3/24/2011
Chad Morgenthaler - Been a While
Beaver Lake to Hartwell

It’s been a little while, so let’s catch up on Beaver Lake first.
I’ll take my 31st place finish at Beaver with a great big wipe of my brow and a “whew; dodged a bullet on that one.”

I struggled a little bit the first day there because I couldn’t figure out the suspended fish bite, and it showed with three fish that put me somewhere in the 90’s in the standings.

Then the weather changed…

Thank goodness, because when they moved out onto the main lake and suspended, I couldn’t make them bite. I think I was getting in too much of a hurry with my jerkbait and not giving the bass in Beaver’s clear water a chance to commit.
When they moved from their late winter suspending phase to their prespawn staging point on day two in the nasty weather; I was able to catch them on a Wiggle Wart much better. They kept coming too; all day long they moved up in waves.

I weighed in 13-8 and moved up from 95th to 31st; which I was happy with. I had a chance at a much bigger bag; I had two really big ones come up and bump my crankbait with their mouths closed, and had either one of those eaten and taken a ride in the Jasper / Fishouflage Phoenix; it would have been top 20 cut time.

Oh well, I’ll take it.

I just finished practice at Lake Hartwell, and I can honestly say I don’t know exactly what to expect. This lake has some good ones in it, and I had a good first day of practice, then two that were so-so.

I think I figured out something good, but I’m not sure that there are enough of them to fill a bag every day. I’m not planning on sightfishing, even though it’s likely to be a sightfishing deal, but, you never know; I may have to.

I’m pretty sure there are going to be some really big bags caught here, but my thought is that it will be a spotty deal, and that consistency will win out in the end.

Well, I’m off to the pairings and registration meeting; I’ll talk to you after Lake Hartwell; wish me luck.

www.chadmorgenthaler.com

2/14/2011
Morgenthaler: A Good Start


The First tournament of the year is behind me and I am pretty happy with what turned out to be not a bad start to the season. It’s always good to get started in the right way and I studied hard and researched a lot for Okeechobee.

I had it narrowed down to four areas that I was going to look to start with and I started my practice by checking those areas. All four of them had things that I thought would be possibilities so I set up a milk run in my head that started at the furthest point from the take off.

When I got there the first morning of the tournament the first spot was a pretty big area and while there were other people around they weren’t doing what I was doing. I was fishing deeper spawning bass and throwing a swimbait on the outside of the spawning areas.

The reason I was fishing the deeper spawning beds is that I believe the fish have adapted because of heavy fishing pressure. So I had my area mainly to myself even though I had company.
I used primarily two lures and I had a lot of confidence in them. I used a one-ounce Lunker Lure jig in June bug with a sapphire blue trailer as my primary bait. The jig didn’t get me a ton of bites but it really helped me get the quality bites.

The other lure that I used was a Gambler Big EZ swimbait, and I threw both them on 50 lb braided on an 8 ft extra heavy Carrot Stix rod so I could jack ’em. I didn’t expect the weights at Okeechobee to be that high, I figured if I was in the 15 to 18 lb range I’d be solid and it turned out to be a true big weight tournament.

Okeechobee certainly showed its potential, everything lined up with the weather and the moon phase which made the fishing was unbelievable. I went through seven to eight limits and caught some really good fish.
I had one opportunity that could have put me in the final cut and I didn’t capitalize. But overall it’s a good start to the year and I’m looking forward to building on the momentum. It’s off to Beaver Lake next, talk to you soon.

1/30/2011
Chad Morgenthaler - Snow Bird
In Florida for Okeechobee

I’m a Snow Bird now; I’ve finished my trip from Illinois to Florida.

I think I drove a charmed trip, because I beat the weather everywhere I went. I had several stops to make. I had to get a couple of things I had to get touched up on the truck, and I stopped by the Phoenix Boats plant to get a couple of things adjusted on the boat. I had to stop in Tennessee to get the wrap tweaked, and I left just ahead of the weather.

Right after I left they got pounded with a snowstorm and from what I hear, they ended up with six inches of snow; I’m glad I didn’t get stuck.

