friday report

I had the day off work friday so I headed to a small metro area lake that supposedly had some big gills in it. It was snowing lightly and the temps were in the upper twenties, so it was pleasant fishing weather. I dragged my stuff out there and drilled a bunch of holes covering deep to shallow. I found active gills in every hole, and they were easy to catch, the only problem was the size. Small, potato chip sunnies no bigger than the hand.




Well, after a couple hours of that game I decided to head to Waconia to see if I could vindicate my last three outings there. I tried a couple different spots, fishing in the weeds, without anything to show for it. So I decided to head to the Pillsbury Reef area, an area I had struggled in this year but had caught some quality panfish there last year. I found an area with some deep weeds and sure enough found some active bluegills. They were on the bottom, mixed in with the weeds, but were eager to bite my offering of an orange Berkley Fish Fry. It was a bit slow at first, but as it got closer to dusk they became much more active. I kept a couple close to the nine inch mark.

After the gills shut down, I decided to switch gears and try for crappies. I put on a red Glow Demon tipped with a Gulp! waxie; I managed a couple crappies this way. They were slow, coming off the bottom slowly sliding up to my offering. Here's one at 10.5".

not much happening...

Since returning from Grand Rapids I have nothing noteworthy to report. Fishing has been very tough for me the last four or five outings, trying some new spots in the TC metro area, with only a few embarassingly small panfish.

Coming up: I am looking forward to a two day panfish trip to Ottertail county at the end of February, and then there is the late ice period in March when the bite should pick up. Between now and then I'll probably spend most of my time on local lakes trying to locate a decent bite.

GRAND RAPIDS REPORT

I recently returned from Grand Rapids after four days of fishing for pannies, mostly targeting giant bluegills. Me and Andy stayed in a really nice clean resort cabin (Wildwood Resort) on Bass lake on thursday and friday ahead of the rest of the crowd...they arrived on saturday morning. We did all of our fishing on Bass lake.

We knew we were in for very cold weather for the first three days with temp highs barely getting above zero. It turned out that the first day we had the best fishing with overcast conditions. I also did really well on day two, but Andy didn't fare as well. Day three high pressure really affected the bite for me (Andy did better than me). And by day four the weather was actually back to respectable limits and found the fish a bit more cooperative.

We caught most of our fish in around 20 FOW. All in all I caught a few big gills close to the ten inch mark. I also registered a tie for my personal best bluegill that measured 10.5" We also found occasional slab crappies roaming the basin. I had the best luck on a Little Atom Atomic Stealth jig tipped with either Gulp! Alive waxies in red or spikes. Andy was hammering fish on a Fiskas jig with hooks coming out of either end and loaded with a couple spikes. Here's a bunch of pictures I took, so enjoy!

Andy nabs a big gill

Mike Thompson with some slabs!

Another beauty for Andy

Good crappie action for Bass lake

Here's my 10.5" bluegill. I wish I had taken more pictures.

Grand Rapids bound!

I'm leaving this morning for a four day fishing trip to Grand Rapids. Me and Andy are heading up today (It's 4:14am now) with a group of about 12 to meet us up there on saturday morning. I expect less than favorable conditions today and tomorrow with highs expected just above zero with some wind forcast for today. We might try some different lakes besides Bass. I really want to give Little Bowstring a shot. My main focus will be panfish, especially big bluegills, but might try to ice some walleyes too.

Anyway, look for my report and pictures upon my return early next week.

A couple quick reports

I visited the lake from my last report with Andy, hoping to cash in on some nice panfish once again, but this time the fish were very NEGATIVE! Very few fish caught, including the only keeper of the day, a nice bluegill over 8 inches. Beautiful fish.

I had to leave just at prime time, just as the sun was going down, in order to make it to a New Year's party. The panfish in that lake seem to be in that negative winter pattern and don't see myself going back there for quite some time. Amazing how fish patterns can change in a week.

This morning I scouted a local lake I have fished many times before. I caught a few keeper crappies, nothing huge, and lot's of small bluegills and lot's of dink perch. This lake is never the same year after year. Where you catch 'em one year, the next they are not there. And now there are tons of small dink gills and perch in spots where there were decent gills before minus the perch, probably in response to a huge LM bass die-off last winter. I couldn't find a single gill over 8"... I know they're in there though. I found the fish pretty aggressive in broad daylight...usually they are tight lipped during the day. Weird!

12-28 ice fishing

Ice fishing if finally here! Actually I already went on a two day ice fishing trip to Big Sandy and another lake 3 weeks ago. That's the good news. The bad news is that I thought I had fresh batteries for my camera but discovered at the worst possible time that my charger didn't work, so my batteries were dead and I had to get another charger. Well, now I got my fresh batteries and am ready to go!

Big Sandy and the other lake produced a few nice fish, Big Sandy I caught some slab crappies, although it was a finesse situation and had to really work for them. On lake x the fish were even more tight lipped, but managed some crappies and a few gills. Others in our party fared better than me with a 10" gill and 13.5" crappie.

