Fishin' With Dave

nice largemouth bass

Last Monday I had the pleasure of fishing with a good friend of mine Dave Grant.  He is the son of Mike Grant, who I worked with for many years.  My good friend Bruce Wiley has it right, you can only have so many good friends in your life and Mike is one of them.  Well Dave asked me to go fishing with me a few weeks ago but he ended up having to work.  That's OK as he is trying to work his way through college, something that will make him very successful someday.  We decided that Monday was a good day so after meeting me at the pole shed at 8:00 we loaded everything up and headed northwest about 60 miles from Alexandria, MN to a smaller lake fishing for panfish.  It's a long drive but spending quality time with Dave is as fun as fishing.  He's a bright young man and has the qualities for a very successful future.  He met me at the pole shed and we loaded up my ATV, 2 man Clam, the auger and I decided to take my new KDrill 7.5 inch auger that is powered via my M18 Milwaukee portable drill, or so I thought.  I bought it since I already had a M18 drill driver.  It says to have a drill with at least 750 inch/pounds of torque and one that has a side handle.   Charging off to find a side handle for my drill, although not expensive, I bought 2 that didn't fit before calling Milwaukee Tools customer service for help.  Giving him the model number he told me that he had some bad news, first that there were no handles for that model and second, that model only has 500 inch/pounds of torque and will burn out if you use it.  After recommending the right drill, a trip to Home Depot got me me just what I needed!  We got to the boat landing, unloaded the ATV then loaded up the shack and headed out.  The lake is a long narrow lake with a deeper basin on the west end, maybe 1/2 mile from the east shore.  Using the Navionics app on the phone we got into the 25 foot basin and drilled a bunch of holes with my 9" gas Strikemaster.  We set up the 2 man and got comfortable.  After an hour of fishless time I decided it would be nice to try the KDrill.  Heading straight north I drilled about 5 holes going shallower.  It wasn't terribly cold and fishing outside was tolerable, the second hole produced a nice mark on the Vexilar then boom, it was a nice fish, sort of felt like a northern.   Yelling at Dave to come and help with the fish as I was using 3# test and a panfish setup he got there just in time to lip this nice largemouth.  Back in the hole she went, rebaited and 5 minutes later there was another bass on the line, not as big but still fun.  All together I landed 4 bass, a small sunfish and a  hammer handle northern.  It was fun.  

Dave's one of two 8 1/2 inch sunfish

About 4:00 we decided to move in shallower for the evening bite. Back off a point there were 2 permanent shacks, a good sign that it was a consistent place to catch fish.  We set up close to the shacks, not on top of them and started fishing.  Right off the bat we started marking sunfish, then began catching them. I call them hate to's....Hate to keep em, hate to throw them back.  We were catching a fish a minute and sorting through the better ones. Dave called his dad and asked him if he wanted any fish for his grandma.....yes bring some home.   We had about 6 fish on the ice when Dave gets a nice 8 1/2 inch sunny.  Five minutes later he gets another one.  This was only after watching him with his fishing pole, I just shook my head and dug another single action light pole out of my bag and handed it to him....here try this as I could see the set coil in his line was taking up any feel that the line gave him.  Dave started catching fish and managed to get another nice sunfish.  We were fishing waxy's on #8 frosty glow jigs.  That Vexilar Glo Ring that I picked up a few weeks ago really works slick and for that evening bite seems to keep the fish interested longer.  We ended up with about 14 sunnies, I threw in a smaller one just to make his dad clean a smaller fish, told Dave to tell your dad he's lucky we didn't save all of them.  Dave is going to St. Thomas University for Mechanical Engineering and he will do very well for himself.  He's a smart kid and utilizes every minute of our time together to ask questions, seek advice as he looks to the future.  Working his way through school he is extremely conscience of student debt and is working hard to graduate debt free, a fabulous goal.  Sometime during our trip he asked me some advice on an upcoming internship he applied for, or any opportunity that presents himself.  I told Dave...Don't let the grass grow under your feet, make sure that if you are done, go find something else and don't wait for your boss to give you something.  Companies really recognize self starters.  The other thing I like about Dave is he's a realist, not wrapped up in the what if's of the world.  Of course I am turning into an old curmudgeon however it's fun to see that there is still some common sense left...just like his dad!!

I am desperate to get caught up as I went to Lake Winnebigoshish last weekend with my friend Mark Applen so I have more fishing stories!  At least I am fishing. 

