Recent Designs and Projects

Stankx Bait Co. Ad Campaign

In between all of the downtime I have from fishing and looking for full-time job prospects, I’ve been kicking out some new material for Travis Crosman and my friends at Stankx Bait Company.

First things first, we are in the plans of launching a new website, and that will be one of my major responsibilities during the upcoming months. In addition, we’ve developed a lot of cool new products recently such as a new line of buzz frogs, tubes, and jerkbaits. In order to reach our target market with these products which are already proven to work exceptionally well, I figured that creating a few advertisements to be used online for Facebook and the website would be beneficial and visually appealing. And then finally, we are in the process of printing new packaging label for all of our baits with hopes of hitting all store shelves by 2011.

Here’s a look at what I’ve made, starting with the online advertisements, and concluded with the new packaging label for our bag designs.You may click on all images to enlarge and view in complete size.

Stankx Buzz Frogz

Stankx Jerkbaits (Flukez)

Revenge

NEW Packaging Label

Front Side

Back Side

If there are any other creations or projects in the works, I will be sure to share them with you in my blogs as long as I have no other fishing material to show-off.

If anyone ever wants to get in touch with me for website design and graphic design projects, and would like to hire me and see what I can offer, please visit my site at www.ragasmedia.com

Weekly DesPlaines River Report

Water levels are very low, surface temperatures are high, there is more than usual weedgrowth all along the river, and unless you are fishing a dam or set of riffles, don’t come to the river with high expectations.

Right now, most fish are concentrating themselves in and around areas with current. With the warm water temperatures of 79-81 degrees, flowing water can be cooler by as much as 3 to 5 degrees as compared to elsewhere on the river. Concentrate on these types of areas for all species of fish.

No Pike reports, but both Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass are surprisingly active with the heat, as are the usual Channel Catfish.

Friend, Dan Sims, found the time over the weekend to get out on the river and this is what he had to say: “With all these colder nights lately I figured the DPR would have some fish starting to move around again. Wasn’t the case, kind of. I don’t know if it’s bad timing on my part or maybe I just plain lost it?!”

He notes that Pike fishing has been difficult this summer due to the warmer than usual water temperatures.

“Every time I hit the my favorite spot on the DPR, I always have at least one Pike on the line. I must have tied 5 different lures just trying to get something going. I’m going to let the water cool down, or wait for a good rain before getting back out there again.”

Dan and his friend could not find the Pike, but Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass up to 14” were found from mid-river channel areas, as well as downed wood adjacent to flowing water. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and X-Raps did it for them.

Meanwhile, Channel Cats up to 5-pounds have been active on most nights. Find deeper areas with current, and pools, and you will find the fish. Slip bobber rigs during the daytime, and bottom rigs during the nighttime fished with nightcrawlers and chicken livers are offering the best results.

USGS in Riverside at 242, gauge height at 3, and water is safe for wading. If fishing the river, keep an open mind, and maybe it can be worthwhile.

Last Week’s Quickie Trip

Quick Mid-Week Trip with Grandpa.

August 22 thru August 26th.

This post is just an archive more than anything. The fishing was the worst I had experienced all year long, and I am quite thankful to have had the great spring and summer fishing season that I had experienced with my many friends. Now, I am even more grateful that I have nothing scheduled for the next 3 weeks, don’t have to force myself to fish during the worst time of the angling year, and won’t have any trips planned until mid-September when the fishing significantly improves once again. Yeah, I just wrote a triple negative. Unheard of!

In a perfect world, and had my summer plans came to form with work and some form of employment, I would have gone fishing for a week up to northern Ontario, Canada with friends, Mike Planthaber, and Tim King. Due to monetary reasons and lack of income to pay for a trip valued around $2,000, joining them was not possible. Five weeks before, I had to tell them that it would not be possible, and they understood. Because of this, I had a plan-B option. It was to take anything that I could get.

With already having maximized my normal crew of fishing associates in joining me for a week of fishing with me this summer at least until the fall (because unlike me, they actually do work and have lives outside of fishing), I elected to bring my grandpa of 76 years with me for a very shortened week. I had no other plans for the week, and wish I could have stayed longer, but this world isn’t perfect and gramps had obligations to handle later in the week.

We left on Sunday late afternoon and stayed north until Thursday afternoon. Despite possessing a high level of effort and motivation, the fishing was all-around poor. This wasn’t a traditional fishing trip by any means, because my grandpa no longer goes fishing. However, I still fished for the better parts of three and a half days, and covered four different lakes and one river.

The fishing was bad everywhere, and all of it was attributed to the weather and season. A lot of fish were deep, and to make matters even worse, one of the largest cold-fronts I have ever experienced during the end of summer took place during the same time I was busting my balls to catch some fish before the fall season rolled in. A normal 80-degree day turned into a barely 60-degree day, and daily morning temperatures were barely pushing 40 degrees. Not good.

