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Catch of the Week & Fishing Tips
Catch of the Week & Fishing Tips
​​​​​​​​​​​Steven's catch of the week​​
Steven took advantage of the open water landing this northern pike at Totten Reservoir​!

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Fishing Tips of the Week

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Finding Active Fish

How to cover water to find the more active fish

One of the toughest aspects to a successful day of fishing is finding the fish that are actively feeding in whatever body of water you are targeting. One fantastic was to find active fish during the early spring on smaller ponds or reservoirs is called "Power Fishing." This technique is widely used by bass anglers looking to quickly learn a new body of water. Power fishing is using large attention attracting baits in order to trigger reaction strikes from fish that are active and willing to feed. Another important factor to this technique is using baits that are able to cover a lot of water quickly. Examples of baits that fit this bill are top water baits such as poppers or buzz baits. Another option would be spinner baits that can be fished subsurface. The combination of being able to trigger strikes from fish that are slightly more active and cover water quickly makes this a "one-two punch" for finding the areas holding active fish where anglers can then slow down and move to more finesse presentations to catch as many fish as possible in a given day.


Covering Water on Ice

Move until you are on top of fish to be most successful

Covering water while ice fishing can often times be much more difficult than covering water when fishing open water from shore or a boat. Ice anglers still need to do as much as they can to cover water while fishing. Use of structure maps and GPS devices can really help anglers skip over water that is not in the depths they are targeting and spend more time fishing the areas that are more likely to hold fish. Generally the best way to dedicate yourself to covering more water is to set a time limit at each location, say 15 to 20 minutes. If you are set up on a spot for that time frame with no action it would be the best practice to move until you find the fish rather than letting the fish come to you. During the winter months fish are much less active compared to the warmer water temperatures of the spring and summer so cruising activity is minimal meaning we as the anglers have to be the ones doing the cruising to put ourselves in the best location to get consistent action. This is especially important when targeting panfish that will move into deeper basins for the winter with little structure keeping them on one specific spot, anglers must roam the basin area of a body of water until they find fish and can stay on the fish for the entire outing.