Christmas Card 2008

Here is our Christmas card for 2008.

Mae is 3 and Noah is 16 months. They definitely get their looks from their mother! To further prove my point, here is a recent portrait of Daddy:

Season Opening Update

Opening Day Could Not Have Been Better!

I woke up this morning to 25 MPH winds with 30+ gusts! Although it would make everything much more difficult, the wind was definitely not going to keep my Dad and I off of the pond this morning. A warm front was headed our way and our window of opportunity for safe ice would be before noon. I stuck around the house this morning long enough to watch Curious George with Mae and then headed over to the pond.

The ice was extremely slick and the wind was howling! We were not going to be very mobile once we hit the pond, so we knew we wanted to get the shanty into position on our first try. What is real nice about first ice is that the vexilar reads the depth and shows the fish right through the ice without even drilling any holes!

I let my Dad choose the first spot, and he was right on the money! We drilled 2 holes and staked the shanty through the ice with 10" pole barn spikes. Usually we would have drilled about 15 to 20 holes right off the bat, but not today! I think I fell down a half a dozen times just getting set up with the slick ice and wind. It was nice that no one else was dumb enough to be outside on a day like today, or I would have been quite embarrassed. Even knowing no one was around, I still had to look around to see if anyone saw what happened? Also I didn't want to drill any more holes, cause the ice was only 3.25 inches and evaporating.

The vexilar is by far the only way to ice fish! I could see many fish suspended 7 feet down in 11 feet deep water. I would just drop the jig down to 7 feet and pull up a fish instantly!

Here is a pic of my vexilar unit, you can also see how thick (or actually how thin) the ice was.

Here is a pic of the first hard water fish of the 2008 season: It was a nice Hybrid Bluegill that ate my new Northland Forage Fry Minnow Jig. He is the only fish caught today that will get to sleep in his own bed tonight!

We caught 35 bluegill, 10 hybrid bluegill, 6 crappie, and a yellow perch! We had to get off the ice after about 1.5 hours because the ice was melting, sinking, and there was quite a bit of water pooled up where we were sitting! I was going to take some more pics of the fish, but the wind was just awful outside of the shanty, and my camera batteries were dead. The only other pic I was able to take was of this little crappie. She was suspended 5 feet below the ice and ate a small Bro's Bug Maggot jig tipped with a wax worm.

The weather was horrible, but the rest of the day couldn't have been any better! I went home to an awesome grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch; then finished up the afternoon watching college basketball and In-Fishermen's new icefishing series before falling asleep on the couch. That I think was my first nap of 2008! Probably even the first Saturday that I have even been inside during daylight hours!! This year has been the craziest, busiest year ever. I have already spent well over 4,000 hours working. It does kind of help that alot of my job just happens to revolve around fish and fishing, but still it was nice to have a day without phone calls, emails, and for the first time my mind actually stopped thinking. I relaxed!

Spent the evening over at Brook's sister's house for some family birthday parties, pizza, cake, ice cream and whole lot of sitting on the couch just kicking back. Normally this type of activity is not my cup of tea, but today surprisingly it was just what the doctor ordered. The problem I am going to have now is that I haven't done much the whole day, took a 2 hour nap, and was totally relaxed most of the day; I probably wont be able to go to bed for hours?

ICE FISHING 2008

Ice Fishing 2008 is about to begin!

I am so pumped up I can't sleep. I spent a few hours this evening with my mom and dad just getting all the poles lined up, repaired, and rigged up for the upcoming hardwater season! Brook and the kids even helped out too. Gearing up for opening day was a family event this year.

I think we have about 3.5 inches of ice at my dad's pond and a few various local potholes. I will report back with pics and details.

Blake's Monster Deer

Blakes Monster Deer!



I guess I am in hunting mode right now. Oh my goodness, did you see the picture of the deer listed above? My brother in law Jared was out bowhunting with his bro Blake on Saturday after Thanksgiving and boy did they have a day to remember out in the woods! The events below of how the giant came down are I guess you could say "based on a true story".....When a big deer comes down, you know there has to be some kind of weird twist of events or scandal of some sort...Right?

Anyhow, Jared was perched up in his favorite tree just like he spends most Saturday mornings this time of year. Blake was a few hundred yards away in the other treestand. So everything was just fine and dandy out in the timber when Jared decided to wake up from a little cat nap about 8:15 am (this is where the based on a true story comes into play, the cat nap portion adds just a bit of flavor to the tale). I dont actually know what Jared was doing, but I do know that standing 15 yards away broadside before him was the same deer Blake is holding for the picture.

I guess I am running out of time this morning, so I will just get to the point. Jared had a perfect 15 yard shot on this monster, pulled back and the arrow immediately flung out of his bow and right over the Giant. His, I should say, my sisters arrow release thing did not hold the arrow like it was supposed to....this is the part where I am chuckling to myself as I am writing. The deer didn't know what had happened and just slowly moved a few yards, presenting Jared with another clean shot. This time realizing he had the wrong thing to hold arrows he kind of tried to hold the thing clamped shut on the arrow and that didnt work out as planned either. This arrow did hit the deer and even knocked him down on the ground, but it hit his leg and not his heart.

The giant deer is laying on the ground about 25 yards in front of Jared, but guess what, he only had 2 arrows to start with. (Chuckle has turned into a bit of a laugh this time) After a minute or so the deer decides nap time is over and gingerly gets up and heads down the trail towards Blake. As soon as the coast was clear, Jared jumps down from the tree and races back to the truck for some more supplies or something? He gives Blake a call on the phone to tell him what just happened, but before Jared could say much of anything Blake says, I just shot a MONSTER!

Before the hunt, they decided they would sit until 9 am. So about 8:45 Blake was getting antsy and just about to hop out of his stand when he spots the Booner slowly meandering down the trail towards him. He had almost too much time to think about what was coming his way, kind of like a 3 point shooter with nobody close enough to him and too much time to think about his shot. Although Blake is a fairly new bowhunter, he has had plenty of prior Buck Fever (or Jared Type) crazy experiences to get him ready for this exact moment. Here is another unique pic of this Boone and Crocket deer.



I am heading to Iowa this weekend for a 5 day deer hunting trip! I have been practicing with my brother's ruger .454 hangun for this trip! I am really getting excited.

Catfish of 2008

Just a few catfishing photos! These are the size we target for EATING!