One nice thing about the Midwest is that we have so many different species of fish, to fish for. Over the last several years I have become a big fan of the hybrid striper. There have been a lot of instances when a slow to average day of fishing turned into a good and even awesome day due to these incredibly strong fish. Sleek and built for speed, the hybrid striper is a combination of two other great fish, the white bass and the pure striper. Both of these fish combined you have one fast swimming, hard hitting and strong fighting fish. If you have these fish in a body of water near you, please do not pass up the opportunity to pursue them, as it will be worth your time. A hybrid can just about rip the rod from your hands with a strike, bring a smile to anyone's face and on top of all that, taste awesome on the grill or the smoker. Grab a cup of coffee and join me for some short stories, tips and tactics for this great fish.

Recently I had the opportunity to fish with two fans of Midwest Outdoors. Tony Fidanso and his young son AJ joined me for a day on Powerton Lake, a 1400 acre reservoir just outside of Pekin, Illinois. We had hoped to catch some small mouth bass which the lake is known for. After a couple of fronts had blown through and a tornado warning the night before, the lake was a little churned up and the small mouths were not cooperating. So, after Tony caught a nice size hybrid, I decided that we should try for some of them to see if they were willing to play ball. Another front had started to move in and with the wind blowing in yet another different direction, I decided to go try a point up the lake from where we had fished most of the day. Sometime a change in location is good for a number of reasons including your attitude!

I noticed some fish on the graph as soon as we came close to the point and with all three of us using crankbaits it was a good chance we would hook into something. AJ and I had on Rapala DT 6's and Tony was fishing a Storm Hot-n-Tot. AJ was standing next to me when the first hybrid hit and almost knocked me off balance. I set the hook and handed the rod to AJ as the waves made our boat a dance floor. We rocked, and we rolled. We ended up on the floor of the boat with AJ fighting the fish over his back, me trying to get the net and Tony laughing at both of us. The fish was under the boat, and then it went to the front of the boat and then came back around again. Rods all over the deck, fish splashing water, little AJ laughing and me just hoping I could net this fish. With all the chaos we finally managed to land the six pound tail of furry! It was not pretty, but man was it fun!

Hybrids as I mentioned before are a cross between a white bass and a striper, so they have qualities of each. While pure Stripers never feed on the bottom, hybrids feed like white bass at times. So they feed up in the water column as well as on the bottom at times. During a summer outing two years ago, I discovered how these fish can relate to the bottom, especially when a lake has been drawn down. I was fishing Lake Bloomington during a low water period catching some white bass on 3 inch Storm swim baits. I noticed some fish near the bottom of a rocky area I had found in about 9 feet of water. At first I figured they were walleyes, so I made a cast letting the swim bait fall to the bottom and made slow deliberate upward jerks of the lure so it would jump off the bottom about 6 inches and then fall back to the bottom. On about the third jerk, my rod doubled over and the drag screamed. I got the fish to the boat and was pleased to see about 3.5 pound hybrid had engulfed the little wild-eyed swim shad. So I proceeded to try this again and was thrilled to boat close to 20 of these great fish in the next hour.

Here are some tackle choices to try that I have had some excellent success with. The Rapala DT series in 6, 10 and 15 are excellent choices depending on depth. The Blue/Chartreuse patterns as well as fire tiger are winners! My line of choice in most cases is 10 pound Fireline Crystal, spooled on a spinning reel and 7 foot medium action spinning rod. Cast or trolled this rod, reel and line set up adds to the power and speed of these fish. It allows the lures to get down to them with enough power combined with a well set drag to handle just about any size fish in open water. Top water lures such as prop baits and poppers like the skitter walk and skitter pop will also receive crushing strikes when these fish are feeding top side.

What also makes the hybrid an awesome fish is that it is excellent table fare. I have a simple receipt that I love on the grill and here it is. Simply fillet the hybrid and then take Cajun seasoning or blacken seasoning and sprinkle on either side of the fillets. (I use Louisiana Fish Fry Products seasoning. Good stuff!) And then either lay on a plate in the fried, or if you have a ZIPVAC, (www.zip-vac.com), use it for this. After you season the fillets, pit them in one of the ZIPVAC bags and suck out the air to completely seal the fillets in the air tight bag. This will enhance the taste of the fillets by sealing in the flavor. My mouth is now watering as this is an incredible tip to try with any fish you bake or put on the grill. Next use Olive oil on paper towel to coat your grill top. Charcoal grilling these fish with sliced red onion or grilled banana peppers is the way to go.

Now that I am hungry, I hope you can see why I have increased my time and pursuit of these awesome fish. Try some of these lures, or lures that you already have in pursuit of the hybrid striper. An awesome fish to hook, fight and catch that will not only bring a smile to your face but a tasty meal to your family. That is the hybrid striper in all its power and glory.

One nice thing about the Midwest is that we have so many different species of fish, to fish for. Over the last several years I have become a big fan of the hybrid striper. There have been a lot of instances when a slow to average day of fishing turned into a good and even awesome day due to these incredibly strong fish. Sleek and built for speed, the hybrid striper is a combination of two other great fish, the white bass and the pure striper. Both of these fish combined you have one fast swimming, hard hitting and strong fighting fish. If you have these fish in a body of water near you, please do not pass up the opportunity to pursue them, as it will be worth your time. A hybrid can just about rip the rod from your hands with a strike, bring a smile to anyone's face and on top of all that, taste awesome on the grill or the smoker. Grab a cup of coffee and join me for some short stories, tips and tactics for this great fish.

Recently I had the opportunity to fish with two fans of Midwest Outdoors. Tony Fidanso and his young son AJ joined me for a day on Powerton Lake, a 1400 acre reservoir just outside of Pekin, Illinois. We had hoped to catch some small mouth bass which the lake is known for. After a couple of fronts had blown through and a tornado warning the night before, the lake was a little churned up and the small mouths were not cooperating. So, after Tony caught a nice size hybrid, I decided that we should try for some of them to see if they were willing to play ball. Another front had started to move in and with the wind blowing in yet another different direction, I decided to go try a point up the lake from where we had fished most of the day. Sometime a change in location is good for a number of reasons including your attitude!

I noticed some fish on the graph as soon as we came close to the point and with all three of us using crankbaits it was a good chance we would hook into something. AJ and I had on Rapala DT 6's and Tony was fishing a Storm Hot-n-Tot. AJ was standing next to me when the first hybrid hit and almost knocked me off balance. I set the hook and handed the rod to AJ as the waves made our boat a dance floor. We rocked, and we rolled. We ended up on the floor of the boat with AJ fighting the fish over his back, me trying to get the net and Tony laughing at both of us. The fish was under the boat, and then it went to the front of the boat and then came back around again. Rods all over the deck, fish splashing water, little AJ laughing and me just hoping I could net this fish. With all the chaos we finally managed to land the six pound tail of furry! It was not pretty, but man was it fun!

Hybrids as I mentioned before are a cross between a white bass and a striper, so they have qualities of each. While pure Stripers never feed on the bottom, hybrids feed like white bass at times. So they feed up in the water column as well as on the bottom at times. During a summer outing two years ago, I discovered how these fish can relate to the bottom, especially when a lake has been drawn down. I was fishing Lake Bloomington during a low water period catching some white bass on 3 inch Storm swim baits. I noticed some fish near the bottom of a rocky area I had found in about 9 feet of water. At first I figured they were walleyes, so I made a cast letting the swim bait fall to the bottom and made slow deliberate upward jerks of the lure so it would jump off the bottom about 6 inches and then fall back to the bottom. On about the third jerk, my rod doubled over and the drag screamed. I got the fish to the boat and was pleased to see about 3.5 pound hybrid had engulfed the little wild-eyed swim shad. So I proceeded to try this again and was thrilled to boat close to 20 of these great fish in the next hour.

Here are some tackle choices to try that I have had some excellent success with. The Rapala DT series in 6, 10 and 15 are excellent choices depending on depth. The Blue/Chartreuse patterns as well as fire tiger are winners! My line of choice in most cases is 10 pound Fireline Crystal, spooled on a spinning reel and 7 foot medium action spinning rod. Cast or trolled this rod, reel and line set up adds to the power and speed of these fish. It allows the lures to get down to them with enough power combined with a well set drag to handle just about any size fish in open water. Top water lures such as prop baits and poppers like the skitter walk and skitter pop will also receive crushing strikes when these fish are feeding top side.

What also makes the hybrid an awesome fish is that it is excellent table fare. I have a simple receipt that I love on the grill and here it is. Simply fillet the hybrid and then take Cajun seasoning or blacken seasoning and sprinkle on either side of the fillets. (I use Louisiana Fish Fry Products seasoning. Good stuff!) And then either lay on a plate in the fried, or if you have a ZIPVAC, (www.zip-vac.com), use it for this. After you season the fillets, pit them in one of the ZIPVAC bags and suck out the air to completely seal the fillets in the air tight bag. This will enhance the taste of the fillets by sealing in the flavor. My mouth is now watering as this is an incredible tip to try with any fish you bake or put on the grill. Next use Olive oil on paper towel to coat your grill top. Charcoal grilling these fish with sliced red onion or grilled banana peppers is the way to go.

