The Word is Out

Saturday was my birthday and at the last minute decided what better way to spend it than on Lake Mille Lacs fishing the hot walleye bite.  Because my friend Mark had already spent the night in his fish house the night before, he thought it would be a good idea to tag along and try the flats for a change of pace and agreed to meet me at Lundeen's at noon.  My plan was the same game as last week, drive on the ice at Dewey's till the bridge across the heave, unload the ATV, pack everything in the sled and head out.  I could not go by the first set of deep gravel humps without trying them.  It was as dead as the week before so off to 7 mile flat.  Word was that a couple of the east side resorts had roads open to the flats and Holy Moses, half the world must have gotten the word.  As we approached the center of the lake every flat in front of us had cars and trucks lining the entire edge circumference of the flat.  I'll bet from the air it looked like a high level Lakemaster Bottom Contour Map!  Arriving on 7 mile there must have been 75 guys set up including 1 guy in our exact spot of last weeks massacre.  Stopping to see how his luck had been he confirmed it was slow and if fact about 25% of the people had left already.   Amazing as I cannot believe that many people would be driving out as the ice conditions were not that great just a week ago and it hasn't been that cold.  If fact the word was 2 trucks went in on the south side earlier that morning.  As Ron White would say......You can't fix stupid.  Mark and I fished a few open holes left by the previous guys with nothing showing up on our screens.  Deciding to move we loaded up and headed west to a near shore flat called Sherman's that had few anglers and is quite large assuring we could find our own quiet area.    Using our maps we found that "special" looking area and drilled our holes along the top and bottom of the edge.

Almost immediately we began marking fish.  Within 10 minutes Mark had had a nice walleye through the hole, a good sign.  It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and the prime time was about 1 1/2 hour away.  Well, it took its merry old time and arrived about 30 minutes late.  The fact that we marked fish with regularity helped keep our interest knowing eventually they would turn on.  About 4:00 the action started as we put a couple of keepers on the ice.  At about 4:30 the fish really became aggressive.  Although hard to believe, they were almost too aggressive as they would hit so hard the the hook would almost be ripped out or hooked lightly.  I fish braided line and often the lack of stretch will make this problem even worse.  Between Mark and I we must have lost 9 fish after hooking them for less than 10 seconds, many of them coming off just before we got them into the hole.  By the time the bite stopped we had 3 nice keepers, a respectable perch, had let at least 3 more over 20 inches back into our holes, and lost another 9 fish we never saw.  Of course you should have seen the ones that got away!  Over all it was a great day on Mille Lacs as again we proved how important it is to get away from the crowds and noise, look for that "fishy" spot, and drill a lot of holes to move around looking for active fish.  On this trip both Mark and I caught all of our fish on the deep side of the drop and really never moved much as we settled into the couple of holes that stayed consistent.   Our hot baits were Mark's Swedish Pimple and my Rattlin' Flyer although I did catch one on a Jigging Rap.  With the fish as aggressive as they were, the Rap is a great bait however this time the fish were a little more fussy wanting something more subtle yet they still hit with vengeance.  With the season winding down I can't complain much about the last 2 weeks on the pond. 

It has been an interesting week as I spent Monday thru Wednesday in Orlando flying back Wednesday night.  Having been upgraded to first class I was looking forward to a nice relaxing ride home as I wrote this weeks post on the plane.  As luck would have it the on board WiFi was broken so I given a choice of playing solitaire for 3 hours or watch the Steve Martin movie, The Big Year.  It wasn't too bad.  This week might find me fishing some of my old stomping grounds on the back waters of the Mississippi River somewhere between LaCrosse and Alma.  My friend Kevin has been doing well as he nailed a 15 inch perch a few days ago.  That's a nice perch anywhere.  I continue to get the boat ready as everything indicates an early spring.  With the low water the walleye fishing this spring could be interesting.   We'll see!

The Bite is On

After last weeks attempt to get to the offshore areas I like to fish, Lory and I decided to try it again.  Another week of colder weather coupled with the additional time the resorters had to figure out their roads, we headed up much earlier in the day to take advantage of having more time to adjust our strategy if needed.  When arriving mid afternoon for the most part you are stuck staying in one place as it's important to be settled in during that peak time from 4:00 to dark.  I have a "secret" spot near Indian Point that is often very good when few have fished it.  With no roads beyond the heave and the threat of 8 inch ice you are restricted to ATV travel but once across those newly frozen areas there is substantial ice.  Driving up to Dewey's access we dropped $10 in the pay box and headed out to the known heave.  As always we stopped at Bill's and his thought was Dewey would have a bridge over the bad area to drive the ATV over and continue from there.  Parking the truck about 1/4 mile from our intended crossing point we unloaded the ATV to check everything out.  Well the bridge was laying on the ice and no practical way to cross the heave.  Looking across the barrier, contemplating plan B another truck came out with the intent on following our plan of getting to the other side.  As we talked Dewey shows up, gives a short assessment of the situation then offers to head back, get the plow, and push the bridge over the suspect area.  15 minutes later he was back and with some help from us spectators we had the bridge safely in place.  This was our cue to pack'em up and get going, destination 3 miles away.  The ice was very rough to the north of us so we followed the edge east till an opening presented itself then turned north towards the magic spot.  Lory was somewhat nervous as we maneuvered around large chunks of ice protruding from the surface, a result of the previous winds pushing the ice around and smashing it into itself.  Arriving at our spot it was great news, only one other set of holes were drilled and whoever was there had left.  On the other hand maybe that was an sign.  Setting up our house and drilling around 10 holes we fished for almost 2 hours and never marked a fish.  I had put the camera down and it sure looked like a great spot with gravel and small rocks scattered on the bottom.  Unfortunately we were not there to fish rocks.  After 2 hours I looked at Lory and stated we are leaving. get packed up as I had my eyes on 7 mile Flat, a good 6 miles north of our location.  I had rigged my HDS5 with a 12 volt plug and a RAM mount for inside the ATV cab,  it was just like being in the boat as we worked our way further north. 

Arriving at 7 Mile I had an idea of where I wanted to fish however the area had a number of portables parked in my spot.  Looking at the GPS and the Lakemaster bottom contour map I located a spot that indicated an inside turn with a gradual slope from 36 to 24 feet.  As stated before these structures often rise from the lake floor to the top of the flat within 20 - 30 feet.  I fish this area quite a bit in the summer and am pretty familar with where the fish tend to be and this was one of those spots. The changed strategy was to set up on the bottom side of the flat in 36 feet while drilling holes at the top edge then paralleling along both edges to provide a stretch of structure to work along.  The ice was a good 18 inches thick, in great shape, and once set up we started working the area.  It wasn't too bad out but the wind was cold, never the less we worked the outside hole structures with little protection from the cols.  By this time it was about 3:00 in the afternoon and almost immediately we started marking fish.  They were not very aggressive and would often just come up to the bait, check it out and quickly disappear off the Vexilar screen, at least there were fish in the area.  It took about another hour before the fish started hitting our lures and by 4:00 we had enough to know the best was yet to come.  With a few walleyes on the ice and a few bonus jumbo perch, at 5:00 the switch really turned on.  I had caught a nice fish earlier but didn't get a chance to snap a picture.  The first picture is a nice 23 inch fish that helped redeem myself of letting the first on go without getting an official picture of the blog.  Within minutes Lory nailed this nice 22 inch walleye.   We were still hole hopping when Lory landed a keeper out of a hole exclaiming there was another one down there.  Quickly baiting up he dropped the line and a second fish slammed the lure, another keeper.  He said there is a third one, again dropped the lure and wouldn't you know picked up a third fish in less than 3 minutes.  We ended the day with over 20 walleyes caught, 8 nice keepers 16 - 17.5 inches, and over 6 released that were 20+ inches.  My real prize was a 4 inch walleye that hit my minnow head, pretty comical.  The hot baits were the Rattlin' Flyer with a minnow head, a Hawger spoon with a whole minnow, a shiner on a dead stick, and my trusty old Jigging Rap.   With 3 nice perch we left the flats for the 10 mile trek back to the truck hoping the ice hadn't shifted while we were gone.  The bridge was still in place, we loaded the truck and left satisfied with one of the best ice fishing day's we've had on Mille Lacs in a while.  It is a testament to being able to adjust your strategy, understand your location, and work for your fish.  Sometimes it all comes together, just like on TV!

