WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
August 3, 2006

My boat is for sale. Check it out here.

Tournament update:

Well the tournament season started on Lake Bemidji for the Kraus-Anderson Walleye classic. We headed over on a Thursday, with two days to put something together and fish the tourney on Saturday. After two great days of fishing, we headed to the rules meeting to draw boat number one. So with what seemed to be a lucky ball in hand, the tournament started and within 22 minutes, we had all five weigh fish in the boat. So we had 7.5 hours to find a big fish. We ended up watching a boat move into us around 1:30 and catch the 27-incher that we were after and the day ended with us in 17th place.

Next was Winnie, where I would find the first tournament to be one of many mistakes or bad calls. We sat on a group of fish that ended up not eating all day and we only brought one fish to the scale.

The last three tournaments have been very good as we have been rolling with a 3rd, 4th, and 6th place finish. I have a two-day tourney on Winnie again this weekend and another two-day on Mille Lacs on August 19 and 20. Hopefully, we will keep the wagon heading in the right direction and overcome the 1/4 lbs. weights to win the next two.

Weekly Newsletter

Another week closer to the August full moon and the fishing in the area continues to be one of speed. The fish want more and more fast-moving baits this week. Before getting to the letter, I want to quickly tell you about the opportunity that I had this week. Kent Hrbek Outdoors was in town to shoot a show and I was lucky enough to be their guide for the day. His special guest was Don Lucia, Minnesota Gophers Hockey head coach. The show will be played sometime in January. For more information, please let me know and I will get you the date and times of the show.

Pokegama Lake and many of the other typical night lakes are hitting top speed with the night bite. Most of the fishing and catching has happened between dark and midnight. We have changed the presentation slightly with more of the action coming from the deeper 8-12 feet of water. We have been running a number 5 Salmo hornet with 50-60 feet of line out. Speed has been very consistent with the best speed being at the 2.4 to 2.6 MPH. The Salmo hornet comes in a variety of color combination, but the hot perch or silver/blue has worked best most nights.

With all of the great year classes of panfish on Pokegama, this year we have found some of the best crappie action in years. The best bite has consistently been the last three hours of the day, with most of the fish wanting a 1/32 oz. jig tipped with either a small crappie minnow or white twister tail. When working the jig presentation, the key has been keeping the bait within one foot of the surface. The crappies typically feed upward and they have been very active with the high-riding bait.

Winnie continue to shine with numbers of 20-24 inch fish showing up this week. As the wind blows, the action gains consistency. Many of the fish on Winnie are looking for jigs and minnows, but the crankbaits have proven to be a success.

So, as we head down the last trail of Summer and start making the push towards Fall, look for the action to get better as the fall bite should be nothing short of spectacular.

See you on the water

Sean Colter
member of the NMLOG's
www.seancolter.com