Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Minnesota Trip and Walleyes for Desert

Keeping up with me last week was like playing a game of "Where's Waldo". It started off by flying to Minneapolis to go through the Clam plant.  You guys are going to be really excited to see what they have planned the next few years.  Definitely pioneers in the ice fishing game, they aren't sitting on their heals with what you will see in the future.

Next it was off to see my friend and fishing buddy Doc Samson. It wasn't all fun and games, as we spent some time shooting for a DVD that will be coming out shortly.


Finally I got to experience my first St. Paul Ice Show. All I can tell you is that if you are into ice fishing and want to go to a show where you can buy products and see the latest and greatest, this is it.  I worked the booth for Clam/Ice Armor and the Ice Team...these booths were literally packed with legendary anglers and guys with a ton of time on the ice.

I also noticed that FishUSA.com has gotten a lot of their ice fishing tackle and equipment in already...so if you need anything take a peak on their site. They probably have it and can save you a few bucks.

Last but not least I am still catching big old hogs on Erie and you can still book a trip to do it...hit me up.  December is like the old November anymore.

Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Friday, November 23, 2012

Fall Redemption....GIANT Walleyes

Let's first start by saying that as bad as the weather and fishing was earlier this fall, the last two weeks have been equally as good.  Maybe we needed the Hurricane to clean out our system. The result has been near fifty fish or more days almost everyday for nearly two weeks.  Fish have ranged from a couple pounds to a whopping 13.3lbs, with a pile of double digit fish reaching the boat.


We have been using a variety of stickbaits, but Husky Jerks, Reef Runners, and Ripsticks have been the clear winners. Colors have seemed to change from day to day, but the one thing that has been constant is that they want a particular speed.  The range has been from 1.2 to 1.6, but almost everyday I have seen a particular speed make a huge difference in the catch rate.  I think a lot of this it is due to the weird currents we have been seeing. This also has made the direction you go really important.


Another thing that has really made a difference is not using a gas engine. Minus a few hours here and there I have been only using my Terrova I-pilot. Both the catch rate and bigger fish like it quiet.  Getting away from traffic also made a HUGE difference in order to get the really big girls.  I'm not sure why everyone always like to pile on top of each other, but I promise you it makes a difference.  During the week with few boats out we were able to get a lot more of those ridiculously large fatties.


Hopefully we will get another week of reasonable weather in before we grab for the ice shanties


PS--Almost all of the giants we caught were released to be caught another day. As good as our fishery is, the numbers are down and we need to show some conservation. I will never understand how everyone perceives it common place to let every bass go, yet knife each and every walleye they get, especially the giants.

Capt. Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Smash Fest Fall 2012...Finally

This fall has been really tough...until this week.  Blame it on Obama, Romney, Sandy and bananas...its been tough.  This week however we landed more than 200 walleyes and had several over 12lbs. If it couldn't be any better, we had almost no waves and rather warm air temps. Jinga!


I found the fish after driving around at 26mph for 2hrs with not a single mark on the humminbird. When I did finally mark fish, they were there big time.  Empty screen = no catching, which isn't always the case. Running at that speed to eliminate water is super key.  It allowed me to eliminate a ton of water very quickly. You don't want to be the guy that just follows a pack of boats or relies on a internet report...high speed graphing is the best way to find your OWN fish.

The "hot bite" did seem to move from day to day a little bit, as the water one day was chocolate milk and gin clear the next.  We caught our fair share of fish from the super clear water (including 2 over 12lbs), but the chalky colored water was the magical color. The hot color seemed to shift from hour to hour, but Husky Jerks and Reef Runners were the go to baits each day.


My buddy Jan from the Czeck Republic was kept busy the last two days, as we handled at least 50 fish per day.  It was amazing that some of the walleye tackle he took back last year worked really well on the Zander he has near his house.  If you ever get over that way, Zander also love Eriedescent Reef Runners.

Capt. Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Monday, October 22, 2012

Craziness---Big Winds...Big Bait

The last few weeks have been challenging to say the least. Huge winds never make things easy, but the way warmer than normal water temperatures have make things tough...real tough. While water staying warm is good in the spring time, its not so good in the fall. The fish that have made it into the boat have made up for the lack of quantity.  I've been doing this long enough to know that its just a matter of a week before these fish really take off. The fish and bait are starting to stack up, so hold on, its coming.

It makes you a little uncomfortable to see the big ships stacked outside major ports because of the big winds blowing all of the water out of the rivers and bays!

These are just a few of the bait fish that a couple giant eyes spit up last week.  A educated guess is that the larger ones are either small white bass or gizzard shad.  The smaller ones look like medium sized smelt.  Hard to say for sure though...pretty rough shape.



Stay posted...we will be on more giants shortly

Capt. Ross Robertson

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Fall Gorilla Walleye

The fall bite has started.  The unusual weather has made for unusual fishing.  Much warmer water than normal has the fish spread all the way from just a few feet below the surface to right on bottom.  Yesterday I caught a fish only a few feet below the surface to as deep as forty feet on the same day. Burning Reef Runners in white based patterns has been one of the few consistent variables. Quantity has been tough to come by the last few days...but the quality has made up for it!!!


This was a giant caught Monday while filming an episode of the Local Catch

Capt. Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com


Friday, September 14, 2012

Time flies...but big fish don't

A couple months ago I was writing a few magazine pieces about ice fishing in order to hit the July deadline, all while starring at a thermometer that read nearly 100 degrees! I must be getting old, because time seems to be flying.  In a few weeks I'm getting ready to leave the house for my fall trips on Erie.  Literally one of the best times to fish out here, very few people and a bunch of really big fish. 

After checking the mail a few hours ago I was shocked to already see the Oct issue of FLW's Walleye magazine.  It has a article I did on fall night fishing for walleyes.  It must be time! Seriously...Am I the only one that struggles with getting ice fishing equipment prepped in 100 degree heat and Spinner rigs tied when there is ice hanging from the gutters.

A few other really big projects have consumed a bunch of my time (you'll hear shortly), but I'm ready to ditch the computer and paperwork for a couple month bender of crankbaits and slob walleyes.  Got a handful of dates open if you'd like to partake.

Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Monday, August 20, 2012

Walleye Limits and a lil Press

This last week we had limits daily, some coming in the first pass.  That's not to say that we didn't have to work for them. The long runs and rough water took a few days off my life expectancy.  The programs have varied from divers, to down rods, to heavy in-lines on boards.  Seems like these walleyes make up their minds like you know who guys...smirk! When you're over fish make sure to switch it up a lot. Speed changes, varying the presentations as previously mentioned, and of course the colors has all been necessary to keep the lines tight.


Here is a pic of an article that Matt Markey did on some big ones we caught fishing the Eastern Basin of Erie near the town of Erie, PA.

It won't be long before the fall bite is upon us...just saying

Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Canadian Panty Raid

That was the proposed title of the article Steve Pollick wrote for Outdoor News after spending a day on the lake with me. Instead, it ended up as a line in the intro, still makes me smirk.  "Panty Raid" because we caught almost everyone of our fish on Silver Streak Pink Panties, Anti-freeze panties, and pretty panties...no lie. It's on the shelves now...good read. The action was as fast as we could move lines, had about 13 in the first 45 minutes.  Funny thing was that we slide off the contour breaklines and literally caught nothing.  If we would have stayed on the contours the whole time it could have gotten really ugly. It is truly amazing how many different species of fish relate to them in a wide variety of lakes and rivers.

With the recent cool own in most of the Midwest, look for fall patterns to start sooner than you think

Capt. Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Monday, August 6, 2012

Road Trip Continues

Loaded up the rig and headed over to Lake Michigan to chase some King Salmon.  The heat and "slower" walleye action of late summer typically means big kings relatively close to shore and cooler temps up north. While the action wasn't as fast as it had been the previous couple of weeks, we did manage to fill some coolers with salmon that averaged 16-20lbs, with a couple dinks removed.  No real hot ticket, as fish were caught on riggers, boards and copper, and both braid and wire divers. Caught a few on plugs and one or two on flys, but they primarily wanted big spoons.  Testing out some new and newer patterns of Silver Streak magnums seemed to be the ticket. Anyone that hasn't used Silver Streak's UV spoons are really missing out, amazing to see how many times they actually outperform glow lures in low light conditions.



The water was so warm that using a Fish Hawk temperature and speed probe really made a huge difference.  It was amazing to see how warm the water was for lake Michigan.  At one point we had nearly a twenty degree temp change at the same depth, instead of the typical horizontal thermocline.  Shocker, the kings were sitting in the cooler water pockets gorging on smelt.

Capt. Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Friday, July 27, 2012

ROAD TRIP

Sometimes we forget that Lake Erie is so big that a road trip is required just to get to where the big ones have traveled.  I jumped in the truck to meet up with my longtime fishing buddy Bob Henton and Field and Stream fishing editor Joe Cermele.  To say that we had a good time is an understatement. The first fish to make it into the boat was over 30'' and 10lbs. Fishing the deep waters of Pennsylvania meant using a combination of heavy snap weights, Dipsy Divers, and in-line weights... with both spinners and cranks. Cranks ruled early, with spinners dominating after the wind layed down and sun shined bright.

The day will run as an episode of "Hook Shots" on Field and Streams site in a few weeks.  The episode will make you cry with laughter...we were busting on each other all day.

