The whip-hand dominance of the .223 Rem. has littered the boneyard with nearly all other 22-cal. center-fire cartridges; however, the .221 Rem. Fireball remains just outside that acre’s gate because informed handloaders look at it from a different perspective than those who see it as merely a short .223. Besides, you have to like a cartridge with a cool-sounding name such as “Fireball.”

The .221 case is a close copy of the .223. Both cases have the same head diameter, shoulder angle, neck length and maximum average pressure (MAP) of 55,000 p.s.i. The only difference is that the .221 is shortened 0.3674 inches in the body. That reduces its propellant capacity to 60 percent of the .223s. But loaded with the proper propellants, the .221 produces about 90 percent of the .223’s velocity with bullets weighing up to 55 grains.

Beginnings

This short cartridge was initially chambered in Remington’s XP-100 bolt-action single-shot handgun in 1963. From the XP-100’s original 10.75-inch barrel, the .221 fired 50-grain bullets at about 2600 f.p.s. The XP-100’s barrel was eventually lengthened to 14.5 inches and chambered in other .22-cal. cartridges such as the .223 Rem. and .22-250 Rem. The .221 chambering lasted until 1985. For a while Thompson/Center chambered the cartridge in its Contender single-shot handgun. The .221 languished in neglect until 2002 when Remington gave it a face-lift as a rifle cartridge in its Model 700 Classic rifle. The last year Remington chambered the cartridge was in 2007 in the Model 700 Light Varmint Stainless Fluted rifle.

The CZ 527 American and the Model 21 from Cooper Firearms of Montana are the only rifles currently chambered in .221 by major manufacturers. The Cooper folks say the .221 is nowhere near as popular as the .204 Ruger or .223 Rem. But the cartridge has a following, and they sell about as many rifles chambered in the Fireball as they do rifles in .22 Hornet.

A Cooper Model 21 Montana Varminter was used to shoot the loads for this article. The Varminter is intended for shooting from a rest, with style. The oil finish highlights the running grain of its AA+ claro walnut stock with a beavertail fore-end. The Model 21 is a single-shot. Pushing forward the three-lug bolt picks up a cartridge from the loading pan, feeding it into the chamber. The sample rifle’s trigger has a perfect 2-pound pull.

Handloading

The Fireball case is only a smidgen larger than the Hornet case. The 3 to 8 grains of additional propellant the .221 holds, though, result in a gain of 600 f.p.s. over the Hornet with bullets of the same weight. Care should be taken when developing loads for a cartridge as small as the .221 because a big increase in velocity and pressure results from a small increase in propellant. From the Cooper Model 21’s 24-inch barrel, Nosler 35-grain Ballistic Tip Lead Free bullets had an average velocity of 2752 f.p.s. powered by 17.0 grains of H4198. Stepping up the propellant to 17.5 grains increased velocity to 2949 f.p.s. An additional 0.5 grain jumped speed to 3034 f.p.s, and 18.5 grains upped the velocity to 3,296 f.p.s.

Relatively fast-burning propellants such as Hodgdon’s H4198, Lil’Gun and Accurate 1680 are a key to loading the .221. Lil’Gun is a great propellant for the Fireball shooting lightweight bullets. From two other .221 rifles, Lil’Gun fired Berger 30-grain Varmint bullets at nearly 3900 f.p.s. and Nosler 35-grain Ballistic Tip Lead-Free bullets at 3700 f.p.s. From the Cooper Varminter, Hornady 40-grain V-MAX bullets reached 3270 f.p.s. with 15.0 grains of the propellant and 3460 f.p.s. with 15.5 grains.

Relatively slow-burning propellants provide a more sustained push to 50-grain and heavier bullets. Lil’Gun and A1680 are still good choices as well as H335, H4198, N130 and Reloder 7.

Heavier bullets also provide more uniform velocities. The 30- and 35-grain bullets had extreme spreads of velocity of up to 200 f.p.s with several different propellants. But spreads shrank to less than 50 f.p.s. with 40-grain bullets and down to 10 f.p.s. with 50 and 55-grain bullets.

