Fishing With Jason

Melaleuca opt in request for all my contacts

2012-01-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

As one of my entrepreneurial goals for 2012, I am compiling a list of contacts and email addresses for a 2012 campaign focusing on Melaleuca marketing. This list currently holds everyone I've ever contacted or communicated with in some way in the past. I realize that some of you would not be interested in what I am offering so I wanted to ask your permission to include you in the final list that will be acted upon in the beginning of February.

I will be sending out information about the Melaleuca products I represent and market, the company itself, home business building, updates to my Go Green With Jason blog and more great information about all the partnerships Melaleuca has built to better serve it's marketers and preferred customers. If you'd like to learn more about this opportunity to build a business or would like more information about the company and it's products, you can get preliminary information from www.Melaleuca.com. If you would like more detailed information about building a business with Melaleuca or it's products, please reply and we can set up a time to further discuss it. There is still time to sign up to be a Melaleuca customer or business builder until January 18th for as little as $1 [ One Dollar ]. Contact me today for more information.

If you would like to remain on the list to see what Melaleuca has to offer, then do nothing. You will receive an email in February.

If you would like to be excluded from this future Melaleuca email distribution list, simply reply to this message with the word "REMOVE" in the subject line. I will be removing email addresses manually and will ensure that you do not receive an email from this list in February.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jason R. Coleman

Marketing Representative

Melaleuca - The Wellness Company®

615-828-7125 mobile

615-331-5649 office

gogreenwithjason@gmail.com

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2011-11-19T08:30:00.001-06:00

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Jason Coleman
Owner/President at Coleman Ventures · Middle Tennessee State University · Nashville, Tennessee

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2011-11-04T08:27:00.001-05:00

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Check out Indie Sessions

2011-10-18T12:05:00.001-05:00

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Check out Indie Sessions

Hi,

Indie Sessions is inviting you to join Facebook.

Once you join, you'll be able to connect with the Indie Sessions Page, along with people you care about and other things that interest you.

Thanks,
Indie Sessions

To sign up for Facebook, follow the link below:

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Moving my blog

2011-02-22T14:14:00.003-06:00

For anyone who's followed this blog, please take note that I will officially be moving my blog to my personal site at http://www.jasoncoleman.me from this moment forward. I will be blogging much more on fishing this year and will be fishing the BFL Music City Division. You can look forward to more videos and pictures of my adventures in fishing.

Check out Coleman Ventures

2011-02-03T11:04:00.001-06:00

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Hi,

Coleman Ventures is inviting you to join Facebook.

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Coleman Ventures

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KY Lake and barges and Cats

2010-09-28T10:33:00.002-05:00

This time we're at KY Lake launching at Birdsong. I'm fishing with Ray and he also has an eagle boat. We did o.k. on this lake and I actually slayed em with a medium running red craw crankbait near rip rap and some barges. On top of that, I actually pulled in a 20 pound catfish. He was literally right up on the rocks. As soon as my lure hit the water he bit and went straight to the bottom. Needless to say it took me at least five minutes to get the big stinker into the boat so I could get my lure back. From there we past by some other folks who were fishing for big cats and started hitting a point when one of my wild casts with a white/yellow spinner bait got stuck on a rock. We were headed toward my lure so I thought I'd just get it back and move on when all of the sudden my line is going slack and headed straight for me. I wound up my line as fast as I could and a huge bass comes flipping out of the water with my lure in its mouth. It was as if it was in slow motion. He just flipped and flipped and PING JINGLE JINGLE....my lure came flying out of his mouth. I was stunned. My partner was stunned. We both just kind of looked at eash other in silence and awe of what had just occurred. It took several seconds before one of us even said anything and it was more like, "What the Heck was that?" Oh my goodness we could have won this tournament with just that one fish. That was amazing! Well, it's a good fishing story, but that's all it was cause we didn't get that huge thing in the boat and it didn't win the tournament for us, BUT we did have a good time and caught a bunch of fish. KY lake is interesting. There are a lot of small fish in it, but the size limit is 15 inches. Most the fish I caught were all about 14 and a half to 14 and three quarters. Kinda depressing, but still fun to catch fish. There's a whole other story about how my boater forgot to turn on his live wells and killed the fish he caught, but that's a story for another time and may not be blog worthy.
Until next tournament.
Here's to fish IN the boat.

