Birthday today

 

New WiFi Thermostat

It's hard to believe but today is my 67th birthday.  It's not that I feel old, quite the contrary, I feel young however I wish my body felt the same way!  Having already received calls from my dearest friends the next thing is tonight getting on Facebook and taking care of all of those friends.  Geez, just what I want on my birthday, more work!  One of the real issues of getting old is staying up with the latest technology and how to set it up.  Yep, here you go , one can just buy a doohickey that connects to the WiFi, just download the App on your phone and voila, what a convenience.  Well sure, if you're 13 years old for a guy that grew up with a black and white television and 2 channels (WEAU in Eau Claire and WKBT in LaCrosse), heck I was 36 when I got my first cell phone, it isn't that easy.  Today I see my friends 6 year old kids maneuver around a cell phone like  it was their 3rd hand!  My latest  encounter was installing a WIFI controlled thermostat in the house.  
Simple right?  Not so fast.  Removing the old thermostat, marking the 5 wires hooked to the old base, making sure they were on the new base correctly, then easy, snap the new thermostat on the new base and it will power up, Simple right?  After an hour of diagnosing and reattaching the wires to make sure they were all in place, still no power.  Calling the 1-800 tech service, they were backed up 40 minutes but promised to call me back.  Admittedly not as smart as the Smart Thermostat, I still had some tricks up my sleeve so the next step was to call Ben Aiona, my godchild who is an HVAC guy.  After the laughter stopped he directed me to the furnace where the blue wire needed to be connected.  So why was it not connected at the furnace but at the thermostat?  I guess it doesn't matter as doing what he said fixed everything perfectly.  As I was finishing up Honeywell called me back, go figure.  It's still working, next thing is to set up the Ring Security light/camera's.  Of course they make it look so easy.  Unfortunately one need the QR code off the back and they are already mounted, getting the cart before the horse again!!

Springsteel Island Resort

As far as ice fishing, the furnace in the Salem seems to be working just fine.  It's gone through 3-30# tanks of propane without a hitch so it should be good to go.  Given this good news,  within a couple of weeks it's heading north to Springsteel Island resort for a month.  Maybe right after the Superbowl.  Then my friend Bill Dull from California is bound and determined to sleep out on the ice so he is flying up the first of March to spend a few days ice fishing again.  He came last year but the early spring forced us to fish out of portables and to stay on shore at night.  I am looking forward to his visit as he always has a nice scotch for sipping!  It's been frustrating with my DirecTV so it may just have to be old movies and conversation!  When we went to Red earlier last month we ended up watching Deliverance.  It was filmed in 1972 and I remember seeing it in a theatre yet watching it again was pretty interesting.  Deciding to play the director's comments, basically the movie reran with the director making comments about each scene, what was involved and trivia about the movie, it was quite interesting for sure.  Did I say the weather has been cold?? Usually I get to fish some local lakes but this year it hasn't happened, maybe because my portable ice house is behind the boat and too tough to get out.  My good friend Jack Taylor's son, Ben has been out a lot and maybe I just need to have him take me, just like I used to take out his grandfather, Earl Taylor.  At least he is young and could prove quite an asset!!

Speaking of Jack, we both got our money in for this year's 49th annual Leech Lake Fishing Opener.  Looks like most everyone is going to be back again, with the exception of Mason, who is in the Marines.  My two back pedestal's for the Ranger are wore out so I am going to replace them with the same type I have behind the console, WavePro's.  These are pedestal's with Fox Racing Shocks inside that are air adjustable.  My passengers will love me as they are quite nice.  A little more expensive but not much. 

Lake Erie, Part 2

Steve First Fish, an nice walleye

The last post left off with my friend Kevin and his family leaving early Tuesday morning back to Wisconsin for his father-in-law's funeral.  In the meantime Steve, Mark, and I stayed to fish the rest of the time as we knew Ben was coming back Wednesday evening as he had left his boat behind the house.  Waking up on Tuesday the Aiona's were gone and the weather forecast  stated there predicting 25 mph by the afternoon, creating a difficult fishing situation.  We decided to head out and fish until the wind became uncomfortable.  After heading to the Muzurik Landing on Marblehead, we launched the boat and while Steve and Mark parked the car, I proceeded to input the waypoint Ben sent me via his phone, about 5 miles away through the channel between Marblehead and Kelley's Island.  We had fished a few miles north of that point on Monday so we were familiar with the location.  The wind had picked up a little but blowing from the Southeast so we positioned ourselves upwind from that waypoint and started setting up our trolling pattern.  As before we fished 3 planer boards on each side of the boat, using line counter reels to set the depths of the Bandits, we followed the advice, 70 feet back on the outside boards, 60 on the middle boards, 50 on the inside boards.  The strategy was to troll with the wind making the fishing experience easier.  Once a fish is hooked up, the real work begins, of course there is the guy fighting the fish, the second guy is responsible for the net and removing the planer board from the line.  In the meantime one guy has to stay on the steering wheel to make certain the boat stays on track so the remaining lines do not become tangled.  This was made much more difficult by two issues, first was the battery in the remote control for the kicker motor was dead.  This was checked out before we left but apparently it was just enough to work.  Secondly an attempt to engage the front electric trolling motor did not work either as the motor did not respond when deployed.  Therefore on Tuesday the only real source of steering was using the main outboard used as a rudder, steering by turning the steering wheel.. Mark had caught the first fish on Monday so it was Steve's turn and it wasn't long before one of the boards started dancing.  He reeled in our first fish of the day, a nice 24 inch walleye, into the livewell.  Resetting the boards it wasn't long before it was my turn to reel a fish in.  Steve on the motor, Mark successfully got the fish in the boat, 2 in the livewell. As the morning went on the wind shifted and as predicted started to increase.  After successfully landing 6 walleyes in the boat the waves continued to grow, enough to decide to call it quits.  It was a good move.  Although not that far from the landing the wind limited our speed to about 8 mph as we carefully negotiated the now 5 to 6 foot waves.  Finally getting back to the landing which is protected by a breaker wall, I dropped off Steve and Mark to get the truck and trailer.  There was a Coast Guard team that had just loaded their boat and once the Ranger was on the trailer they came over to do a boat inspection.  I welcomed the oportunity however the first question was to see my registration, something I never have!  Luckily Mark had come over before the trip and found it on a shelf and had me put it in the boat.  The inspection went well so we headed home to clean fish.  Admittedly it takes time to clean these big fish and Ben had brought his vacuum packer so we packaged the fish and sat down to reflect on the day.

