Northwest Sportshow

Sportshow from above

It's that time of year again to attend the Northwest Sportshow here at the Convention Center in Minneapolis.  It is one of the largest sportshow's in the Midwest and it is always a great time to get caught up on the latest and greatest as well, to get some of those year long nagging questions answered.  Almost everyone who is in the industry is there including the boat and motor manufacturers, bait and tackle manufacturers, resorts, vacation destinations, and pretty much anything you would be wanting for upcoming fishing season.  Frankie and Deb from Frankie's Bait and Marine are back from their late winter getaway in south Texas and I am anxious to talk about motor options for my river boat.  Lowrance electronic will be there and in fact one of the things they offer is Lowrance University, an hour long course specifically about their products and how to use them.....I have a ton of questions for them, especially after their recent announcement of the Lowrance trolling motor.  There has been a lot of changes in the industry lately, especially in consolidations of brands.  Alumacraft boats has been bought by BRP, of course Ranger Boats was purchased a few years ago by Johnny Morris's group, Bass Pro Shops, who last year has purchased Cabela's and continues to make changes.  All of these things contributes to new sets of paradigms the change the way the fishing industry presents itself.  Specifically I had a great conversation with a Lowrance guy at Cabela's a couple of weeks ago, which has me thinking about looking at the next level.  Garmin has really stepped up to the plate and it is exciting to see some of the new things they are offering and whether everyone else will follow suit. 

Shimano Calcutta Casting Reel

With it looking like I will have a lot more time this year to fish, one of the things on the agenda is to look for new adventures, maybe Canada, Central America, I don't know, something that I haven't tried yet.  The last couple of months found a couple of nice Berkley Lightning Spinning rods find a home in the shed.  One was for my friend Joe in Texas, one for catfishing on the river, as well a new crappie rod.  Unfortunately while in the shed I found a couple of older but still very functional Shimano Calcutta bait casting reels.  These are premium reels that were popular when the old Garcia Ambassadors and higher end casting reels became available.  Instead of a magnetic spool breaking system they have centrifugal weights that you slide in and out based on how much spool braking you prefer.  Today most casting reels tend to be low profile with magnet braking,  however these are still quite functional yet the problem is they are not mounted to anything.  Those Lightning Rods had some in the casting category and at $29 each would have been perfect.  Feeling guilty that they are simply sitting there without a home forces me to look at the show to see if there are any deals for  maybe a 6 1/2 foot medium heavy casting rod, something that can be kept pre rigged for catfishing on the river, dang that sounds like a great idea!  I continue to be in awe of the convenience of the whole thing. 

Our snow is finally leaving us and the threat of flooding continues to be in the forecast.  Luckily it's been pretty dry and although it melts during the day, we have seen below freezing temperatures at night, mitigating the flooding risk somewhat.  Either way the sunshine and warmth really feel nice.  I am looking forward to maybe a last ice fishing outing before the ice finally goes out, that could easily take 6 weeks or more.  Here's hoping it will be out by May 10th, fishing opener in Minnesota.

Time to Think About This Year's Strategies

Bass Pro Shop Logo

Bass Pro Shops bought Cabela's in September of 2017.  Bass Pro Shops always had a special place for a lot of us in the Midwest, probably because the closest store was either in Omaha or Chicago so it wasn't someplace you'd just hop in the car and go, yet their catalog was huge and was really catered to the southern fisherman.  However the catalog always had a good offering to us Midwest guys.  Admittedly it was a lot of fun when you had the chance to stop at a Bass Pro Shop store as they are generally quite large and have a huge selection of everything.  For some reason I felt that Cabela's had better clothing and as well I am not a big fan of logo's plastered all over their clothing as to me it looked cheap.  Usually the opportunity to visit a store came at the end of business trips, as stated the Denver, Colorado store, the Gurney Mills, Illinois store, or the one in Grapevine Texas, through the years I've become more open to their stuff and really like their socks and Redhead casual pants.  Well the Cabela's store, 6 miles from the house, has turned into a smaller Bass Pro Shop and most of the stuff that I enjoy are now available very close.  They have a real nice fishing sale that just ended on March 3 and it was definitely taken advantage of.  In the last couple of posts you can see that my collection of spinning rods increased by a couple.  Sunday was the last day and I had been thinking about plastics as most

A few of the Powerbait colors

were on sale.  Besides using plastic to break up the routines on Lac Seul, there has been a nagging thought about trying either power grubs or crayfish shaped plastics on the river for smallmouth bass.  The river runs pretty fast so it may prove to be a challenge however it might be alot of fun.  So with that in mind I added to my collection a few more colors of Berkley's PowerBait Pro Grubs.  Of course they do work pretty well on Lac Seul anyway but it will be interesting to see how well they perform on the Mississippi River this summer.  At Lac Seul, these 3 inch grubs are inserted on a 1/4 ounce jig with a wire keeper and worked along the bottom.  For the smallmouth it is recommended that you pair them with a lighter mushroom head jig, maybe 1/16 - 1/8 ounce weighted head.  Although that seems light, it just might be the thing to keep the jig out of the rocks along the bottom of the areas we fish.  Unfortunately you will have to wait at least 5 months before there will be any results of this strategy!  Admittedly it is fun shopping for this stuff.

