Refining Your Panfish Presentation

Refining Your Panfish Presentation

Bob Bohland

            Panfish can either be one of the easiest fish to catch or the most frustrating. Most days it doesn’t seem like there is much room in between. However, even when they are at their most fickle, there are several things you can do to draw strikes, even when everyone around you is being flummoxed.

            A friend of mine once wisely compared crappies to Labrador retrievers. “If I drop a ball in front of my dog,” he said, “she looks at me like I’m an idiot, but if I throw the ball, she will go through anything or anyone to get it.” Crappies behave in much the same way, if you put your bait directly in front of their face; they will often stare at it briefly until something more interesting happens off to the side. Put the same bait down near the crappie and play a game of keep away, and watch their predatory instincts kick in. A little secret for you, fish (actually all predators) are not used to their food getting up in their face, nothing wants to get eaten. They will struggle mightily and try and put as much distance between themselves and the predator as is possible. This is what you need to make your bait look like it is doing. Practice your “evasion” techniques with your bait and you will be more likely to be rewarded with a fat crappie flopping on the ice.

            Getting panfish to chase your bait is a great starting tool, but many anglers are convinced that they have to continually go up with their baits. But guess what? Prey can swim down as well and often, when fishing near the bottom or in shallow water, their first instinct is to seek shelter. This can mean weeds or burrowing down into the muck. In shallow water, there simply isn’t enough room to continually raise the fish up 10-15 feet like you can when basin fishing; likewise murky waters limit how far you can take the bait away from the fish before they lose sight of it.

            This is where the “yo-yo” comes into play. Exactly like it sounds, the yo-yo is getting the fish to move up, and then if they do not commit, lower the bait below them. When the fish starts to move down, raise it above them again. By doing this you can extend the time you keep a fish interested. This has a couple of benefits. One, the longer you can keep a fishes attention, the more likely it is to bite. Two, the longer you can keep that fish there, the more likely another fish is to come along and want your bait. As I said earlier, panfish behave much like dogs, and there is no way I know of to get a dog to chase something faster than to have another dog going after it as well.

            Keeping a fish interested in your presentation is only half the battle, however. A moving bait will keep the fishes attention, but only the most aggressive fish will attack while there is constant movement. You will need to occasionally mix in a trigger. This can come in the form of a slowing down of your jigging, or just an all out pause. The problem many see with trying to include this trigger, is that with standard spinning reels, your line twists every time you turn that handle. So when the time comes for that pause, your lure will continue to spin. Try sight fishing with a spinning reel sometime and you will see it. Panfish, bluegills especially, will just sit back and wait for that spin to stop.

            Luckily, many advancements in the technology of fishing reels have been made available to the general public in the last few years. My favorites have come from the guys at 13 Fishing. For shallow water, it is hard to beat the ease of use of the Black Betty. But for deeper water situations, the 6061 and the new Teardrop shine with their ridiculous retrieve ratios and free spool options.

            The main idea behind these tricks is to make your lure behave like the prey the fish are feeding on every day. Eliminating line twist will allow you to pause the lure and give the fish that ambush point much like an indecisive minnow. However, keep your pauses brief and periodic, as the goal is to keep the fish moving to keep their interest. The longer you keep that interest, the more likely you are to get bit when fish turn inactive.

Dogs

It comes as no surprise to fellow dog owners that we empathize with fellow dog addicts. We understand the frustration during training, the laughs shared when the dog does something so ridiculous that there is nothing else to do but laugh. People that are good dog people are simply so alike that they can sit and tell stories about their animals for hours on end with no ego involved.

            While I had only met Bob St Pierre but once in person, we talked semi-frequently on social media. At first it was just bantering back and forth, me mocking his music choices while writing, his mocking my lack of birds in hand. It was good-natured ribbing between two like-minded individuals that understood that it was not about who shot more pheasants, or who actually enjoyed Taylor Swift songs, it was always about the dogs.

            So when I heard the news of Bob’s young pup, Izzy, dying from a freak accident in the field, I felt as if I had lost one of my own. The many good words spoken and written by fellow dog-owner/lovers helped ease the pain of a loss of a good dog, but nothing truly helps completely heal that hole that is left when a friend leaves you. They say that a dog is man’s best friend, but no words can truly capture that bond. Fleeting memories of an amazing point or retrieve is all that is left.

