Progress Report : Eagle Claw Inline Ice Reel

Well, I have been able to hit the lake a few times and have some reviews that I need to write up, And have had time to test some previously reviewed gear. Today I decided to sell the Eagle Claw reels. After using them a few times, I feel that they are an improvement overthe original "fly reel" craze reels like the okuma's and Procast's, But I think they have some things they need to improve before I fully commit to them.

1) the line piles to one side after a couple retrieves from deep water. Unless your paying attention all the time I feel this could lead to some problems with the line skipping off the spool. (this was what I experienced). I was able to offset the reel to one side a little bit and get it to lay on the center but it felt awkward.

2) The offset weight, the handle side of the reel is heavy and causes the rod to twist in hand

3) How it takes a 1/4 to 1/2 turn of the handle to disengage the free spool. This also lets the spool bounce when jigging heavier lures and felt just plain bad in hand when jigging.

So if your looking to try them out  I have one left for sale at $30.00 shoot me an email at EKCUSTOMRODS@GMAIL.COM

Tight lines!

-EK

Product Review - The new Eagle Claw Inline Ice Reel

A few weeks back a new reel popped up on the market. Rumor had it; it was a lightweight Multiplier reel, Was low cost, and limited. Limited meaning each store that got them had 6. By the time I heard about it the local store was out. I was bummed but put out the word amongst the many Iceheads I hang out with or talk to that I wanted to get my hands on one. The next day I got word that Eagle claw was clearing out units without box’s at half off retail. Again, they only had three hundred so time was crucial. I didn’t get around to calling till the next morning, the conversation went as follows….
Rep: Thanks for calling Eagle Claw, How can I help you?
Me: I need a few of those inline ice reels
Rep: let me look and see if there is any left.
5 Minutes later-
Rep: I have two, no more, no less
Me: I’ll take em!

Fast forward a few days I open the door to find my new Shiny reels in the mailbox. First impression was that It was a well put together reel compared to other eagle claw stuff. Step two was to change the retrieve over to how I reel. I looked in the bag, no instructions. I had known from previous reels that there had to be a one way bearing in the reel.  I set out to find it starting on the outside of the reel and working my way in. Within 5 minutes I was able to have them both reversed, Super simple. More later…..
Now onto the review.

Let’s start with the Pros –

Large rubber handles
•   This is great for guys who wear gloves, or guys with cold hands. Not necessarily hard to grab small handles with cold hands but
larger is better.
•   Also a double handle like most baitcasters.

2.6:1 Retrieve rate
•   This is most likely the #1 reason most people sought out to get this reel.
•   This feature aids in fishing deep water for gamefish, but also aids in the ability to stop jig spin.

Free Spool
•   Awesome feature that gives the angler the option to let a jig drop down the hole without having to peel line off by hand.
•   Simple to use, just push button in and line goes out, No flipping a bail open
•   Adjustable for light and heavy jigs

Cons

Weight
•   Although light weight the reel is balanced off center and tends to pull the line to one side where it will pile on the spool.
•   Feels “weird” in the hand, almost like the rod wants to twist
Feeling in hand
•   The way the spool is set up when pencil gripping the spool side of the reel rubs on the heal of your hand when reeling.
•   Might be better if the spool wasn’t ribbed on the edge, this would allow the spool to glide across the skin much like a normal fly reel does.

Drag
•   Not easy to set
•   Takes extra pressure to get the drag to work
•   Not a wide adjustment range

Reel foot length
•   Could be longer for the best feel

Conclusion:
If one is looking for a low price solution to the normal 1:1 retrieve ratio, this reel may be it. No real info has been provided on whether or not they will have more next year, or even later this year.

To change the reel from right to left or vise versa one must take these steps

1. Remove free spool knob and spring
2. Remove retaining screw and retaining plate from reel handle
3. Remove reel handle nut
4. Remove drag knob and two spring washers
5. Remove bearing and one way bearing, turn one way bearing 180 degrees
6. Replace, and re assemble.

