Rush Lake TOMORROW - LAST ICE Series Event - February 12, 2005

[Rick]

Minnetonka should eb a very good one close to a LOT of you. Should be plenty warm and lots of staff on hand to help you out and get you on fish if they cooperate - The fish that is.

Hope you can make it.

Who plans on being there?

I.C.E. Series Info - CLICK HERE

[email protected]

[HoleHopper]

Computer problems! I had to resort to kidnaping Mrs. Hoppers work laptop. I got the FM withdrawls! BAD! Anyways the next best remedie would be meeting up with My FM buds on Tonka.

See yous there

[Kylersk]

I registered last night! I'll be there.

[Captain B.R.K]

Rick I'll be at the event and helping out in the wee morning hours! Got my glo-devils in the mail today---looking forward to putting them in action this weekend!

[EBass]

49 for a high on Sat.

[Matt Johnson]

Looks like the portable isn't going to be needed this weekend Should be some pretty productive fishing come this Saturday. No problem running and gunning for these fish with the warm temps. Could get a little soupy out there though, but the fishing should be good.

Only two days away...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[dsludge]

I'll see you after the nephew's wrestling meet. He loves to go to contests. We always go to the pro bass tourney weigh-ins during open water. We also do the yearly spring crappie tourney on Tonka.

What time does it officially end?

dsludge

[Matt Johnson]

Final weigh-in is at 2pm...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[EBass]

So I register around 7:30 and park on shore. Then I head to my truck and drive out to where ever?

[Matt Johnson]

You have to use the Spring Park Bay access if you're fishing the contest and stay within the area limits. This is mainly for liability reasons. And once you're on the ice fishing, you're not supposed to leave the ice until the contest is over. So that means you can't drive out of the Spring Park Bay access and cruise over to Cook's Bay access. You can only fish the areas that you can get to from the Spring Park Bay access within the given limits.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[CrappieJohn]

Finally.....I was able to get out on the ice at one of thee events and had a real fun time. I might have had a better time had my back decided to wait a couple days to act up again, but it was fun anyway.

I met a ton of new faces and as many that were met before.

Matt Johnson came and tempted me with the prospect of fishing...when I didn't even bring the riggings along. He coughed up a rod and away we went. Did ok too! I suppose for the day my c/r total was in excess of thirty fish and about eight were kept for Matt's fry that evening.

The wet ice held some of the expected attendence back a bit, but I think the turn-out was fair. Thewind got to be an issue towards weigh-in, but everything came off ithout a hitch.

Good fishing, good company, good weather, good prizes....what more could have been asked for?

[goin fishin]

Hey CrappieTom,

I meant to meet up w/you at the event and ask a few questions regarding crappie fishing. Were you and Matt fishing for crappies and what area were you fishing? I have a hard time finding crappies this late in the season. If you would please give me w/some info on how and what you did I would really appreciate it or just respond here. We searched high and low for some crappies mid-day, but all we could find was sunfish.

Thanks for any info,

Dan, aka, goin fishin

[CrappieJohn]

Dan....We were fishing behind the island straight back from the access point for quite a while, it was the second spot we found with fish. The first spot was just to the right of the road after leaving the check station. We really got into sunnies there just before we went in to help with the weighing.

We moved around some looking for crappies, but Matt was the only one of us to hook into any and after those we couldn't find them either. Sunfish were everywhere, crappies were scarce. We known that some people took a bunch early in the morning but they also said that as the morning got on the craps disappeared on them as well.

12 feet or less was what we keyed on. Any thing deeper and we were in perch-haven....no matter where we went.

I'd never fished Tonka before, so it was an experience for me considering I had no electronics to work with. I think a guy could have a riot there if he was a bit more acquinted with the lake.

As far as where they craps might be, it is still a bit early to be looking very hard at transitional waters. Deep water will likely be key to holding the fish, but as Tonka showed, so were the weeds. Matt's two crappies came right off the bottom in 12fow where weeds were topping out at the 8 foot mark. A low-light bite might be more productive right now and concentrating on that last couple hours of daylight in the afternoon until the sun has set fully and it is dark could answer some of your wishes. Same thing in the morning, just reverse the order. If you find crappies wallowing deep in those weed beds during the daytime hours, you can almost bet that low light will find them moving to the edges of the weeds over deeper water or right on the tops of the weeds.

