Whole Lotta Workin' Going On...

Good grief it's been a long time since I've done anything with this.  A lot has been going on since the JulyAugust timeframe.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to fish, or do much of anything else for that matter, although I did make it out a time or two.  I have been living (fishing) vicariously through other bloggers and bassers. 

I will make a catch up post soon. 

FWD: An Open Letter To Bass Pro Shops.

Follow the link to a blog called Journal of a Minnesota Angler to an open letter to Bass Pro Shops.

Here in MN, we have Gander Mountain, which for me, is normally a fairly disappointing trip.  We also have Cabela's, which I love going to.  But often times I still can't find what I'm looking for, but the fact that I can get a buffalo burger instead makes up for it.

What we don't have, however, is a Bass Pro Shop.  We need one.  And MNAngler's letter conveys that pretty well.  Find it here.

FWD: Regarding Killswitches and Life vests.

I always wear my killswitch when the big motor is running.  Always.  I can't think of a reason not to.  But, even though I know I'm not alone on this - I'm still some what ashamed to admit, I've always been lackadaisical regarding my life vest, wearing it based on the situation.

After seeing some pictures from a Facebook friends tournament experience this past Sunday, I've found reason to also always wear the life vest.  In the past, I've looked at it as more of a trivial kind of thing, being that I've got myself a little runabout with a 90 horse, but as Rich's latest blog entry can tell you, you never know what is under the water that you may hit.  Water conditions change all the time, not only daily, but sometimes several times during the day.

When I look at the pictures, I can't help but think "that could have been me..."

It's definitely time to make a trip to Cabelas and get one of those fancy-shmancy inflatables and ditch that crappy old ski vest.

It's a compelling read.  So, if you haven't seen it yet, check it out.  Otherwise, be safe.

Local Tackle Manufacturers

I've moved this post into its own page.  Click the tab at the top of this page or you can also find it here:

Local Tackle Manufacturers.

All Terrain Tackle VS. Northstar Custom Baits - Swim Jig Edition

Well, it's been a long time since I've updated anything here and due to some, well, issues, I haven't had much opportunity to get out on the water at all since my last post.  So, I decided to post a product review about a couple of local (MN-based) tackle makers.

As I indicated in my last post, my bait for making it work this year has, by and large, been the swim jig.

I didn't really start using them until late last year so my experience with them is still, I admit, fairly limited.  But I have honed in on a couple of different baits, one from All Terrain Tackle and the other from Northstar Custom Baits.

Both have their positive sides and a negative or two.  Let me break it down a little.

All Terrain Tackle:

I first found them at Fleet Farm while I was camping in the St. Cloud area.  I was disappointed this year when I went back and found that they were no longer there, but that was nothing a trip to Gander Mountain didn't cure (surprise!  No, really, surprise!).

I've tried the black/blue with no results.  Green pumpkin, which the pike in the Sauk River Chain absolutely love when you jerk the bait hard.  And this spring I picked up some of the bluegill colored baits, which, not surprisingly, has been my best color overall to date. 

I've thrown this bait into some of the worst looking stuff I could find and, for the most part, it came back sparkling clean.  I'm no expert, but I'm sure this is because the line tie is positioned horizontal to the bait rather than vertically.  It isn't recessed, but it's close enough that snags, well, just don't happen.  At least not as much as they do with other jig head designs.  And if they do, it's usually because I cast past the shoreline and into that old willow sitting on the bank...

The only thing I'm not real keen on are the colors.  There really wasn't anything that stood out on the shelf as lifelike - especially in regards to the bluegill color, but, of course, it's not about what I think.  It's what the fish think, and they think it's supper time!

Northstar Custom Jigs:

This is the New Gill color.

I have to admit, I was completely hooked on the colors of these things.  I feel that the bullgill and new gill colors are a pretty close match to what I've seen in the waters I fish.

The baits work well enough, but the only real feedback I can give is that the line tie, which is in front, seems to hang on every little fleck of veggie and more often than not, I end up with a ball of weeds on the end of my line rather than the bait I threw out.  My opinion: This makes it more of an open water kind of bait which really doesn't suit my style.

Conclusion:

While I love the colors on the Northstar swim jig, I have to stick with the All Terrain version.  At least for now, as it fits my style the best.

