I got the itch and went out to my dads place to get his boat ready on Thursday evening!  Batteries charged??  Check!  Tires have air??  Check!  Life Jackets??  Check!  Rods with new line?? Check!!  All the electronics work?  Check!  Motor runs?  Check!  We are ready to go!  The Friday morning destination for Sean, Eric and I??  The Mississippi River!!  After checking a few sites and doing some homework, the usual access we use was still iced up.  But we found another and were on our way!  We pulled up to the river around 9:30 and were backing down the snowy ramp along side the 2 foot snow banks on each side of us, barely making enough room for our rig.  10 minutes later, we were battling the current, heading up stream dodging ice chunks on the way!  We avoided chunks the size of cubes to sheets so wide that you could barely squeeze the rig between it and shore!  An adventure it surely was! 

At our spot, I hooked the fathead on my 3/8 oz jig and the 2011 walleye open water season had started for me!  A few drifts and we had nothing but frozen eyes on our fishing rods.  About 30 minutes in the trip and....Thump!  There it was, the wonderful feeling of an aggressive fish inhaling your jig!  The hook set was a success and the 14 inch walleye came flying in the boat with little effort!  One thing important about river fishing is that when you find one fish, you more than likely have found many more.  It was there because of the way the current was moving, depth change, or bait fish, or all of the above.  We concentrated our efforts on duplicating what enticed the first one and in no time we were on a pattern that was working!  Instantly the three of us were missing, catching and missing some more.  It was constant action!  The fish were varying from 12 to 18 inches with about 15-16 the average size!  It was a blast!

About 15 fish in the day, I had one that was pulling a little harder and the ready to burst 4 pounder came to the surface and surrendered to the net.  It was what we were really after!  The female!  It was no swine, but it did let us know that there were some females coming to the area! 

These fish are getting prepared to spawn in a few weeks.  They are born with instincts to travel up stream to take part in the spawning rituals.  It is the reason why so many big fish are caught below dams in rivers in the spring.  They instinctly travel upstream and cannot go any further.  We were not at a dam, but we were at a feeding point the fish stop at on there way to spawning.  The males usually arrive first and then the females.  The males were all the small guys we were catching.  Typically a male won't get much bigger than 20 inches.  The females are the overly fat ones that get up to over 30 inches!  It is obvious when you catch a female.  If you are lucky enough to be fishing during the major run of these fat girls, it will be a once in a lifetime experience!  A few years back I was lucky enough to be part of a few days where we fooled well over 10 fish over 7 pounds and up to 12 pounds in to taking our presentation!  And the best part of it is, when these girls start feeding, they are so active, your bait choice doesn't really matter,  you just have to place it in front of there noses and they will eat!

Anyways, back to the day of fishing.  To see that a female was present in the school of fish got our hopes up to catch a true giant!  Many 14-18 fish later, Sean hooked a good one!  When the massive girl broke the surface, we all instantly were giddy with excitement as Eric ran for the net.  Every year I forget how fat these fish are!  As we put the tape to her, I was going to guess 27-28 inches and it read just under 25!!  I couldn't believe it!  It looked huge!  It was definitly close to if not over 7 pounds!  While not the ten pounder we were after, it was an incredible fish anywhere in the world!  We ended up catching close to 50 fish between the 3 of us and we all had at least one pushing 4 pounds or bigger! 

It is only the beginning, but it can end just as fast as it started!  The warmer it gets and the more run off we get will make the river rise and make the water clarity drop.  As the water rises and gets murkier, the fishing gets harder and harder.  This nexy week should be incredible, but it could be over as soon as the middle of next week as the temps break the 50's.  A few years ago we caught a few ten pound plus fish and numerous males one day, the next morning the river was about 2 feet higher and the water clarity went from about 3 feet to just a few inches.  We fished for 3 hours without a bite and it was over for the year!!

I suggest getting out there asap!!  If you don't have a boat, contact me if you don't mind fishing in an old crestliner!!  I plan on being out there everyday next week, so stay tuned to either my or Travis's blog!  Its going to be an EPIC week of fishing!!  From amongst the swine of the Mississippi River, Keep Livin' Your Dream!

