Tips & Tricks

Storing Crawler Tip Bob Drongowski I store my crawlers in a Styrofoam chest in the garage. I put a frozen 12oz plastic pop bottle (filled with water) into the chest and replace with a 2nd pop bottle every day or every other day pending weather.
It keeps crawlers alive for at least 2-3 weeks, and saves my marriage. No crawlers in the frig.
In the boat, I use a small bucket partially filled with lake water. Dump a few crawlers in, they stay lively (as with the ice trick) and your hands are clean. Replenish water as needed.

Perch Rig Tim McGraw When fishing for perch on the bottom I use a crappie rig however I adjust the little red balls that hold the wire hook holders in place. move them as far down the rig as possible so they are right above the clip for your torpedo sinker. I then shorten up the length of the leader on a standard #6 or #8 tru turn hook by 1/2 this allow you to have both of the wire hook holders as close to the sinker (bottom) as possible and by making it 1/2 shorter it prevents them from tangling. I also add another hook to the bottom of the torpedo sinker allowing you to have 3 hooks as close to the bottom as possible with out tangling up the hooks. try it it works.

Nail Em Jerry Bessesen Lead split shot and sinkers will soon become a no-no on lakes and rivers. I sometimes use nails as sinkers. Only in places where no one will walk or swim. Just use a small rubber band 1/2 hitch tightly to your line then wrap the loose end several times around the head of the nail. You can buy nails in several lengths and weights only don't use galvanized. Set your lead to 3-4-5 feet and bounce along the bottom. Nail will rust in time and is environmentally safer than lead and cheap too.

Look Ma No Mast Jim Henzie If you own downriggers that have swivel bases, try using them with your planer boards instead of a forward located planer board mast. Rotate the downrigger 180 degrees forward, attach your boards and back off tension on the cable spool - the board heads out to the desired distance (if you have electric downriggers - don't try to electric the boards out - spools out too fast - however you can bring them back in using electric). The steel cable cuts the water much better and the stainless steel cable to the metal on your release clip really zings out toward the board.

Scaling Steelhead/Salmon Mike Barkley While doin' up some steelhead, I tried a method for scaling them that Phil Drum told me about. If you leave the skin on for grilling or smoking, just place the fillet skin side up on the cutting board and hold it down with a fork at the very tail end. Using the garden hose on "jet" spray, you can completely scale the fish in about 30 seconds. Should work just as good on salmon or any fish with real fine scales! Thanks, Phil!!!!

Handline tip Chuck Britton Saw a great presentation at the meeting last nite in hand lining, one thing was left out , 30 years ago I had a hand line reel come loose going down the hwy, since then I always tie them to the boat ! 2 years ago on the water, my friend had his jiggle off, he grabbed the cord and reinstalled it, have fun

Stabilizing Tip Chuck Britton Hello again, I have a 19 ft open bow, in the front seat mounting hole I have installed a 4 ft pipe, when I am fishing I use it over 10 times a day to stabilize my trips to the trolling motor, front anchor, docking rope, what ever!!

Trailer Axles Chuck Britton For those who read these tips its time to grease the boat axle and tell your friends, water proof grease recommended, have fun

Jig Trailers David Hamburg When using football jigs or any kind of flipping jig try to superglue the jig trailer on the end of the head. This will keep the trailers from slipping off the end and will save a bit of money

Leader Storage Mark Komo Save the old line spools and use them to store your leaders. Connect leader to leader via the snap or barrel. I like to keep my labeled, i.e., 30 inch, or 10 foot for handlining. Takes up very little space.

"GULP" bait stopper Just like an earlier tip, instead of using a ring of a twister for a minnow stop on the hook, use a piece of Gulp!. A little extra scent doesnt hurt either

Fire Extinguishers Don Kwasney A few years ago I had a member of the coast guard tell me that even tho your fire extinguisher is just a few years old & fully charged it still may not be very useful. It seems that after being stored for a while and bounced around in your boat,the powder gets packed tightly together,and when you go to use it,very little will come out. It is reccomended that you turn it upside-down & shake it vigorously, better yet, I turn it upside-down & hit it several times with a rubber mallet. This might be some good information to alert our members as I doubt few even think of this. Next tip will show how fisherman can rubberize their own nets. Don

Crawlers on Ice (part 2) James Coolican I have an addition to Mike's post. We do the same thing to the crawlers except I got a bunch of tupper ware or similar containers. you can put about 2 dozen in a 4x4x4 container. Then put them in your small cooler. This way you only have to have one small container out of the cooler at a time. Also drop in a couple of ice cubes in each container as you take them from the cooler.

Sharpen electric knife blades Bob Clark I use a 3/16" chain saw sharpening file to add life to my blades. I try to match the angle of the serrations and make one or two strokes with the file on each serration. The blades will not be as sharp as a new set, but are a LOT better than a dull set!

Chain Weights Austin, Try using a chain weight with a 2.5 to 3 ft mono leader and a leach or minnow on rock piles for walleyes. works every time here in Iowa.

