Name one person on IDO that has

It’s impossible to say one person. Can’t do it. Mike W, Jon Jordan, Steve DeZurik, James……

These guys showed me a whole new world on the river.

SR

Ya’ll are to me. Nobody has all the answers and everyone has something, some little tidbit, to offer. It all adds up.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Ya’ll are to me. Nobody has all the answers and everyone has something, some little tidbit, to offer. It all adds up.

Exactly my sentiment as well Tom.

I’ve not been part of this forum group near as long as some other’s, and with that…I cannot say that there is only one person here who had a much greater teaching moment for this “walleyestudent” over everyone else cumulatively.

I will say there’s really been a wealth of information and enlightenment I’ve found here over the few years I’ve been a proud member. Not to mention the amusement, entertainment and “virtual” camaraderie as well.

Tips, tactics, and maybe more even recommendations/reviews for certain products that I never knew existed. I’ve easily spent far more $$ on fishing gear since I’ve been here than probably the 10 years before.

And not to mention the “fine gentlemen” of IDO I’ve been honored to meet and/or fish with in person. (You guys know who you are)

I’m looking forward to the time when all this blows over and we all get a chance to meet more of each other in person.

I forgot Steve Demars. Is he still on here? He was very innovative with catfish tactics and I spent a few nights on his pontoon.

Fisherdave actually really helped me get started on flatheads. Until apparently I told too many people too many things. Then BK took me under his wing. If he ever asks if you want to see his wing, just say no.

Instead of being a sponge and absorbing, my mind is more like a sieve. I read and see all the information and retain little to nothing of it. But ya know I don’t care. I’m not one that has to catch fish to enjoy a day on the water.

Keep doing shows, writing reports and asking questions. I’ll be here watching and reading.

mplspug wrote:

I forgot Steve Demars. Is he still on here? He was very innovative with catfish tactics and I spent a few nights on his pontoon.

Fisherdave actually really helped me get started on flatheads. Until apparently I told too many people too many things. Then BK took me under his wing. If he ever asks if you want to see his wing, just say no.

You have quite the guest list on your show pug. Haha.
I will say I have met more good people on here than most walks in my life on this site. Some of my best friends. I cannot say enough about the guy that runs it. I have lots of respect for all the above in your post as well. I have had the pleasure to fish with them and agree. Good guys.
Steve the catfish king is a friend and household name at my home.

moustachesteve wrote:

Despite all of your best efforts I’m still terrible at fishing

I’m great at fishing. The catching part is the problem.

Deb Dallas of course.

Not sure why but I feel like eelpoutguy would be a lot of fun to fish with. I could learn slip bobbering while I’m at it too.

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mplspug wrote:</div>
Brian Klawitter and his stinkbait.

referring to Spam???

I think he just pumped the camper tanks into jars …

Most importantly, I’ve made some great friendships here. However,I’ve become a worse fisherman.

Past member?, psh.
Wait for my comeback. Often imitated never duplicated. Thanks G!

Learned to powder paint lures from Randy Wieland and Tom Sawvell. Still learning.
But as others have said hard to come up with just one. Many have contributed to my fishing addiction. Thank you to those people.

For me it’s more a collective thing as others have mentioned. I’ve greatly expanded my horizons as far as species I will try to target or areas I will fish thanks to dozens of posters.

In my younger years, I was hung up on depth as a major tool to find fish or would isolate on just one or two variables. “How deep were you marking them at?” What depths were you running?” Depth to me means almost nothing now when fishing the river. I’m looking for bottom content and transitions, bait fish, water temps, flow, wind direction the past few days, clarity, etc.

Probably the most important thing I’ve learned is that no matter how much work I do, the river and other areas will still deal me a humbling blow every once in a while to remind me just how little I truly know.

Too many to mention, but cant not mention River Rat Randy & Dustin Stewart !

Can’t name one. If I tried to name half of them, I would miss some.

So many awesome memories fishing with so many awesome people!
…and there will be more memories made!

There’s so many people that I’ve wanted to fish with over the years but there just wasn’t time.

PS Don’t let Pug fool you. He was so excited to catch a fish with me one day I had to edit the photo because his zipper was down. (Did I say I wouldn’t ever mention that on line…memory is failing me I guess!)

Mike W sees a turtle on shore “watch this” he says. He was going to bounce his jig off the back of its shell. It was a good distance and it impressed me that he hit it. Not only did he hit it…but he hooked it! I posted a photo of his rod bent over the side of the boat but didn’t say what it was….LOL!

Dean Marshall, he said there has to be a walleye in these waters. About $50 worth of jigs later he said, “give me a hook, I’m going to use a worm!” We were channel fishing and the look on his face when that St Croix rod was darn near pulled out of his hand.

Jez, I need to write a book!

As I said before, I thought my dad taught me all there was to know about fishing. Through no fault of his own, he didn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg. I wish he would of been around long enough to fish the river.

Fishing with James. That guy will flat out grind on a tough bite. On days where I might have called it a day if I was fishing for fun, James and I would fish sun up to sun down (or later) to put a workable pattern together. Fishing with a guy that has that kind of drive and determination has really helped step my game up.

Now that I’m living out west, I will grind for an entire weekend, week, month, ect for that one rare, special bite. Every once in awhile, it happens.

20 years and he hasn’t changed. ^

Zippergate

Dan Baker wrote:

I’m a big Will Roseberg fan. I’ve met him a few times on local lakes. Super nice guy and willing to share any information you ask. I’d love to see him on the show more.
Dan

BigWerm wrote:

I misread the title, ONE Person, would probably be Will Roseberg who taught me about trolling off of structure for muskies, and finding a way to sneak out for a few hours after the kids are asleep at the cabin. My wife may still be upset about that last one if she thought it was his fault (spoiler alert it’s all my fault ).

