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!

Back From lac Seul

Lac Seul Outpost "Red Tops"

Interesting, usually I find time to write this either at lunch hour or stayed late after work to finish this however now that I don't go in and I was all set up on my computer I have had to relearn how this even works!  As you can see, I did figure it out but finding the time is also an issue believe it or not.  So a couple of weeks ago Bruce called and two guys on their June trip cancelled at the last minute and asked if Pete and I would like to go back up.  The dates would be that we would have to be at the docks at Deception Bay at 8:00 AM on Friday, June 14th, returning out of camp on Tuesday morning June 18,  This put into motion a number of things that needed to be resolved.  First was the Ranger sitting at Frankie's, the insurance issues needed to be resolved before the boat could get started on.  Getting a hold of the insurance guy and straightening a few things out by Friday night the 7th it was a go.  The next Monday found me at Frankie's to see what the possibility of getting the boat by Thursday evening.  It would all depend on when the parts came in.  I did not put the burden on them and I know they did their best but on Wednesday the critical part, the main motor mount, was not in and could not promise.  That's OK, Plan B, talking to my brother Steve, who just got back from Lac Seul a week ago.  "Ya wanna go back up, we are leaving Thursday night, we need your boat, I'll drive" but he had too much going on at work. He did say we could use his boat, that was nice but too much screwing around. Plan C, rent a boat from camp, so Pete called Ken and explained our situation, he confirmed an asked if we could drive a couple of his Red Top boats back into camp, which definitely put us in that Drive All Night strategy. with nothing more than gas and the border in front of us, we left at 7:00 PM on June 13th with the plan on being at Deception around 4:30 AM, sleeping in the car for a bit then head to camp at 8:00.  The ride up was rather uneventful until we left Ft. Francis, Ontario at 12:30AM.  About 20 minutes north on hwy 502 we came across something black laying on the road.  Originally it looked like a piece of tire off a truck so at the last minute I decided to straddle it.  In a split second we decided it was a bear most likely dead already as we ran over it, the big thump and the truck rising up a couple of inches pretty much gave it away.  Everything seemed fine so we kept

Gary Blinn, a sight for sore eyes!

going only to catch a glimpse of a moose entering the ditch to our right, just crossed the road.  That is something one doesn't want to tangle with.  I was surprised at the amount of deer around Dryden but finally at 4:20 we pulled into the landing, parked and attempted to get some sleep.  We were 500 miles north of home and at that time the sun was already starting to rise.  Having slept about 90 minutes the boats started showing up and Mike Wiley, Bruce's son, who stayed in Sioux Lookout would soon be here.  Helping Mike load up the boat, the first of 3 camp boats showed up, it was Ken.  Tying him up and 10 minutes later the barge (the one who towed me back a couple weeks earlier) and 2 more Red Tops show up.  Helping one of the boats, the guy driving was none other than Gary Blinn, a gentleman I know from my friend Keith Holtan.  Gary was in camp last June when we were there and he brought a group again this year, I missed him by a week!  He has a business in Chattanooga, Tennessee and boy did they have the stuff!  Actually the barge was loaded with their groups possessions, enough that they rent an enclosed trailer in Minneapolis, their plan was to drive back then fly south.  I got him to pose for a picture to send to Keith.  He is a very nice man and it was a nice surprise to see him unexpectedly.  It would have been nice to be in camp with him as one of his guest, Lord I don't remember his name, but he is a fabulous picker and it is a pleasure just to hear him.  He remembered me as he got off the boat, we said hi.  Usually Gary will go to Alaska and stay with Keith in the even years as that's when the pinks and silvers are in the Kenai River and apparently both Gary and I believe, is the best time to go.  Maybe I will see him next June.  It was time to leave so after helping Gary load, I got in the Red Top with Mike's friends Dave and Alex and I followed Ken back to camp.  It went pretty good as we passed the scene of the crime from 3 weeks ago and made it in without any trouble.  After unloading and settling in it was time for a little nap which really helped!  We scheduled the rental for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so the rest of the day was relaxing, not hard to do up there!

Alex and his 35 inch norther off the dock. 

Alex, Dave's son, is 11 years old and reminds me of myself when I was that age.  He could not wait to get up in the morning and fish the dock before breakfast.  The dock at camp is a great place to fish as it's easy to catch walleyes, saugers, and northern pike.  While getting our nap in, Alex was down catching walleyes, one after another.  After finally getting set, it was time to see how Alex was doing.  Within a couple of minutes from arriving he tangled into something that definitely wasn't a walleye.  Finally landing it, it was a 35 inch northern, a beautiful fish.  we got it unhooked, snapped a few pictures and let it go.  That was a great way to start a trip.  He actually casts a bait casting reel pretty good for an 11 year old, I will have to give him credit.  His tackle selection wasn't very good for northerns so I dug into my box and set him up with a leader and some spoons for casting.  With Friday behind us Saturday was the start of a new day as our rental boat was ready and in front of the cabin.  It was a brand new Lund 16 foot with a 30 hp Mercury tiller on back, no electronics, just and anchor and a cooler.  I told Pete he could drive, as it was my turn to relax and complain!  Our first day was in Tuk Bay, one of my favorites.  We did catch a lot of walleyes but admittedly one get's used to the electronics and the trolling motor's anchor function, but heck we were in Canada.  In previous satellite maps I saw where the Tuk River flowed into the bay which looked much like where the Wapesi empties into the lake and we headed up to investigate.  We found the rapids however it wasn't as deep therefore the fishing wasn't very good however we got out and walked up a ways seeing moose tracks, eagle feathers, and the leftovers from something's whitefish dinner.  As we were coming out of the area, I was casting the stumps and a few lily pads for northerns using a red and white Daredevil when something hit it.  it wasn't that big and when it arrived at the boat it was a walleye!  I should have took a picture as the last walleye I caught on a Daredevil was 47 years ago with Hub Rose, we were trolling a small channel going into a lake off of Lake Nipigon, when a walleye hit it.  Hub threw it back because at that time we were fishing northerns and not interested in these trash fish!

Typical Chamberlain Narrows Sunset.

The next 2 days were Sunday in Wapesi and Monday we fished the Bear Narrows region.  It wasn't bad but again really missed the electronics.  Sunday we headed to the Wapesi River and caught a few but not spectacular.  It was good to see a full river as the rapids was beautiful as always.  While fishing a point by an island a camp boat kept going back and forth, we figured he was lost.  Coming up to us we gave him the way out however when we left, about 3 miles up the lake he was still running around.  He finally saw us and decided to follow us home, thanking us later.  Monday was fishing down by Bear Narrows, close to where I had hit the rock.  Coming up to the green buoy it was located in 12 feet of water, apparently someone had moved it to the right position.  We finally found an area along an island on the north side of Bear Narrows that with the wind, offered a perfect drift patterns.  Pete had a hot rod using a chartreuse curly tail so I followed suit and we would get 5 to 7 walleyes each pass.  The wind was perfect and within a couple of hours we had our 8 fish to take home as well a a great time.  Drifting at a pretty good clip made the plastics a great choice, and it was a lot of fun despite the fact that we knew little about the depth, figuring it to be somewhere in the 12 to 18 foot level.  It was one of the best times I have fished Lac Seul, maybe because of the simplicity. Admittedly the Ranger is a lot more comfortable! Heading back on Tuesday was uneventful however I did want to mention that I drove my 2018 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 6.2L V8.  Keeping track of my mileage I was amazed that we averaged over 24  mpg for the 1000 mile trip, and the best we got in a 25 mile segment was 30.1 mpg, pretty impressive.  I will leave you with the view we have each evening, absolutely beautiful!

