Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i In-Fisherman

GPS Super Smartwatches Garmin quatix 6 Marine Smartwatches have dozens of features for anglers, including comprehensive connectivity with compatible chartplotters and other marine electronics for autopilot control and data streaming to include speed, depth, temperature, wind, and more. Two versions, including the quatix 6 ($699.99) and quatix 6 Titanium ($999.99), garmin.com Balsa Wake From Bagley, a crankbait design by Jarmo Rapala, the Balsa Wake 1, measuring 2 inches and weighing in at 5/16 ounce, is a cross between a topwater and a squarebill crankbait. Grind it along barely subsurface. Available in eight color patterns—$9.99, bagleybait.com The Salmon Sisters Reading this cookbook, The Salmon Sisters: Fishing, Feasting, and Living in Alaska, and tinkering with the recipes is to share in the remarkable lifestyle of these two sisters who grew up remotely,…

Research into catfish movement over the past 70 years has been eye-opening for both fishery biologists and avid catfish anglers. Catfish researchers and aficionados were for many years puzzled by discrepancies about what was known about catfish movement. Research with fin-tagged catfish proved in the 1950s and 1960s that some blue cats moved hundreds of miles, while others were caught again months later within yards of where they were originally tagged. Channel catfish? Well, their location in lakes and rivers seemed to change with each season and every major change in weather. It wasn’t until the advent of radio-tagging that biologists were able to accurately track catfish movements monthly, weekly, daily, and even hourly, to reveal exactly how much and how far catfish move throughout the year. Their movements can…

After more than 45 years of close friendship, we assumed Doc’s life was an open book. Then we discovered we hadn’t even made it past the first few chapters. Our annual weeklong getaway to the Northwest Ontario Bush was finally underway. A U-Haul trailer that had a rental history dating back to FDR carried all our gear, and was hitched to a nine-passenger van with a 31-gallon gas tank. We were filling up in Albert Lea, and the numbers spun dizzily on the pump, adding up a monstrous sum approaching the national debt. Doc, the kid, and the policeman were in the convenience store emptying the shelves of snacks. Meanwhile, the banker was manning the fuel fiasco, and the attorney and I were scrubbing bugs off half a windshield each.…

INDIAN LAKE CHAIN NORTHWEST ONTARIO Walleyes & Muskies » This is a great location on a chain of 10 lakes. Spend the morning catching walleyes, break for shore lunch, then throw big baits for muskies in the afternoon. Plenty of smallmouths, lake trout, and pike, too. Contact: Sunset Country Adventures, 807/728-3167, sunsetcountryadventures.com. Jeff Gustafson BIGHORN RIVER FORT SMITH, MONTANA Trout » Year-round flows stabilized last year, leaving a large population of trout in the 18- to 24-inch range. Float trips have a combination of boat and wade casting. Fort Smith offers multiple fly shops, guides, and accommodations without the Yellowstone-area crowds. Contact: Guide Matt Clawson 406/670-6866; bighornfish.com David Harrison CLINTON RESERVOIR LAWRENCE, KANSAS Walleyes and More » Fishing for walleyes, wipers, and white bass heats up in June and July.…

You might regard muskie fishing, as I do, as a minor act of rebellion. Or, depending on how you look at things, a desperate measure. After all, you’re choosing to fling a potential chomp of food out into an abyss that on the optimistic side might harbor a single muskie for every five acres of water. The odds go sideways when 10 boats chop up a cabbage bed, 20 baits all vying for the same handful of muskies. Either way, the dilemma never changes: Is it better fish a proven lure or something different, perhaps something that hasn’t left your box since 1982? Or, sometimes, you find yourself on the front edge of an emerging trend and experience one of those rare miniature versions of a muskie rampage. For a…

2019 marked the 43rd year of In-Fisherman’s Master Angler Awards Program, begun in the early years of the magazine’s existence to reward anglers on their angling achievements, and as a way to let readers know about productive fisheries throughout North America. Master Angler Awards are available for 29 fish species or hybrids and anglers can apply for fish caught within six geographic regions. Awards are available for both released and kept fish, based on length and weight criteria, respectively. Anglers who enter a qualifying fish receive a Master Angler patch (one per year) and a species chevron patch. In each region, anglers who enter the largest fish of a species also receive a Master Angler certificate. Detailed rules and the Master Award Application form can be found in In-Fisherman magazine…

Fish Detection by eDNA Emerging Science— If you have heard of eDNA (environmental DNA), I am betting it was in conjunction with detecting Asian carps entering the Great Lakes. If you have not heard of eDNA, it is a procedure for detecting the presence of an organism from a water, soil, or air sample. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material present in all living organisms. Within the DNA strands are sequences of nucleic acid (genes or DNA fragments), some of which are unique to that species. The eDNA in the environment may come from scales, mucus, feces, gametes, or decomposition of the dead organism. Detection of a DNA fragment unique to a species is proof that the organism is somewhere in the system. Although technically complex, the process is…

Dappled light penetrated the canopy, tossing patches here and there across the forest floor. Some reached the little stream we followed, occasionally illuminating a small brook trout. We fished all the way to the mouth on Michigan’s Muskegon River, and pitched spinners into the comparably massive flow there. And I caught my first smallmouth bass. It wasn’t a giant—probably less than 2 pounds. But river bass pump iron. They battle current every day. It fought so much harder than the largemouths I chased in area lakes that I figured it must be one of the river’s larger brown trout. Laying at my feet on the sandy bank, I was disappointed by its size but intrigued by its spirit. So, about half a century ago, my hunt for bronze bass began.…

The Jersey City Flowage is a 400-plus-acre lake near Tomahawk, Wisconsin, that is nestled between two larger impoundments on the Wisconsin River system. It’s a shallow, weedy lake filled with fish that have been the objects of my pursuits for over 30 years. I always thought that the Jersey City Flowage was an odd name for a Northwoods lake. The first time I heard it I envisioned an urban New Jersey river surrounded by concrete and urban decay. I’m told it was given that name because there used to be a high population of Jersey cows in the area. I’m not sure if that is factual or a bit of Northwoods lore, but whatever the reason for the name, it’s one of my favorite places on earth, and every time…