Fishin report for Lake Iwanttobethere..

[Bobby Bass]

We don't have any winter Bocceball we do have a summer league and people just get burned out during the long 10 week season. However the ATV soccer games will be held right after the Super Bowl kind of the same idea just bigger balls

[Bobby Bass]

Well taking a break from the shack's honey do list. Yup even the ice Shanty has a do list. I think I have one problem already taken care of so it will not recur like last year. One of my nephews who works at that Honeydeep Co. in the city's brought me up a couple of those robot vacuum cleaners for the shack. The one worked well enough cleaning up the indoor outdoor carpet but it take take a shine to the area in front of the auto dartboard. Would pause there and make beeping sounds. The other robot vacuum was tinkered with so that it did not do carpet but it would go from hole to hole sit down and clean the shaving from the hole and the skim ice. Then it would go out a slender dog door that we put in and drop the shavings outside on the ice. It worked well till we got a visit from those space people NASA is it? anyway they show us pictures from space of a hole in the clouds and there was Lake Iwanttobethere with all these dots on the ice in some kind of weird pattern. They said that one of their satellites had been acting funny every time it passed over that area. Well they took the ice robot cleaner a way. Claimed it was talking to the satellite in space and they had both come from the same place, you know Honey Deep Co. They asked if I had any others but the carpet cleaner was hidden under the bank of slot machines and they did not find it. I was also tinkering with another gadget my nephew brought up late last season. He calls it stealth crappie 2 it has a camera in it and he has been tinkering with it trying to track the crappie under the ice. A small motor gives it about 20 minutes of travel time and so far we have had some fun pestering neighboring holes. Stealth one was eaten by a northern last spring and that was like watching the fantastic voyage movie just no Rachel Welch in it. Will let you know how that goes, He is working on a Captain Nemo version to play with the Dark House guys...I still have to get the BBQ cleaned out to, we are going to do a small pig and watch the Vikings game tomorrow and someone did not clean up last time. It is a pop out BBQ it sits outside to cook and then you can just pop it back into the shack through the wall cut your meat and pop it back out again to keep cooking, no smoke no muss but sometimes we forget it's out there..

[Bobby Bass]

Well we have settle in to a nice relax day to day here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Sleep in late everyday, catch a few Northerners during the day, Crappies are biting just at dusk and a few walleye in the mix to give an extra tug. Christmas in a few days and a lot of coming and going on the lake with spouses checking with other neighbors to see what is needed in the shanties. Some of the gifts are loads of wood from Hammering Hank, beer coupons and minnow punch cards. Nothing going on till after the holidays, no lodge meetings and no town meetings but there will be a dance at the Lodge and that is usually good for a few interesting comments as the punch in the past has been know to attract a different flavor as the night goes on. A lot of lights on the shanties this season and some interesting things have been spelled out by the town's youth. They are already out on vacation. If I don't get back to you have a Happy and safe Christmas..

[nytelyter]

heyya bobby. wanted to wish you and all the folks from the lake a very happy holidays and a great and prosperous new year. i did have one question tho. would it be alright for a guy to bring up a portable fishhouse and fish on lake iwanttobethere. since i lost my motor out infront of the john deere colored cabin i have been wanting to get back up there. i did have on a rather nice fish after it dropped into the lake and was fortunate enuff to have that fish pull me almost all the way back to infront of the landing before i lost it. never did see it tho but i am sure it was one of your smaller trophey fish i hear about. anyways i want to bring up the portable and fish a few days during the break between the holidays.i will watch the forum for a reply. again i wish you all a very happy holiday and hope to see you before the new year. paul

[Bobby Bass]

Not really a fishing report here today but just checking in to let you know how the Lodge dance went last night. Our Christmas mixer was held and a lot of the town people were there. Hammering Hank spent most of the day working on his chain saw ice sculpture of an elpout at least that is what he said it was. I kind of thought it was something left over from the alien opener. Reed the Realtor was busy handing out 2005 business cards as his new batch was on order. Bet'Em Casino had a table by the door and the Widow Hess was working the room. Dr. Burriem was seen a lot hanging around the punch bowl. Barney the mechanic was our lot boy. Wolgang Puck was helping out in the kitchen and Willie Wrenchead was busing tables. Jess the paperboy was making the rounds collecting a wad of cash. He is a good paperboy. Lots of food was provided by the Dew Drop Inn and the Sundown Cafe, Porky's provided some sparkling water. Even the Amazing Elmer came in. Old Man Walter was not there but seen standing over a hole on Main Street. The gals from the Lumber Yard did some line dancing. I heard that Foot was there but I must have missed him. Actually there were quite a few people there that were friends of the lake. And a new stranger that was seen wondering about with a grin on his face. Asking a lot of questions to. I think we may have another future resident checking Lake Iwantotbethere out. Well the Christmas dance is just the shake down for the Gala New years eve bash. It is the start for a lot of things here at the lake. The skating rink is now open 24hrs a day and the speaker system is on.. They do one of them a to Z play lists. As a matter of fact as I am writing this I can hear Boom Boom out go the Lights. Well over the next few days there will be a lot of lights on here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Snow is going fast as we have had drizzle for the past 24hrs. When things get cold and start to freeze it should be interesting. So that's it here for Christmas Eve 2005 everyone here at Lake Iwanttobethere wishes you a happy holiday and hope you get everything you and your ice house asked for. O and just a reminder that Floyd would like you to bring all your empty boxes down to the hardware store. He has heard about how well them big Box stores do and he wants to try it out...

