http://www.Data.gov I just found this site and wanted to share it.  It has a ton of info and reports.  If you have a project or just an “inquiring mind”, this is sure to be a hit.  Check it out and get the data you need.

By Ben Kueng

I’ve used this technique for musky as well as pike, bass and walleye in the spring.

Everyone knows that sucker fishing for musky can be explosive in the fall, but how many of you are fishing with live bait in the spring?

Let’s face it, no matter which way you slice it, the musky remains a difficult species to capture, as anyone who’s spent any amount of time pursuing this elusive fish can attest to. Don’t get me wrong, musky fishing can be one of the most exciting aspects of angling you will ever experience or it can be like watching paint dry. One of the most consistent patterns I’ve found over the years that’s helped make my musky experience a more enjoyable one is the use of live bait in the spring. When most musky anglers think of fishing with live bait, the crisp fall air and visual spectacle of changing leaves usually comes to mind, but if you’re only running suckers in October and November you may be missing your opportunity at one of the biggest fish in the lake.

Spring

In Southern Wisconsin where I guide, opening day is the first Saturday in May and anglers can usually expect to be greeted with water temps in the low-high 50s. Contrary to popular belief, the muskies are extremely active at this time and readily accessible in shallow water. Early in the season I prefer to target shallow, stained water lakes that have a tendency to warm up faster, which in turn will accelerate weed growth as well as the muskies metabolism. Not to say that the deep clear lakes won’t produce early on, its just that I’ve had much better luck fishing with live bait on stained lakes in the spring.

In the spring I prefer to use suckers in the 8-10″ range rigged on custom Quick Strike rigs. A quick strike rig allows you to set the hook as soon as the musky grabs the sucker and is swimming away from you (unlike the old days when you’d wait 45 minutes for the musky to swallow the sucker, gut hooking the fish, that if released would later die). Almost all musky anglers these days are using some sort of quick strike rig so you shouldn’t have a problem finding one to suit your needs.

Many of the rigs you find will utilize either a medium-large snout hook with 1 or 2 treble hooks, or will be a rubber band style rig. The latter rig requires you to thread a small rubber band through the sucker’s nostril with a bait needle. The RB is then attached to the leader clasp as well as 1-2 rigs, which will vary in length. The snout hook style rigs never appealed to me because I’ve always found the front hook to be too large, so last spring I decided to start tying my own snout hook rigs. The problem I’ve had in the past with the rubber band rigs is that the space in between the suckers mouth and nostril acts like a lip on a crankbait, promoting the sucker to dive and roll at higher speeds (.75-1.0 mph) mph). Since the snout hook rig is attached directly through the lip it allows you to pull the sucker through the water at a much higher rate of speed and presents the bait more naturally at any speed.

To tie up your own rig, start with a 16-24″ piece of 94 LB seven strand leader material. First, crimp a #1-3 treble hook on one end. Next, slide on a sleeve and than a #7 octopus. Determine how far you want the snout hook from the treble hook and then crimp it in place so the snout hook won’t move upon hookset. For a 10-12″ sucker I will generally leave 6-8″ in between the snout hook and treble hook. Next I slide on another sleeve and than ½-2ozs of bullet weights. Crimp the weights about 6-8″ from the snout hook. Now you can either crimp on a 100 LB+ ball bearing swivel and be done, or add some sort of spinner to the rig and then the barrel swivel. The barrel swivel is what you tie your line to, so make sure the ones you buy have the metal loops on either end.This past fall I experimented with the same type of rig except I used 120lb flourocarbon. Instead of crimping the flouro I tied it with a “UNI knot” 3 wraps will due the trick. Since the flouro is a lot thicker than 7-strand the octopus hooks are too small. I substitute the octupus hook with a small 1/0 treble hook and snip off 2 of the shanks. The treble hook has a larger hole to accommodate the flouro. I use the same type of sleeves to crimp the snout hook in place, but if you squeeze it to tight it will comprise the flouro… The eyelet on the snipped treble is larger than the sleeve so I usually put a bead in between the crimp and hook to prevent any failures upon hookset. You can also squeeze the eyelet on the small treble so it won’t slip through the sleeve if you don’t have any beads available.

The most important and probably least understood aspect of sucker fishing with QS rigs is when and how to set the hook. As a general rule of thumb, I don’t wait any longer than 1 minute after the musky grabs the sucker to set the hook- Longer than a minute and your running the risk of gut hooking the fish. Now, after a musky grabs your sucker, immediately reel in any other lines and get ready to chase the fish down if it makes a long run. Ideally, you want to be within 10 feet of the musky before you set the hook. Applying a small amount of pressure to the line followed by immediate slack will usually get the fish swimming in the opposite direction. Once the musky is swimming away from you, load up the rod tip and snap (not pull) the rod as hard as you can in an upward motion. Even the slightest amount of slack in the line will give a musky the chance to throw the hooks, so keep your rod tip low and don’t stop reeling until the fish is in the net. It takes time to

In the spring I generally run 2 suckers back on large slip bobbers and 1 sucker right next to the boat. The boatside sucker is set 1-3 feet under the surface and plays a vital role in picking up fish that swim directly under the boat. It will also help to convert any skittish musky that follow-up and don’t hit your lure on the figure 8. The 2 bobber suckers are set just above the shallowest weed tops and placed 15 and 30 feet behind the boat. As a general rule of thumb, I don’t set the suckers any closer than 2 feet from the bobber.

