Tomorrow, Mr. Smallmouth WILL fall victim to many of the lures that I’ll present and I WILL provide photos and details on the baits I use. I just hope that the weather cooperates, but even if it doesn’t, who cares, I WILL still catch them’!

Ok… so the moral to this story is?  C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E! A word that many of us tend to forget about. People commonly ask me what’s the most important part of fishing success? And my answer is “believe in yourself and your decisions.” This is a very valuable concept that I learned from my father. He always says, “ If you believe, they WILL bite!” And it sure seems like every time we fish together, he catches them.

 So…tomorrow I’ll take the Old Man’s advice and hopefully the smallies WILL cooperate for the camera!

for all of your advice over the years,

gO fiSh!

Ask yourself this question: What are a few of my favorite things? Fishing? Boating? Rods, reels, lures & line? 

Au contraire, mon fre’re!

Sure, fishing is a great sport, but I actually prefer good food, good friends and good music just as much, if not more. Take for example…”When the dog bites…when the bee stings…when I’m feeling sad…I simply remember “my favorite things” and then I don’t feel…so bad!”

Please tell me that you remember this show tune from the 1965 film The Sound of Music that was sung by none other than Ms. Julie Andrews. And for you kids out there, you’ll probably remember a few of her recent gigs as she was the voice of Queen Lillian in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.

 In the hit musical, the lyrics to the song are a reference to things Maria von Trapp loves, such as “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.” These are the things she selects to fill her mind with when times are bad. You really should try it, I feel better already just having read that one line!

Ok…So…I love Show tunes, I own both The Sound of Music movie & the soundtrack and… I think Julie Andrews is dreamy!…All men have a tender side…don’t they? And I’m fairly certian that you’re now wondering what the heck is he blogging about?…Well…here you go.

One of the greatest things in life is…ICE CREAM! And not just the regular old stuff which is quite delicious, I’m talking about the glorious… 

CHOCO-TACO!

Yes…the brand of dessert food resembling a taco, consisting of a taco shell-like waffle cone, reduced-fat vanilla ice cream, artificially flavored fudge, peanuts, and a milk chocolate coating. The product was invented in Philadelphia in the 1980′s by the Jack and Jill Ice Cream Company, but was introduced nationwide by Good Humor-Breyers in 1996 as “America’s coolest taco.”

They come individually wrapped or in a four pack. FISH-TIP: (Spend the extra couple of bucks and get the four pack!) So there you go…two of my favorite things, Julie Andrews and Choco-Taco’s!

Oh…I almost forgot. “Mrs. Andrews?…if by chance you ever read this blog, I think you’re absolutely terrific and I would be honored to take you fishing or maybe we could just visit and have a Choco-Taco! And thank you so much for all of your show stopping performances!” 

Hugs, gO fiSh!

EVE’S BLOG ENTRY #2 

You may recall the last time I posted on Fish’s blog I discussed the Texas cap that I wore on his show. I don’t have a favorite team, I simply prefer orange caps. Pictured, is part of my hunting apparel.  

Also, I insinuated that in order to continue posting he would need to prepare another great meal. Well, I must say that he didn’t procrastinate. That same day he called with an invitation to dinner the next night and after failing to think of a good excuse, I reluctantly accepted. However, the evening went very well and I wanted to share a few quick snapshots of the extravagant feast that he so graciously prepared.

And following true Fishburne form, he reached in the freezer revealing a six-pack of Klondike bars. He then told me the history of the company saying that Klondike’s were created by the Isaly Dairy Company of Youngstown, Ohio in the early 1920′s and were named after the Klondike River in Alaska. And he said that the Polar Bear was the brand mascot. (Apparently there were plans to film a show there next year and he was hoping to garner Klondike as a new sponsor.) He also said that the rights to the name were eventually sold to Good Humor-Breyers which is part of Unilever corporation. As he opened the package he shouted, 

“WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR A KLONDIKE BAR?”

And, I took that as my cue to leave exclaiming that I couldn’t hold another bite and needed to depart for an early work day ahead.

He did call to check and see that I was home without incident which I found to be very honorable and then told me that he had consumed all six bars in less than an hour, a feat he was quite impressed with. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers and his family did compensate me for a wonderful meal. 

Until next time, (he should hang up the fishing rods and contact the Food Network)

gO eVe! 

Well…the first season of “The Fish Fishburne Show” has officially aired! And, we’ll be back in July with re-airings of the original thirteen episodes.

Hopefully, most of you will start having withdrawals from missing the show, but maybe this will ease your pain. 

Fish and Joe  

It’s a new show that starts this week!

And the format takes (12) of the best Ultimate Match Fishing competitors from previous seasons and matches them against fan favorites on Tennessee’s Pickwick Lake. There they’ll battle head-to-head for $50,000 and the coveted UMF All-Star Title. It’s competition like you’ve never seen and I’ll be co-hosting with my long time fishin’ friend Joe Thomas. See ya’ there and…

gO fiSh!

Thursday @ 8:30 am (est)

Fridays @ 7:30 am & 11:30 pm (est)

Satyrdays @ 8:00 am & 5:oo pm (est) 

 ”The Fish Fishburne Show,”

I’ll show you a few tricks of the trade and some totally-tightwad behavior when it’s time to go,

For more Cheap information, go to fishfishburne.com!

And after this eye-opening-penny-pinching-edition you’ll probably even start your own:

tHurSdaY @ 11:00 am

fRidAy @ 11:30 pm

sAtuRdaY @ 8:00 am & 4:00 pm

Finally, tomorrow will be the first time this spring to officially launch the boat and try to land that lovely lady largemouth. First though, I need to check the weather, pick a location, find the sunscreen, lay out the fishing clothes, charge the batteries, fix some sandwiches, pack the cooler, may need rain-gear, choose some rods, fuel the truck, fuel the boat, spool some line, grab some tackle, sharpen hooks, don’t forget sunglasses, grease the wheel bearings, keys to the boat, check tire pressure, ice the cooler, load the tool box, throw in life vests, grab the  electronics, locate the paddles, hook up the boat, check the trailer lights, and oh, by the way, ”Is the plug in?”

And so on and so on and…

Man…this fishing stuff takes a lot out of you and I haven’t even made my first cast! Oh well, seems like the same thing every year. I wait until the evening before my first trip to the lake and I can’t find a thing that I need and all the maintenance that should have been done earlier was, let’s just say, overlooked? I will say that half the battle of successful fishing trips is all about preparation and organization. And it helps keep the place tidy and neat, something else I need to work on, maybe next year!

I just hope that you’re as organized as I am!

gO fiSH!