About an hour later, Dusty's family showed up. Dusty's mom, Boni, made some hotdogs and baked beans for us and then sat down by a hole and picked up a jig rod. Dusty showed her how the vexilar worked and a few jigging techniques and then went back to fishing in his own hole. Just a few minutes later, Boni was screaming while reeling as hard as she could as the drag on the reel was screaming with resistance!! A few seconds later, Boni's first walleye, a nice 16 incher, was flopping on the fishhouse floor! She won the money pot for the first eye of the night!! We didn't have a whole lot more action the rest of the night as far as fish, but tons of laughs and some intense dice shaking made for a great night!!! Congrats Boni and thanks Dusty for being the "Extreme Net Man!" I hope to have more great fishing nights with the Gesinger Family soon!! Until then, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!

We arrived and put on all our gear and ventured out in to the frigid open water.  The steam rising off the water gave it a sense that we were in a heavenly place.  And as I set the hook and my rod doubled over, it was confirmed that it was exactly that!!  My drag screamed as the smallie pulled with the aid of strong current!  Finally after the battle was over, I pulled up the small 11 incher.  Boy do they sure give it their all!!   A few fish later, I had one that, despite all my efforts, I just couldn't get in!  Finally after a long battle, she gave in and came to the surface at my feet!  The look of the 4 pounder in the crystal clear water with the bronze rocks under it was definitely a sight to see!!  God does some pretty incredible things with nature and His creation!  I am so blessed to be able to experience it at the level I get to!!  After a few more fish, my reel started to fail and I looked down to see a Shimano Iceberg!!  My fingers had no feeling in them and the biting wind stung my face.  Why do we go through all this to catch a few bass??  The real question is "Why wouldn't we do it?"  It is an incredible experience!  We love it!!!  I would do it again and I will again very soon!!

It was a great, kinda cold day!  We ended up catching about 15 of these acrobatic jumpers in about 3 hours.  We have done better, actually that is probably the worse we have ever done.  But that will not slow us down!!  From the cold, bass filled waters of the Mississippi, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!

Over the next 45 minutes we pulled in about 25 monster sunfish from this little gem of a lake! But when the magic 45 minute period was over, it was all done. No more fish were on the screen and it was like they were never there. But the small, fast and furious bite was well worth the time and effort to fight these pirhanas. They all ranged from about 3 to a pound to over a half pound. You cannot ask for much more for panfish around here! The combination of laughing all evening and pausing to battle big sunfish while missing and losing just as many was the recipe for a great evening! Thanks Jason! Until the next hard water experience, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!

The gun season came and passed pretty uneventful with just a few doe sightings. I was just about to tear up my Minnesota tags for the year and admitt defeat, but held on to my archery tag in the event that I take a break from ice fishing to hit the woods one more time! Well all this snow and slush has made ice fishing miserable. That combined with the calm wind and temps in the 20's yesterday gave me the itch to get back in the stand. After the 20 minute hike through what seemed to be about 9 feet of snow, I was finally situated in my stand. The first hour was very uneventful. Then about 150 yards in front of me out in the field a deer stepped out. I took a better look through the binoculars and saw that it was a buck. Knowing that he was out there feeding and would probably be there for the rest of the night, I gave him a few grunts, followed by a snortwheeze to try to bring him in my direction. This buck was by no means whatsoever a giant. Actually it was a 6 pointer that I passed 2 other times earlier in the season. But this night he must have felt much bigger! These calls turned him inside out and he was immediately on the move in my direction! He came within about 50 yards in a brushy area and stopped. I tried everything to get him closer, called more, snortwheezed again, but for some reason he really didn't care anymore. He slowly walked back to the field and out of sight. Knowing he was still around somewhere, I continued imitating the other buck over the next 15 minutes. Suddenly I heard constant grunting coming from in front of me and I looked up to see him, mad as ever, heading back towards me again. I gave him another snortwheeze and he got all worked up and started tearing up a tree and pawing at the ground. This little guy sure seemed to think he was the king of the woods! After responding to another grunt, he was heading right to me. At about 10 yards he stopped, already in full draw, I placed the pin where it needed to be and touched off the release. The arrow found its mark and my goal for the evening was complete!

He is no giant, and I have passed on a few bucks over the years that were much larger, but with the cold temps, all the snow, and the awesome way he acted as he came to my call, I wanted to fill my tag with him. It was a hunt that I will remember forever!! And also my first buck with my bow!! Now its all ice fishing from here on out! From the DEEP DEEP snowy Whitetail woods of Carver County, Keep Livin' That Dream!!

