isu22andy wrote:

I often wonder how they treat the co anglers – could you imagine botching a net job ? I bet that doesnt make the cuts ha.

I have three buddies that fished as co-anglers in at least one event each last year, none signed up for this year due to either being treated poorly by particular pros or got extremely bored; mainly due to fishing with pros that only had one livescope in the boat and expected the co to fish out of the back of the boat, not getting any insight or experience next to the pro watching the screen. Glorified net men at that point.

Wader fishing is one of the best ways to take advantage of the never closed walleye season here in SD. I haven’t even taken my boat out of storage yet this spring. No need when the fish are accessible from the shallows.

Youbetcha wrote:

I just cant get over the wait times and $200 tax. I have heard the actual background check is no different than a normal one.

Wait times lately have been drastically reduced. Buddy just got one approved in 31 days.

FYI…rumor has it within the liquor community that Hyvee stores were instructed to get their alcohol inventories down under $500,000.
From what I’ve seen they are using unadvertised store specials to clear out merch. The biggest markdowns in the whiskey aisle seemed to be niche stuff, regionals, etc.
Example, George Dickel bottled in bond Tennessee whiskey, regular of $50 was on sale for $20 last week. Balcones Texas Pot Still bourbon, regular $29 was $15. There were a few scotches & irish blends that were marked down 50% as well.

Barnes TMZ for my .50 cal optima. Lazer accurate over blackhorn 209. Can still push them pretty easy in a barrel that’s had 7 shots fired already with negligible accuracy change.

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I’m not officially done until I tow my boat to storage thanksgiving weekend, but pretty much transitioned to a shore bite throwing stick baits and glow plastics in fast water current seams at night.

Options for western MN putting you in areas with plenty of public land:

Lots of hunters that camp in Appleton, MN every fall.
https://appletonmn.gov/campgroundreservation

Benson also has camping available at Ambush Park.

Tent camping is available in Morris at Pomme De Terre park. Not sure how late into the fall they are open, but a quick call or email would answer that.

Lac Qui Parle State park is another great option for fall camping. Pretty sure they keep one set of bathrooms open well into November.

I was casting up to shoreline weeds here in SD on a typical prairie lake on Sunday. Switching back and forth between swimbaits and suspending jerk baits. Had a small walleye smack my #11 hit stick right after it hit the water. He missed it, and just sat there just below the water line while I twitched and danced that lure trying to get another strike. 5 minutes later I donated that hit stick to a big pike.
It wouldn’t be very hard to get surface bait strikes from walleyes here in SD.
I’m sure there’s guys purposely fishing that method, especially in the spring and fall. There’s already guys that use nothing but bass baits for walleyes out here. Chatter baits, spinner baits, ned rigs, etc.

I re-arm mine annually. I let each of my daughters put one on and pull the cord a few weeks ago.

I had the gale softshell for a hot minute, but the sleeves aren’t long enough and they don’t offer tall sizes. Still have the gale vest though and it’s held up well.

I love antelope meat; It’s sweeter than whitetail venison. The bad taste generally comes from the goats that get chased for 4 miles, shot, drug to the truck, then ride around in the truck for the rest of the weekend. Shoot, quarter, pack out, place on ice, and the meat is great.
Sucks that our herd here in South Dakota is struggling. Our group of 6 guys decided to pass on applying this year.

riverrookie wrote:

The pond dig was part of their partnering for wildlife program. It was supposed to be a 50% cost share but in the end they covered the entire cost. The only restriction I have is I can not fill it in for 10yrs. They also provided all my Prairie seed which I have to maintain for 10yrs as well. No annual payments like CRP but it didn’t come with some of the Agricultural restrictions of CRP. I was able to plant where ever I wanted to suit my habitat plan.

Thanks for the info!

Care to elaborate more on the USFWS pond digging? Any credits or easements involved? Cost/cost share?

Bearcat89 wrote:

panfish wanted big baits, bigger then I had expected

We’ve been pulling small cranks (#3, #4 salmo hornets, SDD04 and SDD05 rapala shad dancers) for bluegills on a local lake since last week. Bonus, you’ll get pike, smallies, white bass, and walleyes as well.

Windy afternoons tight to weedlines have been excellent here in SD.

tim hurley wrote:

I would check a baitstore before going to Stone, have heard it is not fun to fish mid-summer, algea and lots of recreational boaters-the lake is a great mult-species lake and maybe not a true ‘walleye factory’. I think its a cool lake and have been trying to get out there.

