Do you ever find that your leaders end up getting kinked, twisted, or twirled from storage? Whether they end up in a box, buried in a bucket, or spun around the tip-up spool, leaders usually wind up unorganized and usually kinked or bent up. Here is our simple and inexpensive solution to keeping tip-up leaders straight and ready to rock. What You'll Need The materials are very simple and can be substituted for larger or smaller components as you see fit for your needs. As an

With hard water right around the corner, now is the perfect time to start getting the ice fishing gear ready to rock. Unfortunately many anglers tend to neglect their ice fishing gear, especially tip-ups which can lead to the all too familiar broken line or leader right as the fish reaches the hole, or missed strikes due to poorly lubricated moving parts. Here’s a few tips to help take your tip-up game to the next level and get them ready to slam fish all season long. Tip-ups

Bobber fishing is probably one of the most simple ways to fish, period. That said on these dog days of summer it can also be a deadly tactic for getting lazy walleyes to eat on the Madison Chain. Slip bobbering deep structure and weeds is one of my favorite ways to keep a bite going when another dies, especially when a trolling or casting bite slows down. Your choice of live bait, a jig head, and a bobber is all it takes. This Lake Mendota walleye couldn't resist half a night

Trolling with lead core line is a pretty old school tactic that few anglers seem to really know much about. The name itself, "Lead Core" is fairly self explanatory. It is just that, braided line with a lead wire core which results in the line sinking and taking with it whatever lure you put on the end of it. That said lead core is specifically used to get lures that do not dive very deep to run much deeper without adding in line or clip on weights. Makes sense, right? As far

Early spring, in my opinion is one of the most dreary, awful times of the year. The weather sucks, you can't ever seem to get more than 2 consecutive nice days, game fish aren't open on the lakes yet, and a person can only do so much trout fishing before they go crazy. Here is a few things I do this time of year to keep my sanity and prep for open water fishing. TACKLE ORGANIZATION You can’t honestly stay that your tackle is all neat and organized, or that you can go in one o

Cool days and even cooler nights mark the changing of the seasons. With Halloween over and Thanksgiving around the corner now is the time to take advantage of some oaf the best walleye fishing of the year here in Madison. The best part; you don't even need a boat. Do I have your attention? Good. (Labidesthes sicculus: Brook Silverside Minnow) (Notemigonus crysoleucas: Golden Shiner) With the cooling water temps forage species such as Golden Shiners and Brook Silversides (pict

With summer winding down and the cool mornings of fall upon us, the salmon run is in full swing all along the shores of Lake Michigan. In my previous piece (Part 1) I discussed my most successful shore casting techniques for targeting salmon. Although these same techniques can still produce fish there are other tactics that can prove more successful as fall rolls in. At times it is nearly impossible to beat fishing with spawn or skein under a slip bobber. "What in the hell is

Trying to find the perfect line while wandering down the endless aisles of super lines, braids, monofilaments, and fluorocarbons can be quite a daunting task. With literally hundreds of different lines on the market in so many colors and breaking strengths, finding the right stuff for a particular tactic can be next to impossible. For those of you who find yourself agreeing with the above mentioned statements, this is for you! In this piece, we are going to look into which li