Thank you!! I’ve got a lot more coming soon!!

@@paulkuske1457 that’s wonderful! I’ve enjoyed my time there, year round. Thank you for sharing your story. It’s delightful to be connected to this place and the people who enjoy it

Thank you very much for the instuctional videos! No mater what your outdoor level of experience is there is always something to learn. Most You tube outdoor channels now are cooking some food and making a cup of coffee for content. Kind of sad. I do have a snow trekker high country tent. I do place the black skirt on the inside of my tent and then tarp over it. You still are able to bank snow on the outside walls. Tear down of the tent is way easier with this approach. That is the recommendation from snow trekker themselves. A quick email to confirm this way of doing it to snow trekker would be good info for your outfitters. Way less iced up stress on the skirting during the tear down process of the tent. Cheers!

@ thanks for the intel, That makes a whole lot of sense! I will absolutely try that next time and let our outfitting staff know, too.

Hello, Andrew!! Thank you for watching!! I've got more fishing content coming next! It's lake trout ice fishing from this season, but will be switching to A LOT more Spring/Summer content in the next month or so!

It’s a drift sock that slows the boat down in the wind. Generally I’m too deep to use an anchor trout fishing, so this is the next best thing. It slows the boat down anywhere from .25-1mph which is just about perfect for vertical jigging lake trout

@@IceAngler of course they were!!

@@therealfarwater ok....well just an FYI, use and possession of live bait is forbidden on designated trout lakes in MN, which knife lake is. I'm just passing that info on to you. I'm not here to enforce or report. *Edit. I should have said live minnows. Worms and leeches are legal.

@ I’m aware, knife is not a designated trout lake. Live minnows are allowed. There are naturally occurring lake trout, which is different. A trout stamp is required to target lakers, but there are no stream trout in knife Lake

@@therealfarwater I think you might be right. Knife is listed as a trout lake in the online trout lake map from the DNR, but not actually listed as a designated trout lake in the revisor statute. That's very confusing. My mistake.

@ no worries! You’re right to double check the DNR regs rather than assuming or taking my word for it - a regs concerning trout lakes are a bit confusing

@@DRazz86 thank you, Daniel!! We appreciate that. Happy New year!

I'm so glad to hear it! Wendell brings so much joy to our lives, we're happy to be able to share him!

Yup! I’ve gotten a little better with them since this video, but they are a little clumsy for sure. Much better in powder than sticky snow, too

@therealfarwater oh most definitely. I bought a nicer pair of xc skins with wider bodies for more floatation and metal edges I'm going to try to rum this year Get a little better glide out of them on open country vs the skins on the hoks. Both have thier place in my kit

@@smokehousehammock4481 thank you!! The pulks really excel on portages, toboggans are great for lake travel. Some seasons you almost need both.

@@Eyetime30.5 thank you!! Excited to be hitting it hard again!!

This is the Snowtrekker Shortwall 9.5' x 11' - I believe it's marketed as a 3-4p. I've found its best suited for three people or two people and a dog or two. You could certainly fit 4 people in here without the cots, but it would be snug.

Thank you! Yep, much different than my usual content, but certainly a fun change of pace. Believe it or not, this was shot back in 2022 - I am finally getting around to some old content that never got made into footage, it's been fun to look back through the archives. It's great to be back! I hope to post regular content through this spring before taking a break during the summer - my hope is 3-4 full-length video releases/month with a few shorts sprinkled in. thanks for watching!

@therealfarwater look forward to it! With a little thought, Idetermined it was spring 2022 since we had almost no snow here in MN last year and impossible to winter trek in the BW anywhere but on lakes.

@@jeremymaslowski7723 yep! We haven’t seen snow like that in a while. Looks like this winter is shaping up to be dry, too. Makes lake travel easy, but portages not so much

Very cool! That sounds like fun. I was out yesterday and there were definitely places where skates would have fared better than skis or snowshoes. I'll be back out again tomorrow and I'll be going with boots and spikes. I used the Hoks yesterday when we were in sheltered areas with snow still on the ice and switched back to boots and spikes when we were on exposed areas of the lake with glare ice.

For me, it isn't an exact science, just an educated guess and it's easier for me to tell with older/larger fish. The males generally have a longer jaw/larger mouth (like the one I am holding in the video thumbnail image). The females generally have a rounder, less elongated mouth/head. Males are generally more brightly colored (the traditional dark red belly, crazy white tipped fins, and the rich green/brown back with spots) than the females, who are generally paler, more muted colors/versions of the patterns. These fish are stocked and sterile, so harvest sex doesn't really matter - I leave the big beautiful males for others to catch (generally they don't taste as good), and keep the females I catch over 14" or so. The holy grail is a 17"+ female - I like to bake or pan fry those with fresh herbs, garlic, butter, wild mushrooms.

