Chasing Flags...
Travis Frank
If there is one thing this guy doesn't do enough of, it's chasin winter flags. Tip-ups that is! Yesterday I took advantage of a special holiday, not Martin Luther King day, but my birthday. I had aspirations of heading far north in search of walleyes, but decided to stay local for a mixed bag. As you can see from the endless amount of pictures that I took, we had a pretty productive day. Dusty, Mike, Doug and myself spent the majority of the day chasing tip-ups and pulling in pike. I took my camera along for the ride, and took some 200 photo's throughout the day. Many of our tip-ups resulted in smaller "Snot Rockets," but we tangled with some dandies as well, and finished the day off with 11 Gators with an 8 pounder being the largest. Along with the 11 we caught, came close to as many that got away. For some people, tip-up fishing can be considered rookie fishing, but that still doesn't mean that it is always easy, nor is it any less fun.
Along with the constant chasing of the flags, we also set up camp in the cozy shack and caught our share of panfish. Sunnies were the main target, but we certainly put the hammer down on the crappies as well. For a day that wasn't even planned, it just might go down as one of the best on the ice this winter. We had no shortage of action, with some very large bluegills and respectable crappies coming through the hole. In all, we must have caught a few hundred fish throughout the day. During the very brief periods that fish weren't coming through the hole, we filled our bellies with pizza and snacks. Plenty of trash talk was spewed from our mouths, and laughs aplenty. A good birthday and a day on the water with great friends just makes it all the more special. Thanks fellas, and until next time, keep on livin that dream!