The Rapala Story

I am not sponsored by anyone other than the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission for whom I work.  However, I will tell you about things that work well for me and products that I have found useful.  I am guessing most anglers already have at least a few Rapala products in their tackle boxes.  I found this video on Rapala’s website, http://www.rapala.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-rapala-Site/default/Home-Show?id=1, and thought it was worth sharing.

There, if you watched that, now you at least know the proper pronunciation of “Rapala”.

I can tell you one thing that ole Lauri Rapala figured out years ago, and it has to do with this, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/04/feel-now/ (wink).  That is one reason I am a huge fan of Rapala lures.

For some reason, I have saved all the boxes from the Rapala lures I have purchased over the years. Looks like I should have enrolled in some sort of "buy 10, get one free program".

Burchard Public Meeting

Many of you have probably already heard that there is going to be some work done on one of the best bass waters in the state this year.  The outlet structure at Burchard Reservoir has had a leak for many years and we have known all along that eventually that was going to need to be fixed.  Well, that leak has not improved any, and it needs to be fixed, now.  Burchard has always had excellent water quality and habitat and has provided an excellent fishery for largemouth bass, panfish and channel catfish for a long time.  It continues to do so.  We have had engineers looking for ways to fix the outlet structure without entirely draining the reservoir because we do not want to drain the reservoir and lose that fishery.  It ain’t broke.

At this point it looks like the outlet structure can be fixed with a 10-foot drawdown.  This also will give us an opportunity to do a few projects to protect some shorelines on Burchard that are showing a little bit of erosion, and major improvements can be made to the boat ramp.

I am still finding out details about the project and what it will mean for Burchard and all of us who love to fish that water.  I will continue to pass those details along, but it would be even better if you could come find out for yourself!  On February 1, a week from today, there is going to be a public meeting held at the Nemaha Natural Resource District (NRD) office in Tecumseh to let folks know what is going to be done.  The Nemaha NRD is located at 62161 Highway 136 in Tecumseh.  The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. and last until 8:30 or so.  I plan to be there and would love to see a big crowd.

Back on the Ice!

I was able to get back on the ice this weekend.  Was only able to slip out for a relatively short trip with my daughter, but man, did it sound good to hear the crunch of ice creepers on ice again!

First of all, let me tell you why we were able to fish only for a short time.  After my last ice trip a couple, three weeks ago, I knew I needed to replace the battery on my depth-finder.  I have an old Hummingbird flasher that I use for ice-fishing.  I bought that unit in the bargain cave at the Kearney Cabelas for $99 a long time ago.  I have gone through at least 3 or 4 batteries with that unit.  Well it was time for another one, but I was not going to buy one until I knew I was going to need it–no sense in buying a new battery and then waiting until next winter for ice.  Then it got just cold enough last week that a person could hope for safe ice again, so I needed a new battery.  You can probably guess where I am going with this story, but then I could not find one.  My first stop was “Battery Patrol”/Interstate Battery here in Lincoln where I have purchased the past couple of batteries.  They always set me up with the perfect battery, deep-cycle, closed cell, long amp-hours, and right dimensions.  I walk in there last week and they get on the computer and nope, ain’t got any, will not have any for 4 months.  “FOUR MONTHS!!!!!!  There ain’t no way we will have ice in 4 months”.  So then I searched all over Lincoln, tried 4 different places, from sporting goods to automotive parts, and I could get a motorcycle battery that would work, but not exactly what I wanted.

All along I knew my buddies at Scheels in Omaha had exactly what I wanted.  I knew because we were there recently and I thought about buying a battery then, but I put it off (big mistake).  So, before we fished on Saturday I made the run back to Scheels in Omaha, bought the battery I wanted and upgraded my battery charger.  Threw in a new charge indicator just to top it off.  Believe me, I support everyone that sells fishing tackle, usually buy something every time I walk into any one of the stores, but I have to throw out a special thanks to Patrick, Chris, Kyle and the rest of the fishing staff at the Omaha Scheels–you guys know your stuff and it shows!  Thank you.

Once we finally got on the ice and got holes drilled, the first fish was a 10 1/2-inch crappie–Ah, everything is once again right in the world!

Since I mentioned it, let me say a word or two about depth-finders on ice.  Believe me, I am old enough to tell you that I ice-fished for a long time without the depth-finder and some of you young “whipper-snappers” may not believe it, but we caught a darned lot of fish “back in the day” without no new-fangled depth-finder.  What it takes to be successful on the water, whether the water is liquid or solid, is not determined by how much fancy equipment you have nor how much money you can spend.  The best tool you can use for finding and catching fish is the one between your ears.  There are still times, especially when I am ice-fishing shallow water, when I may not use the depth-finder at all.  What I do to catch fish is the same with or without the depth-finder–stay versatile, try new things, keep experimenting, and most importantly keep drilling holes, stay mobile until you find the fish.  Some days that will happen on the first hole and some days it will not happen until you fish hole number #312.

