(gentle rousing music) - [Narrator] Winter in Minnesota.

Some call it the frozen tundra.

While snowbirds escape to the South, other hardy residents embrace the cold.

While ice fishing is one of the more popular activities in the colder months, there are select few angling die hards that resist the hard water crowds, and instead, hook up their boats and head out in search of open water.

(gentle rousing music) (upbeat rock music) - Welcome to Prairie Sportsman.

I'm Brett Amundson.

It's mid winter.

We're on the Mississippi River open water fishing with Tim Domaille from Fine Line Outdoors.

We're gonna see if we can get some big walleyes today.

It's pre dawn, it's just after 6:00 AM here.

It's 27 degrees.

I mean, who doesn't wanna put the boat in and go fishing?

Let's go.

(upbeat rock music) With the river having better than average clarity this time of year, we started fishing before sunrise to hit the peak morning bite window.

I hopped in Tim's boat and Dan jumped in the other boat owned by his dad, Wade.

It's mid-February.

Some people would say we're crazy for doing this, Tim.

- Well, the weather's nice.

(chuckles) I mean, everybody says, "Well, you know it's February."

Yeah, you know, but we're at 27, 28 degrees this morning.

The boat landing, the ice is not a factor here.

(upbeat rock music) We're gonna drag lighter jigs with plastics on 'em upstream rather slow.

And we're gonna start out a little shallower and see if the walleyes are shallow.

As the sun comes up, we'll just work our way out a little deeper.

(upbeat rock music) Nice fish.

- [Bret] Oh, nice fish.

- [Tim] Real nice fish.

- [Bret] All right.

- [Tim] You see the head shake on the rod here?

- [Bret] Oh yeah.

Here we go.

First fish of the morning, hooked up.

- [Tim] There he is right there.

(water sloshing) - [Bret] Nice.

(laughs) Oh yeah, that's a nice fish.

- So this is what we're after today.

- [Bret] I have a fish.

- Do you?

(Bret laughing) - [Bret] Good.

Well, we kinda doubled up here.

- [Tim] Good.

- I left my rod in the water to knot Tim's fish, and when I went back to grab my rod, I'm hooked up.

Here it is right here.

(water spattering) (Bret laughing) - [Tim] That's the way we wanna do it.

- [Bret] Yeah, nice double right away to start off.

- [Tim] Yeah, so this is what we're after right here.

- [Bret] Double release.

(water sloshing) (upbeat rock music) - [Tim] We like to run the 360 while we're doing this draggin' for the walleyes, and the reason we do is you can see like there's some logs.

So we wanna watch out for them.

There's some back here.

There's a bunch behind us, and there's a few up in here.

And what we wanna do is avoid those so we don't get hung up.

(upbeat rock music) - [Bret] Today, we're on Pool 4, the Mississippi River which starts just north of Red Wing and ends just south of Wabasha.

Even with below freezing temps, the water upstream of Lake Pepin never freezes due to a warm water discharge a few miles up the river.

And since it's border waters, walleye season is open year round.

(equipment rasping) - [Tim] Yeah, they like to stay right below the boat.

(fish rod wheezing) (water sloshing) - [Bret] Oh yeah.

Nice fish.

- There's a good one.

- [Bret] Fishing in the dark for ya.

- Yeah.

- [Bret] Nice fish.

- Really nice, beautiful color, thick.

You know, that's a male right there.

Just a thick male.

(gentle music) - [Bret] Meanwhile in the other boat, they're doing just as well.

What you got, Wade?

- Got a fish, man.

(water sloshing) No sir.

Look at that.

Look at that.

February walleye, open water.

(gentle sanguine music) - [Tim] I don't like the icefish.

I don't like walking on it.

If I was meant to walk on water hard or soft, I'd be god's right hand man.

I go here, you can see the water's open, and unless it's below zero for multiple days, this'll stay open and Everts Resort will stay open.

You can put in here and fish.

(gentle sanguine music) Beautiful, beautiful fish.

(gentle sanguine music) - Fish.

- [Tim] All right, Wade.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Bret] And just because we're fishing open water doesn't mean it's the same as summer fishing.

There are some tweaks to your gear that you might have to make to avoid some issues.

- [Tim] A lot of times we use braid with maybe even a floral carbon liter.

I do that quite a bit in the spring and summertime when the weather gets warmer.

