Fishing Michigan

Just a quick note on this, but people are walking out and catching walleye and perch on Saginaw Bay.

If you decide to make the trek up there, best bet is to stop by Franks Great Outdoors and get all the local information that you will need.  Also, its a lot easier to pick up bait locally than hauling minnows 2 hrs north, bouncing and sloshing around in the back of the vehicle.  A local favorite is the Northland Tackle Buck-shot Rattle Spoon, tipped with either a whole minnow or a minnow head.  The tails work just as well also, just tear the minnow behind the gills and place on the treble.

Going to wrap up the pics from the championships and get into some specifics in the gear used in the upcoming days.  Some will be about the companies, and backgrounds, but most will center around the gear itself, and more how to stuff.

That is Jim Martin from Brooklyn, Michigan fishing out of his Fish Trap Scout.  Besides the shanty if you look closely he is fishing with a Vexilar flasher.  Clipped onto his Knutson’s cap is a 3 LED light.  This style comes in handy for seeing during low light conditions and is easily turned on and off by the touch of a finger.  Most commonly found brand in the stores is the “Cat Eyes” brand.

The next picture is of Dave Genz sitting on the newest model to hit the ice from Artic Cat in the BearCat lineup.  That is Jack Baker standing next to him, in previous years Jack has qualified to fish the championship with his 11 yr old daughter nicknamed ” Boo “.  The widetrack turbo snowmobile has a custom made rack in the rear for elevating your portable shanty off the ice while traveling from spot to spot out on the ice.

 Here is a pic of another angler who is showing off one of his crappies caught during the two day event.  Probably 80 percent of those fishing are wearing the Ice Armor suit from CLAM.  Most of the field has been fishing in them for three years or more and will be the first to tell you that it is an excellent suit designed for ice fishing.  Others like Genz above are wearing the newer insulated X series suit (gray/black).  Both are waterproof and keep the wind out.

This last picture is another one of the two Argos that were on the ice that weekend.  Although designed to keep you afloat in any circumstance, you still have to drag your shanties behind you while staying mobile.  In this picture the angler decided to keep the shanty hooked up and fish using his Vexilar outdoors.

Ok, that wraps up the pictures from the championship.  Will get back into the equipment for topics coming up in the next few weeks.  If the weather holds up in the Saginaw area, might head up there for a day, but will keep track of the ice down here as well.

Not exactly sure why, but I know the reason given.  Lots of things to answer for behind the scenes.

www.trapattack.com

Just going to throw some more pics out there and comment on a few things.

Just to give you a couple of ideas of what it looked like while the guys waited to weigh in there fish.  This pic shows the number of vehicles out on the ice where the participants took their buckets and coolers up the hill to wait their turn at the trailer.  75 teams, comes to roughly 150 vehicles, some doubled up while others sat in their shanties while their partners did the driving.

As you waited up the hill for the weights to hit the scale the line slowly got smaller.  Each team would take about four minutes to go through the scales.  The fish are taken from your container, then placed into a larger marine cooler filled with warm water.  The warm water will melt any ice that might have built up in or around your fish to get a better idea of the fish’s true weight.

Here is a pic of Tony Boshold and Mike McNett, who won the championship three years ago, waiting for their weights to come up on lighted scale sign.  While you wait, you get interviewed by Dave Genz and Kolt Ringer which goes on the radio, and is filmed for a later broadcast.

Just to give you an idea how big this is getting, here is Don Cox and his partner who are from Nebraska.  Other teams came from as far east as New York.

The day started off with a promising forecast, six degrees and going up to 18′ and partly sunny skies.  Well it did get to 16′, but the sun never showed its face all day.  It actually felt warmer while waiting for the release time than it did at noon.  The moisture in the air was bone chilling.

The times for fishing were from 8 am till 2 pm.  Inspections start about 7 am, and the teams were released at 7:30 am.  All manner of vehicles were used during the event. Trikes, quads, sleds and even an Argo.  For the past few years the company has sponsored a team or two at the events, talking about riding in style, complete with a heater. 

After being released the 2 man teams head out to areas that they have prefished and scouted during the week.  Once arriving, they are allowed to drill as many holes as they wish.  Use of a flasher or camera is allowed to see what lurks below and get set up for the official 8 am start.  When the alarm is sounded at eight, anglers can drop their lines and begin fishing.  Thats me in the picture above, and although it might look like it is early in the morning, thats really about noon.  I am stripping the line of the reel by hand to prevent it from coming off in bunches in the wind.  Normally this would not be neccessary with the weight of a walleye lure, but with panfish jigs it is a time saver compared to untangling a goo of line.

Wondering why I am sitting on a bucket and not snuggled in a shanty?  Although in the background, you will see a bunch of shacks pulled over,  mobility is the key.  Not only  in a tournament situation, but finding fish in general.  Some folks have a higher threshold when it comes to the cold, but if you look closely at the gear I am wearing,  I am actually well insulated against the elements.  Underneath the Ice Armor suit from CLAM, I have windstopper fleece on over a layer of silk that wicks away moisture from your skin and prevents chilling.  Before Kevin came over and snapped the shot, I had a fleece baclava pulled over the Vexilar hat to keep out the wind and protect my ears.  I wear fingerless wool gloves,  when grabbing the fish, I want to be able to squeeze and know I have a hold of the fish, which gloves really dont work for me too well.  When traveling I use a pair of gore-tex mitts to wear from pt. A to pt. B.  Mittens are much warmer than gloves. I wear polypropeline sock liners, with a wool blend sock over those.  Same theory as wearing the silk long johns, they wick away the moisture.  The combination allows you to wear just about any cold weather designed boot in total comfort.  Those boots are actually just Meijer specials I bought one hunting season on the way up north hunting when I realized about Ypsi that my good ones were back at the house.

The flasher I am using is the new FL-20 that was introduced by Vexilar last season.  To save a few bucks I mounted it on the blue Genz Box that I already had.  The rod is a St. Croix Avid Ultra Light, 24 inch with a good UL Daiwa spinning reel.  In this picture, my tournament partner, Steve Webb is using the slightly older FL-18.  We both use the 12′ cone angle transducer, we both have expandable zoom at the bottom 6′ of the water column.  Difference is that the 20 can also expand to a 12′ zoom, and it has better interference rejection technology.  Interference comes when you have multiple anglers all using flashers in a close knit area, the machines kind of cancel each other out.  The rejection knob allows you to keep on fishing.  Steve is wearing similiar gear, except his suit is from the auger company, StrikeMaster.  He is a bit old school when it comes to his reel, a Schooley reel.  Which does hold up better against the line flying off the spool, and also in line twist reductions.  Like a fly reel in some cases, you have to use your palm to act as a drag when fighting bigger fish.  Both of us tightline in conjecture with using the flashers.  The flasher lets you know the fish is there, how close it is to  your lure, and when the line representing the fish closes on the lure, its time to start watching the line.

I will have more on Day 1 later.  Its fast approaching the Christmas crunch time, and things to do!

The “North American Ice Fishing Championship”.  Where 75 teams from the 2007 season gathered to crown new champions at the conclusion of the season.  Teams qualified at one of four events last year; Michigan, Wisconsin, New York and Minnesota.

That’s where I was at last weekend, fishing in my second event in three years.  The qualifier the one year I didn’t make it was canceled due to NO ICE on the lake.  As I eluded to yesterday, it was a whirlwind trip because of my partner’s ill health. Thirteen hours driving on Thursday night to arrive in Alexandria, Minnesota Friday morning. Catch up on sleep, fished the 2 day tourney, then drive home again Sunday night. Where did all this white stuff come from?!!!

We stayed with the perfect hosts, a muskie fishing friend of mine, and his most gracious wife.  There is something to be said for the kindness of farm folks,  and Steve and Jeannie were the “tops”.  That and the way they cook,  haven’t had meals like that since I was bailing hay for old Willie Knapp at the dairy farm.  It seems like every time I make one of these trips, I figure I will work off a few pounds traipsing around the ice, only to come home a little heavier than when I left Ida.  The pups are helping me lose a few already!  At least Bonnie came right to me when I got back,  the beagles never left my dad’s side.  Guess its true, ” the hand that feeds you”….. rotten dogs lol.

So….Friday, got the gear unpacked and dozed off for a bit.  Hit the lake for a whole hour before coming back and getting cleaned up for the rules meeting that night at the Holiday Inn in Alexandria.  “Alex” is roughly 2+ hours west of the Twin Cities right off of I-94.

Dave Genz, one of the leaders in the ice fishing community, if not the man responsible for the revolution in gear, concepts and making the two come together, lead off the event with the introductions.

We had several folks from the ice fishing production side of things address the qualifiers for the year end event.  Spokespeople from Vexilar, StrikeMaster, CLAM and Lindy were there.  Here is Doctor Roland Kehr, the chairman from Lindy.  Known better as just plain Doc, he introduced the folks to the new “Rattlin’ Flyer Spoon”, being introduced from Lindy this season.  It looks to be a good lure for slab crappie, perch and walleye.  Coming in three sizes this season, and a smaller 1/16 oz size for next winter.

Besides the product sponsors doing their speeches, the rules being covered, and some yummy wild rice soup.  The even finished off with the crowning of the ‘07 Team of the Year.  This year’s winners were Joe and Myron.  Going to skip the last names for fear of butchering them, but they clinched the title at last year’s Minnesota qualifier.  Both being from the Brooklyn, Michigan area, they were one of 12 teams from Michigan who qualified for the championship event.  That’s Joe on the left, Myron with the mic, Dave Genz in the background, and new tournament director Kolt Ringer on the right.

If you want to learn more about fishing the trap series, visit www.trapattack.com  for sign ups, rules and where the qualifiers are.

Tomorrow will get into the day one event that was held on Saturday with some fresh pictures.