@@therealfarwaterthank you for the info, as always very well done and informative

@@Jason-sf6db there’s a truck and trailer at prairie portage that’ll take boats over into basswood where it’s a 25 hp limit on motors. I think it’s $20-25 each way

Thank you! It is so good to be back. Stay tuned for a whole lot more!~

@@GadgetLabMN-v9i it was a great day! Thanks for watching

@@aaronalto3034 thanks!! Just curious, where do you live? People in MN (me included) rarely eat Largemouth, but I do enjoy a smallmouth from time to time.

@@therealfarwater I'm in Grand Rapids MN. We're Abbey the art teachers buddies she met in GR. Try a LMB sometime, you will be pleasantly surprised. I think it's just a thing like many outdoor "rules", for instance, well my uncle and his buddy said LMB are muddy and no good for eating so everybody just follows the lore. How's your back doing now? Hope you've gotten back your capacities. Take care.

@ of course! Wonderful to hear from you again. I’ve eaten my share of largemouth, but never from these Canadian Shield lakes. I grew up in south central MN and our lakes were full of them. My buddy’s grandmother loves them so we would always keep a few for her. I guess the softness is maybe what I don’t enjoy, not the flavor. I deep fry these whitefish, so being firm is desirable to keep the meat/fillet together. I don’t fish many lakes with largemouth, but run into them every year on accident. I’ll keep the next eater I catch and try it out!

@ it’s been a journey but the back is getting better. Thank you for asking, that is kind. I wasn’t limited much, if at all last summer; I spent A LOT of time in the woods. I did burn out on the other stuff, however. Fortunately, I still love the filming part and have 2 years of summer content on deck. It’ll take a while, but I’ve got a massive content dump arriving over the next 4-6 months as I am diving back in head first. I plan to be out for BWCA trout opener on the 1st, maybe I’ll do a short or update to keep in contact with viewers.

@@therealfarwater Good that you're mostly back to full strength. I've suffered some over the years, but last winter was freaky for me, and xrayed and MRIed and I have a genetic glitch between tailbone and L1 with a super thin disc which sets me up for more lower back delicateness and had very arthritic inflamed facet joints in L 4&5. I was ice fishing like wild doing Fish Donkey contests and hand hauling gear in to beackwoods lakes and paid the price. We never did any canoe camp trips last summer and I'm not sure if I'll be game for them again, which sort of sucks, but there comes a time, and I'm feeling like preserve and protect, rather than push limits. We did two motor in BWCA trips and the first one to Trout was super fun. Our motor boat has a canoe rack so we bring a canoe and paddle around some too. I had more wildlife survey work than ever too last yr March - Aug so wanted to keep myself good for all that which is mostly fun adventures too. Gotta make the most of what we got and get at any given leg of life, and glad I had all the fun I did and grateful I still have solid capacities for 58 yrs old. Take care and keep on making the most of it.

Yup! Especially after I drill 10 holes

I was giddy on this particular day, as I often am when I manage to catch big ones. I’ve fished this lake before, so I had a little intel, which really didn’t end up panning out. I was hoping they would be actively cruising the basins looking for food. Rather than park in the middle of the basin randomly, I chose the deep water side of a river outlet next to a peninsula, hoping baitfish or bugs would be in the area and draw fish to me, rather than trying to find big schools by drilling dozens of holes through 2.5’ of ice. I decided to stay put in relatively shallow water (less than 20) and didn’t see much. Luckily I had the live bait to seal the deal on a few VERY finicky fish.

@@laceysquier8031 thanks babe!!

YES!

@therealfarwater just a few more days then I can get back to catching some trout...

@@SteveSutherland-n5l nope, but I live on the edge of the BWCA where power augers are not allowed, so that’s not an option for me

About 90% of my ice fishing trips are into the BWCA where power augers are not allowed, otherwise I’d be using a drill and adapter.

Agawa canyon Boreal 21 saw and Hults Bruk Aneby. Perfect combo for winter camping. I’ve been using them both for years and I’m thrilled with their performance and durability-they get plenty of abuse

Not sure the current conversion rate, but I spent $350 USD on mine. Unfortunately with the speed these products are released, all electronics are outdated the second they are released, I wouldn’t worry about it. I still enjoy this unit for its light weight, pack ability and battery life. My favorite feature is the super accurate autochart program because I generally fish backcountry lakes where no accurate digital lake data is available. With the proper transducers, I can use it year round. It’s good enough for me!

I bought it and tested it out. I think it works really good for the price and it even came with the zero line chart card!

