by Bret Amundson

While the Minnesota opener has come and gone, it seems like it was just yesterday. While I stayed close to home, Dan Amundson continued his opener tradition with his father in northern Minnesota, using a ned rig approach.

In years past, live bait would be a staple in my boat on opener. But after success a few years ago with plastics, I’ve made the switch to almost exclusive use of artificial baits. I’m not ruling out a leech and slip bobber this summer though. It’s something I haven’t used for years, since long before incorporating LiveScope with the presentation. Crawler harnesses might be in play as well.

I haven’t tried ned rigs yet, but after watching Dan have success with it, I’ll have to add some to my trays.

After the opener, it’s hard for me to focus much on Minnesota fishing as my attention turns to Canada. I have an Ontario trip coming up, something that I’ve been doing with family since I was 11. While fishing is a priority, preserving the tradition takes precedence. We’ll work hard on the water, but it’s more about catching up between catching fish.

After that trip, we have a short turnaround before heading back to Saskatchewan. We’re spending a couple weeks at Tazin Lake Lodge once again this year to film a new season of Tazin TV. This remote, fly-in fishing lodge offers world class lake trout and northern pike fishing. Jeremy Smith described it best, “Spectacular fish that live in beautiful places.” Throw in some great people that run and work at the place and it’s something that I look forward to all year and it goes by too quickly.

Last summer, we had the chance to introduce this lake to Vic Cook, co-founder of LIVETARGET. We’ve been using LT lures up there for years and, in recent years, Dan and I have done some work with the group including taking a trip to ICAST in 2022.

Summer is here. Bring on the fishing trips, trying out new products and working hard to avoid sunburn!