Montana State University Bobcats Horizon Air

Horizon Air flies in the MSU Bobcat plane. MSU's president Cruzado and Champ checking out the new plane at Gallatin Field Airport, Montana

13lb Tiger Fish

Tanzania AFrica

Photo by Jim Klug

The Big Sky Conference - MSU, EWU Earn Playoff Seeds

The Big Sky Conference - MSU, EWU Earn Playoff Seeds

2010 Playoff Bracket
Big Sky Conference teams Montana State and Eastern Washington both earned seeds in the 2010 Division I playoffs.
The 20-team field was announced on Sunday morning. Montana State (9-2) earned the No. 4 seed. Eastern Washington (9-2) is the No. 5 seed. Both squads won't play until the second round on Saturday, Dec. 4.
Montana State, which earned the Big Sky's automatic bid, will play the winner of the first-round game between Robert Morris (8-2) and North Dakota State (7-4). Robert Morris earned the automatic bid from the Northeast Conference. North Dakota State earned an at-large bid out of the Missouri Valley.
Eastern Washington, which earned an at-large bid, will play Southeast Missouri State (9-2) of the Ohio Valley Conference on Dec. 4. Southeast Missouri State earned an automatic bid.
Appalachian State (9-2) earned the No. 1 overall seed. William & Mary (8-3) is the No. 2 seed. Delaware (9-3) is the No. 3 seed.
Montana was not selected for the playoff field, ending the Grizzlies' record streak of 17 straight playoff appearances. The Grizzlies fell 21-16 to Montana State on Saturday, ending a 23-game home winning streak. Montana finished 7-4, but had just six Division I wins on its resume.
Montana State is in the playoff field for the first time since 2006, and the fifth time overall. The Bobcats won the 1984 National Championship. The Bobcats' last playoff win came in 2006 when they beat Furman in Bozeman in a first-round game.
Rob Ash's Bobcats closed the the regular season with four straight victories. MSU's losses this season came by one point to Washington State and to Northern Arizona.
Montana State is ranked sixth in the final regular season Sports Network/Fathead.com Top 25.
Beau Baldwin's Eastern Washington Eagles are making their second straight playoff appearance. EWU lost at Stephen F. Austin in a first-round game in 2009. In 2004, Eastern Washington upset No. 1 seed Southern Illinois on the road. In 2007, the Eagles upset McNeese State in a first-round game.
Eastern Washington finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the Sports Network/Fathead.com top 25. The Eagles, who beat Idaho State 34-7 on Saturday, enter the playoffs having won seven straight games. The Eagles went 5-0 on their new red turf during the regular season.
Eastern Washington will be making its eighth playoff appearance, and seventh as a member of the Big Sky Conference. Since 2004, EWU has qualified for the playoffs five times.
If Eastern Washington and Montana State both win on Dec. 4, the teams would meet in the quarterfinals in Bozeman on Dec. 11.
The national championship game is Friday, Jan. 6, in Frisco, Texas.

FIRST ROUND GAMES

November 27 at Conway, S.C.
Western Illinois (7-4) at Coastal Carolina (6-5)

November 27 at Fargo, N.D.
Robert Morris (8-2) at North Dakota State (7-4)

November 27 at Cedar Falls, Iowa
Lehigh (9-2) at Northern Iowa (7-4)

November 27 at Statesboro, Georgia
South Carolina State (9-2) at Georgia Southern (7-4)

SECOND ROUND GAMES

December 4 at Boone, North Carolina, Noon (ET)
Western Illinois/Coastal Carolina winner at #1 Appalachian State (9-2)

December 4 at Nacogdoches, Texas, 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Villanova (7-4) at Stephen F. Austin (9-2)

December 4 at Cheney, Washington
Southeast Missouri State (9-2) at #5 Eastern Washington (9-2)

December 4 at Bozeman, Montana, 2 p.m. (ET)
Robert Morris/North Dakota State winner at #4 Montana State (9-2)

December 4 at Newark, Delaware
Lehigh/Northern Iowa winner at #3 Delaware (9-2)

December 4 at Daytona Beach, Florida
New Hampshire (7-4) at Bethune-Cookman (10-1)

December 4 at Jacksonville, Alabama, Noon (ET)
Wofford (9-2) at Jacksonville State (9-2)

December 4 at Williamsburg, Virginia
South Carolina St./Georgia Southern winner at #2 William and Mary (8-3)

Montana Aerial Photography - News Story - NBCMontana NBC Montana

Montana Aerial Photography - News Story - NBCMontana NBC Montana

Tanzania African Sunset

One of my favorite photos from the trip.

