Ice fishing’s

future is now

Youth pheasant

hunt a success

More cool

bird facts

November 2012

OUTDOORCONNECTION

There’s a lot to do in theoutdoors as we head into themonth of November: lateopen water fishing, water-fowl hunting, pheasant hunt-ing and deer hunting…butfor ice anglers, it’s waitingimpatiently while waitingfor that first safe ice.

To make that time passmore quickly, Kabele’sTrading Post in Spirit Lakeis offering their own versionof a northwest Iowa IceBreaker Event on Saturday,Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to 5p.m.!

Billed as a day to “ShopWith The Pros,” ownersThane and Tanya Johnsonare excited to offer this spe-cial ice fishing day for any-body interested in talking“shop!”

Thane says, “It’s reallysomething we’ve wanted todo ever since we purchasedKabele’s Trading Post. Icefishing is huge around here,and we want to kick off theseason just like we do forthe walleye opener in May!”

Tanya added, “I can hardlywait. We have seminars,demonstrations, give-awaysand discounts on select fish-ing equipment.”

Along with all of the prod-

uct displays, Tanya andThane have put together a

list of pros to offer ice fish-ing seminars throughout theday. Don’t be afraid that youwill be “seminared todeath.” There will be plentyof time in between sessionsto browse, to ask questionsof the presenters and to talkwith other anglers.

Kevin Paul, a guide whofishes lakes across northernIowa and is on Ice Team’spro staff, is going to focuson mobility. “Mobility and awillingness to move, oftenmakes the differencebetween keeping on fish andcoming home with an emptybucket.” As a guide, Paulknows he must keep hisclients on fish. “I’ll stay onthe move until I find fish,but once the actions slows orthe fish leave, we’re on themove again. It might only be

20 yards or 150 yards or tothe other end of the bay.”Paul will share his gameplan for mobility.

Rod Woten, who halesfrom Stuart, IA, is also anIce Team Pro Staffer, willshare insight into using aVexilar flasher. Topics willinclude choosing the righttransducer and how to usethe “built in side finder”.Another topic will be how todetermine bottom composi-tion and use that to youradvantage. Woten will alsoaddress interference issuesand how to prevent them.Finally, Woten will addresswhat is the “dead zone?”

Trever Fye, is a RassetOutdoors Group pro-staffer,which includes MarCum,Rapala and StrikeMaster.Trever is well versed on thenew MarCum electronics,StrikeMaster Augers andRapala products. Trever willalso be available to show offthe new 13 Fishing ice rodsand reels.

Scott Reed, long time IGLresident and District SalesManager for Pure Fishing,will share strategies for tak-ing pan fish and game fish.Calling it the “One-TwoPunch”, Reed will tailor his

presentation to especiallyhelp anglers target BigSpirit Lake and WestOkoboji. The conceptscome from years of fishingexperience all across the ‘icebelt’ and can be appliednearly anywhere and for avariety of fish species.

As for me, I’ve been one ofClam’s pro staffers foryears. The first portableshelters go back to the earlyyears when Dave Genzbegan manufacturing FishTraps in his garage in 1980.He merged his Fish Trapbrand with Clam in 1992. Ifirst met Dave when hebrought the Trap Attacks toWest Okoboji’s EmersonBay. In discussions withGenz and fishing beside theice fishing icon, he shared alot about fishing clearwaters with me. So, sincemy passion is triggeringbluegills in the gin clearwaters of West Okoboji, I’llbe talking about ways to getthose finicky fish to bite. Beforewarned, however, that Ido not consider myself anexpert. When it comes tosight fishing gills on WestLake, I am always a work inprogress! However, I’mmore than willing to share

the good-the bad-and theugly, and what I havelearned from others!

In addition to all of this,Kabele’s Trading Post willbe brimming with ice fishingproducts, along with manyinstant rebates and free mer-chandise with purchases.

Plus grand prize drawingsfor an ice shack, guided fish-ing trips and lodging. Thecost to attend? Just show upand be ready to talk ice fish-

ing! Now that’s the way tokick off the 2012 ice fishingseason.

For more information, call(712) 336-1512. Kabele’sTrading Post is located at504 Hill Avenue in SpiritLake.

Sponsors for the ShopWith The Pros includeKabele’s Trading Post,Clam, Iowa Sportsman mag-azine and Paul’s FishingGuide.

