10 Essential Items for Every Wheelhouse Angler

Photo credit - Matt Addington

There’s a great many ways to fish out of a wheelhouse, across a diverse fish-scape for a host of species.  Yet, no mater what you fish for or where, there are some items that are simply indispensable in a wheelhouse.  Many of which, don’t necessarily just relate to the fishing aspect of the experience, but range in category from simple comfort items to food prep and beyond.  While the list is certainly longer than just 10 items, here are a few that I’m always thankful to have when heading off for a long weekend trip.

Slush Bucket – Before you ever get to fish, you need to drill holes, and that’s where problems can start.  Especially with a speed auger, ice chips and water fly around the house, making for a cold and slippery floor the rest of the trip.  Start it off right by drilling through this bucket, and emptying slush outside.  It doubles as a holder to temporarily store my catch cover hole covers, and fits conveniently in my shower while fishing.

10” Electric Auger – There’s a lot of great ice augers that’ll put a hole in the ice, but this one does it with power to spare, great torque, and with electric, fumeless energy.  The standard blade style is less touchy than curved blade systems, stands up to frequently drilled ice, and has a smooth, top-to-bottom cut no matter where you fish.  There are lighter augers on the market, but this one is an ultra durable steel 10” design that’s perfect for drilling a few holes in a wheelhouse.   

Pizza Stone – Cooking in RV/fish-house ovens can be a challenging task with a design that overheats at the bottom, and tends to under-perform throughout.  Whether you’re cooking pizza or not, you can nullify the scorched bottom effect by simply placing a rectangular pizza stone at the bottom rack of the oven, and cooking on the top rack.  This one is heavy duty, deflects heat well, and fits perfectly inside the oven of my Yetti Fish House. 

Fish Ruler – A quality ruler is always in style, as no matter the lake you’re fishing or species you’re after, there’s bound to be a target size.  Some lakes even have special regulations that require you to measure before keeping.  This one is heavy duty, will last, and is tournament approved.

Kitchen Organizer – Drawer and cabinet space is at a premium, so you might as well store commonly used items on the wall within easy reach.  This one holds everything from spices to spoons, knives to napkins, and everything in between.  Better yet, all the items stay put during transport, making this both a space-saver and a convenient way to store your kitchen goods.

Bait Cooler – Wheelhouse bait buckets can take a beating during transport, going back and forth between the truck bed and fish-house.  Not to mention, in cold weather, they’re a pain if they leak, freeze, or are prone to tipping.  This one solves most problems associated with bait storage on ice, and is just as good on the open ice as it is in the Yetti. 

Rattle Reels – Let’s face it, many of us are casual about our fishing when it’s time to eat, watch a movie, or otherwise just enjoy ice camping.  That’s why it’s critical to set a good trap when our eyes are off the rod-tip.  The Rattlesnake Rattle Reel design is as much about the wall disk system it’s mounted on as the reel itself.  That allows anglers to interchange rod holders, drink holders, and a host of other accessories anywhere a wall disk is mounted.  That gives an angler ultimate flexibility while preserving maximum fishability in the process.

Generator – There’s a pile of good ones out there, but this one keeps finding its way into the back of my truck.  It’s been exceptionally reliable, has a larger gas reservoir that makes it throughout the night on eco-mode, and starts in the coldest of weather.  Did I mention it’s a bargain compared to other units in its power range?  This one has lasted well for me, and I think you’ll like it too.

Fish-Finder/Camera Combo – It’s hard to argue that a finder/camera combo is absolutely essential to catch fish, but it’s tougher to ignore the impact of ice electronics for the average wheelhouse experience.  If you know you’ll need both items, why not get them in a package, save some cash for bundling, and get it with lithium lightweight power along the way?  Better yet, project what you’re seeing on the graph and camera all at once to the big-screen TV. 