[Dennis Steele]

Thanks to everyone who made to the soupy Minnetonka ICE Series!

It was a warm day and windy day but a great day to be on the ice.

Here is the winners!

1rst Place:

Aaron Hanson 7.5lbs

Aaron caught a quality pike and a few sunnies to become Minnetonka ICE Series Worlds Greatest Angler. Nice bag Aaron!

2nd Place:

Chuck Glaser was our runner up with a very nice 7.3lb pike wich also took big fish trophy.

Congratulaions Chuck!

3rd Place:

Tim LaPoint brought in another quality pike that went 6.8lbs

4th Place:

Yet another pike that went 5.5lbs caught by Greg Clemens

5th Place:

Dan Moeller finishes out our top 5 with a 4.2lb pike

Big Fish:

Once again Chuck Glaser got the big fish trophy for his 7.3lb pike.

Memorable mention goes out to "goin fishin" for iceing a 42" musky! I saw the pic on his phone and it was a beauty!

I would like to thank Joel from JR's Tackle and Bill from Midwest Rod and Reel for comming out and spending the day with us and also donating prizes.

More thanks goes out to all our sponsors who make the ICE Series possible.

JR's Tackle

Scenic Tackle

Marcum Technologies

Otter Outdoors

Custom Jigs and Spins

Todays Tackle

Nils Master

Stone Legacy

Bad Dog Lures

Lakemaster Maps

Thorne Brothers

Beaver Dam Tip ups

Lazy Jigger

Air Plugs

Islander Lures

Fish Fever

Road King

[Kylersk]

CrappieTom, Cory, Dennis, Darren, and others (who I met, but forgot your name) was nice to meet you all!

[goin fishin]

Thanks for the info CrappieTom.

Later,

Dan

[Matt Johnson]

Tonka was a lot of fun! I had a great time meeting and talking to a few new faces. I got to get a little fishing in at this event and the weather was awesome! I spent much of the day chasing pannies with CrappieTom, Darin Ingalls, BDR, Matt Breuer, Corey Bechtold and Cole Bechtold. We also met up with Captain B.R.K. and a few of his buddies along with Ron and Joe Zych and Kylersk throughout the day. We managed a few pannies and I lost a real nice slab right at the base of the hole.

Some nice pike brought in to weigh-in and a couple nice piles of pannies too.

Congrats to Aaron Hanson for 1st place! Here's a shot of Aaron's pike...

Congrats to Chuck for 2nd place and Big Fish.

Here's a couple more shots from throughout the day...

Dan's (goin fishin) 42 inch muskie!!

Another nice Tonka pike

Greg Clemens with a Tonka pike

Tonka weigh-in

Thanks to everyone for making Tonka a fun event and thanks to all the sponsors for making the ICE Series possible!

See everyone Saturday out on Rush Lake!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Chad711]

Muskie?!? Whats the story there! Why didnt he win by the way, no Skis allowed I take it. WOW!

[Rick]

Rush Lake I.C.E. - 8am Saturday 2/12/05

For more information or registration CLICK HERE...

[LuckBites]

I'm trying to register but don't see a payment link for the Rush event. Am I just missing it?

Thanks,

Joe

[Rick]

Here you go - try the link below:

Rush Lake I.C.E. - 8am Saturday 2/12/05

For more information or registration CLICK HERE...

[Dennis Steele]

It was a great day to be on the ice! I actually got a sunburn!

A kamakazi copter and some very loud snowmobiles going speeds I didn't know were possible, didn't spoil the fun on this event. I just hope Dietz's voice is OK trying to yell through the bull horn to be heard over the radar runs that overtook us!

I want to thank everyone who came out to our last ICE Series event of the season! I think it was one of the best. We had some pretty good sized baskets come in and our biggest fish of the year. Rush is deffinatley a very good fishing lake.

