Finally Ready!

Ready to go!!

 With the nice weather we are having the ice formation has deteriorated to a slow crawl putting a lot of pressure on some of the better lakes up north like Red Lake, my usual first destination with the Salem Ice Cabin.  Last winter, our trip to Lake of the Woods proved to be difficult for moving around as my wheel stayed up when I jacked the house up.  Luckily my friend Ben had a propane torch and by heating the pivot axle it came down and we were good.  the gave enough time to get it fixed over the summer........well you know how that often goes as procrastination is one's enemy.  Having the time to fix the worst side before the October snow  yet failing to get the other side done, it was obvious that this task is too big for one guy.  My friend Bruce offered to let me pull it into his heated shop and would help me so that's what we did last Friday.  Besides breaking a tail light backing in, Mark Applen who has a house just like mine, joined in on the task of pulling the axle pivot off to clean it, grease it and put it back together.  Not that 2 of us could not have done this but it soon became obvious that the 3rd guy made it happen. With a lot of work we had the wheel assembly off in about 30 minutes, now the work began, cleaning all that hardened grease from the assembly. Having the right tools makes a huge difference as we used power brushes to clean the big stuff off, special round brushes to clean the inside, and a special saw to cut a grove from the grease zerk across the face to help channel grease to the entire length of the axle, which was the initial problem in the first place, the grease would only go one way leaving 2/3rds of the axle with no grease.  It's a heavy duty axle but the grease system is not the best.  In addition, while fixing the right side, the grease zerk fell out so I bought some replacements.  Trying to install the replacement zerk, the 1/4 inch tread just fit into the hole, in other words the factory simply drilled a smaller than the thread hole then pounded them in.  This wasn't right so it forced me to go back to the auto parts store to get the next largest threaded zerk, an 8mm x 1.0 metric.  Then to the hardware store to get a metric tap and the appropriate drill, which they didn't have. The tap needed a 7mm drill, I had something close in inches so it would have to do.  The tap was hard to get through but it worked beautifully.  At the time I didn't think about putting a second grease zerk in the middle of the axle to make sure grease gets everywhere but when we had the left side off I bought the right drill size and put in the new zerk.  Admittedly the tapping went easier now I had the right hole!  Anyway we finished the job, now just to install the new tail light lens and I am set to go!  It sure is nice to have great friends when you need them as I know it would have been difficult to do this myself.  And to send it out to get fixed would have been $500 minimum.  I can buy a lot of Crown Royal for that!!!  Thanks guys!

Milwaukee M18 grease gun.

One of the things that I make sure to do every year is to grease everything.  Adding grease to these axles can be difficult as the zerk is in an awkward place and to hold the hose and pump the gun takes a certain amount of coordination.  For this I purchased a Lock N Lube, locking grease hose tip to grab onto the xerk so your 2 hands are left to pump.  This worked OK but can prove to be a mess if it's not locked on.  Bruce had this Dewalt battery powered grease gun and it was the cat's meow!  Although most of my battery stuff is Milwaukee (must be my Wisconsin Heritage showing!) a quick search and they had one just like it for my M18 series stuff.  It's pretty good stuff as in my collection is a 1/2 inch drill, 3/8 inch impact driver, circular hand saw, brad nailer, hedge trimmer, and a hacksaw/reciprocating saw.  They all work great and it's pretty impressive the amount of time you can get off a battery.  So the grease gun comes in on Monday and of course who needs to read the instructions........right.  I pull out the plunger and lock it into place,  unscrew the cap and insert the grease cartridge.  So far so good.  The greas cartridge has a aluminum top that you pull off by the tab, got that done.  Well I could not screw the end back on.  Completely dumbfounded it sat till the morning when I called Milwaukee's techical service, of course they don't know much.  This is so frustrating as I've had grease guns forever!!  A quick call to Bruce and explained what I did, he said you have to unscrew the barrel and insert the grease tube in from the other end............DUHH.  Grease is messy to begin with but after getting reset, it works like a charm as it's supposed to, now that I have the cartridge inserted properly, it works great.  After cleaning it up it's ready to go.

