(7/29) And in the "It's a small world" category, these comments from my friend Steve Sykes made me smile. "Hi Jeff, I tried out what you taught me about fishing for crappies in the weeds. While fishing on one of the local lakes (near home) I picked out the largest weed flat I could find on my Hummingbird and started casting small jigs tipped with plastic bodies and did very well.
We found the crappies in 6 to 8 feet of water, this is on a lake I have never caught a crappie in the summer time. Makes me wonder if I could have been doing this for a long time and missed out."
As it turns out, Steve and I were both doing the same thing, fishing the same pattern, at the same time, and YES, on the same lake. It really is a small world, thank you Steve! Oh and by the way ...
Fishing Report July 28, 2015 - Mid-Summer Salad Bar CrappiesBy special proclamation of the Chancellor at the University of Sunny Side Up, it was Mother’s Day weekend! I used to reserve the opening weekend of fishing, which typically coincides with Mother’s Day to fish with my family. But several years of cold, rainy weather forced a decision that Mom should be treated to warmer weather. So for us, the celebration comes in July. Away from the office for a few days, I have some catching up to do. Luckily, some of it's already done. Here's something for you to chew on while I work on the rest. |
Did I say that there was some bad news? Well, it turned out that moving from first place into first place again isn't that simple. So for Ryan, who was hoping that I could lead him to a fish exceeding 26 inches, I was a disappointment. We did our best, but coaxing a bigger Mr. Big than the previous Mr. Big didn’t happen.
There was more good news though and it was that during our search for Mr. Big, John Armstrong AKA "Rosebud” landed a stout 32 inch Pike. You know what they say about a picture being worth 1000 words, and that's what John wanted; so we released the fish, but kept the photo.
On Tuesday, there was more good news too, when the crew became disillusioned with the pursuit of trophy fish, the call for action was easily answered by a visit to the weedline.
Surface Water Temperatures were in the 78 degree neighborhood and that signaled me that "mixed bag" action bite should be on. I moved to the shallow water where we began trolling the weedline in water depths of 12 to 14 feet, at speeds of 1.2 to 1.7 MPH.
We used Lindy Spinners in a variety of colors, and tipped them each with ½ of a night crawler and it took less than 5 minutes to prove the theory. There were Bass, Sunfish, Pike and some small Walleyes coming in as fast as the crew could get their lines in the water. It was a hoot for a while, but for this situation, the mixed bag, action bite wasn’t suitable. Even if it didn't play into our game plan today, knowing that this is going on will benefit some of my customers in the very near future.
So the first session of the 2015 Fisharoo goes into the history books. There's another crew heading this way for session 2 and after a travel day, we’ll all be on the water together. There's no telling what shenanigans they’ve have planned, but I hear rumors that it will be a huge group and there’s bound to be a good story there somewhere.
For today, more torture for me. While I’m on a mission for “Walleye or Die”, I’ll be thinking about that action bite, wishing that I was there with somebody who’d love it. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will last long enough for me to get over there again, next time with just the right crew for the job.
Fishing Report July 14, 2015 - Fisharoo Day 2, The Plot ThickensOH OH! Now they've done it, there's a friendly wager on the biggest Walleye for session 1 of the Daikin Fisharoo and YOU KNOW what that means; once given a work assignment, I can't help myself; there's no choice but to go for the brass ring. I talked with my crew about what it means to purposely pursue monster fish. You can almost hear the conversation; "We're not gonna catch tons of 'em, but if we're patient we will get some and when we do, they'll be big ones. How does that sound boys, you in?" As soon as I saw the heads nodding, I knew, the pursuit of Mr. Big was on my agenda and we were headed off to ... read >> Fishing Report July 14 |
I added that if I've learned anything over these 30 years, it's that fishing is always good for somebody, no matter what. Knowing the experience and skill level of this assembly of guides makes it a foregone conclusion, you will definitely be having a fish fry.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been lots of days for me when it seemed like catching a fish was nearly impossible; no matter where I’d go or what I’d do, the fish just wouldn’t cooperate. Somehow, even on those days, there is always somebody who finds ‘em, figures ‘em out and wins the game, always!