Wednesday's catch, 14 walleyes at over 63 pounds

Wednesday proved to be a calmer day on the water.  Talking to Ben, he suggested I reset the trolling motor by disconnecting the power for 30 seconds.  I did that Tuesday afternoon and voila, the motor now responded.  As well we stopped at the Walmart to get a battery for the kicker remote steering, that now worked.  Third was a stop at Fisherman's Central, a wonderful sports shop on our way to the landing, and picked up some Bandits in blue/chrome, another Rotten Fruit pattern, an interesting blue green chrome Bandit called The Generator (later figured out you could add lighted glow stick in the bait), and an interesting color called Humble Bee ( a golden, perch type bait).  Once on the water and back to the spot the wind had changed 90 degrees from Tuesday so we did the same thing, went upwind from our previous point and started trolling downwind.  Tuesday gave us a chance to dial in our presentations and with some Bandits in new colors, we were determined to do better.  The wind was calmer, the kicker motor remote was working, the Motorguide was operating perfect, we were set up.  While Steve and Mark set up the lines, it was my job to get our navigation methodology set up.  Setting the kicker speed at 1.5 mph, I put the Motorguide down and engaged the heading lock to keep the boat on a specific track, then engaged the cruise control at 1.6 mph and amazingly the boat was now being completely controlled by the devices that should do their job.  No longer was it required to have someone always trying to steer the boat.   Looking at our tracks on the GPS, it was amazing how straight they were.  With the navigation system set we could now concentrate on fishing much more effectively.  With assuming we had 12 in the livewell, and 4 each (it was really 6 walleyes each), we  had lost 4 other fish in tangles or line failures, we finally caught one more deciding to let it go as the livewell was already ridiculously full.  Upon returning to the house, it was discovered we had 14 walleyes, still legal, but figuring the hookups and the one we released, we had 19 fish for the day.  Steve weighed the fish and it was over 63 pounds, and if you see the picture, not one was smaller than the 5 gallon pail was deep.  It took 3 trips with the pail to transfer these walleyes from the livewell to the cleaning shed.  Admittedly I've caught more walleye but never the average size as these.

From Wednesday's catch

After going to the Irish Pub downtown Port Clinton for supper, we headed back.  Ben, Heather, and Jared arrived earlier than we anticipated, about 11:30.  Thursday was supposed to be very windy with small craft warnings, so we decided to stay off the water.  Ben, on the other hand was anxious to get out after missing 2 days, they headed to the landing, noticed the waves coming over the breakwater but decided to try it anyway.  They got out about a mile before coming to their senses and headed back.  Sitting in the house drinking coffee, Ben came in admitting it was pretty rough.  After settling down, we decided to drive to the Bass Pro Shops in Toledo, 40 minutes away.  Once there Jared was looking for lure making stuff and the clerk commented that Jan's Netcraft was only 15 minutes away and they carry all sorts of these types of items.  Jan's Netcraft was around when we were kids and loved getting their catalog and buying lure making items to make our own lures.  It was interesting to find they were still in business so Jared loaded up on plastic worm and paddle tail molds along with molding plastic and an injector.  He was in business!  He really reminds me of my younger years with his grandpa.  On the way back there was a Costco so with my membership we stopped and bought some steaks for Thursday night's meal.  Friday was our last day, it actually was pretty nice but as we discussed that evening, lack of waves did not allow the baits the action that riding up and down creates.  It was pretty easy fishing as we mastered the trolling motor, lure setting functions well.  We  found an area were a number of fish that were fooled by our presentation.  We were marking fish however after reviewing the day we decided that the fish had moved.  Coming back to the landing, it was the first time in the week we were able to travel in the boat at a reasonable speed.  With 8 in the livewell we ended out trip with 29 kept walleyes, about 4.5 pounds average.  Things learned, these fish usually are staging to spawn as these fish were post spawn, and often they are in large schools of a mile or larger in diameter.  Slow down, 1.4 - 1.6 mph is a perfect speed as the water temp was never over 44 degrees.  Don't assume anything as 70 feet back with a Bandit is about 17 feet down in 40 feet of water.  These fish suspend and I believe will come up a long way to hit the slower moving, noisy and flashy bait.  I think it's also  important to have a wide spread on your planer boards to cover more area.  The charters use larger planer board tactics that put 18 lures over a 200 foot spread, that's alot of coverage.  Pay attention to where the charters are fishing as they are good at helping each other.  These fish can be fickle however once they turn on it's amazing.

Jared's 30 incher

As far as Ben and his family, they stayed through the weekend leaving Monday.  We left Saturday morning retracing our route that we followed on the way there.  Ben went fishing that day and throughout the day would phone us with updates.  They fished more east of where we fished on Friday and did well catching their limit of 18 walleyes.  I wanted to get a picture of Jared with his 30 inch fish.  I have had Jared fish with me in my wheel house earlier this year and he is definitely fishing crazy.  On Friday he caught this 30+ inch spawned out walleye, he was bound and determined to have it mounted.  I swore he was going to cry when his dad put a knife to it!  As well we got a nice spawned out female on Friday, signaling that the spawn was on.  It was a great trip, one that taught us a lot about trolling for walleyes, and one that we can only hope Ben will invite us again next spring.  Like stated earlier, unlike Canada where a good day is 80 walleyes in the boat for 3 guys, here 18 walleyes encompasses quite a bit of work and the average size is significantly larger, as we never caught a fish under 22 inches.  One definitely needs a boat to handle the water as the wind can come up pretty fast.  Also it is amazing how long it took to clean these large walleyes.  Definitely a trip of a lifetime and even if you take a charter, it was well worth it!!

Getting caught up, part 1

Steve's First Nice Walleye

Well, you'd think one would have enough time to document everything however it seems that time just flies these days.  So I have 2 fishing trips under the belt and haven't reported on wither on  of them so better later than never!  On March 12th the plan was to have my brother Steve pick up my friend Bill from California, who was staying in a hotel near the airport then meet me at the p ole shed, transfer the stuff to my truck and head to Springsteel Island on Lake of the Woods for one last ice fishing trip with the wheelhouse before bringing it home.  Bill had never stayed on the ice while fishing so this was going to be a special trip, however on Thursday, March 11 Springsteel's Facebook page announced that due to the warm weather, they were no longer allowing wheel houses on the ice.  Well, I called Steve to figure out plan B, we would bring our portables with then stay in the wheelhouse that was parked in the driveway of my friend Dave Johnsons house on the resort.  Bill was OK with this so ahead we went.  Arriving at 2:30 we meet up with Mark Mayerich and his cousin Greg and brother-in-law Gary, the news about the ice made them reserve a room in Roseau.  In the meantime my friends from Eleva, Kevin, Ben, and Jared Aiona were out on the ice already so we paid the access fee and headed out.  Unlike a month ago there was no snow on the ice except for a few thin patches.  4 miles out there was a heave starting so we stayed on the west side of that.  Finding an area where it wouldn't be so slippery we drilled 6 holes and started fishing.  It was comfortable out, some wind but we sat behind the truck.  My brother Steve got the first nice fish, a 23 inch walleye, anything over 19.5 had to be let go so down the hole it went.  We got another few fish before sunset and overall it was a nice beginning to our trip.  Driving back that night to sleep in the wheel house, the ice didn't seem too bad yet the prediction was for temperatures to be in the mid 50's on Saturday and that could really cause issues on the ice.

