thanks Brian for all your input…and videos (those were great) I am going to go with the color…

would be on mille lacs for the most part. Maybe I can get nature vision to let me test a color and black/white model this week to see for myself.

Have you had it out in direct light? Wondering if it is worth the extra money for color. Would be great for the kids to see everything in color…

Jack,
Have they ever discussed milking all those walleyes taken by nets in the spring at these input groups?

drove by the lake today. West side is open as far as you can see out. In front of wilderness there is some ice…but past that looks open. East side from agate all the way down is white ice…cannot see open water. Southern bays were open. With this south wind today, should get that ice moving.

My two cents in this is the winter months. We have already seen the big summer weekends on the pond…sure there are still the busy saturdays, but nothing like may/june. I am curious to see the effects on the people out on the lake this winter with a 14-16″ slot. Isn’t the main reason they sized the limit down is to do the very thing Chomp’s and many others are doing (changing fishing plans on the lake?) My understanding is not so much the actual slot fish being taken right now, but the water temp being so high it’s hitting the higher hooking mortality rate kill. Didn’t they say in their studies that in over 70 degree water there is an almost 20% hooking mortality? I don’t know all the exact #’s, maybe someone can chime in…but I would guess they would like nothing better than to see less fisherman out on the lake this summer….am I off on this?

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I guess I should lighten up a bit. But I am sure there are some guys in this event that are very unhappy. 10th through 147th caught better slots than 9th(8.49#’s with out the over fish), and those guys pulling 11, 12, 13#s with 6 slots not getting another day of those numbers and a chance at an over fish…..I dont know, take a look and do the math, I will shut up before this gets ugly, I am obviously on my own. I suppose I should add that I dont personally know anyone in this tournament, purely an opinion based argument here.

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I agree with your point. If I paid that kind of money for a two day tourney and it was cut short…I would be disappointed. I think most everyone…even guys on the top after day one would have liked to finish the tourney. (well maybe not the top three teams) But this is not the first tourney to be shortened nor the last. There has been a couple PWT events shortened to one day…I think this year at chamberlain was one day. Unless it is in the tourney rules for make up day…I guess you live with the decisions. I understand your point of making a second day run at the leaders…and it would have changed the top around I’m sure, but it is what it is. Just like the guy who won the Indy 500…I’m sure he won’t be telling his kids that is was a shortened race that he won.. Congrats to all IDA members on there performance…It must have been Lip’s new Ranger boat that got him over the top this year!!!!

talked with him last saturday. He said by monday he would have roads out to the rock pile and seguchie point and looped back around. Was not going to the mud, but was going to plow shoreline breaks. Good luck, give us a report how you do.

With the weather we have had this winter, my only question is why? It was just 40* and raining 12 days ago. I know that not everyone has access to ATV/Sled, but on such a big body of water with such poor ice conditions this year…why would anyone feel safe right now driving out–a resort road or anywhere on the lake? I know that alot of people are posting this thick of ice…or this, but the fact is the ice is not a normal winters ice. I hate to hear that people are going through. I understand that alot of people don’t fish unless they can drive out, but is any fish worth it? I would imagine that each and everyone that lost their vehicle this weekend will not be driving out again real soon. Or will think twice in the future about it. Please use caution, and maybe think twice about driving out this year.

As of wednesday, I only saw one permanent shack out on the mud….by the looks of it, it was out during the rain storm last weekend. George and most resorts I have talked with are only letting out atv/sleds to the mud. There is one trouble spot still by the boot and keep in mind, the ice from the west side to the middle flats was the last to freeze up this year. I would say travel at your own risk.

Bob,
was out of hunters yesterday…did you hear anything about ice problems yesterday? Went out in the morning with no problems…on the way back in..his old road to lakeside had been marked off with stakes and a good size spot of open/broken ice. Also saw he put out a thin ice sign in a spot pretty close to his resort. Just wondering if someone in a vehicle busted through? Thanks.
scott

