I was talking to everyone’s favorite TT Girl earlier today sharing greetings and catching up on the haps. When I mentioned to her the TT Crew is busy preparing to head to Vegas next week, she pulled out her calendar to check the dates!

I told her it’d be quite difficult to get any work done with her alongside us as I can name, off the top of my head, at least six (and probably more) individuals that would be doing their best to occupy all her time. She let out a wry smile.

Just the same, she’s very anxious to check out ICAST in person and not only witness first hand the frenzy that surrounds the TT Crew every time we walk into the booth, but to actively contribute to that frenzy in her own special way.

What do you think? Is ICAST ready for an appearance from Ms. Casey?

I don’t know how many of you here on TackleTour/TackleTog have heard of Dave Mercer. Dave is Canada’s funny man when it comes to bass (and other species) fishing and his show – Facts of Fishing – airs on WFN and The Score. His show is unlike any other in the industry, coupling fishing tips and facts but more so, it’s presented with an unparalleled comedic style. Dave is an awesome angler, proven by his success on the Canadian trail, but his comedy is even better.

Yesterday Dave launched his new Facts of Fishing FYI on YouTube – a weekly YouTube show that offers a different (and I say that with tongue in cheek) look at fishing. Only Dave and his semi-twisted mind could come up with something like this and I think you’ll all like what he’s done.

So, without further adieu, here’s the link to the new show.

http://www.youtube.com/user/factsoffishing

I hope you all enjoy it.

Terry

FLW just announced their 2010 schedule for the west and it appears that their old motto – “We listen to Our Customers” – has left the building.  I just recently finished a 4-part series for Inside Line (www.insideline.net) magazine on the recent decline in western tournament participation where I interviewed three well-known western anglers and the common denominator between the three of them was the circuits are fishing too far from the central location of California and they are going to venues that stink.

Well, FLW didn’t take what these guys (and many other for that matter) think to heart.  Here is FLW’s National Guard Western Series schedule for you.

Jan 13-16 Lake Shasta, Shasta Lake, Calif. (Snow Plow Mandatory)

May 5-8 Lake Roosevelt, Payson, Ariz. (Free gas card required)

June 9-12 California Delta, Stockton, Calif. (The Delta in June?)

Sept 22-25 Lake Mead, Las Vegas, Nev. (2 weeks after the U.S. Open?)

It’s almost as if FLW is purposefully doing the opposite of what the anglers want.  I don’t know for sure but I am willing to bet next year’s circuit will draw even less participation than this year’s meager 90-boat turnout.  Anyone wanna bet?

Part 2 closed with the camera fully assembled and working.

Now its time for camouflage.  Even though the case I purchased is camouflaged already, I typically build with black cases and camo them myself.  I also don’t really like the camo patterns on cases since the cam is against a tree.  It needs to look more like tree bark and not the woods in my opinion. I mask off the lens, PIR and flash holes with painters tape.  Using Liquid Nails construction adhesive I create a 3D camo pattern on the case trying to mimic bark somewhat.  Mostly I’m just trying to get a really irregular surface.  Just goop it on and manipulate it with a small spatula.  I also create smaller eyebrows out of Liquid Nails over the PIR and flash holes to help channel water away from the openings.  I know some guys that go to the trouble of actually making a mold of real bark and then casting a skin of bark that they apply to the case.  You can also drill holes for fake leaves, etc.  I don’t get that carried away.

Ready for camo

Texturing

Texturing completed

The final step is the paint.  I first start out by painting just my 3D camo in flat black.  If it’s a black case I paint the entire case so that it becomes a non reflective surface.  I build up layers of paint over the black so getting paint into the cracks of the 3D surface is important for depth.  Using cardboard strips as maskers I will also paint on some random lines with tan paint.  After the lines are on I mist tan, olive and brown paints over the surface.  I also make sure I do several shots where I slowly and carefully push the nozzle down and make it spit.  You get some nice specs of paint that way.  I also try to concentrate mists in certain areas so the colors are on the blotchy side.  Depending on if I feel the colors are too light or not, I may or may not mist more black over the surface to darken it.  The camo pattern on this case was particularly light in my opinion so I also made sure to mist the edges to tone down the overall color.  Finally, I spray flat gray paint onto a cardboard sheet and using a wide brush get the tips of the bristles wet with paint.  I don’t want the bristles loaded, just wet.  I then brush over the top of the 3D surface to get the paint to come off on all the high spots.  The black saturates the lowest areas, the colors are visible in the majority of the surface, and the high spots of the 3D camo and case parts are a light gray.

Black base coat

Time to tone it down

Olive and brown mists

Gray highlights

 

All that is left to do is to get it to the woods.

All done

I hope you enjoyed the series.  I have two more builds planned.  An infrared cam and a radio frequency controlled cam.  I’d like to get at least one of them built before October.  So, keep your eyes peeled…

Part 1 ended with the gluing of fabricated items to the inside of the case.  A camera shelf, a battery shelf, the control board mount, etc.  Now for the next steps…

Using foam I pad the inside of the case that will contact the Sony.  Not really for protection of the camera or anything like that but to get a seal around the lens and flash holes.  With a camera inside a case, the flash can bounce around inside the case creating spots and lines across the photos.  Keeping those two sealed from each other is very important.  I also use an ordinary rubber band to hold the camera on the shelf.  There is a hole drilled in the shelf and some eye bolts that have been bent open at the top of the case.  Rubber bands are cheap, plentiful and easily replaced.  Its an easy and effective way to hold the camera in place.

Camera foam

The next step I move on to is the wiring of the components in the case.  I soldered two lengths of wire to the leads on the switch and covered them with shrink tube.  With the switch installed I soldered my positive wire from the battery pack to the switch wire and the other switch wire to the positive lead on the control board.  The negative leads from the board and battery pack were soldered together.  A quick flip of the switch showed I had power.  I also wired together my C-cell battery packs.  And, since a 4-pack can not feed a 2-AA camera due to increased voltage, the wiring of the packs needed to be modified to effectively create four 2-packs.  These were all wired in parallel and had one set of leads coming off for connection to the Sony.

