We just finished at Douglas Lake, the fourth Elite tournament.
It was kind of nice, we got a boat slip so I could just walk up to the camper and have lunch with Amy and TJ – it was sorta nice!
Anyway, Douglas is a beautiful lake; sorta tough fishing! Had some moments during practice, but overall it has been pretty tough!
It's weird here, I've caught some really nice 17” and 18” smallmouth that you have to throw. You can only keep one smallmouth and it has to be 20” long so, I hope I don’t catch any of those in the tournament. If I do, I hope it is a big one!
There are a lot of fish in the lake, the tough part is figuring out what they want to bite; and I have not found that yet.
I tried everything, I even got some new River2Sea Bottom Walkers that I'm going to try, so, I am going to go out there and give those a try.
4/10/2012
John Murray - Florida to the Midwest
I was fortunate to get out of Florida – sort of unscathed – I ended up 47th in points after those two events; missing one cut by an ounce and making one by an ounce, so it sorta worked out.
Anyway, we spent a week after Okeechobee over in Naples with my Sister and her family. So TJ got to play with his cousin. Then we headed up to Table Rock and spent the last week there with Brett Hite and his girlfriend; just camping and fishing and goofing off!
After that, I went up to D&R Sports up in Kalamazoo, Mich. – Randy Van Dam’s place. I have heard about this place for years and I finally got to see it. I was there with River2Sea, I saw a lot of good vendors; a lot of good people and a lot of good customers; it was fun to just be talking fishing for two days!
So, after that, I went back to Table Rock for Easter with Amy and TJ, and then we’ll be moving over to Bull Shoals, Ark., the site of the next event and then this Friday I will actually be fishing a charity tournament over on Beaver Lake, for a kid’s charity.
So, I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks with the charity event and then Bull Shoals and get to fish in the next Elite.
So, It's a busy schedule, but it's been great weather everywhere we have been and I am really enjoying it.
Trying to get my mind wrapped around Bull Shoals right now; hopefully I can get a little bit of a plan figured out before we get out on the water!
Recently, I spent three days working the Bassmaster Classic at the River2Sea booth.
I hung out a little bit at the Mercury booth – the casting contest was a lot of fun to see all the fans – a tremendous turnout and a great Classic!
But now, it is time to keep moving. I went over to Toledo Bend a day or two and ran around on that lake and checked that place out since it has come back up – wanted to get more a feel to it since I was right there.
I drove all the way to Jacksonville, Florida - left my boat and truck in a storage yard and flew to Illinois and that is where I stand right now. It is 20 degrees up here.
We are packing the motor home. My wife Amy was waiting for her sister to have a baby; but now that's happened and it is going to be a great treat to get out of here and get down to Florida – ready to get down there where it is a lot warmer!
So, hopefully, we’ll be getting all our stuff together by the middle of the week and be down in Florida by the end of the week and ready to go for the first Elite Series event of 2012. Look for my new wrap; Advanced Angler on the truck and Ranger Boats and Lucas Oil on the boat.
So, I'm excited about the new partners, grateful for existing ones and looking forward to it – it has been a long lull for me; not fishing the Classic or anything since the WON Bass at Havasu before that. So, hope to have a good
season – I'm going to give it everything I’ve got.
1/29/2012
John Murray - Shasta Everstart Video Blog
Advanced Angler Pro John Murray fished the 0pening event of the 2012 FLW Everstart Series Western Division on Shasta Lake. Murray talked about the pattern he used to finish 27th and collect $1,100 in winnings with our own Jody Only who caught up with Murray after he weighed in on day two.
Check it out below.
JW Player goes here
1/22/2012
John Murray - ISE Shows and Shasta
After wrapping up packing and getting ready to go to the first tournament of the year. I headed up to the ISE Show in Sacramento Saturday and Sunday, I spent the weekend in the River2Sea booth. They always have a lot of great deals in that show.
After I left the show, I was off to Shasta for a week; I'm fishing the Everstart up there, and hopefully having a good time in all of this weather we're expecting. I am looking forward to getting up there; I love to fish on Shasta because you can catch a lot of fish, and you have the potential to catch some of the biggest spots in the country there and looking forward to go!
Before I left home, I got in a shipment of Arden Edge Elite reels and they are just an awesome reel! I am looking forward to getting out there, throwing those and getting used to them and seeing how far these will cast, 'cause I know my other Ardents cast a mile.
After the tournament at Shasta, I will be heading to the ISE Show in Las Vegas on February 4th. If anybody is out and around, stop by and say hi; I’ll be doing seminars at that show.
It's funny, the season is just getting started and I’m getting all myself and all of my stuff ready. As I was packing the Advanced Angler rig and getting ready to head up to Shasta, I was thinking that I couldn't wait to get on the road heading west – my favorite direction.
So hopefully, I'll get up there and catch a few nice ones.
So, I just got back from the Amazon in Brazil, and I took a couple of days to relax and reflect – so you know, first things about Brazil was the safety. It was just a great easy trip; no bugs; we sat on the beaches all week and never had a mosquito. I had more mosquitoes in Phoenix last week than I did in Brazil.
So, the safety and the comfort and the food was great and the rates were great. Everything was great about the trip. That was my first area of concern about the trip and it was awesome.
Fishing wise, I caught one on my first cast and I caught one on my very last cast – both of them about five or six-pound peacocks that just kicked my butt. So I had a great trip fishing wise and I even caught a couple of tens. I caught a ten pounder the second day on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper – rippin’ it real hard. But like Skeet said on his blog, most of the big fish, most of the fish for that matter came on jigs – they wanted to go down a little deeper because of the high water.
I had a great time; caught quite a few nice fish, but the biggest I caught were those tens though. Caught a lot of fish though; caught a couple of piranhas; caught all kinds of fish I don’t even say what they were – don’t even know what they were. So that was just the great part of the fishing trip.
As far as the overall trip, you know, I am a big baseball fan; so sitting around listening to Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay, and BJ Ryan, one of the better closers that retired a few years ago two of the best pitchers in the major leagues today – talk was amazing. Just listening to their stories about baseball; the ins and outs; and the personalities of players throughout the league was the best part of the trip.
It was just invaluable; it was just the best – because I enjoy that kind of stuff. You know, I love hearing all the ins and outs of the World Series and the Cy Youngs and all the awards that they have earned. I sorta sat like a fly at the back at night while we had some dinner and drinks and listened and really enjoyed that part of our trip.
I want to thank Skeet for the custom rods he and Ryan McCullough from Wright & McGill brought. They had a bunch of custom made Skeet Reese rods down there for all of us to use that saved us a lot of money of money getting rods down there.
I also want to thank River2Sea for getting me a bunch of baits to use while I was there too. It was just a great trip – a once in a lifetime trip for me and just, you know, I’ll probably – it’s been a good kick start for the end of the year – really makes me feel good going into the next year, it motivated me in a lot of ways listening to those guys.
I have finally packed my stuff for Brazil. My visa just got here the day before I left so I’ve been a little bit stressed about actually being able to go on the trip.
But, I am packed and ready to go. I kept it pretty light.
As far as tackle, I just got a shipment of Larry Dahlberg Whopper Ploppers and Wide Glides in from River2Sea; and I am REALLY interested to throw something like that cuz I figure if a fish is in the water that is big enough to eat those; well, I want to see that fish!
So, I can’t wait to be able to throw some of those big baits down there and see what actually comes out.
I think we are going to have an open mind about fishing down there. I think whatever bites is what I am going to be fishing for, whether it is piranha, catfish or peacocks I am just looking forward to going to Brazil – a place I have never been and do some fishing on a river I have never been and may never be again.
