Wissota Aug 11

Warm day on the backyard gem today!

One of the things I've promised myself that I'd do this year is think outside of the box on Wissota. I've settled into a comfortable routine that I can count on to produce, but the only way to become a more complete angler is to step outside of that box, even if that means catching fewer fish than you might otherwise.

Here are some results from today's trip "outside of the box".

First, a Wissota bass double....a smallie and an uncommon (for me, at least) Wissota largie. These were my first two fish of the day, and came on consecutive casts. I boxed up the largie for a photo op before sticking the smallie. Once I had them both in the boat, it was time for a quick snap before getting back to work.

The next two casts....two more cookie cutter smallies, just like the one in the photo.

Hayward Lakes update

More cool water in the northland has kept good numbers of gamefish in the shallows, rather than pushing them deep.

I arrived in the Hayward Area on Friday night and found water temps of 67 degrees. August 7, and 67 degrees. Unbelievable.

Over two days and two nights, we found walleyes and smallies during low light periods, and abundant largemouth during the day, prowling the inside edge of well-developed cabbage beds. A sample of our catch is shown below. Casting SSR7s by night and soaking leeches under corks by day kept fish coming to the net.

Boating is getting tricky in the area. All sorts of interesting gravel beds, which are now shallow enough to be in play, will be giving the area prop shops their own version of a stimulus package. Trim up and go slow!

Wissota Aug. 5

August is smallmouth time on the backyard gem!

I was joined by dyed-in-the-wool bass angler Dan Meyer, manager of Skeeter Boat Center, for an afternoon multispecies adventure today. We caught our fair share of walleyes today but probably caught twice as many smallies. This "pie plate with fins" was our largest for the trip.

Water temperatures are surprisingly low for early August, and I'm sure those cool temps contributed to a less-than-torrid smallmouth bite today. I think that will change soon with predicted highs in the 90s this weekend. So, get out and enjoy some terrific late summer fishing on the backyard gem! If you're looking for a care-free multispecies trip this August, please shoot me an e-mail. I do have some availability for Wissota smallmouth (and walleye!) adventures.

Wissota update

Back-to-back guide trips today made for 4 happy clients of Jason Halfen Outdoors, and one sleepy fishing guide!

My morning trip was two brothers, Tom and George, from Menomonie. Tom's wife and George's wife bought them a fully guided walleye trip on Wissota for Father's Day. In the afternoon, I was joined by Fred and Fr. Brian from Eau Claire. Fred was the winner of the Chippewa Rod and Gun club raffle for a trip out on Wissota with me for some great multi-species action. I was happy to donate a trip to the Rod and Gun Club in support of their activities last year, and am doing so again this year.

Kooky weather made for an interesting bite, but we ground it out and enjoyed steady success all day. Shown here are some pics including Tom with an over walleye and a 12" crappie, followed by Fr. Brian with an over walleye, followed by Fr. Brian and Fred with a 31", 13 lb 6 oz channel cat.

Our totals for the day were 21 walleye, 11 cats, 4 smallies, and one nice crappie. Thanks George, Tom, Fred and Fr. Brian for a great day on the water with Jason Halfen Outdoors. For now, off to sleep before more guiding tomorrow.

Giant Wissota pre-spawn flathead!

I was joined today by three guests on a Lake Wissota walleye hunt. We had a so-so walleye day...a molasses slow morning followed by a reasonable afternoon. Decent afternoon numbers of slot fish and shorts, although the "overs" eluded us today.

Some of the trip highlights included the two 40"-class fish we had boatside. Mike Whittlinger hooked a small walleye about 5 minutes into the trip, which was promptly torpedoed by a 40"-class Wissota musky. Everyone had a chance to see it wallow and roll a few times before spitting out the tattered, quivering walleye and swimming away.

A few hours later, Ryan hooked a big rock that started to move. Well, 10-15 minutes later, we slid the Beckman under this Wissota supertanker flathead. 40" long and just shy of 35 pounds, this is the biggest cat that this walleye guy has been around in a long time. A few quick snaps with Ryan and the gang, and back she went.

Ryan didn't muscle this fish in with a crankbait and trolling gear. Rather, this Wissota flathead took a 1/8 oz Draggin Jig and a half-crawler, dragged over shallow rock in moderate current. Our ability to land this fish is a testament to the quality of the B-Fish-N tackle Draggin Jig (check out the cat slime still on the line!), the strength of the Cortland 8 lb hi-vis mono we're spooled up with (thanks Dean!), the quality of our St. Croix Legend Tournament 68MXF rods, and the smooth drags on our Shimano Symetre reels. Everything must work PERFECTLY to have a chance to land such an oversized, under-tackled fish, and all of this equipment performed flawlessly for us this afternoon.

