This is not a hoax

One word: Wow!

This photo released by International Game Fish Association shows Manabu Kurita of Aichi, Japan, holding his July 2, 2009, record catch, a largemouth bass caught on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. The record-tying bass weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces.
(AP Photo/International Game Fish Association)

I saw this photo while designing the Outdoors page for Sunday's print edition of the newspaper, and I knew I had to work it into the paper.

That's a big fish. My largest largemouth, a 7 pound, 4 ouncer out of Little (or West if you'd like) Jefferson, pales in comparison. The one thing I have in common with Kurita, though, is the strain on my face. He handled it much better. As you can see by my expression to the right, I look like I am constipated or something.

Regardless of the type of fish you're after, catching a trophy of your desired species, such as Kurita did, is something that doesn't happen very often.

Roger, the man who lets fellow staffer Tanner Kent and I launch from his property on Little Jeff, was one of the first people to see that picture of my 22 1/4 inch bass. He's an avid walleye and northern angler who absolutely hates bass (perhaps more than Free Presser John Cross).

He asks me if I kept that green carp, to which I tell him no (I did what I thought was the noble thing by weighing and measuring the beast before tossing it back in after a few quick pictures).

"Then you're an idiot," the old fisherman says, "cause that's a trophy fish."

Perhaps. I'm a catch-and-release guy at heart.

I know if I caught a world-record bass, though, it'd be going on my wall. Heck, even a state-record bass would end up on my wall.

At this point, I'd be happy to hoist up a 7 pounder if I ever catch one out of Minnesota waters again. A trophy's a trophy.

An end to 2009

I'm sitting on an area lake at the moment. That's right, I'm bidding farewell to 2009 as I do every year: fishing with the brother-in-laws.

We've been practicing this exercise for the better part of a decade, and the results, fishing-wise, have been mixed.
I must interrupt myself to tell you that one bro-in-law, Dave, just had something big on but lost it. And where we are fishing, you catch only two fish that draws this kind of reaction -- pike and walleye.

Anyhow, I am hoping to end 2009 with a fishing bang.

To all of you: Be safe, have fun, and may 2010 be better than 2009.

No, seriously, let's keep our fingers crossed.

P.S. I've been twittering all of our catches the past three days. If you want to know how this year's season-ending fishing outing is going, click the twitter link on the side of the page.

Sorry to make you work, but I am doing all of this from my phone.

Baby steps people, baby steps.

Snow & ice

I'd been wondering what kind of affect the snow would have on the ice conditions on area lakes since this recent storm rolled through.

Since my last post, I'd been hearing good reports on ice conditions, with most anglers agreeing that the ice was roughly around a foot on area lakes.

As of Dec. 19, Lake Washington was anywhere from 9 to 12 inches. But what would a good foot of snow do to those lake conditions?

Well, for one, it is making travel on the lakes difficult. Free Press staffer John Cross reported Saturday that Washington still had good ice, but the snow was making it very difficult to get around on the lake.

So even moving 20 yards to a better spot becomes less enjoyable.

He said Scotch also had "good" ice but a lot of snow.

In Monday's print edition of The Free Press, Dan Neinaber interviewed Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Chris Howe.

Howe suggested what my gut was telling me: All this snow is going to be troublesome for continued ice making. What I mean is that the more snow we get to insulate the ice, the less we can count on good ice to keep forming even if the temps are cold enough for good ice.

Howe goes into more depth on other concerns heavy snow causes for ice conditions in the article.

This also tells me I worry for those who have to drive out on any of our area lakes.

And as the anglers I spoke to out on Washington said, you can go 40 yards and find a big difference in the depth of ice.

So what I'm trying to say, people, is wait to drive out with your trucks and SUVs (you'll be lucky to get a car through this deep of snow). And if you must, please, please practice safety.

Updates coming
I can't say they'll be good updates, but I'll be out Wednesday and Thursday this week. I'm not sure of the destination, but I'll make sure to snap a few photos, take a few measurements, and get back to you on the quality of fishing.

Hopefully, all goes well.

And then there was ice

Stopped out to Lake Washington before work today.

I figured there would be a few good ice-fishing communities scattered across the lake, which there was between first and second point.

The parking lot next to Westwood Marina Bar & Grill wasn't as full as we'll see it in coming weeks, but still, 30 to 40 vehicles were parked at the water's edge.

I estimated probably 90 percent of the houses on the lake were portables, but a few people were gearing up to move their permanent houses onto the lake.

Two guys gearing up for an afternoon of fishing were kind enough to give me a quick ice report.

They fished Friday on the lake and found ice as deep as 12 inches and as thin as 9 inches. One of them caught a five-pound northern and the other was a little more tight-lipped about the fishing.

I saw a few ATVs traveling on the lake, but no trucks or cars.

The two men I was talking with both recalled one person who drove a Ford Explorer out Friday, the ice cracking as he moved to a fishing spot.

I'm not sold on vehicles on the lake yet, especially SUV/truck type vehicles. But 9 to 12 inches of ice on Washington tells me most area lakes, especially the shallower bays, are good to go for fishing.

And if nothing else, you can always follow the Rule of 21. Find 20 houses and make it 21. Good luck.

My love hate with Christmas

I used to love Christmas. And then I hated it.

