Simms Outdoors News Year in Review

Posted by gengberg on March 16th, 2010

SIMMS OUTDOORS NEWSSO News & Promotions Coordinator - Allissa Williams

Contact: allissa@simmsoutdoors.com or info@simmsoutdoors.com

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Walt’s Baits, Bucher Outdoors, Little Big Lure Co., X-Tools, 7-Strand

Berkley, Stren, Spiderwire, Shakespeare, Mitchell, Johnson, Penn

2008-2009 SEASON REVIEW

Since we missed the year end review newsletter last January, we thought that we’d include it in this year’s newsletter. The last two years have produced by far the very best fishing and hunting that the Simms Outdoors Team and its clients have ever enjoyed-truly world class experiences. In particular, several of the already excellent bodies of water where we offer guided trips & vacations have been getting even better with great management, offering some of the very best sport fishing on the planet. Reports from our two premier Midwestern lakes are listed below, but Simms Outdoors offers incredible guided fishing and hunting trips & vacations at dozens of the world’s best locations throughout the United States, Mexico & Canada. The action has been red hot at many of those locations as well, so be sure to watch for newsletters about them as the season progresses.

KINKAID LAKE

As many of you already know, Kinkaid Lake has been the hottest fishing destination of ours for the better part of a decade and it just keeps getting hotter.

*Muskie Fishing

This famous Southern Illinois water is unquestionably one of the very best muskie lakes in the world, recently rated in the top 10 by Musky Hunter Magazine, but in the last few years, this fishery has gone on fire. 2009 was truly incredible. The 09 season produced 3 double-digit muskie days on Kinkaid for Simms Outdoors Guides & Guests. Incredibly, they experienced days when they boated 10 muskies, 11 muskies and 13 muskies per day of fishing from a single boat, with many fish in the low to upper 40″ range! All fish were caught casting. Internationally Renowned Fishing Pro & Media Personality, Simms Outdoors Founder Colby Simms caught the new Kinkaid Lake Record Muskie in March of 09 on a Simms Tackle School N Shad Spinnerbait fished with an All Star Rod. The giant 37 pound fish was 51″ long and the incredible replica mount seen at sport shows this winter was made by Fittante Taxidermy (more on that catch and the March trophy time frame in an upcoming newsletter). Jamie Malcom landed his largest muskie in March 09, a fat pre-spawn 47″ female on a guided trip with former PMTT & IMTT Champion Colby Simms. Simms Outdoors Guide & Champion Tournament Pro Ray Simms of Simms Tackle caught a huge 50.5″ trophy muskie in September 09 as well. The huge fish clobbered a new Simms Tackle Hatchet Shad Spinnerbait in the new Bloody Shad color pattern. Simms Outdoors Guide & Simms Tackle Pro Staffer, FLW Bass Tour Pro Andrew Veach was guiding IMTT Angler Tom Humrickhouse & Partner when they landed a heavy 45″er on a Firetiger Simms Tackle School N Shad in October. Tim Cannon landed his largest muskie on a Simms Tackle Hatchet Shad, a 46″er on a guided trip with Colby Simms, and many customers had their personal bests for size and numbers while fishing with Simms Outdoors. SO Guides & Guests raised incredible numbers of fish, many days producing 20 to 40 follows, and as many as over 50 muskies were raised in a single day! Half-Dozen+ landed muskie days were common in 09 and few days during the peak periods produced less than a hat trick of 3 muskies landed per guide boat.