Switch wiringExternal battery packs

Now its time for the tough part…hacking the Sony camera.  Actually it isn’t all that difficult but the wires are small, the spaces are tight and a wrong move can ruin a camera.  I needed to run five wires out of the camera to a servo connector.  Three of the wires allow the circuit board to control the camera and two of the wires feed the rechargeable AA batteries inside the camera more juice.  The camera is taken apart and wires are soldered to the internal battery contacts.  On the opposite face of the camera guts a ribbon cable is soldered to the end of the other three wires.  This ribbon cable will be inserted sandwiched with the factory ribbon cable into the plug that controls the camera.  This allows the camera to be powered on and off and to activate the shutter remotely.  The five wires were run to the outside of the case thru the DC power port.  There was no need for that port so I chopped a hole thru it on the inside of the camera and ran all 5 of my wires out thru the port.  The other thing I did while the camera was open was to disable the lens cover door of the camera.  This does make some noise and after viewing thousands of photos and videos, I know that it is frequently heard by most animals.  This is as simple as just pulling the shutter door motor plug out of its socket.  Prior to cracking the case of the camera it needs to be powered up and the lens cover will open.  Remove the batteries and the cover will remain open.  After it is unplugged, it will stay open.  The method I chose to use to connect the controller board to the camera was by using telephone line.  A jack on the board accepts standard phone cable and the necessary wires from the phone cable were soldered to the servo connector.  And finally my battery packs were soldered to the servo connector wires.

Power connections

Phone and power cables

All done...just tidy it up

After a trial run to ensure that everything was working properly, I stuffed the DC port with Marine Goop to act as a wire hold.  I cleaned up all my wiring with small black zip ties.  And I fabricated an “eyebrow” for the lens opening.  I like having a hood over the lens as it acts like a sun shield to keep glare off the glass and it is of some help during rain and snow.

Lens and eyebrow

Just a few more steps to go and it will be ready for the woods.

Stay tuned for the final installment…

It’s been a long time coming but as promised, I will chronicle my latest trail cam build.  I’ll have to do this in a couple of segments.

This is a cam I’ve wanted to build for a couple of years now.  I did my research and ordered all of my components quite some time ago.  I typically don’t have a lot of time to do a build so good planning up front allows me to get the build done in just a couple days.  I had a recent hole in my schedule and immediately filled it with doing this next cam. 

I coined this cam my long term cam.  This is the cam I can leave a long distance away from the road in the winter so I don’t have to check it every week in knee deep snow when its over a mile away.  It’s the cam I can leave in the woods for the couple of summer months I hate being out there because of the heat, mosquitoes and deer flies.  This cam will have an external set of batteries wired to the camera inside to provide enough juice that I think this could shoot three or four thousand flash photos over the course of a year without needing new batteries.

I chose to build this cam using the Sony P41 digital camera as its heart and sole.  This is my favorite point and shoot camera for trail cams as it shutters its initial photo quite quickly, doesn’t have an extending lens, and has an excellent flash.  The Pelican 1060 Micro Case is what I will use as the housing for everything.  I normally use the 1040 but the extra batteries needed for this build require some more room than the 1040 offers.  PixController’s Universal board is the board I chose.  Regrettably, Pix no longer sells components to builders and only sells finished trail cams.  I purchased a few boards before they ceased components sales.  And for external camera power I decided on C-cell batteries as they just fit the case better.  I honestly only need a few months worth of power so rather than jump up to a larger case for D-cells, I opted for the C’s and decided to use as many as would fit. 

This battery set up is also a kind of “best of both worlds” scenario.  NiMH rechargeable batteries have a quick recovery time so flash photos can be taken at a much quicker rate.  They also hold their amps at a higher level and then suddenly dump so their life in digital devices can be much longer than alkaline batteries.  Their drawback is that they loose roughly 1% of their charge daily, even without having a drain on them like photo taking.  Alkaline batteries are slow to recover from flashes and slowly drop their amps and can quickly not have enough juice to power a camera, but still be fine for something less demanding like a remote control.  The plus side of alkaline batteries is that they hold their charge for a long time when they aren’t being used and don’t drain away.  This set up of having two AA NiMH batteries in the Sony and a bank of alkaline C-cells wired to them allows the quick recovery and high amps of NiMH and the longevity of alkaline.  The alkaline batteries will keep the NiMH rechargeable batteries fully topped off with power.

For me, initial layout is critical.  I’m not the kind of guy that can just start tossing stuff together and hope it turns out.  I place all of my components into the case in the way I’d like to lay everything out.  Then I sit and stare at it.  I try to find fault and potential problems with my layout.  There are things I really wound up disliking about my first couple of builds after I got them to the woods and I want to avoid those types of issues on anything I build now so looking for faults has become the best way to wind up happy when the cam hits the woods.  I place everything in the case and try closing the lid, try changing batteries, try to pull the camera out of the case, etc.  When a fault is found I do my best to find a solution or a better resolution.  Often times completely redoing my layout.

I prefer a vertical format for a cam this large.  Meaning the long dimension of the case will run up and down.  It fits on trees and fence posts so much better.  Due to the depth of the 1060, I felt it would be best if I mounted the camera to the lid of the case.  To avoid the potential for a sniffing deer or a climbing squirrel to flip my external on/off switch, I decided to locate that on the bottom of the case.  The controller board battery pack fit very nicely opposite the Sony.  And I liked the eight C-cell batteries to the lower portion of the case so that the cam didn’t become top heavy.  This layout just seemed to work best.

My first steps are usually to get all of the case modification chores done.  I drill all the necessary holes for switches, eye bolts, mounting brackets, lens/flash/PIR holes.  I also fabricate any shelves or brackets that will be needed.  I have a supply of acrylic sheet from a previous life and I really favor using that material to create my shelves and other fixtures when ever possible.  But it’s available at hobby stores and even some hardware stores.

Holes and mouting channel

Switch hole

Flash, lens and sensor holes

Control board

My next step is to start gluing all of those fabricated items in the case and to install any other hardware.  Any penetration of the case is sealed with Marine Goop to provide a long lasting water tight seal.  Many of my cameras stay in the woods 365 days a year.  They endure 95° degree summer temps and -40° winter temps.  Rain, hail, sleet, snow, etc.  The cams see it all and being water tight is important.  I glue down the lenses for the motion sensor (PIR) and the flash enhancer.  I like to put UV filters over my lenses so I purchase a 25mm to 30mm step ring and glue that into the hole over the camera lens.  I use eye bolts on the sides of my camera so that I can run a Python cable lock around the tree and thru the eye bolts to keep any potential trespassers from stealing my cam or even opening it to erase “evidence”.  I also mount half of a sliding bracket to the back side of the case for mounting the cam to trees and posts.  And for this build I fabricated shelves for the Sony to sit on, the C-cell battery packs to sit on and the control board.  All of which got installed at this point.

Coming together

Fresnel lenses

Step ring

Eye bolt

The easiest tasks are now completed.

Stay tuned for the next installment…

 Recently my wife and I were invited by my sister-in-law to be co-group leaders for her 2009 High School Spanish Trip: ‘Peru-Land of the Incas’ through EF Tours.  EF stands for Education First.  We escorted twenty sophomore thru senior age Spanish students on an eleven day trip to Peru.

I’ve included some photos here, but there is no real feeling of it except for being there.  I know it sounds cliché, but photos truly don’t do the place justice.   

