Should I Buy A Pellet Grill?

From multiple cooking styles and different food types, to various temps and techniques, pellet grills are here to stay.

Pictured:

Traeger 885 Ironwood

Long-handled Tongs

Pellet grills have gone mainstream; from something that sounded experimental only a few years ago, to a fully featured, well-seasoned backbone of the BBQ grill market.  They’ve been around for decades, though their popularity is not really anything I saw coming, or even something I fully supported.  I’m kind of a traditionalist when it comes to cooking, at least when I have the time to be.  Yet at the same time, if it produces good food, especially with less input or fuss, I’m all about it.  The same has held true for sous vide cooking or even newer techniques like reverse searing.  If we can do it better, easier, faster, or all of the above, without sacrificing taste, or even improving it, why not?

Being an avid hunter and angler, I have ample opportunity and interest in all forms of cooking.  From smoked turkey, to seared venison chops, and slow-roasting cedar-planked salmon, I want a grill to do it all.  That comes from someone who owns or has owned a laundry list of charcoal and gas grills, vertical propane smokers, chimney-style bullet electric and charcoal smokers, and even a Kamado style cooker. 

Extra room wasa big selling point for my Traeger 885 Ironwood - and it’s not even pictured with the extra rack that would hold a few more racks of ribs.

I’ve always been in search of versatility in terms of techniques and temperatures, no matter the fuel source, and no matter what I’ve tried, it seems like most versions of grills tend to do one or two things quite well, while being woefully inadequate in other areas.  For example, I really fell in love with a cheapie vertical cabinet-style smoker I had a few years ago.  It was propane, had tons of control, and it produced some really great results.  Ultimately, it lasted only two seasons before rusting out at the bottom, and could not be used for anything other than smoking really. 

Surely a Kamado style cooker would produce better results, so I dropped nearly $2k for the biggest and baddest, complete with a wooden roller cabinet to support its massive weight.  I treated that wood with the most expensive stain and poly combination I could find, covered it religiously, and still found a way to rot out the cabinet, and grow fuzz on the inside of the grill itself.  If it rains where you live, or worse, snows, then gets hot in the summer, a Kamado style grill might not be for you.  It seared well, smoked fairly well, and did fine in terms of roasting, but without a temp/fan controller, really required some babying.  Building and maintaining fires in them was a laborious process, and not to mention messy.  I’m all for that style of cooking, when I have the time, but woefully disdain it when I do not.

Fish can be a tough grill chore if heating isn’t consistent or runs too hot.

It was about that time, I hired someone to build a new table for my Kamado, and got myself a pellet grill – the Traeger Ironwood 885.  Again, with versatility in mind, I was interested in the size, multiple racks, temperature range, super-smoke mode, and especially, the ease of use.  I’ve got a gas grill too (the deck is getting full), and see my Traeger in a similar light.  Both are easy to use, require similar pre-heat, and are supplied by a readily available fuel source.  Propane is easier to find, but I’ve got Traeger pellets at the local hardware store, big boxes, and outdoors stores too, so it’s a push for where I live.

The similarities stop there, and I’ve grown to really love my pellet grill.  I get a solid “smoky” flavor and low temps when I want it, searing and high temps when I need it, and everything in between when I’m cooking chicken, fish, vegetables, and a host of other items, like desserts.  I can choose from a variety of smoke flavors, simply by adding different pellets, and I can perform more complex cooks, more easily.  For example, if I want to slow smoke ribs, then wrap and crank the heat to push the cook along, then unwrap and sauce at a slightly lower temp, I can do all of the above with the push of a few buttons.   

The Traeger App allows you to search a recipe and enact it on your grill - complete with controls for heat, timing, and meat probe alerts. Best of all, you can monitor your fuel and switch it to “keep warm” so the food fits your schedule.

Better yet, I can do all of that and more from my phone.  These days, I visit the grill to get it going, and come back to it when finished.  Occasionally, I’ll check it out mid-cook for a spray, slather, or sauce, but the onboard temp probe gets put in the meat at the start, and I monitor internal temp from there.  Recipe guides from the control app can be sent straight to the grill, complete with instructions, timing regulation, and alerts on my phone.  While I enjoy some of the tinkering and going off on my own, I realize that most people do not.  They want repeatable results and max ease of use.  I can’t think of an easier way to grill. 