Beech to start the season

2010-09-28T10:23:00.003-05:00

So this year is ready to go and we start the year off west of Nashville at Beech lake. It's a lake that requires it's own permit and has some big bass to offer based on our clubs history. In years past there have been some 6 and 7 pounders pulled from this lake. I was fishing with a guy named Stewart. He was a good guy and had an eagle G3 boat. At least I think that is what it is. Anyway, we headed straight for shallow water because there are some good flats with lillypads on this lake. We say a bunch of topwater action going on and we thought we were in the greatest spot. After hours of trying to get these active fish to bite, we had to give up and head for deep water. The theory there being "if they aren't in shallow, maybe they're in deep water." We headed towards the dam and actually did pull in some pretty fish, but they wouldn't measure up. I caught three fish on a spot remover with a silver/blue roboworm where the edge of the rip rap turned to sandy bottom. This didn't garner me any measurable fish, but we did have a great time and the weather was unbeatable. Some of our club members brought in some nice fish, but nothing like last year. I believe the good ones were caught using Texas rigged purple worms.
On to the next tournament.
Until then, here's to fish IN the boat!

Request for Sponsorship

2010-02-12T18:22:00.007-06:00

It's that time of year again and much fishing will be done this 2010 season. I've waited a little late, but I think I would still be a great representative for any company that needs it's identity in front of sportsman of all ages in the Middle TN area.
I am a Christian fisherman who is active in Harpeth Community Church of Franklin, TN. I am the secretary and publicity director of a bass fishing club in middle TN. The Central TN Bass Club. Mostly I am a co-angler in need of sponsorship.

By sponsoring me a company would be able to get their information and identity in front of sportsman across middle TN as well as through the internet with blogging.

I will commit to blogging about everything I learn on the lake this year as well as write about experiences with other anglers, products and reviews. I am ex military and have served this great republic in the US Navy. I have a degree in Mass Communication from Middle TN State University and have worked in Video Production and Multimedia for 10 years.

If your company sees a mutual benefit to sponsorship of a competitive angler, please contact me today!

You can sponsor patches on a fishing shirt, an entire fishing jersey, product and more for one tournament or the entire season. For more information on how you can sponsor me, please email me as soon as possible.

Bass Fishing Club Gearing Up for 2010 Season - Classified Ad

2010-02-08T12:32:00.001-06:00

Bass Fishing Club Gearing Up for 2010 Season - Classified Ad

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TBF State Tournament on KY Lake

2009-11-13T10:28:00.006-06:00

We started out early morning on the first day of the tournament putting around. Ya gotta know I hate putting around. The boater I got paired with was an "old-timer." Not only that, but yes, he was a major smoker. Imagine that, a bass fisherman that is a smoker. Anyway, he lit up like a chain smoker. Everytime he was sitting still he'd light another one up. Yuk! Anyway, we did o.k. for numbers of fish caught. We were catching fish all day in different spots, but they were all under the size limit. Talk about getting frustrated.

Now the rules of the TBF state that the co-angler gets the boat for half of the day. My boater kept trying to fish humps off of the main channel and all we were catching were small fish, SO I asked him if we could go back up into some creeks and try that, and asked him, and asked him etc. You get my point. This guy didn't even acknowledge that I'd said anything, much less had an idea that might net us some fish. So as the day went on and I kept asking, I just got more and more frustrated with my boater. Turns out, I'm rating the boater I had on the first day of this tournament as the WORST boater I've had in my tournament fishing career so far.

So what is the news when we get back to the scales that afternoon? Guess....
Everybody was catching their fish up in the back of creeks! Of course right?

Second day I faired a lot better on my boater draw. I got a really nice guy and a great partner on the lake. Ya know...the kind you can chat with and kid around...that's what I'm talking about. He didn't do very bad on the first day like I did either. He was open to suggestions and we did pretty well considering some awful wind to deal with and a weak trolling motor. We caught fish all day that were small just like the day before, but I had a LOT more fun. Turns out we both got decent keepers that day. I got one on a one knocker from rapala that would almost go 3 .lbs. He got one as well that was a little over 2 lbs. It was a good day...sun was out and we got to go to the scales. That's always a good day in my book.

As it turns out, the rest of my club team didn't do so well either and we ended up at the bottom of the standings as a team, but the weekend was a good one and we had fun.

If you have any comments, please feel free to post them and don't forget to follow this blog because I have some feature posts coming up this winter as well as some history on fishing.

Until next time. Here's to fish IN the boat!

