UPNORTH Report 2008 Archive
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Grand Rapids Area Ice Fishing Report 2-22-2009 Jason Green |
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MN Fishing Season Comes To An End |
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What do you get when you take two guys, four boys and eight tip ups? You get the makings of a fun filled afternoon on the ice. By the time you read this the MN Fishing season will have come to an end but with the season closed a door opens to days searching for Pan Fish and hopefully warmer weather to follow. It has been a strange ice season this winter. Lots of snow, slush and cold weather but for the most part fishing has been good. Currently many of the area lakes have 30" of ice or so and you can drive pretty much anywhere you want. Today we ventured out on a small lake near Grand Rapids with Pike on the menu. I must say that for a few hours the flags kept us on the run. There is nothing quite like it if you have never tried tip up fishing for pike. In the distance you hear someone shout "Tip Up", a lone flag waves in the wind and four boys take off running as fast as their little legs will carry them. In my mind it was a pretty easy afternoon. Punch a dozen or so holes on a mid lake sand flat and randomly place eight tip ups with either large golden shiners or sucker minnows and watch the boys run. What a perfect way to end the season. With the game fish season coming to an end the show season is right around the corner. This year you can stop by and say hi at the Northwest Sport Show in Minneapolis (March 13th & 14th) or the Grand Rapids Jaycees Home and Sport Show (March 20th-22nd). At this years Home & Sport Show the seminars are as
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Also on the weekend of March 13th will be the Grand Rapids Boat Show. Stop by and check out Rays Sport & Marine and the new line up of LUND Boats
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See You On The Ice! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Area Ice Fishing Report 11-30-2008 Jason Green |
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We Are Making Ice In Northern Minnesota! |
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Right now it is all about transitions. From Thanksgiving to
Christmas, from Fall to Winter and Hunting to Ice Fishing. With the long holiday weekend I have been able to get in the truck and make the rounds to a few of the local lakes. What started out as a scouting trip for duck hunting soon turned into a shocker only to find hard water anglers. Surprisingly I have found many of our area lakes have 4" to 7" of good solid black ice. It won't be long and we will start seeing permanent house popping up on key structure. I am sure there are a few out there already but not on the lakes I have ventured to. Ice skaters are enjoying the very rare opportunity of skating just about anywhere they would like. The clear black ice is strong, smooth and with out any snow they can skate freely. I must be honest and let you know that my ice fishing gear is still in storage but over the next couple of days it will make its way to my garage where I can get it ready for the season. This weekend will be the 16th Annual Ice Fishing & Winter Sports Show at the St Paul RiverCentre. Stop by the Northland Tackle Booth and say hi and check out the new line of ice plastics and jigs for 2009. Check back soon, Hard Water Reports are about to kick off! |
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See You On The Ice! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Area Waterfowl Report 10-13-2008 Jason Green |
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Week One Wrap Up |
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I find it difficult to believe that the first week of the waterfowl season is already behind us. For the most part hunting has been above average in Northern Minnesota with an exception for opening day. One problem that we are having is with Bluebills. For the 2008 season, regulations currently state that you can only take one Bluebill. Regionally, the number of bills have increased giving hunters more opportunities. Make sure you can see grey or white on the wings. If it is white let them go, if it is grey you can take six. Water levels on many of the smaller area lakes are 7"-10" higher then last year. The higher levels have left us with thinner rice and a much easier boat ride. It also looks like we have more local ducks. There are plenty of both puddle ducks and divers. Until this past weekend Fall colors were at their peak but high winds and heavy rain have brought a high percentage to the ground. |
Boat For Sale http://www.upnorthinc.com/forsale.asp |
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 9-28-2008 Jason Green |
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Cool Temperatures Kick Fall Bite Into Gear |
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Cool crisp mornings, the sound of Geese honking in the back ground and Fall Colors peppering the shorelines of your favorite lake. Fall has arrived and fish have their feed bags on! We are on the verge of a true Fall Frenzy. Don't miss out on this seasons phenomenal action! I had the chance to fish three different lakes this week and surface water temperatures have been consistent from 60-62 degrees. The Perch Bite has remained good in the 1000 Grand Lakes Area. With having kids in the boat my last 2 guide trips I have made it a point to get the group on some incredible perch action. These hungry Perch can still be found in thick heavy vegetation in roughly 8' of water where a Jig and Minnow Presentation works best.