Today is my Dad's birthday, he would have been 82 years old.  His birthday is on Ground Hogs Day and I will always remember his comments regarding the predictions for winter as he always felt a connection to the folklore of the day.  Today he would have said we will have 6 more weeks of winter, something that we haven't had much of lately.  Happy Birthday Dad, love your son Dave.

Heave Ho

Last weeks sub zero weather was just what the doctor ordered to heal up those open area's on Mille Lacs, some that were over 1/2 mile wide.  With the new ice pushing 8 inches, although not safe enough for cars and trucks, an ATV would be the perfect mode of transportation for our Sunday excursion to the lake.  With little snow on the ice it was critical to put the chains on the rear wheels which really stabilizes the ATV when traveling over clear ice.  Loading up my tow behind portable in the back of the truck, we put the ATV in my ramp trailer, Lory and I headed up US Highway 169.  With every aspect of that road memorized as I am exactly 68 miles from Bill's bait shop, 1 hour and 10 minutes if I hit the stop lights in Elk River just right.  With the conditions stabilizing we figured Bill would have the latest hot spot for us to try.  My friend Mark Applen had called as we drove up telling of a nice limit of jumbo perch he had gotten yesterday on the east side.  My original plan was to fish one of the deep offshore gravel bars, one that has been very productive at first ice.  Being almost February its far from first ice yet ice conditions have resulted in little fishing pressure on anything out further than 2 miles.  Well Bill had bad news, the ice has healed nicely however the rising temperatures have caused the ice to expand and heave, causing a major obstacle for getting out very far.  The crack extended from the southwest end of the lake following the shore for 5 miles before cutting across Indian Point then dipping into the bay between there and Sherman's Point.  Bill suggested that some houses are now stuck on the lake side of the crack and bridges were already being dragged out to provide a safe crossing.  We decided to try an area I call Roland's Flat, just NW of Indian Point.  Mark and I fished there the previous week and had some action.  The backup plan was to fish the deeper rock humps south of Sherman's however in both cases this heave pictured stopped us in our tracks.  This heave line was about a mile out from the landing and if you look closely at the middle you can see it extends as far as you could see.  The high point shown is over 5 feet and the darker areas at the base is water that has flowed through the crack onto the ice.  The previous week this was open water.  With the ice at 8 inches it didn't pay to try and find away around so we fished the south edge of the flat with the top being right about where the water starts.  Not the ideal spot on the flat but we really had no choice.   

The plan had changed but we were in a fairly good area, there were few people around us and no one venturing close to the heave which marked the top edge of the flat at 15 feet.  Like most flats the edge is a fairly steep drop and within 30 feet was the bottom edge at 22 feet.  My GPS showed a slight inside curve which usually indicates a prime spot.  The nice thing about this flat is that the top is covered with weeds and provides excellent cover for perch and walleyes.  Unfortunately the fish did not share my enthusiasm for this great spot!  Being rather pleasant out hole hopping wasn't much of an issue.  Lory did find a hole that did have a fish in it as shown here, a fat and plump 25 inch walleye that went back down the hole.  10 minutes later he had a smaller fish on, surely a  keeper but it got off just as he brought it to the hole.  A couple more hits and that was about it, the flurry lasting a whole 30 minutes.  As for me.........well someone has to assure his friends catch fish, take the pictures, make sure they are on safe ice, and have a nice ride back to the truck, yep that's me!  I missed one fish and that's all she wrote.  Oh well, still nice to get out.  Lory was using a plain jig head and minnow while my bait of choice was a Jigging Rapala.  Admittedly the Jigging Rap is a more aggressive bait and the jig with minnow is a more finesse presentation.  Obviously the fish wanted finesse rather than attack a faster moving lure what few there were of them.   The weather this week is back in the mid 30's to 40 and it should be interesting to see the new developments.  The websites are telling of marked roads to the middle of the lake for snowmobile and ATV traffic only.  This might be the weekend I can get out to some of those past productive offshore areas as I have not had a good report since my Lake of the Woods trip.  Maybe it's time to start planning another trip to the border.

The warm weather is tugging at my soft water ambitions.  I am starting to reconfigure some of the things on my boat for more convenience.  With March a month away and no significant snow anywhere in the Mississippi River drainage area, it could be an early start for the Ranger this year.  With ice fishing going the way it has, maybe it's a good thing.

Back To Reality

Last weekend was spent repainting my family room.  It was about time as it's been the same color for 19 years and provided the incentive to look at replacing the carpet as well.  This and the fact that my Green Bay Packers were playing on Sunday afternoon gave me cause to finish up a few things around the house and relax during the game.  I can report that the room turned out great and is ready for a new carpet.  I cannot say that the game on Sunday turned out as well.  Although my beloved Packers finished the season at 15-1, they looked like a team that hadn't played in a few weeks.  Between the miss tackles and passes it was almost embarrassing.  Oh well, the good news is that it will free up the next 2 Sunday's to hit the ice hard.  With the below zero temperatures of this week it will be makin' ice like crazy.  I am really looking forward to those open water areas on Mille Lacs to heal up so we can fish the deeper offshore areas.  The fishing reports have been spotty with some guys doing well while others struggling.  Of course a number of my friends have been getting out and the first picture is of my deer hunting partner, Jack Taylor.  Jack has a cabin on Platte Lake, just west of Mille Lacs, a shallow lake full of small northerns, and occasional walleye, and some really nice crappies.  Here Jack is posing with a couple of crappies over 11 inches that he caught a few weeks ago.    Platte Lake is shallow enough to be in danger of freezing out every few years so the lake association has put in a few aerators when the oxygen levels get low.  Nice crappies like this are the result of successfully preventing the lake from having depleted oxygen levels when the snow blocks the light to the natural weed growth.  With the total lack of snow this year, they might not even need to install the aerators this year.

This next picture is my friend Pete, back from Alaska for a month.  Pete is good friends with Dave Genz of ice fishing fame and they wasted no time getting in some great ice fishing before Pete heads back to Fairbanks to start work this week.  Having drove to Alaska last March, he got assigned to the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay where it is now dark 24 hours a day.   Working 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off, there is little time to spend money and his intent is to work another year then come back and retire.  He is the master of the Mississippi River and I look forward to fishing with him in the future.  Here Pete is holding 2 bull bluegills that measure right at 11 inches.  Those are huge bluegills for anywhere in the country.  Of course fishing with Dave doesn't hurt as he is one of the best pan-fisherman on ice around and has all those great secret spots to nail fish like this.  Dave also has the latest and greatest equipment as he is sponsored by Vexilar, Clam Corp, Strikemaster, and a number of other ice fishing specialty companies.   Pete is driving back via the Alaskan Highway and I wish him safe travels, he'll need it this time of year.

The warm weather has made this years ice fishing season some what odd as I am already seeing some stores start closing out their inventory in preparation for open water fishing.  This will take a month or so but the change is happening.  The warm weather has given me an opportunity to work on my boat, cleaning up a few of the wiring items, and rethink how my electronics are mounted.   Certainly it's better than staring at my snowmobiles that just sit there and complain of no snow.  We are truly in a drought as there has been no significant rain or snowfall since August, almost 6 months now.  I knew when I bought that new snow blower we'd skip a year of snow.  You are welcome!  As stated, the Pack is out, Mille Lacs is in and I will make sure I have a ready camera next time.

