(dramatic music) -
Bret
He's back. He's got it in his mouth right now. There you go. Nice, nice. (laughs) Sight fishing rainbow trout. -
Garett
It doesn't get any better, buddy. (whimsical music) -
Bret
Winter in Minnesota. It's easy for people to cozy up to a fire or maybe move down south for a few months. But for the throng of anglers who wait for lakes to freeze up each year, this is paradise. Today we're out with Garett Svir from Slab Seeker Fishing to target rainbow and brown trout. And we're gonna do it in a way that it's arguably the most exciting method possible. Lens is a little fogged up, but we just got in here, just got set up and you were marking fish immediately, Garett. Right away I dropped down there, and I had one. He didn't hit it, he kept bumping it with his head. And so I never seen the wax worm disappear. I can just barely make out my jig. Well, that's a good sign, there's a few around today. -
Bret
While we will be using electronics, Garett augered out holes big enough for us to look through that clear water to see a fish down there chasing our bait around. -
Bret
How deep are we? -
Garett
We are set up in 10 feet of water here, and we're fishing about halfway down the water column. And that seems to be kind of the deal there, about halfway down, you get their attention from out in that deeper water. We're set up on a main lake point here where it drops real steep, so we're in 10 feet. But if you were to take a step out the door, you'd be in 20 out there. It's really on a steep break line, which seems to be my most high percentage spots on these trout lakes. When you told me about sight fishing for these fish, like I was envisioning a big spear hole basically, a big rectangle that we're gonna be looking down, but that's not what we got here. You know what, we have and we can do that too. I had a guy that was helping me for a while a few years back and we were every morning doing an ice off, drilling four holes and then connecting them, and then spinning the big chunk of ice underneath. I went back to grab customers at the truck and he fell in trying to spin that. (laughs) Oh no. So I came back to him in the hole holding onto the edge and so that kind of freaked me out. So I haven't been doing the spear hole as much in the morning just because of wrestling that big ice block. But yeah, we definitely do that, it works great too. I've been kind of clover leafing these. I think I drilled four for you. We're kind of employing a one-two punch here. I've got this bigger spoon on, and you just have a small tungsten on? -
Garett
Yeah, just a little tungsten jig with a wax worm. So a lot of times you can call 'em in with one of 'em, with a bigger spoon and then the smaller tungsten will catch these fish, and that's common with a lot of species, I think. But depending on how aggressive the bite is, will determine which one of those two presentations they end up going after. -
Garett
Exactly. Oh, I just missed one. Just had one come and miss it, there he is. Got him. -
Garett
Nice. (laughs) So this fish, there he is, right here. Oh, it's a pike. -
Garett
Oh it's a pike. (Bret and Garett laugh) That's funny, a little pike. So I just saw the flash and that's the beauty of sight fishing, as he came in and and missed it, and I saw the flash, and I got excited so I jigged it a little more, and he came in and and smashed it. Yeah, not the target species, but you know what? Catching fish is catching fish, and seeing them is even that much more fun, so... Absolutely. Yeah, unfortunately we do get a few-oh here's a big trout, Big trout down there. Come on, come on. Oh, he is losing interest. I have such a hard time with that. I know I've got a couple of buddies that they won't fish with anything but a tungsten, at least for primarily panfish, bluegills. -
Garett
Sure. Perch, whatever, but I'm a spoon guy, man. I love something big and noisy and flashy down there. A lot of times I get out-fished. (Garett and Brad laugh) -
Garett
You know with these though, they're charged up, that's a pretty good plan. I mean they're pretty aggressive fish. I think that's my biggest problem though is I like to fish, you know? Even up on a place like Lake of the Woods, where deadsticks are so effective or walleye fishing when that real subtle small light presentation does so well. I hate it, I want to jig. -
Garett
You wanna be jigging. Yeah, me too. That's what happens when there's a lot going on and all of a sudden I saw a mark drill high and before I could even get the camera going, he came up and smoked it and I knew I was gonna drop him. (Garett laughs) And... -
Garett
We got him. (laughs) We got him. -
Garett
(laughs) There you go. Nice catch. So he's not a giant but this is a stocked lake, so it's put and take, really, so they encourage harvest of these fish. You can keep five of 'em in Minnesota and... -
Garett
Great on the smoker, really good on the grill, you can pan fry 'em. So we'll give you a better look at 'em there if we can focus. Nice. Here's our first one, Garett. -
Garett
Dinner fish, buddy. Hell yeah. Throw this guy back here, just put him anywhere. -
Garett
They're not easy to hold is one thing. That's what I love about 'em though. -
Garett
(laughs) I know. That's what makes 'em so much fun to catch 'cause when you realize when you hold one, just how strong they are, when they squirm back and forth like that, that's what they're doing down there when they hook up with you. Exactly. The best way to line 'em, you did that perfect, is instead of trying to grab 'em when they're thrashing in the hole, is just to slide 'em up on the ice and then grab 'em because it seems like you can never get ahold of 'em in the hole like that. Oh I got one down here. -
Bret
Yeah, see I just marked one again. I was gonna show you what I was using but then I marked the fish. (laughs) And they usually do come in little packs like that too, there'll be little groups of- - Oh yeah, I got one on me right now. -
Garett
Oh there he is, he's chasing it, huh? Can't see him on your Vexilar. It's so much fun to be able to watch them down there and sight fish these trout, Garett, oh you just missed it again. (laughs) -
