Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2024 i In-Fisherman

On November 3, 2022, the bass angling world stood still. That day, Ohio native Gregg Gallagher set a hook into the largest smallmouth ever recorded from anywhere around the Great Lakes, Canada, the Midwest or the Far West. Fishing on the Ontario side of Lake Erie with his son, Grant, his bass officially weighed 10.15 pounds. It measured 23.75 inches in length by 19.38 inches in girth. (Read more on that catch at in-fisherman.com.) According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, the behemoth was a 16-year-old female. The previous Ontario small-mouth provincial record was a 9.84-pound fish caught by Andy Anderson in September, 1954, at Birchbark Lake, near Kinmount, Ontario. The Ohio smallmouth bass record is held by Randy VanDam (Kevin VanDam’s brother), who caught a…

Understanding prespawn crappies pays big dividends. Up North, catching early-season panfish fills the time between ice-out and the walleye opener. In the South, national tournaments that move from Florida north in the spring seem to be perpetually ahead of the big event. While the shallow crappie bite peaks for only a few days, prespawn patterns cover multiple months from midwinter into the warmer weather of summer. A big-fish attitude helps. Prespawn isn’t a time to load the boat because all crappies are spread out a bit. Forward-facing sonar is here to stay and, quite simply, 2-pounders make larger dots. This goes against the limit-every-day attitude that panfish anglers crave, but battling a tackle-testing crappie on a long single pole can become addictive while more than enough bites can be had…

As modern boats are evolving alongside fishing gear, electronics, batteries, with multiple regional applications (for example, walleye boats on big water vs. bass boats in shallow water), motors and hulls are not getting any lighter. A four-stroke engine is more fuel efficient and quieter, but they’re heavier. These advancements are to make anglers more productive at their individual craft, but getting there and back—dry and safe—is the key. Most fiberglass and aluminum hulls will run about perfectly off the factory line, but add batteries and electronics, a kicker or trolling motor, and a stack of tackle, and the rig will perform differently. Some list to one side or the other depending on weight distribution and hull design, while others may have a slower hole-shot thanks to hull weight and gear…

Unless your head has been buried in the lake sand over the last couple of years, the constant conversation around live or forward-facing sonar has been dominating the fishing space. And frankly, some clear lines have been drawn in that same lake sand as to whether the technology should be allowed on the top levels of the bass, walleye, crappie, and muskie tournament trails. While the back-and-forth continues, this article is not to take sides, but rather to illustrate how this sonar technology can help you catch more fish and learn more about fish behavior than any sort of device out there, in a fraction of the time. It can be eye opening to see fish interact with your presentation, or navigate weedlines, rockpiles, stumps—you name it. That type of…

Two decades and a half ago Doc was leafing through a slick magazine that listed the latest big fish records. He was not at all happy with the stellar performance of so many other anglers, and when he turned the pages, he smacked them like he was killing flies. He saw the walleye record was multiple pounds more than he had ever caught. So, naturally, he called me to complain. When it comes to Doc’s cordless phone protocol, he roams far and wide. The people he calls can hear neighborhood dogs barking, bacon frying, a football game on TV, and even popcorn detonating in the microwave. I hit the talk button, and heard the all-too-familiar sound of water flushing. Even without looking at the caller ID, I knew who was…

World-Class Crappies Shallow In-Fisherman TV, Season 43, Episode 8, “Secrets to Early Season Transitions” Early season is a time of transition for fish and aquatic systems, and being successful on the water requires how to read these seasonal changes and taking advantage of them—going with the flow, as they say—to find and catch fish. Tis the season when crappies fill the minds of anglers, with the long-awaited spring crappie bite revving up. Nowhere is more famous for big springtime crappies than Mississippi’s Grenada and Enid lakes, where the In-Fisherman staff and friends fish a few early season patterns based on the conditions at hand. So off we go, spider-rigging and even fishing on foot—wading low water, dipping stickups and brush for big-time slabs. Behemoth Blue Catfish In-Fisherman TV, Season 44,…

Turning lemons into lemonade is not just an optimistic saying, but a mentality that pike anglers must adopt each spring, as high water often wreaks havoc on traditional fishing spots but in turn creates small pockets and vast new shallow areas where pike find relief from adverse conditions. Locate these sanctuaries and get the presentation process right and you can drink in the sweet taste of success. The range of backwater options is extensive, from those in small rivers where pike populations are marginal with fish only available during this short spring season as they travel upriver and congregate in shack-water below dams; to those consisting of creek arms on major reservoirs, where fish instead of pushing upstream track as far back into the creek arm as possible. Meanwhile, in…

For some anglers, the trolling motor is really the main motor. Drop the boat in the water and fire up the outboard, only to let it sing mere seconds or minutes before the “other” motor on the bow proceeds to work the day away. Whether you pepper the bank and spend most of your time on the foot pedal, or you wear a remote around your neck and pull spinners over deep-water structure, anglers rely on their trolling motors more than ever. If boats are incomplete without one then it’s best we get as much from this power plant as possible. Cable-Driven vs. Electronic Of course all trolling motors are electronically guided and powered, but there’s a fork in the road for most anglers that initially decide whether they want…

Black bass have basic biological needs, and scientists have identified the conditions optimum for bass. Logically, then, someone comes along and produces an oxygen meter, color-indicating device, or pH meter; or makes plastic fish habitat; or produces oxygen-chumming equipment. Some of these devices may help bass anglers sometimes. Bass, though, don’t always seek optimum conditions. Often, they move away from sub-optimum and marginal conditions, but only far enough to meet their minimum needs. They don’t know where anything is in a body of water unless they visit it. Before they choose to use water containing high oxygen levels, an ideal pH, optimum temperature, a concentration of preyfish, or recently added artificial cover, bass must first find it. They aren’t psychic. They can’t guess that somewhere on the other side of…

I admit to lapses in judgment in my younger days. Among those I can talk about would include going afield in cold weather. Growing up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we often had cold spells that would last long enough for cabin fever to set in and the cold to seem less foreboding than the inside walls. On one February morning, I set out to pursue trout on my favorite stream. The temperature as I put on my waders was in the low teens and my waders were frozen stiffer than stale jerky. Spikes of ice stood like stalagmites around the puddles by my car. By northern standards, this may sound balmy but when water temperatures make the mercury in my stream thermometer shiver, my feet tend…