Well, I am sure you will have a good time! This will be my fifth year going, so a couple of pointers I can think of would be to get to the landings early. If it's anything like last year, it was a complete zoo on the East side (every year equals more people it seems like), so if you wanted any chance of decent parking, we would be at the lake by 7 or so. Also, there were problems with theft and vehicle break-ins last year, we just kept valuables with us, and I had locked my trailer to my truck. Someone could have still easily stolen it, but I think if you are just smart about it, you shouldn't run into any problems (knock on wood). Have never had any real issues at the borders for anything, so not sure I have any pointers there. barbed hooks and drinking are illegal on the ice. Plenty of guys seem to ignore those rules, but we try to keep it by the book (besides, drinking and fishing is great in a permanent house, but for the amount of work we do, I wouldn't even want more than 1-2 anyway, and we drink plenty at night), and we also make sure we pick up after ourselves. Common sense stuff for most fisherman, but would hate to see a good thing ruined by bad behavior. Pretty much every local I have met up there is very friendly/helpful. As to the fishing, it sounds like you already have the "fever" so I'm sure you have already read plenty of articles, youtube vids, etc... It can be really good, and it can be slow (it is fishing after all) but the key is mobility. It took me a while to really figure that out, since I am so used to fishing structure in Minnesota, but we don't stay at a spot longer than 30-40 minutes if we aren't catching/marking fish. I'm not sure about places to eat. We don't do a ton of that, as we stay with friends up in the Balsam Bay area, so don't go out a whole lot. Anyway, I'm sure it will be another good year up there, I'm pretty excited myself!