How close to seat bullets to rifling lands for the best accuracy is a matter of hundredths of an inch. Bullets close to, or even in contact with, the rifling are thought to function with improved accuracy because they make less of an unsupported “jump” before engaging it. That minimizes the chance of bullets entering the rifling at an angle and flying into left field. Just as important, though, bullets seated straight with the centerline of case necks align with the chamber throat to ensure they enter the rifling straight, even if they have to move a ways to engage it.

The .221’s maximum cartridge length is 1.830″. However, Nosler 55-grain Ballistic Tips just touch the rifling lands of the Cooper .221 with a cartridge length of 1.873 inches. The Cooper rifle has no magazine, so that long cartridge length fits fine. A smidgen shorter cartridge length, though, ensures easy extraction of an unfired cartridge from the chamber. Also, pressures tend to be greater when bullets do not have a bit of a running start before contacting rifling.

To determine if accuracy was better with bullets seated just short of the rifling compared to seated back a ways, I loaded 10 cartridges each with the Ballistic Tips seated with an overall length of 1.850 inches and 1.830 inches. Before shooting I ran the cartridges through a Hornady Lock-N-Load Concentricity Tool. The majority of the bullets were absolutely true with the case necks but a few varied up to 0.002 inches. The longer cartridges averaged 0.96 inches for two, five-shot groups. The shorter cartridges averaged 0.95 inches.

Shooting

After firing 20 shots at a fast pace, the Cooper’s barrel was lukewarm and the front third remained cold. Even though the temperature was in the 20s, heat rising from the barrel created barely any mirage through the Leupold 14X riflescope. Recoil was so mild that the crosshairs scarcely jumped off target, and often I saw bullet holes appear instantly. The Cooper Varminter shot well. It probably would have shot even tighter groups, but there was the shiver factor to consider from the cold temperatures. It helped, though, thinking about warm spring days ahead and green fields of ground squirrels and prairie dogs.

They may not be the prettiest specimens on the planet, but then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And we’re willing to bet you wouldn’t pass up any of these bucks because they were a tad asymmetrical. Some of these deer were taken by hunters who didn’t mind a lot of junk. One deer’s death remains a mystery, while another got “ran over by a damned old train.” Classic country songs aside, these are the stories of the biggest whitetail deer to make it into the Boone and Crockett records.

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Number 1 – Missouri Pick Up

Score: 333-7/8 Location: St. Louis County, Missouri Year: 1981

Its rack weighs more than 11 pounds, and it has more cheaters than a daytime soap opera. But that’s about where the drama ends for this guy. He was found dead inside a fence along a road in northern St. Louis County. A hunter who already had his buck notified the warden who got permission to retrieve it. They couldn’t find any bullet holes and didn’t have any ideas on the cause of death. It was only 5 ½ years old. The head was forgotten until the first of the year when the warden took it to the taxidermist who knew at first glance what he had. It was measured and dubbed the biggest and baddest whitetail of all time. It remains property of the state of Missouri on display for all its citizens to see.

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Number 2 – Ohio Pick Up

Score: 328-2/8 Location: Portage County, Ohio Year: 1940

Taken down by a train, this buck hung in the Kent Canadian Club in Kent, Ohio for years. Dick Idol, an outdoor writer and avid antler collector, acquired the antlers from the club a few decades after it died. He had it officially measured and the entry measurement had it coming in as number one. Idol declared it number one and started to spread the word that a new king was crowned. The buck still had to go before a Scoring Panel at the 19th Awards. The panel score was lower, and the buck was bumped to number two. According to the records, “The slightly lower score…is explained by the necessary interpretation of several points on the beam as being either typical or non-typical.” To be fair, the rack has nearly 200 inches of abnormal points.

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Number 3 – Brewster Buck

Score: 327-7/8 Location: Edgar County, Illinois Year: 2018

Yes, you’ve seen this buck here before, but don’t you think it’s worth another look? This is the biggest free-ranging whitetail ever taken by a hunter, and it was taken by a guy who is no stranger to world-class whitetails. Luke Brewster and his friends are whitetail fanatics with a knack for consistently taking giant bucks. The group called this buck Mufasa and Brewster (who lived in Virginia) was in the right place at the right time on a November morning when the buck stepped into bow range.

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Number 4 – Butcher Buck

Score: 321-3/8 Location: Chase County, Kansas Year: 2019

If you’re scoring a deer like this, it’s best to just clear the calendar and put on a pot of coffee. Brian Butcher had been hunting the same property for 13 years, and in April 2019 his trail camera snapped a photo of this creature. In the fall, Butcher returned to hunt in his treestand on the edge of a CRP field when the buck returned. At 25 yards, Butcher released an arrow. And it was all over—except the scoring, of course. That took a little while.

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Number 5 – Tennessee Tucker Buck

Score: 315-1/8 Location: Sumner County, Tennessee Year: 2016

For two years, Stephen Tucker held the crown of having killed the biggest free-ranging whitetail of all time before Brewster’s Illinois giant fell. Tucker killed his buck on his family’s small farm during Tennessee’s November muzzleloader season. It was, in fact, the second time he’d had the buck within range. The first time he saw it, Tucker had the buck at 30 yards, but his muzzleloader failed to fire. Eventually, Tucker caught up with the buck again.

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Honorable Mention – Bryant Crossbow Buck

Score: 304-3/8 Location: Fulton County, Illinois Year: 2001

Illinois isn’t known for harboring caribou, but the shovel-like eye-guard on this bruiser could have come from the Arctic Circle. Considering that hunter Jerry Bryant wasn’t after caribou or even a deer when he shot the new Illinois state record, the buck is a pretty good blind luck story. Bryant was minding his own business back in 2001 in a treestand on his buddy’s farm enjoying a Twinkie and some Mountain Dew with his trusty crossbow by his side. Because he was injured on the job a few years back, he couldn’t pull back his compound, so he applied and got a special permit to hunt with a crossbow.

A group of gobblers came into view, and when he reached for his bow (he was actually turkey hunting), they spooked and took off. Soon thereafter, a doe cruised by, urinated and moved on. Hot on her tail was Big Buck Jones (seen here). It stopped to sniff her puddle of pee, which gave Jerry a 15-yard slam dunk. The buck didn’t even flinch after being shot through the heart. It took a few steps, wobbled, and died. Jerry kept the news of the buck on the down low as he was going through a rough divorce at the time and didn’t want half his buck taken. Once court was adjourned, he revealed his 36-point buck.

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Interested in Reading More About Whitetails?

Glue making has a long and rich history, possibly dating back to the Neolithic period and beyond. Not only was it used in weaponry, fastening arrowheads to arrows and the like, but there is also evidence that it was used to repair broken pottery. In this blog post, we will look at two types of primitive glues, hide glue and resin glue. As always, please feel free to read the whole blog or just click on the section that interests you the most. Remember, the only way to truly learn these techniques is to practice them in a real-world situation. Join our intermediate bushcraft course to learn more about these techniques.

• Making hide Glue
• Pine resin Glue
• Kit
• Further reading

Making hide glue

This section will give you a brief overview of the what, why and how behind hide glue. At its essence hide glue is made from extracting collagen from the hide, bones, sinew, etc. of an animal. It has been used throughout the years in everything from hunting bows to furniture and has even been found in Egyptian caskets.

Softening up the rawhide

The hide needs to be softened first. The method of doing this depends on where you are sourcing the hide from. The best method of doing this is to cut the hide, if you’re taking the glue from the hide, into small pieces, put it into a pot and cover it with water. The water should be allowed to reach a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil, and allow it to remain simmering until the hide becomes semi-transparent. This can take up to several hours so be patient.

Remove the pieces of hide

Use a strainer or the like to remove the pieces of hide from the substance. Leaving the liquid in the pan, strain out the big bits of the hide using a sieve or the like, then strain the liquid through a finer mesh, such as a cheesecloth, in order to remove the finer particle.

Cool the liquid

Allow the liquid to cool naturally. You will be left with a congealed, rubbery substance. This can then be broken up into small pieces and put aside to dry. These crumbled up bits can then be stored away somewhere waterproof and relatively airtight.

Using your glue

When you need to use your glue, take out as many of the small crumbled up bits as you think that you need and warm them slowly using as little water as possible. The more water that you add the thinner, and therefore weaker, the glue will be.

