Cold Water Goose Turd Brown...

[Partycrasher]

Yes, you can cast for them with a fly rod at times.  You need a 9 wt with a decent reel.  It's a lot like saltwater fly fishing for Stripers.  In fact the best streamers are saltwater baitfish patterns.  For lines you need a serious WF sinking tip.  The Jim Teeny T-100 or T-200 really fly and get down fast.  You need a stripping basket because to do this right you almost need to be able to throw the whole line. You will learn to double haul quickly.   Its a lot of work but its a blast when you hook up stripping a big streamer with both hands.  My biggest on a fly rod was a summer king about 21 pounds.  He had me 75 yards into my backing. 

[MO QWACK]

Yes, you can cast for them with a fly rod at times.  You need a 9 wt with a decent reel.  It's a lot like saltwater fly fishing for Stripers.  In fact the best streamers are saltwater baitfish patterns.  For lines you need a serious WF sinking tip.  The Jim Teeny T-100 or T-200 really fly and get down fast.  You need a stripping basket because to do this right you almost need to be able to throw the whole line. You will learn to double haul quickly.   Its a lot of work but its a blast when you hook up stripping a big streamer with both hands.  My biggest on a fly rod was a summer king about 21 pounds.  He had me 75 yards into my backing.

On heavens!!! I'm on my way lol that would be freaking sweet!! From what I can tell the Great Lakes have the biggest browns on average then anywhere! Man those big sucker fire me up!

[Lamar]

   Nice fish. You have my total respect. That is some tough fishing right there.

[Partycrasher]

LOL...Our coldest morning this year was -1.  Last year were the most single digit mornings I can remember since I started this 40 years ago but we never missed all winter.  Open water somewhere...  Now I'd love to tell you how tough I am but it's all about the clothing.  I'm warm and toasty under all that garb.  Sometimes the hands take a beating if you have to take off your gloves, but other than that I am pretty comfortable.  I have found the magic layering combination where I don't feel it down to 0 or so and can last 3-4 hours.

Now THIS guy is tough.... or completely insane.... you be the judge.



This was also Sunday with the NE winds to 30 mph.  This is in the inner harbor and relatively protected.  And it was relatively warm at 28 or so, but if he tips that Kayak.... he is pretty much a gonner.  That water right there is probably 37 degrees... Don't try this at home kids!

[efishnc]

Now THIS guy is tough.... or completely insane.... you be the judge.

This was also Sunday with the NE winds to 30 mph.  This is in the inner harbor and relatively protected.  And it was relatively warm at 28 or so, but if he tips that Kayak.... he is pretty much a gonner.  That water right there is probably 37 degrees... Don't try this at home kids!

At least the dude in the pic would have had some chance to get back on the kayak, plus he's close to shore with no real river-type current.

Early last year there were two guys and a kid (early grade school age) in a flippin' canoe, fishing the ice flows on the Miss for walleyes.  I told my buddy we needed to keep an eye on them as we fish because we might be their only chance of rescue if they were to tip... I do my share of ice-dodging for the winter walleyes (and much of it at night), but I do it with a flat bottom; I would never consider a canoe out there in at that time of year, even if it was daytime... It's bad enough that us men can sometimes make stupid and dangerous choices in our outdoor pursuits, but to me that was flat-out child endangerment.

[patwr77]

You inspired me to try a goose turd last fall with your northern wisconsin trip post... I caught sooo many fish using that system that I hardly fished anything else... The only thing I didn't like was that I was using a store bought bait and jig...
So, I have decided to make my own... On the way is a 3 inch crappie carrot mold, a worm nose jig mold and some owner 5318 hooks.... The mailman can't deliver that package fast enough!!!

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Great fish hold did you keep the line from freezing.

[Partycrasher]

Patw77, That's awesome.  Get ready now for next year.

Walleye Wacker, You don't!  Guides clog up with ice after a while and you just keep clearing every10-15 casts.  I've tried everything and it helps a little but they eventually clog.  Vaseline, silicone, fly line dressing, WD-40, Downey fabric softener, reel magic,...  Nothing really helps much and some of them turn into a sticky mess.  What I do have is a "Winter" rod.  I built a special rod that I start using when it gets below freezing.  All I did is use bigger guides.  Instead of the guides going fro a 30 down to a 7 at the tip, the smallest guide is a 12.  So on a 9 footer the guides go 30-25-20-16-16-12-12-12-12.  If you use a conventional rod with 10-8-7-6 at the tip, it freezes up in two casts. 

Here is another thing I noticed.  The worst guide ice is when its about 20-28 degrees.  Believe it or not, as it gets colder there are less guide-ice problems.  Its like it vaporizes off the line before it gets to the rod tip. 

Some reels get very stiff when it gets under 15.  I used to strip down two reels for winter and lube them with Genie garage door grease and it would help a lot.  Then around 1990 I discovered two models that are completely unaffected by the cold and are absolute tanks in the winter.  The Daiwa Black Gold 13 (BG-13) and the Daiwa Tournament SS 1600 just go and go and go no matter what you put them through.

We can send a man to the moon, come on Fuji, lets make a guide that sheds ice!!! LOL