And Ryan did a good job fighting her, too!

Congrats on your Wissota PB flathead Ryan....we'll shoot for a PB walleye next time out.

Pepin leadcore bite

There is a GREAT leadcore bite in progress out on Pepin!

I had a chance to take two of my graduating students out for the afternoon today. Our rain-shortened 4-hour trip ended with 9 nice 16-20" fish for the box, a thick 22" sauger released, and a bunch of shorts, goats, and stripers. Katie and Jon are shown here with a couple of 19-20" walleyes that they harvested for an upcoming graduation celebration.

There is fantastic water clarity in the middle-lower end of the lake.....I'd say in the neighborhood of 4 feet. That pushed our most active bite into 20-22', even with solid overcast, rain, and steady wind and rollers. Bright colors, 2.5-3 mph, in areas with good wind/wave action rolling in.

With temps just reaching 70, this bite should keep on gaining steam for a several weeks yet. Get out and enjoy!

Tournament tested tackle tip #3

Sometimes the simplest things make walleye fishing a little easier.

Competing in the FLW Walleye League event last week on Leech Lake made me dependent on my 60" Drift Control Wave Tamer to slow my Skeeter WX 1880 to a reasonable presentation speed in 20-30 mph winds and 3-4' waves. Under these conditions, my 60" Wave Tamer would slow the Skeeter down to a very nice 0.7-0.9 mph. Several days of drifting shallow flats so we could jig or rig meant lots of deployments and retrievals of my Drift Control drift sock.

One thing that I did to make my life easier (and easier on my co-angler partner on game day) was to make the spill line for my Drift Control a different color from the main line. You can see in the photo below that the main line to the bag is white, but the spill line is black. With two different color lines, you remove the guesswork from figuring out which line will spill the bag. In my case, black to spill, white to retrieve. With a little forethought, walleye fishing can be as easy as black and white.

For more information on Drift Control products, check out this link.

A quick Leech Lake update

I had a chance to spend a few days up on Leech Lake last week, preparing for and then competing in the FLW Walleye League event. It was my first trip ever to Leech, and it won't be my last.

During the pre-fishing period, I concentrated on relatively shallow water, 8-12 feet deep, in wind-blown areas. It wasn't hard to find those, believe me, with winds in the 20-30 mph range, gusting to 40 on Thursday. We were able to catch fish drifting jigs, live bait rigging and pulling spinners. My best bite for keeper fish (14-18") was on spinners, so that's what I decided to do on game day.

My co-angler Chad and I spent our day pulling harnesses behind bottom bouncers: 1.5 oz bouncers, speed 1.2-1.5, depth 10-13 feet. Our shallow bites fizzled out a bit since the wind was no longer pouring in to my pre-fishing areas, but moving deeper into some emerging weeds allowed us to contact the fish again.

We ended up weighing a tournament limit of 15-17" fish, which gave us some good points towards the championship but didn't put is in contention for the $$. With only two days of prep and no prior experience on the lake, I devoted my time to developing a numbers bite, rather than trying to swing for the fences. So, while our finish was nothing special, I am happy that I was able to find a reasonable tournament limit with just a short amount of preparation.

The photo above is one of the many 20-24" fish we caught pre-fishing and on game day. Beautiful fish, but given Leech's 18-26" protected slot, these didn't do us a lick of good on game day.

Thanks to my partner Jason Sullivan, my pre-fishing guest Dave Vollmer, and IDO staffer Ron "Sliderfishn" Bukovich for their help in preparing for and fishing in the tournament. For now, back to guiding...and then on to Bemidji in July!

Drift Control drift socks in moving water, part 1

You may be under the impression that Drift Control drift socks are tools designed exclusively for the lake angler. If so, you may be surprised to learn that I carry Drift Control drift socks on every trip I make to the Mississippi River. There are two specific river presentations for which Drift Control drift socks are particularly important boat control tools: dragging jigs downstream in the presence of a downstream wind, and anchoring for precision casting in the presence of an upstream wind. Drift Control drift socks will help you manage these two tricky boat control situations, and in doing so, will put more fish in your boat.

