Meow!!!

Catfish through the ice???? Who would have ever thought such a crazy thing?  But in all honesty, if you have never done it, you are missing the action.  Today a couple of my buddies went out to a honey hole in some river backwaters and got on one amazing bite.  Normally I would be on this venture with them, but today I just couldn't make the trek.  Mike and Sean boated somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 catfish during their day on the ice.  Unbelievable action fellas and congrats on the successful venture.  These critters are some of the funnest and toughest fighting fish that I have ever hauled through an 8" hole.  You can bet that there will be more stories and pictures in the near future. 

Good luck to all!

Happy Holidays! 

Fish On!

Some Real Giants

 The first trip to Mille Lacs for the season is in the books. 

Mike, Dusty, Brandon and myself all spent the day on the big pond yesterday and found some awesome results.  Our morning started by fishing a spot that some friends had done well at on the weekend.  The fish were there, but they just didn't want to bite.  Knowing that we only had one day to get in on the action, we quickly packed up our gear and headed elsewhere.  My theory on this huge lake is that there is always fish biting somewhere. 

Our second spot of the day proved to be another bust as we scored only one jumbo perch and several smaller ones.  It was now almost noon, and we had to make a drastic decision as to what our afternoon was going to bring us.  With half of the day already gone, and only two walleyes in the pail, we knew we had to change up gears quite a bit and decided to put about 10 miles between us and anybody else on the water.  We hit the "MUD."  We were the first individuals on this particular mud flat for the year, and it was obvious right from the start that we were going to have a good afternoon of fishing. 

The fish started coming through the hole and everybody got in on the action.  Before today the biggest walleye Mike had ever caught through the ice was 22" and he broke this record several times before the day was over.  Not only that, but he also caught his largest ever at over 27".  Brandon also scored his largest ever and landed more than one fish over 25".  Dusty and myself caught several nice ones as well, but we were able to find a few more fish in the slot for dinner.  The trouble when you get on a bite like this is finding fish small enough to bring home for dinner.  On Mille Lacs this winter, everything from 20 - 28" must be released.  Our trouble was finding fish under 20", which is a great problem to have any time on the water. 

We found the fish we were looking for, but it definitely wasn't with ease, or luck.  We put about 40 - 50 miles on our fourwheelers and crossed some areas that no sane person would probably go.  This early in the season if you get out that many miles, you really have to trust yourself and the ice and know where you can and cannot go.  We found ice sheets as high as 10 ft in the air, and cracks of open water as wide as 5 ft.  If you are not paying attention when under these conditions, you will be one of the people we all hear about on the news.  We packed up and headed out 25 minutes before dark just for this very reason, and it definitely made our drive back to solid land a whole lot safer. 

We ended our day trip with several walleyes over 24".  Everyone caught a few large ones,  with our biggest fish of the day being in the 27 1/2" range.  We kept a total of 11 walleyes and 2 jumbo's for our fish fry.  With the first Mille Lacs trips in the books, I am already looking forward to the next time I get to hit the water.  They're biting, get up there and get on them.  Fish On!

 

WHAT A DAY!!

Happy Fisherman!!

It may be the lucky fishing shirt that I keep wearing lately, but either way the bite has been fabulous for us.  Shiners, Shiners, and more Shiners are turning the Walleyes, Jumbo's, and Pike.  I haven't even been forced to use my waxworm technique to trigger the biters.  It has been tough to fish with 2 lines during the prime bite.  Last outing I hit a different spot with similar structure and had great results.  Many Perch, Walleye and Pike throughout the short time span that I was on the water.

Many people are probably wondering how the ice has been holding up with the weather conditions, but in the northern region of Minnesota, there has been very little effect on the ice.  We have lost the snowcover that we had last week, and while it hasn't been making any ice, we haven't lost any ice as of this point.  7" to 9" seems to be the norm for the lakes that I have hit recently.  The forecast is calling for colder temps in the near future, so don't hesitate to travel further north to get away from the thining ice down in the southern half of the state.  Oh, and by the way, the bite is on!  Fish On!

Goodbye Burger King, Hello Walleyes!

It is a total understatement to say that I had been struggling the first couple of times on the ice this season, but things are finally starting to pay off for me.  Burger King and Mcdonalds are no longer my only diet, because I finally have a fresh meal of Walleyes to fill my belly. 

