Carp Short from The Fly Collective

Long Shot from The Fly Collective on Vimeo.

Farm Bill -- Stand Up and Protect America's Prairie

Single Digit Lows Have Waterfowl Going, Going, Gone?

These geese were flying out to feed this morning.

The lakes in Minnesota are pretty much locked up in ice due to a recent cold front.  Most of the ducks have left the state save for hardy northern mallards, common mergansers, and goldeneyes that overwinter on the river.  In Minnesota, we are fortunate to have a large Canada Goose population willing to stick around during the winter months.  These geese will roost on the larger rivers and lakes receiving warm water discharges; and, offer field hunting opportunities in the morning and evening hours when they journey to cornfields to stuff their crops with spillage.

Click the following to learn more about goose hunting.

• Minnesota Goose Hunting Locations
• Minnesota Goose Hunting Tips
• Minnesota Goose Hunting Regulations
• Ducks Unlimited Goose Hunting Tips & Tactics
• Back to the Basics for Geese

Pheasant Tracks

A Break from Fishing... Sea Ducks and Grouse

I have been away from the fishing blog for a few weeks now.  The lure of fall muskies gave way to the arrival of sea ducks here in the Northland.  And, I couldn't wait to get the canoe into some of our wilderness lakes to see what would show.  A few days off from the office and a couple of dedicated hunting weekends resulted in some decent shooting for late season waterfowl.  Also, there were plenty of grouse in the uplands to make things interesting when not in the duck blind.

Bufflehead action.

A mixed two-man bag of ruffed grouse and spruce grouse. 

Not Quite Turnover... Yet

Trolling muskies through October snow squalls.

I continue to monitor the fall trolling season on a local muskie lake.  The lake has some very large muskies that "turn on" after turnover.  But, the water temperatures are still in the low 50s and muskies are set up in the shallows and better targeted casting.  But, I am content to troll and see what I can run into.  So, we spent another day pulling a 10-inch Believer 50 feet out on one rod and a 10-inch Jake "30 pulls out" on another (the one without the line counter).  Our typical trolling run included main lake points, steep shorelines, islands, offshore reefs, saddles, neck downs, and open water.

It ended up being another long and cold day on the lake.  But, between snow squalls we managed to hook-up a nice 38-inch pike in open water.  Not a muskie, but a fine local speciman.  And, no doubt a cisco-eater.

Grab-n-grin fall pike.

Breathe.

Twitch in the tail... and goin' back!

The muskie bite definitely was NOT on yet.  And, the weather wasn't much better. After putting in an honest day on the water we motored back to the landing into falling ice pellets stinging our already cold faces.  It was a fall fisherman's acupuncture session and it felt good (I swear my back felt better from it).      A flock of fresh divers got up in front of us and bursted into the northwest.  They must have just came down because we haven't seen ducks all fall.  It warmed us with anticipation.  The migration is starting and we'll be carrying shotguns tomorrow.  Soon the lakes will be turning over and muskies big enough to eat ducks will chomp anything they can get their mouths around before ice-up.

A post-trolling grouse hunt.

Ahhh, the beer and smoked ciscos tasted good at the end of this day.

Fall Transition Muskies on the Shield

The fall muskie trolling pattern hasn't set up yet.  Water temps were in the upper 50s and the lake was far from turning over.  But, I decided to test the tricky fall transition period myself this past weekend.  And, in 25-30 mph southwest winds (that's a muskie wind) I trolled main lake points, steep rocky shorelines near deep water, island shorelines, saddles, open water, and offshore reefs.  The 10" Believer that produced in past November trolls basically went untouched.  The 10 inch Jake ran really well but only scored small to mid-sized northern pike.  The graph revealed some bait balls (most likely ciscoes) suspended deep near islands and saddles; and, in some rare cases nice hooks on the graph just below them indicating my quarry.  The whitefish however were still scattered along the bottom in the main lake basin like in summer.  

You could mark up these unproductive trolling hours as simply "that's muskie fishing".  Or, you could ask yourself "so where are they?"  I chose the latter and looked at it all as collecting intel.  The only place I hadn't tried was shallow.  I had been focusing on the 12-25 foot depths near rocky structure.  But, what if I really got in there...  As the light levels lowered (there wasn't a sun to drop) I started moving in close.  Ten feet.  Bang, bang, the Jake bounced off the rocks.  Nothing.  Nine feet.  Eight feet.  Seven feet.  Snag.  My new 10" Jake looked like it wasn't going to survive its first day.  Agghhhh.  I gave the buoyant bait plenty of slack to float it out; but, it was really in there.  So, I circled the boat around the snag and pulled from the way it went in.  Out.  As the lure shot out of the rock a muskie broke the surface shortly after.  No doubt he swung on it and thought he was hooked.  A dozen casts in the general area produced nothing.  We trolled on.

10" Jake - Walleye Pattern

That was a sign the muskies were still in shallow.  The snag/muskie encounter occurred on a shallow saddle totally independent of the suspended cisco/whitie pattern.  I suspect they were keying in on walleyes on shallow rocks in that wind and were sitting right up on top munching.

I trolled down the steep island shoreline to a major point littered with shallow rock piles.  I cut the speed and tickled the rocks with the Jake.  The rod slammed.  Snag number two.  Great.   I lowered the rod instantly and the bait floated out.  Frustrated, I burned the bait in to check its action and make sure it was still running good.  It was and a mid-40 inch muskie thought so, too.  The brown shape came in hot on the bait right to the rod tip.  I went into a figure eight.  The fish turned on it.  The sharp red tail fin nearly sliced the surface during its turn.  It was a big fish.  It followed the figure eight a few times around before it lost interest or simply got too dizzy to do it anymore.  Bummer.  I really thought it was going to eat it.  I cast another dozen casts in the area and never raised it again.  

Daylight was about over.  It was 43 degrees and starting to rain.  I had more than a few miles to motor back to the landing in wind and rough water.  I reluctantly raised the rod tip, swinging the lure toward me, and with my left hand caught it and hooked it to my reel.  The day was over.  I got beat.  The fish had spoken.  They weren't in a fall pattern yet.  They were shallow with cranked up metabolisms.  They were chowing 'eyes in the wind.  And, that was a lesson in muskie fishing during the fall transition.

A chunky 48-incher of Novembers past.  Trolling a 10" Believer on main lake points.

Coiled tail and ready to put hooks into somebody.  Be careful charming the snakes.