Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i In-Fisherman

Next Gen Speed Spool Lew’s Speed Spool, with a 10-bearing system, solid-brass Speed Gears, a Super Pinion bearing supported pinion gear, and a Rulon drag system with 15-pounds of max drag, assures smooth performance and power to move fish away from cover. It’s light in hand as it is handsome, with a one-piece aluminum frame and graphite sideplates. Meanwhile, an adjustable Magnetic Control System makes fine-tuning casts a breeze—$99.99, lews.com Soft Shine Glide The Savage Gear 3D Soft Shine Glide Bait, measuring 7 inches, features a realistic swimming and gliding action. It excels with medium to fast retrieves, activating a tail kick, interspersed with pauses during which the bait drifts to the side, mimicking an injured baitfish. A line-through treble attachment system tucks into the molded belly slot. On a…

The tackle box is labeled “Expendables.” It contains old jigs with pot-metal hooks, which were harder to assemble than expected. Most jig manufacturers decades ago turned to premium hooks, which don’t straighten well when snagged in wood. T Wood and walleyes go together wherever they hook up. Lakes, rivers, reservoirs, flowages, and Great Lakes all have timber-dwelling mud monsters. Aquatic wood appears in diverse forms in those varied environments, and each demands a different approach. Stickups occur when water levels rise and flood bushes and tiny trees—a common situation on Devils Lake, North Dakota. Rivers create logjams when floods deposit fallen, drifting trees on the tip of an island, point, or in slow water on the inside of a bend. Trees that float but are half waterlogged become dead heads.…

I am where I want to be because the East End is pockmarked with so many freshwater lakes and ponds, each with its own rhythm and personality. Fate? Serendipity? Whatever the forces, I was drawn to these relatively small bodies of water almost 50 years ago and settled here because they’re the perfect antidote for the clamor of “progress.” After fishing one of these little-known treasures, I was hooked. It was 1968, Father’s Day, when my love affair with these sweet water jewels began. My dad, with my mother’s blessing, decided to give himself a long-overdue present, a day alone far from man-made obstructions and the crush of suburbia. He planned to drive east from Merrick to Big Reed Pond in Montauk and fish from the shore. Not an easy…

Factors for Strong Walleye Year-Classes Environmental Ecology—Walleyes are known as a species that often varies greatly in the success of year-classes—fish spawned in one calendar year. This factor is important as it can lead to fast or poor fishing several years later, when that group of fish reaches harvest-able size. Lakes that produce strong year-classes every three or four years tend to have strong populations, supported by adults of various ages. Dr. Andrew Honsey and two other researchers from the University of Minnesota recently examined 17 variables and their potential effects on recruitment and year-class strength of Minnesota’s nine largest walleye lakes (including Minnesota’s portion of Lake of the Woods but not Lake Superior).* These popular fisheries in the central and northern part of the state account for about 40…

Certain age-old questions persist in fishing. For example, if you could only use one lure for a specific species of fish, what would it be? The jig often ranks number one when discussing walleyes, bluegills, crappies, and perch. The jig also has honorable-mention status among the smallmouth bass crowd. When it comes to pike and muskies, however, the bucktail stands atop the list and for good reason. Bucktails have been around forever. While evolving with the times, they’ve not strayed far from their roots. Most Esox anglers grew up catching fish on bucktails. A high confidence level exists with these baits. They’re versatile and catch both numbers and trophy-caliber fish. Plus, no matter where you throw them or how you work them, there’s always a chance they’ll get eaten by…

From coast-to-coast, they’re out there day after day, working the same rivers for smallmouth bass. Experienced guides know river smallmouths as well or better than anybody. From river to river across the country, smallmouths evolved in differing environmental conditions. Some rivers are perpetually cloudy, others run clear until waters rise. Rivers in hilly country, fast and powerful, are countered by those that run deep and slow through flatlands. Big-river smallmouths may develop more aggressive attitudes than their spooky cousins in small streams. Smallmouths can adapt and thrive in all kinds of moving water—from the raging currents of the Niagara to the slow, almost nonexistent flow in Wisconsin’s Sheboygan River, and in every current velocity between. Substrates in smallmouth rivers and streams can range from entirely rocky to almost completely soft.…

Although the title of this article calls out bluegills, the tactics laid out here play well with all sorts of sunfish: bluegills, pumpkinseeds, green sunfish, hybrids, you name it. And while catching sunfish can be a simple affair, catching big sunfish can be challenging. One of the best ways to tap outsizers? Spoons. There’s probably no better authority on spoon-feeding big sunfish than veteran northern Minnesota guide Brian “Bro” Brosdahl, an angler with accelerated approaches on ice and open water. And perhaps that’s why he’s so successful on open water—with all his knowledge of tapping big, reluctant sunfish through the ice with all manners of tackle beyond standard open-water approaches. After all, in winter, spoons are common weaponry for sunfish yet seem to get much less play when the ice…

White Bass Beyond the Run Constantine Rafinesque, the renowned French naturalist, found white bass in abundance along the banks of the Ohio River in the early 1800s. During Rafinesque’s day, this species inhabited the Great Lakes and many of the waterways in the Mississippi River Basin. He and his contemporaries considered the white bass a feisty and noble creature, and ultimately it was transplanted to France in the 1870s, where it was called Le silver bass du Canade. Nowadays, white bass thrive in scores of reservoirs across North America, where they’re deemed by many anglers to be the sportiest panfish. Although the world record—6 pounds 13 ounces—was caught at Lake Orange, Virginia, the epicenter of white bass fishing remains in the nation’s heartland. Since the late 1960s, the most creative…