Ice Fish Ohio Forum
Ice Fishing => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ntoiceman36 on November 26, 2020, 07:41:20 AM
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I would like to take a moment to share a couple ideas of upcoming future plans. Returning to the IFO platform will be many of the old time favorites to include Demo Days, NE Ohio Panfish Series, local seminars. And a site that will be fully supported and staffed. We are actively working to renew or obtain new sponsorship to fuel our rebuild. I welcome the return of our annual ice safety refreshers and much more. Share with us all any ideas or recommendations you may have to make this site as inclusive and enjoyable as possible !
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Maybe a kid's fishing derby. Get guys from the site to help with gear and teaching them how to use a flasher and such. Sort of like they do during the spring/summer. If the parents are new teach them too.
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I like that idea!
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I do as well, also would like to expand our soft water events also, could include a kids event with that also, and maybe a cookout/ awards deal. Keep the ideas coming !!
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maybe clean up a few sections like Ice Fishing Tournaments by getting rid of items such as North vs South, Fish Ohio Awards and such that no longer pertain or aren't used. Possibly redo the Ice Fishing Reports section into say 5 regions. As the way it is set up now you have to search thru a very long list looking for info on lakes in your area. Then if you wanted you could list the lakes in the correct region or not at all. I have found that that for the most part in other forums that most people put reports in a general regional chat than in individual lakes areas. This if done could make the site a bit easier to use.
One thing I noticed is when you enter the site at the top left it says IceFishOhio Home. Then when you say click on General Discussions it reads IceFishOhio Home-Ice Fishing-General Discussion. This leads me to believe that there is a layer between the Home page and where the General Discussions are. If so maybe this could be used to tighten up the sections by having several choices such as Soft Water, Tournaments, Ice Fishing Reports, General Info, and Sponsors as some examples. So when you entered the site if you wanted to find an Alum ice report you would start on the home page then choose Ice Fishing Reports, then Central Ohio and then Alum. just something to think on.
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Good ideas! Thanks for the input. 👍🏻
I like it!
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X2 on the separate regions & getting rid of the clutter.
It’s nice to see some life up in here!
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I definitely agree! I'm not a fan of how the site flows. We will definitely be looking to clean it up and make it more user friendly! Let's keep working together and let's get the word out that IFO is back!!
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Posted on OGF and posted in the Ohio section on Ice Shanty. Now if people with FB would also post it we would be getting the word out. Have FB but most my friends live way out of state like Scotland so don't think that would help. ;D ;D ;D
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Hey Slab,
Some events in the NW part of Ohio would be nice. It seems many past events were in Central or NE Ohio.
Good luck to the new 3 muskateers on running the site!
Toadfish
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Toadfish, thank you for staying with us and thanks to all . We look forward to returning this site to better than it was a few years ago! Lots of changes will be taking place on the site and behind the scenes. Stay tuned my friends this will be epic.
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Thinking the NEO Panfish Series could be changed a bit and just be the Panfish Trail with stops in different parts of the state probably having to be north of 30 unless we get a goo ice season. Possibly make it an individual instead of team tournaments as it can be difficult to sometimes find a partner especially for multiple dates. Don't worry about a series type deal and simplify it to just individual events to make it easier for the operators. Maybe Toadfish could suggest a lake in NW area to do one at. I know last series there was raffles at each event. Instead of that maybe do that at an end of season event which possibly could be done in conjunction with a spring walleye jig fishing trip or a summer cookout.
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I had all but forgotten how good it feels to have these discussions going!
I personally can hardly wait to get Demo Days, Kids Days and some of the small pot tournaments going again. The idea of doing some tournaments throughout the state or in 5 regions is something that we should look at more closely. I've managed to keep the seminars alive through my work with Clam and Vexilar. I also just placed one of our vinyls at Lakeside Pro Bass with the understanding that I'll be coming to pick it up from them when we need it.
The idea was posed earlier that we could expand on the soft water and other areas for the site. I think this is a great idea!
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I second that, I'm envisioning year round activities also! Fishing goes on even after the ice melts so why should we go silent. Our voices will be heard long after the bitter chill of winter dissipates. :)
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I have tried to keep year round chat going since I joined. Other than IceBucketJohn I think everyone else fishes year round like me.
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Hey Noticeman & Evinrude,
Natural lakes in NW Ohio are few and far between. I would suggest a get together at Lima Reservoirs: Metzger/Ferguson east of Lima, Bresler/Williams west of town. Van Wert reservoirs and Findlay are other possibilities. These are usually hard to fish due to water level fluctuations, very little structure. Nearby bait shops and parking are limited. Fishing pressure is usually light. Perch, crappie, gills, walleye/saugeye and white bass are usually present.
Natural lakes would be in far NW corner, Harrison and La Su Ann in Williams county.
Even on wildohio.gov, fishing forecast and reports leave this area out.
Grand Lake St Mary's, Indian Lake and Lake Laromie are in either Central or SW Ohio, but get fishable ice most years.
I would hate to tick off any locals by "invading" their secret spots, but an event like this could help teach us all something about finding and catching fish through the ice.
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It would be great to have app accessibility like taptalk. I’d love to have IFO right at my fingertips like my CDC & OGF. I’d be much more likely to post reports and other content here.
