5/24/2011
Ehrler's Edge: Red River Round Up

Well the FLW Tour Red River event just wrapped up and I'm happy with a top ten finish.

This was my second trip to the Red River.  Last year we practiced for 3 days and then the event was cancelled.

My pattern for the event was flipping and cranking.  My flipping rig was the Yamamoto Flappin' hog with a Picasso 3/8ths ounce tungsten weight and a 3/0 Owner hook. 

When it came to cranking I had my favorite two baits tied on, the Lucky Craft RC 1.5 and a BDS 1 Crankbait in a variety of shad patterned colors.

One thing I can say about the Red River is that is a "snakey" place.  I saw at least 5 snakes a day.  I had one eat a frog, but I didn't hook it. Several times I had a snake swim right to the boat and try to climb in.  There was a five footer that was  40 or 50 feet away and when it saw us it made a b-line for us. I had to swat the water in front of him with my rod to keep it from coming into the boat.  Now I don't know the difference between a water snake and a moccasin, but in my opinion they all look venomous when they are swimming at you.

The Red River is a true test to all of your equipment.  It's the "stumpiest", "snagiest" place you will ever be.  I can't tell you how many times I got stuck.  I'd get stuck where my motor was completely out of the water.  You'd literally have to rock the boat just to get the motor into the water.  Other times I was trying to get into a backwater, I'd hve to trim my motor down into the water and plow my way back into places I probably shouldn't be. I really felt like I was in a jeep and I could get through anything.

Running the River itself is pretty dangerous as well.  I used my 1197 Humminbird zoomed out and I'd literally follow the track line on the screen to navigate through some very narrow channels.  I didn't use the side imaging much in this event due to the depth and water clarity I was fishing in, but that giant screen and GPS definitely came in handy.

I'm up at Kentucky Lake pre-practicing for the event here in late June. I'll fish here for a couple days before I head out to the Potomac River for the FLW Open event, practice starts on Sunday.

It fishes pretty similar to the Delta, except it has a smaller tidal change. At the Potomac the water level changes 1.5-2 feet while the California Delta has a 3 foot tidal change, give or take a few inches.  The primary fishing style is flipping into the pockets of grass at low tide and at high tide I'll do some shallow cranking.

I've been to the Potomac a few times and haven't done exceptionally well there. I did learn a lot from those trips and I think I have a better chance now that I have better  feel for it. 

Also, since those events on the Potomac I have fished the California Delta quite a bit and have gotten better in that type of water.  Looking ahead, it looks like I will be fishing similarly to how I did at the Red River, flipping and shallow cranking. I might able to get a few frog fish as well.

Following the Potomac event I am fishing a Celebrity event for Yamamoto at Old Hickory in Nashville with some Country music stars.

Currently I sit in fourth place for the FLW Tour AOY race with two events left.  Unfortunately, the postponed event from earlier this year has been moved to right on top of the date our baby is due. That could make for an interesting dilemma.  If I have a realistic chance for the AOY title and our baby doesn't come a little early I might not be able to fish that event.  I hope it all works out.

3/10/2011
Ehrler's Edge: Beaver Lake Ups and Downs

Pre-fishing was tough. On the first day of practice we had crazy weather. It was overacast and raining, but still like 70 degrees and they were biting good. I didn't get a whole lot of bites in the morning, but in the afternoon they started biting like crazy. I ran around and caught quite a few. I was throwing a Lucky Craft 2.5 DD and just running the bank. I ended up with about 12 pounds in a little over 45 minutes.

Then I switched to my signature series Phenix Casting jig. Beaver Lake fish like finesse jigs so I trimmed it up a little and used a Yamamoto Flappin' hog for a trailer. I casted that around and got quite a few bites. I started to think this was going to be a fun tournament. I had at least 15 bites that day and things were looking up.

The next day it was really windy and raining in the morning and then it cleared up. I kid you not, I didn't have a single bite until about 1:00 and then I caught a short fish. I went until about 5:30 PM before I caught a keeper. Which changed my thinking to "this is going to be a bad one."

On day three, I went out and fished all day and caught just 1 keeper. My practice was a real struggle. I threw the Slender Pointer 112, the Pointer 100 DD and the Pointer 78. I caught quite a few fish, but they were all small. It was not easy and left me feeling I only had a couple areas where I could catch fish.

