Memories of 07/08 Ice Season - Stories, Pics, Memories, Etc.

[mr_jman]

Just figured it would be fun to hear about everyones memories of this '07/'08 Ice Fishing season. So anyone and everyone please share your favorite memories, pictures, things you learned, those funny stories, first time experiences, time with the kids, Etc.

My Ice season is far from over so hopefully I still have some memories to be written, but I know some have hung it up already.

However, to get it started one of my best memories was meeting up with my long time college fishing buddy who I hadn't seen in months! It was on my birthday and my girlfriend, him, and I went out on St. James lake and did really well on the bluegills! I remember it was terribly windy and cold! We both set up our Shappelle 2000 portables side by side and connected the doors together so we had one large portable! It was a lot of fun and hopefully more times like that are ahead!!!!! Also fishing with my dad over X-mas break is always something I cherish!

[PerchJerker]

The highlights of my year on the ice revolve around my son, he's 4 years old and fished with me a few times the year before, but this year he really made some great strides. He has his own flasher and knows how to read it, he fishes with spring bobbers and jigging spoons and hooks the fish himself, and he is a lot of fun to share the fishhouse with. I had him on his first overnight trips this year, to Lake of the Woods and to Winnie. It was great year.

[mr_jman]

Thats pretty great at 4 years old! Lucky kid to have a flasher already. He'll be one heck of a good fisher with that much experience going for him already!

[PerchJerker]

Had to buy a 2nd flasher so we could both use one, otherwise he'd be using mine all the time

[mrklean]

My first trip to Red Lake, got a 14.5 and 15 inch slabber with lots of eyes in there also, best part was i got to fish with my dad

[polarsusd81]

 Originally Posted By: PerchJerker

Had to buy a 2nd flasher so we could both use one, otherwise he'd be using mine all the time

The best reason to have to buy a second flasher. I can't wait until my lil boy wants one of his own. Luckily, the way I set up the aqua-vu we can both see our lines.

For me the best memory from the season was watching my lil boy catch his first fish. Just a little crappie, but man did he have fun. He carried the fish for over an hour showing everyone on the ice. I of course had to help him a bit, but he reeled it up. Really looking forward to getting him out more next year as he will be a bit bigger.

The other really great memory from the year, was the Baby FMer Get Together that we had on February 23rd on South Center. All the kids that came out, about 45 of them, were able to catch fish. A lot of them were ice fishing for their very first time, and quite a few got their first fish ever. That was so much fun, and I am already in the works of planning next years Baby FMer GTG.

Here is a recap to the Baby FMer GTG - check it out

Here is one of the photos from the give-away table at the GTG. Every kid in attendance was also able to walk away with prizes donated from a bunch of sponsors that helped us out.

Check out the big fish of the day, Bailey with a 4lb bass on a tip-up. What a belly on this lady of the lake.

[Kylersk]

I had a so-so year fishing. Locally, I didnt catch much at all. I did get to fish one lake that I never fished before (otter tail) and did ok.

I also brought my son up to Lake Of the Woods for the first time and he caught his first Sauger and Walleyes of his life.

[Sandmannd]

Great pics, I think taking your kids out would be the best memories. I didn't get my daughter out this year, next year for sure. My best memory was going up to Blackduck with Bigwade and catching the biggest sunnie of my life. Then going to the Slabfest get together the next day. Was a great weekend of ice fishing.

Other than that I did make it to a couple of get togethers and hanging out with the folks and making new friends was awesome. I'm met some good folks that I'm hoping will be friends for a while, Hansone, Tom, Aceinthehole (chris), Blueroof (sean), Donbo, Shackbash (haven't fished with him yet, but had some good conversations), Airjer, Randy. I know there are more out there that I didn't mention, but to me that's the best part of getting out and being on this forum. BigWade and Kingfisher I've been fishing with for almost a year and they have turned into great friends.

[Shack]

 Originally Posted By: polarsusd81

Check out the big fish of the day, Bailey with a 4lb bass on a tip-up. What a belly on this lady of the lake.

Tom, that day was sure a high light of my ice season. That is my newphew Devin , with my two boys Dylon and Dominic. They still talk about that day .

