Catching Up, Slow but Sure



Holding down the fort.



It was Memorial Day weekend and it still seems like the first week in May.  With all the rain we are having, just getting in the garden has been a challenge.  For the most part I am still 3 weeks behind but slowly catching up around the house.  For the last month the plantings have been a little here and a little there with potatoes in first, radishes, onions, carrots and peas.  It was good that I rototilled before the rains as it is still significantly wet 4 inches down.  With half the corn in, dill, kale, beans, squash, tomatoes and pepper plants looking better, all I have left is the cucumbers.  I traded my 10 liter fermentation crock for a 15 liter crock and am looking forward to making crock pickles again, they're pretty awesome.  Saturday was spent helping my good friend Bill Lundeen run his bait shop, Lundeen's Tackle Castle on the southwest corner of Mille Lacs.  His daughter, Amanda graduated from the University of St. Thomas and there was no way he and Kathy were going to miss seeing her receive that diploma.  Unfortunately graduation coincides with some of the busiest time of the year for the Lundeen's but I guess he felt we could handle it.  Along with me was Mike Wolff, Mike Melleen, and Don Zaske, all who have worked for Bill at one time or another.  All of these guys are just wonderful and each has their own specialty.  While Don worked the propane, Mike Wolff and I manned the cash register, credit card machine, and with Mr. Melleen's help we all took turns with the license machine.  And licenses we sold!  I'll bet we did over 120 sold to locals and as far away as Hawaii.  Leeches were the most popular with most people and we almost sold out of 5 - 6 inch sucker minnows as some guys were just hammering the big walleyes on them in the various harbors around the lake.  All in all it was a great day to meet new people, work with the guys who have your same passion, and give the gift of letting Bill and Kathy do something special in their lives.

Little and Big Waverly Lakes

Did I say it's been raining?  With a short window on Sunday I did a little planting if the garden before heading out to fish for the afternoon.  With the boat still having sat on the trailer since last October, we simply had to get out.  My destination was Big Waverly Lake in Waverly, MN.  Having purchased a Minnesota Lake Map book that showed significant walleye stockings the last few years and some encouraging words from a friend of mine, I stopped by Cabela's to get some shiner and fathead minnows before cutting cross country to my destination.  Big Waverly is a misnomer as it's not very big at all.  I guess next to it's twin, Little Waverly, it's the biggest...........makes sense.  I arrived at the boat landing just as 2 guys were loading up their bass boat, we discussed the fishing conditions before putting the boat in the water.  After unhooking everything, plugging what needed to be plugged, I backed into the landing.  It was obvious the water was high as it was at the same level as the dock, oh well....more water to float the boat in.  Not this time as the high water covered the more level part of the ramp and with the front wheels of my truck in 6 inches of water the boat was still on the trailer.  I could get to the dock and possibly jump out of the truck and launch but it just didn't seem like a good idea.  Now if I had another guy I would have backed it in far enough to drive it off and back on again, which I am sure the bass boat guys did.  So much for Plan A.  Little Waverly Lake was across the street and although it was just as high the ramp was steeper and I was able to launch.  The problem is that Little Waverly really didn't have the fish population as it's significantly more shallow with much less clarity.  Well at least I got out and tried everything.  You can't knock a guy for trying!

These weekend is graduation central as we are invited to 3 different parties.  I have decided to skip the ones on Saturday and fish the Minnesota Tournament Trail's event on Lake Mille Lacs with Mark Applen.   2 years ago we had taken 3rd place winning over $1000 for Marks Charity.  Last year we got somewhat greedy and could have been in the money but decided to switch strategies, lessons learned.  This year will be more difficult as the slot size is 18" - 20" and the limit is 2 per person.  You can be assured we will do our best looking for a top 10 win. 

Wrong Strategy or Simple Greed!

