Excuse me? Finessing an aggressive fish, huh? I suppose you’re wondering what that even means and why I’m titling this article in a manner that would contradict itself. Well, believe it or not, even aggressive-natured fish need a little coaxing at times. So just how do we identify the aggressive fish that need to be teased with finesse applications? That’s a very fair question. I look to my Vexilar flasher. It’s amazing what your electronics will tell you. You can see when fish crash the bait only to halt upon impact, moments before striking. This tells me we’re dealing with aggressive-natured fish, but the offering didn’t seal the deal. Sometimes it’s because the bait is too large, not the right action, looks awkward, it could be a number of things. Me, I turn on my finessing aggressive ... [ Read More ]
Ice fishing structure to find Walleye
A mistake I have made in the past when ice fishing structure deep is relying too much on the contour line on the map charts. What is more important than any contour is the transition between one type of bottom structure and another. This could be an edge where gravel meets mud, or where large boulders transition to smaller rock. By midwinter on many bodies of water, walleye location can often trend towards offshore structure and, in many cases, deep structure. With the advent of map chips, more anglers are discovering and fishing these locations. This edge is often where it is at for finding offshore walleye. Sometimes the transition lines up with a contour, but so often it does not. When it does not, you end up focusing your attention on the wrong contours and miss the mark. For ... [ Read More ]
Minnesota Deer Hunting Opener
Minnesota Deer Hunting Community - If You want to talk or get more info - Click Here please: The Minnesota deer hunting opener has hunters ready and eager to head out to the fields and forests for the firearms deer opener that gets underway a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday, Nov. 7. Here are some other reminders from the DNR for the Minnesota firearms deer season: Be sure to review new deer hunting regulations, permit area designations and boundary changes. Find this and more deer hunting information from the DNR. With nearly 500,000 firearms deer hunters in the state, the DNR encourages hunters to purchase a license early to avoid long lines and any potential system issues associated with the high sales volume. License agents where you can buy a license are located across ... [ Read More ]
Where Are Those Ring Necked Pheasants?
Ring-necked pheasants were first imported to America in 1881 from China, and they have since become among the hottest upland game birds of Minnesota. It's a grassland-dependent species mostly found in rural areas near grain harvests and grassy fields, like corn. Ring Necked pheasants can survive a comparatively broad variety of temperature conditions and eat grain, weed seeds and insects. Basic description Span: 20 to 36 inches, including the tail variability. Sounds: Ring necked pheasant roosters crow loudest in summer and springtime, particularly at twilight and dawn. Loud, fast beating of the wings that can be in the field generally follows a rooster's crow. Roosters additionally frequently cackle when they fly. Reproduction: Pheasants start mating in May and April. Hens lay ... [ Read More ]
Minnesota Sturgeon Fishing: Bigger and Better
Anglers have more opportunities to fish for Minnesota sturgeon because of a new catch-and-release fishing season this year. Here’s what you need to know. What does the new season mean for anglers? The new catch-and-release season on inland waters began this year. Each year, it closes from April 15 to June 15 to protect sturgeon during spawning. During the season, anglers can intentionally fish for lake sturgeon on inland waters. This allows sturgeon fishing on waters like Otter Tail Lake and the Littlefork, Bigfork and Kettle rivers – all of which have good numbers of lake sturgeon. Anglers can also catch and release lake sturgeon on additional border waters like the Red, St. Louis and Mississippi rivers. Why expand sturgeon fishing? Comebacks staged by lake sturgeon in recent years ... [ Read More ]
Reading fall walleye structure
During late summer and fall, if walleye are present, they are going to show up on electronics. Favorite fall walleye structure is rock reefs, deep points and classic structure that is between fifteen and forty feet of water - you are going to see fish on the screen. Bare spots that are void of life are usually a waste of time. No arches, no clutter, no bumps on the bottom - this often means no activity. Fishing this time of year is often very methodical and calculated. You have to trust your electronics and put yourself into position to be successful. Find the right fish and wait them out. Usually, when the marks start to lift off the bottom and separate, those are your active fish and that is your window to strike. This entire strategy however will unravel if you spend the entire ... [ Read More ]
Dreams of Building My Own Wheeled Fish House
Forget the intricacies of this years Vikings team. What Minnesotans really want to know is the best way to build the best ice-fishing house. And if you want the best, you've got to be thinking about building a wheeled fish house. Are you the type of person who is constantly thinking the best way to construct the next one? Like many - maybe most - fish houses on Minnesota ice, your perfect house is on wheels. That way you can fish, say, Gull Lake one day and run up to Leech the next and Lake of the Woods the next, much like using the comforts of your boat for walleyes and panfish. Or Deer hunting, duck hunting or, dare I say, the family camper. Retail, a wheeled house might go for about $6,000 to $50,000 - less, perhaps, if bought in the off season. With a few carpentry skills and ... [ Read More ]
Winning Walleye Crankbaits
Searching for the best ways to use walleye crankbaits? Look no further. The advantage of trolling crankbaits for walleye is twofold. You can cover a lot of water and swipe through large areas, and you can also trigger fish that might not respond to some slower and subtler presentations. On so many bodies of water, we see a transition that gains intensity as fall transcends into summer where crankbaits seem to trigger more fish, especially if you are looking for big fish. Crankbaits are not the answer for every situation, but trolling hard baits shine whenever the locations get big. Basins are an obviously big locations, but so are a lot of the contours and locations that hold fish each fall. The first step I like to do when attempting to dial in a trolling strategy, is identify the ... [ Read More ]
Jig and Pig Walleye
The trend we see developing has been right in front of us for an awful long time. Pork rind has been used to tip bass jigs forever. Before the explosion of soft plastic products over the last twenty years, most bass anglers tipped both spinner baits and jigs with pork. Over the years, pork kind of disappeared from the forefront of the fishing scene but we still had a few souvenirs like the phrase 'jig and pig' which began to morph into something that wasn’t quite so much pig. Pork trailers were a closely held secret amongst a few bass pros, particularly late in the fall when water temperatures dived or after severe cold fronts and the fish had a case of the lockjaw. The durability and effectiveness of pork rind is starting to spread. This past season, the old iconic company in the ... [ Read More ]
Spinner Rig Snake Rigging Walleye
Like many anglers, I started out relying on crawlers to tip my spinner rig. Crawlers can be fished through such a wide spectrum of speeds and what walleye can resist the squirming undulating action of a big fat crawler pulled through the water? Over the past ten years, like many anglers… my rig tipping has evolved to include a lot of soft plastic and pork crawlers. Whether you are running a spread of planer boards on the Great Lakes or hitting a milk run of points with bottom bouncers on one of the Missouri River reservoirs, you would be hard pressed to find a more effective presentation than a spinner rig. The combination of vibration, flash and profile combined with the speed makes this classic walleye weapon so effective through the dog days of summer. My own personal evolution ... [ Read More ]