|
"Catch Walleyes With The Wind"
By Stan Fagerstrom
The state of Wisconsin has strict rules regarding some of forms of fishing.
If you’ve done much fishing in Wisconsin you’re likely aware of one such regulation. Many lakes in the Badger State are off limits to trolling. One of those lakes where trolling is illegal is Mystic Moose Lake some 22 miles east of Hayward.
Why no trolling? Because it makes it too easy for anglers to catch muskies. Those toothy critters are an extremely valuable tourism resource for the State of Wisconsin. In some areas only a limited number of lakes are open to trollers. I mentioned Mystic Moose Lake. That lake is located in Sawyer County. Sawyer County has more than 250 lakes. Only seven of them are open to trolling. Mystic Moose Lake isn’t one of them.
So what’s an angler to do if trolling is his favorite method fishing? There are ways around the problem. Let me introduce you to a likeable guy who has solved the problem.
The expert who came up with the answer is Jim Onarheim. Jim, you see, is the owner of Mystic Moose Resort. It’s located on the lake of the same name that I mentioned earlier. Jim guided anglers in both Canada and Wisconsin for years before taking over Mystic Moose Resort.
The customers who come to Jim’s Resort are usually after muskies or walleyes. Trolling, of course, is a popular method for walleye fishing. Onarheim’s customers often hire him to guide them while they are staying at his Mystic Moose Resort. It didn’t take Jim long to figure out a way for his for his clients to get around the no trolling regulation. Lures marketed by a company tucked away high in the hills of Washington State are the reason he was able to do so.
“We can’t use motors for trolling on Mystic Moose Lake,” Jim says, “but there’s certainly no rule against just letting your boat drift with the wind with your lure trailing along behind.”
Trouble is, with most spinner style lures the wind doesn’t move a boat fast enough to make the metals blades spin sufficiently fast to get the attention of the fish you’re after.
Enter Mack’s Lure, the Washington State based lure-marketing company I referred to earlier.
“We discovered,” Jim Onarheim says, “that Mack’s Lure Smile blades will spin even when it’s just the wind that’s moving the boat. About 80 per cent of the time the wind here at Mystic Moose Lake comes out of the southwest. I simply rig my customers with one or another of the Mack’s Lure products. Then we run to the southwest side of the lake, cut the motor and drift back down.”
Does this procedure produce results for the customers Jim guides? You better believe it! “Our business has been outstanding,” Jim says, “ever since we’ve been in operation. I used to fish the Professional Walleye Trail. I’ve been so darn busy at our resort the past couple of years that I no longer have time to follow the PWT tournament trail”
Jim uses a variety of Mack’s Lure products for wind drifting. One of his favorites is the Wally Pop. “That lure has been particularly effective,” he says. “Not only does its lightweight Mylar blade spin with just the movement of the wind, but it’s also sufficiently buoyant to keep my lure up from the bottom. That keeps us from hanging up so much.”
 |
| Mystic Moose Lake contains a variety of fish. Resort operator and guide Jim Onarheim is shown here with a dandy bass he caught. |
Trolling, of course isn’t the only method Onarheim uses to take walleye. “Sometimes jigging can be effective,” he says. “When I use the jigging technique I rig with a Mack’s Lure Smile Blade a couple of inches above my jig. I tip my jig with a nightcrawler or a minnow. I hop it up off the bottom.”
I asked the well known Wisconsin angling expert what he considers the most common mistake he sees visitors to his resort make. “It’s not having the right tackle,” he says. “Lots of visitors only have opportunity to fish a couple of times a year. They’re not experienced and as a result often don’t have the proper gear to catch the fish they are after.”
For his own walleye fishing Onarheim favors a 6-foot rod, an open faced spinning reel and 6 to 8-pound line. He switches to a bait casting reel when he goes casting for muskies.
Mystic Moose Lake produces some darn good action for visiting anglers. “We have good natural production of both walleyes and muskies,” Onarheim says. “There is no size limit on walleye and you can keep five fish per day. Our lake has more muskies per acre than any other lake in this area. We’ve had customers who’ve caught seven and eight muskies in just one day.”
Jim is joined in the operation of Mystic Moose Lodge by his wife, Barbara. “She’s a wonderful companion,” Onarheim says. The couple’s resort is open year around. Guests come in for ice fishing or to run snowmobiles when the lake freezes over. Additional details are available on the Internet at www.haywardlakes.com/mysticmoose.
My visit with Jim Onarheim points up once again what I must have written ten thousand times over the past 50 years of fishing and writing about it. It’s simply this: When you visit a lake or river that’s new to you, give serious thought to retaining the services of a guide. It’s going to cost some bucks for the guide’s services, but odds are it will be a good investment.
That’s what I’ll do if and when I get to visit Mystic Moose Resort myself. And I’ll also do something else. That’s to make darn sure I bring along a tackle box well stocked with those Mack’s Lure products that Onarheim uses with so much success.
|