I bought both of my daughters Chevy Equinox’s. I have been happy with them. They have AWD and are affordable. I would stay away from an Equinox that was 2014 and older as they had engine problems.

I am fishing the Brainerd area over MEA. The water temperature this afternoon is 48 degrees. I caught a few bass this afternoon. I imagine with the temperatures climbing it will get better.

I like like the Ducky’s water spot remover. Don’t be afraid let it soak in a little while. I think it says 5 – 10 seconds but wait up to a minute or so. I also think it works better to use a bath towel and not something softer like microfiber. My boat sits on a a boat lift all season so sometimes when I bring it back in the fall it can take several applications to get rid of the water spots.

My PB from opener week.

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The size 7 fat rap is my all time top producer for a crankbait. Since they are no longer available except on ebay, I have tried several different brands. I have come to really like Norman lures Deep Little N. I even catch an occasional walleye on them.

Here is Daisy just chilling waiting for the next bite.

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The Rapala size 7 fat rap is my all time favorite crank bait. Unfortunately they are no longer sold. They are available on E Bay but you pay the price. The Norman lures deep little N has become my new favorite crank bait.

I would also like to see more CO’s hired. I have not been checked in years and I think non compliance is a major problem.

I have a Turbo Swing on my Ranger 620 with Mercury 250 Pro xs. I have the giant. I also have a talon which is mounted with a tilt bracket. It works great. I did go with the reverse mount to keep my motor from hitting the Turbo Swing bar. Everything was mounted when I purchased the boat.

I believe if more people would take the pike under 22″ it would help. I don’t think that is what the DNR is planning on happening. The limit of 10 was set because those pike under 22″ are available and some will utilize that resource. Every pike under the slot taken helps. What the DNR says will happen is that when these pike get to that upper end of the slot and above that they will take care of the small pike.

Being from Rochester I use the KTTC Weather Authority App. You can set it for other locations and the radar is my favorite. It has many setting as far as warnings and watches. Great app.

I have tried a lot of hooks for wacky fishing. I keep going back to a size 2/O or 3/O EWG hook.

For me it is hard to beat a fat rap in size 7. It’s one lure I wish they would bring back. I have surprisingly caught some of my biggest pike on it also. Fortunately I can still purchase them on E Bay. They are quite expensive thou.

Is Roschen Park usable as far a one person launch? Are the docks in and accessible?

I do a lot of wacky worm fishing in clear and shallow water. I always tie on a flouro leader under these conditions. I fish a lot of docks also and I like the abrasion resistance. I have tried fishy without a leader and I just feel I do better with a leader. I use a uni to uni knot wrapped 8 times and I have never had a knot failure. The one thing I don’t like about a leader is that I feel I can’t skip the bait as well with a leader.

My favorite bait changes throughout the season. If I had to pick one bait it would be fishing a Gary Yamamoto 5″ senko wacky rigged.

The new pike regulations are in place to try and reverse the problems with small pike. There is a 22″ – 26″ slot that those fish need to be released. There is also a 10 fish bag limit for pike under 22 inches. I know many fishermen will not keep pike that small but once you learn to filet them it is not that bad. The plan is to get the pike under 22 inches above 26 inches. Pike above 26 inches will consume the smaller pike.
I fish the chain a lot and I think the guys that really know the lake can consistently catch walleyes. The population has never been real high. Recently the gill net catch was 6 per gill net. That was about the highest I have seen on Whitefish. It is not a lake I would go to if I was just walleye fishing. It is a much better bass and pike lake.
As far as Muskies go the DNR does not like to stock muskies in lakes with high populations of pike. I am not saying it does not happen but the criteria list low pike populations for Musky stocking. Also I am sure that there would be major opposition if there was ever a proposal for Musky stocking on the Whitefish Chain. Probably for several reasons.

The main goal of these regulations are not for producing trophy pike. That is more for the 100 lakes with special regulations. These regulations are aimed more so to increase harvest in the southern and north central zone. These regulations in the north central part of the state are meant to move the smaller fish above 26 inches. The allowing of the 10 fish limit is more to allow people who want keep more fish to do so since the fish are plentiful and harmful to fisheries. The goal is to maintain the fishery in the N.E. part of the state.