Family Vacation

July 14, 2008

I have arrived home from our family vacation with all fingers intact! We always take our vacation on the July Fourth week for two weeks unless we have a scheduled event which has only happened a few times in the history of the game.

How many went to the fireworks tent? Now fess up, they get us don't they? I made the mistake of taking my 12-year-old Garrett with me. Of course I went just for him.

Three hundred and twenty dollars later we were out of there. The lady at the tent did give us a free firework for our purchase. Ha ha! It was fun anyway and we do it every year so why break tradition? But with the price of fuel the tradition could have seen its last year for a while.

Our vacation was — you guessed it — on saltwater. Englewood Fla., is the world's toughest place to redfish or sometimes even fish for anything. With the masses out in force during the week I stayed clear of boats running wild in the harbor. But when the crowd thinned out a little I went back at it. You can always learn a little bit about this place each and every trip, and I did.

A good friend of mine, Capt. John Ochs, lives in this area and we took my son Garrett and his friend Mark out for the day snapper fishing. Yes, mangrove snapper. This too has become a tradition, the yearly snapper-a-thon.

If you remember, John took me last year and I think he took me a lot closer this year. The boys caught 11 different species of fish, from redfish to snapper and a black tip shark — which my kid wanted to keep. That shows you the fishery is still very strong in the west coast area and that John is one of the most knowledgeable guides in that part of the state. If you guys get a chance you need to book him.

Like I said I'm back home and getting ready to leave for ICAST tomorrow and see what's new for the 2009 season. I am really looking forward to it! I will be in the Power-Pole booth, so if you're there please stop by.

Keep em bent,

Greg

Breaking Rule No. 1

June 4, 2008

During the drive home from Port Arthur, Texas, I had time to evaluate our performance at the event. And now that I have been home for a few days, I have finally come out of a severe case of depression.

At times the game we tournament anglers play brings suicide into the equation. (Just kidding.) But really, we question — often for days — every move we made on the water. And there is either gratification or failure. If you made a hero-move, you claim you planned it. And if you made a zero move, something just went wrong. That is when tournament anglers have to back up and analyze what exactly went wrong.

Well, I have it — we broke Rule No. 1: Never overlook the obvious.

I will admit it if all tournament anglers will fess up they did, too. We (anglers) try to find the proverbial needle in a haystack; something no one else will find, somewhere no one will see us and somewhere the fish will stack up for three days.

Well, brothers and sisters, that place almost exists only in our dreams. In my years of tournament angling, only a handful of times have I ever found such a place to call home. And to have this during tournament days is even rarer. Bryan and I look for these areas five or six days prior to each event and almost always find fish going to and fro around these areas where we are looking.

(I know other anglers know exactly what I am talking about. I can't say this is a bad thing; this is just how we roll.)

Well I'm here to tell you, NO MORE! I will never overlook the obvious.

(Or, at least I will try not to, ha!)

Fish are creatures of habit and they will go where they want, no matter how much I wish them in an area for the catching. You guys think about this long and hard for a minute. On your home lake or body of water, you have your honey holes. But why are they your honey holes?

Because fish like being there!

So, from now on, I will be on every flat, every pothole, every ditch, every bridge, every jetty, every pond ... OK, OK ... you know what I mean.

Enough about Rule No. 1. Just remember it.

We all have to make mistakes to get better at this game. That brings me to Rule No. 2: Learn something every day on the water.

Well, I will get to that another time.

On a brighter note, I just have to give everyone at JM Associates and Career Sports a big thank you for bringing this game to a new level for us anglers! All of the great sponsors you have brought in to support us are fantastic, and I only hope I can give back to them a portion of what they give us. This is one badass redfish circuit and — in my opinion — the only game in town. Thank you!

One last thing before I go. Bryan and I have started the Thursday morning Cleveland Golf Break Away, and congratulations this month goes to CJ Howard for kicking our butts in Port Arthur. CJ, I will have a foot wedge in Louisiana. Ha!

Keep em bent,

Greg

Welcome to the Big Show!

