So You Want to Make a Living in the Fishing Industry?

I was at a friend’s cabin near Hackensack, MN last winter when my cell phone rang.  It was Al Lindner, and Al’s excitement was infectious.  We both talked at length about an idea that’s probably the number one question I get no matter what I do in the fishing industry.  Whether at a seminar, retail event, or via email, people are fascinated by the question, “How Do I Make a Living in the Fishing Industry?” 

Al invited me as one of many in a panel of speakers for a workshop held this fall, which is designed to help answer just that question.  That’s because there’s more than one path to help turn your hobby into a livelihood.  There’s all kinds of roles throughout “fishing,” from marketing specialists, product developers, writers, media personalities, biologists, conservation officers, and many, many more.  Each person’s journey is different, and depending on your skill set, you may be well-suited for several roles but not for others.  While no two paths are the same, here are some nuggets of wisdom that have been shared with me, which I’ve found to be especially true no matter which direction you tread down. 

My start actually came while I was already involved headlong in another natural-resources related career.  I began in the late 1990’s posting on various online fishing forums, sharing advice and being helpful when I could as others had questions.  When I had fishing information to share, I relayed simply those bits that as an angler I would want or be interested in myself.  It wasn’t long before that online writing began to catch the attention of some manufacturers, who in the early years I partnered with because I’d always used their products and believed in them. 

I was young and impetuous, quick-witted but slow-minded.  I made every mistake in the book but maintained my passion for the outdoors through it all, constantly striving to both whet my appetite for hunting and fishing goals I already had of myself, while trying to partner with companies to help fund my addiction.  Call it trial-by-fire or more appropriately, trial-and-error, I mucked my way through the initial years.  I spent the first five of it not really getting paid for any of the writing, online promotional work, or retail events I did, and the next ten doing my best to perform tasks as a business; professionally delivering services while not going backwards financially in the process.       

As for writing, Outdoor News Columnist and legendary writer Gary Clancy was famous for saying, "The most important requirement of being an outdoors writer is having a wife with a good job."  I’d tend to agree with his statements as I’ve pushed for nearly two decades to simply earn a seat at the table.  Which is why money needs to be a motivating factor but not a primary goal in this line of work. 

The fishing industry most certainly isn’t for everyone.  However, if you were the “fishiest” kid among your group of friends or in your whole school, this may be for you.  If all four seasons of the year’s calendar revolved around the next trip, fishing-season, or timely outdoors activity, you may be able to withstand the long hours and sacrifices.  More importantly, if you find yourself already taking existing skills like writing, photography, speaking, sales, and marketing to bear for fishing-related purposes, this just may be your calling.

Let’s get one thing straight however.  Being a skilled angler is not enough, for most jobs in the industry it’s simply a prerequisite.  Very few people get paid to fish, and those that do are either at the pinnacle of their careers or more often are doing so under the pressure of a budget, schedule, or other constraining factors which for most people, makes it no longer resemble the fishing they once knew and loved.  

If you’re a freelancer, you must make the initial capital investment in yourself, with the hopes of eventually growing your thought-leadership such that your voice may be heard.  That capital investment for me was a strong education, and I recommend it to all anglers hoping to someday work in fishing.  Do this while understanding that your expectations should equal your effort, noting that most start-ups no matter the industry don’t turn a profit for the first few years.  Your “business” whatever it may be, will in the early years be funded 95% by you, and 5% by the industry.  Your “business plan” should be to reverse those numbers over a period of time.  During this time it’s common to have a side job or two in order to pay the bills.

Decide what to be, and go be it.  Specialize early on to bring your talents to bear for underserved disciplines, locations, or species.  Know your strengths, but more importantly, your limitations, while building relationships with the companies, brands, andtheir representatives.  Don’t ask for a thing from them until you have forged a strong relationship, and they know you as someone that may be able to help them.  Build your voice through as many avenues as you can, whether it be online, print media, in-person, or all of the above.  All the while, live a clean life, as it’s worth saying that one mistake can destroy credibility, which you should value above all else. 