I drove around the north and east side of the lake on friday. stopped by several resorts to talk ice conditions. No one out on the north end…there was a good size heave out on the first break. Red door told me 5-7 out to the first break, then 2-4 shakey ice out to the second break. No one out of Castaways, Agate had his access closed off (four wheeler through the ice out in front) Old lakeside had a couple people out right in front and several people out front hunters. George told me they checked ice out to two and three mile. Lots of cracks…use caution, but 7-8 inches out. He said that the ice is really bad down in front of agate area and not to run that way. Several people out on hunters point on foot, atv/snowmobile. lakeside reef was covered, others out to three and two mile. south end..saw people in all the bays and out as far as sloppy joes…and some people north of spider island. I don’t know where they were traveling on at…oh yea, and several shacks out from big point.
Went out of hunters sat. and sun. Some big heaves out just west of lakeside and three mile. The ice was making alot of noise on sunday. There are cracks all over…some bigger than others. There are also several areas not far out there that DO NOT look good…use caution. Good Luck if you get out.

just remembered the name…Hunter Winfields. Good Luck.

stopped by a place at the st. paul ice fishing show. Husband and wife that bought an old resort in isle..sorry forgot the name. They had a really nice Grand Lodge shack they were showing off at the show. She said they bought four brand new Lodge fish shacks that they will be running out this year. If anybody caught their name…these were top of the line shacks…looked really nice.

I am disappointed to hear that…she looked so good out there on friday. Oh well, keep the reports coming…thanks steve!

check in the classifieds under fishing equip. Scott Steil has a nice Polar 4-man for sale at a great price.

Was up at our cabin yesterday and today. Past the east side on the way up…open water out past about 15 feet from shore….Today as we went past on the way home, she was iced up as far as I could see. Was really cold up there last night and no wind. Won’t be too much longer…

Stihl makes them…I think they come in 250, 350 and 450…haven’t seen anyone carry anything bigger than a 250 around here…bought one this fall for up at the deer camp. Paid around 300 for the unit and then another 30 for the blade. Will cut through a 2-3 inch tree like your weeding grass. A must for clearing small brush/trees.

If you read more of the article on the star website…it says he HAD blaze jacket and pants…with a baseball cap of some sorts. The prosecutor believes the shooter was drinking that day…this guy deserves what he gets and then some. Like B.Peterson said above, just to shoot and not know what you are shooting at…educate all you want, obviously some people cannot be educated!

Gold Gloves, Batting champion, Cy Young, second best manager, and MVP and should have had the rookie of the year in Lariano and what does all that equal

Got the coldgear mock and long johns…got some cold weather socks as well…wear them everytime out icefishing, fall trolling, deer hunting…best thing I have found out there.

I cannot remember the name of them…they are called “the Lodge”. Looked at about every wheeled shack last year and really liked this one. I know they are made in brookings, SD…but someone up in the northern suburbs carries them.
Good luck.

I hope everyone got a chance to get started on the Fall bite. I was up a couple times this past week. For my boat the rocks have put more fish in the boat than weeds. We spent this past friday pulling over past years trolling runs on the NW and N sides to find some fish, but did not find them one after another. Did catch a couple that were just over 28, but the rest in our boat were 23 and under. I forgot how hard it is to take decent pictures in the black of the night. Craw pattern HJ seemed to work the best with Firetiger/Perch second. I tried alot of different speeds, but 1.5 with S-turns turned the most fish. It will only get better in the weeks to come.

carolina rig…6″ texas smoke sally…caught another that day just over 19″….for a walleye guy, it sure was fun catching some of those big tonka bass.

thanks for the report mike…trying to figure out this posting pictures thing…if it goes through…my biggest bass this year…right at 20″

Looks like alot of boats catching alot of walleyes….

Was up at the pond this weekend. Headed out Sat. early for some rigging on some east side rocks with moderate success. Between the downpours…gusty winds….and cold, we managed to catch a handful of walleyes.(biggest was 26) The fish we did find on the rocks were hammering the leech…like derek said in his report, by the time you tried feeding them line, they dropped it. So we too closed the bail and starting just giving them the rod tip. We moved off the rocks into the sand/gravel transitions on sat. and found the fish stacked up. We had no problem sorting through fish to get enough for a fish fry. We headed back out sunday to the same area and found the fish still holding off the rock piles in this deeper water transition areas. We caught fish from 14 inches to 27 and every inch in between on sat./sun. It was great to see so many year classes. By the looks at the cleaning station were we stayed, everyone was catching limits or close to it. It should be a great year on the pond.

Have caught lots of big eyes with shadrap firetiger #5 & #7’s with snap weights off the mud flats and deep gravel

thanks for the reports Bob~~When do we get some video like Mr. Jordan? What’s the graph/underwater camera been showing out there?