Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Fishing-Headquarters Magazine Volume 4. Issue 4 Num. 20
September, October & November, 2014 Fall Edition
• Drop Shot Tactics For Trophy Panfish . . . . . 13
About Fishing-Headquarters The Fishing-Headquarters began as a small homepage in 2005, featuring a collection of photos and YouTube fishing videos. It even featured a small contingency of misfits and rebellious anglers who were tired of the internet elitism and racism expressed by other websites built by uneducated nonangling entities towards specific groups of anglers and species of freshwater gamefish.
• The Perfect Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 • Doin’ That Stream Smallmouth Gig . . . . . . 41 • Perch Patterning Smallmouth Bass . . . . . . . 51
Formally established in January 2007, the FHQ was created for like-minded anglers to share the wealth of information, and enjoy the beauty in diverse fishing. This greatness as we presently know it is multi-species fishing.
• Pike, Muskie, and The Old Twitchin’ Reaction . 67
Designed and created by posessed and gravely obsessed angler, Andrew Ragas, the website has grown to a large world audience. Our basis as an online media platform is to drop the ego, and catch anything that swims and has fins.
• Tales of Trophies and Incidental Angling . . . 91
• The Changing Landscape of Musky Waters . 79
• Rainy Lake Adventures at Camp Narrows . . 103
All fish are created as equals. Only to be pursued as opposites.
COVER STORY Important Biz Stuff http://www.fishing-headquarters.com info@fishing-headquarters.com telephone - 708. 256. 2201 Questions or Comments, and if interested in contributing or sponsoring, please contact Andrew Ragas at: andrew@fishing-headquarters.com Magazine layout and design by Ragas Media http://www.ragasmedia.com
Each fall issue is our commemorative issue to the big predatory fishes with teeth. Therefore, about 99% of the time our fall issue will feature a captivating image of either muskies, northern pike, or some otherworldly giant fish. In issue 20, featured contributor Cory Allen (in every issue since 2012!) finally receives his deserved cover-shot with this 52 inch Tennessee muskie from Melton Hill Reservoir.
Fishing-Headquarters Magazine, Issue 20 Another autumn season is here. Our annual fall issue is dedicated to the fishes with teeth. We welcome you to this 2014 edition. Everything we do at Fishing-Headquarters centers on our love of multispecies fishing and the ongoing process of educating ourselves and to catch more fish. In order to accomplish this, we’ve released yet another diverse issue for you. In issue 20, we’re focusing on the fishes with teeth, and big game predators whose prime feeding takes place during autumn months.
Andrew Ragas
Editor In-Chief, Designer, and Owner.
2014 Issue Releases Remaining Schedule
• Issue 21: December 1, 2014
Click to Subscribe
In this issue, we showcase muskie tactics by our friends, Cory Allen and MUSKIE Magazine field editor, Adam Glickman. Then, JP Bushey of Georgian Bay, Ontario brings readers on an adventure through his home waters of Lake Huron as twitchbaits dominate pike, muskies, and large walleyes. We’re also featuring unique narratives by David Graham about rough fish destinations, and Jim Gronaw’s unique strategies for panfish drop-shotting and small stream smallmouth bass. Along with tips and tricks to help you catch fish and diversify your angling approach, we also share our recent adventures with you. With great pleasure, I introduce to you issue 20 of Fishing-Headquarters Magazine. I would like to thank our team of writers, friends, and all contributors for allowing us to make this one again possible. We welcome and encourage all anglers with a story to join our annually growing team and its online rotation for this publication, and online at our website, www.fishing-headquarters.com.
Copyright © 2014 Fishing-Headquarters. All rights reserved. The usage of articles, excerpts, photographs, and any reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited.
I S S U E 20 F E A T U R E D W R I
Cory Allen
JP Bushey
Adam M. Glickman
Issue 20 Editorial Staff • Paul Ragas Contributed Photographs • Camp Narrows Lodge • Travis Crosman Online Contributors • Joseph Alfe • Robert Conley • Robert Fuchs • Brian Pentecost • Tyler Uteg • Brad Wiegmann Layout and Design By • Ragas Media Designs Sponsors and Advertising Partners • Bearpaw’s Handpoured Baits • Camp Narrows Lodge • CB’s Hawg Sauce • CAST Crew 312 • Cortland Line Company • Dragin Bait Company • Dynamic Lures • Freedom Tackle Corporation • Go-Pro Camera • GNUGEN Lures • Llungen Lures • Quantum PT Fishing • Ragas Media Designs • Stankx Bait Company
TERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
David Graham
Jim Gronaw
Andrew Ragas
NEWS AND NOTEWORTHY TOPICS.
Llungen Lures and Fishing-Headquarters strike mutual partnership. During the winter sport show season in early 2014, Fishing-Headquarters and owners of Llungen Lures struck a friendship that has resulted in an advertising partnership for both brands. Fishing-Headquarters will be assisting the Llungen brand with its design expertise and marketing. Llungen Lures, manufacturer of silicone bucktails and spinnerbaits for muskie and pike anglers, is co-operated by Matthew Gunkel of Carbondale, Illinois, and Chris and Cari Piha, who are stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California. Gunkel serves as chief operating officer and is responsible for new product development and manufacturing, while Piha serves as chief executive officer and manages all aspects of the business. Llungen Lures is manufactured in Carbondale, IL with all components manufactured in the United States. Llungen Lures has expanded its standard color lineup to include 23 colors, and the full list of colors is displayed on the company’s website. Custom orders are available upon request. For information on Llungen Lures, visit www.llungenlures.com or call (708) 710-6536 or (630) 737-3818.
Introducing Dynamic Lures Owned and operated by Brian Alano, of Grand Junction, CO, Dynamic Lures came to the market with the sole intent to revolutionize fishing and outdoor products as we currently know them. Dynamic Lures was created to develop more user-friendly fishing lures Fishing-Headquarters began using Dynamic Lures products in spring 2014 and the results have been stellar with their variety of crankbaits and jerkbaits designed for the bass and walleye fishing we do. Dynamic Lures strives to talk with local anglers (professional and novice alike) to find the ideas and demands of the fishing community. If you are looking for a company that dedicates themselves to developing advancements and innovations in fishing products, look no further than Dynamic Lures. With its products sold on the web and at retailers such as Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops, learn more about Dynamic Lures by liking them on Facebook and visiting them at www.dynamiclures.com. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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SOLUNAR CALENDAR October 2014
November 2014
This fishing forecast is based on solar and lunar influences that cycle daily. The chart shows each hour of the day. For instance the hours with the higher rating, and days shaded the darkest have a greater combination of solar and lunar influence and thus indicate the best times to fish. This chart is a general recommendation and all data has been compiled by Weather & Wildlife.
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LEADING OFF.
The Perfect Spot The value of a body of water must and cannot be measured solely by the number of fish one pulls from its depths, writes David Graham. As a boy (novice) fisherman, success was measured by the sheer number of fish that he happily unhooked from his lures. Now he sees, instead, the inestimable ‘perfect spot’ – the one that whispers promises of a mesmerizing experience in the natural world that uniquely stimulates the mind, body and spirit. Over the past year David has made several ventures into the quiet tributaries and oxbows of the Great Pee Dee river system of South Carolina, into some of the most purely serene and poetically beautiful places he’s seen. It has certainly established itself as one of the premiere multispecies fisheries he has ever fished. Photograph by David Graham Fishing-Headquarters.com
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LEADING OFF.
Rainy Lake Adventures at Camp Narrows Lodge On August 24th thru 30th, a small contingency from FHQ traveled north to fish at Rainy Lake, Ontario’s Camp Narrows Lodge. Ranked in the top 100 of North America’s best bass fishing lakes, this popular drive-to destination along the United States/Canadian border offers bass anglers a complex trophy fishery, and multi-species anglers a kingdom of big fish. Multi-species angling was enjoyed, coupled with delicious walleye shore lunching. Can life get any better than this in God’s country? Follow along and learn more about this Northwestern Ontario fishing destination and its offerings. Turn to page 67 to read more.
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Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters | Page 10
Photograph by Andrew Ragas
Drop-dead, drop-shot giant...12.5 inches and 1 pound 14 ounces on the scale.
Photographs by Jim Gronaw Fishing-Headquarters.com
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TROPHY PANFISH
By Jim Gronaw
DROP SHOT
TACTICS Fishing Headquarters Fishing Headquarters | Page Fishing 14 | Page 14
DROP SHOT PANFISH
By: Jim Gronaw
Fishing-Headquarters Contributor
W
We weren’t on the bank long before I heard my son, Matt yell ‘got em’ and I looked over to see his long, 11 foot spinning rod arched heavily under the weight of a good fish. We were ‘drop-shot’ fishing…a way to present a bait or lure to deeper, weed-hugging panfish and bass. As he played the fish in, we could see that this was no ordinary sunfish.
Photograph by Jim Gronaw Fishing-Headquarters.com
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As we had often done when in quest of trophy bluegills or hybrid sunfish, we had a long-handled net ready and scooped the fish up when it had tapped-out. The fish was over 11 inches and pushed 1 ½ pounds… the first of several trophy hybrid sunfish we would catch and release that day. The premise for drop-shot angling is nothing new. Bass anglers nationwide have been using this rig for more than a decade to catch deep-water largemouths and smallmouths with a variety of plastic options. The basics are simple…at the
end of your line you have a weight that bounces, drags or rests on the bottom. At 10 to 30 inches above the weight, you have a baited hook that maintains the location above the lake floor and coaxes a variety of gamefish. You can slow-hop, lift and drop or drag the offering along the lake bottom. You can fish it from a boat or shore. I started drop-shotting for big fall bluegills in October of 2012 in a small public lake in southern Pennsylvania. By chance, I ran into an angler who was catching three to my one and I just had to ask a
few questions. He was gracious and kind, showing me everything he was doing to include lending me some weights and offering his prefered mealworms for bait. It looked easy, but there was more to it. He would make a long cast, let his baits touch the bottom, then hold a tight line with his lightweight Ugly Stik. Using 6-pound test mono, he would feel the tap-tap of a biting bluegill, then set the hook as it got a little more forceful. His tactic was deadly, and he was using a pair of leadered # 6 baitholder hooks, often catching
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DROP SHOT PANFISH two half-pound or better bluegills at one time. In the mix were some giant pumpkinseed sunfish and some boss yellow perch. He pointed out that when slack was imparted to a ‘tight’ line, that was the strike of a fish that had picked up the bait and was heading toward the angler… time to set the hook! I was a little under-gunned with 2 and 4-pound line, but was still able to make lengthy casts and got two dozen big gills for the pan that day. Hey…a new tactic and some fresh fillets, and I had made a new fried as well! This year, I have toyed with it some more and am amazed at how effective it can be when the standard bobber/jig/bait options don’t pan out.
it’s thickest and toughest during mid-summer, and you’ll need some strength to get fish, and rigs, out of the salad. Strike detection has not been an issue until the water temperatures get into the upper forties, much later into the fall. For retrieves, much of that depends on bottom conditions. Drop-
shotting does not work well over cragy or rocky substrate where frequent hangups and loss of tackle will occur. It does work well amongst scattered too medium weedy bottoms when you can suspend a bait in open pockets in the weeds or move the bait just with the occasional twitch of the rod tip as the bottom
Drop Shotting Panfish Our basic rig looks like this: on 8 pound line, tie a # 6 or # 8 longshanked Aberdeen hook about 30 inches up from the end of your line with either a Palomar or improved clinch knot. Below the hook, at the very end, tie on a small snap swivel. To the swivel attach a bell sinker. The swivel enables you to switch various size sinkers, as conditions dictate. We have been using 1/4th and 3/16th ounce weights for our work lately, sometimes heavier. Bait your small minnow, mealworm or garden worm on the hook and you’re ready. The long-shanked hook allows for easier unhooking chores and seldom do panfish swallow the hook so deep that you can’t release your fish if you want. The reason we up to line as high as 8, even 10, pound test is that weedgrowth may be at Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Photograph by Jim Gronaw
weight remains stationary. If you feel weed growth holding up your rig, you can ‘pop’ it loose with a quick snap of the rod tip. We prefer to use longer rods when drop shotting from shore as they help greatly in hook setting efforts with longer cast. Plus, you can leverage a tanker perch, crappie or bull bluegill better with a 10 or 11 foot rod than with traditional ultra light sticks.
