Well, it is cold this morning 4 degrees Farenheit. I haven't been fishing in over a month, I put the boat away in the middle of October and haven't even been shore fishing. I am getting reports from my sources that the walleyes and muskies have been on a chew. Nice fish being taken on all the lakes. Remember, muskie season closes on the Iowa Great Lakes tonight at midnight, the rest of the state remains open.
I will be taking a look around the area today to see if there is any ice on the bays, the wind dropped down last night so there might be some, I don't think it will hold though, the wind is supposed to blow again today. I will be giving ice reports as the season progresses.
I haven't done much hunting this season, ducks and geese a couple of times and pheasant an equal amount. I did hunt out of a lay out boat on Silver Lake, that is cool, you lay in the bottom of a really shallow but surpising stable lay out boat right in the middle of the decoy spread. You really get a different perspective.
I will be heading to South Dakota next week for the opener of muzzle loader deer season. I have never hunted deer with a smokepole and am looking forward to it. I purchased a Thompson Center Encore .50 Cal. It took me a while to work up a load that the gun likes but I got it done. This hunt is a kind of homecoming for me, I haven't been back to South Dakota deer hunting since my hunting accident 40 years ago. My wife Dianne is going along, we will be meeting Rick Dicus and his wife Shirley out there for the hunt.
Speaking of Dianne, she retired this month from Pure Fishing after 42 years of good work for a fine company. I am not letting her retire totally, I am putting her in charge of the basic house breaking of the lab puppy we are getting. I will keep you informed about how that project is progressing.
Any way right now other than preparing for the deer hunt, it is all about waiting for ice. I hope you ice heads have you reels spooled with fresh micro-ice, fireline, whatever, checked the plug and put fresh gas in the Strikemaster and checked your waypoints for your ice fishing spots. I see Vexilar has a new unit out this year, Clam has put black lining in the Fishtrap tents and much more new ice fishing stuff to be tried.
So much stuff so little time. Pray for ice.
Keep warm.
