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Tag Archives: walleye pike

Aim for the O2 Move regularly, change offerings often: you’ll crack midwinter’s code

Ice-Fishing-300x200APtravelnews-February 2nd,Provided and shared article by Mitch Eeagan Imagine your home growing darker by the day, to the point you haven’t seen sunlight in over a month. Moreover, your surroundings are growing colder by the day. In fact, it’s so frigid that your muscles have become rigid; to the point it’s all you can do to muster moving a few feet…even to eat. And you’re hungry.

Oxygen is diminishing, too. Some areas are completely void of oxygen, while other pockets have just enough to sustain life. So you migrate to where respiration is still an option. To say life’s registering a zero on the fun-o-meter is an understatement. And with that lowly scenario in place, you now know what it’s like to be a fish living in the Ice Belt during the dead of winter. It’s been a long time since light penetrated the surface and temperatures are at the coldest they will be all year. To boot, the lack of vegetation, rain and wave action have oxygen levels dwindling rapidly.

And it’s this combination of factors that make midwinter a difficult time to catch fish. But if you’re game to put in the time, find those oxygenated zones, rewards are paid in bites and fillets. The safest place to avoid suffocation is sometimes right under the ice. In the bowels of winter, if oxygen levels are critical, crappies, bluegills and perch could be hanging right under your feet. Photo by Bill Lindner

Minnesota Ice-Fishing Guide Brian “Bro” Brosdahl is no stranger to fishing shallow, heavily snow-covered lakes. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota resident moves around a lot. And uses specialized electronics to find panfish other anglers often overlook. “I drill a lot of holes and check every one for any signs of life,” said Bro. “If fish are right under me I’ll see ‘em on the ‘Bird, and, because of the ultra-sensitivity settings on the Humminbird ICE HELIX 5, I can put my jig right in their faces.

“But I’ll also lower my Aqua-Vu Micro DT down every hole, as well; especially if I am not marking anything. Fish might be just inches under the ice during the heart of winter, following the oxygen. The camera is able to spy those fish.” Paying close attention to the underwater viewing system’s screen the moment its camera hits the water, Bro starts spinning the lens right the bottom of the hole. Oftentimes, panfish will be literally inches away, curiously inspecting the corded device. Once fish are revealed, Bro removes the camera, strips off a couple feet of line and lowers his jig—tipped with either spikes, wax worms or mousies. Al’s Goldfish Ice Fishing Wobblers are designed for this job!
 “A lot of anglers have no idea those fish are even there,” Bro added. “These suspended fish get totally overlooked this time of year. It’s cool when you can see your jig and watch a fish swim over and gobble it up.”

If there are a lot of fish just under the surface, Bro will operate out of his Frabill flip-over. The darkness not only allows Bro to see the fish better, but also camouflages the fact he’s above by muting his silhouetted movements.

When oxygen levels are low, and fish lethargic, Bro uses tiny jigs with a slow fall. His preferences are Northland’s new Impulse Helium Mayfly, Stonefly and Waxyfly. Custom Jigs & Spins’ Nuclear Ant, Ratso and Shrimpo are another trio of lifelike lures that sink slowly.When Walleye Tournament Pro, Mark Brumbaugh targets pike, walleye and jumbo perch late in the season, he searches out river and creek mouths.

“Anywhere water’s flowing into a lake there will be more dissolved oxygen,” the Brownstown, Ohio, resident said. “And because fish spawn in these same rivers, they’ll be here staging to reproduce, too.” Because there’s more dissolved oxygen near inlets, fish will be spread throughout the water column. Subsequently, Brumbaugh likes larger, heavier jigs that can move up and down quickly. Bladebaits are one of Brumbaugh’s go-to lures in stained water, as they produce a lot of vibration. Reef Runner’s Cicada is one of his favorites. He also employs Custom Jigs & Spins’ B3 Blade Bait and new Rotating Power Minnow (RPM) swimming bait. As avid anglers will tell you, late winter can be one of the toughest times of the year. But maybe that’s because they weren’t looking in the right places.

Some fish might be right under foot; literally, mere inches under the ice. If this is the case, use light lures with a slow flutter and fall. In waterways with inlets, search out the entire water column with lures that sink fast so you can get the lure to fish before they turn tail. Al’s Ice fishing lures work great for this!

