Blog Feed: The Diary of a Lake Nerd

Here is an article written about Herman Brothers Lake and Land Management on Mike Pehanich's website small waters fishing. Check out his website for tons of fishing and lake management information: Managing waters by harvestThis spring I have been doing tons of interviews with outdoor writers, fishing shows, hunting shows, etc. Its been very neat > read more

Awesome Guided Fishing Trip!

Published on 2012-05-12 07:07:00

On Monday afternoon I took out Mike Kaisner and his father Leon out for a fishing trip. I used to do alot of guiding back a few years ago, but these days my schedule very rarely allows for much fishing of any kind. Anyhow, Mike purchased a half day guided fishing trip that Justin and I donated to the lighthouse academy auction and I wanted to make for sure his fishing trip matched his generous donation to our childrens school. We caught some good big fish of all species. Altogether we landed o [..] > read more

Shocking and Stocking and Docking

Published on 2012-05-08 22:32:00

Last week we shocked over 12 lakes, built some docks and stocked lots of fish. Probably one of the busiest weeks ever (until this week that is, that seems to be the theme these days). One project in particular was pretty neat to work on with Greg Grimes of Aquatic Environmental Services from down in Ball Ground, Georgia. We started at 7:30 am and shocked lakes until 7:30 pm. Here are just a few of the different species we sampled. Been stocking lots of smallmouth bass, tiger muskies, bluegills [..] > read more

Noah Fishing Middle Grove

Published on 2012-04-22 21:19:00

After Church, Noah and I headed out to my uncle's new 50 acre lake near Middle Grove. My uncle's Mike and Spark have a small farm out that way and just a few months ago the property adjoining theirs went for sale and they ended up buying it. Anyhow, ever since closing about a month ago I have been licking my chops to get out and check out all this new water and today we finally made it happen!So we decided to see if there where any crappie in the lake. We bought some live minnows from Andersons [..] > read more

Izaak Walton Fishing Lake!

Published on 2012-04-18 20:34:00

I spent the afternoon at the Izaak Walton Campground and Fishing Lake in Metamora, IL. This was my first visit and let me just say quite frankly I was very impressed with their lake and overall facility! I was there performing a full lake audit and electrofishing survey to help them better manage their amazing resource.They have a 17 acre spring fed lake that is awesome! I don't say that about very many places I initially visit. Here are just a few fish pics from today at their survey.In this 17 [..] > read more

Happy Easter Fishing

Published on 2012-04-08 22:25:00

The weather today was just simply awesome! After church we took some naps and then headed over to my parents for a big family dinner of ribs and brisket. What an awesome day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!! After dinner and the Easter Egg hunt, the kids went down to the pond to play outside and do some fishin. We have 25 muskies in this little pond and they showed up today, but we only landed one of them. At least this one was enough for a couple meals!! I probably have the only fishing [..] > read more

Weekend To Remember

Published on 2012-04-02 20:48:00

Last week we traveled to Ottawa to consult at several ponds and finished up the week at a large property near Pittsfield, IL stocking full size fish, aeration systems, fish structures, fish feeders, etc. and even found some mushrooms while measuring through the woods.Put together lots of feeders and structures for all the ponds, here is some stuff for the lodge pond:Found a snake while electrofishing one of the existing ponds:Lodge pond still needs more water, we are gonna remedy that soon. Big [..] > read more

Boone and Crockett Bluegills

Published on 2012-03-25 20:20:00

The kids did a great job remembering their lines at the Easter Program at church today, and then like wildfire heading for prairie grass we were headed towards the lake! Man was it ever a nice day today, WOW! We have been blessed with the best March weather on the planet and the fish are biting! This bluegill was a beast:Anyhow we headed out on our made from scratch big pontoon boat and found a bunch of big bluegills up near the surface feeding on insect hatches believe it or not over 14 feet of [..] > read more

