It's a Party...On Ice!

The other day I was told from a friend that his son had one request for his birthday. He wanted to go fishing with Travis. Well, I felt honored to say the least and was excited to get little William in the house. For a 5 year old, this is a neat adventure. The typical birthday party when you are that age is Chucky Cheese or something similar. To top it off, I was also being joined by 3 of his birthday party friends. Now most people might think thatit is a tough task to get that many young fisherman in one house, and they are probably right. For me however, I look forward to these days on the water as another chance to grow our sport. I remember when I was that young and would do anything to be out fishing. I just like to return the favor when at all possible, and I like to see the enthusiasm that kids have when they get to catch a fish. You just can't beat that smile!

To make our day a little easier and different than most, I decided to set the house up on a sunny hole. This was an obvious decision for any young child fishing experience, because action is key to their fun. When you are 5, your attention span isn't that long, and boredom comes easily. I also had a special treat for the kids. I put the underwater camera down the hole, then ran a cord to the big screen television. Now, on a 30 inch television screen, the kids were able to watch all the fish underneath them, and watch the fish eat their bait. This turned out to be even better than I hoped. I seriously was addicted to this television screen, and so were the kids. Bringing the underwater world to life on that television screen was better than any program I have ever watched. We watched a minimum of 10 fish at all times on the screen, and the kids were catching and missing fish like crazy. It was a hoot!

What would a birthday party be without presents and a cake? Well, Kristin being the wonderful mother that she is, brought out cupcakes for the whole crew. The friends exchanged their gifts between bites from the fish, and their turn with the underwater camera.A very neat way to have a birthday party that I won't soon forget. I have to thank Tim for his gear and allowing me to set it up for the kids. I also want to give a great big birthday shout out to little William for turning 5 years old. The birthday crew consisted of Dalton Timko, Ashton Muller, Sage Parrish, and Birthday Boy William Petrie. Their parents came for the fun times as well, so thanks to Erik Timko, Karina Muller and Kristin Petrie for allowing me to share in your birthday memories. Catch you all on the water next time, until then, keep on livin the dream!

Chasing Flags...

If there is one thing this guy doesn't do enough of, it's chasin winter flags.  Tip-ups that is!  Yesterday I took advantage of a special holiday, not Martin Luther King day, but my birthday.  I had aspirations of heading far north in search of walleyes, but decided to stay local for a mixed bag.  As you can see from the endless amount of pictures that I took, we had a pretty productive day.  Dusty, Mike, Doug and myself spent the majority of the day chasing tip-ups and pulling in pike.  I took my camera along for the ride, and took some 200 photo's throughout the day.  Many of our tip-ups resulted in smaller "Snot Rockets," but we tangled with some dandies as well, and finished the day off with 11 Gators with an 8 pounder being the largest.  Along with the 11 we caught, came close to as many that got away.  For some people, tip-up fishing can be considered rookie fishing, but that still doesn't mean that it is always easy, nor is it any less fun.

Along with the constant chasing of the flags, we also set up camp in the cozy shack and caught our share of panfish.  Sunnies were the main target, but we certainly put the hammer down on the crappies as well.  For a day that wasn't even planned, it just might go down as one of the best on the ice this winter.  We had no shortage of action, with some very large bluegills and respectable crappies coming through the hole.  In all, we must have caught a few hundred fish throughout the day.  During the very brief periods that fish weren't coming through the hole, we filled our bellies with pizza and snacks.  Plenty of trash talk was spewed from our mouths, and laughs aplenty.  A good birthday and a day on the water with great friends just makes it all the more special.  Thanks fellas, and until next time, keep on livin that dream!

South Dakota Walleye

We continue our journal with the out-of-state theme.  Last week we were joined by that great group that reunited in our fish house.  They caught some incredibly large walleyes during their first walleye outing.  We shared many laughs and good times during our stretch, but that wasn't the only out-of state experience.  The evening that this fine crew departed, we were joined by a fellow outdoorsman from South Dakota.

On a business trip to our area, he just couldn't resist the chance to hoist an eye or two through the hole.  This guy named Derrick is quite a character, so we knew that we were in for some jokes, laughs and fun times.  He's a first timer to our laid back approach to the walleyes on Tonka, so he was forced to learn a few card and dice games.  Shortly into the stint, he managed to tangle his jig rod into the vexilar, and hook a walleye at the same time.  This is par for the course with him, so Dusty jumped up to untangle the line from the transducer, only to find that a fish was still pulling on the other end.  Hand over hand was the approach Derrick took to pull his first eye off the bottom.  Complete chaos, but hey, it worked.  A while later, during a card game, we tag teamed the next one.  He looked over to see a signal on his graph, holding his rod in a really messed up position, I took the liberty to jig his lure with my finger tips.  Upon feeling a strike, I let go of the line, and told him to set the hook.  Shortly after we were laughing about how both fish went down.  After a few games and some pizza's in the oven, I called it a night.  Apparently the action never increased once I left, but I sure had fun while it lasted.  It was fun having South Dakota in the house, but next time, I think he's got some learning to do!  Just kidding!  Thanks for the fun night Derrick, Dusty and Mike.  Until next time, Keep on Livin The Dream!