Ben's Nice Northern

Saturday came and we decided to fish  the same area again, about as deep as we could find without going over the heave.  It was nice out so we decided to fish outside again.  Ben and Kevin had their Ranger so they were more mobile and tried a number of different spots closer in at around 18 feet.  Being a couple miles away it wasn't too easy to see them but we did get their coordinates.  Because they were closer to shore and shallower, this set up for the possibility to catch some nice northerns as there were many ice fisherman specifically targeting northern pike.  Ben hooked into this dandy jigging for walleyes.  In the mean time we stayed in that 24 feet of water and Bill caught a dandy perch, close to 14 inches.  As well my friend Bruce Wiley had planned on flying up Saturday morning.  Dave Johnson drove a truck up that he planned to leave at his cabin so Bruce volunteered to fly him back home on Sunday.  2 hours verses 6 1/2 hours driving.   Dave and Bruce found us on the ice to see what we had.  It was nothing to brag about so Dave decided to take some walleyes out of the freezer and we would have walleye at the bar later that night.  We had a couple, Ben and Kevin had a few but with 12 in our group it was good that he had some fish that he could contribute.  The resort does a great job of making a fish fry, deep fried walleye, cole slaw, beans, and fried potatoes, a regular shore lunch.  they were very accommodating for me using my gluten free fish coating, it was a lot of fun and a good experience for my friend Bill to see how we do it in Northern Minnesota. Sunday was colder and more wind so we set up out hub houses with a heater and fished inside.  It was nice and comfortable, not that it was bad outside, in the low 40's but the wind wasn't very nice.  In the meantime Mark, Gary, and Greg, who was right next to us made lunch including chili and marinated venison chops, exceptionally good.  At about 4 we packed up and headed to where Kevin and Ben were fishing in the shallower water.  Getting set up it took about an hour then the fish turned on.  bound and determined to catch a fish on a Slab Rap, my wish finally came true as I got 5 fish on that lure.  My goal is to become more proficient with it, hoping to try this type of bait on opener at Leech Lake this year.  By sundown the  bite died almost instantly so we packed up.  the plan in the morning was to hook up and head south.  Kevin and Ben decided to fish in the morning so we did not touch base before we left.  In hindsight I think they could have let houses out as the ice seemed pretty firm and even the high temperatures on Saturday had little effect on the ice.  Oh well we had fun.  with no DirecTV we watch a movie each night, Friday was The Big White, a Robin Williams movie, Saturday was The Founder, about Ray Kroch and McDonalds, a very good movie, then Sunday was The Man  Who Shot Liberty Valence, the first movie John Wayne called anyone Pilgrim (Jimmy Steward).  We enjoyed some great wine, some very nice scotch, Bill had an experience that he'll never forget and I got my wheel house home.  Lot's accomplished!  My next couple posts will be on my latest trip to Lake Erie, very interesting.  Also I installed 4 new Lithium batteries in my boat, that is another interesting story.

February 28th, it's here already!

Sunset on Lake of the Woods

 February 28th marks one of the more interesting days of my fishing past.  In  the state of Minnesota all permanent ice houses located south of Highway 2 (which runs from Duluth to East Grand Forks) must be off the lake, period.  My CRS does not allow me the exact year however it was probably in the late 1970's or early 1980's.  My good friend Mark Taylor introduced me to his brother-in-law Tim Guzek.  He had introduced us to fishing Lake John, just west of Annandale.  I would say that it was my go to lake for many years.  Well one year Mark, Tim, Mark's brother Jack, and I decided that we would build a relatively inexpensive "permanent" ice fishing house out of simple chip board, it was pretty simple.  We all pooled our money and bought 12 pcs of 4' x 8' x 1/2 inch panels plus a few 2 x 4's and 2 x 2's for strength and build a crude but effective fish house. I don't remember who got the small barrel stove for heating it with wood but either way we were in ice fish heaven at the time, as there were no portables at the time.  We had somehow befriended a home owner on the lake who let us access the lake through his land which was very nice as our fish house was straight off his shore.  That year we had a ton of snow.  Not being smart enough to lift the house up out of the slush, it was around February 14, just 2 weeks before we needed to remove the house from the lake, when we decided to start getting ready for this event.  The rumors of what would happen if you didn't get the house off the ice ranged from revoking your fishing license to huge fines that young guys like us couldn't pay, even prison sentencing!  Upon arriving at the fish house to our horror, the entire floor had about 4 inches of ice on top of it and was frozen solid.  Now what.  Well it didn't take too long before 4 of us had the perfect solution,  went into town and bought 2 bags of water softener salt pellets.   We dumped both bags on the floor and spread them evenly thinking that the salt would eventually melt the ice and free the ice house from the lake's grip.  Of course it needed time to work so we left, coming back on the 28th to see where we were.  Opening the door we were pleasantly surprised that the ice was completely gone from the top of the floor.  this was going to be a piece of cake!  Well after chipping ice for an hour it was apparent that the ice had gripped the bottom of the floor and wasn't going to yield to our wishes.  There were a few guys in our situation, trying to get their houses off, when one walked up to us, took a look and said that he could set our house free.....just go into town and buy a box of 30-06 shells.  While we continued to chip away one of us went into town and bought the shells.  Upon returning the guy had his hunting rifle in hand as we gave him the shells.  I don't even remember if he had hearing protection, never the less went inside and proceeded to shoot the bullets through the floor, all 20 of them.  Came out and said "There you go, good luck".  The purpose made sense, the bullets would hit the ice and shatter it causing it to release it's grip on our house.  Unfortunately it didn't work as planned and with only a few hours of light left we decided to simply take apart the house piece by piece.  Having an old snowmobile trailer we piled the pieces on the trailer as we disassembled it.  At last all we had was the stuck floor.  Using ice chisels and pry bars we finally got the floor off the ice however it was not recognizable after our efforts.  Ready to go we secured our now defunct ice house, stopping in Monticello where a friend had a house an 5 acres of field, he let us drop it off as none of use really had a place to put the pile of wood.  That was our last effort in having a permanent ice house as flip over portables became readily available.  It still was pretty funny as this date brings back those struggles as young and inexperienced guys often have.  Thanks Mark, Jack, and Tim for the memories! My first picture is sunset on Lake of the Woods from 2 weeks ago.  It had to be -25F however the moon and the colors were simply stunning!

