eat those big fish.

WTJB: Cool! OK, next question. Personal heroes?

(Shane is looking at Tad)

SL: Tad.

WTJB: Really? You realize that you are going on record with that.

SL: Yeah. He took me from a regular bank fishermen and turned me into the tournament fisherman that I am today.

WTJB: That’s pretty awesome.

TB: Thank you Shane. I didn’t know that.

WTJB: Your turn, Tad.

TB: Personal hero? I’d have to say my dad. He was there to always take me fishing even though he didn’t fish. He always supported me. I taught myself to fish, but he was always there to support me. Personal hero in fishing would be Ken Cook because I got the chance to room with him for a whole year. To go with someone like Ken Cook, the 1991 World Champion, I learned more in that 1 year. I still use things that he showed me.

WTJB: I want to direct this next question to Shane. Where do you want to go to from here?

SL: I want to fish all my life, but I want to go to college to be an anesthesiologist.

WTJB: Do you ever see yourself going pro?

SL: I’ll fish local tournaments, but I want to be an anesthesiologist.

We talked about some of the local fishermen and swapped a few more stories and generally had a great time. Tad is truly passionate about his fishing and it shows. His mentoring Shane is a noble thing, but truth be known Shane is great all on his own. Having the benefit of Tad in his life only enhances his learning.

I’ve also posted a picture of the 22-pound hybrid caught Thanksgiving Day in 08. According to Tad, they put it on 2 separate scales both reading 22 pounds and 3 to 4 ounces. It was so big that they couldn’t keep it in the livewell and being Thanksgiving Day, they knew it would be tough to contact any one about the fish. As best they could, they documented the catch and let it go.

Thanks for tuning in to WTJB and I hope the interview was as much fun for you as it was for me.

PABC August Results

2009-08-30T21:16:00.002-05:00

Whitt, Bob 1 12/16, 3 4/16, and 4 11/16 for a total of 9 11/16
Morris, Jeff 1 14/16, 3 12/16, and 3 13/16 for a total of 9 7/16
Snider, David 1 5/16, 1 13/16, and 3 2/16 for a total of 6 4/16
Carter, Randy 3, 2 5/16 for a total of 5 5/16
Lucas, Jesse 4 13/16 for a total of 4 13/16
Palko, Chip 2 6/16 and 1 12/16 for a total of 4 2/16
Day, Garrett 3 14/16 for a total of 3 14/16
Dorman, Byran 1 15/16 and 1 8/16 for a total of 3 7/16
Cavness, Roy 1 13/16 and 1 6/16 for a total of 3 3/16
Lucas, Travis 3 1/16 for a total of 3 1/16
Dorman, Mike 2 11/16 for a total of 2 11/16
Miner, Scott 1 11/16 for a total of 1 11/16

The rest of us got zilched.

8-29-09: Twin Buttes

2009-08-29T15:39:00.002-05:00

We fished the PABC Monthly Tourney today and I struggled.

Period!

I had 5 top water hits and a bunch of worm hits and couldn't stick a one.

My partner, Scott, caught this weird bass. Does anyone have any ides what's wrong with it?

It's always good to get out and fish. For the tournament, we didn't do well as the results will show.

There's always next time.

Cast straight and cast often, fellow fishing jerks!

PaulAnn Baptist Bass Club End of Year Standings

2009-08-13T10:41:00.002-05:00

The PABC has finished its year long tournament. The final standings are:

1. Roy Cavness 151.08
2. Mike Dorman 128.00
3. Brian Dorman 131.01
4. Jeff Morris 124.78
5. Chip Palko 80.19
6. Jay Leeper 71.83
7. Garrett Day 58.25
8. Jim Day 57.48
9. Jesse Lucas 70.70
10. Scott Miner 65.76
11. Bob Whitt 45.75
12. Scott Gagliano 23.25
13. Stephen Cavaness 19.36
14. Justin Brumley 12.25
15. Noah Brumley 9.75
16. Brandon Halfmann 6.75
17. Travis Lucas 13.69
18. Joshua Brumley 7.88
19. Justin Houk 6.00
20. Drew Searsy 5.50
21. Westley Wyatt 4.06
22. Kevin Johnson 1.94
23. Justin Eady 1.88
24. Wes Hayes 1.88

Congrats to all the participants who helped make this a great year!!!

TNT Finals 7-2-09 Twin Buttes

2009-08-04T20:53:00.001-05:00

I lucked out and got back from vacation just in time to cover the Finals of the Twin Buttes Thursday Night Tournaments.

Results were:

1. Zak Parks 24.26 (2nd BB @ 7)

2. Brian Hall 21.74

3. Randy Porter 15.94

4. Paul Montalongo 15.40

5. John Ingle 13.42 (1st BB @ 7.48)

6. Sawyer Warwick 12.64

7. Joe Smith 12.57

8. Austin Terry 12.46

9. Wendell Ramsey 11.98

10. JR Page 11.54

11. Chad Meeks 9.26

12. Brad Hopper 7.04

13. Rob Besson 6.32

14. Blake Gentry 5.64

15. Karl Elliot 3.10

16. Alan Ashley 2.28

Congrats to the competitors of the TNT Finals.

I'm learning a new software so bare with me as I work out the kinks!

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

PS: After many technical difficulties learning the new software, I belatedly have this offering! Enjoy!

Great To Be Back

2009-08-02T21:21:00.003-05:00

Hey fellow Jerkbaits!

I am back from my vacation and glad to be back blogging the best of West Texas Bass Fishing!

I have a great interview about to be posted on Tad Box and Shane Lemoin (both who know their fishing!) just before I left and I have the coverage of the Championship of the TNT on August 1st on Twin Buttes!

If you get a chance, check out Wendell's article on http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/aug/01/its-hot-but-bass-can-be-found-in-shallows/ as there is some great info on the water of West Texas.

Thanks for checking out the site and remember to "Cast Straight, Cast Often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Webisode 8: Twin Buttes 6-20-09

2009-06-21T18:57:00.005-05:00

The day was gorgeous, but as is typical for west Texas weather it turns on a dime. Still made for a great outing!

Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for viewing and feed back is always appreciated.

6-17-09: Lake Nasworthy

2009-06-18T11:08:00.002-05:00

I had the chance to head on out with Wendel Ramsey on Nasworthy so of course I jumped at it.

After helping a lady and her son load up their new boat, we went over to the reeds just south of the dam. Wind was blowing pretty steadily at 15 mph and the water was pretty stained. Water was about 86 degrees. Temperature was hot, but with the wind the 96 degrees wasn't too bad.

We fished the area for a good bit with neither getting a strike so we went over to the skiing lanes to try our luck. Both of us were using creature baits; me with a 4" ringworm and then a 6" pumpkin with chartreuse tail Yum Dinger and Wendel using a black with blue fleck Ultra Vibe Crawfish and again no luck although he did manage to get a bite. Wendel then thought it might be getting late enough in the day to go back to our first spot as the wind had been laying down a bit and maybe work our way to a lilly pad area he knew about.

We did with no luck until we worked our way to the pads. From there, we both tied on Ribbits and worked the area over pretty good. I managed a cast and saw a disturbance about 5' from my bait. I got excited. I jiggled my Ribbit a little and a big commotion in the pads was now 2' away. I got REALLY excited. I barely wiggled the ribbit when SWOOSH a black movement jumped my bait. I thought I had a good 'un for sure when Wendel said, "Frog". I was thinking, "Yep, I'm fishing a frog" when I realized what he meant. It was indeed a big, ol' bullfrog. I laughed myself silly reeling it in. It had hooked itself good, but we got it back out into the water.

The visiting was great, but neither of us caught anything. We got skunked, but it was still a great day on the lake.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in plastic boats."

6-13-09: PABC Monthly Tourney Lake Ivie

2009-06-14T17:37:00.016-05:00

The PABC held its monthly tourney at OH Ivie Reservoir on 6-13-09. Due to the 100+ degree weather, we started at Safe Light until 12 PM. I got a great intro to the lake as I followed Tad Box's advice and caught everything on a white topwater just north of Concho Park. It was great for 2 guys in a plastic boat.

Scott Gagliano and I got there very early in the AM.

As mentioned in the video clip, our attention was drawn to some activity going on over at a large tent nearby in Concho Park. Being naturally curious, I went to investigate and met Mike "Stubby" Arnold out of Midland who was kind enough to visit with me about their organization.

Dawn broke and we got started. We fished and I got a hit on my 3rd cast on the little topwater. I even managed to catch the 2.7 on my 5th cast (I've really got to get a hat cam).

We were expecting 15-20 MPH winds, but they never developed. Wind was nice as the big barges made large wakes for us to handle. I can honestly say that I had no problems as it was for the kids and it was cool seeing them waving to us in their orange shirts as they passed on by. Water was really clear (about 4-5 feet visibility) and 80 degrees climbing to 82 by noon.

Ivie was pretty good to us. Just an interesting note on the lake. you can have 2 fish under 14" on a stringer so long as the rest are over 18". I imagine that they do this to cull the smaller fish population as to help the big fish get bigger.

I caught about 6 fish while Scott caught 1 and lost a monster on a worm.

We wrapped it up and reported to weigh in.

We had a funny event occur. Scott and I knew that with the water being 80+ degrees we couldn't keep fish on a stringer and expect them to survive so we obtained an aerator and cooler and made a live well. We had 2 fish in the live well when we accidentally jostled the live well and I noted water in the boat; we had knocked open the spout on the cooler. Thinking quickly, we went to shore and sealed the spout, but we had taken on a good amount of water and with the live well, we were cramped. I decided to chance quickly opening the live well to get the aerator out and use it as a bilge on the water. We moved quickly, but the bass were quicker. Both got out and Scott managed to get the 3 pounder back in, but the little one made it. I can blame no one but myself. We've all heard stories like this, but I got to live it. Gee, lucky me!

Point of interest as I will be stepping down as record keeper of the PABC and focusing on the reporting aspect.

We had a blast on the lake!

Results are below.

1. Morris, Jeff 2 14/16, 2 14/16, and 6 for a total of 11 12/16 (Big Bass)
2. Cavaness, Roy 3 1/16, 5 3/16, and 2 1/16 for a total of 10 5/16
3. Miner, Scott 2 7/16, 2 7/16, and 3 13/16 for a total of 8 11/16
4. Leeper, Jay 3 10/16 and 2 7/16 for a total of 6 1/16
5. Witt, Bob 2 1/16 and 2 15/16 for a total of 5
6. Dorman, Mike 2 9/16 and 2 5/16 for a total of 4 14/16
7. Dorman, Brian 2 9/16 and 1 15/16 for a total of 4 8/16
8. Searsy, Drew 2 10/16 and 1 6/16 for a total of 4
9. Brumley, Noah 2 3/16 and 1 12/16 for a total of 3 15/16
10. Fuessel, Jason 1 8/16 and 2 5/16 for a total of 3 13/16
11. Brumley, Justin 2 6/16 and 1 4/16 for a total of 3 10/16
12. Day, Jim 2 and 1 1/16 for a total of 3 1/16
13. Palko, Chip 1 6/16 and 1 9/16 for a total of 2 15/16
14. Brumley, Josh 1 9/16 and 14/16 for a total of 2 7/16
15. Cavaness, Stephen 1 2/16 for a total of 1 2/16
16. Palko, Justus 0
17. Gagliano, Scott 0

Special thanks to Scott and the guys of the PABC for putting up with me. It's always a hoot. Also, Stubby and the guys and gals over at the Make A Fish Foundation are great people! We caught them wrapping things up.

Take care, all and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in plastic boats!"

Webisode 7: Twin Buttes TNT 6-4-09

2009-06-06T13:13:00.005-05:00

Hi folks!

I had the good fortune to cover the TNT at Twin Buttes 6-4-09. It was a memorable one for me!

I got lucky and now have an intro and music. Let me now what you think!

The results were:

1. Wendel Ramsey with 20.86

2. JR Page with 18.18

3. Josh Mirel with 10.12

4. Alan Ashley with 9.32

Big Bass was Wendel Ramsey with a 5.76 pig.

My thanks and gratitude to Wendel, Steve, Zak, and the guys who took the time to talk to me!

Thanks for taking the time to check this out and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats."

PABC Standings 6-2-09

2009-06-02T08:23:00.003-05:00

The Current Standings as of 6-1-09 for the Paul Ann Bass Club are:

1. Roy Cavness 122.71
2. Mike Dorman 120.57
3. Brian Dorman 108.83
4. Jeff Morris 97.78
5. Chip Palko 67.50
6. Garrett Day 58.25
7. Jay Leeper 57.70
8. Jesse Lucas 56.82
9. Jim Day 54.41
10. Scott Miner 44.45
11. Bob Whitt 33.25
12. Scott Gagliano 14.56
13. Stephen Cavaness 14.24
14. Brandon Halfmann 6.75
15. Travis Lucas 6.57
16. Justin Houk 6.00
17. Drew Searsy 5.50
18. Justin Brumley 4.69
19. Westley Wyatt 4.06
20. Joshua Brumley 3.88
21. Noah Brumley 3.63
22. Kevin Johnson 1.94
23. Justin Eady 1.88
24. Wes Hayes 1.88

Compared to last years totals at this point, the members have really improved.

Way to go, gents!

Webisode 6: PABC Monthly Tourney Oak Creek 5-30-09

2009-05-31T21:25:00.005-05:00

Hope you enjoy the webisode!

The results for the tourney were:

1. Dorman, Mike 3 3/16, 4 6/16, and 4 6/16 for a total of 11 15/16 (Big Bass)

2. Witt, Bob 2 10/16, 3 1/16, and 2 13/16 for a total of 8 8/16

3. Dorman, Bryan 2 5/16 and 3 12/16 for a total of 6 1/16

4. Lucas, Jesse 2 9/16, 1 13/16, and 1 10/16 for a total of 6

5. Cavaness, Roy 2 1/16, 1 14/16. and 1 13/16 for a total of 5 12/16

6. Minor, Scott 1 9/16 and 3 for a total of 4 9/16

7. Cavaness, Stephen 1 8/16 and 1 10/16 for a total of 3 1/16

8. Palko, Chip 2 1/16

9. Morris, Jeff 1 9/16

10. Lucas, Travis 1 2/16

11. Leeper, Jay 0

12. Gagliano, Scott 0

The guys really put in a great effort.

Special shout out to the guys of the PABC and Scott Miner for putting up with me!

Webisode 5: Oak Creek 5-25-09

2009-05-26T20:17:00.004-05:00

I made my introduction to Oak Creek today. It is a great lake!

to me, it is a cross between the Angelo lakes; houses and docks like Nasworthy, salt cedars like Buttes, and a little bigger than Fisher. Really a cool lake!

The webisode turned out pretty good except I wish we could have got more fish. We'll get them next time.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Thanks for tuning in and please offer feedback. It is always encouraging!

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the small plastic boats!"

Webisode 4: Thursday Night Tournament on Twin Buttes 5-21-09

2009-05-24T21:55:00.003-05:00

I felt like a shad in a school of bass with these fishermen.

I got an invite from Jesse Lucas to fish the Twin Buttes Thursday Night Tournament. There are some very good fishermen fishing these tournaments and I was way out of my league!

I knew what was up when I called and talked to Robert Steele. I mentioned that I would donate my $25 to the winner of the tournament.

His reply was, "Thank ya!"

I learned some limitations of my camera and need to eventually upgrade. Apologies in advance.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Webisode 3: Twin Buttes 5-18-09

2009-05-20T21:25:00.004-05:00

Wow!

It's not Oak Creek, but it was nice!

I might actually be making a habit of this. It's a blast!

Before anyone asks, yes, I do have more than half a face. I blame it on my inexperience but it'll be better.

Brad and Mandy Scott were nice enough to take me out and we had a hoot!

Brad and Mandy do not fish Buttes often, but they can show how good knowledge of bass and a working base of features can help them find fish.

Hope you enjoy!

I'll be participating in my first Thursday Night Tournament tomorrow. Jesse Lucas was nice enough to invite me out to play. I'm taking out the camera as there are many good fishermen in this to see in action. This is a good chance to learn something.

Remember to cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!