Striker Brands - Striker Ice Mitt Review

Striker Brands – Striker Ice Mitts

Product Review – 09/29/2012

A few weeks back (during the Olympics) Striker Brands LLC was running a contest on their Facebook page. The deal was to see who could recommend the most people and get the most people to like the Striker page.  I ended up winning and getting a pair of the Striker Ice mitts.

Fast forward a week or two later and I get a package in the mail.

First impressions – The Mitts fit well and seemed very well constructed. They slid on easy and were adjustable in the wrist as well as up the cuff to keep water and cold air out. The knuckle section on the top of the mitt is padded and looks to be re enforced. One other Positive is that on the Velcro wrist strap they have added a Giant elastic loop for tightening. I think this will work great when cinching down the wrist to keep the mitt tight. I also noticed that the top of the mitt has a small zippered pocket. I want to say this is for a small hand warmer pouch, for the really cold days.

Now I only found one negative about the mitt.  The zippered pouch on the top of the mitt is small and awkward since it butts right up against the Velcro cinch on the wrist.

I took the time to find the stats on the Mitt from Striker Brands web page. They are as follows –

      Waterproof and breathable

      150g Thermadex insulation

      Ergonomic fit

      Easy on/off design

      Velcro pull closure large enough to use with mitts on

      Integrated pockets on the top of hand for heat packs

All in all this Mitt is very well designed and looks very durable. I hope to have the New "Climate" suit in hand within a few weeks to give a full review on as well! I cannot wait for first ice. Please visit  Http://www.strikerice.com to check out the full line of gear from striker!

-EK

Memories 7/16/2012

Mindy had to work tonight, and Zoey Zonked out on me around 8:30. I took this time in between to sit down and finish my homework for the week, after that I was walking through the house and noticed a fishing pole that I had started last year and never taken the time to finish.

This week was a stressful week to say the least, I picked up a part time job, so now my day consists of rod orders, work, daddy daycare, school, and family time. So I welcomed the alone time to sit down at my wrapper and work on a personal rod project.

Now as crazy as life has been it seem like the moment I sit down to wrap a rod all of it goes away. I end up in a zone and all I can think about is past memories of life lessons in the outdoors. Im not sure if its the way the thread lays on a rod or the way the powder turns from dust to a glosssy finish on a hot jighead, but something about it is tranquil. Tonight while sitting there wrapping the rod, I had ice fishing in the brain, who wouldnt with all this heat we have had this summer. Anyway, A memory I would like to share with you guys is the first one that popped into my head tonight. I was young, Im not sure when it happened or even where it happened. All I remember is I was out on the lake with Dad and my Godfather, otherwise known as "Uncle Lynn". I remember that dad had one of those houses that had a plywood floor and two plywood ends and a blue tarp for a roof. I believe now days they are called an Ontario Style house. Dad had taken the time to set up the house and get the holes marked, after that they slid the house off the holes and started drilling, this was the days before power augers, and as a matter of fact I still have that same old blue mora hanging in the garage that was used that day. Being a kid Im not sure if I was bored, excited or chasing something around the lake, all I know is I remembered those famous words still heard on lakes today, "Watch out for the holes". You guessed it......in went the foot, calf, knee, and finally stopping at the thigh. I remember dad grabbing me and throwing me into the old chevy pickup and turning it on and blasting the heat. Down came the house, all the gear loaded back into the truck, and off for home we went.

The next memory to come to mind was another with Uncle Lynn, this time we had taken a family vacation up to the Duluth area. We went with Lynn as well as my godmother Sally, After spending the night in Duluth we headed north to twig to stay at a very nice little cottage, well at least I remember it looking like a cottage on the lake. I remember that the lady who owned it was a friend of my godparents. Either way, I remember being on the dock with Lynn, Im not sure if he was fishing or if we caught anything but I remember him handing me a pole and casting it out. Being young I remember hooking something and pulling and pulling as hard as I could, I remember a snap as the line broke and running up to the house to tell Lynn about the huge fish that broke my line. Looking back on it now and remembering how silly I must have been telling my fisherman's tale, It was definitely a snag but back then......what a whopper!