Ross Robertson
www.bigwaterfishing.com

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Icast Show---memories and a game changer

This year ICAST invaded Orlando for the annual biggest trade show in fishing. One of the first things I saw upon walking in was Bert's Custom Tackle's display board.  It brought back memories of doing a photo shoot over and over in 6' plus waves.

After looking at the literately thousands of new and new to me products I can honestly say that Humminbird and Minn-Kota stole the show. The new 360 Side Imaging is awesome.  I'm most ready to start using the new I-Pilot Link, this will literally allow you to use your Humminbird fish finder as a true autopilot. It will even allow you to follow a contour when a Lakemaster chip is used, plus or minus whatever you tell the unit.  Unbelievable stuff. You really need to take a look at this, its a true game changer.

If that wasn't enough Minn-Kota also came out with a battery charger that is unbelievable. I have been fortunate to have been field testing it for the last few months. While loaded with features to charge your faster without damaging your batteries, it also allows you to see each batteries charge level and charge each battery according to what it actually is. This allows you to select from wet cell, AGM, or gel style batteries. Just when you though it couldn't get any better.

bigwaterfishing.com

Saturday, July 7, 2012

3 Days...3 Ports....MONSTER WALLEYES

Decided to switch things up a little and fish both the Central and Eastern basins to try out some new equipment and keep our deep water skills up to par.  End result was a pile of giant walleyes coming to the boat.  The giants we were catching around the islands in March and April have moved more than a 100 miles chasing smelt and other fatty baitfish the bigguns seem to like.

We used heavy in-lines on the boards and divers at the boat with silver streak harnesses for the most part.  Each day the best presentation for big ones was a little different.  Color seemed to make more of a difference than blade style on the harnesses. We caught them on colorado's, Indiana's, willows and hatchets equally well.


Gotta love Erie...land of the giants

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Lots of Fish...Fishing w/ a Legend...and a Big Win!

The fishing, much like the recent weather has been super hot.  We have managed early limits each and every day for the last several weeks.

I managed to have my long time friend (& recently retired) legendary outdoor writer Steve Pollick as my "first mate" a few days ago.  He managed to take a fine photo and help us wrangle a 4 man limit in less than two hours.  It was really great to finally get to fish with Steve just "for fun", but he did notify me he was doing a writeup on the days events for Outdoor News. So much for retirement!



Lastly my good friend and often referred to as "bobber fisherman" by myself, Bruce Samson, just won the AIM event out of Lorain OH.  It was awesome to see him come in and win a trolling event solo against the big teams.  He was pulling Silver Streak harness' near the sand bar. The video link to his post win wrap up is below.

 http://www.aimfishing.com/View-Video/5163/Bruce-Doctor-Sonar-Samson-Wins-at-AIM-Lorain-OH

Sunday, June 3, 2012

New Project...its Hot!

A project that has been in the works for a while is almost complete.  Bruce Samson and I have put together a DVD that is packed with trolling tips and tricks.  We even managed a true double with 10lb + eyes while filming for it.  Look for it to be on-line, in tackle shops and box stores fairly soon. Nothing else like it on the market!!!

bigwaterfishing.com


Sunday, May 27, 2012

More Big Walleyes...New Lures...& a Lil Outdoor Life Action

The walleye fishing this week has been nothing short of amazing.  We are still pulling spinners with the walleyes switching up their color preference.  It's been a while since I've seen them this color sensitive.

Silver Streak UV blades have been really good on overcast days, while the Antifreeze Silver Streak blades have been good when its sunnier.  A new prototype Silver Streak blade blank has been REALLLLLL good.  Enough so that it will likely hit the shelves much sooner than expected. 

These boys can attest to the spinner thing

On a separate note, it was nice to open up the current issue of Outdoor Life and bring back memories of some giants we caught first thing this year  Gotta love Erie....Land of the Giants

I still have some open charter dates...get em while the getting is still good.  We will continue to have great fishing!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

FLW follow up

It's been a month of non stop fishing...or should I say CATCHING.

I finished up okay at the FLW Tour with almost a 7lb average, but not enough for the big trophy.  Tough deal when you make the right decisions but don't land the ones you need. We were handling about 30 to 40 fish per day, but only a handful of the "weigh fish" we needed. Bitter Sweet!

Silver Streak has some newer UV and anti freeze blades that REALLY caught em good. Keep an eye out for them in the near future

A big thanks to all that helped out and for all of the people that make this possible for me

bigwaterfishing.com

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Switching gears for a few

Every job has moments when they really suck, and hopefully a few when they realllly don't. Last week was one of those moments that really should be filed under the "did not suck".  I spend a few days fishing on Missouri's Table Rock Lake with about a dozen of the best Bassmaster Elite Series and FLW Tour Pro's. For the first time in a while you are going to see several realllly neat products that will make an impact on your fishing.  The last few years have been a little stale when it comes to new products, minus the A-Rig. Most of these rigs will be unveiled at Icast in July.

