Has anyone tried the new 320 by 320 pixel Eagle or Lowrance units yet? Seems like a lot of pixels for a little cash. Thinking about buying one myself and starting at $200 for all those pixels might be a no-brainer.

I seem to be having too much luck on the lake and I am concerned about the restrictive slot having a negative effect on the forage and health of the fishery. No one really knows how many fish are in the lake but the lake has realy changed over the last few years.

When the slot was 16 to 20 inches it seemed perfect. You could keep some medium sized fish but had to return the bigger spawners. The regulations have become more restrictive and the ecosystem is messed up. Few perch, few tullibies mean a diet of bugs and very small walleyes.

Yes I am having fun on the lake right now and yes the fish seem to be biting everything we put in front of them but what about the long term effects. I have been checked by the DNR 1 time in the last 4 years (25 or so trips) so I know their data is not accurate.

I hope the management of the late is done with long term thinking for what is best for the natural resourses, not any group of people.

Fished the North side yesterday. Caught about 40 fish from 13.5″ to 25″. Spent most of the day on the sand with rigs but it was so windy that it was tough to go slow enough. I needed a KING sized drift sock. Water temps around 63.

Cranked on some shallow rock around 4 PM for 20 minutes and had 4 nice fish.

It seemed way too easy. I hope it lasts.

I think the slot could be a little higher, say 18″ or 19″ to 28″. After hearing about what happened in the last few years with people double tripping with limits of walleyes I think it was wise to put something in place.

In past years it seemed I could go out in May and catch 20 to 100 15″ and 17″ inch fish per day per boat with the occasional bigger fish. There were a couple different sizes of fish. Now it seems there are more larger fish being caught. This could be the slot, a good year class or a combination of both.

Lately I have heard several stories of the DNR taking 16+” fish and trying their hardest to turn them into 17″ fish. Although I don’t keep that many for the pan this puts a bad taste in my mouth. I personally have never been checked by the DNR on Winnie and if I am checked I won’t have anything to worry about as I put most of my fish back. It just bugs me that even though you can be trying to do the right thing, someone can come along to stop you and feel that they must try their hardest to issue a citation of some sort.

I will be in the area and will spend some time on Winni during the first few days of the season. As for techniques, I like to pull cranks in 6 to 9 feet of water somewhere between the Dishes and the Rock pile to the West just inside of the large fleets of boats jigging with shiners. If that doesn’t work for me I have had good luck rigging with shiners in the same areas.

I know in the past the DNR has closed parts of Little Cutfoot in the spring. Do you know if they plan on allowing people to fish back there this year?

Good Luck!!!

I thought that Apelico had been bought by Ratheon and the Apelico 45 was the same thing as a Ratheon 45. I picked an Apelico 45 at Gander Mountain on sale a couple years back. They were selling them cheap as the box said Apelico and the new ones said Raytheon. I may be wrong.

I have heard many good things about the 100, 115 and 125 Merc motors. They switch down from 4 to 2 cyl at low RPMs. I have used the 100 on a tiller Pro-V and it backtrolled as slowly as my 75 Merc. They are relatively cheap as well.

The only negative thing I have heard about the motors relates to waterskiing. When the RPMs increase and the other 2 cyl kick in, there is a bit of a lurch.

Yes. The first thing it did was show just how many walleyes there are in Lake Minnetonka. I was amazed to see the numbers of walleyes. panfish and bass on the outside weed edges, especially where rock mixes with the weed edge. Even though I live close to the lake I hadn’t fished it much since milfoil had taken over the shallows.

I have found boat contol difficult when looking at the screen and trying to stay on the weed edge that goes from 18′ to 7′ in a matter of a few feet. I use the camera as more of a scouting tool when on open water. If using it while fishing I prefer to have someone else in the boat use the camera while I drive and watch the Lowrance or Zercom.

It helped on the Canadian side of Lake of the Woods in finding the right types of reefs in the summer. We fish tiny reefs north of the Angle and were astonished to see how different the bottom is on these reefs. Some reefs are filled with small boulders while some are one huge sheet of rock.

It is also fun to use while ice fishing during the day. Once twilight hits, the camera becomes ineffective even with IR or multicolored lights.

Be careful with the Aqua View Jr. I have had 3 of them that all went bad due to bad cables. 2 of the units were bad when I took them out of the box. Nature Vision was good about replacing them as they new there was a problem. I was allowed to upgrade to a Z-60 which went bad due to an improperly sealed monitor. They have since upgraded me to an old larger unit that is holding up well.