IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Iowa => Ice Fishing Iowa => Topic started by: Agronomist_at_IA on Jan 16, 2021, 08:39 AM
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Who's going today?
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I am. Almost to Vics corner.
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I am. Almost to Vics corner.
Nice was thinking about going......might wait till tomorrow,...just got done with kids BBall
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Is there a tournament? The number of dudes tearing around with no shack is through the roof.
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There’s a big tourney on Emerson tomorrow. NAIFC
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Is there a tournament? The number of dudes tearing around with no shack is through the roof.
Yeah today and one tomorrow look on stan’s
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I deleted FB.
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I deleted FB.
LOL..I've never had FB because all it does is get a person into problems or issues. My wife has an account so I use it to access facebook market place and Look at bait shop reports.
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Facebook marketplace has gotten me into trouble several times. So I agree. But I deleted it because I'm an American and FB is anti-American.
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Facebook marketplace has gotten me into trouble several times. So I agree. But I deleted it because I'm an American and FB is anti-American.
Couldn't Agree more.
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So those of you who went/made it yesterday.
How was the access areas
How was the lake ice with snow
Was fishing worth a hoot?
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I was on Emerson. Crusted over slush in places with water underneath, one place the water was over 12" deep, got a couple of wet feet. Hardly any snow. Fishing was fantastic. Of course conditions may be different on other lakes.
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We're guys using wheelers yet? Ice still pretty safe or issues with it?
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Quads and sleds everywhere being annoying, tearing around, making noise. Fishing a hole for 5 minutes then taking off.
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Quads and sleds everywhere being annoying, tearing around, making noise. Fishing a hole for 5 minutes then taking off.
Yeah that's the tournament.....I'm still debating on going today....I might just relax since my back is soar/tweeted yet...,then go on Monday.
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Do you not have a job?
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Do you not have a job?
I did have a good one till there was a reduction enforce due to corona virus. Was laid off and got a good severance. I’ve had a lot of interest and interviews. Once you get to the hiring part for my field it’s the same.....we are putting the job on hold for now or the company has a hiring freeze. So hopefully with grain prices higher this Corona goes away and people start hiring. Being over qualified for jobs = nobody will hire you for a less job knowing you’ll be short term. Money isn’t an issue....just get board not working.
Sucks, but just enjoying the down time. My only gripe is not having 14+ inches of ice to get my wheel house out.
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I did have a good one till there was a reduction enforce due to corona virus. Was laid off and got a good severance. I’ve had a lot of interest and interviews. Once you get to the hiring part for my field it’s the same.....we are putting the job on hold for now or the company has a hiring freeze. So hopefully with grain prices higher this Corona goes away and people start hiring. Being over qualified for jobs = nobody will hire you for a less job knowing you’ll be short term. Money isn’t an issue....just get board not working.
Sucks, but just enjoying the down time. My only gripe is not having 14+ inches of ice to get my wheel house out.
That sucks.
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That sucks.
Eh....yes & no. I mean the time off to fish, hunt, and farm has been nice. Being able to actually use all the toys a guy bought....very nice. Not dealing with every bodies problems....nice. Just how ag goes...being patient for the right opportunity.
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I'd lose my mind if I couldn't go to work. I love work.
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I'd lose my mind if I couldn't go to work. I love work.
You're a strange, strange man :roflmao:
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You're a strange, strange man :roflmao:
You sound like my mother and my wife.
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I'd lose my mind if I couldn't go to work. I love work.
Oh it sucks not having a Job. Fall was nice got to do plenty of farming. Once that was done hunting and fishing... I do get very stir crazy....but not much you can do when nobody is hiring. So enjoy the time I guess.
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Fall would have killed me. I would have shot some deer, killed 100 pheasants then wondered what now. Work keeps me from having to duct tape the freezer shut like back when I was single.
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Fall would have killed me. I would have shot some deer, killed 100 pheasants then wondered what now. Work keeps me from having to duct tape the freezer shut like back when I was single.
By the time combine, tillage and all that was done....there was time for deer and pheasants....coulda used a bit more for early bow though
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I didn't grow up on a farm so I find all that boring. No way would I sit in a tractor all day.
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I didn't grow up on a farm so I find all that boring. No way would I sit in a tractor all day.
Lol...you can tell if that’s what you think farming is. That be comparable to saying....I ‘d hate be an NBA player....you’d dribble all game.
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Lol...you can tell if that’s what you think farming is. That be comparable to saying....I ‘d hate be an NBA player....you’d dribble all game.
