Walleye Fishing Escape to the North

March 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Being a meteorologist certainly has its benefits. One of them is knowing what kind of weather to expect when traveling and knowing when and when NOT to travel. In the same way too much knowledge can be a detriment, and it almost cost me an awesome little vacation last weekend. With several snow systems and a lot of wind I was seriously thinking about not hitting the road with the family to head up north to Brainerd. In fact I actually called the trip off the day before we left because it looked like conditions would be poor. After taking a really close look at stuff Friday morning I decided we would be able to squeeze our travel in between the weather makers, and I am soo glad we made the trip!

We left Friday around 1 and got in to Brainerd late on Friday. The trip wasn’t bad at all! And the kids were a joy in the car which hasn’t always been the case.

OK enough about the travel, let’s talk about the fishing! We were set up on Gull Lake and despite the vast number of awesome lakes in that area I was committed to fishing Gull. I went out early on Saturday and just did some basic exploration. Reports on the lake were scattered and there really wasn’t that much activity on the lake. Guys were driving out and we had a solid 18 inches of ice everywhere we went. By late Saturday morning despite not catching any fish I had some good spots marked for the evening bite.

Weather Details: While the pattern was active and typically stable weather is preferred, the snow systems coming through weren’t bringing with them drastic changes to the barometer, temperature or wind. Saturday was sunny all day long with temperatures in the low to mid 20s for highs, winds were very light throughout the day. Sunday brought clouds and snow showers; our area near Brainerd ended up with 2-3 inches of snow with it starting in the morning and carrying on throughout the day. Highs Sunday were in the upper 20s, it was definitely more breezy throughout the day. We had a slight dip in the barometer as the clipper system passed through but it wasn’t a drastic change. Monday brought clearing skies and temperatures back into the mid to upper 20s. The winds relaxed again.

So as you can see while we did have a shot of snow and a change in weather during the weekend the effects of that change weren’t very strong. It is my opinion that subtle changes in the weather can go unnoticed by fish while large changes can modify fish habits.  Our time on the ice confirmed this as we had nearly identical fishing experiences on Saturday night (before the storm) and Sunday night (after the storm).

Back to the fishing. Through my time looking at the maps I wanted to get away from any groupings of houses and locate our own pattern. There are a couple of good flats on the NE side of Gull, my plan was to find a unique area along the transition from the deeper water to the actual flat. I was hoping to fish in around 18-22 feet. The spot we found was an underwater point reaching out from the flat into the deeper water. We used our Lakemaster chip in my father-in-laws GPS, to locate the spot and set up on the point. We got out and set up early at around 3 pm. It was very quiet up until about 5 when I started to see a few fish on my Vexilar. The first couple to come through were pretty tight lipped but as we got closer to the golden hour of sunset the bite really picked up. We had an awesome flurry of bites and fish and several times had to try and content bites on both our rods at the same time!

Most of our fish were on the small side around 10-12 inches. I was fishing a dead stick with a fat head and a red hook about 1 foot off the bottom and jigging a Northland rainbow color glow spoon with a rattle and a minnow head. I ended up with 11 walleyes in about an hour and a half when they slowed down. The split was about 50/50 on what I caught them on. One of the tricks I used was to give my dead stick minnow a little pop when I saw fish coming in. That resulted in a number of good bites. Saturday night we were able to put together 3 fish to take home. My biggest was probably around 16 inches which is a nice eating fish.

The next morning we fished and I caught another 8 fish with 2 keepers out of the mix. We fished the same spot and used the same technique. The fish weren’t as aggressive as the night before but we still caught them from about 6:30 through 8 am. Our last evening of fishing was Sunday night and we went back to the same old spot and had another great night. I ended up with another 11 fish and a few more keepers to take home to the family at the cabin for a meal.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, we also got to do a little skiing on the fresh snow, went for some fun family walks with the kids in the sled and enjoyed the pool and hot tube at the resort.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the stuff we did or the weather we dealt with…

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Back on the Ice

February 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A shot from my first time on the ice in MN in December.

I am incredibly excited to get back on the ice this coming weekend. I have decided that enough is enough; it is time to get out and figure out a few South Dakota lakes! Growing up in Minnesota and Wisconsin I always had lakes very close by, which spoiled me. Here in SD there is a little bit of travel time needed to get to some of the good water, and up until now I have only been out fishing in SD a couple of times. I do make several trips back to the homeland and fish nearly every time I go back but it has been too long and I am ready to get back out.

The plan is for a buddy and I to combo some coyote hunting (totally new to me!) and some ice fishing. He knows the yote hunting and I know the fishing. We are going to head out early and try to call in some coyotes on my families land, around 10 or so we plan to head out on the ice. I am thinking of trying Lake Thompson or one of the smaller bodies of water around there. I still have to do some research on where we should go. Thankfully my families land is near some pretty good bodies of water so we have some options! After chasing perch for a few hours we are going to head back to another farm and see if we can call in another coyote during the evening hours. Hopefully, we have some success. To be honest, I am just ready for a new adventure!