The plan for Saturday's MTT Tournament was set, leave work early on Friday heading up to Mille Lacs for a possible hour or two of pre-fishing.  Stopping at Bill's for a possible last minute update I stopped for gas before meeting my partner, Mark Applen at his fish house.   The tournament rules meeting was at 7:00 at Hunter's Point Resort.  The organizers had a pretty nice set up with grilled brats and burgers available and an outside bar pouring drinks and serving beer.  My friend Joe Stanfield coined a new title for a common cocktail I enjoy, a Captain Morgan with Diet Coke.   He calls it a Skinny Pirate and about 80% of the bartenders figure it out.  When I ordered it Joe's way, the lady loved the name but couldn't figure it out.  Pointing to the bottle of Captain, she smiled............coming right up.   The rules meeting started, 2 flights leaving, 1 - 50 at 7:00 AM and the second 51 - 70 at 7:30.  We were officially #47.  No culling was allowed meaning once a fish is in the live well, it stays there.  Our limit on Mille Lacs is 4 fish each so each 2 man team could catch 8 fish however only the largest 6 fish could be entered.   The legal slot on Mille Lacs is under 18 and 28 and over.  The rules were specific, any fish on the 18 inch line and you would be disqualified.  Any fish on the 28 inch line would count.   Fish under 13 or dead fish turned in would result in a 0.12 pound penalty.   You must be recognized as in line for the weigh in before 3:00 (or 3:30 if in the 2nd heat), the official time was determined by the Tournament Director, no ifs, ands, or buts!  Winners would be announced at 4:30.  Deciding to relax rather than pre-fish we headed back to the ice house for a walleye and smoked rib dinner.  It was a pretty early evening as we had to be up by 5:30 and at Hunter's by 6:15.

Waking up at 5:30 we were greeted with a familiar loud hum of at least a billion lake flies that hatched through the night.  The trees, cars, houses, anything withing 100 feet of the lake was literally covered with these rather benign but annoying insects.  BTW, I do mean a billion.  This is one of the largest bug hatches I have seen in years, verified by the tremendous amount of carcasses floating on the lake.  Although a royal pain, we did manage to load and launch our boat arriving at Hunter's Point with plenty of time to spare.  All the boats staged just outside of their breakwater as the "Official" pontoon broadcast the National Anthem over the marine band radio, channel 68.  Boats were to parade by the pontoon single file and in order and away we were off.  Our strategy was to head back to the winning reef we fished last year.  About a 10 minute ride we arrived to an empty hotspot, fabulous!  Last year there was a tournament boat parked on our spot, although he did leave early.   Mark started with a short snelled leech while I long lined a crawler.  Within 5 minutes we had our first keeper fish, a nice 17 incher.  The next 2 hours were incredible.  By 9:00 we had 5 in the box, had caught over 15 walleyes and were well on our way to a respectable tournament limit.  The bite was definitely hot.  Our plan was to keep those fish over 16 inches, get our 6 then head out to try the flats for a 28+ fish.  Debating to keep that 15.5" inch fish, we decided to through it back as we "knew" we could get that last fish to meet our high expectations.  Having laid down a pretty good set of GPS tracks Mark was on the front of the boat when this huge muskie swam by.  I caught a glimpse of it's tail and my estimate was 48 inches plus.  Muskies are always exciting to see but not this time.  The slot fish simply stopped hitting for about a half hour after the muskie swam through.  When the fish decided to start biting again, all we could catch were those in the over 18 to 26 inch range.  With 5 fish and only larger fish hitting, we decided to go for broke and head to the flats for a big fish.  Noticing no one was on the Midget Flat, we cruised  over and started marking fish like crazy.  Missing a couple I finally felt something nail my crawler rig.  Feeding it line for a few seconds I set the hook and she was a hog.  As it came into sight it looked like the tourney winner.  Quickly landing the old girl a measurement revealed we'd have to stretch her another 2 inches to contend.  A quick picture and back she went along with the last of our hopes for that first place.  We weighed our fish at exactly 7.77 pounds, well maybe that number was lucky.  In the end we finished 16th out of 70 boats, with a pound separating 16th from 6th.  Our decision to throw back that last 15.5 inch walleye cost us the money.  Disappointed in our hearts we screwed up.  Never the less our "real" score would have put us in the top ten finishers 2 years in a row.  Oh well, I think there is a saying about being a "Legend in our own mind", that's us!  Next year we will definitely remember what we didn't do.  The first picture is the 26 inch walleye we coaxed out of the Midget and the second one is the bugs resting on a boat in the harbor.  It was a ton of fun as we did catch over 20 walleyes.

