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That's MN guide Brian 'Bro' Brosdahl talking about not hammering too hard on a school of fish so he can pluck a few out and come back to them later.
He’s talking specifically about when he went up to Rainy River/Lake of the Woods earlier this year, but there’s some interesting nuggets in there that apply regardless of season on how he uses Side Imaging combined with live sonar to catch ‘em shallow...aka bass fishing for walleyes:
> "Four Mile Bay was packed, so we went shallower around Pine Island. I call it 'bass fishing for walleye', casting from 8' to 3-4'. So you could tell groups of walleyes were coming through at 3 or 4 at a time, and they were following the sandbar edges mixed with sturgeon."
Bro also said they used Northland Deep-Vee Spin Jigs to add some extra flash in the murky water, and color mattered:
> "Murky mornings liked pink jigheads – afternoons, 'sunrise' and 'green' were hot. Rainbows or fatheads – fish didn't show a preference either way.... We fished both sides of the island and caught fish everywhere."
Why Side Imaging still matters:
> "I use Side Imaging daily alongside Mega Live 2. You can scan at 7 mph without missing fish, unlike live sonar. I find them with Side Imaging, circle back to avoid spooking, drop my Talon shallow-water anchors, and use Mega Live 2 to track my lure and fish.
> "Humminbird's MEGA Side Imaging is clutch for identifying fish – walleyes have aerodynamic, fighter-jet shapes, while suckers show square heads and blur like worms when still. This helps on lakes like Cass and Leech, where suckers mix with walleyes, saving clients from fruitless casts.
> "My Ultrex Quest motor lets me creep along weed lines, with Mega Live 2 on the front and side-imaging on the console, like a combine harvesting fish."
> "I run Humminbird XPLORE units for Side Imaging and front viewing. They're networked, so I can see the bow's Mega Live from the console without raising the trolling motor.
> "My trick here is to not run over fish on some of the lakes. On clear lakes like Cass, where you spot crayfish in 20', I avoid running over fish – they'll scatter, or 'blow up,' as we say...as you start catching fish, you'll see they slowly get scared away, so you don't want to run them over.
> "I try to maybe take 3 or 4 eaters for the people, maybe 5 at the most. Then move on to the next school, and 'I just take a few drops of blood'.... That's my doctor analogy...don't take pints from the patient, take drops."
How Bro sets his contours to get on 'em fast:
> "I use LakeMaster in conjunction with my Side Imaging and for viewing. It's detailed, like reading a book, showing exactly where fish will be. I set deep water in dark blue, target zones in green, hazards in red, and use satellite shorelines for reference. So when I'm pulling up on a school of fish, I will scroll to the icon where I've dropped on the fish.
> "At 60' I start getting ready to either put my Talon's down or use Spot Lock. By the time they deploy, I'll be about 50' away, and then that's not a bad cast, especially in clear water...."
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