manitoubass2

I didn't love the music, but the fishing and the editing of the video was awesome!!!!

I'd continue to watch these... Great job!

lol, awesome pics Simon!

Boy is Jack growing up fast!!!!

My sincerest most heartfelt thanks to all of you.Its been a long and emotional day.I`m fine for hours, then a wave of grief rolls over me and takes my breath away, i can't even speak a word.Who would have thought that emotional pain could be so physically painful.

I am sure that in time, my sadness will be replaced by warm memories of her. I will never forget the comforting words and support that i received both here and in the PM's i recieved from you.

 

 

God Bless all of you.

I have made it through today with a little help from my friends

 

 

Paul

Right back atcha bud. You give and shall receive

YES!!!!

Awesome dood!!!! Congrats!

walleye rods I have for Okuma are straight up awesome.

I like/love other rods as well, but I've got heavy hours on those rods and no issues at all.

That being said, when it comes to reels, I absolutely love Okuma. I've switched all my rods over to Okuma reels accept for one that has a Stradic on it.

Sorry for your loss Paul. I feel for you and your family.

Down a good 6ft here on the Rainy River, and held that way almost all summer.

It's normally high in the spring (it was this year too), then it drops drastically, then goes back up, then down, then way up in the fall before freeze up.

Right now were at a 2.5ft average where it should be about 8ft average. If it stays this low, freeze up should be quick, but I'll be looking for new icefishing spots for sure.

Oh, and because it has held this low for so long, water visibility is almost the clearest I've ever seen it

If I needed a prescription for my blood pressure because of fishing related stress

I'm very thankful to live/fish in NW Ontario, thanks for the gentle reminder fellas!

Walleye

Blue 3/8oz jighead with Kalins grub in bluegill

Northland tackle shakeyhead jig with 4" Matzuo worm in pumpkinseed

Live Target Golden Shiner lipless crank

Pike

Texas rigged Berkley Crazy legs chigger craw in black/red fleck

Zara Spook

Bass

Strike King Potbelly spinnerbait in Black/silver willows

Texas rigged Berkley Crazy legs chigger craw in black/red fleck

Dt series cranks

to loop them up, do it just like a garden hose. One hand hold it, grab it with the other hand, twist your wrist (fingers in this case) slightly as you form the loop. As you form each loop, keep holding it with your other hand .Keep the loops the same size. Then wrap the end through the loop 2 or three times. Done

With crawler harnesses (2 hooks) the hook position DOES NOT matter. In fact, I prefer them to be a little off, as it adds a little movement to the crawler

Yours look very good! You'll have alot of fun tying them throughout the winter!

As previously mentioned, look at Wal-Mart etc for beads, they have some really, really great beads for cheap. Also, if you have any craft stores in your area, go look. I've found awesome beads, really high quality ones too, for as little as $4 per thousand beads. You can't beat that.

As for the metal clevises, they are just as good as quick change. But I use quick change until I have a trusted pattern, then I'll re tie it later on with a metal clevis

Hope this helps

Awesome

 

Can't wait till my little guy can bring in a walleye.....

It won't be long Mike! He'll probably be trolling before walking

Also 2hrs? Come on man! LOL! People always over estimate the time they fight a fish..

I agree.

Anyhow, thats one amazing catch!!!!

I can imagine you singing "its the most wonderful time of the year" when the shiner run returns every year haha.

Did you hear me?

A 30" eye would be nice but we need a whitefish more right now. Muskie wouldn't hurt either.

Miles Bay, next weekend. I would not count on me for a large musky though, seems like its never gonna happen, lol

You've got your kids hooked on fishing for life!

Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure!

Yes, my kids love every minute of it, from planning, looking at maps, tying spinners etc, they love it all! And I love watching them love it (if that makes any sense)

Nice! Better start bringing the ofc sign!

It's in the bag, just waiting on some better fish.

and two more quick pics from this morning.

a 13" walleye with a partially digested 12" lawyer (Ling) half in its mouth, half in it's belly!

