Turn up the heat!

Holy cow is it hot out side! We had another day on the water chasing Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass. I had three guys in the boat that I have not seen in a long long time. These three use to be guests at our families resort , all with kids.

The day started out with absolutely NO wind. I was thinking " Oh boy here we go again!". One of the guys ( Dave ) was looking for a larger Northern Pike so I set him up with....you guessed it.....the Dixie Dancer spinnerbait. This bait out performs ANY spinnerbait on the market. I challenge you to prove that statement wrong.

David started right away with a fish and surprised us all. this was Dave we were talking about...he doesn't catch fish I'm told....lol. The absence of wind was going to make this tough. We ventured down the weed line picking up some smaller pike. But no big ones....yet.

I was throwing everything under the sun ( what a bright sun it was ) including some plastics for the bass . The fish just wouldn't respond to even Power Worms . I decided to use something I haven't thrown in quite some time, Zoom Baits Big Critter Craw. The minute I put this thing on I had fish hitting it over and over again. Not to my surprise the fish just wouldn't hold onto it. They wouldn't hold on to anything for too long. I suppose I could have thrown a live leach and bobber at them but I just can't do that. I finally ended up catch a few bass with one being on the larger side but we still needed a little wind.

We ended up catching fish but didn't get that big fish until I decided to move locations and saw Davey struggling with a bigger pike in front of the Lund. His rod was bent over the side of the boat and the drag was singing sweet music. I landed the fish and he was pretty happy and EXCITED. Remember is was saying he is full of energy..........I mean FULL.

After a high five and some pics taken ( not with my camera....forgot ) we headed for a new location. About twenty casts into it the David B. show began again. I saw his black and orange spinnerbait disappear and told him to set the hook. He did a great job at the hook set and the fish came out of the water. It was a good 3 1/2 pounds and Dave was getting excited. I told Dave if the fish starts to jump to lower his rod into the water and reel the fish back down. As soon as I finished my sentence the fish did the same thing...right out of the water and Dave forget most of what I said. But that's ok cause he was right in the middle of a battle.

All in all it was a decent day but still not what I wanted but again the guys were happy an that's all that matters. It was so good to see these gentleman again after sooo many years. I just wish I would have taken pics with my camera to post but maybe next time.

Stay tuned for my next post. Muskie fishing on Deer Lake with a retired president of Budwiser! This will be our third trip this year and should be fun.

Be safe and keep your lines tight!!

Great day with Great people!!!

Last night I logged on to the Weather Cannel to see what was in store for us for this morning. It said north winds from 4-8 mph and high of 71 F. Well they were close on the temp but failed miserably with the wind. The trees were blowing with gust up to 15-20.

With the colder temps I decided to slow things down a bit and try some Texas rigged Power Craws with a 1/8th oz. weight. Jeff and Marty from Duluth, MN had on a couple of spinnerbaits tied on. Marty's first cast with a Dixie Dancer produced a very nice largemouth. I was thinking " I hope this works all day" but soon realized we all should be throwing crawdads. After changing the the guys lures we started putting some fish in the Lund. Marty was on fire after figuring out how these fish were biting. Jeff was soon to catch up. A little while later and more pictures taken, the guys switched spots and now Jeff was on the bow deck ready to rock and roll. It didn't take long for Jeff to show his fishing prowess . Several pictures and hand shakes later we decided to move out of the wind. By this time the fishing slowed and we decided to call it a day.

I am not sure how many fish we ended up with but Marty said he stopped counting his after 9 or 10. Jeff was right in there with some pretty big fish. Me, I was too busy netting fish , taking pictures and making sure Marty was having a good time ( inside joke ) .

This was an unexpected great day on the water with some good guys. It's tough to call these guys clients when they are truly good  friends. My  family looks forward to these two families checking in at our resort and is sad when the week is over.

Thanks again to the wives for waking these guys up and for giving permission for them to go!

Be safe and keep a tight line!

Eric
www.northstarguideservice.com

Did someone say rain?

This August started out with a bang! Holy cow did we get rain! I think most needed a snorkel just to find our way around. I believe we ended up with around 3-4 inches over night on Sunday making the fishing a little slower than I would like. But we still went out a gave it a shot.

