My local reservoir has historically been my go-to fishery.  Anytime I get skunked elsewhere, a couple hours on the water here would produce several fat 16"+ bass.  However, this year, I have left the water a few times confused.  I am marking fish on my Garmin Striker 4DV and physically see them when sightfishing from my FeelFree Lure .  The usual arsenal of lures aren't enticing the big ones anymore. Yesterday was no exception.  My trip yesterday was a triple-threat mission.  I was on a recon. mission for my cousin, and fellow angler, fishing a local tournament.  I was also on a personal mission to figure out the fish on a low pressure non-weekend day.  The third triad of the mission was to move my name northward on the KBF North Central Great Lakes regional challenge . A quick survey the day prior was promising.  The lake is historically stained from creek runoff into the river feeding the lake.  However, several boats fishing the lake on a Thursday were a bit concerning

Recently I shared my appreciation for my readers, followers, and companies that support me and/or make the products key to my success.   I am truly grateful for the support and kind words. Thus, I would like to take a pause from my usual shenanigans to thank everyone who supports me with a series of giveaways.  My first thank you giveaway series will feature Ardent gifts.  The folks at Ardent Outdoors have been kind enough to welcome me to their team.  I am proud to represent a company who stands behind their reels with a 3 year warranty.  The giveaway series will be as follows: Milestone 1: I will select 3 random fans who like and comment on my giveaway Facebook post to receive an  Ardent decal  on July 1st, 2016. Milestone 2:   At 1,500 Facebook page likes and  YouTube channel 50 subscribers, I will give away an  Ardent hat  to a random fan who likes and comments on the giveaway Facebook post . Milestone 3: At 2,000 Facebook page likes and 100 YouTube subscribers , I wil

This morning, after a long day of beachin' yesterday , I was able to hit the water with my dad.  He took his kayak and I mine.  My dad is the one who taught me how to fish at a young age, so I enjoy fishing with him when we get the chance. We tactically decide to launch in the Yellow River, before it pours into Castle Rock Lake in Wisconsin.  This area of the river is wide and shallow with a lot of various vegetation.  Perfect for froggin'. Arriving at the launch, the wind is blowing hard.  This river and Castle Rock Lake are typically a rust color from the sandstone and pine trees, but this is much darker than usual.  The water looks like chocolate milk, with about 2 inches of visibility thanks to the recent heavy rains.  Optimistic, I drop the seat on my FeelFree Lure to keep a low profile as we head across the river to a bay blocked from the wind. Getting some harbor from the wind, we begin working the lily pads, grass, and underwater weed beds.  The area is promisi

This weekend my family and I made a journey a few hours south to celebrate my daughter's upcoming birthday with family at their place by Castle Rock Lake.  To mitigate the possibility of forgetting key kayak or fishing equipment, I prepared the kayak the night before.  My rods, net, stakeout pole, hawg trough, TourneyTag , KBF identifiers, anchors, and PFDs were nestled in the front hatch of my FeelFree Lure ready for a long ride. The next morning I connected the trailer to the Jeep and verified the straps were ready for the journey.  Next, I was tasked with putting the puzzle of bags, totes, toys, blankets, and other necessities to support myself, my wife, and two kids for the weekend. After successfully completing the puzzle, we were off.  Upon arrival, we stopped at Shipwreck Bay in Mauston, Wisconsin for a delicious late lunch.  We spent the evening with family and nervously checking the weather, calling for rain and storms the next day.  We were planning a day at the bea

I typically write about my fishing shenanigans, good and bad.  I wanted to take a break from the topic to pause and thank my audience.  Your support, kindness, and acceptance are humbling. I started this adventure in blogging and social media 2 months ago.  Never did I think it would turn into a great following with such support.  I am not one to gloat, but wanted to share the milestones reached in the last two months as a "shout out" and thank you to the people and organizations that have supported the sharing of the shenanigans that escape my head, through my fingers, via the keyboard onto the Internet. The "mothership" of my shenanigans is my blog,  In the first two months, I have received over 12,700 hits.  My last post received 1,300 hits in under 12 hours and is about to surpass 1,500 overall.  My Facebook page  had over 1,000 likes in 2 weeks.  To-date it is over 1,100 likes.   My Twitter account was over 1,200 follows in 2 weeks.  To-date I am over 1,6

It has been a great holiday weekend thus far.  My family surprised me with an early Fathers Day/birthday present which included Keen Uneek sandals for kayaking, some lures, and a Garmin VIRB XE (check out my YouTube channel for upcoming videos). Yesterday I spent the day fatbiking with a family member .  I was also honored to have Garmin publish one of my past articles .  As the month wraps up, I was eager to hit my local reservoir in hopes to claim a higher position on the May  Kayak Bass Fishing North Central Great Lakes tournament hosted by TourneyX . When arriving at my local reservoir before sunrise, I notice the heavy fog.  Visibility is nearly zero.  After performing my unloading/rigging ritual I hit the water.  The fog is so dense I turn on my 360 light for safety.  With visibility so poor, I cannot see shore.  I use my Garmin Striker 4's GPS to navigate to the first location I plan to fish. Upon arrival, I toss my go-to lures: hollow body frog and buzz bait.  Not

The end-of-May is near.  Children are looking forward to their last day of school, high school and college seniors are celebrating graduations, and we are looking forward to Memorial Day weekend.  This weekend, the kickoff to summer, is spent enjoying various activities while remembering the service members who died to protect our freedom.  For me, the end of May marks the end of my first fishing tournament, the push to crawl up the leader board. I started out strong in the KBF North Central Great Lakes tournament .  I had a successful Wisconsin bass opene r that put me near the top of the leader board.  As the month has gone on, I have moved down/up/down on the leader board, which I love.   TourneyX's real-time tournament management is a great catalyst for a lively competition.  Holding at 7th place, determined to move up on the board, I left my FeelFree Lure and tackle loaded.  I was poised to hit the water after my day job.   Last night the stars aligned and I was able