Howdy,

I will talk a bit about an excursion I took last week with an old friend and a new friend.

I got a call a few weeks ago from our trusted servant to the North, Bart of Grove. Turns out that while covering a fishing tournament of the Triton variety, he was approached by a fishing guide and an offer extended to take the new guy out for an afternoon of guided angling.

I tell ya, it’s a nasty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

I called Mr. Ivan Martin. He shared that he had extended this same offer numerous times to previous ownership and was never successful in getting a date set. Sounds like a priority challenge of some kind or he worked a lot harder at this deal than I do. Anyway we compared calendars and we set the date, Ivan then shared that I was welcome to bring a guest.

I know a guy who recently made the decision to retire and was trying to kick a golf addiction thru a fishing program; I saw this as an opportunity to help him out.

Rusty and I showed up with cameras in hand, Ivan had all the gear ready to go. The target for the day would be white bass. We jumped in the boat and cruised out of the cove, as soon as we passed the no wake buoy’s Ivan thought it would be a good idea to show us how his bass boat can smooth out the ride across the waves by keeping only the prop in the water. It appeared that there was plenty of throttle left but we leveled out at around 65.

According to Ivan the best spots for sandies this time of year is on the side of the lake that the waves are beating against, the more wind the better. The wind drives in bait fish and gives us a bit of cover. We were fishing with light weight tackle, throwing a lead head with a sassy shad, clear with red and blue flakes.

After a five minute sprint across the open water we attacked our first spot. With the first cast we had fish on! The light weight tackle and good sized fish made for a great fight.

Ivan asked if I wanted to take these fish home. Even though I was geared up for a day of angling I had not pictured a fish cleaning segment. I shared with our fish hunter that while I certainly had fish cleaning skills I lacked the desire and hardware to produce filets. Not a problem with Ivan’s guide service, cleaning is included, what a country, throw em’ in the live well. Our rate of catching fish was so fierce that we just left the lid of the live well open and kept slingin’ em’ in there.

After three or four casts with no fish it was back to the speed trials, turn around your hat and try not to let the guys see the tears streaming down your face. I learned that it is important to get to the next spot quickly.

During the afternoon we hit half a dozen hot spots and caught fish at every one. While we did not limit out at 20 a piece, we still had a mess and had a good time doing it.

We jetted back to the dock, it is also important to get back quick, and broke out the electric knife. Ivan filleted and bagged 10 sandies in less than five minutes, the man has got skills.

Ivan has three guides in his army of fish hunters, even has a guy that specializes in catfish. Ivan’s guides stay booked with customers. We have a ton of folks coming to Grand Lake from all over the country to fish this lake, and a big part of that is because of Mr. Martin. Many of Ivan’s customers are repeat customers that have been coming back for years.

Besides the guide service, Martin Landing offers a full service bait shop, convenience store and hotel. If you drive by on any given weekend, the parking lot is jammed with trucks and trailers from all over the country, there is a tournament of some kind going on. The place is busy. Ivan is doing a great job promoting Grand Lake and having a ball doing it.

Another Grand adventure on Grand Lake, I had a blast and met another person filled with passion for this area. Thank you Mr. Martin for the experience, I will never forget it.

As far as our effort to help the golf addict, well, one fishing trip has not got him cured. Rusty will need a lot of therapy. If you do get Rusty on the water with rod in hand, ask him to take you to his little known hot spot. Turns out that there is a water hole at Shangri-La that has a man made reef completely composed of his golf balls. Rumor has it that it holds fish. FISH ON!

See ya next time,