NOCO.

pbrown001 wrote:

What are the water temps at? Do you guys think we are still pre spawn? or Post Spawn?

Good question.

If all the walleye spawned at the same time all of their fertilized eggs would be in the same basket. Thats a reproductive risk nature doesn’t take. So the spawn is spread out over many weeks. Many have already spawned, some haven’t spawned yet. So the answer is both (or neither).

Technically we are in the “peak spawning” period for our latitude (i.e., photoperiod).

DaveB wrote:

My sense is that the MN water is just slightly warmer in April than the Mississippi, but what the heck do i know

I studied walleye spawning for a few years for the DNR in Voyageurs. That tracks pretty solid. Temperature is a very important factor during incubation. Steadily rising temps are optimal for incubating eggs.

The other reason might be water levels as Joe mentioned above. Rapidly rising (or falling obviously) water levels are trouble during incubation. Eggs get stranded too deep and deprived of O2 or become dislodged from the substrate. There is basically nowhere for increasing flow to go below LND1 but up; but the MN floodplain is pretty expansive and more tolerant to increasing flowrate.

I gave it a thorough read. Here are some of the key takeaways for those not interested in reading the whole thing:

1. Large numbers of walleye migrated up the Minnesota during the spawn. Some were tracked migrating over 70km.
2. Some walleye spawned in the tailwaters of LND#1, but not nearly as many.
3. Some walleye eggs were found in the lower half of the pool during the spawn, but very few, and they may have drifted down from upstream locations.
4. Walleye prefer to spawn over gravel, rubble, and cobble, but may use alternate substrates up in the MN like tributaries, clam beds, etc.
5. Male walleye linger at spawning grounds longer than females. Females migrate, spawn, ,and return relatively quickly.
6. The researchers suspected that walleye tend to use the middle of the pool for pre-spawn staging in winter (i.e. airport to 494).
7. Walleye tended to use the habitats in the lower to middle sections in summer.
8. One walleye went to pool 3 in summer. He apparently didn’t like all the regulations of pool 2 and preferred to live dangerously.

Should be able to access the pub page here.

Click investigational reports.

Have had Battleborn 12V-100 a-h for about 4 years. Have had to replace both of them separately for water ingress to the BMS. They came with 10 yr warranty but still a hassle. Cost of early adoption I guess.

jp

Battleborn’s specified storage temps are -15F – 140F. So they should be pulled.

If you decide not to pull em – make sure they are fully disconnected from any potential ghost drain.

You already know the answer to the pet blanket question.

Nothing-burger.

john23 wrote:

Why does everyone assume Joe caught the big one? LOL

Congrats John! I’ve caught a lot of 29″ers but never cracked 30″. I thought they all just keeled over dead at 29.75″.

What did she eat?

VNP can be a nasty place to be in rough weather. I have been in some hairy situations out there. There are some spots on nam or kab with miles of fetch. Its impossible to know why certain decisions were made.

He was a veteran ranger. He had helped hundreds of boaters in trouble during his tenure. He was impeccable about safety. He taught the MOCC when I was certified in the park. He gave me a warning once, when 15 minutes after sunset I didn’t have have my running lights on. He was serious but fair – and his lifetime of service to others is honorable. His passing is just plain sad.

If the bite stays this good, it will be quite a slug-fest.

I don’t believe these are the float-suit. I looked and it doesn’t say anything about that and I can’t find the receipt for these.

$100

I used to catch a lot of walleyes around that car.

FryDog62 wrote:

“…You cannot charge lithiums when the temp is below freezing.”

This is the part that concerns me about Lithium batteries in our climate. I don’t want to find out… but I don’t know if lithium batteries just won’t charge when its that cold – or you will damage them if you try ~

The battery should have a PCB which monitors the temp and switches off the charging circuit until the battery is within temp spec. This is even true of the batteries for my ION auger.

Sylvanboat wrote:

Question: can I use a 24v lithium battery to jump a 12v regular battery?

You could always try that if you were in an emergency situation, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that otherwise. You would likely exceed the voltage specifications for the starter and any other accessories on that circuit (sonar, etc.).

If you are running a 24V TM battery and want a safe backup for your 12V starting battery I would recommend checking out the Noco Boost which can get you out of a bind and should hold a charge for an entire season.

J

James Almquist wrote:

This info is from Amp Outdoors manual:

Look at the charging and discharge temps.

Yeah – the inability to charge below freezing is the biggest con in my opinion. I fish the river till it freezes and have a detached garage where my boat is stored so it becomes a pain to keep my batteries charged up.

j

I have two 100A-h Battleborn batteries to power my 80# Ulterra.

Q1 – I don’t believe a 60A-h lithium battery can have “essentially” the same capacity as a 100A-h SLA. I have seen that rumored occasionally. I don’t know why people are saying that. 100a-h = 100a-h.

When you use an SLA battery at high loads for an extended period it will generate more heat than lithium and that will result in some lost capacity. This would help explain some capacity loss but not 50%.

So my recommendation is that if you need 100A-h then get 100A-h. Any benefits you get from reduced heat loss, better discharge profile, etc. will just mean extra time on the water.

