In early April, anglers who like fishing lakes and who live in the Missoula area will have a unique opportunity to go to the fishing classroom.Montana walleye pro Dale Gilbert, who is from Ulm, will be making Missoula his last stop for two fishing clinics that he has been presenting across the state.
As you might imagine, one clinic will be on walleye fishing. The other will be on using Lowrance, GPS and mapping.
“We have found the anglers in western Montana have wanted to know more about how to catch walleyes,” said Gilbert. “The good Canyon Ferry walleye fishing (in spring) has helped generate the interest and now it seems those same folks are wanting to catch fish when the walleyes are harder to catch.”
Gilbert’s walleye clinic runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 5 covering everything from basics to advanced fishing techniques. The Lowrance, GPS and Mapping Clinic runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on the same day and should appeal to all boat anglers whether they are fishing for walleyes in a lake east of the mountains or for lake trout and lake whitefish in Flathead Lake.
Even thought Gilbert is using a Lowrance unit to conduct the clinic, he says that the information will help you run any sonar electronics better. “The first area we cover is the basics of a fish finder and not what to spend your money on,” he said. “There are a lot of choices of equipment for an angler to look at and it can be confusing when it comes time to making a purchase.”
The advantage of learning to use your sonar, Gilbert said, is that, “It translates into catching more fish. A few years ago I went to fish Fort Peck and I spent two hours just looking for fish and spots that I thought they might be without wetting a line. The end result when we started fishing was three limits in less than an hour.”
During this clinic you will find out how to create and save waypoints, plot trails for trolling and overlay data on split screens along with the importance of transferring data to MMC card to avoid losing your data. “In addition, we will cover mapping, which includes using existing Navionics HotMaps and creating some of your own contour maps for specific structure, ” said Gilbert.
Both clinics will be held on Saturday, April 5, at the Best Western Grant Creek Inn on North Reserve in Missoula. Class size is limited and those interested in attending should pre-register. The cost is $50 per person per clinic. For more information visit Gilbert’s Web site at www.montanawalleye.com.
Mark Ward’s statewide Montana Outdoor Radio Show airs Saturdays from 6 to 8 a.m. in Missoula on KGVO 1290 AM. E-mail Ward at captain@montanaoutdoor.com.
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