That a boy, what a tank.

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If you are alone or just with your wife with no tools you are in trouble.

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With no tools? Is that what you call your buddies?

LOL, glow demand, I can’t believe people actually fell for that one. I wouldn’t be caught out on the ice without one, that and the JR’s Flusher Spoon are FTW.

What is the can?

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Sorry but i have a hard time getting excited about catching fish on a private pond

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+1

The Contour Elite rules, got mine in the mail last Thursday!

Denny’s is the worse place I’ve ever stayed at in my life. I feel bad for anyone that goes there. Save your money and do a little more research and stay at one of the many better places on the lake.

The ice shacks are horrible. I was wondering why every other place was booked but we could get right into Denny’s. I would of rather stayed home.

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I’ll have something out by monday. Too late in the week to release this gem.

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Git Er Done

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The drive up there today is going to go on forever. And ever. And ever….

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I’d rather take that drive anyday over LOTW or Upper Red, pretty much a straight shot and the roads are much better!

I hear ya though, it always seems like a long ride when your in a hurry.

Sorry but thats one of the funniest fishing reports I’ve ever read

On a serious note though that sucks bad, I know the feeling when your totally pumped to get out there to hammer them and everything in the book goes wrong. Live and learn atleast no one died!! Good luck for the rest of the trip

Look for a guy borrowing Primetime82 his H20C and his Lakemaster chip so he can find a place to fish…that would be me!!

It will be him putting his arm in the frozen water landing my MONSTER WALLEYE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Brule or bust

Any word on the bite over on Peppy or are people tight lipped like normal? Don’t make the sauger slayer come down there!!

They beat me to it, I hooked one in the Cannon River using a yellow Mr. Twister about 10 years ago. Thought it was a big pike when it hammered it until I got it up to shore and seen the wicked thing, not sure if it bit on the lure or I had it snagged right under the big snout but it shook loose, me and my buddies couldn’t believe it we had no clue what it was at the time. It looked like a beaver/fish hybrid lol.

Just got home from 2 days of fishing with River Bend Resort, all I can say is Gamakatsu #2 red and pink hooks are the cure for them cold front fish.

The GF and I caught about 100 walleye and sauger, none were big though the biggest were 17 inchers. I’d say we probably missed about 50 more atleast lol. Only caught a few on various jigs and I threw pretty much everything at them, the rest were all on plain red or pink hooks.

We had fatheads, shiners, and rainbows and they all produced pretty much equally.

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I’ve used the Nils, and it’s an excellent auger, but since I’m not very tall (and that auger is, for me) it felt uncomfortable to use. I’ve never needed my extention for my Strikemaster (still new in the bag) so I can’t justify the long auger shaft.

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The Nils also sells a normal version not just the big 48″ that I love. Its so nice never needing an extension or having to bend way over to drill through real thick ice. I can see where a shorter guy might not like the longer version.

If a Nils owner says the Solo is a nice auger I’d take his word for it!

The best way to check is with your lure, use a bigger lure thats easy to read, set your zoom on the right side then drop your lure down watching on the right side until it hits your zoomed area and check to see if it’s working on the left side.

One thing you really want to check for is rattle reels, some sleepers have them and some don’t. In the sleepers we make sure to bring the rattle reels, an electric screwdriver and a bunch of screws. Not sure if it really matters much on LOTW because I hear the night bite isn’t very good.

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Here’s some oddball items that I wanted or desperately needed on trips in a sleeper.

Dice. Cards. Extra dice for when someone rolls one down an ice hole. Lots of $1 bills so your buddies can keep re-buying, allowing you to slowly bleed them dry over the course of a couple days. Ear plugs if you have loud snorers in your group. Radio. Fillet knife. Big ziplocks (they’re handy for a million things – cooking, storage, etc.) Can opener. Lighter / matches. Extra 12v. battery (fully charged of course) for the flasher. Flashlight. Extra spool of line. Aspirin / tylenol. Small medical kit. Jumper cables. Bottled water. Extra garbage bags. Loose fitting shoes / slippers for wearing around inside the house and for quick trips outside to the boy’s room.

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I need to plan a trip with James then I don’t have to bring anything!!

Nice fish Tom, gotta love them stumps!!

Heading up to LOTW on Monday can’t wait!

I would put a Canvas Craft NorpacR2 insulated canvas on your otter sled.

