I have the otter medium sled with the cabin top (2 man). It is easy to pull, you can fit all your gear in it even the power auger. The zippered door is nice–if you want to keep the heat inside. You can set it 1/2 open in a windbreak fashion. Pull it with a rope by hand or with a ATV/Snowmobile. Otter has it’s own line of seats, hitch attachments, etc although with a skil saw and drill you can save the bucks. I have built two seat with 2×10’s or 2×12’s and attached swivel seats, rod holders(to set the rod in while I attend to tip-ups), etc. When I first got the otter I went out fishing with another guy who was dragging an older suitcase style portable….It ended up riding on top of my otter because the guy just couldn’t bear pulling that heap anymore. Alot of guys that fish with me have all bought otter’s also. Good luck getting a hold of one……they go really fast. P.s. the sled floats…I’ve used it to drag duck decoys around, I’ve even gotten inside the thing used it as a blind and floated across waist deep mud to set decoys. The sled hauls deer well also.

Ivan’s jigging spoons in the smaller 2 sizes (take off the treble hooks from the factory and replace with some quality RED trebles of the same size) Whether or not to tip with a minnow head is up to you. I’ve got ’em to bite with or without bait. Speaking of bait….waxworms, eurolarva, spikes, bugs, whatever you want to call them will get them to bite when their fussy as well. Tip 1, 2, up to as many as you can get on the hook…sometimes they hit one, somedays two, sometimes 6. Also jigs like the Genz worm, pounder, fatboy, or custom jigs & spins demons. I like green, orange, and puple for jig colors with glow. Something that is somewhat new is using the chubby darter in the smaller perch pattern version and putting a dropper 3-4″ below the darter with a small jig with minnow head or wax worm. It also intrigues the walleyes. If nothing else works down-size your walleye presentation and fish for both. Good luck.

Just got back yesterday from Mille Lacs–rain/blue bird skies, wind—–it don’t matter the fish just plain are on the bite. About every presentation working now. Heck troll the kitchen sink and you might get one!!!! Also caught more slots rigging the rocks than I have doing anything else. Weekdays I have been able to claim reefs and flats to myself as boat traffic is light—but heavy on the flats that the baitshops said are hot. Find the hot tips on where to go then don’t go there. Weekends—that might seem like opener all over again. Unbelievable fishing though—How long can it last?????

I thought the taildancers would be the hot ticket last spring, but it wasn’t. Those larger/deeper running lures just ran a little too deep 10-12′ when the fish were up shallow, may be the # 5 will fit the bill better for shallow water end. The reg.(longer & deeper runner) did produce well on pike though–they love that perch pattern–5 pike between 32″ and 38″ plus some shorter ones in a 3 hour afternoon troll.

What about the Long Cast Minnow? Anyone tossed that one out yet? Brian……

CrossinEyes,

You generally move slowly upstream, downstream can work, but upstream is usually more productive. Usually you move too slowly for speedometer or GPS. What I do is keep one eye on the shoreline trees or other landmark and the other eye on the other boats. Sometimes later as the water warms and the fish are really aggressive you can get the fish to hit at up to 3 mph possibly faster. I use a 6-8 inch dropper with 4ft or longer lead sometimes up to 12-18 inches (to lengthen the lead to 6-8 foot, yet keep it a few inches off bottom). I use this for floaters/stickbaits. Keep your line at a 45 degree angle or less to the water as it will help keep you from snagging. Also keep the cranks clean and running true.Brian

FishinFool,

You can get the trolling weight system by contacting Brett King. You should be able to find a e-mail address somewhere on this site or on http://www.fishthelake.com. If that doesn’t work I or Nate or Hawger may have his phone number. The trolling sinkers were selling for around $20-25 and he also has a new snap weight kit also for about $15-20. I haven’t stuck a 9lb-er like Nate on them, but I also have had good with the trolling system–I have yet to loose a weight or snap-Knock on timber & rock. Brett is still working on some 3 oz. and heavier stuff for heavy flow in the river. These things have sold like hot cakes at Walleye Searchers meetings.

I fish for them. I like the battle they put up. If you want to have a good time and keep your kids smiling from ear to ear, laughing, with a drag squealing while pike season is closed. Just go to the Morristown dam on the cannon river. I can’t resist giving up a couple dozen crawlers for it. If it’s a fish and there’s an open season on it I will try to catch it.

Quicksilver,

I like the power pro and spiderwire in 30lb test and 10 lb. Trilene XT mono. Power pro is cheaper than fireline or spiderwire, but I haven’t decided which I like better yet. Brian

Quiksilver,

There’s a book out called Precision Trolling. The latest is 6th addition I believe that came out last spring 2001. You should be able to find one at Cabelas, Gander Mt., Fleet farm, or others.