[Bobby Bass]

Well of course Nytelyter you are more then welcome to spend a few days and nights I hope up here on Lake Iwanttobethere. We are not one of them there private lakes we always welcome business. All we ask if you do come up to do some ice fishing is to not put your house in the middle of one of our streets. Up here at Lake Iwanttobethere the streets in the winter are a lot like a wild west town. They may be covered in ice and snow but there is a lot of traffic and there has been a herd of deer that will travel down them from time to time. If you do spend some time up here Stop in and say hi to all of our friendly folk. Also in the center of town you will find the hot bite board, Locals post where the fish are biting and it is a quick way to put you right on top of the bite. As a matter of fact I will give you the latest Hot Bite info right now. If you go out from the landing a fer piece and head North towards the Willis cabin but not quite as far as the old Johnson log cabin and you put the sun at your back and look at the white spruce tree and then line up the Widow Hess's cabin and take 12 big steps and then go out two Brett Farve passes and you will be right on top of them

[Bobby Bass]

Well back at the shanty after some family business pulled me away for a week. Kind of catching up myself on the goings on. Been snowing all day here and I am sure the plows will be out tonight when it slows down. Ice is a little shaky in spots here but at least no one has been stupidity enough to go through. I see there was some talk about a noise regulation at the dinner. Someone was complaining about a generator running at night. A visitor I do believe, No big deal here part of life on the lake. Got to have power that's just the way it goes. Besides can you imagine what it would be like with 100' extension cords Cross crossing the ice? Some of the guys here already have a hard enough time walking around in the daylight think of night and it would create havoc with the delivery girls on skates.. New years eve just around the corner and that will be quite the weekend here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Lots of people on the ice as we have our first big weekend fishing contest. I will post a prize list later as I have not been down to the lodge to pick it up yet. I am sure it will be somewhat along the same lines as what we have had in the past. I know a lot of people want to win that pack of 100 paper plates with matching napkins and we also have that free car! Well I have to dig into my mail here and a weeks worth of papers are in front of the fire thawing out. I should be able to start peeling them apart here soon. Put an extra log on the fire tonight looks like it is going to be a long night..

[Bobby Bass]

A strange winter here even for Lake Iwantotbethere, people are talking about working on their boats in their front yards. Have even seen a few with the covers off. This fishing in mid afternoon in January in your short sleeves outside of the shanty is something else. It is nice on the heating bill, only had to go to Gus's once to fill up the propane tank and I think most of that was used on the pig BBQ First of the year town meeting on Tuesday night, going to be in the 30's so there has been talk of having it outside on the ice so we can stay cool. Kids went back to school just the other day, There was a group of lads that were following a big school of crappies around the lake during their whole vacation. They would just keep putting down holes and move around the lake, They were on crappies for 192 hrs straight! Every morning you could get up and look for them with the binoculars and see where they had moved during the night. Gee to be young again I was up at the MPLS folks cabin just the other night, they are pretty nice people once you get to know them. They have one of them there HiDef TV's it is really huge, that is the light we were seeing down on the lake der. Anyway I was up there watching the Red Green show and did you know he has both Red and Green suspenders? I think that is how he got his name.. Well I just ran up to the cabin here to check my answering machine and to get last years fishing catalog so I can compare prices with this years. Have to get back to the water as the crappie school seems to be turning and heading back my way..

[nytelyter]

sorry about the generator runnin bobby, i thought i was far enuff from the crowd, that it would not bother anyone. i just can't sit in my portable shack without my sattellite dish and my hi-def television. i have my fishing cam hooked up to that hi def tv and wow do those fish ever look big. i will bring a noise block next time i visit the lake. by the by i do love your little ice village and i may just start to look for property up that way as well. i like the looks of that property next the john deere green cabin that has them nudists init. as i to like to be natural at times as well. welll i am off to find one of those quiet running generators. i always try to keep the peace. .... paul

[Bobby Bass]

