Another Storm

Snow Report Map From This Week's Storm

Well I warned my neighbor Todd.......don't take your curb markers out yet, we usually get dumped on in April but he didn't listen to me.  Starting on Wednesday and going to this morning, we definitely got dumped on!  Luckily everything is warm so the snow we did get was wet, slushy, and a lot of it melted.  They did get more to the north as there was colder weather just 50 miles away and it should bring the river back up again, we'll have to see.  Either way I did not remove my snow blower from the lawn tractor and that was a good thing as this snow is very heavy.  The blower attachment to my John Deere 728 does a fantastic job of clearing and what it didn't remove the sun will as we are predicting 60's by next Tuesday so this stuff won't last long.  I will need to head on up to Bill's place on Lake Mille Lacs and get my boat out of storage as opener is only 4 weeks away and there is a lot of work to be done to get everything ready.  Luckily we finally got our Team Walleye hats ordered and getting our signage done.  The lakes are still froze pretty tight up north but it won't take too much to clear them out as we are predicting rain next week.  In the meantime there has been a lot of thought about trying new things this year as well as utilizing the electronics a bit more intensively.  That is always a challenge but as they say, practice makes perfect.

Top Jig is Our Go To jig, Bottom is New Long Shanked Jig

There is a just released product that admittedly I am pretty excited about for this year.  In the past few weeks there has been a glimpse of some new strategies for walleye fishing in Canada this year, especially in the plastics, deep driving crank baits, and northern pike fishing areas.  Not to be outdone  Northland Tackle located in Bemidji, MN has introduced their new Long Shanked Fireball jig head.  The shank on the jig hook is at least 1/2 inch longer than the standard jig hooks we use and should work out much better for the jig and minnow combination that we normally fish.  While fishing Leech Lake for opener, we normally just take a standard short shafted jighead and hook the minnow through the lips then drift, dragging the jig along the bottom as we move.  The long shafted jig head is more suited for what is referred to as the "Canadian" style of hooking a minnow, basically one takes the hook and runs it through the mouth and out the gill.  Then you take the hook and embed it just by the dorsal fin of the minnow.  The problem is with larger minnows and the shorter shanked hooks, sometimes you can only get as far back as the back of the head.  One reason that is nice about having the hook back farther on the minnow is often a walleye will just grab half the minnow so with the hook back further one has a better chance of hooking the fish more quickly.  With that technique it isn't too unusual to catch 3 - 4 walleye on a single minnow which is nice as you spend more time catching and less time baiting your hook!  They had a 20% off sale earlier this week so I ordered enough for everyone, that is of course if they cough up some cash!  Bruce and Pete like gold so I got 25 of that color plus I like a chartreuse color so I ordered 25 of them plus as stated earlier, plastics might be the hot ticket this year so I bought 3 standup style jigs to try.  I can guarantee if it turns out to be the hot bait, I'll guarantee the price will reflect the success!

I have been looking at a jet boat for the River however will probably just get a new 25 hp outboard for my Jon Boat and be done with it.  There is some definite advantages as well as disadvantages with a standard propeller driven motor verses a Jet yet 95% of my river fishing will be just fine with the standard outboard.  Four weeks till the Minnesota Fishing Opener, I'm getting restless!