The plans are to head back up on Sunday to see if the hot bit is still on.

Back on the "Dead Sea"

With all the hoopla of the opener behind us, it was time to head up to the pond and see how the walleyes were biting.  Having 2 weeks to report on, I will start with my trip on May 22nd with Jeffrey Chen, my business colleague from Taiwan.  Jeffrey gets to Minnesota about once every 2 years so I look forward to doing something special with him.  Having no set time of the year to travel we have made done everything from snowmobiling on the North Shore to checking out the floods on the Mississippi River.  Of course all of these things have a down home slant of good old Midwestern fun.  Because he had never fished before, we decided a day on Mille Lacs would be a great way to spend the day.  Asking if he'd go rain or shine, he answered "of course!".   Well, with the weather we have been having lately it looked more rain than shine.  After picking him up at the hotel we headed north to Bill's for a license and bait.  Although Jeffrey had fished in Taiwan before, the bait shop proved to be pretty interesting.  It sort of reminded him of the restaurants in China where your meal is either crawling or swimming.  A bucket of leeches, some crawlers, and refreshments we headed to the east side where the bite was reported in 20 feet of water just off the rocks.  Well, half the lake must have gotten the same report as there was a pretty good crowd fishing the area.  After about an hour of backtrolling the rain decided it was time to make our trip more miserable.  Donning our rain suits the sky opened up like one of those overflow buckets at the water parks.   Having had enough of the "hot bite" we headed to a shallower spot closer to shore.  10 minutes into the pattern a 15 inch walleye answered the call.  Being the good sport I let Jeffrey reel in his first walleye.  The rain continued off and on and with the light bite decided to try some bobber fishing which would give Jeffrey a chance to see a bite in action.  Anchored on the spot we caught the first walleye, the strategy seemed sound anyway.  After an hour and anther 1/4 inch of rain we moved out to deeper water.  The wind had picked up and noticing a net being used on Big Point we decided to drift across the point.  Once again within 5 minutes we nailed a nice 22 incher.  Jeffrey reeled this one in as well and after 3 more drifts would be the last fish we caught.  He didn't quite understand the reason we had to throw the big one back as he was looking forward to a walleye dinner later that evening.  Assuring him we did the right thing, we still had at least one fresh fish and with a couple out of the freezer, he would have his wish.  Deep fried walleye and fresh grilled asparagus, it was truly a meal fit for a king, at least Jeffrey thought so!

On Monday my good friend Tom Emmons and I decided to start out his open water season on Mille Lacs.  Although the day was nice and warm, the wind was howling out of the SE at around 30 mph.  In order to be somewhat comfortable, we  launched out of the Cove Bay landing and fished the south end of the lake.  It wasn't as bad as I anticipated..........the waves that is!  Man, the walleye bite left a lot to be desired.  Everything seems to be about 2 weeks behind schedule as the lilacs are still in full bloom around here.  With surface water temperatures around 56 degrees, the fish haven't seemed to move too deep yet.  We spend a bunch of time on Sloppy Joe's and marked a number of fish but they had lock jaw for one reason or another.  Moving to a few shallower spots proved fruitless.  Deciding to try and troll some shad raps around Anderson Reef about the only thing we came up with was a 14 inch smallie.   My secondary reason for going up was to do a little scouting.  On Saturday my good friend Mark Applen and I are once again entered in the MTT Walleye Tournament.   The entry fee was again part of our ENA Charity Golf outing where last year Mark and I took third place winning $1024 on behalf of a generous donor.  This year we are being sponsored again by our committee member John Budde, a testament to his faith in Mark and I's ability to at least triple his money!  I only hope that we can find the mother lode again and make John happy.  The rest of the week is going to be nice and warm and should help our strategy.  Wish us luck, we'll probably need it.

