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New website goes live in about 18 hours. 

Update for anyone thats looking forward to my next post.  Over this past weekend I purchesd a .COM and am transitioning to that it should hopefully be up in the next few days I will post on here as soon as it is live. 

Your Suggestions

Hey everyone.  Quick question for you what are somethings you would like me to talk about?  Just leave a comment on here or send me an email at hardstrikeangler@gmail.com and I will do everything I can to do a post dedicated to your suggestions.

Fishing Buddies

This week let’s talk about fishing buddies. The one I learn the most from is my Dad and he usually fishes with me at least once a week.  I called him last week and set up to go fishing on Thursday morning.  When Thursday rolled around it was time to show the old man who the better fisherman was.  I usually call him around 5:45-6:15am to make sure he will be at the lake but this time I figured if he overslept he deserved it, he is in his 60s.  I left work and headed to the lake and as I pull up what do I see, my dad. I was shocked that he was already there and fishing. We are talking about a guy who doesn’t like to get out of bed before 10am. 

     I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the lake to join him. When I walked up he asked if we were going to start in the corner like we normally do. I love how we have developed a routine for that lake.  We start in one spot and work our way left. Most mornings when dad and I fish together I have the pleasure of catching at least one if not two more than him.  That was not the case this week.

     The water was a little cooler so I started with my Culprit Rad Shad worm. My Dad just happens to be using the same exact bait standing about 10 feet to my right.  The lake in parts has lots of downed trees in the water but that’s where the fish like to hide so we fish around it and lose A LOT of lures, worms, and hooks. We had only been fishing for about 10 minutes when I got my first fish and that’s a good start if you ask me.  I released the bass and sent him on his way.  I reset my hook and as soon as I am about to throw my line back in BAM!!! Dad catches one. It looks like it’s going to be a good day.  Another 5 minutes pass and Dads got another one on the line.  He is brimming with all kind of happiness.   A few minutes later I get another one too.  We had four fish between the two of us in about 20 minutes!  At that point we have a little lull and a good 20 minutes went by before either one of us caught a fish again. Guess who caught the next one, dad.

     We were standing there talking about his time as a tournament angler and about different lures and just fishing in general when all of a sudden he gets another one.  Now for those of you that are counting that’s 4 for my Dad and 2 for me and we had only been there for 45 minutes at that point. Then dad caught another 2 fish in the following 15 minutes after that. Considering how he had smoked me on fishing that day I was trying to figure out what he is doing that I was not. We were using the exact same bait just different rods and reels.

     We continued fishing the area for a while longer with neither one of us catching a fish so we moved along the lake. After fishing for an hour along our usual route without getting another bite dad suggested we go over to the other side of the lake to an area we rarely fish. I chose a place that I know has a nice drop off and there is some trees underwater and my dad picked a spot next to a floating dock.  We started fishing and first cast I got a bite but didn’t catch him.  I will tell you that the fish that my father and I had been catching all bite very lightly and were not being aggressive at all.  I casted out a few more times and got another bite or two but still didn’t catch one.

     That about when Dad says “Yep, got another one.”  At this point I am not a happy camper. Having only caught 2 when dad’s at 7! He is killing it though so I am happy for him. My Father is getting up there in age and it’s been a long morning so he decided to take a break and sit on this rock that I was fishing near.  He tells me to go to where he was fishing and see if I can catch anything over there.  I did, because at this point I would have been ok with catching a boot like in the cartoons.  He sits down and I started fishing where he was at and I am not getting any bites.  About 10 minutes goes by and the only thing that has happened was I lost my hook and worm in a tree.  Right as my line breaks my Dad starts laughing and when I look over there he is reeling in another one. So he had caught 8 fish and still only two for me.  By that time it was about 9am, I was getting hungry and Dad was starting to look tired and the last thing I want it my dad to do is to overdo it. He asks if I think I am done for the morning.  I respond with an “I think so, apparently the fish don’t like me like they do you today”   He chuckled and we started gathering our stuff and headed to the vehicles.  Fishing buddies are great whether they are kicking your butt in fishing or not and my favorite fishing buddy is my dad. Friends and family make fishing even better!

      I hope everyone has enjoyed.  As a friendly reminder while out fishing remember the old saying "leave no trace".  If you make a mess or have trash please take it with you.  The environment will thank you.  Maybe even reward you with a new personal best catch!!  Have a great day and FISH ON!!!!!