Im not sure if its the fact that after Lynn passed away, I didnt see much of my godmother. Only to have come back into my life in the last six months. Or if its just the fact that Im a dad now that I am starting to remember this when Im at the wrapper and relaxed, But I welcome the memory's of lifes lessons.

I hope you enjoyed my little story's and I hope to have more time one of these days to get back to the blog and write some more. Either way, the rod is almost done, and is properly being dubbed "Casey" for Uncle lynns faithful companion.

Rest in peace, and I hope your Lines are tight Lynn! Wish I woulda had more time with ya!
Lynn Edward Bartsch 4-10-51 1-21-96

6/18 Kitty Fishing!

 I have been trying to get to catch my first Kitty for a while now and was finally able to last monday night. A friend of mine just happened to shoot me a PM with an offer of an open seat so I jumped on it. We set out about 5:15 from New Prague and we were on the water by 6. We headed down river and set up in a spot that looked promising with a good deep pool with some trees in it and a nice seem to toss some cut bait into.

We set out three lines one with cut bait, one with a plastic covered in a home made stink bait concoction, and a live bully. After getting the run down of the general plan for kitty fishing we were set to wait. Low and behold it was only a few minutes and we heard the clicker go off on the cutbait rod. Since I was new they let me have the honor of pulling in my first kitty, a healthy 18" or so channel cat.

After re setting the line about ten minutes later Scott pulled in his first of the night on the same rod, again a nice mid twenties channel cat.

We re set again, and had the same story for 4 more fish, all three of us got in on the action. We moved up river again working back to the landing and stopped in a few more places picking up another 3 channel cats, and some smaller flatheads. I also picked up a nice gar which was my first of that species as well.


Thanks for the fun trip Scott and Andy! Had a great time!

6/5/12 Bemidji Day Trip

Those of you who know me really well know that I'm a die hard online forum guy, I staff for a few, and post on them all. One site in particular I spend the most of my time on is Http://www.lakestatefishing.com . I've been a member there for a few years and also was promoted to a staff position at the end of last winter. Between the fishing reports, general banter, classifieds and local threads I also spend a lot of nights sitting in the chat-room chatting away with fellow fisherman. Many times myself and Matt Breuer have chatted about me coming up and chasing some fish with him, well about two weeks ago another member Jamie Owens asked me if I would like to head up there with him and just split the cost. Cant beat that.  We made the plans for the 5th and left it at that.
I left my place at 4 AM and met up with him in the metro at 5 AM after that the direction of the day was north. It was supposed to take us about 3 -3 1/2 hours to get up there, lets just say we has some issues between the gps not working correctly and a wrong turn. We finally hit clear water bait at about 9.....After a quick stop to get bait we headed to meet Matt. We got the boat in the water and headed out to a shallow bar mid lake and started drifting and jigging for eyes in about 5-8ft of water. Matt put one in the boat within minutes, we had one in the box.....Well I think Matt picked up another 2, while Jamie and myself had no such luck. We did however land some sumo Perch. We also spotted a nice musky lounging on the rocks collecting some sun, and saw a few more nicer fish swim by. Pretty neat to be able to sight fish Perch and Walleye's in early June, in Blistering heat and no waves.
The rest of the morning had us running back into the river and then running to the other end of the lake. Same story- shallow, clear water, we found a few more walleyes and a few good fighting pike before running out of minnows.

We then decided to hop over to another lake and chase pan fish. We searched some shallow cabbage and Lilly pads in 5-10 ft of water. The rigging of choice was light line with floats and lindy lil nippers. Tipped with a waxy. Again I didn't have the luck the fellas had but did tangle with a few Nicer fish. Matt landed a really nice crappie that came in around 13.5" and Jamie landed a couple nice Gills that hit over 10" on the tape. 

All in all It was nice to get up there finally and fish with Matt! Thanks for taking us out bud, and we will see you when the water is frozen! If your ever in the Bemidji area and wanna get on some fish be sure to give Matt a call, His contact info can be found at http://northcountryguides.com ,

So far this spring I have fished a handful of local lakes, Gull, and Bemidji. I think next up I will hit Mille Lacs, then it sounds like we will be taking a family trip to the Detroit Lakes area end of June. So watch for reports and tight lines!

