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Fishing Reports for Local Area - Location |
    
john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 10
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 19, 2004 - 12:14 pm: | |
THE WEB CAM IS UP AND RUNNIG GUYS. IT DOES UPDATE EVERY 5-MIN SO IT IS WHAT IT IS. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT. THE ICE CONDITIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS. COVE BAY HAS 7 TO 9 INCHES OF ICE UNTIL YOU HIT THE MAIN LAKE. VINELAND BAY IS ALSO SITTING WITH 7 TO 9 IN. UNTILL YOU GET OUT ON THE MAIN LAKE. MAIN LAKE ICE AS OF TODAY WHICH IS SUNDAY DEC 19TH IS 3 TO 4 INCHES. I DO EXSPECT TO BE OUT JUST AFTER XMAS IF THE COLD WEATHER HOLDS. WE WILL SEE IF IT DOES. IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TOURNEY OR AVAILABILITY ON ICE SHACKS FOR THAT DAY, PLEASE CALL ME OR E-MAIL MY SITE WITH YOUR QUESTIONS. SOME TIMES I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO GET TO LSF TO SEE YOUR PRIVET MESSAGES OR THE POSTS. I DO CHECK MY EMAIL FROM YOU EVERY DAY EMAIL ME FROM MY SITE www.rockyreef.com SO I DO NOT MISS YOU. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE. I WILL BE POSTING ICE DEPTHS ON THE HOME PAGE IN THE ICE CONDITIONS LINK ABOVE THE WEB CAM LINK.
TILL WE SEE YOU
BE SAFE
ROCKMAN
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 9
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2004 - 8:53 am: | |
Well we had 2 inches ice out about a mile for a couple of days. But as always, Mother Nature has thrown us a curve ball. The winds came up at 2:30 am from the northwest at 45 mph and the ice was on its way down the shoreline towards cove bay. I was out and about yesterday and the bays on the south end had 3 to 4 inches of ice on them, but there was open water out 1/2 mile from shore. There were a couple of guys out, but they did not go far. Do not go out on any ice rite now. That would be my recommendation. It will come when it gets colder. To many people lose their lives every year just for a fish, by going out to early. The fishing is not that much better at 2 inches of ice. Than when the ice is 5 to 6 inches thick, when you consider the consequences. We are supposed to get some cold temps this week. It will not take long for the ice to form with some consistent cold temps. We will just have to wait and see what Mother Nature will bring us. So stay home with ma ma and give her some lovin now, so she will show you some love later. I have been working on setting up a web cam link looking out my window at the lake. There will be a spot on my site in a couple of days that will always show a live feed every 30 seconds, so if you do not see a lot of movement, be assured that it is a live feed. You will have to push your refresh button on your browser to get an updated picture. Once and a while I will try to show my pretty face. Until then you can go to this link at http://rockyreef.com/cam/webcam.htm
you can get your own view of the lake conditions. I will have it on from sun up to sun down for the rest of the season. It should be pretty cool! Email me and let me know how it looks, or if it works at all.
Be safe
We will see ya When we see ya
Rockman
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 8
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 8:16 am: | |
We have been able to put another year on the big pond under our belt. This is how the year went. We started the year with great expectations for a great walleye bite after the previous years starvation debacle because of the handling of the harvest levels the year before, and anticipation on what the new slot limit would do for all of you that have been so disgusted with the way the MN state DNR has handled the harvest restrictions. I can say that the response on the restrictions as they sit now, you all can live with it. Being that this is once again suppose to be a 5-yr. Plan. We will see if the DNR live up to their end of the deal with the people. We then found ourselves having to make yet another business move to try and stay in business after seeing 2 more resorts be bought out and closed to the public. Cozy cove and shore acres are the last to fall. So we put the plan in motion to put a bar into the restaurant that has been here for 3 years. To try and fill the void left by shore acres buy out and eddy’s buy out 3 years ago by the band. There is not many places left that you can sit by the lake with a million-dollar view and feel like you were sitting at home with friends. I would like to think that is what Patti and I have to offer you at rocky reef resort every time you stay. We also pride ourselves with unmatched full service at every visit. So now we do have the bar and restaurant in place and I think it will be a great addition to what we have to offer. If it wasn’t bad news about the lake there was no news about the lake. I can’t say it enough, thank you, thank you, thank you. If it wasn’t for the loyalty that all of you that patronize our resort have shown us over the years, We could not