Bum ankle, flat tire, iced over lake ... no problem for the 2015 CTF Member of the Year!

There was never any doubt we would be chasing fish somehow, or somewhere yesterday. As usual, good times on the water with Chris. Great to close out the open-water 2016 season a high note.

Nice to run into Striperboy at Candlewood Bait & Tackle in the a.m.

Water temps were 36. With the forecast, there will still be some open-water opportunities ahead, if you have the time to get out.

Keitech outproduced the baits yesterday. Slow & steady near the bottom worked best.

Here are some pics. I also have a vid of us running the lake that I'll add later.

Finding Lilly iced over. There were some members of the state crew out in boats doing work on the steel bridge. We even thought about asking them if they'd clear a channel for us.







We were happy to find no ice at Candlewood (we only saw a few sheets of floating ice out on the main lake ... and on the guides).





We really couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday. Water was like glass for most of the day.

We're actually running full throttle in these pics and it looks like we're standing still ...









Cwood broke the ice with our first smallie for the day, and they only got bigger from there.







A nice 4.25 pounder ...





Of course with us on board, things got goofy ...






Hope everyone enjoys a Merry Christmas and kicks off a great 2017 season soon!