Author: Chris Hustad

My hands get cold…easy. It’s a curse for an outdoorsman because we spend so much time out in the cold. I spend a lot of time in the ice house as well as long days afield.  I’ve tested gloves after gloves, only to end up buying the throw away hand warmers. It’s not exactly the kind of long-term solution I had in mind… So I stumbled upon rechargeable hand warmers the other year and I’ve been addicted since. Seriously, have you looked into these things??? They are AWESOME. First off, let’s break down the features for pretty much any rechargeable hand

I love catching walleyes all year, and ice fishing season is no different. I spend countless hours on the ice, fishing for walleye. And like any angler, I’ve taken a few mental notes along the way. From early ice to the dead of winter, these are my 5 best walleye ice fishing lures that I’ve found. Lindy Darter Walleye Ice Fishing Lure Okay, I will be fair to those that started this craze. Salmo came out with the Chubby Darter years back, and while my tackle box is FULL of them, I’ve started switching to Lindy Darters for fishing aggressive walleyes

Tell me if you’ve heard this line before…”I won’t go ice fishing without my <insert brand>!”  I simply put “insert brand” because ice fishing fish finders come with A LOT of followers. While the big 2 of Vexilar and Marcum eat most of the market share, upcomers Humminbird and now Garmin are making strides in the ice fishing industry. But before you go out and buy one, make sure you understand all the features available and which you will benefit from…a.k.a. actually use. Here are some ice fishing fish finder features that I can’t live without. Zoom – Seems rather obvious

CURRENTLY EXPECT BETWEEN 12 – 20 INCHES ON MOST LAKES ACROSS THE MIDWEST. Check the ice thickness chart closely, especially if you plan on ice fishing with a vehicle.  And if you don’t know where you’re going, stay on the chosen path… 😉 Currently, ice fishing has been VERY good this year.  Well above average.  We’ve especially had great success walleye ice fishing as well.  (Updated 01/19) It’s that time of year.  Mother Nature has kicked winter into high gear, sending temperatures well below freezing. Up in North country, they’ve already seen negative single digits at times.  We’re talking some serious

Walleye fishing can be a chess match it seems, at times.  If you don’t know what I mean, come and fish the north end of Lake Oahe in North Dakota in the early fall.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still fishing and I love every minute of it.  But when the temps start dropping dramatically in the fall, anything can happen… When late September approaches in my neighborhood, that can only mean one thing…walleye tournament time!  We have a fall classic that closes out our tourney season, and this is one I don’t miss all too often.  In 2 weeks of

I can’t believe it’s that time of year already, we’re approaching early fall and that means one thing…FALL BITE.  Yes, walleyes will know that winter is coming soon and will start to put on the feedbags.  I used to do A LOT of hunting each fall, but I find myself fishing more and more with the abundance of opportunities for good fishing.  With that being said, I have a walleye tournament at Prairie Knights Casino coming up and I thought I’d break down how I prepare. WALLEYE TOURNAMENT LOCATIONS Everyone prepares for walleye tournaments differently, but for me I take kind of

Every once in a while, you find yourself with a product that is just too good not to share…and this crankbait storage idea is one of those items.  Let me begin. I have a crankbait addiction, seriously.  I have no idea how many I have or would want to know all I have invested…it’s pretty bad.  But with that being said, I use my crankbaits – A LOT, so that’s how I justify them. I love to troll walleyes and I write about my experiences often. Historically, I have traditional styles of crankbait trays.  While I’m not here to knock other

When August rolls around, fishing everywhere can get a bit tough at times.  While fishing for us lately has been fantastic, you can’t always bank on great fishing this time of year.  Mid-Summer walleyes tend to go deeper and scatter, so that’s when I get into seek and destroy mode with my electronics and start trolling walleyes. Before I even stick my baits in the water, I tend to troll up and down points and flats, looking for marks and signs of life.  Depending on how deep your lake is, the fish may be in the basins or holding tight to

I love my Skeeter WX2190 boat.  To be blatantly honest, what worries me most about writing this review is having to KNOCK ON WOOD 100 times throughout the process.  I really don’t care what boat you have, with so much going on it’s bound to have issues at some point.  That’s just a part of owning a boat or anything for that matter…just set aside some time and money for maintenance and repairs.  So now that I got that out of the way, let’s talk Skeeter boats! I bought my Skeeter WX2190 boat in 2013, the year that the new hull

These days you’ll find A LOT of rod holders on the market for fishing walleyes.  I’ve done a rod holder review recently, and you can see some of my favorites.  But this time, I’m just going to focus on BY FAR my favorite walleye trolling rod holder, Folbe rod holders.  They are made in the U.S.A. (which matters to me) and are made of a very strong material.  As stated in the video below, I’ve used them for muskies without a hiccup so I know they have plenty of strength.  As stated in the title, I’ve been using these rod holders

One of my favorite crankbaits nowadays to use for all situations is the Berkley Flicker Minnow.  I’ve been a fan of the shads of all brands through the years, but since I’ve been using the Flicker Minnows the past couple years I find myself using shads less.  It kind of depends on the fish and their mood.  When the weather is stable or heating up, I find myself liking to use more aggressive baits then the standard shads.  That’s where these walleye crankbaits come into play.  In the spring, I tend to use the smaller baits like the #5 or #7…but

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been hearing about these Bandits that were catching consistent big walleyes on Lake Erie. As an avid walleye angler and troller, I was intrigued. As this summer approached, the big walleyes go deep. You need baits that not only get deep but catch fish. Welcome to the world of Bandit fishing lures. Traditionally, I thought of them as a bass fishing lure company, but that’s obviously changing. Bandit walleye lures are getting really hot.  Have you tried Googling custom bandits lately???  The list is endless, and so are the color options.  While I could

Slow Death hooks are here to stay in the walleye world, as they’ve proven time and time again the past so many years that they just flat out work.  My tackle box is FULL of various slow death hooks…I feel like I’ve tried them all.  To be fair, any slow death hook will give you an advantage in the water over a traditional hook.  But line twist can happen, A LOT, to the point that it’s just flat out annoying.  And that’s where the Matzuo Death Roll hooks (a.k.a. Rip ‘n Roll hooks) come into play.  They have a swivel attached