Heading North

Official 2013 Team Walleye Shirts

After some debate based on facts and a little speculation, we are full steam ahead for the 40th Annual Team Walleye opener on Leech Lake. I finally got the boat back together, tackle box set (noticed I didn't say organized!), the correct rods in the boat, carpet washed an vacuumed, she looks pretty good. I am anxious to try out my new Titan tiller system which promises to make steering the 115 Suzuki much easier especially in the big waves. A few weeks ago a new Scheels 7 foot spinning rod with a Shimano CI4 reel found it's way into my rod locker and it just screams for that familiar tug of an opening day walleye inhaling a shiner minnow as we drift across Pine Point. Unfortunately Mother Nature may have other plans for us. The latest reports shows a lot of white ice left on the lake yet the ice out line continues to trudge north. My friend Jack was at his cabin on Platte Lake, west of Mille Lacs, on Sunday to get his boat ready but was unable to dump it in because the ice was tight to shore. On Tuesday night, Wednesday morning the lake was officially declared ice free. My friend Keith from Alaska texted me that on Wednesday the ice had officially gone off his home lake of North Long Lake, outside of Brainerd about 25 miles north of Jack's lake. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed! Team Walleye is committed to going regardless of the ice. There have been some discussions about moving it by a week yet with 22 guys going this year, with schedules and having to rent substantial amount of space that is not really available, food purchased, it's not rally much of an option. Plan B includes the possibility of fishing some of the smaller lakes around and with the big wind due on Saturday, that might be enough to allow us to get out on Sunday. Oh well, it's just fodder for future stories about our group. I did pick up our official hats and shirts last night and admittedly, even if we are not fishing, we will sure look good!

Potatoes are Planted!

With the late spring comes late planting. My asparagus is 2 weeks behind as I normally have about 5 pounds to take with us for opener. Last night there were a few spears poking their heads out of the ground, maybe enough for a meal. The old adage is the best time to plant potatoes is on Good Friday. For 2013 that date would have been March 29th. Admittedly a little early for my preference however there is some basis for the folklore and in years where Good Friday occurs in April, it is not a bad reference. Easter is really celebrated the first Sunday after the next Full Moon which occurs after the Spring equinox (March 21st) Next year the first full moon is on April 15th putting Good Friday on my mom's birthday, April 18th. In the past lot's of things were tied to the moon phases and it's affect on life so many things are tied to these celestial occurrences. For me, I simple try to get it done when I can yet May 8th is pretty late to be putting in potatoes yet that's exactly what I did. Planting 5 varieties, Yukon Gold's, Russet's, Red's, Kennabec's, and a purple variety, at least that is done. Most everything else can wait another week or so. One of the things I have been meaning to do is upgrade my raspberry patch. Right now the garden has Heritage planted and although they do ok, the second crop tends to be later and often over half is lost to an early fall frost. Researching different varietals for our area, I decided that getting one summer bearing type, Boyne, and an earlier fall maturing type, Autumn Bliss was in order. My garden store ordered them and while in Chicago they came in. Sunday saw a new raspberry patch just behind my existing garden, we'll see how they do.

One last note, although the late spring is causing a number of issues, the good news is that it's stopped virtually all netting on Lake Mille Lacs. Although I try not to be too political here, this is a good thing as the Minnesota DNR and the Native American tribes from Minnesota and Wisconsin have really screwed up my favorite lake, Mille Lacs. One day you might just open up to a diatribe of personal thoughts yet it's time to fish so keep those minnows dunked and your lines tight!