Mark Wilson wrote:

LOL, more picture of my flip-over?….might as well as a new grandmother if she has any baby pictures!

These are a couple of years old, and I now have glow tape on the rod holders (easier to find them in low light conditions). The only challenge was to get the angle right….far enough in to avoid the fabric during set-up. The cutting board helps to get the correct angle, and also keeps the fabric off the rods when completely open.

Thanks Mark. Those pictures give me a few ideas that I might play around with once I get a chance to get it out of the box and really sit and look at it.

Mark Wilson wrote:

In my Clam Scout, I have the Clam rod holder mounted to a cutting board on my left hand side. I’m thinking about adding one to the other side (might never need to retie, if I can carry 8 rods). It works pretty good, but I do sometime bump the most forward rod while fishing. I needed to mount them at an angle (pointing inside of the shack) to be able to open/close without the fabric contacting the rod tips. I considered using the PVC as mentioned above (tip inside the PVC), but I use 30” rods and would not be able to remove them from the holder with the top

Thanks mark that is the kind of system I am wondering about. Do you have anymore pictures of that I’d love to see more and get a few more ideas running around in my head.

I love St. Croix blanks they are amazing but have you looked at possibly using a Rod Geeks blank? They are designed either by a ex St. Croix designer or they are a subsidiary of St. Croix (I cannot remember which) but they are amazing blanks and as good as any St. Croix I have used. Not only that but they are cheaper and you can get it in custom colors as well.

I think mine is right at 14.25 had full plans of putting her on the wall and the freezer went out and I lost her. Of course this was back before I knew anything anbut replicas

Randy Wieland wrote:

Rookies

Haha. Randy that’s just what I take out on the ice for spoons. I also have four jig boxes that go and a Tupperware container full of “spares” that stay home. And I don’t open water fish

Wharf Rat wrote:

I don’t think you have a problem. I think I have a problem. But there are worse problems than having a passion for fishing IMO.
That’s a really nice display of lures I must say. I probably have just as many or more but not nearly as neatly displayed.

The one thing I despise is being out on the ice and having to search for a lure that I want and when I do find it having to untangle hooks for 5 min. I want to look, see it, grab it and go. This box is cumbersome but having things laid out nicely like this makes me get far less headaches when I am out fishing.

Andy Fiolka wrote:

I’m slowly whittling away at my bucket list and it’s getting smaller each winter. Heading to Erie for the weekend which takes care of another item.

One of my overall bucket list items is to get back into tournament fishing on a more regular basis, specifically open water. At some point I’d like to find a reliable partner and fish an entire MWC season. That would be a blast in my book.

Andy

Good luck Andy. Don’t be afraid to stop in brookings and pick me up on your way

Steve Thompson wrote:

Scott is correct. Jim and Andy build some incredible rods. I have several of the King Perch rods and they are now building me some Eye Candy’s. Here is the handle for a King Perch special that they built.

http://www.glaciallakesoutdoors.com/

They are making it very hard to keep making my own rods with the nice rod they are putting out

Already did Devils. Still want to go to erie, Winnie, and somewhere to chase monster lakers

Glacial lakes custom rods in Brandon makes some awesome rods

tucrs wrote:

Very cool. Custom designs are great keep up the good work man.
You will end up building more.

Thanks John, definietly not the first one i have build and it for sure won’t be the last. I only have about 15 more plans in the works right now need some rods I can fish out of my shack, all I have right at the moment are 32s and 36s, time to build a bunch of 28s. its gonna be a busy summer in the shop for me.

Chuck Melcher wrote:

Wind… not well. You are often only inches out of the water for one, so any side waves simply suck. Boat control is part of the “challenge” already, be it current or wind. That much wind on open water wouldn’t be inviting to me.

Kayaking to me is most inviting on small, quiet waters… back areas out of reach in bigger boats.