So the latest situation on Red Lake is tenuous at best.  This warmer weather has slowed the ice development however the latest word is that trucks are parking on the ice along shore as well, they are allowing ATV's out to the crack that usually develops 1/2 mile out then one has to walk about 2 miles to the deeper water to find the fish.  Friends claim that last Saturday the DNR were kicking people off because they were worried there were getting to many people on the lake.  By Christmas things should be back to normal and hopefully will be getting out within the next 2 weeks.  Either way I am getting anxious to get out.

Getting Lazy!!

 Strikemaster 40V 10" electric auger 

 This covid has really affected things, especially my ambition.  There are a ton of things that need to be done before next weekend, especially making sure that the wheel house stuck axle gets done before ice fishing.   Thank the Lord I have friends like Bruce Wiley that has offered to help me in his heated workshop.  I did the worst one back before we got the 8 inches of snow in October only to discover that the worst side actually better than the "better" side so the help is greatly appreciated.  This pandemic has created a lot of disruption in what normally are events that I look forward to.  The Blaine Ice Show at the Sports center was cancelled, it's a great little show that has a lot to offer being the first show of the season.  The big Ice Fishing show at the St. Paul Civic Center which usually takes place the first weekend in December has been cancelled.  The Governor has shut down everything until December 21st but I have no hope that this will be it.  It is funny, when I was young it was interesting to see how cynical the older men like my grandpa was, now I understand!!  The big show is the Northwest Sportshow held at the Minneapolis Convention Center and is scheduled for March 25 thru the 28th.  At the present time it's not cancelled yet  don't hold your breath.  As well the "Black Friday" deals are around but most are online or run for a week, which results in simply regularly sale priced items disguised as "great" deals. Traditional Black Friday deals required a guy to get to the store before noon to take advantage of 50 - 60% off a few but nice items.  2 years ago I purchased 2 very nice Pflueger spinning reels for 50% off, which was $15 less than the standard sale price.  Last year there were some excellent deals on fishing accessories, this year....not much.  This years situation lead me to hit Cabela's last Wednesday and walked out of there with a new 10 inch Strikemaster 40V Electric Auger.  I do have a 10 inch Strikemaster Big Volt auger that is basically a 12 Volt starter motor attached to a transmission.  Rigging up a trolling motor plug inside my wheel house it works pretty good but it is slow and in the cold the chipper blade has a tendency to freeze up the cutting edge.  Although not on sale it was the last one left and with my $300 in Cabela's Points it prompted me to pick it up.  One issue these days is that many manufacturers now limit inventory.  A concern was that the existing auger bit and extension would not fit however Strikemaster did a great job and everything is interchangeable making my 9 inch bit on my gas auger useable, my extension, and the old 8 inch bit that sits in the pole shed. A quick check on Strikemaster's web site showed this item was sold out.  It was probably a good idea to get this over with.  Beyond that, this was the extent of my Black Friday week sales this year.  Now it's time to get ready to to go to Red soon!!

