Buddachiefer has it down on fishing with flies. Those small flies proved to be deadly on the ice. I'm kinda pissed I forgot to snag a couple from you before you left. They were definitely catching some fish. You should of stuck it out though. I ended up catching a dozen more nice keeper crappie after you left. They were average sized but a couple were real nice slabs. I knew it was on when the fish were on the bottom all day then about a half hr. after you left schools started to come thru about 5 ft. suspended off the bottom. My crappie expertise kicked in and I started bringing them up one after another. It took some convincing to get them to hit but if you jig it they will come, especially if your what your jigging glows. It was a great day out even though you out fished me. I'll just blame it on you having home field advantage. To bad Im leaving for Florida or I would have to demand a rematch and I would have to show you how its really done instead of standing around half the day b.s.ing.

Now that there is a Cabelas in Ohio when you make a purchase online you will have to pay taxes. That was one of the few reasons I would even  buy anything from them. Most of there stuff is overpriced now add the taxes. I will have to keep going to Marks bait, tackle and ammo or A&C bait and tackle. Anything Cabelas has these shops can get. If they don't have it in stock they will order it for you. 9 times out of 10 they will work it out so they are cheaper then the big box shops.  I do like to go into the Cabelas and bass pros to see the big fish tanks and animal mounts. They are cool places to walk around. Every year when we drive to key west we stop at the World Wide Sportsman store in Islamorada. Its a lot smaller then a normal bass pro pro. They have Ernest Hemingway's boat inside the store that you can get on and check out. He is my favorite author and its cool to be able to get on the actual boat that he would take out fishing for marlin, sailfish and other sport fish. We always walk in to check things out but almost never buy anything. To many local shops to buy my saltwater gear at lower prices. If your looking for anything for saltwater check out Cudjoe Sales Fisherman's Warehouse. They have a online shop as well that you can check out.

My biggest number day was on wingfoot 2 years ago. Pulled just over 300 crappie sight fishing in 8 hrs. All the fish were 8-9 inches that the foot is notorious for. Had a few other days that season that I pulled 200+ crappie. It may seem like a lot of fish for 1 day but anyone who fishes the foot and really knows the lake has had days like that. I would much rather have a 20-30 crappie day with the fish averaging 14 inches like I have had on deer creek then the big number of small fish days at the foot.

If I can't fish them I'm working. Either running my fishing sinker business pouring sinkers, building custom rods and making jigs and lures or working my day job babysitting a bunch of guys laying asphalt. Gotta make that money to support my habit. 

There were times when it got crazy and all my gear was going off. I would end up with everything all tangled up and it would take hours to get it all back in the water. To make things worse it was dark out and you couldn't see very good. I would loose a dead stick from time to time down a hole when I was out running traps. I would like to be able to run more then 6 traps but I agree with the 2 rod law. I would be happy if I could run 12 traps and 1 jigging rod. If I set up tip ups I'm normally not moving and focasing on the traps and don't use my rods. If I'm running and gunning I run a dead stick and jigging rod and leave the traps in the truck. O well I'll never be happy with the laws. They could change the laws from 6 to 12 and then I would want to run 18.  Always want more,more,more. Lol

If you want to play with an lx-9 you are more then welcome to use mine. If we can ever get good ice we should hook up  and fish together sometime. The more the marrier.

I would have to say no seeing that they are just a glorified rod holder. They consider the jawjacker a tip up because you have to set the rod and it has a mechanical trigger to be set off by the fish. I have made other tip downs that were made to be used just as a tip down and asked an officer if I could fish 6 of them and he told me no. The best bet would be to take them to the div. of wildlife and show them and see what they say. If the say yes make sure you write up a letter with a pic of the item and have them sign off on it. Every officer has their own opinion and its up to each one if you get a ticket or not. If you have a signed letter they would most likely not give you a ticket. If they were to give you a ticket you would be able to take the letter to court and you would get let off. Your better off safe then sorry. You could probably fish them and never get caught but its not worth the chance. Years ago I used to only fish at night and would set up 20+ tip ups and have 5-6 dead sticks plus my jiggin rod. I never got caught but if I would have I would have lost all my gear, got a huge fine and if they want to hit you hard they can give you a lifetime ban to where you can never get a hunting or fishing license again. I quit doing those things because I would go crazy if I could never hunt or fish again.

The same jigs that the russian ice team fishes. pure solid gold. I sure would hate to lose one of those jigs.