New Contest – Share, Learn, And Win !!!

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There is a” kid ”in all of us that wants to fish more often, catch more fish, learn new fishing techniques, learn more fishing spots, and have more fun. Now that fall is here the daylight hours are getting shorter which means less fishing time after work/school before it gets dark. Everyday alot of us drive by a small stream, small river, a gravel pit, or a small lake. With limited daylight hours in the evenings, yet still needing that ”fishing fix’, ‘ it is time to take a closer look at those near by waters we pass up most of the time. Everyone has a certain place that they have done some fishing on whether by boat or shore that they could share about. What kind of place [river, stream, pit, lake] do you fish when you only have a short time to wet a line? What techniques do you use on that body of water? What are some of the characteristics of that body of water? What type/kind of equipement works best for you when fishing there? There are alot of different kinds of bodies of water around Rochester and also around where you may live so we all can share about our own bodies of water. Names or spots aren’t important if you don’t want to give ”your spot” away. Just descrbing that kind of spot and how it is fished will do fine. Sharing the different opportunies we have will help to open up new places and ways to fish and help us to all better enjoy our favorite passtime of fishing. Thanks in advance for sharing and helping each of us to be able to enjoy fishing some close by waters during limited hours to fish. Thanks, Bill

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To enter the contest all you have to do is make a post/reply telling something about the above. In other words, just share about a way or place you know of where you have or can fish and how you would fish that spot. You don’t have to name [exact location] the spot. I am more interested in people learning that there are places close by to fish when we only have a limited amount of time or money and yet want to fish and how to fish that kind of spot. You can enter as often as you want. Each post/reply counts as one entry and each week the user names will be put into a hat and a name drawn. The winner will win a package of 25 B-Fish-N Ring Worms of your color choice. If you want to check out what the different colors are you can see them at Hooked On Fishing in Rochester or visit the B-Fish-N Tackle website. These contests will run for 6 weeks, which means 6 different contest, about the same topics. You must enter each week as the post/replies from the following week won’t count for the next week. Contest starts right now on Oct. 21st. and each weeks contest ends at 9:00 that Sunday night of that week. A winner will be drawn and a new contest begins at 12:01 Monday am. Staff members of in-depthangling are encouraged to share/post/reply but can not be put into the drawing for prizes. All entries/post/sharing/replies must be posted on this forum and thread. Any question? Let the fun, learning, contest begin! Thanks, Bill

Ok Bill I’ll start you off…
And I don’t want any worms I have tons….

But if I’m not into launching the boat and want to fish..

There are a few places right here in Wabasha where you can catch wallyeye, bass small and large mouth and just about everything else….

I just grab a spinning reel and my box of 1/8 oz bucktails..
walk down the rip rap and start casting..

A few of the spots are the upper Marina point, under the High bridge, the tressle between the harbors, and Grant Blvd culvert and the city dock on the main channel….

I have caught some nice fish at all these places from shore.

Fall of the year is a good bet on the main channel stuff..
the marina stuff is more during the high water spring stuff.

But they are all worth a try it only take one cast to bring home dinner…and you will never know unless you make that cast.
Good luck and let the big ones go.

Ok Bill I’ll start you off…
And I don’t want any worms I have tons…. [end of qoute]

Ah, sounds like someone knows how good ring worms can be if he has tons.
Another place is along small rivers where you see a curve in the river. That curve means faster current on one side and slower current on the other side. The curve side will have the faster current and maybe even a hole washed out in the bottom too. Cast a hook with splitshot and worm or ring worm out into the current and let the current wash it down the river in a normal manner so the fish, who are facing up current can see the food/bait coming down their way and pow-fish on! Thanks, Bill

The best way for me to get some short time wetting a line in is to take my 7yr old son with me to a small local lake and just fish from shore. We keep a couple of combos rigged up with a small jig, and a hook and bobber and just go. It’s easy to grab everything you need, and if the fish aren’t biting, it pretty easy to tell him that it’s time to go before it gets too dark.
Take a kid fishing.
Steve

this is a good idea, bill hopefully this will encourage a few more rochestarians to share up .

well, here’s one of my secret spots…..the zumbro river below the 37th st bridge, close to Hy-Vee North. there’s a good strech of deeper water and riprap above and below the bridge aways. cast a small craw colored crank right up tight to the bank. you can usually catch a fair number of smallmouth and all the small whitebass you can handle doing this. there is also a large log jam right under the bridge that holds a lot of fish. dangle a small hair jig in between the logs and you can pull out some bass and pannies .

give er a try sometime, you might be suprised at the size of some of the fish you can pull out of that sterch.