I would also say going with the kids ranks right at the top. This day was a couple weeks ago; I took the neighbor kid with. We tried a new lake and got skunked, but I would not trade this for the world.

I also might have to buy a second or third flasher

I also would rank Cool Cats right up there also..

[fishnhooks]

mr_jman, Nice thread!

I have a couple, might only have time for one right now.

1. Taking the new wheel house out to a nearby lake on new years weekend and not fishing. Yea, yea, New years weekend and not fishing in the wheel house...I know what you might be thinking, but that is not the reason. My house got taken over by my friends kids. Kids coming in and kids going outside constantly. They took over my fishing poles and some even brought their own. There were 7 kids in there at one time with 3 adults (if that is what you call us) Our job was taking fish off and baiting hooks....constantly. That was a load of fun. the kids were taking turns catching fish and really had a good time. The next day I ran back out to the lake and I wasn't there for 15 minutes before I was spotted out there and the kids started bothering their parents again and started to show up for another day of fishing. That was a fun weekend watching those kids catch fish. A few even started to take the fish off themselves by the end of the weekend!

Part 2 later...

"hooks"

[polarsusd81]

Thats right Shack, sorry about that Bailey was the one that caught the nice Pike on the tip-up. That was a ton of fun out there.

[faatman]

I think the greatest highlight of the season was finaly getting my dad and my older brother to stop working long enough to go on a fishing trip to Red Lake. My dad is 64 and has never been on Red before and this is about the 6th ice trip that he has taken in his life! He always says he is to busy to take time off. I think I finally got him to realize THAT HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST MONEY STILL DIES. It was a great weekend a little cold and windy but on Saturday we ventured out in the portables. At 3:30 got set up and at 4:00 they started coming only eyes but it was still a blast to watch my dad have asmile on his face! My brother brought his son up and got to watch him catch his first walleye and many more. Thanks to Jeff at Ag logde for the big warm sleeper house I think they are hooked on Red!!!

[SSSTaxidermy]

My most memorable moments this year, don't have anything to do with fish physically caught, but the time spend on it with my family.

My dad isn't able to ice fish, like he once so passionately did in the past, due to health concerns. I had the opportunity of fishing with him more than I've been able to the previous couple years. I know my father appreciates it, because when I drop him off at the house after a day or weekend of fishing, he gets that glossy, near tear look, in his eyes of pure appreciation. It's hard to say who appreciates it more...Me or my dad!

But anyway, the best story this year I have with my dad is on Lake of the Woods. We were up there presidents day weekend and it started to storm at Zipple bay. We made the decision that we better get of the lake and respect mother nature while we could still possibly drive out. Once I got everything loaded we started for the resort. The snow and wind made it hard to even see. When we got on the plowed roads, I had a hard time seeing just a couple feet in front of the bumper, because the snow was blowing over the banks, effecting my visibility. My dad is an old school fisherman, doesn't use a flasher, GPS, fishes with the spiked deadsticks, swears up and down that a simple plain hook is hard to argue against (and he still does real well fishing), so he really isn't up to speed on the GPS thing...He knows that it provides HWY roads and stuff. So here we are traveling back to Zipple and I'm watching my H2O because I had it mark the trail on the way out fishing. When I was driving he said, "How the heck does that thing know were a plowed road is on the lake?" I chuckled a bit and told him that wasn't even the best chip on the market...The new ones will tell me were the fish physically are. Told him it would be a great gift for his favorite son! After a couple short minutes, I couldn't take it any longer and had to tell him the true story.

My other memorable moment this year is, I got my wife out on the ice for the first time since I've been with her. I've been exclusively fishing with my soon to be 6 yr old daughter for 3 yrs now. She is a great fishing partner and does very well for her age. My wife is (was) deathly afraid of the ice for some reason. But somehow she decided to white knuckle herself to the "oh - - - " handles and come out on the ice. Curiosity got to her I think and she wanted to see what our daughter constantly talked about. The cracking bothered my wife for a bit, but after a few stiff drinks, she settled down... The best part of the whole experience was sitting back watching my daughter teach mom "how to do it". Everything as simple as getting the minnows out of the bucket, to opening the bail on the rod, how to let the line down, how to jig, set hook, reel and even how to read my Vexilar. My daughter knew more than I realized. She even gave away some of my secrets!

