Fishing the Midwest T.V. Starts this week

[Bob Jensen]

Fishing the Midwest television kicks off its ninth year on the air this weekend. Times and stations are listed on the fishingthemidwest.com website.

This week will be a preview of shows that will be airing for the next 13 weeks. This week's show will also debut our new cooking segment. This week's cooking segment will reveal a unique way to prepare walleyes as well as catfish. Most of the cooking segments will be 3-4 minutes in length, but the cooking segment in our first show will be longer.

I sincerely appreciate any feedback, both positive and negative, that you can provide regarding our shows. Your feedback allows us to create a show that most appeals to you.

See you this weekend.

Happy New Year, Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[Rick]

Hey Bob, what kind of rig are you running this year?

[Bob Jensen]

Rick:

Planning on running Alumacraft/Honda again. Not sure on which model of boat, probably a Tournament Sport 175 and a Tournament Pro 175 tiller. Great rigs.

Thanks for asking.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[Mr. Fish]

Due your show not being aired in the Des Moines area,what about somebody taping them & passing it around to those of us "unfortunate fishing people"? Would this create any problems? Please inform me on your feelings.

[Rick]

Who do you use for a dealer with your Alumacrafts? I have made up my mind and I believe I will be going with an Alumacraft Tournament 175 Sport.

[sevenmmm]

Oh yeah, cooking up the fish smells good to me!

I have seen some of your shows and seems like you are always being outfished. I feel for you! And I remember a show where you aired some of your funnier moments. It was kinda offbeat and caught my attention.

But the show I'll never forget was taking that poor kid fishing. It choked me up to learn he had died of cancer before I saw the show....

[Bob Jensen]

>Who do you use for a dealer with your Alumacrafts? I have
>made up my mind and I believe I will be going with an
>Alumacraft Tournament 175 Sport.

Rick:

Give me a call at 641-892-4211 or e-mail at bjensen@frontiernet.net

I have worked with several Alumacraft dealers in several states and would be happy to speak with you regarding your choices.

You will really like the Tournament Sport.

Looking forward to speaking with you.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[Bob Jensen]

>Due your show not being aired in the Des Moines area,what
>about somebody taping them & passing it around to those of
>us "unfortunate fishing people"? Would this create any
>problems? Please inform me on your feelings.

I tried hard to get FTM on in Des Moines this year, but just can't find a station that wants a fishing show at a fair rate. Will keep trying.

This is what we have done in the past for people in areas that don't get FTM..You post a message on this site and the Walleye Central General Discussion site to see who would like to see the shows. Start a list, your name at the top. I tape 4 shows on a VHS tape, send them to you, you watch them and send them to the next person on the list. Inevitably someone will not send the tapes to the next person, but this is the best I can do at this point. If you're interested, let me know and we'll go from there.

Thanks for the interest.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen
I can make VHS copies of the shows, 4 shows to a tape, and send them to you.

[Rich B]

Bob,

Would love to see your program on a Cleveland or Columbus station.

Those of us in East Central Ohio that love to fish the upper Midwest
would truly enjoy watching your program !

How about those Ohio State Buckeyes !

Good Fishing,

Rich B.

[Bob Jensen]

Rich:

We are on the Time Warner cable system in Dayton OH this year. We try to expand our range of markets every year, and will hopefully get to Cleveland and/or Columbus sometime soon.

Great game and win for the Buckeyes. Wish the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes would have played this year. Orange Bowl wasn't indicative of the Hawks team. They'll get together next year.

Thanks for the interest in Fishing the Midwest.

Best Fishes, Happy New year,

Bob Jensen

[John Noll.]

Hi Bob I watched your show for the first time today.I was wondering if you heard of Honda coming out with a 150 hp. There was nothing on there web site (honda) about it.Have you heard anything? By the way how big was that Blue Gill????? thx.John

[Bob Jensen]

>Hi Bob I watched your show for the first time today.I was
>wondering if you heard of Honda coming out with a 150 hp.
>There was nothing on there web site (honda) about it.Have
>you heard anything? By the way how big was that Blue
>Gill????? thx.John

John:

I have heard rumblings about a 150 Honda, but haven't seen one yet.