            Having lost a few great dogs in my life, I understand the pain involved; however, nothing can erase the memories you create with a dog. I still think back to some of the things dogs that have passed have done. You can always tell when someone is reminiscing about a dog memory, it is impossible to hide that smile or the slight tear in your eye. That tear could be pride over something that the dog did on its own, something you accomplished together, or just some random moment that you will never forget. That memory is something that will never leave you, it helps shape who you become as a human. That memory is the reason you, as a dog owner, can’t help but tear up when you see a story on the news or in a magazine of someone recounting a story of a great dog. You have been there, you know how the pride and the emotion all tie into one, and you want to reach out and pat the dog and shake the owner’s hand and say, “You get it, thank you for being a wonderful person.”

            Dogs truly make everyone around them better people just because of their very nature. They love everyone that even shows them the littlest bit of kindness; whether it be a treat, a pat on the head, or the squeal of excitement a kid lets out when a dog comes running up to lick them. There is no lack of love in a dog’s heart, and though they live far too short of lives, they can teach us so much.

Re: The Hunt for New Lakes (West of St Cloud)

Hit 3 different lakes around the area today, with mixed results. First lake I found some decent bluegills in shallow (8-12 feet), but couldnt seem to find any crappies. Pulled the plug and headed to the second lake that had a very promising survey for crappies, but drilled all over and could only find a handful of 7-9" fish.

Headed to the third lake and found the motherload, unfortunately they were: a. a bit on the small side, b. not willing to bite until after 4 pm, c. suspended over 50+ feet of water. Didn't catch any big crappies today (none bigger than 10") but I did catch a lot and found a promising bluegill spot for future trips. All fish were caught on a RattlN Flyer Spoon in both Purple and Firetiger tipped with a white glow plastic. Lots of crappies in that 7-10" range that should make for good fishing in a few years, plus an amazing sunset that really makes you appreciate having an entire lake to yourself.

The Hunt for New Lakes (West of St Cloud)

As those who live in the area know, the city of St Cloud provides quite the border of where you can/have time to fish. Since I moved to the St Cloud area, I have lived on the east side of the city, so I have always fished lakes to the SE and North of town with the occasional trip to the Chain. Earlier this year, we bought a house in St Joseph. While the St Joseph/Avon area offer a ton of opportunities for fishing, most of these lakes are new to me and it represents a challenge I am very excited aboot: New Waters!

Anyways, I tried a few new lakes around Avon today with not the greatest result. First "lake" (it was really more of a pond) I tried I found 3-5" of ice with not another soul on it. Drilled out all the area I was comfortable walking on and didnt mark a single fish. Went to the next lake and started drilling. The ice on the second lake was the clearest black ice I have ever seen. There was around 8" out to the edge of the sheltered bay, then 4-6" after that. I started shallow, but didnt find anything until I got out deeper than 20 feet of water. At that point, there seemed to be fish in almost every hole i drilled, however none of them wanted to bite. Kept drilling around the basin area with the same results, but right around sunset, I had fish start showing up 4-10 feet off bottom. Was able to ice several mediocre crappies before I had to head home. 

I have 4 new lakes to try picked out for tomorrow, stay tuned...

Techno TipUps

Techno Tip-Ups

Bob Bohland

            In recent years I have found myself going away from my tip-ups more and more. It isn’t that they aren’t enjoyable, most of my favorite days on the ice have been spent running back and forth between flags; it is simply that I find myself on the move frequently and when I am not drilling a ton of holes it usually because it is really cold and I am camped out in my fish house. However, with a little work combined with some new technology, tip-up fishing is no longer a sit and wait technique.

            Tip-ups can be very effective in a run and gun setup, especially when the fish are on the move over shallow flats with little structure to hold them in one place. With this kind of setup, it is no longer a waiting game with your tip-ups, but you need to be ready to constantly move them to different locations in your area in order to keep them productive. The type of lure you tie on the end of the tip-up makes a huge difference also. While quick-strike rigs are all the rage among pike fisherman, for other species they are not as efficient. While I will at times use a quick strike on my tip-ups, I have found that a spoon or a circle hook increase my hooking percentages for all species. One major benefit to using a spoon as opposed to a quick-strike is that allows you to present many different colors along with your bait. Not only will this help you adjust what you are catching on other tip-ups, but it also shows you certain color preferences on new waters that allows you to change your setup on your jigging rod.

