THE BAIT SHACK

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Whether it’s perch fishing at this time of the year, crappie fishing through the winter months, walleyes in the spring or when or where hungry fish are found, the best bait many times is fresh minnows. Why not? The first rule of the lake is “big fish eat little fish” so minnows are a top choice.

Sure, there’s something to be said about duping a fish with some sort of lure or artificial creation that is usually designed to look like a minnow. Some of them are supposed to smell like a minnow or swim like a minnow or wink it’s eye like a minnow – but real minnows do all this automatically.

Just stop by a bait shop on the way to the lake and pick up a couple dozen, better make that three or four dozen. It’s not that you are going to catch that many perch or crappies, it’s that minnow buckets are notoriously hard on live minnows. By the time you get the boat in the lake, it’s likely to find a floater or two in the container. By the time you are fishing for the last few fish needed to make your limit, you may be hoping to hook that last keeper before the minnows are gone. I’ve been there.

So was Mathew Davis, owner of Whisker Seeker Tackle – a company with a large collection of tackle designed to meet the needs of catfish anglers. What? Catfish in the Great Lakes? Sure there are, but my guess is far more are caught incidentally than on purpose.

Yes, catfish anglers do fish with minnows, as well as relying on a variety of other baits, including chicken livers, nightcrawlers. Many of the largest cats become predators as they grow and they eagerly chase down shad, panfish, skipjack and other species. You didn’t think big catfish got big by eating chicken livers or night crawlers, did you?

These big baits for those fishing for big cats are even harder than shiners or fathead minnows to keep healthy in a minnow bucket. That’s why Davis went to work on his ultimate bait container, the Bait Shack.

Two things cause “bucket death” to baitfish of any species. Oxygen depletion and (at least in the summer months) and excessive heat cause as many minnow deaths as fish hooks and perch, some days.

Keeping the minnows cool is simple enough, put the minnows in a cooler and keep the lid shut. The better the cooler, the easier it is to beat the heat. So Davis started with the best – one of those roto-molded, heavy-duty brutes designed to keep products chilled for days, not hours. That’s what Davis started with when designing his Bait Shack, but to deliver a steady supply of life-giving oxygen, he incorporated heavy-duty aeration pumps built into the cooler’s lid and powered them with a long-lasting, rechargeable lithium battery. Don’t need that much power – use it to plug in or recharge your phone.

The coolest thing is the Bait Shack is solar powered. A solar collector on the outside of the lid keeps the battery charged all day (and all night) – and then all day the next day. Don’t worry about changing batteries or plugging it in. If it’s parked where photons from the sun (or a lightbulb) will strike the solar charger, they charge the battery, keeping it in the game. Stick the unit in a closet or your trunk, the battery will stay charged for up to 10 days before the three bubbler tubes cease bubbling. Done with it? Drain it through a convenient drain plug near the bottom on the side.

This is a brand-new product, unveiled at last summer’s ICAST (2025) where it won the “Best Fishing Accessory” award in the New Products Showcase. Currently, available at www.whiskerseeker.com, it will be showing up at retailers and online outlets across the country and on the internet very soon.

SHIMANO TECHNIUM TROLLING ROD

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Leave it to Shimano to come up with a new line of fishing rods designed specifically for the salmon/steelhead/sturgeon anglers. Why? Thousands of Great Lake anglers rely on (and swear by) their Talora trolling rods and wouldn’t trade them for anything.

When I picked up the new Technium Trolling Rod at the recent ICAST show I checked twice to see if the rod was in the wrong slot. It felt more like one of the latest carbon fiber rods than one of the Talora rods I’m used to handling. Actually, according to the Shimano rep I grabbed to explain the difference, there is a good “dose” of carbon fiber in these new rods as well as a Talora “legacy.” I don’t like to dive too deep in engineering in my reviews so let’s just leave it at the various models of Technium Rods are made from a fusion of the TC4 fiberglass (featured in the Talora line) and carbon fiber to make the rods lighter and slimmer than any salmon trolling rod I’d ever held – even the 9-footer moderate action rod I put to use as a braided-line diver rod.

Even if you mix your rod choices, the Technium will be a standout. Instead of the basic black rod blank, they’ve managed to imbue each rod with a holographic sort of blue sparkle reminiscent of waves or perhaps lightning. Pretty darned cool looking!

