Catching Up, Slow but Sure



Holding down the fort.



It was Memorial Day weekend and it still seems like the first week in May.  With all the rain we are having, just getting in the garden has been a challenge.  For the most part I am still 3 weeks behind but slowly catching up around the house.  For the last month the plantings have been a little here and a little there with potatoes in first, radishes, onions, carrots and peas.  It was good that I rototilled before the rains as it is still significantly wet 4 inches down.  With half the corn in, dill, kale, beans, squash, tomatoes and pepper plants looking better, all I have left is the cucumbers.  I traded my 10 liter fermentation crock for a 15 liter crock and am looking forward to making crock pickles again, they're pretty awesome.  Saturday was spent helping my good friend Bill Lundeen run his bait shop, Lundeen's Tackle Castle on the southwest corner of Mille Lacs.  His daughter, Amanda graduated from the University of St. Thomas and there was no way he and Kathy were going to miss seeing her receive that diploma.  Unfortunately graduation coincides with some of the busiest time of the year for the Lundeen's but I guess he felt we could handle it.  Along with me was Mike Wolff, Mike Melleen, and Don Zaske, all who have worked for Bill at one time or another.  All of these guys are just wonderful and each has their own specialty.  While Don worked the propane, Mike Wolff and I manned the cash register, credit card machine, and with Mr. Melleen's help we all took turns with the license machine.  And licenses we sold!  I'll bet we did over 120 sold to locals and as far away as Hawaii.  Leeches were the most popular with most people and we almost sold out of 5 - 6 inch sucker minnows as some guys were just hammering the big walleyes on them in the various harbors around the lake.  All in all it was a great day to meet new people, work with the guys who have your same passion, and give the gift of letting Bill and Kathy do something special in their lives.

Little and Big Waverly Lakes

Did I say it's been raining?  With a short window on Sunday I did a little planting if the garden before heading out to fish for the afternoon.  With the boat still having sat on the trailer since last October, we simply had to get out.  My destination was Big Waverly Lake in Waverly, MN.  Having purchased a Minnesota Lake Map book that showed significant walleye stockings the last few years and some encouraging words from a friend of mine, I stopped by Cabela's to get some shiner and fathead minnows before cutting cross country to my destination.  Big Waverly is a misnomer as it's not very big at all.  I guess next to it's twin, Little Waverly, it's the biggest...........makes sense.  I arrived at the boat landing just as 2 guys were loading up their bass boat, we discussed the fishing conditions before putting the boat in the water.  After unhooking everything, plugging what needed to be plugged, I backed into the landing.  It was obvious the water was high as it was at the same level as the dock, oh well....more water to float the boat in.  Not this time as the high water covered the more level part of the ramp and with the front wheels of my truck in 6 inches of water the boat was still on the trailer.  I could get to the dock and possibly jump out of the truck and launch but it just didn't seem like a good idea.  Now if I had another guy I would have backed it in far enough to drive it off and back on again, which I am sure the bass boat guys did.  So much for Plan A.  Little Waverly Lake was across the street and although it was just as high the ramp was steeper and I was able to launch.  The problem is that Little Waverly really didn't have the fish population as it's significantly more shallow with much less clarity.  Well at least I got out and tried everything.  You can't knock a guy for trying!

These weekend is graduation central as we are invited to 3 different parties.  I have decided to skip the ones on Saturday and fish the Minnesota Tournament Trail's event on Lake Mille Lacs with Mark Applen.   2 years ago we had taken 3rd place winning over $1000 for Marks Charity.  Last year we got somewhat greedy and could have been in the money but decided to switch strategies, lessons learned.  This year will be more difficult as the slot size is 18" - 20" and the limit is 2 per person.  You can be assured we will do our best looking for a top 10 win.