I Think I Have A Nibble...

Although my ice fishing season started out by me not really doing a whole lot of fishing, lately I have been taking advantage of a pretty good pattern out on Tonka, and my rewards have been great.  Last night was yet another night for my digital camera to get a work out.  I also boated my largest walleye of this ice season.  A very nice eye that I would put somewhere in the 8 pound category.  A true beauty any where that is still swimming for us to catch another day.  It came in during one of our card games and while I usually just use the rattle reels to catch em, this time I had a jig line down.  I just happened to look at my vexilar and see the massive signal covering my bait.  I picked up the rod, jigged it twice and the battle was on.  Unlike Lil Dingy's eye from a couple of nights earlier, this guy didn't exactly come flying up the 8 inch hole, and when they get that size, it is usually a tough time fitting them perfectly in the hole.  Nonetheless, I got a picture of the fatty, and high fives were shared by us all.

The approach that has really been putting all of the fish on the ice for us this season is very simple.  Move the house, fish, move the house, fish, move the house, fish, and then move again.  I feel like all I have been doing is moving the fish house from spot to spot, but it is making all the difference in the world.  Like I said before, there are literally thousands of spots on Tonka to try, and the best way to stay on fish is to stay in a spot no more than one night.  For whatever reason, there seems to be only a few fish on each spot.  Once you catch those fish, it's time to find new ones, because they don't seem to come back onto a spot that has been hit.  If I show up at a spot that already has holes on it, I simply move to another one.  I guess if I have seen holes there I feel that somebody already put hooks into the guys calling that spot home.  I don't know why Tonka's rock piles don't replenish themselves with new fish, but it seems like you only get one or two nights on a spot for the year.  Either way, there are so many spots out there that if you can be mobile, you will catch your fish and many of them are very large. 

You can see from this pic that we have really been spoiling ourselves out on the ice with Dusty's new shack.  Last night we had a gourmet meal of Lasagna courtesy of Hennen.  Thanks Matt, Bails and Dusty Bottoms for yet another night on the water to remember, and to our sponsors "Sunny D" and "Michelob Golden Draft Light" for making this night possible (hahaha...Just Kidding).  That's what I call "Livin The Dream!"

Lil Dingy & a Morning of Chaos!

Last night Dusty, Matt, and myself were joined by a Dingwall.  Not that fishing with a Dingwall is new to me, cuz Tim is one of my favorite fishing buddies, however this time we were joined by Lil Dingy.  She hadn't been ice fishing in years and said that she wanted to try to catch something.  Knowing that her dad is about as goofy over fishing as I am, I thought it would be great for her to catch a big one to rub in to his face while he is at home sitting on the couch.  Well, that's just what she did, and she did it with style.  After she caught it, we joked about how surprised we were that the fish didn't somehow explode or spontaneously combust from being pulled 30 feet in a matter of a half of a second.  It was hilarious how fast she landed the fish, and the 3 of us seriously thought she was just pulling up the minnow on the hook and there was no fish attached to the line.  Our eyes almost bulged out of our heads when this nearly 4 pound walleye came flying 3 feet in the air out of the hole.  There is no way that a fish that large should ever fit perfectly into an 8 inch hole at that speed, it just never happens that way.  I almost fell to the floor laughing, but it is a catch nonetheless and an awesome fish for her to rub into her dad.  Haha...Should have been there Tim!

After that excitement and a few games of cards, Dusty, Matt and I decided to spend the night in hopes of more action.  Unfortunately when Dusty woke up at 5:00 am to head to work, he checked the lines, and all 5 of our minnows were tangled together in a HUGE mess.  No wonder we didn't hear any rattles ringing all night.  So with fresh lines set and the minnows swimming in their appropriate spots Matt and I were woken to complete chaos as a whole school of nice walleyes came in and ate all 4 minnows we had down.  Thinking we had another mess of tangled lines, Matt pulled up the first 19 incher and realized that the bells were still ringing and no tangles.  I jumped off of my bunk in time to watch him miss the next fish and I set the hook into a fat 20.5 incher.  With two flopping on the floor he went for the fourth line, and I watched him yet again swing and miss.  Now that is what I call an alarm clock, and that was just the time that we had to head off the lake anyway.  Perfect timing for that school to move in, and although doubles are sweet, Quadruples would have been awesome!  I am very surprised at our results due to the cold temps last night, but I think we may be on the school of fatties that we are looking for.  Look for some new reports coming in as we will be giving it a go again tonight with some new faces in the house.  Now that is what I call Livin The Dream!

