Technology

New LiFePo4 batteries in the Ranger

For the last 20 years technology has really influenced the fishing world.  In my collection of early 1980's In-fisherman magazines feature articles and ad's that seem prehistoric with flashers, Color C Lector, temperature probes, it's almost funny.  Over the years most of these devices were part of my arsenal as in the early 80's I built my first Heathkit flasher, followed up by a Humminbird Super 60, then their Super 30 model.  When the first paper graphs came out the first one on my boat was a King 1060, amazing detail.  This was replaced with a state of the art Lowrance X15B, a 4 inch paper graph that I still have remnants of some of the fish I graphed on Lake Mille Lacs.  I started working with a company called Genetron that made highly sophisticated video (CRT tube) graphs, adapted from the pacific northwest, even in the embedded software manual, it talked about it's ability to sense the air bladder of halibut.  I simply traded manufactured parts for new units and still have one on my shelf.  Even though there were LCD units out there, they paled in comparison to the detail shown on the Genetron's.  Eventually the color LCD technologies caught up with the resolution of video and with current microprocessor and memory capability the graphs today are quite sophisticated, even at the small screen level.  Well all this takes power and even with the largest AGM style batteries, it would often happen that the battery would not provide enough power and then have enough left to start my motor.  Luckily the Ranger has a battery switch in it to allow one to turn the power off and switch in a trolling motor battery giving enough power to essential jump the dead battery and start the outboard.  Well today's technology provides at least solution for this in the form of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries.  Like modern devices that have lithium ion batteries, unlike lead acid type batteries such as my AGM's, they should only be discharged to 40% or it will significantly affect the battery life, their 100AH rating is more like 60.  Also AH (Amp Hour) ratings are based on a 20 hour load, so the 100 AH is based on a 5 amp load.  Well if you take all the electronics in the boat they pull around 8 amps, which effectively drops the AH reading to about 60 - 65 so the real amount of power available is maybe 35AH before you cause any premature damage to the battery.  Li FePo4 batteries however can be discharge to 10% without damage and whether it be 5 amps of 10 amps, it doesn't degrade the power ratings of the battery.  Deciding to pull the trigger on replacing all of my batteries, the cost is higher but the benefits will outweigh those costs in the long run as these batteries will last the rest of my life.  The bonus is the LiFePo4 batteries are about 50% lighter and have an 8 year warranty.  In one single move I lost 150# out of the boat, which is significant.  As well I am not worried anymore about running out of power.  In addition each battery has a built in Bluetooth communications path to a downloadable app on my phone.  It's easy to simply see each batteries condition, state of charge, and anything related to the battery.  They received their first test on Lake Erie and were very effective.  The secret is their built in Battery Management System (BMS) which allows the battery to look like a standard battery to everything that is hooked to it.  I can use my existing onboard Minnkota MK460PC charger to charge them, no need for anything special.  The real test will be in two weeks when our 48th annual Leech Lake Opener takes place.

Lowrance HDS 7

This week I helped my friend Adam Mayerich install his Lowrance HDS7 into the dash of a new to him Ranger 1850 Reata, a nice boat.  He bought it from a fellow Team Walleye guy but there was a lot to do so I decided to help.  Last week I gave him a great deal on my good but not new Interstate Series 31 AGM's that I took out of my boat.  They are definitely better than what he had in it as they were pretty well done for.  We also finished our strategy on onboard chargers and installed them.   Installing the HDS7 was interesting for sure as there was an HDS5 in the dash and there was barely room for the 7.  Deciding to make a spacer so the unit would sit into the dash better, using a 1/4 inch ABS sheet, we cut out the appropriate spacer then used it to mark the dash, the cutting began.  Using a Dremel tool we were able to make the cut large enough to allow the depthfinder to set almost flush with the dash.  There were some concerns about cutting too much from the bottom however after Adam ran to the hardware store to get 1 1/2 inch #6 stainless steel screws it came together pretty good.  The vinyl on the dash that was loose tightened right up. The gap in the bottom of the dash became solid once secured by the depthfinder.  It looked pretty good. 

PENN 310GT2LC

One thing that I have been trying to do is replace the line counter reel that got stepped on in the boat when we were out on Erie.  The line counter broke off..  Having 2 set ups, these reels are used for lead line trolling.  The reel was a PENN 310GT2LC, one that my luck is unavailable these days.  The nice thing about this reel is that 1 complete spool of Suffix 832 lead line fits perfectly (all 10 Colors) on the reel, which is nice when having another guy in the boat, I can just tell him how much line and what color as they are both the same.  I know, you could simply just user the line counter but it is more illustrative with the exact setups.  So the manual says line capacity is 325 yards of 15# mono.  I picked up their new model that holds 320 yards of 15# mono yet it will only fit 8 colors.  I can make it work but it bothers me.  Having spook with PENN's Service department, they told me to send it in and they would take a look at it.  With a little luck they can fix it as the reel is just like new.  I guess time will tell, but it sure would be nice to be able to have matching reels again on my lead line setups.  I should know in a couple of weeks.  Leech Lake fishing opener is 2 weeks away and there is alot to do yet.  Clean the boat,  extract the carpeting, make sure all the live bait, jig, crankbaits for Leech are in the boat.  It's a busy couple of weeks for sure.

Leech Lake Opener, Part 2.

Fish data for 2016 Leech Lake Opener

Well, because I am in Canada hopefully catching more walleyes than I can count, I thought I would try to see if I can publish this weeks post via the schedule settings, we'll see.  Leech Lake opener was about an average opener for us.  Besides the cold and wind of Saturday, Sunday and Monday turned out pretty nice.  We keep track of all the walleyes caught over 12 inches and we also use this spreadsheet to keep track of all the fish we kept in the freezer.  As you can see Saturday was a tough day for me and my team however by Monday I had found the groove and started catching some nice walleyes.  Adam Mayerich did really well with his Saturday morning catch of 16 walleyes making it awful hard to catch him.  Now that he has his own boat, it's a little easier to dictate the pace of fishing, the locations, and when was it time to move.  In the end we caught 174 walleyes for basically the 21 guys  that fished for 3 days, almost a 3 walleye per day/fisherman average, not bad.  Jig and shiner minnows was the main presentation however I managed 12 walleyes in the boat trolling the shallow water off of Ottertail Point with #5 shad Raps which is something I really enjoy.  I am not sure but this year seemed different as in the past I have fished quite a variety of different spots but we only fished a few main spots, the Governors Flat, Ottertail Point, and Submarine Island this year. Maybe there was enough fish however Leech Lake is known for it's walleye's to relate to the wind pounded shores and many of my old spots did not have the waves going into them.  There were other guys that fished Goose Island and Stoney Point but they really didn't do any better than I did.

Mike's 6 pound dogfish

We did get a lot of northern pike this year, as there seemed to be an abundance of them.  Also we got very few if any perch.  These 2 fish are a bell weather of what's going on with the lake for sure.   Besides the big Rock Bass in last weeks post, we brought another unusual fish on board, here is a very nice dogfish that Mike Kimpel caught while trolling Ottertail for walleyes. These fish are nothing but solid muscle and this one weighed over 6 pounds. He thought he had a nice walleye on but it didn't take very long to figure out this wasn't the fish he thought he had!  It was the first I had seen in 26 years of opening on Leech and it was a dandy.  We did get a few nice northerns but most were the typical 20 - 24 inch variety.  This year we brought along 4 gallons of Shiner minnows and it was more than enough for our needs....this year.  I wanted to try night crawlers and use what they call a slo death rig however it just didn't work out, maybe I am getting lazy in my old age!  

About this time I should be preparing my friend, Troy Keinitz's famous Steak a la Keinitz, Rib eye's marinated in Tabasco sauce, Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce, and Pace Picante hot salsa.  They are pretty good on the grill, enough to where this will be the 2nd time I've been asked to bring them up.  It's off to Costco to get the steaks as the marinade does a great job of tenderizing them.  Hopefully I will have a great report for you in a week.

2016 Minnesota Fishing Opener

Monday night's 26.5 incher

Well, last week marked our 43rd annual Minnesota Fishing Opener on Leech Lake, hosted by Brindley's Harbor Resort in beautiful Trader's Bay.  May 14th is the latest date that the Minnesota Opener can be which usually means nice temperatures and warmer water.  Leech Lake like a lot of lakes in Minnesota had a relatively early ice out due to the mild winter and less than average ice thickness on the lakes. Everything pointed to this being one of the best "potential" opener's in years.  Well, this was my 27th year at Leech Lake with Team Walleye and I've pretty much seen everything from dead calm 90 weather to total iced in as we did in 2013.  This year was like most, definitely challenged the status quo!  When we arrived on Friday afternoon it was snowing out for crying out loud!  This would be my first year with my new Ranger 620FS and as luck would have it, and because of the width, Mark arranged for me to have my own private covered slip, which was really nice.  After a great Friday night meal we had our Official Team Walleye rules meeting, collected the prize money and got everything settled in.  We had a couple of new guys this year as well as a returning member from a few years back, we had a full house as there was 22 of us in the big double cabin.  Admittedly this is total luxury, the likes which is pretty nice for a bunch of guys like us.  with 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, nobody every feels like there is not enough room.  With a door in between the cabins we reserve one side as the bar and the other as the kitchen and it's pretty nice for sure.  Mark does a great job in assigning who does what when and it's pretty slick, one only has to cook and cleanup one meal and the rest of the time he can sit back, talk smart and watch everyone else work.  We eat pretty good, Friday was roasted pork shoulders, Saturday night was Adam's 18 ounce ribeyes, Sunday was the Anderson fish fry, and Monday was a simple meal of bratwurst, beans, and slaw.   There is definitely no losing weight on this trip!