We spent time at the coast (Lima), in the mountain highlands (Cusco), and the upper jungle (Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu).

The starting point of the journey was Lima with stops around the Plaza Mayor at the Government Palace, San Francisco Monastery, and La Catedral (final resting place of Francisco Pizarro) and then to the Nat’l Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.  While Lima is on the coast, it is a desert and anything that is green has to be watered.  The weather was warm and sunny and was a really nice contrast to what late April is like in the northern US.

The trip continued the second day with a domestic hour long flight to Cusco.  Cusco is located at an elevation of roughly 12,000 feet.  It took some getting used to that kind of altitude for us “flatlanders” who live at an elevation of 1,300 feet.  We based out of Cusco for a couple days and went to the Sacred Valley of the Incas visiting Pisac, and Ollantaytambo.  We also spent time at the Sacsayhuaman fortress and the ruins of Kenko, Puca-Pucara and Tambomachay. 

An early morning train ride a few days later down the mountain to 7,000 feet brought us to the upper jungle and the village of Aguas Calientes.  This little town exists for tourism at the ancient ruin of Machu Picchu and is only accessible via foot or train.   Machu Picchu is roughly 1,000 feet above the village and is only accessible by foot via the Inca Trail or by buses from Aguas Calientes up a long narrow winding road.  It was built without mortar or the use of the wheel.  It has over 600 terraces, each about 7 feet tall.  Machu Picchu was the only city not conquered by the Spanish.  This site is also considered one of the new 7 wonders of the world and I can see why.  The views are spectacular, the workmanship unbelievable, and the terrain incomprehensible.

The Incas, experts at organization and engineering, did not have wheels, arches, or writing.  At the height of their power, before the Spanish conquest in 1532, the Incas ruled the entire area in South American from Quito, Ecuador, to the Rio Maule, Chile.  Their empire was centered at Cusco, Peru.  They were excellent road builders, maintaining over 14,000 miles of roads throughout their empire.  Inca stonework is characterized by the use of very large stones, some larger than 100 tons, which are fitted together without mortar so precisely that a knife blade cannot be inserted between the joints.  It is still not known for certain how the Incas transported the large stones used in some of their stonework

Our last day in country was a “free” day.  Officially our tour ended back in Lima at 9am after the flight in from Cusco.  Our flight out of Lima wasn’t until 11pm.  My sister-in-law has a friend in Lima and they arranged a boat tour of Lima’s Palomino Islands.  These are some incredibly bare rocks out in the Pacific ocean.  They only receive about one eighth of an inch of rain annually so nothing grows there and they don’t exactly get washed frequently.  One of the islands hosts a colony of over 4,000 Sea Lions.  An unwashed island that is the home of thousands of seals has quite a unique smell.  A few of us donned wet suits and swam in the ocean with the Sea Lions.  They were incredibly curious and swam thru us investigating us and touching our feet from below as they swam under us.  Until you are up close and personal with them, you don’t have a real appreciation for how large they truly are.

I honestly can’t put into words what an incredible adventure this trip was.  I honestly have never really had much desire to visit Peru or any of South America period.  But the incredible sights, landscape and people of Peru truly wow’d me.  Its an amazing place to visit and I would highly recommend it to anyone.  I have a dream of returning and spending time doing a trip down the Inca Trail.  4 days of hiking along 27 miles of Inca Trail ending at Machu Picchu.

Okay, I’ve had some requests to post another Name That Bait blog so here it is.  As with the other Name That Bait contests, you win nothing but the fact you knew what something old and obscure – wait, I’ve been called that recently – is.

Here’s this edition.  This is a worm that was very popular as one of the first flipping worms but also held a very soft spot in the socal anglers’ hearts on Castaic in the smoke color.  The worm has been out of production since the really early 80s (I’m talking maybe 1980) and my old boss at Bob’s Tackle in Norwalk actually went in partnership with a guy to bring the worm back around 1982.  I remember this because that was the year I graduated high school.  Anyway, that venture went “Chicken Fillets” up and never got off the ground, unfortunately.

Now, the problem with this is I know the name of the worm and I “think” the name of the company is the same – but I could be wrong.  So, what I’m looking for here is only the name of the worm.  Have at it!!

Photo Credit Bryan Forsmann and battisti

Sunday started just like Saturday morning – no one wanted to rise due to fishing into the wee hours of the morning. I rose at 8:00 am to find Bryan and Chuck at the bank along with Kim and his clan. My agenda Sunday was to get up, launch the boat and go bass fish.

I spent the next hour or so cleaning and preparing the boat and rods. By 9:00 in the morning Bryan and I were cruising at 70-mph up the river arm of the lake – a 30-mile run. Bryan and I fished a number of areas that, in the past, had been very productive but didn’t pan out. We had a couple of follows on a Lucky Craft LV-300 but nothing wanted to commit. The water was still cold from run-off and the amount of floating weeds in the 5-mph current made it difficult to get a cast off without dragging in a pound of vegetation. At noon we called it a day and headed back to camp.

Sunday was my day to head home. If I was to change my status from “sturgeon virgin” to “sturgeon catcher” I didn’t have much time. The gang knew this and wanted me to “land” my first real sturgeon. Chuck and Robert decided to pack up camp and head to the other side of the river in order to hopefully increase our odds.

I had planned my departure time to be 4:00 pm. This would give me time to make the 4-hour drive home and unload my boat in daylight. The problem with this was we didn’t get set up on the opposite shoreline until 3:00 pm, which only gave me an hour to rid myself of the “virgin” moniker.

Six rods were placed at strategic positions along the various seams in the current. In all, we covered a good 50-yards of river.

The first bite came within 5 minutes as I was texting a friend – i.e: not paying attention. The fish ate the bait with such force that it pulled the rod holder to the ground and began dragging the rod down the embankment and towards the river. I dropped my phone and grabbed the butt of the rod right before it got out of reach.  The fish was gone.

We pounded the rod holder back into the ground and continued fishing.

Twenty minutes later Chuck made a cast with a fresh bait and was bit before he was able to get the rod in the holder. He set the hook, screamed TERRY, and the fight was on.

Last minute effort.

It was evident this was another big fish as its body came halfway out of the water. One thing about these fish is you don’t know if they’re going to stay in the deep water and sulk after their initial jump or hightail it downstream and take every remaining inch of line off your reel.

This fish decided to hightail it downstream.

There’s not much you can do from shore with a fish that weighs in excess of 300 pounds when it decides to move. About all you can do is hold on, let the drag and rod do the work and hope like hell the fish stops before you run out of shoreline and/or line.

In less than 10 seconds, the fish had ripped off in excess of 100 yards of line and created so much friction in the drag system that it was hot to the touch. Out of room on the bank to follow the fish, I slowly began to walk the fish back up the shore while trying to regain some of the line I had lost. 10 minutes into the battle, I was gaining on both fronts.

By this time we had drawn a crowd of onlookers – namely a group of people from Ohio who had never seen the likes of a sturgeon. Unfortunately for me, this group, mainly consisting of kids and a parent or two, all decided to take front row seats at the water’s edge. As I guided the fish towards shore, the fish saw the large crowd, their feet nearly in the water, and turned tail back downstream in another run that was longer and faster than the initial run. Here I am again, out of bank to run down and nearly out of line.

With the rod held high, I slowly walked back to my original fighting position and began the slow, arduous task of recovering line. Roughly ten minutes later I found myself with a tired, 8-foot sturgeon that “looked” like it was ready to be let go. As it surfaced near the shore, we finally got to see the magnitude of the fish.

Approaching the bank.

Sturgeon landed.

Chuck grabbed the line as the fish hit the shore and Jenna, Bryan, Rebecca and I made our way down the bank towards the water. Hook out of the fish’s mouth, Bryan snapped a few photos and then it was bye-bye sturgeon. I was no longer a virgin.

By the time I’d landed the fish, it was 3:50 pm – 10-minutes before my original leave time. We stood around for a few minutes reveling in the catch and the weekend and then it was time for me to depart. I thanked everyone for their hospitality and for letting me use their gear and pull on some fish, and then I got in my truck and headed home.

To say last weekend opened my eyes would be an understatement. Not only did I get to pull on some truly magnificent fish but I also got to meet some new people who I’m sure will become lasting friends over the course of time. That’s what I like about this sport and Idaho – the people involved are predominantly upstanding people who would give the shirt off their back to make your experience one to remember.

Thank you all – Chuck, Jenna, Robert, Rebecca, Kim and especially my buddy Bryan for such a great trip. I look forward to the next time with anticipation.

Left to right: Jenna, me, Chuck, Robert and Rebecca. Bryan was behind the camera.

Afterword

As I was heading east on highway 84, some 70 to 80 miles away from the river, I received a call from Bryan: “Terry, have you seen my camera? We have a 10-footer on and I can’t find my camera. I think I left it on your boat.”

Sure enough, in the maylay after my fish, he had placed his Nikon D300 on the front deck of my boat and I drove off with it. Thank God it was still there when I pulled over on the highway to check. Unfortunately for me, though, I was 70 miles from the action and getting to witness a 10-foot dinosaur. Oh well, it just gives me an excuse to go back.

Photo Credit Bryan Forsmann and battisti

Fighting the fish took me back to my ocean days – the fish had command and I was along for the ride. After a couple runs downstream and 15 minutes of sulking in the 30-foot depths of the river, it was time for my first sturgeon to come in. That’s when my first sturgeon turned into my nemesis – a.k.a. my, “it looks like a sturgeon, Terry, only smaller.”

Fighting my first sturgeon.

So, with my first, albeit small, 5-footer to shore, I was still a virgin in their eyes but at the same time, it lit a fire under me. If a 5-foot freshwater fish could pull like that, I could only imagine what an 8- or 9-footer would feel like.

I’d have to wait until the following afternoon for that to happen, though, as nothing bit the rest of the night.

5-footer on shore.

Day Two

The following morning nobody was early to rise. The reason for this is if we had stayed up another 30 minutes, we would have been able to see the sun rise – yes, we stayed up with the hope that another fish would eat our offerings of crappie carcasses to no avail.

By 8:00 am, most of the camp was up, rods baited and strategically placed within the seams of current where dinosaurs lurk. Kim and his crew had already hooked a couple fish and the smell of spuds and smoked bacon wafted throughout the camp.

As we ate pig and eggs we gazed at the hypnotic bounce of rod tips and thunder clouds assembling southwest from our vantage point – the wrong direction if we wanted dry weather later in the day.

No one but us land-dwellers was interested in eating that morning.

By 11:00 am the weather had taken a drastic turn. Thirty-mph winds whipped through the camp and I could only imagine what the water looked like on the reservoir above. And still the sturgeon didn’t cooperate.

Finally around 2:30 pm the wind laid down and Jenna and Robert wanted to try their hand at some perch and crappie. We headed to the secret perch spot and within 30 minutes got blown off the water due to a massive thunderstorm that rolled through. It wasn’t all a loss, though, since in that time we caught 15 crappie (bait) and 33 jumbo perch (dinner).

Back at camp, the report was Kim caught a couple. We waited out the storm and an hour later we headed back to the lake – this time Bryan, Robert and myself – for more bait and dinner.

Upon returning, one of Kim’s gang was on – a good fish.

Fish on for another virgin.

8-footer on the bank.

Again, Robert and I took to the fish-cleaning duties, him with the electric fillet knife (I have to get one of those) and me cutting the rib cages out of the fillets. After cleaning a 10-pound bag worth of perch, I sat down, not wanting anything to do with 30-plus more crappie, and rested as Bryan took over.

Sturgeon ready for release.

Meanwhile, Chuck had moved his cadre of rods down the bank in order to try another stretch of water – all his rods except one. I eyed the rod and felt the urge to bait it and cast it to “the” spot where we’d been fishing the last 24 or so hours. I pinned a freshly caught crappie carcass on the hook and casted into the seam. As soon as I set it in the rod holder, the tip started to bounce. But this bounce was not the sinker rolling on the bottom or a carp hitting the line. I picked the rod up, felt weight and set the hook into an 8-foot torpedo. FISH-ON!!!

Putting on the pressure.

In no more than 10 strokes of its tail, the fish was beyond the middle of the river and on the surface – this was no, “looks like a sturgeon only smaller.”

After 15 minutes of playing tug of war in the middle of the river, the fish decided to come back towards the shore. Unfortunately for me, it went directly to a deep hole next to the bank where the line would rub against every rock between me and the fish. These fish didn’t survive all these millennium by being stupid. After a 2-minute soak in the hole, it decided to head straight into the middle of the river towards the turbine wash and pow, I was on my ass. The 80-pound line parted and my first “real” sturgeon was gone.

Within the next 30 minutes, we hooked three more fish of the same caliber – two of which were handed off to me – and I proceeded to break off my two while Chuck landed the third. We were on them big time.

That evening we hooked 8 fish landed 4 and I was still a sturgeon virgin.

Chuck on again!

Chuck's fish ready for release.

Thursday I’ll post Part III – Terry Lost His Cherry

Photo Credit Bryan Forsmann and battisti

I’ve fished since I was four-years old. At first it was for anything that would eat a worm or a wad of cheese squeezed onto a treble hook. As I got older, though, my attention turned to bass and the ocean – you can say I became somewhat of a snob. If I wasn’t blazing down the lake at 65 mph or hung on a 100-pound tuna, it wasn’t for me.

Yeah, I’d take the occasional night of catfishing or go trout fish but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

As I got into my early 20s, though, I began to see other species in a different light. I grew fond of catching 2- to 3-pound bluegill at Lake Perris and catching 20-pound cats out of Lake Castaic. I also got maniacally into fly fishing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always consider myself a bass angler first and foremost, but at the same time, if someone asks me to fish something I haven’t fished before, I’ll surely take them up on the offer.

Case in point – this past weekend.

A close friend of mine that I work and fish with has, for years, bugged me to go fish sturgeon with him on the Snake River. I’ve never caught one or even had much of an inkling to do so. Why? Because to me it was like catfishing – using cut bait on big rods with big line and waiting…….waiting…….and more waiting for a fish to eat. I’m too ADHD to sit and wait – no matter how much Keystone Light is in the coolers.

Anyway, last Wednesday my friend asked me if I wanted to go sturgeon fishing. I had already planned on taking the boat out and since there’s a reservoir above where they sturgeon fish, I figured I could fish bass during the day and sit and partake in adult beverages with them at night. Not a bad idea as far as I was concerned.

Friday around noon, as I was driving the 285 miles from my house to the lake/river, I received a text from my buddy that they already caught a 7-footer and had lost another in the 8-foot class. My thoughts were, “they’re gonna catch’em all before I even get there.” I looked in my rearview mirror, saw my boat and figured we’d catch bass all weekend long.

I arrived at the destination roughly around 2:00 pm, went to see my buddy and he introduced me to the sturgeon clan – a motley crew of sturgeon fanatics consisting of Chuck, Chuck’s daughter Jenna, Kim and his crew, Robert, and Robert’s wife Rebecca. As I shook hands, I saw the rods loaded in their rocket-launcher holders – tips bobbing as the 10-mph current ran across their lines anchored by 14 ounces of weight. The smell of cut bait, coming from a 7-gallon bucket, permeated the air for at least a 30-foot radius. I was sturgeon fishing.

By the time I’d arrived, the clan had caught another fish in the 7-foot range but I wasn’t ready to sit. Heck, I’d just sat for nearly 4 hours. I wanted to go up to the lake and fish bass.

Perch Fishing

Up on the lake, I quickly decided to go check out one of my spots where I take the kids perch fishing. Yeah, it wasn’t bass but I’m allowed to change my mind and the fact I think perch are the best tasting fish in freshwater (before you get your undies in a wad, perch are the ONLY fish I eat out of freshwater) I wanted to get some for the frying pan that evening.

After an hour, my buddy Bryan, Chuck and I had the livewell full of tasty treats and at least an hour of cleaning to do. That and we all were feeling a bit parched. So, it was time to head back to the river, clean fish, have a cervesa and fish dinosaurs.

Upon arriving at the camp, Robert and I made quick duty of the perch and began to cook – me battering the fillets and him cooking them. Then, the words FISH-ON filled the air.

As we stood and watched, Chuck had hooked the first fish of the evening. Fighting it on an 11-foot rod with 80-pound string, he had his hands full as the 8-foot prehistoric fish essentially did as it pleased in the current of the river. But, to watch Chuck fight a fish is like watching a seasoned saltwater angler put the hurt on a 300-pound tuna. He kept the rod high and made the fish work for each inch, foot or hundred yards of line it wanted. Within 20 minutes the fish was subdued and at the shore.

Chuck fighting the first sturgeon since my arrival.

In Idaho, sturgeon are a protected species. You can fish them and catch them but you must leave the fish in the water as you unhook and release it. And folks, if you think that getting knee deep in water next to a sturgeon that’s 2-feet taller and outweighs you by 100-pounds is exciting, try catching them on barbless hooks.

To say I was impressed would be an understatement. Here you have a freshwater fish weighing 300 pounds that, when hooked, clears the water and then sulks in the depth of the river until either the angler or the fish wears out. Sturgeon, in my best description, are the freshwater combination of a mako shark coupled with a yellowfin tuna.

Coming to the bank.

As the night wore on, it was my turn – so to speak. Because I was the only “sturgeon virgin” in our group, the next fish was mine. Now, I don’t like to have fish handed off to me but since I was using their gear and the fact it was my first time, I had no problem with it. 30 minutes after Chuck’s 8-footer, a rod went down, Chuck set the hook and then yelled TERRY. Belt around my waste – since when do you need a fighting belt in the freshwater – Chuck handed me the rod and it was fight on.

I’ll post Part II – Terry’s a Sturgeon Virgin – Wednesday.

The name Gary Loomis has been synonymous with state-of-the-art rod design for nearly 30 years.  Be it fly rods, steelhead rods or bass rods, if the product has the G.Loomis name on it, the customer knows they’re getting the best money could buy.  Therefore, when G.Loomis was purchased by Shimano a few years back, anglers were worried, and rightfully so, that their tried and true rods and blanks would diminish in quality and maybe even quantity.  Then, on April 23, 2009, the bad news came – G.Loomis would no longer be in the business of producing custom rod blanks after the year 2009.

Those words reverberated amongst the custom rod builders throughout the nation.

In the last few weeks, though, rumors and rumblings have been heard on TackleTour and in the corners of small tackle shops all around the west that Gary Loomis is starting a new venture.  Is it a rod/blank company?  Well, we don’t know for sure but I just got off the phone with a gentleman at a manufacturing plant in Washington State who wouldn’t say yes or no as to whether or not Gary Loomis is getting back into the rod or blank industry.  But, he did say he’d have “Gary” call me when he got back into the office.  Stay tuned for more information.

By far, the number one question that comes up at any event TackleTour attends these days is “Who is Ms. Casey?” Strike that. Actually, the FIRST question that’s asked of us is “WHERE is Ms. Casey?”

Original TT Girl, Ms. Jov

The TT Girl (actually TackleTour Teaser as first conceived) concept spawned from the arrival of the original Evergreen Opus-1 reel at TT HQ. You might remember that review. So unique was this reel to us, that we wanted to showcase our enthusiasm by having someone other than us “model” the product. Ms. Jov was our very first TT Girl.

Ms. Casey takes over the reigns as TT spokesmodel

A year later, along came the Opus-1 Nero. Almost the same reel, with a few refinements, and delivered in a stealthy black package. We needed to step up our game. I knew just the candidate, contacted her, and voila, Ms. Casey was welcomed into the TT fold. Though the Opus-1 Nero shoot was her first with TackleTour, her debut on the site actually came with the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide. The rest is pretty well chronicled on the main site and accompanying discussion forum.