            Much like everyone else, I have become a slave to my smartphone. As a fisherman, I will try out almost any fishing related app. My new favorite, however, is the Blue Tipz app from Deep Freeze. Granted, you will need to buy the accessory for your tip-ups (it does work with all existing tip-ups), but being notified directly from your phone the moment your tip-up goes off, and knowing exactly which one (as you can name individual BlueTipz devices) is priceless. Blue Tipz doesn’t just stop at notifying you when your flag goes up though, it also allows you to store data such as:

1. What depth you were fishing
2. What bait you were using
3. Whether or not you landed the fish
4. If you kept or released the fish
5. Species and length
6. Dates and times of day

            There are several other things you can do to increase your catch rate while you are fishing tip-ups. One of my best is to hook the minnow upside down. While this isn’t a tactic for a tip-up to remain in one place for a long time, the minnow will constantly struggle to right itself, creating more flash and vibration and attracting fish looking for an easy meal. Another is to cut the tail fins off of the minnow. This makes the minnow swim harder to move, again creating more attraction for fish in the area.

            Ice fishing is the fastest growing segment of the fishing industry, and the technology is finally starting to keep up with the growth. Whether it be underwater cameras that fit in your pocket, underwater sonar that shows you what is around you without drilling holes, or a tip-up alert that goes straight to your smart phone the technology is out there. So don’t be afraid to try out all the new technology out there, you will find some very useful tech that will help you catch more fish.

Clicker Training Your Retriever

By: Bob Bohland

            I have to admit the first time I walked into a retrieving class through Retrievers Etc. with my new dog, I was not impressed. We were walking around with the dogs in a circle, playing with noise makers and handing them treats. I let my girlfriend, Brittany, do most of the work with the dog as I sat back, watching and wondering how this was supposed to make my dog retrieve birds. The next night we moved up to wooden blocks, and try as I might, I couldn’t seem to grasp what exactly this was supposed to do. It wasn’t until later in the class, when the trainer, Cathy Mahr, brought her dog out and showed how it was taught to retrieve anything by going through these steps. As bored as I was, I will, however, say that I was thoroughly impressed as her dog brought back a large plastic chair without a command. The dog, and myself, have come a long way since those first few classes. Not only have I started to believe in the system, but my dog, River, has shown remarkable improvements and I have been able to correct my older dog, Aspen’s flaw of dropping items at my feet; Who says you cant teach an old dog/stubborn owner new tricks?

            We have continued on with the classes, which currently take place in Monticello, Mn for the past several months. It really is fascinating to see how quickly these dogs learn all the different tasks associated with clicker-training. My favorite part of each class though, is those first couple nights. That’s when I get to look around the room and see that same expression on the faces of some of the new guys as I had: blank, bored, slightly annoyed that they are paying to play with noisemakers.

            The main idea behind clicker training is positive reinforcement. As many professional and amateur trainers know, building a good retrieve used to depend on force-fetching/ear-pinching a dog. However, when not done correctly, or with a soft dog, this method can result in bad training, being bitten, or even ruining a dog to retrieving altogether. With clicker-training, the old ideas that said you should not begin training a dog until it is six months old go out the window. As Cathy states, “with positive reinforcement, it is never too early to start training/shaping a dog.”

            The beginning to a perfect retrieve, according to Mahr is, “to work backwards; I teach the retrieve by shaping. Once your dog learns the shaping game you can teach almost anything!” Cathy uses a marker as a bridge between the behavior wanted and the reward, “I prefer a clicker because it is more precise than a verbal marker. It also carries no emotion. The handler’s emotions/feelings can be a problem. If you become worried or stressed about your dog’s performance it comes through in your voice and influences the dog. None of this happens with a clicker. Also, by working the retrieve backward we never have to tell the dog to ‘come’ as they are always trying to put the retrieved item in your hand.”

