You Have Got To Be Kidding Me......

This fish is simply out of this world huge!  I don't know what else to say about it other than it is a freak of nature.  So the story goes something like this.  Last friday night a great muskie client of mine named John decided to bring his son and God daughter out to the house to try for some eyes.  The bite was slow to say the least, but we did have one battle with a big walleye before they left for the night, but lost it before we could get a sighting of it.  Was it this beast???  I do not know, but it was another large walleye.  So our evening went on until we had to pull the plug around 9:30.  I escorted them to shore and left the house to return to clean up.  Once I got back I was feeling lazy and decided to just hit the sack.  Before I did that I spent some time figuring out the timer on my camera.  Since I virtually never fish by my lonesome, I have never used this option, but felt that I should figure it out in case I land a whopper.  I dozed off, and within the first half hour this giant of a fish came up the hole.  It was so ungodly fat and wide that it barely fit through the 9 inch hole.  As I was telling John that night, we were due for one over the 10 pound mark, and it finally happened.  This freak measured in at just over 29 inches, but with the insane belly on it and understanding the Tonka eye's for many years, I am going to weigh this pig at somewhere around 11 pounds.  The only problem with this whole ordeal was that I couldn't figure out how to position myself in the right spot when the flash went off.  I always seemed to cut something out of the picture, but still awesome nonetheless.  How did the rest of the night go??? Well, I woke up to 3 more rattle reels dinging away, lost another 5+ pounder under the ice, and pulled the minnow right out of two other fish's mouths.  They were just nibbling on it, but that's ok.  I did already have pictures of the one that I really wanted.  My oh My, what a beauty.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  While most walleye fisherman wouldn't think twice about putting that big girl on the wall, I just didn't have it in me this time to do it.  I have two eye's on my wall already, and the next one believe it or not has to be even larger than this one.  I hope to let you know if that ever happens, but for now, that freak is still swimming in Lake Minnetonaka.  And that is just one way that I love to "Live the Dream!"

Way To Go Dawn!!! Welcome Back SD Boys!

I have to start this story by complimenting Pauly on yet another fine photo.  Not to take anything away from Dawn and her catch, but Pauly, that face is priceless!  Last night we put the house back out on the ice to get rid of the cabin fever that this cold front has put on us lately.  We had two goals in mind once we hit the ice.  Goal #1: Get Dawn a Walleye.  Goal #2: Get Pauly to catch a walley bigger than 10 inches.  Well, as luck would have it, we somehow accomplished both of our tasks, and managed to have a couple of chuckles at the same time.  Last night was kinda weird for us in the house.  Instead of only marking a few fish on the vexilar and catching them, we marked walleyes non-stop.  The only problem was that we couldn't quite entice the buggers into eating.  They were acting goofy and eating the bait really weird which resulted in Dawn swinging and missing on her first two takers of the night.  After cooking up some grub and shaking some dice, it was time for Dawn to take off for home.  As she was walking out the door I happened to look over at the screen only to see a giant red signal all over the bait.  I yelled for Dawn to come back in, and almost instantly the rattle started dinging.  Well I guess the 3rd time is the charm, and thank goodness she waited 10 more seconds, cuz now she is the proud fisherwoman holding this beauty!  Without that fish, we would not have had another classic Pauly Picture that seems to be showing up with more frequency lately!  Oh yeah, Pauly and I woke this morning to 2 rattles dinging away.  It would have been a double if I didn't miss my fish, but never the less, Pauly got his first eye of the season over 10 inches.  Another great night!  Thanks guys for the fun and Pauly, next time you sleep on a Cott, try not to smash it to pieces!  hahaha!

The South Dakota boys are back for their annual trip to lake Waconia.  Last year we got these boys in the local paper, and I did a story about them on this website.  Just to refresh your memory.  These guys bring this Ginormous tent out on the ice and live in it for a few days while enjoying all the locals that stop in to take a gander at their set-up.  They are a great group of guys that spend the weekend every year on the ice and come all the way to our town just for the Wild Game Dinner that the Lion's Club puts on at the Ballroom.  We spend a bit of time with these boys while they are up, and have grown to be great friends with them.  This morning we had a feast of a breakfast, and there are many more festivities planned for the next few days.  Trust me, you cannot miss these guys if you are on that lake this weekend.  The Flag fly's high all day, and has a spot light on it at night.  Stop by if you wish and say hello!  These guys definitely know how to Live The Dream!

Lets Try This Again...

