Kabetogama/Namakan Fishing Report June 16, 2008

Abnormal weather patterns dominate the news in the Midwest; Kabetogama and Namakan are no exception.
Namakan basin, which includes Kabetogama, Sand Point, and Crane, is dealing with unusually high water tables.
Thus far the high water has only been an inconvenience to anglers as the strong bite on Kabetogama and Namakan continues.
Shallow water in wind blown bays has been providing anglers with action from walleyes, bass, northern and saugers.
Cool water temps, strong currents and turbid water has probably contributed to mid-day action as well as the usual morning
and evening bite.
As this next week promises to hold dry weather and sunshine, expect walleyes to finally school up near and on reefs.
Sandbar edges dropping to the 22-28' depths will be holding walleye and sauger. Look for slip-sinker rigs using crawlers and
leeches to be a good presentation method.
Slip bobbering the shorelines with minnows, leeches, or crawlers will still get random walleyes, as well as bass and northerns.
Best pike hangouts will be bays like Mud, Daily, Nebraska, and Lost Bay; start shallow then move deep.
Smallmouth action is on the rip-rap shorelines and rock pile edges. Shallow running lures like husky jerks and X-raps should
net you lots of fish.
Crappie action remains slow; Sullivan Bay, Lost Lake, or Old Dutch Bay in Namakan could get you started.

Lake Oahe Fishing Report

No much has changed since the last report. The walleye fishing continues to be excellent! We are seeing limits of very nice fish. They have been using minnows and crawlers. 10 - 15 feet of water anywhere from below us north to Swiftbird has been good. You'll notice that in some of the new photos there are three people and only eight fish. Don't worry....fishing isn't going downhill.

Fishing Reports For Rainy Lake and Lake Kabetogama

Walleye and Crappie are biting on Rainy Lake. The preferred bait is a minnow and the walleye can be found from shallow shorelines to 30 feet of water. Crappie are also hanging in the shallows to about 20 feet of depth. Northern Pike are most active on the edges of weedy areas in the shallows. The best reports are coming from Black Bay and Lost Bay and some of the islands just west of Brule Narrows. Smallmouth bass have not been very active. Water levels are high and certainly have an effect on where the fish are congregating.


Rainy River walleye are staying close to the areas with current, the outside corner of a wide bend for instance, and smallmouth bass have been hitting on plastics in the shallower areas. Again, water levels are high and can fluctuate so it might be hard to find the right spot, and that may not be the right spot one day later.
In Minnesota, the land of ten thousand lakes, Kabetogama is a wild, untapped treasure. Anglers who long for wide open spaces and good fishing will revel in the cool, clean waters and solitude of Kabetogama. Walleye, Northern Pike, bass and crappies . . .whatever you're looking for, we've got.

Spring fishing always creates excitement as fish travel from spawning beds to shallow reefs and the unending shorelines of Lake Kabetogama. As the water warms by mid-June, schooling walleyes travel to deeper waters and challenge anglers to follow their feeding habits.

GPS

One of the great things about having GPS is the ability to return to a particular spot on a lake without having to use marker buoys. We all have known the joys of finding feeding fish and marking the spot with a buoy only to have every tourist fishing boat on the lake start fishing on top of your marker. With GPS you can mark your spot and then find a nice snaggy spot on top of the rocks and place a tourist buoy to keep the other boats away from you and start fishing in peace.

Kabetogama/Namakan Fishing Report June 9, 2008

High water and warm (normal) weather on the weekend have set up
fast ever-changing conditions, keeping anglers on their toes.

Spring fishing conditions are at long last giving way to summer fishing
conditions which means changing depth, changing bait and changing your presentation.

An ever popular area on Kabetogama will be Center Reef and the flats--this
area offers structure, and varying depths from 10-35'. This rock and gravel
bottom is an annual producer.

Windblown shores on Sugar Bush Island will be a great area to use a slip-sinker rig.
Now is the time to convert from minnows to leeches and crawlers.

Namakan's Blind Indian Narrows, Tar Point, Cemetery Island, and the shores of
Namakan Island should be good areas to slip-sinker rig, concentrating on 18-30'.

Smallmouth coming up shallower and beginning to bite artificial lures-- both surface
and shallow runners. Rip-rap shorelines and submerged rock reefs are good areas to find them.

Northern pike are active--especially the 2-4# size. Big northern are staging in deeper
waters outside weedy soft bottom bays. Try trolling at 12-18' with lures, or slip-bobber
or fish with sucker minnows in the same areas.

The Lilacs are finally blooming; this is nature's indicator that the temps are right for crappie
action in shallow water--like Sullivan Bay and Lost Lake.

Lake Kabetogama and Voyaguers National Park

Fishing Minnesota Boat Store

Results from the 2006 large-lake sampling provided valuable information about the status of the fishery on Lake Kabetogama. The walleye population in Lake Kabetogama is suffering from low recruitment. Despite poor recruitment, the walleye gill net CPUE increased in 2006, after three years of steady decline. The increase observed in 2006 was interesting because young of the year walleye made up about 30 percent of the catch. Generally a large catch of YOY walleye in the gill nets does not mean much. However, in 2006 young of year walleye were captured in 17 of 20 gill nets; indicating a good distribution and representation in the fishery.