I don’t see why Marcum doesn’t sell one, I just tried taking the one off my FL-18 and putting it on the LX-5 and it didn’t fit. What do you have to do shave some plastic off?

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Makes you have to do it old school. I have buddies that still do it this way, and it is possible to catch fish with out a flasher. I dont leave home without mine, but they still get fish on the ice.

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I pretty much refuse to jig without a flasher and I love to jig, If I did have to be out there without a flasher I’d be bobber or tip up fishing.

Picked up an Otter case at the ice show and couldn’t be happier, its a small price to pay for a big piece of mind knowing that your $100 Thorne Bros rods aren’t gonna break getting from point A to point B. I’d of rather just bought one now instead of a couple months from now after I broke a couple high end rods.

How are you guy’s getting so many rods in yours? Do you collapse the handles? I have been on all of mine it just seems they fit better, I haven’t tried to fit more then 4 rods yet but that might change when I hit LOTW and Rainy.

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Well i got alot of money and gift cards for christmas and i am in the market for a flasher. Dont really know what one to get so i was hoping for some pointers to which to look into. Looking at both the vexilar fl-8 genz pack and the fl-18 genz pack. Both on sale at fleet farm now. Any recommendations on which brands or models will be a huge help.
Thanks alot.

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Whatever you decide I’d make sure to get a flasher with zoom, but personally I’d look for one with adjustable zoom. I wouldn’t get the FL-8 because it doesn’t have a zoom feature. If your not on a budget go all out and get one of the best! Otherwise you’ll regret it later.

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On a side note… The fact that you read about MarCum issues here on IDO has a great deal to do with the fact that we don’t censor posts like other sites. If someone is having an issue with a MarCum, we want to help. And we can’t do that if a post about a problem gets deleted a few seconds after it is posted like is so common elsewhere. Let’s be honest… most sites paint a very skewed view of products produced by their sponsors through relentless censorship. IDO doesn’t do that and never will. What you read here is an open exchange and even you must admit that the vast majority are overwhelmingly favorable. If you can’t admit that…. you’re not being honest or you haven’t been paying attention.

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Man, all I can say is some of you guys have the worse luck, most people barely have issues with thier flashers if you compare how many units are sold to how many complaints you hear about. To have multiple units be bad back to back is pretty crazy odds and some of you are talking about 5,6,7 units in a row being bad for you is almost unbelievable.

I’ve had real good luck so far with both Vexilar and Marcum knock on wood my LX-5 is new and only been on the ice a handful of times so far. My ol’ Fl-18 is a super reliable unit and I had it for years trouble free, I had buddies wanting to buy it after getting the new LX-5 but I’m just gonna keep it around.

I’ll use anything that works but when deciding to upgrade on a new flasher this year the LX-5 had the options I was looking for. They have the best options out there right now IMO, and if they didn’t I wouldn’t of bought one. I hope I never have to deal with any of their customer service! That would be a good sign!

Back to James quote, I’m glad you guy’s don’t censor every little complaint people have about products and sponsers because thats pretty pathetic when sites do that IMO. I want to hear the good and the bad about a product, thats what makes me decide if I want it or not. We should be able to hear it all then make a decision instead of only reading the good and thinking a product is totally indestructible or fool proof. Not to mention the companies need to hear the complaints and know they are out there so they can fix the issues so they don’t reoccur, instead of pretending they aren’t happening.

I have to admit I would be steaming too with the bad luck some of these guy’s are having. The down time is the hard part waiting for it to be fixed so you can get back out there. Thats exactly why I’m keeping a back up unit.

Good luck to ya

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my wife digs the cool hat with ear flap covers!! She says Chicks dig it, and guys will respect it. Also says it makes her feel all fuzzy inside!!

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Yup, My GF stole my Marcum hat with the fold down ears about 10 seconds after I walked in the door from the ice fishing show. Oh well looks like I’ll be wearing the Thorne Bros hats.

You have to be building some good ice with the lack of snow cover and them cold temps I’ve been seeing up there!!

Sounds like a dead/dying battery to me with the information you provided. Did it ever happen to do anything funky like the lights just spun around in a circle every now and again?

Some small jigs are harder to read then others depending if they sit verticle or horizontal in the water, but if I were you I’d use your buddies battery first that will be pretty simple to see if that’s the problem or not.

Thats awesome, hopefully the ice gets nice and thick before heavy snow comes!