Plastic Storage Bins -  While you’ll need to measure your own cabinets and storage compartments to see what sizes fit, plastic storage cubes like these keep me organized between winter and summer.  At the end of the season, I simply swap out the bins that are needed for summer or winter, and keep the odd season on the shelf in the garage for a few months.  It results in less wasted space, easier load-out/in, and faster finding of all kinds of items from tackle to basic conveniences.  It’s where I store rattle reels, line, rod holders, lures, and a host of other items.  An organized wheelhouse catches more fish!

So there you have it, a few items I probably couldn’t live without, or at least, wouldn’t want to.  They’re essential to making all parts of my wheelhouse experience what they can be.  More importantly, they truly do help me get on more fish, by keeping me efficient and happy on ice.  That’s half the battle, especially when mother nature isn’t cooperating as well as she should be. 

Catching More Big Fish

BIG FISH

Lots of anglers seek big fish almost as a matter of trade. They've experienced smash days on the water...have been there, done that. They can wait hours and even weeks for one big bite, habitually finding themselves on premier waters, at prime times, fishing in a way that few are willing to rise to because of the sacrifice it takes. They live for exceptional fish, and are satisfied with few others. After all that build-up....I'll be the first to tell you, I'm NOT that angler.

That's not to say I don't respect those anglers or that way of fishing, because I really do. There was a time when I lived by those ideals, tested my own mettle to achieve big fish fame-dom. Striving to be the best, to catch the best, to a fault, is something that's kind of hard-wired into me. Yet, these days I find myself taking what pleasure I can from whatever the day may give me.

BIG FISH STORIES

On a recent trip, that was a 10 year old's very first big fish - a near 20lb. bigmouth buffalo that pulled like a school bus and kicked like a mule when it hit the boat floor. A "junk-fish" by some people's standards, few things but a sturgeon would've pulled like that fish did on that day. We caught walleyes sure, even a few "keepers" - but his little chest puffed out 3 sizes bigger that day because of what surrounding boats thought was just a carp.

Perhaps what's better, is that we weren't trophy hunting. We were dropping baits around big schools of shad, looking to catch anything that ate. Eat they did, from smallies to walleyes, and buffalo to white bass, we had a great time, and even caught a big fish. More a family cruise in the fall sun, we enjoyed ourselves first and foremost, stowing the rods when light fell behind the bluffs in favor of dropping leaves and hoodie weather around frying fish back at the campsite.

3-days prior was a different trip altogether, and led to the big fish pictured. I was scouting that same bite, looking for the best bite I could, and fishing hard. The big girl, a 29" old female, ate off a 24' current break behind one of the largest rafts of river shad I've ever side-imaged. At first, she just stayed deep and rolled, almost catfish like. Then, she came unglued, and rose beneath the boat, revealing a white tipped tail but with no sight of the buried #7 purple wonder puppet minnow in her mouth.

CATCHING MORE BIG FISH - A STRATEGY

And so it goes, at least in my experience with big fish. You can hunt them like a trophy whitetail, with time on the water seeming to be that which separates the best from the rest. These fish just show up randomly sometimes, but that's not to say that catching a big fish happens at random. Doing the right things at the right times, with the right equipment for the job increases your odds not only in contacting a big fish, but in actually landing it when your chance comes. Ultimately, those details are the great equalizer, as so many anglers have brushes with big fish without ever knowing. Connecting, then making good on your opportunity when it counts is what ends up mattering most.

Which brings me to the white-out rod in the portion of the shot. It's a proto-type I'm testing for St. Croix like I have many rods before it. It's the best rod I've ever tried for this very application - working that bait to perfection, offering incredible feel and dexterity through the handle portion, and pinning that fish better than a gold-medal olympic wrestler. After fishing with it for several trips and many hours, I filled out a 45 minute questionnaire that's about as rod-nerdy as they come. Fun stuff for a guy like me, and hopefully some valuable information when combined with other anglers' data, such that the engineers can make the next revision even better - if that's possible.

