Father and Son capture NBW season opener

UPDATED 11/17/09 - INCLUDES SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Anglers Marine in Anaheim will again host the annual Winter Bass-A-Thon, drawing some of the biggest names in professional fishing to Southern California on November 21st and 22nd. This year's bass fishing celebration will feature national touring pros Greg Hackney, Scott Martin and Brent Ehrler along side regional superstars Gary Dobyns, Bill Siemental and Dave Gliebe. Those five pros will share their secrets with the public at the two day Bass-A-Thon with seminars throughout the weekend.

Lake Hodges has now closed for the 2009 season, the lake will reopen in February of next year to fishing and boating. Hodges joins Sutherland, Barrett and San Vicente as city lakes which are currently unavailable to fishing. Lower Otay will remain open on its regular Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday schedule, but will not be renting boats November through January. Miramar and Murray haven't offered boat rentals since October 1st, and will continue to not rent boats through November.  

SDFish.com sponsor, Fisherman's Outpost in Poway has extended their special deal on Fluttercraft baits through November. The buy 4 bags, get 1 free special was set to expire at the end of October, but has been extended another month. Fisherman's Outpost is owned and operated by the Pasalich family who also manufacture the famed Fluttercraft worm. San Diego anglers have long valued the small Fluttercraft which despite their size carry a tradition of tricking large bass on pressured reservoirs.

Perhaps the two biggest endorsements a product can get in San Diego would be those from the two best big bass anglers in the world, long-time San Diego residents Mike Long and John Kerr. Mike Long calls Fluttercraft "the #1 bait in my worm fishing arsenal" while Kerr expands to say "over the years, I have caught more pounds of fish on Fluttercraft worms than anything else I have used." 

Visit Fisherman's Outpost in Poway to get your hands on Fluttercraft, and find out for yourself how valuable these worms are on all of our local lakes.

George Kramer of kramergonefishing.com has continued the tradition of publishing one of the sport's most controversial topics this year, the California Top 40 Bass Anglers List. The list has usually been kind to San Diego anglers, and rightfully so as San Diego has long been regarded as one of the Golden State's most competitive bass fishing counties. This year, seven San Diego residents find themselves in print on KramerGoneFishing.com.

Two of those names should fool no one, both having occupied slots on the list for most of this decade, including one "Top Spot." Three San Diegans occupy the top 10, names that have been regulars on the list lately and should also surprise no one. And two remaining San Diegans find themselves included this year as sleepers, making their debut on the top list in 30th and 36th place respectively.

Click here to read the full story on KramerGoneFishing.com (opens in new window)

The father and son team of Don and Donnie Riese beat 43 other teams at El Capitan on Saturday to win the first National Bass West San Diego tournament of the season. Their 13.23 pound limit of 5 bass included the tournament's largest bass at 3.49 pounds to make it a perfect sweep of the available option and purse money. Their winnings totaled $3,670 on the day.

November 10 is when the BRTF will convene to make their final decision and finish up the work they deferred from their Oct. 21-23 meeting. Between now and Nov. 5th, letters and faxes need to be sent. We need to put down the hammer on our letter writing and faxing.

The other side brags that there are thousands of emails supporting Proposal 3, and only a handful supporting proposal 1 and 2. I have a hard time believing that there are more Prop 3 supporters than Prop 2 supporters, but the email process is out of our view.