Backwater Brawl Update - This Saturday Feb 19th:

[Swamprat72]

With everyone that is coming, will there be enough parking spots? Can we park along the road? I've only been there once and there weren't many people so I parked in the small lot.

[CrappieJohn]

We'll have to wait and see how many show....there's another lot not far and we can maybe shuttle if we need to.

[Fish On! Guide Service]

Anyone from the Richmond/St.Cloud area heading that way? If someone has enough room for a one-man portable plus gear and would like a rider/save cash, I'd pay my share of the gas.

Stephen

tiebel1(at) aol dot com

[CrappieJohn]

I just returned from a trip to Wabasha where I actually went over to the landing and took a gander at things. It will be a go! Good ice in the area for fishing.

We will have to set a rule here though: While there is ice on the NORTH side of the hiway, we will not be fishing it! There are many spots where the recent warm weather and increased flow have caused some areas to show open water. The NORTH side has a serious current and when you can see pockets open up, nothing over there will be safe and if you go through it will be May before they find what the carps don't suck off the bones. The bulk of the south side of the road has very good ice. This is the only side we are going to consider.

[HoleHopper]

Is the parking aria right next to the ice so a person could drag out an Otter? Thanks

[CrappieJohn]

yep

[metrojoe]

Thanks for the update Tom. At least we're having ice friendly weather. Looks like it's going to be a great day to be on the ice. See you all in the morning.

Joe

[Deitz Dittrich]

Holy Road Trip batman!... mapquest says 114 miles!!... Cant wait for the AM.. see you all there!

[Matt Johnson]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, see everyone in the morning!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[buzzsaw]

I was hoping to make it guys, unfortunately it won't be happening for me this weekend. I look forward to fishing with you guys in the future. Good luck tommorrow!!

[Tripleplay]

It's a long way from Andover as well. I'm waiting to connect with HoleHopper as he is looking to car pool. Sounds like we will be walking out so it should be pretty easy to spot you all if we are running late (maybe CrappieTom should use Cory's flashing red light from the Rush ICE event to help direct us possible latecomers!)

See you in the morning and if all goes well tonight I'll have some venison brats along for the grill!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Save one of them veni brats for me for sure... If you have radios, at most of the events we tune into channel 7.0...

[ZapBranigan]

You really aren't going to have any trouble finding us. The area in question is not that large. From the parking area walk out onto the ice look south it looks like the area ends real quick. Head south and near the end turn right a larger area starts to spread out. Unless you start sneaking down some of the small channels which eventually lead into a large lake the area is very managable for finding parties.

No need for markers or lights if you come late you really won't miss us.

And walking out you bet this is moving water in middle to late feb we all should be walking out. Area is small so really not worth risking a weak spot with your car/truck.

Tom even closed off the north side because ice will be weak. So I wouldn't drive. I never have here even durring thick ice. Not really big enough are to bother.

[smallieobsession]

packing up the gear and getting ready to hit the sack for an early start. See you all at the brawl!

[Mad Mulcher]

After eleventh hour negotiations with the domestic associate, Mad Mulcher is officially "in". Now can I remember to wake up at 5AM?

[76k20]

The coffee is brewing and im on the road in about 10 minutes. Twelve degrees at 5, its gonna be a great day. I will see all you guys/gals on the ice.

Kyle

[Rick]

What a great day to be on the ice. I had to bring my daughters in at a little after noon today. They were tired and happy. A good way to keep them for a long ride home.

The biggest crappie at that point was caught by CrappieTom at around 13".

I would like to Thank CrappieTom and Deitz for holding this event. It was fun and I enjoyed meeting all of you that attended. There were a lot of you having fun at the Pontoon slough.

If you missed it, you might want to re-think your plans for next year. There were nice crappies, gills and perch coming in.

A few barbecues were rolling and I even had some of the best meat - barbecued antelope by Kandi's husband

Thank you EVERYONE who came out and helped make the day such a good time!!!!

[G_man]

While I didn't attend this event it sounds like I should have ...

I would like to hear more about this "to die for" antelop meat and how it was BBQ'd. How was it different? Either on this forum or as a separate topic in the recipes forum would be great. Thanks alot ahead of time.