I would be fishing with two teenage boys from the Duluth area. This is their second outing with me as I have been guiding theirs dads for the past 8 years or so ( maybe even longer but ya know time flies ). Brady and John wanted to try for some Large Mouth Bass and Northern Pike so thats what we did.....tried. We hopped in the Lund and were on our way. The boys started throwing the trusty Dixie Dancer Spinner Baits and I was using a Berkley Power Worm. After about 10 casts , John ended up landing a pike that would find the livewell. I was thinking " OK this wouldn't be so bad", I was wrong....it was. I landed two nice bass with the worm and Brady was still working hard.

I ended up moving with the intention of returning to this area that has produced so many fish in the past. I have posted people pics in previous blog that were on this same lake. Brady ended up breaking the ice with a respectable northern. John was still living on the memory of that first and only fish at that time. We started to pull a few more fish but still wasn't what I wanted for them. These kids are a blast to have in the boat. Nice job on the ipod boys!!!

By days end Brady ended up with about eight pike, I finished with 4 pike and two bass while Johnnie only has that one fish to remember. I think he gets that from uncle Jeff.

Today is my day off and then I have the dads on Thursday. Still not sure what they want to chase as this is a common question with these guys right up to the last second....lol. We may go for walleyes or Jeff may get his way and go for bass. It's a coin toss. I will try to get some pics to post being that the boys didnt get theirs taken.

I want to thank the boys mother as I know they are the ones who got the two ready on time cause their dads must have been sleepin'.

Lets hope the weather stays stable and the fish are biting! Stay tuned for further post from Thursday and Friday.

Be safe and keep your lines tight,

Eric

Check out my web site @ www.northstarguideservice.com

"Fish ON..Fish ON !!!!" Musky in the boat

Yesterday was pretty exciting for one client from St. Louis that decided to try his hand at Musky fishing. Mel ( 67 years young and I mean young!) was in front of the Lund all day throwing his heart out when all of the sudden I heard Mel yell " Holy S*#T" and the boat jerked from side to side.

I'll start from the beginning. We started the windy day off by throwing Bulldawgs and Inhaler Bucktails off the cabbage edges with little to no luck. The wind prevented us from seeing any follows that may have occurred and boat control was tough. We threw and trolled for 4 hours before deciding to take a break and go in for lunch. After lunch we were both ready for a nap but figured we would give it another shot. It literally came down to the last few cast. Our day would end at 4:00 pm and at 4:07 is when all the excitement began.

Ok, back to the first paragraph. I looked at Mel and saw him brace his legs, dig the pole into his side and set the hook. I immediately looked to Mels lure and saw an amazing site. His fish hit the Inhaler Big Daddy and took off....... straight up. It cleared the water by almost two feet. AWESOME SIGHT!! This was Mels first Musky and was "quickly" measured at 41 ". I think if we took our time and did it right we may have ended up a little larger. This musky was so think and fat that I think it would have tipped the scales at over 20 lbs. easily if not closer to 23-24.

Great job Mel and Congratulations to a good man and now friend.

Make sure to visit my website when you get a chance and thanks for reading!! www.northstarguideservice.com

Be safe and keep a tight line!

Little Slow today

Today started off fast and furious with 4 fish on the first 6 casts. Then the fishing came to a stand still. My clients are from Illinois and have been great customers of mine for the past few years. So they know that I wouldn't stop working...and boy did we have to work. I had three people in my boat and had a tag boat with three more. This is hard enough to keep 6 people on fish especially when the bite is hot, but they understood and didn't complain one bit. What awesome clients turned friends.

We started with Berkley Power Worms and it produced about 6 - 8 fish right away. As we moved down the weed line  few more were picked up but NOT how it should be. The wind started to pick up so I decided to change over to Dixie Dancer spinnerbaits. As we moved to the south I had something hit my lure and found about a 3 pound northern pike attached to it. I thought " ok, atleast we can have some action". well that kinda happened. I think we put about 5 pike in the Lund. This day was not one of our best outings but the boys were happy. Two 13 year olds that love to fish...one of them being his first trip to Minnesota fishing. We also had two 15 year old girls in the other boat that were catching a couple. Great people to spend a morning fishing. They are welcome in my boat any day! Actually we are heading to Big Winnie on Friday so wish us luck.

Hope to have a few more post up before then as I have two Muskie trips Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe get some picture to show.Be sure to visit my website and see all the new pics that have updated. www.northstarguideservice.com.