EK

Tournament time!

Well Friday took off to Gull lake by Brainerd MN. The goal was to fish deep water pulling rigs and look for big fish right away and then finish up with smaller fish if we needed too. Well we ended up pulling rigs and jigging over some shallow water humps pulling up 14-20 inch fish almost all day saturday with 5 over the 15 inch minimum for weighing.
Sunday we hit the same area and pulled up three weighers right away. My Partner was just getting ready to change colors about ten oclock when BAM the rod almost flies out of his hand. He starts to play the fish and right away we think we found our 6 lb'er for the day. We get it boatside to find out its a 6lb fish just not a walleye lol. Ended up pulling a huge pike that in previous years would have most likely taken the big pike money. So the rest of the day we found some more 15 inch fish and finished out with 6 and a weight of 8.2 lbs

We ended up finishing 9th out of 42 teams with a weight of 16.11 lbs. Not bad for a rookie.....I look forward to fishing this tourney again next year and exploring gull some more. No Pictures as a replacement phone is on the way, the rain and stormy weather claimed my phone sunday and it is hashed.

Tight lines.
EK

We all have those days, Right?

Since the last entry I have been busy, busy, busy. Seems I have only had time to get out about 4 times in the last month. With it being as warm as it was a few weeks back I was finding fish and they were hungry, Anything that was blue/chartreuse was lights out. The following few weeks lead to a cold snap and rainy conditions. Which pushed the fish back out deep and eliminated about 80 percent of my shore spots.

Last week a buddy picked up a new boat and asked me to come along for its maiden voyage. We agreed to meet up and hit the water in the late morning. We started off trying to duck away from the wind but ended up just tolling the shoreline and fan casting jigs and plastics. Within a few cast's it was fish on, a 9-10" Largemouth, Out of season....lol I think I caught another 3 and we decided to move. We ended up hitting another area on the lake which is a shallow bowl between the upper and lower portion. Again we set up to fan cast and troll, first fish Was to my buddy, a small Pike that snapped him off right at the boat. Next up it was me with another bass. This was the story for the next two hours before we called it quits.

I should have some free time this weekend to get out and about and try to get some footage. It looks like cold weather and rain the next day or two then another warm up so we will see what happens.

I want to take a moment to mention the jig and plastic I have been using. The 1/16th oz Lindy Watsit has been providing good action for me so far, although it is a fairly Large bait I have been able to catch some nice sunfish and crappie on it. When they do reject it I have been switching to 1/64th - 1/80th home tied hair jigs in blue/chart which are also working great on those finesse days.

Walleye opener is just around the corner! Tight lines!

Ek

 Well My quarter at school is over so I have some free time. Been working on some rods lately so I thought I would put up some pictures. The first one is a test rod that is mostly leftovers that I wanted to try some new rod wrapping techniques along with adding decals to the rods. So far I like it I think the white blanks will make the decals easy to see and gives each rod that unique look.













The second set of rods are a set of 32" walleye rods, built on solid carbon blanks. They have 5" cork handles and are wrapped in stock colors. Nothing new with these but I thought they looked really nice. They will have Seymo "stand - off" single foot fly guides which should give them a unique touch.

the Seymo guides are very unique and are set off the blank just a hair. They are a great option when trying to keep things light weight.



Till next time, Tight lines!

EK

Lack of sleep, and slow fishing lol

Well, Finally had some time to sit down and write an entry, Last week of the quarter for school then a nice three week break, The ice is melting and open water gear is getting dug out, and spring time BBQ and exercising is starting.