5-16-09 Twin Buttes

2009-05-16T15:30:00.005-05:00

Interesting day!

Thanks to one of my fishing club buddies, Scott Minor, I had access to a boat and got out on the water! What a blast!

I dragged Paw-N-Law out onto the lake and logged the points. The water was about 74.5 degrees and pretty stained. Wind was high; probably 30 mph at 7:30. We were on a 14'er and did pretty well on the waves. After about 45 minutes of practicing our Kung-Fu balance exercises with multiple strikes, we decided to call it quites. He had caught a decent little striper and I lost a decent one on the flats.

We were going to limp on in and call it a day, but we thought we had found a place where the wind had layed down across from the boat ramp. We had already considered it a good day, but what would have made it great is to hook John up on a good fish.

He found it!

This 2.5 pounder gave him a good run for his money and was a blast for me to watch.

We wrapped it up a little bit later and it was pretty hairy! For my first time piloting a bigger boat with a real motor, we managed.

Many thanks to John for putting up with my shenanigans.

For the record, I didn't get skunked! :-D

BTW, below is a pic of a future fishing jerk! My nephew, Baxter!

Is he adorable or what!

He caught this on a minnow. The story goes that John was looking on the blog with Baxter and Baxter was getting a kick on John clicking on the FJ gallery where guys are proclaiming being fishing jerks. Bax loved it.

When Bax's parents took him fishing, Baxter cast, set the hook and reeled in the 1/4 -pound monster all by himself. His mother heard Baxter calling himself a jerk. She was like, "You're not a jerk." She immediatly called John and asked him what he had taught him. John liked to have fell out laughting so hard. As you can imagine, Baxter was saying, "I'm a fishing jerk! I'm a fishing jerk!"

On another side note, Garath Fulks sent me this picture of his personal best. 8.8! What a beaute!

Great picture taken by his grandfather!

If all works out, we will have the next webisode from Oak Creek tomorrow.

Take care, all, and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Webisode 2: Twin Buttes 5-6-09

2009-05-10T21:39:00.004-05:00

It felt like it had been forever since I had been on the water. I shore fished 5-2-09 with no luck. The weather had been cool and drizzle then the high temps and clear skys of Wednesday happened.

Wendell happened to have an empty seat and was kind enough to invite me along. Fishing with him is an honor I do not take lightly.

Webisode 2 is an opportunity for me to get better at my skills. Although a work in progress, I am getting more confident with it. I'll work on making the dialog smoother, but I have to admit that this is a blast.

Hope you enjoy!

This is getting to be more of what I have in mind and I look forward to making more of these webisodes.

Many thanks to Wendell for taking me fishing and being a sport in making this project!

Take care all and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat."

Webisode 1: PABC Tourney 4-25-09

2009-04-26T20:49:00.004-05:00

OK folks!

I actually took a serious shot at this.

Wendell Ramsey is the guest angler and many thanks to him for his patience and help on this project. We are far from over on this one.

I told him that I envisioned the webisode as a kind of Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter meets the World Fishing Network. In reality, it was closer to Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs and Alton Brown Good Eats met and had a baby.

On a side story, I ended up catching my 3 fish limit, but almost shot myself in the foot. I had 2 fish for a while and wanted 1 more just so I can say I had a limit. We went to a spot and with my first cast caught a keeper! I almost peed myself. We went to the live well and checked sizes and I remember Wendell saying, "The yellow ball is your smallest." Instead of putting it on the ball, my feeble brain registered "Cull the yellow ball" and threw out the smallest fish sans the floating ball. just as I released the fish, I looked up at Wendell and his expression said it all ... "What are you doing!?!?!?" I was sick, but we both laughed A LOT! I just wasn't use to having a limit and didn't know how to act! Much to my relief, I managed to catch a bigger fish 2 minutes later.

OK, without further adieu, here is my first attempt at a true 1.5 minute webisode!

Any feedback would be appreciated and I want to know what you want to see.

Many thanks for taking the time to read and watch this! Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

4-25-09 PABC Monthly Tourney: Twin Buttes

2009-04-26T17:40:00.006-05:00

LOL!

OK! Not my best intro!

Truth is that it was a great tourney! We had 16 fishermen heading out to take on the wind and great green monsters! This is a great bunch of guys and they have been infinitely patient with my foolishness. Also, I record the weights and keep the records.

Besides the usual suspects, we had some guests who promised to make this an interesting tourney. Wendell Ramsey, a veteran tournament participant and Outdoors Writer for the Standard Times, was invited by yours truly for this event. Dave Snyder, another tournament vet and heck of a nice guy, was fishing with us and Bud Swafford who had the dubious honor of being one of Wendell's roll models and use to take him fishing when Wendell was a boy. How cool!

We met up at 6 AM and it was a cool sight.

The weather was windy with gusts up to 25 MPH. Water temp was 69 and it was expected to be overcast for the better part of the day. I kinda thought we would see a great day of fishing.

We saw many fishermen flogging the water and we caught a lot of fish. At the end of the day, the standings came out.

1. Ramsey, Wendell 4 15/16, 2 10/16, and 3 12/16 for a total of 11 5/16 (Big Bass)
2. Snyder, Dave 3 3/16, 3 5/16, and 4 5/16 for a total of 10 13/16
3. Minor, Scott 2 10/16, 3 4/16, and 4 4/16 for a total of 10 2/16
4. Dorman, Mike 3 8/16, 2 2/16, and 2 8/16 for a total of 8 2/16
5. Palko, Chip 2 2/16, 1 14/16, and 4 1/16 for a total of 8 1/16
6. Leeper, Jay 2 15/16, 2 1/16, and 2 6/16 for a total of 7 6/16
7. Morris, Jeff 1 13/16, 2 1/16, and 2 4/16 for a total of 6 2/16
8. Cavenass, Roy 1 13/16, 2, and 2, for a total of 5 13/16
9. Lucas, Jesse 1 5/16 and 3 14/16 for a total of 5 3/16
10. Swafford, Bud 1 8/16, 1 11/16, and 1 11/16 for a total of 4 14/16
11. Witt, Bob 1 7/16, 1 13/16, and 1 5/16 for a total of 4 9/16
12. Day, Jim 2 and 1 8/16 for a total of 3 8/16
13. Gagliano. Scott 3 6/16 for a total of 3 6/16
14. Dorman, Bryan 3 5/16 for a total of 3 5/16
15. Carter, Randy 1 10/16 for a total of 1 10/16
16. Cavaness, Stephen 1 5/16 for a total of 1 5/16

We had a great time and a lot of fun. Thanks to the PABC for letting me cover the event.

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats."

4-18-09 Middle Concho

2009-04-19T17:20:00.000-05:00

Worst day of fishing ... possibly ever!

Scott and I got a late start on the fishing and promptly lost another hour to an hour and a half after I got us stuck in the mud. It was scary and messy! I did catch this keeper, though.

Did you note the mud on the shirt? I couldn't get it out! What a waste of a $5 Bass Pro Shop shirt!

I have to hand it to Scott. He stayed calm and collected through the whole thing!

We both were so wiped out from getting my truck freed up that we were drained for a while!

Here's to you, amigo!

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

4-17-09 Twin Buttes

2009-04-17T17:28:00.002-05:00

Dragged Paw-N-Law out Friday evening. We fished the old boat docks on the north shore. He caught this 1.7 on a crank bait. I caught 1 dink! It was practically a parking lot on the ramp!

The area has been slow but John knows the bigguns are out there.

We'll get them yet.

The water was stained and in the low 70s. Wind was about 10 MPH.

Good luck, folks!

4-12 Middle Concho

2009-04-14T11:38:00.008-05:00

Hee Hee! You are witnessing my feeble attempts to developing a webisode. I figured it would be good for a laugh, anyway!

Jeff was nice enough to invite me out Sunday evening. For the last 2 days in similar conditions, the wind had laid down in the evening so he wanted to give it a shot. So we gave it a shot.

The wind was pretty fierce. Here's a shot at what we were launching into.

It was one bumpy ride to get to the Concho. Once we got there, it was a little more smoother, but not by much. We went to the Second Bluffs and started just before there fishing the salt cedars. We both struck out. Rounding the bluffs, Jeff saw something. First cast saw him catching a 2-pounder. He cast again and caught a 2.5-pounder. The pattern he detected was wind blowing bait fish into an area so he told me to cast in. I did and was rewarded.

This 3.54-pounder hit my Brush Hog HARD! She tried to shake me off, but I lucked out. It had been a while since caught anything and it felt great. It was in 2 feet of water and a good pattern detected by Jeff.

Jeff would have nothing of it, though. Shortly, he caught this beauty!

This 4.65-pounder crushed Jeff's crank bait. It fought hard and gave him a serious run for his money, but he got it! Jeff's a real jer .... er .... fishing jerk!

Water was in the low to mid 60s. Wind laid down as predicted and I felt like a junkie with a hit.

Many thanks to Jeff for taking me out. I have learned a lot from this guy!

I hope you enjoyed this. Remember, cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!

Interview with Greg Benson - A man with a Record!

2009-04-12T21:34:00.005-05:00

I had the opportunity to meet Greg Benson while he substitute taught at my school early in 07. I had known of him through my wife who had him many moons ago as a teacher at Lee Middle School in the mid-80s. I knew through her that he was a fishing enthusiast, but I was quite surprised that while researching lake records for Twin Buttes, I ran across his name as having caught a 14.25 pound Largemouth Bass. Well, I had to get the story behind this one.

I lucked out and ran into him at my school a few weeks later and he agreed to talk with me. I consider myself lucky to have been able to do so.

I hope you enjoy the interview and story as much as I did!

WTJB: Hi Fish Jerks! This is Jay Leeper. It is 5 – 5:30 on Tuesday March 31st just before April Fools Day. I have a real treat for you today. I’m here with Greg Benson. He has quite a few accolades that we’ll talk about here in a minute. Greg, would you like to say “Hi” to the audience?

GB: Hello! I’m happy to be able to participate in this. It should be a lot of fun.

WTJB: If you do not mind, Greg, could you tell us your full name and hometown?

GB: Greg Benson. San Angelo, Texas.

WTJB: Are you currently or have you ever been a member of any bass clubs?

GB: I fished Concho Bass Club for a good many years. San Angelo Bass Club for a good many years and a member for a good while of Bass Masters.

WTJB: I have to ask because this is the reason I am so keen on this interview. Are there any records or past records that you hold?

GB: I’ve got one that’s held since 1992 on Twin Buttes. It’s a fish that weighed 14.25 that was caught on August the 4th, 1992.

WTJB: Good Lord! 14+ pounds????

I also see that you have another really big fish in the case there. Can you tell us a little about the accolades of that fish?

GB: Yes. To our knowledge, that was the first lake record set on Twin Buttes. The fish weighed almost 11-pounds. He was caught in 1987. That record didn’t hold very long. There was a period when a lot of big fish were being caught. Twin Buttes had caught a lot of water and those big fish showed up out of nowhere. That record didn’t last very long until those 11 and 12-pounders were being caught. It took me a few years to get my record back.

WTJB: When you talk to a guy like me who just recently broke the 5-pound barrier this is a mind blower at best!

Can you tell me about your favorite local lake?

GB: That’s a hard call because I have caught a lot of good fish at OC Fisher in the heat of the summer on deep diving crank baits. Probably Twin Buttes because I have spent more time on Buttes fishing. Brady Lake was very productive in the 80s. I fished a lot of tournaments on those lakes and caught good fish out of it.

WTJB: You kind of touched on this earlier, but what are your favorite baits and techniques for the area lakes and why?

GB: Well, as the situation is right now, I think a lizard is hard to beat on Buttes when the lake starts to warm up from Late February on. Of course, a plastic work is great. Fish a lizard very slow on a braided line that has some feel. Twin Buttes can sure be productive.

WTJB: Your 3 favorite lurers?

GB: Well, two actually. Of course, a plastic worm. I have enjoyed fishing a lizard because of the way they pick up and travel with a lizard. I’ve always enjoyed fishing a deep diving crank bait. I fish a zone than many people either fish above or under. I’ve caught a lot of quality fish this way. Those crank baits go through a zone that many fish do not often see.

WTJB: When you are talking deep divers, are you talking about the DD22s?

GB: Yes. I’ve still got a lot of old Bagley Deep Magnums that I still throw until I loose them all.

WTJB: What kind of advice can you offer for local fishermen?

GB: First of all, there are a lot of good local fishermen. I could go on and on about many good, quality fishermen in the area that know these lakes and catch fish constantly. On any given day, they would be hard to beat on a tournament.

As much as anything else on our local lakes fish the heavy cover and slow down as much as the wind will allow you to.

WTJB: That’s hard to do lately as the wind keeps turning my worm into a swim bait.

GB: Right.

WTJB: In your opinion, what do you think about the state of local fishing?

GB: On twin Buttes, it’s good because it just caught some water, they restocked it and there are a lot of 3.5 to 5 pound fish; a good number of them. The fish that we are catching are healthy fish. Twin Buttes, right now, is excellent as long as it will hold some water. I think we have gotten some good spawns out of it. It’s very encouraging. Twin Buttes is in great shape as long as it will hold water.

WTJB: Here is the question I have been dying to ask. Could you tell me some of your favorite true fishing stories? I want to note to the audience that Greg immediately looks to his big fish.

GB: If you’re referring to the big fish, it was a hot, summer day and I had been fishing a couple of ledges all summer long and I had caught some good fish off of it. On that particular day, I had been running my graph some and I found a spot a little more east and a little more out towards the main body of the lake than I had been fishing. In fact, it was a new spot. There was bait fish in the area. I thought that I would try this as I had been catching fish in the area and I was going to give this a whirl. What it was is a tree that was in about 14 foot of water. I couldn’t see the tree, but it was down under the water right on the edge of a ledge dropping into about 28-foot of water. I was throwing a Motor Oil colored Ring Worm with a chartreuse tail and those fish were taking it just as the worm got to the tree and over the ledge. I caught one almost 9-pounds and wrapped a big fish that I couldn’t get out so I cut my line as I didn’t want to spook those fish. 2 or 3 casts later I caught that big fish. On the big fish, I got him about half-way to the boat when he came up and tried to throw it and I thought, “My God! This is a cut above the rest!” I actually loosened my drag and he headed out into the deep water. The fish then came back and tried to throw the worm one more time and went down under the boat. Of course, this is a lot of time where you lose a big fish when they go under the boat. He came out from under the boat and ran straight out again. My daughter was with me that day. She was almost 7 years old and I asked her, “Brooke, hand me the net,” because I had just about had this fish played out. When she handed me the net, it was my fault ‘cause I dropped the net. The net went out into the water! I couldn’t reach the net and I had this fish going and I thought this was not going to happen. This was going to be one of those deals that everybody tells you, “Sure you did! Sure you did!” I just stayed with the fish and got the fish along the boat and put the rod in my left hand and reached down got my hand in his mouth and brought him over the top.

That was a neat deal and I’ll never forget it and the fact that my daughter was with me made it that much more special.

WTJB: Oh man! I’m glad he didn’t get away!

GB: He had several chances, I assure you.

WTJB: How long do you think it took you to get him?

GB: Oh, I don’t know. It’s hard to say. It’s been so long ago, now. Umm …. From start to finish on that fish …. I think people have a tendency to exaggerate on the time it took to land a fish, but a good 3 and a half minutes or so which can seem like an eternity.

WTJB: Yep! Do you have any other true fishing stories?

(Greg’s other story can be found on the podcast.)

WTJB: Do you see a difference in the fishing from the 80s and 90s as compared to now especially with the drought conditions?

GB: The biggest difference now is that there is more pressure. Without a doubt, the innovations of some of the baits, but a lot of young fishermen are very good. There are some older guys that to this day are very good, but the knowledge base and ability of a lot of these younger fishermen is very good. We’re talking late 20s to early 40s, they’re very good. San Angelo is blessed with a lot of very good fishermen.

WTJB: Catch and release?

GB: I have mixed emotions about it. I read an article not too long ago that said that it is probably better on your bigger fish to simply release them simply because in the older days we put everything on a stringer. That was the mentality of the times. But the Mercury level is much higher in bigger fish and we eat fish. We eat fish 2 0r 3 times a week; especially during Lent. You’re better off for health purposes keeping those 14-16 inch fish and letting the bigger fish go if for no other reason the smaller fish have a lower Mercury level.