I used my 9-footer with a #1 (Medium) size Dipsey both with and without the ring. The bend in the rod at salmon trolling speeds was perfect. Most of the bend was concentrated in the top third of the rod when trolling, leaving plenty of backbone in the middle section to make the diver snap open at the strike of a fish and hold up to a tight drag when a big king or steelhead is latched on down below. That mid-rod strength also helped when the fish were pulled close to the stern, giving enough muscle to both steer the fish (as much as is possible) and keep the head of the fish up while it was pulled those last few feet in range of the landing net.

I wasn’t sure about the carbon fiber handle on the trolling model Techniums, but in use, I learned to love them. I didn’t have to “assist” many of my customers, helping them pull the rods out of the holders when a big fish was on the end of the line. The handle is hard and slick and will slip out of the rod holder with a minimum amount of effort. The reel seat tightens on the reel nicely and it has a second tightening “nut” on it that keeps the reel seat from loosening. Cool!

Speaking of reels, I paired the rod with a Shimano 600 Tekota A, line-counter reel to make a sweet combo able to handle the biggest fish in the lake with the sensitivity to have fun when pulling up cohos and “prince” salmon, those feeder-kings still a year or more from their potential size. I use 30-pound test Power Pro on my braid diver reels and the rod’s sensitivity shows when something is “goofy” down below – like having a shaker on the line or if the dodger or flasher isn’t rotating properly.

I don’t expect charter captains or avid recreational Great Lakes anglers to toss their Taloras overboard and switch to the Technium sticks, but when it comes time to get a new rod for one reason or another, take a look at the Technium Rods at https://fish.shimano.com/landing and buy them where ever Shimano rods and reels are sold.

MAD SCIENTIST TACKLE

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

When the guys at RLVNT Sunglasses sent me a pair of sunglasses to try, they slipped in a couple of spoons they thought I’d like to use. This line of tackle is ever-expanding but what they’ve done (and are doing ) is use the light-bending properties of the films and coatings they use in their lenses and apply them to their lures.

Depending on how much and at what angle the light strikes the finish on these lures, the color of the reflected light changes. You see it and the fish see it. So instead of seeing a traditional paint job which only varies whether the lure is in direct sunlight or shade, or a metallic finish that just reflects when sunbeams hit it, the lure changes color continuously.

The one I used shimmered from dark purple to pink to bright blue and regularly caught the attention of passing cohos. I loaned it to a friend to take to Lake Nipigon and he crushed the lake trout using it. Other films produce other hues and excel in conditions from stained or off-colored water to crystal clear. (And don’t think their casting spoon is only for casting. It trolls perfectly with a loose wobble.)

The Mad Scientist lives in Minnesota – often called Walleye-sota – and firmly in the winter ice-belt. They produce a bevy of lures (all with their proprietary finishes) suitable for panfish or pike (salmon or trout) wherever they swim. Made in America, sold online at www.madscientist.technology, in retail stores and other online outlets.

POWER PRO SUPER 8 SLICK V2 (MARINE BLUE)

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Long ago, every fishing line company jumped into the race to produce their own version of braided line. Some of it was very good, some was very poor and history is littered with examples of both. One of the first brands to surge to the forefront was a brand called Power Pro. It’s early version dates back to 1997 and surged to the forefront in the fishing world.

For a while Power Pro was like Kleenex, in that when you ask someone for a Kleenex, you may get a Puffs, Ultra Soft or some other brand. Anglers often just called the braided line on their reel as Power Pro, even though it may have really been spooled with SpiderWire, Sufix or some other brand.

Most of the major line companies now offer several different versions of braided line, sometimes just to offer something new, but usually it’s to provide options that are created for special fishing conditions. Power Pro is no different; now offering versions designed for various conditions and in a variety of colors.

When I was respooling my reels with braided line this spring, when I got to the Shimano Tekota A that I use as my “braid” dipsey I immediately thought of the Power Pro Super Slick V2 I’d spotted at the ICAST show last summer. (Shimano has been making Power Pro since 2008 when they acquired the company that developed it originally.) This is the line that won the prestigious “Best New Product” award at the show.

I’ve been using braid on some of my diver set-ups for decades. Braided line is super thin and super strong and it has zero stretch. I can trip a diver (and so can a fish) whether there’s 20 feet of line between the rod tip and diver or 200 feet.

The Super Slick V2 is the smoothest (slick) eight-strand braided line I’ve found, so besides being thinner than most, the line passes through the water with less drag. I use 30-pound braid for diver trolling and I’m confident I’ll be getting the maximum depth with the minimum amount of line when using this Power Pro line.