If you are just getting into ice-fishing, please do not think that you necessarily have to spend hundreds of dollars for a depth-finder.  You can get started, catch fish and have a great time without having a depth-finder.  But, if you get hooked, if you are on the ice enough to see a need for a depth-finder, well then yes, I will tell you that a depth-finder on ice is a tool that will help you find and catch fish.  No doubt about it, if you can afford it, and if you ice-fish enough to need it, you should have one.  Eventually my old Hummingbird will give out, and when that happens I will likely blog about the new depth-finder I buy for ice fishing.  I am very sure I know what depth-finder that would be right now, but I am not going to tell you.  All I am going to say is that there are several depth-finders on the market now that are made for ice-fishing.  Those depth-finders are made by several reputable companies and if you spend what you can afford I am sure you will have a quality product.

You can look at my pictures and see how I modified my old Hummingbird for ice-fishing.  I built the box myself from a design I found in an old In-Fisherman issue.  I did purchase a puck-type transducer from Hummingbird and then attached it to the flex arm you see in my pictures.  A small bubble level sits on top of the “puck” so I can get it level and shoot the transducer “beam” straight below my hole.  All the ice depth-finders on the market now have a float and a cord that attaches exactly in the middle of the transducer and they are level, shooting straight down as soon as you drop them in the hole.  I waste a little bit of time with my old unit  leveling-up my transducer, but it is not much.  I am also sure that the performance and multiple colors of the modern ice-fishing depth-finders would be a lot nicer than my old Hummingbird, but hey, I spent $99 on it, I have used it for many years, and it still works just fine.  It has helped me catch a lot of fish.  When the time comes to replace it, I will, but until then it is hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a new unit that will at best get used only 3 months each year.

If you wish, I have some more rambling on using a depth-finder on ice here:

The fish were not committing suicide, but my daughter and I managed to catch the one crappie, some bluegills and Emily got into a flurry of channel cats at sunset.  She caught 3 channels, 16-18-inchers, and lost one other.  You might recall that I predicted the bite might be tough if we got safe ice again, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2012/01/super-cool/ .  We fished the deepest water in the pond; the fish were there, but many of them were picky and had to be coaxed into biting.  Horizontal jigs tipped with wax-worms seemed to work best.  The fish were sitting close to the bottom.

Emily got the biggest fish. Nice hat!

I have an electronic thermometer with a long cord that I have been experimenting with on the ice for the past several winters.  The water is not necessarily as cold as you might think it would be below the ice; I will save that for another blog post another time.  On Saturday I found the temperature was uniform from top to bottom, exactly what I would have expected following the open-water and mixing we have had recently.

Let me finish my rambling with some comments on ice safety, again.  On the pond we fished I found the ice to vary from 3 inches to 5 inches.  It was safe everywhere we went, but I walked nowhere without carefully checking ice thickness.  Yes, I wore the life jacket and ice picks until I was sure it was safe.  Normally, on a small pond the ice thickness will not vary much, but with the stinkin’ mild winter we have had, there are areas that had ice and thickened last week and then there are areas that just recently froze over.  I saw other ponds over the weekend that had areas that appeared to have no more than a skim of ice on them.  We have some safe ice in eastern Nebraska right now, and from the reports I have heard thicker ice “out west” and “up north”.  Unfortunately, there is warmer weather in the forecast, again, Grrrrrrrr.  I believe the ice I was on Saturday will last for awhile, but there was not much extra.  This is going to be one of those winters where a person just has to be especially cautious every time they get on the ice.  Again, if you want to be bored with some more of my recent rambling on ice safety, go back and read this, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/12/hold-horses/ .  Be careful and if you are not sure it is safe, walk away from it.  Believe me there is no one that wants to be on the ice more than I do, but there have been times when I just had to walk away.  It ain’t worth it.

News Items, January 19, 2012

I have some “odds and ends” to tell you about, some news items, announcements and a big fish picture to show you.  Pick and choose what you want to read. . . .

Arnold and Victoria Springs

Major Aquatic Habitat rehabilitation projects on planned for the ponds at Arnold and Victoria Springs this year.  Recently the Arnold Sentinel ran an excellent story on the work that is planned.  Click a couple of times on these links and you can see the story, or better yet go to their website to see the front page and subscribe, http://www.arnoldne.org/pages/sentinel-front-page .

