Its Swine Time!!

The time is here!  What time is that you ask??  SWINE TIME!  March is the best time of the year to catch HUUUGE walleyes and numbers of them!!  I know that 99% of Minnesota's waters are closed to walleye fishing this time of year, but there are a few select waters out there that it is still open and you are missing out if you hang up the walleye gear until May!  Lake of the Woods, The Rainy River, and the Mississippi River from St. Paul to where it leaves Minnesota offer some of the best walleye fishing that the country has to offer!  Although it is not your typical lazy afternoon dragging a spinner or bouncing a jig, the outcome can be worth every bit of the extreme conditions! 

I got the itch and went out to my dads place to get his boat ready on Thursday evening!  Batteries charged??  Check!  Tires have air??  Check!  Life Jackets??  Check!  Rods with new line?? Check!!  All the electronics work?  Check!  Motor runs?  Check!  We are ready to go!  The Friday morning destination for Sean, Eric and I??  The Mississippi River!!  After checking a few sites and doing some homework, the usual access we use was still iced up.  But we found another and were on our way!  We pulled up to the river around 9:30 and were backing down the snowy ramp along side the 2 foot snow banks on each side of us, barely making enough room for our rig.  10 minutes later, we were battling the current, heading up stream dodging ice chunks on the way!  We avoided chunks the size of cubes to sheets so wide that you could barely squeeze the rig between it and shore!  An adventure it surely was! 

At our spot, I hooked the fathead on my 3/8 oz jig and the 2011 walleye open water season had started for me!  A few drifts and we had nothing but frozen eyes on our fishing rods.  About 30 minutes in the trip and....Thump!  There it was, the wonderful feeling of an aggressive fish inhaling your jig!  The hook set was a success and the 14 inch walleye came flying in the boat with little effort!  One thing important about river fishing is that when you find one fish, you more than likely have found many more.  It was there because of the way the current was moving, depth change, or bait fish, or all of the above.  We concentrated our efforts on duplicating what enticed the first one and in no time we were on a pattern that was working!  Instantly the three of us were missing, catching and missing some more.  It was constant action!  The fish were varying from 12 to 18 inches with about 15-16 the average size!  It was a blast!

About 15 fish in the day, I had one that was pulling a little harder and the ready to burst 4 pounder came to the surface and surrendered to the net.  It was what we were really after!  The female!  It was no swine, but it did let us know that there were some females coming to the area! 

These fish are getting prepared to spawn in a few weeks.  They are born with instincts to travel up stream to take part in the spawning rituals.  It is the reason why so many big fish are caught below dams in rivers in the spring.  They instinctly travel upstream and cannot go any further.  We were not at a dam, but we were at a feeding point the fish stop at on there way to spawning.  The males usually arrive first and then the females.  The males were all the small guys we were catching.  Typically a male won't get much bigger than 20 inches.  The females are the overly fat ones that get up to over 30 inches!  It is obvious when you catch a female.  If you are lucky enough to be fishing during the major run of these fat girls, it will be a once in a lifetime experience!  A few years back I was lucky enough to be part of a few days where we fooled well over 10 fish over 7 pounds and up to 12 pounds in to taking our presentation!  And the best part of it is, when these girls start feeding, they are so active, your bait choice doesn't really matter,  you just have to place it in front of there noses and they will eat!

Anyways, back to the day of fishing.  To see that a female was present in the school of fish got our hopes up to catch a true giant!  Many 14-18 fish later, Sean hooked a good one!  When the massive girl broke the surface, we all instantly were giddy with excitement as Eric ran for the net.  Every year I forget how fat these fish are!  As we put the tape to her, I was going to guess 27-28 inches and it read just under 25!!  I couldn't believe it!  It looked huge!  It was definitly close to if not over 7 pounds!  While not the ten pounder we were after, it was an incredible fish anywhere in the world!  We ended up catching close to 50 fish between the 3 of us and we all had at least one pushing 4 pounds or bigger! 

It is only the beginning, but it can end just as fast as it started!  The warmer it gets and the more run off we get will make the river rise and make the water clarity drop.  As the water rises and gets murkier, the fishing gets harder and harder.  This nexy week should be incredible, but it could be over as soon as the middle of next week as the temps break the 50's.  A few years ago we caught a few ten pound plus fish and numerous males one day, the next morning the river was about 2 feet higher and the water clarity went from about 3 feet to just a few inches.  We fished for 3 hours without a bite and it was over for the year!!