Now that I am hungry, I hope you can see why I have increased my time and pursuit of these awesome fish. Try some of these lures, or lures that you already have in pursuit of the hybrid striper. An awesome fish to hook, fight and catch that will not only bring a smile to your face but a tasty meal to your family. That is the hybrid striper in all its power and glory.

Is it me, or did this past winter last much longer than usual? Even though the goose hunting was good and we had some excellent ice fishing, I have had enough with the snow and cold. I need some open water therapy! April is one of my favorite months to fish. Probably because it's the first month of the year that I usually get my boat out. The garage floor then has wet tire tracts on it the rest of the season! Spring and its warming trend will help us to thaw from the cold and oppressive winter. Here in Illinois I will be spending my time on several lakes as well as some area ponds. I am ready to chase largemouth, smallmouth, white bass, a Muskie or two and even a trip planned for big stripers. I will have more on that in an upcoming article. So to get your blood pumping (and mine) lets go over some spring lures for bass that usually produce a fish or two. That should warm you up and melt the snow from your memory.

One of the first lures I tie on every spring is lipless crank bait. It never seems to matter how cold the water is, these lures always seem to produce some fish. And in the spring, they always seem to produce some big fish! Lipless lures cast far and rattle up quite a disturbance in the water. It's a dinner bell with treble hooks and large mouth bass as well as other species all have their time to come to the table. I usually start off on points or flats adjacent to spawning grounds by fan casting those areas with a lipless lure. This year, I can not wait to throw Rapala's new Clackin Rap (www.rapala.com). This broad, 5/8 ounce lure swims well at slow speeds and has a single metal ball inside the chamber. It "clacks" off of metal discs on either side of the lure and has a very distinct sound. With the weight of the lure, it should cast extremely well into the wind. The Clankin' Rap also has been outfitted with those extremely sharp, Sure Set treble hooks, which will result in more fish in the boat. I usually throw lipless lures on a 7'0 medium action rod. The rod features a high speed reel with at least a 6:1 gear ratio. I use braided line that helps to cast the lure extremely far, set the hook at a far distance and allows me more control with less line stretch.

One thing that we all must consider during this time of year is water temperature. Bass usually spawn in water temperatures between 62 and 67 degrees. However, I have seen them spawn in colder and slightly warmer water as well. But on average the mid 60's is a usual preference. Its not uncommon for me to put the trolling motor down at the entrance to what I perceive would be a good spawning area and head toward the back of that area watching my temperature gauge and seeing where I have rises and falls in the preferred range. I also remember if and where I caught quality fish, remember the water temperature, the cover that I caught the fish off of and how deep of water my boat was in. Those are all factors or pieces of the puzzle that will come together with a little time and effort. A systematic approach is always better and much more effective than casting and hoping, which often leads to frustration. Always have a plan for your success and you can plan on being successful!

This time of year, bass will often move into spawning areas that are adjacent to creek channels. They use the channels as we would a highway to get somewhere. Also, once the water temperature is in that general range we spoke of, bass in spawning areas can become cover orientated fish. They can be caught off, brush piles, laydown logs, the side of a stump, a dock post, etc. A lot of that cover, they will build around, up against or behind to suit their spawning needs. Boat positioning and good cast are critical anytime that you are fishing cover. Remember cover and structures are two completely separate things. Structure is defined as a change in bottom contour. Ledges, humps and drops are all examples of structure. Brush piles, logs and stumps are not structure, they are cover.

With spring fast approaching, I like the rest of you are excited about another year to pursue and catch what invades our dreams during those cold winter nights. Spring has always been a favorite time of year for me, both frustrating and satisfying due to the fact that weather and water conditions can change rapidly. When the fish are "on" it's usually an incredible time to be anywhere. When they are "off" is a frustrating time to be anywhere. One of my favorite lures to fish this time of year, depending some on temperature but mostly on water clarity in a jerk bait. I have caught numerous species of fish on these lures including, small mouth, walleye, sauger, largemouth bass, hybrid stripers and even pike. This month I would like to concentrate on bass including largemouth and small mouth due to the fact that the retrieves and equipment that I use are the same for both species.

ROD AND REEL

I have always liked a medium action rod for this technique and the Fenwick HMG 6'6 MF has a great action with a handle that has the perfect length for not getting in the way, yet has great leverage for hook setting and fish fighting power. The new HMG has a "TAC" handle which is comprise of cork and rubber ground together. This same material is used on some salt water rods. It has a no slip quality that is very comfortable and tight to the grip even in wet weather. I have been a fan of Pflueger reels for years and I would suggest at least one of these models. The Supreme is an excellent reel that is very light weight, compact and sports an excellent drag system. One of the most reliable I have ever used. The new Pflueger Arbor has to be seen. It has a wide spool that cast like a dream with great capacity. The Arbor also has an incredible drag system and the spool has rubber pads on it to support braided line with no slippage and no use of monofilament as a backing. So you have more capacity for the super lines. I have the model 7430 and when walleye as well as bass fisherman start using this reel, I have no doubt it will become a favorite tool among both.

FLUROCARBON LINE

It took me several years to find a fluorocarbon line that I liked that had not only strength but cast ability as well. Last season I started to use to Berkley's 100% fluorocarbon in 8 pound test and it had both strength and the cast ability I was looking for. Just so you know the difference between Fluorocarbon and monofilament. Monofilament has more stretch, is more susceptible to weather and floats more so than the Fluorocarbon. Fluorocarbon reflects light, which makes it almost invisible underwater, has less stretch and most importantly for me, it sinks. Giving me more line and lure control with both suspending and smaller lures. When it comes to fishing jerk bait, to me there is no better line for the job than fluorocarbon.

THE LURE ITSELF

A lot of companies make versions of this lure. Without question the one that has become the most successful for me is Rapala's X-Rap. AKA"slash bait" This sleek lure has a translucent body, internal long range casting mechanism and suspends with fish alluring and attacking style! It can be a deadly lure when fish are aggressive as well as when they are in a passive mood. For the later, here is a retrieve I use often to trigger and better hook non-aggressive fish. The standard retrieve for jerk baits is rod tip down with a cadence of jerk-jerk-pause and the fish hit mostly on the pause in your retrieve. With that cadence on the pause, the lure will slowly rise in most cases nose pointing away from the fish. A great retrieve that has good hooking capabilities. However, when fish are following more than striking or striking short, try this retrieve: On the pause throw the rod tip back toward the lure about a foot. Counter clock wise from 6:00 to 4:00. This will throw slack back to the lure and it most cases allow the lure to turn sideways because it has more line to do so. It turns the X-Rap sideways to the fish offering an almost irresistible opportunity for any large mouth, small moth or spotted bass. This retrieve has work more so for me than not on numerous occasions.

IN CONCLUSION

Water clarity is a big consideration and for me this technique works at its best in clear to lightly stained water, the clearer the better for maximum effectiveness. The X-Rap in its many sizes and several different colors is like any other lure not magic, but also, just like any other lure is a another tool that can successfully be used in numerous fish that we pursue. There is a reason that more world record fish are caught on Rapala. They are designed exceptionally well with function over flash and with real results by real fisherman like us. There has been manly a successful day for me, when I let "X" mark the spot!

As we motored out from the bay, I knew I was in for an adventure. Coming back to Dunlop's, always affords me the opportunities at monster Master Angler northern Pike. I always get excited about coming to the little Churchill River system. Few areas have the topography and forage base to continually produce big pike. Not just 40 inch fish but pike that routinely are caught in the mid to upper forty inch area and beyond. Lake Waskiowaka is one of those areas and Dunlop's is the only lodge on the lake. With a short ten week season and only 16 guests per week, this has become prime territory for my quest. Add to it, that Jerry Dunlop's guides know how to care for and release trophy pike to fight another day and continue to grow to be massive fish. You put all that together and you have the ingredients for my latest adventure. Stay with me on this one, it's about to get real good!

I arrived at camp in the middle of August. Every year people ask me what the best time to come fish for big pike is. Some say June; some say September here is what I say to all of you. Anytime is good as long as you educate yourself on the tools you'll will need and pike habits according to where and when you will be fishing. To that I add August is fast becoming a great time of year for me according to my records. Don't let that time of year get in the way of your pursuit! We pulled up to a point within sight of the lodge and got ready for the day. You see, you will all be able to see what happened during this trip as accompanying me on this adventure was one of the Midwest Outdoors camera crew, Coulter Mitchell. Jerry Dunlop and I started fan casting a large weed bed off the side of a point that had wind blowing on it. If you're taking notes, pike love wind! Jerry was throwing a Blue Fox Vibrex and I was throwing a new RAPALA SubWalk. Remember that, you'll want one after this! The Sub-walk does what its name implies. The six inch lure, on a stout steel leader walks sinks horizontally and with twitches from the rod tip walks side to side. With a little practice, this bait will glide effortlessly and seductively through the water. On the third cast I made, I saw a large flash beneath the lure. A near miss, however, I was encouraged.

