The Time Has Come...Open Water Baby!

As we pulled out of town yesterday with the boat hooked to the truck, it was very obvious that people thought we were nuts.  Everybody gave us weird looks and comments like "good luck with that" or "too bad there is no open water!"  We just chuckled at it all and got even more pumped as we drove out to the river for our first open water experience of 2008.  The weather was spectacular...the water was flowing...the fish were...well, lets just say it was another learning experience.

Just being able to sit in a boat on open water made our day, but as usual, we tried many tactics and spots and found ourselves some action.  We started out by heading to some already proven spots.  Much to our surprise, we found that there was still ice covering the area that we wanted to fish.  Oh well, plan B.  Not that we had a plan "B" but we had to work with it anyways.  It actually worked out pretty well that we didn't have a plan, because it kept us open to anything and allowed us to try things we normally wouldn't have.  If there is one thing that I have learned from fishing rivers, is that you have to be ready to find fish in places that you would never expect.  I cannot recall fishing a river even two days in a row and catching fish the exact same way in the exact same place.  It seems like you always have to experiment each time out before you find the days pattern.  We did just that yesterday, and even though we were targeting walleyes, we were aware that we could battle many different species before we jumped out of the boat for the day.  After literally a few hours of no fish, we stumbled on to what appeared to be a wintering hole for many types of fish.  This hole just randomly dropped to 40 feet, and the graph was so solid with fish that it almost didn't show the bottom.  I have never seen such a large concentration of fish before, and as we would jig around, we would literally bump fish every time we lifted the jigs.  We tried everything to see what they were, and to get them to bite, but the only thing we found was that they just weren't eating the bait.  The fish were so thick in these spots that as we would reel up the bait to check it, we would bump off of so many fish that at times we would just reel the hook into them.  We weren't attempting to snag them, but when they are that thick, there wasn't anything we could do.  Accidentally we hooked many catfish and sheephead.  We had a few biters out of the group, but for the most part, if we dropped the jig down to the bottom and lifted it once or twice, we had one on.  It was the craziest thing I have seen in a while, but we decided that we just had to leave the spot and try something else.  Not that it didn't give us extreme battles, because we landed fish up to about 10 lbs, but it just wasn't the right thing to do.  I will put that hole in my memory bank for a future trip for sure.

After that ordeal and still no Walleyes in the boat, we kept on searching.  It was such an awesome day on the water yesterday and the sights were amazing.  "Images of Whorl" were in full effect yesterday as he captured many great pictures of the abundant mallards.  It seemed like everywhere we looked we had birds flying by, swimming past, and playing on the ice, and we put ourselves in some pretty cool locations to get some shots of them up close.  At times I find it hard to capture the moment with a still shot photo, but some of these really turned out well.  It's almost like you are right there in the boat with us when you look at some of these.  Nice work with the photography buddy. 

After fishing a few spots and trying a few approaches we sat and thought about the conditions before we made our final move for the day.  The water was extremely low and clear, and the current was not very strong.  Considering these conditions, we decided that the walleyes may just be acting more like lake fish instead of river fish.  We hoped that this would be the case and that the low-light offered around sunset just might trigger a bite.  Boy did we guess right!  Our day was closed by an awesome 45 minutes of throwing eyes in the boat.  In those 45 minutes, we went from zero walleyes to 24 in da boat, and many doubles and triples were recorded.  We didn't have any giants, but many up to about 16 inches.  The flurry was very fast and very short lived due to the darkness, but all of our experimenting for the day came to a close with more success.  Because of the fast action, we didn't take many pics, but these two are my favorite because of the cool scenery and snow in the background.  Sweetness!  We ran out of bait, our stomachs were hungry, our faces a little sunburnt, and the camera's were filled with more great memories.  Yep, I would consider that a great first day on the water for 2008.  That's what it's all about when Livin The Dream!

Ridin In Style...

This past Saturday we took advantage of the awesome weather and hit the river yet again.  I have found a new obsession on four wheels and I think it's contagious.  6 of us gathered the wheelers together to put on some serious river miles.  Every turn of this small river offers new sights and challenges with the wheelers and it is such a great time sharing this with a bunch of friends.  The best part is that anybody can enjoy this ride no matter the skill level of driving.  I have a few new faces for this site and it was a blast kicking up some snow with them.  I was joined on the expedition by Tim, Scott, Julie, Heather and Kent.  Although it was Julie and Heather's first ride on these machines, they were experts before too long and we were able to ride downstream as one large convoy.  The sights on a stretch like this are just an added bonus, and the last couple of times out we have driven alongside everything from deer, pheasants, hawks and eagles.  It is a trip that I strongly encourage you to try if you have some free time.  I promise it will not dissapoint.  Thanks for the fun ride everybody!  Let's do it again soon.  Enjoying a trip like that with good friends is what Livin' The Dream is all about! 

