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UTDOOR CONNECTION
APRIL 2016 ESTHERVILLE NEWS Find this publication online at www.esthervillenews.net under 驶Sections始
STORIES, ADVICE AND INFORMATION FOR OUTDOOR LOVERS
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THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Giving back to others Easter week is such a powerful week bringing together all elements of human life: birth, life’s struggles and death, culmi‐ nating with the victory over death through the Resurrection. It has always been an inspirational week for our family. This past week was even more impactful for our entire family as my wife’s 91‐year‐old father, Dr. Alvin Scheffel passed away. It was so hard for the entire family as we watched him slowly slipping away before our eyes. Yet, it was also uplifting for us because we knew he was going to a far, far better place. His last word to us as we sat with him in the hospital was, “Home.” Twice he repeated the word “home,” and a few hours later he left us. It was so hard to lose him, but it also became a celebration of how much this man had meant to us all! As a teacher/coach for nearly 35 years, I always believed (and still do) that
more, I found that Alvin was an outdoorsman through and through, and after I had passed the test of “take good care of my daughter,” we became hunting and fishing part‐ ners for the next 46 years. Not only that, we became confidants with each other STEVE WEISMAN in so many different ways. I OUTDOOR EDITOR remember the time my wife and I had a high‐pres‐ we all need mentors to help show us the way. So, sure salesman trying to get in this week’s column you us to purchase a time‐ must bear with me as I talk share. Of course, it was about the huge impact Dr. one of those “have to do it now deals!” We said we Scheffel had on me. wanted to run the idea Personally, I had two of past my father‐in‐law first. the best mentors that I could have ever asked for, The salesman indignantly first my father and later my said, “You’re going to tell me that you have to rely father‐in‐law. Both pos‐ on him and can’t make a sessed great dignity and common sense along with decision yourself!” a passion to help their chil‐ Needless to say, no one was going to get by with dren, grandchildren and that kind of statement, and great grandchildren on we both walked out! their journey to and As a family physician for through adulthood. 45 years in Redfield, SD, he From the moment we was the senior doctor, met, Alvin and I hit it off. greatly respected by both As I “hung” around the those in the medical field Scheffel house more and and his patients. Even after he retired, he would come back to cover at the office from time to time, and when his former patients heard he was at the office, they scheduled their appointments just to have a chance to have him take • Live Bait care of them one more • Wax Worms time. • Silver Wigglers So many memories over • Night Crawlers 46 years. As a mentor, he • Shimano showed a greenhorn how • Rapala to place decoys in a duck • Okuma Reels slough, how far 40 yards • Plano Tackle Boxes was and when to shoot at • Trilene Fishing Line the incoming flock. A mas‐ ter duck caller, he taught me duck language and how to bring a flock of Central Ave. Estherville, IA ducks to the decoys. He also taught me how to row 712-362-3745 a duck boat.
Fick’s
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The first time was after he had hurt his shoulder the summer before in a motorbike accident. The only way we were going to hunt was if I rowed. It was all well and fine on the way across the slough to the pocket we were going to hunt, because I was rowing with the wind. However, the way back was sheer torture for both of us. During our hunt, the tem‐ peratures had plummeted into the upper 20s, and I had to row into a 20‐30 mph northwest wind to get back to the other side. Now the wind became my enemy as I rowed into the waves. If I rowed too deeply, the oars would get caught in the undergrowth and the wind would catch us and blow us off course. If the oars went too shal‐ low, water would fly into the air and cover my father‐ in‐law, freezing into tiny ici‐ cles almost immediately. By the time we arrived at the edge of the slough, he was totally drenched in water and covered by ice!
The author's father-in-law had a deep love of duck hunting.