Dragging jigs is a particularly effective presentation during times of seasonally low flows. In the summer, this period often begins in late May-early June, and continues on into August. During the cold water period, jig dragging often commences in earnest in late November, and remains effective until the spring thaw causes river flows to increase dramatically. One of the standard jig dragging presentations is the downstream drag, in which the angler points the boat downstream and uses a Minn Kota bowmount trolling motor to pull the boat downstream, just faster than the current speed. In summer, this downstream speed is often 0.9-1.4 mph, while in winter, this speed is normally slower, in the 0.5-0.9 mph range. It is critical that the angler manage boat speed while dragging downstream, in order to keep the dragged jigs in the strike zone, just inches off the bottom. If the boat is moving too fast, the jig will soar over the heads of bottom-relating walleye and sauger; too slow, and the jig bangs into the bottom constantly, and will eventually be lost to a snag. Consider now the common circumstance of dragging downstream in the presence of a downstream wind. Anything more than a gentle downstream breeze will cause the boat to move too fast, lifting the jigs out of the strike zone. This is where Drift Control drift socks can help you regain control of your boat. Rather than orient the bow of the boat directly downstream, turn the boat so it is perpendicular to the current/wind. Now, deploy a pair of Drift Control drift socks on the upstream side of the boat: one near the bow and one near the stern. When the bags open and fill with water, they will act as a “brake” to offset the extra boat speed generated by the wind. This is effectively the same use that Drift Control drift socks see in a live-bait rigging situation on a wind driven lake. It doesn’t matter that the water is moving in a river; the Drift Control drift socks will prevent the wind from pushing you downstream too fast, and will help keep your dragged jigs in the strike zone. It is best to deploy a pair of Drift Control drift socks rather than just one, so that your boat remains perpendicular to the current/wind, rather than spinning around a pivot point that would be provided by a single Drift Control sock.

Drift Control drift socks in moving water, part 2

Anchoring and precision casting is a highly effective year-round presentation for river walleye and sauger. Whether targeting the edge of a sand flat for pre-spawn piggies, a deep hole in a river bend for sumo sauger, or a wing dam for a summer mixed bag bonanza of walleye, smallmouth, white bass, or whatever else the river will offer, “throwing the hook” is something that all river anglers must be comfortable with in order to maximize their catch rates. Most river anglers will anchor off the bow of their boats, even with or above their casting target. In a calm day or in the presence of a downstream wind, the boat will normally maintain its position relative to the casting target. However, in an upstream wind, the wind will catch the stern of the boat and cause the boat to pivot around the anchor line, moving the boat away from the casting target. Even a gentle upstream wind will cause the boat to swing side-to-side, changing casting angles, causing snags, and generally making the angler’s bait presentation less effective. This is another situation where a Drift Control drift sock can help you regain control of your boat. When anchoring, the use of the Drift Control drift sock is quite simple: anchor off the bow of the boat as you would normally, and then deploy a single Drift Control drift sock off the stern of the boat. The sock will fill with water moving downstream, and will help to anchor the stern in position even in the face of a stiff upstream breeze. With the boat remaining in position, your casting angles won’t change, you’ll experience fewer snags and tangles, and your presentations will remain as effective as possible. The result: more fish in your boat, because you have regained control of your boat with a Drift Control drift sock.

Where should you install your GPS antenna relative to your transucer?

I am just beginning to rig my new Humminbird 997 side imaging sonar/GPS combo. An important consideration during the rigging process is the placement of the external GPS antenna and the transducer. It is commonly believed that these two pieces of equipment must be placed as close together as possible for optimum positional accuracy relative to a particular feature observed by sonar. However, this is not the case.

It is important to remember that GPS position measurements are not exact. There is error associated with the measurement. For example, older generations of GPS receivers often had position errors of 10-20 meters. What that means is that a measurement with that much error placed your antenna (in your boat) somewhere within a circle with an area of 3378 square feet (for a 10 meter position error)....you're not sitting on an exact point, but rather you're somewhere within that big red circle shown above. A very rough position measurement, indeed!

Humminbird now offers a high-accuracy GPS receiver, the AS GR-50 that boasts an impressive 2.5 meter position error. In other words, a position measurement with the new Humminbird receiver places your antenna (boat) within a much smaller circle of possible locations. That circle (shown in purple above) has an area of 211 square feet....more than 90% smaller than previous GPS receivers. You can't argue with the math; Humminbird receivers determine your GPS position with a much higher degree of accuracy than other GPS technologies.

