Archive for June 2016
Summer Walleye Patterns
Summer fishing patterns are starting to get into full swing here in my home state of Minnesota. The walleye’s have long since completed their spawn and are now off in search of forage. A lot of angler’s target mid-lake structure during this time period.
Read MoreBig Spirit Lake, Iowa
The largest of Iowa’s Great Lakes, Big Spirit Lake got its name, according to legend, from an evil spirit that inhabited its waters. Featuring nearly 5,700 surface acres that can get awfully gnarly when the wind blows, it’s easy to understand how ancient natives believed in the lake’s ghostly guardian.Modern anglers still must keep a weather-eye out and employ common sense on the lake, but if indeed there is a spirit involved, it must be the patron saint of sportfishing judging…
Read MoreLake Ontario, Canada
Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes. Yet, at 190 miles in length, 50 miles in width, and featuring 700-plus miles of shoreline shared between New York state and Ontario, Canada, and with surface acreage of roughly 7,300 square miles, it’s still the 14th largest lake in the world. The fifth Great Lake has an excellent reputation for offering rich and diverse sportfishing opportunities. On the eastern end places like the Bay of Quinte and Henderson Harbor are renowned for pr…
Read MoreGreen Bay, WI
Green Bay dominates Lake Michigan’s western shoreline. Ranging from 10 to 20 miles in width and 120 miles in length, it covers some 1,600 square miles and offers a variety of habitats that attract and hold walleyes through the open-water season.In fact, Green Bay is so expansive that even veteran walleye anglers are sometimes daunted by the many options it presents and fishing choices it demands.Team Northland member Adam Rasmussen doesn’t shy away from plying the sprawling system or…
Read MoreSummer Smallmouth Savvy
On many smallmouth bass waters in the North Country, fish aren’t usually difficult to catch, according to Team Northland bass fiend Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson. Still, the widely-traveled tournament competitor from Kenora, Ontario, prefers to take a dynamic approach.“Whether I’m fishing for money or fun, I like to run-and-gun, and always stay on the hunt for active, biting fish,” he says. “It means never trying to wait fish out, or sitting in one spot very lo…
Read MoreEarly Summer Spinner Rigging
In the early part of summer, walleyes begin to fan out, heading toward the places they’ll call home during the warm season. And while it’s still absolutely possible to locate pods of fish that are susceptible to jigging and other pinpoint approaches, you’re more apt to face scattered walleyes than you were just a couple of weeks earlier.When you do, it’s time to change tactics, says Chip Leer, walleye specialist and Team Northland product manager. “That’s when…
Read MoreGull Lake, MN
Gull Lake, near Brainerd, Minn., offers nearly 10,000 acres of open water and features an abundance of classic walleye structure. The lake averages 30 feet in depth, but is 80 feet at its deepest point, and nearly a third of the lake is 15 feet deep or shallower. It’s the center of one of Minnesota’s most popular recreational regions, and thus shorelines are highly developed with homes, cabins and resorts.
Read More