An AWESOME day on the ice!

[mjhowe]

Well, I finally got a chance to go ice fishing, the first time in almost 2 months, and try out the new toys. The FL-18 was a hit right off because we were able to identify a good place to start by checking depth and composition before we ever drilled a hole. There was the Lions club annual derby going on and there were a ton of people fishing but not too many fish on the ice.

We drilled four holes and my daughter and I, along with a buddy and his son, immediately started icing perch, and they were quite a bit bigger than the norm for this lake. My fourth fish was a respectable 10"er with most of the rest in the 7-9 inch range. The Vexilar was definately helping me ice more fish because they were right in the weeds and I would watch the display flicker and change colors and then, BAM, the fish would bite all of our offerings. The FL-18 definately was worth the money, it really made my whole day a lot more fun and productive.

I started experimenting with the Angle Eyes and found that I would catch perch with them, although the only one I tried was the hammered gold. When I tied on the red Glow Devil I watched a fish come out of the weeds and smack the line of my lure on the vex! It was a 2 Lb Northern, about average for this lake, that missed the 2nd place spot in the derby by 1.5 oz!

My daughter iced about 20 perch in about 3.5 hours and I did about the same. She was having a ball and spent a lot of the time in the Glacier 3 sight fishing. I got to see a Glacier 2 man on the ice and am I glad I went with the 3 person. It attracted a lot of attention as I was the only one on the lake with one. Theresa had a ball and I think she is "hooked" on ice fishing. That is a big deal for me because we dont have a whole lot in common these days!

All in all, our outfit, with the Glacier 3, everything stashed neatly in the Croxton pond bag, the new Vex and the "secret weapons" in the Angel eyes and Glow Devils was one of the most productive on the ice. I ended up with the 3rd place perch after being on top of the board for most of the morning.

Man, what a day and what a long time its been waiting for ice here in Montana!!

Sorry for such a long post but I havent had anything to talk about like you guys have!

Best fishes for a Happy New Year to all!

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Mike
Kalispell, MT
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[sorenson]

Congrats! Not only on your fishing day but on the rekindling of your relationship w/ your daughter. I can't wait til my son is fishing with me. He comes along now, but at age 2, it would be a stretch to say that he does any fishing! Also glad to hear that the Angel Eyes and Glow Devils were working well for you. I am anxious to try them on perch here too - we are just now getting some safe ice on our warmwater reservoirs. Let me know if they work as expected on your big kokes.

[Guest]

MJHOWE
Great to hear you did well with every thing!Daughter,buddy,son,vex,glacier,FISH,ect.Sounds like you had a great time!I'm in Iowa still hopeing for good ice!It's been tough sleeping at night because I have the feever so bad!Glad every thing is cooperating for you now!

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cal

[Dano2]

Know what you mean about the 2 year olds, I wouldn't even dare take mine along though becasue I would be chasing him across the ice all day, if not that, he would be tearing into anything and everything he could get his hands on,
took him out in the boat to my favorite blue gill spot this last summer, thought he would get a kick out of where these fish he's been eating come from, he thought it was pretty neat, then ofcourse he want ed to hold one, so, I figured what the hay, and let him, once the thing floped and wiggled out of his hand, it scared him a bit, so he stayed in the front of the boat for the rest of the day, heh!