There are guys that fish Lake Michigan for trout by me… one they are set up differently, and I assume they are very careful what days they head out. You’ll see videos of guys in the ocean with them as well. Big water is less attractive for me personally.

that is exactly what has kept me from getting one. We get quite a few mornings that are nice and calm but usually it doesn’t take to long for the wind to pick up and the lakes to get a bit choppy with nothing to block the wind out here.

curleytail wrote:

That’s some wild threadwork! Safe to say I’ll never build anything that artistic. Nice looking rod.

not a whole lot to it really. More of a logistic thing trying to figure out how many turns to get things so that it was all even. The decorative wrap at the front was literally thrown on with zero through process. I didn’t measure anything out just eyeballed my layout thread and then did a 4:1 fade. If I can do it anyone can do it.

I have been thinking about getting a kayak for awhile now but I am worried that with the bigger we have in SD and the wind we get that I might be asking for trouble. For those of you that fish out of them a lot how do they handle a 15-20 mph wind?

I got an Otter for Christmas this year and I really like it. It feels much more durable than the Frabill case that I had been using, and like Andy mentioned I do not have to fold the handles down on my Siennas on a normal day. That being said I absolutely HATE the latches on the Otter, I really wish that they would upgrade those to something a little more heavy duty, I haven’t had any issues with them yet and I have never heard anyone having any issues but they feel a little weak and flimsy to me.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Appreciate the work on the wraps. Nice work

thanks Randy. They were quite a bit more intense than I expected them to be. I have done some very complicated decorative wraps and some even more involved multi layer weaves and those little fades drove me crazy trying to get them spaced right and even.

Frenchman wrote:

Looks great. Really like the handle.

thanks Frenchman. I wasn’t sure how I would like it when I built it, i’ve never used that type of reel seat before. I have an open water jigging rod that I have been working on for the past year that I used the same seat on and I thought I liked the feel of it in the shop so I figured what the heck. Like I said I think the entire reel seat section could come back about 1/2″ on the next one but overall I am pretty happy with it.

gonehunting wrote:

This is what I use and works well.

http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/general/how_to_make_salted_minnows.htm

i read that years ago which is when I started thinking about doing this. Thank you for bringing it back to my attention

castle-rock-clown wrote:

What are you guys talking about, he’s only out there a half an hour once a week.

good point. The rest of the time is in a piping hot office sitting behind a computer superimposing himself into videos he found on youtube.

ive always wondered the same thing. Either he wears ALOT of clothes under that hoodie or he just never gets cold. I wish I was that way because I hate wearing my coat.

Perch is always my go to spoon color followed in a close second by UV green. Keep some ice around and the perch biting for a few more weeks. Its time for me to come home and catch some fish through the ice.

nice work andy. I agree with the basin bite being tough bite and not necessarily for the faint of heart but when you get on them its a fun bite. I wish I could get up there and take advantage of it but its gonna have to wait awhile. Dang work is sending me away for a few weeks.

IA you are the man. Want to come to SD and teach me how to catch walleyes haha.

Egts wrote:

I just bought a Strikemaster Glide Lite sled to force myself to cut down on weight. It’s a pretty neat little outfit. I find myself fishing outside more & more as I am continually on the move looking for the aggressive voters. This should be pretty slick for going down narrow paths, up & down ditches, over railroad tracks & through culverts to get to the back waters of the Mississippi.

I have been thinking about getting one of those myself. How do you fashion your auger to it to pull it out?

haha JD thats good I like that.

Koonce that thing is freaking awesome. I want it!!!

think I have 4-6 guys from work talked into going.

Historically that time of year is it still good enough ice to drive a truck? Obviously it impossible to say it will be fine or it won’t be but historically when does the ice start getting to the point where a person can’t drive anymore?

Tim is a great guy to work with and will bend over backwards to get you what you need or answer any questions that you have. I would say the shop was probably closed for the holidays and someone was keeping up with the FB page on their phone.

this is awesome. Anyone from the sioux falls/NE south dakota area want to split fuel costs?