FISHMAS EVE!

Tomorrow morning, a time honored TRIFECTA-QUENTENIAL Celebration begins! Its year 3 of ICEFISHAPALOOZA! I will find it hard to sleep tonight as visions of sugarplums and Bluegills dance through my head! I will think of being a Komander on the ice and reelin em in! After a tiring season of fishing in 2007, it is time to kick her off anew and taste sweet delicious victory! Ladies and Gentleman, I offer for your consideration, ICEFISHAPALOOZA 2008!!!!!!

Year one of ICEFISHAPALOOZA 2006 began it all......And this year, we celebrate this hallowed eve of the celebration that ol' truck drivin' Case refers to as "a big misunderstanding."

Icefishapalooza 2007 was the year of hard tackles into the snow and ice.....

Well, truth be known, the ice was terribly dangerous and the fishing gave a dissapointing showing around the palooza tree in the morning.......She wasn't to be had and would not hold the weight of 14 men off the dropoff! As it is written, so shall it be, "SOMETIMES THE BEST PLANS OF MICE AND MEN GO AWRY!" Only ended up with 9 smelt to split amongst the trappers at the camp!

Dirty Mustaches......

Border Incursions!

Flasks of championerrific flatitude!

Mishaps of dirty ice hotdog messes! Oh the humanity!

General's Orders for this trip are as follows: "Be thee wary of past pitfalls that have entrapped those who came before us, leave little more than a wisp of track in your pursuit, be thee a wary foe of ultimate disguise and pass as ships in the night to prevent thy capture!"

In other words, WALK EASY ON THE THIN ICE, AND DON'T STAND TOO CLOSE TO EACHOTHER ON THE ICE OR YOU SHALL DROWN!

My Taser Opera Practice

Night Dream Visions Continued!

I'm thinking this captures the theme of the new TEAM T BOAT PULLIN ADVENTURE VAN!

Smell the Flowers. No, Smell the Euros!

Breaking bread together...

If we set the bar to a level where we slow it down and enjoy something as simple as a dinner with precious family, perhaps we could have storehouses of life experience overflowing with riches!

Anticipation! Can you feel the intensity of the TEAM T Household tonight since dad is home and we are cooking together?

Disco Dancin!

Tonight we enjoyed one of our family's simple pleasures, EUROS! Yes, it's Lamb. Yes, it rocks!

A Salute to a trooper who just today had surgery on her ears to get tubes in and is doing well!

Lessons of a Dog

As I talked to my dad, PAPA TEAMT, on the phone today, he relayed to me some wisdom. Now, I share it with you.

"Son, you must think about the simple lessons we can learn from a dog.

-Dogs sense your mood and adjust their behavior to you accordingly.

-Dogs take correction and still are your friend 10 seconds later.

-Dogs sleep when they can, play hard when it's time, and always are ready to jump to your side to snuggle.

-They impart peace on others by their ability to just sit and listen without jumping in with advice.

-And most importantly, they take in each day, each smell, each whisp of grass and leaf on the ground, as though they have found a treasure.

-They understand that if on occasion, all you accomplish in a day is laying in the sun near a windowsill and resting, you have been successful.

These are the lessons of a dog, son, don't miss them."

More Visions of Things to Come!

As I slept last night, I had a great vision....I awoke and wrote down my thoughts. Here is what the paper said I scribbled my thought on:

"Pull boat with A-TEAM VAN."

Here is what I'm thinking:

OH YEAH!

How much fun is this gonna be????

Retro TV Commercials!

The flick a bic Flinstones?



Some 80's!

Shiptankerous and Boat Launch Fun!

Who is Manning the Anchor?

"Keep it floored Merl, you can get her!"

Boat Launch

Gun Lake Landing

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! She needs a NAME!

Attention all GUNLAKER FANS! WE HAVE A MAYDAY! I need help naming this monster!

Look at the beautiful new Captain Jitters hat I found!





I have been inundated with requests for the specs on this baby so here it is!


Per iboats.com---->1983 Starcraft Boats CR221
This Starcraft inboard/outboard day cruiser has a aluminum hull, is 21.4 feet long and 90 inches wide at the widest point. The boat weighs approximately 1438 pounds with an empty fuel tank and without any gear or passengers.

It has:
-a LMS320 dual beam sonar/GPS Chartplotter
- trim tabs
- Happy Troller plate
- cuddy cabin with porta potty
- Marine Radio with weather channel guy I love listening to
- 120hp 4cyl engine
- auto/manual bilge
- cooler rack on back(needs work replaced)
- Lowrance GPS antenna
- full Canvas cabin enclosure
- front watertight escape hatch
- dual axle tandem trailer with surge breaks
- windshield wipers (no more "its raining" problems)
- build in net holders on port and starboard
- 28 gallon gas tank.

Here are the pics!

120hp Mercruiser 4cylinder! Bored out big!

Dual Battery control!


And here is the Mayday Radio!


Looking inward toward the aft portion.







Here are some photo's with the canopy canvas off! Look at all the room!










The biggest surprise of the purchase was that the guy listed "LOWRANCE" on the listing however, man was I shocked to see a Lowrance LMS320 with dual beam sonar AND GPS with a slot to upload maps of the lakes!




This view will become all too familiar to me starting in 1.5 months with some Brown Trout Trolling on Lake Michigan in March!

Rear View of the monster. Notice the trim tabs and cooler rack (which I am replacing-the wood has had it)



"Happy Troller Plate" which per the owner will bring her down to troll to 1.8mph. Drop the trim tabs and she will drop to 1.5mph. Add a drift sock to both sides and she will crawl at 1.0mph. PERFECT!

Side view of the canopy! Didn't snap her all the way as I don't want to stretch and rip the canvas in the cold!



The fishing area!

The monster!


Front view! Notice the big Lake Mayday windshield wipers!

See the Captain Jackass antenna up!


Spring Brown Trout cabin enclosure windows!



Here is the Mayday Microphone!




Looking out from inside the cutty cabin....


Built in ShitterPotty! No more Big Lake Shat Technique needed!

Looking down into cutty (cuddy?)



A great place for seasick puker naps! And naps with mama!


Um yeah, the COMMANCHE COMMANDER isn't gonna do the job I suspect! (since the boat dwarfs the frame snapping commanche)

Now the biggest quandry is what do I name her? Please comment and tell me what you think of these names or if you have an idea for one!

-The Rooster

-Outgunned (being that I am one man living with 5 women)

-C-Jitters

-Gunlaker

-Natalie (I think ships that have female names are good luck! Although it is bad luck to have a female aboard a commercial fishing vessel) This was the name I wanted to name a daughter and a nickname I've used that is dear to me.

-Jitters Obsession

-SS JITTERS

-comment on this post with name ideas (you can remain anonymous) and then we will have a vote to decide what to name her!