Hoping for the right wind

Cold swamp mist circles around this big buck.

 

Someone once said the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Mine were honorable, and I'd planned to hunt whitetails this evening.

That is until the raw northwest wind picked up, and began swirling. My spot at my buddy's place is in his long and narrow swamp, and the wind must be perfect even when wearing Scent-Lok clothing.

I had my old underwear ready to go and outerwear from several years ago to put on over it, but it just seemed like I would be running a risk of spooking the animals. One thing I've learned about this area is there are no second-chance winners.

Make one mistake, and get busted, and it's all over at that stand. The deer avoid it, move to another portion of the swamp, and work through some funnels before leaving his property.

The swamp is a great place to hunt but mistakes aren’t allowed.

 

I've seen it happen before. A friend hunted with me last December, and a deer caught his movement as he climbed into the stand. He could see the deer 60 yards away, and well out of his effective bow range. Once he climbed into the stand, the winter air at the slightly higher elevation carried his scent directly to the deer.

They stood out there and snorted. And then they moved 50 yards and snorted some more. He climbed down and walked out to his truck and waited for me to finish my hunt. His spot was then abandoned by deer.

Scent is one thing that I am cautious about. I move slowly to my stand, but I don't try to sneak in. I'd rather walk along like I'm heading somewhere else, and then quickly get into my stand with a minimum of muss or fuss. No noise is the ideal situation.

This area is a narrow 80 acres, and for the most part, is a cedar swamp with some pine and birch trees. I scoped it out last summer, and put up my stand and then stayed away from it for almost six months.

It is a world-class spot in December after the firearm season ends. I hunt it when the wind has been right, and have stayed out of there when the wind is wrong. It's common sense deer tactics.

The owner has two or three stands in place, and I have just one. There are days when he can hunt and I cannot, but that's OK by me. I simply pick and choose my hunting days with care.

Hunt here just once of twice in October and again in December.

 

So far this December I have hunted there twice. Each outing has produced deer sightings, and I haven't been bumped by a deer....yet. I've seen but one buck, and it was just a glimpse two weeks ago when it was much warmer than now.

Three trails come together within 15 yards of my stand. There are tracks going both ways on each of trail, and I've seen deer moving along each trail. As legend has it, there are two very nice bucks living in this swamp but I haven't seen them nor have I spotted an unusually large track in the area.

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow night if the wind cooperates. I may be able to hunt Saturday evening, and I hope to hunt Sunday evening if we can finish our family dinner by 1:30 p.m., which would give me enough time to hustle into my stand.

It's never been my intention to over-hunt a stand, and I haven't logged too many hours or days in this one. The deer here, as in most areas in December, seldom move until the last 15 minutes of legal shooting time. The last time I hunted it I couldn't leave because the deer were still milling about, and had me pinned down.

When shooting time ended, I removed my arrow from the bow, put it in my bow quiver and sat motionless. The deer continued to mill around for 15 minutes before they drifted away to the east to work over a nearby farmer's corn field.

Overhunting key areas like this can chase deer away.

 

So again, not because I didn't want to, but I was unable to hunt tonight. This I will promise you: the owner has given permission to put up one or two other stands.

Those will go up in the spring, and I'll stay away from them all summer. When the season opens, I'll have a good spot picked out for those days when the east wind blows. It's tiresome trying to find a decent spot to hunt on an east wind, and if I sat out every east-wind evening, I wouldn't be spending much time in the woods.

That will change next year.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Picking ice-fishing lures can be a chore

Choosing ice fishing lures can be a challenge

It's becoming even more difficult to pick ice-fishing lures now than ever before. There are almost as many made for the winter months as during open-water seasons.

There are three basic winter fish groups I love to catch -- bluegills, perch and walleyes. All provide mighty fine eating on my dinner table, but I've almost given up on trying for lake trout, pike and splake.

Three anglers surround a tip-up

Personally, tip-up fishing is fun for the first hour or two, and then I get bored. If flags are going up, using tip-ups can be a lot of fun. However, it seems as if there are dozens of days where "wind bites" provide the only action while the days when fish really bite well have become scarcer. But that is nothing more than my personal opinion, and many anglers would argue the point.

