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As the Soft Bait Project Engineer at Berkley, the 'Mad Scientist' Kyle Peterson has saved many a fishing trip...but last Thursday he saved WAY more than that.... ????????‍♂️ Details from this FB post:

Kyle: I’ve received an incredible amount of support and messages the last few days. I have tried to let things lay low since this situation wasn’t easy to deal with, but I feel like the story needs to be told.

Thursday night we had a change of plans where I was able to free up and attend a dinner with Selena and her friends. I did not want to go at all, but I just had a weird feeling that I needed to go this time.

As we sat down to eat dinner around 6:30 we started chatting and catching up when I saw 2 sets of headlights driving down the middle of east [Okoboji Lake], I knew there was talk about open water out there. 2 seconds later I saw the head lights point to the sky and disappear. The first UTV totally disappeared within 20 secs.

Daytime pic of the open-water area from Dan Gottschalk the next day to help you visualize what they were working with after dark:

I got up from the table, looked at Selena and took off. I knew that if I fell through I could probably get myself out, but I know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing people died while I stood by.

I sprinted across the ice for about 10 min in HEYDUDES, taking a couple of epic falls. About 3/4 of the way I could really start to hear a woman’s voice scream she couldn’t hold on much longer. I put my head down and kicked it into second gear.

When I got closer, I could see 2 heads popping up by the edge of the ice opposite of the other UTV. There was about 50’ of open water between them and no way for the others to help. The couple had been in the water for about 15 minutes at this point.

The head lights from the UTV 20’ down actually helped me, as the headlights were still on and lighting up the ice. I tried instructing the woman to get her feet behind her and start kicking, but she was too frozen at this point and couldn’t move. I took my coat off, flung one arm over to her and did a controlled falling motion that slowly lifted her from the ice. I was able to get her out to safe ice.

As I made my way to the man, I could tell the ice was really damaged with several cracks the size of 3” or so everywhere. I used my coat again and was able to pull him up also. Much harder pull tho (I’m sure he will read this and smile).

The man and I got our arms around the lady and started walking. My guess is we walked for another 10 minutes towards shore when I used my phone to flash down the rescue boat. They took over the situation from there and were amazing. Those guys risk their lives every time in situations like this and are the true heroes.

Another great shot from Dan Gottschalk of the crew getting the UTV out – thank God [and Kyle!] no one was with it:

Today was a great day as I got to shake hands and enjoy a meal with the couple I helped that night. We have made plans to enjoy a meal every year for the [University of Okoboji] Winter Games from now on!

Words can’t describe a situation like this. I have never felt the emotions I felt getting home and hugging my girls. I’m so glad God put me in this place and I was able to get the courage to help.

Thank you everyone for the support and reaching out. I will never forget that night and I hope courage will find some of you if the time comes.

Wow, just WOW! ???? Fully aware of the risk to his own life and limb, yet putting others first. God called and Kyle Peterson answered – you are a true hero, man! So glad that no one was hurt.

If someone from HEYDUDE sees this ???? Kyle could probably use fresh kicks for life in case of future emergencies.... Not saying they need to be customized or anything, but they definitely could be.... ????

We’ve come a long way from those wooden jiggle sticks your grandpappy used to use in the darkhouse...hand-lining in panfish next to a wood-burning stove. Nothing wrong with that [!] unless you’re looking to up your game....

There’s a time and place for everything, but IMO the longer the ice rod = the better.

First, here’s the 2 times I’d argue shorter sticks shine:

1. If you’re fishing inside a smaller portable shack where you physically can’t use longer rods because they’ll hit the roof on a hookset.

2. And when you’re “tightlining” finicky fish. A style of detecting bites by watching the coils in your line as you pound the jig — hunched over the hole as close as you can be, watching as far down the hole as you can see. When you think you have a bite, drop the tip of the rod to see if the line floats…if it does, you set the hook.

Okay, so why is longer more better?

1. Longer rods flat-out give you better hooksets. You’re simply moving that much more line on your sweep. Ever been working/jigging a fish up on your flasher and run out of room to set the hook? If you’re not constantly choking up, you can get caught in a bad position to set the hook – sometimes up over your head – and then you’ve gotta crank like a crazy person to try and catch up to the fish. Longer rods can overall keep you in a better position to whack ’em.

2. Also have waaaay more control over that fish once it’s hooked. There’s a lot more rod to help absorb the fight of the fish (instead of tearing hooks out) and also keep your line tight when they thrash or make runs (instead of getting enough slack to throw the hook).

