Late Summer Wolf River Smallies

By Duane Fronek

I’ve been fishing the Wolf River the last couple weeks. And the Smallmouth Bass action has been hot. The Wolf is historically known as trout water, the upper part at least north of the Menominee Reservation. Brown trout is the main target. But for me I’ve switched gears and got into hunting down big smallmouth bass on the Wolf. By big I mean 16-18 inches maybe 20”, they’re in there because I’ve caught them up to 18”, not overly that big compared to other areas of the state or even compared to the Largemouth. But these smallies or Bronzebacks as some call them put up one heck of a fight in the strong current of the Wolf, they make big Largemouth look like powder puffs when it comes to the battle. The smallmouth could probably whip their weight in wildcats, seriously they are a fighter but majorly overlooked on the Wolf.

A good example of a deep eddy around a boulder

My partner Volker landing a nice 16 incher

  I’ve been fishing the Wolf since the late 80’s mostly for Brown trout. But after hooking into a few big smallies they slowly got my attention. I know the Wolf pretty well from all the years of fishing it. And found the big smallies hang in the deeper eddys and holes. Fishing these spots you need to take caution on the Wolf. The current is strong and the deeper you wade the more chance of getting dumped and going for a swim.

  So what gear do you need for this type of fishing? Well first off, you can don chest waders and I do at times. But for me I throw on a pair of shorts and rubber boots. You’re gonna get wet fishing these guys so I look at it like go comfortably, chest waders are hot and when you fill them, it’s a pain. So I go light. I strap on a back pack for my tackle which is minimal, a bottle of mountain dew or 2, my camera, and my surgical looking forceps for removing hooks. My camera is in a Ziploc bag as well as my cell phone, never know when you may need to call for help.

  For a rod, use what you want in the med. to ultra light using atleast 6#-8# test line. My buddy is using that red Cajun line in #4 test and hasn’t broke off yet, tough stuff. My favorite line is Royal Bonyl but it’s not made anymore, at least I can’t find it. So I use Trilene Max, and it has been performing fine, I was using Berkley Iron Silk, but can’t seem to find that either anymore, at least it’s not carried around here anyway.

  For lures I’ve been using spinners in the size 2 range or topwaters in the 1/8 oz range. The Rapala Skitter pop is doing a dandy job smacking the bass as is a shallow running rapala. The spinners were doing fine early on but the topwater lures have been explosive, getting hits that send your lure 2 feet or so, or the explosive smash of a big smallie or sometimes the subtle suck it under. Either way it’s been fun. Fishing deep rapids with large eddy’s or stretches of deep water with weed growth along the edges seems to be the ticket, these spots provide a good food source with crayfish thick and abundant in the slow weedy stretches and in the eddy’s they prey on other fish like chubs or even trout. I caught a 17” that had a small brown trout in its belly. I usually catch and release but will keep a few for the frying pan, they are good to eat with a tighter grain meat than the largemouth, and ones feeding heavy on crayfish have a taste of crab which I like. A local lake I fish the smallmouth taste like snow crab to me, their also bigger in that lake, but the action and fight on the river is more exciting and challenging, fighting around logs rocks is tough on your line and you just never know when you’ll here that dreadful snap of your line being shredded in an instant.

 A nice stringer full

 Deeper slow water

20" from an area lake

 Sometimes the action is so fierce you get 2 on one lure,lol.

 You need to take caution wading in the Wolf, the rocks, boulders, trees submerged under the surface are a challenging but treacherous obstacles to be aware of. Many times I’ve taken a header into the strong current of the Wolf, and she is not forgiving. When this happens always get yourself positioned facing and your head upstream while trying to get up it’ll protect your head from smashing a rock and you can actually swim it out if you face upstream. I’ve recently twice now this past week took swims, once losing my small tackle box and once yesterday smashing my knee into a boulder. So pay extra attention to where you’re walking, and if you’re going to fish till dark carry a waterproof flashlight to shine the bottom as you walk, walking blind in the river is dangerous stuff.

