Howzit - It's good to be back. A few days off with my fiancé Emily (no phone, no fax, no computer, no clients) is just what I needed to recharge for this busy and exciting time of year ahead of us.

Awaiting my return were reports from Gary Philips who took 3rd place at a recent 1 day event using our beloved ODZ jigheads and soft stick baits, and from my buddies at Clearlake who report that the bite is finally picking up and that guys are sticking two or three 10 pounders every week and guys fishing swimbaits like Baitsmiths, Mavericks, and Huds are reporting 12 lb-15 lb females being caught consistently by blind bed fishing the big baits in  8-10' of water.

I guess all the pressure on those fish after last year's BASS tour stop and all the press that goes with it. And that brings me to my next point: anyone and everyone who has fished Clearlake this spring can tell you "the pressure sucks". Guys who were upset about finding 2-3 boats on all of their spots last year are finding 5-8 boats on the same spots this year. And everyone is throwing swimbaits. At time it seems that with the amount of money at stake at these events these days, sportsmanship has taken a back seat.

But, back to here in Marin. I can't wait to get out and do some fishing as I missed my shot last week and conditions are good. I have got to make some phone calls and see what I missed - or better yet you guys are welcome to post comments here.

The day before I left (Sat.), I had the opportunity to help out a Bass Derby at Lake Stafford, put on by Parks Service on behalf of Western Sport Shop. The turnout could have been better but I think the parks understand that when we do the next one it needs to be better marketed. However it was till fun and the people who turned out, both kids and adults, seemed to have a really good time. I spoke to the parks people after the event about putting on another one soon, so when we get the dates set I will post them both here and on CaliforniaBassCraft.com so we can step this event up a bit.

Lastly, I have seen the first Generation of the 7" Snack Size Trout jointed swimbait hand made by Josh St. John on http://www.thewiredangler.com/ and they look awesome. We will be carrying them at JigMonster.com.

Later today I will be posting a new How-To for rigging Senkos and other soft stick baits.