2018 Fishing Video Recap – Top Bass

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Anybody’s mother-in-law ever bought ‘em a dipnet?

Just thought that I’d throw that out there because mine just did this past Christmas.

Could’ve used it on this bass from last April as I’m not as eager (or brave) as I used to be when reaching down to lip a mouth full of treble hooks. Instead, I’ve taken to using a Boga Grip and while some may question the tool for landing fish that will have to be a debate for another day.

Besides, I’ve taken to packing along the dipnet to start 2019. Never even got a bite to try it out. Of course, I’ll blame it on the frigid and uncommon open water during the first week of January as opposed to the tool being some sort of jinx. However, come spring if I’m still getting shut out, well, I’m headed for Quincy, IL to say “thanks but no thanks.” I believe it will all work out just fine though.

 

 

Today’s clip features a catch that had me wondering if it would work out fine as that bass was sure thrashing about trying to dislodge my crankbait. In addition, I’d had a less than stellar day and confidence really wasn’t riding high that this one was going to stay hooked.

In fact, I was struggling so much that I didn’t even have my GoPro turned on when I hooked into this bass. Instead, I performed the ill-advised trick of pushing the “Go” button as I was fighting the fish in a desperate attempt to get some footage. Luck was on my side and I was able to shoot this video of what would be my third largest bass of the year.

So what about the footage of my Top 2?

Well, there is no such video as my GoPro was experiencing technical difficulties during a September outing when those bass were caught along with a five-pounder caught by my brother, Brent. Just bad timing as good, old photographic evidence had to suffice.

A couple other big bass that I witnessed also eluded video documentation while fishing with Brent. Not that he forbade me to film his prowess, more like a couple items called TMI and NEB.

TMI = Too Much Information – there are some spots I prefer not to film or reveal.

NEB = Not Enough Battery – can only shoot about 75 minutes with current GoPro setup.

Indeed a little disappointing if I miss getting video of some good catches but nothing that I lose any sleep over. After all, I spent a lot of years casting without ever thinking that I could make my own “fishin’ show” much less share it with the whole world. Well, in theory at least. Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – J PB

Posted on by Troy Jackson

You know all of that stuff that you learned during your formal education that you never really get to use?

Well, a blog can do wonders for bringing some of that good, old useless knowledge to the surface as one ponders a post.

“PB” was always a fun bit of trivia when it came to the Periodic Table of Elements as it strangely represented the abbreviation for lead. But, if you were a fellow with two years of high school Latin and two more semesters in college, well, it made perfect sense. Lead is plumbum, of course. (Shout out to Mrs. Buck and Professor Vander Muelen) And sticking to Latin and Chemistry, as for the “J” in today’s title, there is no J in Latin thus not surprising that the letter does not appear in the Periodic Table.

Okay, enough showing off as the acronym, “PB”, stands for “Personal Best” and can be applied in a number of pursuits, generally in athletics. Today it is being used in the world of bass fishing and pertains to the fish landed in the video below by my boy, Jayce, on Cinco de Mayo.

 

Obviously, I dig this video as it is not only an admirable catch but it also brings to mind a couple other thoughts as I watch it again. I’ve marked these items with arrows in the snapshot below taken from the video right as Jayce’s Senko splashed down.

First up, I nearly blurted out that I didn’t think Jayce’s cast was long enough to fool a fish. Luckily, the bass struck immediately and saved me from the documented embarrassment of not minding my own business and just letting the boy fish without unnecessarily critiquing such details. He got it in the water which means he got it right.

The second item concerns the lure on the end of my pole at the lower right of the pic. For what it’s worth, it’s a Whopper Plopper as I was dinking around hoping to show Jayce the thrilling blast of a topwater strike. After Jayce’s catch I put it away and stuck to observing and filming in between some bluegill casts. As I watched and listened to his increasing confidence I knew that it was not the time to risk lucking into a bass that would possibly knock him off of the Top Bass throne. It was his day and he was putting on a good show, he didn’t need a cameo from some old wannabe bass fisherman.

Grand totals on the day saw Jayce nab six bass with a Top 5 Weight of 7-8 and a couple bonus crappie. As for me, I’ve never been more content to leave the lake without a bass, perfectly satisfied with eight bluegill in between playing fan, fishing guide, videographer and best of all, Dad. Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – Windy

Posted on by Troy Jackson

If you’ve hung around the website for a bit you are familiar with the fondness that I have for rock and pop music. With fifty years or so of tunes bouncing around in my brain, I pretty much have a lyric for every situation. As such it is commonplace for me to find that the media player in my head is playing a tune that reflects the conditions, the day’s events or my general state of mind.