So, this is going to be a really fun trip; I am looking forward to it and it is once in a lifetime dream trips – you’re just really nervous to be going and get going on this trip!
So, I fly out this weekend; I’ll be back in about ten days and let you know how it goes!
I’ve been fishing a couple of tournaments; actually won one up in Roosevelt a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed catching some fish around here.
We’ve been doing a lot of guide trips out at Lake Pleasant and Lake Bartlett. Staying busy with a lot of out-of-towners coming to enjoy the Arizona weather. We’ve had some beautiful weather for the last couple of weeks and probably remain the same for the next couple of months so I will be busy doing a lot of guiding.
The last couple of days I have been out at Lake Saguaro with the FLW College Regionals. I was a camera boat – I got to follow some of the leaders around and watch them fish and attack the lake – it was fun! Just to see those young guys have energy and enthusiasm for their sport – and the way National Guard sets them up in those boats and they can fish for that kind of money is pretty impressive!
So anyway, thanks; wish they would have had it when I was in college, but they will still have in sixteen to seventeen years when TJ gets to college – I think it’s a great program for them; I think it is very worthwhile for those guys.
Anyway, I had a good time with that and now pretty much getting ready for Thanksgiving!
Going on a big fishing trip down to Brazil in a couple of weeks, so that is what I have been doing. I’ve been getting shots; trying to get my Visa and packing stuff; getting pretty jacked up to go down there and catch some big Peacock Bass.
So that is about it. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and I will talk with you later!
10/16/2011
John Murray - Lake Mead Still Rising
Anyway, it’s Tuesday and I just got back from Lake Mead; that’s a whole lotta lake right now!
The lake has come up another twelve feet from the U.S. Open; and I hear it is going to come up another 30 to 40 feet possibly. So it is just a carpet of salt cedar, shredded cover and tules. We were probably catching 40 to 50 fish a day; not a lot of keepers but we wound up with 19 some pounds and 10th place out of 110 boats.
I needed that big kicker, just never got it. Caught most of them on River2Sea Rovers and Hi-Dep 65 crankbaits. It was pretty much a reaction bite for us. When you found them, you found a whole lot, there was a lot of dead water in the lake, but when you got into the schools you caught a bunch fish out of one area.
So, fishing is good at Mead; I mean it is going to get better. Congratulations to Ray Hawk and Mark White for winning that tournament; they are two great fishermen and couldn’t deserve it more.
Anyway, I am back in Phoenix; fishing tournaments in Roosevelt and Pleasant. Going to be doing a lot of guide trips too, so if anybody is looking for a guide trip get a hold of The Hook Up and I’ll be able, be happy to get you out on Lake Pleasant or Lake Roosevelt or any of our local lakes and catch some good fish!
Other than that I am just enjoying Arizona weather, drying out and ready to get fishing some of the local lakes.
10/5/2011
John Murray - Phoenix and Beyond
Home, I’m back in Phoenix! My boat is dried out and I’m unpacked. TJ and Amy are back and I am off to Las Vegas for the ABA Championship up at Lake Mead this week.
I am fishing it with my partner Steve Molinari from Cabela’s; it is one of my favorite tournaments of all year; fall bite on Lake Mead.
We usually always get bad weather and it looks like we are going to get bad weather again, but the lake has come up another ten feet from the U.S. Open, so
I am looking forward to get up there.
I’ve got River2Sea’s 3/4-ounce Crystal Spin and a Crystal Buzz along with a Rover 128 topwater bait on. So I am going to do some shallow water fishing and covering some water; I think those fish will be up in the bushes this time of year up there as opposed to the Open when they were a little deeper.
Anyway, I’m packing up and getting everything ready; looking forward to getting up to the Sunset Station at Mead and fish for four or five days; see if I can figure out how to catch a few of those big ones and try to do well in the tournament.
It’s great to be back out West. It’s good to be home, and I wish we had a big circuit out here so we didn’t have to drive back East, but, it is what it is and I am happy to be heading to Lake Mead.
I’m at Oneida Lake; ready for the last Northern Open of the year.
I haven’t had too good a track record here so I am just going to go out fishing! I spent four days fishing here and Wednesday I didn’t go out because it was pretty rough. I fished for largemouth hard for the last two or three days of practice and I never found them, so, I’m going smallmouth fishing.
I caught one small mouth between four and five and some other three pounders so I’m going to do that for two days and just hope basically that I get lucky, I mean that is what you’ve got to do here. You’ve got to get those little bit bigger smallmouth to win here if you don’t have the large mouth going, and I don’t have them going.
So I am looking forward to a couple of days of smallie fishing. I am going to be using a couple of River2Sea products and see what happens; I’ll tell you all about it next week, and hope the story has a good ending.
I think part of this strategy here is really timing; so I think I have my timing down and so I think I know what the fish are doing at different times but again, these are smallmouth, so you never truly know!
We are in a salmon fishing town here in Pulaski and the salmon fishermen are just loading up right and left. Went up to the fish hatchery and saw these 20, 30 and 40 pound King Salmon up there swimming up the fish ladders; which was pretty cool!
I got a little different taste this time of year up here in New York and a lot different out West, I’ve really enjoyed my trip up here and hope I catch a few fish!
It’s Friday morning, and I got up this morning about 3:30AM and started driving over to New York. Left Illinois early in the morning so I could make that twelve hour trip over to Oneida for the last B.A.S.S. Open.
I am pretty excited to get over there and get fishing; I love Oneida, I mean it’s got a lot of small mouth and large mouth, and I just gotta figure out something to catch those bigger ones. That’s what I’m going to do and I’ve got five days for practice, so hopefully I can figure something out!
The last couple of days I have just been fishing; I’ve been fishing the local ponds around near Amy’s family farm. You know, it is funny about farm ponds, I have never paid much attention, but they have been loaded with frogs, so you pull up and you see all the frogs jumping in and you notice that frogs don’t really act like the frogs that you’ve been throwing for fishing.
So, I have been throwing the new Dahlberg Diver Frog from River2Sea, I had some samples to test and it has worked pretty dang good! What’s happening is it is more mimicking what the real frogs are doing in these ponds. I am looking forward to throwing it at Oneida, but that first cast the other day with that frog and the first time I threw that little one I caught something like a nice three to three and a half pounder which was one of the better fish I have caught this year in those ponds.
So when you see those frogs dive down to the bottom of those ponds you understand the methodology behind the Dahlberg Diver Frog and it really seems to mimic what true frogs do, so I am looking forward to adding that tool to my arsenal at Oneida and see if I can catch a few different fish that I never would have thought about before.
Anyway, so other than that, it has been loading everything up; after this tournament I will be driving back to Phoenix and the some tournaments out in Las Vegas and some other western stuff; I really can’t wait to get back out West. It’s been a good summer, but man, I’ve missed the West and that’s where I really want to get back to fishing!
Anyway, that’s all after the next tournament, and I will let you know how Oneida goes.
I just got done mowing the farm, so that was a fun day! But, anyway, I’ve been laying low the last couple of days after two hard weeks on Lake Erie. The first week at the Everstart Tournament in Buffalo, I had a great start and the last day I had a little mechanical difficulty and ended up 10th place; which was sorta frustrating.
I knew I was on some pretty good fish, but you know you gotta look at that stuff when you are out on big old Lake Erie, I mean there was some, even on the calm days, there were three or four footers beatin’ the heck out of you. So, went over to Sandusky the next day and really, had to wait for the service crews to get there to get a fix.
I didn’t get back on the water until Monday evening, so I really didn’t get until Tuesday to practice on Sandusky, so I sorta put all my eggs in one basket, going east toward Lorraine, and that first day of the tournament the wind blew out of the northwest and it was just stacked with eight to ten footers out there and I just didn’t have it in me to go down there, I just really didn’t after getting beat the week before.