When our lake level starts getting low and we start putting a lot of pressure on the lake, you’re probably better off keeping more fish for the simple fact that the fish get stunted and there isn’t as much bait fish to go around. When you have a healthy lake, to me, that is the time to release your big fish. By that, I mean your 5, 6, 7 pound fish. Turn them loose. They are going to spawn and take advantage of a good healthy lake situation. But for smaller fish, you could do a disservice. I think this is part of what hurt Ivie for a while. That’s my opinion and that doesn’t make it right, but it just seems that way.

WTJB: Personal hero? Do you have one?

GB: As far as bass fishing goes or are you talking about a pro?

WTJB: It’s an open question.

GB: Well, on the pro level, I always had a great deal of respect for Hank Parker. He seemed pretty down to earth and very competitive. Rick Klein, too, for that matter. I’ve met Rick Klein on two occasions and talked to him at length one time. He was really a nice guy. My dad. My dad and his brother and a few others were some of the earliest bass fishermen to fish out of the old canvas kayaks. They brought duct tape with them so that if they made holes in the canvas, they could repair them on the spot. Those guys were the first dabblers. I can still remember when my dad switched from braid to mono when mono was a new invention. I fished with him in the last 1950s and early 60s out of a kayak. My dad gave me the basics on bass fishing.

WTJB: Who are some of the best local fishermen that you know?

GB: That’s a hard question to answer because there are so many of them. I could name a lot of people. One of my good friends come to mind because he has stayed competitive through the years and that is Galen Wershousen. He’s really good and has upped his game as of late. He’s a great kayak fisherman that migrated to a bigger boat. Butch Koons. He was a kayak fisherman from the 70s all the way to the late 80s. He was as good as they get. On any given day, those guys could hurt your feelings.

WTJB: Thanks, Greg! This is all the questions I have. Is there a plug, closing statement, or anyone you want to say “Hey” to?

GB: Say “Hey” to? Well, let me pay tribute to someone. R. O. Pomroy. R. O Pomroy was out of Big Lake. He fished out of a tube. He fished all the way up to, I guess, his early 80s. He was always a gentleman, always a nice guy. He probably caught as many big fish in his time as anyone in the state of Texas. I became very good friends with him. I fished Armistead a little with him and Spence. Such a nice guy!

In closing, the only thing I can think to say is going with what we finished with is that, especially in competitive bass fishing, is that even when we are fishing and enjoying some success and with friends is to never take yourself too seriously. Put yourself in a situation where you are recognizing the abilities and talents and congratulate other people. Never get to the point where you let your ego get in the way. I think that all of us at one time or another, I know I have been guilty, gets to thinking too highly of ourselves. Really, that could backfire on you. Fishing is a great sport. It’s a lot of fun, but I really honestly think that there are some negative things to tournament bass fishing. You don’t keep things in perspective. Looking back on all of it, there’s always things you could do differently. The real part of bass fishing is that you should be able to make friends and not be in a situation where you’re constantly competitive and worrying about the other fishermen and playing mind games. Fishing should strictly be for the enjoyment and a lot of times it takes a long time to realize that.

We wrapped up the meeting and I had a chance reflect on things, I really thought Greg hit home on that last point. Greg was clearly at a point in his life where he could reflect on things is a different perspective. As much as he loved catching that fish, the love he described for his daughter and the way he interacted with his wife are what will stand with me the most. The fish is amazing, but I value his perspective and believe that there would be more to learn here than just fishing stories.

Thanks for reading the post and be sure to check out the podcast for more info than was printed in the post.

Remember, cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats.

April 11 Twin Buttes

2009-04-11T12:34:00.002-05:00

Is anybody fishing????

The wind has frustrated many of us as of late.

I have a 3 day weekend and I was thinking I would get 2 days of fishing in. Mother Nature is having nothing of it, though. Yesterday, I decided not to go because early Friday NOAA was projecting Saturday's wind to be 10-15 mph. Not good, but not too bad. So I waited. Friday evening, the wind was projected as being the same as Friday.

Well, I was going to fish or be dammed.

Saturday AM rolls around and I collected Paw-N-Law to go out. He was reluctant, but humored me.

As soon as we got to the lake, I knew it would be bad.

We put in and 15 minutes later after watching the water come over the bow, we called it a day.

So I ask, is anybody fishing????

PABC Standings 4-7-09

2009-04-07T07:17:00.004-05:00

The PABC had their Monthly Meeting Monday, April 6. We met and had a great chance to catch up, trade stories, and get a great lesson from Jeff Morris as he wrapped up the current subject. Jeff also won the Monthly Weigh Ticket Contest with a fish weighing 6.9. Current standings are:

1. Roy Cavness 102.52
2. Mike Dorman 92.63
3. Brian Dorman 91.39
4. Jeff Morris 80.57
5. Garrett Day 54.00
6. Jim Day 48.69
7. Chip Palko 46.69
8. Jay Leeper 43.93
9. Jesse Lucas 36.94
10. Scott Miner 20.32
11. Bob Whitt 20.19
12. Scott Gagliano 11.19
13. Brandon Halfmann 6.75
14. Justin Houk 6.00
15. Drew Searsy 5.50
16. Justin Brumley 4.69
17. Westley Wyatt 4.06
18. Joshua Brumley 3.88
19. Noah Brumley 3.63
20. Kevin Johnson 1.94
21. Justin Eady 1.88
22. Wes Hayes 1.88
23. Travis Lucas 1.56

Thanks to all the guys fishing and logging in weight.

New Record Striped Bass?

2009-04-01T14:30:00.001-05:00

In case you hadn't heard ...

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/mar/31/youth-breaks-lake-nasworthy-striped-bass-record/

WOW!

3-25-09 Twin Buttes

2009-03-27T15:02:00.007-05:00

Went fishing Wednesday afternoon after all the rain had fallen. Wendell Ramsey wanted to see if I was indeed a charm and not a jinx. As is typical, results were mixed.

Weather was pretty warm and water was mid to low 60's and pretty stained. We fished a flat that historically was a spawning ground and Wendel caught a nice high 3 to low 4 pounder. That was fun to watch! I noted that he has a very different way to pitch and flip that is much harder than it looks.

We went up the Middle Concho for a bit and ran into the Dormans. Mike said he caught a 5.5 pounder and that the fish broke his carrot stick. It didn't matter as Mike pulled in the line to make the catch.

That's an expensive fish!

I'm trying to develop a thing called a "Called Shot". This is where the fisherman says that he is pretty sure there is a fish here and that it is worth me trying to record the cast and catch with my camera. This is not an easy feat for wither the fisherman or the camera dude; me. Some might think it is boring, but it is really fun. Below is Wendell's called shot.

Although not a bad fish, he wanted to give it another shot.

Much more what he had in mind. I know I couldn't have done it! Even his casting is hard for a guy like me to pull off. He curves a pitch like some scene out of "Wanted".

We went to the flats over by the old boat dock and did pretty well. All in all we caught a lot of small fish on creature baits. It was a fun and I consider it a success. The fish are biting and Wendell said he expects that it will stay good until the next full moon.

I think this is something that really separates fishermen like Wendell from guys like me. It is one thing to watch Bass Masters on TV, but to see these guys do what they do, the actual process, in catching fish is something one cannot take for granted. It just illustrates how far I have to go before I can ever approach this level. It gives me a new appreciation for what I see in some of the better fishermen I know.

Thanks for reading and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats."

PABC March Tournament Result

2009-03-25T14:20:00.002-05:00

PABC Conducted their March Tournament 3-21-09. Results below:

1. Morris, Jeff 2 13/16, 3 5/16, and 4 12/16 for a total of 10 14/16
2. Cavanass, Roy 2 9/16, 2 12/16, and 2 14/16 for a total of 8 3/16
3. Miner, Scott 3 and 4 8/16 for a total of 7 8/16
4. Witt, Bob 3 13/16, 1 12/16, and 1 12/16 for a total of 7 5/16
5. Day, Jim 2 13/16, 1 12/16, and 2 4/16 for a total of 6 13/16
6. Day, Garrett 1 14/16, 1 11/16, and 2 11/16 for a total of 6 4/16
7. Palko, Chip 2 9/16, 1 8/16, and 1 13/16 for a total of 5 14/16
8. Leeper, Jay 5 4/16 for a total of 5 4/16 (Big Bass)
9. Lucas, Jesse 4 14/16 for a total of 4 14/16
10. Dorman, Bryan 4 9/16 for a total of 4 9/16
11. Brumley, Josh 1 15/16 for a total of 1 15/16
12. Dorman, Mike 1 13/16 for a total of 1 13/16
13. Brumley, Justin 1 8/16 for a total of 1 8/16 (Small Stringer)
14t. Lopez, Jaime 0
14t. Dorman, Cambry 0
14t. Gagliano, Scott 0

Thanks for all the participants who made this a memorable tournament.

PABC Monthly Tourney @ Twin Buttes 3-21-09

2009-03-22T14:40:00.006-05:00

The PABC Monthly Tournament for March was conducted 3-21-09 @ Twin Buttes. 17 fishermen braved the wind and baking sun in pursuit of the elusive big fish that Twin Buttes hides so well. The fishing was pretty good with a lot of sightings. Right are 4 boats we saw as we headed back in.

Scott and I baked and fished the Middle Concho. We hit the salt cedar and bluffs with crank baits and worms. We really thought they would hit the worms, but discovered that they really loved the crank bait! This was found out on my first cast with the Bomber.

Right is a picture of the traffic we saw. For the record, most of the fishermen were very respectful of the occupants of the small plastic boat. Just for the records, Jesse Lucas was not nice (but he is a heck of a nice guy!). ;-P

Not everybody was fishing bass. These guys were parked up against the bluffs fishing crappie. My better half made my buddy and I a T-Shirt for WTJB. I loved that she did this and it worked as these guys were asking about the site. Thanks, babe!

We were pretty beat and caught a number of small fish, but no keepers. Limping in on my 30-pound thrust trolling motor against the wind, we stumbled into Bob Witt and Garrett Day flogging the water. Bob and Garrett both weighed in 3 fish and placed well in the tournament. (4th and 6th respectively.)

We also found Jeff Morris (front) and Jim Day. Jeff ended up winning the tournament with 10.14 pounds of bass. His biggest was 4.12. Jim placed 5th.

We saw the Dormans all day long. These guys fish hard and have both placed well in other tournaments. Unfortunately, this was not the best of days for them.

Roy Cavaness showed us his big fish at the time. Roy placed 2nd with 8.3 pounds of fish. This guy seems to always be in the top end of the standings!

Everybody reported that the bass started up at about 6ish. Most caught their stringers at this time and there were some good fish brought in.

Big Bass honors goes to this yo-yo!

That's right, fellow fishing jerks! I lucked into this 5.04 with 10 minutes before we had to head in. We were beat and just looking for a place to get out of the wind to finish off our time. I do a little trick in my tiny boat where I grab a cedar with my ankle to hold us on a spot. In this area was a little cut about 10 yards long. I cast down it thinking I had caught a big bass like this before when it hit my bomber right by the boat. I knew it was big, but I figured it would get off easily as my partner couldn't have possibly had time to get the net. Just at that moment, Scott dipped the net in and caught the fish. All I could say was ..."WOW"!!!!!

Sometimes it is just better to be lucky than good.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

WTJB in the Standard Times

2009-03-22T11:59:00.004-05:00

I am SOOOOO embarrassed!

I just got an email from a friend of mine, Scott Gagliano, telling me that Wendell Ramsey did an article on the site. It is:

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/mar/15/web-site-a-great-place-for-anglers-to-swap-info/

I absolutely loved it!

I usually read the Standard Times online as I am a pretty cheap guy. I think all of Mr. Ramsey's articles should be featured on the web site if for no other fact than there are so many fishing enthusiasts in the area.

Many thanks to Wendell Ramsey for the article and taking me out fishing. I will remember my first 5+ pounder for the rest of my life! What a blast!!!!!!!!!!!

Twin Buttes 3-20-09

2009-03-20T21:26:00.001-05:00

Paw-in-law and I fished around the old boat dock up towards the north shore. Weather was a bit windy at first and settles down about 9ish. Water was clearer than usual and about 65 degrees.

I struck first with a crank bait catching a keeper and a dink. But then John caught a lot on a

crank bait.. I lost count after 5. We wrapped things is at about 10:50, but he caught this 2.15 right there at the end. He ended up harvesting 4 keepers and the TPW would be proud.

I had fun getting whipped and look forward to the next big catch!

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat."

Concho River @ 306 and Ben Ficklin 3-19-09

2009-03-19T18:31:00.002-05:00

Went solo to this spot and fished the west bank. There was a lot of fallen timber. Water was low to mid 60s and pretty clear.

I would throw a worm in the timber, but got nothing. I ended up dragging a crank bait across the wood and got a few this way. My biggest one was probably 14".

Heading out tomorrow with paw-in-law.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat."

Twin Buttes 3-10-09

2009-03-10T20:51:00.008-05:00

WOW! I got a surprise invite from this guy.

San Angelo's own and Standard Times Outdoor Columnist, Wendell Ramsey! What a privilege for anyone and an honor I do not take lightly. I had a blast getting my behind whooped by this guy!

Heading out, Wendell confessed that he felt the pressure to put me on the fish. I had to assure him that there was no pressure as I was use to not catching fish. We had a laugh and this lightened things up.

Wendell took me to a spot that I could never find again if my life depended on it. It just looked out in the middle of nowhere. Weather was nice; overcast with a slight breeze. Water was 61 degrees and we both agreed that it would be great fishing weather.

Wendell was fishing a shallow running crank bait and I started with a swim bait. I threw it a time or two and decided to change to my confidence bait, a baby bass Bomber Fat A. I knew this would pay off as I noted that Wendell caught 3 in the time it took me to tie on my crank bait. I tried to record him catching this 3+ pounder, but being the bright guy that I am I predictably could not find the right button in time.

In all honesty, Wendel did this for quite a while. He caught 6+ in the first 30 minutes we were there.

I finally tied on and started casting. I caught a few trees, but managed to work my way off without embarrassing myself too much. Wendell said there were big ones here, but I was pretty busy watching what he was doing.

Then it hit.

This 5.9 is by biggest fish. I was sure I had caught a bark bass as Wendell and I got into a discussion as to whether it was a fish or not. I was wrong. I almost freaked out when I saw the fish. It took some time, but we got it. I could get use to that.

We fished a lot of spots and caught more fish than I could count. I just appreciated the chance to learn from one that truly has spent a lot of time learning his craft.

Thanks, Wendell!

Thanks for reading this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats."

SuddenLink Open Results 3-7-09

2009-03-08T21:07:00.018-05:00

The SuddenLink Open was conducted Saturday, March 7th.

The winner of the SuddenLink tournament was Lee Smith.

Lee won with a total 3 fish stringer 20.30 with over half of the weight being based on his big bass that was 10.55.

Second place went to Tad Box (left)who's 3 fish stringer totaled 18.04 with his big bass standing out at 6.71.

Third place went to Joe Smith (right). Joe's 3 fish total was 15.84 with his big bass being 5.52.

Russell Baumann (left) took 4th place woth a 3 fish stringer worth 13.78. His big bass was 5.39.

12.52 was the weight Paul Montelongo (right)recorded off his 3 fish stringer which was good enough for 5th place. His big bass was 5.51.

David Elliot (left) had a big bass of 5.63 with his other 2 fish totaling out at 12.50. This placed him at 6th place.

12.46 (man, what a close call between 5th and 7th)) was the weight Tony Gibson(right) recorded to take the 7th place spot

Roy Cavaness( left) recorded 11.98 pounds to wrap up 8th place.

Rick Danials (left) took 9th place and Bryan Dorman (below) rounded off the top 10.

Congrats to all who competed on behalf of SAISD and RCY Internet Safety. Hats off to you, folks!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Suddenlink Open 3-7-09

2009-03-08T16:07:00.018-05:00

The Suddenlink Open kicked off on 3-7-09. The fish caught came out of Nasworthy and Twin Buttes. Weather was pretty decent despite being a bit windy. Water temperature was low 60s and 118 fishermen ranging from as far as El Paso made this an event to remember.

