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Sweet corn in great shape

Well, Google decided to change it's format and quite frankly teaching an old dog isn't exactly my idea of fun but I guess one cannot stop progress....if that's what they call it!  I guess after 12 years of using the old system it was time to shake up things a bit, and shake them up they did!!  So forgive me if this is late or looks a little odd, I am only human!  So as I struggle to even get this picture where it supposed to be, let me tell you it's been hot.  Along with timely rains, my corn is literally reaching for the sky. The first three rows were planted  right after the fishing opener with the next 3 rows a few weeks later on June 1st.  This is done so it all doesn't ripen at the same time which then brings a mad scramble to get it packed away.  When it is about a foot high each row gets a side dressing of 46-0-0 fertilizer which is 46% nitrogen per 100 pounds of fertilizer and nothing else.  Corn loves nitrogen and as you see in the picture it has done extremely well.  Probably 6 - 7 feet tall, the leaves are a beautiful dark green, and the ears are forming very nicely.  Of course it along with the cucumbers thrive in this weather.  Personally I could use it a little cooler but it is what it is!  A few past posts have explained my method of preserving the corn for all year, using my dad's recipe, boil the corn for 3 minutes, remove from the water to stop the cooking.  Using an electric knife, cut off the kernels,  adding nothing, simply put the corn in the vacuum sealer bags, seal and freeze.  The corn tastes just like the day one packed it, absolutely delicious.  Along with the corn, the cucumbers have really been keeping me busy.  The Zucchini has been growing like crazy as well as the peppers and tomatoes.  Foolish me, have been bragging that the potatoes were free of potato bugs but alas, it's a daily job to pick them off now.  Should have kept my mouth shut!

Nice smallie on Monday

So back to fishing.  A couple of things.  Last Sunday we went down to Lake City to celebrate my grand niece's birthday with he parents.  We had a fabulous lunch at the Lake House on Pepin.  In preparing the trip it was asked of me to bring down my boat and the 7 of us could go for a ride.  the winds were scheduled to be 20 mphout of the northwest, no the perfect scenario for calm day on the water, never the less the boat was in tow.  The lake didn't look too bad howevee once on the water a number of issues became apparent.  Even though the boat has a 250 hp motor, it is not propped for that load and we could never get on plane in the rough water, and when we attempted all the boat would do is porpoise.  Even under the best throttle/weight distribution combinations, it wasn't good as a lot of the passengers were uncomfortable.  Oh well, it wasn't my idea!  Last night (Monday) my good friend Mike Grant's son David called to see if I wanted to go out.  Well of course!  Brandon had just welded the guides onto the trailer, the winch was replaced with something heavier duty and with some modifications, should make winching the boat up the trailer much easier.  With the water level up about 18 inched we headed up river all the way to Elk River. There were some great looking places to fish but no luck.  Spending more time than planned we motored back down to our normal starting point and fished the shorelines.  Still nothing as I figured the higher water would have pushed the fish shallower.  After the "milk run" drift" it was time to start the motor and hesd down to a few holes and catfish.  Well the motor started, then stuttered before stopping completely.  It would not start again as it seemed to be out of gas.  The tank still had a couple of gallons but something didn't feel right.  Reading the manual it said if you run it out of gas, the fuel system needs to be purged.  No where in the manual does it say how to do this!!!  We were 3 miles from Blair's landing and with a 2.5 mph drift, we'd get there a little after sunset.  The disadvantage is the electric will not push against the current so if you are snagged you are out of luck.  We each lost a nice crankbait.  Like a couple of weeks ago we did find some fish just off shore including this nice 17 inch smallie that hit my new Rapala BX Big Brat square bill crankbait.  It casts like a dream and goes over the rocks very well.  Dave missed a few and we both caught each about an 8 inch northern pike.  Arriving at the landing both the welded on guides and the winch worked beautifully.  Dave headed home while I looked at the motor, added gas to the tank and discovered a valve stem device on the inputs to the intake manifold.  Pumping the bulb then pressing the valve, air and gas came out.  A quick press on the starter button and she popped right off.  There needs to be a little research to make sure it is the proper method as I'd hate to be downstream the next time it decides to do that!  One last thing, my Sirius Radio hasn't been working on the big boat.  It was updated prior to fishing opener however it was giving me grief then.  A quick review of the last update in May states....Fixes Sirius/Weather issues.   It's pretty easy to upgrade the software, pulled it out so the antenna had a clear view of the sky and now it works perfectly.  Dang computers!!!  It will probably take a few posts to get everything back to normal, or at least my normal.........which is probably questionable anyway.