So, I sorta chickened out and went to fish large mouth and didn’t catch much. So the last day I just kinda stayed around; my partner caught three nice four pounders that last day. So, I knew I wasn’t going to do any good at that point.
So from there, I went up from there to Michigan, had a day on the Lake Don Wirth for Bassmaster Magazine had a great time and now I am back in Illinois. So we are just going to hang out on the farm for a couple of weeks and get ready for Oneida.
We’ll probably try to get to Oneida for a few extra days of practice so that I won’t be unprepared for that tournament. It’s my last shot at the Classic – you know I have done well on that lake in the past and I’m going to spend some time and see if I can figure something out to do well there. So that is about it, having a great summer and hope we can keep going.
8/17/2011
John Murray - Farm, Fair, Family and Smallies
After ICAST and the U.S. Open I basically just spent as much time as I could hanging out in Illinois with Amy and T.J. and Amy’s family.
While we were there, we went to see TJ’s cousins and had some good fun up there. We took some time and went stream fishing out on the Fox River. I caught a nice 2 ½ - 3 pound smallie and a bunch of other small ones just wade fishing out in the river. That was fun; a different change of pace, something you don’t do in Arizona, that’s for sure!
I spent a little time just getting ready for my two tournaments at Lake Erie a big fair that I took TJ and all his cousins to. We all camped out in the motor-home for the week and just had a lot of fun! So, we had a couple of very relaxing weeks hanging out in Illinois, just enjoying what is there. TJ and Amy had a great time around the family.
Now, I am back in Buffalo, New York fishing an Everstart Tournament on Lake Erie. Lake Erie is my favorite lake and I’m having a lot of fun and catching a lot of fish. I haven’t caught a lot of the kind you need to do really well, but caught a lot of really good small mouth; it has been a really good couple of days.
Been laying pretty low the last week, had a family reunion last Saturday over in Iowa and other than that I have been doing chores around the farm; mowing and stuff like that. It’s been a pretty lazy couple of weeks and now it is time to get back to fishing, so looking forward to getting out here and see if I can find some of those giant smallmouth and do really well in the tournament.
Then, I follow up the Everstart event with a B.A.S.S. Northern Open on Lake Erie at the Sandusky Side.
7/27/2011
John Murray - ICAST - U.S. Open and Beyond
I made a stop in Phoenix after the U.S. Open and ICAST. Had a great ICAST show working for River2Sea and seeing a lot of new products. I spent two days at the show then went right into practice for the U.S. Open.
Getting back on Lake Mead was just a great experience. Every time I am on that lake I feel like I am home. The fishing was interesting because the water was coming up but I was still catching all my fish pretty deep.
I was catching largemouth and smallmouth mostly on a 1/2-ounce River2Sea Touchdown Football Jig tipped with a little green pumpkin Grasscraw by Wave Worms. They were really on a crawdad bite in that deep water, and I caught them anywhere from 15 to 50 feet of water. I also caught a few drop shottin’ on a little Wave Worms Tiki-Drop which is a little reaper type bait. The smallmouth seemed to like something small. I tried, but I never caught any top water fish, but its gonna happen soon.
I ended up with 12th place and I was happy with my finish. I did lose a couple of good ones that would have moved me way up, but that is the nature of catching those big smallmouth.
After a couple of days in Phoenix, I caught an early flight back to Illinois to see my little son TJ and my wife Amy. Amy came with me to ICAST; which was really nice, but I missed being with TJ the last two weeks and then I’ll have two weeks off.
I will be heading up to Lake Erie for two weeks for two tournaments. The first one is an FLW Everstart tournament on the Buffalo side and then I’ll drive around to the Sandusky side in Ohio and fish the B.A.S.S. Northern Open.
So I am looking forward to catching some more smallmouth – I just rearranged my tackle to fit that and shipped a bunch of stuff out to the farm where all my stuff is. I actually shipped out a butt seat and all the stuff you need for fishing Lake Erie; you know, wind socks and all that good stuff.
So I’m ready to go and get to go back and see my family. It has been a couple of great weeks, but I was definitely ready to get back to our motor home and see everybody.
6/20/2011
John Murray - Elite Series Season Over Wheeler Lake Wrap Up
The Elite Series season is over, and while I would say it was a good year; I didn’t accomplish my goal of making it to the Classic from the Elite Series.
I cashed checks in five of the eight tournaments this year; which is pretty good, but missing those three of those checks probably cost me the Classic. I finished 45th in the points, and even finishing those events with the last check would have probably moved me well into Classic qualifying range.
Despite all of that; having Amy and T.J. with me on the road has been really cool. Amy has made some great friends with the women on tour, and it was great to have them here and see them every day.
I almost missed the cut at Wheeler too. I had a tough first day and only weighed 9 pounds; but, I found a school late on the second day and came in with 13-7 for my day two limit. My total weight of 22-7 ended up putting me in a four way tie for 48th place.
When we looked at the standings, it showed me in 51st place; one place out of the money by an ounce. I was so frustrated to miss a check by an ounce; I couldn’t believe it. I left to go load my boat on the trailer, when Trip Weldon; our tournament director told me that the tie breakers worked out that I was fishing.
I talked to Mark Menendez; the guy I was tied with and he said he had burned up his fish, but I had just found mine. I ended up catching another 13-7 and moved up into 21st place.
I caught my fish by throwing a crankbait, a jig and a dropshot. I threw the crankbait on a Powell Endurance 804cb cranking rod with an Ardent XS1000 in 5.1:1 retrieve. I threw the jig on a Powel 765cb with the same Ardent reel in 6.3:1 retrieve and the dropshot was the Powell Endurance 714mhef spinning rod, an Ardent S2500 spinning reel on 8-pound fluorocarbon, with a 6” Roboworm on an offset shank hook and a 1/4-ounce River2Sea Tungsten Tear Drop Weight.
The crankbait was used when the fish were active, and the jig was when the crankbait kind of died down. I used the dropshot rig when they were really inactive and had kind of slid down off the side of the underwater point I was fishing.
Now I’m on to Table Rock Lake and the second PAA tournament of the year, then I’ll get ready for a run of tournaments that will include the rest of the PAA schedule, the U.S. Open back on Lake Mead, a team championship on Lake Mead and the Bassmaster Northern Opens.
It will be busy, but we’re going to kind of make a base at Amy’s family home in Illinois and work from there as a hub. I’m tired, and ready for a few days off, but we’ll get a couple after Table Rock.
6/14/2011
John Murray - Hot in Arkansas 5th place on the River
I just got here to Lake Wheeler yesterday, we missed the first day of practice, but it was well worth it after finally making a top twelve the other day.
Anyway, it was a great tournament, absolutely the perfect system for us. I found a good area down in Pine Bluff. The first day of practice I had almost 20 pounds on my best five so I mean by eleven o'clock I already knew the area was going to fish!
I had been catching them pretty good on a drop shot so I stuck with it and with the limited amount of time we had, I just figured it was going to be a better situation, to just get there and try to get my keepers each day; it's not easy, especially when you know you had three hours of fishing time.
I used a 7” Roboworm in Margarita Mutilator on 8-pound fluorocarbon on a Powell Rods Endurance 714MHEF spinning rod and a River2Sea Tungsten Skinny Drop weight. The Skinny Drop helped keep my weight from hanging up as much in the brushpiles I was fishing.
I was lucky enough to catch five the first two days. The last day and the third day I caught a big one finally and had one about 4-12 and I went to the area where I’ve been catching my big ones and I never caught one, so I only had four.