            There are several steps to begin the shaping of your dog. The first of which is to get your dog’s attention and make sure that it is “in-game”. This is done by clicking and rewarding when the dog looks at you. Rewards can be a variety of things dependent on the dog itself, “For some dogs a piece of their food is reinforcing, for some petting. Hot dogs and chicken can be great. For our more advanced dogs, the chance to retrieve again can be the reward. One puppy I know would hold a dumbbell for a kiss on the nose.” The next steps involve several different things, from getting the dog to touch your hand with its nose, to grabbing a dumbbell out of your hand. Once your dog has learned to associate these steps with reinforcement, it can be taught to bring anything back to you with a couple of steps. This is normally the part of the class where Cathy will demonstrate with a plastic chair, a shoe, even a dropped clipboard; and her dog will bring it back to her without any command given.

            “Now for the bad news,” says Cathy, “There can be a million variations in how I get these steps done. One thing to acknowledge after you find what is reinforcing is to eliminate anything the dog finds aversive to the process. For instance if you are standing, some dogs may find this intimidating, so sit down; if the dog finds a loud room intimidating, start in a quiet enclosed room at first. All of these things can be reintroduced once the dog’s will to retrieve is strong. But at first, remove as many aversive influences as you can.”

            By the end of your class, you will have a ‘tool bag’ of tricks to continue shaping your dog as it develops. These tools also allow you to correct any mistakes or bad habits your dog is bound to develop. “Essentially, everything goes back to those original hand-touches that you taught your dog, this is the basis for the entire method of training and is the gateway to all further training” states Cathy.

            Classes fill up fast, as they like to keep the group sizes small and they take place across from the Monticello pet hospital in their new training facility, which also has an outdoor section for dogs to receive in-the-field work outside of the classroom. Other classes taught include Basic Obedience, Agility, Kids and K9s, and Rally Obedience. With 44 years of training experience, Cathy’s classes will not disappoint, so don’t hesitate. If you would like to learn more about Cathy Mahr’s classes or Retriever’s Etc. you can visit the website at: www.retrieversetc.com, find them on Facebook with a search of ‘Retrievers Etc’ or contact the Big Lake, Monticello, St. Michaels, or Elk River, Mn’s community education departments.

History Lessons

History Lessons

By: Bob Bohland

            We have all had a great fishing spot ruined. Whether it is from a mouthy friend who likes to brag, someone else finding your spot, or just dumb luck by a few locals. There isn’t much you can do other than fish with the rest of the crowd (which can amount to torture to me) or find a new honey hole. This can take a lot of work and, at least in my experience, a lot of failure before you hit pay dirt again. Many keep a log of lakes they have fished and what they have caught, sometimes even with pictures or GPS coordinates to remind them. Why keep old lakes that have gotten out in the back of your mind? Simple, because panfish, especially crappies can recover in lakes that have seen the limelight of internet forums, magazine articles, and TV shows, and can return to their once lost glory.

            The Alexandria, Mn area is home to a lot of very productive lakes, but these lakes also see a lot of pressure. Anglers in the area travel from hot lake to hot lake seemingly like locusts, but for area guide Joe Scegura, it is all just part of the game. Like a dealer at a 3-card Monte table, Joe always seems to pull another great fishing spot from out of nowhere. His secret? “I always keep detailed logs of where I have found good fishing, and in time go back to those notes to refind lost gems.”

            Logs are a detailed part of any consistently successful angler’s tools. These can range from the more advanced, such as spreadsheets or Word documents, to something much more simple, “Heck, I keep notes on my calendars,” says Scegura, “Every time I get back from a trip, I write down conditions, what lakes I hit, and presentations that worked for me that day.” Another thing that many anglers do is to add GPS coordinates to their notes; this can help you track fish movement from season to season, and even from day to day. Since the weather in our area of the country isn’t exactly known to be consistent, water temperature data in your logs can really help pin down fish movement from year to year. Depending on the forage base available for fish, this recovery can happen in as little as 2-3 years, but in some lakes it can take up to 8-10 years. Detailed notes with dates that a lake is producing can help narrow down where you should fish. If you haven’t done so already, start keeping a fishing log, whether it be on your computer or handwritten, and be honest with yourself. If you exaggerate and write that you were catching 13” crappies, when in reality they were at best 11” you are only hurting yourself, this is where an accurate measuring tool such as a Fish Trough can help you keep accurate records. When you put a fish on the board, there is no ‘fudge factor’.

