Hey Steve Fellegy

[GPSuser]

Just curious if your brother ever uses a GPS? or a locator? I hear/see him griping about them all the time. Does he really do without himself?

Thanks.

[EyeJacker]

Last I heard he, wearing his Lund hardhat and cluthing his Genetron, was about to nestle into his foxhole for the evening!
Jack
I think he said Genetron?

[stevefellegy]

Yeah, but I got wind of this and will poke my head out for a minute.
Brother Joe DOES NOT use any navigational devices on Mille Lacs. His eyes and the relative horizons are as good as any GPS, without potential mechanical failure. And yes, he can do it in the fog!
Since the Green Box Lowrance made it's first splash, we have used a locator. However, in a pinch, the old ways still work as well, only taking more focus.
Check out Amazon and look for a book called "Thirty Years On The Big Lake...Memoirs Of A Fishing Guide". That's the rest of the story...

[GPSuser]

Steve,

I already have the book. It's great and a very worthwhile read, especially if you fish Mille Lacs. The book was part of the reason I asked. Joe goes off every 5th page on "loran users" - i found it comical. Since the book was written quite a while back I wondered if he had started using one yet.

I suppose if I could fish the lake 200-250 days a year for 30 years I wouldn't need a GPS either. :)

What do you/Joe think if the new reel bottom maps?

Thanks for your time.

[stevefellegy]

First, let me say that navigating WITHOUT a GPS is not done by years on the same water. It is done by knowing the technique to do so. I was put to a test on Erie a few years back by Dave Kraft and Jim Randash. I didn't have a GPS on the boat. I found a school of BIG boys, about the size of a football field, about 12 miles from no where. I radio'd those guys over to me. Naturally, they "punched" the spot in. The next day, they volunteered to lead me out there.lol
That was all the challenge you'd have to offer big brother or me.
I landed on the fish dead center and stopped. They came over to my boat and said I was less than 75 ft. from the waypoint.I got a kick out of the look they had on their faces.lol
It's all a technique, easily learned by anyone in just a short time when taught by someone that knows how. We were very lucky to have a dad that taught us those basics. He had no GPS choice.
Now...the only thing that screws things up are guys with chainsaws, houses that burn down or like this story....
I'm on a very unique spot on a lake in western Minnesota, for an MWC event in '87. The "spot" is 40' by 40'. So, I zero in on a flag pole that was perfectly lined up on the outside frame of a window on a cabin, a 1/2 mile away. The next day...1st day of the tournament, I head for the "spot". Well....the cabin owner decided to go sailing that morning. My flagpole ended up to be a mast!

Now...back to the foxhole before the snow covers it up....

[Schnauzer]

Hey thanks Steve. I read Joe's book too and loved every page of it. Anyone who has spent any time on Mille Lacs, or intends to do so should read it.

[rich]

steve dont let your sponsors here that he dosent use modern stuff

[Jim Randash]

The post by Steve Fellergy about running twelve miles and finding a spot without a GPS was right on the money, but steve I believe you were 76 feet off not 75 feet. I remenber well the first time I fished Millie Lacs, of course no loran C or GPS at that time and I was like the blind leading the blind. I had bought some army field glasses with a compass and a Range Finder built in, still could not get within a mile of my spot. Came up with a good idea though, and I picked up a 25 gallon plastic drum and anchored it with a steel cable and a 25 pound rock and placed it on my best spot the last hour of practice before the tournament. Opening day of the tournament I blasted out there and no drum!!!!! Some one had taken my drum!!! so I just went to the first mud flat I could find and went fishing. After the third day of the tournament on the way in to weigh fish I had to stop and pick up my drum that I finally found.Three days of fishing and I could not find a 25 gallon drum.

[North Dakota Joe]

Randash, here I have been following you around for years trying to find your Hot Spots now I find you are the blind leading the blind.
From now on I will follow your brother. LoL

[stevefellegy]

So here's another JIM Randash story...

That same MWC tournament he speaks of in the above post, he comes to me the night before the tournament and says, "Steve, I really need help. I don't want to crowd you or anything, but could you give me a spot I can just catch a few small ones at, so I can make the championship?" I say, "Jim, you can follow me, no problem, there will plenty of room and you'll get a big limit early." I show him on the map where we will be. SO...
Hilgenberg and I weigh in at 10am with a nice limit the first day. No sign of Randash. He weighs one little guy at the end of the day. So I find him and say,
"where were you? They were really goin'!" He says, "where?" Scratching my head, I say, "RIGHT WHERE I TOLD YOU!" I point at the map again. Next day same story....We end up 2nd place....Randash gets his little one again. Never saw him!
Come to find out, he never believed me about the spot I showed him. He thought for sure I was trying to lead him astray. So he didn't follow my advice.
Blind ain't the word for it!lol

[North Dakota Joe]

Hey Steve Fellergy, Tell me a little about how you can find a spot 12 miles out in the middle of Lake Erie. I can not even see that far, all I know how to do is push a button on the GPS. What would happen to me if the button doesn't work. I you don't tell me your secret you might be responable for the loss of my life and then my wife would come looking for you. So lets hear it now while I am still alive and kicking.

