11th Annual HSO Burntside Bash - Jim Hudson Memorial - March 9th

[Northlander]

Man I am getting pumped up for this event. Looks like good Bashing and Fishing weather. More donations keep coming in. Lots of people new and loved Jim and its showing in how willingly bussinesses are donating. Thanks again to all who donated and we will be sure to put up a full list of donators after the benefit.

[lispeej]

Weather is lookin' good!

[Steve Foss]

We're supposed to get 2-5 inches of snow tonight/tomorrow. We'll see. Still looking for a plow guy.

[chaffmj]

Steve have you tried Evergreen Const. for plowing? They plow our driveway. If you can't find anyone to do it for free I would chip in with cash to help pay to have it done.

[Steve Foss]

We found a plow guy! Big thanks to Blomberg's Convenience Store in Ely for donating the plow truck and gas, and to Greg for doing the plowing!

[Northlander]

Thanks a lot Greg. Much appreciated. Ill stop by and get my gas and goodies there when I hit town.

[Mike Stark]

The Ely Fishing Guide Company will be donating a guided fishing trip to Basswood Lake in the BWCA. I will be guiding the trip.

The trip will include bait, tackle, rods, reels, permit and shore lunch.

[chaffmj]

Very cool Mike and Rob!

[Steve Foss]

The Ely Fishing Guide Company will be donating a guided fishing trip to Basswood Lake in the BWCA. I will be guiding the trip.

The trip will include bait, tackle, rods, reels, permit and shore lunch.

Sweet!!!!

[Steve Foss]

Really looking forward to seeing old and new friends at the Boathouse Friday and Saturday night. Ben the Brewmaster is also a laker taker, and of course now is an HSO member. He brews great beers and ales, and any beer drinker will find one of Ben's to love!

The Boathouse also has donated some items to the silent auction. Yesss!!!! Let the bidding begin!!!

[Blomberg's Cenex]

Thanks a lot Greg. Much appreciated. Ill stop by and get my gas and goodies there when I hit town.

Northlander, Your welcome. Hope everyone has a great day @ The Bash, I on the other hand will be on L.O.W. Going up to visit my parents & do some walleye fishing with my dad & brother.

[Mike Stark]

We had a great time at the Bash this year. It was good to see some old faces and meet some new ones. The silent auction was a success. All the items were sold. Mike(Chaffmj) made a bunch of excellent pork tenderloin. Thanks for that Mike. Thanks to the others that helped out with food and tables as well.

From the sounds of it fishing was tough Friday and Saturday. Some folks are still out fishing today. We fished out of a friends perm house all day. We managed to get a couple to bite. One was 21in and the other was pretty small. We marked a lot of other fish but they just didn't want what we were giving them. Both of the fish we caught had to be worked hard. Northlands rattle bait got one and the other came off a bucktail jig.

Here is Nates fish.

[Surface Tension]

I can't say thanks enough to all of you. Without you it wouldn't be the Bash and this Bash a special one in Memory of Jim Hudson.

Great time was had and good to meet up with all of you. So many people there and chipping in, thanks you for that.

I have a few photos to share and when folks get unpacked and settled in I'm sure we'll have more posted. It was hard to get a count but I got 50 people or so.

Fishing was tough, Jr landed a Lake Trout on Friday. He and Spearing Machine(Jeremy) fished most of Sat with little action but Jr said he had fun anyway. Thanks Jeremy.

Man-Grill-Pork

Thank You Mike! BTW, the grill is around 4' in diameter.

Frank Jr

We raised a lot of money. Steve(Northlander) has the final tally.

[Steve Foss]

Ugh, I posted in the final details thread. Too many threads still open!

[Steve Foss]

Steve - You can live there as long as I did (18 years) and you'll always be a packsacker. We called them Swampies, but it's all the same.

I've been following the event from a distance and you guys have really turned this into something, especially this year. Wish I could have made it up. I'll be anxious to read about how everything went, how much money raised, who caught fish, who ate too much, who drank too much, ect., ect.,

Oh, and what the heck is a Subaru?

Jim, a Subaru is the code name for a revolutionary new type of airplane Jig. Only three have been made so far, and I have them all. I've been reluctant to show them in public, since lakers will actually jump up out of the hole if you dangle the lure in the air a few inches above. That's why they call it an airplane Jig. The patent is still pending. Once it's firm and we start production, no one born in Ely will be able to buy them. I may call them Swampy's Revenge, Petulant Packsacker or Catastrophic Carpetbagger. Because they don't need to go in the water, they last forever. I'm going to charge $59.99 each.