New PB 26"eye

About a week and a half ago I made the trek up to wonderful Lake of the Woods in the northcountry of Minnesota with a few new friends. Im a frequent visitor of the minnesota forums including Fishingminnesota.com and Lakestatefishing.com. Lake State has a chat room that gets hopping some nights and it was there that I met Matt Lardinois, through chatting with him for about a month we decided that it would fun to make a late season trip up so I could see what the hype was all about. We left the metro at about 9:30 Pm and drove all night making a stop at another member of the groups "cottage" for a few hours, then continued the drive to Baudette. If I remember right we pulled in about 5:30 Am. We hit the tackle shop and got some breakfast getting out onto the lake at 7:00 am or so.
After getting settled in we started fishing, right away I pulled up two small eyes, one on each line and thought to myself "this is gonna be awesome". Shortly after it slowed way down lol. We got into a mess of tullibee after that and spent the rest of the afternoon catching fish in flurries and BS'ing about the finer things in life. Later in the after noon I hooked into my new PB pike which came in a hair short of 30", followed a few fish later by a new PB eye which was 26". That was the highlight of day one for me, seeing Casey go shoulder deep in the ice cold water to make sure I landed the fish. Thanks bud!
After dark it was supper consisting of fresh caught fish then sleep. Waking up in the morning I set a deadstick down only to hook into a nice 23" eye for the first fish of the day. Casey was still in bed so His dad helped me land this brute! after that the wind picked up and the tullibees moved back in. We left around 4PM and headed back stopping to get malts at a small town gas station and then finishing the drive. I pulled in my driveway shorty before midnight and unpacked.
All in all this was one of the best fishing trips I have ever had regardless if it was "slow". Thanks for the invite Matt and I hope to get out again soon with ya!
Now whats new in the shop? Sent out a couple laker rods to a Northern MN guide and Photographer last week, as well as started some new "Walleye" rods for myself. Hopefully with this break I have coming I can get some stuff organized after the winter and everything being thrown around the table.

Ive also started shooting some video, as well as started dieting and exercising so I look forward to reporting my story of how that goes! Tight lines and good times!

EK

03/02/12 Late Ice already

 Well, Late ice is upon us already, what a short year it was. Not much going on with me lately, havent been out in a week, weve had a ton of crazy weather and Ive been waiting for it to level out a bit. But, with temps in the 50's locally next week, it might be over down here. On the positive side, I will be heading up to Lake of the Woods on the 6th, for some late season walleyes, and hopefully some bonus fish.
Been stockpiling new gear to try out up there as well, First of which is the Humminbird Ice 55, I was able to sell my Fl22 for about the same price I paid for it and decided I would give the bird 55 a try along side the LX7. So far it seems like a solid unit and from what I have seen of them from fellow fisherman it will do everything I want it to!

Should have more info on it after I get back from the big lake next week.
Next up is something I think is very cool and will help with the blog as well as promotions. I picked up a Gopro hero Hd action sports camera. Pair this up with the other cams I have and its never ending mounting options and I should be able to get some good fishing and hunting videos. I cant wait to get this thing on the water and put it through the paces. The time lapse feature is one that I think I will use a ton.

Well thats just a "whats new" from me for the time being hopefully we get a few more weeks of ice but the way the weather is.....

Tight Lines!

Here is a short video featuring some of the updated features....

New toy 02/08/12

So those of you that know me, Know that last year I picked up a Marcum Lx5. From the hype that it received I thought it would be the perfect upgrade from my old but trusty Vexilar FL8. As soon as I got it home I took it out fishing only to find that it suffered from what was called "screen shifting" or in other words an uncalibrated motor.
After numerous emails and no reply and about 12 phone calls before I got an answer they told me I could either mail it in and wait up to three weeks for it to be fixed, or bring it in and drop it off with the same turn around. I wasnt happy.

I took the unit back to the retailer and switched it for a Vexilar Fl22 and had a great rest of the year with an awesome unit!

Now fast forward to September when I posted the entry about the LX7 from the thorne bros Portable mod GTG. Right away I was intrigued by the unit and spent a good amount of time ogling it. I did however had doubts due to the rough start I had with Marcum. Well after hearing about a few of the issues the original release units had with jumpy bottoms, inaccurate depth readings and no dynamic depth as originally promised. Of course I sat on the ice staring at my Vexilar smirking.....About a week ago I stumbled onto a forum that was boasting the v2.9 software upgrade that was available for them. Well After reading up on the update and seeing a few videos about it I decided to take a leap of faith and sell one of my Vexilars to pick up the LX7.

