Lot of walleye even! However, getting a good boat number really helped in this one. The places that typically put out big fish did, just had to wait out the bites. I mainly fished the wing dams and buffalo slough. Lost 4 big ones in buffalo because I couldn’t keep them hooked up in that current. The 30 incher I lost on Friday at the side of the boat with everyone watching REALLY hurt, but that is how it goes.

Congrats to Bill Shimota though, the spot he found was a good one and he had it to himself.

Quote:

---

Something I learned yesterday. All you need is the $30.00 data plan even if you are using Microsft Exchange(typcially VZW charges $45.00). With that plan, I can send and recieve emails to my corporate Exchange system, sync contacts and calendar also. It also syncs with my gmail account. I’ve also downloaded several free apps that require gps service. Lastly I’ve got facebook on there also. One pretty cool feature is it can synchronize all my contacts from three sources.

---

That is what I do. I use my Blackberry Curve for exactly what you are trying to do James. I pay another $30 a month for the data plan I am on with Verizon. In remote spots the internet is a little slow but still works. The tethering easy and fast to get set-up and I can manage all my email accounts and they sync with my desktop which is a must.

If you fish the canadian side of Lake of the woods from the US, you need the RBC and a Canadian fishing license. If you go through customs and fish the canadian side of LOTW you just need a Canadian Fishing License.

Both of you that are having same problem have a timing issue with your flasher. You can’t fix it yourself. If it gets to bad it will lock up. It won’t effect the performance much but it is annoying. When it starts locking up, it will need to be fixed obviously.

If you want to test your timing just hit the zoom button and see how the two marks line up, they should be perfectly lined up, up and down. Yours will be a couple degrees to the right or left I bet. Just a hunch

I agree with you on the St Croix rods. They are a nice strong blank but the slip bobber is the biggest pain in the butt I have found. Even after trimming the spring off the line still gets tangled in the spring. The rods are to stiff to use without the spring bobber so you are stuck with that spring bobber. It is a good concept but a bad design

This year I have been having a lot of luck with the Frabill 27″ Quick Tip Rod for panfish. It eliminates all those issues with that spring from the spring bobber and seems to be the perfect balance of sensativity and strength. The best part is you can get one for $29 most places. Out of the 30 rods I have, this one is the best.

The problems certain units had last year with the Gain and seeing jigs in deep water was not a problem with the unit but the transducer. I did all sorts of testing to figure out what was wrong with certain units and why some needed to have the Gain set so high. As it turns out the units were working fine but the transducers were not mounted level. Essentially certain units had transducers that were pointing slightly at an angle towards the bottom, which we all know does not work with sonar.

That transducer issue was addressed last year at the end of the season. I was fortuate enough to not get any of the ducers that had the issue but I did some testing on some transducers that did and you needed your gain set at 25 all the time.

As I said, that issue has been fixed and the new units come with an additional 25 levels of Gain. If someone still needs their Gain on 25 out of 25 or 50 out of 50, they have a bad transducer still. I have been through these trasducer issues with Vexilar, MarCum and Humminbird, lets just say that little transducer is an important part of your sonar-take care of it!

You will not get interference between a Vexilar and Humminbird unit or MarCum for that matter. I ran all three units last year. The Humminbird ICE 45 is a great unit and with a dual beam transducer, 1800 watts of power and Auto Zoom it will meet or exceed your needs on the ice. I would recommend getting the soft pack for the ICE 45 if you decide to go that route. When you compare functionality to price the Hummibird ICE 45 is an excellent buy right now.

The original virus in not the problem, the problem is the pneumonia people infected are getting after the virus. The pneumonia is causing far mor problems then the actual virus. I am not getting vacinated either. Be careful after the virus passes and you start to feel better, the pneumonia is the real problem.

Thanks to everyone for their support. I have a lot of people to thank yet but I wanted to stop in and say thanks for everyone for all the support. I even have to thank Ritter for his help, he actually caught some fish prefishing this time that helped me out Lots of catching up to do but thanks again for the support!!

Ran the 45 all last year with the 55 and they were both solid units. Had a transducer issue early on with the 55 but got that taken care of. Humminbird Customer service is excellent.I have no complaints with the Humminbird ICE units after 1 full year of use. Everyone that used my units last year was impressed with them. I recommend you get the soft pack with the 45.