Fundraising Event in Nashville

2009-08-28T10:04:00.006-05:00

Hey Everyone,
Please join my wife and I as we walk to raise money for Lupus awareness and research in Nashville at the Centennial Park Event Shelter on September 12th. Registration starts at 3 p.m. and the walk starts at 5 p.m. You can join our team or just make a donation by visiting this link.
I'd love to see you there!
Sincerely,
Jason Coleman

Fishing Line Help

2009-07-20T15:21:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone...I had such a bad day last tournament that I decided to really ask questions about fishing line and see what type answers I'd receive. The truth is...there is no perfect answer, but many. Even though the line that someone uses is highly determined by their preferences, there are "applications" in which certain lines are better than others. Please visit this article presented by bass pro to hopefully shed some light on the subject:
http://tiny.cc/BassProArticle
On the obvious side of things...if you find that the line that you are using doesn't perform, don't be afraid to try something else.
I will continue to research this issue and will let you know as I learn more about the subject.
Here's to fish IN the boat!
Feel free to respond with your preferences and/or any bad day or good day stories where line played they key.

11JULY09 Awful day on Normandy Lake

2009-07-13T13:26:00.003-05:00

Our club headed out early on the 11th looking to out fish the rumors that this lake was a bad fishing lake. Some were able and some were not. I was one who would have the worst day ever on the lake. Normally I at least catch a couple of fish that are too small or the wrong species like an accidental white bass, but this day, I could get nothing to the boat. My boater however did well, boating three nice fish. One big spotted bass and one little one and one decent keeper largemouth. I had a couple of fish on the hook and had some line failure if not knot failure at least twice. I had another one on a white spinner bait and lost him as well. There's no telling how many jig heads and spot removers I lost. I spent way too much time tying on baits! Anyway, one of our club members got a limit of five fish for about 11 lbs and took first place and big fish. My boater got 2nd place and a decent check. The third place fisherman had a couple nice ones, but for the most part, that lake produced very little in the way of poundage for our club. Maybe it'll be better next year.
Feel free to leave comments and/or tips anytime.
Until next time.
Here's to fish IN the boat!

27JUNE09 Results on Percy Priest

2009-07-13T13:04:00.002-05:00

Our club set out on Percy Priest early in the morning on the 27th ready to tame the lake. The water temp was up and the day was nice to begin with. I was with a seasoned veteran of bass fishing so I was sure we would get into some fish this day. We did. We were hitting areas where the current turned a corner and slammed into the bank. Those long points with all that rock served to be a good pattern. We got into a small largemouth early on a 4" motor oil power worm rigged on a spot remover so we figured green would work for the day. It didn't really last that long and I got bored and switched to a 3/8 oz black and yellow jig with a flappin hog trailer. That proved to be a smart switch because I pulled in a nice smallmouth that was easily over 18" plus it had some weight to it.
We then moved to another main lake point and fished it way out towards the channel. I picked up a nice largemouth on a spot remover with a green pumpkin finesse worm. I had gotten stuck several times and lost several spot removers prior to catching him though so there must have been alot of rocks in the spot we were fishing.
Towards the end of the day, we move to another main lake drop coming into a point and I hooked a monster! My boater was freakin' out and said he could have put both his fists in that fishes mouth, but alas I lost him when he was about ten feet from the boat. He just spit my jig out clean as a whistle.
We continued on around the point to where an old fishing buddy had told me there was a submerged rock wall. I got a nice keeper largemouth on a small crankbait there to make my tally three fish to weigh in.
It turned out that those three fish would be good ones because most of the field did poorly that day. I ended up with first place and big fish! Yeah ... two checks! Ya gotta luv it. Previously on Percy Priest, I had only zeroed so I guess the lake was paying me back...he he he.
Feel free to make comments and leave tips as always.
Here's to fish In the boat.

20JUNE09 Junk fishing on Tims Ford

2009-07-13T12:51:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've fished for anything other than Black Bass so I decided while I was on a trip with friends to Tims Ford over the weekend of the 20th that we'd try some junk fishing. Now "junk fishing" to me is basically trying to catch anything that will bite. We were fishing from a small personal dock so there was no going to another spot if this one didn't pan out.
The day started off well enough I hooked my buddy up with a rod and bobber, weight and small hook because I figured we'd go for Crappy or Bluegill OR anything else that would bite. As soon as his worm hit the water his bobber disappeared. He looked at me and said "where did my bobber go?" This was classic! I said, "you have a fish silly real it in." He did have a little bluegill that all but swallowed the little hook and worm. It was cool to see that my buddy caught a fish though so I was pretty jazzed.
We kept it up for most of the day and really didn't do any better. We started to throw minnows too hoping that we'd get some more luck. I got frustrated after 1 p.m. or so and started throwing a rooster tail. I told my buddy,"this thing always catches fish." It did. I pulled in the second and last Bluegill of the day. It was a small one and nothing to brag about.
It was the first time I'd used minnows in my life so there will be some attached video as soon as I get it in my computer.
All in all, we had fun and then gave up later in the day to prefer going swimming in the lake rather than fishing it. The weekend went well and fun was had by all, but the fishing wasn't too hot.
Feel free to post comments and/or tips anytime.
Here's to fish IN the boat!