Busch Wildlife

Hey everyone!  First I want to thank everybody that has stopped by my little blog.  It really means a lot to me that you have taken the time to give my blog a look.  This blog started as a whim that I really never thought anyone would look at.  As of October 2^nd something happened that I really didn’t expect I crossed the 100 views mark.  I know it’s not a lot but I want to thank each and every one of you.  So now with saying that I know that it has been a little over a week since my last post.  You will notice that I will be posting 2 this week to make up for it.  I had a bad chest cold all last week and couldn’t put two words together to save my life.  I am feeling a little better now so here we go. 

               

This morning I went to Busch Wildlife Conservation Area. it is a pretty big area with about 6-7000 acres of protected wildlife area.  It has 550 acres  of lakes that are stocked with trout, catfish, muskellunge and bass.  Also there are smaller species like bluegill and crappie.  All of the lakes are numbered and don’t have names other than the number.  There is a few things I guess you should tell you about this conservation area.   According to Wikipedia “During the 1940s portions of the area were used by the Weldon Spring Ordnance Works and the Department of the Army for the production of TNT and DNT. There are 100 old bunkers formerly used for the storage of TNT still in the area. The Atomic Energy Commission used the area from 1958 through 1967 for disposal of rubble contaminated by uranium and radium. In 1947 Alice Busch, the wife of August Anheuser Busch, Sr., donated $70,000 towards the cost of purchasing the area to use for conservation purposes as a memorial to her late husband.”  This area was decontaminated back in the 50s or 60s and  is now protected to ensure the wildlife, water quality and public health. 

Larry and I deceided we were going to go to Lake 35 before we got off work.   When you talk to people that fish at Busch they will always tell you the same thing “Go to Lake 33 or 35 there is some big bass.” Larry and I left work and headed for the lake. I got there a few minutes before Larry.  I park and walk down to the water.  A lot of the lakes at Busch wildlife have boats you can rent. So on my way in to the conservation area that is what I did.  I unlocked one of the boats and put my stuff in the boat.  These boats are little 10 foot Lowes aluminum john boats. Nice little boats no motors or anything so paddling is what we are going to have to do.  Now Larry and I both have access to a trolling motor which are allowed on these lakes, but when you decided at around 1am in the morning you can’t always get all the stuff you would like.  That’s okay though we knew we were going to have fun anyway.  Larry arrives and we hit the water. 

Say Hi Larry!

                As we hit the water we are giddy like two little kids at the candy store.  We paddle out and not knowing this lake we didn’t know where to go.  So we followed a few of the good old basics.  Look for rip-rap, downed trees, rock ledges and coves. We saw some downed trees and we started heading that way.  We pick a good spot and let the wind push us down and around these trees.  We fish there trying catch something and nothing.  We decided since we are normally bank anglers and we both do pretty well.  We were going to fish down the banks.   To stick with our strength.  As we start fishing the bank we are drifting perfectly parallel with the bank and we are fishing every thing we can. I am using 3 different lures.  I am using a Booyah buzzbait, Strike King Black and red spinnerbait and of course my red shad Culprit worms.  Larry is using a buzzbait and a worm (not exactly sure what kinds.)

                I throw my buzzbait out and it happens to go a little far and hit the bank.  As I start to reel it in it gets hung up on some thick weeds.  I am fighting it trying to get free and nothing is working.  Larry casts one more time before we go and get my buzzbait back.  As he is reeling it in this bass comes up and just attacks the hell out of his buzzbait.  Unfortunately, that bass missed the hook and only grabbed a hold of the blade and he didn’t get to bring him in.  He reels in his lure and we go and get my buzzbait.    I quickly get it back and we start fishing all the rip-rap around.  We start drifting down and I see some tall grass sticking out of the water.  I start casting my worm.  In this lake there is a fair share of vegetation underwater.  As I am reeling in I think that I got caught up in some of the vegetation and I start trying to shake the vegetation off.  It wasn’t working, my line never goes left or right and my pole never really bends like fish has hit my worm.  I start reeling faster to clean the hook off.  As my worm gets about 8 feet from the boat a bass crests the top of the water that’s when I realize that what I though was vegetation was a bass.  I quickly just lift the rod and the bass comes right out of water and I announce I have a fish.  It was a little 1 pound bass.  It didn’t attack this worm hard at all.  With the weather getting colder I have noticed that when the fish are biting the lure they are being much more timid and light on the lure. Much less then they have been the last few months.  There “attack” has pretty much disappeared and been replaced with a “tap” making it much more interesting. Requiring more focus on what is going on in your hand.