Southern Illinois Morels, Docks, Electrofishing

Published on 2012-03-21 21:16:00

Just got back from a little road trip down to Southern Illinois. The morels are popping and love is in the air/water down there in the fish world.Down in Brownstown, IL we built this small boat dock on Fred's secondary pond for his guest house tucked back in the woods. We also met a dye manufacturer from St. Louis there at Fred's pond to test out a new granular lake dye. This new product has some potential, but isn't quite ready to hit the market yet.Fred and his neighbor helped Allen and I buil [..] > read more

Summer Fishing in March

Published on 2012-03-18 20:54:00

Wow, what a weekend! I don't know where to start except to just simply be thankful for such awesome weather not only this weekend, but the entire past week! Unbelievable.Pretty much everyone in my family ended up at the lake this weekend. I headed out about 6 pm Saturday evening and we burned our hillsides. Altogether about 40 acres total. Justin and I finished burning about 1 am that morning. We actually LOVE fire and burning....I bet the local fire departments got over 100 phone calls Saturday [..] > read more

Blue Catfish Stocking

Published on 2012-03-10 20:36:00

I have several clients looking to create awesome catfish ponds this spring so I have lined up a fish truck from Oklahoma to come on up with a load of farm raised pellet trained blue catfish! Very exciting, we are gonna grow 30-40 blue cats in relatively small bodies of water!Perfect timing too, cause this months issue of Pond Boss Magazine is all about all the different species of Catfish! My good friend Bruce Condello is on the cover this month!! If you don't get the magazine your missing out m [..] > read more

Awesome Turkey Video and Cool Project Update

Published on 2012-03-02 12:41:00

My buddy from the Quad Cities sent me this video in an email, and I thought it very interesting and something quite different:We got the trout pond set up at the Elmwood All Outdoors Show, got some whoppers in that little pond! Hope you guys all come out! The Catch a Dream fishing trips silent auction via email has been going much better than expected! Many of the trips have already sold and we are coming up with quite a few more trips for the live auction Monday night at EP's Timeout in East Pe [..] > read more

Illinois' Best Guided Fishing Trips

Published on 2012-02-23 16:54:00

Here is the list of the very best guided fishing opportunities in the entire state of Illinois! We have put together over 30 guided trips with the best fishing guides and fishing water in central Illinois. These trips will be available for purchase as silent auction items at the Elmwood All Outdoors Show March 3-4, 2012 and then live auction on Monday, March 5th at EP's Timeout in East Peoria.The dinner and auction is our main fundraiser for the year and is a different format this year. No advan [..] > read more

Vacation Wrap Up, Back to Work

Published on 2012-02-12 21:58:00

On Monday we got on the Carnival Elation at the Port of New Orleans. I have never been on a cruise before and let me tell you it far exceeded my expectations!We traveled all night and all day Tuesday and got off the ship Wednesday morning in Progreso, Mexico. Progreso is pretty much a dump, we paid a guy $10 per adult to take us to a "nice" beach. The beach really wasnt that nice, but we made the most of it had fun playing in the sand.Then Thursday morning we got off the ship at Cozumel. Cozumel [..] > read more

Chef Todd Mississippi River Fishing Article

Published on 2012-02-12 21:41:00

Chef Todd Kent (for those who don't know) does alot of guiding and cooking for my clients at their properties and on their lakes. Also he writes several columns in Heartland Outdoors Magazine and has a cooking segment feature coming up in Pond Boss Magazine in the near future. Anyhow here is a little article of his that just got Published in Eddy Magazine February issue. > read more

Family Fun in New Orleans Before the Cruise

Published on 2012-02-06 08:43:00

Our New Orleans adventure started out Friday morning at 3 am when we loaded up 4 minivans with 12 adults and 13 kids and headed out of Central Illinois. We found a great deal on a nice hotel in Gretna, Louisiana just across the Mississippi River from the heart of New Orleans. There is a free ferry that crosses the river just 1/2 mile down. Here is a pic of the Holiday Inn Westbank we stayed at:We picked this place cause it was $100 per night cheaper than all the New Orleans hotels, plus it offer [..] > read more

