Rockin' With Charlie

Tuesday was my day to spend with a very good friend, Chuck Teasley. Every year Chuck and his family attend a Bible camp on Lake Carlos near Alexandria for a week with his wife's side of the family. Depending on our schedules he tries to meet me for a day on Mille Lacs Lake and this year was a go. I met Chuck around 1980 while living at the apartments in Osseo MN. Chuck was a young banker at the local Northwestern Bank, had a chip on his shoulder the size of a cement block, and I think some of it's still there! Young, handsome, and confident, I am not sure what he saw in me other than a possible stabilizing force for all that energy. We both loved to hunt and fish and I suppose it is the thread that has kept us friends all this time. Chuck eventually got married and moved to Duluth, which meant he needed a new boat. It was a perfect opportunity for me to upgrade from my 14 foot Lund, so in 1987 I bought his 1985 Lund Pro Angler 16 foot with a 4 cylinder 50 hp Merc. That boat was a fishing magnet for sure as it now gave me the range I needed on Mille Lacs to hit the offshore flats. We even used it to fish Lake Michigan's salmon as I equipped the boat with down riggers and out riggers. In 1989 Charlie's wife was transferred to Orlando, Florida. Living down south he saw no need for his new Lund fiberglass Nisswa Guide so I sold his old boat and bought his newer boat. This was my first glass boat and certainly not my last. You can probably blame my current Ranger on Charlie's introduction to the Nisswa. You know what they say, beer comes in aluminum but champagne always comes in glass!

Today Charlie is living in Illinois, east of St. Louis, MO. Besides being a big game hunter and Mr. Mom he is a full time ISR instructor. ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resource and is a program to teach children as young as 6 months to save themselves if they should ever fall into the water alone. Chuck has taught thousands of infants and young children the skills to survive an otherwise fatal mistake. He has real life, happy tales from parents of his students on the success of his methods. Now if he only could show a little success in the fishing boat with me! After meeting at the house we packed our gear and headed up Hwy 47 to a friend of mine, Mark Applen's ice house, for the night. It's really a mistake to call this thing an ice house however that is a tale for another day. Needless to say our accommodations were first class. After a couple of pizza's at the resort bar we called it a night. At 11:00 pm the wind was howling pretty good which usually means it is only going to be worse in the morning. Never fails! Instead of getting pounded again we decided to head to the north side of the lake. After a feeble attempt to launch at the Wealthwood Landing, we final got the boat off the trailer at the North Garrison Landing. Much better! The wind was tolerable so we headed east to Matton Flat as a previous report sounded favorable. A 20 mph north wind was the result of a cold front that went through just as we arrived the night before. Heck, that is as good of an excuse as I can come up with. The wind was perfect for a drift off the north point of the flat and we missed a number of good fish. Although we only finished the day with 3 walleyes, 1 over 18 and 2 under 12, never the less it was a great spending time with Chuck. Heading back home we stopped at Lundeens for a sample of his excellent ribs he makes in the smoker I found for him as well as a couple of horseradish pickles, unbelievable! A stop for gas and an ice cream cone, it was all over. Time flies for sure.

Well this is not the end of the story. Yesterday Charlie e-mails me a couple of pictures of the fish he caught AFTER a day with me. Well, what can I say other than a little of my luck must have rubbed off on Chuck!!! He's a Chuck to love for sure. I hope everyone has a friend like Mr. Teasley.