Juls: "Well, let's not wait any longer....let's get this puppy rolling....Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome tonight's Host, Johnnie Candle!"
Johnnie Candle: "Juls, are you moderating?"
Juls: yes sir
Juls: "well, not really moderating...more like asking questions when things get slow"
Johnnie Candle: I need to check out about 10 minutes early. Got to have kids to town by 8:00.
kirt: mwc this year?
Johnnie Candle: Let the questions begin.
Juls: I'm hoping that after everyone read your article/interview that they would have enough questions to keep this going so I can watch the country music awards...heheheh
Johnnie Candle: Yes MWC again this year.
Juls: no problem Johnnie....that's fine
Johnnie Candle: "Last year was my first in a team format. It was awesome. When something went wrong, there was one other person there that could actually help out."
Juls: "Ok, let's start with a little background on yourself"
WarrenMN: is waubay on the list again?
WarrenMN: oops
Johnnie Candle: Waubay is on the list and no you can not make maps for the other guys. LOL!! I found a lot of neat stuff there with my Side Imaging unit.
Juls: you've fished both the Pro/Ams and team events. What circuits have you fished?
WarrenMN: oh well
Juls: heheh
Johnnie Candle: "I started out in the old Cabelas NAWA, then the PWT, now the MWC. I did fish a little bit in the old USFA Team Walleye, but not enough to call it participating."
Johnnie Candle: I see my partner in the MWC just logged in. Hey Dave!!!
kirt: keepin you honest
Juls: is Dave Yarcraft91?
Juls: doh'
Johnnie Candle: Arkansas Dave.
Juls: nevermind
Johnnie Candle: Background:
Arkansas Dave: Hey Johnnie!
Johnnie Candle: "Ohio kid till 1995, then moved to ND. Got married, then un married, now live in Devils Lake."
Johnnie Candle: That is the short version.
Juls: what is your favorite body of water?
Juls: Do you like rivers or lakes better?
Johnnie Candle: "Dad is a Charter Boat Captain out of Ashtabula, OH. I got my Lic at age 19. At the time was the youngest in Ohio."
Juls: do you still keep your capt's lic up?
Johnnie Candle: I love fishing right were I live. Lake Erie is tough to beat. Tobin Lake rocks for big fish.
Juls: "I guess you don't need it to guide in ND, eh?"
Johnnie Candle: Yes I do. I worked too hard to get it and may need it again some day. I have a tonage license so I can do much more than drive a fishing boat.
Juls: sweet...that's cool
Johnnie Candle: "Actually, you do need it on the Missouri River."
Juls: Oh right...that's a navigational river
Juls: feel free to jump in guys!!!
Juls: got any questions for Johnnie tonight?
Johnnie Candle: "The feds are not here to enforce it, but if they ever show up there could be a lot of guys scrambling. Like mice when you turn the lights on."
WarrenMN: fixing hot tea while I'm reading
Juls: "I already asked him ""Twenty Questions""...lol"
kirt: they are clamping down on guiding on the mississippi river
Juls: what is your favorite technique on devils lake Johnnie?
yarcraft91: "Johnnie: I've driven past Devil's Lake several times, but never fished it. So- first question- what do you recommend as the minimum boat for that lake?"
Juls: hi jfish
Johnnie Candle: "I think they should. If it is the law, then enforce it. Otherwise, don't make it the law."
Juls: yep
Johnnie Candle: "One of the great things about DL is you can fish it in a small boat. 16 feet is big enough, but it will limit you on windy days. I have a great friend with a 1775 Pro V and he goes all over the lake."
dtmg: what do you mean by navigational river
Johnnie Candle: "There are plenty of ramps and they are spread out really well. You can launch and fish a 10 mile stretch, then go somewhere else. I have been known to use two or three ramps in a day when it gets rough."
fishin walleye:
Juls: navigable...sorry used the wrong term
Johnnie Candle: Navigable Waterway as determined by the US Government
yarcraft91: "My choice would be between a 16' narrow beam or a 19' Yarcraft walk-thru. Either one, I have to haul it from mid-Michigan."
WarrenMN: there's a lot of ramps spread around the lake
Johnnie Candle: "Bring the bigger one for comfort and flexibility. Once you start towing, the size really doesn't matter all that much."
chairman: Is devils still growing??
Johnnie Candle: "Still growing. This spring we got 4 feet. At one point it was coming up a foot per week. Every foot of water now covers 10,000 acres of land."
yarcraft91: Fishing style on DL- is it more of a trolling lake or jigging/casting? My bigger boat is strictly set up for trolling.
kirt: are you doing the scheels schools again?
Johnnie Candle: You can do it all here. Spring time is casting cranks and swim baits. Mid summer thru fall is trolling time. Bobbers work all year. Even live bait rigging produces its share of fish.