Luckily, on Sunday the weather straightened itself out and the fish became cooperative for us. Whew, my crew was spared that quiet moment when their crony’s might get a chuckle at our expense as they’d boast about their great fishing day.
On this day, most everybody in the group enjoyed a decent afternoon of fishing, even if they did get to watch their guides figure out how to do it.
For me, “figuring it out” meant giving up on Bowstrings shallow weeds and moving back out to deep water. Mid-lake structure with fast tapering breaks from 20 to 25 feet of water held fish. Not all of the fish were active, in fact even once we found them, getting a strike was tricky. But they were catchable and thanks to finding a couple of “honey holes”, we managed a rally.
Lindy Rigs set up with ½ ounce weights and tipped with night crawlers was our best presentation. Using a worm blower to inject the crawlers with a bubble of air or using a floating Lindy Rig is mandatory on Bowstring to prevent the hook from gathering snails on the bottom. For us, the worm blower was sufficient today.
The deep pattern was not the only game going, other fishermen from the Fisharoo were there too and they caught fish using spinners. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they caught more than we did, but I might be able to argue that we had a higher percentage of larger fish.
So day 1 of the 2015 Fisharoo is in the history book, the fish fry went off without a hitch and now we can see what day 2 has in store.
Minnesota Northern Pike Management - Dialogue continues on state’s pike problems; you can still commentIn hopes of improving northern pike fishing, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants to expand the dialogue with anglers and darkhouse spearers about the pike problem in Minnesota. |
In hopes of engaging anglers and spearers about the zone concept, the DNR has developed a Web page that includes this informative vido >> Northern Pike Zone Management |
Fishing Report July 7, 2015 - Post Storm, "Goose Bump" Walleye Fishing on BowstringWhen the calendar was set for Lora Bellin, Annette Bingham and me, none of us expected to be shivering in July, but on Monday we were. |
Read More About Lake Mille Lacs in Dan Johnson's recent blog post >> MilleLacs Multi-Species Bonanza
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Wired2Fish THMarine G Force Eliminator; "Hard to imagine that a weird conical shaped piece of billet aluminum could be so beneficial to an already very quiet trolling motor, but the T-H Marine G-Force Eliminator Trolling Motor Prop Nut does just that. I have been using the Minn Kota Fortrex for the last few years, and didn’t notice it being noisy. Matter of fact, I hadn’t even noticed it made noise at all. The usual pro wash sound maybe but no rattles or clicking or rubbing noises were ever heard. To my old ears it seemed super quiet, but I was totally amazed when I ... read >> Review Wired2Fish THMarine G Force Eliminator |
(7/4) From Bowstring Lake, Geiger's Trails End Resort; "If it's eating size Walleye that you're after, then we might just have the spot for you. Weedline Walleye action has picked up and fish ranging in size between 13 and 16 iches have been fairly easy to come by. The net full of fish you see in the photo (courtesy Otter's Guide Service) was accomplished in just a couple of hours by trolling spinners along the weed line in 6 to 8 feet of water. There are Perch and Pike mixed in too, so the action would be great for anybody entertaining kids using this mid-summer, warm water fishing pattern. Call for more details. - Bill & Erin Charlton, Trails End Reosrt . |
Fishing Report July 3, 2015 - Mid-Summer Walleye Patterns In Grand RapidsSurface temperatures on the lake ranged between 75 and 77 degrees and the lake water was slightly stained by an Algae bloom. A sunny sky and calm surface conditions allowed us to see the bottom in depths of 8 to 9 feet. Beyond 10 feet, we could see tops of Cabbage weeds, but it was difficult to see anything else. |
This week: Mille Lacs Lake Walleyes are the subject of Jon Thelen's video.Catching Walleyes on Lake MilleLacs these days is easier than most folks realize. But when fish have lots of forage, they can become choosy about when and where they feed. Adjusting to changes in their environment allows versatile anglers to catch fish, even whne the fish have the advantage. In this video, Jon shares his secret for turning the heads of ... view >> Mud Flat Walleyes on Mille Lakes Lake . |
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