Venice Offshore Fishing Report with Pics

Published on 2012-02-05 19:22:00

Full moon this first weekend in February and all the charter boat captains were booked up for Saturday because of the potential for a great wahoo bite. That all changed when the waves were predicted to be a rough 4-6' offshore for Saturday. Captain Josh called me up while we were eating at the Holiday Inn Roundhouse Grill Friday night and said pretty much all the captains were cancelling their trips for both Saturday and Sunday due to the weather.Most sensible, normal people would have canceled [..] > read more

Archived Weather Difference

Published on 2012-02-02 06:26:00

Here is a blog post from Feb 5th 2011. (last year at this time). It was so cold last year that we had to cancel alot of ice fishing trips....This year is completely different, it is so warm I was only able to get on the ice for ONE DAY!!! Been in the 50's and even 60's this last week of January and first week of February. I had to cancel over 150 ice fishing reservations for this winter! Anyhow, this was a fun read from last year:I took Mae and Noah with me to Presley's Outdoors this morning to [..] > read more

Tuna Fishing Venice, LA!

Published on 2012-01-29 16:01:00

This upcoming weekend we are heading down to New Orleans for a family cruise on the Carnival Elation with all 25 of my brothers, sisters, kids, and parents. Well, we finally talked the ladies into letting us head down a day or two early and go out fishing for Wahoo, Tuna, Sharks, and Amberjack! That means we are headed South Friday morning as opposed to Sunday morning!!!!!!I looked at every fishing website in Venice and talked to pretty much every captain who answered his phone getting the scoop [..] > read more

Actual Ice Fishing Update w/ Pics

Published on 2012-01-25 20:35:00

On Saturday I was putting up walls at my house all day, but my dad and Steve Ryan and his buddy Doug were out at my lake ice fishing most of the day!! I knew with the warmer weather in the forecast all of this upcoming week that the safe ice was only gonna be around till Sunday, so I actually skipped church Sunday morning and went out ice fishing! That perhaps could be my only ice fishing trip of the entire winter????Here are some pics from the weekend ice fishing:Reports around the area said fi [..] > read more

Otter Creek Ice Fishing Update

Published on 2012-01-19 06:05:00

Well, as you all already know, the ice just isnt safe yet. I am going to have to postpone/cancel the big Ice Fishing Derby/Workshop scheduled for Otter Creek on Saturday the 21st. Also if the 10 day weather forecast is accurate we definitely wont be ice fishing by the 28th either and who knows what exactly will become of this ice fishing season altogether. With the event being canceled we definitely will refund or credit everyone who signed up. I wont be in the office the rest of this week, but [..] > read more

Hooked On Fishing Park Update 2012

Published on 2012-01-08 18:02:00

Lots of stuff happening at the fishing park right now! Many volunteers have spent the winter building/remodeling a new volunteer clubhouse, putting in bathrooms, and even Presley's Outdoors is building a new Presley's South Side Wormranch II tackle storage shed down at the park! 2012 is shaping up nicely to be the best year yet for kids and seniors down at the park! We could still use lots of help for the upcoming season! We still need some good used furniture for the volunteer building and also [..] > read more

Ultimate Ice Fishing Derby/Workshop!

