NoBassPro

This pretty much exactly, the legalities are somewhat debatable. If you feel like paying a lawyer a few hundred dollars an hour I'm sure he will explain things to you and maybe even tell you you have a case, but I wouldn't be putting my money on it. The other thing to think about is the right to access something and the right to do whatever you want while there are not the same. And just because it annoys me, for legal purposes if you own water front property your property line does almost always extend to the center of the body of water. The sole exception in this state is the Great Lakes, where the state owns everything below the high water mark. This does not mean you can rope off your section of the body of water or anything crazy like that, it does mean you can build docks and do similar things. They do not expect anyone to survey out lakes in little pie shapes, about the only way to lose these rights beyond government ownership is to not be considered the waterfront property owner. This is a legal concept that has been around longer than the USA and is fairly well universal from state to state.

Cranks and spinnerbaits, mainly cuz I like to keep moving. Really like jerkbaits for much the same reason, I don't often do the long pause thing. Swimbaits are starting to grow on me too, from my limited experience there are several ways to impart different actions to them, and thats just fun.

"You forgot my birthday"

Did you get much rain with that cooldown? We got two solid days of cool rain and it dropped the water temps almost 10 degrees from what I was reading earlier in the week. I was on two different lakes, but similar enough that there wouldn't be that great a difference. JMO, but the cooldown and rain was pushing fish shallower, but putting them in a funk at the same time. Once things stabilize a little I think fishing should start to be really good.

We got several today burning cranks over and around weedbeds. Seemed to me like the fish were suspended in shallower water and you had to get the bait at or just above their level to get bit, the fast the better. Thing is, we couldn't get anything over about 2 lbs, though.

Yea, most of the ice fishing done down here is on channels. We usually drill several holes and bounce between them to stay on the fish, even a portable shanty didn't seem practical. You can catch fish all winter out of an area the size of a football field or so, but can't hardly get more than two or three fish out of a hole at a time. Now that my boys getting old enough to go I probably will get one.

Water cooled down quite abit here. We hit a smaller lake and I was reading 72 degree temps. Got the numbers, but size wasn't what we were hoping for. Biggest bass went about 16", but the fight of the day was a 10" crappie that whalloped my crank and got itself buried in some weeds. Cranks, spinnerbaits, swimjigs, and a hard swimbait(the only one I own) all got fish, but the faster moving baits got the most hits and relatively larger fish. Couldn't get a hit on bottom baits.

Yea, you are a little confused on how riparian property works is all. Noone owns the surface of the water, people do own the land under the lake. It might be a private individual or it might be the government or some other entity, but it is all owned whether or not it states to the waters edge or similar things. Officially, even with an easement the property owner the easement runs through owns the bottomlands on the other side of the easement, at least in this state. Even if he does have an easement allowing access, there are standards that apply, such as not interfering with the owners quiet enjoyment of his property.

I have never found a way to keep my fingers from freezing if I'm catching fish. I can never unhook them without taking the gloves off, and so they always end up cold and wet. But anyway, Lund Explorer pretty well hit on everything you need I believe. Good luck, fish taste much better caught through the ice imo.

On most lakes the reason property lines go to the center of lakes is based on the old common law principles of riparian rights. Basically it gives the landowner the right to develop the waterfront and keep people from swimming in his backyard. While there can be easements and the like, it is doubtful they would give anyone the right to hang a trot line in another person's property.

Legally on inland lakes the property line always extends to the middle of the lake or pond so far as I know, whether or not it is drawn up that way.

Some Johny Cash or Chris LeDeux.. or on the opposite end Metallica or Pantera. No responsibilities, just long miles on open roads those days.

Its not a bad life. I do work alot, but my bills are paid and my family has what they need. Edit: Honestly, the hardest decisions for me have involved whether or not to fire people. I don't like or want to do it. So far they have all quit before I had to. There are also some decisions with health care providers, particularly with my youngest boy, but there are so few options those are basically made for me. So, this is actually one of the toughest decisions I have had to make all year. Too many good options.

A friend of mine is coming down tomorrow for a day of fishing. Its easy for me to get out for a couple hours, but this will actually be the first full day of fishing I've gotten in all year. I'm hoping the major cooldown doesn't have a negative impact. Thing is, there are so many lakes around, most of which I haven't been able to get on this year, I can't decide where to go lol. They all offer decent fishing, at least once you put a little time in.

I think livebait, pike sized minnows in particular, might be more effective. I know I've caught a few on bass lures and quite a few on pike minnows, anyway. Beyond that, they've all come out of slow deep holes in rivers or weedy areas of lakes if that helps.

A few old fishing lures. Really like the original Bombers, some of the Paw Paw stuff and a few older musky lures

An old guy I used to fish with alot tipped his spinnerbaits with live nightcrawlers. Worked for him.

After awhile you don't even notice its there.

Welcome. If you want to get started on steelheading the easiest way, backtrolling plugs is highly effective, particularly in early spring. Caught my PB steelhead doing that under the first bridge downstream from Tippy, actually. Its bit easier than flies or spawn imo.

And how do you celebrate a good trip?

Hook up the battery charger so I can catch them tomorrow

I love my wife, but even she will admit those pregnancy hormones took a toll on us both lol

Yea, I took a dragline to the lake and added some structure lol.. No, I've never added cover of any kind to a lake or pond. Or structure, actually.

I think I've caught more fish on wooden cranks, and I know I've caught bigger on them, but I like them both

Thanks everyone. The catching was nothing special, but I had been waiting for this day for awhile.