I suggest getting out there asap!!  If you don't have a boat, contact me if you don't mind fishing in an old crestliner!!  I plan on being out there everyday next week, so stay tuned to either my or Travis's blog!  Its going to be an EPIC week of fishing!!  From amongst the swine of the Mississippi River, Keep Livin' Your Dream!

Cold Water Muskie!!

A few days ago, I called up Dusty and he told me he was going to find a new spot for his permanent house and try to get some walleyes. I couldn't turn down the offer to fish, shake dice, and wait for a rattle reel with one of my best friends! I met him on the lake at about 3:00. By 3:30, we had a spot picked out, the house lowered, holes drilled, house banked in, and were lowering our lines. It was a bit early for walleyes, but we had nothing else to do. As soon as I dropped my jig down, the screen filled up with signals. After immediately catching one, my assumptions were confirmed as I pulled the tiny perch through the ice. I was happy and content, reeling in small perch one after another. In the midst of it all, I happened to look down at the screen on the vex to see all the perch disappear at once and then one large red signal appear. It slowly approached the mark representing my jig and covered it up. As I looked down at my rod, I felt a slight pressure pulling against me. I immediately set the hook and whatever it was that took the wrath of my hooks....never even moved!!! "Ummmmm...Dusty...I have something big on!" I said as I looked at the rod bent to the max! It slowly started swimming away and knowing that this fish was huge and my reel not being the best, I flipped the backreel switch. As I backpedaled to the fish, Dusty ran up and pulled the tranceducer out of the hole. A solid 2 to 3 minutes of tug-of-war with the fish and we still hadn't seen it. Finally It slowly swimmed past the hole to reveal the long, fat, wide, body of a muskie slip past the hole. About 30 seconds later, her head finally slipped in the hole, instantly it pulled back and shot straight to the bottom again. This happened about 5 or 6 times over the next minute or 2. What was happening is that I would get her head in the hole and she would be up against the ice and all she had to do was push her tail against the ice to pull herself back out of the hole!! I finally got her head far enough up the hole for Dusty to get his hands around her. After about 15 intense seconds of nerve racking struggle, He finally stood up holding the super fat, close to 40 inch muskie!! My first muskie through the ice! It was probably one of the coolest, most intense ice fishing experiences I have ever been a part of!!  A quick photo and back she went!

About an hour later, Dusty's family showed up. Dusty's mom, Boni, made some hotdogs and baked beans for us and then sat down by a hole and picked up a jig rod. Dusty showed her how the vexilar worked and a few jigging techniques and then went back to fishing in his own hole. Just a few minutes later, Boni was screaming while reeling as hard as she could as the drag on the reel was screaming with resistance!! A few seconds later, Boni's first walleye, a nice 16 incher, was flopping on the fishhouse floor! She won the money pot for the first eye of the night!! We didn't have a whole lot more action the rest of the night as far as fish, but tons of laughs and some intense dice shaking made for a great night!!! Congrats Boni and thanks Dusty for being the "Extreme Net Man!" I hope to have more great fishing nights with the Gesinger Family soon!! Until then, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!

Foggy Bass!!

Yesterday, I was on my way home from my morning workout and Jason called me and said, "Grab your waders, Sean and I are on our way over and we are headed to the Mississippi!"  I hurried home, ran straight in, showered and grabbed my fishing gear and ran outside to see the vehicle waiting for me!  Our target???  Monster Smallmouth bass!!

We arrived and put on all our gear and ventured out in to the frigid open water.  The steam rising off the water gave it a sense that we were in a heavenly place.  And as I set the hook and my rod doubled over, it was confirmed that it was exactly that!!  My drag screamed as the smallie pulled with the aid of strong current!  Finally after the battle was over, I pulled up the small 11 incher.  Boy do they sure give it their all!!   A few fish later, I had one that, despite all my efforts, I just couldn't get in!  Finally after a long battle, she gave in and came to the surface at my feet!  The look of the 4 pounder in the crystal clear water with the bronze rocks under it was definitely a sight to see!!  God does some pretty incredible things with nature and His creation!  I am so blessed to be able to experience it at the level I get to!!  After a few more fish, my reel started to fail and I looked down to see a Shimano Iceberg!!  My fingers had no feeling in them and the biting wind stung my face.  Why do we go through all this to catch a few bass??  The real question is "Why wouldn't we do it?"  It is an incredible experience!  We love it!!!  I would do it again and I will again very soon!!

It was a great, kinda cold day!  We ended up catching about 15 of these acrobatic jumpers in about 3 hours.  We have done better, actually that is probably the worse we have ever done.  But that will not slow us down!!  From the cold, bass filled waters of the Mississippi, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!