            Another great source for filling the backlogs of your notes if you are just getting started is internet forums. There are a lot of great reports available, and they are updated every day, if not from hour to hour from a variety of sources. Doing a search a few years back on some of these forums can lead you to some very successful spots to try. The surprising thing with most anglers, especially the ones that follow the hot bite around, is that they have a very short memory. So by keeping a record of what the ‘flavor of the month’ is, you can have a great lake almost to yourself after the masses have forgotten about it.

            “The funny thing is,” explains Scegura, “is that many times when fisherman think a lake is fished out, often the fish are just retreating to another spot on the body of water due to commotion. Lakes that produce year after year have places for these fish to retreat once the army of anglers arrives. They don’t have to be especially large lakes, but if they have a place to get away from the commotion and the pressure the fish will often survive the onslaught and can be caught in subsequent years” So you shouldn’t always assume that just because the fishing has slowed that the fish have all gone home to fill freezers. Often, they have simply moved due to the amount of pressure, and noise, which is created by a large amount of anglers congregated in an area for an extended period of time.

            Joe conducts what he calls ‘spot-checks’ on lakes in his logs, “often I can gauge how hard a lake has been hit or how quickly it is recovering pretty quickly. It doesn’t take too long to dump the boat in a lake and hit a couple spots to see what the size structure is like before I head off to a new place.” By periodically checking his lakes, he is able to find out how hard the fish population was decimated and set a timeline for when the lake will start producing quality fish again for him to put his clients on. “Generally you are looking at a five to seven year turnaround for a lake that has been hit pretty hard; however lakes with those escape areas can recover a lot faster,” states Joe “but it really depends on the quality of the forage available to the fish. If the lake isn’t known for fast-growing panfish, it can take longer for them to recover. Conversely, a lake that is well known for producing bruiser panfish may recover much quicker due to a better forage base. I have also seen spots that anglers think the fish are gone, when in reality it is because there is just so much food available that they won’t bother with most presentations because they are full. This can happen from an insect hatch or even a boom in a minnow population.”

            There are also lakes that are known for only providing good bites during certain times of the year, “Lake Osakis is one that really sticks out in my mind,” Joe explains, “No matter how hard it is hit, the lake only seems to produce numbers of quality fish at certain times of the year.” Other lakes can follow this pattern as well. One of my favorite lakes, (although, I am a bit biased since I have been fishing it since I was 5) only produces trophy caliber fish during early ice and spring. Though neither Joe nor I really understand why this happens, it is something you truly cannot avoid, “your best bet is still to look at your past logs and find out when the fish were biting, what they were biting on, and where.”

            The next key for conducting spot-checks of your own lakes is your past water temperature logs. “Obviously lakes with darker water heat up faster after ice out, so temperature readings become vital for really tracking the fish,” adds Scegura, “even shallower bays with dark bottoms can really heat the water up more than the rest of a lake. So it pays to keep your temperature recordings according to location.” In darker waters it can be more difficult to conduct your spot-checks. This is when Joe uses a flashy presentation, “I like to throw something big and bright to really get their attention. I am trying to move through areas quickly to gauge the population and size structure, so a bait like the Lindy Watsit Spin or a Dancin’ Crappie Spin Jig really help get their attention and get them to commit. The sizes of these baits also lets me select for larger fish in the school and lets me know what the larger-sized fish population is like, which is what I am really after.”

            Don’t give up on your old hotspots, these gems held great fish for you in the past and they are capable of doing the same in the future. Just don’t forget the lessons Joe Scegura has learned over many years of guiding in a populated area: 1.) A good memory or good logs are your best friend. Wait till the hype dies down about the bite and hit it again. Keep going out there and keep tabs on how the fish population is recovering. 2.) Know how good the forage is in the lakes you are fishing. The better the forage available, the quicker the fish will recover from heavy pressure. 3.) Keep it to yourself! A great panfish bite is harder and harder to come by these days. Going out and bragging to everyone in earshot about the great fishing you had on Lake X will only end with the demise of your bite.

            Joe Scegura's Guide Service offers guided fishing trips across Central Minnesota, primarily on Alexandria area lakes, Mille Lacs Lake, and the northern part of the Mississippi River. Joe can be reached through his website at www.jsguideservice.com