Making pine resin glue

Pine resin glue is, arguably, somewhat easier to make. It relies on using the pitch, or resin, that is excluded by some trees in order to help heal cuts in their bark.

Gathering the pine resin

As mentioned above, pine trees secrete resin in order to close cuts in their bark, and in doing so, reduce the risk of the tree becoming infected. Remember, treat the trees with respect and do not do anything which could damage them. The pine resin that is needed for glue can either be collected from dried, previously secreted, resin or from fresh running resin. If you’re collecting the hard resin, simply lever it off the tree using your knife. If collecting fresh, running resin, take it from trees that have been naturally grazed.

Prepare the pine resin

The pine resin should be prepared before use. In order to do this, heat the pine resin on a stone next to your fire and mix in some fine ash powder from the fire.

Using your pine resin

When it comes to using your pine resin glue it should be remembered that it dries very quickly. This means that the item that you’re intending to glue should be ready to receive the pine resin before you come to use the glue. In order to use the glue, simply heat up the ash and pine resin mix and then apply it to what you are hoping to glue and then let it cool.

Kit

There are a few key pieces of kit that you will need for making primitive glues. These are outlined below, remember though, you need to choose the kit that suits your purposes and abilities.

• Fallkniven DC4 This diamond/ceramic whetstone is perfect for use in the field. https://www.fallkniven.com/en/knife/dc4/
• Knives Wildway Bushcraft uses Bear Blades. “Constructed from superb quality D2 steel this knife is ideal for bushcraft and wood crafting. Our most popular knife due to its versatility and functionality, suited to tough daily use in the woods.” http://bearblades.co.uk/

Are raccoons rodents? This is a question that many people ask about this commonly seen animal. Raccoons are considered by some to be in the same family as rats and mice, while others believe they are their own unique species. In this article, we will answer this question and provide you with more information about raccoons. Keep reading!

What are raccoons classified as? Are raccoon rodents or marsupials?

Raccoons are generally classified as either rodents or marsupials. They belong to the Carnivora order, meaning it’s a meat-eater, although a raccoon will eat anything available, including whatever is growing in your garden or sitting in your garbage can. Raccoons are members of the Procyonid family, which also includes ringtail cats, coatis of South America, and kinkajous of Central and South America.

Where does the word “raccoon” come from?

The word ‘raccoon’ is derived from the Algonquin Indian word ‘arakun,’ meaning ‘he who scratches with his hands.’ Raccoons are excellent climbers, often scaling trees and fences to get at food or avoid predators. They have sharp claws that enable them to climb and grasp things easily.

What do raccoons look like?

Raccoons are medium-sized animals with a body length of around 40 centimeters (16 inches), plus a tail that can add another 20 centimeters (8 inches) or more. They weigh between 4 and 12 kilograms (9 and 26 pounds). Males are generally larger than females. Raccoons have dense fur that consists of a soft undercoat and coarse outer guard hairs. The fur is usually grayish-brown but can range from pale silver to black. There is often a distinctive black “mask” across the eyes.

(Is Squirrel A Rodent? See this post for more)

What do raccoons eat?

Raccoons are omnivores, meaning they will eat just about anything. In the wild, their diet consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts, insects, rodents, small mammals, and even eggs. They are also known to eat garbage and pet food left outdoors.

(Do Raccoons Eat Cats? See this post for more)

FAQs

Raccoons vs. Possums: What’s the Difference?

Possums and raccoons may look similar, but there are some key differences between these two animals. For starters, possums are marsupials, meaning they have a pouch in which they carry their young. Raccoons, on the other hand, are not marsupials. Additionally, possums are typically smaller than raccoons and have longer noses. Possums also tend to be timider than raccoons and will usually only come out at night, whereas raccoons are active both day and night.

What is a Raccoon’s lifespan?

In the wild, a raccoon typically lives for 2-3 years. However, if they are living in captivity (i.e. in zoos or as pets), they can live for up to 20 years.

Are Raccoons dangerous?