2-Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012

STEVEWEISMANOUTDOOR EDITOR

Kabele’s Trading Post tohost Shop With The Pros

Fick’s

409 Central Ave. • Estherville, IA 712-362-3745

• Live Bait• Wax Worms• Silver Wigglers • Strikemaster• Clam• HT Rods & Reels• Okuma Reels• Plano Tackle Boxes• Trilene Fishing Line

For All Your Winter Sporting Needs.

Bait • Tackle & Convenience StoreSteve Pflueger - Owner

Hwy 86 • 1 1/2 miles west of U.S. 71 • Milford

5¢“Stump thePump Monday& Wednesday”

per gallon of gas purchased!OFF Fish Cleaning

7 am - 9 pm

Daily

OPEN 6 A.M. - 10 P.M. DAILY 338-2087

We Have

EVERYTHING

You Need!

LARGEST selection of

fishing inventoryin Northwest

Iowa

Tanya and Thane sit in one of the Clam shelters anddisplay the poster for their Shop With The Pros eventon Saturday, Nov. 17 at Kabeleʼs Trading Post.

Photo by Steve Weisman

Editor’s Note: Dave Genz,known as Mr. Ice Fishing, wasthe primary driver of the mod-ern ice fishing revolution. Hehas been enshrined in theNational Fresh Water FishingHall of Fame and MinnesotaFishing Hall of Fame for hiscontributions to the sport. Formore fishing tips and informa-tion on the new book, go towww.davegenz.com.

BY MARK STRAND

During the course of multi-ple interviews for his newbook, Ice Revolution, DaveGenz spent many hours dig-ging through his memorybanks, recounting the yearshe and his friends trans-formed ice fishing. Near theend of the process, he wasasked to look into the futureand envision what mightcome next for the sport.

Are there more majorbreakthroughs on the hori-zon? Or have we settled intoa period when evolutionaryrefinements will mark for-ward progress?

“You can always wish fornew things,” he said, “butthere’s some pretty coolstuff a lot of people haven’ttried yet.” He came awayenergized about the idea ofstressing how he uses cur-rent state of the art to takeice fishing into a realm mostpeople have not experi-enced.High Speed, High Tech

Look closely at Genz’ssnowmobile and the fabu-lous state of current technol-ogy becomes evident. His isa big-time, high-poweredmachine, but he says youcan set up the same gear onany snowmobile or ATVthat will get you around outon the ice. A look aroundthe dash, handlebars, andother parts of the machinereveals creative mounting ofelectronics that allows Daveto fish efficiently as hesearches for biters.

“My GPS is right there infront of me,” he begins, “so

I can go right to the spots.The GPS with the map chipsis not new. It’s been aroundfor a while, but there’s still alot of people who haven’ttaken advantage of theGPS.”

(If you haven’t used thistechnology, it’s downrightamazing. Your location isshown superimposed overcontour lines that reveal theunderwater structure of thelake. As you move acrossthe ice surface, your loca-tion updates. It becomeseasy to stop right out on thetip of a point, nestle yourselfinto an inside turn, or workthe edges of an offshorehump.)

“To me,” says Genz, “thesize of the GPS screen isimportant. I struggle whenI’m looking at a handheldGPS and trying to figure outwhere I am on the lake,because (the display is) sosmall. Once I get to the spot,then it isn’t quite so bad, butyou just can’t blow it upenough to get a good clearpicture. A bigger screen,mounted on the snowmo-bile, is what I prefer.

Genz continues, “I havemy Vexilar (flasher) mount-ed right up on the dash withme, too. I really like to fishright off the seat of mysnowmobile unless it’swindy. I pull up, drill someholes, and start by droppingthe Vexilar (transducer) tocheck depth, to look forweeds or some other type ofcover, and to see if there’sfish down there.

“My underwater camera ismounted right there also, soif I’m struggling to seewhat’s down there – like ifI’m fishing in the weeds –it’s really easy to whip thecamera out and drop it downthe hole.”

The secret to Genz’s latestversion of the system, inother words, is the rigging.Each piece of technology

can be employed in seconds,with no setup to speak of.That’s the difference, hesays, between putting thingsinto action or deciding it’stoo much work.

