Haven't been on the water for several days

[Red Childress]

because I went to Virginia to visit with my family since the fishing got tougher this month. We will pound the river on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for my last 3 guide trips of the summer. I will be heading to Lake St. Clair Monday for a week-long fishing vacation before school starts with Charlie and the horseshoe man.

Hopefully, we will have some big spotted musky photos to share when we return. We plan to fish the US side of the Lake and have some killer waypoints to start with when we arrive. We haven't been there since 2011 so I am sure some things have changed. It is always fun to dissect new water while trying to put together a successful program.

Good Luck the rest of the month...........Fall is fast approaching!

[Ivan]

Good luck on your trip Red. I think I saw Charlie at Chautauqua in Dewittville over the weekend. I haven't seen his boat out there for years, but he used to be there quite a bit.

[Red Childress]

Yes, that was Chuck. He has been so dang busy with his tournament circuit plus all the TV stuff he and Doug have been doing for Zippo/Case the past few years. Those guys are pretty big time now with full sponsorships and new boats to use. I have had him on the river only 2 times in the past 3 years!

Thanks for the good luck wishes........hopefully, we will not need much luck but you never know with these slippery critters. We will be casting our brains out between Anchor Bay and Grosse Point.

[Bob Seybold]

Red, August 27th thru the 30th B.A.S.S. has an Elite Series Tournament on St. Clair. Good fishing to you all !!!!!

[Red Childress]

I wonder where they are launching from? I will have to check into that in a minute. IIRC, the Elite series tournaments has a max of 50 boats and is based on performance through a certain point in the current season.

At 227,000 acres, I think there will be just enough room for our boat to squeeze in there for 5.5 days of musky fishing.

[Bob Seybold]

Launching out of Metropark, Harrison Twp. Approx. 150 boats first two days, third day 50 and last day 12 cut of boats. Good luck, get some biggins !

[Red Childress]

We are launching near St. Clair Shores and heading South a few miles to check our WPT's and weed growth there first thing on Monday afternoon. I must have seen the second and third days of this tournament before on ESPN when they had already narrowed the field down to 50 then 12 for final day. I bet we do see several tourney boats on Day 1.

Did you enjoy your trip to the Ottawa?

We hit some nice bass and walleye and a few pike the past few days. No musky chasing at all.

[Red Childress]

We are launching 8 miles away from the Bass tourney.....may just slide by there and check out weigh-ins one of those days. I bet they have gotten bit off a few times while pre-fishing the past several days!

[Red Childress]

Vicious cold front so far and water temps have dropped 5 degrees this week....winds changed last note from North to South and warming up. Caught and missed several fish with 2 tankers lost and a huge follow. Having to grind hard with Bucktails and rubber.

[Bob Seybold]

Red, hope the fishing is good for you guys ! Hey if you go to weigh-in could you get Brandon Palanuik's autograph, he is leading after day three by over two pounds :-) just kidding ! Hope your trip produces some giants, heard of some big 50's being caught casting. Hope weather cooperates in your favor. Had a great time on the Ottawa. Discouraged at myself for knowing far less than I thought I did not know. Maybe I should stick to Bass fishing. Be safe. Bob

[Red Childress]

The forecast was way off for this past week. Wow! We fished in sweats and goretex most of the week but we grinded HARD and netted some fish as well as averaged about 8-9 follows per day. Wednesday was a big-fish-type day for us with 2 big fish lost at boatside and 2 more followers....one of which was one of those fish you never forget. We saw fish from 20 to mid-50 inch class but most all of them just nipped at our stuff all week except for Monday nite and Tuesday morning.

We stayed in the same hotel as KVD and saw some really nice bass boats. The tournament did not interfere with us because most of those guys traveled to the Canadian side of Belle Island and caught the size bass needed to cash a check. 4 pound average smallmouth is what the top guys had heading into today's final day.

If you have not ever had bumpy cake, you must order one from Sander's located in Detroit. They deliver via US Mail after October 1.

[Bob Seybold]

Several years ago Wendy and I had the honor to eat at the same table with KVD at Applebees, next to the Harrisburg Bass Pro Shop when he was there. Paid to of went to school with one of the Managers. An awesome, down to earth guy ! Their boats are amazing ! What is bumpy cake ?

[Red Childress]

He seemed real cool and told us about his secret to catching muskies on LSC (he is from Michigan in case you did not know). He netted more muskies than we did while he was pre-fishing the day before the tourney!!

A few of the top teams ran up the St. Clair River and fished the shipping channel on the lower end of Huron.....really neat story if you care to read the BASS site.

Here is the Bumpy cake summation:

http://www.sanderscandy.com/Articles.asp?ID=353

[Bob Seybold]

Ummmm !! the Bumpy Cake looks and sound yummy ! That does not surprise me about KVD. He finished 63rd at LSC, his Nephew JVD finished 8th, The good part KVD made 23rd overall for the regular season and eligible for the Classic ( Last year he did not ) He likes northern fisheries and loves Smallmouth fishing. He probaly was not using 8lb. fluorocarbon :-)

[Red Childress]

He was drop shotting (I think) due to the cold front that moved through that week and managed to not get bitten off. It seems like every time I fish a severe cold front (especially on lakes), the bass guys end up having some good musky action due to their "low and slow and smaller" presentations. It sounds like last week was no exception.

Davy Hite and JVD were both parking their boats next to ours. We would get updates from them each night as we were coming off the water and they were still in their boats rigging for the next day.