Sam is pretty adamant about the size of that bluegill. I wasn't there when he caught it, but if he says it was ten inches long, then I am sure it was at least six inches.

Thanks for watching FTM. I always appreciate comments as to how we can make the show better. Please feel free to provide your thoughts at any time.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[Bill Krejca]

Bob,

I've always enjoyed your shows and the first of the new series was no exception.

One approach I'd like to see is more info before the fishing starts. It is much easier to figure out what is happening and why if the viewer was aware of info such as:

1. An overall water map of where you are, time of year.

2. Why are you starting to fish in a certain area, i.e., wind, water clarity, current, structure, locals said so, etc. If you move, say so, and why.

3. What bait is being used and why. If the bait changes, tell why.

4. Technique being used.

5. I think the important thing here is getting the info to the user early in the show so that they can follow along, being somewhat up to date on why/what you are doing. This kind of info at the end of the show is OK, but it is much easier to follow if the viewer has the info sooner. You still could shoot it at the end, if that's more convenient, but show it first.

Sorry to be so long winded, really enjoy your show, very family oriented.

Good luck

[Box]

Ditto, I enjoyed the first show.

The cooking part is nice, but I think it maybe was too much in that show. One recipe would be fine for me, even though they were similar. No biggie...

It would be cool to show a "farther back" camera position on a few fish caught, seeing the fight from a different perspective, or even a different boat. Not all the time, just a bit. It would show more of the big picture of what's going on - how boat was setup, how you were fishing, what other out-of-water structures were around, etc... again, no biggie, just something I thought about.

I look forward to the next show!
-Box

[Backwater Eddy]

Box I can sure vouch for Bob's production team using set back camera angles like you suggested.

We were shooting on the Red River of the North last summer in the midst of the "Skeeter" season. Bob's producer wished to get some wide angle shots of the lay of the river and the fishing action. So per the camera mans request we set him and the camera up on shore.

But first I warned him, spray yourself down good with this 3M Ultra-thon. Because once you get up in the shade and tall grass them skitters will really love ya. He did, and he soon found out why, they were thick! No skeeters out on the water but up in the shade in the mid day heat they were ready and waiting for him.

He hung in there like a trooper tell he got all the shots he wanted, one dedicated production team Bob has there Eh.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson...><sUMo>

"Backwater Guiding"

[Box]

Cool! Glad to hear it! I look forward to all the shows!

-Box

[GLO]

Anxious for new season, will reserve judgment on the cooking segments, but hoping first one was not representative. Cook didn't really have much to say and I found it interesting that he stated with some certainty that he didn't like to pre-season the fish, then for the next recipe, albeit a different one, that's what the poor guy had to do. I know Babe has always had one of his wives do a cooking segment and generally the recipes and production were pretty good, but never really looked forward to that part of the show. I just think there is so much more you can do with the time in terms of more specifics on location and techniques, given your ability to communicate so well, I hate to see time on that lost to cooking. Kick the fishing up a notch! Looking forward to another season of a great show and thanks for putting it out there. We watch it at least twice every weekend. GLO

[Madman]

Great show. What lake were you fishing?

[Bob Jensen]

Madman:

Thanks for the comments and thanks for watching Fishing the Midwest. I always appreciate comments, especially when you tell us what you like or don't like about our show. Please feel free to let me know.

Walleyes were on Winnie, ice-fishing was on Waubay in Northeast South Dakota.

Thanks again.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[Shorelunch]

Bob,

Big fan of the show. I really enjoy educational fishing shows vs. "info-mercial" fishing shows. I know you gotta pay the bills, but keep up the educational aspect of the show.

I was wondering/curious, does your, and other fishing shows pay for TV time or are they picked up like a normal show?

One more question . . . what are a few or your favorite MN spring walleye lakes?

- Shorelunch