Baby FMer GTG Recap - What a day!

[polarsusd81]

Wow. What a great day we had on the ice today. Mother Nature beat us for the original date for the get together, but she paid us back nicely this time. Bright sun and warm temps and tons of kids out fishing. What more can you ask for? Good fishing? Yes we had very good fishing. As far as I know, every kid we brought out today caught a fish, and every one of them walked away with some kind of prize donated by a couple of very fine sponsors.

Where to start? How about at the meeting place for the FM guys that helped get everything going. We met at Frankie's in Chisago City. They donated a ton of prizes and all of the bait we needed for the whole day. I can't thank them enough for that. Brad and Michelle are really nice to work with. I met up with Deitz, Troy McLure, Shackbash, and DonBo there and we went out to the lake from there. On the way, I stopped with DonBo to get the signs set up that he made. They looked awesome, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the whole group behind the first annual get together sign he made up. It even had the FM logo on it.

We got out to the spot on the lake and the swiss cheesing started. Deitz and I popped close to 100 holes out there, I beat him by a hair on our auger race. The boys Shackbash brought out went around with the scoops and cleaned out all the holes to help us get ready. Deitz's parents came out and helped us get all the kids set up and ready to fish. I even heard that Deitz's nephew Isaac, a former podcast guest, hooked into a little walleye out there. We knew they were in the area as we saw them on the camera early in the week when we went out scouting. We even saw Ray Esbolt out there.

Ray poppin some holes.

Then a flag popped up on one of the tip-ups soon after the augering was finished up. Here is the sequence that follows.

Rob asking who's tip-up it was?

Rob helping Bailey get the fish.

A nice lil Northern Pike up on the ice

And here is Bailey with the catch.

Tending lines and watching the Marcum

Here is Pam and her son Chris. I work with Pam and neither her or her son had ever been ice fishing before. Looks like fun.

Here are Harp's girls Alex and Grace

Here is Blueroof with his daughter and his neighbor's son.

Here are a few of the group shots. Everyone enjoying their time on the ice.

What would a story about the get together be without a picture of the one and only, Deitz Dittrich.

Rob and his dad really worked hard to get a first fish for his neice, Tessa. She finally got it and it was game over from then on, she was rippin some lip after she got that first fish monkey off her back.

Here is another person I work with, Scott, with his son. When I told Scott about the get together, he asked for a link to the site and joined up the same day. One of our newer members, Scottimus.

If the fishing gets slow, go sliding on the ice. This little boy wore a clear path down to the ice to slide around.

We had hotdogs and fixins and quite a few different types of chips. It seems that the cheetos where a huge hit, who doesn't like cheetos? We also had a couple different types of juice and water for the kids too. A big thanks goes to Shackbash and Blueroof for bringing out tables to set up all the food. My buddy Troy McLure (Rob) got an eazy-up tent to set up over the food and prize tables. It prevented the helpers at the food table from getting sun burn. Yes, we got sun burned on February 23rd.

Here is a pic with the people that helped on the food table. Tim, Terri, and Aimee.

And here is the big bass that Devin caught. What a horse. We put it on the scale, and it pushed it right to 4 lbs even. Congrats on the big catch Devin. The biggest fish that was pulled out of the ice during the get together.

Skiinglady showed up with a whole van full of girls and we put them on fish in no time. Let me tell you, this gal knows how to fish. Watching her finesse fish on her Marcum made me jealous. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the group of girls she brought out, sorry about that skiinglady.

Back to those who donated the goods we were able to give away. We were also able to get a bunch of rods from Jammin Jigs and Outdoor Pro Store sent up a bunch of jigs to hand out to the kids, about 150 actually. Tom Langhoff from JB Lures also sent up some jigs as well. I can't thank Frankies enough for all they did to help out with the get together. They told me that if it would have been cold outside, they have a couple wheel houses they would have brought out to use as warming shacks. Fortunately we didn't need that today. Every kid that came out today, walked away with a prize of some sort. From jigs and rods, to tackle boxes and hats, and rod tubes too. I cant wait to do it again next year. I am sure it will be bigger.

It was nice to meet everyone that came out there today. I am truely happy that everyone had a good time and caught some fish.

I have some more photos to get from my uncle yet and when I get them, I will post them up too.

A big thanks to all those that helped.

Deitz, Troy McLure, Shackbash, DonBo, Blueroof, Aunt Terri, Aimee. You guys all made this thing possible and a lot of fun for all involved. I owe ya one.

Be sure to check out Deitz's podcast for the week as there will be some on ice interviews with kids after catching some fish. Really gonna be a great one.

[frogtosser]

looked like a fun day, glad the kids had nice weather and fun too.

[BartmanMN]

Looks like fun. Nice belly on the bass. wow!

[Deitz Dittrich]

podcast to do with the fun

http://hotspotoutdoors.com/podcast/hsopodcast022408.mp3

[polarsusd81]

Forgot to mention...if anyone wants a full size high res image of any of these photos, send me an email at polarsusd81 @ yahoo . com. Tell me which one you are talking about and I will send it your way.

Thanks.

[PerchPounder]

Looks like a good time was had by all. How could you not have fun catching gills through the ice on a day like this? Great job everyone!

