I am a huge advocate for red hooks! I have seen it too many times where the vast majority of the bass I will catch the red hook will be in the mouth (on crankbaits and jerkbaits, baits where there is only one hook the fish don’t have much of a choice which one is in the mouth).

I have seen on my Slender Pointers (they have three sets of trebles), I can put a red hook on the front and that is where most of the bass will be hooked, I then moved the red one to the end of the bait, and I began catching most of my fish on the last hook. Finally, I put the red hook in the middle and believe it or not, I started catching most of my fish on that middle hook.

I think there is more science to red hooks than most people believe. There are people who think it is just a marketing ploy, others have tried it and caught fish on red hooks but don’t really think it makes that big of a difference while others, myself included, think there is more to this red hook trend and truely believe it helps them catch more fish.

I’m not sure I believe the argument about red being the first wavelength to be absorbed by the water, so in deep water it doesn’t matter what color your hooks are. I hear red is the first wavelength of light to be absrobed by water to OUR eyes, but not necessarily to the fish’s eyes. I have not seen any literature about what colors bass see best, but I have seen literature about what colors walleyes see best. Walleyes eyes are very sensitive to red and orange light and I have had very good success catching walleyes on red hooks also.

Until there is some research and someone publishes their research either on what colors bass see, or on the effectiveness of red hooks specifically I guess we, as anglers, can only speculate. Just keep fishing what you are most confident in.

I think that the bass here in the North have such a small window of opportunity to spawn, that they cannot afford to wait until water temps are ideal. Instead, they spawn when moon phase and especially light conditions are ideal and they spawn no matter what the water temp is.

If the bass waited until water temps were ideal, it would most likely be too late in the year and the fry would not have enough time to grow large enough to make it through that first winter. It just gets me wondering, which has lower recruitment (survival of fry for the first year): spawing early in the year when water temps are cold but fry that do hatch have more time to grow for that first winter, or waiting until water temps are warmer when more fry hatch but they do not have much time to grow. My guess is the former, spawn early so more fry that hatch survive.

Hey Stillakid,

How are you rigging those cranks? Bottom bouncer, three-way rig, something else?

I have been getting quite a few walleyes out of Gull fishing a jig tipped with a shiner. 22 to 29 feet has been the best for me. I have not tried fishing after dark, however.

Good luck.

A female that moves onto a bed to spawn will not be there long. However, females will move into the shallow spawning areas and be found cruising around the beds for quite a while before spawing and stay in the general area for a while after spawing (up to days before and after actually spawning).

If the spawning area has suitable summer habitat, they may stay in those areas all summer.

Another thing to consider is that not all females will move up and spawn all at the same time. Here in the North, the spawning cycle does not last long so more fish move up at one time than they do in the South where spawing can last for over a month.

My guess is that those bigger fish are still in the area. It could be that the males, who are more aggressive on beds than the females, were simply getting to your bait before the females would. It’s hard to say unless you are able to see the fish on the beds.

Now you know the oil to gas ratio, now check your owners manual and see what the company recommends.

I don’t know about Merc, but I used to own a ‘Rude that was 100:1 meaning your Merc would be using two times the oil my old 50 horse used.

Either way Jack, I understand where you are coming from. The point I was trying to communicate was that I think you were failing to look towards the future. 60,000 fish may seem like a lot right now, but if you look at that over ten years, it really is not that many. It would definately be another matter if the DNR was sampling these fish every year.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. One thing that I am pretty sure of is that the walleye fishing on Leech does have a bright future.

Good luck this year everyone!

Another thing, (don’t hold this against me) I, too, am a bass fisherman.

Fry and fingerling sized fish rarely show up in lake assessments due to the fact that the gear used to sample the fish (usually trap and gill nets)does not sample such small fish very well. Because of this, managers typically exclude these small fish from their assessments so they do not skew their calculations. They do have other means to measure the amount of young-of-year in a fishery, but it does not sound like that was the type of sample they took from your statement.