Ms. Casey presents TackleTour’s 2008 Holiday Gift Guide

So who is Ms. Casey? Aside from being a friend of TackeTour and our primary spokesmodel, she is in fact, a professional model, a former Miss Chinatown San Francisco Pageant participant, and a regular at San Francisco Bay Area Hot Import Night events.

We intend to include Ms. Casey in more TT events

She’s a very busy girl but we’re delighted she’s a part of TackleTour and while this may not have answered all your questions, rest assured we intend to include her, and her friends, in more and more TackleTour events as time goes on.

So you want to be sponsored?

I know, I know, you are the next KVD and you want a company to pay your way so you can show the world how great you are. Let’s face it, there are thousands of anglers around the globe that are making that statement or a slight moderation of it to potential sponsors every day. So there’s the problem. Now what are you going to do to separate yourself from the rest of the pack?

Let’s dive in on the problem. If you have or ever thought about sending an email like the ones you are about to read – then you need to rethink your strategy big time!

Actual sponsorship request samples – names changed to protect the innocent!

Hi, my name is John Q. Public, I fish Future Pro Tour. My partner is Mike J. Doe. We had our first tournament at Lake Berryessa a few weeks ago. I’m looking for sponsors to help with gas or tackle to use. I would put any logos on my boat. I have a Ranger 2008. Any thing would help out a lot. We would appreciate anything we can get. Thank you for your time!
John Q. Public

I was seeing if you were accepting any resumes for pro or regional staff. I am new to the whole sponsorship thing but i know I can help you generate sales for you. I will fish Bass Weekend Series and FOM with one other being a BASS Southern Open. I want to move to the Opens soon and work my way up from there. Any questions feel free to contact me (555) 555-1234 or by email. Thank you for your time and hoping to here from you soon.
Joe Sample

No offense to these individuals – but, really?  Do you really think you are the first person to send this email?  If not then what makes you think a sponsor is going to pick your email out of the dozens or even hundreds that they get?  This is not putting you in position to get a reply. You need to make a sponsor want to reply because they just can’t do business without having you on their team!  Neither of these two emails even remotely have that effect on the reader.  I’ll stop here, but I can go on for an hour on why these emails are just a waste of the writers and the readers time.  From here on we’ll look at what you should do not what you shouldn’t do!

Types of Sponsorships

Before you can even consider looking for a sponsor you should have a pretty good idea what types of sponsorships exist. In actuality, there are an infinite number of sponsorship types but, lets just cover a few. Product sponsorships, incentive sponsorships and cash sponsorships are the basics but, any combination of the three are possible along with others.

Product Sponsorships
A product sponsorship is a basic agreement between a company and an angler that provides the angler with product for promoting the sponsors products or service.

Incentive Sponsorships
An incentive sponsorship is a detailed agreement between a company and an angler in which the angler receives cash or product based on milestones or goals set within the agreement. Examples of milestones could be;

a) Winning a tournament
b) Being featured in an article in a regional magazine or newspaper, in which the sponsors product or company name is mentioned
c) Finding a retailer to carry the sponsors product
d) and many more

Cash Sponsorships
An agreement between a sponsor and an angler for an amount of money to paid to an angler by the sponsor and an outline of what the sponsor receives in way of promotion from the angler. This is the type of agreement that most of the biggest names in the sport have with their sponsors.

So how do you get one of these deals?
The first thing you have to do is figure out what you can do for the company. We all know what companies want, sell more of their product, make more money and get more exposure. You need to figure a way to help the company do one or all of these things in a way that goes beyond putting their logo on your shirt, truck or boat.

For this article we’ll use a fictitious company called ABC Baits. ABC Baits is a bait manufacturing company that sells crankbaits, walking top water baits, poppers, rip baits and some other specialized baits. A typical bait company like Strike King, Lucky Craft or Jackall.

So how do you get ABC Baits to Sponsor you?
ABC Baits gets hundreds of emails like the one’s you just read. Sending them another one of those letters or emails is going to get you nowhere. So lets think outside the box for a minute here. Keep in mind the three major goals for ABC Baits – sell more product, make more money and gain exposure for their products.

Improving Sales
Every company might have a different way to increase their sales. With ABC Baits they’ll want more tackle shops to carry their products, retails shops is critical to a bait company. A tackle shop might want to utilize your eyes and ears to their customers. After all, if you are looking to get sponsored you are probably on the water quite a bit more than the employees at the bait shop so they might not know what is working on the water as well as you. That information is critical to a tackle shop. No matter what type of company you are considering approaching figuring out what is critical to their sales and profit making ability is essential. You’ll need to think like the business owner and ask yourself – what would I like from my sponsored anglers, and then find a way to give them that.

Back to ABC Baits, to help them sell more product there are so many angles we can’t cover them all in this article but, the simplest and most effective one might be simply helping them get local shops and then keeping the local shops informed on new products, new colors and more. Let’s say ABC Baits is in Des Moines Iowa and you are in Lubbuck Texas. Perfect this opens the doors for you to try and help them in the big Texas bass fishing market. You can work on the local tackle shops to bring the baits into the stores. If you travel a lot you can make sure to stop in the local shops during your travels and talk to them about ABC Baits and educate them on why they should be selling them. Keep in mind, most tackle shops aren’t going to order up hundreds or thousands of dollars in baits because you said so. So you’ll need to understand the local fishing areas, the baits, the company, the pricing of the baits and what the shops profit margin is going to be. You’ll also need to know of any successes ABC Baits has had in local tournaments, national tournaments and more. This is a good reason that you better make sure you like ABC Baits before you even think of approaching them.

Gaining Exposure
With today’s technology we all have the ability to put our opinions and beliefs out on the web in many ways. There are hundreds of fishing message boards that you can get the ABC Baits some exposure on. However, you’ll need to be smart about this as most don’t allow blatant advertising on their sites. So you’ll need to work ABC Baits into answers to other peoples questions or even questions of your own such as “Have you guys seen this crankbait? What do you think?” Keep in mind, all the responses may or may not be positive but, exposure is exposure.

YouTube.com is another great avenue for you to get the bait some exposure. With a simple camcorder and a little computer experience you can make ABC Baits a few videos showing how to fish their crankbaits, rip/jerk baits or top water baits effectively. Post these videos onto YouTube and spread the word and you’ll be increasing their exposure.

Facebook is another great resource for you to use to spread the word on ABC Baits. You can post pictures of fish you’ve caught on the pages. Join fishing groups and post about the baits and spread the word around the fishing world that way.

It’s really tough to get an article printed in an industry publication as they all have writers they deal with on a day to day basis. However, writing an article or two and sending them to the publications for their consideration in their publication could potentially work out. This is the one place where being a better angler can help in the process. Articles that are more likely to be picked up include how you use ABC Baits to catch better fish or technique specific articles where you utilize ABC Baits in the descriptions of how to perform the technique.