While raccoons are not typically aggressive, they can be dangerous if they feel threatened. They may also carry diseases that can be harmful to humans, such as rabies. If you come into contact with a raccoon, it is important to wash your hands thoroughly and avoid touching your face. If you are bitten by a raccoon, you should seek medical attention immediately.

(How to get rid of chipmunks? See this post for more)

What do I do if I have a Raccoon problem?

If you are having problems with raccoons on your property, there are a few things you can do to deter them. First, make sure that there is no food or water available for them. This means keeping your garbage cans covered and not leaving pet food outside. You can also try to scare them away by making loud noises or shining a light on them. If these methods do not work, you may need to call a professional wildlife control company or use an air rifle to get rid of them. (For more on the best air rifle for pest control, see this post)

What Kingdom do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Animalia Kingdom.

What class do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Mammalia class.

What phylum do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Chordata phylum.

What family do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Procyonidae family.

What order do Raccoons belong?

Raccoons belong to the Carnivora order.

What genus do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Procyon genus.

What species do Raccoons belong to?

Raccoons belong to the Procyon lotor species.

In what type of habitat do Raccoons live?

Raccoons can live in a variety of habitats, including forests, mountains, and marshes. They are also commonly found in urban areas.

What is the main prey for Raccoons?

Raccoons eat fish, nuts, berries, and corn.

SMYRNA, GA. – January 16, 2024 The New Year brings new products to the table from GLOCK, including the first GLOCK Performance Trigger, the expansion of the Gen5 lineup to new calibers, and the introduction of the GLOCK 47 MOS to the commercial market. GLOCK remains the center of trusted versatility and enhanced performance.

“The G47 MOS delivers versatility and dependability for the evolving needs of our customers and has withstood the rigorous testing of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)“, says Josh Dorsey, Vice President of GLOCK, Inc. „We are excited to make this model available on the commercial market along with the expansion of the Gen5 product line and the GLOCK Performance Trigger.“

The G47 MOS was developed for the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2019. The G47 MOS offers the same reliability and performance as the G17 Gen5 MOS, with a shortened dust cover and maintains parts compatibility with the G17 Gen5 MOS, G19 Gen5 MOS, and G45 MOS. This pistol has the same sight radius as the G17 and is able to showcase exceptional accuracy.

BJ Norris, a 3-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol and member of the CBP National Marksmanship Unit says, „For the agents seeing the shooting team out winning competitions with their duty gun takes away any doubts about performance capabilities.

Due to the highly precise GLOCK manufacturing process, the versatility and interchangability are what makes this pistol unique. The G47 MOS has compatibility with the G19 Gen5 and G45; allowing customers to configure it to best suit their needs. The G47 MOS will replace the G17 Gen5 MOS, while the G17 Gen5 (non-MOS) will still remain in the Gen5 lineup.

Expanding the Gen5 lineup, the G20 Gen5 MOS (10mm AUTO) and G21 Gen5 MOS (.45 AUTO) feature over twenty design changes which distinguish them from their Gen4 predecessors by combining the standards of performance and reliability. The Gen5 enhancements include the GLOCK Marksman Barrel (GMB) utilizing new barrel rifling to deliver improved accuracy, the removal of finger grooves to be more adaptable to a wider variety of hand sizes, an ambidextrous slide-stop lever to provide improved control and flexibility, an nDLC finish making it a tougher and more durable finish that is exclusive to the GLOCK manufacturing process, and a flared magwell to increase performance by making it easier to funnel the magazine into the magwell.

In addition to the new pistol introductions, we are happy to announce the release of the first GLOCK pistol accessory, the GLOCK Performance Trigger. The GLOCK Performance Trigger was designed to meet a different set of criteria and offers a refined trigger pull. The Performance Trigger utilizes a newly designed, flat-faced trigger and maintains the same safety features of the trusted and proven GLOCK Safe Action® System. The GLOCK Performance Trigger must be installed by a certified GLOCK Armorer and is compatible with the following pistol models: G17 Gen5, G19 Gen5, G19X, G26 Gen5, G34 Gen5, G45, and G47 MOS. To purchase the GLOCK Performance Trigger, check with your local dealer for availability.

“Demystifying Texas Air Rifle Laws for Felons: Exploring the Possibility of Ownership”

can a felon own an air rifle in texas?

