Catfish Hunter is right about the nest guarding tendency. Try a live crayfish into their nest if you can see the nest. A frog or leech should also work. They may not eat but they will carry the intruder away from the nest giving you the opportunity to catch them. Spawning sunfish will do the same thing, pick up the intruder and carry it away from the nest before spitting it out.
If they are not guarding a nest, they will probably still eat a crayfish, leech or frog.

We are on lock down in Minnesota also but TOLD to go walking, running and fishing but of course still practice social distancing. DANG! NO MORE shaking hands, hugging or kissing!!!

Most lakes are open to fishing in Minnesota. Many docks are not in yet. The DNR is allegedly using this opportunity to work on them but I have seen docks beached at the landing but not worked on. I don't need a dock or much of a landing for my 14' Sea Nymph and 9 1/2 horse Johnson. Fishing has been great for sunfish, a little slow for crappies.

I don't hunt turkeys or guide on my property for my friends anymore but I learned (on my own) that I was far more successful using a box call to imitate a Tom's gobble than to imitate a hen turkey. I don't even own a turkey call but my hunting friend would bring his calls and jake and hen decoys but I would tell him to leave them in the car and we would hunt without them. I called in a number of Toms or Toms and hens together. Instead of using the lid of the box call to imitate the hen, I would turn the box call around and hold the opposite end (after chalking it up of course) and shake the box back and forth so the paddle contacted both sides of the box and produced a lifelike gobble. It took very little practice and I called in many Gobblers with this method. You can even imitate the call, hesitation and final notes each time to enrage the Toms to come for the intruder, even bringing other Toms and hens with him. Of course the turkeys can come from a distance and are always looking for movement so you have to make sure hey don't see your movement when calling. They will many times call back as they are approaching and if you really want to excite them, call over their call, in other words gobble call before they finish calling. They are masters at knowing where your call is coming from so when they are closer, STOP CALLING AND moving and get ready to shoot. You can mix in a few hen calls but I usually did not. Do not continue calling unless they retreat and are out of sight. My friend only hunted here so left his calls with me until the season ended. After he harvested his Tom, usually the first morning we hunted, I would entertain myself by opening my upstairs window about 6 AM and first listen. If I heard gobbles in the distance I would use the box call to gobble and get them worked up and approaching. When I could see them I would then go to the opposite side of the house and call from that upstairs window. They would usually end up in my garden looking for their adversary. I did that many times. In the late winter, early spring before the snow was completely gone the flocks of hens and toms, always separate from each other, (they did not mingle until the breeding season), would come right under my 2nd story bedroom window to feed on the whole corn I stashed in my bedroom and threw out the windows. I have windows on the south and east sides of the bedroom. When the turkeys were feeding and fighting over the corn on one side I would throw corn out the other window, 90 degrees around the corner. When they finished eating on one side and then went to the other side, I would then throw corn out the other window, again out of sight around the 90 degree corner. Most would be amazed at how aggressive turkeys can be! Both sexes are mean and ruthless! I have pictures of 14 Toms eating and fighting over the corn, all mature birds with long beards. Then a Jake with a small beard would try to join them after being kicked out the flock of hens before breeding season. The Toms would attack and drive him off repeatedly, jumping up and spurring, slapping with their wings and chasing and cutting him off every time he tried to return to the group of Toms. The hens were ALWAYS fighting! I do have a picture of 80+ hens in my front yard and 20+ more out of the picture. They constantly followed my wife's cat around the yard and he would slowly slink away and keep watching them as he retreated. This cat was a killer of squirrels, rabbits and birds along with the mice and chipmunks, but I NEVER saw him attempt to kill a turkey. I would wake at daybreak from the noise in the front yard from yelping turkeys, then observed the hens right by the front porch steps where the cat was trying to enjoy breakfast. He would get nervous and hide in the bushes next to the sidewalk in front of the house, but they would be peeking in the bushes and scolding him. I even opened the window more than once and talked to the turkeys thinking they would scatter but that did not faze them. A number of times I would come up from the back of the house and walk around the side and as soon as I reached the front turkeys would spring into the air and fly straight up and over my 35 ft. high 2 1/2 story house. If they were hens the young birds would fly east and gain altitude and fly over the trees. These were small birds and could fly well already, just not straight up and over yet. As entertaining as those days were things are not the same anymore. While I do still have turkeys around, nothing like the quantity I saw 5 years ago. I seldom see hens with large groups of chicks and many years hens with none. I have killed every coyote I have had the opportunity to but I have found four or five turkeys that were killed and eaten under the cedar trees by the river on my 32 acres. I even found a dead cat, half eaten. Minnesota and surrounding states have reported on the reduction in the number of turkeys. Of course turkeys can seem brilliant or absolutely stupid! I have read many reports over the years of farmers who were raising turkeys and found them piled in the corner of the barn. suffocated after stampeding because a small hole or crack in the roof allowed sunlight to scare the dickens out of them. We have experienced some very wet springs with monsoon like rains. The turkeys, especially the chicks, will look up and drown from the rain and or die from exposure when wet and the temperature drops each evening. Add to that the predators that enjoy turkey eggs and chicks like raccoons, opossums, cats, coyotes, foxes and even crows and that could explain the lower numbers. While I do enjoy the traditional turkey dinner I am not interested in hunting them anymore. I do enjoy the outdoors and am still active in archery hunting for deer and predator hunting in my back yard, I have used a .17 HMR to control the critters on my property, including 17 coyotes and NUMEROUS opossums and crows. Hunting is not the reason for the decline in the number of turkeys, at least not in my area. I know there are laws, some do not make sense and I would not like the law that ends turkey hunting at noon although I almost always harvested them early in the day, usually the first two hours in the morning. We have 5 seasons here of 3 - 5 days each, running concurrently. We can only hunt ONE of those seasons unless hunting with archery gear. Good Luck to All and I hope you are successful as I fully understand the Call of the Wild!"