May 6, 2008

With the start of the 2008 Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup season I have never felt more of a professional redfisherman than I do now! This year's new format has brought this game to a new level. Bryan and I are very excited to be part of the Redfish Cup and looking forward to a great year!

With the Punta Gorda event in the books, both Bryan and I are just satisfied with the results—not happy. Still, it's a great beginning to the year, and the points race is very important to the both of us.

For those unfamiliar to Punta Gorda, the fishing can be a beast at times! One day you find yourself on top of the redfish world and tomorrow you will find yourself trying to dig yourself out of the trenches. Tactics change from day to day here. Boat traffic can make your fish run into the next zip code— at least this is what we find. And to have a pattern last for two consecutive days is rare. But we somehow found a way to put it together for the second straight year, and while we did not win (by the way, congratulations to Bostick and Sep) in our mind we had a great event.

I spent most of my pre-fish time pounding mangroves on higher water with a GULP! sinking minnow and Bass Assassin jig head, and thought I had a fair pattern to catch redfish when the water got to the right height.

Bryan, on the other hand, found a load of reds on a flat in the wide open (which is very scary to be seen on ) and were pounding them on a drop shot rig! Yes, a drop shot rig, just like the bass rig! The fish were very spooky, but that's not a secret on the west coast of Florida. Bryan rigged a 3/4oz. weight on the rig and a GULP! shrimp about 12" up the line and would throw it 70 yards. With 10-pound Spiderwire Stealth, we would soak them while the pinfish pecked on it. All of the sudden the pins would stop then you’d feel a solid thump and game on!

The drop shot rig let you make long presentation, kept the shrimp out of the grass and did not spook the fish which was our method for getting these fish to the boat and it almost worked. We finished just a half-pound shy from the top five. I was really hoping to make the cut just to show you guys at home how effective this rig really is. Well maybe next time. It was still a great event and we are both very proud to be part of the Cup and elite group of Redfish anglers!

Keep em bent,

Greg

Latest Adventures

September 24, 2007

I just spent five days in Venice, La., catching the mess out of redfish! We were on a trip for Berkley with about 10 writers from all regions, testing the new products, taking photos — and having the time of our lives catching fish.

Next time I will buy a pair of gloves, and keep them on the boat. If you don't know, a redfish mouth is very abrasive, and my hands look like I have run them through a meat grinder; maybe one day I will learn.

My guys didn't want to catch slot fish (18 to 27")... No, they wanted 20-pounders — and getting the hook back was like taking a steak bone from a hungry pit bull!

We managed to boat redfish to over 30 pound (the biggest on my boat was 31 pounds to be exact), and we had countless fish between 23 and 30 pounds.

A great time was had by all and the new products were fantastic. The new Ultra Cast braid and Gulp Alive were the hit of the party, and we also got to use the new TEC Tools. These are pliers, scales, culling systems, fish grippers, filet knives, and they're all fantastic — you will definitely want to get your hands on these tools!

We stayed with a great friend of ours and great redfish tournament angler, Mike Frennette. Mike, along with everyone else in the Venice area, lost everything with the Katrina, but he is up and running again, with a beautiful lodge, this time sitting 25 feet above the marina.

He has been a guide in the area for 26 years and knows it better than the back of his hand. This place is absolutely spectacular!

(That, along with with three wonderful Cajun meals a day made me not want to come home.)

After the Berkley guys and the writers left on Monday, Mike had a surprise for me: a tuna trip! Yes, yellowfin tuna!!! Of course I stayed, I'm not an idiot.

We left Tuesday morning and a couple of Mike's friends joined us. Three hours later, after catching bait, we were hooked into the meanest SOB I have ever encountered!

To make a long story short, 1 1/2 hours later, and right after swapping the rod several hundred times, we had our tuna, all 185 of it. (Really — 185 pounds!)

I thought I was the man. This fish broke me, and I will never forget it!

Did I tell you how many tuna steaks I put in the cooler? It's better than a filet! What a fishing trip, and what a memory. You guys need to give Mike a call.

