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Baiting the Bass
by Eric Simon
I started out on the Northwest side of the lake looking for some
monster bass. I got a very late start, but I didn't think it would matter too
much because it still was very calm and cloudy. I got to my spot at about ten. I
started with my spinner, After about a half an hour with only one follow up by a
small northern, I switched to a plastic worm. The plastic worm that I use almost
always catches a fish, no different today. In the first five casts I already
hooked into a little 14 inch bass. The fish were in about five feet of water. I
picked up two other fourteen inch bass in that fifty foot strip. When I started
to leave that stretch, I saw a big bass laying in the sand about ten yards in
front of the boat. I laid a perfect cast right on top of it. It smacked that
worm up. I thought I a perfect hook set, but the hook never caught in its mouth.
Did you ever do everything right and still miss a 19 inch bass. Better luck next
time.
Web Site Youth Reporter
Long Lake Fishing Club
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Walleye
From the Quest
By Charles Benson
This edition of the Quest will focus on my methods used to catch
1,000 Walleyes from Long Lake. In 1985 I remembered how we
caught walleyes in the 60’s, so I had a good start on how to
catch them. The areas we had fished were still productive, but
you had to work a little harder for them. The best method used
was row trolling night crawler spinner rigs with three hooks.
Though I caught every type of fish using this method it worked
for walleyes about 95% of the time. In fact 784 of the 1,000
fell prey to this presentation. Tip-ups caught 98, Plugs 91,
Bobber fishing 15 and 12 on jigs. I will break each of these
methods down and you should try them all for yourself.
With the crawler harness stick with the basics of yesteryear
such as solid color spinners, using Colorado or Indiana blades
in the metallic or chartreuse colors. Stay with beads that were
around back in the 60’s in the 5 to 7 mm size. Thread the
crawler to look as natural as possible and weight it with inline
split shots 16 to 24 inches up the line. Two or three split
shots in number 2 to 7 sizes works just right to control your
depth.
As for Tip-ups don’t be just a weed line fisherman. Walleyes go
deep in mid winter and sometimes suspend in the middle of the
water column.
On Plugs use the types that are designed to go to the desired
depth. Don’t get caught up in the color wars that catch your eye
because you’re not a fish. Use black, silver or gold and natural
perch patterns, chartreuse may also work but that’s it. Of the
91 Walleyes 16 were caught trolling.
Bobber fishing also works, but in my opinion it’s a sit and wait
way to fish. I would sooner hunt for them and learn more about
their haunts, as well the lake.
Jig fishing is probably the best way to fish Walleyes anywhere
including Long Lake. The bad thing is it won’t teach you a true
picture of what’s really going on with the lake. If you spend
your time pounding the snot out of undersized Walleyes on a weed
line, what does it tell you? One of your latest stockings worked
well but in the Walleyes life cycle most of them will fall prey
to the food chain and soon. You may feel good, but so do the
other game fish as they have lunch. In short, it gives you only
a couple pieces of the puzzle.
I hope this article helps you on your own Quests!
Muskies
Setting The Hook
Most muskies, after striking a sucker, go straight for the bottom to
turn it around, and eat it head first. Fishing with a quick strike
rig, no need to wait, reel up the slack line, put pressure on the
fish until she starts to move away from the boat. Then, set hooks
and the muskie dance is on.
David Steinke
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Live Bait For Muskies
My fishing partner, Mike Schmitz and I, use live suckers, spring,
summer, and fall to up our odds while muskie fishing. We prefer the
12" size. When fishing in bays, weedline edges, or rock bars, we put
two rods out the back, rigged with one quick strike rig on each rod.
One single hook in the upper lip of the sucker and one # 5 treble
hooked on the right side of the sucker, near the rear. While fishing
on the Chippewa Flowage, Hayward, WI, we discovered most of the
muskies always strike suckers from the right hand side. We let the
suckers swim free behind the boat, no more than 20 feet out. No
bobber or sinker. This method should also work for Northern pike as
well. Most days, live bait will out perform the 300 plus baits I
have in my box.
David Steinke
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
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