Then the last day I caught three keepers and, had a really slow day, so of course the day they have the cameras in the boat I don’t catch much, I caught like five fish all day, three keepers all day and then we have the drama at the lock.
While I was sitting at that lock yesterday afternoon I was thinking it was gonna be one of the biggest catastrophes in tournament fishing the Top Ten to get disqualified on the last day of weights, but somehow that guy got us through and we all get up there with six minutes late.
Luckily for Denny and those guys there’s enough to get them the win. For me, I just sorta stayed where I was going to stay either way. Anyway, it was just a great week.
Really tired, really worn out. And now I gotta go fish Wheeler, so that's why I took the day off, haven't done much today, we drove all day and then I haven't done much this afternoon. I think it's more important to get rested up and be fresh out there tomorrow, as fresh as you can be, than going out there tired.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to Wheeler, got somewhere in June. I got 4th, so I feel like I know how to catch a few fish here, I know it's a lot tougher this year but that's probably better for me anyway.
Hey, just wrapping up my last couple of weeks, we spent 10 days in Phoenix, sitting there with the last two weeks off.
Anyway, it was a beautiful couple weeks; we had nice weather there in Phoenix - actually went out to Lake Pleasant and, to threw the old River2Sea Rover 128, caught some nice stripers and some nice largemouths out there. So, fishing was good, but that’s the only fishing I did. Other than that I didn’t do much, we basically got the house ready. We're gonna shut it down, probably for the summer.
After this trip back to the Arkansas River in the last couple of tournaments we're gonna be spending our summer in Illinois some of my wife’s family farms, so T.J. will have a lot places to play up there and I'm gonna fish the Northern Opens out of Illinois.
So we have been pretty mellow, getting everything ready, shutting down the house, the pool, all that good stuff and looking forward to get back east again to go to the Arkansas River, go to Wheeler and then I’m scheduled to go to a P. A.A. Tournament at Table Rock after that.
We’re here in Arkansas it has been hot, humid, but you know there's a nice place we're staying at, a place called Burns Park, a lot of the guys are staying there.
Right across the street is a place called Funland so you can tell it's a great place for T.J. to hang out and then there's a water park there. So T.J. and Amy are going to the water park with a lot of the families, and I’m out here fishing the Arkansas River; an area I never fished before and actually a pretty good morning and couple big ones and you know a couple nice, good fish on, so this is pretty good.
I’m just going to have to figure out how to catch them consistently here, you know it's a lot of pressure on some of the good areas so I don't know how long they will hold up, I'm hoping for a couple of good days out of them. I've been impressed with the size of the ones that I’ve caught in practice, so hopefully we can set that up for the week.
Anyway, second to the last Elite Tournament until the Classic and I'm gonna give it heck!
Actually last week was a lot of fun. Had a couple of good patterns. I had a good drop shot pattern on the points, had to catch keepers and throwing the Rover 128 in the morning to try to catch a good one! I did catch a couple good ones on the first and the last day, but not enough of them.
But I had a fun trip anyway; very consistent as far as the drop shot bite, I could catch 10 to 20 keepers a day that way so that was sort of nice.
We had a great campground there, stayed with everybody there, everyone was close, right on the point of Dreher Island and the rest of us packed it up and then we headed over to Nashville. We are going to stay in Nashville for a couple of days, got a friend of ours in Nashville, and Amy wants to see a couple of things there, T.J. wants to play here, so that’s our plan., we’ll probably fly to Phoenix at the end of the week, spend a couple of weeks there catching up on the local stuff there.
So, yep, turned out good to finally get a check and fish on a Saturday again and keep my hopes alive to keep fishing and making the Classic. So it looks like it will be a full summer of fishing and I'm looking forward to it.
5/11/2011
John Murray - West Point Wrap
It’s after practice; I just got in; TJ is watching Barney; I’m going to have a little dinner, jump in the shower and go to sleep.
Anyway, this lake is totally different; Murray is very different than it was last year or three years ago. It is full, it looks different, it acts different. There are a lot of fish in this lake, getting them to bite is another story. It has been sort of a calm day and that is usually a tough day on this lake so if we get some weather it will cause them to bite a little bit more. There are plenty of fish on this lake to do well.
Last week was very frustrating. I had one good bite all weekend, and about a four pounder jumped off that cost me a check, so one of those tournaments that you know another one that just goes by where “coulda, shoulda, woulda “ type of deals.
I got on a pretty good bite the second day throwing a Rover 98, shallow. I caught almost 11 pounds and had a couple more good hits. After that I went up the river and tried to get a big one, I just never did, so it was all I could muster.
West Point is a nice lake, plenty of fish in there, I just made a bad decision that first day, went to some fish that weren’t biting, at least for me.
So now we are going to stay here at Murray and try to catch some fish; it is do or die time trying to win one and to get back in for a shot at the Classic.
Really didn’t want to have to fish all the Opens all summer, but it looks like I’m going to have to.
Anyway, we are having a great time; TJ and I are having a great time and we are just hoping to catch a fish sooner or later. www.johnmurrayfishing.com
5/2/2011
John Murray - Mark's Outdoors to West Point
I’m back in West Point and getting ready to go practice.
I had a great time at the Mark’s Outdoors Tournament representing Powell Rods there.
We had between 400 or 500 boats there, which is more than I’ve ever seen and actually was a pretty good time with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of prizes given away and handed out just so much more.
I caught a few fish and ended up getting I think 43rd out of whatever, 450 boats; whatever. And caught the tenth biggest fish and got a little money for that; so it was a good week
I caught all those flipping on a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver on a one-ounce River2Sea Tungsten Trash Bomb on a Powell 775 Endurance Flippin’ stick, and an Ardent XS1000 reel.
So fishing wasn’t real good, it wasn’t as good as I expected, I think there are still a lot up on beds, but with about 500 boats, you don’t really have a lot of choices. So you just sorta fish where you go.
And that’s it. We’re set up here at West Point with practice starting Monday. I can’t wait to see how this lake shakes out; it’s a new lake, so it’ll probably be confusing here for a couple of days.
TJ is all clean and he’s playing in the camper while I put this blog together, and that’s about it; not much else to report. Other than that, our hearts go out to all of those people on the south who were affected by the storms last week. It’s a terrible tragedy that I can’t say enough to try to help people feel better, but we’re thinking of them. Talk to you guys next week.
We came home to Phoenix and basically we did nothing. Well, I did nothing! My wife did a lot; she caught up on bills and paperwork and all that. I worked around the house a little bit and cleaned the pool, played with TJ, but not a whole lot.
TJ actually went to day care for a couple of days with all his friends down there and I worked on some tackle stuff and some maps trying to figure out where we’re going next. It’s not too stressful this week and that is pretty nice.
I just wanted to thank Reaction Innovations because they let me keep my motor home there this week and they gave me a nice place to keep it out of the way.
We’re flying in and out of Birmingham; flying in there on Wednesday and we will be at the Mark’s Outdoors Tournament on Friday and Saturday. This is a huge tournament with about 500 boats in this tournament that they have every year. I fished it last year and it was just a lot of fun with a lot of family entries in it. Last year it had probably 100 father/daughter, father/son type entries and is just a good event to see. It is a little crazy trying to fish a tournament in those conditions, but it is fun with all the activities and the tackle giveaways around it are just a good time!
That’s our plan, we’re going to fly into Birmingham, and we will go attend that and then will go to West Point, Georgia next week, kicking off the rest of the season. I am looking forward to it: with a win and you are in and you are never out of it this year to make the Classic.
That is my goal, to still make the Classic and keep moving up.
