Top 10 Fishing Shows

Here is a list of my favorite Fishing Shows on TV:

1. Classic Patterns - When it comes to patterns & techniques, I probably get more from this show then all others combined.
2. Bassmasters - Great coverage of the sport's best anglers.
3. FLW Outdoors - They have really taken tournament coverage to a new level
4. BassCenter - good coverage of the sport, a little ESPN bias....
5. Schooled by Denny Brauer - great concept, fairly well done, too bad they canned it
6. Scott Martin Challenge - I like the format! Its like Beat Charlie Moore, but not annoying!!
7. Bass Champs - High Definition goes a long ways in my book
8. Angler on Tour - Great insight to what its like to be a tour angler
9. Ultimate Match Fishing - Great format! What's better than watching Brauer vs. Clunn in the same boat head-to-head, wonder if they will have another season.
10. Hank Parker Outdoor - Hank keeps it real, you see the small fish & the big fish, kind of a long-time favorite of mine.

As I created my list, I realized there are a lot of good shows out there. I think I may do my least favorites next... Did I leave your favorite of the list? So what do you think? Agree to disagree? What's your top 10 look like and why?

Cabin Fever Setting In?

If you live in the Northern part of the country like I do, I am sure you are starting to get the itch to wet a line. I am not big on drilling though several feet of ice or bundling up like a snowman to go fishing. So what can you do to feed your bass fishing addiction.......

Here are a few things I do to make through the long MN winter:
1. Get your tackle readyIf you are like me and store your boat & tackle in a warm accessible location, then you can get your tackle organized and strip all your old like off your reels so you are ready for open water. Also, sort out old tackle, this will make it easier to find what you really need when you are on the water, plus you will get a little better speed & fuel economy out of your boat. Donate some of that old tackle to local youth clubs or sell it on eBay.

2. Get out and go to all the Boating, Fishing and Sportshows. This is a great way to stay up on all the latest and greatest fishing innovations and chat with industry fishing experts. You can also usually find some free seminars and pickup some techniques you can use on the water when you do get your boat on the water.

3. Map study! If you are like me you have a pretty good idea of the lakes you are going to be fishing and when you are going to be fishing them. Dust off those map books and start planning out your prefishing plans. Why waste time when there is open water doing map study ;) You can also search on the Internet for old fishing reports & past tournament articles for the lakes you will be fishing. This can tell you areas, seasonal patterns, & typical winning weights for the time of year you will be fishing.

4. Dig a rod out of the boat & practice your flippin' & pitchin'!!! Take bowl or tupperware dish out & step back 15-20' & start flipping a jig or a tube, maybe cover or bend the hooks to prevent hurting children or pets. (p.s. you can have a ton of fun with pet cat & a skirted bass jig) Everyone can always use a little extra practice & it helps you stay sharp for spring, so you can make that quiet, accurate & precise pitch to that trophy bass you find on a bed this coming spring. Maybe after you get practiced up, you can con your bass club buddies into a pitchin' contest at your next winter meeting.

5. Head South!!! This is my favorite thing to do. Get a couple of your bass club buddies, hook up your boats and find a warmer destination with open water & plan a great fishing excursion. Last year I headed down to Lake Norfork, in Arkansas & had a great trip. I have also been to Missouri, Texas & Georgia in the past. Not only does this scratch the itch, but you can learn a lot by fishing new bodies of water & bring home new techniques that you can employ on your home lakes & whoop up on your buddies.

6. Read Books, Magazine & Articles to make yourself a better angler. There are lot of great books out there, that are chock full of great info. Click Here to see a few that I have read recently & highly recommend. Hope these ideas help you make it through another long winter.

7. Another great way to beat the Winter blues, is to try your hand at Fantasy Fishing, here are two cool sites. FLW Fantasy Fishing & BASS Fantasy Fishing

Rich - http://www.richlindgren.com/

“Meat Comes from Animals: Deal with It, or Eat Vegetables.”

While surfing a few related blog sites, I came across a very good article: “Meat Comes from Animals: Deal with It, or Eat Vegetables.”
Blog Excerpt - http://www.sportsmansblog.com/2006/01/required_readin.html
Original Blog - http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2005/07/12/meat-comes-from-animals-deal-with-it-or-eat-vegetables/

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Rich
ww.richlindgren.com

Lake Amistad - Record Setting Bass Tournament!

Everyone is talking about the Bassmasters Classic at Toho this year, but maybe we should be looking at the first tournament stop of the Elite Series..... Lake Amistad on the Mexican/Texas boarder near Del Rio, TX

Bass Champs just held a one day tournament where the winner had 5 bass for 39.66 lbs, those are the kind of numbers over 4 days that could break Dean Roja's record. 30th Place had 5 fish for 20.48 lbs and did not cash a check. That is just plain unbelievable!
On a positive not, I just recently booked airline tickets to spend 4 days on Amistad in early March, during the Basssmasters Elite Series Tournament. I plan to post observation of the tournament as well my quest for lunker bass.

Rich Lindgren
www.richlindgren.com

TBF/FLW vs. ESPN/BASS: Battle of the Centrury or does it even matter?

