The lack of winter snow left the water   levels down further than we expected but the walleye were holed up and when you got on them, you REALLY got on them. The weather was great and the only real rain we got came overnight. We were predominantly jig fishing, with our jigs hooked weedless because of all the timber, and tipped with a night crawler. Pink, white, and pink and white were the favorite colors again this year. But there were times… many of them… where it didn’t matter what you dropped over the side.

(Steve) We were fishing? The last time we were up here I barely remember anything. It’s sort of a blur. This year’s trip was nothing short of amazing. As Dave said, the weather was perfect, in some cases almost too perfect. We found ourselves hoping for a little wind to get the walleye chop up and running. Note to self, be careful what you wish for, we do a lot of back trolling and 1 foot waves hitting the back of a boat going backwards tends to fill the back of the boat with water pretty fast. If only my bailing bucket hadn’t mysteriously vanished.

hehehehe… The bailing bucket ended up in the back of MY boat where it belonged. It was the first year I had a ‘leaker’ so I’m not complaining. I suppose there was a reason it was on shore, upside down, and without a motor.

This year we took along another Canadian newbie, Ted, to go fishing with us. Ted fishes a lot but had never seen or, or believed, the kind of fishing there is up there. His second catch he landed a 26″ fat walleye. I know that isn’t much for you Lake Erie fishermen, but up here that is a huge fish. The fishing was slow by Short Lake standards until the middle of day 2 when the winds finally picked and started driving walleye in to the now famous Osty Hole.

I went to school with Ted. He’s always smiling and laughing and it was a real pleasure he was able to join us. The Osty Hole… the water was only 3-5 foot deep and what was once the structure we fished in years prior was now islands. But when the wind was right, the walleye were stacked in there.

That started the first of several runs where you could barely get your line in the water before you hooked a fish. Much of the video we have posted was shot there and in a 15 minute span 6 of us caught more than 40 fish.

Yeah and that wasn’t the only “hot spot”. Many of the group had their favorite spots and caught more fish than they have in many years. One such spot was my favorite and Ted and I hit it late one afternoon. The amount of fish was simply insane. We couldn’t count past 5 before we were hooked up with a walleye. Ted was in the front of the boat (letting his beer get warm because he couldn’t keep the walleye off his line) and at one point looked at me and said… “I’m not using night crawlers anymore, they’re too far away.” We’d have stayed there longer but we figured 40+ walleye each was plenty that afternoon. That and we ran out of beer.

This was the first time I had fished a lake with water far lower than we had ever seen before. It was eye opening to see the details of the underwater structure we had been fishing. Assuming that the water is up next year, we will have a huge advantage against the walleye and all their little hiding places. The other eye opening aspect was all of the new hidden danger. What used to be high speed travel channels were now opportunities to do serious harm to both boat and boater so all travel was kept at a slow place while we relearned the routes.

Definitely. Water was down 4-6 feet in my estimation. Amazing what “pops up” when it’s down that much. Fortunately the fishing was great in many spots within 15-20 minutes of camp so we didn’t have to relearn a lot.

We also saw more wildlife this year than in years previous. Moose, ducks, geese, a few bear, even a beaver building a new hutch to replace the one that is sure to become the mother-in-law’s quarters since it is now out of water. But mostly we were entertained by a trio of snowshoe hares that decided that our camp site was the perfect place to have a high speed game of tag.

And for the record, at 3am, on a moonless night, while half asleep, trying to ‘relieve yourself’ behind a tree, it’s very hard to tell just how big something is when you hear its footsteps racing up behind you. All I have to say is that rabbit was wrong.. Dead wrong..

lol… Next time wake me up so I can grab the camera… film at 11.

Don’t Be Afraid Little Duck-Walleye Fishing Short Lake is a post from: Lunker Links

How To Fillet a Walleye is a post from: Lunker Links

USGA Real Time Water Data

While sitting in the truck yesterday, looking at the frozen St. Joe River and then seeing all that water coming over the Elkhart dam, I got to wondering if there was a way to check water levels of the river near me. And no, that rock strike that tore apart my prop and bent the drive shaft on my boat had NOTHING to do with my curiosity. Nothing!

While do some searching I stumbled across our old friends as the USGS and their real time water data charts. While not “exactly” real time, most of the data is between 1 and 4 hours old. That’s real time enough for me. And since you can create custom charts, and they show historical data you can plan your next river adventure to match your favorite fishing conditions.

You start by clicking the state you will be fishing in and then you can pull up all of the rivers in that state. Select where you plan to fish, in this case I’m thinking downtown Chicago could be a lot of fun on the Chicago River.

