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Gone Fishin Club

Fishing Knots

Fishing Knots

Palomar Knot

Palomar Knots provide another very simple knot for terminal tackle. It is considered to be the strongest knot for this application. It can be tied in the dark with a minimum of practice.

1. 1. Double about 10 inches of line, and pass through the eye.
   


2. 2. Tie an Overhand Knot in the doubled line, letting the hook hang loose. Avoid twisting the lines.
   


3. 3. Pull the end of loop down, passing it completely over the hook.
   


4. 4. Pull both ends of the line to draw up the knot.
   

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I have no idea what they are saying but they are catchin' some fish, looks crazy fun doesn't it!!

Catfish Chili Wins Award

Catfish Chili is a hit,
Catfish Chili is a hit, well kinda. It's a story, isn't it always. The chili was coming along great, smelled great, tasted great - we had a constant stream of testers coming through - all seemed to be going great. I decided to cook the chili at the High School where the event was being held. I was in charge of part of this event since I am President of the Alumni. I was overseeing the setup and move-in of the teams while everybody else was busy doing other thing.
The chili was all done and just simmering on low while I worked on other things. Well if any of you have high school kids or know any, you know sometimes they do stuff and all you can say is What? Why? One of the students tasted the chili and decided it tasted to "tomato-ey". He looked around and found my spice bottles and proceeded to add a little more chili powder--"a little" is a relative term with high school kids. He dumped in a pile, maybe 6 tablespoons. Needless to say my chili was HOT! It was still good, but after you swallowed, well, IT WAS HOT.
I did manage to win the "Hottest Chili Award", so not all was lost. My chili cook-off partner and fellow Gone Fishin' Club member, Chuck Neuschafer, won "Best Chili in Town". We had our booth decorated with fishing poles and my laptop with Gone Fishin' Club pics playing in a slideshow.
If you have some fish and want to try the "Award Winning Catfish Chili" recipe, look in the previous posts. We had a great chili cook-off, and the FFA Alumni raised money for our FFA Chapter, so it's all good. Try the recipe and tell us how you like it.
Thanks Gary

Catfish Chili Ingredients

"The Award Winning Catfish Chili"

Me and Chuck with the "Hottest Chili Award"





Chuck with the "Best Chili in Town Award"

Come back again to see what we're catchin and cookin up!

Thanks Gary

Bass Trail Has Record Turnouts

The Norman Winter Team Bass Trail has attracted record turnouts despite a tight economy and the onset of cold weather.

The Saturday Trail of David Johnson's circuit has had record turnouts for three consecutive tournaments. The streak began with the Dec. 6 season opener at Lake Norman which drew 95 teams, setting a new record for the trail, even though the day was cold and cloudy. Newton's Brian Morgan won the tournament with 14.50 pounds and collected $1,360.

The Dec. 20 event topped that mark with 98 teams with Nathan White and Chad Taylor taking the first-place check of $1,390 with 10.30 pounds. The anglers also received a $1,000 bonus from the Skeeter Real Money Program.

At the Dec. 27 tournament, Gary Michaud and Doc McDaniel topped a record field of 106 teams with 13.45 pounds that paid $2,565. They also received an additional $1,060 for the big fish of the day, a 5.75-pound bass.

The record-breaking streak for turnouts ended last Saturday when 103 teams registered for the event, three teams shy of the previous record mark. Darrell Atkins and Bryan Silvers took top honors with 13.35 pounds and the big-fish award with a 4.90-pound bass for a total purse of $2,420.

The turnouts are impressive considering bass team tournament trails usually draw from 20 to 50 teams, and even some national fishing trails struggle to attract fields of 100 boats or more.
The large fields translate into lucrative paydays for fishermen who can enter the events with a modest investment and with little travel. All of the tournaments are held at Lake Norman out of Midway Marina off N.C. Highway 150 near Mooresville.

The cost is $60 per tournament plus a $15 membership fee per person. These expenses are much less than the entry fees of many other tournament trails that also require anglers to travel to lakes located in different states.