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!

Congrats To Tim and Taylor!

As a few of you already know, I have been donating some of my time to be a mentor for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Twin Cities program.  While I find it as being one of the greatest and most rewarding experiences of my life, I am compelled to post this story which I find even cooler.  From the day I started volunteering my time, my father Tim has been right along my side donating his time as well.  A few days ago he brought his Lil Brother Taylor out on the ice with him to experience a first time memory that I'm sure will never be forgotten.  My dad brought Taylor out to his spear house to watch down the hole in hopes of seeing a monster fish come swimming through.  This story comes from my dad, so I will tell it from his perspective. 

"Taylor and I had been sitting for a while without seeing more than a few bass.  All of the sudden a very large fish appeared out of nowhere and I asked Taylor if he saw it.  Taylor never said another word while watching the fish, but his eyes got the size of Mount Everest.  After I speared the fish and was bringing it out of the water, things got very hectic.  Taylor made a b-line for the door and couldn't get out of the house fast enough.  I could hear his hear pounding like a race horse.  It took him the next half hour to calm down.  The fish and the experience will never be forgotten, and it was Taylor's first ever experience with watching such a large fish come through the hole.  Although the fish was harmless, Taylor just didn't want to hold it for a picture, and getting him to pose with it was even as much fun as the excitement we shared in the fish house together when the fish swam in.  What a great day to be on the water and I'm so glad that everything worked out.  We had a lot of fun out there, and seeing that 10 pounder come in the hole will top any fish that I have taken while spearing.  I'm so happy to have been given that opportunity and I cannot wait for the next exciting trip on the lake.  To see that look of excitement was simply PRICELESS!"

That was one of the greatest stories that my father has ever told me, and I feel that it is very cool for him to introduce Taylor to such a cool site.  Taylor had told him how much he wanted to go ice fishing, and that he had never done it before.  I don't think you could draw up a better first time experience than the one that they had out on that small lake that day.  My hat is off to both my dad and Taylor for their great experience, and I'm honored to share that story with all of you.  Now that is what I call "Livin The Dream!"

You Cannot Catch Em Sittin On The Couch...

Understanding that I have never had a single nibble while sitting on my couch, I decided that I better get back out to the lake.  Last night Whorl and I did just that and we were rewarded for our efforts.  We moved his fish house off of Waconia and put it on one of the rock piles that I have been waiting to fish this year on Tonka.  It turned out to be a pretty good move, because we were fortunate enough to boat ourselves 10 walleyes throughout the evening.  It wasn't fast and furious by any means, but definitely enough action to keep our interest, and we kept 4 eaters to have for dinner.  Whorl Poses with 2 of them to prove that it isn't a fish tale (heehee).  The rest were a tad on the short side, and we returned them to catch in a few years.  Joining us last night for the sunset bite was the Bails and Hennen, and we caught the first 5 during that sunset bite.  We left the lake for a few hours and returned with a new guest named Ryan to spend the night and listen for the rattle reels to wake us up.  We boated the other 5 Willies throughout the midnight hours, and then moved the house to another new spot for our next night out on the water.  I feel that it is very important to coninue moving each time out.  It keeps me on a new school of fish each time out, and usually proves to be the best action.  Lake Minnetonka has literally thousands of spots to try, so keeping on the go is the best approach to keep them coming up the hole.  Last night we fished in 27 feet of water on a sunken rock pile and the shiners seemed to be the hot ticket.

I also managed to snap another one of the incredible sunsets that I am so blessed to witness the other evening, and would like to share it with all of you.  I hope you enjoy, but to be completely honest, It was much better in person.  Get on outside and enjoy one of these gifts from god for yourselves.  The fish are the bonus when you can experience these great evenings on the water.  Now that is what I call "Livin The Dream!"