Someday soon, you'll get to fish it too, but until then, no matter what your stance on big fish is, your angling pursuits or passions may be, know that I've found being ready is perhaps your vert best big-fish strategy. Rig right, use quality components and materials throughout, while utilizing the best tools for the job at hand. So many times, it seems like the rest just takes care of itself.

Early Grouse Offers Practice, Promise

Thick stuff made for good hunting but tougher shooting - Berretta Silver Pigeon pictured

10 steps into the ferns and balsam firs of northern lower Michigan, I was reminded why early grouse hunting can be fun and frustrating at the same time.  Weather was incredible, maybe low 50’s with a glint of sunlight through the trees, shining off the tiny water droplets that enveloped everything we were about to walk through in front of us.  Our group of four was happy, hunting over two days near Gaylord, Michigan’s Pigeon River Forest, albeit wet. 

While chaps kept most of the moisture from the woods at bay, we had to perspire a bit to find our quarry, but what better way to get some exercise?  You could suspend a rotisserie chicken in front of a treadmill, but what fun would it be to just pluck and start eating.  Instead, we walked a few miles of mixed aspen and pine, with the occasional alder swamp edge, to get our steps in. 

AGLOW Conference

Campfires, guitars, and like-minded friends made AGLOW that much more fun.

We gathered together as Outdoors Writers, Media Members, and Visitor and Tourism Bureaus as part of the annual Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers (AGLOW) meeting.  Though I’ve known about the group for some time, it was my initial conference and one I’m not likely to miss in coming years.  Not only did we work on our craft, but we played guitar, ate great food, learned more about the area we stayed in, and actually hunted and fished.  That’s right, instead of just talking or writing about it, we pursued a variety of outdoors ventures, from fly-casting to walleye-trolling, and elk bugling to bulging a bucktail for muskies.  Of course, I chose grouse getting as a trip for myself as well.  After a trip to Jay’s Sporting Goods, a Michigan institution and only place I’ve seen ammo in many months, I was ready to hunt. 

Thick Cover, Shots Fired

The first bird to flush was a ruffie in a sunny upland with scattered birch, but the best shot I had at a gamebird was actually in an alder thicket.  I wandered away from the group a touch, and our dog Ruby for the first day was actually in cahoots.  She pointed, then broke, and then put up a woodcock straight away.  I shouldered and fired, only to watch my shot pepper the lone big tree in the swamp.  The one the woodcock fluttered right behind.  Oh well, it was the first shot of the season in heavy cover to boot.

My second round fired came on day 2, and admittedly was a much easier shot.  Which of course I also missed.  Devil Dog as his owner called him, did a great job of flushing this bird into the relative open, just a bit long on the end of shotgun range.  Still, I had a chance at him, and that’s all you ask for in early grouse.  Continuing on, we put up 14 birds total that day.  Some of them launched out of trees, others just out of range or in fresh aspen regrowth among slash piles.  Hip flexers were sore after those walks, but that made lunch back at Tree Tops resort that much better when we got back. 

One For the Bag

Devil Dog and his quarry.

My bird came on the edge of some of that slash, where it met up with some mature forest.  3 flushed, two shots were fired, and one grouse was found, eventually, with the help of the Devil himself.  Without his nose, we never would’ve stood a chance.  I watched the bird touch down after the second shot kind of funny, but wasn’t sure if I’d hit him or not.  The Setter in less than 10 seconds found the landing spot, trailed around and under some thick grass, only to come to a quick, hard point.  The bird was still alive, and likely to scoot without the dog eventually retrieving when permitted to.

Hunting Dogs and Later Season

I don’t have much experience hunting over dogs like Kyle Alexander and Nick Green, Michiganders and incredible bird hunters in their own right, let us hunt with.  I can see the addiction however, and how without them, especially early, a hunter just wouldn’t stand a chance.  Yet, I also saw in the early hunt how they were all licking their chops for the coming weeks.  Less cover, easier walking, and finally some open shooting might make the scales tip a bit more in favor of dogs and hunter.  Still, if you’re an addict of fall sights and smells, why wait for an already short season to be shorter?

