Congrats James.

Tell my old buddy Scott hi for me.

As I get older, it’s the adventure side of fishing that keeps me going. Having 2 kids, I fish a lot less than I use to and going to the same old lakes over and older just doesn’t do it for me.

When I do fish locally, I enjoy specifically targeting trophy fish instead of just fishing to catch fish. Trophy fish require a totally different strategy and mindset which keeps me on my toes and challenges me. Often times you can fish an entire weekend and not touch a fish. Other times the stars align and the magic happens. So much more rewarding than just “going fishing”. This winter, we had one weekend where we boated 4 walleyes that were 12, 13, 13, and 14 pounds. Unbelievable. Makes all the days and hours that go by with nothing totally worth it.

I’m also looking to do more travel for fishing. New states, new lakes, and even international. European Zander, pike, and perch are very high on my bucket list and will hopefully happen in 2022. This fall, I’m considering going to Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, or the Philippines) to fish for a variety of crazy fish. Because of covid, flights and accommodations are pretty cheap still and might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to fish completely outside my comfort zone.

As a walleye snob, I’ve often thought bass were “easier” to catch. Bass were always a bycatch while walleye fishing and at times, you can catch them at will.

Fast forward a few years and I dabbled in the bass tournament scene out here in Idaho. There are a lot of bass clubs and tournament opportunities almost every weekend. Since walleyes and walleye tournaments aren’t as common, it was a way to fish competitively without driving hours and hours. What I found is that while catching bass is still pretty easy, finding the right 5 big bites to be competitive is very difficult. For the walleye guys that think bass are easy to catch, throw a couple hundred bucks into a decent size bass tournament and see where that gets you. Just like in the walleye world, the top of each tournament field has everything absolutely dialed in. Big fish of any species are tough. Takes time, effort, dedication to perfect your craft.

Speaking of trucks, my local Ford dealers are adding $3,000 to $6,000 above sticker on new Super Duty trucks. In the fine print it’s a “market adjustment” charge.

I realize everyone’s situations are different. But paying over sticker price for a new vehicle is brutal. I wanted to move into a 3/4 ton diesel but not in the current market. I can wait.

Garmin UHD 93SV units are $599.

The boat market has been absolutely crazy the past few years, not just with the current covid situation. Here’s an interesting tidbit. My last 3 boats, a Skeeter, a Ranger, and my last Triton – seemingly “gained” value after owning them. I never took a loss on any of them and ran each one for 2 ish years. That should tell you how fast the prices of new boats are increasing. This year, prices and availability were pretty rough so I downsized. I’ve been pretty lucky to flip my boats with minimal to no loss but just didn’t see that being as plausible this time around. New president, covid, and an uncertain economy made me shy away from another big money boat. We’ll see how all of this shakes out.

Dan’s Southside rigged a used trolling motor on a brand new boat I ordered from them in 2014. Of course I didn’t realize it until I got home to South Dakota. To be fair, they made it right and shipped me a new one.

Skeeter Boat Center is a fantastic dealer and I can’t say enough good things about them. Right now, the boat world is nuts and I’m sure they are just crushed.

I recently bought a new boat from Hannay’s. They bent over backwards to get my new Yar-Craft rigged and ready in an extremely short time frame. I had a small window of time to road trip from Idaho to pick it up and they followed through with everything I asked. Super happy with them.

It’s gone on this long because for the most part, people have been respectful. Refreshing.

I’ll add my last $.02 on this subject.

Times are changing. The “good old days” of supplying family, friends, and coworkers with bags of fish are ending. I’m not saying that’s a good or bad thing but it’s the reality of the times. With increased angling pressure and better gear, fishermen are increasingly becoming more effective at finding and catching fish. Add in the social media aspect of sharing bites and it’s only a matter of time before more lakes have regs that resemble what you’re currently seeing at Mille Lacs.

At some point, we ALL need to look in the mirror and get better at selective harvest. Trust me, I’ve thrown the knife to my fair share of fish over the years but with more age comes more wisdom. Now days I rarely keep fish. When I do, it’s just enough for a fresh (not frozen) meal for my small family. Typically 3-4 walleyes or maybe 8-10 panfish. It’s also nice after a long weekend on the water to back the boat in the garage when I get home and be done. No worries of making a fish fillet mess.