Despite that, a few Bass of both the Largemouth and Smallmouth variety were caught, along with some diversity, finally, in Walleye and Crappie. I tried twice for Muskies, on one lake during the full moon, and the other by wading the suddenly-flooded Wisconsin River during an early morning, but fell victim to shut-outs. Night fishing during the moon proved to be better than anything else tried, especially for Bass.

Below are what few specimens of non-noteworthy fish I was able to catch:

Moderate numbers of Largemouth Bass came on spinnerbaits and topwaters from my little backyard lake. I can usually catch more during a shortened week but weather and excessive weedgrowth prevented more damage from occurring.

Smallmouth Bass of fun action size provided some decent action, but not a whole lot to write home about. Since I was practically fishing during a coldfront for the entire week, rattlebaits ripped along primary breaks, and jig and plastics fished along secondary breaks scored up the most fish.

And like I said above, I finally caught on to some diversity. My first Crappie of the summer, measuring 12-inches, and a 19 inch Walleye. I hope to do more of the latter during the fall months when Pike and Musky fishing becomes slow.

Besides these few fish, and getting some relaxation time and avoiding the rigors and boredom of not being able to find a job back here at home, it was worth a quick getaway.

Thank God for summer almost being over, and I cannot wait to get crazy during the fall. I’ve got three or four more trips planned before season’s end.

Quarry Bass with Dan Cahill

First time ever fishing a man-made quarry.

Saturday August 28, 2010

On my drive back from the north to Chicago on Thursday, good buddy Dan Cahill and I got in touch with each other about a mini fishing expedition. The last time we fished and enjoyed each others obnoxious, immature, crude, and prudent-like behavior in a boat for some fishing was over fourth of July weekend at my grounds in Wisconsin. An outing of some sorts was long overdue.

I checked with him to see if he wanted to make a full-day gig to Emiquon Preserve located in Central IL, but due to Dan’s work obligations, he could only score up a half-day deal. Therefore we fished locally at his famed quarries located in the southwest suburbs.

I’m not a fan of Illinois fishing because other than Lake Michigan, almost none of it is comparable to what I love the most that is found up north. No disrespect to the loyal local fishermen whom I share the same passions with. But today was a great attitude changer of sorts.

At first I was thinking that these secret spots of Dan’s were essentially like those ponds that I hate to fish. Small and boring with only shore access and terrible cover. I’d never wake up at 5am to go fish a little pond let alone any single river here in Illinois. But as soon as I arrived and saw what we would be up against during the five hour morning battle, I was inspired, saw the light, and immediately knew that the potential for great fishing is infinite and without any limits at this hidden local fishing hole. Like this place was an actual gem, or seems like one.

The morning schedule consisted of fishing one of the man-made quarries located on this large plot of public land. The body of water was approximately 20 acres with a maximum depth of 45 feet.

From what I was told, there is some serious contour down below, and along with some large magnificent amounts of man-made underwater structure and fish holding areas in the way of roadbeds, humps, sunken cars, trees, rock piles, ledges, and walls, there is potential to catch some serious sea monster Bass. An 8-pound Bass was caught and released by a local angler in May, 2009. Dan believes there is a good chance for a magical 10-pounder in here and its neighboring pits, and after today I want to think likewise.

When we launched the boat at 6am, Dan promptly told me that we would begin working the shallow weeds with topwaters, jigs, and spinnerbaits. If no good from these traditional early-morning starters, we would work our way out deeper.

For about an hour, we caught nothing and then proceeded to fish our way to deeper water. It was here from the open water on crankbaits when we encountered majority of our fish. In addition, a large amount came from the steepest and deepest drop-offs we were able to locate which were found along rock walls, on the slopes from shallow road beds down to the deep basin (imagine 6 feet falling drastically to 40 feet).

From the open water, we did an excellent job of locating underwater structure such as cars, trees, humps, drop-offs, and ledges. In addition, we did an even greater job of being able to follow the pelagic baitfish, which were joined alongside by the much larger predatory fish species.

For much of the morning, while we were on top of the fish at least, this is what the screen of Dan’s locator looked like. The consistency of the graph was there.

It took us a while to eventually dial down a pattern, but after catching two quick fish off the road bed on a cheapo blue crankbait that dove down 6-8 feet, and then not catching anything else for about an hour, and seeing how Dan was having short biters and snags on a 5 inch plastic jerkbait with jig, I went to another cheapo ugly looking crankbait which dove even deeper to 12-14 feet.

I don’t think many of the fish were able to see the blue tint of my first crankbait because a normal clear blue transparency of the quarry had turned to brownish-green due to rains. I believed that the red and fluorescent and obnoxious rattles of this one was the kicker.

