Tracy and Brent's Excellent Burntside Adventure

[Steve Foss]

HSO/FM's Wanderer, aka Tracy, had been having bad Bside laker luck this year.

So he and his buddy, Brent, joined me out on Burntside's East Arm today. It was Wanderer's day 100 percent. He must have been paying the laker gods all season long, because he iced five lakers today ranging from 1.5 to 5 pounds. Brent got one nice eater about 3 pounds, and I got, well, a fish that dropped the bait on the tip-up and a nice heavy fish that got off about half way up to the hole.

Four out of the six fish were clipped-fin stocked fish. The other two with no fin clips were identical in color and conformation to the clipped-fin fish. What a fine day it was to be on the ice!

Brent gets things started

And the first fish, a 3-lber, goes to Brent.

But then it's Tracy for the whole rest of the day. He nailed two on the jigging rod and three on tip-ups. Fish on!

Here he flips a 5-lber out of the hole.

And two fatties!

[jigman]

hay jigman hear nice fish cant wait must of been a nice day . really nice photos to

[finnbay]

What a beautiful day to be out on the ice - and good fishing to boot! Congrats all! I'm jealous, I had to work all day.

[Steve Foss]

Ken, I was working, too.

[finnbay]

Yeah, suuuuure!

[Neighbor_guy]

Well. I guess that explains why I couldnt get a hold of him today. Nice to see that you guys had some luck today.

[Big Country]

WOW! Awesome photos Steve. Tracy, that action picture of you "dancing" with a five pound laker is absolutely priceless. I mean that. What a great shot. Congrats to all BC

[Ice Cold]

Nice fish. Looks like you guys had a good day. By the way, how was the driving out there? From the pictures it does not look too bad, but did you run into any issues with drifts?

[Steve Foss]

Driving was fine with a full-size 4x4 pickup. Had to back up a couple times and get a run at it to get through, but never got stuck.

[fishgutz77]

Dances with trout, I like that. great pix steve, I got only one trout this saturday but did get a limit of eyes with a bonus whitey. Had some fish chasing but wouldn't hit. the one in the picture is 15.5 inches.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg140...ywalleye223.jpg

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[Mike Stark]

fishgutz,

where did those eyes come from?

[Steve Foss]

Well, lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice, but we thought it was worth a try so spent the morning today in the same place we were yesterday.

Gave that up just before noon, when there was nothing going on. Hit a spot I'd trolled a lot during open water with good success but had never ice fished. Got set up by 12:30 and locked in and ready for the afternoon flurry that seems to have been coming from 2 to 3:30, roughly.

Nothing until about 2:10, but from then until 3:45, Tracy had three chasers, I had two and Brent had three. Only Brent hooked up, but it was nice fat 6-lber. So Tracy had his best day for numbers ever through the ice on Saturday and Brent caught his biggest laker ever today.

And again, it was simply beautiful out there.

When your drag is screaming and your chair is in the way, this is what you do.

When you catch the biggest laker of your life on a small white/red airplane jig you bought when you were a little kid because "it looked cool," this is what you do.

OK, so whose mouth is bigger?

[finnbay]

Another great day! Good lookin' fish and good lookin' shots!

[fishgutz77]

mstark83, those fish are whitefish chain fish. wish I could have been up on b-side though. I tried to get some more whitefish as well by moving around a lot. It's always fun to go home wet and stink'in like whitefish or tullipee. the two bigger eyes I kept are just under 20". Was a great day to end the season.

[Wanderer]

One grin for every fish iced! Well, really there were more for each fish, but thats too much clicking and I need to go to bed!

Steve, thank you so much guiding us to a weekend that will be remembered for a long, long time. I learned a ton and finally felt connected to what was going on.

And I have to say the fishing was nearly as good as the company kept. We had a blast.

Neighbor guy, sorry man, you were in my thoughts though.

BC, that was the first fish landed on the Genz walleye rod I won in the silent auction at the Bash. And the swish technique was suggested by Steve. I just don't know if it was proper to lift the leg in the move.

[Steve Foss]

Well, Tracy, the leg lift was your own twist on the swish technique.

It was a great pleasure fishing with you guys, and glad I could help.

