Innholdsfortegnelse for August/September 2021 i In-Fisherman

■ C.J. STRIKE RESERVOIR MOUNTAIN HOME, IDAHO White Sturgeon » August is a superb time to do battle with sturgeon that often measure 7 to 9 feet at this reservoir not far south of Boise. Catch and take a photograph up close and personal before releasing these prehistoric fish. Contact: Jones Sportfishing, 208/669-1569, jonesportfishing.com. Shane Dubois ■ CLEAR LAKE CALIFORNIA Largemouths » California’s largest natural lake, a couple hours north west of Sacramento, offers great year-round fishing for bass that commonly reach 7 to 10 pounds, with a 16-pounder caught in 2019. Water levels lower as fall approaches, concentrating bass on middepth structure, though a shallow bite, including topwater, continues. Big channel cats and crappies, too. Contact: Guide Ross England, clearlakeguideservice.com, 707/549-1427. Steve Quinn ■ BEMIDJI/WALKER AREA MINNESOTA Muskies »…

Although their summertime whereabouts and behaviors are a mystery to many, it’s not rocket science. It’s basic biology. Crappies go where food and comfort leads them. Variables including water temperature and water clarity, light levels, forage abundance, dissolved oxygen levels, and other factors can all play a role. Understanding how these factors interact with one another can help you dial in potential hotspots on your favorite fisheries. Thinking back over nearly half a century of chasing summer crappies—and three decades of reporting on tactics to trip their triggers—it’s clear that absolutes and one-size-fits-all blueprints for success are hard to come by. For example, the adage “crappies abandon vegetation and suspend offshore during summer” is true enough in some cases, but not in all situations, and even in lakes where the…

Our pre-trip Northwest Ontario fly-in fishing meeting was on Zoom last year. Ever since Doc figured out how to text and chew gum at the same time, he managed to streamline our infrequent communications. We no longer had to drive or fly to his place or get hand cramps and sweaty ears from an hour on the phone. (Oh, the humanity!) The Internet made the miles melt away faster than Aunt Lucy’s R-rated ice sculptures. “Good to see you again, Doc,” the policeman said. “Do I look as old as the rest of you?” The banker said. “No,” I said. “You look a lot older.” “This is, like, revolutionary,” the kid said. “So what’s up, Doc?” the attorney said. “Your email sounded like you have big news.” “You know those…

1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup lime juice 1/4 cup orange juice 1 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup mirin or other rice wine Sesame oil Mix the ingredients together and put them, along with the collars, into a heavy plastic bag or lidded container. Marinate overnight or up to one day. If the collars are not submerged, turn them periodically so they get good contact with the marinade. The next day, pour the marinade into a small pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce it by half, and set it aside. Pat the collars dry with paper towels and coat with a film of sesame oil. Get your grill nice and hot. Grill the collars over high heat, basting with the reduced marinade, for about 10 to 20 minutes,…

Walleyes have a certain familiar way of cracking a crankbait or ripping a jig. You can’t get enough of it. While pike rip lures with violent jolts and bass relay faint ticks up the line, walleye strikes remind you of a blunt punch to the head. Sometimes, you can almost hear them attack. And then, it’s that mighty but measured whomp-whomp-whomp head shake, as the big ‘eye attempts to extricate itself from the hook. Big walleyes are tough, and often, alarmingly aggressive predators, way more combative than many anglers realize. “GOOD, BAD, OR OTHERWISE, LIVE-SCANNING SONAR IS CHANGING THE NATURE OF WALLEYE FISHING.” I’m pretty sure it was In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange who first gave voice to this years ago and opened a lot of eyes. That the…

Back in the day, catfish weren’t a priority for news media, fishery biologists, or tackle manufacturers. Sure, the local newspaper would occasionally run a picture of Ol’ Joe and a big catfish he caught, but trout, bass, walleyes, and crappies got most of the media’s attention. Fish and Game departments considered catfish self-supporting, with the attitude, “Catch all you want, Mother Nature will make more.” Tackle manufacturers assumed there was little money to be made from anglers who used nightcrawlers and chicken guts for bait, and offered little catfish-specific tackle. How things have changed. Do a search for “catfish tackle” on the Internet and it’s obvious cat-fishing is no longer ignored by tackle manufacturers. Catfishing has finally been recognized for its heretofore overlooked popularity. In a TV broadcast last spring,…

This growth has been rather gradual, however, beginning with the earliest lipped divers made by Ernest Pflueger, James Heddon, William Shakespeare Jr., and other luminaries. I point to Lauri Rapala’s Original Floating Minnow as the beginning of a new era in lures, beginning when he carved his balsa minnow in 1936. Once it entered the U.S. market about 20 years later, it rose to immediate prominence through the efforts of a pair of fishing promoters, Ray Ostrom and Ron Weber, who eventually founded Normark. This sort of high-level marketing and distribution has become a key contributor to success ever since. But let’s explore two key contributors to crankbait design, promotion, and techniques—famed lure maker Jim Bagley and the most renowned crankbait angler, David Fritts. Their stories and successes inspire today’s…

When it comes to truth about fish size, a fair contingent of the players in the muskie world are fuller of shnitsum than a Christmas goose. Never mind that every fish approaching 46 inches suddenly weighs 30 pounds. That’s the small stuff. On the far end of this spectrum, several times a year the phone rings, and the report from far beyond is of a muskie surpassing the world record—make that records, for the organizations that oversee this angle of our sport can’t agree on the fish or the angler, much less the weight. ¶ Perhaps if someone should finally land and verify a fish that scales, oh say, 75 pounds, we might have agreement on all sides. Maybe not. Where muskies are concerned, even notarized documents are in doubt.…

Under the bed and down in the basement, there are big plastic tubs full of envelopes that contain zillions of photos that never found their way into frames or albums compiled by my wife, mother, or grandmothers. Some of them date back to around the turn of the 20th century, showing ancestors up to four generations before me. Many of the photos taken since the late 1930s include five generations, two before me and two after me, and have one thing in common—they include fish caught near the family cabin on Stalker Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. Over the years, I have had reasons to search the tubs and albums for photos needed to portray a point for a “Reflections” article, a presentation at work, or another purpose. My…