Merry Christmas

A Tree Full of Goodies

It just seems like a few days ago when we were in Naples fishing but I have been back to reality for 3 weeks now!  Christmas as well as this goofy weather has put a damper on ice fishing this start of the season.  With Christmas on Wednesday, it seems to break up the typical schedules as last Saturday I spent time with my family so that weekend was shot, and the weekend after Christmas was supposedly to be with my wife's family but now it's changed to New Years Day so there is some time to sneak up to Red on Thursday and try my luck.  This year I have been inundated with requests to join me as my usual first trip includes my brother Steve and friend Keith Holtan, however things are getting crunched and with little time to plan it looks like a full house this weekend.   My brother Steve lives in Onalaska, Wisconsin and the Gander Mountain store is closing there.  Like a good brother should he called me with some of the deals (up to 80% off) so I had him pick up a few rods, and he said there was a ton of the Northland Tackle Long Shanked Fireball Jigs there as few people use the Canadian style of baiting the jig with a minnow, and at $1.00 for 4, that is $3.00 cheaper than the usual $3.99 for 4.......pick up as many as you can!!!  Well, on Saturday he brought them with along with a few other nice lures hung nicely on a  small Christmas Tree, it was pretty nice.  There must be at least 20 packages of jigs, some traditional hair jigs and a few perfect sized crankbaits for trolling walleyes on Leech Lake this opener.  My plan is to take this to Lac Seul this year and sell the jig packs for $5.00 each and there are plenty of Gold plated ones which seem to be a favorite in Canada.  I am also now determined to try the white hair jig on the top and get a walleye as these were the preferred jig pattern 50 years ago, I know as I used to tie our own for the walleyes in Catfish Slough up from Alma on the Mississippi River.  Actually I caught a keeper grouper on a white haired jig in Naples so I am excited to try it.  The early Christmas was the first time my family got together since my mother died in 2017, it was nice to get together as none of us are getting any younger.

Jerry and 2 nice walleyes from Mille Lacs

So it's exciting to finally get the wheel house out on the ice as Red Lake is reporting a good 17 - 18 inches of ice extending out at least 10 miles from the landing.  Mille Lacs has been in quite a predicament this year regarding ice.  Yes, we did get a nice below zero cold snap right after deer hunting which normally puts a good layer of ice, which it did on Mille Lacs however we got 2 significant snowstorms right after the cold which dumped almost 16 inches in the area.  That much weight on the ice causes the water to seep up through the cracks and flooding the top of the ice, which combined with the snow makes slush.  Also the snow insulates the ice from the freezing temperatures and further delays the ice forming.  Along with the warm weather we have experience in the last week, there is a lot of variance in the thickness of the ice on Mille Lacs from 2 inches to 8 inches, but it's hard to tell how thick the ice is over the layer of snow so venture at your own risk.  On Monday night we had 2 great things happen, first it was Jerry Kiffmeyer's annual Christmas fish fry.  Jerry fished with me in my boat last September at Lac Seul.  He is a great guy and happened to be in Naples fishing the weekend before I was there.  His fish fry included most of the fish he brought back, snapper and grouper.  I am allergic to wheat and need a corned based fish coating but by the time I got there all the fish had been breaded already........but wait, here came Jerry with some grouper fillets, perfect as they coated them first with my stuff and fried them up.  Absolutely delicious.  Jerry showed me his catch on Mille Lacs a couple of days ago when they dragged out their light weight shack with the snowmobiles, pretty nice.  It looks like a couple of keepers which have to be between 21 and 23 inches.  Jerry says that he was using my method of posing with fish as they do look bigger!  Hopefully I can post next week with a good report and some nice fish.  I am already planning for our Lake of the Woods trip for January 9th.  And by the way, the Ranger is still in the shop!  I did volunteer to work for Frankie at the Northwest Sportshow this year and he was happy as it is in the first of April, probably one of the worst times as boats are coming in and it is really busy.  It will be a fun time for sure!

From Paradise to the deep Freeze

Matt Davis and his 80 pound Cobia

I haven't posted in a while, I guess it's been busier than I like with little time in between.  Oh well, hopefully this post will get everything caught up.  First an update on my boat.  2 weeks ago it was finally finished at the axle shop, Kremer Services in Inver Grove Heights, MN.  They were absolutely the perfect place to fix the problem with my Rangertrail trailer that apparently has seen 1 too many potholes on Canadian Highway 502 from Ft. Francis to Dryden Ontario.  The last year there has been a lot of construction in the form of replacing culverts under the highway and these areas are not very friendly to trailer axles.  I am sure the hurry to get to Sioux Lookout doesn't help but the way the front tires were wearing, something had to be done.  Dropping it off on October 31st, they called to state the rear axle was well within spec but the front needed replacing.  4 weeks later the OEM axle came in and they had it installed and aligned for about 1/2 the price I had quoted from another shop that was closer.  In the meantime my dealer Frankie's Marine had done some work on getting my rims that were peeling the finish replaced, which they were successful at.  Because the tires were going to be 5 years old in March, the inside tread was wore off on the fronts, and a rough figure put the mileage at about 30,000 on them I had Frankie put new tires on my new rims.  As well I am having some broken plastic trim replaced, the battery charger looked at, my canvas top need some small repairs on the zipper, the boat is currently at Frankie's waiting for a few items including some additional touch up to the damage caused last May on Lac Seul.  She'll be just like new when it's done, which might be a few weeks yet.  So the fishing story this post is my trip to Florida to first speak at our annual conference of Transformer manufacturers and suppliers on December 5th and 6th, then afterwards drive to Naples, Florida with my great friends Matt Davis, Gary Hicks, and Glenn Collins, all associates that I have met before I retired.  The plan was to stay at Glenn's cousin's immaculate beach house in South Naples on Friday, fish on the Sea Legs, a charter we used before, then leave on Sunday.  It was quite a memorable trip, as they are all getting!

