North Star Anglers
I'm Scott. I'm working this out on the water, with you.
I live in Jordan, Minnesota, and I've been fishing for more than 35 years. Life pulled me off the water for a long stretch, and about three years ago I found my way back and fell in love with it all over again.
Coming back after that long, I went looking for help and kept running into the same problem: a pro on a famous lake with a boat full of electronics, catching fish I had no way of catching on my water.
So I started North Star Anglers to do the opposite. Every video is built around a decision tree, a simple set of if-this-then-that calls you can take to your own lake and run yourself. Water temp picks the branch. Cover picks the rig. The fish tell you what to change.
I'm not claiming to be an expert. I test things for real and show you what happened, even when it goes wrong. When my weedless hook snagged more than the standard one, that's what you saw, and the comments taught me more about why.
I won't just show you how to catch fish on prime water with expensive gear. I'll give you a step-by-step decision tree that works on your local Minnesota lake, no matter what boat or electronics you own.
What every video gives you
A tree you can print
Each video ends with a decision tree you can screenshot or grab free from the decision tree library.
Fair head-to-heads
Gear tests set up so one thing changes at a time, like the four-way wacky and Neko hook comparison.
Real results
Slow days, lost fish and busted hypotheses stay in. That's where the lessons usually are.
A bank version
When I'm in the boat, I show how to make the same call from shore without sonar.
Yes, I have a boat. No, you don't need one.
Some videos are filmed from my Lund 1775 Adventure with side imaging and forward-facing sonar. Plenty more are filmed from the bank of a local pond with one spinning rod. Either way, the tree is the point, not the gear. When I use electronics, I tell you what I saw and how you'd find the same thing without them.
Coming up: a February ice-fishing series with my son, starting on Lake of the Woods and moving south as the bite tells us to. The question for that one: when do you move spots, and when do you leave a lake entirely?
Questions I get
Do I need electronics to use these decision trees?
No. Every tree starts with things you can check from shore. Electronics speed things up. They don't replace the decisions.
Is this only for Minnesota?
The videos are filmed here, but the trees are built around conditions (temperature, cover, depth), so they carry to any lake with the same species.
Do you sell anything?
Just Keep Fishing merch: snapbacks, tees and hoodies in the North Star Anglers shop. The printable decision trees are still free.
Can I suggest a video or a test?
Please do. Leave a comment on any video or email me. Several tests on the channel came straight from viewer ideas.
Fishing questions, collabs, brand inquiries
The fastest way to reach me is a comment on the latest video. For business inquiries and collabs, email: