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.

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!

First Trip to Red

First Walleye, 20 inches

 Enough of the questionable ice reports, traffic jams, little fish, and cancelled trips.  My friend Andy Achman was heading back to Red Lake last weekend after a report that his friend got 45 walleyes the previous week.  My regular crew had moved to Lake Winnebigoshish and Ben Aiona, who did well on Lake of the Woods 2 weeks ago was staying home.  The traffic on Red had subsided quite a bit and I prefer to go with at least one other house for safety reasons, I called my brother Steve and friend Kevin to see if they wanted to go.  With the rain and very wet snow predicted for last Thursday and Friday we decided to leave on Saturday and come back on Tuesday.  Because Andy had Monday off he was going to leave Monday morning.  Steve and Kevin met me at the house as I was hooking up the Salem, once on the road we headed north for our 4 1/2 hour drive to JR's.  A quick call to Andy and he was about 90 minutes ahead of us.  A quick stop at Deer River for gas and bait and an hour later we were on Artesyn Spring road heading for JR's.  Andy called and said he had some troubles and just got on the ice, I said we will be there in 5 minutes.  He has the coordinates to the area where his friends did well so he waited.  Our destination was to the north of Center Bar, out 2 miles from JR's, take a left and go 6 miles then a right along the Reservation line, maybe 3 miles then to the right.  There was a fair amount of snow on the ice but it wasn't too bad as I got turned around making sure my truck was facing the plowed road for an easier exit.  With 3 seasoned guys it doesn't take long to get set up.  This was to be my first experience using my new Strikemaster 40V 10 inch auger.  It was pretty impressive as it cut about 4 times as fast as my old chisel bit 10 inch Big Volt auger.  It also has a reverse feature so once the hole is done, put it in reverse and push most of the slush back down the hole.  As I got done Steve and Kevin were letting the house down.  The next priority was to get the DirecTV set up to watch the Packer/Rams game.  I always have a little trouble the first time but by 3:40 we had the game on.  We started fishing and almost immediately Kevin's rod was bent down pretty good, he had a nice one on.  About 1/2 way up it came off.  Within a minute a big mark appeared on my screen and it hit like a runaway truck.  Telling Kevin this was a good fish he took out my transducer.  Got it's head to the top of the hole and the bait came flying out.  A quick reach into the hole and Kevin had the fish, a beautiful 20 inch walleye.  We thought....Here we go!!!  Well that ended up being the highlight of the trip as far as fish goes.  The master plan was to watch the games on Saturday, have chili in the house.  Sunday and Monday was hopefully having fish at JR's.  Kevin caught a 14 incher later Saturday evening and then we were skunked till Monday night when Steve got a 14 incher.  Therefore we never got the chance to have a fish dinner at JR's

Sundogs at it's finest

Time seems to go a lot faster when one is fishing.  Tuesday morning came fast as it was time to pack up.  It is always nice to have Steve and Kevin with as they are trained very well to do the things that need to be done to leave.  With the 3 of us we were cleaned and hooked up within a half an hour.  The biggest challenge was to make sure we could get back on the road, however the cold temperatures hardened the snow up somewhat and we pulled right out of our spot and back on the road.  With about 18 inches of ice the speed limit is about 15 mph.  Our route took us south to the curve then southeast to the main road from JR's.  The sun comes up in the southeast and the light cloud cover produced a beautiful picture of the sundogs on either side of the rising sun, I had to stop and take this picture.  Once at JR's I decided to leave my wheel house there and pick it up in a few weeks to go to the Lake of the Woods out of Springsteel Island Resort.  Ben just came back from the there and I am excited to get a report.  Although it was disappointing to get so few fish,  one can never replace the time spent with friends.  I have finished this sort of late and my friends Mark Mayerich, Adam Mayerich, and Gary Ullom are fishing on Red and I just called them.  They are not doing any better.  I'll have a better report for yesterday's trip but that will have to wait a few days, not this many however!

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!

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!

Long Lake In Wisconsin and Lac Seul, part 2 (that should be enough!)

George with a nice walleye

So while the boat was still wet from Lac Seul, I had the chance to fish with a couple of my favorite people, Andrew Rombalski, my wife's uncle, Jason Rombalski, her cousin, and George Wimmer, their in law and a friend of mine.  Jason's wife's parents have a cabin on the channel between Birch Lake and Lake Chetac, in Birchwood, Wisconsin, just Northeast of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  We usually try and get a fall trip in each year looking for some nice crappies or a walleye or two.  Just west of them is Long Lake, a larger lake in the area known for it's walleyes.  Because of previous commitments the plan was to join them at the landing on Long Lake around 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, fish for the day, then stop and have supper at a Supper Club on the lake.  Wisconsin is famous for their rural or lakeside restaurants that are referred to as Supper Clubs.  Dinner in Wisconsin was always at noon!  We had fished that lake a few time however the forecast of the rain stopping by noon did not materialize and at 3 it was still drizzling.  We launched anyway and headed south to a few areas that we had been before.  While looking at the lake map on my preloaded maps on the Lowrance HDS, there was a spot marked:  Fall walleyes can be found along the drop off fishing with live bait rigs or jigs and minnows.  It wasn't that far away and with such an understanding audience in the boat we approached the region where I began marking fish immediately.  With the Motorguide in deployed and in anchor mode we started jogging around the area looking for fish.  Once on a pod of fish Jason pulled out a #7 Jigging Rap, a popular ice fishing bait however it is becoming popular using the lure as an open water jig and within 2 minutes he had a nice 16 inch walleye, however with the minimum length of 18 back in the water it went without even getting a picture!  All of a sudden we were on the fish as George catches a nice 17 incher.  I did get him to pose for this nice example of how our late afternoon was going.  In less than 2 hours we landed 10 walleyes and a nice 16 inch smallie that took my Jigging Rap. It was a significant improvement

Andy's nice 19 inch Smallie

over the last couple of times we fished Long Lake so it was decided that on Sunday we would hope to repeat the same as Saturday.  It really didn't stop raining till we left as we stopped by the Reel Em Inn Supper Club on the west side of the lake, just down from the boat landing.  There we enjoyed a few cocktails and ordered the Saturday night special, a 16 ounce prime rib with all the fixings.  It was very relaxing with the locals enjoying supper and us 4 patting ourselves on the back for having a quite successful couple of hours of fishing.  George went back to his cabin in Chetek, Wisconsin to attend to his dogs while the rest of us heading back to Jason's in laws house on the lake.  After a couple of glasses of fine whiskey, including a nice 21 year old scotch, we got up in the morning to have breakfast and head back out again.  Not knowing if George would rejoin us that question was answered the minute we pulled in the landing, yes he was there!  Of course we headed back to the scene of yesterdays success however the sky's turn a beautiful blue as the front went by a few hours earlier.  Not that we minded but you know what happens right after a cold front moves through.  Well it still wasn't that bad of fishing as we did get a couple of walleyes and Andy landed this very nice 19 inch smallmouth fishing a small sucker minnow.  We were marking a school of suspended crappies on the screen but wasn't very successful to see exactly what was stacked up in 25 feet of water (It was crappies, I know it!).  Never the less we did get a few more hits then decided to look for other identical looking area on the lake to expand our outlook on fish location.  We we should have just stayed were we were!  Never the less it was nice to fish with these guys and I hope that we may be able to get out ice fishing on that lake this year.

Jerry and his giant 16 inch walleye!

So finishing up the Lac Seul trip was pretty exciting.  Our favorite spot on the lake was Craig's Corner, named after a friend, Craig Biegert who fished with us a few years back. Sort of a nice place close to camp that always seems to have fish on it, it is now our go to spot if we need to fill out for the day, or for the trip if needed.  With 4 guys in the boat including Barry, Jerry, Ricky and myself, it was a good place to stay organized and catch fish.  Jerry had a 500 series spinning reel on a nice St. Croix Avid, sort of like walking around in a tuxedo with old dirty tennis shoes on!  At least it was something to give him some harmless ribbing.  Jerry did get some nice fish and I did get some pictures but not before correcting him on the proper way to display a fish for the camera.  Of course his response was...Do you think I am stupid?...Well here.  So this is a nice 16 inch walleye that is presented in the correct way for a photograph and he does deserve some credit.  The hand hidden to take away any reference for size, hide you arm holing the fish with the fish, and stick it out as far as you can.  Of course this fish looks a lot bigger than it is, in fact Jerry looks puny compared to this gigantic fish!  Never the less it is a great example of the fun we had in my boat with these 3 guys. Looking back we didn't kill them but our daily catch was acceptable with 60 - 70 walleyes a day in the boat.  My biggest mistake was to try and teach them how to tie a improved clinch knot ti tie the jigs onto the line.  Making it look super easy it resulted in me tying most of their jigs onto their lines, I guess it's nice to be thought of as useful.  All in all it was a great trip, having fun with my friends from Eleva including my brother Steve, and friends Kevin and Paul.  It was also nice to be able to show Jerry and Ricky a good time as this was their first time to Lac Seul.  We are already discussing next year!