Broken stuff... broken stuff as far as the eye can see.
Hey, I haven't used this corn sheller in 3 years... and it's somehow broken now, despite being fine last time we used it. :roflmao:
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I know what farming is. I was my father in law's unhired man. I worked without pay.
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I know what farming is. I was my father in law's unhired man. I worked without pay.
I see what your trying to say....but thats just labor......it's like a guy flipping burgers calling himself a chef. sure he flipped and cooked a burger....but he isn't a chef that planned, timed and cooked a full course meal. It's like the guy pounding nails in the cathedral........sayin g he built it....sure he "built it" but he didn't plan, designing or figure out the stuff that matters.
If it's a small farm operation there isn't much to it......but when you have scale.....it gets pretty complicated. Making sure everyone is effecient for fuel, labor, machine hrs, and time. Timing things at harvest to fill contracts.....not harvesting to wet or to dry. Keeping trucking to a minnimum & trucking to the right place for the better price. Contracting fuel having it delivered to the fuel shuttles. Shipping or selling the grain....fertilizer pricing chem programs.
For example this fall/winter prepay, Having the connections and time to help with the pricing and negotiating.....I was able to shave $15,000 cost of the chem side for next year $20,000 off soybean seed purchases, and another $12,000 off seed corn purchases. Then the negotiation on when to pay vs when they want.....another $10,000 saved in less interest. All done while driving a tractor with GPS guidance.
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Broken stuff... broken stuff as far as the eye can see.
Hey, I haven't used this corn sheller in 3 years... and it's somehow broken now, despite being fine last time we used it. :roflmao:
OMG.....is that not the truth.....you put stuff away or in the shed in good working condition.....they you pull it out and are like.....**censored**....
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I see what your trying to say....but thats just labor......it's like a guy flipping burgers calling himself a chef. sure he flipped and cooked a burger....but he isn't a chef that planned, timed and cooked a full course meal. It's like the guy pounding nails in the cathedral........sayin g he built it....sure he "built it" but he didn't plan, designing or figure out the stuff that matters.
If it's a small farm operation there isn't much to it......but when you have scale.....it gets pretty complicated. Making sure everyone is effecient for fuel, labor, machine hrs, and time. Timing things at harvest to fill contracts.....not harvesting to wet or to dry. Keeping trucking to a minnimum & trucking to the right place for the better price. Contracting fuel having it delivered to the fuel shuttles. Shipping or selling the grain....fertilizer pricing chem programs.
For example this fall/winter prepay, Having the connections and time to help with the pricing and negotiating.....I was able to shave $15,000 cost of the chem side for next year $20,000 off soybean seed purchases, and another $12,000 off seed corn purchases. Then the negotiation on when to pay vs when they want.....another $10,000 saved in less interest. All done while driving a tractor with GPS guidance.
Wow, with all that money saved the farm might actually end up in the black.
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Anyone have any actual fishing information like is the water between the levels of ice starting to freeze? Some places there wasn't any but some places had 10-12" of really cold water between the frozen slush on top and the ice.
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OMG.....is that not the truth.....you put stuff away or in the shed in good working condition.....they you pull it out and are like.....**censored**....
Yeah, the corn sheller just came to mind because it seemed like that thing was broken everytime it needed used.
I'm not a farmer and none of my family farms anymore (last little bit of the family land got sold off in the early 2000s) but used to help out when I was a kid, and worked on a few friends' farms. Shelling corn and cutting thistles out of alfalfa were always the worst, imo... mostly because I hate snakes, and there were almost always snakes involved in those activities 😬
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Wow, with all that money saved the farm might actually end up in the black.
If you manage things right in a business like farming u never actually make money. When you make money it just gets reinvesting in assets to keep from paying a bunch of taxes. Hence why most farmers go to the day they die..Asset rich/cash poor......then Uncle Sam gets a windfall of tax money at the end....Death and taxes right. It comes down to stupid stuff like this.....should I pay taxes.....or should I pay for fuel, chemical, seed, and machinery I’ll need later.
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Anyone have any actual fishing information like is the water between the levels of ice starting to freeze? Some places there wasn't any but some places had 10-12" of really cold water between the frozen slush on top and the ice.
I went with a buddy yesterday....he wanted to fish the south end of spirit....heard there was a good perch bite.
Well we got out at 7AM. Drove out to a 20ft area. Ice was probably 12-15in in spot we drilled. The snow slush on top of the ice there was all froze solid. Drove a 4 wheeler out with shack in tow. Marked a ton of fish...had a few light bites. Didn’t catch any. Wind was 30mph and about blowing the shack away so we packed up and left at noon. Was a pretty good lake/ground blizzard
Drove out of the spillway. The left side was refrozen and solid. Right side with cones still had an open water hole.
