Washington Walleye Championship Has New Director ... - Mack's Lure

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Cookin’ Your Grilled Cedar-Planked Salmon Ingredients: • 1 untreated cedar plank (14x7x1 inch) • 1/2 cup KRAFT Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing • 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley • 1/4 cup finely chopped oilpacked sun-dried tomatoes • 1 Tbsp. oil • 1 salmon fillet (2 lb.), 1-inch thick Directions: IMMERSE plank in water, placing a weight on top of plank to keep it submerged. Soak 4 hours or overnight. HEAT grill to medium heat. Mix dressing, parsley and tomatoes; set aside. Brush top of plank with oil; top with fish. Place on grill; cover grill with lid. GRILL 10 min. Brush fish with dressing mixture; grill 10 min. or until fish flakes easily with fork. Stan’s Space Four Letter Words Can Put Fish In The Boat By Hall-of-Fame Angler Stan Fagerstrom Part 3 of 3 The walleyes that call the waters of Michigan State home undoubtedly wish Bernadine and Bill Ayres would get the heck off the water and take up golf. It’s a cinch few, if any, husband and wife fishing teams around the country have caused those fish more misery than this talented tournament angling pair. Ever since the Ayres really got into tournament fishing they’ve given walleyes the jitters every time they back their boat down the launching ramp. Bill Ayres has a licensed guide service for the lakes and rivers of Michigan State. Team Ayres, as Bernadine and Bill are called on the Michigan Walleye Tournament Trail, took part in their first tournament in 2003. They’ve been giving it both barrels ever since. As I mentioned in my previous column, this August they’ve qualified to be one of the 250 teams participating in Cabela’s Master Walleye Team Challenge on Bay de Noc. I’ve known a few tournament fishing pros who wouldn’t share squat. They sit on their secrets. That’s not how it is with Team Ayres. Something I’ve discovered about Bill and Bernadine is their desire to encourage and educate newcomers to walleye angling. Another thing you’ll find out in a hurry if you’re fortunate enough to attend a Team Ayres seminar is the importance they attach to certain of the products they use to put walleyes in the boat. Foremost among their favorite fish catchers are Mack’s Lure Smile Blades. “They’re one of our all around products we use in every presentation,” they say, “Smile Blades are so versatile.” Bill and Bernadine Ayres won’t hesitate to use Mack’s Lure Hot Wings as attractors if that’s what’s required to catch fish. They also don’t hesitate to change the size or color of their Smile Blades. The Ayres take full advantage the things a Smile Blade does for an angler. Some of these things are sometimes overlooked by anglers with less experience. “The Smile Blade,” Bernadine says, “is so versatile we sometimes troll at only .06 to 1.0 miles per hour. Then, when a reactionary bite happens, we step our speed up to 2 miles per hour while still using the same Smile Blade.” She will tell you they do this just by pinching the Smile Blade into more of “V” shape. When it’s pinched down a Smile Blade spins faster even with slower boat speeds. Continued on Page 3 Page two
Continued from Page 2 “Conversely,” Bill says, “when our boat speed is increased we might not want our Smile Blade to spin so fast it’s just a blur in the water. Then we might need to bend the wings out to slow down its spinning action.” If you have opportunity to visit with the Ayres it soon becomes obvious they’re doing something I’ve mentioned many times before in these columns. It’s to change everything from lure action, to boat speed to lure color or size if necessary until the fish indicate what they want. “We use all sizes of Smile Blade,” the Ayres say, “because each size can be used in different ways. We use the 1.1-inch and the 1.5-inch most often. The color of the blade we select depends on the type of presentation we’re using and the forage fish the walleyes normally are feeding on.” If you, like the Ayres, like to tie up your rigs in advance you’ll be interested in how they go about it. “We use a 10-pound test leader,” they say, “that’s 10-feet in length. Each one is equipped with a Stop Knot and a 4-mm bead. “These leaders are tied with a loop knot on one end and a snap swivel on the other. The reason for using the loop knot is because it makes it possible to easily change blade sizes or from a Smile Blade to a Flash Lite Blade if that’s what required to get hits.” If you’ve not done this yourself, give it a try. You’ll find you can pull your leader’s loop knot right through the hole in the center of the Smile Blade. Just take a different blade size, different color or different whatever and slide it right back on the way the one you were using came off. The ease with which this can be done helps you get away from the rut so many anglers dig for themselves. That’s to use the same lure set up hour after hour even when the fish aren’t showing the foggiest interest. I mentioned earlier that the floating Cha Cha was a favorite of these Michigan specialists. Here’s another: “After the water goes above 50 degrees and up,” they say, “our next choice is a Wally Pop crawler series. We use it just the way it comes out of the box. Mack’s Lure Wally Pops are also among the lures favored Team Ayres. This husband and wife team will participate in Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit Team Challenge later this year. “These soft bodied baits really shine when walleyes are after minnows. One of their features is that they can be loaded with liquid shad attractants. We do this by just sliding the body away from the beads and injecting them with scent. The pressure of the water against the blade and the pressure transmitted on down against the soft body tends to keep the scent in the body chamber longer. It just doesn’t wash out and disappear.” Finally, there’s one other approach Bill and Bernadine take that I’d like to mention before wrapping up this series on their successful tournament fishing career. It’s the use they make of a couple of other Mack’s Lure products. “Another of our favorites is the Mack’s Lure Hot Wings,” they say. “We use this as an attractor. The versatility of each blade turning in a different direction is such an asset when we need something that resembles a school of smelt chasing after a lure. It gets the attention of the walleyes we’re after. “We used this exclusively as an attractor with Smile Blades until recently when Mack’s started marketing their Flash Lite Blade packs. We sometimes used to cut a Hot Wings apart to use the blades as we wanted. The new single Flash Lite Blades make this much easier. “We know from experience swapping blades can make a difference in catching fish. We were fishing a tournament once on Lake Huron. We caught a walleye and once in the boat it coughed up a smelt. We immediately removed our Smile Blade and replaced it with a silver Flash Lite Blade. Then using a Stop Knot and a bead we added a second blade. We went on fishing satisfied that our new lure set up now better resembled the forage the fish were after.” Mack’s Lure Wally Pops are also among the lures favored Team Ayres. This husband and wife team will participate in Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit Team Challenge later this year. Continued on Page 4 Page three
Page 1: December 2011 Washington Walleye Ch

Washington Walleye Championship Has New Director ... - Mack's Lure

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