As Al and I wrapped up our conversation that winter’s day, I couldn’t help but look out over the frozen lake while thinking on all the mistakes, mis-steps, and lost opportunities I had squandered mostly on account of not knowing any better.  If you’re serious about a career in the industry, you owe it to yourself to bone-up on the subject far better than I ever did.  There’s some great books out there, online advice, and this Fishing Career’s workshop coming up.  Whether you decide that it’s for you, or it’s not, I know I’m incredibly thankful for the wisdom passed on-to me, and I’m hoping to pay-it-forward as best I can this October. 

Al and Troy Lindner are hosting the “Fishing Career’s Workshop,” on Saturday October 27th, at Cragun’s Resort in Brainerd, MN.  Go to https://mycampfish.com/products/fishing-careers-workshop to sign-up.  Limited seats available. 

Side-Imaging for the Walleye Crowd

Photo Credit - Matt Addington - http://mattaddingtonphotography.com

Walleye-anglers are a traditional bunch in-general.  New techniques and technologies are directly compared to known commodities, and rightly so.  There’s no use making things more difficult than they need to be, yet sometimes along the way what’s learned is in and of itself valuable.  I find that to be especially true in the case of side-imaging electronics for walleye fishing. 

So often, structural anglers are used to locating a spot of interest via high definition contours, then picking those locations apart with traditional down-sonar in an effort to locate fish, catch them, and store location (GPS) information in order to return to that spot someday down the road.  Lest we forget, at one time this technology was also new, though its adoption was rapid amongst the ranks of professionals and casual anglers alike.  Still, I’ve heard it mentioned in even upper echelons of walleye nerdery, that Side-Imaging is only for “bass-guys.”

A staple amongst tournament bass anglers these days is Side-Imaging runs that map both structural elements, and individual fish to target.  At last year’s Bassmaster Angler-of-the-Year tournament on Mille Lacs, dozens of complete strangers to the fishery pulled 60lb. bags of smallmouth bass during the 3-day competition, most of them leaning heavily on using their Side-Imaging to locate large boulders and individual bass off them.  This very application while being a classic use of the technology, is not a reason to classify it as a “bass-only” benefit.  

Shallow water walleyes can be found throughout the warm-water months during big wind events, even in clear water.  That same clarity provides a solid reason to consider Side-Imaging on your next electronics purchase, as walleyes rarely tolerate overhead boat traffic in clear-water shallows.  The imaging becomes your eyes up shallow, allowing you to stay back off of the fish, and put a multitude of presentations to them without pushing them around and killing the bite.  Shallow fish are typically feeding, so these are the fish you’re looking to target anyway.

While Side-Imaging proves very valuable for any species relating to shallow structural elements, the same also holds over the depths.  It’s a common misconception that side-imaging isn’t useful at the same depths we’re typically targeting walleyes.  On a recent trip to Grand Rapids, MN, I used my Lowrance Carbon-12 to image an underwater point I’ve fished often, both during open-water and through the ice.  While I knew there was an 8-foot rock-pile along the shallow lip of it, I didn’t give credit to that rockpile and how it affected walleye movements out and away from it.  All of our bites came off the pile some distance in 14-18FOW, as fish staged there before dark awaiting the low-light evening assault on those shallow rocks.  Not surprisingly, immediately out from the pile was a hard-bottom, rock-free shelf.  It was noticeably different from the surrounding break, and drew the majority of those fish.  Once I knew what I was looking for, I could find it on the down-sonar, but it literally jumped out at me on the side-imaging.

An even deeper application can be found on the famed mud flats of Mille Lacs, where savy anglers for many years have known that not all parts of all flats are mud.  There is a surprising amount of rock and gravel in certain locations, though most are in small out of the way places along the edge of the flats.  With a good chop, and the resultant screen display of your sonar showing a “wavy” bottom, it’s difficult to detect the tell-tale signs of rough or un-even rock bottom.  These locations, being different from surrounding substrate for at times, miles, almost always have fish on them or nearby.       

