techo

I miss those days.

I had the same issues when I moved here. I lived in International Falls and fished Rainy Lake hard. I was known to be a fairly good (not great) fisherman and placed in almost every tourney I fished. I moved to Alaska and fished the Big and Little Willows, the Montana the Deshka and other small rivers. I never had a problem catching fish. The first year I fished Table Rock.....I thought someone put a hex on my boat or something. I would read this forum and then go to where they said they were fishing and try to do what they did.....with no success. Finally Babbler took pity on me and gave me a fishing lesson. Life has been way different since. I have hired one other guide and picked his brain too. I hope to get back with Babbler for a refresher one of these days, but will probably wait until the fish are deep. There are a ton of guides that could help you out. Don House, Eric Prey, Tim S., and lots more. My next teacher (if not Babbler) will be Beck. I have a great amount of respect for him and his knowledge. With that said the best thing for me seems to be time on the water. If I fish three days in a row, the best day always seems to be the third day. The main lake points that have transition banks are my place to start, if I don't already have a different idea. I am not sure you will catch the largest fish, but generally catch something. If you are fishing out of Cape Fair, then you can always go to the bridge at Bridgeport and pull in some Kentuckys to wash off a skunk. The points at Buzzard Cove generally hold something at this time of year too. I might be wrong, but I think Cape Fair area is a bit harder to fish than some other areas. It seems to me there are more large mouths in that area of lake and not as many small mouths and Kentuckys.

Mill Creek is getting pretty beat up. It gets a great deal of use to. I don't think they make enough money off me to fix it. Aunt's Creek is a sweet ramp and I like Cape Fair too.

Great details as always. Hope to be out tomorrow. Thanks.

Sold the child to a loving home of a great friend. Threw in eight boxes of ammo as well. It was a tearful moment, but the new baby consoled me.

Sorry I missed you tapout. I guess if I would have gotten up off my sorry butt and walked over by the Bills, we would have met up. My back has been killing me the last week and I sat on the little bleachers all humped over looking at my shoes. It was a fun tournament. Lets hook up next year for sure!

When I went out with Bill, we were throwing red fins past where the fish would break the water and reel through the area. We hooked up quite a few fish this way. One time a fish broke the surface and Bill bent over and yelled at me me to cast over his head "quick." I cracked up laughing, but wasn't about to cast over his head. He takes it pretty serious, to the point of risking treble hooks in his head.

A friend and I fished a charity tournament with 165 boats. It was a good day on the water. We caught well over twenty fish, but only two would have weighed. We stayed away from the beds and fished secondary points. We let the fish go in the same area we caught them. We knew we wouldn't be in the money anyway. My friend caught three shorts on the spinner ater I told hm it wasn't a spinner day. One keeper came on the Carolina fish doctor and the other on the Eakins jig. Most of our fish were caught on the Eakins. Two of the top three places said they fished a tube down by the dam on beds. Saw the two Billls there and I think they took seventh. Saw a few other OAF faces, but they can speak up if they want. Overall a great day with $10,200.00 being raised for the Make a Wish Foundation.

Captain Rick is a personable, nice guy and I am sure a great guide. I would be interested in fishing with him someday too. I would never post anything on an open forum badmouthing a guide. They make their living on the lake and bad mouthing them on an open forum could be costly. With that in mind.....I have hired two guides in the past and have nothing but great respect for Babbler. The other guide I will never hire again. I wouldn't post his name on here though. I might drop a PM to a friend if I was worried he was wasting his money. I would love to get Beck to learn me a thing or two some day. He is well respected by most people (I had thought everyone). It is highly suspected that he breathes through gills and is part bass himself. My opinion (free and probably all it is worth) is that all of the above mentioned guides would be good. Captain House is a person I consider a friend. He has given me great advice and never asked for anything in return. I think he has even given me a lure or two. E.P. and his posse are also great for fishing and the area. I would never hesitate to hire him out for the day. The guide has to work with the people who hire them. Sometimes when you are "new to fishing" as stock jocky said he was....the techniques that are working to land fish, don't work as well for novices.

I love the red fin! I have one tied on almost all of the time. If the fish are splashing around, I cast past them and reel through....almost always get something. In the late morning and early afternoon, I reel it over trees and sometimes get bit. I guess to make the answer shorter....in the spring and early summer, I have caught fish almost any hour of the day on red fins. I have never managed to get a huge fish on a red fin though.

Selling one of the children. She is a Glock .40 cal model 22 with three 15 round mags. $400.00. PM me here if interested.

I know without a doubt that a treble hook would end up in the ribbon. Guess how I got the hole in my life vest. I do like the sticker idea better for me.

I like it. I have the bumper sticker and the magnet, but really like the fish shape.

Oh my!

Nice fish!

Wow! I am not sure what to say. Need anything?

Great smiles and great photos.

Skeeter SX170 red/white.

I am in a little red/white Skeeter with a 90 horse. I never get any grief from the tourney guys about the size of my equipment. Sweeeet boat, which I adore. I wave at almost everyone. Even on tourney days. One time I had a guy pull over and ask me if I was okay! If you see some tall pot bellied dude waving from the Skeeter, say hello or wave back.

Oops! Sorry E.P. I meant Capt Don won't show J.E. his secret big fish spots. Glad it sucked that info out of you though.

He isn't going to tell J.E.!

Wow! Nice report and nice week. I am glad you posted photos of the island. There is a camping spot on the one end. I have never figured out who owns it or if anyone could camp there. It has been a good fishing spot for us in the past.

RPS, I am not sure who won it. It was at Mill Creek and we didn't stay for the weigh in, because I don't like beaching the boat. I heard it the winner had 21 pounds or more, but the weights dropped off after that. Motoman, I think we were in Schooners around 1:30-2. I saw a Ranger with two guys wearing the Ranger suits on one point and I think a cream colored boat on another. They were getting tossed around by the wind some too. Skeeterp, sorry to hear my poor luck was contagious. My schedule changes so I am going to have to be a weekend fisherman for a while. I like fishing during the week a great deal better. See you May 31st for sure?

Sweet fish. Small mouth are by far my favorite to catch.

I saw one of those today. Tough guy and little girl to be out in this water temp and weather.