I know people are extremely passionate about the ability to keep as many fish as the law allows and I’ll never fault someone for that line of thinking. It’s legal and they bought a license. End of story. I do however, feel like the current level of growth of the sport and current regulations on certain bodies of water are not sustainable long term. Thus, I promise much stricter regs are coming and probably sooner than you’d think.

At the end of the day, we all fish for the total experience. To get out on the water with friends and family, and to make memories that will last a lifetime. To some, that experience involves eating the catch. In 30 years however, nobody will remember that casual meal of crappies or walleyes. What they will remember are those trophy caliber fish caught along the way and the adventure that goes along with finding them. I know I do.

Ice fishing popularity has continued to explode and equipment keeps getting better. Wheel houses, portables, tackle, rods, and more specifically – electronics are making it easier than ever to stay on top of fish. An average fisherman can purchase Livescope or a 360 and fairly easily find/drill right on top of vulnerable panfish populations.

I love modern electronics and use them. I’m also not naïve enough to believe they don’t have a massive impact on fish populations and quality. I like the idea of decreased limits. Does it hurt the guy who fishes 5 times a year? Possibly. But I’d rather have an outing with many quality fish catches in those 5 days than catching small, stunted fish.

Lastly, it’s 2021. Why does the success of a fishing trip still depend on putting the knife to a pile of dead fish? Again, just my opinion. Nothing more- nothing less.

I’ll keep this short.

Perch can be deep, shallow, and everywhere in between during every month of ice season. There is no magic formula when it comes to finding big perch. The best I can offer you is to drill a ton of holes over all kinds of structure. Move fast and often. Perch are extremely nomadic and typically travel in groups. This could mean 2-3 fish to hundreds.

When I’m searching perch, I’m using search baits. Big baits that sink fast and grab attention. Think walleye type stuff. Rippin Raps, noisy flashy spoons, Jiggin Raps, etc. If perch are in the area, they’ll show themselves pretty quick. The big bait isn’t necessarily what I’ll fish once I locate active fish. Many times perch are curious and they’ll simply show up to check out the bait. A lot of times they won’t actually eat it. It’s a search tool that covers water fast. Once fish are located, I’ll fine tune my presentation until I find what they are willing to eat. Sometimes this is nothing more than a tiny tungsten with spikes.

Hope this helps.

And you can’t catch a 35″ walleye if people don’t release the 30″ walleye.

There is an online company called Easy Canvas Prints. You upload a picture on the website and they print your photo on canvas stretched on a wooded frame. They look excellent and hang very nicely. You can choose the size, dimension, and style you like. Instead of mounts of my big fish, I order these and hang them on my wall in my “man cave”.

I’ve boated 5 world class walleyes over the past few years. Walleyes that most people could fish 10 lifetimes for and never see. Every single fish was handled with utmost care and released. I don’t care what research shows as far as big, old, mature fish in terms of reproductive fertility. I have a certain level of respect for a fish that spent its entire life beating the odds to become true giants – freaks of nature, if you will. That same respect won’t allow me to kill them, especially for taxidermy motives. Crudely fastening a fish to a piece of old driftwood to hang on a wall doesn’t do these fish justice. Today’s replicas are amazing. They look better when new and look substantially better 15-20 years from now. There are molds out there for almost every dimension of fish that swims.

All this said, I’ll never harass or belittle someone who feels differently than myself.

I had Covid back in August. My buddy and I got it after traveling from Idaho to Iowa for the Knoxville Nationals. Either in Iowa or somewhere along the way, we contracted it.

My buddy, 37, is a very healthy individual. Gym rat, healthy eater – no underlying conditions. He got his butt kicked. Basically he was bedridden for 3 weeks straight. Aches, pains, headaches, cough, fever – he had it all. The respiratory fatigue he experienced was what surprised me the most. He could barely walk from his room to his kitchen or bathroom without being short of breath. Unreal.

