La Crosse GTG- February 10th or March 3rd?

Okay guys, Here is a last attempt to get the ball rolling for the La Crosse get together on Lake Onalaska. Without much feedback, I’m hoping this last attempt will get the flame going and get people comming to La Crosse to get on the ice with fellow IDA’ers! Ice is shaping up very nicely, and I hear of a decent bite on the lake with some decent bluegill action. As we move into February, the pike will become much more agressive, and Lake Onalaska is a great place to set up tip ups for pike and bass on the weedlines. So please, lets get this going and make it a date!

Due to scheduling difficulties listed below, We are pretty much forced to have the event on one of the two dates above: February 10th or March 3rd. Anything after March 3rd could be very iffy for whether or not we have safe Ice here in La Crosse.

Here are the reasons for not having the other dates-
Feb. 3rd- Lawrence lake tourney (some Idaers are going to this and we don’t want people to be torn and this is too short notice )
Feb 17th- Lake Onalaska ice fishing derby (hectic on the lake )
Feb 24th- Practically everyone will be at the Madison fishing expo…

For these reasons, I have chosen these two dates to be the best for having the La Crosse GTG. Please respond promptly so we can decide and start the planning stage for this event.

Thank You,
Cade Laufenberg

Good idea with the poll cade
Here we go!!!

Although this is my first post, ive been lurking for quite some time and i’d love to attend this gathering. Id think you might be better off going for the 10th because the way this winter has been you never know what we will have for ice come march…hello everyone

Welcome to the registered side Ben Glad to have you with us

I vote the 10th. March 3rd is my birthday and while I am sure spending the day with all of you yahoos would be great, I think my wife and a nice jacuzzi suite somewhere would be even better.

Although I agree that weather scenarios could cause the March 3rd event option trouble, however, I think it is the best idea for catching fish, enjoying milder temperatures, and that date will allow us plenty of time to plan the event. We could certainly, and very easily put the event together in time for the 10th, however, it won’t have the potential to be big and fancy with organized events like past gtgs. Although, I must say, the forecast is looking pretty good for the 10th High of 22 with a chance for snow. That could potentially bring on a decent bite. If we have it on the 10th, it will be designed for the hardcore fisherman that wants to show up and fish, eat lunch and talk with guys from IDA. I don’t think we would have enough time or $$ to get prize drawings etc. around by then.
I see we have several votes on the poll, Please feel free to post suggestions/reasons why we should/shouldn’t have it on either date.

Thanks,
Cade

Not Sure if it matters but I saw on another post the
La Crosse boat show was Feb 10.

Well Cade 19 votes on the poll so far……
We’re getting there…..

March 3rd for me.

Ya…The 10th would be tough for you would’nt it

BTW…the ice is in good shape……..

I will be busy the 10th helping a local lake with a crib project

i’m going to let this go till the 7th of February and the winner will be the date that we have the event. I am thinking the 3rd is going to take this one, or at least, I hope

Oh yeah, btw. Ice was somewhere between 13-15″ thick in the bay area I was fishing today. It isn’t lake Onalaska, and I haven’t been up there yet this year, but the ice is definitely shooting up in thickness There was an astro van driving on the ice at this spot today with no problems

Three days notice is a little short for this guy if it does happen on the tenth.

Yeah i think thats a bad idea letting it run that long, that gives you less then a day to get everything finalized and up on here for everyone, you might be better off closing to poll off earlier…

Well, The poll officially ends on the 7th but I am thinking I will have the date set hopefully by this weekend. that would give 1 week. Its not like this is something that will be anything big and spectacular. It should only take about 20 minutes to “plan” the event. Something like this- Arrive on the ice at 7 or so. Get everything set up and get signs out. Lunch at noon. from there, people can come and go as they want. From there, I mostly need to line something up for transportation on the ice. Hopefully we can drive vehicles on it, but if not, we may need a fourwheeler with a trailer to haul small groups of people out, if we are fishing on a remote lake location. Hopefully we settle on the later event, because If we go with the March 3 event, we will definitely be able to make it more advanced.

the up side of having it on the 10th is there should be great ice with highs of like 1 all weekend that should make some good ice for vehicle travel… where as march i don’t know that you will have to availability of that.

Judging by the 15 day forcast, i would say we should have more ice by the 3rd of march then we have now. The ice is going to keep building, and generally the first couple weeks of March are frigid (in like a lion out like a lamb ) I have pictures of fish caught on the lake in march while driving vehicles out to them So I think we will wait and see what transpires.

great thought, isn’t there a PDC GTG coming up in February? could someone clear this up for me along with a date. i would like to attend this event if it is still in the works LMK thanks .

don’t think there is a PDC event this year.

i thought there was an event that was being scheduled for february maybe those plans were scrapped i know there was talk of one at the beginning of the season.

I doubt you’ll see a PdC event this year. Feb is pretty well booked for Dave and the end of Feb. rings in the Sports Show season. The chances of a PdC GTG are slim to flat-line…

Thanks for the info Tom

Back up. The date will be set on Saturday, the 3rd so get your votes and posts in before then!

Sorry but I am kind of torn now between this and attending the One in Red Wing if it is in March.

Just throwing this out there but, would it be better for a starter to a La Crosee GTG to have a one day event? No matter what day is picked not everyone is going to make it. A date and place should be set to get things rolling along!

The lake (Onalaska) would be easy and Stoddard would not be bad if you made the landing the starting point. Either place the locals should be able to help anyone from out of town get on fish.

Just 2 cents worth.

thats what I was thinking too Bret..one day, a Saturday. It could be a 2 day I suppose, but we don’t have any large acommadating resorts to handle large groups of ice fisherman, and there are no places to rent fish houses…I think it would be best to just go with a 1 day- Saturday. The bite is going to control a lot of things too. It would be nice to have the event at stoddard, yes, because the bite can be on fire and the gills are huge, but if it isn’t on fire There aren’t many options and it isn’t nearly as large of an area as lake Onalaska. This could be real nice though, and I’m really looking forward to the event.
If anybody wants to help out, here are some things that I figure will be needed for the event

-A couple grills
-ATVs or Snowmobiles (if ice is not safe for cars)
-Brats, buns, chips, etc.
-tables and chairs? (not necessary, but could be nice for families to sit down and eat)
-name tags…this could be helpful
-and if anyone can get there hands on a big banner that could says something like “In-depthangling GTG” on it, that would be great

Send me a pm if you can help with one of these things, or post here if you have any other ideas that I did not list.

Top

could a moderator possibly sticky this thread please until we get the date set???

Thanks much,
Cade

Cade, just pick a date. No matter what’s chosen, it’s not going to work for everyone.

Pick a date and we’ll hammer out the small print.

I think the Stoddard Lions Club holds a tournament. Does anyone know when they hold it? Just so it doesn’t happen to be on one of the dates you mentioned. If Stoddard is being considered. If I remember correctly it is held later in the ice season. March maybe, I remember hearing about someone putting their 4 wheeler through a few years ago at this tourney. Seems to me it was late Feb. or early Mar.