Wonderful info! So it does appear there are walleyes out there!

Out of curiousity, since there is more milfoil on Tonka, is the line selection or use of steel leaders more the norm to avoid the weeds or muskies from beating up the line? Generally i’m using 12lb Floro/ no steel leaders up on mille lacs and that is sufficient for ripping through the remaining cabagge up there.

But knowing how thick the milfoil is on tonka in summer, does it lay down a lot more in the fall? 12lb test would seem to be more prone to breaking if hung up in weeds…
and it seems like Lots of Luck’s posts are saying the fish related to the weeds…

Thanks guys, i’m really impressed by Lots of Lucks posts – wonderful sharing.

Jim

Have you thought about taking a blow torch to your yard? Damn charlie.

The Walser Bass Tour recently updated our website with new team members and sponsorship opportunities – we are excited about these enhancements for 2013!

Check us out at http://wbt.fiveand1.net/!

We had 1 team dropped out so we are currently at 12 teams.

Common questions we have received through inquiries include:

Do both partners have to fish all tournaments or can I have a sub if one of us cant make at date?
Yes, subs are allowed, as long as at least 1 original team member is fishing each tourney. We like to see familiar faces to build camaraderie throughout the season!

Do I need a high powered bass boat to fish in this?
No, these are not required, only a boat with a working livewell. We have had various boats in our club, from bass boats to 16′ Lunds with 40hp motors. The WBT welcomes all that can keep their catch healthy and alive for release!

Contact us via the website or through PM if you are interested!

Jim Krocak

Thanks everyone for their feedback!

I’m going ahead and ordering up a quantum KVD tour cranking rod- 7’4″ med/hvy moderate action rod.

Getting it from amazon for $120, hoping it turns out to be a good one!

Thanks!

Thanks for the responses and recommendations!

it appears the key rod action is a “moderate taper/action.” This allows it to load up…

With that being said, getting back to my cranking style — 0′-14′, weed edges — what is the recommended “power?” Medium or medium/heavy? Is there weed ripping that can occur yet still have good load up in these rods, or you essentially giving ripping away with a moderate action?

Thanks for feedback.

For bass fisherman that fish/troll from the bow, would 1198 w side imaging be more useful at the console or up front? What about no side imaging up front? Thinking of what is worth the money when spending this amount of cash.

Looking at two new birds and both w side imaging would be a spendy option.

Thanks for opinions!

Looks like we are up to 13 teams this year, one more opening! Thanks for your inquiries!

Jim

We have confirmed 12 teams, only 2 more to fill our field of 14, thanks for the inquiries!

What were the results of the tourney? How many boats you snag?

Love it, great visuals, we can watch Roland and bill dance catch fish all day and not learn a thing!

The more us anglers see the true benefits like this and show how to interpret, the more I think we will be inclined to purchase these spends units! Thanks for the prompt update! Keep ’em coming!

Jim

Great filming, fun to watch!

General question: Any chance next time we can get more freeze frames on the side imaging screen itself? It would be helpful for info on what the guide actually is interpreting as fish and “large boulders compared to the flat rocks.” Video seemed like 95% catching fish and only 2 minutes of actually looking at the graph.

For viewers like me without it, it would be nice to see just what is being seen as a “fish” amongst those gray mapping lines/images of the unit itself.

Thanks, keep up the great work and educational efforts!
Jim

I’m with my bro DanK – Columbia’s gear is widely available and works great. I also wear the fingerless sungloves too. I’m fortunate to be married and if i wasnt at an age that the ladies of the lake wouldnt look my way anyways in our fishing boat and “fit” condition. Admittedly i look rediculous and quite covered in the sun on these 6-8 hr days on the water – cap w/neck flap, sunglasses, UV pants, long sleeve UV shirt, gloves.

Besides the rays being unsafe long term, i really just cant stand being sunburned, it’s an annoyance/inconvenience for a couple days. Sleeping and moving around can be painful!

My bro and i just had to bring our 1991 40HP Mariner for electrical repair – the Stator and Switch Board – to Supreme Marine in Minneapolis. Because it was sputtering, we thought it was fuel delivery issues and we replaced the fuel line, connectors (tank to motor), and sparkplugs. We also told them we use a couple ounces of seafoam per gallon on every other tank.

Perhaps it was the age of our motor but Supreme Marine experts recommended we avoid using Seafoam. As they explained, part of the reason was because Seafoam has such a high alcohol content that it does burn and break away build up, however it also dries out the gaskets and other fittings it touches. The result can be cracked seals of the sorts (I cant speak to which ones per-se however i see where they are coming from.)

Instead, Supreme Marine highly recommended to:
1) Stay away from Blue Planet gas as that is notoriously high in other detergents harmful to boat motors (along with the ethanol content) — it’s manufactured for car engines. “Lucky” (insert sarcasm) for us in Minnesota, Holiday gas stations are all over the place. I like everything else about Holidays though…

2) Purchase ethanol treatment additives that essentially breakdown the ethanol/water component in the fuel. Depending on motor use, one $20 bottle could get you through your season. Examples are Star brite Star Tron Gasoline Additive (Star Tron Site with Ethanol Background), Marine Formula STA-BIL (Sta-Bil Site),there may be others but these are more well known/available.

3) For gas stations – ethanol-free gas is best as some have already indicated. I found this site that lists ethanol-free stations by state (Pure-Gas.org). If we can’t find the ethanol-free fuel, Supreme Marine recommended to gas up at BP’s, Mobils, Citgos, KwikTrips as there’s have less of these detergents. SA’s determined to be “ok” but not as desired as the stations just listed.

