These guys did mine. Great quality, fair price, good service.

http://www.customconstructionservicesmn.com/

Penn Battle 3. Aluminum built mostly targeted for saltwater but they are fantastic. I have converted almost all of my Shimanos over after they go out.

I made the switch to a Terrova last year after mine got stuck down in Green Bay. Luckily I have a sliding trolling motor bracket that helped me get it out. Only had to call 21 places to find one!

I am a big fan of the DJI Osmo Actions. You can go look at “The Net Buddy” on youtube. All the videos are filmed using that camera. only $200 too, and waterproof.

You should check out a Meateater podcast called “The Meat Tree” It is probably one of the best stories out there(they were attached by a grizzly), but they talk about having bear spray and a gun, and why having 2 makes sense.

If you are still up there, might try a planer board on the spinners, fish were super spooky and if a ton of boats were driving over them, might be tough. I am guessing I know where you might be, move a little shallower for a pass or 2, you might be surprised. We pulled a few out of 5-8 feet last week.

If your going with a Bird, the difference between gen 2 and gen 3 is worth the extra money, I would not get under a gen 3 Helix if side imaging is important to you. I run an 8 inch Gen 3, and a 7 would work just fine, as most the time I have my map up too.

Fishing was surprisingly good over the 4th up there. Fish were super spooky of boats/motors, and were on rocks in 7-14. Randomly….the only thing I could get them to go on was Drop Shot and Leech. I would expect them to be on a similar pattern. Once I figured this out, the bite was good all weekend.

Just curious, did you go to auquatraction?

Leech was great this year. Most fish were in shallow 6-9 FOW. Boat traffic was at an all time high, which caused a lot of the schools we scouted with electronics Friday to blow up and spread out. We did our best to fish spots off the boat clusters that had less fish, but due to no pressure and noise they ate great. All fish caught on Saturday were pitching a jig and shiner away from the boat.

Fish Flies were going good Sunday as well, so the bobber leech bite started to turn on too. Good luck out there.

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Thanks all for the input. I will check out the Ionics

Depends on what you’re after, but if after coho around Duluth, orange jointed scatter raps have been the ticket. 3 Colors of lead core has been best, but flat lining mono has also taking plenty of fish. Don’t be afraid to slow down to 1.6MPH if you are marking fish but they are not eating. This was our trick a week ago. Good Luck!

Try it on your trolling motor first if you haven’t yet. It seems like a pretty good split, but I can fish faster with it on the trolling motor. Yes, spot lock doesn’t allow you to see them eat every time, but if you know the fish is there, you know how to fish, just fish. I bought Livescope the week it came out 3 years ago, and the 5 people who own boats and fish with me, all have it on their boats now, and all are on the trolling motor after seeing the speed of fishing with it there, vs a pole. Some like the pole and that’s ok too! Hope this helps.

Get that rod underwater when you feel the fish starting to rise. As Steve pointed out, tarpon trick, works great on Smallies. I will go as far as getting on my knees and getting my rod all the way to the reel under water, and pull opposite the direction of the fish.

Yes some will still jump, but that angle seems to keep them on even when they do.

I use to run 6 footers then moved to 12 for ML only. I rig them with 12lb flouro. Ran the 6 and 12 for multiple trips with the exact same spinner side by side. Only run 12 footers now as there is a significant bite ratio.

I am thinking about going there next week. Are you launching Sturgeon and just driving the channel each day, or is there a better option? Did Algoma last year, also looking into Bailey’s Harbor. Thanks

I had a chance to see the store this week. All I will say is go check it out this weekend, you won’t be disappointed.

I was up over the 4th and ran the same program I posted on the last thread. Side imaging weed lines for pods of 2-4 fish on the edge and throwing a bobber fishing a leech still worked. 10-14 FOW for eaters. Night trolling in 5-7 fow with original raps was on fire under the full moon and fireworks. Good Luck.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Leech has been a tough nut to crack lately. Your trip sounds similar to me and my buddies Opener on Leech and we didn’t have Mayflies to blame. He has a place on the lake and it’s just become more difficult the last few years not sure why.

More traffic due to Mille Lacs regs and the lake is getting clearer due to Zebra Mussels. Fish have become more pressured. Fishing away from the boat pitching jigs, planer boards and bobbers has been key to success up there this year.

I was up there as well over the weekend and fishing was tougher for sure. Early morning spinners in 12-14, Side Imaging schools in 8-12 on weedlines midday and throwing bobbers at them with smaller leeches, and night trolling sand flats with stick baits got us about a dozen good eaters a day, with your standard couple of 24-26’s sprinkled in.

I moved to a 31 last season and have had no issues. I run 3 graphs: a 12 and 2 9’s, livescope and a ps30 right now and have not had any issues with a couple 14 hour days on the water, while running the live well. Might add a 4th graph and have thought about the 5th battery option too. I have a pair of jumpers in the boat just in case, but luckily haven’t needed them yet.

Fishing on Leech has been great this year. Some fish are still on shallow sand flats if you can find shiner schools. The majority have moved out to deeper water, pulling spinners would be where I start, but if the wind blows, pitch that jig away from the boat!

What do you want to fish for? When?

I have no knowledge, but I have seen some videos with lines and printed letters on Livescope to turn it for the different modes. Could be enough of a change to move some inventory. 42 seconds in the video below.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/pn/010-12970-00

Fished it Labor Day weekend. Jig N shiner in 4-8 FOW in the weeds was good enough(5 fish an hour average) Eaters and big fish. Evening was best.

Was on Leech 2 weeks ago and had good fishing using jig n’shiners on weed edges in 10 FOW.

I bought an Eco Slider last year and have not been happy with it at all. The plastic is cheap and has already cracked, and the slider sticks to where I don’t even use it any more.

I bought a “King” RS Net this spring with lake trout/Salmon in mind. They are spendy, but amazing quality. I plan on replacing the Eco next season with a smaller RS. Thorne has them.

Basin was a little tougher in the waves Saturday. Still pulled off 12 fish in 8 hours, with a 28 incher to end the day. All on Taildancers except for one on a BX Swimmer on 5 colors of lead. Bait was way more spread out than the Saturday before, which made the walleyes spread out too.

I was in there last night, they close at 7 week nights. They are not going anywhere. Super nice folks working there too. Selection is a little smaller than the bigger stores, but prices are better and you’ll most likely find what you need.

Decided to spend yesterday basin trolling tail dancers. Took about an hour and half before finding a decent school. Fish were still pretty low. Went 20-23 in 8 hours of trolling, speed that triggered bites was 3-3.4MPH. Couldn’t get a bite at 2MPH. No giants, a couple in the 26-27 range.