Back From Lac Seul Outposts

When you hit a Rock at 34 mph!

It has taken me over a week to recover from last weeks Lac Seul experience but with everything coming to a head this Friday, it's just been crazy.  So the recap of what was a pretty exciting week at Lac Seul Outpost starting last Tuesday.  After meeting in Sioux Lookout on Monday night, the plan was to stay overnight at the Best Western then head into Chamberlain Narrows on Tuesday morning, fish the afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday before heading back home on Friday.  Our first order of business on Monday night was to find a place to eat.  Monday was Victoria Day in Canada and is similar to Memorial Day in the United States except almost everything is closed, especially places to eat.  We finally found a Chinese place, New Kowloon open and for the most part it was pretty good as they served beer.  After a decent meal we headed back to the hotel only to get up by 6:00 with the goal to be at the landing in Deception Bay by 7:00, to beat the rush.  We had met a guy at the hotel that had a Range like mine, and was also going in the morning but had planned on following the camp boats.  Stating we knew the way in, he decided to follow us as I took the lead.  Well about a mile up from the Bear Narrows Red Buoy Corner, I was off a little to the left however the green buoy was still on my left as in this part of the lake one should stay to the left of the Red Buoys and the right of the Green Buoys.  Well even though off course a little I still had plenty of room between me and that green buoy.  All of a sudden a loud crashing sound, my outboard hit the bottom with vengeance as the motor suddenly stopped.  Obviously the green buoy was to far on the reef to be trusted.  The force of impact left 2 rather large holes in the front of the lower unit, quickly draining out the gear grease, therefore triggering a sensor that prevents the motor from starting when the crankcase was low.  As you see the prop didn't turn out too bad as most of the damage was to the housing.  Anyway the guy that decided to follow up must have damn near had a heart attack as this wasn't pretty.  RJ said that if I'd been over by less than 10 feet I would have been OK.  We were only 5 miles from camp so RJ decided to pull me in to less than a hero's welcome.  Well we were in camp and had 2.5 days to fish, we decided that the kicker motor would have to do as the fish were going in the Narrows and one didn't have to go very far.  We come to learn that the guy following us did the exact same thing at the same spot 2 years earlier.

26 inch walleye on

As far as fishing, it was pretty good close to the camp Admittedly it looked pretty funny with a 20.5 foot Ranger being pushed by a 9.8 hp Kicker motor but it performed very well.  Having a remote control steering on the kicker, it was interesting trying to get somewhere  as it was easy to overcompensate as we zig zagged up Chamberlain Narrows.   Later we found that if one just pointed the kicker straight, dropped the big motor into the water then steer with the big motor, it would work pretty good, at least we went straight!  There were a lot of fish in the channel and for 2 in the boat we ended up with 160 fish for the 2 1/2 days, not bad.   Also the big females were starting to make their way back to the big lake so we did catch quite a few over the 22 inch mark.  We ate good both Tuesday night and Wednesday as fresh walleye and northern pike were on the menu.  It was one of the softest bites that I have ever experience.  The fish just came in and either inhaled the minnow or took it's merry old time, often holding the minnow up to 30 seconds.  This took a lot of patience and understanding of how the fish were reacting, Yet we did miss only a few as the bite was good if you had the patience   Also a few weeks ago I mentioned the new long shank Fireball Jigs from Northland Tackle worked very good. they are perfectly set up for minnow fishing on Lac Seul  as most of my fish on Sunday morning were dead minnows and the long shank jig.     We did try plastics for some success yet I because of the weather, we stayed under the Bimini Top most of the time making it difficult to cast.  Also I was excited to try the new Genesis Live software upgrades that I installed but that never happened either.  The real excitement happened on Friday on our way out!

Bruce had arranged for my boat to be towed out by the barge, a large boat with twin 150's on the back.  The schedule was to be at the dock at 5:00 AM and we'd get hooked up and pulled back to Deception Bay Landing (35 miles).  Tying a long ( about 80 feet) rope to my boat, I was requested to trim up my motors and away we went.  Having my GPS on, we quickly got to 30 mph when my boat started to swing back and forth wildly.  I was attaching my life vest when the first swing threw me on the floor.  Desperately grabbing the steering wheel I struggled to stay in the boat.  The boat continued to sway violently until it was perpendicular to the tow boat, just ready to be jerked in the opposite direction and during that process the tow rope ( a 1 inch twisted rope) broke.  It was the best thing to happen as the extreme swaying stopped.  Quickly fastening my lifevest, the barge came back and checked on my condition, he said he was going back to camp to get another rope.  After getting reset, I put the main motor down to act as a keel, and we took off.  This time the tow rope was quite a bit shorter and the boat ran right up the first wake, although tracking better it also wanted to sway as well I was getting pretty wet from the prop spray.  Stopping we added about 20 feet more of rope and things settled down nicely.  It did take about 5 miles for me to settle down but the rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.  Finally making it back to the landing we headed south and was able to drop the boat off at Frankies before 6:00.  I made the claim earlier this week and we'll see how it shakes out.  So far I am 2 for 2 this year with the motor, on opener the power steering goes out and the very next trip I take out the lower unit!  Oh well, just remember the Serenity Prayer, God grant me to accept the things I can not change, change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.  So all in all it was a successful trip!                                                                                                 

Back From Lac Seul, Part 2.

Nice 24 inch Canadian Walleye

Because our trips to Lac Seul usually run 3 days then upon return it's usually a weekend to get caught up, and there is usually a lot of things to post about, I tend to take advantage and stretch it into 2 weeks.  It is interesting, before going to Lac Seul I would have at least 4 trips to Mille Lacs by now yet I am still waiting for the opportunity to get there as the reports are the bite has been short of phenomenal, maybe next weekend as there is a family get together this weekend that will put a damper on my ambitions to get to Mille Lacs.  So I did catch some fish the previous weekend.  As stated last week, the numbers were not there yet I was still impressed by the numbers of larger fish over 22 inches, clearly over 50% of our walleye's caught, including the one pictured here!  Usually we stop at the Ojibwa Baits in Sioux lookout and I buy 3 or 4 dozen large minnows specifically for these big fish.  Not that the minnows in camp are sub-par, but it's nice to have a few larger minnows to attract the larger fish.  The group ended up fishing Wapesi again on the second day as Bruce decided to do a shore lunch for our 10 year old guest, Alex.  Shore lunch is always a group event, I clean the fish, a fire needs to be built, potatoes and beans are cooked first before the old cast iron frying pan is filled with oil and put directly on the fire. We found a nice sandy area where I could park my boat without worry of scratching the bottom on the rocks.  While cleaning the walleyes I noticed a leech had attached to a sore on my foot and was having its own "shore lunch"  Leeches, especially the blood sucking kind, are opportunists and with a sore, blood vessels are just a bit away as they somehow have an analgesic effect where one doesn't feel them bite then secondly they inject and anticoagulant so as to keep the blood flowing as they feed.  I didn't take a picture unfortunately, but it did remind me of my late brother Jon, who had a tissue transplant on his face due to the horrible disease he suffered with.  In the hospital the doctors

Bruce Cooking Shore Lunch

would put on special blood sucking leeches that were bred specifically for this function.  The nurse came in and using sugar water set a leech on his cheek to entice them to bite.  Once attached to his skin, they would inject the anticoagulant into his tissue and start sucking blood.  The would literally gorge themselves and become 6 or 8 times their original size.  What this did was promote the proper blood flow into his transplanted tissue as they did this a number of times during the day.  It worked and Jon was able to have some sense of a new cheek.  When I removed the leech from my foot the sore bled for a good 10 minutes before it stopped.  I guess we all have to eat!  Well, Bruce's shore lunch was delicious as always and both Alex and his dad had a great experience.  It took about an hour before we cleaned up our mess, put everything in the "Shore lunch" box, then made triple sure the fire was put out before heading back to fish.  It was kind of nice as everyone was quite full wen getting back to the cabin so no one had to make supper that night!

