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Smallies on Ole' Miss.


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I've seen some of those bass pics in the Bass Forum from Florida and California and it makes you want to just drool. Just think, they get that kind of fishing year round. Of course I don't know what's worse...allegators or ice wink.gif.

Plus I love smallmouth fishing and we have some of the best smallie fishing in the country right here in MN, and it's not like you have to drive just to the boundary waters to get that kind of fishing either. It's practically in our backyards! We may not get as many 6.5+ pounders like the south gets from time to time (but they are out there!), but even on great smallie fishery like Lake Erie which is known for their piggies, you don't have as much diversity and locations to fish for smallmouth as we do here in Minnesota. All over this state you can find quality smallmouth fishing. I love it!

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  • BigMike

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BigMike,
Makes you wish you grew up here eh? You have to fish MilleLacs for smallies next year. The size and numbers of smallies will give you the giggles for weeks. Maybe we can some weekend. My buddy has a bass boat. I'm not taking ye ol Jon boat out there. Well maybe but it has to be dead calm and spitting distance from shore. smile.gif

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I know I know!!! Mille Lacs I've heard is one of MN several mecca's for smallies. Or so I've heard anyways! I'll for sure have to test the "smallie magnet" up there.

Ebass, what's the problem...your jon a little too small for that ocean? LOL. I can just picture you out there in your jon... shocked.gif

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Man that lake can be tough at times. Due to the slamming of waves (buddies boat 17' Slyvan) we almost lost the trolling motor and the kicker motor.

Today would've been a great day to hit the water right Hawgtide?

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Hawgtide's boat is in the shop...done for the winter! I can't believe he finally succumbed to the cold! J/K. There is always lots of shoreline to cover!

Ebass, I think I remember DazeOff telling me about just how rough that lake can get with the wind! Don't forget the motion sickness pills. I've gone deep sea fishing for salmon before and it can get nasty out there! But it makes it all worth it when you pull in a 15lb pacific salmon!

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Someone stop these guys!!!
Ebass and Big Mike are "padding" their number of posts again.

(Add 1 more for me now)

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Not so fast BigMike, I held the boat out because of the weather forecast. I'm taking it in next week, for sure...

Me and River Wader went out today for a couple of hours. Had to share my favorite holes with about 10 people. Everyone had the same idea with the 50+ degrees today. We caught about 15-20 bass, but no biggies. It was a good way to end the season. I thought it had ended 2 weeks ago.

Speaking about Florida Bass, I just found some old photo's of a couple of monster Florida bass. I'll have to scan and post them one day. My Dad and Uncle caught a 14 3/4lb and a 12 1/2lb from lake Okeechobee. This was about 30 years ago. What area of Florida are you going to, BigMike?

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A guided hogfest would be heaven right now!!I was supposed to go to Florida next week and the resort was on a good bass lake.
But it fell through though, Maybe while your in Florida I will be Ice-in some fish.

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Hawgtide, sounds like you two had a decent outing yesterday! You can't complain with the weather yesterday and you especially can't complain when you boat that many fish. I think you are in denial just like I am! That's awesome that you were able to get out.

Fall paterns are really predictable so when the water starts to cool off, fish bunch up in the usual "good" spots and so those 10 boats on a normal summer day may be spread out all over the water.

Biglake... I'm just like a fish, I've got to bulk up my posts before winter because after ice, my posts will slowly dwindle until spring smile.gif. Ice and I don't get along to well.

As for florida, I'm heading to ft. myers... so Lake Okeechobee might be an option grin.gif!!! Fort Myers is basically due west of Oke'! Only an earshot away

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LOL Biglakba$$!

Hawgtide, yes I want to see those pics even if they are in black and white. I remember watching Roland Martin catch those Okeechobee bass using big shinners and a balloon for bobber. Watch out for gators! Yikes!

BigMike, after you get your boat then you can start collecting ice gear. It's a blast trust me. You too Hawgtide!

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Non Icefishing Type people persons-

Remember, Its nisce and toasty in the shack. And its not very often you can drive your truck on a lake

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I just did a quick search for guides on Oke' and it looks like it would end up being about $400 for a full day out of Roland Martin's guide service! $300 for full day, $16/dz for shiners, $20+ for 7day fishing license, & any miscellaneous expenses! Ouch. I might consider buying ice gear for that price...LOL. Who knows though, I may be able to dip into the boat fund. I could rent a boat and fish it with my wife and I for probably a $100 if I brought my own gear. But then again I might get lost on that ocean of a lake. You think Mille Lacs is big...

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Get the guide, it's worth it. Some will almost guarantee a 10lb'er.

My uncle lived on lake okeechobee his whole life. When I was a kid I used to go down there to visit him. We would catch 8-10 inch shiners on bread and small hooks. Then we would use them to catch the big hawgs. That's the way most of those guys fished. That lake is so big that it wouldn't take long to get lost. Once we drove our bass boat for an hour straight out to the middle and you couldn't see any land in any direction.

I'll get those photo's scanned soon.

The closest thing to ice fishing down there is reaching in the ice chest to fish out another cold one. wink.gif

BigMike, who said anything about 10 boats? LOL smile.gif All those guys were in the water or on land.

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WHATT!,
So do you stand in the shack and cast outside into the little hole? You have to be a pretty good aim. wink.gif

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Just remember the more holes you drill the easier it is smile.gif boy you get the Dirty looks though?