Jared's nice 8 point buck

Well deer hunting is over and it was pretty uneventful.  That's probably good as there is little room in the freezer.  Besides I have enough venison from last year to make another batch of summer sausage with Lory Brasel, we are getting pretty good at this.  Last spring we made 2 batches with adding Fermento, a powdered buttermilk product to add some tang to it.  Here in Minnesota there are few places that know how to make good summer sausage.   People argue with me but if your used to the bland sausage they make here, I guess ones prospective isn't developed as well.  This year we are going to add encapsulated citric acid, as the Fermento was OK, it still wasn't very tangy.  Last year my good friend Kevin Aiona and his son Ben provided me with all the venison I needed.  Ben leases some land near Eleva and do really well deer hunting.  Here is a picture of Ben's son Jared with a beautiful 8 pointer he took on the Wisconsin deer hunting opener weekend.  After hunting for 50 years, this is considerably nicer than anything I have ever shot.  To be honest it really doesn't matter anymore as getting out with my friends is more important than horns on the wall.  My friend Russ Praught and his nephew went up to Red on Thanksgiving day and was able to walk out on 6 inches of ice. He sent me a picture of some nice walleyes they got then the next day fished the morning getting a few more before parking his house at JR's, ready for the next trip.  The 10 day outlook has temperatures in the mid teens and maybe a week after my wheel house get's fixed we should be ready.  This covid has messed up the experience as one can clean your walleyes in the bar area, they will do their famous fish fry as take out so there is hope!  Either way I am excited as all of this comes together.  Our experience at Springsteel Island Resort on Lake of the Woods in Warroad was nice last winter so the plan is to fish Red a couple of times before moving it north.  Ben will bring his house there as well and in February and March we will fish there. It is a long ways but it will be a long winter.  As well my friend Dave Johnson has a cabin at the resort so we have a nice place to headquarter out of.  Hopefully my next update will include success with getting my axle loosened up.

Done at Red

Propane Detector that Really Works!

This month has been quite busy as you can tell by my late posts.  I have a lot of things going on in my world right now, hardly any time to do anything, even fish!  Hopefully it will be done soon and I can let you all in what's the big deal, but until then life continues, dang fast I might add!  So last weekend was the last trip to Red this year, as planned.  My friends Mark and Russ along with myself haul our wheel houses to JR's at the first sign of driveable ice which was December 15th.  Not the earliest and not the latest but a great start.  The plan was to bring it up on our first trip and leave the house at the resort till the last weekend in January.  With 2 trips in between, during Christmas vacation and the second week in January, it generally works out to 4 trips a year.  I just bought a new truck prior to our first trip and already trips to Red have accumulated 2000 miles, oh well I guess that's what trucks are for.  My original guest for last weekends trip ended up with the flu so my brother Steve filled in the spot, meeting me after my Friday morning meetings at around noon and we arrived at JR's around 5:00.  Russ had been there since Thursday night and Mark was about 2 hours ahead of me, and graciously giving me the reports of where the State Patrol were parked!  We kept in touch and definitely they had enough fish to treat us all to a walleye dupper at JR's and it wasn't long after we arrived, things got into full swing.  The last time I was at Red, I had some trouble with my 30 pound propane tank, it seemed froze up.  Whether this was the case or not, I brought it back with me and my neighbor Tim kept it in his heated garage for a couple of days and it seemed to work fine.  I use about 15 pounds of propane a day in my Salem Ice Cabin when the weather is cold, it wasn't too bad this trip however it is nice to make sure you don't run out.  Upon arriving I put the tank in the holders, started the furnace and hooked up the house to the truck.  The wind was blowing right into the side where the entrance door is, which is next to the furnace exhaust.  It really smelled like gas in the house but I assumed it was the exhaust fumes blowing back into open door so I opened the roof vents and pulled the house down on the ice.  This is a good strategy because it get's the house warmed up as well, I put my generator inside to warm that up so it starts good.  We went into JR's to eat, returning to our rig about an hour later.  Well, things should be nice and warm, we'll just follow Mark to where they are parked and go from there.  Walking by the house, a very loud alarm was going off so I opened the door and uffda, did it stink like gas.  Here the propane/LP gas detector was going off.  With the door and ceiling vents open, it cleared fairly quickly as I got the detector to stop beeping.  Checking around here one of the stove burner knobs were turned on and it was leaking propane into the cabin.   Damn lucky the whole thing didn't blow up! The nice thing about my furnace is the combustion chamber is sealed so it was just blowing the propaned saturated air through the heat exchanger and not near open flame, Uffda!!!  We did get the air cleared out yet everything in the house absorbed that smell so it too till Saturday night to start smelling normal.  I do have a Sensy candle in the house and that helps.  All I can say is if you have a propane powered anything in your wheel house or RV, make certain you have a working gas detector.  The house is a 2013 so I need to make sure of the Replace by date is not expired.

