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Met up with Catchinon and Joatmon to try Mantua one last time this season. On the ice just a tad past 7. Ice at boat ramp was solid. 12" ish of poor cloudy ice. Only 2 inch of clear on bottom. Small layer of crusty snow made walking pleasant. Headed east hoping to find some bass, didn't work. Dubob buzzed over and introduced himself, shared a couple helpful tips too. Fun meeting forum members in person. I was able to catch a couple respectable bluegill and a bunch of small perch. Gills are still swimming, perch are now Willard bait. Gold tungsten with mealworm did well. Also caught a bunch on a small black hook with red plastic tail. Fun day on the ice. Chilly to start out, but beautiful weather for the majority. Driving home past Willard sure got my thinking about putting the short rods away.
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[#800000][font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Nice to meet you as well. Don't forget about the Navionics app for your phone. [
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[#800000][size 3][font "Comic Sans MS"]I was thinking earlier that I might make it back up there one more time next week. But after thinking about what the weather is supposed to do next week, I decided I'm done for the season.[/font][/size][/#800000]
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[#800000][size 3][font "Comic Sans MS"]Might start putting the T-Jet back together next week and start looking for some reasons to put it on the water. [cool][/font][/size][/#800000]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
I'm 81 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms."
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I was out there that day too. It was such a nice day.
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It was nice. The beauty of sunlight sparkling off fresh clean snow never ceases to fascinate me. The downside is that I had gotten a bad facial sunburn from fishing at Strawberry under the same weather conditions. I found the SPF50 sunscreen to take with me to Mantua, then in a classic move I left it in the pickup. Needless to say I now understand what a crusty old man is [
]. Dermatologist trip is on tap.
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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That's no good. I didn't even bring any. I got a little red but not too bad. Where were you guys fishing at?
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Hey glad I didn't post a fake report about the conditions to try and keep people from fishing my spot. You would have been able to call me out. It was a very nice day. We walked from the boat ramp towards the east side south of the hump. How was your trip?
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Thanks Bob. I think I'm going to get the chip for my fish finder also. Get that boat out! Took my kids for a little ride on the water at Willard Sunday. Smooth sailing and NO BUGS.
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haha Well I was skeptical about the reports I had heard from some friends about this ice since I hadn't heard anything about it yet on here. I did alright I have never fished over there before. My naviaonics map showed a big hole in the corner a little south of that same boat ramp so I went over there and checked it out. It was 11 ft deep on my sonar. I noticed that everyone else was alot further out. So I started heading out a bit and tested depths and it was deeper so that app lied to me again.
The best part was my daughter got my wife to get me a really nice rod and reel setup for my birthday earlier this month and I wanted to use it before the season was over. So it was nice to get out and get a perch on that.
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Funny you say that. As we were fishing our way back towards home, Dubob was nearby searching for a hole in the countours he had marked on his app. He found the spot, drilled a couple holes, and invited me to fish it with him. I only marked 9.5 ft and he marked 10. Only saw 1 fish and Bob moved on looking for other spots. Our small group had stopped not far from there in the morning and marked water at 16-17 ft. Makes me wonder if the app "lied" to him like it sounds it has you. There isnt really a hole there. Or if the gps coordinates and the map dont quite match up. Either way I see it being frustrating. I really like the idea of the mapping and plan on trying it out for myself.
*After further thought. Maybe I misunderstood hole for hump. In that case it seems it worked perfectly
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One thing you have to remember, as Bob gets older he is getting more forgetful. He has been known to leave people on boat ramp and go fishing without them!
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Easy enough- Remember Bob forgets! No doubt there is a good story behind that comment
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[quote EyLayo]Easy enough- Remember Bob forgets! No doubt there is a good story behind that comment[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 3]Yep, just ask TubeDude. He'll be MORE than happy to give you the play-by-play explanation. If I live to be 200, I'll never live that down. [cool][/size][/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
I'm 81 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms."
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[#0000FF]Here are the gory details. I rode with Bob to a BFT ice fishing get-together on Starvation. Bob was the last one to head out to the spot...about 2 miles away from the parking area. As he was finishing prepping I stepped back a few yards to get a pic of the vehicles and Bob getting ready. Then he suddenly did a running "cowboy" mount on his snowmobile and rocketed off up the lake...without me. I had to walk almost all the way there before someone came back for me. And he had my sled...with my gloves on the top. So I had frozen hands and no tackle if I had wanted to just fish closer by.[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF]Since I had my camera I took a quick pic of Bob departing without me. Pictures are worth a thousand words...some X rated.[/#0000FF]
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Did you check your tackle when you finally met up? Sounds like a scheme for a quick scavenge to me. Sure looks like that sled is noticably void of pvc. What gives?
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An elderly man that I used to see at work often told me- I don't forget things, I'm just making room for something better. Wonder if that would apply in this situation?
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