3-1-08. Customfish TV is on the air!

Happy March everyone.
We have a couple new things we're going to be doing this year.
How about this? CUSTOMFISH TV!
Yep. It's happening. The first installment is in the can.
All the episodes are going to be right here. So check back often. We don't believe in set schedules.
We're going to show you alot. What we do. How we fish. And some stuff that just shouldn't be on video.
Sure Jimmy Houston gives his little fishies a kiss. But have ya ever seen anyone lick one???
Ya see where I'm going with this?

First up is going to be us freezing our a$$es of this past saturday. Luckily the fish cooperated and it's not just shots of Mike slipping the tongue to a fish, or Mike trying to quit smoking with the help of a cheese stick.
Our fish totals were pretty good. While everyone else is sitting on their butts inside we were out there catching a mix of smallmouth, largemouth and hybrid greengills. The biggest catches were a couple of 18" largemouth and a monster 16"+ crappie that one of the attending anglers caught.





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PLUS..We're toying with the idea of some new apparel. Kinda in a different direction. After seeing the new breed of anglers at the shows in the past few years, it ocured to us that a new "look" in the sport may be needed. Something that reflects the general attitude of the 20-30 year old anglers who talk to us at the booth.
This is the rough draft of one of our own hand drawn pieces. We'll let you know when it goes into production. Drop us an email and let us know what you think.

Copyright 2008 by Jamie Riani
( Don't even think about lifting it :) . We track everything here.)

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In other news:
I got the opportunity to watch a few fishing shows this weekend. Normally I stay away from fishing shows for 3 reasons. 1) We're "inside" the fishing business. So we know for every muskie you usually see caught on a fishing show by a "pro", there was about a week's worth of footage of him casting into nothingness. Plus I know of a couple "pros" that have people pre-fish spots for them and save them fish. That doesn't take skill at all. ( yes Bob..I was blatantly talking about YOU right there.). and #2) I HATE tournaments. Especially springtime tournaments where these guys are fishing bass off their beds and then taking them to a weigh in station miles away. And again, we're "inside" the business and know a few tournament anglers who we wouldn't have in our homes. So basically I'd rather watch Mike lick a fish than watch most of these guys yank a fish out of the water and flop it on the deck.
And lastly) We are either working, fishing, or spending time with our kids. Those three things trumps any fishing show unless we're on it. And even then we missed the last one.
So anyway, I got to watch Beat Charlie Moore. I like Charlie. Sure he's dodging me like a head-high fastball. He wants no part of this. Who would? Especially for a TV show. What? ESPN is gonna show their star getting his a$$ handed to him on his own show by the likes of us??
Next I watched The World's Greatest Fishing Show with Mark Zona. Thank God he has Pete Maina on who happens to be in the same circle of circus performers as us. Otherwise I might have changed the channel. I'm sure Mark is a nice guy and feely admits to not being the best angler or the best host..but c'mon! He's from this area and didn't know a thing about muskies?? I dunno..Zona just kinda irritates me anyway. I thought I was loud and obnoxious! I may very well be. But I also have enough calss to know not to bash the Packers while IN Pete's boat ON Green Bay.
Later that morning I caught some of the Musky Hunter TV Show. I liek the show but HATE the time slot. We just can't seem to be freed up at that time of a saturday morning. Again..work,fish,kids, all that stuff. But still, a great show. Hopefully you guys all caught Customfish Pro-Staffer John Mich on last week's episode.

John Mich with a Customfish muskie, seen on Musky Hunter TV.
It was great to see the video-catch-footage of a fish that we at Customfish put on the wall.
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And finally, it's random picture time!
WWW.CUSTOMFISH.COM is all about the pictures. And man-o-man do we put up some good ones!
We have literally thousands of shots. So many that we have to host them on seperate hard drives.
So...we're starting something new for 2008. Random Picture Time!
We start with these 2.
I call this one "The Hot Seat"
It's an unaltered shot. No photoshopping. No cloning. Nothing. Just the right angle with the camera, a bench and a fire 6' apart.


And this one we call "Burro with a dish"
This is a trailer along side the Fox River. Mike and I hit this spot once a week on our usual milk run aboard his boat. that wall is a great smallie spot.
BUT....more importantly, the Burro Camper has a satelite dish.
What is this world coming to, we ask?

More new stuff for Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge

OH MY GOD YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS!!!!!!! (CLICK)
(ok..ok..so that was over the top, but still...click it. I worked hard on it.)

Along with everything we're doing here, I got the new Taltson Bay Big Pike Lodge online apparel shop up and running. The website is also being reworked and will be up soon. But I figured I'd give you guys first look at the store anyway.
Here's a sample of what's in there:

It's just not fair.

Ok.. so, you all know my good friend John. My fishing partner on the Taltson Trip John. Customfish northwoods reporter John.
Well, John went fishing again. For..oh..I dunno...like the last 2 weeks.
He sent me this. His new personal best. 50.50" x 24".
Did I mention I hate John?? No?? I hate John. Although I want John's life. Ironic, isn't it?

John's report:
Just returned from 13 days on the water in Northern Wi. The weather was too good...the water not cold enough, yet the the boat still caught fish.
28 total for the time fishing. Enjoyed some friends and filmed a Musky Hunter show.

Jerk Baits and suckers accounted for most of the fish. Size went from 28" to 50.50". The boat started 0-7 on sucker strikes, only to come back with a vengeance finishing 10-13.

I was fortunate enough to film a fall sucker/Jerkbait show with Jim Saric over three days while in the northwoods. 45 minutes into the shoot I caught my personal best...a 50.50", 24" girth flowage beauty on a jerkbait. Needless to say it was quite a moment for me, with it being my home lake, the lake my father taught me the game and the significance of it being onfilm. After that we settled in for 8 more fish to 41"...and a show was in the can.

Baits that worked besides suckers were HellHounds, Mantas,Kickin Minnows,bulldawgs. Orange was the color of choice. The water was more stained than ever before..the excess rain in the north made it look like rootbeer.


See this fish on an upcoming episode of the Musky Hunter TV show.


*NOTE: Ya see that picture? THAT is the perfect muskie shot. There's no holding the fish out and making it look like a marlin. He's gettin' low and making a smaller profile of himself YET keeping the fish on the same plane....notice that it's above his knee. THAT is a no bull***t picture right there.
Yep. It's true. I taught him everything he knows. Well, except that whole watch-me-light-this-on-fire-trick. He learned that somewhere else.
Nice fish John! Congradulations!
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And finally, this:
I've had a couple trips out that I was gonna write about but screw it. John's trip just pissed on my parade. In a nutshell I've been catching a dozen smallies an hour. So go to a river, throw a wobbling crankbait and burn it in. That's about it...it's just that simple. Now go!