Africa Hot!

We coined a new term...I'm sure it hasn't been said before; Africa Hot; meaning hot, really hot, profusely sweating...so the best thing to do was to try and cover up all your skin.

Here, Chris tries the new fish gangster look...I think he looks alot better this way!

riding in the boats

Here are a couple photos where I spin the zoom when I take the photo...give it a motion/blur affect.

Africa sunset

Sunset in Africa

Tiger teeth

Check out the teeth on Tiger fish...they get bigger!

10 pound Tiger

Jeff gets a good one. The fishing has been slow the first day, but Keith puts Jeff into some great spots and it pays off.

Quick release

Jeff releases his fish so he can get back to hooking into a bigger fish.

Jeff hooks up as well!

Jeff hooks into a fish...Keith points out the fish chasing his fly.

Fish on!

Rob hooks into the first Tiger fish of the trip. Watching Rob fish for Tigers is impressive. He can strip the line faster than anyone I have seen and he does it with style. I can't wait to see what Chris puts together for the movie on this. It is going to blow the viewers mind at how aggressive these fish are and how aggressive the angler has to be to hook into them.

Casting....casting....casting

Jeff continues to hammer it...he can hardly contane himself with the excitement of hooking into a large Tiger.

Afternoon fishing

We head out to the river. Jeff is anxious to get out and start fishing for Tiger fish. The fishing is slow. Lots of casts were made. You will notice all of the water exploding off the line and fly. Sinking lines are used as well as large streamers.

River Boats

We use 2 GoDevil boats powered by 25 hp engines. The river can be shallow at times with lots of sand. Keith has figured out that this configuration works the best in these river conditions...and it's just enough power to cruise by hungry Hippos or crocs!

Afternoon Puku

Here is our afternoon snack before we head out on the river. Salad, Potato fries and Puku...which is a small deer like animal in abundance around the camp. Turns out we end up having Puku in various entrees like meat patties, kabobs, Puku surprise and in soup.

Organizing flies

No time wasted...we dump our bags in the tents and head to the gathering tent where we meet Leonard who will help guide one of the boats for the week. Leonard stays with the gear/filming/photo boat for the week and teaches us a few things about ecology of the river. He has a PHD in aquatics/fish. We will see some of what he is working on later on in the trip.

Heffalumps

Elephants...the first African wildlife near camp!

Driving to camp

We met up with the owners of Tourette Fishing; Rob and Keith. Great guys.

Landing in the Bush!

Unloading the plane and loading up the Landcruisers.

Tent Camp

Here is the inside of the tents we stayed in at the main camp...Tourette Fishing did an excellent job in setting these up. You will notice Tiger fish embroidered on the pillows and throw blanket...pretty cool.

Smooth ride with some great views of the clouds and landscape. Just outside of Dar Es Salaam, there were various filds being farmed. The further we fly, the less activity and the ground and vegetation became scorched looking from the heat of the sun.

Jeff, Chris & Keith loading up on Tanzanair to head to the "Bush". We have an hour and forty five minute flight to the river camp...then the fun begins!

Early morning overlooking the Indian Ocean. Chris is setting up for a view of the local fisherman working the flats as the tide goes out. This is the cliff by our hotel in Dar Es Salaam.

Heading to the river camp

Woke up early this morning to get prepared to fly and hour and a half south west of Dar Es Salam to fishing camp. All of us are extremely excited.
We will not have internet access there so there will not be any posts 'till the 8th/9th of November.
Have a great week!
Jim

Chris enjoying his noon jolt of espresso.