I was in business with this ugly thing and it’s a miracle that I was able to stick the fish with its terrible and poorly-designed hooks, including the undersize rod and reel I was using for the cranking.

By working the open water structure plan, Dan and I fell short of catching a combined 20 fish, which would have been a pretty damn good outing in my book for an end of summer morning gig.

With my ugly crankbait, I finished with a total of 12 Largemouth Bass with two at over 16”, and one that was shy of 17” along with others in the 12-13-14 inch range. In addition, I also managed a giant Green Sunfish and a juvenile White Bass.

Poor Dan, the morning guide, didn’t have nearly the identical success as I had, but he scored a modest 5 or 6 Largemouth with none attaining any real size.

I left about 80% of my fishing gear sitting in the boat up north, but what I was able to fish with today was just the basics. Three baitcasters, and my one bag full of jigs and hardbaits. The crankbait shown above was fished with my faster 6.5ft med action casting rod with 10lb copolymer line on a Quantum Accurist PT reel. Dan and I swore to God that the three largest fish I caught on the crankbait could have passed for a huge fish based on the fight and pulls as evidenced by the deceiving rod that was in use. Nonetheless, the battles displayed by these chunksters were nothing short of being impressive.

First time ever fishing a quarry, I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but the plan worked, and I had a lot of fun!

These photos all go in order from start to finish, with my largest of the morning coming during the final hour and a half out on the lake.

Best action and window of activity happened between 8am-10am when we fished the deep open water.

I had an enjoyable morning with Dan, and joining him this morning far exceeded any original expectations that I may have once had about fishing these types of places. Thanks for making me into a believer, Dan, and I can’t wait to get out there with you again in a few weeks, and especially this fall when the fish start feeding to the point of exhibiting weight disorders!

Video Project:: Underwater Screenshots

My Site Goes National Geographic.

We offer a preview of its upcoming first internet TV episode.

One of my projects and goals for this summer has been to work with my good friend, Dan Cahill, with the hopes of filming enough HD video so that a mock 24-minute television show episode could be created. Created not only for ourselves and my website, fishing-headquarters.com, as a trial test run, but to also to learn from and send off to various people with hopes that we may have a future doing this, and to be profitable from it, and successful with it. I will even send a copy to my former video production professors at Loyola University to show them that I actually did learn something while in class!

Upon further review from what we’ve done to this point, I certainly think the potential is there for it.

After two separate filming and fishing trips thus far during the summer months, all that remains for Dan and I is to keep collaborating and finish the editing of this piece. According to him, all that is left is some background music fill-ins, and final tweaks to our opening and closing credits.

Thus far, we have three separate segments within the show, an introduction and conclusion, and 30-second spots to be used as commercials for our sponsors such as Stankx Bait Co. The segments we have thus far are X-Raps and aggressive summertime fishing for Smallmouth Bass; Finesse Smallmouth Bass from deep, clear water; and Largemouth Bass slop fishing techniques. It is all action-packed and full of big fish catching, along with cutaways, interviews, action shots, and underwater. We tried Muskies but on three separate occasions they did not cooperate with us.

For our underwater filming, Dan and I employ a waterproof HD camera made by Kodak. It’s simple, and can go to as deep as 10-feet. We have been using it often to capture our underwater video and up to this point, it has been dynamic for what we are trying to accomplish. This underwater footage is great for our cutaways, to better understand fish behavior, and to get a thorough glimpse of underwater environments and the exact places we catch our fish from. Comparing this $100 camera with something more of the norm, the video quality is without question far superior than something more expensive such as a $300 AquaVu. The only areas we are limited are deep water, but I believe we can make up for it somehow.

As for everything else, we use a Canon Vixia HD. Both of these cameras are Dan’s. My near-identical purchases will be made by this winter. I am waiting for Sony to introduce its next-generation NEX handycam to the market. I am being told that this is the revolution to semi-pro video production and film making. - SONY NEX Handycam

We hope to complete the editing of this first episode by sometime around Labor Day, and I will make it be available to everyone on the internet.

Below are the screen shots captured from our various underwater scenes and cutaway footage.

Take a look for yourselves. We’ve even included a couple of bonuses of various shots that were captured on the standard HD video.

School of Bluegills - May 2010

Clear water Smallmouth Bass - Finesse Tube Fishing - May 2010

Smallmouth Bass Catch & Release - May 2010

Smallmouth Bass Catch & Release - May 2010

Muskie Country - May 2010

Underwater Musky - May 2010

Smallmouth Bass - July 2010

Smallmouth Bass - July 2010

Smallmouth Bass - July 2010

Smallmouth Bass - July 2010

Cutaway of me, clear water Bass fishing - May 2010

Cutaway of me, clear water Bass fishing, with fish on the line - May 2010

I’m really excited to see what the final edit will look like, and how other fishermen and possibly professionals may respond to it. When completed, I will be sure to share it with all of you.