and more than likely would not do what we do. We truly love what we do and would like to do it for many years to come. So again, thank you. Mid summer there was not a mud bite or a lindy rigging bite on the gravel. There was no spinner bite, but if you could muster up the patience to bobber up then you had a great year. I was able to catch fish under bobbers until mid august. After being run down and pulled into the water spout with my son Jonathan on board while pre fishing for the next tournament and surviving. Just 2 days before the hunters tournament. We placed 3rd in 2 out of 3 tournaments under bobbers.16 hundredths out of first place in the hunters tournament. And 6 hundredths out of first place in the red door tournament. The wave wacker was another story. We rigged the first day and weighed no fish and the second day under bobbers we weighed 15lbs. The second day, by the way the wave wacker was won under bobbers on the reefs out of Myr Mar. So that tells you that bobbers were the ticket this summer. The open lake deep water trolling never got off the ground either this summer. Now the fall bite was much better. September full moon phase was not what we expected because of the water temps being in the mid 60s. It was a 2 to 4 fish a night bite. The October full moon was a big hit with every one that took part in it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kent Hrbec and Eric Gislison for taking time out of their hectic schedule with their new outdoor program Kent Hrbec Out Doors to do a fall full moon shoot with the Rockman and his signature hot dog cook out on the lake. Lots of you have heard of a shore lunch. Well I take it a step further and do a hot dog cook out in the boat while fishing for big fat walleyes. It was the night of the lunar eclipse and it was dark I can tell you that. It was not the impressive numbers night that the night before was, but they were quality fat little piggy. Kent caught the first 26 in. fat little piggy not more than 2 minutes after he threw in the # 8 shallow running shad and Eric caught the last 27 inch fat little piggy at 1:30 am. We did end up with 4 fish. 2 of them were fat 21 inchers so I gave him 2 more that I caught the night before, so his wife was a very happy girl. She loves mille Lac lake walleyes. It is not the first time that I have made the wives at home happy with a limit of walleyes from the big pond. I’m sure it will not be the last. If mama is happy the rest of us are very happy. I had been on the water for four days already when they came on Wednesday and the bite had been 6 to 11 fish a night. But of course as usual the bite I wanted for Wednesday night with Kent was not there, and we fished our hearts out. That’s fishing. The next night we caught a dozen fish in the 26 to 29 inch range. Sorry Kent we missed it by a day on either side. The final numbers of walleyes caught on the Rockman’s guide trips were 128 walleyes in 9 days. 35 fish were over 26 inches and there were 11 fish in the 29inch range the rest of the fish were in the 25 to 22 inch range with over 30 fish in the slot from 21 ½ to 18 inches. It was nice to send my client’s home with a few fish for a change. All of the fish that we caught were very fat and very healthy which is a great thing to see after the past couple of years. Most of the fish were caught on #7 or #8 shallow running shads in the perch and the fire tiger pattern. There were some big fish caught on #12 husky jerks. Of course the highlight of the fall bite was the 50-inch musky that I caught on the September full moon while fishing for walleyes on 6-pound test. What a great memory. Thanks to all of the guys that were up for the full moon phases in both September and October. It is always a great time to be together with all of you. The competition that is displayed is immeasurable and the hard time that we all give one another on the radio and at breakfast the next morning are always very entertaining. For those of us that do not live up to what everyone else thinks we should catch for numbers, all that I can say is "We envy those of you that can" We focus on quality. So there! Now we must focus our energies on the winter season and all that Mother Nature has to bring. Will it be warm weather? Will it be cold weather? Will there be snow or will there be none as we have all experienced for the past few years. Only god knows what is to come, so we must all pray for cold weather and then lots of snow. I know that is what I will be doing as I get ready for the winter season.
Make sure to check out the photo album for all of the full moon pics. There are a lot of "fat little pigs" there.
I will be hosting an ice-fishing tournament on the 15 of January with Lake State fishing and catchin- radio. I will be posting all of the stuff for that in the very near future for all of you that would like to attend. There will be many prizes and trophies for the biggest fish in a multi species tournament. For now you can go to www.fishingminnesota.com or www.catchin-radio.com for details until I get them.