Watching the Ice Melt

View from the Deck

It's time to get caught up with everything that has been waiting for the warmer weather to show itself. Actually it's been pretty nice here in Minnesota, the frost is already out and because of the lack of snow we really don't have any high water to deal with.  Most of the lakes up to Mille Lacs have experienced ice out and the Mille Lacs Webcam shows that Mille Lacs isn't that far behind.  It's been a week since I've been back from Naples and I have been enjoying eating the grouper that I brought home.  I must have had 20 pounds of fish fillets in my cooler, it was good that I turned down the refrigerator in my hotel room as the bags of fish were partially frozen when I packed them, the survived the trip quite well and are delicious!  Although last weeks post dealt with the fishing aspect of my trip, one of the things that was interesting is the experiences with my friends down in Tampa/Naples.  First was our accommodations while staying in Naples, we had the pleasure of being with my friend Glen and Tim in his Naples beach house.  A beautiful property right to the beach, it was wonderful to get up in the morning and have coffee on the deck and look out on the Gulf of Mexico, while listening to the gentle waves lapping up on the beach.  Tim is one of the most generous person's you'll ever meet and both Matt Davis (My friend from Dallas) and I certainly appreciated the hospitality shown to us. Matt and  had the pleasure to sleep in what is deferred to as "The Honeymoon Suite".  Although it had a couple of twin beds, it was right on the ground floor and the air conditioner was loud enough to drowned out any snoring that either him nor I would hear.  From Tim's house one could walk right on the sand beach where it was covered with shells and as you see in the picture, guys would actually

Joe's 58 foot boat.

surf fish off the property.  I never saw them catch anything however they must get something or what would be the point?  The next surprise was when we arrived back in Tampa to attend our APEC convention I finally ran into my dear friend Joe Stanfield from Dallas.  We attempted to get him to come fishing with us however he had lots of things to do and when we got into town it was obvious!  The Tampa Convention Center is located right on the waterfront and they had some docks where you could rent a spot to park your boat.  Well Joe decided to drive his boat up directly to those docks and use it for his accommodations during the show.  APEC is an interesting conference as it attracts some of the best and brightest electrical engineers and our company exhibits at that show, we have for at least 20 years.  Actually I had the pleasure of meeting Joe at the Cincinnati Coil Winding Show at least 20 years ago and we have been friends ever since.  Joe arranged our Cameron, Louisiana fishing trip a few years back http://davidjanderson.blogspot.com/2014/03/fishing-cajun-style-part-2.html and we never plan anything without including him in on the event.  When I first saw Joe he had let his hair grow out, I had to make a snide comment but it was sure good to see him again.  After the show was finished on Monday night he invited myself and my engineers onto his boat for an evening cocktail which was awesome.  The boat is a 58 foot yacht and quite the rig and is named appropriately "Daddy's Money"  Because it was on my way to the convention center every morning from the hotel, I would stop in and have coffee.  On Wednesday we took a little cruise up the river in his 16 foot dingy he had as his smaller boat to get around if needed. It is always the highlight of my trip to see Joe and this year was no exception.

Mike's nice norther at Lake Abram, Sioux Lookout Ontario

Well, there was still fishing going on as another good friend of mine, Mike Grant, went up to Canada for a later season Ice Fishing trip with some of his friends.  I knew he was going a few weeks ago so I volunteered the use of my Vexilar, a few nice and sturdy ice rods, and my bait collection.  His destination was Lake Abram, just out of Sioux Lookout and not to far from where I go fishing on Lac Seul.  The lake is famous for it's lake trout and nice northern pike and Mike promised me some pictures if he was lucky enough to catch something. So here is Mike with a very nice northern, at  least in the 15 pound class.  He also caught a nice lake trout and a whitefish and claims that although it wasn't a good day, it really helped to have my Vexilar showing him where the fish were and when to expect that thump.  I am really glad he got out and someday maybe he will let me horn in on his trip!  I can tell you that it certainly has the juices flowing for the opener.  Speaking of fishing opener, Team Walleye has been working hard to get ready as we finished ordering our hats for this year.  We are only 6 weeks away and the weekend after that I will be heading to the Ontario fishing opener with my friends.  There are a lot of things that need to get done, the boat needs to be brought up to Frankies for some work on the kicker motor as it is the worst starting outboard motor I've ever had.  I am adding a remote control steering to it as it can be damn near impossible to steer otherwise.  I wanted to get a bimini top for the boat however it looks like the place is tied up till June of this year, uffda!   The yard needs work, the sprinkler system needs tuning up, the garden has to be tilled up, trees dug out and replanted..........the list goes on and on!  Oh well.

Taking Nothing for Granted

The Grant's, Mike, John, and Dave

 

