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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Goodbye to My Fishing Friend
As I have written before, getting older means that eventually you will lose some of your good fishing friends. Of course as we age, so do our friends and it's just part of life. Last Friday morning I received one of those calls that one never expects, my friend Russ died last night of a massive heart attack. The problem is that Russ had just turned 40. The suddenness of it all is somewhat overwhelming however. Russ was married to our good friend Jessica, a new opportunity, yet our relationship did not start out exactly seeing eye to eye. I suppose the 15 years of age difference and our backgrounds was enough to create some differences however one could see a good man underneath all of those defenses. It took a few years and as time passed found that we had more in common than not. Often I would bring a new bait for him, a left over pedestal for his boat, a software program to share. One thing that Russ became hooked on was fishing. Having done little ice fishing and limited open water fishing, I was probably a bad influence on his fishing budget. An ice auger off Craigslist, a end of the season ice house, a used 16 foot Lund with a 25 hp motor. All those things that a guy definitely needs! As time went on I took Russ to Mille Lacs, both ice fishing and open water fishing. He has never experienced big water angling and it was interesting to see his reactions the first time we drove 5 miles off shore to fish a special area in the middle of the lake. Russ had a blast. Here is Russ with his son Cage.
I had posted this picture last year when we had a chance to hit Mille Lacs. It was the largest walleye he had ever caught and although it wasn't the most successful day, we had fun. One of our favorite lakes to hit in the winter was Pelican Lake, just down the road from his house in St. Michael, MN. A shallow lake, 12 feet at it's maximum, it is full of nice sized crappies and sunfish. We could hit the lake in the mid afternoon, catching a nice mess of fish and be back by 7:00 in the evening. I would like to think I was a good mentor to Russ. Teaching him how to fish using a Vexilar FL-8 to the proper way he should interview for a job to helping him stay focused on having the confidence to forge ahead. It probably explains why these things hurt so bad. You invest time in a friendship, looking for a lifetime of sharing those rewards and sometimes it simply doesn't turn out that way. God bless Russ and his family, I will miss you my friend.
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Thursday, November 18, 2010
Another Great Hunt
Matt's last sentence was "Before you know it we'll be on the ice" Well Saturday produced a good old snowstorm dropping 10 inches of heavy wet snow in the area. Last year we did get our first snowfall rather early however it didn't last. This one could stick around for a while. This is a good omen for early ice. As stated in a previous post, my earliest foray on the ice was November 17th with Earl Taylor. Fishing North Center Lake in Lindstrom, MN there was a good 4 inches of ice covering the lake this early. Although the small ponds and swamps have a thin coating of ice on them now, we will need some more cold weather to get walkable ice. Next week shows highs in the mid 20's with lows in the single digits so we can't be too far off. With the weekend approaching it will be good to get my gear out and tune it up. I am predicting a great year for walleye on Mille Lacs. The earliest I have been on the pond was the weekend after Thanksgiving. Early ice is always one of my favorite times and I am looking forward to a little hard water.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Opening Day Success
A couple of parting shots. One of the things you commonly see in the rural areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and I am sure many states as well, all the road signs seem to have at least one bullet hole in it! From shotguns to rifles to pistols bullets holes, one thing's for sure, there is no closed season on signs. Here is a good example of this as we stopped to check it out. I guess I remember participating in that sport 40 year ago as well. I am writing this at 38,000 feet over Nevada. Flying to San Jose, California for a Medical Trade Show the plane has WiFi on board. $12.95 for the flight, about 3 hours worth, is pretty reasonable. I can check my e-mails, finish a much past due post, and generally keep myself entertained. Amazing world we live in today. My stand is still in the woods, waiting for the freeze and hopefully I get this done soon. The loss of 35 pounds really made a difference this year. Carrying around that big bag of potatoes inside my body really dragged me down and I felt great all season. I am sure at last years weight, I probably would have not gotten this deer. This is sort of a transition time of year, hopefully ice fishing is not to far away.
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