I suggest you contact your local marine motor specialists to confirm/corroborate what I learned from these guys. With respect to the comments already made, perhaps a motorhead can weigh-in on this thread.

I have a 2004 Nissan Titan – first model year – and have had it since 2006. Unless things have changed since that initial year, which i dont think has occurred, expect poor gas mileage without a trailer. It’s an interesting ride, i have got 14-15 miles per gallon IN and OUT of 4 wheel drive – it didnt matter. I found this out by accidentally leaving in 4×4 in a snowstorm and driving 300+ miles down to iowa for work. Same exact mileage calculation as out of 4×4.

I also get the same amount towing too…so it’s curious.

regardless, it’s been quite reliable and the towing and highway passing power has been substantial. It’s defintely a quicker vehicle off the line than some silverados and f150’s i’ve driven in.

lastly, with the titan, you sacrifice towing/speed and overall killer looks with some road noise – but that’s the Titan. I know the Armada is a lot quieter with noise dampeners and personally think the Armada has a distict look over the same Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade look that GM has maintained for about 10+ years. Just my personal opinion.

Overall, i love my titan – still one of the most unique looking trucks out on the road. I think it’s a head turner because there are fewer out there than GM/Chevy/Ford and proud to not be part of the usual pack.

Good luck in your decision, i feel that any large size SUV you end up with will probably give you adequate power you desire – whichever you choose.

How will we ever figure out these chains without AIS volunteers at the access to help us?

This is a serious concern to come about for governing our waters. In today’s StarTribune article it cites that the DNR was not consulted on this decision and the Park Board is identifying inspections as a “stop gap” which to me, makes little sense. Rediculous.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/159885555.html

Also it states:

“In Minneapolis, Lake Hiawatha and Minnehaha Creek already have zebra mussels, Pilger said — three of the more than 40 lakes and rivers in Minnesota with the fingernail-sized nuisance.”

Sadly the Mpls lakes WILL get zebra mussels, that’s a fact.

Let’s ask the Mpls Park Board this question: “How many boats are entering into Lake Hiawatha with their ballasts full with the mussel or the canoes that have been sitting for days in waters invested and now launching into Hiawatha. Heavy on the sarcasm there. The transportation occurs naturally.

Preventing boats, locking gates, or fining people for being on a lake is NOT the solution.

This situation is getting dangerously close to a privatized lake environment that is unacceptable in our Minnesota waters.

Let’s stop looking for the smoking gun and more effectivly address this issue by dedicating resources to eradication research and education. Contact your representatives and the park board as indicated in posts above.

As my Bro Dan K indicated the switch box was replaced and the boat ran great – for two trips out. On the third trip out, the motor once again was not powering up in gear and only going forward at an idle speed.

We disappointingly brought it back to Supreme Marine and they indicated the Stator went bad now, most likely due to the switch box being replaced and putting out cleaner/stronger amperage to downstream parts. Apparently not uncommon to have this “downstream failure” after replacing upstream parts – after all the motor is almost 20 years old.

Supreme Marine expedited the fix on the stator and the boat has been running awesome again. Unfortunately for us, we have dropped nearly $1000 in fixes here…Aside from this major debacle, it’s been a very reliable motor and just probably due for some failure after having this for 8 years without much of any issues.

Oh well – nice to have a fishing partner to share boat costs with! Case closed!

Catchin’

I will be fishing smallies on sunday out on Green, anyone have any info on current temps or what stage these fish might be in right now?

Nice post! Good luck this weekend!

It did seem like we had to cover water though to get our bites and help tell us where fish were in the spawn cycle. With that being said, we felt that if we had hunkered down a little bit more and threw senkos, we could have found more too.

Our opinion, based on the different depths we found them at, is they were in post spawn mood… at least the bigger ones which were in the 12-14′ range…

Was out on minnewashta and temps were 68 before weather blew me off

Thanks for heads up!

Heading up to Gull on saturday night – what are the water temps out there? Any help?

BUMP – any additional water temps in the MN lakes people want to share?

BOOYAH!

Due to an unfortunate occurrence with one of our members, we have an additional spot available for the 2012 Walser Bass Tour.

Contact Us!
Check out the post above for more details on the WBT and our website for official rules and requirements. If you think this is for you, contact Jeremie Larson by email ( [email protected] ), PM me, or go to the site to make your inquiry directly from there.

Good Fishing!
Jim Krocak
Walser Bass Tour – Tourney Director
http://wbt.fiveand1.net/

Great season thus far, enjoying the young rivalry of the seabrooke and rambling rose.

Go figure – my brother dan k go out on saturday and weather is crappy and fishing poor. sunday weather supposed to be 80% chance of rain and doesnt spit at all – but too late, we made other plans for the day.

so i did what anyone would when monday is sunny and nice out:

i call in sick and went to north long near balsam. got about 12 bass pumping traps and throwing senkos.

(that sigh you just heard was the satisfaction of getting the first bass under my wings for 2012, more to come!)

It seems the focus on these conversations related to backtrollnig and assume for standard walleye fishing.

Does anyone use 18’+ tillers for bass fishing and more specifically, bass tournament fishing? Bass boats generally arent family friendly boats whereas the tillers offer room for the youngun’s to move around.

Solid post! Good to hear there were some fish to be found!