Cover of the 2002 regs!

[Guest]

Hey Sam,
It's been a long time sounds like your doing well, that's good. i've been sitting back taking this all in and rockroll and lip ripper are right the river is in good shape, lots of crappies and smallies and nice walleyes.As far as the catfishing goes,back in the late 70's and early 80's we had low water and those cat's had to hold up some where and it was any hole in the river,but with the dams in EGF and Crookston the cats couldnt get passed and no more cats. I think they are still there but not the numbers like years ago.

i see you have figured out who rock and ripper are. GOOD fishermen,the two best in TR town, you would have been right up there with them sam, you had a good touch with a fishing rod and i'm sure you still do.
And yes, i still fish Matt's hole and it still puts out walleyes every year. If I'm right, I think only six to ten of us know were it is, I think?

later,

[CANOPY SAM]

Geez Thanks Otter!
But what's all this "would have been" BS.. Ha Ha Ha....
No really, what a great compliment, I sincerely appreciate it. Thank-you!
I tried so darned hard as a kid to learn from Greg and Rock, but they never ceased to ride me like a rented mule. I never gave up though, just grew up and away I guess. I still spend countless hours pineing for the water.
Hey Rock, I always new Lip would grow up to be good. He always had that fire in em', even when he was a scrawny little rat crawlin' around the rocks by the fire light. Remember the night he picked up the wrong end of the re-bar we were heating in the fire. Ohh man!! Poor kid. But he stuck it out. Few tears, then back to fishing!
Well I'm really glad to here your all doin' so well. It'll be fun to keep a little dialog going over this silly machine. Take care and keep in touch.

[CANOPY SAM]

I was just kinda pondering the comments you made a little earlier Otter..
You've been "takin' this in" for a while, you are familiar with my "unprecedented" fishing accomplishments, and this was your very first post. Hhhhmmmmmmmmm!
It's you, isn't it? Regulations boy? It sounds too much like you to be anyone else. Is it him Rock, Lip? You've been readin' this since I first started it? Otter, are you the 2002 Cover Boy?
Boy, is this gonna sound dumb if I'm wrong....

[Guest]

No sorry,
Who i am it not important.
I guess when i said "i've been taking this all in" was that i also was in the dark as to who was who.
I've been looking at this page for some time but never registered or posted anything. I only used it as an info page, but when you all started talking i was unsure who everyone was, so i waited. I made a couple of calls to a few of the old rats to make sure i was right about rock and ripper,didnt want to make a mistake on who's who. There a couple of more rats who fish the river but havent posted anything. You asked the question the rest of us just filled in the blanks.There was a bunch of us who grew up on the river and not in front of a TV set, some still fish some not as much, but all of us still remember and talk about the places that nobody else knows about. A place you can take your kids, and with four of them your going to be baitn' a lot of hooks!!

rock and ripper can handle any question about the river...they are that good.

My busy time is coming up so i won't be around as much as in the winter, but i'll be watching and checking in from time to time.

[BOX CAR]

RIVER OTTER
I GUESS IM ONE OF THOSE 10 YOU SPEAK OF.I KNOW ALOT OF THOSE GOOD HOLES CURT,SAM TALK ABOUT.I HAVENT LIVED IN TRF TWENTY YEARS.STILL REMEMBER THE 60"S OF LOW WATER IN SUMMER.IT BRINGS BACK GOOD TIMES THAT I HAD,DIDNT TAKE LONG FOR A LIMIT WALLEYES TO BE HAD. GOOD TIMES!!!

------------------

[Wobbler]

I grew up around Duluth, and grew up fishing the St. Louis River which is a very similar river to that here in TRF. There are lots of walleyes that spawn up from Lake Superior and the smallmouth bass fishing behind my house growing up is still the best in the state (Ask Ripper). I did not think much of the river here until I met Ripper and Rockroll. The first time I went fishing with these pros was ice fishing at LOW. That first trip hooked me to ice fishing LOW and have done that for 4 years now. One day that following year, Ripper gave me a call and I went fishing with him down at the river. He showed me how great this river can be. These guys know the river better than anyone. I owe these guys a great deal for their knowledge and expertise they have shown/given me. They sure "usually" catch more fish than I do. To cap it all off Ripper pulled off his two biggest fishing accomplishments last Wedesday. I know Greg knows the river probably the best but Ripper and Rockroll are a very close second.