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For the most part we have been fishing the same areas for the past two weeks. Walleye are showing up in strong numbers in the shallows making for an excellent Jig and Minnow Bite. Rocks and Weeds are still the ticket for a successful day on the water. The last couple of days when the wind was blowing we were able to locate fish in 6'-8' of water but as the wind would die down we were forced to move out to 12'-15' of water. Better then average size Pike continue to show up in the same areas we are fishing walleye. Jig and Minnow Presentation has worked well for us but we found tying on a leader or heavy mono was a necessity. Several friends have been targeting Trophy Pike this week and have done quite well in 30' of water working Jerk Shads.
Boat For Sale http://www.upnorthinc.com/forsale.asp |
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 9-14-2008 Jason Green |
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Fall Patterns Starting To Progress |
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What a great time we have had on the water the last few days. Inconsistent weather has made it interesting but for the most part we are seeing Fall Patterns and steady action. Angling for Pan Fish and Jumbos have been a real treat lately. For the past week or so we have been able to find these fish in the same areas. Both have been schooling up in shallow water with thick cabbage. We have been slowly
moving in 6'-8' of water working 1/16oz Fireballs tipped with a small shiner or a 2" Northland Swimming Grub. For Pan Fish we have been working the same areas but using a smaller jig with the same swimming grub or a small piece of crawler.
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For the most part walleye action is back in the shallows. However, we have been able to pull a few on mid lake humps and bars with rigs or jigs depending on the day. We have found most our eater size fish in 8'-10- of water. Working 1/16oz to 1/8oz Fireballs tipped with a shiner or chub has worked best for us. On calm sunny days the fish have scattered so we have had to really work for them picking them off one at a time. When the wind begins to pick up working both the inside and outside edge of shallow weeds has produced. On days with a good stiff walleye chop our best bet has been to target areas with rock and or gravel. Now is the beginning to some of the best open water fishing we are going to see. Water Temperature on many of the area lakes have dropped into the low 60s. We also have the Minnesota Duck Opener right around the corner. This is truly my favorite time of year. 60 days of bagging waterfowl at sunrise and top off the day pulling a few eyes. It doesn't get much better then that!
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 8-4-2008 Jason Green |
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Mid Summer Slow Down, I Don't Think So!!! |
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You would think by now we would be seeing a mid summer slow down but that is far from the truth. Water temperatures seem to be pretty consistent on many of the area lakes ranging from 71-74 degrees and many of the bug hatches have tapered off making for an excellent day on the water. Recently I had the chance to spend another day on the water with Steve Ladany from Northland Fishing Tackle. We spent most of the day in search of Large & Small Mouth Bass. All though the day was a bit on the slower side it was quite the soft plastic educational day. Northland launched a complete line of new "Dean Rojas" Slurpies. The salted and spiced line of soft plastics offers more styles and colors. When you get a chance go to www.northlandtackle.com and check them out!
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I have been targeting Gills, Crappie and Walleye in low light periods and surprisingly we have caught all three on the same presentations pretty close to each other. We have been fishing shallow cabbage in roughly 8'-10' of water with deep open water near by. Northland Crappie Thumpers are still producing well for Crappie and Walleye. We have been moving the boat slow in the cabbage and pitching these vibrant baits in the small open pockets with a lot of success. For Gills and Sun Fish we have been fishing the same pockets but using Gypsi Jigs and Fire-flys. On a couple occasions we have had to tie on floats to keep our presentation in the strike zone longer but for the most part we are fishing the open pockets the same. When the wind is blowing we have started pulling #4 & #5 Hornets with some success for Walleye and Pike on the outside edge of shallow weed lines. As the weeds mature and get thicker crank bait results should increase. Normally by now vegetation is reaching the surface but our cooler summer is stunting growth. On calm days we are still fishing walleye on small main lake humps that top off around 14'-20' of water. Vertically fishing a Roach Rig with a 3/8oz or heavier weight has proven to be an "Old Standby" that works time and time again.
