Long Week

My friend Keith is still catching Silvers!

With the high water, no walleye fishing on Mille Lacs, and the constant rain last weekend was spend getting ready for the winter than any relaxing fishing I should have done.  I also needed to get ready for my trip to Chicago to attend the North American Coil Winding show, which I did on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week.  Hence forth the late posting.........oh well. At least some of my friends are still fishing as proof of this nice Silver that Keith Holtan, my friend from Alaska caught on the Kenai River.  Along with my Brother and cousins, I have been fishing the early run of Silvers on the Kenai many times but it's usually in August when the weather is still somewhat nice, however Keith says the the late run of Silvers in September have larger fish.  This seems true with the late run of King Salmon as well, the late run produces those monster fish in the 60 - 90 pound range.  This picture of Keith is proof that those late runs silvers are pretty big, maybe someday I'll have to fly up and have him take me out.  He claims that the temperature was 22 the other morning, uffda!  Of course we had our first frost Friday night and the grass was pretty frosty this morning, a goo killing frost for sure. hopefully this is a signal for early freeze up this year!

Pan Fried Yellow Lake Perch, $17.75

Spending time in Chicago was interesting as I got to see all of our suppliers and some customers as
well as potential customers.  My company has been a survivor in the world of Chinese competitors and changing electronics industry.  We are definitely a player in the industry these days and it's fun to finally get some respect!  The show was at the Rosemount Center, just a mile or so from Chicago Ohare airport so it's and easy in and out.  The Double Tree Hotel has a nice restaurant called Gibson's Steakhouse and they are a really high end place but everything is very good.  On Thursday I was out of the show early so I decided to have lunch there before I headed to the airport and my flight.  On the menu they had Pan Fried Yellow Lake Perch in Lemon Butter and although the broiled halibut looked good, the waiter suggested that the perch was a guest favorite so I ordered it.  Totally unbelievable is the only way I can describe how well it was!   The perch fillets were not the big however whatever they coated it with then drizzled the lemon butter on them, I have had lot's of fish and definitely this has to top on of the best, including all of the fresh caught saltwater fish I have had the good fortune of eating.  It would be interesting to see if I could get the recipe for both the lemon butter and the coating but............if you are ever in Chicago and have a chance to eat lunch at Gibson's, I highly recommend it and it was definitely worth every penny!

I am off to Denver on Monday, hopefully get a chance to stop at the Bass Pro Shop as I like the variety.  It was confirmed this week that Bass Pro bought Cabela's.  They bought Ranger Boats last year and are definitely now the largest outdoor sports retailer in the United States.  I am not sure if that's good or bad, I guess time will tell.  My experiences is that it will not be good as the lack of choices is not that available anymore as companies chose to continue to buy each other out and look for ways to make more money.  It is sad because some of my favorite brands no longer exist, Falls Tackle, Beckman Nets are just 2 of them, I guess maybe consolidation is the only way but it doesn't mean it's good.  I have been working on my Salem Ice Cabin and getting it ready for the winter.  JR (From JR's on Red Lake) called me when I was in Chicago, just to see how I was doing and to give me some crap!  He has remodeled the place somewhat so I am excited to get up there!  He is super nice to both myself and Mark Applen and hopefully we can get up there early this year again.  I did check my tires as they were supposed to be filled with nitrogen so they don't lose air but I think that's a crock.  One was almost flat and the other was low so I took them off and brought them to Pete's to have the beads broke, cleaned, and resealed.  We one of the tires was quite wore out on one side and after some discussion about cracks in the other tire I decided to simply put new ones on.  The are 15 inch, 8 ply, load range D, and take 65 pounds of air.   I think that the low air pressure didn't help the old tires as I figures there was probably less than 4000 miles on them however, the last thing I want to be doing is changing a tire, 10 miles from JR's in 20 below weather........not!!!  I have a few things to fix and I should be set for the winter.  I have been invited to fish Long lake in Wisconsin in a  coupel of weeks with my wife's uncle and cousin Andrew and Jason.  It will be a good excuse to get the boat out one last time and winterize it.  Also I have a trout fishing date with my good friend Bill Lundeen, we have been doing this each year, maybe sometime next week.  Deer Hunting is coming up, lot's of stuff to do before then.