So, back to the original question. Do you need to install your GPS antenna in close proximity to your transducer? The answer is no. The accuracy of even a very good GPS measurement, like the one that the new Humminbird antenna provides, is such that a few feet between the antenna and the transducer will make absolutely no difference. Pick a spot to mount the antenna that has the most unobstructed view of the sky, and mount the antenna there. Don't have the antenna blocked by a windshield, by the locator's head unit, or anything else that might interfere with reception of those satellite signals beamed from so many miles above.

Tournament-tested tackle tip #2

One of the things I plan to do this season is pass along some of the observations and discoveries I make while out on the tournament trail. Hopefully, this will spark some discoveries of your own, and put a few more fish in your boat.

This past weekend, I knocked a year's worth of rust off the tourmament gears and traveled to Storm Lake, Iowa to fish in the Binnings Outdoors spring walleye tournament. If you haven't been to Storm Lake yet....go. Now! That is one dynamite walleye lake, and the bite is on in a big way.

A dominant spring pattern on Storm Lake is to work the rocky shorelines with plastics. Twister tails are the baits of choice among the locals. After witnessing a number of 15-18" fish caught by anglers wading the shorelines, I set out to see if anything in my arsenal of "river" plastics would get the job done. In doing so, I found that a simple modification to a B-Fish-N paddletail can turn this reliable vertical jigging and dragging bait into a dynamite pitching bait with crankbait-like action. The modification is illustrated in the photos below.

Take a standard paddletail and cut off the front 3/4"-1" of the bait, making sure that the cut is made at a ~45 degree angle from the belly to the back. Then, thread the modified bait onto a light precision head (I used 1/16 and 3/32 oz this weekend) and you're ready to go.

The beauty of this modification can be seen during the retrieve. A steady, moderate-pace retrieve causes the bait to wobble from side-to-side, in a very crankbait-like manner. Coupled with the wiggle of the supple tail, this side-to-side wobble turns the once subtle bait into a very energetic offering.

Give this a try on your favorite body of water once the fish start to strap on the post-spawn feedbag. The Storm Lake walleyes responded very positively, and I'm looking forward to pitching these modified paddletails throughout the season.

A full selection of paddletails are available at Everts Resort and on-line from B-Fish-N tackle.

Tournament-tested tackle tip #1

One of my absolute favorite presentations is to fish walleyes in shallow water on light jigs. If you've seen our summer jig dragging episode on IDO-TV, or are the first on your block to own a copy of our instructional DVD, then you know that jig dragging is one way to approach these shallow fish. Another way is to pitch jigs, and that's the topic of this tournament-tested tackle tip.

On Storm Lake, IA this past weekend, my tournament partner and I were working a shallow rip-rap shoreline that held scattered male walleyes of the perfect size class (16-17") for the tournament we were fishing. One successful approach to catching these fish was to fish plastics on light jigs in the upper part of the water column, where visibility was good and fish tended to be more aggressive. That approach was the topic of tournament-tested tackle tip #1. However, that approach didn't provide the numbers of fish that we needed. Knowing that fish were still in the area (by witnessing other anglers catching them), I switched to a much more subtle presentation to try to tempt neutral or negative fish. That presentation is the "old faithful" standby of my guide trips once the water starts to warm: the jig and half-crawler combo.

There are several important equipment components to this presentation. First is the jig itself. I typically use only 1/16 oz jigs for pitching bait, perhaps up to 1/8 only if I'm fishing in a stiff breeze or in a current-influenced area. I key attribute of the jig, especially when fishing crawlers, is a wire "bait keeper" to help keep the crawler snug to the head of the jig during the cast, and when the offering is hopping among the rocks. We used two such jigs this weekend: the Precision Head and the Draggin Jig from B-Fish-N tackle. Storm Lake's water is relatively clear on top and then quite turbid about 18" below the surface, so we focused on jigs that had a splash of color, like chartreuse/orange and green tiger/glow eyes.

Rigging the crawler on the jig is an important attribute of the presentation, and certainly worth the time required to do it correctly. Start with a whole crawler, and give the head a good squeeze to get the crawlers mouth to open. Stick the hook right into that opening, and thread the crawler onto the hook, emerging through the tough, dark tissue forward of the ring. Push the crawler up the hook shank to engage the wire bait keeper, and then ensure that the crawler is hanging straight down the shank.....no turns, twists, kinks, or bends. Now, pinch off the tail of the crawler, leaving ~ 2" of meat below the bend of the hook. The pinched-off crawler now exudes plenty of walleye-attracting juices, and it has just the right length to mimic the profile of a small baitfish down among the rocks.