Nice Rock Bass

Saturday morning started out miserable with 20 mph winds out of the Northwest and temperatures in the low 30's. Thank the Lord I brought my ice fishing stuff, and even then it was cold!!! We tried Pine Point first and it was pretty slow.  The word is that the early ice out was set back by the cold April and the water was about 50 degrees so where the fish were was a crap shoot, in the shallows or deeper, it was just a matter of time before someone found where they were and Adam Mayerich was that guy, he found them on Governor's Flat just to the east of us. Unfortunately he must have caught them all because we did converge with our 7 boats and although we did get fish it was nothing like what they did on Saturday, 16 walleyes for the morning session.  it was true that if you stayed in one area long enough you would get some fish however I can't sit that long so I moved around.  Also, my boat really handles the big water nice so I was not restricted to where I could go yet I fished mostly Ottertail point as we did get some nice fish there.  It has a nice rock reef and I nailed this nice almost 2 pound Rock Bass, the biggest I have ever caught.  It really slammed the jig and it fought like a nice walleye, I never say I was disappointed in catching a fish but it would have been nicer if it was a walleye! Although I did try out by Submarine Island a few times, the wind made it hard to fish those areas however we did get a few nice walleye's there.  Oh well.  As always, Monday was the nicest day and resulted in my best session of the 6 we have for our contest.  We jigged Ottertail till about 8:30 then tied on the Shad Raps and trolled the point.  This is when I caught the fish pictured above, a 26.5 incher, enough for 2nd place. It was quite interesting as I ended up going a little shallow on one of the rock piles that go out into the lake and bang, that fish hit in 4 feet of water.  I first thought I had snagged the bottom and hooked a log as it dd not fight very much.  I did see it quite a ways from the boat as Henry picked up the net. Henry was in first place with a 27 inch walleye and all I could think about was him hitting the line and it getting away so I assured Henry that his first place position was safe.  I knew it was a nice fish but didn't realize another 5/8th inch would have knocked him to 2nd place.  I was glad that it only measured what it did and his fish was safe (at least in my boat!).  Henry is a great guy and has been coming for 8 years now.  He is 69 years old and has never won the trophy so it was nice to see that his name will be forever etched on the biggest fish plaque.

I head to Lac Seul on Monday for a week so next weeks post will either be something I wrote and scheduled or a week late!  I am scrambling to get ready for that trip, I am bringing my boat so it needs to be cleaned, the right tackle be loaded up, longer extension cords, and more mats to help keep the sand out off the boat! I am pretty anxious for sure as it's a great trip as we should be talking about 100+ walleyes a boat verses 15 at Leech, a big difference.  I stopped by Bill's on the way home and picked up some Powerbait Ripple Shads for casting.  He had a great new color called New Penny. Everyone is huge on Gold colors for Lac Seul so these should work really great, I guess we will see and I will have the report when I return.