Well, I'm home now, and I have a couple of seminars to do Saturday before calling it quits for a week or two: I can enjoy the family, the holidays and just a little quiet time on the lake, maybe catching a few specs or crappie as the northerners call them.

If I can get Bryan out of the woods to take care of a few sponsor deals, maybe I can enjoy a few rounds of golf. I might be back in a few days, but if not, everyone please have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We've all got a lot to be thankful for.

Until then, keep em bent,

Greg

Pondering Pro-Am

September 24, 2007

Well I hope everyone is doing well! It's that time of the year for the weather to change and bring on new challenges to our sport of fishing.

That reminds me of something that happened to us last week, ha ha: Have you ever been on a decent bass bite and the weather threw you a curve? Well, we all have and I found out quick that I was not prepared for the change and we did not adapt to the change very well.

We were looking so forward to the Kissimmee Pro-Am held here in central Florida. This past week, we could do this (and you know how much I boasted about it for weeks now): We once were very good bass anglers and I suppose we still are. But there is a reason, they say "these guys are good, they adapt very well and very fast." I learned so much again last week about the bass game.

For three days, me and Bryan beat the shores of the Kissimmee Chain and found a rather good bite flippin' and pitchin' buggy whips. I would not say 20 pounds a day but 12 or 15 pounds and that would make the cut for the last day, easily.

Well mother nature said, "Let's throw them guys a curve and see if they could hit it."

You know the rest of the story: We struck out. We did manage to catch fish, but like most everyone else they were just small keepers.

Now, all that did was fire me up. I want to kick some bass ass now more than ever! That is the competitor in me, it has not ever gone away and I guess it will never leave me.

Most of you guys know exactly what I am talking about. I will jump onto this with both feet. Now I still loves my redfishing, I want to conquer both. I always say that you can't be scared of failure.

Chris Lane, one of the Lane brothers here in Florida — also one of my good friends — won the event and he knows what is going on down here. Preston Clark had a good finish as well as Terry Scroggins. All good friends, they gave me advice throughout the event, but they don't give very much away and I think that is the secret to successful bass fishing.

On the other hand, us redfish guys help you out. But I'm learning and it won't take long to figure it out. I hope.

Maybe one day those bass guys will have the cajones to enter an Oberto event so I can have the last laugh. On a brighter side, I finished 8th out of 26 in the charity event for the V foundation held on Sunday with all the big name pro's. So I was paying attention the first few days and I'm proud of that.

Anyway, it's off to Venice, La. next week for a little redfishing with a great promotional group for Berkley so I can pull a few lips. I can hardly wait. I will let you know how it goes.

Until then, keep em bent,

Greg

'Bama Bound

October 16, 2007

I'm getting ready to leave again, this time for the Orange Beach Ala. FLW Championship!

You gotta love Orange Beach. (Is there ever a place you really don't care for?) I mean, the people are wonderful, beautiful scenery, but I just find the fishing to be so wishy washy when we get there.

Well, maybe this will be the time for revenge - please keep your fingers crossed, not that I'm superstitious or anything - and yes, I do change underwear, even if we catch a big sack on the first day!!!

I went to Lake Toho to start pre-fishing for the Kissimmee Pro-Am coming up next week, and fished my butt off. I had John Oachs, and Bob Puccinnelli with me. You guys know John, quite a stick on salt water (I taught him almost everything I know) and 2006 team of the year on Oh Boy! Oberto tour; he's a great friend of mine, a former guide and still a radio show host. We fished the lake from one end to the other and caught nine bass!!!!

Tried to find them tailing in the grass, but couldn't. No, honestly, I love bass fishing and can't wait to get back out there when I get home. The whole game changes when you can't see what you're trying to catch.

I have a lot of respect for those bass guys, and think I can hold my own against them, but we will soon see.

On the other hand and back to redfish, I have been getting a lot of calls lately about a new schedule for next year's Redfish Cup. Back to basics, I like to call it.

A 40- or 50-boat field and we travel to each others' states to pit our knowledge against each other! No more divisions, and I think that's great. Redfish Cup has my support on this 100 percent!

Also the guys I have been talking with about this feel the same way. Build the Elite tour, and I think this is the way to do it! Go to www.redfishcup.com and keep an eye out, as big changes are coming.

Keep em bent,

Greg

Morehead City Memories

October 9, 2007

Give me a break! What has a man got to do to stay in the top on tournament day? For two consecutive tournaments, we have managed a top-five finish on day one, only to fall out of it the second day.

Morehead was really a great time, as it was last year, with plenty of fish to go around. I don't like the idea of everyone catching fish, seems to make it more of a challenge, I think.

It turned out again to be a numbers game with teams catching up to 100 fish a day. Bryan and I averaged around 40 a day, which by anyone's standard, is a great day of redfishing.

We — and I'm sure, the field — were having to catch those numbers to cull down to the biggest bites of the day, but most of the fish being caught were three or four pounds. We could only average three or four of the right bites a day, making the game that much harder.

You never knew where the bigger bites were gonna come from. We put together a great pattern where we could catch the numbers we were, just having to get the right bites, and on the last day, we were unable to do that.

The bait of choice was none other than the dummy rig.

I mean the poppy rig! Yes, a popping cork with a Bass Assassin one-eighth jig head and a Gulp four-inch shrimp. We used a two to two-and-a-half-foot leader, depending on the tide, and just popped ourselves silly. There is still something about watching a cork all day that I like. Must be from childhood, I guess.

We use that rig from time to time out West, but this tournament was dominated by that rig. We tried to get them to eat a Lucky Craft Sammy and Splash Tail, but we could only muster one fish on them. They just wanted to cork rig. We fished very aggressively with three or four pops, let it sit still for ten seconds, and it was game on.

Morehead, like I said, was great this time and what a beautiful venue to hold an event. The people there are always so nice. I hope we make our way back there next year.

This was the last of the Oh Boy! Oberto events for us this year, but we still have the FLW Championship coming up next week in Orange Beach, Alabama. I hope the weather will hold on for a while.

Then the Kissimmee Pro-Am, out of Lake Toho, where we get to bass fish for a week. Now that will be quite a week. I can hardly wait to pit my knowledge against something green and not red.

Congratulations to Danny Latham and Mike Friday for the win in Morehead. They are great guys and great fishermen.

Keep em bent,

— Greg

A Pensacola Pounding

September 24, 2007

First off, forgive me for not getting back more during the championship. We were caught up in the moment. With the storm coming right down the gut of our tournament headquarters, we were getting ready for the worst.

As I spoke earlier in the week, we were on one the best bites, if not the best redfish bite we have had all year. I was already counting my money and calling my buds to buy into the Calcutta.

We had found a ditch about a mile long that was loaded up with fatties, seven-and-a-half to eight pounds of redfish that were chewing the finish off of a Lucky Craft Flat CB DR. That is not an easy task.

We were so confident that we had more lures sent to us overnight: Gold was for when the sun was out and Citrus Shad for was for when it was overcast. We had our Revos loaded with new 30-pound Ultracast, 30-pound Stren Fluorocarbon leaders and six-and-a-half and seven-foot Fenwick medium action rods on go. Nothing could stop us now.

Another championship was going to be under our belt in a matter of days and — would you know it — another tropical storm was coming for a visit.

Watching the storm for a day, the only thing we were really concerned about was the direction of the wind. We could work with most anything but south wind, which would pack water in where we were, possibly causing the fish to scatter. We had outgoing tide, which was the preferred flow to set the fish up on the edge, and we had a northeast blow Friday.

After Friday's weigh-in, we were sitting in a great spot, 3rd, and we were still feeling very confident about the rest of the event. We woke Saturday morning with an east-southeast blow of about 20 knots getting stronger throughout the day.

That proved to be disaster for us. We arrived at our spot to find we already had about a-foot-and-a-half more water and the wind would not let the tide gain the strength to get a good flow outward. We threw crank for three hours (all the time we had after our run to our spot), missing one fish and catching a 20-pound jack. Yee-haw!

And if that pounding was not enough, we had to head directly into a 35-knot wind for 28 miles to get back to the weigh-in. What a joy ride it was. Sometime I wonder about us.