Below is a Pic of Aaron martens about a second after I told him I would have caught a bigger one, smirk!  While that isn't likely to really happen, the offer to have a WWF wrestling match after dinner that night would have turned out a little different. All of us fisherman really are little kids at heart.


Back to the walleyes after I down a  few cases of 5 hr energy!

bigwaterfishing.com

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Jumbo-Trons ---Take 1,364

The awesome weather brought every boat within 500 miles of Erie on the lake, but it also brought on a killer bite.  So good that some eyes were headed to the taxidermist by today's crew.  Things did change up a little, Reef Runners were the ticket for the Gorilla's.


www.bigwaterfishing.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Jumbo-Trons....The Sequel

This year has been unbelievable all around.  We have had a couple bad days, a couple weather days, but still unbelievable when you think about it. To be able to fish this many days this early in the year is wild, let alone have the success we have. Our boats have handled MORE THAN 100 WALLEYES OVER 10LBS already this year. They are still on cranks pretty good, but look for the spinner bite to start soon.

The craziness has made it difficult to keep up with the updates, but here are some true MONSTERS from a couple days ago. HELLO BIG FISH

bigwaterfishing.com

Friday, March 23, 2012

JUMBOTRONS

Jumbotrons... that's' the new name given to a 5 fish stringer that goes over 60lbs.  This spring has been nothing short of amazing, hopefully the spawn is good. Trolling Husky Jerks and Reef Runners remains the hot ticket, but the jig bite has also been outstanding for males.

Got a few spots open...get while the gettin is good!

bigwaterfishing.com

Saturday, March 17, 2012

More Big Walleye Than I've Ever Seen

The crews have managed more than 30 walleyes this week over 10lbs...including 5 over 13lbs.  This mild weather and incredible fishing almost makes me forget the horrific weather we had last spring.  Hopefully this weather means we will have an awesome spawn, we're wayyyyyyy due.
We still have a few open dates...get your butt in one of them!!!!!!!!!

www.bigwaterfishing.com

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Big...Bigger... and Biggest

Some days you're the bug and some days your the windshield.  Today we were like a Teflon tank!!!  Managed a pile of giants. You know its good if you're sorting through 10lb plus fish just to find a couple of the biggest for pics.  I have a few openings if you want to try to catch a wall hanger


www.bigwaterfishing.com

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bigguns...Part 2

This crazy weather has also meant crazy fishing.  I have a few days here and there open if you want a shot at a giant.  We managed to catch some gorilla's today...can't wait til tomorrow!!!


www.bigwaterfishing.com

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Picking up where we left off

Went out with the intention to break in the New Ranger...but ya know we had to fish.  Good thing we did, we managed some hogs on a day that seemed to be tough for most. 

Walleyes we are back..and you are in trouble!!!!!

www.bigwaterfishing.com


Monday, February 6, 2012

Trolling in Febuary...and Getting Giant Walleye

We actually had to use the boat and its wake to clear a path to troll on Sunday morning.  The short Youtube video shows the planerboards riding up on and sliding across the ice....wild stuff.  Check the link below for a short video of it!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3q8a6anv3E




We did manage to get some absolute giants...and even had about thirty fish to boot. Trolling crankbaits on Lake Erie in February and actually smashing giant walleyes. Reef Runners and Husky Jerks were the best, trolled very slow. I will likely be guiding in March if anyone is interested in a trip, this should be a good time to get some monsters!!!!    www.bigwaterfishing.com


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tricked out Rig

It's that time of year where you don't have much safe ice and many days its pretty darn cold to open water fish.  With a few of the major ramps clearing out this week we plan on making an open water trip soon.

On a separate note my good friend Todd Koehler is fishing both FLW and BASS Tour opens this year.  This will have him fishing from Florida back to Michigan and everywhere in between. here is a pic of his freshly wrapped truck...notice the Bigwater love near the tailgate. SWEET RIG TODD!!!!!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Adult trick or treating...fishing style!!!

Just returned from the well attended Novi sport show.  It was good to see some old faces and meet a few new ones...but looking at all of the new tackle still makes me smirk.  I like to call it "adult trick or treating".  here is a pic of a wall full of Silver Streak adult candy.

www.bigwaterfishing.com

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

TV Show and my Buddy Bruce

Working on some magazine articles and waiting for ice like everyone else. I'm also working on a project with Bruce Samson that looks like it is really going to be neat...look for it to be out sometime this spring. Camera credit to Dan..or at least his butt!

Any of you Ohio and Michigan area fish heads make sure to check out a giant walleye night show we did that will be airing Monday, Jan 9th on Buckeye Sports (BCSN)...its hot!!!!


bigwaterfishing.com