Bucket full of walleyes

Fishing Red this late in the season means getting close to Center Bar and finding an area where there isn't much traffic or houses around.  Red is a shallow lake and traffic on the ice can definitely affect the bite.  Never the less we did have a pretty active Friday night with the rattle reels going off with some regularity.  The last time I was there I let the others take care of that 2:00 AM sound but this time it was my turn.  By morning we had 3 nice walleyes in the bucket and missed a few.  Catching enough to take home, we decided to simply eat what we had which was fine with me.  Saturday was JR's Red Fest, an interesting event which is basically an indoor ice fishing contest.  You buy tickets then put your name on them, they get put in a bucket and if your name is drawn you get to draw from another bucket a piece of paper with a certain size fish on it, say a 12.5 walleye.  You can decide to enter it into the contest or release it and hopefully get entered again. It is fun and is the accumulation of the last 6 weeks of fishing on Red.  I have met some great guys including some of my customers, it's an innovative way to have a contest, by 4:00 its over and we head back to the house.  This time it wasn't as cold as a few weeks ago but Russ had picked and area that blew in with snow the day before.  It took a while to pack up and pull the house back onto the plowed roads but as they say, persistence pays off!  We cleaned the fish that went home with us, said goodbye to JR for another year, and headed south.  Admittedly it is sort of bittersweet leaving, the time is flying as it seems like we just pulled our houses up.  We had spent 9 days this year at Red, I would say that fishing was consistently good as we did eat fish most of those nights.  The size of the walleyes are perfect, in the 15 to 19 inch range, and in beautiful shape.  We did not fish for trout this last trip, as stated things just went too fast, maybe next year.

Clever is all I can say!

So the house is back home, Super Bowl is this week and it's time to start planning for our annual Leech Lake Opener that takes place in 15 weeks.  There is a lot to do before then as it is our 45th Annual and we like to try and do something special on the 5th year anniversaries.  One thing that drives me absolutely nuts is the fact that trailer license renewals are due in February when it is cold out.  It seems dumb to me because every year I renew the plates then wait till spring when it seems to be a better and warmer time to put on the tabs, and eventually forget were I put them and then the drama starts.  Eventually everything turns out good enough, I think this year I'm going to  tack them up where they will stay in front of my face all the time and see if it helps.  Each year it seems to get worse!  A final note, my brother Steve is from La Crosse and we are both Green Bay Packer fans.  We were talking about the NFC Championship game where Philadelphia defeated the Vikings.  Not to throw stones and I was somewhat sorry that the Vikings lost, he sent me a picture that I thought was quite clever!  Anyway there is always next year for both teams. 

Fishing in the Deep Freeze

Nice 22 inch walleye

My last post discussed the passing of my cousin Julie and the funeral was on December 28th.  My original plan was to head up to Red on the 27th and fish till Saturday however we changed our plans and headed up right after the funeral.  It wasn't a very good travel day however my brother Steve was at the funeral with us so he drove up to the house afterwards, I met him at the pole shed then we went and picked up my neighbor Lory and we headed up about 6:00.  It's a 4 1/2 hour drive from the house to JR' and we got there about 10:30, right on schedule.  The temperature was a constant -10 F all they way up with the forecast of -25 for red the next few days.  Russ and Mark were already on the lake so we paid Adam, hooked up the house and headed out on the lake, 3 miles straight out then left a half mile.  Unfortunately everyone hear left which was right, assuming at the 3 mile mark however they were on the right side (after turning left) so a quick phone call to mark and Russ and we found where they were parked.  It takes about an hour to set up and the temperature had fallen close to -20 but by 12:30 we were snug in the house with the heat making it comfortable.  I didn't want to hook up the DirecTV but we did get the generator going fine in the Generator box I had bought from JR last year.  Even though I have a cold weather kit on the generator, it still doesn't like running in the sub zero temperatures.  In the box it was nice and cozy and ran all weekend, in fact I never shut it down.  Along with the extended run auxiliary tank, it was perfect. We were pretty wound up at that time so we put in a movie in the builtin DVD player in the TV.  "What About Bob" a great choice and one of the movies that we decided in Alaska was one of each of our favorite movies, which also includes The Big White, with Robin Williams, Second Hand Lions, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  Even though the movie lasted until 2:30 we sat back and enjoyed ourselves actually catching 2 fish before officially retiring to bed.  With the outside temperature at -22, we slept comfortable in the Salem.  Friday morning we got up and the boys made breakfast while I got the DirectTV hooked up.  There were some bowl games scheduled and they always make the day go better.  A good helping of bacon and eggs, some orange juice and we were set for the day.  We ended up with enough fish to have a nice walleye dinner at JR's that night but not without me catching a nice 22 inch fish, which I decided to let go.  These bigger fish are females and when you clean them they are just full of eggs.  The fish are fat and healthy and we had enough for that night, away she swam.

Steve's nice 14 inch crappie

On Friday we had 8 nice fish and we did eat them all returning to the house ready to keep the action
going.  Unfortunately the skies cleared and we were in for another cold night.  Steve had caught this nice 14 inch crappie, what Red Lake was known for and we usually get one or two a season.  Along with a northern, the fish bite really slowed down for us.  Mark had his son in law, Brandon and his son Beckett, Russ had a few of his guests and they had been there since Wednesday so both of them headed out on Saturday morning.  We decided to stick it out till Sunday and wow, the bottom dropped out of the temperature on Saturday night.  Under clear skies I am sure we hit -30 as it was -28 when we got up Sunday.  Saturday was a bust for fishing and we only caught 1 walleye for the last 24 hour period.  Luckily Lory brought some sausages and a jar of his homemade sauerkraut, it was still pretty good.  Sunday morning we got up and started to get ready to leave.  It was damn cold I can assure you that, thank the Lord my truck started just fine.  The morning before, Russ's truck needed to be plugged into the generator in order to start but then again he has a Ford........Ok just kidding!  We did have 1 walleye so we parked the house in the parking lot, cleaned the fish and took off.  Red Lake is in the low land area just north of Bemidji, what is left of the ancient Lake Agassiz, a very large lake that was formed by the melting of the glaciers during the last Ice Age.   You can actually see the edge of the lake as you drive north of Kelihor (the last town before Red Lake) on Highway 72 and drive down into the lake bottom, the entire plane life changes, it is even more dramatic when you go west of Bemidji through a town called Gully.  Being it's old lake bottom the cold air really settles into this low spot and it's awfully cold for sure!   The cold weather really shut down the walleye bite however it has definitely made for good ice on the lake.  Unfortunately when the warm temperatures return the ice will expand and start heaving up, therefore bridges will have to be dragged on the lake to get across these tough spots.

This weekend was family time with a gathering in Arcadia Wisconsin.  Next weekend I plan on getting back up to Red and fish one more time before I drag the house back at the end of the month.  It is suppose to warm up this week into the mid 30's.  As well the St. Paul Sports show is coming in a couple of weeks.  Word has it they are catching walleyes on Mille Lacs so that will be my focus for February, we'll see how that goes.  There is still some crappies to be had somewhere and after the Superbowl the neighbors and I are planning on making venison bologna.  February is the MD and M Show for work in Anaheim, CA...that will be a nice break.Lot's of stuff going on, that is for sure!

In the Deep Freeze

Ben Aiona's LOTW haul!