2009-06-27T14:24:00.001-05:00

Well at the end of the day on Percy Priest, I've got two nice ones and a keeper. Percy Priest was kind to me today!

Got 2 On Wheeler - 13June09 - CTBC

2009-06-18T14:59:00.006-05:00

     The day started out interesting enough...we had some severe storms just to the South of us and it made the tournament director nervous about sending us all out on the lake in those conditions. Well, the president of the club showed up and was a little boisterous as to why we weren't fishing already because he'd just seen 20+ boats go out with another club. Well the delay ended up being the right choice...the storms skirted past us and we had a fairly nice day of fishing. That's not to say we didn't get rained on AGAIN, but it didn't last very long.
     My boater wanted to fish the shallows because he'd gotten some on KY Lake recently so we pretty much stuck to that pattern. A cove here and some laydowns (trees laying in the water) there with some grass and brush turned out to be a good pattern for my boater. I, as usual, caught a couple of dinks that could have been used for bait on any other day. My boater probably had a limit by 11 a.m. He was doing well and I wasn't complaining.
     At one point we were in & around some trees and brush and I got a keeper while Texas rigging a Berkley Powerbait Crazy Legs Chigger Craw.I was using a blue/black version and my boater had caught all his on blue so I figured we had the color nailed for the day...turns out not so because after 11 things really slowed down. In the mean time my boater culled two fish from his limit of keepers. I wasn't getting any bites so I switched over to a Yamamoto Flappin Hog Texas rigged and it made the difference and got me another fish.Something I noticed about both times I caught fish or he did for that matter was that we just kept on zipping by. I thought to myself that if you catch a fish in an area, shouldn't you stay in that area and follow up with a different bait to see if there are more there? Maybe I should have said something. It's hard to ask these guys who've been fishing for so long to do something that I want to do when I've only been back at fishing for about 3 years now. We tried fishing some other areas, but didn't see anyone fishing ledges to speak of so we stuck to the shallows. We ended up weighing in what we had and my boater, Ken, got third place (excuse me...second place!) in front of Danny Lea (mentioned in a previous posting).
     The winner had three nice fish he caught on shaky head worms and he got big fish with a 4 pounder.
     I really liked this area of Wheeler Lake around the Decatur area and I'd like to get back there sometime to fish again soon. If you get the chance to go, take it. They had the best boat ramp I've seen.
     Next club tournament is Percy Priest so wish me luck. It remains my nemesis!
     Please feel free to leave comments and until next time...Here's to fish IN the boat!

Sitting this one out...Doctor's Orders Tournament on Percy Priest Lake BFL (Music City Division)

2009-06-08T10:50:00.006-05:00

    This past weekend was the BFL Music City Division Tournament on Percy Priest Lake and I was not there. I was given doctors orders not to sit down and I'll tell you why.

     As you know, the week before hand, I competed with my club members on Lake Barkley in Dover, TN. Well, apparently while fishing that tournament, I picked up some serious bug bites. Now for all intents and purposes, I've been to Lake Barkley before in the summer so why should I be worried about bugs...That's coming up.

     I didn't realize that I had any bites and assumed I'd just had a bad day fishing. It would get much worse. I'd gotten home that evening and played with my daughter and had some family time. I didn't notice until Monday that I had an itch and I scratched it. No big deal right?

     By the third day my itch was starting to hurt a little and it was on my butt cheek so it was starting to hurt a little to sit down. Which for the most part is how I make a living. Designing graphics while sitting at my computer.

     By Wednesday of that week my "itch" was swollen up so bad I had a hard time walking without hurting so at this point, all humility was out the window and I went to the doctor Thursday morning. His words were, "ooh I think were going to need to cut on that. That's a pretty bad infection." OUCH!!!!!!!! No real anesthesia and a blade on my butt later and my huffing and puffing had resided. He prescribed me pain meds and gave me a monstrous shot of antibiotic as well as more antibiotics to take the rest of five more days and he asked to see me back on Tuesday.