With snow in the forecast it's probably time to put the boat away for the winter as my wheel house is scheduled to get the roof and door leak fixed as well as some electrical issues.  Hopefully next week will find myself with Bill Lundeen fishing our secret trout lake!  He sent me a picture of a dandy he got a couple of days ago.

Uffda, Time flies, Fishing with Jake and Lac Seul Part 1.

Little Jack and a Golden Redhorse

People are starting to wonder if I am still alive!  While working I always found some time at the end of the day to write my blog however now that I am retired it doesn't seem to come that scheduled.  Oh well, I am still here with a lot on the plate.  Since our last visit the boat got done, I made salsa, went fishing with Little Jake on the river, and just returned from a wonderful trip to Lac Seul Outposts with a gaggle of my friends.  So with that in mind, lets start with the boat.  After initially hitting a rock on Lac Seul at 32 MPH, the final damages have been taken care of.  The first look replaced the obvious, the lower unit and the motor bracket was cracked.  Immediately after the impact, the motor would not start.  Blaming it on a sensor in the lower unit to prevent operation if the lower unit is low, it was explained that the hit caused the motor mount to crack and pull off the crank sensor, and was a testament of how strong Ranger's transoms were.  At this point the damage was estimated at $14,000.  Well at the end of July while polishing the boat had noticed some cracking of the gel coat in the splashwell area.  After returning it to Frankie's the first story was they were stress cracks and covered under Ranger's warranty.  Further investigation however showed significant damage that was cause by the hit in May, to the tune of and additional $7800.  Luckily the insurance covered it and were very helpful. Having been without the boat for over 9 weeks this summer, it arrived just in time for our annual September trip to Lac Seul, more on that later.  Trying to catch up on things while out in the front yard Little Jake (Limo Joe's son as opposed to Big Jake who live a few houses down, easier that way) stopped at the mail box on his bike.  Sensing he had something on his mind...well football practice was done and it might be a nice time to fish the river.  Little Jake has turned into a fishing machine and just loves fishing the river with me.  Deciding there was time, he called his dad to get the ok and away we went after hooking the jon boat up to the Polaris Razor and headed to Blair's to launch the boat.  The first thing we noticed was the river had to be at least 18 inched higher due to the recent rains in the watershed.  The river was definitely high and fast.  Never the less we headed north and started to cast the shorelines but after an hour it became obvious that we didn't have the time to figure the bite out as casting crankbaits up against the shore only produced one hit in the two miles we floated down.  Time for a change in strategy as we decided to anchor just south of Cloquet Island where Jake caught a nice 20 inch walleye on a previous trip.  To my surprise the water flow was enough to prevent the anchor from holding us.  Knowing the water would be somewhat slower down stream we anchored in front of our neighbor's place where we had caught fish before.  This time the anchor held but again the high water wasn't ideal for fishing.  Never the less Jake was able to set the hook on a nice Golden Redhorse, another interesting and beautiful fish from the Mississippi River.  This was all we caught  however it was good enough for Jake as we headed back to the landing to load the boat.  Before loading, and with the water high enough, we did go around King's Island on the north side of the river.  It was interesting

