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.

Kerry Automotive

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Today, I appeared with my truck and boat for Kerry Automotive at the Northern Kentucky Auto Dealers annual tent sale at Northern Kentucky University. The place was crankin' and Kerry was moving lots of vehicles. The boat and truck was very popular with the customers.

Tomorrow, I'll actually be home all day as we are having a big graduation party for my son, Ryan. I'll be at the tent sale again this Sunday from 3-6 PM, so if you are in the area please stop by.

Who Reeled It In This Week?

This week, subscriber kedfisherman won a Stihl embroidered baseball cap!  Kedfisherman, send your contact information to JTPFishing@insightbb.com to receive your prize.

How would you like to win a free pair of Boomerang Fishing Pliers with a holster included?  In the next two weeks, you can enter once per day with a comment on the blog.  One additional entry can be made by becoming a follower or subscriber.  Be sure to check back on June 6th to find out if you won!

Redemption

Going from Red River, Louisiana to Lake Fork, Texas was only a 2 1/2 hour drive, but from a fishing standpoint, it was like going from Hell to Heaven. I fished today with pro-angler and Lake Fork guide, Lance Vick. We had an outstanding day, boating over 30 bass, with 4 topping the 7 pound mark. Most of our fish came on Lucky Craft DV 2.5, crankbaits and swim bits. I really needed a day like today after last week!

There will be a random drawing tomorrow for a Stihl baseball cap.  One lucky winner will be chosen from the followers, subscribers, and comments from this week.  I will also announce the next chance to win.

Jacob Wheeler Wins the 2011 BFL All American

I stayed over in Shreveport most of the day before heading on over to Lake Fork where we plan to shoot tomorrow.  After picking up my producer, Jim, at the airport, we headed to the convention center to catch the final weigh in of the 2011 BFL All American which just happened to be in town. My primary reason for attending was to watch my little buddy,  twenty year old Jacob Wheeler walk away with the $100,000 prize.

I could not of been more excited as I watched him clinch the title and take a major step towards the professional fishing career he has worked so hard to achieve. I will have to admit that it brought back great memories for me as well. Congrat's Jacob, on a job well done!

Rearview Mirror

The Red River truly kicked my tail this week! Today, I only locked one pool down, to try to maximize fishing time, but I still only managed 3 fish weighing 4 1/2 pounds. My whopping two day total of 6 pounds 15 ounces landed me solidly in 119th place. Ouch again! The few fish I did catch were on a Lucky Craft TX 1.5 in Copper Green Perch color. I was crankin' it around logs and scattered Milfoil clumps. Tomorrow, I head over to Lake Fork near Dallas to shoot an episode of Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors. I truly can't wait to put this tournament and the Red River in my rearview mirror....

Day One - Red River

I was so concerned about locking, that I guess I forgot you have to catch fish. Today seems like a bad dream! I caught 8 or 10 fish, but only had 2 small keepers for 123rd place. Not sure what to do tomorrow, but I definitely have to do something different from today.

FLW: Locking It Up

On top of trying out how to catch a few bass tomorrow, I have been laboring over whether or not to sacrifice valuable fishing time by locking through one or even two locks to try to get away from the crowd. By my calculations, if I lock twice into pool #3, I will only have 3 1/2 hours to fish at the most. I'm sure I'll be thinking about that one all night long... Anyway, who said fishing is a relaxing sport?

Watch the FLW Red River weigh-in live tomorrow at 3 p.m. 

Red River

As I write this blog it is 9:15 PM. I put in an extremely long final practice day today, trying to figure something out. The Red River is fishing so tough I can't believe it! I did catch a few decent keepers today though, including this nice Spotted Bass in the photo. I honestly think about 6 or 7 pounds a day here will make the money cut for $10,000.

Backwaters

Well you know when I'm snapping pictures of alligators and birds during a practice day, fishing must be pretty bad. I saw a lot more wildlife today on the Red River than I did bass! The main river is nearly unfishable due to the mud and strong current. Everyone is crowded into the backwaters looking for clear water and it is making this place fish very small. Hopefully, my practice will go better tomorrow.

