Nattie Up North An Introduction

I found out about Nattie through her being hired by Major League Fishing to work on their Bass Pro Tour Broadcast Team. So naturally, I checked out some of her YouTube videos and came to discover she is a Minnesocold Girl.  I think Major League made a really good hire.  Her enthusiasm for fishing is infectious, has the gift of gab, and she had a million dollar smile.  It will be interesting to see how they use her.  I hope it works out.

She did start a blog in 2017, but it looks like she has given up on that after 4 very promising posts.

Here are a couple of her Youtube videos:


 
Someone is getting added to my list of Dream Fishing Buddies in 2019.

2018 Fishing Goals Achieved (And Not)

Goals achieved in bold green
Goals not achieved in red
Partly achieved in purple
Commentary in blue

Fishing Buddies: Once again in 2018 I did poorly in reaching my fishing buddies goals. However, I did spend more time fishing with my younger brothers and had multiple pre-fishing trips with fellow Snatchers and Pete came up a few different times, so I wasn't fishing by myself all the time.  

1. Fish with Dad multiple times.(Due to dad's sore shoulders he wasn't up for fishing this year.)
2. Take Mike Thompson out frog fishing. (Didn't get out frog fishing with Cyb, but we did fish together once at Eddy's Jetty.)
3. Fish with Jim Bonin
4. Fish with  Mike "Spike" Miller
5. Fish with Jeff and Renee at least once
6. Fish with Todd, Isabelle, and Mallory multiple times
7. Take Peter W. out of the Trophy at least once.
8. Take Matt W. out of the Trophy at least once.
9. Fish with Dave Lindmark
10. Fish with Steve and Devin multiple times.
11. Take Corey Hicks frog fishing.
Dream Fishing Buddies:
1. Fish with Josh Douglas
2. Fish with Al Lindner

Bass Snatcher Goals:
1.  Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker) (I was the initial Co-Angler Challenge Winner, so that kind of counts.)
2. Win my 1st tournament. (My best finish to date is 2nd Place.)
3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament. (I got Big Bass at the Mini-Bucks Tournament)
4. Get paired with Chuck Fields. 
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year.  (Something I haven't done since 2011)(Finished in 9th Place)
6. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year.
7. Pre-fish with at least 3 boaters. (Did with 4 of my boaters this year)
8. List the Rods I'm bringing for each tournament before the tournament.

Technique & Tackle Goals:
0. Blog about the November and December Lucky Tackle Box's
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaways/contests.
Lew's Tournament MB Speed Spool
Lew's Custom Speed Stick
2. Catch a fish on % of Mystery Tackle Box Lures (Hold over from 2017)
    2a. 1st Box 100% (5 Lures, 2 Lures to go)
    2b. 2nd Box 60% (3 out of 5, only more lure and I've got this one)
3. Catch a fish on % of Lucky Tackle Box Lures
   3a. 1st Box 100%  (6 Lures, 3 Lures left to go.)
   3b. 2nd Box 100% (6 Lures)
   3c.  3rd Box 75% (4 Lures)
4. Catch a bass on the Salmo Bass Bug (Hold over from 2017)
5. Get my brother Steve and niece Devin properly outfitted.
6.  Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse this year. (4/26)
7. Catch a fish on the Sprinker Frog
8. Experiment with the Neko rig to see if it something for me.
9. Experiment with the Ned Rig to see if it's something for me. (Used it a little too disappointing results)

Blogging:
1. Blog about anytime I reach a goal. (I missed a few yet again)
2. Record all fishing trips at Fish Swami (I think I got all of them)
3. Fish at least 150 days and blog about them (193 Days Fished in 2018)

Fish Goals:
1. Get Devin and Steve into some bullheads
2. Average 5 fish caught per hour. (3.99 in 2017, 4.08 in 2016, 3.62 in 2015, 3.55 in 2014, 4.41 in 2013, 4.31 in 2012, 2.77 in 2011) (A poor Fall into Winter Bite killed off any chance of me getting to 5 fish per hour)
3. Catch* 3,000 Fish (Fell just a little bit short)
4. Put together a small monetary incentive deal with the nieces this summer. (I decided not to do this.)