At the end of our walk we put up yet another bird near the trucks, one that we ended up missing for one reason or another.  It was a great end to our time in Lower Michigan, reminding us of the promise of weeks to come, and what it means to leave a few birds for seed.  Devil Dog had been particularly well behaved up to that point, until I stepped on one of the treats he left near the vehicles when we first departed.  To add insult to injury, in an attempt to re-bury said offensive boot bombs, he managed to kick sand all over me.  While I might not be getting a Setter anytime soon, I’m sure it was his way of reminding us to shoot better next time. 

Whether with dog or not, I was excited to discover a new corner of the world that had everything I look for as a sportsman.  Salmon and trout species in close proximity, with wild turkeys, grouse, and walleyes.  Not all particularly in that order, with some stunning scenery to match.  A touch of Great Lakes with great inland waters and woods makes for an interesting variety of things to hunt, fish, and generally enjoy.  Thanks for the memories Gaylord, I’ll be back. 

Pulling a Tom Away from His Hen(s)

It could be one of the greater challenges in the sporting universe.  “Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing baby.”  You, a mysterious, fake hen who fails repeatedly to show herself, is supposed to draw attention from a gobbler in the catbird seat.  Especially early, male birds will always entertain an opportunity for more hens (i.e. – “you”), they just tend not to go very far or even offer many clues to their interest.  That said, for the early season hunters facing big flocks and henned-up toms, there’s a few things you can try to tip the odds in your favor.

Start Small

Consider it the first day of school, and you’re making friends.  Don’t start the conversation with a drop kick off the swingset, followed by a shouting match with the recess ring-leader.  Go small to begin with.  Maybe some scant tree talk, leading in to a hat or wing-simulated fly down.  A few yelps here and there, but mostly clucks and some purrs.  Be interesting, but not a suspect of interest.  Blend-in, and simply be another one of the group.  Hens offer subtle clues and especially body language when visible.  Usually you’ll know how accepting they are if your scouting and roosting activity has put you in a good position. 

Introduce Yourself

Eventually small talk has to give way to a real introduction.  As much to the lead hen running the show as to the bird you hope to bag.  Still, try to stay within the bounds of the general attitude that morning, at least at first.  Eventually if nobody is talking, you need to put yourself out there with some more excited yelping and carrying on.  Don’t interpret that as top-end and constant cutting, but hopefully as any other hen excited to wake up. 

Pick a Fight

Getting on a fellow hen’s nerves is one of the best ways to bring the boys into range.  It’s usually pretty simple, but is far from foolproof.  Nobody likes a copycat, and I’ve had the best luck mimicking what the lead hen says, to a “T.”  The better you can recreate her cadence, pitch, and overall sound, note-for-note, the better this seems to work.  Get her talking and get her walking is the best rule of thumb I can offer.  When she starts looking for you, or if you feel her slipping away, start stepping on her calls.  Amp it up by cutting her off, then calling longer and louder. 

It’s important to note that this may work like a charm, without ever drawing the tom into range immediately.  For that reason, it’s absolutely imperative that you’re comfortable, well-hid, and ready to have a hen mere steps away from you for an indefinite period of time.  Some of the worst standoffs I’ve ever had with turkeys have been with gobblers that approach slow behind their hens that are literally at my feet.  Talk abut being handcuffed.

