Dang It's Hot Out There!

Well yesterday morning I was given the privilege to take out a new client by the name of Ed.  This is Ed's first time in the boat with me, and our main goal on this outing was to get him familiar with lake Waconia and how to go about catching fish.  Ed is new to the lake, and recently purchased a boat slip from the marina along with a boat to put in the slip.  With that being said, it was my goal to try my best at teaching him a few tricks and techniques that I use to bring fish in the boat.  Our morning started by chasing the Ol' Marble Eye's, but due to the recent heat that has just moved in, many of the larger fish were reluctant to take the bait.  We settled for a few shorter than normal walleyes and then switched to the elusive Muskies.  We had a few nice fish going instantly on one of my walleye spots, and watched an upper 40" fish chase a crappie to the boat while we were still walleye fishing.  We decided to work that area over, and found there to be about a handfull of different fish willing to chase the bait.  Exciting? Yes, but no takers.  I enjoyed the time on the water trying to teach Ed a few tricks, and hope to get him dialed in very soon. 

With this new weather pattern that just came in, and with water temps skyrocketing into the 75 degree range, it's now time to find a new pattern and force feed them darn walleyes. 

I highly encourage y'all to check out this link that Ed sent to me.  It just might be the most crazy fishing you will ever see. 

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.fullscreen&videoid=1125465453

I bet I know a few people who would give an arm and a leg to try that.  Thanks Ed!  Until Next time, Keep on Livin the Dream!

And Bret Strikes Again!

The last time Bret and I hit the water together, we managed to boat 3 muskies in a trip that got cut short due to the weather.  One of which was Bret's largest at a very healthy 48'.  While those memories were shared yesterday morning with Tim, we didn't exactly have plans to repeat that success.  Our mission was to start out the morning by boating a few walleyes and then switching over to the ol' Bucketmouths.  Well, we did do as planned, but as you can see from the pic, we also did a little unplanned dancin with the toothy critters.  Our morning started by catching roughly 10 walleyes, which was pretty good action considering the intense wind.  They weren't quite the size that we were looking for, but Bret took home some fresh walleye fillets for dinner.  We then switched over to bass, but with the tornadic strength winds we were dealing with, it made it quite challenging to strategically place our casts.  We landed a few bass including a nice one by Tim, and dealt with the wind the entire time.  The great part about the style of bass fishing that we were doing, is that we were working a couple of my favorite muskie spots on the lake and giving ourselves the opportunity to do battle with a trophy of another kind.  The first time we encountered a muskie on our lighter than normal muskie gear, the muskie won, and left me to retie another lure.  The second time we encountered a toothy critter, it couldn't have gone any better.  The battle was won by Bret, and it was quite the battle at that.  First of all, I took out my gigantic net to make room for the finesse fishing, which forced us to land this fish in a very different matter.  Secondly, and the best part of the story, was that this muskie was spotted before it even ate the bait.  As Bret would put it, there is nothing better than seeing it before the attack, and observing the entire strike.  And lastly, it was battled on lighter gear than my normal musky fishing tackle.  According to Bret, it beat the intense battle that he encuontered with me last year when he landed his 48 incher.  While this muskie wasn't as large, the 43 incher will always be remembered as the one that he watched eat the bait and somehow got in the boat.  While we didn't plan on landing the muskie this way, it definitely is quite common to entice them on lighter tackle this time of the year.  There are a few baits that seem to work really well for me, and they are also my favorite bass baits.  It only makes sense to throw them this time of the season and give ourselves the opportunity for a little bonus action.  Truly a fun morning on the water, and I cannot wait to do it again fellas.  Thanks for the fun time, and until next time, Keep on Livin the Dream!

WOOHOO!!! It's Musky Season!

Well it's about time huh!  Musky season opened this past Saturday here in our wonderful musky state, and for yet another year, I didn't target my favorite specie.  I have been so darn consumed by trying to keep on the ever changing walleye bite, that I haven't thrown the big baits....that is until last night.  After having my fill of chasing the unpredictable walleye bite the last week or so, I decided to get after the big boys.  Our lake of choice on this outing was obviously Waconia, since that was where we were trying for the Walleyes at the time.  It wasn't long into the casting that I had the first follow of the year, and it was one of those fish that we all had a chance at catching.  The darn 42 incher chased all three of our lures boatside once we were doing our figure 8's.  Kinda cool, but it didn't eat!

After about 40 more casts a piece, we got closer to a spot that I typically see them, and we were hooked up for the first time in 07'.  WooHoo!  Nothing spectacular in size, but it is always great to get the first one of the year.  Dusty took a nice picture (by nice I mean that the fish looked good, not necessarily his hair, haha, sorry Dusty but I have to) and we were back at it again.  Before our stretch of water was complete, we saw another fish and then moved on.  Not too darn bad to see 3 nice fish and land one in about an hour of feeeeshin.  Since my walleye season is still going, and I had scratched the itch that I had to get me a snaggle tooth muskie, we grabbed our spinning gear and went back to the Willies. 

