Crazy Cats!

Unbelievable catfish action is taking place right now, and for the second time writing about it I have not been along on for the trip.  Just the pure excitement of seeing the pictures and hearing the stories makes me remember my past catfish outings and makes me want to write  a little something for all my buddies who made it out.  They boated somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 - 200 cats the last time they went out.  I guess it would be tough to keep track when they are biting that fast, but I'm 100% sure that everybody got in on the action.  These catfish are amazing smoked, and blackened over an open flame.  Not only that, but the fish can be huge at times and they fight like crazy.  The "keepers" are the smaller ones, and all the rest are usually too large ( sounds like a bad time huh?).    Check out how feminine Bails looks in this picture (hahaha), and how unusual this spotted catfish looks....very cool!

I have decided that I cannot handle telling other peoples stories any longer.  Now that the holidays and the hecticness is almost done for a while, I am going to start enjoying my graduation from college and spend some time on the water for myself.  Life will wait for me to get off the lake...right??? 

Have a safe and Happy New Year! Fish On! 

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!