[Deitz Dittrich]

G-man, Not sure, lets hope on of them Wisconsin boys sees this post and answers it...I did talk to them a bit while they were grilling and they said the key was to get the aminal dressed and cut up as quickly as possible.. the animal did not hang and age as many people do.. It was then marinated for a few days I was told. I tell you, this was the most tender(and it was not the tenderloin) tasty, with absolutly no gamey taste peice of antilope I have ever had!

[CrappieJohn]

I'd like to take a few minutes to thank everyone who got there yesterday. The whole thing was great....and we even came up with some decent fish!

Deitz, thanks for goading me to get this moving. Matt, you were great company. Dan, Andy, Bob H., ...the list just keeps going on... Along with being just plain fantastic people you can even call yourselves pretty darned good anglers as well.

For me it wasn't so much the fishing as it was just to be able to put a name and a face together. So often a post is made and a name goes with it, but I have no idea who this person even looks like. Now that is not the case for quite a few persons whom I got to meet. To all of you that I was able to meeet, thank you for sharing the day. Again, it was just great.

Finally I'd like to thank you Rick, for providing all of us this wonderful venue in which we can arrange event like this. Hopefully we can do this every year and see some growth in numbers.

Again, thanks to everyone who helped to make this a very memorable day.

[Matt Johnson]

The Backwater Brawl was a lot of fun! I got the chance to put a few more faces with some of the names and I got the chance to talk and fish with several FMer's and friends.

The weather was great and the fishing was fair. Some nice crappies were caught, along with some big bluegills and perch. It was very cool to see a large group of FMer's in attendance and the opportunity for everyone to fish and hang out within yards of each other.

My dad and brother made it out there yesterday and they are still talking about how much fun they had. My brother caught the two biggest crappies of his life and the look on his face is something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

CrappieTom and Deitz did a great job putting this together and I'd consider the event a huge success!

Thanks Tom for being such a great host, I had a great weekend! It was fun getting a chance to talk with you more, and to have the opportunity to hang out with you and Dan! You are both top-notch guys!

Here's some pictures from the brawl...

My brother (Ryan) with his biggest crappie of his life, about a 14 incher!!

Ryan with another nice crappie

My dad, brother and me with some nice pannies

CrappieTom and me with some slabs

Brawl scenery!!....

Enjoy the rest of ice season!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Dan Thiem]

Nice pictures Matt,

It sure was a great time down there at "The Brawl". Meeting you and Dietz was only part of the fun. You both are much taller in pesron. I finally got to meet Smallieobsession. Seeing both Uffdapete, metrojoe, and his boys again was also nice. Mike from S.D. had some great stories about his Red Wing days. Bob Horn and Greg from St.Croix rods all the way up from Chicago area. WOW!

It sure was nice weather and it seemed everyone was happy being able to meet each other. I don't think anybody got skunked. Who would of thought that the first fish that I personally see Matt Johnson catch would be a 2 1/2" long perch. There were some other big crappies caught and plenty of gills/sunnies.

I think the highlite for me was watching my youngest son Alex catch those jumbo perch on my old Beaver Dam tip ups. The second one he got was during an interview with Crappie Tom, Matt and Dietz being taped by Rick. I think they even stopped the interview just to film him catching another one. Man he was sooo nervous. Made me a very proud papa!

Can't wait till the next FM get together.

[hanson]

Looks like I made a poor decision this weekend, or did I??

Red Lake in my sleeper for the weekend OR the 'Backwater Brawl'. Tough Decision....

But, I had 3 generations of my family on Red for the weekend. Grandpa, dad, & myself. Can't beat that!!

The showing of crappies was pretty poor. We iced 4. I got into one of those 20 walleye in 1-1/2 hour bites but couldn't find the crappies. Red Go-Devil w/ EuroLarvae just annihilated the walleye. Go figure.

Looks like you guys had a good time and hope an event is in the works for next year already!

[Bob Horn]

What a great event!!! Fishing and friends from FM can`t beat it. I had a fun time and I think Greg did to. This was his first time meeting most of the people from FM. A big thanks to Crappie Tom for the flashlight and those killer sandwiches. It was nice to see new faces like Dan T. and a few regulars like Holehopper,Matt J, and Dietz. Matt you need to get your dad and brother to a few more of these events, aways a good time when there around. Hope to see you guys next month for the last ice get together.

[jiggin pig]

Guys, I wasn't able to make it down do to a family member's wedding. I was wondering what was working down there. Any help is great. THinking of heading down there on Monday.