1st Annual Catchin' Ice with BLC

[harvey lee]

All of my crappies have come on Ratsos,Shrimpos and plastic.I believe Matt has been on the same game as myself.Hope to see you there.

The sunfish Ive been getting on some of Custom Jigs and Spins stuff and Flutter bugs.I will also be trying some new Stealth jigs.Also,I have been using spikes and sometimes waxies.Hope this gives you a little help.

[Matt Johnson]

No need for crappie minnows in my opinion. Heck, I haven't even used a minnow for panfishing this winter. Maggots and plastics will work just fine. Bring along some eurolarva, they like small lately.

I hit the ice this morning with ernie21e (Matt) and Jeremy Cole to see if we could muster up a shallow water spot for the Get Together on Sunday. First off, nice to meet you Matt, always a pleasure teaming up with another FMer in search of pannies. We'll have to do that again sometime.

We found the sunfish and crappies relating off that first major break again out in about 15-18 feet of water. We started the morning off there just to play for a little while I know Matt landed a nice 12-inch crappie and we also picked up several more nice crappies and gills out on that spot.

However, later on Jeremy and I managed for find a spot in about 6-8 feet that was stocked full of sunfish (varied in size) and it should pay-off to be an excellent spot for Sunday. Shallow water is much easier to work with on beginners. And those fish were ultra-aggressive!

For those of you looking for join up with us on Sunday just look for the big white tent, that'll be us!

See everyone on Sunday!

[hawkeye43]

Matt, Sorry I didnt get there wed. I needed to get work done by thursday. But I help on Sunday anyway I can or bring anything you need.

[Matt Johnson]

Not a problem Ken. I'll be up on Rush Lake tomorrow and Saturday, so I won't have Internet access until Saturday evening. I can get back to you then if you e-mail me, or else feel free to call and we can touch base about Sunday...

[ernie21e]

Thanks again Matt and Jermey, for the outing wed. I had fun. I am going to try to make it Sun.

[Borch]

What a great time!

Lots of people despite the winds and cold. The bite ws very tough but there were a few fish caught and lots of stories told. Here are a few photos from the event.

It sure was nice having a wind break!

Well the electronics show us they were they even if they didn't want to bite.

Everyone was getting in the action!

Nice one!

[Team Otter]

Indeed it was!

Nice job Matt.

[hanson]

What a great day to be on the ice! We encountered severe cold front conditions that definitely shut the fish down. Wind was howling around 30mph most of the day and the snow was coming in sideways! Thats Minnesota for you. It would have been nice of you Matt to round up some nicer weather for the event but I know thats a tall order.

Besides the weather, I absolutely had a blast! There was a good contingent of FM Staff and members to help show our fellow BLC beginning ice fisherman how to catch a fish through a hole in the ice. I have to say, its normally not that hard but the weather really made the bluegills finicky.

Thanks Matt for organizing the event. You did a good job!

I can't wait for the 2nd Annual Catchin' Ice with BLC

[CrappieJohn]

Matt did a great job of organizing this event. It was indeed a good time. The weather played a couple trinks with the wind and cold, but things were in good hands.

It was nice to meet with so many of the staff there. I finally got to meet with two of my team members and actually fish with them. And it was nice to meet with so many of those who came to find out about this great sport.

Crappies seemed to be roaming around pretty much and for thos who braved the with to hop from hole to hole they were rewarded well. Corey Bechtold put on a clinic with his 2" PB minnows again. Sunfish teased those who, like me, parked and jigged in the confines of a heated portable. All of my fish came off Optic-glo and Optic Stealth jigs. Micro plastics were used on some, euros graced the others. Waxies too got some serious attention.

All in all I think this event was a good example of a well-thought-out, well organized get-together. My hat goes off to Matt for the extraordinary amount of work he did to get this to come off like it did. I'd also like to note that the large number of staff who showed up were proved that this FM Family is indeed a community of really great people.

[Matt Johnson]

What a great day! Yes, the weather threw a little curveball at us, but will still managed to heat things up!

A lot of students and faculty showed up to join in on the fun and a lot of laughs were shared by all. Several people caught their first fish through the ice, and I believe a couple people even caught their first fish ever! Very cool to see!

A big THANK YOU to all the staff and people who showed up to lend a helping hand, it would have never worked out the way it did without all of you there. I don't think I could have handled 75-100 people all at once

After the event several of us went back out in search of pannies, and like mentioned above by TO, hanson, and CrappieTom, we managed to pick up several crappies and sunfish. I think I spent way more time talking then I did fishing

I know Corey Bechtold landed a nice mess of crappies throughout the day, as did hanson.

BDR seemed to find fish where ever he went, he was catching fish non-stop all day long!

Again, it sure was nice to see the turn-out we did, despite the cold conditions. I believe we had over 20 FM staffers there and it was quite the site when we all set up for the afternoon bite after the event! A wall of FMer's!

So again, a huge thank you to all of you who helped out!

And yes, I'm also looking forward to the 2nd Annual "Catchin' Ice with BLC!!!"

[Matt Johnson]

Here's a pic from yesterday. Dave is from Texas and is here to play basketball for the college. Ice fishing is new to him and I know he was a little excited when he caught this fish ...

[Paul Waldowski]

Great picture and it pretty much sums up the mood of everyone at this event

Great job with putting this together Matt.

[Tyler Holm]

Dave from Texas has a contagious smile in that picture. I couldn't help but smile myself.

I’ve very glad to have made it over to this event. Mother Nature gave us a little challenge, but with everybody’s help, we still managed to catch a good number of fish.

I appreciate all the work you put into this event Matt, and others. I’m also looking forward towards the 2nd annual.

[hawkeye43]

You can't help but smile when you hear the kids that were yelling "Fish On", it takes you back to the time that you caught your fist fish. I think its more fun to watch someone catch their first fish than to catch them myself and I know thats why Matt did the get-together, to let others know how much fun icefishing can be even when its not so nice out.