Bringing My 3 Boys Out on Pool 4

But….I am sure to get some people pretty upset here, I will teach them how to figure out where the fish are, why they are there, and how we can get them to bite. Growing up on Pool 4, a lot of us vested COUNTLESS hours figuring out the true methodology of fishing – by going out and LEARNING. It seems more and more people just want OTHERS to tell them how and where to catch the fish, without LEARNING the true meaning of fishing – spending the time. Call me biased, but I do not get the thought process of telling everyone and anyone exactly what to do to catch a fish. Just gets me frustrated! There……..I vented!!!

Jimmy,
Can you send me your GPS coordinates when you’re done ? Or can I ride along ?
Seriously, I applaud you for teaching them how to find fish, etc. The internet is a great thing, but sometimes you have to learn things for yourself. That to me is the challenge of fishing.
WKW

I agree with the original poster. I think forums like this are valuable tools but people underestimate how much information is gleaned from these sites and how much it actually negatively affects their own fishing experiences.

For instance, I believe last year someone posted on here how a certain lake (Powderhorn park in Minneapolis) was known to have a plethora of Bullheads. Over the course of the next few weeks, local residents reported talking to at least 50 different people that all had heard about this spot from IDO. They’re bullheads, so who really cares, but this same thing happens all over the place. And furthermore, powderhorn is infested with milfoil and other AIS, so you guys were all breaking the law..

And I do want to make it clear that there is a LOT of useful information on the internet that can benefit and improve the learning curve, but telling spot on spots, details, depths, colors, etc. just drives me crazy! There, vented 2 times in 1 day! I am really going to be ready to go fishing!! And Wayne, of course you can have my GPS coordinates…….if you can find me first!!!!

I only know one spot, Jimmy. All that other info goes right over my head. I will probably hear you before I see you. LOL

WKW

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But….I am sure to get some people pretty upset here, I will teach them how to figure out where the fish are, why they are there, and how we can get them to bite. Growing up on Pool 4, a lot of us vested COUNTLESS hours figuring out the true methodology of fishing – by going out and LEARNING. It seems more and more people just want OTHERS to tell them how and where to catch the fish, without LEARNING the true meaning of fishing – spending the time. Call me biased, but I do not get the thought process of telling everyone and anyone exactly what to do to catch a fish. Just gets me frustrated! There……..I vented!!!

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My turn, my turn!

In my experience nothing has dished more good info and spoiled more spots than fishing tournaments. I live here too and have fished pool 4 for decades and the constant parade of fishing tournaments with the flashy boats and info shared at weighins has put out more quality info in less time than any website forum ever could. What’s the #1 question asked at a weighin? Where was the winner fishing? And if the info isn’t openly shared all you have to do is fish the day of the tournament and keep track of who is where and you can get the low down on the locations fished and techniques used by all the guys that win/place/show. And that’s if the winners don’t spout it at the podiums or actually print the name of the exact location in a follow up article the next week.

If you wanted to force people to learn a body of water themselves tournaments would be the first thing that would need to go. Particularly the local events fished by the guys that really know the river. For some reason they’ll keep their traps shut all year long but come time to fish in some low entry fee event they’ll park their boat on top of their favorite spot for all to see and haul in 40Lb bags. Then wonder how anyone figured out their spot.

Now that’s me venting. Of course since it is public water nothing is going to change unless the health of the fishery is in jeopardy and I’ve never caught more big fish than I have this spring. BIG thanks go out to Skarlis and all the tournament guys that have gone before him!!!!

So many perspectives can be drawn from your frustration.

I started fishing the mighty Miss in mid 90’s. Coming from LOTW’s it took ~10 yrs to feel somewhat comfortable understanding how walleyes related to the ever changing river. I enjoyed the steep learning curve. Spring and Fall were kind of easy most years. One dog day in August my fishing partner and I hired FTR’s very own James Holst who shortened the learning curve on wing dams.

I rarely post fishing reports mostly because I work on computers so much for work I avoid them after work. Except for nights like tonight when I can use some education and perspective balancing….

Sometimes I’m blown away by how much nerve peeps have to ask (beg) for EVERY detail. To me that really lessens the most fun part of chasing ol’ white fin. Finding them and getting them on the hook.

It’s kinda like hunting. If you don’t enjoy the pursuit isn’t it simply KILLING? I don’t know, the older I get the simpler this stuff seems but as I observe what the next couple generations embrace I’m lost…

Good topic – hope it generates some good adult conversation versus flame ridden drivel.

Kurt

I couldn’t disagree more, I am fortunate to have a job that allows me the time and financial resourses to spend lots of time on the water. I would rather have 5 boats full of families catching 10 fish each than me out all by myself catching 50. The future of our sport is about recruitment and recruitment is about catching fish. For anyone going to Leech lake, I fished Leech this weekend for three days. Caught fish on Battle with south wind, North of Goose Island and on Duck point with the North, NW wind. Both areas 5-10 FOW rip jigging shiners on 1/4 ounce green jigs. Drifting .7- 1.0mph There are plenty of fish for all, have a great time I hope you fill the boat and enjoy your day on the water!!

I usually stay away from most of these conversations mainly because I don’t have the time to participate. Guess I got time and I think it’s a fun topic to see who’s on what side. Sorry, but I’m just in the middle. I can’t say that I’m real thrilled about my home waters being exploited on a current bite, area and pattern by someone that lets everyone else in on it. However, the ones that are searching for every last detail to catch them can’t catch them very well even if they’re right on top of them anyways.
Thanks to my dad who’s no longer with me I know how to fish but due to a busy job and young kids I don’t get the fishing time that I want or really need to be as successful as I want to be. If I’m lucky I’ll get a full day on the water once in a while but most of the time I get a 1/2 day once or twice a month. Last week I took the kids out so I could fish and the wife could get a break. It took the first few hours to figure out the bite and once I got going the kids had enough and it was time to go in. I love to figure out the fish patterns and I’m good at it but I don’t have time to do it. This site helps me be successful with my limited fishing time and I’ve learned a couple of new techniques by following also. I recently started posting and I’m not going to pinpoint anything specific but if I can give a little back with a recently successful pattern I think that’s exactly what this site is about.

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I couldn’t disagree more, I am fortunate to have a job that allows me the time and financial resourses to spend lots of time on the water. I would rather have 5 boats full of families catching 10 fish each than me out all by myself catching 50. The future of our sport is about recruitment and recruitment is about catching fish. For anyone going to Leech lake, I fished Leech this weekend for three days. Caught fish on Battle with south wind, North of Goose Island and on Duck point with the North, NW wind. Both areas 5-10 FOW rip jigging shiners on 1/4 ounce green jigs. Drifting .7- 1.0mph There are plenty of fish for all, have a great time I hope you fill the boat and enjoy your day on the water!!

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I really appreciate people like you. Im still in high school and i play a lot of sports and participate in a lot of activities, which means i rarely get out to fish much. When i go fishing i would like to atleast know a little bit about the body of water and a spot or two that has actually held fish in the past few years. I will admit to asking quite a few people for a little help, but i never ask for their secret spot, or their honey hole for that matter, i understand that it may have taken them years to find so the last thing they want to do is give it away. If you can go to that specifc spot once a week and catch 15 fish each time, good for you, but there are a helluva lot more fish than you think so telling a couple people wont ruin one of yours spots. All i am trying to say is maybe help out the people that rarely have the money or time to get out and fish. All i want to do is get out once in a blue moon and be able to reel in a couple fish with my buds. Most of us “beggars” dont complain and appreciate anything anyone ever tells us, all we can do is hope it is accurate

Interesting post Jim. I myself moved up here from Eastern Iowa and new absolutely nothing about Walleye fishing and no river knowledege. Talk about having your butt handed to you trying to learn something about both things. My dad found this wonderful web site IDO. I joined and started reading. I also had the privilege of meeting Dean Marshall and became great friends with him. I also got to work at a very popular Resort here on pool 4 and meet some awesome people! I listened and had many conversations with many of these great sticks and got out in the boat with a few. I am forever appreciative of those who took the time to talk to me, take me out in a boat and explain to me what I needed to look for and do to try and get some walleyes in the boat. I can say I have been able to spend time on the river and learn as much as I could from what I have been told and read about fishing on the river. IT IS NOT EASY! I love to fish and living in Red Wing and spending time on pool 4 is awesome and I have caught some awesome fish! There is definately no substitute for time spent on the water. I have fished a few tournaments and have learned a lot. I also fished the FLW and got to fish with a couple of pros and they were great and totally awesome at answering question about how and why we were doing what we were doing. I also know many locals that know this river quite well and have had their a$$es handed to them in tournaments. So experiance isn’t always a gimme! But time spent with any of my family members on the water fishing is priceless! Good luck to you and your experiance with fishing with your boys! I am sure they will enjoy it!

You better wear a hockey helmet when you get those 3 indians chucking crank baits Jimmy! Good luck to ya and congrats for some time on the water with your kids. Or maybe you don’t throw cranks on that place???

Thats your choice.. i prefer to ask questions and help people if possible

I don’t mind giving a vague fishing report, spot on the spot info though that only gets shared with good friends

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I don’t mind giving a vague fishing report, spot on the spot info though that only gets shared with good friends

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Now I know how I rate.

I, for one, sure appreciate the tips and general advice I’ve received. Like some of the others, I am a rookie to river fishing. So thanks to you guys who have been kind enough to give some tips. It’s not like it guarantees anything, but at least it’s a start.

Ahh, I recall about 5-6 years ago we had a gtg on Winni. Our group fished for panfish in an area and did very well and posted a fishing report in the report section of Ido.

We were releasing crappies 15 inches and our group didn’t come close to our one day limit, but we had a lot of fish no doubt.

I received a phone call a few days later from a local up there chewing out my butt for ruining his fishery. “I’ve fished that area for 15 years and have always been by myself” he said. “What you did (post the report with pictures) will wipe out the panfish population just like the walleye population was wiped out on Red Lake” he continued. Further, he said “My words, in two years you’ll be hard pressed to find panfish on Winni”.

I listen to his concerns then asked him if we were talking about the same lake. It seemed that he was happy to take fish out of his lake for the last 15 years, but didn’t want anyone else to have his fish. I wish I would have kept his number to see if he’s crowded out or if the lake is dead now.

One of the more humorous parts about my fishing report was a thread on another web site called my report a lie. They claimed it was really a report from LOTW’s.

There’s people that share and there’s people that take. Then there’s the people that “pay it forward”.

Hopefully the people that only take will figure it out someday.

I am really glad I did post on this matter, and as some already know me, I respect everyone’s opinion. I also like this site. Always have, always will and the post was at no means directed towards this site. It has to do with what I call the “real world factor” with my boys. I believe that failure is as important as success, and although much more diffcult to explain away, have taught my kids that if we don’t catch a fish every 5 minutes,etc., that is OK and part of life. We lead by example and if we set our kids expectations so high, then if they don’t succeed, they lose focus on what really matters. PS Joe: It will be a LONG TIME before I even “think” of getting those boys throwing cranks! I can’t even imagine the fiasco in the boat!! My wife always kids me as I put out 4 boards and 4 leads when we are out and she says that I am crazy. I keep telling her I am only crazy when we start letting those boys chuck cranks!!

In my opinion, I think todays electronics and mapping have maybe clouded the perception a bit too. There are spots on Prior lake that friends and I took years to find and rarely saw people fishing them, once mapping and GPS came out, I saw things change very rapidly. Now you can sit on a bucket and right at prime time a 4 wheeler pulling a King Crow will roll up and a guy will get off with a handheld GPS walk around and punch a bunch of holes up and down a break in minutes. Spots that once had mine and 3 other perms on it for years now have 50-60. Technology and peoples ability to obtain it have changed things. I do agree though, that in some cases you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. My 2 cents.

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I believe that failure is as important as success, and although much more diffcult to explain away, have taught my kids that if we don’t catch a fish every 5 minutes,etc., that is OK and part of life.

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I’m thinking your boys are in very very good hands.

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But….I am sure to get some people pretty upset here, I will teach them how to figure out where the fish are, why they are there, and how we can get them to bite. Growing up on Pool 4, a lot of us vested COUNTLESS hours figuring out the true methodology of fishing – by going out and LEARNING. It seems more and more people just want OTHERS to tell them how and where to catch the fish, without LEARNING the true meaning of fishing – spending the time. Call me biased, but I do not get the thought process of telling everyone and anyone exactly what to do to catch a fish. Just gets me frustrated! There……..I vented!!!