Drop Shotting

One of the other things that has me thinking is a technique call "Drop Shotting".  Usually done for bass, it is reported that people catch a lot of walleyes on these rigs.  Often classified as a finesse rig, a strategic way to catch pressured fish, it may have some practicality on Lac Seul for walleyes when you are marking them on the graph yet they refuse to bite.  If one thinks about it when you fish a 1/4 ounce jig with a minnow it's usually on the bottom and fish either have to notice the jig movement or be looking down.  With the drop shot rig the hook is above the bottom, often 9 - 15 inches above the sinker, therefore any walleye cruising the bottom will see the bait at their level or slightly above, and we all know a walleye's eyes are basically on the top of their head, so it only makes sense.  The bait used in with this rig can be plastic, a live minnow, a leech, or crawler.  Hence forth the secondary reason to get some more PowerBait!   One can also buy special drop shot sinkers that will easily disengage when they get snagged up.  Dang it, I was just forced to stock up on these components as well, for no other reason other than to find out if this strategy will prove to be productive, I will even try it on Leech Lake for opener this year.  Here again open water is about 60 days away with opener in just 66 days.  Something tells me that my boat partners will be begging me to rig them up this year so I had better have enough for everyone.....dang it, looks like I will be waiting for the next sale to start.

Speaking of open water in 60 days, although it seems impossible looking out the window these days, a lot can change quickly this time of year.  This weekend weather report is that broken record we discussed last week.  A huge low pressure system will meet up with the colder air and even though we will be in the low 30's it is projected that it could dump up to 15 inches of wet snow on Saturday alone.  That would easily double the amount of water laying on the ground so it's apparent what the events of this weekend will be.  Gas up the John Deere and start moving that white stuff around!

Broken Record

Dire situation on Mille Lacs, Sunday Morning

Thinking about this weeks post forces me to look backwards at the one last week and decide what was the big event as this is Fishin' With Dave, not What the Heck is Dave Doing,  yet the current weather situation here in Minnesota has forced this to become exactly that.  Getting older doesn't help either yet much of my time has been spent removing snow or helping people.  As posted last week, normally this would be about our Perch Extravaganza experience but the heavy snows of the last month really put a damper on this and in fact although they had a record crowd  yet for this year hindsight is definitely 20/20.  Mille Lacs Lake has about 18 inches of snow on it, much of the snow is light and fluffy, the type that can really get blown around easily.  Saturday night was the backside of the storm and for Minnesota that usually means the counter clockwise rotation of the low pressure as it moves east, the winds roars out of the northwest as it is squeezed between the outgoing low and the incoming high pressure system that rotates clockwise, and blow it did.  We had winds Saturday night and into Sunday afternoon of over 45 mph, essentially blizzard conditions.  With the light snow it really drifted and if you were on Mille Lacs with a wheel house and didn't get off the lake before the big blow, you were stuck.  Apparently hundreds of wheel houses got drifted in and had to wait for the resort plows to get them out.  Check out this link for the story.  I guess 10 years ago we would have toughed it out as it would just be another story in our minds.  Today, Russ, Mark and myself look pretty dang smart for staying away.  I still missed the event but there will be next year!

Down the Road to the Pole Shed

So the title, Broken Record.  Many of you know exactly what that means yet others recognize the
phase but are not sure of it's origin.  In the 60's us kids used to play records, 45's (so named as they rotated at 45 RPM) and LP's (so named as they were Long Play albums with 10 - 15 songs).  Records had grooves with the music profile etched into those groves then a fine needle, usually made out of sapphire would travel in those grooves turning the mechanical bumps and valleys into music. Often times a record would get a scratch on it causing the needle to jump back to the previous groove and it would simply sit there and keep repeating itself until you bumped the needle to the next groove.  Well this weather is like a broken record!  Snow then cold, snow then cold.  As last week stated, and today being the last day of February, we have set the modern day record for the amount of snow and it shows.  Waking up yesterday there was another 2 inches of the fluffy stuff.  I decided to stop and take a picture, it was sort of pretty if one wasn't sick of dealing with this.  If you notice on the left side, which with a strong Northwest wind, would be the side where it drifts, the tops of the snow banks have been pushed back further into my yard to accommodate the next snow fall.  Interesting but March is usually our snowiest month.  The National Weather Service is already issuing it's flood predictions for this spring and depending on how fast it melts or how much snow and rain we get in the next 6 weeks will be a big determining factor.   One can usually figure on about the equivalent of an inch of rain in each 10 inches of snow.  With February's 30+ inches of snow there is a lot of water stored up in the Mississippi drainage area, it will definitely be interesting.  Floods tend to change the river quite a bit...some for the good, some for the bad.  At least it gives me a good reason to get in the boat and go exploring!

So I did do something fishing related this week, Cabela's is now owned by Bass Pro Shops and everything I like about Bass PRo is now at the Cabela's store just 6 miles form the house.  Two weeks ago the discussion was about a Berkley Lightning Rod, a very nice fishing rod on Sale for $29.95.  Although we are not going to Dallas, I still consider the rod/reel combination that was bought is still Joe's.  Thinking about maybe a heavier rig for catfishing, I did buy the 6'6" Medium Heavy 1 piece spinning rod with an appropriate matching reel to handle 12 pound test line, perfect for heavy sinker, cat fishing on the river.  It will also be a nice crankbait rod and my neighbor Todd will do a lot better with it.  Also it was time to renew my Navionic's chip that is in the GPS on the Ranger, it does an excellent job mapping Lac Seul.  The offer is the same as last year's....$100.00 to renew the yearly update subscription or $49.00 for a new chip with 1 year's updates included.........duh!  I already have buyers for the old chip if needed and if push comes to shove, it will be a good spare for the Jon Boat.  Either way you can't go wrong!  I did get to help my friend Bruce in Garrison and see Bill and his mother, both were a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Snow plowing in Minnesota

Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Boy this could not be more true than is has been this week! On Tuesday we had about 4 inches then after an evening of reprieve another 4 to 6 inches is expected today.  The cold air will rush in for the weekend before more snow is forecasted for next week.  All this has put a damper on the original plans to head up to Mille Lacs for an evening of fishing as it will take them at least a few days to deal with the snow in getting the roads back open and ready for the wheel houses.  Besides the snow we will be just on the edge of a blizzard warning  so there is no reason to push things.  Besides watching a rather boring Superbowl at our neighbors house, we did head to Eau Claire to have lunch with my niece's daughter who is going to school in Eau Claire.  Although I did not get a chance to stop at Scheels, it was fun to see her as we ended up at the Olive Garden.  This is the week that I usually am in Anaheim, California however this year did not work out very well.  Talking to a friend he said it was cold, in the low 60's there........heck, based on last weeks temperatures, 60 degrees would be 90 degrees warmer than last Wednesday morning's temperature of -30, personally it could not have been that bad!  This last weekend it warmed up and gave a chance to deal with some maintenance issues like changing the oil on the Honda generator.  I am pretty sure that the manual suggests changing oil every 100 hours yet because it runs on ECO mode most of the time, with little load attached, as well the oil used is a Mobil 1, 5W-30, fully synthetic, extended range oil so realistically there is close to 300 hours on the oil before it's changed.  Actually the oil isn't too dirty and it uses only 13.5 ounces of oil per change so it isn't too hard to do.  The other issue that been keeping me busy is cleaning and restocking the Salem as we get ready for the Perch Extravaganza at the end of the month. Things like getting the propane tanks filled, the inside dried out, the cupboards restocked, and the stuffed reorganized and put away.  One thing was to get a propane torch for the tool box.  It was -22 below when we packed the Salem up at Red a couple of weeks ago and when we tried to raise the house up to pin the axles, the cold weather had stiffened the grease in the axles enough to prevent them from moving, which they usually do by their shear weight.  Marked asked me for a propane torch to heat the grease however a simple pulling on the spring allowed it to get back in place.  Nevertheless I figured it would be good to have a torch in the house so we are ready for most any emergency.

It has been really cold!!!

After this weekend the phase of cold weather should be behind us.  Besides snow removal, I'd like to get up to my friend Bill Lundeen's, he has a guide trip next week and I always let him use some of my equipment.  There is a Sports Show in St. Cloud this weekend, I always enjoy going to them.  One interesting thing that happened while blowing snow with my John Deere lawn tractor is that something punctured the plastic window in the door of the cab.  Deciding to try this clear Flex Tape to repair it I brought it to work and went to the local Walmart and found a roll for about $13.00.  Admittedly that stuff is crazy.  The goofy guy on Television cuts a small boat in half then uses it to hold it together then takes it out on the water.  Well, I believe it now as the warning inside the roll says: Test in an inconspicuous place before using.  Tape is not intended to remove cleanly.  May damage surface during attempt to remove.  Well, they are not kidding!  It is truly amazing how strong that stuff is and my first attempt didn't sit right and I was able to get it off but just barely!  The window is good for the rest of the winter but just in case I called my John Deere dealer on getting a replacement door.  After a day he calls back, says that I might as well call their supplier direct and deal with them.  He gave me the part number, the 1-800 number, and the price, $30.00 for a replacement panel.  Heck that is a pretty reasonable price so I called an ordered one figuring the repaired one will be okay till the end of the season and it can be dealt with when it's warmer out!!!.  The other thing I am working on is my trip to Dallas on March 8th.  Locating all of my bass tackle isn't easy in the cold and I have my boat stored up north so that's out of the question.  I have found most of the stuff and

Wacky Worm Setup

only need to get a new O ring tool which isn't much.  When fishing Joe's tanks are bait of choice is the sinking plastic worm, rigged Wacky style.  Basically an O ring put in the middle of the worm then a hook goes under the O ring.  It is quite deadly and luckily on February 15th Cabela's/Bass Pro has their O ring tool on sale for $5.00, cheap enough!  I have enough time to secure everything I need as our friend Matt has already sent pictures of a recent bass outing that was met with some success.  In another month it will be even warmer and the bass should be biting better.  It was a fabulous time last spring when we fished Joe's Tank's and it will be nice to see those guys again and fish bass, Texas Style!  As mentioned before, our plans are to still stop at the Bass Pro Shop headquarters in Springfield, Missouri and see the Wildlife Museum, apparently the largest in the world.  The only problem Bruce is worried about is if his plane can safely fly back with all of the new stuff we buy!  I don't think that will be a problem but one never knows!

Ice Fishing at last!

My First Walleye of the Season

This weekend was my official start to the ice fishing season.  Red Lake is located  5 hours north of my home and as stated the last couple of weeks, we were finally waiting for the ice thickness to develop enough to allow vehicles and wheel houses on the ice.  Last Thursday the resorts deemed it safe enough to drive 1/2 ton pickups with single axle wheel houses, the perfect description of my rig.  My friend Mark Applen had left on Tuesday afternoon with Russ being a day behind him, both pulled their rigs out on Thursday and had our location pretty well set before I got up there.  In my house were my 2 good friends, Kevin Aiona from Eleva and Keith Holtan, my Alaskan Guide friend who spends his winters in Brainerd.  It was great to see both of them and even better to have them in my house for a few days.  Kevin Drove up from Eleva Friday morning while I finished packing and hooking up the fish house.  With the new pickup and 10 months behind me in exactly what it was that is needed to make sure the house sits correctly on the hitch, my initial assumptions did not work out well as I assumed from the measurements that the new truck sat 2 inches higher at the hitch than my old on did.  Upon hooking up the house it was apparent that it wasn't the case and it took some scrambling to get the proper fit, luckily I had earlier ordered a different receiver hitch that is quite adjustable and once that was changed out, it was easy to get it right.  Kevin showed up and we were on our way to Lundeen's to get the "now needed" State of Minnesota ice shelter license.  A couple of dozen minnows packed in oxygen and we were off to pick up Keith in Brainerd.  Arriving at JR's around 2:30, Russ just happened to be in the bar and they had finished eating a walleye lunch. Checking the propane in the house, one of the 30 pounders looked like it needed to be filled so we got that taken care of and we followed Russ to our destination on the lake.  Mark had his fish already so he came by to help set up.  Setting up includes unhooking the house from the truck, drilling the holes through the ice, with the electric jacks by the wheels lift the weight off the tires and pull the pins that secure the main springs to the shackles, retract the shafts to set the house on the ice.  I have curtains that go over the wheel wells, snow has to be packed along the edge to keep out the wind.  Furnace is on, generator needs to have the extended run auxiliary tank connected, hooked up and started.