Technical Difficulties

One of the things I like about technology is the amazing amount of it out there for everyone to use.  For me, I really like digital camera's and try to keep one available where ever I go.  My go to point and shoot camera is a Canon S95, a very feature loaded device that is very fast for a camera that fits in the palm of your hand.  Fast is a term used to describe how wide the aperture can get to let as much light in as possible.  For the S95 that reference is f2.0.  What this really means is that it will shoot excellent pictures in low light conditions, most represented on my blog by the beautiful sunset pictures I have posted.   After being frustrated by "forgetting my camera", I bought a cheap Nikon refurbished point and shoot digital to simple always keep in the boat or car.  Well, that camera is not very good, probably worth what I paid.  It has served me OK in a pinch but had a tendency to overexpose light areas and over saturate the colors.  At first ice I told the story of laying down on the ice to take a picture only to see the camera didn't work.  Well, I sent it in under warranty and they will fix it but it's now been over a month.  In the meantime I am more frustrated with my Nikon than ever as you see last weeks picture of Mark makes him look like he has a neon shirt on!  I decided to order a new Canon 300 ELPH300HS to replace the Nikon, received it last week and took it fishing with me last Saturday.   Meeting Mark on the ice, we fished an inshore structure called Roland's Flat.  Unfortunately there was open water on the far side of the flat so we were confined to the west end.  Still, there is a nice drop.  Having my new camera ready for it's inaugural debut I took a couple of pictures of the nearby open water (January 7, open water on Mille Lacs yet?!?!?) which looked interesting.  I noticed 3 beeps after each picture, checked it out and the message on the screen said "no card".  Just my luck, new digital camera and no memory card.  Oh well.  Towards evening Mark asked me to hit the hole he was in as there was a fish down there and wasn't biting on his lure.  I dropped my neon perch colored #5 jigging rap and within seconds a nice walleye had fully inhaled it.  Pulling the transducer first I landed the fish, a respectable 24 inch fish beautiful in color, fat and sassy.  Again without a camera I turned to Mark to take one with his phone...too dark.  I fumbled for my phone however my ice armor has way too many pockets and couldn't hold the fish and dig so I simply let the fish go without an ounce of proof.  Really, it was a nice fish.  This was the only fish I caught but it was still nice to get out and check out my new XTR ice grippers.  Pretty nice.  So, my first picture is of Keith Holtan and his fish from his Lake of the Woods last week.  Instead of writing my blog last night both Lory and I went to the St. Paul Sportsman Show to meet Keith and his wife Jane, along with their friend and my cousin Greg's friend Al.  We ended the night at The Liffy, across the street from the Excel Center were we enjoyed a few Guinness's together.  I got some interesting stuff at the show, a new motor trailering support for my 115 Suzuki, a couple of interesting jigs, and a BoomB(())X, a device that can be powered off of a standard USB port and audio output jack found on a laptop.  It literally turns any box, Styrofoam minnow bucket, cup, into a speaker.  It's pretty cool!

So my next picture is of my cousin Greg's son-in-law, Joe Thomas.  Joe plays for the Cleveland Browns and is the top Offensive Left Tackle in the business today.  Personally I think he would look a lot better in a Green Bay Packer uniform, but I suppose it would not leave him much time to ice fish this time of the year.  I am sure he'd rather be practicing but that's a different story.  If the speculation is true Aaron Rodgers back up, Matt Flynn is a free agent this year and with his spectacular performance 2 weeks ago, might look good in a Cleveland uniform.  It would be nice to see him get a Super Bowl ring.  Joe caught this  nice musky last weekend at Greg's lake, east of Chetek, Wisconsin.  I haven't received the details of the fish but everything points to at least a 45 inch length and I suppose around 25 pounds, maybe Greg will comment.  Having just hoisted a 51 inch sturgeon through the ice, I understand the excitement a fish like this brings.  Funny, I never seem to catch anything like this when I fish Greg's lake!  Either way that fish makes Joe look small, something I know he isn't.

The middle picture is the latest from the satellite on January 10th.  As you see there is still a lot of open water around Mille Lacs yet.  With the below zero temperatures of the last couple of nights, here's hoping it will get somewhat back to normal soon.  It might be hard to get out this weekend as I have a room in the house tore apart and am painting.  It wouldn't be so bad however we haven't had much luck matching colors.  Maybe a run to Pelican Lake will be in order, and of course the Packers play on Sunday afternoon, that will be a must watch!!!

Wonders of the WigWam

Well, enough complaining already!  I am sure that you will all check out my first picture and rightfully so, what a story.  As I wrote in last weeks post, a last minute scramble solidified Mark and my decision to fish at the Wigwam Resort.  Our plan was to pull his wheelhouse to Lake of the Woods and us it as our sleeping quarters staying at the Wigwam. On my way to his location, The Fisherman's Wharf,  Mark called and suggested we see if there had been any cancellations at the resort or in Baudette.  Agreeing that pulling the wheelhouse would be an extra burden, Mark found a room at the Walleye Inn, a motel in town.  Although 15 miles from the resort, it would free us from the hassle of reduced mileage, setup and tear down.   Picking Mark up at 11:30 AM we were enjoying a beer with Wigwam's owner Tom by 3:30.  Although staying in town also had it's issues, it made our arrangements less complicated.  Our schedule was to pick up a ride to a large, heated ice house we rented from the resort at 7:30 Thursday morning.  Showing up at 6:00 we had a nice breakfast then got in line.  The ice was 14 inches thick and the resorts were only allowing light vehicles like ATV's or the proverbial 4 wheel drive, fully chained Geo Trackers pulling a dual axle people hauler.   The ice would support heavier trucks but the volume of traffic would have severely cracked the ice causing bigger issues.  So 6 of us loaded into the dark trailer and headed out 3 miles as though we were on a secret mission, hidden from any knowledge of our route.  Dropped off at house Number 35, the holes were drilled, our bait was transferred and we were set.    The fish limit consists of 8 in possession which only 4 could be walleyes or all 8 being saugers.  A nice sauger is 15 inches and we started catching them right away.  At the rate they were biting we were concerned about keeping too many fish too fast so we let a lot of nice fish go all about the time the bite slowed down.  At 2:00 the walleye bite turned hot and I caught 4 nice 17 - 18 inch fish, perfect keepers.  The nicer saugers were more difficult to get and after talking to a friend the suggestion of having the resort fry up your fish sounded pretty dang good.   We managed to get 5 more saugers, enough for dinner at the lodge.  Between my 4 walleyes and our ride back Mark caught this beautiful 24.5" walleye.  Like the walleye from last week's post, this thing was a pig as I estimated it was over 6 pounds.  Most walleyes this size will weigh in at around 4.5 pounds.   Day one was pretty exciting, the bite was great, we ended up with 9 fish in the bucket, a nice trophy walleye and enough fish for supper.  I will admit the the resort did a great job deep frying the fish and with a side of beans and a salad it doesn't get any better.

Friday morning brought us on the first flight of fisherman on the lake.  This time we got house Number 36, about 50 yards north of yesterday's house.  The same game, we started fishing by 7:30 and immediately started catching saugers.  Our strategy was a little different this day, keep the nicer fish right away as we needed 12 to fill our limit.  About 9:30 Mark decided to put a whole minnow on his lure, dropped it to 26 feet when a huge red mark on the depth finder came up to meet his lure.  One gulp and the fish was hooked.  Not understanding what exactly Mark had at the end of the line, it was obviously a large fish.  The first thing Mark asked if I would remove his 2nd line and the depth finder from the hole he was fishing in.   This was a good move, something I soon discovered would have been a good idea if I would have done the same.  Almost immediately the fish came up to the top.  Because the water is stained, it's visibility is about 3 feet.  At about the 5 minute mark I caught a quick glimpse of the bottom part of the tail and announce to Mark that the 10# walleye on his bucket list was at the end of his line.   The fish went back to the bottom and essentially had it's way with everything including my 2 lines that were still down.   As I watched Mark trying to reel in the fish with his 3 foot St. Croix Ice rod and reel loaded with 6# Crystal Fireline the drag keep going.  At one point I began to doubt whether Mark knew what he was doing as he reeled against a drag that was clicking as though the pressure nut was loose.  Little did I understand as this was starting to get ridiculous, I wanted to get back fishing!  10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, almost 40 minutes had pasted before the tangled mess of my line appeared above the hole.  Carefully cutting the lines, I freed Mark's line of the tangles, just in time to see this monster fish swim past the hole.  Sturgeon!!!  Another 5 minutes Mark had it's head in the hole as I grabbed it and pulled and pulled and pulled it through.  51 inches and an estimated 50+ pounds, Mark had successfully landed the biggest fish of his life.  It was pretty amazing as I got to witness the capture of this beautiful prehistoric beast.  Although not on his bucket list it quickly was added and immediately crossed off!  As for me, here is a picture of my super sized tullibee, proof I actually can catch fish as well.  And Mark,  it took all of my posturing to get him to head up with me and it turned out to be one of those lifetime memories for both of us.  By 7:00 we were heading south, a take out container of our fillets deep fried for the way home, and somewhat exhausted.  We are already talking about next year.