Bryan and I have been at this for eight years, professionally, and you will hear this out of me a million times: "What did you learn today?"

We had as solid of a game plan as I could have scripted on paper and to this day, I don't regret any move we made this past weekend. The bite was that good earlier in the week and we don't leave fish to find fish, but I have learned to watch the weather a bit closer from now on.

I swear I would not have as many gray hairs if I did not tournament fish and Bryan is white-headed from all of this. If you are a tournament fisherman, you will understand exactly where I come from — the highest highs to the lowest lows — in a matter of minutes.

It is also the most gratifying experience I could ever imagine, fishing against the best in the industry and winning. Sometimes.

Congratulations to Andrew Bostick and Mark Sepe for the win! They are great guys and more so great anglers who deserve the win. The guys at JM did a great job setting up the venue, tons of people showed up for all the festivities and it really was great and always getting better.

The people of Pensacola were fantastic to me and I'm sure they were good to all the tournament anglers. I was glad to be there.

Well, I'm about finished and I can hopefully put all this past weekend behind me, chalk it up to a learning curve.

We are off to Morehead City, N.C. It's the last All-Star event and last event of the year. I will bring my laptop and give you a report next week on the pre-fish situation. By God, we are gonna win this one!

Keep em bent,

— Greg

Pre-fish day one at Pensacola

September 16, 2007

We have made it out to Pensacola for the Oberto Championship. Today was our first day of pre-fish. We woke to rather nice weather this morning after the first cool front went thru yesterday. It was a nice 70 degrees here this morning and I think we are going to have nice weather here all week. I took off heading east today, and Bryan headed west - I will tell you where at a later time. As I wrote in an earlier blog, running to Louisiana is an option, and we are ready, but only after exhausting all efforts here. La. is a long way, and a run there leaves you with a short time to make it happen. If you go that way, any little thing going wrong can cost you the tournament.

Bryan had a good day where he was. He found just what we need for the tournament - we're just hoping they stay put for a few more days. Me, on the other hand, I caught more bass than redfish. Even though my day was no good for catching, it was good for learning. I learned today that people here troll for spec's. Yeah, speckled trout!! And the people here are very nice. They took time to explain the whole process to me. I have never heard of it but it was interesting. Anyway, I need to go and tool up for tomorrow. I will be back with more details later in the week. I feel this will be a great week for us!

— Greg

Here we go again!

September 14, 2007

Back to Pensacola, Florida for the Oh Boy O'Berto Redfish Championship!

But first, let's recap St. Augustine: It was just as hard to fish this time of year as I had planned for. We encountered flood tides, which positioned fish at different areas each and every day. We also discovered the joys of fishing the Ditch, which it is called on the East Coast, on a holiday weekend with huge boats battering up and down it all day, throwing massive wakes in the fishing area. The reds were getting a pounding from top and bottom.

We were able to hold our own with a 25th place, but more importantly, we were able to get and secure a top 10 spot for the championship. Those guys at JM, in my opinion, know how to hold a great championship and I am very happy to qualify again for five years in a row.

We were able to get our fish to eat a Lucky Craft BDS3 on day one, and a Sammy 100 (top water) on day two. As Bryan made a comment in the weigh-in to Keith on day one, "you have four minutes to catch your fish."

That was the truth for us. Again, we appreciate Lucky Craft for coming through again and again and for the quality of the baits.

Well, Pensacola: The big question here is "who will make the run?"

L.A. is only 175 miles away for this event so a lot can go wrong. We are very much keeping the option open and getting ready for such a trip. We will see, after a few days in the 50 mile area, what will come of that. This area can be somewhat intimidating, but I have learned that you have to have the right mind set and keep a good attitude.

I really feel like we are going to have a great event. I feel really good about this one! Stay tuned. We will try to update and let you know how pre-fishing is going.

I have had a few days at home this week and I have been keeping up with the Bass Elite here in Toho. We went to the park Wednesday to visit the bass guys and I am going over today to see the Day Two weigh-in and see who makes the cut. I am pulling for Preston Clark and Terry Scroggins. Those guys are very good here, especially when times are tough.

