May 30, 2010
After a great winter of fishing for the whole West Metro Outdoors crew and a long and busy spring, Kyle and I finally rounded up our walleye tackle and hit the water. A little late I know, but we did manage to tie into a few. Last week was the first time we got on the unfrozen lake in search of some walleyes. That night did not produce one walleye for us. A perch and a sheepshead later our first night of fishing was over. We weren’t too bothered by it as it was a wonderful night to be on the water. Last night Kyle and I hit the lake again in hopes of coaxing a walleye or two to eat our jig and minnow. We started fishing around 7 P.M. and we were immediately getting bites. Tap tap tap, and a swing and a miss! That happened constantly at our first 2 spots we fished. The bites were light and we figured that it had to be panfish nipping at our bait. I managed to snag a small perch and a little later I saw a sunfish follow my minnow to the surface as I was reeling up. Our hunch was correct, panfish were nibbling and the walleyes were nowhere to be found.
The sun was starting to set as we hit our 3 spot for the night. The panfish quit playing with us and it was game on. Just as the sun disappeared from the horizon I tied into the first walleye of the night. A perfect keeper! We got him measured and photographed and he was the first one in the livewell. The weight was lifted off our shoulders as we finally put a walleye in the boat. I put a fresh minnow on my jig and a couple minutes later I set the hook into the 2nd walleye of the night. This one was a tad bigger but still a keeper. He was thrown in the livewell and we were back fishing.  “Netman” Kyle was kept busy during the next hour as I pulled in a couple sheepshead and another walleye which was 1/8” away from being the third keeper. Kyle was getting frustrated in the front of the boat because I was catching all the fish. I had 5 fish to my name already and he still didn’t set the hook on one. He decided to change up his hook color to match mine and a little while later I heard him say “Fish!” It’s about time Kyle! As I netted the fish I laughed because it was another sheepshead. Hey, at least he finally put a fish in the boat! Another sheepshead or 2 later and our night of fishing was over.  Eight more days until the Muskie opener, which we all know is the “real” fishing opener, and we will be on the water constantly chasing the toothy critters. It has been a long off season and we can’t be any more excited to get after them again!
Posted by Eric Wolf. Posted In :
Fishing
January 14, 2010
This past couple of weeks has just been a blast! The WMO crew has been busy; scouting for spots, moving fish houses, and keeping up to date with the latest weather conditions. The weather which plays a big factor in any kind of fishing, has been just crazy. It seems like every other day the barometer is moving up and down constantly. We have experienced -25 degrees below 0, to now a balmy 30's for highs! Considering the variable weather change we have still been seeing a good walleye bite, even the big fish have been amazing. Here are some of the latest photos!!!
Posted by Kyle Stender. Posted In :
Fishing
January 5, 2010
Minnesota is known for a few things in the winter; cold temps, snowy weather and of course the frozen lakes. The whole west metro team has been hitting the hard water since the lakes have been freezing up with success. The walleye action has been good as of late, just like any other early season during the winter. Here are a few pics of the last couple of weeks from my outings.
Posted by Kyle Wickenhauser. Posted In :
Fishing
October 21, 2009
The middle of October only means one thing for me. North Dakota. Every year I head out to the waterfowl mecca of ND to chase ducks and geese, with mainly thoughts of greenheads committing into the decoy spread. It seems that every year I find myself in a different area in North Dakota. This year brought me to the area of Fargo. When people think of Fargo they usually think NDSU and a bigger city for the area. Well, that is what I also picture, but I also envision flocks of ducks and geese in the background. Why Fargo this year? Well that is where my good friend Ben Brettingen lives and goes to school. This summer we planned on getting together over Minnesota's MEA Break. No school Thursday or Friday means 2 extra days of hunting! Yes!!
