Sounds crazy but Midas solved the problem for me. Did spend a little extra and the pads are ceramic but I’ve been driving them for 6 months now with no dust and no other issues. I was ready to switch to black rims so I wouldn’t see the dust.

For some real fun tie two flies to a drop shot setup. Can also add a little scent to the flies or tip with euro larvae or a small piece of Gulp. Bead head flies like the Copper John or Prince work well anywhere. Scud imitations work well when fishing weed edges. Since Matt let the cat out of the bag might as well head you guys in the right direction. The two fly rig is legal in MN but as I understand it you must use two flies. No regular ice jigs can be used.

Get a 36″ or even longer medium heavy rod at least. Strap on at least a 2500 series spinning reel. I use 12lb mono might want to go a little heavier for lakers. Jig 3″ or 4″ white tubes. I use this setup chasing browns and rainbows in Utah. Will work as well for lakers. The largest size CJS slender spoons work well too. Can’t speak to live bait options. Not allowed in Utah.

My thought was Shrimpo too but nope. The perch want a vertical presentation which is why I think the trout flies on a drop shot worked. A Ratso did OK last year and the new colors like motor oil might prove the ticket – just haven’t tried it yet since the Rattle Flyer was doing the trick.. Found some mayfly larva plastics at Creme lures that will get tested this winter too. I’ll tinker with it till I get it right. Of course then I’ll move on to something else. If you aren’t out on the edge you aren’t really fishing.

Tried the Bros scuds and bloodworms – apparently not on the menu of the jumbos so far. Ordered some Maki plastics that might work. I have also used fly fishing flies on a drop shot with a little scent on them and that worked. I don’t recommend trying to double rig them – the dinks will drive you crazy.

Bite was steady all day. The perch did get a little more aggressive towards sunset and were smacking the jigs harder. Never really had a dead time in either trip. Likely to be back on ML this weekend. The north side mud flats and sand need some exploring.
Does anyone make a plastic that resembles mayfly larva?? The perch were constantly spitting them up. My bibs are covered in half digested larva goo. Gulp Alive in a mayfly larva shape would be very nice. Just saying.

The name says it all – a definite sweetheart of a rod. Makes a dynamite crappie rod as well. The St Croix Legend is a good rod especially if the bite is super light but the Sweetheart is my go to now. Just like the overall action. Wish the oversized eyes were on the 28″ model. I prefer that length for both inside and outside rods.

Marcums are darn near indestructible. Otherwise Joel would need to buy a half dozen to get thru the year Did have a pike slice up my cable – wrapped the braid around it and when it made another run just cut it. Little vinyl repair goop and electirc tape and back in business. Also froze the transducer in the little cutout that holds it once. A can of Mountain and a 10 minute wait – problem solved..I now put the transducer in sideways and never had that problem again.

Early ice shore related points. Set up on the soft/hard bottom transition usually around 17 to 20ft and key on the usual inside turns. Really helps to have a gravel bottom. If you have a camera drop it down – if you don’t see perch move. Window can be really tight – usually 1 hour or so around sunset/sunrise. Mid winter move out to mid lake structure. I know that’s pretty general but Tonka walleyes move around and we don’t have the numbers like Mille Lacs. You can’t rely on any spot to produce two or three nights in a row.

Been running a HDS5 all open water season. Great unit. Just a note. It requires some setup the first time out and the menu system is a little different. Expect to spend about 20 minutes getting it zeroed in. Part of that setup will be spent checking out all the options – over 10 different color patterns for the sonar and so on. Very happy with the unit.

Rods are different as well as spring bobber. ML covers just about everything. Trout will put more pressure on a rod than any eye and I’ve landed 26″ trout on an ML. Just buy a couple of weights in the spring bobber and you’ll be setup.

Oh last night’s action 1 pike a 25, a 19 and a 14. All on that glass perch HJ12. I lug around eight colors of HJ and an assortment of other sticks like Reef runners, Bomber A and Thundersticks. I caught a couple of fish on firetiger HJs but everything else has been the glass perch. Minnow raps which have produced in the past caught nothing. Shallow shad Xraps and regular XRaps ditto. Something about the glass perch color. Need to get Rapala to add that pattern to other baits.

They are but since we aren’t as mobile on the ice it’s more of task to get on them. I have much better luck early ice sitting on the soft/hard transitions in 17 to 18′ depths of shore related structure. I really haven’t ice fished walleyes on Tonka for a few years now. Ice time is crappie time for me. Pool 4 is for winter walleyes. I prefer to pitch over jigging when it comes to eyes. That’s your fault James .

Lost on nice fish on the way to the boat Monday night. Only action I had. Last night improved some, boated a 19″,a 21″ and a chunk 28.5″. HJ10s and HJ12 in good old glass perch pattern. Dragged firetiger and black chrome and gold black around with no results. Speeds at 1.4 to 1.7 temps at 41. Still amazed at the number of musky boats out on Tonka. Used to be just walleye guys but the ratio must be 5:1 to the musky side.

Tuesday night was good for me too. Biggest was the twin sister of your 29. These fish are just tankers. Thought I finally had my 30″ Tonka eye but fell short by 1/2 inch. We boated 4 others from 21 to 27. Speed was 1.4 or no dice. Last night wasn’t as good. One fat 25″ made it to the boat and that was it. Tuesday the lure was glass perch HJ12 again. Nothing else got hit and I was experimenting. Last night’s fish was fun. I got twisted up with my friend’s line and as I was reeling the mess in the walleye hit my friends lure. What a cluster but we got it done.