As a parting note I was really impressed with our time at the Wigwam Resort.  We were treated like as though we had been coming up for years.  It probably helped to drop my friend Keith Holtan's name as he grew up with the owner, but something tells me that was just a bonus.  Both Mark and I will definitely be back.   You can check out their weekly fishing video at IDO Lake of the Woods Fishing Forum as it's pretty good.  Make sure to have them fry your fish at night, it's great and only costs $5.00.  Fishing was reasonable at $100 per person you got a ride out to a huge heated house, bait for the day (rods, reels, and lures if you need), a ride back at night, and your fish cleaned, packed and frozen.  Quite a deal if you ask me.  Mille Lacs is still exhibiting issues but the south side seems stable.  The weather is still warmer than normal and there was no snow between Minneapolis and the Canadian Border, very unusual.  It's only a matter of time before the big freeze moves in.  Jeff King made it to Mexico and next week is our time to spend with Keith at the St. Paul Sportsman show sharing a Guinness at the Liffy.  Fishing should definitely get back to normal this weekend, whatever that is.

Last Minute Scramble

With the ice conditions on Mille Lacs continuing to deteriorate my friend Mark Applen and I have been contemplating a trip further north, say the Canadian Border.  After talking to my friend Pete, checking out the video fishing reports from the Wigwam Resort on Lake of the Woods, it seemed like the place to be.  Putting something together this quickly and between Christmas and New Years would be challenging.  Calling almost every place I knew it would be difficult to find last minute accommodations for this week and as predicted, not a room available anywhere.   The guy at Wigwam was very helpful however there were a lot of options available we never explored.  First of all the lodging.  Calling back and asking about driving on the ice with Mark's wheel house (we can stay in there), they cannot guarantee however the guy said the resort will let us stay in the house as long as it's parked in the camp area on the resort.  $10 a night, including electricity seems reasonable.  If they were going to let us drive out on the ice all of our problems would have been solved.  Unfortunately they are only allowing specially equip ice transport vehicles and or snowmobiles and ATV's at this time.  Because of our last minute hair it would be dumb for only 2 of us to drive 2 trucks, one for the house and the other for the ATV's.  Yes, we could have put it in the truck but where do we put our portables,  it just presented 1 too many issues.  I had just about given up on the notion of being able to put a trip together.   This morning a light bulb went off, maybe the resort has ice shacks for rent, we could pull the wheelhouse up then use the resort services for the fishing.  Being somewhat restrictive as to where we fish, never the less it could be a good option for just the 2 of us.  A quick call this morning and voila, I have a house rented for 2 days which includes transportation to and from the heated shack, bait, and free fish cleaning!  We are heading up Wednesday afternoon, a 6 hour drive, with the hopes that the bite is still going strong.  It sure beats hanging around the house.  In the meantime my friend Pete sent me this picture of his friends 11 pound walleye they caught and released on Lake of the Woods a few weeks ago.  Pete is a friend of ice fishing legend Dave Genz and they were up for a few days and figured the total number of walleyes and saugers caught was well over 350 fish for 3 days.  Here's hoping my report will be as good as theirs and the fish are as big.  I did stop at Fleet Farm tonight and found a few potentially deadly lures to try out (of course I do that every week!).  Stay tuned

A quick word on Christmas, it was great, no snow yet but Santa found his way.  It was nice to see all of brothers and sisters at Mom's; Steve, Beth, Jon, and Blake as well as a few of my nephews and nieces.   It feels that we are all at some crossroads in life, never thinking too hard on any one issue yet understand none of us are getting any younger.   Maybe a few days away will clear the old noggin and a better reflection will pop out of my fingers.  On the other hand sometimes there just isn't much to say.

Happy New Year, stay safe and look for a a potentially amazing report in a few days!

Second Ice?!?!

It's been and interesting week to the start of our ice fishing season.  Last week was my first adventure onto Mille Lacs and it was an encouraging experience.  6-12 inches of ice had cover the first mile or so and the lake was completely frozen over.  The first 10 days of December saw nighttime temperatures near zero, perfect for making ice.  A thin but effective snowcover kept the temperatures ideal for freezing up the lake hard.  Last week everything changed as we had a significant rain, melting all the snow, causing the average temperature to increase.  The show stopper came last Thursday as the low pressure front moved east and brought gale force winds from the north.  I am not sure how it all happens but the wind created large areas of open water while piling the ice over 15 feet high on the south shore.  I snapped a picture as we drove by the pile of 12 inch thick ice chunks that were a flat surface last weekend. It's pretty amazing what Mother Nature can do.  The fact is that all week it's been high winds, one day from the west, the next from the south, the next day from the north.  This has caused something that hasn't been seen at Mille Lacs in all the years I've ice fished, almost a complete island of ice has formed around the lake isolating most of the lake from normal travel.  It's effect can best be seen at this MODIS website, a site that displays pictures of daily satellite photos of North America by region.  You can chose the day you would like to see and if it's clear can get a excellent idea of ice cover, useful both at the beginning of the season and towards ice out.  Here is a screen shot from December 20th, 2011 showing the view from space and the large open areas that travel completely around Lake Mille Lacs.  For reference the lake is about 18 mile north to south and 14 miles east to west.  As you can see the ice island encompasses 80% of the surface area.  We are going to need the wind to stop blowing and some below zero temperatures to really heal up those open areas for safe travel.  Pretty interesting for sure.  A picture is worth a thousand words and if you know anything about the current conditions on the lake, this picture says it all.  Be careful out there!

Although we knew there was open water on the lake, the area I fished last week should be safe to walk out to.  Meeting my friend Mark Applen Saturday afternoon we assessed the situation as reports suggested that we stay off the main lake.  They were right!  Walking out to the spot in Vineland Bay the ice was solid and appeared to be firmly attached to the shoreline.   There were a number of wheel house that had been pulled to the area using ATVs, something I suppose I could have used however I do need the exercise.   With more activity at the spot I fished last week we moved down the break to an area we could have by ourselves.  I set up in 22 feet while Mark punched his holes in 15 feet.  The break is very abrupt as he was only about 12 feet from me.  As always I drill a number of holes around the area which allows me to move around, finding the right depth.  Mark pretty well planted himself on his first 2 holes.  The perch were thick in my spot.  I threw my camera down and at any given time there were at least 10 on the screen, all 6 inches and smaller. I caught numerous 6 inch perch while Mark, just 12 feet away was hauling in 10 inch perch.  Well the old saying is where there is perch there is walleyes so I just decided to wait them out.  In the meantime Mark was accumulating a nice pile of fish including a couple of nice walleyes like the 21+ he is holding here.  I did see a few walleyes on the camera, some of them very respectable yet the 7 foot differential must have been the depth where the fish, done with feeding, settled in for the night.  My stubbornness sort of took over and I stayed till dark with only 1 fish to show for the day.  Mark, on the other hand had 10 perch and 1 walleye on the ice, and had released 3 other walleyes outside the slot limit.  Oh well, at least somebody got some fish.  My only solstice is the fact that it was my idea to fish where we did yet reality it was probably the only place to fish that was safe.  While out on the ice we got a call from Bill, the Mille Lacs County Ice Rescue Squad was busy that day.  4 guys had walked out to Sloppy Joe's and got stranded on an ice chunk that broke off of the shore anchored ice shelf.  After resolving that issue another call came in as a couple of anglers were floating away out of St. Albans Bay.  I like ice fishing but have no desire to use trolling as a viable technique.

