Lac Seul, Part 2.

Beautiful Walleye

OK, so I need to get back into my standard routine however being out during the week of fishing on Lac Seul and the fact that I really seem crazy busy these days, It's hard to find any time.  Oh well it doesn't pay to whine does it!  I am still winding down from our trip of 2 weeks ago as it seems like not too long ago the time would never come.  One thing that I love about Lac Seul is the dark stained water produces some really nice looking fish ranging from a bright golden color to dark brown to having a teal colored hue to them. Depending on where you catch them the fish in Wapesi are different than the fish in Tuk Bay verses the ones coming out of the main channel in front of the resort.  Some say that the genetics are different for each area, this might be true and as well I am sure the bottom structures have something to do with it as well.  Bruce claims that the walleyes in Wapesi never leave that bay which is an interesting thought.  Speaking of Wapesi, we did spend the last 2 days fishing Bruce's favorite bay which is about a 15 mile run from the cabin.  So the second real day of fishing was different than the first day as the wind had calmed down somewhat.  There are a couple of spots way back in the bay that we tried and for the most part caught fish however we had to go looking for them.  Now the original plan was to eat fish on Tuesday night, which we did, have steak on Wednesday night then have walleye again on Thursday before we left.  I was somewhat concerned that because we could only have a limit (4 walleyes) each in possession, eating fish on Thursday would leave us short of fillets to bring home as we couldn't have our limit + dinner.  Luckily they saw my Norwegian logic and agreed to have fish on Wednesday then steak on Thursday which left us the need to get 19 walleyes for Thursday.  Fishing was tough but Pete had the secret hole which allowed us to get our limit and the other guys only had to pony up 7 fish, which they did!

Another great Sunset on Thursday night

With a freezer full of fresh walleyes I made Steak ala Kienitz, the same way I did this spring however I used ribeye's instead which are much better.  Leaving Friday morning meant trying to pack up everything early so we could get back to the boat landing and home at a reasonable time.  One of the interesting features on my new Evinrude Etec G2 is the trip computer and because of the distances, gas usage, and price of gas at the resort, it would be really nice to accurately understand your situation.  It actually has 2 separate trip recording modes so I reset the one on Monday prior to leaving the boat landing and heading to camp. On Thursday night it said we had gone 142 total miles and used 39.9 gallons of gas.  The tank holds 51 gallons and not being sure how full it gets plus not knowing the accuracy of the trip computer I decided to put in enough gas (10.5 gallons) to get back to the landing with at worse case about 6 gallons minimum to spare if the fuel usage is +/- 10%.  Arriving at the landing the computer said 177 miles, 49.9 gallons used.  When we finally got back to Pete's I filled up the boat and it took 39.5 gallons which means if you consider the 10.5 gallons in the tank proves that the computer is extremely accurate.  This will help with future trips to better manage my fuel consumption and with high dollar gas purchase it is nice to have the confidence that you know exactly what's in the gas tank.  One other thing it tells me is we sure travel a lot during the trip as it's 35 miles in, 35 out, and interesting that we averaged about 35 miles each day heading to and from our fishing destinations.

Precise anchor control

I have been having issues with my Motorguide front trolling motor and it's ability to successfully hold a position in the anchor mode. Sometimes it works great then the next day it acts as though it loses where it at and goes totally stupid and damn near twisting off all the cords. The picture to the left is a screen shot of our anchoring positions on Lac Seul on Tuesday afternoon on Dan's Hole.  The trolling motor has a jog feature that allows you to move over in 5 foot increments and each spot represents a 15 - 20 foot moves to the right or left, up or back.  By the way, we really did well moving around the point and catching fish, what a great feature. The next day the trolling motor went crazy in anchor mode and started spinning the shaft looking for a position to the point of wrapping the cords up so tight it pulled one out of its exit location. It was very frustrating especially considering how well it worked the day before. Upon returning I called Motorguide to discuss the issue of losing it's place and twisting to the point where a cable had pulled out of the plastic housing.  They suggested I do an upgrade on the software and Ok'd me messing with the cable to reinstall.  Lucky I had to take the brackets apart as the main pivot shaft was missing it's end clips and had come out one side which caused all sorts of issues as well. Actually I am pretty good with all of this and actually fixed the trolling motor better than when it came from the factory.  After upgrading the software with the dongle MG sent me earlier in the week, Lory and I went to Mille Lacs to try it out on Saturday.  Once we calibrated the position and compass functions the motor worked beautifully. Unfortunately it's history has been to work great the first day and not so hot the next so we'll have to try it again next Saturday.

Summer in Full Swing

The first walleye in the new Ranger

This time of year is the peak time for fishing Mille Lacs.  By now the walleyes have moved out to their summer haunts like the deeper gravel bars, rock piles, and the flats.  Last weeks outing with Bill was more or less a test run and this week I was determined to push my experience further down the path of feeling more comfortable not sitting in the stern all the time.  Saturday my friend and neighbor Lory Brasel volunteered to put up with me and the new boat for a few hours on the pond, so with everything supposedly fixed we took off at 11:30 and planned on being on the water by 1:30.  A quick stop at Lundeen's for coffee, leeches, and advice we met our goal and took off from the landing at 1:30 on the mark.  Because I've been having issues with the propeller it's very important that it there isn't one ding, one scratch, any evidence of even hitting mud on it.  At $700 I was very careful coming out of the landing as I have bottomed out before with my other boats and this one is even heavier.  Making it safely out of the landing our first stop was what Bill calls Roland's Flat.  It has some other names but I like Bill's the best.  Immediately I started marking fish at the 20 foot level so we decided to deploy the trolling motor and pull crawlers.  Normally in this situation I would simply start the rear trolling motor and slowly back troll the edges.  It''s quite a bit different to front troll with the motor for a number of reasons, mainly because I wasn't used to it!  While I'm figuring out how to get a handle on my boat control Lory let's me know he's got something on the end of the line, the first official walleye caught in the new boat.  It also gave me an opportunity to use my new folding net, which stores nicely in one of the side compartments.  Measuring 23", too long to keep we snapped a couple of pictures and let it go.  We were really pumped as we were marking a lot of fish, landed a nice 23 incher withing the first 10 minutes, it was going to be a great day, right.  Trolling around a couple of deep points produced nothing so we decided to park on top of an area where there were a ton of marks on the depthfinder and bobber fish with leeches, nothing.  It did give me an opportunity to fix my Sirius Radio receiver as it was not working at all, another yellow wire problem.  From there we took off to a deep rocky area just south of Sherman's Point where it can be great, I caught a medium sized smallie.  Heading to Sherman's flat we trolled my goto side with just a nice perch to show for it.  Next stop was Sliver Flat but there was someone on it already so I decided to let him have the whole thing as we headed for the 9 Mile Flat.  Again we marked fish but no takers.  I did fool around with the Autopilot feature by creating a route around 9 mile that basically went up and down the side walls of the flat, from 25 feet to 35 feet then back up again.  Setting it on newly created route on Navigation the trolling motor followed the trail, enough to impress the heck out of both Lory and I, it was pretty cool to see it follow the outer diameter of 9 Mile.  One big thing I noticed was the system GPS is mounted to the back of the boat, 20 feet away from the Motorguide GPS which is used to steer the motor.  I was about 20 feet from my points, not that it made any difference however I think I might move the main GPS puck to the front to be more in step with the Lowrance units, we'll have to see as that might cause problems as well.