Another drawing card for Johnson is his Championship Fishing TV Show over WHKY TV 14 out of Hickory, which covers his tournament trail and gives anglers additional exposure. Johnson also maintains a Web site at http://www.fishwithdj.com/ which posts tournament results and features programs from his fishing show.

The Sunday Trail of the circuit has had steady numbers but nothing like the numbers of the Saturday Trail. The biggest field for the Sunday Trail has been 66 teams.

Prior to running bass team tournament trails, Johnson operated the J&J Catfish Trail, which had a loyal following but attracted only about 16 to 20 teams per event. As a result, Johnson discontinued the trail and started conducting winter bass fishing tournaments, a rarity at the time.

Shane Floyd and Tony Garitta, both of Lexington, won Saturday's New Piedmont Team Tournament trail season opener at Badin Lake with 9.50 pounds and received $200. They also took the big-fish award of $39 with a 4.18-pound bass.

Eric Moser of Salisbury and Bennett Pridgen of Trinity finished second with 6.10 pounds and collected $166.

The next event will take place Feb. 21 at Badin Lake from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. out of Circle Drive. Yadkin Promotions tournament schedules are available at local tackle shops.

The Salisbury team of John M. Trexler and Richard McCoslin won Saturday's Crappie Team Tournament event at Badin Lake with a six-fish catch totaling 7.47 pounds and shared $225. They also claimed the big-fish prize of $45.50 with a 1.99-pound crappie.

Greg Bentley of Salisbury and Jake Nixe of Terrell placed second with 6.63 pounds and earned $125.

Jared Lloyd of Moyock won the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Wildlife in North Carolina magazine 2008 photo competition. Lloyd's image of Tulls Creek in Currituck County at dawn beat out 6,368 photographs submitted for the competition.

The image of Tulls Creek will appear in the January 2009 issue of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine.

Other winning entries can be viewed at www.ncwildlife.org. The best state park images can be viewed at www.ncparks.gov.

Biologists with the NCWRC, the Division of Water Quality, and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences have discovered populations of the Roanoke logperch living in the Mayo and Smith rivers. The rare fish was once thought to live only in portions of the Roanoke and Chowan River basins.

We are having a mixed winter here in Georgia, cool one week then warm the next. So if you are getting mixed weather take advantage of it and get out and Go Fishing.

Happy Hookin Gary

have you seen my latest blog? Flathead Catfish Pictures

Shiver on the River Walleye Contest adds New Award

The $5,000 Shiver on the River Walleye Contest has a new leaderboard sponsor, a couple of free family fishing seminars and a new award.

The Saginaw News event, co-sponsored by Gander Mountain, Pride in Saginaw Inc. and Mid-State Taxidermy of Midland, kicks off Jan. 23-24 with ice fishing seminars at Gander Mountain in Saginaw.

The reel event will run Jan. 31-Feb. 14 on Saginaw Bay and its tributaries.
In addition to the big fish award and $1,000 top prize, contest organizers have added the Wally Award.

The first angler to weigh-in a 5.374 pound walleye will receive a free mounting of their fish by Mid-State Taxidermy and a $100 gift certificate from Gander Mountain.

''We were originally going to call the Wally Award the Average Joe Award, but it sounded so blah,'' said Tammy Weighman, Shiver spokesperson and Saginaw News special events coordinator. ''It's a fun way to add another prize to the pot.

''Even if you don't place in the top three, there's still a good chance that an 'average' fish will win a nice award.''

Weighman said the award was conceived by Mid-State Taxidermy's Justin Pohl.
''Saginaw Bay is one of the best walleye fisheries in the world and I'm glad to be a part of it and celebrating the fishery that we have,'' Pohl said.

Last year, Bridgeport's Jason Aldrich took first place with a record catch of 13.8 pounds. Aldrich said he'll be back to defend his title.

Two ice fishing family workshops will be held at Gander Mountain. The first is set for
Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Another will be held Jan. 24 at 10 a.m.

In addition, the Shiver leaderboard that will run daily (mlive.com/shiver) is being sponsored by E&J® VSOP Brandy.

''For $10, it's still a pretty good deal,'' Weighman said of the two-week fishing contest that has been moved back in recent years in hopes of insuring good ice. ''We keep tweaking the dates, but it's up to Mother Nature.

