In late June I took a trip with Sarah up to our lake place and spent 3 or 4 days prefishing for two July tournaments in the Alexandria area. We spent a considerable amount of time driving around MIltona and Ida. Both are large lakes and both have a good population of Large mouth and Small mouth. The weather was not great so several times we sat in the truck waiting for storms to pass or slept in to wait a storm out. We still managed a few fish and put together a bit of a game plan.



This 4 pounder took a senko under a dock. Picture taken by Sarah. Pretty good for a three year old.



Sarah posing nice from the front deck with a rainbow in the background.

We left Alexandria and repacked our bags to head over to Michigan for the 4th of July. It was great to spend time on my childhood waters with my boat and just fish for fun. I managed to help my niece catch her first largemouth by throwing senkos around some weed patches. She was excited and we managed a couple pics (grandmas camera though).

One morning I went out and used a nice antique bamboo fly rod and managed a 14" large mouth on a popper. It was everything I could do to land that fish on a buggy whip like that. Awful lot of fun.

I had told my parents I would take them hunting for trophy Small mouths on Lake Michigan while I was home. Mom usually gets stuck at home with Sarah when Dad and I go out to fish so it was her chance to get out with us and maybe catch a nice one. We got up at 4:30 one morning and headed to the Garden Peninsula. The wind was howling at 6:00 in the morning making it a little too rough to venture out on the big water. We worked around the protected bay and did manage a few fish.



This toad crushed a spook walked over a steep break into 20 feet of water first thing in the morning. Unfortunately we couldn't find any more big ones. The wind got even worse so we called it quits by mid morning.

After catching a few more largemouths back at the cabin, passing on a few tips and tricks to the family, getting wet on the jet ski, and spending a few days on Mackinaw island, we headed back to Minnesota to prefish some more for Miltona and Ida.

More to come.
Sport

        

It has been too long since I posted. Life has gotten in the way. A new baby on the way, new hardwood floors in the house, grand parents visiting.....The list goes on. It all ended now though as the first several Gopher tournaments of the year are done.

We hit the mississippi river and attempted to catch a few in May. Although the season here in minnesota was still closed, the river is open year round so with the early spring we had, everyone hoped fishing would be good. Of course the 60-70 degree days we had all of april turned to 40 degree days in May.
I had a bad couple quick practices and not very good tournaments to go with them. I am not a fan of the river and that was probably in the back of my mind as well which never helps. I managed 4 fish one day and one fish the next. Believe it or not that was good enough for a middle of the pack finnish both days. I will need to make a real effort to get out and practice next year if we go back to that water.

With the season officially open Memorial day weekend, I spent a few days at my lake place near Alexandria. The fishing on my lake was pretty good and I managed a few 3-4 pound fish from shore. A couple casts in the morning and a few more at night was the extent of the effort but fruitful all the same. Swim jigs caught the majority of my fish for me but dead sticking soft plastics also accounted for a few nice fish. One evening my fishing buddy and I stood ankle deep taking turns catching bass and northerns from the shore. There is something special about catching fish from your own dock or stretch of shore.

We spent one afternoon out on Lake Ida. The large mouths were shallow and hungry. We caught fish on Mad Bass  tubes, jigs, shaky heads and more. We kept a few small ones for dinner and were very surprised to see they had not yet spawned. That may have explained the bite we found. My wife and daughter both managed a few fish. It was great to get out and have a look at the lake since I would be fishing a tournament there in July and be back there a few more times this year.  

June had me fishing Sylvia/Twin and Sugar lakes outside the west metro. It was nice to sleep in my own bed between events. I had pretty good practice with Sarah on both lakes and figured I had a good chance to finish high in both events. I managed a 3rd place finish on Sugar by throwing my drop shot with a Mad Bass Natures Tongue  on it.



This little bait has become my go to drop shot plastic. Sylvia/Twin was a classic case of a bite being off. I had found fish shallow in practice but they were just gone come race day. Everyone agreed they were off and the vast majority of fish caught were deep. I didn't adjust quickly enough and didn't have enough deep water to fish so I landed in 10th place on the day with a small limit. The 2 days showing were good enough to move me up into 6th place on the season however.