There’s a few drawbacks, like the occasional need to remove ash via shop vac, and maybe some general grate scraping and foil shield replacing.  All of which is as easy as the gas grill maintenance and way easier than any wood or charcoal grill I’ve owned.  Ultra greasy grill-offs should be monitored, as I had one flare up when I didn’t keep the grease drain free from obstruction.  My fault on that one, but lesson learned, and the grill was smart enough to shut itself down after it detected the fire.  Still, I’ve had grease fires on gas grills and wood-fired grills too, so it’s been pretty rock-solid.  I’ve gone through a few bags of pellets, but fuel is fuel – grill, smoke, or roast a lot of food, and you’re going to go through it.  It’s slightly more expensive to fuel than propane, but with a load of flavor, so again, I’m not against paying a bit more for a quality result.

In App controls are reflected on the base unit, so you can monitor from afar or up close.

For that reason and others above, it’s become my go-to for about everything I cook, and I continue to find new ways to incorporate it into everyday cooking.  Grilling used to be for weekends, but I’ve done some really great mid-week meals that don’t heat up the house and are a blast to do.  The more I use it, the better I learn to make use of it for the varied styles and recipes it excels at.  For just about every task, including pizza-making, it does better than the other grills in my stable.

Over the long-haul, I expect it to phase out my other grills for all but a very few specialized tasks.  Even then, knowing what I know now, it would definitely be the one grill to replace them all had I only room for one.  I’m excited to own it for years to come, and look forward to sharing more I learn along the way.

When a Picture is Worth a Thousand Lures

Ever lost a tackle box?  I’m pretty good at it as it turns out.  So are my kids I’ve come to learn, they’ve got too many of my own genes.  I’ve lost them tragically to a canoe capsize, which is a rough story I’d not like to recall.  I’ve lost one to theft, and of course it was a box full of crankbaits.  I’ve left them on the banks of rivers, in buddy’s cars and boats, and even lost them in my own messes.  Those are the worst, when you lose an ice-fishing box in some other coat you rarely wear, only to find it a few years later.  If you’re like me, you know the lump-in-your-throat feeling that comes with not just the initial loss, but the cost and time it takes to reassemble what you own.

So it was this past week when my youngest son was granted my primary open-water panfish box, and lost it.  It was loaded with stuff, which to a casual observer may look to be only a couple bucks, but careful examination and the rising price of tackle meant a few hundred dollars in every kind of panfish rig under the sun.  As you might imagine, reassembly of 30 some years of panfish tackle is like telling a baseball card collector to just go out and replace his coveted McGuire and Griffey Jr. rookie cards.  Some of that stuff they just don’t make these days.

I’m lucky to work in the industry and at times am privy to deals on select tackle and brands, which certainly makes reacquiring tackle easier, but rarely is anyone showered with free goods just for being who they are.  Usually, anything free is really payment for services, or with an expectation of services later.  The same is true for discounts.  Which of course, turns a simple jig into currency; a thought not lost on someone who just misplaced said jigs.     

Life goes on, and crappies and gills still call, so I went about putting that box back together.  Step one was a nearly forgotten photo I’d taken a few years ago.  I’ve been convinced by a buddy or two in the insurance industry to photo catalog everything I own at one point or another.  Sage advice for a number of reasons, and while I was never planning on using those shots, I’m sure glad I had them.  It was pretty easy to see each of the lures, colors, quantity, and other items in the box.  It was even a great way to take inventory on what I “thought” I had vs. what I now feel like I could use some extras of.

These days, it’s easier than ever to catalog your tackle.  Most of us have smart-phones, and whether we know it or not, access to cloud storage.  That could mean Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other number of storage solutions that don’t involve having those photos only on your phone or point-and-shoot.  Those pics are subject to any form of chaos like fire, water, or simple loss as well, so just having them on your phone isn’t the best way to ensure you’ll always have them.   

Start by laying out all of your tackle boxes at once, or in groups, and snap an overhead photo of everything.  Then, get in close for multiple photos of the same box each.  It’s amazing how different angles and shuffling the tackle a bit can reveal some new items previously unseen.  Then, make sure at the end of the session that you move those photos offsite somewhere.  I use Dropbox and with an app on my phone, can easily shift the photos I’ve taken to Dropbox online storage.  It means I can access them from my phone again, but also from any other device should I need to look at them on the fly or when buying more tackle.

