I Thought I Would Go Fishing Again...

Well the reports have been few and far between on my end lately, and for that I apologize.  I simply haven't been out there living the dream like I normally do.  Yesterday I got a bug up my butt so to speak, and I decided that I would jig myself up some grub, otherwise known as Walleyes.  Hennen and I loaded up my gear and we ran out to Tonka to meet up with Petey and his 4-wheeler.  Being the great guy that he is, I called him up and he came to shore to haul us out to our destination.  We basically set up on 2 different ends of a favorite muskie spot of mine and hoped for the best.  The eye's were schooled up pretty tightly, and when they came in as darkness was approaching, it was pretty fast and furious for Hennen and I.  At times, we had 5 - 6 eyes under our house chasing our baits at the same time.  An occasional tip-up flag of ours went off, but the frozen spools caused them to turn very tough and resulted in missed fish.  Our window of time on the ice gave us some great action and another picture of a mitt-full of eyes.  Petey was about 150 yards away and enjoyed much of the same action, however he was fishing alone, and had some fish get tangled on him which caused his "jar" of keepers to be slightly less.  Either way, he had lots of action, and when you are chasing metro area eyes, that is really what it's about.  The ice on the part of the lake that we were fishing ranged from 4-8 inches.  It is still varying in depth a quite a bit due to the snow cover in spots, however it seems to be plenty good for foot travel and 4-wheelers.  Thank you again Petey and Hennen for another enjoyable night on the ice.

As we approach the great Holiday season of Christmas and New Years, I want to wish you all a safe and wonderful time.  It gives us a great chance to spend quality time with the ones we care most about, and if there is time after that, then we can jump back in the great outdoors.  After all, the ones closest to us make our passions enjoyable to pursue.  Until Next Time Y'all, Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

"Images of Whorl"

This is one sweet picture that will some day be a part of what we are now calling "Images of Whorl."  That title comes from my buddy Mike, (aka: Whorl) who has found a new passion that he is going to hopefully pursue in the very near future.  His love of taking photographs everywhere that we go is starting to grow, and a new camera and equipment is soon to be in his arsenal.  While he doesn't have the billion dollar setup just yet, he has been taking several sweet photos over the years, and many of them I have shared with you over time.  I will continue to share his "Images" as they come in, but hopefully soon we will be able to type www.ImagesOfWhorl.com and have it take us to a site full of his pictures and stories.  Keep it up Mike, you've got talent (I know, I can't believe I admitted that either) and I cannot wait until the day that I get to check out your website. 

These duck shots were taken yesterday December 12th as Mike raced around following a flock of ducks back to this random open water creek.  I bet that was a site to see after coming over that ridge.  Very cool, and I cannot wait for the next Images.  Until next time Y'all, Keep on Livin The Dream!

Trophy Encounters & .Com Team Up...

Enough messin around already...  Petey (.com) and I have been puttsing around on a few different areas lately exchanging stories about how we have been forced to fish areas that we don't want to due to the ice, and not catching the fish that we are use to for early ice.  So, yesterday we said enough of that wasting time,  Lets go where we can catch em'.  We loaded up the gear and headed to the walleye rich waters of Tonka in search of enough ice to fish.  I have to chuckle here cuz I am again going to catch grief from my mother (and several other mothers who will read this).  Lets just say that we used 4 wheels to get where we were going, and Petey has kahoonas the size of an elephant.  It was kinda freaky, but once we were there, we were there, and we set up shop for the hour that we had allotted ourselves to fish for that evening.  The action was pretty fast paced and intense for our short window of time, but it was worth every second of it.  I landed my first, yes, FIRST, eye of the season, but it was a dandy 24 incher.  Soon after, Bails and Petey got in on the mix, and since we were the only idiots that far out on the lake, we were hooting back and forth at each other with the standard, "Fish On" that is typically when Petey and I fish together.  It was kinda funny, cuz we yelled "fish on" about 4 times to Petey, and although he yelled back "nice work," it wasn't until after he finally yelled "Fish On," that he admitted that he was getting quite jealous of our chatter.  Petey, Petey, Petey....Like you weren't going to catch one sooner or later!  All of our tactics seemed to work as the fish were smacking the jigs.  I used a forage minnow tipped with a fathead, Bails used a Swedish Pimple with a fathead, and Petey had the old darting Rapala bouncing around.  All the baits seemed to work fine, cuz the fish were simply in the mood to eat.  Todays fish fry is gonna be tasty!!  Well, we now have our first story about knockin down some early season eyes on the ice, and I'm sure it's only gonna get better from here as more spots become accessible.  All of our eyes ranged from 16 to 24 inches, and about that ice.....3.5 inches seemed to hold us a mile from shore.  Oh, and Petey....You Are NUTS!  Until next time Y'all, Keep on Livin That Dream!

First Ice Eye's....

We Have Ice!  Last night I slipped out onto the ice for a quick looksy at the ice conditions and brought along some bait and the ol fish house to give it a shot.  With the snow all drifted up across the lake and very "iffy" conditions, Mike and I decided to take our sweet time working our way out to our "first ice honey hole."  That proved to be the smartest decision we have made in a while.  Although in the picture you can see that we are sitting on about 6 inches of ice, I was fortunate not to fall through, as I poked the chisel through about 1 inch of ice a few feet from where we set up.  Yet again I found myself in a bad ice situation that would drive my mother crazy (sorry Ma).  It seems that every year I somehow end up being the crazy guy that just lucks out, but stretches the limits every time.  While I didn't know the ice was bad in that spot, I took extra precaution in poking holes every couple of feet to make sure of the thickness, and allowed us to safely stay clear of the bad ice.  I laugh now about it, but it was another close call that I am able to look back on.  How did the fishing go??? Well, we were forced to set up about 50 yards short of the depths I was looking for, but Mike did manage to land the first eater of the year on the ice before we headed back in.  With all of this snow and varying ice depths, it will most certainly be a while before we have consistent ice for traveling on.  Please use extra precaution on the ice at this point, because it aint worth the fish.  Until Next Time Y'all, Keep On 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!