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Warmer water transitioning walleyes

Walleye Warm Water Temperature Transitions

Water temperatures that build into the high 60 and 70 degree marks will definitely get fish moving, and that usually coincides with a few hatches.
Bugs crawling out of the deep mud get rafted against the main-lake structure, and signify some of the initial pushes to offshore humps, bars, and reefs. It’s often when casual walleye anglers, or those who see early mixed bags of walleyes with crappies and gills, stop catching them.

Anglers don’t always follow, sometimes because they’re not required to. This is a dynamic time of year as the summer food chain ramps up production. That means anglers don’t always have to look deep to find fish, and several patterns can be going at the same time.

Pre and Post Spawn Panfish Patterns

Pre and Post Spawn Panfish Patterns

If you’re a crappie angler, one of the best bites of the year has come and gone with the early spring crappie bite. For bluegill fans, the best is yet to come, as we move from a shallow water period for one species into another.

There’s no doubt that the spawning season for crappies and bluegills offer some great opportunities for skinny water panfishing, and even sight fishing, which makes fishing feel like it did when you were a kid.

Bobbers and small jigs are plopped into any good looking developing weeds or brushy areas, only to drop with an aggression not seen since the previous year’s fishing It’s hard not to be excited about it.

Minnesota fishing opener prep with an underwater camera

How should I prepare for the Minnesota Fishing Opener?

It’s amazing how many anglers have an underwater ice fishing camera for winter use, and forget to pack it in the boat for fishing opener. In fact, open-water applications abound when it comes to everything from species identification, to finding green weeds, or simply identifying water clarity traits from one end of the lake to another.

The fact that now your underwater camera for fishing can be so much more mobile is a major benefit to its use, and the fish-finding information you unlock with it is rather limitless. Here’s just a few ways and reasons to get more use from your winter camera, come spring, summer and fall.

Can I use a MarCum on my boat? LX-7 Dash Mount

Can I use a MarCum on my Boat?

It’s this time of year when our ice sonar is swapped for long rods and soft water, but that doesn’t mean your MarCum should be put in the back corner of the garage. All sonar systems, digital or mechanical styles, offer keys and cues that help anglers be more successful on the water

That’s especially true in small crafts like kayaks, canoes, or small skiffs where a larger, permanently mounted traditional LCD display isn’t in play. Here’s just a few ways to trick your craft, whatever it may be, and get the very most from your MarCum.

Pursuit HD L Fall mapping for winter fishing

The Best Underwater Fishing Camera for Open Water – 2022

Underwater cameras are undoubtedly one of the greatest technological advancements in the sport of fishing these past few decades. Anglers in recent generations have come to depend on cameras to do far more than help them watch fish eat, but to observe their surroundings, study fish behavior and movements, even learn how fish certain baits better. Not only then has it been a technology that’s useful in its own right, but the simple fact is that underwater viewing has helped push forward the sport of fishing in general. From evolutions in tackle design, reels, and line, to changes in the way we fundamentally fish, looking at the underwater world through a camera is here to stay.

Mississippi Pool 4 Walleyes

How To Fish Pool 4 For Early Spring Walleyes

Minnesota’s early May fishing opener is a date most avid walleye anglers have circled on the calendar, but long before May is the pre-opener down on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River.  Warm spells in February, all the way through the traditional opening day, offer anglers a great chance at not just knocking the rust off, but catching both numbers and size for walleye and sauger both.  
As Joel Nelson says, “There’s no better feeling than the slight “tick” of the rod tip or a line-jump as a shallow-water walleye inhales some plastic. “

Late Ice Panfish - Tips & Tricks

Late Ice Panfish Tips and Tricks

With gamefish seasons closed at least in my home state, end of ice forays are all about panfish.  Whether crappies or bluegill, there’s usually something going by the time March’s sun angle and warmer temps are beating back shoreline ice or at the very least, keeping snow cover down and allowing easy on-lake travel.  

However, late ice is a fickle period with weather being the primary driver of conditions and the resulting bite.  While it’s probably no surprise by now that the later on hardwater we get, the better the fishing and shallower they may be, here’s a few location tips I’ve learned while chasing late ice panfish.

Finding More Fish With Your Hardwater Finder

Marking More Fish on Your Hardwater Finder

From the day you get your first flasher, the ice-fishing universe is forever changed. Ice anglers go from simply guessing at bites and what may or may not have been a fish, to tracking them throughout the water column. Not only can you use it to find fish and track how they respond to your bait, but you can also use it to find active fish before a line is even wetted.  At one time, it was considered somewhat odd; almost a novelty. Now, ice-fishing electronics are a multi-million dollar category, and the thought of fishing without one seems pointless.

MarCum M1 - Best Bang for your Buck

MarCum M1 – Best Bang for Your Buck

Midwest angler Joel Nelson knows a thing or two about ice sonar.  As MarCum’s longest tenured pro-staff member and media personality, he’s been running a MarCum since the brand’s inception.  Though he could run any fish finder on the planet, he’s an avid fan of the M1.  “It’s really a sonar that takes me back to some of the original MarCum units that just flat caught fish,” says Nelson.  “You get exactly what you need in an ice locator, ready to fish out of the box.”  Nelson logs thousands of miles across the ice belt each season, fishing and filming for a host of TV and video segments, all while toting an M1.  “I appreciate so many of the MarCum units in the lineup, but I’ll always have an M1,” says Nelson.      

Joel Nelson and Tony Roach introduce the new Mission SD L and Quest HD L Lithium editions

THE BEST CAMERAS ON ICE JUST GOT BETTER, LIGHTER

New Hope, MN (10/25/2021) – Marcum Technologies, the undisputed leader in underwater viewing, takes an on-ice staple and improves it with lighter, longer-lasting lithium batteries.  A new generation of anglers takes for granted what cameras have brought to the sport.  Inline reels and the effect of lure-spin was revealed through watching fish swim away on an underwater camera.  Winter panfish location and the connection to green standing aquatic plants, along with countless other observations; all brought to you by underwater viewing, now made better with a little help from an advanced fuel source.