There is a song by some dude that is called "This How We Do It Where I'm From," and while I have enjoyed that song many times, I figure I can show how "I" do it where "I" am from. During the last few trips on the ice, I have taken a few pics that should show exactly how we do it. It is far from typically at times, but heck, if it works then I guess go for it right??? This first pic shows our set up on one of the rock piles we fished last week. We had our house in the middle, and surrounded the point with 7 tip-ups covering the entire spot and its different depths. On this frigid sunset, we iced a couple of eye's, but didn't strike gold with any hawgs. Still, it was fun running around chasing the flags as they went in the air, and on several occasions this year, we have had many flags flying at one time resulting in many of our eyes.
This next picture shows my favorite way of catching those eyes during the winter. We sit in a house, cook food, and play many games of cards and dice to pass the time. Throughout our games, we have the rattle reels down and take turns pulling the fish through the hole as the rattles ding at any given time. This has been the ticket for years, and one of the techniques that really has made a difference, is placing the hole cover back over the hole and only allowing a small gap for the line to pass through when the fish pulls. By doing this, the Willies have no idea that there is a house above them with lights on, and keeps the noise down as well. Even though we have been fishing depths up to 30 feet deep, the clarity of the water is crazy, and you can see well over 20 feet down during daylight. Trust me, the fish can also see upwards, and that light and noise spooks many more fish than one would think. Anyways, we boated 8 walleyes the night we took this picture, and Dusty and Whorl display a couple of them very nicely during their cribbage game. If you can wait them buggers out quietly, you will usually win the game.
Last night I captured a few more laughs and fun times that show "How We Do It," on the ice. With all the amenities of a house on land, we are truly spoiled to have such luxury while we fish. We typically wear slippers in the house, and are set up to cook anything we want while out there. Man, it just aint like the old days sitting on a bucket outside watching a bobber. 
You can see from the picture that grilling brats between nibbles is a great way to enjoy a meal. Last night we caught a couple walleyes while we had the pizza in the oven and the brats on the grill outside. Wow, we are lucky. Last night I was joined by Kevin, his buddy Mike and Dusty Bottoms for a sunday evening on the ice. While I only see Kevin a couple of times a year, we always make the most of it, and last night was no different. It is pretty funny, because he has this streak of luck going when we go fishing, and by streak of luck, I mean Horrible Luck. While he caught 3 walleyes before he left, he just knew that we were going to catch some larger ones as soon as he left. Sure enough, We did, and Dusty and I just chuckled afterwards. By the way Dusty, Nice Boxers...hahaha! The best part of the excursion was Mike catching a Snott-Rocket (aka: northern pike) a few hours after darkness. Why? 
I have no idea, because we were on a 30 ft deep rock pile with no weeds within 300 yards. At 8:30 that is the last thing we expected, but leave it to Mike to land the slimer. That is how we live the dream on the ice these days. Enjoy all of the amenities on earth while playing cards and shaking dice waiting for the fish to snatch up one of the lines just sitting there and paying absolutely no attention to the bobbers or jigs. It's a pretty relaxing and fun way to hoist the fish through the holes. Thanks to everybody on these last few trips including Dusty Bottoms, Whorl, Bails, Wags, Theo, Kevin and Mike. Love to continue the fun guys!
Last night I also captured yet another image that I just cannot get enough of. The sun was yet again setting perfectly for another fabulous photo for my album known as You Cannot See This From The Couch! Does it get any better than that??? Now that is what I call Living The Dream!
When we think about the great outdoor sports that we all pursue, it is easy to forget how we were brought up in them and how we learned about them. There are many children that do not have those positive influences that we were so fortunate to have, and many of them have never known the thrill of setting the hook into a fish. This organization called Fishing For life is doing their best to give those kids a chance at the outdoors. I have helped them out only minimal in the past, but plan on doing more to help in the future. By clicking on link above or the picture on the left side of my site, it will send you to their website which will have a better description about who they are and what they are doing. While I understand that many of you have kids of your own to introduce to our sport, there are many kids that do not have those figures in their lives. If you would like to help this organization, I know they have a fund raising banquet coming up in the near future, and many very cool donations will be auctioned off. I plan on being there as well, and would love to see as many of y'all as possible. Until next time, Keep on Livin The Dream!