Published on 2012-01-01 07:25:00

Otter Creek Preserve Ice Fishing Day 2012!"Illinois Best Multi-Species Fishing Lakes!"Ice Fishing Workshop and DerbyJanuary 21, 9 am - 5 pmMust Pre-register by Jan 16th, limited to 200 guests.Click Here to Register.Finally, here are the details for an amazing opportunity to ice fish at world famous Otter Creek Preserve! Otter Creek is a private 682 world class hunting and fishing property and is perhaps the best fishing in all of Illinois.Here is a short, cheesy, but fun video Chef Todd and I pu [..] > read more

Big Pike, Catfish, and Hybrid Stripers

Published on 2011-06-26 06:25:00

Jared Plattner with huntplots.com took his parents and their friend Bill and Janice Russell fishing on Friday evening. They were going for monster hybrid striped bass and they caught several really big ones!Bill, where is the picture of your big fish > read more

Fathers Day Fishing

Published on 2011-06-19 21:55:00

Spent most of Fathers Day on or near the water. Was great!!! The times we were away from the water we were eating, so all in all was about as good as it gets....Here are a bunch of pics from the weekend. For all of Brooks friends out there (both of y > read more

What Day Is It Anyway?

Published on 2011-06-16 21:05:00

Last Saturday I headed to Otter Creek at 4 am, then ran back to Norris at 10 am to supervise water activities for 150 junior high girls, then ran back to Otter at 5 pm to finish up the fishing trip. Chef Todd cooked up a feast and of course I made it > read more

Fishing TV and Fox Chain of Lakes

Published on 2011-06-09 20:15:00

Hook and Hunt TV came out and filmed some fishing shows at Otter Creek Preserve last month. Otter Creek is a Herman Brothers featured property that we have been working on since 2007!Here is the first segment on YouTube:This week we were up at the Fo > read more

Dear Diary: Blob and Fish Pictures

Published on 2011-06-04 21:31:00

I don't think it is humanly possible to pack anything more into a week. Weeks already fly by this time of year and a short week just makes things fly by even that much faster. It also didnt help that I was physically worn out before this week even st > read more

Memorial Day Mega Bluegills!

Published on 2011-05-31 21:28:00

On Saturday we were working on building a 16 foot high jump dock at the lake for the new blob (pics and videos to come!) I was busy building, but Steve Ryan and his wife Josie came down into town for some big bluegill photo shoots at our lake. Steve > read more

Some More Fishing Pics

Published on 2011-05-25 20:22:00

Here are some more fishing pics sent in from our day of fishing at Otter Creek from last Saturday. I am still waiting for about 4 groups to send in their pics....fellas??? Anyhow, as they trickle in I will plop em online. In the mean time I just may > read more

Fishing Day at Otter Creek

Published on 2011-05-23 22:45:00

Saturday I was able to kill 12 birds with one stone!! Been a pretty busy spring so I have to get creative and be as efficient as humanly possible. Over the winter I lined up a few too many fishing trips mostly through donating to various charity auct > read more

Electrofishing- Shocking Lakes and Ponds

Published on 2011-05-23 20:31:00

Been out electrofishing lots of lakes and ponds the last week. While each body of water is unique from the next, even more unique is the owners who own them. I know a thing or two about raising fish in general, but what I really have been focussing o > read more

Fishing Pictures

Published on 2011-05-17 22:18:00

We had 45 minutes to kill between appointments this afternoon so we popped in at the lake and took Mae and Noah fishing.Chef Todd and Mae caught a monster smallmouth bass! I couldn't believe he actually let her have the pole to reel it in it was so b > read more

Nebraska Docks, Iowa Electrofishing

Published on 2011-05-15 16:08:00

Its 4:09 pm on Sunday afternoon and I just woke up from a 4 hour nap. Apparently these days I catch up on sleep during the middle of the day at any opportunity possible. Monday morning May 9th I was at the office at 2:45 am getting ready for the upco > read more

Spring Management Marathon

Published on 2011-05-07 17:07:00

Been working the boys 12-15 hour days for the last 2 weeks. Here is just bits and pieces. Its 4:02 pm Saturday afternoon and I just woke up from a nap. Yep, its been a busy 2 weeks and I was running on fumes.....Last friday morning I stocked over 1,0 > read more

