Hey all, Just wanted to check in and write my first entry into the blog. My name is Brian Henley and not only do I tournament bass fish, I am also an employee of Mustang Survival! My primary duties are Business Development Military but fortunate for me, I also help the marketing team with Bass fishing. There will be more about me in upcoming posts, what I really wanted to talk about today is the launch of the Mustangs Survival Safe Money Incentive Program.

Safe Money is open to all divisions of the BassMaster Weekend Series anglers who purchase a Mustang Survival Inflatable PFD in 2008. Safe Money members who finish first at approved tournaments are eligible to win $300.00 in prize money by simply wearing their Mustang Survival PFD at all required times during the tournaments.

Talk about exciting…. This is the first and only Incentive Program that I have ever heard of that will actually pay you more then the purchase price of the product!!

Visit the Safe Money page for full details.

On another note, I wanted to post a picture of the newly wrapped Mustang Survival bass boat that I will be fishing out of this season. It was taken at the Bassmaster Classic when Roland Martin was visiting our booth. Check back regularly to see my progress. Also, If you see me driving down the road or on the water, please stop and say hello!

Mustang Survival pro-staffer and TV host Dave Mercer’s Facts of Fishing Tips Series has been airing for many years on OLN, TSN, ESPN Classic, WFN, Wild TV and The Weather Network in Canada. His one minute segments are fast-paced, fun, energetic, educational, and very entertaining!

His new half-hour program - Dave Mercer’s Facts of Fishing™ THE SHOW has been airing on WFN featuring what really happens on the water. Shot in real time over one day, you get to see how many casts, how long Dave’s been fishing, how many fish he has or hasn’t caught, and everything else that happens!

If you don’t have access to WFN on digital cable, the show is coming to The Score in April. Check it out!

Our next BASS Profile is of JoDee Lake, a member of Team Fishergirl and on the Women’s BassMaster Tour. I got to meet her at ICAST in 2007 and was really impressed with her energy and passion for her sport. She entered her first tournament a few years ago and almost won Big Fish with a 5.5 pound Largemouth. From there she was hooked on competitive fishing!

I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. Its the second week back to work for us here at Mustang and we are starting to get back into the swing of things.

Last week I did an interview with Ed Harp for bassmaster.com about staying warm and dry when you are fishing this time of year. We talked about our Integrity products which are great for fishing in cold weather and are Coast Guard approved flotation devices. We also talked about our Ice Rider snowmobile gear which uses the same flotation foam that we use in all our other products.

Its hard to believe that its just 42 days until the BassMaster Classic!

Its hard to believe we are almost half way through December and the Hot Pink Inflatable PFD is starting to show up in stores! Danielle from The Harbour Chandler was happy to model hers for us. A list of dealers that have or will be offering it can be found on our website. If there’s someone on your shopping list who this would be perfect for, there could still be time to put one under the tree!

At launch it was beautiful the sun was coming out the waters were quite calm and it all fell apart after that.

We made a run about 20 minutes to and area that we had caught some 4&5 lb largies and thought we could finish a respectable finish with 20+ bags but old mother nature had things already in place like this cold front moving in as we were pulling up. The winds changed the sky darkened and the temperatures drop very quickly. We held on to our plan for the largies until the trolling motor had had enough of fighting 3ft swells. We didn’t pull in any bass at this spot but i did manage my personal best Northern Pike that probably would have weighed 15+ and you wouldn’t believe if i told you. Dropshot leech on 8lbs fireline. Who would have guessed that one, we thought we had the smallie of the tournament on the line. There were some 7+ smallies pulled off this area in past years so our hearts were pumping until she finally showed her toothy grin. I can’t put into words the disappointment all we wanted to do was get her back in the lake to make some other bass angler think they’ve got the Simcoe record on their line.

We realized plan A was not working and went to plan B another point were we had some smaller smallies in practice so off we went. The winds were really howling at this time of the morning and it only continued the rest of the day saving the best for last. We did the best we could without a trolling motor and fished our hearts out. We managed two smallies off this point but that was it and the winds were really making there presents so we decided not to risk getting stuck out here and made a slow drive back. We were lucky enough to ride a few 6ft waves to make the ride back a little more smooth.

At one point we high fived each other for narrowly stuffing ourselves into one of those beasts. Although we were plenty ready with our survival suits on to take one of those for the team. We made it back safe and sound, dry and warm and even managed a smile or two.

It was not the 25lbs+ fishing day i had hoped for but i had a great day with Dianna and it’s another story in the book of life.

One of the most rewarding experiences for any of us here at Mustang Survival is when someone shares their story of how one of our products has helped them when they needed it most. In this video you will meet Billy Stanton, a bass angler who was thrown from a boat running at 50 miles per hour. He’ll describe how his inflatable life jacket worked for him that day.

This is also the first in a series of BASS profiles that we are going to be sharing with you from some of the people on the BassMaster and Women’s BassMaster Tours. Be sure to check back often! Up next will be Dianna Clark, 2006 Women’s BassMaster Angler of the Year.

Karl Kalonka, David Chong and Mark Kulik of Ontario-based Extreme Angler TV know a little something about cold weather. They fish in it regularly. Recently they provided their tips to ESPN Outdoors for cold weather fishing and one of them was Safety Comes First.

Pay attention to where you’re at, what the weather is doing and what you’re doing. Always wear some kind of survival jacket or device. The Mustang Classic Coat is a great cold weather safety product. It’s waterproof, insulated and will keep you floating if you fall out of the boat.

Read the full article on ESPN Outdoor’s website.