manitoubass2

Well, on Friday afternoon I packed up the gear to go check out one of my shore spots. I wanted to see how the shiner run from Lake of the Woods/Rainy Lake was going. It started a few weeks ago, but has yet to peak. Here on Rainy River, the walleye/bass and pike feast heavy on shiners during the initial start of the shiner run. I get excited, because I know whats in store for the remainder of the softwater season. At first, its starts with smaller fish relocating for winter, then as the shiner run/gorging increases, so do the numbers, and size of the travelling walleyes. So my goal on Friday was to not only locate fish, but to see what they would bite. Sounds easy right? Shiners, DU'H! Lol, well it isn't THAT easy when the fish are gorging. More often then not, you need to locate the pods of baitfish, then search the edges with baits/lures that stick out amongst the pods. Sometimes its a size thing, bigger or smaller. Sometimes it's a color thing, totally opposing a shiner, or sometimes you need to match the hatch (but that doesn't happen often). Sometimes you can just jig or deadstick live bait in 20-30FOW. Anyhow, I got the timing of the bite down and found some productive tactics. Towards the end of the day I also tried to deadstick large minnows before I took the kids out. As sometimes it's the way THEY prefer to fish! I caught a bunch of good walleyes that day, and a few little pike. Biggest walleye of the day was only 25" though. This time of year, were looking for 30" PLUS!

-wind was cool, 20km/h from the south, southeast.
-water temps 42 degrees, clarity very good for the river, about 6ft.

Saturday rolls around and I tell the kids the plan is to hit the spot by 430 pm. That gives us half hour to set up and be ready for a bite that, if I'm correct, will start around 5pm. The kids are excited as we gear up. All the kids talk about whos gonna catch fish, whos gonna get the biggest etc. So funny to hear the friendly banter of my kids, ranging in age from 7-12 years old. They sound like seasoned veterans (at this point they actually are).

So, water temps today are rising slightly, about 46 degrees. It's much warmer, about 15 above, and barely a lick of wind. It begins overcast, but the sun quickly makes it presence felt in the way of clear blue skies.

The first 20 minutes or so, no bites. But not to worry, I did my homework almost to perfection on this day. I show the kids some targets to cast to for underwater structure in 15-30 FOW, and show them the retrieve speeds etc.

Tap tap THUD! Set the hook and the fight is on. I get the first of many small walleye. Look at my watch, 5:20 pm, almost clockwork precision, lol.



About 30 seconds later, I feel like Bill Murray.



Now the kids are getting bit! But its funny, the shiners push the shore, in broad daylight with sunny skies. The walleye are now in 4FOW, hugging shore and feeding heavily.









Cont'd

Took out some local kids today, as well as my own, for a thanksgiving shore fish.

Water was cold, 46 degrees, and very low. Winds blowing hard from the west, and cold.

We managed a few early pike, all small. Then we hit a decent a smallmouth! Gotta love fall buckets!!!! Had a few smaller ones as well, but this was the biggest for the day.

Hope you all have a great day with your families!!!!



My kiddos and the locals

Well, after a thread the other day about pike, I got a mean jonesing for a pike boil. So yesterday the kids and I went down to the river with some nice eaters in mind.

Water was really dirty and cold. We fished the current seems in 6-8FOW, and a shallow rock break in the current that was 1-3FOW. We fished spinnerbaits only.

First two bites I had right away were keepers, 21" and a 25", perfect!!!

Then my boy wanted to cast around, as well as his sisters. I watched, took a few pics and enjoyed the scenery. After about 30 minutes my boy yells "snag". I look over, and start to walk. Then I hear line pealing, lol. "IT's a fish, It's a fish!!!" he yells. It's a good one too. He battled it like a true warrior, for a good 7-8 minutes before he landed the fish on shore. She was a beaut, a new personal best for him. This fish had some good shoulders too, boy was it thick!



Anyhow, I filleted up the fish yesterday using the 5 fillet method. We already had a pork butt in the crock pot, so I saved the pike boil for today. Boy did it turn out nice! I admit I overcooked the potatoes slightly, but it was still delightful. It's not an awe inspiring plate (or tupperware container in this case, lol) but the flavors are delightful.

Anyone interested in trying it, I highly recommend it.

I made two batches, one small one for me and the kids, and another larger batch for the local Native elders. Boy were they happy when I showed up with that food, and all either really really enjoyed it, or they did a great job making it look that way, hahaha.

Here is the recipe

One large onion, chopped into decent sized chunks, per three servings
2 celery stalks per three people, cleaned, halved then cut into small chunks
2 large carrots per person, peeled and chunked
2 large potatoes per person, quartered
2 northern pike fillets per person, sliced length wise, then cubed. Size depends on taste, I like about 3" long, 1" wide


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes. Cook for 25 minutes. Add celery, onion, and carrots. When potatoes are 4 minutes from being cooked through, add the pike meat, and two tablespoons of salt. Drain thoroughly after 4 minutes. Return to the pot, add 1/4lb of butter, per three serving. Put lid on pot and allow butter to melt. Add salt and pepper to taste (or whateve seasoning suites your taste) and serve.


I highly recommend serving with fresh fry bread(which we didnt do this time)













A nice cold beer helps too. Oh yeah, we caught a big frog too! lol



and a few bass just for fun, and to scratch the itch, lol

After dealing with funerals all week, we decided to celebrate my sons birthday a few days late. I asked him what he wanted to do today, and he said fishing!!! Atta boy, lol.

I was supposed to fish a derby today, and the conditions were perfect, but I said heckwithit, lets go fishing from the shore guys.

So I rigged up there rods and we headed down. It was windy and overcast, but pretty mild. Nice looking walleye weather.

So my oldest boy takes his first cast, and he gets bit on the shakeyhead right away!!! Not a big fish, but a nice chunky lil female, and his first of the year!








He casted around for a few more minutes, then set the hook on a really nice bite! He looked like a pro . This time it's a good fish, and his new personal best!!!!





A few more casts, same thing. A nice keeper for the plate tonight.



So, now it's my other Jiggers turn (my sons nickname, lol) He got bit after a few casts, and its another one for the table!!





NExt up is my youngest boy, and within a few casts, he sets the hook!!! It looks like a good one, but it's always tough to tell with kids. "Dad, it's pulling really hard"!!!!



I laughed abit as I got the net ready (I was purely a spectator today) and I seen the fish jump near shore!!! "Whoa dude, you got a really nice one"!!!!!