Well said, Gary!

I’m not a big time muskie guy, but I have had great success on French, whenever I’ve tried it. There aren’t too many muskie lakes where your chances of success are as good as they are on French. Even for a lazy guy like me who simply trolls large jointed perch rapalas around the weedlines. (Like I said, I’m not much of a muskie fisherman and I don’t have a lot of muskie baits.)

Treat these fish well when you catch them, get them back in the water fast, and this lake should continue to be a gem in southern Minnesota for a long time.

4lb or 6lb is really a matter of confidence and the situation your faced with. My first choice is 6lb. Howver, if I’m faced with a tough bite and very clear water I’ll drop to 4lb.

Winni is typically a little off color so you may not need to go down to the 4lb to get bit. The 6lb will likely produce fewer lost fish, too.

Good luck.

Saw your questions in your post and thought I’d toss out a few ideas. First, I’d lighten up on the leaders. I typically use 6lb Berkley XL or Vanish Flourcarbon. At times I have dropped to 4lb if the bite is tough. In either case, check your leader after each fish and consider retying if the leader is frayed. Since there aren’t any obstructions to speak of out on the flats and nowhere for the fish to go to wrap you up in weeds this lighter option should be all you’ll need, and you may see the number of bites you gets goes up.

As far a leader length goes I know a lot of people run the long ones, but as you’ve seen they have a downside. I learned a while back from a truly talented Mille Lacs backtroller that you don’t always need the long leader, especially when the wind is blowing, or if you need more control to keep the bait into the fish your sitting on. Since that leasson I rarely use a leader over 5-6 feet, and this year I’ve been catching more fish than the boats around me.

Hope this improves your results.

I’ve had great days on Cannon and I’ve had stinkers. One technique that has worked very well for me when the wind blows is to rip jig the sunken humps. This works best when the water is somewhat clear (spring and fall).

There are some awfully big pike in the lake. A year ago I had a friend out fishing who doesn’t get many opportunities to fish. He caught and released about a 16# fish. I’ve also had many small ‘eyes shredded by pike.

Good luck if you go.

Lake Trout are also a memeber of the Char family. This family of fish has the ability to vent the air in the air bladder out their mouth. Other fish, like walleyes, do not have this ability. They must pass their air through their body which takes a fair amount of time. They do not adapt to depth changes as quickly as the Char family does.

There are some good explanations above about how air changes the volume it occuppies based on the amount of pressure. Anyone who has taken SCUBA lessons has learned about Boyles Law and Charles Law and why this occurs. The one thing I took from this that is most telling is that for every 30 feet you descend you increase the pressure 1 atmosphere (15 lbs/sq. inch). At sea level we would have 1 atmoshpere of pressure on us. Descend 30 feet and your have 2. Descend to 60 feet and you have 3. Hopefully you can see how pulling fish out of 30 feet of water causes their air bladder to expand to twice the size it was at 30 feet. Not many fish can handle this change.

Hope that helps.

Garrison.

I fished the less beaten west and northwest part of the lake. Our best luck was on Saturday between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Spoke to a guy on Sunday who said the later afternoon bite is usually the best.

Tube colors were on the natural side of things. Mostly crawfish, pumpkinseed and brown colors.

We tried the topwaters based on reports I had been given by some friends. However, I hadn’t seen much surface activity and the fish just wouldn’t touch them. I had hoped it would have worked for my son to take a few on topwaters.

Be prepared for a heck of a fight. One 18″ fish snapped a 7′ Cabela’s spinning rod that my son was using.

Best of luck to everyone who is going this weekend and let us know how you did.

There’s an article that recently appeared in the Brainerd Daily Dispatch that might be of some help. Search on “Bassin with Roach”.

http://brainerddispatch.com

Good Fishing!

I made it over on Sunday for the first time since March. Location took awhile but thanks to everyone’s help on this board we were able to sort through some options until we found the right one.
Started at the head of the lake pulling 3 ways and bait without much luck for the first hour or so. Then we threw shallow diving shad raps and pulled small jigs and crawlers through a shallow sand flat. The fish were just killing the shad rap. Then again they weren’t too shy about the jig and crawler either.
Ran down to the Maiden Rock area about mid-day and had a great time. Seemed it was either a 14″ fish or a 20+” fish. We took close to 10 between 20 and 25″. Our best pattern was a bit different than posted above. We pulled #5 shad raps, too. However, we didn’t use leadcore. While we did use firetiger, crawdad, and natural colors our hot bait color was perch. We also fished a little shallower. Best depth was 8′-10′. At 7 feet we would get killed by the little guys.
All in all it was a fun day, even in spite of the weather.

