Mini get together

[IceHawk]

Well yesterday we had a little mini get together.  Fishing was the plan of attack, and to say we had a great time would be a understatement!  Myself and a few other Pro Staffers  (Borch,, Eyeguy54,Tom Sawyer,Rick G )met up on a Alexandria area lake for a little fun. Talk about a good group of sticks. You hit the ice with a group like this and you know good things are going to come These guys have a little farther distance to drive so I opted to head up early to try and lock down a few active fish before they arrived. Hit the ice at daybreak and started to dissect the area by cutting a series of holes. Fortunately I was lucky enough to get on some schools of fish right away. The schools were a good mix some brute crappies  mixed in with some decent gills with a few big tankers mixed in. . Found the fish on a previous waypoint basically a nice inside corner. The pods of fish were hanging in 15-18 foot range it was a good area. The good sign was the fish were suspended indicateing we should be able to turn them. The guys finally  hit the ice and it didn't take long and fish were comeing topside.  Everyone in this group has a different approach , technique , and strategy to put fish topside. A great mix. We all had fun putting numerous fish up saw a few 12 inch plus crappies measured and I would guess about 10 gills between 9-10 1/2 inches. All these big fish were put back. This group is very serious about protecting our resources!  The gear I was using  was a Thorne bros Power noodle  13 fishing black betty free fall and  3 pound P Line shrimp and 4 mm fiskas changing colors quite often. Fun times on the water looking forward to doing it again in the future . 

[Rick G]

Fun time for sure. Highlight of my day was watching Jeff once he dialed in the crappies  seemed like everyone he got was a pig...lol

[Tom Sawyer]

Fun time as always guys.... My Gill o tine for the majority of the day was a 28" Meatstick paired up with a POS inline, spooled with #2lb Clear Sufix Ice Magic. Tungsten for the day was a mix of colors in mostly 3mm C J & Spins Chekai as the bite progressively got tougher throughout the day, but size #12 Scandia Moon Jigs put several decent fish on the ice early on. All offerings were paired with meat and plastic, and early plain plastic. Didn't break 10" (came close), as is normally the goal for most days, but sharing the ice with fellow anglers, BSing, and enjoying lunch together at the resort was the main goal for me; getting together is usually tougher then icing a 10, or a 13+...

Mission accomplished! Until next adventure guys.... 

[eyeguy 54]

I only hit a nine inch gill and it was on that little shrimp.  My 4 best crappies came on a gold 3mm tungsten with a natural impulse mayfly. 12 7/8 was my best. Good old cheap gander with a dandy Silver CGI reel. And of course the titanium spring bobber on the end. Spooled with 3 pound Trilene micro ice in green. I didnt do well with the inferno so switched to the old set up after a few misses and it helped me a lot. Still a learning curve to get over. 

[Borch]

It was definitely a fun time seeing a bunch if good sticks use the techniques that work for them to get fish topside,(freshwater shrimp, eurolarvae, plastics).  I fished many combos and lures/baits before I found a combo that consistently got fish to go for me.  That was a black 2.5 mm tungsten jig with 2 red eurolarvae.  I fished this on a DH Baitrunner noodle rod with an inline reel and 3 lb iceline.  It was game on then and both gills and crappies were biting this often.  Some dandy slabs as Rick mentioned.  It took me almost 3 hrs to figure this out so persistence definitely paid off and well as being willing to try different set ups.  

It's good to share the ice with guys that know there stuff and can turn a tough bite in their favor.

[Bryan P]

Nice work guys! Love me some BIG gills!