Peoria County Trophy Bass Lake

Published on 2011-05-04 22:19:00

I have been working with this 20 acre lake in Peoria County for a few years now and managing it for TROPHY largemouth bass. This lake has produced more 5+ lb largemouth bass so far this year than perhaps any lake in Central Illinois. There are a few > read more

Morel Mushrooms, Wild Turkeys and Fish Pics

Published on 2011-05-01 20:59:00

Here are some pics sent in by blog readers over the weekend. Lots of turkeys being harvested, fish being caught and mushrooms being found!!Brad Usher harvested this bird on the first day of turkey season down in Washington County. Amazing photo with > read more

How to Get Rid of Duckweed and Watermeal

Published on 2011-04-28 22:26:00

This is definitely the most boring blog post I have written to date! Yep, I think I am going to write all about watermeal and duckweed. I just hope I can keep my eyes open as I type.....Anyhow, many of you will hopefully find this information very he > read more

Extreme Carp Fishing Video

Published on 2011-04-28 22:18:00

So I stumbled across this video from a fishing blog called lunkerhunt. I figured some would enjoy and probably you more conservative, mature, safe, boring, sane, older people probably not so much, but regardless it was a pretty funny video filmed jus > read more

Evergreen Lake Fish Structures

Published on 2011-04-27 20:13:00

The high school bass fishing sectional was at Lake Evergreen last week and Mike Steffa the head honcho at Comlara Park put all the high school kids to work this year! Instead of just standing around waiting all day long, the kids assembled 36 porcupi > read more

Ultimate Southern Illinois Bass Pond

Published on 2011-04-23 07:44:00

I started helping Aaron plan out the ultimate bass pond from scratch two years ago. I actually met him three years ago when I was speaking at a pond conference down in Southern Illinois. Anyhow Aaron is a tournament bass angler and wanted to create t > read more

Pond Boss Conference at Big Cedar Branson

Published on 2011-04-16 20:48:00

Monday morning April 11th, I headed out at 2 am to the fish hatchery to pick up a big load of fish for stocking. I drove around to lakes and ponds across Central Illinois until 10 pm that night dropping off the appropriate fish to their new homes. > read more

Squeezed in Some Fishin!

Published on 2011-04-09 21:16:00

Friday late afternoon we packed up the kids and headed out to the lake for the night. Mom and Dad, Chad and Julie, Justin and Katy, and Josh all were thinking on the same page and ended up out at the lake with the same intentions. The weather was hot > read more

Lots of Monster Largemouth Bass

Published on 2011-04-07 19:12:00

Lake Management season 2011 is in full swing and we are off to a great start. I have been electrofishing and consulting and installing aeration systems from sunup to sundown and Justin and co have been working up bunches of ground, and doing all kind > read more

Burning More Prairie Grass

Published on 2011-04-02 05:44:00

I worked late every night this week so I didn't get as much time with the kids as usual, so Friday evening I headed home at 5 pm and we all headed down to the Burger Barge and then over to the Hooked On Fishing Park. Although we walked around explori > read more

Electrofishing Season Has Begun!!

Published on 2011-03-29 08:47:00

Electrofishing or as most people say it, shocking the pond season has begun! The absolute favorite part of my job is going to new places and finding out what fish are swimming beneath the surface! Always is exciting. Yesterday did not disappoint, we > read more

Mike Iacanelli Recap with Pics

Published on 2011-03-28 06:32:00

Lets just start with the food eh? Chef Todd and Chef Kevin cooked all weekend. Their specialty was blueberry, bluecheese gourmet elk burgers! If you like blueberries, blue cheese, and elk than you loved their conoction. If you didnt like that stuff, > read more

Huge Fishing Sale, Portable Trout Pond, Mike Iacanelli

Published on 2011-03-26 05:42:00

Hey guys, I just want to let you know that this Saturday and Sunday Presleys Outdoors in Bartonville is hosting a mega fishing sale to kick off the 2011 season! I will be down there both days helping people pick out the right gear and also we set up > read more