 

July Continues!

New Trailer Brake Actuator

It's been an interesting summer for sure.  The good news is that the garden is growing like crazy,  With the right amount of proper fertilizer, warm muggy days and warm nights, along with timely rains, the first planting of corn is tasseled out, the cucumbers are producing like crazy and the potatoes look fabulous.  I did speak too soon on the potato bugs as I am seeing a few these days.  As most of you know my boat has been a curse these last 12 months.  After getting the live well valve replaced and backing it into the shed the next morning there was a puddle of brake fluid under the surge brake actuator by the hitch.  Pulling the plug where one checks and fills the brake fluid, it was completely empty.  After filling it up again and letting it sit a few days, nothing leaked out but still there was something wrong.  My estimates on the trailer is it probably has 30,000 to 40,000 miles on it.  Last fall it got 4 new tires, a new axle, it isn't worth the chance to mess with the brakes.  Looking online an original OEM Dexter actuator replacement was about $350 by the time you add shipping and taxes.  Last fall when I needed an axle I was given Kremer Services as the "official" RangerTrail service center.  I called them and it wouldn't be till the end of July before they could order one and get me in.  the service guy was going to call me back but never did.  Last Thursday there was a "MEGA" fishing garage sale in Lindstrom, MN, near Frankie's.  Deciding to go it would also gave me the opportunity to stop and discuss my new problem.  The sale was a complete dud although I did buy 7 pairs of Green Bay Packer socks for $20, but that was about it.  Stopping at Frankie's, Deb was behind the counter as I told her my boat is lonely already for your shop!  Discussing the latest issue she said, yes we do these all the time, in fact I have the actuators in stock.   Well put my name on one and I'll be back on Monday.  She promised me they would put it in while I waited.  On Monday the boat was dropped off and instead of waiting around it was a great opportunity to drive to Burnett Creamery just east of Grantsburg, Wisconsin about 35 minutes away.  Uffda, their cheese curds were out of this world.  Freshly bagged from the morning they were still warm, squeaked like crazy, and had the best flavor of any curds.  Ended up with 4 bags of curds, some 14 year old cheddar, and 4 rounds of 3 pepper Colby cheese, incredible.   Next stop was to cross country it to Cumberland Wisconsin and stop at Louie's Finer Meats for their amazing homemade bratwursts.  Got 3 flavors, Packer Brats which has sauerkraut and cheese in them, Pickle and Cheese, and plain Beer Brats.  Before getting to Louie's, Jared from Frankie's called and said the trailer is done.  Incredibly the charges on fixing the trailer were $410, a heck of a deal considering it was done right and I wouldn't have to find a guy who knew what they were doing to bleed the brakes.  As well it was very noticeable once pulling, it's possible that the brakes had been going bad for a while.  Well now they are fixed.  I ended up giving some cheese to Deb as she asked if I would pick up some of that 3 pepper stuff.