I stopped at Tradewinds RV in Ocala and visited with my good friend Rick Couch there, and I think I’ve found my new fifth wheel camper. I called Debbie and told her about it and I think she’s a little afraid that when I come home there will be a new camper with me.

By the time I got to Florida I was like a caged animal; ready to go fishing. I fished yesterday on Rodman Reservoir with Glenn Browne, and had a great day. It took me a little while to get my casting and pitching back in rhythm, but once I did, I got to jack on some big ol’ heads. There was one time that I lost control of my tungsten flip weight and whacked the side of Glenn’s boat; oops.

I did catch a few bass, and Glenn and I laughed and enjoyed the day, even when I set the hook and my flipping rig went one way and the fish went flying the other. I did catch a three to four pound mud fish while I was flipping, and while I was trying to get the TroKar Flipping hook out of its head the phone rang. It was a writer looking for a story and while I was talking to him the dang thing bit me and made me bleed; I’m gonna have to learn when to answer the phone.

As for today, I’ll do a little bit of PAA work, but will spend most of the day getting tackle situated. Which will probably include a stop at Okeechobee Fishing Headquarters; the shop owned by fellow FLW Tour Pro Koby Kreiger, where I’ll spend too much money, but oh well.

After that, it’s all fishing from Sunday on. I’ve got my head thinking about nothing but the tournament, and I’m planning on trying to pull together a strong finish. I’ve been waiting for this one all winter. Talk to you afterwards.

For more on Chad Morgenthaler visit his personal website at: www.chadmorgenthaler.com

1/14/2011
Chad Morgenthaler - Getting Closer
New Jigs and New Projects

I just got some boxes in from my sponsors in the past few days, and now my shop looks a lot like Christmas all over again. I’m going to get in there and go through it all like a kid on Christmas morning.

I’ll be organizing and loading the Phoenix and of course the Lunker Lure Express; our fifth wheel camper that’s all wrapped in Lunker Lure colors. It’s really hard to miss Deb and I when we’re driving down the road, or camping at a tournament.

Speaking of Lunker Lure, that’s one new thing I can tell you about. I’m in the final stages of putting together our new Limit Series of Jigs. I’ve worked with them to create a new ball head and shovel head jig that should be pretty cool.

They’re all designed to be in the finesse family, but they have plenty of meat to entice big strikes. The ball head features a light wire casting hook, while the shovel head is more of a heavy wire flipping version. I spent several hours at Lunker Lure the other day working on skirt combinations for the new line. I’m really excited about them, and looking forward to them being ready soon.



I got to be a part of a meeting the other day about the new plan for the 19,000 acre state park that’s near my house. The meeting included a bunch of politicians; which was really interesting because they had just announced an income tax increase in the State of Illinois, so nobody was really happy about that.

What was really unique about the meeting was that they actually asked the opinion of people who make their living in the outdoors. I got to give them some input on fish management and creel sizes, so it was pretty cool.

I’m working on getting my jerseys done too; it’s going to be Jasper Engines and Transmissions as the main logo with a Fishouflage background and Phoenix, Mercury and my other sponsors on it. There’s a few minor adjustments in positioning, but it’s largely the same.

I’ve been paying attention to the tournament results and the weather trends in Florida. It looks like everything is lining up exactly as I thought. I’ve got three or four areas that I’ll target and it looks like it’s the kind of tournament you’ll have to take a crack at a big bag each day.

I’m looking forward to heading South to get out of this cold weather in Illinois. But, in the meantime, we’ll spend a little time with some friends around here locally because once the season starts, it will be tough to see them very much.

For more on Chad Morgenthaler visit his personal website at: www.chadmorgenthaler.com

1/6/2011
Chad Morgenthaler - Is That My Tail?
Busy - Busy - Busy

I felt like a dog chasing my tail all week, and I haven’t even come close to catchin’ it.

I’m still getting ready for tour season, and the fact that I’m not ready, along with the fact that I’m working hard to not burn myself out has prompted me to rethink travel plans.

I was going to go to Florida early, before cutoff and ride the lake at the 12 foot level, where it is now, to get a glimpse of some of the backwaters that I might be able to use in the tournament later this month; but I opted not to go.