For 2019 there were several instances when The Association’s “Windy” was on repeat as the weather conditions seemed like a broken record. When rowing around the strip mines I had to put the anchor to frequent use. While prowling on foot I found myself pummeled by ash from a recent controlled burn and even washed by spray off of the water during an extremely blustery day.

Those conditions really do a number on my rather basic video/audio setup as they ruin the sound and really make it rather unbearable to view without some editing work. But for this post I’ve left it as is so you can get a bit of a feel, minus the potential windchill effect though.

 

Of course, there are two sides to every story and as fellow anglers know, wind can also be your friend. It can help to position the bass and sometimes get them stacked up pretty good on a solid structural element when the wind hits it just right. As proof, one of the trips in the clips was a solo April outing that produced 60 bass in six hours of hiking.

So, in the end, wind is just another piece of the fishing puzzle that you must put together to find some bites. And if you’re compiling some video along the way there’s always a voiceover or windscreen option to save the ears of your listeners. Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – Top IA Bass

Posted on by Troy Jackson

I have scoured the internet on several occasions in search of an old advertisement that offered up the tagline “there’s big fish in Iowa” or something quite similar. I want to say that it was a tourism spot but could very well have been pitching a product of some sort.

Just don’t know.

What I do know is that I’ve had some difficulty finding those big fish so it is not only the advertisement search that has proven elusive. I’ve only been fishing Iowa waters since June 2016 and exclusively on the relatively new Lost Grove Lake so my attempts have been rather limited. To date, my personal best Iowa bass is a 2-3 from June 2017 among the 106 bass in the log from just under 40 hours of casting in The Hawkeye State.

The clip below represents the Top Iowa Bass for 2018, not a particularly impressive specimen but worthy of a video highlight nonetheless.

 

Even though I have yet to fool anything real special on Lost Grove, I still plan on giving it another shot in 2019. The proximity of a 25-minute drive makes it a good after work weekday trip once the summer days get long. A couple evening hours hits the spot and I do know that some good ones do indeed prowl that water. I’ve seen a couple on internet reports as well as several firsthand swimming in the waters.

But the toughest one to take was a 4-pounder that a fellow nabbed from the bank within a cast of my boat and right where I was headed. Tough luck for me as he simply got there first. Initially a little bummed, I took a mental step back, congratulated him on the catch and even assisted him by loaning my pliers and snapping a couple pics for him with his phone.

Best of all, that fish is still swimming, right alongside my 2-3 Iowa personal best as they were both caught in the same area. And as both were fooled in 2017, they’ll have two more years of growing under their belts for 2019 (yes, I do know bass do not wear belts). Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – Holy $^!%

Posted on by Troy Jackson

(NOTE: Like all other posts, this is indeed family friendly, just having some fun with the title.)

There’s an interesting bunch of young YouTubers out there on the internet doing the fishing thing and I must admit that I do get a kick out of their ambition and some of their antics. However, I still cringe a bit when one of them drops some profanity as I am sure there are kids who follow as well, including some of mine.

Now, I know that my kids hear worse more often at school and they tell me so. It is what it is and I simply inform them that I don’t want to hear or hear of them using such language.

All good, right? Until this video clip from my nine year old boy, Jayce.

 

Okay, all in good fun, I can live with “Holy crap”, could be another synonym.

Overall, it’s just plain fun to see a kid take a liking to a hobby that has provided me with so many memories for so many years before he was even around and hopefully will keep on giving as he/we grow older.

Lots of stuff going on here, far too much to write about in detail and perhaps hard to put into words anyway. Things as simple as fresh air, ditching technology (well, except for a phone that records video) and father-son time all fit nicely into that “priceless” category.

As far as that boy’s language goes, there’s that old saying that “the apple don’t fall far from the tree.” Thank goodness that most of what’s in my head some days stays there instead of coming out of my mouth.

Seems that the old adage also applies in respect to that boy being a fisherman.

Heck yes and darn straight. Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – First Cast

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Superstition is a weird deal.

I don’t really buy it but I also can’t totally shake it. Played just a few ball games of various sorts when I could do that sort of thing and well, superstition kind of gets in your head from time to time. Where to stand when on deck, number of dribbles on a free throw, glove goes in a certain spot on the bench, mark your ball and replace before a putt, lucky socks, front foot out of the box between pitches…you get the picture.

But those are what I call “habits” or “routine” so not superstitious, right?

So, how about superstition and fishing?

Folks, I’ve got a whole batch of notes on the topic in my “one of these days” folder.

And I’ve gotta tell you, when the incident below occurred it honestly had me a little worried. You see, I’ve long viewed a bass on the first cast as more of a bad omen than a sign that you are going to knock ‘em dead. And a first cast bass on Lake Storey? Now that is almost unheard of.

 

In reality, however, I would have to say that the concern is unfounded, pretty much like all of the standard (or odd) superstitious quirks that can influence people’s behavior. In fact, on this Lake Storey outing I wound up having a real solid day on a fishing hole that can sometimes be a tough one to figure out.

Perhaps next time though I’ll choose a historically unproductive spot for my first cast just in case. You know, instead of the tree under the water, maybe toss that spinnerbait into one up on the bank.

Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap – The Intros

Posted on by Troy Jackson

Beginning in October of the 2018 season I took to recording intro videos on my drive to the fishing hole. Those intros primarily consisted of a mix of fishing forecasts, breakfast banter and trip tunes as I enjoyed the solitude of a solo ride.

During those rides, anything is possible and the anticipation runs high as you dream of what lies in store once you hit the water. Old stories are relived and the day’s gameplan is hashed out based on some of those old tales as well as the multitude of other variables that we anglers often overthink.

Nothing too serious in my pre-cast preludes though as the outdoor escapes are all about having fun and getting away from all of the serious stuff that goes along with being a grownup. But mixed in with the lightheartedness one can also find a dash of fishing know how and even some sentimentality. Both of those aspects go a long way towards explaining why I’ve spent the last seventeen years telling “fish stories” via the internet.

Two minute montage of my two cents en route to the fishing hole on several trips last fall.

 

The alliterative tagline for this latest internet venture reads “Fish, fur, family, friends, fun…and some foolishness” but it could just as easily offer up that the goal is to “educate, enlighten and entertain.” Hopefully the addition of the intro video feature on my outings provides at least a little of each of those last three items.

To date, the intro concept has been pretty basic with no cameraman, no script and no filter. Just turn the GoPro on and rattle off as it rattles along the dashboard with the bumps in the road. I am mindful to keep it contained these days however, as attention spans just ain’t what they used to be. Truth be known though, I believe that I could talk fishing all the way from the Quad Cities to the Knox County strip mines and back (the back part is a video clip for another day). Fortunately, for anyone who prefers the fishing over the rambling I’ve only got so much juice in the GoPro battery so I must conserve it just in case the bass decide to help me out.

Some of those instances are coming your way next as the recap continues. Talk to you later. Troy

2018 Fishing Video Recap

Posted on by Troy Jackson

It looks like Winter is going to stick around for a while now that it has arrived, so what to do in terms of blogging?

Why, a 2018 Fishing Video recap sounds like a good idea so let’s start there.

Since I typically like to kick off a series of postings with a bit of an introduction, here we go.

Back in July of 2017 for birthday number 50, my family gave me a GoPro camera. I am a lucky fellow to have such a thoughtful wife (and kids) as it was a cool gift and something that I likely wouldn’t have purchased on my own as spending money is not my strong suit.

2017 Blooper Reel below to help set the tone for the videos coming your way the rest of the month.

 

As you can see from the revisit of the 2017 Blooper Reel, video has indeed been a fun addition to the fishing thing that I’ve been doing since I was a kid and this blogging thing that I’ve been doing since being a bigger kid. Throw in a smart “phone” for some added video and over the course of a year I wind up with a decent amount of footage.

Some of it even ends up fairly interesting and entertaining, if I say so myself. Now I certainly will not be mistaken for the latest internet video sensation but I’m sure having a good time preserving the adventures on “film” (yep, can’t get away from the old lingo).

The occasional new, yet rudimentary, editing tricks that I dabble in are far from the polished YouTubers and outdoor pros but for me that’s still much of the fun. And no scripts here, just some straight up reactions and rambles captured on a fishing trip.

So, as we close out the month let’s take a look at year two of the video age with a Top 10 of sorts along with a bonus bunch of bloopers to round out the 2018 video highlights. No particular countdown order beyond an intro montage to start and a recap montage to finish.

Hope you’ll tune in and talk to you later. Troy

Top 10 Trip Tunes – 1/5/19, Part II

Posted on by Troy Jackson

 

And the Top 5 are…

5. Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue (1985) – I know, standard 80s Hair Band staple to include at least one ballad but doggone it this one is a winner. It’s tough to hit the nail on the head with a hit that has that anthemic quality so kudos to the Crue for pulling it off with this classic (see also “Rock and Roll All Nite”, “We Will Rock You”, “Paradise City”).

4. Feelin’ Satisfied – Boston (1978) – While much of this band was studio stuff, I saw them in the early 90s and they were real solid. I recall that you could physically feel the sound across the venue. I never fail to stop when I catch them on the dial and how good was the follow up album containing this cut after an incredible debut. Gotta dig some well-placed hand claps too. The title indeed sums it up whenever I hear this one.

