Midwest/northern Tactics!?

[Taylor Peterson]

I see a lot of people on these forums from Florida,Texas,California, and many southern states. Unfortunately I see little talk of northern tactics and teqniques. Specifically for Minnesota lakes, lakes filled with pads and weeds. What sort of teqnioches do those of you who live in this frozen hell use? I plan on using mostly wacky worms, jigs, and spinnerbaits this year. Jerk baits early in the season. What else would you suggest? Thanks!

[Alpha Male]

I see a lot of people on these forums from Florida,Texas,California, and many southern states. Unfortunately I see little talk of northern tactics and teqniques. Specifically for Minnesota lakes, lakes filled with pads and weeds. What sort of teqnioches do those of you who live in this frozen hell use? I plan on using mostly wacky worms, jigs, and spinnerbaits this year. Jerk baits early in the season. What else would you suggest? Thanks!

 

All of the techniques still apply. just have to be aware of the difference in size of fish. you're not going to throw a 7" 3oz swimbait here unless you're fishing for musky or pike. plastics, jigs, dropshot, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. they all still work.

[Bruce424]

Try learning finesse tubes, dropshot and shakey heads. Double willow spinnerbaits work good. Squarebills

[ww2farmer]

I imagine the natural weedy lakes of Minn. fish pretty similar to the natural weedy lakes of WNY...they all have little quirks but it's still pretty similar. Soooooo............do what I do and you'll be all set. What do I do? A little bit of everything....but mostly top secret stuff

[DirtyDeuceGoose]

Most of my success on Minnesota lakes comes from plastic worms, crankbaits and jerk baits. I'm constantly experimenting and trying different ways to catch fish. Jigs are definitely productive as well. I love Minnesota lakes just because of all the diversity and opportunities to catch fish!!

[spartyon8]

I really like tubes in northern WI.

[A-Jay]

Swim jigs are an effective option in & around weedy cover and don't miss the chance to throw a frog up in that mess as well.

 

A-Jay

[Jeff H]

I imagine the natural weedy lakes of Minn. fish pretty similar to the natural weedy lakes of WNY...they all have little quirks but it's still pretty similar. Soooooo............do what I do and you'll be all set. What do I do? A little bit of everything....but mostly top secret stuff

Oh come on!  Tell 'em!  This guy has a combination minnow bucket/crawler cooler/frog box unit built into his deck.  Live bait would be the only top secret stuff these days!

[mjseverson24]

the lakes that we fish up here are perfect examples of junk fishing lakes. every time out i have rigged up spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, swimjigs, t-rigs, chatterbaits, jerkbaits, frogs, dropshot, flickshake, shakey head, tubes, and c-rigs... most of our lakes up here have enough diversity that you can catch quality fish using most of these techniques almost every day...

 

Mitch 

[Jeff H]

Mitch,

 

Sounds like you're saying fishin' in MN is fun!  

 

Clear water, dirty water, heavy cover, no cover, no pressure, heavy pressure, big, small we have it all!

[Taylor Peterson]

Yeah, gotta love the diversity we have....that is once the ice melts of course. I'm a kayak angler with two rods. One casting and one spinning. Im planning on trying flukes and lipless cranks for the first time this year. I think I will go out with only jigs at least once to gain some confidence in them.......well maybe I'll have a frog or two in my pocket

[eyedabassman]

All of the above but, start fishing jigs and swim jigs!!!!!

[WIGuide]

I've fished both north and south and no matter where you go, a bass is a bass. They might relate to cover differently and their natural forage may be different, but the techniques used to catch them aren't any different. 

[Paulasaurus]

I'll echo what the others are saying. T-rigs(Havoc Pit Boss's worked great last season) with worms or creatures, cranks, frogs, spinnerbaits, spooks, and jigs all bring me great results. As was already said, our lakes here in MN are very diverse and the fish like a variety of lures thrown at them. I stopped by Northstar Custom Baits the other day and picked up some swim and black jigs. Great shop and jig builder if you're ever near Princeton, MN be sure to check out his shop.