I will be suprised if there are 100 boats. There are a few guys that are not fishing anymore after Erie but a couple I talked to that were going to fish one more event. If you are in the top 10 on the waiting list, you should get in based on the guys I talked to that will be signing up.

Thanks the support fishnutbob. It was a good tournament on Lake Erie for me despite not making the cut. I was one fish away from making the cut and unfotuately that one got off at the boat. In tournaments like this you can make any mistakes and I did. Time to get ready for Red Wing. Apparetly I can’t give anymore of an update or it will get deleted.

Mine is mounted just off center of the boat at the waterline when on plain. It can ready bottom at 60MPH now. I also have one glassed in as a backup but that does not have the SI. As others have said, the Yahoo User Group is a great resource.

Before you run all around you may want to give Ranger Boats a call. It may save you some time and then you know you are gettting the right ones.

I actually watched the informercial the other day while laying on the couch not doing a thing and thought that it was an interesting concept. I can see where it would be one heck of a workout. I fell asleep before I got the ambition to pickup the phone and call though.

Last year I got use to using my side imaging at very slow speeds but using the transom mount transducer. Basically it comes down to you have to understand what you are looking at. It took me a long time to figure that out. I do not use a side imaging unit on my bow, for the same reason others have mentioned above.

After the cast, you are going to get a Therapy Routine, make sure you do everything they tell you or it could curl up and then things get really bad. If you don’t do the therapy the tendon will contract on you and fix that way. Bad news!!!

Removing one carp probably saves millions of walleye each year, or at least gives the eggs a chance to survive. My guess is despite a few casualties the removal of those fish are overall healthy for the system. Thanks for the pictures Tuck

The real question is where is Dr. BK’s right hand in that picture Turn your head and cough

Nice report, those are some dandy Jumbos. I have some friends from Wisconsin that were on Leech last weekend also and they did well, but none that size. Very nice Jumbos!!

Sorry to hear of the loss. I was gone for a few days and am just getting caught back up.

Kraig, I have seen the same auger racks before. I know Genz is running a similar one. Some guys that are running that type have them mounted to the spring somehow.

The last picture looks like a Whitefish. Now that is a battle!!

Man I hope so!!!!!!!

I thought James did an excellent job putting that show together. Basically that show was filmed in one day of prefishing, our first day on the water. Sadly the bite got worse each day as South winds turned over the water in the bays. But, it was nice to hit the water on day one and get on the fish.

As for keeping the fish down, that is just the way I always do it. The camera was on for basically all 12 hours we fished that day and most people knew there was a camera in the boat. Besides filming fish we filmed other segments so the camera rolls wether you have a fish on or not. That is why I rarely stand up in the boat prefishing. I have been doing this a long time now and guys know what to look for as do I.

What most people didn’t realize is James was the guy behind the camera, pretty good work with the camera I thought. Sully, James and I enjoyed a lot of laughs prefishing for that tournament, I mean anyone who can come up with Wallicious……good stuff

I don’t think you have a problem. I would fish with it and see if you have an issue.

I never recommend a sleeper on LOTW unless it is in this case, staying out far on the lake. You made the right call by taking a sleeper out on the reefs. When they pick the rest of the day houses at 4PM you have 3 more hours of fishing yet. Find the houses up shallow and bounce from house to house until you find them. The pout will be up shallower also on the harder bottoms but you should get a few no matter where you fish. The Perch are always my main attraction out there. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, I can get my email while I am on the road.

Has, the Bombers from River Bend will check on you each day. You can bring as much stuff as you want, you just may not get it all on the first trip. They are very good about getting your stuff to you. I would make sure you have lots of beer.

As for the fishing out there, it is excellent. You will get lots of fish and if you move around, you can find some nice fish. There are lots of females that spawn out there. I know right where you guys will be fishing and it should be excellent. Don’t be affraid to try shallower at the end of the day, you will be set up pretty deep. You should get some really nice fish. I will be up fishing that same area March 26th. It actually gets better later in the year.

Quote:

---

I know some IDO faithful were up this year. Haven’t heard from them this week, wonder if they survived.

---

Barely

Most lakes they spawn on Gravel bars. Usually the ice is so bad you can’t fish when they start spawning.