How are the aqua vue's when checkin out the mississippi like around the brainerd area

It was awesome as always. Got rained on a little on Friday and it was really windy on Saturday but those were the only negatives. Had a great camp sight and the smallmouth fishing was pretty good. (mostly on topwaters)
We ended up going in on Crane and camping on Rainbow island on the east side of Namakan.
How was your trip?

Nels

I had a bad stretch about five years ago -- real bad -- couldn't buy a fish. Turned out I had a fuel leak that made its way into my bait bucket.

That hurts man. I don't want to say it's you but I don't buy into the whole dog days of summer that lots of people use as a scapegoat. 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish. I feel that it is more like 3% to 97% actually. If you're doing that poorly make some drastic changes. Change size, color, retrieve, lake, underwear....whatever you are doing pull a 180. Sunday with three people in the boat we boated 127 largemouth in 3.5 hours. The biggest was 22" and we had another dozen that were 19"+. Lots of smaller fish shallow and the quality fish were stacking up in the deeper water. River smallies have been going nuts too with a lot of action at the surface. The point there is that good fishing exists. As the fish move to their summer haunts you have to move with them and for some people that is a rough transition. Generally most fish will move deeper and position themselves in the water column or in relation to structure/cover at differing locations throughout the day...which is also sometimes hard to keep up with. Some people learn a lot from what works but I feel I learn more from what doesn't work. Don't be afraid to keep making changes however drastic it may seem. If you still can't get anything going get chatty with some guys at the landing and see what info on your body of water you can get out of them. If the skunk is getting you down take a break every now and then from targeting bass and pike and catch a few sunfish to get your spirits back up. Confidence is the best bait in the box. Also don't bring tuna sandwiches or bananas in the boat. Best of luck!

i agree with matt's suggestion when i go out and am having a rough day fishing for a certain species. take a break and do some panfishn. or something you know will catch some fish. Nothing blows more than getting skunked for the day. I at least make it a goal to not get skunked. Alot of diffrent things can adjust a fish to get lockjaw for some weird reason. But the funny thing about it is sometimes you will be pulled up fishin for sunnies and start hammering bass or northerns. THat type of stuff happens alot. Do u have possibly something on your hands or some weird smell that fish dont like. Sunscreen bug spray gas something!?

Matt i can understand tuna sandwiches but bananas also? u learn something every day.

hi all thanks for all your great advice well i did what you said caught a mess full of sunnies and crappies spirits are up went to the tackle store bought some plastics and slower presentations taking friday off of work even just to get pumped up not whining or any thing but when i get in a rut it hurts and i think your attitude goes down time to pump myself up thanks. for bass or pike would you start in the weeds more or troll i think the problem is i dont fully understand the fish movements i know they move deep or shallow at night and i fish the weeds other than that thats all i know when i read fishing books etc. on one page it says fish here then the next page says do the opposite. its so confusing i just dont understand it thanks for your help and any more advice

U cant fail with outer weed edges and by the sounds of things the big slimers are moving to deeper water and the small to average ones still can be found in the weeds. for the deep ones try trolling spinnerbait and sucker and you cant go wrong

Can you explain a little more on this? Are you what type of spinner do you use for trolling and what do you put the sucker on? I'm new to trolling for pike so anything can share would be great.

Bananas?

But fish love bananas!

When things start slowing up that's my go-to love juice -- a squirt of the Old King's X: imitation banana extract. Never leave home without it.

Tuna sandwiches, however -- that's a given. It's pretty tough to catch anything with tuna sandwiches in the boat.

Good spnner bait like a northland reedrunner and just hook like a 4 to 6 inch sucker minnow throw its mouth and out the back of its head it doesnt have to be alive its more of an attractant and the blade does the work

Great advice. I think going into a day of fishing feeling confident is the ticket. In retrospective, the days I've been out on a new body of water (or not) and felt confident in the fact that I will catch fish has almost always proven true. Go with your gut, let instinct guide the motor....

My wife will hate you for this

Glad to hear you got a few fish in the boat and kicked the skunk out for a bit. Depending on your lake chances are good anyhow that there will still be a few bass "shallow" and a few "deep". This might be tougher in part because the fish population is spread out more. Like others have said try fishing your new plastics along a few different outside weedlines if you can find some. Fish different sections of the lake. Often the windy side of the lake will hold the more aggressively feeding fish and more of them. Spinnerbaits are a good option to locate these fish. Once you find them note where they are in relation to the weeds or other cover/structure and work similar spots. Also slow down and work a few different baits. You might find fish with one bait but catch more on another by slowing down in such productive areas. If you are unable to find any suitable weedlines look for surface weeds like pads and toss baits like scum frogs or other weedless topwater baits with a steady retrieve but at different speeds on different casts to see what the fish want. In general I would suggest to fish spots briefly until you can put together something that works with some consistency. I really hope what I have suggested makes sense and helps you find a few fish. I would definately target bass over pike though for now. There's always the chance that you will find pike while searching out bass though too.

As far as the bananas...They are bad luck. Supposedly 'back in the day' a boat was hauling cargo of bananas and spiders were hiding in the bananas. The spiders wound up killing the crew. So bananas are a symbol of bad luck.

Not to steal the response, but you can use just about any big spinnerbait. The easy answere would be the ones made for pike and muskies. They tend to be large frames with big blades and what not. Then you tip the thing with a sucker minnow like you would with a plastic trailer. I have had some success using a swim bait for this in a jam, but the actual minnows work best.

As far as when and where, Trolled along outside weed edges, over submerged weed beds, rock piles, the sky is the limit.