[guisingerevan]

Done a lot of fishing in the Coon Rapids area and up north of Grand Rapids. In both areas the best techniques for me were frogging, jerkbaits, and the best was a texas rigged craw with a colorado spinning blade above the hook. Throw it right in the pads and jig just enough for it to get good vibration from the blade. The blades I use are Northland tackle blades. Can't find them many places except for small tackle shops so I stock up when I can find them!

[0119]

Ned Kedhe' s blog called midwest finesse at in-fisherman is loaded with Midwest tactics. I've put a lot of them to use here in s. fl.'s high pressured waters.

[hatrix]

All of the techniques still apply. just have to be aware of the difference in size of fish. you're not going to throw a 7" 3oz swimbait here unless you're fishing for musky or pike. plastics, jigs, dropshot, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits. they all still work.

I don't know about Minnesota lakes but I throw 7" 3oz swimbaits all the time in Ohio. We don't have record bass by any means except the world famous smallmouth. You just need to know where when and what baits to use. It also takes a bit of dedication to throw big baits all day.

They draw that bigger bite usually and that is what I look for anymore.

[bigbill]

Everything that works down south pretty much works here when the ice is gone and it warms up in the northeast.

Now if the larger baits don't work I go smaller in size. I use the 1/8 & 1/4oz spinnerbaits with success. On the other end the 12" worms will catch 13" fish go figure.

Success comes with improving our skills nothing beats our time spent on the water.

[MVPastva]

Don't know anything about MN lakes, but, in Ohio, I use mostly jigs and drop shots when I'm on the lake. But my go-to bait is the Gary Yamamoto 7" green pumpkin. Caught a 9 pounder off that last week. That's a big fish in Ohio

[Gone_Phishin]

Swim jigs are an effective option in & around weedy cover and don't miss the chance to throw a frog up in that mess as well.

 

A-Jay

Yup yup, next to the Baby Rage Craw, swim jigs have been my most productive bait over the last two years.

As much as it hurts to shell out a lot of dough for soft plastics, the Swing Impact is simply killer on the back end of a swim jig.

[frogflogger]

frogs

[jignjake]

On April 9, 2014 at 11:47 PM, Taylor Peterson said:

Yeah, gotta love the diversity we have....that is once the ice melts of course. I'm a kayak angler with two rods. One casting and one spinning. Im planning on trying flukes and lipless cranks for the first time this year. I think I will go out with only jigs at least once to gain some confidence in them.......well maybe I'll have a frog or two in my pocket

I'm also a kayak angler limited to two rods, and I fish northeast Indiana waters which are generally similar to Minnesota waters. I have found that for us Northern guys the natural subtle colors are THE most important thing. Being limited to two rods is tough, I usually keep a small tackle box with me but I will have a search bait tied on one rod and a finesse/target bait on the other. Lipless crank baits are stellar for covering water AND work great burning over grass. I also like smaller spinnerbaits with very natural colors and smallish blades, War Eagle makes THE best smaller style spinnerbaits. Talking about northern lily pads and slop bays I've been thinking a punch rig in a bluegill pattern is a relatively untouched technique for our waters.

Anyways, tight lines!

[Bluebasser86]

5 pages of Minnesota reports here.

 

It's slowed down due to hard water, but if you help keep it alive by posting questions and reports, you'll have more and more people see it at the top of the page and chiming in. The KC area thread was almost dead a couple different times, now there's over 300 pages.

[Fishes in trees]

Do your research, make some educated guesses about seasonal patterns and then fish what you want.

[Jigfishn10]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2014 at 8:50 AM, WIGuide said:

I've fished both north and south and no matter where you go, a bass is a bass. They might relate to cover differently and their natural forage may be different, but the techniques used to catch them aren't any different. 

Agree...I fished in Florida and here in the Baystate...a bass is a bass

Top secret bait up here...any shad type pattern...