About a week and a half ago Kevin and his buddy Mike came out to the house in hopes of getting in on the walleye action that we have been succeeding at lately.  While they did boat a few, the larger ones didn't take the baits until just after they left.  After having a great time and seeing the results just after they left the house, they decided to try their luck again last night.  While we spent nearly the entire evening playing games and cooking up nearly everything that the grocery store has to offer, we just couldn't get the darn fish to cooperate.  The boys stayed until 11:00 with no fish, and just as they were walking out the door a rattle dinged.  Dusty and I thought that Mike had bumped it on his way out of the house, but sure enough, the bobber was down.  After a quick best  2 out of 3 on Rock, Paper, Scissors, Mike was the victor and jumped in to do battle with this fat willie.  Finally!  The curse that Kevin always brings with him was broken!  Talk about waiting til the last minute.  What a way to end the night guys!

It is about time this cold snap comes to an end.  With the temps dropping well below zero for nearly a week now, the little bit of fishing that I have done has been pretty tough.  The high barometer and the ungodly noise from all the ice cracking had given the fish lock-jaw.  I think this warmer weather that is approaching will hopefully get the fish back into eat mode.  Although it has been tougher with the recent conditions, the fish that we have been catching are still very nice, and it has been rare to catch anything under 2 pounds.  The second picture shows just how healthy the fish have been that have been coming in da boat lately.  Even for an 18 incher, it still looks like he has a football in his belly.  I snapped this picture this morning of one that woke me from my sleep.  There is no better alarm clock than a 2 pound walleye ringing a bell.  That's what I call "Livin The Dream."

Brrrrrrr!!!!

Holy Connolly is it cold out there!  Brrrr!  Anyway's, last night we kept it rolling yet again, however it was more of a night of missed opportunities than a night of taking photos.  The spot that we are currently working doesn't seem to have tons of fish on it, however when you catch em, they all seem to be rather large.  We should have had a quite a few last night, but had just one of those nights that they seemed to always get off.  The largest one last night woke me up at about 3:00 am, and I have to chuckle at my sleepy look every time I post pictures of the middle of the night fish that I catch.   This picture is of a roughly 4.5 to 5 pounder that had Whorl running circles around the house as it kept stealing the minnows off of the rattle reels.  He even battled it for about 5 feet and then lost it.  I know this, because after all of his shinanigans,  I finally got off of my bunk for the next rattle, and caught this guy with a mouth full of his minnows.  Haha, thanks for missin em buddy!

 

This morning left me with the impression that I am going to be waiting a couple of days before I venture out again.  After moving 3 more fish houses onto new spots today in that ungodly cold wind, I feel that I am going to take a break for the weekend and fish next week once it starts warming a bit.  Hopefully the boys in those houses catch a few this weekend, and they get me some pictures of their results.  I will keep you posted.  We also had our third morning in a row of having deer running by our fish house.  I got some photos of these 4 as they came prancing by us.  What the heck are they running across the ice for anyway???  There isn't even any woods in the area!  Weird, but cool.  I guess I will consider that "Livin The Dream!"

I Think I Have A Nibble...

Although my ice fishing season started out by me not really doing a whole lot of fishing, lately I have been taking advantage of a pretty good pattern out on Tonka, and my rewards have been great.  Last night was yet another night for my digital camera to get a work out.  I also boated my largest walleye of this ice season.  A very nice eye that I would put somewhere in the 8 pound category.  A true beauty any where that is still swimming for us to catch another day.  It came in during one of our card games and while I usually just use the rattle reels to catch em, this time I had a jig line down.  I just happened to look at my vexilar and see the massive signal covering my bait.  I picked up the rod, jigged it twice and the battle was on.  Unlike Lil Dingy's eye from a couple of nights earlier, this guy didn't exactly come flying up the 8 inch hole, and when they get that size, it is usually a tough time fitting them perfectly in the hole.  Nonetheless, I got a picture of the fatty, and high fives were shared by us all.

The approach that has really been putting all of the fish on the ice for us this season is very simple.  Move the house, fish, move the house, fish, move the house, fish, and then move again.  I feel like all I have been doing is moving the fish house from spot to spot, but it is making all the difference in the world.  Like I said before, there are literally thousands of spots on Tonka to try, and the best way to stay on fish is to stay in a spot no more than one night.  For whatever reason, there seems to be only a few fish on each spot.  Once you catch those fish, it's time to find new ones, because they don't seem to come back onto a spot that has been hit.  If I show up at a spot that already has holes on it, I simply move to another one.  I guess if I have seen holes there I feel that somebody already put hooks into the guys calling that spot home.  I don't know why Tonka's rock piles don't replenish themselves with new fish, but it seems like you only get one or two nights on a spot for the year.  Either way, there are so many spots out there that if you can be mobile, you will catch your fish and many of them are very large. 

You can see from this pic that we have really been spoiling ourselves out on the ice with Dusty's new shack.  Last night we had a gourmet meal of Lasagna courtesy of Hennen.  Thanks Matt, Bails and Dusty Bottoms for yet another night on the water to remember, and to our sponsors "Sunny D" and "Michelob Golden Draft Light" for making this night possible (hahaha...Just Kidding).  That's what I call "Livin The Dream!"