First and foremost I would like to thank each and every one of you for your participation in this event. Without great people like you these events wouldn’t be the huge success that they are.


I knew I was in for a fun day when we arrived at 6am and we weren’t even close to being the first guys out! People were ready to fish.

I would call the bite for the day, sporadic but steady. The bite seemed to be better in the morning. Once the word spread of a few fish being caught, the group tightened and found a nice school of cats. We iced several nice fish and I know for sure some people caught their first ice cat. Knowing that really made my day. That’s what this is all about.

We kept a handful of fish for a noontime fish fry and boy was it good. Thanks a bunch to Borch, Icehawk, YourBobbersDown, IceHouseBob, and ec30_06, for helping out with the meal, and everyone else for bringing a favorite dish. There was no shortage of food.

Those were some choice beans Bob

...and those Pheasant sticks, mmmmmmm

I had some memory card issues on my camera so pictures I don’t have, but hopefully others caught a few good shots. If so please feel free to share them.

I would also like to thank the RecycledFish group for providing a nice warming tent and hot drinks.


It was nice meeting everyone. I tried to get around and say hi to all, if I missed anyone, please forgive me.

So many people helped out, that I just need to say thank you to all

Heres a couple from our group both first time cats. thank you for the event

( Note from Admin,please read forum before posting again,thank-you)

Who's that guy right behind you in the top picture, with 100% concentration on his flasher? Nice meeting you guys!

Great food, and a lot of fun sums it up!! Even if my Marcum was the reason I couldn't finish the catch.

Anyone else get a sunburn?!!

My buddy Jake is still talking about those.
Definately glad we made the trip up there...good time. It was nice seeing those I haven't seen for a while, and also meeting others for the first time. Here's a couple from today. [img][/img]

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We didn't catch nothing huge, but those lil' channels still scrap.

Dtro- Anybody get a pic of the 27"?

PapaGrump got a picture of it.

What a Blast! Well it was sure a fun and relaxing day on the water for me. I really enjoyed shareing the ice with some old friends and alot of new ones. My goal at this years event was to try and help some catfish newbies through tips,presentations,locations etc ice their first cat and I believe it happened. I even showed and let one individual use my electronics and I think I proved to him how important the use of them is. The food was outstanding I just got done telling my wife about the spread that was layed out. Bobs beans are unreal and I can gurantee some of my pheasants this yr are going to be made into sticks! My hats off to Dtro for organizeing this event it's always a great time. Looking forward to Cool Cats 2009!

that was a great trip cant wait till next year cought my first cat ever and evrybody around was real helpful thank much see you all next year

Glad you had a good time firejumper, and welcome to FM!

It was great to meet some of the the people i've talked to previously and also some others that I hadn't before.

The food was fantastic. The beans were awesome and that is coming from someone who doesn't eat alot of them. Also the pheasant sticks were a great new treat to try.

Sorry I left so oon, got called into work. Maybe next year I won't have the broken foot.

Thanks to everybody that made this another great event.

Darren- I e-mailed you the pic.

Thanks Brian.

I caught this one on a Glow Red Angel Eye tipped with a chunk of wild golden shiner. I really think the shiner made the difference and a big thanks to Flaco651 for letting me have one of his.

What a great time! I spent most of my time talking with new faces and reconnecting with long time friends. Good to see a pretty consistent bite throughout the day with small and bigger cats present.

The food was great and many commented on how good those channels tasted that were cleaned and fried up. Like several had stated the pheasant sticks and beans were a big hit.

These events are a lot of fun. It's also a great time for people to actually get their hands on gear that you can order through the the OutdoorProStore. I had several guys wanting to try out some of the equipment that we talk about on the forums. So my Nils was getting a workout and we spent a lot of time talking about the Artic Armor and the Jason Mitchell and Thorne Brothers rods as well.

I can't wait until the next get-together!

Sounds like I missed the day I thought it would be. Glad you all had a good time.

Who caught the 27" channel?

I had a great time and met a lot of new people it was a blast. I was glad to help and look forward to fishing with some of the new people I met there. It was great to fish for Cats through the ice, even though I never caught one it was great to see peoples faces when they landed their cats. I will definitely be trying cats through the ice again what a blast!!!