The Suddenlink committee members really worked hard to put on this event. The members seen left (from left to right) are; R.J. Jones, Cory Peddy, Craig Thornell, Monica Kincer, Junior Torres, and Gary McDonald.

It was obvious right from the start that these nice people had put in a lot of effort on making this a success. Volunteers were organized and efficient in getting the fishermen in to weigh their catch minimizing the stress the fish had to get through.

As mentioned earlier, the wind was up, although not gusting to 30 mph like it did last weekend. Skeeter boats were offering to give demonstration rides and the Suddenlink Photographer, Ramiro Galvan and I got lucky enough to get to ride with Scott Burriss (left) and score some great pictures of the contestants. Thanks Scott!

On right is Andrew Ortega and his son, Andrew Ortega Jr. from Odessa. We found them not far from the docks over by Knickerbocker Park. Although they didn't catch any keepers, Junior did manage to score the high score for the Cast for Kids Casting competition and has been invited to compete at the next level at Hubbard Lake. Contrats, kiddo!

Tim Dolenger was working the reeds in his kayak as we passed by to say "Hi"!

Over here, we found Kenneth Preston working the boat docks.

About this time, we headed back to the Head Quarters over at the Concho Bass Busters Club House for the weigh-ins.

And we didn't have to wait long.

Melvin Harris showed up with this 5.86. This was a quality fish!

Despite this great start, it didn't take long until Lee Smith showed up with this monster.

It was a 10.55 caught in Nasworthy in the ski lanes. Lee said he caught it on a black and blue jig and that it took him 10 minutes to land it. He also said that he had been waiting 17 years to catch a 10+ pound fish. What a time and place to do this!

What a beautiful fish! Remember, those are 14+ inch keepers under the monster!

I wasn't the only yo-yo covering the event. Wendell Ramsey, Outdoor Writer for the San Angelo Standard Times, fished the tournament and stuck around to watch. Wendell is a heck of a fisherman and writer. It was great to see him here and take a few minutes to visit about the fishing.

I was sincerely appreciative of the tournament as that the proceeds went to SAISD to benefit the kids of San Angelo. Dr. Carol Ann Bonds showed to participate and represent the district. As the head of the district, it was great to see her and her husband be a part of the crowd and visit with the people that we serve.

Thanks, Dr. Bonds!

In all, this was a great experience for everyone involved from the volunteers to the participants to the MC and weigh masters!

My sincerest gratitude to Cory, Gary, and the Suddenlink folks for allowing me access to everything for the coverage of this blog.

Stay tuned for the next post covering the results and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat!"

SuddenLink Open

2009-03-07T22:13:00.001-06:00

Stay tuned for coverage of the tournament.

PABC Made an Impact at the SuddenLink Open

2009-03-07T21:57:00.005-06:00

Two members of the PABC placed in the 118 man SuddenLink Open on Saturday, March 7th.

Representing the 10th place winner was Bryan Dorman (far left) with a 3 fish stringer which was over 9 pounds.

Roy Cavaness placed 8th place with

his big fish on the right. As I recall, Roy's stringer was over 10 pounds.

Chip Palko and Scott Miner also competed with the big dogs and held their own.

Big contrats to these guys for a job well done!

Anticipation Builds

2009-03-06T19:03:00.002-06:00

The SuddenLink Bass Tourney kicks off tomorrow. I can honestly say that I have never been this excited about not fishing a tournament.

I am volunteering tomorrow and hope to get some great shots and footage.

Come on out and say "Hey" to the gang!

See you out there!

PABC Standings 3-4-09

2009-03-04T08:41:00.004-06:00

As posted below, the Feb. Tourney results are:

1. Cavaness, Roy 4 1/16, 5 13/16, and 6 4/16 for a total of 16 2/16
2. Dorman, Mike 1 15/16, 5 2/16, and 8 1/16 for a total of 15 2/16 (Big Bass)
3. Morris, Jeff 3 12/16, 3 9/16, and 2 2/16 for a total of 9 7/16
4. Day, Jim 3 3/16, 2, 3/16, 1 14/16 for a total of 7 4/16
5. Day, Garrett 1 14/16, 1 14/16, and 2 8/16 for a total of 6 4/16
6. Dorman, Brian 2 5/16, 1 7/16, and 1 13/16 for a total of 5 9/16
7. Palko, Chip 1 15/16, 1 9/16, and 1 11/16 for a total of 5 3/16
8. Witt, Bob 1 9/16, 1 9/16, and 1 6/16 for a total 4 8/16
9. Halfman, Brandon 2 10/16 and 1 8/16 for a total of 4 2/16
10. Minor, Scott 1 5/16 and 1 6/16 for a total of 2 11/16
11. Leeper, Jay 2 4/16
12. Lucas, Jesse 2
13. Lucas, Travis 1 9/16 (Small Stringer)
14. Gagliano, Scott 0

The overall standings have changed a bit. For those recording weights at this point are:

1. Roy Cavness 88.20
2. Mike Dorman 85.57
3. Brian Dorman 82.26
4. Jeff Morris 63.17
5. Garrett Day 42.19
6. Chip Palko 38.25
7. Jim Day 35.51
8. Jay Leeper 33.12
9. Jesse Lucas 32.07
10. Scott Gagliano 11.19
11. Bob Whitt 9.06
12. Scott Miner 8.45
13. Brandon Halfmann 6.75
14. Justin Houk 6.00
15. Drew Searsy 5.50
16. Westley Wyatt 4.06
17. Kevin Johnson 1.94
18. Justin Eady 1.88
19. Wes Hayes 1.88
20. Justin Brumley 1.69
21. Travis Lucas 1.56
22. Noah Brumley 1.44

Way to go, gents!
(Overall weights are recorded in decimal format.)

Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

PABC Feb. Tourney 2-28-09

2009-02-28T22:08:00.014-06:00

Sometimes you just never learn.

Despite 30 MPH north winds and cold weather, the PABC held it's monthly tournament on Twin Buttes today. Some believed the cold front moving in would slow down the bite. Some thought it wouldn't.

It didn't.

Scott and I fished in our old cove and I managed to catch 3 with my biggest one being 2.4. Scott caught one dink.

Water was in the mid 50s, but the real story was the wind as we all were brutalized through out the day. About 10, Scott and I had decided that we had enough and moved locations. After about an hour of trying to find a sheltered area, we hit the maze over by the old boat dock on Buttes. It was hard for us to fish bottom without the wind turning our worms into swim baits.

As hard as it was for us, we had an amazing weigh in; to me anyways!

Fifteen fishermen caught over 82 pounds of fish. This is one of our best tourney's ever.

The biggest catch of the tournament went to Mike Dorman who caught

this 8.1 monster. This was easily the biggest fish that I have ever seen and I consider myself lucky to have been able to do so.

As big as Mike's fish was, and even with the help of a 5.2 and 1.16, it was still only good enough for 2nd place (like that is a bad thing!). Mike said he caught it fishing a worm slow is select spots on the lake. He and his son, Bryan, are excellent examples of what sets experience, time on the water, and knowledge of the lake apart from guys like me that are mostly theory and limited application. It's not enough that the Dormans know how to fish worms, rather they know the lake well enough to know where to fish them. Great catch, Mike!

The man of the tournament was Roy Cavanass. Roy won the tournament with a three fish limit of 4.1, 5.13, and 6.4 (the 5 & 6 are shown left) for a total of 16.2; a full pound over Mike. The battles between Roy and the Dormans have been a blast for the second and third tier fishermen of the PABC and any victories are well earned. These guys really push each other. Way to go, Roy, and good luck next week at the Sudden Link Tourney next week!!!

Jeff Morris rounded off the top 3 with a combined weight of 9.7; not an easy feat to average over 3 pounds for his 3 fish limit!

Big hats off for the guys who braved the wind and cold just for the opportunity to get out and fish with each other. I have always appreciated the way they have supported each other as we all try to improve our fishing. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us better in March as we hope to catch the spawn.

Stay tuned as I try to cover the Sudden Link Tourney next week over on Twin Buttes. Scott and I'll be volunteering so come on over and say "Hey!"

Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Twin Buttes 2-27-09

2009-02-27T22:01:00.007-06:00

Man, it's been a while!

It felt great getting back out on the water!

Last week I was in San Antonio and picked up a couple of Bass Pro Shop Bionic Blades. I couldn't believe the difference. I fished my Ugly Sticks for almost 20 years and I feel like a guy who was deaf and can now hear!

Wow!

Scott and I fished Twin Buttes in an area we use to own until the lake lost too much water. As it was, we saw many fishermen out there. fishermen included these guys.

There you go ladies! You cannot ever say that I'm not fair. :-D

The water was stained and about 60 degrees. We caught dinks in about 2-7 feet of water using Bombers and worms. Wind was mild and the sky was clear.

Pretty decent if you ask me!

While we were flogging the water, we saw this.

Angel caught this 3.9 on a bush hog. Adam was his bud and Riley, their 4-legged friend were very kind to us guys in small plastic boats.

Way to go, guys!

The PABC has a tourney tomorrow. We saw Jeff Morris and Justin Brumley testing the water and watching us try to sink the boat. Garret Day and Brannon Halfman were also trying to drown a plastic worm. We tried a bit of prefishing, but I really wanted to try a 4-hp motor I got my hands on. I just about turned my boat into a submarine! After making a note to myself to leave the motor at home tomorrow, we tried to plan for the tourney. With winds coming out of the north 20-30 mph, we are going to be hard pressed to take things on.

Wish us luck!

Scott and I are volunteering for the Sudden Link Tourney next week. If you get a chance, say "Hey" to the bald guy!

In the mean time, cast straight, cast often, and if you see a plastic boat called "ITOY" say "Hi"!

Wendell Ramsey - A San Angelo Original

2009-02-04T14:51:00.002-06:00

I feel like I caught my first REAL big fish! If you are a fan of the blog, you would recognize the name “Wendell Ramsey” as a name that constantly resurfaces as one of the best, if not the best, local bass fisherman. Wendell Ramsey was nice enough to meet me for an interview for the blog on a windy Wednesday when truthfully, he could have been fishing. I had exchanged emails when I first approached him about a piranha I caught in the Concho over by Country Club Estates in the summer. I give you that Mandy Scott over at TP&W set me straight by identifying it as a Pacu, but Wendell was extremely nice an approachable when I emailed him pictures asking him if he knew what it was. Since then, we have had a chance to exchange a few emails while trying not to be too much a pain to him, Wendell has been extremely kind and willing to offer advice to a struggling fisherman. Just recently, I had the chance to meet Wendell face to face as he agreed to be a guest presenter at the Paul Ann (Baptist Church) Bass Club where we all learned a lot!

I was taken aback at how nice and humble of a man Wendell is. If anybody has any right to be proud of something, it would be this guy regarding his knowledge of the craft we enjoy. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had this opportunity to interview this man.

WTJB: Hello fellow fish jerks. This is Jay Leeper with West Texas Jerk Baits. I have the honor today … I feel like I caught my first big bass …. Wendell Ramsey here at the interview site to be interviewed and to pick his brain a bit. Wendell, would you like to say Hello?

WR: Hello audience! I’m glad to be here! I want to thank Jay for having me and I want to tell everybody right off the bat that I offered to take Jay fishing tomorrow and he declined so (groaning in the background) remember that. He declined to go fishing tomorrow.

WTJB: You know, I’m still thinking about that. I’m thinking while you’re saying that, “Gnaaa!!!” I have a meeting tomorrow, but it’s loosing importance quick!

(laughing)

WTJB: Wendell, for the audience, would you tell us your name, hometown and a little about yourself?

WR: I’m Wendell Ramsey. I am a Senior. I have a son that is a Junior. I was born in Alice, Texas. I lived in Freer, Texas until I was about 6 years old where I moved to San Angelo and have been there for the rest of my life. I graduated from Water Valley High School. Small school, great people, it was a lot of fun. I’ve been around this area every since.

WTJB: Currently, are you a member of any bass clubs?

WR: I am. I’m a member of the Angelo Bass Federation and the Concho Bass Club. At this time, I believe that’s all. However, I believe I have been a member of all the bass clubs at some point in time.

WTJB: If I understand, you also have a perfunctory title?

WR: I am the President of the Angelo Bass Federation for the last three years.

WTJB: Talk about responsibility.

WR: Yeah!

WTJB: As you know, part of our focus is to talk about local fishing; especially for acknowledged experts like yourself. I know that you are uncomfortable wearing that mantle.

WR: I am. That’s a little thick for me.

WTJB: I dunno. If you take a look at the past interviews when I ask who are the top 3 fishermen your name keeps coming up first! Whether you like it or not …

WR: Great… That’s nice. Can I say that I’ll probably never catch another fish again!

(Laughing)

WTJB: Can you tell me what is your favorite local lake and why?

WR: You know, I really have a lot of favorite local lakes. I don’t have a preference to any. If I had to fish a lake within the West Texas Area, it would be Lake Brownwood. It’s certainly not one of the best local fisheries in west Texas as far as catching quality fish, but it’s a fun lake for me. I do catch a lot of fish on that lake but I do love fishing Lake Brownwood. Honestly, I grew up fishing Nasworthy so Nasworthy would be a close second. A lot of people would frown on that, but Nasworthy really is a good fishery.

WTJB: (to the audience) We had the privilege of having Wendell come out and be the guest speaker of the Paul Ann Bass Club. Although it seems redundant as he talked about these things at the bass club, I loved the answers. (to Wendell) Your favorite techniques?

WR: Well, by far, it’s no secret that I love to flip and pitch soft creature baits. I like staying around heavy cover jerking fish out of there on a short line. I grew up fishing out of a kayak dabbling so I was always around that kind of cover. A big heavy action rod with heavy line fishing heavy cover is by far what I like to do.

WTJB: Your 3 favorite lurers?

WR: Three favorite lurers right now? My favorite one right now is a Rage Tail Space Monkey. It’s put out by Strike King. It’s kind of new on the market. I was fortunate enough to know Steve Parks in Dallas who invented the baits and patented them and now markets them through Strike King. He sent me some really before they even came out on the market. (These are) Fantastic baits. The actions of the baits he has are phenomenal. And then, I’m staying with Creature Baits in that I like Zoom Speed Crawls. A very effective way to catch a lot of fish. You’ll catch little fish and big fish. I’ve been using them a long time. Probably my next favorite bait is the 10” Power Worm rigged with a ¼ oz. weight with a big 5/0 hook. I’ve caught fish everywhere on that particular bait from Amstead to Toledo Bend. It’s a fantastic way to catch a lot of big fish.

WTJB: Alright! Here’s a question that ought to peak people’s interest when it comes to picking your brain. Is there any advice you could give for local fishermen; especially for those slightly below average???

WR: Jay’s raising his hand!

WTJB: I am!

WR: That’s not true!
Yeah, I preach this a lot to a lot of people. There are 2 really important things to remember. “One” is time on the water. I know that people have busy jobs and families, but the best teacher is time on the water. So, you know, if you need to involve your family to get time on the water, so be it. There are different levels, but time on the water is one of the most important things. The other thing is to learn your craft to the best of your ability. Learn the basics. Learn how to cast accurately. Learn how to flip and pitch accurately. Keep your baits in the strike zone as long as possible. As long as you’re around fish and your making quality casts to the fish at all times, you really cannot go wrong. I see a lot of people who just don’t do that. They cast randomly around cover and not really in the cover. They tend to stay away from it because they are afraid to get hung up when in fact they should probably be a lot closer to that stuff. So, accurate casting which includes the angle you cast or pitch or flip or anything you do you want to keep that bait in the strike zone. That really falls back to time on the water. The more you do those kinds of things, the better you’re going to be at it. The fish will come. If you can do those things accurately and well, the fish will come.
(Jay laughing) How’s that?

WTJB: (Still laughing) I’m not sure how well I buy that last part.

(more laughing)

WTJB: OK, what is your opinion on the condition of the local fishing? We’re talking from Ivie to Spence on down to Twin Buttes.