Two Handsome Guys!

One of my favorite things is to meet people, especially those who have something in common with myself or a situation.  My good friend Keith Holtan, Alaskan Guide, has cabins on the Kenai River near Soldotna, and every time we tried to rent from him in August, he was already booked with a man from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gary Blinn.  This happened for a couple of trips then one year Gary took Keith to Lac Seul Outposts with him and his crew, as Keith had worked out the time to fish with him.  Well, Keith informed me that Gary would be in Camp the same days that I would be so it turned into a goal, to go and introduce myself to Gary.  Talking to Ken, the owner of Lac Seul Outpost, and asking him which cabin Gary was in, he said Cabin 6.  And oh by the way, Gary is a great guy, you'll like him.  Well those words echoed Keith's same thoughts so I knocked on the door and introduced myself.  It was a great first meeting as I started by giving him crap for renting Keith's place when we were there! Actually not a big deal as we shared some home made core hush puppies he had made, absolutely fabulous.  Not wanting to over play my self invite, we talked about things we had in common and I promised I'd return on Tuesday night with a bottle of good Red wine and a steak that I cook every trip.  Of course I kept that promise, he enjoyed the steak and wine, and it fulfilled a desire to meet this famous man that graces a number of people I know.  We had a great time and his guest were also pretty interesting, all in the medical fields in or near Chattanooga.  One actually was very good at playing the guitar and sung pretty well.  I challenged Gary to bring himself and some of his friends to experience ice fishing this winter at JR's on Red Lake.  We'll get some houses and stay on the ice, these southern boys will be in for an experience of a lifetime, at least for them!  It is an even year on the Kenai and Gary will be at Keith's again so I told him to add to the pressure, they can fly into MSP, I'll pick them up and away we go north, first to Brainerd to pick up Keith then on to JR's, I know they would have a blast!

As stated, I have to get to Mille Lacs soon before the bite slows down.  Next week is the 4th of July and for years I fished with my good friend Tom Emmons and Tom McAtee on this day.  It's a great time to remember him.  The 4th is on a Wednesday and the plan is to go to Eau Claire and have a catfish fry, sounds good to me!

Lac Seul Opener, part 2.

30 inch Walleye

Admittedly it was hard having to wait a full week before the highlight of our trip to Lac Seul for the 2018 walleye fishing opener was written about but here goes!  On most walleye fisherman's bucket list is to accomplish the holy grail of fishing walleyes, a 30 incher!  Now admittedly if one lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Port Clinton, Ohio, or on the Columbia River in Washington State, this may not be such a revered goal, however for us guys stuck in the bowels of Minnesota, a 30 incher is a fish of a lifetime.  Walleye fishing for over 40 years now in Minnesota, the closest fish that I have ever come was a 28.5 inch walleye caught a in the late 1980's on Mille Lacs.  Two years ago in June, Bruce's father-in-law landed a 30 incher in my boat fishing Tuk Bay, that was a nice fish, but it wasn't on my line.  This year with Pete, RJ, and myself in the boat we were fishing on Monday, May 21st, our last day of fishing for this trip.  The fish were really on the bite and on that last day our total fish count for the day, not including northern pike, was 158 walleyes caught.  The total time fished was 7 hours and if you do the quick math it comes to a walleye caught every 2.65 minutes, all day including running time in the boat!  We were on the point just north of camp and the walleyes were stacked in the 10 - 11 foot range.  We typically use what I call the Canadian method of impaling our minnow on the jig, simply run the hood through the mouth and out the gills then rotate the hook around and stick the point through the top of the minnow, just behind the head.  The fish are so aggressive that if you simply hook the minnow through the lips, you will end up losing many fish and wasting minnows.  With the Canadian method, one can often catch 2 or 3 fish on one minnow before it needs to be replaces.  Well, I had caught a number  of fish on a minnow when it finally was about to separate into two parts, the head still on the hook, then the body.  Simply discarding the head, the remaining body was threaded on my jig, basically just a piece of meat on the hook.  Dropping it beside the boat, it hit the bottom, reeling in the slack and bam, a nice fish hit the jig.  Setting the hook revealed that there was something substantial at the end of the line.  A few head

Right on the 30 Inch Line!

shakes later Pete was summoned, get the net, this one is a dandy!  One often doesn't get a real idea until the fish is visible next to the boat, UFFDA, this was the largest walleye ever to grace the end of my line.  Carefully instructing Pete....Head first, Head first, he slipped the net under the fish and hauled her in.  She was hooked solid, so we removed the hook, took a few pictures and measured her.  Exactly on the 30 inch line with the tail squished together, that was good enough for me and we let her go.  She swam right away and I believe that she was in pretty good shape.  Her estimated weight was around 10 - 11 pounds and of course she was recently spawned out to a month from now she might have been a pound or two heavier, never the less a beautiful fish.  I don't know if I'll get a graphite reproduction of the fish or not but at over $15/inch it will take some thought.

Sunday's beautiful Sunset

So the 2108 Canadian Fishing Opener at Lac Seul Outposts is in the history books and according to Bruce it probably was the best he's ever witnessed in the 30 years they have been coming up to camp.  The fish totals for the Ranger and it's 3 occupants were 145 on Saturday, 101 on Sunday, and 158 on Monday, a total of 404 walleyes caught.  What was impressive was the total number of walleyes over 20 inches, I would say that over half of them we caught were over 20 and half of them were over 22 inches.  That is an impressive total of nice walleyes.  We did extremely well on plastics as the fish were quite aggressive.  The ride in on Friday was absolutely terrible as we got soaked however the next 4 days were beautiful, with an accompanying gorgeous sunset to finish each of the days.  One of the things I like to do is stop in at the bait shop and buy some large minnows.  It really paid off this year as the big fish loved the big minnows.  Unfortunately the bait well in the boat drained out and many of our big minnows had died on Saturday night.  It really didn't seem to matter much as the walleyes hit those as easily as if they were alive, so we cleaned them out nicely.

