Hope everyone enjoys today, and the weekend. Be safe on the water, the roads and backyards. Remember the struggle that was endured to secure our freedom and the risk taken by those who signed that document back in 1776. God Bless!
No matter where you go to chase walleyes, the locals will have their favorite crawler harnesses. Clown, purple tiger, confusion, and pink panties to name a few. Combined they have little in common, individually they cover all the bases an angler might employ to catch walleye.
When you buy a harness or purchase blades to build your own, put the following blades on your shopping list.
Looking at the list, most who fish Erie will say that gold and copper blades are no brainers. Older experienced anglers will say chartruse works pretty darn good too. Silver will not make too many Erie anglers turn their heads, and white blades probably won’t get a response at all.
Every one of the colors or metals mentioned are just the base colors of a blade. Now, it might make a lil’ more sense. Take white for an example, from Saginaw Bay down to the waters of Erie white blades are producing. White is the base color in Pink Panties, Frozen Toes, I Don’t Care, Bloody Nose and either Purple Descent or Erie Descent. It all makes sense when you consider that pink and white, or red and white have been popular choices in jigs or other types of lures for years and years.
Now look at chartruse based blades. Used in combination with green or orange, and all of a sudden lots of people will say those two color combinations have worked for decades. They continue to do so today. One of the best blades color patterns I have used this year is a Northland Chartruse/Orange Holographic blade.
Most Erie walleye fisherman have gold and copper blades or spoons in their arsenal. Silver is looked upon with disdain, but for those who don’t have at least one silver based blade on the other end of a rod while fishing Erie are missing out. Do not forsake those gold and copper blades, because they do produce. Up on Saginaw Bay, Michigan’s other walleye capitol, Silver blades rule with such color patterns as Clown, Watermelon and Confusion. Yes, Confusion, even those funky dots work on a silver blade and will catch fish up there.
The kicker is, they work down here too. All of them will work on the Upper Peninsula’s other walleye capitol, the Bays de Noc. If you have a combination of these five blades, in just about an color added to them, you will be able to catch fish on any of these Great Lake bodies of water.
Now it all makes sense, two weeks ago I had called Fishlander looking to pick up some additional glow colorado blades. No one answered the phones on my attempts to get through. Although, at the time I didn’t think much of the situation, it all made sense a week later.
Fishlander has closed it’s doors and shut down the shop. Details are a bit sketchy, but lets call it putting trust in the wrong folks and money issues.
Although I have many, many Silver Streak blades that I have purchased from Frank’s and Matthew’s here locally, its still sad to hear. Fishlander offered a product that couldn’t be found from other companies, an Ultra Glow blade for walleye harnesses.
Walleyes can be a fickle fish, the right colors and sizes out produce others when the conditions are right. Those Ultra Glow blades were a favorite of mine on dark and overcast mornings. I tried looking for more to no prevail.
Look for some of their spoons to be picked up by Warrior Lures, another Michigan company. Warrior, like many spoon companies, started off making salmon spoons. They will be coming out with a walleye spoon in time for next spring.
Well Belle is back from the clinic where she got snipped yesterday. She is snoozing already, and after getting up at 5 am to take care of Gauge who slept in the house rather than be all alone, so am I!
I had to take poor lil’ Belle in to get snipped this morning down in Toledo, on the way home I dropped off some of the crawler harnesses that I sell in Bolles Harbour. While at Matthew’s I had picked up some blades and spoons to purchase. As Jason was ringing me up, I got this little bit of useful information, all their spoons are on sale for the next two weeks.
All spoons are now $3.29 each. True I just wrote about the big news at Bass Pro, but I can buy a whole lot more locally than it would cost me in gas to drive down to Perrysburg. I like the Silver Streak blades and spoons pattern choices a little better than the Stingers anyway. But that’s just me, my preference. Besides when you can help out a local business and they offer you a great service, give them a good look. We all remember what it was like not to have that second bait shop in the harbour operating. Good people, good service and support the locals first.
Bass Pro Shop’s Grand Opening in Rossford, OH is two days away. That is this Tuesday, at 6pm. For more information here is the store’s number….(419) 891-3900. I just might head down to see Jeanette Lee, better known in the billiard circles, as The Black Widow. She is on ESPN all the time when they show the ladies professional pool tournaments. You can also meet KVD, or Kalamazoo’s own Kevin VanDam and PWT pro Gary Parsons all this Tuesday. And that guy who likes to smootch on fish, Jimmy Houston.