My First Turkey Hunt in Iowa

Published on 2011-03-21 20:46:00

Turkey season is rapidly approaching and I don't have any plans on hitting the timber before sunrise waiting for a gobbler to walk by. I do have a story though for those of you getting all pumped up for the upcoming turkey hunting season.My first tur > read more

Filming Hook and Hunt TV Pond Series

Published on 2011-03-19 15:25:00

Last week I went out to Bloomington to film the second segment in a pond series with Hook and Hunt TV. We basically are taking a 1/2 acre backyard pond and showing how to turn that little pond into a BIG fish producing factory. You will be amazed at > read more

Prescribed Burning and Tree Cutting

Published on 2011-03-18 22:51:00

Wouldn't it just be sweet to build your house with this view of your very own freshly built pond?Well, I am still a few hundred diapers, a bunch of school supplies, potentially a couple visits to the orthodontist, several trips to the emergency room, > read more

Crappie in Ponds

Published on 2011-03-17 21:15:00

I have been doing many consultations for people wanting to make and maintain a trophy crappie pond. So many, in fact that I decided to write an in depth article about crappie ponds in the April issue of Heartland Outdoors Magazine. It is a must read > read more

QDMA Field Day at Otter Creek

Published on 2011-03-15 23:12:00

Here is an opportunity that I am pretty excited about! Below is information about a field day the QDMA is putting on at Otter Creek Preserve. I have been asked to speak with Grant Woods at this event. If your reading this blog post and your intereste > read more

Hooked On Fishing Fundraiser Dinner

Published on 2011-03-14 16:16:00

I want to thank everyone who came to the Hooked On Fishing Park fundraising banquet on Saturday night!!! At 7 am on Saturday morning I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to not just throw together the finishing touches, but > read more

Spring Muskie and Buck Drowning

Published on 2011-03-11 21:10:00

I got a couple emails today. The first is of a really nice buck who was found dead in a clients pond:The next are some pics from Chuck Hart of Bob Grimm Chevrolet in Morton. He skipped work yesterday and went Muskie fishing at Spring Lake with Ryan L > read more

Birthday Testing and Coordinating

Published on 2011-03-11 06:09:00

Dear Diary,Today is my 28th birthday. Been a super crazy week leading up to this the most hectic day. The Hooked on Fishing Park Annual fundraising dinner is Saturday night and I am the worlds best last minute late night planner (hopefully, cross you > read more

The All New Portable Trout Pond

Published on 2011-03-03 21:33:00

Justin and I have been scratching our heads for a few days trying to figure out what kind of portable pond we could make that will hold thousands of gallons of water and allow people to trout fish in it safely during the Elmwood All Outdoors Show thi > read more

Back Among the Living!

Published on 2011-03-01 06:37:00

Been deathly ill for what seems like an eternity. Sitting in a chair with my eyes closed just waiting for the days and nights to get over with, too sick to even think, let alone let the magic box think for me.Anyhow so maybe I'm just a big baby, only > read more

Waterfowl Biologist Meeting

Published on 2011-02-24 18:29:00

Last night I had the opportunity to host a bunch of waterfowl biologists from the entire Mississippi flyway down at the Hooked On Fishing Park. They came from like 14 different states from Alabama all the way up to Canada. Some Ducks Unlimited biolog > read more

Fisherman I Need Your Help!

Published on 2011-02-21 20:43:00

If your reading this somewhere online, I could definitely use your help! Not just fisherman, but anyone with a passion for teaching, helping, fishing, and the great outdoors!Back in 2008 I helped start the Hooked on Fishing Park down in East Peoria a > read more

Fish Structures On Ice

Published on 2011-02-19 07:14:00

Here is a short video of cutting down some fence row mulberry and hedge trees. We used these trees to make a bunch of fish structures this winter. We bunched up the trees and weighted them down with 5 gallon buckets full of concrete and placed them o > read more

Land Auction and Ice Fishing

Published on 2011-02-19 06:56:00

I went to a land auction in Fulton County yesterday. Good tillable land went for 7300 per acre and pure timber went for 2100 per acre. Was interesting, but about what was expected with grains at all time highs and recreational land prices continuing > read more

Last Day on the Ice?