Catching nothing and having to control nothing I took the time to text my friend Mark Applen, who was staying at his small cabin at the Fisherman's Wharf.  Inviting us to come over for a burger and a cocktail, we stopped at 3 mile to cast for bass before heading over to his dock.  The water had calmed down significantly from early that day so it was time to get some more practice with the wheel control.  Putting the throttle all the way down the next thing was to start trimming it up.  Before the engine would only turn about 5000 RPM however I was getting better acquainted with the set up and this time the motor got it up to 5400 RPM and 57 MPH, a significant improvement over last weeks experience.  The good news should be that the 20 Pitch prop the dealer ordered should be just perfect as for every inch of pitch change, the RPM should change 200 - 250 so going down from a 22P to a 20P should gain me the RPM's I am looking for running in the 5800 - 5900 range.   After making it to Mark's for a refreshing vodka tonic and a burger that hit the spot we decided it was getting late and with 12 miles back to the landing, we made a beeline to the other side of the lake.  This was a great opportunity to repeat the max RPM test which was very successful, 3 times we could trim up the motor to 5400 RPM's and 57 MPH.  Lory took a quick video of us flying across the lake.  The last time we loaded the boat on the trailer it was very difficult to use the winch to pull the bow tight to the roller.  I was thinking about it and remembered 14 years ago when I had the same problem with my 2001 Ranger.  Earlier in the week a planned detour to Fleet Farm to buy some dry Teflon Lubricant, I got out of the boat and sprayed the carpeted bunks that the boat sits on with the spray.  All I can say is Hallelujah, it worked pretty slick as the boat snugged up to the bow without even a slight disagreement!  You just have to make certain the winch strap stays connected when you back down as it could slide off the trailer on it's own.

Paul's 31 Inch Walleye

My friend Bruce Wiley e-mailed me on Saturday from Lac Seul with the message "Help, need a lower unit for a 2002 Honda 130 Hp Outboard!"  Oh oh, that didn't sound good.  He is up fishing at Lac Seul Outpost for Father's Day weekend with his boys and apparently he found a new rock.  Oh well, that's my biggest nightmare with Lac Seul but if your careful and have a good GPS system it really helps to stay ahead of the game.  And of course you really do need to explore new fishing spots and that presents some risks but as they say, no pain no gain.  Unfortunately he did not bother to give me any useful fishing reports as I would like to think that not everyone is doing as poorly as I have been.  Well this morning I got an e-mail from my good friend Paul Wenaas with a photo of a 31 inch walleye he nailed during his trip to Lac Seul last week.  In fact he got a number of fish in the 27" - 31" range and I was fortunate enough to learn where he was!  Actually I had fished near his spot last fall where we got the "blue" walleyes and I had always wondered how it would be further up the bay. Paul makes at least 2 trips to Lac Seul, one in the middle of June and another in July.  He was talking about going back up in September and maybe he'll be there the same time I am, that would be a blast for sure.  I am not sure what is the program for this weekend but hopefully the new propeller will be in and ready to test. There are still a couple minor issues that need to be resolved like my touch panel, boat numbers, and license plate for the the trailer, and dealing with the Lowrance "yellow" wake up wires.  This could put me in Chisago City on Saturday morning to try out a few thing and maybe getting some crappie fishing in.  Next week I'm in Boston and the rumor is we are going out on a 4 hour charter for ocean run stripers, another thing on the bucket list. If it happens don't be surprised by a late post next week.

Wow!!!

Ranger 620FS, Uffda!

Saturday was the big day, time to pick up the new boat from the dealership.  It has been 3 months from the day I ordered it and as you can imagine it was pretty exciting.  Arriving at Frankie's by 11:00 the first order of business was to take a look at everything and all I can say is they did an excellent job of rigging and getting everything prepared.  The initial inspection looked good so it was time to settle up the bill and when Deb presented the balance it was significantly less than what I expected.  Acknowledging a computer issue we went over everything and got it straightened out, never want to short anyone.  Next on the agenda was to go over all of the new features which included keyless ignition, all the nuances of the motor, and generally how everything works.  Upon firing up the Lowrance electronics the first thing stated was the Motorguide needed updating.  Joe Dusenka, Frank's son was helping me and did a fabulous job of walking me through everything. As stated before this boat is a significant departure from what I have been running for the last 40 years and it's pretty exciting.  After making sure I knew what I was doing, we hooked it up to the truck as I planned on dumping her into the water close to the dealership in case there were any obvious issues. The first thing that stood out is the boat sits up about 4 inches higher on the trailer than the previous 620T so it will need to be launched at the deeper landings.  They only put enough gas in the tank to start the motor so it was off to the Marathon across the street to fill up the 51 gallon tank.  Figuring about $140 to fill it up the pump stopped at $75 so the heck with it, that was plenty.  About 1/2 mile from Frankie's is a nice landing on Chisago Lake so I dumped it there.  It definitely isn't as nimble as my previous boat.  Once in the boat I started the motor and was very surprised how quiet it was.  The landing is in a no-wake zone and it took about 5 minutes to idle out to the main lake where I punched it.  OMG!!! It was on plane in about 2 seconds, amazingly quick.  Deciding to check a few things out, the boat back trolls at around 1.8 mph, forward trolls at about 2.6 mph, not bad.  The power steering is effortless, almost too much as when I pushed the throttle the boat climbed to over 50 mph immediately and really felt squirrelly so I backed it down, I guess it will take some getting used to.  It is all basically "fly by wire" as the steering is electric, the gear shift is electric, very smooth indeed. It loaded up very easy as I headed back to Frankie's to park the boat for a couple hours as I went to a friends house in Wisconsin.  Home by 6:00 the neighbors all stopped by to see and the very first comment was, you had better get some lugnut locks on those wheels! I suppose they have a point.

