Sodaksam

I fish the upper Mississippi in northern MN. Water is like coffee most of the time. We have pretty good luck with Rapala Dt-10’s banging them off the boulders.

On the Mississippi in Northern MN I use DT-10’s almost exclusively, especially when the current is really moving.

I couldn’t get my trusty Yamaha 4 stroke started in the middle of the lake after fishing for a couple of hours. Flagged down a couple of guys to tow me in for twenty minutes. I was pretty frustrated and was planning my next move. The guy asked about 50 yards from the dock if I checked the kill switch. I hadn’t. It fired right up after I did. Brilliant.

I fished Blackwater by Longville. I got there at 7:15. 35 and cloudy and no wind. The largemouth were hitting decently on plastics. One smallie on a pink x rap. By 10;30 white out blizzard 30 degrees, and the wind picked up. Fun, but frustrating. Snow accumulated on the lawn and deck. In fact, its still there.

I bought a Jason Mitchell series rod for dropshotting. I never buy Daiwa spinning reels. I did this time to go with JM rod. It’s been great. Not real spendy either. I quit buying really high end rods because I am good at breaking them. Not good at saving receipts.

Good stuff. Thanks

Thanks.

Is it possible to delete a post? Thanks.

I hated those for years. He and buddies have wave runner fishing tournaments now. They bungee cord a cooler on the back for live wells. They are annoying, but I don’t have to pull tubers anymore.

It worked. Thought I did the same move before, but it worked like a charm just now. Thanks

Thanks, I’ll give it a shot.

Hello, ice is finally giving up. I’m cleaning and lubing all my baitcasters. I can’t get the spool out of my Lew’s reel. Can’t remember the name. It cost about $120 2 yrs ago. lFS I think. Speedspool. I think I pull the spring loaded pin on the right side of the reel and the side plate should pop off like other reels. Ive watched YouTube videos. There’s pop right off. Mine doesn’t. Any thoughts? Thanks. Kinda sad, my son had the the wave runner out on the half iced covered lake before I got the boat out. Stay healthy!

Good point. I showed her my rod guide repairs. She was really impressed. Or, pretended to be.

Ive done this a few times. My first attempt still makes me chuckle. I scavenged a guide off a broken rod in the garage. I used about 2 tablespoons of epoxy. I have learned less is more. Mine are smaller and look better now. They are not real pretty. Hell, I’m married. I don’t need to impress anyone anymore.

Thanks for answering our questions. Ten used ago I had 2 rods in the boat. One had a Rat-L-Trap. The other had a Texas-rigged worm. Now once we get into Summer, I have a Senko -style worm, a jig, crankbaits, chatterbait, topwater, Ned rig, drop shot, Banjo-minno, blah,blah,blah. How do you weed through all the options and new “hot” lures? I rarely throw a Rat-L_Trap anymore, but it was great for years. I just talked myself into using it more this year. What do you think? Thanks, Sam

I’m living through my brother who lives in SoDak still. He’s fishing the Missouri River and picking up a few walleyes in 37 degree water. Not killing em, but getting a few. At least 2.5 ft of ice in my back yard. Mother Nature needs to get her rear in gear.

We have 5 inches on our lake in Pequot. Was out today, and a curious fox was within 10 yards of me. He wasn’t nervous at all. Pretty cool.

Kicker, I understand the ‘they were here yesterday’ deal. I caught 4 or 5 in a spot yesterday on Tx rigged chigger craw. Today, not a sniff. Shallow weeds seem better. Of course last year deep diving cranks paid off. Keep plugging away I guess. Water temp is 48-49 here. Good luck

Yes, kicker I was fishing close to home. FryDog, Al wasn’t filming unless he pulled out his iPhone when I was trying to get my dt-10 out of a tree. The water temp was 54 on Friday in the snow. I imagine it has plummeted.

Kind of off topic. My son and I went out on our lake in 34 degree temps and snow accumulating in boat and caught 5 walleyes before our hands about froze off. Mom was happy to have us out of the house. Water was 52 degrees. I hope the water does not cool a whole lot more. The forecast isn’t great the next 4-5 days.

The Mississippi above the dam in Brainerd is good for smallies down to about 48-50 degrees. Some of my best days have been 40 degree air temp chucking crankbaits and drop shot rigs. Hope it doesn’t cool off too quick. One year I only saw one boat. It was Al Lindner. Kinda cool. .

The old green Curados still cast as good as any of my new Lew’s and Diawas. Bought a used Shimano Metanium— some Japanese-issued reel. It’s older,but solid.