If the article doesn’t get picked up by a publication then you can do a number of things with it. You can add it to a blog or post it to an article archive website for others to use on their websites. A good example of an article archive website is http://ezinearticles.com.

The Basic Stuff
Of course, just because you can’t really land a deal promising logos on shirts, boats and trucks doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mix it into your presentation. All of those will increase the exposure for ABC Bait company but, making that the center of your presentation really limits your success rate.

First Contact – Presentation
It’s always better if you know the owner, marketing person or pro-staff director of a company but, if you don’t you’ll need to make contact somehow. Sending an email or letter can be effective, but, you better get to the point early and then keep their interest throughout or you’ll have a tough time being successful.

As for starting the email or letter, don’t start by saying you are looking for a sponsorship. Start by telling them you want to help them make money, gain exposure or both. Be very descriptive and precise about what you want to do FOR THEM. After all, they already know what you want as soon as the open the email or letter. You have about 30 words to gain their interest before that letter gets discarded or the email gets deleted. So use it wisely, let them know you want to help them.

Almost the whole letter needs to be about what you want to do for them so again be very specific (the more specific the better), think outside the box and offer them something they can’t do for themselves because of time, location or other reasons. Be sure to leave what you want from them until the end. Let’s face it we all WANT something, even ABC Baits wants something, like more sales and more exposure, and you need to feed those wants for them before even thinking about asking for something in return. It’s really hard to stop reading an email or letter that is about how you are going to help them. On the flip side, it’s really easy to stop reading an email or letter telling them what you want from them, as we’ve covered already, they get lots of those!

The Results
If they respond negative you’ll need to keep your head up and keep trying. With the bad economy, many companies may not be able to afford another pro staffer. Even if you get turned down you are at least making contacts and if and when that company is ready to work with pro staffers they will already know what you have to offer.

If you get a positive response you’ll need to work with the company to lock down a contract. Even if its not a very formal contract have something in writing so that both yourself and the company know exactly what to expect. Keep in mind, after you get sponsored you better remember to live up to your end of the deal.

Summary
Separate yourself from the others by thinking outside the box, offering potential sponsors what they want and need. So many potential pro staffers are great at asking for what they want but, not very good at explaining what they can do to help the sponsoring company. By explaining in detail what you can do to help you’ll gain the upper hand. I’d say good luck, but there is no luck in this, it’s about research, effort, using the right approach and understanding the business of your potential sponsors.

Frog Fishing 101

Who should throw the frog?
Every bass angler should throw a frog. If its not the most fun style of fishing it is certainly near the top of anyone’s list. It is a great way to catch big fish and during most of the year it is a great way to catch lots of fish. Even on days without tons of fish, the anticipation of that giant bass explosion makes the time pass relatively fast between fish.

When should you throw a frog?
It really depends on where you are fishing but, once the fish have migrated to shallow water. This is generally speaking when the water temperature climbs to around 50 to 52 degrees. This is when a frog can become effective. In Nor-Cal this is generally early to mid March. The frog season will extend through late September or early October, again generally when the water drops to about the 52 degree mark.

How much should you throw a frog? This is based on water temperature (see graph below). When the water hits the 52 degree mark on the rise I start throwing it wherever looks good and for only a minimal amount of time. As the water pushes towards 70 degrees I throw the frog more and more. I rarely ever throw the frog all day as I often, punch or flip a jig in the same areas I previously covered with the frog.

Where should you fish a frog? Again this is based on water temperature. As the water temperature rises the shady areas produce better. With the cooler water temperature the frog can be effective in sunny areas or no nothing looking banks.

Key Areas:
Shade: Under docks and under overhanging trees.
Slop: When fishing “slop” I look for areas with at least a foot of water underneath the “slop”. Typically I can find, the deeper the water underneath the slop the better the fishing.
Open water/cooler Water Temps: Roots underwater from trees that are on the bank offer great holding spots for bass.
Tules: Tules that are knocked down or horizontal to the water surface are another great area.
Walls: Sea-walls that cast a shadow for part of the day are good areas as well.
Spawning banks: Banks where fish are spawning are effective. Stay back as far as possible and throw the frog over the top of the bedding bass for best results.

What equipment and what frog is best? Use the right equipment for the job. There are many styles of frog fishing, from open water to the thickest of slop and if you don’t have the right equipment you’ll be limiting your success.
Rods:
Under or around trees, docks or other structure with little or no “slop” – 6’10 H
Open Water – In the open water = 7’6” MH
Thick open water “slop” – 7’6” H
Large flats with sparse weeds – 6’10” H
Reels: Any Baitcaster
I use a Quantum Energy 7:1 reel
Line: 65 lb Braid
I prefer Sufix braid because it is not coated in wax. Wax coating on braided line creates slippage
in simple knots. I generally use a simple Palomar knot with and leave a ½ inch tag end.
Frogs:
Open Water where the fishing line not interfered with by tree branches etc – Snagproof Tournament Series Frog
Open Water where the fishing line IS interfered with by tree branches, dock lines, weeds, tules etc – In the open water = River2Sea Step Wa (80%) or Deps Basirisky (20%)
Thick open water “slop” – Snagproof Tournament Series Frog
Large flats with sparse weeds – Soft Frogs. Personally I use the Xcite Baits Turbo Frog or a Sizmic Toad Junior or Sizmic Propwash Toad.

Other Tips:

- Walking the frog in open water is the #1 most important thing to catching open water frog bass.
- Checker your braided line using a Sharpie or other marker.
- Add weights to the frog for the thickest stuff
- Add bells to the frog in open water.
- Replace the stock legs in the frog with thinner rubber legs.
- Paint the belly of the frog to make it look more realistic.
- Mix up the cadence of your retrieves. Some days the fish want the frog moving fast. Other days, they want it paused.
- If the spot looks good, believe in it. Make the same cast 2, 3 even 4 times before giving up on that spot.

Interested in modifying your frog – see the video at MonserFishingTackle.com Frog Fishing

My normal job as an engineer can be rewarding at times.  I get to play with things that very few get even see in their lifetime and I get to hang with some really interesting people.  But, like most “day jobs”, it has its moments.  The past two months have been “these moments”.  I’ve been working 7 days a week for most of that time and trying to fit in hanging with the kids and my writing.  To say I’ve reached burn-out stage is, well, an understatement.  Right now my job isn’t loving me back eventhough I have given it so much of myself since the beginning of the year.  So, it’s time to take some time.