For me, I had it easy. No real symptoms at first but I got tested anyway after he became extremely ill on the drive home. 20 hours in a truck with a sick person made me nervous. It was only after the results came back that I had any symptoms which were a minor loss of taste and smell. That was it. I felt perfectly healthy which frustrated me because I spent a solid 2 weeks isolated from my life. My 8 year old daughter has type 1 diabetes so I couldn’t be at my house. I spent the first 5 days holed up in a hotel but got extremely bored and almost depressed. I went home after that for about 20 minutes to grab the boat, some camping gear, and spent the rest of my quarantine time by myself at a remote campsite on the Columbia River walleye fishing.

Point is, this affects people in such drastically different ways. 2 months later, I still don’t taste and smell the same.

I had an Etec 150 HO on my 2016 Ranger 1880 Angler. I ran that boat for 3 years with zero issues. It was a fantastic engine other than the oil is a little spendy.

That’s a great looking boat Dean.

Fishing with James. That guy will flat out grind on a tough bite. On days where I might have called it a day if I was fishing for fun, James and I would fish sun up to sun down (or later) to put a workable pattern together. Fishing with a guy that has that kind of drive and determination has really helped step my game up.

Now that I’m living out west, I will grind for an entire weekend, week, month, ect for that one rare, special bite. Every once in awhile, it happens.

Savings account if possible. I don’t know if we’ve seen the worst of this corona situation yet and I’d surely like to have that down the road if needed.

I do a lot of truck camping on my hunting and fishing adventures. Don’t overlook the cheap Coleman butane single burner stoves. These are my go to these days and I own several other varieties. They cost $20 at most retailers and run on a butane bottle the size of a spray paint can. They have a larger burner than the backpack style stoves and are extremely stable/not tippy.

Jimmy Lawrence will be doing the replica. He’s one of the best painters in the entire nation. Look his stuff up. It’s really, really good. 8 months from now when I get the mount, I’ll gladly post a pic.

Just saw this, thank you guys.

What a fish – and even more enjoyable was letting her swim. Who knows how many years a fish like that has left, but one thing is certain. She’d have zero years if I would have killed her. Letting her go gave her a fighting chance.

What a cool fishery. Not always a place you’ll knock em dead, but a place where the fish of your wildest dreams live. You never know what that next bite will be.

Thanks again.

LOL!!!

At any rate, Idaho is very strict on guiding. Basically, one guy has the entire lake to guide on during ice. I can certainly help you out or get you in touch with my buddy who can/does guide.

Thanks!
Andy

Take my money fellas!

I had myself a little scare along these lines just a month ago. It happens to younger folks as well. Luckily, after a multitude of different tests, it was all well. I’ll keep watching though. A good eye opener

I recently bought my first ever 2-stroke in the form of an Evinrude E-tec. It’s a brand new 150 HO, hung on a new 1880 Angler. I’ll be honest, the hole shot that little motor has is enough to make me grin ear to ear every time I take off. It is 3-5 MPH faster than my dad’s 1880 Angler (exact same boat with a 150 Merc 4-Stroke). It also sounds amazing WOT. Quiet at idle, easy on fuel. With a 7 year factory warranty, what is left to be scared of?

I use Daiwa Accudepths as well. I pull a lot of lead and have had no issues with any of mine.

You are welcome to come out anytime William!

I just found a needle in a haystack at a local sporting goods store, original Snosuit mittens. These things are awesome. My last pair was on year three and still in excellent shape – but, I lost them on the ice over the weekend. Was bumming because they don’t make them anymore. Went to see what the next best option was and to my surprise, there was one last pair hanging there. All is well in my world

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In South Dakota, you can keep 15 each: Crappies, Bluegills, and Perch. That’s 45 freaking fish a day, per guy. (90 combined for a weekend) Many times the bite is good enough on all three species for anglers to pull it off.

What I would like to see is a 15 fish daily limit for COMBINED Panfish and perch. People don’t come out to SD for the meat, they come because of the quality of fishing overall that we have. With the current pressure over the past few years, the quality is very apparent to be on a decline. Let’s do something about it before we become MN/IA 2.0

Just my $.02
Andy