Tuesday, March 31, 2009

My First Sponsor

hey all i figured i would just give you a little update. I contacted the apparel maker Bassaholics asking them about a potential sponsorship since i wont be with penn state forever. the presidentof the company emailed me back and said he would be glad to sponsor me when i am done and even asked me if i had any bait shops or fishing stores to refernce him to sell their products! Im pumped. itll be sweet to don the bassaholics gear at upcoming tourneys this summer!

tight lines

Sunday, March 29, 2009

FLW College Fishing update 3/29/2008

Hey all!

We just had a Penn State Bass Fishing meeting on March 26th and talked about the upcoming tournaments. Our club will be fishing in the FLW college bass series starting this summer. Only 1 team per school can fish if 40 different schools sign up but the odds of that happening in the Northern Division arent very good. The first tourney in scheduled for June in the Potomac River. My partner Jeremy Lake and I are on the waiting list to get into that tournament. However, we are the number 1 team going to fish at 1000 Islands in New York. That tournament is scheduled for Sunday July 18th!

What is cool about these tourneys is that we get to fish with a pro who didnt make the final cut in the FLW Stren Series Tournament being held the day prior to our sunday tourney. We get to ride in their boat and they drive us around. We control the trolling motor and pick where we want to fish.

I am really looking forward to this because it gives Jeremy and I some big time exposure and with a win or even a top 5 finish in these tournaments we win money for our club and our school! Hopefully these tourneys could help me find a sponsorship as well!

Well I just figured I would fill everyone in about one of the many tourneys i will be fishing this summer

Tight Lines!

Foster J. Sayers Dam- Howard, PA March 28, 2009


Woo! Today was the first day in 2009 that I was able to finally take my Procraft out on the lake! I woke up at 6am and got the boat ready and hooked up to the GMC Sierra. My buddy, Todd Dobo, arrived at my house and we were on our way.

We got to the lake, Foster J. Sayers Dam in Howard, PA, and quickly unloaded my boat into the water. I must say that both Todd and I did some serious tackle upgrading over the winter season while ice occupied most of the lakes in the area. I was pumped to use my new Abu Garcia Revo STX on my Berkley pro series rod.

After talking to the lady at Jim's Bait Shop and getting the scoop on how the fish were biting, we were suprised that not many people have been bass fishing on Sayers yet this year... Her fish report was that the perch and crappies were biting pretty good. We laughed and joked that it was a good thing we brought our crappie rigs just in case.

It turned out that we wouldn't need them as the bass were hiting just fine. After motoring across the lake we set up on a rocky point where we figured the fish would be pretty shallow this time of year and the big females would be pretty agressive.

NOTE: Earlier in the week I consulted Scott Laukhuff, if you don't know him, you should! He is a Berkley Pro Staffer and is an advisor for us on the Penn State Bass FIshing team. Did I mention he has his own television show? Check him out at centresportsman.com ! Scott gave me some useful information as he is a resident of Howard and does some frequent fishing on the lake. He told me that he has been out on the lake a few times this year and has had some luck. He recommended using a wiggle wart crank bait in the shallow stuff while cranking as slow as possible.

After only about 10 casts I hooked into my first fish of the day. I was using a bright colored crank bait that dives to a maximum depth of about 1 foot. It was a decent first largemouth bass of the year at about 14 inches long. It was my first catch on my new REVO STX and surely not the last! about ten minutes later I hooked into my second bass of the day. It was a 13 inch largemouth and the second bass a pulled off of that point.

After fishing the heck out of that point we trolled up the the lake throwin our crank baits. Todd ended up switching his color as he was throwing a brown colored crayfish crank. He ended up switching to a bright green rebel crankbait. Boy was that a good decision because after a few casts he hooked into freakin toad! after fighting the fish for a little bit he finally landed his personal best fish, a 18 inch 3.5lb smallie. After pumpin some water into the live well and stickin that big ol pig in there he hooked another big bass on his next cast! It ended up being about a 15 inch largemouth. Pretty nice for the first coupe fish of the year Todd!

We trolled up a little bit further and i ended up hooking a pig. It was a big female smallmouth that was 18 inches and 3lbs. By now it was around 9 oclock and it started getting really windy and overcast. we didnt catch another fish the rest of the time and by noon we were off the water.

In all it was a really good first day of the year. I got to use my new REVO STX and got to blow some dust off of the Procraft. Dobo is definatly hooked too and im sure we will be spending alot time this summer out on the lake.



TIGHT LINES!

Useful Information
Location: Foster J. Sayers Dam Howard, PA
Date: March 28th 2009
Air/ Water Temp: 51`air/49` water
Weather: early morning was calm and partly sunny, 9:30 am-noon was windy and overcast. Fish were hooked between 8 and 9:15am.
Total number of Bass caught: 5 ( 3 Largemouth, 2 big Smallies)
Successful arsenal used: Storm Wiggle Wart and Rebel cranks. Both cranks were predominantly chartuese and dive from 0-2ft.
Weapons Used: I used a REVO STX on a Berkley Pro Series rod and a Abu Garcia Cardinal on an Ugly Stick. Todd used a Stratus reel on a Shakespeare spinning rod
all rods and reels were equipped with Suffix monofilament.
Depth of water fished: anywere between 1 and 4 feet of water. Most bass were caught along the banks, 2 of mine were caught halfway to the boat.

First Post

Hey I'm a little new to this blogging thing.. I am going to try and keep this as updated as possible to help me out and to help others out as well.. I am an avid hunter and fisherman and i try to spend all of my free time in the woods or out on my boat.

I guess i can start with a little bit about myself.... I am 21 years old and a senior at Penn State. I am finishing up in my degree in Kinesiology- Movement Science. Upon graduation (May 16, 2009. I will be attending Slippery Rock University to get my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. I start in Fall 2009 and will be a DPT by summer 2012.

I have been fishing since I could walk and have been hunting with my Dad, Jim, Since I was 10 years old. I have killed my share of Buck and Doe in my hunting career. I have been lucky enough to get at least 1 deer every year that I have hunted, and i believe this is a great accomplishment for hunting in Central Pennsylvania (WMU's 2E and 4D.) I have shot 2 wallhangers in my life and my dad has shot 4 (i will post pictures of these soon.)

I love to BASS fish, but i have trout fished for much much longer. I am a member of the Penn State Bass Fishing Team and am going to compete in multiple tournaments this summer.