I threw back to the same general area where the miss occurred. The rod surged forward and was almost ripped from my hand. The fish went deep and Jerry yelled," it's pulling the front of the boat around!" This was a BIG fish and it came off! I don't know what happened, the line just went slack. Ok, so a big fish comes off. I get over it and get back to casting. We come within 50 yards of the point and I decide to work the SubWalk a little deeper. I had one near miss and a big fish slash at the bait, get barely hooked and come off. Apparently I have the action they want, retrieve speed is good but need a minor adjustment. So I try a depth change of about a foot or so deeper on the retrieve. WHAM! "BIG fish" I yell as the rod doubles over and the braided line rips' the grass up while the big fish peals line from my reel. I know a big pike when I feel one and I set again opposite the way the fish is headed. Driving those hooks in and making the fish fight my equipment, not me. It's not over yet as the monster changes direction and try's to head under the boat. I leveraged the rod in my gut and strain to head off the fish's instinctive move. I get the fish to come around the front of the boat and that's when I see the width of its back. This is no "hammer handle" it's the entire tool box! The big pike makes another hard run and as it goes by the side of the boat, I can't see my lure. That is always a good sign as the massive fish engulf the entire bait. Note to self, also the right color choice. The fish slows and is ten feet from the boat. I always watch the dorsal to the back tail of a big fish. That area moves first right before a big run. I watched and off she went into the weeds. I was ready and again turned my rod the opposite way of the run. This time, she came easily to the cradle and Jerry brought aboard the 46.5 inch pike for pictures and a quick release. My first fish of the trip. Welcome to Dunlop's!

The next couple of days went the same way. Numerous master angler fish were caught during our short three day stay by us as well as other guest of the lodge. The meals are delicious as Chef Jim Peters is excellent on choices as well as presentation. He is also a great walleye fisherman. In the past I have failed to mention the walleye fishing at Dunlop's because of the amassing Pike fishing. So this time around, I'll get right to the point. 30 walleyes up to 25" easily caught on three inch Storm swim baits in an hour between Chef Jim and me on a quick trip one night after dinner. Now back to the pike fishing, because it isn't over yet!

During our final day of filming we were pursuing one last fish. (Aren't we all?) So as we came into this "neck down" area located between two islands, the wind started to blow. That's always encouraging due to the funneling effect that causes current between narrow areas. Jerry and I were again fan casting the expansive weed bed without lures of choice. Jerry had within the last hour caught another 42 inch master angler pike and our numbers of fish in that range and above were quite impressive for just three days of fishing. What was even more enjoyable was the even larger numbers of fish in the upper 30 inch range that I lost count of. We caught a lot of fish over 10 pounds. So anyway we each hooked a couple of decent size pike that we quickly released. I made a cast to the outside edge of the weed bed next to an open lane that separated one patch of weeds and another large area. I remember turning to talk to Jerry. I was working the before mentioned SubWalk with slight downward twitches of the rod. Suddenly I lost contact with the lure. No feeling at all. I reeled up line and nothing. I continued to reel and then noticed the slack line moving off to the side through the weeds. I frantically reeled and then felt pressure. I set the hook hard and the water exploded it teeth filled fury! The big pike went crazy as weeds flew through the air. Its girth was impressive. The fish had inhaled the lure and swam toward the boat. Once contact was made the big pike let me know his displeasure. With a swipe of his tail, we were soaked and it headed under the boat, and then, I could no longer reel. The reel was in free spool and line was going out that I had no control of. It was chaotic! I thought the reel had broke, so I grabbed the braided line, not a good idea! But I merely kept pressure on the line and hand over hand got the fish closer to the boat. The pike was tiring, but I was weary of her strength. She swam boat side and I decided to try to land her. I tightened my grip on the line and turned her toward the net with a quick driving pull. Jerry was there with the cradle and we landed the massive fish without the luxury of Rod and reel!

After the chaos Jerry point out that the reel in fact did NOT break. Here is what happened. With the quick downward pull the pike made so close to the boat, mu thumb rested on the thumb spool enough to disengage the spool without my knowing it. The reel worked fine, it was operator error! You will see all of it as it happened on an upcoming segment on the Midwest Outdoors television show and now you know the rest of the story.

I have stated before that Dunlop's Fly-In lodge and Outpost is the best destination for your honest shot at a Master Angler Pike and the fish of a lifetime. I not only stand by that statement, I have proved it to myself on numerous different occasions at different times of the year. A family run resort with guest that continually leave and return as friends. No hype, no fly-outs no added costs just consistent fishing, great food and a wonderful place to spend your time with friends and/or family. You can easily contact Jerry and his family at www.dunlopfishing.com. They have different packages that range from secluded outposts to main lodge accommodations all of which offer great opportunities at Master Angler pike and plenty of walleye action. Dunlop's' Fly-In Lodge and Outpost, without question gets better every year.

I just got off the phone with Greg Wierzba. Greg is an accomplished outdoorsman and owns GMW Guide service. (www.gmwguideservice.com) Greg's specialties are walleye's and whitetails; however, this phone call was not about either of these two species. Greg had recently returned from another adventure to Rainbow Point Lodge on Perrault Lake in Northern Ontario, Canada. Owned by Bob and Gale Extence, Rainbow Point Lodge has been their home for over 25 years. They have exceptional fishing, along with incredible hunting including bear and moose. This by the way is the reason I called Greg. I want to go on a moose hunt and think about it often. So when I heard about his recent accomplishment, I had to hear the story for myself. This is an account of that conversation.

"Jim, I had hunted moose on three previous occasions with Bob Extence and really enjoyed myself, so much so that I brought my parents back for a bear hunt at Rainbow Point as well. Well in 2008 Bob called in a Bull Moose for me that just about ended up in my lap, so with that experience, it's obvious I had to come back for more. So on September 22nd 2009 we did it again." "Previous to my arrival, Jim, Bob had been through a certain area several times in the last week working on stands for bear hunters when he noticed numerous tracks from a dominant moose. No sooner had we set out that morning and shortly after daylight, Bob started calling. He attracted a bull moose that looked to have a 50 inch rack. The big moose was about 65 yards away and in response to Bob's calling was taking down small trees more efficiently than a logging operation! The moose worked around us for awhile but still out of comfortable bow range he slipped back into the woods.

By now, I am 10 minutes into this conversation with Greg and I am so excited, I can't wait for him to continue. Just so you all know a "50 inch" moose is big by anyone's standards. It's a dream of mine to get one that big. Go refill your coffee mug, it gets better!

"After the moose slipped away, Bob made the first of two great decisions that day by quietly pulling back for a second chance later that week when hopefully the wind would be more in our favor. The second decision was when Bob decided for us to load up the ATV and head for another area, where we had seen tracks earlier in the morning. Shortly after we unloaded, we heard the grunt of another bull moose. Bob stated doing cow (female moose) calls. The bull immediately responded, and then, went silent for 15-20 minutes. Bob called again with the cow calls and then finished with a couple of soft bull grunts. That did it! The newly challenged bull responded more soundly and seemed to get closer. I looked at Bob and he told me to get ready, this one was coming our way. Then we heard the bull take down the first of many trees as he continued to get closer and grunt with more authority."

I know it can't just be me. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up, while hearing Greg relate this story to me. My heart is pounding and I was not even there!

"The bull is now within 100 yards. We know this because we can hear the splashing and the grunts are getting louder and resonate as thumps in our chest. We are set up on the edge of a swamp. About 75 yards out the bull makes a change of direction and comes straight up our hill and comes to a halt about 23 yards off my left side quartered directly towards me. The moose looked for a stare down in my direction. What I saw was what looked like a prehistoric creature with horns laid back beyond his midsection and so heavy that they were splayed back from the sheer weight. I was now at full draw, locked in on the biggest moose I had ever seen and one that dwarfed the previous 50 inch trophy we saw earlier! Bob had again called another moose right into my lap. The way the moose was now position through the pine trees, I only had a hole the size of a basketball to shoot through." Now is when and why all those hours of practice pay off. "I released the arrow and the bull spun around and went back down the hill like a freight train crashing through trees and through the swamp. I had to take several deep breaths to help control the mixing flood of emotions.

"Bob and I then had a distinctive trail to follow. That trail included some very rough terrain for almost a mile. At about a mile and a quarter we came to a small rise of pines. I glanced up after Bob told me that a moose will stop and listen once it enters an area of pine trees. It was then I saw a rack with a monster moose attached to it. Solid hands shake an embrace and smiles that would not go away for the rest of the day. The small break down of stress, nerves and tears came as I looked over the moose that seemed to have grown even larger over the last hour and a half of tracking." The moose with a 64 inch rack is an incredible trophy and even more of an exceptional one because Greg took this animal with a bow.