Bill;
Love the idea. It is a great way of sharing your thoughts on your little honey hole.

Mine:
I grew up in the southern part of the metro area on a farm. Went to school 7 miles away in a small town. Graduating class of 33. Behind our Bus Garage from the school was two old gravel pits. Approximately 2 to 4 arces each. The one pit is full of crappies, sunnies, and pike. As a very young teenager, all we had to do was grab our poles, a small twister tail or the old faithful red/white daredevel. We would hit the crappies with the little twister tails, casting by submerged brush. We would catch 10 fish in about 5 minutes. Then it would die off and that was the time to start catching pike. At a tender age of 14, I caught a 8lb pike, all by myself, when my dad dropped me off for a few hours while he did some business at the local grain elevator. You should of seen his eyes when he came back to pick me up! That little pond and my dad taught me how to fish. I would get home from school, wait for him to get home from work or from the field and we would go for about 2 hours. The end result would be a dozen or so crappies and sunnies, and generally a 2 or 3 pound pike for a bonus. It was all simple, easy bobber fishing (yes bobbers at that time, no such thing as floats unless you had an inner tube). Mono line; didn’t need that fancy superline or invisible stuff. plain jig with a simple mister twister tail and lots of fun and laughs.

To this day, I sneak out and go down there about 2 or 3 times a year. Most of the time, I just go by myself just to reflect back on the memories. Walk down by the shoreline, cast a minnow and a “bobber” and wait for a nice crappie to hit. Easy, simple, no fuss fishing that is secluded from all the rat-racing of everyday life……..

And if anyone here knows where I might be talking about, send me a PM and I would like to go back with you and share your memories of the “pit”, by the “bus garage”.

Thanks!
Gary

Here is a spot I found a few years ago on my way up to Aitkin.
The snake river.
Left towm early on a saturday morning heading up HWy 65. Was in no hurry so I grabbed the poles. A few crawlers, couple of lures and a good map. Started fishing around Mora. Stopping where ever I could find on the map a road that would cross the snake river. Caught a few suckers, northerns, and some dandy small mouth. A couple of real nice 16″ smallies on a dead end road up near Mcgrath. Fished about 10 different spots. The map did wonders for finding new spots to shore fish. Pitching out jigs and crawlers. A few small spoons and twister tails. They where all good. Would spend about a half hour at each spot.
No need for sitting around the house wishing you where in the boat. You will also be suprised by some of the fishing holes a person could find by checking out a river by car.
Next Week: Aitkin county back road northerns

Since We’re naming our secret spots, I will too. The favorite local lake is Pine Lake in St Croix County, WI. Lots of panfish, pike, and good sized LM. It’s a small lake with tons of structure. Nice bays, slop, and clear water.
Thanks!
Steve

One of my favorite little shore spots like this is the mississippi at the coon rapids dam, starting from now till the season closes you can sneak out there get some decent ‘eyes… and you never know what else… Ive caught musky, pike, smallies, cats, crappies, and the ever present rough fish of course… the current patterns mean everything for this spot and there are 4 distinct places to fish from shore.. theres the spillway on the coon rapids side, theres the dam on the coon rapids side and theres the point of the penisula on the coon rapids side…. then of course theres the dam on the champlin side…. Ive had the best luck with just a sinker and a minnow, particularly after dark but sometimes during the day as well…. you can nail a gob of smaller fish here usually around 14-15″ with a scattering of larger fish… its very rare to hit anything larger than 24″ in this area.. though it does happen

Mike W. is the winner of the 1st. week of 6 contest. Mike, please send me a pm with your address if you don’t live in the Rochester area and let me know what color you want for your ringworms.

A new contest starts today and all new post ”after” this post will count for the next contest [this weeks contest]. Post away ! Thanks, Bill

Thank you Bill and B fish N tackle. Love those ring worms. Wouldn’t leave shore with out them. I will have to look into my collection of colors and see what is getting low.
I’ll shoot you a PM tonight.