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All great suggestions my friends, we are gonna get together soon and go over ways to improve the site and user ability. Our focus going forward will to bring the IFO community back together. I'm also interested in the ability to post short videos of fishing so we can share tips and tactics or just boast a little. Of course all this will need to fall into our web provider but I promise we will test every avenue. All we ask of our members right now is to get the word out that the site is back and alive, bring friends and family to join and bring on the cold weather!!
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Toadfish, absolutely im with ya! We no longer want IFO to seem focused around Central Ohio. I'm willing to travel as much as possible to experience new lakes and meet our members for a good day of fishing. When the time is right you pick the place and we can meet up at the local bait shop. I will bring a few friends and you the same. I would love the opportunity to share my lack of fishing skills with others and maybe learn a trick or 2
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I love all those ideas. This process might take a little bit, but the 3 of us are committed and it’s going to improve. Some of the more technical aspects might be a little bit in development, but I am actively working with our web developer. And expanding all over the ice belt area of Ohio with events is absolutely something we’ve already discussed and love! Keep the awesome ideas flowing, great to see the site active again!!!!
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You nailed it -58!! Any sport - football, basketball, baseball -you name it- our kids need to get involved. How- by parents and grandparents teaching and coaching them. The same is true with our sport of fishing -soft or hard water. We must step up and encourage, teach and take our kids fishing. Since 1993, our family featured a fishing tournament which started Memorial Day thru Labor Day in the Little Miami River. Prizes were awarded at our annual reunion on Labor Day. Adult and kids prizes were awarded for the largest fish for the species that year. Although the reunion still takes place, the fishing tournament went down in 2014!! 21 years! Primarily because of lack of interest by the adults which in turn lack of interest by the kids. To keep this sport alive, we as grown-ups must take our off-springs fishing. When we go fishing, take them with you. Otherwise, our sport is finished !!!
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IH2 I do all I can to pass on our sport. So far have taught 8 grandkids to fish. Three have won tournaments. Took the 9th fishing once last summer but all he wanted to do was try and lick the fish, of course he was only 7 months old. ;D ;D ;D Now ice fishing I have only got one out so far but last year wasn't a good season to try. Most of them don't like the cold like I do, so I got a hub to make it easier to talk them into to going.
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that will be nice to sweep out the old clutter, hey do we have a dark mode ? sometimes the bright screen hurts my eyes , being an old fart lol
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You need new glasses like mine they darken even inside if the lights are too bright which is helpful sometimes and sometimes a pain.
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Just had a thought, on other sites I visit not all sections are open to guests or members not signed in. This is done I believe to stop the guest lurkers from just gleaning all the good info without being a site member and by making members sign in to see some info they are more apt to contribute since they are already signed in.
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Yes, Rick there is a dark mode. I have mine in that setting all the time. Easier for me to see too. There’s a little sun icon in the top right corner by the settings gear icon. Click that and you’ll go to dark mode. It’s way better!!
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Had never tried that Slab it is definitely a different look..
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thnks joel, man thats the cats meow there. have to do this on other sites also, was out in the garage tonight chkn out my ice gear, man this season just snuck up on me. i really want to go electric on my drill also.
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Hey snocone just an FYI there are no other sites anymore!! Your on the premier fishing and outdoor site, so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.😁
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Nate it was me that mentioned other sites and I never said they dealt with fishing. I am on a couple sites such as one for Dumfries Scotland and one on British history among others that deal with subjects you would never find on a fishing/outdoor site.
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Sorry Carl, Rick mentioned trying something on another site pertaining to the light and dark mode. Guess I should have been more specific to his post above.
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Well, the absolute best way to improve this site is to actually have plenty of ICE this year in Ohio!
I’m on many other fishing sites, but I think this one has the potential to be my personal favorite. It is both Ohio specific (most relevant for me) and ice fishing specific (there is just something special about the camaraderie among those that love the ice). Many times in the past, this forum has been my only source for local ice conditions.
While I agree there is a lot of clutter that can be difficult to navigate……..I really like that there is a sub forum for each lake. Unfortunately I’m in SW Ohio where there is precious little fishable ice; and subsequently, few anglers interested. Ice conditions\reports on SW Ohio lakes would get buried without a sub forum. Maybe a sticky thread under each lake sub forum solely to post the current ice conditions?
I’m looking forward to some meet-ups on the Ohio ice this year……hopefully, weather even allows one here in SW Ohio!
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All great ideas, thank you for your patience while we resurrect IFO!! This site has been a huge part of my life for a long time. I have met so many good people here who share the same passion of ice fishing that I do. No suggestion will go undisclosed, we are taking this restructure very seriously and there will be alot of great things to come. I hope soon I can travel down to your part of town and meet up and you can share some of your tricks on your favorite lake. Thanks for being a part of IFO!!
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For all of you who plan on attending the dock tournaments plan on catching mudpuppies again. There hasn't been one caught since Nate last attended. Just saying. ;D ;D ;D
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Well if Nate ever decides to return there won't be any fish caught cuz they will all be in Nates bucket!!
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well you guys , i like this site , been here awhile. not as long as you guys but its friendly, informative , and lots of buds to chat with. and when the ice is on theres lots of activity. one nice thing you dont see any bashing goin on here like some other places, and if your new everyone here would fall over each othr to help and share. let the music begin, the storys flow , and drill like mad man. hahahah and yep 36 this is my original hang out lol