Winner for this week:  Congratulations to Anglers Ace who won this week's drawing for two Lucky Craft lures.  Anglers Ace, please email JTPFishing@insightbb.com with information as to where to send your lures.  Next week, I'll send one lucky winner an embroidered Stihl baseball cap.  Thanks for all the readers' comments and letting us know who you'd like to see fish UMF.

Flooding

I left Benton, Kentucky early yesterday morning and headed south towards Shreveport and the Red River. It is only about an eight hour drive, but I wanted to get there early enough to prep my boat and tackle for today's practice. Near Memphis, I saw first hand the extensive flooding from the Mississippi River. In places, it came within several feet of the highway. I can only hope the water levels on the Red River continues to drop as projected.

Give-Away news:  We've heard from Roy Mims!  Congratulations, Roy!  Check here tomorrow evening for the next lucky winner and what I'll be giving away this week.

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!

And the Winner Is......!

Roy Mims!

In a random drawing of followers and subscribers, Roy was chosen to receive a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP.  Roy, please email contact information to JTPFishing@insightbb.com to receive your lure.

Didn't win?  Don't worry!  There will be more chances to win fishing or fishing related products by following or subscribing to this blog.  For the next give-away, you can enter more than once by commenting on this blog (one entry per blog post per day).  On May 16th, I will be giving away TWO lures:  A Lucky Craft Sammy 100 in Aurora Brown, and a Lucky Craft Pointer 100DD in Aurora Black.

Want to know more about Lucky Craft?  Visit their website!

Thomas Hit List

Took Gracelyn out after that noisy old gobbler this morning. We called in that big old bird and had him strutting and gobbling inside 20 yards for over 15 minutes, but she could never get a clear shot. It brought back great memories of hunting with my older kids at that age. I could feel her shaking like a leaf as she sat in my lap with that little youth model 20 gauge resting on my knee. Okay, maybe that qualifies me as a true redneck, but I'll always remember today, even though we didn't score. After all, it is about the experience with my daughter and not about the kill.  But don't get me wrong, he's still on the Thomas hit list!

Winner Announced - Tomorrow

Check back tomorrow to find out if you are the winner of a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP.  No purchase necessary to enter - just follow or subscribe to the blog.

Shooting

Today we finally saw some sunshine at my home in southern Ohio and we took full advantage of it. I spent much of the morning at my house with my producer, Jim, and editor, Larry, along with some of the folks from American Modern Insurance shooting a new commercial for them. It went very well. 

Once it was wrapped up we shot several intro's for episodes of Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors. For me, the hardest part of the day was listening to the continuous gobbling of a tom turkey down in the valley or holler, depending on where you are from, behind house. My plan is to take my daughter, Gracelyn, out in the morning to try to quiet him down.... permanently!


Give-Away:  Only two more days to follow or subscribe to this blog to win a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP.  The randomly chosen winner will be announced on Monday.

Hosting UMF

One question that I get a lot from our Ultimate Match Fishing fans is "Isn't it hard to just stand there and watch (I feel like I do a little more than just watch) while the anglers catch all those fish in UMF?" Well, the answer to that question is pretty simple: heck yeah, it's tough! I love to fish, so when they are whacking them I can hardly stand it! 

I guarantee you that there are lots of times that Chris Collinsworth wishes he was on the field instead of in the press box announcing the game. I'm no Dick Vitale, but I get fired up and excited when a match is close in the 4th quarter and someone boats a big one! I figure if I can't be the guy catching them, being the guy watching the best anglers in the world catching them live from 20 feet away is a close second... 

Note:  Don't forget to "follow" or subscribe to this blog to get at chance at winning a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP in Aurora Black.  A winner will be chosen in a random drawing in less than two weeks!

Roy versus Lane

Spotted bass dominated again on Lake Lanier in our UMF Match between 19 year old Elite Series Rookie of the Year Bradley Roy and Elite Series seven year veteran Russ Lane. I could nor have been happier with this week's matches and how Lake Lanier fished. It will make some great TV! Headed home...

Russ Lane

Bradley Roy