Wild DIY ice shacks, Biggest hunchback yet, Wakesurfing boats getting regs? 👀

You don't see nearly as many BIG wheelhouses up in Canada – compared to the U.S. – because they get so much dang snow drifted on the lakes that it can make it a nightmare to get 'em out. Plus they'd probably cost $1-million in CAN funny money (lol).

Instead it seems like there's zillions of homemade skid houses with word-burning stoves, which are insanely cool in their own way. And obviously if we're talking DIY shacks, the designs and color are super unique.

And I've never seen anyone who was more talented at capturing the uniqueness and personality of these homemade fish houses than award-winning photographer Richard Johnson. Sadly he passed away in Dec 2021, with family by his side, when his battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia came to a sudden end.

> "Never without a camera, Richard could always be found exploring new places, meeting new people, and taking photographs. His photographs can be found worldwide: Canadian Embassies, restaurants, office towers, and private residences. Richard not only had a gifted eye, but also had a unique talent to tell stories through his images. His most acclaimed bodies of work, photographs of the Ice Huts and Ice Villages of Canada, are a testament to his ability to capture subtle differences and similarities of these temporary structures from province to province."

From Brian Barth's 2016 "Portraits of Canada's Ice Fishing Huts" write-up for the Smithsonian Magazine:

> Richard Johnson: "All the work I do for architects is highly polished...I was drawn to ice huts because they are crooked and textured and every one is so different.... I see them as portraits of the hut owners without the owners present."

Now here's a quick preview of some of those portrait's he was referencing, but I strongly encourage you to go to Richard Johnson's site to cruise through his work, as his wife Lucie is continuing the gallery in Richard's name, and this is just a small sampling of those masterpieces:

So that's why they look like arcs on the graph LOL.

I saw an interesting comment from John Thabes under the original post, who said:

> "As a former fisheries science professional, I'll throw this theory at y'all. It's very possible that this (these) fish with this type of deformity were electro-fished in a survey. If the electrofishing gear isn't set just right, and/or a fish remains too close to either the anode or the cathode, this kind of injury can, and does, happen.

> "The electrical current (usually pulsed DC current) can cause the muscle tissue to violently contract with enough force to seriously injure (even break) the spine. I've spent hundreds of hours electrofishing (for DNR-type agencies in the Midwest and in the northern Rockies) and I've seen it happen enough to say it's a very low percentage of fish that are hurt like this, but I wouldn't say it's a "rare" occurrence."

Thx for the insight, John!

A new study was released on Tues from the University of Minnesota that suggests that wakesurfing boats need to stay farther from shore than traditional boats to reduce potential damage from their larger waves:

> "...used sensors to measure the height of waves produced by 4 types of recreational boats...also calculated the power and energy of the waves, and how they changed as they moved toward shore."

> "What we learned is when you operate wakesurf boats in a surfing mode, the waves are 2x to 3x larger than a non-wakesurf boat."

> "Researchers also found that when the boats are operated in their typical mode, waves from wakeboats need to travel a greater distance – more than 500' – to decrease to the same height, energy and power as those from traditional boats."

> "While there's [currently] no requirement in state law, MN guidelines recommend boaters stay 200' from shore, docks and other structures to reduce the likelihood that their wakes will cause damage."

> "State lawmakers have proposed bills in the last 2 legislative sessions that would impose limits on how close wakesurfing boats can operate to shore [200'], and prohibit their use on smaller lakes. Those measures failed to pass."

I dunno about you, but 200′ seems like nothing...that's basically one long cast with Berkley NanoFil line lol.

I'm all for having fun on the water, but it definitely seems like some hard guidelines or regs need to be laid out for those wake-'em-up rigs. Then again the people causing the most ruckus on the water probably aren't the type to read a reg book.... 🤷‍♂️

No doubt this new U of M study will add some fire to the debate.

Why didn't I think of that? 🤯

> "…the same patented hexagonal rattle chamber technology that is on the [also new but available now] Rattlin' SpinMaster. The chamber is driven by the spin of the blade to produce a loud vibration and rattle that mimics feeding baitfish."

Can't find any other information online about the rattling spinners as they're not available yet...but I did notice that FishUSA had created a landing page for 'em, so they're probably not too far out? Keep you posted when I see them drop.

2. Look at all these fishing industry jobs!

Tons of companies hiring, like: Simms, Catch Co, Border View Lodge, Garmin, Rather Outdoors, Diawa, Costa Del Mar, Brunswick, Yamaha, and more.

Pretty incredible to see them all in one spot – where was that when I was trying to enter the "real world?" 🥵

3. KastKing has a new line-spooling tool.

Called the "Kalibrate" that's supposed to eliminate line twist while also keeping track of how much line is going on so you can evenly split up a spool and keep things consistent:

"I could see a future where screens shrink...because over time we will get smarter about how we communicate information to people on a boat."

- Charlie Foss, VP of design at Brunswick Boat Group, talking about electronics screens.

Interesting thought considering right now most folks are on the bigger-is-better train, or even run 3 units side-by-side-by-side. But it's also crazy to imagine where fishing tech will be even just a few years from now....

Who know? Maybe we'll all be wearing glasses that "project 3D topo maps with augmented reality to make the water appear transparent to reveal structure and terrain directly in your field of vision...." 👀 Which is legit something I saw a preview of at ICAST this summer – called AR Glasses from ClearWater. 🤯

Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye He was discovered in Brainerd, MN after years of wondering how in the heck people break into the fishing biz. He's in it now, but still can't answer that question.... Brett is one of those guys who majored in marketing, only because there was no such thing as a "fishing degree" at the time.... Get him at brett@targetwalleye.com

To send us walleye pics, ice shots or whatever, just respond to this email or click here to email us. Or post it on the Target Walleye Facebook page.

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Baxter, MN 56425

(218) 824 5026

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