Fishing Lures

[MaryB]

What a nice gesture.
Some good info so far, especially Mary's advice.
I'll just add a bit of specific info that may help, because if your friend's wife is already into fishing, she probably has all the basic equipment.

I grew up living on a small Lake in central MN. One of the neatest and most exclusive things about living on a small lake, is the casualness of fishing, and the ease of just making a couple casts every evening at sunset. Typically evenings are calm, which is great for fishing with Poppers. Not a lot of people know about Poppers, but they are great fun and effective when the conditions are right. The Hula-popper is probably the most famous popper... It's used for large mouth bass, due to it simulating a frog...a Northern pike will also hit them, but more likely in springtime. Now there are poppers of all size. Small one's used for panfish look almost like flies for fly fishing, but you use the normal rod, reel, and line typical for lake fishing...BUT, you can also use a flyrod setup. Sunfish feed off the surface on any calm evening. Bass will be hitting in the fall, mostly.

I'd suggest a assortment of small poppers for panfish and maybe a Hula-popper, like the one shown in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WisD5TT97cA

What lake? I grew up fishing Koronis on weekends and a couple week vacations in summer. Larger lake but divided up enough to be fishable in most winds. One of my best pike spots was the corner between 1st Island and Van's Beach... trolled a fathead tipped spinner rig right down the center of the weed bed that forms there. Most people ignored it, it was a difficult spot to fish well with water depth of 8 feet on the shore side of the boat and 30 feet to the lake side! Sharp corner so trolling it required running the boat in really shallow then turning so the spinners tracks the middle of the weeds...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...1nyd?entry=ttu

Hard lake to fish but once you learn the structure it can turn out some nice fish! The map above can be scrolled out to see the whole lake...

Lake depth map

https://mnresorts.com/wp-content/upl...willmar-mn.jpg high rez so can zoom in to see the depths

[quilbilly]

Having been in the tackle industry for 40+ years, this would be my suggestion for newbies to lake fishing for the species you describe. A pair of long nose pliers, a large spool of inexpensive 8# monofilament, half a dozen 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" bobbers, a couple packages of sz 4 bait holder hooks, 1 dz sz 12 snap swivels, and a split shot assortment for about a retail of $23 total. As for lures, head to Walmart for couple cheaper small (1/8 to 3/16 oz.) Strike King spinner baits and a couple of their inexpensive plastic mini minnow plugs all for about $2 each. Assuming they have some light spinning rods and reels, this "care package" will set them up for some good times for about $35. All this can be picked up at the local Walmart in about 5 minutes.

[BamaNapper]

The best fishing gift I ever received was a soft-sided tacklebox with the plastic trays. I questioned it at first, but it's my hands-down favorite now. The trays allow me to sort my tackle by species and often take just one tray for what I'm fishing that evening. It just makes things cleaner and more efficient. As my gear has grown, so has the number of trays. Now for my trips to the midwest, the tackle box carries a tray of of crank baits and spoons for the pike. When I'm fishing the lakes here in the south, I leave the pike tray on the shelf and carry an extra tray with a selection of bass spinners and plastic worms.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

What lake? I grew up fishing Koronis on weekends and a couple week vacations in summer. Larger lake but divided up enough to be fishable in most winds.

<<<SNIP

Lake Mitchell, it's 170 acres.
for comparison, Koronis is 3014 acres.

[waksupi]

Where braid won't work because of color I use this https://www.amazon.com/Spiderwire-SC...NFHO67WOJ&th=1 what I tie my spinner rigs with and it holds up to northern pike abuse!

Pike around here will shear 20# Spider WIre in a heart beat.

[MaryB]

Pike around here will shear 20# Spider WIre in a heart beat.

Never had a problem, caught a 20 pounder with it! Way my spinner rig is setup they end up hooked in the corner of the mouth, line is never in the mouth unless they get wrapped in it. Caught hundreds of pike on it!

[MaryB]

Lake Mitchell, it's 170 acres.
for comparison, Koronis is 3014 acres.

Fished that once with a friend as we lake hopped for a week... did okay, not great, not horrible... put enough walleye in the boat to feed us for 2 days.

[jonp]

Small to medium Rapala or Rebel type floaters although I prefer Rapala. Million colors under the sun but no need to get fancy. Silver and bronze. They can be sunk with split shot or a down rigger if needed. Spoons, red and white daredevil is a killer on all you said. Couple of Mepps spinners in silver, bronze, red and white and maybe one or two with hair.
Ever seen one of these https://www.kitterytradingpost.com/f...ure-4251.html?
I've used them on rainbow, Brookes, Lakers, pickerel, bass, salmon etc. Very lightweight and the flutter does something special.
BTW, that suggestion of plastic boxes and a soft side tackle box is a good one. Wire leaders for pike and chain pickerel are not a bad idea but I've never used them myself.