Thanks Dan and Kory! It’s pretty flattering to even be mentioned in this thread. I’m can’t wait for more cabin trolling adventures with Kory and more local Hanover hi-jinks with Dan!

Randy this is a great post… There are many people from this site for whom I’ve very greatful to, the one who introduced to the the site was a co-worker Steve Dezurik… The first person from the site I fished with was Deadweight (aka Terry Hanson)… And the first regular name who you all know that got to know was Jon Jordan up on the East Side Mille Lacs… Most of all though I couldn’t be more appreciative of the Man, the myth, the legend himself James Holst for starting IDO in the first place and pouring his heart and soul into this website and the TV show that followed. My dream growing up was always to be a professional fisherman and be on TV and after a chance meeting at the Garrison public access James made that dream come true.. Thanks James!

Will aka Malmo Mafioso

Holst, DeeZee, Stewart, Carlson, Vandemark, Mike W, Turk, Fishblood, BK, the st.croix cat guy on a pontoon, anyone else who put up unbelievable detailed reports years ago or currently.

Honorable mentions are the dozens and dozens of other folks in the comments sections over the years of those reports who asked great questions and kept the forums alive

Can’t believe I forgotten Weiland! Main man who got the idea of these timid, shy, light stricken walleyes out my head.

Deuces wrote:

Holst, DeeZee, Stewart, Carlson, Vandemark, Mike W, Turk, Fishblood, BK, the st.croix cat guy on a pontoon, anyone else who put up unbelievable detailed reports years ago or currently.

Honorable mentions are the dozens and dozens of other folks in the comments sections over the years of those reports who asked great questions and kept the forums alive

Agreed. To bad so many of those guys have moved on and don’t post anymore.

Haven’t been here long but again would like to thank everyone that shares information. BB has been very helpful, FBRM sent me his charts and it completely changed my depth game. Also BK, wealth of information and always reminds us on safety protocol.

Steve DeZurik and James got me on the road to becoming a good river fisherman more than 15 years ago, but Buschman has been my best fishing buddy for years now. I think we actually met at the boat landing, but either way nobody has had a bigger individual impact on my fishing than Joe!

Randy:

I’d feel bad for missing someone!!! I guess if I had to name a few it would certainly have to start with James. Having been here since 2002, I always wished I could get to the River waaayyyy more than I have or would like to. As many have said there is/are a plethora of folks who have or will continue in the future to add to my/our insights of fishing. The first person and they actaully gave kudos to FTR or In-Depth was In-Fisherman. For me, Al & Ron Lindner have meant more to my expanding my learning for fishing. at a point intime, I had almost every magazine they published from the early 70’s til almost 2000.

A former IDO’er who moved to Minocqua and has disappeared from this forum is Greg Dodge. The one thing I learned from him was simple: “Fish for what the water will give ya.” While I was a reasonably decent fisherman at that time, I became a much better one after learning that!!!

I’ve been fortunate to have had peeps from IDO make it to stay in our little slice of heaven. Can’t remember very many names so won’t post too many right now. Never got to fish with many either and had or still have reverend and bigpike within 30 miles of me and that’s probably more on me than the other way around. My background in tourism always made me want to advertise our locale.

Randy W. started pickin’ on me 10 or so years ago and had family land in the area. We’ve gotten together to fish and have had some epic evenings, but as I am sure milemark 714 will attest once you’re in the boat with him, there’s no getting out till the sun comes back up again!!! He’s hosted me on Lake MI and am hoping to get together more with any or all of you… Provided we all get through the new impeding doom, perhaps we’ll all get a chance to get together!!!

Love this website and people on it!!! I am so glad that over the years James has stuck to his guns of allowing for extensive social discourse. A few of the peeps that left, well I wished they’d stayed, but I get that too. Family that I haven’t met!!!

Mark

Dean Marshall for sure. He got me from completely clueless fishing pool 4 to just clueless. Stuart Vincent taught me to use leadcore, and how well crank baits catch fish.

mplspug wrote:

I forgot Steve Demars. Is he still on here? He was very innovative with catfish tactics and I spent a few nights on his pontoon.

I know for sure that Steve is still around because he’s my dad! He has just been a little quiet lately because he has been working on some top secret stuff over the winter.

Interesting topic for me.

I quit fishing/hunting for 20+ years when I got married and had kids, then was able to start up again. If I recall correctly when I decided to get back into fishing quite a bit had changed. I think I googled vexilar and IDO came up.

So for me it’s not the one person that “changed” but more of a “taught” the way I fished. For sure watching James on TV was #1. Everyone else is a close #2. I try and take in all the tips from the Pro’s and regular everyday fishing guys and have learned a ton.

So thanks to all. Made a lot of friends also.

BTW – I went with a Marcum.

Definitely HOLST. I have never fished with him, but he helped me net a 27 and a 30.25 (17″ girth absolute toad) approximately a half hour later(one week after my birthday ’19). Hands down my best day fishing ever. I told my wife I’d never repeat that, she said I would. She has no idea how rare that is. Then 2 weeks later another 30. All taken in small Iowa water. Something tells me his experiences and knowledge of the sport are way greater than IDO. Someday I’ll fish with him.

Deffinetely a lot of folks on here that know how to fish and willing to provide great information, Randy, BK, fishblood&rivermud, list goes on. I’ll say James and crew as #1, which includes quite a few guys. With the weekly shows, they provide a lot of tools and information for average guys like myself to be successull. Also, Joe Scegura would be up there too. I’m going to book him one of these years, guy can catch fish.