Wow!!!

Ranger 620FS, Uffda!

Saturday was the big day, time to pick up the new boat from the dealership.  It has been 3 months from the day I ordered it and as you can imagine it was pretty exciting.  Arriving at Frankie's by 11:00 the first order of business was to take a look at everything and all I can say is they did an excellent job of rigging and getting everything prepared.  The initial inspection looked good so it was time to settle up the bill and when Deb presented the balance it was significantly less than what I expected.  Acknowledging a computer issue we went over everything and got it straightened out, never want to short anyone.  Next on the agenda was to go over all of the new features which included keyless ignition, all the nuances of the motor, and generally how everything works.  Upon firing up the Lowrance electronics the first thing stated was the Motorguide needed updating.  Joe Dusenka, Frank's son was helping me and did a fabulous job of walking me through everything. As stated before this boat is a significant departure from what I have been running for the last 40 years and it's pretty exciting.  After making sure I knew what I was doing, we hooked it up to the truck as I planned on dumping her into the water close to the dealership in case there were any obvious issues. The first thing that stood out is the boat sits up about 4 inches higher on the trailer than the previous 620T so it will need to be launched at the deeper landings.  They only put enough gas in the tank to start the motor so it was off to the Marathon across the street to fill up the 51 gallon tank.  Figuring about $140 to fill it up the pump stopped at $75 so the heck with it, that was plenty.  About 1/2 mile from Frankie's is a nice landing on Chisago Lake so I dumped it there.  It definitely isn't as nimble as my previous boat.  Once in the boat I started the motor and was very surprised how quiet it was.  The landing is in a no-wake zone and it took about 5 minutes to idle out to the main lake where I punched it.  OMG!!! It was on plane in about 2 seconds, amazingly quick.  Deciding to check a few things out, the boat back trolls at around 1.8 mph, forward trolls at about 2.6 mph, not bad.  The power steering is effortless, almost too much as when I pushed the throttle the boat climbed to over 50 mph immediately and really felt squirrelly so I backed it down, I guess it will take some getting used to.  It is all basically "fly by wire" as the steering is electric, the gear shift is electric, very smooth indeed. It loaded up very easy as I headed back to Frankie's to park the boat for a couple hours as I went to a friends house in Wisconsin.  Home by 6:00 the neighbors all stopped by to see and the very first comment was, you had better get some lugnut locks on those wheels! I suppose they have a point.

Beautiful evening Rainbow

I have spent the week trying to get everything loaded and working together.  For instance, I mistakenly loaded Version 3.0 of the Lowrance software into my main unit then when it was time to review the link between it and the Motorguide motor, it wasn't available as an option on the screen.  I know it works because Joe showed me it yet now I had to figure it out. Reading the instructions there was a big point in stating that the Lowrance software must be version 3.5 or newer. Not realizing that I had put in an older version of the software, 30 minutes later it dawned on me so I re-downloaded the right software via my phone and updated it.  Bingo, it worked great however I punched the wrong button on the control screen and turned the Motorguide on then listened to the propeller grind against the winch with little idea on how to stop it.  10 seconds later it stopped but not before completely ruining the prop and part of the plastic on the winch.  So much for the newness.  It's been a slow progress yet it's a labor of love as one decides where everything should go, how to organize, and the need to fill in the gaps with the technology like getting my Ipod connected to the sound system which by the way worked out really good.  The storage options are significant and one thing I have to decide is whether to put my Plano 3700 boxes in the designed storage in the boat or to simply keep my traditional tackle box in tact.  I guess there is no reason not to use the storage, it definitely is drier and if I need they can always go back into the soft sided tackle box.  The front compartments have a built in fan that helps dry out things that are stored there.  This would be a great place for drift socks, rain suits, anything that can get wet.  One other thing of note is there is a drain in every compartment and anywhere there is a channel to take water away.  This should be a lot nicer if a wave ever comes over the bow, which I know there will at some point. There are a lot of little things like the LED lights that didn't stick to where they were put, some foam missing on the windshield, and overspray on the windshield, for the most part everything was pretty easy to fix. I also have a panel that appears to be cracked and they have a new one coming for me.  Between getting the garden planted, working on the boat, mowing the lawn, there's hope that I can get to Mille Lacs on Sunday for it's maiden voyage.  Scrambling to get everything done, Tuesday night was interesting as we got a brief shower that for the most part put a damper on my mowing. The sun did come out but not enough to dry the grass and allow me to finish yet it did result in a beautiful rainbow to the southeast so I snapped a picture before it went away.