The only one that made it to the boat all day

                We continue to fish and I keep on with that worm.  I am using what I call a double pop as I am walking that texas rig worm in.  The double pop is on small jerk of the rod followed by a bigger jerk of the rod.  As I said before the weather is getting colder here so this time of the year it’s not really a jerk more of slow upward motion instead of the jerk.  I just finish the second “jerk” and my pole starts to bend and I set the hook.  Again this was not an attacking kind of bite. It was just like all of the other ones lately a very soft bite.  As I set the hook somehow the line wrapped around the end of the pole.  I realize this as I am reeling and the tension in my reel gets tighter and tighter to the point where I can’t reel it any more without fear of breaking the line or worse.  I dip the end of the rod down and try and get the line unwrapped from the rod.  I am doing everything I can to keep tension on the line.  As I bring the rod back up the bass jumps clean out of the water and I get a good look at what I’m reeling in.  It is what looks like a nice 2-2.5 pound bass with a nice light coloring.  He was absolutely beautiful.  As he enters the water again I am reeling hard and that is when I realize that there is no more tension on my line at all and that I lost him completely.

                We continue on for another half an hour to hour more and have no more bites and no more catches.  Than all of a sudden the sun went away and the temperature dropped at least 5 degrees in the matter of minutes.  With the chance of rain in the forecast we decide this might be a good time to start heading back and head home.  All in all even though we only got one to the boat and he wasn’t a big one a bad day fishing is still better than a day at work!   Until next time guys.

I hope everyone has enjoyed.  As a friendly reminder while out fishing remember the old saying "leave no trace".  If you make a mess or have trash please take it with you.  The environment will thank you.  Maybe even reward you with a new personal best catch!!  Have a great day and FISH ON!!!!!

Looking at lures!!!!

     Lets talk about some of my favorite tackle today.  I am a firm believer in using what works for me.  Why would you change what you are doing if you are catching fish.  It's like fixing something that isn't broke.  So let's get started!  

Buzzbaits

     Buzzbaits are one great weapon that anglers have in our arsenal that we call a tackle box.  These generate a reaction bite when other stuff won't.  In my expierance I find these are great for early morning feeding times or right as the sun is going down for the night.  One of the great things about these lures is that they are a top water bait that you get to see when the bass strikes.  Not only is it awesome to see but there is pure excitement from what is more then likely to be a good fight. This is what makes buzz baits great and why I am going to talk about them first.  

Booyah Bait co.   ½ oz. Booyah Buzz
     I have two buzzbaits that work best for me. The first one is a Booyah Bait co.   ½ oz. Booyah Buzz.  It’s what some people would call a clacking buzzbait.  As you can see in the picture below there is a piece of metal that hangs down from the frame and taps the blade as it spins in the water. The noise supposedly pisses the fish off and generates a reaction bite.  When they strike this buzzbait they strike fast and hard.  I would consider this my #1 lure. I have caught roughly 40 fish this year using this bait.
You can find these and there whole product line at   http://www.booyahbaits.com/

Strike King Bleeding Bait Pro-model Buzzbait
     Now the second buzzbait I use is a Strike King Bleeding Bait Pro-model Buzzbait.  I really like this buzzbait for the more calm water and on less windy days. I really belive they do such a great job because of their coloring. The colors are always so vibrant yet not to much red.  They really do a great job.  This buzzbait alone I can say I probably have a good 20 catches this spring and summer alone.  You can find these and there whole product line at http://www.strikeking.com/

Plastic Worms 
     Plastic worms are a funny thing that no one agrees on.  Is this one better or that one?   I can not tell you how often I hear “use this color (holds up some crazy named color). “  Then of course what do we do as anglers?  We go and buy them.  I have probably 100 bags of worms and maybe might use three and I only use the third one if I run out of the other two.

Culprit lures 7.5in Culprit worm

     This is by far my #1 worm to throw. It doesn't matter what time of day I'm fishing I am bound to catch at least one fish a day with this worm using the Culprit 7.5in red shad worm.  There are so many different brands that have a red shad coloration and I am not putting any of them down at all but I can honestly say for the lakes I fish the culprits are the only option.  I easily catch 2 to 3 times more fish with the culprits versus the other brands. When you look closely at the red shad culprits the colors have a kind of pearl or metallic tone to them. I really belive that this is what sets them apart from a lot of the other "red shad" worms.  This is a worm that fish can't resist!
You can find these and there whole product line at http://www.culprit.com