Until then stay safe
We will see you when we see you
Rockman
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 7
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 1:33 pm: | |
What a Monster
5o inch musky from Mille Lacs
Pushing that 40lb class
Released unharmed
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce27b3127ccea85c3e91a3670000001 610[/img]
This was a guide trip with the Rockman and Rich from Bio-Bait and crappie magnet on tues. night. We fished for walleyes and got a monster ski along with some nice eater walleys. Pic below of richs fish. The Hot dogs were on the cooker as the monster hit a #5 shallow running shad in the fire tiger color in 6 ft of water on 6# fire line. At first i thought it was a 26 inch eye, but as the fish got closer to the boat I could tell it was no eye, but a huge ski. As rich tried his best to lift it into the boat I could tell that he was not going to do it on his own so I reached out to give him a hand as the huge monster ski made it's way into the boat. Every ones eyes got as big as a dinner plate when the ski was lowerd to the floor. Rich and myself had to back up when the huge jaws opened, we just wanted to get out of the way of those big teeth. We got the lure out of the ski and took some quick pics of her and released it within a few minutes. She swam off with no hesitation to be caught another day or night by someone else. It is always a great feeling to put back such a beautiful fish as this one truly was. We ended the night with 3 keeper walleyes and the huge monster ski. Thanks for the memory guys. That is truly what it is all about.
The Rockman
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce27b3127ccea853ce8742ee0000001 610[/img] |
john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 9:21 am: | |
It will not be long and the full moon phase will be upon us. The full moon in September is on the 28th of month. The full moon in October. is also on the 28th so get your raps out and get them tuned. Get the new line on all of your reels and make sure that you have plenty of ball bearing swivels. It is going to be a great year for rapping. I was out on a guide on Sunday night and we spanked the walleyes out on the reefs for 5 straight hours. From 8:00 PM to 1:30 am. The biggest being 29 1/2 inches. We also kept 8 fish in the 18 to 21 inch class. Total catch for the evening was 22 walleyes, 7 big perch and 1 21 in. Small Mouth. The hot bait was a # 7 shallow running shad in the fire tiger. Running 5 to 10 ft of water with 120 ft of line out. It was a great night to be out on sun. I think that there were more people out that night then I have seen in weeks. There were also fish caught in other boats under bobbers, but I saw more lights come on in boats that were trolling then were bobbing. The fish are looking very fat and plump this season, now that there is more feed for them. There were a couple of big muskies caught that night too. Not by us, but that is ok, they will spool you before you know it, on a spinner rod. All I can say is if you get one hooked up, hit reverse as fast as you can and be ready for the ride of your life. I hope to see more of you this season that I have not seen in a while. The bite is on and the fish you catch will be the fish you can keep. There are a lot of fish in the 19 to 22 inch class. There are also plenty in the 28 to 30 inch class to mount. They are very heavy this year. I have always liked the 3 days before and 2 days after the full moon. It seems that the build up to the actual full moon is better than the 2 days after. At any rate, you have 6 days of prime fall fishing during the phases. Sept. seems to be the month of the eater walleyes with some big walleyes also, but Oct. full moon phase is always big fish time. The water gets cooler and the tullibees start to move up onto the rocks. The big walleyes are always rite behind them. You will catch more big walleyes in the full moon phase of Oct. with the tail of the tullibee sticking out of their throats than at any other time of the year. Husky jerks in the #13 to #18 sizes in the black and silver chrome finish and the fire tiger series and the #9 shads. But there are more than just those colors to use. Set one of your reels up with your favorite multifilament line so you can feel the action of those big lures. If you can’t feel it you are basically fishing blind. You must tune your lures in the boat while trolling. You cannot tune them by reeling them in at the dock. Lures are made to run at a certain speed at a certain depth, it is hard to have a lure run at reeling speed and match up with a trolling speed under different water conditions in the boat. They will not run the same. So spend some time in the next few weeks to get out in your boat and tune them babies in. The muskies are still being caught on the rocks and down in Vineland Bay under bobbers with a 10 inch sucker minnow. The musky guys are also catching big walleyes on top water baits on the weed lines in both Cove and Vineland Bay. When I see you, I can fill you in on the details of the bite as we get closer to the phase.
That is all for now.
As always
Stay safe
We will see ya when we see ya.
Rockman
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 5
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 8:01 am: | |
The bar is officially done. Thank god for that. I wish I enjoyed construction more than I do. The projects just take to long to see any progress. But I do enjoy the results. The bar is beautiful. The Grand Opening will be this weekend. Saturday August 21st. from 4pm to 6pm we will be serving free hot dogs and bratwurst. Then from 6pm to 8pm we will have happy hour, 2 for 1 drink specials and drawing for door prizes. So if you are planning a trip to Mille Lacs this weekend stop in and see us. It will be worth your while. Sure do appreciate what all of you bartenders and waitresses go through now that we are doing it ourselves. My hats off to you. There is definitely an art to doing it well. Thank you to all those who helped to get it all done. It has been a long 6 weeks. I have not even had a moment to fish off of the dock let alone on the big pond, so the report this week will be from what I have heard from those of you that were out doing it.