Published on 2011-02-18 05:46:00

Thursday was my last scheduled day on the ice. The temps had been climbing all week and finally after waiting and waiting the fish were on fire on Wednesday! Just click the link for some pics. Anyhow, Thursday was shaping up to be an epic day on the > read more

Tuesday's Ice Fishing Trip

Published on 2011-02-18 05:29:00

On Tuesday afternoon we went ice fishing with a group of 5 guys. I figured the fish were going to be on fire with several days of warm weather, but boy was I wrong. They were down there, but just took alot of work to get to bite the bait. Just seemed > read more

Crappie City USA

Published on 2011-02-17 05:25:00

No time for words at the moment, but here are the pictures from yesterday's ice fishing trip! Hot weather finally equals hot fishing!! > read more

Saturday Ice Fishing and Such

Published on 2011-02-13 20:39:00

Saturday we were up at 5 am getting everything ready for the days fishing trips. Chef and I went into Canton to grab some grub and coffee and then met up with Jake and his crew from Chicago land. We were on the water ice fishing by 7 am and the fish > read more

Friday Afternoon Fishin

Published on 2011-02-13 07:40:00

Friday afternoon we fished with some folks from the east side of the river. These girls were simply amazing outdoorswomen! There aren't many girls this age who could spend 4 hours outside in the winter on the middle of a lake and not get bored, or co > read more

Drake Dawg's First Birthday Party!

Published on 2011-02-11 09:46:00

Drake Dawg last FebruaryI can hardly believe it has been one full year since Drake was born! He rather unexpectedly spent his first 11 days in the NICU with stage 3 intraventricle hemmhoraging near his brain caused by low platelets from the CMV virus > read more

Ice Fishing News

Published on 2011-02-08 07:37:00

Monday morning I took some guys ice fishing at the Pheasants Forever Habitat Lakes in Victoria, IL. We caught about 350 bluegills in 4 hrs of fishing and released most of them, but each kept 25 for dinner. Here are some pics:Last week I got a nice em > read more

Ice Fishing Trout Party

Published on 2011-02-05 21:40:00

I took Mae and Noah with me to Presley's Outdoors this morning to grab a couple dozen fathead minnows for bait. I didn't have to head out ice fishing till noon, so I figured I would spend some quality time with them running errands and fixing up fish > read more

InFisherman comes Ice Fishing

Published on 2011-02-01 20:08:00

I spent the weekend filming ice fishing with InFisherman TV. It was an incredible experience and we caught some nice fish to boot! Make sure to watch InFisherman this coming fall, we filmed a bunch of footage! We traveled around Central Illinois and > read more

Fish Structures and Stuff

Published on 2011-02-01 14:35:00

We have been working on several big fish structure projects this winter. I'm not talking about throwing a christmas tree into the water and tying on a concrete block. We are making some fishing reefs of epic proportions. Kind of like creating fish di > read more

Versatile Ice Fishing Jigs

Published on 2011-01-28 06:43:00

On Wednesday I fished with Greg Wade of Wade's Blades Ice Fishing Jigs. I tied on more jigs wednesday than any other day of ice fishing in my life. It was amazing to see the fish react different to each style and color of jig from basically the same > read more

Monster Bass Ice Fishing

Published on 2011-01-27 22:16:00

I have been working on this very young trophy bass lake for 2 years and it has been producing several 5 lb bass this winter through the ice like this one:Well today we just raised the bar up a few more notches! Check out the size of this bass that Ch > read more

How to Create a Big Bluegill Lake

Published on 2011-01-26 18:41:00

Deep infertile lakes with limited bluegill reproduction and bunches of skinny hungry stunted bass seem to naturally produce monster bluegills consistently. In the deep clear water there usually aren't many bluegill per acre, but on average they are b > read more

Football and Fishing on the Ice

Published on 2011-01-25 20:40:00

We took 16 people ice fishing on Sunday afternoon. The trip almost didn't happen due to the Bears making it much farther into the playoffs than they should of, but we decided instead of canceling that we would just combine and bring the game right ou > read more

Camera Overload: Muskie, Bluegill, Crappie....