I’m sure he would like to have strangled me, but he kept his composure and tried to coach me through my “trial and error” row‐ ing! So many good memories. As my children grew, he became their mentor, too. My daughter, Stephanie was definitely the apple of his eye. As a little girl, she would sit beside him in the car on his black medical bag and hold on to his arm! My son, Curt was the little tag along that eventually became his hunting part‐ ner. Then along came a son‐in‐ law and then a great grandson and two great granddaughters. The great grandson became the fourth generation of hunters and the great granddaughters, like their mother before them, became the apple of his eye! As he aged, he passed the torch, so to speak, and began to rely on me … and then the boys to lead the way. He could still shoot the lights out and catch The authorʼs father-in-law fish, but he needed our with a nice slot walleye. help to organize things and
get him out to the spots. Oh, but he was there and enjoyed every minute of the hunting and fishing trips. As he approached 90 years of age, he physically couldn’t do it anymore. Yet, he always wanted our reports of how the trip had gone. As we recounted our trip, his eyes would twinkle with the memory of what he had once been able to do. Just last Saturday, my grandson and I were fish‐ ing for bluegills at the docks at the Triboji boat ramp area. As we sat there, fishing on a dock that my father‐in‐law used to like to fish, I told Hunter that great grandpa loved fishing here in the spring. I said, “I know he is watching us!” We were quiet for a few minutes and then Hunter looked at me and said, “Grandpa, I think I like fish‐ ing here more than any other spot!” I smiled and thought to myself, “It’s come full cir‐ cle!” Thanks for allowing me to reflect on a very important person and men‐ tor in my life!
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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A case for big pike
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opportunities across the board to catch really big musky have gotten much better while the opportuni‐ ty to catch really big pike is becoming tougher. In the lower 48, a northern pike over forty three inches is a rarer trophy than a 48” musky, a 20” largemouth bass, a 19” smallmouth bass, a 27” walleye or a 10” bluegill. Good catch and release practices are crucial for conserving big pike pop‐ ulations on most water because of the fishing pres‐ sure we see today…just as those same practices are crucial for conserving big musky. There are still opportuni‐ ties however to target big
pike and these predators provide an incredible angling experience. Obviously, Canada reigns king for numbers of massive pike. Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan have so much big pike water. If you draw a line from the Pas to Thompson Manitoba, the region to the north is stag‐ gering for big pike water. We traveled to Wolverine Lodge near Lynn Lake, Manitoba last summer to film and the quality of pike was top notch. There are also pockets of big pike scattered throughout north‐ west Ontario. In the states, I don’t know
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which option is worst for a fishery. Big pike are going to get caught fairly quickly so the only way you will see big pike is either on large water where the size of the lake can diffuse fishing pressure or if a lake is remote or has little fishing pressure. When the big predators are gone, the pike population in par‐ ticular seems to explode with extremely high popula‐ tions of hammer handle pike. The high densities of hammer handle pike that never seem to get past 24 inches are what you have to worry about and recent studies from the Minnesota DNR confirm that. Over the past 20 years,
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Northern pike are such an incredible predator. Smooth and sleek with the curves of the most expensive sport car. Rows of teeth that resemble tooth picks. Amazing acceleration. Pike are cool, and really big pike are simply awesome. Consider this little tidbit of information. Northern pike are found throughout the northern hemisphere across the upper third of North America from New York to Alaska. These fish are also found across northern Europe and Asia. A northern pike caught in the Balkens is almost identical to the same fish caught on Lake of the Woods. Right now in the fishing world, particularly in Minnesota where musky stocking has become con‐ troversial on some bodies of water, there has been a stig‐ ma associated with esox because these fish are such perfect predators. While big northern pike and musky capture the imagination of anglers, they obviously eat other fish. My own perspective on these big predators is that big predators whether they be big largemouth bass, musky or big pike almost always point to a good fish‐ ing lake. The best panfish lakes, many of the best wall‐ eye lakes… good healthy fisheries almost always see predators that get to a top end size. I think the argument that isn’t getting discussed near‐ ly enough is that you are probably going to have northern pike or musky of some capacity on just about any lake. Would you rather have one 40” pike patrolling a weed bed or fifty 12‐inch hammer handle pike in the same vicinity? I can tell you
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Where have the white bass gone? BY STEVE WEISMAN
