Canoe Country in May

May is boom or bust. Let’s go for boom.

Those traveling to the BWCA and Quetico often ask me how’s the fishing going to be on my trip. In which I follow-up with when are you going?

I’ve been to The BWCA/Quetico many times in May and it’s my experience that May breaks down in two ways, late ice out and early ice out. Arriving on fishing opener weekend can be a challenge. Water is cold and sometimes on late ice out years it’s very cold. Walleye and smallmouth fishing can be tough on late ice out years. On the flip side the lake trout fishing can be excellent and the big pike bite can be very good as well. I’d sum up May by saying the later in May you go the better the fishing will be.

Lake Trout

Trout tend to be shallow (10-30 feet) and trolling crankbaits along the shoreline break (best guess is 50-100 feet from shore) is a great way to load some lakers as is jigging tubes. My choice rod for lake trout is a medium power fast action baitcaster for trolling and I prefer the same type of set up for jigging but in a spinning rod. But this is the back country so you may only have 2 rods so just pick your favorite based on how much trolling you’ll do. The baits I’ve had the most success with are white tubes followed by minnow style crankbaits that run 12-20 feet. A good day of  lake trout fishing can produce 40 or more lakers. I can’t stress enough that if you catch a laker on a shoreline keep working that shoreline with both a crankbait and a jig. Tip: If you catch a few lakers on a shoreline trolling and the bite slows switch to a jig and fish the area again.

Big Pike

My experience on big pike is to fish a jig very slowly on the bottom in areas that attach to shallow bays.

Most of the big pike I’ve caught in mid-May are caught on 5 inch grubs. A good day can yield 10-20 pike over 10 pounds with many approaching or surpassing 42 inches. If you are so lucky to have warm sunny days I’ve stumbled on big pike in mud bottom bays and best of all spots in and around cane that has yet to emerge. A good pair of polarized sunglasses is most helpful finding these underwater cane fields.

I’m going to further break down the big pike situation. A typical May has the pike shallow (8-15 feet) but still somewhat sluggish and offering them a snack sized soft plastic produces more consistent results and you may even stumble on a walleye, lake trout or smallmouth bass. Areas to focus on are sandy flats and entrances to mud bottom bays. If the weather on your trip is warm and sunny the pike tend to be more shallow 2-6 feet and more aggressive. You can stick with the jig but switch to a bigger profile swimbait and fish it faster. Spinnerbaits and glide style baits are also effective although you will find it’s preferable to use baits with a single hook. Big pike with multiple treble hooks in them pose issues that I don’t like to mess with in the back country. My pike gear is also a medium power fast action rod either a casting rod or spinning rod will do just fine.

Walleye

Walleye fishing for me in May is always hit and miss as far as big numbers. The nice part is while maybe the total number of walleyes isn’t what it will be in June it is a big fish time of year. I’ve had some trips in May where we caught more walleyes over 27 inches than keeper size walleyes.

No matter the time of year I always find walleyes on sandy shorelines and sand flats that slope into deeper water. I also like current. If you find current and sand chances are you’ll catch walleye. Maybe even lots of them them! I fish a 7 foot extra fast Predator ML spinning rod for walleyes and smallmouth. I’m casting a 1/8 ounce jig with a black plastic worm or a minnow color grub in 6-12 feet of water most of the time.

Smallmouth

During May I typically don’t target smallmouth bass unless I stumble onto them. We catch plenty of them fishing for walleyes. If smallies are your target use the same set up as you do for walleyes but fish the entire shoreline not just the sandy areas with a jig and plastic. On sunny days you may see them swimming along rock shelves attached to deeper water. I’ve found these fish to be very agreeable to my presentations. Smallies may come from anywhere at this time of year and most are cruisers looking for an easy meal.

Gear

My recommendation for gear is simple. Each angler in the canoe brings two rods. One is a medium power casting rod and the other is a medium light spinning rod. I prefer fast action on the baitcaster and extra fast on the spinning rod but bring what you have. I always bring one extra rod per canoe. My choice is always a medium power spinning rod because it’s the most versatile option.

Lure choices are simple. The go-to is a 1/8ounce jig made with a really good hook. Hooks are very important in these waters. I’ve experienced a straightened hook on more than one occasion and it won’t happen again.

