Iwas talking about Turk and his NEW boat that hes going to be causing all kinds of wake with this spring!! Watch out guys theres trouble on the horizon!!!LOL

How are you managing to do this? Just going to blow by the DNR station at the SOO line bridge. Anyways this year is going to be a low water year, which means no 175hp is going anywhere after you come off plane, that boat you have comin isn’t your fathers oldsmobile!!! Now the neck down area in front of the stillh20 bridge is a different story, I’ve heard rumors of big fish caught in this area at nite on jigs and big huskys.

Snap wieghts are invaluable any time. They can be used in a variety of wieghts to easily match the conditions. Don’t really care for them in water shallower then 15 feet they can be a hassle when reeling in. You also mentioned that you dont have good luck on large baits. I agree and disagree, it all depends on the amount of food in the water and how you ppresent it. There has been years where they just pound #9 shad raps, large storms, etc. but will scoff at the small stuff hen other times it seems to reverse itself. Best guest is try one of everything and narrow it down, I like to start med. to large first then hit the small stuff.

I work right next to hidden falls and stop by regulary and as of thur. the ramp looked as if it were summer out. Guys have been putting in their rigs and fishing up by the lock and down river at the confluence of the minn. river and the miss. Depending on the type of boat you have you can run down river about 10 miles or so (through down town st. paul) and fish the areas accessible by the 494 ramp. Hope this helps and good luck.

I stand corrected.. they have taken a great product and improved it. That is very hard to do with out sacrficing quality. I need to buy one but cant find one yet, I can wait till open water. What is the list going to be?

Been fishing with mine for two and half years and haven’t had one problem with it . I fish 140 days a year be it in tournaments, guideing, or just taken the kids and use my lpg constantly. The only thing I’ve found is that the speed isn’t real accurate I recomend using a gps the first the fisrt few times to see how far its off.E-mail [email protected] he has a few factory setting s you can change, some of which are options that aren’t mentioned in the owners manual.The legend 3000 will be unchanged from the lpg 2000 other then name and color.

I talked to my buddy last night and told him what I had posted, he said that they didn’t catch a fish under 25 inches on muskie baits. I hope I didn’t offend any muskie guys but answer this.. imagine your out fishing eyes and you start catching skis on bottom bouncers and spinners, wouldn’t you put the rigs down and try for the skis? I guess I’m a little jealous of the skis since they took away my partner and buddy, ie. I cant get him in the boat to go fish eyes anymore, sad isn’t it!!!! Steve I’m also known as Bill Mitchell, yep the one who caused all the furor last week on the p.s. forum. I need to change my name so it ties in with the pro staff..I will be at the expo fri. and sat. in the WWA booth. Turk and I are their present National Champs. Hope to see you their we’ll talk about muskies for awile , maybe. J/K LOL

My good buddy is a professional muskie guide and fishes about 200 days a year he says they cacth a ton o f eyes after dark on big buck tails , sledges, and occasionaly on other bigger baits. They tend to catch them on or in front of weedlines and ALWAYS after dark. Lsat season they boated 8 fish over 30 ” the biggest being 32.5 on ,you guessed it, Mille lacs. Hell they have caught yeyes on lakes that aren’t managed for them. I guess they could be on to something but their minds are so clouded with muskie fever they dont even bat an eyelid.

I’d like to thank Dave for an informitive seminar. I have never fished the rig that he demo’ed , but the next time I’ve got my boys in the boat with me on a lake I’ll definitely give it a try. It also was pleasure to meet james,steve,dustin,and destry. I hope I didn’t forget anyone (tuck ..you dont count since we had already met…)j/k . I’m excited about the upcoming season and wish everyone the best of luck in the year 2002 in whatever endeavors you may encounter. Thanks again.

Bill Mitchell

aka CROIX RIVER RAT

I think 50 is in order. Many inland lakes have speed limits in this range, I dont see why the river shouldn’t either. The 20 at night is and excellent idea. The river will suffer more erosion with the slower speeds since some of the boats that use the croix are designed to travel at high speeds otherwise they ride low in the water hence causing more/larger wake(s). I hope they find a comprimise.. these rule changes on the river can get messy from many sides. The last thing the croix needs is another battle on its hands, lets all try to use this awesome resource we are so lucky to have the right way not the wrong.

Spend the cash and buy a Shimano Stradic. I have 4 of them and all of them have been beat around in the rod locker, stepped on by my kids, and dropped in the sand, yet still perform flawless.Your choice of course, FISH ON!!!!

If your going to buy cabelas, then I recomend going and trying on various sizes and lengths( reg. or tall). Yuo also will save yourself $20 on the price of the pants and jacket($40 total) since they set the retail price lower then the mail order.

In reference to your questions , I like to use cranks of all sorts, let the fish dictate what they want. When I say I’m trolling I mean that I’m usuing the big motor and running at speeds of 2-3 miles per. When I fish spinners I like to hover over the area and sweep my rod foward at different speeds and patterns, then I’ll move with the rear or bow mount just a little then repeat the process. Once you have figured out where the fish are sittng then you can concentrate on that area much more intensely. I hope this helps, se you on the water.FISH ON!!!

The fish have been snappin at a good pace. I like to troll until you locate some fish then you can fish a jig or spinner. Personally I like to continue trolling, this is not a effectie way to fish pockets of fish if your not familiar with the break or point. Boat control also has to be exact (ie.,speed,constant depth) I know many people say that anyone one can troll, well your right , but not everybody can troll correctly. The fish on the croix are very picky since they see many a lure over the course of a season and like the lures to be dragged and or stalled at regular intervals. Turk and I caught the majority of our fish during the championship doing exactly that. Lots of guys were doing the same, but just couldn’t figure out what makes the nuetral and negative fish to strike.Good luck and FISH ON!!!