I am off to the Pan Handle tomorrow morning to get started, so wish us luck.

— Greg

To weigh or not to weigh!

September 5, 2007

As I sit here tonight, tired and sunburned from another day on the water, I think back to a tournament we fished this past weekend and the things that went on. Imagine this and then I want a response: You fish a tournament, a one day event, points don't matter. You have an okay day on the water (not a great day, we all know the answer to that) and then you get back to weigh-in and find out you probably don't make the top 20. Here is the kicker; do you weigh-in your catch? Or, do you chalk it up to experience and hit the trailer?

I get mixed opinions from this question. There are a lot of probabilities that go into making that decision. Do your fans get the idea it is an all or nothing game, do they think you are too good to weigh-in a small bag, or do they want to see the fish anyway?

I have a few opinions about the situation we're talking about here. First off, if it's a one-shot deal, meaning no two days to make up the slack, why weigh? Like I said earlier points don't matter. So, there is nothing further down the road to capitalize on by weighing in. Do you ever make the cover of Redfish Cup magazine holding up two three pounders? I just thought I would hit you guys with this question and try to explain the situation as best as I could to really see what ya'll thought.

Well, Bryan and I fished a tournament last weekend in Englewood, Florida. It was really not a bad day of catching redfish, and yes, the Bass Assassin 1/8th oz. jig head and the Watermelon/red sinking minnow and the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 SP (in gold) were our baits. We caught 13 or 14 reds up to 6 ¾ pounds. We were just not able to get the other kicker fish. The damned 3 pounders were all over us. And the fish we had to sight fish were all oversized. That is terrible to have fish so big you got to throw back, but that is another reason why I guess I love it!

We only had around 9 ¾ lbs, so we ditched our fish back at the weigh-in. Don't say it, I have already had my butt chewed out !!!! My wife, who is also my biggest fan, reamed me up one side and down the other, and I know most of you out there know what that feels like, so from now on I say WEIGH,WEIGH, WEIGH!!!!! Like I said in earlier blogs, you must learn something every day on the water or you are backing up!!

I will leave for St. Augustine in two days to start pre-fish for the Oboy O'berto redfish cup. All I want to know is who schedules these events on major boating holidays?? As if catching fish was not hard enough. Wish me luck! We will have flood tides so it can be anybody's game out there. I am betting on the Lucky Craft BDS1 or 2 to be our ticket to the top 5 for Sunday. Bryan and I sit in the 10th place position and we must finish strong to secure our spot in the top 15 for the championship.

Well I'm out of here. I need to go get a few things together, but remember rule 17 of the 17 rules of professional redfishing: Don't eat Mexican food the night before the tournament!!

Till next time, Fish Harder.

— Greg

Color doesn't matter!

August 16, 2007

First things first, I made some remarkable findings yesterday — as I wrote in my last blog, I was wrapped up with the color selection of my new Gulp Sinking Minnows. I found out rather quickly durng the day, color doesn't matter!!! Well, I guess I should say to the fish, that is. I know it matters to an angler, such as myself. I really feel those grubbin' redfish, and sometimes vanishing artist redfish are feeding on smell, and nothing beats a Gulp product to my knowledge yet!

But I know just like Larry Nixon and many other professional anglers out there, confidence is key to producing fish after fish, and if a certain color creates the confidence needed to catch fish, well, then, so be it!

I'll tell you right now, I'm not much of a color-aholic, but as long as my sinking minnow is watermelon, I'm good.

Well, I made a trip to Charlotte Harbor yesterday with my good friend, John Ochs, for a day of finding redfish for an upcoming tournament Saturday. So we started out by catching a limit of mangrove snapper (nothing eats better) in about 45 minutes. A small white bait in 25 feet of water on some rocks did the trick.

(FYI, do not beat John on a snapper bite! That son of a gun can catch a snapper.)

So after I lost my lunch money, we went looking for mullet — yes, mullett — for the smoker.