3. I Need A Lover – Johnny Cougar (1979) – Actually, I don’t. Already got one. Anyway, I dig the intro and it would likely rank in my Top 10 Intros. The rest of the tune is darn good too although I still can’t get the lyrics right even with the assistance of a search engine. Cougar’s first single to chart was indeed a winner with plenty more to come as well as a couple name changes. Hey, at least he never chose to be represented by a symbol.

2. Heavy Metal – Sammy Hagar (1981) – Takes me back to being a 14-year old boy and brings a pleasant smile thinking about the look of those 80s young ladies. Tunes, fashion and hairdos have certainly changed but a good rocker never gets old. My musical ear also has an affinity for tunes about music, the fans and the performers from a perspective I’ll never know (see also “All Night Long” by Rainbow, “Juke Box Hero” by Foreigner, “Rock and Roll Band” by Boston, “Shooting Star” by Bad Company, “Take the Long Way Home” by Supertramp…).

1. Crazy On You – Heart (1976) – Is this the greatest intro and transition into full throttle in rock history? Got to rank among the best as do Ann Wilson’s vocals. A song from the Bicentennial Summer with memories of baseball in the front yard, Lakelawn swimming, WLS on the radio and the Midnight Special on the tube. Too young at that point to have a thing for the Wilson sisters but 40 some years later…

The loosely “outdoor” related antics continue with this completion of another list for another year. Definitely more tunes to come as 2019 moves along but may be a while as the early start on fishing has hit a snag. Mother Nature apparently realized it was several weeks past the official start of winter and brought out a half foot of snow and some single digit lows appear to be in store for next week. Midwest living at its finest. Talk to you later. Troy

Top 10 Trip Tunes – 1/5/19, Part I

Posted on by Troy Jackson

No bass on my earlier than anticipated first fishing trip of 2019 but I can always manage to find an enjoyable batch of tunes on the airwaves. Saturdays are easily my favorite radio day of the week as it is straight up music without the incessant rambles of morning hosts. But speaking of incessant rambles…

10. Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) – Leo Sayer (1974) – I never knew quite what to make of Leo Sayer as a kid, still don’t and just tip my cap to his phenomenal talent. Interesting and varied personas (clown to disco) mixed with a range of vocal stylings (falsetto to growls) and tunes that were all over the place (ballads to romps). This cut hits the spot, brings a smile and takes me back to the 70s. Thanks Leo, “You make me feel like dancing” even though I know I can’t dance.

9. Big Shot – Billy Joel (1979) – An entertaining and rocking bit of trash talking from the 52nd Street album, which I had on 8-track once upon a time, so that’s kind of fun. And so is the interspersed mix of heavy guitar, heavy drums, heavy keyboard, heavy vocal, a bit of heavy sax…get it Billy! I also like lyrical quirks so “last word last night”, “white hot spotlight” and “front page, bold type” keep me so entertained.

8. Let It Whip – Dazz Band (1982) – Dang, what a bass groove! Definitely a hook as I do the air bass and make some sort of lame bass sounds before the vocals kick in whenever I hear (or think about) this jam. Of course, then I’ve got to sing along and get my groove on. Not pretty but you can’t help it when you hear such a tune. Fun, fun, fun!

7. Will It Go Round In Circles – Billy Preston (1973) – Such a fun song with so many musical bits of horns, harmonica and, of course, keyboards amidst the driving backbeat. And did anybody look like they were having more fun than the fellow who is sometimes referred to as “The Fifth Beatle”? Check out some of the early 70s performances of this cut for a rollicking few minutes and a killer afro. Great stuff, takes me back and has me on a mission to dig out my old basketball cards for an ABA revisit of Dr. J, Artis Gilmore and Darnell Hillman (nod to Oscar Gamble in the MLB as well). Note: Billy Preston’s hairdo is the lead pic on Wikipedia for “Afro”, now that’s cool.

6. Unchained – Van Halen (1981) – Rock and roll at its finest, a basic quartet of a charismatic lead singer, an innovative guitarist and a dynamic duo of a rhythm section doing their thing on this cut. And that thing is a mix of raw rocker, vocal histrionics, a dose of silliness and in my opinion, underrated harmonies. Say what you will about the successful “Van Hagar” years but I’ll take this stuff hands down any day, every day.

Love my tunes and hope you are looking to put the internet to good use in dialing some of them up. I also hope that there’s a few out there who, about a half hour from now, like me will wonder “how in the world did I wind up listening to…”

Part II tomorrow. Talk to you later. Troy