On day one I ran to an area where I thought I could catch fish with the crankbait. That wasn't working, so I switched to a fish head spin with a Yamamoto grub. I was able to catch two, a three-pound smallmouth and a pound and a half spotted bass. I had four good opportunities to catch fish and I was only able to put two in the boat. After day one I sat in 85th place with about four and a half pounds.

I fished a lot smarter on day two. On day one I didn't fish smart, I wasn't focused on how and where I was just going through the motions and not thinking about what I really needed to do to catch fish. I figured out on day 2 that I needed to fish a lot faster, which is not typical for this time of year there. I covered a lot more water and I bounced around a ton. I threw the same baits, a grub on a fish head spin.

Right off the bat, I caught a three-pound largemouth. Then I started getting bites and I'd miss them. I had a shakey head with a Yamamoto 4" Senko tied on. When I'd miss a fish or I'd see one come out of the deep trees and boil on the fish head, I was able to throw back on it with the shakey head and they'd bite it on the sink.

I weighed eleven and change on day two jumped up a little over forty places to get a check. I really put myself in a hole the first day, with the bites I had I should have been up at least another fifteen to twenty places from where I finished. You never know and I just didn't give myself very many opportunities.

The next event is Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. It looks like we are going to time it perfectly. It should be a "pick your poison" kind of tournament. Meaning, if you want to flip them, you can flip 'em. If you want to throw a crankbait, you'll catch 'em. If you want to skip docks, you'll catch 'em. You can do so many different things there, just because of the time of year. The waters starting to warm up and the fish are getting active and I think there will be all kinds of stuff that will be successful.

I'm leaving my boat at a friends house in Atlanta and flying home to be with Kelley. We've got a baby appointment and we've just reached the half way point, 20 weeks. Then I am flying out to the Cincinatti, Ohio area to work a show for Dixie Marine, a Ranger dealer. If you're in the area stop by and say hello!

2/25/2011
Erhler's Edge: Beaver Bound

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy ones getting ready for the second stop on the FLW Tour and doing a few seminars.

Following the Okeechobee event I dropped the rig off near Beaver Lake in Arkansas and flew home. Last week I headed up to a boat show in Illinois where I did a couple of seminars and supported the Ranger dealer in the area. The Ranger dealer, Belleville Sport Sales in Belleville Illinois, is the oldest Ranger dealer in the world, they've been selling Ranger boats since 1969!

From there I flew to Phoenix where I stopped at Cabelas for Abu. Phoenix is a great place and there are lots of good anglers in the area that come up with some great questions. It's always great to share fishing information with people who are as passionate about the sport as I am.

Last week was the Bassmaster Classic and Kevin VanDam did it again. It's hard to believe in a field of angler that could that one person can be so dominant. It looked like a fun tournament with lots of different fishing styles available. I would have liked to have been there mixing it up with my Lucky Craft 1.5 square bill crankbaits. I hear from others often how they think I am a finesse angler. Sure I like to finesse fish when its necessary, but my favorite technique is the shallow running square bills and that seemed to be the ticket at the classic. Could have been fun!

For me its of to Arkansas and Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake is an interesting place to fish because the fishing can be great in bad weather and horrible in good weather. Which might be a problem this week as its supposed to rain during prefish and be nice during the tournament. This one could be tough. In 2009 I had some success on Beaver Lake and finished in 10th, but in 2008 I finished in 54th place and back to 2007 I finished in 50th exactly. All three tournaments I made the check line and that'll be the goal again this week.

One interesting note about fishing Beaver Lake is the smallmouth rule there. It's actually against the rules to weigh in a full 5 fish limit of smallmouth. This really shouldn't be a problem as there aren't many smallmouth in the lake, but should an angler find a smallmouth bite they would also have to find a way to catch 2 spotted bass or largemouth each day to fill their limit. I know that played into the tournament when Andre Moore won the event in 2005 he would catch 3 smallmouth and then run and catch a couple of smaller spotted bass in order to fill the limit. No matter how it works out it's fishing so it will be fun!

Brent Ehrler
Okeechobee Wrap Up
2-7-2011

Okeechobee was a tough one for me, I caught a lot of fish, but just didn't get any size. I guess "no size" is a relative statement.

On day one I was able to put an over 20 pound limit in the boat which I actually thought would be pretty good.  I weighed in early in the first flight and there were already a handful of bags in the mid 20's before I even got to the scales, so I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. By the time the day shook out I sat in the high 40's on the leaderboard and knew I'd need to get bigger fish if I was going to move up the leaderboard.  On day 1 we had an hour delay before blast off due to fog and with my early flight it was a short day.  Since I was still able to get a decent 20 pound bag, I had some positive thoughts going into day 2 because it was going to be a longer day on the water for me.