Matt Gronaw with a 12.5 inch, 2-pound plus hybrid sunfish wrestled from deep weeds on a long rod with drop-shot and a worm for bait. Fishing Headquarters | Page 18
DROP SHOT PANFISH During our recent outing in quest of the monster hybrid sunfish we hooked some and missed some, totaling eight of the super panfish. These were bluegill X green sunfish crosses…a popular pond addition for pond owners who want fastgrowing, aggressive fish for family outings and kids enjoyment. Since they had moved deep, away from the shoreline and into heavy weed cover, drop-shotting was our best option to put some trophies in the net. Small pieces of night crawlers and large mealworms were the prefered baits. Still, it required patience and attention to the rod tip for indications of the soft strikes from even these Sumo-sized sunfish. Our three largest of the day all exceeded 12 inches, and the top hyb of the day went 12 ½ inches, weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces. Wow! Drop-shotting is best executed from a boat or kayak, but you can pull off big-time catches from shoreline venues as well. In the fall months, bluegills, yellow perch and boss pumpkinseeds will continue to relate to deep weed edges of most natural and man-made lakes. Although slip-bobber tactics can do very well, I like the tap-tap of a pound-sized panfish telegraphed at my rod tip followed by a solid hookset. Whether bottom or weedhugging panfish, the drop-shot tactic in it’s basic form can put the hurt on autumn slabs. Put it in your arsenal, along with the favored regional live baits, and see if your score on bull ‘gills and porker perch doesn’t increase this fall. ^ Elena Gronaw looks over a cooler of drop-shot victims from a September outing. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Photographs by Jim Gronaw
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THE DROP SHOTTER
Jim Gronaw, 61, is from Westminster, MD, and has been published over 600 times at the local, regional and national level – First published at the age of 17 in Fishing World. Licensed freshwater fishing guide for Maryland – Maker of RiverCritter Hair Jigs, and featured several times in the In-Fisherman. You can read more of Jim’s work at BigBluegill.com, and throughout the Fishing-Headquarters website. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Fishing-Head-
Fishing-Headquarters Fishing-Headquarters | | Page Page26 24
ROUGH FISHE
A
As a South Carolina native I have spent untold hours stomping heavily forested terrain possible, all in search of the ‘perfect sp which, given the right time and opportunity, would yield the m jerk on the line, that adrenaline-inducing grab that might mea
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September July / August, / October 2014 / November, 2014
ERY PROFILES By David Graham
Photographs by Jim Gronaw
g through every manner of marsh-laden, mosquito infested, pot’. Every angler recognizes my point – that ‘perfect spot’, moment that is an angler’s heaven – the swift, unmistakable an the catch of one’s dreams. Photographs by David Graham FishingHeadquarters Headquarters | | Page Page26 26 Fishing
PEE DEE RIVER
By: David Graham
Fishing-Headquarters Contributor
As my years of experience as an angler have unfolded, I’ve discovered the singular truth is this: The value of a body of water must and cannot be measured solely by the number of fish one pulls from its depths. As a boy (novice) fisherman, success was measured by the sheer number of fish that I happily unhooked from my lures. Now I see, instead, the inestimable ‘perFishing-Headquarters.com
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fect spot’ – the one that whispers promises of a mesmerizing experience in the natural world that uniquely stimulates the mind, body and spirit. Is it spiritual, poetic, and other-worldly? It may sound outlandish, but yes – that is, to me, the essence of the perfect fishing experience. Over the past year I have made several ventures into the quiet tributaries and oxbows of the Great Pee Dee river system, into some of the most purely serene and poetically beautiful places I’ve seen. It has certainly established itself as one of the premiere multi-species fisheries I have ever fished. General Francis Marion, during the American Revolution, utilized an area near the junction of the Pee Dee and Lynches rivers as his headquarters. The tangled, rainforest-like terrain enveloping the area proved a safe, nearly impenetrable haven for Marion and
September / October / November, 2014
his ragtag militia. It also proved to be a nearly undiscoverable hiding place to the hapless British. Today the Pee Dee River is scarcely utilized for ‘navigation’, but has become a critical source of electric power and public water supplies for the Carolinas. The Pee Dee River is home to several dams, constructed for the purpose of generating hydroelectric power. The opening and closing of the dams occasionally results in dramatic changes in depth and turbidity of South Carolina waters. Due to constant changes in depth, much of the Pee Dee river system is punctuated and surrounded by oxbow lakes which are frequently impossible to access – and are also loaded with fish. The lower part of the river, particularly below highway 378, is a designated scenic river, and rightfully so. The lower portions of the
Photographs by David Graham
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PEE DEE RIVER Pee Dee are primarily wild and filled with forests of tupelo, oak, and gum. Flooded cypress forests yield unique fishing opportunities accompanied by exquisite scenery. The river has no shortage of wildlife, and is home to alligators, beavers, deer and waterfowl, not to mention the occasional black bear. Some of the tributaries include the Lumber, Little Pee Dee, Lynches, and the Black and Waccamaw Rivers. Many of these tributaries are navigable only by canoe or small watercraft. Low-hanging branches and cypress knees make many of these tributaries nearly inaccessible,
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but the isolated pools found beyond many of the obstacles can offer anglers some truly spectacular opportunities. The abandoned channels partially dug out by early settlers have since formed into ‘lakes’. These lakes include Thomas Lake, Jordan Lake, Johnson Big Lake, Yauhannah Lake, Russ Lake, Graves Lake, and countless others. These lakes can be explored with small boats and are extremely popular with recreational and commercial anglers. The surrounding forests in the lower portions of the river become tidal swamp as the river is tide
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affected closer to the ocean. Beyond the historical aspects and natural beauty of the Pee Dee River system is its outstanding fishing. As a multi-species enthusiast I am constantly in search of the next amazing spot in which to land fish like gar, carp, suckers, and bowfin. Rarely have I found a single place where it is possible to catch all of these fish. However, in my home state of South Carolina, there are areas of the Pee Dee River where simply tossing a nightcrawler to the bottom could be the ticket to an incredible bounty in terms of variety and size.
Photographs by David Graham
The lower part of the river, particularly below highway 378, is a designated scenic river, and rightfully so. The lower portions of the Pee Dee are primarily wild and filled with forests of tupelo, oak, and gum. Flooded cypress forests yield unique fishing opportunities accompanied by exquisite scenery. The river has no shortage of wildlife, and is home to alligators, beavers, deer and waterfowl, not to mention the occasional black bear.
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PEE DEE RIVER On a calm day, the Pee Dee’s lake surfaces are popping with activity from buffalo, carp, gar and more breaking the surface. The numerous snags and roots below the river’s surface make bottom fishing uniquely challenging when angling for buffalo and carp. I have, in various areas of the Pee Dee, succeeded in landing buffalo, common carp and grass carp.
Photograph by David Graham Fishing-Headquarters.com
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I first fished the Pee Dee River with Keith Cisney of USCarpPro; we targeted the smallmouth buffalo. The Pee Dee is one of South Carolina’s few bodies of water where buffalo can be captured in their natural environment. Though buffalo will happily occupy their time in the main body of a river, we concentrated our efforts on abandoned channels (lakes) where current flow was not a hazard to pack baits or chum slicks. On a calm day, the Pee Dee’s lake surfaces are popping with activity from buffalo, carp, gar and more breaking the surface. The numerous snags and roots below the river’s surface make bottom fishing uniquely challenging when angling for buffalo and carp. Because much of the river in South Carolina is tide-affected, areas with snags may be clear from one day to the next. We opted to fish lakes strategically avoiding most snags and found success capturing buffalo on corn puffs packed with a concoction of bread crumbs, soybean meal, and cream style corn. Areas pre-baited with range cubes, birdseed, corn, and an assortment of flavors, tend to draw interest from the river’s big buffalo and common carp, and assist in directing the fish into a particular zone. We spoke at length with a commercial angler who had fished the area for 25+ years; he claimed to have caught buffalo in excess of 60lb and many other species including the occasional Atlantic Sturgeon. I have, in various areas of the Pee Dee, succeeded in landing buffalo, common carp and grass carp. The Pee Dee is also home to a massive population of bowfin, a favorite species of mine, and in my opinion the quintessential ‘rough fish’. On a recent carp and buffalo outing I observed a group of commercial anglers haul in a massive
number of huge bowfin with a gill net. Anglers seeking to find this elusive swamp dweller need look no further than the swampy regions of the Pee Dee. I have enjoyed great success in catching bowfin in the margins of flooded oxbows and lakes around the Great Pee Dee, Little Pee Dee, and Lynches River. The bowfin of the Pee Dee can be found merely by visually scanning the glassy surface of its backwater swamps. Anglers seeking to capture bowfin in the Pee Dee system should do their research and key in on the shallow bayous and backwaters of the river clustered with cypress trees and other snags. As bowfin surface for air they, much like gar, inevitably reveal their location. I have had most success in the Pee Dee using cut shad under a sliding float placed near the broad base of submerged cypress trees. Because of numerous underwater snags, catching bowfin in the swampy areas of the Pee Dee can be very challenging. As is often the case, where you find bowfin you are bound to find gar. The Pee Dee is simply loaded with longnose gar. Anglers would be hard pressed to find any current break or stagnant pools stemming from the main river that are not teaming with gar breaking the surface on a hot summer day. Capturing gar in the Pee Dee is relatively simple. A piece of cut bait or live shiner suspended a couple feet below a float will generally guarantee a quick bite. The longnose gar are abundant in great numbers in most calm pockets, eddies, and lakes along the swampy edges of the river. The tangled, stumpy bottom of the Pee Dee is the ideal habitat for flathead catfish which comprise more than half the population of Fishing-Headquarters | Page 32
PEE DEE RIVER catfish species in the river. The Pee Dee is a premiere catfish location on a national scale much less in South Carolina alone. Though the river remains a mystery to most, those who fish the Pee Dee will swear by its quality as a catfish destination for monster blues and flatheads. On several occasions I have ended up with big blues and channel catfish at the end of my line while leaving cut shad on the bottom for bowfin. Anglers seeking to land large flatheads should concentrate on junctions and creek mouths where timber has accumulated during floods and tidal shifts. Live sunfish, eels, and herring work best at the margins of these snag clusters in which the flathead dwells. Because the Pee Dee moves at a fairly constant, considerable pace, anglers should position themselves behind logjams and other current breaks to place baits. Blue catfish can also be captured in these areas but anglers should focus on deep holes and ledges in the main body of the river, particularly at bends, where drifting cut shad or placing stationary baitfish on the
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bottom or suspended will pick up the most action. As an active angler from the state of South Carolina I have often been in conversation with fellow South Carolinian fishermen. Oddly, the Pee Dee River is rarely brought up during these conversations. In general, the virtues of the Santee system, Lake Wateree or Murray are extolled by fellow anglers as being the best in-state freshwater destinations. Given my experience as a multi-species enthusiast, I am convinced that the Pee Dee river system deserves to rank high on the list of anglers in the Southeast who value the opportunity to catch numerous species of quality size in close proximity to one another. The Pee Dee River is unique in its natural beauty that represents southern outdoors to the highest degree. This river offers unique, rare opportunities to anglers who can capture 6 different species of fish in excess of 50 pounds in the same area, and creatures which have swum our native waters since the age of dinosaurs.
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Photographs by David Graham Fishing-Headquarters | Page 34
PEE DEE RIVER The Pee Dee is home to a massive population of bowfin, a favorite species of mine, and in my opinion the quintessential ‘rough fish’. On a recent carp and buffalo outing I observed a group of commercial anglers haul in a massive number of huge bowfin with a gill net. Anglers seeking to find this elusive swamp dweller need look no further than the swampy regions of the Pee Dee. I have enjoyed great success in catching bowfin in the margins of flooded oxbows and lakes around the Great Pee Dee, Little Pee Dee, and Lynches River. The bowfin of the Pee Dee can be found merely by visually scanning the glassy surface of its backwater swamps. Anglers seeking to capture bowfin in the Pee Dee system should do their research and key in on the shallow bayous and backwaters of the river clustered with cypress trees and other snags.
Photograph by David Graham Fishing-Headquarters.com
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PEE DEE RIVER
Boundless Pursuit A non-species specific approach to angling by David Graham.