Perhaps the best way to introduce yourself to the technology is to image an area you already know, preferably if you know it holds fish.  So often as walleye anglers we stumble onto a mere piece of the puzzle.  We catch fish on one side of a reef for a short period of time in late afternoon, without realizing that we only intercepted fish in a 30 minute window making their way out of the depths and up to structure to feed.  Even if we know fish are likely to be up top and actively eating, we know not what locations have the largest boulders, the most pronounced feeding shelves, or what areas are too weed-choked to effectively fish in low-light.  All of those answers can be gleaned from a quick pass or two around the structure of interest. 

Take this technology for a spin on a few locations you’ve fished for years, and be amazed at the depth and level of information it offers you.  Consider it the best real-time map that’s offered today, and get used to seeing and interpreting what information in the plan direction really means to your fishing, rather than just the profile depth direction we’re so used to seeing in the sonar of old.   

Fishing the June Boom

Every year, the first weeks of June see some of the fastest fishing of the season.  This season, with a warm early spring, the affect has been accelerated.  What species are we talking about you may ask?  The simple answer is that it doesn’t matter.  Whether you like gills in the shallows, or walleyes on the breaks, anything and everything that swims seems to have a favorable disposition this time of year.  As water temperatures warm, lakes, ponds, and rivers become veritable factories, churning out increasing productivity with each passing day.  From the bottom up, biologically speaking, varieties of vegetative growth spur phytoplankton and zooplankton to rapidly reproduce, and drive invertebrates, terrestrials,  and minnow species to the feast.  The fish we target are not far behind, with the exception of a few species that are actively engaged in the spawn.  Bottom line – fish are establishing summer patterns, and actively feeding amongst the array of developing food sources.  Demand is high, yet supply in terms of food resources are just getting into gear.

The sportsman’s dilemma then becomes a selection process of determining which bites to fish among the embarrassment of riches that presents itself.  I’ll describe a few of my favorite bites to target during this time period, in the hopes that even if weather, fishing funks, or particular systems aren’t producing that species, you’ll have more than enough other options to try-out.  No matter what species you’re after however, think aggressive.  Now is not the time for minutia and finesse tactics.  Cover water, find fish, and go right at them.

Nesting Gills – I hesitate to mention this one, as the negative impacts to bluegill fisheries by high-grading the largest bluegills in the system during this time of year are well documented.  Still, responsible angling for these beauties can be enjoyed, specifically by cruising shallows with polarized sunglasses while looking for the tire-sized depressions often made in large groups by the ever-so-important males.  My favorite way to target them is to cast a weightless #8 or #10 VMC hook with a chunk of crawler under a clip-on pencil bobber.  Should the bobber elevate off the water even slightly, you know you’re being bit, and the slow fall of the unweighted setup really does the trick even in heavily pressured waters.

Trolling for Walleyes Two Ways – Crankbaits put behind the boat and trolled at various speeds will really pull fish aboard during this period.  It’s an ultra-efficient method for both finding AND catching fish, but depending on the depth the fish are scattered, you may need to come at it from two different angles.  The first, when fish are in 8-10 FOW, either on overcast or windy days and earlier in the season, long-line #5 Shad Raps in Gold, Perch, Crawdad, or Firetiger patterns.  Experiment between 80, 100, to 120ft. of line or more behind the boat to dial-in the combination for when you’re fishing.  The second type of trolling that can produce fast action during this time period is leadcore trolling.  We’re not talking about dredging the 30 foot depths yet, but often, using leadcore in depths of 15 -25 FOW will more effectively keep the bait near bottom where the walleyes are.  My favorite baits on leadcore are the #5 Jointed Shad Raps in similar colors as above.  If you don’t have a leadcore setup yet, take the plunge!  It’s not as scary as it sounds and solves many of the problems of traditional weighting systems.

