Finally, Back Out!!

Quite a Catch on 2# Test

My neighbor and friend Lory has a cabin on Lake Ida, just northwest of Alexandria, MN, about 2 hours from the house.  He was going up last weekend to check to see how it's doing and invited me with.  Agreeing only if we get out and try for some of those big bluegill that are reportedly in the lake, he acknowledged and by 7:00 Friday we were on the freeway heading northwest.  The traffic wasn't too bad and we were able to make it by 9:00, enough time to stop and turn the heat up in the cabin before we headed to Leaf Valley Tavern for some supper.  5 miles up the road, we settled on pork ribs, they were the typical ribs that many restaurants, fall off the bone with a mild covering of sauce.  They ain't no Famous Dave's but did the job of filling us up as they do a good job completing the courses!  I had bought 2 bottles of wine so we turned the TV on and watched Perry Mason before hitting the sack.  I slept pretty well so after getting up we went to town and got some breakfast before going out fishing.  Our destination was a place called the Coffee Pot.  Absolutely excellent, I had the corned beef hash with a couple of fried eggs on top.   I love these places, they just cater to the breakfast and lunch crowd then shut down for the rest of the day.  Highly recommend if you are ever in Alexandria!  Upon returning we pulled out Lory''s wheel house and set it up in 28 feet of water just at the mouth of the bay his cabin is on.  Using maps, it seemed like a good spot, time will tell.  After about an hour of nothing but 4 inch perch I decided to head into the bay where all the "other" people were.  It only made sense they were catching something.  We were in a 20 foot hole in the bay and I set up on the edge where it went from 20 to 15 feet.  Almost immediately the sunfish started hitting.  Unfortunately they were small as well.  It was quite windy out and difficult to fish the 2# test that is on the rod, all of a sudden something a lot bigger than what was biting hit the lure.  Although the bass looks bigger in the picture..........Sure, it was 5 pounds!.........about 16 inches and maybe 1.5 pounds, it was a nice change from the peck, peck of those smaller sunfish.  I ended up catching 4 bass that day, all in the 12-16 inch range, not large by any means, however it was action!  After about my 50th 5 inch sunfish and getting quite chilled from the wind, the next destination was back in Lory's wheel house.  He had not caught anything worth bragging about however he had the camera down and saw a bigger school of larger fish but was never able to connect.  As the sun set we packed up everything and headed back to shore, no fish to clean but a good time never the less.  My goal is to get back up this spring in some of those maller lakes and try for some crappies, like we did a few years ago on Bass Lake, those were some dandies!  On the way back we stopped for supper at Doolittles Woodfired Grill.  I still had a nice bottle of wine so we asked if they had a corkage fee (you bring the wine, they charge you a fee for opening and serving).  The receptionist didn't know however our waitress did, $15.  That was reasonable seeings how my wine had a value of about $150, I went in the truck and brought it in.  Again, we were pretty impressed with the quality of the food, I had the leftover Valentines special, braised lamb shank, and Lory had a steak, both went perfect with the wine!.

This weekend is the Johnson Portside Perch Extravaganza which occurs on the last weekend in

February on Mille Lacs, out of Hunter's Point Resort up about 30 minutes north of Isle, Minnesota.  Normally I have taken my wheel house up there and stay Friday night through Sunday morning.  This year it's a little different because I have just not been that organized to get myself in line with our normal program.  Besides next weekend I am heading to Texas to fish with my friends for some big bass and this has sort of gotten in the way.  This tournament is really the last full week of ice fishing walleyes in the winter as the season will close on February 25 unless it is border waters such as Lake of the Woods.  I was also invited to go to JR's at Upper Red Lake this week for his Fly In but needed Bruce's airplane and him to fly us.  Unfortunately Bruce just got his plane fixed and the Perch Extravaganza is the same weekend, choices, choices!  It would be fun as JR and I have a good time together when I'm there and he has Denny Showalter, of Showalter Fly-in Service in Ontario.  He is a great guy to sit down with and talk.  Maybe one year.  Next week is my trp to Texas and it's been raining quite a bit down there, enough so my friend Matt e-mailed me and said this is going to affect the fishing.  My response was, not the fishing, maybe the catching!  He'd be surprised what a guy that hasn't seen soft water for 3 months can do!  We'll have a great time regardless.

This is the time of year that we need to get organized for our annual Leech Lake Fishing Opener.  It will be the groups 45th Annual and every 5 years we like to order something special, usually a coat that has our name and the Team Walleye logo in it.  This year we are going to do the ever so popular Hockey Hooded Sweatshirt.  It will be nice and everyone is getting one, so Mark and I have been working on that as it is only 11 weeks away.  I have already received the invite for Ontario Fishing Opener, on the following week, May 19th.  This is always a great time and for sure keeps me busy from about the 11th of May till about the 22nd.  Oh well, more fishing...........dang!