The things that are most obvious and useful are the gauge height and discharge rate. The gauge height is based on the height above or below the set gauge or zero point. A 0 gauge does not mean no water, just that the water is at the level the USGS decided was a good average point. A gauge height of 10′ could be flood stage levels in many places, while a gauge height of 3′ could just be a very high water level.

The discharge rate is the volume of water moving over a set point in cubic feet per second. This chart also shows you a historical average discharge rate so that you can compare water flow with historical averages. You might want to stay away from rivers flowing at 5 or 6 times their historical average.

So the next time you decide to hit the rivers for a little fishing, it may make sense to take a look at the USGS charts for the previous week to help you make your best fishing location choices.

USGS Real-Time Water Data is a post from: Lunker Links

First I wanted to update a previous post about the Fish-N-Fool knot.. I had previously said that I thought that the knot was hard to tie.. After tieing it on for a few days to test it out, it has gotten easier to tie, but I still struggle with it.. My fingers simply don’t move like they used to.. It also didn’t help that we were wearing gloves in 45 degree rain all day.. Take gloves off to tie, but gloves back on to fish..

On the plus side, and this is a huge plus for me, it did give me my first ever gunshot line break.. Unfortunately it was on a tree 10 feet under water and not a giant Northern.. I’ve had knots fail before in hung up situations, but the Fish-N-Fool held tough until the 14 pound mono I was using simply exploded.. That was actually pretty cool..

I’ll continue to tie this knot this year, along with my favorite Palomar, but I see this knot moving higher up on my need to get better at tieing it list..

Fish-N-Fool Knot pt. 2 is a post from: Lunker Links

Fortunately for me the guys at North American Fisherman Magazine are running knot wars again this year.. Each week a new test is run between two knots to determine which is the strongest.. Last year the Palomar won the battle as the strongest knot on three types of line.. this year it has already been pushed aside by a new leading knot, the Fish N Fool.. Personally, the fool looks too complicated to tie in a boat with rough water, I’ll stick with the Palomar, its pretty hard to screw up..

Check out the Knot Wars videos at the NAFM website.

Knot Wars is a post from: Lunker Links

What is barbless fishing?

Barbed vs Barbless Hooks

Barbless fishing is exactly what it sounds like, fishing with hooks that don’t have barbs. In most cases we take a normal hook and carefully squeeze the barb with a pair of pliers until the tip of the barb touches the hook. Done carefully you can modify your favorite hooks quickly and easily to start barbless fishing right away. There are also several manufacturers starting to embrace barbless fishing.

Why Fish Barbless?

There are many reasons to consider fishing barbless. And for the sport fisherman practicing CPR there are very few reasons to not fish barbless.

It’s better for the fish

Fishing barbless makes hook removal easier on the fish. Most hook ups leave you with a hook that is right on the lip and easy to remove. But we have all had that aggressive, larger, fish gulp your lure all the way to it’s belly. Or that smaller fish biting off more than he can chew and have the hook come out in a strange location, near an eye or similar place. This is when barbless hooks really shine. It’s easier to remove the hook and does far less damage to the fish in the process.

Then you have the fly fishing for certain types of trout that really need to be handled with care. When you fish them barbless you don’t even need to touch them to remove the hook. Even better for the fish.

It’s better for you

Ever get a hook jammed in your thumb trying to unhook a fish? How about sit on a hook in the boat? There are only two kinds of fishermen, those that have been hooked, and those that are about to be hooked.

With a barbless hook you no longer have to try some trick to remove the hook. Or make a long drive to the ER, and heaven forbid getting deep hooked out in the wilderness. A barbless hook comes out just about as easily as it went in.

Even better that saving a thumb though is the easy release. When fishing particularly slimy fish like Northern there is nothing worse that losing control of the fish and getting covered in slime and having it all over the bottom of your boat. With a barbless hook all you need to do is reach out with your hook pliers and give the hook a little shake. Instant release without even taking the fish out of the water.

Better Hook Ups

Yes, I said it, better hook ups with fish. All things being equal, it takes less pressure to push a barbless hook through the lip of a fish than it does to push a barb through. Instead of ripping the hook out of the fishes mouth trying to drive the barb through, you can hit just a little softer and sink the hook right in.

Fishing barbless is an easy transition for most fishmen. The only thing that you need to change with your technique is to keep constant pressure on the line. You don’t need to drag the fish to the boat, but you do need to keep your line tight the entire time you are reeling in. Any slack at all and you stand a real chance of losing your fish.

Will you miss more fish? Probably. Is it a better way to fish for the sport fisherman? I think so. So start mashing those hooks and taking better care of the fish out there. Who knows, the thumb you save may be your own.

Fishing Barbless is a post from: Lunker Links