Stuco is correct. First, many years ago they outlawed the lead so they took the lead out. Because of that it is necessary to add a lead substitute to any engine which depended on the lead to protect the valve system. Then they added the alcohol which became ethanol which does attract water and can damage engines not designed for ethanol, especially air cooled engines. So then we had to search for neat 91 which is alcohol free and allowed for off road use only. Because that averages about 50 cents a gallon more and is now hard to find, the alternative is to add Stabil Marine, which is green in color and designed to eliminate the effects of the alcohol on engines not made for ethanol use. The Stabil for storage is red in color and is not labeled Stabil Marine. One quart sells for $20 and treats 320 gallons of gas. Using this allows you to use 87 ethanol, add Stabil Marine for protection and also add the lead additive for older engines designed for lead like my 1950 Ferguson Ford tractor, 9 1/2 HP Johnson short shaft outboard (Tubby), my wheeled weed wacker, chain saws, lawn mowers, etc. If you use ethanol in engines not designed for it you could have engine damage or at least carburetor corrosion and problems. I ran a VW repair shop and had first hand experience what ethanol did to the #3 piston on the air cooled engines, #3 because of the design of the engine that the cooling air to that piston was partially blocked by the oil cooler. The ethanol literally burned a hole in the piston. The water cooled VW's experienced major problems with the plugged fuel filters caused by the ethanol cleaning all the crud out of the fuel tanks, and then the high fuel pressure forcing some of the dirt through the filter and into the injectors. So avoid ethanol in any engine not designed for it and add Stabil Marine to ethanol to prevent damage or purchase neat 91 for more per gallon to eliminate problems and then resort to Stabil (red) for storage. Good Fishing!

