By Chad Love

What is it about bragging on Internet chat rooms and other social media that seems to suck in lawbreaking dummies? Whatever the reason, the irresistible appeal of public braggadocio is going to cost one overly chatty Texas man a pretty penny following his good day on the water.

From this story on Yahoo news:
25-year-old Dustin Heathman is in trouble after he went on the Austin Bass Fishing Forum to brag about the big amount of bass he had caught. Under a screen name Heathman wrote that he had "put around 40 fish in the boat with 22 keepers". But what he may not have known was that he had broken the law. One person on a boat is allowed to take home five fish. The other members of the website started to warn Heathman, bash him, and some even reported him to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
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By Tim Romano

A SUP, for those yet uninitiated, is a Stand Up Paddle board.

I can see Mr. Joe Cermele rolling his eyes now...

It's been almost a year to the day that I last posted on this subject and started fishing off my very own board. That post had quite a bit of spirited conversation and comments. Granted it did have a healthy dose of ladies in bikinis fishing off said boards...

Since then I've heard that SUP fishing is a fad and a "silly way to fish." Ahem, Mr. Cermele. I'm here to tell you it's not a fad and it's not going away.

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By Chad Love

Oklahoma State University may have been denied a shot at the football national championship this year (thanks to an epic choke against Iowa State) but it looks like the OSU bass fishing team is picking up the slack, because a pair of Aggie anglers just picked up this year's college bass fishing national championship.

From this story on newsok.com:
Oklahoma State University is the 2012 national champion in bass fishing. OSU Bass Club members Zack Birge of Blanchard and Blake Flurry of Roland won the Carhartt Bassmaster College National Championship, held at three different sites near Little Rock, Ark., last week.
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--Chad Love

Would you be comfortable with a corporate sponsor for your state wildlife agency? That's what the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking into...
 
From this story in the Houston Chronicle:
 
In a first for the state, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is seeking corporate partners to use the agency's well-known logo and brand in exchange for hard currency, the agency announced this week. The move provides a much-needed revenue stream as the department grapples with major budget cuts coupled with devastating droughts and wildfires. While other state park agencies have dabbled with similar ideas or struck corporate sponsorships deals for specific projects, industry officials believe this would be the first time a department that oversees a state's natural resources actively seeks contract-based partnerships. [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano

Slap Shots
Dragonfly patterns with resin or foam bodies are effective for raising lone bass in tight holding areas, such as short eddies behind boulders. That’s because these bugs produce an ear-catching slap on the surface and draw a fast reaction strike. After splashdown, your job is to make the fly look like a disoriented dragonfly trying to regain its composure and take off again.

A.) Position yourself 30 to 40 feet downstream and slightly across from the spot where you think a smallmouth is holding.
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By Kirk Deeter

As many of you know, we are now knee-deep in the trade show season; when new products for 2013 are being unveiled at breakneck speeds and the hype machine is running full throttle. I admit to having been made a sucker by that hype machine in the past. The benefit of hindsight and many months of actually fishing with some of these products has helped me realize that, in some cases, I probably drank a little too much PR Kool-Aid. So in the interest of clearing my own conscience (before I start gulping the next batch), I want to come clean on some cases where I whiffed. [ Read Full Post ]