David Graham is an extreme multi-species angler and featured columnist for Fishing-Headquarters Magazine. Follow his monster fish adventures by visiting his blog:
http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/boundlesspursuit/
Photographby byDavid The Bassassins Photograph Graham Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Doin’ That
STREAM SM
I
I must admit… since I have become borderline elderly I have not had the chance to fish for stream and small river smallmouths like I used to. Things like arthritis, asthma, knee operations and bad table manners just get in the way of so many things. That’s why I recently jumped at the chance to fish for some stream smallmouths when my friend, Jud Larrimore, invited me for some ‘easy wading’. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Photograph by Jim Gronaw
MALLMOUTH Gig
By Jim Gronaw
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STREAM SMALLMOUTHS
Gronaw has fished many streams in the Mason Dixon region in the 1980’s to 90’s in quest of swiftwater smallmouths. Names like Conococheague, Conowago, Monocacy, Toms Creek and the Patapsco came to mind. There were many others, back in the day, when he had better legs beneath him. They were great times and great fishing, with an occasional 3 pounder to make the highlight reel. Gronaw’s partner, Jud Larrimore, attempts to land a river monster. Photographs by Jim Gronaw Fishing-Headquarters.com
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September / October / November, 2014
By: Jim Gronaw
Fishing-Headquarters Contributor
I had fished the area before, and thought that it had potential. But that lone, late summer effort produced only pint-sized smallies with a mix of sunfish and fallfish. Fun none the less, I was looking for bigger game. We started out fishing below a small dam where several nice eddys were formed and the water was from 4 to 6 feet deep. Jud had been catching them on 1/16th ounce hairjigs so I brought a bunch of my ‘home ties’
for the party. This central Maryland gem was a tributary to the Potomac River, and I had to literally sign a blood oath of secrecy in order to fish it. Sheeesh, was a stream smallmouth really worth it? It didn’t take too many casts to realize that we had not only hit it just right, we might be onto a very special outing. I had fished many streams in the Mason Dixon region in the 1980’s to 90’s in quest of swiftwater smallmouths. Names like Conococheague, Conowago, Monocacy, Toms Creek and the Patapsco came to mind. There were many others, back in the day, when I had better legs beneath me. They were great times and great fishing, with an occasional 3 pounder to make the highlight reel. But after my third fish in five casts, I was feeling pretty good. As is often the case, the Potomac and Susquehanna get all the ink, but the tribs have some outstanding bass fishing.
We simply tossed the jigs up into the faster water and allowed the them to bounce along the bottom with the current. Strikes would be either little bumps or thunderous slams. Light spinning gear and six-pound test was perfect for this, and the bass gave great account of themselves. On more than one occasion, we had doubles. Not 8 or 9 inchers, as are in so many streams, but many of our fish were 14 to 17 inches, broad and thick. Air-borne smallies were the norm. Every once in a while, we hooked a fish we had to actually chase downstream after. It was crazy fun…we should have gotten locked up for the high of it all! After about an hour and a half of this almost non-stop silliness, we decided to go downstream for some deeper areas, just to ‘look-see’. One area below a bridge produced nothing but the next big pool showed promise, with a super large eddy
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STREAM SMALLMOUTHS
and slow current with depth. Tricky wading, we managed to get into position and make long casts to the opposite shore in quest of decent fish. Jud explained that there would likely be fewer, but potentially larger, bass. I soon hooked a very large fish that I never saw…just came off…as I was using a rod much softer in action than what Jud had. He seemed to stick more fish with his medium action rod, and subsequently landed three excellent stream bass that were from 16 to 17 inches…excellent bass anywhere the water flows. Tired but happy, we walked back to the truck and sat down for a well-earned breather. Jud went on to explain that this particular river doesn’t always host the kind of action, nor size, for the stream bass we were seeing today. Often, small streams and rivers suffer greatly Fishing-Headquarters.com
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from heavy spring rains and high water events that can just about wipe out an entire year class of smallmouths with just one storm or rainy week. Then again, there are the lowwater opposites, when we don’t get enough volume and the fish simply can’t reach favored spawning shoals, bars and backwaters when the water reaches the 64-degree F mark. “Most years’, he explained, ‘a good spawn just doesn’t happen due to weather dynamics, and people wonder where all the bass got to. They are still there, but often holed up in deeper pools and unable to spawn successfully.’ Autumn wading with water temps down to 50 degrees can still see active fish that weren’t encountered during summer’s heat. Indeed, this is why, in or out of season, the creed of the small stream bass angler should always be catch
September / October / November, 2014
Photographs by Jim Gronaw
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STREAM SMALLMOUTHS
Photographs by Jim Gronaw Fishing-Headquarters.com
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and release. The smaller the water, the more fragile it is. Plus, it keeps fishing going on the ‘bad spawn’ years. Just makes sense. After a break, it was starting to rain, and Jud could see that I was debating what to do. He said… ’Look…these fish are almost never up here in this number and size, if I were you I’d put my waders on and go back after them. It could be several years before you hit ‘em like this again. So what if it rains…that’s what I’m doing!’ And with that, we hiked up our waders, sloshed back down the bank and fished the eddys, knocking them out for another hour before heavy rain sent us packing. Fish were everywhere, feeding on the insects that were slammed to the water by the rain, splashing all around us, attacking our jigs, jumping two feet out of the water…it was crazy! Bugs under your glasses, up your nose and in your ears…who cares? Two semi-old geezers, in the middle of the river soaking wet, swatting bugs and slamming powerhouse stream bass, all but fatigued. And giggling like a couple kids. Yes, it was a day of days.
If water levels are not too high, fall wading can produce well into the month of November in some regions of the country. Lure selection is simple, as hairjigs in 1/16th and 1/8 ounce cover most of the bases. Smaller crankbaits like the Rapala 2 inch DT4 series will get active fish as will the Bomber Square A 1 7/8th inch models. Pick your poison in terms of lure color with the hard baits, depending on the forage you wish to duplicate. For the jigs, we like browns, olives and black/red combos. For added attraction and bouyancy, a 2 inch plastic trailer of you liking will coax bigger bass from the system. Again, many options work so choose colors accordingly. Jim Gronaw, 61, is from Westminster, MD, and has been published over 600 times at the local, regional and national level – First published at the age of 17 in Fishing World. Licensed freshwater fishing guide for Maryland – Maker of RiverCritter Hair Jigs, and featured several times in the In-Fisherman. You can read more of Jim’s work at BigBluegill. com, and throughout the Fishing-Headquarters website.
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During the cooldown of early fall, bass anglers mistakenly follow smallmouths prematurely into th Little do they know that in September and October a unique shallow water movement often asso beds takes place. Pursue fall smallmouth action where young-of-the-year yellow perch are schoo
PERCH PATTERNING SMALLMOUTHS Fishing-Headquarters.com Fishing-Headquarters.com
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July September / August, / October 2014 / November, 2014
heir deep wintering holes. ociated with weedlines and cabbage oling.
By Andrew Ragas
Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing FishingHeadquarters Headquarters | | Page Page90 52
YELLOW PERCH MIGRATIONS
A
By: Andrew Ragas Editor In-Chief
andrew@fishing-headquarters.com
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As the seasons undergo a change, a pattern often overlooked by northern bass anglers takes place. Beginning during the pre-turnover stages of the fall cooldown period, schools of yellow perch gravitate to shallow vegetation for sanctuary and feeding. On the prowl, hungry wolfpacks of smallmouths counter.
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In a normal migration, hundreds and possibly thousands of y.o.y. perch will encompass a school. As the cooldown process takes place, perch unite from all areas and depths of the lake where they will heavily congregate in oxygen-filled green weeds and cabbage beds. These shallow habitat-rich areas are often large enough to hold these heavy concentrations, and protect them from predation. But that is until they will eventually be preyed upon by large gamefish species that includes smallmouth bass. Contributed Photograph
As water temperatures cool to 60 degrees and lower, northern bass anglers often believe that smallmouths will immediately migrate to their overwintering areas, bypassing easy opportunities to ambush prey. What these anglers disregard is that in most yellow perch populated waters, large populations of smallmouths will delay this movement for up to several weeks based on water temperatures, turnover stage, and presence of this forage species, remaining in the shallows to feed. Understanding this correlating feeding movement between juvenile perch and adult smallmouth bass generates results, and may yield the largest fish of the season during difficult seasonal transitions, and the adverse period known as turnover.
The fall perch pattern is underutilized and little known in my regions of the north country. It’s so far off the bass fishing mainstream that a recent e-mail correspondence with a Wisconsin state biologist, and his disbelief of my Carolina rigging with perch imitating flukes, led to the composition of this article. Although few anglers on my home waters of Northern Wisconsin follow this movement and develop patterns from it, it is the bread and butter on many well known bass fisheries in the Upper Midwest where yellow perch are abundant. Made popular by Great Lakes tournament bass anglers and guides from Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Lake St. Clair, the success of fall bass angling on these world class venues is greatly influ-
enced by its y.o.y. (young-of-theyear) perch migrations. Meanwhile, locally, as I would hope that some in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin are aware, the perch pattern is immensely popular on Lake Geneva, with its tactics openly shared throughout internet circles. Understanding the Fall Perch Migrations Depending upon region and climates, the fall cooldown typically begins in early September as water temperatures cool by as much as 5 to 10 degrees below summer peak. During this process, lake water temperatures in my area usually drop to Fishing Headquarters | Page 54
YELLOW PERCH MIGRATIONS
What makes patterning this fall perch migration a success is the presence of lush green weeds in the right areas.
below 60 degrees, signifying the beginning of the turnover process for lakes, and pre-wintering period for smallmouth bass. Relating to the severity of turnover and prolonged periods of unseasonably warm fall weather, the size of perch schools and longevity of their shallow water migrations will vary annually. Usually, colder and seasonable conditions will result in larger schools, shorter windows, and more predictable migrations. Meanwhile, periods of mild, sunny autumn days of indian summer may result in longer feeding windows for bass, but perch schools of lesser densities. For an already short period that may only last for only up to a few weeks, weather and water temperatures will dictate duration and size of this migration. In a normal migration, hunFishing-Headquarters.com
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dreds and possibly thousands of y.o.y. perch will encompass a school. As the cooldown process takes place, perch unite from all areas and depths of the lake where they will heavily congregate in oxygen-filled green weeds and cabbage beds. Perch will migrate to these shallower littoral zones as they offer best oxygen content, feeding opportunities, and sanctuary for the young of the year. A certain percentage of the original school will remain in these areas through the entire fall season and use any remaining green weeds as overwintering habitat. These shallow habitat-rich areas are often large enough to hold these heavy concentrations, and protect them from predation. But that is until they will eventually be preyed upon by large gamefish species that includes smallmouth bass.
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As you would expect, the diet of smallmouth bass varies on a lakeby-lake basis. Their diets depend on the availability of forage and what’s most abundant in that particular lake. Because smallmouths are neither completely selective feeders, nor indiscriminate, they are opportunists who will feed on what’s most available during a specific season. In any body of water smallmouths always have a choice of prey and if the abundant prey from several weeks ago is unavailable (i.e. crayfish from mid-summer), they will find an alternative food source. Telemetry studies from the Wisconsin DNR indicate that smallmouths will not undertake an extensive feeding migration towards the opposite ends of the lake to feed on crayfish if another food source is locally available. Therefore, it is important to
Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing Headquarters | Page 56
YELLOW PERCH MIGRATIONS
Photographs by Andrew Ragas
The only way to find out if the perch and smallmouth connection can be made is if you locate them on your electronics, or suddenly see a school of juvenile perch following your baits back to boatside. Here is a massive perch school found along a large weedline with the Lowrance HDS. locate the prime areas where prey is available. During the fall perch migration, smallmouths and their prey will be located in vegetation. In most productive smallmouth waters, yellow perch makes up a large population of forage species, and a percentage of the smallmouth’s diet. Vegetation is Key Habitat Unless foraging specifically for baitfish, or displaced by other gamefish species, smallmouths will seldom utilize weed habitat. But when they do, they’ll often conceal themselves in open pockets and along the fringe of the weedbed as they ambush unsuspecting perch schools. What makes patterning this fall perch migration a success is the Fishing-Headquarters.com
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presence of lush green weeds in the right areas. Located near main lake areas with access to deep water, weedbeds near, or along, the smallmouth’s annual structure routes for overwintering are most ideal for them assuming prey is present. Several weed types might be available in a particular lake, but on many of my waters, the best for containing perch is thick broadleaf cabbage beds. The cabbage beds that are most suitable for smallmouth feeding are sparse and contain several ambush points, making them ideal for casting and rigging. Meanwhile, coontail, pondweed, and sandgrass are also ideal habitats. Coontail and pondweed have similar characteruistics as cabbage. It’s dense, and offers sanctuary to perch. It doesn’t offer as much ideal cover for smallmouths,
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however. Lastly, sandgrass grows in depths between 10 to 30 feet and offers the lake’s food chain deeper feeding grounds and sanctuary. Perch and smallmouths may use it at this time, but these areas are difficult to fish because specialized presentations are required, and the smallmouths on them are scattered and normally not as concentrated in number. Weeds with sand or hard bottom content, and that remain green longest, are the most ideal for a smallmouth and perch presence. These locations vary, and may be in water as shallow as 3 feet to as deep as 20 feet or more. The only way to find out if the perch and smallmouth connection can be made is if you locate them on your electronics, or suddenly see a school of juvenile Photograph by Andrew perch following your Ragas baits back to boatside.