A Bunch of Snapper, Grouper, and a very nice Cobia

Our conference was in St. Petersburg, Florida starting on December 4th and ending on December 6th
at noon.  After dropping a friend off at the Tampa Airport we headed south to meet a retired industry friend, Bill Hardt, in Ft. Myers Beach for lunch. He has a beautiful place on a golf course and a great restaurant very close.  One of the things I really enjoy about Florida is there is never a shortage of interesting fish on the menus and this was no different as I had a Kingfish sandwich, absolutely amazing.  Lunch finished the caravan headed south another 30 miles to Naples, stopping to get a few supplies including lunch for the boat, some refreshments, and supplies like zip lock bags for our fish.  Arriving at the dock by 7:00 AM on Saturday we headed out for the 2 hour trip 36 miles offshore.  It was a beautiful day as the sea was calm.  we got to the first spot, maybe 45 feet deep and rigged up.  Basically the rig consisted of a 2 ounce weight, a 3/0 circle hook tied onto the line about 18 inches above the sinker, all associated with a 30 pound fluorocarbon leader tied to some 50 pound braid on a stiff 5 foot spinning rod.  Up north we would refer this to a drop shot rig.  On the hook was baited a chuck of squid, herring, or both.  You'd drop down the line till it hits and pull back just enough for the sinker to be sitting on the bottom and hang on.  It was interesting how the fish started biting immediately.  In fact if you didn't have a bit after 30 seconds it was probably because your bait had got stolen!  Circle hooks have an interesting hook set procedure, you basically reel in the line if you feel the fish has got your bait and the hook simply sets itself.  Although different than setting the hook on a walleye, it didn't take long to get the hang of it and we were reeling fish in one after another.  The predominate fish was the snapper, any where from 14 to 17 inches long they came in all sorts of varieties including Lane Snapper, Gray Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, Mutton Snapper and others.  Our main target were Red Groupers and we did catch quite a few of them but there is a 22 inch minimum size limit so most went back.  We fished in 4 different spots as one learns that because the larger groupers are territorial, you may only catch one or two on a specific piece of structure.  We did end up with 4 nice Red Grouper, one for each of us which was our limit anyway.  At the last spot of the day, the last fish of the day was a huge Cobia that Matt hooked.  We knew he had something big but never imagined what it was until it came to the surface.  The Captain was super excited as the Cobia is prized for it's good meat.  15 minutes later Matt had it to the surface and then the fun began as it tried to get tangled in the anchor rope.  This thing was huge and Matt had a somewhat smaller setup more suited for grouper.  the crew made several unsuccessful attempts to gaff it, it was making me nervous just watching!!  Finally the Captain got the gall in the back side and it took 2 guys to pull it in.  It was quite the celebration especially for the last fish of the day.  The top picture gives one a sense of how large it was.  The next picture was our total catch, the big Cobia, 4 nice Red Grouper, and a pail full of various snappers.  Of course we were the talk of the dock answering a ton of questions from the tourists just boarding an evening harbor cruise boat.  We got the fish cleaned with an audience of brown pelicans that figured out where to get an easy meal.  There is a restaurant at the city docks that will cook your fish so we dropped off about 4 pounds of fish with the plan to clean up a little then go back down to eat.  We had them blackened, simply grilled, and fried with every one tasting fabulous.

Sunset off of Tim's deck

Staying at our friend Tim's beach house in Naples is a rare treat indeed and definitely a paradise in itself.  The house sits up off the beach with the deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico to the west, the sunsets are spectacular. Sitting on the deck enjoying a fine cigar and a glass of scotch, looking out at this, words are hard to describe for sure.  One definitely gets humbled as you pass Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and other top of the line vehicles as you walk in downtown Old Naples.  We ate at a wonderful Italian place that Tim had recommended and I don't think I've ever had a better tasting sauce than I did there. Located close to both downtown Naples and the city dock it was a very convenient place to stay.  Having packaged the fish in zip lock bags and into the freezer the plan was to pack some into my checked suitcase which I had brought along a insulated shopping bag from Costco.  Carefully packaging it in a single layer and sandwiched between the clothes, I arrived home with the fish still firmly frozen, it worked out pretty well.  It was still fairly warm here, in the high 20's so it was a good opportunity to vacuum pack the fish as I had about 3 pounds of snapper fillets, 2 grouper fillets, and about 10 chunks of Cobia.  Arriving in Minneapolis about 3:00 in the afternoon a friend picked me up.  The forecast was snow and cold for the rest of the week and they were not kidding as I left 75 degrees for -11 this morning.  Maybe it's time to see a psychiatrist!  The good news is it's making ice and we'll be pulling our wheel houses on Red very soon! 

Another Deer Hunting Season

$3800 of damage by a buck that must have had other things on its mind!

The 2019 Minnesota Deer Hunting season is pretty much over for me this year.  The ultimate irony occurred as driving to our hunting land on Saturday morning, a mile from our destination a buck ran smack into my GMC truck's front driver's side door before bouncing off and hitting the back quarter panel on the truck.  It sounded like the buck hit pretty hard so turning around and heading back to the scene of the collision, maybe I could tag a deer without even having to pull the trigger.  Approaching the scene,  the buck wasn't there however a quick look up and it was running on the shoulder ahead of me.  Originally thinking it might be injured, honestly I have never seen a deer run so fast.  After about 100 yards it veered off into the woods.  It didn't look like it suffered too much but I can't believe it wasn't pretty sore after that! Saturday was nice and warm yet it did start snowing mid afternoon.  Not willing to climb a tree stand anymore, I hunted out of a standard ground blind.  I saw deer and heard them behind me yet either it was too dark or I could not see them.  The pheasants were pretty active, and the Tundra Swans were really flying around as the lakes continued to freeze.  Although there was not a lack of deer in the area as the land we hunt is in an extensive harvest zone yet with so much corn standing in the fields, the shooting shut down pretty fast as those deer are pretty smart, except the one that ran into my car. 

Deer trail in front of my stand

Deer sign is all over as I set up my stand in a corner of a field/swamp/woods edge with a well used deer trail went by.  Unfortunately one never knows if these are trails used to move from one area to another at night.  Sunday morning there was a number of fresh tracks in the trail however as we used to say in Eleva, it's tough to make track soup.  Sunday was about the same, a few shots heard but it was pretty quiet from about 7:00 in the morning on.  Obviously the deer were deep in the corn as after talking to a number of hunters, the story was all the same, pretty slim pickings.  The snow had made the roads quite slippery as we passed a pickup truck that has spun out and rolled over in a ditch, just south of Richardson Corner.  The weather was headed for a significant drop in temperature in the next few days as throughout the day it was getting colder.  Even though all the lakes and swamps in the area were froze over, the predicted over night lows in the single digits, would definitey finish the job, and pretty early this year.  Staying at Jack's cabin on Platte Lake, one could walk on the lake without cracking the ice. 

Satellite view of Upper and Lower Red Lake

Speaking of cold weather and ice, Red Lake is progressing quite well for this early in the year. this is a satellite view of the lake from Modis Today.  It shows that Red Lake is completely froze over however it is very vulnerable to winds and changing temperatures.  This was a picture from Tuesday, November 12, it was reported today that a number of ice fisherman had to be rescued from unstable ice conditions on Upper Red Lake.  A few years back Mark Applen and I were able to drive out with our wheel houses on the day after Thanksgiving, and this year it is looking promising as the 10 day forecast has the daily temperature below freezing.  Although we are not in a particular hurry, as long as it is going to be cold, one might as well be fishing.  It will be great to see JR again but safety is always a priority.  That is of course if and when I get my Salem Ice Cabin back from the shop while my Ranger is still getting it's axle replaced, then it needs new tires and a few other things taken care of.  For now it's simply a waiting game, get the Salem, Get the Ranger put to bed for the winter, and wait for safe ice.