I must admit after hearing this story and trying to walk this trail of adventure with Bob and Greg, I have no doubt the hours of time, practice and preparation that Greg Wierzba put in to acquire this awesome accomplishment. It is also quite obvious that when you hear a story like this from a repeat customer and now friend of a lodge owner and his family, that Rainbow Point offers more than hunting and fishing. As an outdoorsman and traveler I know and respect that most lodge owners put their heart and soul into their operations. The great ones will never tell you that, however, their customers who become their friends will. My congratulations to Greg Wierzba on his incredible accomplishment and for taking his time to relate this story to me, so that I could pass it on to all of you. I highly recommend that you check out Rainbow Point Lodge and owners Bob and Gale Extence. It's apparent that the Extence's have a wonderful operation and are committed to making not only friends out of customers, but putting the time in that is necessary to make memories for those friends. For more information on Rainbow Point Lodge click on www.rainbowpoint.com and see if you as well can have your moose, at the end of the Rainbow.

The smile is still on my face. I had a blast; it was awesome, incredible and unbelievable. I'm sure there are more adjectives, but you get the idea. Last October, thanks to friend Paul Willging, owner of Phowler Boat Company, I got the chance to travel with him and some other fowl addicts to Manitoba Canada. I love to hunt geese and ducks. It's become an obsession of mine. I love the outdoors and all that goes into waterfowl hunting. The scouting, set ups, decoy placement, excitement of incoming birds, learning to call and even the ever present ribbing when a shot is missed makes waterfowl hunting a very social event. On top of that, the receipts for both duck and goose can be incredible. I'll share one with you later. Now on with the hunt!

I met up with Paul at his factory/dealership in Clinton, Iowa. The Phowler Boat Company is right next to the Clinton Decoy company AKA Big Foot decoys! So Paul had the BIGFOOT trailer loaded up and ready to go. Headed north, we had received a lot of looks and "thumbs up" from other water fowlers or enthusiastic that had to think we were pulling the coolest trailer around. We crossed the border with all the proper identification, including passport, another form of I.D. as well as Hunters Education card, FOID card as well as the proper paper work for carrying guns across the border. You can locate and print off this paper work at www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/noncan-eng. Its important to remember that you can fill out the paper work at home, however, do NOT sign it until you are with the Canadian official who request that you do so. After all was said and done, we were free to enter Canada and proceed through Manitoba to the Town of Neepawa where we met the rest of our crew and set up our base of operations for the week.

Once we were in our hotel, members of our team started to arrive. Mike Newsome, Joey Wright and Allen Blankenship from www.floodedtimber.com join us as well as Lou and L.V. Smetana along with their Labrador, Deke. Later in the week we would hunt with other folks as well and joining us for a couple days was Jeff McMahon (www.jeffmcmahononline.com) who is the keyboardist for country music star, Tim McGraw. It was an incredible time full of laughs as well as learned lessons in all aspects of the hunt, including, scouting, calling, decoy placement and flagging. All of these skills play a part in just about any successful hunt. Just like in fishing, if you pay attention something new can be learned on just about every outing.

During scouting one night, Paul and I decided to take his truck and scout an area while Mike, Allen and Joey scouted other outskirts of our surrounding area. Driving the back roads with map and GPS in hand, Paul and I came across a massive hayfield that had thousands of birds feeding in it. A conservative estimation would be 5-7 thousand birds. We could see this field from a distance and decided not to spook the birds and keep our presence hidden from them by using binoculars to closer inspect our estimation. This field was loaded with snow and blue geese, mixed in with Ross and Richardson geese which are smaller versions of both snows and Canada geese. Although there were some of the Giant Canada geese mixed in, the "snows" were definitely using this field.

So the next thing to do is acquire permission to hunt the field your interested in. We stopped at the closest house to the field and the farmer we spoke to, did indeed own the field. So here is a tip for you. In most cases, the land owners are happy to have you hunt there. But always ask permission. Don't give other hunters a bad name by not taking the time and respect to do this. Most of the time, the farmers wanted to talk to us, know where we were from and in general carry on a conversation with us and see how we were doing, what we saw and even offer us suggestions on who to ask and where to find them. They were all very nice and extremely accommodating. The geese are so abundant in some places that the farmers lose crops and money because of the thousands of geese that can ravage a field. Always ask permission and thank the land owner and always without exception, leave the field cleaner than you found it.

We returned to the hotel and discussed our plan with other members of our team. We decided that since we all had agreed to hunt snow geese that by law no Canada geese decoys can be used on that day due to the fact that we would use electronic callers for the snow geese. The snow goose limit is 20 per person, per day. We had a full day ahead of us with if all went right, plenty of shooting for all of us.

The next day, we all worked together to check wind direction, check the field with head lamps to locate dropping and feathers on the ground. This would show evidence of where the geese were feeding the day before. Then we would set up the decoys, and then the blinds and finally "grassing" those blinds to make us blend in and conceal us from the always, weary to land, snow geese.

A little after first light in the morning we heard the far off screech and cry of massive flock of snow geese headed our way. The electronic caller was turned on and the screeching and yelling got even louder. However, it also attracted the snow geese. We started to "flag" and along with the calling, the massive black cloud started to head our way. The closer they got, the louder they got. They were still a couple hundred yards above us when they went by and turned for another look. Getting a little lower this time, you could see the hundreds of set of eyes checking the ground for anything inconsistent or out of place.

The rest of the morning went the same way with massive flocks of snows and other "cacklers" flying around us. Eventually small groups, who break off, become attracted to our spread and we welcome them with a 7 gun salute. Deke our resident retriever for the week, sleep extremely well that night. The rest of the week was very successful for us as well as the entire adventure. My freezer is full. Several others from our group also took home what was legally acceptable. We had a great dinner one night where several of us made our own receipts for everyone to try. We also cleaned and gave away some of our harvest to other grateful people who worked at the motel and who were staying there. Some even came over for our cook out. What a fantastic experience.

I want to thank Paul Willging from Phowler Boats who not only makes the strongest boats in and out of the water, but is a passionate duck hunter and all around outdoorsman. He knows what water fowlers expect and his boats, blinds and elaborate paint schemes for all vehicles reflects his knowledge and love of the sport. Check out www.phowlerboatcompany.com and experience that commitment to quality for yourself. I also need to thank Art Ladehoff owner of BigFoot decoys who was generous enough to let us borrow his trailer to haul all our gear to Canada. The Clinton Decoy Company makes the best decoys in the industry and that's why we use them. Click on www.bigfootdecoys.com and see why when it's all said and done everyone comes back to BigFoot!

This recent adventure was one of those where the memories will last a lifetime. It was a new experience with new friends, new knowledge and plenty of new stories that all reflect how Canada is a wild goose chase.

I recently returned from the best waterfowl trip I have ever been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of. It was not just the hunt; it was the opportunity, the people, the adventure and the excitement. Several months back I was asked to accompany friend and owner of the PHOWLER BOAT COMPANY, Paul Willging on a trip to Manitoba, Canada for a waterfowl hunt. As much as I love to hunt geese and ducks in the Midwest, Canada is well known for its abundance of big geese and numerous species of ducks. I have been to Canada many times and continually go every year. Manitoba is a favorite destination of mine because I have caught trophy pike, killed my first bear and have had a lifetime of adventure every time I am in that province. Now I can add waterfowl hunting to that list.

I hooked up with Paul at his shop in Clinton Iowa. The Phowler Boat Company is located right next store to the Clinton Decoy company, better known as BigFoot Decoys. If you're a goose guy like me, this is a great place to visit! Phowler Boats is fast becoming a name to be reckoned with as they are the toughest built boats in and out of the water. I'm a gadget guy and love to see how the equipment I use is built, so after, I received a tour of his facility, and we were on our way. Before we crossed the border into Canada we had to go through customs. Make sure you have a valid passport, FOID card, your hunter's safety card and documentation of your firearms. You will have to register you guns in Canada and be charged a 25.00 dollar fee for that, so expect it.

At the border we met up with most of the crew we would be hunting with on this trip. Allen Blankenship, Joey Wright and Mike Nuestron from www.floodedtimber.com will be hunting with us along with Lou and L.V. Smetana. Later in the week, we were joined by Jeff McMahon. Jeff is the keyboardist for the Dancehall Doctors; they are the band behind country music superstar Tim McGraw! This was to be a good week! We drove another couple hours to the small town of Neepawa, Manitoba. This was our home base for the week. We unpacked our stuff, purchased our licenses and got ready for our hunt. Now the work began.

We set out in two groups to scout the area for birds. One team went north and east and we went south and west. Covering back roads with the help of a GPS unit and map. When we found a field where birds were feeding, we viewed it from a distance through a good set of binoculars. If we felt that field had potential for birds from between 9-11 hunters we marked it as a way point on the GPS. Than we found who owned the property and asked for permission to hunt the area. The farmers and owners of these vast acres were extremely nice. Hunters, always ask permission to hunt an area. If you don't it reflects badly on all of us, please be courteous, as just about every land owner was friendly and extremely gracious. They want you there! These geese, especially the snow geese are so abundant; they can destroy acres of profit for these farmers. One farmer we talked with lost 20% of his crop to snow geese!

Once permission is obtained, ask the owners if they need anything like some of the meat from the hunt, etc. Trust me, with proper scouting you will have more than enough birds for the freezer. Most land owners just want to know where you're from and chat awhile. They are very pleasant and it's our job to offer them the same courtesy and respect their land, which they have allowed us to hunt. A little respect goes a long way.