Johnnie Candle: Scheels Walleye U should be a go again. I am waiting on the corporate office to let us know when and where.
kirt: cool i would like to go to one
fishin walleye: what is the best fish locator for an average walleye fisherman to use ? has decent detail..
Johnnie Candle: I will be sure to get the schedule on WC as soon as I get it.
Juls: What do you do for the Walleye University Class?
jfish: how is the perch fishing on devils?
WarrenMN: You ever fish what looks like an old road north of the east end of the Golden Hiway
Juls: send it to me too Johnnie and I'll get it added to the Events Calendar too.
Johnnie Candle: I have been using Humminbird stuff the past 3 years and really like it. The 700 series is 640 x 640 pixels and very affordable. W/O Side Imaging I believe the are in the $600 range with GPS.
Johnnie Candle: "Perch fishing is not what it was in the 90s, but it is coming back some. Catches were up last winter. I even caught a few pitching jigs for walleye this summer."
Johnnie Candle: Will do Juls.
kirt: i would agree with johnnie on the locater choice
yarcraft91: "Devil's lake can go up 4' in one month? Yike- that must cause trouble with some of the launch ramps. If so, how do you get current info on which ramps can be used and which are ""under water"" or high-and-dry?"
Johnnie Candle: "Warren, I have never fished there, but sure do think about it a lot. I drive over that a bunch on my way to Pelican."
kirt: hey can you get scheels to build a store in lakeville mn ;) great stores
Johnnie Candle: They had to raise many of the parking lots this year. You can contact me and I will be glad to help you. Or check out the chamber of commerce. www.devilslakend.com
WarrenMN: I should have stopped but haven't
BIGSTICK: love pelican . how bout old/new mill bay
Johnnie Candle: "Once I got SI, I found so much stuff here. It is amazing how many spots I fish now that I never even knew existed 3 years ago."
WarrenMN: "Grahms and Lake Wood should be good for a while, shouldn't they?"
Johnnie Candle: New Mill Bay was hot the past few years. It was really good this spring. Old Mill doesn;t get the attention it used too. Not as attractive with the water 4 feet deeper.
Johnnie Candle: Lakewood will be good for the longest. Grahams will be ok for about 3 more feet. East Bay is good for a long time too. THey just raised that one. 6 mile should be good for next year as well.
BIGSTICK: fished all the cattails this spring that were under water so many fish
AllenW:
Juls: "I can only imagine what ""my spot"" looks like now....that little island is definitely under water now so that spot is totally changed"
Juls: hi Allen
AllenW: Howdy
WarrenMN: "With all the water, do you think the pumping stations will be hot again."
Johnnie Candle: Cattails were the key till about mid june. It got to hard to get to them because of other weed growth. I love the tails because people can see them to cast too.
Juls: who are all of your sponsors Johnnie?
Johnnie Candle: Pumpin stations are good whenever they are running.
Juls: Dave you need to throw the anchor
Johnnie Candle: "Juls, is that a trick question. What if I miss one?"
Johnnie Candle: "I will get them at the end, ok."
Juls: hehehe....you can always cheat and go look at one of your shirts. ;)
WarrenMN: LOL
Johnnie Candle: I use my anchor a lot. Even when casting. I have it on the front deck ready to go all the time.
Juls: its nice that you have so many you cant remember them all lol
WarrenMN: "I see your doing some thing the college, thats neat"
Johnnie Candle: "Yes, Lake Region State College is a new sponsor this year. THey are using me to recruit students and parents that may have a love for the outdoors. Why not go to college where you can hunt and fish on your days off?"
Johnnie Candle: I have also been doing some teaching. I have talked to the marketing classes and spoke at a young writers workshop about outdoor communications.
Johnnie Candle: Good thing they are not watching me try to type right now.
WarrenMN: thats a good idea
WarrenMN: the teaching that is
Juls: You're doing just fine typing Johnnie...:)
Johnnie Candle: I will be teaching Ice Fishing 101 and Open Water Fishing 101 for phys ed credits starting Jan 10 as well.
Juls: that's very cool
WarrenMN: mind telling them the story you told me about Pelican and the barb wire
Johnnie Candle: "Warren, I try to forget things like that."
Juls: ooo I love stories....
Juls: dang
yarcraft91: "OK- North Dakota, January- is lesson #1 in Open Water Fishing 101 to take up ice fishing? :)"
BIGSTICK: Johnnie do you guide out of a resort on DL?
Johnnie Candle: "Back in the day, when the lake first came up. It was one of my first trips to Pelican Lake. It was all new to everyone. I got my prop wrapped up in barbed wire so bad it stalled the motor. Took a long time to get it all cut off the pro to get home."
Johnnie Candle: Ice fishing will be form Jan to March. Then Open water will be from March to May.
Juls: that would be a mess....prickly too. lol
WarrenMN: I ran into a T post from a fence one day
Juls: If someone wanted to contact you to plan a guided trip on Devils Lake how can they contact you?
Johnnie Candle: "I do not guide out of a resort. I live right on the lake and try to offer my clients what they want. Some prefer a nice resort, others a cheap hotel, and others a cabin for the week. If I use just one resort I am not be able to meet those needs for"
Johnnie Candle: customers.
Juls: good point
WarrenMN: very
Johnnie Candle: I hit a clothes line pole a few years back. That hurt a bit.
WarrenMN: He's got a nice web page too
Johnnie Candle: www.johnniecandle.com is a good place to go. johnnie@gondtc.com or call 701-371-9431. PMs on WC work too.
BIGSTICK: I pulled up a fiber cable with the anchor once
WarrenMN: ouch
chairman: when do you start fishing Devils in the spring?
Johnnie Candle: It is hard to tell what you may pull off the bottom here.
Juls: this chat should be archived by Scott so that info will be available in the chat transcripts. :)
Juls: hi Chris
Chris K: hi all
Johnnie Candle: I start fishing as soon as the ice is out. Moving water is key in the spring just like everywhere else. Jigs and twisters is about all it takes early.
WarrenMN: I found a cultivator and a planter the other day
yarcraft91: "Wow! Barbed wire, fence posts, fiber cable, farm equipment- makes the Great Lakes sound kinda tame."
kirt: "I see the FLW is coming up their the end of July, trolling bite and slip bobbers?"
Johnnie Candle: It is a jungle out here.
AllenW: "I feel left out, I just managed a $700 rock at Winnie...:)"
Juls: What's the most surprising thing you have found underwater at Devils with the Humminbird Side Imaging that you never would have seen without it?
Juls: lol Allen
Johnnie Candle: "Trolling, Bobbers will be the big ones, but I don't think that will win. After the MWC last year, the deep live bait fish have caught my attention. Weed fish will be a big part of it then too."
AllenW: I'll keep trying
Chris K: Any neat new stuff coming out from Berkley for next year you can tell us about?
kirt: keep gong to pool 4 and find a wingie $$$$$$$$$
Johnnie Candle: "I had a guy loose a wheel off of a custom log cutting boat. While searching for it, I found everything round you can imagine. Water tank for cattle and a rim ant tire from a semi were the two that shocked me. i have helped search and rescue find a car"
Johnnie Candle: "once, that was fun."
Juls: cool...that's pretty neat
WarrenMN: Did you see the one out from the north end of the Lakewood park?
WarrenMN: or was that it
Juls: that's what I love about that place...it's got everything you can imagine underwater...
Johnnie Candle: "Berkley is working on an improvement to FireLine. They want to keep it form absorbing water. I got to do some testing with it, bit not enough to know just how much better it will be."
Johnnie Candle: That was the one Warren.
yarcraft91: "You're trolling, see something on the Side Imaging- a big object just under water 100' on your starboard. Does the Humminbird equipment let you drop an icon on the object so you can steer around it in the future?"
Chris K: cool. Any new Gulp baits or sizes?
Johnnie Candle: "Yes it does. You can place your cursor on the object and hit the MARK button. It seems to be pretty accurate, at least good enough to find it again."
yarcraft91: Cool! I can think of some deadheads in the Saginaw River I'd like to mark that way...
Johnnie Candle: I have no news on Gulp! baits. I do know they asked us for a wish list mid summer. We will see what they come up with.
Juls: "when you hit ""Mark"" does it still drop a waypoint or will it drop an icon now? I know that is something we asked them for"
Juls: I didn't get on the water last year with all the coverage I had to do
Johnnie Candle: "Juls, I have not seen the latest software update in action, so I am not sure. I have gotten used to only having waypoints and kinda like that. I can always call up a lat lon now to drive to instead of relying on my cursor."
Juls: 4-Oct
WarrenMN: Will you be using the 1198 next year
Johnnie Candle: "Dave, am I doing ok so far?"
Johnnie Candle: Yes I will. Not so sure it will be all that different.
Arkansas Dave: You are doing fine...You should talk about the new sponsor and the importance custom baits played for us at Waubay and Tobin this year
Johnnie Candle: Good point.
Juls: yes please do! :P
Juls: hey...how did I make that face? lol
Juls: just testing while he's typing...:P
WarrenMN: Was that hog you were holding in a recent pic a tobin
Juls: hmmm...
Chris K: nice fish you guys caught there!
WarrenMN: You have to leave a space
WarrenMN: Juls
Juls: : P
Juls: nope
Johnnie Candle: "New sponsor is Dutch Fork Custom Painting. It is an old friend Keith Eshbaugh. He is now custom painting baits. At Wuabay SD, custom colored lures caught nearly all our fish and this fall at Tobin Lake custom painted Deep Tail Dancers were our best lures"
Juls: sweet
Johnnie Candle: Yes it was Warren.
