Fishing. It's great. any other goEMAW anglers out there?

[Pete]

MORE PRO FISHING QUESTIONS!

Live Sonar Imaging on your fish finder, anyone have experience? I have been down the rabbit hole investigating this across Garmin, Lowrance, Hummingbird/Minnesota, and I now believe my life will not be complete unless I have it.

But, this stuff is a little complicated when it comes to the equipment options. I need guidance from experienced anglers.

[wetwillie]

The Garmin Livescope is the gold standard. I fish with a guide every year and he has one mounted on the bow with his trolling motor(you are going to want to get a trolling motor that allows you to lock on to gps coordinates and holds you there without drift).


The livescope is unbelievable, you see the fish hit your bait in real time as you feel the strike.

[Pete]

The Garmin Livescope is the gold standard. I fish with a guide every year and he has one mounted on the bow with his trolling motor(you are going to want to get a trolling motor that allows you to lock on to gps coordinates and holds you there without drift).


The livescope is unbelievable, you see the fish hit your bait in real time as you feel the strike.

That's what I am hearing as well from ITK fishing cats. 

Where do you fish with a guide, and what do you guys usually fish for?  I suspect that the live scopes won't be as useful for Walleye as they are for schools of crappie and looking for big bass or northern.  Walleye just hang around at the bottom quite a bit and are harder to see, if I am understanding this technology correctly.

[Pete]

Regarding the trolling motor, I am definitely going to get one with spot lock, and the ability to automatically troll along a mapped route. The Minnkotas do that quite well.  I might just hook the trolling motor into a cheap Hummingbird Helix older model and have that on the helm, and then have the Garmin setup on the bow for the front seats to use when not trolling.

[nicname]

Dang. Going all in on an expensive hobby. Gotta do something with all that money saved from not buying booze drinks (good thing!).

[wetwillie]

The Garmin Livescope is the gold standard. I fish with a guide every year and he has one mounted on the bow with his trolling motor(you are going to want to get a trolling motor that allows you to lock on to gps coordinates and holds you there without drift).


The livescope is unbelievable, you see the fish hit your bait in real time as you feel the strike.

That's what I am hearing as well from ITK fishing cats. 

Where do you fish with a guide, and what do you guys usually fish for?  I suspect that the live scopes won't be as useful for Walleye as they are for schools of crappie and looking for big bass or northern.  Walleye just hang around at the bottom quite a bit and are harder to see, if I am understanding this technology correctly.

Crappie at Milford. Guys name is Joe Bragg and he is awesome. Think he calls his company Kansas Crappie Club or something like that.

[steve dave]

Sounds crappy


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[ben ji]

I've been seriously considering changing my annual summer vision quest from WY to northern MN this year.

Where can I go and camp in a relatively remote area that still lets me rent a canoe or something for a couple of days to go fishing?

[Pete]

I've been seriously considering changing my annual summer vision quest from WY to northern MN this year.

Where can I go and camp in a relatively remote area that still lets me rent a canoe or something for a couple of days to go fishing?

All over the place, but obviously the boundary waters are very popular. Friend of mine did a one man trip around Lake Superior, camping all along the way, and said it was great. He stayed at my tiny lake house on the way up there.

The Gunflint Trail area is very highly regarded. This place is nice, but there are many others on the area as well https://gunflint.com/

[Pete]

Dang. Going all in on an expensive hobby. Gotta do something with all that money saved from not buying booze drinks (good thing!).

That is definitely a perk. My wife has some health issues that prevent her from traveling much anymore, so we just go hang out in Minnesota on the same little lake as her family. I figure I might as well go balls deep in getting the most out of it!

[KST8FAN]

Opening weekend at the farm pond.


Tom

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[KST8FAN]

Farm cross post.  We stocked another quarry pond a couple weeks ago.

Tom

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[Pete]

That’s a lot of bass.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

Nice mess of bass.

[Pete]

I don't like to eat most fish.  Bass is pretty much tied at the bottom of my list with all the fish I won't eat. 

Tom might just be thinning them out a bit, and not planning on eating them tho.

[KST8FAN]

We'll eat them.


Tom

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[Katpappy]

Walleyes are my favorite and now is the time to catch them.  OT thought, why aren't walleyes available at the grocery store?

[Cire]

Walleyes are my favorite and now is the time to catch them.  OT thought, why aren't walleyes available at the grocery store?

Fareway market has walleye filets right now


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[Katpappy]

Walleyes are my favorite and now is the time to catch them.  OT thought, why aren't walleyes available at the grocery store?

Fareway market has walleye filets right now


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TY, I may go to Bass Pro this weekend and checkout Fareway while I'm in the area.

[Cire]

Walleyes are my favorite and now is the time to catch them.  OT thought, why aren't walleyes available at the grocery store?

Fareway market has walleye filets right now


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TY, I may go to Bass Pro this weekend and checkout Fareway while I'm in the area.

I’d call and make sure but that fareway is only about 10 minutes from there


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[waks]

I don't like to eat most fish.  Bass is pretty much tied at the bottom of my list with all the fish I won't eat. 

Tom might just be thinning them out a bit, and not planning on eating them tho.

Haven't had much small or largemouth but the wiper and white bass (fried) have tasted just fine.

[_33]

One of my goals in life is to one day catch a fish, then clean the fish, then cook the fish over an open fire, then eat the fish.

This may seem like a small goal to some but I barely have any experience catching fish, I don't have any fish catching equipment, and I don't know how to clean a fish.  Some day.

[Pete]

It’s pretty easy to clean a fish. I can do it, and I have the hand eye coordination of a small child.  Unless you catch a Northern, because they have these weird bones.  Just throw those rascals back.  Lots of YouTube’s these days.  I use an electric filet knife, and that helps a bunch.

Cooking over a fire is best done one or two ways. First with a skillet (and a crap load of unhealthy lard and/or butter with batter), or second with a fish basket. The fish basket approach is more like grilling. My dad cooks fish like a hot dog on a fire and pokes it with a stick and just dangles it out there. Make sure the wood is a hardwood and not pine or cedar or other evergreen or your fish will taste like Skoal winter green mixed with ashes.

[star seed 7]

I always like to pour some ash into my skoal for flavor

[_33]

It’s pretty easy to clean a fish. I can do it, and I have the hand eye coordination of a small child.  Unless you catch a Northern, because they have these weird bones.  Just throw those rascals back.  Lots of YouTube’s these days.  I use an electric filet knife, and that helps a bunch.

Cooking over a fire is best done one or two ways. First with a skillet (and a crap load of unhealthy lard and/or butter with batter), or second with a fish basket. The fish basket approach is more like grilling. My dad cooks fish like a hot dog on a fire and pokes it with a stick and just dangles it out there. Make sure the wood is a hardwood and not pine or cedar or other evergreen or your fish will taste like Skoal winter green mixed with ashes.

What's the best fish to catch, cook over an open fire, and then eat? I'm going to be in Montana/Wyoming this summer, maybe I'l try it up there!