I am not doing very good at keeping this updated am I

Well it is the beginning of the ice fishing season here in South Dakota. This week looks to solidify the fact that it is winter. Highest temp is to be about 14 degrees for the rest of the week, tomorrows high is to be 7.....

Looks like I will have to go give it a try and post the results soon.....

NCC professors came back for some wild Smallmouth action!

For the 2nd year in a row, David Haynes and Dan Cravatt from Nebraska Christian College were back for some great Smallmouth fishing. This year the goal was to top the 18" mark. The weather hasn't our friend for the first 2 days and the fishing was very tough. We got wet and cold, but on Tuesday David caught an 18" plus smallie, that really made his day.
















Then Wednesday was cold, very cold, and the fishing went from bad to worse. We only caught 12 fish all day, but this time it was Dan's turn to top the 18" mark.
















Thursday brought sun, warm temps, and no wind, it also brought out some hungery smallmouths. Right away in the morning we noticed a total difference in their eating habits, as the smallies were hungery and ready to chase some great chug bug surface action. The day produced 54 fish in the boat, including a couple more 18"ers and Dan caught one 191/2". Now that was a nice fish!!!
















Some more great smiles........

Oops, missed a weekend of camping and fishing with Amy's family

I should have posted a blog about our family fishing weekend the last weekend of May. We had some great fishing for 2 days then wind for Sunday. The boys caught a lot of fish but I think Grama Peggy beat us all.

Start of another guiding season....

Just completed a busy week of 2 groups, over an 8 day stretch, many fish were caught, tried to count but lost track after the 1st day. Only 2 bad things this week, one was the WIND and the other was lots of SMALL fish. Only about 2 in 10 were keeper size. Lots of small fish.
The 1st group was some of my Son-In-Law's small group from Mitchell, we camped at West Bend, we had LOTS of WIND, but we sure ate good, hehe!

Jason and Dave's double smallmouthes
















Did I mention it was cold?
















Then Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I fished and worked with 2 guys I first met with World Missions Builders a few years ago at Diamond Willow Ministries. Bob Mitchell from Missouri and Larry Suazo from Oklahoma came to work at Diamond Willow and do some fishing, we work some mornings and fished afternoons or as the Wind let us on the water.... We spent 2 days fishing out of North Shore, one evening below the dam, and finished up fishing at West Bend.

Larry's almost 20incher....
Come on Bob, smile......















Not bad for an hours work....

Another nice day!

Today, Peg and I met Jason and the boys(Caleb & Levi)down at the river. The fish weren't to cooperative but we had a fun day out in the sun without to much wind.
We currently are right in the middle of this years walleye spawn, so fishing is really slow.
The best thing is that this time I remembered to bring my camera. So here is a pictoral summary of our day on the water.
Jason caught one too small to keep!













Levi keep the minnows company most of the day!













Caleb rocked on his driftwood air guitar!













I managed to land a nice 21" walleye!













And somehow Peg managed to stay out of all of the pictures today.....
So here's one in her mismatched outfit(that was for the theme) from last night Church ladies annual Mother's and Daughters salad supper!

Nice Day......Wish the fish would cooperate!

Each spring I enjoy a few quiet afternoons just setting on the shore, soaking up the sun, watching the waves roll by, waiting for a jerk on the line........

Tuesday was one of those days, weather was a perfect spring day, and no wind, so I headed south. It was such a rare day that when I came home the big wind generator towers were standing still.

It was very peaceful, just not much fish action..........Except for one of those rare, yes protected species that you don't catch very often.........A Shovelnose Sturgeon. I caught one several years ago, but this time I remembered that I have a camera phone, so here you go.......



I am busy getting the boats ready so look out walleyes.......

been running, not fishing....

Yep, been running my Step-Dad back to the Heart Hospital, so I haven't been out fishing lately. Small set back fortunately not major, hopefully they will get his medicine regulated soon.
The warm weather put a lot of water on the ice so it wasn't very good for about a week. Made everyone want to get their boat out, but reality soon set that straight as it got cold again.
Maybe it is time to start thinking out replacing the trolling motor battery, and planning that first big run down the river..........

Nice day for fishing....

Another nice day to be out and enjoying the great outdoors. Fishing wasn't the hottest, but we had a great time. We can no longer drive out on the ice, like last week. The ice expanded due to the warm weather, around 50 degrees today, and heaved way up at the mouth of the boat basin. So we grabbed out sleds and walked out so we got our exercise for the day.
I have been dreaming again about my next attempt to build the perfect ice fishing rod holder, and my newest prototype worked great! Even caught a big perch on one of them so it got a test, kind of. Yep, one perch was all we got today. I had pictures that I took with my cellphone but I just pushed the wrong button and deleted all of them, smooth move huh!
But I did get a sunburn.....

