St. Croix River GTG, Sat, Feb 28th

[croixflats]

I figure on getting there 11:30. I was thinking of using my Ice house as a table. Its a 8x8(Northlander with wood floor) suitcase style folded up 4x8 should be big enough.

[DonBo]

Nice, thanks.

[Quetico]

Stuff came up last night that will keep me and loose15 out of this one.

Good luck tomorrow. We'll get in on the next gathering.

[DonBo]

[Jordyn Kaufer]

I'm bringing some choicken wings

[Jordyn Kaufer]

Hey don!

the crappie ended up being 13 1/4inches!!

thanks for a great day on the ice!

heading out there again tomorrow!!

[DonBo]

Well there were some highlights today, though not many.

Lunch was outstanding. Thanks to croixflats for the grill, sausageman for the chili, Cheetah for the brownies and everyone else who pitched in.

Jordyn caught his biggest crappie through the ice today and sausageman schooled us all as he iced 14 crappies. I think everyone else got maybe one or two. There were also some bonus walleye/sauger caught, though I think croixflats had the only keeper.

Jordyn with his 13 1/4" crappie

croixflats with a nice sauger

I'm a bit embarrased by the luck we had as a group. Coarse you didn't expect me to take all YOU people to my best spot did you?

Trying hard.

Hardly trying.

It was a good turnout and was really nice to meet you all. I think tommyk maybe offered his secret spot for next year. We'll have to keep in touch with him on that.

All in all it was a nice day and I hope everyone had a good time!

[Craigums]

Hey DonBo I wanted to thank you for setting everything up. Sorry my buddy and I split so quick. Just wanted to get back while there was still some daylight, being the first time on the river and all... I ended up catch 2 x 10.5'' Black Crappies, 2 x 5'' White Bass, 1 x 10'' Sheephead. My buddy on the other hand did a little better. He caught a 9'' and 10'' White Crappie, 12'' Black Crappie and 16'' Sauger. Everything was CPR'ed. We had the most luck on bare hooks he was using orange and I was using Chartruese. His sauger came on a Yellow tear drop jig. Everything came off the bottom, no fish were suspended. I definately enjoyed my first time on the river and will be out again. Also it was nice chatting with TommyK before we went fishin', We might have to hit up knife lake one of these days.

Thanks for the good times guys!

Craig

[B-man715]

Hey Guys,

Sorry I couldn't hang around to fish. Sorry you didn't get to try my pickled fish too. I ran home to get a few hours of sleep and a shower. I grabbed my computer too. I'm sitting next to my Dad right now at Regions Medical Center. He is constantly improving. They said the bleeding on his brain has stopped and will not need any surgery for that. They were also worried about several compression fractures in his spine, but a closer look at the x-rays determined that they were from some other event earlier in life. He does have a fracture in the skull, kinda around his eye socket, but that will heal on its own. He also shattered his collar bone. That they may just sling, or they may also put a plate with some screws in. He also cracked 9 ribs on his right side with some bruising too. All in all he is very lucky! It really sounds worse than it is. Overnight they had him doped up heavily, but he was consious the whole time dozing in and out. They were able to reduce his pain meds some today and having a entire conversation with him is easier. It sounds like he could be released in a day or two, with a lot of rest still needed at home. Tomarrow he is going to see an occupational therapist among others to re-evaluate any long term damage. But right now it appears that he should be able to make a full recovery!

Sorry to be a buzz-kill today but I was looking forward to meeting you guys all week! I didn't have a means of telling you guys the situation (no computer last night/morning) otherwise I wouldn't have showed up like I did.

Thanks DonBo for organizing and everybody else for the food and drinks! I wish I could've stayed longer.....I look forward to seeing you guys again under better circumstances

[Shawnny B]

Hey everyone

Thanks for having us out there, the food was good the fishign was ok, the only bad thing was, I think, for you guys =-) I think hovermn Aka Dave and I will be out there more! All in all we caught 1 itsy white bass, a small white crappie, one 11" white crappie, one 10" black crappie and around 5 walleye/saugers that ranged from 6"-15". Did anyone stay out past sunset and howd ya do?

Sorry to hear about your dad Bman, Hope all goes for the best for you two.

ShawnnyB

[DonBo]

Well guys, it must have been you. Was out for just a few hours this morning and caught 5, including my biggest of the year, (maybe ever)this 14"er!

Thanks to sausageman, the last three including this pig came on eurolarvae. Who'da thought?

BTW, I went to my other secret spot this morning.

[Jordyn Kaufer]

nice hound!

that thing is a slab and a half

[Luck e 1]

Nice fish DonBo.