I realize that putting up a post like this isn't exciting or great for business but its real life. Not everyday can be phenominal or the trip of their lives so I will continue to post the good and the bad. Gotta keep it real.

Till next time ! Be safe and keep a tight line.

Muskies, Muskies and more Muskies!

Yesterday was pretty exciting for two of my clients. We ventured out about 7:30 am and hit the first spot on the south end of the lake. The bait fish were plentiful and right where I wanted them. That was until another boat pushed us off our spot. This isn't a big deal due to the fact that North Star has numerous spots that produce enough to make anyone happy.

About 20 minutes later we moved to our second spot and boy was that the right move. I showed them a new spot on the lake that they didn't even know about. After about 15 casts....BOOM!!! I heard " FISH ON, FISH ON". I turned and saw his St.Croix thumping downward. The fish had a black and orange Bulldawg deep in the weeds. I put the Minnkota in high gear and tried to head the fish off. After about a minute, all we saw was the weeds being split and the trail of bubbles was quite impressive. So close!

We moved again to spot number 3 and started to see more fish. This area is a quick drop off into deep cabbage that holds a ton of big fish. The first fish to follow was on the smaller side ( approx. 40 inches). Just when ya least expect it, the inevitable happens.......the giant! This fish followed up and we had a really close look at her. We all agreed that this fish would go a little over 50 inches. He was interested but not gonna take it. So we decided after seeing 4 different fish on this spot that we would move. The last area produced a strike by another monster. This gator struck his lure not too far from the Lund just missing the rear trebles. I actually think this fish was a tad bigger that the previous one.

Although we didn't boat a fish this trip we did end up seeing around 5 fish and hooking one. Not a bad day when you are talking Muskies. The only thing that matters is that the guys had a blast. These clients have turned into friends that we look forward to seeing every year. Next time Mike.......next time.

Be safe and keep your lines tight!!!!
www.northstarguideservice.com

North Star is producing some big fish!

Good morning everyone!

Last night my son and I went out after some Pike and wow did it happen. We started throwing our trusty Inhaler buck tails with some pretty good success! After about 10 casts I landed a 33 incher that my son hooked. I didnt believe him at first but that custom St. Croix rod was bent right over. Pretty exciting for my none year old. We had some pretty big muskies follow up but no hits.

This Wednesday I have a muskie trip on North Star Lake and hopefully we can put one in the new Lund. If the weather stays stable we should be able to have some success with the big gators. The fish have been so active lately that it seems so easy to stick one of these elusive thing but if you have ever tried they can turn you red in the face pretty quick.

Just looked outside and its getting a little dark in the west so fishing may be good today. Need cloud cover on these crystal clear lakes. We might try a night bite this evening with some top water if the temps stay up . Now that gets the heart pumping if you have never tried it.

I'm out for now but in the mean time be safe and keep a tight line !!!

North Star Guide Service: Bass Action is heating up

North Star Guide Service: Bass Action is heating up: "Those of you that have been chasing walleyes around and need a break, try the bass action. We went out this morning and slaughtered them. Th..."

Bass Action is heating up

Those of you that have been chasing walleyes around and need a break, try the bass action. We went out this morning and slaughtered them. The weather didn't cooperate right away but after a half hour of rain,thunder and lightning we start to pile them into the Lund! My son hauled in a beauty that weighed about 4 1/2 lbs on a Northland Tackle Jaw Breaker.

We worked the deeper weed edges with Berkley Power Worms and Dixie Dancer spinner baits as the sun started getting higher. The bass seem to be locating around mid lake structure being in their post spawn phase. We had to slow down a bit and get a little deeper but the fish kept biting. Don't give up too early on the deeper pads in the morning before that sun drive you crazy. You can have an absolute blast throwing plastic making them slowly fall off the edge of a pad and then HANG ON!!! Looks like today will be a scorcher.

I will try to add some pics of this morning. I think I might be inside this afternoon since it about 90 F. I think we may go try another small lake tomorrow. I have a few trips this week to Big Winnie for some walleyes, so I'm enjoying these smaller lakes while I can. Sometimes work gets in the way.

My family owns and operated North Star Lake Resort which is a family resort located 25 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Check back for more reports on bass walleyes and hopefully some Muskies this week. Take care, good luck and be safe.

Eric