Tourney Results

100 teams entered the tourney which ran from 7am to 4pm. I had to get there at about 4:30 to help set up. The weather was overcast, with a wind out of the east which varied from about 5 mph to about 30 mph during the day. At 7am, it was about 48 degrees. We were boat 18 to start so we pretty much had the whole chain of lakes at our disposal. To get 100 boats started on a one-by-one basis takes about 30 minutes. The advantage of having an early start is really that you can get to your best spot first, but we have had tourneys where boat 100 was the winner so it really matters not.

We got to our spot, which is the same place we have started the last three years and had caught a 37" Musky that put us in 5th place three years earlier. We worked the shoreline on the windblown side of the lake for about an hour and didn't see much, but did see one team catch a nice 38" fish at about 8:00pm, a few minutes after we had moved off that spot. I hate when that happens. We also, talked to some friends that had lost a 40+ incher at boat side. This team was a husband and wife team, great people and a lot of fun to be around. He guides, when not running the company he owns. They worked their asses off over the week to get ready for the tourney as they were in charge of the raffle prizes. I think they got to sleep about midnight the night before the tourney and were at the tourney headquarters bright and shiny at 5am. They ended up having bad luck the whole day missing several fish.

But back to us, after watching one team catch the 38" fish, we moved on to our second spot. We spent about 30 minutes in this area. Again fishing the windblown shoreline but we didn't see anything. So we moved off this spot, only to find out that another team (another couple of friends) stuck a 40.5 incher shortly after we left, that for the time being put them in first place.

The way these tournaments are run, you get 4 points for a 30" fish and 1 point for every additional inch. Another tournament boat has to come an verify your fish and then the fish must be released.

So now we are on to our third spot. We had been fishing very shallow weeds, in approximately 4 feet of water. Most teams were fishing the deeper weed edges and breaks, but the two fish caught were in shallow water so we felt very confident that we had the right approach. As we moved through this area, my partner missed a fish that made a swipe at his bait at boatside, but he couldn't hook it. A few minutes later I hooked into a nice 36" that we quickly had verified and released. This was at 9am. We kept working that 200 yard shoreline, which was on the non-windblown side for the next couple of hours with no luck. We saw a few Muskies, but couldn't find any eaters.

We moved on to a few other spots with no luck, talked to a few friends only to find out they were not having much luck either. Musky fishing can be a brutal pursuit, you can go hours sometimes days with out seeing a fish, and then one will follow your bait to the boat, stare at it and then slowly sink into the depths only adding to your frustration. They don't call it the fish of 10,000 casts for nothing. But when one does strike, there is nothing like it when fishing.

Generally, in these tournaments catching a 36" Musky will put you somewhere in the top 10, maybe as low as 6 or 7. Not this year, one 36" fish wouldn't even make the leader board. Doubling up, which happens once or twice in each of out tourneys will normally put you in the top two or three. So we figured we were on the board and probably in the money.

At about 1pm, we moved back on the spot where we had caught the first fish. We had seen a few others while in there previously. We worked about 200 yards of that area, staying in 4-6 feet of water. Whenever another tournament boat would come by, we would move out a little deeper in order to push the other boats out and protect our area. At 2pm my partner got a strike. The fish hammered his bait and came flying out of the water, after making two jumps he was able to muscle her to the boat and told me to net her. The only problem was the fish was facing away from me and netting ass end first is usually a recipe for disaster so I waited until he got her turned and netted her up. Quick verification and release and we were sitting on two fish. No other team had doubled so we assumed we were in first place.

Then word came down that another team had caught a 49" Musky, which was the largest caught in the 10 year history of our tourneys. A 49 incher equals 23 points while two 36 inchers equal 20 points. We were unable to catch anything else during the tourney. Fortunately, we were the only team to double up and 20 points were good enough for second place. Overall, 18 Muskies over 30" were caught by 17 teams.

Tourney

My first tourney of the year is Saturday. I'm pretty stoked. 100 boats (2 person teams). This is the largest one day Musky tournament in Illinois, starting at 7 am and running through 4 pm. My partner and I have been lucky enough to place twice in this tourney in the past. Finishing 5th one year and 3rd another.

As this tourney is run by my fishing club and I'm on the tourney committee, I will be waking up at 3:30 am in order to help set up starting at 4:30. As one might imagine running a tourney of this size is no easy task. We generally start planning about 5 months in advance. Tournament flyers and advertising, obtaining sponsors, setting up raffle prizes etc.

With 100 boats we will have to manage the launch in order to make it as efficient as possible, but there will always be some yahoos that much up the process. In order to try and get this thing to run smoothly we will have 5 guys working that landing, 2 guys selling coffee and donuts, 8 guys working the registration tables, two guys working the docks, one guy explaining the rules, 3 or 4 guys wandering around helping out in any way possible, and two guys as starters.

After the tourney is over, we will have guys tabulating points to determine the winners (and top 10 finishers), dinner, raffles, awards ceremony and a small (and I emphasize small) amount of drinking. Then after everybody leaves, clean up which usually takes a couple of hours with 6 guys. In total the day will run from about 3:30 am to about 8-9 pm. Long day, but it's a lot of fun and the money generated by the club will be used to fund conservation, youth fishing events etc.

Weather is supposed to be a high of 58 degrees and rainy. This will probably be better than the hail we ran into last year, or the 40 mph winds we had the year before. I will pick up the boat tommorrow night and a few supplies for the tourney. Load everything up Saturday morning and off I will go. Dammit am I excited, I can't wait.

You gotta be Shitting me.......

I was running through a listing of the 100 top rock bands and 100 top guitarists of all time. It occurred to me that there are some bands/artists that I really should like but don't and a few bands that I am embarrassed to say I like better than some classics. So here they are:

Top 5 bands/artists that I should like but don't really care for:

1. The Who - not sure why but I just can't get into this legendary band. I like some tunes but get bored with them after about 5 minutes.
2. Aerosmith - I can listen to the hits (at least some of them) but after that I find most of it unlistenable
3. Yes - What can I say, just don't dig them.
4. Stevie Ray Vaughn - Great guitar player, but it just all sounds the same to me.
5. Eric Clapton - Cream or Solo, I know blasphemy because as it was once said, "Clapton is God." Yarbirds? Maybe Beck or Page.

Top 5 Bands that I'm Embarrased to say I dig:

1. Great White - Talk about Vanilla. After you get past "Rock Me" there isn't much substance here. I think I have 5 of their disks (did they have that many) and when I hear one of there songs I always turn it up.
2. Cinderella - Hair Metal at its worst. Shake Me, Save Me what the hell was Bon Jovi thinking when he discovered these guys. Another band I like to play at high volume.
3. White Snake - Really the only redeeming thing about this band was Tawny Katane (or however you spell it). Some great musicians went through this band, John Sykes, Steve Vai, Doug Aldrich, Vivian Campbell but still I can't figure out why I dig this band.
4. Damn Yankees - Uggh, nuff said there. Tommy Shaw and Nuge.
5. Stryper - yes, that Stryper, the Christian Rockers from the 80's. Oz Fox and Michael Sweet. Very few women can sing higher than Sweet, but I like'em anyway.

What's that smell?

That would be the smell of Skunk in my boat. Three Muskies sighted, no Muskies caught. Beautiful day on the water, but we couldn't find any hungy Muskies. After picking out a few nasty backlashes, Khyle got it figured out and was casting like a champ, a couple more times out and he might be able to consider himself a fisherman.

AND....even better was the fact that I didn't run my boat into the bank like I did the last time I took one of my neighbors out.

Double Booking....

Oops invited two friends to go Musky Fishing tomorrow. Both accepted so we will be fishing three out of the ole fish hawk. Not a big deal, but one of the guys is a newbie. That obviously means he will probably catch something large.

