Outdoorsmen Adventures.com

Here we go again, we’re heading into the fall, where has our summer gone?

It’s that time of the year, the time our kids are heading back to school. As the temperatures decrease, water temperatures will start to cool and fishing will pick up.

With all of these things happening: you can bet it won’t be long before the good fall fishing season is here.

With the water temperatures declining, all species of fish will really start to feed heavily.

When fishing in the fall, it’s a good idea to use larger live bait.

During the fall, fish are on a mission, trying to fatten up before the freeze up.  Chubs and larger minnows seem to attract the larger fish, out producing the smaller baits.

In the rivers, you’ll find the walleye, sauger and smallmouth moving shallow to clean up any remaining baitfish or the crawfish that have survived the summer.

In our lakes, bluegills, crappies, largemouth bass and pike will move into and along the edge of the weeds, picking off insects and of course each other.

Lake walleyes will now be found spread out over the mud flats or cruising the weeds looking for a late season snacks.… Continue reading

As spring makes the turns towards summer, water temps will start to warm up with all species of fish becoming more active.

The shallower dark bottomed bays will warm up first, allowing shallow weed growth to blossom.

In many of the smaller lakes and ponds, this heavy vegetation can make it almost impossible to fish.

If you’re planning on doing much fishing during the heat of the summer, you best learn to fish the weeds or you’ll be spending a lot of your time on the deeper lakes or reservoirs or one the dingier bodies of water where weed growth Is minimal.

In this article we’ll talk about several ways that the summer angler can productively fish in the weeds.

There are all types of aquatic weed grow found in the upper Midwest and depending on the body of water that you’re fishing, they’ll appear and die back at different times.

In the ponds, lakes and streams that are shallower or clearer, weed growth occurs much earlier and will be heavier than those found in areas with the dirtier more turbid water.… Continue reading

This is absolutely one of my favorite patterns for mid- to late-summer northern pike in deep clear lakes. Hold on tight to your rod for some exciting action. We catch a lot of big pike and some of our largest walleyes each season employing this method.

Equipment

You can leave your wimpy rods at home. You are going to need to ramp up your equipment before you go. I suggest a stiff, heavy action bait casting or trolling rod. Almost any heavy action musky rod will work. You don’t need an extremely sensitive graphite rod for this. Cabela’s carries a good selection of inexpensive composite trolling rods. Choose a rod with plenty of backbone. The big-lipped lures, coupled with the… Continue reading

With all of the traveling I do, I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of anglers and at a recent in store promotion, I was talking with a group of fishermen talking about different fishing techniques.

When we started talking about jig fishing, two of them told me that they didn’t use them much because they fished for species other than walleyes.

After hearing this, I realized that I might have given some people the wrong idea that jigs were primarily walleye bait.

I quickly explained to them that jigs aren’t effective on one particular species as they’ll catch all fish, from the smallest to the largest.

My personal opinion is that there isn’t more productive bait that an angler can use!

I was surprised to see how many people felt that the jig would work on only one particular species, that it’s one-method or species bait!

Jigs are such a versatile tool, that they’ll catch anything that swims!… Continue reading

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, fall is a rough time of the year for me!  I know that the hunting seasons are starting, but it’s mighty tough for me to start thinking about hunting when the fishing is really starting to get good.

A person doesn’t want to put all of their eggs in one basket, you can bet that during this time of the year, I’ll have my shotgun, shells, dove decoys, binoculars, a couple of rods, camo, rain suit, hip boots and a bunch of tackle.

I know that the dove season will open soon and I already have my hunting dove hunting spots lined up. Then there’s the early goose season in N.E South Dakota and the early goose season that will start shortly in Nebraska, but I also know that it won’t be long before the walleye bite on the lakes and rivers will really take off.

Well first, I’m going to concentrate on fishing, anyway until the dove season opens!

This is the time of the year when water temperatures in the Glacial Lakes of N.E. South Dakota and in the Missouri River start to drop and with this drop in water temperature, the fish will begin to feed heavily in anticipation of the cold hard winter that is just around the corner.

It’s in the fall anglers will want to go to larger live bait.  The reason for this is the fact that during the fall, fish are in a hurry to fatten up before the freeze up.  Chubs and larger minnows seem to attract the larger fish and out produce the smaller live bait.

In the rivers, walleye, sauger and smallmouth will move up into the shallower water into the remaining green weeds and pig out on the remaining baitfish and crawfish that survived the summer.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

If there is more exciting freshwater fishing than catching monster northern pike in shallow water with the fly rod, I’ve yet to find it.

Picture this.

You’ve just made a 70 foot cast into a flat peppered with last year’s pencil reeds. The water is only two feet deep and you are watching your big feathered streamer dart in one -foot pulls under the surface as you strip it in.

Suddenly there is a huge boil and the streamer disappears.

For an instant you distinguish a large, thick, dark body peppered with light horizontal markings, turning away from you.

With a firm grip on the line you lift the rod tip hard, and all hell breaks loose.

The big fish can’t dive so she comes out of the water like a rocket and then back in where she begins a run that strips line from the reel so fast you’re glad you paid extra for the saltwater fly reel.

Sixty feet out she stops and begins to roll, wrapping the leader and line around her body and then she takes off again.

Wherever she goes, she’s leaving a trail of mud and debris in the shallow water.

All you can do is hang on and concentrate on keeping the line tight and the tip of the 9-foot rod high in the air.… Continue reading

Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal

PICKLE LAKE, ONT. — A funny thing happens when ice leaves the lakes of the north country.

Monster northern pike, those fish of 20 pounds or more, pack into the backs of shallow bays.

Here they swim, unmolested, kings of their underwater world. They will have spawned here, most of them before the ice even leaves the bay.

And they are hungry. Anything that moves is fair game. If you are there, casting a big Johnson’s Silver Minnow, you will experience some of the best pike fishing of your life.

This ice-out fishing for big fish is far from a secret. Most anglers who fly into Ontario’s back country know this.

Jim McDonnell, Royal, Iowa, and I certainly do. We also know that timing is critical if you are to encounter the largest fish in the system.

It’s also critical that you pick the right lake. Jim, “The Fishing Professor,” knew from past experience that North Caribou Lake held the monsters we were looking for.

And when I interviewed the fishing professor at the Council Bluffs sports show last January, we began planning for this trip. Jim introduced me to Rob Brodhagen, owner of North Caribou Camps.… Continue reading