CaptainMusky wrote:

The one thing I wonder about is when the flag does pop, and you go to remove the insulating foam disc, how hard is that to get out? Seems fine in the house, but outside might be a different story.

CaptainMusky- I have been using the foolers for about 3 or 4 seasons now and one thing I can say is that rather than pulling the flag disc, I typically set the hook with the disc in then remove it once I have the fish on. I personally don’t use the foam discs but just use tip up hole covers since they fold up easier and are cheaper on Black Friday, but I never seemed to have an issue setting the hook with the hole covers still covering the hole.

Was out on the lake last saturday. Vehicles all over. Did see some truck tracks through the main parts of the lake but mostly snow machines and atvs. There are roads leading out of both landings. Don’t know anything about the bite since I wasn’t fishing. Follow the crowds and should be able to find some crappies

I too use the finickys and just use regular tip up covers. Also I have done this both ways but setting the hook with the hole cover over the hole works good, then once you have the fish on reach down and remove the cover.

Best fishing device I have used hands down. The guy who makes them lives a couple of minutes from my parents place and is a good guy as well. I wanted to get something that I could fish eyes with while using a pole, rather than jigging the whole time. I use these up on Mille Lacs and theres nothing better than catching a 25″ eye in 30′ fow. I highly recommend these to guys who don’t want to spend the money on Ifish setups, another trick I found out was that yes the hole covers do work nice but Eagle Claw makes a hole cover that does the trick as well and got mine on Black Friday for $7 each.

Matt thanks for the advice, I never seen WB in the winter time yet so I can only imagine that there must be snowmobiles ripping across the lake at all times and fish houses everywhere? I am more of an eye fishermen but don’t mind getting some good action if the crappies are decent. This summer I never caught a crappie when fishing for them, I did run into some pretty big gills however on the northern end of the lake coming out of deep holes

Copete44, I have driven past bald eagle multiple times and never really thought to stop and check it out. I too seemed to have a challenge when figuring out the walleye bite in the metro area. I crossed the border from Wisco and coming from over there I never really ran into highly pressured areas like I do in the east metro. The past 3 years I have an annual guys trip out of Red Door on the north side of Mille Lacs that has produced decent numbers and a couple of big boys as well. My goal this year is to learn the south side since I have only fished out of the north side of the lake. I will have to check out Beachside resort.

Gimruis, just from going out on WB during the summer and seeing all the boat traffic I can only imagine that the best time to fish walleyes on there would have to be after dark. I am thinking that there might be a few late nights this winter spent out there with some card games and a bottle to sip on!

copete44 I appreciate the response. Just from talking to other fishermen when I am out on the lakes around the area it sounds like it is tough to find walleyes except for on St. Croix when you hit it right. I may have to take a closer look into the Bayport area this winter once we get some longer snaps of cold weather to make better ice. I am not expecting to catch anything huge or large numbers around the area, but it would be nice to get some walleyes going out in the afternoon for a couple hours.

Appreciate the input, i was still pulling crawler harness so may have to look at switching to raps now that the water temp has cooled!