Back to Normal

Things are back to normal, whatever normal is.  On Saturday we had a wonderful memorial service for my dad.  POD (Poor Old Dinnie) had most of his wishes planned, a simple cremation followed by a nice church service then a nice tribute at the cemetery by the local American Legion.  Apparently he asked Tommy Benning, another fixture in Eleva, to sing at his funeral.  Tom did a fabulous job.  There were quite a few people at the church as they almost filled every pew.  Pastor Kermit Solem (talk about a Norwegian name!) always does a wonderful job and this time was no exception.  To my joy a number of my neighbors and friends drove down from Minneapolis, which was nice.  Volunteering to say a few words about dad at the service, I surprised myself by making it through the entire time in front of everyone without a tear.  Dad was once a toastmaster 30 years ago and he gave me his speaking manual, which I still use today.  My brother Steve got up and said a few words of reflection and did a great job.  Dad was the Commander of Legion Post #459 in Eleva so he was afforded full military rights.  My niece Heidi Lee is in the Army and along with her sister Katie, they performed the flag folding ceremony.  Heidi was in full dress uniform as she presented my mom the flag given to all veterans, presented flawlessly as she saluted.  There wasn't a dry eye to be seen.  As the Legion gave the traditional rifle salute, my nephew Alex played taps in the background sending a chill down everyone's spine.  I am sure that grandpa was awfully proud of their roles.  Like all good Norwegian Lutheran's we gathered in the church basement for the traditional fellowship including hotdish, cake, pickles, and coffee.  Dad was on the "Funeral Kitchen Crew" and in 2007 was promoted from Pots and Pans to the dishwasher!  I would like to thank all of you who called, left comments, sent card and condolences, and offered food or gifts to my mother. Dad might have been known as POD, but by the support I saw last week he was the richest man I knew.

So, what better way to forget all your troubles than to go fishing!  With little time to plan a trip to Mille Lacs and the river being so close, I invited my neighbor Tom to join me for an evening excursion last Sunday night.  Hooking up the boat on the ATV we launched at the neighbors house and headed up river.  The water had fallen about 8 inches from my previous trip resulting in a reduced current that was evident as I hit 13 mph upriver, a full mph faster than before.  Running up to the third set of islands from the landing, we drifted the south shore without much success.  The high water tends to push the fish close to shore and the rocks hold the smallies, yet this side proved less productive.  About a half mile of fishless water we headed to the north side of the river where I have had pretty good luck in the past.  I decided to put on my go to crankbait, a Bomber A, shallow running (2 - 4 feet) lure in a Fire Tiger color.  On the first cast I nailed a nice small mouth bass.  Within the next 200 yards I had caught my third bass and a nice keeper walleye.  The next bass wasn't so friendly.  Although only about 13 inches, just as I was about to grab it to remove the bait it gave a flip and embedded the front hook into the top of my wrist far beyond the barb.  So there I am, the top hook securely fastened to me and the bottom hook attached to a determined small mouth anxious to get released, not a very good combination.  The first order of business was to get the thrashing fish off the lure, which Tom quickly accomplished.  My thought was to grab the pliers and see if I could yank it out.  That doesn't work, trust me.  I really didn't want to give up the hot bite so we cut the hook off the lure, cut the remaining 2 points off the hook, and under now Dr. Tom's advice, attached some 12# mono to the embedded hook.  While he pushed the shank of the hook downward, I gave the mono a good yank.  Well, that didn't feel to good as the hook was still in my arm, yet it showed promise.  Determined I got a good grip on the line another yank and the hook popped out, just like it was suppose to.  Letting out a yell for good measure we were back in the business of catching fish.  The bait was definitely hot so I removed another hook from a different bait and reattached.  Tom and I continued to catch fish as we ended up with over 12 smallies, 1 respectable walleye, and a catfish that I saw hit the lure as it approached the boat.  Not bad for a simple evening outing.  I have my new Sirius Satellite receiver for the Ranger as well as a different mount for my HDS 10 to install,  it will give me something to do this weekend as I prepare for the lead lining bite on Mille Lacs.  It's been about a month since I've been to the pond and that itch is getting pretty intense.