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 7-14-2008 Jason Green |
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Wind, Wind & More Wind |
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What a crazy week! We have had high winds blowing for roughly 4 days now. The only time it seems to let up is when the rain moves in only to start blowing again. The good thing is that the fish are still hungry and active. This past Saturday I had the chance to spend some time in the boat with my favorite fishing partners, my boys. At age 11 and 5 they were determined to teach Dad a few tricks. Ryan, my 11 year old picked where we were going to fish and what baits we were going to use. Needless to say he was right on the money.
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We targeted heavy thick weeds in 6' of water with a sharp break leading into deep water. The bait of choice was Northland's new Thumper Crappie King tipped with a 2" DoubleCurl Screwtail. Working these small baits slowly through the weeds were great for perch, most of them being nice eaters. When it was time for a change we moved out over the steep break and found suspended crappie which the same "Thumpers" produced well. Walleye are still aggressive and being found on mid lake humps and bars. It looks like for now the jig and minnow bite is over for the most part. Our best luck has been vertically fishing a 6' Roach Rig tipped with a leech or crawler. the main trick has been to keep it slow.
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 6-30-2008 Jason Green |
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Pick Your Favorite Style Of Fishing, It's Working |
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Another incredible week in Northern MN! This past week we have run into just about every situation in the 1000 Grand Lakes Area. From windy cool days like spring to mid summer HOT calm days. Each day has presented a style of angling that produces better. Mother Nature has also thrown us a curve ball with multiple bug hatches transpiring on many of the area lakes but the good news is that the fish are still hungry. On days that the wind starts to blow we have had our best luck back on the shoreline. Targeting areas with larger rock has worked well for us with a 1/8-1/4oz Fireball tipped with a shiner. I have noticed that there are plenty of soft shell crayfish in these areas and walleye are binging on the small tasty morsels. The best producing color for us on the rocks has been Parrot.
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On calmer days we have been forced to move out to mid lake humps and bars. Occasionally we have found a few fish that will bite on a jig and minnow but what these fish really seem to want are crawlers and leeches. If the weather stays consistent I believe the jig and minnow days are numbered. The best presentation for these deeper fish for me has been a 6' Roach Rig with a 3/8oz Worm Weight or bullet style weight fished vertically under the boat. I like the bullet style weight because it is useful on just about any type of structure. The Worm Weight also allows you to change out the size easily if the wind suddenly changes on you.
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 5-20-2008 Jason Green |
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Typical Spring Weather And Walleye Bite! |
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Typical spring weather for Northern Minnesota has arrived making each day on the water another challenge. One day you have calm sunny days that warm up the shallows to 51-52 degrees where the fish really turn on and next a cold front moves in and pushes the fish anywhere from 10'-15' and slows the bite right down. This past Saturday we experienced a comfortable morning which quickly turned to wind and rain with a short break and then rain and hale followed by 50mph winds. Through it all my customers elected to stay on the water and we found catchable fish. The one thing that remains constant is what the fish are in the mood for. A 1/16oz or 1/8oz Fireball depending on how hard the wind is blowing tipped with a silver shiner has been producing best. Colors are changing on a regular basis from watermelon to parrot, from parrot to perch, from perch to rainbow and then back to watermelon. Sometimes we would go through all these changes within 30 minutes on the same school of fish. Most of the time a slow presentation is key but several times snap jigging has got them going. |
As the water begins to warm and hits around 54 degrees snap jigging
should be the preferred presentation.
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Grand Rapids Fishing Report 5-12-2008 Jason Green |
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A MN Fishing Opener To Remember |
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Another Minnesota Fishing Opener has come and gone and this will truly be one to remember. As we backed the boat down the ramp at sunrise I noticed that ice had blown in front of the landing and refroze over night. Luckily several boats had ventured out in front of us and did a great job of breaking a path to open water. In Northern Minnesota we don't usually have the opportunity to fish Opening Weekend and have Pre Spawn, Spawn and Post Spawn all at the same time. This made for an unbelievable weekend on the water. We checked just about every fish that came in the boat and found both males and females that were pretty ripe but the majority of fish were spent and had their feed bags on. At sunrise we found surface water temperature to be just over 40 degrees but as the day progressed we were able to find 43 degrees. With water temperatures being so cold the slower your presentation the better. Picture in your mind what the definition of slow is and then cut that in half and you will still be going to fast. We did best when I could keep the boat around .4 mph on my GPS. As would be expected |
a 1/16oz Fireball tipped with a spot tail shiner produced exceptionally well. We found plenty of fish in 5' of water early in the day but as boat traffic increase our Watermellon and Glow Rainbow Fireballs did better around 10' of water. The only problem we had was finding fish that were small enough to keep but I would say that is a good problem to have. Plenty of 22"-25" with even a guy in our group landing a 28". To top off the day, rain came down off and on all day turned into thick wet snow making everything white again. What a perfect day for Duck Hunting (If it was October)!!!
