Since we just experienced some of the coldest temperatures on record in many parts of the United States with the recent “polar vortex” that blew through, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to put up a new podcast talking about spring time fishing to ease everyones minds.
On this episode I welcome guest, Bill Shimota. Bill is an accomplished professional walleye angler who you may recognize from fishing big name tournaments like the Cabela’s National Walleye Tour, FLW Walleye tour and more. As you can probably imagine, it takes an enormous amount of skill and dedication to even place in the top 10 of these tournaments let alone win one. Every body of water is fished differently throughout the season and anglers like Bill have to have an entire bag of tricks stored away to pull from in order to put fish in the boat when it counts most. Bill shares with us a technique that has helped put him on the map and move him up into top finishing positions on tournament day. That technique is called “handlining”.
I’ll be one to admit that although I have heard of handlining for walleye in river situations I have been either intimidated or never took the time to learn this highly effective technique. Bill goes over what it is, the basic set up, when to use it and more when river conditions are changing in the spring time. We as anglers must push ourselves to become better, learn new techniques and go outside our comfort zones many times in order to be more successful on the water. Whether you are a guide, weekend warrior or tournament angler, handlining could really improve your game and make you an overall better angler.
During the episode we dive into Bill’s past of getting into tournament fishing and talk about how his day job of being an electrician turned into a side business in rigging boats for tournament professionals and everyday anglers. Every year technology is changing and Bill talks about how being an electrician has given him the confidence to drill into $80,000 boats to make them the most efficient and tech savvy vessels on the water.
So warm up while learning a thing or two about handlining and rigging boats on this episode of the Freshwater Bite Podcast.