[caseynewberg]

[poor word usage] I was there at the same time on saturday and we didnt get a thing besides the tiniest burbot I've ever seen... A lot of traffic across that lake we even got buzzed by a plane!

[Steve Foss]

Casey, welcome to HSO/FM. Great to have you here!

It was weird. We actually got buzzed by one ski plane Saturday and then a different ski plane came over a few hours later. Saw one on Sunday, too. Got pics of both of them. It was a busy weekend on the lake for a lot of folks. Saw anglers, snowmobilers, planes, snowshoers, people just out walking their dogs, and cross-country skiers. And one older couple who had driven out across the ice to spend a weekend at their remote cabin. Sure was a gorgeous weekend to be out on the ice no matter what we were doing.

[caseynewberg]

Thanks! Ya I seen tons of snowmobiles, trucks of all sizes, a couple cross-country skiers and those two planes. Did you see that one that was flying so low around the islands and all over! We thought he was gonna land. I only got one bite the whole time we were there from 8-5ish.. I was so mad because I got the bite when my finacee' was chasing me around with the burbot rubbing it all over my face!! But me and his dad got him back haha

[caseynewberg]

I added you to my yahoo messenger cuz your professional status is exactly were I wish I was. I want to be a writer or a photographer someday I almost have my AA degree done only 8 classes left. But I really do not like school at all. Did you go to any schooling?

[Steve Foss]

Casey, I went to college for English and Native American studies, but my photography and writing were more or less learned on the job and from what I picked up along the way. At 46 years old, I've had a few years to gather experiences.

Much of my writing was done over a 14-year newspaper career as a reporter and editor, and the photography is self taught, if anyone can actually claim to be self taught in these days of the Internet, where all that knowledge is out there for the finding.

And I don't mean to belittle my schooling. Those years at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks were very important, but it's what your heart and eye and mind tell you when viewed through the lens of your life experience that allow you to write and photograph with feeling. College is only a small chunk of the stretch of years that make up an average life.

Your fiance was rubbing burbot on you? Yikes, nothing like putting a little "pout" on your face.

There's a bunch of good photography and photo sharing going on right here on HSO/FM. When you have the time, migrate over to the photography and photo sharing board and join the fun. Lots of folks over there, and it's a supportive and sharing environment.

[caseynewberg]

Haha ya well I was stuck for a while with a bad guy who made me go to college for business! It was horrible but after I broke up with him and got away I realized I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to. and now I'm scared to go back to my college because I'm afraid he might be there. But I'm very good at writing and started my own story about 6 months ago. It's been a hard couple of years but I'm trying to figure out what to do.

[Steve Foss]

I hated business courses, and now I find myself running one. No way to tell which way it's all going to turn out, or if the way it is now is the way it will stay for any length of time. There's no hurry. The harder I tried to catch up with life the faster it ran away in front of me. Now I just try to have some fun and do the best I can.

At least I don't have any employees. Been there, supervised that in too many jobs!

[caseynewberg]

Yes employees suck my family owns Spring Creek Outfitters in Mt. Iron here. And we've had some really interesting ppl try to work there. But this is my favorite picture I've taken with my new camera. Lakota surrounded by all my boots!

[Steve Foss]

Nice shot, Casey, and cool looking dog.

Post it over on photo sharing and share it there, too, where people come specifically to look at pics. Lots to learn and share over there.

[caseynewberg]

that's my baby right there I've had her since she was three weeks old. But she's kinda mutty a black lab and golden retriever... thanks for the advice!

[walleye365]

im wondering how the bite is the last weekend thinking of heading up there. not much happening here on big trout in cross lake,mn thanks

[Steve Foss]

Hey walleye365, the bite was good Saturday and not as good Sunday but still ran into good numbers of fish Sunday. I described how both days went for us earlier in this thread. If you start at the top of page 1 of the thread and read through it you'll find the info.

Good luck up here and hope you find fish!

[walleye365]

thanks stfcatfish i wish i could been there how about the 15 and 16 of march is what i was wondering about sorry i should of put more info in my post

[Steve Foss]

There's no way to predict how good the laker fishing will be even a day or two ahead, or even today, really. Just gotta get out there and hope for the best and see if the fish are active that day. I've done well in all weather conditions and been skunked in all weather conditions, too.