Loon Lake in Oakland county
Fishing from 6:30AM to 9:30 AM

Lure: Zara Spook, frog color

• 14" Largemouth
• 23" Pike
• 12" Smallmouth

Lure: Rapala F11, Perch color

• 12" Largemouth

Lure: 4 inch tube, Great Lakes Perch Color

• 10" Largemouth, off the end of a dock

All fish caught in 4-6 feet, LMB and Pike over weedbeds, smallmouth on sandy gravel.

It was surprisingly cold and windy for July, I quit due to the weather.

This year is the first time I am playing the FLW Fantasy Fishing League. The first tournament is this weekend at Lake Guntersville. I got killed, none of my ten picks made the first cut. I've not closely followed the FLW tour, I guess I need to do more research for the next tournament.

My ESPN team for the Classic next week on the Red River is:

• KVD
• Scott Rook
• Kelly Jordan
• Greg Pugh
• Bobby Lane

Three of those guys are in the top ten of total picks. It'll be hard to get ahead with that team if they do well as a group. I've waffled about including Hackney or not. Greg Pugh is my dark horse entry.

Right off the bat I'm going to say I have some bias towards this book because I have multiple degrees in biology, and this book is certainly biased toward scientific explanations. So for me this is a mostly a bonus, but for some other folks I would say maybe not so much.

Overall, I think this is an excellent book. It provides very good explanations based on science for many of the things we deal with when bass fishing. I love the fact that it refutes some of the things we hear all the time that are based on wishful thinking or lure manufacturers and not fact. For instance, take the controversy around scents added to baits. There is a slogan by a bait company "It's like a blood trail in the water". Well, the author spends some time with the physics of chemical dispersion in water, and shows that the slowness of chemical dispersion plus the turbulence created by lures and presentation are likely to have the opposite effect, causing a scent field that is not directional to the lure. The author does not discount the use of scents, just points out that it works differently than we imagine or the bait manufacturer wants us to believe.

Another area the author goes after is color. In particular, purples and dark blues (as well as dark reds) are probably perceived as "dark" by bass as opposed to the actual colors we perceive. So a silver Rattle-Trap with a blue back and the same lure with a black back might very likely be equivalent to the bass. Same with purple/grape worms. Black might be just as effective, so why have both colors of lure?

There are many other areas like this in the book, too many to list here.

Pros

The conclusions in the book are based on scientific research, not a fisherman's set of experiences. It's up to you to apply the concepts to your fishing style and enhance your success. There is no silver bullet, but you can improve your odds by applying the concepts, some of which refute popular fishing wisdom.

Cons

Well, I would have to say it delves into the basic biology a little too often. I assume this is for the reader that doesn't have the background, but at times it often seemed obtuse for understanding the topic area.

Overall

Get this book. Keep going back to it. There is a ton of information there, you won't be able to digest it in one sitting.

My goals from 2008 were

• Learn pitching
• Learn to use jigs
• Locate deep structure fish
• Catch a legal-size pike
• Fish on St. Clair

I was probably about 50% on these goals. I did do some pitching, and I caught my first bass on a jig. I'm not super comfortable with this, but I'm working on it.

I didn't find deep structure fish. I am comfortable in the shallows, I need to do a better job finding deep fish.

I didn't catch a legal size pike, but Natalie did. She named him "Steve", it was quite an event. He hit a Series 3 sexy shad crankbait close to the boat. No leader, and luckily the line didn't break, although there were definitely some nicks in it afterward.

I did not get out to fish on St. Clair, but I have done lots of homework and it's on my game plan for 2009.

Some other notables:

• I caught my personal best smallmouth on Kent Lake. It was 19" (just under 4lbs according to a conversion chart). I caught her on an olive X-Rap 10 in about 10 feet of water, near the island closest to the west launch.
• I played Fantasy Fishing on Bassmaster.com. I have never played fantasy sports before. I ended up in 384th place, which is the 98.6 percentile according to Bassmaster.
• The best lure of the year was a Series 3 crankbait in Sexy Shad. It caught fish all year long.
• I upgraded my depthfinder to a Humminbird 787c. I love the GPS and using SD cards to manage data on my computer.

I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours at the Ultimate Fishing Show. Interesting as always.

I did get to see KVD talk. Pretty much his standard fare that I have seen him present before. Something I noticed from watching him was how fast/rapid/frequent he was jerking the jerkbait when doing that demo. I definitely don't do it that fast. I was also heartening to see him get a tangle on a spinning reel. His casting technique is so good, no splash, very accurate.

I also saw Gerry Gostenik talk about fishing for smallies on Lake St. Clair. I was really surprised to hear that his best bait for summer fishing on the big lake was a deep running crankbait, in 16-18 feet of water. He also liked jerkbaits, mostly Lucky Craft pointers. He also is advocating fluorocarbon for almost all applications. But at least he validated my experience of fluorocarbon breaking easily and losing lures after the line gets stressed from a backlash or tangle.

I picked up a new color tube from Xtreme Bass Tackle: "Great Lakes Perch". It's fantastic, green with flake on the top, white with flake on the bottom, and the tails are a yellow with orange flake. Awesome, I can't wait to try them out. I got 4" and drop shot size tubes.

I have always struggled with fast rod tips, mostly because if I try to cast short with them (sidearm) the bait always goes too far to the left. I heard on Bass Edge yesterday that beginners tend to cast sidearm, and that you generally shouldn't do that, that you should cast overhead. Bing! Another light bulb went off. Now I'm headed out to practice in the yard some more.

The season can't get here fast enough.

Congrats to KVD, winning the Citrus Slam today.