So, had a great little break, but I’m ready to get back to fishing!
4/20/2011
John Murray - Off the Mark at Toledo Bend
After my first day of practice at Toledo bend, I thought I was on the winning pattern. I started out fishing in deep water and my first cast of practice produced a ten pounder on a River2Sea Football Jig.
At that moment, I committed to fishing outside, and I went about looking to further build on the program. I knew I wasn’t going to get a bunch of bites, but when I did, they were going to be good. I had another backup plan that was in really shallow water with a dropshot, and I figured I’d get two or three bites a day deep, then fill in keepers shallow.
Then tournament day came.
I fished deep the whole morning and by 1:00 in the afternoon, I only had three little fish to show for it. So I went to the bank; caught a couple of small keepers to fill out my limit and went back out again looking for a big bite.
I got it; I caught a five pounder on that River2Sea football jig and twin tailed grub and then nothing else. I weighed in around 10 pounds; which wasn’t very good.
I started the second day out deep again, and couldn’t get any bites. So, I picked up my Powell Endurance 714 mhef; my Ardent S2500 spinning reel and a drop shot rig with a 6-inch Roboworm in MMIII. The result was that I caught a seven and a half pounder on an inside grass line. That meant I had made up from the low weight from day one; I just needed a solid limit; that didn’t happen.
I caught more small ones everywhere I went, and I ended up weighing 14 pounds; with the big one thrown in.
I completely missed the bite; in fact I was fishing on either side of it. The bite turned out to be in five to ten feet of water, and I was fishing too shallow or too deep. I really thought that with the amount of pressure Toledo Bend receives, and the additional pounding an Elite Series event brings; that I would need to fish deep; but it didn’t work out.
Basically; I tried to outthink the room, and I didn’t.
Anyway; we parked the rig in Alabama at a friend’s house and are flying home for a week to visit with my mom and kind of regroup for the rest of the year. We go to Lay Lake next week to fish the Mark’s Outdoors tournament there; so it will be a short trip; but a good one anyway.
I fished the South End of the lake on day one, and I caught 12 pounds, 7 ounces. I flipped for most of the first day and didn’t get any big bites.
Knowing that I needed a heavier bag to move up, I decided to try the other end of the lake, and something new. So I went to the north end of the lake and threw a spinnerbait and a vibrating jig, and caught 12 pounds, 7 ounces.
I just don’t get it; every time I come here I seem to catch 12 pounds; I think the lake is picking on me; just kidding, I just didn’t figure out the better ones.
I caught them on a Sweet Beaver and a craw on the first day, then switched to the River2Sea Crystal Spin and the vibrating jig on the second day. I flipped with my Powell Endurance 775 and threw the Crystal Spin and vibrating jig on an Endurance 764 C; both of them set up with an Ardent XS1000 reel.
Not that any of you really care how I caught 12 pounds a day at Pickwick, but that’s what I did.
We camped at McFarland Park there in Florence, and the campground was awesome. We were out towards the river, and I’m glad we were, because some of the guys got broken into back in the corner of the park. I wish they would catch them, because there seems to be a ring of bass fishing thieves in the area, because the Elite Series got hit two years in a row.
Outside of the thieves, everything else about the park was perfect; the kids could play and Amy and T.J. could walk to weigh-in each day; it really is a neat setup.
We took our time getting down to Toledo Bend because nobody is really getting any rest. T.J. is cutting molars and the poor little guy is uncomfortable and cranky; so he’s not sleeping very well.
We’re here now, and I’m doing tackle getting ready for practice. This was the site of one of my B.A.S.S. wins in the 2003 Open Championship, and while it was a different time of the year; it makes me feel a little more comfortable.
We’ll fly home next week for a few days between tournaments, we’ll get to see my mom who just had some surgery and spend a little time at home; then we’ll get back to it.
4/5/2011
John Murray - Lanier Spots and Pickwick Dreams
When I last left you last week and said I was going to get some better fish at Lake Lanier for the PAA Series event and I actually did. Ended up catching quite a few nice ones, caught a 5.87 spot probably the second biggest spot I’ve ever caught; it was a real beauty and probably worth the whole trip right there. I caught a 4 lb spot that same day.
I ended up in sixth place with 37 pounds, I was pretty happy with the finish and some really good fishermen beat me, and it was my first time on the lake, so I feel pretty good about it.
I was catching them pretty good the first day on a River2Sea Bottom Walker swimbait when it was cloudy. Then on the last two days it got sunny and I had to go to more of a jerkbait and a Chatterbait, something that would ride more up in the water column. I threw a River2Sea Suspen 88 jerkbait over submerged bushes and little points and just let it sit there; that’s how they wanted it fished.
Those fish at Lanier were so fat, and they’re so beautiful but they just didn’t want to eat much this time around. It was a great week, we all had a really great time and they really put on a first class event with great weigh-ins at Bass Pro Shops.
Now we’re here at Pickwick Lake waiting our way through some storms that were expected to bring some tornados and big hail; which will be interesting in a motor home. I’m catching a lot of little ones so far, but we’ve still got another half day of practice to get it figured out; so that’s what I’m gonna do.
We’ve got another beautiful campground here at Pickwick and it’s been a really positive trip all the way around for the whole family.
I want to take some time to thank my great sponsors for all of their support. The year has gotten off to a good start, and it wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t for the likes of Ranger Boats, Mercury, Powell Rods, River2Sea, Topwater Clothing, Ardent Reels and Advanced Angler.com.
Thank you again; your partnership has made it possible for us to take this adventure.
3/29/2011
John Murray – All In! Georgia on my Mind
Monday was my first day ever on Lake Lanier. I’m down here practicing for the PAA event this week, and I gotta tell you that coming to someplace new that I’ve never been to before can be a little intimidating. What makes that even more intimidating is that Lanier has so much water to fish.
My first morning went pretty well; I caught some really nice Lake Lanier spotted bass, but it started to toughen up in the afternoon. The truth is that the afternoon turned in to quite a struggle. But, part of being on any body of water for the first time is eliminating water as much as finding good water to fish, and I’m doing a little bit of both.
We spent the week between the St. John’s Elite Series event in Georgia camping in the All In family motor home. It was kind of neat to just hang out with Amy and TJ even though it was raining most of the time. There’s a couple of playgrounds near here that we’ve taken TJ to play at when the weather’s been nice and he’s had fun running and jumping at them; he’s having a ball.
Amy’s mom and sister are going to come down here this week, so Amy and TJ will have some company while I’m on the water, so that will be nice for them to hang out with them.
As far as my week goes, I’ve got two more days to tray and put something together and figure out these big Lake Lanier spotted bass. Hopefully it all comes together and we have a good week on the fishing end too.
www.johnmurayfishing.com
3/22/2011
John Murray - Twin Finishes in Florida 47th place and Two Checks
Two tournaments in the books, and I ended up 47th again at the St. John’s tournament.
It’s unbelievable actually, two identical finishes in tournaments on two different lakes; I finished 47th at the Harris Chain too.
Anyway, I did the sight fishing thing down at Lake George with most of the field, I didn’t find any big ones the first day but I caught a lot of keepers. Then on the second day, I found a big one and caught it right away; it was really nice to have a kicker in the livewells of my Z521 first thing in the morning. I found a couple big ones on day three, but I couldn’t make them bite.
I really caught them well on the River2Sea Nest Raider but I had the small one and on the second day I couldn’t find my bigger ones and it turned out to be a big no-no that I didn’t have my bigger baits in the boat, so I never caught those big ones on the last day.
Looking back, that’s the biggest thing I would change, I’d have put all my big stuff in the boat. I have the stuff to catch them real well; I just didn’t take them with me.