After scouting, we all discussed what fields had the most potential and we made a plan for the next morning. We got a good night's sleep and we were all ready to go the next morning. The BigFoot Trailer was loaded with decoys, ground blinds and just about every tool for the job ahead of us. Our team worked together to set decoys, brush ground blinds and get ready for first light. Usually every morning the ducks descended on us first. On one exceptional morning we had numerous wood ducks come in and that was an incredible sight. Wood ducks are beautiful and probably the best tasting duck of all so that morning definitely started with a bang! In the distance we would hear the geese coming. Sometimes it was the higher pitch sound of the lesser Canada geese, a much smaller version of the Giant Canada goose. It's like the "mini me" of geese! Other times it was the deeper honk sound of the Greater Canada goose. The large silhouettes would appear off in the distance. We would "Flag" them get their attention and then "call" to them. Once they started heading our way, you could feel the rush of adrenaline surge throughout your body. Having big geese come in, react to a spread of decoys and commit to landing is an incredible sight. It is one of my favorite occurrences in the outdoors.

We had a fantastic time. We made new friends and shared incredible experiences with them. A bond forms with those people as they become part of a great memory that you all shared together. I need to thank Paul Willging of Phowler Boats because he is a true outdoorsman that not only makes a superior product; he is willing to do the work to continually learn more about the sport and the passion that is waterfowl hunting. He takes that knowledge and puts it into every boat he builds and that quality and experience shows through. Check out the professional quality that is the result of learned experience at www.phowlerboatcompany.com. Waterfowl hunting is a tradition; it gets in your blood. It's a social event where old and new friends work together to make a successful hunt and great memories. It's not about the kill, it's a goose thing.

Talking with friends the other day we decided on a time where a couple of them could come by my place because they wanted to learn how to shoot a shot gun. I thoroughly enjoy the shooting sports. So much so, that this past spring I became certified through the state of Illinois as an IDNR wing shooting instructor. I enjoy donating my time to teach women and young people how to shoot. It's a great way to give back to a sport that in a short amount of time has brought me so much satisfaction, enjoyment and fond memories. So as I see the smiles on the faces of these people who I am blessed to instruct, I find it frustrating that we must continue to fight for our right to keep and bear arms. Make no mistake about it, this president and his administration are no friends of gun owners. You need only investigate their past voting records to see they are hostile towards us. But our founding fathers had ideas that this could arise. They saw themselves as representing us and the same rules applied to them as well as the rest of Americans of that young country.

"Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence." George Washington, First President of the United States".

Why as the years go by do we have to fight harder for the two things this country was founded on? Our belief in God and the right to protect and defend ourselves. I feel, because both of those beliefs intimidate the people who we voted for, to govern us. Those individuals have long forgotten that this government was set up "By the people for the people." The Second Amendment stands firm on its short and to the point statement, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." So whenever I defend my beliefs to those to liberal to understand, I calmly ask, "What part of shall not be infringed don't you understand?" As co author of the second amendment, George Mason stated, "I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them."

As time passes some of us may tire of constantly battling those who try everyway they can to lessen or chip away at our sacred right to bear arms. In Illinois along last year, we defeated 17 bills that would infringe on our rights. The most bills in any state! I refuse to give in, I refuse to be silent any longer. Speaking at a Safari Club International event last year, the honorable Justice Anthony Scalia stated," You want to keep your guns, keep talking about them." Do not be intimidated, stand up and be proud that you hunt, that you shoot, and that you care enough to educate your children in what is rightfully theirs. Our right to defend ourselves, our right to put food on our tables and our ability to provide food to those less fortunate. 50,000 pounds of deer meat was donated by hunters to feed the hungry last year in Central, Illinois. That venison was donated in a large part by Gun owning hunters.

Our second amendment will continue to be a hot issue and we will take attacks from all sides. In a discussion I once had with someone who did not agree with our rights to hunt and defend ourselves, I asked him, "Why is it, that all of you who disagree with the supreme court view of the 2nd amendment, want these rights taken away, or severely diminished? We just want the right to hunt and to defend ourselves. I don't want to take anything away from you, matter of fact, I would be pleased if you wanted to come hunting or target shooting with me." His expression and his response ended in a sad, confused and blank stare.

"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not." The great Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. This past year as a President was elected that promised all types of things we as gun owners knew our rights were in danger. As an Illinois senator, Obama voted against every pro-gun bill in his short career. That is a matter of public record. Those facts resulted in the highest amount of gun sales, ammo shortages and new registered gun owners that has ever occurred. We should listen to ourselves. We know there is a danger. We fought this fight over 200 hundred years ago and the fight continues. So I implore you to stand strong, and educate those around you. Teach and educate our youth, your friends, and your family in our right to keep and bear arms. Refuse to be a better victim! It has never been more important than now and now is not the time to let your guard down. We must unfortunately protect ourselves from those who say they are protecting us.

"Putting all these textual elements (of the second amendment) together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment. We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it "shall not be infringed." Justice Scalia in Heller vs. District of Columbia

Without question, the Second Amendment was written into the Bill of Rights to lawfully protect our pre-existing right to keep and bear arms. It shall not in any way be infringed. It some cases it already has been. It's your right to protect yourself. It's your right to defend yourself and the Second Amendment gives you that pre-existing right.

This past week was “one of those weeks” that was just a pain in my backside. You all know what I mean. Everybody at work knows what to do, except your boss, A late notice comes on a bill you already paid ON TIME and you have to make another appointment with another doctor because something else could be wrong. Have I covered most of the bases? So yesterday, I said the heck with it and just went fishing. The older I get the more I appreciate the times when I can, just go fishing. Bass fishing has always been a way to re connect with the good side of things for me. I no longer care if the fish are always big, I don't need or have to prove anything so I just like the idea of a bass crushing my lure or simply just picking it up and swimming away with it. That feeling never gets old, neither does setting the hook! So, since I had such a great time, I'll tell you a little about it.

I was on the way to a friends house who lives on a small lake in central, Illinois. Its a great lake and he and I have had many a great conversation on that body of water. Thanks Dave for the Aqua Therapy! So I climbed aboard the small boat with a couple rods and several bags of my favorite plastics and set out on an, “I'll take anything that bites mission.” With all the duck weed and moss growing on the lake, I decided to tie on my frog of choice and see if I could cure what ailed me. One of the things I like to do on small lakes or ponds that have a good frog population is to take my amphibian imposter and throw it up on the bank. Then I hop it off the bank to a resounding splash that surely should awaken the predator instinct in any self respecting bass. It did! I watched the wake come from about 15 feet away and then stop. I then started to reel quickly as the water exploded in 3 pounds of duck weed encased fury. The bass had no intention of letting that frog swim away. Would you let a piece of Chicago style pizza walk off your table? I think not!

I don't know where I was when people were talking about Norfork Lake but I never got the memo! I just returned from one of the most awesome destinations I have ever been to. This all started back several months ago when I met Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters at a sport show in central, Illinois. Tom had approached me and asked if I would like to come down and do some striper fishing with him on Norfork Lake. Tom has been guiding on the lake for over 15 years. I had not yet been to Arkansas, (again no memo!) and I was thrilled to get the chance to fish with a guide of his caliber as well as head out on another adventure. What you are about to read is my account of the experience, and it was more than I ever anticipated.

I headed down to Mountain Home Arkansas, which is only about 7.5 hours from where I live in Bloomington, Illinois. Accompanying me on this trip was long time friend and associate producer of my internet show, Hook and Hunt Tv.Com, Lex Green. We were both looking forward to this trip as Lex enjoys fishing for anything that has fins as much as I do. The time went by quickly as often happens when good friends share anticipation and excitement. We pulled into Sunrise Point Resort, which is set right in the middle of Norfork Lake. A great location with easy access to both upper and lower ends of the reservoir. We arrived late in the evening and as we pulled up to the office, we were greeted by the smiling faces of owner Doug Wintle and his son, Skyler. Doug told us we would be staying in Cabin 7 and let us know that we would be meeting our guide Tom Reynolds at 6:00 the following morning. It was time to turn in, as tomorrow had more in store for both Lex and I than we had ever imagined.

Sunrise Point is a great resort with among other things a massive boat dock that has room for just about any size boat and as we made our way down to the boat slips, we saw Tom was already there waiting for us. Tom has a large center console boat with plenty of room. He greeted us and introduced both Lex and I to Chuck Merrill a police officer from Chicago who would be fishing with us that day. The engine roared to life and the openness of massive Norfork Lake greeted us. As we arrived to our first location, Tom explained to us how he fishes for the massive stripers that live in Norfork Lake. "I use ten foot B&M light action crappie trolling rods on Garcia 6500 reels spooled with ten pound test line. " The water is extremely clear; the light line is an advantage. We used big shad as bait (Tom catches those fresh daily!) that Tom hooked to small bait hooks and suspended them under balloons. The light action rods are fantastic for not only fighting the fish but for allowing almost unrestricted movement of the live bait, which can be irresistible to stripers. "Norfork stocks both pure and hybrid stripers annually. The average fish is 8-10 pounds. With relatively little pressure on the lake, and a 20" size limit these fish have gotten the chance to grow large" stated Tom.

