WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
February 21, 2008

Mother nature continues to contain us this week with the continued cold and heavy winds. It's hard to believe that we are are only 80 or so days away from open water season 2008. The talk of many is at this pace we won't see open water until early June. I agree that the cold is getting a bit old, but as nearly all years do, the open water will be here in time for that opening day.

So as the cold continues to hold many anglers back from getting out and catching some of those ice fishing opportunities, no better than now to talk about some new products that will be effective for the 2008 season. This week I've found another new product that has me excited, it's the new Shake-E blade Harness from Lindy. For those of you that like to kick up your speed and fish spinners, this is an absolute bait for you. For those of you thinking of trying some new technique this year, look no further then the Shake-E blade as it has proven to be a combination that drives Walleyes crazy.

The spinner combination comes in a variety of colors, with hot perch being at the top of my list. The harness has a heavy vibration due to the way it is rigged, as it comes through the water the baits shakes and acts similiar to what a wounded fish will look and all of these combination drive Walleyes crazy. The bait can be pulled at a variety of speeds and depths, but look for the most consistent speed to be in that 1.4 to 1.8 MPH range. So if you're looking for another product that will put more fish in the boat this seaosn, look no further than the new Shake-E system from Lindy. Lindy has created an entire Shake-E system including the Blade harness, a bottom bouncer, and bait rig.

As for the fishing...another Walleye season has ended and the outlook for the upcoming season looks great. Most of the area lakes are holding very good numbers of many different species, especially Walleyes and Crappies.

The efforts for anglers will now be Perch and panfish. The Winnie Perch remain constent, yet finding the bigger Perch has more challenging days as a large number of the Perch are in the 5-8 inch range. The deep water continues to be the better option. A few good reports have come from the Moxie hole area, along with the Northwest channel of the main lake running from Ravens point to Stoney. Water depth is critical from hour to hour with the 26-29 feet of water holding more of the larger Perch. If you're finding small Perch, it wouldn't hurt to keep moving, it sure seems the bigger fish are holding more to themselves. Look for the Perch fishing to improve over the next 6 weeks, and look for those active big fish to start that late season migration to that shallow water.

Until next week, stay warm!

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com