The night bite is still slower than I have seen in the past few months. With the weather going from 90 degrees to 60 degrees the fish do not know where to be. There is a rigging bite early in the morning from 5 to 7 am. The day time bobber bite has slowed a bit, but they are still getting some during the day in 12 to 18 ft of water on leeches and night crawlers with a small 32nd oz. Jig or just a plain painted hook. The muskies are still hot on the north end of the lake and in Vineland bay. Most of the biters are taking surface baits, or if you want to troll for them they are taking bucktails also. The small mouth are still on the rocks from 14 to 18 ft of water. Still using tube jibs and plastic worms. There are a few being taken on rattle traps and crank baits. The open water trolling is starting to pick up on the mud flats. Using the reef runners. Most of the biters are in the 15 to 20 ft range over 33 ft of water. Out in what we call no mans land. Hopefully the weather will warm up for us before the summer comes to an end in a few weeks. This is definitely the summer that never was. Some of the coldest temps that any of us has seen in our life time. Lets hope that the fall will bring warmer than usual temps. That is until November at least. We do not want the winter ice to come in to late again this year, but the farmers almanac is predicting warmer than normal temps for this coming winter season also. Lets hope that they are wrong about that too. That is about it for now. I will try to get out sometime this week and see if I can dial you all in a little better than I have in the past 6 weeks now that I am done with the last rocky reef project as far as I am concerned, but Patti may have another one for me in the future. You know, like a new deck with a Jacuzzi on it. She has been asking the past three years for one of those. I will see what I can do about that peaches. She deserves the best I can assure you of that.
Be safe
I hope to see a lot of you this Saturday for the Grand Opening of The Rockman’s Bar and Grill
Thanks
Rockman
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 4
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 6:33 pm: | |
What a week. Just trying to get the entire bar and restaurant stuff together for the opening hopefully this weekend if all goes as planned. But with everything, plan for the worst. Expecting the best. The bar is in place and we have product in the basement waiting for the final ok from the state. At the health department level, man you would think that they would help a guy out especially when he is the last resort on the southwest side. But no, they have to take their sweet ••• time to get things done. Then hassle you to death on all of the codes and red tape. Until you are ready to shoot yourself for ever thinking of building anything. Before they give the approval. As soon as that is done I can close up the new bathroom walls and kick them out. Then put all of the tile on the floors. Place all of the toilets, sinks and handrails. Paint, trim. Put up doors, mirrors. Move in the tables and chairs. Hook up the satellite t.v. Finish off with putting in the bar sink. Hook up the ice machine for drinks and to cool the pop dispenser. Clean up all the stuff. Then we will clean ourselves up and serve it all to you! So as you can see there is still a lot to be done, and there is no monster house guys to help out. But we will sure give it our best try. So keep us in mind on your way through and stop for a brew. There are some pictures of the bar on the photo album. Check them out. She is a beautiful piece of craftsman ship. Thanks, my hat is of to Acorn Millwork and Gea painting and finishing. Just out side of garrison. For the impressive work that they pulled off. Thanks Tim you are the best in the business.
Here is the fishing report
I know you still do not want to hear that the bobber bite is still on, but it is. The walleyes seem to be feeding more at night then during the day. You can get a few during the day if you can get some wind. Then work over the reefs it doesn’t seem to matter which reef, just remember they all have their own times that are best. But you can go for the small mouth bass during the day. They are going nuts on Indian point in 12 ft to 6 ft of water using rattletraps in the fire tiger and the cray fish colors. The morning bite is good, but the afternoon bite is very good, if there is not a lot of wind. They are hitting on surface bait also. Floating raps or countdowns in the same colors. The crank bait bite is picking up in the afternoon. Run your baits down to 17 to 22 ft. there are more biting fish up in that range. Don’t look for them on your depth finders. You will see very few of them. I think the boat is spooking them to the side. But they are there, trust me. Talked to gene miller, the muskie king on the north end. He said that the muskies are running the sand break up in Malmo and I know that there are some being taken off of rocky reef and Anderson’s reef early in the morning. Then later in the evening during the twilight time.
That’s all I have for now.
