2006 Events
January 1 - Siemens Sponsors Kendall Ulsh
Siemens, one of the worlds leading suppliers of automotive electronics and mechatronics joins me this year as a sponsor. Dave Ladd, Director of Corporate Communications for Siemens,defined the goal of this partnership as trying to introduce more people to the Siemens,defined the goal of this partnership as trying to introduce more people to the possibility that you rely on Siemens every time you start your car. As well as their products we commonly rely on, but may not know their origination. In fact, there is a distinct component development and manufacturing, they are also involved in Hybrid vehicle research. I am very excited about this opportunity, and look forward to sharing more about them with you soon. Please check out their web site at www.siemensvdo.com
January 1 - Midwest Migrations Joins KDawg
Since 2002, I've had the pleasure of hunting North Dakota waterfowl with Midwest Migrations. As of 2006, I will also be sponsored by them. Robert Schlagel, owner, has been looking for a more effective way to seek out customers in the midwest. Through a personal word of mouth advertisement, as well as visual advertising, we look forward to bringing the message to some new people who may not have found Midwest Migrations otherwise. As a customer, I can promise you the best water fowling you have ever seen. You can see more at www.midwestmigrations.com.
January 11 - Joining Forces with Seelye-Wright Auto Group
This year continues to look bright. Seelye-Wright Auto Group, has agreed to a partnership for 2006, helping to ensure me the opportunity to stay on the water. Thanks to Mr. Wright and Mr. Seelye for their support. Seelye-Wright offers new and used vehicles from all the major manufacturers. Call my salesman Mickey Seelye at (888-365-9298) or check out their web site www.seelyewright.com.
January 16 - Ultimate Fishing Show
The ultimate fishing show in Novi is over. Thanks to those of you who dropped by Shubert's to buy product, meet me, or the few who wanted to see Kim Sticker. More likely you wanted to see Kim Stricker, and met me. Thanks to Terry's Tackle for sponsoring me and making such great product. I was also present in the CATT(Competitive Anglers Tournament Trail) Booth this weekend, telling everyone about the great Lake St. Clair opener this year. Check out their web site for details about opening day, as well as their many weeknight divisions in 15 states.
February 28
In an joined effort with CATT to help get new members signed up faster and easier, KDAWG.net will be offering CATT 2006 Membership Forms, as well as CATT Pack Team Sign Up forms for the Johnson Shootout Series opener on Lake St. Clair. Expecting a huge rush for these forms, I am putting a link up to get you the applications sooner, so you can get your take-off spot secured for the June 17 Shootout.
This tournament is expected to draw big. Get your memberships in soon.
Also, if you plan to fish Monday night Division 1 with Steve Filkins, he is closing the group at 35 boats, so sign up early.
Check out the CATT Web site for details and news, email me
(kendall@kdawg.net)
with any questions. See you on the water.....
March 5,6,7 - Midwest
Migrations takes us Hunting
Thanks to Robert Schlagel and Midwest Migrations for an awesome weekend of Snow Goose Hunting in southern Nebraska. Once again, Robert delivered with a great hunt. Joining me on the trip were Wade and Woody Thompson, owners of Willow Lake Sportsman's Club. Eric Siemens VDO, and Nick Mazich joined us. Of course, I brought a fishing pole or two to kill time. Just so happens we caught some nice bass....it was another great weekend of hunting with Midwest Migrations.
They couldn't resist the pond
March 27
The Outdoor Alliance held their first annual Fishing Expo on Thursday night. It was a great opportunity to meet some awesome people, and share some fishing tips. A big thanks goes out to 3rd Reformed Church in Kzoo and all the guys on the Outdoor Alliance Fishing Team. They really pulled together to bring the event to life. We look forward to seeing everyone there again next year.
April 21 - Xtreme Truck Accessories Partnership
service and selection when it comes to trucks. They carry and install nearly every form of service and selection when it comes to trucks. They carry and install nearly every form of Diesel performance parts for your pickups, as well as aftermarket accessories such as caps, covers, hitches, splash guards and floormats. Ask me for more info or check out their web site at www.xtremetnt.com.
April 29
Jerry Bastian and I headed to St. Clair to initiate the season. It was a Smallmouth Festivus! (If you are unsure of what a Festivus is, please refer to the Seinfeld episode, The Strike, 1997). Regardless of what you want to call it, you may refer to it as a "spanking". In fact, Kim Stricker has since banned us from that particular Smallmouth Neighborhood. Over 300 smallmouth, four sore shoulders, 3 bent rod spectators, two lost jerkbaits and one heck of a good time later, we headed back west to tell the tale. Thanks Smallies, we'll see you again soon!
The season is open!!! Let's hit the water!