After we had enough (thank God), we went redfishing. We must have run out 40 gallons of gas in the Evinrude, and saw maybe 20 fish. We were on the water till 6:30 p.m. trying to make it happen.

For those guys who think all I got to catch is two (redfish), I've got news for you. Some days, I don't think I could gillnet two redfish, but that is what makes this a challenge — and why I keep coming back for more punishment.

It's 4 p.m., and I am loaded to leave for Port Charlotte in the morning, but first, I have a bass tournament on my home lake tonight. My wife thinks I've lost my mind, and you know she is right.

I will give you a report first of the week on this weekend's results.

— Greg

What's in a color?

August 13, 2007

How many times have you looked in your tackle box or bag and said, "What color are they going to eat today?" This question is prompted by the new Berkley Gulp Sinking minnows I am looking at. As most know, or if you don't you do now, the sinking minnow has become our go to bait for jig head fishing! This redfish (and all other species) catching piece of bio-degradable substance is purely awesome!

Originally a freshwater bait, now one with the saltwater attractant has hit the shelf in most all the original saltwater colors. Our number one color for a few years has been Watermelon Red! Yes in the freshwater version. This bait is a money maker for sure!

Now I look at a wide array of colors like Molting, New Penny, Natural and Rootbeer Gold to mention a few. As anglers we search for that special color , size, shape of bait to get the edge on our competition, and just when we thought we had the number dialed in WHAMMO!!!

The Gulp shrimp, probably the most used soft bait in the saltwater circuit for years now has always had various colors to choose from when making your options for the fishing situation somewhat more complete! Yes, I had my favorite color in three inch shrimp also, but I wont tell!!! What kind of tournament angler would I be if I told everything?

What is ironic is I asked the great folks at Berkley to offer the sinking minnow in the same colors as the shrimp, and they did! I could not leave well enough alone! As I sit here, I have a vision of asking the great bass angler Larry Nixon, "Larry what if your fishing lake Kissimmee and it's overcast and your in 4-foot of water and the water stained your fishing strands of hydrilla in a 6-foot chop or your fishing Lake Lanier in 22 feet of water in February and you can read a dime on the bottom, WHAT COLOR DO YOU USE????" As Larry opens his tackle bag he wades thru bag after bag of worms and pulls out a worm and says "This is it." I feel Larry would say this is my confidence bait!!

So, I guess there is nothing more to do than get out there and start feeding the fish, and who knows, I might have four more confidence baits to take to the next event. There will be more on this issue after further research of all the colors of sinking minnows. Except white! I don't like white! What if you were throwing white and … no I don't want to go there, maybe next time!!!

Let me know what you think or am I just fishin' crazy!!!!

— Greg

Bass and practice

August 3, 2007

As I mentioned in my last blog, Bryan and I are thinking of getting in a few open (Bass) events next year. We fish probably a dozen or so small bass events around my hometown of Winter Haven, Fla., a year. We fish Lake Kissimmee and the whole Kissimmee Chain, as well.

I fished a tournament last week on the South Winter Haven Chain and had a 2nd place finish with 20.07 lbs!! Not bad for 5 fish, but I also had the big bass of 7.07 lbs! Not bad for a redfish angler! This is what I think is so great for a bass or redfish angler — both species are so a lot alike. Both love structure, moving water is a plus and the same tackle will catch both of those knotheads!! For example the plug I used in the bass tourney last weekend (Lucky Craft Flat CB) to catch 9 bass on, we have smoked the redfish on! The only difference being I was in 8 feet of water fishing a grass bed for bass, and the redfish were in 6 feet of water on rip-rap bank. Don't forget to change hooks for redfish. I use Gamakatsu 4X # 5's.

Well anyway, I just got home from a couple days of pre-fishing for the St. Augustine Oh Boy! Oberto event in the last week of August. I know you guys think it's a long time till tournament time, but you have to try to stay ahead of the pack. These guys on this tour are ruthless if you know what I mean!! I fished my butt off and it had better get a whole lot better out there. It is just so hot down here the fish just don't do very much till you run over them. I will have a bag of the new Gulp Dynamite lures with me if you know what I mean! Just kidding! I hope it changes a little for the better before we get there for the event. Bryan and I have to hold on to our top-10 spot in the Team of the Year race to qualify for the Championship. Only the top 15 from each division will make the championship! Talk about pressure.