Edge of Winter

Autumn Blaze Maple

Well it looks like there will be no Indian Summer this fall.  Indian Summer is often referred to the time after the first killing frost where the temperatures climb into the mid 50's to as high a 70 before the real cold weather starts to settle in.  Well this fall our first killing frost was quite late so we have jumped right into our pre-winter climate with lows in the lower 20's and highs in the mid 30's.   The first of October was quite nice so we'll just call that our Indian Summer!  With all the rain this fall, the Mississippi River behind the house is flowing as though it is late April.  Every lake up north is full to the brim, it should bring an interesting spring for sure.  All the wet weather has resulted in what the meteorologist refer to as a perfect fall for colors.  I don't disagree however this year with the late first frost has delayed, the trees seem to be doing their own independent thing.  Pictured here is one of about 4 Autumn Blaze Maples that I have on the property.  True to their name, these trees definitely put on a show in the fall and this year was no exception.  Each of the trees exhibited an beautiful blend of red, orange and yellow to give the tree it's name like a tree on fire, a blaze of colors for sure.  Unfortunately it doesn't last long, maybe a week before the wind and cold weather forces the tree to drop it's leaves.........leaving me with more work! The ash trees have already shed their leaves a month ago and some of my Norway Maples still have green leaves on them, they will not turn but simply fall off.  Never the less it is a labor of love as my John Deere X734 with a 60 inch deck does a great job of chopping up the leave eventually one has to put the vacuum attachment on to finish the job right.  The waning warm weather has allowed the installation of some new shelving in the pole shed as the intent is to get my fishing stuff organized a little better.  We'll see about that!  With a tempurture of 23 last night, pretty much everything is done for the year, even the grass looks done as the lawn tractor marks from the other night are permanently etched into the lawn until next April!  Deer hunting season is going to be late this year and this cold weather might just freeze the swamp and make travel to the stands a lot less complicated!

A nice flock of wild turkey's

This week is turning out to be a whirlwind of activity.  I brought my Salem Ice Cabin in last Monday the 21st but a drive through the lot on Saturday showed that nothing had been done.  Yesterday was a  doctors appointment to make sure I can still drive, a factor concerning the seizure I experienced last year at this time.  Coming out of the office at around 5:30 meant the traffic going west on 94 was going to be stop and go for at least 40 minutes, I decided to drive over to a good friends house, Mike Shields to see how he was doing.  Mike lives just about 3 blocks south of I94 and about 3 blocks east of the Mississippi River, definitely a mature neighborhood but well within the city.  Driving down his street there was a flock of about 30 young wild turkeys crossing the street.  Although this is not necessarily in the heart of the city, certainly the last thing one would expect is a flock of wild turkeys, never the less they were there.  Mike confirmed that there is a local flock around, I suspect that they traveled up the river edge from the south.  I certainly made for an interesting site.  Tomorrow the boat trailer goes in for repair, then up to Frankie's to mount new tires.  Frankie got Ranger to replace my black chrome rims as they were peeling.  It is recommended that one replace trailer tires every 5 years and this is the 5th year of use so I decided to bite the bullet and make sure that the tires under the boat are not a source of problems as we drive to Lac Seul.  Looking back those tires have about 30,000 miles on them already.   Hopefully this will be all taken care of before Thanksgiving.  Although retired, this year will find me doing a presentation at our annual TTA meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida then we head to Naples to charter a grouper fishing trip on December 7th.  This is the same guy we fished with 2 years ago when I caught the 200# Goliath Grouper.  With this cold weather it would not be surprising if Red Lake is froze over and thick enough to drive just after Thanksgiving, like it was a few years ago.

Annual Trout Fishing trip

Dad's Gift, Panther Martin's Deadly Dozen

Well, we were able to get in our annual October trout fishing trip to an old mine pit that we have been going to for a number of years.  With Bill Lundeen as my guide we met at his house last Thursday and he was ready to go.  My father died in 2011 however he knew how much I loved fishing and a few years before he passed away he gave me a box of Panther Martin trout spinners called the Deadly Dozen.  Knowing my dad he probably ordered them from a Field and Stream or Outdoor Life magazine but wherever, he presented me with this kit of 12 spinners for trout fishing.  He had that look on his face when he gave them to me that I would never forget, that look of....Geez, I finally got something you don't have!  He was correct and I put them away for safe keeping.  Well last year I told Bill I am going to catch a trout with the spinners my Dad gave me but after 8 or so years, I simply didn't remember where they were.  I had a Mepps Spinner and decided to use that but it wasn't the same and I only caught one fish.  Sort of a stubborn streak in me but I was bound and determined.  Well 6 months went buy and one day I found the box of the Deadly Dozen, probably right where I left them earlier.  Not to be shut out again putting them in an obvious place where they would not be forgotten, when Bill set the date last week, it was the first thing I packed!  Our strategy was simple, launch the canoe, attach the trolling motor, fire up the electronics and troll down anywhere from 10 - 30 feet with a small spinner rig, or in my case a Panther Martin.  Although I was determined last year, this time I was serious!! We headed up the shore in 30 to 40 feet of water as the fish marks were numerous on the depthfinder.  With a small trailer of a nightcrawler,  I was getting bumped but Bill caught the first trout.  Trust me, sitting in the front of a canoe has it's limitations, luckily this year I had settled down somewhat and got my sea legs quite quickly.  Having the bucket

Beatiful Day, Beautiful Lake

up front, Bill threw the trout under my seat, not the greatest idea with my limited ability to bend over these days! Finally getting the nice trout in the bucket, Bill was  getting hit quite a bit and had a number of them get away, I was getting nice hit but not hooking any.  Finally deciding to switch to a spinner with a larger hook, it paid off as my first trout came to the surface.  In the meantime Bill and I worked out a better system for moving the caught fish from back to front, use the nets each of us had.  With that problem solved there was another one on the line. Admittedly Bill caught more fish however my goal had been accomplished and Dad's Deadly Dozen proved to be a winner.   I wish he was here to be able to brag about the fish we had caught, he would have liked that, never the less I guess in the grand scheme of things, he wanted me to enjoy these baits and we finally got a chance to prove they worked pretty well.  Next time the strategy will to go to the next larger size as one upping Bill is now the goal!

A Pan Full of Trout.

We cleaned the trout like we used to back home in Eleva, cut the heads off, slit the belly and pull out the entrails then finally removing the blood line under the backbone.  These fish are all about 10 - 12 inches after being cleaned.   They are excellent on the grill, smoked, or delicious pickled by my good friend Mark Applen.  I have plenty to try all these methods for sure.  We know these trout are planted into the lake, similar to what the trout back in the Eleva pond were.  Planted trout usually have a pale white color to their flesh but as they feed on more natural food their flesh becomes more pinkish orange in color, which these all exhibited. They taste a lot better as well this way.  This is one of my favorite trips of the year and of course as you see in the above picture, it is also one of the most beautiful times of the year.  Trout fishing ends on October 31st and although it would be nice to get out again, the weather appears to be heading for a cold and wet period so we'll have to see.

I have been working on my Ranger boat, dressing it up a bit seeings how it wasn't used much this year.  One of the first things was to put some disc brake caliper covers on to dress up the wheels.  In the process of doing this by taking the tires off, the front axle, inner tire was wore down to the point of having no tread left.  Last year the front tire exhibited some wear while the back tire was almost perfect, I discounted it to the fact that dual axle trailers create some drag and wear on the tires and rotated front to back.  Well the limited amount of mile since the rotation put almost double the wear in about a year verses the previous 4 seasons.  Well, maybe Ontario Hwy 502 finally got it's revenge as the axle may need replacing and using the recommendation that trailer tires should be replaced every 5 years as well as the wear, it will be getting a new set of tires as well.  My appointment with the alignment shop is on October 31st, here;s hoping we skip the Halloween Blizzard this year.  There are also a few minor issues to clean up so the plan is to get these taken care of before the boat is put away for the winter.