My Friend Kevin with a nice fish.

DirecTV antenna needs to be plugged in and hooked up as well the receiver needs to be installed inside.  The last thing to be done is setting up my flagpole so we can display the Stars and Stripes, the Green Bay Packer flag, as well there is a strobing light that only operates when it's dark, which helps us relocate the house after dark. All of this takes about an hour, even with 2 people extra, but when you are finally ready, it's wonderful to sit down in a warm house, mix a congratulatory cocktail and get down to the business of catching fish!  And catch we did, enough to provide a walleye dinner a few hours later at JR's.  The regulations this year on Red Lake ar 4 fish total with only 1 allowed over 17 inches.  The fish were absolutely beautiful with most of them being in the 15 to 17 inch range, as well we had a number of them in the 17 to 19 inch range.  Nothing huge but definitely a lot of nice fish and great eating size.  Friday night was an absolute zoo in the house as the rattle wheels we set just kept going off every 45 minutes or so.  I could hear Keith get up to tend to the job of catching these fish and catch he did.  Waking  up on Saturday morning there  was7 in the pail and as I stated, some real nice fish.  Seeings how these guys were my guests I felt obligated to make sure they caught the fish while I stayed comfortably in my sleeping bag, just proving what a good friend I really am, guys like me are hard to find!!!

JR's Airplane

The fishing slowed down a little on Saturday however we did manage to catch our allotted 12 fish for the day and took 6 of them in to clean and eat.  JR's does a great job as he has a nice cleaning area, you simply filet your walleyes and bring them into the bar where they take them and deep fry along with some French Fries, all for $5.00 each, a bargain.  The people at JR's including JR himself and his son Adam along with everyone else really do a spectacular job.  Heck, they even let me bring in my own corn based fish coating as I am allergic to wheat, and make sure that I get the right fish back.  As well, on Saturday morning my friend Andy Achmann called to see how we were doing.........apparently better than they were.  Asking if I minded if he moved by us....No problem, just stay 100 feet away from everybody.  Andy showed up and joined our little "camp" out on the ice.  The first thing Andy told me was he felt the ice was thicker where we were than his previous spot.  We absolutely had zero issues with the ice thickness, in fact the buoyancy of the ice sheet was excellent as sometimes the weight of the house and truck will cause the ice to bow, causing water to sit on the ice.  At the end of the weekend we each ate 2 meals of walleyes, took home our limit of 4, and probably caught and released 20 more fish.  Personally it wasn't my best trip as I did not catch a fish until Saturday night but it was still a blast being with my friends.  It is always good to see JR as he was flying around the lake to get a handle on the conditions.  Luckily he landed just as we got there and had a chance to talk to him.

Monday and Tuesday was spent in Chicago on business.  Always one to mix business with pleasure, we were able to get to the Bass Pro Shop in Gurnee, Illinois.  Although we have Cabela's there are some things I like about Bass Pro.  It's a pretty large store and has a lot of fishing stuff.  I simply love their Redhead crew socks and buy many pair the same type, it's easier to match them then.  They had a pretty good deal on a 1/4 zip pull over and when I held it up the XL seemed too large and the large seemed just right,  Not the case.  I called them and because Bass Pro bought Cabela's, I can take the pullover back to Cabela's for a refund....interesting.  I did get a couple of little single LED lights like Keith had for charging his glo baits, maybe that's why he caught more walleyes than me!  The next trip looks like it will be after Christmas, unfortunately the cold weather is supposed to arrive at the same time with -12 predicted for the high on Tuesday and -22 for the low.  Uffda is all I can say, other than it will be making ice for sure!!

Long Week

My friend Keith is still catching Silvers!

With the high water, no walleye fishing on Mille Lacs, and the constant rain last weekend was spend getting ready for the winter than any relaxing fishing I should have done.  I also needed to get ready for my trip to Chicago to attend the North American Coil Winding show, which I did on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week.  Hence forth the late posting.........oh well. At least some of my friends are still fishing as proof of this nice Silver that Keith Holtan, my friend from Alaska caught on the Kenai River.  Along with my Brother and cousins, I have been fishing the early run of Silvers on the Kenai many times but it's usually in August when the weather is still somewhat nice, however Keith says the the late run of Silvers in September have larger fish.  This seems true with the late run of King Salmon as well, the late run produces those monster fish in the 60 - 90 pound range.  This picture of Keith is proof that those late runs silvers are pretty big, maybe someday I'll have to fly up and have him take me out.  He claims that the temperature was 22 the other morning, uffda!  Of course we had our first frost Friday night and the grass was pretty frosty this morning, a goo killing frost for sure. hopefully this is a signal for early freeze up this year!

Pan Fried Yellow Lake Perch, $17.75

Spending time in Chicago was interesting as I got to see all of our suppliers and some customers as
well as potential customers.  My company has been a survivor in the world of Chinese competitors and changing electronics industry.  We are definitely a player in the industry these days and it's fun to finally get some respect!  The show was at the Rosemount Center, just a mile or so from Chicago Ohare airport so it's and easy in and out.  The Double Tree Hotel has a nice restaurant called Gibson's Steakhouse and they are a really high end place but everything is very good.  On Thursday I was out of the show early so I decided to have lunch there before I headed to the airport and my flight.  On the menu they had Pan Fried Yellow Lake Perch in Lemon Butter and although the broiled halibut looked good, the waiter suggested that the perch was a guest favorite so I ordered it.  Totally unbelievable is the only way I can describe how well it was!   The perch fillets were not the big however whatever they coated it with then drizzled the lemon butter on them, I have had lot's of fish and definitely this has to top on of the best, including all of the fresh caught saltwater fish I have had the good fortune of eating.  It would be interesting to see if I could get the recipe for both the lemon butter and the coating but............if you are ever in Chicago and have a chance to eat lunch at Gibson's, I highly recommend it and it was definitely worth every penny!

