Finally Here!!!!

Spottail Shiner Minnow

Friday we head up to Brindley's to participate in the Minnesota Fishing Opener.  This morning was the final step in getting everything organized for this year's trip.  Most who know me understand that I am not much of a Global Warming, the sky is falling guy and the last 10 years seem to back me up.  These late spring's has really put a damper on the minnow supply for fishing opener, especially the spottail and golden shiner situation.  Late ice tends to keep the shiners from entering shallow waters early, therefore changes the spawning times and the ability to trap bait.  As well the heavy snows of February has put the levels of those ponds which raise various bait very high making trapping difficult at best.  In addition the traditional lakes where spottail shiners are usually harvested for bait are mostly infested with zebra mussels, that along with a ban on bait imported from other states makes it very difficult to secure our bait for this year.  Spottail shiners are the preferred like bait for Leech Lake and of course golden shiners, rainbows, and fatheads will work but the confidence factor is much higher when using spottails.  With my connection at Lundeen's no longer available we are on plan C right now as the situation changes almost hourly! I have secured some for my boat based on previous conversations because I like making decisions and moving ahead.  Two days before opener is cutting it close but we have had this situation at least 7 out of the last 10 years.

Fell Marine Wireless MOB System

Hanging around my good friend Bruce Wiley and his airplane, a Cessna 182 RG, then observing his safety equipment has prompted my ordering a wireless MOB (Man Over Board) switch for my Ranger.  Not that I think about it much as these days but I do wear my Onyx A/M24 Inflatable lift vest 100% of the time in the boat.  I am getting too old and God forbid I have another seizure while in the boat I definitely want to be safe.  The biggest issue that engine cutoff's prevent is the infamous Circle of Death, it occurs when one gets thrown out of the boat for any reason and if the motor is running and in gear, the torque of the motor forces it to start making circles and it really places the guy in the water in harms way. a terrible way to go, watching the boat make circled and coming towards you....No Thanks!  Everytime I start my outboard I TRY to connect the engine shutoff lanyard to my life vest which shuts off the motor in the event the guy at the wheel is thrown out of the boat or for that matter, displaced off the seat.  Truth be told I never connect it when making short runs, which in reality is the most dangerous.  This device is wireless and get's hooked in parallel with the existing cutoff switch in your boat.  Simple easy to hook up, now as long as you keep it in your life vest, around your neck, or clipped to yourself, anytime the red FOB gets 50 feet away from the base unit the engine will shut off.  After 6 seconds of being off the unit resets itself and someone can restart the engine and come back to pick you up.  It seems like a great idea as I am not getting any younger.  Because I actually do wear my inflatable life vest 100% of the time in the boat, I'll figure out a way to keep it there which should not be to difficult.  Interesting, I have these inflatables for each passenger in my boat, I also have regular life vests in the boat to stay legal if they don't wear one.  I let them decide however I make sure they know that I'm not jumping in to save them if they don't wear it.  It reminds me of a great story but that is for another time.

Left to right, top Dave, Brothers Jon and, Steve
 Left to right bottom, brother Blake and Sister Beth,
Good Job Mom!!!

Fishing opener in Minnesota is traditionally on the second Saturday of May and usually coincides with Mother's Day, which is on the second Sunday in May, which causes a few issues with some guys.  Well every 7 years May 1st is on a Sunday so the next Sunday is Mother's Day and opener isn't for another week yet.  My Mother died on her birthday, April 18, 2017 and although living in Minnesota and celebrating fishing opener, she never really gave me any problems with missing Mom's Day.  We would eventually get there and give her some flowers but she knew my love for fishing and like a great mom, never made a big deal about it.  Mom was quite a looker in her younger years however that era of the 50's and 60's it was popular and fashionable to smoke cigarettes, which didn't do her any favors in her later years. Not having any ready available pictures of her, I stole this picture from my sister's Facebook page and am posting it for a couple of reasons.  First it represents what my mother had to put up with so Happy Mother's Day mom.  The second reason is that this is the second year without our brother Jon, at the Team Walleye Opener.  Jon had a congenital affliction that ultimately took his life.  Before the disease claimed him, Steve and I would treat him to a weekend away from everything at Leech Lake.  Although Jon's issue had left him with a number of deformities on his face, he always appreciated the chance to get away.  On the last year of his life, on opener he stayed in the cabin all weekend because the pain was enough to make it difficult to be in the boat.  I told him that if he didn't want to go fishing that it was OK, and if he didn't want to come up again, that was OK as well.  His answer was pretty to the point, Dave, I love coming here as your friends treat me like a normal person and I would never want to not come.  Just sitting on the porch watching the lake was exciting and a welcome change to his normal routine!  Not bragging but the Anderson's have done quite well at Leech, I hold the record for most years winning the Largest Walleye of the opener award and Jon has won the most DCS (Didn't Catch Sh#T) awards.  Not bad as those are the 2 plaques we give out!  If you go to the left side of the blog and check out "See Team Walleye on Minnesota Bound" or simply click here  you can watch our story and learn more about the DCS award as well, maybe you can catch Jon walking by as he has the black patch over his eye.

Hopefully there will be a great report next week.