My oldest boy had the biggest today! 23"

Well, on Friday afternoon I packed up the gear to go check out one of my shore spots. I wanted to see how the shiner run from Lake of the Woods/Rainy Lake was going. It started a few weeks ago, but has yet to peak. Here on Rainy River, the walleye/bass and pike feast heavy on shiners during the initial start of the shiner run. I get excited, because I know whats in store for the remainder of the softwater season. At first, its starts with smaller fish relocating for winter, then as the shiner run/gorging increases, so do the numbers, and size of the travelling walleyes. So my goal on Friday was to not only locate fish, but to see what they would bite. Sounds easy right? Shiners, DU'H! Lol, well it isn't THAT easy when the fish are gorging. More often then not, you need to locate the pods of baitfish, then search the edges with baits/lures that stick out amongst the pods. Sometimes its a size thing, bigger or smaller. Sometimes it's a color thing, totally opposing a shiner, or sometimes you need to match the hatch (but that doesn't happen often). Sometimes you can just jig or deadstick live bait in 20-30FOW. Anyhow, I got the timing of the bite down and found some productive tactics. Towards the end of the day I also tried to deadstick large minnows before I took the kids out. As sometimes it's the way THEY prefer to fish! I caught a bunch of good walleyes that day, and a few little pike. Biggest walleye of the day was only 25" though. This time of year, were looking for 30" PLUS!

-wind was cool, 20km/h from the south, southeast.

-water temps 42 degrees, clarity very good for the river, about 6ft.

Saturday rolls around and I tell the kids the plan is to hit the spot by 430 pm. That gives us half hour to set up and be ready for a bite that, if I'm correct, will start around 5pm. The kids are excited as we gear up. All the kids talk about whos gonna catch fish, whos gonna get the biggest etc. So funny to hear the friendly banter of my kids, ranging in age from 7-12 years old. They sound like seasoned veterans (at this point they actually are).

So, water temps today are rising slightly, about 46 degrees. It's much warmer, about 15 above, and barely a lick of wind. It begins overcast, but the sun quickly makes it presence felt in the way of clear blue skies.

The first 20 minutes or so, no bites. But not to worry, I did my homework almost to perfection on this day. I show the kids some targets to cast to for underwater structure in 15-30 FOW, and show them the retrieve speeds etc.

Tap tap THUD! Set the hook and the fight is on. I get the first of many small walleye. Look at my watch, 5:20 pm, almost clockwork precision, lol.

About 30 seconds later, I feel like Bill Murray.

Now the kids are getting bit! But its funny, the shiners push the shore, in broad daylight with sunny skies. The walleye are now in 4FOW, hugging shore and feeding heavily.

The bites come fast and furious! It's all small fish, but who cares! Man were having a blast!

This kept up for an hour and a half. We caught to many to count really, all fish from 13" all the way up to 20". For some reason I decided to take pics of all the small fish today, hahahaha.

Walleye popsicle

So, after a two hour, very succesful session, we headed home to fillet up the 4 fish we kept. The kids all hungry and awaiting, I made them a quick supper of walleye, fresh homemade bread, some onions, maple beans and a baked potatoe. The fish is in there, buried under the onions! hahaha

What a fun day! Gotta love being a Dad in NW Ontario!!!!

And hear is a pic of my boy with a 22" walleye. My youngest, 7, lands the largest of the day! Way to go buddy! It's not near his PB, but a great fish ON THIS DAY!!!

Hope you all enjoy! I know WE did!!!!

Threw it a grand total of once...Didn't get anything on it.

 

My conclusions about it - When it lands in the water, it sounds like a 2# bass jumping. Very hard to get feedback of what your baits are doing and when they are tangled.

 

I do want to give it another shot, but I don't know when that will be.

Musky bait!!!!!

Lots of good info appreciate it! I'll make sure to re-read the thread when I head down to pick up a few more. I'm guessing 3/8+ for pike and smaller 1/4-1/2 oz for bass?