“The things we’re tinker-ing with now,” he says,“have to do with being ableto easily move our equip-ment from shore – when wepull up to the lake – onto theice, so we can start fishing.We’ve mounted the FishTraps up on racks on oursnowmobiles or ATVs.We’re not dragging thembehind anymore.

“We get to the lake and ourshelters are already loadedonto the machines, packedwith stuff like rods, jigs,heater, and a bucket for fish.There’s no time involved atthe truck loading things. Wepull the machine off thetrailer, pop skis under thetrailer tires if we’re going touse it to haul people andgear, and off we go.”

Simply put, it’s eye-pop-ping how fast Genz is offdown the lake, once he pullsup to an access point.Rods for Tightlining

Today’s best ice rods arepretty close to complete intheir evolution, with amaz-ing feel and flex that allowsthem to fish “like long rodsin miniature,” one of Genz’sfavorite sayings.

Wrapped with increasinglysmall and lighter weightguides, more of the blank’snatural properties remainafter the rod is built. Usedwith fresh line that’sstretched before you beginfishing, matched up with alure that’s not too light orheavy for the rod, almostanybody can learn to feel thecadence of their lure bounc-ing.

Recognizing when thecadence is interrupted is thekey to detecting bites, some-thing previous generationsof anglers had a much hard-

er time mastering.Comfort Catches Fish

Recent advancements inclothing have allowed Genzto fish ‘outside’ most of thetime, either on the seat of hissnowmobile or kneeling onthe ice. That translatesdirectly to more holes fishedin the course of a day, whileremaining comfortable andeffective, which meansmore fish.

“Now,” says Dave, “a niceday is any day the wind’snot blowing. Temperaturereally doesn’t make any dif-ference, because our cloth-ing is so much better than itused to be. But if the wind isblowing, your hands getcold, so you have to find away to get out of the wind.

“It’s hard to maintain thefeel that you need, if you’vegot heavy gloves on. Sowhen it’s windy, that’swhen the Fish Trap comesinto play. You take the FishTrap down off the rack andfish out of it whenever youneed to get out of the wind.And for sight fishing, too,let’s not forget about that.

“The fish houses are easierto pull around from spot tospot than they used to be.The sleds are nicely shapedfor pulling, and we put run-ners underneath them thatmake the pulling easier.”

Today’s clothing andboots have also been engi-

neered for less bulk andweight, and that is a hugeadvantage, according toGenz: “One of the thingsthat really helped the systemmove forward is the light-ness of our Ice Armor cloth-ing. Our boots aren’t big andheavy anymore. They’relight, so it’s easy to getaround out there.

“Especially as I’ve gottenolder, it’s harder for me topick my feet up high to clear

the top of the snow. I neededa lighter boot. But lighterand warmer is the key, sowe’re able to spend moretime outside while stayingcomfortable.”

There will be additionalrefinements as the years goon. Perhaps even majorbreakthroughs. But formany anglers, there areexisting elements of the icefishing revolution thatremain undiscovered.

Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012-3

212 11th St. SW Plaza • Spencer712-580-7000

O U T D O O R S

• Hunting • Fishing • Archery • Guns • Ammo CenterEverything You Need In One Place!

Spencer, Iowa

NO LIMITS

Ice fishing’s future is now

Dave Genz, shown here with a dandy crappie, usesevery advantage made possible by the ice fishing rev-olution. For many anglers, who havenʼt fully capital-ized on available advancements, the ʻfutureʼ can benow, if they do the same.

(Photo: davegenz.com)

Emmet CountyPheasants Forever,Emmet County

Izaak Walton Club, IowaDNR, and Emmet CountyConservation hosted 30youngsters at the IzaakWalton Club Grounds inEstherville on Sunday,October 21st for the annualYouth Pheasant Hunt.

The event kicked off at 11a.m., with youth huntersgrabbing a bite to eat whilevolunteers and hunting dogsstrategically mapped out theday’s events. Youthbetween the ages of 12-15were provided the opportu-nity to hunt for pheasantwith an adult monitoringeach youth.

Volunteer adults encour-aged the youngsters to warmup with a few shots at claypigeons and trap shootingbefore targeting flying roos-ter pheasants.

Several groups departedfrom the club grounds tohunt local areas. Practicepaid off in the end for sever-al of the young hunters. Inall, six roosters were har-vested.

