Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2020 i In-Fisherman

■ GEORGE RIVER NORTHERN QUEBEC Brook Trout & Atlantic Salmon » Wedge Hills Lodge is one of the northernmost fishing destinations in North America, with the Atlantic salmon run traditionally in August and September. Brook trout in the 2- to 5-pound class are abundant all season. Contact: Wedge Hills Lodge, wedgehillslodge.com; Quebec Outfitters, quebecoutfitters.com. Jeff Simpson ■ LAKE OF THE WOODS ONTARIO Burbot » One of the best fisheries in North America, with lots of fish and a shot at giants over 10 pounds. In late February and March they’re spawning on main-lake shoals. Contact: Crawford’s Camp (in Sioux Narrows), crawfordscamp.com. Jeff Gustafson ■ MERRITT RESERVOIR VALENTINE, NEBRASKA Channel Catfish » A super late-winter ice destination for numbers of fish that can weigh up to 20 pounds. Contact: Merritt Trading…

We had a 40-plus mile run ahead of us on the largest freshwater lake in the world. Weather was good that July afternoon on Lake Superior, and the convoy was made up of 22-foot long, deep-hulled boats traveling in tandem for safety. The haul started in 1- to 2-footers as a casual boat ride in big water, but ended well after dark in exhaustion. Gordon Lightfoot was playing in the back of my head, knowing water temps were averaging around 50°F. The closer we neared the invisible shoreline, the bigger the swells got, and closer the wave period (space between them) became. We were losing sight of the lead boat and taking the occasional wave over the bow that crashed the windshield, knocking loose our sonar/GPS. As darkness fell, with…

The problem is, early-season bass are shallow, eager to feed, and vulnerable. They can be very easy to catch. Harvest during the Prespawn Period can devastate populations. Tournaments during that Calendar Period remove smallmouths from spawning areas. If they survive the trip, distance from habitat and stress can keep bass from spawning. Bass pro Jeff Gustafson offers a simple solution that fishery managers everywhere should consider. “Up in Northwest Ontario where I live, our bass season never completely closes, which is awesome,” he says. “We have a catch-and-release season on our big waters like Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake until July 1, which protects smallmouths during their spawning routine, from anglers that want to eat them and tournament anglers that want to haul them miles from their spawning…

Dunes a few feet high deflect strong spring currents over the heads of walleyes lying in troughs between the crests. Anchoring and crosscurrent maneuvers are both viable boat-positioning options to fish these spots. Where current permits, anchor on the upstream edge of a dune by lowering your anchor into a valley upstream. Experiment with anchoring positions, from near the tip to close to shore. In low water, fish may gravitate toward the tips; high water and strong flows tend to push walleyes into dune valleys closer to shore.…

My brother and I graduated with a degree by the time we turned twelve. Our primary instructor was our grandmother, and our university was her 120-acre farm in north-central Ohio. On her farm was a 2-acre pond stocked with bluegill, sunfish, crappie, and bass. It was our gateway to freedom and we spent many of our summer hours on its mowed shore. Sunburned from the tops of our ears to the tips of our toes, we clutched motley fishing poles, most of which were missing at least one eye or had a broken tip. We learned to cast with Zebco 33 reels, the good 33s, made in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by what used to be called the Zero Hour Bomb Company. The reels were built with more metal than plastic and…

Night & Day Eye Protection in the Field ACCIDENTS ARE NEVER PLANNED; THEY just happen. In this case, the incident that befell longtime In-Fisherman friend Captain Bret Alexander (Green Bay-area, Wisconsin) could have happened to any of us, even though the point here is that with a take-action plan it never should have. Sunday evening, November 11, about 8, Bret is guiding clients on a night excursion for walleyes on the Fox River. They’re anchored in a key area, casting shallow-diving plugs to walleyes staged to feed on the shad that enter the river during late fall. His clients have been doing well the last several weeks, catching many walleyes surpassing 30 inches, with an occasional muskie thrown in, including a 55-incher a few days earlier. “Fish on,” a client…

Revo MGX MGX is top-of-the-line for Abu Garcia Revo spinners, a reel with an X-Mag magnesium alloy one-piece gear box for ultralight weight, strength, and durability. A 10+1 HPCR bearing system provides corrosion resistance and smooth retrieves. The Carbon Matrix drag system allows precision settings. The bail arm is carbon reinforced and the spool is machined aluminum. It’s offered in a 20 and 30 size—$299.99, abugarcia.com Money in the Bank Techron Marine Fuel System Treatment is specially formulated to keep fuel systems running clean and without corrosion in salt- and freshwater environments. Provides up to 24 months of fuel stabilization and protects against the effects of ethanol-blended fuels. Improves throttle response and problems with cold starts and rough idling. Improves overall engine performance. One ounce treats 10 gallons. It’s “In-Fisherman…

Until now, venturing out into windswept, big water came with its limits. You could only go out as far as the boat was designed to handle the pounding, rolling waves. All that has changed with the introduction of the all-new 2019 Skeeter WX2200. With an overall length of 22 feet and a beam of over 8 feet, the WX2200 is the biggest deep-V ever made by Skeeter in its celebrated 70-year history. As the biggest of the big, this boat’s features give you the confidence to cross waters you never would have considered. Until now. This beefed up rig stands out from other deep-V fiberglass fishing boats. Skeeter engineers designed the WX2200 with big water tournament anglers in mind by creating industry-exclusive front and rear aluminum deck grid inserts. Peace…

