Back Fishing!

Jake's nice 20 inch channel Catfish, no turtle pictures!

Making up for lost time the last week saw 3 fishing adventures, 2 on the Mississippi River and yesterday was a day on Mille Lacs before it closes to walleye fishing on July 1st for a month. Starting with last Wednesday night, originally I had a trip planned to Mille Lacs but with the 96 degree temperatures and 35 MPH winds, it was better to stay on shore.  Here is my Facebook post regarding the night's adventure: "So last night I spent a couple of hours drowning some nightcrawlers off of John Meyer's dock. Accompanying me was my little fishing friend, Jake Hanson, Limo's boy, and is always the gracious and enthusiastic guest. While I got set up with our circle hooks and sinkers I tied onto Jake's line a new prop frog bait, a great selection for smallies and virtually snagless. After casting out the crawler rigs, John has nothing to hold the rods, I weaved them into our lawn chairs and waited. Before long Jake's pole was heading towards the river taking the lawn chair with it. A desperate grab saved both the rod, the chair, and the fish was on. Yelling for Jake to get up here he grabbed the pole and soon about a 15# carp emerged. Forgetting to bring a net the fish eventually tangled around the dock and snapped the line. Within 5 minutes the other rod was headed towards the river, again Jake ran up to grab the pole and it was another huge carp. Plan B didn't work so good either as the hook came out. Deciding there was more action on the dock, Jake decided to stay and within 5 minutes again another ferocious hit. After setting the hook Jake stated this fish feels different, it was....we had hooked a huge soft shelled turtle and it wasn't very happy! Hoping to get a picture with Jake, using a pliers I unhooked it, it wasn't having any thoughts of cooperating and lunged at us. I didn't think a 65 year old guy could move as fast as a young teenager as I provided the evenings entertainment. As the sun set I assured Jake this was prime catfish time and before long we had a double, a nice 20 incher and a 16 incher. Teaching Jake how to hold a catfish without getting stung, he did pretty well, so we finally got our evenings picture. Jake's a pretty good fisherman and a lot of fun to be with. It reminds me when I was his age fishing catfish on the Buffalo river with my dad's friends. I told Jake, in 50 years you'll be telling the story of fishing with your dad's old friend when we caught this turtle! Thanks John for the use of the dock and helping to create some great memories for a young man that truly appreciates the experience regardless of the generation gap." Fishing with Jake is a lot of fun as it reminds me when I was young and fishing with Kevin, and that's a long time ago!  He is eager to learn and pays close attention to my advice, which is hard to find these days and is great for my ego....we both get a lot of enjoyment hanging with each other!!!

Dave's Personal best Smallmouth bass.

The second trip of the week was on Saturday with another young man, David Grant, the son of agood friend of mine, he just graduated from High school..  He loves fishing and has been with me a number of times.  Last week we went to the fishing garage sale together and bought some stuff that one always needs!  Determined to get the jon boat out of the shed and running, this became the excuse to get it done.  Dave showed up at about 5:00 in the afternoon, having a few things left we hooked the boat up to the Polaris Razor and headed for the neighbors boat landing.  knowing my luck we decided to start the motor while at the shed, just in case!  It started as though it was yesterday it last ran, rather than last September.  EFI and electric start, what a great combination!  After repairing my neighbors gate we got the boat in the river and headed upstream for about 4 miles.  It is surprising how low the water is for this time of year.  Hitting the bottom a couple of times it is nice that the motor has a rock guard on it, although it slows the speed by a mph or so, it absorbs all the damage.  Both Dave and I are partial to square bill crankbaits as they seem to not get as hung up on the bottom as other types, we both started casting our favorite colors as the long drift began.  Of course it is important to show the kid some leadership I caught the first smallie, a 15 inch fish.  Admittedly this was the earliest I have ever fished the river but with the water level down, maybe it would be great.  Soon we entered a stretch where there is a lot of rip rap along the shore line, meant to keep the erosion down but also it is prime habitat for smallmouth.  Giving Dave some tips on where to cast, a very nice fish hit his lure and we scrambled to get the boat away from the shore.  Finally netting it, a nice 19 inch bass, Dave's personal best smallie, we snapped a couple of pictures before releasing it.  We caught a few more fish including another smallmouth caught on a bottom rig using nightcrawlers, a total surprise.  It certainly wasn't our best trip fish wise however as with Jake, most of the fun is being with these bright young men and trying to teach them something.  Telling Dave he needs to try this again, this time maybe spend some more time trying to find some walleyes as they are in the river.  Notice Dave's hat, an American flag however the red strips are actually fish silhouettes, it's really interesting.  Well on Sunday a package arrived with that hat inside, thank's Dave, now we both can look swanky!

27" walleye, largest of the day!