Bill's 18 inch Smallie

Last Wednesday Bill Lundeen was in town, as mentioned in the last post.  He said he'd like to go fishing and thought a river trip would be nice so he showed up at noon, we loaded the Jon boat on the UTV and headed to the river.  Admittedly my routine is pretty much the same, run up about 4 miles then fish the north side of the river with crankbaits while drifting down.  As stated, the water temperature is quite high and usually my river fishing is done in August but I am surprised at the few smallmouth we have been catching.  Finally Bill hooks into a nice one, we were probably double the distance from the shore as we usually are, maybe this is trying to tell us something!  Never the less this was an interesting experience for Bill, one that was all my pleasure.  One of the best places to fish is where the shoreline rocks meet deeper water and the fish hang in the small areas of calmer water next to the main current, this hasn't been very productive either.  It's a fast paced fishing experience as one is drifting with the current about 2 to 2.5 mph, so everything is fast.  It was nice that Bill caught the first fish and the way it was going, maybe the last fish.  After passing the good areas we anchored just downstream from Cloquet Island to fish with worms but nothing was biting.  Giving it 20 minutes we moved downstream to another deeper eddy and anchored.  After about 15 minutes something hit my bait but after lifting the rod and feeling nothing I set it down.  Another tap tap, another lifting the rod, another nothing.  Deciding to reel it in to check the bait, the hook finally connected with a nice smallmouth bass.  Apparently the fish had the bait and was swimming upstream with it making it virtually impossible to detect.  After deciding to reel in the circle hook did it's job and fish on!!!  It's an interesting way to catch a fish but it works.  Once again zero rough fish caught, not even a catfish.  I am getting to think that the real trick is to get up into the shallow areas where the fish come up to feed, like off of John's dock.  Checking it out it's only about 3 feet but Jake and myself's best day was there.  You would think the deeper holes would hold more fish but that seems not to be the case.

Second Smallie on a bottom crawler rig

After fishing with Bill I noticed that the ceramic inside ring of one guide was missing.  Thorne Brothers fixes these so on my way back from the garage sale last week a detour on Central Ave to Thorne's I dropped of the rod.  This Monday when returning from Frankie's they called to say my rod was done.  Another detour and picked up the rod, a Fenwick HMX casting rod, not an overly expensive rod but worth fixing for sure.  The guide was a single foot guide, small diameter and quite honestly it's almost impossible to even tell which guide they had fixed.  The workmanship is excellent, and it was even a matching guide.  The next thing was the price, only $12.  I felt so guilty I had to buy a bait!  Nice job and highly recommend them for rod repair.  The other thing happening is fixing up the river boat.  When out with Bill it was very difficult loading the boat on the trailer.  When I got the boat my brother-in-law had side guides mounted but they were not very good and the brackets became more of a problem than what they were worth, so they got removed.  Fast forward, this spring the thought was to weld a plate to the trailer then using better u bolts, that would be more secure.  Neighbor Brandon volunteered to weld the trailer, so we did it last Thursday night.  After looking at it we decided to weld the side guides directly on the trailer, using some angle iron to brace it.   They look pretty good and now will stand up to getting the boat straight on the trailer better. At the same time the winch didn't function well.  Brandon was going to fix the front roller stop however decided to simply move the winch down.  This worked but the winch handle was still too long and hit the boat on that last turn.  Ordering a new winch from Amazon, one with a strap, it needed modifying in the form of a new mounting hole on the trailer as well, decided to shorten the winch handle as it was also to long.  This is sort of a pain but a few trips to the hardware store and getting out the seldom used drill press, it is a work of art! The next thing is mounting some navigation lights which are done and just needs to be hooked up.  New guides, winch, lights, now all we need is the fish to cooperate better as I'd hate to say fishing off of John's dock is more productive!

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

Great picture of Toolman!!

It's been almost too hot to write!!  Great excuse but our weather has been hot and muggy for the last week, admittedly the garden likes it but then again, that's more work.....uffda! So we finally got to say goodbye to our good friend and neighbor "Toolman" Tim Kuntz.  Back on April 6th I mentioned Tim in that week's post.  He was diagnosed with cancer on February 2nd and passed away just 8 short weeks later.  On Monday June 29th, Tim's official funeral was at his home church, Sacred Heart in East Grand Forks, MN.  With all this Covid restrictions, this was the first opportunity to have a meaningful service.  While Pete, Bots and their wives went up the night before and stayed in town, my wife Lyn and I decided to drive to Alexandria and stay with Lory and Lynn Brasel at their cabin on Lake Ida.  We spent a quiet evening making steaks and enjoying the view of the lake before getting up early and driving the 2 1/2 hours to East Grand Forks.  The funeral really helped give some closure to the unfortunate passing of our good friend Tim.  Pete, Tim's niece and myself got up and said a few words about Tim, it was the first time for Pete but that was good for him and he did a great job.  It's never fun to attend these things however it gives one some perspective on how important your friends are in your life as well, things change and not always for the better. We all benefit from these friends whether they be one's that you have known all your life, like my buddy Kevin, or you have only know them later in life, like Tim.  Good friends are hard to come by so make sure you treat them well and with respect because after they have left, the only thing you have is whether or not you are a better person for knowing them.  In Tim's case it is a resounding yes, I still drive by his place looking to see if he's in the garage.  Old habits are hard to break for sure but I suspect somewhere he is watching me probably giving me hell for thinking he's home.