Now my wife is asking me, "so we going ice fishing Sunday afternoon then?"

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

I finally got out ice fishing with my dad and taking my mom out for her first time ice fishing. Both were fun teaching them how to bring up the big crappies. When i was with my dad we got 15 nice 12-13" Slabs and with my mom we got 9 or so her catching 3 of them. It was priceless when that fish came up the hole to hear her scream! I say what mom its just a fish and she says "Well i felt like i was dropping my line down 100 feet and then reeling up it came up so fast!" Those were some of the best memories of my season and then the one time my dad came out with me right around Christmas we got that mess of nice crappies and right as we were about to pack up and go 930PM or so we had all our rods packed away and everything when i saw a huge red mark at 20 feet over 35FOW. I said go ahead and pack up i am going to drop down for this fish once. I got the forage minnow down to it and bam fish on. Immediately peeling drag i got it up after about 8 minutes and the thing was massive. He barely fit up the hole and I was not letting it go back down... That was the night I got the fish of a lifetime! 17" crappie 2.5 inches from WI state record! Cant wait to get the mount back now, anyway sorry for rambling on just probably one of my best seasons to date!

Good Fishin'

Ryan

[Coach1310]

Without a doubt is was getting my 2 yr old son on the ice 3 times this year. He loves to "roll em" his version of reeling them in and then we say "later" as we let them go. He loves playing with the bait, but always stops to "roll em" up! Can't believe the ice season is almost over, but he loves the boat so it should be fun.

[JigginIsLife]

 Originally Posted By: cRaPpiEMaN8265

I finally got out ice fishing with my dad and taking my mom out for her first time ice fishing. Both were fun teaching them how to bring up the big crappies. When i was with my dad we got 15 nice 12-13" Slabs and with my mom we got 9 or so her catching 3 of them. It was priceless when that fish came up the hole to hear her scream! I say what mom its just a fish and she says "Well i felt like i was dropping my line down 100 feet and then reeling up it came up so fast!" Those were some of the best memories of my season and then the one time my dad came out with me right around Christmas we got that mess of nice crappies and right as we were about to pack up and go 930PM or so we had all our rods packed away and everything when i saw a huge red mark at 20 feet over 35FOW. I said go ahead and pack up i am going to drop down for this fish once. I got the forage minnow down to it and bam fish on. Immediately peeling drag i got it up after about 8 minutes and the thing was massive. He barely fit up the hole and I was not letting it go back down... That was the night I got the fish of a lifetime! 17" crappie 2.5 inches from WI state record! Cant wait to get the mount back now, anyway sorry for rambling on just probably one of my best seasons to date!

Good Fishin'

Ryan

Do you got a picture of that Hog???

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

ya have posted it before but the site manager took it off and it used to be on the homepage but was removed from there as well... i will try again...

[walleyeking19]

wow!! how big is that thing?

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

^read above^ 17" nearly 3lbs and at the taxidermist as we speak...

[Shack]

Ryan,

That is one of the best crappies I have seen all season. It was a monster. Be sure to show us the mount in the Crappie Forum.

Shack

Nice story also..

[Ebiz]

Wow! That's a heck of a crappie.

[muc33]

That just might qualify as a "slab anda half" WOW, beauty!

[mr_jman]

Yeah... and here I sit hoping to get a 15" for the wall!!!!! Congratulations... I'm sure you won't forget it!

Lots of good stories. I've read everyone posted so far. Keep them coming. Everyone loves the funny stories as well! Anyone got any of those. The one about telling his dad about the GPS was pretty good

[Sandmannd]

I think you posted those pics before, but man, that fish deserves to be posted a few times. Congrats, make sure to put pics up after it's mounted.

[Quickstrike]

My best memories of the year would have to be our annual apostle islands trip with my dad and my uncle. We never seem to do that great, but it's always nice to get out with those guys.

The Burntside Bash is always full of memories, but most of those are a PG-13 rated! JK. It was a great crew this year and we had great weather. The cherry on top was that it was also for a good cause.

I've already started my open water season, so I won't be on any ice for another 9 months!