Macsimus

Thanks for the excellent info, Jeff. Greatly appreciated. 👍

Lol, Champ!! Yeah, including "spank" and "tranny" in the same sentence probably wasn't the best choice. 😁 The vast majority of we Minnesotans are not woke but of course that doesn't make what passes for "news" these days. Since the mid-terms, for the first time in 49 years I am actually embarrassed to be known as a resident of that state. Oops, that got serious in a hurry. Sorry. Back to fishing and for the record, retired guys are pretty much untrainable! 😁

Thanks for posting, Bill. I literally laughed out loud as I read it this morning. I too got out yesterday thanks to my spanky new reman tranny. I was somewhat at the same end of the lake, from Big M to Owl Creek. It's still early March, right? Yes, and of course that means late winter locations like main-river bluffs, bluff ends, deep trees, possible staging areas, etc, etc. Right? I hit numerous locations of that nature without a sniff. I scraped together 3 barely scoreable Spots on the Ned on a channel swing bank inside a creek dead-sticking it for way longer than I thought I should have to. My conclusion at the end of the day? Yep, they're still deep and northern natural lake guy is still struggling to find and catch them. No problem, it was a nice afternoon and everything worked on the boat even after a long winter in the garage exposed to gremlins. So...I sit down this morning, coffee in hand, and find your report. Whut?? Gravel banks? Less than 8'? Cranks? My hat's off to you. That wasn't even a spec on my radar. Even after 9 years, this lake continues to utterly baffle and bewilder me.

Drove over it on 86 this afternoon. Nice green color, no debris.

Up north on the Mississippi River the rule of thumb is mid 40s.

Thank you for reporting that Bill as it gives me quite a bit of solace. I'm land-locked due to my truck sitting at Jim Falk Chev in Clinton awaiting a new reman transmission. The kindly next door neighbor took pity on me and took me fishing yesterday. We hop-scotched from Holiday Island to Sans Souci over about 6 hours and I managed 3 small Spots on the Leetle Ned after trying a mini A-rig, swimbait, small colorado spinnerbait, skirted jig, and a jerkbait after the wind cleared off some of the debris mats. Awesome day to be on the water compared to the winter purgatory still in progress at home.

Ron Hearst is forecasting another 2-4" Thu-Fri. Ugh.

Well done, sir. I'd still be TMing back to the launch. 😄 Homie don't do mechanical well at all.

😃 Just a comment from an outsider. I'm with Fishinwrench on this one as far as the development on TR. This March will be my 10th year coming down to TR for a 2 month hiatus from the frozen Tundra. Last year, as we crossed the bridge at KC heading south, I was sick to my stomach to see the hill above Cedar Bluff utterly stripped and denuded. The same development has been happening to the big desirable lakes in MN. Big money comes in and builds big palatial estates. Property values go way up and of course the demand for services from the local city/county. Taxes then go up as well. Wonderful family resorts close one by one as the original owners reach retirement or want out. Almost no one can buy the resort and maintain it as such because the season is too short to sustain the mortgage and because the land values are so high. It's sad and honestly, I don't see any way to stop it or even slow it down. I won't even bother to address the escalating power of wealthy lakeshore owner associations and what they're doing. On a brighter note, I still love fishing TR even though I still suck at it. 😁

Man, that fish needs a cheeseburger or two.

I know exactly what you mean by that term. It brings back a flood of high school memories. 😀

Can I assume the Goodpecker is also in your arsenal? Maybe hush-hush at this point? 🙂

40, 30 for the out of towners. 😁

They still do. I think it and Prior are the only two in MN with speed limits, probably the two busiest lakes in the state. Dean Capra got DQ'd from a derby on Tonka a few years back because of a speeding ticket. It works but only because the Sheriff's Water Patrol has a reputation of enforcing it and there's so many places where they can "lie in wait" on that lake. 😀

Might as well be fishing while your losing your lunch.

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Ran into an acquaintance of his (and yours) the other day - ol' Sleepy. What a fun, enjoyable conversation. Makes me wish some of the veterans of fishing this lake would collaborate on a history of TR fishing. I've read Tom Koob's version but it was a little too historical (IMHO) and missing the entertaining anecdotes that some of y'all could provide (wink, wink, Bill).

Thanks Bobby. I was just kind of stunned and had to ask. 406 is the house number of the smaller place. 393 is the number of the mega house. A web search turns up nothing on that company other than very basic filing info. Oh well. Just idle curiosity.

Anyone know who owns this little weekend getaway on Big Indian? For a second, I thought I was on Lake Minnetonka. 😀 Good grief and gravy (as Mom used to say when I was a kid). https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5358507,-93.5258677,165m/data=!3m1!1e3

Thanks Dutch. I was hoping for somewhere a little closer.

Anyone know of a ramp on the west side of the James other than Cape Fair? Even a resort pay ramp would be ok if they'll let a non-guest launch. Thx.

I believe you left out one of their other favorite pastimes. 😀

I can only wish but yeah, that's a little chilly even for this tundra dweller.

Wow, I'm very saddened by this news. Never had the privilege of meeting Bo but feel like I knew him from all of his posts and all of your wonderful comments about him. Prayers lifted for his family.