Published on 2011-01-24 19:46:00

Saturday I took 14 people guided ice fishing to Otter Creek Preserve. The bait shop in Lewiston wasn't open when we drove by at 8 am, so it was a good thing Steve had a bunch of minnows even though I told him I would have all the bait!Anyhow we caugh > read more

Ice Fishing Video

Published on 2011-01-19 19:51:00

Here is our most recent ice fishing video hot off the press:Let me know what you think of it! Makes ice fishing look kind of fun eh?Also here is a video from a week before that one: > read more

Boone and Crocket Bluegills!

Published on 2011-01-17 19:48:00

Today we were on the ice just as the sun started rising. We were going after some big bluegills for a taxidermist to mount for the new Bass Pro Shops store in East Peoria. Also we were fishing with a Berkeley representative who wanted to try to catch > read more

Ice Fishing Pics from the Weekend

Published on 2011-01-16 20:15:00

Along with a bunch of deer management stuff, we also had a chance to get out ice fishing this past weekend. I had never ice fished these lakes before, but eventually we caught some real nice ones in our limited time on the ice:Bluegill and Crappie we > read more

Deer Management with Dr. Grant Woods

Published on 2011-01-16 18:35:00

I spent Friday driving around a large property in Fulton County with Dr. Grant Woods, Ryan Pudik, Jared Plattner, and the land owner. Our mission was to put together a land renovation plan that would turn the old strip mine spoils into a wildlife par > read more

Ice Fishing For Meat!

Published on 2011-01-13 18:59:00

This afternoon I headed out ice fishing for some meat! When we meat fish we pop around to the active holes and obviously try to catch as many fish as possible. This part may sound crazy, but we actually let the big bluegills go and keep all the mediu > read more

A Great Saturday Ice Fishing Illinois

Published on 2011-01-08 20:29:00

Well, it was 8 degrees and 20 mph wind out at Norris this morning as we were loading up all our ice fishing gear! With my lake being perched up 40 feet in the air and no trees around, I knew it was going to be way too windy to fish there today, so we > read more

Going Fishing Today

Published on 2011-01-08 07:12:00

This week I spent 35 feet off the ground putting a roof on a house in Peoria. For those of you who think its cold and windy in the winter time, try climbing up 3 stories and working off of 2x4's for 8 hours. Its nice and toasty when we come back down > read more

Pheasant Hunting then Ice Fishing!

Published on 2011-01-04 21:48:00

This morning I went pheasant hunting with my good friend Ben Ginzel and his two dogs Toby and Chester. Toby is 11 years old and his son Chester is 3 years old. They make a great hunting team! Here is a picture of Ben and Toby! Toby is actually the so > read more

Ice Fishing Video and Pics From Otter Creek

Published on 2011-01-03 17:14:00

Here is a short ice fishing video from fishing at Otter Creek last week. We caught a bunch of fish and had a lot of fun:Ice Fishing Otter CreekOtter Creek is a 680 acre farm in Fulton County that I have been working on for 3 years. It has 3 lakes and > read more

Ice Fishing Crappie Motherload

Published on 2010-12-31 15:47:00

By 2 pm on Thursday, we had quite the motherload of crappie laying on the ice! This pile of crappies we caught between noon and 2 pm all in the same spot.We were ice fishing at Otter Creek Preserve. Overall we had the best day of ice fishing any of u > read more

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