Muskie eats transducer, Stripe-less perch, How Tom Boley scouts new water

Hey all! Sorry for the later send today. REALLY appreciate all the well-wishes. We’re doing pretty okay just moving slooooow. Hope you and yours are well, and that you’re grinning your way through this nasty cold front. Here we go!

> If you’re getting Target Walleye for the first time, a friend probably signed you up!

That’s the crew from MeatEater talking about a dude who caught a muskie on his Vexilar TRANSDUCER…. Legit can’t make this stuff up!

Few lines from the full MeatEater write-up:

> …all of a sudden, Ben’s flasher slid across the ice house floor and wedged in the ice hole. Ben grabbed the sonar unit and pulled back, revealing a huge fish hanging onto the transducer just below the surface. Ben inched up the transducer cable, and the fish’s head came into view through the hole. Jon snatched a gill plate and pulled out a 50″ muskie dead-set on consuming that transducer. Even after coming through the hole and laying on the ice, the muskie continued to chomp on Ben’s electronics.

> “We couldn’t believe it was happening. It was honestly a minute and a half before that thing let go. I kind of tickled its mouth a little hoping it would open up and it didn’t.”

Even crazier is it was caught in a lake that’s not supposed to have muskies. The fish would’ve had to travel approx 6 miles as the crow flies the muskie swims through 2 other lakes, creeks and channels to even get there in the first place.

Btw – I couldn’t agree more with MeatEater’s Joe Cermele, who says that trophy muskie are only caught through total dedication or blind luck. There is no middle ground. “You’re either utterly devoted to the pursuit of them, in which case you’ll find success through obsession. Or you catch muskies by completely not trying.” HAHAHA!

Here’s an actual photo of me just 17 minutes into chucking muskie baits:

Swear it kicks out perch that are bigger/longer than the average walleyes I catch around central MN lol! Check out a few of these snaps from Jason Mitchell and crew’s recent trip:

Sheesh!

J-Mitch said one of the days they had 15 perch over 14″ for their group of 6. And that the Clam Leech Flutter Spoon was a solid producer, but no matter what bait they were slinging the fish wanted it at least 5-6′ off the bottom….

In semi-related yet completely-unrelated news:

We all know there’s a bunch of companies that make “ice anchors” for hub houses…but did you know there’s such a thing as ice anchors for flip-over shacks??? I didn’t. Until I came across this video on Jason’s FB page:

Pretty cool. Made in the USA by a company called S2B Outdoors.

Was sent these pics from fish-head Ryan Busche, who said he released this strange critter hoping to catch it again when it’s 13-14″ :

Love me some fishy uniqueness!

Swear that’s what I saw while scrolling through my Insta feed – if you’ve ever fished “Big Windy” you know what I’m talking about:

That pic is actually from Jason doing some recon work for the first Bassmaster Elite Series stop of the year at FL’s St. Johns River. Guess that map shot is of a section called Lake George…looks freakin’ identical to Lake Winnpeg to me. The derby kicks off tomorrow – go get ’em, man!

1. MN: 26 people rescued off Lake Superior.

When the ice sheet they were on broke off from shore in the 25mph winds.

One dude flew his drone over the area later that evening so we could see all the thousands of $$$ worth of ice gear getting shipped off to sea:

2. MN: Hey burbot-heads!

FINALLY we’re getting a little catch-and-release virtual derby – called “Burbot Bash 2021” and can fish any public waters in MN. It’s a $50 entry fee for the 2-person teams and the app keeps track of your 5 longest burbot (aka eelpout) uploaded from Feb 20 to Mar 14.

Love the idea of being able to sneak out whatever days/times work for you. I’m already signed up with a buddy and ready to donate our entry fee lol. #TargetBurbot

Can check out the payouts, rules or register by clicking the pic below:

3. NY: Another monster tiger muskie iced outta Otisco Lake.

This one was 45.75″ (24.8 lbs) and caught by Joshua Stratmann:

Congrats dude!

Would love to know how many fish (worldwide) those Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-Ups have accounted for? Millions??

4. New 2021 Lund catalog is out.

One of the few things I still like getting a (free) paper copy of, but you can also view the online version here.

5. My favorite LiveScope upgrade so far…

…aside from stuffing a big run-all-weekend lithium battery in there…has been the Transducer Pole and Ice Mount Combo from Summit Fishing:

Few things I reeeeally like about it:

• I went with the 24-60″ telescoping pole so that there was never too much ice for me to use the setup – thx Manitoba! – and I wouldn’t ever have to worry about not having the proper # of extension poles with. And maxing-out at 60″, I should be able to use it over the side of the boat this summer too. I’m probably going to order Summit’s Boat Mount setup so that I can attach it directly to my Lund’s SportTrak system.