Now for the deals: Any Reef Runner in the 500, 600, 700 or 800 Series, you get 5 for $20 bucks. Thats a buck 69 off each. $55 Daiwa Accudepth reel and Firewolf trolling rod combos. Your favorite Thundersticks, Tots, Stinger Scorpion Spoons or Northland Rainbow Image shiner or crawler harnesses are only $2.98 each. Load up on Hot n Tots and Stingers for that price.
That same deep fryer that I picked up and used this past weekend that I showed with the pics, is on sale ofr $29.99. The remote sensor I used for the smoker is on sale for $24.99. Love that because I can be anywhere 100 ft away and I know what the temp is inside the meat being smoked.
Those are some of the fishing highlights, there are guns, combo’s, furniture and clothing for sale as well, plus many more stars of the outdoor world visiting as well.
I thought I really liked the new smoker I picked up a few months back at Bass Pro Shops @ Great Lakes Crossing. But, after breaking in the new deep fryer that was picked up at the same, I think I have a new favorite. I think they are sale again for the new Grand Opening down in Perrysburg, Ohio. For $29.99, you get the base, hose and regulator, pan, basket and thermometer.
Step by step pics. First off, just fired it up.
Bringing the oil up to 350′. Which by the way is creamy canola fry oil from GFS.
Cooking up the walleye taken from Matthew’s 1st Annual Tournament.
This the walleye, after everyone (five of us) had taken their share. A little slow with the camera this time.
Tried some shrimp too.
At 10 and half quart capacity, you really can make quite a bit of perch.
Weather permitting, will be heading out shortly this morning.
Not sure how far back to let your spoons or harnesses out while trolling? Don’t feel like paying 30 bucks for the trolling guide? That’s ok, you have the internet.
Dive Chart for Jets and Dipseys
Ok, two posts on fishing, I have done my blogging duty for the day. Now its the smitten “uncle and godfather” time for a post. We got to babysit a lil’ bit yesterday afternoon, so I filled up one the small pools that I had originally bought for the pups to stay cool in. What the kid doesn’t know, right? We had been hanging paneling in the shop, and both my father and I had worked up a sweat. Guess its a good thing, I was the one taking pics.
Side note, there were some really cute moments in the house later on, BUT no pics. Lani wanted to give Bonnie the red lab some hugs. At 13 yrs old, Bonnie has reached her limits with the puppies, and didn’t really want to sit still for a hugfest. So I held her collar, while Lani gave the hugs. Not sure what would have made a better picture, Lani smiling, or Bon Bon with that terrified look.
Lani and Grandpa in the sun.
Sitting on the edge
Moved into the shade, and hearing the beagles in the kennel.
Giving grandpa some luv
Look no hands
She kept putting her face in the water
Kicking….
she really liked getting her head wet
Ready to eat
That’s it…………
I found this story in the same section of the Detroit News last week as the EPA permit story. Its all about a female wolverine in the thumb area of the state. I went and Googled, and it seems this story really isn’t brand new. Since it was first sighted by hunters back in 2004, the Thumb Wolverine has been tracked and photographed by game cameras for the past three years.
Click on ” hunters ” for details on the first sighting, and some background information.
For a really good picture of the wolverine, click here
This pic was captured by the “Wolverine Guy”, Jeff Ford. Ford, a high school teacher in Deckerville, and his partner Steve Noble have been tracking the animal for the past three years. This pic was taken with a heat sensing game camera. They have lots of very nice pics on their website, www.wolverineguy.com , look at the gallery section. They also have lots of background information, and their history of tracking the wolverine, which as traveled as much as 258 miles in a span of 19 days.
For more details, and articles about the “Thumb Wolverine” here are some more pieces found on the net.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080605/NEWS06/806050442/1008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-exchange-thumbwol,0,7020649.story
http://www.tuscolatoday.com/news/2008/may/28/possible-wolverine-population/
Unlike the many cougar sitings over the past 30 yrs, the DNR will be hard pressed to say this isn’t so.