A blond had a car that was in good shape except for a number of small dings from the parking lots. She decided to have the dings removed and the car painted. She went to a body shop and explained what she wanted. The owner came out and looked at the car and told her there were so many dings it would be costly to remove them and paint the car. He decided to have a little fun with her so he said he would tell her how to remove the dings herself and maybe she would come back in the future if she needed more work. He told her to pay attention and do exactly as he said. He told her to drive home and let the car cool down for a few hours, then kneel down and blow hard in the tailpipe and the dents would pop out. She followed his directions and was kneeling down by the car when her neighbor friend (also blond of course) came out and asked her what in the world she was doing? She explained to her neighbor, then proceeded to blow on the tailpipe, and when nothing happened, blew again even harder and again, nothing. Her neighbor said she had known her a long time and had seen her do some foolish things but this one took the cake! The first blonde was offended and asked her why she would say such a thing? Her neighbor replied, "Well duh, you have to close the windows first!!!"

I moved from Minnesota to southern California from 1965 to 1969. I fished with a local who had a boat and we ALWAYS fished the ocean and washed the boat, motor, trailer and all fishing tackle immediately after reaching his home. I bought a 20' Chris Craft Cruiser with a 6 cylinder inboard motor and fished out from the Seal Beach area. We fished Santa Catalina Island many times and had good fishing. One day I noticed holes in the large 3 blade prop. It looked like termites were chewing holes in the metal prop but I knew that was not the case. A stop at a marine shop immediately revealed that the cavitation plate attached to the bottom of the bolt was gone, eaten away. I then learned that when a boat travels through the salt water an electrical process called electrolysis will attack the prop after destroying the "sacrificial" cavitation plate which is on the boat to give the electrolysis something to "feed" on instead of attacking the prop. After attaching the new cavitation plate I had no further problems. The holes stopped growing and I did nothing to the prop. None of the holes had gone all the way through and did not seem to affect the performance. After I returned to Minnesota I received a call from a woman who had lost her brother to an auto accident in the Florida Keys. She was told by the Sheriff that the cause of the accident was a front wheel bearing failing from salt water corrosion because he drove along the ocean for a long time exposing the wheel bearings to the salt air. She asked me if that was possible or if they should consider a lawsuit. I was a mechanic then but would not have known about the damage salt water does had I not experienced it on my boat plate and prop. Electrolysis ONLY occurs in salt water. Of course wheel bearings will be damaged in fresh water if the water gets past the seals and rust occurs. In Minnesota the salt and sand mixture used in the winter corrodes metal and we have to wash our vehicles often. Many rusted out cars are on the local roads. I had a 90 Toyota Camry Station Wagon that still ran great at 224,000 miles and used NO OIL but had SO MANY holes in the chassis that it was hard to stay warm in the winter in spite of the good heater. I sold that to a local student and traveled to Houston, Texas and purchased a 1995 Toyota Camry Wagon with the 3.0 V6 engine as all that I saw in my area were already rusting out and I wanted NO RUST. It now has 250,600 miles and still runs good and uses NO oil, and NO RUST. I purchased it for $2,250 in November of 2011 with 154,500 miles and still use it as my fishing vehicle. We have a 2007 Toyota Camry 3.5 V6 for everyday use. So watch out for your auto wheel bearings also, (and other metal components) if you drive near the salt water, even if you are not driving in it.

Spiritof27. I don't know how warm the weather is at the lake you are fishing, Are there any trout surfacing? If so I would recommend fishing with flies. I don't fish for trout here in Minnesota any more but years ago the DNR stocked the local Quarry holes with trout, both Rainbow and Brown trout. I would catch them with VERY LIGHT TACKLE. I would use 2 pound test monofilament line to a spinning bubble, then a 1 pound test leader. I was very successful with a tiny flies called a Pink Lady and Black Gnat. An imitation mosquito also worked well for trout and panfish. The trout were surfacing even in the cold quarry water up to 90 ft. deep. They were feeding on insects and would not bite on anything else. My dad would fish with a nightcrawler and fly rod and "troll" very slowly along the edge wall of the quarry and catch bigger trout at night, These fish were also right on the surface. He did not cast out or use a sinker or any type of float, just the flyrod and a monofilament leader, plain hook and a crawler hooked in the nose. Later I caught some trout in a local lake on flies and the river system near Lake Superior was known for producing large Brown trout on artificial mice, fished at night. If the fish are surfacing I would encourage you to try the spinning outfit, bubble, light leader and fly. The fish, even panfish will often strike and detect the fly is fake and immediately spit it out. I have been using maggots slipped over the hook and the fish will not spit them out. You will have to adjust your method to the size of the trout. There are many other flies that would work, maybe even better in your area. The local stores and bait shops should be able to guide you. If the fish are not surfacing because of a lack of insects but are still near the surface streamers might work better. The Woolybugger is a good fly but I don't know how you are presenting it. Trout can be very selective and picky but they do have to eat. Good Luck.