     So after several days on antibiotics and not so much the pain meds, I mean I'd have to be a wuss to take pain meds for a bug bite right?, I'm starting to feel better and can sit down long enough to give me daughter a bottle. Sure I have to sleep on my side and use my PC work station standing up, but I'm getting better and it doesn't hurt anymore to sit on the porcelain god.

     What did I learn from such an ordeal? If you have bug spray....USE IT! Especially in the summer months. AND, don't let small bug bites go untreated. As soon as you notice them, take immediate action. Keep them clean and treat them as necessary. Now that I've learned this seemingly ameteur lesson, I'll be using the heck out of my Bug Spray which actually works really well. I just should have taken it to Barkley with me and actually used it.

     So until next time, here's to fish IN the boat & some bug spray!

Welcome to Tiny Town! CTBC Lake Barkley May 30th '09

2009-06-01T10:49:00.010-05:00

     On to beautiful Barkley lake in Northwest TN to test my skills yet again against about 10 of my club members. It was a very nice day to be on the water and was truelly the first time it was actually kinda hot this season so far. I had to put on the sunscreen to prevent getting fisherman's burn. You know, that burnt in sunglasses look on your face after you take off your hat and sunglasses. Almost like a backwards raccoon. You know what I'm talking about.
     Anyway, We caught fish early on main lake points in fairly shallow water, but they were not keepers. We moved to other points on the supposition that we'd eventually get into some good fish...more "dinks." A "DINK" is a fish that just doesn't measure up to legal/club standards. On Barkley that's a 12" Spotted Bass, 15" Largemouth & 18" Smallmouth Bass. This day would not pay of for a sizable bass.
     It seems as though every spot we fished, we caught fish. They were all small! We even hooked some stripers that were hungry. We caught them on crankbaits, finesse worms, large and small baits and yes, they were all small!
     After we got off the water and noticed another local club weighing in full sacks of fish, my boater, Mark Laporte, and I debriefed and tried to figure out what we could have done differently and decided that we truelly didn't stick to our original plan. We had said earlier in the morning that we needed to move more quickly when we weren't catching good fish and we didn't. We had also talked about fishing much deeper water and we didn't. So suffice it to say that we definitely didn't stick to our original plan.
     So what did we learn? If you've done your research and you come up with a plan....stick to it. If it doesn't pan out in the first part of the day, then improvise, but at the very least, give your plan a shot because you may end up hooking the big one.
     Our club members did catch fish and the word on the lake this day was definitely tons of short fish, but we didn't do near as well as the other club we saw weighing in sacks of good fish.
     Once I find out what the winning pattern was on the lake this day at our upcoming meeting I'll make sure to post it for those folks who are headed to Lake Barkley soon.
     On another note, the spawn is over on Lake Barkley and the bigger fish have moved out of the shallows and into deeper water. Also, if you like fishing for Alligator Gar, there were plenty coming up and breaking the surface.
     On another note, I do have to say that in a few years when all these small fish are a little bigger, fishing on Barkley in May will be a treat!
     Have something to say about this post or about fishing in general? Feel free to post a comment. I'd love to hear what you have to say and I definitely love fishing stories.
     Until next time, here's to fish IN the boat!

Tim's Ford Lake with the Central TN Bass Club 16May09

2009-05-28T14:44:00.006-05:00

Ahhhh, Tim's Ford in the morning.....deer walking through the park, the sun just rising above the water and (eeeeerrk!) the gate is closed!

Yes, our club scheduled a launch time at the same time the gates are set to automatically open to the park. That meant we sat there waiting by the gate for at least thirty minutes. That's thirty minutes of sleep I could have had!

Well, once we got launched and everyone was fishing, the next thing to happen was, yep...you guessed it....the rain came in. In this case it helped our cause because Tim's Ford is apparently full of smallmouth and buddy they turned on during the rain. I got a good large mouth keeper on a lime green crankbait coming off of a point and my partner got a couple good fish. One was on a crankbait and the other on a spinner bait I think. One of them was a good smallmouth (more about that later). We kept getting bites during the rain, but the fish just wouldn't hold on. Then, wouldn't ya know it, the rain stopped and it was beautiful outside. There wasn't much boat traffic so we were able to stay on the points and keep going for the smallmouth.