When fish are tucked tight to the ice, Bro employs Aqua-Vu optics and fishes in real-time with an AV Micro DT in a Micro-Mobile Pro-Vu Case.

Al’s Goldfish set for ice fishing
Al’s Goldfish 3/16 oz Ice Fishing Jig
Our Price: $4.29

The original Al’s Goldfish, one of Field and Streams greatest 50 lures of all time, set with a J hook on the nose to draw the fish in. The lure works great with trout, salmon and panfish. see all lures at www.alsgoldfish.com 

 

Al’s Goldfish; Back with a Vengeance–Trout, Bass, Perch, Walleye Watch Out!

Yellow Perch love wobbly golden spoons, like Al's
Yellow Perch love wobbly golden spoons, like Al’s

P1030547 Aptravelnews-Throw-back and forward- Goose Holler’ Farm-Several decades ago, I proudly owned a Mitchell 300 Spinning Reel with “fat” (compared to today’s diameters) 6-pound test monofilament, attached to a clear fiberglass spinning rod from the long gone, Davega, Brooklyn sporting goods store, and a small metal tackle box, (I still have today) whose little compartments contained the few lures I could buy, after begging my Grandfather David and Uncle Sid for a buck or two! In that steel, brown painted box was a shiny, golden metal lure called Al’s Goldfish. It shared compartment spaces with a Jitterbug, Hula Popper, a Mepp’s spinner or two, and 3-sizes of red and white, and black and white Daredevils spoons. 

Playing with 5 of Al's Lures and after useing them to catch several fish, I popped the treble hook covers on and no finger hookups!
Playing with 5 of Al’s Lures and after using them to catch several fish, I popped the treble hook covers on and no finger hookups!

I lived in Brooklyn, New York in a tenement building with my mom, Mary, Dad, Nat and Brother Mike. My dad was an amputee (his toes) from being in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, during the Nazi War. He was an excellent musician, and never had the patience or interest to take me fishing. The only fishing I could reach at my early age, was when I cut school to head over to the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard docks, and I let none of these lures ever touch the diesel coated waters, I used grizzle and fat I collected from my grandmothers garbage pail, impaled on a size 8-hook, under several pinch-on lead split shot, the kind a kid used his teeth to clamp them on the line with, and hoped for the tug of an eel, so I could yell triumphantly when I felt the bend and throb of the rod.

Only during the summer, when my grandfather rented a bungalow in the Catskill Mountains, did I choose to use my prized lures. Before I was 10-years old, I caught trout, bass and sunfish always referred to as “Bluegills” in the lake regions of upstate New York.  My favorite lure then was Al’s Goldfish! All my lures worked, but the action this little shiny, gold-plated, brass spoon always offered, seemed to guide my hand at decision time, to tie one on, as I opened my treasure chest, tackle-box;  like a Ouija -board pointer, my fingers selected the “gold.” Many years, and trillions of gallons of rushing waters later, I heard that Al’s Goldfish had been languishing in the hands of folks that finally sold the business and patents to someone new, a young entrepreneur named Mike Lee from Maine. From all indications he is dedicated to resurrecting Al’s Goldfish to the “top-of-the-mind” of freshwater anglers once again and genuinely wishes to offer jobs to Americans as well.

I’m here to tell you, even though I’ve drifted over to the fly fishing genre of fishing, I still love and use spin, conventional and if I have to, in far-away places like the Congo, for one of the many places I’ve fished; hand-lines too! Look for more on Al’s Goldfish story and heritage in upcoming posts. www.alsgoldfish.com

As you will see, from Al’s new Living Lures, to Field and Stream naming Al’s as one of the “Top Ten Lures” and still being made only in the USA, together with Al’s treble hook covers, as Arnold said: “Al’s be back!!!!

Always like great fishing tools and Frabill makes excellent fishing pliers and forceps to help preserve the fingers and the fish when unhooking them!
Always like great fishing tools and Frabill makes excellent fishing pliers and forceps to help preserve the fingers and the fish when unhooking them!
Als new Living Lures have just been introduced and I tried a fingerling bass. Bass are more than big mouthed predators, they are also cannibalistic! 1st cast, hit hard!
Al’s new Living Lures have just been introduced and I tried a fingerling bass. Bass are more than big mouthed predators, they are also cannibalistic! 1st cast, hit hard!