Page 1

Page 2

Alabama Rig

An umbrella rig called the “Alabama” rig has been the latest fad to hit the bass fishing scene.  My buddy Greg Wagner blogged about the legality of umbrella rigs in Nebraska waters weeks ago and I provided some additional comments there, http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2011/12/no-go-alabama-rig/ .  I am still fielding at least one or two questions about this each day and I know several others here at the Game & Parks are as well.  If you have questions, please read through Greg’s blog as that pretty much answers them.

To add to the story, it appears that B.A.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsmans Society, sponsors of the Bassmaster Classic) have decided to prohibit umbrella rigs from some, but not all, of their sanctioned tournaments, http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/alabama-rig-banned.html .  The other big player in professional bass fishing, FLW Outdoors, has made no ruling on the use of umbrella rigs in any of their tournaments; their use will depend on the state regulations which apply to the waters being fished, http://www.flwoutdoors.com/fishing-articles/press-release/153064/flw-outdoors-clarifies-use-of-alabama-rigs/ .

Trout Unlimited Banquet

Nebraska’s Chapter of Trout Unlimited is hosting its annual banquet on Jan. 28.  If you are interested in attending, and I would strongly encourage it, you can find all the information you need here, http://www.tu710.org/ .

Big Walleye

I have a story of a big walleye, no it was not caught in Nebraska, but I know most anglers are like me and they love seeing and hearing about big fish.

That is a 14 pound 12 ounce walleye that was caught from the Pecatonica River in Illinois, http://www.chicagonow.com/illinois-outdoors/2012/01/new-state-record-walleye-caught-by-rockford-teen/ .  The Tassoni boys, Nick and his father David, were trolling on Jan. 7 when Nick hooked that fish.  The fish was caught on a Rapala Minnow Rap, and 10-pound test monofilament line.  The fish was 31 inches long and you can see by the gut, in excellent condition, no doubt carrying next spring’s eggs and weighing near its maximum.

Nick’s fish broke a record that had stood for over 50 years in Illinois.  Our Nebraska hook & line state record walleye, a 16 pound 2 ounce fish caught from Lake McConaughy, has been on the books for 41 years.  We had a 16-pound walleye caught from Lake McConaughy in early spring of 2010, but fish over 14 pounds are rare.  I have handled hundreds of walleyes over 8 pounds, maybe dozens over 10, but can count on one or two hands the walleyes over 13 pounds I have seen ( http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/blogs/2010/03/the-biggest-walleye-i-ever-handled/ ).

Just for the fun of it, going back through some old Master Angler records, since 1985 there have been 16 walleyes over 14 pounds caught from Nebraska waters.  In that period of time there were 4 walleyes caught from Nebraska waters equal or larger than that 14 pound 12 ounce fish that was just caught in Illinois, AND there have been 3 walleyes over 15 pounds and one over 16 pounds caught from Nebraska waters in the last 28 years.  And for those of you who believe the fishing back in the old days was always better than it is today, over half of those 14-pound and larger walleyes caught from Nebraska waters have been caught in the past eleven years!  As you might expect, McConaughy has produced most of those walruses but Merritt has kicked out one or two as well.

When I catch a walleye over 13 pounds, you can count on seeing pictures posted here on my blog, frequently, over and over!

Fishing for one about twice the size of this one--she is still out there swimming, and who knows? Maybe she will make it there and I will catch her again!

Super Cool

You might assume that the two adjectives in the title of this post refer to the groovy guy that I am.  But most of you know that ain’t true, dork would likely be closer to the truth, and all of you know I blog about fish most of the time.  This post is going to be no exception.

You might also assume that this mild winter we have been having would be good for our fish.  Winter is the hard time for most wild creatures and in some ways the worse the winter the harder it can be on the fish.  But that is not always true.  In fact, for some species of fish, this “mild” winter may actually be worse.  How in the world can that be?  Well, keep in mind that with the relatively mild weather we have not had the “normal” ice cover on many bodies.  When a body of water freezes over the cap of ice actually stabilizes conditions.  With open water through much of the winter, the water in lakes, reservoirs, pits and ponds is free to continue to mix every time the wind blows, and Lord knows the wind blows in this state!  So, when we have a winter in which the water stays open late into the winter, the water in lakes, reservoirs, pits and ponds may actually be mixed and cooled to a greater degree than if we had an early freeze that then persisted all winter.  Thus, if you wish, you could say the water becomes “super cooled” during winters when we have a late freeze up or as this winter has been in much of Nebraska, little or no freeze up.