Critter. Understood. No offense taken. We are all in this together and are here to help each other. Thanks for sharing.

Catfish Hunter. As many times happens on these forums by the time I respond more information on your situation was revealed. My post was with good intentions so I can only hope it will benefit someone. Thanks for sharing.

Catfish hunter. Fortunately I have not had to use the advice I have read about for many years. The FIRST thing suggested always is to not ignore things or not open the bills but CALL and many will work with you on lower payments, lower interest (temporarily) or a reprieve from payments and interest for some time depending on the bill. Even home loan payments and utility payments can be delayed or postponed for some time which has to be negotiated. It seems many are understanding in situations like this and some company owners and executives are going to extraordinary lengths to help their employees and others. A new report just said Home sellers are pulling their homes OFF the market and buyer's stopped looking. The lending institutions don't want to foreclose on homes that they can't sell now anyway. I am not really a fan of the Extra unemployment payments of $600 per week in addition to regular unemployment which means many will receive $900 - $1,200 or more per week which is in many cases much more than they normally make. Some are demanding to be laid off because they will receive much more without working! I talked to 2 people today who were just laid off. One will receive $900 a week and the other $1,000 but thankfully both of them said they would gladly go back to work immediately! That is encouraging but my daughter and son-in-law's two employees both are demanding layoff so they can draw unemployment until December without working and will receive the extra $600 a week for 4 months and then the regular unemployment into December. My daughter is applying for the small business loan which will allow her to pay them their regular earnings and then hire them back in June and it will become a grant which they never have to pay back. They were not satisfied with that so she offered them a $2,000 bonus each after this is all over. I don't know your situation and am not asking but if you have been working and can qualify for unemployment you should look into that. You should be getting $1,200 soon if you have filed taxes in 2018 or 2019 and if married your wife also may qualify for the $1,200. THE GOOD news seem to be that the predicted deaths in the USA of 100,000 to 240,000 has been downgraded to about 60,000 (STILL NOT GOOD) but nobody really knows how many. The government is now considering allowing those 40 and under who have had the virus and recovered, the opportunity to return to work and many in certain states like those in the west with few inhabitants like Montana and Wyoming. Also under serious consideration is to harvest blood from the young who have had the virus and healed on their own through their immune system and not treatment and then give the blood to many who are fighting the virus. These are trying times and as usual MANY Americans are pulling together and helping others when possible. Unfortunately there are others who will take advantage of the situation and scam and rob others for their benefit. A recent report said that the drug smugglers are increasing their shipments to take advantage of us while the USA is fighting to handle the virus crisis and balance the economy and jobs and people's lives. Fortunately our President has vowed to up the attack on the drug smugglers at the same time. While this situation is indeed tragic, we should remember that an average of 70,000 lives are lost YEARLY to drugs in our country. Take Care and good luck.