Shallow weed/sand flats that gradually drop off into deep water, weedy bays and even expansive areas of pencil reeds will hold a majority of the fish early on. Locating above average water temps, a dark or silt bottom, newly emerging weeds and concentrations of baitfish within these spots will usually mean the difference between success and failure. Early in the season I like to start fishing in 3-5 FOW (feet of water) and gradually move deeper as the shallower weeds develop and become unfishable. Moving your boat in wide “S” patterns with the trolling motor over the top of newly emerging weeds, rather than along the edge will greatly improve your odds of hooking up. If you’re fishing bigger lakes in the spring and would like to narrow down your perimeter slightly, wind blown shorelines with newly emerging weeds are a great place to start and where you will often find the warmer temps in the lake, not to mention feeding muskies.

Of course, not every musky in the lake will be utilizing shallow water at this time. On sunny days when there’s little to no wind, some of the fish will actually suspend shallow over deep water, 1-2 cast lengths off the first drop-off to soak up the warmth of the sun. Deep water adjacent to any shallow bays/flats that are holding concentrations of baitfish are excellent places to start looking for suspended fish. Even if there aren’t any baitfish present over deep water, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be fish there. I wouldn’t exactly say that this pattern is underutilized, but most often anglers are fishing their suckers/lures to deep when in fact most of the fish will be suspended less than 5 feet down. In this scenario I’ll set one bobber-sucker 5 feet down and the other no deeper than 10 feet down, 20 and 40 feet behind the boat. Since most of your artificial presentations will be shallow, the boatside sucker remains 1-5 feet down. Again, moving the boat in wide “S” patterns will help you to cover more water and contact a greater number of fish.

By early-mid June the weeds are almost fully developed on the stained lakes in my area and most of the fish will be hanging on the edge in 10-12 FOW. This is when the traditional approach to weedline fishing will usually be your best option, and also when most anglers hang up there sucker rods. Although I generally catch more fish on artificial lures at this time, I still continue to also fish with suckers until water temps reach a consistent 70 degrees, or they start going belly up. By the beginning of July a majority of the musky will have moved out over open water to feed on suspended baitfish, which, for me, signifies the start of summer.

Early May can be one of the most frustrating times to pursue musky, but I guarantee that if you implement the use of live bait into your routine this spring you will catch more and bigger fish no matter where you fish!

Ben Kueng’s Guide Service
http://www.benkueng.com
benkueng@yahoo.com
414-477-2972
Guiding Central and Southern Wisconsin

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Kueng
http://EzineArticles.com/?Fishing-With-Live-Bait-For-Muskies-in-Wisconsin&id=3429957

By Alyssa Bentley

Quick Facts:

• Muskies can live to be 30 years old
• Maximum length of a Muskie: 6 feet
• Maximum Weight of a Muskie: around 70 lbs
• Trophy Length: over 4 feet
• Trophy Weight: over 40 lbs
• Mature females tend to be bigger than males, but mature and grow at a slower rate.

Muskies are a non-schooling predatory fish, who are generally tend to stay out of eyesight of each other.

They usually lurk near drop-offs from rock or sand bars in the middle of lakes, along weed beds or other vegetation, and in shady waters close to shores that are fringed with overhanging trees. They prefer larger lakes with deep and shallow basins and large beds of aquatic plants.

They have a typical ambush predator design, elongated body, flat head, and caudal fins placed far back on the body.

The stealthy muskie hunts by waiting motionless. When a fish swims by (any fish, including other muskies) they strike, impaling the prey on their large canine teeth, rotating it, and swallowing it headfirst. Strangely, the size of the fish a muskie eats appears to be related to the ultimate size it can attain. As the fish grows larger, the size of its prey naturally varies more. Even if plenty of small fish are available, a muskie may not be able to grow large without large fish to eat. Muskrats, ducks, shrews, mice, and frogs also appear in the stomachs of muskies from time to time.

A Varied Diet:

Muskellunges are known to have a varied diet. They will eat other muskies and any fish they see, as well as ducklings, smaller muskrats, shrews, mice, and frogs, and the largest Muskies are known to eat whole adult ducks. There is one report of a Wisconsin man in 1999 who was dangling his feet in the water (not fishing), when a medium sized muskie lunged and attempted to swallow his toe! He ended up pulling the muskie out of the water and extracting it from his foot. The foot required 66 stitches and he was eventually allowed to keep the fish, despite the non-legal size and non-legal method of fishing.

It is not recommended to use your toes as bait.

Other Facts about Muskellunges

Muskies and Pikes (or “Northerns) look very similar. The foolproof way to tell a muskie from a northern is to count the pores on the underside of the jaw: A muskie has six or more. A northern has five or fewer.