Jared's Trophy Hogfish

So the plan was to go to Lake of the Woods this weekend but a few calls about the current bite status and I decided to wait till March 12th.  Mistakenly assumed that Ben Aiona would be back from Florida by now but I was off a week and he is still there absorbing the last of the beautiful sunshine.  Ben will be back in time for our mid March trip, assuming he needs to pull his shack home, as well my wheel house.  In our talks about Florida, the idea of going out on a charter was discussed.  Ben, his wife Heather, and son Jared were scheduled for earlier this week however the weather proved to force them to move it on Friday.  I was really excited to see how Jared did as he is one dedicated fisherman!  Well to my surprise I received a number of pictures of the trip including this one of the nice Hogfish he caught.  I can just imagine the craziness on the boat when he pull this fish in sight.  Pictures say a thousand words but in this case and knowing Jared, it doesn't even come close, and the picture says a lot!!!  Apparently the captain claims this is a pretty nice sized trophy hogfish, telling Ben he should get a graphite reproduction!  In another picture Jared pulled up an octopus that he hooked.  I just can't imagine!  It looks like they got a few nice grouper, some small snappers and a number of rockfish type fish that sometimes you just never know what you'll catch.  Like a lot of gulf charters I have been on they were out 30 miles and it's still relatively shallow.  It appears to be a nice day and the waves look tame enough, it makes me want to fly down.  Anyway I am looking forward to our next trip and discussing this adventure.  Ben is planning on going to Lake Erie at the end of April and has invited us with.  It's a dream trip for me and at this time am planning to go.  We are now about 10 1/2 weeks from Fishing Opener, I am already starting to get ready.   More on that next week!

Moved to Lake Of The Woods (LOTW)

Ben's nice 26.5" Walleye

Last Friday was the time to shift gears and retrieve the Salem wheel house from it's parked location at JR's and haul it up to Springsteel Island Resort on the southwest side of LOTW's.  Knowing Ben Aiona was going up there, his dad Kevin and Kevin's friend John Felix decided to join me.  The cold weather made a point to linger into the weekend with -35F predicted for Saturday night.  Meeting me at the pole shed we left by 8:00 AM on Friday with our intent on being at JR's by 12:30.  Arriving at JR's we backed the truck up to the wheel house only to see that my propane storage doors were wide open.  Damn, someone must have gotten in and took the 2-30 pound cylinders.  Kevin got to the doors and said Oh oh!  My heart sunk but he laughed and said he was sorry!  After hooking it up and securing the doors the plan was to start the furnace and let it run the 90 minutes to Warroad.  After bidding Adam at JR's a good bye till next year, I paid the storage fee and took off.  It never got warmer than -11 F and that was near Deerwood, MN and   by the time we hooked up it was back down to -15.  Our next stop was the Warroad Cenex station to get minnows, fill up the truck, and fill up the assumed now empty propane tank.  Part of the idea to start the furnace was to get it warm but also there was still propane left in the original tank and wanted to empty it.  Everyone said I should not run the furnace while pulling the house but it seemed to work out OK.  At the Cenex they are gracious enough to only charge you for what they put in it and to my surprise it still had 5 pounds left.  That was a lot of run time on that cylinder, 2.5 days on Red and at least an hour and a half of steady running on the road.  With the propane full, the minnow bucket running, the truck full of gas we were ready for a cold adventure.  After paying the road access we called Ben who had met us 6 miles out on the road and guided us near where he was settled in.  Kevin is getting pretty good at helping to get set up and did a great job as we were fishing within 20 minutes of arriving, just in time for the evening bite.  We managed a few keepers the rest of the day however the cold weather kept the bit to a minimum.  The next day, Saturday, would prove to be more eventful.  We caught a number of nicer 15 - 16 inch saugers and walleyes while Ben, just 20 yards from us managed to bring in a nice 26.5" walleye.  It was definitely chilly out but we managed to keep more than enough fish to go in for a fish fry at the resort.  It's a pretty good deal as one gets diced fried potatoes, cole slaw, beans, and they fried my fish in the gluten free batter for me.  It was a nice change not to have to make and clean up after eating!  After a filling supper we headed back 7 miles out on the ice to turn on the television and relax for the evening.

Sunday's catch

Ben got up and left Sunday morning while our plan was to stay and leave Monday morning.  It still never got above zero with Saturday night low was -34.  By the time we got up it was already up to -28!  We stayed the rest of Sunday getting a fish here and there.  I would not say that it was on fire but it certainly was better than Red Lake was 4 weeks ago and although the numbers were not as good as fishing Lake Winnebigoshish 2 weeks earlier, the number of keepers was significantly better, as we had fairly consistent action throughout the day.  We were surprised at the clarity of the water as LOTW tends to have dingy water.  This lead to a few rattle reels going off after dark.  AT midnight on Sunday one went off and no one got up to service the line so I got out of my warm sleeping bag and found the reel that had my line marker bobber underneath the water, felt it and set the hook.  It was a nice walleye and when I got her up I was impressed, nicest one of the trip in our house.  I put it in the fish pail, reset the rattle reel and hopped back into the sleeping bag.  After about 30 seconds the thought came to me, damn that was a nice walleye, but I failed to measure it.  On LOTW all walleyes over 19.5 inches have to be released.  So, back out of the sleeping bag and over to the fish bucket, pull her out and got the measuring tape that is on the slush dipper, 21 inches, back in the hole she went.  Luckily she swam right away.  No need to get the ice house confiscated over 1.5 inches of walleye.  Again we woke up to under -20 but decided to get packed up as Keven and John had at least an 8 hour trip ahead of them.  Stopping at the Springsteel Island fish cleaning house they had made some improvements such as running water to clean up everything.  We ended up parking the Salem at my friend Dave Johnson's place at the resort, ready for the next trip.  I suppose we caught around 30 - 40 fish total with 20 keepers that we either ate or brought home.  The plan is to leave it there till the middle of March when my good friend Bill Dull from Southern California is flying up to try ice fishing.  It's too bad he didn't come this time and experience what the real cold feels like!  I am trying to arrange a big group so he will have the full feel of an ice fishing adventure in Northern Minnesota.  As a side note the road we were on is the beginning of the ice road that runs across LOTW to the Northwest Angle, an isolated part of Minnesota the is usually only accessible by going through Canada either by highways or motoring across the lake via the portion that is in the United States.  The ice road has been important for the residents of the Northwest Angle as the Covid restrictions have limited their options to return to their properties.  It's a pretty good deal as the road provides easier access to those resorts in that area for guest to get there.  Snowmobiling is an option but it limits what  you can bring.  I know last week's weather sure made ice!