it was time to watch the gulls and terns. If they start‐ There was a time on the ed gathering and feeding, both East Okoboji and Big you knew that the whites Spirit where if you wanted and the smallmouth bass, fishing action, you could go and sometimes even after white bass. On East walleyes were chasing bait‐ Okoboji, they were even a fish to the surface. It didn’t nuisance when you pulled last long, but all you had to spinners and live bait for do was cast into the area walleyes and even when and “Bam!” it was fish on. you pulled crankbaits. They Again, the whites were big would attack pretty much fish. anything thrown their way. Then all of a sudden, in However, most of the time late September and they were the smaller ones. October of 2012, a huge die On Big Spirit, though, the off occurred. I can remem‐ white bass were often big ber being on East Okoboji ones. In the spring along at the time, and there were the docks on Anglers Bay, all kinds of dead white bass there were nights when we floating all over the place. might catch 50 or more that So, what happened? Well, ran 14 inches and even an here is what Johathan 18 incher once in a while. Meerbeek, DNR fisheries Many of them were proud research biologist has to angler fish. say about the die off, possi‐ Then in the late summer, ble causes and what has OUTDOOR EDITOR
been found since. Meerbeek notes that they tried to identify the cause of the fish kill. Although the cause was never totally identified, the assumption is that it was a viral pathogen. As mentioned earlier, thou‐ sands to tens of thousands of fish carcasses piled up along the windblown beaches. Later in the spring of 2013, a commercial fish‐ ing crew on Big Spirit found a lot of partially decom‐ posed white bass carcasses in their nets. According to Meerbeek, “DNR annual sampling in 2014 and 2015, which con‐ sisted of spring gillnetting, spring and fall electrofish‐ ing, summer seining and summer trawling, collec‐ tively captured a whopping two white bass in the Iowa Great Lakes, both residing
in Spirit Lake. No white bass have been captured in DNR sampling in the Okoboji chain since the spring of 2013. To put that into per‐ spective, over 4,500 white bass were captured in gill‐ netting alone back in 2011 and 2012 in the Iowa Great Lakes!” Now, fisheries managers often preach about fish population fluctuations and that many species exhibit a “boom or bust” reproduc‐ tion pattern, but rarely do we observe fish popula‐ tions that “bust” and have no “boom” to back it up. Large white bass die‐offs like these can have an impact on the overall white bass population but they usually recover quickly due to their high reproductive output. So naturally, these drastic changes in white bass abundance and lack of any signs of recovery were very interesting to us and deserved further evalua‐ tion.” Examining other die offs After researching other similar cases, Meerbeek learned that white bass die offs are not all that uncom‐ mon and have occurred in natural lakes, rivers and impoundments across the Midwest and several south‐ ern states. Meerbeek found a couple of situations with follow‐ups after the die offs. The first was on Lake Oahe, where a large‐scale die off occurred in the sum‐ mer of 2005. According to Meerbeek, “Monitoring of the fish population follow‐ ing the die‐off resulted in large decreases in abun‐ dance and angler catch rates of white bass. Although white bass were never absent from the pop‐ ulation in subsequent fish‐ eries surveys (as we docu‐ mented in the Iowa Great
Lakes), their abundance to this day has not recovered to pre die‐off conditions (10 years later). Interestingly, since the white bass die‐off in 2005, age‐0 prey fish abundance has increased substantially.” A second story similar to what happened here on the Iowa Great Lakes is at Big Stone Lake located in west central Minnesota. Meerbeek says, “According to fish survey data, white bass basically vanished from Big Stone Lake from 1987 to 1989 and were not captured again until 1996.” The white bass population slowly increased in abun‐ dance from 1996‐2002 and finally increased to pre‐die‐ off conditions in 2003, some 15 years post die‐off! “During this time period, Big Stone went through some very interesting changes in fish community structure and dynamics. Most notably, was the large increase in walleye numbers during the absence of white bass. Walleye abundance was on average three times higher from the late 1980s to the late 1990s! Both freshwater drum and yel‐ low perch abundance also increased precipitously dur‐ ing this time frame, but both species experienced periods of high abundance following the return of white bass. Other fish species commonly caught in gillnets did not substan‐ tially fluctuate in abundance during the absence of white bass. However, gillnet catch rates are not a good indicator of fish species that belong in the Centrarchid family (bluegill, crappie, bass), so information regarding how these species could react during a void in white bass is rela‐ tively unknown.” Will they return?
The author with a pair of big white bass taken on Big Spirit Lake in 2011. Photo submitted
So, yes, the white bass will return to the Iowa Great Lakes someday. We just don’t know when. During that time, something will fill the void left by the loss of the white bass. Meerbeek poses the question, “Will it be walleye or will it be yel‐ low bass…. only time will tell. In Spirit Lake, the stage has been set for the resur‐ gence of walleye as the 2014‐year class was tremen‐ dous and competition from other species appears to be low. “ He also notes that in the Okoboji chain, the void may be filled by a variety of species. “Walleye, yellow bass, yellow perch, crappie, and bluegill all seem to be doing very well in the absence of white bass. All we can do at this point is sit back and watch the show as the changes take place. Sure, as managers, we can try to persuade the cast by stocking more walleye, but in large, the show’s cast has already been determined.” So, Meerbeek encourages anglers to take advantage of the many fishing oppor‐ tunities that now exist on the Iowa Great Lakes. “White bass will return someday and with it, they will bring back another type of fantastic angling oppor‐ tunity.”
