Actual Ice Fishing Update w/ Pics

On Saturday I was putting up walls at my house all day, but my dad and Steve Ryan and his buddy Doug were out at my lake ice fishing most of the day!! I knew with the warmer weather in the forecast all of this upcoming week that the safe ice was only gonna be around till Sunday, so I actually skipped church Sunday morning and went out ice fishing! That perhaps could be my only ice fishing trip of the entire winter????

Here are some pics from the weekend ice fishing:

Reports around the area said fishing was generally good on Saturday, but very inconsistent on Sunday.

The ice is not safe any longer, so dont even think about ice fishing this upcoming weekend. Speaking of this upcoming weekend, I will have a crane at my house on Saturday setting trusses. Anyone out there with nothing to do come on over and get some fresh air. Last weekend my brother in law's parents Barb and Tony came out and helped us set walls all day long. They were invaluable! I can't thank em enough for helping out!! (Their new 4 acre pond over by wildlife prairie park is gonna be extra awesome, I can tell you that for sure!).

Here are some pics from Saturday:





We were able to get all of the walls up and straightened on Saturday! It was a looong but very productive day! We figured out a way to set the exterior walls with the skid steer so that helped tremendously!! Justin has been going to town on the new skid steer. It is a 90 HP beast! This winter he has been pushing snow, planting trees, grading lots, and he has a couple big timber clearing and trail clearing jobs for hidey hole food plots with the new machine. Already have over 200 hrs in just a couple months which is awesome!

This week I have been finishing the remodel of a cabin at Oak Run and the rest of the week I will actually be setting trusses at a big new house we are also building at Oak Run. We custom design and build the coolest lake houses and cabins on the planet!

Just 9 more days and we are heading to New Orleans for a cruise to Cozumel! I should have been a travel agent because planning action packed trips on a dime is my forte. I found a 5 day cruise from New Orleans for $209 per person and with taxes, etc. it came to $247 each. My parents and all of my brothers and sisters and all of their kids (25 of us in all) decided to head down and cruise to Mexico! It is about a 12 hr drive to New Orleans and we are staying just a couple miles from the port. All food is included and let me just say that the Herman family will eat their moneys worth in 5 days on that ship.....

I found every fishing opportunity from New Orleans to Venice to Cozumel to Progresso and every patch of water in between, but the women said absolutely no fishing on this vacation....Is that possible to be that close to the Ocean and not go fishing??? Seriously, the full moon is gonna have the Wahoo's and Yellowfin Tuna feeding like crazy off the oil rigs the day before the cruise leaves! Amberjacks which are my favorite are piled up near Venice in February.... Spearfishing in Cozumel looks sweet, and the only Captain in Progresso who speaks english is available to go to the big shipwreck bottom fishing the day we are in that port. Then on the way back some backwater redfish fishing near New Orleans would have topped it off on the way home......I just dont know how I can be so close but with no cigar......

Otter Creek Ice Fishing Update

Well, as you all already know, the ice just isnt safe yet.
I am going to have to postpone/cancel the big Ice Fishing Derby/Workshop scheduled for Otter Creek on Saturday the 21st. Also if the 10 day weather forecast is accurate we definitely wont be ice fishing by the 28th either and who knows what exactly will become of this ice fishing season altogether.

With the event being canceled we definitely will refund or credit everyone who signed up. I wont be in the office the rest of this week, but will get that done early next week. This week me and the guys are working on a very cool lake house renovation out at Oak Run. We have to get er done by May, pretty much tearing out most of the inside and putting in lots of very large wood beams, gonna be incredible.

Speaking of construction, this Saturday instead of fishing at Otter Creek I will be putting up walls at my house in Cobblestone Estates over near wildlife prairie park. Since there is nothing else going on outside, you might as well come on over and hang out for a bit to get some fresh air and get some exercise.........

I have heard of two people that made it out onto the ice last weekend. One group near Washburn caught a bunch of rainbow trout from a 1/2 acre pond and the other group near Victoria had one of their members fall through the ice and my cousin on the rescue dive team was called out Sunday to try and find his body...

Hooked On Fishing Park Update 2012

Lots of stuff happening at the fishing park right now! Many volunteers have spent the winter building/remodeling a new volunteer clubhouse, putting in bathrooms, and even Presley's Outdoors is building a new Presley's South Side Wormranch II tackle storage shed down at the park!

2012 is shaping up nicely to be the best year yet for kids and seniors down at the park! We could still use lots of help for the upcoming season! We still need some good used furniture for the volunteer building and also some good volunteers to hang out in that new building between helping kids how to fish!