WR: Well, you’re painting a broad picture there because we have lakes that are actually kind of hurting right now even though the fishing conditions might not say so right now. The fishing is very well like Lake Spence. The fishing is very well, but as you know I recently talked to TP&W and there is a high level of Golden Algae and it is at toxic levels. I’ve seen some of the fish and they are starting to show the effects of it even though there are not any fish kills or such at the moment. They are showing some sign of that. Ivie, on a scale of one through ten is probably a seven or an eight right now. Ivie is a real good lake. It has been since the hydrilla has taken over in the last two to three years. It’s really made it a phenomenal fishery. There are a lot of big fish in there right now and you can catch all sizes of fish in there. I believe it’s because of the grass that’s grown in the lake. I would have to rank this as one of the greater lakes near the San Angelo area. Twin Buttes is dropping right now. Typically, it holds its own this time of year. The springs run and the lake levels off, but now it’s dropping. That’s not a good sign in the winter time when it’s dropping. The fish I have been catching out there are healthy and full of eggs. They are ready to spawn. Hopefully, we’ll have a real good spawn and we’ll get some rain. Nasworthy is Nasworthy. It’s pretty much stays level. It’ll drop a few inches here and rise a few inches there which is good, generally, for spawning anytime you have that.

WTJB: That’ll work. OK, this is one I have been dying to ask you.

WR: Uh-oh!

WTJB: (snicker) Your favorite true fishing story?

WR: TRUE fishing story?!?! I’ve got a great one for you. I hope we have time for this one, but I’ll try to cut it down for you. Brady Lake, back in the mid to late 90s, me and a friend and fishing partner of mine, Ronnie Wallace, were in a Honey Hole team tourney at Brady Lake. Early in the morning, we started fishing. I caught a couple of 14” bass in the morning right off the bat. Right after that, Ronnie caught one that was almost 10 lbs. It was a big beautiful bass that swallowed a crank bait. We were excited. We hadn’t been fishing but maybe 30 minutes that morning of the tournament. We got him into the live well. Then things were in a kind of a lull so we decided to move to another area. When we decided to move, I mentioned to Ronnie that we had those 3 fish in the same live well and, “Let’s move the big one over to the other side and we’ll leave the 2 little ones by themselves so that they will be easier to cull.” He agreed.

As we were idling out he looks in the back and asks, “How many fish do we have?”

I said, “Three.”

He said, “We only got 2.”

I said, “What!?!?!?”

He replied, “We only have 2 fish in the live well.”

I was like, “You have to be kidding me!”

He said, “You have got to come here. You are not going to believe this!”

Needless to say, that big fish that Ronnie caught had ate one of the 14” bass in the live well. So here we are in a major fishing tournament (with) a lot of money on the line and we were all excited, but we didn’t know what to do. The rules say that you can only weigh 5 fish. One of our fish ate one of our fish, does that still count? We had quite a dilemma Anyways, to make a long story short, We managed to get the 14” bass out of the almost 10-pound bass and releasing the big fish safely after the tournament. Needless to say, we managed to cull all of the little fish and we won the tournament and we had the big bass. We told them what happened and we did pass the polygraph.

WTJB: How did you get the fish out?

WR: Slowly, but surely, we managed to work the fish out of its gut. It was in head first, but it took a while. We got it out. Is that a story or what??

WTJB: (laughing) Oh my God!

WR: It’s a true story. We were lost because we could not believe it had happened.

(Wendell shared another story that will be available on the podcast.)

WTJB: Catch and release?

WR: I believe in Catch and Release to a point. We need to look at how we are managing them. I know that there are a lot of people catching them and releasing the; none of them are going home to the frying pan. People need to take some home. I look at Ivie that has an 18” minimum. That came up because people believed that there were not enough bass in the lake. Of course the lake was low at the time and I believe it hurt the quality of the fish for a short time. With the grass back, the fish are coming back healthier. I do believe that lakes that do not allow fish to be taken out are being hurt in the long run. I do not know if this means that we need to drop the size from 14” to 12” in order to take a few home and fillet them, but it won’t hurt.

WTJB: Gotcha. Personal hero?

WR: Personal Hero? I do have a personal hero. His name is Bob Vance. He’s a good friend of mine’s dad who passed away several years ago. He was a good man who I respected during my upbringing. He was good. I’ll leave it at that.

WTJB: OK. My next question is one that I am very curious as to how you are going to answer. In your opinion, who would you consider to be the 3 best local fishermen?

WR: Three best local …. That’s hard to answer because I certainly respect a lot of fishermen in this town. I’ve always said, even in my writings in the local newspaper that I have done that I certainly respect a lot of the fishermen in west Texas and San Angelo.

WTJB: You can respectfully pass to answer that question because of your position that you are in.

WR: I will answer because there are at least 3 that I certainly respect. Believe me, I know for a fact that there are a lot of fishermen in this town that are just as good a fisherman as I. Some of them do not fish nearly as much as I do. I know what quality fishermen they are. First of all I would like to talk about Ronnie Wallace. He’s one of my long time team fishing partners since probably about ’94 or ’95 we have been fishing the team fishing circuits together. An excellent fisherman; very good and very knowledgeable. He can find fish on literally any lake. Number 2 is Gary Carr. He’s a local banker here in town. Quality fisherman dedicated when it comes to practicing for a tournament. He’s very serious. He’s one of those who pays a lot of attention to a lot of the details that a lot of people overlook. He can find fish quickly and he’s very thorough. I’ve watched him and fished against him in many a tournament. He’s a very good fisherman. And then there’s Charles Becker. He’s certainly a quality fisherman as well. He’s been around, like me for a very long time fishing out of Kayaks and migrating to bigger boats. He’s caught fish, literally, probably all over the world. Locally, when you go to weigh in, he’s always got fish. There’s 3. I can give you 30 if you want.

(Laughing)

WTJB: That’s all the questions I have. Is there anything you want to talk about like fishing club meeting times or something like that?

WR: Well, if anybody is interested in the Bass Federation, it’s no secret that you can go to the website www.texas-bass.com There’s many, many clubs in west Texas as well as through out the state. I know I’ve talked about it before, but if you are interested in competing in the Bassmasters amateur level, this is the way to go. This is an opportunity, a very hard opportunity; especially in Texas. Texas has more fishermen trying to get in at this level than any other state. If you can get through Texas, then you have got a pretty good chance. Great group of guys. Not a whole lot of meetings as we usually have out meetings at the tournaments. You can go to the website and click on the west region and it will give you all the information that you will need. Of course, you can email me or call me.

We wrapped up the interview and I feel like I let the big fish go. I didn’t want the interview to end as I knew an opportunity to learn so much more was getting away from me. In the end, I was glad as I knew that I stood a pretty good chance of catching back up and with a little luck would have another opportunity to learn from one of the best.

In all honesty, if you get a chance to visit with Wendell, you need to take advantage of it. This San Angelo Original truly is very approachable and willing to let you pick his brain.

In my quest to break the 5 lb. mark, I know that much of the information Wendell has shared is relevant and applicable. I only hope that I can apply it correctly.

Again, my sincerest thanks to Wendell for taking time from his busy schedule to meet and talk with me. I consider myself truly honored have a chance to visit with him over one of my favorite subjects.

PABC Standings as of 2-3-09

2009-02-03T10:47:00.006-06:00

The January Weigh Ticket Tourney was concluded 2-2-09. Participating members weighed in their top 3 catches with the results posted below.

1. Cavanass, Roy 5 8/16, 4 6/16, 3 9/16 with a monthly total of 13 7/16 and Big Bass Award (5.5)
2. Doran, Brian 4 7/16, 4 1/16, 4 6/16 with a monthly total of 12 14/16
3. Doran, Mike 3 3/16, 4 1/16, 4 8/16 with a monthly total of 11 12/16
4. Palko, Chip 1 4/16, 1 14/16 with a monthly total of 3 2/16
5. Morris, Jeff with a monthly total of 2 14/16
6. Leeper, Jay with a monthly total of 1 7/16
7. Lucas, Jesse with a monthly total of 1 4/16 (Coveted Small Stringer Award Winner)
8. Lopez. Jaime 0
9. Gagliano, Scott 0

Roy Cavanass also won the "3-Pound Contest" with a 3 pounder on the nose.

The overall PABC totals as of this month are:

1. Brian Dorman 72.64
2. Roy Cavness 65.58
3. Mike Dorman 62.38
4. Jeff Morris 49.98
5. Garrett Day 33.44
6. Jay Leeper 28.62
7. Chip Palko 27.94
8. Jesse Lucas 27.13
9. Jim Day 25.07
10. Scott Gagliano 11.19
11. Scott Miner 6.13
12. Justin Houk 6.00
13. Drew Searsy 5.50
14. Westley Wyatt 4.06
15. Bob Whitt 3.00
16. Kevin Johnson 1.94
17. Justin Eady 1.88
18. Wes Hayes 1.88
19. Justin Brumley 1.69
20. Noah Brumley 1.44

Congrats to the winners and competitors!

The PABC will have their next tournament Feb. 28th from 7 AM to 2 PM. Contestants are encouraged to meet and pay entry fees at 6 AM at the Town and Country across from Academy.

If there are any other area bass clubs that want their standings posted, please feel free to email me as I will be glad to post.

Thanks and I hope to see you on the water.

Middle Concho 2-1-09

2009-02-01T21:20:00.002-06:00

We knew it. We knew it. We knew it.

With wind 20+ mph out of the north, we knew it would be tough.

It was clear with temp being mid 60s, but water was colder at 48 degrees. We tried cranking in the shallows and caught nothing save a white that Scott cought.

We'll see if my 1.7 will take the Small Stringer tomorrow.

Hope to see you on the water!

Interview: Mike McNellis - The Friendly Neighborhood Academy Fishing Guy

2009-02-01T21:03:00.004-06:00

I met Mike McNellis over at a pond in late winter of '08. I was getting frustrated not catching anything and I saw this other guy catching them one after another. I finally went up to him and asked him what he was doing. Thankfully, he was nice and shared with me what he was doing. It's a secret that still pays off.

I always look for Mike when I drop in my second favorite place (first being the water) and talk fish. He is truly a great resource for new and old fishermen who want to talk fish, techniques, or equipment. I cannot recommend him highly enough as a person to get to know. Although it took a while to finally hook up for this interview, I though it well worth it!

WTJB: Hello, fellow fish jerks. It is Tuesday, January 27th on a very cold day. I am over here at Baker’s Street Coffee House with Mike McNellis. Mike is our friendly neighborhood Academy Fishing Counter Fisherman. Mike is a local expert and an excellent recourse I have tapped over the last year. Mike, would you like to say ‘Hello”?

MG: Hello.

WTJB: If you wouldn’t mind, could you take a moment and tell us your name, hometown, and a little about yourself?

MG: I’m Mike McNellis. My hometown is San Diego, California. I moved here to San Angelo about three years ago. I’ve been fishing all my life; as long as I can remember since I was three years old. Mostly bass fishing, but I have fished for just about everything.

WTJB: Are you a member of any local bass clubs?

MG: At this time, I’m not. At some point I’d like to be, but time restraints just do not allow it. I’m trying to raise a couple of kids.

WTJB: I totally understand that.

MG: Yeah.

WTJB: The focus of the blog is on the condition of local area lakes and such, what is your favorite lake?

MG: Twin Buttes. Accessibility. It’s easy to get to and there are a lot of fish in there.

WTJB: I cannot find them.

MG: Yeah, but they’re there. I’ve had most of my experience there. I’ve fished Ivie. I’ve fished Amstead. Beautiful lakes, but frankly I can’t see spending the money going all the way out to Ivie when I can do just as good at Twin Buttes.

WTJB: What would you say are your three favorite techniques?

MG: I’m a shallow water fisherman. I don’t rely a lot on electronics so flip and pitch would be my main techniques whether that be jigs or soft plastics. I throw a spinner bait. I love throwing a spinner bait. Another technique I use is twitching a minnow. It’s a pretty specified technique. It doesn’t work all the time but when it does it is a lot of fun.

WTJB: What is it?

MG: It’s like a Rapalla. It’s a balsa wood bait.

WTJB: This leads into the next question I have. What would you consider to be your 3 favorite lures?

MG: By far, I probably catch 50% of my fish on a jig. I’m a big jig fisherman. I have a lot of confidence in it whether it be jigging pork or jigging plastic. I’ve recently started using a lot more plastic where as I was using pork.

WTJB: Why the change?

MG: You have more colors with plastics. Plastics do not dry out. Pork is really good for cold weather and fish that are real picky. Fish will bite into pork a lot easier and hold on to it for a lot longer, but you run into the problems of it drying out and what have you. And again, spinner baits. I love throwing spinner baits. Other lures include that Rapalla Minnow.

WTJB: Regarding spinner baits, are you one of those fishermen that favor one color or another?

MG: Any color as long as it’s white.

WTJB: (laughing) I just about spit all over my computer!

MG: I pretty much stick with white and clear colors. There are times where in real dirty water I use black and chartreuse or such, but normally I am trying to imitate a bait fish and the clear colors seem to work the best. Out at Twin Buttes really good colors are a clear skirt with a blue top. For some reason they just like it.

WTJB: For my next question, this is something you really helped me out with a year or so ago. Do you have any advice for local fishermen?

MG: Fish shallow. Around here, they adhere to shallow water regardless of temperature. Out at Twin Buttes, the water could be 40 degreed and the water dropping a foot a day and they would be right up against the bank with some reason. Sometimes, if you are not getting hits, downsize your bait. I have found that a lot of the finesse techniques I learned in California really excelled when I moved out here. It’s something I didn’t try to do. I was just used to fishing that way. Out in California, everything we fished was just a little smaller or a little lighter.

WTJB: Everyone always says things are a little bit bigger in Texas.

MG: Well, sometimes you go the opposite way and you catch fish. I’ve caught some really big fish on some really big bait that I wouldn’t ever throw in California. If you’re having trouble catching fish, downsize. I have found that people try to complicate bass fishing. I think that’s one thing I see is that people come in (to Academy) and there are so many colors and so many baits and it’s not so much what you throw as where you throw. I think if people learn fish behavior they will be a lot better off than collecting every bait in the store.

WTJB: I think we can all appreciate that.

MG: I use this analogy, if I’m going down a ban throwing a 10” plastic lizard with a chartreuse tail and you follow shortly with a 10” plastic worm you will probably catch just as man y fish. As I do. It’s not so much “what” as “where”. When fish are in feeding mode, they’re going to eat just about anything. You know, every bait has their own subtleties. Again, I use California as a reference where guys will hand pour worms and you will get one style of worm with about 200 colors and these guys will collect every one in a huge worm bag and that’s not necessary.

WTJB: I see. What is your opinion of the local fishing?

MG: Pretty fair. I think it could be better if for no other reason than the lack of water. When was the last time it rained here?

WTJB: Today. Maybe.

MG: Yeah, we got a dusting of ice.

MG: Well, the fishing is pretty diverse. We have dirty water. We have Nasworthy. We have Twin Buttes which I call stained water. We have a lot of the creeks around here that are gin clear. You have a lot of diversity as far as water quality. The fish always seem to bite despite certain things.

WTJB: If you do not mind, do you have any favorite true fishing stories?

MG: I have enough to write a book. One of my favorite as of late is I had my son out at Twin Buttes. He loves going fishing with me, but I have a hard time getting him fishing. He can catch fish. He does really good when he makes those 1-2 a day. But, he showed some desire to fish with live bait. I don’t really know a lot about fishing with live bait. We went out to a spot out at Twin Buttes on the Middle Concho. The water was much higher than it is now; just under the tops of those bluffs. We tried a minnow on a weight and caught nothing. Finally, I decided to just cast out the minnow. I threw it out and told him to just stand here and hang on. I figured a white bass or crappie would come up and eat the minnow. I walked 10 yards down and was throwing a worm and he started yelling, “Daddy! Daddy! I got one!” I’m thinking, “OK, he’s snagged in a bush.” I started ambling my way over and this bass jumps up every bit of 7-pounds. Just a huge fish. I’m running to him at this point and I get to about a foot from him and he gets pulled into the water. He won’t let go of this pole. He lands and he’s in the water up to about his chest. He lands on this ledge and he would have been fine if he had let go of the pole but he’s not letting him go and this fish is pulling him into the water. It pulled him out deeper and deeper until he wasn’t touching the bottom anymore. He starts to panic. In goes dad. Quite the scene and he finally let go of the rod. I dragged him out and he was crying saying, “Daddy, I don’t like fishing any more!” He was screaming so loud that down the river was a big red Skeeter that heard the commotion and came down to see what was going on. He was out the next day fishing with me. He’s still going out with me. You’ve seen the picture out at Academy. That’s another funny story. We were at a pond near where I live and I was throwing a little top water and hooked into a 12” fish. I was working it back to me and I noticed this big torpedo following it. It was a big fish, maybe 7 or 8 pounds. I’m screaming to my son to cast. He threw out his little plastic worm and hit the fish on the forehead. The worm rolled down the head and the fish just inhaled the worm. This time I grabbed a hold of my son and he pulled in the fish. You’ve seen the picture.