This weekend is  a special one as I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas.  It will be different without my dad but I know he would be sad if we did not celebrate with our hearts in the season so we will not let him down.  At this time last year we had 18 inches of snow on the ground, today it is as brown as can be.  The winter solstice happens tonight and I am looking forward to the days starting to get longer (more fishing time!).   I doubt there will be time to fish until after Sunday and I have a couple of nice pictures that can be used for fill.  Be good and make sure to leave Santa something special, he definitely deserves it.

First Ice 2011

FINALLY!!!  With the stretch of near zero weather last week I was primed to get out and drill a few holes.  Decisions, decisions..............go local for some panfish action or head to Mille Lacs where I had some good report on the walleye bite.   That invitation from Bill was too much so I loaded my new Eskimo Ice Fishing Combo into the truck and headed up north.  Last spring while in Cabela's they had a closeout on an Eskimo setup, a Quickfish 3 pop up shelter, an 8" hand auger, an ice fishing seat, all in a narrow sled that included a cover.  I believe I paid less than $160 for the entire setup.  I was really looking for something that was light and portable, would easily fit in the back of the truck, and easy to pull.  My insulated Clam house checks in at well over 100 pounds, coupled with my Strike Master auger, heater, flasher, camera, and bait we are talking about a couple hundred pounds of gear.  When I can simply drive to my spot via the truck or ATV it's not a big deal but if I'm walking, that's a lot of weight to tug around.  The Eskimo setup is simply perfect for these early ice outings as well, something light for those short trips when it's nice out.  My destination was an area they call the "Trough" located in Vineland Bay.  After stopping at Bill's to load up on bait I headed up the shoreline and pick a spot where it would be easy to walk out.  About 1/2 mile or so offshore, the Trough is an area with a steep drop off in the middle of 12 feet of water.  It stretches for a good 1/3 of a mile and bottoms out at 24 feet.  The drop off is steep going from 12 to 24 in less than 10 feet.  Normally I have a GPS with the lake contour loaded into the map software but when I pulled it out the batteries were completely dead.  Knowing the drop was straight north and seeing another shack about where I was going, I headed off. 

It's interesting walking first ice.  The ultimate dilemma is what do you trust more, yourself or the ice!  The reports had the ice thickness at about 6 inches, more than enough to support a guy walking.  With no snow on the ice I made sure to put on a pair of ice cleats on my boots, a must for first ice.  I do not want to repeat the same fate my friend Leon Lambert suffered during a trek across 11 Mile Reservoir in Colorado on clear ice, he slipped an shattered his wrist. The first 1/4 mile was pretty rough.  As the ice freezes on Mille Lacs it works it's way towards the middle of the lake.  Often a wind will push the newly frozen sheets of water into the bays, piling it in many layers.  This ice is white in color and layered provides a very secure base for walking.  As I approached the edge of the chunk ice there were more areas of clear ice, frozen between the chunks.  Eventually I passed the edge and started crossing substantial patches of ice that was sometimes difficult to judge the depth.  Relying on cracks in the clear ice to give the confidence of it's thickness, I worked my way out to where those guys were.  About half way out those guys had packed up and headed in.  The first thing I noticed was they were staying on the white frozen ice chunks, the same as what was near shore.  It makes you think if one was doing the right thing.  Fortunately the ice was strong, safe and realistically I probably could have rode my ATV............naw.   Having developed the confidence my next task was to find the drop off.  Using my Vexilar and water from the minnow bucket I shot transducer readings through the ice every 50 feet.  12 feet, 12 feet, 12 feet, 12 feet, 24 feet, alright!  Backtracking to the top of the break I found where the bottom started leveling out and setup there.  Drilling a couple of holes in 22 feet, a few holes up the drop, a few beyond the drop, and a few in line with my depth, I was ready to fish.  The ice was a good 6 inches and all fear disappeared for the time being.  I fished outside testing each hole to determine the best place to set up my base.  My original strategy of 22 feet paid off immediately as the Vex lit up like a Christmas Tree in that bottom 6 foot range.  Bang, a small perch, bang, a nice perch, bang, a 14 inch walleye........Wow.  I drilled another hole, set up the Eskimo and settled in.  It was about 12:30 and my plan was to fish till 4:00 as I had a turkey in the smoker for my neighbors annual Christmas Party. 

Between 12:30 and 4 the action was steady.  I ended up with a 14 inch keeper walleye, an 18 1/4" (pictured on top) and a bonus 24 inch walleye pictured above.  Along with about 25 perch (keep 8) I am not complaining for the first time out.  the hot lure was an orange #5 Jigging Rap in a Brown Trout pattern, with a minnow head on the bottom treble hook.  Fishing the clear ice is intersting as you can see the fish underneath the ice as you  reel them in.  This time of the year sitting on the ice can be nerve racking to say the least.  As the ice freezes it is constantly moving and cracking.  As it cracks the ice sounds like you are hitting a large metal tank with a hammer, a sound that reverberates across the surface.  As I sat in my shelter the ice let out a huge rumble as I heard the crack coming towards me.  Fishing the hole in front of me, the crack actually split my hole in half and continued between my 2 legs.......time for a heart check!  Although in no danger, it is still somewhat nerve racking to watch the ice crack in front of you.  I took a picture of the crack as it entered my Eskimo, I guess you just had to be there.  On my way back I entered the area near shore where the ice was rough.  Ice sheets piled up makes for an interesting scene, one I decided to take a picture of.  Trying to get a fish eyes view I laid on the ice and pulled out the camera.  Well it stopped working.  Laying there for about 5 minutes working on fixing it with no luck I got back up and continued my walk back to the truck.  Being about 200 yard from shore I noticed someone walking towards me..............a game warden maybe?  Here it was guy who's wife noticed me laying on the ice and was concerned.  Getting closer he asked if I was alright.  Assuring him of my failed photography event, I expressed my appreciation for his kindness and concern with one of my Ron Schara Outdoor Calendars.  We were both satisfied, I met a very nice man concerned about his fellow fisherman, he got a nice calendar and the fact that his efforts did not go unnoticed.   I am sure that if I could have stayed till sundown the walleye count would have increased nicely.  With that I am looking forward to getting back up this weekend.  My friend Mark Applen is heading north to grind some venison and with a little luck I can tag along and help then find time to close out the evening on his "secret" spot.  We'll see!

By the way, I have been meaning to comment on my friend Dewey's last post.  If you check out the left side (called a sidebar) you will see a category of Blogs I Follow.  One of my favorites is What's Dewey Doin'?  Sometimes other people have this knack of saying what you are thinking and Dewey is the expert at this.  His last post is a simple letter to his dad.  Although I never knew his father, and I know he has long since passed, it takes courage, insight and a huge heart to write what he did.  This will be my first Christmas in 56 years without my dad and I am not sure I could have expressed myself any better.  Thanks Dew, missing somebody hurts but wow, I wouldn't trade that ride for nothing.  You are the man!

Back in Eleva

Hopefully my traveling for the year is done as I am writing this while on a flight from San Jose, California back to Minneapolis.  San Jose is an interesting town where you have a mix of palm trees, evergreens, and trees that have started to lose their leaves.  Although nice, I prefer the diversity of our weather back home and last weekend was no exception.  While my wife attended a cookie baking event my brother Steve picked me up in Fountain City, Wisconsin with the intent on heading to Eleva and help my mom.  Our first stop was the Seven Hawks Winery, downtown Fountain City. Wisconsin is known more for their cheese than it's ability to grow good wine grapes however there is an increasing interest in new hardy wine grape varieties suited for our climate.  An example of this is in Pepin, WI where one could not miss the large castle like building being constructed to house a new winery along the river.  Fountain City's Seven Hawks Vineyard has been there for a number of years now and is located just upriver from town, nestled into the hillside, it kind of looks like those pictures of vineyards in Italy.  Steve and I stopped to taste their wares and admittedly it was pretty good.  One of the nicer wines was a drier white apple wine.  Being near many commercial apple orchards it only makes sense.  Unlike many fruit wines made in the Midwest this was not post sweetened.  It provides a benchmark for the apple wine Lory and I are making and hopefully it will turn out as good.  Here's a link to their website to learn more about the wines they offer: http://www.sevenhawksvineyards.com/?page_id=8

While in Eleva it had snowed a good 4 inches.  It was one of those times where the snow was sticky enough to stick to everything it landed on.  With no wind the effect was stunning.  As I passed over the Buffalo Bridge, just out of town, I could not help but stop and take a picture of the Buffalo River as it passed under the gorgeous winter scene.  Standing there on the bridge brought back many good memories of my time growing up in Eleva.  The bridge was our favorite stop to try our luck at catfishing using the chicken livers we had gathered earlier from the chicken plant.  The hot, humid part of August was the best time as catfish would move up river to spawn and were very active.  Sometimes you could even stand on the bridge and see their ghost like forms crossing the shallow areas to the next deep hole.  Armed with a coffee can of livers and a generous coating of Off repellent, you could always count of seeing Vic Wenaas or Art Kelly fishing on the bank with the pole set in a forked branch harvested from a nearby alder tree.  The bite was always the best right at dusk and on a good night you could get 2 or 3 nice fish.  Unfortunately there are no longer any well used paths from the bridge to the river as I suspect people have better things to do these days (that's debatable!). 