Sunday Night Sunset at Lac Seul Outpost

Last Saturday we headed to our annual fall adventure at Lac Seul Outposts.  This year's agenda  included renting a second cabin and increasing our guest list by 7 guys, Paul Wenaas, Kevin Aiona, my brother Steve, Bruce Wiley and his neighbor Wayne, Dan Sadler, Barry and Jerry, Pete Sipe, Michael Wiley and his friend Brian, Our great friend Ricky Shermer and myself, a total of 11 guys.  Normally we top out at six guys but things went pretty smooth.  Our first night was to stay in Dryden at the Holiday Inn Express and leave for Sioux Lookout to meet Bruce at the airport as his plan was to fly in on Sunday Morning with Barry and Wayne.  It worked out quite well as we did not have to leave so early on Saturday and after a few delays they landed around 11"00 AM on Sunday, we were at camp by 1:30.   We all went out fishing as we had 4 boats.  Paul and Steve bought their 1775 Lund's and each took 2 extra guys.  Bruce had his boat with 3 guys in it and myself, with the biggest boat of the group I got stuck with Barry and Jerry, with Ricky Shermer as my copilot!  We did catch quite a few walleyes in the 3 hours we fished.  Having planned for burgers that night for supper, a contingency plan for timing of possible delays, Ricky insisted that we keep enough walleyes as he wanted to make Walleye Won-ton's.  I kept telling him we had plenty of time to keep fish but he insisted, OK Ricky, we kept a few nicer walleyes.  Well the other guys sort of went overboard on the walleyes as well and it appeared we were going to have fish for supper.  After cleaning the fish, Ricky made his Won-tons, a pretty simple recipe.  He brought won-ton premade dough squares, then added some cream cheese, a hunk of walleye, then sealed them and deep fried them.  I could not eat them as they contained flour but everyone raved about them.  It is good to learn new ideas as my friend Kevin cooks fish constantly and I could see the gears turning in his head!  With 3 days of fishing ahead, I'll save that for the next post!

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!

Looking Forward to Soft Water

Leech Lake, Minnesota Fishing Opener

Last weeks post dealt with the boredom of the dang weather we have been having, the current fishing sales that were going on, and the strategies for the upcoming fishing season, which leads into the next discussion of when and where to use these new strategies.  Unfortunately this weeks post was to be about a bass fishing adventure with my friend Bruce Wiley.  He was going to pick me up in Dallas but that ended up getting cancelled.  The weather has been quite unsettled from Texas all the way to Minnesota so reality is we might still be there!  So what does the landscape for fishing trips look this year?  Of course our 46th Annual Leech Lake Opener starts on May 10th and we fish for 3 days before heading back home on Tuesday the 14th.  At last count we have a full house with 22 guys going again.  Leech Lake will have a new regulation this year, one can keep 4 fish which only 1 walleye can be over 20 inches.  Last years regulation was 4 fish however everything between 20 and 26 had to be released but you could keep 1 over 26 if so desired. That's a entirely different topic in itself and will be reserved for a future post!  This year I am going to try more plastics as well look for new areas to troll #5 shad raps in the 5 - 7 feet of water, as I am getting more proficient with my kicker motor. 
Right after that is usually our trip to the Canadian Fishing Opener at Lac Seul with Bruce and the crew of 6 guys.  I have sort of assumed I am going to be invited however admittedly I tend to have more anal planning needs than most people so truth be told, the invitation hasn't been formally announced.  Focusing on some newer locations as well as yet to be tried techniques, the only thing that would be of any concern is if the ice is off the lake by that time.  The forecast is looking more normal these days so it remains optimistic.  Another optimistic sign is the desire to catch and eat some northerns while at the camp at Lac Seul Outposts.  When the subject was breached regarding looking for a specific Northern Pike bite on Lac Seul, it was met with a stern "I'm not putting up with those bones!".  Assuring him of my filleting abilities and the fact that IMHO northern pike have more texture and flavor than walleyes, that pursuit is looking more possible.   Another thing that was found is a website hosted by Ontario, which has a general map of the province then the ability to zoom in to specific lakes or areas within a large lake, like Lac Seul.  In the final steps of zooming in the view turns to a satellite overlay of  the area.  What's nice about this is you can actually see any rapids that is associated with any rivers that dump into the lake, which by the way, are great areas to fish.  Also you can get a feel for whether area's are able to allow a boat to get through, potential weed and stump areas, which are all great pike habitat.  You can view that link  here.

