Posting From Washington DC

Greetings from Washington DC. I am here at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) which is held every year near the end of February. It is an important trade show where we get a chance to show our products to a world wide customer gathering. It is also a time to renew old friendships such as Olaf Niemann of Kaschke Components located in Germany. Olaf and I have much in common such as we both like beer. We talked about current events in Germany and why he has a Scandinavian first name!

Saturday I finally made my rounds in Wisconsin to see all the relatives and my dad. It was a good time but I got back somewhat late. Sunday I decided to go out for a few hours, back to Pelican Lake to try for some more crappies. On the way I called my friend Russ to let him know where I would be in case he decided to join me. Stopping for bait I was out on the ice by 3:00. I had not even finished setting up when Russ pulled up. I had drilled a number of holes and stuck the camera down looking for weeds. After locating some potential fish holding areas I set my shack over the best looking spot. As last week the crappies did not show there presence until about 5:30. They seemed to go in streaks with a couple of fish showing up at a time with about a 10 minute delay between catching. Although temped to stay, I knew I had to finish packing as my flight departure meant that I had to get up at 3:00 AM to arrive on time. Although Russ only nailed one, I got a total of 5 and I am sure that staying another hour would have rewarded me with a limit of fish. I am going to have to get Russ one of my spring bobber poles to change his success rate. My pictures include one of Russ in his Eskimo Ice house. Russ has come a long way in the last couple of years towards being an excellent fishermen and I really enjoy teaching him new techniques and strategies. The other picture is sunset on Pelican. The rain of a few weeks ago has totally cleared the ice of snow and provides a stunning reflection of the sun going down. Walleye season closes next Sunday for all inland waters so I am planning on hitting Mille Lacs one last time for these elusive fish.