Category: Fishing

Before you say to yourself, oh not another FFS rant…it isn’t, but more on that later. I’m writing from the perspective of someone who’s tournament fished awhile, and spent a lot of time paying attention to various fishing series in walleye, musky, and bass. And while I want to say the future looks awesome, I am a bit concerned for many reasons that I will get into in detail. If you’ve paid attention to tournament fishing over the years there are definitely changes. And while normally I think change is good, and it is, it can come with challenges. As I

How often have you gone fishing, only to come home and find your bait is already half dead? Or even worse, when you leave them overnight and they all die? Nasty. As anglers, we’ve all been there. Replacing bait constantly sucks, and heaven forbid you soil a container on accident; you have to replace that too. I get it, it’s expensive. But what if you actually took the effort to keep your minnows and bait alive all year? It’s really not that hard when you look into it…I will explain. How Do I Keep Minnows Alive? Shad, Fatheads, Creek Chubs, Shiners,

If you’re an angler, the thought has certainly crossed your mind at some point or another…what if I had my own bait tank??? Depending on where you live, buying fresh bait repeatedly for your fishing outings can certainly add up.  Obviously, a bait tank will be a place to store all leftovers and the like, so you always have fresh bait when you go fishing again. Or, it could be that you catch your own bait.  Up in the north country, we catch creek chubs often for our walleye fishing, and keeping them alive in itself can be a challenge. I’ve

Are you looking for an ice fishing experience close to the Twin Cities of Minnesota? Well, the good news is, you don’t need to travel far. That’s where Todd of Set the Hook Guide Service comes into play. Set the Hook Guide Service operates a fleet of ice houses for rent on Lake Minnetonka, MN. They can sleep up to 5 anglers comfortably, depending on the ice house rental you choose. Ice house camping is an experience in itself. If you like camping in the summertime, this is kind of the same thing…with a twist. No matter what you’re doing around

If you’re traveling or living around the San Diego, CA area, then you need to give Fish Further Charters a shout! Captain Dan has been operating a successful fishing charter in San Diego for years.  And as I write this review, they have a perfect Google Ranking of 5.0 stars out of 120 Reviews! (impressive) They operate 3 different types of guided fishing. IN-SHORE FISHING The in-shore fishing charter option is relatively close to the port with opportunities for yellowtail, bass, whitefish, sheep head, sculpin, barracuda, bonito, lingcod, halibut, shark, and various species of rockfish.  Most fishing is on the bottom

It’s early Sunday afternoon in Lake Country. The football game is on, the beer is flowing, and maybe a bobber goes down…or not. Does this sound like a scenario for you? While I’m not knocking a man’s version of a good time, this is often the scenario of those who own permanent ice fishing houses all over the Midwest. You can usually spot them in large communities, more often it seems than not. And this community doesn’t build until almost mid-winter, too. Personally, I don’t drink on the ice. I’m not against anyone doing so, I just hit the ice to

Updated with new rod holders! I spend A LOT of time using fishing rod holders in boats. At first, I thought, listing the best rod holders will be easy.  But with so many new competitors jumping into the space, and at great prices, it’s changing the way people buy and use them today. You also need to keep in mind that open water trollers, on bodies of water such as Lake Erie, use multiple planer boards for trolling.  So many are moving towards rod tree styles that stack rods for easy organization. Most of the time, you’ll find me trolling for

There’s a question I had never given any thought to asking until the North Dakota House hearing held on February 3, 2023. What is a tournament angler? Not sure if it was because I already knew the answer or the fact that I really had never given it any thought. Either way, a survey was brought up during the opposition testimony for House Bill 1538 dealing with the inconsistent and harmful “conservation fees” being charged to North Dakota fishing tournaments. Here is an excerpt from the Hearing:  “In a 2021 survey of all licensed resident anglers, 92% of the non-tournament anglers

This has to be my favorite smoked salmon recipe out there.  Our window for trolling for salmon is short, so we like to prep our fish for the long term. While I’m literally a fan of ANYTHING salmon, this one is off the charts! If you already have a smoker, this is actually quite an easy recipe.  Simply let the salmon sit in the brine for about 24 hours and it’s ready to smoke. Enough talking about how good it is, let’s get to the actual smoked salmon recipe… Smoked Salmon Brine Recipe Ingredients 6-8 lbs of salmon – leave the

Updated 09/30/21 for the upcoming ice fishing season… Are you looking for the optimal cordless drill ice auger combination?  The good news is, I’ve done all the homework and research…and I have a killer setup.  After a long couple winters of testing my new cordless drill ice auger, I was able to drill dozens upon dozens of holes FAST and with plenty of battery to spare.  I’ve literally never drilled a hole that fast, and I’ve owned and used just about every gas, electric, and propane ice auger on the planet.  I will NEVER go back…let me explain… How did I

We’re excited to announce a FREE ICE FISHING OUTING courtesy of Mike Peluso Outdoors in the infamous Devils Lake, ND region! This is for a FREE Day of Ice Fishing with Mike, with a date that you set up. To enter, simply fill out the form below.  We will pull 10 semi-finalists on Tuesday, September 7th at random from the entries.  Each semi-finalist will get a number (from 0 – 9).  If your number matches the closing penny value of the NASDAQ closing on Wednesday, September 8th…you win! That easy…the winner will work out a date with Mike. So to enter,

Every once in a while, a gem pops up in social media that is too good not to share.  Well, this is one of those times… If you follow Review Your Gear, you know I fish for walleye, A LOT.  And with that being said, I’m always looking out for new and interesting recipes for my catch.  When I saw the picture of the finished egg roll, I just had to find out more. The photos and walleye egg rolls recipe came from Shae Tayler Zimmerman.  If you have any questions about the recipe, please post in the comments and I

This is a continuation article series on how to properly fish creek chubs and rig them properly.  You can read about how to trap & fish creek chubs here. Creek chubs, as I’ve talked about many times in both articles and our podcast, are great big-fish baits.  They’re usually big and feisty, and for various reasons fish just love them. The common misconception of fishing creek chubs is to think that just because you have them on the line, fish are just going to swarm to them.  That’s just not the case.   The key is to be ON the fish, THEN

It took some time, maybe even decades, but boaters have really figured out the dos and don’ts at the boat ramp. We all have seen it, that guy who backs down the ramp and unloads all his stuff and starts undoing everything. It’s definitely not a common thing to see anymore. Maybe those guys have gotten enough verbals over time and learned if you want to survive to back your boat down a ramp again that you do not do that.  However, now I’m seeing a new irritating thing that needs to be addressed. This one isn’t as stressful or time-sensitive,