Philipsburg Bassmasters Allegeny River/ Clarion River tournament (July 9 and 10, 2011)

Today I fished day 2 of the club's two day tournament. Day 1 was held at the Allegeny River at East Brady and Day 2 was held at the Clarion River (Millcreek Launch.) I spent all of yesterday moving in and cleaning my new apartment so I was unable to make it to the Allegeny portion of this tournament. Some guys in the club reported that the fishing was decent that day.

My buddy and new club member, Joe Quick and I made it there and were on the water by 5:45. Whenever we launched and were heading out we decided to go the opposite direction of everyone else. We went downstream while the other 2 boats in the tournament went upstream. It turned out to be a pretty goo move for us.

We fished down past the second bridge and I caught my first fish of the day on a Rage Tail Craw flipping it by a dock. I then missed another fish that looked like it wouldve been a keeper.

We ended up fishing for a little bit longer and Joe hooked into a nice keeper largemouth. It weighed in at 1.78lbs and actually took lunker for the day!

After fishing a little bit longer, I moved to a spot that looked like it would produce.. it was a feeder creek that dumped into the Clarion and was very shallow..i ended up catching 4 or 5 fish in this little area and got my second and only other keeper.

We made it back into the weigh in and Joe and I found out that we were the only ones who were solidly on fish! There was 1 other guy who weighed a fish today as the other two had a rough day on the water. I felt pretty good knowing I went into a place that I have never fished before and actually figured something out. I ended up having 1.80 lbs for my two keepers and took 1st place for the day! Joe's 1 fish put him 2 hundredths of a pound behind me and in 2nd place for the day. Since the tournament was a two day tournament, they combined the weights from the two days and I ended up finishing in 3rd place for the second tournament in a row and cashing a check and Joe ended up in 4th place and taking home a check for the lunker.

In all, it was a great day and I had fun trying to figure out fish on a very tough place, the Clarion River.

I will not be able to make the next two club tournaments on Kinzua Dam on July 30 because I am getting married that day and on August 13 at Raystown because I leave for my honeymoon in Alaska that day. The next time I will be in action with the club will be August 27 at Sayers. It will probably be a rough one for sure but I am really looking forward to it.



Thanks for reading and feel free to comment!

Philipsburg Bassmasters: Lake Erie Tournament (June 18, 2011)

Well, Adam Hurley and I hit up Lake Erie for my club tournament back in June. I have never fished Lake Erie so I was pretty much going in blind for the day. I did a little research and had some ideas on what I was going to do and what areas in the bay that I was going to try.
We got on the water around 6:00 and we headed to our first spot. On my very first cast I hooked into a 14.5inch smallmouth. I knew it was going to be a great day. I ended up catching 4 fish from my first spot and managed my first keeper of the day. It was a 15.5inch smallmouth.

We then decided to try another spot after the spot slowed down a little bit and fished the wall leading into the lake. Adam caught a bunch of fish on a senko and I managed a couple more. After the tournament was about halfway done, I decided to run back to that wall because I knew it would start producing for us. Luckily, I was right and I landed my 2nd and 3rd keepers in a matter of about an hour. I culled twice during that time and figured I had about 5.5lbs in the boat between my 3 fish.

With about 20 minutes remaining in the tournament we decided to fish in front of the Perry monument. On my tenth cast or so I threw a tube out and hooked into a fish I thought was barely legal when I saw it jump. When I got it to the boat, Hurley netted it for me and I upgraded my 1.5lb smallmouth I had to a 3.5lb smallmouth! After that we headed to the weigh in and I ended up in 3rd place for the day with 7.47lbs and my first ever check. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year for me (except I will be missing a couple tournament due to getting married! haha I will update on my club tournament on the Allegeny/Clarion River soon.

Thanks for reading!

Quick Update..

Ever since I caught my first bass this season, it has been on!!! Here is an update of all the places that I have fished thus far.. what worked and what didnt work...

STATE GAMELANDS 151 (Slippery Rock, PA)I have been catching fish like crazy at the ponds on SGL 151.. Them fish are hungry and are eating everything. I have pictures of some nice bass that I will post later. It is nothing to go out in an evening and catch over twenty small fish.