In The Money!

Fishing Mille Lacs as much as I do often prompts the question from my friends and colleagues, "Do you fish any tournaments on the lake?"  Mille Lacs is a popular lake for both professional as well as amateur tournament events.   Professional organizations include the Masters Walleye Circuit, FLW Walleye Tour, and Cabela's National Team Championship.  This events are the big money tourney's with top rated pros like Gary Parsons, Ted Takasaki, and others with total winnings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The amateurs events include the Wave Wacker, various resort sponsored tournaments, and the Minnesota Tournament Trail (MTT).  My answer is always the same...............Fishing tournaments are too much work as I would rather just have fun.  True, I am pretty competitive in the boat and the thought had often crossed my mind yet the opportunity never presented itself until Sunday.  My friend Mark Applen had received a slot in any MTT walleye tournament as a charitable gift auction item for his Eric Nicolin Applen Charity Golf Event.  Not wanting to waste a good prize, Mark and I bought the position for the full amount, maximizing the charitable gift.  We decided that we would fish day 2 of the MTT on June 6th, 2010.  It will be a fishing trip I'll never forget.

The tourney was held at Hunter's Point Resort located on the east side of the lake.  There were a total of 87 two man teams registered  for the day's fishing.  The first 50 boats would leave at 7:00 returning at 3:00 while the second flight, boats 51 - 87 left at 7:30 returning at 3:30.  The rules were simple, 8 fish per boat allowed, 6 could be weighed.  This would help to accommodate the no culling rule and define each teams overall strategy.  Rules included only fish under 18 inches or 1 fish 28 inches or better.  This meant that if your fish measured 18 inches, you would be disqualified but a fish could be on the 28 inch line and be fine.  The money strategy was simple, catch 7 fish under 18 then go look for the hawg.  This way you would have your 6 fish to weigh and if you got a big fish you could swap it out and include it in.  Looking at the results from the day before, no one caught a 28 inch fish.  With the no cull and lack of big fish caught we decided to get 8 fish over 17 inches to maximize or position.

Mark and I did some prefishing on Saturday night to validate a possible location strategy.  It has been a deep water bite with most coming out of 25 feet and deeper.  Going out at 7:00 on Saturday night we checked out a shallow rock/weed spot in 10 feet of water.  In an hour we had 5 walleyes measuring in that sweet spot of 17 - 17.9 inches long.  We decided that would be a good place to start in the morning.  Arriving at Hunter's at 6:30 I signed the necessary paperwork, attached a ribbon to my bow eye, and had the boat inspected.  The first flight took off on schedule and we got out a half hour later.  Heading south we arrived at our spot only to see a boat from the earlier flight parked 50 feet from our spot, working the area.  Fortunately they were off the mark as we began to fish the weed line.   Within 5 minutes Mark had our first fish.  Keeping the net low, we managed to boat our first keeper while our company was oblivious to our quick strike.  After cutting them off as they approached, it became apparent to them that the fish were not shallow.   10 minutes later they fired up the engine and left, leaving us by ourselves.  Apparently they did not see us net our fish, foolish move.   In the next 3 hours we proceeded to get our 8 fish, with at least 5 of them over 17.25 and a couple in the 16+ range.  Almost all the fish were caught on night crawlers with spinners in 10 feet of water.  As stated, the rare 28+ fish prompted our strategy to weigh 6 fish over 17 and with a penalty for dead fish, we headed back to Hunter's to weigh them.  Being the first in, they were somewhat taken back but acknowledge we had done well.  Our fish weighed 10.71 pounds, good enough for fist place!  Done for the day and turning our fish over, we decided to try some lead line tactics.  Within 30 minutes the rain showed up so we headed back to load up the boat and watch the weigh in.  We knew a big fish would knock us out and as luck would have it a 7.56 pound walleye showed up.  After all said and done we ended up with 3rd, just 1.44 ounces behind the 2nd place team.  Not bad out of 87 boats.  Mark and I had agreed before hand that in the rare chance we would win, all monies would be donated back to the charity.  Along with a side bet, we netted $1046 for winning and $168 on the side bet.  Not bad for 3 hours of work.  Keeping the side bet money to cover our expenses, the balance of the monies went for an excellent cause.  Check out http://www.eric-nicolin-applen-fund.com/ to learn more about our charity.  As far as my ego, sorry it got a pretty good boost on Sunday, one I will never forget!

