A "Super" Report...

[Team Otter]

No pun intended; the fishing was not "super" but it definitely was enough to keep your interest.

Spent the weekend in SW MN on 3 different bodies of water. The main focus was perch but that didn't come together until this morning so a portion of our time was spent chasing crappies too.

PP, CCFC (long story) and others: as usual, great spending time on the ice with you guys. Always a treat!

Crappies were pretty easy to come by but you really needed to be on the move, as far as going from hole to hole. We found a nice school of fish in "no man's land" in ~10 - 11' of water that hung around for the better part of 4 hours Saturday afternoon but they would come and go real quick. As luck would have it, we had plenty of holes to choose from. Fiska Wolfram jigs loaded down with colored spikes worked as did small, collarless jigs and plastic.

Sun down Crappie!

Double-Fistin'

Today, I switched gears and went out on my own in search of jumbo perch. Well, it wasn't fast and furious but the quality was exactly what I was looking for. I was fishing in 7 - 8' of water with the same presentation that took the crappies on Saturday and stayed as mobile as I could; the wind was a little bit of a challenge. The biggest key this morning was to find the small perch first. What? Yeah, I know but I think it may be the very early signs of the nicer fish becoming a bit territorial and they may be starting to ramp up their feeding patterns. Each time I found small perch, I would try to keep them under me as long as possible and then when they would drift away, I would reel up to ~2' off the bottom and get ready. Nearly every time this happened, a 12 - 14" perch would cruise through suspended and just crush the presentation. Very cool, it was just too bad the bigger fish weren't schooled a little tighter to keep the action more frequent. The action totaled ~2 fish/hour, so I think I left the lake with 12 fish.

14.25" SLOB

'Nother good one

Awesome sunrise this morning

[Eric Wettschreck]

Welcome to SW MN!!!! We really do have some good fisheries down here in dixie!!!!

CCFC???? I'm dying to know what that's all about.

[Team Otter]

Thanks for the warm welcome. And to think of the times I've hung out in my in-laws' living room watching movies because there was no where to go ice fishing...

I think we all know Chad is a piece of work. I'll let him explain but be ready for some editing.

[PerchPounder]

Great report TO. I had a blast fishing yesterday a few more fish in the morning would have been nice but the afternoon was a definite good time. We had another CCFC episode this morning when he found out his fish house was froze down in the back of his truck. We started a bit slow but did end up finding a few nice crappies and gills.

[muc33]

Me is CCFC.... I will let you fill in the blank, I am sure it will be easy enough. Chad Cluster Fudge Cummings, lets just say my nickname changed after the boys watched me try to retie line. Add some 2lb. line to a braided anchor line. Needless to say it was quite a cluster (agian, fill in the blank). Hence my new nickname.

I will say that I had a blast no matter what messes I got myself into. I learned more just goofing around and having fun this weekend than I have in a long time.

Jamison, anytime you can find the time, come on down! Steaks on me next time! What a great guy, for those of you who don't know Jamison, I would find it hard to believe you couldn't like him. He was just one of the guys hanging out on the mud hole in SW Mn.

Too bad situations are as they are TO, I truly have you family in my thoughts as you and I both know, this is really a tough thing to be part of... the life we are both expieriencing right now are only making us and our families stronger.

I KINDA got skunked with the boys on Saturday, well, TO didn't set the hook good enough on the one I had to hand over hand for him while he was on the phone, The one I got to the top of the hole wasn't big enough to keep anyways, so I was ok with that one spitting on me at the surface. And I should get credit for at least half of the one Doug caught because he was using my Marcum!!!! So I will use the word KINDA skunked.

Today I got the panfish lesson from the king of pannies in SW Mn, Perchpounder! I haven't had that much fun in a long time. What a blast and I must say, I did pretty darn good! I may have ruined my free time for the next two months, but it is going to be well worth it.

Guys, my last few weeks have been very long and draining and my family knew how much fun I would have and no matter if I KINDA got skunked or not they let me hav the weekend to be me!!!! I can certainly say, it was a weekend of true fun!!! I could get hooked on that kinda fishing, even getting SKUNKED!

Thanks guys, please lets do it agian sometime SOON!

[Eric Wettschreck]

CCFC, PP, TO, and others, not this upcoming weekend but the weekend of the 15,16,17 I'm thinking an informal get together. Whadda ya say?

[Team Otter]

Chad,

Thanks for the kind words. You should have seen the smile on my mother-in-laws face when I carried my 5-gallon "fish pail" into the living room. That's what keeps me going...

As for the new nickname, walk with pride. You're going to be one heck of an ice fishermen as soon as you switch to Vexilar.

[Team Otter]

Eric,

I'm planning to be at "the out-laws" that weekend for 4 days, Friday - Monday. I may not be able to fish all day, every day but I'm sure you'll see me at some point.

[PerchPounder]

 Originally Posted By: boilerguy

CCFC, PP, TO, and others, not this upcoming weekend but the weekend of the 15,16,17 I'm thinking an informal get together. Whadda ya say?

Im in. What did you have in mind? Another hot perch bite going on? Maybe we should all head south? CCFC would likely be all over that one.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Actually, I wasn't thinking south of the border. I was thinking mebee Shetek. I think the Lake Sarah Pals are having their tourney that weekend, which is very cool, but not my thing. I'm gonna do some scouting around ( gosh, what a drag ) and I'll say where when the time comes.

Cool?

[PerchPounder]

Count me as a definite maybe. If I can get back on a good bite it might be hard for me to leave it. In the next few weeks they should be getting into prime form for a last ice frenzy.

[Trick]

Crappies are still biting on north end of shetek...seems like its never ending.

[muc33]

You know me, ready to go whenever I can. I am sure no matter where we end up, I can mess something up (CCFC). But beware, after Sunday, I am a fish catching MACHINE!!!! You guys all know my tenative schedule reasons and I would consider myself a go for fun, baring family needs at the hospital.

Come on blood hound Boiler, find them fishies! Blow your nose first, I think it may have gotten a little plugged last weekend with too much of that Ribbon in a can!

[Eric Wettschreck]

The Ribbon clears the sinus's, and the room the following morning.

[reelemin]

I should be down there fri early if not Thurs night. I'll need to leave by about noon on sat. I plan on camping on the ice ( where ever that maybe ). Boilerdude will you be staying in your shack?

Tami

[Eric Wettschreck]

Not too sure if I'm in the shack or staying at home. Kinda depends on the Mrs and what she wants to do. We don't both fit.