The next important equipment attribute to this pitching presentation is the rod. I use long, sensitive St. Croix rods for all of my jigging applications. When pitching light jigs to shallow water, two rods fit the bill: the TWS76MLF and the TWS80MLF. These are walleye tournament series spinning rods, in 7'6" and 8' lengths, with medium light power and fast action. The long length and fast action of these rods helps to provide the power and torque to cast a tiny bait a long way...and long casts are needed in this shallow water where fish easily spook.

After the cast, engage the reel and get that rod tip up in the air....to the 11 o'clock position. I keep the rod tip very high when pitching shallow rocks, so that movement of my bait tend to be "upwards" instead of "forwards". Upward movement of the bait (with a return to the bottom that is mostly down, with only a touch of forward) helps to keep the bait from constantly getting wedged between two rocks, or between a rock and the bottom.

There are two methods used to work the bait back to the boat. I view these jig retrieves as being appropriate for different fish moods. The first retrieve works well for neutral fish that tend towards being negative...I call this the "death crawl". I want very little upwards movement of the bait....I use the rod tip to scoot the jig right along the bottom. Three to four scoots (by moving the rod tip back and forth between 11 and 12 o'clock) followed by a long pause. Then, I let the bait rest on the bottom on a mostly slack line. Before the next set of scoots, I reel up tight but don't move the bait. I just want to feel if something has picked up the bait during the pause...and fish do so quite regularly. If I feel something "different"....I immediately drop the rod tip to horizontal, giving the fish a bunch of slack like to work on getting that hook into its mouth. Then, I'll use the rod tip to pick up the slack line. If the fish is still there, I'll drop the tip again, reel up the slack and drill 'em. Fish on!

The second jig retrieve works better for neutral fish that are tending to be a bit more aggressive. This retrieve is the "hop 'n' pop". I'll still keep the rod tip very high, but now I'll move the jig with a series of short hops by popping the rod tip between 10 and 11 o'clock...again followed by a long pause. You want the jig to pop off the bottom by a few inches, then fall right back down. After the pause, go back and feel that jig again....if a fish grabbed the bait on the pause, feed 'em before you drill 'em. However, if you feel a distinct tick or thunk while hopping and popping, there is normally no reason to wait. That's a more aggressive fish that you can hook as soon as you're ready to do so.

Slinging bait on light jigs is one of my favorite presentations. We use it heavily for walleyes and smallies on lakes and rivers. Give it a try during your next trip, and I'll bet that you like the results.

For more information on the St. Croix Tournament Series rods, check out this link.

For more information on the B-Fish-N tackle Precision Jig, check out this link.

Be sure to visit Dean at Everts Resort (715-792-2333) for all your St. Croix rod and jig needs.

New Promotional Relationship

I'm proud to welcome the Johnson Outdoors family of companies as new sponsors of Jason Halfen Outdoors. The Johnson Outdoors companies include Humminbird electronics, Minn Kota trolling motors, and Cannon downriggers. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to work with Johnson Outdoors, and look forward to a long relationship with this outstanding company!

In the coming weeks, I'll be rigging a Humminbird 997 locator in my boat, and I'll use the blog to tell you all about some of the great features of this product and technoloogy. Be sure to shoot me an e-mail if you have a specific question you'd like answered!

Update from Storm Lake

I had a chance to knock the rust off the tournament gears this weekend down in Storm Lake, Iowa. I fished in the Binning's Outdoors spring walleye tournament with my wife's uncle, Bill Mason. For not getting a ton of pre-fishing time in, Bill and I had a respectable showing of 12th place out of 58 boats. One fish out of the money, of course. :(

Bill and I landed most of our keepers on the north shore of the lake, pitching 1/16 oz jigs tipped with crawler halves, and gently hopping this combo in and amongst the shallow rocks. We didn't get a ton of bites, but the bites we got were the right ones...nice tournament fish between 16.5 and 17". I'm looking forward to getting back to Storm Lake. I have yet to have a bad day on the water there. Nice population of very healthy fish, that's for sure!

Don't forget our website

This blog will also be carried live on our "home" website, www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com. Whether you follow the action here or there, you're sure to leave with a tip or two that will help make you a better angler!

Welcome!

Welcome to Jason Halfen Outdoors' blog. This space will be used to bring you rapid updates from Jason Halfen Outdoors, including fishing reports from my favorite waters, equipment and tackle tips, tournament news, and other exciting content. Stay tuned, Jason Halfen Outdoors is on the air!