Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wrote my 1st article for the Voyager Press

The Tullibees are biting!
Hey folks,
I'd like to introduce myself as CK, other wise known as CrappieKeith Nelson.
I am a local fisherman from Palisade and have a fishing forum www.ckoutdoors.com
John approached me about doing a column about the outdoors for the Voyager Press which is something
I've never done before ,but I thought it would be great to give it a whirl. So let's get right to what is going on.
The gamefish season is over as of this last Sunday.the pannies are pretty fincky, but if you move around you
can find a few takers.
What is really going good is the tullibee bite.
I met up with a few men...Dave Harmon from around that Finlayson area and Mike Walbridge better known
as Team Ice Heave from south of Mora.
I told them earlier we would go to the spot that John Tholen from Aitkin and I were at yesterday.
We had done alright ,but that at least I knew were to start Sunday morning.
The north end of Big Sandy is known for these beautifull smokers.
They are pretty simple to catch really. A rod and reel with a pannie jig tipped with a waxie.
We have the benefit of seeing the fish under us via a Marcum flasher.
Just get your bait in front of them and lift a foot."WHAM" the fight is on.
The bite will strengthen as we get closer to ice out.
With the water warming warming by the run off there is these mayfly larva that leave the bottom which those
tullies will target for a food source.They will really become aggresive and there is no better fight with ultra lite tackle.
Make a stop by Willies bait shop for your wax worms on hwy.65 .They may also be able to give you some
current information on the bite.
Moving on to another topic which we were discussing on KKIN's monday morning's sports show.
Picking up the debris from the ice.
Now that the snow is melting and all of the permenant shelters are gone we will be seeing blocking debris and other refuse
appearing.As responsible sportsmen and women we should leave our lakes as clean as possible.
Bring a plastic garbage bag with you when you hit the ice and take a minute or two to pick up what some have left
out there.
I know...I mutter too ,but I would just as soon feel good about making our water cleaner than ignoring the problem
and having it effect our fishing quality later.
All of us that care about our lakes thank you in advance.
Being this is the 1st time I have written a column I must admit it is sort of scary. I am not sure what you
really want to hear about.
So I am shot gunning a bit with the subject matter. I hope something is of interest to you.
Here's a subject...taking our children or our parents fishing or maybe taking somebody else's child out
to the lake. Our sport depends on this and it sure as heck doesn't hurt the person your taking out for
a day on the ice or water.
For example I took my Dad out Saturday as I mentioned earlier.Well we had a gas out there and do you know what.My Dad has never caught a tullie. Never! JT is known for being an outdoorsmen. He has chased just about everything on four legs and some two legged creatures. He got more fishing stories than you can shake a stick at like the day he dropped the ole modle A in Cedar lake ice fishing.
So when he said he has never ever caught a tullibee I felt pretty good about our catching for the day.
Taking a child out has also got to be one of the most rewarding things you can do.Just seeing their little eyes light
up on a 5 inch gill is incredible.Catch a pound crappie and those tikes think they have a wall mounter!
Be carefull they may ask to go again and again.
Well I am thinking it should be time to wrap it up. Oh one last thing.
www.ckoutdoors.com is having a get together for a late ice run on Big Sandy April 4th which is a Saturday.
You can go to the forum sign up for free and learn all about what we will be doing.There will be a pot luck with gas grills for brauts and burgers at noon.
All are welcome and since CKO is a family orientated forum there will be no alcohol allowed at the event.
Your children are welcome as well.
We will be fishing for crappies and tullibees.
The event will run from 8-5. So come and join the fun. There will be several great fishers from CKO attending including from what I hear ,Don with Wilcraft exhibiting that new ice fishing maching that can go from water to ice.
So until next time we will see you on the lake getting in a bit of R and R oh...that is rearing and reeling!
God Bless
CK

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