Foster J. Sayers Dam
I fished at Sayers back in May with Freddie Burns. It was the first time that I have had my boat out since replacing the steering cable and a bunch of other stuff. The boat ran like a champ and I ended up catching 5 bass. They were difficult to pattern but I figured out that they were in the backs of creeks to avoid the muddy water from the wind and other pleasure boaters. I found them all on man made structure and used a Watermelon Red Senko and Purple senko to land all of the fish.

Curwensville Lake
I have fished curwensville lake 3 times this year. Once was from the shore and twice were from different friends boats. My first time of the year I was fishing from the bank with my family and ended up hooking into this chunky bugger. It was next to the beach in some wood and put up a heck of a fight. EJ didn't know what to think of "his first bass" haha.

My next trip out was with my buddy Jeremy and his fiancee, Bri. We fished the lake from his Jon Boat and both Jeremy and I had about 5 to 6 fish a piece. Most fish were pretty small but I ended up catching a couple decent ones. Cabin Creek spider jigs were the ticket for that day. I even caught a small musky on a cheap Matzuo Crankbait.

The last time I was out at Curwensville Lake was on an evening that Mary Beth and I had originally planned to fish from the bank. When we pulled in, my buddy Joe Quick and his wife, Mollie, were out on the lake in his new boat. They pulled in and picked us up. On my first cast I hooked a 3lb largemouth that had a big belly on her! I ended up catching about 6 bass that evening and all of them had some nice size to them! Mollie and Joe caught a couple 3lbers as well! What an evening!

Colyer Lake
I went out to Colyer with Freddie Burns for the first time since I was in college. We had a good time fishing it. We each caught a couple Pickeral and I ended up catching a few bass as well. All my bass were caught on either craw papi's, senkos, or a popper.

Stevensons Dam (Sinnemahoning, PA)
My dad and I took my boat out on the day of Mary Beth's Bridal Shower May 29, 2011. We were out all morning til about 1 o'clock and I ended up catching around 12 bass or so. Dad ended up catching around 8. All of his fish came from Junebug Senkos and mine were a mix of Junebug and Watermelon. It took us a while to get the big ones biting but we ended up catching a few dandys!

PICTURES WILL BE ADDED LATER!

Slippery Rock Bassin!! SGL 151

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After getting skunked, ticked off, and any other word you can think of after my first 5 outings of the year, i finally figured out these PA bass.. First let me say that it has been absolutely miserable here in PA this year fishing wise... It has been windy as h*** every day i've been out and raining.. but i finally got a few bass..

My first 2 bass came on a green jig with a black paca craw trailer (my first 2 ever jig fish, crazy i know..) and the other 4 came on a screw in jig head with a junebug senko...

Right before it started storming, i caught this pig.. It fought like crazy but i finally landed it on my new st croix premier 6'6MH rod and my revo s reel... Couple casts later i had one on that would've gave this pig a run for her money....

Sign up and Join Fishing in PA Forum!

Hey guys!
Sign up and join one of the only Pennsylvania fishing forums! You can find me and a lot of other great guys including the creator, Nate Follmer, over there. Lets make this site the go to site for Pennsylvania fishing! It is free to join.

http://fishinginpa.proboards.com/index.cgi

Quick update!

So far, the fishing in central PA in 2011 has stunk pretty bad. Mary Beth and I went out to prefish for my first tournament a week before it on March 19 and fished all day without a bite. Sayers Dam was 3ft flooded over summer pool.

The next weekend I went out with Mike Socash and had a horrible day. My steering cable snapped right off the bat in the morning so we trolled around the whole day without getting a bite. I threw everything I had and couldnt amass a bite. Neither could the other 7 guys in the tourney so we all got skunked..

The water level was drained 15 feet. No clue why and i think that big of drop absolutely killed any chance of a good day. Water temps were 40 degrees all day.

Miserable couple days. Hopefully it picks up soon!

Stocking up for 2011.

