Start Your Engine's.....

I know I haven't been posting too many sweet pics lately, but to be completely honest, I haven't been taking too darn many of them.  Typically, July is my month to hide from the heat, and prep myself for the big run that is about to hopefully take place.  I say hopefully, because I have many eager clients who hope to be seeing their faces on this site with big fish in their hands.  With that being said, I am geared up and ready to start posting pics on here like a wild man.  Not only that, but here's a hint, there is a little something in the sky right now that tends to make the night a crazy time to be on the water.  Tonight I had the pleasure of fishing with Bails, and as you can see, his first time casting a muskie bait for the year turned out to be kinda productive.  We started out fishing bass, walleyes and pike to prep for my guiding tournament tomorrow, and on our way back to the launch, we just couldn't resist a couple of my old haunts.  I have to admit, it is always funny watching Bails battle the big ones.  He is so intense and just never says a word during the battle.  If it were daylight, you can see a look on his face like he has his foot in a trap and he is trying for dear life to get it out, all while having a whole bag of sour patch kids in his mouth.  Although tonight it was darkness, I just pictured it during all his grunts and splashes from his nice 47 incher, and kinda chuckled as I watched the fish jump airborn into my net.  Always a pleasure to have ya in da boat Bails.  Nice work!  Oh yeah, we caught several bass and pike to boot.  I don't quite know how that whole walleye gig is going to pan out tomorrow in 95 degree heat from 12-4 in the afternoon, but we're going to give it a shot.  As always, Keep on Livin the Dream!

Solo Trip With a Twist

So last night I went out to prep myself for an upcoming multi species trip on Tonka.  It started out great by catching several really nice bass and a couple of pike.  At the last few minutes of daylight, it was obvious that I would be casting for my pet Ski's and I did just that.  I started working this really steep and deep edge and turned around to see the sun setting, so I turned around let my bait fall to the bottom and took this picture not knowing the chaos that was about to take place.  With my bait resting on the bottom and knowing it is a deep spot that holds many muskies, I decided to crawl my lure in the entire way and then bring it straight up vertically (this works very well for those that have the patients, there is no such thing as too slow).  Well, this was one of those times that I had one come vertical with my bait, and when I flopped the bait on its side at the boat, the muskie rolled sideways and smashed my lure and then went airborn.  All 47-48 inches of it was out of control and going ballistic (it was sweet).  I got it away from the boat and resumed the battle when it came by the boat the next time the line simply broke, that's right, IT BROKE!  Nothing Grinds my gears more than when my equipment falters, and this is my first time ever breaking 80 pound test on a ski.  I just spooled the line on the real on Saturday and this was my first outing with it only to be dissapointed.  So needless to say, he swam away with about $40 dollars in his mouth and left me simply shaking my head.  To make it worse ( and I feel bad for the fish here) the darn muskie came up to the boat about 5 minutes later and jumped out of the water with my lure clanking in its mouth as it was trying to shake it off.  I almost could have netted the darn fish.  I had to leave after that.  I had one more attack after that fish a few casts later and then called it a night.  Many bass, pike and made my 20 minutes worth of muskie fishing memorable.  Oh well, I got to see another great sunset! Keep on livin the dream Y'all!

HuntingLandGuys.com

Welcome to the World of the Hunting Land Guys!  The time has finally come where I can share with the world exactly what I have been up to these past few months.  For many of you, you already know what I have been creating, but for those of you who don't know, I will fill you in.  I started a few months back building a new business venture called "Hunting Land Guys," and a webiste called "HuntingLandGuys.com."  My entire goal is to provide the hunting community with the best possible resource for all of their hunting land needs.  As we all know, hunting land can be very hard to come across at times, and for those looking to purchase their own, it can be a very frustrating experience.  Well, with the network of resources that I am continuously building, it should not be that difficult any longer.  Our goal is to offer our many years of hunting knowledge to each seperate hunting group in hopes of matching them with the best piece of property available.  Along with that, our growing team of land specialists will be able to assist everybody with issues ranging from land management down to land financing.  I am always working on making my site better, and will be updating it daily as new land becomes available to show.  Along with it I will be finalizing my "Hunters Blog," where I will be able to share stories and pictures which is similar to what I do on this site.  As you can imagine from my fishing successes over the years, I absolutely love hunting as well.  I hope to make my other passion as successful as I have made my fishing passion, and I am looking forward to everything I have yet to come.  I would be more than grateful to all of you who help spread the word about the Hunting Land Guys, and encourage you to get in touch with me if you or someone you know is looking at buying or selling their hunting land.  I am very fortunate to be able to offer everybody my services in the world of Hunting and Fishing in the entire Upper Midwest!  As always, Keep on Livin That Dream!!!

A Couple of First Time Trophy Encounters

This is actually not a very funny moment, but it is good that we are able to laugh about it and I am not hurt that bad.  It was my first time being hooked, and John Daniels first time hooking, so technically it is a first time Trophy Encounter for the both of us.  Let's just say that I was walking in the wrong part of the dock for JD's casting ability.  Fortunately for myself, I was wearing sunglasses and the hook buried itself in only skin and not my eyeball.  Just a reminder of how accidents can happen and nobody really plans on them.  Other than that catch, we didn't do any fishing when we were up at the cabin, so I don't have any other trophies to report on.  A couple of hours at the local Onamia Hospital, and we were back to the cabin to continue our relaxation for the weekend.  Trust Me!  I won't let JD forget about this any time soon!  I told him that the next time we go fishing together, it will be from seperate boats.....and on seperate lakes!!!

This is an impressive picture for me to post, because early last week I got a call from a friend that I haven't been fishing with in about 8 years.  We chatted a little about life and fishing, and he heard that I do a little musky fishing from time to time, and was looking for a little info.  I recommended a couple of baits and tactics, and before I knew it, my phone was ringing again with a very excited fisherman saying that it worked, and he landed his first musky ever on his first outing for them.  I am very happy for this great guy and wanted to show you a picture of his great catch out of White Bear lake.  I can only imagine that this won't be the last musky picture I will be seeing from Mr.  Tom Dobbins.  Well Done Dude!  Until next time Y'all.  Keep on livin the 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!