Of course the color of the line makes no difference to the fish, but I like an easy-to-see line on my diver set-ups and the Marine Blue color fills that order quite nicely. Power Pro lines are available in a variety of spool sizes, colors and other options at retailers and online sources. Check them all out at www.powerpro.com

MARUTO PREMIUM FISHING HOOKS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

There are okay fishing hooks, pretty good fishing hooks and really good fishing hooks. All of them will hook and hold some of the fish that bite on them, none of them will hook and hold all of the fish that bite on them. If hooking and holding the fish that bite on the hooks you are using is important, you probably want a premium hook on the end of your line.

Just what does premium mean? To me, it’s strength, sharpness and consistency. I’d never heard of Maruto hooks until I stopped by their booth at the ICAST show last summer, but once there, I decided what I saw and heard deserved a closer look and subsequently I picked out a several models of these “made in Japan” hooks in several sizes to put on the end of my fishing lines.

I was planning a trip to Canada later in the summer and some of the places we heading were unique in that the lakes were filled with big fish and the regulations required the use of barbless hooks. Maruto is one of the few premium hook brands that feature barbless options – especially in the “full-sized” versions and in treble hooks. (Many brands only offer barbless options in the tiny, stream-trout sizes.) I’d rather replace the hook than try to smash the barbs down to make them barbless.

At the same time, I picked up a few packs of Maruto 7771 barbed trebles to use on my walleye and salmon lures. If you are like me, just bending a hook back to the right shape after a fish or a flopping fish bends it in their mouth or in the landing net isn’t good enough. I want hooks that are strong enough to resist bending without being just made using heavier gauge wire.

I outfitted some of my late summer, “fall kings” lures and several of my walleye lures I use to troll for late season trips to Lake Erie with Maruto 7771 trebles. I also selected some of their saltwater hooks to use on my annual winter pilgrimage to the Gulf of Mexico to fish for red snappers and other salty fish. Every hook Maruto hook performed exactly as I expected and those same hooks will be in my line-up this summer and next winter. Learn more about them and see all the types, sizes and colors and purchase at: http://www.anglerinnovations.com. Many styles are available at Amazon.com.

BERKLEY DEEP HIT STICKS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

On my first trip to Lake Erie last spring the walleyes were acting more like the fish I normally encounter in early to mid-autumn trips. They were deep. Whether it was the water temperature, the waves or where they were finding the baitfish I don’t know, but my usual deep divers that worked with 60 to 80 feet of line out behind the planers weren’t getting into the zone.

We compensated by letting out more line – much more line to get our lures 20 feet or deeper to get to the level the fish were showing on the sonar and where we were getting the bites. How much more line? With some of the lures, twice as much line was needed to get them in the zone.

If we had been fishing areas where we could troll a few miles without needing to turn, the extra line wouldn’t have been a big deal, but on the calm days we found the most active fish near the Bass Islands where islands were creating currents where the active fish were holding. On the windy days, we used the islands as a lee area where we could fish away from the whitecaps.

Long lines behind planer boards aren’t conducive to whipping around in tight turns without tangling one lure with their neighbors. It started to feel normal to reel in a fish hooked fish on one lure along with the lure that had been running in an adjacent position. It also caused more lost fish since the longer it takes to reel in a lightly hooked walleye, the better the chance for it to pop loose before getting it to the net.

Waddayagonnadoo? A part of fishing is coping with the weather conditions and the moods of the fish.

One of the ways to cope is to examine the “tools” at your disposal. Mostly we’d been using Bandit Walleye Deep Divers and #11 Flicker Minnows let out 140 feet and 120 feet respectively, to get them over 20 feet deep according to the Precision Trolling Data app. One of my friends opened his tackle box and showed a few Berkley #12 Deep Hit Sticks he’d picked up on sale at FishUSA (www.fishusa.com). “Want to try some of these?” he asked.

The colors looked good. “Check the Precision Trolling Data chart to see how much line we’ll need,” I said.

I was shocked to learn we could hit our minimum trolling depth with only 88 feet of line. I wasn’t surprised when the next fish was hooked with the Clown pattern Hit Stick he’d just put out. We added another Hit Stick (Blue Chrome) and in the next couple of days, these two Deep Hit Sticks became our go-to baits. Early in the day the FireTiger pattern was particularly hot, as well.

Hit Sticks come in 20 color patterns (check them out at www.berkley-fishing.com) but color is only one these lures’ enticements. They have a great tail-wagging action and there was nothing subtle about the internal rattles. The walleyes loved them. Though we started using them primarily because they had a much steeper dive curve, we appreciated that they were also fisherman-friendly. Each of the half-dozen “sticks” my friend purchased ran perfectly, straight out of the box.

