Bite windows for giant fall bass can be short and intense, but this has always been my favorite season for searching for out-size fish. Between the last phase of late summer and into fall turnover, giant bass can be found locating at variable depths on waters throughout the country. While shallow water impoundments find fish locating either in heavy vegetation or on inside and outside turns on edges of expansive weed flats, deep impoundments can offer a chance at giant bass that locate on and around on off-shore structures. During the first stage of turnover, off-shore haunts also offer topwater opportunities to boat quality largemouth and smallies. Many fish are suspending on forage pods out over main basins. During prime bite windows during the night and early morning hours, larger ... [ Read More ]
Crazy Catfish (Squeaky-Clean Whiskery Schemes)
Who says you need to always use stinky stuff to catch catfish? Sometimes, cats are as happy to actively swim and chase prey as any freshwater predator. In fact, as anglers continually discover, catfish can be caught with a whole array of methods previously ascribed to their ‘glamorous’ aquatic brethren. Driven by broad powerful tails, forceful frames and muscular mandibles, the catfish clan—channels, blues and flatheads—is entirely capable of kicking bass and waylaying walleyes in any underwater arena. You’ve heard the stories—probably even yourself caught cats using unorthodox methods at one time or another: Channel catfish caught on curly-tail grubs; flatheads falling for Fat Raps; blue cats bombarding buzzbaits. Far from supernatural fishing phenomena, these seemingly unlikely events ... [ Read More ]
Experience Wins Over – Ice Fishing Perch, Crappies & Bluegill
Experience Wins Over - Ice Fishing Perch, Crappies & Bluegill Being in the fishing game as long as I have, a slight bit of common sense seems to take over every once in a while, certainly a whole lot more than it did when younger. A “two group” Ontario lake trout outing got me to thinking about this.Planned a month in advance, there would be eight of us. I use the word “us” loosely, as Blake and I weren’t planning on making the trip, as we were penciled in to help with the annual “No Child Left Inside” program, put on by the Nashwauk-Keewatin school district. Scheduled for a Friday, it would be the same day the trout outing would get underway on Lake Manitou. I thought about running up there late Friday or early Saturday but came to my senses after watching the weather ... [ Read More ]
Panfish Tournament Series
Throughout many of the states located in the Ice Belt, ice fishing series targeting Panfish have been taking off. To name a few of the series - the North American Ice Fishing Circuit (NAIFC), Team Extreme and the Ultimate Panfish League. They each have their own set of rules & regulations, as well as sponsors and payouts. This season upon my move back to the Midwest I decided to try my hand at competitive ice fishing and joined the Ultimate Panfish League. The Ultimate Panfish League event on Medicine Lake, MN is in the books. It was the coldest event of the year so far but the teams battled through it and brought in some decent weight to the scales. Medicine is a new lake which was voted in this year and many of the teams were unfamiliar with it when it came to ice ... [ Read More ]
12 Walleye Ice Fishing Keys Help Pinpoint Structure
Catching walleye consistently when ice fishing structure, often means finding the point of contact. The edge or structural element that funnels and pinches fish movements when fish move through a particular location causes them to pass through or over a specific location. Amazingly, these fish movements are often very precise. Most of the fish will come through a location passing along the same route often from the same direction. The beauty of fishing walleye is that they love structure and the fish movements over locations are seldom random. With the accuracy of map chips and lake contours, finding and understanding structure is no longer a guessing game. This makes our ice fishing amazingly accurate. Walleyes roam to feed during low light periods or after dark. On some ice ... [ Read More ]
Grand Rapids-Bowstring-Deer River-Marcell Fishing Reports
Grand Rapids-Bowstring-Deer River-Marcell Fishing Reports - MN Lakes by Fishing Guides, Minnesota Resorts and Members. If you can't find what you are looking for below, #1 - Become a member and ask for a fishing report, then please be sure to check out the Minnesota Fishing & Hunting forums. [wp-rss-aggregator source="8150"] Visit the Grand Rapids-Bowstring-Deer River-Marcell fishing reports Community for even more info. Click Here... Grand Rapids-Bowstring-Deer River-Marcell fishing reports are provided by fishing guides, area resorts, local residents and visitors fishing the lakes in the Grand Rapids area. If you use the fishing reports above, consider sharing your Grand Rapids-Bowstring-Deer River-Marcell fishing reports and help others out with first hand experiences to make ... [ Read More ]
Dog Day Blue Gills – The Dinner Plates
by Jim Uran Late summer bluegills keep the doctor away, it’s a proven fact. Well maybe I stretched the truth a little but they sure can make a person happy this time of year. Even during the dog days of summer, these tanks are more than willing to bite, and they are as easy to find right now as ever. Weeds seem to be the key location year round for bluegills. And as the summers water temp has peaked and is slowly on the downfall the fish certainly have a lot of options to hide in out there. What I look for out there is a weed bed that isn’t too thick, has openings for casting, but enough cover to keep the fish hidden. In a perfect world I will look for a mixture of cabbage and coontail in the 8-12 foot range, and anchor on the outside edge of it. I’ll slip bobber the area or ... [ Read More ]
Secrets to Catching Big Walleyes – by Jason Mitchell
Big fish will typically push smaller fish off off a spot if the big fish want to set up on that spot. Bass fishing is probably the best example of locations or spots that are typically big fish spots because so often, we can readily see what makes a location so attractive. Not all docks for example are the same. Some docks have a better scour hole from a big motor powering up on a boat lift. Docks with wheels or tires might have better structure below the dock that attracts fish for example. A particular dock will produce a big bass and a few weeks later, the same dock will hold a different big bass providing the spot has had a chance to rest. Some rock piles just have the complexity and all the right ingredients to produce several big muskies. Some particular holes or log jams ... [ Read More ]
Bulking Up For Dirty Water Bass.
Bulking Up For Dirty Water Bass A lot of people cringe at the thought of fishing a lake with pea soup colored water, I'm talking lakes that swallow secchi disks alive. I've grown to love this particular situation as most of the biggest bass I have boated were plucked straight out of the darkness. Don't be overwhelmed, simply bulk-it-up and get the camera ready. The first thing I do is up-size everything; braided line, powerful rods and the biggest, nastiest jig combo you can put together. Now I don't necessarily mean the heaviest jig you own, but instead the biggest and bulkiest profile. The majority of your bites will come on the fall with this type of presentation. I prefer a 1/4oz or 3/8oz jig which allows me to slow down and keep that lure in the strike zone longer. ... [ Read More ]
Spinning for Panfish by Matt Johnson
When most anglers think of panfish they think of small jigs and hooks tipped with a crappie minnows or crawler chunks. They might even think of throwing a few smaller profiled plastics like tube jigs and twister tails. But what about spinner-baits? And we’re not talking bass spinner-baits; we’re talking small-profiled panfish spinner-baits. Why can’t we burn-up the water in pursuit of monster panfish with a method that has worked so well for bass anglers across the country? Often this method gets pushed aside when in pursuit of slab crappies and bull gills, but that shouldn’t be the case. Targeting big panfish, both crappies and sunfish, can be made easy when using spinner-baits... and the results can really be worth the effort. Spinning for Panfish The spinner-bait has proven its worth ... [ Read More ]