Monster Pike Weekend

We headed north to Lake of the Woods in search of Monster Pike for the annual Bigtooth Slime Fest!  We arrived Friday morning and were chopping at the bit to get some flags set.  We targeted the South shore near Warroad, MN.  This area has a ton of water sheds from creeks and streams which is a good starting point for anyone looking to fish these huge pike.  We ended up with some pretty good fishing but I would have to say on this trip we were a little early.  The bite is only going to get better! 

The Bigtooth Fluoro-Carbon HD Rig was on fire this weekend.  Learn more at www.bigtoothtackle.com

I'm looking forward to filming with Mike Keyes and Steve Gensen with Keyes Outdoors television this coming weekend.  Stay Tuned!!!

Here are a few photos of some of the pike we caught throughout the weekend.

"Make a Memory"
Jeff "Breezer" Andersen

(click on photo for larger view)

Leech Lake Fishing Guide

Hey Guys!  I hope everyone is having a great March.  I thought I would pass on an article I wrote for the guys at My Lake Guide.  In the article I talk about how to approach the abudant walleye and pike on massive Leech Lake.

Here is a link to the article click here.

"Make a Memory"
Jeff "Breezer" Andersen

Leech Lake Perch - Mille Lacs Perch Report

Leech Lake Perch
It's jumbo perch season here in Minnesota and my friends Tim, Abear and I headed north to Leech Lake in search of just that, Jumbo Perch.  The bite was on but getting them to bite wasn't the challenge.  We were faced with too many small fish.  We had to move, move, move and drill, drill, drill.  We finally put together an area towards the last three hours where we put some nice fish on the ice.  It seemed like each hole held a few decent fish, which would bite first, then it seemed like the small fish would take over.  We had to move holes at that point.  We fished the Bear Island Area which is no secret and for good reason.  The shore line structure, near Hardwood Point, seemed to hold the nicer fish as the midlake structure seemed to be packed with the small fish.  These fish are on the move so be prepared to get a good work out.

Mille Lacs Perch
I have also been fishing a few times with the perch master, John Hoyer, on Mille Lacs Lake.  The perch fishing there too is on fire.  John has been pretty dialed in all season.  It's fun to watch him work and talk to him about the details that make him successful while fishing.  One thing he keys in on is bottom transitions from mud to rock/gravel.  It takes some work to find these areas but the work is paid off with buckets full of perch.  So take some time and locate these transitions areas.

Both of these lakes offer great perch fishing and they are on the bite now!  Get out and take advantage of this beautiful weather and great perch bite.

"Make a Memory"
Jeff "Breezer" Andersen

Kids Fishing Clinic Baxter

My friend Chuck asked me to help out during a kids fishing clinic at the Baxter Elementary this past week and what a great time we had.  It was fun to see the kids excitement while talking to them about ice fishing.  I covered simple presentation tactics.  I asked the kids, "If you go to McDonalds and you were served a piece of tire would that seem normal?"  They looked at me funny and I said, "NO!" and then I asked, "If they served a big juicy cheeseburger would that seem normal?"  "YES" they all exclaimed and I explained that while fishing we need to serve the fish a big juicy cheeseburger not a piece of tire.  I could see the wheels turning!  I made the relationship to match our presentations while fishing to what the fish are eating.

Something that simple is such a huge part in being successful on the ice.  Ask yourself, "What are the fishing eating?" and apply that to your fishing tactics.

Take time and teach our youth this great sport of fishing!

Jason Mitchell Crappie

I had the great pleasure to shoot an ice crappie segment with Jason Mitchell for his television show Jason Mitchell Outdoors.  We fished with my good friend Mike Crawford on a small lake near Bemidji, MN my home stopping grounds.

We were fishing in and around a 30 foot basin on the small lake and drilling holes was the name of the game.  This is nothing new but I see it too often when anglers drill a couple of holes and just settle in hoping the fish come to them.  If you want to have a good days consistently I believe you have to be willing to put work in.  If you can find those large schools of fish in those main lake basins it's not too often you can't get them to bite.  We caught fish on some new soft plastic baits.  It's pretty awesome not dealing with live minnows in those cold temps. 

Here is one photo from the day.

In-Fisherman Musky Show

Hey guys!  If you didn't get a chance to see the episode I filmed with Doug Stange and the In-Fisherman crew here it is.  As I mentioned before I have grown up watching Doug on television and it has always been a dream to fish let along film an actual fish show with him.  On top of the that to catch a pair of the two largest muskies caught on one episode of In-Fisherman television history.  I think my Momma was watching down this day!   I didn't talk much as I was shocked by the big fish and the camera so I let the master take it away.  It's amazing how good Doug can just spit the words out!

Click here to read about the RAPALA X-RAP WALK 13 
(Click after you watch the show.  It will navigate you to
a new page)

I hope you enjoy!

"Make a Memory"
Jeff "Breezer" Andersen

Gull Lake Walleye

So it was going to be a quick trip to Gull Lake in the Brainerd Lakes Area with my friends Tim Hanske and Dan Abear.  The past few days we have been greeted with, what feels like summer like weather, since we are so used to 20 below.  Tim had been out the night before and put the hurt bag on some keeper walleyes so that added to our motivation.  We pulled up to our spot, nobody in sight, and it was game on!  We drilled our holes and started fishing.  It was still pretty early about and hour from sunset and the perch were on the feed bag.  They weren't jumbos but the action was intense!  The sun hit the top of the trees and the perch bit slowed.  Waiting with anticipation I thought the walleyes were going to go nuts but they didn't.  We kept saying 10 more minutes!  So we had enough after catching a few small walleyes and we started to pack things up.  Tim went to pick up a tip up he had set and Dan said, "Well, I'm gong to fish one more hole!" which was right next to Tim and before we knew it fish on.  Dan did battle and landed a dandy Gull Lake Walleye.  Spirits were lifted as we had our tails between our legs prior to Dan's impressive catch.  See photos below......