As for the cormorants, while there is no doubt they do eat some walleye fingerlings, I would bet they are a fairly small part of their diet. I don’t really understand your statement about how, according to my statement, it would stand to reason most of that pound a day would be walleye. When I first stated that fish this size represent the largest population density and would not even be at a harvestable size for at least another three years, I meant the largest poplulation density of the walleye population, not the entire biomass of the fishery. There are countless numbers more baitfish and young-of-year fingerlings of other game fish species that will far outnumber the fry or fingerlings of just the walleye. I would bet that the cormorants are eating much more other fish, such as small ciscoes/whitefish, perch, shiners and other minnows, and panfish that the numbers of walleyes eaten even with the 60,000 sampled is still a minuscule amount of fish.

A separate question that goes along with my opinion that the general public (to a point) should stay out of fisheries management (the public is an important source for tools such as creel surveys). While I don’t personally know the mayor of Walker, what a mayor of a small town know about stocking? It is much more complicated than just “dumping” a bunch of fish in the water and doing so would screw up the managers models.

I agree 100% about not going into politics that affects the DNR. Like you said, way too much going on to want to write or read about.

All of those lakes you mentioned have many other issues going on (a lot of it politics that we agreed not to get into) that affected the walleye fishing. Although, I don’t see a problem with the walleye fishing on any of those lakes currently. Red is probably the best walleye lake in the state right now (anyone who has been up there for crappies is well aware of that), Winnie is still an excellent walleye lake, Leech may have a problem but that is what they (managers) are trying to figure out, Tonka walleyes are very abundant but you may have to look in different areas, and Mille Lacs is still a excellent lake you just may not be able to keep everything you catch.
Most of the time lack of fishing success can be blamed on increased fishing pressure/harvest and/or habitat changes within the fishery that causes the walleyes to move from “typical” structure.

One of the reasons the Alex area lakes are stocked so heavily is that those prairie pothole lakes typically don’t have the best natural reproduction (when compared to the fishing pressure those lakes receive) but they do respond to stocking very well. The stocking efforts get the best results in those areas so those areas get the most attention. Plus, there are A LOT of lakes in that area of the state so if you add up all the stocking that takes place, it is a lot compared to the rest of the state.

If it means that walleye fishing in Leech Lake will be better in ten years than it is now, then 60,000 fingerlings is a small price to pay. If the DNR finds that stocking is working on Leech by looking at these fingerlings, it will not take but a year or two for them to put WAY more fingerlings back into the lake than they will take out. If they find that stocking is not working, they for one, will look at other means to improve the walleye fishing and two, concentrate their stocking efforts to other lakes and other areas of the state.

60,000 of walleyes that are only a year older than FRY sized fish is a minuscule amount of walleyes, especially out of a lake the size of Leech. Fish this size represent the largest population density and would not even be at a harvestable size for at least another three years. If these managers determined that using tetracycline is the fastest and best way to determine if their stocking efforts are worth the time and money, so be it. These guys know what they are doing and for once they are opperating according to science and not Bureaucracy.

Maybe I will call Mr. Gunther and voice my concerns; I’ll remind him to listen to his managers and not the general public.

There will ALWAYS be walleyes to catch, and on May 14, you can find me on the water enjoying the best walleye fishing in the country.

I have been on the water for a while now running two different Humminbird units. One is the Matrix 97 and the other is the Matrix 67. The 97 is a color unit and the 67 is grayscale. Both are WAAS GPS chartplotters and both have DualBeam Plus transducers. I must say I am very impressed with the ease of use, accuracy, and overall performance of these new Humminbird electronics. I wish I had a chance to play around with the 987 with side imaging technology. That high resolution image is very cool!

I think that now that Johnson Outdoors is associated with Humminbird, we will start seeing a lot more from these units.

Josh,

Did you check the water level in your battery from time to time? About once a month you need to make sure there is enough water in the battery so that the plates are covered. Usually that means filling them just to the bottom of the vent holes. Only use distilled water for this.

As for charging amperage. With deep cycle batteries of today, the faster you charge them the better. 10 or 15 amp chargers are much better for the battery than a trickle charger or only an amp or two. You should also seriously consider a charger that is a three stage charger and one with a temperature sensor is even better. I run a three bank Minn Kota MK330 in my boat and like it a lot.