A half a day later, we were walking in the local cafe, after scarfing down some eggs and pancakes we were on our way to our new home for the next 5 days.  The frigid temp of 11 degrees bit our fingertips while we unloadeded our supplies.  We put some warmer clothes on and headed to the ranch where we were going to start the hunt.  Despite all the nice deer we saw in the fields on the way, while getting ready, the land owner repeatedly told us that the Mule deer herd was way down due to harsh winters and predators.  Having lowered our hopes a bit, we were on our way.  15 minutes into the hunt, Steve spotted a nice buck and 25 minutes into the hunt, one tage was full!!  We started getting more excited because we weren't even to the good area yet.   Dave and I headed to our favorite area next and immediately spotted a nice buck about a half mile or more away.  We stalked down wind of the area he was in and came up on a decent buck that we maybe thought was him.  After 2 more bucks popped up next to him, we examined them to determine they were not shooters and probably not the buck we saw from afar.  I enjoyed the majestic presence of the bucks and took a step forward to continue and..."STOP" Dave aggressively wispered as he looked across my face and pointed.  There he was, bedded down just about 200 yards away on a hillside.  Immediately after spotting him I knew i wanted to take him.  I got into position and calmed my heart and breathing.  He was still bedded down and completely unaware of our presence.  After what seemed about 25 minutes, i was finally steady.  Dave walked out into the open and whistled.  He looked over at us and the sight of him facing our way  made him look even bigger.  Immediately my heart was jumping again.  But as he stood up, I knew there was no time to calm down as he was about to run any second.  I placed the cross hairs on his shoulder and slowly pulled the trigger.  My bullet found its mark and he jumped and took off, after I found him back in the scope, the result of the unnecessary second shot was my trophy on the ground.  I was ecstatic!  After about an hour drag, we were heading to the truck.  On our way we spotted a nice buck running about 300 yards away.  The view from the binoculars showed this buck to be dragging a leg.  Even though Dave was searching for a bigger buck, he did the right thing and found a rest and harvested this animal at about 425 yards!  When we got to him, we were surprised to find the buck to not have any broken limbs nor was shot, but his antlers were covered in mud and his ears had tears and puncture wounds all over them.  We determined that another buck had proved to him that he was more dominant! 

5 hours in the hunt and 3 tags are full!

Bob ended up shooting a very nice whitetail with great mass!  A few days later while trying to fill my doe tag, I came across a huge whitetail buck and was wishing a bit that i still had a buck tag!!  He was beautiful and the largest whitetail i have ever seen in the wild.   A blessing just to see him at less than 50 yards! 

I filled my doe tag with a pistol, which was very exciting and my father was the only one left to get his buck.  While driving out a woods to him, i was slapped in the eye with a branch covered with thorns.  To make a long story short, a 90 mile one way trip to the closest hospital left me with a patch across my eye.   With one day left, my dad filled his tag on a decent muley and we headed home.  A day later and much more swelling brought me back to the doctor to only find that I still was hosting a thorn un my upper eyelid that was scratching my eye with every blink!  Thanks Montana ER for somehow missing that guy!!  But it has all healed and it was all around a great trip.  This snow has made ice fishing very difficult, but I plan on making something work!   Until Then, Keep Livin' the Dream!

Before the walleye hunt, I wanted to hit a crappie hideout that I had done well on last year. I got what I came for, but not in the numbers i had hoped for. I ended up with 3 crappies in about 2 hours of searching. One just under a pound that found my bait, told me that they were still out there and I will be meeting them again in the near future.

Now back to the walleyes. We weren't the only ones that showed up that night to the lake. The snow also decided to be a player in the game. LOTS OF IT! We patiently waited for the bite as the snow got deeper. Just as I was about to mention that it should be anytime now, I heard Sean yell my name from Jasons house and watched him run out with some swine in his hands. And it was swine indeed! Sean maybe started out a little slow the first 2 outings, but joined in strong with this 27 inch hog!

Well that swine was the only one we fooled that night! We marked a few other fish and I missed one on the tip-up that put some good teeth marks in my shiner, but decided it was not good enough for an evening snack and spit it out.

I am off to New York in a couple days and will be back in a week! The walleyes will be waiting for my return! Until Then, Keep Livin Your Dream!!

