It's Go Time...WOW!

I'm Not sure what to say about this other than AWESOME!  So I wasn't able to join the boys on their trip today, but that doesn't mean that I can't share their success with all of you.  By now you know these characters that I get to hang out with pretty well, so I will share their spectacular catches with you to drool over.  Heavens knows I am drooling as I write this.  So the first picture is just incredible.  The fish was exactly 30 inches long, and had an incredible girth of 20 inches.  They just don't get a lot bigger than that.  They had a quite a few over the 5 pound mark, but this birg girl took the cake.  I guess it was funny, cuz they had 12 nice eyes in the boat before Bails caught one, but he made up for that in a hurry with this beast.  Way to go buddy!  It's definitely go time for the biggens, and it just shows how quickly these fish can turn on.  Just a couple of days ago Dusty and I fished the same area with only a few small fish.  I guess the time has come, so I'm assuming that you'll be seeing more pictures posted up here very soon. 

Not only did they catch some spectacular eye's, but they also landed a couple of really weird fish that you can only catch out of the river.  The first picture is of a carp, but it has some really messed up colors.  I will do some research on it to figure out exactly what they caught.  The second picture looks like a fish that shouldn't even be swimming in fresh water.  Once again, more research to narrow that name down.  Awesome trip boys!  Thanks for sharing with us all.  Now that's how you live the dream!

Cashin In On The Weather...

The 50 degree weather yesterday just couldn't keep us locked inside.  Dusty, Mike and I grabbed the boat and manhandled our way to the spot that we wanted to fish.  There was still a little bit of ice between us and where we wanted to go, so with the front of the boat, we chipped away at it until we could sneak through to get to our destination.  It seemed to work out pretty well, and the action was pretty much fast and furious.  In total we managed 57, 1, 1 and 1.  What do those numbers mean???  Well, Mike kept a tally on our success throughout the day, and after it was all said and done, I asked him where we stood.  He said those numbers and I kinda chuckled in amazement that he really kept track that entire time.  The numbers stand for this: 57 walleyes, 1 crappie, 1 smallmouth bass, and 1 mudpuppy.  Yep, that's right, Dusty scored another mudpuppy.  Last year I posted a picture of one that Bails caught, and believe it or not, after a full year, they are still the most disgusting creature you could ever imagine.  Needless to say, the pliers were used to unhook the gross thing, and nobody wanted to be near it while it slithered around.  Yuck!  It gives me the Heebby Jeeby's just thinkin about it again.  While we threw 57 walleyes in da boat, it wasn't quite as awesome as it sounds.  The size of the fish were rather dissapointing, and we couldn't locate any of the big fellas.  Everything we caught was 15 inches or less, but the action was about as consistent as you could ask for.  I do believe that the big ones will be making a run in the very near future.  Our weapons of choice were the good ol' jig and minnow, and after a while, we simply took the minnows off and put on a twister tail for simplicity.  The fish were agrressive enough that we didn't need to use the live bait after finding the school.  If you are reading this and wondering if you should get the boat out, you are just in time.  Depending on the weather, which is suppose to remain in the upper 30's for the next week or so, I would figure that the fatties will be slammin jigs within the next 5 - 10 days.  Are you ready?  Get your gear together and enjoy the preseason action that can be had, or you can give me a call and I'll take ya.  It's worth the trip for sure.  Until next time y'all, Keep on Livin the Dream! 

The Time Has Come...Open Water Baby!

As we pulled out of town yesterday with the boat hooked to the truck, it was very obvious that people thought we were nuts.  Everybody gave us weird looks and comments like "good luck with that" or "too bad there is no open water!"  We just chuckled at it all and got even more pumped as we drove out to the river for our first open water experience of 2008.  The weather was spectacular...the water was flowing...the fish were...well, lets just say it was another learning experience.

Just being able to sit in a boat on open water made our day, but as usual, we tried many tactics and spots and found ourselves some action.  We started out by heading to some already proven spots.  Much to our surprise, we found that there was still ice covering the area that we wanted to fish.  Oh well, plan B.  Not that we had a plan "B" but we had to work with it anyways.  It actually worked out pretty well that we didn't have a plan, because it kept us open to anything and allowed us to try things we normally wouldn't have.  If there is one thing that I have learned from fishing rivers, is that you have to be ready to find fish in places that you would never expect.  I cannot recall fishing a river even two days in a row and catching fish the exact same way in the exact same place.  It seems like you always have to experiment each time out before you find the days pattern.  We did just that yesterday, and even though we were targeting walleyes, we were aware that we could battle many different species before we jumped out of the boat for the day.  After literally a few hours of no fish, we stumbled on to what appeared to be a wintering hole for many types of fish.  This hole just randomly dropped to 40 feet, and the graph was so solid with fish that it almost didn't show the bottom.  I have never seen such a large concentration of fish before, and as we would jig around, we would literally bump fish every time we lifted the jigs.  We tried everything to see what they were, and to get them to bite, but the only thing we found was that they just weren't eating the bait.  The fish were so thick in these spots that as we would reel up the bait to check it, we would bump off of so many fish that at times we would just reel the hook into them.  We weren't attempting to snag them, but when they are that thick, there wasn't anything we could do.  Accidentally we hooked many catfish and sheephead.  We had a few biters out of the group, but for the most part, if we dropped the jig down to the bottom and lifted it once or twice, we had one on.  It was the craziest thing I have seen in a while, but we decided that we just had to leave the spot and try something else.  Not that it didn't give us extreme battles, because we landed fish up to about 10 lbs, but it just wasn't the right thing to do.  I will put that hole in my memory bank for a future trip for sure.