In the state of Texas, the laws regarding felons owning firearms are quite strict. While it is generally illegal for felons to possess firearms, there is a specific provision that allows them to own and possess certain types of firearms, including air rifles. According to Texas law, a person with a felony conviction can legally own an air rifle as long as their felony offense did not involve the use or threat of violence.

However, it is important to note that even though felons may be allowed to possess air rifles in Texas, they still face certain restrictions. For instance, they are prohibited from carrying the air rifle outside their premises without proper authorization or transporting it in a vehicle without complying with specific regulations. Additionally, federal law still considers felons in possession of any type of firearm as breaking the law and subject to potential penalties.

In Texas, felons are prohibited from owning firearms, including air rifles. While certain states allow felons to possess non-lethal weapons like air rifles, Texas maintains strict regulations that apply equally to all types of firearms. Thus, felons should be aware of the legal restrictions concerning gun ownership in order to avoid any potential violations.

It’s coming quick this year – ice season. Often early ice can be one of the best times of year, so let’s get ready!

We use two types of rods when ice fishing for walleyes. One is for jigging and one is a dead stick, which is simply hanging a bait in a secondary hole.

One of the things that makes catching walleyes tricky is the way they bite. They don’t really bite a bait, they suck it in. As they move close to their prey, they open their mouth, flare their gills and suck a volume of water, hopefully containing your bait, into their mouth. Then with their sharp teeth they hold the bait in their mouth, waiting for it to quit struggling while determining if they want to swallow it. If they detect something is wrong (bad taste, too much resistance, wrong texture) they just open their mouth, slam their gills tight and blow the bait out. The problem is this can all happen is less than a second!

So as a walleye angler, we need sensitivity in our equipment to not only feel a soft bite, but to feel it quickly and then set the hook before the walleye spits out our offering.

The hookset can often be problematic with walleyes, as their mouth is very boney. To set the hook point into their mouth you have to make your lure move inside the mouth, so it can drive into those bones. With a walleye this can often be difficult because of the way they are holding that bait solidly in their teeth. A hard, solid hookset, is imperative.

Lastly, the rod needs to be able to handle the fight of a walleye. Since the rods are short, normally less than 3-feet, you don’t have a nice long bow in the rod to take up the head shaking of a big walleye. These head shakes are amplified by the use of no-stretch lines (see below). So, a good walleye ice rod needs to be able to absorb the pull of the fish.

It is also important with this short length be able to keep continuous tension on the fish, so it can not throw the bait. Add to that the issue of having to fight the fish up through a small hole and you must have the right action to consistently land fish.

Jigging Rod

This is the rod you’re working by popping, dropping, jiggling, and pounding as you try to entice a walleye to first get interested, and then to strike. We use a couple of different rods for jigging. The Clam Ice Team Professional Series 26” Medium Action Walleye Rod and the JT Outdoors 30″ Gold Digger are great all-around rods. For targeting bigger walleye, we use the JT Outdoors 34″ Black Reign. All of these rods have similar attributes. The shorter ones are particularly good in one-man shacks like the Clam Legend XL Thermal and the longer rods for bigger shacks like the Clam X200 Pro Thermal.

These rods are all super sensitive and lightweight. When fishing in cold conditions, walleyes often don’t hit the bait very aggressively, once again, they are just sucking it in. Also, many times you will be getting bites as the fish chases your bait in an upward direction, so it is hard to detect the bite because they are pushing slack in the line as they bite while they swim toward you. You’ve got to be able to feel them to move on to the next step – setting the hook!

To increase sensitivity, we use a no stretch line as our mainline. The best choice out there is Berkley NanoFil. NanoFil is a uni-filament line, meaning it is a single strand of no-stretch material with no braiding or weaving. The no-stretch attribute greatly increases your ability to feel what is often a subtle bite. The beauty of uni-filament is that it does not retain water in the line, so ice build-up is greatly reduced. Nothing dampens sensitivity more than a big glob of ice on the line! The ice that does build up on NanoFil is on the outside of the line and is quickly taken off with a single sweep between your fingers. For walleye fishing, 8-10lb NanoFil is best.