Well the holidays have come and gone here on Lake Iwantobethere lot of new toys out on the ice the past few weekends as every one is breaking in their Christmas gifts. Things have settle down to a nice comfortable winter glow. We have enough ice to last us for awhile although slush can be a problem. Temps are steady and no real cold snap has happen yet.... The price of propane is high but we can live with it. Hammering Hank has everyone stocked with wood and bait is in good supply. The usually betting is taking place with side bets on almost anything and everything. The other day a couple of them Jovial Witness people were working the shacks on the ice, Funny them people will go anywhere and everywhere. Guess after banging on just about every door in town they found out that there was no one in town and moved onto the ice. Well they were seen going into old Ben's and Jeanie's place and right away the money started changing hands as to how long they would last. After about two hours one was seen to almost make it out the door before being pulled back in by their suspenders. Guess they didn't have any idea that Ben and Jeanie used to have their own bible show on the local cable access channel.. Was well after dark before they were seen breaking out a back window and scamper out across the fish cleaning house gut pile. There has been a few calls to Reed the Realtor about some cabins coming up for sale this spring. No real lookers about now as once the pass snows in it is pretty quiet here till Spring. There was a report of a float plane trying to land with some supplies but we just figure they wee lost and were looking for another lake down the road from us. I think they were from Chicago or some other big city to the East. Won't be to much longer and we can look ahead to boat shows and such. I know Porky's here was talking about going into the houseboat business. They tried it once with a barge but people just didnt take to pitching a tent on a barge and then getting pushed around the lake when Porky was picking up garbage. O wait I guess there was a little excitement on Sat night when McPeeters still blew up.. At least we think it was McPeeters still he won't say as there was some doubt whether it was a still or a meth lab. What ever a Meth lab is. I know that down at the drugstore you have to fill out a form when you want to get certain kind of medicine and when the form is finally all filled out and approved your cold is usually gone by then. Anyway it kind of lite up the sky there for awhile and everyone came out of their shacks to watch. But it was soon over and we are back to normal again. Well time to throw another log on the fire have a good one..

[Bobby Bass]

Up early today and I see I failed to get everything down about the past holiday here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Over the long holiday we held our winter carnival. Some of the events that were held was the alum can jumping contest and we had several divisions this year including the loaded can and empty can and also the loaded and unload jumpers. The unloaded jumpers went first but they were complaining cuz they were having to land on the loaded cans but for safety we only allowed the loaded jumpers to jump over the unloaded cans and also they did most of the unloading. Saturday night we were lucky enough to have the MPLS couple donate for the night the use of their projector for the viewing of movies. We had a very large turn out as we served hot cider and had a couple of nice fires going where we placed kettles to pop popcorn and do brats. Our first movie was Fargo and it was projected on to the side of the town hall which gave us a really nice picture, at least right up to the end where the scene of the wood chipper might have been a little to graphic for some and adding to the fact that Hammering Hank had a yellow chipper on the back of his truck that night... Sunday morning brought on the ten pin bowling contest that we had to change to nine pin as during the night the pins were left out and a beaver took a liking to the head pin and dragged it off into the night. With the lack of snow on the ice the games took longer then we thought to play as the ball really travels a ways on the ice and you don't want to try and stop it will your ankle as it makes your whole leg quiver before you start to scream from the pain. I guess that some of the brats were not cooked all the way and they came up during the night, To bad this happen around the end of the Fargo movie and it seem to happen again the next morning outside the Town Hall. Sunday night brought on fireworks and the annual snow blower rally. Also a big event again this year was the swapping of shanties for Saturday night. Everyone puts there house number in a cap and then they drawn with everyone spending the night in someone else shanty for the night. There is no real reason for this but there is a lot of drinking this past weekend and this seems to take care of people ending up in the wrong shack. Well I hope this helps everyone and if you should stop by and read this say hi to us here, Sometimes we don't know if anyone is here but just us folks. Everyone is always welcome at Lake Iwanttobethere

[FOOT]

Bobby, well as you can tell from my lack of posting it's been rather busy for me. I decided to take some extra time off and work on the cabin. The nice thing was the guys came up with me.

You should stop over sometime, it's looking pretty good right now. We've added a few hundred square feet and actually have indoor plumbing now. New windows were installed as well as outside doors. The old carpeting, full of cat p, was pulled up and burned. Sorry we really didn't think it would smell that bad or put out that much black smoke. The porch has been re-leveled and a new roof installed. The old furnace and window A/C have been replaced. In fact I would have installed central A/C if I could but Barry said it was too cost prohibitive, which means he couldn't get me one at cost.

If you get over to the cabin and want to look inside there is a spare key sitting under the 14th rock from the left side of the porch under the cedar tree. Please don't tell anyone about the key and please replace it when you leave.

I've never worked so hard in my life, here's a typical day.

Up by 08:15 - get coffee going and drink 2 cups while discussing who will make breakfast - after 30 minutes we all head to the Sundown Cafe for breakfast at 08:55 - finish breakfast and return to cabin 10:15 - change clothes and get ready to ge to work 10:30 - One more cup of coffee 10:40 - head to outhouse to get ride of coffee 10:55 - Start work 11:00 - break for lunch at 12:20 - have a beer or 2 discussing who will make lunch - head to Sundown at 13:00 - back from lunch and ready to work by 14:35 - work like a dog until 15:50 when it's time to break for a beer - drink 1 or 2 beers and lose feeling to get back to work - head to Sundown for dinner - stop by off-sale house and pick up a couple of cases of beer - back to cabin by 20:45 - start working on 2 cases of beer - passs out and get to sleep by 11:35 - up the next morning and get back to the grind.