Aging of walleye otoliths showed that the catch is dominated by a couple of moderate to strong, year-classes; typical of a "boom and bust" fishery. For the fishery to recover a few strong year-classes need to be strung together, with some moderate year-classes filling the gaps. Currently walleye recruitment is inconsistent, with only a couple of strong year-classes still present in the catch.

Recently the 2001 year-class provided Lake Kabetogama with a bright spot in the net surveys. Early indications of the 2001 year-class were good. However, after observing several years of low relative catch rates, the 2006 catch rate was above average for age-5 walleye. The mean length of the age-5 walleye was 18.1 inches during the 2006 fall gill netting. Most of the 2001 walleye year-class will be protected by the new regulation during 2007.

The 1996 walleye year-class was also present in the 2006 gill-net catch. The 1996 year-class ranks as the strongest walleye year-class on Lake Kabetogama. This year-class has recruited to the protected slot (17 to 28 inches). Prior to the regulation change in March 2007, these fish would have been again vulnerable to harvest as they recruit from the protected slot to harvest length. The expansion of the protected slot will protect these fish for many years to come.

Results of YOY walleye surveys were good during 2006. Early season walleye growth was exceptional. The late July length projections indicate the best growth rates ever observed on Lake Kabetogama. This year's electrofishing efforts produced a moderate catch, indicating the 2006 walleye year-class will be average in strength. However, if growth indications prove to override abundance indices, the 2006 year-class could be the strongest year-class of walleye ever produced on Lake Kabetogama.

The 2005 year-class, despite indications of being an average year-class, was caught in below average numbers for age-1 walleye. Conditions for growth have been good for both the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons. Therefore, it would have been fair to assume more age-1 walleye would have been captured during fall gill netting in 2006. Their paucity in the 2006 survey may point to the issue of elevated juvenile mortality.

Gill net catches of the 2002, 2003, and 2004 year-classes have been below average. Similarly, prior to the 2001 year-class there were four consecutive years of poor to mediocre recruitment. The 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997 year-classes were all below average in strength and help explain the current status of the Kabetogama walleye fishery. Fish from these year-classes ranged in length from 16 to 21 inches.

Sauger abundance bounced back slightly after three consecutive years of decline in abundance. The 2003 year-class provided a highlight in the 2006 net surveys. The 2003 year-class is showing great promise and should be recruiting to the sport fishery during the next couple of years. This year class will be the first strong sauger year-class since the two very strong year-classes of 1997 and 1998.

The 2006 fall gill netting indicates the northern pike abundance is holding around the 1.5 to 2.0 fish per net. Northern pike numbers have fluctuated between 1.5 and 2.5 per net for the last ten surveys. The pike population on Kabetogama has shown fluctuation in abundance; and may be nearing the bottom of the valley. However, while abundance may be down, the age and size structure are healthy. ?

Ping Golf Clubs For Sale

Ping Of Pebble Beach

Jeep Wrangler

The classic Jeep still bears a striking resemblance to its ancestors of World War 2 vintage. It is one of the most recognizable automotive faces on the planet Through so many generations and as ubiquitous as it has become on our roads, Wrangler still has the ability to turn the heads of passersby and solicit smiles from fellow motorists. Whatever it is, there is no denying it gets noticed and people know instantly what it is. On pavement, it is constantly twitching to get off it, letting its restless feelings known to the driver with a consistent, barely noticeable, pecking at the front wheels, almost like a dog tugging at a leash - it wants to run and it's annoyed that you won't let it so it gives you little tugs to make it as aggravating for you to hold him as it is for him to be held. Similarly, the incredibly direct steering constantly makes the driver input tiny adjustments right or left to keep it tracking straight ahead, as if the large off-road knobby tires have caught a scent of wilderness just off the pavement and want to alert the driver to some good-time nature-commuting. You almost feel like driving on the shoulder briefly, just to shut the damn things up and let you get on with your commute. The steering is not only direct, it will turn the car almost 90 degrees from a standstill. Getting into the narrowest parking spots from even narrower lanes is never a problem in Wrangler. Neither is getting out of one without inconveniencing other motorists ... just watch your corners to make sure you don't clip your neighbours. If you're in the market for a Jeep this site has a great selection:
Montana Jeep Wrangler's

Whitlock's Bay Fishing

Our trip to Lake Oahe in South Dakota in May turned out to be a windy trip on the big water.
We stay at West Whitlocks State Park in one of the Capming Cabins. These cabins are great
for a couple of people, having both heat and air conditioning. When we could get on the lake
(the wind was blowing like crazy most of the time) we found the walleye's in about 12 ft. of
water on the points. We caught some nice fish in the 16-19" range with a few over 25". One night
we were sitting on the deck of the cabin and we were joined by a herd of deer that had to number
30. They were grazing within 30 yards of where we were sitting, totally oblivious to us. If deer
hunting is your sport, here is one of my favorite sausage recipes:

VENISON SAUSAGE

12 lbs. meat, 1/2 venison, 1/2 pork
1 tbsp. saltpeter (sodium nitrate)
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup salt
1 1/2 tbsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. allspice
1 tbsp. crushed chili pepper (optional)
Cut venison and pork into small chunks for
the grinder. Add all seasonings; mix thoroughly;
put through grinder using medium blade. Pack
meat in sausage bags or casings and hang it for
long smoking at a low temperature. If you wish,
the meat may be stored in a freezer and used as
you would good pork sausage. Smoking certainly
adds much to the flavor and is well worth the effort.