Tom was looking at the graph and told us to come to the front of the boat and see what he was looking at. Massive arc's appeared on the screen which signaled stripers below. "Nothing fights like a Striper" said Chuck as he smiled. The drag screamed! The rod on the left side of the boat bent to the point that it seemed it would break. The drag continued to scream. "Jim grab the rod and pull back, don't set the hook hard, just pull back" stated Tom. I did as I was instructed and I felt intense power as the fish continued to run. I leaned into the fish and let the rod fight the fish. Immediately the battle was intense and instantly the adrenaline rush was upon me. The fish went deep and stayed there. Tom said," I can see your fish on the graph and he's down there a ways." Not encouraging as all the work I was trying to do was gone with a swipe of the fish's tail as it again took out more line. I gained some line back and felt the fish's head shake left and then right. I could feel him stall down there for a bit and then another massive run. This went on for awhile until I finally got a glimpse of him in the clear water. The stripes of the fish were accented by a blue and purple tint that radiated from the fish as he cut through the water. Why had I not fished for these fish before? This was one of the most intense fights I had ever experienced. The fish was now boat side and Tom netted it. The fight lasted over 6 minutes and the fish weighed 16 pounds! When was the last time you fought a fresh water fish for over 6 minutes?

Chuck was up on deck as he told me about past trips with Tom and some of the giant stripers they had caught that exceeded 20 pounds! We all saw a massive swirl behind one of the balloons. "Get ready" said Tom. It looked like somebody dropped a Volkswagen in the water! The drag screamed again! Chuck having done this numerous times in the past took the rod with authority and then he was hooked up. The rod jerked with the speed and power of the outgoing fish. "He's headed to the other side of the lake" I said. Tom started the boat and moved us to even deeper water. While Chuck was fighting the fish, Tom was steering the boat to a better position to gain an advantage over the striper. Again I ask you, when was the last time you did that? When we boated that fish, it was over 18 pounds!

I have had the opportunity to fish with a lot of guides over the years and some real good ones. Tom Reynolds is one of the best. He thoroughly enjoys seeing the faces of his clients as they catch, in most cases, the biggest fish of their lives. He is well outfitted with excellent equipment fitted to the fish he pursues and has the knowledge to stay on those fish throughout the season. "We catch fish here year round" said Tom. "We may have a bad day or week, but it's never a bad time." I not only caught fish with him, I learned from him. This is an unbeatable combination.

We went back to our cabin that afternoon and just relaxed. Looked over some of the pictures we had taken and got ready for the next day. Tomorrow we would fish with Doug and his son Skyler. The weather had turned for the worse and the rain continued to fall. Doug was optimistic, but cautioned it might be a slow day. "That's fishing" I said. We will see you in the morning

We met Doug and Skyler down at the dock and loaded our rods up in Doug's 21' Warrior 208 XRS bass boat. We headed out to one of Doug's favorite spots. As owner of Sunrise Point Resort, Doug is also a guide and tournament fisherman, so he knows the lake extremely well. The crappies were starting to bite. Skyler was the first to hook up with a nice crappie, but as we soon found out, there were bigger ones to be had. Lex than hooked up with nice 14"crappie and Skyler followed again with another one around 15" inches! We than caught, some Kentucky spotted bass which are mean, no matter their size along with other crappies and some bluegill. This was getting to be fun. I set the hook and the fish pulled drag on my light action rod. It finally came along side the boat and it was a 17' inch small mouth bass! I then hooked and lost probably the biggest crappie of my life. All the while, Doug keep telling us, that he wised the weather was better so we could see how good the fishing was. "It gets better than this", I said. It soon did!

We pulled into another area where Doug and Skyler had been catching some white bass. I tied on a 2" Storm swim bait and the rest of the boat tied on their lures of choice. I don't know who flipped the switch but we caught close to 100 white bass mixed in with more spotted bass, largemouth bass and another crappie or two. Young Skyler was putting on a fishing clinic, what an angler he is! The fishing was incredible. This was nuts! All four of us were hooked up at the same time on numerous occasions. I have never said this before, however, in my opinion; Norfork Lake is the best fresh water multi-specie fishery I have ever experienced.

Sunrise Point Resort (www.sunrisepointresort.com) was a great place to stay. I will stay there again not only because of its great location but how quiet and clean it is. The resort features cabins that have one to four bedrooms with comfortable beds, a stove for cooking as well as a refrigerator and microwave. Other features include a large in door game room and a very nice outdoor pool. The scenery is beautiful and the hospitality of the Wintle family is evident as soon as you pull in. You will arrive as a guest and leave as a friend. Doug is on the lake almost daily and will guide you to the best places to fish. Bring your boat if you wish. The covered dock is set up perfectly for your rig.

I must also thank Tom Reynolds of STR Outfitters (www.stroutfitters.com) for an amazing day on the water. Tom is an incredible guide who I highly recommend. He will give you the chance to catch one of the biggest fish of your life. Two other resorts to check out are Hand Cove Resort which has RV sites available (www.handcoveresort.com) and is also right on the lake. The Hand Cove Recreation area is home to Keller's Kove Resort. The Keller's Kove restaurant (www.kellerscove.com) has the best and biggest Prime rib and Rib-eye I have ever had! It's an awesome place with a very fun crowd. Another great restaurant that is a must while you are there is SEAN'S (www.seans-restaurant.com) the dessert along with the rest of the food will blow you away! Very special thanks also go to the Lake Norfork Chamber of commerce (www.lakeforkchamber.com) for hosting us. We had, as you can tell, an incredible time. You can see some of the fast paced fishing action we experienced on my internet show www.hookandhunttv.com. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and we will e-mail the show to your in-box!

This was one of the best adventures I have ever had. The Norfork Lake area is incredible for fishing and hunting. As I stated before, we are going back. To catch that many fish in so short of time, while hardly seeing another boat on the water is incredible. To experience big and numerous fish not that far away from home with great places to stay, excellent food and people who are thrilled to have you there is why ,I am going back. I highly suggest you do the same. Your experience will unquestionably leave you will the same feeling I have, Norfork Lake ROCKS!

The fishing has continued to heat up here in the Midwest. It's been a great start to the season for me with some intense striper action, bass and big crappie. There will be some great stories to relive with all of you in coming months and some new adventures ahead which I am looking forward to. With that being said, this time of year in regards to bass is without question one of my favorite times of the entire season. The spawn/ post spawn period for large mouth bass can be a very exciting time, especially if you like to fish with plastic creations of any and all kind's like I do. We have come a long way from the standard rubber worm. There is a lot going on in the world of plastics for bass as well as other species of fish. Some are gimmicks and some have proved to me that they are all they say they are, and more.

By now you have all seen the commercials for Berkley GULP! and GULP! ALIVE! Last year I was showing a good friend how I was catching fish "wacky" style by skipping GULP! sinking minnows far back underneath boat docks and walk ways on one of our favorite lakes. We had been catching some decent bass and approached another dock. The GULP! sinking minnow is almost flat or has an oval shape that runs the entire length of the bait. It skips nicely and as it skimmed the water back under the dock, I let it sink. As I was talking to my buddy, I felt pressure on the line. I set the hook, only to feel the hook connect slightly and then come free. It popped out of the water and started to sink again. All of a sudden the charging bass that first had the lure came back after it and grabbed it again! I set the hook and this time caught the bass. My partner said, "Gimme one of those!" On several other occasions, including ice fishing, I have seen and experienced GULP! out fishing live bait.

Wacky worming is one of my favorite ways to catch bass. Large mouth, small and spotted bass can fall victim to this easy yet deadly technique. Before we discuss another type of plastic, let me go over this technique with you. It's incredibly effective and if you have not tried it yet, it needs to be added to your bag of tricks. I usually use a 6'6 medium fast action spinning rod spooled with 8 pound fluorocarbon line, a small 1/0 octopus style hook and a straight tailed worm of my choice. This technique is much more effective in clear to lightly stained water so most of the time my color choices are natural colors like, green pumpkin, smoke and its glitter colors watermelon and around highly vegetated areas try pink! (Don't ask, just give it a shot.)

The wacky style type worms are made by numerous different companies and most work well to some extent. Most wacky style worms look like you traced around a ball point pen made a mold from it and poured in the formula. That as history tells us is how the first "senko" style bait was made. This style of lure can be used for so many things. I have a boat load of them ranging in sizes from 3 inch to 6.5 inches long. They all work at one time or another. The 3 inch size has become a favorite of mine.