JaimeG. Your reply shows conditions vary according to the area. I have lived in Minnesota most of my life and the old saying very often repeated that the fish bite the least with an east wind and for a couple of days after a cold front have proven to be true over and over again in my experiences. When we have a sudden cold front it is ALWAYS followed by a clear blue sky and not a cloud seen all day. If you bother to go fishing and observe the fish, via electronics or cameras, you will see the fish are virtually hugging the bottom and have lockjaw. You would spend a lot of time to catch a few fish. I have learned long ago to avoid fishing for a couple of days until things get back to normal.
The saying goes as follows, "When the wind is from the West, the fish bite best, wind from the North the fish go forth, wind from the South blows the bait into their mouth, wind from the East, the fish bite the least. Observation over many years has shown it is the results of the East wind here in Minnesota that brings the cold fronts and storms, fluctuating barometric pressure and the resulting "lockjaw" which lasts for a few days. This is the FIRST time I have heard about any but an East wind affecting the fishing. Thanks for sharing.

Try live bait! A nightcrawler allegedly tastes and smells like crayfish, which are readily eaten by both bass and catfish. The high, muddy water carries worms and crawlers into the river so you should cast upstream and allow the crawler to drift to the feeding fish. If you find an eddy or quiet spot you can just fish on the bottom. In fast water I use what is called a poor man's jig. I use a short shank #6 crappie hook tied to 6 lb. test monofilament line, then pinch a split shot sinker on the line directly up against the knot. Jigs are expensive and you will lose many in the river. If you add a split shot sinker a foot or more up the line from the hook, the sinker will catch on bottom debris and the fish will drop the bait. By putting the split shot against the knot the bait, hook and sinker will be picked up by the fish and not drag on the bottom. Using the same setup you can fish a good sized live sucker hooked through the lips, (bottom lip first) and the catfish will respond. Redtail chubs work well for bass. The fact that the bass are jumping probably indicates they are feeding on insects and won't be attacking your spinner baits. I fish the Mississippi River often and catch most of my fish (many species) on nightcrawlers or a 1/3 or 1/2 crawler on this poor man's jig. I guaranty you that I would not catch many fish on artificial baits. Give them what they want at the right time of the day or night and you will catch fish. Good Fishing!

Hello Davey L. I once read about special fishing equipment which allows you to cast great distances. I thought the unit was air powered. I just searched for something that might help you and others and came across this information. Check out - rustyangler.com/fishing-with-disabilities - then scroll down to - Electric Fishing Reels. The first line below that heading lists - Push button casting devices that can send the lure into the water at varying distances. Another resource for disabled fishing information is - Disabled Sports USA. I am sure you can find more information like this on line or from these sources. Hang in there and good fishing! (It sounds like you have a good, understanding wife which is a true blessing!)

In the cold winter states like Minnesota where I live and fish, the best fishing is just after freeze up, when there is 4 inches of ice safe enough to walk on and before vehicles can drive on. It slowly goes downhill from there depending on the ice depth and snow cover. After thick ice and a heavy snow cover prevents the sunlight from encouraging weed growth and oxygen release, the fish get very lethargic and if the conditions last long enough certain lakes will experience winter kill, sometimes very severe. The DNR will then open affected lakes to harvest. When cutting through the ice the hole will soon fill with fish seeking oxygen which are then harvested by dip net or spearing. At this point there is no limit on numbers or species. Occasionally the DNR will transport the fish to other deeper lakes that contain more oxygen. Minnesota fish are in the lethargic condition as we speak. Fishing reports indicate that many fisherman are seeing numerous fish on their electronics but can't get them to bite. As soon as the snow on the ice melts and the ice starts melting, the holes drilled by fisherman allow the surface water to enter the lakes and replenish the oxygen. What follows then is the second stage of good fishing just before ice out. When the ice melts on the shoreline and the ice raises up (floats), the water runs into the lake at such a rate that there can be active whirlpools in the holes, causing the holes to get bigger as the weather warms. We go through the warm days and cold nights cycle and the best fishing is when we have to walk on planks or ladders or use boats to get on to the ice. The ice is still very thick and safe and as the condition of the ice deteriorates it is very obvious when it is time to stay off. When the shoreline is open 10 ft. or more I have observed fish swimming out from under the ice into the open water warmed by the sun.