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“Snags No-Problem” For This Wisconsin Walleye Guide! by Scott Richardson

Snags are no problem for Wisconsin guide

By: SCOTT RICHARDSON
Oh, boy, another snag!” Only the “snagmaster,” Greg Bohn, would say something like that.Most fishermen hate snags. But Bohn, a guide in Minocqua, Wis., for nearly 30 years, is responsible for the breakthrough that has changed the way walleye fishermen think about snags forever.

Years ago, Bohn discovered that walleyes, like other species, hold near and in heavy cover, including both wood and weeds. Problem was there was no good way to reach them. His clients would constantly hang up with regular jigs. The disturbance that trying to free one snag caused would spook fish way.

As a result, Bohn experimented with wire hook guards, finally perfecting one with seven-strand wire that avoids snags while providing reliable hook sets.

I got the chance to learn how to use the snagless jigs when I fished with Bohn last week on a flowage outside Minocqua in the famous Vilas County. Bohn explained how flowage walleyes move into shallower water in fall to feed and work deeper as the water cools and the reservoir is drawn down to make room for snow melt and spring rains. We intercepted fish at 12 to 13
feet. Water temperature was 47 degrees.

We were on a 5,000-acre wide-spot in the Wisconsin River. Walleyes and big perch were staging on sand flats littered with wood in the form of brush, submerged trees and root systems. No way would normal jigs make their way through the hang-ups. So we
tied in jigs with Bohn’s seven-strand wire hook guards. They are
available on the Timb’r Rock Jig and the Veg-E-Jig by Lindy Little Joe.

We used a one-eighth Veg-E and had our two-man limit of six walleyes by noon after launching at 7:30 a.m. Another hour later, we had a total of eight walleyes from 16 to 21 inches for the day. We also caught 17 big, bonus yellow perch. We lost only three jigs in a spot where we would have lost regular roundball jigs on every cast. If the wind was calm, Bohn would have used the electric trolling motor to move slowly over the flat while we cast jigs and let the slip-float rig dangle next to the boat. As it was, the wind gusted to 30 mph. He was forced to anchor while we made fan casts to cover an area before moving on.

Bohn uses a Leech Stick, a spinning rod he makes himself. It’s 7-foot, 2-inches long, medium action with a fast tip. Six-pound line and a jig completes the presentation. We each had a second rod rigged with a slip float, a red hook and bead and enough weight to balance it to signal the lightest tap. Those were hung over the side. The depth was set so the minnow was swimming one foot off the bottom. Every so often, the floats next to the boat would dart below the surface and we would have another perch. Bohn pointed out the presence of perch was
the main reason the walleyes were on the flat, too. Walleyes wanted small perch. The ones we caught were up to 12 inches long.

“We may have some of the best overlooked perch fishing in the Midwest,” said Bohn, inviting me back to try for perch through the ice this winter. Everyone comes for the muskies and the walleyes.”

Bohn guides for muskies about 40 percent of the time. The rest of his days he is after walleyes both on the flowages and on the bigger lakes surrounding Minocqua. There are about 3,000 bodies of water in Vilas and neighboring Oneida counties to choose from. When wind cooperates, Bohn searches for trophy walleyes on the bigger systems. The day before I arrived he had one bite all day using heavy jigs of three-quarters of an ounce to vertical jig over deep structure. That one bite resulted in a walleye that weighed about 8 pounds.

The pattern we fished and the big-fish tactics will be good through mid-November when ice forms. Wisconsin anglers in that area will be cutting holes to reach walleyes and perch by Thanksgiving.

Call (715) 356-4633 to reach Bohn to guide for ice fishing or for open-water fishing next year.

There are no stop lights between Bloomington, IL-Normal and the parking lot of the Aqua Aire Motel 400 miles to the north. Call Dick and Joanne at (715) 356-3433.

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Fishing Heavy Cover “The Best of Times” by Greg Bohn, Ted Takasaki with Scott Richardson

Fishing Facts Magazine, April, 2001

Fishing Heavy Cover – “The Best of Times?”
By Ted Takasaki,Greg Bohn and Scott Richardson