I am off to Denver on Monday, hopefully get a chance to stop at the Bass Pro Shop as I like the variety.  It was confirmed this week that Bass Pro bought Cabela's.  They bought Ranger Boats last year and are definitely now the largest outdoor sports retailer in the United States.  I am not sure if that's good or bad, I guess time will tell.  My experiences is that it will not be good as the lack of choices is not that available anymore as companies chose to continue to buy each other out and look for ways to make more money.  It is sad because some of my favorite brands no longer exist, Falls Tackle, Beckman Nets are just 2 of them, I guess maybe consolidation is the only way but it doesn't mean it's good.  I have been working on my Salem Ice Cabin and getting it ready for the winter.  JR (From JR's on Red Lake) called me when I was in Chicago, just to see how I was doing and to give me some crap!  He has remodeled the place somewhat so I am excited to get up there!  He is super nice to both myself and Mark Applen and hopefully we can get up there early this year again.  I did check my tires as they were supposed to be filled with nitrogen so they don't lose air but I think that's a crock.  One was almost flat and the other was low so I took them off and brought them to Pete's to have the beads broke, cleaned, and resealed.  We one of the tires was quite wore out on one side and after some discussion about cracks in the other tire I decided to simply put new ones on.  The are 15 inch, 8 ply, load range D, and take 65 pounds of air.   I think that the low air pressure didn't help the old tires as I figures there was probably less than 4000 miles on them however, the last thing I want to be doing is changing a tire, 10 miles from JR's in 20 below weather........not!!!  I have a few things to fix and I should be set for the winter.  I have been invited to fish Long lake in Wisconsin in a  coupel of weeks with my wife's uncle and cousin Andrew and Jason.  It will be a good excuse to get the boat out one last time and winterize it.  Also I have a trout fishing date with my good friend Bill Lundeen, we have been doing this each year, maybe sometime next week.  Deer Hunting is coming up, lot's of stuff to do before then.

Broken Record



Our new Ice Freezer


My life in the last 4 months consists of either funerals, weddings, graduations, or simply waiting for the endless rain to stop.  This week was no exception as on Saturday we headed to Columbus, Wisconsin which is east of Madison, for a 1:00 funeral then turned right around back to Eleva for my nephew's high school graduation.  Having little time to spend with anyone, at least if I got the day accomplished successfully, it would leave the hope of heading to Mille Lacs on Sunday for a little walleye fishing.  Waking up to a pouring rain which was working it's way north, and with the wind howling out of the east, I just didn't have the desire to fight the elements, not good.  On the other hand my friend Bill had something we wanted so my neighbor Tim and I decided to take a road trip north to pick it up.......a genuine commercial ice storage freezer.  See Tim and I went together to buy a commercial ice making machine a few years ago assuring we both have all the fresh crystal clear ice we need for the long summer.  It's great for fishing, traveling, drinks, whatever you need ice for, it's there for the taking.  We had a small freezer that we would store extra ice in as it's good to have a stockpile on hand.  This spring our freezer quit working so we needed a replacement.  In the meantime I spotted this beauty in Bill's basement, something to do with storing bait but it never worked very well.  So on Sunday we gave her a new home.  I guess the whole point of it is more about having something cool verses something practical.  The cool factor always wins!  I have access to pre printed ice bags in 2 sizes, 8#'s and 20#'s so we have a few years worth of those in stock as we have started replenishing our stocks.  With the cool weather, the ice maker will produce about 50 - 70 pounds of clear ice per day.  Here Tim is filling bags as we get ready for warmer weather (if it ever gets here).  Once the outside temperature reaches 85 degrees the ice maker really slows down its production so our plan is to rely on our storage capability, which just increased significantly.  We figure it will hold about 1000 pounds of bagged ice, enough to take us through any warm spell this year. 



Ben's new fishing pole



Graphite fishing rods came on the scene about 35 years ago, first in expensive fly rods then expanded into both casting and spinning rods.  Although very light and sensitive, those first graphite rods were pretty brittle.  As technology advanced, companies began to improve on the materials used in high end rods and one of those advancements for the time was Bass Pro Shop's Boron Elite.  Boron was a stiff but durable material, not as light as graphite yet helped the issue of breakage.  Having to have one I ordered it from Bass Pro along with the latest Abu Garcia casting reel with magnetically controlled line braking.  A sweet rig for sure as at the time high end casting reels had pistol type grips providing a more ergonomically designed handle.  Today you don't even see these as this type of grip left little leverage behind the reel seat.  Either way it was at the time "state of the art" and was a great rod for fishing bass and northerns.  One year I lent it to a good friend Pat Holmes, who was going on a fly in trip to Canada.  Pat and his friends got trapped in a forest fire that was heading straight towards them.  A helicopter arrived just in time to pluck them from a point on the lake yet there was neither time nor room to take any equipment with them.  So much for my new rod and reel! Pat's insurance covered it so after receiving my check I simply ordered another one.  Today the reel sits on the shelf, I am going to use it to make a catfish rig for the river.  As for the rod, time has blown right by the pistol gripped Boron rod.  At the time Bass Pro was charging $79.95 for the rod, about what standard graphite's were.  After staring at it for about 20 years I finally decided it needed a better home and along with a nice Zebco 33 reel, I gave it to Ben, my friend Jack's son.  Ben never says much but Jack assured me he was in seventh heaven, one that specializes in fishing.  The pistol grip is perfect for him and the boron is almost impossible to break.  Ben will need to stop by the pole shed more often as I have a lot of things to get rid of!  Here is a picture of Ben holding his first northern caught on Platte Lake with his new pole.  I'm pretty sure there is a lot of luck left in that fishing pole.

