Blog

Sometimes you have to get your butt whooped to learn something. I spent a long weekend last Spring on the Wisconsin River trying for early season walleye and sauger. On the drive up I stopped at several bait shops for info and then checked out the action on and around several parking lots below a few dams before I headed over to a shoreline “hot spot”. There were already a dozen vehicles parked on the side of the road and twice as many anglers out fishing, it looked to be pretty slow. The area consisted of a rocky shoreline along a bridge, with current flow underneath and anglers lin …

Slender Spoons have been working hard for us ice anglers for more than 40 years! Originally designed by Scott Stecher of Reef Runner Tackle, the Slender Spoon is a “must have '' for every ice fisherman! Currently Custom Jigs & Spins manufactures Scott’s original design and Chekai has been pounding them out in mass quantities in Croatia ever since. I have caught every species through the ice on Slender Spoons and have several rods dedicated specifically for each of the four sizes! Their size, weight and action duplicates a fleeing or dying baitfish and fish just gobble them u …

My father, Poppee, hobbled out on the ice. His surgically repaired titanium hip squeaked a little as he walked. When he smiled, his tungsten teeth sparkled in the sunlight. He turned and reached into his bucket and pulled out 26” Frabill Quick Tip ultralight ice rod with a titanium spring bobber tip. “HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!” He whispered and lowered a tiny 4mm tungsten Glazba jig down the hole.Chekai is the stuff of fishing nightmares! Immediately he had a bite. It was heavy, screaming drag, but soon he gained ground. Finally, out popped crazy cousin Chekai from the hole, flopping on th …

Without a doubt, when it comes to ice fishing, I have put forth more effort panfishing than other larger species. Looking back on thousands of hours I have spent ice fishing and ice jig making, two things are certain, a fish is a fish as long as it is the same species. It doesn’t matter if its bluegill, crappie, perch, or white bass, each species reacts, eats and attacks prey differently. If you build the right jig...they will come! I love my Livescope I have spent a lot of time staring at a spring bobber, wondering what was going on down below the ice. I spent more time watching a …

“One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the pills your mother gives you don’t do nothing at all”...Grace Slick, The Jefferson Airplane, 1977. If you want to catch big panfish, you’ve got to think small. A number 4 hook rigged with a big nightcrawler, sitting under a bobber the size of a baseball won’t get the job done, not if you want to be a panfish machine. Think Small Jigs for Catching Bluegill Mick Thill, a man instrumental in bringing groundbreaking panfishing methods to America from England and who once beat the USA over the head with our own crude overs …