At one point, we were fishing the main channel drops where the red clay just drops into the water. My boater, Grant, decided it was time for him to have a sandwhich and let me run the troller motor. Now I'm not the most coordinated person in the world. I used to be an all around athlete, but there's something about running a troller motor while fishing that turns me into an idiot. Anyway, after getting more used to the troller motor guidance and not running the boat into the bank, I started throwing my little 4 inch motor oil power worm on a spot remover and BANG! I truelly felt no hit on my worm, but I did notice that it was moving away at a strange angle so I SET THE HOOK! The next thing I hear is the sound of my drag going out hard. I cranked it back down slightly as I began to fight this fish. The battle seemed like it took forever, but you'll understand later. It felt as if the fish were trying to yank the rod from my hands. My wrist was all torqued out in a funny direction and I was trying not to let him break off. Then it came to the top of the water. It was a NICE smallmouth. There'll be no throwing this one back if I can just get him in the boat. My boater was encouraging me not to muscle him in the boat for fear of a line break or the fish getting off so I continued to hold him and allow the fish to get tired. Then out comes the net, thanks Grant, and bam. I've got a really nice smallmouth that will definitely go to the scales. Whew, what an exciting catch! Smallmouth are very pretty fish.
Now for the gear I told you about. I was using a 5 foot ultra light Shakespeare spinning rod combo that I bought about two years ago to fish for trout in the Duck River. I had it spooled with 10 pound Fluorocarbon (thank goodness). I get ragged on alot for using that rig, but for some reason, I keep going back to it. It just seems that I catch fish on that rig. Anyway, now you can understand the fight I got out of my 3.78 lb smallmouth bass.
Overall I did pretty good that day. I got third place out of 8 anglers with 5.83 lbs and I got Big Fish with my smallmouth. It makes me feel better after doing so horribly in the BFL standings.
On this trip I learned that you can catch nice fish on inexpensive rigs and you should always bring a camera to the lake. I would have loved to have had a picture of that smallmouth!
Until next time, here's to fish IN the boat.

TN Federation Nation Wrap Up - Cherokee Lake TN - 6,7,8&9th of May

2009-05-28T11:38:00.014-05:00

This years TN Federation Nation 2009 tournament started out well for me...I know...shocker right?! Seriously though, I participated in practice with my club team on the Wednesday before the event and started out not doing so hot. I was with one of my club members and it was more about finding what I was doing wrong than anything else. My teammates finally forced me to use their gear some of the time because they didn't like what I was fishing with. I admit, I don't have the best gear so I took their gear and used it when I could. It was really rainy this week and Wednesday was no exception. We got dumped on, but during that time I got two fish. One was a dink, but the other was a nice fish that I got off of Rocks and timber with a spot remover with a green pumpkin finesse worm.

So we went through an inordinately long registration on Thursday ( I got some whiskey as a door prize...yeah! Evan Williams sponsored the contest).

So I ended up drawing a guy from West TN. He was a little younger than me, but very cool. He had a boat, but it was not a powerhouse by any means. We started off slow Friday morning and had a couple nibbles at best until we decided to move. Them came one of the worst storms I admit to staying out in. I mean lightning everywhere! Right over us and all around. I realize now that we were taking too big of a chance that morning. Anyway during that rain I got a good fish so I was happy. My boater was beginning to get frustrated though. After the rain subsided we moved again back up in a cove and we were getting nibbles. I got another good fish pitching a worm into some brush. This one put up a fight and spit out a shad in the process. Then I got another one off a point just outside the cove and thought we should hit more points. My boater ended up boating a beautiful small mouth, but just didn't make size limit so he had to throw him back. What a heart breaker! So by midday I had three fish and was excited because for the very first time I was going to be able to weigh in three fish...that's a record for me.

The second day I got partnered with a guy who was in the top 20 and was in the hunt for a good finish by the name of Mark Pierce. He was a good fisherman. It seemed like everywhere we went he pulled in a fish. He actually culled a couple of fish so he ended up finishing in 4th place overall.
I did o.k.pulling in two fish behind him. One on my worm and the other on a Watermelon Red Flake Yamamoto Swimming Senko with a 3/16 Pro Slider head.
I ended up finishing 59th place out of 120 with 8.65 lbs. Not too shabby for my first state tournament!
After all was said and done, our Central Tennessee Bass Club representative Danny Lea got 6th place overall and will fish with the TN Team in the divisional.
So I broke a couple of my own personal records at this tournament. I caught my very first fish on a Carolina Rig and I weighed in 3 fish for the first time!

Hopefully I can take some of what I learned into the next BFL Tournament and actually catch something on Percy Priest Lake!
Until Next Time, here's to fish IN the boat!

