It’s a great production. Sounds like season 3 will be similar with one new twist that will be entertaining to watch.
Grubson, this is an invite to jump in my boat for a few hours and I’ll show you how we fish with FFS and you can decide if that added or took away from your experience of fishing that day. On many guide trips the FFS doesn’t even go in the water, but when it does most of my clients want to look at it. And for the rest of the trip “Are there any fish by my bait? Are you seeing any? Should we go find one/active ones?”
BTW, the group I guide with does offer sight-seeing tours as well for people that want that experience.
If you were trying to defend FFS with that story, you failed.
That’s a very above avg day of musky fishing in the pre-FFS days.
[/quote]
I don’t know what there is to defend in regards to FFS. The point of my post is that FFS is one tool to help locate and catch fish, but it doesn’t guarantee success and it doesn’t decimate fish populations. Specifically Muskies in this case.
I am a guide and I’ve hired guides for other species of fish or bodies of water I’ve never fished. As a client I expect to catch fish or see a fish depending on species, and I expect my guide to work hard to make that opportunity happen. I expect the same of myself when guiding.
The trip I referenced above was a great trip. Landing the fish was great, having a couple hook ups and just seeing the fish on sonar and in the area further enhanced the experience. In my mind it’s a much better experience than making clients cast all day to land one fish. After that experience, I wouldn’t hire a Muskie guide that doesn’t use FFS.
For years guys complained how bad trolling was for killing Muskies and big Walleyes. They said hooking mortality was high because of the length of the fight and release conditions. Now guys are using FFS toposition right on the fish, fighting them for 50’, netting them, and releasing them quickly, but we shouldn’t do that because the hooking mortality is too high also. Should we ban fishing?
Typically when I read these anti-FFS posts I just bite my tongue and move past. How many of you people commenting have actually used FFS? How many of you would consider yourself proficient with it?
It’s a great tool to locate fish and even watch the fish react, but it doesn’t guarantee a bite.
I use FFS sonar for every species, but I don’t consider myself a Muskie fisherman. Last Summer I was invited to fish with a guy who guides for them all Summer. We scoped for 8-9 hours, marked 35, casted to 20-25, hooked 4, and landed one. No fish marked were deeper than 15’ down over 20-40’ of water. For you guys worried about the guys fishing over deep water, the fish aren’t on the bottom! This angler has top of the line gear so the fight is fast, the net is always ready, and when in the net they stay in the water the entire time except for a quick picture. The fish swam away just fine and I would consider the day a success. This isn’t the guy you need to be worried about killing all the fish which is probably true of most anglers that have taken the time to become proficient with FFS.
Have you tried Facebook marketplace? I sold a 2013 and 2020 Terrova on there last week within a day.
My brother owns property in Mille Lacs County and I get calls and texts about it roughly once per month. This is my brother’s property, so I don’t know why they are calling me. The only thing I can trace this back to is that I emailed the county with a question regarding the property and I listed my phone number on the email. They never did respond via email or call.
My wife and I own a vacant lot in the metro and we get a letter about once per quarter. We aren’t going to sell it, but I’ve let them give me an offer before. The highest bid so far was 70% of the market value. All of these companies that I’ve spoke to were from the East coast. We ended up getting that lot because I mailed 2 hand-written letters to the address listed as the owner. We didn’t get a response until about a year later when a realtor called and told us she was going to list it and the owners had saved my letter.
I saw your post and asked my friend Bruce with Rainy Lake Guiding and he has storage. You can find his information on his website rainylakeguiding.com.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Fife wrote:</div>
Great day out there today. It took two hours to find them, but once we did it was game on. We kept 31 between the two of us in 3 hours before we had to head home. Here are the first 10 out of one hole before we had to start bouncing around and picking a few off at a time.this post along with the livescope in the background is a great example of FFS’s impact on fish harvest
It’s a tool that helps for sure, but that particular day I chased perch just like we did 15-20 years ago. Drill, drill, drill until you find them. On spot number 2, my buddy using an FL-8 had 4 on the ice before I set the auger down. In Spring perch fishing, being mobile and putting in the work has the largest impact on making it a successful day. As far as posting a picture on the internet, you are correct that it can create more pressure. I don’t think the perch bite was any secret when I made my one and only trip of the winter in March. I have never cared for the table full of fish pictures, so those were tough to see throughout the season.
We live in Rogers, so of course I’ll be pulling for Rogers on their first trip to the state tournament. They’ve been so close to making it the last 3 years.
This discussion has gone on for years. I bought a special mate and I’ve done the rubber band trick, but at the end of the day 3700s are the way to go. Untangling takes under 30 seconds. Typically I make a “hot box” before I go of the crankbaits I want to start with or try throughout the day. If those don’t work, it’s into a compartment for others to try.
We went out of my friend’s cabin, but we saw trucks that came from the NE side so I assume they came from Castaways.
Great day out there today. It took two hours to find them, but once we did it was game on. We kept 31 between the two of us in 3 hours before we had to head home. Here are the first 10 out of one hole before we had to start bouncing around and picking a few off at a time.