Some areas along the Wolf are walkable from shore where you can take your son or daughter. As you can see in the background how rough the Wolf can be.

  A bonus to fishing towards evening is the chance at catching a nice snapping turtle, their good to eat and not hard to catch. When you see one swimming, just grab it by the tail and hoist it up, but keep it at arm’s length to keep from getting bit. I’ve caught 3 so far with shells measuring at 15”, that’s a good size turtle. I usually carry a plastic burlap bag in my backpack for these guys. Just put them in the sack and tie it shut with a piece of rope and drag it along on my way back to my truck, then kill it at home, then clean it. I guess I’ll have to write up on how to kill and clean a turtle. Their excellent table fare.

  Well any way I hope you enjoyed the pics and vids, and give the Smallmouth a shot if your ever on the Wolf you won’t be disappointed.     

Hot Summer Coyote Control

By Duane Fronek

Hot summer days don’t really bring visions of coyote hunting but more of fishing, swimming or just trying to stay cool. A friend of mine, Volker, had the permission and the go ahead to kill coyotes coming in to their dairy herd barns and calf pens. I had the privilege to go along and do some coyote hunting. The coyotes were coming in to feed on the occasional dead calves or cows that were put in an area to be picked up by a carcass disposal truck. Before the truck picked up the carcasses coyotes would come in to feed. If there were no carcasses that the coyotes were accustom to they would come in closer to the calf pens and open stall barns looking for a meal.

  The coyotes had become dependent on the free meal. So Volker and I would go to the farm around dark thirty or so and set up the ambush. And some nights the times would vary when we went, depending on the weather. One particular night was a thunderstorm ,so we decided to go out and setup behind the front. With the lightening still chaining across the sky we set up, the rain had stopped and the temp dropped quite a bit.Volker was setup with his Rem. 700 thumbhole .223 zeroed in to dilate the pupils on a coyote at any range. I was set up with my old faithful 700 Rem in .243 shooting a new load of an 85 gr. Speer soft point that Volker loaded up for me. Groups of .750 was the norm and plenty tight to kill a coyote in the dark.

  We set up in the tall weeds that ran along the lane along the barn. The lights from the barnyard lights illuminated the field the coyotes would come across to check the carcass dump. The light was enough that  we used binoculars to spot incoming coyotes. With the fur thin on the coyotes they would tend to glow in the light of the barnyard lights which made them easy to see.I’d like to make note that the fur was not prime for the taking, we were basically in there to kill nuisance coyotes, not to take fur. Sometimes whether we like it or not animals need to be taken out when causing problems regardless. I’d much rather take them prime, but that was not an option here.

  The first night out it was like a coyote hunters dream, coyotes coming in without so much as a care, no predator call was needed and wind didn’t matter, they were accustom to the sound and smell of people, trucks and noises

 The first coyotes came in maybe 10 min. after we setup The deuce pair came in from the west through a potato field The lead dog was 75 yds away with the trailer about 50yds behind her. I took her out with a neck shot that dropped her like a sack of rocks. Her accomplice trotted off maybe a 100 yds and stopped. I put the .243 to work on him putting him down, but he got up and ran into the poytato field and went down again and stayed there We couldn’t find him that night but the eagles and crows found him for us the next day.

Volker and I with a nights worth

After retrieving our first dog of the night, we settled back in our positions and not another 10 min. another deuce shows up. Volker lines up on the lead dog and I line up on the trailer, the bark of the .243 and .223 simultaneously complimented each other putting the 2 dogs down. We recovered mine at about 252 yds according to the range finder, and Volkers was about the 100yd mark, though we didn’t recover her either till a few days later because the hay field was about a foot or so high and a dead coyote is tough to find lying on the ground in thick alfalfa and clover. We set back in to our positions once again to see what the coyote world would bring us next, and sure enough in comes another which died of a fatal 85 gr Speer from the .243. The rest of the night was quiet after that.

