9 Day Report: Starting Tomorrow

[aaron otto]

Headed out for 9 days of Hard-water road-tripp'n. Hudson, my six year old, and myself are headed for the next three days to a handful of secret honey-holes searching out Sunfish and Crappie. Maybe sneaking in a day of Perch if I can find a good location close enough. Then back south to the Twin Cities Metro to explore local waters with my four year old girl, Addi, and hopefully a new friend or two. Finally, 4 days north again with some buddies looking for fins of all different species to close down what is hopefully a week plus not soon forgotten of hard water ridiculousness.

We have some goals: The 11 inch mark with sunfish and the 14 to 15 inch range for Crappie. We will be searching for a 1.5 lbs Perch and anything else along the way willing to bite our mostly hand tied jigs/flies.

I'm sure there are folks here that have far surpassed those marks, but for us they are true trophies and personally not sure they're as common as commonly claimed. Either way, if none of that happens we will be fishing - can't complain.

The plan is to make updates from the road everyday. We will be dropping photos straight out of the camera (sans-edit), and posting "it" as "it" happens- fish or no fish.

Disclosure of all locations that are public knowledge and either searchable via current reports or are historically known is a garauntee. My only disclaimer is: there are a couple locations we can't share, gave my word to folks and... well..... that is just not something I'm willing to break. Either way; if we catch fish we will share how we did, with what, etc. as best a novice and son, daughter, and buddies can do via this medium.

Finally, hoping that after we are done and have posted all our adventures this will get one person sitting on the fence, or maybe not even thought about it yet to change their mind and take a kid, any kid, fishing.

[vern]

Good luck Aaron! Can't wait to read the reports.

[Sifty]

Sounds like a nice nine days.

Sifty

[aaron otto]

After a five hour drive and a few setbacks the mothership has landed within striking distance of our first lunker-pan water for tomorrow morning. Hudson is ticked because Dad cant' figure out how to get the TV to come in color. After a dozen attempts I blame faulty wiring from the shop. LOL. Hudson has resorted to the DS stating he's multi-tasking.

On the drive up Hudson mentioned that he wanted to help Will by giving his pennies to him. Then he paused and asked if he could have some of my change following up with the question, "Dad why does Will need our donations and who is he?" A dad moment not soon to be forgotten.

Looking forward to using my new PowerNoodle tomorrow. The good folks at Thorne Bros. really do make a quality product. I'm very interested in how this fishes. I've made fly rods before and from my limited knowledge of their process with the ice rods I'm guessing it's very similar building.

We'll busy planning for the next day's adventure looking for choke points. Took notes from one of the recent videos on this site around finding funnels for fish, the orator commented, "It's like hunting."

So maybe we'll get lucky and inside all this structure we'll find fish moving between points. Or maybe, and more likely, I'm reaching for something not really there in an honest attempt to become a better angler. Either way, little-man and I are in for a fun day, just the two of us.

[aaron otto]

Day 1 on the ice in the books. Hudson started off his early morning sunfish experience with a chunk.

We rinsed and repeated for 4 hours when Hudson declared, Dad it's time for lunch. Fishing Waxy-Worms on light tungsten jigs Hudson played to role of reel-them-inner, while Dad got to preform hook-set-duty. Hook, hand over, Hudson reeled, hand back, Dad would retrieve the jig and either bucket or release the fish.

After holding his first fish and getting poked by a fin, H wouldn't do more than hold up his line for a quick snap. He wanted no more with holding Sunfish.

In-between Hudson's reeling them in Dad got to catch a couple too.

By 230pm we had called it a day. Fish were all found in 12 feet of water, we used Gill-Pill's and small tungsten flies we had tied (white, green, and black). Waxy worms and minnow heads were the ticket all day. Hoping we have a little Perch or Crappie action tomorrow we will see what the day brings us still have decided on location yet.

Until tomorrow.

[Pete Maina]

WOW, this is awesome stuff Aaron. Best of luck on the rest of the trip and look forward to following reports.

[aaron otto]

Thanks Pete. Loving every minute of it. My little man actually asked if we could stay up here for ever tonight. Don't I wish!

[Lunker Luke]

Nice fish.

[Sifty]

Great way to start the story off.

Looking forward to the next report.

Sifty

[aaron otto]

So after a disappointing morning we managed to catch a handful of fish mostly smaller on plastics. I didn't give up on them and fished for 4 hours straight marking fish, but having a hard time convincing them it was a good call to take a taste . Poor Hudson asked, "Dad when are we going to catch a real fish?" He was remarking on the size of our prize coming through the ice. Thinking back now I should have taken a picture with the rod in Hudson's mouth holding up a 1.4 inch Perch.

We retreated back to the Mothership for lunch and some pregame Spider-man Uno.

Although we did stop by a local spot to pick up some Crappie-Minnows for tonight we won't give up on the plastics. Headed to Mille Lacs most likely in the morning to drop off the Mothership for a winter's Perching Spot. Then home, guessing tomorrow night will be fixing all the gear and cleaning up. Starting Tuesday we will fish local and that is when Plastics will be turned up a notch.

[aaron otto]

Skipped the Crappie bite to watch the Viking Action. Posted at Twin Bay Mac's Resort right now. Tomorrow- Perch time!.