I will post up a July recap shortly.
Sport

        

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is collecting input from the public regarding proposed changes to hunting seasons in 2010. Take a few minutes and be heard. Follow the link below to participate in the survey and to learn more. (It doesn't take too long.)


http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/sminput.html?gosurvey=Take+The+2010+Public+Input+Survey

        

With the recent Bassmaster Classic win, KVD reminded many anglers how effective a lipless crank can be in cold water. He wasn't alone as most of the top 10 guys were throwing trap style baits. I came across a good article that not only talks about fishing lipless baits but also on the differences between the wide variety of styles available and the techniques each is best at. It also touches on the best setups for fishing these baits and gives a sample worksheet to help you identify baits you should use. Here is an excerpt....

"Lipless cranks may all look somewhat similar, but an important point to realize is that not all lipless cranks behave the same - unless you just chunk and wind them. It's fair to say that most bass anglers today, that's all they do with lipless cranks - chuck them out and wind them back in. If that's all you want to do, then stop reading right now and go use any lipless on the market - and you should have success. Most are good to "chuck and wind" straight back.
If you want to do different things than that with them, you need to realize not all are the same. There is a big difference in what you can and can't do with different brands/models of lipless."

Check out the full article at http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/lipless-crankbaits.shtml
A good read and hopefully it helps you catch a few more bass this season.

We picked up a few subscribers over the past month or two and I wanted to welcome you to the site. If you are a frequent reader but haven't yet subscribed, you can do so by entering your email in the  box to the left and clicking "Subscribe". That way you can get every entry delivered straight to your inbox.

Thanks,
Sport

     

        

As the weather warms and ice fishing draws to a close, most anglers have started to prepare for the upcoming open water season. Plenty of good panfish fishing can still be had during late ice as melting snow brings warm oxygen rich water into lakes and streams. I wanted to spend a few minutes talking about new gear items that helped make my winter fishing better than ever this past season. Maybe you can pick up a deal at the end of season sales that some retailers are having for ice fishing gear.

Mobility has become key in Ice fishing in recent years. Sitting on a bucket in one place waiting for fish to swim by is no longer what the sport is about. Power augers have been the biggest advancement in mobility and allow anglers to drill holes all day. I was not an early adopter of the power auger. I would normally find fish during early ice when my hand auger could drill holes easily and often. Once the ice got to 18" or more I would settle in and beat on the spots I had found earlier or invite a fishing buddy with a power auger. This year I broke down and got a Strikemaster Electra 12000dp.



The auger works great and I love not having to deal with gas and oil. It is also nice that it doesn't smoke up the inside of the wheel house. If you are in the market for a new auger. Check it out.

Last year I started selling Rod Slicks and have been using them on my bass rods for some time. This winter, I used them on my ice rods and was very happy with how the worked. If you keep your rods in a bucket you know how often the get tangled. I also use them to protect those higher priced jigging rods. They are great! If you are interested in getting a few slicks drop me a note.



I use a MrHeater Buddy for warming my various shelters. One thing I have always hated is the number of empty 1Lb propane tanks that seem to fill up my truck and garage. This year I got the fitting from Bass Pro Shops that allows me to refill the canisters. Now I keep about four tanks around and can simply fill them off the BBQ grill when I need to. It is quick and easy and it saves you lots of money in the long run. 



Filling the tank is very easy. Connect the brass adapter to the 20lb tank and tighten it with a wrench. Then connect the 1lb tank. Turn the whole setup upside down and open the valve. Leave the valve open for one to two minutes then turn the valve off. Your done. The small tank has been refilled. You cant really get the tank as full as when you bought it due to air in the tank but close enough to surely justify the $20 purchase.
Click the picture (left) to take you right to the adapter.

There is a few items I added to my winter fishing. Hope they help you too.

Sport

        

I am very happy to announce a new partnership I have joined with Mad Bass Custom Baits.

Mad Bass is smaller family owned bait company based out of Washington State. That area of the country has a  very good but little known smallmouth fishery.  They specialize in "Finesse" baits as well as smallmouth offerings but offer a fairly complete line up including hard baits and plan to be adding to the product line in the coming months.

I am very excited to have partnered with Mad Bass. As anyone who has fished with me knows or if you have read many of my fishing related entries you will know that I consider finesse fishing one of my strengths and enjoy having a spinning rod in hand whenever it is applicable. You may also know that if given the choice, like most bass anglers, I will chase smallmouth over large mouths any day. That makes Mad Bass baits a perfect fit for my style of fishing.The unique designs and colors that Mad Bass is producing will surely help me put more fish in the boat this upcoming season.