I picked up the boat from Formula One, a propeller and skag repair shop in Rogers.  They did a great job as both the prop and skag look brand new.  I have had them do work before, like the time I hit Indian Point going half throttle, that wasn't as cheap as this repair as they had to replace a bent prop shaft.  Stainless steel props are nice but they have zero give when they hit something.  This time the prop hit a rock as I back up in idle speed, much easier on the motor.   Friday is our big golf tournament and I am looking forward to what Jay may have brought this year, in the past I have bought a few nice things at the silent auction as he always brings something nice.  Last year I bought a Marcum Showdown for ice fishing.  I haven't decided which day will find me on Mille Lacs however Sunday looks like the best day of the weekend.  All I know is the walleyes are starting to bite and here I am chomping at the bit. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year?!?!?!  OK, the calendar new year is January 1st, Chinese New Year is usually in February, and Fishin" With Dave's New Year is May 1st.  I started writing this blog in May of 2008 as a way to chronicle my fishing adventures and whatever else came along.  In 2009 I was thinking about a special Christmas gift for my Dad and because he didn't have Internet, printing a book of this blog seemed like a great idea.  Well, this thought came to me in November and at that time I had over 18 months of posts.  www.blog2print.com will take your URL and create a nice hard cover book for a base price plus so much per page after a certain amount.  Looking at all of my posts it quickly added up to about $150 so I decided to organize my blog based on fishing seasons (wow, did that make sense!).   Minnesota Fishing Opener begins in May and our fishing licenses expire on April 30th, seemed like a good plan and it would keep my cost for printing reasonable.  So here I am starting my 5th year blogging having never missed a week where I did not post.  Although my father has passed away I will print my 4th book, one for Mom, one for me and maybe a softcover for the office.  Sometimes I worry that Google will decide to exclude us freeloaders from their system and I would have nothing to show for all of my posting efforts.  It's still fun and I do have about 300 people a week coming into this site and sometimes I feel obligated yet when I get done with a post I am glad I continue to write.  I hope you enjoy it as well.
 

I am writing this from the airport soon to be on a plane to Denver.  This is my third straight week of flying out of Minneapolis and I am ready for Opener.  One thing Denver has that my last two destinations included is a Bass Pro Shop.  As stated earlier, I like their lure selection and they have some nice business casual clothes that are very comfortable.  It will probably kill me but I might have to make a stop, the third in 3 weeks.............Lord help me!  The Denver BPS has a fantastic seafood restaurant called Islamorada, named after the famous Florida Key with the same name.  There are 2 things about Islamorada that frustrates me; first is I always have a hard time pronouncing it correctly after I haven't said the word in a while.  It is a Spanish word meaning "purple island" and is pronounced aisle-a-more-AH-dah.  I keep wanting to start it with the word "is" and then get all screwed up.  When I finally get it right the name just flows from one's vocabulary yet maybe it's my Norwegian accent that prohibits me from getting it right every time, oh well.  The second thing that frustrates me is the fact that I would love to get back there and do some fishing as it doesn't get any better than that.  Watching fishing shows on Saturday and Sunday mornings, there is always a couple based in Florida.   Roland Martin often fishes out of Islamorada as well I have seen the guide we hired in Key West, Captain Steve Rodgers,  fishing Yellowtail, Sailfish, Grouper, and Tuna as well.  I love the area and look forward to getting back there some day.  As far as the restaurant itself, they serve great raw oysters on the half shell, something I could eat a couple dozen at a time.

It's been a goofy spring for sure.  April weather in March, March weather in April yet now that it's May we are full speed ahead.  My travel schedule has left little time to actually get out and fish however the reports have been spotty to begin with.  Because I have been gone most of the last 3 weeks, the weekends have been simply filled with trying to catch up.  I picked up my boat last Friday from Frankie's and what a wonderful job they did re-fitting my cover.  Saturday wasn't too nice so it gave me time to replace the line on a number of reels, shine up the boat, and start getting it ready for the big weekend.  I got to tell you the Ranger is looking pretty good right now!  She's vacuumed, waxed, polished, and ready to go.  I'd like to take her out this weekend but alas, another family commitment as my niece's son is getting first communion.   Zak is a pretty good kid and I have no problem sacrificing another weekend for him.  All bets are off starting May 11th however!  I'll tell you about that someday.  Anyway the flight attendant is telling me to shut this thing off so till next week have a great weekend, and if nothing else try to make someone else smile, it's pretty cool!   I'll leave you with a picture from the Opryland Hotel from last week, absolutely beautiful.