Chris K: the Krome looks awesome on the website!
WarrenMN: nice fish
Chris K: the website
Johnnie Candle: "We had a good trip, but not our best. 2 over 12 in 3 days is pretty good though."
WarrenMN: envy
WarrenMN: you have to leave a space then the face letter Juls
Juls: I did and it didn't work
Johnnie Candle: The Krome is the one thing he can do that no one else wants to. He can actually paint a clown lure over chrome. Or over copper or over gold or over any other color you would like to have Kromed. I am excited to see what his limits are.
WarrenMN: colonP
WarrenMN: :p
Juls: :p
chairman: :P
Johnnie Candle: Little does he know that I have been dreaming up colors for years.
Juls: small p
Juls: i was using a capital p
chairman: "see, i did it"
Juls: ok...sorry johnnie
WarrenMN: sorry
Juls: I'm easily amused
Juls: and distracted
Johnnie Candle: "If Jim Kalkofen were here, you guys would be in trouble. LOL!!"
Chris K: "it was very impressive, I will be ordering some for sure"
Juls: what is your favorite color combo on a bait?
yarcraft91: "I guess the point of these chats is learning, right? :p"
chairman: Can't say a blonde moment anymore LOL
WarrenMN: who was this Johnnie
Juls: lol Bruce...no you can't
Juls: there ya go....that's right yarcraft91
Johnnie Candle: "More than a favorite color, I like baits with contrasting colors. Dark tops and light bottoms or dark fronts and light backs."
Juls: good info
WarrenMN: found it again
Juls: do you think color is as important as bait action when it comes to getting fish to react to a bait?
Johnnie Candle: Think about all your favs. I bet most of them are like that.
Juls: that's true
AllenW: Anything dictate whether you start with natural colored lures or others?
Johnnie Candle: "No way. Profile first, then action, then color. It has proven itself over and over again."
johnny synett: Whats your thoughts on red hooks for cranks?
Johnnie Candle: Water clarity has a lot to do with it. Or should I say color?
Juls: what's your rule of thumb for cloudy days and sunny days on which baits you choose to use first?
yarcraft91: Contrasting colors is the rule among my best baits- except 1. That one is a pearl-color Bomber Long A- a real walleye slayer here in mid-Michigan.
WarrenMN: "Do you think there'll be a shake up in sponsorship or a limit with the things are going, Note:Genmar"
Johnnie Candle: "Dark water gets darker or brighter colors, green water gets greens for sure, clera water gets whites or naturals."
Johnnie Candle: I was just gong to mention white as the exception to the rule.
AllenW: Thanks
yarcraft91: Only drawback to white here is the seagulls go after it more than other colors. :)
Johnnie Candle: "If you want to spend money on red hooks, I will not tell you not too. I am sure they work, but I don;t feel they are a must have item."
WarrenMN: wondering if it'll get harder for the new guys
Juls: Get your questions in...Johnnie needs to leave a little early tonight to put the kids to bed at 8pm.
Johnnie Candle: "The sponsorship game is hitting rock bottom right now. It is the worst I have ever seen it. Not complaining since I am still going, but it is tough out there. I made more money 5 years ago than I do now and I am doing 5 times as much stuff."
Johnnie Candle: One or two more and I have to go. Sorry.
Juls: We can only hope it's the bottom and things will start looking up again real soon
Johnnie Candle: Creativity will help in these tough times. My college deal is proof of that.
Johnnie Candle: THere is only one way to go when you are at the bottom.
Juls: No problem Johnnie...we appreciate you coming tonight and sharing your experiences with us!
WarrenMN: "you should teach a class in writing proposals, I'd even run back to take it"
yarcraft91: "I don't expect sponsorship to start improving until retail sales improve, so creativity is a good idea."
Johnnie Candle: "Warren, funny you mention that, we are thinking of that for the marketing classes. I will keep you posted."
WarrenMN: do
WarrenMN: bt make them give it in the summer
WarrenMN: Texas calls
Chris K: do they offer distance learning...sign me up for that one!
WarrenMN: me too then
Johnnie Candle: "Well, gotta run. If anyone evenr wants to chat, just call or e-mail anytime."
AllenW: Thanks
yarcraft91: "Thanks, Johnnie"
Chris K: thanks
WarrenMN: thanks Johnnie
Juls: Thanks for your time tonight Johnnie...clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!
kirt: see yah at the npaa mtg
Johnnie Candle: See you all onthe water. Keep the line tight.
Juls: You did a great job!
Juls: Thanks for coming everyone!
chairman: THANKS JOHNNIE | 
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