As for those clip on line counters–I have a couple of them on the bottom of some lakes and they are worthless. Buy the Daiwa LCW line counter reel (walleye version-check the product review on this board) and save yourself the headache by doing it right from the start. That’s what I did. Brian/TGIF

Falling Rock,

You can troll 3-ways and stickbaits anytime of the year. We caught fish doing it the 2nd/3rd week of January this year. The way I look at it is the colder the water like it is now the slower the troll. Upstream speed for me now is looking at 12-18″ diameter trees on the shoreline and moving so slowly that you can barely notice your moving upstream. I do most trolling with cranks on 3-ways going upstream. Down stream trolling can work and when it has for me was always post-spawn with warmer water and pulling the cranks flatline slightly faster than the flow speed. Some days it works some days it don’t. I have not noticed any water temp that says “nows the time” for 3-ways and cranks. Lately I’ve done better trolling floaters and minnows than I have on cranks both in numbers and size of fish. I seem to be one of the few and usually the only guy trolling at this time of the year and I believe that most of the time I catch less in numbers than the jiggers but better in size. Besides–trolling 3-ways is warmer than jigging anyway. Brian/TGIF

James,

Maybe I have the wrong name for those egg-head jigs. I see you have a picture of that jighead on your last river report. What is that jig head called? Where can I get those?

I never use bait on a hair jig. I wonder what happens when a ringworm slides on their though? Hum?

Never fished that area, but if you ever make it to the Missouri river/Dakotas on Oahe/Sharpe/Francis Case waters then definetly fish the mudlines-very productive during the day.

Hybes,

I troll on the river or lakes. I have two of the Daiwa LCW-27 (walleye model) reels and they have worked super. I want 2 more. They have plenty of cranking power. Clicker on the drag can is useful at night. Large spools hold alot of line.

About $90 each if I remember right. Made for trolling though-not casting.

5’s and 7’s Shad Rap #1 perch #2 Craw #3 Firetiger.

Here’s what I use:

Weights I use are 1-5 oz. Weights over 3 oz. can be tough to find–when you do see some get them. Different shapes/weights can have advantages meaning sometimes a weight shape with less water resistance can allow you to use smaller weights. I use them with 3-ways and also snap weights and planer boards/flat-line trolling. Glass and Graphite rods. Got to get ’em bumpin bottom and you will lose some. I’ll troll speeds from barely noticing that you move upstream to 5 mph-GPS speed.

Cranks-floaters-stickbaits, shad raps, wally divers, fat raps(bass cranks)–colder water-use floaters/stickbaits 2 1/2″ to 3-3 1/2″ and as water temp increases move up the vibration/action scale of the cranks into shad raps 5’s and 7’s then up to fat raps/some bass cranks/or hot & tots (very erratic-lot’s of action) for the peak of the water temp. Fish can do weird stuff though and hit very erratic baits in cold water or stick baits in warm water or hit fast moving baits as a reaction-not giving them the chance to think about it. Check back on the board and it will be posted on what cranks are the preference pattern and check the articles on FTR. I usually do best with firetiger, perch, crawdad patterns.

Line-I troll with power pro and 10 lb. mono. Some times mono leaders w/main line power pro. Check out the book Precision Trolling it’s like a bible to trollers.

Lot’s of options on 3-ways. I’m new to 3-ways and constantly think of new ways and modifications for them. Good luck, Brian

Nate,

Only the guy who buy’s out Gander before anyone else can buy any would know that. How are those new 3-ways from the seminar working? TGIF

Is the columbia river flowing through Wash. state/Oregon area?

The St. Paul Ice show is around Dec. 6, 7, 8th. Correct me if I’m off a day there please. That is a show I hit every year and I recommend that anyone who like to ice fish go take a stroll around. There’s lots and lots of tackle, rods, reels, shacks, heaters, electronics, and seminars by some great speakers and anglers. This year I believe there is to be a seminar speaker on electronics for ice–that should be interesting with the advances in sonar and GPS that have exploded in recent years.

Give it a try and get a jump on the ice season–inevitably the water will freeze again.

For 5 or 6 bucks you will see the newest stuff on the market and be able to interrogate the marketing reps as well.

Brian

I was in the boat with Hawg and I believe I was probably getting more bites on straight hair jigs, but hooking more on the jig/minnow. Why? I’m not sure, but perhaps I was paying more attention to the hair jig as I find it will usually produce the bigger fish of the day for me (at least in the past or I have confidence that it will). Not the case that day, but we also left at 3 PM (too early), but weigh in times are not flexlible.

It would be interesting to put the hair jig up against the plastics and see which takes the prize and which takes the eaters?

But no presentation or bait (live or artificial) matters as much as boat control. Hawg handled the C-liner superbly that day and swung my lines in front of the fish—-All I did was reel them in!!!

Brian

Waterfowler–

How are you going to make it to gander when it’s gander shootin’ time??????????????

Wow this site just never ceases to amaze me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seen whities bustin the surface on pool 4 from the lake north up into the river all over. Didn’t really have to pay attention to the seagulls–just watch the surface.

Pulled spinners north of the lake today—-no fish on that, but I did catch some tackle and for once I beat the snaggy Ole Miss in one aspect! Seemed to be a tough today and hard to find fish of the right species willing to bite. Did anyone else have any luck on sat. or sun.?

Thanks for the help guys!!!

A plus for using mono backing and using the back to back uni-knot is that it will save a few bucks worth of line to spool up two reels.

Good luck,

Brian

Erick,

What time of day are you planning on? If it’s early morning I may be able hook up.

Is there any way to narrow down where to find clam beds besides catchin’ them. Are they native to certain bottom compostition or structures? Just curious.

Brian