It seams that many people become pretty hard headed when they believe in something. I mean when they think that their approach to something is the best way and anyone who uses a different mean to achieve the end is a lesser person or in the case of fly fishing, a lesser angler. I didn’t really realize this until I attended a trout unlimited meeting in Northern WI and even though the organization is not a fly fishing only club, the fly fishermen were really slamming the worm drownders and spin fishermen.
I guess that I probabally shared in that attitude, at least to that day. On that day even I got fed up with the discussion and when asked what I would use in a particular situation I answered a size 4 woolybugger tipped with a big chunk of night crawler. Needless to say, I never was able to break into that group. I didn’t want to anyway.
The point is that when time is limited, conditions are not just right, attitude isn’t properly adjusted or I am just in the mood for some back to the basics, I grab my spinning rod, box of hooks and sinkers, folding chair, book and can of worms and head for the local pond. It is stocked with trout and the chances of catching a couple on any given evening are good. If the pond is too far, I have a nice spot where I can do the same thing for carp and sheepies.
Everyone needs to find a means of unwinding and letting go of stress. For a lot of people that just doesn’t happen in the bassboat using thousands of dollars of equipment. One just needs to get back to the basics, remember where he or she came from, reflect on life and then hopefully realize that he/she probabally doesn’t have it so bad right now.
Sit on the bank of your favorite hole and recharge. Just like a battery.

I used to fish a pool created by a drainage culvert below the Silver Lake dam. A couple split shot sinkers, a few #2 hooks, a dozen crawlers and I was set for the afternoon. It was always a mystery what I might pull out of that pool, smallmouth, sunnies, carp, largemouth, but most of the time suckers. One time I caught a smallmouth (I guess it was about 14 inches) and was so excited I wrapped him in some old newspaper I found, dunked it in the water and burned rubber on my 10 speed to get it home still alive. I ran up the stairs and turned on the water in the bathtub and dumped him in (Mom was pleased) . I kept that fish in an aquarium for about 6 months before I returned him to the lake.

Well said Woolybugger. Too many of us get so caught up in the high tech stuff, including me, that we forget the real joy of just wetting a line. Thats why I also enjoy panfishing as its back to basics and plain fun. We need to remember to ”enjoy” fishing instead of just doing it to catch the biggest, the best, etc. Thanks, Bill

Lake Riley in Eden Prairie is awesome for fall crappies. Fish the primary point of the North side in 18′-22′. Crappies tend to be stacked in there.

Just me and my 4 year old son. We have the lake to ourselves. Funny how keeping the presentation(bobber, minnow) simple seems to work the best.

He understand C&R and the benefits of the outdoors(visual, touch, smell, etc.). Kids don’t get that in front of the television.

alrighty then, secrect spot #2,

a lot of people don’t even no it exsits, but the dam in oronoco that holds back lake shady can be a pretty good spot . any where from the dam down stream aways has a lot of good water. anything that roams lake zumbro can be up there, but smallmouth are the main attraction for me. although i have hooked into a few decent norhterns and even a little musky up there.

the pool directly under the dam is VERY SNAGGY so if your throwin lures, don’t get too attached. but i have found the pools down river aways too be better producers anyway. just like anywhere else, live bait can be deadly, but please make sure to C&R ALL smallmouth bass. i now it’s not against the law to keep em, but for the sake of the fishery, THROW EM BACK.

HOT HOT HOT spring, early summer high water spots are any shorelines near eddies/slackwater where there is a finger or rock pile on a shoreline. Even a 2′ depth change is HUGE. The fish will sit in the slack water created by this depth change and are looking for bait flowing over the top. Run a crank over the top and hold on.

This time of year w/ the water so low is a great opportunity to check out the shorelines and see the actual structure that you caught fish on. This summer I have found 4-5 new spots that are dry now and look to be dynomite once the water come up. Cant wait for next year!

I just take my grandson, his snoopy combo and go down river from Bagley Wi. He says pull in this cut and we start jigging motor oil twister tails. We get sauger ,eyes, and the beloved sheapshead. Here is the lad in action,he could ues some motor oil ring worms.

