At the risk of being a dum-dum; if you caught fish in NE, you should be able to do the same in MN. Plastic worms are a go-to, if your other methods don’t produce. Try to discover the main forage fish and imitate that with your lures. If you want panfish/ bream, go with a beetle spin, a rooster tail, lil cleo, or anything small and made by Rebel. You can always catch fish with a bobber and corn, or worms, or crickets, sometimes marshmallows. Keep it simple, and remember its about the fishing and not the catching.

Paulie, you might likeoeck Davey McPhail’s tying videos on Youtube. Excellent quality videos and instruction. Easy to pick up some new techniques. Your early work looks great. When I started “tying”, and what I was doing was far from skilled, was the results of using ya small pair of vice-grips locked down in my bench vice 60 years ago. I bent a piece of coathanger wire to resemble a bobbin and used regular sewing thread in varied colors. When I needed white hair, I would get my Llewelyn Setter to hold still so I could clip some from her feathery tail. A few year later, I started duck hunting and fast got into tying real feathers onto size ten hooks for bream. Thought I was acheiving something special at the time. Ahh, the memories. Keep showing us the photos of your work. Thanks.

Another opinion: color does matter, but the perfect color incorrectly presented and worked wrongly will be out fished by the wrong color correctly presented...everytime. Equally important to presentation is scent. So many fishermen ignore this fact. Watch how a carp or catfish will circle a piece of dogfood to zero in on it in a pond. A fresh worm from a new pack will get you more pickups than an old gnarly one out of the bottom of an old tackle box that smells of two-cycle fumes mixed with cigar smoke. When worm fishing, always, Always, ALWAYS, watch your line and the point where it enters the water. Pay close attention to those tiny twitches, they all are not bream teasing it.

Hey Paulie, I applaud your tying. What a joy it is to create a fly and have it catch a fish; one of life’s satisfactions. Of course, FlyGuy has a mare out back and in his spare time weaves the tail hairs into fine double-taper fly lines in sizes 3 thru 6, for real personal enjoyment. I, on the otherhand, am growing a stand of Japanese BambOo that i’ll be crafting six-section classic rods from, as soon as I perfect the method of forging my own SS guides, and making my own varnish from the mare’s hooves, when she’s done with them. I, too, enjoy time spent at the tying desk, whether I catch anything with the flies or not, it’s great enjoyment. I am very glad to have Youtube nowadays; wish I had it as a learning source back in the sixties.

Where are you fishing? Uwhere Sinking Creek enteres the Ohio should be a good spot, and accessible, too. What bait are you having success with?

I used to enjoy shad roe fried well along side scrambled eggs while camped out on the Neuse River in N. Carolina. Seeing that shad brings back some happy memories fron years gone by. Thanks for sharing.

10-4 Friend. There’s always a lotta love in any dish that starts with a roux or calls for the trinity, or a meripoix.
You ever watch Davey McPhail’s tying videos on youtube? I’ve learned some new tricks from his work.

White grits for breakfast with butter and salt beside eggs and sausage [think Cracker Barrel] is the ticket; yellow grits cooked thoroughly add cheddar cheese, bacon, the trinity [saute’d onion, pepper, and celery for you Yankees], and shrimp; and voila, you have a dinner meal. Pairs well with virtually any beer or wine.

In S. Carolina, at least in the Low Country, it’s called HogHead Cheese. It’s very similar to German Sousmeat. All that pig fat in the mix is what makes it taste so good. Probably not good to coat your arteries with, but sure tastes good.

Spirit: in the Marine Corps In the 60’s that knife was called a TL-29. I’ve still got one around here someplace. I used the screwdriver end as much as the blade to open panels on F-4’s doing com-nav work.

Somehow, i think, when referring to 70 degree, they are referring to off plumb; 70 + 20 = 90. Twenty degree is where it’s at. That’s what makes a sharp and lasting edge for the uses we're talking about here.

Everyday: Craftsman folding razorknife. Quick change blades.
Fishing: freshwater, a Case two-blade muskrat skinner, carbon steel.
Saltwater, Case Sodbuster. Stainless and easy to clean.
Deer Hunting: Buck Folding Hunter, model 101, and Shrade Golden Spike.

Egg: wikipedia has an excellent article on Grits. You might like to check it out. They should be available thru your local grocer; i recommend yellow grits, but white grits are probably more commonly available. Easy recipes are on line as well. You’ll find the longer they cook, the better they get.

Campbell’s: you’re just up the road, I’m in Citrus. If you’re in Crystal River, try the shrimp and grits at Charlie’s Fish House over on 19. Could be they make the best along the Nature Coast.

Gordon, the normal way is remove the fillets from the sauce, put them on the grill. Reserve the remaining sauce to spoon over or whatever.

Hunt: Zatterain’s is real close to CajunLand. Tony’s with some MarthaWhite’s Yellow Corn Meal mix is my go-to.

I always get a kick out of how the dinner guests react to ‘skin & scales’ on. If they “Eea-eouw” up front, then don’t recover or repent from that...they don’t get invited back. It tends to cull out the sissies.😎