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The guide is really tempting, although it is still considered "winter" down there, if you consider 80 degrees winter... and the fishing still slows down for them in the off peak months (october- february). Shiners really bring in those hawgs, but still $400 for off-peak might be a tough sell to the wife. I'm really thinking about ways to get out fishing while I'm down there. I've got to keep brain storming.

You know what happens when you catch a 10+ pounder right. It makes you think that those nice 4+ pound smallie that I LOVE TO FISH FOR seem like a wimpy pocket bass. And I can't have that happen, especially with the smallie magnet tourney this spring smile.gif LOL. I guess you could look at it in a different light too, if I did catch a 10+ pounder, it would only increase my magnetic powers and would result in larger smallies come time for the tourney... grin.gif

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Hawgtide, sorry about assuming there were 10 boats, I may be one of those 10 come Saturday.

Typical Minnesota, 50 degrees and sunny one day, 30 and snowy/windy the next! Hope it stays warm for the weekend! I need some 4+ pound pocket bass LOL smile.gif

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BigMike, January is the best month for the big daddies down in southern Florida. A 10lb'er on the wall will last forever. Of course if you have that money earmarked for buying my boat, I highly discourage the guide... smile.gif

I got a feeling that you may have some company this weekend out there if the weather is nice. At least you'll meet some people.

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As for the boat, I'm going to work hard and see just how much I can get saved up or can afford, but it all depends on the next 4-5 months and how good those bonus and over-time checks look...as well as tax returns!!! Plus if I have a boat, I need a truck. My little vw jetta has a hitch, but don't know how much it would be able to handle...especially when pulling a boat out of a launch.

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BigMike, I don't think that little lund won't be any problem to pull. Maybe if it doesn't sell before fishing season starts, you can come by and get it for the day to check it out. Maybe we'll get a couple of boats together and drift from Monti to Elk River for the day. Here we are planning next years fishing already. This is going to be a long winter... frown.gif

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Hawgtide, that sounds like a pretty sweet day trip. I got some additional bad news last night which I'm afraid may push into the boat buy... my wife's car pretty much took a dive last night. It had 180K miles and looks amazing/spotless exterior and interior, but the timing chain broke and my mechanic friend took a look at it said that on her particular model engine, if the time chain breaks, 95% chance the rods and cylinders are all bent and messed up which = $$$! mad.gif So it looks like the wife may be getting the new car before a new boat frown.gif. Again, there are 5-6 months between now and then and because my bonuses have been picking up that may be the determining factor. I'm always trying to keep a positive attitude smile.gif Still sucks though!

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It is definitely going to be a LONG winter! Hopefully a weekend on the shore and a couple smallies in hand may help releave some of that smile.gif.

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Arr, I hate when a monkey wrench gets tossed in unexpected. Well Mike it took me over a year to gather the funds along with set backs. (car accident foiled me for a bit)But I finally got one. Now I have to get it fixed. It sure is spendy having a boat and my boat is cheap, but I'm so glad that I did get one cause once it's all fixed I'm ready to head anywhere as long as Hawgtide leads smile.gif You guys ever fish Wabasha on da sippi? Hawgtide you'd love it. Both largies and smallies abound. Hawgtide ever fish for cats?

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Ebass... it's life I guess. But I'm not worried about it, I've got a good job and great marriage, and my fishing gear. Life is good! Just means it may take me a little longer. There are worse things in life to worry about other than if I have a boat then or six months from then.

About wabasha, that is where Dan Wood and I went out! That was an awesome trip. Never been down there before to fish and there was a lot of great water to fish. We had a number of fish throughout the day; some from up in Lake Pepin and some from down in the river portion. Mostly smallies and one largemouth. All kinds of structure to choose from and it's large enough to keep the options open. That is why I was thinking that Pool 4 from wabasha would be an awesome spot for the smallie magnet tourney. Tons of river to run and Lake Pepin's size plus what seems like backwaters galore. And I doubt there are many of us that know the area real well and you can fish for bass earlier because it's on the border of WI/MN. Just my 2 cents...make that 1 cent, I've got to make some budget cuts in order to save to that boat LOL smile.gif.

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BigMike, No worries about the boat. You'll get one soon. Keep the Mrs' happy. It'll pay off in the long run.

I grew up catching Cats on the river down south. I still prefer Bassin, but every now and then I don't mind trying to catch a Cat. In that stack of old photo's I found was a picture from the local newspaper of a Catfish we caught on a Trotline, it weighed 54.5 lbs. I scanned it in last night, but the quality is really bad.

I'm going to put all those old photo's on a web site so I can link to them here.

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Anyone going out this coming weekend? I'm looking at the weather and it says mid 40's with a chance of showers on Sat. and mostly cloudy on Sun. May be a good last weekend to hit the water. Should see me out this weekend with some smallies in hand cool.gif

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Better not have them in hand too long or I'll have to make a citizen's arrest. smile.gif


No, I won't be out there anymore this year. I'll just be sharpening the hooks for next year (not really, just sounds good).

This cold-weather fearin' fool will be indoors until thaw-out next spring.

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Hey
When did Hawgtide join the staff of the Ebass and BigMike show?

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He was are special guest speaker when you gave us the Tuesday no show grin.gif

What kinda cat was it? That's mongo.

Well next year lets have a cat magnet tourney on the MN river. I caught my first well second FlatHead that was 38". Didn't weigh that beauty though. My friend Rob caught a 29" Channel Cat there to. It's way fun and the fight is like battling a shark. OK I never caught a shark but if I did I would imagine it would fight like a FlatHead. I don't know why I started talking about cats. Sorry.

BigMike catfish action?

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