Well we are now a few weeks into the season and it has defiantly been an up and down start for a lot of people. I have gotten out a few times since opener with mixed results. We have gone out in the metro, central, and northern Minnesota. I hooked up with my buddy Dan Altmann and we had a day that had potential to be historic. We hooked 8 Muskies....but were only able to land one of them! It was a pretty standard June short biting Muskie action but still a good time. Just recently we were up north at the cabin and found some more mixed results. With talking to a lot of people up there fishing Muskies, everyone was struggling. We put in some LONG hours out there on the lake. On Saturday night, Ben Beseman and myself hooked up with good friend Paul Pollock to go out for some night time trolling. It was a long afternoon that went into the dark hours of the night. At about 8:45 the clicker on one of our trolling set-ups started screaming. I handed the rod to Ben to give him a chance at the fish. After a good fight, we were able to get the net underneath her and scooped her in. Ben's previous best was a 42 inch Muskie. When this fish was in the net I knew we had a a new personal best for Ben. It stretched out to 48.5 inches! After a few high fives we got the lines back out and began our trolling pass again. We had one more fish smash our lure but unfortunately did not stay hooked. What a great weekend and an awesome fish for Ben. Between Friday night, and Saturday night combined, I got 4 hours of sleep....I have defiantly been putting in some hard work and to help people to reach new Muskie bench marks like a personal best makes it all worth it! Water temps are approaching 70 degrees in the north country ans we are excited for July to come for the mid-summer bite! Dan pictured with a nice fish above! 48.5" Smiley faces for everyone :)
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It seemed like winter was never going to end. It finally did and Muskie season was upon us. Andy and myself headed up Friday night with questionable thoughts. With the extremely late spring we have had, we were worried that the Muskies would be "behind" as far as spawning and their activity level. We started out Saturday morning in the shallow bays looking for some action. We were surprised to find some active fish right before a giant cold front hit around mid day on Saturday. We used anything from top-waters, bucktails, gliders, and twitch-baits to move and catch fish. I was able to catch 2 fish in a 30 minuet window around 9:00. They were extremely active and put up an unbelievable fight. The heavy rain started soon after so we headed in for lunch. That evening Andy was able to catch a impressive fish right around sunset which capped off a 3 fish opening day! Sunday rolled around with post-frontal conditions and it seemed to negatively effect the fishing. As planned, I left the cabin around noon to head down to Mille Lacs to quick fish the evening with my buddy Jack. I was pleasantly surprised when on my 4th cast I was able to catch and active male, a smaller fish but I was pleased, escpecially because i have never fished they lake and had no experience on that body of water! Overall it was an awesome opener for us, saw a ton of fish, and boated a bunch also! Defiantly a great start to the season with high hopes of a great year to come! Here are some pictures from this weekend! Some awesome fishing! Can't wait for what the rest of the year brings! Above, Andy starts off his year with a BANG! Great fish. Check out the video above of the 2nd fish I caught this weekend! Take a look at this awesome double rainbow taking on Saturday evening after the rainstorm! I never fished Mille Lacs before.....My 4th cast EVER yielded this little guy!
This past week was one of the most amazing experiences I have had. My good buddy Donald Constable had me come down and caddy for him on the PGA TOUR. Donald and I were teammates at the University of Minnesota. We have become very close buddies, and have played lots of golf together. We headed to Dallas for the HP Byron Nelson Championship. It was an awesome week even though he missed the cut, but it was fun hanging around PGA TOUR players all week! Here are some photos from last week! On Sunday I hooked up with Jack Gavin as we jumped out in the metro to chase after some Walleyes! We had a big storm that rolled in which limited our time on the water. We ended up catching a handful of Walleyes both lindy rigging, as well as some slip bobber action as the sun went down. All fish caught were shallow, in about 10-15 feet of water. Leeches were the bait of choice for us on Sunday. The metro can produce some awesome Walleye action when you don't have the time to drive north! He is a pic of the biggest Walleye, it was in the mid 20 inch range. Not a bad fish for the Metro!