My Fishing Buddy Kevin

Kevin on the Right and Myself on the left

 Everyone has a special friend in their lives and mine is Kevin Aiona.  We grew up together as we live right down the block from him and his family.  His mom Donna was in the same grade as my dad so we had lot's in common to begin with.  If there was anything to do with fishing, Kevin and I were inseparable.  From fishing behind Bud Tollefson's house for suckers in April to cat fishing in August, when I fished Kevin was right by my side!  The memories are so many that it's almost impossible to name them all.  Since we were about 10, we fished special places on the Buffalo River like Carp Slough, the Buffalo Bridge, the Trestle as well as Big Creek, Trout Creek, areas on the Mississippi north of Alma such as the Cut, the Wiggle Waggle and Catfish Slough.  One of our best times and an annual favorite was fishing Wilbur's in April for the northerns as they spawned in the flood waters of Big Lake.  At first we'd rent a boat from Wilbur, and row up the shoreline casting daredevils.  In the late 70's I secured an old Martin 7.5 hp outboard and we had a motor to give us the status of a couple of big shots!  I am sure that we did really well every time we fished for northerns, but admittedly it was a long time ago.  Never the less we did very well as you can see by the picture.  Kevin is about a year younger than me but he looks pretty young in this picture, I suspect this picture was about 1978, I loved wearing old army jackets and Kevin, he still looks like he was in Junior High.  I am sure he will laugh at this picture yet those were the best of times.  Kevin was my best man in my wedding and I was his. His son Ben who has appeared in the blog is my God child, quite an honor.  From the age of 10 to 25 I am sure there were a number of great pictures.  I found an old photo album and it prompted me to pay tribute to my friend, we really caught a lot of fish in the day, with minimal help other than our own knowledge.  No depth finders, GPS, heck a good rod was maybe $15.

Kevin and a nice 4 Pound Largemouth

Both Kevin and I got pretty good at fishing bass along Catfish Slough.  I had bought a boat from Paul Wichmann which was laying in one of his pastures.  I fixed it up and ended getting a 15 hp Evinrude and we were in business.  One weekend Kevin and I camped just south of the Wabasha bridge.  We would throw Moss Boss's into the pond weed along the shore, working the bait on the surface as it would leave a trail marking where you had fished.  More often the bass would explode through the pondweed to hit the plastic lure as it skipped over the weeds.  The bass we caught were 3 to 4 pounds and would leave a hole in the pond weed, leaving a clue as to the success we had.  We caught a lot of bass like the one Kevin is holding.  That weekend we got back to our campsite after dark and walked up to the tent with our flashlight.  All of a sudden we heard this sharp rattling sound and we knew exactly what that meant, a rattlesnake.  Swamp rattlesnakes were know to be in the area and we finally ran into one.  Well we found it and quickly dispatched it.  Putting it into a burlap bag we got back in the boat and headed for Slippery's on the Wabasha side of the river, just upstream from the bridge.  The legal drinking age was 19 so we decided to celebrate our adventure.  There was a guy in the bar that was interested in our now dead snake so for a couple of beers we gave it to him.  BTW Slippery's is the bar where the original Grumpy Old Men was filmed, pretty cool.  It has changed now but at the time it was the same as in the movie.  We also fished alot of walleyes in Catfish Slough.  Both Kevin and I got good at making our own standup jigs then tying fake fur on them, we hammered the walleye while we drifted with the current down the slough.  It could be the middle of July and 100 degrees out and we'd still hammer them in 5 to 7 feet of water.  It's been a while since I have fished that area but Kevin says it's all filled in now.  I guess it's tough to stop change but the river is constantly changing.  Kevin and his son Ben are still river rats and my goal this year is to try and relive the past, a pretty big task.  Maybe I'll learn a few new things.  

Anyway my intent is to not forget those that were an important part of your being.  There is a lot of guys that fit this description, Paul Wenaas, Barry Kolden, Anyway running across these old pictures brought back a lot of memories and there are a few more that will give me an excuse to elaborate on the past!

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!

Cold and Costly Opener

Heavy Wet Snow on Star Point, Leech Lake, MN

First the cold part.  As the week progressed the weather forecast became less than desirable each day for the Minnesota Fishing opener with the final insult, snow was predicted for Saturday afternoon and snow it did!  although we did not get out too early on Saturday morning, it was awfully chilly!  Although seemingly dressed for the weather, I was sadly mistaken as by 1 in the afternoon the cold, wet, and heavy snow started to take a toll on the 5 of us.  It didn't seem too bad on the drive up Friday morning as we stopped in Malmo to get our weekends worth of shiner minnows, the drive up to Brindley's Harbor wasn't too bad.  The weather reports on the radio were not so optimistic however with heavy snow predicted from the Mille Lacs area all the way up to Red Lake.  Getting up on Saturday it didn't look too bad however the wind was definitely coming out of the east, not a good sign.  My dad used to say, Wind from the west, fish bite the best, wind from the east, fish bite the least!  Well it was less than 35 degrees when we hit the water on Saturday morning, Luckily we decided to start on Pine Point, not too far from the resort.  My brother Steve fished with me and Kevin, Ben, and Jared fished in Ben's boat.  The water temperature was still below 50 degrees, we were in the heart of the post spawn period, the fish were not going to be too cooperative and not unlike last year we had to find some warmer water.  In an almost identical scenario from last year we followed the wind to the windward side of the bay, onto Star Point and yes the water was warmer there, maybe a degree, not enough to make much difference.  However the wind was more manageable so we started fishing the point, away from all of the boats.  A special note, we were surprised at the number of boats on the lake considering how "concerned" people have become.  By noon you could see the snow heading towards us as that far shore disappeared pretty fast.  In a short

Jared's Nice Walleye

time the heavy, wet snow was upon us, enough to decide after a while to put the top up.  Unfortunately that just only helped us from getting wetter than we already were. It snowed pretty heavy for a couple of hours and I was starting to get cold, feet, hands, and torso.  deciding to go in about 2:00, none too soon, we got the boats tied up and decided to take a trip to Reeds in Walker, a 15 minute run.  Being surprised it was open, they had the usual precautions but for the most part it wasn't too bad.  Warmer clothes were on the list as I returned with a light winter boot that was on sale at a great price, a pair of warmer socks, and some neoprene gloves. Sunday was just as cold but we did find some fish in the 10 foot depths including this nice spawned out female that Jared, my friend's son , managed to catch.  It was real windy on Sunday and with temperatures in the 30's it stayed pretty cold and we managed to catch enough to have fish dinner Sunday night.  The wind had died down a little bit but there was still ice covering everything the next morning,  I wouldn't say brutally cold but definitely uncomfortable for May 11th.  Deciding that Steamboat Bay might have warmer water, we headed to the area only to find the water temperature to be 43, not exactly post spawn walleye temperatures.  We manged a few more walleyes on the traditional jig and minnow but decided to go in and get ready for the last session of our trip, the Monday evening bite.  the weather as bad as it was had stabilized and there wasn't the boats around like the weekend.  by 10:00 Monday we had 14 walleyes, enough for each of us to take a limit home.....mission accomplished! It was fun fishing with my "hometown" crew again in fact I commented to Kevin that this was the third time we had been fishing this year together, something we hadn't done in maybe 40 years.  It was also fun to see Jared, 13 years old, hang with the men.  This is a good way to build his skills for the future, and of course we cut him absolutely no slack!