I’ve been using this technique for about 10 years on anything from walleyes on pool 4 to LARGE northerns on lakes.

Slowing down is the best advice your probably going to hear. This works extremely well when the current picks up speed and you need to keep the bait in front of fish to get them to bite. I’ve found on pool 4 that this is very productive early and late in the year. As the bite nears the spawning stage I’ve found that jigs have typically outproduce trolling, but not in every situation.

Try different baits and colors. Some days a blue and white rapala it the ticket, other days a clown color or firetiger can be hot.

Best of luck.

The first time I ever saw this done was up on Winni about 13 years ago. I thought the guys were nuts!. Then I tried it. It is one of my favorite ways to take shallow walleyes, typically under 10′ and the fish are spread out on large flats or bars. I’ve had my best luck when the wind is kicking up really good. My best luck comes trolling into the wind for better boat speed control. I took a friend out once to do this and he couldn’t believe what we were doing. He kept trying to fineses jig while I was ripping. After I had 26 walleyes in teh boat he finally surrendered and tried it. The next time you encounter these situations don’t be afraid to try this. Oh and hang on tight, there’s no messing aroung when the fish hit the bait.

Put my name in.

Thought I’d post an update I just received today on this topic.

Ken’s wife informed me that his catch has been certified by IGFA as a Minnesota line class record for 6# test and a World line class record for 6#test.

Congrats, Ken!

Steve,

Should be a good chance to take a hawg or two before the end of the year. Wish I could get away to do it but I don’t think I’m going to be up there before it ices up.

I have a feeling we may have fished some of the same water recently. I was out two weeks ago fishing a spot that sounded similar to the one you had been fishing. Caught some decent fish off it too.

Good luck rippin’ some lips.

I went up to visit family this weekend in Garrison. I had thought about taking the boat but decided not to. When I drove by the lake yesterday on the way home the lake was basically ice free. The ramp in Garrison at the park was being used and the ramp by the casino was being used. Looked like they were both free of ice with nothing close by either. With the warmer weather things should be in pretty good shape for a little while longer.

I made it to the lake Saturday night for a short time with my father. It was odd to be out in the dark fishing in the snow, but the fish made it well worth the trip. Nothing over 26″, but they sure were fat.
The ticket was husky jerks fished in 10 feet of water on a steep sand break with sparse vegetation along the shallow edge. Trolling speeds were 1.3 – 1.5 mph. The fish seemed to like the bait best when it was pumped a foot or two. Too big a sweep of the rod and they didn’t like it. Do nothing with it and they also didn’t want it.

I made it over on Saturday and found it to be a slow day.
We pulled some smallies off the wing dams by the dam while walleye hunting. Bombers and white Kalin tails were the best, but it wasn’t like they were trying to commit suicide.

A few eyes were caught on the other side of the river, but that was slow, too. A few down by Red Wing under the bridge.

Also went to the lake and pulled cranks along Point No Point. Mixed bag of catfish and smallies, but not much for eyes.

I’m certain some has a few fish going but with limited time to be there my guesses came up a little short.

Best of luck if you go.

I’m hoping to get on the pool this weekend and C&R some fish for my annual birthday outing. Haven’t been there since the get together back in August. I sure appreciate the info on what the bite has been. I’ll try and pass along what I find if I make it over there.

Take me home!

I’ll buy the pancakes and eggs after a great night of fishing. Where’s your prefered breakfast place: The Spotlight, Ozzies, or some other great place.

My fishing partner said he saw a study recently on the length of memory of largemouth bass after being caught. He said it indicated the timespan is actually less than 2 minutes. I was surprised that it was that short. So don’t give up on that lost fish too soon. In a few minutes he may have forgot all about it.

I took a friend out Muskie fishing one day and hooked up on a good fish. I gave him the rod and he got the fish to the boat. It had one hook in the top lip with 2 of the other hooks on the treble hook sticking out. As I went to net it the hooks actually pulled out of the bait (I think by buddy got a little excited and cinched the drag down). As I was sweeping the net at the fish I actually got the frame hooked on the 2 hooks sticking out of it’s mouth. So here’s the picture: 6 foot handle on the net, 2 foot diameter net, and a 44″ Muskie hanging off the other end by a treble hook in it’s mouth, all being swung into the boat right at the buddy with the fishin rod. I never saw anyone jump on a seat so fast in my whole life!!