Lac Seul NE Section

The third week in June has also been a weekend to spend at Lac Seul with the boys.  The fish are more scattered and deeper which might make some of those  strategies discussed last week, very deadly!  July has been a quiet month however this year he thought is to try and get out to Devil's Lake, North Dakota.  My friend Kevin Aiona and his son Ben are very good at fishing this lake and maybe they will let me join them.  The first week in August, at least for the last 2 years has been spent at the Fisherman's Cove on the opposite side of Lac Seul in the northwest corner.  That's been a fun place to fish yet there hasn't been any indication of a trip this year.  My I'm being over anxious so something might develop in the next week or so.  If not, August is prime time on the Mississippi River behind the house.  There is some work to do to get ready but it will be done by the August time frame!  The third week in September is usually our last trip for the year to Lac Seul Outpost.  By that time the new strategies should be ironed out and deemed successful or not.  This year it is rumored that our good friend Ricky Shermer is going with us.  That will be a blast for sure, that is if we can keep both of his feet on the ground!  Of course October would not be complete without trout fishing with Bill, although it's getting harder each year because of the non typical launch access, we'll figure it out.

There are a number of things on the bucket list for fishing.  My brother Steve and I have been talking about going to Portland, Oregon to visit his son, and maybe go halibut fishing off the coast.  Although not as big as in Alaska, it would still be worth trying it, along with maybe some other saltwater species.  The topic of fishing the big walleyes on Lake Erie is often mentioned.  The 620 Ranger would be a perfect boat for this and the thought of a stringer of ten pounders sounds pretty exciting.  It really isn't that far to drive and Kevin has been out there before, maybe he could come along and help guide us.  Green Bay is also becoming a destination for big walleye.  There is still a commitment to get to Dallas and fish bass with both Joe and Matt, we'll have to see how that develops this year.  The topic of one more trip to Alaska has come up and as well I might like to horn in on Gary Barneson's deal at Cobb Bay Resort on Sturgeon Lake, just east of Lac Seul. Oh, So many things so little time!

Red Lake, Chapter 2

My Friend Kevin

After Christmas and before New Years Day we decided to head up to JR's to fish the weekend.  It wasn't ideal conditions as a band of 12 inch snow lay between Minneapolis and Red Lake.  Raining the day after Christmas, we received almost and inch of rain while further north it fell in it's frozen state.  What a mess!  Even the new snowblower had a heck of a time clearing out all the heavy slush that was everywhere.  .Of course the temperature was dropping as it was in the mid 20's when my brother Steve and good friend Kevin left for JR's, by the time we got there it was almost 0 out.  The roads were not too bad but caution was the word of the day and our drive time was about an hour longer than normal.  We still managed to arrive before dark and after paying Adam we headed out about 6 miles were we found Mark on the southside of the road, just before Center Bar.  This is in the same area we fished 2 weeks ago and did well and by dark we were all settled in.  The new electric jacks worked well as they never even hesitated in doing a great job.  Admittedly they are somewhat slow yet you could sure tell they were rated at 5000 pounds instead of the factory 3500 pounds as there was no sign of stress when lifting the house up.  After getting settled in it was obvious that no one had enough fish to go back in for walleye dinner so we made pizza's and bacon wrapped scallops for supper.  The bite was slow, as had been reported by a few people.  We did get a few but going from a snow storm to clear skies and -10 below, the weather change definitely had an effect.  Oh well, we got the DirecTV going and enjoyed a relaxing night of fishing in our own little environment, a few nice glasses of whiskey, and good company was all we needed.  Finally getting to bed we did set up the rattle wheels and managed to get a few more nice walleyes, enough to have a mid afternoon dinner at JR's.  By Saturday night the snow had started again and to be honest the bite wasn't that good.  We marked a lot of fish on our Vexilar's but they were not to eager to hit the lures.  Every once in a while one would come and slam it but there were definitely more lookers than hitters!

Last walleye of the trip.