Eighteenth-century author, Charles Dickens, would have appreciated the way fishermen view wood, rock and weeds today. Dickens began his classic, “A Tale of Two Cities,” with the words, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Fishing “cover” is that way for us anglers.
Cover is the “best of times” because all types of fish gravitate to it. Weeds give off life-giving oxygen. Decaying wood attracts tiny zooplankton which draws minnows. Gamefish are not far behind. Rocks and wood absorb heat from the sun in spring and late fall, raising water temperature and igniting the food chain which boosts activity levels of fish.
For the hunters, cover provides ambush points to wait for passing prey. For the hunted, it offers a safe haven from predators. This is critical in a watery world where who lives and who dies is a matter of survival of the fittest.
Weather is a factor while understanding the importance of cover. Fish, like largemouth bass, will often dart to the safety of a thick weedbed in storms. Walleye anglers know to check timber after a cold front because walleyes will tuck in close and stay.
Obviously, good reasons lie behind the adage, “If you aren’t getting snagged, you aren’t fishing where the fish live.”
But, cover can also be the “worst of times.” This is known anyone who has tried to cast a jig into the thickest part of beaver cuttings or who has drifted over a flat strewn with fallen logs or boulders. Frustration levels soar from break-off after break-off. You can’t catch fish while tying. The easy way out is for anglers to stay away from snaggy, fish holding cover. And, that’s a big mistake.
Fishing Hall of Famer, Ron Lindner, and Wisconsin fishing guide, Greg Bohn, weren’t immune to the headaches that snags cause. Independently, they worked for years to find a remedy. When combined, the tackle innovations they have developed will revolutionize the way we think about fishing in dense cover and take the fear out of fishing in heavy cover for everyone but the fish.
For Bohn, the worst of times came on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage in upper Wisconsin near Minocqua, Wis., and his Strictly Walleye tackle store. Portions of the flowage are minefields of stumps, wood-covered flats and downed trees, which attract walleyes from ice out to ice up. Other parts of the flowage lack wood, but in those spots, any timber that does exist holds fish. Bohn has taken 100 walleyes at mid-day off a single isolated tree felled by a marauding tornado. “What a walleye factory that is, but you could go out with three dozen jigs and come back with none,” said Bohn in true Dickens’ fashion.
The wood has created two main problems for the guide. First, clients would cast a jig into heavy cover and get snagged at the first stop from the launch. The commotion they caused trying to yank the jig loose spooked fish even before Bohn had a chance to drop anchor. The second problem is that break-offs were inevitable which translates into less fishing time and fewer fish for clients.
It wasn’t long before Bohn began experimenting with wire hook guards. Some he devised were too stiff. True, they were snag-proof. But, they also were fish-proof. Trial and error eventually led to a patented 7-strand wire protector that became the primary feature of the Timb’r Rock Jig, which Lindy Little Joe, Inc., is introducing to the market right now. Not only does it prevent snags, it’s insect-like appearance provokes vicious strikes when dressed with a minnow, leech or piece of nightcrawler.
Recently, the 7-strand wire snag guard has also been adapted for use on a snell to team up with the NO-SNAGG slip sinker, which Lindner designed and which Lindy began offering last year. Lindner had promised a snagless sinker to Lindy’s first president Nick Adams more than 30 years ago when the company introduced its first Lindy rig. The original Lindy walking sinker was good on clean bottoms, but it got hung up too often in rocks.
The NO-SNAGG sinker has now solved much of that problem. But, fishermen reported that they were still getting snagged on conventional snelled hooks. So. the NO-SNAGG sinker has been combined with Greg’s 7-strand technology in order to create a new NO-SNAGG Rig. It is essentially a Lindy rig for use in heavy cover. The snell is 5-feet long, has a sharp red hook and a chartreuse bead to add color and protect the knot.

On a trip to Rainy Lake, Bohn and Linder tried to do everything they could to snag up. Though northern pikes cut off a few, they did not loose one rig to a snag in three days even though they concentrated on wood, rocks and boulders. For the first time, fishermen will now have the tools to attack the thickest cover and catch fish where they live.
For jigging, Bohn starts with a 7-foot, 2-inch Leech Stick spinning rod he makes himself. He spools up with 8-pound test to combat line abrasion.
Where cover is sparse, Bohn fishes each fallen tree or stump or weed bed, either casting into holes or pathways he can see or slowly dragging the jig along the edges. Where cover is plentiful, Bohn concentrates on the cover closest to the channels. He focuses on the windy side of the lake. He has seen times when he could see walleyes holding amid wood on the bottom, but they would not strike until ripples appeared on the surface.
The best trees are ones that are elevated slightly off the bottom in 8 to 12 feet of water. But, he has seen times when he catches walleyes along the trunks of trees right next to the shoreline. He will often pluck fish after fish vertical jigging from a stump field on the river channel at 25 feet or a brush pile collected on a bend in the channel at 30.
Hung up? Don’t tug on the hook. Merely give the line slack and shake it free. The hood guard can be bent forward for light biters or in sparse cover and closer to the hook point for dense situations. Cast into pockets inside the weeds or along edges.
Like the Lindy rig, turn to the NO-SNAGG Rig in order to cover more area by drifting or trolling with a trolling motor when fish are more scattered. Fish the edges of weeds, brush piles, stump fields or cane beds. Use enough weight to keep the line at a 45-degree angle to the water’s surface depending on the depth being fished and wind conditions. Chances of hang-ups and missing strikes increase if too much line is let out.
Lindner and Bohn use spinning gear for smaller weights and bait-casting equipment for heavier ones of three-quarters of an ounce or more. Lindner suggests using a super line to the snell. If you do get snagged, you can break the snell off yet save the sinker. Tie on another snell and you are soon back in the water.
Pump the sinker slowly up a foot and down and merely tap the bottom to insure you remain in the strike zone. Use the one-eighth size in weeds to avoid fouling the sinker with debris. Leave the bail open or the spool free. When you feel a fish take the bait, let it have it to a count of five or so before setting the hook.
No technology can prevent all snags. But, new NO-SNAGG approaches go far to make the time you spend fishing dense cover “the best of times.”