Worth it in the summer to try to catch and release 11″ bluegills on light tackle.

You could always follow all of the other NE and IA plates up 29 and then hang a left on 12 to go to Webster, SD.

5 hour drive, and you’ll have a lot easier time finding walleyes vs the Alex or Willmar areas. But both of those areas are great weekend destinations with plenty of lakes to try out.

If it’s 4×4 and the 4×4 works, I’d list it for $1500.

I’ve found that the hotter the peppers I use in salsa, the more garlic and sugar I need to keep the flavor balanced.
This spring we planted green, banana, serrano, jalapeno, and habanero.

Whatever peppers we don’t use in salsa get sliced and pickled or I make a hot sauce we call “hulk sauce”.

My daughter is constantly fishing for gills off the dock whenever we’re at the cabin. Not to mention we love to go out on the boat for an hour or two of corking big gills off weedlines.

Since I had my daughter switch to horizontal jigs, she has had less deep hooked fish, which means less trips across the yard down to the dock to assist with, and faster releases.

Long shank hooks at a minimum are a must have for gills. Those combined with a hook remover rather than a pliers results in fast release for even deeper hooked fish. My two buddies and I took 5 girls under the age of 11 bluegill fishing a week ago, and we only had two deep hooks and one bleeder out of all of the fish caught; keeping approximately 25 gills, 1 walleye, and 1 crappie, while throwing back a lot of big male gills, a bunch of large mouth, a few smallies, and a few small crappies. Not bad for 3 of the girls never bobber fishing for panfish before.

It gets me close enough. Troll enough and you start to memorize where you need to be for each lure at given depths.

Hatch99 wrote:

I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about Lake Minnewaska? I am considering buying some property there. Any information regarding the fishing and the area in general would be truly appreciated!!! Thanks!

We have a cabin on Waska. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to hit me up.
Your grandkids will have ENDLESS opportunities for bass and bluegills and as mentioned above, there’s good walleye fishing; plus there’s lots of sand, clear water, and space for recreation.

This.

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Grew up spending summers at West Battle, and have been on Minnewaska for 11 years. I’ve never heard anybody say they were pulling their boat off a lift before a forecast storm. Our pontoon was on sea legs, and the reason it caught air and rolled was due to peak to trough wave heights allowed wind to get under it I think. High water allowed the waves to come in a lot taller. Normally wave height is minimized by how shallow it is, the waves literally bottom out during a storm. But it’s currently over 3 feet deep 6 feet off our shoreline right now and the waves were breaking up over our rock rip rap. Same thing happened along the south shoreline 11 years ago on Minnewaska; combination of high water and high wind created havoc for a few miles of shoreline.

Speaking of storms…
Anybody want to buy our slightly used pontoon?

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Replanting nearly everything in our garden on Sunday afternoon. 2 rounds of hail and 4″ of rain destroyed pretty much everything that was out of the ground last weekend.

ProStaffSteve wrote:

Hahahah that’s a real mofo. As a work from home feller with soft terrain near by this is an issue. I have a medium warm pair of boots hunting that I’ve had for 8 years that I’m very comfortable in, considering using those because I would hate to be uncomfortable

Not sure how you plan on hunting, but you’ll likely want a broke-in pair of un-insulated boots, and pack some booties along for long sits glassing. Western big game hunting can be a whole different animal when it comes to packs, footwear, layers, glass. I’ve just started buying and using quality gear for my western SD hunts to get used to it while I accrue points for MT, WY, and CO.

Hondas last the longest, which is reflected in the asking prices for currently available used quads.

Yay sportsball! Go team!

200 shots with centerfire rifle would be a good amount of shooting on private land.
We only hunt public land, but have found an area that doesn’t get much pressure. I think on the last trip I took 1000 rounds of .22lr, 1000 rounds of .223, and 160 rounds of 6.5 creed. Shot all of the creed, maybe half the .22lr, and maybe 300 rounds of .223? That was 2 half days and 1 full day of shooting. I like stretching out my rimfire guns, it’s fun when there’s little to no wind. Guys I know that are way more into it than me expect to shoot 200 rounds per day of centerfire, and most don’t even screw around with rimfire.