2011 is going to be a great year for me in fishing (and in life.. I'm getting married in July!!) So what better than to organize my gear while the ice is still thick on the lakes. I also found some great deals in the offseason that benefited me as well.

Here is some of the new things that I bought:
-Okuma Trio High Speed Spinning Reel
-Abu Garcia Vengeance 7'0 ML Spinning Rod
-Abu Garcia REVO 7.0:1 LH
-St. Croix Premier 6'6MH Casting rod
-NOCS (Solarbat) 1001 Sunglasses
-Berkely HAVOC baits

I bought the Okuma reel and Vengeance rod to use for dropshotting this year. I haven't thrown a drop shot this year so it is going to be a learning experience for me. I figure if i want to do well on Lake Erie then I better get used to fishing it!

*** I will post reviews on these equipment whenever I get out on the boat and use them!***


Now, the past couple years, I have had problems on my small bassboat on storage and organization. I used to keep 2 huge tackleboxes in the middle of my boat. One had all of my hard baits and the other tackle was packed full with soft plastics. This winter I was reading on some forums and I think I found some tricks that will maximize my organization. Here are some things that I have done:
- Buying Sterilite plastic shoe box containers and seperating my soft plastics that way. (I will post pics when I get home.)
- Keeping all of my hooks and sinkers in their original packaging (At the end of the year, my plano box was a rusty mess from all of the corrosion on the hooks and sinkers.
- Cleaning out my storage compartments in my boat and keeping only neccesary equipment in there.
- Creating a storage space underneath of my drivers consol to store my life vests.
- Rigging up a Golden Rule holder and front light holder on the lid of one of my storage compartments.


So I have been busy this offseason. I will post some pictures whenever I get a chance.

Hope for the thaw!!

Peace out
Jimmy

2010 Fishing Video

Here is a movie I for my 2010 year of fishing and hunting... enjoy!

2010 RECAP

Well.. I kinda missed out on my blog in 2010.. This summer was really busy! Here is just a little recap and some pictures of 2010...Enjoy!


As you can see from my previous post, Sayers was pretty good early on.. A week after my last post, I had a tournament there and only landed one keeper bass. She went 3.76lbs. The next weekend was my first (and only) Fisher's of Men Tournament at Raystown Lake. Dave Kindleberger and I found a spot that I used to fish a lot in the summertime and worked it with a jerkbait. We ended up catching 4 quality keepers and tried hard to get that last keeper in the boat. We caught tons of small bass (and lake trout) but we just could not get that last keeper in the boat. I ended up with 2 nice smallmouth and Dave landed 2 nice Largemouth to give us a 6th place finish.

After that, I didnt fish any other tournaments except for a tough one at East Brady.. I caught 2 fish all day and none of them were keepers. I got to experience a new section of the Allegeny River so that was pretty cool but it was just a tough tournament.

So let me talk a little bit about my summer. Mary Beth and I went on many fishing trips. Before this year, she had only caught a couple fish and none of those were very substantial.. So I introduced her and showed her some new techniques and she is really getting good! I think i found a new buddy for all of the buddy tournaments. She landed her first White Crappie, Blue Gill, Perch, Carp, Bullhead Catfish, and Largemouth Bass this summer. With each fish caught, I became more and more proud of her!

She and I share the love of the outdoors together as we went on my hiking, biking, and fishing trips this summer... oh. and BASEBALL.. We went to a total of 8 different major and minor league stadiums to see some quality baseball this year. Hopefully this year will bring the same fun and excitement.

SO.. when it became time for me to propose. I figured there would be no other way than on the boat at Raystown..on October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) the perfect day.. We found a nice cove to get away from the chop of the big lake (she gets seasick sometimes haha) and I got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with me..

Needless to say, this last few months have been filled with wedding planning for July 30, 2011. We have a lot to look forward to (especially the wedding and our honeymoon to ALASKA!) She wants to join the bass club so she can fish all of the tournaments with me this summer. So I bought her a new fishing rod (a pflueger lady endevour.) Her first baitcaster.

So needless to say I've been busy. I promise to blog this whole year and fill you guys in on what is working and what isn't.. Catch ya later!!
I'll post a video as soon as I make one.