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.

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

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!

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.  

When In Doubt

When I think about going raw rye fishing and think about where I might set-up for a guide trip or outing I am always wondering if they will bite. All of my fishing decisions are based off past experience and I usually have confidence going into an area. On this particular trip to Mille Lacs I opted for the "easy" route. I was in doubt of being able to get out to where I really wanted to fish so I stayed close to shore and fished the shoreline break outside of the Harbor Inn in Garrison.

We arrived on Thursday and had high hopes for what the next few days of ice fishing on Mille Lacs may bring. After getting set-up on what my fellow guide friend PK would call a "wiggle" we proceeded to put the smack down on the gravel lizards for 2.5 days straight.

I was joined on this adventure with Jen Herzog and Brennen Herzog and as you can see in the above 2 photo's they were able to scream "FISH ON" and land some really nice walleyes. Many of the fish we caught over the 2.5 days were giants but we did manage to catch plenty of "eater" size fish for the oil as well. We ate fish 2 different times throughout the trip. Most of our fish over the weekend fell victim to a #2 Fluorescent Pink Gamakatsu Octopus hook tipped with a golden shiner. It is a really difficult rig.....not. It is as simple as it gets and sometimes keeping it simple is good. Don't over think it. The other thing we had luck on was a gold colored Northland Macho Minnow.

Even the guide got to catch a couple....

This fish measured in at 27". I think it's my jammy pants, they have been good luck the last few outings. :)

Here were a couple "eaters" I caught on Saturday morning. The set lines(tip ups, rattle reels) really seemed to be the trick on this trip. We did catch some fish jigging but most of them came on set lines. We did also manage a few nice jumbo perch, with the biggest being caught by Peach and coming in at 13"(below).

As for metro and other area ice conditions. Mille Lacs had 11" of great ice on the west side but with the "crack" still being an issue there was a couple hundred yard stretch of open water. We were plenty far enough away from the water and tfhe crack was not an issue to us. I set up only 200 yards off shore on the break line. Lake Minnetonka ice conditions are improving and there is 4-8" on most of the lake now with much of it being 6"+. But there are still areas to look out for so be cautious. Lake Waconia has 9" of great ice or more on the entire lake. I have been driving wheel houses out with my 4 wheeler for the last week. I am going to be guiding Waconia the next few days. The crappie bite has been good on Waconia. If you are looking to catch gravel lizards you should get with me for a Mille Lacs adventure. The bite has been fire. I am headed to the lake and ice as we speak. Stay tuned. Until next time, Fish On!

Crazy Gravel Lizard Crush

Once again I am here to report that the walleye fishing has been on fire.  It doesn't seem to matter where we go or fish we have been catching lots of fish with many giants mixed in the bunch.  Over the last 2 weeks we have fished Lake Mille Lacs, Lake Waconia, Lake Minnetonka, and Leech Lake.  I am here to report that the ice fishing report is good.  The fishing has been nothing short of amazing every where we go.  This is a picture of a 27" raw rye that I caught and released yesterday on Lake Mille Lacs during our excursion.    

As for ice reports.  I know Waconia has 6-8"of good black ice on it, the Mille Lacs ice report is 8" of good ice every where we have been.  Now I know many of you watch the news and have seen the ice shifting around on Mille Lacs making for a few ice rescues.  The lake has great ice but does have a crack that has been causing the ice to shift.  When the wind changes the ice has shifted a little at times causing for a few people to be left stranded on floating sheets of ice.  It is a serious situation but I want all you readers to know that there is lots of good ice on the lake and you can get out on much of the lake and fish just fine.  

The Leech Lake ice report is also pretty good.  When we were there we were out of Pine Point and had 8" of good ice.  It has been making some ice since then so I would imagine it is in great shape.  As always, check with the local bait store or shop and get the most current ice conditions or report before venturing out.  

Here is a picture of one of many giant walleyes we caught while on Mille Lacs this week.  This fish was caught by Tony and measured in at 25 1/2".  It fell victim to a northland forage minnow jig tipped with a medium golden shiner.  If you want to go on the ice fishing adventure of your life get a hold of me.  Here at fishwithmatt we make fishing dreams reality.  

Here is a picture of a double I did while on Mille Lacs.  Both these nice raw ryes were caught jigging Northland Buck Shot spoons on a medium action 28" Jason Mitchell Elite Seires rod, with a Shimano Symetre 500 FJ reel spooled with power pro ice 8lb and tipped with a 6lb maxima fluorocarbon leader.  We snapped a quick photo and released these two beautiful walleyes back in the lake. 

I have more to come and report, just not enough time to do it all right now.  Stay tuned though, I promise there is tons more to come.  Until next time, Fish On!