Q2 – When choosing 24V versus 12V I went with the 12V for the reasons you mentioned. You can use the battery as a backup for all the other 12V applications in your boat, PLUS it is much easier to source 12V marine chargers.

Some other things to consider…
-You cannot charge lithiums when the temp is below freezing.
-Lithiums have a PCB which monitors battery performance, temp, etc. and these are evolving. I had to send one of mine back to BB due to a faulty board. The warranty was 10 years. They sent a new one out the next day.
-I have NEVER used the full capacity of my batteries but I only have a 16′ boat and typically use the Ulterra on a thrust of 5 or less even in heavy current.

Hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions PM me.

J

thanks for the report Steve!

Here’s how I crank a dam (with minimal losses):

1. Start way upstream of the dam and move in little by little. Sometimes when you start right in front of the dam you are actually setting up right over the top of the fish. This is especially true as flows decline in the late summer. When you get fish hitting right at the boat it might not be a follow. You might be fishing on top of fish. Moving in slowly on a dam you’re not familiar with will also help you learn where all the snaggy parts of the dam are and develop a different approach for each dam to be able to fish the snaggy stuff without getting locked up.
2. I use a heavy braid – 15# or 20# power pro in high vis moonshine for my crankin rod. Moonshine is the color that has a UV additive. I have a headlamp with UV bulbs, and when I fish at night my line lights up and I can fish and tie knots easier. The heavy line is a little bit harder to cast but you will get almost all your cranks back. River fish don’t care that much about your line – we’re not slip bobbering on Mille Lacs here. That being said, just cause I’m a little superstitious, I will take a brown sharpie and darken the last 18″ to the snap if I’m not too busy smacking fish already.
3. Like DaveB said, let em float out when possible. I see a lot of guys set the hook when the rod loads up regardless of how it felt right before it loaded up. Pay attention to the feel and let em float out if its not a hit. You should be able to close your eyes and tell where your crank is in relation to the dam based on the line tension during the retrieve. You should also be able to feel when fish are pushing baits instead of hitting them. At least then you know you are on fish but the fish are negative.
4. A trick I learned years ago when fishing dams is if you’ve really got one locked up and you don’t wanna motor over to it because you don’t wanna spook fish then let about 10-15 yards of line out. Let the current take the slack line downstream a when the line becomes taught again give it a good hard yank. This is basically like pulling from the opposite direction without having to move your boat. I get a LOT of them back with this method.
5. Finally when all else fails you can choose to motor over and yank it out or just pull and hope for the best. Now you have an excuse to skip mowing the lawn and go to fleet farm instead.

hope this helps

j

Jim wrote:

Wing dam question. For, say, a 3-4 hour outing, how many cranks would you expect to loose casting?
I know there are good and bad days.
I’ve been loosing 0-2. Just want to see if that’s typical.

I have a crank casting rod that has heavy braid on it. I hardly ever lose a crankbait. I bet I’ve lost less than 5 all year. I just pull em out along with whatever is down there. I have broken a few snaps and sometimes you need to retune the cranks… but they usually come back.

I’m not sure why one would use a light line for casting cranks on the river. For trolling maybe, but not casting.

I don’t fish on dams where other people are fishing. Too many salty anglers out there.

I don’t mind if somebody pulls up to a dam I’m fishing. I like to chat with anglers (even if they’re salty).

I mind a lot if someone pulls up beside me in the parking lot at the landing.

Following this closely….

JP

Steve Root wrote:

If you add up the lengths of the last two or three Walleyes I’ve caught it might be 28.5 inches. Well done Matt!

SR

The dude’s on fire. He got a 29 the day before yesterday. He even netted it himself.

I wonder if it will throw off the spawn next year.

Funny – when i wanted to catch bullheads for bait i would always go to the anoka dam. A 16th oz jig tipped with some nightcrawler would fill a bucket. Are they not in there anymore? or are you looking for bullheads to eat (bigger ones)?

Anyway you can also catch em in pretty much any small metro ponds because they will tolerate really low dissolved oxygen.

If we’re talking shad style baits, then flicker shad are the best crank for trolling IMO. They are noisy and catch fish like a mofo. For casting, I prefer Rapala JSRs and GSRs. They are tail-weighted and cast a lot better. If you have a north wind it doesn’t matter.

On a separate note I see the east fisheries supervisor tagged 50 walleye on P2 recently. They want you to measure the fish, record the tag ID, note your location, record the sex of the fish, its surname, occupation, and finally its astrological sign before releasing/eating it.

j

Right guys – to be clear, all the old plumbing and all the old floor was removed.

They installed a new sub-floor and then the plumbers came in and roughed in the plumbing. However, during rough in they also installed the flange and screwed it directly on top of the sub-floor.

Now add in the backer, thin set, and tile and it is sitting way below the finished floor. Wasn’t like they didn’t know where the floor was going to be approximately. We had already selected the tile.

Seems like normally you would want to rough in the waste pipe and leave it sticking way up above the floor… then come in after the floor is finished and cut it off and install the flange, no?

Nice fish. We’ve started naming the wingdams based on the fumes we have to endure when fishing them.

Dennis Williams wrote:

Does anyone ever try livescope aimed at a rapala being trolled? Maybe with the long range you could see the fish react to the lure.

check okada’s youtube vid’s