I was also out this morning with my little brother and we didn't have good luck. We we on the MN side in 30 feet and I didn't even land a fish.

[croixflats]

Thats a slab for ya DonBo. Yep thanks to sausageman I to got a few more last night off waxies.

I guess that was Hoverman and Shawny B coming back to the river last night as I was head up the access road. Sure is a nice set up you got there Dave.

-

Thanks DonBo for organizing the get together was nice to meet others from the forum out there. Was a great day out there and the weather was perfect.

[WalleyeChaser]

DonBo thanks for organizing the GTG, next time i think someone who knows where the fish are should organize it though!! Just kidding had to give a little ribbing since no one else has. I see you caught some today so thats a good sign. Had Fun out there fishing and chating with everyone! Congrats on the biggest crappie Jordyn and to sausageman for the most caught! Definitly look forward to doing it again. Between Me, my dad and brother we caught 2 keeper crappies, 2 small sauger and let a few small crappies go (well they did, I didn't catch a thing). Thats been the norm for us for a couple hours fishing out there. An open water GTG would be fun also.

[hovermn]

I guess that was Hoverman and Shawny B coming back to the river last night as I was head up the access road. Sure is a nice set up you got there Dave.

Thanks Croix! It's my winter cabin! After the GTG, I headed over to WBL and met up with some friends from work. They had never been on the ice before, so I had them out for a little bit. Iced one crappie, C&R'd it.

It was me you saw going back out. I just couldn't see spending the last legal night out on WBL, so I tried the croix again. At that point, I was pretty tired, so I just dropped a couple of rattle wheels. No luck, though. Figured I'd try somewhere new, and that doesn't always work. Hopefully we'll have more luck next weekend.

I'd like to thank DonBo for setting this up. Without this event, I'd probably go another year or two without fishing the river. It really increased my confidence of the area. Thanks to those who brought food! That chili was great! The Venison burger was very tastey! Though I only caught a 4" white bass and a 9.5" crappy, it was still great to be out, especially on new water!

[croix walleye 6]

sausagemans pc is down but obviously his ROD isn't he will post when his computer is back up and running. He definetly has it figured out!!! I only caught 2 craps. out of hole &he caught about 12 out of the same hole i was fishing in when I left there

[croixflats]

That's his trick he waits for ya to attract them in then he pounces like a cat on a mouse but he don't mess around playing with them.

[metrojoe]

Originally Posted By: croixflats

I guess that was Hoverman and Shawny B coming back to the river last night as I was head up the access road. Sure is a nice set up you got there Dave.

Thanks Croix! It's my winter cabin! After the GTG, I headed over to WBL and met up with some friends from work. They had never been on the ice before, so I had them out for a little bit. Iced one crappie, C&R'd it.

It was me you saw going back out. I just couldn't see spending the last legal night out on WBL, so I tried the croix again. At that point, I was pretty tired, so I just dropped a couple of rattle wheels. No luck, though. Figured I'd try somewhere new, and that doesn't always work. Hopefully we'll have more luck next weekend.

I'd like to thank DonBo for setting this up. Without this event, I'd probably go another year or two without fishing the river. It really increased my confidence of the area. Thanks to those who brought food! That chili was great! The Venison burger was very tastey! Though I only caught a 4" white bass and a 9.5" crappy, it was still great to be out, especially on new water!

You just need to get the hover craft back and you should have all the confidence you need.

[hovermn]

Very true. I once took it up to Ely for literally the last weekend of ice. It was so weak that as I cruised over it, it created a wave of ice

I have to say, though. The house is much more comfy to fish from

[Vallejo]

Thank you Don Bo for setting this up had a great time.

[Sandmannd]

That's a nice slab for sure Don.

[Shawnny B]

Shane-

If I get my butt in gear and get the countertops in thursday/friday maybe we can meet up out there on Saturday, and your daughter and mine can fish in the house with us?

just a thought, otherwise Im sure they can find something to do out in the snow....

[hovermn]

Anyone planning on heading out this weekend? I'm going to do my best to help ShawnnyB with his counter top so we can take advantage of the new law allowing us to keep a house out as long as you want if attended.

So what is the general concensus about the WIS side. Is there any advantage to getting close (safe distance) to the open water, or is anywhere along that side that has a little structure about as good as it gets?

[hovermn]

Shane- maybe we can meet up out there on Saturday, and your daughter and mine can fish in the house with us?

So nice of you to offer my fish house out. Thanks a lot! LMAO, just kidding. Anyone is always welcome in the fish house! I built it to share. You're more than welcome to bring your family out