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
TIME TO THINK
Nelson, Gayer, VerSteeg CPAs, P.L.C.
SPRING! BY CAROLE LOCHMILLER BIRDHAVEN
Spring is arriving! I'm going to think positive and believe that spring is around the corner although sometimes the corner is pretty wide. Today is one of the annual events that could happen two or three times or more in any given season, but it is an annual event. Winter and spring always have a battle but spring will win eventually. Today winter has the edge, but spring is hanging in. Being a long time gardener makes me trust what I see more than what the calen‐ dar says. The battle of the seasons went on for many hours yesterday but winter eventually won and we got 6 1/2" of snow. This morn‐ ing there was a large group of robins in the street not far from Bird Haven, look‐ ing for warmth and food. In my yard, they continue to devour the fruit and nut mix bird seed. It amazes me how critters remember. Last year the robin nest on the AC at the end of my neighbor’s garage was destroyed, we think by a wild cat. They made anoth‐ er nest in another neigh‐ bor’s Arborvitae tree. This year I see robin activity in that same tree and none on the AC. Reports of Cedar Waxwings have been com‐ ing in for quite awhile. They tend to travel in flocks until they find a tree or bushes loaded with yummy berries, eat until
those berries are gone then move onto the next dining spot. In my yard with 18 big old Burr Oak trees, I have planted three dwarf berry‐producing trees and several varieties of berry‐producing bushes. Six years ago my neigh‐ bor wanted to plant a tree for his dog Martha to shade her new kennel so I suggested a "Prairiefire" crabapple. That tree is a prolific producer of berries, which stay on all through winter until they are eaten or the tree begins its spring growth. The Whisper Oaks condos are up the street and they planted many crabapples there, also pro‐ lific producers. The berries on all of those trees disap‐ pear but we never have seen the Cedar Waxwings. When planning your spring plantings look for the tag that says persistent fruit. That means the berries stay on for the Waxwings to find (if you're lucky enough to see them). Yes the Grackles (black‐ birds) are back in full force including the Red‐Wings. Remember they do not like the safflower seed. I love Chickadees, and those little ones have been voicing their "where are you call" for quite some time. Practice a little and you can get them to answer back and come closer to you. Then there are the Woodpeckers who are establishing their territo‐ ries by drumming on trees, gutters, down spouts or
5
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This Cedar Waxwing takes care of a winterʼs supply of berries. Photo by Rick Miles
whatever makes good sound for them. Cardinals are singing everywhere except in my yard and thus are establish‐ ing their territories and looking for mates. Take it from one who keeps track of Cardinal activity, there are many more of them this year including several in the vicinity of Bird Haven. Wendell was cleaning out a Wood Duck box for a cus‐ tomer the other day only to find a nest of tiny baby squirrels. He closed the box back up and told the customer to leave it until the squirrels were out on their own. That means, as I thought, that the nest clos‐ est to my house also has lit‐ tle squirrels. I have observed her taking oak leaves up to the nest prob‐ ably for more insulation. In my experience I find it easier and less aggravating to feed the squirrels, as there is always one who can figure out the most complicated gadget meant
to repel squirrels. Yes, I do have areas that are squir‐ rel‐proofed, but I also feed them and their activities are fun to watch. We're approaching the time when all of the spring birds will begin arriving. Wendell plans to put up his Purple Martin gourds around April 1 although we hope they don't come that early, as they need a good supply of flying insects to survive. Although their arrival is always an exciting time, an early arrival means they'll need human help. Then there are those who already have what I refer to as "Oriole fever". Around the 1st of May Orioles and Hummingbirds will arrive. It is always well to prepare for their arrival a week or so early just in case. You don't want to miss out on the first ones. We've had a lot of reports of Bluebirds, more than usual. We have ordered more cedar bluebird boxes
Sometimes the market reacts poorly to changes in the world. But just because the market reacts doesn’t mean you should. Still, if current events are making you feel uncertain about your finances, you should schedule a complimentary portfolio review. That way, you can help ensure you’re in control of where you want to go and how you can potentially get there.