The third trip of this week was with a couple of friends, Jack Taylor and Pete.  Pete had gotten some red-tail minnows as the reports were the walleyes were hungry on Mille Lacs.  We had cancelled 2 earlier trips because of the weather and Tuesday looked good so we decided to take the Ranger out.  Stopping at Prince's bait we picked up leeches and crawlers, along with the red-tails we were set.  Launching on the west side of the lake, it was a bit rougher than we expected.  The temperature was very nice and our first stop was the mid lake gravel bars, about 5 miles or so out.  We hit the first bar which had another boat on it so we decided to stop at the next one a half mile north.  Jack put a leech on, Pete did a red-tail and I rigged a crawler harness.  Not more than 5 minutes of dragging and a nice walleye hit my crawler.  We continued to have a steady bite alternating between my crawler, Jack's leech's and Pete's minnow.  After about 10 walleyes we decided to hit the first gravel bar that we stopped at as the boat that was originally there had left.  With a fairly string north wind we drifted at the perfect speed of about 1 mph.  It was perfect drifting weather and we caught another 16 for a total of 26 walleyes for the day.  Having never used a red-tail for walleyes I changed my rig and hooked on a big one.   Letting the line down to the bottom, after about 3 minutes the rod told me there was something going on below.  Lifting to see if I could feel the bite there was nothing.  Again there was a tap tap then nothing.  After a few minutes of this I began to reel in the line, it was obvious that the line was not behind where it should have been and ahead of it's normal position.  As the reel cranked the line in all of a sudden there was a very heavy fish on the line.  Apparently the fish had grabbed the minnow and swam towards the boat which negated any traditional feel of a bite.  Netting the walleye it was the largest of the day, 27 inches.  Many of our fish were long but skinny, this fish was fat and healthy.  Back in the water it went as we saw a storm approaching from the north.  Deciding we had enough we barely made it to the landing when the sky unloaded on us.  Luckily we had time to get the boat on the trailer and the cover on before the bulk of the rain came.  It was another successful trip, plenty of walleyes were caught however one cannot keep any walleyes from Mille Lacs this year and to add insult to injury, the month of July walleye fishing is not allowed.....period!  Based on the great fishing in June it would not surprise anyone that it will shut down for the year.  As always I'll keep my political comments to myself!

Next trip will be on the river or maybe sneak back up to Mille Lacs before July 1st.  Monday is the funeral of our good friend Tim who passed away from cancer on April 3rd.  Even though there should have been 2 trips to Lac Seul this year, the current situation has us thinking about flying somewhere with Bruce to try a new fishing experience.  More on that later!

On the River Finally!

Jake's First Smallie!

After many delays the 14 foot jon boat with a brand new 25 hp motor finally got a chance to get wet.  In the last 2 weeks I have had Little Jake and his dad Limo Joe out helping do the maiden run 2 times.  The first was on August 30th, we hooked up the boat and headed about 3 1/2 miles up rive next to Goodin Island, just south of where the Crow River empties into the Mississippi.  Our strategy was to drift the north side of the river where the water is better as the south side tends to be quite muddy from the Crow.  We would stay 30 feet from the shore and cast right to the edge, bringing our baits downstream and across the current breaks and eddy's. Jake had been practicing with his spinning rod however I was concerned it was a little light for this kind of fishing so he used a heavier rod with heavier test line, as well I rigged him up with a white buzz bait.  These baits come up to the surface and make quite a noise coming across the water, enough to drive the smallmouth bass crazy.  In addition to that Jake is 12 years old and has a lot to learn about casting, avoiding snags, the right finesse for retrieving a lure.  As well my friend Pete who guided on the river for smallies claim they are deadly, so much he stopped using them and gave me a few to try.  This was perfect for Jake, heavy enough to get it close to shore, a quick yank and it was on the surface and if and when the do strike it's quite a show as the fish hit with vengeance on the surface.  There was some skepticism on Jake's part but he started pretty good as on the sixth cast a nice 16 inch smallie slammed it and the fight was on.  It really put up a battle and decided to get the net out to make sure we landed the fish.   Jake was pretty happy with himself as he did end up having 2 more bass take a swipe at it as well he landed 2 small northerns.  In the meantime I was using a favorite Bomber Model A in a light crayfish pattern with good success.  The plan was to float down to where Cloquet Island, just upriver from us, forms a deep hole and is a great place to anchor and drown a few nightcrawlers.  Well, we got about a mile from where we started and a jet ski was drifting down the middle of the river where the current was