Saturday morning I’m hooking my boat up, a 2008 BassCat Cougar FTD I purchased in May last year (it has 5 hours on it), and I’m towing it to northern California to spend 5-6 days fishing waters that I love.  In that time I hope to forget about life at “the Site” and spend some time in the boat I bought to use instead of collect dust in my garage.   The hard part is going to be pulling my gear out of the rubbermaid boxes its called home for the last year due to a remodel.  But hey, the fact is I’m getting away and hopefully the fish will cooperate.  If they don’t, at least I’ll have a good time on the water and in the boat.

I’ve always known Cal, Zander and Jip worked their tail off to bring us the good info they do so well on TackleTour.com.  However, I had no idea the lengths they go to in order to gather the information the give us.   It’s not all “fun and games” when they are analyzing the goods. Well, it is fun but, they do take the job seriously!

One of the first things I noticed was they showed up at 6:30 Am after a 3 plus hour drive to the lake ready to go to work.  They each had 8 to 10 rods from 8 to 10 different manufacturers.  Same with the reels, no two alike.  As for baits, darn Cal has every bait nobody’s ever heard of (except for Tackle Tour visitors) and all the regular stuff too.

Besides the 50 lbs of tackle – they have another 50 lbs of camera equipment, video equipment, laptops and more.  If you think Cal has it bad for tackle – you haven’t heard of his camera/photo enthusiasm!  Zander isn’t far behind on either front.

What’s really crazy is that even though we were in the middle of a fish biting frenzy, they both took the time to switch rods and reels in order to test multiple combos.  They also switched baits away from the one the fish were engulfing!  That’s hard to do for any fisherman…  but, they did it religiously.

Besides just whacking fish and testing equipment, they took photos and video non-stop all day. You haven’t seen anyone move as fast as Cal to a camera when Zander’s got a fish on, or vice-versa.  They move around the very loaded boat like Shawn Johnson on a balance beam.

Not a second is wasted either, make a 5 minute idle and Cal and Zander have snapped 100 photos of gear, scenery and more.  It definitely brings on some odd looks from the other angler’s but – those are the exact people Cal and Zander were hard at work for.

I guess the moral of my first blog is – these guys are hard at work for us and it was pretty cool to see them in action!  I’ve got a lot to learn if I want to run with these guys!

As the weather warms and the animals start changing their patterns it’s time for me to start thinking about switching cam locations.

During the cold months when there is a lot of snow and limited sources of food the deer and turkey tend to “yard up”.  They begin to congregate closely and they keep pathways worn in the snow and move between a few key areas.  Areas that provide food and areas that provide good shelter from the elements and protection from predators.  During these months I locate my cams in areas that fit these criteria.  Feeding, shelter, or movement between the two. 

Feeding Location

Opportunistic Feeding

As the snow recedes and it becomes less work to utilize the rest of woods the deer and turkey will use more and more territory searching for new green shoots and buds.  Its time to start looking for those areas in the woods that have an already thin snow cover, are fairly sheltered, and have nice southern exposure.  The sun will melt these areas rather quickly and the first of the green of spring will show there.

I heard my first Ruffed Grouse drum this past weekend.  By mid April I’ll be trying to capture photos and video of that very interesting behavior.  I got my first video of a tom turkey fanned out and strutting this past week.  Very shortly I’ll have to get a camera to my favorite strutting ground.  The ice on the big pond in the woods is starting blacken.  By the time the ice is all gone I’ll have to get a cam overlooking a loafing log where the Wood Ducks like to hang out.

The expectation of new spring patterns developing prompted me to obtain the final materials for three more cams that I’d like to build.  During the upcoming months I’ll “chronicle” the builds here.

The first cam I intend to build is a “long term” cam.  This will be very much like most of the other cams I run with the exception of having extra battery capacity for long uninterrupted time in the woods.  In addition to hacking the shutter control on the Sony camera I’ll be soldering leads to the internal power of the camera.  Those power leads will run to eight C-cell batteries.  The C-cell alkaline batteries will keep the rechargeable nickel metal hydride AA batteries inside the Sony fully charged at all times.  I should be able to run for about a year without needing to worry about batteries.  Perfect for a deep woods over winter cam.  Or an all summer at the feeder cam.

The second cam I’m going to work on is an infrared (IR) cam.  Again, this will be nearly identical to my standard cams with the exception of shooting entirely in the infrared spectrum of light.  The reason for IR is that most animals, including humans, can’t see IR light.  So at night there is no visible camera flash and spooking animals is much less likely.  This will be an excellent for capturing the big secretive bucks that are mostly nocturnal and very good at avoiding regular cams.

The third cam I will be building is a radio frequency (RF) controlled camera.  I’ll utilize the same Sony camera internally but the triggering of the camera is in a very different method.  With all of my current cams as heat and motion are sensed in front of the cam a circuit board sends a signal to the Sony camera and the camera wakes up and takes a photo.  This process usually takes from a second and a half to two seconds.  At times, that is too slow to capture the animal that set the cam off if they are just passing by.  The RF cam will solve this problem.  Three remote sensors are used to control the circuit board that controls the Sony camera.  One sensor is placed overlooking the area where the photo will be taken.  The other two sensors further out on the perimeter.  When a perimeter sensor picks up heat and movement it sends a signal to the circuit board and the circuit board wakes the Sony camera and readies it for a photo.  When the sensor that is overlooking the target area senses heat and motion the camera fires instantaneously.  Perfect for monitoring trails where animals can pass by the cam before it has time to take a photo.

These three new cams are all about having the ability to adapt to certain patterns and behaviors.  Whether it’s the camera shy buck or trail usage to and from key locations.

Hello

Lets play

Its not just the terrestrial animals that are adjusting to the changing season.  Crappie are leaving their wintering holes and staging just off spawning flats.  Perch are setting up shop at the bottom of mid lake humps.  Walleye are staging to intercept the Perch as they make their nightly trip up the hump.

What are you doing to stay in front of the changing pattern?

In the current electronic age where information hits the net almost instantaneously, it can often be difficult to decipher truth from rumor. We caught wind recently of the news that one of our favorite manufacturers, Reaction Innovations, was discontinuing their entire non-soft plastic product line.

Concerned over this news, we contacted the company directly to discover while there will likely be an interruption in supply, there are no intentions to discontinue production of these highly successful and popular items.

Reaction Innovations is simply on the hunt for a new manufacturing partner, and once that deal is struck, products like the Vixen, Squeeky Dolphin, BMF Hooks, Screwed Up Jigheads and more will be back in regular supply. A timetable has not been set, but the company is actively pursuing this goal.

Until then, if you’ve been thinking about it, now would be a good time to stock up on your favorite Reaction Innovations products.

Roboworm is getting ready to delve into the swimbait market with two new products, the EZ Shad and the Ocean Swimbait Tail (pictured below). Set to release shortly after Fred Hall Long Beach (March 4-8, 2009), this will be the company’s first foray into the popular bait segment.