The other nice surprise was running into an old friend, Tommy Austin and his wife Kathy.  Steve and I took my mother down to the bar where my brother Blake's wife Jo was having a little birthday celebration and there he was.  Tom is still running Austin's Body Shop in the same building he's been since I can remember.  That building was actually the old blacksmith shop that my grandpa Roy owned and Tom had bought it from him.  The shop was a great hangout for my friends and I when we were teenagers.  Tom would often put us to work wet sanding cars that needed to be painted, running errands, and probably the most exciting aspect, riding on his homemade hard tail chopped motorcycles to Eau Claire picking up paint at Sam's Auto(someone had to hold it).  At the age of 15 I am not sure my dad would have appreciated me riding on the back of these contraptions so I never told him.  Eau Claire was a good 18 miles away remembering getting off the bike and my back muscles would just be parted by the vibrating sissy bar one leaned back on.  Either way it was quite an adventure.  Tom is still into the motorcycles and has many articles attributed to his custom designed Harley's and association with Klock Werks out of South Dakota.   Word is he may be working on a Victory, something I can't wait to see.  Tom worked with his dad, Herman Austin.  Herman's story is tragic when in 1955 a drunk driver crossed into his wife's lane hitting the car head on and killing her and 3 of their children.  For a small town like Eleva and the Austin family, this was a horrific event. When I worked at the gas station Herman would always stop by on his way home and fill up a 5 gallon can of fuel oil to heat the house for the next day.  I still remember it as if it was yesterday, Herman would give me a dollar as the price per gallon was $0.20.   It was fun to run into them for sure. 

I am pretty sure I will be walking on some ice this weekend, trying my luck on the early crappie and sunfish bite.  It's been around 10 each night with highs less than freezing.  Here's hoping something doesn't screw that up.

Enjoying Florida

The week after Thanksgiving is traditionally the time for our annual fall meeting of The Transformer Association, an trade organization that specializes in the transformer industries of North America.  This years meeting is at the Marco Island Marriott Resort on Marco Island, Florida.  Sometimes I like to mix business with pleasure and would have tried to schedule a fishing trip however it did not work out this year.  Located on the southwest tip of the Florida peninsula, I have to admit I love the area this time of year.  Although it has been somewhat cold for this time of the year (something that has plagued us the last 3 times we have been to Florida), it certainly beats Minnesota!  Tonight it is about 61 degrees, back home it's headed for 10 above.  The next 5 days here shows a forecast in the 80's while Minnesota should be making ice like crazy with temps not getting above freezing.    As stated earlier,  I think there will be walkable ice by December 10th, not a bad start.   The resort here is beautiful as the white sand beach comes right up to the hotel grounds.  Last night was a perfect time to take a picture of the sun as it sets over the Gulf of Mexico.  I am surprised the number of shells littered along the beach.  I would like to come back here and try my luck at offshore fishing.  The popular fish here is grouper.  I went to a restaurant last night and had their special, broiled grouper as well our banquet tonight also featured almond crusted grouper.  I love saltwater fish as it has a better texture and flavor than freshwater fish, and fresh grouper is no exception.  I fly home tomorrow and have been upgraded to first class so I am looking forward to a relaxing flight.

On Monday before I left for Florida my wife and I joined my good friend Bill Hogle and his wife Cheryl to see Leo Kottke, somebody I had quite honestly never hear of.  A little research indicated that he is probably the best acoustical guitar picker alive today.  Playing at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis, I felt it would be a good opportunity to see a couple of things I had not experienced before, the Guthrie and Leo.  I was not disappointed.  Watching Leo play the 12 string guitar sounded like there were 2 other guys playing behind him.  I am fascinated by the ability of this man to control this 12 string with the precision of a surgeon.  Now I would have to also admit that I had never hear any of his music prior and only recognized the last encore song, a take on a 60's pop song.  Never the less it was extremely exciting to experience a new artist and I will probably seek out more of his music.  He did kind of remind me of my good friend Jeff King, a noted picker who's work is legendary in both Soldotna, Alaska and Mazatlan, Mexico.  Speaking of Jeff, I did stop at Everglades City and could not resist the need to stop at a local bait shop.  They had something I have been meaning to buy, a 12 inch cimeter knife to replace the knife that I had sold Rich.  It's a great knife as it makes the perfect instrument for cleaning salmon caught in Alaska as well as steaking out a large piece of venision. I can't wait to get it home and try it out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving seems to have crept up on me in record fashion this year.  With dad gone my mother hasn't the energy or desire to have a house load of people, even her favorite sons, so Thanksgiving will be at my sisters.   I do understand my mothers thoughts on this as living in Minneapolis, it's a full 2 - 3 hours away for any of our family to share the feast in Dayton, so we get out of having to do much of anything other than drive to Wisconsin and bring a dish.  If you have been a fan of "Fishin' With Dave" for a while you know that I am an avid Green Bay Packer Fan.  You would have to be living in a cave not to know they have not missed a beat since entering the playoffs and winning the Superbowl last year.  Knock on wood the Packers are 10-0, the only undefeated team left in the NFL.  It is really interesting how complete the transformation from Brett (who?) Favre to Aaron Rodgers has been.  Of course as the 2008 NFL season began almost everyone in Sconnie was upset with Ted Thompson, the Green Bay general manager who let Favre go in favor of Rodgers.  By the same token most were sick of his retirement antics however one could argue that he still was one of the best despite his game ending interception against the Giants in the NFC Championship game.  You know the old saying, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!  Well, when Favre retired again from the Jets then unretired to play for the Vikings all bet's were off.  In 2009 the Vikes went 13-3 for the season, including 2 wins against the Pack and Aaron Rodgers.  Well, the Vikings went down in typical Favre style as he threw an interception in overtime to allow the New Orleans Saints to go to the Superbowl.  Deja Vu!  In the meantime the Packers continued their development and have won the last 4 games against the Vikings who continue to struggle finding an identity.  As beloved as Brett Favre was to the Packer fans, his attempt to stick it to us by signing with the Vikings and the success of Aaron, most of us have really discounted his decisions.  After his first retirement, the Packers were going to retire his number at the first game in 2008.  I suspect that they will eventually put his number up in Lambeau but I think it's going to be a while! The Packers play the Detroit Lions on their historic Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.  It's a little too early to get cocky about it and certainly the Lions are capable of beating the Pack.  Never the less the Packers make the down time between soft and hard water a lot more interesting and fun.  GO PACK!!!