One of the issues was having to park my boat on the sand beach next to Bruce's boat.  One of the things that was installed on my boat from the factory was a keel guard, meant for just this.  Everything turned out OK as we were able to plug it in each night and as well, RJ was a master of tying knots and did an awesome job of securing everything in place.  It was a pain to get in the boat with getting sand in it and backing off the sand bar was challenging as there were scour holes from previous outboards trying to push their boats higher, and or trying to back off the sand.  The Ranger is pretty heavy and really doesn't move that much so it did take some addition persuasion from RJ and Pete.  So what do we do for an encore?  The fish are biting on Mille Lacs and the Smallies are just coming off their spawn so that will more than likely be the next adventure.  We are so far behind at home, the garden still needs to be planted, trees need to be moved, mowing needs to be done.  We were at my niece's daughter's graduation last weekend so not much got done this last weekend either.  Honestly it was too hot anyway as Memorial Day hit 100 degrees, almost too hot to fish!

2018 Ontario Opener at Lac Seul, Absolutely Incredible! Part 1

Pete With a Nice Walleye

the 2018 Minnesota and Ontario Canada fishing openers are now in the history books and what a difference a week and 350 miles can make!  As the last few years, the week after Minnesota Fishing Opener is the Ontario Fishing Opener and once again I was fortunate enough to be the guest of my friend Bruce Wiley at Lac Seul Outpost located in the Chamberlain Narrows area of beautiful Lac Seul, northeast of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.  Our other guests included Pete, Wayne, Tom, Chip, and Bruce's son RJ.  The drive is 460 miles form home and by the time you stop for gas, breakfast, crossing the border and buying groceries in Dryden, getting the boat launch it's about 12 hours plus at least another hour or so to get into camp. The forecast for Sioux Lookout said rain between 6 and midnight and upon arriving at the bait shop to get our parking passes it had already started to sprinkle.  I figured we could get into camp by 6 but that didn't seem to work very well.  By the time we go to the Deception Bay boat landing it had started to rain pretty good.  Luckily last year I had a Bimini Top made for the boat and although it helped to keep us somewhat dry, with the wind and rain coming down pretty hard, it was difficult to keep anything dry during the 34 mile boat ride into camp.  Figuring it would be uncomfortable but a lot drier than what it really was, it would have been smart to put on my rain suit, lesson learned on that deal.  Taking over an hour and 45 minutes, we finally arrived at camp just as the rain lightened up somewhat.  Being  all quite soaked, and after hanging our clothes to dry, it was time for a well deserved cocktail while Chip made pork tenderloins.  A warm meal in our belly's, a relaxing couple hours reminiscing about the wet ride into camp it was time to snuggle into the warm sleeping bags, getting ready for the walleye fishing opener the next morning!

Saturday's Fish Total

The next morning proved to that in camp, if you don't like the weather just wait a day, the clouds were intertwined with blue skies with the promise of a better weekend in store.  After a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, blueberry sausage, and toast the first stop was directly across camp where Bruce, Tom, Wayne, and Chip were anchored.  With Pete and RJ in the Ranger we headed over only to see that Bruce was anchored.  Apparently there was a problem with his battery system for the trolling motor and his anchoring system and we could not fix fix it for this trip.  I'm sure he missed it yet Wayne did a fabulous job of being his anchor boy for the trip.  After catching a number of smaller walleyes in the channel we moved up to the corner and fished the 10 foot break area and the walleyes were on fire.  At the bait shop in town, we picked up 3 dozen Large Rainbow minnows and did the big walleyes love them.  Catching 3 and sometimes 4 walleyes on a single minnow, there were times when we all had a fish on at the same time.  What was really a bonus was the amount of walleyes over 22 inches, over 50% of our catch.  As you see in the first picture, each one of us caught a number of nice walleyes like this. Still had plenty of fish for dinner that night yet it was astounding the amount of nice walleyes that were landed.  Putting a counter on the dash of the boat, a simple click kept track of our total catch and as you can see by the picture above, Saturday's total landed in the boat was 145 walleyes!  That was a new record for the boat and quite an impressive one at that!  Our fishing time usually ends around 5:00 and although the day turned out pretty nice, it still was a little chilly.   With Day one under our hats, it would be exciting to see what the next few days would bring.

This year my boat was forced to be basically beached up on the sandy shore for the night.  Although not my preferred spot, never the less it would have to do.  RJ did a great job making sure it was tied up securely while Pete got the electrical extension cords ran so we would be fully charged up the next day.  Hating sand in the boat, admittedly it was a challenge to jump in off the beach, wash one's shoes off then struggle to free the boat from it's overnight resting place.   Luckily there was enough dock space by the time we departed in the morning for everyone to properly wash the sand off their shoes before entering.   My guest realize that I am pretty anal about my boat however it's pretty nice to fish out of when on the water.  As tempting as it is to make this post longer, you will have to wait until next week to hear about my biggest walleye I have ever caught, finally a 30 incher!!!                                                                             

Finally, Back Fishing! Lac Seul Part 1.

Craig with a nice walleye.

Admittedly this is an interesting year for me and my fishing.  Normally I try to make it out once a week, starting with 3 days on Leech Lake, taking advantage of the hot bite on Mille Lacs in June, first part of July, fishing the Mississippi River in August, then switching to the evening shad rap bite on the reefs at Mille Lacs.  Well all that has changed this year.  Normally there is 21 - 22 weeks of open water fishing before deer hunting starts and the ice forms on the lake.  If I get 20 days of open water fishing in, it's been a good year.  So far I have gotten 20 days of open water fishing however it has been concentrated on mostly Lac Seul (14 days), Leech (3 days) and only 1 lowly trip to Mille Lacs Lake, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico off of Florida.  With Mille Lacs now closed to walleye fishing, I suppose I could go and cast Shad Raps on the rocks for smallmouth but who am I kidding?  Bill and I usually get out trout fishing once so the number of trips is pretty much average however the makeup of those trips are significantly different than in the past.  Not that I am complaining yet you notice that no longer are the posts about last weeks fishing adventure.  This week I have had the opportunity to go up to Lac Seul again for 3 days of some of the greatest fishing I have experienced.  Our host, Bruce Wiley states that after fishing Lac Seul, it doesn't pay to fish anywhere else...........it's a hard philosophy to argue with yet there is a lot of water out there to be fished.  So Last weekend's fishing was in paradise at Lac Seul Outposts again, my 3rd trip there and 4th to Lac Seul this year. This year we were blessed to have Craig Biegert as our boat guest.  Craig is a friend of both my neighbor Pete and our host, Bruce.  He has a cabin on Big Pine Lake, the same as my friend Mark Mayerich, which is just a stones throw east of Bruce's place on Round Lake, just north of Mille Lacs. Craig has been battling Multiple Myeloma and to be honest, you'd never guess.  I was fortunate to have him in my boat and he was a perfect gentleman..........he even washed the sand off his shoes before going in the Ranger!  Craig has a few bone fractures associated with his condition so I made sure that if there was anything making him uncomfortable, he needed to let me know. Fortunately my boat is like riding on a cloud as we made the 34.5 mile trip into camp without an issue.