Just when it seemed like I would be selling my gear and finding a different sport to tie me over for the winter, I finally struck gold and got on a good bite.  This unusually warm weather has allowed me to be very mobile and search out new water and find the early ice Walleyes and Perch in places I don't usually catch them.  With many of my "go to" spots failing me early on I found myself drilling many holes and fishing  spots that I have never jigged before.  I guess persistence pays off if you keep on trying, because last night I stumbled onto a large school of Eyes and Perch just off of a steep break in 15 to 18 ft of water.  Unlike many metro waters that I fish, this lake has no weed edge, and the fish were concentrated on an inside cut in the breakline.  The weapon of choice for these critters has been a shiner on a plain hook under a float, and jigging a green and white Northland spoon tipped with a waxworm on each treble hook.  That's right, I said waxworms.  I find this to be extremely deadly for both perch and walleyes, and I use this setup all winter long.  The key for me has been drilling about 20 holes in different depth ranges around the school of fish, and moving every couple of minutes to find new fish.  It seems like every time I go to a different hole, I jig up a walleye almost instantly.  It's great when warm weather allows for this technique, because you can throw many walleyes on the ice in a hurry when they decide to bite, and you don't have to wait around for them to come to you.

Last night I kept a couple of nice Eye's for dinner along with a couple of Perch.  I released a few others that I felt were too large for my pan and felt very good about doing it.  This morning I returned to make sure it wasn't a fluke and was very surprised to find that I didn't bring enough bait for the intense action the fish were giving me.  By the time I ran out this morning I had 3 nice eater walleyes, a handful of respectable perch and couple that I threw back to catch another day.  The only frustrating part about this morning was all the walleyes I had in my hole that somehow got away, and the weakness in my line.  I broke off under the ice 2 times on 19 - 20" walleyes, and had 3 more slip out of my hands in the hole.  I will now be purchasing larger treble hooks for my jigs, and new line that won't break.  Nothing irritates me more than when my equipment fails on nice fish.  Oh well, I'll be eating good tonight anyway.  Fish On! 

Slabs And Bulls Through The Ice

Recently I have received emails from several people wondering about how to target panfish through the ice in northern Minnesota.  Rather than giving away GPS coordinates and hundreds of hours of labor in finding these northern gems, I thought I would share with everybody the approach that I use in finding the fish on lakes that I target. 

The first step for me is obviously printing out or purchasing the best quality lake map that I can come across.  Some of the computer chips will also have the lake maps for the larger lakes which works for the GPS, but not for all of them just yet.  I will then find out any information from anybody willing to share with me such as: local bait shops, Resorts, or other fisherman on the lake.  With any of the info that I obtain, I will then find places on the maps that look promising and prepare to drill many holes.  Crappies and Bluegills really tend to school up in the winter, and they are usually in one of two places.  In the weeds, or suspended over a deep hole.  I will usually locate the largest concentration of green weeds (a large bay or shoreline) with deep water nearby, and drill many holes ranging in all depths of the weeds.  I will at times drill as many as 50 to 100 holes before I even wet a line. 

Once I drill all the holes I usually fish them fairly quickly to find any active fish.  I start as shallow as possible and work my way to deeper water.  If I don't locate anything in the weeds, I continue to move out to the deep water and do the whole program all over again.  The only difference with the open water, is that I may not even fish until I graph anything in the holes that I have drilled.  Weeds may obstruct the vexilar's view, but in the open there is no mistaking those red lines that show up, and they are almost always suspended off the bottom which makes them easy to see.  Once a school is spotted, I fish them instantly and catch what I can before they move away.  Having all of the holes already pre drilled makes this part easy, because I will just move again until I find them.  More holes might be necessary to stay on the fish, but they don't usually move too far once you locate their area. 

It seems like a lot of holes at times, but I have found that on many lakes they will be in the shallower weeds early in the day, then move out and suspend in deeper water during midday, then head back to the shallows at night.  This may make your first holes good as gold right before dark, and you don't have any auger noise to spook them when they move shallow to feed. 

Every lake that I target for Bluegill and Crappie seem to give me a different pattern.  It takes a lot of patience, persistance and hard work to find them, but the rewards can be worth it.  Never rule out anything on any lake.  I have caught them in 2 feet of water on one lake and drove ten miles to another lake to catch them in 35 feet of water on the same day.  As a general rule they will be in the thickest bay of weeds or in the deepest water close by.  Hope this helps a little in your next journey on a new lake.  Fish On!