Stay in Their “Back Pocket”

Perhaps the best tip that was ever given me by an old tymey woodsman style turkey hunter, was to “stay in their back pocket.”  Birds will move throughout the day, sometimes great distances on their own without harassment.  You start threatening a lead hen as a new jenny, and you’re likely to increase the speed and distance with which the group will travel.  That’s doubly true if you’re really leaning on them with the calling, after failing to pick a fight.  This could also be one of the tougher ways to kill a tom with hens early, as vegetation has barely afforded you the cover to sneak around at this point of the season.  Drop back if you have to, and use terrain to end-around them such that they’re working your general direction.  No matter what, stay in their back pocket and follow them around as long as you can get away with it.  Good things happen when you’re at least near their bubble.    

Last-Ditch Efforts

Harold Knight and David Hale pioneered the fighting purr call years ago now.  It was a double plunger style pushpin call that mimicked two hens really having it out, but I was never talented enough to run it well.  Instead, I utilize a mouth call as one hen, and a slate call as hen #2, mimicking that same fighting purr.  I’ve observed many times a schoolyard style hen fight where gobblers RUN to the edge of the ring and gobble profusely at the hens that are sparring.  While that tactic works occasionally, what I can tell you is that when it does work, it really works and will always be something to keep deep in your bag of tricks when you need it.  Many times now I’ve had toms abandon their hens and literally come running like something out of a game call commercial.  Still more times I’ve completely boogered the birds that were not prepared for that kind of racket.  Utilize it as the hero-or-zero tactic that it is.

Say you’re not practiced up enough on the calling to try that fighting purr, maybe the best thing you can do is to stay in their back pocket while calling occasionally.  I can say that in all the drawn out hen fights and grouped up gobbler blues I’ve withstood over the years, when I do kill a tom in that situation it’s almost rare when it’s the bird I was after.  More often, it’s a completely different bird that shows up unannounced, off to the side and from a completely different direction than I had intended.  Many more times yet, jakes show up in force provided the lead birds are working off or out of range.  Old birds and young alike don’t want the big fight with 2 and 3 year olds, so they approach cautiously and quietly.  For that reason, stick tight, be vigilant, and keep at it throughout the day.  You never know when a tom quietly loses interest in his existing game, to start a new one.      

Photo Credit - Matt Addington Photography

Mapping Your Way to More Turkeys

Photo Credit - Matt Addington Photography

As a self-admitted map-nerd, I’ll be the first to concede that I go overboard at times.  Long before Google Maps, OnX and readily available aerial photography, I was staring at topo maps and whatever bird’s-eye view I could get my hands on in the aid of chasing spring turkeys.  While the interest started back home, my skills were honed on public lands hunts in southern states and the west, where the National Forest Maps or WMA plots were coveted pieces of information.  They noted logging roads, peaks and valleys, but especially the all-important ravines or creases in the landscape where a hunter could sneak, undetected from A to B.  Most were at a scale that was truly too “zoomed-out” to be exceptionally useful, but for a stranger in a strange land, they were a godsend.

I’ve got a degree in mapping, something called Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – which involves fancy layering of information on customized maps.  It’s a spatial way of asking questions of the data, by adding or subtracting layers like aerial photography, land-ownership, topography, surface water, etc.  I started turkey hunting in the mid-late 1990’s when being a GIS person was one of the only ways to get your hands on this information, and wow did it work well.  Suddenly, not knowing the ground as well as the turkeys was less of a disadvantage, in everything from approaching roost locations, to determining how to make a play on a group of birds.  It took real work in those days to do some digital reconnaissance, print paper maps, and consult them in the field from time to time.

Apps as Maps

Digital offers so many advantages, from easy editing, viewing additional layers, and mapping your own features and sharing.

Old school paper copy worked, but the digital versions are far improved!

These days, everything is at your fingertips.  OnX brings the aerial photography, contour data, ownership information, and a host of other useful layers to life, wherever in the country you hunt.  Perhaps more importantly, with apps like these, you can now add your own data.  Mark waypoints, color code or give them special symbology to discern the difference in a point from a day-time loafing area to an early morning roost location.  While this is something we’ve been doing in a boat for walleyes since the advent of GPS technology, it’s just seeing more widespread use in the hunting circles I run. 