WTJB: For those interested, there is the picture over by the fishing counter at Academy.

WTJB: Catch and Release?

MG: For all black bass, yes.

WTJB: Personal hero?

MG: My dad. He never had the patience to fish, but he would take me fishing. He’d take me to the camp site and send me off to go fishing.

We talked on about other things and shared a few laughs over our coffee (check out the podcast for the complete story) as we wrapped things us. We also visited about the people he’s met working the Fishing section at Academy. I have to admit that there is definitely something envious about working in an area where you can mix your passion with making a living and be successful at it.

If you get a chance, stop on in the Academy and say hey to Mike. He’d like to take a bit to just talk fishing. And do me a favor and tell him Jay sent you!

Middle Concho 1-31-09

2009-01-31T19:45:00.012-06:00

Interesting day!

Chip Palko fell victim of my master plan to insure that I win the PABC Small Stringer Award. When I found out that Chip had a 1.4, well I couldn't have that; now, could I? I skillfully put him in position to catch a 1.14 thus my 1.7 will take the day. (**insert evil laugh here**)

Actually, I had the privilege to be taken out fishing by Chip. It was an honor that I don't take lightly. I knew that it was going to be an interesting day. Temperature was in the mid-60s and clear with the water being 49-50 degrees and stained. Wind was coming out of the south pretty hard, 20 MPH pretty steadily until dusk. I was fishing a 1/4 oz. Scrounger jig head on a white Lake Fork Swim Bait. Pretty bait but despite a couple of hits, I officially got ...

Not the first time. Not the last, I'm sure!

Chip was fishing something he was calling a "Killer Shad" and it did well. We were casting in an area and I got a hit. He tossed in and caught it.

It certainly got my attention and I watched with interest.

We were fishing my areas on the Middle Concho that I have been hitting as of late. There was no less than 5 other boats in the area. We hit the gently sloping mud banks that are shallow and tried to see if the fish would hit. We worked in the salt cedars where Chip caught about 4 good size whites to include this nice fish.

In general, Chip was working on the outside of the cedars. In my opinion, he was doing one thing critically right where as I was doing one thing critically wrong. Chip downsized to this swim bait where as I was sticking to the 4.5 inch swim bait. I didn't think it would make much difference until I saw Chip keep on catching the fish. By then it was too late. I hadn't fished this swim bait and jig head before so I wanted to get familiar with it. I knew that I would have a hard time unless I drug the bait onto the head of the bass. As I noted, no such luck. I have to admit, I did enjoy watching Chip catch this one.

The 1.14 was a blast!

On a side note, I got good news and bad news on a bet we had made. Chip lost one by the boat and said it was a largemouth bass. I said that I didn't think so. He said, "Well, let me catch it again."

He did. That was the bad news. The good news was that I was right, it turned out to be a white. ;-P

Chip did manage to make a pretty good stringer.

I has a great time and hope to get back out tomorrow.

Take care and I hope to see you on the water!

Middle Concho 1-25-09

2009-01-25T20:00:00.002-06:00

Doh!

Went to our usual haunt as of late. Got there at about 3:30 and tied things up at about 6 PM. My fishing buddy, Scott, and I both had a lot of casualties in way of lures and tackle. I caught one on a crank bait; dink. Unfortunately, that was the only one. Scott had many hits on a Carolina rigged crawfish.

Water temperature was 51 and the water was, well ... what we expect for the typical clarity. Wind was out of the south at about 10 mph pretty much the whole time.

The dink was shallow in a gradual sloping mud bank. Pretty interesting that this has consistently produced the last few times I've fished the area. As one person put it, "I don't think the fish in the area ever stop going shallow."

I'm going to also find a link in boating etiquette as the last 2 times boats have passed us and not slowed down. This is rough in any fishing boat let alone a 9' plastic one!

Take care, all, and I hope to see you on the water!

Middle Concho 1-19-09

2009-01-19T15:59:00.002-06:00

Subtitled: I hate the Weatherman!

Just kidding!

I was expecting a clear day with winds coming out of the SSW at 5-10 MPH. We got a clear day with winds coming out of the North at 10-20 MPH. Not a good thing for a 9' plastic boat! I spent more time trying to keep a position than fishing. On days like that, it's hard to fish bottom because you move too much.

I caught a 1.7 on a Bleeding Shad Rattletrap fished through some thinning salt cedars. Paw-In-Law got a decent hit by the boat. Most of our action was on the outer line of cedars. Water temp was 45-47 degrees. I guess this means I am in the running for the PABC Small Stringer. I'll try to disqualify myself at a later date!

Hope you spend your MLK Holiday on the water!

Concho River 1-16, 17, 18-09

2009-01-18T22:25:00.002-06:00

Nada, nada, and more nada. I spied what looked like an old disintegrating bridge behind Massie Funeral Home and recalled how winter fish relate to transition bottoms. Friday evening for a very short period, I threw with a cheap ultralite I keep in my truck and had no bites, but I still held hope. I went out Saturday morning a bit more seriously and more serious equipment. For a couple of hours, I fished with a jig and Carolina worm and got no hits before I ran out of time. I had an opportunity this evening to try again and figuring the warming might help the fishing tried my best even throwing a rattletrap. Grrr.....

Heading out with paw-in-law in the AM with hopes of catching a few.

Hope to see you on the water!!!

Interview with Garath Fulks

2009-01-08T10:57:00.006-06:00

I had an opportunity to meet Garath Fulks, a student at my school, in early August. I had read an article in the Standard Times about him and his experience with Junior Bass Masters and knew that he would be at my campus. So, of course, I made sure to introduce myself. I was curious as to what kind of person could make it to that level or fishing at such a young age; personality, traits, you know ... things like that. Through the course of the year, I have had an opportunity to get to know him and recognize that he is indeed the real deal. I was talking about him with one of his teachers who told me a story about when he asked Garath if he knew how to fish. The teacher said that Garath half-grinned and in his easy, confident way said, "Yes sir, I know how to fish." The teacher said that he imagined Billy The Kid responding in a similar way if asked if he knew how to shoot a gun.

Garath was nice enough to cut his after school activity off a little to meet with me for this interview.

WTJB: Hello, fellow fish jerks. It is 4:09 on a Monday afternoon. I have in my interview area Garath Fulks.
Garath, how are you doing today?

GF: I’m doing pretty good. How are you?

WTJB: I am well. I want to thank you for taking time today in regards to an interview with West Texas Jerk Bait. For the record, what is your full name and hometown?

GF: My name is Garath Fulks and I am from San Angelo, Texas.

WTJB: Are you a member of any local bass clubs?

GF: I’m a member of the Permian Bass Club in Odessa. Every year I fish the Junior Bassmaster Circuit.

WTJB: When you say every year, how many years has it been now?

GF: I started in 2007, I think. That was the year I went to nationals. I guess this will be my 3rd year, this year.

WTJB: Goodness! So, when you go to nationals where is this usually done at?

GF: It’s held all over the country. When I went it was held at Syracuse, New York. The year before that it was at Alabama. This year it is in Kansas.

WTJB: How well did you do at those?

GF: I placed 10th.

WTJB: Out of how many?

GF: Well, there were 51 people in my age group.

WTJB: Wow! Well done! Next question; when we are talking WTJB, we are talking about local lakes. What would you consider to be your favorite local lake and why?

GF: I like Lake Ivie. It is a great lake. You can do just about anything there; any technique you want to and catch fish on it.

WTJB: What would you consider to be your favorite techniques?

GF: It really depends on what time of the year it is. Like this year, normally, we are fishing deep drop shots or Carolina Rigging. This year it is a little weird. We were throwing swim baits in 8’ of water yesterday and killing them.

WTJB: What would you consider to be your three favorite lurers and why?

GF: My first favorite lure is a hand poured Sinco that I had made from a guy in Wisconsin. It’s just an awesome bait that resembles a dead, dying thing just floating through the water and it’ll catch fish. My second favorite bait is a Spro frog; the bronze eye color. They’re just a lot of fun to use and catch fish on. My third favorite bait would probably be a watermelon colored fluke used as a soft jerk bait through grass beds and trees.

WTJB: OK. Keeping in mind that you are young to be this young and experienced you probably have some good advice that even an older guy like myself can use. Care to share any?

GF: For this time of year?

WTJB: Sure.

GF: Probably for this time of year normally I’d say fish deep in rock beds or brush piles but for this year I’d say fish in the salt cedars flipping or throwing a swim bait if you can find enough room to.

WTJB: What about early spring?

GF: Same, pretty much, because they are spawning in the shallow waters except for the bigger fish which are probably in 15’ of water.

WTJB: What is your opinion on the condition of local fishing?

GF: It’s not very good right now, I don’t think. I hope it gets a lot better come spring time with the spawn and fish being more aggressive and wanting your bait.

WTJB: OK. Do you have any true favorite fishing stories?

GF: I’ve got a couple. One, well … it’s not really a story, but an experience. I went fishing with Gerald Swindle in New York. That was a blast! That was the best fishing trip I had ever had. He’s the funniest guy in the world! He kept calling people “Hammerheads” and kept calling me “GMan” or “Little G”.

My second favorite story is a bit embarrassing. I was fishing on (Lake) Hubbard and it was early morning in the summer. I was jerking a chug bug over a grass bed. I decided I would hold on to the rod with one hand and look around. I switched hands and gave it one more jerk and I had about a 5 pounder come up and attack my bait. So I freaked out and set the hook with one have and dropped my rod into the water. I jumped into the water and caught my rod. I was fighting the fish while in the water. It was 15 feet of water and I was trying to swim. My grandfather was in the boat about 50’ away laughing his head off. It didn’t make me very happy. The fish ended up getting hung up on a tree and got away. I climbed back into the boat and stayed wet or the rest of the trip.

WTJB: Catch and release?

GF: Yeah. Definitely.

WTJB: OK. Personal heroes?

GF: My personal hero is my grandpa (Danny Fulks) ‘cause he takes me fishing just about every where I go because my dad is busy working. He’s taught me everything I know about fishing.

WTJB: In your experience around here, who would you consider the 3 best local fishermen that you know?

GF: Jim Brown is a pretty good fisherman. He is the director of the youth fishing for Junior Bass. Wendell (Ramsey) is pretty good. Austin Terry is pretty good. He’s beat me pretty bad at a few of our tourneys. He’s a senior this year at Central.

We wrapped things up from there as he had homework he needed to attend to. It struck me odd how people pass through each other's lives and the impact we make on others. Garath, though a young man just starting his journey to adulthood, demonstrates many attributes that we as adults struggle with. He is an old soul merged with the hope of a life that is coming to pass. I consider myself fortunate to have crossed paths with this youngster. This is one kiddo that I look forward to watching as he grows up hopefully doing something that he loves and perhaps we will get to see on Bass Masters in our old age.

If you are so inclined, the interview in it's entirity is podcasted. Tune in on Podbean to hear some of the things edited in the written interview.

I hope to see you on the water!

1-5-09 PABC Standings

2009-01-06T08:28:00.005-06:00

The December Weigh Ticket Tourney was concluded 1-5-09. Participating members weighed in their top 3 catches with the results posted below.

1. Dorman, Mike 7 9/16, 6 3/16, 4 14/16 with a monthly total of 18 10/16
2. Dorman, Bryan 3 13/16, 4 12/16, 3 11/16 with a monthly total of 12 4/16
3. Morris, Jeff 3 14/16, 3 12/16, 3 9/16 with a monthly total of 11 3/16
4. Cavaness, Roy 5 2/16, 2 13/16, 2 13/16 with a monthly total of 10 12/16
5. Day, Jim 4 8/16, 2 5/16, 1 12/16 with a monthly total of 8 9/16
6. Leeper, Jay 3 1/16, 1 7/16, 1 6/16 with a monthly total of 5 14/16
7. Day, Garrett 3 5/16, 2 5/16 with a monthly total of 5 10/16
8. Gagliano, Scott 1 fish with a monthly total of 3 6/16
9. Palko, Chip 1 4/16 and 2 1/16 with a monthly total of 3 5/16
10. Lucas, Jesse 1 fish with a monthly total of 1 12/16

Congrats to all who participated.

The current PABC Overall Standings are

1. Brian Dorman 55.33
2. Roy Cavness 46.64
3. Mike Dorman 46.13
4. Jeff Morris 44.23
5. Garrett Day 30.87
6. Jay Leeper 25.74
7. Jim Day 25.07
8. Jesse Lucas 24.63
9. Chip Palko 22.94
10. Scott Gagliano 11.19
11. Scott Miner 6.13
12. Justin Houk 6.00
13. Drew Searsy 5.50
14. Westley Wyatt 4.06
15. Bob Whitt 3.00
16. Kevin Johnson 1.94
17. Justin Eady 1.88
18. Wes Hayes 1.88
19. Justin Brumley 1.69
20. Noah Brumley 1.44

If there are any other clubs that want to post their results and standings, please email me or post on the forums.

Thanks guys!

O. H. Ivie 12-31-08

2009-01-06T07:09:00.004-06:00

The Dormans, Mike and Bryan, sent me some pics from the 12-31 trip to Ivie. Mike commented on a prior post that they traveled up the Colorado and found the catch in about 3-4' of water. They were fishing worms.

Bryan (left) said he caught this 4.12 on the day. Mike (right) caught this 7.10 shortly after. Great Pics!

Mike said the conditions were cold and windy. Thanks for the info, guys!!!!

Middle Concho 1-3-09

2009-01-03T22:34:00.006-06:00

What is it about me and batteries????

Paw-in-law and I traveled up the Concho to try our luck. Fished a couple of spots that were supposed to be pretty good. I managed to up my stringer with a 1.6
giving me a PABC straight (1.5, 1.6, and 1.7) so I was pretty stoked about the small stringer award for the month. I knew that Jim Day would be tough competition, though.

Then I messed up.

Nuts! This 3.1 messed up my chances. Oh well!

He sure was a nice catch!

John, Mr. Unconventional, went off and caught this on a crank bait in about 3 feet of water.

Now, I knew better than to comment on how unlikely he would catch a fish up in the area he wanted to go because he pulls things like this. I learned a long time ago to just watch.

The 3 that I caught were in 8-13' of water and I caught them on the jig and crawfish trailer. There was a little wind coming out of the south, but not too bad. Water temp was mostly 50 degrees with the water being the usual Twin Buttes fare.

Big props to John for the pictures as I neglected to properly place the camera on the charger the night before. His LG saved the day and took some great pics!

For anyone interested, the PABC will be meeting 1-5-09 at the Fellowship Hall of Paul Ann Baptist at 7 PM.

Hope to see you there!

Oh yeah, and I hope to see you on the water.

Middle Concho 12-30

2008-12-30T14:03:00.002-06:00

Nice day!

I got skunked!

Scott caught a 3.6 on a worm fishing the Middle Concho. I had a nice hit early for about 3 seconds before the fish decided that he had enough of that and shook me off. I was using mostly a jig and crayfish trailer while Scott used a Texas-rigged worm. Weather was breezy and sky clear. Water temp was about 48.8 degrees.

We ran into 2 other members of the PABC heading up river; Jesse Lucas and Jim Day. Hope they caught some fish!

Hope to see you on the water!