Now I love Christmas again.

My first love with the holiday, of course, was as a child. My family had enough, but we didn't have a lot. But somehow, on Christmas, my mom made sure we felt like the richest kids in the world.

Her love, of course, was all us children needed. But my mom had a knack for compiling loads of presents for her five children. And somehow, we never really stopped to think where all this once-a-year wealth came from.

In college, I worked at K-Mart. Let me say, if you've never worked in retail but you're an avid shopper, give those workers a break. Sure, every job has its less-than-productive workers, and those workers can be a headache for shoppers, but a lot of good people are just trying to make a wage, or put themselves through college.

Retail is ugly, and dealing with holidays could be painful. At the ol' Mart, we'd start receiving Christmas products as early as August. The shelves would often go up a day or two after Halloween, and then there was the working Black Friday thing.

For a deal, people are crazy. And often the holiday spirit seemed lost on shoppers — it was always about the deal, the deal, the DEAL.

So I hated Christmas for a very long time. Much longer than my time spent in retail. And I started to realize that other than a few items here and there, I don't need a whole lot. Gifts are nice, but only if they are useful.

And my mom, of course, still wants to spoil us within her means, which always makes me feel a bit guilty — I tell her to get me fishing lures, which makes us both feel better.

People, it seems, get greedy when Christmas rolls around. They aren't greedy because they are bad people; I think sometimes the holiday and knowing of potential gifts clouds why we celebrate the season.

My son is getting older now, and he's starting to fall into the Santa/present excitement. His excitement has become my excitement, and now I love Christmas again. Funny how that works.

And since my first outing on the ice usually doesn't come until after Christmas with my brother-in-laws, I'll just enjoy his anxiety as he counts down the days until Christmas.

"Is it Christmas yet, Daddy?"
"No, Ty, 11 more days."

Holding up six fingers, "This many, Daddy?"
"Close, Ty, close."

Merry Christmas!

Ice reports needed

Well, we were fortunate to stave off winter for quite some time, but boy did it roll in with a bitter reminder.

That should mean good things for ice, provided the snow blew off the lakes instead of piling on thin ice.

I see in the Wednesday edition of The Free Press, we ran an Associated Press brief from the DNR warning of thin ice. I always love these reminders, because you know it won't be long and you'll hear about some goofball who just had to drive his truck/car on the lake and went in.

Anyhow, the brief basically said as of Monday, Dec. 7, there was no place in the state with good ice, which, according to the DNR, is 4 inches for walking weight.

This is all funny to me because Free Press photographer and outdoor guru John Cross was telling me that people were fishing Lake Elysian with portables. Mind you, he told me this on Monday, a full day before — to steal a bit from KFAN — the "snownami" hit Minnesota and the same day that the DNR lists in its release.

There you have it. Have ice, will fish.

For the record, I need good ice before I'll travel out on a lake. Once the ice is thick enough, I'm more than willing to travel out lightly on the lake, but I need a good 6 inches for walking weight, maybe more.

So send this chicken your ice reports. It doesn't have to be special. You don't have to give up what you're catching, just what lake you were fishing and how much ice you were fishing on. Simple enough.

Score one for Minnesota

I just spent a good deal of time looking around the Web for something to write about.

Yeah, the lack of ice is making me look hard for ideas.

Anyhow, when searching around for topics, I tend to stay away from anything that is a Google ad. You know, these are the items that appear on the side rails of your search engine or in the shaded boxes above your search results.

For this search, I was trying to find something new in the world of ice fishing I could share with you, my valued readers. Instead, I ended up clicking on the "Evening Secret," which, let me tell you, is still somewhat of a secret.

I'm always skeptical when a site selling something is full of testimonials but never really shows the product or explains exactly how it works. Even on this site, the author tells us he has spoken with researchers at the University of Michigan, and they agree that it works, but he doesn't really go into detail on how it works, just that the researchers noted the attraction of zooplankton, which in turn attract bait fish, which eventually attract trophy fish.

If you're adventurous enough — or bored enough — to read to the bottom of the site, you'll probably draw the same conclusion that I did — the Evening Secret somehow sends impulses into the water that attract the zooplankton, which attract the bait fish and eventually the trophy fish.

You'll also learn that two states, Wyoming and Minnesota, have banned the Evening Secret. Last year, I also wrote about two other products, the Bite Lite and the Walking Worm, both by NGC Sports. These two lures were said to produce at ridiculous rates, and in the Bite Lite's case, Wyoming had banned it, too.

This begs the question, is it right for these states to ban such items, when indeed those items can make fishing more enjoyable for a good many people? My first inclination, especially when talking about the lures, is to go ahead and let them be used. Seriously, unless people are fishing in a tournament, what's the big deal? Our DNR puts restrictions into place on the size and amount of fish people can catch, so what's the harm if they are aided by gimmicks or not?

Having said that, after I read the Evening Secret testimonials, I'm not too upset that Minnesota has a ban on this gadget. For all the hoopla this site tries to drum up, something about taking away the hunt leaves me less interested in the catch. I like to target pools of bait fish, and then go to work for a lunker sitting in wait.

The reward is always so much better after the hunt. But maybe that's the old-school fisherman in me talking. Either way, I'll take my chances doing the hunting rather than letting the fish come to me.