 

• Has a quick-detach pin system so I can remove the transducer from the pole, and stuff it inside my flasher bag when traveling – keeps that expensive transducer from bouncing around the sled.

 

• There’s a little thumbscrew you can lock down so that the transducer stays pointing in a specific direction. If you’ve ever ran LiveScope when it’s super cold you know the thick transducer cable can get a bit stiff = makes it tough to keep it pointed a certain way with the stock pole.

 

• I ordered the one that came with the LiveScope Perspective mount. Honestly haven’t even played with Perspective Mode yet…but figured I order that right away so when the time comes I don’t need to mess around with any additional brackets or attachments. Just loosen up one thumbscrew and you can flip the entire transducer horizontal…can still click it up and down to switch between Forward and Down modes with the same setup.

 

• And the whole thing packs up super compact. Everything either folds down or collapses which = bonus points for someone who already comes with too much baggage lol.

6. WI: Charity derby happenin’ Feb 27 at Lake Dubay.

Called Fishin’ For a Mission and has raised over $215K for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital since 2008. Huge props!

7. Sobi = going live at 8pm CST tonight.

Over on Clam’s Facebook Page. Love the live stuff! I’ll be the heckler in the back.

And if you don’t know who Sam “Sobi” Sobieck is yet (solid dude!) creep him on his IG and YouTube channel.

Still can’t figure out if Sobi looks like a young Woody Harrelson, or if Woody Harrelson looks like an older Sobi….

Btw I sent that pic to Sobi and he said:

> “I’m a sexier version of Gronk and Woody, with moves like Fergie.”

Lol! And now I can’t un-see the Gronk thing. And trying not to see the Fergie thing.

8. Johnson Outdoors fiscal Q1 way up.

How about this jump in Nov-Jan:

> Total company operating profit was $23.6 mil…vs $6.8 mil in the prior year 1st quarter.

9. Fish Addictions is looking for a cameraman/editor.

> “We are looking for somebody who is located in the Grand Forks, ND area who can work with our current camera operator and current editor to learn from them! If you or someone know would be interested in working with Fish Addictions TV please email resumes to Thor….“

10. Walk-through of Joel Nelson’s 21′ Yetti Grand Escape (video).

And some quality storage ideas you could use for any wheelhouse.

11. John Mazurkiewicz no longer working with Shimano.

After more than 30 yrs. So what’s he gonna do?

> “I plan to take a few days off to relax, do some office file cleaning and perhaps go ice fishing if I can find some safe ice.”

Go get ’em, man! Tho it’s tough to imagine John taking a few days off when he’s…

> …the owner of Catalyst Marketing…is the current President of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, where he has been a Board member for 11 years, and Chairman of the American Sportfishing Association’s (ASA) PR/Communications Committee (13 years). He is also a member of the ASA’s Sportfishing Political Action Committee.

Be interesting to see who snags him.

12. Europe looking at lead sinker ban.

Because they say 127 mil birds are at risk:

> …called for an immediate ban on the use of lead sinkers when they are deliberately dropped to the waterbed – a technique commonly known as lead drop-off and popular with carp anglers.

13. FishNmore caught a 12″ bluegill…

…in his jammies!

New PB of course, ‘cuz that fish could’ve been 2″ shorter and still been considered big in central MN. Congrats Murray!

How Tom Boley finds ‘eyes in new-to-him lakes.

Fishing the same lakes each time out can get a bit stale…plus you’ll probably never stick that new PB (personal best) if you’re pokin’ around the same community holes day after day! Gotta step outta your comfort zone – you game?

There’s a whole bunch of research you can – and should – do before you ever leave your house….

If you fish in MN: LakeFinder is probably one of the biggest not-so-secret secrets of diehard ice-heads. Can search most any lake in the state (by name, or searching the map on the mobile version) and it’ll kick out tasty info like:

1. Whether there’s a public access or not, and where it’s at.
2. Fish stocking info: when, what and how many.
3. Water clarity, quality and levels.
4. And my personal favorite…the DNR’s trapet data.

That trapet data (under the “Fisheries Lake Surveys” tab) breaks down the weight and length of all fish sampled by the DNR. It’s a KILLER tool for finding lakes with above-average size fish.

Of course this isn’t just a MN thing. No matter what state or province you’re in, there’s likely some sort of DNR survey info out there that can help you find productive water.

Here’s how fish-head Tom Boley goes about snoopin’, and how he tackles those lakes that do NOT have great mapping. #10’contours?

In case you missed the Super Bowl halftime show, there was a whole bunch of “line twist” – from Anthony Kleinwachter:

@fishyb_403 did some winter camping with his little man, Zander, who caught this one he called “gigantosaurus!”

My favorite comment under the original post:

> “Kid can hold fish better than 90% of Instagram.”

Yup. Congrats bud! Love it.

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH