Why did you join?

Like many, I was on Fishing Minnesota (HSO) and LSF for years during their heyday. HSO especially was THE place to talk about MN fishing. You literally felt like all the fisherman in the state were on it. The Fishing Opener thread every year would be pages and pages long with people talking about their plans. There was so much activity that you could go back multiple times per day with a ton to read.

But it, like LSF started to peter out, and someone posted a link to a thread over on this site from there, and the rest is history. I still wish this IDO had more activity, but that’s the nature of forums today — the fan base is now fractured between fishing forums across many Facebook pages now.

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>
So I could tailpipe James

Ummmmmmm……

Not overly surprising the way some praise that man around here

I have never been on any other fishing forum. I just remember turning 16 and having access to my dads old truck and my grandpas even older boat. Googling endlessly how to find and catch walleyes on lake pepin. Seemed like every google search ended with me scrolling through old IDO posts on pool 4. Wasnt long after I made an account.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Because all the morons I can’t stand are on two other sites that I avoid more than the plague.

Was told about fishtheriver by Scott Hunter. I scanned through a bunch of threads and was wowed by the quality of people and their generosity. Was a perfect match for me, so I dove in

It started as a quest to kick the minnows!Haven’t used them since.
Now have to figure which plastics are best for those murky water summer walleye…

Just cruised on in and since there also was a hunting dog section I joined. I was still a very serious pointing dog handler / trainer / trialer then. Now no dogs. Period.
Stayed away for a long time after getting lectured by people about how many fish I could have in my freezer.
Was most active in the fall night trolling days on ML. BK may remember talking up at Georgies over breakfast one Oct AM. Holst was shoveling omelet.

I used to browse. I came upon this by looking for local walleye techniques on the croix. Something youtube didn’t cover. And I found it. But not only that I found something where guys would talk to me back or even where when I had issues iowa boy would call me and talk me through it. ( still happens ) I hope it stays this way. I love this because of this. I met alot of guys here just from random posts and random gtgs. I like this site. Im newer the last 4 years but I still call this my home

Matt Moen wrote:

I came here to meet people like Kory. People who could watch me catch world class fish and not be apologetic for drinking all my beer while doing it.

HA!! Years of sports as a child has taught me the importance of role players, and needing to embrace your role. So I would be happy to fill this role for you or anyone reading again in the near future! But when we make that run up to Mille Lacs Matt, I’ll bring the Stones!

I was a Bass guy and was looking for a guide on the river to get me started Walleye fishing. Searched the internet and THE MAN James Holst came up as offering guide services which lead to Fish The River hired James for a day worst mistake of my life Bass are easy not so much for Eyes. Eyes you actually have to work at much harder.

I was returning from an outing of fishing the Croix. Someone at the Hudson landing, I believe Jerry (not 100% sure who it was) took notice of my catch and mentioned the website. I enjoyed reading other and sharing fishing reports with pictures. Met, fished with and became friends with a lot of great people from this site.

Kinda miss the ‘ol days when people would actually talk hunting and fishing.

…and since then all the bass have been fished out of the St Croix around the train bridge.

Tom P. wrote:

I was a Bass guy and was looking for a guide on the river to get me started <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye fishing. Searched the internet and THE MAN James Holst came up as offering guide services which lead to Fish The River hired James for a day worst mistake of my life <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Bass are easy not so much for Eyes. Eyes you actually have to work at much harder.

Ha finally a bass guys admits it!

I was watching ice fishing videos on YouTube and came across a playlist of James and Joel catching panfish. Joel’s knowledge on panfish hands-down made me a better bluegill angler. After a season or two of watching in real-time, I decided to join the forum a few years ago. Although the mood here has seemed to changed lately (My own included at times), I still think IDO and it’s members have a wealth of knowledge not found in many other places. I’m not a walleye guy but if I ever wanted to be, IDO would be the place to learn anything I needed to know from experienced anglers that are usually more than happy to help out.

Started out on FM years ago from doing a Yahoo search for Minnesota fishing reports. Was there a couple years, saw somebody mention LSF in a post (pretty sure they got banned for that!) and so I searched it. Joined LSF and enjoyed my time there. Made some friends, became a staff/moderator for a couple years, and left when it started to go down hill and I didn’t have enough time to contribute.

Heard about IDO when on a LSF sturgeon get-together on the Rainy River. Was out fishing nearby a couple other boats. Asked one boat if they were with LSF. The guy in the boat said no, IDO. Well, the letters stuck with me and eventually I found the website and joined many years ago. Never really participated until recently though.

The guy that said no, IDO….pretty certain it was James Holst. Looked and sounded like him anyway. It’s my claim to meeting somebody famous on TV.

Jesse Krook wrote:

Kinda miss the ‘ol days when people would actually talk hunting and fishing.

I’m not exactly sure what the ‘ol days were like since it’s before my time here.

One thing currently I’d hope for more of would be posts/comments/input from some of the IDO Pro Staff here.

I think there’s 9 or 10 of them and with the exception of James and Pat McSharry on occasion, we rarely if ever hear from any of the other’s.

I certainly would not expect them to entangle themselves in messy threads, but it seems with their experience, time on the water, appearing on IDO TV, etc, that it would be educational to have them post, comment on or about fishing topics.

Just a thought…

Missing the old days too. Got to know a few, still following a few on FB and sharing some text messages. Funny how some of us from the old days have tightened up our lips, but if anyone were to ask for help it’s given. Put quite a few onto some fish.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I was LSF and Fishing MN before that. I’m not on FB, so for me, this is literally my only social media. Primarily joined for outdoor info and reports, but do enjoy various other helpful information I have recieved (irrigation system, driveway info, etc) as well as some current events perspectives on occasion.

This is pretty much me too. The only form of social media I participate in is outdoor and sports forums.

I don’t ice fish so when those threads come up I either avoid them or troll them.

I was on Fishing MN previously for a short time. Many of the main posters are in Central MN. I personally know many of them. After the site went downhill, many good posters left, and the content became limited. A huge portion of the site is basically now provided by a group of friends and fishing buddies. I have them in a group text and fish with them on the ice. There’s really little point in discussing stuff on the site. When a fishing post gets 1000 views and 3 replies, you know there’s a good portion of people just looking to vulture a hot bite or spot a background landmark in a picture so they can hit it the following day.

This site seemed to have a lot more fishing content and less bickering a few years back. It was great! The tables have turned a bit lately, in the wrong direction, but this is still potentially a great fishing site.

I voted ‘no’ to the poll, but I wouldn’t mind if this site were to return to 90% fishing/hunting/outdoors and 0% political junk.

I was on LSF when I came across this site,someone posted a battery question and I knew the right answer,,so,being one who enjoys learning as well as being able to help,I signed on to answer the gentleman’s question.
been here ever since,learning and doing the best I can to help out in return.

Being from Wisconsin I was a Lake-Link guy. I started traveling to Minnesota more and more and wanted to be able to interact with people who fished certain water. I moved to LSF and HSO. I made some friends there who turned me in to IDO. Slowly but surely I watched the other 2 go to pot. Also being that I’m much more into ice fishing this site seemed to really have a ton of ice fisherman who would share information.

Two reasons I’m here….Dean Marshall and Randy Stevens.

Mike W wrote:

Wanted to figure out how to catch walleyes on Still trying to figure it out. [/quote LOL.!Mike you have had it figured out a long time ago.!

I love hearing the fishing stories my husband “iowaboy1” would tell me about that he read on here,, so I joined so i don’t have to wait for him to tell me about them. I have found some great reads on here,and met some new friends I enjoy the forum.

I have been since it was fish the river. Lake pepin trolling was the reason

Mwal

At first I joined to send James a thank you note for his shows. At few of the techniques changed my spring fishing in Depere. At the same time Lake link had gone downhill and Walleye Central following. Since I don’t do “Get out of my face book”, Insta Chat, snap gram or tik tik tik. These are the type of sites I go to for fishing and gear info and just general info. I

I joined for the free beer.
When do we get it again?

Jesse Krook wrote:

June 26, 2020 at 9:37 am#1952750
I was returning from an outing of fishing the Croix. Someone at the Hudson landing, I believe Jerry (not 100% sure who it was) took notice of my catch and mentioned the website. I enjoyed reading other and sharing fishing reports with pictures. Met, fished with and became friends with a lot of great people from this site.
Kinda miss the ‘ol days when people would actually talk hunting and fishing.

Isn’t that the truth…way way too much talk about the Other Sports and politics for me. I came here to learn is 2006 and it was great then. People actually shared fishing info without sarcastic remarks. How dare anyone keep a fish over 26 inches and all the moral advice I have been given throughout the years is unforgettable. How many fishing reports do you see with pictures of fish that were kept? That says it all…

Way back sometime before the turn of Centenary when it was called. “FISH THE RIVER .COM” I joined Cuz Of James Holst an Dustin Stewart. . . RRR

Lots of googling fishing reports led me to LSF. Posted there for a few years. While there started lurking here after finding some good reports. Finally joined a few years ago so I could meet and have a beer with:
Sharon
BK
Dutchboy

One down, 2 to go!

Joined after meeting Jeff Patrick on the Rock River and he recommended the site to learn more about how to fish that system and get real fishing tips and reports. Which in turn lead me to meet Ed Z (Z-man) then met Randy W. Then I got the chance to fish Pool 4 a couple of times with Z-man where I got to meet the world famous Brian K and Dean. This site and the friends I have made have made me a better fisherman. Plus I snagged some good recipes!!!!

Pailofperch wrote:

Lots of googling fishing reports led me to LSF. Posted there for a few years. While there started lurking here after finding some good reports. Finally joined a few years ago so I could meet and have a beer with:
Sharon
BK
Dutchboy

One down, 2 to go!

So Perch… Which one have you shared a cold one with??

John Rasmussen wrote:

So Perch… Which one have you shared a cold one with??

The world’s greatest red head Sharon! Also got to meet Billy (RIP) and Sharon’s parents also.
Another cold one is coming soon I hope!