Midwest "Golden Bones" Fly Tournament

The first annual M.G.B. tournament will be held on September 9th and 10th. The event will be based out of Rivers Edge Bar and Grill in Batavia, IL. Entrance fee is $70.00 per angler. Every angler will receive an event shirt, poster, SWAG bag, drinks, and food. Great prizes will be handed out to tournament winners. Live music both nights. Raffle prizes will also be handed out. Entrance fee can be mailed to Kurt Nelson, along with your shirt size, and email address for confirmation of entry. 

Registration is now open. There will be a limit of 35 slots available for the tournament. 

BASIC RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Fishing Area: DuPage, Des Plaines, and Fox River Systems (with Bonus water being added the morning off).

Wading, kayaks, and boats are all welcome to fish. This will be an individual angler scoring system. No combined points between anglers in a boat.

All carp must be taken on fly, photographed/measured, and released. Pictures must be taken of the angler holding the fish and of the fish with the tournament supplied measuring stick/bumpboard. Pics must be texted to tournament staff by 6:00 PM Saturday.

Phone numbers to text pictures to will be provided on angler rules sheet given out at the meet and greet Friday night at Rivers Edge Bar and Grill and at check in at Dupage Fly Co. Saturday morning.
Tournament staff will provide anglers with individual measuring tapes the morning of tournament.
Anglers must be back at Rivers Edge Bar and Grille in Batavia, IL by 6:30 PM Saturday for awards.

SCORING SYSTEM:

The point totals will be based on total length from the day, with additional prizes for biggest and smallest carp. There will also be 1/2 points given to smallmouth bass that measure over 12"s.

Example Scoring:
30" Carp = 30 points
18" Carp = 18 points
12" Smallmouth Bass = 6 points
18" Smallmouth Bass = 9 ponts
Total Points = 63 points

Payment Options:

1.Send check payable to:
Kurt Nelson
email me at midwestwatersflyfishing@gmail.com
call at 6304290419 or message me on Facebook for address to send checks to.

2. You can pay cash in person at DuPage Fly Fishing Co. as well.

3. Also accepting entry fees through paypal. Send entry fee payment to Knkirby1@gmail.com
Contact Kurt Nelson for details or email Midwestwatersflyfishing@gmail.com for questions.

www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/send-money-online

*A confirmation email will be sent to you upon receiving your entrance fee. It will include details about the event, when and where to be, and other event giveaways.

We look forward to seeing everyone out at the inaugural event! If you have any questions or concerns please message us and we will get back to you ASAP.

2016 Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series

GREAT LAKES KAYAK FISHING SERIES

With a new year comes a whole new Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series aka GLKFS is a lot of fun and organized by some knowledgeable kayak anglers such as +Colin Belle and Brookfield Angler.  I have participated in a few of the events the past 2 years, and have always had a great time.  Unfortunately, I do not think any of the dates will work out for me this year, but I highly recommend you give 1 or all the stops a shot!

2016 SCHEDULE

May 14th - Fox Chain O'Lakes

Target Species - Walleye, Catfish, and Panfish

June 11th - Madison Chain of Lakes

Target Species - Smallmouth & Largemouth Bass

July 24th - Mazonia/Braidwood

Target Species - Smallmouth & Largemouth Bass

September 10th - Manitowoc/Lake Michigan

Target Species - All Trout/Salmon

Tournament entry fee is $45 per event, but if you pay up front for all 4, it's $160, and that nets you a total of $20 in savings.  There are cash and gear prizes for placing in each event, but there are also a ton of door prizes to be raffled away to everyone at the event after the winners are announced.  Like I said, I had a great time at past events, and while I never placed, I walked away with some pretty sweet gear won in the raffle/door prizes.

- CLICK HERE TO GO TO THEIR WEBSITE -

Blue Skies

This past Saturday (05/02/2015) I fished in the GLKFS first event of the 2015 season.

Location - Lake Delevan in Wisconsin. I've never fished it. The water was crystal clear and you could see 20-25ft down.

Start time - 0630.

Target species - Northern Pike.

My results - I arrived and launched 35 minutes late. I missed 5 pike, and ended my day skunked of all species. All 5 follows came on a smaller black baitfish pattern of mine with my fly rod. The lures I was tossing with my baitcaster didn't even warrant a follow. The day was not a complete loss, I did win a Backwaters Fishing Assault Hand Paddle as a raffle door prize. It was a gorgeous day to fish, and my tan lines prove it.

Fist full of feathers, flash, and fur.

Sunday. I needed to stick around the house to help with some of the outside work, so, I lined up my new featherweight and Abel reel fiberglass set up and got to casting. 

My line from Shadow Fly Fishing came in, and after lining it up, it doesn't even load my rod well at all. I figured the 7 wt WF line would be great for my 5/6 rod, but I think there has to be some sort of error, and was sent a lesser weight line. My sinking 5 wt line loads this rod better. I've got to email someone about that.