Snell Holder Charles Britton, Small improvement on mike Barkley's Snell holder idea (Click HERE) from flower type swim tubes, leave one ridge unnotched, cut slit with sharp knife, great starting point store them in large zip lock bag, color code three different ones with a sharpie right through ridges, yellow tubes easy to see colors, make one for ten feet snells, one twenty, one thirty or your preferred length, have fun!

Perchin' Tip Jerry Hinton, You perch fisherman ever wonder why some folks get em, and some don't?? My dad was an avid percher and ALWAYS nipped or bite off the minnows tail. No, I'm not kidding. I've done it and it works. Especially if the bite is slow or very light. I think the extra flavor, odor, etc released in the water makes the difference. As a kid, I remember him sitting in the back of the boat taking 5-6 to my 1 and giggling all the time. then he would offer to switch seats. Big mistake!!! He'd continue his catching while I sat wondering what I was doing wrong. Try it and see for yourself. It does work!

Improving Tie downs Harry Hallmark , written by Pat Waite. For those of us who have had to replace a tie-down strap or two, there is a way to prolong the life of them. I learned this from Harry Hallmark while fishing from his boat this season. Harry took some old carpet and fashioned a strip of carpet to go over the tie down straps for his boat. As you can see in the photo at right,

Harry simply cut a piece of carpet about 8 to 10 inches by 5 or 6 inches. Then he made a slit in from each end wide enough for the strap to go through. He then slid them on the straps and positions them to lay over the corner of the boat at the point where most straps get worn out first. They do a good job of keeping the straps free of cuts and, yes, they have lasted Harry a long time. I did the same thing for my rig, the only difference being that I have the boat buckles on my trailer. It’s the same type of strap material though and my straps stay connected to the trailer at all times. I simply have to remember to ratchet the strap down to an extra eye on my trailer to insure I don't lose the strap protector when I launch or retrieve my boat at the ramp. Everyone has some old carpet just laying around and this is a good way to make good use of it. Thanks Harry!

Prop Tip Ken St. Denis Have you got a 60hp EFI 4-stroke by Mercury? I do.....I switched from a 16 pitch prop to a 13 pitch prop.....Big improvement...... Much better top end speed

Handline tips Chuck Britton
#1 I am going to try 30# test for hand lining. 20# is also good to keep line off the bottom.

#2 The swim tubes sold at Meijer's are good for hand lining leads cut to 6" lengths with small cut on top of ridges.

Fly "Bites"?? from "Raven" When drift fishing in the Great Lakes I get a lot of bites, Unfortunately they are from flies biting my ankles. The little critters will even draw blood. If you ever had this problem try rubbing Lemon Scented Joy dishwashing liquid on your ankles and legs. You will be free of the critters for two hours. This works the best of anything I have ever tried and it is the cheapest solution.

Jiggin' Tips from Randy "Putter" Parpart (North Dakota) If you like jigging walleye with minnows like I do, here's a trick I use to help keep them on the jig. Take the 'barrel' end of a twister tail and bite off one of the ringlets. After putting the minnow on the jig, add that ringlet to the end. Only way the minnow will come off is a heck of a snag or a hungry, short-bitin' walleye!

More Planer Board tips from Steve Stoddart / Monroe - I put my planer board mast out front on the windlass of a 25' aft cabin cruiser. To reach out and retrieve my board line from the rear of the boat I went to WalMart and got one of those telescoping golf ball retrievers. I cut a notch out of the little plastic ring {ball ring} so it looks like a hook. Telescope it out and I can reach right out and grab the board line with no problems at all.

Board Tips from Pat Waite - When trolling with the big boards and having to set out the lines, sometimes it's just to far to safely reach out and gather the board line to attach the clip to your fishing line and the board line. That's when you use a tether of short line from the boat to the board line. Remember to make it so it can slide freely up an down the line to prevent any binding in a turn.
Another method that I sometimes use is an old broom handle cut down to about 3ft with a simple J hook at one end. All I do is reach out and hook the board line and pull it to me where I can safely attach the clip and fishing line. This tool also works well with the downrigger cable line, to pull the weight and clip to me instead of having to swing the downrigger around everytime I reset the line.
"Wishin-Ain't-Fishin" Pat

Insurance Claims from Chuck Jones - In order to make it easy to file a insurance claim etc. we laid all of our tackle etc. out with notes attached ("350 small size Wiggle Warts", 8 ugly stick model number -------) etc. & then took pictures of it. This gave us a accurate idea of what we had in case we ever have to make a claim.

Boards & Rat's Nests from Chuck Jones. - We found while run the big boards & several line at times you can get a "rats" nest. Using different color lines it makes it real easy to undo. We run 4 different colors on each side. Trilene green, clear, High Visb. yellow & High Visb green. The colors don't seem to make any difference. The last couple of years we have been running spoons & mini's so the leaders we make up to set this up is made from Trilene green.

