Ain't we lucky we got em....

[DTro]

Finally made my maiden voyage out on the ice yesterday. Aanderud and I headed up to our favorite kitty hole to knock off some rust and work out some kinks and even to break in some new gear. It's been awhile since we've had crystal clear ice and no snow, so right off the bat I was stoked to get out there.

We found about 5-6" of ice and some hungry fish! It wasn't long before the first one hit the ice.

They pretty much bit until we left at 9 and man was it tough to leave.

Final tally was somewhere around 40 or 45 whisker fish with some walleyes and party crappies mixed in

Man that Otter Thermal Lodge is crazy warm. Yes, it was 25 degrees or whatever, but it was windy and we got a little chilled in our sweatshirts, so fired up the heater on low, and OMG, that lasted about 5 min and we had to open the door.

Forgot how well those Venom bobbers work too!

Ain't we lucky we got em...Good times!

[Gordie]

Simply CATastrophic

Great stuff Dtro sounds like a really good time and your new shack looks great

[DTro]

Thanks Gordie

I wish that was my shack.

Brian did a little shopping this year.

[silverbulletguy]

Good times. Nice pics and video.

[aanderud]

That was an awesome time. The insulated Otter Lodge is going to come in handy on the cold days. After dark with the wind the way it was, it was just cool enough that we had to turn on the heat. However, at that point even on low we had to keep the door wide open to keep from overheating in there! Can't wait to test it out in -20 degrees or so.

[harvey lee]

Congrats on a great outing and that nice new Otter.

[aanderud]

Thanks Tom. It's definitely a step above my old eskimo non-insulated. It's no CC norpac unit, but it's in my budget and it seems REALLY well constructed.

[harvey lee]

I am sure you will really enjoy the house.

[RiverFish]

Is that a Brent Favre Jersey?

Thanks for the great pics guys!

[simple1]

I learned 2 things from the video: I need to find a catfish lake and more importantly I need someone with an insulated shack to take me.

[Brad B]

I learned 2 things from the video: I need to find a catfish lake and more importantly I need someone with an insulated shack to take me.

considering you are from rice county why not try Byllesby by cannon falls. there is nice cats in there.

[Rippinlip]

I need to get to the chain to have some fun with those whiskered fish!

Thanks for sharing and man am I jealous!

[Brad B]

Darren,

if you had to guess how has these warmer days effected the ice on horseshoe. I would like to get up there this saturday afternoon but don't want to waste a trip if the ice is less then 4 inches after this warm up .

[IceHawk]

Brad- Not to take the question from DTRO but I would like to chime in. I live in richmond and fish this system maybe more than anyone and with the recent temps I wouldn't go out there. It may be safe in some areas but there is a lot of current in that area and it's flowing good with the warmer temps. That current moves under the ice alot in a bunch of areas out there even if you cant see it, thus weak ice. The whole river area under and in front of the 22 bridge area is open and will keep opening unless we get colder temps. IMO I would advise to be safe and wait for some colder temps to stiffen things up out there again. I have seen weird things happen out there with temps like these. I am a diehard chain rat and this weather even makes me nervous!

[Northlander]

I have had my new Otter Thermal Lodge out a few times now and havent had to use the heater. I did turn on my small camp buddy just to see how it would heat the house up on a 3o degree day and it was hot in there. I cant wait to see how a big buddy will heat it up on the real cold days.

[Brad B]

Brad- Not to take the question from DTRO but I would like to chime in. I live in richmond and fish this system maybe more than anyone and with the recent temps I wouldn't go out there. It may be safe in some areas but there is a lot of current in that area and it's flowing good with the warmer temps. That current moves under the ice alot in a bunch of areas out there even if you cant see it, thus weak ice. The whole river area under and in front of the 22 bridge area is open and will keep opening unless we get colder temps. IMO I would advise to be safe and wait for some colder temps to stiffen things up out there again. I have seen weird things happen out there with temps like these. I am a diehard chain rat and this weather even makes me nervous!

.

how would the area right out from the winter access be. I was thinking of trying the 30 foot hole there. if it is unsafe for now I will just stay local by my place where I know the ice is a little thicker(but not much after these warm days).

[DTro]

Listen to IceHawk, many more years of knowledge under his belt and has forgotten more than I know about that area.

Remember, this is a river system. It's raining outside right now and rain is NO GOOD for ice.

[lungdeflator]

Cool pics! Looks like awesome ice too. Would be fun to put the skates on and buzz around