Thank goodness I had the guys to help me out or I'd still be working at getting things done.

[Bobby Bass]

Well Foot I am glad to see that you are doing a little remodeling. I am sure that the township will reflect it's appreciation come Spring..Just between you and me I have been doing some work around here between bites. I added a home theater to one side of the shanty, did a little add on and now I have a theater with rope lights around the ceiling and a projector screen, gives me a 90x48 picture to watch the Superbowl on. Will be upgrading to Hi Def so you might not hear from me for awhile cuz I hear even watching the weather channel is fantastic. Spent a day in the big city yesterday, mostly going to them big box stores and eyeballing fishing lures and such. With the weather the way it is we are not making much new ice and I am expecting a warm and quick Spring this year. Rainy River is calling me already and I sure would like to get in to Cloud lake and Disappoint Bay. With these warm days more and more people are out on the ice instead of their shacks. Lot of conversation as you might expect going on and of course there is some trash talking. The other day there was a little disagreement over at the Peters, seem he forgot her anniversary and he was seen leaving the shack and you could hear her yelling at him "that by tomorrow there better be something sitting outside the shack that goes 0-200 in 2 seconds flat"... Well the next day she found a small flat package on the ice and when she open it ....it was a bath scale... I think the funeral is set for next Monday... Been fighting a cold last week or so and that sure is no fun, glad it has been warm out and just the smaller fish are biting. Sometimes I feel so weak I can hardly strap myself into the fighting chair. I should tell you about my chair at the center hole, she is a dandy. I got her at a barbershop/Drs trade school auction. I don't think they make it anymore it looks like your old fashion barber chair except it has stirrups! I took that long leather belt that they have hanging on the side to sharpen there blades with and punch a few holes in it. Now I can strap right in. The sturrips work great to get a good place to set your heels in. Of course it swivels and with the pump handle you raise or lower yourself for a better look down the hole. Actually the leather warms up nicely after you have been in it for awhile. Bolting down to the ice can be a problem but with those mountainaire spikes we have that problem taken care of. I must admit I have even taken a few naps in it. Well Sun is out so I best set up a chair outside, I hear they are going to have a practice funeral procession for Peters today. They will line up all the snow blowers and the snow machines will follow. I think there was a talk of burial at sea style but something about getting permission from the hot springs manager cuz no one wants to cut a hole that big in the ice...

[FOOT]

Bobby, sorry to hear about Peters. Ithink I met him once at the Pump & Go. He was there talking to someone about replacing the passenger side leaf springs on his 1974 Dodge. Seems as whoever had been sitting on that side was a little too heavy and one of the springs broke. Now it appears it might have been his wife. He seemed like a nice enough fellow. In fact when I offered him a beer from the cooler in the back seat of my car I swear I could see a tear come to his eye as he sucked it down. Any truth to the rumor that his wife made him quit drinking before his "accident" ?

I've been playing a lot of cards here since the ice conditions are a little iffy. Not for money, but you do get a chance to go on to a "regional" tournament if you're in the top 15%. I'm close but I've got to get a couple more final tables to solidify my position.

Won't make it up for the next couple of weeks, I got stuck being on-call. I hate on-call, much rather have my weekends off.

I think I made a huge mistake in allowing my "friends" do so much work around the cabin. Now I'm getting pressured into letting them go up while I'm not even there. All I can think about is that one Jerry Seinfeld episode where Kramer burned down George's girlfriends father's cabin. Did you ever see one that one?

Well time to get out of here talk to you more next week.

[Bobby Bass]

Yes it's to bad about Peters, I don't want to say he was hen pecked but he did have these marks all over him. I to would run into him from time to time. And as a matter of fact he was just talking about last years anniversary gift that he had gotten his wife. He said it was a new clothes dryer and it was still in the box that he gave her. 200' of perfectly good clothes line he said... Been having a few problems here on the home front myself, I don't know if I ever mention that I have a couple of Labs that pretty much have the run of the shack and also the wife has a cat and we have two 5 month old kittens that for some reason think I am there daddy and the Labs are there long lost brothers. They sleep with the labs and everyone fights to lay in the sun when it does show itself. Well both the kittens are jet black bookends to each other so it is very hard to lay blame as you cannot tell which one is are getting in trouble. I think the labs are rubbing off on them as one of the kittens we call Buff now thinks he is a retriever. The bad part is he is retrieving things that were not meant to be retrieved. He, as cats have the uncanny ability to do retrieve things from the top of bookcases, shelves, stoves and cupboards. Pulls things off desktops and counters. Not to bad in the house but out in the shack everything is dragged over to the hole and deposited. I think he just likes to watch things sink. I have a grandson who does the same thing, as a matter of fact him and the kitten both seem to have the same blameless look on their face as what ever they just deposited does the slow death spiral down into the depths. Kittens are worse then babies, they can climb higher but here at Lake Iwanttobethere it is just another day. Did I mention that my wife now wants a shelf 7' from the floor with nothing within 6' to place what is left of her crystal?