Walleyes with Welly

It's been an interesting week as we are on a collision course with autumn.  I am writing this from the San Diego Convention Center exhibiting at a medical show.  The weather here is beautiful and consistent, 70 degrees during the day and 65 at night.  Intellicast is saying tonight will be 30 degrees at home.  Usually that number is associated with the temperature at the airport so unless they are wrong we could have a hard freeze.  The garden is in a low spot, so much for my watermelons!  The great news is the mosquito's day's are limited.  I am flying back on Thursday and will assess the damage then.  Sunday was the full moon, the opportune time to fish walleyes on Mille Lacs.  During past September mid month fishing trips to Mille Lacs, I have been extremely successful casting Shad Raps and Rouges on the shallow mid-lake reefs.  An hour before sunset to an hour after, the reef would become the popular destination for walleyes looking for an easy meal.  Admittedly that bite and pattern hasn't been so good lately.  There were evenings where we would handily catch 12 - 15 nice walleyes.  My goal last Sunday was to see if that bite will ever materialize again.  Stopping at Lundeen's, Bill knew my plan and sarcastically ask if I was fishing for memories tonight!  Based on my success of the last 4 years that was a pretty honest assessment.  Even so if you don't try you'll never know so I had to try.   A new fisherman joined me, Welly Chou, an engineer that I work with.  Welly was born in Hong Kong, has developed into an excellent engineer as well an excellent Karaoke singer.  Having won a number of amateur contests, he even opened up for Keith Urban a few years back.  Not much of a fisherman, he expressed interest in accompanying me on one of my trips to the pond.   One thing I really enjoy is introducing fishing to someone who has little experience.  Sometimes I can be somewhat overwhelming with the electronics, methods, and strategies, Welly is curious enough to put up with that for a day.  After buying a fishing license we headed to the east side of the lake the plan was to lead line the nearby deep gravel bars for a few hours then head to the reef and cast shads through dark.   Connecting a #5 purple shad rap to Welly's line and the same in hot steel pattern to mine we let out 5 colors of line and started trolling.  We would go through pockets of fish but didn't seem to strike a pattern to make them hit.  Bill had called to see what we were doing and decided maybe the #5 shad raps were too small and the fish were looking for something different and larger, maybe a husky jerk or a rouge.  After hanging up on him we would switch after we went around the one hump however within about a minute the port rod bent over.  Giving Welly the rod he reeled in our first keeper walleye I had gotten in over 2 months, a nice 16 incher.  Resetting the lines back at 5 colors we went another 100 yards when we nailed another one.  Between the keeper walleyes would often be a single pull on the rod then it would return back to normal.  Reeling in to check the line there was a 9 inch walleye at the end of the lure.  Enough to move the rod but once hooked they would simply be dragged behind the lure.  Because you really want to keep a clean lure going you had to watch the rod all the time.

Within 45 minutes we had 4 keepers in the livewell and by the time 2 hours had passed we had 6 keepers, a nice 12 inch perch, and released a 27 1/2" as well as a 23 inch walleye.  In addition Welly caught a nice 28 inch northern pike, an unusual catch in 30 feet of water.   We ended up with 13 walleyes caught, 1 northern, and 5 perch.  Not bad for 3 1/2 hours of trolling.  As the moon began to rise over the horizon we decide to pull in the trolling lines and head to the reef to cast for walleyes.  As Bill gave me a hard time about "fishing memories" I noticed the buoy marking the northwest corner of the reef had been moved.  It is good that I have the latest Lakemaster chip which overlays the bottom contours (1 foot increments) on my front HDS5.  There were still GPS tracks from last October's trip so following the reef would be easy.  With a southwest wind we stayed on that side of the reef casting with the wind into the 3 - 5 feet of water.  It took about a half hour to cover the entire reef and as Bill probably predicted, not even a follow.  Having to fly to California in the morning, I decided that one pass was enough.  If the fish were there they would have hit.  Not the case.  Maybe Bill is correct as this would be the 5th or 6th time I have tried my hot pattern of 6 years ago with little or nothing to show for it.  I am not sure what has changed but it certainly doesn't look good.  I will try again in a week or so and maybe we just need a little cooler weather (it's coming!).   With surface temperatures in the mid 70's this could be the key, we'll see.

My good friend Adam Mayerich is getting married this Saturday.  I gave his him and his dad a lesson on trolling walleyes on Leech Lake last opener and I am looking forward to seeing him and his family.  Sunday will probably find me back in Eau Claire as my brother Jon has been in Intensive Care since last Friday with a severe case of pneumonia.  I am worried about him as he has had enough medical problems in his life.  I am not anxious to see the frost damage tomorrow but unfortunately it is what it is.  Maybe we'll be ice fishing soon!!!