Much to my delight, the couple day drought of loosing the battle to the changing walleye pattern and the confusing weed growth on the lake, We scored on a new bite.  We caught a few really nice walleyes right before it was time to head in along with a few other fish including bass, crappies, sunnies and sheephead.  A good day to say the least, and something positive to write about.  I returned to lake this morning to make sure my new walleye pattern wasn't a fluke, and caught about a dozen walleyes as fast as I could get my fathead to the bottom.  Don't worry, I let them all go for the guys coming out in the next few days.   They are going again fellas!  WooHoo!

I have been hearing from a lot of you guys lately about your experiences, and I just want to share with everyone what some of our fellow anglers are catching.  I would love to keep sharing everyones stories and pictures, so please keep sending them my way and i'll get them on the world wide web for everyone to see.  The first picture is from Mr. Douglas himself.  He landed a nice Ski a few days back while fishing for the elusive and mighty bluegill.  Quite the shock when the drag started to scream I am sure.  Nice fish Doug!

The next awesome pic is from a true muskie man in the making named Jake Bohnsack.  We have shared several emails since I met him on the dock last spring, and from the looks of what I have been receieving, he is getting some fish in the boat.  He was up north for the muskie opener this past weekend with a fishing buddy by the name  of Paul Schlagel.  So I just want to give a shout out to them, especially Jake for his new personal best at 46.5 and also landing a 43.  Nice work!  Keep the pics and stories coming fellas.  I love reading and seeing them, and so does the rest of the world.  until next time, Keep on livin the Dream!

A Lil' Bit of Everything

Well lately it has been a lil bit of everything.  As you can see from this picture, we had an interesting double here, and that has pretty much been the norm.  The walleyes are still snatching up the jig and minnows, and so is everything else in the area.  While sheepshead aren't exactly the preferred fish to catch, it isn't such a bad deal, because they can really put up a good battle.  We've also been coming across some very large bucket mouths.  Bass season opened this past weekend, and for the first time in the last 9 years, I was unable to make my trek up north for the smallie action.  My fellow fishing buddies did however, and they got in on some great action on a couple of the lakes, especially considering the windy cold weather.  Nice job Bails and Whorl.  Wish I could have been there, but no fear, I'll be their next time.

This weekend is Musky opener, and I'm kinda thinking that I will be out on Waconia for the first time ever on opener.  I actually haven't made it on the water for the last 5 or 6 musky openers, Can you believe that?  What kind of musky fisherman doesn't fish his own season opener? Haha!  I have a hunch that if I do get out, I may be able to entice a couple toothy critters out there, but we'll see if everything falls into place.  I'm not sure what to do other than curse this windy and unpredictable weather that we have been having lately.  IS IT EVER GOING TO END????  The water temp has been holding steady around 64 to 65 degrees.  Just something to remember for years down the road.  Doesn't that Sunset look like a little piece of paradise?  I highly recommend enjoying them whenever you can.  Til next time, Keep on livin the dream!  Fish On!

More Early Season Walleyes!

Saturday evening I made the biggest mistake I can ever make while heading out on the water.  I forgot my darn camera.  Therefore, I don't have any pics of the large ones that we released, but I did take a shot of the dinner that Brandon decided to keep.  We dealt with one of the most insane cold fronts Saturday evening, when the temp went from 85 to 59 in a matter of just over 2 hours.  We didn't slam them by any means, but we did manage a nice meal, and threw back a few that were too large over the 20 inch mark.  This was my first serious attempt at the Waconia Walleyes this season, because the bite has been so great elsewhere, but I wasn't at all dissapointed in the size.  The first 3 that I boated went 20, 22, and 23 inches, which is a great average at any point, and we only had 2 that were below the 16 inch mark for the lake.  Since I don't like keeping them over 20 inches, all the larger ones went back, and we only had 2 between 16 and 20 inches.  A great problem to have on any walleye bite.  I cannot wait for more stable weather and many more fish in the 20+ range.  I know it will be happening soon.  Thanks Brandon!

Sunday evening Mike and Jeremy came with me out to Waconia again, and we had an interesting evening of catching fish in the wrong size (too big, too small) and managed to break a few lines in the process.  Nothing irritates me more in fishing then when that darn line snaps.  Well either way, we battled the wind and the waves yet again and had many more laughs.  Mike caught his largest walleye of the year thus far, and Jeremy landed his first walleye on his new favorite fishing pole.  Will this wind ever stop howling??? It has been 9 straight days of extremely windy weather with a huge roller coaster of temperature changes.  I think this year will top last season as soon as we stabilize the temps a little, but the eye's are still flying in the boat.  Let me know if you want in on the action.  I would say that it will definitely be worth your time.  Thanks again Mike and Jeremy.  Fish on Fellas!