Here’s my tackle box mix in May:

Ten 1/8 ounce jigs per day. 5 days 50 of them
Ten 1/16 ounce jigs per day. 5 days, 50 of them
Twenty 1/4 ounce jigs.
1 spinnerbait
1 glide bait
2 topwaters
5 minnow style crankbaits 10-20 foot divers.
10 plastic worms per day
10 grubs per day
3 wire leaders
1 Needlenose pliers
1 Hookout

Any trip to canoe country is a good time to go and May can be outstanding. Remember this is a great multi-species time of year and be prepared to fish for lake trout, pike, walleye and smallmouth bass. Good skill!

Images from May trips into Canoe Country

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Ice Fishing Lake Trout: First Drop

This is how all ice anglers would like to start their morning! Jay’s first drop of the jig produced this nice lake trout shortly after sunrise. If only all fishing days started like this!

Fisherman Eric Peterson with a Minnetonka Muskie

The Forgotten Muskie Tactic: Jigs

It’s late October and it’s time to jig for muskies.

I’d like to say since I’m a jig fisherman at heart and I decided on my own to jig for muskie but I can not claim this fame. Jigging for muskie goes back quite a long time. The first time I remember it mentioned was before I even fished for muskies. I did some research and the tactic was briefly covered muskie guy Spence Petros in the late 70’s. And other Chicago area anglers make a claim to start the muskie jigging revolution in the 60’s. But the revolution got lost somewhere for me until I started working at Muskie Fever in 1992. Muskie Fever was a Thorne Bros mail order outfit specializing in muskie gear. This is when I was introduced to the revolution. This tactic, as far as I know, was perfected by a highly respected muskie angler and friend Gene Mahs. Gene taught this tactic to Chris Munchow who was also a Muskie Fever guy. Chris and I decided to modify the jigging tactic to fit our style of fishing and we caught muskies. Sometimes catching 3 or more muskie in a single morning. Just not as many fish as Gene did. I can remember a day meeting Gene at the boat landing of a favored muskie lake on a late fall morning. Chris and I had a great morning with 4 muskies landed on jigs. Gene is his ever subdued manner plainly told us nice day fellas. Of course we had to ask Gene how’d you do? In a simple matter of fact tone Gene said 8.

Chris Munchow and a Jig Muskie

This tactic was fairly popular in the late 80’s into the 90’s but it still works as I can vouch for it having jigged up a few muskies in recent years. And I know what your thinking…big muskies want big baits in the fall. Maybe, but I’ve witnessed numerous muskies over 45 inches caught on jigs.

Muskie jigging for me begins in the fall when the weeds begin to die. In the Twin Cities metro about October 15. The later in fall it gets the more I find fish in shallow weeds. Both green and fallen to the bottom. I also like rock bars. It isn’t uncommon to catch multiple muskie on a single rock bar or small weedbed.

Outlining the Method to Jig Muskie

7 inch Reaper

I fish a 1/2oz swim jig or bass jig tipped with a soft plastic. Large Reapers, Lizards, Mogambos are some popular plastics I carry to this day. I still have some older Nylostrand leaders and they still work as intended but in todays world I make muskie jigs with a product named Surflon Micro Supreme. This is a tie-able nylon coated stainless steel leader material. I use 40# in lengths of 24 inches or so. This product ties well. Tie the jig on one end and tie a quality ball bearing swivel to the other. You can make these quickly and I’d make 4 or 5 of them with a variety of jig styles and weights. I have a custom muskie jig rod, but a flippin’stick works well. On most occasions my reel is spooled with 14 pound mono. I favor Gamma but use what you like. You can use a superline but your drag setting becomes even more critical. My experience with superline is you get a great hookset. The downside is, with no stretch line the fish could pull a power move on you and rip the hook out. So, in that instance you need to free-spool or have a perfect drag setting. If you’re using superline be prepared to go to free-spool mode fast. Trust me on that.

Locations

Mike Fudali Deer Lake Muskie

Pockets of green weeds and flats of fallen weeds hold muskies. Work your jig really slow on or near the bottom just like walleye fishing. This method has produced many nice muskies for me up to 48 inches. I like the jig-n-pig type with a skirt, swim jigs and plain 1/2 ounce jigs with stout hooks.  Jigs are tipped with big plastic or a 5-7 inch sucker. Weedlines are a good starting point focusing on inside turns. Typically weedlines that are close to deep water produce the best.  An effective way to team jig fish is to have the angler in front cast the weedline and deeper and the angler in the rear casts over and through the weedline. Fish can come from 2 feet of water or 15-20 feet of water. Fish as slow as you can hopping and crawling the jig through the weeds and off the weedline. I do find that as you get water temps near 40 many muskie are in the shallow weed flats. This seems to be especially true on warm November days. I’ve witnessed muskie chasing panfish on a 55 degree mid-November day numerous times.