Saturday night was pretty slow as we did get a couple but blaming the weather change sounded like a
great idea.  Sunday basically continued the change in weather and the slow bite, yet we managed to get 7 in the pail between the time we got back to the shacks on Saturday to Sunday night.  Although not very well, it was comforting to know that by most standards we did pretty well.  Mark had been there since Thursday so his plan was to pack up and leave Sunday morning, which he did.  On the other had we were not much in a hurry and stayed till Monday morning before we left.  On thing that was nice is we were able to watch all of the final week's football games with the Packers and Vikings losing.  No more BS at work I guess!  Fishing was slow as we didn't get anything through the night.  Getting up pretty early we decided to just pack up and get going.  Kevin is 7 hours from home and Steve is 8 hours so by 8:30 we had the house packed up and parked at JR's as the plan was to leave it there for the month of January.  We got our fish cleaned, said good bye to JR and headed south.  The plan is to go up on the 11th with my friend Greg Kimblom and his son Marcus, let's hope that the catching will be better!  Never the less it's fun and relaxing to be up there fishing.  I thought it was interesting, for the generator we use to power the house, there is a 6 gallon auxiliary gas tank that hooks to the Honda for extended running service.  On Sunday I added an additional 2 gallons to the tank and still by Monday morning, there was only about 1/2 a gallon of fuel left.  That seemed like a lot of gas to burn but it is what it is!  In addition the power cord for my Winegard Satellite DirecTV antenna was shorted.  I was able to get it to work by inserting a cocktail pick between the wires, which held for the weekend but Just in case, I ordered a new one.  The things I go through to ice fish!!!

Time to Head back to JR's

Matt and Christina with some beautiful ocean Silver Salmon

Christmas has come and gone.  With both my wife and I's parents gone, Christmas has become an open ended affair as we have no children, plenty of invitations, but truthfully little incentive to actually drive 3 hours to go anywhere, I guess we are just getting old!  Of course it doesn't help that I will not get to drive until January 22nd so we just took it easy this year.  There were 2 main events, Sunday evening we drove to Mille Lacs and had supper with the Lundeens....Bill, Kathy, and Bill's 92 year old mother, Phyllis.  Christmas Day was spent with our good friends the Taylors, truth be told they are as much of family as anyone in our lives, Mark was the first friend I met after moving to Minneapolis and we have stayed good friends come thick and thin! Mark's oldest son Matt along with his wife Christina, hosted a fine afternoon with the Taylor family as well, Christina's uncle Henry, of Team Walleye fame!  Mark was one of the original 4 guys that started Team Walleye in 1973 on Leech Lake and Matt started coming in 1991 when he and the other boys were 10 years old.  It's been a lot of fun but what is more rewarding is the fact that we have stayed good friends all of these years.  Mark, Jack, their sister Linda, both their parent, all of their kids are truly family and I am definitely looking forward to the 2019 Minnesota Walleye fishing opener on Leech Lake again, this will be the 46th annual.  Not a bad run and it reminds me to get my money into Mark Mayerich next week!

New Stromberg Carlson 5000# Jacks

Last Friday we were able to pick up my repaired wheel house from Minneapolis Trailer Sales, in Rogers Minnesota.  I would like to give them a great recommendation as they knew exactly what was needed to fix everything and did it just in time for me to get it home and repacked for this weekend.  I had all of my electric jack replaced on the Salem Ice Cabin.  It ran about $450 each installed which I didn't think was too bad at all.  The original equipment has Lippert jacks and were rated for 3500 pounds of lift.  Although this was probably adequate, over the course of owning this wheel house, sometimes the jacks would struggle, especially when things got a little twisted.  Actually I blew a couple of 30A fuses when you could hear the motor groaning at you when lifting.  It was getting worse with time so when replacing I chose 5000 pound rated jacks, 43% more lifting power.  The only real problem is that the previous Lippert had a feature which included an internal (to the jack) switch which could be operated from the inside of the wheel house.  They had stopped working and we seldom used them so I went with their recommendation for trouble free jacks, the Stromberg Carlson brand.  I am ok with it, just don't want to go through the same problem as last time when we were on Red, one of the jacks didn't work and the front jack continued to struggle.  Kevin Aiona, my brother Steve and I are heading back to Red Lake on Friday.  We were to get a major storm between now and then however it has narrowed and moved north as it is only predicted to rain around here.  Red is saying 4 - 8 inches in the next couple of days but that should be plowed good by the time we get there and that should really turn on the walleyes.  Hopefully there should be some good pictures next week! I hope everyone had a great Holiday week and now we get back to some serious fishing!