On the Water

On Friday Sept. 17, Bob Townsend, OBFN Conservation Director, and Steve Schulz, OBFN North Zone Director, presented a $57,000.00 check to ODNR Chief, Sean Logan for habitat enhancement at Indian Lake. It is the single largest donation for conservation in BASS Federation Nation history. The ceremony took place at Indian Lake State Park during the annual Dredge Day, where Indian Lake residents show their appreciation for the ODNR’s efforts in maintaining and enhancing the Lake.

Here you will find the first pictures anywhere on the ODNR and OBFN conservation project that took place earlier today at Indian Lake.  Be sure to check them out HERE!

Upper Valley JVS students laying fish habitats in Lucy’s Pond this morning. Ohio DNR, OBFN and Miami Valley Bassmasters helped also.

Posted with my BlackBerry Storm.

Sept. 10 will be the big work day at Indian lake for enhancing spawning habitat.  OBFN members, ODNR staff and Upper Valley JVS students will be placing spawning tubs throughout the “Lucy’s Pond” area of Indian Lake.  I will be there to take pictures and video for the blog throughout the day.  Be sure to check back often on Friday to see work in progress!

For more info, read the press release from ODNR.

Rod Pullins and I did a little scouting work on hotel accommodations this weekend and this is what we found. The first hotel we went to offered the OBFN ten bucks of of $90 rooms and basically said they really didn’t need our business because it was the last weekend for the Eldora race folks to be in town, but they could probably fit us in.

The second hotel said they didn’t think extension cords out the windows would work “for them”. 

Kinda bummed, we headed to the third hotel, a Comfort Inn and without us asking, the owner showed us a room (nice, microwave,coffee makers and fridge in each room) and offered the OBFN $20 off $80 rooms. There is some outside electrical recepticles but, he said he will make sure windows are prepped for extension cord access. They have blocked out 1st floor rooms for us and all in the same area to help us avoid parking lot nightmares. 

  All that he asked in return is that we book our rooms by the 17th of September so that he can guarantee us ”extension cord ready” windows, 1st floor and our own area… after the 17th, same rates for OBFN anglers but you may be on the 2nd floor and away from the commeraderie.

 So its $59.95 for 2 double beds, $5 more for a king bed and the Todd Thompson Special is a  Hot Tub/Jacuzzi room for $76. 

There is a Perkins right in front of the hotel. Next to Perkins is a Smokey Joe Barbecue and just down the road, a Buffalo Wild Wings. 

The Comfort Inn, 1959 W. Michigan Avenue, Sidney, Ohio (937-492-3001)  is located just west of I-75 at the Route 47 exit. 

To get to the lake from the hotel take I-75 North to the next exit, Route 29 North. Take a left/north at the top of the ramp and drive a few miles looking for the brown Lake Loramie sign and turn left/west on Ft.Loramie-Swanders road. Keep going until you come to a stop sign with a  “dry” marina on your left and park office on your right. Turn right/north at the stop sign and follow that to the West Bank Ramp.It takes 20 minutes to get to the ramp from the hotel. 

 So, make sure to reserve your room by the 17th at the Comfort Inn and don’t forget to tell them you are with the Ohio BASS Federation Nation!

 Bob Townsend
Conservation Director
(937) 408-4453

Good luck to the 2010 OBFN State Team at the BASS Northern Divisional in Michigan!!

Posted with my BlackBerry Storm.

Wow, what a wild 2 week postseason for the Elites Top 12! First of all, congratulations to Kevin Van Dam on his third consecutive TTAOY. A really amazing feat! Secondly, I have to say I feel terrible for Skeet Reese. If anybody truly deserved the AOY, it would have to be Skeet! After one of the most dominating season in all of BASS’ history, he fell short to none other than KVD, the same angler who leap frogged into first with a victory on the second leg of postseason, just like last year. All in all, this year provided one of the most exciting finishes for AOY. I can’t wait to follow the Elites again next year!

Posted with my BlackBerry Storm.

As the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, or how about “it’s hard to improve on perfection”, usually this is pretty solid advice. However at Warrior Baits, owner Brandon Estep doesn’t follow such advice when it comes to making lures. The fishing lure industry as a whole can’t afford to take that advice either with advancements in technology today and creative thinkers always coming up with new ideas, improving on perfection is how the Quiver Bug was born.

I started working with this bait in the pre-season and right away I noticed that it can fit into several of the traditional angling applications most anglers use today. It comes in two different sizes from the three and three quarter inch model to the four and one quarter inch, and ranging in 12 different color schemes available. Of coarse this bait in a ten pack is available for purchase on the Warrior Baits new website at a competitive price.

 Looking at the bait straight out of the package one would think that it’s just another variation of the soft plastic Beaver type bait. However Warrior Baits has gone much further in the details of their new Bug’s design. This bait immediately stands out due to its thickness, there’s no doubt it’s a chunk, and it gives this bait the ability to move water with little effort. Looking at the molding lines you can see they are also much thicker and deeply angled in reverse direction pointing to the tails instead of straight across the bait.

 These deep molded lines give this bait much better sound and vibration coming through the water as well. The combination of the bait’s thickness and reversed molding lines are perfect for helping this bait through vegetation and other structure when used with either a Shakey Head jig or Texas Rigged with a heavy punch weight. It works just as well with lighter more finesse applications as well.

 Continuing in my review I also noticed the tail of this bait is much more of a craw type pattern. It’s much angled in design which separates the tail much better for more vibration and movement when the bait is still. Another great application for this bait is when the bait itself is no longer usable; the tail section can be cut from the main body and used as a jig trailer.

