I’m ready to go

Fished the river on 06/22, after getting blown off the lake. Typical Duluth summer day 45 rain, wind, fog. We have never caught so many short fish. I would guess that four out of every five was short. Once we found the fish they bit but they took a while to track down.

I have tried quite a few different recipes for fish and my advice is to start with a recipe like the one provided in the other post, see how you like it and start experimenting. The other thing is to make sure you write down what you did so you can recreate it (always my downfall). I normally start out at a temp of 120-130 with heavy smoke for the first few hours then cut back the smoke and in the last hour or two jack up the temp to finish off the fish.
I have used the following salmon jerky recipe and it is pretty tasty.

http://www.alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Departments/Recipes/Canning/index.html

I have had fairly good success drifing very small jigs (1/64th) with a small plastic twister tail under a bobber. This is especially effective in very cold clear water conditions.

I am a trout junkie. I spent my formative years living on the French River north of Duluth. The favorite bait bar none was a mepps spinner. Never any native trout there bigger than 13inches but it is a neat little creek. Flyfished a little this year on some wisconsin streams, just starting to get the hang of true flyfishing.

My favorite trout are the lake run rainbows (steelhead) from lake superior and Michigan. They can be addicting (just ask bluefin). It is a short season but if hit it right you can catch great numbers of nice fish. The method we use would be known in fly fishing circles as chuck-n-duck, using egg flys. We modify it in ways that would make the fly fishing purist cry but you can’t argue with success.

My favorite trout fishing memory was two falls ago with my dad in Canada. In three hours, on a fairly small river, one morning we caught 7 specs (brooktrout) between 19-24inches and lost a bunch more. These were all caught drifting crawlers. You could have heard two grown men giggling a mile away.

I have a couple of questions for Big Dad. The first is where is your shop located? (In case I am ever in need of service) The second question is have you had any experience with the liqualube product, it sounds like a great product but I would some input from people with real world experience.

Bluefin we will get you on birds the rest is up to you. Just dial in that Black Eagle and pull the trigger.

Since this is the Catfish forum: we are hunting down by the LaCrescent area, are there any catfishing spots that could be accessed from shore that might be worthwhile. Neither BlueFin or I know a whole lot about catching these fish but their potential size makes them intriguing.

I should have metioned my buddy lives in Stillwater so New Richmond would work. Thanks

It is totally dependent on what season you apply for and what zone. I always do zone 349 for the first season (I need them as dumb as possible) it used to be every other year but with the increasing popularity now it has gone to every three. Thankfully this was my year to get drawn.

You can always pick up the leftover later season tags and it does not affect your preference for getting drawn.

It is not breathable but for sitting in a boat nothing beats either the Helly Hansen or Grunden. Both are made for commercial fishermen. About a 150.00 bucks for Jacket and bibs and it will last forever.