Not Much Happening

Work Sharp Ken Onion

With last weeks weather in the tank, this weekend was time to get a few things done before my flurry of fishing trips planned for the last two weeks of January.  We had a comfortable 40 degrees on Sunday, enough to get everything back in order including the fixing the snowblower and other neglected items.  Thursday night was the opening of the St. Paul Sportsman Show, the first of the season so Lory and I took off from work around 5:00.  Not the largest show, it's still fun to get out and start looking at things.  What has become a tradition is meeting my friend Keith Holtan and his wife Jane at their booth.  It's fun to hang around as they have developed a nice clientele of people that stop by and say hi. Thursday night tends to be slower so we head over to the Liffy, an Irish Pub in the Holiday Inn across the street to unwind.  Once there, one never knows going to show up, a reason in itself to go.  Keith went to school and met a guy who eventually became a lawyer in Minneapolis, starting his career as a public defender.  I don't think I've laughed so hard as he told stories, you can only imagine!  It was nice to see Keith and hopefully we'll get out fishing again this winter.  I do like looking at all the new gadgets at these shows and found a couple of things that were interesting including a device for helping to add line to your reel.   One of the best purchases I have made in the last 6 months has been the Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition knife sharpener.  Struggling with speeding up the process of sharpening my fillet knives as my old Lansky Sharpening system just took too long and I never really liked the results.  Years ago I bought a Leech Lake Fillet knife at the Northwest Sportsman show and one thing they offered was free sharpening if you brought it back to the show.  They uses a belt like sander with a very fine grit to give it an edge and a polish that was incredible.  The guy who made the knives passed away a few years ago so that service is no longer available.  Well, this device does exactly the same thing and coupled with a quality butcher steel, my knives are razor sharp and stay that way.  This is a fantastic product and can honestly say it really works!

Salem Ice Cabin

Sunday found me at Bill's on Lake Mille Lacs as I had been negotiating with a guy in Iowa to buy his wheel house for ice fishing.  For the last 3 months I have been trying to talk my brother Steve into go in half with me as the older I get, the more I like to be comfortable.  I understand he is 3 hours from me but I do like fishing with him.  Also, my recent trips to Red Lake and LOTW's seem much more enjoyable staying out on the ice.  Checking Craigslist each week a Salem Ice Cabin showed up, a 2013 and the price was too good to pass up.  Mark Applen and I have been looking at these for a couple of years now and he was a big influence in my decision, or at least I can blame him.  I have the whole thing tore apart right now trying to configure things the way I would like them as there are some things that are nice and others that need improvement.  The gentlemen I bought it from was a super guy and I can understand his reasoning behind it as it's a little too big for the areas he fishes in Iowa.  He does have a summer place on Mille Lacs and I hope to hook up with him this summer and maybe do some fishing.  The plan is to head back to Red at the end of the month and try it out, Steve and Lory, and possibly Keith will join me.  Otherwise my schedule is getting pretty crazy.  In February I head to California for a week and in March we are all set up to fish Louisiana for a couple of days.  Maybe look at going back to LOTW at the end of March if time permits and the weather cooperates.