It seems that fluorocarbon line is becoming more commonly used these days than monofilament line. For sure fluorocarbon has a time and place, but not always is fluorocarbon the best choice. Jake and Paige Romanack teamed up to catch this impressive Saginaw Bay walleye. Using monofilament as the main line and adding a short fluorocarbon line as leader has served our family well when ice fishing for walleye and a host of other species. Using fluorocarbon as main line is a good

Anyone who has ice fished for walleye or other larger fish species knows that the moment of truth comes when the fish is at the bottom of the ice hole. Getting that fish’s nose into the hole may seem simple, but it’s amazing how often fish get off at this critical moment. What makes this situation even more frustrating is the fish comes unbuckled right before your eyes! A number of years ago I got so frustrated at losing hard fought fish at the hole, I started rigging my ice

It’s true that no fishing boat is perfect and/or capable of doing all the things an avid angler might have interest in. Boats in general and fishing boats in particular are a lesson in compromise. Fishing boats are a compromise because no single boat design or model is capable of performing flawlessly at the many ways anglers target fish. Case in point, that sleek and speedy bass boat hull that’s ideal for chasing largemouth on in-land bodies of water, is about worthless for

They say in war all give some and some give all. The annual Walleyes For Wounded Heroes event that takes place out of Little Ted’s Cottages near Port Clinton, Ohio is made up of military, police, fire fighters and first responder veterans who have served their country honorably. These brave men and women not only served, but they were also wounded or injured in the line of duty. Walleye For Wounded Heroes brings Military, police, fire and EMT veterans together with volunteer

A few years ago Off Shore Tackle introduced a new diver that has subsequently rewritten the way anglers troll spinners, spoons and crankbaits for walleye and other species. The Tadpole Diver, officially known as the OR36 Tadpole Resettable Diving Weight, comes in four sizes including the No. 1, 2, 3 and Magnum. The Tadpole Diver can be rigged using line releases on the tow arm and the back of the diver. This option allows the Tadpole to be fished in-line using any combination

One of the age old questions surrounding walleye fishing is should an angler be fishing with soft plastic lures or using live bait? Clearly both options have their time and place. Here’s how the Fishing 411 crew attacks the issue and why. When pulling harnesses, the only choice is a healthy and broad shouldered nightcrawler. SOFT PLASTICS The world of soft plastic baits has changed a great deal over the years. My first experience with soft plastics was not good. I was maybe 1

In the Great Lakes region and beyond vertical jigging for river run walleye is a spring tradition. Just a few of the places I have employed the tactics of vertical jig fishing include the Niagara River, Illinois, Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, St. Croix, Fox, Wolf, Saginaw, Tittabawassee, Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. The art of fishing a jig directly below the boat is a lesson in boat control. To accomplish this seemingly simple presentation requires that the boat, current and

Sportfishing resources in the Great Lakes region are constantly in a state of change. Despite the best laid plans of fishery biologists, aquatic researchers and natural resource managers, keeping fish populations growing or stable is no easy task. In the case of introduced species like king salmon, coho salmon, brown trout, Atlantic salmon and even the steelhead, the challenge of keeping a thriving population of fish is especially difficult. As the Great Lakes have evolved an

Here at Fishing 411 we carry a lot of different spinner rigs for catching walleye. The common walleye spinner or what a lot of anglers still refer to as crawler harnesses catch us a bunch of fish, but not all the harnesses we use are configured the same. To keep things in our boat ship shape and the right gear readily at hand, we organize our spinners into four different categories intended for completely different fishing presentations. The foam leader boards produced by Fis