  A week later we went out again , this time it was about midnight when we set up. A pair of coyotes came in from the north. But when I got the shot off I missed, yep, I do miss once in a while. But this pair wasn’t off the hook yet. After the shot instead of running off they just walked away like nothing happened. They were out there maybe 300 yds or so. Volker had a hard time picking them up in the scope, and I held off shooting again, because they acted like they may come back. I said to Volker that they’ll probably come back in but from a different angle to catch the wind better. Sure enough they came back in about 20 min. later from the east trying to pick up the southwest breeze. But they didn’t catch it soon enough, the .243 found it’s mark on the lead dog convincing the trailer to high tail it out of there. The rest of the night was dead. Volker and I would setup about once a week to let things cool off and to give time for other coyotes that were coming in to fill the void. As of right now it’s been pretty quiet there and looks like the problem is taken care of for now. But like a vaccum the the void will suck in more coyotes that will need to be dealt with.

  Night hunting requires a couple things, a good quality scope that gathers as much light as possible, a knowledge of what lays beyond in the darkness of your bullets path in case of a miss. A good battery operated spot light for those long shots if legal. Here in WI we can use a hand held light at the point of kill, but cannot shine looking for eyes, that’s where a good set of binocs comes in handy to spot coyotes coming in. We we’re using a Nikon, and an old pair of 10x50 sears that must have good glass because I could see just fine with them and there almost as old as me. My dad used them while working as a game warden back in the early 70’s I believe. But the most important thing is gun safety at night, be extra careful. And shooting at night and consistently hitting your mark takes practice at night. Having a good accurate rifle and optics is vital to make clean kills.

Tired eyes are common in night hunting especially at 2am

  Even the dog days of summer coyotes are like us, lay around trying to stay cool, but at night when the sun is down and temps are down, their on the prowl to fill their belly. Thanks for  reading and good luck on all your hunting activities.   

Making a trappers dirthole punch

Been busy with alot of things lately and my latest project is making 30 dirthole punches for a Youth Trappers Camp here in WI. It teaches trapping and each kid gets his own equipment to get started, from lures to traps. My job the last 2 years is donating my time making a dirthole punch and trap stakes. So I decided to do a little video on how to make one. To use one you just pound it in the ground, twist and pull out and you have a hole to put bait or lure down for your intended target animal.Hope you enjoy.

The Coyote Question: Things That Make People Go…….hmmmmmmm

The Coyote Question: Things That Make People Go…….hmmmmmmm

Foremost Coyote Hunting: Basic Coyote Trapping Equipment

Foremost Coyote Hunting: Basic Coyote Trapping Equipment: "(getting started) By Duane Fronek Well to get started trapping coyotes I guess is to know what equipment to use and how to use them. Con..."

Foremost Coyote Hunting: So, you want to trap coyotes?

Foremost Coyote Hunting: So, you want to trap coyotes?: "With the ever growing coyote population, predator calling has become a popular sport and useful tool in coyote control in some areas. But is..."

“Trap Modification from the bottom up”

                             



By Duane Fronek

Trap modifications have been around for some time. But they have gained  trapper awareness or acceptance in the last decade or so. With change comes questions. Some frequently asked are “What do they really do? Or  “how do you do modify this or that?” And probably the most common, “are they worth it and will this work?”.

 Well, I'm here to tell you they do work and are worth it, they help prolong your trap’s life just by the fact your basically reinforcing it's components, base plates keep trap bases from bowing from hard fight animals or just plain use over time or even utilizing four-coiling systems. Laminating the trap jaws strengthens them and helps keeping hard fighting critters like coyotes from popping the jaws out, they also provide a wider jaw surface or face which prevents paw damage. They’re easier on the animals that are trapped and can withstand the extreme abuse the animals can dish out; and stubborn trappers for that matter. This article is going to address the basics of modifying your traps from the bottom up to better understand the basic techniques to properly modify traps..