Jake's Beautiful 20" Walleye

faster, he yelled at us so we pulled up to see what the problem was.  His jet ski refused to start and asked if we would pull him back to his place, maybe 3 miles downstream.  Although Jake wasn't too happy, it was the right thing to do so we tied a rope and pulled him home at a whooping 9 miles an hour.  Jake was pouting all the way as he had just started getting into a rhythm and we stopped to help this guy.  As we approached his dock he insisted that we stay there and he was going to get us some money, $80.  Jake's eyes really lit up but we told Jake that someday he will need help and banking a few good deeds is always good, we left to bottom fish.   With the sun setting and little time we took off his buzz bait and I have circle hooks snells ready to clip onto the snaps on the line with a 1 once bell sinker clipped above the snap, a quick and easy way to get fishing fast.  threading 2 crawlers on the hook we pitched Jake's pole into the current break and put it in the rod holder.  While getting the other rigs set up he noticed the tip of his rod bouncing pretty good.  Slowly coaching him, Jake is very good at using circle hooks as he doesn't really have any bad habits of setting a standard type hook, telling him when he feels a steady pull just start reeling.  Although he claimed there was a fish on his line it didn't look like much until he got it to the side of the boat where it really took off.  Kind of in disbelief, he finally had a good battle going and when he got it back to the boat it was a beautiful walleye, 20 inches.  Having caught a few walleye on the river, I know they are in there however this was the largest one that had graced my boat.  We had a few more bites however the mark had been set quite high and with it getting dark fast we decided to leave.  After loading the boat up on the side by side, we just had to drive around the neighbor hood to show off this nice fish, first to our neighbor big Jake, then we had to show his mom, stopped a few more places before putting the boat away and cleaning the fish.  I filleted the fish, vacuum packed it and it was ready to give to Grandpa when he came over for a visit the next day.  Joe proclaimed.....Dave, you've created this fishing monster!  We did go out on Labor Day for a few hours but the buzz bait wasn't working as well as the crankbaits.  We ended up with 8 nice 16 - 18 inch bass, it was funny as Jake reeled in the first couple then after hooking another one I think he felt sorry for me and stated that I should have the honor.  Changing his buss bait to a fire tiger shallow running crank bait got him a few northerns yet I had the hot bait.  I finally switched with him but it seems at about 30 minutes before sunset the fish turn off somewhat.  Either way we had a great time and it's more fun for Joe and myself see the excitement in Jake when he reels in a fish than anything else.  All you have to do is check out that smile in the pictures!

Nice Smallie

On Wednesday night I had the privilege of fishing with Jarred, the son of a friend of my friend, Paul Wenaas.  We had been trying to get together of an evening trip so Wednesday it was.  Because it is starting to get dark around 7:30, we decided to just fish the shorelines and dispense with any anchoring.  Admittedly the fishing was slow although the weather was nice.  I told Jarred that it's like another wold on the river and he's never know we where 20 miles from Downtown Minneapolis.  Because casting cranks let's one cover a lot of water fast, he was the first to get a nice 16 incher.  Satisfied a few minutes later I hooked a nice bass as well. These were the only 2 we got for the night, nothing spectacular but I am sure he'll be back.  It was interesting as these were the first outings with the new 25 hp outboard engine on the back.  Originally the boat came with a 1976 15 hp Evinrude but that was a real dog on the river.  I think it was very tired so a couple of years ago there was a 25 hp short shaft Mercury on Craigslist so I put that on the boat and it really woke it up.  The 15 hp would get about 12 mph upstream and maybe 16 going down, while the newer 25 hp did about 20 upstream and 24 down.  Well to be honest I forgot the motor was new and never broke it in, just took off at full throttle!  Honestly the performance wasn't that good, maybe 17 going up and 21 going down.  Deciding to move the motor pin up once, with Jarred I hit 21 going up and 26 going down, pretty impressive.  Although worried about the break in period, the old saying break it in like you're gonna run it, looks like it held true.  I suspect it would be a good thing to change the oil this fall even though it will probably have less than 5 hours on it.  The other thing that got done this week

Wagon Load of Sweet Corn 

was getting around to freezing the sweetcorn from the garden.  Planting 6-48 foot rows, 3 in May and 3 more rows about 3 weeks later gives a little time to get it all done.  For some reason this years first crop was sparse as I usually plant 3 - 4 seeds next to each other 10 inches apart, but in the case of the first crop only one or two stalks came up.  The second crop was better, but not as prolific as last year.  Thinking about it there may have been some Preen pre-emergent carryover from last years onion crop.  Either way not counting what the raccoons ate, I vacuum packed 42 bags of corn, each bag holding the equivalent of between 5 - 6 ears of corn, it amounted to about 250 ears of my favorite variety, Honey and Pearl bi-color.  It's really quite simple, get a big pot of water boiling, shuck about 30 ears and put them in the boiling water.  As dad taught me, boil them for about 3 minutes or so, I take them out and put them in big aluminum foil pans so they cool off.  With an electric knife just cut off the kernels and fill the vacuum bags.  I have a chamber vacuum packer that works excellent for this as it goes in a 8" x 12" bag, the corn gets flattened and sealed.  It ends up pretty slick and the vacuum packing give the corn an incredible storage life as we have had 12 month old corn form last year and it tastes as fresh as what we just did,  Finally got the Ranger back today and it looks pretty good.  It needs a good cleaning before September 21st when we head back up to Lac Seul.  I'm anxious to how they say, bite the dog that bit you the last time!  I know the buoy is moved and the water is at least 2 feet higher so it should not be a problem..........hopefully as it's been in the shop for over 9 weeks already this year...Uffda!