If you are interested in looking at some different smallmouth and finesse type baits, check out the Mad Bass website at www.madbassbaits.com or drop me a note and I can fill you in.

Sport

        

I spent  a few days last week in the UP of Michigan and got the chance to do some fishing. One day we chased panfish with only limited success. I did manage to learn some new water though and spent some time on the ice with friends.
I spent another day and a half setting Tip Ups for Northerns on a lake in the Hiawatha National forest. This area was my stomping grounds as a kid so it was fun to get out and enjoy the country again.

Michigan regs changed in the past year or two and now allow for 3 lines per angler and 2 hooks per line. This meant the party of 5 of us could put out a dozen tip ups and still have a couple rods in hand for panfish. The panfish bite was slow with only one perch being landed on day one. The northern bite however was excellent. On day one we had 15 flags landing 8 fish in the 20-25 inch range and broke off a couple fish that felt much bigger. The fish were obviously active. They were tearing line off the spools. Several fish had half a spool out with in 30-40 seconds of the flag going up. One fish bit threw the heavy fluorocarbon leader just like they do so often in open water.


                            Jackie lands a nice one.

We had our spread starting in about 3 feet of water going out across a channel of 20+ feet and then back up onto a point with some milfoil and pencil reeds in 4 or 5 feet of water. On day one every tip up produced at least one bite even though the depth ranges varied so widely. On day 2 however the shallower lines produced best.


                        Old fashioned but still effective!

Most guys would never think to put out baits in 3 feet of water under 20 inches of ice. They should! This is not the first time we have had success in very skinny water. The action can be fast and furious as big Northerns get up in shallow water looking for an easy meal. The second day we got only 5 flags but landed 4 fish in the 23-34 inch range. We pulled the set in mid afternoon to pack up and head home after a nice fresh fish fish fry for lunch.


                              This 11.5 lb prespawn female took a golden shiner and lots of line

All in all a great couple days. We released most of the fish to hopefully catch next year. Only a couple weeks left in most states to get out and chase toothy fish so get out there now before you have to put the tip ups away for another year.

        

I recently took a few guys out and tried to catch a few of the big crappies many lakes of northern Minnesota are known for. We worked with Rick Grabko from the Boy Lake area. Rick lives on the lake and runs a guiding operation on the lake. He rents a few fish houses so we fished out of one of those and stayed in Longville.



The house was sitting in one of the deep holes of the upper basin. We were in roughly 38 feet of water at the base of a ledge running up to 23 feet. Too deep for the Aqua Vu so I borrowed a Vexilar from a fishing buddy. We marked plenty of fish but just couldn't get them to bite. We only managed one crappie the first day and 4 more on day two. Earl had never been ice fishing before so it was good that he caught the majority of the five fish.


                                        Earl shows off the catch of the day.


                                                     Good size fish even if the numbers were down.

Everyone had an extra day before having to hop on planes etc. so we headed back to the cities and hooked up the wheel house to the truck. Off to tonka to bend a rod a few more times.
We parked the house on a weed edge that drops off into a deep hole. I have had luck here in the past and it didn't take long till the action got hot. The Aqua Vu showed fish everywhere. Ray took up a comfy spot on the couch while Earl landed fish after fish from a corner chair. Bill (my dad) and myself took turns catching fish out of another hole and laughing at the almost constant yelling of "Fish On!"


                                                Ray liked his spot on the couch.

They might not have been the biggest fish but we caught plenty (probably around 50) and brought home enough good ones to have a real nice fish fry with the girls back home. We also got one decent northern on a tip up on top of the weed flat.

 
                                        Earl lands a big one   


                                           Celebrating the catch

All in all it was a great three days on the ice. It was great to spend time with friends and to introduce the sport of ice fishing to a newcomer.
If you are interested in the trip we took and want more info about the places we went or the gear we used, feel free to drop me a line.

Sport

        

We picked up a new wheel house a week ago and I wasted little time getting Sarah and myself out in it. No major lunkers caught but probably 30 gills got pulled up in a couple hours of fishing. About half of those by Sarah.



Sarah had a blast and with the extra room she could watch a movie and wrestle with the dog when she got bored. I hope to get Andrea out this weekend.

Quick post since I am very behind. Hopefully I will get a few more out this weekend.

Thanks
Sport

        

Ice fishing is in full swing here in the Midwest and below is a list of all the fun events you should think about getting out to and catch a few fish for prizes. I am a bit behind with this list but there are plenty here for you to choose from.

