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View from our table in Portsmouth, NH |
Last week’s plan to get out on the lake didn't work out very
well. My pending trip to Boston on
Monday morning left a lot of holes to be filled I n a very short time. Mark Applen was up at Mille Lacs on Saturday
and I knew I should have taken the afternoon off but with a ton of things to
do, it didn't work out. Just my luck he
texted me with his mid-afternoon report, 5 walleyes with 1 keeper, fat and
sassy on night crawlers out on the flats.
Well, what can you do? With
important meetings coming up I needed some new clothes, something I do about
once every 2 years. Shopping is easy
for me as long as I am doing it, tan or brown colored Dockers, a blue or white
shirt and I’m done. My 4 year old belt
looked pretty rugged so I bought one as well forgetting you need to buy one 2
inches longer than your waist size.
That’s what I did on Sunday, return it for a 40".
I was thinking about heading out for a little fishing on Sunday but with
no one around to go, I decided to just keep moving down my things to do list. I do have to tell you the garden is coming
along well and the raspberries are in full season. I've got a pretty good handle on the weeds
this year however I'm afraid the 12 inches of rain we got in June has taken out
my 2 mature Fireside Apple trees. One is
completely gone and the other isn't looking so good. At first I thought that my initial orchard spray burned the trees but I had a hard time believing it. Saturday morning's garden show on WCCO confirmed the worst, the wet spring was really hard on the trees.
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Oysters ready to be shucked |
At 7:00 on Monday morning the plane left for Boston with me
on it, a 3 hour flight to meet my Eastern Sales Manager, Scott and call on
customers. Our first appointment on
Monday at 2:00 so we stopped at Portsmouth (pronounced Port Smith) to have
lunch. With seafood abound we headed to
find a place on the harbor to eat and their fresh broiled haddock was to die
for. Once done with our meetings we
headed to Burlington, Vermont, a place
I’ve never been. It was a fabulous drive
as we finished that meeting then went back to Boston. After arriving back our destination was
downtown Boston to the Union Oyster House for some raw oysters and clams as an
appetizer. The Union Oyster House is the
oldest continuous operating restaurant in the United States as it started
serving in 1826. The original soapstone
bar where they crack open the oysters is still there, no worse for the wear. After sucking down a couple dozen delicious
and fresh oysters along with a couple dozen raw clams we moved on to the Chart
House, a great on the wharf eating establishment. Wednesday evening was already planned, my
good friend Pablo Nayardy would pick me up and head over to his favorite place,
the Blue Ginger, started by an award
winning chef, Ming Tsai. Along with a
great meal I got to ride in Pablo’s new 2005 Bentley GT as well, learn about
his new acquisition, a vineyard in Hungary. For dessert we had a glass of the
wine he is planning on making there, Tokaji Aszu or as he calls it, nectar if
the kings. It was a pretty incredible
evening. Returning to the hotel about
8:00 I had asked Scott if he had found his way up to Gloucester to see the
Crow’s Nest where they filmed some of the Perfect Storm. Only 20 minutes away we decided to take
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Long Liner out of Gloucester |
that
off his bucket list as I've been there before.
It’s much like a tavern back home in Eleva, full of interesting
characters with a few tourist (like us) that straggle in every once in a while. After helping a Viet Nam veteran up to his
room above we returned to find a guy sitting there with rubber fishing boots
on. Striking up a conversation it turned
out to be a fascinating rest of the evening.
Leaving their port in St. Augustine, Florida, they work their way up
following the fish be it tuna, swordfish, dolphin (Mai Mai) or sharks. As the Gulf Stream moves the warmer waters
north the fish follow and they are right behind. Their boat is known as a long liners as they
set out as much as 40 miles of line containing as many as 1500 hooks baited
with squid. The stories of his working
on the boat, a 65 footer, and the excitement could have kept me there all
night. Unfortunately we did have to work
the next day so we headed out but not before he invited us to see the boat and
grab some swordfish bills he had sawed off for souvenirs. Stating he preserves them by letting the red
ants clean up the skin then soaking in a bath of bleach and Dawn soap. Unfortunately they stunk pretty bad so we
stopped at a Seven Eleven and bought some salt before putting them in my
bathtub and salting them down. It did
help a little and not one to give up I repackaged them and checked them
in. Note, I am writing this on the plane
ride back so well see if the TSA let them through. If nothing else they’ll make a great
conversation piece if I can get the smell out of them. Note: They did not show up with my baggage however as I questioned the person at the help desk at baggage claim, out came the box!
Unfortunately this is the week that I was supposed to go out
to Lake Oahe with my friend Russ and Mark.
I was impossible to reschedule my Boston trip so I am curious how they
did. On the other hand my friend Bruce
officially extended my invitation to fish Lac Seul again with him and Pete
during the week after Labor Day so I’m pretty excited. I might even bring my boat this time. The plan is to finally get to Mille Lacs on Saturday to try my luck, it will be nice to get out.
2 comments:
I have the lowest yield of raspberries in 18 years!
Glad yours are doing better.
Hi Dave,
I wanted to thank you for getting me out of my Hotel room and taking me down to the Crows Nest. With out any doubt the best part of my visit to Boston. As you mentioned I had wanted to visit this Bar for many years ever since watching the movie Perfect Storm, but would probably have never made it without you.
The story of our adventure there and the Fishermen we meet will be told by me for years and being able to raise my glass to the Memorial Plaque for the Andrea Gail and walk the docks .…priceless.
The Hat I purchased remains my favorite so much to the fact that I had to jump into the Chesapeake Bay to retrieve it during my recent vacation, but that’s another story.
Hey, I think my territory needs some attention down south, ever been to Sloppy Joe’s?
Scott
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