The line between learning about fish and overexploiting them has probably never presented anglers with a greater moral dilemma. Six years ago, paradigms shifted when a few colleagues and I viewed demo video that foretold of the future of fishing technology. We watched, jaws agape, as a sonar readout depicted a scuba diver inspecting bridge pilings. The technology and imagery, owned by industrial tech company Teledyne, displayed a vivid picture that discerned the diver’s fins, mask, and scuba tank. Our group of writers exchanged glances, understanding the potential Pandora’s box of possibilities the technology could bring to fishing—good, bad, or otherwise. We didn’t know at that time that Garmin was already in talks with Interphase, developers of an early forward-looking sonar technology now known as Panoptix. The following year, Garmin…

Warming trend. Water temperature rises. Excitement literally bubbles out of shallow water like laughing gas as smallmouths enthuse and feed in relatively tropical conditions. The infectious excitement shows on every face watching bronzebacks bully baitfish in 3 to 5 feet of water. A few weeks ago, the big bay was covered with ice. Now it’s warming fast. And the best bites for early-season smallmouths tend to occur shallow. Yes, early smallmouths can suspend between winter and spring habitats. Yes, brown bass gather in depths around 20 feet at the base of breaks leading to shallow flats when driven off by cooling water, cold fronts, or intense pressure. And sometimes, way up north, smallmouths cling to wintering areas for a week or two, and the fishing can be awesome in deeper…

River systems offer some of the finest walleye fishing around, and late winter into spring is prime time to tap some of the best bites flowing water has to offer. East to west, north to south, the Prespawn through early Postspawn periods offer ample opportunities for anglers, in waders, or on the bank, as the walleyes’ annual spawning migration focuses oodles of them in predictable places. We’re not just talking resident fish, either. While many walleyes spawn along the shorelines of lakes large and small, the seductive currents of inflowing rivers and streams attract more than their share of amorous migrants. Which means a river’s walleye population balloons during the height of the spawning migration. World-class waters include iconic Great Lakes tributaries like the Detroit, Fox, and Maumee rivers, to…

Esox Bucket List Piscatorial Pursuits—In-Fisherman friend, former fishery biologist, and frequent Master Angler Award recipient Danny Kurttila wrote to us about his obsession with pikes, which has sent him around the world to catch all the known Esox species: My family has always been a big fan of pike. I continue to carry on that tradition but I’ve added all the pike species. When I first began my obsession, the known esocids were northern pike Esox lucius, muskellunge E. masquinogy (three subspecies: ohioensis, immaculatus, and masquinogy), chain pickerel E. niger, American pickerel E. americanus (two subspecies: redfin pickerel E. americanus and grass pickerel E. vermiculatus), and the Asian, Amur pike E. reichertii. Over the years, scientists changed some of the classifications (muskellunge are now a single species with a few…

Ranger is building on its FS line of fiberglass deep-Vs with the new FS PRO Series, highlighted by the 622FS PRO, the company’s largest freshwater offering. It stretches 22 feet 10 inches and boasts a 400 hp with a host of upgrades. In the FS PRO Series, Ranger set out to redefine big-water deep-Vs with enhanced performance delivered by increased horsepower ratings over previous years as well adding ingenuity stem to stern. A large departure are cFS PRO models that sport a roomier cockpit via removal of the rear tackleboxes, the “c” denoting Ranger’s Total Command cockpit. Standard FS PRO models not only retain the boxes but have expanded capacity through reengineering, as do the front deck storages. The FS PROs feature a first for the deep-V segment—a proprietary 9-inch…

Whenever a group of anglers gets together, hot topics usually focus on where the best bites are happening and what sort of presentations are scoring in each situation. But this spring, there’s likely to be a new topic for discussion—the latest tools in hi-tech boat control, in the form of GPS-enabled trolling motors. Since the price tag of some of these units can exceed $3,000, and there are millions of avid anglers across the U.S. and Canada ready to invest in new hi-tech motors, 2020 promises to be the “Year of the Trolling Motor.” Technology in Motion Minn Kota (minnkotamotors.com) opened the doors for these developments with its electronically-controlled, bowmount Terrova motors over a decade ago. The company added an i-Pilot link with Ulterra, released in 2015, which incorporated i-Pilot…

Mikey hates everything. You might remember this kid, rising from a 1970s Life cereal commercial to pop-culture status. The scene is set with three brothers sitting around the breakfast table: “Did you try it i'?” one big brother says to the other big brother as he slides a cereal bowl to him. “I’m not gonna try it,” he says. “Did you try it?” “I’m not gonna try it.” “Hey, let's ask Mikey.” “He won't eat it. He hates everything,” says big brother, passing the bowl on to little brother. Mikey fills his spoon and chomps down in overwhelming approval. “He likes it! Hey Mikey!” In the fishing universe, the ratio of Mikeys to big brothers is probably somewhere around 1 in 10. Big brother is I’m-not-gonna-try-it conventional. Mikey really doesn’t…

“I don’t know why,” Doc said, “but this spot looks mighty familiar.” “Like how?” I said. “That sheer wall over there? With the big rocks stacked up on top of one another?” “Yeah?” “I swear I’ve seen them before.” “Could you be mistaken? Like the time you mixed your pain medication with booze, and thought you saw Santa’s reindeer in your bedroom closet?” “No, this time I’m positive.” “You think someone stacked those rocks like that?” “Well, Mother Nature couldn’t do it.” “Sure, she could. In Arizona we call them hoodoos.” “And in Arizona you also call 115 in the shade a dry heat.” “Point well taken, Doc,” I said. “So are you surprised to recognize that odd formation?” “It’s just little bit creepy. Like I’ve been here at some…