The tiger muskellunge (E. masquinongy x lucius or E. lucius x masquinongy) is a hybrid of the muskie and northern pike. Male hybrids are almost invariably sterile although females are sometimes fertile. Some hybrids are artificially produced and planted for anglers to catch. Tiger muskies tend to be smaller than non-hybrid muskies but grow faster. The body is often quite silvery and largely or entirely without spots but with indistinct longitudinal bands.

Though interbreeding with other pike species can complicate the classification of some individuals, zoologists usually recognize from zero to three subspecies of muskellunge.

• The Great Lakes (spotted) muskellunge (Esox masquinongy masquinongy) is the most common variety in the Great Lakes basin and surrounding area. The spots on the body form oblique rows.
• The Chautauqua muskellunge (E. m. ohioensis) is known from the Ohio River system, Chautauqua Lake, Lake Ontario, and the St Lawrence River.
• The clear or barred muskellunge (E. m. immaculatus) is most common in the inland lakes of Wisconsin, Minnesota, northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba.

Catching the Muskie:

If you want to catch a muskie, you’ll need a heavy bait-casting rod, substantial level-wind reel, 20-35 pound test line, a variety of artificial lures or live bait, and a lot of patience. Allow at least 20 minutes in each location before moving on-the large fish usually aren’t very active.

It takes the average angler 20-80 hours to catch a legal musky!

Muskies are generally not food fish. As predator fish, if the food fish in their region have small amounts of toxic substances in their systems, they will gather in much greater quantities in the muskellunges who feed on them. Before eating a muskellunge, pay attention to the fishing advisories of the lake or the state that you are fishing in.

Threats to the Muskie:

The health and success of the muskellunge relies heavily on the health and availability of aquatic plants in their environment. Minnesota anglers are beginning to notice that some of their favorite “weed beds” seem to be disappearing, thus reducing the spawning sites and hunting grounds of the muskies they like to catch. Measures are being proposed, including greatly reducing the number of docks allowed on a lake shore, thus reducing the human footprint on the lakes.

The Muskie and the Northern Pike are both considered sport and trophy fish in Minnesota, and are thusly valuable to the sport fishing community and the tourism economy, but over-fishing does hurt the population of this solitary fish.

So fish carefully, and practice catch-and-release fishing with this fish in order to preserve its continued abundance in all the great lakes.

Alyssa Bentley works for a Website Advertising company. This article is written for Fishermans Pool.com – a great resource for finding a Chartered Fishing Boat [http://www.fishermanspool.com] where you want to fish.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alyssa_Bentley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Catching-Muskies—All-About-Muskellunges&id=1056167

EnergyStar.gov –  Check Out Energy Rebates

This is a government site that offers lots of energy saving tips as well as explains what energy saving grants or credits might be available.

Besides the board of realtor sites:  http://theThing.mplsrealtor.com and market data posted elsewhere at http://www.MplsRealtor.com I have a subscription to Realty Trac.  My subscription gives me additional data about foreclosures and trends within certain zip codes.  This is in addition to my daily subscription to Finance & Commerce (a business newspaper that prints all the foreclosure information as well as very timely articles regarding the business community).  If you are looking for someone who has experience and access to information about distressed sales, we need to be working together.  Whether buyer or seller-I can help you understand the market we are in and the options and opportunities available to you.  Give me call today.

These are a couple of my newsletters that have a ton of valuable information. Go check them out.

Foreclosure Market Trends Newsletter
http://www.realtytrac.com/MarketTrends/NewsLetter.aspx?guid=131bd355-1b69-4bd1-99cd-2f0c9a936810

Real Estate Cyber Space Tips
http://www.REcyber.com/cybertips/r11627

Caught on a medium sucker and bobber at 8pm

Today I fished the tournament at Lake Waconia

I fished the Metro Muskie Tournament today.  While it was rainy, it was still a ton of fun.  My ONLY regret, was that the white caps on the lake forced me off after about 4 hours.   The cool thing was seeing monster fish all around us surfacing as they fed close to the surface.  They splash and taunt you-which only serves to harden our resolve to get one in the boat.  Unfortunately, we didn’t hook anything.  Afterwards, when we went to the contest headquarters at Gander Mountain in Maple Grove, they had the results and prizes.  My wife won a bag of lures.  By chance, they even were her colors-pink & purple-she couldn’t be happier.  For monster Esox, I’d say 7 out of the 10 winner fish came from Lake Waconia.  Most were 42 inches and above, while the winner was 53 inches.  The entry fee was only $35.  In the fall, there is another tournament that includes the city lakes-Calhoun, Harriet, Isles, and Minnetonka to name just a few. This is on October 2nd.  The fee is $50, and there are a bunch of prizes.  I can’t wait!!!!  What a great group of people that run and organized this event-my public thanks for making this event unforgettable for myself and family.  My 10 year old sun is now “hooked” on catching the big one!

Thinking about buying a home but don’t know where to start? Why not start by reading the home buyer hand book that we have provided below. It is a great place to start to get the information you need. When you’re ready, we would love to help you find and finance a new home.