Hanging in Nashville

The last 3 days have been spent in the Music Capital of the US, Nashville, Tennessee.  As President of our trade association for transformer manufacturers (TTA), it was time for our Spring Meeting and along with the usually strategic sessions.  I did get to visit the Opry Mills area before arriving at the airport, where I am writing this post while waiting for our ride back to Minneapolis.  Opry Mills is a Mall/Entertainment area which is home to Opryland USA, The Grand Ole Opry, and the main attraction in Opry Mills is the Bass Pro Shop.  Although Cabela's is only 5 miles from my home I think Bass Pro Shop's have a much larger selection of fishing tackle and equipment.  Maybe it's because those bass fisherman need more stuff than us walleye guys but again they seldom fish with live bait.  I have been interested in a technique called Drop Shot rigging, very popular for bass fishing.  As you see in the picture a hook is tied anywhere from 6 inches to 24 inches above the end of your line, with the hook attached directly to the line.  At the end of the tag is a sinker that is heavy enough keep you in touch with the bottom.  The theory is that the lure or bait is kept off the bottom and more in the strike zone of the fish's vision.  Like you and I, it is easier to see something at eye level than having to always be looking down for something.  My thought is that this would be a great technique for walleyes on Leech Lake where we normally fish with a simple short shanked 1/8 oz live bait jig and drag it across the bottom.  With the lake ice outs so early this year, I suspect the big females will be in the hunt after having spawned a few weeks earlier and may be hanging in the deeper rock ledges off the reefs.  The plan is to use a live shiner minnow as bait and along with a special drop shot sinker, fish these rocky areas more effectively than with a jig.  One secret is to tie the sinker with a lighter pound test than your main line and if the sinker gets snagged you can simple break the drop line, preserving you minnow and hook.  It seems like it should work and I will give a full report on my rresults in a few weeks.   Bass Pro Shops have a great selection of tackle made for this technique and I loaded up with some special hooks and drop shot sinkers which should make rigging much easier.  I also bought a fish counter for keeping track of the number of fish in the livewell, 2 half ounce bass jigs that were on sale, and a new LED Livewell light.As for the store itself, the Nashville Store is not the largest one I have been in however their aquarium was pretty nice.  Loaded with huge fish I was particularly amazed at the size of a couple of Largemouth Bass swimming around. They were easily in the 12 - 15 pound class,  dwarfing anything I could catch in Minnesota.  Along with a couple of nice paddlefish and wipers (cross between a white bass and a sea run striped bass), like airplanes I could sit and watch them swim around for hours.

Nashville is the home of the Grand Ole Opry, originally started as a radio program in 1925 it survives today with much of the same character as it did 88 years ago.  I had a chance to attend the Opry a number of years back and it was like going back in time.  After a few sets the show would stop for a commercial that was read in front of the audience.  While this was going on the stage was being prepared for the next act.  If you like country western music and want to an institution, I highly recommend a visit to Nashville.  This area suffered under a severe flood 2 years ago and it has recovered remarkably.  The Gaylord Opryland Resort is also something you need to see with it's beautiful indoor atrium's, complete with it's own river flowing through the Delta Conservatory.  Big enough to float a boat, you can go for a nice ride as you pass, catfish, carp, and colorful koi fish.  I will have to get back someday. 

On Monday I dropped off the boat at the dealer to get the cover re-fitted for the new trolling motor and am hoping that it will be done when I get back later tonight.  Once I have the boat back it will be full speed to the opener.  I still have much to do before I go but admittedly it's a labor of love.  The forecast is talking about snow again on Saturday.  Oh well!

Another Week

Well, another week flying by as fast as the plane I am stuck in for the next 2 hours!  I am returning from Denver where I made my once a trip pilgrimage to Bass Pro Shop, just west of the airport.  I really like their fishing lure selection although it is somewhat geared to Colorado, it’s still pretty extensive.  Their boating accessories department is second to none and although I am not a huge fan of their branded line Redhead, they carry a good selection of Columbia, Under Armor, and a favorite of mine, their Bob Timberlake styles.  One of the reasons for stopping at BPS is they carry snagging treble hooks, big ones!  There are areas in this part of the country that snag for various types of fishes including the unusual prehistoric looking paddlefish.  Paddlefish can get very large however they are strictly plankton eaters and will not hit a standard bait setup.  In some states it is legal to snag fish for them, similar to what we did in the early 80’s when you could snag salmon from Lake Michigan.   That itself deserves a post all its own someday.  The hooks I bought were sold as treble hooks for snagging and I bought the biggest ones they had, 12/0 size.  These are probably the largest treble hooks you can get without special ordering them.  The picture is about actual size.  I was forced to buy a box of 24 and even so, they were less than $20.00, a bargain for sure.  As for what I am going to do with these gigantic hooks, I’ll explain in a few minutes and was pretty happy to find them. I spent the next day with a nice potential customer who visited our new Loveland Colorado plant.  There is always something going on these days and now that my schedule is less tentative, I have a full month of travel booked from Cleveland next week to San Diego in 3 weeks.  I’d really like to spend a day fishing tuna out of the California coast and it’s on my bucket list for sure.

So, how about fishing this week? Success and frustration pretty much sums it up.  Wanting to drive down to make sure my mother was doing well and with a few hours to sneak away the Mississippi River has been my short term go to spot.  It might be for the best as my friend Bill Lundeen claims the perch hatch on Mille Lacs was huge this year and the lake is filled with young of year perch.  Usually 2 – 3 inches long and found in dense schools, it’s a regular smorgasbord for the walleyes.  This means that with all the food in the lake its difficult at best to get something to chase a lure down.  As the water cools and the ranks of the young perch get thinned the fishing usually picks up.  With little time to run up to Mille Lacs I can be on the river in less than 5 minutes.  My friend Pete Mlinar had taught me the virtues of fishing large live minnows for smallies so I picked up a dozen medium sucker minnows at the hardware store in Champlin.  I tried Action’s Bait Shop in Anoka as they usually have a nice selection of minnows for the river consisting of creek chubs and more hardy varieties.  Pete likes to use the Red Tail Chubs but they are really hard to find these days.   Suckers work okay even though they do not last very long on the hook.  My neighbor Lory went with and after a half hour cruise we started fishing.  I decided to fish the north side exclusively as we began to cast the Bombers.  A couple of fish later we went by a spot that Pete would have caught his eye.  I had taken an extra fishing rod along, pre-rigged with a bobber set up and hook.  Attaching a 5 inch sucker I casted it in along the shore only to see my bobber slip past the slip knot meant to control the depth.  Well, that wasn’t any good so I reeled in, set my rod down, and started to re-tie the rig.  Of course there is current so we drifted about 50 feet when I reached to get something and when I turned around my rod was gone.  Having learned not to panic in these situations admittedly I remained as calm as one could expect.  The rod was a St. Croix Legend 7 foot baitcast with a Shimano Chronarch attached to it.  That’s all I’m going to say.  I am pretty sure I know “about” where it is as there was a dock right where it happened.  The issue is the 2 mph current and 10 feet of water, to dangerous to simply dive in and look for it especially at my age my family just got done with one funeral.  Hence forth the snagging hooks.  About 28 years ago I lost a favorite rod in Weaver Lake, west of the cities.  With no GPS I memorized the location, built a homemade contraption with large treble hooks, and the following week recovered my prized possession.  It was an interesting experience as the week prior someone had murdered a person, cut up the body, put it in black plastic garbage bags and threw them in Weaver Lake.  Wouldn't that be a surprise!  My brother gave me the idea of using my ice fishing camera and with a little luck, my large treble hooks, I might be able to recover it.   As stated earlier there is no use in crying over spilled milk and after the shock wore off we went back to fishing.  We did get about 12 smallmouth again and am really starting to read the river better, learning the best spots to hold fish.  Here are a couple of pictures of our success.  The largest we have caught is about 18 inches however I do know there are some larger fish and it will be a matter of time.  I am in the middle of installing my LWX-1 on the boat and with some luck will be on Mille Lacs on Sunday.

