Central MN Walleye and Gills

I spent this weekend on the ice getting the Dream Shak ready for the tough conditions it will see over the next two months of travel. For those that don’t know, Dream Shak is a brand of Camper/Wheelhouse. This weekend was a family weekend and there isn’t a better way to spend a family weekend, than fishing. Last Thursday I set the Dream Shak up on a local small lake hoping my family would have a chance to get into some nice Bluegill and that was the plan until I had a different idea…..I hate it when that happens!

After reading the ice fishing forum Saturday night on the web site, I decided to make a little move Saturday night and try something a little different Sunday morning. I love to sight fish and with a late move, that was the plan for Sunday AM. I set up in 10 Feet of water and got up in the dark to quietly put the coffee on. From there, it was a waiting game. I had my 4 LX-5’s in place, 2 underwater cameras and a hot cup of coffee. Now, I know 4 LX-5’s is more than one person would ever need, especially 2 in each hole. But, my goal was to show that mature walleye are not effected by sonar pulse or the amount of “power” a flasher puts out.

As soon as it was light enought that I could see bottom I saw a nice pike come through that would not bite, just passed through. At about 8 AM, what appeared to be a HUGE walleye came in and smacked my 1/8 ounce Red Glow Demon Jigging Spoon, tipped with 2 waxworms and the fight was on. I managed to get one underwater camera out of the hole during the fight but everything else had to stay down as the family was still sleeping. If you think fighting a big walleye with your transducer in the hole is tough, you should try 2 ducers and the thought that you have a camera cable down there also. Well, after a long fight I managed to get the fish up the hole and and it was a dandy indeed, 28.5 inches to be exact.

Apparently the sound of screaming drag was enough to wake up my son Cole. We snapped a quck picture and put her back. There is nothing better than watching a big walleye hammer a jigging spoon! For that morning I only saw 2 walleye and one pike but the right one took the bait! This mature walleye clearly was not effected by all the flasher “noise” nor were any of the fish that came in.

After the shallow water trial we moved back out deeper for some midday action. The Bluegill bite was pretty good all weekend. We used a combination of flashers and cameras to get the picky ones to go, but we easily caught a nice mess of fish for the pan. Cole is very good at using his LX-5 unit as fish show up in the cone and then switches to his 560 camera to watch the bite. The camera was the key to getting the bigger fish, as timing the hook set was a must during the day.

Of course, we were in the Dream Shak so we had the ability to wire the camera to the Flat Screen TV. By doing this, eveyone gets a chance to watch the action and really passes time for the kids. Watching the action on the Flat Screen really reminded me of watching the new LCD screen on the new MarCum camera’s we have been using for filming our TV shows this year. Yes, I am a little axious to get mine!!

To say it was a great weekend would be an understatement. I didn’t plan on having to move the house twice but it paid off I guess you could say. For all the time I spend on the road in promotional efforts, it is weekends with the family that really make this all worth while.