Of course if you never lose anything, and can completely rule out fire, water damage, or any other general form of destruction, by all means forgo this step.  I’m not that lucky, and also have a way of putting my stuff in harms way from time to time.  That makes me (and my family) prime candidates for a photo-everything day. 

At this point, I’ve nearly restocked all of the panfish tackle save a few items that have been discontinued or I otherwise haven’t purchased yet.  I put everything in a newer, larger box, and though I dreaded the task, my oldest who has lost his fair share as well did some penance and helped.  We had fun dumping out the tackle here, there, and everywhere, generally playing fishing as we went. 

Fast forward to last night when I received a call.  The old tackle box has been found.  All of which means that this has simply been a training exercise, but it’s good to have that now and again too.  It’s also good to know that it’s worth the time and effort to take a few photos, should (when) this ever happen(s) again.  That and I have at least twice the amount of panfish tackle I’ll need for years to come.   

The Move Offshore

It’s been a great early season thus far.  A delayed spring and rollercoaster early summer has kept walleyes primarily shallow.  I write this, one-week removed from a great shallow water bite that was only getting better as we left.  While we had some wind, it increased throughout the day as we drifted leeches over rock clusters in 10FOW on Leech Lake.  We’d get a few fish a pass, and each drift was really only a few hundred yards.  Anglers deeper than us weren’t doing much, while our graphs and bent rods were showing hungry fish as shallow as 8 feet.  We fished a few of the big main-lake points, and generally caught fish in most of the places we tried.

That pattern will continue with resident fish, but begin to be more sporadic, requiring good wind over a length of time to push those fish from the depths into shallow water feeding mode.  Yet as one pattern fades, another kicks into high gear, and walleyes in the upper Midwest are already starting their summer movements to deeper off-shore structure.

Water temperatures that build into the high 60 and 70 degree marks will definitely get fish moving, and that usually coincides with a few hatches.  Bugs crawling out of the deep mud get rafted against main-lake structure, and signify some of the initial pushes to offshore humps, bars, and reefs.  It’s often when casual walleye anglers, or those who see early mixed bags of walleyes with crappies and gills, stop catching them.   

Anglers don’t always follow, sometimes because they’re not required to.  This is a dynamic time of year as the summer food chain ramps up production.  That means anglers don’t always have to look deep to find fish, and several patterns can be going at the same time.  Shallow weeds and breaklines will hold fish too, but often those fish aren’t as concentrated – or predictable – as the offshore ones.  Wind will focus their locations even moreso, as fish concentrate efforts on the side of offshore structure that collects bait. 

The other advantage to fishing main-lake structure during this time of year is that with electronics, you simply have more observational tools at your disposal.  Fish at depths greater than 10-12 feet or so are less likely to spook due to overhead boat traffic.  Even in exceptionally clear systems, you can easily graph fish in 10 feet of water and deeper, especially when there’s a bit of chop on the surface.  While side-imaging is a great tool found in modern electronics as well, these fish are often buried in weeds or other cover.  Deep fish cannot hide from traditional 2D sonar or down-imaging as well, not to mention, you tend to be more certain that what you’re viewing is walleyes if they’re belly-to-bottom sonar targets.

Of course, electronics also means mapping, which is a key tool for your walleye-finding arsenal.  During this time of the year, I’m looking for wind-blown edges of offshore structure that have good access to deep water.  Specifically, I target points and inside-turns that serve as funnels for movement from the depths to the shallows.  Especially inside turns are super-highways of fish migration during low-light periods.  During cloudy or windy days, these “chutes” hold fish throughout, and allow you to keep the bite going during daylight hours. 

Good mapping and quality sonar go hand in hand, as in a perfect world you’d locate ahead of time a number of likely spots on the cartography, then use your sonar to confirm or deny the presence of schools of walleye.  Picking a spot, seeing fish on the graph, then catching said fish is an activity that really helps build the necessary confidence to use your electronics well.  Rinse and repeat long enough, and you quickly learn what to be excited about, and what to pass over on the way to greener walleye pastures.  Trusting your sonar is paramount to the process, and only happens after you’ve completed that cycle a number of times.