This Friday is our 13th Annual ENA Golf Tournament at Daytona Gold Club in Dayton.  ENA is the initials for Eric Nicole Apple, son of my good friend Mark Applen (Red Lake fisherman extraordinaire) who had his life cut short by a rare form of cancer.  Both my wife and I have been volunteering our time along with a number of wonderful people that give their time and energy to our cause.  I encourage you to read about Eric at his website located HERE.  All the proceeds are dedicated to helping less fortunate families deal with the hardships of childhood cancer as we try to bring a smile to those that need it the most.  To date we have raised over $300,000 and every dime available goes to the cause.  I am proud of the work we do as there is nothing more satisfying than to provide a little joy in the life of someone who's life is feeling hopeless.  We do have a nice silent auction and raffle, admittedly I have bought some really nice stuff like my Showdown Ice Fishing Depth finder, heck a good way to help and get something nice as well.  

Wheel House Get Away

Last Saturday my friend Mark Applen had called to see if I was heading up to Mille Lacs. Along with the call was an invitation (actually it's a standing one) to fish with him if I wanted to. He had been in his wheel house since Friday, parked near the Highway Bar, about 4 miles from shore. Not sure what I was going to do, it dawned on me that he had Direct TV and was watching the playoffs and fishing at the same time. A quick call back and it was confirmed, I'd be there by 9:00, too late for the dusk bite but maybe a few walleyes would stick around till I got there. Stopping at Lundeens to pick up some shiners, a bonus hunk of smoked ribs came as a nice surprise. Mark is based out of Fisherman's Wharf, located on the south shore of Big Point and has a nice set up for wheel houses. Paying my $10 road pass, I finally arrived ready to do some serious fishing. Wheel houses are hard sided fish houses that are built on a trailer frame. They have the feature of being able to disconnect the axle allowing the house to be lower to the ice. They have many of the same conveniences of a permanent house with the portability factor. You can spend anywhere from $6000 to over $30,000 on this type of shelter. Mark's is a 6 holer with 2 bunks, a table, chairs, satellite TV, furnace, and a extremely quiet 2000W Honda Generator for all the comforts of home. I think after a 24 hours of being there alone, he welcomed the company.

Within 10 minutes of getting myself set up a nice 15 inch walleye slammed my lure. Too excited to take a picture, I immediately dropped the lure back down the hole, 29 feet of water to see if it's twin was there. Within another 5 minutes Mark caught this nice eater walleye. We were in business. Well, business started strong but died faster than Tiger Woods career! That was it. We fished till 1:00 in the morning before setting the rattle reels for the night. We hit the sack with Mark graciously giving me the bottom bunk. There is something about sleeping in an ice house overnight that is magical. Mark claims we had a few rattles go off but you couldn't tell it by me, I was out like a light.

I woke up to this beautiful sunrise on Mille Lacs. If you look hard you can see the moon in the upper right hand corner, it was a nice addition to the scene. Notice the road that is plowed. The resorts plow a loop off a main road so one can pull their wheel house around and have a reasonable way to pull it out when you want to move it. Breakfast consisted of pancakes and eggs as we continued to jig for the now elusive walleye. Putting the camera down, we saw fish but they were extremely skittish, nosing the bait then darting away. This pattern continued until we left at around 5:00. Counting the 2 we caught and 1 Mark had nailed before, we were stopped by the DNR for a creel survey. The survey guy commented how well we did as it was not only the biggest catch of the day, it was the only one of all the cars coming in. Little solace, we accepted our success and headed home.

Mark Applen is an incredible man. Losing his 17 year old son to cancer 7 years ago, Mark and his wife Jan turned this tragedy into an unbelievable work of charity helping children and their families cope with this horrible disease. Through the Eric Nicolin Applen Fund, Mark and Jan raise money through an annual golf tournament held each June. Since it's inception, the ENA Fund has raised over $150,000 by ordinary people who believe that Eric lives through helping others. I invite you to check out their website and truly look at it to see all of the good that has been done. http://www.eric-nicolin-applen-fund.com/enafund.html I quote Eric's motto, "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow.", MaryAnne Radmacher. Myself and a number of people volunteer our time and I would say that it is the most rewarding thing I have done in my life.