Perch Patterns Anglers who are already following the perch migrations are using varied presentations to catch fall smallmouths. These presentations are complex, involving specialized rigs and baits to match the hatch, while others are as simple as involving nothing more than hookline-sinker, and Ragas live bait. By: Andrew The easiest (and controversial) Editor In-Chief andrew@fishing-headquarters.com method of them all is live bait rigging. On specific waters where regulations allow, anglers may catch y.o.y. juvenile perch by hook and line and fish them by jigging and rigging on the same waters ONLY. This live bait tactic has been made popular by Southern Wisconsin anglers who often bring with their ice jigging rods to catch quick bag limits of 25 perch apiece and use the supply as bait to catch fish from waters such as Lake Geneva and other inland waters including Pewaukee and Oconimowoc. The premise of this method is to counter the expensive inflation in price for store-bought redtail chubs and sucker minnows, which is the more traditional and accepted practice for this. Rigged on Lindy rigs, Carolina rigs, drifted by slip float, vertically jigged, or pitched with a weedless jig, numbers of smallmouths are caught annually each fall on waters where this juvenile perch method is legal within regulations. A simple, but more complex tactic I've learned from observing Great Lakes and other big water smallmouth anglers over the years is the use of fluke styled soft baits on Carolina rigs. After last spring's seminar tour and recent correspondence with other anglers, very few smallmouth anglers in my region are fishing this way, and I wonder why?
On Rainy Lake, Ontario, where the fall cooldown takes place much sooner in late August and early September, is anglers often find wolfpacks of smallmouths ambushing minnows and perch schools in cabbage beds with bulrushes. A popular technique to combat dense grass such as this is ripping and burning large, gold, willow bladed spinnerbaits over the tops, through the openings, and along the edges. In firetiger or lime/chartreuse patterns, a 1/2 oz Terminator T1 or T2 series spinnerbait works in these situations that call for aggression, and when dealt with a blowing wind.
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YL AE TL LE ONWI GPHETR C S H OMWI G R A T I O N S
The Carolina rigged fluke is a virtually weedless presentation that maximizes BOTH the coverage of water and expanded strike zones. It fishes best along deeper weedlines, sparser cabbage beds, weed openings and larger pockets, and sandgrass. Although the weight will catch on leaves, it will rip free easily, often triggering strikes while the minnow suspends. With anywhere from a 1/8oz to 1/2 oz egg sinker or Lindy No-Snag weight running along main line, separated by a bearing swivel with 18 to 24 inches of 12 lb. fluorocarbon connecting you to the hook, a suspending fluke has never looked more realistic in Fishing-Headquarters.com
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the eyes of big smallmouth. Rigged weedless on a 2/0 Eagle Claw TroKar HD worm hook, the 4" GNUGEN Live Minnow, Trigger-X Minnow, and 4.25 inch Flukez by Stankx Bait Company have all received their share of big bites these last few seasons from smallmouths in weeds. Although any minnow profiled bait will work well with the Carolina rig in this scenario, I prefer to match the hatch as accurately as possible. Travis Crosman of Stankx Bait Company offers a new "NXT LVL" series of soft baits in which he airbrushes precise forage patterns and color coatings over his injected soft baits. By utilizing this unique
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air brush and clear coating system, Crosman is able to precisely give his customers the most accurate representations of live perch and other preyfish species so anglers can truly match the hatch. What works well everywhere, and especially on Rainy Lake, Ontario, where the fall cooldown takes place much sooner in late August and early September, is anglers often find wolfpacks of smallmouths ambushing minnows and perch schools in cabbage beds with bulrushes. A popular technique to combat dense grass such as this is ripping and burning large, gold, willow bladed spinnerbaits over the tops, through
Travis Crosman of Stankx Bait Company offers a new “NXT LVL� series of soft baits in which he airbrushes precise forage patterns and color coatings over his injected soft baits. By doing so, Crosman is able to precisely give his customers the most accurate representations of live perch and other preyfish species so anglers can truly match the hatch. Photographs by Stankx Bait Company.
the openings, and along the edges. In firetiger or lime/chartreuse patterns, a 1/2 oz Terminator T1 or T2 series spinnerbait works in these situations that call for aggression, and when dealt with a blowing wind. Another set of presentations smallmouth anglers also aren't utilizing enough are swim jigs and ribbed paddle tail swimbaits. Both are fished best with slow swimming retrieves and several rips in between, giving smallmouths the effect that the bait is in distress and evading falling down into the abyss of weedgrowth. A few swim jigs I've enjoyed swimming through cabbage beds are Terminator's 3/8 oz. swim jig rigged with a 4 inch Kalin's Lunker Grub, and Jonn Gra-
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YELLOW PERCH MIGRATIONS ham's hand-made Warrior Jigs, also 3/8 oz., rigged with 3 and 4 inch Big Hammer Swimbaits. With swim jigs, the importance and success of the technique lies upon the lively swimming action of the trailer, and main color scheme of the skirt. Both brands offer perch themed color options. Meanwhile, ribbed paddle tail swimbaits rigged with open exposed minnow head style jigs are the new kids on the block and a technique I've enjoyed using a lot in the last month and a half. Modeled off of today's modern paddle tail swimbaits, the 3.5 inch ribbed Swing Impact FAT by Keitech Inc. (Japan), and Damzel by Stankx Bait Company have changed the way serious smallmouth anglers will be fishing for years to come. Rig either baits with an 1/8 oz. Northland or Matzuo minnow head and let the swimming retrieve and lively paddle tail do all the heavy lifting for you. Add continuous rips and jerks into each retrieve to trigger strikes from both active, and well conditioned smallmouths. Lastly, lets not forget about the old reliable suspending jerkbait. No other lure category has put more large bass into my boat. A suspending jerkbait is universally accepted by smallmouths, and many new color schemes are available to represent yellow perch. The most ideal I've fished with is the size 08 and 10 Rapala X-Rap in mossback shad and yellow perch. Another I've recently enjoyed using is the 3.5 inch J Spec and 4 inch Travado by Dynamic Lures. Both are suspending baits and available in perch like color styles. Due to weed presence, a Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Stankx Bait Company 3.5� Damzel
Rapala X-Raps in yellow perch and mossback shad
September / October / November, 2014
Photograph by Andrew Ragas
Ribbed paddletail swimbaits fished on a minnow styled jig, such as the all new Stankx Bait Company 3.5� Damzel, is going to change the way anglers fish for smallmouths.
Photograph by Johnny Amato Fishing Headquarters | Page 62
YELLOW PERCH MIGRATIONS suspending jerkbait fishes best when ripped violently through sparse cabbage and its openings, and along deeper edges. Although I have no specific preference to general tackle for this situation, I let each specific technique I've shared dictate my rod and reel selection and line options. 7 foot all-purpose medium heavy spinning and casting set-ups are the most ideal to combat smallmouths preying upon perch schools in vegetation. Braid and copolymer lines are acceptable for all techniques, with 10 to 14 lb. copolymers such as Cortland's Camouflage being used for most casting set-ups, and thin diameter 15 and 20 lb. Cortland Masterbraid being used on spinning gear for weed ripping. The main importance on tackle selection lies on the requirement to power and rip your way through vegetation and its edges in order to access feeding and ambushing smallmouths. Even though vegetation and cover is involved, it won't be as dense as you think - no matter where - to justify the need for flipping sticks and even heavier power. The key to patterning the fall perch migrations is to make sense of the following two variables: Cabbage beds located in the right areas of the lake; and finding the migration of yellow perch on your favorite smallmouth bass lake. Once you find them both and the cooldown prior to fall turnover is underway, some of the best bass fishing of the year within a short window of opportunity will take place.
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Another set of presentations smallmouth anglers also aren’t utilizing enough are swim jigs and ribbed paddle tail swimbaits. Both are fished best with slow swimming retrieves and several rips in between, giving smallmouths the effect that the bait is in distress and evading falling down into the abyss of weedgrowth. With swim jigs, the importance and success of the technique lies upon the lively swimming action of the trailer, and main color scheme of the skirt. Pictured is a September, 2013 trophy that was fooled by ripping a swim jig through cabbage beds.
Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing Headquarters | Page 64
Cooling water reboots options for pike and muskie casters. Fishing twitchbaits consistently electrifies these fish, no matter what the temp gauge says.
TWITCH
Pike, Muskie, and the o
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By JP Bushey
HBAITS
old Twitchin’ Reaction Contributed Photograph
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TWITCHBAIT ESOX Photograph by JP Bushey
Moderate length rods with fast tips really get twitchbaits working optimally. The Jerk from St. Croix is usually thought of as a Suick or other wooden dive-rise bait rod, but it’s also ideal for twitching. Note the length and style of leader---short, nononsense lengths of light, solid wire really help twitchbaits perform. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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By: JP Bushey
Fishing-Headquarters Contributor
You can twitch with just about anything. But in my mind, the classic, twitchbait pedigree typically contains hard plugs from the minnowbait family. They’re designed with built-in wobble when you reel or troll them. But things really start getting nasty when you mix together rips, reels and pauses all within the lure’s travel back to the boat. Twitchbaits are the ultimate in creating a ton of triggering moves all within the same retrieve and very often, with very little forward motion. You can drop all kinds of moves in a tiny section of dance floor. In cold water, this alone sets the twitchbait apart. The honour role contains plenty of household names: Jakes, Double D, Triple Ds, Shallow Raiders, Shallow Invaders and so on. Everyone in pike and muskie fishing owns at least a few, and these are not hard lures to use, neither do they require the effort of many other lure styles. Anybody can take fish twitchin’. Bless their cold little hearts, pike and muskie both have short circuits in those tiny brains of theirs. Like people, certain things just make them react. I don’t know about you, but deer flies, mosquitos or wasps aren’t typically items I think about popping into my mouth to eat. But put one near me, and I’m going to lash out at it. I have to. It’s an internally wired reaction. Twitchbaits
T
To me, esox species are the most fun and interesting fish of them all. They always have been. One part psychotic killer, one part pouting baby, these fish excite, engage and entertain me like no other. I’ll take them any way I can get them, from deadbaiting under a foot of ice, to speed trolling with jackhammer crankbaits or bucktails. By this time of year, lure styles that run with start/stop rhythm, offer huge triggering qualities and hook fish solidly can be some of the best. A lot of days, there’s nothing better than a twitchbait.