Wapesi River Emptying into the Lake

Wapesi Lake is usually our first stop, so on Wednesday of the the three days we were to be in camp it is where we fished. Wapesi is just northwest of the outpost, about a 10 mile boat ride, we go up to Pecker Point then turn west into the lake. Wednesday was kind of goofy weatherwise, clear and cool in the morning, it gave way to some pounding rain around noon. We had found a point off an island which was producing quite well when you could see the rain heading for the boat. One of the things I really appreciate these days is the bimini top I had put on this June.  We quickly assembled the top and secured everything just as the wind and rain came upon us.  Snug and dry inside the boat was nice, almost to the point of wondering why I carry a rainsuit anymore!  The Motorguide does an incredible job of keeping the boat in an "anchored" position as we rode out the storm squall.  Once it was evident that the weather was clearing we headed to an area which we felt Craig would enjoy, where the Wapesi River dumps into the lake.  It is gorgeous back there as the river tumbles over the rock as it essentially falls into the bay.  It is also a great place to fish however at this time of year the walleyes tend not to be stacked very well.  It's still a great place to fish as the current is always carrying a meal to the fish.  One of my favorite methods is using a Gulp twister tail as it is fairly shallow and where there is current, there is always some active fish, the total on Gulp was 8 walleyes and a northern pike.  It is one of my favorite spots to visit and fish while in Wapesi Lake, that's for sure.

As stated before, we launch in Deception bay on the southeast side of the lake and make our way through the rock strewn channels, around islands for a total of 34.5 miles to camp.  About 5 miles into our trip the outboard display went blank then the motor shut down to an idle.  The error code 114 showed up on the display, I put the motor back in neutral, reset the display, and the motor ran perfect until  the next 5 miles.  It shut down a total of 8 times then like magic, it ran great for the rest of the trip.  We have limited Wifi at camp so I e-mailed my mechanic at Frankies, he got back to me on the code meaning yet because it ran great, I haven't been able to look at the NMEA 2000 network cable connections in the back of the boat but will get to it sometime.  As always, Lac Seul is a great place to catch walleyes as well it is alot of fun hanging with the guys that I have been so graciously invited to attend!

Ontario Walleye Opener, Lac Seul 2017

Beautiful Lake Whitefish on Lac Seul

I was graciously invited to join my friends to experience Ontario's 2017 walleye opener at Lac Seul Outpost on Chamberlain Narrows, Lac Seul Lake, out of Sioux Lookout again.  Admittedly there wasn't much time between getting home from Leech Lake (Minnesota Fishing Opener), meeting with our Taiwanese business partners on the 2 days between trips, getting the boat cleaned and ready to go but miraculously I managed!  Getting up at 5:00 on Friday morning my neighbor Pete Sipe helped hook up the boat and north we headed, to meet  Wayne, Gary, and Tom at the restaurant in Orr, MN for breakfast before pushing across the border.  There was quite a line of boats crossing at International Falls to Fort Francis but our wait was surprisingly short.  Both Pete and I have got this border crossing down pretty well, take off your hat and sunglasses, always address the border agent with quick and firm answers, look him in the eye, and always tell the truth, not trying to hide anything.  We carefully pack our things and the only issue we had was that our liquor volumes were over what is allowed for 2 guys.  It seems as though we tell them exactly what we have and they hand the passports back and tell us to enjoy and be careful.  Only once did we have to pay extra duty but the last 6 times we were able to enter with a tad more than allowed.  I think the honesty and not trying to weasel our way out of duties, which BTW I am perfectly happy to pay, works in our favor.  The next big question is whether we can get our boats through the "rags" a short cut that cuts a few miles on the trip in.  We had been in contact with our fearless leader, Bruce however he had mentioned nothing about getting through the rags. This time of year the water is pretty low and it may only be a foot or so of water through the cut.  We launched the boat then headed around the island deciding not to test the shallow water as it was pretty low.  There were a couple of Ranger boats that had just put in and I learned they were boating into Lac Seul Outpost as well.  After accepting my offer to follow us, 4 boats headed out.  It wasn't that bad as my map was very good at keeping us on course and 75 minutes later we pulled into camp without any issues. As always it was great to see Ken and Brenda, the owners as well he had some new staff people that were very good. After settling into the cabin, the weather was forecasted to be great on Saturday then rain both Sunday and Monday.  Opener was as projected, the walleyes would be fairly shallow, 8 - 12 feet and plastics worked great.  I was determined to catch a walleye on one of my ice fishing blade baits as vertical jigging was the norm.  Something really hit it and pulling it up it was a very nice large Lake Whitefish, I would estimate around 5 - 6 pounds.  The lure came loose in the net so really, I am not sure it actually hit the lure or I simply snagged it.  Officially it hit the lure so it's at Osseo Meats, in Osseo, MN as those guys really do a nice job smoking it.

River entering Scaler Lake

On Sunday we were able to fish a new area (to me) and an area that my friend, Paul Wenaas is very familiar with, Scaler Lake where the river runs into it.  Paul gave me some of his trails into the lake a couple of years back and both myself and Bruce commented how well Paul had it marked on the GPS as with the low water levels it was important to make sure you stayed in the old (Now flooded) river channel.  Anywhere there is water flowing in the lake tends to be a fish magnet and this spot was no exception as we hammered the walleyes and had a few large northern pike.   Bruce commented that this area usually has a lot of boats in the area however we were the only 2 there.  If you click on the picture you will see 2 eagles perched on the dead tree tops as there were plenty of eagles around this area.  I suspect that the fishing is pretty good for them as well.  After a couple hours of reeling in walleyes, and the rain getting heavier, we decided to head on back a little closer to camp.  Scaler Lake was the farthest we traveled to fish as it is very good fishing just across the channel from Camp.  We did run up to Birch Narrows which is north of the camp and there were 4 houseboats parked along the route including one parked right off a point that can be quite good this time of year.  While we were fishing another boat came in and got a little too close to the houseboat and some words where exchanged.  We just looked on shaking our heads as it was hard to tell who was in the wrong.  Oh well, it's a big lake but some people get pretty defensive.  I rained both Sunday and Monday so we ended back at camp maybe earlier than usual, which was fine with me!

Monday evening's dinner was Steak night again as we diligently make sure that we have enough fish to take home, 4 walleyes each.  After dinner we did a final count and I was 3 fish short of my limit.  I grabbed my spinning rod and walked down to the dock where it is pretty easy to catch a walleye and within 10 minutes I had my 3 walleyes, nice ones in the 16.5 inch range.  Of course Tuesday morning was pretty nice considering the rain which fell on Sunday and Monday, typical for the day you leave. Either way it was a great time and I look forward to my next return to Lac Seul.  My boat went in the shop on Thursday as I have some ongoing issues that need to be addressed.  I am anxious to get it on Mille Lacs as the reports coming in is that the walleyes are practically jumping in the boat.  As well, I definitely need to start looking at my river boat as I anticipate a great season of fishing on the River.

Canadian Opener, Deja Vu??, part 1.

Our ride!