[CANOPY SAM]

Wobbler,
Glad to here of your successes! I was out on LOW last weekend with a buddy that talks with Ripper and Rock pretty regularly. I heard they did well last week with pike, but I didn't here anything that really surprised me. They always catch big fish. In fact my buddy was trying to imitate a method that Rock was explaining to him, and I just told him don't even bother - Rock has always had a knack for big fish - we'll never have a chance..Ha Ha Ha.
Hey Otter - It figures I'd call that one wrong. Thanks for the post anyhow. Glad to have you as part of the TRF team!
Where is the Cover Boy anyway? Rock, he must stop over to the house now and again. Doesn't he know that he's the "talk of the net"? Get him on here so we can officially attempt to discredit and humiliate him!! Har Har Har... Keep those fishin' stories comin'...><///)">

[Guest]

boxcar,
you may be right about being one of the ten.

Wobbler, your a lucky man, to have the two best fishermen in this town
take you under their wing and show you what they know about the river and
LOW is truly a gift, I've never fished the st.louis river , but sounds
like I have to put that on my list of rivers I have to fish. I give the
nod to Ripper his young the other two are getting old..Ha ha, I just have
to figure out how Rock got the city to build him a wheelchair ramp at the
dam!!

Sam, I'll make a deal with you, this summer if you come up to TR I'll
meet you at matt's hole, it won't be such a guessing game then, ok? you
name the date and the time I'll be there. How did LOW treat you this past
weekend? Sam remember the time Greg hook you in the leg and you guys went
to the ER.

Wobbler ask Rock about the time on his birthday he wanted to slide down
the spillway at the dam, and the guy who worked at the powerhouse came out
and yelled at Greg, but you should have seen his face when he saw Rock,
that was great, or the opening day story, I guess it was open day, Rock
and Greg went to the river a midnight I don't know if Ripper was with or
not but at midnight rock made six or seven casts and had six walleyes, I
think Greg made ten casts and had and six walleyes, Rock is that right?

[Lip RIPPER!]

First of all, I don't know the river better than anybody else who fishes is it as much as I do. I spend the majority of my time from the dam and south. White-tips fishes above the dam alot and his crew knows that part of the river very well. They pull nice fish out of there every year trolling cranks. He doesn't know this yet but I may joining him for the opener.

Wobbler, you don't owe me anything. Sharing a little information is the least I could after taking me to the St. Louis River and catching a 100 smallies in only a few hours. I doubted the crappie minnow and a bobber technique at first but it didn't take me long to change my presentation.

River Otter, have you made any of those quick strike rigs for me yet?

How was fishing Sam?

[Rockroll]

It is true. I did slide down the spillway, along time ago.It is also true that Greg and I filled out on walleyes at midnight on the opener in just a short time. As to how I got the city to build a H.C. ramp by the dam, I guess they felt sorry for me, I really didnt have anything to do with it. NOW for something of interest. The Red Lake River and the Thief River have an excellent walleye bite after dark and for those who want to put up with the bugs the results can be very rewarding.

[Wobbler]

Canopy Sam,
I was really fortunate to have Rock and Ripper get me back into fishing. I was beginning to think why did I move to the only county in the state without a lake.

River Otter,
I just figured out who you are. You were fishing next to us that day on LOW when all you heard from us was "Pretty Little Angel Eye". That one friend of your caught that 8 pounder that day. I also know how proud your daughter was when she brought a regulations book to show and tell when I was in her classroom visiting.

Ripper,
Never doubt the old crappie minnow and bobber. I can't wait to catch smallies again.

Rock,
How did you get that wheelchair access down to your favorite hole? I bet you would have liked to have seen that ramp at LOW when you went over that crack!

[CANOPY SAM]

Otter and Wobbler,
You've still got me wonderin'.

Rock,
You're not the only one that went down the spillway, are you? Didn't Greg go over the top after a limit of nice walleyes back in the late seventies?

Lip,
Fishing was pretty good. I wished we'd have had more time! We picked up a good pike before I even got all three flags set, then I had a break off, then we focused on Eye's and caught a few for dinner. Wind was really awful though. I must be gettin' old like your dad. Har Har Har!!! I actually sat in a sleeping bag while watchin' the flags - we didn't have a house cause we figured we'd be fishin' up on the Rainy. The pike weren't around like previous years on the river, so we went out to the lake around noon. I wish I could be up there now. I bet the big girls are chowin' around 4 every night.

Where's the Man of the Hour anyway? I started this conversation in hopes of bringing him out of the wood work - maybe he'll share a few pearls of wisdom with us, or at least a couple river rat fashion tips...

[Guest]

Hey Guys;

I had a phone call last night from a friend in Devils Lake. He said the walleyes are biten' channel A is the place to be but he said there other place to catch them also. he said they caught a bunch of walleyes from 5-7 .lbs and bigger fish were caught around him you can drag a small boat in there but it's alot of work so bank fishing is the best. Jig and a minnow is the best just like the rainy. Might be a good back up if the rainy doesn't open up all the way.