Photograph by JP Bushey
pull that same string in esox. That thumping, flashing, object is the perfect size for them to overtake and rob calories from. Then it stops, in close. After a few seconds, it begins to dance away again. It’s not even fair. Primal esox is an old, old killer. Everywhere I’ve ever fished, pike and muskie react to a twitchbait. Fall is one of the best times
to throw these lures. I’ve had success casting Triple Ds off the deep sides of shoals and walking them down past ten or twelve feet. Up around remaining slop (and finding good weed that hangs on late in fall can be aces just about everywhere) buoyant, high-action baits like ten Fishing Headquarters | Page 70
TWITCHBAIT ESOX
Drifter Tackle Vexer - by Ty Sennett
inch Jakes bob and weave their way into some dangerous, dangerous areas. As with a lot of guys, flat-sided plugs like Jakes are a trolling staple for me, as well. If you think that melodic, wild thumping action behind the boat gets fish excited, try it with a few pauses, rips and pops, casting. I could easily cast the rest of my life with just a Jake. One bait that has me really excited this fall is the Vexer, from Sennett Tackle. Right off the bat, Vexers have taken the erratic, naturally juicy twicthbait attitude and twisted it around, using a small spinner blade slung from the bait’s belly, near the ventral section. The script with esox and spinners reads just like the twitch script: a match
made in aggression heaven. I doubt anyone would dispute the love these fish have for the blade. It’s universal. With an oversized, almost shovel-like square lip, low-angle line tie and broad sides, the whole bait is designed to really rumble. That square lip is key, as it is on baits like the Triple D, certain Crane Baits, and others. When you pop or snap a square lip, it gets the lure rolling almost completely on its side. Straightaway cranks or pulls with a lip like this gets the lure wobbling very wide. For bouncing off rock, wood or even weed stalks, square lips are superior to other shapes. They give lures a chance to deflect off things. In cover situations, a good lip, stable running path and high-
buoyancy are all really important. The Vexer will be a huge part of my game for fish that are using shallow rock, cabbage or even wood. Not only in the fall, but the spring too. It has the added benefit of the spinner’s flash, and is virtually impossible to foul. For fishermen working coloured water and/or water where pike and muskie relate to cover in fall, this bait has pretty well created it’s own category. I love ‘out of the box’ thinking with lure design, and the Vexer is a lure that is designed using some really smart wrinkles. Don’t ever overlook the blown fuse pike and muskie have for lures that rise or float up when you stop moving them, either. Yes, this is a great attribute for walking baits through
Drifter Tackle Triple-D Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Joe Bucher Outdoors Shallowraider
Over deep-topping fall weeds or shallow rock, you just can’t beat an oversized, square lip. The Georgian Bay pike shown here ate a Double D at the end of a long pause, no more than ten feet from the boat.
cover, but it also is a natural escape or death move for small fish in trouble. High-buoyancy twitchers are important all season, including right now. A series of spastic starts and stops finished off with a slow break for the surface will always be killer. I love how fast a Vexer rises when you take your foot off the gas a little. On the flip side of all that, lures that run deep and hang in place on the pause are also terrific. Especially in deeper, clearer waters that dip into the fifty degree range. In my opinion, the gold standard for baits in this family are Esox Research Co.’s Double and Triple D. When these baits came out, they too created their own sub-category of lures. Like the Vexer, both are solid body lures without a rattle chamber. I love this in clearer water, always have. Triple Ds have the more traditional, rounded lip, like so many other minnowbaits. On eighty pound braided
Photograph by JP Bushey Fishing Headquarters | Page 72
TWITCHBAIT ESOX line, they can easily be worked down past ten feet. Current—in any form or velocity—has always been a fall magnet for pike and muskie where I do the bulk of my fishing in north-central Ontario. On water like the French River, moving water attracts fish, keeps them tighter to bottom and usually places them in pretty predictable zones. Deeper running, suspending lures are a perfect tool for fish that are still very much willing to run up in the water column and eat, but need a little more time to get there. The story is much the same over deep cabbage beds that hang on all season in areas of Georgian Bay. With as much as eight or ten feet of cushion over the weed tops in deep water, hanging a Double D is perfect. With the square lip, the Double D usually flips off any high weeds that periodically get in the way. Time and time again, combining intermittent flash,
vibration and movement with dead pauses makes esox respond. It really is just like having that mosquito buzzing around your face. Reaction is a forced response. Setting up for twitching isn’t complicated. But like any other style of fishing, there are key details that all work together to generate a near-perfect end product. Small, fast reels basically only need to eat up your slack line fast. You don’t need giant gearing or brute power, like you would with bucktail fishing. Solid anti-reverse is a must, and so is all-day comfort. For me, little 300 Series Shimano Curados with the stock, double paddle handle are perfect. They’ve got lots of speed for taking up slack between moves, and are small and light to work with. Younger friends, spouses or older anglers can all catch fish on twitchbaits without killing themselves. I never hand new esox fish-
ermen a double 10 bucktail to burn or a Pounder Bulldawg to deadlift. Small, light baits like twitchers are deadly no matter who’s on the rod. In terms of rod style, I’ve always been partial to shorter, faster action models. I’m a long rod fisherman with all my other pike and muskie techniques, but not here. 7’6 is my magic number. I’ve got lots of downward stroke from the front deck of my boat, I can steer and snap lures easily and make as long of a cast as I’ll ever want. That length just fits. I’ve always found that for really getting these lures dancing, heavier actions are just more direct and efficient. It just takes less movement from me to move my lure. The rod absorbs nothing. Everything I do with my rod travels straight down to the nose of that bait. Twitchbaits are devastating, devastating hookers, and a shorter, heavier rod piledrives them in. For me, your money and
Photograph by JP Bushey
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Mounted on a silky smooth, ball bearing swivel, the belly spinner on the Sennett Tackle Vexer adds a new dimension for twitchbait fishermen. Both fall and spring, this new category of baits has esox anglers fired up.
< High-visibility lines are great for tracking a twitchbait's running depth and path in general. Use a black marker to dull out the last few feet down to the bait, if you like.
Photograph by JP Bushey Fishing Headquarters | Page 74
TWITCHBAIT ESOX thought should be devoted to rods, rather than reels, when you’re setting up to twitch. It’s a rod-based technique, in my opinion. Along the same lines, I’m a solid wire leader guy. Like the rod, they’re a direct connection to my bait and really help creating those crisp, tight moves I like. I fish nearly all of my lures from six to ten inches long on a 7’6 The Jerk, from St. Croix’s Legend Tournament Musky Series. I hand-twist leaders from 150lb solid, bronze wire. They’re roughly the same length as the lure, and I use a good snap on one end and a simple, closed loop where I tie my line. No swivel. Swivels adds drag, pick up debris and do zero for the way a twicthbait runs. I use high visibility, white or yellow line for everything I do with start-stop lures, be them twitchbaits, rubber or jigs. I
like watching my line angle around cover and it helps me see how deep my baits are running. I black out the last few feet of the line down to the leader with a marker. And that’s about as complicated as you need to make things. Watch for fish on all of your fall spots, and exploit their willingness to react when a twitchbait gets buzzing around their face. Both pike and muskie are genetically predisposed to biting them. These are great lures for throwing around a ton of flash, if that’s needed. They’re right at home fishing silently and seductively working deep. For crashing structure and cover, you can get right in there and enrage fish. All of these things play to their personality, and all are major triggers this time of season.
Photograph by JP Bushey Fishing-Headquarters.com
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JP Bushey is a multi-season, multi-species writer from Barrie, Ontario. Northcentral Ontario’s ‘big water’ is where he spends his time, including Georgian Bay, Lake Nipissing, The French River and The Bay of Quinte. He does speaking engagements, manufactures lures and takes pride in helping people improve their fishing success. You can follow his fishing adventures on Facebook at The Bushey Angle, and on the web at www.thebusheyangle.com
Contributed Photograph Fishing Headquarters | Page 76
Photograph by Adam M. Glickman Fishing-Headquarters.com
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COVER
vs STRUCTURE
The Changing Landscape of Fall Musky Waters By Adam M. Glickman
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COVER VS STRUCTURE
Stretches in rivers can experience intense changes or stay mostly the same year after year depending on if the streambed is comprised solid rock structure or sand and wood cover. The force of high water raging through a river can make huge changes to a river in a matter of only hours if it is only working against loose and light streambed particles such as sand and silt. In a streambed that consists of hard rock such as granite, years of annual floods may change the river so slowly that it is not even noticeable. Changeable stretches though are often shockingly different from one year to the next after spring floods. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Photograph by Adam M. Glickman
A
A Few years back while fishing, a friend of mine, Cory Allen, brought up a topic that I have thought a lot about ever since. Cory was and is still a dedicated student of the teachings of legendary and revolutionary angler Buck Perry. Perry pioneered the concept of fishing off shore and often deep structural elements in natural lakes and reservoirs. What Cory and I spoke of that day was the concept of structure and how it is very different than cover. Many people use the words structure and cover synonymously. Until said conversation, I did as well, even in articles. It certainly is shameful for me to admit but facts are facts. voirs changes so slowly that the process is fairly negligible in terms of the life span of an angler. On the opposite end of the spectrum cover is very much in continual flux. Depending on the type of cover, changes can range from slow to incredibly rapid. On the slow end, a large shoreline hardwood or cedar tree that falls into a lake may take By: Adam M. Glickman decades to fully decompose. On the Fishing-Headquarters Contributor fast end, a large dense weed bed can change drastically from day to day as it grows up and then dies back The difference between structhroughout the course of a season. ture and cover is that cover consists Stretches in rivers can experiof aquatic vegetation or wood of ence intense changes or stay mostly any form such as log jams and fallthe same year after year depending en trees. Structure is anything that on if the streambed is comprised solis unchanging and part of the perid rock structure or sand and wood manent topography such as reefs, cover. The force of high water ragbreaklines, or boulders. A grouping ing through a river can make huge of boulders can provide cover for changes to a river in a matter of only fish and in that sense structure can hours if it is only working against also be cover, but cover can never loose and light streambed particles be structure. Not in the true sense of the word anyway. Fishing Headquarters | Page 82 Structure in lakes and reser-
C T HO EV EL RA KVES GSATMR EU C T U R E such as sand and silt. Huge amounts of wood can be washed away or deposited easily as well by raging water. Conversely, in a streambed that consists of hard rock such as granite, years of annual floods may change the river so slowly that it is not even noticeable. Changeable stretches though are often shockingly different from one year to the next after spring floods.
northern Wisconsin, sandgrass beds in 18-26’ in deep clear lakes stay green all fall and winter and hold muskies heavily after turnover. In southern Minnesota, especially in the metro area, muskies relate heavily to remaining milfoil all the way to freeze up. In some lakes, the muskies cruise a deep milfoil edge in 8-18’. In other lakes, sparse clumps in 1-3’ are all that remain, but that is all it takes. The muskies Fall’s Effects on Vegetation will be there, big ones too. Shallow vegetation becomes very important As the days shorten and the across Minnesota and Wisconsin in water cools in fall, vegetation that late September through mid October grew lush all summer begins to die. during turnover. While the turnover In some cases vegetation dies of process makes the depths of lakes completely. However, in lakes veg- unstable, muskies invade the shaletation such as milfoil and cabbage lows (1-4’) and look for any cover recede to a point where they can they can find. survive winter on minimal nourIn rivers with heavy aquatic ishment and then grow back the vegetation, the weeds begin to let next season, much like a deciduous loose in mid September and create tree losing its leaves come fall. In a continual slick of debris washing
down the river that lasts usually well into October. During this time fishing becomes very tough as it becomes almost impossible to work lures without them fouling in debris on every cast. Afterwards, muskies that had been using vegetative cover (usually the majority of individuals in this type of system) have no choice but to move to other cover or structure such as wood or rocks. Looking for them where they were will obviously be futile. Adapting to the changing environment will be key to success. Wood Cover Wood cover can be excellent in rivers, reservoirs, and lakes come fall. Wood is certainly the most permanent of all cover, but even sturdy fish cribs and the biggest of fallen hardwoods are not part of the permanent topography and therefore are
John Lange, with a beautiful river-caught tiger muskie. Photograph by Adam M. Glickman
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In southern Minnesota, especially in the metro area, muskies relate heavily to remaining milfoil all the way to freeze up. In some lakes, the muskies cruise a deep milfoil edge in 8-18â&#x20AC;&#x2122;. In other lakes, sparse clumps in 1-3â&#x20AC;&#x2122; are all that remain, but that is all it takes. The muskies will be there, big ones too. Shallow vegetation becomes very important across Minnesota and Wisconsin in late September through mid October during turnover.