On day 2 I ran to a new area that I though I could get a solid limit from.  I seriously thought I could catch them there, but it never panned out. Overall, on day two I don't think I fished very smart.  I spent a few hours too many at my first spot before I moved on.  I actually had three spots I wanted to fish and after I left the first spot I ran to the second and found a 6 pounder on a bed. She rushed my bait once, but didn't take it.  Then she left the bed and hid a few yards away, so I stuck around the area fishing hoping I could go back and get that fish to go and it never panned out.

I started to feel the pressure and I know a big mistake a lot of us make in times like this is to pull the trolling motor and run around.  So I forced myself to leave the trolling motor in the water, turned up high and I instead ran around the same area. In hindsight, it probably wasn't my best decision.  My day 2 co-angler caught a 5 and lost a 5 and I never caught one much over three pounds.
  
The baits I used this week were the Yamamoto Swim Senko, which I swam pretty fast around the cover, a Trixie Shark from Reaction Innovations, which I fished like a buzzbait, a regular Yamamoto Senko and awhole host of other baits. One thing I reinforced to myself was how great the Lucky Craft MH Pitchin' rod is.  It's the most versatile rod I have ever owned, I fished about 8 different baits on it and its just a solid stick. The soft tip and good backbone make it the perfect combination for precision casts and good hooksets, I've used a lot of high end rods over the years and this rod is by far my favorite.
  
I am on the road right now to Arkansas where I hope to spend a couple days on Beaver to get some pre-practice in.  Only problem is its going to snow and rumor has it that some of Beaver is actually frozen over.  That'll make practicing pretty tough and probably wouldn't help a lot even if I do get out on the water.  Ice? Really?  I've seen the movie titanic and running across a potentially ice laden pond doesn't sound to inviting. . =

1/27/2011
Ehrler's Edge: The Big News

Kelley and I found out a few weeks ago that we were going to be parents in about 6 months. We are really excited about the new addition to our family and thought it was time to spread the good news. We also know we are having a boy. Looks like my shopping is going to change from Tackle Stores to Babies 'R Us. Anyone know of a diaper company looking to sponsor an angler? I am kidding of course, but the thought of a little one around the house is pretty exciting news for us.

On a much lower level of news, I am headed our to Okeechobee. You just don't realize how big this country is until you spend 3 or 4 days in a car and still haven't reached the other coast. I did make a pit stop in Dallas for a meeting but, I am back on the road to Florida now.

I'm set to arrive in Florida on late Friday and then I'll spend Saturday organizing my boat and getting my tackle ready. Official prefish starts on Sunday and I'll be out there when the sun comes up to try and unlock the mysteries of the Big O. I expect a LV-500 and a flip bait to come into play but there's no telling. Florida weather changes quickly and the bite changes even faster. I try to have a game plan before I arrive, but I'll keep an open mind and "let the fish tell me" what they want. I kind of laugh when I hear people say, "let the fish tell you", but it is true. Every fish I catch or bite I shake off tells me a little piece of the story of what is going on even if they aren't actually "telling me" anything.

Following the event at Okeechobee I will be headed to Arkansas where I will drop off the rig and then fly home. In mid February, I'll be in Chicago working a boat show for Ranger, so if you are in the area make sure to stop by and talk some fishing, but for now it's 10 and 2 and eyes on the road for another 1000 miles of U.S. Highway 10.

1/22/2011
Ehrler's Edge: Here we go, 2011

Here we go, 2011

The new year has arrived and the race to get everything ready for the first big road trip has me all over the place. Breaking in the boat, setting up the new Humminbirds, organizing tackle and coordinating the travel for the season is a lot to get done. I leave for Florida this week to the first FLW Open of the year on Lake Okeechobee.

I have been to Lake Okeechobee a few times and it's a great place. I haven't done very well there in the past but, I am excited about this year. Okeechobee is a huge lake with tons of vegetation, canals, backwaters and huge fish. It should be a slugfest and a lot of fun.