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See You On The Water! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Ice Fishing Report 4-7-2008 Jason Green |
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More Snow For Northern MN |
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Just when you
thought it was safe to pull your boat out of storage Mother Nature
throws another curve ball at us. Saturday night thunder and
lightning told us to get ready for something nasty and by this morning
we had 21" of fresh white stuff. Schools and several business'
are closed giving the kids one more play day.
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I myself have not been on the ice or the water for
a couple weeks now because of the hectic show schedule but positive
reports have been coming in from a few friends. In fact, some of
the best reports of the season have been coming in.
Grand Rapids, Minnesota I spoke with Jeff Sundin yesterday morning and he had made the trek to the Rainy River the middle of last week. Lots of eater size eyes and a few pigs pushing the 30" mark. Still a lot of ice up there on the main channel near the Frontier Landing but that could have all changed by now. To read Jeff's full report go to www.jeffsundin.com . What has me really excited are the Crappie and Bluegill reports. Reports of a consistent bite going on throughout the day have been coming in on many of the smaller area lakes. I hope to experience this shallow water bite myself in the next week or so. |
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See You On The Ice! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Ice Fishing Report 3-10-2008 Jason Green |
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Winter Warm Up On It's Way? |
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Finally, a beautiful weekend to get the family out on the ice! What an incredible day to be outside. What started out as a slow early afternoon wrapped up to be a really fun day! Fish are definitely on the move to shallower water. We set up in roughly 12' of water with a sharp break into deep water near by. Northland Spider Ants, Forage Minnows and Jiggle Bugs tipped with waxies were what they wanted. We tried slip bobbering for a while but didn't have any luck. It seems the fish were in the mood for chasing the bait. Our best presentation was holding the jig roughly 10" above the bottom. When fish would show up on
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the electronics you would have to jiggle the rod as you reeled it up. Sometimes the fish wouldn't hit it till you brought it up around 3'. I finally had the chance to use Northland's new Trick-Stick Combos and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. I have used some of their walleye rods this winter but this was my first time with the 24" ultra light in hand. This amazing stick has a spring bobber mounted to the last eyelet that allows you to feel the slightest tap and be able to see it transpire at the same time. With Pan Fish season here I strongly recommend giving one a try.
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See You On The Ice! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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Ice Fishing Report 2-4-2008 Jason Green |
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A Super Sunday |
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While many this weekend chose to stay inside and watch the Super Bowl on television, a few of us decided to hit the lake, take advantage of the warm weather and watch "Nature's Television". Travel conditions are pretty descent at this time with hard packed snow and plenty of ice. On most of the bigger lakes in the area, slush is pretty hard to find but on the smaller bodies of water this is a different story. The past couple of weeks drastic changes in the weather have made fishing a hit or miss activity. Over the last few days the weather has chosen to be more consistent giving more positive opportunities to anglers. Perch action has been good throughout the day. We have been setting up on steep breaks in roughly 26'-28' of water. These breaks have shallow flats close by and drop to deep main lake basins. The same areas are producing walleye in low light periods. During daylight we have had our best success using a Northland Eye Dropper and Airplane Jig both in Silver Shiner. As the sun begins to touch the trees we found that the Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon in Super-Glo Goldfish and Super-Glo Chub tipped with a minnow head kept them biting. |
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See You On The Ice! (218) 327-8183 jason@upnorthinc.com - www.upnorthinc.com |
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2005 Archived Reports
2008 Archived Reports