Get a nice lake map and look for rocky offshore points and/or saddle areas where two points come together. A GPS is not a bad idea either.

What I have been doing is setting a tip-up in about 10 to 12 feet with a shiner. I then drill several holes going out to about 30 feet or so. Start jigging in the deeper holes and move shallower as the evening progresses. The tip-up will also let you know when the walleyes have moved up the break.

Jig with spoons tipped with a minnow head or I have also had good luck with a perch colored jigging rapala (about size W-5).

If you are catching/seeing perch while it is still light, you are in the right areas. Where there is food, there will be walleyes.

I have had pretty good luck on Pelican this year. Some pretty nice fish also.

Good luck.

Dave,

What you found was an owl pellet. Probably from a rather large owl like a great horned owl. Anything that they cannot digest (hair, bones, teeth) forms a “pellet” and is coughed-up by the owl. Quite a find! (if you are interested in rodents and owls anyhow).

Dudley is a very talented and very smart angler. I am sure he had plenty of other spots to fish, even though they might not be as good of spots as the one where he was sticking those fish. Knowing he was in a later flight, I think he was basically evening the odds. Those fish he stuck, if they were on beds, will still be there and will still bite but it might take a little more time to make them bite. The guys in the early flights that fish that spot (we’ll call it spot “A”) will take more time to catch catch those fish. In the mean-time, Dudley goes to spots “B”, “C” or even “D”, catches those fish in less time although they might not be the quality as the fish in spot “A”. Dudley therefore puts the odds more in his favor by catching more fish and if luck is on his side more fish will eventually mean more big fish.

As stated earlier… “Brilliant!”

For years I used a Vex. Now, I have a LX-3 and so far I love it! More power than the Vex, better charging system, lighter, quieter, easier to read in sunlight, plus it’s built right here in MN. I am very impressed with the Marcum.

Just a reminder to anyone hunting in Minnesota. Crows do have a legal season and that does not open until March 1 – 31st. Crows can be taken at any time only if they are or about to do damage.

I know I will be out calling and blasting shortly after the first.

Good luck guys!

Just a reminder to anyone hunting in Minnesota. Crows do have a legal season and that does not open until March 1 – 31st. Crows can be taken at any time only if they are or about to do damage.

I know I will be out calling and blasting shortly after the first.

Good luck guys!

Although I believe that cold fronts in the winter can have some affect on the fishing, I don’t think it is anywhere near the affect they have in the summer. Water temps in the winter stay more or less stable no matter what the air temp is so cooling water isn’t a factor. Pressure changes can have some affect on the fishing, but I am undecided on how much this affects the fishing. The other thing to consider is that along with cold fronts in winter comes a lot of clear skies and sunshine. You will want to consider light penetration when choosing the species you are after and the time of day, depth and activity level of those fish. As we get more and more snow on top of the ice, however, light penetration is less and less of a factor.

Good luck!

d-nort,

You got mail.

I have never had much luck hunting in a pouring rain. The deer don’t mind a light rain and will still be on the move. With the rut coming on the bucks will be moving in just about any weather.

One option if it is raining a bit too hard is to try still hunting or spot and stalk. The wet ground is very quiet to walk on, wet weather “knocks” down scent, rain also covers noise fairly well. It is a good time to sneak up on some deer. Try stands of pine trees or other cover that provides some shelter from the rain for the deer.

Good luck!

I have never had much luck hunting in a pouring rain. The deer don’t mind a light rain and will still be on the move. With the rut coming on the bucks will be moving in just about any weather.

One option if it is raining a bit too hard is to try still hunting or spot and stalk. The wet ground is very quiet to walk on, wet weather “knocks” down scent, rain also covers noise fairly well. It is a good time to sneak up on some deer. Try stands of pine trees or other cover that provides some shelter from the rain for the deer.

Good luck!

For whitetials, I like shooting the T/C ShockWave in either 200 gr if shots are going to be long, or 250 gr for closer shots. I also really like the Hornady SST sabots in 250 gr. Both these sabots are very fast and flat shooting. They are both poly tipped bullets that provides high velocity downrange and also promotes rapid expansion.

