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Post by koonce on Dec 16, 2013 14:44:42 GMT -6
So any of yall chase the ice bite. We have been hard at it, just one more way to keep my mind off waterfowling till the next season comes around. Have been putting a hurtin on some crappies and gills.
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Post by vandyvan on Dec 17, 2013 9:07:58 GMT -6
Yes, I love ice fishing. Just started breaking out the gear and am looking forward to getting out there soon. The cold has been great, anytime you can get out on the ice before Christmas around here is a big bonus. Mostly target the pike with tip ups but do a little bit of jigging for panfish as well.
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Post by koonce on Dec 26, 2013 13:31:18 GMT -6
Been getting out here and there with the brother. Havent landed any monsters yet. I think our biggest crappies are in that the 12-12.5 range and our biggest gill is right at the 10in mark. Have been using some new style baits, and really trying to avoid any live bait. In the past we used a lot of live baits with plastics here and there. This year we decided to try the opposite approach. This was our first day on the ice Brother hooked this guy while jigging for crappies Decided to keep a few for a fish fry Beer batter, Grams and I fryin them up. Scaled a few for her since that's here style The fish with gramas homemade augratin potatoes.
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Post by koonce on Dec 26, 2013 13:33:53 GMT -6
Few more, Got into a school of White bass one evening, boy do they put up a good fight. Do work with some custom jigs and spins lil cecils with no meat White out day in the snow, fishing sucked but we got to try out the brothers new otter.
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Post by vandyvan on Jan 3, 2014 14:35:27 GMT -6
Awesome pics and nice fish. I haven't even gotten out yet, but I'm going to try and hit that window of "warm" weather tomorrow and set up for some pike. Hopefully I'll have some luck.
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Post by koonce on Jan 4, 2014 23:06:04 GMT -6
Got my tuned up custom rod last night and got everything out together today and took her out for a test run. This is my first custom rod and prob won't be my last. Beautiful rod, i was hoping the colors selected would be a bit more "ugly" but they turned out to be a nice combo. Was talking with the fella that helped us out an order in and he said there was no way he would have ever order those colors but when we all saw it, it turned out sharp. I opted for a 32" qt with high viz green and high viz red with split grip. Combined the rod with a 13 fishing reel. I attached the reel with friction tape and I must say that stuff is strong and I don't think i would do it any other way. Reel is on there rock solid. Took it out for a couple hours this afternoon, iced about 15 crappies, 2 white bass and one perch. Rod has a great "feel". When detecting the bite and boy doa she have some quick back bone. Literally ever fish I caught the hook was buried thru the roof of the mouth. All in all very happy with the product. Here's some pics
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Post by vandyvan on Jan 7, 2014 10:40:35 GMT -6
Wooo Ohh Black Betty! Nice combo. Seems those inline reels are really coming back for ice fishing. I'm thinking of picking one up even though I don't panfish much. Koonce, have you ever participated in the Battle on Bago ice fishing tourney or raffle? Has anyone here ever done it? www.battleonbago.org/
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Post by koonce on Jan 7, 2014 15:10:01 GMT -6
No sir. I cant say that I have participated in that one. I usually just do some of the smaller more local ones.
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Post by jtg1551 on Jan 7, 2014 16:54:11 GMT -6
I refuse to fish in local turneys around here. If there was no filter I would give you a piece of my mind lol but for short, every turney every year is won by the judges cousin/daughter/brother/ father/himself. I won't invest money in something i have no chance in winning.
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Post by koonce on Jan 7, 2014 18:03:54 GMT -6
That's kinda how our big events are as well, which is why I stick to the small local ones where the money actually goes back to the lake vs some club who just wants to have the best prizes.
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Post by jtg1551 on Jan 7, 2014 21:47:54 GMT -6
Last year, our multi lake tournament had a raffle, which the guy running the raffle's niece won both grand prizes
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Post by vandyvan on Jan 8, 2014 8:34:14 GMT -6
The beauty of the Battle on Bago is that you can win the best prizes with out winning the tournament. The prizes are staggered so that he tourney become more of a raffle itself. And it's a single fish tourney not a total bag weight.
For instance this year first place wins $2104. 150th place wins a Ford F150 Pickup. 400th place is a 18 foot Lund with a 150 horse Merc. 600th place wins a 17 foot Lund with a 90 horse Merc. Etc. So last year the first place winner got $2013 with a 4.9 lb walleye and 300th place won a 17 foot Lund with motor with a 1.3 lb white bass.
It's a very legit tourney and raffle. More so than alot of those lake assoc/local bait shop contests, that's for sure.
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Post by koonce on Jan 8, 2014 13:38:19 GMT -6
A few of our local ones have switched to basically the same idea as well. You a loud to register so many fish in each category of species for one raffle ticket for each fish regardless of size.
before there was def cheating going on. For instance , a small lake community off of the river has a derby, and lets say there are white crappies on this lake and a couple black crappies. The black crappies off this lake are not very dark. This lake does not produce large crappies. Ive fished this lake for over ten years now and have never seen or heard of a crappie over 14". Now come derby time some fella land two super black crappies both in the 15" range..... BS, maybe, but it turned a good time into a pissing match so they changed things.
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Post by jtg1551 on Jan 8, 2014 14:07:01 GMT -6
Same stuff by me. Got 2 lakes by us that its not uncommon to catch 15"+ crappies. And lakes they aren't big enough to keep. But when that tournament starts. You bet your arse a 16" comes out of that lake to win it.sounds like no matter where you are they all seem to be a bit crooked
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Post by vandyvan on Jan 8, 2014 14:56:42 GMT -6
before there was def cheating going on. For instance , a small lake community off of the river has a derby, and lets say there are white crappies on this lake and a couple black crappies. The black crappies off this lake are not very dark. This lake does not produce large crappies. Ive fished this lake for over ten years now and have never seen or heard of a crappie over 14". Now come derby time some fella land two super black crappies both in the 15" range..... BS, maybe, but it turned a good time into a pissing match so they changed things. No doubt about it. That's why I like the format on Winnebago. It doesn't guarantee there will be no cheating but the fact that they stagger the biggest prizes make it harder to game the system.
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