I’ll second the request for a copy of the report…when/where will the presentation be made?

It was a great day on the water with my two girls!

We caught two of the smallest sauger I’ve ever seen, reeled in a couple of clam shells, had cheese curds at the harbor bar, took turns ” driving the boat” and counted lots of eagles.

They can’t wait to come back to Everts and scratch Gus’s ears some more. Thanks Jason for the great idea and to Dean for being a great host.

I must be doing something right. Both of my daughters want to go!!!! See you Sunday!!

I’ll put my vote in for G3 too. I’ve run Lund and Alumacraft. I’m on my 1st season with a new G3 185F and so far – so good. Not to totally hijack the post , but I went with G3 (built by Yamaha) because I prefer to run a Yamaha motor

I have a new 27 with the same issues – uploaded the beta- same problem. Lowered my transducer 1/4″ works fine…

I just got back as well. 12 guys in 4 boats. We were up Thu-Sun also. Pretty much the same story as BUSCHMAN. It was pretty slow. We did manage one 65×28 on sunday. Of course it was the guy’s 2nd sturgeon ever…The picture is on someone else’s camera – will post when I can.
Looks like the coming weekend is shaping up nice for all you guys!! Just watch out for the mud

Here’s a few photo’s to get the juices flowing:

Hi Tim,

My father is the owner/rod builder of Lakelady Rods. He is one of only a handful of Custom Rod Guild certified builders in MN. He builds rods that are specifically designed to not only the style of fishing you do; but also to exact measurements of your hand and arm. He builds each rod only upon your order. He doesn’t have any available “off the rack”.

He only uses the highest quality components to include the best rod blank for your application, fuji guides, portugues burl cork, etc. He goes the extra step of setting up your rod on the spine and underwrapping each guide.

He is located at Breezy Point. Check out his website: Lakelady Rods I’m sure he’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Well, after all of the positive feedback – I’m going to pull the trigger. Mark say’s it will only take a week to 10 days to get them. I sold the Mrs. on the fact that this is a “safety” feature.

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. This was the only solution I could find on the web. I did shoot Mark an email and he got back to me right away. Even gave me a ballpark price – I’m leaning his way. I let you know how it all works out.

Thanks for all of the excellent advice. I’ve had the boat (it’s a G3 185F) in the garage for a month now…..Dying to turn the key

Thanks for the advice guy’s. Hope it’s not the puck — $199 for a new one.

Count me in!!!

Sunset after a thunderstorm from the dock at Everts.

Jeff,

Lakelady Rods is for real. Matter-of-fact my Dad is the owner. He is on the road doing shows in Fargo and Sioux Falls and doesn’t have access to email. Not sure what number you called, the number on his website is his cell and I’ve talked to him a couple of times on it this week. Send me a PM with your number and I’ll make sure you get a call by Monday!

With the highs only expected to be in the low 20’s on Saturday, what is the expectation on kept fish? Are we going for a live release? That would always be my preference. If so, any recommendations on keeping the livewell and pump from freezing?

Corbin

I’ve been looking at them for about a year now. Hannay’s in Mpls is carrying them too. The top end deep-v’s are very similar to the Lund Fisherman; but with more standard features and a lower price point. The guy at Hannay’s said they are carrying them since it will be tough to get Lunds with Yamaha’s on them very soon. Looks like a preety good boat to me, but I haven’t been in one on the water yet.

Here’s a picture of the docks at Everts the Friday before the IDA tourney. Right after a storm blew through.

I also have a new 330c. I fished Pelican in the Brainerd area for the opener. My Dad has a New x19. We were fishing the same spots, in fact pulled together and compared what we we’re marking. Only 2 differences…I saved $800. My screen is smaller

I love my 33oc

James,

Looks like all of the time in the office has been well spent! Looking good. The best depths for me were 4-7′. Some contact with the bottom was the key. Most of my fish came from within 100 yards either direction (up or down stream) from the log sticking up at edge of the Bay city flats — right where the WI channel dumps in. They seemed to be moving up and down off the flat into the trough.