Garett
I had 'em too, here he is. Yeah I think I lost him. I got 'em on here. This is a better one here, not a huge but better. -
Bret
Oh yeah. Just kamikazes, aren't they? Isn't that fun? -
Bret
So much fun. They're the best in here just to kind of slide 'em up on the ice here next to you and that way you don't, if I try to grab 'em on the wall, I lose 100% of these fish. (Bret and Garett laugh) There he is. -
Bret
I'll tell you that's what I kind of like about these fish is when they're aggressive, they hit on just about everything. Nice fish right there, Garett, and then... Well I'm glad I got one. You were kind of putting the screws to me at first this morning. (laughs) -
Bret
Let's show people what you're using there. -
Garett
I Just have this little tungsten jig on. We're trying to do kind of a one-two punch so it's just a little tungsten fly with a little hair in the back. Then I'm tipping that with a wax worm, and I told Brett we needed small, and he said this spoon catches everything. (Bret laughs) He was right. He's seen 10 times more fish than I have this morning with that spoon. -
Bret
I'll tell you what, this Al's Goldfish. Am I getting a focus on it? I can't, yeah, there we go. It's got this bent shape to it and this big shiny gold color to it, and I didn't know much about Al's Goldfish Lure Company, and then I got introduced to him up at Lake of the Woods, and we put on this Forty Niner and it caught all our fish. I tried a couple of different lures right away, Garett, once I switched to this one, I didn't take it off the entire day we were fishing. - The rest of the day? Everybody else I was catching fish all caught it on it. So company's been around for 70 years, -
Garett
Has it really? They're from out east and they actually make lures that are coated in 22 karat gold. -
Garett
Wow! This one's not, this is just a gold color, but if it catches fish, I don't care what it's coated in. -
Garett
(laughs) Right, exactly. (dramatic music) -
Bret
He's on it, oh, he's right on it. You got him, you got him. (laughs) All right. Nice. -
Garett
(grunts) You know I dropped down to the bottom where you said the fish were. (Garett and Bret laugh) You're fighting him with the spoon for me and then I just got in the zone and he came over and ate it. (upbeat music) I feel like anytime I fish with an underwater camera or sight fish like we are today, my life changes (laughs) because you get a glimpse of what you're actually doing down there. You can see your action of your jig or lure or spoon, whatever you are using, and if you're lucky, you can see how the fish react to it. And sometimes it's good to see what you're doing down there and react and sometimes it's better just to not pay attention. I was just responding to a text there, and I got a fish and what that tells us, even when you think you're not learning anything, you're learning something. So when I'm looking down the hole, I'm probably over jigging it today. Because as soon as I stop to answer a text message, I got bit in like three seconds. That's why if you're ever in a guide trip with me, and you see me texting, I'm just trying to learn (Bret and Garett laugh) what the fish are wanting. -
Bret
When it comes to trout fishing in Minnesota, make sure you pay attention to the regs because there's different rules and season dates in different areas of the state. -
Garett
Keep five of these, but only three of the five can be over 16 inches. So I was just telling Bret we got four, but we need to get some of these overs. I'd like him to at least see a couple of the bigger ones. -
Bret
Yeah, for sure. -
Garett
Actually I have seen a couple of the bigger ones. I had one on briefly but ah... -
Bret
You had one job, Garett. So we're looking at the backside of winter here, backside of ice fishing, and we're seeing plenty of fish. I know and I always hear when you go down towards the metro and a lot of those lakes, they get fished out right after winter trout opener. So, and I always hear about a lot of those metro lakes. After the first week, you might as well not even bothered. I haven't fished down there, but it's always kind of a surprise to me because you know here in central Minnesota, the few lakes that we have here for trout, they produce fish throughout the whole season. I mean, a lot of times towards the end of March, fishing get really super good for 'em, almost the best bite of the whole winter. -
Bret
Seeing under the ice is like seeing into a different world. And seeing how fish are actually reacting to what you're doing is just gonna make you a better angler and you're gonna have a lot more fun. And trout are the perfect species for sight fishing because of their aggressive nature. (dramatic music) -
Garett
He's back, he's back, he's on it. -
Bret
You see him? Oh, he had it in his mouth. He's back, he's got it in his mouth right now. There you go. Nice! (laughs) Sight fishing rainbow trout. -
Garett
It doesn't get any better buddy. (fishing reel spins) (water splashes) -
Bret
Heck yeah. -
Garett
(laughs) Beautiful. -
Bret
That's pretty cool. Love it man. So that fish came in, and we just had a deadstick down while I was filming and I was watching it and I had the camera right on it 'cause I wanted to film... -
Garett
Our perspective. Yeah, sight fishin' these rainbows, I wanted to get it with the camera so all of a sudden I saw this rainbow come in, I hit the record button, he ate it, spit it out, came back, ate it, spit it out, and then I realized I wasn't recording it either. (Garett laughs) So I'm like, Garett, get over here, grab this rod, if he comes back, you're gonna set the hook on this fish. He came back, and we got the whole thing. So there is your sight fishing for rainbow trout experience. What do you call it? Bowl fishing of ice fishing? Yeah, it's like the bow hunting of ice fishing. You gotta get that close to 'em. -
Bret
Well, nice job buddy. Thanks, man that was awesome. (upbeat music)
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