Driving hole few guys north of ritz. Smiths had a round 15shacks. Ice looked ok there from road.
Didn’t see or look but heard emerson was still a mess and had a few open spots yet.
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If you manage things right in a business like farming u never actually make money. When you make money it just gets reinvesting in assets to keep from paying a bunch of taxes. Hence why most farmers go to the day they die..Asset rich/cash poor......then Uncle Sam gets a windfall of tax money at the end....Death and taxes right. It comes down to stupid stuff like this.....should I pay taxes.....or should I pay for fuel, chemical, seed, and machinery I’ll need later.
That sounds like torture.
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Dont you need a camera on Spirit because they are mostly eating chironomids? Them little green and red worm looking things in their bellies are midge larvae. That's why the perch have mud on their nose sometimes and they barely bite.
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Dont you need a camera on Spirit because they are mostly eating chironomids? Them little green and red worm looking things in their bellies are midge larvae. That's why the perch have mud on their nose sometimes and they barely bite.
Camera helps, but the front came through and they weren’t feeding or biting. I’ve got a camera. I wasn’t Big on the idea of spirit. Even when you find perch on that lake they seem to be schools roaming and it takes constant moving to keep on fish.
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Yeah, I wouldn't spend 5 minutes on Spirit for perch.
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Yeah, I wouldn't spend 5 minutes on Spirit for perch.
I’ve fished it twice this winter once early ice on anglers since fishable areas were limited and the ritz sucked that day.....all dinks at anglers besides 3-4 eaters that day. Then yesterday. I’ve never had a trip worth it to Spirit. Seems like a good trip is 6-7 eater perch and that’s about it.
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Some years it's not bad at all. I used to fish Spirit every day. I would fish West in the morning until 3pm, go get something for lunch then try to be dragging out from the Spillway on Spirit by 330 to get a few eyes and some perch. And I would get a few every day. Idk what happened but around 10 years ago maybe, you couldn't buy a decent perch on Spirit. Since then, its completely cyclical. Lots of nice ones or none. This year, it's none. I'm sure there are some but my summer buddies made me fish it a few times and we got zero over 10". I finally got them up to SD and we had a blast.
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Some years it's not bad at all. I used to fish Spirit every day. I would fish West in the morning until 3pm, go get something for lunch then try to be dragging out from the Spillway on Spirit by 330 to get a few eyes and some perch. And I would get a few every day. Idk what happened but around 10 years ago maybe, you couldn't buy a decent perch on Spirit. Since then, its completely cyclical. Lots of nice ones or none. This year, it's none. I'm sure there are some but my summer buddies made me fish it a few times and we got zero over 10". I finally got them up to SD and we had a blast.
Why did the Iowa DNR quit putting the creel data from lakes on the website? It would be nice to see the data and see what the slot limits and refs are doing.
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Anybody out today? I am planning to go tomorrow. After I get a little sleep and probably work a few hours.
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Anybody out today? I am planning to go tomorrow. After I get a little sleep and probably work a few hours.
Need someone to go with? I was thinking about going
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I'll meet you up there. I have the worst schedule. I wake up and decide if I want to go to my pt job based on how I feel. I'll PM you my phone number
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I'll meet you up there. I have the worst schedule. I wake up and decide if I want to go to my pt job based on how I feel. I'll PM you my phone number
👍🏻
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Have there been any trucks and wheelhouses out on any of the IGLs yet this year?
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Kabeles said on Facebook yesterday that permanents were going on at Spirit, so take that for what it's worth. I mean, it is Kabeles...
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Have there been any trucks and wheelhouses out on any of the IGLs yet this year?
Wheelhouses yes, trucks no. Accesses have not been in great shape this season so trucks are not going out on the lakes at this time. ATVs and UTVs are going out and pulling permies on.
Layne
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Kabeles said on Facebook yesterday that permanents were going on at Spirit, so take that for what it's worth. I mean, it is Kabeles...
Kabeles has great up to date info they give out on a weekly if not daily basis. From fishing and ice reports to road conditions and newly stocked items at the store. Great place to do business with and to be in touch with both before and when you arrive at the lake to fish.
Layne
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Kabeles has great up to date info they give out on a weekly if not daily basis. From fishing and ice reports to road conditions and newly stocked items at the store. Great place to do business with and to be in touch with both before and when you arrive at the lake to fish.
