12/29/02 Ice Fishin with Members

[ice fishin' nut]

Finally meet up with Steely-Head(Art)-Great Guy!!!! He showed up at my house at 7:00 and we headed out....

Meet up with Joe G, and hit the hard-water by the Raft,,,,,, Gespan showed up after a few, and the fun began....

We all caught fish, and had a great time, Thanks again for the burgers Joe, I'm sure that I speak for all of us that they were a welcome sight!!!!

Here are a few pics from todays catch,,, the pics were taken after you left Greg, but thanks for the fish!!!:D

http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/bigfourty/artcrappie1.jpg
Arts first hard-water crappies....
http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/bigfourty/artjoeuntitled6.jpg
Art and Joe
http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/bigfourty/artmikeuntitled7.jpg
Myself and Art,,,, the pic was taken after Joe dropped the camera in the snow...... Do I always look like that Joe, or was it from the camera????????? LOL......

[Steely-Head]

Fantastic day!!!! Crappies to 13", Gills to 8" with a couple pretty close to 10", and many dink perch made for a great time! I never had, nor probably will have, such a good day on the ice! Thanks to Joe for the burgers and Mike for the expertise!

[Joe_G]

Actually, all credit goes to Steelyhead, IFN, & Gsepan. I've been fishing every day since the Christmas vacation from work started, & the wife finally blew a gasket and said I couldn't fish today. Fortunately, she's a late sleeper so I snuck out from 7:30am to 10am & then returned home for a day of house arrest. The fish don't seem to get active around these parts 'til 10 or 11 am, then all heck breaks loose. That why I give those guys the credit for the nice fish they caught. I'm wondering, am I the only one that gets yelled at for fishing too much, or is it just me? It was a pleasure having you guys over......you all come back now, you here:D

[chad 1]

Not bad!!!!! When can I come:D :D :D

[ice fishin' nut]

Anytime you want to buddy!!!!!!

[ausable_steelhead]

Good job guys, that's a beautiful catch of fish.

[east bay ed]

joe,
my buddy kept getting flack from his wife about fishing so he came up with the dumbest idea. he would mark on the calander when he went fishing. i guess he actually thought he didn't fish much. she counted more then 75% of the days the first and only month he did that.
do you really want to load the gun before you give it to her?

[gunrod]

Looks like a fun day. Glad to see Art finally got into some ice fishing before the weather went in the dumper and school starts back up.

See Art, I knew you'd get into some fish.

[Steely-Head]

Yes, I am glad I did, I was on the verge of a ice fishing withdrawl induced nervous breakdown!

[Houghton laker]

Looks like you guys have a nice dinner in front of you!!..good job on locating some fish!!>>>MMMmmmm love those Raft Burgers!!

[gsepan]

We wouldn't have caught so many fish if it wasn't for a local-yokal showing us his technique on how to bag the big speck's and gills. It took some practice but low and behold, we started slamming the biguns. We didn't have the raft burgers which are fantastic. "Eat at Joe's" is what we did... He delivers as well so we didn't have to get up off the bucket. I understand why you didn't want to pull the camera out until after I had left... New camera + my ugly mug = broken lens.:D I'm looking out my back door and it's raining now. What kind of winter is this anywho? Nice to meet Steely-Head b4 he heads back to State. Hope to fish with all of you agian real soon. We have to get back out b4 the local's take all the big fish!!! Hey wait a minute!, I'm a local...

IFN, I'll keep you posted on the pond when we get some good ice and the schools start running.

[ice fishin' nut]

Thank you sir,,,, I do appreciate that!!!!! Joe called and is gonna check the ice after he gets done playing "Taxi Driver". Hopefully it will quit raining by then.......

[johnny white]

where is the raft ? - what is the secret technique ?

thanks guys

[DaveW731]

I just posted some directions to Lake Ovid for Art, in response to his request. After that, I read this thread.....needless to say, I am impressed! Y'all come on up to Lansing sometime, hear?

[ice fishin' nut]

Johnny White,
The Raft is a bar located by the end of Palms rd, off of Jefferson I believe,,,,,, Isnt that Jefferson guys or is it 23 mile????? I know how to get there, just dont pay attention to the signs,,, find a map of Fairhaven, follow Palms rd all the way to the lake, and it will be a left turn at the end of Palms......

As far a the technique, find bottom,,,,,, bring jig tipped with 2 spikes half way up, then slooooooowly lower and jig back to the bottom.......Slow being the key word!!!! Small green and white was the ticket yesterday....

Hope this helps.

Dave,,,,, thanks for the invite!!!! Might take you up on that!!!

[walleyehog]

It looks like you guys had a lot of fun out there. I'm jealous since I've only been on the ice once so far this winter. I hope this weekends cold temps hold out so we can all enjoy this so-called winter. I have had a chance to do a little open water river fishing for walleye on the Huron River with some decent catches. This will have to do until I make it out to the Raft in Fairhaven. Good luck and be safe.

[johnny white]

thanks man !

[GoneFishin]

Don't you guys know yer s'posed ta clean 'em and cook 'em before ya put 'em on the table. ;)

That's a nice mess o' gills. :)

[ice fishin' nut]

GoneFishin, we were so excited about catching them that we forgot that part!!!;) :D

[Steely-Head]

Just to clear up any potential confusion, that is a four person catch, no one went over the limit.