Beautiful evening Rainbow

I have spent the week trying to get everything loaded and working together.  For instance, I mistakenly loaded Version 3.0 of the Lowrance software into my main unit then when it was time to review the link between it and the Motorguide motor, it wasn't available as an option on the screen.  I know it works because Joe showed me it yet now I had to figure it out. Reading the instructions there was a big point in stating that the Lowrance software must be version 3.5 or newer. Not realizing that I had put in an older version of the software, 30 minutes later it dawned on me so I re-downloaded the right software via my phone and updated it.  Bingo, it worked great however I punched the wrong button on the control screen and turned the Motorguide on then listened to the propeller grind against the winch with little idea on how to stop it.  10 seconds later it stopped but not before completely ruining the prop and part of the plastic on the winch.  So much for the newness.  It's been a slow progress yet it's a labor of love as one decides where everything should go, how to organize, and the need to fill in the gaps with the technology like getting my Ipod connected to the sound system which by the way worked out really good.  The storage options are significant and one thing I have to decide is whether to put my Plano 3700 boxes in the designed storage in the boat or to simply keep my traditional tackle box in tact.  I guess there is no reason not to use the storage, it definitely is drier and if I need they can always go back into the soft sided tackle box.  The front compartments have a built in fan that helps dry out things that are stored there.  This would be a great place for drift socks, rain suits, anything that can get wet.  One other thing of note is there is a drain in every compartment and anywhere there is a channel to take water away.  This should be a lot nicer if a wave ever comes over the bow, which I know there will at some point. There are a lot of little things like the LED lights that didn't stick to where they were put, some foam missing on the windshield, and overspray on the windshield, for the most part everything was pretty easy to fix. I also have a panel that appears to be cracked and they have a new one coming for me.  Between getting the garden planted, working on the boat, mowing the lawn, there's hope that I can get to Mille Lacs on Sunday for it's maiden voyage.  Scrambling to get everything done, Tuesday night was interesting as we got a brief shower that for the most part put a damper on my mowing. The sun did come out but not enough to dry the grass and allow me to finish yet it did result in a beautiful rainbow to the southeast so I snapped a picture before it went away.

This Friday is our 13th Annual ENA Golf Tournament at Daytona Gold Club in Dayton.  ENA is the initials for Eric Nicole Apple, son of my good friend Mark Applen (Red Lake fisherman extraordinaire) who had his life cut short by a rare form of cancer.  Both my wife and I have been volunteering our time along with a number of wonderful people that give their time and energy to our cause.  I encourage you to read about Eric at his website located HERE.  All the proceeds are dedicated to helping less fortunate families deal with the hardships of childhood cancer as we try to bring a smile to those that need it the most.  To date we have raised over $300,000 and every dime available goes to the cause.  I am proud of the work we do as there is nothing more satisfying than to provide a little joy in the life of someone who's life is feeling hopeless.  We do have a nice silent auction and raffle, admittedly I have bought some really nice stuff like my Showdown Ice Fishing Depth finder, heck a good way to help and get something nice as well.