  First, it’s critical to start with a clean trap. New traps don’t need much cleaning just basically a good washing with a power washer at a local carwash. Used traps on the other hand, are a different story. Steels enemy…rust can be removed easily by soaking in vinegar a couple days then hosed off with a garden hose. Traps with wax or speed dips need to be cleaned up as well. Wax can be taken off by boiling in Sani-flush or Dawn dish soap then hosed down. The speed dipped ones can be done according to the manufacturers suggestions. Usually, an over night soak in a bucket of lantern fuel sometimes called “white gas” does the trick. A wire brush might be needed to further clean off the dip. Then hose down.

  After your traps are cleaned up you need to break the trap down by removing chain and the springs. To remove the factory chain you can either open up the j- hook with a screw driver or just cut it off with a bolt cutter; I prefer the bolt cutter. I won‘t be re-using the j- hook anyway I feel it just weakens them. Removing the springs helps you work on the trap easily and prevents you from accidentally striking an arc on the springs while welding. This can weaken or completely ruin your springs. It also helps for when welding close to the D-ring because the bottom of the lever ear won’t be in the way.

  To remove the springs, I just take a screw driver and get behind spring arm that sits behind the lever and pry it out by sliding your screw driver behind the spring arm. Next, by prying away from the lever the arm will be released. Keep your fingers out of the inside of the jaws when doing this or you’ll get smacked by the spring when it snaps out of the lever.



With this done it should look like this. Now you can easily pull the spring pin out. To keep things organized, I’ll put the spring pins and springs into separate containers like coffee cans. Spring pins go into one, the left springs into another and the right springs into yet another. This helps keep things organized and aids in putting your trap back together when your finished. At this point, you can also remove the pan if you wish especially if you chose to beef the pan up as well. Keep the bolts and pans in there own containers as well for reasons already mentioned.

  Now that you have the trap broken down, your ready to start modifying. For welding, I use a 110v wire feed welder with gas, you can use flux core but it spatters a bit more but does the job none the less just not as pretty. First, we’ll start with the base plate and D- ring. You can get baseplates from most any reputable trap supply like J.C. Conners or Minnesota Trapline products. Or you can make your own but that’s a whole different subject.  Base plates come with their own D- ring some may have a ring already attached to the baseplate, It all depends on what you would prefer.

  Now that you have your base plates, take your trap and secure it in a vise upside down. I usually clamp onto the frame end or jaw post. I position it so the jaw post is clamped in the middle of the vise and the rest of the frame rests on the jaws of the vise. Before I add the baseplate on some traps like Northwoods or Bridgers I’ll grind off the rivets that stick out on the bottom of the base at the cross frame. Completing this process helps prevent the D-ring from binding once the base plate is welded on giving it more clearance to move like it should. Once the trap is clamped securely to the vise it’s time to reinforce the cross frame. Make sure you ground your welder to the vise somewhere, you can even ground right on the trap but clamping it to the vise saves time.  Once your grounded you can weld a bead where the cross frame meets, weld a bead along both sides. At this time, you can run a bead of weld along the pan post. This helps secure it from abuse and possibly loosening down the road. Note this in the picture below..




Now you’re ready for the base plate. With your D- ring slipped over the base plate, lay the base plate on the base of the trap. Make sure it’s square along the sides, this is important because if it sits over the side one way or another you won’t be able to get your levers back on. The ends should be square with end of the trap as well. Once the base plate is in position you need to clamp it to keep it in place while welding. For this I recommend using two sets of small vise grips. Clamp just a little more than an inch from each end of the trap base. Each vise grip is clamped on opposite sides of each other to keep the base plate flat. Clamping along the same side raises the base plate slightly on the other side and often leaves a gap between the trap’s base and base plate. It should look similar to the picture below.




Once your base plate is secure you can run a weld bead along the ends of the base plate and base. Next, put a good spot weld on both sides of the hump in the base plate where the D- ring is located. You’ll have four spot welds here. So right now you have basically modified the bottom of the trap. After letting the trap cool for awhile you can proceed to modify the jaws. One word about cooling the trap after welding, just leave it cool at room temperature. Never dip the hot trap into water after welding; this will crystallize the weld and it will usually break.