Long Lake In Wisconsin and Lac Seul, part 2 (that should be enough!)

George with a nice walleye

So while the boat was still wet from Lac Seul, I had the chance to fish with a couple of my favorite people, Andrew Rombalski, my wife's uncle, Jason Rombalski, her cousin, and George Wimmer, their in law and a friend of mine.  Jason's wife's parents have a cabin on the channel between Birch Lake and Lake Chetac, in Birchwood, Wisconsin, just Northeast of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  We usually try and get a fall trip in each year looking for some nice crappies or a walleye or two.  Just west of them is Long Lake, a larger lake in the area known for it's walleyes.  Because of previous commitments the plan was to join them at the landing on Long Lake around 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, fish for the day, then stop and have supper at a Supper Club on the lake.  Wisconsin is famous for their rural or lakeside restaurants that are referred to as Supper Clubs.  Dinner in Wisconsin was always at noon!  We had fished that lake a few time however the forecast of the rain stopping by noon did not materialize and at 3 it was still drizzling.  We launched anyway and headed south to a few areas that we had been before.  While looking at the lake map on my preloaded maps on the Lowrance HDS, there was a spot marked:  Fall walleyes can be found along the drop off fishing with live bait rigs or jigs and minnows.  It wasn't that far away and with such an understanding audience in the boat we approached the region where I began marking fish immediately.  With the Motorguide in deployed and in anchor mode we started jogging around the area looking for fish.  Once on a pod of fish Jason pulled out a #7 Jigging Rap, a popular ice fishing bait however it is becoming popular using the lure as an open water jig and within 2 minutes he had a nice 16 inch walleye, however with the minimum length of 18 back in the water it went without even getting a picture!  All of a sudden we were on the fish as George catches a nice 17 incher.  I did get him to pose for this nice example of how our late afternoon was going.  In less than 2 hours we landed 10 walleyes and a nice 16 inch smallie that took my Jigging Rap. It was a significant improvement

Andy's nice 19 inch Smallie

over the last couple of times we fished Long Lake so it was decided that on Sunday we would hope to repeat the same as Saturday.  It really didn't stop raining till we left as we stopped by the Reel Em Inn Supper Club on the west side of the lake, just down from the boat landing.  There we enjoyed a few cocktails and ordered the Saturday night special, a 16 ounce prime rib with all the fixings.  It was very relaxing with the locals enjoying supper and us 4 patting ourselves on the back for having a quite successful couple of hours of fishing.  George went back to his cabin in Chetek, Wisconsin to attend to his dogs while the rest of us heading back to Jason's in laws house on the lake.  After a couple of glasses of fine whiskey, including a nice 21 year old scotch, we got up in the morning to have breakfast and head back out again.  Not knowing if George would rejoin us that question was answered the minute we pulled in the landing, yes he was there!  Of course we headed back to the scene of yesterdays success however the sky's turn a beautiful blue as the front went by a few hours earlier.  Not that we minded but you know what happens right after a cold front moves through.  Well it still wasn't that bad of fishing as we did get a couple of walleyes and Andy landed this very nice 19 inch smallmouth fishing a small sucker minnow.  We were marking a school of suspended crappies on the screen but wasn't very successful to see exactly what was stacked up in 25 feet of water (It was crappies, I know it!).  Never the less we did get a few more hits then decided to look for other identical looking area on the lake to expand our outlook on fish location.  We we should have just stayed were we were!  Never the less it was nice to fish with these guys and I hope that we may be able to get out ice fishing on that lake this year.

Jerry and his giant 16 inch walleye!

So finishing up the Lac Seul trip was pretty exciting.  Our favorite spot on the lake was Craig's Corner, named after a friend, Craig Biegert who fished with us a few years back. Sort of a nice place close to camp that always seems to have fish on it, it is now our go to spot if we need to fill out for the day, or for the trip if needed.  With 4 guys in the boat including Barry, Jerry, Ricky and myself, it was a good place to stay organized and catch fish.  Jerry had a 500 series spinning reel on a nice St. Croix Avid, sort of like walking around in a tuxedo with old dirty tennis shoes on!  At least it was something to give him some harmless ribbing.  Jerry did get some nice fish and I did get some pictures but not before correcting him on the proper way to display a fish for the camera.  Of course his response was...Do you think I am stupid?...Well here.  So this is a nice 16 inch walleye that is presented in the correct way for a photograph and he does deserve some credit.  The hand hidden to take away any reference for size, hide you arm holing the fish with the fish, and stick it out as far as you can.  Of course this fish looks a lot bigger than it is, in fact Jerry looks puny compared to this gigantic fish!  Never the less it is a great example of the fun we had in my boat with these 3 guys. Looking back we didn't kill them but our daily catch was acceptable with 60 - 70 walleyes a day in the boat.  My biggest mistake was to try and teach them how to tie a improved clinch knot ti tie the jigs onto the line.  Making it look super easy it resulted in me tying most of their jigs onto their lines, I guess it's nice to be thought of as useful.  All in all it was a great trip, having fun with my friends from Eleva including my brother Steve, and friends Kevin and Paul.  It was also nice to be able to show Jerry and Ricky a good time as this was their first time to Lac Seul.  We are already discussing next year!

With snow in the forecast it's probably time to put the boat away for the winter as my wheel house is scheduled to get the roof and door leak fixed as well as some electrical issues.  Hopefully next week will find myself with Bill Lundeen fishing our secret trout lake!  He sent me a picture of a dandy he got a couple of days ago.

Uffda, Time flies, Fishing with Jake and Lac Seul Part 1.

Little Jack and a Golden Redhorse

People are starting to wonder if I am still alive!  While working I always found some time at the end of the day to write my blog however now that I am retired it doesn't seem to come that scheduled.  Oh well, I am still here with a lot on the plate.  Since our last visit the boat got done, I made salsa, went fishing with Little Jake on the river, and just returned from a wonderful trip to Lac Seul Outposts with a gaggle of my friends.  So with that in mind, lets start with the boat.  After initially hitting a rock on Lac Seul at 32 MPH, the final damages have been taken care of.  The first look replaced the obvious, the lower unit and the motor bracket was cracked.  Immediately after the impact, the motor would not start.  Blaming it on a sensor in the lower unit to prevent operation if the lower unit is low, it was explained that the hit caused the motor mount to crack and pull off the crank sensor, and was a testament of how strong Ranger's transoms were.  At this point the damage was estimated at $14,000.  Well at the end of July while polishing the boat had noticed some cracking of the gel coat in the splashwell area.  After returning it to Frankie's the first story was they were stress cracks and covered under Ranger's warranty.  Further investigation however showed significant damage that was cause by the hit in May, to the tune of and additional $7800.  Luckily the insurance covered it and were very helpful. Having been without the boat for over 9 weeks this summer, it arrived just in time for our annual September trip to Lac Seul, more on that later.  Trying to catch up on things while out in the front yard Little Jake (Limo Joe's son as opposed to Big Jake who live a few houses down, easier that way) stopped at the mail box on his bike.  Sensing he had something on his mind...well football practice was done and it might be a nice time to fish the river.  Little Jake has turned into a fishing machine and just loves fishing the river with me.  Deciding there was time, he called his dad to get the ok and away we went after hooking the jon boat up to the Polaris Razor and headed to Blair's to launch the boat.  The first thing we noticed was the river had to be at least 18 inched higher due to the recent rains in the watershed.  The river was definitely high and fast.  Never the less we headed north and started to cast the shorelines but after an hour it became obvious that we didn't have the time to figure the bite out as casting crankbaits up against the shore only produced one hit in the two miles we floated down.  Time for a change in strategy as we decided to anchor just south of Cloquet Island where Jake caught a nice 20 inch walleye on a previous trip.  To my surprise the water flow was enough to prevent the anchor from holding us.  Knowing the water would be somewhat slower down stream we anchored in front of our neighbor's place where we had caught fish before.  This time the anchor held but again the high water wasn't ideal for fishing.  Never the less Jake was able to set the hook on a nice Golden Redhorse, another interesting and beautiful fish from the Mississippi River.  This was all we caught  however it was good enough for Jake as we headed back to the landing to load the boat.  Before loading, and with the water high enough, we did go around King's Island on the north side of the river.  It was interesting