Bottom Damage from Banging into the rocks

Costly, what can I say?  Sunday afternoon we decided to head to Little Stony Point, a rock reef that sticks out from a point and holds fish in the deeper sand just off the rocks.  Because the wind was blowing into the rocks, we set the trolling motor to pull towards the waves in a controlled drift and was able to hold in 8 feet of water quite easily.  After trying to fix Ben's depthfinder by connecting it to my network, it really messed up my settings.  Having drifted this pattern a couple of times, it seemed like a good time to reset the electronics.  In the meantime there were 3 foot rollers hitting the front side of the boat.  Apparently the wind gust got stronger than the trolling motor could overcome so the first indication was a big thump as m lower unit hit a big rock as the boat went in the trough of the wave.  We floated up on the next wave then Thump, another hit.  trying to frantically get out of there I contemplated jumping out of the boat but that would have been dumb.  Another big thump, maybe every 3 - 5 seconds.  Telling steve to lift the trolling motor and hold it, that wasn't working so we switched and I took over while he got the net to push off.  Finally getting the trolling motor locked in and shallow running we were able to motor out of danger but I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.  Finally getting the boat on the trailer, it looked like someone took a hammer and chisel to the bottom.  Dropping it off at Frankie's, the estimate came back at about $8000 in damage.  My thought was that it might be able to run this summer and fix it in the fall but they said nope, water could easily seep in and completely damage the hull.  After talking to my insurance guy who was great, we decided that because my policy has already been approved for 2020 we should turn it in and deal with the nuances of the insurance later, as my fear is the $22,000 claim from last May isn't going to help me at all.  Anyway Safeco, who really was helpful is cutting me a check as I have authorized the work to begin.  Some people say my boat is bad luck but maybe I just need to up the attention span somewhat, that or buy an armored boat.  Well there appears to be some truth to what they say BOAT means........Bust Our Another Thousand!  Hopefully it will be done by Memorial Day.

Last Trip With the Wheel House

Kevin's size of choice!

Not much has been going on these last few weeks other than trying to find a roll of toilet paper in any store, my Lord this country has absolutely gone crazy, least I say more but I won't.  So in an effort to escape this madness on Friday my friends Kevin Aiona, Paul Wenaas, and I hooked up the Salem for what will probably it's last trip for the 2019/2020 ice fishing season.  Kevin's son Ben had left his ice house up at Springsteel Island Resort, where we fished this year on the week of January 9th and his plan was to go on up and fish the weekend, bringing his house home.  Arriving at 8:00 as planned we headed north to meet Ben at the resort, a 6 hour drive from home.  Both Paul and Kevin are retired so we were in no hurry to get home and the plan was to stay until Monday.  Arriving at the resort around 2:30 we ordered something to eat in the bar while we waited for Ben.  As the resort had stated you could go about anywhere around the resort and for the most part that was correct, if you stayed on the roads.  The snow was pretty hard off the roads but it was easy to spin down to the ice and you were stuck.  Our first stop was just east and right off what they called the DNR reef which came up to 16 feet however the surrounding area was about 22 feet.  Drilling the holes, I was reminded of my forgetfulness these days as I forgot to bring my cordless drill to run my Slushcopter, a wonderful device to push the slush down the holes once drilled as well as my slush scooper to finish what's left of what little ice there is.  Ben came to the rescue and let me use one of his.  We finally got settled in and started catching fish right away.  Admittedly many of them were quite small as though we were fishing sunfish.  I can't tell you how many walleyes we caught under 8 inches but I would say for every "keeper" fish we caught, we released at least 10 dinky ones.  It was surprising how aggressive these little fish could be.  They would rush up from the bottom and smack your lure, often dressed with a minnow head on the hook for some scent.  Sometimes they would come up almost 5 feet before hitting the lure, which is a lot of fun seeing it and having the anticipation of the fish slamming

Largest Walleye of the Trip, 21"

it, only to feel in the first second that it's another small fish.  We did catch a number of keepers, enough to take into the resort for a walleye dinner on Saturday night.  Ben was a little frustrated with the smaller fish that we caught by DNR reef so he decided on Saturday morning to move to deeper water.  He has chains on the truck so it was easier to go off road.  He was having some luck in deeper water out a few miles more so on Sunday morning we decided to move out as well.   As we lifted the house one of my pivoting axle's stuck and the axle spring shackle that secures the wheel to be able to drive was not moving.  Calling Ben, who had a propane torch, he drove over and as I suspect the grease around the axle was either too stiff to move or there might have been water in it because a minute of heating and the wheel started to slowly move down to allow us to secure it and move.  It was a good reminder of the next thing for the tool box.  Finally free we were able to get back on the road and head east a couple of miles.  Finding an old road we decided to back in so we had a clear path when we decided to leave, it was nice and flat so we set up.  It takes about an hour to properly set up the house, even with 3 guys but we were fishing by 9:30 in 25 feet of water.  No much deeper but different.

Paul with a nice 38 inch northern pike

We encounter about the same fishing as the last place.  I think right off the reef was a good morning/evening spot but the deeper water offered what might be a better day bite.  I thought we did better at the second place we setup, including the 21 inch walleye you see above.  The northern pike bite was better as both Paul and I caught 2 nicer northern's with Paul's being a respectable fish.  The fish did not come without inflicting a little revenge on all of us as before we got him up to the hole it had managed to swim around everyone of our lines and tangle them up beyond repair.  I guess we should have known better, when someone gets a nice fish, pull up the lines.  Oh well, the excitement overrides common sense and we spent the next 30 minutes cutting out lures, lines, retying our lines and lures.  To add insult to injury, we released the fish in Kevin's hole and it got stuck in his line, causing another problem of tangling up everything even more. It definitely was a mess but it did a couple of things for the good.  It made us retie fresh line on our rattle reels,

Tangled Mess!!

pull off the well used line on our existing poles and it was a great excuse to change lures.  In addition it provided some good entertainment as well as stories for the future.  I suppose we ended up with 7 keeper walleyes and a sauger, 1 nice perch, and a ton of smaller fish that we let go.  The DirecTV in the house made it nice and time sure flies when you are having fun.  We did watch the movie, Stand By Me, the 4 boys who head up the railroad tracks to find a dead body, it reminds me of growing up back home in Eleva.  We used to walk the tracks all the time and the trestle scene was right out of our memories crossing the trestle across the Buffalo River, especially when the train came roaring down the tracks.  That was over 55 years ago but it seems like it was just yesterday, time flies way to fast.  Well it was fun to spend the weekend with my 2 friends from back home, we had a blast and it was good to compare notes as to what each of us remembered what it used to be.  The last line in the movie Stand By Me says it all: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?”   I guess I am am very blessed that those friends are still in my life!
 