Most bites are subtle. If you can’t feel the bait, set the hook.

Rock bars can also hold muskies. I’ve caught muskies on shallow areas of rocks 6-7 feet and in deeper rock bars 15-20 feet. The rock bars we’ve been successful fishing have fist sized rocks. You can feel them while working your jig slowly. On one particular day jigging muskies with Munch we caught 5 muskies on a single rock bar in less than 2 hours! Of those 3 of them were almost back to back to back.

Weather conditions don’t seem to effect the fish much at this time of the year. These muskie have the feed-bag on. Jig fishing is fun. Good luck and as always release all muskie.

If you want to chat more about jigging for fall muskies reach me at pete@outsidepwr.com of PM me on Facebook.

Muskie on a Jig. This tactic still works in 2024.

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To Net Muskies or Not to Net Muskies?

Hand  Land versus Net Land

I’ve been a serious muskie angler spending many weekends traveling Minnesota and Wisconsin and occasionally Ontario in search of and landing muskies. I never netted a muskie. To be fair I fish muskies mostly with jigs and smaller baits making it easier to hand land them. I understand netting them. It’s generally more safe for people to land muskie in a net and handle them. Some say it’s better for the muskie too. I get it. But for me part of the thrill of muskie fishing is fighting the fish and hand landing it. In many instances this did lead to unhooking and releasing the fish in the water thus no photo of a muskie in my arms or my angling partner and I’m ok with that. An many other times upon unhooking them muskie were mello long enough to hold them and get a quick snap shot.

Hand landing a muskie takes skill and care and it can be done with no accidents or damage to the muskie. Tools of the trade as we called them, bolt cutters, long nose pliers and jaw spreaders were on the ready. Sometimes it takes two anglers to carefully unhook the fish while it’s in the water. It’s true that hand-landing muskie takes longer to land the fish. And I know some think this leads to stressing out the fish but does it really stress them out more than trashing in a net seconds after being hooked? I don’t know the answer but I have my opinion. In my experience…guessing over 100 muskies hand-landed that all of them were released basically unharmed and healthy. I’ve seen a zillion muskie videos on social media and it’s hard for an old angler like me to understand hooking a muskie and netting it as quickly as possible. Much of the tussle is done in the net. I’ve seen a muskie netted literally within 5 seconds of being hooked. I get it.

Now back in the day…the 80’s, 90’s muskie anglers as I remember fought the fish and either hand landed it (not many but some) or netted the fish after it had tired a bit during a battle that lasted 30 seconds, maybe a minute. Some muskie anglers had muskie cradles in their boat and they would guide the fish into the cradle and in most cases would unhook the fish in the cradle while it was in the water. 

Times Change or do they?

I’m not here to hammer netting fish immediately. I get it. Muskie anglers value these fish immensely. But I am here to ask; is this tactic best for the fish?  I am aware it’s probably best for the angler. Maybe I’m cynical but what I see in todays world of social media is many folks want the muskie in the boat fast. Videos and photos are highlights captured and I understand that when it comes down to it many anglers like to have their muskies acknowledged. I have hours of videos and many photos. I get it. I’m under the belief and maybe I’m wrong but back in the day fighting muskies was the fun part. Along with successfully and carefully landing the fish and releasing it as unharmed as possible. Have times changed when it comes to landing muskies? Did we always get them in the net as fast as possible?

Netting muskies is ok and smart. It’s safer for the angler. And since I don’t really have experience with it I’m assuming that in most instances the fish is basically unharmed. What still baffles me though is how fast I see muskies go in the net.

I’ll be muskie fishing this fall. I’ll be fishing a jig. Most likely with a big plastic trailer…a 7 inch black reaper or a lizard. I’ll get bit. I’ll lose a fish and I’ll land some…without a net. But for me that’s part of the game.

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Author with a 42 inch northern pike caught while walleye fishing.