Temperatures reached intothe mid-seventies on thesunny, windy day. The dogsfaced a challenge stirring uppheasants with it being sodry and windy. With that

said, a number of hens, par-tridge and even an owl wereobserved by the younghunters.

The Youth Pheasant Huntwrapped up at 3 p.m., fol-lowing a raffle drawing ofprizes. Top prizes includeda hand-crafted gun rackdonated by Steve Timmons,two youth 20-gauge shot-guns, a number of guncases, a dog training kit,water bottles, and orangevests and hats donated byPheasants Forever.

The day would not havebeen a success without thegreat turnout of younghunters, volunteers thatshared their time, huntingdogs that shared their skills,and thoughtful donationsfrom the community. Changing Habits

As seasonal changes beginto morph wildlife habitats inthe area, hunters may get ashot at a bewildered pheas-ant or deer if they are dedi-cated. If you’re anything

like me, it’s been tough toget out of bed the last fewweeks. When the alarmsounds at 6 a.m., I’m greet-ed by night-like darknessinstead of the warm, morn-ing sun. Daylight savingstime ends Sunday,November 4th so we’ll gainthat precious extra hour oflight early in the morningand lose the light in theearly evening hours. Wemere humans are not theonly creatures noticing theseasonal changes.

The bucks are in rut. Rut isa time of year where rumi-nant animals, like deer, takeadvantage of the shorteninghours of daylight to showtheir affectionate side andswap Valentines, but it’s notCupid’s arrow that they

need to worry about. A patient hunter may snare

a nice buck while raginghormones distract Mr. Buckfrom the hunter’s not-as-concealed-as-he/she-thinkspresence. Other wildlife aremaking preparations aswell. Winter birds are work-ing hard to insulate theirnests. Squirrels are quitebusy too!

Last week I ventured outto hike some trails alongIngham and High Lake sur-rounding the Peterson PointHistoric Farmstead. Mymission was to collect wal-nuts, acorns, buckeyes, andany other seedlings I couldshare with Emmet CountyHead Start for our “Fallingfor Trees” program. I ven-tured toward Walnuts andOaks and scavenged fortheir fruits, but I foundmyself thwarted by squir-rels.

Acorns and walnuts alikehave been snatched from thetrees and buried for winter. Ieven came across a tree witha large cavernous opening inthe trunk that was packedtight with walnuts. As wemove towards winter thehabitat for many of ourwildlife friends becomesscarce so they prepare early.

A week ago I overheard ahunter mention how gaunt

the deer look. The lack offresh lush grass and thedwindled supply of fieldcorn have eclipsed their fat-tening diet. They find them-selves traveling further forwater since some of theirfavorite waterholes driedup.

When it comes to findingshelter the deer are muchbetter off than the fish. Withwater levels low at all thesurrounding lakes, if we seefreezing temperatures andlots of snow the fish mightnot be too lucky. Frozen fishsticks, anyone?

Undoubtedly, the localfauna will face challengesthis winter as they do everywinter. They have a keenhabitat awareness thatgrants them resiliency. Wecan do our part to help byproviding food sourcesthroughout the coldestmonths. Come springtimewe can help them further bycaring for their habitat sothey can nurture the nextgeneration.

Wildlife habitats are moresimplified than our humanrequirements and yet morecomplex than we may real-ize. When I moved a couplemonths ago my housingrequirements focused onlocation, but I also wantedthings like indoor plumping,

cooling, heating, appliances,and affordability- to name afew. I wasn’t asking formuch…

Wildlife habitat focuses onfood, water, shelter, andspace. Add on the seasonalchange factor and the boun-ty of information discoveredmight be summarized in aseparate college course. New habitat

New EnvironmentalEducation Displays havebeen planned for the EmmetCounty Nature Center. Oneof these displays focuses onhabitat. The North UnionIndustrial Arts class and ArtClub will ensure that thisdisplay looks top-notch. I’lldo my best to ensure that theeducational information pro-vided through this displaysounds as good as it looks! Awingspan display, a recycledmaterials drum set, and afrog chorus display are in theworks as well.

There are many excitingthings happening at theNature Center. If you need achange of scene participatein one of our upcomingevents. Like Emmet CountyConservation on Facebookfor information on our latestevents. Subscribe to ourseasonal newsletter byemailing us atemmetccb@yourstarnet.net.