Sunday Night Sunset at Lac Seul Outpost

Last Saturday we headed to our annual fall adventure at Lac Seul Outposts.  This year's agenda  included renting a second cabin and increasing our guest list by 7 guys, Paul Wenaas, Kevin Aiona, my brother Steve, Bruce Wiley and his neighbor Wayne, Dan Sadler, Barry and Jerry, Pete Sipe, Michael Wiley and his friend Brian, Our great friend Ricky Shermer and myself, a total of 11 guys.  Normally we top out at six guys but things went pretty smooth.  Our first night was to stay in Dryden at the Holiday Inn Express and leave for Sioux Lookout to meet Bruce at the airport as his plan was to fly in on Sunday Morning with Barry and Wayne.  It worked out quite well as we did not have to leave so early on Saturday and after a few delays they landed around 11"00 AM on Sunday, we were at camp by 1:30.   We all went out fishing as we had 4 boats.  Paul and Steve bought their 1775 Lund's and each took 2 extra guys.  Bruce had his boat with 3 guys in it and myself, with the biggest boat of the group I got stuck with Barry and Jerry, with Ricky Shermer as my copilot!  We did catch quite a few walleyes in the 3 hours we fished.  Having planned for burgers that night for supper, a contingency plan for timing of possible delays, Ricky insisted that we keep enough walleyes as he wanted to make Walleye Won-ton's.  I kept telling him we had plenty of time to keep fish but he insisted, OK Ricky, we kept a few nicer walleyes.  Well the other guys sort of went overboard on the walleyes as well and it appeared we were going to have fish for supper.  After cleaning the fish, Ricky made his Won-tons, a pretty simple recipe.  He brought won-ton premade dough squares, then added some cream cheese, a hunk of walleye, then sealed them and deep fried them.  I could not eat them as they contained flour but everyone raved about them.  It is good to learn new ideas as my friend Kevin cooks fish constantly and I could see the gears turning in his head!  With 3 days of fishing ahead, I'll save that for the next post!

On the River Finally!

Jake's First Smallie!

After many delays the 14 foot jon boat with a brand new 25 hp motor finally got a chance to get wet.  In the last 2 weeks I have had Little Jake and his dad Limo Joe out helping do the maiden run 2 times.  The first was on August 30th, we hooked up the boat and headed about 3 1/2 miles up rive next to Goodin Island, just south of where the Crow River empties into the Mississippi.  Our strategy was to drift the north side of the river where the water is better as the south side tends to be quite muddy from the Crow.  We would stay 30 feet from the shore and cast right to the edge, bringing our baits downstream and across the current breaks and eddy's. Jake had been practicing with his spinning rod however I was concerned it was a little light for this kind of fishing so he used a heavier rod with heavier test line, as well I rigged him up with a white buzz bait.  These baits come up to the surface and make quite a noise coming across the water, enough to drive the smallmouth bass crazy.  In addition to that Jake is 12 years old and has a lot to learn about casting, avoiding snags, the right finesse for retrieving a lure.  As well my friend Pete who guided on the river for smallies claim they are deadly, so much he stopped using them and gave me a few to try.  This was perfect for Jake, heavy enough to get it close to shore, a quick yank and it was on the surface and if and when the do strike it's quite a show as the fish hit with vengeance on the surface.  There was some skepticism on Jake's part but he started pretty good as on the sixth cast a nice 16 inch smallie slammed it and the fight was on.  It really put up a battle and decided to get the net out to make sure we landed the fish.   Jake was pretty happy with himself as he did end up having 2 more bass take a swipe at it as well he landed 2 small northerns.  In the meantime I was using a favorite Bomber Model A in a light crayfish pattern with good success.  The plan was to float down to where Cloquet Island, just upriver from us, forms a deep hole and is a great place to anchor and drown a few nightcrawlers.  Well, we got about a mile from where we started and a jet ski was drifting down the middle of the river where the current was

Jake's Beautiful 20" Walleye

faster, he yelled at us so we pulled up to see what the problem was.  His jet ski refused to start and asked if we would pull him back to his place, maybe 3 miles downstream.  Although Jake wasn't too happy, it was the right thing to do so we tied a rope and pulled him home at a whooping 9 miles an hour.  Jake was pouting all the way as he had just started getting into a rhythm and we stopped to help this guy.  As we approached his dock he insisted that we stay there and he was going to get us some money, $80.  Jake's eyes really lit up but we told Jake that someday he will need help and banking a few good deeds is always good, we left to bottom fish.   With the sun setting and little time we took off his buzz bait and I have circle hooks snells ready to clip onto the snaps on the line with a 1 once bell sinker clipped above the snap, a quick and easy way to get fishing fast.  threading 2 crawlers on the hook we pitched Jake's pole into the current break and put it in the rod holder.  While getting the other rigs set up he noticed the tip of his rod bouncing pretty good.  Slowly coaching him, Jake is very good at using circle hooks as he doesn't really have any bad habits of setting a standard type hook, telling him when he feels a steady pull just start reeling.  Although he claimed there was a fish on his line it didn't look like much until he got it to the side of the boat where it really took off.  Kind of in disbelief, he finally had a good battle going and when he got it back to the boat it was a beautiful walleye, 20 inches.  Having caught a few walleye on the river, I know they are in there however this was the largest one that had graced my boat.  We had a few more bites however the mark had been set quite high and with it getting dark fast we decided to leave.  After loading the boat up on the side by side, we just had to drive around the neighbor hood to show off this nice fish, first to our neighbor big Jake, then we had to show his mom, stopped a few more places before putting the boat away and cleaning the fish.  I filleted the fish, vacuum packed it and it was ready to give to Grandpa when he came over for a visit the next day.  Joe proclaimed.....Dave, you've created this fishing monster!  We did go out on Labor Day for a few hours but the buzz bait wasn't working as well as the crankbaits.  We ended up with 8 nice 16 - 18 inch bass, it was funny as Jake reeled in the first couple then after hooking another one I think he felt sorry for me and stated that I should have the honor.  Changing his buss bait to a fire tiger shallow running crank bait got him a few northerns yet I had the hot bait.  I finally switched with him but it seems at about 30 minutes before sunset the fish turn off somewhat.  Either way we had a great time and it's more fun for Joe and myself see the excitement in Jake when he reels in a fish than anything else.  All you have to do is check out that smile in the pictures!