After the fast paced events and crappy weather associated with last week's Minnesota Fishing Opener at Leech Lake, Friday finally came as Pete picked me up then headed over to pick up our pilot, Garith Anderson and continue on to SurfSide Seaplane Base in Lino Lakes, MN.  The weather was raining during the previous 2 days and Friday was forecasted to clear up yet the last minute change included fog in the morning. Arriving at 6:00 AM we had a pretty low ceiling and the owner said that until we see the lights on top of the 500 foot tower across the lake we were staying put.  After 2 hours of BS and coffee the ceiling lifted enough to take off for Lac Seul.  The flight plan was to head north following Interstate 35 then over Eveleth/Virginia and landing at Sand Point Customs on the Canadian side of the Crane Lake area.  The low ceiling was with us the entire first leg of the route and we were forced to "Scud Run" at about 500 feet above the ground.  Scud Run is a term based on our military's Scud Missile system where they fly below the radar view and follow the terrain.  I thought it was pretty cool as you could easily see the wild turkey's in the fields and the deer but Pete wasn't as comfortable as I was.  An hour into the flight Garith noticed something unusual in a tree, 3 black bears!  I guess it gives one a perspective of how low we were really flying.  Landing at Sand Point Customs we were greeted by the agents who took our passports, asked the usual questions including our alcohol cargo. You are allowed 1 liter of booze or 1 bottle of wine or 1 case of beer per person, any more than this requires you to pay duty on the excess.  Well we had an extra bottle of wine and a case of beer over our allocation and when we declared that the guy said "It's your lucky day boys, the tax computer is down".  With that we got back in the plane for the short 1 1/2 hour flight to Chamberlain Narrows and Lac Seul Outpost.  Arriving at 1:00 it was time to unpack and get settled in and meet the guys who included Bruce and Mike, Wayne, and Tom.  Because opener was on Saturday and northern pike was the only fish you could catch, some of the guys were out trolling rapala's while we took care of a number of maintenance items at the cabin including sweeping up the constant sand and washing windows.  Wayne, Tom, and Mike came back from "northern" fishing to report that while pulling Rapala's, they could not keep the 22"+ walleyes off the line, a great sign for Saturday.

Bruce with a typical 22+ inch walleye.

Saturday was gorgeous, just like opener at Leech the week before.  Bluebird skies and a gentle breeze provided the perfect setup for a great day of fishing.  With 7 guys, normally we would have 3 boats however the lodge had a limited supply of boats and coupled with Bruce's change in plans to bring his own because of transom issues, we had 3 in the rental and 4 in Tom's Smokercraft.  This is my 4th trip to Lac Seul and this year Bruce (our host) asked me if I would fish with him.  Normally I fish with Pete but it would be a nice change of pace to fish with the master of the area. Our first stop was north and around the corner however there were 2 houseboats parked in the sweet spots.  Anchoring close to one of them, the walleyes were biting but the noise of the generator was a huge deterrent to staying there.  Next we heading further north off a point, anchored and caught a number of really nice walleyes, a couple of northerns around 36 inches and a few for our dinner later that evening.  Moving back down towards the cabin we hit a small cove that proved to be quite productive before finally ending up directly across the cabin off a sandbar that formed a nice eddy, the perfect place for a walleye to stop.  The lack of wind allowed us the perfect anchor position to fish either inside the eddy, right on the current break, or in the deeper water. Hammering the walleyes just doesn't do it justice as waves upon waves of walleyes from 15 to 26 inches keep coming thru on their way to the main lake after spawning.  The fish were plentiful and hungry as the weather and the bite gave me the opportunity to fish with a 3 inch white Gulp Minnow Grub that was on fire.  The success almost forced Bruce to switch however I think there was a primary reason for the hot Gulp bite.  Although the bite was light and both Bruce and I agreed that scent was a key factor, with Gulp I could cast my jig 20 - 30 yards then drag it back covering more area.  With minnows the typical tactic was to simply drop it off the side of the boat, wait for a walleye to swim by then hang on.  By working more water I feel it's an effective tactic to get your bait in front of more fish and I like being more proactive anyway.

My 26 incher.

Continuing catching one after another we stayed across the channel for the next couple of hours.  I ended up with the my largest fish of the trip, a nice 26 incher. Because of the spawn these fish were skinny but hungry. We ended the day with about 70 walleyes caught and released then kept about 8 for our fish fry later that evening.  I would say that over half of the walleyes we caught on Saturday were over 22 inches, quite impressive.  Interesting that I probably caught more walleyes in the first 2 hours of fishing than I did for the 3 days we spent fishing Leech the previous week. Volunteering to clean all of the fish I filleted 14 walleyes on Saturday night and zippered 8 for frying. With the help of Garith, we deep fried those fish to perfection. There is nothing better than fresh caught walleye to end the day. A few cocktails of TX whiskey provided by my good friends Joe and Matt really rounded out the day.  I wouldn't say that I was tired of catching fish however admittedly it was a pretty satisfying day.  Things were about to change dramatically in the next 12 hours as we woke up on Sunday morning with a strong northeast wind and temperatures in the low 50's and dropping.  It was a repeat of the the previous week where we had beautiful weather for opening day and it went downhill from there.  With sheets of rain traveling horizontally down Chamberlain Narrows there wasn't much of an incentive to get in the boat and subject ourselves to the punishment outside.  We had lots of time before making any decisions so when someone suggested we have omelets for breakfast I thought it would be fun to test my skills.  The ban on poultry and eggs coming across the border forced Bruce to buy eggs in Dryden and eggs they were!  A three egg omelet was a big as a 4 egger yet everyone seemed satisfied.  Bruce, his son Mike and I decided that we came to fish so let's go fishing as we bundled up for a 3 hour session.  Trying to get out of the wind because our anchor would not hold, we were not very successful yet we did manage to keep a few fish towards our take home numbers.  This would have been the perfect time for the anchor lock function on a bow mounted trolling motor.  Unfortunately neither Tom nor the rental boat had that luxury as we struggled to stay in the bite zone.  Unlike the previous day my Gulp wasn't working as well so was forced to switch back to a plain minnow and jig.  The challenge to catch fish on artificials is great but there is no reason to be stupid.  The rain became relentless as all three of us decided it was insane to continue so we headed in to dry our clothes, warm up, and have a cocktail to reflect on the day.  What came up that evening was quite an experience for me however I'll wait till next week to finish the story!

The good news is the boat should have started to be built on Wednesday so it shouldn't be long now. It's probably good as I need to get some things to get done around the house.

Lac Seul, Part 2.

Pete with a nice walleye

So how good is fishing at Lac Seul?  Well, from a consistent standpoint, it's probably the best place I have fished yet.  Starting at around 2:00 on Tuesday afternoon till my final cast on Thursday night, I estimate that both Pete and I landed over 300 walleyes, maybe 400 as you just start losing count after a while.  The bait of choice is a simple 1/4 ounce gold colored jig with a rainbow minnow yet I was determined to buck the trend.  Armed with a good selection of Berkeley Gulp and the appropriate 1/4 ounce jig heads I am pretty satisfied with the results.   My technique was a method perfected by The Griz, a famous walleye guide from Minnesota.  I have met Dick Grizinski many times at both the local sports shows and at Frankies, my boat dealer. The Griz is a pretty well known guide, has a website www.fishwiththegriz.com, and has made Snap Jigging a signature presentation.  An interesting side note, my 2008 Ranger 620T was ordered for The Griz but certain circumstances prevented him from taking delivery and in 2009 I picked up his boat.  So, what is snap jigging?  It's a simple technique of letting a jig settle to the bottom the quickly snapping your rod a foot or so causing the jig to jump off the bottom before settling back down.  I decided to try it on Leech this year as the bite was difficult and had some success.  The problem with snap jigging is the walleyes usually hit it on the way down just when you have the most slack in your line.  Often you can see the fish hit your jig via movement in the line or simply the next time you snap there's a solid hook set and the fight is on.  You do tend to miss some fish as they often hit the jig before you have time to react yet I think the excitement of the strike outweighs the negative aspects of snap jigging.  Using Gulp and snap jigging results in some amazing strikes and I think its much more exciting than simply dragging a jig and minnow.  Looking at our catch rates, I would have to say that my strategy caught as many walleyes as the traditional methods but I didn't have to deal with constantly rebaiting with minnows.  Sharp hooks and special jig heads that have a straight hook shaft with a wire bait holder worked great, my preference is VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig which worked great in combination with Gulp Alive Minnow Grub.

