Merry Christmas Guys!

[Scooter]

To John and John, Bud, Dave and Dave, Flatfloor, Rob Todd, Cami, Sonnie, CX, BB Camp, and all the others whom I may have missed:

On behalf of serious tilesetters, moronic homeowners, curious DIY'ers, and the other whackos that surf this site, Thanks for being here and giving out good, albeit contrasting, advice to these folks.

I hope that you, your friends and your family have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and you finally get that Imer Dry Pack mixer under the tree.

Seriously, all the best from one of the worst.

[Sponsored Links]

[flatfloor]

http://web13.bigben085.server4free.de/5/data/kerze2.gif

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

God bless us all, each and every one.

[John Bridge]

Thanks, Scooter. All the best to you.

Flatfloor, were those original words? They sound very familiar. ;)

[tileguytodd]

Thanks Scooter,and all the best to you and yours!!!
Hope Today was everything your family hoped it would be!!

All day on the ice and only 1 steeeeeeeeeeenkin fish!!!!!!!!

Might just have to take thursday off :D

[cx]

"Contrasting" advice. I like that, Scooter. There's a future for you in politics, my son, or perhaps the Diplomatic Corps. :)

Hope the holidays are the best for you and yours, too.

I feel your pain, Todd. :p I spent the day on the sheetrock pile; only caught 16 sheets and none over 8 feet. :(

[stullis]

A joyous holiday to all of you!

Hey Todd, I was up at Ballards in Baudette 2 weeks ago and were they ever biting. Didn't get any big ones but caught about 150 in 3 days! :)

[Cami A]

Well, it's all over....whew. Hope everyone had a good holiday. Now we all just have to survive the New Year's Eve p[arties and things can return to normal. :D:D:D

[tileguytodd]

150 In 3 days!!!!! Now, thats what i like to see :)

Good show Scott. I am just waitin for the ice to get to 20" so i can drive out on Red and get some of them dang crap eyes.
Like i said,i am taking the day off today and heading out to see if i can find Ol toothy.I am completely out of Pickled pike and have a hankerin if ya know what i mean. Nothin goes better with beer than pickled pike and smoked salmon :)

[Scooter]

I go ice fishing in February. Red Lake, I think.

[tileguytodd]

Let me Know when your coming scooter.I will have been out there a few times by then and may be able to help put you on fish.Where are you staying?I'll keep you filled in on successes through the next few weeks just to keep you interested :)

[Sonnie Layne]

Sorry, I don't have time to reply to anything right now...

JJ "blessed" me with a palm pilot thingy that I'm trying to recognize with my PC and laptop and all that. Damned her!!!

:bang:

[John Bridge]

Sonnie, somehow I just can't visualize you with a palm. An abbacus, maybe. :D

[Scooter]

Nephew is handling details, but me thinks it is Red Lake Valentines Weekend. Don't know much about this particular lake, except that it is above Manyanoplace about an hour, and there is a resort on one end of the lake and the shack we are renting is in the bay by the resort, so if we want to wimp out or our bottles get dry, there is the resort bar.

I like fish, but I do like to drink too. If you can do both, then that is perfect.

[tileguytodd]

Well Scooter if your talkin Red Lake in Minnesota, Its about 4 hours north of Minneapolis and about an hour from the canadian border and Lake of the Woods.(its about 2 hours west of me)

Probobly the hottest crappie bite in the country the last couple years and a few huge pike to boot.You'll have to throw back the walleyes,but an hour or so away is lake of the woods where you can keep 10 per day
Crappies are still at 15 till next year
Northern Pike at 3 with only 1 over 30" allowed(of course a 30" pike will proboly shred your rod and reel anyways so you should bring a spare rod or 2.

You can fish 2 rods at a time here in the winter by the way

[Sonnie Layne]

STOP IT!!!

I love fishing, but fishing in freezing water somehow runs contrary to what I was taught. Kinda like mixing electricity with water! I mean,,, if we get tangled up here in the south, we just jump in and dive down and untangle the tackle, grab a fish while we're down there and return to shore/boat... how do you deal with that up there??? And then there's the chainsaw thingy... cutting holes in the top of lakes just doesn't sit in my mental picture of floating devices... I mean it's kinda like shooting cottonmouths in the bottom of your boat with a 12 ga.. ;)

[tileguytodd]

Actually sonnie,we dont use chain saws.We use gas powered Ice augers.And when theres 20-30 inches of ice the big boys get out the big sleeper houses.Ya know 60' long mobile homes with holes cut in the floor,Bathrooms ,kitchens,living rooms , sattelite tv (ya get the picture) Its a great getaway,a chance to drink a couple brews and if you happen to bring a few fish home and be sure to complain about the cold acting tired and miserable,the wife is sure to let you do it agin and wonder why you feel the need to kill yourself for a few loust fish :D

[Scooter]

Huh? Best eating fish in the Great North. Are they protected? I don't want to fillet those damn Northerns (they have that awfull "Y" bone). Hmmm... might just have to drink.

Fish Worship. Is it Wrong? I don't think so. Once you have heard the zing zwiiiiiiiiip of reel when a 26 inch Northern hits and takes the bait, and you spend 10 minutes fighting that Jurasic looking monster to get him near the boat (don't let him jump, hold your rod in the water) and miraculously get him in a landing net, you'll never want to fish anywhere else. I love Minnesota.

I was in Quetico (North of Minnesota) this summer as usual, and we had some of the best fishing ever, with between 15 and 20 fish a day, 4-5 of which were keepers and eaters. I can fillet those babies in about 2 minutes, and cook them in about 3. Gotta love those Walleye!