Nice Smallie

On Wednesday night I had the privilege of fishing with Jarred, the son of a friend of my friend, Paul Wenaas.  We had been trying to get together of an evening trip so Wednesday it was.  Because it is starting to get dark around 7:30, we decided to just fish the shorelines and dispense with any anchoring.  Admittedly the fishing was slow although the weather was nice.  I told Jarred that it's like another wold on the river and he's never know we where 20 miles from Downtown Minneapolis.  Because casting cranks let's one cover a lot of water fast, he was the first to get a nice 16 incher.  Satisfied a few minutes later I hooked a nice bass as well. These were the only 2 we got for the night, nothing spectacular but I am sure he'll be back.  It was interesting as these were the first outings with the new 25 hp outboard engine on the back.  Originally the boat came with a 1976 15 hp Evinrude but that was a real dog on the river.  I think it was very tired so a couple of years ago there was a 25 hp short shaft Mercury on Craigslist so I put that on the boat and it really woke it up.  The 15 hp would get about 12 mph upstream and maybe 16 going down, while the newer 25 hp did about 20 upstream and 24 down.  Well to be honest I forgot the motor was new and never broke it in, just took off at full throttle!  Honestly the performance wasn't that good, maybe 17 going up and 21 going down.  Deciding to move the motor pin up once, with Jarred I hit 21 going up and 26 going down, pretty impressive.  Although worried about the break in period, the old saying break it in like you're gonna run it, looks like it held true.  I suspect it would be a good thing to change the oil this fall even though it will probably have less than 5 hours on it.  The other thing that got done this week

Wagon Load of Sweet Corn 

was getting around to freezing the sweetcorn from the garden.  Planting 6-48 foot rows, 3 in May and 3 more rows about 3 weeks later gives a little time to get it all done.  For some reason this years first crop was sparse as I usually plant 3 - 4 seeds next to each other 10 inches apart, but in the case of the first crop only one or two stalks came up.  The second crop was better, but not as prolific as last year.  Thinking about it there may have been some Preen pre-emergent carryover from last years onion crop.  Either way not counting what the raccoons ate, I vacuum packed 42 bags of corn, each bag holding the equivalent of between 5 - 6 ears of corn, it amounted to about 250 ears of my favorite variety, Honey and Pearl bi-color.  It's really quite simple, get a big pot of water boiling, shuck about 30 ears and put them in the boiling water.  As dad taught me, boil them for about 3 minutes or so, I take them out and put them in big aluminum foil pans so they cool off.  With an electric knife just cut off the kernels and fill the vacuum bags.  I have a chamber vacuum packer that works excellent for this as it goes in a 8" x 12" bag, the corn gets flattened and sealed.  It ends up pretty slick and the vacuum packing give the corn an incredible storage life as we have had 12 month old corn form last year and it tastes as fresh as what we just did,  Finally got the Ranger back today and it looks pretty good.  It needs a good cleaning before September 21st when we head back up to Lac Seul.  I'm anxious to how they say, bite the dog that bit you the last time!  I know the buoy is moved and the water is at least 2 feet higher so it should not be a problem..........hopefully as it's been in the shop for over 9 weeks already this year...Uffda!

Back to Alexandria

Wacky Worm Rig

With an invitation to spend the weekend on Lake Ida with my good friend Lory Brasel at his cabin, it would give us a chance to fish his lake for bass using wacky worm rigs, just like a month ago when I spent some time with my friend Charlie on Lake Miltona, Lake Carlos, and Lake Darling.  Lake Ida is basically in the same area as these other lakes as well is very similar in structure, and having threaten Lory a lesson in late summer bass fishing along the reeds, it was a pretty easy decision.  Wacky worming is a pretty simple technique for catching largemouth bass.  As stated in a previous post, it all began in Texas a few years ago.  In Texas bass is king however we do have a fantastic bass fishery here in Minnesota, both largemouth and smallmouth bass and what works in Texas works here as well.  This rig has evolved in many forms however my personal choice is the simple method of inserting a small O ring onto the middle of what is referred to a stick type plastic worm that is 4 - 6 inches, then using a wacky worm style wide gap hook (the picture shows a weedless style), hook the O ring and you are set.  These worms are usually impregnated with salt and scent and will sink on there own at a rate of 8 - 12 inches per second.  As stated earlier, there are many forms of this rig, some add weight to get down deeper into the weeds, we simply were casting the reed edges that were in the 4 - 6 feet depth so our strategy was to go with the simple presentation.  Lake Ida in Alexandria is the second largest lake in the area, it runs north to south with a couple of nice bays,  the water is extremely clear and on

Lory's First Wacky Worm Bass on His First Cast!

Saturday it was quite windy.  Wacky Worming is the most fun when you can actually watch your line as the worm sinks as often the bass will grab it and run, with the only indication is that your line is moving.  The wind plays havoc on the sight aspect of this yet one can still feel the hit as well as changes in the bow in your line.  As stated the worms are usually salt/scent impregnated and the bass will hang on to the worm for quite along time as it tastes good!  A quick set of the hook and the battle is on!  It is a very fun way to fish bass however this time of year the larger bass tend to be deeper so one usually catches bass in that 12 - 16 inch range.  One can target the deeper weed edges using the same Wacky Worm style using a drop shot presentation, something I haven't tried but is definitely on the list.  Our strategy was to find a reed/wild rice structure on a less windy part of the lake.  This was Lory's first attempt to use the Wacky Worm technique on his lake, and of course I tend to oversell things as well.  Giving him the basic instructions, cast right to the reed edges, points are good as well as pockets within the weed growth.  Let the worm settle to the bottom, give it a few lifts to impart some action and wait a few seconds.  If there is a bass, it will hit it within the first couple of seconds from the time the worm hit the water, and will actually pick it up from the bottom if in the vicinity of your worm.  With the clear water a bass can actually come a long ways to hit the bait as they are generally sight feeders.  Lory's first cast was on a reed point and although not exactly focused on the right methodology all of a sudden.....I got one!  We landed a nice 15 inch bass, actually the largest of the day, on his first cast.  I caught the next 3 - 4 bass while explaining the specific technique, after looking back at his first cast and understanding what went right with that situation, Lory began to catch more bass.  For the day we ended up with about 15 bass as conditions were difficult with the 15 mph south wind, it made boat control a challenge for sure. We fished for about 6 hours as it was fun to teach someone a new presentation that actually seemed to work.  I also tried a new type of rig called a Tokyo Rig, it looks deadly and should really work on the river for smallies, something that has eluded me this year.  Definitely plan on dealing with that in the next couple of weeks!

I did get some fish last weekend!