It's amazing how one fish can turn an O.K. night of fishing into another amazing memory!

I hope everyone is enjoying the winter and looking forward to warmer weather!

Take Care,

Jeff "Breezer" Andersen
"Make a Memory"

A sunset beauty

Dave Genz

Dave Genz and I took the afternoon to go catch a few bluegills and crappies.  We took advantage of the beautiful day and took a few photos.  I'm out the door to go fishing so I thought I would just post a few photos from the day.  Enjoy!

"Make a Memory"

Jeff

(Click on Photo for larger view)

 (Genz's fishing machine)

(A little Funky)

KFAN Radio Interview

I had the pleasure of speaking with Billy Hildebrand on KFAN Outdoors the other day.  What a great guy, an awesome outdoor program and is full of information from fishing to hunting or anything outdoor related. 

The link is below
KFAN Link to Interview
(2.5.2011 Hr 2)

Thanks Billy!

Leech Lake Walleye Lrn2Fish School

I had the pleasure of working with Jim Hudson who is a fishing guide in the Chequamegon Bay and Apostle Island area this past weekend.  Jim and his wife put together ice fishing schools which are called lrn2Fish Ice Roads and they do an amazing job!  Jim asked if I could help out with the event on Leech and of coarse I was down for anything.  So Northbound I headed last Friday morning.  We had several guys out looking for fish for the students and that was my goal, to find the fish!

I met up with friends Scott and Kody Seibert along with Rick Johnson.  These guys are great sticks and fun to hang out with.  We headed out on the main lake basin with our snowmobiles and can you say SNOW!  I can't believe how much snow the Walker Lakes Area has got.  Good thing for snowmobiles as travel on the main lake was pretty good after the first couple hundred yards.  We fished several spots with only catching a few walleyes through out the day.  It was perfect out and they should have been biting but we just couldn't locate a large school of fish.  We did mark some pretty big fish that just were in a "negative" mood.  They would come up on the Vexilar, look at the bait, then go back down.  Frustrating, as I thought the main lake was going to be on!  The best part was there wasn't anybody out fishing where we were so I thought we would have fresh non pressured fish but no go.

Stuck with our tails between our legs we headed back to Horseshoe Bay Lodge where we met up with all the students, had a great dinner and talked fishing.  Jim asked that I put together a presentation on Leech Lake which seemed to go pretty good.  There was also a ton of knowledge in the room with many great anglers giving their two cents how to target these fish.  So we had to come up with a game plan for Saturday morning.  Half of the students only had truck travel and the other half had snowmobiles.  We sent the truck group to fish the Grand Vu Flats area since there are some pretty good roads plowed there and the other half was coming with me.  My plan was to fish Walker Bay since I had caught some walleyes there the other day.

Eager for the first hook set we were all up and at em' early and off we went.  We had a pretty large group of anglers and most of the spots in Walker Bay are fairly small secondary structure so we had to spread out.  We pulled up on our first three humps and started marking fish right away.  Again the big walleyes seemed to just look but we caught some small walleyes, perch and a few bonus tullibees but not the hawg belly we were looking for.  Our mobility was very limited with the amount of slush and snow we encountered.  We were consistently getting stuck!  On a typical day of fishing I would fish over 25 spots but with a large group and the horrid slush we were half way through the day and had only fished three spots.  We moved to one large reef in hopes to find a few fish, eat lunch and make a game plan for the evening bite.  No fish on this reef but the boys cooked up some dangerous brats and they were so good!  All Five of them....

For the evening bite we set up and it didn't take long and we were all marking fish.  As the sun started to fall the bite was on.  We caught several walleyes but most of them were very small.  I was a little bummed as I thought we could find the larger fish through out the day but that just didn't happen.  That is fishing!

It was great for the students to see how finicky these fish can be.  It took the correct presentation, use of electronics, and a sensitive touch to get these fish on the ice.  Lets face it when the walleyes are in a positive or aggressive mode they are easy to catch but when we are dealing with a large cold front and high pressure typically that turns them neutral and for the big fish they were negative.

We were fishing with small spoons and most of the fish came on just a small minnow head.  The key was to get the fish to chase the bait, then play keep away until you could see their mood change and once they looked aggressive you had to pause the bait and wait for the bite.

Thanks to all the students and to all the great anglers I had the chance to meet and fish with.

If you are looking for a great guide in the Chequamegon Bay Area check Jim Hudson out at Hudson's on the Spot Guide Service.

Also you can learn more about the Lrn2Fish Ice Road Schools Here.

"Make a Memory"
Jeff "Breezer" Andersen

Dave Genz, Jason Mitchell, WalleyeDan, and the Clam Corp Team

This past week I had the chance to go out fishing with Dave Genz, Jason Mitchell, Dan Eigen (WalleyeDan) and the team from Clam Corp on Lake Mille Lacs.  Our goal was to capture some images of the guys in action and we did just that!  We only had a day to shoot photos so we had to hit it hard.  The bite on Mille Lacs is day to day and the walleyes seemed to be on the move.  One day you can catch them in one spot and then the next day they are gone.  So mobility is key!  Most of the fish we are catching are on smaller spoons like the Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoon.  This is one of my number one producers.  While out fishing Dan was using another one of my favorites, the Rapala Jigging Rap, and he caught the largest walleye only two minutes into the trip.  

Here are some photos of the boys in action!

 (Click on Image for Larger View)