Is your state still on the fence? Debating whether to follow the TBF into the new realm of FLW or stay with the well know entity which is ESPN/BASS? Difficult decision.... One thing to keep in mind, both of these organizations main objective is to make money, ESPN want to sell advertising and Irwin Jacobs wants to sell more boats. All in all, the Federation anger is just an ends to their means.

When you look at it that way, are we just trying to find the lesser of two evils? In the short run, your current federation will most likely have to pick a side, but regardless which way your state goes, a competing federation will soon come in to its own. At this point, there is no evidence that would suggest individual and clubs cannot participate in both federations. In the end, I think its the bass clubs that will come out smelling like roses.

Think back about 10 years ago, there was only one professional circuit in town. Irwin Jacobs wanted participate with BASS, Ray Scott showed not interest, so FLW was funded out of Irwin Jacob's deep pockets, partly to make money and partly out of spite. Since that happened, the professional sport of fishing has made leaps and bounds. We may very well see those improvements at the federation level. In my mind, this may be the beginning of great things for the weekend warriors.

Rich Lindgren
www.richlindgren.com

Mike Iaconelli the most hated Fishing Pro....

How about Mike Iaconelli profiled as the 6th "most-hated" athlete in pro sports? He is the company of athletes like Kobe Bryant, Kurt Busch, Curt Shcilling & Terrell Owens. Brent Chapman, Denny Brauer and Bernie Schultz all chime in on what they dislike about IKE. The piece on GQ.com starts here and ends here. And how about pro bass fishing included as a pro sport? About time.

I am on the fence when it comes to Ike, at times its been a bit overdone, its hard to take him serious and believe that it is all genuine. When you look back at his Classic victory, I believe that was 100% raw emotion and it was "real". On the other hand, the more & more of you see him every week on Bass Saturday, you start to wonder if it is a bit of a stunt. I do think if some of the pros showed a bit more emotion it would be good for the sport. Granted, I do not scream like Ike, but if I land a key fish in a big tournament, you can bet there will be a fist pump or two and it jacks me up and gets the adrenaline flowing. Fan want to see that excitement and emotion to a certain degree. That's part of the reason Charlie Moore is still on TV. I thought Ike's book is very informational and has great info for those that are interested in pursuing a bass fishing career.


I believe that while Ike's antics are somewhat a Mirage, there will be a trend towards more guys like Ike, Skeet, Swindle and Quinn. These guys in general are attracting a wider audinece to the sport. There is a place for them, just as much as a need and a place for Brauer, Clunn & Nixon.

In the end, Ike is good for bass fishing, you and I are talking about it and GQ labeled Bass Fishing a Professional Sport, you cannot argue that is good for us all.

Rich Lindgren
http://www.richlindgren.com/

Bass Pro Shops to expand @ Mall of America!!

I could not believe my eyes as I browsed the online version of the Minneapolis Star Tribune today. Sounds to good to be true, Bass Pro Shops could be building a store in my backyard! See Article

I find myself going out of the way on business trips so I can spend a few minutes in these stores all over the country, I even schedule time into my spring fishing trips so I can swing into Springfield, MO and visit original store and now I may have one 15 minutes from my house.Just think, I will gladly accompany my wife on trips to the Mall of America, she can shop till' she drops and I will spends hours just wandering the aisles and watch the fish in the giant aqauriums. The other great thing, is I will have the option to drive down the road to get hard to find lures that I would otherwise have to purchase online. Don't get me wrong, I like shopping online, but there is just something about getting your hands on baits and its hard to see colors online. Hopefully this does not fall through, otherwise I will have gotten my hopes for nothing.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com

Spinning Reels 101

Having trouble keeping the line on your spinning reels in a fishable condition? Do the twists and knots have you ready to give them up in favor of baitcasters?

Here are a few simple tips that I find keep my line limp and fishable:
1. Manually engage your bail with your hand, don't engage reel with the handle. This makes a world of difference, the action of the bail turning as it closes twists the line. Its not really any inconvenience once you are in the habit.
2. Buy good line and try to use choose a limper line, select XL instead of XT
3. When fishing soft plastics, keep your worms & craws as straight as possible on the hook, if you see your lure violently spinning as you reel your lure in for the next cast, that will cause your line to twist up and knot in no time.
4. When spooling up your reel, intermittently spray in some KVD line conditioner, this works great for me. You can find it at Bass Pro.
5. If your line is twisted, try running out your line behind the boat. As you are fast idling to your next fishing hole, let your line out with no lure or weight along the side of the boat. Let enough line for a couple long casts out and let it drag for 30-60 seconds. Reel it back in, it should be good as new!
6. If you want to use line heavier that 12lb on a spinning reel, use a braided line. I like to stick to 8 & 10lb lines on my spinning gear.

I hope you find this is helpful, if you have a tip of your own, leave a comment.
Tight Lines,
Rich Lindgren
http://www.richlindgren.com/

Welcome - Q/A

I will be adding several posts about tournament fishing and bass fishing in general. You can leave your questions here in the comments.

Rich Lindgren
www.richlindgren.com