This How We Do It Where I'm From...

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!

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!

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!

Bringin' a Little Dakota to Minnesota!!!

This story started many years ago, but is finally being told. 

For the last few years a group of friends from South Dakota have been coming to Waconia with the same purpose in mind each year.  Camp out on the frozen ice, try to catch a few fish, and stuff their bellies full of all the wild game that is provided at the local Wild Game Dinner here in town.  We ran into this group of guys last winter when our curiousity got the best of us and forced us to stop in.  It wasn't like they were hidden out on the lake or anything.  They have a very large tent and a 20ft pole stuck in the ice next to it which sports our nations colors, and they can be seen from just about anywhere on the lake.

We ended up spending quite a bit of time chatting with these boys last year, and were anxious to see them out on the water again this season.  Well, just as planned, the phone rang prior to their arrival and we met them for another weekend on our lake.  We set them in an area that had been producing quite a few Panfish and an occasional Walleye, but the cold made fishing nearly impossible.  The temps were well below zero for the second year in a row and the fishing was not exactly spectacular.  With their tent not suited for fishing inside in the warmth, the only fishing that could take place was in holes drilled outside the shelter.  A few fish were caught by them the first day, including panfish and a smaller eye', but nothing to write home about.

With the conditions not so good, it was still a pleasure to have a few beverages with these boys again and to talk foolish and tell jokes.  Just the atmosphere of standing on frozen ice inside a tent when it is -30 outside makes these guys a conversation piece for just about everyone who see's them.  Unlike other years, these men didn't really have any peace and quiet, and their zipper was almost constantly going up and down from people who wanted to come inside to check them out.  At times I think it was almost too hectic for the guys, but I hope a good time was had by all of them.  Heck, they even made front page of our local Waconia Patriot.  If you get this paper you already know what I am talking about, but if not, I suggest you check it out to see more about this great story.

A special thanks to Erik, Kent, Chris, Ken and Dan from South Dakota.  Hope to see ya'll again next year!