I caught them really well on a Texas rigged tube and I caught them on the Nest Raider on a Powell Endurance 775 and an Ardent XS1000 reel spooled with heavy fluorocarbon line. But, that’s about all I did was sight fish; I didn’t do any other sort of fishing.
It was really interesting, we stayed in a place that had zero cell service, and I parked under a tree so we had no satellite TV reception either. We did have a little bit of Internet connection until it got dark, and then that went away too.
It was a pretty remote weekend, we had a great time; we stayed in Salt Springs, Florida in a camp ground there.
Now, we are heading to Lake Lanier and the PAA tournament that’s starting next week. We’ll spend about a week and half there in Georgia and check out the areas there.
T.J.’s grandma and aunt are coming down to come see him, so we’re looking forward to that too. Overall, it was a decent start to the Elite Series season, now we’ll just see if we can move up from there.
3/14/2011
John Murray - Harris Chain Behind Us Harris and on to the St. John's River
Well, the first tournament of the season is behind me, and I’m okay with how it turned out.
Of course I would have liked to have finished higher than 47th place, but I took a chance on Saturday at moving way up in the standings, but it didn’t work out.
I’d been fishing in the same pond with Steven Browning, Kevin Wirth and Cliff Crochet, and when it the bite in there died on the third day; I decided to go look for some bigger fish in a different area.
I caught two small fish early, then I pulled up the MotorGuide and ran an hour through locks and canals to Lake Harris, and didn’t catch anything. Then it was an hour back, and by then, it was really time to start heading back to weigh-in.
I came to the scales with only three little fish, but it was that best day to have that happen. My 47th place finish was worth a paycheck, and some good points in the Angler of the Year standings.
My pattern for the week revolved around a Phenix Vibrating Jig and Flipping a Zoom Lizard; I caught my biggest fish of the tournament on the Vibrating Jig, but my best overall quality came on the lizard. I threw the jig on a Powell Endurance 764; an Ardent XS1000 spooled with 17-pound-test fluorocarbon. My Flipping set up was the Endurance 774 Flippin’ Stick with my XS1000 and 1/4-ounce River2Sea Tungsten weight on a 4/0 heavy hook.
I have to say how impressed I am with my new Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke. Not only did my Ranger Z521 hit 69.7 MPH with a full tournament load and full livewells, but I only ran one full tank of fuel through it for the week. I am really happy with this motor.
Even though I wanted a higher finish, I’ll take it, and head to the St. John’s River to start practice for this week’s tournament.
It was great to have Amy and T.J. here, the motor home worked out really well, and they both enjoyed themselves.
Amy had fun with the other wives. She got a chance to0 get to know some more of them at Becky Iaconelli and Norma McCaghren’s baby shower; which she really enjoyed. T.J. had a blast being a boy in the campground. He played in the dirt and got all banged and bruised trying to climb around the Cypress knees; which he didn’t seem to enjoy too much.
We’ve gone the hour over to the St. John’s River, and we’re all set up and ready for the week, we’ll talk to you next week.
3/8/2011
John Murray - In Florida Camping, Cops and Fishing
My friend Brandon and I made the drive to Florida from Phoenix last week and got here and settled so that Amy and TJ could fly in on Tuesday. I’m kind of glad we did it that way, because that was a hard three days on the road, and getting here quickly was probably a little easier on them.
I think she was a little out of sorts at first, but now that she’s had time to get settled and get the motor home organized to her liking, I think she’s feeling a lot more comfortable with everything.
Our first night together here was interesting because it was like we were in an episode of Cops or something. We got woken up by three police cars here in the campground, which was apparently because there was some domestic violence thing going on with around here.
They stopped outside of our campsite and looked around. Amy and I were a little freaked out initially, but it all settled down and turned out alright. Now our only problem neighbor is the hoot owl who seems to have taken up residence in the tree over our motor home.
James and Sandy Niggemeyer and their kids Daniel and Abigail are in the campsite next to us; which is really cool. I remember James from the old days of the western tours, and now to have him and his family next to us in the campground is pretty cool. Plus, TJ and his kids are playing together, which makes things a lot of fun for all of them.
I spent my first morning of practice getting a feel for everything, and the truth is that it will probably take a couple of days to get something figured out. I caught a two and a half pounder right off the bat, and saw a few others up throughout the day, but we’ll see what I can pull together the next couple of days.
I just got finished fishing the FLW Everstart tournament on Lake Roosevelt, and after winning the WON Bass tournament there the week prior I had high hopes of closing out another win.
The bite this week was totally different than last, last week I caught most of my fish deep and this week it was just the opposite. I was only able to catch one deep fish before I had to go shallow and I spent the rest of the tournament there.
I had saved a spot from the Won Bass and it quite a bit of effort to get to that. So much effort that my boat is having the wrap majorly repaired after that tournament. I fought my way through a bunch of brush to get there and when I did I saw an aluminum boat back there that turned out to be Ken Howden; the winner of the tournament. It feels really good to have found the winning fish two weeks in a row but it would have felt even better to actually been able to fish them.
I still did okay, I made the top ten cut in ninth place after two days and was able to move up to fourth overall; which is pretty good.
My approach had to change every day because the fish changed so frequently; I caught them on different things every day. The first day I caught them on a jig, the next day I caught them flipping a Texas rigged soft plastic crawdad and the third day I caught them on a River2Sea Crystal Spin spinnerbait.
What changed on the third day was that we got some cloud cover and instead of being able to flip them in the cover I think they loosened up in the open spaces between the cover. I threw the 5/8th crystal spin in chartreuse shad on my Powell Endurance 764 with an Ardent XS 1000 reel and 20-pound-test fluorocarbon.
The Crystal Spin really made a big difference because the water is so clear at Roosevelt. The Crystal Spin had a translucent body molded around a bismuth-tin insert that really gives a lifelike appearance in the clear water. My co-angler that day was using a regular spinnerbait and by the time I had caught 10 bass and he had only caught his first one he started asking what I was doing different, and I believe it just came down to the lure.
I had my best weight of the tournament on day three and it moved me up in the standings. It was good to finish high again, I feel like I’m fishing pretty well and I can’t wait to get started again.
Amy is packing up the motor-home for the year then I’m going to be working the ISE show in Phoenix this weekend, where I’ll be doing seminars every day. Then after that we’ll get ourselves on down to Florida will the season is about to kick off.
Talk to you next week.
2/13/2011
Murray All In: Murray Wins on Roosevelt
John Murray Video-Blog following his 8th Won Bass Victory.
2/8/2011
John Murray - Getting Ready for Roosevelt Two Tournaments Ahead
I don’t have too much to report this week; I’m up at Roosevelt livin’ in the motor home while I practice for the WONBass Pro-Am and the FLW Everstart tournament.
I had the boat over and Liquid Wraps to install the wrap to my Ranger Z521 and Mercury Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke, but when they started to print the job, they had a problem with the printer. I guess they’re ordering some parts for it, and when they get them in, I’ll take it back over there.
The wrap art looks pretty cool. It’s all dark charcoals and grays with some really cool striping in the wrap, with the Advanced Angler.com logo at the center of the boat, and River2Sea in there as well. I’ll be excited to get it finished because that means the last big project is done and I can focus on fishing. I’ll share the wrap with you when it’s finished.
I had my first practice day on Roosevelt Monday, and I had a pretty good day. It was a Monday, and weekdays are usually better than weekends for fishing, but I had a little over 15 pounds; a pretty good day. I caught them mainly on two River2Sea baits, and they were… I’ll tell you in a couple of weeks after the tournaments.
