I caught this one tonight at Mississippi North Park, well above the Ford Dam:

I have kept a mess of perch a few times through the ice on Calhoun. Certainly not jumbos, but 9-10 inches. 6 is enough for a decent meal. You have to sort through a lot though.

The size of the vacuum space doesn’t really matter, it’s the quality of the vacuum that does. The fewer atoms in that vacuum space, the fewer atoms that can transfer energy back and forth between the outside and the inside.

I use an old dewer from work that we used to use to transport liquid nitrogen. An almost perfect vaccum. We got a larger one recently and they were just going to throw it out. It’s rated to keep liquid nitrogen liquid for 200 days. I could probably leave hot coffee in it for a few months and still drink it hot.

They cost like $500 though.

http://imgur.com/WbTEN

A local local metro walk in lake. almost a mile of walking through knee deep snow and I didn’t even get a bite!

Cabelas has their King Kat reel/rod combo on sale now. $25 down from $70. Not the best thing for heavy duty catfishing out there, but a great combo for river fishing. And if you string it up right at least you’ll have a chance with flatheads. Recently picked another one up after mine was stolen.

Always wear your seatbelt.

I am an accident reconstructionist and 99% of my business is from people not wearing them. They get thrown all over the car, and often out of it. They die. Often. I have seen it all and I click my belt before I even drive in a parking lot.

Think of it this way. Find a nice solid brick wall. Stand back about 50 feet and run at it as fast as you can. Keep running directly at the wall until you smack into it. You can even throw your hands up at the end if you like. Now how do you think that would feel? That’s a car accident at 15mph. Only 15mph. Imagine it at 30. Or 50.

It’s pretty hard to find accessible areas on the rivers that don’t already have a lot of people fishing them. I’ve found the best way is to use Bing Maps and look at satellite images to find places close to roads I can walk to.

It’s an experimental process, since river levels swing wildly, and what looks like a great place on an image is actually a pretty crappy shore spot. Look for a few and go check them out.

The north end near the channel to Hiawatha is also a big flat shallow plane. I would start there. As far out as I can cast I doubt it’s any deeper than 6 ft, and that north side gets full sun all day.

Make yourself a bucket mouse trap. They’ll fall right in, worked great for me last winter.

Now thats a nice fish!

There is an online one I check out now and then at http://www.uscarppromagazine.com/

I can’t believe that fish! I grew up near Big Spirit in IA, and they once caught a 46lb sheepie out of there. I always thought it was some sort of misprint, or some kind of mistake. I’d never seen one over 7-8 lbs. That is a true monster.

I’ve been out a few times this week. I got skunked on Calhoun, Isles and Cedar lakes. Had a nice bite and had my line take off on Isles, but no hook, that was the only action.

Went out on Nokomis this morning. Sat there for about 3 hours in a little protected bay on the west side, but didn’t even get a bite. Moved over to my normal spot on the east side, took a nice 20-30mph wind to the face. Within 30 minutes I landed 3 nice carp. All around 25″. Great fighting on 6lb line.

I’ve had no luck so far on Isles or Calhoun. I have had a bit of luck on Nokomis and Lower Penn though. Been out there a few times, and when I can keep the bullheads off my corn, I have been catching carp. On Nokomis they all seem to be the 24″ 7-8lb version, and Penn have been smaller.

Still hoping to tie into a big fat one one of these days.

I’m a little wary of river fishing, I much prefer lakes. I generally run with 6lb flouro or 8lb mono. Getting any fish over 5-6 lbs in the current around now and I’d never get it in. I think I’ll try Isles tomorrow again. Maybe the long north finger of it. That’s always looked like a carp spot to me.

You can’t drive onto Calhoun or Harriet. It’s all walking.

The ice is much thicker than that. In all areas I’ve drilled for the last few weeks it’s past the 15″ mark on my skimmer.

I haven’t had any luck on Calhoun for Walleyes. I’m out there all the time on all parts, but all I get is perch. I kept 6 fat ones at the 9″ mark the other day for a nice lunch.