Cottonwood Seed Largemouths – A great phenological indicator of great bass activity annually seems to be the flying fuzz from cottonwood trees.  I can think back to many memorable bass outings on small ponds and southern Minnesota lakes that included a fair dose of picking the fur off of your line.  Keep it simple and fish top-water lures like buzzbaits, frogs, or Skitter Pops for maximum enjoyment.  Fish will very readily strike heavy plastics fished in a variety of depths and means as well, so if fishing with a partner, divide and conquer in terms of bait selection. 

Jerkbait Smallies – As water temps warm and fish activity increases, no species seems to respond as well as smallmouth bass.  On the front end of this time period, smallies are pre-spawn, with some of the males just starting to think about nesting.  At this point, they’re shallow, and eating a variety of prey, but will display some aggressive behavior towards stickbaits, slash-baits, or any neutrally buoyant bait worked quickly.  At its peak, this bite really turns on with X-Raps and similar slash-baits being worked extremely quickly.  “Ripping it like an idiot,” as it has been described to me, is not too fast to work these baits when the bite is prime.  The curiosity of a smallmouth is piqued, and its territorial nature demands an exploratory jaunt for what is making all that noise.  Fish will hit on the pause, and often already be hooked up as you go to make your next “slash.”     

These are broad bites, and dozens of other patterns are developing in a dynamic fashion during this time of year.  One gives way to another as fish begin to establish a more consistent pattern, so don’t be alarmed if it’s here today, and gone tomorrow.  Alas, it’s just like the fall hunting season, which comes and goes far too quickly, but it’s something to be thoroughly enjoyed when it’s hot.  That “get it while you can” seasonality of these pursuits adds to the allure of each and every one of these patterns, urging me to get out and fish as much as I possibly can during this period.

Work the Bird, Don't Let the Bird Work You

The bird hunts you as much as you hunt it!

The title is a well-traveled phrase created by turkey legend David Hale of Knight and Hale Game Calls, which highlights so succinctly a common calling blunder in the turkey woods.  It’s a study in human nature, and mother-nature, all wrapped up in an often-repeated scenario that happens every spring.  Turkey hunter calls and gets a response from a gobbler.  With glee, turkey hunter pours on the calling, delighted with the response and more often, enthralled in the sound of his or her own yelps, clucks, and purrs.  The bird approaches, but more cautiously, as incessant yelping becomes both louder and prouder, thus pinpointing the location of said turkey hunter.  The gobbler, now quiet, finds the most open and visible spot to strut and display just out of range.  This lasts for only so long, and eventually the tom retreats to whatever it was he was doing before. 

To better understand the interaction, think in terms of turkey radar.  The tom is up on some ridge (a.k.a – his backyard) minding his own business, when a hen sounds off.  Immediately he responds with excitement, thinking the entire time, “Now where is she at – sounds like the corner of the field edge where I eat clover about 200 yards from here?”  While I doubt that toms understand yardage the way we do, I know from watching them approach so many times that they have a pre-determined spot in mind. 

This location could be the actual spot you’re calling from, or an area that they’re used to hearing from and intercepting hens, but one thing is for certain, the more you call, the more they KNOW where you’re at.  An old gobbler’s radar works like a series of rapidly closing concentric circles, with him tightening the noose each time he hears from you.  After your first series, he’s got you pinned down to a 50 yard area.  By the time your box call is smoking your you’ve got a blood blister on your striker hand, that bird knows you down to the tree.  That’s a blow-by-blow account on how the bird “works you.”

Now that we’ve identified the problem, here’s a heavy dose of solutions.  The first being to call more patiently, and more to attract him, rather than to scratch the natural itch we all have to plainly do anything it takes to hear him gobble one more time.  So often we call to elicit a gobble, rather than to punch a tag.  We grow nervous after not hearing from him in 5 minutes, so we “check-call” hoping to get an update on his progress as he makes his way nearby.  This check calling is effective and often required, especially if you’re in a bad setup, covering a large expanse, or otherwise exposed.  The trick is to do it quietly, rarely, and variably.