2009-05-09T15:32:00.001-05:00

Central TN Bass Club representative took 6th place and will go to "Divisional." Danny Lea-

2009-05-09T10:17:00.001-05:00

I've got two in the livewell and looking to cull!

2009-05-08T11:13:00.001-05:00

I've got three in the live well!

I forgot how to fish! - BFL Music City Division - Center Hill Lake 18APR09

2009-04-23T10:02:00.008-05:00

What a great day to be on the water! A brisk morning, but not so much that you get the shivers...All I heard about Center Hill was how deep and clear it is. Well, not this day. Or maybe it was where my boater decided to fish. At one point we may have had 5 feet of visibility, at others maybe 2 ft. I'd had some tips coming in from folks who'd pre-fished as well as semi pros who think they have a handle on certain lakes at certain times of the year. Some said bed fish, others said bluff fish with a centipede and still others said it was best to Carolina rig with a lizard. Unfortunately for me, I tried all these techniques to no avail. I did however get one fish on using a 1/4 oz jig head with a 7 inch purple power worm coming off the bank in a cove. However, I got snagged in someone elses discarded fishing line and didn't get a good hook set, so the fish got off. That ended up being 1 of the two bites I had all day. The other was on a Texas rigged lizard off the bluffs, but the fish was just lipping it and I couldn't get him.

My boater was throwing shaky head worms all day and caught two fish that went about 4 pounds. He was apparently, after I checked on him, a very good fisherman. He fishes the Stren series and much more so I figure if he wasn't catching fish, we weren't in the right place or weren't fishing the right pattern. He's got a growing business in rods and other fishing gear, but still has a day job like the rest of us. Check out www.bunchcustomrods.com for more information.

So it's back to the drawing board and our next lake,yet again, Percy Priest! The rock pit that has kicked my butt for a long time. The fish should be up higher by launch time so I have my hopes up.

Until next time, here's to fish IN the boat!

Beech Lake, TN 4/4/09 Central TN Bass Club

2009-04-13T12:05:00.002-05:00

Arriving early as usual my friend Steve and I were the first at the ramp for this club tournament. I was paired with Danny Lea, who is considered a very good fisherman in our club. Surely I would learn alot and bag some fish right? Not the case. Well, I did learn alot and improved my pitching technique, BUT I didn't even get so much as a hard nibble all day. Danny Lea however did well, although he was disappointed with several fish he lost for one reason or another. One of them in particular easily jumped four feet out of the water and spit the lure right back towards my face...lookout! Anyway, he had four good fish and one was 6 .lbs 6 oz.s I believe. He was using some type of black jig with a black and yellow trailer that looked like pork, but I can't be positive. Me, I threw everything I could at them and had nothing to show for it , but emphysema from Danny Lea's horrible smoking habit. Well, that's fishing. I'd not been on Beech Lake before and now I can say I have fished it. Not very well, but nonetheless, I fished it. Now I can look forward to the BFL on Center Hill coming up. It's a deeper lake with clear water, so the fishing should be an entirely different approach. Maybe more towards my approach I hope!
Here's to fish IN the boat!

BFL Tournament on Old Hickory Lake 3/28/09

2009-04-13T11:58:00.003-05:00

Yet again we expected the worst of rain and thunderstorms for this Saturday's tournament and it ended up being a fairly nice day on the lake. It got pretty cloudy a few times and threatened to get us wet, but never panned out...thank goodness. I was beginning to get sick of fishing in the rain. My boater this time was Matt Crabill. He was a good guy and on the pro staff with the local Bass Pro shop. He got into a couple fish fairly early and we thought we'd have a great day, but one of them was a dink and the other was just a keeper. When they both came back to back we thought we were in the right spot, but it didn't pan out so we continued to move. It seemed as though every spot my boater new of was already populated by several boats. It goes to show you that there are no secret fishing spots any more. With the advent of fish finders and GPS...everybody knows where to go. Anyway, we wanted to get to several bridges where the spawning routes are bottle necked, but other boaters always took them. I ended up getting one dink with a Watermelon brush hog rigged Texas across from a bridge, but alas he had to go back. Then at the very end of the day we were able to get into the steam plant runoff just down from Bull Creek and I picked up a keeper that barely went 14" with a spot remover and a motor oil 4" power worm. Thank goodness for that, because it allowed me to actually weigh in this time and get some points. So far, all my buddies who are fishing the BFL with me this year are well ahead of me in the points race, but Center Hill is coming up and I have the chance of catching up. Problem is.... they have a chance of running off with it...That's fishing!