4-Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012

712-338-2136712-338-2136

Your FullService Repair

Center forALL Mowersand PowerEquipment

2006 Okoboji Ave NMilford, IA

Hours: M-F 8-5

Sat 8-noon

JENNAPOLLOCK

EMMET COUNTY

NATURALIST

YOUTH PHEASANT HUNTPROVES SUCCESSFUL

Youth and adult volunteers take a break from the hunt for a group picture at the Izaak Walton Leaguegrounds.

Photo by Jenna Pollock

Editor’s note: JasonMitchell hosts the popularoutdoor program, JasonMitchell Outdoors whichairs across the Midwest onFox Sports North and FoxSport Midwest. In addition,Mitchell has earned arenowned reputation as atop walleye guide on NorthDakota's Devils Lake oftenguiding well over 250 dayson the water and ice eachseason.

BY JASON MITCHELL

Hitting the ice at the startof the season is a new begin-ning. There are times wherewe find fish right where wethought the fish should be atfirst ice and there are timeswhen the fish are not whereyou think they should be.Some lakes that were goodlast winter will not be goodthis winter and vice versa.

Finding fish at first ice is aprocess of elimination.There are lakes I cannot waitto hit this winter but I trulywill not know whether theyare good or not until I startdrilling some holes.Remember the fall

If there is one thing howev-er that can greatly enhanceyour edge at first ice, myadvice would be to watchfall bites closely. If possible,look at some lakes that youintend to ice fish during thefall.

Not only can you get a

really good handle of thesize of fish and how the lakelays out much easier while ina boat but here is somethingthat I strongly believe…water that is fishing reallygood come fall typicallyfishes well at first ice. On theflip side, water that has had atough fall bite often has atough bite during first ice.

Fall fishing for me is asmuch about enjoying the lastfew days of open water andcatching fish as gatheringintelligence for the upcom-ing ice season. The generalpatterns of fall often carryover into ice and what iseven wilder, the exact spotsor icons where fish are hold-ing in the fall are oftenloaded with fish at first ice. Rules of thumb

There are general rules ofthumb and general patternsthat seem to take hold onmany fisheries across theboard but every year has alittle bit different twist.There have been times forexample where deep rockpiles on Devils Lake (whereI spent my career as a guide)would be loaded with nicefish and at first ice, wecaught fish off of those spotsas soon as we could get tothem.

A few years later, the rockspiles were not holding fishcome late fall like someother years and the fish were

really relating to shallowweed bed edges and guesswhat, that is where we foundfish at first ice. Time on thewater in the fall enables youto gather a little bit moreinformation so that you cantake the shorter path to find-ing fish come ice. Doesn’tmatter the species or thebody of water, this intelli-gence enhances your wintergame.

Size of fish can also bedetermined really well dur-ing the fall. If you want tofind a small lake off the beat-en path that has nicebluegills for example, youcan fish a lot of water usinga boat during the fall. Lakesthat are only producingsmall fish during the fall aretypically going to remain thesame at first ice. Lakes how-ever that have a nice averagesize and produce nice fishduring the fall are going tobe your go to lakes comefirst ice. These examples aremerely common sense, butwe still have to take the timeto do our homework.When weather disruptsthe transition to winter

Extreme weather is proba-bly the only thing that candisrupt the transition fromfall to winter. The worstthing that can happen to alake or an area is extremelystrong winds right at freezeup. We saw a huge example

of this on Lake of the Woodsa handful of years ago wherelate fall winds whipped thelake into a dirty froth rightbefore the lake froze up andthe poor visibility createdtough walleye fishing duringfirst ice.

We had a similar occur-rence happen on Devils Lakea few years ago where east-ern and southern shorelinesespecially over the largerbays and basins were terri-ble. The water visibility wasso poor that you couldn’t seethe bottom of the hole forabout a month in these loca-tions while opposite sides ofthe lake were fine.

The best indicator that thishas happened is jagged ice.If the surface of the lakelooks like a broken jig sawpuzzle with pieces of icesticking up all over or if youdrill a hole and there aremultiple layers of ice, youmight have to switch to theopposite side of the lake orswitch bodies of waterbecause typically, dirtywater hurts you at first ice.

There are adjustments youcan make when youencounter this. On Lake ofthe Woods, anglers finallyfigured out that the fish weresuspended right below theice. On Devils Lake, I havehad some success fishing inreally shallow water whenthe water was dirty but this

wind affect is usually drasticand negative enough where Itend to avoid it if possible,much like fishing a river…Idon’t look for dirty water.Don’t confuse stained waterwith dirty water, stainedwater can often be good butdirty water usually shutsthings down.

By keeping a pulse of whatis happening on fisheries

during the fall, you have ahuge advantage during earlyice so jumpstart your seasonnow by being observant,marking down locations andlakes and gathering informa-tion. You will shave somuch time off the hunt forfish if you can put the fish tobed in the fall and be one ofthe first people on theselocations at early ice.

Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012-5

* GUNS * PISTOLS ** NEW & USED BOWS *

* FISHING EQUIPMENT *

WWiillll TTaakkee GGuunnss IInn TTrraaddee FFoorr BBoowwss

305 11th St. SE * Spencer, IA * 712-262-7213

HUNTING & FISHING HUNTING & FISHING HEADQUARTERSHEADQUARTERS

S uthern ArcherySS uutthheerrnn AArrcchheerryy

First ice homework starts now

The time to preparing for first ice is during the fallwhen good fall locations often lead to great first iceopportunities. Pictured is the author, Jason Mitchellwith a great walleye.

Photo submitted

6-Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012

1807 18th St. Spirit Lake

www.greatlakesmarineservice.biz

BY WENDELL HANSENBIRDHAVEN

What a week this has beenwith Dark-eyed Juncos,Purple Finch, Pine Siskin,White-throated Sparrows,White-crowned Sparrows,Harris' Sparrows, FoxSparrows, American TreeSparrows, Golden-crownedKinglet, Ruby-crownedKinglet and the BrownCreeper all hanging out atBirdhaven!

Look for new birds comingdown from the north aftereach new cold front thatcomes through. Also we havehad reports of the EasternTowhee and the SpottedTowhee being seen in theIowa Great lakes area.

The Spotted Towhee is abird of the western region andhas been expanding it rangeslowly eastward. The SpottedTowhee and the very similar

Eastern Towhee used to beconsidered the same species(the Rufous-sided Towhee).

The two forms still occurtogether in the Great Plains,where they sometimes inter-breed. This is a common evo-lutionary pattern in NorthAmerican birds. Identifying the Eastern Towhee

Size: 8 inchesShape: Towhees are a kind

of large sparrow. Look fortheir thick, triangular,

seed-cracking bill as a tip-off they're in the sparrowfamily. Also notice thechunky body and long, round-ed tail.

Color Pattern: Males arestriking-bold sooty blackabove and on the breast, withwarm rufous sides and whiteon the belly. Females have thesame pattern, but are richbrown where the males are

black. Identifying the Spotted Towhee

Size: sameShape: same Color Pattern: Males have

black upperparts and throat;their wings and back are spot-ted bright white. The flanksare warm rufous and the bellyis white.

Females have the same pat-tern but are warm brownwhere males are black. Inflight, look for white cornersto the black tail. Where to look for Towhees

You'll typically see Easternand Spotted Towhees rum-maging in the leaf litter orcreeping through thickshrubs. Towhees tend to hopwherever they go, often mov-ing deliberately and givingthemselves plenty of time tospot food items. They scratchat leaves with a characteristic

two-footed backward hop,then dart after anythingthey've uncovered.

Food choices: Towhees eatmany foods including seeds,fruits, insects, spiders, milli-pedes, centipedes and snails,along with soft leaf andflower buds in spring. Theyalso eat seeds and fruits,including ragweeds, smartweeds, grasses, acorns, black-berries, blueberries, wheat,corn, and oats. Towhees arelikely to visit or perhaps livein your yard if you've gotbrushy, shrubby or over-grown borders. If your feed-ers are near a vegetated edge,towhees may venture out toeat fallen seed.

Attracting TowheesIf you want to attract

towhees to your feeders, con-sider sprinkling some seed onthe ground, as this is wheretowhees prefer to feed.

The oldest recorded SpottedTowhee was 10 years 8months old. The oldestknown Eastern Towhee was12 years, 3 months old.

The two Towhees alwaysremind me of an inbreedRobin with red eyes.