(ps) We also ran down to Point no Point. No eyes, but did get a 11 lb Flathead on one of my 14′ trolling rods. It absolutely hammered a #5 Firetiger. Very cool

Corbin

I found the same hot bite on Tues at the head of the lake pulling cranks. Lots of 17-20″ Saugers and Walleyes (about 3-1 saug). Firetiger was the hot color for me also. Crawdad also took a few. Easy limit in 45 minutes

I was fishing with buddy out of a canoe up in the BWCA. We were on our way out, so we had all of our gear wrapped in a tarp in the middle of the boat. Being in no hurry, I was paddling along the shoreline trolling a rap, and my buddy was casting the dreaded “Red Eye Wiggler”. He hooks into a 6-7′ northern, of course we have no net. After a pretty decent fight, it laid over on it’s side back by me in the stern. I had it half way in the boat when it gets its 2nd wind. The lure was a spoon with hooks front and back. Some how the pike had gotten the front hooks only. Of course the back hooks bury into the nice fleshy part between my thumb and finger. I drop the fish and he flips towar the middle of the canoe, still hooked to the lure and me. My buddy, turns around to try and help, and gets ahold of the fish. One last flop, off she comes…leaving the front hooks in my friends thumb. So there we are, drifting along…both hooked to the same lure, stretched over the canoe. Luckly, the barbs had been pinched down so the hooks came out relatively easy.

I just got one too! Aren’t new toys fun! So far it’s met all of my expecatations. Lowrance has a great emmulator that you can download from their website. I played with that before I started setting my unit up in the boat with my preferences. I figured that I’d rather screw up the emmulator than the unit.

Gotta love the color!!

I just installed a 330C with the micro ram. I was tight on space on the dash. I suposed it depends on how much room you have to work with. I haven’t had any problems with it moving in rough water, yet….

Here’s the walleye picture

I have to second the 7′ 6″ G Loomis Hot Shot rods for live bait applications. These rods were built for Steelhead and work great for rigging. The length and fast tip make for good The attached pictures are a 29″ Walleye and a 40″+ Northern caught a couple hours apart on a 7′ 6″ Hot Shot.

As you can probably guess by my username I am partial to custom built rods. My father is 1 of 3 certified builders in the state (Custom Rod Guild). You do get what you pay for. Things to watch for when building or having a rod built:

Be careful about blanks – they are 2nds for reason! Don’t skimp here.

Set up of components – Are the guides set up on the spine correctly? Only rods built by hand have this part correct. It makes a huge difference in sensitivity.

Reel Seat and Handle – Is the reel seat and handle made specifically for the blank. This really important. Filler material around the blank at the reel seat kills all sensitivity. A handle that is tailored for your hand and arm makes for a properly balanced and comfortable rod.

Interesting concept about the 3-way with a crank vertical jigging method. I was lucky enough to get paired with Larry Snow (He’s on the cover of this month’s walleye insider) in the PWT event out of Bay City last year. We had a pretty tough bite the day we fished together, so we made a run down to Wabasha. We “vertically jigged” #5 shad raps on a 3-way rig (4oz weights) in the heavy current in the main channel, right where the steepest depth changes occurred. We boated 3 walleyes over 24″ in about 20 minutes. He used the kicker motor to just hang in the right areas. I thought it was a pretty ingenious method.

Gary,

I had a similar problem with the tip top of a premier rod. Didn’t have a receipt – no warranty card (I got the rod as a gift). I called the customer service # at St Croix, they said no problem, send them the rod and a check for postage. About 2 weeks later a new rod arrived at my doorstep.

St Croix prides themselves on customer service. Give them a call, and see what they say. Sorry, I don’t have the numeber with me, but I’m sure its on their website.

I’ve caught several 20+ lb reds in Florida on light tackle. These guys are a blast and leave your arms aching. This one’s a brute!

Wade,

Great info as always! I recently attended a seminar put on by Bruce Sampson where he spoke about using GPS & Sonar. There was alot of discussion about the accuracy of the Navionics Hotmaps. Some lakes on the chip are using old DNR data overlayed with GPS coordinates (not very accurate), some are using USGS data (Very accurate). He suggested that the new Promap MMC cards from Lakemaster would be they way to go – over Hot Maps. I believe Lakemaster and Navionics have a new partnership where Navionics is going to be branding these new chips. Any thoughts/Are you going to be carrying these?

Great Shots! I saw something that I thought was unusual on New Years Day. We were at the in-laws in Shoreview. I looked out the window and there were 4 rooster phesants just milling around in the back yard. I always thought that they were territorial and would chase another rooster out of the area. These guys were just content to mill around, picking at the bird food that had fallen from the feeder.