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Trying to catch fish from info you read online will give you a bad case of “Shoulda been here yesterday”.
Once you have a feel for the river, alot of helpful info can come from the internet to help you make decisions. Water temp, clarity, flow, shiners, bugs, spawn ect ect..
Teaching kids what to look for when out there will help them in the long run.
First thing I taught my kid is, the only time its ok to lie is when someone asks you “where’d you catch them”

I’m not a big fan of giving out exact spot info. Andi think alot depends on the body of water talked about. But if I’m on Vermilion I don’t think any harm is given by telling people that I caught fish in 25 feet on a lindy and rainbow. Just a bit of general info that gives a nice starting point. I find it rather interesting myself seeing reportsand seeing at what stage the fish are in I.e. walleyes now being caught on the reefs vs shoreline breaks. I enjoy the hunt, but I would lie if I said I didn’t seek out info that will aid me in any fishing excursion. But again……i do agree with the exact spot thing, especially when it comes to the river.

This is an interesting subject and I think it is a good sign that the opinions vary. I think the internet is a great starting place but for the folks that think they are going to figure out fish and their patterns sitting at a computer I am afraid they are in for a rude awakening. When I first started out on Pool 4 I used the internet to get some basic knowledge and a place to start. From there my boy and I worked and expanded on what we knew and explored Pool 4 from one end to the other. We found some places in our adventures that gave up absolute hogs and we thought we had some secret honey holes. Come to find out we had discovered Katrinas, Pig Point and a few other well known spots but we found them on our own. To this day I have someone talk to me about the river and they will mention the name of a spot and I have no idea where they are talking about. They tell me where it is and I have fished it and have a name for it but not what they call it. One reason I enjoy tourney fishing is that no one gives you anything. You read the conditions and give it your best guess and on the rare days the pieces all fall together it is a heck of a good feeling. Finding fish and catching them is just so much more rewarding than being pointed to fish and pulling them in. Good luck fishing with your boys Jim—that is truly one of the joys in life!

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In my opinion, I think todays electronics and mapping have maybe clouded the perception a bit too. There are spots on Prior lake that friends and I took years to find and rarely saw people fishing them, once mapping and GPS came out, I saw things change very rapidly. Now you can sit on a bucket and right at prime time a 4 wheeler pulling a King Crow will roll up and a guy will get off with a handheld GPS walk around and punch a bunch of holes up and down a break in minutes. Spots that once had mine and 3 other perms on it for years now have 50-60. Technology and peoples ability to obtain it have changed things. I do agree though, that in some cases you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. My 2 cents.

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I know exactly what you mean. I’m still young and appreciate all the presentation information I can get but I like finding my own spots. I love rolling over spots accidentally and Prior is a great example of how technology has changed things.

I agree with many posts in this thread. Giving exact spot on spot info is not a good thing and the guys that ask for it should be ashamed.

That said, Pool 4, Mille Lacs, Winnie, etc. Those are big waters and can take some pressure. They are also extremely easy to catch fish on during the right times of year.

Giving out a little info is fine IMO. However, finding fish, making them bite on your own is much more fun and a great thing to teach your kids. I always say there are guys that fish, and there are fisherman. The fisherman find em catch em, and make the bite. The guys that fish are always following reports, chasing stories and shaking guys down for as exact info as they can get.

I also agree with someone that said you can take a horse to water but can’t make him drink. The good sticks are gonna catch fish regardless on these walleye factories. On the other hand, I have seen times where a bite is on fire and you can give someone exact info and they still can’t put it together.

Now giving out info on small lakes or even naming them is foolish. However places like the river? Doesn’t hurt a thing IMO, there are so many fish and so many spots, it will pretty much always be good fishing.

I pretty much agree on too much information about spots, colors, speed, presentation et al. But I want to say that i have been fishing for about 60 years and the first 40 or so I just did the same thing whenever or wherever I fished. IDO has taught me so much about fishing I can’t even begin to thank all of the posters. I don’t need to know the “sopts” or any of the other stuff because everything changes every day. What I do appreciate is talk about techniques. That has broadened my fishing experience greatly and I thank you all.

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I don’t mind giving a vague fishing report, spot on the spot info though that only gets shared with good friends

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So what he is saying is that nobody really talks to him about fishing anyways!

I think you nailed it pig hunter…..