Do keep in mind that there’s a number of ways you can fish walleyes on structure.  I like to take note on the electronics of their position, number, and density.  Walleyes balled up in tight groups on precise portions of structure call for vertical or near vertical approaches.  Vertically jigging with bait, Jigging Raps, or slip-bobbering these fish would be the order of the day if you’re seeing tight schools of fish. 

Fish spread out along the edge of a large sunken island would conversely call for a more mobile approach.  You could rig live bait, pull spinners, or even crankbaits to cover more water and put more offerings in front of more fish.  There’s not a wrong way to do it provided you match what you’re seeing on sonar to the techniques you’re using.  Some methods are more efficient and productive than others, but that’s the part of the puzzle-solving which makes walleye fishing so rewarding. 

Enjoy the Chase

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to write about a recent trip I had to Northern Wisconsin, where I caught zero fish, and had an absolute blast doing it.  I know, it sounds odd stated like that.  Sunset and scenery pics must mean the fishing was poor right?  Amidst the pressure of always trying to stay on top of the bite, I’ll be the first to admit that fishing can be tough no matter who you are, or how much experience you have.

But this bite, wasn’t really even a bite, and I wouldn’t describe anything I did that day as “tough.”  It was my birthday, and though I’ve been making it a practice of always wetting a line each year on that day, work took me to Hayward, WI for a meeting.  That was fine by me, as the drive was beautiful, and it gave me a chance to scout a few spots for the return trip.  Where I would fish, for how long, or where I’d end up was anyone’s guess, and I was satisfied to let the day take me wherever it led.  That alone is refreshing in today’s day and age of chock-full online calendars and commitments.     

I didn’t have a boat hooked on back, no fancy electronics, scores of rods, or hundreds of pounds of tackle.  I had a small travel rod and a single river box I’d put together.  Staples from jigs and plastics to #5 Shad Raps, and a few terminal tackle pieces.  It would likely be tough to find fish, trying places I’d never been before along the Namekagon, and small lakes I’d seen dotted along my route.  Heck, I wasn’t even targeting a specific species, I was just casting to cast half the time.  Explorer fishing, without a plan or purpose, really suited me that day. 

I started along a river, watching canoers plunge through some rapids as I fished back-eddies and current seams from my shoreline perch.  Poor planning and overall ambivalence to the days fishing plans left me without proper footwear or clothing to even get in and wade, so I was fine with creeping down back-trails and sneaking wherever was dry.  As the well-worn lanes narrowed to paths, and eventually just game trails, I was lured further by the thought that maybe, just maybe, no one has ventured this far in years, and I’d come to a miraculous pool of unfettered smallmouth just around the next bend.  No such pool was around the corner, but I did see a number of smallies blowing up on dragon-flies.  They didn’t like what few topwater options I had in my river-box, but it sure was fun to try.

Next stop was a river bridge with too much current, and the one after revealed too much shallow water for my liking.  I was looking for something in between, but fishing new places always involves some strikeouts.  Like the next two spots, which were just boat landings that had some small gills and crappies visible from the dock, but nothing going elsewhere.    

This kind of fishing is about checking on new leads too, so I headed north and off my route home to a lake rumored to have some gargantuan gills from this past winter.  I found the lake, and even fished it from shore a bit, looking for any sign that might confirm or deny their presence.  Another miss, and time for a break, so I stopped at a small corner bar near the lake to see if I could chat up any locals.  Aside from the bartender who’d heard that “there’s fish in there” but had no idea as to the size or speciation, there was only an old man sitting at a picnic table. 

He offered only vast generalities, and a bit of red-herring to throw any self-respecting angler like myself off the trail.  That said, he did lament the fact that the lake at one-time had a fishable walleye population, at least until “somebody probably caught two of them and called everyone they knew.”  I suspect he was talking about the bluegill bite in code, but it was fun sharing a birthday beer with him somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin nonetheless.