Twin Buttes 12-28-08

2008-12-28T17:06:00.002-06:00

Flogged the water with paw-in-law on the southeast side of Twin Buttes. Water temp was 48 degrees. This was a great time to break in the new equipment. We mostly used jigs with crawfish trailers, a little worming and rattle traps. I caught 2 with a 1.5 on a rattletrap (like I said, I was testing my new equipment). John caught 1 as we were coming in saving him from the skunk. It was a little windy after 10 and we focused on some rocks. Water was pretty deep, but I had difficulty geting through and around the vegitation structure.

On a side note, if your vehicle's battery shows signs of weakening you need to address it. Having to use a trolling boat battery to jump is not a good thing.

Hope to see you on the water!

Twin Buttes/Middle Concho 12-26-08

2008-12-27T20:16:00.002-06:00

Braved the wind and took my step dad out hoping to find a little shelter on the river. No success. We did find a 1.7 for me and a 3.9 for my step dad. We fished carolina rigged worms. Did I mention it was windy???

Braving the cold tomorrow with paw-in-law. At least it shouldn't be windy!

Hope to see you on the water!

Interview with the TPWD Biologist Team

2008-12-22T15:55:00.008-06:00

On Tuesday, 12-16, I had the good fortune to get members of the TPW Biologist Team to sit down and agree to be interviewed for WTJB. I had high hopes and was not disappointed. I have had the good fortune to know Mandy Scott through a neighorhood fishing program that is promoted in some of the SAISD schools. I thought that she would be a great resource for area fishermen to get to know and knows a lot about the local area. Mandy has always been approachable and helpful to my many questions. To my surprise and pleasure, she was able to get 2 other members of her team to agree to an interview; Mukhtar Farooqi, the Fisheries Biologist District Supervisor and John Ingle; Fisheries Technician (and current holder of the Twin Buttes White Crappie Lake Record).

Mukhtar was a surprise; a person “not from around here” with what I discovered to be an English accent. It didn’t take long to see the passion he holds for his job or learn that he was knowledgeable and very curious of the area seeing that he had only been in Angelo for 8 months. His easy personality played well with his energy and I quickly knew that the reader of the interview would gain something.

I immediately recognized in John the “something” that an experienced fisherman has. Like a veteran pilot or such, John has the easy confidence in his knowledge and skill. John knows the area and it was soon apparent that he had been fishing he area for a long time.

I asked the biologist team to identify themselves for the podcast. They introduced themselves as:

John Ingle, Fisheries Technician (JI)
Mandy Scott, Fisheries Biologist (MS)
Mukhtar Farooqi, Fisheries Biologist District Supervisor (MF)
WTJB: (to JI) What is the technician position entail with TPW?

JI: More or less to help assist the biologist in their research projects through out our district.

WTJB: Sounds like you’re a professional fisherman?

(laughing)

JI: No. No. Wanna be. We’re mostly geared towards maintenance and upkeep. We perform general surveys on the fisheries throughout our district.

WTJB: Great! What about the biologist position? What does the position entail?

MS: We’re responsible for monitoring the fisheries in our district. We take a look at them through monitoring surveys. We do special surveys of our fisheries and what we can do to improve them. As far as things we can do, we can do stocking, setting regulations, and habitat improvement. We are the ones who make the decisions on what to do to improve the fishing in our district. Really, I want to add in that we have slightly different roles, but all 4 people … we really work as a team. You know, just slight differences in our job descriptions but we really are a team.

MF: That’s right. Our aim is to make fishing better. We are 4 people in one office trying to manage a district and we have to work together as a team. To get that accomplished, we might have separate assignments to accomplish, but when it comes to looking after the district and trying to manage the fisheries we operate as a tightly fit unit. Each one of us independently can make decisions as the situation arises.

WTJB: On the note of the surrounding fishing conditions, what are your opinions, fact or opinion, on the conditions of the local fishing in the area?

MF: Well, there are 2 ways to look at that. One is from our survey point of view based on the surveys we carry out which will be electro fishing which is mainly for shoreline species and there’s trap-netting for crappie, gill-netting for some of the open water species like catfish, and Creel surveys where we interview anglers. That aspect, where we conduct Creel surveys, and where we fish ourselves we try to mesh the two with our scientific sampling. That, I think is, to get the overall sampling is what we like to do. So, when you ask us that question, we can give you from what we find in our surveys and we can give you an answer on what we can find on our Creel surveys where we interview the anglers and also from our experiences from our fishing. We have differing levels of experience on that. From an angling point of view I would defer to John (a general laughter ensues) and then all of us can chip in from a scientific point of view. Meshing the two together can get the overall picture because if is fine for us to say “From our sampling we found this” but it has to translate to what the anglers are catching.

WTJB: OK. (To JI) Any opinion on how the local fishing is right now? What are you seeing?

JI: Right now, most people are targeting crappie; deep water crappie. Twin Buttes has really come on here lately. The water temperature is dropping down. It was 50 (degrees) last week and today we took water quality samples at 8:00 AM and it was about 48 degrees so those crappie are moving deep on the river ledges and channels. You can probably catch them on about 25 feet or so on Twin Buttes. Nasworthy is probably pretty decent right now. They are moving up to docks, brush-pile docks with access to deep water. Probably right now Twin Buttes, angling wise, is probably our best crappie lake unless you go to Ivie. We have a lot of people who fish at night on Ivie. That's a little rough on me to go out there.

MS: I was out there Sunday for a Creel Survey and I asked the marina workers specifically about crappie fishing and they said that it was pretty slow right now.

WTJB: What is a Creel survey?

MS: It’s when we go out … When we go to Ivie, we have what is called an Access Creel Survey. When we are out there and interviewing the anglers about their fishing trip.

WTJB: OK!

MS: We find out things like how long they have been fishing that day, what they are fishing for, what they caught, released, and how much money they have spend. You know, the economic impact of their fishing day. It’s one more impact of their surveys.

MF: Right. Sometimes our surveys show that perhaps, let's say crappie fishing, should be good based upon what we find but when we interview the anglers we might find that they haven’t been catching as we thought they might and vice versa. They may do well sometimes and it is not showing up on our surveys. What’s interesting on the crappie is what I was going to get John’s opinion on OC Fisher because when we did our survey just last week we set 10 trap nets out there and we were surprised on the high catch rate

MS: There was a great crappie catch rate out there.

MF: Size wise it’s not like there were a lot of small fish. Basically up to 12-13 inches but a nice size range, nice color, and a lot of them. Out of those 10 nets there was maybe 1 that had a low number of fish.

WTJB: Any advice on location?

MS: I remember one of the nets up the river, up the creek was really good.

WTJB: You guys might want to keep that secret.

MS: Noooo. It’s our job to disseminate that information.

MF: It’s not that we are trying to be cagy. It’s that this was one of the better sites.

JI: Just up the Concho River there isn’t nothing but some mud banks and some flooded terrestrial in there; nothing to really attract them but I guess the shad moved up there and they are just following them. All the shad are in the creeks where the water is a little bit warmer up there. Really, there is nothing really to attract them up there. Come spring time it should be tremendous fishing up the shore line back there. On the angling side, I haven’t been out to Fisher in a year or so. That was an eye-opener to all of us on the number of crappie we did collect. Most of them were of legal size so to speak.

MF: So, from our sampling point of view things are looking good. Now we hope to see if the anglers can tap into that.

WTJB: OK. Let’s talk bass. How are they looking in the local area?

JI: Bass fishing, probably Twin Buttes again. We have had a rise in water level since ’04. We have a lot of flooded terrestrial and we did some back to back stockings the last 2 years so the fishing has been tremendous the last 2 years. We are able to maintain our water and everything so fishing should be good our there. Hopefully, we can get some more water into the lake level out there.

MS: Speaking of that, with more anglers going to Twin Buttes we are hoping that Nasworthy, which had been suffering for a few years since Buttes was so low and people were not fishing there, that we think that there was so much pressure on Nasworthy that it was pressing the bass fishery there. Hopefully, with some of the pressure being relieved, we think it is, we are hoping to see the bass at Nasworthy improve. Also, OC Fisher we hadn’t heard anything good about the bass fishing out there. Our electro fishing sampling was better than I expected. We didn’t really catch that many really big fish, but the fish that we caught were really plump and healthy. It was a better sampling than we expected.

MF: There is an incredible amount of bait fish our there, too.

MS: Yes.

WTJB: When we are talking about the Concho feeding into Fisher, is this going to be the best location?

JI: For bass fishing?

WTJB: Yes.

JI: Anything with some kind of structure on there. Really, it is sort of barren out there with a lot of gravel on the bottom. There is some little rock bluffs and such. But anything with like a point of contact like a varience or an edge or something will hold some fish because we did have a lot of, when the lake was at 2 to 3 percent, a lot of terrestrial vegetation grow up on the lake bottom and then we caught so much water. Really, during our electro fishing we could only sample the edge. We couldn’t go back and sample 200 – 300 yards back there to see what was back there. There is so much flooded terrestrial that it is hard to sample. It’s hard to run, say, a spinner bait or a crank bait back there. More or less people are fishing the islands, so to speak. There are some tree lines running the channel that you could fish. Just look for some kind of structure right now.

WTJB: Pretty much the same thing for Twin Buttes or Nasworthy if you’re looking for bass?

JI: Twin Buttes probably, yeah. You could really fish the river channel because it was so low that the terrestrial vegetation grew up on there that you can fish 25” along the river channel and there can be like 10’ of salt cedar along the edge. They are just hanging on that edge. You could fish through there and catch some fish. Nasworthy is going to be a little different with a whole lot more bull rushes, cat tails, and even some coon tails that will make you change your pattern. During Twin Buttes previous summer we had a lot if aquatic vegetation that you could throw top waters over and do pretty good. This past year, we had a bout of blue-green algae that caused us to loose a lot of our vegetation. That hurt some of the fishing out there. Some people are use to fishing the flats with the coon tail and we lost that so the fish had to relocate so to speak. You have to just go out there and find them. Once you find them, you could catch 15-20 of them then you have to go find another spot. Nasworthy should be coming on and Mandy was talking earlier about the pressure on Nasworthy and we were actually doing Creels a few years back. That was really the only lake we had going due to golden algae on Lake Spence, Moss Creek, and Colorado City. A lot of people from Midland and Odessa would come down and they wanted to fish so bad that they would end up harvesting everything they were catching. That took a lot of pressure off Nasworthy when Twin Buttes came on. Hopefully Nasworthy will start coming back, so to speak. I cannot remember how our sampling on Nasworthy went this year.

MS: Nasworthy? I cannot recall either. It must have not been to great.

MF: It wasn’t particularly impressive, but it was OK and there were signs that where we did come across some big fish they were in good condition. In fact, some larger ones managed to evade our electro fishing field. Sometimes they are on the edge of the field and they manage to evade the survey. From what I remember, there were some larger fish that we just couldn’t catch. In fact, Nasworthy is one of the lakes that John predicted would product a Share Lunker under the right conditions. He actually did that in an article that he did for the Standard Times.

JI: During our spring surveys out there we have run across one bass that is over 13 pounds easily. She seems to be out there year after year.

WTJB: What can local fishermen do to help you here at TPWD?

MF: On a day to day basis, just by talking to us about reports on how their fishing went.

WTJB: You’re asking for it. There are people like me that will pester you to death.

MF: No. We don’t mind. It’s got to be a two way process. We are providing a service. We want to know, you know, from the anglers how things are going, if they find things peculiar, or if they have any questions. I think that the exchange of information is one of the best things we can ask for. We want to be approachable down here on 3407 South Chadbourne street. They can get us by phone at 651-5556. We want to make it a two way process as much as possible rather than us giving out survey results and news releases and things like that. We want to improve our service by taking into account what anglers are thinking and how their fishing is going. Hopefully, that way we can get to our goal of making fishing better. Everyone has to take part.

MS: We would like to hear some feedback on how they (anglers) think we are doing. The feedback, like he was saying, is important to us. We want to make sure that we are doing the right thing because the anglers are our customers.

MF: We are interested in water body records, too. The Angler Recognition program, too. Angler’s may not know that they can come to our office since we have certified scales. More often than not, during regular business hours, we can be found here. All of this helps to promote the fishery. When someone looks at a fishery, someone is looking at a different aspect of the fishery. They can come here and see how the fisheries are performing.

MS: One other thing that some of the anglers can do to help us is to abide by the regulations; not just make sure they are not breaking the laws but harvest tome fish now and then. We have found that regulations don’t do any good if nobody is harvesting any fish; especially with the bass. There is a very strong catch and release ethic out there. People are very conservation minded which is great, but it has gotten to the point that in some lakes especially trophy lakes in east Texas people are harvesting no fish making it to where the regulations are doing no good.

WTJB: I would have never anticipated you saying, "Take the fish, please."

(laughter)

MF: Well, in specific cases you have slot limits, maximum length limits, all of which are designed with the harvest in mind or to protect a certain size range. Harvest around it and allow for some trophy fish to be taken. If everyone is into catch and release and, like Mandy said, there’s no harvest in some reservoirs in the USA you could have over 90 – 95% who are doing catch and release on lakes with regulations. Well, those regulations will not work. They are put in place to solve a particular issue and they depend on people cooperating. Although you may thing catch and release is going to be beneficial, there is times where we want people to harvest. If you are only taking a few, that’s going to help.

WTJB: Is overpopulation an issue right now in the surrounding area?

MS: Well, we did have an issue at OH Ivie a few years back. We were starting to see a growth problem with the large mouth bass. We suspected that the prey base was not adequate to support the large mouth bass. We needed to see a harvest of the smaller, legal sized large mouth bass.

WTJB: (to the audience) You heard it, guys!

(laughter)

WTJB: One of the questions I ask is who in your opinion are the 3 best local fishermen?

JI: One, off hand, would be Wendell Ramsey. He’s a tremendous bass fisherman and the outdoor writer for the Standard Times.

WTJB: His name comes up a lot!

MS: I know. Right?

JI: He’s one of the better bass fishermen. Another one would be Jim Brown. He’s a big-time bass fisherman, but he’s also involved in youth events trying to get kids involved in the fishing. He’s with the federation and he’ll actually put on a class like “Bass 101” to introduce families into fishing. Another one would be Sam Kill. He’s a local guy that builds crappie jigs. I see him out on Twin Buttes all the time and he’s just hammering fish left and right all the time. That would probably be my 3 around here.

WTJB: 2 of those names have actually popped up before.

MS: Most of those I know I kind of know through John. One other guy, the guy I always see standing up and winning tournaments is Paul Montelongo. My husband fishes the Concho Bass Club Open every year. I always go and watch the weigh-ins and it seems like Paul’s always standing up there winning something. He fishes a lot of the open tournaments and wins a lot of the times.

MF: I’ve been here 8 months so I haven’t had time to assess so I’ll go with what they said.

WTJB: You bring up something that’s interesting; the local fishing clubs. Are they working with you at all?

JI: Yeah, somewhat. We usually have a presidents meeting once a year with the bass club presidents where we go over our data and any questions they may have. If we ask them they are usually more than willing to help us out, but they have their youth events going on and we have ours. Really, there’s a lot of conflict between our work schedules and their work schedules and tournaments and stuff like that. I do feel like we can call on the bass clubs anytime and they would help us out.

WTJB: What bass clubs do we have in the area?

JI: The Bass Federation of San Angelo, The Angelo Bass Club, The Concho Bass Club, ..

MS: The Bass’n Bunch

JI: The way the economy has been this past year with the price of gas and low lake levels with the fishing being really tough a few years back we lost (bass clubs). I use to be in the city bass club. We just went under, more or less. We probably lost some fishermen due to that. Hopefully, they will be coming back with the lakes coming back so to speak.

WTJB: Alright. Last question and I have to ask this one; what do you estimate to be the biggest fish in the local lakes and where are they?

JI: Catfish Charlie!

WTJB: (laughter) Bass, John! We’re talking bass!

JI: I’d say Nasworthy. During our spring electro fishing she looked fifteen pounds. I’ve actually caught 2 tens put of Twin Buttes. OH Ivie is going to be tough to beat. We’ve had several share lunkers coming out of there.