[MNCPRGUY]

Thanks for the posts Aaron. Good reading!

[aaron otto]

So we wrapped up the first 3 days of fishing last night posting the Mothership on her winter resting spot in Mac Twin Bay. Although the Geni- quit on us at 2am we couldn't have had a better family New Years on the ice.

Unfortunately the fish weren't as cooperative for our first day. Cold weather and high pressure coming in really put the fish into a negative bite. Raised a dozen plus marks off the bottom only to do the Perch-Nibble and retreat having stolen a meal without metal. In lieu of catching fish we took the opportunity to turn our little home on hard water into a studio and snapped a couple shots of the kids.

With kids it's not always about the fishing. As with fishing sometimes it's not always about the catching so when life deals you a poor bite we made it work with Uno, Battleship, and Simon Says.

It got really cold last night- so cold -I think that it froze our Geni solid. Lucky enough there was enough power left in the dual deep cycles to keep the heater blowing warm air all night. Ironically, as I got up to try and fire up the generator one more time we were rewarded with the very first Walleye new year. My daughters pink rod, and my wife's fast hands pulled this one out of the water for a quick snap and return to the lake.

Sometimes a guy just feels blessed. Not sure I could ask for more then starting the new year with an Eye through the ice, and a family sleeping snug on the ice close to the heart.

Day 4 of the fishing vacation starts tomorrow- fishing the local with Dan. Looking forward to it and learning a bit about plastics!

Happy New Years all.

[aaron otto]

Day 4 Fished the local with Dan. Caught a bunch of small sunfish, smaller perch, and a half a dozen crappies. Only one Keeper in the bunch. Didn't bring a camera.

If you haven't had the pleasure yet of fishing with Dan you should. He's a great guy. ao

[Thunderfoot]

Awesome pics Aaron, great to see the kids and wife getting into it as well! Hope the rest of the fishing vaca goes well for ya!

[Crappyfisherman]

Thanks Aaron,I had a great time fishing with you.

[Pete Maina]

Continued GREAT stuff Aaron. Happy New Year to you and family.

[aaron otto]

You to Pete. Thanks.

Dan sorry about Lost. General warning to folks who go onto DNR HSOforum and look at recommended spots to fish in Washington county.

1.5 hours, 52 hole- grid, 26 to 6 feet, 3 five inch fish.

Lost lake is lost.

WBL w/ Addi tonight for Crappies. Hopefully we will get my little girl into her first Crappie bite. Wish us luck. Bringing the Camera tonight.

ao

[aaron otto]

A couple shots from my peanut's first Crappie Fishing experience. Negative on the noteworthy fish, but the memory will carry me for a while none-the-less.

Not sure what the plan is tomorrow, but will be out somewhere fishing.

[Pete Maina]

Again .... this is awesome Aaron. Great photos! Hope action picks up a little, but no doubt you are experiencing what it's all about

Pete

[MNCPRGUY]

She sure looks like she is having fun and that is what it's all about! Keep 'em coming Aaron! Love the pics!

[aaron otto]

Thanks guys. No worries on the slowness. I'm learning something every time I go out. Some interesting things that have surfaced this week;

1. Size of fish and relationship to how far you are willing to drive from a populous have a definite correlation.

2. Exceptions to 1 are around in the many pockets of water, puddles, and smallish private ponds- but the time to search those out will outweigh the time to drive to known fish producing waters.

3. Learn to love to drill holes. (Drilled well over a 1000 holes in the last week).

4. Plastics will take some time to understand. Need a plan here.

5. The most valuable lesson I learned so far is the need to get a better understanding of where fish are during the season. Being a fly angler translates into time spent in fresh water (85%) on rivers little time on lakes. Then the rest of my time is spent in the Salt. Understanding structure and fish movement is key from what I can tell so far.

So much to learn...a bit overwhelmed

[MNCPRGUY]

It took me along time to put it all into perspective. Sometimes I still have to remind myself to look at the big picture. The fishing experience for me is the culmination of shopping for gear, reading articles, planning a menu, packing the kids clothes, sweet talking the wife, etc, etc, etc. The end result is hopefully a fish on the ice, and a big one is a bonus! Nonetheless, if I don't end up catching a single thing, I sure had a lot of fun trying, and hopefully it created some lasting family memories along the way.

You're on the right track Aaron!

[Pete Maina]

Good luck today ... btw, you're doing what you need to do (RE being overwhelmed); lots of holes, putting in time. The plastics will never be figured out completely - because they keep coming up with more , but just trying all the different stuff, watching fish reaction and adjusting ... great stuff. If cool with you like to share link on FB

[Lawrence Luoma]

Aaron, I invite you to come watch one of the UPL weigh-ins this year. After the weigh-in our team (MN Fish Chasers) is planning on having anyone that wants to participate fish with us for a couple of hours. You'll be able to see what equipment we are using and how we caught fish that day. Heck I'll even let you use my pole (which will have some sort of plastics on) if you really want too. So bring your stuff also and I'll make sure you are using your Vexilar and other equipment to the max too.

Check out ultimatepanfishleague.com for the dates and also check out that forum here at HSO, also.