From Texas, Virginia and Iraq...

This past week Mike and I were joined by a wonderful group of visitors.  Unlike most trips, these visitors traveled quite some distance.  Steve flew in from Texas, Dustin from Virginia, Jeremy drove up from Chaska, but his wife Sarah landed in a plane straight out of Iraq.  Now this just isn't your normal fishing story.  With backgrounds like this all in one fish house, there was quite a lot to learn.

The events started Late Wednesday evening for Mike and I.  We moved a couple of houses to what we were calling "base camp."  Early Thursday morning, we were joined by Jeremy, Steve and Dustin, and Sarah joined us that afternoon once her plane landed.  Our mission over the next 3 days was simple, or so we thought.  We were hoping to put this crew on some big walleyes.  For Jeremy, this wasn't new to him.  He had landed a few before christmas on an outing we shared.  However, for the rest, this was to be a first time outing.  Steve has ice fished years ago in the Pacific Northwest, but not recently, and never in a fully functional ice shanty.  Dustin simply has never been on ice, and walleye don't swim where he has fished.  Fresh back into the U.S. Sarah was also new to the sport.  With all this considered, we were eager to teach and encourage this group into their first fish.

Mike spent the majority of the time helping them out, but we both explained the details on what to do and when to do it.  The first night provided a surplus of biters, but unfortunately the walleyes pulled their tricks on the new ice fisherman, and many of them found their way off the line.  Steve's fishing skills proved too good for two of his bites, and he was the only one smiling for his picture.  The first fish was a nice eater, but the second one was a true Minnetonka Fatty.  The rest of the evening was about the ones that got away.  Steve straightened a hook on one that got away, and Dustin battled his first ever walleye up to the hole, only to find out that it was too large to fit through the hole.  A 10 plus pounder that almost made it on the wall, and a great first time walleye catch.  Sarah and Jeremy had a few fish wake them up throughout the night as well, but only left them wondering what could have been.

Day two was spent chasing pike and panfish.  Well, the pike were non-existent, but the panfish did bite for some.  The only problem, was that the school of sunnies and crappies were stuck under one house, and wouldn't swim over to the other.  Sunset found the crew back at base camp and eager to land the ones that got away the night before.  This night was all about Jeremy and Sarah.  Jeremy landed his largest walleye ever, and Sarah landed her first.  Turns out they were both extremely large fish, and they both had bragging rights.  Jeremy's was a little larger, but don't worry Sarah, we won't tell anybody!  Two fish that anybody would drool over.  Congrats!

The action after the two monsters slowed down considerably for our fishing crew.  We spent many hours in the cozy shacks watching movies and sharing stories.  The best part about these trips can be meeting new people.  While they caught some spectacular fish in the couple days on the water, I think I'll remember it most for the stories that we shared.  All 4 of our guests have different backgrounds, living all over the world, but in one way or another have served our country.  They came together for a first time ice fishing outing, and Mike and I were lucky enough to have them in our house.  Sarah goes back to Iraq in a few days, and it was great to see the smile she had from that big fish.  Steve is back to chasing the exotic ocean fish down south and I hope to see more pics from his escapades.  Dustin will be getting married soon, so I hope all is well with your journey, and Jeremy hopefully took a few more tactics home with him on how to catch our metro walleyes.  To the crew from across the country.  Thanks for sharing your trip with us.  Until next time, keep on livin the dream!

Ice Fishing Photography

So I'm not sure if anybody has noticed, but if you haven't, then here's news for you. I like to take pictures! Yep, I love it. There is just something about capturing that perfect moment with a camera. With this obsession of mine, it only seemed fitting that I should upgrade with the times. I recently received a new camera from santa which will hopefully give us some spectacular images to look at. I'm far from knowing what I'm doing, but I'm learning. Each time out, I tend to take random pictures at different angles, settings and lightings. I guess I'm hoping to some day have those pictures that people go "oooh and Aaaah" over.  With each picture I'm starting to see things differently, and I'll be honest.  Its exciting! 

It seems that taking the same picture of a man holding a fish is only cool for so long.  Yep, there he is holding another walleye, and he's got a nice smile this time.  BORRING!  So recently I've been trying a few different things.  I think my goal behind this whole photography obsession is to really capture what is happening while we are out there.  The colors of the sky, the fading sunlight, the windy conditions, and all the elements.  Not to mention the different angles that can be viewed of the catch, and the act of catching the fish.  Last night I got a shot of Bails grabbing his fish from out of the hole.  While he was battling it, I ran over to him and got shots of the action really happening.  The other day, I landed a nice fish, and we used the sun's bright morning light to magnify the catch.  Those are just a couple of the many examples I have tried lately. Sometimes I almost think that the photography is just as much fun as catching and out-smarting the creatures I pursue. While I am no expert, I look for the photo quality to really increase over the 2009 season. I hope you follow along to find out. Until Next time, Keep on Livin' the Dream!