The Hunting Beast

So far so good today. They're up off the bottom. Rolled off the lake for a bit for a burger.... big rollers out there right now. This one was before the wind really picked up.

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bigwoodsmn wrote:

So far so good today. They're up off the bottom. Rolled off the lake for a bit for a burger.... big rollers out there right now. This one was before the wind really picked up.

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Looks fun Tom - keep it up and fly in for a fish fry

Nice!

Edcyclopedia wrote:Looks fun Tom - keep it up and fly in for a fish fry

Ed - ... My favorite walleye lake allows two fish in the 18 to 20 inch range. One of which could be over 28" but we've never kept one of those. Tough slot. It has a lot of bigger than average walleyes making for fun sport fishing. Guess I'd have to bring largemouth bass

Live feed from Mille Lacs (10/4/14)...sunken boat (not mine). http://www.mnlakecams.com/hwr/hwr.html

Somebody is going to be really unhappy. At least the motor is out of the water.

Live from the Cisco Chain up in northern Vilas County. Hoping to hook into a musky. Been slow the last few days and today may be an even bigger challenge with the cold front that just came in. High in the low 50's today and brisk wind. Sure doesn't feel like summer.





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Made it out saturday for half a day on the wisconsin river. Probably boated 25 walleyes, a 33" and a 34" muskie, lost a mid 40s muskie and 2 more of unknown size that we couldn't stop from running down river. Kept 6 between my dad and I for dinner. Now I have 300 jigs sitting on the work bench waiting to get painted and put into tackle boxes. 2 new colors to try out in addition to my usual assortment of 5-6 other colors. Really excited about the gold color. Took me awhile to figure out how to get a good gold color from a powder paint.

Great trip Jonny!

NICE

Live from the workbench. Got some jigs painted up. Crazy how many you lose fishing the river. This should last me 2 years until I need to get more

Wow, very successful and fun filled day Jonny!

Do you do the whole lead mold too?

What size jig do you like for the river?

What hook size?

Do you prefer powder coating to painting? It must take some time to put all the layers of base, paint clear coat.

You did a nice job on the jigs, great looking batch.

I am slowly learning to fish the rivers since my wife is from Prairie Du Chien. I mainly grew up fishing lakes but the rivers can be very productive but boy can they can kick you but. So much to learn on fishing rivers.... but fun learning experience.

P&YBuck1 wrote:Wow, very successful and fun filled day Jonny!

Do you do the whole lead mold too?

What size jig do you like for the river?

What hook size?

Do you prefer powder coating to painting? It must take some time to put all the layers of base, paint clear coat.

You did a nice job on the jigs, great looking batch.

I am slowly learning to fish the rivers since my wife is from Prairie Du Chien. I mainly grew up fishing lakes but the rivers can be very productive but boy can they can kick you but. So much to learn on fishing rivers.... but fun learning experience.

I do not pour my own jigs. If I had a source of lead I would definitely do it. The cost savings is huge. Right now I end up paying about 18 cents per jig. Give or take a couple based on the size. If you have the molds and lead, 1000 hooks will run you about $7-8. Bet I could get to around 7-8 cents a jig if I poured my own. I buy my jigs from reinke brothers in Milwaukee. Cabelas has jigs cheaper, but the hooks are garbage and break instead of bending.

For the Wisconsin river up in point, about 75% of the time I use 1/8 oz. After that, I use a 1/16 oz. I bought some 3/16 to try out since 1/4 is just too big for me. The 3/16 have a 1/0 hook and the 1/8 is one size smaller. Not 100% on that.

I find powder coating to be very easy. I also paint them, hang them, and box them up. Most bake them to cure them, it's not worth the extra time to me. By the time the paint comes off, I typically lose the jig to a snag, or I will just repaint it.

Once I get my own place I will do lead pouring. Have been able to find lead pretty cheap on eBay, and my girlfriends dad is good friends with lots of mechanics who have scrap lead laying around. The molds aren't cheap though, but I should be able to get a return on it within a year. Especially when I know some guys who would buy them.

I am also getting into making hair jigs and tying flies for whitebass and walleyes. Much more time consuming and materials start to add up in cost. But it's addicting. Pretty cool when you are finished.

Killed the walleyes today. Only had 1 of legal size. Way too many that were just hitting the 15" mark but too close to keep. Don't feel like getting a hot headed warden all over me for a borderline fish that makes it on my board but not his. Been there and done that. Make you feel like a criminal for doing nothing wrong.

Was a total zoo today. Buddy went to nekoosa and came home early. All the boat landings were full. Can only imagine how Fremont and depere were today. Started out with frozen eyelets, and ended up in shorts and a tshirt.

You name it. It caught walleyes. Every color, every size, live bait, plastic, caught fish. Just nothing legal.

Back at it tomorrow