I pointed the car towards home, tempted to think poorly of the overall fish-count from the day, and disappointed at first that I hadn’t brought the boat, made a call to some friends in WI, or otherwise just prepared better for my excursion.  But I had a great day, and really enjoyed the break from constantly being “on-point.”  I fished casually, enjoying the pursuit without letting it dominate the day.  I didn’t cast gruelingly till last-light as mosquitos feasted on my blood-smeared face, grimacing in focus for the next heroic fish-hoisting moment.  I flicked a few ticks off me and just fished, then drove home.  Anti-climactic, perhaps, but it’s been the best fishing trip I’ve had this year.         

An Evening Fish

Summer in the northern states is just this incredible phenomenon.  It cannot come soon enough, so immediately upon arrival we bask in its glory.  June for me is one of the fishiest months of the year and always goes by too quickly.  So we do our best to keep up with the fishing trips we have scheduled and by July and into August, we can be lulled into a sense of endless summer.  Hot days, thunderstorms, and life’s commitments cause us to get a bit choosy with our fishing, myself included.  Then predictably, summer up and goes south for the winter, leaving us bitter and remorseful of the many fishing days we chose to do something else “really important.”

Though some of the fishiest folks I know still complain about not going fishing enough, a few quick evening fishing sessions can be the very best antidote for that feeling come late fall.  Rarely has anyone regretted an evening on the water, and short sessions can be just as rewarding as all day trips.  That is, if you plan for them accordingly.  Here is a few things to keep in mind that will launch you out the door and on the lake with limited time to fish:

Boat – Fishing from shore can have its advantages for the after-work-angler, as a boat can actually be the number one deterrent to hitting the water in short order.  That is especially true if you have been neglecting some messes.  Whether it be simply storing your tackle and gear away, or anything from trailer light issues to nagging motor problems, having the boat in tip-top shape well beforehand keeps you from walking past it in the morning and throwing in the towel.  That’s why the best guides I know do their rigging and boat prep the night before, or well in advance of when they’ll be using their boat.  It is amazing how much a well-cleaned and clutter-free boat wants to be hooked up to the truck more often. 

Non-Essential Fishing Items – Too many short trips are bogged down by non-essential items like bait, the latest lures you want to throw, or even all of your rods.  If you approach it from the standpoint of any fishing is better than no-fishing, your world is colored a bit differently.  Sure, there will always be some bites that require specific gear, tactics, and styles of equipment to help you be more successful, but if you only have two hours to wet a line, you probably will not need 3 or 4 patterns worth of bait, tackle, rod/reel, and line setups ready to roll.  Keep the staples on hand and be ready to fish. 

Supplies - On nights like these, time is the one commodity you cannot compensate for.  That means that chock-full gas tanks, supper, ice-cold beverages, or sometimes-even snacks are things that can wait.  If you are with kids, add snacks and drinks to the mix for sure, but do your best to limit the luxury items and especially stops if you can help it.  I’ve been the guy that stops to top off the tank, then grabs a bite to eat, only to forget ice and drinks; putting me on the lake with about an hour to fish.  That is a letdown no matter what you are fishing for and how dialed-in the bite is.

Plan – I do my best to have a plan when I hit the water no matter how much time I have to fish, but that could be even more important when the sun is diving.  If it is a lake I have never fished before, I have two spots I’d love to hit in detail, and I study the contours to develop a mental plan of action.  Knowing the lake or river you fish certainly helps, but it can also hurt.  A similar plan of attack is best should you fall prey to “fishing a memory” and hanging in that location far too long.  Spend more time on different locations, being vigilant to hit even more spots in an effort to find fish quickly.   

On the Water - From a fishing perspective when I do hit the water, I am looking to do only one or two things that I will live or die by.  Personal experience, time of year, or other local knowledge certainly helps, but you can also turn it into an information gathering session or experimental bite night.  These short fishes can be the best way to dabble in new techniques or spots, giving you the confidence it takes to give it half or a whole day’s attention later.  Whatever you choose, do your best not to switch back and forth to too many different techniques or you’ll spend more time rigging than fishing.  Sometimes power fishing methods of trolling or active casting can be the best way to catch active fish and cover water in a short amount of time, and take that into account if you’re thinking about bobbering, rigging, or picking apart areas that can drain the clock. 

So do your prep ahead of time, have that boat ready, and keep in mind that there’s few things you’ll actually NEED once you slide off the trailer and into the water.  Have a plan but keep it a simple one, such that you spend more time casting the summer away, rather than once again regretting its passing.