MS: We’ve heard the results of open tournaments the past 2 years have had several over twelve pounds. Really close to share lunker the past 2 years.

MF: From our point of view when we go sampling we don’t actually catch many of the big ones. Our gear is not conducive to catching the big ones. That’s why we rely on the anglers to tell us where the big ones are. Having said that, like John would say, we do come across a large one like the one at Nasworthy. In those instances we can point that one out but in most instances it is the rod and reel anglers that can tell us where the fish are.

WTJB: Great! Are there any plugs you want to put is like the Neighborhood Fishing Program?

MS: Yeah! The Neighborhood fishing Program is a state-wide program. We have a spot in San Angelo on the Concho River between Irving and Oakes Street where the Celebration Bridge, River Stage, and all that area is and that gets stocked with fish every 2 weeks with fish that are already good size to catch and eat. We have catfish going in from April to November and then rainbow trout the other months. It’s a fantastic program. All sorts of people are enjoying that program with their families hopefully introducing their kids to fishing. We just hope that program expands in popularity.

MF: While this is not a program, this could become one is the “The Your Biologist or Biology Staff Member Fishing” program. A lot of times we don’t get to go out and fish. We do a lot of survey work, but sometimes we don’t get the chance to go fish that often. A lot of things can be accomplished with something like this where we go out with a local angler and we don’t have to catch a lot of fish or anything, we just talk to them and learn about their favorite lake and what they like about it. We want to see their favorite techniques. They do not have to show us their honey holes or anything. I think that way we can increase the communication. There was an article written in American Fisheries Society magazine some years ago which said that fisheries resource managers and biologists should go out fishing more and getting to know our lakes from the point of view of our anglers. If we can do this with another angler, one thing that happens is that we increase communication and secondly we can feed off that. For example, we have an article in the Standard Times Sunday of every month and as long as the angler doesn’t mind we could write about a fishing trip somewhere along the lines of what Wendell does. That would do a lot for the 2 parties to understand each other and promote fishing in general.

We wrapped things up from here. I really had a great time getting to know the people who make up the TPWD Biologist team in San Angelo. I went into the interview hoping to go to the people with all the answers and learned that they are seeking the same answers that most of us are. Although their methodology is different from most fishermen, you cannot discount their knowledge and sincerity in making fishing better for all of us. One thing that really impressed my was their collective passion for the fish and environment they live; the same environment that you and I enjoy every time we cast a line or twitch a bait. Without people like them on the front line, our fisheries would never improve and as the old saying goes, “What is true of Biology is true of life, if it is not growing and changing it is probably already dead.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview and if so inclines, take a listen to the podcast of the interview. On it is some things not included on the interview and worth a listen. Also, please feel free to comment. I’d love to know what you think of the interview and the observations of the biologist team.

Oh yeah, I hope to see you on the water!

You can reach Mukhtar Farooki at 651-5556 and at E-mail: mukhtar.farooqi@tpwd.state.tx.us

OC Fisher 12-20-08

2008-12-21T11:36:00.003-06:00

Ughh!!!!

Went to OC Fisher yesterday morning. Weather was pretty good with water temp running about 47-49 degrees. Scott and I threw a crank bait and worm for the most part. On the south side of the islands the water was running about 7-9 feet deep. We caught nada. We went up the river a little but the water was never deeper than about 5 feet with the 7 feet mark being at the mouth.

I know winter fishing is hard, but geez!!!!!

Oh well, there is always next time!

Hope to see you on the water!

Twin Buttes 12-18

2008-12-19T07:15:00.002-06:00

Scott and I went bank fishing yesterday and caught buktus! We went to a location with deep water just off the shore, but had a strong wind blowing straight into our faces. We were using worms in about 10' of water, but had a hard time feeling the bottom except for the trees the wind dragged the worms into.

After about an hour of this, we went to the old boat ramp and fished along the rocks. Facing north, we had little wind to contend with. I had a hit in my favorite spot, but neither one of us had a hit after that. Saw a fellow fisherman fishing for crappie off the dock, but he didn't get a hit the whole time we were there. Scott and I were both using worms in about 6-10 foor of water with Scott trying to fish the 10+' water in the channel going out into the lake. He changed the color of the worms while I was using the 6" black with blue-fleck tiki worm.

Hope to see you on the water!

Interview with John Grant - "John Everyman"

2008-12-14T15:26:00.005-06:00

I've known John for over 17 years. I credit him for having introduced me to serious bass fishing when I was a young man dating his daughter and talked me into buying my Lampro Kayak. In John, I see every fisherman I have ever known. He's knowledgeable about the bass that he pursues and has even entertained the thought of fishing at the pro level much like any other fisherman I have ever known. Of course, reality and obligation have hindered this dream, but at his base is the love of fishing that every bass angler can identify with.

Although it has been many years since John and I have done a "stomp and drag" down a river in our kayaks or competed both with and against each other in a small, local bass tourney, I still consider him a remarkable resource for any fisherman wanting to know the area. In the course of his life there is little left of the local rivers and lakes that he hasn't experienced first hand even if it has been many years back. Now, as he approaches a new phase of his life, he gets to introduce a new generation to the sport as his grandson nears that age where the child can be turned onto the love of fishing. In this, I am excited for him. With every plastic fishing rod he gives his grandson, you can see John's excitement grow and you can hear it in his voice. I look forward to seeing John finally being able to take his grandson out fishing thus passing the torch as was passed to him.

I asked John if he wouldn't mind doing this interview. Since he has never been shy about his fishing abilities, it was an easy sell. To me, he is a living example of the old saying, "It ain't bragging if it's true," even if it bugs you a bit at times. I caught up to John on a cold, windy Monday evening as a cold front was moving into town.

WTJB: Hey John, thanks for taking the time to meet with me today.

JG: No Problem.

WTJB: If you don’t mind, let’s start with your name and hometown.

JG: John Grant and I’m from Baytown, Texas.

WTJB: How long have you been fishing?

JG: I’ve been fishing all my life.

WTJB: Bass fishing?

JG: About 35 years.

WTJB: Are you or have you ever been a member of any bass clubs?

JG: Nope

WTJB: What is your favorite local lake?

JG: Twin Buttes. Back before the drought, before we lost all the water and it was near max capacity, there were a lot of big fish in there more so than any other local lakes.

WTJB: Do you have a favorite techniques?

JG: A good bass fisherman doesn’t limit himself to anything, really. It’s a matter of having confidence in whatever bait you’re using. I do not limit myself to anything. I will use certain baits to try to locate fish or find out where the fish are then change baits occasionally, but I actually really and truly do not have a favorite.

WTJB: Do you have 3 favorite lurers?

JG: Yeah, I do. In the crank bait category, I like the baby bass Bomber Model “A”. In the top water baits, I prefer cigar-type baits or a chugger-type. I do throw a buzz bait. In worm category, I just keep it simple. I do not necessarily like to go with great big worms. I like 6-inch. Color doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. If you fish it correctly, you will catch fish. I do not care what color it is.

WTJB: Do you have any advice for local fishermen?

JG: Don’t limit yourself. A lot of beginning bass fishermen, the reason they become bass fishermen, is because at one point or another they caught one. So then it sparks their interest. There is something about bass fishing that gets in your blood and it’s not necessarily a big fish as it is a fish. Use the baits you select with confidence and the reason why I say that is that a lot of guys go out and catch fish on a crank bait. Well, that is the only bait they have confidence in. They will throw a crank bait until their arm falls off. They will pick up a worm because they heard someone talk about it a couple of times and not have success on it then they pick back up the crank bait; whereas, to be a true bass fisherman, you got to use all of the weapons available to you to catch your fish. My advice to someone is “Don’t limit yourself.” Once you catch a fish on a certain type of bait, use something else until you figure out how you did it and once you do that, go to something else until you round out your arsenal and you have confidence in every bait you pick up. I’ve caught bass on top water in the dead of the winter which everybody says not to do. Well, I disagree because I have been successful.

WTJB: What is your opinion of the condition of the local fishing?

JG: I still have a lot of confidence even though the lake levels are down right now. I know the Texas Parks and Wildlife are doing everything they can to restock the lakes and I know that they have restocked a couple of years ago and they continue to add catfish and other game fish to the lake to try to increase population. OC Fisher, I know it use to be a real good all-round lake that you could catch a big bass in it, crappie, catfish. Right now I think it is more of a catfish lake than a bass lake or crappie lake simply because of the water level. Nasworthy is more of a recreational lake. There are some big fish in there. Spence is local, but is mostly catfish. We also have Lake Ivie. There are big fish out there, but the lake level is low. When the lake is up, it is a good fishery. There is potential for some very large bass.

WTJB: Do you have a favorite TRUE fishing story?

JG: Well, I have several favorite stories. The bass fisherman remembers every fish that he has caught. Believe it or not, I can remember fish I caught the very first time I started bass fishing. I have 3 wall mounts and I remember every detail about how I caught each and every one of those fish. I have even went so far as to journal some of my catches. But my biggest fish is just a little bit shy of 12 pounds and I have it mounted. I caught it under some unusual circumstances. I remember catching that fish in absolute detail. The story is that me and a friend of mine, a guy I use to work for, had entered into the KGKL $10,000 Bass Tournament. We fished that weekend in a place on Twin Buttes over by the old railroad tracks. We caught some fish, but nothing really to speak about. Nothing that would have won an hourly prize or even get close to winning the tournament. The fish that won was just over 10-pounds. Well, as it goes, the tournament was over and the next week I went to Twin Buttes in the exact same spot my friend and I had been fishing during the tournament. I threw a 6” punkin seed Carolina-rigged worm out in the exact same area I was fishing 1 week earlier. I sat down in the boat after casting out as far as I could and grabbed my thermos and poured myself a cup of coffee. I looked up and saw my line moving sideways. So, I sat my coffee down, picked up my rod, took up the slack all the way to the water and set the hook. When I set the hook, the fish ran towards me. I had no idea what it was to begin with or how big it was. The fish ran to me and I’m taking up line as fast as I can and I can’t catch up to the fish to really feel the fish. When I would feel a little bit of the fish, I would set the hook again to make sure I had a good hook set. The fish ran straight to the boat just as hard as it could and went underneath the bow. Now, I had the anchor out, the trolling motor was down, and the fish ran underneath the bow of the boat between the anchor and trolling motor. I pushed the button on my reel to go slack line and I figured that at that point the fish was gone; once I gave it slack line, it would throw the hook and it would all be over with. I was a little angry to say the least. I took my rod and stuck it up under the bow of the boat and pushed it between the anchor and trolling motor to the other side. In discouragement, I started reeling the line and I felt the fish. She was still there. At that point, I finally realized what I had; a big fish. I still hadn’t seen the fish, but I knew it was a big fish. It could have been a gar or a catfish, but it was big. As I began to play this fish, after about 5 minutes, she rolled up on the side of the boat and I almost had a heart attack. She was huge. I did what every fisherman says, “Oh God, please let me get my hands on her.” I reached down and grabbed a hold of the fish and got her in the boat. I was so excited. I was standing in the middle of the boat with this fish in hand and I was looking around the lake and there was not a soul in the lake, not one person I could show my trophy fish to. At that point, I put her on the stringer secured the stringer to the side of the boat, put her over the side, sat down and took a sip of my coffee, rerigged my worm and recasted. I sat down again and picked up my coffee and my hands were shaking so bad that I was spilling my coffee. I still didn’t believe I had that fish so I reached over and rechecked the stringer and there she was. It was not a dream. I sat back down again, picked up my rod, and started reeling back when I told myself, “There’s not no way.” I got the fish on the boat, loaded up, and took it to the taxidermist.

WTJB: Catch and release?

JG: I’m a very big advocate of catch and release. I use to keep fish. Typically if I catch 10-15 bass, I use to keep 1 maybe 2. By and large now, I am 100% catch-and–release. I do it now for the sport more than anything else. Now, I am looking for a 13-pounder.

WTJB: Do you think there are any 13-pounders around here?

JG: I think they are there. Bass will put on anywhere from a pound to 2 pounds a year. As long as we have water in the lake and if the lake level comes up to at least 50%, I think there’s potential that in about 3-4 years there will be big fish in that lake. When I first moved here, we were in a 7 year drought period at that time. I caught my big fish in 1995. The fish are there and it takes about 5 years for one to get about 5-pounds. They are very territorial, very verocious eaters so yeah, I think the potential is there. The lake is fed by Spring Creek. When Spring Creek is flowing, it is a natural resource of food. Yes, I really believe the opportunity for having a big fish is out there.

WTJB: Cool! Do you have any personal heroes?

JG: As far as fishermen, I would say number one is my dad because he taught me how to fish. My grandfather on my mother side, also. He used to go with us all the time. Number two, Hank Parker. I like Hank because he is a Christian man. He’s sincere, honest, and he’s just a good man. He enjoys teaching children how to fish. He takes his sons and they built careers from the outdoors. As far as fishermen goes, Hank Parker is one of my heroes.

WTJB: In your opinion, who are the 3 best local fishermen?

JG: Well, ummmm, I don’t know because number one I’m not involved in club activity. I just fish for myself. I consider myself to be a pretty good fisherman. Rex Davis is pretty good. When we go fishing together, we have friendly competition. I’ve out fished him and he has out fished me. But to be fair, to date, I couldn’t say because I just don’t know anybody besides my son in law.

WTJB: (chuckles) Your son in law is not a very good fisherman.

JG: He will be.

We concluded the interview with the wind howling outside. As I packed up to get home to nurse my growing cold, I couldn’t help but reflect on the many fishing trips we took together. I’ve gotten better on my fishing skill, but I will be the first to admit that John is a veteran that probably has forgotten more than I will learn. A personal hero of mine? Maybe. Still, I can’t help but hope that his grandson will inherit the love of fishing and will be able to experience the same experiences I was lucky to have so many years ago.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Hope to see you on the water!

PABC Standings as of 12-1

2008-12-11T09:23:00.003-06:00

I'm not how sure this will look, but I cut-and-pasted the current standings of the Paul Ann Bass Club overall standings as of 12-1. Please let me know if you think this is a good idea or not. If there are any other bass clubs that want their standing published on this blog, email me and I'll get them on here as well. We have over 40 members on the roles, but the below member are the ones that have totaled any weight.

Currently, we are engaged in a Weigh Ticket Tourney for the month of December.

Brian Dorman 38.33
Roy Cavness 30.77
Jeff Morris 29.17
Garrett Day 22.94
Jesse Lucas 21.13
Mike Dorman 19.94
Chip Palko 17.57
Jay Leeper 16.81
Jim Day 12.01
Scott Miner 6.13
Justin Houk 6.00
Drew Searsy 5.50
Scott Gagliano 4.44
Westley Wyatt 4.06
Bob Whitt 3.00
Kevin Johnson 1.94
Justin Eady 1.88
Wes Hayes 1.88
Justin Brumley 1.69
Noah Brumley 1.44

Spring Creek/Twin Buttes 12-7-08

2008-12-07T18:18:00.004-06:00

Well, the wind was making things "interesting" today. I had a little time to myself so I thought I would go investigate a way for a guy in a plastic boat to get to Spring Creek. I found one. All I can say is Google Earth and a Garmin GPSr are a beautiful thing. I was able to find a reasonable route that, though narrow at times, worked pretty well and took me to the part of Spring Creek where it is very shallow and rocky. Pretty cool! Now that I know where to go and how to get there, I plan to explore it better between now and during the Christmas break.

I got out there at about 4:15 PM and for grins and giggles threw a black worm with a black glass bead rigged Texas style for a few casts. I didn't expect anything. Imagine my surprise when I felt a tug. I was figuring it was the current. Since I was all alone and didn't have to worry about embarassing myself, I set the hook. I actually caught a fish that was about 10 inches. I still get excited about catching any bass, even when the bass is just barely bigger than my lurers.

Still not completely comfortable with my route, I headed out and timed it at about 12 minutes to get out. I'm confident I can find my way back in and out of there in the dark. I'm looking forward to exploring further.

I headed over to the old boat dock on Twin Buttes and tossed the worm around. Caught another fish on my second cast that was about 12 inches. That's a pretty neat area.

Weather has been difficult as of late, but it can't last forever. There is always next week.

Hope to see you on the water!