The saga of the Lac Seul May lower unit strike on the Ranger 620 continues.  After the trip fishing with my friend Charlie, I brought the boat back to Frankie's to fix the steering and a few stress cracks.  A more detailed inspection showed a number of stress cracks related to hitting the rock and after notifying the insurance company, $7200 arrived to cover the damage.  Giving an OK to start the work, they pulled off my motor and under the top cover of the transom found more damage that was not visible earlier.  Again another trip back to the insurance company however this time I expressed my frustration with them not getting this done all at once and 3 months later I am still dealing with damage.  Explaining that this was the final time to take care of everything and am expecting that this is the last of something that should have been dealt with in June.  the additional damage was $650 so I authorized them to get it finished, as the boat has been in the shop 8 weeks this summer.  As well I told them for now a $8,000 in repairs they can touch up a few spots of dock rash and a scratch where we hit the side with a metal shield while welding a gusset on the frame for a step.  That has been confirmed, so the Ranger should be just like new, just in time to take it back to Lac Seul in September.  Hopefully my luck has changed by then!  This week is Mississippi River week and the plan is to hit the smallies and try for some larger catfish in the hole behind the island.

Top Fuel Dragster on a Green Light!

Between the weather and the garden, it's been pretty difficult finding time to get the jon boat out, actually a even a little embarrassing.  Last Friday was interesting as my good friend that I met at work, Kevin Sonsalla had tickets again to attend the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.  It is always a fun event as Kevin has some connections with Don Schumacher Racing out of Illinois.  Schumacher is a famous name in both the welding and battery charger manufacturing in the US and Kevin used to represent certain products he would sell to them.  Eventually he would help out at their race events and today they still treat him pretty nice.  His tickets get us into the event, access to reserved seating, as well the hospitality tent where we can watch them rebuild the engine after each run, have a nice meal served, as well as free soft drinks.  It is a lot of fun as this was probably my 6th time going and it is quite amazing to see those cars go from a dead stop to 1000 feet in less than 3.8 seconds and over 330 mph.  That is moving! One of the things I found interesting was a display by a local General Motors dealer selling the latest in V8 motor configurations.  They had 6.2L (378 cu in) V8's that would turn out over 600 hp, and I often talk about the good old days of cars, those days are here!  Thanks Kevin for a great day again!

Fermentation Crock

So a couple of things, my fermented pickles are absolutely delicious.  They have cured into a great tasting deli style pickle and of course I think they are pretty good.  My neighbor Lynn Brasel took some of my cucumbers from the garden and made crock pickles as well, her's were pretty good, maybe more polished.  She used vinegar and I just used a salt brine so maybe in a contest she would have taken a blue ribbon, never the less, I reminded her that they were my cucumbers!  Both are still quite tasty although she did give me her recipe.  We are at the end of a nice month long harvesting season for the cucumbers and maybe I will have enough to make another batch soon as I expect to empty this fermentation crock within the next couple of days.  One has to daily skim off the white mold that forms on the top of the liquid, not the worst job and it gives one the opportunity to taste the brine, which is packed full of the new craze in dietary supplements called Probiotics,  a great boost to ones digestive health.  It's actually pretty good.  I bought some 1 gallon plastic square containers which work pretty well for the refrigerator however I have already ate a gallon.  With about 5 gallons of pickles fermenting in crocks now I should have enough to take me through ice fishing season, not even counting on trying Lynn's method.  Lynn's husband Lory stopped by last week and we picked 10 gallons of summer crisp pears which he will make into pear wine.  Our plan is to use our still and make pear brandy soon.  He

A Raccoon's Banquet!

has some chokecherry brandy that we tried and admittedly it's pretty good as well.  Cured in miniature charred oak barrels and blended with the right amount of flavorings and cut to a reasonable proof (80) I was very impressed and am looking forward to see how this will turn out.  It is also time to harvest the sweet corn however the raccoons have decided the same.  I wouldn't be so angry as not to share some of my corn with them however they tend to be real pigs about it and knock down the stalks, take a few bites out of a cob then move to the next one.  They took out an equivalent of a half a row of corn with most of the cobs having just a few bites out of then.  Frustrating for sure.  There is a live trap waiting for them with a nice can of tuna cat food, hardly something a nice raccoon cane pass up but no luck.  Maybe the corn wasn't quite ready and they have decided to come back in a week when it will be!  Either way I'll be waiting.  I did get a chance to fish on our neighbor John's dock on Sunday night with Limo Joe, his son Jake, his neighbor friend Aaron, Big Jake and his son Elijah.  Nobody was really set up very well so my job was to reconfigure each pole with the right hook and sinker, added some nightcrawlers to the hooks and in addition we tried a line with Doc's Catfish bait but it wasn't a good night for fishing.  The excuse might be that this was the first time fishing on John's dock so it might take a while to get to know the best place to cast.  Anyway it was fun hanging with the kids and teaching them not to stick one's finger in the Doc's Catfish goop, it is pretty gross!

My New Fishing Partner

Jake the Red Horse King!!

It's been a odd summer with continued issues with my boat, which I will get into later.  In the meantime one of my tasks have been working on the jon boat to start fishing the Mississippi River behind the house.  A prerequisite was always to fish the neighbors dock and get a feel for the water flow, clarity, and what's biting.  A week ago or so the result was a nice golden red horse, a medium sized carp as well as a medium catfish.  In the neighbor hood is a guy by what we call him Limo Joe as his past life years ago was driving a limo.  After a number of years he finally settled down and now he has 2 wonderful kids, a boy named Jake and a girl, Kaylee.  The boy is 12 years old and is crazy about fishing so offering to take both of them to the dock we managed to catch a really nice standard red horse sucker and a small catfish.  It wasn't as good as the other day but for Jake it was a fabulous.  Well he had soccer on the next night but on Tuesday he was back at the pole shed ready for more.  We could not use the dock so at first we spent some time practicing casting, but the urge to fish was too great so we called mom and said we were heading down the road to fish the Champlin Mississippi River Point Park.  Our strategy was the same, fish the bottom with a glob of nightcrawlers to see what would bite.  Within 10 minutes Jake had this nice red horse sucker on, the second one he caught that week.  you can obviously tell that he's pretty happy with his catch.  Admittedly it's as much fun for me as it was for him.  In my younger days we often fished with my dad's friends Art Kelly, Danny Van Pelt, and Vic Wenaas, down at the Buffalo River fishing catfish in August. Getting to show him how to set the hook, hold the rod, use it for leverage, is fun and Jake actually listens!  Having no children of my own, Jake is like a grandson I will never have so it's quite the honor to be able to pass on some of my fishing knowledge to a younger person.  It's also makes me smile when I see his enthusiasm, like I had when I was that age.....let see, 52 years ago......uffda.  Jake can't wait to get out again but this time we will launch at the other neighbors landing and fish out of the boat, telling Jake we will get bigger fish from the boat! I am not sure who's more excited, Jake or me!

Nice carp!!