FLW Outdoors Blog...censored?

2009-04-13T10:42:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone,
I've been blogging about my fishing tournaments and have come to find out that the blog portion of the FLW Outdoors website is censored in some way. They don't really make it clear and I blog very "G" rated SO I'm going to move my outdoor blogs here and update them more regularly. Please check back because I'll be transferring my old blogs as well as posting new ones about my fishing adventures for 2009.

Rainy Days & Fishin' never get me down - CT Bass Club on Wilson Lake 3-14-09

2009-03-16T11:29:00.001-05:00

So....yet again, I'm out on the lake in crazy rainy miserable weather...What am I, a glutton for punishment? Anyway this club tournament held by Central Tennessee Bass Club was on Wilson Lake in Alabama. It's a long drive, but can be shared and is fairly plesant. This lake is off of Lock #6 below Wheeler Lake and has a history of smallmouth fishing...Not this past Saturday! I think every member of the club caught some DRUM! They fight like a dead weight on the end of your line and are just not the best thing to see when you were hoping for that big bass. So this time around, I caught about a 15 inch largemouth that went right a 1.72 Lbs. I got him on a watermelon Brushhog texas rigged in between a couple of layed down trees in about five feet of water. Thank goodness too because there were two guys in our club who did well that day coming back with four and three fish respectively and the guy who had the three had more weight. Even some of our clubs best anglers came back empty handed which made me feel much better. So at least I put some points in the database for the rest of my club season. Our next lake is Beech. I've never fished there either so I hope I can at least pull one more out of my a**. Until next time on the water, here's to the BIG BITE!

Music City Division - BFL on Percy Priest Lake

2009-03-10T11:28:00.001-05:00

Well, Percy Priest is continuing to be my nemesis. I fished hard all day this past Saturday in the BFL Tournament and came up with nothing to weigh in, yet again. I was able to boat three fish, but they were all just to short to count. The first on I caught about 10:30 on a plastic lizard rigged up Texas style off a muddy point. The second, I caught on a small diving crankbait with a red crawfish color to it on the edge of the channel up in the river near really fast water. The third, I caught on a deep diving shad colored crankbait off of a bluff drop. My boater however was very successful with a long jerkbait and was able to boat two pretty nice fish in the early morning. Speaking of my boater...he was a def mute. Imagine that...I thought it would be a difficult day with the communication issue and all, but it turned out to be real good. He was able to communicate very well and I with him. I never thought it would have gone that smooth, but it did.

Anyway, hopefully with more practice, and time on the water, I can pull in some good fish off of Percy Priest. So, until next time, see ya on the water.

February Misery Fishing - TNBASSMASTERS.COM Frostbite Tournament

2009-03-05T11:27:00.000-06:00

So I put my money on the table that I'd be able to bring it against guys who've been fishing Percy Priest Lake for a long time. The weather was aweful. Consistently cold and rainy most of the day. We fished bluffs, flatts, channells and NOTHING!....I'm not even positive that I ever even got a bite! I would say that when it's that cold and miserable, not even the fish want to be there, but there were boats that came back with limits that day. This is amazing to me. It 's the kinda thing that makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong or if I was totally in the wrong place. Well, here's to next year's Frostbite tournament!

On another note, hopefully I'm going to get a boater for the upcoming BFL that I signed up for on the 7th of March. The weather will have changed pretty significantly and maybe just maybe I'll bring some fish back to weigh in. Wish me luck.

February Freeze Fishing

2009-02-25T11:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I decided to hit the lake this past weekend...COLD! Anyway the fishing was tough. The finder was showing them all over the place, but they were not moving at all. My boater got one in the boat that was a keeper fairly eearly that morning, but we were stonewalled the rest of the day. My monofillament was not liking the cold weather not to mention how cold my hands were. Anyway, like they say, any day on the water is better than a day at work. Hopefully the weather gets better and the fish start eating for this coming Saturday's Frostbite tournament.

November Pond Fishing

2008-12-25T11:21:00.002-06:00

My wife's Uncle and I hit a stocked pond on his property to see if the stocking had taken well. Turns out there are some good bas in it. On that windy/pretty chilly day we boated 10 good bass. I pulled in 7 and he pulled in 3. Unfortunately he had the Big Fish for the day coming in at around 2 Lbs. Maybe next time we'll put a bet on the table for most fish caught. Strangely enough, I also tried to boat some bluegill intentionally and didn't get a nibble. We knew they had been stocked but didn't get one in the boat. Maybe we'll check their progress in the spring.