Archives › Pennaz’s Pointers
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So will it be walleyes and pike, brook trout and salmon, or arctic char in the far, far, north? It’s really up to you! And I’ll be your guide the entire trip! And by the way the province of Quebec will pick up your tab. And even if you don’t win the grand prize in…
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This morning I picked up my new boat. Really, it’s not a “new” boat considering it was built in 1994, but for me it is new and I am tickled to have it. “It” is a Ranger 681C powered by a 1994 Yamaha 90 two-stroke outboard. To be honest, I can’t really explain why I’ve wanted to own this particular…
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Tiny tubes for panfish and trout are enormously popular these days. Do a quick search through online biggies Bass Pro and Cabela’s and you’ll find a several 1 to 2-inch models available from a variety of manufacturers like Southern Pro, Northland Tackle, Yum, Gary Yamamoto, Strike King, Lucky E Strike, Berkley and Bass Pro and more. And these baits are pretty…
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According to the little weather-caster in my phone, it’s 66 here right now with a southeast wind blowing 14 mph, with gusts to 30. It’s one of those days you could get blown off if you are fishing big water like the Great Lakes, and even smaller lakes and rivers could be dangerous in some cases. Anglers…
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I was at Berkley’s Spirit Lake, Iowa, facility a few days back for a meeting. I love walking into that building because it simply reeks fishing, and I’m not just smelling the Gulp! they manufacture there. For decades this was the national headquarters for the company (it’s now in Columbia, South Carolina), and it’s still…
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A week or so ago I had over 60 of the top tackle bag/boxes on the market spread out before me. The goal was to evaluate each one for an upcoming piece in the digital edition of North American Fisherman magazine. Fellow evaluators Jim Edlund, who grew up in the bag of his dad’s bait…
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If memory serves, modular tackle storage system became popular about 13-14 years ago, with companies like Flambeau and Plano offering customizable clear plastic utility boxes in various sizes. These boxes were then carried in hard boxes or soft bags designed specifically for the purpose. I was a fan of the trend from the beginning because it allowed me…
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Many years ago, my parents scraped enough money together to buy a tiny, two-bedroom cabin on a clear lake noted for big panfish and bass. In a former life, the cabin was part on an old resort and rented by the week. It was built to close to the lake (just 10 feet) that when you looked out the front…
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For the past several weeks little brown trucks have been stopping by my house to drop off big brown boxes filled with tackle storage products, both hard and soft. And yes, Karen is getting tired of having them around the house It has been awhile since we have done an extensive product review piece and thorough evaluations…
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I’m in the throes of a dilemma, which Merriam-Webster defines as “an argument presenting two or more equally conclusive alternatives.” The question is: could/should SOME seasonal fishing closures be eliminated? I use the word “could” because when it comes to managing our nation’s fisheries I am one who recommends airing on the side of caution. It seems to me…
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Spring means fish stories and I for love to hear about the monsters friends and other are catching. The best stories I’ve heard of late are gems, too, including one of a 2.9-pound yellow perch from Minnesota, a 14-pound walleye (the landing of which was video-taped!) from Tobin lake in Saskatchewan and giant smallmouth from Kentucky…
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We’ve been on the road the past week so the home mail box was stuffed to the brim when got home the other day. Karen does the mail sorting in our house, a service she started even as we drove down our gravel driveway. I stopped her as she passed by L.L. Bean’s latest catalog…
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For the record, I have never seen a spring like to one we are experiencing this year and in talking with guys like Larry Nixon he hasn’t either. Neither has Dion Hibdon or Terry Seagraves. The FWL tournament circuit is hosting an event on massive Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, which is still reeling…
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The northern pike is an interesting fish if for no other reason than it is a brute that eats just about everything, including many of the lures you and I throw. Even as a tiny fry the pike is a killer, feeding on small live invertebrates like daphnia before quickly (as in when they reach 3-4 inches in…
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I killed the first mosquito of the year yesterday. I believe its the first I’ve ever crushed in March in Minnesota before. I also witnessed another first. When I awoke the lake in front of my house was about half-covered in ice. By 1:00, the ice had disappeared as high winds pushed by a major…
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This winter, I had a ball fishing smallmouth on the Upper Mississippi River a few miles below a power plant with a warm water discharge. Water temps were in the low to high 40s depending on the distance from the power plant, and the bass were surprisingly active. Fishing with a buddy one day we…
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On the inside door of a kitchen cupboard Karen keeps a written record of the day the ice goes out on the lake outside our back door. Last year’s date, April 12, was pretty standard. She also tracks the day the lake freezes completely over (December 6 in 2011, November 27 in 2010…), and milestones of…
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Everyone who fishes has the tale about the big one that got away. For Pete Diwi, this is the same story with a bizarre twist. Late last week, he headed to to the Minnesota side of Lake of the Woods, a massive water that straddles the the US/Canadian border about a six-hour drive north of Minneapolis.…
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As a professional procrastinator I can assure you two things: 1. you’ll be fishing sooner than you think and, 2. Your fishing gear is in complete shambles after you dumped in the garage last fall. How do I know this? Because I just peeked at my own gear. I have no idea why there are muskie baits…
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Those who travel internationally often have “border stories.” Some are funny (Like the time my son Pierce, then 9, told a gun-toting Canadian customs agent “Don’t shoot, we’re friends!), while others are horrific. A friend was once arrested on a drug charge after customs found a vial of prescription drugs in his tackle box. The capsules were…
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It’s not often I hear from Brett Miller, Outdoor Editor of this fine website, where he requests this blog covers a particular topic, but this week I did receive an email from him that said simply…”More on the Humminbird 360 unit; search requests are insane.” It was just last week when Humminbird Marketing Director Jeff…
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Legendary outdoor writer Charles Elliott once wrote of a trip where fishing with his wife was less than a positive experience. The problem? She outfished him! I often have the opposite problem when fishing with Karen, my bride of 17 years. And it started the year we were married…. There was a great night walleye…
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SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA–Chris Lane took the bass fishing world’s top prize by winning the 2012 Bassmaster Classic here with 15 Red River bass weighing 51 pounds 6 ounces. He beat out a charging Greg Vinson who finished second with 47-15. The rest of the top five were filled out by day-1 leader Keith Poche with 45-15, former Classic Champion…
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SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA–The river hosting the Bassmaster Classic this weekend is a bit unique in some ways and positively normal in many others. The Red is a long river, a snaking a full 1360 miles from north Texas before dumping into Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin. I was stunned to see how dark the water was. The main…
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SHREVEPORT, LA–In front of a couple hundred members of the angling press today, Humminbird unveiled it’s new product and it’s exciting. The new 360 Imaging until allows anglers to view a full 360 degrees around the boat and, yes, that means you can see what’s ahead of you! It’s hard to state what kind of…