A nice 22 inch Walleye

Fishing was focused in shallow areas on or near points and in 4 - 12 feet of water.  Personally I felt the fish were in very shallow and I did really well casting into the shorelines.  Chamberlain Narrows is a necked down area where the walleyes pass through on their annual spawning migrations and they certainly were in the area last week.  Quite honestly we seldom ventured more than a mile from camp as the walleyes seemed to be everywhere.  One of the best spots was about 300 yards across the channel, anchored in 10 feet of water.  I took a video that shows Pete and I hooking 17 walleyes in 17 minutes.  This wasn't untypical as it seemed everywhere we went we caught fish.  Lac Seul has a slot limit where all walleyes between 18 - 21 inches have to be released, a total of 4 fish per person which only 1 can be over 21 inches. One of the other interesting regulations is that if you keep a fish, you have to kill it.  We accomplished this by simply folding back their heads and breaking the neck.  It's a big fine to have a live fish on board so it's important to make sure the fish are dead.   You can bring back 4 walleyes and luckily you can eat what you want and eat we did.  Bruce has a nice propane cooker on the deck of the cabin and using a deep cast iron frying pan (I call it a chicken cooker) we had fish each night to compliment or main meals. On Wednesday night Garith made his "infamous" fish boil.  Using Zatarain's Crawfish-Shrimp-and-Crab-Boil-In-a-Bag, I was skeptical but after looking at the ingredients ( I am severely allergic to crustaceans) and seeing it was just spices, I couldn't wait.  Apparently Garith is the master at this and after boiling rutabagas, carrots, potatoes, in the pot with the spice bag he added walleye when the water became minimal.  After using a ladle to transfer to your plate, he had melted butter to pour over the mixture and using a little salt and pepper I got to admit it was seriously fabulous.   On Thursday night we had Surf and Turf when Garith made a prime rib and we cooked up the remaining walleyes needed to keep us legal.  I have decided that Garith and I make a great pair!  Along with being his co-pilot, we have the same philosophies, same tastes, same attitudes, and we like the same stuff.  It's never too late to meet new friends!

Cessna at Sunset

I did take some videos of the plane then uploaded them on YouTube with the help of my smarter engineer, Welly Chou.  They are pretty interesting and if you have a fast internet connection, change the resolution to 720P or 1080P, it's pretty incredible.  Here are the links for your convenience.  The first is when we land at Lac Seul called Arriving at Chamberlain Narrows.  Turn the volume up to hear the distinctive sound of a 9 cylinder Pratt and Whitney Rotary Engine  It's really cool.  Next is Parking the Beaver, again a short clip of Garith driving the plane to it's parking spot.  Finally a parting shot of our departure from fishing heaven on Lac Seul called Leaving Chamberlain Narrows. Outpost.  Our flight back took a little longer as we bucked a 20 knot headwind most of the way.  Taking off at 7:30 we stopped at Scotty's Seaplane Base on Crane lake to go through US Customs and refill the gas tanks.  Dropping Tom off at Round Lake, we took off just as Bruce landed his Cessna.  A quick flyover to say goodbye to Bruce and Wayne, we head back to Surfside arriving by 2:20. With plenty to do it was back to the same old grind, planting the garden and getting caught up because the late spring.  Here is one of my more interesting pictures as I walked down to the beach at sunset to capture Bruce's plane, a Cessna with amphibious floats. Certainly after a day of fishing the show Mother Nature put on each night was incredible.

With a sad heart I also learned this week that a fellow fisherman and friend had died over the weekend, Bernie Konter.  Bernie was from my wife's home town of Independence, Wisconsin and was a friend of her brother, John. Back when I first started blogging in 2008, Bernie was one of my first subject, even before I started adding tags to the posts.  Bernie Konter's Fall Fest Pickles apparently caught the attention of his daughter Tonya of Wilmar, MN and on Monday night while I was helping Adam with his boat I received a phone call from a 320 area code.  Answering it, I learned that Bernie's family had searched his name and discovered my post of almost 6 years ago. I was also told that he passed away on Saturday at the young age of 70 years old.  Bernie was a good man as he moved to Buffalo City, Wisconsin after he retired to be closer to his love of the Mississippi River and fishing.  For some reason he was always very nice to me as our relationship was based on the occasional running into each other and talking about fishing.  In 2008 he called to see if I'd meet him and his family at Mille Lacs and I couldn't refuse.  Bernie was famous for his Fall Fest Pickles, a recipe that I make every year without fail.  He loved the outdoors and I guess my only regrets will be not spending more time with him.  Maybe in another life, God bless you Bernie and I hope there's a fishing pole waiting for you somewhere.

Finally Settling Down

de Havilland Beaver Float Plane

Well, they say time heals everything as it's been over a week since my star performance on Leech Lake last Monday.  I've settled down a bit, maybe being without my boat serves a good purpose.  The Ranger is at Frankies, my dealer waiting in line to get repaired.  The final damages amounted to over $6000 and I've been assured it will be as good as new.  Although my boat is 6 years old, I'm glad they didn't total it as I really like my layout.  The 2009 and newer Ranger 620T has some nuances that I don't care for and as well,  this 2008 boat is tricked out just the way I like it and it would be tough to start all over.   The boat should go into the shop for repair next week and should be ready to go by June 1st (hopefully!).  Normally the Memorial Day weekend means the first trip to Mille Lacs to pre-fish for the MTT (Minnesota Tournament Trail) that Mark Applen and I usually fish.  This year everything is tight including the slot limit at Mille Lacs and we may not even make it.  It's a far cry from our first time we fished the MTT on Mille Lacs as we took 3rd place, good for $1060 towards the Mark's charity however it's kind of been downhill from there.  Fortunately the end of May should turn out to be successful as I will be accompanying my neighbor Pete Sipe, his friend Bruce, and 3 other guys to Lac Seul Lake  in Ontario, Canada.  The plan is to meet at Surfside Seaplane Base in Lino Lakes and jump on board a de Havilland Beaver float plane. After stopping at a lake north of Mille Lacs to pick up a fourth passenger, it's back up in the air heading for the Seaplane base at Fort Francis, Ontario.  Once we have cleared Canadian Customs its off to Lac Seul Outpost located on the northeast portion of the lake on Chamberlain Narrows and about 2 air hours from Fort Francis.  The Chamberlain Narrows area is known for the early season walleye fishing as the fish travel through the channel during the spawning season.  I'm cautious in predicting anything other than a great time, Pete claims that every year someone usually get a 30+ inch walleye, that would be sweet. Although I have flown in float planes before, it's usually for only 40 minutes or so as we did this in Alaska a few years ago.  This trip is scheduled to take about 5 hours total with over 4 hours in the air.  I'm pretty excited as the guys want me to sit in the co-pilots seat in front, I'll never relax!   The plan is to fish next Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday before heading back south on Friday morning.  With limited time to write and the need to take advantage of my fishing location, I suspect next weeks blog will be late. Oh well, here's hoping the pictures will be worth it.