[Bobby Bass]

Another beautiful day here at Lake Iwanttobethere Sunny and calm. A lot of the doors on the shanties are standing open letting the sunshine pour in and removing some interesting odors from over the winter. With the days growing longer and the sun growing stronger things are starting to perk up around Lake Iwanttobethere. A few people have open their cabins up and are starting to spend time cleaning and what not. Going to be an early Spring here I think. That cold snap has never really come and we are in the middle of January. Only a month away from the boat show and that is a sure sign of Spring. I heard a true love story the other day. Seems Ino was running low on beer and sent his lovely wife Lena up to the store to pick up a few 6-packs. When she got there she had to charge them as Ino had given her no money. When she got back to the shack she asked Ino why he had forgotten to give her money, he replied he was not sure how thick the ice was when he sent her.. I see the H-n-R has open a shack up down by the town hall. Tax time is here. Well the town is as big as it gets right now. We have 4 streets wide and that does not include fast food lane. Bowling alley has been doing a brisk business as well as the Doughnut shop. Bait has been decent all winter long and the mobile depth/flasher repair guy, Sparks has been making his rounds. Even Hammering Hank has had time to wet a line. This nice evening temps have been a pleasant surprise. Barnstorming Bob has been busy most of the winter making new topo maps. He goes from lake to lake with his flasher and sounds the depths, then he sprays paints the numbers on the ice and connects the marks. Later he flys over with his crop dusting plane and takes photos. He says they are the most up to date maps you can get! Well I see smoke coming out of the shanty so it must be lunch time. Have a good weekend and remember to come visit us at Lake Iwanttobethere those maps sell fast..

[Bobby Bass]

Pushing 40 here at Lake Iwanttobethere I just came back from taking a stroll around town here and I saw that the Jones Twins were out sunbathing by their dads shanty, I also noticed that a lot of traffic was coming off main street and heading that way..Funny how the just to glimpse some skin in January will make a guy to take a chance of getting questioned by his wife. Business is slow for them in the winter as they are the owners of the Do Me Inn and if anyone comes here to vacation they are out on the ice. Nothing really happening here just a nice winter day, Warmest January on recorded I hear. You don't hear me complaining, Fuel oil guy was just here and other then the price the fill was not very big. Looks like there will be some money for new tackle after all this Spring. After a couple of nights making ice the lake is quiet today, no slush but after a few days of 40's it will be back. I know there is a town meeting coming up soon and I think the town maybe coming off the ice soon. It will be good to see open water and get into some real fishing..Well I just came in to find the sun tan lotion I think I might be able to borrow the Jones twins some

[ironman]

Just got back from my very first vistit to this unbelievable lake. Even before I started fishing it was great! When I went to use the well lighted and plowed access, they gave ME $10!! To many fish to list and my arms are pretty tired. Want to send a thanks out to BeerNBabes Pizza Pub for sending out some hot chow and cold brew. Now thats service!! Cant wait to go back.

[Bobby Bass]

Well I know it has been awhile since I last posted but there has been a lot going on here at Lake Iwanttobethere. It seems we have an answer to as why it has been so slow around here and we have not seen our usual bunch of tourist and ice fishermen. About a week ago I was out on my snow machine and the throttle stuck in the open position. Well since it was a test ride and I was looking to check on my gas mileage I just hung on for the ride. It seems like hours that I was just going around in a circle then I hit a ice ridge and headed straight out from town. I went around Pine Point and to my surprise there was another ice town there. I ran out of gas just as I entered there main street and as I coasted to a stop I was greeted by gal from Hooters who said she was just getting of work and wanted to know If I wanted to buy her a cup of Joe at Starbucks! Well me being in a daze but not so far out of it that I wanted a cup of Joe and this was a Hooters girl followed her to Starbucks. I was pretty cold after my long ride on the ice and was getting kind of stiff. The sun was going down as we walked pass a Mcdonalds and a Wendy's there was Hardees and an Arby's to and that was just on the way to Starbucks. I asked the Hooters gal, her name was Wendy how long she had been there and she said since first ice. Seems she grew up here and has been coming back for winters for years. She asked me where I was from and I pointed off in the direction I think where my shanty was. We went out the back door of Starbucks to cross the alley and come into a Disco bar that was nothing less then a inferno of lights and babes. I stumbled out the door to take a rest in a snow bank. As far as I could see was new snow machines and them pull behind ice houses and a string of lights coming and going towards the interstate and the casino. My head was reeling as I realized that there was a whole new world out there just a tank of gas away from my shanty. I heard my name shouted out as a sled went by with John McFirty on it. He stop and we chatted, I thought you were dead I said to John he said of course not I found this ice town 4 years ago and I just never make it back to Lake Iwanttobethere even though I am pretty sure we are on the same water. If you like he says and are not in a hurry the evening walleye bite is about to start and if we set up we can get a few before those pesky 6 and 7 pounders start hitting all the time. Well I said goodbye to Wendy and climbed up on the sled. As we are racing across the ice I am posting this from his on board puter. What can I say, it's ice fishing time. I just don't know when this post will find it's way out.

