8-28-08:  I held a small tournament on Pipestone Lake tonight for a couple of us die hard bass fisherman.  We had 6 boats show up to fish the hog bellied bass producing factory.  It was a slow bite most of the evening but I managed to find some hogs.  I was only getting a bite every 30 minutes but they were all hogs.  I ended up winning 1st place with 15 pounds 15 ounces.  I also had big bass with a 4 pound 7 ounce giant.  Rich Osgood and his partner (sorry I never got your name) came in second with just less than 10 pounds.  Thanks for fishing everyone!!   

8-26-08:  I drove to Portage today to fish Austin Lake with Ron Nelson.  If you've never been to Austin than you're missing out.  It is a very shallow lake and it is crystal clear.  It's easy to get mesmerized looking at 4-5 pound bass and 45 inch musky swimming around your boat.  It fishes really easy too.  I caught all of my fish with a wacky worm around weed clumps and under docks.  We caught around 30 fish after fishing for 7 hours and couple were hogs.  We landed a beautiful 3 pound smallie, a fat 4.22 pound largie, and a couple 3 pound largies.  I believe our total weight was around 15 pounds.

8-25-08:  John Gipson Jr. and I cranked our way to victory tonight on Magician Lake.  We landed five keeper bass that weighed 9.44 pounds in three hours to win the Liars tournament.  We also caught a bunch of toothy critters.  It was pretty fun all in all.

8-24-08:  Mike Rappette and I fished a SMAC tournament today on the Benton Harbor stretch of the St. Joe River.  It was a nice event that had 10 boats fishing and 100 % payback.  There was recently a small cold front that pushed through so we figured the bass were going to start schooling a little.  We pulled into our first spot and started throwing top water baits.  The bass were drilling them but rarely getting hooked.  We managed to catch 3 keepers out of the first school we found.  We motored to another schooling spot and whacked a couple more keepers on top water.  Again the bigger fish were just hitting the lure and not getting hooked.  There were a couple 3-4 pound fish that went flying out of the water after our baits.  We ran this pattern all day and caught around 25-30 fish and 9 of them were keepers.  We ended up winning first place with five smallies that weighed just less than 9 pounds.  It was a tough bite but fall is just around the corner and the big dogs will be moving in from the lake soon.

8-21-08:  Kelly and I fished the last NBAA tournament for the season tonight on Paw Paw Lake.  We had to do well in order to qualify for the classic.  We fished one spot all evening long and milked it for all it was worth.  Kelly was on fire to start things off.  She caught two 2.5 pound largies to start us off.  She caught them off a weed bed by the end of a dock.  I caught our third fish shortly after off another small patch of weeds.  Kelly followed suit by catching her third keeper and our forth of the evening.  It was nice having 4 fish in the boat in the first 40 minutes.  We fished around for a little while longer when my rod doubled over.  A giant had eaten my bait and was heading for the surface.  It jumped one time and luckily stayed hooked.  It dug down to the bottom then slowly came to the surface by the boat and Kelly netted it.  It ended up being a 4.50 pound hog and good enough for big bass.

Kelly and I ended up winning the tournament with 12.75 pounds along with big bass.  Chuck Nearpass and Scott Davis ended up finishing in second place with 12.34 pounds.  Jim Horn and Chad Worvey came in third with 10.50 pounds.  Thanks for a great year guys!!!!

8-18-2008:  The big bass keep eating at Paw Paw.  Mike Rappette and I fished a Liars tournament tonight but it was pretty slow for us.  We did manage to catch three big bass, one was a five pounder.  Scott Davis and his son won first place with 11.93 pounds.  Brian Spears and his son won second place with 11.90 pounds.  Mike Rappette and I ended up in third place with 11.33.  Big bass honors went to Chuck Nearpass who had a 5.11 ounce hog.

8-16-2008:  I wish I would have remembered my camera today!!!!  There was a 6 pound 11 ounce hog weighed in during a MATS contest on Paw Paw Lake this morning.  Along with the hog there were a bunch of quality sacks weighed in.  I believe fourth place went to Phil Starkowski and his partner with just under fifteen pounds.  Third place was just over 15 pounds.  Finishing in second place with 16 pounds 4 ounces were Herman Barry and Tim Cook.  My partner Ron Nelson and I took first place with over 18 pounds.  I can't believe I forgot my camera:(....

The fish were eating everything we were throwing at them today.  We caught 17 keepers on the day with crankbaits, jigs, and worms.  The only lure we couldn't get to work was a top water bait. 

8-10-2008:  I fished a Liars tournament on Van Auken Lake tonight.  I haven't fished Van Auken since 2003 so I didn't have high expectations.  There have been a few cold fronts lately so I decided to start power fishing shallow with a jig.  It was a good call because on my third cast I caught a 4 pounder.  I kept fishing fast around the whole lake and when I was done I had five decent fish in the livewell.  I ended up getting first place with just less than 13 pounds.  I also won big bass with a 3.98 pound largehead. 

8-3-2008:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished a Liars tournament on Pipestone Lake tonight and we had a blast.  We started by fishing any solid structure we could find with jigs.  I ended up getting one 3 pounder to eat under a dock.  While I was fishing shallow John was cranking.  He brought in 3 nice keepers with his special crank.  The fish slowed down so I tied on a worm and slowly worked the weed edge.  The worm was the ticket and I caught eight keepers between 2 and 4 pounds.  We had 15 pounds 9 ounces in the livewell but we lost two huge 4 pounders that would prove to cost us.  We were overtaken by the directors at the weigh-in when they brought almost 17 pounds to the scales.  All in all it was a fun night!!