I received an E-mail the other day from my nephew John, who is at Fort Rucker, Alabama training to be a helicopter pilot.  He had sent some photos of a snowmobile trip he had taken while lamenting that he missed the "upper Midwest weather".  A quick check of http://www.intellicast.com/ revealed a surprise, here in Minnesota at 9:00 AM it was 84 degrees, heat index of 95 while Fort Rucker was a cool 75 degrees!  Go figure.  The fishing trips from last weekend as well as the heat made me decide to forgo the weekend trips and concentrate on the planned 4th of July trip with my friend Mike Grant and his 2 boys John and David.  I have been friends with Mike for years and was really looking forward to getting his boys out for a relaxing day on Mille Lacs.  Knowing it was going to be hot, we decided to start at 9:00 and just take it easy for the day.  Loading up on plenty of water and red licorice, we hooked the Ranger up and headed north.  John is 16 and Dave is 10 so the first thing I reminded them is the 2 rules in my boat.......no chewing tobacco and no cigars!  Once we established that this was understood the rest of the day would be easy.  The wind was out of the south at around 10 mph and blowing across the 78 degree lake kept us at a reasonable temperature.  The first picture is of the Grant's with Mike in the white, John standing on the bow of the boat, and Dave holding a nice 26 inch fish.  Needless to say Dave caught most of the fish thanks to his gracious older brother, a lazy dad, and myself, who could not resist seeing the greatest smile in the world!  This fish was caught on Sherman's and to be honest I was quite surprised at the lack of boats on the lake as we even got "Rock Star" parking at the landing.  With 4 in the boat we tried both nightcrawler rigging and bobber fishing.  This fish was caught on a leech/bobber right under the boat using my infamous ice fishing technique.  If a mark shows up on my depth finder while in a stationary position, I simply drop my leech over the edge and can watch the bait go down and in this case, the fish come up to meet it and inhale the bait.  A quick flick of the wrist and the battle is on.  The bite wasn't as aggressive as it had been and we were marking a lot of fish but they seemed to be rather neutral.  Needing a slight break from heat we headed to 7-Mile looking to do some deep water trolling around the flat.  John is in a fishing club at school so showing him a few new methods would be good and maybe we might get that elusive 28 inch + fish to boot.  Well, the trolling was a bust up to the time we reeled the lines in when John discovered we had been pulling an 18 inch walleye for who knows how long.  The fish got off right at the boat and immediately headed down, we decided that it would count as a caught fish.  Marking quite a few fish on 7-Mile we put the 3 way crawler rigs back on to search for any aggressive fish.  Although the boys didn't really like Country Western music, I convinced them that without it, I was afraid the fish would simply stop biting.  Asking if they knew Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup, I found the song, cranked up the volume and bang, the rods started bending like my corn in a windstorm.  The boys laughed as though they had learned some mystical secret to getting the walleyes to bite, and bite they did.  A quick flurry of at least 5 walleyes as Toby played in the background was proof enough.  We ended up with a total of 13 fish including this 25 inch walleye and I am not sure who has a bigger smile, Dave or the walleye.  These boys were absolutely the greatest, well behaved and truly loved to fish.  They understood the need to get these fish back in the water fast and that they did as the pictures were taken within 10 seconds of landing, great job boys.  I look forward to sharing some of my experiences with them in the future as I promised John that if he came over I was sure we could add a few things to his tackle box.  As soon as the river gets back to normal, we will head out one night and try our luck on catfish.  Honestly, I am not sure who had more fun, them or myself. 

Side dressing corn

So did I tell you it's been hot?  Sorry to sound like a broken record but there is some good news, the sweet corn is growing like crazy.  The old adage that corn should be knee high by the 4th of July is pretty much over with these days.  Sweet corn loves 3 things, hot long days, adequate water, and nitrogen as corn is really a grass.   The last week has really spurred it's growth and with the heat and amount of rain, all it needed was the nitrogen.  Most of the farmers today use liquid anhydrous ammonia to fertilize their corn and at 82% nitrogen, it is extremely effective.  It is hard for an ordinary gardener to apply anhydrous so I use the next best thing, a granular version called Urea, which is rated at 46-0-0, or 46% nitrogen.  The best way to apply is once the corn gets about a foot high or so, make a trench along the row and side dress the corn with it.  I plant 6 rows of corn, 3 as early as I dare and 3 rows a few weeks later.  This assures a longer harvest time as one is about ready to be done the other is just getting ripe.  Once the urea is spread in the trench it gets covered with dirt.  The stuff is pretty strong as if you have a cut or sore on your hand and get some of the urea touching it, it burns like crazy.  In a few days the corn will turn a beautiful dark green color and grow like crazy.  I did this to the first 3 rows a few weeks back and it's already almost 4 feet high.  The plan is to have the first 3 rows of corn ready before I head to Alaska, and the second 3 rows will be just getting ripe, in time to compliment fresh salmon on the grill.   The unfortunate thing about this weather is that the weeds tend to grow as well!



In my garden

 

Although my blueberries are really coming along, I will probably head to Eleva this week to pick a few pails at Blueberry Ridge.  It will be a great chance to see my mom and brothers, wish my friend Kevin a safe journey as he and his wife head to Colorado on their motorcycle, and get stocked up on blueberries.  I have quite a few but would never get the pail fulls I need to enjoy them all year.  Here is a picture of my most prolific blueberry plant, working its magic for me.  With Alaska 5 weeks away, my brother Steve and I have put the final touches on our trip which includes a flyover trip across the Cook Inlet to a place called Bachatna Creek.  We are definitely looking forward to the cooler weather!