[GENETRON]

HERES THE REAL SCOOP ON WHY MOST MALES DO NOT GET LOST. REMEMBER I SAID MOST!!!! SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INTO WHY SOME ANIMALS, PARTICULARLY BIRDS, CAN TRAVEL GREAT DISTANCES IS BECAUSE THEY HAVE IRON FERRITE IN THEIR BRAIN WHICH IS BASICALLY A COMPASS. NOW I AM NOT INSINUATING IN ANY WAY THAT MY GOOD FRIEND STEVE FELLEGY HAS A LOT OF IRON IN HIS BRAIN,LOL,LOL, BUT MANY PEOPLE HAVE AN UNCANNY SENSE OF DIRECTION AND TO WHERE THEY ARE ON THE PLANET THAN OTHERS. THIS IS THE REASON THAT WOMEN HAVE A TENDENCY TO BECOME LOST MORE EASY THAN MALES BECAUSE THE STUDY INDICATES MALES HAVE MORE IRON IN THEIR BRAIN THAN WOMEN.THIS STUDY CONFIRMS WHAT WOMEN HAVE KNOWN ABOUT US FOR YEARS. DICK KNUTSON GENETRON

[stevefellegy]

Darn Randash...always has to put the "r" in my name. lol

12 miles is easy to see a tree line on an average clear day, on the water. It's hard to splain here. But one either uses slight changes in the tree line or lines up two objects, one under the other. Example might be....a tree in front of a house will "walk" along the front of the house, passing through windows etc., as you drive parallel with shore. Or a groove in the tree line, from many miles away, will form momentarily, because you are looking down a road that runs at right angles to the shoreline. Not hard after someone points out a few of these obvious, constant changes. In the fog, after memorizing bottem structure between spots, one has to play the game of dots with the locator, to go anywhere. Maybe four or more changes of direction, to get to the planned spot. I'd be glad to show anyone, anytime we have a chance.

[lund Man 3]

Steve, some time I wish you would take a little time and write a short book on how you old timemers would navigate. I would be the first one in line to buy it.

[lobo1]

MAN !!

You've been getting hammered here lately !!
Thanks a bunch for your info and knowledge.

lobo

[LakeRat]

Also, try a compass, time with a watch and keep speed constant.

[stevefellegy]

Dog- on posts with MY name in them just won't go away.... please?

The compass idea/running time can be good BUT, here's a story that will make you think. My dad utilized this system all the time. After this, I never have.
Very early sixties's....I'm about 8-9 years old. One evening I'm fishin' bullheads in the harbor, out of my dads charter boat, while tied to the dock for the night. (spent the whole day on the big boat on the lake, now I'm fishin' bullheads in the evening...go figure)
So I catch this nice yellow belly, and, as usual, the hook is swallowed. I fetch the pliers from the steering wheel area and save my hook. And then I did it.... I put the pliers back, right next to the compass mounted on the dash. So, naturally, it was pea soup fog the next morning. No problem, right? Compass heading for the "jog" on the east side of the Matton, running time, engine rpms are all lined up. Nothing... Circle...nothing... Many circles...NOTHING. Wasting fishing time was making the air even thicker, to say the least. (understand, these were the days when very few mudflats had ever been fished on, by anybody, anytime. Mid lake flats had never seen a boat float over them!) So, with brother Joe hanging over the side, holding the tranducer for the "new" green box in the water, the old man guesses and heads her southeast. They go, and go and go...and then, like coming over the hill into the promised land, a mudflat appeared. Of course dad and older brother Joe had no idea where or what they had bumped into. But it was fishy lookin' and at that point, 1 and 1/2 hours of running in circles later, that was good enough. Out went an old gallon laquer thinner can for a marker and "history" was made. Two hours later, the limit for the 'Backer' family was hangin' on the stringers. The fog had cleared and the horizons, which were further away then anyone had ever seen, were being scanned for key elements to insure a return trip. The now famous "Backer Flat" was born, because of the pliers, the compass, and the bullhead. That evening, more precise landmarks were zero'd in on, and the "lay of the land" was studied. The even more famous "Needle", the southern tip of the Backer, was discoverd....now designated as the place my ashes will float.
Those were the days....

[Dave]

Darn cool story SF.

[Schnauzer]

For more stories like that, I again can't recommend Steve's brother's book enough. It is an easy, fun read. The only bummer is it looks like Amazon.com is only offering it used for a jacked up price now. I hope they get more in.

[Peanut]

The Fellegys use a "GBS" (Goes By Sight)! LOL - how 'bout that one Steve?

All the best,

derrek.

CANADIAN WALLEYE OPEN UP AND SAY "EH"!

[Dave the fish man]

Steve, a long time ago you put out a video tape on fishing.. It was a great video, one of the best I have ever seen as far as walleye information. Some how I lost mine, do you still have some tapes? where can I get one.

[Guess User]

Yes if you find those videos I will take one too. I need all the fishing information I can get.

[stevefellegy]

I will try to reach the production company tomorrow and have some dubbed. They have the master tape, I own the copy rights.
That tape is definately the most boring fishing video ever made. It will accomplish one of two things.....make you a better walleye angler..or cure any sleeping disorder you may have.lol
In the meantime, some of the Video Update stores and the like have them in the outdoors section for rent. ( don't tell me if you make a copy!)
I will let you know when I have some on hand. They will still be $20 bucks....no inflation in ten years! lol

[Booger]

Great story, I fish that needle all the time.

[bottom boy]

Steve, I will take a tape to if you find some.

[striker]

Steve i would like one of those tapes

[Lund 1]

Hey,Fellegy can your big brother still outfish you. I want a tape, let us know when you have some.

[Ferny]

I got one and every year I had to watch it to re-learn how to tie a snell knot for spinners. Now I teach others how to tie them, It finally sunk in!
Thanks!

Later,

Ferny.

[lund 1]

Ferny, if Steve can not come up if his tape may be I can borrow yours.

[stevefellegy]

"borrow" or copy? lol

I am in the process of having some dubbed. Hopefully, I will have them in hand before I leave for the Detroit event, ( a sportshow on the way), March 22nd. I will then compile a list of addresses etc. and ship them asap. "borrow"? Hmmmmmmm
In the meantime, your sleeping disorder, to which my video holds the cure, will have to wait.