''We had ice and lost it. Hopefully we'll get it back.''Sounds like somebody will pick up some nice extra cash in this contest.

Good luck and Happy Hookin, Gary

ps. new blog http://www.flatheadcatfishpictures.com/

pss. if you twitter look for me at Catfishin_man

14 Year Old Lands Record Fish!!!

Northland teen lands whopper of a fish!!!

Maddy Herlihy struggles with his prized catch

A 14-year-old Northland boy is waiting for confirmation that he has broken a world record after landing an enormous kingfish off White Island.
Maddy Herlihy's prized catch was the result of an all-night fishing effort in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
After battling for twenty minutes, the fish was hauled in.
Maddy comes from a fishing family, with he and his two sisters part of a junior team and compete for the Whakatane Sportfishing Club.
Last year the pair caught a record-sized trevally and are hoping their latest catch will set an official record as well.
The kingfish weighs 40.26kg - much bigger than the standing world record of 34kg.
The process to ratify the weight of their catch could take several months, but in the meantime the family will be dining on the fish.

That’s awesome that’s quite a catch, check the video cause they have pics of other big fish he’s caught, Happy Hookin Gary

Go Fish Georgia!

Go Fish Georgia!

ATLANTA -- There were snickers across the state when Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue announced a major plank of his economic development strategy: a $19 million project to make the state the most popular fishing destination in the country.

The administration recently began construction on a $14 million "Go Fish Georgia Center," featuring a fish hatchery, visitor's center, and public fishing ponds about 12 miles from Mr. Perdue's hometown of Bonaire. The 15,000-square-foot building will feature interactive exhibits, including fishing simulators where visitors in a fake boat can struggle against computer-controlled fish. Outside, a wooden path will lead visitors through simulated Georgia topography -- from mountains to piedmont to swampland -- as trout, bass and bream swim in aquariums and pools along the way.

Georgia officials claim fishing already generates $1 billion dollar a year and nearly 17,000 jobs in Georgia. They note that the world record for the biggest largemouth bass ever caught -- 22 pounds, 4 ounces -- was set in 1932 on a Georgia lake.

Largemouth bass

Still, the state has never become a major center of fishing. The two biggest pro fishing tournaments, the FLW Outdoors Forrest Wood Cup and ESPN's Bassmaster Classic, had long snubbed Georgia.

Mr. Perdue says the Go Fish initiative will change all that. Making Georgia a "fisherman's paradise" is at the top of the political agenda for his last term. In addition to $5 million in state funds to erect new ramps and docks -- designed for the biggest and most advanced fishing boats on 18 lakes -- the governor has secured matching funds from local officials, too.

On Dec. 16, Gov. Perdue convened a triumphant news conference: the Forrest Wood Cup had finally chosen Georgia's Lake Lanier as the site for the 2010 competition. The governor said the tournament, featuring 156 professional and amateur fisherman competing over four days to catch the largest aggregate weight of fish, will generate a $30 million economic impact. Much of that will come from the tens of thousands of spectators expected to attend as well as valuable television exposure.

In an interview, Mr. Perdue said professional fishing could take off like Nascar has over the past two decades -- referring to the professional racing circuit that exploded from southern rural roots into an industry that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators.

"Some have laughed at Go Fish, some even in the media have laughed at this program," Mr. Perdue said during the December news conference. "This is the first example of Georgia having the last laugh." Television broadcasts of the tournament also will provide a boost to tourism, he said. "The exposure," the governor noted, "is incalculable."

Jerry McCollum, president and chief executive of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, said landing the Forrest Wood Cup vindicates the Go Fish proponents. "It doesn't look much like a joke now, does it?" he said.

The governor -- who fondly recalls a childhood in which his grandfather took him fishing with a cane pole along the banks of Big Indian Creek in Middle Georgia -- said critics must not be fishermen. "They haven't seen a kid's eyes light up when he catches his first fish."

Sounds good, take kids fishing and make memories that will last a lifetime.
What are you waiting for??? Go Fishing!!! Happy Hookin Gary

p.s. Georgia is also the home of Gone Fishin Club.