   Now let’s bring our attention to the trap jaws. Lamination strips for most brands of traps and sizes can be  purchased through trap suppliers that were already mentioned or you can make your  own. Again that‘s another subject. You can use flat bar stock, #9 wire or 3/16” or ¼” cold roll rod. I prefer the cold roll rod it’s just my personal preference but the method to add them to your trap jaws is basically the same.

   Once the lamination strips have been obtained it’s time to get started. First clamp the trap in the vise by the base of the trap. Once the trap is secure, you can proceed to set up the jaws for welding. You’ll need a flat piece of steel or sheet metal to clamp between the jaws, I usually use a 1/8” piece of flat bar stock for square jawed traps and a ¼” piece if they are offset. For round jaws I use a piece of sheet metal or if their offset a piece of flat stock either 1/8” or ¼” in the offset. The thing with the round jaws is you need a piece between the jaws that’s just thick enough to keep them separated if the piece is too thick the top of the jaws wont be flush against the flat steel between the jaws and not allowing you to get the lamination strips even along the jaws. Now with the piece of steel between the jaws, I clamp everything together by using  needle nose vise grips around the jaws. These are positioned just off center, being off center will allow room for welding at the center of the lamination strip. Also when your jaws are clamped like described it will hold your jaws up.  Once this is accomplished it’s time to secure your lamination strips. Lay a lamination strip on top of the jaw and tight up against the flat piece of steel between the jaws. Now taking a small vise grip, clamp one end of the strip to the jaw. Be sure to keep the vice grip about an inch from the end of the strip to allow for welding. Now proceed and clamp the opposite end the same way. It’s very important to clamp this way instead of just using one vise grip in the middle somewhere because the heat from welding will make the lamination strip move causing you not to have your lamination strip flush with the jaw face. Now that you have your strip clamped securely your ready to weld. What I do is just hit a spot weld on each end to secure the strip even more. Then weld a bead on each end of the strip utilizing a ¼” bead to ½” bead is recommended.  Once the ends are welded, run a weld at the center about an inch long. Now after that’s done your ready to go to the other side and repeat the process. This illustration shows how it’s set up for the jaw laminations as described.  The springs were left on just for a demonstration..



Also at this time if you want to inside laminate your trap jaws as well, leave the flat bar stock clamped between the jaws and remove the trap from the vise. Then, flip the trap over and clamp the trap in the vise by the flat bar stock. Now clamp your lamination strips on the inside of the jaw as you did to the outside laminations. Be sure to keep them tight and flush up against the flat stock. Then weld as you did the outside laminations.

After you’re done with all your modifications go over your trap with a file or wire wheel. Smooth any rough edges that might have occurred while welding. Pieces of wire sticking out from welds are common..

Now it’s time to reassemble the trap. Put the springs and pin back in there places making sure your spring pin is through the trap levers as well. To get the spring arms back into the slotted groove behind the levers take something like a piece of bent over brake line or a 3/16” or ¼” socket driver that looks like a screw driver. Now slide it over the spring arm and while holding the levers up with one hand pull the spring arm back. Use your other hand to get it behind the lever and slip the brake line or driver off and your spring arm will snap in. This picture illustrates how to do it.




After installing the springs you can replace your pan and do your pan adjustments. Add your swivels and chain to the D- ring, dye and wax and you’re ready to go. You’ll have a trap that looks similar to these depending on what type of trap you modify.





You’ll have a trap that will last you probably a lifetime and will take any abuse a critter can dish out. Also it will treat your catch gently by decreasing    paw damage even on incidental catches. In this day and age improving the equipment we use is a responsibility we as trappers need to take on  not just for treating our catch humanely, but to also show we as trappers are a viable and efficient wildlife management tool. But also show we are not some caveman using medieval equipment that maim like the Anti’s would like the public to believe.

  This is how a modified trap treats the animal.

No chewing feet here. Just like a pair of hand-cuffs.

I hope this article answers questions to modifying your own traps. Good luck trapping.