Are you finding the walleye fishing slow in the Minnesota lake country this time of year? I have had great luck with going after crappies with beetle spins. Look for a real thick weed line and cast your spin to the edge and slowly retrieve the lure. I just keep working the weed lines until I hit on a crappie and then I will make a number of casts there to try and find “buddies.” I have found the yellow color to work the best and in the small to medium size. Going out a couple of hours before sunset appears to be the best time to catch crappies. Now besides the crappies along the weed lines there are also a lot of bull bluegills mixed in which provides great action for younger kids. A good example is my son Christian. He is three and a half and as I introduce him to fishing he needs action so he doesn’t lose interest. Casting beetle spins provides enough action to keep him interested in catching fish. Along with panfish, beetle spins are a great way to pick up some pike and bass as well. Give it a try!!!
Am I totally incapable of drawing a buck tag?? Our group started hunting a different zone last year and so far I am 0 for 2 on my attempts for a buck tag. In fact, after the drawing the zone is completely out of bucks and does so over to 2G1 for a doe again. Is it just me or does the largest buck in the county always run in front of the guy with a doe tag? I actually have no real complaints with the system, and each year seems to offer more opportunities for deer hunters as far as extra tags and a chance to tag two or more deer. I am amazed at how many tags are available for the extra drawings this year. With the amount of deer I have seen this spring and summer it should be another tremendous deer season.
I should also write some dates on here so people are reminded of deadlines for the upcoming lotteries. Resident Pronghorn gun applications are due by Aug. 7. Youth Deer applications are due by Sept. 1 and are for first time deer hunters ages 13-15. There is also the Tundra Swan lottery coming up and applications are due by Aug. 14. Also don’t forget to get those applications sent back in if you were rejected in the first lottery. I have to say that every year I put in for a Swan and usually draw a tag, however I have yet to actually shoot a swan. This has been one of the great jinxes out hunting for me. Something happens every time I have a chance at a Swan. The list so far includes: forgot tag at home, gun jam, no shells, and just bad timing. This fall I have sworn to put more time into working on getting a Swan and it is a goal of mine for the upcoming season, stay tuned. Good luck with the drawings as we get closer to what should be another great fall in North Dakota.
Editor's Note Please give Eric some crap about his trout. He still talks about "catching" a fish when no one else did. Feel free to go to the article comments...and give him hell!
In July I went out to Colorado for my cousin’s wedding. I was really excited for the trip as I have never been West of Medora in a car and the mountains were refreshing. On the way we drove over to Custer National Park and I highly recommend people seeing this if they get the chance. We had a professor from Texas walk us through the battle and a person really gets a sense of what the battle was like. Arriving in Colorado we went in Rocky National Park and it was a lot of fun to watch the elk and just view the mountains. Well on the following morning Chris, Lisa(Chris’s girlfriend), my uncle Keith, cousin Justin, and I went over to Gore Creek Outfitters in Vail and took a class on fly fishing. What I found out is that fly fishing isn’t as easy as it looks. Lisa actually had the best motion for casting while Chris and I kept getting corrected for bending our wrists. After an hour of being told what I was doing wrong I finally just wanted to get out on the water and catch trout. We loaded up our gear and took off for where the Eagle and Gore Rivers meet. After scouting around for awhile we found a quiet spot where the river wasn’t running as fast, and so we tied flies and soon were fishing and catching “things.” By “things” I mean trees, rocks, my waders, and everything else but a fish. You could see the trout on the bottom, but they just seemed to have no interest in our flies and I was getting frustrated. Finally patience paid off. As I rolled my fly and started my retrieve, BOOM, a fish and a long struggle. Ok, I actually went after a wounded fish in the water and ended up catching it with my hands, a 15 inch cutthroat trout. So the big debate now is it considered a real catch? I say a catch is a catch no matter how you get the fish. Send me an email and I’ll keep track to see what our readers think (Chris doesn’t think so). Regardless Colorado is a beautiful place and I now have a new appreciation for the guys that fly fish.