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Fire helps manage Iowa’s grasslands DES MOINES – The work to improve Iowa’s prairies takes center stage each spring when agencies and private landowners use fire to manage their grass‐ lands and improve their value for wildlife. Burning as a management tool helps to fend off encroaching woody species and nonnative plants in an effort to promote diverse native grasses and wildflowers. Burning removes the accumulated thatch and reinvigorates native plants by simulat‐ ing what occurred naturally for centuries. But unlike Mother Nature, these burns must be well planned to maximize the benefits to the land and wildlife while min‐ imizing the impact to neighbors. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources burns about 15 to 20,000 acres each year and each burn requires a plan, which includes fire breaks, notifying neigh‐ bors and contacting the local fire and res‐ cue dispatch.
Smoke management is a big issue and wildlife biologists use spot weather fore‐ casts to burn when the conditions are pre‐ dicted to give the smoke a lift into the atmosphere or carry it away from nearby homes, roads or communities. There are specific management goals for the area to be burned that is part of the long term management plan, said Scott Peterson, wildlife supervisor for central Iowa. “Once the conditions allow, we will start carrying out our burn plans across the state,” Peterson said. “This is an effort to diversify the landscape as much as possi‐ ble to create a stable environment. Prairie was a dominant landscape and by using fire, hopefully we can bring some of those grassland species back, like Henslow’s sparrow, dickcissels, bobolinks and mead‐ owlarks.” Removing the thatch allows ground
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nesting species including pheasants and quail to move through the area easier. Burned areas sprout new growth within a week and within a few weeks there will be little evidence that the area was burned. “Our grassland wildlife are among our most quickly disappearing species,” said Bill Ohde, wildlife supervisor for the DNR in southeast Iowa. “Prairie systems are extremely complex and as our knowledge base continues to grow, we will adapt our management of those areas. The timing of the burn will determine how the prairie responds to it. You may see us burning in
PPowering owering the and
the summer or in the fall to encourage wildflowers, which are important to attract insects, a vital food for young birds.” One of the complaints they often hear, Ohde said, is that burning destroys all the ground nests. While some nests are lost with the spring burns, the loss is only in the short term, and most birds will re‐nest. “We try to impact the nests as little as possible, but for the long term health and productivity of the grasslands and wildlife, fire is a tremendous management tool,” Ohde said.
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PIKE, Continued from Page 3
STEWARDSHIP TIP:
Disposable plastics BY BEN LEAL III
These plastics will become brittle and then break down into smaller Weʼve offered suggestions in the pieces. Add the aforementioned wind and they will gather in areas past of things that you can do to reduce your reliance on single use in a body of water. They continue plastics. Here are three of our own to break down and eventually you get bite-sized chunks that wildlife tips that we will recycle… and fish often mistake for food. n Get reusable bags for grocery According to new research comshopping ing out of the National Meeting of n Save and recycle packing the American Chemical Society, material n Use biodegradable lures rather floating plastic debris, similar to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has than soft plastics been found in the Great Lakes. The best solution to single use The Pacific garbage patch is an plastics is, simply, not to use them, area of trash in the Pacific Ocean and as weʼve already noted use reusable grocery bags to help elim- that's estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The spot acts as a inate the need. vortex of plastic particles and other Water bottles, plastic silverware pollutants that the currents have and plates, plastic beer cups, and the ubiquitous plastic bags…single pushed together. The actual dimension varies because the use items, use ʼem once and they garbage itself is often hard to see end up in the landfill…if weʼre from satellites. The Pacific is not lucky. Even then add wind to the alone, there's also a garbage patch equation and youʼll find single use plastics blowing all over the place. in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, These will at times find their way to and now the Great Lakes. Soft plastic baits, such as worms, our local fisheries. craws, lizards, tubes, frogs, etc., Recycled Fish Program Director
are commonly lost while fishing, either getting pulled off the hooks or jigs and ingested by fish during the catch, or falling off while fishing structure and various underwater cover to later tantalize fish and other wildlife and waterbirds and be eaten then. NEVER throw used plastic baits into the water! More and more companies are making bio-soft molded lures that are biodegradable, and many anglers are moving to using them for their scent advantages. Companies such as FoodSource Lures, Big Bite Baitʼs BioBaits, Berkleyʼs Gulp! And Gulp! Alive, and FishBites are a few of the more common choices for freshwater and saltwater anglers. These types of baits are commonly substituting not only for anglers fishing with lures, but also for anglers who traditionally fish with live, dead or cutbait. Recycle your plastics – switch to biodegradable baits – use less single use plastic by adding reusable shopping bags to your stewardship arsenal. Remember that everything we do off the water affects what happens on the water. Tight Lines All!