Bass pro Shops has their own version of these types of lures called the Stick-O. It's impregnated with salt and that flavor is baked in, so it's always there. Each end of the lure is tapered differently so it literally shakes on the fall. Just like the GULP! minnow it has a very seductive fall when rigged wacky style. The 3 inch version of the Stick-O is fantastic on a 1/16-1/8 ounce BPS shaky head. A very subtle offering in clear water, it can be deadly on large and small mouth bass. The albino color is a killer small mouth lure on either a drop shot or split-shot rig. Also note that any brands of these style plastics are fantastic on a Carolina rig. They dart and settle horizontally when pulled across the bottom. Over the years this style of lure has become my number one choice when I choose to fish a Carolina rig. The larger "senko" type baits in the 5-6.5 inch version are also incredible rigged on and EWG style hook. Fished in this manner, they become a great jerk bait style lure as well. However on the fall they are much more seductive than standard soft plastic jerk baits, they also skip well under docks rigged this way or wacky style on a spinning rod.

When it's all said and done, there are so many plastics shapes sizes and brands, it's enough to make your head spin. Some are better than others and some catch more fisherman than they do fish. However, used in the right situation and used as the tools they are, most will catch your fair share of fish. Sometimes we over think it. To catch a fish you must always do two things, attract them and then trigger them. You don't have to out think them, but you might have to use artificial intelligence.

I am so ready to go fishing. I think I have gone over my lures a dozen times already. Checking them out making sure everything is ready and then double checking just to make sure. I am really excited about some of the lures that have come out, late last year and early this year. They are actually better tools for certain things that I like to do. Years ago when I was fishing tournaments, one of my favorite techniques was to throw crank baits in and around wood. During those years I did a lot of experimenting with rods, reels, line and different crank baits to see which came through cover more effectively. It is NEVER just the lure that works but the combination of an assortment of elements that come together to make that lure effective and more enticing to the fish. Throwing crank baits in those "odd" places has always been a specialty of mine, so to speak. Let's go over some sodalities of the technique, what is involved and how you can excel at it. The technique in itself frustrates a lot of ppeople because if the proper gear and lures are not used, you hang up or snag, a lot. There are ways to get around that frustration, so let's get started!

Shallow water cranking is one of the few techniques where I still use monofilament line. I have used the same mono for years for this technique and it's always suited me fine. I use 15 pound test, green Trilene Big Game. I am cranking shallow water cover, so there is no need for lighter monofilament. I want the lure to run shallow and I want less stretch in the line. I also want line that floats and keeps the lure more buoyant, that's why I do not use fluorocarbon for this technique. The idea is to have the lure run into and deflect off of the cover being fished. Lighter line, has more stretch and can cause the lure to dig into the branches instead of deflecting off of them. Also, the Big Game line is much more abrasion resistant, which is a necessity for this technique.

Rods and reels for this technique are also important. I prefer a 6'6 medium moderate action that has more of a parabolic action to the rod. The parabolic action gives more with the strike which in a lot of cases is a hard reflexive type of strike that is associated with shallow cover orientated fish. The lure runs close to the fish, it deflects off a branch and the fish even though it's not hungry, darts out to grab, the seemly injured prey. For this technique, it's important that you know that this approach will catch a lot of inactive or inactively feeding fish. Their instinct betrays them to the sight of an injured food source. The hard slash/strike becomes a hook up more so than not due in part to the action of the rod. Also the style of the hooks comes into play, more on that later. The reel speed has always been important to me with this technique. I like a lower gear ratio reel for this technique as well as for all my cranking except for lipless lures. I use the Pflueger Trion which has a lower 5:2-1 ratio compared to a 6:3-1 which is probably the most popular reel purchased. The slower reel helps me to keep the lure in the strike zone longer, and also aids me in not "over cranking" an area if I get in a hurry or excited by catching fish. A lower gear ratio also shows off the side to side roll of the lure I am using and helps to displace more water which can entice the fish to hit my lure. Two things must happen for you to catch a fish. First you must attract the fish, than you must trigger it to bite. One of the best new lures on the market will do that, and was perfectly designed for this technique!

The new Rapala DT FAT (www.rapala.com) is the lure I have been waiting for when it comes to shallow water cranking. There are several reasons for that and here is the analogy of that lure. Built from buoyant balsa wood, the wide or fat crank displaces water with a highly seductive rolling side to side action. It also has a square lip which is the key to any lure for this technique. There are basically two types of lips for crank baits. Round lips which roll over cover and square lips which deflect off cover. For this technique, we want a lure to deflect, thus enticing the instinctive reflex strike we described earlier. The DT fat runs 1-3 feet deep. This shallow running lure with square lip and tied to 15 pound line with a slower gear ratio reel, and forgiving yet powerful rod, will give you the set up you need for this technique. Rapala also added the sure set treble hooks which each have one elongated hook that incredibly seems to attach itself to numerous short striking fish. A great design!

The technique itself, in my opinion, takes a systematic approach. This technique as stated earlier is for shallow, cover orientated fish. Bass on lay down logs or by brush piles, etc. Boat positioning is critical as well as your first cast. If you're fishing a laydown log, analyze where you will place your cast and try to see options you will have once the fish is hooked. You will have to muscle them out from the cover to play them in open water. So see what your routes are for doing that. Cast to outside branches first and then work your way into the heart of the cover. It's a step by step process to check and thoroughly cover all your casting and fish holding options. Once a fish is hooked, get it away from the cover, step on the trolling motor to pull your boat father away if necessary, so you can fight the fish away from that thick cover. Wear the fish down before it gets to the boat. Some anglers try to rush this and more fish are lost at the boat because some fisherman refuse to let the bass fight the rod instead of fight them. Let the rod fight the fish, that's in part what it was designed to do.

Cranking wood cover is still over looked by a lot fisherman and remains a favorite technique of mine through out the year. It's a different look, a different approach, takes more time and effort and is a developed skill. However, it puts quite a few fish in the boat and some rather big fish as well! The time of year is upon us to get the boats out, or walk the bank of your favorite pond. So grab rod in hand, put a smile on your face and get cranky!

I had my 42nd birthday last month. I remember when I thought thirty was old. Jimmy Buffett wrote the great song, A Pirate looks at 40, and realized as I have, that all too quickly he to, had also rounded that bend in life. Well, so be it. As someone once said, youth is wasted on young people! Although I have reached and passed the forty mark, life has gotten better and now more than ever, I crave the adventures and friendships that make life a journey, not a destination. I have also realized that it takes a little more work than it once did to stay in shape for those adventures. The fishing, the hunting and all the traveling can take a toll on a person who is not up to it. Now don't mistake me for a health guru. After a day's hunt or a long day in the boat, I am not the last person, to be the first in line for a Lake Maid, Leinenkugels or Labatt's beer to go with my steak or pork chop dinner! However, I have also taken some steps to make sure that I stay in shape both mentally and physically so as to enjoy the outdoors for years to come. With fishing season fast approaching here are some easy things to do to get in shape for that adventure and/or fish of a lifetime.

My wife got me back into reading almost a decade ago and I am so glad that she did. She is a registered nurse and sees elderly patience on a regular basis. The brain as she reminds me is a muscle and if you don't use it, you'll lose it. It like the other muscles in your body needs to be exercised to keep it in top form. As much as I like the outdoors, I crave murder mysteries, westerns and espionage novels. Some are easy reads and some are complicated and force you to focus to see and understand what's going on. I compare these to easy and hard work outs that I put my body through. The reading has helped my understanding, comprehension and most of all my imagination. Our imagination is a powerful tool no matter if you're young, or just young at heart. If you like to combine your hobbies with what you read, obviously I would highly recommend Midwest Outdoors and Fishing Facts Magazine! If you want mystery, the outdoors and a little murder thrown in for good measure, you may want to check out The Loon Lake series by Victoria Houston. (www.victoriahouston.com) Great plots, characters and mysteries set in Northern Wisconsin. You can smell the coffee and mysteries brewing along with the aroma of the pine and birch trees!

Fishing as with most outdoor endeavors does require the body to perform repeated actions such as casting, reeling and hopefully setting the hook, a lot! And I am sure that some of you have heard of tennis or "casting" elbow. This is a very painful and can lead to a tear in the muscle that lies over your elbow. Having suffered this injury through work related causes; I can tell you that until it's repaired it can be an extremely painful experience. Stretching of your hand, wrist and elbow on a regular basis can help prevent this and there are numerous articles on the internet that address the problem. You can also talk with your physicians about exercises to help you if you are experiencing any pain that you might think is related to this. Get it checked out, as I would not wish the pain and discomfort on anyone.

Two of the best exercises that I have ever come across are the simple acts of walking and/or riding a bicycle. During the warmer months, I ride my bike 3 miles to and from work an average of 3 times a week. This has really helped with weight control, stress relief, a calmer attitude as well as my cardiovascular capabilities. In the winter months, I am on a treadmill at least 3 times a week. After Christmas and New Years, 4 times a week! Watching TV while utilizing the treadmill makes the time pass quickly and it really does not seem like exercise at all. The important thing is to keep a constant schedule. The hardest thing to do is getting started. However, once you do, it will be an investment in yourself that will pay off for not only you, but the time spent with your friends and family as well.

