Holiday Ventures...Happy New Years To All!

The holiday season is a time that we usually get together with our families and do all the "stuff" that the holiday season entails.  While I was busy doing all of that "stuff" for most of the past week and a half, I also found a little time to get outside and share some fishing with a bunch of great people.  This update will show a few of the outings that I shared with several individuals the past few days.  It is definitely a mixed bag of catches, misses, and laughs that I hope you enjoy.

On Friday the 28th I was fortunate enough to spend the evening on the ice with what I will call the "Engelman Clan."  This group of gentlemen ranging as far as Oklahoma get together for the Holiday "stuff" every year, and then find themselves on the ice after anything willing to bite for an evening.  This year I was fortunate enough to be the host of their ice fishing excursion, and it was a hoot.  We mostly enjoyed laughs during our hours on the ice, however the night was weighted heavier on the side of the ones that got away, instead of the ones that we caught.  We set up on pile of boulders out on Minnetonka for the walleye bite, and while we had many chances, the only walleye king for the evening was Erik who landed his first ever walleye and followed it up with his second.  The fish were a bit on the short side, but gave us some excitement to go with the tales that are always shared when a group of fishermen sit in the shanty.  I want to personally thank Paul, lil Scott, big Scott, Tony, Erik, and Patrick for all the fun.  I would love to do it again any time!

Saturday we picked up camp and set the house on a new spot to find a different school of fish to harrass.  While we didn't catch many numbers on that rock pile that night, we made up for it in size.  I have to say thanks to Dingy for taking a cat nap on the top bunk at 6:30 (what a bum), because it meant that I had the rattle reel when that whopper decided to grab on.  Sorry for the quality of the picture on this catch, but it wasn't quite thawed out when this fish came up the hole.  The best part about it is that if you look closely, you can even see Dingy staring at what he could have had, from his sleeping bag on the top bunk (heehee).  Also during our evening we shared a laugh when Pauly went outside for a smoke only to return to find his bobber down with a skimmer attached.  Yep, that's what makes these trips enjoyable.  The fish are the bonus.  To see the expression on a grown man's face when he thinks he has a giant fish and you know that it's a chunk of metal.  Priceless!

I also would like to give a shout out to a buddy of mine who landed his largest walleye to date that night in another house.  Almost hitting the 10 pound mark, Luke almost put it on the wall but decided to release it for another fight.  The best part was the excitement in the phone call that I received that told the whole story.  By the way Bails, did you by any chance consume a beer or two in that ice house before you called me??? Geez was that a funny call at 1 AM.  Classic!

New Years Eve day Pauly and I joined up with a bunch of buddies on a panfish excursion on a somewhat metro area lake.  Wow is all that I have to say at what I was watching come through my hole.  It is not very often that you can catch "Bulls" in the metro, but that is just what we did.  Typically a lake anywhere within 150 miles of the cities doesn't have true "Bulls" swimming in it, but this one does.  We didn't hit the pound mark, but 3/4 is huge for a bluegill, and we did bring them through the hole.  Judging from the ones we caught, I do believe that there are pounders swimming out there, and I will be finding out soon!  On this trip I have to say thanks to Pauly, Whorl, Bails, Hennen, Hernnamen, Sally, and D to the E for all the fun.  Before it was all said and done, we battled everything from bass, pike, crappies and sunnies and brought home in the neighborhood of 65 fishies for the fish fry.  Definitely some happy bellies after that New Years Day feast. 

 

Well that sums up the majority of my excursions since I have sat at the computer last.  Happy New Years to all of you, and I wish nothing but the best to each and every one of you.  Here's to a great 2008!  Until Next TIme, I think we will still try to keep on Livin The Dream this year!

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!