Can you send me a private message or just post it if you want, I would like to get some info on dues ,etc. thanksFISH ON!!!

Found the sites for next year. It starts at the detroit river then sharpe,then winnebago and finishes at devils lake. didn’t write down the dates,sorry.FISH ON!!!

Good job guys, I hope you can continue the good showing at the rest of the tournaments. Just wondering, how many members are in the club and how many show for each tourney? FISH ON!!!

go to the message board on http://www.walleyecentral.com. Someone posted the schedule on fri. nite. I remember there was lake sharpe, and two others can’t remember. I’ll look also again and if I find it I’ll post the dates.FISH ON!!!

Yuo guys are right. It is too bad that poeple can be so easily influenced by people with little or no knowledge of the fishery. I’m sure they read the horror stories of Iowans coming up and catching all their precious saugers and walleyes.The fact is that the locals would exploit the dam area just as much. Ihope to see the stretch turned into catch adn release, those wing dams are precious in the spring. I’m guilty of fishing below the dam areas during mild winters, but I’m there for one reason and that is too get the boat wet in the middle of winter, not to ruin the fishery by catching hundreds o0 walleyes, so claims the locals. I know a couple of guys who are hastings res. and they fish the wingies all winter. The fish that they are catching are the spawners , the majority of the fish caught below the dam area are small males and the occasional 3-5 lber. Fact of the matter is that what evere you do with the regs. people will always disagree and still will exploit the fish whenever given the chance.

Well I guess that gives me four hundred thousand reasons to qualify for the event next year. At the very least the co-angler side. Tuck-since you run a crestliner, have you fished any events,if not, what about next year?FISH ON!!!

I like spots where the really deep water meets a steep drop off. I know this may sound vague , bit if you look at a map of the croix you’ll find the area of afton, the neckdown area before the kinni narrows, and the break out front of beanies. These spots at this time of year hold fish and as time passes and the water cools more fish will move into these areas to winter and to EAT!! Methods that have proven effective are heavy bottom bouncers(4-6oz.) and snap weights. Jigging can be effective, but the fish are uasually so spread out along these breaks that trolling with 4 lines covers a lot ofground and can be very effective.Trolling speed should be around 2.0 – 2.5. This might not be the norm, but a good way to start, let the fish dictate what they want and dont be afraid to try a spot leave and then come back later these fish tend to have hot periods and are constantly moving along these breaks. Ihope this helps and good luck.FISH ON!!!

I run the lms-350a. Not a bad unit in that it has lots of features and is tried and true. The only drawback for me is that it doesn’t have a back ground map. Eye-guide has a point that when its really foggy or whiteout conditions you need to have a map to pinpoint exactly your posistion. My unit will put you within 5-10 ft away from your target, but when your in an area with hazards or are unfamiliar with, you need a map to compare too and watch. The plotter option can help, but does you no good when your in an area for the first time and are feeling your way around. Hope this helps-stay away from the lowrance x-15’s. They still are having a lot of problems with these units. Ninety percent of them have to go back to lowrance as soon as you buy them so they can be updated with new sofware.

Almost forgot to tell yah all that we snuck out big fish on day three with a 2.5LBer . I guess when your hot your lucky too!!

I was waiting for Turk to post since hes much better at it themn I am , but since you have the results what more can I say then thanks for the support and interest.I couldn’t think of a better way to cap off our rookie season as a team by winning the national championship on our home waters. We’ll have a tough time defending our title next year on a different body of water with the caliber of fishermen that fish this circut. EYE-GUIDE probably can contest to this since he fished against some or most of these men and woman. Thanks again guys for the support and hope to see you on the water soon once my wrists stop hurting form reeling in fish !! FISH ON!!!

thanks guys. I’ve got good news, but I’ll let Turk post since hes the reporter side of the team, I just catch the fish, supply the boat, and keep Turk fed! We’ll give you more info later, I’ve got a open house today- any of you guys want to buy a house in N. St. Paul across from silver lake? Thanks again.

Croix River Rat also is in the boat. I’d like to think that Turk and I represent FTR as a team. I may not no many of you by face, but I feel like I know many of you well. Nice to meet you Great plains, thanks for the words encouragement. We have one day to go wuth a 7lb lead. Our 2 day total is 18lbs so far during a TOUGH bite. I hope Turk and I have some good news for you all tommorow. Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. Turk and I are going to have to go and spend any winnings that we get on replenishing our tackle boxes. My boat goes 5 mph faster because of all the gear we have lost. FISH ON!!!

I fished the tourney with Turk this weekend and we heard on sat. after day one that some of the upper leaders were pulling cranks on planer boards in one to two feet of water by Bay city on the rocks. Also heard that guys were throwing light jigs up onto the rocks , where? I have no idea. All I was concerned about was where our next fish was coming from!

Turk,

I went to the chiropracter today. I woke up this morning and my back was killing me and I couldn’t figure out why, then I relized it was from carrying you all weekend at the tourney! I’m just kidding-remember the power of positive and were it got us this weekend at Lake City. Thanks also for the good words from everyone on FTR.FISH ON!!!!!

Sorry, I hope I didn’t cause any undue confusion. Half of what you said, I heard. All I know is that we’re in and good luck to all who enter, I hope theres a good turnout/weather.

CARP!!FISH ON!!