38th Annual Leech Lake Report

Another year of fishing has passed and the start of a new season has begun.  My open water season gets inaugurated with our annual Fishing Opener at Brindley’s Harbor Resort on beautiful Leech Lake, Minnesota.   This was my 22^nd year with the group and as always it proved to have all of the elements of a great time.  Our trip started on Friday morning with Ron, My brother Steve and Jon meeting at the pole shed, loading up the gear.   Heading out at 9:00 we stopped to pick up another friend, Gary Ullom then proceeded to Lundeen’s, meeting my friends from Wisconsin, Kevin and John.  Loading up on bait we headed north.    Arriving at the resort 2 hours later, the first order of business was to get our boats unloaded and the minnows in our holding containers.   Unfortunately one of my live well pumps failed and I lost quite a few shiner minnows however luckily we split them up so the impact was not too severe.  I had bought an oxygenator as a backup and quite frankly was very disappointed in how it didn’t work.  After a few celebratory traditions a couple of us headed to the harbor point at midnight to cast a few crankbaits.  Success usually means the morning will be pretty good.  Within 30 minutes we already had 5 nice keeper fish caught on Shad Raps and Rattlin’ Rouges.   The Omen proved correct as we woke up to a 20mph NE wind, rain, and a hot bite.   Leech Lake walleyes were in a tight post spawn pattern as the ice had just left 2 weeks earlier.  Wind blowing into Pine Point concentrated the fish, which were scattered throughout the 10 foot depth range.  Everyone caught walleyes on Saturday morning.  By noon you could see a clearing line coming in from the northeast and by time we ate supper the rain was gone but not the wind.  The bite continued to be OK however by the Sunday morning the sky was clear, the barometer was rising and the fish didn’t seem to like that very much.    The group records all of the fish caught, individual points as well as team points (by boat) are awarded.  If I have 2 guys in my boat and they do really good, I benefit as the total fish caught in your boat adds to your individual score.  Sunday morning wasn’t very good for Team Anderson!  Usually a good session can catapult you into the top scores as Sunday nights session would prove. 

Having tried the Goose Island area the day before with some success, I decided to open the evening session there.  Leech is a funny lake.  One year they can be killing on Goose and the next year there is nary a boat in site.  Sunday night was no exception, no boats on Goose and no fish.  After about an hour my brother (bless his soul) called to inform me they were getting some nice fish on Ottertail Point.   Heeding his advice we cranked in and fired up the Suzuki.  Arriving at Ottertail, there were about 10 boats working the area and a few nets showing themselves.  15 minutes into it I landed a nice 25.75 inch walleye….great start!  Well the next hour saw a number of fish caught in the other boats while we hit another dry spell.  As the sun went down my strategy shifted telling Mark and his son Adam, we were going to troll shad raps.  Earlier that day they had asked if both could accompany me that evening which was fine with me.  The rules are it’s my game.  Thinking they were simply going to use their spinning reels I informed them to put the lightweight gear away, I am not spending half the night getting baits unstuck.    Being the gentleman I am Mark got my top trolling rig and Adam got the next best.   Selecting baits for them, I suggested that color is less important than size and depth.   Sometimes you can have 3 identical baits but one has that special nuance which really turns the fish.  That night Mark’s white with a red bill was the clear ticket.    Trolling shads is one of my strategies on Leech however these guys had never tried it.  Sunday night I put on a Shad Rap clinic and by midnight we had boated 18 walleyes, the largest at 25.75 and put 8 in the live well.  Mark had the hot rod with 12 fish caught, Adam added his 4 and I only ended up with 2, which were twins at 25.75”.  This is why Mark and Adam wanted to fish with me that evening and I am glad they were not disappointed.    Of course I attributed Marks success to the fine trolling rod he was given to use, yet when you’re hot you’re hot!  The first picture is my 25.75” that fell victim to a #7 silver Shad Rap and the next one is Mark’s largest fish of the night.  Although I didn’t do so well personally, Marks performance put Team Anderson in the lead for top boat.

I believe Sunday night’s success was based upon a common situation that sets up on Leech.  As the wind pounds into a point it concentrates the walleyes.  The wind had been blowing into Ottertail point for 4 days and finally died Sunday afternoon.  That evening the fish were still there however by Monday morning they had scattered with the rising barometer.   Monday morning the lake was glass calm being much more reluctant to give up her walleyes.  By noon we had managed 2 walleyes so it was time to pull out the entertainment portion of the session and head to Submarine Island for a little sucker fishing.   With water temps in the mid 50’s the lake suckers were stacked in the 3 foot tops of the reefs spawning.  There were thousands of them full of eggs and milt, ready to hit a Hot’n’Tot that got too close.  It was a nice break to the rather monotonous state of the walleye bite and my boat companions enjoyed something they have never seen.  Back trolling Sunday night with Mark, we tried Stony Point with little fanfare so back to Ottertail and 5 more fish, again Mark had the hot rod.  This year was an interesting one as I scored a quintfecta  catching 5 species including walleye, perch, northern pike, eelpout and sucker.   An interesting mix for sure.  Here is a picture of me with a trophy lake sucker.   Unfortunately I had to leave for Denver within hours of returning home so again I am writing this on the plane.  The flight attendant just told me to turn it off so stay tuned as I will post more pictures and results from another fantastic  Minnesota Fishing Opener.   In addition, the representative from MN Bound showed up on Saturday afternoon and I will report on what proved to be an interesting filming session.