Well, I wasn't counting the money, but every single item in the Jim Hudson Memorial Burntside Bash silent auction sold, so I'm sure it was a nice bunch of $.

One pair of guys who went up the North Arm in sleds caught 4 fish when a 1-hour window of activity opened up. Most folks saw some fish, some caught one or two. Some did not. I had a dead cisco bait rig on the bottom in 72 FOW at HQ all day. Flag popped over the noon hour and it felt like about a three-four pound fish. Got off just below the hole, so didn't see if it was a laker or a pout.

Buzzbunni (who is a durn nice fellow but was wearing the ugliest ice outfit I've ever seen) nailed about an 8 lber. He BADLY needs a Striker suit! And, if memory serves, Jim Hudson's nephew, Dylan, got a nice one. Some others caught fish as well. The majority were released, as far as I could gather. Simey once again was the KOD and went fishless, dragging his lovely wife and son down with him. Sorry bud, couldn't resist! You can get me back this summer!

I reckon we had about 40-50 people out there, and I know a whole bunch stayed back because of the snow.

There were a few peeps taking pics with their phones and digital cameras, so I figure those will be going up in the next day or two.

The crew at the Boathouse was simply outstanding! Great food, great microbrews, very cool people. And Trout Man Tyler and (soon to be beardless) Brewer Ben got some very good items at the silent auction as well. Tyler and his buddies will be fishing under 11.5 x 11.5 feet of gorgeous Clam hub shelter, and Ben scored the electronics unit that just might let him eke out a bigger fish than Tyler, thus saving his beard.

Mike outdid himself with the pork loins. When the meat went on that grill, I swear the east wind brought it to the whole western half of the lake. Probably had mouths watering as far away as Tower. Great potluck dishes as well. Everybody who wanted to be full was full. Kinda like how easy it is for a Bside laker to get fed. Flick tail, open mouth, swallow smelt.

The Almquist clan was sporting dead animals on their heads, as usual. It was good for Frank and I to have company in that category. I believe one of the Almquist ladies earned herself a new nickname this year, having to do with a pair of growlers strategically placed upon her person.

Also a shout out to Gary, whose buns were sweet.

It was good to see old friends and to make some new ones. There were a couple HSOers I hadn't seen for something like 12 years. There were even a couple bona fide locals who showed up.

And a great and repeated huge thank you for all the companies and individuals who donated to the Bash. From jewelry to clothing, to rods and shelters and GPS units, coffee, gift certificates from local businesses, well, the list seems endless! Thanks also to all who helped us in smaller ways.

Thanks specifically to Frank and Steve. It was sweet to relive memories (were we three the only members present of the Original 13?) -- and work as a team to do this thing. I came very close to telling the Northlander [PoorWordUsage] F150 story (it involved a brown substance and a brown truck), but he assured me that everyone in America had heard it already. I thought there were some newbies who hadn't heard it, but I let it go.

I left about 6 p.m. and was set to hit the Boathouse for Round 2 but ran out of energy by 6:30, and was in bed by 7:30. Guess Round 1 was just too intense. Had I known I was going to abandon the Saturday night celebration, I'd have said more goodbyes. This getting old stuff . . .

So I also just got done cleaning the empty flip-cap bottles of my Bavarian Hefeweizen out of the milk crate I used to bring them to the Bash yesterday. And lo and behold, there was still one unopened. Who wants it? Oooops, too late!

[Jim Almquist]

It was great to meet up with a lot of old friends and meet some new friends at the Bash this year. The food was outstanding as usual. I think Mike (Chaffmj)out did himself this year and the Man Grill might have had something to do with it

Here are a few pics of the Furry Crew including my brother Mark and his wife Gina. Frank and Mark as well as Frank and Steve by one of the food tables.

One of the other Fur heads was Lisa enjoying a little Apple Pie with Randy ( Loonasea ) Shame on Randy!

A few of the gang hanging around to enjoy some of Steve's outstanding Hefe Weizen. I got to try a bottle and it was awesome. I was stationed in Augsburg, Germany which is located in Bavaria and I have to say Steve has it dialed in

A great big THANKS to all that donated to the auction. I was able to pick up some very nice stuff at a great price, and the best part was my money went to a great cause.