This year I tried to organize the events by state. Let me know what you think. Feel free to send me any event I may have missed and I will add it to the list.

Minnesota

StrikeMaster Ice Augers World Ice Auger Drilling Championships
Time:8:00AM Saturday, January 9^th Location:Brainerd

Join us for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Brainerd Jaycees $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza!
January 23, 2010 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
On Gull Lake - Brainerd, Minnesota

01/30/10 The 35th Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby
Hosted By: Maple Lake Property Owners Association

01/30/10 The Original Ice fishing Contest (Part of the St Paul Winter Carnival)
White Bear Lake
http://www.icefishingevent.com

01/31/10 57th Annual United Northern Sportsmen's Ice Fishing Contest
Island Lake, Duluth, MN
http://www.unitednorthernsportsmen.org/Events.htm

02/6/10 12th Annual Park Rapids Legion Community Ice Fishing Derby,
Saturday, February 6, 2010. Start time 1 to 3:30pm
Over 110,000.00 in Prizes Grand Prize Raffle, 2010 Ford 4 wheel drive truck, Polaris ATVs Cash and much more.
http://www.parkrapidsfishingderby.com/

02/13/10 Hunters Point Resort Perch and Pout Hunt
Mille Lacs Lake Fishing hours 7am-2pm
2pm awards and door prizes (lots of them)
Contest entry and details at Hunters Point Resort 320-676-3227

02/13/10 10th Annual Alexandria, MN Ice Fishing Challenge
http://www.icefishingchallenge.org/index.html

02/19/10 - 2/21/10 31st Annual International Eelpout Festival
Leech Lake, Walker MN
http://www.eelpoutfestival.com/

02/20/10 Fountain Lake Sportsmens Club Ice Classic 2010
This years extravaganza will be held February 20th 2010 in conjunction with the City of Albert Lea Winter Carnival.

02/20/10 Ducks Unlimited Ice Fishing Tournament
Noon to 3 PM on Garrison Bay. $30 per hole per person. Max 2 holes per person. $40 per hole after Feb 15th. Top 75 fish weighed win prizes. Truck, 4 wheeler, Ice Castle fish house, Aqua views, etc. Location: Garrison - Mille Lacs Lake
http://www.fishingforducks.org/

02/20/10 Mille Lacs Perch Extravaganza
Feb 20th out of Hunters Point Resort
$$ for biggest perch & TONS OF DOOR PRIZES
http://www.johnsonsportside.com/

02/20/20 3rd Annual Lake Minnetonka Kids Ice Fishing Challenge
Anglers between the ages of seven and seventeen will converge on ice to compete in an ice fishing derby.
10AM-12PM on Carsons Bay of Lake Minnetonka.
http://fishtonka.blogspot.com/2009/11/kids-ice-fishing-challenge-on-lake.html

02/27/10 8th Annual Little Hole On Big Lake 
Lakeside Park in Big Lake, MN (12:00-3:00)
http://www.littleholeonbiglake.org/


03/14/10   VFW Ice Fishing Derby
Baudette, MN
2:00 P.M. VFW presents an Ice Fishing Derby on Baudette Bay
http://www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com/calendar.asp

　

Wisconsin

01/16/10 Big Elk/Musser Lake Association Ice Fishing Contest
Phillips (www.pricecountywi.net)
Ice fishing contest (9am-3pm) plus raffle and paddle wheel contests and hot food & beverages throughout the day in the heated/carpeted tent on Musser Lake. Cash prizes will be awarded for the largest fish Northern, Walleye, Crappie, Blue Gill, and Perch. Entry fee is $5.00. Trophies, cash prizes and raffle prizes will be awarded at 4pm. This event is being sponsored by the Musser Lake Association.

02/27/10 SYAA'S 6th ANNUAL 2010 BASS LAKE ICE FISHING CONTEST
Bass Lake, Somerset, WI. (12:00-3:00)
http://www.basslakecontest.com/

Pelican Lake Ice fishing Tournament (Not sure if this one is going this year)
http://www.wiicefishing.com/index.html

NAIFC12/19/09 Boom Lake, WI [Champ]
01/10/10 Richmond Lake, SD [Qual]
01/24/10 Lake Wissota, WI [Qual]
01/31/10 Hamlin Lake, MI [Qual]
02/07/10 Delavan Lake, WI [Qual]
02/21/10 Lake Thompson, WI [Qual]

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