[WxGuy]

We were notified in the Rochester forum that Tom "FOOT" Miller died this past weekend of a heart attack. He was 59 years old. Clearly he was having a great time with this thread, so I thought it an appropriate place to let everyone know.

[Bobby Bass]

A said weekend here at Lake Iwanttobethere, after hearing of the death of Tom "foot" Miller. I enjoyed writing and adding to Tom's post here on Lake Iwanttobethere. Even though I never met Tom I was shocked to hear of his passing. I can only hope that Tom found his Lake Iwanttobethere.

[nytelyter]

i am with ya there bobby. i to enjoyed all the good things he and you have written about this fabulous lake. you can bet that foot will forever be present on lake iwanttobethere. for all we know it may be the reason that he bought that lil cabin there. his consience was tellin him to reserve his place there. i do hope the reports from the lake still come in. and you will know that tom is there, as you watch the v of water gentle glide across the pond as he trolls, for another biggie, in his boat. may God be his guide now. and may all his catches be tropheys. my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. for their strength through this hard time. ....... paul

[Bobby Bass]

Just came back from the Town Hall meeting, was not really much of a meeting as meetings go. More of a time to reflect on one of our own who has passed away. Even though FOOT has only been a member of our town for a few months he has left his mark on a number of people here who call Lake Iwanttobethere a home. His wit and charm will be missed and his way with words will be left here for others to read. A few of his ideas were brought up at the meeting and a committee was form as to the thought of since we shoot shanties out on to the lake why we can't shoot shanties back off the ice? A motion was passed in over looking the improvements that Foot made to his cabin and the shanty that he has out on the ice. I will remove the shanty and put it up at his cabin unless one of his friends that helped him launch it returns to move it for him. I know Foot said he found a honey hole just around the bend but I could not get exactly where he was talking about. I think he is there now. Well Houses are starting to come off the lake and everyday brings some more sunshine here at Lake Iwanttobethere. A few months and we will have open water, Buds on the trees and that Spring air will be flowing down from the woods and across the beaches. I was out on Saturday and cleaned some snow off the bench on the hanging dock. Had myself a nice cigar and just rocked for awhile. Losing Foot makes ya do that. So I think Foot said it best, don't pass up any time to spend with your kids and grand kids. Take time to enjoy life, work will always be there. From Lake Iwanttobethere have a good day..

[Bobby Bass]

Well what can I say, It's snowing out here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Nothing heavy just that lite angel fluff stuff, makes it hard to see across the lake at all. Then when you add the smoke from the shanties it's a low ceiling day for sure. Hammering Hank has been making his rounds this morning already, has been making a killing on aluminum cans as everyone is cleaning out their shanties. Houses are starting to move off the ice and the landing is the place to be here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Mandy and Brandy are helping out getting houses off the ice, Actually they are more of a distraction as they are both wearing some revealing bibs that are a tad to small. But hauling houses is a hard job for old guys like us and sometimes we need motivation. The last snow we got has made it just about perfect for the ATV's to haul houses down the access roads to the cabins. Kind of a carnival going on as the Town Hall was the first to come up the landing and that replacement tire we bought this winter with the help of Foot has gone flat again. So it is the center of attention as several of the membership are working over a bottle and trying to decide what should be done. As for me I'm just sitting and watching, you can learn a lot by just sitting and watching. Maybe that's what we do when we get older we sit and we watch and we nod cuz we have been there and done that. Or we know someone who has. Guess that is why we can show the young ones how to do things right cuz we learned by doing it wrong already! Kind of like you are young and it takes you forever to ask a girl out, then you find out the worst thing they can say is no and if you are lucky it might be the best thing for some of them. Then when you find out it is no big deal to ask them you find that you are married and some one else has decided that you will not be talking to the ladies. Of course you find this out when you are old but if you were young and knew this then you would have the problem solved. But then again that is more then likely why I am sitting here smoking a cigar and watching the houses come off the ice. A good time to solve the worlds problems. Of course some of my better ideas come when I am sitting for hours in a deer stand but then by the time I get down and back to the shack I have forgotten the questions to the answers that I found.. Hmmmm O well have a good day and be safe on the ice.