Also we need volunteers of all shapes and sizes to help finish up construction of that building along with volunteers for the upcoming season for all kinds of routine maintenance at the park.

Here is some updated print information for the new year. Hope you all can help us with this mission in some way shape or form!

Ultimate Ice Fishing Derby/Workshop!

Otter Creek Preserve Ice Fishing Day 2012!
"Illinois Best Multi-Species Fishing Lakes!"
Ice Fishing Workshop and Derby
January 21, 9 am - 5 pm
Must Pre-register by Jan 16th, limited to 200 guests.
Click Here to Register.

Finally, here are the details for an amazing opportunity to ice fish at world famous Otter Creek Preserve! Otter Creek is a private 682 world class hunting and fishing property and is perhaps the best fishing in all of Illinois.

Here is a short, cheesy, but fun video Chef Todd and I put together about the event:


So you must pre-register and then on the day of the 21st we will start signing in at 8 am at the Main Lodge. Then at 9 am we will have a short introduction. By 9:30 am we will head out to the lakes and start fishing! At 10 am we have hands on demonstrations at each lake that you can attend if desired. Noon is a gourmet lunch prepared by Chef Todd and his crew. (definitely a highlight). Then one more optional workshop about using electronics for those who want to learn and back to fishing where we will have guides and prostaffers to help anyone and everyone. About 5 pm we will have the final weigh-in for all the crappies and will award the prizes!

8 am- Registration
9 am- Introduction and Orientation at Main Lodge
10 am- Walleye and Muskie Techniques on Prestigious Canadian Lake
10 am- Introduction to Ice Fishing on World Famous VIP Lake
10 am- Catchin Suspended Crappies over the Flooded Timber at Big Lake
Noon- Lunch at Main Lodge
1 pm- Ice Fishing Electronics 101- Big Lake
1 pm- Open Fishing World Famous VIP Lake (Guides on Staff if Desired)
1 pm- Open Fishing Prestigious Canadian Lake (Guides on Staff if Desired)
1 pm- Open Fishing Big Lake (Guides on Staff if Desired)
5 pm- Big Crappie Weigh In, Shoot the Breeze in Main Lodge.

Here are more details:

Main Lodge Overlooking the Big lake is heated and comfortably seats 200. Chef Todd Kent and his staff have a world class lunch and snacks prepared! All Food, Sodas, Hot Chocolate, Coffee and even Bait is provided and will be available all day long in the Lodge. Bring your own ice fishing gear. Rods and Reels and Vexilars are not provided, but Contact Nate in advance if you need anything. We will have plenty of Augers and Jigs and Bait on hand for the event!

$110 per adult
$50 per child less than 16 yrs
Group rates apply for parties greater than 8, high school fishing teams, fishing clubs, bunch of friends coming together, etc. contact Nate for details. Any topic for small group workshops can be accommodated if desired!

From the basic intro for first time ice fisherman and fisherwomen to in depth technology and technique for experienced anglers, this Otter Creek ice fishing workshop has something for everyone! Professional guides and prostaffers from across the midwest will be on staff at each lake to make sure your ice fishing experience is first class and educational! No better
opportunity to get started ice fishing or to come and enjoy fishing some world class lakes.

Otter Creek Preserve is a private property created with Herman Brothers Lake and Land Management to be the best recreational fishing in the entire state of Illinois! The VIP lake boasts lots of large 1 lb+ bluegills, the Canadian Lake features schools of large walleye, muskie, and smallmouth bass, and the Big Lake is a monster crappie factory that also showcases 13 other species of trophy fish!

While out on all three of the lakes, we will be keeping all crappie caught as part of our management plan for 2012. You can take them home for dinner or put them in designated fish baskets for others. Right now we have a huge surplus of 10-12 inch crappies and we need help thinning them down.

At the crappie weigh in at the end of the day, The person with the most crappie caught wins $200 gift certificate to Presleys Outdoors! The person with the biggest crappie of the day wins $200 gift certificate to Bass Pro Shops and the person with the smallest crappie of the day wins an all inclusive guided ice fishing trip for 2 with Nate Herman and Chef Todd!

These fishing lakes are intensively managed and fish quotas for certain sizes and species are inventoried and tracked annually. There will be additional fish species and sizes to be harvested, but they wont be determined until the day of the event.

Many hunting and fishing shows featured on the outdoor channels have been filmed at Otter Creek, and now here is your chance to come and fish these same private waters with some of the best ice fisherman in the industry. An awesome opportunity like this does not come along very often!