[leech~~]

Well just got back from my "white knuckle" ride home from Ely and my first ever Jim Hudson-Burntside Bash. Even though I have not been to one before this one I'm sure will be hard to reproduce! I did end up catching and releasing one Laker, and since Mr. Foss never got back to me on the Photo forum about how to setup a self shot. I was going to just post this first photo and say it was a 35" incher but did end up getting a shot with a cheesy smile after some testing and still had the 25" incher swim away!

One of the things that really hit me about going to these kinds of HSO GTG's as I put faces to names. That no matter how much we battle with each other behind our pc's about our politics or religious beliefs. We are all pretty good people when we come out from behind the key boards and meet face to face! I had a great time, ate to much and thanks for all the hard work for those that put this together. It was nice meeting Jim's mom and sharing a tear with her and the rest of his relatives.

[Steve Foss]

Leech, I did not see your post about self photographing. I don't get around these forums like I used to. If you feel the need to bust my arse about it, follow your heart.

Nor did I know or recognize Jim's Mom at the Bash. I've never met her. Guess it was a lose-lose for me, since we did this in Jim's memory and for Hannah's benefit. Epic fail on my partt, on balance.

[Northlander]

WOW! Im still tired from the Bash and then shoveling a bunch of snow when I got home so this post will be short and sweet.

Everyone who was at The 11th Anual Bash needs to feel very good about how it went.

On the final count we raised $3836 for Hannah Stonehouse Hudson. I cant thank everyone enough. Im sure Hannah will also be more than grateful for all we did.

Ill do a wrap up post later after I recover a bit. Thanks again everyone!!!!!

[leech~~]

Leech, I did not see your post about self photographing. I don't get around these forums like I used to. If you feel the need to bust my arse about it, follow your heart.

Steve, you know I'm just pulling on your chain! Remember I'm back behind my key board again!

I do however put stock in your fishing and photo expertise. I hope you take my jabs as they are ment. For Fun!

[Steve Foss]

We out.

[Mike Stark]

On the final count we raised $3836 for Hannah Stonehouse Hudson.

Nice

[PiedmontAngler]

After closing down the Boathouse Friday night and a snowy wet day on Saturday I am ready for some real rest at home (now that the driveways are all cleaned up.)

It sure was great to see so many people show up at the Bash. I hoped to get my Dad and brother to ice their first lakers, but the fish were just not cooperating at out location. A big thanks to everyone for all of their hard work at HQ. Big thanks to Mike for the grillin. Also, great to meet many more from the forum and put faces to names.

Hopefully this will become an annual event for my brother and Dad. I'll see you all again at the Bash next year, just look for the Flag.

Dad at HQ after a hard day of fishing.

[zymguy]

I enjoyed meeting all of you! As others have stated here its fun to put faces with internet handles. If any of you get near the boathouse before the next bash be sure to hit me up !!

[lispeej]

My family made it to the bash this year, but unfortunately my wife had to stay with our sick daughter at the hotel. We wanted to meet all of you guys at the boat house and steak house. It was very nice to meet all of you as well, as others have been saying. It was a slow day for me and my son on the ice too.

Thank you Mr.Foss, the planning committee, and everyone who chipped in, and also everyone else for making this bash possible. I Can't wait for next years bash!

[Steve Foss]

Wow Steve, that's a chunk of change! Nice going, everyone!

[Mnfisher]

Nice fish Lipseej! Maybe next year you can show me how to do it!!

[Matt Breuer]

Myself and a buddy from DL got up there and onto the lake around 1pm on Friday, and fished a couple of spots with Foss-man. Had a blast joking around and learning more about B-Side. We marked 3 trouts, never hooked up.

Sat. my buddy and I dropped off the Clam items for the auction, and were off, and we went off Steve's advice and hit the north arm. We ended up marking 8 on Sat., hooking up with 4, and missing one other. My buddy had the hot hand, catching 3 and missing the one. I caught one and marked one other. Fish were 22-28.25".

We had a blast at the Boathouse, and agreed that the food was incredible! Got to see some old faces, and met some folks.

Nice work everyone on the prizes, that's a stellar amount to be handed off to Hannah! Thanks to everyone who coordinated things, thanks to Foss for his guidance and advice, and to the Brewpub for putting up with such a rowdy crew...

What's normally a 2:45 drive, took 4:15 on the way home. Roads were GREASY from Grand Rapids to Bemidji... We were glad to be home safe!

[lispeej]

Nice fish Matt!

[lispeej]

Nice fish Lispeej! Maybe next year you can show me how to do it!!

It's probably "beginners luck" for me. When I really figure how to fish for Lakers, I'd be more than happy to show you.