Birdhaven Photo contest:Birdhaven has a photo con-

test twice a year, onespring/summer and one forthe fall/winter.

On the spring & summercontest, we got 10 out of 12

on the hit list. We were miss-ing the American Redstartand the Scarlet Tanager.

And now for the fall andwinter hit list, we are lookingfor the Pine Siskin, PurpleFinch, Common Redpoll,American Goldfinch in snow,Red-breasted Nuthatch,Mourning Dove in snow,Cedar Waxwing in snow,Spotted Towhee, EasternTowhee, Dark-eyed Junco,Red-bellied Woodpecker andthe Pileated Woodpecker.

Be the first to bring in a 4x6photo of one of the birds onthe hit list and win 5lbs ofseed of your choice. For moredetails call Birdhaven at 712-336-2473.

BY STEVE WEISMANOUTDOOR EDITOR

For the next two weeksthrough November 17, arearesidents will have theopportunity to see the pho-tography of local artistGary Gunderson (Mr. G’sPhotography) at thePearson Art Center.

In visiting withGunderson about his pho-tography, he noted, “It is allabout perspective. When Iphotograph wildlife, I amtrying to capture the naturalhabitat. On the other hand,when I take a photo of anold barn or something morehistorical, I try to capturethe memories. I want peo-ple to think of the storiesthat could be told.”

As an artist, Gundersontries to be unique in whathe does. “I want to dothings differently thanother photographers.

Gunderson usesPhotoShop and PortraitProfessional to work withhis photographs and usestime-lapse techniques,along with having the abili-ty to transfer photos to

other medias. He special-izes in all areas of photog-raphy including family por-traits, senior portraits, promphotos, class reunions,freelance, landscape,wildlife, cars and pets.

In addition to the current

display at the Pearson ArtCenter, Gunderson’s pho-tos are displayed at A Pieceof Work in Spirit Lake,Carol’s Cottage at Shaw’sof Okoboji and Side StreetGallery in Arnold’s Park.

Mr. Gʼs Photography on display

Gary Gunderson with one of his many photographson display at the Pearson Art Center.

Photo by Steve Weisman

More cool bird facts

Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012-7

Welcome to Ice ForceBY JOHN GROSVENOR

JTG EXPEDITIONS

Sponsors of JTGExpeditions include GreatLakes Marine and SkeeterBoats, Eagle Claw, Purefishing, Otter, Dura LiftBoat Hoists and the DryDock Restaurant and FourSeason’s Resort.

Something new is brewingin the ice fishing industry.Five of ice fishing’s topbrands have joined theirmarketing and pro-staffefforts to continue providingthe best products possible toice fishermen around thecountry.

Rapala, Otter, Polaris,Marcum and Strikemasterhave joined forces tobecome the most visible icefishing entity in the world.

Late October 2012 Rapalahead quarters, Minnetonka,MN was the setting for the

inaugural meeting of IceForce companies and theirPro-Staffers.

For several years I’veserved on the pro-staff ofOtter Outdoors. Otter is themost expensive portableshack on the market for areason. It’s built better andwill last you longer. There isquality and durability inOtter Portable shacks thatyou will not find in anyother product on the market.

That’s exactly what IceForce is striving to pro-vide…the highest qualityproducts on the market. Notnecessarily the least expen-sive.

The newest product fromStrikemaster this year is thenew 35cc Honda Lite 4-stroke auger. It weighs in ata very lite 23-pounds. It’sextremely quiet...does NOTleak oil or gas…and pull

starts with little or no effortat all. During the off seasonRapala USA purchasedStrikemaster Augers to addto Rapala’s well known lineof ice fishing products.

But, to me, the mostimpressive presentations Isaw were that by MarcumTechnologies. HolySmokes! I’ll admit…foryears…I’ve used anotherbrand of fish finder on theice. But after seeing theclarity and separation thatthe Marcum products pro-vide I can’t wait to put themto use. The Marcum flashersand fish finders can showseparation of only half”.That’s a picture that givesyou more than double theperformance of its nearestcompetitor. It’s hard toshow in words. But if youever get the chance…com-pare. There is certainly a

clear winner.Polaris offers the most

popular ice fishing ATV’son the market. Their new2013 Rangers are quiteimpressive. Available with atrack system that’ll get

almost anywhere at speedsup to 40 mph. But keep inmind, the track system willcost you about $8,000.