Hope to see you all out at Otter on Saturday, January 21st! Food, Fun, Fishing, and Fellowship. Get the gang together and come on out. I am excited for this, if your an ice fisherman you better be there. If you've never ice fished before or just learning, come on out and I will teach you a few tricks of the trade!

Click Here: Otter Registration to Register Online or for more information/pictures.

Visit hblakemanagement.com for more details.

Not Enough Time in The Day.......

.....Bring out the lights! As usual I have bitten off a bit more than I can chew and I run out of daylight pretty much daily. A little honda generator and some sets of jobsite lights have remedied that problem! I actually got a head mounted flash light for Christmas.



Got the underground plumbing in on Wednesday evening and am getting ready to set the floor joists maybe even this weekend if I can get caught up on everything else. (Theres no hope of getting caught up, but such is life).

Every spare moment has been working on my house. During the days I have been to really cool places like Brownstown, St. Elmo, and Tolono. This week was extra special because on Tuesday morning down in Southern Illinois before a new lake consultation I was fed the best breakfast on the planet by Connie from Brownstown!

Yep, the highlight this week isn't fishing (there isnt a whole lot of that going on...) Gourmet French Toast, Homemade Biscuits and Gravy, Ham and Potato Casserole, and Cinnamon Rolls so good I keep dreaming about them several times per day.



Anyhow after I get done writing this blog post I will be putting together a lake stocking plan for Jim over near Burlington, Iowa. He has a brand new 6 acre lake that he wants to grow trophy largemouth, smallmouth, and bluegill. He doesnt want to wait so he is getting a heavy dose of shiners and fatheads and superior genetic bluegill first thing this spring, and then wants to go the route of stocking feed trained largemouth and feed trained smallmouth bass in advanced sizes just a couple months later. 50 LMB and 50 SMB per acre which is a bit more than what I normally stock for a trophy bass pond, but since all the bass will be feed trained we can support quite a few more than typical. He is gonna have a very fun fishing pond and a full fledge feeding program!

Ryan down in Southern Illinois has a brand new 5 acre pond that I will be posting pictures of next week. The habitat he has created on the bottom is unbelievable, stay tuned for those pics. Anyhow he also wants a trophy largemouth and smallmouth pond, but is going at it from a different approach. He is going to stock less fatheads and shiners initially and give them more time to populate on their own. Than we will stock fingerling not feed trained LMB and SMB. Ryan is still going to feed the bluegills which in turn will produce extra forage for the bass to eat. His feeding program will be way less intense, but he is going to have an unbelievable awesome fishing pond.

Every lake stocking plan I do is completely customized to the owner and their exact situation. I have been setting up lots of crappie ponds lately which is super fun!

Anyhow, there will be a wedding at this little pond in June for a clients daughter and I need to build a big removable dock and figure out how to do some awesome floating candles for the pond for the wedding/photos.

Also we are tinkering with the idea of fishing gear/fishing for them for some of the wedding photos as well. Here are some photos from my sisters wedding where I got the idea for them from. (these are printed photos that I snapped a pic of with a cell phone so the quality isnt too great, but you get the concept).



The thing I love about my job is the diversity and being able to be very creative. When I started the pond management company full time back in '07 I could only visualize killing algae and lake weeds and stocking some fish.

So right now I got quite a few different things on my mind, the bulk of which never makes the pages of the blog. First off main thing right now is those cinnamon rolls, and well none of the other stuff really matters...I'll get er all done. It was a shame how there was quite a bit of the icing left on the bottom of the cinnamon roll platter. I sneaked a couple scoops of it off when no one was looking, but really just wanted to pick up and lick the plate off clean. Brook's been trying to teach me table manners, but all bets are off when some really good icing could potentially go to waste....

I actually made some homemade egg nog on Christmas Eve. I read a few recipes online and then kind of took the best attributes from them all and created the best egg nog on the planet! I cant wait for New Years to make another batch.... I made a gallon and a half and it all got gobbled up pretty quickly. I never realized how many eggs were in egg nog, I am gonna have a whole shopping cart full of eggs this weekend!!

Drake got a stuffed fish for Christmas, among a million other things from grandparents, cousins, etc. Anyhow the fish is his favorite, booyah! Thats my boy. Brook got a pair of muck boots and some flannel lined jeans (for working on the house).





Hey, if we ever get ice, make sure to save the date of Saturday, January 21st. I will hopefully be posting the details soon, but make sure to SAVE that DATE! You dont want to miss this event, gonna be so much fun with super good food.

Jim is gonna have to wait till next year for his fish stocking plan, cause I got real tired finishing this blog post and my whole body is sore and getting stiffer by the moment from all the digging and grading of my basement floor. Only two days left of 2011! Happy New Year!!!