After finding the spot on the spot, we were set up and ready to go. Deciding it was nice enough to fish outside, I left Sean in the House and headed about 50 feet away and dropped a line. My jig immediately appeared to be a favorite for the perch that were also calling our walleye hideout home. Just like clockwork, as the sun hit the trees my vexilar lit up and revealed a signal that dwarfed the little green lines the perch were creating. I instantly knew it was what we were there for and my heart started beating faster and faster as it slowly rose to my jig. My presentation proved to be good enough for the hungry fish as it gave me that thump that i hadn't felt for 9 months. A good battle later we were taking pictures of a healthy lower 20 inch fattie! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as slid the fish back into the icy depths of this metro lake.

As soon as I got back down there, another red light greeted me and gave my another heart jumping thump. One head shake later, this fish ended up winning the battle as the tension released from my line. 20 minutes later 3 perfect eater marble eyes were confined to the bottom of my bucket! As fast as it started, it ended, but not without leaving me more than happy with the evenings results!

Unfortunately the fish never showed up for Sean 50 feet away! Why??? I have no idea! There are many things that fish do that I will never know, if I knew these things, fishing would be my only source of income...but that is not the case! Ha ha!

Hoping the morning bite would produce the same results, we headed back to the same spot 12 hours later. One slightly over weight walleye in the lower 20's crushed my jig and was the only one who decided to participate in our game that morning. We thanked her, by returning her to get bigger. Now only if we can get these picky little suckers to bite on Seans line!

It's go time! I will be hitting it hard for a week, then heading to NY for a week with my Fiance. Good luck to everyone out there, and be safe! There is lots of unsafe ice out there, but if your smart, there is plenty of fishable ice too! Until then, Keep Livin' Your Dream!!

Jenn, my amazing fiance, saw all the pictures of the muskies that I have caught and really wanted to catch one!  So her, My dad, and i set out to see what we could get her!  I didn't really think it was a "muskie" night with the warm temps and sun, but the fish had other ideas! 

On the first spot right away my dad had one inhale his bucktail, but eventually it won the battle boatside and the lower 40's fish shook the unwanted jewelry from its mouth.  Spot 2 gave us a nice follow.  On spot 3, I heard Jenn yell, "Oh My Gosh, what do I do??"  As a nice upper 40 inch fish rolled like a dolphin over the top of her topwater.  Unfortunately it missed it and did not return.  But on the same cast, Dad was  watching us as he had one almost rip the rod from his hands on his blind figure 8 as it attacked his lure!  Dad won this one and the 40 inch fish made it in the net for a photo!  Dougie Fresh's first figure 8 fish!!  Over the next few spots to finish out the evening we had 2 more explosions on topwaters and 5 more follows on the bucktails!  Jenn had one more attempt to grab her presentation, but that night was just not her night for her to break in to the wonderful world of Muskie fishing and catching!!  But folks, she is not ready to give up yet!!!   Anyways, it would not have been fair if she would have caught one on her first outing!!!

Now that I am all moved in to my new place and things have settled down a bit, I hope to wet a few more lines this fall and hit the woods, fields and swamps for deer, ducks, and geese!!!  Until then, Keep Living Your Dream like I am!!!

The day started pretty slow, fishing a few flats without any bites!  Finally on a new spot, I connected and pulled in a nice 19 incher.  Shortly after I battled another about the same size.  We finally found a few fish and even a few that were under the 18 inch slot that we could keep!!  Soon the wind started to pick up and boy did it ever!!  We had huge rollers that were crashing in the boat!  We had to wear our rainsuits to keep dry and it was sunny as possible!  We even had one come crashing over the front and put about 50 gallons of water flying down between the consoles!!  Good times!!

We managed some decently consistant fishing throughout the day!  It wasn't phenomenal, but we were catching fish.  Our biggest was a 24 and a half and we managed 4 that were between 15 and 17 that we could keep, with several others that were too big.  We even managed 4 bonus jumbo perch!  Mmmmm Good Eatin!!! 

Our plans were to fish walleyes until just before the sun was going to set and then try out our skills at a muskie at dusk.  Unfortunately when we arrived to another spot, the trolling motor did not work at all!  No power was getting to it!  So we ended the trip early.  It sure is hard to long line walleyes or cast for muskies without a trolling motor.  It ended up being a circuit board in the pedal that went out.  Bummer!!  But all in all, it was an excellent trip with my father and a great friend!!  Heck it was worth it just to see my dad in that amazing hat all day!!  Awesome!!  Thanks!  Fall muskie season is coming fast!  Can't wait!!  Until Then, Keep Living Your Dream!!