LURE OF THE WEEK
Lure name: Butterfly Float’N Harness
Company: Northland Fishing Tackle (www.northlandtackle.com/)
Lure type: Crawler harness
Sizes and colors: Available in two blade sizes, 7/8- and 1 3/8-inch, and 12 color combinations, including blue shiner, clown, electric perch, Wonderbread, pink lemonade and purple tiger.
Target species: Walleyes and yellow perch.
Technique: This is just to wet your whistle, as it won’t be available until next spring, but it will be unveiled this month at ICAST, the fishing industry’s annual trade show. It’s an innovation on a popular product for Northland. The company came out with its “butterfly” blades a while back. Made of polycarbonates, their hallmark is they can be trolled as slowly as 0.25 mph and still provide flash and vibration. The Float’N Harness adds a floating body between the blades and the hooks. That allows the lure to stay just above active fish, out of rocks, weeds and the like, and catch fish without snagging. Northland said its creation was inspired by anglers requesting it.
Sugg. retail price: $4.39.
Notable: Butterfly blades are available on a couple of lures from Northland, including a crawler harness, blade rig and the Super Death.
•••
TIP OF THE WEEK
Putting out trail cameras in summer won’t necessarily tell you where to hunt this fall. Deer movement patterns will change, but this is a great time to inventory the deer in an area, keying you in to overall numbers and identifying unique bucks. Plus, it’s just fun. And one of the best places to get photos is around food sources. Deer are focused on nutrition right now, to support antler growth and their fawns, respectively. Put your cameras out around corn, soybeans and food plots in agricultural areas.
•••
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Pickerel stew
Ingredients
• 1 pound pickerel fillets
• 6 slices bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• diced onion
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 2 cups diced potatoes
• ½ cup chopped carrots
• chopped tomato
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• teaspoon salt
• 10 ounces evaporated milk
Directions
This is a lakeshore favorite in the north country, where pickerel are common. But it will work with fish caught anywhere, of course.
To start, cut fillets into bite-size pieces.
Fry bacon in a large skillet, drain grease and set aside. Next, melt butter in skillet, then add onion and celery, saute over medium heat until onion is translucent.
Move it and celery to a 2-quart pot. Add potatoes, carrots, tomato, salt, pepper, bacon and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Then, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Add fish and simmer another 10 minutes. Finally, add milk and heat until warm, without boiling.