Ben's new 620FS

So after the last outing on Mille Lacs with my friends Jack and Pete, there were some boat issues that needed to be cleaned up.  In the meantime Ben Aiona was on the hunt for a boat like mine.  Ben fishes big water a lot and wanted a larger boat.  His current boat was a Ranger 618T with a 90 hp tiller, nice boat but a little small for Erie, Lake Michigan, and Devil's Lake.  Talking to the dealer in Chippewa Falls at a new Ranger 620FS like mine, he asked me what I thought he could get for his boat, a 2016 model.  Oh, I don't know, maybe $36,000.  Well Ben doesn't screw around and put it on Walleye Central for a lot more than that and in 24 hours it was sold!  Well he was boat less, and waiting for the one he was negotiating on to come in.  While making an appointment with Frankie's I spoke to Todd, the sales guy about a 620FS, he said at 9:00 he just unloaded one from the truck.  Getting a price then calling Ben, he was on his way up to see the boat in Chippewa as he would prefer dealing with a local dealer.  Never the less he was intrigued by the price as Frankie is one of the largest volume Ranger dealers in the country.  Ben went to look at the boat and after talking to him he said that the boat he looked at was butt ugly, no sparkles, just plain gelcoat, and he was heading up to Frankie's to look at what he had.  Deciding to meet him there and arriving earlier, they moved the boat into the show room, it was gorgeous.  Knowing Ben and this boat, I predicted that this boat will be gone in an hour.  Well sure enough Ben left with a new Ranger purchase agreement and here is a picture, it is a beautiful boat as well it has a lot of nice options as it is their Ranger Cup package.  He picked it up on Friday June 26th and drove to Chetek to do an initial run, ran down to the Mississippi river where this picture was taken, them last week was on Lake Michigan catching lake trout and salmon.  Ben has the energy to really make this boat work for him.  His dad, Kevin and I used to fish Lake Michigan with Gary Barneson, I had some down riggers from 30 years ago that were better than what Ben had so Kevin and Gary were on their way back from Devil's Lake, we met at Cabela's and I gave him the down riggers we used and some other stuff that has just been laying around. Heck if I want to go to Lake Michigan, I'll just go with Ben!

Always a nice sunset on the river.

With the hot weather and Mille Lacs being completely closed to walleye fishing for the month of July, the best alternative has been the Mississippi River behind the house.  Having been in my river boat, last night neighbor Tom joined me as we launched at Blair's and headed up stream to cast the shorelines.  The water temperature was 88 degrees, pretty hot for this time of year.  Tom is a good fisherman and between the two of use we didn't get one smallmouth bass, and after anchoring for an hour didn't even get one fish on our bottom rigs loaded with nightcrawlers.  Usually that's a deadly method of getting at least a carp, redhorse, or catfish.  Admittedly it was the first time getting skunked on the river.  After "catching" this nice sunset picture we headed back to the pole shed.  A couple of notes, earlier stopping at Vado's Live Bait in Spring Lake Park, MN (10 miles from home) I picked up 6 dozen of the fattest nightcrawlers I had ever seen.  It mystifies me as to why we didn't catch any fish on these as it was like presenting a Fillet Mignon to them, although we did get some small hits, it was nothing substantial.  I am not sure what the problem has been however this is the earliest that I have fished the river so maybe it's just me!  Anyway it was a nice relaxing time to spend on the water.  My friend Bill Lundeen is threatening me that he will be down the middle of this week, maybe I can get him to show me what I am doing wrong!

Still waiting for word as to if and when Canada will open.  Bruce is determined to go somewhere, maybe we'll fly to Lake of the Woods or Devil's Lake and hire a guide for the day.  Time will tell as summer is moving fast!