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.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I boarded the flight to Orlando a couple weeks ago on my way to the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Championship. This was my first-ever Federation Nation event and as we presented gift bags to the anglers and presidents on Day 1, the first thing that struck me was the excitement and passion exuding from every individual. These guys love to fish! I love to fish too, but the reason I was there was to make sure everyone knew how to stay safe while doing it.

I have to commend the B.A.S.S. community on their commitment to safety. It was great to speak with so many people that were genuinely interested in how to care for and maintain their inflatable PFDs. In a session with the Federation president’s on Tuesday, Ray Scott delivered a short speech and then my colleagues - Brian Henley and Shane DeWitt – coordinated a re-arming race within the group. The teams had to inflate the PFD, deflate it, re-arm it by replacing the bobbin and cylinder, repack it all up, don it and then inflate it to make sure they had done it all properly. There was some frantic activity and tense moments, but after the dust had settled Chris Lappert of Ohio came out the winner of a competition version Deluxe Inflatable PFD (MD3087 BC) for his efforts on the fastest team.

Later in the day we did a pool demo and dared people to touch the bottom of the pool while wearing a hydrostatic inflatable PFD (MD3183). Not a single person was able to reach the bottom before the PFD inflated and pulled them up to the surface. We had quite a few volunteers (aided by the nice sunny weather) and Gene Gilliland of Oklahoma took it to the next level by jumping into the pool with not only a PFD on, but also all of his clothes! I passed him in the lobby later on in the day as he was making change for the dryer – he had managed to get himself dried off, but his clothes still needed some help!

I highly recommend re-arming races and pool demos to anyone looking to run events promoting lifejacket safety. The interactive nature of the demos helped many people understand (1) how these things actually work and (2) how easy they are to care and maintain for. Many people do not wear a PFD simply because they do not understand them; live demos such as these can help unravel some of the mystery.

Congratulations to Jeff Freeman of Max Meadows, VA on his Federation Nation victory and his berth into the 2008 Bassmasters Classic! The full story of the week’s events and final standings can be found by clicking here.

I spoke with John about the new F3 Inflatable Fishing Vest PFD at the ICAST trade show this summer. This is the video.

There’s a new girl in town and her name is Madison Peloza. She’s my niece from Thunder Bay,On and every summer my sister and her family come down to Keswick, Ontario for the annual summer vacation.

But this year was different with new job obligations and children getting older the time together is getting shorter and shorter. The only two to make it this year was my sister and Madison. There is one thing Madison looks forward to every summer is coming down to go bass fishing. We would always struggle to get her and other children to wear their life vests but this year was different. I lent her my PFD and away we went. We were out there for 7 hrs and there was not one moment that i had to remind her to keep it on. It was so comfortable to wear for her she forgot she even had it on. A day on the water when you aren’t arguing with children to keep the PDF’s on is priceless.

When she was younger we started her off with the small fish perch, sun fish and the occasional large mouth. But as she grew so did her fish, she no longer would settle for the baitfish she wanted to go get the big girls. She said she was ready and at the ripe old age of 11 she was. We took out on to the soon to be famous Lake Simcoe where 7lbs small mouth are now residing. Although we didn’t go for small mouth that day we went for old reliable largies.

I can’t tell you how many she caught that day but here’s a sample of two of them. As you can tell by her pose and fish handling, she’s done this a few time.

Bassmaster Legends, the last Major event of 2007 is kicking off today at Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas. It was originally scheduled to be held on the Arkansas River but due to unsafe conditions it was relocated.

Mike McClelland who joined the Mustang Survival team last month is one of the 51 qualifiers who will take to the water this weekend.

The full field will fish during the first two days of competition with the top 12 anglers moving to a six-hole course on Saturday. The anglers will fish each hole in rotating fashion. The top six will compete Sunday on the six-hole course for the $250,000 top prize. You can watch live, streaming video of the weigh-ins on www.ESPNOutdoors.com.

The Legends, is held in honor of BASS founder Ray Scott, who is going to be at the event. He recorded this radio spot for our inflatable PFDs that will air during Saturday’s weigh-in on ESPN Sports Radio 96.3.

Tonight our good friend and professional Women’s Bassmaster Tour angler Pam Martin-Wells is going to be inducted into the Legends Of The Outdoors National Hall Of Fame. Nominations for this prestigious award are made by outdoors writers and previously inducted members and recognize people who have had an impact and made contributions to the outdoors community.

This award recognizes Pam’s many accomplishments including being the all time leading money winner for women’s professional fishing, angler of the year for 1994, 1995, 2005, winner of both the inaugural Women’s BASS Tour preview event and WBT Championships.

Congratulations Pam from all your friends here at Mustang on living your dreams winning this award!