Crappie:
1. Catch a new personal best. (Currently 14.25")
2. Catch* over 300 this year. (Caught 515 in 2017) (306, so I got there just barely)
3. Get Steve into some silver bullheads.
4. Get Devin into some silver bullheads. (Silver bullheads were a tough get with the late ice out.  I didn't get many of them myself)

Dogfish:
1. Win my 3rd Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship
2. Catch a MN State Record fish. (11-4  or 35" x 20")
3. Catch a new personal best.

Pike:
1. Catch* over 500 this year. (Caught 798 in 2017) (Caught 804)
2. Catch a 38" or over/personal best.
3. Get Steve into some toothy bullheads (Steve caught a few including his personal best)
4. Get Devin into some toothy bullheads (I think Dev caught a couple off the dock, but I'm not 100% sure on that)

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth
3. Catch* over 1,000 bass this year. (Caught 1,238 in 2017) (Caught 1,281)
4. Catch* at least 25 smallies.  (I caught 26 last year) (Not a single smallie caught)
5. Catch a 25lb 6 Fish Bag
6. Get Steve into some jumpin' bullheads.
7. Get Devin into some jumpin' bullheads.

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 30. (Caught 40 in 2017) (Caught 279)
2. Catch 30" or new personal best. (28.5 is current PB)
3. Get Steve into his first ever MN state fish.

* Catch is anything I deem it to be including follows by pike or smallmouth (while pre-fishing), a pike missing my lure, fish viewed on the Aqua View, and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.

Snatchers Meeting Today

The first Snatcher Meeting of the year takes place at 1PM today.  We will be doing the first round of lakes and dates.  Some lakes I wouldn't mind seeing on this year's schedule to fish are Woman Lake, Serpent Lake, Farm Island, Leech, Pokegama, and Alexander.  Will update this post later today.

Update:   Here's what we came up with.  I strongly expect some of the lakes will get changed next month.

June 1st: Whitefish Chain
June 29th: Alexander
July 13th: Le Homme Dieu
July 27th: Big Winni
Aug 17th: Gull River
Sept 28th: Leech Lake

My Top 13 Fishing Highlights of 2018

2018 was the year of Devin and Steve.  Steve and family moved into the lake place in the Fall of 2017 remodeled the place and about a year later moved on to a new adventure in Chicago.  Fishing with Dev and Steve were at the top of my highlights for the year.

#1 Highlight: Catching Bull Bluegills Off the Dock With Devin 

#2 Highlight: Getting Steve His First Ever MN State Fish at Mille Lacs Lake

#3 Highlight: Teaching Devin about Ice Fishing

#4 Highlight: Bass Devin Caught Off the Dock While We Were Eating Dinner

#5 Highlight: Steve's Big Pike

#6 Highlight Fishing With The Brothers.  Steve, Todd and I fished together on a few trips in the Trophy.  And there were quite a few trips with just me and Stever or me and Todd. 

#7 Highlight: Steve's Big Doggo

#8 Highlight: Fishing the Melon Patch.  Many a melon was snatched and quite a few got away as well (Only linking twice doesn't begin to tell the story).

#9 Highlight: The 17" Hole and Big Rice Point.   Another productive area that provided a number of memorable trips as well as my biggest bass of the year.

#10 Highlight: Fishing and Pre-Fishing the Snatcher Minnewawa Tournament with Keith Tuma and his daughter Breanne.

#11 Highlight: Being the 1st Ever Bass Snatcher Co-Angler Challenge Winner at Lake Edward.

#12 Highlight:  The Hot Fall Bite Off  Of Eddy's Jetty In October and November.  It's a shame winter came early this year.

#13 Highlight (Because I "Make My Own Luck") Catching Big Bass at the Mission Lakes Mini-Bucks.

You can read about pretty much every trip I took in 2018 at the Fishing Log Blog.