Amongst other things like putting the boats away and settled for their long sleep and breaking out the ice fishing gear is the development of the fruits of our labor, slowly fermenting in Lory Brasel's basement.  Lory decided to get into making wine this year and together we bought some equipment to perfect this age old craft.  With an abundance of fruit this season, there was no shortage of varieties to make.    Here is a nice and colorful picture of our wines sitting in carboys, finishing off their fermentation.  From left to right they include raspberry, pear, wild grape, plum, and chokecherry.  The raspberries, pear, and wild grapes come from my property and the plum and chokecherry is from Lory's.  Not shown is 5 gallons of apple wine that we pressed a few months ago.  This picture was taken about 6 weeks ago, you can see the foam on the top of the wild grape wine as it continues to ferment.  Lory has since re-racked the wine into smaller carboys and will be ready to bottle next week.  These wines tend to be very dry and will require us to sample each one to determine just the right amount of sweetener if needed, a tough job but someone has to do it.  The picture does little justice as the wine is very colorful ranging from a deep Cabernet color to a rose to a pleasant chardonnay hue.  Obvious these wines are not as sophisticated as one would buy in a store but it's like anything you do yourself, it always has that special aura about it and I can't wait to open our first bottle.

The weather doesn't look like it will start to make ice until next week where the highs will be in the low 30's with the lows in the teens.  With the Ice Fishing Show starting on December 2  I would bet there will be walkable ice somewhere by next weekend, a great start to the season.  I still have a lot of work getting my gear ready and luckily it's fairly organized.  New line, re organizing the tackle box, charging the camera and Vexilar, it's a whole new season!  Have a Great Thanksgiving and do give thanks for all that we are fortunate for.  I have added 2 Thanksgiving songs for the holiday, enjoy.

Deer 1, Dave 0

Well the Minnesota Deer Hunting season ended on Sunday with the result......no venison in the freezer.  The last few years my success while deer hunting has been better than the state average of around 40% of hunters filling their tag.  Bagging a deer has it's plus and minuses.  On plus side there is nothing better than fresh venison tenderloin chops, fried in butter, with onions and garlic, it doesn't get any better.  The minus side it quite frankly it's a lot of work!  Field dressing, dragging out of the woods, hauling it home and hanging it in the pole barn is only the beginning.  The fun really starts when the butchering begins as I am one of those guys that are leery of dropping it off to have it processed.  Besides being to cheap to pay someone to do what I am pretty good at, if it isn't too cold out and one can convince a neighbor to help me it isn't too bad of a job.  Oh well, maybe next year.  One of the things I would really like to do is harvest a trophy deer, something I could hang on the wall.  Having deer hunted for 40 years now I can only remember once when I saw a respectable rack on a deer and then I could not get a good shot off.  Being a responsible hunter means you don't take the chance to wound an animal if you can help it.  Oh well, other than that time the largest buck I ever shot was a small 6 point buck (3 x 3 for you western hunters) with about a 10 inch spread, nothing to write home about, that's for sure.  On the other hand I have friends that seem to have experienced a number of trophy bucks in their lives.  My Uncle Jerry is one of them as I have a couple mule deer rack mounts of his earlier years hunting out west.  They are impressive to say the least.  Leon Lambert, my good friend from Pueblo, Colorado is another guy that seems to have no shortage of large buck mounts, a Boone and Crockett elk mount, and a number of trophy pronghorn mounts.  His house looks like a museum of natural history!  Another is my good friend and fishing partner Lory Brasel.  He hunts near his home town of New York Mills, MN on his step father's land.  Although it is a small piece of property, it is a natural funnel for deer coming out of the river bottoms into the fields above.  Here he is pictured with a beautiful 10 pointer (6 on one side and 4 on the other), a nice addition to the 2 he already has hanging on the wall.  It's ironic that the biggest deer I have ever seen in the wild was about 15 years ago.  Back then I would often fish the fall trolling bite on Mille Lacs till midnight or 1:00 in the morning.  One night arriving home around 2:00AM I turned on my big halogen lights in the back of my house only to see a huge 10 point buck with an even larger 12 pointer right behind it.  Oh well.

I shoot a Remington Model 6, 30-06 pump action rifle.  My first deer hunting rifle was a sporterized 30-06 military gun with a simple 4X scope, it must have weighed at least 10 pounds.  I bought it from my boss at the time for a whooping $75.  Although extremely accurate, it was a bear to carry around and I needed to look for something more practical.  Lee's Taxidermy in Prescott Wisconsin was probably the best place at that time to buy a gun, something I soon found out.  Having only $350, I was determined to get a simple Remington 760 pump, a sling with hardware, some shells and a case.  The owner suggested I get the Model 6 instead, it was a fancier, nicer gun with a Monti Carlo stock, special checkering, and a unique cartridge end mounted in the receiver.  Stating I didn't have enough money for the gun but he must have either felt sorry for me or really wanted to get rid of that gun.  The price was $340 for the rifle, $15 for the sling, $10 for the mounting hardware, $365 + another $17 for tax.  Having only $350, he told me to take the gun and pay me later if I could.  As I left a pretty happy new gun owner he yelled out "Hey, you better sight that gun in" and handed me a box of shells to boot.  I ended up buying a scope from my good friend, the late Pat Holmes.  His company was the rep for the company that made all of the 1 inch aluminum scope tubes for Burris.  He got a super deal and I was in business.  4 years ago I was sighting my gun in and the first shot was 6 inches high, 4 to the left.  After adjusting and shooting another round it was now 6 inches low and 4 inches to the right!  I adjusted it back to where it was and the third and fourth shot was a bulls eye.  The next year a deer came by my stand, one that Jack had hit in the leg.  It took me 6 rounds to finally I finally put the deer down.  Knowing something was amiss and because the scope had a lifetime warranty I sent it back to Burris.  A couple weeks later they called stating the springs were weak causing the scope to be off, they could not fix it, the model was obsolete, and they would offer me 75% off any scope in their lineup.  Because most of my shots are under 50 yards I took their 1.5x - 6x model, quite a bargain at $200.  After carefully mounting the scope I bought some Federal Premium 165 grain Sierra Boat Tail bullets to sight it in.  Man, I had trouble as they were all over the target.  10 years earlier a worker at our plant loaded me a bunch of shells that were dead one, 2 inch patterns.  Talking to my in house gun expert Brett Jelkin, he believed that the factory loads were not ideal and he would load me up some shells to try.  He set the bullets a little further out so there wasn't as much "jump" when the bullet hits the beginning of the barrel and did it ever make a difference.  My first 3 rounds yielded a group at 1 1/2 inches, pretty impressive.  Brett does an excellent job as his shooting knowledge is second to none.  He even sent me this ballistics chart with the solid bold line being my loads while the dotted lower line is a standard factory load.    Although I was definitely ready, I never did get a chance to put it too the real test.  The good news is that everything will be ready to go next year. 

This morning it was 10 degrees and the small potholes and swamps were froze over. My guess is the surface temperature on Mille Lacs has to be in the high 30's.  Hard water can't be far behind.  My friend Keith is back from his summer in Alaska and I am determined to meet up with him a couple of times out on the ice.  In the meantime my neighbors boy, Ryan Przymus stopped by with a couple beautiful pictures of a 17.5 and a 15.5 inch crappies he got in Nonyhoa Lake.  When I asked him where that was he said.........Non yhoa business!  He promised he'd take me there and I am looking forward to it.  He also promised to send pictures however I am still waiting and will post them when they show up.  Those were impressive to say the least.

