Fins And Feathers
As the pendulum swings us into the late, late stages of Summer and the early days of fall, the fishing activity does the same thing on the Big Devil. Even though the water can be ‘Pea Soup’ Green on top on a calm day, many of the big schools of Walleyes are venturing back into shallower regions.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still fish, and a lot of fish, deep. In fact, that is where we are focusing, MOST of our time, 20+ feet of water. However, those shallower ledges, 10-15 feet of water, have become pretty productive again. Also, venturing in tighter to the weeds and pitching cranks shallow, is a technique that we will start to dabble in again. Those water temperatures are going to start slipping now as the overnight temperatures drop ever so slightly. Our last outing on Saturday saw us deep and finding a lot of box sized fish. Not many lunkers, but those 14-16’s were present.
With the onset of our Autumnal Period creeping up on us, those shallow areas are going to get really good again.
How We Gonna Do It
We will still be pulling spinners and worms with bottom bouncers and running Salmo Hornets, #4’s and #5’s out deep in 20-3- feet of water, however, if we see interesting structure coming up on the map on those shallower ledges, we are going to swing over and investigate. Soon we will be pitching the weeds again and maybe even going frog hunting the next time is rains just to add a different technique to our repertoire.
Tough Decisions, Tough Choices
To Cast or To Shoot, That Is The Question!
With this period of the year we are presented with a dilemma. Do we break out the Ranger boat and chase fins or the Benelli and chase feathers.
Sunday saw us doing the latter and it felt great to be in the field again. The SBE3 was broken in with style as the first round shot out of it brought down a B52 just like it is drawn up.
Mission Accomplished!
Was Never A Silhouette Guy, Until Today!
I have always been a true believer in Full Body decoys. Sure, I have some silosock ducks and snows for numbers and high wind days for movement, but for the most part run almost all full bodies. I NEVER ran silhouettes. Thought they were way too gimmicky.
Until Sunday, anyway. I will be purchasing a few dozen of GHG’s Canada Silhouettes real soon. Why? Cause they work. What I witnessed Sunday with these decoys has me convinced. They are an improvement on the original, painfully flat silhouette and really look sharp in the field. To go along with that, their ease of setup and the amount of space a guy saves has me anxiously awaiting my order to arrive.
The lesson I learned is to never close your mind about an old product that has been improved on. I am not going to go out and buy a bunch of the old FLAT silhouettes. However, with what GHG has done with the silhouette concept has me wanting a few dozen in my arsenal.
What Is to Come!
Fishing with frogs, Sandhill Cranes, more Honker hunting, Sharptail Grouse, Huns, Doves, mega Perch Schools. How does a guy find the time to get it all in. Well, we deprive ourselves of sleep, that is for sure. A most exciting time of the year is fast approaching us up here on the Northern Tier of North Dakota. Stay tuned as we try to get it all in.