SMITH’S BAIT AND FISH KILL BAG

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

There was something missing on my boat last spring, a fish cooler. Often called a box or the fish box. If you don’t have a fish cooler on your boat, chances are you rely on stuffing the fish you catch and keep into a livewell or into a built-in fish storage compartment. My boat’s livewell must have been designed for perch fishing. It won’t hold a four-person limit of spring cohos and is certainly too small to hold a decent four-person bag of Lake Erie walleye.

So I “bagged” the fish. Actually, the fish went into Smith’s Products Insulated 36” Bait and Fish Kill Bag. Why not use my old IGLOO cooler? It takes up a lot of space.

Formerly, when my cooler was my only choice, I “made” space for it. It was a piece of necessary gear, so I economized on other gear to make everything fit with room left over for the fish box and the fishermen. Not now.

At the beginning of the day, the Kill Bag takes up almost no room. It doesn’t fold perfectly flat, it is insulated – front, back and bottom with closed cell foam, but a cooler is the same size whether it’s full or empty. Before the first fish is caught I add one or two small (7-pound) bags of ice – depending on air temperature. At that point the bag is about 1/3^rd the size of my old fish cooler. On a good day, by the time it’s got 18 or 24 walleyes in the bag (or 15 or 20 cohos), it takes up about half the space of my fish cooler – and there’s space left over to hold a king, a big brown trout or several plus-size walleyes if the fishing was extra-good.

I had four concerns when switching from a hard-sided plastic cooler to a soft-sided kill bag. Would it be tough enough? Would it be hard to clean? Would it keep the fish cool and fresh? Would it be large enough?

The Smith’s bag is constructed (inside and out) with a heavy-duty, marine grade tarp-like fabric. I wasn’t overly concerned the sharp fins on the walleyes I put in the bag would perforate the interior lining, but that thought was in the back of my mind. So, after several walleye trips, I took a flashlight, put on my reader glasses and examined the interior closely so see if there were any visible holes. None were found, nor did I ever detect any leakage around the bottom seams from melting ice had dripping through the inner skin and leaking out the bottom. Additionally, the seams are reinforced with strong nylon strapping material made from the same material as the detachable carrying strap. Plenty tough.

Both the interior and exterior is slick-finish allowing fresh blood to just rinse off and even dried-on blood to wash clean with a minimum amount of scrubbing with a soft brush. Once it’s rinsed clean, I just invert it with the zipper open and to let it quickly dry. Cleans up easily.

Cooling ability? One sure indicator of how well it’s insulated is how much ice is left at the end of the trip. If all you have left in your fish cooler is melt water, it’s not doing the job. On my early spring trips when the air temperature and the water temperature (thus the fish temperatures) are in the 40s, that small bag of ice was still more ice than meltwater after a long half-day of fishing. Once the weather and water warmed, the second bag of ice still did the job.

The 36” Bait and Fish Kill Bag is Smith’s middle size offering. It’s perfect for how I used it. Later in the season when king salmon and lake trout figure heavily into the catch where I fish, it wouldn’t be large enough. However, Smith makes a 48” kill bag that is advertised to be larger than my Igloo and there’s a smaller, 30-incher (called Mr. Crappie) that will hold several limits of perch or crappies.

Though the 30 and 36-inch versions are called “bait and fish kill bags,” I don’t think they’d be a good replacement for a bait bucket. Perhaps in a special situation, they’d be ideal – not on my boat. They do come with drain plugs at the bottom, however, to allow melt water from the ice or minnow water if used for bait to flow out the bottom. Available at www.smithsproducts.com at retailers and several online outlets including Amazon.

FIREBRAND DEEP DIVER BANDITS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Though plenty of people fish with Bandit Walleye Deep Diver lures for other species of fish and in other places than in the Western Basin of Lake Erie, there’s no doubt that’s where the Bandit is the king. Either that or the name “Bandit” has become the generic name for deep diving stickbaits like people wipe their nose with Kleenex, regardless of whether it’s a Puffs or some other brand of tissue paper.

If you are only going to buy one, you might as well get the top seller. “So what’s the top selling color?” That’s what I asked one of the product people at PRADCO – maker of Bandit Lures – at last summer’s ICAST. He chuckled when he answered, “Clear.” You might be surprised by that answer; I wasn’t and not because I think walleyes would be a sucker for a clear plastic lure. It’s because turning out popular lures in custom colors has become a cottage industry.