Monday I picked up my unit from a buddy and got home and played with it for a few hours in the kitchen Its so adjustable its almost too easy to make it what you want it to be. Tuesday Night I got out on some local water and was able to get it wet. All I can say is AMAZING.....the target id, and dynamic depth are the best features I found, but being able to run a full flasher dial with no dead space, an open water graphing mode, and a zoom window all in one on the 8 inch screen gives me an all around field of view of what the fish are doing below me.

IF you havent checked out a post upgrade LX7. I suggest you do.

Panfish Frenzy...1/28/12

Got out to a local lake Saturday morning with My buddies, Chris, and Adam. We got out early and got set up on a mid lake flat with a break to shallow water near. Right away we started snapping fish but they were all smaller than we were looking for. After about a half hour Chris and I took out some aggression on the lake with our augers and found fish up shallower in about 23'.







Chris kept drilling some more and I found a hole and hunkered down. Right away I found more bluegills but again small fish. After about ten minutes Chris started checking the fresh holes and was marking fish. within minutes he shouted over for me to open my shack door. He was holding a gill that was about 7-8" and said he was marking more. He went to grab Adam and his Otter while I hopped around a bit more. I finally set up about 10 feet behind them in my scout and went to work. First fish out of the hole was a decent 10" crappie. For the next two hours it was non stop action.  Chris got on the board right away as well with a nice little bass that put up a good fight.
Between 12 and 1 we did encounter a Lull it was as they just werent hungry anymore.

Now onto some other fun stuff, Ive been busy in the rod shop building some pretty cool fun rods one of which was a Red, White, and Blue rod that I built for a former classmate.  This rod was alot of fun to build just for the fact that it was something different from the solid Blues, and Blacks that I normally get requests for lol.

I also did some testing on a Prototype blank that I hope to make available next winter as a Production rod. I was able to test it out on the ice saturday and liked how it felt. I look forward to getting more time with it and working out all the kinks!

Until later, Tight lines. Looks like we have a warm up coming and everyone needs to slow down and be safe out there!

Perch!

12" Cutting Board.

Well Friday marked what will most likely be my last day on the ice for the next week or so.
I had received yet another "hot" tip on a perch and walleye bite on a local lake. So I gave my brother Joe a call and asked if he was in? Now due to the High temps and winds the last few days he was skeptical to the ice conditions and a first hesitated, which I understand, but after a little chatting back and fourth he went for it.

Now I was skeptical as well so on the way to drop zoey off at her grandparents, we decided to make a detour to the lake we planned on hitting. When we got to the landing there was a few wheelers and even a small truck parked on the lake.  We got out and walked to an open hole and checked the thickness, 7-8 inches, Good to go.

I dropped Zoey off and headed to get bait and wait for Joe, About 15 minutes later we were at the landing getting ready to head out. We set up on the deeper side of a break starting at about 10 foot and dumping down into an inside turn that was 18 foot. Right away we marked fish. I dropped down my bobber rig and then went for the jigging rod. First drop, about 30 seconds of jigging and I hooked a perch. Sweet! So we had fish in our holes, and were having fun talking. Joe and I both ended up catching fish on the new Lindy Bug, and Lindy toad, I cant say enough about how nice the new Lindy jigs are! If your in the bait shop and are buying jigs pick up an assortment of them. I have not used any other jig on my rods this year!

From the time we got to the lake til about 3 hours later the action was pretty much non stop, but about 3:30 the bite just stopped.....Nothing. We waited till about 4:00 Jumping from hole to hole trying but came up empty and decided to head out. 

So look for reports in the next week or so from the rod shop but Hopefully I can find an hour or so to sneak out!