@ that is a great value!! I had to spend an additional $100 to get my zero lines card. Enjoy!!

Thank you!

@@Npoling11 thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate the support!!

You’re welcome!!

@@johnroyal943 thank you!! All the components are from a company called RAM mounts, here’s the link to my video about how I built the setup: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZaYg6Ofi8ekh9Esi=ckg2WCSe8MpZPlQi

@@ntlineman thanks for the tip!!

@@ryanfarrar9863 thank you for watching! Right now, I would look for weedlines and moving water for fish. Wherever you can find green weeds, fish will be nearby. Insula and Alice are both fantastic multi-species lakes worth fishing. The water temps will likely be dropping in the next week or so, so trolling deep diving rapalas (15-20’) should be effective, too. Good luck!

No BS from me!

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZaYg6Ofi8ekh9Esi=iWteG604pcaxovVY

Better than no ducks at all! I actually enjoy mergansers, if prepared properly. I generally do an overnight salt brine and grill to medium doneness and they turn out very nice. The big males have a TON of leg meat worth harvesting, too

@@kevinharrington3292 haha! We certainly have our tough days on the water, but we can almost always find a couple of small bass or a slimy pike.

@@brentkelly5445 25lbs for trolling and 15-20 for jigging

@@nathanline9448 thank you! Love my Northwind 👌👌

@@nathanline9448 Best Fish Finder 2021: Humminbird Helix 5 G2 with RAM Mounts setup kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZaYg6Ofi8ekh9E

@@nathanline9448 here you go!

Thanks!

@@PurpleFerret you’re welcome! Be careful using us as an example…we move A LOT quicker than your average duo. Most people stop at Agnes after a long first day. Most people also don’t start before sunup…

​@@therealfarwater yeah we're not as experienced - and while we intend on starting a bit before sunrise we're planning to stop on Agnes and break the trip into Lac La Croix up so we can fish Agnes & Boulder River a bit before heading into boulder bay

@@PurpleFerret excellent! Sounds like a great plan. If the fishing is slow on Agnes, I’d move on to LLC quickly-tons of great campsites and excellent fishing. The water is always a couple of degrees cooler there, too, so if Agnes is slow it may help change the bite/fish mood. I was in Quetico this week and the water is warm and the blueberries are popping. Find moving water and you’ll find fish. Have a blast! Wear your lifejackets!

@@therealfarwater Wanted to report back on this a little bit. Wow you guys are a lot faster than we were! Didn't hit Agnes until damn near 2 PM and started around 6. We hit our first beaver dam and didn't know what to do haha! Awesome trip still though.

@@PurpleFerret thank you for the update!! I’m glad you had a great time, that area is incredible. We do pride ourselves in being speedy. The key is efficient portaging-in and out of the boat quickly.

@@dannyb6968 for this trip, we traveled up Moose Lake, Newfound and Sucker to Prairie Portage where we paid to get a tow up and over into Basswood. You can also head in via fall lake and do the wheeled portages into Pipestone and Jackfish Bays but you need a lightweight boat with portage wheels because there isn’t a truck portage to carry you over. If you’re interested, I’d call Vosburg’s on Moose lake, they can set it up for you.

Yup! I’ve caught plenty of lakers on the purpledescent tail dancer, it’s the second one I mention when I talk about my favorite cranks

Yup! Also ram mount brand. Tough claw paired with one of their rod holders

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZaYg6Ofi8ekh9Esi=XIn3piUTDP3thLop

Humminbird helix 5 with a 10ah Dakota lithium battery - here’s a link to a video i did about my setup.

@@therealfarwater thanks

Thank you!!

So good!! Enjoy!!

Likewise!! I look forward to hearing about/watchint your Basswood trip

Can’t remember the size but it’s one smaller than the original. The original is my go-to, but the smaller size works great, too!

Haha

Thank you!! I love using the drift sock, it’s invaluable for slowing down the drift and stabilizing the boat. I’ve since shortened the leash so the fish don’t get caught up when landing them. I can’t remember the brand, but I bought it at fleet farm for like $40. It’s the smallest motorboat sized they offered (12-16’).

@@therealfarwater Thank you for the reply. Much appreciated. I guess the question I should have asked is your drift sock 18", 20", 24" wide or some other width? I suspect a solo vs tandem canoe will react differently along with the wind speed and canoe make that will factor into the drift sock performance. I know from experience that a Wenonah Spirit ll catches more wind than a Souris River Quetico 17. And to me there is a safety trade off in how slow you want the canoe to be vs having some drift sock give in case you get hit be a large wave. I am thinking an 18" or 20" for a Quetico 17. Your thoughts?

Geez thanks.