Layne
That is what the typical out of towner thinks of them. Thank you for keeping their business open.
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I'm praying whoever is working on Shucks is gonna have gear and bait again. Poor Stans is gonna be hurting if they get good and start cleaning fish. Kabeles can keep posting bikini pics, some guys like those.
I'd think long and hard before I would haul a nice wheelhouse out right now with no cold weather forecast and snow every 3 days. Might be a chore getting it off the lake. We are one rainy day from really crappy access for wheeled traffic.
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I'm praying whoever is working on Shucks is gonna have gear and bait again. Poor Stans is gonna be hurting if they get good and start cleaning fish. Kabeles can keep posting bikini pics, some guys like those.
I'd think long and hard before I would haul a nice wheelhouse out right now with no cold weather forecast and snow every 3 days. Might be a chore getting it off the lake. We are one rainy day from really crappy access for wheeled traffic.
I got back from upper red Monday nite. Caught our limits...but it was slow.....not bad fishing not great like it can be. Got a 36in northern. How did you fair the rest of Friday? Right when I was leaving to go to upper red they were just starting to actually bite.....
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I'm praying whoever is working on Shucks is gonna have gear and bait again. Poor Stans is gonna be hurting if they get good and start cleaning fish. Kabeles can keep posting bikini pics, some guys like those.
I'd think long and hard before I would haul a nice wheelhouse out right now with no cold weather forecast and snow every 3 days. Might be a chore getting it off the lake. We are one rainy day from really crappy access for wheeled traffic.
If a person did, I wouldn't leave it out un attended. The ice is just so inconsistant and screwed up this year.
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Like the rest of the day. Every time a nice one came in, 5 babies rushed in front of it to get your bait. I went back to Emerson Sunday, far fewer fish but better size ratio. My buddy caught one about 10.5", beautiful fish.
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Kabeles has great up to date info they give out on a weekly if not daily basis. From fishing and ice reports to road conditions and newly stocked items at the store. Great place to do business with and to be in touch with both before and when you arrive at the lake to fish.
Layne
Kabele's is a nice place. Great bait store and lots of good tackle/items. People are mostly friendly. Here is the problem with Kabele's. They are pretty fake about a lot of things.......actually most things if I am truthful. Anything they do is to get you INTO the bait shop to BUY stuff. I understand, that is how you make money and They want people to stop in. What is a joke.....how they do it and approach stuff. They "claim"they want to help people be safe....yet it's has to do with coming into their shop for info.....95% of the fishing info is NEVER accurate typically even false besides ice conditions reports
For example they complain people were calling in for ice information.....they were to busy you need to stop into the shop....yet they do a weekly posting on FB.....but a weekly ice report on the phone is dangerous because things change in an hr....I mean here is the reply they gave me when I mentioned it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/WFMtLFf0/image.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/WFMtLFf0)
I mean Stan's no problem.....he'll give ice reports and information.....if you want to "know" about the bite....he simply says you need to stop and look at the board. Thing about Stan's.....his board is usually pretty close to what you experiance.
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Like the rest of the day. Every time a nice one came in, 5 babies rushed in front of it to get your bait. I went back to Emerson Sunday, far fewer fish but better size ratio. My buddy caught one about 10.5", beautiful fish.
"Lol...u going tomorrow ..... Thinking I might saddle up and go.
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I did go today. It was pretty tough sledding. Few guys on Smith
(https://i.postimg.cc/SYCMZYSR/20210129-145348-010.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/SYCMZYSR)
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Facebook marketplace has gotten me into trouble several times. So I agree. But I deleted it because I'm an American and FB is anti-American.
Here here.......as well as twitter.....tweet tweet
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I did go today. It was pretty tough sledding. Few guys on Smith
(https://i.postimg.cc/SYCMZYSR/20210129-145348-010.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/SYCMZYSR)
Glad I didn't go.......guessing the bite sucked?
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The fish bit good but there was times when there weren't any coming through. Like none for a half hour. I should have been further south or SW of where I mostly fished but I was too lazy to move. My own fault.
