i would like to know how the casino boycott or whatever was proposed has to do with spearing, are you serious????

as for the liberal comments, anyone claiming to be “conservative” should be asking what they are doing to improve your life??

can anyone name a liberal presidential candidate who they think would really take away there right to fish?? get real.

too many people do themselves a disfavor by voting conservative based on this right to hunt and fish business, let’s look at the real issues, healthcare war and education

i was not saying you were not informed jon. it appears that you do have some knowledge relative to this topic. And i am not saying that i am the gospel on this.

on the topic of thinking deeper into this, i was referring to native culture and history, too many fisherman are stereotyping native culture based on fishing and casinos. Take a look at what strides native people have made in the midst of being a minority culture. Believe me, everones taxes are less now do to these strides. No stats, but consider the amount of NA people that were receiving govt. welfare 30 years ago. Now reservations are equiped with health care systems and some even have per capita payments based on casino revenue, not all though.

I just get tired of this spearing/netting issue every year
and i believe the dead piles of fish. What tiks fisherman off is that they do it (net, spear) legally out in the open.

i would be interested to see how many walleyes are taken illegally under the radar every year in mn and wi, i would bet that it would dwarf the native harvest.

let’s consitrate more on playing by the rules oursrlves,

jon, would it be your solution to do away with all treaties?
would that include taking away reservation land?

I think we all should try to think deeper into this issue, beyond just seeing some walleyes taking that we couldnt get

research into the self sufficiency of tribes could help eveyone understand. Does no good to blow off at the mouth when you are not fully informed

how many of you guys are NRA members??

to me it is the same principal, the NRA lobbys so hard to keep handguns and assault rifles on the streets based on the slippery slope principal, i.e. what’s next, my 12 guage??

taking away certain treaty rights, or even ammending them can be seen as a slippery slope to native tribes

just something to think about

try to use at least a 2/0 hook, and if possible always rig weedless

If i could only have one it would be a brown 4″ power tube

I live very close to both lakes, bass are definately underfished, as they get tons of muskie pressure especailyy on weekends, i limit my time to during the week,
anyway, deer lake has loads of small bass, 8-10″ fish, I have had a few 100 fish days on these little guys, it’s fun,
Bone has better quality, and provides for funner fishing with the size and available structure

they all work if you throw them in front of a hungry bass, personally, bulk power tubes bought in spirit lake are what I use

I wouldnt worry so much about the color, especially if you are having a hard time locating any fish,

What works for me in this situation is covering as much water as possible using a confidence bait ( for me it is a spinnerbait or small crank, and tube jigs at the targets, use a color that you are confident in because it’s all about finding the fish

first question is how clear is the lake??

If it is moderately clear, say 7-10 ft on the secci, look for the muddiest bay with weeds, try to locat any significant flat (2-5 feet) I would stay clear of areas with big drop offs unless they are adjacent to the flat.

Also any green weeds are worth fishing, try using a small tube lure like you would a slug

good luck

i use all superlines, with some variation, probably 50/50 power pro and fireline,

A cheaper alternative that really isn’t that bad in my eyes is spiderwire fusion

anyone else use fusion?

balsam is good now just make sure you are in shallow bays and find wood or wood or both, main lake temps are still a bit chilly

i vote for the original yanomoto, (if you can afford it) it usually lasts two to three fish for me.
after it’s really beat up, save em and rig it “wacky”
A friend of mine up here i nw wisconsin went through 500+ senkos last year.

tubes= pinpoint casts spring smb, skipping under docks, even fishing it like a slug, erratic when retrieved like that

worms= deeper weedlines

way to go, and good choice to visit 5. Now is the time for the mogombo smallies

i am with you there, i am done making lures look pretty, i dont think there are too many fish that stop to look at the color of the hook on a crank, once they commit to whack it that’s it, also, i stopped painting jigheads, i go through 100-200 1/8ths a year and make my own, i’ve tested this theory on lakes and rivers with anglers at my same skill level, no difference, it’s all about the plastic

hey haywood, finally a little bit on the sand flats, yes, they do produce smallmouth in the spring, i have had better success on the sand a bit later, when water temps are more constant in the mid fifties. with the flow and river low, look for sandy inside corners of wing dams and throw a plastic at them.
Last weekend, alkfish, jighead, and myself fished pool six hard, the best areas on the channel were definately current breaks,(for example, find a bridge piling with good current flowing past and throw a plastic in the seam.) with many largemouth now moving on the channel. In 1.5 days, we logged 42 fish in channel areas, 50-50% lmb and smb with the biggest smb being 19.5″ Check out alkfish’s link at hardcore fishing on the user list. the pics should be up soon.