I shoot a T/C Omega and the T/C rifles shoot Hornady rounds very well since that is what T/C uses to test their rifles. Even then, it is always best to try a number of differnt projectiles to see which one shoots best with your specific rifle.

For whitetials, I like shooting the T/C ShockWave in either 200 gr if shots are going to be long, or 250 gr for closer shots. I also really like the Hornady SST sabots in 250 gr. Both these sabots are very fast and flat shooting. They are both poly tipped bullets that provides high velocity downrange and also promotes rapid expansion.

I shoot a T/C Omega and the T/C rifles shoot Hornady rounds very well since that is what T/C uses to test their rifles. Even then, it is always best to try a number of differnt projectiles to see which one shoots best with your specific rifle.

I too am going through the same situation. I have not heard back from the guy after I told him I will not wire any money until I have a)good funds in hand or b) he wire transfers the money into my account first. I then told him that after I recieve my money and he picks up the boat from me, I would have the papers for the boat sent to him separately.

I wish there was some way to really screw these guys over. I have no time or sympathy for idiots like that.

I tried the new Vanish Transition line and I like it a lot! It is a flourocarbon line that starts out clear like normal Vanish, but when exposed to sunlight, it turns a bright gold color. Very easy to see, plus, it is still invisible under water just like a clear flourocarbon.

Worked very well for me on walleyes, now I am going to try it for drop-shotting and flipping for bass.

Here is a Flashminnow 110. 4.5″, 5/8oz, suspending.

Here is a Pointer, which is another Lucky Craft jerkbait. Pictured is the Pointer 100. 4″, 5/8oz, suspending.

Expensive… Yes. Cringe every time a pike latches onto one… YES. Do they catch fish???

James,

Capra’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse in St. Cloud and Coon Rapids, M and M Tackle in Oronoco, and Cabela’s all sells Lucky Craft Lures. I am not sure if they have any Flashminnows or if they ever go on sale, but those are the dealers.

What, if I may ask, are you planning? I am on Lucky Craft’s pro staff, so I would be glad to help you out any way I can.

Typically, you don’t have as much of a mayfly hatch in river systems as you do in lakes. Mayfly larvae like little current and do not do as well in rivers with moderate to heavy current. For this reason, the “bite” stays pretty stable in rivers during a mayfly hatch.

On the flip side, there are numerous insects that do like rivers and can have an impact on the fishing. Stoneflies and in some cases caddisflies can have large hatches that can affect the fishing, but at least in Minnesota, it is rare.

Clark,

If you are looking for a reasonable price graph to put on the bow, I would take a close look at the BottomLine Tournament 320 or the Tournament 480. The 320 has a large 320 pixel x 320 pixel screen, 3,200 watts of peak to peak power and a 200khz transducer, and retails for about $150. This is the unit I use on my bow and I have had great success with it. The 480 is basically the same unit as the 320 but has 480 pixels x 480 pixels and retails for about $225.

As far as using a flasher, I typically only use a flasher at the console when I am traveling at high speed (over 50mph). Flashers are still quicker than graphs, but most graphs now days are very quick. At the bow, you will typically be going slow enough where the graph will show you “real time” and you will get much more detail that is easier to read than a flasher.

Hope this helps, good luck on your purchase.

Clark,

If you are looking for a reasonable price graph to put on the bow, I would take a close look at the BottomLine Tournament 320 or the Tournament 480. The 320 has a large 320 pixel x 320 pixel screen, 3,200 watts of peak to peak power and a 200khz transducer, and retails for about $150. This is the unit I use on my bow and I have had great success with it. The 480 is basically the same unit as the 320 but has 480 pixels x 480 pixels and retails for about $225.

As far as using a flasher, I typically only use a flasher at the console when I am traveling at high speed (over 50mph). Flashers are still quicker than graphs, but most graphs now days are very quick. At the bow, you will typically be going slow enough where the graph will show you “real time” and you will get much more detail that is easier to read than a flasher.

Hope this helps, good luck on your purchase.

If you like Loomis or St. Croix, then you should definately try Lamiglas. All are hand wrapped and they use the same graphite stock as Loomis.