Fishing Forum

As a service to my fellow forum members I post this every year. I didn't post it last year because I wasn't here.

Did you:

1. Get new blades for the auger? If gas, drain the old stuff, put new stuff in, run it and put some carb cleaner through it?
2. Rig you an ice fishing tackle box? Your crank baits and top waters have no place in my world. Lighten the load you'll be pulling and set up one or two boxes of the must haves.
3. Find the cold weather gear you stashed in the basement last April? Gather it together and put it in the "BLUE BAG" (my ice fishing bag).
4. Charge the batteries on your fishfinder? It sucks to find out we're fishin the hard stuff and you got no juice.
5. Replace or at least check your ice reels for frayed, rotten or worn out line? I 've lost some nice fish because I've forgotten to do that prior to the first trip of the year. DO IT NOW!
6. Look at your boots? Are the linings going south? Did you put new waterproffing on them yet? Cold feet ruin more ice fishing trips than anything else.
7. Stock up on bait? Redsides and small Chubs become a comodity in late March. If you fish the Berry and don't have them now, get some while available. How many crawdad tails are in your freezer? They work too tipped on a blue and red metal flake 2 and 1/2 inch jig. Check the local papers for a sale on frozen uncooked shrimp? The best bait by far at the Berry for big chuncky Bows is an orange 1/32 oz. head with a tiny piece of uncooked shrimp fished 5 feet down.
8. Rigged your jet sled or other pull behind for ice season? Hey Tommy Gun, can you post a picture of your jet sled for the other guys to copy? It's the best rigged ice fishing sled I've ever seen.
9. Copyed your GPS co-ords from your boats machine to your handheld. What worked in the summer, just might work now.
10. Last but surelly not least, have you bought an airboat yet?

PS. Did I mention I have an airboat? And no BLM won't ban me, you see, I still owe him money.

I'll have to find everything 1st.

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Hmmm - let's see.

1. Don't have an auger - not yet anyway.

2. Yep, got it out and checked out what is still good and what is to be tossed out. I probably need a few more ice flies and smaller jigs.

3. Cold weather gear - I have 10 times more winter stuff than summer stuff - so no problem there, I just need to sort out the hard core ski stuff from the winter snow camping stuff(BIG difference).

4. Fish finder batteries are still on the charger from my last tube trip - so no problem there - but I need to get the spares charged up, they've been sitting unattended for about a month or two.

5. Reels are the one's I used all summer. I should check the line though and maybe even consider respooling with some of that Excaliber or Cajun stuff.

6. Boots - no problem there, I got half a dozen different ones to choose from that will all work for a day on the ice.

7. Bait ? Oh oh, I got to get a few more minnows before ice sets in. Probably should get some wax/meal worms too - just to be a little better prepared than I have been in the past. Don't have any crawdads, but I got a couple of pounds of raw shrimp on sale last spring that I never used this summer for catfishing.

8. Jet sled - still gathering ideas on that score - just checked out the photos from coldfooter's creation. Now if TOMMY GUN will post a photo of his, I'll start the thought processes going in the sled direction.

9. No GPS co-ords. I didn't think to gather them up. I'll have to use the braille search and destroy method.

10. Airboat ??? I think I'll just start with a Jet Sled.

BTW - anyone have a photo of a watta-cricket or booger or rat-finky ? I'd like to see if I have something that might be kinda close.
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One more thing that folks may want to add to their list is to get over to Hooked and get all the Crickets and Boogers that they can before they are all gone!
James, I'm still a little mad and a little jealous!
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RAT FINKEE (FROM HFT SITE)

FOXEE (From HFT SITE)

[cool][#0000ff]I don't have a pic of a Whattacricket, but here is a pic I put together of some of the heads I use for boogers...and the best colors.[/#0000ff]
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Ice is for keeping drinks cold and sliding on. Growing up in the south, I've never seen the appeal. Give the fish a break for a few months. It won't kill you, but it might kill them. Try skiing or snowmobliling...

L
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[cool][#0000ff]I'm probably somewhere between you and the hard deck addicts. I have spent a lot of my life fishing warmer climates too, and I prefer being warm to frozen.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That being said, I launch my float tube 12 months a year, wherever there is open water and fish to play with. I used to enjoy ice fishing a lot more than I do these days.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I understand the appeal, but I also have other interests. To each his (or her) own.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A word of advice. You gotta be real careful about slandering the vice of choice for a lot of iceaholics on this board. They start rolling around and foaming at the mouth when someone disses their addiction.[/#0000ff]
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Give the fish a break for a few months. It won't kill you,
L [/reply]
Now thats simply sick and wrong. HA!
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Tommy, if you can't find everything just turn on your portable sun to lighten things up a bit.

