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!