So the Ranger, well it looks like it will be in the shop for at least another 2 weeks as investigating the cracks, Frankie's guy found additional damage from my lower unit hit back in May on Lac Seul.  It has been assured it's repairable however I had to call the insurance company, they will need to remove both the main motor and kicker, not an easy task.  Hopefully it will be done by Labor day but who knows???  Not complaining and thankfully August is the time to fish on the River for smallies and rough fish, they are fun to catch.  With access to the river so close it just takes hooking the jon boat up to the ATV, opening (and making sure they are closed again!) the gates and launching, 10 minutes and we are on the water.  The smallmouth bass action using crankbaits is good so not having the Ranger isn't the end of the world however hopefully this is the end of the 2019 hitting a rock nightmare!  My goal is to teach Jake how to use a bait-caster before the season ends.  Admittedly this retirement is an interesting transition.  The biggest accomplishment so far has been the garden and making pickles.  One of my batches is fermentation pickles, similar to Clausen type pickles.  They are stacked in a fermentation crock, layers of dill, garlic, spices, cucumbers (the larger ones) then repeat with an added couple of grape leaves to add natural tanins to help keep them crisp.  In a 3.5 gallon fermentation crock it is filled about 3/4 of the way then a brine mixture of 1/3 cup of pickling salt to a gallon of water, fill the crock then put the weights in to keep the cucumbers under the brine, and let them naturally ferment.  it has a lid with a water lip to keep out any bad yeasts and stuff.  They are looking pretty good and hopefully will be done by the middle of next week.  Just in time for another batch.

Fishing With Charlie

$59.95, 16 ounce musky bait

This thing called retirement, one truly has to wonder where you found the time to do everything while still working!  On the other hand there is no more excuses why you can't do anything.  On Sunday, July 21st we where invited to a memorial service for our good friend Chuck Teasley's wife Karla who passed away a few weeks ago from cancer.  Charlie has been a long time friend and met him in the early 80's while we lived in Osseo, MN.  He was a banker for Northwestern National Bank, which became Norwest, and is now Wells Fargo.  We had a lot of the same interests including fishing.  Eventually he moved out of the apartment building but we stayed in touch.  Deciding to move back to Duluth he sold his 1984 Lund Pro Angler to me and bought a 1986 Lund Nisswa Guide, a fiberglass tiller.  Chuck got married to Karla, who did work for Minnesota Power, a utility company in Duluth, MN.  Eventually she got transferred to on of their companies in Orlando, so Charlie decided that the Nisswa Guide boat was not going to work in Florida so I ended up buying that.  We kept in touch the entire time as Charlie and his now family would spend a week every July at Mount Carmel Ministries in Alexandria, MN and we usually found time to spend a nice day of fishing on Mille Lacs.  The memorial service was at Mount Carmel and after a day of remembrance, it was decided that I'd bring my boat back up on Monday and stay with Charlie the night and fish Muskies on Tuesday.  Charlie lives in Glen Carbon, Illinois just east of St. Louis, Missouri where Karla was last relocated.  There all his good stuff including an impressive collection of Musky fishing equipment was stolen.  On his way to Alexandria he called and asked where the best place to buy musky equipment in the cities, as he had an insurance check.  Thorne Brothers of course!  Meeting him on Saturday he had his daughter Morgan with him and I am sure he made the store's day with walking out with about $2000 worth of new baits, rod/reel, tackle box, you name it.  Arriving on Monday we decided to fish Lake Miltona, a known musky lake 5 miles from us.  All these lakes in the Alexandria area have zebra mussels and are incredibly clear.  Arriving at the landing which wasn't very good, we finally got out and surveyed the area.  A sunken island topping out at around 8 - 10 feet surrounded by deeper water looked to be a great place to start and with the wind blowing gently across it, a perfect place to start

Not huge but the action was great

casting.  These new musky baits are quite interesting and some can be very heavy, which is why I don't fish them much, getting too old and it's hard on one's self.  Never the less we drifted across the area, me throwing a large Mepp's and Charlie throwing literally the kitchen sink.  He had a nice follow but failed to get a hook up.  On one cast he lifted his line up only to see his $60 Beaver tail bait slide to the bottom, the clasp had either come unhooked or something.  It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, oh well with the wind it was lost forever!  To be honest it wasn't the perfect day for muskies anyway, a bright sky, cold front had just passed through, crystal clear water, we decided to head to the calmer side of the lake and fish for bass along the reeds.  Admittedly since my time in Texas with my friends Matt and Joe, wacky worming for bass has found a place in my strategies.  The reed beds were well developed on the west end of the lake and the wind was perfect for following the edges.  We'd land our plastic worms right at the edge and if there was a bass it would slam the lure and take off with it.  Within 5 casts we had our first bass.  Not big but a lot better then watching our big baits come back to the boat empty!  Wacky worming is a lot of fun.  The worm is hooked in the middle and with no weight it slowly falls in the weeds.  Even with slack in the line you can still feel the hit, often you see the line heading off across the water.  Ending the day with over 15 bass it turned out to be an interesting day on the water.  Deciding that I didn't like the landing, Charlie drove my truck to the east side landing which was much deeper and easier to load onto the trailer.  A quick bite to eat at a bar in Miltona then on to Carlos Creek Winery and see if it is possible to pick up a wine club order, no it's too early however we did end up getting some wine anyway.  Back to camp, it was decided that because we have a lot of lost time to make up for, I would stay the night and fish a half a day on Wednesday.  Mount Carmel is on Lake Carlos so we stayed there as there are 4 lakes accessible from Lake Carlos.  In the morning we attended another service at the chapel before heading out.  These lakes are crazy, full of structure and clear.  Even in 5 feet of water it seemed as though one would hit bottom.  Crossing into Lake Darling it was interesting to see how much current was flowing between the lakes.  The Long Prairie Rive runs through this chain and with all the rain, it was really moving.  Again our strategy was the same, hit the edge of the reeds and fish for bass.   Admittedly the action was great and in 5 hours we had at least 15 fish.  It was time to leave so I left Charlie with a bunch of baits, said our goodbyes and will look for the next opportunity to fish with one of my dearest friends!

New cracks in the splashwell area.

This year has not been very good to my Ranger boat.  Hitting the rock while heading into camp on Lac Seul put a huge crimp in pretty much everything.  While getting the boat ready to take to Alexandria, I noticed a bunch of cracks in the back by the splash well. Thinking it be damage from the hit on Lac Seul in May, on Thursday it went back up to Frankie's.  As well a couple of weeks ago when we were on a maiden run after the lower unit was repaired, an attempt to open the motor up with the trim full up met with an unsettling result, the engine lost all steering feel almost losing control.  The same scenario was attempted last week with the same results.  Anything over 4800 RPM's and 50% till caused the handling of the boat to be very scary.  Dropping it off last Thursday and discussing the issues, Joe grabbed the motor and twisted it, seems there is air in the steering lines.  The fiberglass cranks would need to be looked at by their guy. Asking that they water test the boat to be sure, my next big trip is back to Lac Seul and there is no desire to have any issues.  A call this morning confirmed a couple of things. First the steering issue was air, they bled out the system then tried it with success.  Also the cracks did not look like they were related to the hit, so they called Ranger who offered to fix them however the boat had to be sent back to Arkansas, otherwise I could use Frankie's and they would pick up half of the cost.  This seemed reasonable so another 2 weeks in the shop!  Oh well, it will give me plenty of time to hit the river as this is the prime time to be fishing smallies and catfish.  Not that I need an excuse but it certainly  better than waiting!  In the meantime the garden is exploding with cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, beans, you name it.  The onions and peppers look great as we have been making about 2 gallons of "Bernie Konter's Fall Feast Pickles" every other day, and they are delicious.  Plan on getting out on the river in the next day or so...too much to write, so little time!