Speaking of varying your calls, this most often means steering the direction of your calling.  This can be tough with a box call, easier with a slate, and easiest of all with a mouth call.  With a diaphragm, you can throw the sound, and many times I’ve steered a tom around obstacles or more towards my position effectively by throwing my calls the direction I’d like him to come.  Don’t think you can get a tom to zig zag his way through the woods on command?  I didn’t see it captured in video form until Denny Gulvas did it on his DVD – “Challenging Pressured Gobblers,” where Denny demonstrates the technique quite well.  You can even turn around, pointing your calls the other direction, mimicking a hen that’s tired of the waiting game and is leaving town, ready or not.  This trick works best in a blind where you have free range of motion without being seen, and is a phenomenal way of breaking loose a hung-up tom.

Another trick is to call more quietly, or switch to non-verbals like leaf scratching.  While scratching can be easily pinpointed, a bird often needs to be within range to hear it well.  Just like it’s easy to find your buddy when he’s honking the horn on the truck, turkeys can more easily pinpoint your location when the sounds you’re making are loud.  Quiet down and match the tone and noise of the woods you’re hunting to more effectively get those birds to close.

In my mind, the best way to work a bird then is to keep him guessing, never letting him know your exact location.  Of course there’s always outliers.  I’ve spoken at length and hunted with guides and championship callers that never shut up.  They blow a call constantly and it only improves their success.  That said, they can sound like a flock of turkeys, yelping more convincingly than the real thing and projecting the symphony across a wide-range of vocalizations.  They do so with mouth calls and throw the sound around the woods.  If you can work a call to their level of proficiency, the more power to you.  For most of the rest of us however, fewer, well-placed calls that pique a tom’s curiosity into having them close the distance, leaves you more likely this spring to work the bird, rather than having him work you.

Targeting Mille Lacs Spawning Smallmouth – Should it be Legal?

The cat is officially out of the bag. Mille Lacs Lake, a vast and varied fishery of more than 130,000 acres in central Minnesota, is arguably the best trophy smallmouth water in the world. For years it has been in every top-10 smallie list that outdoors writers can scribe, and has been the focus of countless TV, video, photo, and fishing media events. While lake-hype may be alive and well with countless “hot” destinations both coming and going, the fervor surrounding especially the quality of this lake’s fish is very real.

Take into account the bags of fish pulled day-in and day-out for the Bassmaster Elite’s final event of the 2016 season. Despite a cold-front mid-tourney and some rougher water to contend with, Mille Lacs gave up more big smallies than any other event in Bassmaster tournament history. Consumate Pro, 7-time angler of the year, and smallie-genius Kevin Van Dam said it best when he wrote, “I’ve never seen so many big, old smallmouth in one lake.”

FISHING THE SPAWN – HISTORY LESSON

To Brad Hawthorne, long-time guide and Mille Lacs Lake resident, it’s ascent to greatness is not by accident. “We’ve enjoyed a 100% closed bass-season (no catch and release) until nearly the end of May for decades,” says Hawthorne, who describes the annual smallmouth spawn in Mille Lacs being nothing short of “epic.”  “I’ve encountered certain sections of the lake where beds are stacked for nearly a mile of shoreline.”  Hawthorne’s upcoming YouTube video series titled “Smallmouth Chronicles” focuses on the lake and its brown bass, detailing ways to catch fish during the entire season without initially targeting them on their beds. Hawthorne states, “There’s always a bite for big bass here that doesn’t include visually pitching to individual bedded smallmouth.”