[Bobby Bass]

Well sitting on the dock this morning and things are pretty quiet. A few inches of snow fell over night and everything is covered and clean looking. There is no trace of what was Lake Iwanttobethere winter's town. Shanties are all up and off the lake and some fine tuning is already being done by the diehards who can't wait for next years ice. Now we settle in for the wait for open water fishing, but there is always something going on here. As soon as that first 50 degree days comes the paint cans will be out and the local business owners will be touching up. Can't wait till season starts for that, just no time. High school graduation will be here in a few months also and then the kids will have one last summer here at Lake Iwanttobethere before they have to go off into the world. It will be there last real summer off for a long time. Something special about a new snowfall, everything is so clean again, not like in the city where even the thought of snow brings out the trucks to spread their stuff on the streets, don't take long and all the streets are just dirty trails connecting each other. Not like here where you can go out at noon and take a walk in the sunshine and look at tracks and only see nature and your own foot prints behind you. Guess that is one of the many reasons why I live here year round. Well I am going to relax for a while longer here before I have to brush the snow off the wood pile and bring in a few sticks for tonight. Going to have fish for supper tonight and I have started to go through the tackle boxes and see what is needed. Yesterday I oiled and cleaned all the guns, Can't forget to keep up with that stuff. Have a good day, Spring is only a few snowfalls away..

[Bobby Bass]

Great looking day here at Lake Iwannabethere sun is out and water is dripping off the eves. Just finished reading the morning paper I see most of the tracks on the lake have already melted as the paper is now being delivered by snowshoe. I think the paperboy is looking forward to open water to. Did have to take a break and find out what my lab Lady was barking at. She was way out by the road barking up a storm at RDJ-457 He had a flat tire and was just getting his car down from the jack when Lady spotted him. RDJ-457 well his name used to be Paul but he could not get one of them personalized license plates so he changed his name.. Anyway I see high school hockey playoffs are in full swing another sign of Spring. I know having the sun up longer everyday is a good sign. One of the locals had to go to the hospital this morning, seems he was welding on his four wheeler yesterday afternoon and he was wearing his welding mask but the light bounced off the new snow and got in around his mask. Woke up this morning and could not see. Called out to his wife and used his special name to cover all girlfriends as he was not sure, glad she still answers to Honey. Just another thing that you have to watch out when you are young and try to fix stuff yourself. I am not as bad as Mr. Green and duct tape everything together. I just let someone else fix it. But I'll tell ya what does work good is that new clear duct tape I put some of that on a broken lense cover and it works great. Frank the plow driver was by yesterday also. He is starting to push mud around as the dirt roads are melting in the sunshine, We had a talk and he told me that he is close to deciding on which road he is going to screw around with this Spring. Things are kind of slow with no snow so he will pick a road and just keep grading it all day long, Says he enjoys watching the high schoolers bottoming out and some of the hand waving he sees can be interesting at times. He used to put warning barrels out but they kept getting stolen to be used as bobbers here on Lake Iwanttobethere. I see as a tribute to FOOT the entire flock of pink flamingos has been moved to his front yard, they sure do stick out against the snow. Well I see Mark the mailman is heading this way, I might as well meet him halfway, looks like the slush is getting a tad deep out there. Have a good one

[Bobby Bass]

Just got home from breakfast down at the Dew Drop Inn they have that morning special that I like to have at least twice a week. Back when I was young I would stop there after a night out with the boys and enjoy an early breakfast, now that I am a tad older I stop and have a breakfast there when I know I will not be cooking for the rest of the day. They still make breakfast the way it was meant to be made down there. This morning I had a platter of ham covered with American fries, two eggs and two pieces of toast with jelly and a coffee cup that never got empty, all that for just 1.99 And they still do it the old way, hand peeled taters, local eggs and MN ham... Yup, no need for lunch today... Of course a big reason to head to the Dew Drop is the conversation before and after your meal, A lot of talk of Kirby Pucket a local favorite around here. Many an afternoon has been spent with the sounds of summer baseball and Kirbbbbyyyyy Puckettttttt's name echoing across Lake Iwanttobethere. Kirby spent a few days here from time to time. Not a great fishermen but he sure made everyone around him lite up. There are very few people around who can do that. Sure wish we had more that could. Makes you think of what you could be doing different to help make others people days brighter. Every notice how that kind of rubs off, like that commercial on TV where someone opens the door for someone and it starts a chain reaction of good deeds.... Well it can stop snowing anytime now, this getting a few inches everyday is enough, it's just going to melt anyway, will be water in the swamps this spring it looks like which means some warm water run off to start fishing with. I have my eye on a few back bays that should be hot with some decent spring weather. I had some time to kill the other day so I was at Gander Mountain. Checking out lures and making a mental list of what I need. The way I see it I just treat GM as my big tackle box, As long as I know what is there it will be there when I need it. This way I don't have to keep it all here where it would just get in the way of all the stuff I already have. So the first week of March is out of the way, will be rotating the reading material out in the out house soon, time to take the ice fishing stuff out and refresh myself on Spring tactics. Another nice thing about the days getting longer is that you can read a little longer to!