Now getting the fish to the canoe takes skill, luck and trusty gear, but what I really witnessed was we could avoid losing the fish if the canoe partner was ready to help avoid having the fish looking straight at the side of the canoe. Keep the paddle ever ready and watch the battle…keeping a close eye on where the fish is in relation to the canoe. If that big pike is thinking about getting along side facing the canoe (and they will) the other angler needs to paddle the canoe in way to help stop that from happening. The partner needs to predict what this fish is going to do and they can for the most part. Of course experience will tell but even a rookie can notice this. Back paddling can clear the big pike of the canoe. I have a video below that depicts this in multiple instances of large pike in canoes below.

In another scene the pike is ripping drag away from the canoe…in this instance chase the fish. That is, paddle towards the pike and a bit away from the pikes intended path to reduce stress on the gear and line.

Instance 3 has the big pike going back towards the canoe, the fish is trying face the canoe to dive under it. The other paddler needs to turn the canoe the opposite way the pike is heading. These tactics work in boats too. Get on the trolling motor.

What about a big pike canoe side horizontal to the canoe. This is tricky. Is the pike done fighting? Maybe a quick test touch will tell you. Most canoeists don’t have a net for these beasts so you can grab the pike by the shoulder…rear end of the head. It’s best to be committed. Grab it! No wishy washy attempts unless it’s a test attempt. I’ve seen many big pike get dropped back into the water and head under the canoe. Or even worse end up on the bottom of the canoe were all heck breaks out. The other way to land the fish is by the flap under it’s jaw. There’s no teeth there. The key is to slide your hand from the back of the flap to the front and lift the fish and take your photo. Again be committed as best you can.

There have been instances where the pike is so big that landing it on the water is a big challenge and potentially dangerous. especially in big waves. Since you’re probably close to shore you can paddle the angler close to the shore and land it in one of the tactics described above.

I also have another option for you. Release the fish in the water if you can. Going back to what I mentioned earlier the fish is most likely hooked in the upper front of the lip or side of the face. You can use your long nose pliers to unhook the big pike. Sure in this instance you probably won’t get a photo. But the plus side is both you and the fish go away unharmed. This is easier to do if you have caught many big pike and the photo is not necessarily the goal or it’s a safety issue.

The video below I’m hoping is both entertaining and educational. Please take a gander and see what I’m writing about.

This big pike video depicts much of what I explained above. Notice how paddling is helping the angler keep tabs on the big pike and take a look at the landing. This is a very large fish well over 20 pounds.

Fishing Minnesota Bass Shallow in September

Both largemouth and smallmouth will use shallow weed pockets in the fall.

It’s fall and time to get psyched for fall bass fishing. The one thing that tells me to move shallow in fall is a steep drop in water temperatures. When the water temp goes down 8-10 degrees it’s time to think about going to shallow weeds for bass. By going shallow I’m talking 4-8 feet and I look for areas with pockets of weeds. I avoid weedlines and flats of weeds. This might mean putting your trolling motor in high and looking for these areas.

I like to fish light gear with jig worms, it’s fun and effective. In the video you see below I am casting jig worms into pockets of weeds. These pockets can be very small…barely bigger than my boat and both largemouth bass and smallmouth bass use these areas after the water drops to the low 60’s. There are many lakes in central Minnesota that offer this opportunity as well as Western Wisconsin and both of the Dakotas. So if you are looking to catch many bass on light gear the days after a good cold front can be the best time to give it a try.

Smallmouth and largemouth in the same habitat.

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Understanding Fish Behavior

I had a made a deal to rig an underwater camera to the RCA input on my 8mm camcorder and I recorded this.

So you see fish on your flasher but they don’t seem interested? That was the truth on this day back in the early 2000’s. Fish were tough to come by and because I could see fish on the flasher I wasn’t giving up easily. So after trying the numerous lures, baits, altering presentation speeds, using low diameter line etc etc it was time to use my contraption to get the scoop. I lowered the camera and I found visual truth that these fish didn’t give one rats behind about eating with the exception of one bluegill who did give a minnow a slight kiss before wandering off. Even the pike didn’t want the  minnow! Sometimes the fishing doesn’t work out but an underwater camera can provide some action nonetheless.

The Reluctant Fish

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This is one of the smallies we caught inches under the surface in about 65 feet of water. You gotta see the tail walk!

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