Over Due

A FWM update is long over due-yes this I know.  I apologize for the lack of fishing reports and ice reports.  The season just got too busy and it has kept me away from my puter.  I have been spending most of my time entertaining clients on Lake Minnetonka in search of gravel lizards.  I can't say we have been killing the fish but we have managed to get many first time ice fisherman a walleye or two during a time of year when the fishing is as tough as pulling teeth.  

As you can see from this picture of Bryan Culp from Texas not all the fish in tonka are big.  As he would tell me, "everything is bigger in Texas"!  But this time he was in MN on a frozen pond waiting for that tug from a 10lb walleye.  His just happened to catch a 10" walleye.  It was fun to see these fellas taking in their first ice fishing "experience" and also catch their first fish walleye through a ice hole.  We enjoyed a great fish fry, many laughs, and many first's for the boys from the south.  

Good ole Goergie boy didn't even get out of his chair to catch this giant 11" Lake Minnetonka walleye.  It's not always about the size of the fish, but about the size of the smile.  I am in the business of making memories and smiles one willing anlger at a time.  I have been on trips most days the last week and half.  I will attempt to get another update up soon.  I can tell you we have been on a streak of small lizards on Minnetonka.  Which is fairly typical with this time of year.  I can report that there is lots of good ice.  I have been driving all over the east end of Lake Minnetonka and the ice conditions are as good as I have seen in years.  We have 14-18" of great black ice due to the lack of snow.  Until next time, Fish On!  

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

So often I sit down to write a blog or post to my website and I struggle to find the words to put on the page. I think back to the fishing action, the trip, the laughs, and the people I am fortuante enough to share that with day in and day out and I can't find a way to put all that emotion into words. My most recent trip/adventure is no exception. Once again this outing went too fast...it felt like I had just arrived and next thing I know everyone had come and left....guess time really does fly when your having fun and catching fish!
I have been blogging and posting fishing reports for 10 years to the internet and I sit down and just think "WOW", people are not going to believe this.....I have that feeling on 8 out of 10 times I sit down to post to this "space" known as fishwithmatt.
I have thought about changing my domain (or buying another) to catchwithmatt.com. Since I am my own marketing manager, one would think that would make more sense when trying to sell people on fishing adventures, catching is usually the key to success. Not many people just want to go fishing, most want to go catching(or so I think). This past weekends trip and fishing adventure was all about "catching"! I have spent 15+ years training for days like this past weekend, at times it shows...tough to beat experience. Prolific in the art of "catching"!
On Friday morning I headed back to Lake Mille Lacs to get back out on the ice and chase the gravel lizards and the jumbo perch. Thanks to my Navionics chip in my Lowrance GPS I headed to a new area in search of fish that have not had any pressure and I was able to find a spot all on my own right away. Shortly after getting set-up on my "juice" I had my company arrive and we proceeded to put the "pappy" on the fish. We started the afternoon with a few lizards and quickly started catching nice jumbo perch. That was until about 4:30....
At about 4:30 in the evening (give or take a few minutes), we started catching lizards and they didn't let up for the better part of an hour. When the fun and chaos was all over we had picked off our limit of "eater" (slot) lizards for everyone and had thrown back lots of fish, numerous big fish(overs)! The above photo is one of many nice limits we were able to catch over the weekend.
When I say "chaos" I mean chaos! The fish would come in so fast and furious it was nearly impossible to get the bait down fast enough. At times I had 3 or 4 fish on my vexilar fl-20 waiting for my bait to get back down near the bottom.

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Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Here is a short slide show of a few big fish that we were able to catch and release over the weekend. You will see that Jarrett was not waking up for very many of the rattle reel bites, so I continued to catch fish and take self photo's with him sleeping in the back ground. I did manage to catch a 27" er that was tagged, but unfortunately the tag was so old it had grown a heavy coat of moss that I could not get any info off of it. :( It was still pretty cool to see a tagged fish come through my ice hole, especially one that big and old! I also managed a 40" pike yesterday with a young man who had never ice fished before-he was totally freaked out. He thought I was going to hand it off for a photo-his response was "no way"! He thought that thing was pre-historic. The young man's name is Tucker and I can tell you that he is an ice fisherman for life after the great day we had fishing together yesterday. Cool to introduce new people to the sport I love and am so passionate about. When it was all said and we finished the weekend with more over fish then I could count and as many eater size lizards as we wanted to catch. I know we landed over 60 or 70 lizards under the 18" mark. We did also manage a pail full of jumbo perch-bonus!
Now for the part you are all waiting for.. All of our big fish(overs) this weekend fell victim to a #2 gamakatsu octopus hook in either fluorescent orange or fluorescent pink tipped with a golden shiner set about a foot off the bottom on either a tip-up, or a rattle reel. We did also manage some eater size fish on the set lines as well. Most of our eater fish came jigging one of three different baits. I managed a good portion of the fish on a northland spoon-the best 2 were the forage minnow and the macho minnow. The third go to bait that also produced a ton of fish was a #3 rapala jigging shad rap in glow fire tiger. This little bait tipped with a minnow head produced over 40 eater size walleyes over 2 days! All the baits we were jigging were just tipped with a minnow head. The ice report on the north end of Mille Lacs is good. We had 13-15" of good strong (black) ice. There were lots of trucks, cars, and people on the ice this weekend. I am not sure how the bite was for everyone else, but I will tell you that if you want to get into the fish and have a great time I may be able to assist you. ;) Now I have to get packed to head to Vegas for SHOT show. Then I will be back on the pond chasing tail again. Until next time, Fish On!

Fine Piece Of Equipment

I stopped by the Mathews booth to get some info on the new offerings for 2012 and we were not disappointed. These guys really now how to engineer bows. The new Heli-m is amazing and I look forward to shooting one in both leagues as well as the tree next fall. It's never too soon to start shooting. Practice will make you more comfortable when it comes time to make that shot. So don't wait until September, get out and shoot at your local archery shop and stay tuned in and dialed. Even though I am busy chasing fish I still find time to shoot a few times a week all off season. Another words; there is no off season in bow hunting.

Sweet Spot

The "Raw Rye" bite continues to be killer every where I seem to drill a hole in the ice.  Not only have I caught lots of eater fish, but I have been on the big "Raw Ryes" this winter.  I work hard to catch big gravel lizards and this winter has been no exception.  This fish measured in at 28" and I have already been apart of over 50 lizards over 23" this winter.  I have been on the big fish in a big way.  Every person I have fished with this winter has caught at least one walleye over 23"; many have caught numerous fish over 23" on a single outing.  I have witnessed numerous anglers catch their personal best walleye with me this winter.

I spent last week on Lake Mille Lacs chasing gravel lizards and jumbo perch.  We ended up catching a good #of both species.  My best bite still seems to be on the tip-ups or set lines of some sort.  For the gravel lizards I have two things on the end of my set-lines, either a #2 Pink Gamakatsu Octopus Hook or a Northland Doodle Bug w/ a #4 hook.  I am rigging a med-large golden shiner on the set line rigs.  The other way we are catching fish and most of the perch is jigging.  We are doing tons of ice trolling and producing nice jumbo perch with some lizards mixed in.  I have been jigging a few different things.  Most have been some sort of Northland spoon, whether a buckshot, a macho minnow, or a forage minnow; they have all been working well.  The last thing in my aresnal right now is some sort of vertical jigging presentation.  The three must haves in my box are the Salmo Chubby Darter, the Nils Jigging Shad, or the Rapala Jigging Shad Rap.  All these baits have been working well for me this winter.  Typically I start with something that resembles the forage best.  For me it has been something in perch color and I am tipping it with a minnow head.    

This is one of many nice fish that Eric (Peach) was able to land while on last weeks adventure to Mille Lacs.  I am still booking guide trips for this week and next if you are looking to get out and have a chance at this killer gravel lizard bite.  On guide trips we provide the gear, the bait, and the houses.  All you need to do is get to the lake and get ready to do some catching.  Looking to book groups of 3-6 anglers.  Get a hold of me asap if you want to get out on the ice on either Mille Lacs or the metro, days are becoming limited.  Lake Minnetonka and Lake Waconia both have fishable ice.  

I do have some bad news on the ice report/ice condition front.  Lake Minnetonka ice report/ice conditions is not the best.  The ice I have been fishing is great 6-7" but there are plenty of areas that are not in the best shape.  There are a few areas of open water on the west end of the lake where there was a pressure ridge and now the crack has opened up about 150 yards due to wind and warm temps.  The Lake Waconia ice report/ice condition is still pretty good.  Most of the lake is sitting at about 8-10" of good ice.  There are a few small cracks and areas to look out for, but most are flagged so you should be able to see them.  Please use caution when venturing out on any ice, ice thickness will often vary.