This season I will be fishing all of the FLW Opens and the FLW Majors. The schedule looks like this:

FLW Open : Lake Okeechobee : 2/3 – 2/6
FLW Major : Beaver Lake : 3/3 – 3/6
FLW Major : Lake Hartwell : 3/24 – 3/27
FLW Major : Lake Chickamauga : 4/14 – 4/17
FLW Major: Table Rock Lake : 5/5 – 5/8
FLW Major: Red River : 5/19 – 5/22
FLW Open: Potomac River : 6/2 - 6/5
FLW Major: Kentucky Lake : 6/16 – 6/19
FLW Cup: Lake Ouachita: 8/11 – 8/14
FLW Open: Lake Champlain: 9/15 – 9/18
FLW Open: Lake Guntersville: 10/20 – 10/23

When I look that schedule over a couple things stick out to me. First, Lake Ouachita for the FLW Cup. I won there last year but, it was a different time of year then the Cup is being held. It will fish different and its going to take something special to beat Scott Suggs on his home water.

Next I see Kentucky Lake and Lake Guntersville down the road a bit. Both of these are events I am looking forward to for a couple of reasons. They are both great fisheries and should be a lot of fun. However, I have not had great success at either of these places so I am looking for some redemptionthis year at both of those lakes.

The rest of the schedule is exciting and I plan to work as hard as ever at bringing home the AOY. The FLW has a talented group of anglers so it won't be easy but, that's my ultimate goal. For now its off to wrap up my final preparation duties before hitting the 10 freeway for 3+ days on my way to Okeechobee.

1/6/2011
Ehrler's Edge: New Boat with Cool Toys

This morning I picked up my new Ranger Z-521 at Angler's Marine in Anaheim. I am excited about the new boat for several reasons. First, it's a bigger boat than I have run in the past, moving from the 20 footer to the 21 footer should make for a smoother ride and a lot more room on the deck. I've also made the switch to Mercury and have a Mercury Pro X2 250 on the back of the boat. It'll be nice knowing I have the most dependable motor on the water behind me when I am racing from spot to spot all season.

Some great new accessories I have on the boat include the Humminbird 1197 units on the front and the back. These screens are HUGE, the biggest I have ever had by far and I am looking forward to, as Humminbird puts it "Getting the whole picture."

I've got a couple new Minnkota Talon shallow water anchoring system units on the back of the boat as well. These units seem easy to use, quiet and strong, I can't wait to give them a try.

After checking out all the new equipment I hooked up the boat and hit I-10 headed for Phoenix. I arrived in Phoenix a little bit ago and will take the boat over to Tim at Liquid Wraps in the morning to get the new National Guard wrap put on. While in Phoenix Kelley and I will be hanging out with Brett Hite and his girlfriend Courtney. We may find time for a little golf or Quail hunting but, mostly we'll just be hanging out and waiting for the wrap to be completed.

I should be back on the road to Redlands on Saturday sometime and when I get back I've got a lot to do. I'll need to load the boat up with all my tackle so that its easy to find when I need it. Then I have to break the new Mercury in and maybe get a some local fishing in while I test out the new Mammoth sized graphs and the Talon anchoring system. I think I'll be needing that when I get to Okeechobee late this month.

Speaking of Okeechobee, that's my first event this season and it's one of the best fisheries in the U.S. but, the weather can change things there literally overnight. I remember the first time I went to Okeechobee it was 85 and the water temperature was 75 when I arrived. There were vacated beds everywhere and I was catching them well on the Lucky Craft G-Splash and LVR D-7 lipless crankbait. Then overnight a cold front came in and the water dropped 17 degrees in about 10 hours. Fishing changed a lot, the fish went from roaming and feeding to locked down under the vegetation. Here's a good tip, when the water temperature drops like that the fish move to the vegetation because it holds the heat. That's when I pulled out the punching gear to get the fish to eat.

Hopefully this year it'll be warm enough to stick to topwater most of the day, nothing beats the giant swirl of an Okeechobee lunker taking down a topwater bait. I think the Kelly J topwater bait may be just the ticket for some Okeechobee pigs this year.

Happy New Year to all of you and your families and I hope everyone has a fantastic 2011!

12/21/2010
Brent Ehrler – Ranger Trip and Bass U.

Since my last blog I've taken a couple cool trips. First I headed back to Flippin' Arkansas home of the best bass boat builder in the world – Ranger. I was there for their annual sales tour of the plant. It's a neat tour where you literally can walk right up and watch the guys build these amazing boats. The whole process is unbelievable and it definitely makes me feel great knowing I am riding in such a well built boat. I can't wait for my new Z-521 to arrive at Angler's Marine in Anaheim right after X-mas.