We have some species of fish in Nebraska that are very much cold-sensitive; species that are near the edge of their range or warm-water species that just do not tolerate cold water temperatures as well as cool-water or cold-water species of fish.  For example, gizzard shad are a species of bait fish common in many Nebraska reservoirs and gizzard shad are very much cold sensitive.  Many gizzard shad die from the cold every winter, and in fact the “ideal” shad population in most Nebraska reservoirs would be one where most of the shad perish every winter leaving just a few shad to reproduce the next spring.  Under those conditions, the few surviving shad tend to produce an exceptionally large year class the following spring and the high abundance of young-of-the-year (YOY) gizzard shad results in an abundance of relatively slow growing shad that remain small enough to be available for a variety of predator fish to eat throughout the summer and fall.  Ideally, then most of those small YOY shad perish the next winter and the cycle repeats itself.  On some bodies of water, we have documented winters where there was a late freeze coupled with high winds that resulted in exceptional winter mortality of gizzard shad.

On the other hand, we have documented winters, and they were not necessarily mild winters, where there was less mortality of gizzard shad.  With less winter mortality there are more large shad in a population, shad that become too large for all but the largest predator fish to eat, and production of YOY shad tends to be suppressed in populations that already have an abundance of adult shad.

Let me give you an example of this super-cooling :  Years ago gizzard shad were the primary prey in Lake McConaughy.  McConaughy is so large and wind-swept that it seldom completely freezes over and in the worst winters super-cooling would eliminate almost all gizzard shad from Lake McConaughy.  When that happened there would be a lot of skinny, hungry predator fish swimming around in McConaughy, and the largest of those predators, striped bass, got blamed for eating all the other fish, especially rainbow trout.  The striped bass became the scapegoat for what was really a problem with the prey base in Lake McConaughy, and the result was a ban on all striped bass stocking in Nebraska waters–a moratorium that exists to this day.  The real solution to the problem at McConaughy was diversification of the prey base and a variety of species of prey fish were stocked into McConaughy.  Alewives were one of the species that were stocked and they successfully became established in McConaughy.  Now, alewives are also cold-sensitive, but with a greater diversity of prey fish in McConaughy, that fishery has been much more stable and continues to produce excellent fishing for several species of predator fish.

As I continue to ramble, let me mention a couple of other things about this “super cooling” that are important to anglers.  First of all, besides gizzard shad and alewives, there are other species of fish in Nebraska waters that are sensitive to cold temperatures.  White perch are also cold sensitive; hopefully we will see a lot of those stinkin’ buggers killed this winter.  Redear sunfish are a species of sunfish native to waters east and south of Nebraska.  Redears have been stocked into some Nebraska waters, but they tend to disappear from waters where they do not have some refuge from the coldest water in the winter.  Redear sunfish tend to do best in Nebraska waters where there is some groundwater flow or stream flow that provides some winter refuge for them.  I suspect that on Nebraska waters where redears have little or no refuge from the coldest water, there might be higher winter mortality this winter.  Bluegills and even largemouth bass are also warm-water species that can suffer some over-winter mortality; again, that might be worse this winter on waters that have been left exposed to “super cooling”.

On waters where shad, alewife, and perhaps white perch populations take a big hit this winter, the fishing might be exceptional next spring into early summer.  If the populations of baitfish are less than they usually are, then predator fish will have to search more for prey and they will be hungry more of the time.  When that happens those predator fish are much more vulnerable to anglers.  So, yes, I have been grumpy about not being able to ice fish as much as I would like this winter, but the “pay off” may come in the form of better than average fishing later this year.

Another thing I have noticed, and I have talked with other hard core “ice sticks” who have noted this same thing:  If we do eventually get some more cold weather this winter and things freeze up so we can get on the ice again, I would predict that the fishing on that “re-freeze” might be tough.  Remember that ice cover stabilizes conditions below the ice.  With all the mild weather, wind, and open water we have had this winter, it may take a while to stabilize conditions under the ice, if it ever freezes over again.  In my experience, and we have had winter ice conditions like this before, the fishing is really tough after it freezes, completely thaws, and then re-freezes.  If we get safe ice again this winter, the fishing might not get hot until at least a couple of weeks after the re-freeze and maybe not even until we get towards late ice, shortly before it breaks up next spring.

Another favorite saying of mine is “every year is different”.  Conditions are always changing and the fish we love to catch are always reacting to those changing conditions.  It can be hard to stay on top of it all, but the best anglers are always adapting and adjusting.  Some times we just have to go along for the ride and see what happens, but having some hunches about conditions and what might happen can sure make catching fish easier; at least until it all changes again.

No, neither one of those guys are me. However, I do believe they are "super cool". Ha.