Diamond Willow's Kids Fishing Tourney was today.

It was a nice day for a kids tourney, a little windy but it was warm for the last day of January. There were 34 kids and 22 adults that hit the ice this afternoon.

Now I really like going to fishing tournaments, I have had a lot of fun and really have done quite well over the years. I have finished 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 15, 17, 22, but it wasn't until I was 53 years old that I finally won the prize for the biggest fish. And then I had to go all the way to Great North Lodge on Jan Lake in Sask., Canada.

Well, today Jason(my son-in-law) and the boys met me at Ft. Thompson for the afternoon. Caleb and Levi have gone icefishing a grand total of say 3 times and had never caught a fish thru the ice.
The tourney today ended at 5:00pm but we had sat there all afternoon without even a nibble. The boys sure have a lot of patience though. Around 4:30 I saw one of the rods had a bite, Jason ran over, but it was too late, the fish had stolen his minnow. Then another rod started bouncing up and down, but all I had was a bare hook. Jason and I headed to the minnow bucket only to hear Caleb say I got a fish. Sure enough, he pulled in a large walleye at 4:40pm.

I told Jason to take the pickup and get him to the weigh in, it might be a winner. Sure enough, It was the largest walleye caught, kids or adults (18+" and 1 lb 15oz). He is now a fishing tourney winner, just 45 years quicker than I managed the feat. The boys were pretty pumped up about the big win. Caleb thought the prize money was pretty cool also....


Does that mean, I can add tournament winning fishing guide to my resume'?

A good day fishing with an old buddy from work...

It was good to spend yesterday afternoon, bouncing a few jigs thru some holes in the ice, and visiting with a friend that works to hard and needed some time off. We had talked about going for such a long time and always had something come up or just never got a round to it.......

It brought back memories as he ignored his cell phone as it rang and rang while we drilled holes and set up our fishing rigs, he was relaxing, a small break in his busy work week........

We had good time and even managed to each catch 2 walleye apiece. We came to the conclusion that sometimes you just have to stop all the slaveing away, and just set back and go fishing.......

We should do that more often.......

I thought of all the conversations we had had over the years during good times and bad, the times when he or I just needed someone to listen, or just be there while we vented. You know neither of us has ever said it, but we have grown closer over time by just being there.........

Sometimes it is just good to go fishing........

January 20th and +42 degrees!!!!!

It was a very nice day here in central South Dakota. 42 degrees was today's high in Highmore, and I think it was warmer down at the river! Beautiful weather but the fish really we not cooperating. One keeper walleye, one too small, and a nice big perch. It still was good to get out and soak up some sun. Just Rod Vaughn and I so we had a very good visit. Rod's Diamond Willow Ministries Kid's fishing tourney will be held Saturday Jan. 31st. Should be a good time for all.

Too cold to fish!

Yep, to cold for this old bird, not very often, but today was an exception.......
Todays high was only +3 degrees, this mornings low -24 degrees, currently -3.
Tomorrow, a major heat wave is coming with the high around +30 ....

Just a thought for the day!

Reading about baseball is a lot more interesting than reading about chess, but you have to wonder: Don't any of these guys ever go fishing?

~Dave Shiflett, quoted in Houston Chronicle, 29 April 1990

fridged cold wave slows down the fishing.

Wonderful South Dakota winter is causing all sorts of problems here in the northern plains. This Winter seems to be colder than the last several, but maybe I am just getting older.
I do hope to go fishing tomorrow, but we may change our minds.....

As promised a fishing tourney update!

The Diamond Willow Ministries ice fishing tourney was a huge success, and fun was had by all. Over 40 participants hit the ice for a late afternoon of fishing fun, hard water style.......
Max Kelley(our minister) and I headed up river from the North Shore boat landing near DWM, above the farm on the east bank, north of the cutbanks, along with Rod Vaughn, his son Aaron, friend Reed, and 5 from the Huron church. We caught lots of small walleyes and eight or so keepers as a group. Max and I caught 8, but only one 16" keeper, Reed tied for 1st place largest walleye of the day at 18+" and 2.4 pounds!
The largest stringer was over 11 pounds, caught by a man and wife couple below the dam, right where I fished last week, go figure huh........
Oh well, it was fun, and I am going back next Thursday for so more........
Rod and I think we should go to Brainard, Minnesota in a couple weeks to the world's largest ice fishing tourney..... what do you think??????

Been working but going fishing Thursday!

Yep, ice fishing is in full swing here in South Dakota.
I plan on going down to the river this Thursday afternoon, as Rod Vaughn, of Diamond Willow Ministries, is planning one of his friendly ice fishing tourneys.
Just plain fun but some serious fishing, ha ha ha!
Always a good time is had by all.
Watch for an update soon