Well, spring time is here. The snow is finally melting and people are getting the itch for open water. The last few weeks have been very busy working sport shows so I apologize for the lack of reports. The last few days, Jack Gavin and myself have been bouncing around the state fishing on rivers for big Walleyes. Its fun fishing the river because you have so many different styles to choose from as far as different presentations. Anything from casting, jigging,dragging, or trolling can work wonders. The last couple of days we used a little bit of everything and had some success with each technique. Using plastics, or live minnows were the ticket for us. Here are some of the photos from the last few days. Water temps on the rivers are anywhere from 37-42 as of today. I was lucky enough to net a personal best Walleye for Jack. She ended up being 31 inches in length and weighing 11 pounds 14 ounces! She was full of eggs and ready to spawn. This was a true fish of a lifetime and I was pumped to be able to see it in person. Jack catches big fish, plain and simple. A good couple of days for a couple of Muskie guys! Check out the monster! Also, check out the video! 11 pounds 14 ounces. 31 inches Even I was able to catch a few Walleyes! Is it Muskie season yet? :)
The last few weeks have produced some good early season action up on Mille Lacs. With good friend Jack Gavin having a cabin on the south end of the lake, it makes for a good base camp for fishing the entire lake. Jack has been getting a good number of fish over the slot. We prefer catching and releasing bigger fish versus eating size fish. The tactic this year so far has been fishing shallow gradual breaks that skirt up next to weeds. Over the last 2 weeks, various techniques have been working for us. Everything from jigging, set lines, and tip-ups. Some days your standard jigging spoon with a minnow head has been the ticket, and other days its been using a bigger profile minnow on a tip-up. As of now, the ice is right about at 14 -16 inches. People are making their way out to the mid lake mud flats with their trucks. We are anxious for getting out to the mud flats and catching Take a look at some impressive fish to hit the ice recently up on Mille Lacs. We will be heading out deeper in search of catching more numbers of fish versus the bigger more spread out fish in the shallower water thus far. Stay tuned for some more reports! Jack with 2 very impressive Walleyes. Some very healthy Mille Lacs fish! Here are a few I landed. Its not a Muskie, but it helps me get through the winter!
We headed up to Vermilion for a chance of getting out on the lake. We did not know what the exact ice conditions would be until first light. The ice was dicey to say the least. We crawled along with ice picks and chisels to check the ice. We found anywhere from 2-5 inches of ice depending on where we went. We were very limited to as where we could fish but were able to catch a few good fish regardless. It was nice to finally get out, get all the gear working and running and catch a few fish. We found Walleyes in various depths, and the Pike seemed to be up shallow for us. Here are a few pictures from the short weekend! It going to be a good ice season. Stay tuned for more reports and photos of some giant fish.
Well the lakes are locking up as we speak and wraps up the 2012 Muskie season. Overall it was a great year for many anglers. We learned new spots, tactics, and techniques. The past few weeks have been limited for myself to get out and fish due to school, work and deer hunting. But with that said, a few more fish hit the boat. We were able to catch fish this fall casting and trolling. Usually I am unable to fish in the fall, but this year I was able to sneak out a few times. Pictured below are a few fish that we were fortunate to catch this fall. The first is one I caught with good buddy Paul Pollock the day before deer season. This fish hit a custom made bait that Andy Gothe and myself have created. As you can see, it is a very healthy fish! Also pictured is Andy with a nice fish he caught, netted, and photoed by himself, which is a very hard task. A great way to wrap up the season! You will have to ask Andy about the fish he lost at the boat during the last few hours of the season, it was one of those big blonde bombers we love that will keep him thinking about the fish all through the winter. We have gotten things ready for the upcoming hard water season. Running tip-ups are our specialty for big Minnesota Pike. Stay tuned for some giant Pike throughout the winter. Stay Warm!
This past weekend was slower for us. Andy and myself headed up knowing it was going to be tough. With Friday being a high of 35 degrees with a 20 MPH wind all day with snow. The water temps dipped below 50 degrees and the lake was in its turnover stage. The reports from others were very similar with minimal fish biting. With that said, we continued to battle through tough conditions and able to oat a few fish. Big profile baits with a slower or twitching action moved the most fish. Here are a few pictures!
The last few weeks with school starting has made it very difficult to go out and catch fish. But with that said, we have still been going out mostly at night and trying our luck. We have been able to boat a handful of fish including the 2 shown below. Topwaters, and blades have seemed to be the ticket. Paying attention to the moon has also been very key! I went out with a good buddy Kevin Kray of Primetime Muskies Guide Service. ( http://www.primetimemuskies.com/) Kevin is and outstanding angler with a similar drive and passion that I have also. He is very experienced and flat out puts you on fish. We enjoy fishing together and plan to continue to put big fish in the boat over the years to come. Give him a call if your looking for some big Muskies in the metro area! This first picture is Jack Gavin with a nice fish that hit on a top water. They are starting to put on the feedbag as you can tell! The second picture is of myself with a fish that fell for a SuperModel on the figure 8 after dark. Big Blondes...its what we chase!
We headed up to the cabin for Labor Day Weekend for some relaxation and some fishing. We didn't fish as much as we wanted but were able to find some success. Andy Gothe and myself were able to put a few fish in the boat after finding a pattern of fish on the rocks. We were moving fish on various types of baits, but twitching a crankbait seemed to produce the hits. here are some a few pictures of some fish! Really excited for this fall as the Muskies get more and more healthier each time I go up!
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