Wednesday afternoon a friend and fellow coworker Travis Genz met up with me in Brainerd so we could travel out to Fargo together and save a little gas. We arrived Wednesday evening and got ourselves settled in and ready for the weekend. We discussed where we would be hunting the following morning with Josh and Ben and decided to get a good night sleep. Thursday morning we arose out of bed to about an inch of snow on the ground. Not bad at all we thought, until we got just outside of Fargo where the snow cover was much thicker. There was a good 6 inches of snow on the ground, and just as much slush on the road. What was supposed to be a one hour drive took a little (Ok, a lot) of extra time due to the road conditions. We finally arrived at the slough about 25 minutes after shooting time and we immediately started to break ice on the pond. We opened up a little hole and placed some GHG Pro-Grade Wigeon and some LS Mallards and waited for the ducks to come. Well... They never showed up. Ben had a test at 11:00, so we packed up early and did a little bit of scouting before Ben had to be back. While scouting we found an area that was filled with mallards and gadwalls. We decided that this is where we needed to be this afternoon. Around 2:00 P.M. Josh, Travis, and I loaded up the truck and headed out to the spot. As we pulled up the birds were flying everywhere and we knew that we were in for an exciting hunt. We got the decoys set up and immediately had ducks coming into the spread. The first bird on the water was a Gadwall, followed by 16 Northern Shovelers. Yes, spoonies. Ha! The day was finished off with a single Mallard that wanted in the decoys. Not a bad start to the trip! This was Travis' first time hunting in North Dakota, and he was ecstatic! He could not believe the amount of birds in one small area.
The next morning we decided to hunt a field just outside Fargo that was holding a couple hundred geese the night before. I apologize for no pictures of the field or hunt because of the extremely muddy and wet conditions of this field. We were unable to drive in it due to the standing water and deep mud so we carried everything in from the road. The first flocks of geese in the morning didn't pay attention to us at all and kept on flying. We finally coaxed a group of big honkers into the decoys and with our very poor shooting, we dropped 3 out of the flock. The next flock came in and again, we couldn't hit the side of a house if we were standing in it. We only killed one goose out of that group. Ouch. As we were getting ready to pack up, a single duck buzzed right in front of us. One shot later we had a drake Redhead in the bag. What was a redhead doing in a field?? I do not know. We started making trips back to the trailer and a mallard flew a little to close to me, and unfortunately for her, she didn't fly out of the field. We scouted hard that night and found a field of dreams. As we pulled up we saw a decent amount of birds flying around, but when the whole group of birds lifted off the ground, not one of us was prepared for what we saw. There was over 2000 ducks using this field. Score!! We saw other groups scouting this field, so we knew we had to get there early.
Saturday morning, or should I say late Friday night (01:00 A.M.) we arrived at the field so we could be the first ones. Ben, Nick, Josh, Travis, and myself piled into Bens truck and uncomfortably slept there that night. We got into the field and set up around 6:00 A.M. and we were the only group out there. For now... As shooting time grew closer another group showed up and set up at the opposite end of the field. No big deal because they didn't bug us one bit. BUT, about 30 minutes after legal shooting time began a 3rd group arrived. They set up their 4 Mojo's and ZERO decoys about 150 yards away from us and shot at literally everything they saw. Birds at 100+ yards were being shot at. The sad part was that every single duck around wanted in where they were set up. They would all lock up and as soon as they cupped their wings, they would get shot at. Their grand total for the 4 boxes of shells they shot was one, yes one mallard that they sailed a distance off and never was looked for. We packed out of there with about 12 ducks and opted to hunt somewhere else the rest of the morning. Our group ended the day with over 20 ducks, so it was a successful day. With about 11 hunters in our 2 groups we ended the weekend with close to 80 ducks and 4 geese. Very successful in our books!
North Dakota is always a fun place to hunt. The sheer amount of birds around is almost ridiculous. If I could hunt there more, I would do it in a heartbeat! A big thank you goes out to Ben, Josh, Nick, Blake, and Alex for letting us stay at your house. We couldn't have done any of this without you guys.
Posted by Eric Wolf. Posted In :
Hunting
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