Also did Lake of the Woods with a Houseboat a couple of seasons ago. Not nearly as good as Quetico.

[flatfloor]

Todd, all I can think of is an overnight thaw. :D

http://www.ptc.dcs.edu/schools/ms/opms/spevnts/raftrace/wscott.gif

[davem]

All winter around here, there are reports of numb skulls that have to be rescued from the ice when it breaks up. Many of the guys are repeaters too. :crazy: :noid: :crazy:

[flatfloor]

Sounds like DWI infractions, Drinking While Icing.:shades:

[tileguytodd]

Scooter, Ya have to throw the walleyes back in Red lake.They are trying to save the fishery.Now,if you like walleye,you'll like crappie about the same.especially these big shouldered ones in red.
Northerns are excellant eating esspecially fresh.Now the trick with a northern is to learn How to fillet it. I can show you how to fillet a northern boneless.(yes even the Y bones are easily removed when you know how.)And lets face it,It only takes 1 decent pike to feed a camping army :).
Walleyes can be kept on lake of the woods and most all other lakes in minnesota although they are starting to incorporate slots on some of the lakes.On winnibigosh for example or Mill lacs lake you can keep walleyes under 15" and 1 over 30" everything else must be thrown back.Now the trick is to find those smaller walleyes because it seems like everything is running 16-20 inches(2-3#s) Glow Jigs and angel eyes are the jigs of choice the last couple years.My best luck on Red was with Blue and Pink glow jigs.Pick up a litle tiny LAZER light to get em to glowing.they run about 5 -6.00 at the bait shop.I'll keep you up on the nite situation over the next few weeks.12 guys from the shop are headed to lake of the woods this weekend.I'll let you know how they did.(of course i have to go do another HDCP shower at a hospital over in Cook)I swear it must be my 10th of the year.
Are you planning on Renting a fish house?Sleeper? or getting a motel room? I have a couple of portables one about 5x6 and my sportsmans lodge which is 7x8(big enough for a couple lawn chairs :) )

[Scooter]

Apparently the Ice House is a sleeper, although if you are chicken, there is a resort a quarter of a mile away. It is hard to believe that Minnesota is fished out of Walleye. Sad, really.

[stullis]

No they aren't fished out.

It is just with the heavy demand they want to make sure that others have a chance to catch some. That's why they have limits.
Size limits are intended to raise the number of trophy fish. Rather controversial topic actually.

I used some of the glow jigs at the Lake of the Woods as well as Swedish pimples (white and the gold hammered worked best) and the gold ball jigs all with minnows. The way they bit for us though it didn't seem to matter what we put down the hole.

Brother in law went up the other day, haven't heard back from him yet on how he did. Another B-I-L and I are probably going up to Red Lake for the late ice.

Been lots of vehicles going through on some area lakes. Personally I ain't that crazy. :rolleyes:

[davem]

Sonnie, did you get that palm working?

Texas palm pilot: :D

[flatfloor]

:rofl:

[cx]

Sooo, Dave.


Your point was...............

[Sonnie Layne]

Thanks for the reminder, DaveM.

I'm still kinda wrestling with it, as much as I love the concept, I may have to take it back. Can't control the muscles in my arm enough to input data directly on it. I can (most times) type on my PC and download it, but if ya can't put info in while in the field, it loses some of it's value. It weren't cheap and I don't wanna waste the gift giver's money.

Anyway, if it works out, I'd love to go totally wireless. Connect the damned thing to the lighting, stereo, camera, PC, cable internet access, alarm system,,,, darned does anybody have a concept as to where we'll be 20 years from now???

Kinda reminds me of the Chicago song....

"does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?"

anyway, it's fun!! I upgraded my initial one hoping that the stylus may be less sensitive to my finger spasms, no dif, but I've got someone at Sony looking into it.

[tileguytodd]

Now Then, That palm Photo dave appears to be Worthy of the Photo Album :D

[tileguytodd]

WALLEYE REPORT:

After 2 days on the ice at Lake of the woods,Final count was 234 fish caught 52 fish kept (12 guys) Only kept fish Between 1 3/4#-3#. Red lakes still a bit slow!!!!!

[stullis]

It slowed up a bit.

That is some good eating fish! Haven't heard how my BIL did yet. I'll give him a call tomorrow and get a report.

Might want to start a separate fishing report thread! :)

[John Bridge]

Might want to start a "walleye" report. ;)

[Sonnie Layne]

Walleye rekon if'n that's thu way its gonna be, thin thaz way itl b.

[flatfloor]

Keep this thread going and the title will be appropriate again. :rolleyes:

[tileguytodd]

Hell,it may be appropriate by the time you guys see me again.Nothin like biddin enough work for an army and gettin ALL of it!!!!Sure hope the shop finds a competant Tileman soon,i dont think this ol body s gonna take much more of this!!!
Headin out for another Cty Garage.Another 2000 ft of 6x6 with base.God help me I hate Metro quarry Tile!!6 days of hell Followed by a collage with 700 ft of wall tile and 370 ft of 2x2 followed by..........................................infinity!!!!!!!!

Good thing i,m going to Cabo in February!!!! :)

[Sonnie Layne]

it's only a month away,,, sure you're gonna make it???

if not, just send me the tickets and I'll send you photos... I mean quick, too!! like right here on the internet from my laptop on the stern of that fishin' boat!

No,,, really, take me seriously ;)

[tileguytodd]

Nice try sonnie, lets see ,ok i'm thinkin, ok i got it
NO NO NO!!!!!!! :D