Deer Hunting Family Style

The 2011 Deer Hunting season so far has been just that, hunting.   Having strategically located my stand in a “can’t lose” spot, Saturday morning Jack and I were greeted with nothing less than gale force winds, sometimes gusting to 35 miles per hour.  The swamp I was in did not have the big 16 to 20 inch diameter poplar trees of Rich’s place so I had to settle for something less sturdy and as I found out, more susceptible to the whims of the near hurricane.  The fact that my stand is 20 feet tall to the chair added another aspect of excitement to a rather unsuccessful opener.  There were times that I swear the only thing holding that tree up was the ladder portion of my stand.  I always wear my harness just in case the unfortunate event would see me falling out of the stand, I’d be saved.  As the wind increased my thoughts ventured to whether or not it was a good idea as if the tree went down I would be securely tethered like a flag to a flag pole.  Apparently I survived.  The greatest thing about deer hunting with Jack is all the great people we meet.  What impresses me the most is how they have involved their entire families into this great tradition.  Friday night was spent at Rich’s place, having our traditional steak feed and reacquainting ourselves with those we spent the hunt with last year.  There was no shortage of young hunters as Brett’s son (featured last year), his friend Brennen, Chris with his 3 super smart boys, Kevin, his dad Eugene and his boy Austin long with Ken.  I love to engage the kids on the ways of the world as we shot a few rounds out of my pistol and spent the night arguing which gun was the best for deer.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of our group this time, something I regret.  I did however snap this picture of our hunting host for this year, Loren Tolama and his fine bunch of children and grandchildren.  Sunday’s wind was an exact repeat of Saturday’s weather and during the afternoon the Tomala's called and said were coming over to see how we were doing………….. 3 truck loads! Loren is the guy on the right side of the picture and is the big kahuna of this bunch of dedicated deer hunters.   On the far right is Nathan Tomala, a senior at Pierz High School who is playing this week for a chance to go to the Minnesota State Football Tournament.  In between is his parents, uncles, and 4 of the most interesting young hunters I have ever met.  They spent an hour with Jack, Ben and I discussing everything that is important in life like deer hunting, football, and whatever makes the kids smile.  A couple of weeks ago Loren took Ben in the John Deere combine to pick corn while letting me get on the old Farmall M and pull the gravity box over to the edge of the corn.  I think I could have stayed there all day.  If you measured wealth not by money but by family, the Tomala's are definitely one the "richest" families I know. 

So what does deer camp look like?  Well, Loren suggested we pull Jack's wheel house (pictured above) onto the property to make sure we have an official headquarters to base ourselves out of.  It was kind of nice to have a place to get our hunting clothes on, cut up some lunch, and have a place to unwind for a few minutes before heading back to Jack's cabin.  It worked out really well as we cooked some locally made wild rice sausage for lunch on Sunday, pretty good if you ask me.  When I first started deer hunting in Minnesota, it was with my friend Mark Taylor, Jack Taylor, Mark's brother-in-law Tim Guzek, and myself.  We would leave Minneapolis right after work on the Thursday before opening day and drive to Roseau, MN to hunt with Dale Larsen, a guy that I worked with who was from that area.  Roseau is home to Polaris Industries and is located 10 miles from the Canadian border.  We probably started going in 1980 and would take "Old Blue", an older powder blue van that Jack and Mark's dad Earl had.  We would throw a love seat and chair in the back then loaded her with our favorite refreshments as it was about a 6 hour drive.  Arriving around midnight at the Evergreen Motel, they'd leave the room door open for us so we would not have to wake them.  Back them we had little money so 4 of us crammed in a single room with 2 queen size beds.  At about $20 a night, if we split it our cost per guy was $20, a bargain!  Those were the days for sure.   Well, Mark hasn't hunted with us in a number of years so we thought we'd send him a picture that might convince him to come and spend the weekend with us.  The last picture is our proposition, a couple of chairs, a bottle of "Easy Jesus" (E & J Brandy) and a plastic red cup already mixed for him.  I did e-mail it to Mark but like a lot of us, sometimes as we get older we simply have more excuses why we don't try to enjoy life as much as we once did.   Maybe next year.  I am planning to go up for a day this weekend and see if I can still bag a deer if possible.  The weather is suppose to be nice as last weekend the deer simply would not move with that wind.  Wish me luck! 

Deer Hunting Weekend

This weekend is the start of Minnesota's deer hunting season.  My friend Jack and I have been hunting the last 8 years just south of Jack's cabin, 12 miles west of Onamia, MN.  Now that our friend Rich has passed away and the land is up for sale, we have scouted out a few areas however Jack's neighbor at the lake was kind enough to give us permission to hunt his 80 acres.  Last weekend Jack and I set up our stands on the new property.  I am back in the middle of a small swamp but luckily it is pretty dry and should not present any issues like my old stand at Rich's.  The weather this week should be nice but windy.  Unfortunately the deer tend to sit tight when the wind blows so we'll have to see.  A few years back I bought a new ladder stand and is what I use today.    At my age it's considerably easier to climb the ladder and sort of set myself into the seat rather than having to strap a stick ladder, hang a stand by a T-nut and ratchet strap, get it all aligned so I don't slip getting into it, then hope like heck I didn't fall asleep!  We are still getting together with our hunting group for our Friday night steak feed, something Rich always enjoyed.  Another interesting aspect of hunting the new land, the neighbor has trail cam pictures of a couple of cougars walking around the area.  You can be assured my gun will be loaded when I walk in.

I am way behind in posting pictures my friends have sent me so I will include one of my friend Matt Taylor and his girlfriend Christina.  Matt called me earlier this year and asked for advise on planning a trip to Alaska.  Having been there a number of times I was able to help Matt put together a nice experience.  They took my advise and did a combo out of Seward.   I am pretty sure they headed to Montague Island, a popular halibut spot, got their limit then went for silvers on the way back.  Matt said they had a blast and caught tons of fish including these two beautiful silver salmon.  If you look close, the silver Christina is holding has some pretty big marks on the side, more than likely cause by a salmon shark that prey on these fish.   I really enjoy sharing my experiences and advise with my friends, especially when things turn out well. 

Off to deer camp, hopefully da thurty pointer will be in my sights on Saturday morning!

Indian Summer

Here in the Upper Midwest we often experience a nice warm spell after we have had a killing frost.  This fabulous weather is known as Indian Summer and can be some of the nicest of the year.  This is also the last push for the fish to fatten up for the long winter ahead, with the spawning season just after ice out.  Some of the walleyes I have been catching have already started developing eggs.  Although I have tons of stuff to do before the snow files, the temptation to take advantage of the Indian Summer day that last Saturday turned out to be was too much.  I decided to meet my friend Jack at his cabin on Platte Lake and check out our new deer hunting land for this year.  Just south of our old spot on Rich's land, the 80 acres proved to be significantly less wet as it was getting tough tromping through a 1/4 mile of swamp in the dark, with your hip boots, never sure that the next step wasn't going to fill those boots.   The new land is about 70% fields with the rest a mixture of popple, oak, and some minor muskegs.  It looks pretty good as we scouted the best spots, met the neighbors, and walked the parameter.  Once that was done our plan was to head to Mille Lacs to take advantage of the late afternoon perch bite mixed with some shallow water reef trolling just as the sun would disappear from view.   Jack's 7 year old son Ben wanted to go with and figuring I wasn't going to stay out late, it would be fun.  We picked up a bag of crappie minnows at the bait shop before heading to the lake and took off.   Once on the lake we headed for a relatively shallow bay to fish perch in 4 feet of water.  This time of year you can often catch your limit quite quickly with the bonus aspect of seeing the fish hit your lure, something I thought Ben would enjoy.  It was very surprising to watch Ben work his spinning rod and reel.  Most children start out with a spin cast outfit, something that is easier to handle and somewhat cheaper to replace if it happens to go overboard.  Not Ben!  From casting to setting the hook on the first perch of the day I was pretty impressed by this young man's fishing demeanor.   I remember catching sight of his bobber sailing out 60 feet or more thinking it was nice of Jack to help his son.  Looking back towards them, Jack was still baiting his hook while Ben was setting the bail on his reel.  He can only get better. 

Just as the sun set on the horizon we headed to Indian Point to troll shad raps for an hour or so.  Ben was a little chilled so just Jack and I put out rods.  About 15 minutes into the run something slammed my shad rap hard.  It felt like a very nice fish yet when I got it close to the boat it seemed to have shrunk by 8 inches or so and lost 4 pounds.  Ben wanted to net the fish so we gave him the net and he scooped up the walleye better than a lot of guys I have had in the boat.  Jack took a picture of me holding the "monster" 19 3/4" walleye and another of Ben working his net magic.  The return trip down the long reef produced another walleye for Jack.  With the temperature dropping, Ben was getting cold so we called it a day.  All told we had 8 nice perch and kept both walleyes.  It looks like this might be my last soft water trip for the old Ranger for the year.  This weekend will see Jack and I setting up our tree stands and doing some more  scouting of the land we are hunting on.  Deer season opens on Saturday, November 5th, hopefully the new location brings us luck.  Indian Summer is suppose to return next week, probably the last 60 degree day we will see until next March.