February is a busy month for me with a lot of traveling and a lot of sport shows. I will be hosting several seminars at the 3rd Annual Schaumburg Boat and Sport show at the Schaumburg convention center in northwest suburban Schaumburg, Illinois. I look forward to seeing you all there! The show runs from the Feb. 12-15. They will have great deals on the latest boats, fishing accessories and adventure travel destinations! For more information on this great show log onto www.schaumburgsportshow.com. I will also be at the QCCA show in the Quad cities on Feb 21st and 22nd and then it's on to the Chicago Fishing Expo in Lynwood, Illinois on February 28th. These are all fantastic shows and a great way to kick off the 2009 season. Warm weather and great fishing is right around the corner. I'm excited about this season and the memories it will hold. Even though I am another year older I am fit to be fishing for the ages.

Passion for the outdoors and its experiences is vivid in certain people. Have you ever noticed it in anyone? You can see it in their eyes as the memories of the stories they are telling you dance like flames from a fire. You can hear it in their voice as they relate a story, an experience, or a lesson learned. I have been blessed to meet and spend time with some of those individuals. The outdoors is a magnificent place to see and experience real people who don't hide behind the camouflage they reserve for the hunt. My father always said, "Jimmy, you never know a guy till you spend a day in the boat with him!" A boat or a blind is the ideal place to get to know a person. To see what makes them tick, so to speak. With that being said, I received a call from Bolingbrook Bass Pro Shops Hunting Manager, Kevin Gierat a couple months back asking if I wanted to go goose hunting with him. "Kevin, you never need to ask if I want to go, just tell me when!" I stated. "Great because there is someone I want you to meet." He said.

We all meet up early on a cold and blustery Saturday morning in mid December. Kevin introduced me to Wade Walling. Wade is a 21 year old young man who works at Bass Pro Shops. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Wade, is the 2008 World Goose Calling Champion! So needles to say I was excited to get the chance to get to know and hunt with the "Champ." It did not take long to realize that unless you knew that Wade was the world champion, you might never know unless someone else told you. Wade is very humble and we got to work, quickly setting out a massive spread of BigFoot decoys. (www.bigfootdecoys.com) You will be able to see the entire hunt on an upcoming show of Midwest Outdoors magazine. (It is an incredible hunt with awesome footage and fast paced action!) The birds flew well that day and we got to experience the majestic Canada goose in flight, as well as the birds being completely mesmerized and hypnotized by Wade's calling. Wade's sense of humor is a plus as he does not take himself too seriously. He loves what he gets to do and experience. It's obvious he gets a lot of enjoyment from watching other people succeed, laugh and have a good time.

After the hunt I got to talk with Wade about his championship win and what got him into waterfowl hunting. "When I was 12 years old, my grandfather ran a small duck club in Peoria, Illinois. He asked if I would come down and help him clean up a bit. My grandfather than invited me for a youth hunting weekend. I ended up shooting a drake wood duck and a hen mallard. If it was not for him, I would not be involved in the sport, like I am today" I asked Wade what he liked so much about goose hunting and what he would tell kids about hunting and the outdoors. He stated, "Goose hunting to me, is not just about killing geese, it's about the time and effort that goes into the hunt. I spend over a 100 days a year in the field, but the feeling I get when I get a goose to commit and turn on a dime in response to my calling, makes my knees shake every time! It's nearly impossible to describe that feeling in words, but I cherish that. I would tell kids the same thing and that is to cherish that time in the blind with your family and friends. You will never forget that. Also, I would tell every kid, to not just hunt, but get involved and volunteer with groups like Delta Waterfowl and Ducks Unlimited."

Winning the World Championship was an incredible accomplishment and as with every champion this is not just something they did, it's something they dreamed about, they envisioned and what they planned for. Wade Walling is no different. He stated, "To win the world championship was obviously a dream come true. I had dreamed for 3 years about standing on the stage with another caller and myself, and envisioned the MC saying, "Your 2008 World Goose Campion is Wade Walling!" After the thousands of hours of practice and determination, it feels fantastic to be rewarded. I had a lot of support from family and friends which helped a lot! A special thanks and a credit to my accomplishment goes to the over whelming support I received from the team at GK calls including Bob Alfieri, Craig McDonald, Scott Rumble and the rest of the GK calls team! The only thing that was upsetting was that my grandpa was not alive to see it." Wade, I have a feeling he saw every moment.

To learn more about Wade Walling and learn about the calls he uses, and endorses, you can go to www.gkcalls.com. Check out the Wade Walling Signature Series along with the rest of the GK calls line up. It's a great website with sound clips of each call! I am extremely blessed with the opportunity to meet a lot of great people in the outdoor industry. To experience and learn from individuals who are very good and passionate about what they do. I in turn, enjoy passing on that information so others benefit as well. We must all do that in order for our sports, traditions and heritage to continue for future generations. It is always an incredible experience to meet someone like Wade Walling who is passionate about what they do. After all it's not just his life, its Wade's calling.

Last year was full of lots of laughs and good friends. The way every fishing and hunting season should be. From catching big pike in Canada to shooting my first Pintail drake, I have pictures and memories that will last a lifetime. 2009 is here and with it comes one of my favorite times of year and that is sport show season. I have been attending sport shows since I was 6 years old and working them for 20 years and I still love the atmosphere, anticipation and the excitement of what the coming year will bring. The new lures, rods and reels and electronics for fishing that are ever changing. The newest shot shell, camouflage clothing, decoys, blinds and bows for hunting etc. I love all of it and look forward to seeing and trying my fair share. I have seen and heard some things already as I am sure you all have. I have picked four things that have attracted my attention. So lets start off a new year right and talk fishing first an then we will get to some of the hunting must have's!

As the advertisement goes, your best shot at a world record is to fish a Rapala. Not only do I agree, I am a firm believer that if Rapala makes it, it catches fish. So I was pleased to see Rapala's ever expanding line of fish catching lures add another lipless lure to their line up. But as usual, it's not just another lure its Rapala's creativity in motion! The new Clackin' Rap has a uniquely designed sound chamber that features a single steel ball and external metal discs that transmit a distinctive sound that has maximum vibration. With its internal holographic foil, an extremely seductive flash is accomplished. It comes in a couple different sizes and 17 illuminating colors. This lure will be good on all types of fresh and salt water fish as this is truly a new sound and new approach. I have a feeling this will not only catch largemouth bass, but be a killer on small mouth and hard hitting lake trout!

Rapala made waves in the industry awhile back with the deadly catching ability of their X-Rap. That lure flat out catches fish. Small mouth bass crush this lure in just about any water temperature and white bass and stripers will literally try to rip the rods from your hand when this lure slashes by them. The new X-Rap Shad fits perfectly in the line up by offering the irresistible movement of the legendary Shad Rap in the ever popular shallow water column application. This lure will be the perfect choice for working shallow or emerging weeds; shallow lay downs, or slights breaks that are found around rip rap banks or bridge openings. The first things I thought of for this lure was for it to be used in common spinner bait water when bass are hanging at the end branches of lay down logs when the water is low or around pilings of shallow water docks. Rapala has a lot more to offer us this year and you can check it out at www.rapala.com

Even though there is still a little time left here in the central Illinois zone for geese, new gear for white tail is already being discussed in anticipation of the 2009 season. The number one name in bows is without question, Mathews. The stand out for innovation, durability and reliability has done it again. They now give us yet another reason to shoot a Mathews. Actually according to their web site there is a bunch of reasons to shoot their new REEZEN. The new Mathews REEZEN has the highest efficiency at the fastest speeds. Up to 340 FPS at 80% let off, this bow is not only forgiving and accurate, its smooth drawing as well! Offered in Mathew's exclusive Lost Camo pattern, this is the bow to be seen with, or not be seen with in the woods. It's the bow I will be shooting with this season. Check out all that Mathews has to offer at www.mathewsinc.com.

I learned a long time ago that if you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes. That is why when it comes to tree stands, I use and recommend Big Dog tree stands. The company that is big enough to matter but small enough to care offers a variety of well built, innovational and safe stands to fit just about all your hunting needs. On my property I have installed the Red Tick III which is a 17.5 two man rail latter stand. Among other things it comes with a flip up comfortable padded seat, padded back rest and shooting rail. It has a non skid raised mesh platform pinned later sections and has a load capacity of 500 pounds. What I really like is that it comes with 2 free, Full Body Fall Arrest Systems! These are well made stands by a company that cares not only about their products but about the people who choose to use their products and they have my vote! They have a great website that can show you all their products at www.bigdogtreestands.com

Well it looks to be another exciting year with to many new and innovative products to mention here but I thought I would give you a preview of what to look forward to. We live in times where we must continue to strive for our outdoor freedoms. There is more at stake every year. More things that take up our time and deplete us of our resources to enjoy them. I will continue to ask each and every one of you to take someone new hunting and or fishing this year. Share what you know and our sport will grow. This month I will be at the All Canada Show in St. Charles, Illinois from January 8th-10th and at the Bloomington Fish and Feather show on January 23 and 24th. Please stop by the Midwest Outdoor booth at these shows and say hi! Wherever you go this year in pursuit of your passions, I sincerely hope you enjoy all you get to hook and hunt!