Well, I managed to miss a bunch of crappie, but I did get to land one. Bo Marley came over to give him a once over, before I tossed the little fish back.

Bo Marley approves.

How to fish like the Pro's

With the Bass Master Classic going on down in South Carolina right now, I figured there was no better time than to help out all of you hopeful Bass Pro fisherman out. I hope you have a crayon and construction paper ready for some notes, because, you're going to want to write all of this down, that is of course, if you don't have access to a printer.

Bass Pro - Mike Iaconelli

Justin Carfagnini's: How to fish like the Pro's

The basics:

1. Rod - It just doesn't matter.

2. Reel - It just doesn't matter.

3. Line - It just doesn't matter.

The secret combo to becoming a Bass Pro:

1. Red and white bobber - It's a classic, and classics catch fish.

2. Steel leader - Because, you never know when you're going to run into those toothy predators. It also, has a snap at the end, so, you can change out whatever lure you didn't know how to use out, for other lures you do not know how to use.

3. Red/white Daredevle spoon - It flat out catches fish.

Take a moment and gather yourself. I know your mind has just been blown away. 

To give you a visual of what this type of set up looks like, and it's capabilities, please see below. I discovered the secret back in 2005, and have enough will power and knowledge of self to know, that I just cannot handle it's fish catching powers. So, in the year 2005, it stayed.

...and here is a closer look at the set up. It was extremely effective in catching crayfish/crawfish, too. You might ask yourself, but why would you want to catch those when you're out bass fishing a big tournament. Simple answer - to see what color they are, so, you can better match the forage of body of water you're trying to win big bucks on, duh!

Yankee's hat...I definitely don't remember that. What in the hell? haha

Hope this helps all of you out there!!!!!

Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series: Bass

Tournament number 2 of the Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series.

The day - June 14th...Flag Day...My birthday!

The location - A large stretch of the Illinois River down in Ottawa, Illinois.

The target species - Bass...Smallmouth, Largemouth, and White.

Going into the tournament I thought I had birthday luck on my side, so, I was feeling good. I have never fished the Illinois River before, and have only seen it when I went hiking around Starved Rock State Park (...and Google Maps).

At the launch at Heritage Harbor - Ottawa.

It was a beautiful day, but the rain during the week raised the water levels for tourney, and the river was moving. I spent some time out on the main river, but not much time fishing. Most of my time was spent paddling upriver, to get out of the current, and back into the harbor, where I stayed a majority of the day. The river was just, too, much for me.

At the mouth of the harbor. 

Out on the river. Took me 5 minutes to paddle back to where I was after taking this picture.

I ended the day catching no bass. There were quite a few people with bass skunks, so, I wasn't alone. I know a lot of people caught sauger along the walls and places the bass would normally be. I ended the day with a gar, and a sheepshead. I am becoming a tournament sheepshead master! That's 3 in the last 2 tournaments. Hilarious!

There was little to no fight in this one. Once hooked I just  dragged him in.

Congratulations, to +BrookField Angler of www.Brookfieldangler.com on taking 3rd place at this event. I would also like to say, thank you, to the organizers of the event. It was a great time. 

I'm really looking forward to catching some sheepshead at the 3rd and final event September 6th out of Manitowoc Marina in Wisconsin. (North or Milwaukee). Target species - King Salmon. For more information click HERE. 

Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series: Walleye

After the purchase of my new kayak, +BrookField Angler, suggested to me that I join the Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series.

The 3 part series is as follows:

May 3 - Walleye @ Fox Chain of Lakes

June 14 - Largemouth Bass @ Illinois River at Heritage Harbor Ottawa

September 6 - King Salmon @ Lake Michigan out of Manitowoc Marina

Yesterday was the first tournament for walleye. I have almost zero experience with walleye. I have never went out and targeted them in my fishing career. The only time they were ever caught by me, I was bass fishing.

The day had it's ups and downs, but overall it was a good day. The sun was out, but the wind was howling. It made it extremely difficult to paddle, but I managed. I toyed the idea of using my fly rod, but to decided to dust off my baitcasting and spinning rods. I casted crank baits, and dead drifted a 3" gulp leach all day. I ended the day catching 2 fish on my dead drifting leech, but none of them were walleye. At least I wasn't skunked!

I am not the fish you are looking for.

The guys who organized the event did a stellar job. There were a ton of giveaways on top of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes. They were even nice enough to start the grill and treat everyone to bugers and brats when everyone returned. So, a big "THANK YOU" goes out to them.

I believe there were 15 people in the field (just a guess). Only 2 fishermen hooked up with walleye. The guy who won first place caught 3 walleye (12, 14, and 23 inches). Second place went to an 8.5 in walleye. Since there were no other walleye caught, everyone else name was thrown into a pot, and the third place winner was randomly selected.

Looking forward to the next installment on June 14th. It's my birthday, so, I have to win, right? Haha. The fly rod will definitely be joining me on that one.