Learning About Our Lakes...

Learning a little more about what goes into our resources is something that I feel is very important for us outdoorsmen to take a look at.  Last week I went to a city council meeting in my town of Waconia to find out exactly what they are doing with lake Waconia.  Since this meeting was directly related to the lake itself and its water quality, I found this meeting right up my alley.  It was very cool to learn about the history of the lake and to find out what has been done to keep it clean.  While there has been much done over the years to clean up the lake and its pollutants, there still is much that can be done.  I found it interesting to see that the county, city and state continue to find ways to purify the waters that we enjoy. 

While I liked what they had to say, it won't come without a cost to all that live in the community.  Many of the people that live on the lake are what I would call "Uneducated" as far as the lake itself and what is happening.  I was summoned to the meeting so that there would be a person who could explain a little more about what is happening under the water and with the fishing and vegetation.  It was interesting that landowners and many within the town don't even understand things like milfoil, curly leaf, the fish, and Cormorants.  It was important to speak up and inform about what is happening within our lakes, and now there is going to be a meeting in which they bring in the DNR for more information.  There will certainly be tax $$$$ spent on our lakes, but without the right input from the right people many issues may go un touched.  While I hadn't planned on being a part of this project, I now am fully involved and looking forward to the next meetings on how to clean things up.  The tests that they have done are interesting as far as water quality, but they may not continue to get better without our support.  Please take some time to attend any of the up-coming meetings in either Waconia or your own town to learn what is being done.  It will truly be an eye opener for you, and will help you understand what is being done and where your money is being spent.  That's my informative message for now, and I'm sure there will be more.  If we want to keep on Livin' the dream, we have to continue supporting it!  If you want more information about the meetings I will be attending, please feel free to contact me, or you can just contact your own communities to find out what they are doing.

Still Catchin The Big Ones...

Haha!  I just love it.  Last night when a couple of buddies called me to see what I was up to I told them "I'm fishin, what else would I be doing!"  They laughed, and said "no...really...what are you doing?"  I laughed and said " honestly, I'm Fishin, I just caught a 47" muskie!" 

What a blast it was!  Not being very big into the video games, last night was the first time that I had played the Rapala fishing game for Wii.  I figured there is no better way for me to keep up on my fishing skills during the off-season.  The best part about the whole game was that I was able to fish on Lake Minnetonka and cast for the elusive muskies.  Technology is really incredible.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with this game, but it was my first time.  It was extremely realistic, and I had to physically cast the bait out and use the remote as my fishing pole reeling and twitching the bait back to the boat.  Trust me, the muskies are still the hardest fish to catch on this game, and it took me many tries and lost fish before I was able to land my first one.  Before the night was finished I managed a few muskies with a 47" being the largest, Several nice bass, and walleyes topping out around 10 pounds.  Not only was the game extremely realistic, but the audience I had watching me made it even better.  You can see from the pic that Mikey really got into the game as well.  Many times I thought he was going to fall out of his seat as he was screaming "SET THE HOOK!"  I know there is nothing better than the real experience of landing that giant out on the water, but since we aren't able to do that this time of the year, this is the next best thing.  Hahaha!  What a ball!  Just another way to keep on Livin' The Dream! 

Tearin' It Up...

Sometimes Livin' the dream doesn't always have to revolve around landing a 30 pound muskie or 10 pound walleye.  There are so many resources and activities that are at our fingertips daily that we sometimes forget to take advantage of them.  Yesterday evening Dusty and I took advantage of a "hot tip" that we received, and this time it wasn't a fishing related honey hole.  We loaded up the 4-wheelers for one of the most intense and exciting rides of our lives.  I never would have thought about such an activity if it weren't for a few local guys that do this with regularity.  We trailered our wheelers to a bridge, and drove out onto the river.  Yep, that's right, the river.  Now normally I would say this is ridiculous, but the river that we drove on is almost like a creek.  It is very shallow, very narrow, and doesn't have a lot of current, therefore it pretty much freezes to the bottom with no worries about falling through.  The winding corners and the fallen timber makes this one of the sweetest obstacle courses you could ever imagine on 4 wheels.  We probably put on 40 miles cruising every which direction with the stream, and every corner gave us a new obstacle.  If you haven't done something like this with your rides, I strongly recommend it.  What a blast!  And to think, this has been in my backyard for years without me ever taking advantage of it.  Just another activity to add to the list that just keeps on growing.  What a ride!  And that's how I like to "Live the Dream!"