The predicted chunk of cold air that "broke" off from Siberia finally arrived in full force this weekend with temperatures of -16 this morning with highs of just below zero for daytime temperatures, the good news is it's making ice like crazy.  5 hours north of here at Red Lake and Lake of the Woods (LOTW) the nighttime temperatures are reaching the -25 to -30 range.  My friend Ben Aiona decided to go to LOTW on Monday with his family with only his Polaris Ranger and some thermal portables.  Dang lucky he's young because I would have second thoughts about being in a portable at -25F, although it's not to say that I haven't been, just age has made me a lot smarter! Anyway, on Tuesday Ben texted me a picture of their catch, a nice mess of saugers, they kept 24 (their leagal limit) and caught over 55 for the day.  This is not a bad haul, especially considering the temperature.  LOTW has a nice population of nice sized saugers and walleyes, I will call him later to see how him and his family are doing.  Ben is a good fisherman so if the fish are there, he'll get them for sure.  Personally I really enjoy renting a heated house up there, I will never forget the time my good friend Mark and I rented a house out of Wigwam on LOTW, that was 5 years ago and the highlight was the sturgeon that Mark had caught.  You can see that post Here if you want.  Frankly it doesn't seem like 6 years ago but it was.  One day I would like to bring the wheel house up and stay for a few days of fishing, LOTW is a fabulous fishery and you can get some really nice walleyes there as well and the limits are 8 fish in which only 4 can be walleyes, which is more than enough fish.

Cousin Julie

On Christmas Eve my cousin Julie passed away.  Julie had just turned 61 but had some health issues that she simply couldn't shake.  Both her and her brother Paul were our best friends when we were young and without saying Paul and I are still quite close.  Julie's dad was my dad's brother "Uncle Keith" and growing up, their family was an important part of our family as we tended to do a lot of things together.  Julie eventually married Clint Eide and resided on a farm between Eleva and Strum.  Our paths didn't cross much these last few years however we often had some interesting discussions on Facebook that kept us ever close in our minds.  Her obituary is Here and she will be missed.  It is a difficult time of the year as my brother Jon died on New Years Eve last winter so I understand what my cousin's are going through.  Never the less I will be heading back down to Eleva on Thursday to say good bye but to also see my surviving cousins and her mother, Aunt Dorothy.  It seems like it's the old adage, you only see your relatives at weddings and funerals, rings true however I did send in my deposit for fishing with Paul next August, it is important to make sure those friendships stay alive.  Paul was the only boy in the family of 4 children so often times my brother Steve and I look at Paul as our brother as well.  You can't have too many of those.  God Bless you Julie and our prayers are with you.

So back to reality, after (like right after) the funeral Steve, my neighbor Lory Brasel, and myself will be driving up to Red lake to fish the weekend.  As stated, it's cold up there but it will be snug and warm in the house.  The usual suspects will be there, Mark Applen and his son-in-law and grandson, Russ Praught and his crew.  Russ has given me an ETA at JR's of around 9:00 PM on Thursday and with some pushing we should be there about the same time and be able to follow him out to where Mark is parked.  I do enjoy fishing together as it's easier to coordinate when we go in to eat, as well, often a good break from your existing company!  Hopefully the fish are still biting, at least enough to eat something each night.  I am sure we will go through plenty of propane this trip.

Waiting for Ice

Special Ice Lures from JR's

The warm weather has finally left us and we have returned to much better conditions, at normal or below!  With near zero or below temperatures at Red Lake, we should be making at least and inch a day of ice an if it continues we should have enough ice to pull out the wheel houses next week, which would be nice! Last week the topic was the Ice Fishing show in St. Paul and of course one could not leave without buying a few lures to add to the collection.  My friend Keith Holtan was looking for some bubblegum colored jigs with a gold back, the best I could find were these glow Pink/red with gold glitter on the back.  Not exactly what he was looking for however they are dang close!  I have offered him these but he stated he will hold off.  That's OK, when I am slaying them on Red Lake next week with them he will definitely be rethinking his decision!  These lure are made by JR's in Brooklyn Park, MN and are featured across the Midwest.  I drive by their shop every night going home from work and have spent a lot of time talking with it's owner, Duane, regarding the current stat of the wholesale fishing business.  He is quite interesting to talk to as both of us have been to China and share our stories!