There have been many days in my not-so-distant past where fishing on Manistee Lake would produce a steady diet of northern pike and walleyes on tip-ups. I guess it's possible I don't use tip-ups now as often as I once did.

Besides, I prefer having a rod in my hand and feeling the strike. I've used the old-fashioned custom-made jigging sticks, home-made jigging sticks, and rod and reel. I much prefer a light-action spinning rig spooled with two- or four-pound line, depending on what I happen to be fishing for. I usually have one spinning rod set up with six-pound FireLine ^[5] when jigging for walleyes.

My favorite baits and lures for these game fish are:

Bluegills

My favorite rig is two-pound clear or green monofilament line and a tiny teardrop jig or ice fly jig. I choose sizes like 1/16 or 1/32-ounce, and buy them in a variety of colors. Yellow is always a good choice, as is yellow with red spots. Countless companies make these wee jigs, and all are productive.

My preference is to pick a 1/16th or 1/3-ounce ice fly or teardrop jig and bait it with a mousie or wax worm. Fish off the edges of green weed beds, and it doesn't take much effort to catch bluegills and sunfish. Start fishing near bottom, and slowly work your way up at least halfway to the surface.

My bluegill rods have a tiny fine wire spring bobber at the tip. I use coiled wire rod holders, stick the rod in them, lower the jig and bait to bottom. and raise it an inch or two. Jig it a few times, and let the rod and rod holder sit on the ice. Reach down, jig it again, and keep trying different depths or different holes until the fish are located. Moving around is usually more productive than sitting in one place and hoping the fish come to you.

A late-winter bluegill will barely suck in the jig and bait, and if the fine wire bobber even wiggles, set the hook. Occasionally they will hit quite hard, but it's better to count on a soft take. Don't set the hook hard or you'll spend most of the day tying on teardrop jigs.

Yellow Perch

These game fish are even more fun, and I use a similar rig for perch as for bluegills but use four-pound clear or green monofilament line. Two basic methods work: using a small Hali ^[4] baited with a perch eye, emerald shiner or a wiggler.

Of these methods I favor an egg sinker on the bottom and two dropper lines spaced six to 12 inches above the sinker and another a foot above that. It's not uncommon to catch two yellow perch at a time with this rig.

Again, I like the wire rod-tip bobber, but perch often hit hard enough to make the need for a bobber useless. Bait both hooks, making certain the the minnow is hooked in the fleshy part of its back behind the dorsal fin. Hook the minnow too deep, and it will puncture the spinal column and kill the minnow. Ease them slowly to bottom, and reel up slack line so there is a bend in the rod sitting in the rod holder. Lower the minnows too fast, and the rapid descent will tear the minnows off.

Northland Tackle's^[4] perch-size jigs are meant to be jigged up and down, and white, white-red, yellow, yellow with red spots -- all work. Bait the spoon's single hook and lower it to bottom, raise it up a few inches off bottom, and then use short jigging strokes of two or three inches with frequent pauses.

Walleyes

These fish love jigging lures baited with emerald shiners. My favorites are the Hali^[1], jigging Rapala ^[2], and the Do-Jigger or Swedish Pimple^[3]. I add an emerald shiner to each hook, and jig it softly with short two-inch strokes. Hard and forceful jigging strokes will litter the bottom with dead minnows.

This is a sport where it's important to keep moving and trying different areas until a school of fish is found. I use either a spinning or bait-casting rig with six-pound FireLine ^[5], and make certain the hooks are sharp. Use short jigging strokes, and most fish hit on the up-stroke although some will hit as the baited lure flutters down.

The lure, the bait and the jigging method is what turns all three of these winter game fish on, and fishing through a hole in the ice is a great way to spend a winter day.

REFERENCE INFO

1. Hali lure -- http://www.halilures.com/
2. Jigging Rapala -- http://www.rapala.com/
3. Swedish Pimple and Do-Jigger http://www.swedishpimple.com/
4. Northland Fishing Tackle -- http://www.northlandtackle.com
5. Berkley FireLine -- http://www.berkley-fishing.com/products/line/956

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors