CaptainMusky wrote:

This is pushing for open season with harvest (though who keeps bass anyways) vs a catch and release portion of the season.

I used to assume that no one kept bass too, since the ‘catch and release’ ethic is so strong among bassers. Then we stayed at a resort in northern MN when an out-of-state group staying next-door was bringing in a wire basket full of big smallies – and filleting them up in the fish house – every day they were there. These were 3lb to 5lb fish on average – some probably 15 years old. We have fished this lake for 25 years and where we used to catch multiple 5lb smallies each day, we haven’t boated a legitimate 5lber in over six years and struggle to break 4lbs.

Bass ‘catch & keep’ happens more than we think and it can’t be helping the population of large, mature fish.

I’m assuming the financial windfall will be more than just the prize money when sponsor bonus dollars and endorsement money is factored in. I’m a fan of Easton’s. He’s clearly an amazing young fisherman but also seems humble and kind.

As for the two youngest in the field finishing number one and number two – no surprise. They say a fish doesn’t care how old a person is presenting the lure, but excelling in the sport requires strength and endurance… and young people have that over old people in a big way. At age 63, I’ve noticed my own fishing capabilities significantly lagging behind what they were 40 years ago and it seems the older guys on the tour don’t seem to do quite as well as they did when they were younger – even KVD. Youth is definitely an advantage.

If only us bass folks weren’t so unethical and prone to walleye poaching, maybe the DNR would open up bass fishing year round like they do for the more ethical and highly trustworthy panfish folks.

Sarcasm I know, but you get the point…

I’m in favor of C&R seasons for all species vs. complete closure. Every reason given for the complete angling closure 2 1/2 mo’s a year are nonsense when scrutinized. Impose a zero bag limit, but let us fish!

Unfortunately, after more than three decades of hoping, I’ve come to the conclusion this change is not likely to happen in the ‘Land of 10,000 Regs’ state.

Bird observations this week…

Wow, the robins are thick on the lawn with all this spring-like warmth and sunshine.

First mallard of the year – a male – showed up in our backyard wetland yesterday.

Had a bald eagle eat a rock bass on the ice last weekend.

Mother Nature is starting to wake-up!

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The nutties and chickadees are eating greedily up at the cabin.

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You sure did right by him Randy and can feel proud of that. My condolences for your loss.

For a bass lure, probably $50. Thank God you didn’t ask about musky lures.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

1. If you’re an addict, get help.

Good advice and seems so simple. In reality, most often ignored. Addicts tend to deny the severity of their situation, don’t care enough about themselves or the loved ones around them to make a massive life-change, lack the long term personal and professional support they need to defeat their devils, or – sorry if this sounds harsh – they lack the strength of character to face the daunting and overwhelming challenge of getting clean. So, they take the easy route and just get high or drunk again – and their life and the lives of their loved ones continues to spin out of control. Very sad deal for everyone involved.

I love the Diawa Kage Ultralight series of rods, particularly the one-piece, light, XF action in both the 7’9″ and the 7’7″ version. These do double duty as hair jig rods for smallies in the spring. These rods are paired with a Vanford 3000 and 6lb braid/mono leader. I like the light weight, sensitvity, and long-casting aspect of this set-up.

Jeff Schomaker wrote:

We target the big fish with big baits. #5 jigging raps are one of our go to baits. Along with a #5 Berkley Finisher.

Sorry for the brief off-topic question…

Jeff, that Finisher is heavy and sinks like a rock in open water. Surprised you and others like it for ice fishing. Does it sit vertical? Horizontal?? What am I missing by not fishing it on ice?

^^^Where’s the like button?

Great idea Joe.

“We had numerous FFS systems and could find and see fish… they just wouldn’t bite.”

^^^This could be a clue to your problem.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big fan of FFS – just not on the ice. My experience is the same as yours when using FFS. The fish sense the signal and when doing so it suppresses the bite. Not totally, but a lot. Do as B-Man suggests and your results should improve quite a bit.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Put me in the camp of a loose connection or something like that. No way the battery goes from completely dead to starting the engine just because of a few min of handwarmers. Either way – glad it worked out for you!

You may be right. I’m a banker and don’t have a mechanical background, but we did know enough to check the battery for loose connections. They were all tight.

“Your immune systems are weak”

Language warning!

What a great day! Bet you’re smiling from ear to ear? Enjoy your new found freedom. Its been well-earned!

^^^I watched that video some time ago and bought some Spro fluoro line thinking it had just been proven to be ‘the best’. My actual fishing results didn’t bear that out – quite the opposite. After fishing the Spro line side-by-side with other popular brands, on a number of different trips, my catch rate was consistently worse than expectations and that of my boat partners. My theory, a potentially huge factor which Tyler didn’t test for, was higher visibility to the fish. Is the formulation superior in bench tests but more easily seen and therefore off-putting to fish? That was my conclusion, which could well be wrong. However, my experience ultimately lead me to believe there is something different about this line vs. other popular brands – and not in a good way. After re-spooling with Sunline Sniper, my fishing results improved and were back on par with expectations and my fishing partners.

Randy, I don’t know about the geometry/math of the cone angles, but from practical experience can tell you that with LS on forward view, you will see both straight under and a little behind the transducer if mounted 2′ down. The dead-zone I’m most familiar with is the 12″-16″off of true bottom. You won’t often see bottom hugging fish that are literally belly on the bottom, until they rise up a foot or so.

My experience is that LS isn’t great on forward view in water under, say, 6 feet. Perspective mode may be the answer though. Can’t say, I don’t use it in that mode since I run a HB360.

Before you dive in to the expensive world of FFS, just know that some folks, including me, believe that the powerful LS signal seems to turn-off alot of shallow fish when ice fishing – and even a fair amount of deep fish. From my experience, the range at which fish begin to sense and respond negatively to the LS signal is around 40′ from the transducer, so this is not as much of a problem in open water when making +100′ casts, if that’s how you fish.

On ice, I have had significantly better ice fishing success with my Vex and, when stubbornly sticking with the superior imagery of LS, will routinely get my butt handed to me by my fishing partners using a Vex or Humminbird, with all the other variables eliminated. Wanna clear a hole you just drilled over a big school of fish? Drop your LS in there and wait a minute or two. With a Vex or HB, you can sit over those fish and pound on them for a lot longer.

Just go into any purchase with your eyes wide open. LS does have a lot of pros, but fishing in shallow water on ice is not one of them IMO – from a catching perspective.

My $.02…

Reads like an anti-technology manifesto.

^^^Cook MN

We had the sleds out this past weekend in Northern Minnesota on up to 10 inches of ice. There wasn’t a lot of snow on top either. A little slush exists where there was snow and a lot of slick spots otherwise. There is probably a foot of snow on land.

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^^^Garage is not insulated, though does tend to stay slightly warmer – or I should say less cold – than the outside air temps in winter. If its -20 outside, its probably going to be -10 in the garage.

I was hoping 10 guys would chime in and say it was no problem, but now I realize a heated blanket is not a smart solution. So, I’ll be pulling the batts this weekend. Thx for the sanity check!

^^^Thx tomr.

Anyone know about 494?

Swamp Lord, eh?? There goes $30 bucks. Can’t just have one with all these damn pike around.

Do you guys trim the ‘legs’ on those things? You know, one shorter and one longer to help it walk??

My son had his identity stolen a couple years ago. The perpetrator bought a brand new $80,000 Audi that Audi financed under his name. The creep had stopped my son’s mail delivery and was picking it up personally to steal his information. He eventually got caught many months later when the police responded to a domestic dispute and ran the VIN number on the Audi to find it having been stolen. Trying to convince the credit bureau agencies to remove all the damage done to my son’s credit has been a nightmare. Just a couple weeks ago, a collection agency contacted him to try to collect on a $700 past due phone bill that the perpetrator had in his name.

Wow! Beauty!!

Today was the last day in the boat chasing bass this season. Caught some nice fish, but one in particular had a very special girth!

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Jon mentioned your mattress as a possible culprit. Case in point: My wife and I were having pretty regular and debilitating back and hip episodes. We decided to try a new mattress as the old one became concave in the middle from years of use. The problems went away almost immediately after getting a new mattress. Definitely was a huge improvement. The 13 inch hybrid bed-in-the-box was the mattress we went with, which is now in all our guest bedrooms both at home and in the cabin.

I don’t hunt, so have no skin in this game. However, I did look-up the annual number of road killed deer after seeing some roadside carnage this weekend. These numbers are estimated by insurance companies since so few are reported to law enforcement.

Minnesota – 40,000
Wisconsin – 70,000

Thought that was interesting. Combined with annual hunter harvest, thats a lot of deer.