IMG_6945-scaled.jpeg
As mentioned above-new models, different brands, and people moving to cable drive units are all reasons.
I think people with 24v systems are not the type upgrading to the latest and greatest.
If you want contour following, make sure it has ilink. I’ve had it for 6 years and tried it a few times, but didn’t care for it because it isn’t precise enough for me.
Scheel has a 7’ Walleye Series rod that works perfectly for this application. It will handle a 3 oz. bouncer. When I’m fishing I usually hold the rod, but my guide clients typically put them in the rod holders. Scheels also has similar rods in their less expensive series that work well too.
If I was exclusively putting them in a rod holder, something a little longer would work. I’ve tried to hold onto a 7’6” or 8’ all day and I found it uncomfortable.
Many NWT and AIM checks were cashed using a nightcrawler this year, but to your point I think minnows were a small contributor.
I’d fish an artificial only tournament. I also signed up for a tournament that has now banned FFS. I used it in that tournament the last 2 years, but we’ll see how it goes.
I know this is an older post, but here is the system I put together for my new to me 2012 Skidoo. I installed the linq brackets so I can take the whole setup off in under 30 seconds. I used 2 oversized milk crates-one fits my Garmin shuttle perfectly and the other I bought an insulated bag from the milk crate manufacturer to put miscellaneous things into. I installed gun rack to hold my ice scoop and livescope pole. The auger rack is a digger auger mount. The rod holder bag is fastened to the back. It worked for my last trip but I am going to look at some other ways to mount it. My goal was to keep it light, the center of mass as low as possible, and as narrow as possible for portages through the woods. I primarily use this for Lake Trout fishing running and gunning and fishing off of my snowmobile.
IMG_6628-scaled.jpeg
IMG_6627-scaled.jpeg
IMG_6695-scaled.jpeg
I’ve had that exact battery for three years now. It powers my 93sv, black box, and lvs-34 no problem all day in summer or winter.
Wow, that’s a good deal.
This is in Ontario but not far from the MN border. We’ve rented cabins and fished with him several times but now we do it on our own.
https://www.gatewaynorthoutfitters.com
Headed back up there in 2 weeks.
When we fish in Canada we basically fish off our sleds. We boil water on the stove in the morning before we leave put it in a thermos and fill it with homemade suassges hotdogs, kielbasa, etc.
That’s a great idea. We also fish off of our sleds in Canada. On that trip I usually bring a thermos of hot bone broth or soup. I’m going to add the sausage to the mix. Some of the guys bring aluminum foil, butter, and seasoning and will make a fire and cook trout for lunch.
When fishing in a shack, I’ve warmed up premade breakfast burritos before. If someone has the old sunflower heater, we’ll boil water and make brats and hotdogs.
Other than that, I basically make my own trail mix of primary different nuts.
I bought the Norfin Yukons. They are lightweight and warm. The downfall-The second time I wore them involved a walk on a gravel road. That evening I noticed some dents in the foam sole. Upon further inspection, one of those holes went all of the way through. Now they are no longer waterproof. I reached out to Norfin and they responded quickly, but said the boots are made for snow and this was on me for misuse. They gave me some repair ideas and a discount code if I wanted to buy another pair. I’m going to seal the hole and see how it goes.
A second for Jason. He was busy the day we booked but set us up with a friend of his and my wife and I had a blast.
Have Lacrosse boots gotten better with cracking? I bought a pair about 15 years ago and they cracked 2 years later. I patched them up a few times and used them another couple years. My Dryshods cracked in year 5. I perched them with flex seal tape and they are waterproof again.
Good reminder.
Remember to put a carbon monoxide detector in your garage as well. Two of my kids and myself were hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning caused by an ice block in the garage heater vent. My two year old son quit breathing after roughly 5 minutes of exposure and my 4 year old daughter went unconscious after roughly 7-8 minutes. I had no idea anything was wrong until my son went unconscious and I assumed he was having some type of seizure. After calling 911 and doing CPR on my son, I went back to find my daughter passed out in her car seat. We went through treatment and all of us recovered, but nobody should have to go through that.
This guy came through this morning as we were getting ready for work.
IMG_6180.jpeg
First good backyard buck of the season came through yesterday.
DSCF0467-scaled.jpeg
Area 155 3 miles from Mille Lacs Lake. On a calm day I can hear boats throttling up leaving Liberty Beach access.
If this guy shows up Saturday, that would be great.
IMG_5963-scaled.jpeg
I have the Yeti gloves and they are durable. The problem I have is that they must not breathe as my hands sweat quickly and then my fingers freeze. I had a pair of Cabelas gloves that I wore for years and never had this issue. Unfortunately I left them on the snowmobile trailer and lost them somewhere down the road.
Mille Lacs can be good all season, but in my mind the best way to catch numbers of Walleyes is fishing the sundown bite the first few weeks of the season. A good one two punch is a bobber and a leech on one line and pitching a jig/minnow with the other. Adjust if the fish show a preference.
