Well someone at the all mighty Google decided to depreciate some functions in the map API. (For those of you that don’t program, they disabled the toys I was using to make the map work).
Fear not, after a week of rewriting we are back up and posting Ice Thicknesses! Check out the Ice Map and contribute so we know where it is safe to walk on water.
Check it out, then report where you checked the ice
FREE ADMISSION! Two days of free seminars by champion pro ice anglers and factory reps on hand to answer all of your questions.
See the latest in fish finders and underwater cameras by: Vexilar, Humminbird, Marcum, and Showdown. Check out the latest in high tech clothing from Clam, Frabill, and Striker. All of the hottest ice lures by: Akara, Clam, Fiskas, Hali, Scandia, Northland, and many more!
Seminar Schedule:
Saturday December 2nd, 2017
Sunday December 3rd, 2017
Cold rainy fall days prompted me to use the last of the frozen fillets before we get back on ice this winter.
A hearty stew came to mind. So I started out building one. I grabbed my big white dutch oven and softened some onions and garlic in oil over pretty high heat.
As soon as the onions were transparent, I added some fish stock, about 5 cups. If you don’t have any home made fish stock, you can use store bought clam or shrimp stock. As that heated up I put in a small can of diced tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. Shred up about half a cup of fresh leek and add with a dry white wine – a cup or so.
Season up with basil, thyme, black pepper, dash of salt and diced ginger root, then bring to a boil.
Let it boil, while stirring for 3-4 min cover and turn heat down to low for 20 min. Add 20-25 thawed bluegill fillets and kill the heat. Let sit for 5-10 min and check it out.
Mine was a hit!
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One of the most fun thing is t pass on the tribal knowledge of ice fishing to the next generation. Over the last couple weeks we had a blast teaching kids to fish. One Saturday it was the kids from the D.A. Blodgett – St. John’s Home. They have there own Adventure Lady that takes the kids out to see the world around them. Chas met up with them in 2016 at the Grand Rapids Steelheaders meeting. They were giving the kids fishing poles and asked if MI Ice Guys could help out with some lures. A big bag of K & E Stopper jigs rounded out the donation, but 2016 ice was gone by the time the MI Ice Guys returned from Ukraine. So the first saturday in Feb some 20 kids got to experience ice fishing.
On the second Saturday of Feb 25+ Cub Scouts joined us on the ice. Steph had the AquaView camera out, Joppie from the Grillin Guys Radio Show brought a Grill and our sponsors came through with some great donations to make sure every kid had a bucket, jigs and a rigged pole! Mrs. T (Chas’ mom) even embroidered up patches so these future addicts of hardwater fishing will always remember fishing and eating hot dogs with the MI Ice Guys.
| We even had one family come from Ionia to join in on the fun. After we got the boys and some of the moms catching fish, settled down to practice some palm rod. I got into some 6 inch perch and was hitting them about 1 every 30 sec. One of the biggest things was trying to keep the boys from walking on my line when I threw the rod.
Check out the some pics below from our adventure with the boys. |
Even though Anthony is not traveling with us overseas this year he did come up with a great event with Chad. The NAIFC tournament was canceled last weekend, so he and Chad went out and found a great lake just north of GR that was full of small fish. The goal was to have a practice to put some pressure on the USA Ice guys that came out. He invited Past, present and some future team members to have a palm rod throwdown!
Chas and Steph served as officials and were able to practice some spotting techniques as the games were held.
Myron Gilbert, the fishing legend from Brooklyn, MI, whipped the boys in shape in the first round of first angler to 24 fish. He had many words of wisdom for the younger guys who didn’t keep up to the 2 time NAIFC Champ.
The Second round was a timed round where our hot prospect Keith Kniffen from Eaton Rapids, MI, quickly took a lead in the shallower water we had moved to. As anglers caught a fish they showed it to Steph or Chas to be counted and then released. Chas called Keith’s name so often another competitor mentioned he was tired of hearing that name.
After a bit of Schmohz IPA that Chas brought, the third round in much deeper water. Chad Schaub got his game on and showed the guys how it was done. With a bit of a twist the fish were at 5-6 ft in 30+ feet of water.
We all had an awesome time and the guys got some great practice for next week in Latvia. Mike Bodecker even came over with Myron to help coach the guys. Bo is a master of fishing. It was really great to hear the experiences of a double World Gold Medalist!
Well the countdown is getting close for Steph, Chas and Chad to head over to O’Hare (ORD) and meet up with the rest of the team. We will be flying through Frankfurt Germany (FRA). Just over 8 hours = nap time. We are scheduled to land in Germany at 7:25 AM. We have 2.5 hours to find breakfast beers and a bite before our next leg FRA – RIX that should take about 2 hours. The guys who were able to advance fish last month tell us it is about 15 min to the hotel. They tell us 20-30 min depending on traffic to the lake. And most importantly the ice is great.
Check out the official website http://www.wifc2017.lv
Also make sure to subscribe to MiIceGuys.com at the bottom to stay in touch.
During the trip we will be posting a lot of our information over on our private subscription site. Consider donating, to help offset the costs of travel that we incur. http://wifc.miiceguys.com
Check out the video Kelly compiled of our competition in Ukraine last year here
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