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Kabele's is a nice place. Great bait store and lots of good tackle/items. People are mostly friendly. Here is the problem with Kabele's. They are pretty fake about a lot of things.......actually most things if I am truthful. Anything they do is to get you INTO the bait shop to BUY stuff. I understand, that is how you make money and They want people to stop in. What is a joke.....how they do it and approach stuff. They "claim"they want to help people be safe....yet it's has to do with coming into their shop for info.....95% of the fishing info is NEVER accurate typically even false besides ice conditions reports
For example they complain people were calling in for ice information.....they were to busy you need to stop into the shop....yet they do a weekly posting on FB.....but a weekly ice report on the phone is dangerous because things change in an hr....I mean here is the reply they gave me when I mentioned it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/WFMtLFf0/image.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/WFMtLFf0)
I mean Stan's no problem.....he'll give ice reports and information.....if you want to "know" about the bite....he simply says you need to stop and look at the board. Thing about Stan's.....his board is usually pretty close to what you experiance.
This has been more or less my experience as well. Kabele's literally told me to find the village of trucks on Spirit last year for fishing advice. Stan's has treated me better IMO, but I'll still shop at Kabele's. My guess is that Kabele's doesn't scout regularly enough to develop their own fishing reports and thus have little to offer the customer and the guides that they buddy up with don't want that info public. I like their store and they have a good selection of bait and gear. I actually enjoy seeing the pictures of the fish they've been getting in on FB. One can kind of get a feel for how and where the fish are active by looking at them. Last winter seemed to be a better perch bite on Spirit and we saw gobs of perch pictures. This year it seems like there are more bluegill pictures, which likely means more East and West O action and less Spirit perch. I could be wrong on that though. I don't really have a problem with them promoting their 74 element stuff, b/c it's like you said, they're in business to make money and they obviously profit more on their proprietary brand.
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They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X. Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.
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They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X. Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.
Uffdah, yeah, that’s a quick way to earn a bad rap.
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They have posted plenty of old pictures too. They’ve posted up fish pics that they’ve posted on previous years. They haven’t lately since they got called out on it pretty bad last year. They would post a bunch of perch pics and it worked-folks would flood em. Then they head out to the lake and not catch crap. Kabeles is out of the way for 95% of the fisherman at the IGLs. They do what they have to do. They say stop In for a report, only there is no report other than “people are catching them at place X. Some days are better than others and you got to be willing to move around”. Well no sh@$ Sherlock.
My favorite....they cry not to call the shop for ice info because they are busy......reply and say we can’t do a weekly ice report on the phone it changes to fast and is unsafe...then say on face book for ice report refer to our posting last week.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/jDCcfVM2/13-FA5-F2-C-2-AD1-4-E5-C-BD97-850-E92534296.png) (https://postimg.cc/jDCcfVM2)
(https://i.postimg.cc/KKM59PSy/1-D0597-F4-B052-41-E2-BB3-B-6-DE4-EDE743-A2.png) (https://postimg.cc/KKM59PSy)
(https://i.postimg.cc/nX5kYdWk/BFEFC330-90-DF-4-BFE-9-A87-61-E0462146-FF.png) (https://postimg.cc/nX5kYdWk)
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Out for the weekend.
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How thick is the ice?
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16-17in.
Fishing at worth a chit. My buddy set up in 10ft. All dinks
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So use chubs and get some pike. Guaranteed they are in those shallows feeding on them.
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Well we had fish on the cameras non stop. Talked to others out fishing. Nobody was getting much.
Had a green led light down the hole at night. Lit up the entire area and allowed us to use the camera all nite in my buddies shack.
I got tired of trying to keep the holes open at 2am. 8in holes were down to about 4in. And was tired of dumping boiling water down them to keep open. So pulled the sleeves and put the caps back on the holes.
Woke up at about 6:45 & tried to start the pickup. Just didn’t have quite enough to start. Luckily I had a lithium jumper in the truck so thawed it out in the shack and jumped the truck. Just barley started. Was -20*f with a wind chill of close to -40*f.
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Fishing in this cold is too much hassle. I've done it but I realized last time that I'd rather just sit home than deal with the headaches.
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Anybody still after em? I've been on Smith, Emerson and Spirit. Bite is real good and gonna get better.
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Be up this weekend. Is the water clarity only 10 feet (on west) this year as the DNR site would have me believe?
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I could see my jig in 20 feet on Smirh but not the fish
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Perfect! You only need to see The Jig disappear. Fish On! Good luck.
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If it wasn't for MN and WI people, the lakes would be pretty empty. The bite was on fire today. Bluegills on Emerson.
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I found a box with a bunch of tackle at the lakes recently. If anyone can describe what's inside and is willing to bark like a dog in public, they can have it back. No bark, no box.
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Is it a smal vexilar tackle box with raps and spoons in it. It’s a soft side vexilar tackle box with three plastic small boxes
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Wow, whoever found that had a good day. It wasnt me.