So have a safe week
We will see ya when we see ya
Rockman
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 3
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 25, 2004 - 4:46 pm: | |
IT JUST KEEPS GOING AND GOING AND GOING. THE BAR CONSTUCTION THAT IS. STILL LOOKING AT HAVING IT OPEN ON THE 1ST OF AUG. OR THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND. DOING A LOT OF IT OURSELVES, AS ALWAYS.THE BAR AND THE BACK BAR ARE IN PLACE. THE TOPS FOR THE BACK BAR AND THE BAR WILL BE HERE ON THURS. COOLERS AND PRODUCT TO BE DELIVERED THIS WEEK. JUST WAITNG ON THE STATE PLUMBERS REVEIW SO I CAN SET ALL OF THE FIXTURES AND SHEET ROCK. MUD AND TAPE. PAINT, TRIM AND A FEW ODDS AND ENDS, OH AND FINISH THE NEW HANDICAP RAMP AND WE WILL BE IN BUSSINESS. THE STATE COULD SET THE OPENING BACK A TAD UNTIL THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND IT HAS BEEN 2 WEEKS NOW AND FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE STATE, I DID PAY THE EXTRA FEE FOR THE EXSPEDITED PROCESS BUT STILL NO WORD.. WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE BAR. IT’S A BEAUTY. IT IS WESTERN CEDER, WITH A WHITE CEDAR EDGE. THE BAR IS ASPEN HALF LOG SIDEING WITH A WHITE CEDER FOOT RAIL. I WILL POST A PICTURE ON THE WEB SITE FOR YOU TO SEE UNTIL YOU CAN GET UP TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF. I WILL BE OFF THE LAKE FOR A FEW WEEKS UNTIL THE BAR IS UP AND RUNNING. BUT I WILL GIVE A REPORT IF THERE IS ANY CHANGE IN THE BITE AS FAR AS THE BITE GOES. IT IS TUFF DURING THE DAYTIME. EVEN ON BOBBERS THE BOBBER BITE AT NIGHT IS STARTING TO PICK UP, OFF OF THE DEEP WATER ROCKS AND GRAVEL. THE FISH SEEM TO BE DOING A MAJORITY OF THEIR FEEDING AT NIGHT. THE CRANK BITE IS SLOW ALSO. IT HAS BEEN A WEIRD YEAR AS FAR AS THE RIG BITE IS CONCERNED. ONE DAY YOU CAN CATCH A FEW. THE NEXT DAY NOTHING. MUSKIE FISHING IS SLOW, BUT THE NORTHERNS ARE BITEING PRETTY GOOD IN VINELAND BAY ON BUCKTAILS AND TOP WATER BAITS. THE SMALL MOUTH ARE ON THE SHALLOW ROCKS AND AROUND THE DOCKS. USE TUBE JIGS AND CRANK BAITS IN 5 TO 9 FT OF WATER. TRY TO FIND BIG BOULDERS ON THE REEFS AND THEY SEEM TO BE IN THERE.THE WATER TEMPS ARE IN THE MID 70'S.
THAT IS ABOUT IT FOR THE REPORT.
COME AND CHECK OUT THE NEW BAR WHEN YOU ARE IN THE AREA.
BE SAFE
WE WILL SEE YA WHEN WE SEE YA
ROCKMAN
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john odle (Rockman)
New member
Username: Rockman
Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 10:54 am: | |
ROCKMAN’S REPORT
We have all heard the saying you can’t fool Mother Nature. Well you can’t out run her either. I have been on mille lacs during a lot of bad weather. From major windstorms, lightning, blizzards, and ice flows. But on Wednesday, June 23rd at 4:15 p.m. A day that will live in the minds of three people forever. That day was not any different from any other day this season. Where at some point during the day the weather could and would turn rough. It did. Myself, my son Jonathan who is 17 and my fishing partner Jordan Weisse where out on the lake early in the morning pre fishing for the hunters point tournament. We did the bobber thing in the morning and then decided to pull some crank baits in the afternoon. We went out to the mud at about 1:30 p.m. and started to pull crank baits in the deep water around the mud flats. As the afternoon went on we noticed to the west that the weather was starting to look bad to the west and The sky’s turned black over garrison. So we decided that it was time to reel up the lines and head for home. Just then Jordan calls on the radio and says; well I am frying eggs over here. Meaning the antenna and the graphite rods are starting to arc from the static electricity in the air. Which comes with an approaching storm. So we headed south towards the resort. Now my boat will do 51 mile per hour fully trimmed and at full throttle. Jordan runs a new 21 ft pro V with a 225 hp 4stroke Yamaha. Which will do 53 mph. As we approach Indian point I notice that the clouds to the south and west are very white and are starting to get rotation in the top of the clouds. Then the clouds start to descend just to the west of Jordan’s position about 50 yards. The funnel touches down rite on top of Jordan and we could not see him any more. It was just water being sucked upwards. That was all that we could see. Our worst fears were that Jordan was sucked up into it and was dead. Then it came after us. My first instinct was to turn away from the funnel and run from it. It took about 30 seconds for it to reach us. The whole time it was coming after us, Jonathan just kept saying, dad its coming, dad its coming. Then it hit us. The wind pushed the boat completely side ways and at the time it hit us it also started to pick up the boat. I trimmed all the way down so that it would not flip us over. As I kept the throttle down it would also push us down