Anyone been out on Big Sandy, wonderin how the ice is and how bad the slush is, I’m not going out unless I drive my Commander out.

Funny that reel was my other choice and I read more negative on it than the 13 Fishing, appears neither is any good.

CaptainMusky wrote:

They came out with anew model this year that has drop speed adjustment now. Great reel.

Nope it doesn’t work , thats the one I have just bought it at Reed’s Friday afternoon have to have the drop adjust all the to the + side to even get a 1/8 oz jig to move 3 lbs line.

They’re not a fraction or rather small fraction any more $60 from what I see

I live on the NW corner of Farm Island, the reports of slush are spot on it’s patchy and all over and can be pretty deep, came up to my feet on my 4 wheeler on Saturday the ice probably averaged 10″ in the holes I drilled, I’ve had my place here for 18 years and this is the slowest ice fishing I’ve ever seen here. Gonna take a couple day off next week and either go to Winnie and chase perch or Ely and chase Lakers.

I live on the NW corner of Farm Island, the reports of slush are spot on it’s all over and can be pretty deep, came up to my feet on my 4 wheeler on Saturday the is probably averaged 10″ in the holes I drilled, I’ve had my place here for 18 years and this is the slowest ice fishing I’ve ever seen here. Gonna take a couple day off next week and either go to Winnie and chase perch or Ely and cahse Lakers.

Just go one this year and really love it, super simple and compact like the OP mentioned. easy to set various levels of tension works for panfish on up, looking forward to trying it on lakers.

I been looking for an I fish Pro but saw your comment and really like the way the finicky fooler works (no bomber stop) any idea where I can buy one in the twin cities, don’t really want to pay $8 shipping and more importantly wait 5-8 business days.

I have a Cabella’s 3 bank onboard charger, the boat is at my cabin and couldn;t tell you the battery brand but they are maintenance free deep cycle,not real expensive say less than $100 each.

Thanks, they’re for my 24 volt trolling motor it’s a basic Minnkota Powerdrive unit big enough to power my Tyee 1950 Magnum. Not sure on the wet cell versus agm but have always used maintenance free in the past.

I think the additional limits on pike and smallies is an OK thing but I’m 55 years old and haven’t kept a smallie since i caught a 5 pounder on Rainy when I was 14 years old and I think a lot of people are like that. I don’t see walleye meat hunters all of a sudden throwing tube jigs to walleyes on the rocks and if they did the shear numbers of boats on the rocks would be overwhelming. I never have really fished pike on ML so can’t attest to that bite except to say I agree if there were as many as the DNR claims I think my crank baits would have pulled in a few & over the last 5 years the number is ONE. I think the spearing is great, never done it but if it takes some of the forage eaters out of ML then great. I think the one fish over 28″ is a joke, make that number one over 22″ or 2 under 18″, one 23″er will provide my wife and I a nice dinner and I’d be fine with that and it would help bring down the big fish population and I be a lot of fisherman would just as soon take one bigger fish than 2 small ones.

What I would have like to heard is that the tribes agreed to switch to nets that have bigger holes letting the smaller eyes swim through, it seems to me the only thing the tribes are giving up is the poundage of their share of the quota and doing nothing to prevent targeting the smaller fish things aren’t going to change until the tribes truly pitch in and help by recognizing they are part of the problem and take responsibility for their share of it. Until they do consider this one fisherman who will continue to drive right by their stores, casinos, restaurants and resorts. In fact if anyone has a list of all the places up around ML that the tribes own I’d love to see it posted so I make sure they don’t get a dime of money.

OK so I’m sold on the HDS Gen2 Touch, right now the difference in price between he 7 & 9 is $700 is the added detail seen with the 2″ bigger screen worth the price?

thanks and you can do that on either the sonar (even in backtrack mode) and on the structure scan display?

Been eating Salmon my whole life, born in Seattle, and still eat it at least twice a month and this is my favorite.

Indonesian Grill Salmon:

Marinate the salmon after adding salt and pepper for 1/2 hour at room temp or 3-4 hours in the fridge

Marinade:
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Orange Marmalade
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp veg oil
1/2 can beer

place marinated fillet on tin foil with the edged turned up to leaving a good portion of the marinade on top, cover with chopped green onions and grill over indirect heat until it flakes, 25-30 minutes.

I’ve only been on the lake two days, both have been much better fishing than the last couple of years, I’ve never caught a fish over the 28″ limit on Mille Lacs but this year have 2 at 27″ or a little over. It looks to me that all in all this is going to be a great year for Mille Lacs.

Thanks Derek, I’ll probably start there on Thur or Fri what would you suggest as an alternative with fewer people for the weekend?

Mike, Headed up to Farm Island tomorrow through Sat. have you heard any lake in the area producing walleye’s? I’ll hit FI pretty hard on Wed but may move around on Thur or Fri if you’re out and about I’ll be driving a green polaris 330 magnum with a 3 person Fish Trap. Stop buy and say hello and have a cold beer on me.

Thanks Derek, I’m going to try for a Thursday or Friday trip this week, hopefully we’ll be making some good ice over the next few days. Any word on the bays on Mille Lacs and early ice perch?

Rootski,

Thanks for the update, I’m headed up Saturday for 10 days, mostly on Farm Island but will move around a little. Had the same luck as you on the Walleyes a week ago in FI only 15 feet was the depth then. I’ll get online up there and let you know what’s going on. Good tip about Hanson’s, drive buy them all the time and never been in there.

Headed up to my cabin this weekend and planning on hitting the river near Aitkin for a while on Saturday. Anyone been out in the last week or so?

Dinosaur: Where did you get the software, I have fishing hotspots and it isn’t very accurate, the north garrison ramp is about 200ft off and the bottom structure is about the same all it does is get me in the general vacinity. Do you know if Navionics works with a Garmin map 162?

A piece of advice from someone who jsut got into LC last year, Cabela’s has line counter combo’s for $59, I got mine one sale for $49 and they have worked great. I have 6, 6 1/2′, 8 1/2′ and 10 1/2′ they all give the bait a little different action, I like having the 10 1/2’s pointed straight out to the side parrallel to the water giving me almost and outrigger type width. then I use the 6 1/2’s on the back corners at a 45 degree angle up giving them a little more erratic action. You can cover a pretty wide swath w/o planer boards.

Mike, Thanks for the reply I just got the canoe all rigged for fishing and can’t wait to give the river a try, unfortunately I won’t get at it for another 10 days. I’ll let you know who it turns out. Tight Lines!

I own a place on Farm island lake just south of Aitkin and have been wanting to fish the river in that area in my canoe. What suggestions do you have for me.