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COVER VS STRUCTURE
Photograph by Adam M. Glickman
not structure. In rivers and streams log jams and laydowns, are classic musky holding cover all season, but they become especially excellent come fall. Those in deeper slower water are prime. When high riding presentations such as gliders fail to produce strikes from these spots, I like to pick them apart deeper with a weighted diving jerkbait or suspending minnow bait. I start a little distance from the wood and carefully work these lures closer and closer to the cover to avoid snagging. The deeper a presentation runs, the more likely it is to get snagged in river log jams and lay downs. When the water gets very cold or if fish are very tough, precisely working rigged Fishing-Headquarters.com
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suckers under large slip floats around wood structure is deadly. However, it is about as tricky as it is effective. Suckers are strong and like all other fish instinctually seek out cover. If not worked properly, they will swim right into the wood where the quick strike rig will hopelessly snag. In reservoirs and flowages, deep wood and timbered flats are excellent come fall. Most reservoirs have little vegetation to begin with, and their dark water is not conducive for aquatic plants surviving the low indirect light of fall. Come fall, the choice is pretty simple. There is wood cover, rock structure, or a combination of the two. Shallow timbered flats covered usually with
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stumps are excellent producers until the water drops into the low 50â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s F. After that, deep sunken timber and fish cribs hold the most fish, especially if they are adjacent to an old river or creek channel. Deep cribs in natural lakes also shine during fall, especially if there is little rock structure or weed cover and the bottom consists mostly of sand and gravel. Structure Rock structure is an excellent constant draw for muskies in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. For the most part, they are always there in the same form to provide a home for the
base links in a food chain, break the current, provide ambush cover, etc. The fish know and remember these established structural elements. When a large tree falls into a lake or river, it takes some time for fish to start using it and make it part of their habits, i.e. establish it. Large rock and boulder structure has been established for centuries and will continue to be established for centuries to come. Breaklines are classic structure in the truest sense of the word. They are part of the topography and in fact are the topography itself. Steep breaklines in natural lakes are great spots in the fall, as hungry muskies us them as a barrier to corral and trap food fish. In lakes with ciscoes, steep main lake breaks with clean sand and gravel on points, islands, and reefs attract spawning ciscoes in late fall. Muskies use the same breaks the ciscoes use to spawn to trap and eat them. Such locations hold monster feeding muskies in frigid waters. Splitting Hairs and Semantics Knowing the wording of the true definitions of structure and cover is not as important as understanding that some things remain constant and that others are in flux within the muskiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environment. Using that knowledge is one of the many keys to understand and catch muskies throughout the progression of fall.
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COVER VS STRUCTURE
Adamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Honest Musky Adam Glickman, 33, has musky fished since 12. Born and raised in Northern WI, but currently residing west of Minneapolis MN, he fishes heavily throughout the musky range and travels the country in search of quality fisheries whenever he can. Adam is a field editor with MUSKIE Magazine, and has put hundreds of muskies in the bottom of the net. Visit Adamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website dedicated to musky fishing information, education, and multimedia at:
http://www.honestmusky.com
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Photograph by Adam M. Glickman Fishing Headquarters | Page 88
TROPHIES AND INC
You Can Learn A Lot From Dummy: Turning In
Photograph by Cory Allen Fishing-Headquarters.com
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By Cory Allen
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We all hear the stories, all the time. Crappie angler has his intended buttermilk fillet turned into sushi boat side; Bass tournament angler catches a 52 incher during the eleventh hour and bitches at his poor luck. One manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trash as they say, but so many of these accidents go completely unnoticed and without given proper warrant. My question has always been why?
CIDENTAL CATCHING
ncidental Anglers into Reconnaissance Drones
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INCIDENTAL ANGLING
Photographs by Cory Allen Fishing-Headquarters.com
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By: Cory Allen
Fishing-Headquarters Contributor
During the PMTT Championship of 2012, a field of the best in musky angling jousted for the cup in Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of the brass rings of both gargantuan muskies and throngs of them. Miles and miles of shark infested water, beat to froth for two days, and not a single fish was caught. Alas there was no joy in mudville, but some walleye angler during the tournament period managed to land a 52” behemoth, all the while bellyaching at how the walleyes wouldn’t touch his crawler harness rig. Lest we even touch upon the Ken O’Brien fish from 1988; the Illinois state re-
cord for over a decade caught from the Lake Shelbyville spillway on a night crawler only to be beaten once again by a walleye angler; and then most recent Torch Lake, Michigan beast as of late. Some of our greatest insights into the nature of absolute giant fish, especially under adverse conditions, comes from the feedback of people not even targeting our prize. Is this the Universe expressing its wicked sense of humor, a Puckish deity screwing with our ego and heads? Perhaps, or perhaps were not paying attention to the messages nature is whispering to us. Truth is, in most cases most of the time, the largest muskies of any system live deep and aren’t very active. They don’t have to be and don’t WANT to be. Though they are impressive imposing and nevertheless intimidating animals, they get big because unlike us, fish have indeterminate growth. The older they get the bigger they get. While “bigger” may be “better” to us, many of these giants are basically the equivalent of 50-70 year old versions of
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INCIDENTAL ANGLING Since the start of 2014, the majority of Tennessee muskies over 50” by TVMA have come solely on the Chad Shad, most of the time being trolled very slowly while held at a particular depth while the rod is slowly twitched to make them dance. The biggest fish don’t kill the bait. You can almost see them in your mind’s eye, slowly come up behind, and test it like they’re tasting wine like a connoisseur, barely nipping the back hook.
us. While they’re full well capable of taking large prey, and given present forage in systems combined with conditions will, especially seasonally, we can’t ignore the fact that they serve tapioca more than steak in hospice care. These “accidents” of giant muskies being caught on diminutive gestures is no accident at all. In fact it makes perfect sense to me. Here at TVMA (Tennessee Valley Muskie Authority), we’re no strangers to this phenomenon. His first week on the team, Jacob Priegel managed to hook and land a low 50” musky slowly twitching a 10XD crankbait along a breakline. Before you go Fishing-Headquarters.com
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skimming through Rollie and Helen’s for this bait, save your finger tips... you won’t find it. Why? BECAUSE IT’S A BASS BAIT. Most people see these baits on our decks and say, “What, you guys bass fish too?” Nope, but tell the unsuspecting muskies that’s a bass lure. I first discovered this bait on the deck of a friend’s boat and said, “That’s a musky bait in disguise!” He rolled his eyes, but the size, the construction, and even the hooks are built to tackle large game. However, the slow rise and steep dive curve make it very suited to probing deep structure for inactive fish. Most of the time, deep big fish are inactive fish.
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They won’t respond to something inordinately fast or erratic, but they will most likely muster the gumption to nip at the heels of something presented tantalizing in front of their maw. It was only later after talking to bass anglers that I realized how many of them had lost these baits to the grip of unwanted muskellunge attention. Ironically in my time on Melton Hill, Tennessee, all 18 months of it, we’ve managed to put nearly 20 muskies over 50 inches into the boat and lost nearly that many more over. One day, only a couple weeks ago, myself and TVMA staffer Matt
Photographs by Cory Allen
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INCIDENTAL ANGLING Photographs by Cory Allen
TVMA’s Matt Lynch with one of three 50 inchers caught with Chad Harmon’s Chad Shad in August, 2014. Learn more about Harmon’s baits by visiting www.smokinbonesbaits.com Lynch managed to boat 3 muskies between 50.5” and 52” in a single day amongst two boats, each one of them on a Chad Shad deep diving crankbait. When I first discovered this bait, Chad Harmon was making them in his basement and offered to trade me some for a reel I was selling. Upon seeing them, I knew something was different. They had a unimposing but deliciously perfect morsel-sized profile to them, as well as a more rounded narrower bill than most small shad cranks made for musky which seemed to feel they needed to compensate for their size by being overly erratic. This isn’t always a bad thing, but in my opinion more often than not small and subtle go more hand in hand as does large and Fishing-Headquarters.com
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janky. Since then, the majority of Tennessee muskies over 50” by TVMA have come solely on the Chad Shad, most of the time being trolled very slowly while held at a particular depth while the rod is slowly twitched to make them dance. The biggest fish don’t kill the bait. You can almost see them in your mind’s eye, slowly come up behind, and test it like they’re tasting wine like a connoisseur, barely nipping the back hook. So what was it that dictated I give this relatively unknown (and several more obscure musky baits even outside the musky nomenclature) a chance in the field? It was the awareness that when all these giant fish are caught utilizing bass
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jigs, Alabama rigs, crawler harnesses, bass buzzbaits, it shouldn’t be considered so profound and require years of “pro” implementation for it to become accepted knowledge. If you step outside the self imposed box of musky thinking - what “is” and “isn’t” musky fishing, or anything for that matter - you’ll realize that that’s when such instances of vicarious feedback even from complete stumblebums will immediately make you a more creative, fluent, and versatile angler, able to adapt that much quicker to what the environment and the fish throw at you on any given day.
In most cases most of the time, the largest muskies of any system live deep and aren’t very active. They don’t have to be and don’t WANT to be. Though they are impressive imposing and nevertheless intimidating animals, they get big because unlike us, fish have indeterminate growth. The older they get the bigger they get. While “bigger” may be “better” to us, many of these giants are basically the equivalent of 50-70 year old versions of us. While they’re full well capable of taking large prey, and given present forage in systems combined with conditions will, especially seasonally, we can’t ignore the fact that they serve tapioca more than steak in hospice care.
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INCIDENTAL ANGLING
Cory Allen, 28, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee is the founder and lead guide of Tennessee Valley Muskie Authority - the most comprehensive fishing resource and guide team in Tennessee. Coryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s specialty is casting and trolling for muskellunge on the reservoirs and river systems of the south. Allenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team of guides fish the waters throughout Tennessee, guiding on a year-round basis, and offer their clients a wide variety of boat and wading trips. Book your 2014 summer and 2015 winter fishing adventure by visiting:
http://www.tennesseevalleymuskieauthority.com Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Photograph by Cory Allen Fishing Headquarters | Page 100
Photographs byAndrew Andrew Ragas Ragas Photograph by
Photograph by David Graham
Rainy Lake Adventures
Camp Nar
Photograph by Johnny Amato Fishing-Headquarters.com
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s
rrows Lodge
Ranked in the top 100 of North Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best bass fishing lakes, this popular drive-to destination along the United States/Canadian border offers bass anglers a complex trophy fishery, and multi-species anglers a kingdom of big fish. By Andrew Ragas
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CAMP NARROWS LODGE
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By: Andrew Ragas Editor In-Chief
andrew@fishing-headquarters.com
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In the year 1981, the British rock group, The Clash, wrote the number one single, “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” My trip partner for this adventure, Johnny Amato, and I kept singing the same question in early to mid summer 2014 because of flood. . . . Should I stay or should I go?
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Most of the North Country had a winter that wouldn’t end and left us wondering when ice-out would take place in 2014. The heavy spring rainfall and snowmelt that followed left Northwest Ontario anglers wondering whether or not Noah’s ark needed to be built in order to successfully fish many of the Province’s flooded waters this season. After multiple trip cancellations, and a summer defined by high water levels, the arks weren’t needed to fish and access its boat-in resorts. By mid summer, relief and receding water levels finally came. During the middle of August, we both sang to The Clash for one
is multi-species angling opportunities…. not just for different fish species, but big ones and many too! Then I make comparisons to how I view Rainy as the little brother to The Lake Lake of the Woods, which is where I’ve fished annually these past few At a quarter million acres in seasons. Minus all the muskies and size, Rainy Lake is one of North- half the angling pressure it receives west Ontario’s and Northern Min- in comparison to Lake of the Woods, nesota’s most famous fisheries. Rainy Lake fishes eerily similar with Straddling the border between the its gorgeous rock structures and isUnited States and Canada, the land- land formations, and endless proscape surrounding Rainy Lake of- tected bays and coves. Reflecting fers breathtaking scenery with un- upon my time spent in Wisconsin’s believable multi-species fishing. Northwoods and elsewhere, I hate When I think of Rainy Lake, Fishing-Headquarters | Page 106 the first thing that comes to mind last time. The decision had been made. We traveled to Rainy Lake to fish at Camp Narrows Lodge located in Northwest Ontario.
CAMP NARROWS LODGE Pearson offers his guests tiller rentals, 2014 model year G3 aluminum deep-Vâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (Guide V177 T). At 17 ½ feet, his rentals are equipped with powerful, fuel efficient 50 hp Yamaha Four Stroke outboards and rigged with Lowrance HDS electronics and 55 lb thrust Minn Kota Edge bow-mount trolling motors. Our boat was more than plenty and luxurious not only for safe navigation, but modern and sophisticated.
Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters.com
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to admit that I’ve been fishing little ponds my whole life. On any Canadian trip, I return home a changed man, and a better angler for breaking down a mass volume of water I’ve never been on before. The Trip What was originally scheduled for the last week of June finally took place during the week of August 24-30, 2014. Amato and I left from our home fishing grounds of northern Wisconsin and drove six hours through north central Minnesota where we reached our Fort Frances, Ontario destination. Owned and operated by Tom Pearson (49) for the last 29 seasons, Camp Narrows Lodge offers anglers and hunters the opportunity to experience a unique wilderness fishing adventure at a boat-in resort. As a drive-to destination, fishing at Camp Narrows Lodge for the week
is an affordable trip in comparison to most premier Canadian fishing getaways and outpost camps. Popular with the majority of his guests, Pearson offers cabin rentals with basic housekeeping plans (bringing your own boat and food for the week) at an affordable $565 per week (gas and taxes included), per person. Other plans such as fully catered American Plans and corporate packages to meet everyone’s needs are available upon request as well. All facilities at Camp Narrows are fully modernized and offer a panoramic view of Northwest Bay. Anglers will find the ultimate in relaxation in its clean cabins and comfortable furnishings. The carpeted floors, electric lights, and hot and cold running water makes its cabins feel like the perfect home away from home. With eight cabins on site, Pearson is able to accommodate small groups of two all the way up to a party of forty. Every
cottage comes equipped with a gas stove, electric refrigerator, utensils, dishes, and all linens. For your added convenience all cabins also have showers and flush toilets. At Camp Narrows Lodge from May through October, anglers get to enjoy the unbeatable combination of first-rate accommodations and excellent multi-species angling headlined by smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, and crappie. Strategically situated on Northwest Bay, directly in the middle of the north arm of Rainy Lake, the waters surrounding Camp Narrows is world famous for its bass fishing and a favorite of many famous anglers and outdoor publications. The catch and release policy instituted by Pearson ensures that Rainy Lake’s north arm will continue to rear its strong smallmouth bass fishery into the future. The remote location of Camp Narrows lodge provides serious anglers and outdoorsmen with a con-
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venient location, and a world of endless water with many sought-after gamefish species. To get there travel from Duluth, MN, along highway 53 through North Central Minnesota to International Falls. Cross the Rainy River into the Fort Frances Port of Entry. Have your US Passports in hand, with hats off, and a smile on your face and making eye-contact with the border agents. When granted access into Sunset Country, take highway 11 to Devlin (approx. 14 miles) and then turn north on highway 613. Drive for 14 miles to the public landing located at La Belle’s Birch Point Camp. Launch the boat into west bay, park your vehicle on the mainland for the week at no charge as a guest of Camp Narrows Lodge, and transport yourselves across seven miles of water to the lodge for your entire week’s trip. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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The Fishing Because Rainy Lake is a mecca for multi-species angling and all of its major fish species can be had in every section and basin of the lake, the question of what to fish for doesn’t apply here. Walleyes, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and crappie can be caught from anywhere at any time, and often times by accident when targeting a single species. Because Amato and I are dedicated bass anglers, this trip was concentrated mostly on bass fishing and all other species were secondary. Due to Camp Narrows centralized location, most of our favorite fishing areas were located within 5 to 10 miles away from camp. Because of Northwest Bay’s abundant walleye population and trophy small-
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mouth bass component, Camp Narrows visitors tend to fish the nearby bays and basins of Northwest Bay, Lyons Bay, Halfway Inlet, Shelter Islands, Browns Inlet, and Turkey Island basin. Meanwhile, the explorers and aggressive anglers like ourselves may elect to take longer runs and go farther north or east into the lake’s more remote locations such as Alexandria and Ash Bays, Manitou Sound, and clustered regions of main lake islands. Throughout our week’s stay, Amato and I elected to use a camp boat rather than trailer up my antiquated Lund boat. Pearson offers his guests tiller rentals, 2014 model year G3 aluminum deep-V’s (Guide V177 T). At 17 ½ feet, his rentals are equipped with powerful, fuel efficient 50 hp Yamaha Four Stroke outboards and rigged with Low-
rance HDS electronics and 55 lb thrust Minn Kota Edge bow-mount trolling motors. Our boat was more than plenty and luxurious not only for safe navigation, but modern and sophisticated, allowing us to accomplish our task of catching multispecies delight. Like my trips to nearby Lake of the Woods these past few seasons, which fishes similarly to Rainy, my experience of navigating and mapping big water played a key role in our break-down of Rainy Lake and successfully fishing its basins. Because several creeks, rivers, and other nearby lakes drain into it, Rainy Lake functions more like the lowland flowages and reservoirs I fish often in North Central Wisconsin. Due to this characteristic, water clarity is brown, quality fishing spots are abundant with plentiful habitat, and the entire fishery is fertile. With the abundance of spots, it was important for me to devise our daily milk-runs to maximize the number of spots we’d fish and minimize the amount of time spent endlessly motoring around the lake. For first time visitors, the lake may be large and intimidating. You need to have a strategic game plan each day. It makes learning new, big water so much easier. With big smallmouth bass as our primary agenda, Amato and I found zero shortage of quality spots. The structure of the north arm of Rainy Lake is ideal for smallmouths, comprised mostly of solid rock shorelines and hundreds of islands with large boulders and reefs extending from them. Another unique habitat utilized by Rainy Lake’s bass is isolated cabbage beds, weedlines, and dense patches of bulrushes. Due to the lake’s walleye resurgence in the last decade, resulting from the crash of its smelt population and imple-
Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters | Page 110
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Photographs by Johnny Amato
mentation of a 13 ¾ – 17 ¾ inch slot in which everything between 18 to 26 must be released, many anglers, including Pearson, believe the walleye’s abundance on rock and deep open water structure has forced populations of the lake’s smallmouths into these areas making them weed and vegetation-oriented fish. This unique displacement is common on many of my Wisconsin flowages, so it didn’t surprise me. Whether we were fishing for deep and shallow rock or weed oriented bass, patterns for both habitat areas were found. Due to the prevalence of snags, soft plastics and bottom-hugging baits were simply out of the question unless we knew where the sand bars and beach shorelines were at. This was best evidenced by Amato’s morning performance of donating 12 tube jigs to the vicious rocks Fishing-Headquarters.com
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of Rainy Lake. With that being said, and our milk-run strategy for covering acres of water and as many as 30 to 40 spots per day, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters, jerkbaits, and paddletail swimbaits outfished everything else by a wide margin. During the summer months, Rainy Lake smallmouths are found occupying many areas of the lake. Regardless of its depleting smelt forage, some bass school together and still chase this protein-rich pelagic baitfish (along with immature whitefish) throughout the deep open water basins of the lake. This scenario makes vertical jigging with soft plastic flukes such as GNUGEN Tackle’s 4 inch Live Minnow and Stankx Bait Company’s Flukez a deadly option, as are Spoons and Jigging Rapalas. Meanwhile, other fish can be solely found along rocky
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shorelines and wherever bottom transitions from rock to vegetation occurs. In these areas, spinnerbaits, suspending jerkbaits such as Dynamic Lures J Spec and Travados and Rapala X-Raps, craw imitating crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, and suspending jerkbaits shine. Lastly, wherever there is a presence of weeds, the displaced smallmouths occupy these areas in their pods of feeding wolfpacks, and can be taken with an assortment of baits with our favorites having been 3/8 oz and ½ oz Terminator T1 and T2 spinnerbaits with gold blades and chartreuse, firetiger skirts. Depending upon the day’s weather and conditions, special techniques and unique situations often play out with Rainy Lake’s smallmouths. Our most favorite of this trip was the ferocious and vicious
Wherever there is a presence of weeds, the displaced smallmouths occupy these areas in their pods of feeding wolfpacks, and can be taken with an assortment of baits with our favorites having been 3/8 oz and ½ oz Terminator T1 and T2 spinnerbaits with gold blades and chartreuse, firetiger skirts, and Freedom Tackleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Spinnerbait in Silver Shad.
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topwater bites during evenings. When conditions were right for bass to pounce on Rapala’s X-Rap Pop and X-Rap Walk surface baits over rocky shoals and along the edges of cabbage beds, we hammered them. On these topwater bites, we focused on working through our high-percentage spots where smallmouths were previously contacted, keeping time management in check. Another unique scenario was actually an observation: Whenever one smallmouth bass is contacted on Rainy Lake, there is high probability that more fish are utilizing the same spot for the same feeding purposes. It was important for us to camp on spots when contact was made with the first fish, because others within the same unit were caught thereafter. This was best exemplified on the isolated bulrush and cabbage beds Amato and I fished. Usually the first Fishing-Headquarters.com
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fish from these spots were caught with oversized spinnerbaits, and then the remaining conditioned fish were extracted with topwaters or ribbed paddletail swimbaits rigged on a swimming jig. At 3.5 inches and rigged with an 1/8 oz Northland Mimic Minnow head, the all new 3.5 inch Damzel by Stankx Bait Company cleaned house on these weed oriented fish when ripped and swam through vegetation with a medium retrieve. Although Amato and I didn’t locate any smallmouth bass larger than 19.5 inches and couldn’t find
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the holy grail of 20 inchers Rainy Lake is well known for, we ended up catching more than 100 combined bass with several between the ranges of 17 to 19 inches. Due to the lake’s high fertility, abundant forage options, and fish’s fat flowage build, many of these Rainy Lake smallmouths weigh in at 4 and 4.5 pounds. Factoring the post-flood conditions we were dealt, our locating of many displaced fish, and the dog days of summer in which there were only a few short feeding windows per day, we were pleased by these efforts and are anxious for a
Our most favorite bite for this trip was the ferocious and vicious topwater bites during evenings. When conditions were right for bass to pounce on Rapalaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s XRap Pop and X-Rap Walk surface baits over rocky shoals and along the edges of cabbage beds, we hammered them.
Photographs by Johnny Amato Fishing-Headquarters | Page 114
CAMP NARROWS LODGE Amato with 24 inch walleye taken while single line trolling along deep weedlines.
Photograph by Andrew Ragas
second crack next season. Our focus throughout the week was on smallmouth bass but there were daily occurrences when we had to turn to other species; most notably walleyes and northern pike. Rainy Lake’s walleye fishery is one of the best in all of Canada for both numbers and trophies. Within minutes away from Camp Narrows, walleye anglers can catch fish off the many plentiful rock humps by vertical jigging and livebait rigging methods. And when presented with the right conditions, single line trolling with deep diving crankbaits and spinner rigs along rock walls, mud flats and weedlines will produce larger fish. Additionally, casting windblown rock points with crankbaits and minnow plugs will catch plenty of action, too. Fishing-Headquarters.com
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It wasn’t more than 15 years ago when the Rainy Lake walleye population was at an all-time low from over harvest and the abundant and invasive rainbow smelt populations. But due to the progressive management, the fishery has been revitalized, with many anglers catching and releasing fish between 26 to 32 inches annually. And did I mention that walleye shore lunches are easy to make? If there was one certain fish species that perplexed us throughout the week, it was northern pike. According to some publications, Rainy Lake is rated as one of North America’s best destinations for big trophy pike due to its diverse habitat, abundant forage, and good growth rates. Although the fishery is world class, it seemed as if we had to catch
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250 undersize snakes for each pike surpassing 36 inches or longer. For the week, the notable fish we boated was a pair of 34 and 36 inchers casting weedlines, and a 40 inch gator while single line trolling. Many of Pearson’s guests catch pike annually up to 45 inches, with even the occasional sighting of some special 50 inchers. Despite the abundance of juvenile pike on every rock point, grass bed, and weedbed, Rainy Lake’s northern pike fishing is indeed some of the best in Northwest Ontario due to its slot size and mandatory catch and release of fish greater than 27.5 inches. In prime seasons such as spring and fall, anglers will catch nothing but big fish. However, Amato and I were the unlucky ones. Casting deep weedlines with topwa-
Shore lunches take place on one of several Rainy Lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s islands. One 17 inch walleye can feed two anglers easily. Respect the slots, and lunches like this can be had every day.