Next I head off to Chicago to speak at the Bassmaster University. There's a couple things I can tell you about Chicago after this trip: One, its really cold there and two the anglers there know their stuff. I couldn't get over how educated the questions they were asking me. When I think of the sport of bass fishing Chicago is the last place that I would think would have such an intelligent group of anglers. Really, some of their questions really got me to thinking. I really enjoy doing these Bassmaster University sessions and speaking with the grass roots anglers, it keeps the fundamentals in the forefront of my mind and its always a great time talking fishing with fellow anglers.

Well, Christmas is right around the corner and I am enjoying some time with the family. Its nice to just lay low and get prepared for the long season. As I mentioned the boat arrives next week and starting then I will be prepping it and getting ready to go. I have high hopes for this season and I am looking forward to it. I wish all you anglers out there, and your families, an awesome Christmas and I hope you all get to spend some quality time with the people most important to you.

11/9/2010
Ehrler's Edge - College fishing & Bass Jam

It's not often the entire family can get together for a getaway, but that's exactly where I just got back from. Kelly and I went up to Mt. Shasta City with my brother and his family and my mom. It's a place where I spent a lot of time as a kid and I haven't been back in a while, so it made for a great getaway.

In my last blog I mentioned the FLW Collegiate regionals at Folsom Lake in Northern California. I had a great time meeting and hanging out with the young student anglers and hearing about their experiences in the fishing world. They are the future of our sport and I was thrilled to be on hand for this event representing National Guard and the FLW Tour.

FLW did a great job with the Outdoor Festival that was setup right outside of the Sacramento State football stadium. In the National Guard booth we had lots of cool games, simulators and information about "the Guards" great program for young adults. It was the Hornets' (Sac. State) homecoming weekend and the weigh in was timed to be right after the football game, so the crowds were excellent. The host team of Sac. State took the win and moved on the FLW College Series national championship.

This week I am headed back up to Nor-Cal for the MonsterFishingTackle.com's Monster Bass Jam. While at the event I will be representing all my sponsors but, in particular Lucky Craft. Lucky Craft has a new color out, "Light Hitch." This is a great color and should be a go to color on any lake coast to coast. You can check out all the seminars, including mine and fellow Lucky Craft pro-staffers Skeet Reese and Gary Dobyns from the Monster Bass Jam at MonsterFishingTackle.com. I'll do what I can to get you a sneek peek at the new "Light Hitch" color as well.

10/15/2010
Ehrler's Edge - Road home from TTBC

I've just finished fishing the PAA Toyota Bass Classic on Lake Conroe in Texas. It was a great experience and I think I learned quite a bit at this event. The PAA did a really good job with the tournament which started off with a pro am and then concluded with a two day event and a final third day with the top 10 anglers.

The pro am event was a pretty neat deal. The PAA invited their sponsors to be co-anglers with the pros for a day on the water. I was lucky enough to get to fish with a couple of guys from Oakley (sunglasses) during the pro am. I've been working with Oakley for a couple years and to get a few of their people out on the water with me made for a fun day on the water. We had a blast fishing and telling stories all day. It was basically a pre-fish day for me and I was able to find a few spots that would help out during the tournament.

As for the tournament itself, I am not satisfied with my performance. Things got started out pretty rough because in the weeks leading up to it I was very busy with the FLW Cup on Lake Lanier, the BASS Northern open event and the final FLW Western Series event on Lake Roosevelt. With those events on my mind I really didn't think to much about the Toyota Texas Bass Classic and by the time I started to think about it I missed the pre-practice period and could not pre-fish or obtain any information on the lake from others. This was a big mistake and really hurt my chances.

Arriving at Lake Conroe I had a plan to pre-fish deep for an hour and then go shallow for an hour until I started to find a pattern. After three of four switches (from deep to shallow and back) I started to see that I would get bit shallow and there wasn't much happening deep. So after the first day, I moved my entire focus to the docks on the bank. Fishing a Lucky Craft RC 2 I focused on sea-walls and docks. I really liked the RC 2 over the RC 1.5, probably the best shallow crankbait for any lake, because the extra weight helped me to to make precision casts in small pockets around docks. I wrapped the tournament up in 30th place which is not what I had hoped for but, I did learn a lot.

This week I am heading to the National Guard FLW Collegiate regionals at Folsom Lake in Northern California. What a great deal for these young men and women to have an opportunity like this to start a fishing career or simply to enjoy this great sport while they get their education. I am really looking forward to meeting and talking with a lot of these young anglers and offering my support to them, the National Guard and FLW.