Friday at Cabella's

[Jim W]

Don't forget this Friday is FM Family night!

Jim W

[Guest]

I wanted to share about some of the topics from the Friday Nov. 14th FishingMinnesota Family Night Meeting.

Rick's brother brought a NEW Road King Ice House to the meeting... which was a huge hit! After the meeting closed, all went to look at it in the parking lot. What a great house! Now... I sincerely want one.
If you have not seen the house, you may want to visit here...
RoadKingOutdoors.com

Pete Riola owner of Fish Fever(www.fishfever.com) spoke to us about the Ice Leaders I.C.E. Series and announced many of the sponsors for the events.
Perhaps Pete can update us here on those and any new ones that have been added.
Here is the list of I.C.E. Series Sponsors:

Platinum Level
Ice Houses-Otter Outdoors
Fishing Electronics- MarCum Technologies
Augers- Eskimo

Gold Sponsor:
Eskimo
Scenic Tackle
Catch-N Tackle
FishFever.com
FishingMinnesota.com

Silver Sponsor:
Columbia Sportswear
Custom Jigs and Spins
Schweigert
Yukon Tracks
Road King
DVB Media

Bronze Sponsor:
Thorne Bros
Bio-Bait
LakeMaster
Ice Buster Bobbers
Jammin Jigs/Bad Dog Lures

Pete talked about using ice rods for open water panfish. He witnessed Rick kicking our collective "rears" on Secret Lake using Thorne Brothers ice sticks (on a film shoot we did for Bio-Bait last summer).
I think Pete is on to something here!
Having less rod between you and the fish and more "feel" in the shorter but quality rod blank, did give Rick a real edge that day !!

Pete talked about MarCum's units and showed digital clips on the underwater viewing system. Great clips were shown (these clips should be available at www.fishfever.com. Pete also took the entire group down to the electronics dept. at Cabela's to do a LX-3 demo. This was exceptional information and was complemented by Cabela's having a TV monitor hooked up showing the fish from the tank "live" as we watched the MarCum flasher display those same fish "live". Pete went over the entire unit and settings.
Pete discussed the future of FM and his ideas on a internet / digital magazine. Sounds like we have much to look forward to in having Rick and Pete taking full advantage of our "high-tech" computer / internet industry. Sounds like plans may be in the works for streaming some fishing information on video here at FM.

Jim W. shared information about Trout Days. Plans are set for this year's event. Jim expressed his love for the trout streams, plans for the next event, and the benifits for regional youth. Many in the audience plan to attend the next Trout Days event and help promote this year's effort.
Perhaps we can have Jim W. share more info about this coming event here. It sounds to be a great time for all ages... and the pictures Jim brought from last years event were fantastic in showing the enthusisam and fun had seen on the kids faces!

I shared another fish locator tip...
The first meeting I discussed setting your lcd graphs to a depth setting so that it would display a window that showed you past the bottom... (like 0 to 60 in 25 feet) so you could see a second echo. Turning the gain down so you could eleminate soft bottom and loose the second echo... (somewhere in the scale you loose the second echo unless you are in rock) when you encounter hard bottom/rocks the second echo will re-appear. Adjusting your gain and watching for the second bottom to appear will allow you to see small rock-piles and hard bottom outcrops on mud-flats.
You will want to use a split screen with a bottom track in ZOOM so you can print fish on the bottom in the other window... at the same time. This has been a huge aid in locating rock reefs and rock out-crops for me... this is structure that I would have missed using only standard auto modes and watching the "grey-line" feature alone.

At this meeting I talked about using an auto depth alarm, to track and fish points. By setting a depth alarm to 12 feet when in 25 feet you can get an alarm go off as you approach a depth of 12 feet... as you come up on a point. Without watching your electronics... and by listening only, you can use your trolling motor to back off that depth and go back out into deeper water. The alarm will stop. You then approach the shallows again... as the alarm sounds again, you know you have entered the 12 foot depth again... and can back off. Repeating this "in and out" and listening for the alarm, you can work a point without having to actually stare at your electronics... You use sound not sight to work a point. This is nice, if your unit is on your dash and you are at the bow! Or, real handy if you are on a bright day and having a wash-out of your lcd screen... or just too busy to have to sit and watch the locator.

I enjoyed the meeting and the guys & gals... and the following gathering at Timberlodge Steak House was great. Scott the manager rewarded us for coming again with a tasty selection of appitizers! YUM
And, we had lots of great conversations. My thanks to all who came and helped.

Next meeting is January 23.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

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Fishermen are catch-n on
Catch'n Tackle
For Bass, Walleye, Pike, Lakers, Trout, Panfish
Used by FishingMN Family

[This message has been edited by Catch'n (edited 11-19-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 11-19-2003).]