Man I have never gone that shallow. Afraid of losing fish in the foil but now I’m going for it. Just need to up the line strength and use MH rods. The flu bug still had me down yesterday but I am going out tonight. Feeling good and that 30″er is just waiting. Maybe try HJ14s based on your report.

Geez Joel when did you change your name to Johnson??
The Jason Mitchell meatstick is also a nice rod in the noodle/Quiverstick genre. I myself prefer the St Croix Legend – the spring bobber is ultra sensitive and I have landed 6lb trout with a ML. Plenty of backbone.

How in the world did they lift that pig into the pontoon? NIce fish.

Got out Saturday for a couple of hours – water temps low 40s. Picked up one nice walleye. Perch colored stickbait speed 1.5mph depth 7ft. Weeds still hanging in there but starting to drop down.

Hit the lake last night. Water temps high 40s. I got to play netman all night for some nice fish. Largest taped a 27.5″ and was very thick – almost carplike. We had marked fish holding in 25ft of water and tried to get them to go with leadcore but no takers. Moved into shallower water and picked up our fish. Go to lure was shallow shad Xraps. I was trolling HJs, jointed floaters and jointed shad raps and got exactly one hit which I promptly missed.

Bite has been a little slow for me so far this fall but I think that has to do with a 10 degree drop in water temp over three days. With temps in the mid 40s the fall bite is about to get rolling. Just wish the rain would go away. So far I have had better luck trolling the new shallow XRaps but the Husky Jerk soon will be the better choice. Should have some more to report after this weekend. Best fish has been a fat 25″. I lost a good one. After a few headshakes and several turns of the reel she just took the lure down into the milfoil and couldn’t get her out.

Curious thing for me is I haven’t had a single pike/musky hookup yet. That’s not typical.

basket 31.75
big 9.6lb

When Kooty zigs I zag. He’s heading north end so I fished south end but west of the ice heave. A few houses in the area but no way near a crowd. Drilled holes Sat until we marked fish came back Sun. About 15 nice gills (biggest 9.5) and crappies (13 largest) each night and not much in the way of dinks. Saturday was better than Sunday night. Weird part I caught all my fish on minnows my friend caught all his on waxies We would switch our bait choice back and forth but I could not get a bite on a waxie. 8ft depth and about twice as many lookers as biters.

Sure Kooty send ’em to my end while you fish the ice heave Seriously, north has been better to me and is a little less crowded. Just find a spot in 10ft depth reasonably close to a shoreline and you will catch some fish. With the high traffic of the last few weeks it might be time to fish way out in the basin. I’ll know after tomorrow.

Oxygen levels are still holding up. North end is better. We got a couple of 10″ gills Sat and lots of the 8 to 10 inch crappies. Like Kooty Saturday will probably be my last trip. FYI you can catch fish away from the crowds. Of course it’s harder to freeload a beer when you are out there isn’t it Kooty

Ok full disclosure I live on the lake. And I sent a check to help pay for the milfoil experiment last year. In the future I’ll probably have no choice but to pay for further milfoil treatment. I’m OK with it. The issue here isn’t about controlling access but trying to keep any further invasive species being introduced – they even listed the species in question. The fee will pay for people to inspect boats at the ramps. Point to make here is if you never take your boat out of Minnetonka you can’t introduce anything new into the lake. Most people using the ramps don’t bother to empty their bilge, clean off the weeds etc. Hence the concern.
I doubt the fee will get passed. Most likely my property tax assessment will go up yet again to pay for it and I am fine with it – I use the lake more and should bear more of the burden. Would be nice if others who use the resource would also share in some of burden too.
Read the last lake survey by the DNR on Lakefinder. Milfoil appears to be hurting the panfish fishery big time. Minntonka doesn’t need rusty crawfish, or hydrilla or anymore carp.

To prevent line getting into spring on the St Croix just put electrical tape on the portion that is showing on the reel side. Works for me.

I make my living trading mortgages so I guess I’m an insider. The Fed has made it very plain that they want mortgage rates in the low 4s – it is the only way to “fix” the housing market in a equitable manner and is a better way to jump start the economy than a tax rebate for example. To that end they are buying $500 billion mortgages in the next 6 months – roughly 4 billion a day. That does not include what FNMA or FHLMC are buying themselves. Net origination – new issue minus refis – is running about 2 to 3 billion a day and is expected to be in the 600 to 800 billion area for the whole year. So the Fed plus the agencies will probably buy all new mortgages created in 2009 and a little more. Mortgage yields in the market have reacted accordingly. In the bond market a 30yr agency backed 3.5% mortgage is trading at just over 100 – that means a homeowner should be able to get a 4 to 4.25% rate. Financial institutions have not lowered their rates to that level as yet for various reasons but the pressure is building. I do not forsee rates rising in mortgages for the rest of 2009 – the Fed will print as many dollars as it needs to – and at some point you will see low 4% loans offered.
You can always become a serial refinancer – I know people who refi’ed every other month in the last mortgage rate drop. No cost refi’s typically cost you a 1/4% in rate. Do it now and then do it later if rates drop enough.

I own the 8’3″ Limit Creek and it’s my choice for draggin. Won’t let Joel touch it since he manages to outfish me as it is. The 6’9″ Smoothie is also a good all around river rod.

Phelps bay is always a good bet for panfish. For sunnies during the day look for 10 to 12 ft depths. Try to get on a green weed line. You can catch ’em all day long. I key on inside turns and saddles and humps. For crappies at night look for 24 to 28ft depth. Lot of houses in those areas though.

No real spots on Pelican – just a big basin and the fish roam constantly. I typically fish away from the crowds most days you get a few nice fish and then there’s the day you just hammer ’em that keeps you going back. I drill a lot of holes and if I can’t get on fish in a half hour it’s time to move.