Tight lines,

EK

Today was Humbling to say the least, I hit a local lake that Is a no fail lake, I only wanted to be out for a few hours. On my way to the lake I drove by an area that has been great for pig gills for me in the past and noticed there was no one around, Only trouble is its a long, long, walk to the spot, I figured eh, what the heck, why not. I get to the landing look around there is a few people out, suns coming over the horizon and just a crisp cold feeling in the air. I grab my gear and Head out.

By the time I got to my spot I look at the GPS an notice it was a 1.4 mile walk lol. One way......For me thats saying dedication. Take a minute to breathe, get to work punching holes. I set up on a weed bed that was about 100 yards in wither direction and drilled about 40 holes. Checked every hole......NOTHING......By the time I had checked all my holes and fished a few I had already killed an hour.

I moved about 150 yards to the shoreline and start drilling out some areas of the seeds that had holes in them. This time I ended up with one gill that came in at 6 1/2", and 4 10-11 inch crappies...I packed up and headed back up the lake.

Finally Got back to the other end and decided to check a rock pile out. The pile measures about 20 foot by 10 foot and starts at 5 feet deep going down to 10 feet on either side. 25 holes later I get out the vex. Found em......sort of.......Gills but not the gills I was after. Either way when I did find them

they were aggressive.

The last thing I wanna talk about is gear, Today And yesterday (waiting for the video to finish getting edited before adding an entry) I used a couple graphite rods, normally Im a Powernoodle, See the bite type of guy. But the graphite rods are amazing! Lindy bug's and Toad's, New this year, Have been Lights out in the green black color for me, I havent been to a lake yet that they didnt catch fish. Also yesterday I tried out a slender spoon (another thing I have had Limited success with in the past) and that was awesome as well
so I guess you could say that this guy has some new tricks, the sensitivity of the new graphite rods is nothing short of amazing compared to years past, so get on out there and get your hands on one!

Tight lines guys!

Part 2 of 12/24 and 12/26 report

Onto part two! I had been chatting back and fourth with Travis Kratcha on facebook all fall trying to set up an Ice outing with him. We finally connected on 12/26. We hit a local lake that is supposed to have some big crappies in it. We set it up the night before and agreed to meet at the landing of said lake at 11:00, Oops I think I got there at 11:15 or so and headed out onto the Ice. Made it out about 100 yards to where Travis was fishing and chatted a bit with him.

He had drilled a few holes and nailed some gills right off the bat, Nothing huge but some decent "eaters", I flipped on the vex and went hopping around, every hole had fish, all bluegills. I got down to it and was catching fish as well. I looked over my shoulder and Travis shouted that he had a crappie, This got me excited, My neighbor has a couple crappies from this lake hanging on the wall of his house...About five minutes later he stated that he couldnt believe that was a rogue crappie. I moved to a new hole and marked a fish suspended off bottom, dropped down, Bam! 11 incher! I laughed and said, it wasnt alone......Or so we thought, that was the only two crappies caught all day, nothing but gills, for me the rest of the day but Travis hooked into a small walleye later in the day.....

I look forward to more adventures with Mr. Kratcha! It was a fun day on the lake getting to know him a little bit.

Tight lines!

12/23 and 12/26 Last trips of 2011

Thursday morning a few buddies and I decided to hit some new water, we got to the lake and headed out on foot, We were on a rice county lake looking for anything that would bite. I had gotten a lead on a good spot from a buddy who's parents live on the lake. After checking the ice a few times because it was so clear you couldnt tell the thickness, we started setting up. I had drilled a circle of holes and was checking them when I called my buddy Chris over to look at a return that was showing up on my vex. Within seconds of him walking over his Otter caught the wind and took off across the lake by itself. Chris and Another buddies dad took off after it while Adam and myself stayed behind to make sure we didnt lose anything else to the wind.

After that whole thing was over we decided to get around the point and out of the wind, Wise decision......We set up and fished a grid of about 30 holes the rest of the day. Chris and I hole hopped catching mediocre perch (6-9" ers), While Adam and his dad stayed in Chris's Otter.

We hung out and BS'ed till lunch when Adam and Chris grilled brats on the ice...then fished some more. I hung out till about 3 pm and headed out while they stayed and checked out the night bite....