In-line Weed Deflector from Anonymous - Try using a margrine tub lid,sliced halway through and formed into a cone. attach weights to keep it from floating, then cut a hole in the tip,run your line through it and use 2 split shots 1 on the out side of the cone and 1 on the inside of the cone to hold it in place theres your weed deflector

Trolling Lure Hooks from Pat Waite.- When I troll with the big boards on the lake, I remove the front hooks from my lures. They don't really catch any fish and they are a no-no in the net. they make a tool for removing the hooks at any tackle shop. Saves me time when I need to get the lure back in the water and the net ready for the next fish. Try it you'll see what I mean. Pat

Fool-Proof Walleye Release from Jerry Hinton (Island Girl).- Using a #16 rubber band from the local office supply store and Plastic Clothes pins and Metal shower curtain hooks, you have a fool-proof walleye release. Make sure that the Plastic clip has a hole in one handle to attach the shower curtain clip. If not, drill one. After letting the line out to a desired distance, loop the line once over your hand. Attach a rubber band thru the loop (doubled line) and pull it taut. Clip in the rubber band and hook the shower curtain clip to planer-board line. Since all of your rods are hopefully the same kind and baits are pulling equally, watch the releases and rod tips. If either are different, pull the line out of the release and reel in the fish. Or weed, or something. But there was a reason that it looked different. The other benefit of attaching the rubber band to the fishing line using a loop is that the line won't slide around and it can be used as a guide each time you let out line. It'll always be the length that you set it at. Cheap and easy!!!

Hand-lining Sinker from Jerry Hinton - My Dad used to use Copper-tubing. Usually 1/2" about 12-14" long. Take a 4"x4" for a base and drill 1/2" holes in it. Place copper tubing into holes and pour in Melted lead. Finish with a cotter key flared on the ends so it won't pull out. Simple, easy and it works. I still have about 30 for my use. the copper is harder than pure lead and won't get hung up so often. (There is an article on making these sinkers on the Articles page.

Waxing Rods from Mike Barkley - Applying a coat of wax to your fishing rod (rod, real seat and guides) will go a long way towards protecting it as well as making it very easy to clean after a trip by just wiping it down. Putting a coat of wax (Any household furniture wax like Lemon Pledge or car wax) will help protect your rod against scratches that can eventually lead to rod failure I always do it 2 or 3 times a year

Flourocarbon Line from Mike Skinner - While tournament fishing can get tough in the summers months anything to give you a little edge helps increase that bag . Seaguar 15# florou tied to power pro braided line. Tie about 6 feet of flouro to your braided line by using a surgeons knot. Uusing a little swivel and casting constantly is hard on the eyes of your rod! Hope this helps to help you catch more Bronze!

"MAP Chips"A huge money saving tip from Larry Flezar - "Wanted to purchase a Navionic MMC "Hot Spot" chip for my Lowrance Graph but all the locals want $199.99 for it. Found a site on internet (via Great Lakes Angler magazine) which sells same chip for $128.99. Talked to them & they can get any chip for you. Here's the phone number 1-800-347-4307 or www.fish307.com. They have some good prices on lots of equipment!"

Line/Reel Tip from Tom Dinneweth - Hate the cost of respooling expensive line such as Ripcord, Fireline, etc. ? Tom just transfers his line from one spool to the other every other year thereby reversing the line by putting the heaviest used line on the inside and putting the unused portion of the line on the outside. Doubles the life of the line and also removes the "memory".

Minnow Tip from Mike Barkley - This is the time of the year for minnows. Unfortunately, it is also the time for buckets of minnows dying before we get to our fishing spot! It may sound weird, but the answer may lie in your medicine cabinet- Hydrogen Peroxide!
The chemical makeup of Hydorgen Peroxide is H2O2 while water is H2O. Simply put Peroxide is water with one more molecule of Oxygen. As well as being an oxygenator, Peroxide is an anti-bacterial and has long been used in the Tropical fish hobby to treat oxygendepleted aquariums and added to shipping bags to add oxygen to the water and treat stress.
Try adding a cap full of Hydrogen Peroxide to your minnow bucket water (add to bucket with water to dilute it before adding minnows). It Helps!!!!!

Crawler Tip Unknown. - Try burying a five gallon bucket in the ground and fill it with ground up leaves. Put a lot of slits/holes in it to allow it to drain and line with a fine mesh fabric/window screen material from the hardware store, so that water will drain but the crawlers can't escape. Cover the bucket with the lid with holes in it to allow water to enter when it rains or if you hit it with a hose when watering the garden

Plastic Baits from Mike Phanawong - It’s for those of you who love to use those crazy plastic worms. Get some liquid scent from the local tackle shop and pour it into a plastic bag, throw some worms in it, and toss it in the microwave. It only needs to be turned on for about 10 to 15 seconds. Anything longer and they will melt and stink up the house. Trust me, I know from experience!

Crawler on Ice from Mike Barkley - I like to buy my crawlers the night before I am going fishing and rinse them in cold water and put them in one of those small coolers that are for lunches. I add some cold water and right before I go fishing, I add a bunch of ice. This not only keeps your hands, boat & clothes clean, but keeps the crawlers plump and very active throughout a hot day on the water. I have put them back in the fridge until the next trip and they were still fat & sassy. Try it, you'll never go back to dirt!!