I talked to Preston Clark yesterday and he said he would probably fish it with his dad, When do redfish bed??? It should be a lot of fun! That is about it for now. I have to go Google some holes on the east coast. Keep blogging in,

— Greg

Learning things and a lost friend

July 21, 2007

Orange Beach was a real eye opener for me and Bryan. Like we said earlier we fished five days all in Mobile Bay and surrounding waters trying to find a bite to put us in the top five knowing the run to Louisiana is never good three days in a row. But we struck out big time!

After eight years of these tournaments we have realized that sometimes it just doesn't work out no matter how hard you try! Even though it was a wash (the tournament), you should always come away from every event learning something to move forward with, and we did! We will be there two more times this year and we will have different strategies for sure. Wish us Luck!!

We left to go to Las Vegas for the ICAST show. Seeing all the new products for the upcoming year is always an exciting thing. Watching the sport continue to grow is great for everyone. We worked the spectacular booth for Berkley (Pure Fishing) and to see all the new products for 2008 along with all the proven ones that will be a staple in my box for years made me and Bryan proud to be associated with such a great company.

Lucky Craft Lures had another awesome booth to showcase the wonderful lures. The real skin baits to the new swimbaits seem too lifelike to use, I want to put them on the mantle.

We arrived back home last Saturday to enjoy our families for a bit, (I had not seen mine in 2 ½ weeks and missed the family vacation all together — the life of a tournament angler). I have been on my home lake with my son catching bass and shellcracker's. It has been a blast. He has smoked me pretty good this week too, I need to tighten up a bit.

Bryan and I have been giving it a lot of thought about getting back in a few bass events for 2008 — that was our background before the Redfish events began in 2000. Either one of us would love to be the guys who were successful in both venues. Let us know what you think!

I just finished watching ESPN Elite Series (as I do every Saturday I'm home) the Lake Champlain event and Timmy Horton kickin' butt, and I know that could be me out there. I get really excited when I watch that — that is a great show. You know what we need on the saltwater side is a show like the PGA's Inside the PGA. We need a show that showcases the sport, anglers, what works, what doesn't, and what we do in our off time. I think it would be kick ass!

And on a sad note, Tim Tucker passing away this week. I was just talking on the phone with Tim during my visit at ICAST. What a shock, He will surely be missed by all of us. Well I must go and get started on the next event.

—Greg Watts

All Star Mid-Season Bash — Day Two

July 7, 2007

Yesterday, we planned a 303-mile round trip run to Louisiana and back, but we only made it 287 miles. We ran out of gas about 16 miles short of the weigh-in and pulled into Ft. Morgan down at the mouth of Mobile Bay. After our first gas stop, and another 40 gallons, we just agreed to not run around a lot. So coming out of the marsh, I made the call not to top off the tank.

But then, we ran into storms around Biloxi and Pascagoula. We ended up having to go around those storms and that's really why we didn't make it back. Even with the gauges that tell us how much fuel is burning at certain RPMs, and that fuel efficient Evenrude ET on the back, we thought we had enough to get back. Lucky for us, Bryan got a ride in and we were able to get our fish to the weigh-in.

—Greg Watts

Today, we'll either be heroes or zeroes. We're not going to join the pack headed west to Louisiana. Instead, we'll stay here and fish the spots that we found while pre-fishing earlier this week. It's all about the percentages again. You figure that the guys doing the long run today will turn in 13-something pound stringers. We have to do things differently because you never know what they might run into over there.

We're bringing the flats boat out here today and I hope to get into some big bites around here. It's really going to take something, though, since those Louisiana reds are just so thick. But sometimes, a hot spot can get ice cold and you hear about it all the time in these tournaments. That's kind of what we're hoping goes on over there. Today, we can take our time, and don't have to fight the storms and the higher seas.

—Bryan Watts

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