Here are the winning weights for Rush:

1rst PLACE

Brian Randow took home the trophy for first, big fish, and the title Worlds Greatest Ice Angler Rush Lake with a VERY nice pike early in the day that went 14.1 lbs. Brian released this fish to fight another day!

Congratulations Brian!!

2nd PLACE

Dale Svitak took runner up with a mixed bag of quality crappies, sunnies and a nice pike. Total bag weight was 10.3 lbs.

Good on ya Dale!

3rd PLACE

Cory Sybrant brought 10.0 lbs in with some nice perch, crappies and another quality pike.

Way to go Cory!

4th PLACE

Aaron Rogers had another quality bag of fish with10 nice perch, 7 crappies, and 4 nice gills. Aaron also caught a very nice largemouth that was released and not weighed.

You made Daddy proud!

5th PLACE

Bill Johanson takes 5th with a mixed bag of perch, crappies and a sunny.

Congratulations Bill.

I also want to thank Bill and Al From Midwest Rod and Reel for attending and dontating a custom ice rod for this event. Great rods and my personal favorite rods to use.

Thanks to all our ICE Series sponsors for their generosity in providing the quality prizes for these events.

JR's Tackle

Scenic Tackle

Marcum Technologies

Otter Outdoors

Custom Jigs and Spins

Todays Tackle

Nils Master

Stone Legacy

Bad Dog Lures

Lakemaster Maps

Thorne Brothers

Beaver Dam Tip ups

Lazy Jigger

Air Plugs

Islander Lures

Fish Fever

Road King

I want to thank all those who attended any one of our ICE Series this season. OUr members are what makes these events a good time for all.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank this years ICE Series Prostaff. They put in the time to help organize and set up these event so that they were a fun time for all.

Matt Johnson Surface Tension

BDR Tom Herman

ChuckN Ray Esbolt

Paul Waldowski Jim W

Northlander Chunkytrout

I would also like to thank all the staff and members who helped out with the events. Thanks guys it was very much appreciated!

[Captain B.R.K]

Sounds like a great time to be had by everyone on Rush. Sorry I couldn't make it out. It was beautiful out and glad the event went well!!

I too am nursing a severe sunbun.

[BDR]

What a great day!

Got out about 7 am to a spot I picked out that Matt Johnson and I could take the boy scouts to. Got my son all set up for panfish and a tip-up out for pike and started drilling holes for the scouts. About 8 the scout arrived and were just getting set up when my son started yelling that he had a flag up. Talk about excitement, those scouts packed around to get a look at the action. With little coaching my son landed this very nice largemouth.

We chose to release after the pics rather than try to get it to wiegh-in alive. We guessed around 4.5-5#. Now that got the scouts fired up to get fishing. About 1/2 hour later the winning Pike was caught right next to the scouts. Again the Scouts were very excited seeing that monster.

The scouts were catching some panfish to keep them fairly entertained. There were also a few flags that went off in the group. Couple broke off and lost on the way in, but it was very cool to see the mad dash of scouts every time one went off.

Spending the day with the Scouts was a very good reminder to me of what it should all be about. I think they all had a good time and all went home with a handful of prizes including one happy kid who won the Marcum Lx-1.

My sone was able to wiegh-in a basket of 7 Crappie, 10 Jumbo Perch, and 4 Gills. He had 7.5#'s and release the big Bass. Would have taken the second place trophy but I was very proud of him not having any qualms about setting the fish free. But I think I will get him a trophy anyway. After the event Matt Johnson, Deitz Dittrich, Ray Esboldt and mt son and I tried afew spots and landed on a great Crappie bite that Ray and Deitz found earlier in the day. What a way to finish off a great day!

[ZapBranigan]

Hey Brian Contact me off-line at [email protected] I can ship him the second place trophy. I think it would be a great thing for him to have. I would be honored to send it to him. The message of catch and Release and preservation of quality fishing is one that should be rewarded. I don't mind letting him have it. He deserves it. I got my thrill in the limelight. He can have the deserved plastic. Just get me an address to ship it to.

Please e-mail me.