Jealous…

  • reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1499244

    Of all you IDO’ers in southern WI and all over MN posting your fish pictures with nice clean ice and (mostly) low-snow depths in your backgrounds…
    Second weekend in a row I’ve waded through snow and 6″ of slush to get to a fishing spot, caking my calves in ice-balls until my wimpy legs are trembling. On Thanksgiving I was drilling through 8″ of hard clear ice with just dustings of snow on it…Dec. 12th warm up came and I was drilling through 11″ of ice w/almost no snow on it and an ice making machine of a deep freeze coming-except we got a good dump right ahead of the finishing blast and we’ve actually made precious little ice since. If you’d have told me I still wouldn’t be able to drive on most of my local lakes I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are with January winding down and many lakes are still at 12″ and so slushy that sleds are having problems, and truck travel is nearly impossible on most lakes that have enough ice. All you to the south of me who had to wait so long while I was chuckling to myself up here on the ice-karma has come home to roost in my nest! smash
    Sure, I love to drool over fish pictures but I’m seriously starting to envy the sweet looking travel conditions I see in your backgrounds! flame bawling flame bawling

    End of rant; just needed to feel sorry for myself for a minute! I’ll be back at it tomorrow(I’m dumb that way) Keep the reports and pictures coming everybody, and be safe! wave

    -Rev

    JD Winston
    Inactive
    Chanhassen, MN
    Posts: 899
    #1499271

    Hey Rev, is this the kind of picture that drives you nuts? Mille Lacs yesterday. 24 inches of clear beautiful hard ice. Just smatterings of snow here and there.

    Attachments:
    1. JD_On_MilleLacs.jpg

    reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1499306

    Why yes JD. Now that you mention it, that’s exactly the kind of pictures I was talking about… bawling
    By the way, what’s that greenish/golden fish looking thing you’re holding? Is that a walleye? I haven’t seen one of those things in weeks! Nice! waytogo

    mbenson
    Minocqua, WI
    Posts: 1709
    #1499310

    Reverend:

    Just got back from our inaugeral ice fishing tourney for high schools. Fished Chequamegon Bay… Had a blast driving on 20″ of ice with some snow drifts… Only expansion crack was right at 2nd landing, now the fishing was great, but the catching wasn’t so good for us… However we did get first draw on one of three Clam shacks, so that was really cool…

    Not even looking forward to the Donner Tourney on the TFF in two weeks cause of the slush I am hearing about!!!

    Mark

    chamberschamps
    Mazomanie, WI
    Posts: 1089
    #1499388

    I forgot my ice cleats at home yesterday–some snow and slush would have been awesome. All I found Sunday was bare wet ice that was slicker than snot.

    The grass is always greener on the other side…

    dandorn
    M.I.N.N.E.S.O.T.A.
    Posts: 3207
    #1499398

    Hey Rev, is this the kind of picture that drives you nuts? Mille Lacs yesterday. 24 inches of clear beautiful hard ice. Just smatterings of snow here and there.

    How was the bite for you JD?

    Thanks!

    JD Winston
    Inactive
    Chanhassen, MN
    Posts: 899
    #1499699

    How was the bite for you JD?

    It was OK. LOTS of small 8-12 inchers but only 2 larger ones. 1 in the slot and 1 over. Got a nice whitefish as a bonus though.

    reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1499706

    Took the kids today, drove out on my favorite lake today and…promptly got stuck. shock Freaked the kids out, got myself unstuck. Couldn’t get to my spot, so settled for a spot with no fish but accessible at least. A few smallish perch, but the kids had a ball playing in the snow and guzzling hot chocolate. Qualified success, I think? crazy Probably so. Should have earned me enough points with FW to get a day for just me next weekend! woot
    On the other hand, my 6yr old has already picked out the lake and species for next weekend-optimism is eternal at that age!

    Sure wish JD lived closer, that’s a sweet ride in the background…I could stay nice and toasty warm while he set us up on fish! wave

    JD Winston
    Inactive
    Chanhassen, MN
    Posts: 899
    #1500169

    Sure wish JD lived closer, that’s a sweet ride in the background…I could stay nice and toasty warm while he set us up on fish!

    lol rev! That wasn’t my ride in the background. That was a buddy’s. Mine is a 2013 F150 SuperCrew. A nice ride in and of itself too!

    As far as putting you on the fish, well, we’re all pretty good working out the theory of where they SHOULD be, I just can’t always understand why sometimes they are there and sometimes they aren’t.

    We’re gonna try the same spot this weekend on Mille Lacs (or close to it) but we’re not gonna start til 9PM then fish til the morning bite is over. One of those boom or bust gambles this time. We’ll try the 14-17 FOW (Or shallower) rocky humps out on the reefs and smaller flats adjacent/on top of them to see if they are more active than the deep fish we tried in 24-30 last weekend.

    castle-rock-clown
    Posts: 2596
    #1500175

    Get a nice pair of cleated rubber deck aluminum frame snowshoes. Lightweight good floatation with cleats that prevent back slipping. Check online or at Mel’s in Rhinelander.

    zubba
    potosi,wi
    Posts: 64
    #1500182

    conditions are perfect on the Mississippi for hovering

    Attachments:
    1. hover-pics-001.jpg

    reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1500198

    Get a nice pair of cleated rubber deck aluminum frame snowshoes. Lightweight good floatation with cleats that prevent back slipping. Check online or at Mel’s in Rhinelander.

    Got a super nice, super light 30″ pair from Mel’s two weeks ago, they’re sweet! I caked them in slush that cold weekend till they weighed about 20lbs, but still they kept me up out of the worst of it! They’ll get used this year for sure. waytogo

    reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1500204

    As far as putting you on the fish, well, we’re all pretty good working out the theory of where they SHOULD be, I just can’t always understand why sometimes they are there and sometimes they aren’t.

    No kidding JD! I’m a topo-map junkie, and love poring over maps deciding where I’m going to hammer them next! If only my plans and reality intersected in the same space/time continuum more often…but still, they connect just often enough to keep a guy coming back for more. Think that’s what I love about fishing, the days when you put all the pieces together just so and it pays off-those days I get to feel like I know something. Good luck with your game plan this weekend!
    -Jim

    joe_the_fisher
    Wisconsin Dells WI
    Posts: 908
    #1500210

    Here you go Rev…the boy with a nice one..17 inches of nice solid ice. South central Wisconsin.

    Attachments:
    1. image93.jpg

    reverend
    Rhinelander, WI
    Posts: 1115
    #1500220

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>zubba wrote:</div>
    conditions are perfect on the Mississippi for hovering

    Holy Toledo that looks sweet!

    I agree! Just as well I don’t have one of those; if I did, I’d never get any fishing done for all the tearing around I’d do!

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