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if you can beat the Missouri River Reservoirs right now for numbers of quality pike. Fort Peck in Montana is incredible. Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota and Lake Oahe are both really good right now with good opportunities for fish over forty inches. My home water of North Dakota’s Devils Lake produces some really nice pike. Minnesota’s Red Lake, Lake of the Woods and Mille Lacs all have quality pike fishing opportunities for big fish. There are more under the radar lakes and flowages across Minnesota and Wisconsin that still hold big pike.
Big pike are such an amazing fish in my mind. Funny how when I take my eight‐year old daughter and seven‐year old son out fishing, their favorite fish are pike. I was some‐ what surprised as to why they liked pike so much… after all the rest of the world seems to be consumed with walleye. The answers were pretty straightforward. Pike are longer, splash more and they have cool teeth. I couldn’t help but smile at these matter of fact answers that are coated with such simple hon‐ esty all young children seem to pos‐ sess. I can’t disagree.
SPRING, Continued from Page 5 from two suppliers. They like an open area of short grass. That is why the edge of golf courses makes popular locations for blue‐ bird trails. The Goldfinches have been begin‐ ning to sport new gold feathers for a while now. That is always a very sure sign that spring will arrive
eventually. Be sure before all the frenzy of mating and nesting season arrives that all of your feeders and bird‐ houses are clean. You will have more activity in your yard if you have prepared for their arrival. HAPPY SPRING (whenever it arrives for good)!
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ESTHERVILLE NEWS/ESTHERVILLE, IA
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Ideas for early season fishing
SUCCESS! BY BOB JENSEN FISHING THE MIDWEST FISHING TEAM
Crappies across the Midwest are biting right now. Travis Carlson is an expert when it comes to catching slab crappies. Photo by Bob Jensen
More and more, anglers are getting on and in the water. Some folks are fishing from boats, some are wading, and some are fishing from docks or shore. Some anglers are catch‐ ing fish, some aren’t catching too much. If you’ll be fishing in the next couple of weeks, keep these fishing thoughts in mind. Early in the season it pays big dividends to understand a little bit about the fish you’re chas‐ ing. In the Midwest you can chase several species of fish on the same body of water. Depending on where you live, keep in mind that, right now, northern pike have probably completed spawning or are at least close to doing so, walleyes are probably spawn‐ ing, and bass and panfish are getting ready to spawn. While you might want to catch walleyes, you will be bet‐ ter off trying for pike or pan‐ fish. When fish are spawning, that’s what they have on their mind. They aren’t real interest‐ ed in eating, so, although some males might be willing to take your bait, if you want to feel a tug on your line, you will increase your chances for
that if you try for pike or pan‐ fish. Also, keep in mind that the water is still pretty cool, and many fish don’t want to chase a bait in cold water. A slow presentation will often be best. If walleyes are the target, try crawling a stand‐up Fire‐ Ball jig tipped with a minnow across the bottom. Give it plenty of stops as you drag it. The stand‐up head is better this time of year, as it “stand up” when you stop it. The fish can see the minnow better with the stand‐up head, which increases your odds for get‐ ting bit. Same thing is true for most other species. A spinnerbait that’s retrieved slowly will be good for pike, but an Impulse Jerk Minnow will be even bet‐ ter. These baits can be retrieved slower than the spin‐ nerbait, and the pike like that. So do most bass. When crappies are the tar‐ get, try a small minnow under a slip‐bobber. The slip‐bobber will allow you to suspend a bait at a certain level, and that’s a big deal this time of year. You’ll need to experi‐ ment a bit to determine what the proper level is, but once you do, you’ll be able to get
fish to bite that may have gone uncaught. Remember that most fish see up better than they see down, so set your bobber stop so the bait is at the fish’s eye‐level or just a tad higher. Baits that are below a fish rarely get eaten. When you’re fishing with a slip‐bobber for panfish, remember that because the bait is almost motionless, the fish are going to be able to get a good look at it. Many anglers go with less visible line to reduce the chances of spook‐ ing the fish. Also tiny jigs per‐ form better on light line. Four‐ pound test Sunline Super Natural is a very good choice. It handles well and the fish have a hard time seeing it. If the ultimate in invisibility is your goal, go with Super FC Sniper. This stuff is as good as it gets. Keep these ideas in mind and you’ll increase your chances for early season fishing suc‐ cess. To see all the most recent episodes of Fishing the Midwest television, new fishing video tips and articles from the past, visit fishingthemidwest.com. If you do Facebook, check us out for a variety of fishing related things.