Often in ice fishing conditions, the water is much clearer than in summertime. There is no algae or sediment from wind to cloud things up. For this reason, you will want to use a Fluorocarbon leader to make the line that is tied to the bait nearly invisible. We use a small #14 to #18 swivel to attach the NanoFil to the Fluorocarbon leader. The length and pound test of the leader depends on conditions. If you are targeting larger fish, then lean towards a 10lb leader made with Berkley Professional Grade 100% Fluorocarbon. For smaller fish or in super clear conditions, you might go as light as 6lb Fluorocarbon. A standard leader length is 2-feet, although in gin clear water a 4-foot one is not uncommon.

The nice thing is that you can rig your reel one time with NanoFil and then adjust your leader to the situation. You can even quickly change to a 2-pound leader if some nice crappies happen to show up! A power hookset can be achieved with these rods because they all fast taper. This means that only the last few inches of the rod have a lot of bend. Since the majority of the rod is stiff, it has a strong backbone and thus amazing hook setting power.

With the few inches on the end of the rod being extremely flexible, you have some rod bend during the fight. It is a very specific action to get the right power in the backbone but flexibility in the tip, and these three rods nailed it!

Dead stick

There are a couple instances when we use dead sticks. The first is when walleyes are in a finicky mood. Often hanging a rod with a simple jig and live minnow in a hole next to where we are jigging produces better than the jigging rod. Jigging is still important to draw the fish in, but we see it on our Lowrance HDS units all the time, a walleye comes in and looks at the jig rod, doesn’t bite, but fades over to the jig and a minnow and slurps it in.

Second, we are also big proponents of using JT Outdoor Hot Boxes for our dead sticks. These boxes have a propane heat source in them to keep the hole clear of ice, so they can be set up remotely from our shacks. They are very portable and quick to set up. These boxes really give us big advantages! If you are fishing a flat or basin area by spreading out lures similar to how you would use planer boards in the summer, you can multiply your results. If you are fishing structure it is nice to be able to set up rods in several depths. Try jigging in a shack at the top of the break with a Hot Box set at the middle or bottom of the break to cover several depths.

In any situation, the big difference between a jigging rod and a dead stick is that you’re are not typically holding the rod to detect the bite. The walleye is going to suck the bait in and either hold it while determining if it is going to eat it, or it will slowly start to move away. Since there is a delay between the bite and the hookset you need to use a much more limber rod for this set-up. Enter the JT Outdoors 36” Walleye Snare Rod. This is one of the coolest rods out there for ice fishing! It is super flexible at the tip to about half way down the rod. You could call this rod action Slow Taper. The idea is that the walleye will suck in the bait and feel little or no resistance from the rod. Remember too much resistance will make them want to spit the bait.

The Snare Rod has a built-in red ball at the end of the rod, so even at a distance you can see the slightest bite as the rod tip and ball will move slightly down. When you get to the rod at this point, a solid sweeping hookset will double over the Snare Rod enough to get into its strong backbone and drive the hooks home! We have never seen another rod on the market that duplicates this rods ability to trick a walleye into holding on to a bait with its limberness, but still have the hook setting strength of a Snare Rod!

Sometimes, especially with Hot Boxes it might take a while to get to a biting walleye. What’s interesting is that you will catch a surprising number of fish that sit still and hold on to the lure a long time. The other thing that may happen is that once the walleye determines its ok to eat the bait, it will typically swallow the bait a little deeper and it will start to move away. Correspondingly the Snare Rod will double over even more. Often the red ball will even touch the water!

This is where things get interesting. As the Snare Rod bends more and more, it also starts putting more pressure on the fish. Many times the fish will make a sudden move to try to get away. This move often puts the Snare Rod into its strong backbone and the fish will literally set the hook by its self – thus the name Snare Rod! One big advantage of the Snare rod, is once the fish is hooked up, you’ll have all kinds of flex in the rod and fish rarely get off.

Set up the Snare with the same Nanofil mainline and don’t be afraid to drop down a size or two in your leader pound test, this is a more finesse technique, so a lighter leader will often allow the minnow to swim more actively on a light jig.

Two rods, same result – The Next Bite!