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If those minnows that you got out of there stomach are what they all are feeding on, then that's the size bait I would use. I found that on lake Ontario when the walleye are finicky when we troll harnesses, they say go big, so we did after not moving a rod for 11/2 hours I got this brain storm and rigged one harness up with a #3.5 blade usually I use # 5 or # 6 blades and after 20 minutes fish on, then again, so I rigged just one side with a #3.5 and they all started to get hits, so I switched all but one because that's all I had and the rod with the #5 blade never took a hit all day. So I learned something that day bigger isn't always the answer. And now I always have a small blade in the mix, just so I know that if it's one of those days you know what you gotta do. In the fall of the year when the fish are in the shallows feeding on the minnows that are in the weeds I would use the match the hatch theory, in the summer months when fishing at dusk or at night then I would use the larger baits, just because the bigger baits are easier to detect or hear with the bigger louder sounds from a larger lure or a pure reaction bite occurs. Of course this is my philosophy, from what I gathered from fishing Erie, Ontario, Oneida, Canada, and I will admit that lakeO kicks my but more than not. It used to be rather easy for the walleye before the water cleared up. Out around Stoney and Galoo we stopped and dropped a yellow jig in 22ft of water and you could look down and see it on the bottom!! so how far can a walleye see in these clear waters, Long lines and boards far off the sides this year is my game plan, lets see what happens this spring.

If you don't have planer boards, use a large dipsy on the 3 setting this will achieve close to the same affect JT is talking about this way you wont be on top of the fish to spook them, just a thought some times you have to use what you got if you don't have all the paraphernalia needed, as you grow into the full fishing mode it take different stuff to achieve these different approaches, being as stealthy as possible is the key to catching bigger fish like JT mentioned, they are older and educated.

That is really a beautiful piece of art work, the wood is really nice with the grain running with the length of the salmon, and the fins are really detailed also, definitely a nice piece to hang on the wall,

Like JT just mentioned about depth, if you read any of Larry's posts lately he has said that they are in or at 50ft of water. I don't know much about the musky fishing business but thought I would throw that bit of info in there, so maybe deeper water is the quest for now. I remember you said that you were going to try spoons with the rigger but it wasn't working, so maybe you had that thought in mind already. Try a dipsy diver or a jet diver if the rigger isn't working yet, just a suggestion. Good luck and please post with pics.

If nothing else it was a aggressive little bugger, with a no pain no gain attitude !!! You would think after 2 lures stuck in his body it would think twice about hitting another lure? Never saw a fish with that many lures stuck all over it's body, I've caught fish with one other lure in it but certainly not 3. I guess when the feeds on it's on LOL.

Thanks for the great story and for taking JR. with, the smile on his face with him holding the buck by the horns is priceless. You nor him will ever forget that moment. I thinks taking kids hunting and fishing at a young age is the best method to get them involved with the outdoors instead of the tv or weii video games. My daughters are already asking when are we going up to the camper in the spring!! It takes a lot of patience, but when it comes to teaching them about fishing and what to do on the boat it doesn't bother me at all I'll do what ever it takes to get them on fish, just to see them smile when the fish is in the net, and the greatest part is they want to put them back. I didn't tell them that they have to put them back they want to do that on their own, which is great, I've been with others that want to keep everything, different strokes for different folks.

Congrats to jr. on the kill, but teaching him responsibilities is a tuff job also, but is necessary. I know exactly what your going through as I have kids and it's the hardest job as a parent, I feel it make kids better people later on in life, not to mention taking a little of the load off our shoulders, by doing stuff around the house. I know as kids we all had chores around the house, before school and when we got home, before supper and our home work. As far as I'm concerned we didn't turn out that bad. LOL.

I also use a meat rig made by savage, they are a company out of Europe but some of their stuff is sold in the states. The best place and who carries the most is FishUSA they carry the bait heads, which are nice some of the heads have a red spike that holds the fish in the holder, and what's nice with these heads is they have a divers lip on them so they have their own action. I make up a blade with a series of beads for more attraction which I put in front of the bait head and they also carry a brine that is colored, you can change the color of your bait, it has scent and like food coloring in it, colors are chartreuse, blue, red, yellow, just put fish in a zip-lock bag and refrigerate for 24hrs. Easy and productive. Oh and with these bait heads you can use a stinger hook for those tail biters!

This is the ilandhood meat rig I use when trolling for walleyes. I use it[ when they're on the smelt feed. PAP attachment=6672:MIRROLURE_WEB_BROC_Image_567.jpg]

Very nice buck, and even better story, I really appreciate the will to pursue the act of following up to find these animals after the shot, if you make the attempt to take the life of a animal then you should take every effort to find these animals, down here in PA. the archery guys have a bad rap because if the don't find the animal within a short amount of time it's "oh well" there's more, and us rifle hunters find them either dead and half eaten by the yotes or shoot one with a arrow in all infected and no good, so two thumbs up to all the guys that posted your stories and found your deer.!!!! My brother-in-law had a similar story he shot a nice buck, and thought it was a good shot, waited 2 hrs and went on the blood trail which he said you could run after and upon the tracking he also jumped the buck in disbelief that it was able to go another inch he watched it go up a ridge and towards the development. He backed off and waited till the next day and came in through the development and over to the ridge where the buck was last seen, got on the blood trail again and saw the buck laying down, but looking around, so he backed out and came in at an angle he could shoot, this time he had his cross bow, and the buck stood up and he put another arrow right in the boiler room the deer fell right over. he brought over to my house to skin it off since I have the doings and he pulled an autopsy on the shot the first arrow took out 1 lung and hit the bottom of the heart which was like jelly, if I wouldn't of seen this with my own eyes I wouldn't of believed the story. These animals are tough as nails and the will to survive is amazing!!

Very interesting to say the least, that lets you target many different species, Once you figure out what's where and when?

What type of whole fish are legal to use with meat rigs, I've been using type X but would like to know what is legal. Just don't want to put any more invasive species into our waters. I looked up what's legal and it seems to be a grey area, but it says any store bought fish that is commercially packaged may be used, did I interpret that correctly?