But in all winter long, I run eight pound fluorocarbon just because braid soaks up water, and it really sticks in your guides a lot.

(gentle sultry music) - [Bret] Fish.

(wind whooshing) (gentle sultry music) - [Tim] Here we go.

This is a good one.

Good head thumps.

Lot of weight to it.

(wind whooshing) Doesn't wanna come.

(gentle sultry music) Come on, we're just gonna take some pictures and let you go buddy.

(Bret laughs) It's what makes it the whole day right here.

(gentle sultry music) - [Bret] There it is.

- [Tim] That's a good fish.

(water sloshing) - [Bret] That's good fish.

- [Tim] That's what we're looking for right there.

- [Bret] Oh yeah.

(laughs) Oh yeah.

Look at that fish.

- That's what we're after right there.

We don't want quantity, we want quality and we got 'em.

- [Bret] Well, I'd say that was worth the 3:00 AM alarm.

(upbeat sultry music) - [Tim] This is a great part of the river for the walleye fishery, walleye and sauger especially now, this time of year when there's snow on the ground.

It is tremendous fishing.

There's boats here today, but most of the time I'm the only boat here, I love it.

(gentle sultry music) - [Tim] Fish.

- [Bret] It's just about quarter after seven here.

We've been fishing a little over an hour.

That pre sunrise bite was on today.

We've caught a couple of really nice fish, and Tim's hooked up here with another one.

How's it feel, Tim?

- [Tim] Feels decent.

Not quite as big as the last one, but a pretty decent one.

You know, what's nice now is you get those nicer quality fish.

They got the good head shakes in them just like this and, you know, they're coming out this time year, just absolutely gorgeous.

The colors are phenomenal.

The fish are great.

Love fishin' this colder water.

We're in like 35.7 degrees, and it's just fun.

I mean, there's just no two ways about it.

- [Bret] There he is.

There he is.

- [Tim] Yeah.

There.

Another nice one.

- [Bret] Oh yeah.

- [Tim] Another real nice one.

- [Bret] Beauty.

- [Tim] Oh yeah, another nice one.

(gentle sultry music) - [Bret] Because it's mid-winter, a majority of the boat ramps on this stretch of the river are locked up with ice.

And some folks are ice fishing right next to them.

Fortunately, there's a resort on the other side of the border that keeps their ramp open so people can fish this part of Minnesota.

- We have a full service bait shop.

And then, of course, our two launches, year-round launch.

And we also offer a 24-hour service because it's impossible to staff the bait shop all the time especially for fishermen who like to show up at 5:00 AM (laughs) like you guys today.

And so, we have a 24 hour room, and we keep it fully stocked with fat heads, crawlers, you can pay for your parking and launch.

We have vending machines that have taco in it and snacks.

So, you know, if you're not an ice fisherman and you love the open water, this is the only place to come for that.

- [Bret] We still like ice fishing, but we're definitely glad that we went and checked out this mid-winter open water fishing opportunity.

(upbeat rock music) - [Tim] I probably spend more time on this river in a year than most people do in a lifetime.

If you wanna come and catch fish, this is a place to come catch fish.

- [Bret] And some big fish.

Sauger in Minnesota average about 12 to 15 inches.

But Pool 4 is an exception.

18 to 20 inch sauger are not uncommon here, and many grow to be 20 plus as we got to see today.

(upbeat uplifting music) Oh, little walleye.

- [Tim] Yeah.

- [Bret] Not bad.

Not bad.

Look at that.

That walleye just inhaled that jig right there.

And I'll tell you what, Tim, it's been a great day on- - [Tim] It has been.

- I mean, we've had great weather, we've had cooperative fish.

And anytime you get out here this time of year, you have to deal with the cold weather, the elements a little bit.

And sometimes, finicky fish.

- Exactly.

- But this has been pretty good.

- Yeah, we've had a great day.

We've caught, I don't even know how many walleyes, some very nice saugers, 21 inch saugers, 22.

We've had some really nice walleyes up to like, probably 26, but a lot of nice eaters just like that.

- It's a nice eater, but we're gonna put it back right now and let it grow a little bit.

Maybe come back down and catch it again.

- [Tim] Yes.

- But this has been a great time.

I really appreciate it.

- You bet.

Thanks for coming.

(upbeat rock music)