Well, there’s not much else to say, except that I’m sittin’ in the motor home with the heater on and the satellite TV goin’ and I think I’m gonna call it a night; I’m really comfortable.
1/31/2011
John Murray - A Pleasant Surprise A Tournament Win and a Dry Run
I fished an ABA Team tournament on Bartlett Lake over the weekend with my friend Steve Molinari who used to own Southwest Marine here in Phoenix.
We had a good day on the water, it was a tough tournament. The bite was a brief reaction bite in the morning followed by deep jigs after that. We weighed almost nine pounds for our five fish limit and while it wasn’t a great day for big fish, we caught quite a few keepers.
The great thing about tough tournaments is that they can be some of the easiest tournaments to win, and guess what? We did.
It was great to feel the thrill of the victory again; it’s been a couple of years since I won a tournament, and I’m excited about it. The cool thing is, that Pleasant is the toughest of the Phoenix lakes for me and to win on there is a great feeling.
Hopefully, this is the start of new momentum going into the 2011 season.
We had an interesting thing happen the other day. It was cleaning day for the motor home, and while Amy was inside cleaning, I was outside putting some stuff together. We put T.J. up on the bed over the cab with a DVD to watch. I guess he decided it was boring, so he tried to go visit his mom, and took a header off the bed onto the floor.
Maybe he’s not ready for that big of a bed yet, we’ll have to figure out some other sleeping arrangements for him.
We had satellite installed in our motor home today for the road, at least that way we can keep up with the news and info while we’re camping as we traveling the country.
Other than that, Amy is studying hard for her real estate license exam that she’s taking before we leave. She’s been working hard on that, and I’m sure she’ll do fine.
We’re taking the motor home up to Lake Roosevelt for a dry run here pretty soon, my next couple of tournaments are up there, and it’s a good time to give the new lifestyle a try.
We’ll talk to ya’ soon, maybe with another win or two under my belt.
I’m back in Phoenix after spending Friday and Saturday at the ISE Show in Sacramento.
I worked those days for my newest sponsor River2Sea, and I got to be a part of the Ultimate Bass Round Table deal that they do up there. Being a part of the group was pretty cool. That was a pretty stout group of fishermen who were taking those questions; Gary Dobyns, Ish Monroe, Skeet Reese and Cody Meyer were on the panel.
It was pretty cool to see Skeet get nominated for the California Hall of Fame. I’ve been his roommate on the road for several years, and he works really hard to be as good as he is; I was really proud of him for getting that induction, and happy for him too.
It was good to be able to spend that much quality time with the guys at River2Sea. Being from Arizona, I do most of my business with my sponsors by phone, and being able to spend that kind of time with them is really cool.
The show was really busy the two days I was there and the River2Sea booth was packed most of the time. I watch a bunch of product get sold in that booth, and I can’t wait to start using more of it myself. I’ve used some of their products in the past, and have been impressed, but the new stuff they’ve got is really cool. I can’t wait to work with them more and seeing what we can do together.
I’ve got a couple of team tournaments coming up here in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll start practicing for them this week. I’m looking forward o getting back into competition, I really love fishing tournaments.
Well, I’m hanging out at home with Amy and T.J. and I can’t think of anyplace I’d rather be, talk to you next week.
1/17/2011
John Murray: Shasta Everstart Tournament Figting Colds, Chasing Big Ones and Great New Boat
I told you last week that I wasn’t fishing for points or a check at the Shasta Lake Everstart Series tournament, and I didn’t.
I found some fish up the Sacramento River arm that were good ones, and I went after them. In fact, I had a couple of big schools of fish that had the kind of fish that could have put me way up the list. I could see them on my Lowrance HDS and Structure Scan, but I just couldn’t make them eat.
I spent most of the day up there on the first day of the tournament, and I came back with five little ones for just over five pounds. The next day I decided to try the other arms of the Lake, and ended up with five fish for around four pounds.
I used a Powell spinning rod, five-pound-test line and a wacky rigged worm with a River2Sea Tungsten Nail Weight in them, and I still couldn’t make them bite. I love tough tournaments; those are the easiest to win if you’re on your game. The slugfests are all about being the one to catch the most, biggest fish, not these.
The upside of the tournament, I got to knock my rust off a little, and I got to put my new Ranger Z521 and Mercury Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke through its paces; more on that in a minute.
The downsides of the trip were; I was away from Amy and T.J. for a week, I got a head cold in all of the rain and wind, and that is a really long ride from Shasta to Phoenix when you don’t cash a check.
Well, now I’m home with Amy and T.J. and I can mend and get ready for Lake Roosevelt next month. I’ve got a few guide trips and a couple of team events to do, but I’ll be thinking about Roosevelt too.
Back to the boat; I love it. I burned just under 25 gallons of fuel in three days of practice, and I saw the whole lake. I wasn’t running full throttle, but I was doing okay. Even during the tournament, running all the way up the Sacramento River arm, and then the Pitt, Squaw and McCloud Rivers on the second day; I still burned only 25 gallons in two tournament days. I think this new Verado Pro Four Stroke is going to help me save some money on fuel.
What was really cool was that it was pretty easy to get the boat to 70 MPH. My Ranger Z521 is a pretty big boat, and this motor pushed it pretty well; I can’t wait to do a little more with it and see what it can do even more.
I just got my jersey art back from the guys at Rayjus, and I think they look pretty good. I can’t wait to see the finished product, but I’ll go ahead and share the proof with you here.
1/11/2011
John Murray - Shasta Everstart Practice It's Colder Than Phoenix Up Here
Amy and I went with our friends Brent Ehrler, Brett Hite and our Western Region Ranger Rep Keith Tripp to a cowboy bar in Cave Creek, Ariz. on Friday night. We were at a place called The Buffalo Chip for a bull riding competition, and it was a lot of fun.
Ehrler was there in the middle of the bar in his surfer boy jeans and tennis shoes wearing an Abu Garcia sweatshirt; he was really not the main demographic of the place. B-Hite, who lives in the area, is starting to fit in a little more, and Tripp is a cowboy at heart, so he was right at home.
It’s funny to see how good Brent and Brett have become in this sport. I’ve known both of them since they were young, and just starting out in the sport, and now here they are, Super Stars. I’m really proud of them and happy for them too.
I’m up here in Northern California for the first event of the Everstart Series Western Division schedule. The first thing I’ll say is – it’s cold. We’ve had some great weather in Phoenix for the last little while, and this is going to take some getting used to.
Despite the cold, I’m only going to be able to fish a couple of these events with the schedule I’m planning to fish this year. So, I’m not fishing here for a check; I’m looking for a little better quality fish.
With that thought in mind, my first day of practice sucked; one rat after another. Typical Shasta, catch a bunch of little knotheads for hours in search of the right bites.
I fished the FLW Series National Guard here a year ago, and this place couldn’t be any different. Last year, the lake was down more than a hundred feet, and this year they are working to keep it stable at 40 feet down for the runoff and flood control.
The one thing I’ll say is that the weather is going to change and these spotted bass always adjust during the rainy weather; a lot. I know someone’s going to catch at least one really good bag then hold on to be there at the end. I think it’s going to take 30 to 33 pounds to win, the WON Bass event here last week took almost 22 to win, so that should be about right.
1/3/2011
John Murray - New Year’s and New Boat Bounce Houses and Ready for Tournaments
I thought my boat was ready when I went to Glendale the other day, but I guess I jumped the gun a little; it wasn’t quite there.
It’s supposed to be on Tuesday now, and I can’t wait.
Anyway, New Year’s was mellow. Now that Amy and I are old married folks with a kid, we stayed home and went to bed. It worked out kinda cool though, because the next day, when we went to a couple of New Year’s parties, we weren’t hung over like everyone else and could enjoy our brunch.