Back from Lake of the Woods

Ben's nice northern

Our January 9 trip to Lake of the Woods finally arrived.  Originally the plan was to leave my wheel house at JR's a couple of weeks ago then pick it up on the way and use it.  Unfortunately the snow storm at Red Lake changed our plans but definitely not for the worse as Dave Johnson, our host had plan B.  Our destination was Springsteel Island Resort just north of Warroad, MN.  Dave knew the resort very well and got us a cabin almost next to his, and with his hard side portable fish houses we were all set.  Dave Johnson is a person I met at Dick's Bar in Osseo.  A great place to have our necessary fishing board meetings, I had the pleasure of being invited along for an ice fishing adventure last week.  Along with Dave, the others included Bruce Wiley, Pete Sipe, Dan Sadler, (all Lac Seul veterans), my friends from Eleva....Kevin Aiona and his son Ben, as well as myself.  Ben and Kevin are not afraid to try anything as Ben built his own wheel house, took the wheels off and made it a skid house.  Bought an toy hauler RV trailer and gutted it to haul his tracked Ranger UTV and his skid house.  He had some issues but finally got it to he could at least pull his skid house in it, as he met us at the resort.  Although the snow was not that deep, Dave had the resort pull his houses out along with a road leading to them as well as a turn around for Ben's skid house.  It worked out very well as we were able to get set up and fish that Thursday night.  Fishing wasn't exactly on fire that first night but it was good to get settled in and get a feel for the lay of the lake where we would spend the next 2 days.  The resort is very nice and a place that I have always been curious about.  Many years ago we had a sales rep in Minneapolis by the name of Bob Fieck.  Bob had a place on Springsteel Island and in the summers would hitch a ride to Warroad with Marvin Window's corporate plane.  It seems as though it was only $25 if they had an empty seat and Marvin's would simply donate any moneys to local charities as they had to fly anyway.   The Warroad Airport is about 1 mile from the resort so it was very convenient.  Bob passed away about 15 years ago, however I asked on of the owners if they remembered him.  Oh Bob, he had that light brown cabin just over there!!  It was interesting for sure as Bob had always invited me because of my love for fishing, but like a lot of things in life, never made it.  This trip was sort of a never to late trip, one that makes me think about what I have missed not taking up Bob on his offer.  Well, I now have another friend who is up there and will definitely have to not let this one slip by!  Ben and his dad were planning on going up the weekend after Christmas but Ben had trouble with his trailer and ended up at Devil's Lake, North Dakota, so it was good to get them up.  Being we were all from Eleva, Ben, Kevin, and I stayed in the rented cabin.

Kevin's nice 22 inch walleye

Our first full day of fishing was on Friday, it was definitely cold like it always is as Springsteel Island is on the west end of Lake of the Woods, 6 hours north of Minneapolis as we were within just a mile or so from the Canadian Border.  Getting our holes re-drilled, cleaned out, heaters turned on, we were fishing in a half hour.  Bruce and I took on shack, Pete and Dan in another, Kevin and Ben were in their larger skid house, while the ever so humble host, Dave moved around from his single house to make sure everything was going well.  Lot's of small fish as the action was pretty steady.  Our fish included smaller (< 13 inch) saugers, walleyes, a few real nice eelpout, an occasional northern pike, and some larger tulibees (Cisco's).  It seems like the fish would come in spurts, hammer the baits well for 15 minutes then go silent for 15 before another school came by.  Kevin and Ben did get some big fish including a couple of real nice eelpout that we kept as they are excellent boiled, served with melted butter...known as "Poor Man's Lobster".  The eelpout we got were at least 10 pounds each and ended up with 4 for the 2 days we fished.  The picture above was a 22 inch walleye that Kevin caught.  He released it as the regulations are 6 fish, no more than 4 can be walleyes and the walleyes between 19.5 and 28 need to be released.  We each ended up with plenty of fish, all smaller walleyes and saugers so it was a good trip.  Thursday night we ate down at the restaurant at the resort as we dropped off our fish and they cooked them up and served them along with coleslaw, beans, American Fries, an excellent shore lunch as we were quite full.

As stated it was great to spend a few days with a new friend, Dave Johnson.  He grew up on a pig farm in Iowa and his stories as a young teenager were fabulous.  Certainly a lot of things hit home for all of us as we also grew up having to work for what we had, often there was no choice!!!  Either way I have told my friends about Springsteel Island Resort as it's only about an hour further than Red Lake and I would not say the fishing is better, maybe the catching is as we had action all day.  I am hoping to get up their a few more times, maybe bring my house up as Lake of the Woods is open until April 14th, 1 1/2 months more than inland waters.  The resort is very wheelhouse friendly and very accommodating so we'll have to see.  Usually I spend the month of January at JR's on Red but they are still digging out from the end of December's storm as the amount of snow is limiting how far they get out, which is only about 3 miles now.  LOTW (Lake of the Woods) didn't have much snow at all and it looked like one could go almost anywhere reasonable, however that can change fast.  We will have to see what develops again in the next couple of weeks.  I know there are still big issues on Mille Lacs with the amount of snow and lack of good strong ice, and there is another 7 inches predicted for this week!  It should be interesting!