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CAMP NARROWS LODGE ters, bucktails and crankbaits, single line trolling along rock walls, points and reefs with crankbaits and large minnow plugs, and fly fishing are effective ways to catch them. When gearing up for Rainy Lake, there is no need to overdo it with specialized tackle unless you are bringing your own boat, or have the storage space to contain it all. With its unique bass fishery and the best strategy being running and gunning and covering water, bringing a variety of search lures such as spinnerbaits, topwaters, swimbaits, crankbaits, and jerkbaits is best. With pike and walleyes occupying many of the same areas as smallmouths, bringing all-purpose rods and reels along with tackle is the
best strategy to employ for targeting individual fish species, and then being able to fish multi-species at once. Additionally, thin wire or tieable titanium leaders are essential to avoid getting bitten off by the voracious, abundant pike. Lastly, keeping in mind the plethora of rock hazards and snags, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t depend on jigs and other bottom oriented baits to catch fish unless you can afford donating gear to the lake. However, there are special times in which tube jigs and football heads may come handy. Cover and structure is everywhere on Rainy Lake. Bringing power and size with your rods, reels and lines is a must. Have a variety of reels spooled with 8, 10, 12, and 14lb size monofilaments and copo-
lymers (Cortland Camouflage and Endurance). If fishing with braided superlines such as Cortlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Masterbraid, 15 and 20 lb is perfect for walleyes and bass, and 50 lb or greater is best for big pike. There is no such thing as too big of a rod and reel, or too powerful of a line for the large fish prowling the depths of Rainy Lake. The Fishery Rainy Lake is one of North Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top drive-to fishing destinations for multi-species angling and highly rated for smallmouth bass. As all of my serious bass fishing is predominantly centered on the Upper Midwest, Rainy Lake is
Photograph by Johnny Amato Fishing-Headquarters.com
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Rainy Lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s northern pike fishing is some of the best in Northwest Ontario due to its slot size and mandatory catch and release of fish greater than 27.5 inches. In prime seasons such as spring and fall, anglers will catch nothing but big fish. Casting deep weedlines with topwaters, bucktails and crankbaits, single line trolling along rock walls, points and reefs with crankbaits and large minnow plugs, and fly fishing are effective ways to catch them.
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CAMP NARROWS LODGE
Amato with his largest bass of the trip, a 19 and a half incher taken while ripping spinnerbaits through dense cabbage beds and bulrushes. Photograph by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters.com
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one of the most interesting, unique fisheries I have ever been on, and certainly in my top-five places to visit. It’s not a painfully long trip to make for an entire week’s fishing: 4 hrs from Central MN, 3 hrs from Duluth, 5hrs from Northern WI, and 14 hrs from Chicago. To ensure that Rainy Lake annually sustains its world-class fishery, Camp Narrows has a mandatory catch-and-release policy for
its smallmouth bass. Rainy Lake also has slot-sizes to protect its trophy pike and walleye populations. These regulations encourage voluntary catch and release, and ensure that big fish will remain in the system (unless tribal netted) for future angling generations to come. The reason for big fish abundance is largely due to progressive management practices by Minnesota and Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Re-
sources. With these policies, Rainy Lake will not only sustain its worldclass fishery but it will get even better for future visitors. For an incredible fishing getaway, I hope I’ve made this 2014 trip showcase compelling. Make Rainy Lake with Camp Narrows Lodge a destination for your annual Canadian fishing.
Camp Narrows Lodge offers you the opportunity to experience a unique outdoor fishing and hunting adventure at a boat-in resort. Enjoy the unbeatable combination of first-rate accommodations and excellent fishing and hunting. Contact Tom Pearson at fishing@campnarrows.com, or call toll free 1-866-294-5067. Visit online at www.campnarrows.com and www.ontariohunting.ca to book your next Northwest Ontario adventure.
Photograph by Johnny Amato Fishing-Headquarters | Page 120
CAMP NARROWS LODGE At a quarter million acres in size, Rainy Lake is one of Northwest Ontario’s and Northern Minnesota’s most famous fisheries. Straddling the border between the United States and Canada, the landscape surrounding Rainy Lake offers breathtaking scenery with unbelievable multi-species fishing. On any Canadian trip, I return home a changed man, and a better angler for breaking down a mass volume of water I’ve never been on before.
Photographs by Andrew Ragas Fishing-Headquarters.com
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CAMP NARROWS LODGE Morning Commute. After having spent 26 of 31 days on the water in August, I am one lucky guy. Thanks Tom, for giving Johnny and I a trip that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll remember for the rest of our lives. Seeya next summer.
Photograph by Johnny Amato Fishing-Headquarters.com
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TACKLE TECHN FALL 2014 DOES YOUR COMPANY OR BRAND HAVE PRODUCTS FOR US TO USE AND TALK ABOUT? SEND YOUR INQUIRIES TO INFO@FISHING-HEADQUARTERS.COM
Stankx Bait Company 3.5” Damzel By Andrew Ragas Ribbed paddle tail swimbaits rigged with open exposed minnow head style jigs are the new kids on the block and a technique I’ve enjoyed using a lot in the last month and a half. Modeled off of today’s modern paddle tail swimbaits, the Damzel by Stankx Bait Company has changed the way serious smallmouth anglers will be fishing for years to come. Rig with an 1/8 oz. Northland or Matzuo minnow head and let the swimming retrieve and lively paddle tail do all the heavy lifting for you. Add continuous rips and jerks into each retrieve to trigger strikes from both active, and well conditioned smallmouths. $6.79 stankxbaitco.com
Freedom Lures Minnow By Andrew Ragas NEW for fall 2014, reedom Tackle Corp. is proud to add another unique product to its line – the Freedom Minnow. This lure will give you the edge whether you cast it, jerk it or even vertical jig it. The erratic side-to-side action maximizes flash providing a slow free fall and a sound that fish cannot resist. Fish will attack the lure with a vengeance. Available in five colors, 3/32oz and 1/4oz sizes, chemically sharpenned hooks, glass beads emitting sound and vibration, and contains eratic side-to-side wobbling action to entice strikes from walleyes, trout, pike, and other gamefish species. From $6.99 freedomlures.com Fishing-Headquarters.com
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NICIANS
Gear recommendations, reviews, insights and news (mostly new) from contributors & friends of Fishing-Headquarters.
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR BRAND’S PRODUCTS! Damiki Air Frog Floating Buzz Frog By Brian Pentecost
Two tournaments ago I saw this huge frog tied to winning angler’s rod. Compelled to try the Damiki Air Frog, I ordered one of every color from Tackle Warehouse along with #6 Beast Twistlock Owner hooks. The applications for this frog are varied and specific. Fantastic hook up ratios are to be expected because this is a soft bodied frog that floats. This frog also excels for late summer and early fall muck and weed thickness. It weighs at 1 oz., nearly twice the weight of other soft frogs. This extra weight really moves the pads and muck aggravating the hungry bass that dwell underneath, and if they missing completely or short striking...leave it, luckily for you it floats. Another neat bait tweak I have never seen before are the drilled holes in the top of the frog, hence the name Airfrog. It automatically uprights itself placing the hook where it needs to be at all times for proper hook sets. Lastly one leg is about an eighth inch shorter making this frog an open water weedless soft buzzbait. Give them a try, but be wise only to use a #7 size hook or larger. $7.99 (5ct) damiki.com
Drifter Tackle Vexer By JP Bushey One bait that has me really excited this fall is The Vexer, from Sennett Tackle. Right off the bat, Vexers have taken the erratic, naturally juicy twicthbait attitude and twisted it around, using a small spinner blade slung from the bait’s belly, near the ventral section. The script with esox and spinners reads just like the twitch script: a match made in aggression heaven. I doubt anyone would dispute the love these fish have for the blade. It’s universal. With an oversized, almost shovel-like square lip, low-angle line tie and broad sides, the whole bait is designed to really rumble. All Vexer’s are made with highest quality components including: a solid, durable plastic body, through-wire construction, a polycarbonate lip, and heavy duty hooks. $20.99 driftertackle.net
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TACKLE TECHN FALL 2014 DOES YOUR COMPANY OR BRAND HAVE PRODUCTS FOR US TO USE AND TALK ABOUT? SEND YOUR INQUIRIES TO INFO@FISHING-HEADQUARTERS.COM
Real Deal Tungsten By Tyler Uteg Every year I try to learn a few new techniques that I can use out on the water. It’s really important to practice the things you’re not good at, so you can be prepared to use them when conditions dictate. This year, the drop shot has worked its way into my arsenal and I’m more confident than ever in my ability to catch fish out deep using this finesse approach. Two of the keys to this technique are rate of fall and the ability to feel what’s in the water. If you’re new to drop shotting, or an old pro, I highly recommend checking out the teardrop tungsten drop shot weights by Brad Deal from Real Deal Tungsten. Their shape, quality and ability to feel the bottom will help you become confident in this technique. I’ve caught fish in 30 feet of water with a 1/8 ounce weight, and I have to say its one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve had fishing to date. From $0.55 to $2.10 ea. realdealtungsten.com
GoScope Extreme – 2X Telescoping By The Bassassins The GoPro has been a vital part of The Bassassins for a couple of years now, always attached to us and ready to roll at the first sign of action. The GoPro pole by GoScope Extreme was an awesome addition. It’s lightweight and compact design allows you to easily carry it around attached to you without even noticing it. This allowed us to continue on business as usual but gain its many benefits right when we needed them. The first thing we noticed when replaying the first videos shot with the GoScope was how improved the steadiness of the video was. The scope eliminates all the shakiness that is created by holding the camera in your hand. The difference was incredible and will make for much more fluent video and improved photo quality. $54.95 go-scope.com Fishing-Headquarters.com
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NICIANS
Gear recommendations, reviews, insights and news (mostly new) from contributors & friends of Fishing-Headquarters.
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR BRAND’S PRODUCTS! Babe’s Boatcare Products By Tyler Uteg Having just bought a Triton Boat this year, I’m always eager to keep it clean. For a boat that’s 13 years old, it looks brand new and there’s a reason why. Every time I wipe it down before or after a trip I use BABE’s Boat Bright spray wax cleaner. This non-abrasive formula helps keep the exterior of your boat clean while also applying a light wax and UV resistant coating to reduce oxidation and fading that can plague older gel coats. The result is a boat that sparkles like the day it came off the lot. Next time you need a product to keep your boat clean, pick up some boat bright. From $9.99 to 29.99 babesboats.com
Rapala Snap Rap By Andrew Ragas The Rapala Snap Rap brings a hot new technique to anglers fishing sandy and gravel bottoms as well as deep west-coast reservoirs. This unique, tough little bait is fished with a snap retrieve method… darting fast on rod snap, then quickly gliding back to the bottom. Durable body construction is appropriate for all species of game fish. It’s fished with a snap retrieve method darting fast on the rod snap, then quickly gliding back to the bottom. Features a durable body construction appropriate for all species of game fish and VMC® black-nickel hooks to help keep you attached to your catch. Per each. From $7.59 to $8.69 rapala.com
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TACKLE TECHN FALL 2014 DOES YOUR COMPANY OR BRAND HAVE PRODUCTS FOR US TO USE AND TALK ABOUT? SEND YOUR INQUIRIES TO INFO@FISHING-HEADQUARTERS.COM
Hammer Fishing Rods, All-American Elite Series By Brad Wiegmann Finding the right bass fishing rod can be challenging. An angler has to decide on blank action, power, rod components, reel seat , rod grip and price. It can be overwhelming, but how far would you go to find the perfect bass fishing rod? All Hammer micro series rods are made of 100% graphite hand rolled blanks made in USA with a perfect blend of power, sensitivity and performance to meet all fishing demands. Featuring Winn Split Grip, Fuji Graphite Blank-Exposed reel seats, Fuji Micro guides with Aluminum Oxide (1st two guides on rod are Fuji 6mm double footed), and come with manufacturers limited lifetime warranty. From $148.00 to $190 hammerrods.com
NICIANS
Gear recommendations, reviews, insights and news (mostly new) from contributors & friends of Fishing-Headquarters.
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR BRANDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PRODUCTS! Rapala X-Rap Pop By Andrew Ragas The Rapala X-Rap Pop brings X-Rap attitude to topwater, and one lemonhead pattern in size 07 has resulted in over 300 smallmouth bass so far in 2014! Starting in a tail down position, its arched body shape sets lure up for a large kerplunk-pop and splash with every snap, even the slightest tug and the X-Pop comes to life. With the X-Rap textured translucent body, internal holographic foil, 3D holographic eyes fish canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t resist. Internal long cast mechanism allows you to fish vast amounts of water without changing spots. Internal rattle adds to the noise and commotion. VMC black nickel hooks with flash feather teaser tail seal the deal with reluctant fish that are taunted to strike during slight pauses between snaps. $10.79 rapala.com
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