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 ]
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 ]
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 ]
Minnesota Fishing Reports Clubs – St Cloud, MN Area Lakes & Rivers
Are you looking for up to date fishing reports in your area? Are you looking for a great spot to fish? Do you want to know how to fish that lake and what to use in the next week? We have assembled a top notch team who provide you up-to-date and good St. Cloud, MN area fishing reports for you in our Minnesota Fishing Reports forums. Even better for you, they have more and even better detailed fishing reports for you in our new Minnesota Fishing Reports Club. In the new Minnesota Fishing Reports Club, we include a few predictive tips too! The Fishing Report Team lets you know how to prepare for your fishing trip, what to look for and what we would do in the next week or so - in the area YOU WANT TO FISH. If you don't see what you are looking for, just ask and we will ... [ 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 ]
Early Season Walleye
Early Season Walleye While a lot of Walleye fishing consists of deeper fishing off of points, flats and weeds, through much of the year for the next couple of months dominant Walleye patterns will occur in shallow water due to the spring spawning ritual of Walleye. As early as late ice to ice out Walleye begin to make the move to their eventual spawning grounds. On rivers, Walleye will swim as far upriver as possible until reaching dams and other river blocking structures. Once reaching these structures Walleye will find likely areas usually within a mile or two of that structure to deposit their eggs such as rocky or sandy shorelines behind current breaks. On lakes, Walleye will move up to shallow water from their deeper winter haunts depositing their eggs in likely areas such as ... [ Read More ]