3. On windy days, it’s super important to keep your rod tip as close to the water line as possible. The farther the distance between your rod tip and the ice, the more the wind is going to take away your feel for what’s going on below. So unless you want to hunch over all day (your chiropractor might not mind lol) a longer ice rod is going to let you keep wind out of the equation while still letting you stretch out.

4. There’s times when I’m fishing shallow panfish – or say late-ice crappies riding right under the ice – where I literally don’t even touch my reel handle. With a longer rod, I can walk from hole to hole with the right amount of line out (sometimes that’s 4′, other times that may be 8′) and drop right down to the fish’s level...set the hook and swing ’em right in like I’m using a cane pole. Talk about efficient hole-hopping!

And it’s tough to explain, but once you fish with a longer rod (whether it’s open water or ice) it’s hard to go back to shorter sticks. It legit just feels better [!!!] aside from the benefits I chatted about above that can help you catch more fish.

Oh, and it also buys you some extra time to get that transducer pole pulled on a fish catch lol Short vid for you visual learners:

The particular rod I’m talking about in the video is a 44” ???????? medium-light, extra-fast action Shiver Stick from JT Outdoor Products, which is a killer setup for finesse-y walleye applications or plus-sized panfish.

All systems go for the largest charitable ice fishing contest on earth! As of last Friday they had over 24" of ice across the tournament area on Gull Lake’s Hole in the Day Bay just north of Brainerd, MN.

But Mother Nature did still have to make her presence known... The actual contest site has been moved slightly closer to shore due to large ice heaving within the traditional contest area.

Join the Target Walleye crew this Sat, Feb 1 and have a shot at winning some INSANE prizes (over $350K up for grabs!) while fishing for an incredible cause – the event has raised MILLIONS of funds donated to more than 75 different charities over the years! ???? Incredible.

In case you hadn’t heard...this charity event typically has 10,000+ people fishing and every single hole for the contest (16,000-20,000 holes!) is drilled ahead of time with a StrikeMaster Lithium 40v = CRAZY cool! #LithiumSmokedSwissCheese

They’re still looking for a few more volunteers to help with drilling which will score you a free Extravaganza ticket.

I’ll be there doing some fishing, eating cheese curds ???? and mingling. Hope to see you there!

As you can see, there's a nice mix of shenanigans for everyone:

Oh, and speaking of the Extravaganza...reminds me of that time a couple years back when a...

Even included an email addy so ANYONE could chime in – can’t make this stuff up:

And they had the billboard running on HWY 371 near Brainerd, MN the same weekend as the big ice fishing extravaganza with 10,000 people coming to town...so no doubt a whole pile of eyes saw it.

Don’t feel too badly for Troy, though...he had brought it on himself after hiring Christoper McDonald (aka Shooter McGavin from the movie Happy Gilmore) to chirp at his buddies, recording a video that said:

“Hey Dave, Tom, Chappie, Clint, this is Shooter McGavin here. You guys really think you’re going to beat Troy on your ice fishing trip this year?”

And apparently it ended with that hearty laugh only Shooter McGavin can do LOL. Enter revenge billboard hahaha.

Full story here on how it all went down.

Little description from Tom’s YouTube video:

“...showing a unique pattern that works very well for big walleyes on pressured lakes. In this video I talk all about fishing for basin-roaming walleyes using Humminbird MEGA Live [gen 1 at the time]. This is a super unique pattern that works very well, especially mid-winter on larger fish!”

Basically he’s doing the same thing lots of folks are doing in the open-water with FFS but duplicating it best he can thru an 8" hole.... He’s targeting big, nomadic basin fish that have been pushed off structure and are roaming no-man’s land in the mudflats – sounds like he was fishing 400-ish yards away from any structure.

Involves drilling a giant grid of holes (literally can’t have too many) like folks used to have to do when targeting basin crappies, and is instead chasing walleyes around with his FFS unit. Absolutely exhausting way to catch ’em, but super rewarding when it works out! I’ve done the same thing on Mille Lacs and it can be lights out. ????

He’s using a heavy Acme Hyper-Rattle to head-off the fish and get down to ’em as quickly as possible before they go past. Would switch up to an Acme Kastmaster (heavier 1/4 or 3/8 oz) if he had fish turn him down, but most of those walleyes haven’t seen a bait out in the abyss and will rocket up to crush it. ????

Now, here’s the vid:

1. NY: Couple youngsters crushing it on Oneida

Best buds Bobby Mallory (14) and Parker Williamson (15) have been on ‘em! Ice fishing over rockpiles in 20’ with Rapala Jigging Raps tied to a 6-lb fluoro leader. Keep doing your thing, fellas!

2. NY: Folks ice fishing on Long Island...

...for the first time in nearly a decade.

3. ND: Results from the DLVFD ice fishing tourney

4. New episode of 'Dialed In Angling' is out

Tony Roach loads up to the wheelhouse and heads to Ottertail County, MN to fish with friend and local guide Randin Olson. Love that they were watching ‘em eat with a Marcum underwater camera on the big screen! Underwater eats never get old:

5. NY: 2025 ‘Almost Annual Crappie Derby’ cancelled

"cost issues, mainly related to insurance, time constraints and additional items needed on the ice" prevented organizers from holding the ice fishing event this year.

Bummer, but I guess they get an A+ for their name lol.

6. WI: Kids ice fishing event, Feb 1

At the Genoa National Fish Hatchery.

7. WI: 'Jigs Up' ice event happening Feb 8

8. MN: 5.2-lb walleye wins...

...the 10th-annual Hanska Fire Dept Fishing Contest.

9. WI: 18th-annual ‘Battle On Bago’ is happening Feb 14-15

Over $475K in cash + prizes up for grabs!

Battle on Bago was created in 2007 by a group of five Oshkosh Southwest Rotarians in order to support area youth and conservation efforts throughout the state of WI.

Beneficiaries receiving funds from Battle on Bago embody the mission statement of the event “For Kids & Conservation” and serve as just the beginning of a long list of organizations and youth Battle on Bago will benefit in the future.

Battle on Bago has generated net proceeds of nearly $1.95 mil!

10. ME ice derby shatters attendance record

Had 2,184 registered participants, which broke the previous record (set last year) of 1,852.

11. MI: Saginaw Bay named one of country's best ice fishing destinations

12. NY: Greater Niagara Fishing Expo, Feb 13-16

13. MT: FWP closes 2 fishing access sites for flooding

Valley Garden Fishing Access Site on the Madison River near Ennis is fully closed due to a large ice jam on the river, causing water and ice to inundate the entrance road, boat ramp and campground.

Drouillard Fishing Access Site on the Jefferson River near Three Forks is partially closed due to similar conditions. The boat ramp and vehicle turnaround area are closed, but the rest of the site remains open.

14. Jon Thelen gets MN Fishing Hall of Fame induction

Longtime professional angler, guide, educator and Destination-Fish Television Host. Congrats!

15. Blackfish has a new flannel hoodie

You know I’m a sucker for flannel, so I’ll definitely have to get my grubby paws on one of these new Flannel Hoodie Jackets from Blackfish:

16. Berkley has 20% off all ice-fishing baits

17. WA: Northwest Fly Fishing Show, Feb 15-16

You into crappie fishing? Anyone you know into crappie fishing? Well, we're doing a 1x/week "crappie blaster" called Target Crappie. Coming soon – sign up here or click the logo to sign up:

Ice fishing: How much moving is too much?

Wish I was tech-savvy enough to plop Jason Mitchell’s face on that GIF but you’ll just have to use your imagination. J-Mitch posted this write-up over on Virtual Angling talking making moves...or not.... ????

“Should I stay or should I go? That is the biggest question we probably ask ourselves each day on the water. Should I sit in a spot or should I keep moving, keep looking? There are plenty of adages like never leave fish to find fish. Over the past few decades, mobility has been a mantra preached in ice fishing. People brag about drilling a hundred holes per day. People talk about the importance of moving to find fish. If you’re not catching fish, it must be because you are not moving enough to find the active fish.

“Here's what I can also tell you. The worst days I have ever had fishing were indeed days where I drilled well over a few hundred holes. The toughest days on the ice are often the days where all you do is drill holes and move. Some of the very best or most memorable days were days where I drilled a few holes and sat in them all day catching fish.”

There’s a ton of arguments for laying low, including:

“One of the most difficult situations for catching fish regardless of species is shallow clear water with thin, clear ice. Every time you move, every time you drill a hole, you just push these fish further away.”

And of course just as many for running and gunning:

“What are factors when sitting doesn’t work so well? Realistically when you are not on fish. When the fish are not moving and if you have a lot of people around you.

“...big moves find fish whereas small moves catch fish. Catching fish is often about sampling water...create bites by simply working hard and dropping a line down as many different holes as we can. Drill grids of holes and move until you contact fish.”

Obviously there’s a ton of variables...and in typical Jason Mitchell fashion, he does a great job of breaking down his approach for different scenarios here.

"It’s important to get your steps in...."

- That's the caption under this pic shared by Michigan Out-of-Doors TV on Facebook. Exercising is for sure more enjoyable when there’s fish up for grabs lol:

Looks like they were catching!

Great snap from @laceylee97 proving that not all sunset fishing pics have to be cliché (when ya don't catch 'em lol). ???? Her smile says it all!

Thanks SO much for reading! See you back in a couple of days....

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026