After that ordeal and still no Walleyes in the boat, we kept on searching.  It was such an awesome day on the water yesterday and the sights were amazing.  "Images of Whorl" were in full effect yesterday as he captured many great pictures of the abundant mallards.  It seemed like everywhere we looked we had birds flying by, swimming past, and playing on the ice, and we put ourselves in some pretty cool locations to get some shots of them up close.  At times I find it hard to capture the moment with a still shot photo, but some of these really turned out well.  It's almost like you are right there in the boat with us when you look at some of these.  Nice work with the photography buddy. 

After fishing a few spots and trying a few approaches we sat and thought about the conditions before we made our final move for the day.  The water was extremely low and clear, and the current was not very strong.  Considering these conditions, we decided that the walleyes may just be acting more like lake fish instead of river fish.  We hoped that this would be the case and that the low-light offered around sunset just might trigger a bite.  Boy did we guess right!  Our day was closed by an awesome 45 minutes of throwing eyes in the boat.  In those 45 minutes, we went from zero walleyes to 24 in da boat, and many doubles and triples were recorded.  We didn't have any giants, but many up to about 16 inches.  The flurry was very fast and very short lived due to the darkness, but all of our experimenting for the day came to a close with more success.  Because of the fast action, we didn't take many pics, but these two are my favorite because of the cool scenery and snow in the background.  Sweetness!  We ran out of bait, our stomachs were hungry, our faces a little sunburnt, and the camera's were filled with more great memories.  Yep, I would consider that a great first day on the water for 2008.  That's what it's all about when Livin The Dream!

A Look Back At The 2007 Season. Thank You Everybody!

Once again we find ourselves itching like crazy to hit that frozen ice that is starting to take form across much of the state.  While I am excited along with the rest of you, I want to take a little time out to look back at the great months that I shared with so many of you throughout the open water season.  There were so many huge fish caught, and great laughs shared that I don't really know where to start.  I have taken hundreds of pictures yet again this season, and as I look through them, I remember each and every one of them like it was yesterday.  For me, it is always great to be in the outdoor world, however as I look at all of those pictures, I kinda chuckle at the friends I have made and the memories that won't ever be taken from me.  After all, isn't that what it's about. 

The early season started with numerous trips to area lakes and rivers and some days it seemed that we could fill bath tubs full of walleyes.  Other days were not as spectacular, but they always gave us some laughs and taught me a few more details about what I was doing wrong.  As the season progressed, I found a new style of fishing which left me sitting on a river in the middle of the night chasing prehistoric Flathead Catfish.  That was sweet too!  I had some trips up to the big pond that always seemed to coincide with a hurricane, and still we landed a few dandies. 

As the summer progressed I shared an uncountable number of days on the water with great people from all over the country.  For the most part, we landed that trophy of a lifetime nearly every time on the water.  Some days the muskies seemed to come into the boat like it was their job.  The largest number in my boat for one day this season was 8 fish, and streaks of boating fish each time were carried through more than one week at times.  Each time on the water I continued to learn a new thing or two to help keep the fish coming in the boat, and the results were great.  I had this "musky mojo" thing at an all time high, and the rewards were sweet.  People of every age landed fish with me this season, and each one of them were great in their own way.  The greatest reward for me being a guide is that I get to see that smile on a persons face when they land that fish of a lifetime, and it keeps me coming back day after day. 

As the season progressed into late fall, I found myself fishing much further into the year than I had ever done before. I can't even explain how great those rewards were, as I found myself in newspaper articles and chatter throughout the state for catching some "freak of nature" giant fish on the big pond.  I learned a lot in spring, summer and fall that will surely keep me progressing as a fisherman and your fishing guide.  I would like to thank each and every one of you that helped to make it such a great year, but I don't think I have enough space on this website to do so.  You know who you are, and I thank you.

It's a sad day that I will be putting the boat and the gear away, however it would be weird to see a guy jigging over the side of his boat through an ice hole, so I have no choice.  The stories are in no way going to slow down, and Trophy Encounters will continue to be a place to ask questions and hear some of the latest and greatest from not only myself, but by all the others that are telling me their stories to share.  I hope to have something new on this site every day to check out, so make sure you look at this page, and the page called "Its Their Story" to keep on finding new information.

It has been a great run yet again, and I look forward to seeing all of you again on the water in the very near future.  Now its time to get the other equipment ready.  Who wants to go Ice Feeeeshin???  Thanks again everybody, and as always, Keep On Livin That Dream!

Uh-Oh, I Think We Hit Something

We hit the river yet again trying to settle the constant urge to land yet another monster catfish.  Every time on the river there is something new happening, and on this outing, it was the water lowering about 1 1/2 feet.  I will get back to that in a minute, but first, check out that Huge Channel Cat that Hennen boated.  That is by far the largest and fattest channel we have landed yet this year.  It is hard to see just how fat that bad boy is from the picture, but it had some real girth to it.  The rest of the fishing was well below what we had experienced the first couple of times out, so I guess they too are affected by cold fronts.  We lost several more fish by the time we were done, and Dusty got to experience his first "Catfish Throttle."  Well during out treks to and from locations, we have always taken the extra precaution not to hit anything.  While we have bumped at least one thing on each outing, we really did it this time.  With the water clarity being about one inch, you can't see anything under you, and expecially when it is dark out.  The spot light helps, but it doesn't show everything.  Our first Uh-Oh was when a sandbar appeared out of nowhere and we beached, the second was when a lone rock or huge tree stump came out of nowhere and took our skag off and really folded over the prop.  Needless to say it is quite a jolt when you are riding, but nobody was hurt, and I do believe that with a little TLC that we will get back out there soon.  Until the next report, Keep on Livin the Dream!