Team Walleye

Last weekend was spent working on the garden and attending my nieces annual dance recital in Osseo, Wisconsin.  It's quite interesting as in includes young girls dancing with their fathers to high school seniors doing complex routines.  My niece Kaylee does an excellent job as I think she's bound for stardom some day.  After having treats at the local Dairy Queen, it was off to see my mom and brother in Eleva.  We always bring mom a load of groceries as she doesn't get out as much as she would like.  Heading back home also allowed me to return my Scheels One Titanium Spinning rod that had the tip break off last week. Scheels has a no nonsense guarantee on this rod, break it for any reason and return it for a new one.  Because it broke right at the base of the tip, I suppose one could have just glued a new tip one it and it would be as good as new.  On the other hand, a deal is a deal and they replaced it, no questions asked.  This rod is a one piece 7 footer and has become one of my favorites in the boat.  Paired with a Shimano CI4 2500 reel, it's incredibly light.  I love the way it loads up when a walleye barely grabs the bait, something that happens quite a bit on Leech.  With an extra fast tip you can feel the slightest pressure without ripping the bait out of it's mouth.  Of course being 7 feet long, one has to be careful when putting it back in the rod lockers.  This Memorial Day weekend is our family reunion side on Saturday, Sunday and Monday is garden planting time as well, get everything packed for Tuesday.  The other thing to do this weekend, replace the Stars and Stripes that I fly at the house.  Buying the good embroidered flags,  they still only seem to last about 6 months so Memorial Day and Veterans Day has become my reminders to get this done.  Monday is packing day, it's going to be a busy weekend.

Two things to leave you with........one, a picture of Team Walleye.  We almost forgot to take it as 3 of our guys had already left.  Shows you what happens without our fearless leader Ron Edberg.  The other thing is this is the last post of my 6th year of writing the blog, next week will start my 7th.  I appreciate the support as Fishin' With Dave approaches 60,000 hits.  Time sure does fly.

Fishing Heaven

My first Lac Seul Walleye

The long anticipated trip to Lac Seul is now history and it exceeded my expectations.  Both of my friends Paul Wenaas and Ryan Sterle have been on me for years to fish Lac Seul however it's never been very convenient for me.  I now see why they have been so insistent!  Everything was planned perfectly, I would pick up my neighbor Pete at 5:00 Wednesday Morning, load what little he had, drive to Osseo, MN and pick up Dan and his gear then head north.  After stopping at Lundeens for a coffee refill the next stop was Round Lake, just north of Mille Lacs to pick up Bruce's boat and his neighbor Wayne.  Once hitched it was off to International Falls, crossing the border and eventually ending up in Sioux Lookout, Ontario and the Deception Bay boat landing.  Our destination was Lac Seul Outpost where Bruce reserved what is known as the VIP cabin.  After launching the boat, Dan, Wayne, Pete and I loaded it up and began the one hour water ride to the Chamberlain Narrows, our final destination.  Bruce and Lyle, the other third of our group had intended on flying up on Bruce's Cessna 172 with floats and have the cocktails ready by the time we got there.  Unfortunately the cloud ceilings prevented them from taking off and they were now 6 hours behind with the intent on simply driving up, staying in Sioux Lookout, and having the resort taxi pick them up in the morning.  Of course, it didn't stop us from having our "congradulitory, we finally made it" cocktail, got the cabin ready to go and took a little boat ride to the nearest point, where I got my first Lac Seul walleye with hopes for plenty more!

Eye's bigger than their stomachs!

Thursday was beautiful however the forecast for Friday was cold and rainy with Saturday just plain cold.  Lac Seul is a very large reseviour, spread out over 160 miles, full of bays, channels, islands and walleyes.  After Bruce and Lyle arrived we switched to a resort rental boat, 20 foot Lund Alaskan with a 115 Optimax, plenty of room for Pete, Dan, and myself.  Like most large lakes, there are names for specific areas where we fish and Lac Seul was no exception.  Pecker Point, The Church, The Goal Post, Birch Narrows, Three Sisters, meant a special location to meet, fish, and compare notes.  Some of these were close to the cabin and others were 20 minutes away.  We always caught walleyes no matter where we went, from 6 inches to 26, there was always a willing fish to hit our offerings.  While Pete and Dan stuck with minnows, I experimented with Gulp and Crawlers, a combination I did well with while fishing in Canada this June with my brother Steve.  It was fairly successful and given a situation where one would have exhausted his supply of live bait, it was a great option.  Actually on Friday I did very well with this combo, outfishing live minnows by around 10%.  Still the minnows were the go to bait yet I do like experimenting and when the fish were aggressive, the Gulp worked well with even the little ones getting into the action.  What was surprising was the fact that we caught walleyes everywhere we went.  Primarily fishing in 16 - 22 feet of water, someone would always catch something.  With that large expanse of water, there has to be a significant population of fish, and they all seems fat and sassy, a very healthy lake to say the least.  It's certainly a lot different than my home water's of Mille Lacs but that's for a different day.

The perfect moment

Friday and Saturday found the wind howling out of the North and temperatures in the high 40's.  Admittedly it's been a while since I have had to layer up in my lined pants, rain suit, and gloves but we managed to head out in 34 degree temperatures and decided to fish closer to the cabin while still catching fish.  After getting used to the first cold weather of the year, by noon we were back in the swing of things and continued to assure we would have fresh walleye for the evening meal.  One of the more interesting thing that would happen each day was the congregation of Bald Eagles watching over our every move.  Apparently they are acclimated to either mortally wounded fish floating to the surface from a deeply hooked lure or the fisherman simply feeding them (which is illegal, by the way).  One of our smaller walleyes swam away but surfaced minutes later presenting an easy meal.  Focusing on the fish, I snapped this picture at the perfect moment as the eagle had it's talons extended, ready to grab the fish.  It was awesome. Sunday morning came way to fast as we had to head back to Deception Landing to go home.  Because Ken, owner of the outpost had to go back and pick up a new guest, 4 of us boarded the shuttle boat while Bruce and Pete followed behind.  An hour later we docked at the landing where the truck was coated with a thick frost.  As Bruce decided to pull his boat home and letting Pete and Dan continue in my care as we headed home.  Driving south of Dryden, Ontario we saw 2 different black bears along the road as we listened to the Packer game on the XM radio, unfortunately it wasn't very good.  Home by 7:00, I finished skinning our walleye fillets and vacuum packed them.  As stated, the time went too fast as it always does, yet there is little one can do about that other than enjoy every moment you can.  The trip to Lac Seul with Bruce, Pete, Dan, Wayne, and Lyle was simply that, enjoyed every moment.  With Crown Royal as the preferred beverage, I even learned how to enjoy and make their favorite cocktail, pour to the first set of stars on the "official cocktail glass" in the cabin cupboard. Thanks guys!

Saturday is Tim's annual pig roast come rain or shine and the weather is looking more like rain.  With water temps still pretty high at Mille Lacs, it might not be until next week before I try to renew the fall trolling strategy.  Apples are starting to ripen as I have picked my Honeycrisp's already with more needed harvesting this weekend.  I thinks it's shaping up to be a busy 4 weeks.