The 2008 season was also red hot and produced our best day for numbers of muskies ever caught, with 29 muskies hooked in one day of fishing, and 18 of those fish landed! Amazingly, 13 of the 18 muskies caught were over 40″ long, with the two largest, identical 46″ers! Simms Outdoors Guide & Simms Tackle Pro Staffer Walt Krause boated one of the thickest fish we’ve seen, a massive 48.5″er with a tremendous girth, that was featured along with articles written by Colby Simms that were published in nearly a dozen magazines, a fish so heavy it appeared as if it would split down the middle. Former Muskies Inc Vice President Jim Beaty got to watch traveling anglers Mike & Drew Toohill catch their largest muskie on a guided trip with Colby Simms in October of 08. As Jim was working into a wooded cover, Mike Toohill had his 5th muskie strike of the morning and Colby eventually netted a fat 30 pound class 47″er that Mike caught on a Simms Tackle School N Shad Spinnerbait. Todd Fairbanks caught his first muskie with a Simms Tackle Thump N Shad Spinnerbait on a guided trip with former IMTT Champion Ray Simms. After catching the biggest fish of his life on a guided trip with Colby Simms the previous fall, Shawnee Muskie Hunters Club Member Milan Recman caught his second largest muskie in the fall of 2008, while fishing with Colby, a beautiful 46.5″er. Numerous fish in the mid to upper 40″ range were caught by Simms Outdoors Guides & Guests that year, with lots of days producing more than a half dozen muskie catches per day and many days in which 20 to 40 muskies were raised!

Colby Simms & the Simms Outdoors Team hosted many incredible national TV shows for muskies on Kinkaid, many of which will be airing this year. Two of the TV crews that filmed muskies with Simms Outdoors on Kinkaid advised that it was by far the most successful shoots they’ve ever had for muskies in many years of filming muskie shows all over the States and Canada.

*Bass Fishing

The bass fishing was as hot on Kinkaid in the last 2 years as the muskie fishing was, absolutely incredible.

2009 produced some fantastic fishing for big bass for Simms Outdoors Guides & Guests with two 9 pounders caught! Simms Outdoors Guide & Champion Tournament Pro Ray Simms of Simms Tackle caught the biggest bass of the year on Kinkaid, a massive 9-1 trophy largemouth! Ray caught the huge bass on the Simms Tackle Hatchet Spin Spinnerbait in the hot new Super Natural color pattern. Tremendous numbers of fish were caught in the 1 to 3 pound range with the average size bass caught at around 2 ½ pounds. This was probably the best year ever for catching bass in the 4 to 6 pound class and there were also good numbers taken between 5 and 8 pounds. Glen Samsel caught his biggest bass, a 7-10 largemouth with a Simms Tackle Hatchet Spin Spinnerbait, in the new Deep Purple color pattern, on a guided trip with Colby Simms, and Samantha Peters caught her very first smallmouth bass, also while fishing with Colby. Although the action was a little slower than in 2008, we still had some 100 fish days per boat this year, and this was the best year yet for big largemouth bass. This was also the best year yet for catching smallmouth bass. The smallmouth bass populations are on the rise and the average size is going up quickly as well.

The 2008 season was the best season of bass fishing we’ve ever had for numbers of fish boated. There were a great many days in which more than 100 bass were caught per boat, and quite a few days with over 150 bass caught per boat! Tournament Angler Wayne Roberts caught a 7-12 bass on a guided trip with Ray Simms, and then caught a 7-0 bass along with 113 other bass on a guided trip with Colby Simms, all on Simms Tackle Big’un Series Bass Spinnerbaits. Tremendous numbers of largemouth bass in the 1-4 pound range were caught in 08, as well as lots of 5-7 pound largemouth bass too and several big trophies over 8 pounds. With his wife Kathy, Chris Barnett caught a trophy 8-1 pound bass on a Simms Tackle Hatchet Spin Spinnerbait along with 102 other bass and 11 other fish of various species on a guided trip with Colby Simms. The smallmouth bass fishing was also picking up with increased stocking efforts and many anglers caught smallies.

Colby Simms & the Simms Outdoors Team hosted many excellent national TV shows for bass on Kinkaid Lake, some of which will air in 2010. As always, the TV crews filming bass and multi-species shows with Colby & Simms Outdoors on Kinkaid advised that it was some of the most productive fishing & filming they’ve experienced.

