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With the open water season coming to an end and thoughts slowly shifting to the upcoming hard water season, here are a few tips to help you while putting away your summer gear. CLEAN UP/CLEAN OUT Fall is a great time to go through and clean out any clutter accumulated over the summer season. Food wrappers, line/lure boxes, and general garbage that may have collected during the past season should be thrown out. Avoid any unpleasant surprises when opening your tackle box in the spring by removing any smelly baits and liquid suntan/bug repellant bottle that may leak and store them properly. Fall is also a great time to check on your line to see what shape it’s in and if you should be looking to replace it. It’s also important to take a quick look at your reels and rods for any preventative maintenance. Take a few minutes to check for unwanted holes in your net, test your lip grabbers/jaw openers, weight scale calibration, etc. Is anything worse-for-wear? Now’s the time to get that Christmas wish list done early. CHECK THE NECESSITIES While you are going through your tackle box, why not get truly organized and make sure you have all the important items pre-packed. These items can mean the difference between a great trip and one that is miserable and ends early. Here are a few key items I find invaluable to have in my tackle box. In no particular order:
STORAGE Now that you have everything clean and organized it’s time to store your gear. Depending on your set up, you may want to put your summer gear away in exchange for your winter gear, or you may simply need to switch up some tackle organizers/compartments. Everyone seems to have their own way of doing this one. My preference is to store my open water gear in travel cases and out of the way on a shelf or tucked in nicely under the stairs. I don’t want my gear damaged accidentally by someone throwing something on top of them or passing by and getting hooked by a rod end. I’ve seen many man-caves, dens, he-sheds or doghouses (as some would put it) and all the fishing equipment is displayed like a museum which makes an amazing visual but there can be an issue with that. Not many people take into account the effect of UV light on your gear. Some brands of fishing line are particularly susceptive to the effects of UV light. A few months of storage with the line in direct sunlight through a window could cause it to fail in the spring and usually when you’ve finally hooked that lunker you’ve been after for what seems like forever. The line isn’t the only thing affected by UV rays, in fact most of your gear in some small way is affected by it. Over time it can weaken everything from fabric to plastics and since that gear is usually exposed all summer long, it’s nice to give it a chance to hibernate. Make sure you put all your summer gear in the same spot year after year. This will help ensure an easier load up when open water season starts again and with the right setup, it can be easy to see what’s missing at a glance. I’ve been on too many fishing trips where folks have their gear stored in multiple places and hence they seem to always forget something important on the first trip of the year.
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FISHING WITH CUSTOM LEN THOMPSON LURESStory and photos shared with permission by Jerry Wipft Thought you might enjoy a little update. We went to Lake Nipissing last Friday and fished through the week end. I made a gift of the full set of 4 lures that I had received on time (BIG thanks again to your production team and in particular to yourself for them arriving on time and being stunning) to my two friends who were fishing with Dorothee and I. I was the only one catching fish Friday and Saturday, all on my new lures. I caught pike on all but the green (because of the cloudy water I did not use the green). I caught both pike and a great pickerel/walleye on the yellow. My two friends did not use any of the lures I gave them, later admitting they thought I had made them as a joke. One friend in particular was determined to catch a Musky fishing extensively with a variety of large plugs. We made a special effort to troll the usual Musky haunts for him. On the last day of fishing I caught Pike, again on my Len Thompson fishing together (white and red this day) and my friends were not having any better luck. One even took one of his gift lures apart, removing the hook, to use it as a flasher. I said, 'You will catch nothing using it like that!'. I was right, he was blanked. My other friend (the Musky hunter) became so discouraged he stopped fishing, taking a break to pout. He was shocked out of his funk when my wife caught a nice pike on her yellow fishing together lure. That she was catching fish and he, a superior fisherman had not, finally woke him to the fact that if you want to be successful then you use a Len Thompson spoon and the yellow fishing together one in particular. He replaced his huge plug, put away his huge flys and put on the yellow LT fishing together. Third cast and he was rewarded. Here is a picture of Tom, trying to lift a 52", almost 50 pound Musky, caught on the CUSTOM, YELLOW/RED, LEN THOMPSON LURE. Apropos,