Berkeley powerbait worms 

     For those days the fish are just not that aggressive and are being very timid is when I turn to powerbait worms.  These worms advertise as fish "bite and won't let go."  This is a very true statement.  I have caught many fish with these on those light bite days and when they get a hold of it they don't want to let go. Fish seem to really like these worms.  I have had to basically pry the bass' mouth open just to get my hook back.  These worms are unlike a lot of the other worms I have tried.  Starting from the moment you open the bag you will notice a very strong order that you don't get with other worms.  That is the powerbait smell.  These worms are coated with the Berkeley powerbait fish attractant.  It's one of those things that a lot of people don't think about but sometimes that fish attractant is that little added thing that we need in our toolbox.  That's when having these worms is a great option since most of us don't carry any type of fish attractant. 
You can find these and their whole product line at  http://www.berkley-fishing.com/

Crankbaits

     Let’s talk about one of the most versatile lures out there.  The crankbait.  The crankbait scares a lot of people.  They have two treble hooks one on the bottom and one on the tail end of the body.  Those hooks are what scares a lot of people including myself at one point.   What I can tell you about crankbaits is if you feel yourself hit something in the water STOP.  The crankbait will gently float back and you can slowly and safely reel the crankbait over the stuff in the water.  Now, I call these a versatile lure because they come in shallow diver, medium divers and deep divers plus the fact that you can fish them in so many different types of retrieves.  You can reel fast, slow, pop or jerk it.  They all will make it do different things.  The standard retrieve for one these wonderful lures is a steady and fast retrieve and I will agree this works to get the job done.   That doesn’t mean you can’t play with different retrieves to figure out what works for you.  I personally use a crankbait more than just at a fast pace.  This category though I will tell you can cost you a pretty penny but when you catch those fish its worth every dime.  

Livingston Lures Primetyme SQ 2.0/ Howeller Dream Master Classic

     I was in Memphis Tennessee back in may for the grand opening of the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid.  That is when I came across this little crankbait that just blows my mind.  Before I go any farther I have heard my whole life “anglers catch fish, lures catch anglers” or some version of this saying.  If that is what Livingston was going for well it worked.  Except in this case not only did it catch me it actually performed as well as the tournament pro that was standing there telling everyone one about these crankbaits said it would.  These are not your standard rattle crankbait or floating crankbait.  The Livingston lures crankbaits are packed full of technology.  These have what they describe as “EBS Technology embedded on a smart chip in the internal sound chamber of each lure.”  For the laymen out there it’s got electronics that emit the sound of a distressed fish.  Now you may say come on this can’t actually work.   Well you would be wrong.  I stood at a lake last week and had been trying to catch fish all morning.  I had tried 3 or 4 different crankbaits including all of the lures I have mentioned above.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to catch a thing at all.  That’s when I tied on the Primetime SQ 2.0 in the Guntersville Craw color.  This crankbait wasn’t in the water for 10 seconds before I caught my first of 4 fish with this lure in the matter of maybe 15 minutes.  This is not the first time this has happened to me either.  This crankbait works!  It has 4 different sounds you can choose from. All of them are great and will catch you fish.  The Livingston lures crankbaits both the Primetime SQ and the Howeller Dream Master come in a wide variety of colors to choose from.  I am working on getting all of the colors in both models. I mention these two models cause those are the only models I have so far but will be getting more soon. 

You can find these and their whole product line at  https://www.livingstonlures.com/

Bill Lewis Original Rat-L-Trap Crankbait

     With crankbaits there are two different styles ones with a lip or a lipless crankbait.  The Bill Lewis Original Rat-L-Trap is a lipless crankbait. This crankbaits has what I would call little bb’s inside it to generate sound.  If you have been fishing longer then one season then you more then likely have one or more in your tackle box.  Im not going to take a lot of your time on this classic crankbait.  They are the best lipless out there.  With over 50 colors you can definatly find one for your needs.  There is a reason that these crankbaits are last in my list.  You always save the best for last.  In all the years I have been fishing off and on the Rat-L-Trap has always been a staple in my tackle box.  I have talked to a lot of people this week and asked what they thought the best crankbaits was.  Everyone had the same answer.  Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap.  They are awesome just go and buy a few you wont be sorry. These crankbaits Have a great "wobble" and swim pattern. There is really nothing that I can say bad about these.  There coloring is everything from very realistic baitfish colors to the bright and enticing colors even some nice darker colors for those clear water conditions.  I said I wouldn't take a lot of time on these but I could go write a whole blog all about these.  Go out and get yourself a few you won't be disappointed.  

You can find these and their whole product line at http://www.rat-l-trap.com/

I hope everyone has enjoyed.  As a friendly reminder while out fishing remember the old saying "leave no trace".  If you make a mess or have trash please take it with you.  The environment will thank you.  Maybe even reward you with a new personal best catch!!  Have a great day and FISH ON!!!!!