As Hawthorne notes, in 2015, a statewide catch and release bass season was created during the traditional early May gamefish opener. Historically in Minnesota, the bass season was closed until the end of May with prevailing thought being that these fish needed a respite from angling pressure during a time where especially smallmouth are quite vulnerable to being caught. Given that both largemouth and smallmouth are nest dwelling species that adapt well and thrive in a variety of lakes and rivers, the decision was made to increase opportunity due to the burgeoning popularity of bass fishing in northern waters.

IS MILLE LACS DIFFERENT?

The focus then becomes the statewide regulation and its effect on a single fishery like Mille Lacs. Regarding bass spawning vulnerabilities, MN DNR fisheries consultant Al Stevens mentions that, “On an individual fish, there’s an impact, but on the population level, we can’t see any impact.”  Research nationwide seems to support the idea that on a gamma scale, overall regional populations of bass are unharmed by catch and release angling during the spawn.

While this may hold true regarding the vast majority of bass lakes in the state, is Mille Lacs an outlier that requires more protection based solely on the fact that it may be the single-most popular water in the state?  Enough fishing pressure could mean that targeting smallies on beds would potentially hurt the spawn, thus the fishery in the future. How much harm is debatable, certainly, but commonsense would dictate that it certainly doesn’t help?     

CATCH AND KEEP

There may be bigger fish to fry…err…release, indicates Jim DaRosa, Mille Lacs smallmouth guide and founder of the Mille Lacs Smallmouth Alliance, who supports catch and release regulations both spring and fall given proper handling of the fish. “Our group is focused on angler education, and ‘freeing the fighter’ as a slogan for greater catch and release awareness.”  Of greater concern to the Smallmouth Alliance are regulations that allow for the catch and kill of smallmouth bass. Before 2013, Mille Lacs was a “one-over” lake, meaning anglers could keep only one Smallmouth Bass, and it had to be 21”es or greater to do it. However, starting in that year, anglers could keep up to 6 smallmouth under 17”es, with only one over 20”es. Since then, regulations have been modified to allow only 3 fish under 17”es with only one over 21”es, but DaRosa considers this catch-and-keep regulation to be the Alliance’s #1 priority. “Fish on Mille Lacs can spawn well into June, leaving them vulnerable after the May 27th catch release season lapses, and we believe strongly that these fish under 17”es are the building block for tomorrow’s true trophies.”  While not opposed to selective harvest of smallmouth, the Mille Lacs Smallmouth Alliance is concerned that decisions are being made based on socio-political pressures, not good science.

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

Long-time guide and Mille Lacs lake guru Tony Roach voices the same conservation concerns regarding the catch and keep of smallmouth, but also prefers not to fish for them when shallow and visibly guarding nests. “Most of my bites are active presentations for post-spawn fish, so I don’t drop a jig on a bed when I don’t have to,” state’s Roach. Similar to Hawthorne, Tony prefers fishing many of the other smallmouth patterns that involve either pre-spawn fish or bronzebacks that have worked past the short post-spawn funk immediately after moving from their beds.

For now, the legality of fishing for smallmouth on their beds in Mille Lacs, or any Minnesota lake is not in question. Bass season on Mille Lacs and statewide opens May 13th for this year, with a combined possession limit of 3, and all bass 17-21”es being immediately released, whether caught from a bed or not.

What is in question are the implications that targeting spawners may have for the best trophy smallmouth water the nation has seen. While the science may be clear when speaking of broad areas regionally or otherwise, it’s difficult to predict what a dramatic amount of increased pressure may do to the health of the lake’s smallmouth population. In the wake of national media attention and increased popularity from greater distances, no one truly knows how targeting these shallow bass at the peak of both their size and vulnerability may affect successive generations of Mille Lacs Lake Smallmouth.

There exists a sliding scale of opportunity versus resource concerns that lies at the heart of this issue, and while not all stakeholders may agree on targeting spawning fish on beds, nearly all agree that catch and release fishing for smallmouth bass regardless of season, is a cause worth supporting. All three guides interviewed for this article are catch-and-release only, all year, for Smallmouth Bass, which is a point worth noting whether you support targeting them during the spawn or not.