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Fishing Tips
WALLEYE
(limit 2 fish per license / slot size 13.8 to 17.7 inches)
SHALLOW (shoreline to 15 ft.)
Rapala’s #7 deep diving Shad Rap / Jig (3/8 oz.) plus live bait or assorted plastics / new Swim baits.  Pitch & toss with slow retrieve OR use jerk action (stop & go)

MID-DEPTH TO DEEP (15 ft. to 45 ft.)
Lindy-style Rigs with Live Bait (spool spinning reel with 8 lb. test mono)
Rig:, ½ oz. bullet slip sinker / ball bearing snap swivel / Snell: 3 – 4 feet 8 lb. mono (Berkley Vanish) / fluorescent bead / #2 hook.  Tie your own, store on Tackle  Buddy.
Live bait: use leeches or crawlers one reel crank off the bottom. Use large-extra large frisky dace minnows and hook high behind dorsal fin. Reel up three reel cranks  off the bottom. Method: Locate fish and note depth / use a marker buoy / move slowly  keeping line fairly vertical / HOLD YOUR DEPTH / softly tease the bite and time the hookset

MUSKY
(Catch & Release – official 54 in. limit)
EARLY SEASON: cold water - use smaller presentations.
Bucktails AND Spinnerbaits:  Mepps / Blue Fox “Plain #4” or “Plain #5” / Bucher “Hot Baby Boo Tail” AND/OR  “Musky Candy Spin” / Pearson’s “Grinder” / Shumway “Little  Chicken”.  Baby Crankbaits: Bucher “Baby Shallow-Raider” or Mania 6 in. jointed    “Jake” or Salmo “Swimming Fatso”.  Use slower retrieve speed.
MID-SEASON: warm water - more speed, size, versatility.
Bucktails & Spinnerbaits: Mepps “Plain Giant Killer” / Buchertail “700” /  “Musky Buster “Bulger ” / Musky Mayhem “Double Cowgirl” AND/OR  Shumway “Funky  Chicken 3 OZ. Single” / Llungen “Nut Buster” / Drifter “Grinder” 9in.  / Fudally “Hawg Spin Mag”   (speed troll)

Crankbaits: Musky Innovations “Bulldawg” / Legend “Outcast” / “Helin Musky Flatfish” / Salmo “Skinner” / Bomber “Long A Mag” / Legend “Plow” 14 in. (troll) /  Wiley’s “Stalker” 12 in. (troll). 

Topwaters & Jerkbaits:  “Squirko” / “Amma Bamma” / River Run “Manta Hawg 10”/ Mouldy’s “Hawg Wobbler” 2 oz. / Bucher “Top Raider” / Poe’s “Giant Jackpot” / Hi-Fin  “Twin Teasertail”.
LATE SEASON: water cooling – use more troll patterns close to steep rock  and deep water. Also, locate and fish by schools of suspended baitfish. Lures of choice: select larger ‘confidence’ baits and mix more trolling with casting in game plan. Cast “Double Cowgirl”, “Funky Chicken”, “Magnum Bulldawg” and “Squirko”. Troll Legend “Plow”, 10 in. Jake (perch) and Wiley’s “Stalker”.

 

Note: When slinging lures, a huge percentage of hook-ups occur at boatside. Therefore it’s imperative to practice the figure eight technique creating commotion and  speed variations with rise and dive variants. Another technique is to create exaggerated  distress signals by exploding  the water’s surface with your rod tip, side to side about 3 feet apart,  leaving the lure to “shake n’ bake” in the middle (this works especially well with bigger  musky follows – more on this upon request).  Use an 8 ft. “Bulldawg Series” musky rod with an Abu Garcia 7000iCS reel  for slinging heavy lures and gaining more effective play with lures at boatside.

NORTHERN PIKE
(limit 4 fish per license / slot size 27.6 to 35.4 inches / only 1 fish over 35.4 inches)
MUSKY TIPS and lure suggestions apply for the most part for bigger northern pike. Use more color and spend more time with smaller bucktail and spinnerbait presentations. Mepps or Blue Fox Vibrax #3’s & # 4’s (plain) and especially the #6 Blue Fox (plain) work well.  Large spoons are a good choice, as are Jig & plastic combos. Include topwaters, jerk baits and crankbaits according to conditions.
 

 

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BASS
(May 1 to June 30: 2x under 13.8 in. / after June 30: 4x no size limit)

TOPWATER
Storm Bait “Rattlin’ Chug Bug”, Rapala “Skitter Pop”, Rapala “Floating Minnow”, Yum “BuzzFrog” with Cabela’s “Stanley 1/8 oz. WedgeHead” hook.

SHORELINE to BREAKLINE
Tie directly to light line - Baby Paca Craws (watermelon color) with tube rattle and offset shank hook size #2 OR weedless 1/16 oz. wide-gap Jig tipped with 4 inch YUM plastic OR use Yum with Wacky Hook, OR choice of Zoom Flukes, Tube Jigs OR Shad style Swim Baits.  Use light weight 8 in. titanium leaders with Mepps or Blue Fox #3 & #4 gold/copper spinners (plain), small-medium crankbaits such as Rapala Shad and X-Raps, OR a Mr. Beetle-Spin.

DEEP FLATS (20 to 45 ft. MID-SUMMER - FALL)
Lindy Rig (see walleye above): Live Bait or artificial 6 in. Power Worms   or 4 in. Grub Tails / Jigs ¼ oz to ½ oz: Hair or Plain tipped with live bait or power plastics / Crankbaits: large lipped deep divers such as “4 inch Reef Runners” and   “Fat Raps”
Note: Large bass are often slightly shallower than walleye / Given the conditions of wind, current and depth, use as light a line and weight as possible, s-s-slow presentation, longer snell with Lindy. 		Bass3.JPG (5639 bytes)

LAKE TROUT

River Air of Minaki will fly you to surrounding lakes.  Road access and freighter canoe portage (Sunset) are also good options.   TROLL TO 30 FEET or JIG DEEPER POCKETS.   Recommend 6 inch Reef Runner, U-20 silver Flatfish, or jointed 5 1/4 inch Rapala, Jig 1/2 oz. with minnow.

 

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Don’t forget  –  As important as lure selection may be, other choices are equally or more critical to fishing success: rod & reel choice, terminal tackle, fishing location, fishing technique and fishing conditions.  As a great philosopher once said, “Fish the spot-on-the-spot where they are - not where they ain’t!”