Benefit for Hospice of San Angelo

Yesterday, I was in San Angelo, Texas to emcee the Suddenlink Open Bass Tournament benefiting San Angelo Hospice. Before the event, I had an opportunity to display my Outdoor Channel truck and boat at the Suddenlink facility while meeting fans who stopped by. The event went very well with some big bass being weighed in on O. H. Ivy Reservoir despite the windy cold conditions. In the end, over $16,000 was raised for Hospice of San Angelo!

Safari Club International

Last weekend, Outdoor Channel sent me to the Safari Club International (SCI) Show in Las Vegas to do an autograph signing in their booth each day. Wow! What a show!

I heard for years how incredible it was, and it definately was! I have never seen so many incredible mounts in on place in my life. After my booth time, I was able to walk the show and met with several outfitters with whom I will be shooting shows next year. All in all, a great experience!!!

All Stars

Today was the our first Ultimate Match Fishing quarter final match on Mullett Lake in Indian River, Michigan.  The lake lived up to its reputation as a stellar smallmouth fishery, with several big smallies caught by each angler. I wont say which anglers made it to the championship round, but I will say it is an All-Star lineup that you won't want to miss when it airs on Outdoor Channel! 

Our new UMF boat graphics and our mystery anglers

Reeling Them In on Mullett Lake

Today, we shot an episode of Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors on Mullett Lake in Indian River, Michigan. I think the photo speaks for itself.

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Six pound smallmouth

The fish were just coming in to spawn and it was clearwater sight fishing at its best! We had calm winds and sunny skies making it perfect conditions. I fished with Gerry Gosyinek of Great Lakes Bass  Fishing Guide Service. Our best five smallies would have weighed over 25 pounds! What is even more exciting is that we are scheduled to to shoot our second round of Ultimate Match Fishing here next month. It should be awesome!

Joe with Gerry Gostinek and a big Mullet Lake smallmouth.

Beginning Saturday, July 2nd, Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors moves to a new time slot at 1 PM on the Outdoor Channel.  Join me as I take you to some of the most famous bass fishing lakes in the world.  To celebrate the new episodes and time slot, we are sending lrichards002@centurytel.net a Stihl t-shirt.  lrichards002@centurytel.net, send your contact information and size shirt you'd like to JTPFishing@insightbb.com and I'll get that right out to you. 
Want your own Stihl shirt or hat?  Check the blog frequently to see if you are a winner!

Stihl the One!

Get ready, because the new episodes of STIHL's Reel in the Outdoors are set to begin on Saturday, July 2nd in a great NEW time slot! I think this season might be the most exciting ever as I travel to some of the most famous bass lakes in the world.  You can catch us at 1 PM EST immediately before Bassmasters, only on Outdoor Channel.

 

In anticipation of our upcoming shows, STIHL has provided us with plenty of STIHL t-shirts and hats to give away to my loyal blog followers, subscribers and commentors.  Starting Monday, I will randomly draw a winner every other day to win a t-shirt or hat. 

Another way to win:  email a photo of yourself with a big fish you caught while wearing a hat or shirt that says "Stihl" (must be visible in the photo).  I'll send you a Stihl shirt and a hat and feature your big catch on one of my blogs.  The first person to respond will additionally win a pair of Stihl suspenders.  

Airing June 25th!

Yeah, I know it today was Memorial Day but I still had to put in a little over half a day trying to get caught up on our production work. My producer, Jim Kramer, and I worked into early afternoon shooting elements for the Kerry Automotive and Arkie commercials that will run during this season's Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors. The shows will begin airing on Outdoor Channel Saturday, June 25th. I will admit I am pretty excited to see the finished product!

Give-Away:  With Ryan's graduation and the holiday, I've been a little quiet on the blog, so I'll extend this week's give-away deadline until Thursday.  Followers, subscribers, and commentors will be eligible for a chance to win this.

Scent Lok's High Places

Today was a busy day! I spent nearly 10 hours today in Benton, Kentucky shooting with the guys at Commonwealth Productions. We knocked out interview segments for 13 episodes of Scent Lok's High Places, a hunting show on Outdoor Channel which I am co-hosting in this fall. Tomorrow, I head on to Shreveport and the Red River for my fourth FLW Tournament of the year.

Give-away news:  Still waiting to hear from Roy Mims.   Roy, email your address to JTPFishing@insightbb.com to receive your free lure.  The next drawing will be this coming Monday for two Lucky Craft lures.  One comment a day qualifies you for another entry in a random drawing. Let me know you're out there!

UMF: Do You Have What It Takes?

One question I get a lot is, "How do you pick the anglers for Ultimate Match Fishing?" Well, there are a lot of qualities that the Outdoor Channel Producers and I look at when selecting fishermen for UMF. The first is obviously their tournament history. We typically only choose anglers from the top two pro circuits, the Bassmaster Elite Series and the FLW Tour.

The second thing we look at is personality. UMF is a personality driven show and we need competitors who are able show their emotions on camera! We also like a variety of anglers. We try to pick both young anglers and older veterans. We have ones who are household names as well as little known up and comers.

Finally, we like guys guys who are hard core competitors because their passion, tenacity and desire to win really comes across on the show. Not to mention the fact that those are the guys who give our referee Mark Randolph the most grief over his calls and everyone knows I like it when Mark catches heat!

Who would you like to see on UMF?  Remember, one comment per day per person is another entry to win two Lucky Craft lures!

Alaskan Brown Bear

I had a chance to stop in to Bryan Equipment Sales training showroom to see my big Alaskan brown bear mount which was recently delivered. I took the bear with my bow in 2008 while filming a hunting show for Outdoor Channel. It is pretty bad when you have so many mounts that you have to get the area STIHL distributor to house one for you. It looked awesome!  My local taxidermist, Mike Redding, said he put over 80 hours into the mount. It sure brought back great, but terrifying memories. You can see the video clip of the bear hunt on my YouTube hunting channel.