The newbie is none other than he of False Awareness fame. I've been bugging to get him out for a while now. It should be a blast regardless of how the fishing is.

Of course fishing isn't necessarily about catching fish, it's about being out on the water, enjoying nature and having a good time with friends.

Speaking of Van Halen.....

Well to start, it appears that this blog will be updated more than infrequently.

Anyways, I have always been a huge Van Halen fan, with the exception of the Gary Cherone Disk. Although I have thought about buying it because I've never heard it. Unfortunately, I have never been able to see them live.

It's not that I haven't had the chance, I've had tickets three times but life conspired against me and I was unable to attend. In 1983, I waited at the ticket outlet for 14 hours (being about 100th in line) to get tickets with a buddy of mine. Parents had no clue I was staying out all night, we did the the old I'm sleeping over at his house etc. We get the tickets, extra for the girlfriends (I hadn't yet met the future wife, that would come the following year) and I was pumped. Of course three days before the show I wasn't feeling well and went to see the doc. Oops, mono and no VH concert for me. Of course the bitch girlfriend went with my ticket and some other dude, talk about a kick in the balls. That's ok, we didn't have a future anyway. I was only interested in her huge rack. To this day I couldn't tell you if she had a face.

Two years later after meeting the future bride, and getting past the first words she ever spoke to me ("you are such an asshole" - man she nailed it right off the bat, but a story for another time) I was surprised with VH tickets for a B-day present. Ahh, the perfect woman. Then, one week before concert she uttered the most depressing words a woman could ever say to a man...................."Um, my Dad (a Nazarene Pastor) found the tickets and he tore them up." Uggh, what a disaster. I have considered the Nazarene's to be pretty much a cult ever since then.

Then in 1988 (I think it was 88) I had tickets again. This was going to be awesome. The show was going to be the day after final exams at Eastern Illinois University. Sweet, but my Calculus professor had to reschedule my final to the day after the show and I missed out again. I should have just gone.

I could have gone in 2004 when they came around with Sammy, but I just couldn't see shelling out the $100 per to go. If I would have know that Eddie was going to melt down I would have done it. So now I suffer through "Live without a Net" on an occasional basis and video clips on the net.

Anybody remember the day when concert tix were $15?

Coming soon: The Warp Refraction Principle

Well that sucked........

Took the boat out for the first fishing trip of the year. All I can really say is the fishing sucked ass. Water temps were in the mid 40's, wind out of the south no significant weed growth yet and no Muskies sighted by me, my fishing partner and about 20 other guys that we talked to during the day who were also fishing for the ellusive Musky. I did, though, cast a Crane bait up into the trees and then struggled to get it down as my no good no help fishing partner was taking photos (but he is the best damn net man in the midwest if not all of the Musky Range). There will be many more similar posts to this as the summer goes by, especially since work will not allow me to take the annual Lake of the Woods, Canada fishing trip in July.

But what a great day to be on the water. As usual I didn't bring any sun screen so I have the standard fishermans sun burn....the tops of my hands, ears, nose and face (below the eyes). Four head (or what really could be considered a 6 head at this point) and the area around my eyes are as pasty white as usual. Oh, and Khyle I don't wear a hat when I go fishing to cover up the bald spot, it's to cut the glare so my polarized glasses have the desired effect (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Coming Soon: Discussion on the Warp Refraction Principle.

She had to know.....

When I was in High School and was dating my future wife, I could name just about any guitar player in any band. The funny thing was I forced the future boss to learn them all as well. She could tell you them all (and not just the easy ones)...Who are the Guitar players for Cinderella, without blinking an eye she would tell you Tom Kiefer and Jeff Labar. Badlands...Jake E. Lee, Quiet Riot..... Carlos Cavazzo (after Randy Rhoads quit to play with Ozzy). She can still remember a lot of them (although she won't admit it). She is not quite the headbanger I am (although the CD player in her car includes Queensryche and Triumph) as her tastes run mostly in the range of Tim McGraw, Eagles etc.

So that being said, here is my list of the best all time guitar players, and if you don't like it you can kiss my ass (and it's subject change depending on what I am listening to at the time):

1) Eddie Van Halen - what can be said, one of the greatest innovators of all time, but also one hell of a rhythm guitar player. He re-invented Rock guitar. Of course now he is a ego maniac loser who lost his talent due to drugs and alcohol. Sigh, I hope we will see (hear) another disk from him and the boys in the future but I doubt it.

2) Rik Emmett - probably the most under rated guitarist of all time. He can play anything. Rock, Jazz, Blues, Classical, it doesn't matter. He does it all. Saw him play an acoustic show about 3 months ago with Dave Dunlop and it was awesome. He can rock just as good as he could in the 70's/80's. Get a copy of "Triumph - Live at the US Festival" and after watching that you don't agree...well it will only mean you don't know talent when you see it.

3) Ritchie Blackmore - Rainbow, Deep Purple it matters not. Probably the greatest guitar tone of all time, and what can be said about a guy who wrote one of the most memorable riffs of all time.

4) Randy Rhoads - To bad his career was cut short by a doped up want to be pilot. Listen to the song Diary of a Madman and tell me this guy wasn't a guitar god? It would have been amazing to hear what he was capable of if he didn't have to rush through recording Blizzard and Diary. Rumor was he was going to quit Ozzy and study classical guitar.

5) Andres Segovia - Classical master. I wish I was one tenth as good as he was. No distortion, no reverb just six string magic.

6) Then everybody else, Malmsteen, Page, Vai, Satch, Hendrix, DiMeola, I could go on and on but I won't. Where would I put myself on the list? Probably somewhere around 1,999,999,999,999, although that might be giving myself too much credit.

I am sure I left somebody off the list (how could I not it's only 11 players). If anybody out there actually ever reads this thing, feel free to post your favorites.

WTF is this.....

OK, I figured I don't have a life like most people that have blogs so here goes. This will be rarely updated and even more rarely include any useful content.

I will try to stay away from telling you how great my kids are (and they are great) and all that crap, because really everybody that is a parent puts it up on their blog and well it's pretty much the same stuff. For those with older kids, yep we know. For those with younger kids, guess what you will go through the same things.

Of Muskies and Metal? What the hell is that? Well it is my two favorite pass times (poker is third). This will document my fishing and guitar playing.

Musky fishing is number one. Try to get out every weekend from April through November. Mostly on Illinois famous Fox Chain of Lakes (also dubbed the toilet bowl). I fish out of a 2002 Crestiner 1750 Fish Hawk with a 90 honda. I use mainly Frank's Custom Rods and ABU Garcia 5500's, 6500's and Morrums (why the hell did they discontinue them?). Baits? You name it, just like most fisherman I have way to many, but my favorites are Phantoms, Jerko's/Squirko's, Voodoo Tails and Mepps Marabou.
My biggest Muskie caught was 46" caught out of the Fox Chain and I'm still searching for that ellusive 50 incher.

Guitar Playing - has become number two. I played in High School and College, but after graduating and getting married time was short and competitive cycling took up a lot of my time (yes I shaved my legs). Them my apartment burned down and with it went my three guitars. Kids came and I didn't pick up another guitar until about a year ago when my now 14 year old started playing the drums. Started taking lessons again and got a bad case of GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome). So the gear is as follows: Ibanez GIO purchase by the wife about 3 years ago but never really played until recently, followed by a Gibson Faded Flying V that my wife bought me for Fathers Day/Birthday/Anniversary, then a 1984 Kramer Focus 3000 (what I played in High School) and finally a recently purchased Gibson Explorer....all played through a Peavey 5150 Combo.

Enough for now.