Walleye Season Begins!

So, today I made a pit stop after school to pick up bait from Northwoods in Hancock, and then my girlfriend and I headed off to Gratiot Lake to hopefully catch some walleye. Everything today just seemed to feel good, and after talking briefly with the clerk at Northwoods, I also picked up a few new jigs to try on the ice today.

We got onto the ice a around three thirty and immediately put a few tip-ups down. Then we headed off to deeper water. I put down a jigging rod with one of the new jigs. It's called a forage minnow, and I put a suck on the hook of the jig. My girlfriend got a bite within just a few minutes, which was very exciting, but we could not get anything to stick. Finally, just before dark, I caught two walleye on the jig line and missed a third. The bites were very light and hard to feel. What was surprising, however, was that they never set off a tip-up, which leads me to believe I had them too far off bottom. All in all, it was a great evening and a great start to the fishing season.

Good Luck! Enjoy. 

First Fish of the Season

On Thursday, my girlfriend and her little sister went out to enjoy some of the first ice fishing this year. We traveled to a little lake north of Calumet. There was good ice and we got set up quickly, shortly after four p.m. Her little sister was set up with a perch rig and we went out to set up a few tip-ups. Not long after, her little sister was letting out whoops and hollars and we looked back to see her pole doubled over the hole. She had hooked something and was very excited. I ran back and helped her to pull a 16" pike through the hole. It was a big fish for her and it was great to see her so excited. We caught another similar sized pike on a tip-up just before we left for the evening. It was a great first day.

We returned the next day but were unsuccessful. There must have been some sort of low pressure moving in because there were no bites at all.

Hopefully we can get out again soon. The ice should be firmed up again with the return of this colder weather.

Enjoy and get out fishing.  

Janns Netcraft

I may be a little late to the party, but I wanted to let everyone know about a great site that I just found. It is called Janns Netcraft and they have an abundant supply of everything you could ever need for fishing. If you have not visited this site before, you may want to check it out because they have so much stuff for fishing hobbyists, fly tiers, lure makers, and net builders. Check it out and let me know what you think. You can find the link below or on the links page.

Thanks!

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/

Ice Report 1/10/13

Good Morning All!

It is a bright and beautiful day up in the Keewenaw! I hope you're enjoying the nice weather and are heading out ice fishing soon. But before you do, please post a few comments letting people know how the ice conditions are. It seems to have been a bit warm lately and not much ice. My girlfriend and I stopped in Lake Linden last night to check the ice. It was very clear which is exciting but not terribly thick. We are planning on getting out soon though!

Also look back shortly as I plan to put up a few more how to posts. Thanks and enjoy!


Happy New Year Everyone!

Back in the U.P.

I have finished my time in the Twin Cities. It has been fun, but I'm excited to be back up north. I tried to keep tabs on the rivers as I drove up 63 through Wisconsin. Many of the rivers appeared to be moving but were littered with small icebergs. As I got into Michigan, I noticed how many of the lakes were froze over. It must have gotten cold here shortly before I returned home. But that is good news, because hopefully we will be able to ice fish soon. I have stopped by a few of my spots but with no real luck. Flyfishing is still quite new for me, especially fly fishing in the Winter. I hope everyone is keeping busy and getting out to fish. Happy Holidays. This is a great time of year.

DIY Fly Tying Table?

Hey there everyone. I'm thinking about trying to build a nice homemade fly tying table. I was just wondering if anyone had any good pictures or ideas of how to make one. I made up a couple nice ideas but they just keep getting more elaborate. But that is part of the fun I suppose. Post any comments, let me know what you think. Thanks!

More Good Stuff

More searching around the net (kind of an awesome pun) has led me to a couple more great resources for you all to check out. First off is the Trout Unlimited Magazine archive. For anyone who didn't know, who hasn't had the time or funds to get a subscription, you can actually check out the past magazines online. I was so excited to find them, that I have read through most of them already. I would definitely recommend checking it out. They offer a lot of great information on different fish species, special interest pieces, and keep the readers up to date on several stream restoration projects.

Secondly, I recently came across a website that hosts a public television show called: Fly Tying: The Anglers Art. It is a neat little show put on by two gentlemen who love to tie flies and talk about fishing. I have already learned several great tips from these two and I think no matter what level of tier you are, it can be a helpful show to watch. Let me know what you think!

Please use the links below. I will also post this on the links portion of the website!

Fly Tying The Anglers Art

Trout Unlimited Magazine Archive

Enjoy!

A Warm November and Afternoon Rainbows

This past Saturday, I took advantage of the warm weather that is sweeping across the Twin Cities area. I headed to one of my favorite local lakes to do some fly fishing. Most of the time it has just been for practice aiming for panfish like bluegill and pumpkinseed. But with the cooler temps that we have seen the last couple weeks many of the panfish have receded to greater depths and I can't reach them anymore. But, feeling quite optimistic, I visited the lake anyway hoping that I could catch one of the trout that rumor has it, inhabit the lake I was visiting. As I proceeded to make my way around the lake I found a large amount of wildlife also out, enjoying the warm weather. There were numerous geese and muskrats paddling around on the water surface. I had ventured to a part of the lake that was sheltered from the breeze and therefore quite calm. The surface was very undisturbed and I threw out my popper hoping for some action from a bluegill. I was greeted with a little sunny almost immediately and as I worked to get it from the hook a large splash caught my attention. Something had made a decent ripple farther out from shore. As I continued to watch several more ripples began to appear. I hastily searched for a different fly in my box not sure what to pick because I didn't really see any bugs to speak of. In the process of switching flies I saw several fish jump out of the water, including a trout that jumped three times from the water within a span of just seconds. It was truly magnificent. Finally I settled on a fly that I had made my self which you can see below. To my absolute amazement, it worked, and I caught two very nice Rainbow Trout. They were roughly 16" and quite fat. They fought hard and it was truly exhilarating to catch a fish on something that I had made. I'll leave you with my best picture.

Enjoy.