Fishin Dad

Happy New Year! It is finally cold here in Minnesota and the holidays are over. My Navionics App has expired so I am looking for ways to look at lakes and plan some fishing areas for next season. I fish natural Midwest lakes. just wondering what everyone uses to do their scouting before fishing lakes. Thanks, Fishin Dad

I actually like the idea of this tourney and I think it is going in the right direction. I do think it will be a tough battle, but a $300,000 win is a big draw for some guys. If you combine pros from all the circuits and take those that want to fish this, you should be able to fill many of the spots. There are also enough guys fishing with $$$$ that would jump in as well. I really think it would be good for fishing.

I think guys would use side imaging and mark a ton of offshore stuff, drop dots, and head back and fish. There has been too much learned about offshore bass to not have people fishing it.

I totally agree bud!! I find a lot of knockoff stuff. I hope someone makes something of equal quality. The Buzbe’s are very quality, albeit, expensive.

I agree with this statement. That is why I only put 360 on my boat. Without sparking another FFS issue, I fish to get away from technology. With that said, I did step up to 360 (I know it’s tech) and love it. My offshore game has grown exponentially and I have not had to stare at screens all day and mess with much. 360 has few adjustments needed and once it shows what I am looking for, I can just fish and enjoy. Just my opinion. A very successful fisherman I know said he would take 360 all day over his FFS. That helped my decision. He makes a lot of money with both however, but carries a backup 360 unit in case!!

I have to say, people are not nice to Randy when he is on podcasts. They get very rude and argumentative. Zaldain was the most respectful I thought. I hate the whole argument, but wish it could remain respectful either way.

Absolutely. I see an awful lot of Iowa plates towing north into MN. I buy an Iowa fishing listen every year too. I know I know. Why? Okaboji is awesome. We also have a few tournaments there before our season opens.

I agree. I would gladly pay more to see improvements to ramps, enforcement, fish management, etc. I also think we should charge out of state (Iowa) a much larger fee. They absolutely crush Minnesota hunters to hunt there. I understand the resorts etc. need out of staters for income, but still………

The Buzbe Quick Qube is amazing. They are not cheap, but they are waterproof, tough, have a transparent window. Try one and you will love them. they have different sizes. My fishing partner bought the whole system on a sale. He brought them in my boat and I was sold on the Qube. The rest of the system….. eehhhhhh. https://buzbe.com/products/quik-qube-medium-deep

Unreal. Won me two tourneys this season. Had big fish in one of them on the drop shot. I was using a 6” finesse worm too. Not a bubba shot or anything. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to get me a lot of dinks. I would often alternate the drop shot with the football jig, just to see what they wanted. I would the. Throw a Neko as a follow up to see if there were any more biters. I caught some bigs on the Neko as well.

I really like a ML for Ned rigs and drop shots. I like a medium for shaky heads and stick baits. I also carry a MH spinning rod fox stick baits in cover if needed. I like the ML to help keep fish pinned. It just seems to help me lose less fish with the softer rods. I use a little heavier hooks for shaky heads and stick baits therefore the medium rods.

I really try to zig and zag and I really do think it can work at times, but I also end up fishing my confidence baits an awful lot more it seems. I think I need to learn to switch it up more and change more often to see what the fish want, but those darn confidence baits just stay glued to my hands too often!!

The drop shot was the ticket this season. Fished it a lot and it caught fish. Rocks, weed lines, offshore lay downs. Also fished the football jig a lot. I fished offshore a lot more. And I don’t even use FFS!!

The stick bait took a break this season for me. I also did not get on any real topwater bite. We are in a drought so I don’t know if that played a role or not.

Living in Minnesota is tough. Open water season I fished 68 days. Many seasons I add another 15 days or so of ice fishing as well. There has been some seasons with about 100 combined. Having summers off helps a lot.

Does anyone put a bead between the weight and the knot to prevent hanging up? I am going to play with this rig next year. Seems logical.

Geeeeez, I know. I told myself to get the boat winterized earlier and get in the bow stand earlier this year. That was stupid. I am not going to complain much though. I am enjoying this beautiful fall weather. Winter is long enough here! I agree the ice season looks to be short this year.

Darn it. I whack them all the time. Waaaaaay too many at my place. I will have to snip a few tails this winter when the fur is solid. Thanks.

I know. It can be overwhelming. I have a bunch of stuff in my cart in a couple different places to try stuff out.

They seemed very situational. I seemed to have more luck with my confidence baits (football jig, drop shot, etc.), but it did work in a few instances and the strikes were solid. I am far from an expert with them, a novice in fact. I just like experimenting and making things a little more unique. I know others have had success up here on them, so I want to keep trying to make some and learn this a little better.

Wow, we get blue-green algae blooms here a few times per year, but nothing like that!! That is nasty. When we get it, it pops up in dinner plate sized blobs throughout the shoreline by stagnant water. It doesn’t last long, but a warning goes out to not swim or have pets in the water. That is a crazy looking breakout. Yikes.

Clang, I have not figured out the exact mixture yet. I found a deal on some chicken jigs and have just been fishing a lot. I hope to figure it out over the long cold Minnesota winter. I want to add some special touches. The thing that stinks is I can’t try any of them until spring to see if I like them. I will post them if I find something I like.

Crazy weather around here. More rain in one storm than the whole summer, then 90 degrees in October. I hate to think of what might happen January, February, and March. Yikes.

Congrats on your new adventure. Wish you all the luck and happiness you deserve. Enjoy the ride!

Hey FryDog, are you replacing the Lund with something else? I saw it for sale and it was a heck of a deal. I just tried and it says file is too big. I hate technology.