Great review! I'll make it next year but those darn perch got in the way this weekend.

It was a great and beautiful day. It was nice meeting some new faces and seeing some I have before. I also did not take much pictures, but I did get one to show you the crowd before sunrise.









We will see you all next year. Thanks for the great food and good times. Bob is a great cook and tells some good stories. It also was cool watching Borch, Dtro and Ed cleaning those cats and then how you fry guys operated. You guys had down that process to a ”T”, plus it tasted great.

I'd like to say that my daughter and I had an excellent time, unfortunately I got called away and ended up leaving early. It's great how cooperative and helpful everyone was. It was also nice getting to meet quite a few of you, ironic how I drove 2 hours to meet up with some of the guys that live only 20-30 miles from me though.

The great thing about events like this are putting faces to the names that are already our friends.
I apologize to everyone that I forced to take one of the forcepts that I was trying to get rid of.
Thank you to the gentleman that gave me the homemade salsa. That stuff is good and then it sneaks up on you when its going down.GREAT
Someone left a Pyrex cooking container that I think had brownies in it. Its here so contact me to get it back so your wife will talk to you again.
After most people left I policed most of the area and found a cigarette butt, a napkin, and a twist tie. All white objects. This group really cleaned up after itself.
Dtro, you organized a great gathering. I didn't heatr any complaints, except for the lack of dancing girls.
Whoever was handing out the samples of liquid apple pie; that stuff could become a habit.
And a big thanks to Grump for taking that big inflatable monkey from me. I've had it in my house for over a year and a half and haven't caught a fish worth talking about in that time. Now its in your house. Good luck....

Bob,

Are you talking about the Tupperware box with the green lid? I can remember the guys face who brought it up to the table, but can not remember his name.

I was amazed at how you ran your cook table. I am the guy who chopped your onion . I do not know what the guys did at your duck camp to insult you, but they sure lost a great cook. Hope to see ya next year.

The bait for me yesterday, seemed to be very small crappie minnow and a Ratzo. It sure was a blast reel’in in cats on light tackle, but I lost 4 right under or at the ice. By what Dtro said about the shiners and the group from Brainerd that where pulling fish left and right (using smelt and garlic), those seem to what was working best. I brought and tried cut sucker and crawlers. All they would do is come it for a look and swim away. That’s when I down sized to a spring bobber and Ratzo. A lot a times, the cats would swim in, bounce my spring bobber and leave. Funny

Papa-grump, it was very nice talking with ya and during the summer, if you want to hit the river up this way, let me know.



Anyone know how Dietz did? I seen him blaze off with a group of trucks in search of fish.

Also the Meth Hole was pretty neat to see. I figure it was a reference to an area (with a small amount of methane bubbles that would show up on electronics), not a geological occurrence.

The recycled fish guys where a very nice group. I talked with them for awhile and they seem to know their stuff.

Again, nice to meet you all and see ya next year.

Man, I was impressed with the day! Great food, great peeps, great weather. Lack of sleep is worth is for a day like that!

Darren caught 4 fish in about an hour, all just before lunch. That was a quick nice flurry, especially that 27 incher. After Darren went to help cook lunch, someone came in and parked in his hole and nothing bit between that and til we went home, other than a couple rock bass. LOTS of fish on the camera though.

Shack, some of the ones that hit your spring bobber and then left might have been just hitting it with their side. My buddy saw his bait get smacked by a tail a couple times while the camera was down. One larger cat even came at and hit the camera with his mouth, he was prolly the most aggressive one we saw all day.

I'd say we saw a couple hundred cats on the camera, at least. Schools of between 2 and 20+ fish, off and on throughout the late morning and early afternoon. At least 10 times we saw counts of 7+ cats on the screen at once. However, there were few takers. Most of the time the school would just cruise through without even looking at the baits (large and small baits were tried). Just enough biters to keep us interested!

Again, it was a great time out there, thanks to everyone who helped out with anything from cooking to cleanup to hole drilling, etc. Fun times, to be sure, I'll be back next year!

Icehousebob's cooking seems to be the talk of the event! There was even people inviting him to their deer camp next year. You did good work bob, sorry you didn't get more fish. It was me who snatched that last piece for you, that catfish sure went fast!

I managed to ice 8 cats and had my best luck on a secret bait ;)Metrojoe could verify it worked! Only fished half the time so I could meet people the other half.

Forgot about that but I never did see Dietz show back up, you sucker! I'm pretty sure I know where he disappeared to though, must have had some good cattin.

Shackbash, its pretty neat ice skating over that meth hold area earlier in the season if there's no snow. The amount of trapped bubbles in the ice is very neat and looks amazing.

Nice meeting so many people and putting faces with names. Can't wait for next year.

Great point aanderud!

I dropped my camera down early and could not see anything, I put it away and never brought it back out.

I tell ya, the action around that area is hot. I would go threw a dry spell on the MarCum, reel up to go out and mingle. I B.S. you not, right after I reeled up the line, bars would start to show up. Also I found if you left your holes (lines reeled up), come back and drop down 20-30 minutes later, the fish came in for another look and I did get some “right away” action after this.

Tippman,

It was nice meeting you.

Shak--took a skunk... I ended up back at the Meth hole around 1:30 and ended up catching one there... Shouldnt have left in the first place.. LOL

My dad and I had a great time at the event. Got the chance to talk with a lot of FMer's and meet a lot of new people. A lot of people on the ice chatting and having a good time, that's great to see.

Here's a shot of a couple that my dad and I landed on Saturday...




Ended up down-sizing to 1/16oz chartruese/gold jigging spoons tipped with a single minnow head. Had to keep the jig moving in order to get a strike. Ended up landing about 25 fish on Saturday but had to work hard for them. The shallower bite seemed to be the key too, as we caught several fish in 7 feet of water.

Yesterday morning was the day to hit it though. The weather was great (not as much wind) and the fish really turned on and we had multiple doubles. A great weekend to fish overall!

Nice pic Matt. I've also found the shallower water in that spot to be more productive the few times I've fished it.

Dietz and Matt were there?!?

I walked around looking for familiar faces, but didnt see many..

The food, like usual, was great! My son had a rough time with the slower bite. He's use to fishing out of a portable for pannies, where there's alot of action. He ended up breaking my sunflower and had one line wrapped around his leg when he went to grab some more grub from the table. After that I decided to call it a day and head home.

Thanks for organizing this Darren. I had lots of fun. fyi, the MN river is opening up nice in some spots as of sunday, and the channels are starting.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk more with you Kylersk. We talked a little about were to drive off at when the little guy needed a potty break. I hoped to touch base with you later regarding your fishhouse and how it's working out for you. After that I was up to cleaning and cooking cats. When I was done with that I didn't see you again.

Next time.

Jeff

awesome photo matt. Sounds like it was a great time!!

My boys and I had a great time. I'd like to thank everyone involved for making this thing happen. It looked like another great turnout and the cat fish didn't let us down. Although I'm not sure I would have caught any if it weren't for Tippman's secret bait. Thanks again Tippman. I'll be looking forward to this event next year.

Guys, Ryan Libby and I had a great time on the ice with ya.

We have taken this 'Recycled Fish On Ice' tour to all kinds of different events, but this was a first in many ways. It was a real feel-good event with a bunch of great guys, and seeing all those nice catfish come up through the ice was very cool.

We'd like to thank everybody who took the Sportsman's Stewardshp Pledge, and if you didn't get a chance, hope you'll do so online here: Sportsman's Stewardship Pledge.

You can see all 101 photos, download them for free, or have us print and mail them to you here: Recycled Fish "On Ice" Photo Center

** NOTE ** As I post this, the first 71 photos are available, 30 more to go. Check back if you don't see all 101.

Hope that everyone enjoyed the Grabber Handwarmers, FoodSource Lures, Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate, Folger's Coffee Singles, and Dick's Sporting Goods discounts. We couldn't do these kinds of events without their support.



















Plus, review and photos from our Sunday event at Waubay in South Dakota - check that out if you like jumbo perch!

Those are great pictures. You guys were great to have out there.

Just a few more picts from Cool Cats.. My good bud Chisago Row-Boat took these(he was the dude who made the salsa)..

Just to prove I can catch a cat.

Bob and his Chili.

never fished cats before and really ont plan on it in the future but may have to check out next years get-together not only to meet all the fmers but also to see what the big deal is. who knows then what could happen.