I’ll detail a hunt in Wisconsin a few buddies and I do where the use of the apps has been instrumental.  While I’ve been hunting there for the better part of a decade or more, some friends of mine are rather new to the ground.  They don’t know the landowners, the property boundaries, or even the lay of the hilly landscape.  What used to involve extensive hard-copy map planning the evening before, and constant consultation days-of hunting, is now something that lives on each of our phones.  We can share a waypoint from day to day to send another guy back to likely areas, and everyone hunts while knowing where we have permission.  All for cheaper than the gas it takes us to get there. 

When you do decide to use this tool, it becomes about efficient use.  That first begins with using it to scout.  In spending some time interviewing Aaron Warbritton of The Hunting Public fame, one of the biggest tools in new and unfamiliar land for him, is utilizing the apps to mark waypoints of early-morning, gobbling turkeys.  The goal is to spend some time early and late, marking as many roost locations as possible.  From that point, you’ve got a start to your day from which to continue to log waypoints and other information.  That could include good sign you find, mid-day loafing areas, and solid food locations.  The idea is to take the layers already given to you, and build upon them with your own information.  I’ve always said that on good ground, one more day of scouting means one more less day of hunting for your bird.  Not that the goal of any hunt is to end it quickly, but it underscores how effective it can be when done with some intelligence and purpose. 

Scouting - What to Look For

When it comes to the hunt itself, I’ll typically spend some time the night before studying my scouting spatially on the app.  I try to envision a day in the life of a turkey.  Where I’d want to roost, then fly down to, thinking about a good strut zone.  I also consider based on weather where I’d like to spend my day if I were a turkey.  Is that full-sun greenery with all kinds of fresh shoots and terrestrials to eat, or a cool and calm hole in the woods where I could get out of hot sun and blustery wind.  From there, I start thinking about an afternoon path that takes me likely uphill and to another (or same) roost location. 

I wake up in the AM with that uploaded in my brain, interested in getting to a solid roost location to start my hunt.  As birds light up all around me, I add even more waypoints before studying the aerial photography, and more importantly the topography, surrounding the gobbling bird I’d like to go after.  I’m not always looking for the closest bird, as especially early in the season, I’m looking for the most concealed and best approach.  Learning to read contour lines is important in this quest.  “V”-shaped contour groupings indicate a ravine or crease in the landscape that can conceal your early morning approach to roosted birds, with the tip of the “V” being uphill or higher in elevation.

From here I continually peek at the contours as I approach to monitor when roosted turkeys may come into view, or more importantly, where I may come into their view.  As the hunt progresses, I keep visual tabs on the birds if possible, considering additional approaches on the aerial photography and contours.  If they disappear behind a rise, I know generally where they are and how best to work towards them.  That was a luxury not easily afforded in years past unless you knew the ground really well.  Even then, memories from a year-ago or beyond can tend to fail you in the heat of the moment.

Handy Built-In Tools

The measurement tool in OnX can be crucial to determining how far a bird is from your general location.

Another handy function is the distance measurement tools.  On a recent hunt in Wisconsin, some friends of mine were actually able to measure the width of the annual hay/corn contour strips to determine that a group of birds skirting the edge would be just out of range.  It gave them the confidence to re-work them and cut them off at a different part of the field where the strips narrowed.  Ultimately, they scored a great tom in the process.

While I have heard from others regarding fair chase and such uses of technology to take a turkey, the simple fact remains that if all you ever use these apps for is delineating property boundaries, they’re still well worth it.  It’s really up to each individual hunter how much tech they’d want to invade their turkey hunt.  For me, the platform is a welcome tool, especially when birds are particularly difficult or when hunting new ground.  Personally, it has taken away some safety concerns and ignited a more fearless passion for hunting additional ground I’ve never seen before.  All worthwhile components of a more fun and successful season.