Let's fast forward to yesterday. I went to a metro area lake teamed up with Mike Thompson, hoping to ice some nice panfish. The weather was in the 20's, the lake had snow with a layer of slush under it, winds were light...a very delightful day to be on the ice. We drilled quite a few holes and we could not find any fish. I started drilling closer to the shore before I started connecting with the crappies, bluegills not far behind. They were fairly aggressive and liked my offering of Gulp! Minnow Fry. In fact, I didn't catch anything else on any other offerings, the Minnow Fry killed 'em! I ended up taking home a limit of crappies and about 10 gills although I certainly caught more than that. There are some bruiser gills in that lake....I caught a couple around 9".

sweet crappie in the hole...

a decent fish...

and another...

caught this little bass too...

Biggest crappie of the day around 11"

MITCH NYGREN JUNE 3rd 1960-NOVEMBER 21st 2009

At 12:30 on Saturday morning of November 21st, my brother Mitch died of a heart attack in Cambridge Mn. He was 49 years old. He is survived by his wife Anita, and three boys, Matthew, Aaron, and Ryan.


It has been five days since Mitch's passing and I am still in shock. I would have posted this news earlier, but the truth of Mitch's death has just sort of sucked the life out of me and the things that were fun before have become dreary and joyless. By the grace of God I know that over time I will heal, but I will never forget my precious brother. I know with absolute certainty he is in Heaven in the very presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You see, Mitch died a Christian man.

Since I became a Christian in 2000, I had shared the gospel with him on a few occasions and his response was always one of cold indifference. He just didn't seem to have any interest in spiritual matters. I was worried about Mitch because he had smoked his whole life and I thought he would die from cancer as our father did over forty years ago. He tried to quit on many times, but could never do it.

In 2006 Mitch suffered a serious heart attack, and by God's mercy, he survived. He quit smoking for a few months afterward, but soon started up again, rolling his own cigarettes because he was usually too poor to buy packs from the store. Mitch always struggled with drinking, and seemed to go through cycles where he would quit, then start up again, quit, then start up again. His drinking caused problems in his family, but could not seem to quit.

Eight months ago, during one of those difficult periods in his life when he was drinking, he called me up out of the blue and told me he found salvation in Jesus Christ. WOW!!! The Lord had turned on the switch and Mitch understood the horrible spiritual predicament he was in; he was doomed to Hell for breaking God's laws, and Jesus Christ was the only way out. Mitch bowed to the Lordship of Christ, confessing he had not done very well running his own life. From that point on Mitch was a different man, a joy-filled and peaceful man. It was so obvious he was a believer just from talking to him. He loved Jesus. And the light of Christ manifested itself in very tangible and significant ways by his undying, self-sacrificial love for his family whom he had hurt many times with his drinking. I an absolutely certain Mitch is in Heaven right now in the presence of his Lord Jesus Christ.



The wake and funeral were on Tuesday, attended by well over a hundred wounded and teary-eyed family and friends. There were people there I had not seen for many, many years to say good-bye to Mitch. The death of Mitch is a stark reminder that we are all mortal. We are swallowed up by the fact that we shall all one day become a cold and lifeless corpse. I am so grateful that the gospel was proclaimed at Mitch's funeral, and it is my prayer that friends and relatives will think about their eventual demise and what awaits them on the other side of death. May the Lord cause the lost who attended Mitch's funeral to be "born-again", as He did to Mitch.

Here are a few observations on my awesome brother Mitch, although not exhaustive...

Mitch was a simple man, a man who never desired great wealth or personal recognition. He never graduated from high school, so he spent his time going from one low paying job to the next. He never had a fancy house, car, boat, equipment, or clothes...that just wasn't Mitch.

Mitch was a complex man who had a lot more going on under the surface than he showed. I am certain he often wondered, as I did before I became a Christian, the true meaning and purpose of life.

Mitch was very family oriented. He loved family gatherings and game nights. Although he struggled with drinking, family was very important to him.

Mitch had a great love of the outdoors and fishing. He spent considerable time on the upper St. Croix river, camping with his family, fishing, and enjoying the solitude. He was a very accomplished fisherman.

Mitch was extremely intelligent, and any task he undertook, he did very well. He was a problem solver and strategic thinker who could fix just about anything that was broken.

Mitch also had a great sense of humor. He loved to say and do unusual things that would make people laugh. Even when life was tough, Mitch's kept seeing the humor in things nobody else could.

Mitch would help anyone in need, even in his drinking cycles he would help anyone who had a need.

Mitch was tough as nails. He had survived a lot of sorrow and pain in his life. He never complained about his situation. He just lived life on life's terms.

Mitch, I have cried many times just thinking about you over these past few days. I love you and will miss you dearly in this life, but praise the Lord that I will see you again in glory!