New Safety Addition to the Ranger

Fell Marine MOB Wireless Safety Switch

The incident on Lac Seul last may got me thinking about a number of safety issues.  One of the issues is the safety shutoff tether that every boat has, it is supposed to connect to your self, maybe to your life vest so if one got thrown out of the boat, it would shut the outboard motor off preventing the so called circle of death.  This occurs when no one has control of the motor and the natural torque of the motor forces the boat to make circles in one direction, eventually running the operator over with little one can do.  Hooking up the tether has it's own problem as it really only allows movement withing a couple of feet of the drivers position and does not allow any movement in the boat without pulling the tether out and shutting the motor off.  After researching this I discovered a wireless MOB (Man Over Board) device that will allow one to walk around the boat without stopping the engine, however once the red fob hits the water of get's 50 feet from the device the engine will shut off.  The problem is that often I forget to attach the tether to the life vest, however I can simple put the fob around my neck or attach it to the life vest and VIOLA, I am connected wireless to the emergency shut off.  The boat motor will not start unless one pushes the center button on the fob to connect to the base unit shown here in black.  Once connected the green light comes on and you can start your motor, a nice fail safe feature. If you end up overboard and have someone in the boat, or something goes wrong with the red fob, one can press the center button on the main unit and override the system to start the boat.  Also one can stop the motor by simply pressing the button on the red fob or the main unit.  It also serves as a theft preventative device as not many people are familiar with this system.  Except for finding a good place to mount it the installation went pretty smooth and it looks good in the boat.  Last weeks post dealt with our trip to Mille Lacs and this device was operational during that time and work very well.  Truth is I hope I never have to rely on it however it seemed like a great idea as I am not getting any younger and the emergency cutoff tether is there for a reason!  One might as well take advantage of the current technology.

Ben and his family with a nice catch of fish

So last week my Godchild, Ben Aiona went out on Lake Michigan trolling for Salmon and trout.  He called asking me some questions and I stayed in touch with him as it reminded me of the time in 1986 when his dad Kevin and I went with another friend, Gary Barneson, who lived in Appleton, WI and would troll with his 14 foot Lund with a 25 hp motor.  We weren't much better as I ran a 16 foot Lund Pro Angler with a 50 hp motor.  In Wisconsin you can use 3 lines trolling so we rigged up 2 downriggers, ran 2 Dipsy Divers, and I had made 2 planer boards to fish off the side of the boat 50 - 75 feet.  We caught all sorts of fish however Gary eventually moved back to Eleva and the fishing changed on Lake Michigan so we stopped going there.  Well Ben decided to try it and did OK, getting a load of salmon and a few Lake trout at 150 feet. I still have all the equipment and lures so it would be fun to try it again.  Actually the last time I was on Lake Michigan fishing was maybe in 1987 with my brother Steve and my dad, we did pretty well then but I can't find any pictures. Informing Ben that I still have some stuff and it's been sitting in my garage for 30 years he might as well put it to good use, so we decided that we need to get together soon and get him set up.   Now that I am retired and I have a young buck to wait on me maybe I will have to join him some day as my boat would be perfect for this kind of fishing.  I know we are going to try and get to Lake Erie next spring.

This week my goal was to get out on the river but is was awfully hot.  I did help my neighbor Brian with his friends  Lowrance HDS 9, Gen 3, as they were going to Lac Seul.  We were successful in getting his map to the level he wanted it as well, I was able to show him some tricks that would make his experience on Lac Seul much more enjoyable.  Being quite knowledgeable with these electronics it was fun to help out and I am anxious to talk with him when they get back to see if it helped.  It's supposed to finally cool down this weekend, it will be a nice change of pace to the hot and humid weather we have had.

Signs of Spring

Galloway Park on the Mississippi River

Well, after a pretty hard winter, the month of March has brought what it normally does, warmer weather and snow melt.  This year saw an snowpack on the ground that was equivalent to the spring prior to the devastating floods of 1965.  There were some concerning flooding predictions this year as the first part of March saw a fairly rapid snow melt along with some local heavy rains.  Things settled down a bit with drier weather and freezing temperatures at night, it really slowed down the runoff.  The rivers have crested slightly above their flood stages and even though there are areas of concern, for the most part things are looking good as the rivers are starting to recede.   Behind the house the Mississippi has peaked and is going down.  Every 10 years or so it overflows into the neighbors pasture and into Galloway Park, just on the border of Champlin and Dayton, MN.  Stopping by this morning to snap this picture, although the water is still running across the road, if the projected rains forecasted for this weekend stay on the light side, it should still be headed back to normal.  With Temperatures scheduled to be in the 60's and  the below normal amount of ice on the lakes this year, ice out should be pretty much normal this year, no one was talking about this at the end of February, the predictions were a late ice out.  It is amazing how fast things can change this time of year as it looks like our Team Walleye 46th Annual Minnesota Fishing Opener will be just perfect.  Mark Mayerich has been working especially hard on this as we have lot's of things to do, organize the meals, bait, signs, new hats, it's not that easy, but it'll get done!

Picture Perfect Fish

A dream trip of mine is to try and schedule a trip to fish the Port Clinton Ohio area of Lake Erie in early April.  My friends Kevin and Ben Aiona headed there last Sunday as I was supposed to drop off some lures for him.  Unfortunately I never made it which was OK anyway, they had left by noon and when I did call them they were in Chicago already.  Ben has an 18 foot Ranger 618T with a 90 hp Mercury Tiller.  Maybe somewhat of a small boat but they managed.  On Monday night Ben sent me a picture of this beautiful and fat 27 inch walleye.  I sent this to my friends and we all agreed that the measuring stick they used must be wrong as that looks bigger than 27.  Apparently they got there, figured out a system however it took them almost all day to find clear water and when they did, they were able to catch 4 nice walleyes.  According to Ben the walleyes were in 40 feet of water suspended up around 20 feet deep.  Using well known trolling apps and line counter reels one can easily calculate how much line one needs out, at what speed to make a certain bait run in the strike zone of 20 feet.  His report yesterday was a little better as Kevin tested this at about the same time they caught the big on pictured at 4:00:  We are at 34 so far today.  All on Bandits, 75 to 100 feet back, 1.0 - 1.7 mph.  I would say 24 is our biggest and 20 is the smallest in the box.  It was a better bite his morning.  He sent me another picture and it looks like it was a little more rougher seas, as well the fish was smaller...maybe something for next week.

Walleye caught by the Wolf River Cam, Shiocton 2 Site

One of the things that is going are the Wolf River Camera's, underwater camera's on the Wolf River, northwest of Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin.  The cameras record the fish migration up the river to spawn and although many of the fish are suckers, there are quite a few walleyes and there was even a sturgeon that swam by today.  To the left is a screen shot of a nice walleye swimming by.  There has been some larger females however for the most part the majority of the walleyes have been the smaller males.  It's cool looking at these as one never knows what will swim by.  As well they often travel in small groups so if one swims by, chances are a couple more will follow.  The have 5 different areas along the river however it seems as though only Shiocton 1, Shiocton 2, and New London are operating.  Someone put a sinker in front of the New London camera as well I think the Shiocton 1 and 2 cameras are more active these days.  As the water gets warmer, more toward next week the migration will definitely pick up.  Maybe you will get to see that massive sturgeon swim by!