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Yep it was a lot of money in that little box
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Well getting fired up.....not the lakes but local pond is capped and has some nice gills....thinking this weekend.
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Anyone been out on East or Spirit yet? I've been watching the Park's live camera and see East being locked up! I'm sure the warm spell tomorrow won't help any, but after that, the forecast looks pretty good!
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Anyone been out on East or Spirit yet? I've been watching the Park's live camera and see East being locked up! I'm sure the warm spell tomorrow won't help any, but after that, the forecast looks pretty good!
I haven’t been that way…but the local protected pond in town was capped….got snow on it and had a hole open up. Pretty unsafe. At this point I hope it melts all off and re freezes fresh. I can’t think the lakes would be any better.
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They were not much better but keeper fish were caught.
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I was looking at the webcam from The Garden and the water is so clear we could see the weeds and bottom out front right on the webcam.
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Been gin clear on West”0” all through this year and should continue into the winter. If I remember correctly, zebra mussels help to clean the water.
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I do enjoy watching fish on a camera in clear water. The only benefit fo those things
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Been gin clear on West”0” all through this year and should continue into the winter. If I remember correctly, zebra mussels help to clean the water.
Yep. Storm lake use to be like milk chocolate. Now it’s so clear u can see 8ft down. Bad part is the weeds took over the lake and trolling is about impossible.
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The DNR a few years ago said the zebras were why it was so dirty, because they gave off some sort of gas when they died. So idk.
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The DNR a few years ago said the zebras were why it was so dirty, because they gave off some sort of gas when they died. So idk.
Mussels filter stuff out of the water for food, and Zebra mussels populate like crazy and purify the water. They are a good but problematic issue.
They clean the water and waterways terrifically. The issue is….they do not filter/eat blue green algae. So….blue green algae in clean crystal clear water…..guess what….algae blooms.
Algae blooms then die/decay and when they are decaying it takes Oxygen from the water….which can cause low O2 levels in the area and kill fish. Maybe it’s was what caused the dirty water? I could see if the mussels died they’d decay and do the same thing.
On the flip side. The excrete they leave in turn is good for food panfish eat because things like bloodworms and stuff feed on it. Some lakes have a panfish boom due to it.
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Does anyone have a fish report or any info on ice conditions from the holiday weekend?
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Anyone been up to the lakes yet?
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Anyone been up to the lakes yet?
Yes
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Made it up there today. Not a bad day of fishing.
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Agronomist_at_IA...I sent you a PM
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I was up last Friday and had a decently successful morning on West. There were a ton of people on Minnewasheta. Don't know if the bite was truly good over there or if that was just where the crowds were since that's the only place that had early ice fishing reports on.
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Was up there today....Caught 22 nice gills , and had a big crappie paper mouth get off at the top of the hole...stinking paper mouth.....jig shot out hit me in the head..... Oh well.
2# line was a must....wouldn't bite on the 4# line.
Wax worms sucked.
Only one spike on the jig any more they would not bit.
Jig had to be super tiny.....like my vex was turned 1\2 up just to mark it.
A super density spring banner was a must....I was using the lightest St. Croix spring.....when they bite it was barely noticable.
Anyone else out? Any tips?
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Got up to the lakes on Sat & Sunday went to miniwashta.
Went out to about 13-14 ft. Gills & crappie were on the vex all day.....lots and lots of dinks. Caught a few nice gills and some nice crappie. Ice was around 6in with slush snow and about 2in of water on the top if you cleaned the snow off the ice.
Rain this week should melt and restart the top of the ice.....which will be good so its not honey comb
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Looks like some good frigid Temps in the offing after that!
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Was out last Friday evening on smiths bay with the truck and ice castle. Caught some gills and seen a lot of fish bite was slow.
Surprised we haven't heard more from the igl.
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Fished the lakes over the new years weekend. West was great for us on perch and walleyes. Saw lots of schools of perch and you could pick out the smaller ones biggest was 11 1/2”. I didn’t catch an eye but my buddy got several over a few days. Minnows and bobbers, spoons with minnow heads and tungsten and waxies was worked for us. 14” of ice
East was a smorgasbord of panfish. Pumpkinseeds bluegills yellows crappies and some keeper perch was what we kept there. Biggest hill was just under 10”. 14” of ice
Good luck to everyone out there and be safe!!
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Was up there on Saturday (1/14). Fished north end of West. The morning bite was slow. Picked up a couple nice gills and a decent perch. The evening bite was better. Managed to take a few crappies home but none were over 10.5".