The Catfish are Biting

Finally arriving home on Thursday, my first encounter was with a snot nosed Custom’s agent standing in the exit area just outside the airplanes door. About 150 steps out of the jet way I suddenly remembered where my Japanese tea I had bought in Narita was, still in the overhead compartment. Passing a “too young to have a uniform on” Custom’s guy who was giving a family grief because he could, I approached from behind tapping him on his shoulder and asked if it was OK to re-enter the plane to retrieve my stuff. His first words were Okay, which was all I needed to hear as my next steps were against the flow of people. Just as fast came a “Hey get back here, where do you think I am going?” Looking him straight in the eye my response was, “Look, I asked you a question and YOU said OK, what do you think that meant?” He decided to lecture me on coming up from behind and tapping him on the shoulder then, which I replied, stay on topic, why did you say it was OK then? Obviously frustrated by his immature authority, he finally gave me the right procedure, which I kindly thanked him and as I walk away told him to take a deep breath! Immigration is always fun as they are pretty good at asking a few well placed questions. Traveling with my beloved Packer Hat, he asked if I was from Wisconsin which prompted a quick Yes Sir! Where was the next question; Eleva! And where was that? South of Eau Claire. I am sure he was a fellow Cheesehead as we are always curious.

The weekend was pretty much spent readjusting to the time. Jetlag is a real problem as one’s schedule has shifted 13 hours. Once in China it takes a few days to stop getting up at 3:00 in the morning as well the same issue when you get home. There are many theories as to how an minimize the effects, vitamin C, lots of water, stay up as long as you can, however I think the best way is to have a few stiff drinks before you go to bed. I slept well on Thursday night, Friday I was up from 2:00 – 4:00 AM, and Saturday night was a good 13 hours. Slept like a baby last night as I am heading for a customer supplier event in Ft. Collins Colorado on Wednesday. One nice thing about flying into Denver is both the mountains and they have a Bass Pro Shop near the airport. The store is much larger than the Cabela’s near me and is a must stop. The word is that Bass Pro was going to build a large store at the Mall of America, in Bloomington MN but I am sure the recession had put a damper on that plan. Word is with the improving economy, it finally might get built. Although there is plenty of competition in the Twin Cities area, a Bass Pro would be a welcome destination and would provide a better variety of brands to choose from. We’ll see.

Not having the energy or the will to load the boat up and drive an hour north, my plan was to get away for a couple of hours and fish the river. My neighbor Brian Holcomb has a nice dock with a bench seat in the shade, just perfect for a relaxing evening. One thing about fishing the river is one never knows what you will catch. Targeting catfish on my last trip, all we caught were carp and suckers. On Sunday night it was a catfish slaughter! Fishing with crawlers, I decided to try a small freshwater circle hook. Originally bought for bobbering walleyes, I had not had the chance to try them. Circle hooks are unique in the way their point is facing the hook shaft. They work as the hook is dragged out of the fish’s throat and rotates when it comes to the edge of the mouth, resulting in the classic “corner of the mouth” hook set. This is the preferred hook for fishing halibut as the fish will swallow the bait. As the line tightens up the hook is dragged out and I have yet to see one that is not hooked as stated. This results in a 100% safe hook out and release, assuring the survival of the fish. The key for success with circle hooks is to NOT set the hook rather simply tighten the line. Simply reeling in the line is adequate to get a great hook set. Catfish are notorious for swallowing the bait so I was anxious to try them. A glob of crawlers and 5 minutes saw my first tap. Instinct took over and I set the hook on a nice 15 inch channel cat. Unfortunately it was hooked deep……1 for the frying pan. Deciding that didn’t work and determined to prove the hook’s effectiveness, all future strikes would be met with a simple reeling in the line technique. Rebaiting and 5 minutes later another opportunity presented itself. This time a simple few turns on the reel handle and the fight was one. This time it worked, hooked in the side of the mouth guaranteed a successful release of another 15 inch channel. For the next hour and a half the method proved effective as at least 10 catfish, all hooked in the corner, were either released or became part of my dinner later that night. The top picture is my largest catfish, about a 20 inch channel. I have included a picture of circle hook as you can see its unusual shape, and of course leave you with the moon rising over the river, something I never get tired of. Next weekend I will be busy with helping my sister-in-law move however Charlie is coming for his annual visit. We will be at Mille Lacs doing a little lead lining. My report will be a few days late however hopefully it should be worth it.