One of the parties made T.J.’s day because it had a jump house. He loves those things, and even though he was the smallest kid there who was getting bounced around; he had a blast. He really held his own, and had a great time doing it.
Back to my Ranger, I’m going to get it ready, and load it up for fishing. I’ve got a couple of educational guide trips that the guys at The Hook Up Tackle set up for me, and I’ll use that time to get it broken in and work out some of the bugs. These guys want to learn more about using electronics, so those days should be a lot of fun.
After those trips, I’ll head to Shasta in the middle of the month for the Everstart up there, then I’ll start practicing for the WON Bass and FLW Everstart tournaments that will be on Lake Roosevelt.
I’ll also fish a few team tournaments around here too, I’m a tournament fishing junkie, and I use the time to get tuned up for the season, and I could stand to make a little bit of money with the time to head east coming soon. I know some of the local guys bust my chops about fishing team events, but they’re just good ways to get out there and stretch a string a little.
I’m pretty excited too, my boat wrap for the year is going to be Advanced Angler.com, so not only will I be doing a bunch of communicating on the site, but my boat and jersey are going to be sharing it with people everywhere too.
My artwork is being done now, I’ll share it all with you when it’s finished.
12/27/2010
John Murray - My Boat is Here New Boat, Christmas and New Plates for the RV
I just got a call from the Ranger dealer at Cabela’s in Glendale, and my new Z521 has arrived. My Mercury Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke came in a little while ago, and now that it’s here, they can install the motor. We’re all excited about it, because this is the first one of the new Pro 250 Verados that any of us have seen, and we can’t wait to run it.
I’m still waiting on my Lowrance units, but those can be installed later; I can’t wait to get the motor out and run it. I should be out there sometime next week driving it around and getting a feel for it. I can’t wait either, this is the first time I’ve been without a boat in a while, and I can honestly say I hated it.
I’ve had to pass up fishing trips, and I’ve even had to turn down a couple of guide trips lately, so this will be a good thing to get my new boat. The upside to being without a boat is that I’ve been able to get more organized, but more importantly, I’ve spent some great time with Amy and T.J.
We had a great Christmas; we went to my Mom’s house on Thursday, spent Christmas Eve with some friends in the neighborhood, and more family stuff on Christmas day. I ate too much and watched T.J. make out like a bandit. He’s got more toys now than he knows what to do with, and I still think he’d rather be playing with plastic worms or in my truck. He’ll spend an hour in there turning on the 4x4 button and changing the radio stations, he just has a blast.
We got the license plates in for the motor home the other day, and when I opened them, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t do personalized plates, and they came back AMY8995. Amy thought I ordered personalized plates for it, but I assured her I didn’t, besides, I probably would have chosen a different number for it if I had. Sometimes I would choose number 1, and sometimes 666, you just never know; I’m kidding.
We took it as God’s assurances to us that we had made the right decision in Amy quitting her job and her and T.J. coming on the road with me. It was one more confirmation that this coach was becoming more and more like our home.
I’ve got a meeting this week with a sponsor, and hopefully it will turn into something positive, but for now I’ll get back to organizing tackle. Ya know, I’ve tried everything I can think of in the past 20 years for storing spinnerbaits, and I can honestly say that I’ve never found a good way to store them, I guess I’ll get a plastic bag.
2010 is coming to an end, and that means we are getting closer to Amy’s last day of work. The whole thought is exciting and a little scary at the same time. I’ve never gone on tour with family like this, but knowing how good I feel when they’re around me gives me a lot of hope for the season.
I’m still prepping for the year, and because I sold my boat so long ago, my shop looks like a mess. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to reduce the amount of tackle I’ll carry this year. I’m sure that it probably needed to happen anyway; I had a lot of stuff, but that’s not the main reason.
Amy’s already told me that I’m not allowed to have any tackle in the motor home on tour; it all has to be in the truck. Part of the reason is because of trying to keep clutter down in the coach, but also because of T.J. He has a tendency to get into my tackle and play with plastic worms. Then, once he gets in there, I’ll find them in areas of the house I didn’t know a lure could go. I found a soft plastic crawdad in my bed the other day.
I think it’s a lot of fun to watch him play with them. He’s got hundreds of toys around here, and he’ll leave all of them alone to play with a Roboworm or a soft plastic crawdad. Actually, I can watch him play for hours and I enjoy every minute of it, but he’ll turn around sometimes and have a bait or two sticking out of his mouth, and that cracks me up.
The good news about my tackle storage situation is that I’m running the new Mercury Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke on my Ranger Z521 this year; which saves me space in the truck. I normally have to carry eight cases of oil in the bed of my truck when I leave Phoenix for the year, and I won’t have to this year.
That extra space is going to make it easier to load the truck. Plus, I really loved the Verado the last time I ran one, which was 2006. The electronic steering and shifting was really smooth and the motor was quiet and powerful. I hear they’ve made this one even better.
I am anxiously awaiting my shipment of Powell Endurance rods, the new series that my rod sponsor put out this year. It’s been a while since I had a whole new set of rods, and can’t wait to get them. I’m also waiting on a full set of Ardent reels, I’ve been playing with the XS1000 casting reels and the S2500 spinning reels will be awesome on the new Endurance rods.
My boat’s almost here and I can’t wait to get started. Like I said last time, Amy, T.J. and I are all in, ready to go.
I’m sitting here in the garage, working on tackle and thinking about the season ahead, and I’m really excited about it. 2011 is going to be a busy year for me; I’ve got a lot of tournaments on the calendar. I’m fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series, the Bassmaster Northern Opens, a few Everstart Series events and some of the PAA Series.
Being busy is good for me, I think back to 2007 when we had 11 Elite Series events, the Classic and four majors, I really didn’t have time to think about anything other than fishing. That schedule kept me on my toes, and it helped me stay focused on the days ahead, and this year should be a similar type of year.
While I’m fired up about the fishing, I’m even more excited about it because my wife Amy and son T.J. are going to be coming on tour with me. Last season was hard for me because I felt like I was missing so much of T.J. as he grew up. I was on the road for his first birthday, and so many other milestones that it became distracting for me.
Amy and I decided that now is the time for us to do this together, so we bought a 32-foot Tioga Class C motor home and are in the process of deciding what stuff has to go in to the RV from the house. I’m really excited that they are coming with me this year because I’ll have my family with me on the road; it’s something Amy and I started talking about two years ago.
I’ve had some friends ask me what we’ve named the house on wheels and the one that seems to stick is All In! Really, that is the best description of what this year is, because that’s what the vehicle represents for both of us. Amy has given notice at her job, and I’ve decided to focus totally on providing for them as a professional angler; so we’re both all in.
Not that I’m a fan of cards, I play occasionally, but that’s the best way to describe it. I’ll be going out first with the boat and truck, then flying back home so that we can all drive out together, and we’ll be like the other nomads on tour who camp.
It’s a little nerve wracking for us because neither one of us has ever been campers, so it will take a little while for us to get accustomed to it. We’re going to go out a few times around home and take some dry runs at it so we can get used to the camping procedures.
We’ve talked to some of the other families who camp, and Kevin and Kerry Short have been really helpful with information about campgrounds and other resources. All I can say is that I’m totally locked in and looking forward to getting started, my goal will be to make the Classic, and I feel good about where things are going.
I used a Powell spinning rod, five-pound-test line and a wacky rigged worm with a River2Sea Tungsten Nail Weight in them, and I still couldn’t make them bite. I love tough tournaments; those are the easiest to win if you’re on your game. The slugfests are all about being the one to catch the most, biggest fish, not these.
