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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
Pitching Crank Baits for Walleyes
Pitching or casting crank baits into shallow water is one of the most enjoyable ways to fish for walleyes early in the season. Some lakes like Devils Lake in north central North Dakota are notorious for producing shallow patterns where anglers routinely cast crank baits but these patterns can be effective well beyond Devils Lake. Casting crank baits into shallow water not only allows you to cover massive amounts of water, shallow fish are often utilizing some of the warmest water available in a system and are typically aggressive so shallow fish typically respond well to crank baits. Not to say that fish deeper wont respond to crank baits because they will but in my mind, fish that are percolating in that warm water tucked in close to shore when the water temperature across the lake is ... [ Read More ]
Summer Windows For Out-Size Bass By Brett Richardson
The late summer period, just about two weeks prior to turnover, have produced multiple trophy largemouth and smallmouth summer bass for my fishing partners and I for more than 50 seasons. Chasing off-shore giants during the latter part of the summer season has been quite rewarding. The largest bass in the system can be locating on main lake basin forage in various parts of the water column, or by pounding crawdads on pelagic humps, ledges and basin channel depressions as the hot weather period is just about ready to start to change. Big bass seem to sense the oncoming seasonal change and slight variance in water temperature preceding the start of the first stage of turnover, and gorge themselves for approximately a 2 week time frame. Looking back at our meticulously kept logs and data ... [ Read More ]
When to feed and not feed line when Lindy rigging
What separates Lindy rigging from other walleye presentations is the use of a sliding weight. A jig has the lead molded onto the hook, a split shot rig has the spilt shot weight pinched securely on the line, a bottom bouncer has the leader tied directly to the trailer wire. The sliding weight on the Lindy rig can be used to let the fish run. I use the words “can be” because there are many days on the water when rigging, where you do not have to feed line. Let me back up and explain rigging to those of you unfamiliar with rigging. Again the key component to a rig is that the fishing line slides through a hole in the weight. So when a fish bites and you feed line to the fish, the line glides uninhibited through the weight, and the fish feels the weight far less than if the weight was ... [ Read More ]
Lessons Learned From the Lake Commandos
What happens when you dump two expert anglers on unfamiliar water and tell them to conquer it … and each other? A Texas buddy of mine and I pulled up to a bar that started in 19 feet of water and topped out in 5. We were both fishing a Carolina rig, and both using a Berkley Chigger Craw for bait. So why did he catch five bass in the next 10 minutes while I remained skunked? It’s hard not to be fascinated with the factors that affect fishing success. And as much as one tries to break things down to key elements such as bait selection, speed, location, color, etc., the more frustrating it can be—the number of possible combinations is endless. When we launched Lake Commandos our goal was simple: to highlight the thought processes successful anglers use when developing effective ... [ Read More ]
marine battery charger |No Time for Downtime
No Time for Downtime by Ron Anlauf There is no fun to be had when equipment malfunctions or breaks down, especially when you’re trying to spend some quality time on your favorite body of water. It’s even worse when you’re miles from anywhere and there’s no immediate help available. Unfortunately it happens but a lot of the problems can be avoided with a little preparation and upkeep. One of the more common issues includes power or the lack there of. Without it there’s no way to start today’s bigger engines and a jump from a charged battery may be the only way to get going. You might be able to jump from a trolling motor battery if you have cables along. Or maybe pull a battery and replace the dead one but you better have a few tools ... [ Read More ]