 

I started with spoons and they have worked well for me (most of the time) also had a decent results with spinners, lately I been using cranks a lot and again they worked quite well for me as well. I always try spinerbaits when fishing is going slow but like I said they never turned my luck around, maybe that's because there were no fish around, I don't know. If I'm fishing shallow (river) water twist tails have been productive for bass, after I got my inflatable and started trolling crankbaits and spinners have been my go to lures. Yet to get skunked when I take my boat, but now that it's cold I don't think I'll be using it till next year.

 

It was mentioned that they work better in warmer weather. Any point stocking up now planning on using them this fall/winter or should I wait till spring?

I like half ounce and one ounce for bass/pike and walleye, but lighter ones work well too. (usually river fishing, so there is current. Too light and the current just pulls the spinner off my targets)

They work very well in cold water too, but it will be slower. You'll notice strikes from really active fish, then it might just die right off. Time to switch up or move on when the water is cold. Bass and walleye will destroy spinnerbaits right til the end of November in my experience. But at that time I'm only river fishing, so take that into account. I've never fished a spinnerbait in the lake in mid november, so I can't really offer advice

My favourite is when I'm fishing with my spinning rod. I'll be on a river somewhere without anyone around me, tossing a spinner or crankbait. Then someone shows up planning to drift, right above me, trying to grease me out. In that situation I don't mind crossing their line and pulling it in. I'm not typically twit-for-tat, but if you see someone fishing there already and your style of fishing will prevent them from continuing to fish, move on to a different stretch or get there earlier.

Why not just give it a few little twitches, you know, just to watch them set the hook on nothing, lol.

Oh wait, then you would be no better then the other dood hahaha

I get no fishing pressure at my shore spots Simon, but I do often arrive to some empty jugs of alcohol, all from the same two people over and over again.

A month back, one of them musta got the doghouse by the missus, cause they decided to kick in the door on my ice fishing shack.

So I feel your frustration, lol

As for fishing, the shiner runs been going on for awhile now. Walleye are getting better and better number wise, as well as size wise. Another week or two and it will be bonkers again. I'm excited, its an awesome time of year for cowbeenas, and because alot of them are near shore, the kids get to join in the fun!

Unlike you though, I gotta tie my pups up. If I dangled fish in front of my dogs they'll eat them up right away, lol. Something about those huskies right before winter, lol.

Awesome!

Darn thats a good looking pup! Livin the life thats for sure.

Nice looking eyes too Simon, a good shore bite is always fun!

Thats a wicked catch!!!! Congrats, and good on you for treating that fish with respect!

I'm lucky enough to have crazy amounts of sturgeon in my homewaters. We can sit on te deck with coffee or beers and watch them jump all evening long. I even get to bring the kids down to the rapids so we can watch them spawn, which is incredible! 7ft fish so thick there piled on each other literally at your feet. Almost looks like a shallow, shark feeding frenzie!

Always tie direct (I'll assume your doing that)

Never be afraid to let a spinnerbait sink to bottom before giving it a good jerk, then retrieve (slow to keep it deep). You can also pause it and let it hit bottom before repeating. I'll often do this for walleye in 15-25FOW (but pike and bass will hit it as well. I'll even jig retrieve a spinnerbait, and walleye will usually hit it on the fall, bass and pike will hit it on the retrieve.

I never use a trailer or a stinger hook, never seem to get short strikes or need a trailer. Although I did try it once this fall when advice was being handed out to Mercman in a thread, and I still caught just as many fish with a 4" minnow bait as a trailer (so I'm sure it doesn't hurt).

Black and silver with willow blades is my favorite, works well no matter what the water clarity is. My fallow up is chart with willows.

I like to tie direct with braid, and that allows my to feel the blades thumping, but I can also feel the strikes right away, and can also feel the structures I'm bumping off or weeds I'm ripping though.

You'd be amazed how many strikes come right after the bait hits a rock, tickles a weed or thumps a log.

Fish them without fear, they are pretty weedless and snag proof. You'll lose a few along the way for sure, but not that many in comparison to jigging or the like.

Spinnerbaits, then top waters, then flat raps or xraps.

Almost everything after that is plastics, weighted or unweighted, depending on depth. Favorite plastic is still the Black & red flake Berkley chigger craw

Pretty quick it will be drop shotting ^^^ X-zone Slammers