Looks like a happy youngster.
A spot that I spent alot of my teenage years fishing was the back roads of Aitkin county. Driving down the dirt roads you could find all kinds of spots where the rivers would come in contact with the road. The rice river was the nearest on to the house and was full of northerns. Pitching cheap spoons for northerns was great. It was also amazing how many northerns a river like the rice would hold. As far as what type of structure we fish we didnt target any. When you are talking about a river that is less than 50′ wide you just fish it all.
The Rice was also pretty good for getting some suckers to smoke and you could also find a walleye or two in it.
Some of the other rivers we fished in Aitkin where the Mississippi, Willow, Ripple and Snake. Most of these rivers you would never think about putting a boat into but that does not mean they are not full of fish. Who needs a boat when you have a car and a good map. Good luck fishing.

Next week: St louis river cat fishing.

Hey Bill, thanks for this story site. Mine is a creek on the edge of town that in the spring the smallmouths run up it too the holes. They stay there all summer until cold weather then leave for the river again about 3 miles away. Every rain brings up the water and more smallmouths to these holes. Theres one stretch in perticular that has a huge boulder laying just off a limestone bank that i check out first befor going anywhere else on the creek. There is a sand bottom on one side of this boulder and limestone on the other and its about 4 to 5 ft. deep depending on the water level in the creek. One day while my boy and i were fishing for smallmouth i got one 19 3/4″, i landed him and my boy got one 10 minutes later that was 18″. I just landed my fish and my friend jerry came walking up the bank looking for me after he was at the house and my wife told him i was at the creek. He got there in time to see my boy catch his. Its these little out of the way places where memories are made and i can still feel that smallie pulling on my rod like the day i caught him.

This weeks winner is Jake. Please send me a pm with your address and color of ringworms you would like. At 12:01 the new contest will begin. Post away after midninght Sun. night to enter contest #3 of the 6 contest. Thanks, Bill

who me

how excelent…..one can never have too many ringworms

Looks like no winners this week as nobody posted. Come on guys, you sure missed an easy win for this past week. New contest for week # 4 starts at 12:01 tonight. Lets see some Winners!. Thanks, Bill

i guess no one wants any free ring worms, everyone must already be all stocked up

Today is Sat. and nobody has posted yet. I know you guys are trying to save me some money BUT seriously guys I don’t mind buying ringworms and sending them to you. Its all in the fun of sharing and learning on this forum. Drawing is Sunday night so post away! Thanks, Bill

New contest for week 4 has started. Post away and win! Thanks, Bill

Hey guys, I’m from Austin so there is not much to fish here. But when I do need a quick fix I head down to the Ceder River. There are dozens of places to go on the river, in town below the dam is a great spot if your in a hurry. All I do is cast a #7 jointed rapala up into the dam and reel back. Most of the time all you will get is snake northerns, once in a while you will get a nice one 30″ plus. Their is also smallmouth bass but in the last couple of years. It seems they are not around as much anymore. If I have more time I get sucker minnows and use them with a bobber. They work alot better than artifical lures around here :

MED

My secret shore fishing spot is on Green Lake, Kandiyohi County. There is a bridge on the East side of the lake that I have fished for many years. Water flows out of the lake here. If you can fight off the mosquitos, you can catch walleye there all year long. After dark I cast a silver rapala into the current and retrieve it back nice and slow. This also produces some bonus northerns and bass. I also have caught a lot of walleyes here on just a bobber and leech combo. The early morning hours are also very productive. Last spring I fished a walleye tournament on the lake and the biggest fish I saw the whole weekend was on a guys stringer at that bridge.

All day long this area produces nice bass, bluegills, and northerns. I rig a nightcrawler on a bare hook with a small split shot just above the hook. I let this drift under the bridge and there is always a tug at the other end. The big bluegills are hard to find, but there is one spot that always produces. Cast a bobber with a small leech as far as you can into the current. As it drifts towards you, there is a small rock pile where the slabs hang out.

Last July I caught a 13 inch crappie under the bridge with a crawfish jig. I think it was a fluke, but they are out there.

Try this spot if you are in the Spicer area. The kids will have a blast pulling in bluegill after bluegill. The lake has also turned into a fantastice bass lake.

Bigfife is this weeks winner. Please send me a pm [private e-mail] with your name ,address and color of ringworms you would like. Thanks, Bill

Cointest week #5 starts at 12:01 Monday am. Post away and win. Thanks, Bill