Haven’t been on in a long while and stumbled on this thread and all I can say is wow! Hoping the 2016 season shapes up to be a good one for all of you. Congrats to whoever won and I hope they enjoy/enjoyed the prize!
See much of the problem with us as a whole is that we think “Oh this wont work, forget it.” or “There is an ulterior motive, so lets not care” I dont care if I disagree with how things are being handled, I still care about TRYING to slow down ais for my kids and grandkids sake. 5-15 mins at a boat launch is nothing compared to in the future not wanting to use the waters because problems have gotten so bad due to no one trying. If you have other options you see fit then email everyone in the state you can, but in the meantime take your plug out, dry your boat, ect. Give it a try and instead of rebelling it and not caring if the problem continues, at least care for the futures sake. Us boaters get blamed for this issue, and instead of taking action to see what we can do different we point the finger elsewhere. Obviously other factors should be of concern, that doesnt mean we still arent an issue. More people just need to at least care about ais, instead of ignoring it and speeding up the contamination, for future generations sake. You can write all your angers and conspiracies on here all you want, but that’s doing nothing positive if your not trying something to help when you use the waters.
Crawlerharness nailed it, Despite what people want to believe, when I was an inspector, we wanted to help the boaters avoid tickets by teaching them what to do to avoid tickets and stay within the law. It’s up to the individual if they want to listen and take it or leave it. I don’t think anyone on our staff had to call a C.O.the year I did it. I know it gets repetitive and old if you are out frequently, but email the department and don’t take it out on the inspectors if you have issues with the program. MOST of the DNR employed inspectors are on your side and wanting to help. Cant say the same for the lake organizations and other organizations, but most of us at the time were fellow boaters that were doing an internship.
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Still dont understand why they check boats or decontaminate going into infested waters.
The theory is that there is more species of invasives besides Zeebs and milfoil, so despite where you say you have been before, if you dont meet “standards” youre going to get a decon. Also the waterbody may have milfoil but not zeebs or the otherway around. That was what I was told about inspecting incoming boats.
Thanks for the update James!
Rodger at Nodaks is a great guy and is always very helpful!
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Even fish know a good fad when they see one.
Nice piggy in that 3rd picture, but where’d the picture go?
I’m sure those fish wouldn’t have touched Slender Spoons… or anything from Lindy or Northland.
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
Hasn’t this been the case since the first fishing show aired on TV decades ago?
No doubt that many other manufacturers make excellent products. In my last topic, I talked about how downsizing to a tungsten CJ&S Chekai helped put some jumbos on the ice. The same for early ice when the pro series slenders caught some pigs.
I have several rods rigged with various presentations every time I hit the ice. I report what worked the best that specific day.
Love the post and that you take time to report whats working! Nothing against you at all, I was just reflecting and taking amusement on how we all, myself included, give in to advertising so well. Next year James and crew could be using something different and I’d be at the store trying to buy it that day. Speaking of fads, does anyone remember “The Flying Lure” phase?
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Even fish know a good fad when they see one.
Nice piggy in that 3rd picture, but where’d the picture go?
I’m sure those fish wouldn’t have touched Slender Spoons… or anything from Lindy or Northland.
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
Last year we were ALL rushing to go buy all the CJ&S and BfishN stuff we could get our hands on, now just because IDO changed over to using primarily VMC we are emptying the shelves and not talking about CJ&S. Nothing against the product(VMC) because it clearly works well, but I just find it intriguing how effective sponsorship and marketing can work!
This post puts your right at everyone else’s level that you listed….. 
and before you throw an insult out, no I am not a fan of any of those teams either.
I have never fished that area but if all else fails it never hurts to ask a local bait shop also! Good Luck! 
Heat Wave!!! 
Thanks for the reports guys, we ended up at French, very uneventful day as the augers fuel line broke after 4 holes were drilled. Good news is ice was around 9 inches there today, Quite a few permanents were making there way out today also on both Roberds and French.
Awesome fish!! 