regarding the wisconsin people. I think “the kid” is right when talking about tight lipped people in this area. I think it is a love hate relationship as far as the WI people and the MN people. I live in Polk county and work in Burnett county, I also fish lakes in these counties hard, as well as the northern Croix.
Not being able to take a left turn on a friday afternoon in Siren in the summer is frustrating, that is when you hear all the four letter words coming out of the locals mouths including mud ducks, and even more popular swampies.
Bottom line is that people think that the lakes are being “raped” every weekend by Mn people
With that in mind is the thought of how business could survive up here without the tourism $$$$—–give and take i guess.
The way I deal with it is to fish during the week, pretty much have any lake without a resort on it to yourself, if fishing on the weekend, in the summer I am on the lake at five and off by 10—–before the skiers get out.

Give and Take that’s all, I am still glad I live here and “everyone else ” has to drive two hours to get “here”

i prefer the zebco snoopy reel over the 202, it’s a bit more lower in profile, also the sponge-bob squarepants reel may be an option, the yellow color is good as it is highly visable

OK, on reels, overall shimano, longest lasting reel i have is a garcia syncro it is over 10 years old and beat to death, but has outlasted any quantam or diawa i have ever had

does bill dance fish anything but well stocked farm ponds???????????????

hey what about VIRGIL WARD, fishing has come a long way since i would sit patiently sunday afternoons hoping to watch good old virgil. Only three stations then

OH, not to laugh too much about virgil because he was using a reaper when most of us were pooping yellow

Ahead of his time?????????? HMMMM

I am hurt alkfish, i thought for sure you would say me, and then at a close second AL
All hail Al

Hey Jeremy, i have heard of Chuck Marshall, I don’t know him, but remember good friend Chad G talking about him in our college days at Winona State, He is an Iowa boy right?
My plug for local celebs is Rick Nascak form winona, mostly a walleye guy, but a good all around fisherman, you can follow him on the MWC as well as the RCL
On a more sentamental note, respect goes to another pool 6 guy who lost a battle with cancer. His name was ROss Wood, he new the river inside and out, and was always there to teach. He smoked salems, so during ice fishing we would just follow the salem butts, 1 butt on a spot would be a cold hole, anything more than three butts on a spot meant there was fish there

Nationally, Kevin Van Dam and dont laugh, Roland Martin

Godlike??? only one, and his name is Al

i hear you tazbbassin, and good call name by the way. People in the industry can didctate what is going to be the “hot” bait with just one thing, promotion, and yes, I have been texas rigging salt craws since the early 90’s, i have also caught crap loads of walleyes on a bait called the reaper for even longer,( it kind of looks like that new HOT bait the super doo )

i am in agreement with BBB on this issue. I have made an effort to clear the junk so to speak out of my tackle boxes, (partly do to the fact that i can never seem to find the 4″ power tube soon enough) i don’t like weeding through this stuff i never use. My solution is to give this stuff to my two teenage newphews as they are more likely to use it. It all boils down to confidence, it changes year to year sometimes with new stuff, and recycles with old, (I threw a spinnerbait more this year than ever, two years ago everything was husky jerk), weird because the bottom line is everything works if you fish where there is fish, I have saved $$$$$ on crankbaits, only use three types, i think i have every one of the discontinues plastic fat raps

after reading the past few post/responses on this thread, the first thing that came to mind was this, If you don’t like what happens on pool 4, think it’s too crowded, or think that this site will eliminate good fishing on pool 4 , the answer is history, never has, can’t say that it wont, but if you don’t like it, come down and fish pools say 5-8, believe me, you can have the river to yourself sometimes, and yes, it is true that there are walleyes and saugers in other places than pool 4, and would you believe, they also bite on doos and ringworms…….and power grubs, and mister twisters, and zoom plastics, and 6″ lizards etc etc etc. Point, do your own thing, and if you dont like what happens on pool 4 dont go or go somewhere else

i am thankful to have caught 10 muskies this year, and the knowlege i have gained making the transition from 100% river fishing to lake fishing, (although the river is still tops)
I am also thankful for my health, in being able to go out fishing, i work with people with disabilities so my awareness to the simple things such as being able to walk is elavated

click on alkfish on the user list his link has some of our best, (alkfish, bigdog, and jighead)

i have made the switch to using all superline now. Any time I use mono it feels like i am fishing with a piece of crap, can not feel anything, i dont use mono or flurocarbon leaders, maybe i should in some instances, i use green fireline 2/6 when sight is important, also many jigs saved on rocks as the hook will bend before the line breaks in most instances, power pro and fireline for me— hands down

I admire that you have made it this long with the trusting attitude. Unfortunately, I lost my trusting attitude after getting several items stolen out of my boat many years ago, most people are trusting, but the few that are not seem to have the control