Ice Force has broughttogether some of the finestice fishing minds in the

industry. The collaboration will join

pro-staffs and marketing todevelop and provide the bestproducts to ice fishermenfor years to come.

Exciting times!

Company representatives and Ice Force pro-staffers learn about new productlines at Rapala headquarters in Minnetonka, Minn.

Photo submitted

8-Estherville (Ia.) Outdoor Connection, FRIDAY, Nov. 2, 2012

Estherville ◆ Spirit Lake ◆ Arnolds Park ◆ Milford ◆ WWW.Bank-Northwest.com

O CUTE TAATREL O CUTE TAATREL

MERSOTUS MERSOTUS

ffice iin oay mM“ps imts ilieny cmkae tle wpoee pht

verg sdinnattsuoknaur bf oh oace

g/h - AAgtimt SruC

e fac. Thpk-uicy ps mmyffice i

d tnem - aho tt tnatropeswhtrot Nf aae orae ckit wsurg tldinui. Bicev

ps uniqhisniotaatleg rinker - 712.330.9488knal Baciermmog/C

minrk falan tat I caaht te faco rle tbg aein. Beo md toro pl tatis vk inat Bes

s ws iermotsuur ch oti”..ueps uniq

er - 712.330.9488

h tig wmin

o e ttaatleo rg idinvo

es kat maahs w

g/C

ville rrvEsthe ◆

◆ akepirit LLa S ◆ Arn

arklds PPao Arn

◆ rd Milfo ◆ WWW

.WWWW. trrtoank-NBBa

m.cothwest

BY BOB JENSENFISHING THE MIDWEST FISHING

TEAM

In some areas of NorthAmerica, anglers have thegood fortune to be able toopen water fish year 'round.

In other parts of NorthAmerica, anglers have thegood fortune to have theopportunity to go ice fishingfor several months out of theyear. If you live in an areawhere ice fishing is a reality,you're probably starting tothink about it.

Before you get too wrappedup in ice fishing, you need tostore your open water gear soit's ready to go when openwater fishing season returns.Following are some ideas forstoring your open water fish-ing stuff.

The best place to start iswith your boat. You can prob-ably get by with just parking

it in the garage and not doingmuch to it for a year, maybetwo, but eventually, improperstorage will create headachesand expenses.

Have the motor winterized.Some handy anglers can dothis themselves: I'm nothandy. However, the motorthat I run, an Evinrude E-TEC, can be winterized byanyone. It's a simple twominute deal.

What I really like about thisis, if I find out the walleyesare going on the river, I cango fishing and, when I'm donefor the day, I can quickly andefficiently winterize the boatagain. If you have to take theboat to a mechanic for winter-izing, you're probably notgoing to take advantage ofthose unexpected fishingopportunities.

Remove the boat's drainplug. Also, make sure there's

no water in the lower unit ofthe motor. If there is, and ifit freezes, you could havebig problems come spring.

Check for line in the propof your outboard and electricmotor. Also check for dingsin the prop and have themfixed.

Some folks take the batter-ies out of their boats and storethem someplace where it's notcold, but if you want to leavethem in the boat, make surethe battery is charged andthen disconnect the wires.Check the charge of the bat-tery a couple of times duringthe winter. Lots of anglerslike to take the depth-findersout of their boats.

Do a walk around the trailer.If you've got a bad tire,replace it. Make sure all thetrailer lights are working.Now is the time to fix any thataren't.

Get as much boat/trailermaintenance done now thatyou can so you're ready to hitthe water when you want to.

When it comes to reels,back off on the drag. Reelexperts say it's harmful to thereel to store it with the dragtightened down.

If your line needs to bereplaced, strip off 50 yards. Ilike to take the line off now,but I replace it in the spring.

Open your tackle box andlet it dry out. You don't wantto store your baits in a wettray.

If you take care of thesetasks now, you'll be ready togo when the water warms upand the fish start biting in thespring.

STORING YOUR FISHING STUFF FOR THE WINTERTo see all the newestepisodes of Fishingthe Midwest TV, visit

FISHINGTHEMIDWEST.COM

Make sure your fishing gear is stored properly so thatwhen open water returns youʼll be ready to go fishing.

Photo by Steve Weisman