Another thing to do when checking your blades, and just ask CarpPunisher about this, is to make sure your blades are screwed on tight so they don't fall off while drilling. It can really ruin a trip.
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[#505000]Ice fishing is some of the hottest, funnest, exciting fishing of the year!!!!! Don't forget the adrenaline rush you get when you hear the ice cracking late in the season. How can anyone leave that alone????[/#505000]
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[#505000]Yes check your blades for tightness. I lost one after drilling 3 holes and it was a rough trip. We caught fish but we were real limited on where we could fish after that. I even take an extra set and a wrench with me now whenever I hit the ice. [/#505000]
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[size 1][cool] Welcome to the board ![/size]
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[size 1]LS - "Growing up in the south," [/size]
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[size 1]FH - That was an accident of nature for me too - but I don't let that inhibit what I do now ! [/size]
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[size 1]LS - "I've never seen the appeal." [/size]
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[size 1]FH - You'll need to work harder to get over those little problems of inflexibility that you obviously developed at an early age and seem to be encumbered with still.[/size]
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[size 1]LS - "Give the fish a break for a few months." [/size][size 1][/size]
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[size 1]FH - What are you thinking ? That I catch the same old fish over and over again, and that it needs a vacation from my interaction with it ? [/size]
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[size 1]LS - "It won't kill you, but it might kill them." [/size]
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[size 1]FH - I have every intention of killing the fish before I eat them ! I like fish, And, I do eat them - almost EVERY species I catch.[/size]
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[size 1]LS - "Try skiing or snowmobliling..."[/size]
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[size 1]FH - Last year alone, I skied almost 100 days ! I often combined that with fly fishing and camping in the snow.[/size]
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[size 1]Again, WELCOME to the board and I'll look forward to your contributions. [cool][/size]
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[size 1]BTW, Did I mention that is a fine looking fish in your avatar ?[/size]
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Hey Thanx TD,

Looks like I already have some FOXEE's and a couple of those other ones - at least they look kinda-sorta similar. Now all I need is someone to post a photo of the watta-cricket thingy. Then maybe bribe someone to go up to Hooked in Kaysville(or take me along) one of these days and get me some of those before HFT closes the doors.
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You guys suck soooo bad!

I have had the ice itch for over a month now and this is not helping.

P.S. If you go to Sportsmans and see all of a particular GENZ WORM sold out, know this, I and a friend of mine bought them all, and will continue to do so because these puppies are a HOT commodity. Didn't do this so you folks wouldnt get em (well sorta), I did it because I went threw so damn many of them last season, I don't want to run out. With this said, I will offer them to those who are having a less productive day on the ice than me.

ICE ON!
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Dawg, you gotta come over for a looksee some day. I have a lot of stuff that does just fine on the ice. Easy to make too, and not near as hard to find as some of that "foo foo" stuff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here is a pic of the whattacricket and some pics of some of my other goodies. Let me know if you wanna do a tieing session.[/#0000ff]
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Hey TD,

Yeah - let's do a tie session on of these non-fishable days. Also, I like some of those tiny jigs you tied up - they look primo for panfish. Since I tie all of my own flies, I am sure I would be able to tie some of those up too. The paint jobs however, may take a little longer to get looking that nice - especially the sparkley kind.

I have some things that kinda-sorta look like those watta-cricket thingie majiggies but they were white and have a chartruese twin tail and are called "southern bugs" - I got them for pelican lake pan fish last year and they worked great on a 16th oz black jig head. I only have a few left though but I think I got them at Walmart - or some place like that. They were the cheapo depot kind of plastics.
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Non Fishable days. What are those?[sly]
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Those are them days where the biggest body of water that I can get within casting distance of is the toilet.
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Potimouth
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Those are really crappy days. The toliet, or after a night of tequilla shooters I call it bed.

Muffy and I won't go out ice fishing without our portable DVD player and a few good movies. We get the Hummer loaded and with the audio GPS find our way to a small pond near Deer Valley and wait for the concierge to drill a hole or two in the ice and put up our 1000 sq. ft. hut with all the comforts of home.
NAAAAHHH!! Ice fishing was simpler before all the electronics. Drill, sit, freeze, BS with the guys, try every lure in the box, MAYBE move in a few hours, pack it in, and chalk it up as much better than a day at work.
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