Happy New Year and Other Stuff

Well, we are on the eve of another year, welcoming in 2009. Looking back it has been a good year of fishing. Starting with a successful trip to Lake of the Woods in April, we enjoyed a consistent bite. Our Team Walleye opener on Leech Lake this year turned out to be the best ever with the most fish as well as the biggest fish caught in 35 years. Mille Lacs started strong but the bait fish hatch of what Bill Lundeen terms "Of Biblical Proportions" basically shut down the fishing this summer on the big pond. August saw our trip to Alaska quite eventful with a load of pinks in the Kenai, being hassled by brown bears, and simply enjoying the company of my cousins. Fall fishing was a lot to be desired however my trip with Captain Dave in Jacksonville made up for it. The big crappies showed themselves last week (not so good on Sunday) and I am looking forward to finally challenging those walleyes on Mille Lacs. We still have a lot of hard water fishing left and I plan on taking advantage of it.


One of the nice things about the blog are the responses I get from people. As my header states, I invite you to share your pictures and stories. To my delight, I do get responses from the various readers. The young lady holding the walleye is Laura, the daughter of a good friend of mine John DeLestry. I met John through a mutual friend a number of years ago and we have been fishing friends ever since. He read my post of last week and it inspired him to take the family fishing on a local lake near his home. His daughter caught her very first walleye, a respectable 19.5 incher, through the ice and is proudly posing with it here! I am glad that John is teaching his daughter the ways of the outdoors as it is exciting to see the young people enjoying the challenge. I also see that John has taught her how to properly hold a fish when taking a portrait. The key is to get your hand out of the picture so the viewer does not have a reference point. Fish always look bigger that way (Check out some of my previous pictures!)

This next picture is one of Ken Blasor, a fellow fisherman I met during my meetings in Jacksonville. Ken is a manager for Ferroxcube, a well known supplier of ferrite cores for the transformer industry. Although most of you probably do not have a clue what ferrite is, I can assure you that it is a vital component of our fish finders, GPS units, and most other modern electronics. I have supplied a number of components to the depth finder industry using his parts. Ken joined me for our association dinner and we hit it off right away. I suggested that he check out my blog and when I returned home he had read it, offering his own proof of his own love for the sport. Ken is holding a very nice King Salmon he caught in Sitka, Alaska this year. Having been to Alaska this year we had plenty of things to talk about.

As always, I love seeing your pictures and hearing your stories. It also help fill in those slow weeks when my life seems pretty dull. Happy New Year!