Finally Settling Down

de Havilland Beaver Float Plane

Well, they say time heals everything as it's been over a week since my star performance on Leech Lake last Monday.  I've settled down a bit, maybe being without my boat serves a good purpose.  The Ranger is at Frankies, my dealer waiting in line to get repaired.  The final damages amounted to over $6000 and I've been assured it will be as good as new.  Although my boat is 6 years old, I'm glad they didn't total it as I really like my layout.  The 2009 and newer Ranger 620T has some nuances that I don't care for and as well,  this 2008 boat is tricked out just the way I like it and it would be tough to start all over.   The boat should go into the shop for repair next week and should be ready to go by June 1st (hopefully!).  Normally the Memorial Day weekend means the first trip to Mille Lacs to pre-fish for the MTT (Minnesota Tournament Trail) that Mark Applen and I usually fish.  This year everything is tight including the slot limit at Mille Lacs and we may not even make it.  It's a far cry from our first time we fished the MTT on Mille Lacs as we took 3rd place, good for $1060 towards the Mark's charity however it's kind of been downhill from there.  Fortunately the end of May should turn out to be successful as I will be accompanying my neighbor Pete Sipe, his friend Bruce, and 3 other guys to Lac Seul Lake  in Ontario, Canada.  The plan is to meet at Surfside Seaplane Base in Lino Lakes and jump on board a de Havilland Beaver float plane. After stopping at a lake north of Mille Lacs to pick up a fourth passenger, it's back up in the air heading for the Seaplane base at Fort Francis, Ontario.  Once we have cleared Canadian Customs its off to Lac Seul Outpost located on the northeast portion of the lake on Chamberlain Narrows and about 2 air hours from Fort Francis.  The Chamberlain Narrows area is known for the early season walleye fishing as the fish travel through the channel during the spawning season.  I'm cautious in predicting anything other than a great time, Pete claims that every year someone usually get a 30+ inch walleye, that would be sweet. Although I have flown in float planes before, it's usually for only 40 minutes or so as we did this in Alaska a few years ago.  This trip is scheduled to take about 5 hours total with over 4 hours in the air.  I'm pretty excited as the guys want me to sit in the co-pilots seat in front, I'll never relax!   The plan is to fish next Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday before heading back south on Friday morning.  With limited time to write and the need to take advantage of my fishing location, I suspect next weeks blog will be late. Oh well, here's hoping the pictures will be worth it.

Team Walleye

Last weekend was spent working on the garden and attending my nieces annual dance recital in Osseo, Wisconsin.  It's quite interesting as in includes young girls dancing with their fathers to high school seniors doing complex routines.  My niece Kaylee does an excellent job as I think she's bound for stardom some day.  After having treats at the local Dairy Queen, it was off to see my mom and brother in Eleva.  We always bring mom a load of groceries as she doesn't get out as much as she would like.  Heading back home also allowed me to return my Scheels One Titanium Spinning rod that had the tip break off last week. Scheels has a no nonsense guarantee on this rod, break it for any reason and return it for a new one.  Because it broke right at the base of the tip, I suppose one could have just glued a new tip one it and it would be as good as new.  On the other hand, a deal is a deal and they replaced it, no questions asked.  This rod is a one piece 7 footer and has become one of my favorites in the boat.  Paired with a Shimano CI4 2500 reel, it's incredibly light.  I love the way it loads up when a walleye barely grabs the bait, something that happens quite a bit on Leech.  With an extra fast tip you can feel the slightest pressure without ripping the bait out of it's mouth.  Of course being 7 feet long, one has to be careful when putting it back in the rod lockers.  This Memorial Day weekend is our family reunion side on Saturday, Sunday and Monday is garden planting time as well, get everything packed for Tuesday.  The other thing to do this weekend, replace the Stars and Stripes that I fly at the house.  Buying the good embroidered flags,  they still only seem to last about 6 months so Memorial Day and Veterans Day has become my reminders to get this done.  Monday is packing day, it's going to be a busy weekend.

Two things to leave you with........one, a picture of Team Walleye.  We almost forgot to take it as 3 of our guys had already left.  Shows you what happens without our fearless leader Ron Edberg.  The other thing is this is the last post of my 6th year of writing the blog, next week will start my 7th.  I appreciate the support as Fishin' With Dave approaches 60,000 hits.  Time sure does fly.