As for the forecast it is looking pretty good. It will certainly be chilly early so we will be bundling up. Temperatures will warm a little through the day with highs topping out in the mid to upper teens. It does look sunny which always helps, especially when you have a Frabill black fish house! Winds are expected to be very light, they will start out of the north and may shift a little northwest as the day wears on. From what I have read coyotes are very weary so even with the light winds we will need to pay special attention to wind direction. As for the fishing, we will be 2 days out from a pretty significant cold front which will barrel through late Thursday into Friday. Cold fronts aren’t usually a good thing when it comes to fishing, hopefully the fish will start coming around two days post front.

I will definitely report back on how we end up and how the weather ends up working in our favor (or not!). With the weather being so mild this winter we will of course be going out on one of the coldest days of the winter. The challenge of course with being a weekend warrior is that you have to make the most of any time you get outdoors. When you can’t choose your days on the water or in the field you have to be ready for anything and do the best you can.

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Fishing Getaway

January 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I had some time to get away over the holidays and do some much needed ice fishing. Unfortunately, the results weren’t great and we didn’t catch much. I still had a great time on the ice and will be looking forward to my next trip north to do some ice fishing. Here is a little video that I put together on our trip spearing for northern pike.

 

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My Biggest Bass

September 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

I love fishing. Like most people I don’t do enough of it. When I get to fish I would prefer to go after my favorite fish, the largemouth bass. This weekend we went home to my in-laws place who live on a lake. I fished as much as I possibly could and had a blast. Lately I have become addicted to fishing with big jigs and soft plastics. There is this distinct thump you feel as a bass sucks in your bait, when you feel that thump you reel up the slack and set the hook. I am not talking about giving the fish a tug, I mean you SET THE HOOK! That is my favorite part. Oftentimes the thump is very subtle, sometimes you don’t feel it, you just see your line jump, you set the hook and feel the electricity of a fish on the other end.

I was nervous going into the weekend. I don’t get to fish much so when I do I like the conditions to be favorable. Coming from a weather background means that I focus on the weather a lot. Coming into the weekend temperatures were in the 90s, during the weekend highs were in the 60s with lows in the 40s. That is one nasty cold front! Typical fronts aren’t a great thing for fishing. Despite the colder weather I still caught fish. I caught at least 5 each time I went out. The fishing did get progressively better as the weekend went on and the fish adjusted. The last day of my trip I fished 3.5 hours in the morning and ended up with 10 fish. The biggest being a 3 lb 6 oz fish that surpasses any other bass I have ever caught. It was a gorgeous fish and I can tell you that in the little lake I was on, the fish don’t get much bigger. Below are a few pictures of my fish and time on the water. To me there is nothing better than getting out and enjoying a little bit of the outdoors, with two growing boys I am excited to see the look on their faces when they feel their first thump… connect the dots… and SET THE HOOK!

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    Rainy Trip to Mille Lacs

    January 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

    I had another wild adventure when I went up to Minnesota for some family fishing over the New Year holiday! Unfortunately, the fishing wasn’t great and we only were able to catch a few crappies and a couple of walleyes.  Our first trip up to the big lake (Mille Lacs) was on Wednesday. On the trip were my brother in law, father in law and I; we also decided to tow the permanent fish house to Mille Lacs to get it set up for the season.  Now when I go fishing with these guys I always am prepared for a few small set backs and this trip was no exception! We had to deal with a worn out regulator on the heater,  a flat tire on the fish house and rusted bolts that kept us from easily dropping the house to the ice. Thankfully we got an earlier start and were still set up when the fish became active around 4 pm. The action was hot and heavy for about an hour on the Vexilar (depth finder/fish locator) and camera but most of the fish would just sniff the bait and not take it. We were able to fool two nice walleyes though and had a great time in the process!

    The next day was even more interesting with some crazy Minnesota weather to thank! Coming from a weather background I knew full well what the weather was going to be like on Thursday. Rain was in the forecast and not just rain but A LOT of rain! We started fishing for some crappies in our portable house on West Rush Lake, but that was pretty slow. By that time in the morning the rain was really coming down. The house kept us dry for the most part but I was also grateful for water proof clothing and boots. After a slow start on West Rush we decided to head to Mille Lacs a little early and see if we could locate some perch or walleyes during the day in deeper water.  By the time we got to Mille Lacs it was literally pouring rain. The lake ice was really pretty solid and was about 15 inches thick so there were no concerns with the ice. We weren’t able to do much on the perch fishing front and decided to move the house to some slightly deeper water. So in the pouring rain my father in law and I fought a wicked battle with the fish house trying to get it off the ice and hooked up to the truck. We finally won the battle and got the house moved to a pretty sweet spot just before prime time. However, luck was not on our side. Despite seeing multiple fish on the camera and Vexilar we were unable to get a single fish to bite.  I am sure that the odd weather played a huge role in the lethargic fishing. Coming off the lake was wild as well with 6 to 10 inches of water sitting on the ice. It was a very surreal experience to say the least.  Thankfully I had some good company on my trip so despite the poor fishing the trip was a success with good family time and memories that will last a lifetime.

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