[dverna]

Anyone use one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Ugly-Stik-Fis.../dp/B08DDD7KP1

[jonp]

Anyone use one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Ugly-Stik-Fis.../dp/B08DDD7KP1

No but that looks like a perfect tackle box tool. I'm ordering one. Thanks for the tip, Don

[georgerkahn]

My friend's wife has gotten into fishing big time and I would like to send her a "surprise package" of goodies.

They live in MN on a small lake. I know nothing about fishing so looking for advice on what to get.

They have bass, pike and I think perch in the lake.

If there are any other accessories besides lures that would be useful let me know.

Thanks for any guidance.

What I consider a necessity is a good pair of pliers (I like Sergeant brand) which have parallel jaws and HOOK CUTTING capability! In my 50+ years of fishing (I had three canoes, a 12' aluminum, and a Lund boat) from wee streams to the Great Lakes -- a small 1st-aid kit: a few flex-fabric band-aids, a tube of antiseptic, and some burn cream -- plus the pliers -- became, "thank God I had this with me!!!" on too many occasions through the years to recall any one, or two, or three. Generally there are a few choices at reasonable prices on eBay... they can be quite costly if purchased new -- primarily, my guess, for the steel-cost of cutting edges which need be quite hard to cut hooks. Trust me, a plain-Jane pair of diagonal cutting pliers do NOT work !
Re other accessories, Dverna, another I would not be without is a FILE to sharpen lure hooks. "The lawyers" have most lures sold with treble hooks having their points bent IN; and the hook points not too sharp. The pliers can bend the points out so they are parallel with line; but, a good file is required to make the lure points "sticky sharp". (When gently placed on one's thumbnail held vertical -- the lure should NOT slide down!) These are generally easy to find, in the $5.00 USD range, and also indispensable.
A third item is a plain-Jane fingernail clipper! From trimming/cutting line to a zillion other "needs" -- a set sure is a welcome accessory in the tackle box.
geo

[jonp]

What lake? I grew up fishing Koronis on weekends and a couple week vacations in summer. Larger lake but divided up enough to be fishable in most winds. One of my best pike spots was the corner between 1st Island and Van's Beach... trolled a fathead tipped spinner rig right down the center of the weed bed that forms there. Most people ignored it, it was a difficult spot to fish well with water depth of 8 feet on the shore side of the boat and 30 feet to the lake side! Sharp corner so trolling it required running the boat in really shallow then turning so the spinners tracks the middle of the weeds...

https://www.google.com/maps/place/La...1nyd?entry=ttu

Hard lake to fish but once you learn the structure it can turn out some nice fish! The map above can be scrolled out to see the whole lake...

Lake depth map

https://mnresorts.com/wp-content/upl...willmar-mn.jpg high rez so can zoom in to see the depths

Jogging that deep hole from the top down with a Swedish Pimple or Marabou jig during the summer would not be a bad idea.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Fished that once with a friend as we lake hopped for a week... did okay, not great, not horrible... put enough walleye in the boat to feed us for 2 days.

These days, fishing there is tough, due to Milfoil.
Walleye's are tough to find, even back in the day. Back then, most people that try to, do so at night...near the sunken island and deep drop off on Big Lake [it's connected by a channel to Lake Mitchell].

Most of my days on that Lake was fishing for Bass and Northern. I suspect that is due to the following.

Back in the 70s when I was a pre-teen, I spent a lot of time fishing with my Grandmother [after my Grandpa passed], she could always find the Northern Pike. In my Teen years, I'd fish with my Dad, and he was always chasing after large mouth bass. Seems that learning the natural weed lines was essential to going after those two species. Now the whole lake is weeds.

[MaryB]

These days, fishing there is tough, due to Milfoil.
Walleye's are tough to find, even back in the day. Back then, most people that try to, do so at night...near the sunken island and deep drop off on Big Lake [it's connected by a channel to Lake Mitchell].

Most of my days on that Lake was fishing for Bass and Northern. I suspect that is due to the following.

Back in the 70s when I was a pre-teen, I spent a lot of time fishing with my Grandmother [after my Grandpa passed], she could always find the Northern Pike. In my Teen years, I'd fish with my Dad, and he was always chasing after large mouth bass. Seems that learning the natural weed lines was essential to going after those two species. Now the whole lake is weeds.

I have an unfair advantage when fishing new lakes... I was a guide on Koronis when I was 16... I learned to read structure and where the fished moved in relation to weather and time of year... one fall a client wanted to go night fish. I told him to grab a lawn chair/fishing gear and follow me. We sat on the dock casting rapalas at the walleyes that were doing their fall feeding frenzy in the shallows. Guy didn't believe me at first... 2 hours later he walked back up to his camper with a full stringer of 3-5 pound fish. Just have to know where fish will be..