But for now, it's freakishly hot outside and I'm sure that it'll be punchin' time.  A concept that is still very new to me so it should be a good time getting out and figuring it out.

Until next time..

Bass Season- From The Opener Until Now. 6/17/11

Originally, this post was going to be my obligatory bass opener post, but it is long past so I will turn it into a general report instead.

On the opener, I decided to hit this little lake by where we camp (sorry- I'm not tellin' : ) ).  It is stocked with trout and has good numbers of pumpkin seeds.  Truth be known, I had very little luck.  When I put in, the water was still a little chilly at 59F or so.  I was sharing the lake with a couple other boats so I decided to start down the opposite bank and work my way around so I didn't crowd anyone.  Power fishing a buzzbait.  Nothing.  Not even a boil.

I kept cruising and switched up to a chatter bait and moved off the bank a little bit and started fishing the inside weedline.  The lake has eurasion mifoil and it was starting to get tall, say three feet beneath the surface in anywhere from five to nine feet.  Nothing, although I did catch one of those Rainbow Trout that are stocked and can almost see why people like to fish for them.

After that the sun was up more and moved a little closer to the bank with a 1/4oz Beetle Spin (Quit laughing.  This is my goto bait for bad fish days.)  No bass.  But lots of pumpkin seeds.  Those little suckers can be vicious too!  And that pretty much tells the tale of how my opener went.  At the end of the day, I boated 1 small bass and probably 40-50 pumpkin seeds.

My next bassin' trip wasn't until the following Saturday and I decided to head out to Rice Lake near Paynesville.  I drove around and nearly ended up taking ownership of a nice rocky point.  Luckily, that didn't happen.  Boat and driver are very happy about that.  Anyway, I looked at my phone (Navionics is very handy, must use it more often in unfamiliar waters - feel free to whack yourself in the head, Jeremy) and decided to head to a section of the south end of the lake because there is a fairly fast drop into 20 or so feet. The water temp was mid 60's so I figured they'd be on beds.

I started out with a 1/4oz Bluegill Swim Jig (All Terrain Tackle) and tossed it passed the front of a dock.  Slow rolled it back and a smallie crushed it hard enough I thought I was going to lose my rod at first.  First fish boated was a nice one, measured out at 17".  No belly so I'm guessing it was a he.  I kept rolling that swim jig and caught a nice mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth all around 16-18".  See pics below.

My last trip was last Friday and knowing that I didn't have a lot of time, I went down to the Rum River about five minutes away from home.  Once again, slow rolling that same swim jig.  The result was a personal best, I know that much for sure.  No idea how much it weighed or how long it was because I was backpacking it.

So far, I may not have had a very productive year, but I've had a lot of fun anyway.  And I bought a different scale that will be going in my backpack for the next time I hook into a tank like that.

As for now, I'm getting ready to head out and try some of the new swim jigs I picked up by Northstar Custom Baits.  They are a little different than the All Terrain Tackle swim jigs I'm used to and I'm excited to use them because I think the colors are better.  We'll see if the fish agree!

Eat Bass...?

I am truly working on an entry for bass opener, but truth be known, at this point it seems moot.  Being the fact that it is almost two weeks past.  Instead, I thought I'd share a link to a blog that I don't really read a whole lot but I saw a title that caught my eye:  "Eat Bass, Improve Your Fishery?"

There are some good points made, and, at risk of being excommunicated by the bassin' community, I too practice selective harvest.  Here, though, are my rules:

I don't do it on a lake I don't know very well.  If it's my first time there, I have no way of knowing if a 15" fish is average size or not.  However, if I'm on my "home water", I know that 12-14" fish are incredibly common where a 16-17" fish is not and anything bigger than that is a tourny winner (no kidding), so I have no problem keeping one or two fish so the other 20,000 from that year class may have a better chance at getting to that 16-17" slot and even bigger.

Another rule I follow is anything over 15" goes back.  I don't know why, that is simply where I drew the line.  It is arbitrary and completely unscientific.  It kills me when I hear of or see a picture of some 5lber that ended up in a frying pan.

Another:  No killing of a fish that has eggs.  I would hope that this would be obvious.

I think the bottom line is that there is a fine balance between what is appropriate for each unique body of water.  Over harvesting has been and certainly can be a problem that can devastate a fishery, but blindly practicing catch and release can have negative consequences as well.

Just my opinion.