May 27, 28
The season opens with a bang! The 2nd Annual Scotty Bud Classic was a big hit again. This year we fielded 24 boats, and came up with a great contribution to some awesome charities. A fantastic turn out for Gun Lake due to the difficult fishing conditions, we saw weights of near 14lbs take the checks. Ron Bell and myself secured third place this year behind Vern Finch and Eric Joslyn in first and Eric and Fred Pessel in second. Scott Lakey and Gary Gebbin secured the last check in fourth as well as big bass(4-2 smallie).
What a great day of fishing. Though the conditions were tough, we saw a lot of good limits. Thanks to the CATT Crew for a great opening weekend event! The Scotty Bud Classic continues to impress those anglers looking for the perfect opening weekend tourney.
Scotty Bud Classic 2006 Is In The Books!
May 28
Thanks to CATT and Scotty Bud for putting together another great opening weekend tournament. Not only did Scotty Bud finally do some work this week, he emceed the event at Gun Lake. It was a lot of fun again this year, drawing 24 boats. What a turnout for the conditions. High pressure, barometric and angling, disrupted the fish and separated the men from the boys. This weekend wasn't for the meek. Nonetheless, the best shined with Finch and Joslyn edging out first place with around 13.5 pounds. Good work guys. Scotty Bud has some more pictures on his site at www.scottybud.com. The season is officially open, get some.
Next Stop - St. Clair
The push is on. Registrations still rolling in and members getting on board for the Johnson Shootout Series. The series kicks off at St. Clair on June 17. CATT has put together the best series in the state, and the country for that matter. Dollar for dollar, there isn't a better deal out there. $140 gets you entered into a team tournament with the best guaranteed payback anywhere. Check the payback, look at the prizes. 4 tournaments, 90% payback, 3 weekends a year, chance to win 2 boats. If you can't see it, you're not looking.
Email me if you need the answer.
Team KDawg on the Board
June 3,4
I traveled to Traverse City this weekend to begin the season with the Western Michigan Bassmasters, a Kalamazoo based Federation club. We fished the Elk/Torch chain, launching in Skegmog. After two days of practicing, my co-angler Ron Bell and I decided to make a long run to some fish we felt would give us the best chance to win. It paid off on the first day. I weighed 18.77lbs to take first on Saturday, with Ron finishing fifth.
Sunday morning presented thick fog and would have added time to the run, so we decided to grind it out in Skegmog. Again, the strategy paid off. At the end of the day, Ron finished first with 17.88lbs, and I rounded out the top five with 15.16. We swept first place for the weekend by working together, letting one man take the best fish the first day, and yielding the big fish the second. After 2 of 6 events, I am leading in points. Up next, on to St. Clair for the CATT Shootout Series opener.
June 23
A huge thank you to all who participated in the Johnson Shootout St. Clair Opener last weekend. It was a terrific event with great prizes, great paybacks and great friends. 50 boats turned out to test who was the best on St. Clair in June and the winners were Mark Smith and Brian Clark. They maxed out with 20.1 lbs Saturday to take home the first place honors. In fact, it took over 18 lbs to cash a check. It just goes to show you that the best anglers fish with CATT. Thanks also to the CATT Shootout Staff and the terrific job they did executing the weigh in and cleanup. CATT was rocking again thanks to HairNation on Sirius Satellite Radio and the fantastic weigh in area provided by the folks at Harley Ensign. Now its on to Muskegon to see test those weights for the Angler of the Year race to the Nitro 591 boat. We'll see you there on July 8.
July 8 - Muskegon Lake - Muskegon, Michigan
Saturday was the second tournament in the CATT Johnson Outdoors Shootout Series. Our team (Shannon Bagleyand myself) went in on Saturday 19th in points, looking to gain some ground on the leaders. It seemed that our practice day was mediocre with a predicted weight of about 10lbs, but we decided to stick to our game plan and make the run out of Muskegon. After nearly an hour of running in Lake Michigan chop, we arrived at our destination ready to make the best of our day. We found no other boats near us, and were able to use the entire lake to adapt our day to the fish. We managed a good sack of around 12lbs and decided to make the trip back to Muskegon before Lake Michigan could gain any more momentum. We made the right decisions and it landed us a 3rd place finish against some of the best anglers around. We made up ground on most of the teams ahead of us and had a great day of fishing.
July 15,16 2006 - Fish Fest 2006
Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources with be holding its annual Fish Fest 2006 at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery on M-43 just west of Kalamazoo, Michigan. They have planned a full weekend of fun for kids and adults with a scheduled seminar for bass fisherman at 2:00 PM each day provided by none other than me. Please plan to attend, it will be a great opportunity to snoop around Wolf Lake as well as check out the scheduled events.