There was a second reason, and that was because the price of Petrol is so high, I decided to save some money too.

Instead, I decided to spend some time here on a local lake getting totally intimate with my Humminbird Fishing Systems. I knew them pretty well to begin with, but I wanted to make sure I knew them so well that I could interpret everything immediately.

I’m feeling really confident about them now. I used my Side Imaging units to locate some offshore structure, and absolutely punished some crappie; I mean destroyed them. I caught bunches of them, and now I know just about everything that shows up on my Humminbirds, and how to use it to my advantage.

Deb and I took a little time to enjoy life around the Holidays. We spent some time with some good friends, and I made some unreal deer sausage off of an eight point buck I shot this year. That sausage was perfect, and I loved every bite of it.

I’ve got the boys from Phoenix Boats coming up here to spend a little time together and go hunt some geese and duck before the season closes. It’s always fun to spend some time with people I enjoy, and they certainly are that kind of folks.

We’re working on some final details for the Bass Pro Shops PAA Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix. I think there’s a lot of good stuff in the works, and we’re going to some great lakes at the right times of the year. We put three of our board members on the schedule this year, and they poured over the calendar, and I think they did a pretty good job. The first one is coming up in March at Lake Lanier, and it will be fun to get out there and catch up some big ol’ spotted bass.

Anyway, I’ll continue to get ready this week, and pay as much attention as I can to the Lake Okeechobee Everstart Series Tournament that starts tomorrow; me and every other FLW Tour pro.

For more on Chad Morgenthaler visit his personal website at: www.chadmorgenthaler.com

12/27/2010
Morgenthaler - A New Outlook
Getting Ready for a New Approach

What do ya know, the 2011 season is right around the corner, and I’ve got a new buzzword for it – balance.

I’ve spent the past few years working hard on the business side of this career for the PAA and for myself and my wife Deb. The upside to the way I’ve been doing things is that I’ve been able to build new partnerships with endemic and non endemic companies. The downside has been my fishing has not been as good as I want it to be.

Deb has been lovingly reminding me of the fact that I need to focus on my fishing for the past couple of years by beating me with one of my fishing poles, and I guess it’s finally sunk in. So, I’ve had to take a hard look this offseason at how I do things and make some adjustments.

The first thing I did was take an absolute break from fishing. I still had to take care of a few business items, but I really got away from it. I even took Deb on a vacation to Cabo San Lucas for a week to get away together. My whole purpose behind the break is to get totally charged up for the upcoming season.

Being on the board of the PAA (www.fishpaa.com) has meant some additional workload that I wouldn’t have had to affect my fishing career, so I’ve worked hard to put people in place to handle the day to day operations so that I can get away when it’s time to fish.

I’ve also looked at how I prepared for upcoming tournaments, and I needed to improve there as well. So, I’m spending more time studying and researching for events, and that focus will help me as well. There’s so much useful information available to us today that I needed to do a better job of digging for it.

I also decided that I need to change my focus on what to expect out of myself come tournament time. I need to stop fishing to cash checks, and focus on making top 10’s if I want to accomplish my goals of making Cup Championships and Angler of the Year type goals.

I’m fishing 13 events this season, and that’s it. In years past I found myself sneaking other tournaments in, and before I knew it, I had fished 20 events, so I was losing focus there too.

Fortunately, my Phoenix 721 arrived in October, so I was able to work with Jasper Engines and Transmissions and Fishouflage to get the wrap done early; so all of that is out of the way. Because it got here early, I was able to spend the time and break in the Mercury 250 Pro XS, so I can focus on the goals ahead.


One thing you can count on from me through this year in this column is that you’ll get whatever’s on my mind, be it good bad or ugly. I’ll tell you when I screwed up, when I was clueless, and I’ll be sure to share the good times and the bad times with you.

Deb and I are looking forward to it, and are planning on having some fun with it this year. So, with tournaments around the corner, I hope you all are having a great Holiday season.

Talk to you soon.

For more on Chad visit him on the web at:www.chadmorgenthaler.com