Brrrrr!!!!

[hanson]

Alright you ice guys...

Are you ready? I'm not!

Can you wait? I can't!

How long until 1st ice? Don't know!

Snow perhaps? No clue!

All I can say is I'm with you! I think we are all feeling the same thing right now. I'm ready to hit hardwater tomorrow honestly. Am I ready for it? No way!

I have to call up to Roger's Campground to see if Jerry is ready to pull my sleeper shack onto the ice. I have to finish up the mods I am doing to my Otter Lodge as well as order up a couple more Otter rod holders. I still have to pick up my Lowrance H20 and Lakemaster chips.

Are my tip-ups ready? I don't know!!! Time to sift back through my 8 Frabills to check the line and rig up new quick strike rigs.

My rod & reels? Don't get me started. I planned on adding another 4 for this upcoming winter and it hasn't happened yet. Looks like I might have to have a shopping spree at the Ice Show this fall, or make a special trip to Thorne Bros. Looking for ultralight pannie rods as well as some heavier duty walleye/pike/trout outside rods. Thorne Bros. has me covered, I just have to pull the trigger on the purchase.

I don't know, MN rifle season is upon us in a couple days and that will distract me. That has usually been enough in the past but I'm not quite sure I'm extra eager this fall. Maybe its because of all the opportunities that hardwater will finally present me.

Are you prepared? Are you behind like myself? Can you wait? Don't you care? Lets hear thoughts from you ice fanatics?

[Tom Linderholm]

Prepared? Hah! I put it all away neatly and organized so that when that first ice does hit I am ready to rip. Well thats what I thought anyways, after picking my gear and house up from the cabin storage I opened up my Voyageur to see how she faired and wouldn't you know it I have a new chewed rear 7"x10" window below my other built in one and my rod pouches under my seat were full of nuts, acorns and misc other items. So all I need to do now is get some patches out then I will be ready to rock! Looks to be in the right spot for an FM patch, have we made any headway on those?

Figure a little over 3 weeks and I'll be braving the hardwater. C'mon cold front!

[hanson]

Cheffrey-

An FM patch?

Hmmmm..... The last time I talked with the fine folks at Fast Track Embroidery (they do the FM hats, click FMlogo.com), I believe they said they could do that.

I asked them how big they could make the FM logo and they said as big as the back of a jacket.

So, the trick is you would need to send them a chunk of patch material that they could fit into one of their jacket hoops and they should be able to do it.

I've got a couple planned for my Otter houses that I haven't had done yet. Otter sells a chunk of patch material, either green or purple, that works perfect for this.

Guess I need to add this to my list of things I haven't done yet this fall.

Sorry guys, I'll let you know more details when I find them out.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I'm no where near ready... Boat isn't winterized, fish house still in storage... havn't bought line for the ice reels... many of y ice reels are still on summer rods... Nope.. not even close to ready!

[Stratosman]

Not even close.. still fishing open water and still hunting critters. Plenty of time to get ready.. focus my energy on one addiction at a time.

[jig n' jerk]

Completly Prepared. Ice house is cleaned, new snowmobile(to me)is ready, rods & reels are good(all new this year), Tip-up's newly spooled,tackle is neat and sorted, etc,etc. The only thing that is not ready is my local honey holes. Am I the only one who is praying for the first few -10 degree nights. COME ON FIRST ICE!!!

[Old School]

Not ready

I was ready for ice the day all the lakes opened up last spring!!

Give me ice 365 days a year and you would see a very happy person.

[Dan Thiem]

Hey Chris, I just replaced the carpet in my permanent last night. The old stuff was getting a little dirty. Now it's really nice.

Then I got both my tow barges out and got them ready. Then I got my Frabill Speed Shack out and saw it was completly mouse free. I guess the peppermint extract worked. My new Otter Wilderness Series will be here soon too. Way excited about that.

This weekend should take my mind off ice fishing a little bit because I too am going deer hunting. But I'm sure I will be thinking about our trip to Red this year. Can't quite get rid of that thought.

[Captain B.R.K]

Not even close Hanson!

I'm going to get the boat out one last time this weekend to run some stabil through the gas lines and then clean it up for storage. I need to get my reels of my summer rods as well as get new line for all my winter reels. Do a jig/lure count of what I need/don't need for this winter.

My houses are still in storage!

I got time though.....right