*Multi-Species Fishing

With the addition of more members at Kinkaid to the Simms Outdoors Team Guide Service, the region’s largest guide service by far, we’re able to effectively cover all species in the lake. Most SO Guides still specialize in muskie and/or bass fishing, but we have guides specializing in other species to cover all fish in the lake. SO Guides & Guests had a lot of great multi-species trips in 2008 & 2009. Targeting both muskies and largemouth bass at the same time has been popular and extremely productive. The crappie fishing has been very good too. Great numbers of keeper crappies in the 9″ to 12″ range were caught along with some really big fish too. The bluegill fishing has also really taken off the last few years and lots of big bull bluegills are available along with great numbers of other sunfish species. SO Guides & Guests have caught numerous crappie over 3 pounds at Kinkaid in the last few years, as well as bluegills and sunnies not far from the 1 pound mark. SO Guides & Guests have had days with over 300 panfish caught per boat! While the white bass fishing had slowed down for a few years, these fish seem to be slowly making a comeback. More whites were caught in 2009 than the previous year and the average size is going up as well. Catfish fishing continues to be excellent at Kinkaid, especially in the summer months. Kinkaid has produced channel cats for SO Guides & Guests to the 20 pound class. While no group keeps track of catfish records on Kinkaid, Colby’s massive 25-1 channel is still thought to be the largest taken here. Bullheads are also caught in good numbers and some monstrous flatheads also swim Kinkaid’s waters. Some anglers still target the lake’s rough fish species, with drum and carp being the most popular. Huge carp in the 30+ pound class are available and massive drum are taken as well. Colby Simms and Walt Krause of Simms Outdoors were running a 2-boat multi-species group guided trip on Kinkaid in June 2008, when a happy angler in Walt’s boat hooked and landed the largest drum any of the six anglers had ever seen. The giant fish was released and was estimated at over 30 pounds! Walleye fishing has been improving as well, with numerous fish in the 5 to 8 pound class. SO Guides & Guests are catching more and bigger walleyes each year as this fishery continues to improve.

CEDAR LAKE

*Striper Fishing

Fishing for big trophy class stripers is better now than ever before on Southern Illinois’ Cedar Lake. The lake has produced some massive line sides for Simms Outdoors Guides & Guests, some of the biggest in the state in fact, and this may very well be the best trophy striper water in Illinois now. James Powell and his son caught their three largest stripers, the biggest fish pushing 30 pounds, on a guided spring trip to Cedar Lake with Simms Outdoors in 09.

SIMMS OUTDOORS PHOTOGRAPHY

See many of the new photos of giant fish & game, including many of those listed above, on our web site. Portions of the site are under construction at this time, but there have been many new photos added to the Lures & Tackle Section Photos Page, and the Professional Photography Section, as well as others. Many new photos will continue to be added as the season progresses.

MEDIA TRAVEL

Colby Simms and other SO Pros travel extensively inside and outside the country for television and magazine work, covering many of the world’s best fishing & hunting destinations and had many great trips in 08-09 that readers can catch in Simms Outdoors Magazine and more than 3 dozen other magazines & newspapers.

SIMMS TACKLE

Simms Outdoors added many new products to the Simms Tackle lines in 2008 as well as around double the number of color patterns in 2009. Be sure to check them out in the online store at our web site.

NEW STAFF, UPDATES & MUCH MORE

With several recent additions to the Simms Outdoors Team & Staff our customers, readers and fans can expect regular newsletters about the hot fishing & hunting happening in our woods and waters and what’s going on at Simms Outdoors & Simms Tackle. Simms Outdoors continued to expand during the last two years into new areas, offering more to outdoor enthusiasts than ever before. Visit our web site to learn more.

SIMMS OUTDOORS L.L.C. operates the Largest & Most Experienced guide service on Kinkaid and in the entire southern Illinois/eastern Missouri region. Simms Outdoors is the Official Service of Kinkaid Marina offering the Best professional Rates & the Only lodging/guiding Package at Kinkaid with excellent cabins discounted for SO guests only. SO Lead Guides on Kinkaid are some of the very few in the entire region that actually make their living fishing and are Full-time Pros and Tournament Champions.

Simms Outdoors Founder COLBY SIMMS is an Internationally Renowned Professional Angler & Media Personality, working as a Guide, Outdoor Sports Writer & Photographer, Champion Tournament Angler, Television Host, Tackle Designer and Speaker. His Outdoor Sports Team consists of some of the best anglers, hunters and photographers in the world including Boater Side FLW Pro Bass Tour & Professional Muskie Tournament Trail Pros.

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