[bassNspear]

looks like you all had a great time out on the lake.

[Nate McVey]

Great job guys and gals! There is nothing better than a smile on a kids face when he/she accomplishes something they have never done. Those memories will last forever.

[muc33]

Congrats on a memory making day!!! Looks like they all had a blast... even some of you big kids look pretty happy!

[jwhjr]

Looks like it was a fun time. Congrats on a great day!

[polarsusd81]

So I just talked to my uncle who had his camera out there, and he has about 45 photos for me to look at. He told me he has some photos of the signs that DonBo made as well as the give away table and some of the kids getting prizes. I am going to head out to his house a little later here and when I get back, I will add some of those photos as well.

[Shack]

The day started off as a great day. Around 9:30, we all piled into the car and head out to South Center (it was packed). We had fun and I made some jokes that made the kids think, when they asked about what was going on. I should add I did not tell my boys until Sat. morning about what we where going to do for the day. The drive out was a great part of the day. Even stopping at stores, had some fun moments with the kids. We met Tom, Troy/Rob and Donbo at Frankie’s and headed out. We set up, poked some holes and then cleared holes. Then almost on time, the people came. I do think not everyone fishing in the area liked our hole drilling marathon, but after they saw what it was for, I think they calmed down (any packers fans out their).

All in all it was a great day. Everyone I meet caught fish and we stayed until every kid in our camp pulled at least a couple out of the hole.

Thanks Tom, TroyMaclure, Donbo, Dietz and all the other nice people at the table. It sure was fun and the kids had a great time. It was very nice meeting you guys.

Me and my brother in-law got a bonus last night for taking the kids out for the day. We got to go out last night for some local slabs. It was fun also.

Here is one proud uncle. Triple "D".

This was the first fish in our camp

The crowd

The start of the group

The fishing starts.

This is my boy Dominic, he learned how to use the MarCum and would not give it up for his brother Dylon.

Here was the days best catch in our group. The 4lb'er from my nephew Devin. It was caught on a small pike minnow a foot or so under the ice in about 10' of water. It was caught on a single good hook.

Here is an image of the three D's. Devin, Dylon and Dominic. My two sons are on the right.

P.S.

I got some more images I will put up after Tom post's what his uncle has. The sign's where very nice.

[Harp]

My girls had a great time "catching fish through the Ice" in between the cheeto eating and other snacks. It was a great event to all that planned and pulled it off nice job.Tom great job on the photos the happy cheeto faces sum it up well.

HARP

[Team Otter]

Great recap!

[marine_man]

Great job goes out to all of those who put this on!

marine_man

[tisosy11]

Good job, nice day!

[Matt Johnson]

Awesome stuff guys! Looks like a lot of fun was had by all! Good work!

[Scottimus]

What a great time that was! My son and I really enjoyed ourselves.

Thanks to all those that put in so much time and effort in getting it going. Robert, Tom and everyone else.

Would also like to thank Deitz for taking some time to help my son catch his first ice fishing fish.

Great pics too!

Thanks!

[Deitz Dittrich]

It was my pleasure Scottimus!

[Sandmannd]

Looks like it was a great time for everyone. Whish I coulda made it to it. This is a great idea. We'll have to get them going as an anual event.

[DonBo]

I really want to thank everyone involved in making this such a great day. I am thankfull to have been even a small part of it.

I was very happy to have brought a neighbor boy who has never had the chance to catch a fish through the ice.

Here is Bailey with his first. How about that smile?

Thanks again to polarsusd, Shack and Deitz and everyone else who helped that I didn't get your names and everybody who brought the kids! It was great to finally meet so many of you on such a special day!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Looks like a great day!!!

Nothing beats kids and fishing. Way to go!!!

[polarsusd81]

Here are a few more pics of the day as it went along.

DonBo and his neighbor's son Bailey. Never had a chance to catch a fish through the ice before, he is the one that got the nice northern pike on the tip up too.

Here is Deitz working the Marcum with Scottimus's son showing him where the jig is and where the fish are.

Scott's son musta Deitz'ed it on this one. You can tell by Deitz's reaction they just missed it.

I am trying to get some lines set up for Pam and her son Chris.

This picture almost doesn't need a caption, but I think this is one of Harp's daughters with a nice gill.

My little boy made an appearance with grandma for a bit and walked around checkin out all the action. My uncle was nice enough to catch a fish for Hunter to kiss.

Here are a couple pics of the give aways at the end of the day. Check out the sweet sign DonBo made.

Here is one of the girls skiinglady brought out getting her new ice fishing rod from Jammin Jigs.

These were the photos my uncle Bill shot out there. Glad he brought his camera cause I missed a good deal of the action. I along with all the other FM guys kept pretty busy with all the kids out there. I really can't thank Jammin Jigs, Outdoor Pro Store, JB Lures, and Frankies enough for all they did to help make sure all the kids had some kind of prize out there. This will not be the last of this type of get together I am sure.

[Lisa Almquist]

You guys had just a wonderful day! My favorite is the little dude kissing that fish! Priceless!

[Scott M]

What an awesome day. This event just shows what can happen when everyone chips in. This is what is right with fishing and FishingMinnesota.

Count me in next time.