[Bobby Bass]

Gee more snow here at Lake Iwanttobethere been a crazy winter but it seems all winters are crazy when you are headed toward Spring. Sitting here looking out over Lake Iwanttobethere it is pretty quiet, about 6 inches of wet heavy snow cover everything is sight and the trees are hanging a tad low. Wind has started to kick up and that is making it hard to see much farther then the end of the dock. Lady my Lab was out running with my other Lab Sadie for awhile there. The old girls look like kids playing in the snow. Now they are resting here in the den both of them just on their sides with one eye open to make sure they are not missing anything. Desk is covered here in catalogs, just looking at what is needed to keep the tackle boxes full. Also peeking at a few new lures and wondering what I should pick up. So many colors to choose from and you know you have to buy at least two of each new one in case it is a good one and you lose it you got to have a back up. I really should go out and plow but it is the middle of March and odds are it will melt tomorrow so I think I'll just sit here and browse catalogs. Should make a do list but that sounds to much like work to. I know there are always things to do but like my old friend Capt. Swanson would say " work will always be there, let's go fishin". I used to think that a man should never have to go to work till he was 50 or so. Then after he hits 50 then he can work to support the young fellers who are out fishin and hunting and snowmobiling and racing and all those things that a healthy young body should be doing. But now that I am over 50 I think it is a better idea that I should be doing the fishing and a hunting in a relaxed orderly way. No rush I'll get to it one of these days. So me and the girls will sit here gazing out the window and watch the snow fall and the wind make it swirl. Their tracks are already covered and I have enough wood by the door that I don't need to go out. So from the shores of Lake Iwanttobethere have a nice day and be patient Spring, is coming..

[PEATMOSS]

Bobby, hi neighbor. I've enjoyedreading your posts, especially your back and forths with FOOT. Sorta reads like a Pat Mcmannus book.I could really relate to FOOTS' situation, having lived down in southern Mn. until moving north about 5 yrs ago. Weekdays down there were spent working and dreaming of Lake Iwanttobethere. At least every other friday, we'd pack the truck, load the boys in the backseat and head north. 5 hours of white knuckle, teeth gnashing driving later, the wife and I weren't on speaking terms and the boys were in a duffle bag bunjied to the back bumper. Had to balance "family time" with fishing for a day and a half then join the caravan back south.No more.

I don't actually live on Lake Iwanttobethere but I can get there and have my boat launched in about a half hour. I live in a log house in the woods about a couple blocks from the public access of Loon Poop lake.You know the one I'm talking about?....Quiet little clear lake with lily pads around 3/4 of the shorline, loaded with hungry retarded bass.On any given nightyou're likely to be the only person fishing the lake...'cept for that old couple fishing sunnies off their pontoon and that kid pitching a daredevil off the dock.

Things are sure different up here, or maybe I've changed...who knows? My job isn't quite as prestegious as the one I had down south...paycheck is about 1/3 smaller too. The toys on my toy list seem to take longer to get bought, but the ones in my shed get used alot more.If the weather is really crappy, I just read a book or take a nap and rest up for fishing tommorrow.I continue to learn and pick up things from my friends and neighbors. I've learned that the word tourist is actually pronounced t'rist...kinda like George Bush says terrorist.The word also always requires an adjective preceeding it. I'd give an example, but forum policy dictates that I do not.

Well Bobby, keep the reports coming as Ihave already read all of Mcmannus' books several times.I'll be up on Lake Iwanttobethere for walleye opener......wave when you see the ugliest 19' blue boat on the water!!!

[Bobby Bass]

Welcome to Lake Iwanttobethere Peatmoss always glad to hear from someone in the area. With the loss of Foot this thread is starting to sound like a blog which was never it's intent. Was to be more of a never ending story about Lake Iwanttobethere I just got back from the car wash down at four Conners, decided it was time to wash the brown Jeep, that is until I washed if off and found out I had been driving the White Jeep. The four corners car wash has added a seniors door, didn't know what it was till I used it today. Seems instead of a minute the door stays open two minutes, now you actually have time to get out and open the car wash door and get back to the Jeep without rushing. I agree with you on several points you bring up things are at a different pace here at Lake Iwanttobethere or maybe it's just us. I brought the labs to the Vet the other day and it might be an attitude. The girls strolled in like they own the place, did a walk around, ignored a poodle and a frisky puppy to return and lay on my feet. Both of them with one eye open and the other closed. I don't know if they are to lazy to keep them both open or not tired enough to close them both. After there check up and clean bill of health it was back to the jeep to get there reward, a cheeseburger from the Dew Drop Inn then home for a nap. That time of year when the ice is getting soft but still lots of snow on the ground. Everyday seems to bring a new fishing catalog or a seed catalog. Honey do list gets added to but nothing is getting scratched off. Good time to just stand and look out over the lake and take it easy. Like you say it will all still be here tomorrow. I'll be looking for you on opener. Just make sure that when you wave you use all of your fingers !! From Lake Iwanttobethere Morning