Rick Fascinato is one of those custom painters that has turned his hobby of customizing the lures for his own tackle box into a business to produce lures for yours. I’ve had the chance to fish with some of Rick’s Firebrand recently near the Bass Islands in the Western Basin, specifically his “Bandits” and they were the top producers for the trip. The one I’m holding was tied on one of my lines the first day of the trip and stayed there until the final fish was in the net a few days later. Others were solid producers, as well.

In fact, this photo is the “after” photo and though I’m sure the lure accounted for a half dozen walleyes each day or more, it still looks like new. One of the selling points of Firebrand products is each is given an epoxy coating to keep them looking good, fish after fish, even toothy ones like walleyes.

Firebrand Custom Baits isn’t all Bandits, either. Rick customizes trolling spoons, flashers, dodgers, Thin Finns and other baits in imaginative colors sure to peak the feeding instinct in any Great Lake predator fish. Give them all a look and order a few for yourself at https://firebrandcustombaits.ca/.

MACKENZIE’S FISHERMAN HAND SCRUB

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

I will admit the first time I squirted a teaspoon or so of Fisherman Hand Scrub out of the handy squeeze bottle, I was less than impressed. I know what a liquid or gel type hand soap is supposed to look like. It should be clear, or perhaps tinted an electric blue or green; perhaps a creamy pearl color. This stuff looks like something that comes out the nether-end of a lake trout that has been feeding on gobies.

That was the end of my negative opinion. I had just finished cleaning enough Lake Superior lake trout planned to be the dinner entrée for an eight-man crew at Moss Island Lodge, Ontario. I don’t know what the lakers had been eating, but like all lake trout, these were slimy on the outside, slimy on the inside and fresh enough to still be pumping blood on the fish cleaning table – all of which coated my hands.

I sprayed off my hands while cleaning up the fish cleaning area, delivered the fish to the chef and grabbed the bottle of Fisherman’s Hand Scrub I’d brought along for the trip and had set by the kitchen sink. That’s when I found out the FHS comes out of the bottle as a gritty looking, light-brown goop.

I gave it the sniff test first, thinking perhaps it had spoiled on the long, hot drive to Canada. It actually smelled just fine with a firm hint of lemon. I continued and immediately noticed the gritty feel as I scrubbed my hand, reminiscent of the pumice infused hand cleaner I use after I’ve been working on greasy lower units or other machinery. The grit (actually, ground up walnut hulls) is more coarse than pumice and is just one of the natural ingredients blended into the recipe.

It’s not a high-suds producing product, but it quickly cleaned my hands and left them scent free immediately – and I gave them a second good “sniff-test” fifteen minutes or so later once the lemony smell subsided. My hand remained fish-smell-free. It passed my test.

A couple day’s later while I was packing for the trip home, I grabbed the bottle of FHS to take home with me. That evening, the camp-cook asked the group if anyone had seen the Fisherman’s Hand Scrub. We were having a fish boil that evening and the cook was prepping the fresh trout for its turn in the boiling caldron.

“You like this stuff, eh?” I said in my best Canadian accent as I dug the bottle out of my duffle.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’ve been using it not only for fish, but it cleans off the onion, the bacon and all the other smells I get on my hands here in the kitchen.”

I left him the rest of the bottle instead of bringing it home with me. Once I was home I ordered another bottle, using my Amazon Prime account so I got free-shipping. I could have gotten it for the same price but with shipping costs at www.fishermanhandscrub.com. Check out the other Mackensie’s “made in America” products as well.

VEXAN LIL SUPER CISCOES

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

It must suck to be a shad. Every predator fish you share the lake or river with wants to eat you. That’s why I enjoy being at the top of the food chain when it comes to fishing. I know if I want to catch a fish to eat – and I’m not particularly picky about the fish I eat – I know where ever I’m at and whatever fish I want to catch, a good choice of lure to show to the fish is a shad-imitating lure. That’s what caught my eye when I found the Vexan booth at the ICAST show last summer. Among the rods, reels and other lures on display was a concise collection of shad-shaped diving crankbaits called Rattin’ LIL Super Cisco.

I tried fishing for cisco with them last fall at Grand Traverse Bay with little success, but that’s the only time and place they didn’t score. They did catch a steelhead and a lake trout in the bay. I caught plenty of cohos on them in southern Lake Michigan and using them with the 50 + 2 Method on the Precision Trolling App got them down to Lake Erie’s walleye last spring. The Chrome Perch color scored well early in the day and we did just as well with the Diesel and Kitty Kat patterns when the bright sun started penetrating into the depths.

Check them out at www.vexan.com. They are available at WalMart, Amazon.com and other outlets.