by Chip Leer It’s 4:30 p.m. on a late-December afternoon, and dusk is settling over the lake. You’re six miles off shore, and you’ve been set up for an hour, making sure everything is just right for what has been a red-hot evening crappie bite. In fact, the first big slab has just appeared on… Continue Reading
By Tommy Skarlis and Chip Leer Fish have a brain about the size of a pea. They have a stomach that’s roughly 20 times that large. Fortunately for those of us who love to fish through the ice, one feeds the other. While a crappie or perch isn’t capable of figuring out where to find… Continue Reading
by Captain Marty Papke It’s what we’ve been waiting for those hot, lazy, crazy days of August and then someone says it’s too “hot” to catch any walleye! The excuses start: too hot, too calm, too much humidity, too many fish (walleye’s) and not enough days to fish them! If your looking for a time… Continue Reading
by Captain Marty Papke It’s after the supper hour and you finish your meal, don’t become a couch potato, as some of the most active fishing of the day will soon commence. Night-time walleye fishing is coming on strong. In many areas throughout the Midwest there are lakes that receive heavy fishing pressure. The waters… Continue Reading
by Mike Mladenik Crankbaits will catch fish most of the season, but they can become very effective in fall. Crankbaits come in all shapes and sizes and they will catch all types of fish. Smallmouth bass prefer thin 2 to 4 inch crankbaits with an erratic action like a Shad Rap or a Rebel Crawfish.… Continue Reading
by Craig S. Engebretson Many times a season people will call and ask me about a particular lake or lakes that they were “just up” fishing or were planning to fish on their next vacation. Is there something more you should try to find out about where you’re fishing? For those on the way, they… Continue Reading
by John H. Myhre Fishing in the woodpile? I realize winters can get rather long and that about now some of you might tend to think that over the winter I have been sniffing to much wood smoke. However, let me elaborate. By “woodpile” I don’t mean that stack of cord wood in your back yard… Continue Reading
by Rick Writz Natural undeveloped beauty combined with an excellent and varied fishery consisting of walleye, northern, smallmouth bass, musky, and some of the biggest perch, bluegill, and crappie you will ever catch. Sounds almost too good to be true, but that’s exactly what you can expect when you fish one of our area’s flowages.… Continue Reading
by John Peterson with Noel Vick Take the walleye. As ice anglers, we’ve come to recognize the moods, customs, and characteristics of winter’s premium fare. We understand, for example, that these predacious creatures are highly carnivorous. We also know that walleyes are sharply aggressive and bottom-hugging, not to mention opportunistic, favoring twilight feeding forays. And… Continue Reading
by Jeff Beckwith There’s no argument, the vertical jigging spoon is ice fishing’s dominant lure. Fish have surrendered to hammered metal and forged lead since, well…since folks decided that ice could no longer separate them from quarry. I’m talking eons. In contemporary times, spoons are linked to the pursuit of walleyes, lake trout, and perch,… Continue Reading