Mille Lacs 2010 Maiden Voyage

Having skipped last week's opportunity to hit Mille Lacs Lake, it gave me time to get a few things caught up around the house.  Memorial Weekend is usually my first real excursion to the pond and this year was no exception.  Monday is a great time to hit the lake as most of the traffic is heading south and the lake is substantially less crowded.  The reports from Mille Lacs has been excellent with a lot of fish being caught and a good number of them acceptable for the live well.  Mille Lacs has special restrictions due to the current Native American netting which goes on in the spring, during spawning, and before the fishing season opens.  These restrictions include a bag limit of 4 fish which must be under 18 inches with one allowed over 28 inches.  In the past 5 years the average walleye was exceeding 18 inches and bringing home some fish to eat was difficult.  This year has started out much better with many slot fish available.  The Minnesota DNR regulates the total amount of fish harvest based on the Indian harvest and available sportsman harvest.  The last few years the total harvest has been less than half of the total allowed (around 460,000 pounds).  This year we may have the opportunity to utilize our full allowable take of fish.  The first picture is the largest fish I landed, about a 22 incher.

Deciding to go out of the west side, we headed for a deeper rock reef south of Sherman's Point.  My friend Bill Lundeen had insisted that we fish deep, 26 - 30 feet.  The water temperature was 62, a number I expected to be higher.  After 30 minutes on the rocks I called my friend Jon Bathke to see if he was on the pond.  He answered the phone but was at home.  A short discussion of yesterday's success changed my strategy.  Hitting a special spot on Sherman's Flat, I nailed a couple walleyes, one keeper and one to long.  Action was slow so we moved to another favorite spot of mine, The Cut.  Although we marked a ton of fish as well I had a very nice fish on, that was about it.  I finally conceded to Mr. Lundeen's suggestion, headed south and bobber fish the deep water gravel.  Picking a popular gravel bar, we anchored in 28 feet of water, away from the assembled crowd.  Using slip bobbers set about 18 inches off the bottom baited with a leech, I had our first fish within 5 minutes of anchoring.  The next 3 hours proved to be quite successful as we put 7 more in the box giving us a total of 8 walleyes with a couple of nice perch thrown in for a bonus.  One interesting experiment that I like to do is target the fish just below the boat which show up on my depthfinder.  My guests were a couple of frequent friends, Tom McAtee and Tom Emmons.    Mr. McAtee had some issues with his line so I let him use my bobber rig as I jigged directly under the boat, watching the jig and fish on m depthfinder.  It was just like ice fishing as I caught at least 4 walleyes this way.  In an interesting experiment, I have a very cool stereo system in my boat.  As I marked fish directly below me, I cranked the volume to a definite uncomfortable level (Lot's of bass!).  The fish never moved.  So much for noise scaring fish.  This picture is of my good friend Tom Emmons with a nice keeper walleye.

This weekend I will be competing in the MTT Walleye Tournament on Mille Lacs.  Held out of Hunter's Point Resort on the east side,  Mark Applen will be my partner in our attempt to capture the $5000 grand prize.  It should be interesting as I have never fished an open water tourney on Mille Lacs.  I will report our results next week with the hopes that both bank accounts will be substantially larger on Monday!