Moose's Report - Cambridge-Elk River-Foley-Milaca-Mora-Ogilvie Fishing Reports

[monstermoose78]

8 hours ago, leech~~ said:

Are your sure?  I hear logging roads, edge cover?  

The best are paved highways!! naw I walked little trails and the ones with gates to prevent atv traffic were better.

[gimruis]

3 hours ago, monstermoose78 said:

I walked little trails and the ones with gates to prevent atv traffic were better.

 

Yes!  Get off those easy to access locations and you will definitely see more birds.  Most hunters are lazy and just want to drive their ATVs until they find a grouse.

 

I noticed a similar trend when I was deer hunting on public land in the Chippewa too.  The further I got off a road or trail, the more deer I saw, and the less human activity I encountered.

[monstermoose78]

Hazel and I put 11.25 miles on looking for pheasants. No pheasants found we did see some muzzle loader hunters. 
 

I looked at a few lakes and the typical early ice lakes are fully covered with ice. The bigger lakes were mostly covered but had open areas with ducks, geese, and swans.

 

 

[monstermoose78]

We also saw more cron being harvested.  I think tomorrow I will head north and maybe look for sole grouse as I seem to be able to find those. 

[Wanderer]

16 minutes ago, monstermoose78 said:

 

I looked at a few lakes and the typical early ice lakes are fully covered with ice. The bigger lakes were mostly covered but had open areas with ducks, geese, and swans.

 

 

We’re skimming over in central too.  Almost more than north central.

 

I have a buddy still looking for those ducks if ya wanna share the area you’re seeing those! Haha.

[monstermoose78]

@Wanderer sent you a private message 

[monstermoose78]

Wild rice hotdish

 

4-5 grouse cut up into 1/2-1 inch cubes ( fry the grouse in the bacon grease) you can use venison, turkey, chicken, geese, ducks, or and other meat.

1 pound bacon fry bacon to crispy (keep 4-5 pieces to crumble up to put in the top at the end! 

2 cups uncooked wild rice (cook it and rinse it before cooking)

2 can of cream of something ( I like 1 can of cream of chicken and cream of onion)

1/4 cup Worcestershire saucy ( may need to add more depending on the rice)

1/3 cup soy sauce ( may need to add more to taste)

a little season salt to taste

put in the oven at 350 for an 1-2 hours to help the flavors to come together.

 

this was my grandpa’s recipe enjoy

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by monstermoose78

[monstermoose78]

Here are some photos I 

[Mike89]

Thanks MM!!  that's real close to My Great Aunt's!!    they added onion and celery too..   and sometimes mushrooms!!!   

Edited November 26, 2023 by Mike89

[monstermoose78]

7 minutes ago, Mike89 said:

Thanks MM!!  that's real close to My Great Aunt's!!    they added onion and celery too..   and sometimes mushrooms!!!   

Yeah my grandpa added those too, but I skipped the healthier stuff. 

[Mike89]

too funny!!!!

[gimruis]

I got a couple more dumb ones on Saturday.  Walked about halfway into the first spot, unloaded my gun, and then walked right back out.  Looking forward to Friday when the bag limit goes to 3.

[monstermoose78]

-1 this morning and it stayed between -1 and 3 degrees for most of the night. I will have to send riverrat316 over to check thickness of the ice.

Edited November 28, 2023 by monstermoose78

[Wanderer]

I was driving and checking local lakes on Saturday already.  Will check a couple more later tonight.  
 

Only one, notorious for the first freeze over, was completely capped.  Others were anywhere between 30% - 99%.

 

I don’t know if I’ll try something this weekend but am fairly sure I’ll be on Upper Red next weekend with a group.  As long as the plans hold anyway.

[gimruis]

Warm up coming!

 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by gimruis

[monstermoose78]

Went ice fishing with riverrat316 and I laid the smack down on some big gills!! Thanks to kichler custom rods for the beautiful rod and Slab baits for the 1 inch pink and white zipper minnows as they worked so great. The zipper minnows held up to the abuse of big gils munching on them really well!! 

Edited December 3, 2023 by monstermoose78

[monstermoose78]

I should add the ice was 5.5-6 inches

[monstermoose78]

Ok everyone something creepy appeared in one of my photos fo you see it?

[Wanderer]

No worries @monstermoose78 it’s just the Warden. 

[monstermoose78]

1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

No worries @monstermoose78 it’s just the Warden. 

I bet to watch if I peed on the lake lol

[abel2023]

'we have more fun' I Share On FishingMN

 152

Posted January 25, 2017

Hey Moose ... what size Pug Bug do you typically use?  Smaller or bigger on your locale lake?   also, do you use the xl maki minnow or the smaller regular one?  For Crappies, noticed that the xl seems to catch bigger fish but not as much quantity?  Curious about your thoughts?

[monstermoose78]

I use the smallest pug bug withe regular maki mino I pinch about a 1/3 of body off to help with short bites. 

[Hookmaster]

Who makes the zipper minnow, Slab Baits? Can you buy locally or online?

[monstermoose78]

11 hours ago, Hookmaster said:

Who makes the zipper minnow, Slab Baits? Can you buy locally or online?

Slab baits sells them and he is online. He also is local and goes to different events to sell baits and is ok facebook. 

https://slabbaitshop.com/ 

Edited December 6, 2023 by monstermoose78

[gimruis]

Cosmo and I took the afternoon off and went pheasant hunting in the fresh snow yesterday.  Tried some new spots that I have never hunted before.  Raised 28 total.  I got a double at the second spot.  Two roosters flushed simultaneously and I dropped both of them.  The first one one fell dead but the second one went down as a cripple.  After retrieving the dead one, I went over to where the second one went down and after some good dog work, Cosmo came out of a patch of grass with it.  Then the final spot produced another rooster for a December limit.  Hunting after a fresh snow is quite often my most productive and enjoyable hunt of the entire season.

[leech~~]

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Cosmo and I took the afternoon off and went pheasant hunting in the fresh snow yesterday.  Tried some new spots that I have never hunted before.  Raised 28 total.  I got a double at the second spot.  Two roosters flushed simultaneously and I dropped both of them.  The first one one fell dead but the second one went down as a cripple.  After retrieving the dead one, I went over to where the second one went down and after some good dog work, Cosmo came out of a patch of grass with it.  Then the final spot produced another rooster for a December limit.  Hunting after a fresh snow is quite often my most productive and enjoyable hunt of the entire season.

There's Pheasants in Minnesota still? 

[gimruis]

3 hours ago, leech~~ said:

There's Pheasants in Minnesota still? 

 

Shocking, I know.  And what may be more surprising is that one need not head westward to find them either.  There is a thriving, reproducing population of them right here in Central MN.

[monstermoose78]

I must doing something wrong 

[smurfy]

so Gim.......now that you have some of them ditch chickens in the freezer...........how or what do you  do with them to cook'em up???? just curious!!!!! noone in my house seemed to care for them cept me..........so i made chow mein outta them!!!!!

[gimruis]

You can prepare/cook them pretty much any way you make chicken.  The taste and texture is very similar.  I'm sure I could do what Moose posted above with his grouse and the finished product would be almost identical.

 

My favorite recipe is a slow cook in a cast iron pot.  That takes some time because it requires cooking at low temperature for at least 90 minutes.  The finished product is very good.

 

Being that its so warm out, I might try grilling some here too.

 

I also give a few away each season.  My possession limit is triple the daily bag limit so its something I have to be mindful of before I go hunting again.

Edited December 8, 2023 by gimruis