I’ve spent some time on Pelican. That time of year I typically stay off the lake in the middle of the day. I’d go out in the eveinings with a plan to fish until well after dark. Techniques that have worked well are to drive around some of the humps in the middle of the lake or the major points that extend into the lake looking for fish with your electronics. If you see fish stop and fish them. The quickest way I know is to use a jig with some meat on it. Could be a leech this time of year but don’t rule out minnows either. You can aslo drop a rig to them or a jig and slip bobber. Typically you’ll be fishing 18′ – 25′ before the sun goes down.
After sunset get out the trolling gear and run the edges of the same structure you’ve been fishing, only shallower. My favorit baits are shad raps in the #5 and #7 size.
Good luck and let me know how you do. If the walleyes are slow, don’t overlok the bass fishing on this lake. It can be awesome.

I sent three photos to James tonight. I’m hoping he’ll have time to post them soon.

I have been able to lay my hands on some pictures. If all goes well tonight I’ll get them scanned and emailed to James so he can work his magic.

I’m trying to get a good picture to send. At this point my options are:
1) Good picture of the fish but it’s not the fisherman holding it.
2) Good picture of the fisherman and the 4 girls but a so-so picture of the fish.

Hopefully I may have one in the next day or two that shows the fish and the fisherman.

I’ll see if photos are possible. I know he has some it’s just a matter of being able to get them on the website.

As for the girls they weren’t so little (16 – 22). I told his wife I was surprised he didn’t have a lot of help because I figured there would be boats following him everywhere.

His wife stopped over after my first post and informed me that if he can get all the paperwork done and the line tests out at 6 lbs. the IGFA has indicated it is a state and world class line record.

I managed to get back home for awhile and do some fishing on the pond on Sat. and Sunday morning. Saturday was a little tougher bite for walleyes than I’ve had in awhile. Decided to take my 8 year old son smallie fishing on Sunday so he could have some action. This is a fairly new thing for me as I’ve always chased the ‘eyes. We did find fish but not in large numbers or overly large fish. Caught all of them on tubes. However, they liked it deadsticked more than anything. I could see where the unweighted sinkos could have been a killer. Location for us was rock piles with various size rocks in 3 – 6 feet of water or shoreline structure that had a sharp break to it. We didn’t take any fish on structure where the rock was all the same size. It needed to be different.
The water color wasn’t too bad. A little stained, but still relatively clear. I’m heading back up tomorrow and hope to get the boy out on the water again. He had a blast and those smallies sure pull hard.

How deep to run your baits often depends on how deep the fish are. Watch your electronics carefully to get an idea of where the bait and fish are in the water column. Many times you’ll see a congregation of activity between 17′ and 22′ down. You’ll also see another near the bottom.
I try to target these two zones (bring a freind so you can run two lines), and be as specific as I can with my depth. Depending on the day you may get fish in both zones, or only one of them. If only one is hot, check to see if your running a similar bait at both depths. If not, try it. If you are and only one is going, try something different at the other depth. For example, let’s say I’m pulling perch colored baits and getting bit on the bottom hugger, but not the high bait. Could be I need a bait that will mimic the prey that is up higher, say a tullibee/cisco color combo. Might work, might not, but it’s worth a try.
As to the depth issue I’d encourage you to get a trollers bible. There are different ones available that will tell you exactly how deep your bait will run. There are some deep divers that can hug 32′ of water. Others may only get down 20′.

Good luck and maybe we’ll see you on the water this weekend.

A few of the fish were on beds, but a lot of them were just cruising along the weeds, probably moving in and looking for places to bed.

There weren’t too many people on the lake so the landing wasn’t too bad. Went back last Saturday for awhile in the early evening. Managed to get in about an hour of fishing before the rain came. Pulled to short ‘eyes and a 3 lb. snake. Started to mark some spots we were going to hit with the jigs when the lightning rolled in. That’s when the landing turned into Chaos. There were actually people trying to put their boat in the lake as about 10 of us were trying to get out.

I always shudder when I see guys pull their waders on to load their boats. You know it’s gonna be a 10 – 15 minute ordeal when it should take a couple minutes.

Didn’t chase the sunnies that night. The mission was to nail a few decent ‘eyes.

You can pull some nice northerns from those bays, muskies too. I haven’t done much largemouth fishing in those bays but don’t be too surprised if you pull some nice smallies from these bays. Make certain you know your regs for all species when you fish here as they are all different that most other places you fish.