August 21
The End is Near - Tips for extending your summer $'s
Another season of fishing is winding down and the time for planning next year is quickly approaching. For me, only a CATT Championship remains. A lot of you out there are probably feeling the effects of high gas prices on your year, so I have gotten together with a few sponsors to give you some ideas for saving that precious penny at the pump. Thanks to the boys in the service department at Seelye-Wright, Lake Drive Marine and the Performance Team at Xtreme Truck Accessories for their advice.
1.) Check the air pressure in your trailer and truck tires. Low pressure can increase drag and work your tow vehicle harder.
2.) Check your prop for dings and dents. Though seemingly unnoticeable, these little nicks can reduce thrust and rob you of top end speed and fuel economy.
3.) Try adding a cover or cap to your truck bed to help streamline your vehicle and reduce wind drag on the highway. It's amazing how much drag the bed of your truck produces on the highway. If you are really serious, try adding a performance chip or programmer to your vehicle to increase mileage.
4.) Slow down. Everyone I talked to said this was the best way to increase your vehicles fuel economy both on the water and on the highway. When you are practicing or just fun fishing, try to keep your boat on plane, but lower your RPM's. A few rev's can mean a huge gain in fuel with those big outboards. On the highway, try slowing that rig down and finding a steady speed. I've found that at 65 or 70, I'm able to cover just as much ground as the next guy, but rarely have to adjust for slow traffic. All this means less wasted fuel accelerating and decelerating.
Again, thanks to all the info from sponsors, I hope you can gain a few extra miles this fall.
September 25
The tournament season has drawn to an end, and I am beginning preparations for next year already. The CATT Northern Championship was a huge success again, even though the weather was a disaster. I managed to boat almost 3lbs of bass for the two days leading me and my year long partner(identity undisclosed to protect reputation) to a top 50 finish. It seems as though Muskegon lake still has my number. Though our fishing was slow, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The group from CATT and the cities of Montague and Muskegon treated us like royalty. I have to again commend all the anglers who were there for braving some tough conditions, and for the camaraderie they seem to bring everywhere they go. Even though everyone there wanted to have a pinata at the banquet, we got by with some great food. Stay tuned to KDawg.net this winter for news on other things around the area. We will again be charting a course West to visit Midwest Migrations for a Spring Snow Goose hunt, something you should all experience. Contact me if you are interested in joining us this year. Fishing show season is also drawing near, and I will be keeping you up to date on the shows and scheduled appearances. Plus, I hope to find some more great fall bass fishing here in Michigan to tell you about. Thanks for your support in 2006.
October 14
In case you didn't notice, it was pretty sunny today. I braved the wind to head out to Gull lake in SW Michigan to see if I could catch a fish or two. It turned out to be a pretty exciting day. The smallmouth were on the jerk and the spinnerbait. I was able to boat about 25 fish in the morning, and make it home in time for an evening goose hunt. If you get a chance to hit the water this fall, you'll enjoy the lack of boating pressure and the fishing.
December 20 - 2007 is Coming Fast
The new year is approaching fast and that means getting ready for Spring. KDawg and CATT both have plenty of things planned for 2007, and would like to invite you to join us. First of all is the Bass Pro Fishing Days Show in Auburn Hills, Michigan. CATT will again have a booth set up, and looks forward to seeing you there again this year. As always, BPS has some awesome sales and specials running, plus it's a great time to get your CATT 2007 Schedules, and sign up for the Shootout Series and Weeknight Divisions. Also in March, I will be taking a group to Nebraska for some of the finest Snow Goose hunting and Bass Fishing around. That's right, the annual trip to Midwest Migrations to thin out the white birds. If you enjoy duck hunting, or just like shoot stuff, this is a great trip. And as we discovered last year, the fishing is out of this world! Then in April will begin the Smallmouth Festivus! If you are interested in experiencing the finest smallmouth fishing anywhere, you can hook up with us and hit the water. From there, it just gets better.
Also, I hope to add some more great sponsors this year, giving me the opportunity to continue to do what we love to do: Fish!. So if you can, support these great businesses that have helped me in the last year, and in the future. Have a great Holiday Season and Never eat a BASS!
November 12 - Fishing Lake Ray Roberts
I made my first fishing trip to Texas this past weekend. It was more of a relaxing trip, but was able to squeeze in some casting with a fellow CATT angler, Les Kennedy. While not on business, Les and I traveled north of Dallas to Lake Ray Roberts. I had heard of the lake before, but was unfamiliar with it. The day was nice, windy but sunny. Even though the bite was slow, it was just good to be fishing. Fortunately for me, I was with the CATT Southern Division Champions. Les was able to put us on a good school of fish to end the day, boating about 12 good ones in the last hour. I have to encourage anyone who's thinking about it to get down to Dallas/Ft. Worth and check out the sights; and the Bass! Thanks Les!