Best regards and I hope you enjoyed this little story. Jerry ps. He later admitted to thinking I had some cheap lures mocked up, he had never really been aware of how great the Len Thompson brand is (he is from Quebec) and he was totally floored by the fact that a fish of that size had not damaged the hook at all. pps. Musky under 48" caught in Nipissing are to be released, over that you can keep one. After a very brief discussion we released this magnificent fish for someone else to have the thrill of seeing it on the end of their line...………...if they are smart enough to use a Len Thompson lure. From 0ft to 100ft, see how the paint colours we use on our Len Thompson & Northern King Lure brands change as they move deeper underwater. Preferred colours are unique to each angler - everyone has their go-to patterns that seem to consistently produce for them. However, understanding colour theory may help to adapt your tackle choices to the depth and water conditions being fished or encourage you try something new that (might just) land your PB. Enjoy! By Henri-Vine Hétu Are you going fishing on a new lake or river and don’t know which lure to use? If so than you might end up fishing for hours without catching a fish. Len Thompson spoons of multiple sizes can come in very handy while scouting out new territory and that’s because just about every species of fish can be caught with them; Pike, Walleye, Trout and even Bass. During the month of July 2015, I decided to go wild camping up in La Tuque, Quebec, with some friends and my dog by a lake that is approximately two kilometers from the nearest road. There weren’t any cottages situated nearby so we had the small lake and beautiful forest to ourselves. It was nearly perfect. The only problem was that we didn’t know which species of fish were in the lake and which lure to use. On the first day we fished the entire evening and didn’t get a single bite. We had to cook some hotdogs on the fire for supper. We still weren’t getting results on the second day and were starting to believe the lake had no fish. Finally in the evening I looked inside my tackle box to change things up. There, I saw my Reverse Red Len Thompson lure sitting there just waiting to be used. I attach the lure to my line, look around and spotted a beautiful fallen pine tree in the water. I casted my lure right beside the pine tree. I decided to retrieve it a little more quickly to make sure it didn’t sink too deep and get caught in some branches. On the first cast, BAM, this monster fish comes out from under the tree and the fight begins. After several minutes of a wonderful battle, we net an eight pound Northern Pike. This was my personal best for at least a year.
So if ever you’re out fishing on a new lake or river and don’t know what to use, try a Len Thompson spoon. You may be very surprised what will bite at the end of your line. Henri-Vine Hétu is from Mascouche, Québec, Canada. His favourite thing about fishing is the excitement of a fish battling at the other end of the line and not knowing what it is until it's almost in the net. Follow Henri on Facebook or Instagram @Henri-VineFishing.
By Lisa Roper
I find these two methods work, for me, when it comes to fishing for Walleye with spoons.
As every angler knows, each day on the water can be quite different. There are so many factors that effect fishing in open water; when the ice melts into the lake, the depth of the open water, the outside temperature, the water temperature, and the amount of feed influence how the fish are biting.
The day I caught my personal best Walleye in mid-June, we had 3 days of rain prior to that morning. We headed out fishing at 7:00 am and by 10:00am it was already hot -- the daily high hit over 30 degrees and there was an active heat warning. The fish were hitting hard in 7 to 9 feet of water. In the morning I was having success catching Walleye with a No. 2 Len Thompson Super Glow Five of Diamonds. When we returned that evening the temperature started to cool down and the Walleye (including my personal best) were hammering down on the No. 13 Grey Ghost from the Dimpled Series – single hook. Both hooks had muted colours with pops of orange which we found very effective at the time.
I am beyond blessed to have landed a Walleye that I will always be proud of.
Lisa's story and the video (above) was picked up by CBC News in June 2018 when an Edmonton reporter saw her photo getting a lot of attention on an Alberta based Facebook fishing group.
He was 28.5 inches and unfortunately I didn't have the scale on the boat with me so I was a little disappointed," she said. "I would have loved to get a weight on him but I know I can tell you he was really heavy." Roper estimates the fish was well over 10 pounds but she doesn't believe it would have beat the 15.8-pound record for the heaviest walleye caught in Alberta. Still, Roper's smiling face was evidence that this was a big deal. Read more... |
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