into the water. There where times when there was nothing but water being pulled upwards into the funnel and that was all that you could see. The wind was whipping around us in what seemed to be all directions. it was pulling the water out of the carpet in the boat and throwing it against the windshield. The rain was blowing so hard that it felt like being stung by bees. I could not turn the boat left or right. All that I could do was keep the throttle down and hold on to the steering wheel. At one point during this whole nightmare Jonathan looked over at me and said, I love you dad. Thinking we were going to die. The wind and the pressure will be the things I remember most about the funnel, but I will never forget the look in my son’s eyes when he said that. After about 3 min. or so the funnel let go of us and we where just east of Spirit Island. We had traveled over 5 miles from the point at which the funnel had hit us. In just 3 to 4 min. we moved 5 miles. So do the math. We were definitely moving at the same speed as the funnel was moving to have traveled that far. So when it let go of us or should I say deposited us just east of Spirit Island. We thought that we were in the clear. Wrong time to think that. Then we saw the straight-line winds heading for us from the west. So we made a b line for Spirit Island. Now when you see straight line winds come across the water it is just a sheet of water that is not big in wave, because it never has a chance to build into a wave. The wind blows the tops off and it causes a mist that is about three to four feet high. We get just about to the island and the front edge of the winds hit us from the side and once again we are pushed side ways and we are thinking oh no not again. We did manage to get behind the island and waited for the leading edge of the winds to blow through. As we watch the waves get bigger and bigger I looked at Jonathan and I said do you want to wait it out, or should we go for it. He says. Dad get me off of the lake I’m really scared. Which by that time I was too. So we headed for the resort. The winds were pushing against the boat so hard that I had to stay trimmed in all the way and could only go 27 mph against the wind. Then the waves finally were able to build and pound on us for 4 more miles. By the time we finally reached the resort the winds were 40 mph. We were so happy to see shore and that Jordan had made it out of the funnel ok. He was also glad to see we had made it too knowing that it had held us for so long. When we talked about it later, we all described the same feeling of the funnel. The wind, rain and pressure that was inside. That is what you call getting it all the way up there with our equipment! If there is a god in heaven, he was with us that day. It will make you see life in a whole new way.
Now lets talk about the bite.
I hate to say it over and over again, but it is still a bobber bite on the lake. The water temps are up and down. At Last check we were at 62 degrees. There is a ton of food and if you want to catch fish, now consistently. It will be under a bobber. I am also proud to say that we took third place in the hunters point tournament on Friday and Saturday. We weighed 4 fish on Friday for 8.93 and Saturday we had 6 fish for 11.34. All on bobbers. From what we could see by the leader board, the only people who had any fish to weigh in all came on bobbers. We were beaten by 8 lbs. for 1st place and only 0.09 for second place. That is 9 hundredths of a pound. Just one minnow For another $1000.00 and a second place trophy. We still cashed a check for $1500.00 a piece. We have a 3rd place trophy already from 2001 in the hunters point tournament. Oh well next year will be the year to win. Now that I have gotten back to the bobber thing. We worked the reefs in front of the resort over hard all day. Pulling the anchor. Checking depths. Looking at the map. Going up and down all day long. But if you put in the time, you can get very good at the bobber thing. The mayflies are starting to hatch. We have had two days of hatches so far. They should be done by the weekend. Like I said bobber up some where on the rocks during the day. Stay out in 15 to 21 ft of water for now and work the snot out of it. It will pay off. If you have some wind, use a small jig in the 1/32-ounce our 1/16-ounce. Color can and will make a difference under various conditions. So use all of the colors of the rainbow until you find a color that works for you that day. It will change from day to day if not hour to hour. Fish off the bottom about 24 to 33 inches, especially if you are fishing structure. Whether it is rock or mud. I like to think that you are better off to high than to low. Better to fast than to slow.
Once again that is all for now
When things change you will be the first to know
The Rockman
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