 My next area of review was to use this bait with as many applications as I could, and I was very happy with the results. From Texas Rig, to Shakey Head, from Carolina Rig to weedless jig and using it as a trailer, its performance and durability was more than satisfactory. I put it through Lilly Pads, laydowns, brush piles, docks, rock points, just about every scenario I could. The only application I have yet to try with the Quiver Bug is the Drop Shot and I will be putting that to the test later this season at Lake Erie.

The best application that I’ve found with the four and one quarter inch size bug is its use with a 1/8oz Football Shakey Head Jig. It’s just enough weight to keep the bait at a nose down angle, yet light enough to feel the bait itself and what it’s doing. Most of my review on the Quiver Bug was completed using Seaguar Invizex 12lb test line on an Abu Garcia Revo SX sitting on my custom 6’9” worm rod.

I will be using the smaller version of the Bug at Lake Erie for the Drop Shot.

 In closing this review, I am glad that Brandon doesn’t follow the advice of the old sayings and he’s certainly improved on perfection with the Quiver Bug. The next time you’re on the water and need a versatile and proven bait, give the Quiver Bug a try and see if it doesn’t fit into your bass fishing arsenal. 

 Sean Wright
Tournament Director
Out Cast Basmasters

As we get ready for the 2010 season to kick off, Brandon at Warrior Baits has been hard at work getting his company ready for your tackle needs. Along with a newly designed website and online store, he’s also come out with a new frog along with some other great baits which we’ll be reviewing and testing throughout the season. 

To truly test these baits and lures to their maximum potential it would only be right to put them in front of some of the biggest and meanest Bass that we can and see how they perform and hold up during an all out knock down drag out battle!  Along with noting the conditions at the time of testing we’ll also note all the tackle and gear that was used with each bait and lure. Keeping in mind that every angler has their own way of angling with their chosen baits, we will strive to set our tackle to the conditions at hand and lures being tested so that we may be as objective as possible for our readers. 

We begin this month at Lake Guntersville Alabama, a massive impoundment by Ohio standards its some 70 miles long with excellent habitat that supports some of the best Largemouth populations in the nation. The average size catch is approximately two to four pounds; however I have been told there are some real monsters in there, perfect for what we wish to accomplish.

Just getting to Guntersville was a great opportunity and I can’t thank my good friend Chris Lappert, Vice President of the Ohio Bass Federation Nation enough for letting me tag along with him on this trip. Together we had six solid days of fishing out of his twenty foot duel console Stratos powered by a generous 225hp Johnson outboard. This solid stable platform was made possible for Chris by the wonderful folks at Knox Marine.

Starting off with the new Warrior Baits Buzz Frawgz I noticed fresh out of the box a marked difference in size, shape, and leg design from the previous frog bait. This bait is completely re-designed and upgraded from its predecessor front to back.  

I also noticed that the molding lines are much more prevalent throughout the entire bait than what the previous soft plastic model had in its design. It’s these molding lines that give the bait a different sound and vibration in the water even with the slightest of twitches. As I further inspected this bait I noted that the main body is a bit wider and more rounded underneath to help this frog track better, displace more water, and have a slower sink rate than the old one.

What really impressed me while getting in a couple of practice casts was how the bait was able to right itself when it landed upside down upon cast. The top front of this bait is somewhat concave in design giving more weight balance to the bottom of the lure. Here again the previous bait did not have this feature in its design.  I was throwing this bait using an unweighted Warrior Baits 5/0 Lockdown Hook for practice casts and during testing. Brandon does have 1/16oz and 1/8oz weighted Lockdown hooks available as well on the website.

 Saving the best for last during my inspection and you can see a remarkable difference in the wider leg design of this bait as compared to the old one. Topping off this new design is a much wider and rounded paddle footing at the end of the legs as compared to the smaller more squared off design of the old frog.

These new design features make this frog operate with twice the gurgling leg action as the previous design while giving off a more natural silhouette whether the bait was moving or not. Looking at this frog you’d think that it would be too stiff or too thick in design, however it’s very supple and the hook slot on top of the bait is plenty wide to accommodate the 5/0 Lockdown Hook.  There’s also plenty of meat in the front nose to secure the screw lock as well.

Available in nine different colors including a great looking shad color design, and coming at a reasonable price for five to a pack only adds to my liking of not only the bait itself, but the marketing strategy of Warrior Baits as well. Most soft plastic frogs I’ve seen on the market, mostly high dollar name brands only come three to a pack, not very cost effective for anglers on a budget. 

In testing this bait throughout the trip I was throwing it on an American Rodsmith 7’0” medium Heavy action Rod, topped with a Diawa H150 series baitcast reel that winches a 6.3 to 1 gear ratio and loaded with Spiderwire EZ Braid in 50 pound test line. I completed the connection with a Palomar knot and had no trouble with slippage on the hook during testing.

The cast ability of this lure should be no problem for anyone, it’s a chunk. I probably could have gotten more distance out of it had I been using fluorocarbon or a lighter pound test braid, however Guntersville does have sizable Stripped Bass in there as well, and when they get a notion to go top water, well its kind of like a Muskie here in Ohio, it can get ugly quick!

Unfortunately at the time of testing this bait, the bass were in post cold front conditions hanging in deeper water and not willing to come up for top water action. However the bait performed as I hoped it would. It certainly will be on my starting line up for top water baits this season.

On the next article we’ll be reviewing the Warrior Baits Quiver Bug with testing in several different waters and with variable rigging applications. Be sure to check out the newly revised website for Warrior Baits at Warriorbaits.com and see if Brandon has what you need for your next battle with the bass!

Sean Wright
Tournament Director
Out Cast Bassmasters