Air boat for fishing the shallow saltwater sloughs

We have our annual APEC conference in San Antonio, TX this year in March and I have got my friends fired up to maybe spend the weekend before the conference fishing down along the Texas coast near Corpus Christi.  We have done this a couple of times like last year when the conference was in Tampa, FL or a few years back when it was in Charlotte, NC and we drove to Charleston to fish for sheepshead.  I have fished in Texas a few times with my friend Joe and Matt with the first time fishing out of a high powered air boat like the one pictured here.  This matches the one we fished out of a few years ago, it has a big block GM engine with 2 counter-rotating 8 bladed propellers.  Sitting on the top seat, high up off the water is quite the thrill for sure as being from Minnesota this is an absolute blast and I'll be the first to sign up.  Looks like we can round up three or four guys, at minimum my friends Matt and Joe, staying at a nice resort along the inter-coastal and fish for red fish, black drum, sea trout and flounder.  My assumption is that the resort will cook our fish and there is nothing better than fresh red fish or sea trout with a nice glass of TX Whiskey to wash it down.  I should have more information by next week, it will depend on how many guys we can get lined up.  I might even get the opportunity to bring home some fish.

Brandon's Walleye's

My neighbor Brandon Larson stopped by the house on Thursday night with his newer 2017 GMC 1 ton diesel pickup truck. I am looking at something somewhat similar so we took a ride as he explained he was heading to Red Lake in the morning with a friend.  I asked him to text me a report, which I received a few hours ago.  They have about 12 inches of ice for about a mile out and they pulled their wheelhouse out with an ATV.  Brandon claims that this afternoon they nailed 7 keeper walleyes, most on the rattle reels.  It matches a lot of reports that I have seen today and I am looking forward to talking to him on Monday when he returns.  He is out of Greater Minnesota Rentals which is a few miles East of JR's, our preferred outpost, on the south shore.  I am sure that the ice is better there than by JR's.  As I stated, I have been negotiating on a different pickup truck and should have most of it done by next week.   

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nice walleye from Kieth

Thanksgiving is finally here and it will be the first that I will be without either parents.  The old house in Eleva is sold so where we have celebrated for the last 50 years is no longer in the picture.  As the old saying goes, nothing ever stays the same and definitely is a true statement.  Although most of the small lakes are ice covered the weather has turned somewhat mild in the last few days and the hard freeze of an inch a day will not return until Monday.  This is OK as after going to Eau Claire to have Thanksgiving with my wife's uncle Andrew and his family, Friday and saturday look to be relatively nice out, enough to get the boat cleaned up for it's voyage to Frankie's and get some last minute warranty work done before the spring rush.  My good friend Bruce has offered me a space in one of his heated rental units where he keeps his boat and I am definitely going to take advantage of his generous offer.  I need to work on my electronics before next year's opener and this will give me an excellent opportunity to take care of that.  The mild weather on Friday will also give me a chance to pull off my mower deck and mount the snowblower and cab.  Not a job I am looking forward to, never the less it needs to be done.  My friend Kieth is back from Alaska for his winter getaway in Brainerd!  His home is on North Long Lake and the early ice has him out fishing.  This afternoon he sent me a picture of his first walleye through the ice, not bad!!!  Makes me want to head north yet the next two weeks has me quite busy.  I know that my other friends Russ and Mark may be heading to Red to walk out for the first years fishing, probably leaving their wheel houses up at JR's.  Speaking of wheel houses our illustrious Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has decided that a Portable Ice House on wheels are no longer classified as portable therefore you need an Ice House License even if you just pull it out for the day and remove it from the ice at night.  Interesting because you did not haven't had to do this for the last 5 years and the fact is that this announcement was on Monday, 10 days before the "winter" season begins.  See the announcement HERE.  I guess I really don't expect any better for our Minnesota DNR....It's all about the money.  I have informed all of my friends that own wheel houses of this new requirement and I even called my friend Bill Lundeen to see if he can sell me one.  Yes, he has them, they are just the standard shelter license.

December 1 - 3

Monday will start a frantic week with as stated, dropping my boat off at Frankie's.  Although it seems that this boat has had more issues, which is true, it has more stuff.  I seldom had to bring my 2 previous Rangers back to the shop but I really don't mind as I enjoy seeing Frankie, Deb, Lisa, and Joe, they really take care of me well! On Wednesday of next week I fly to Scottsdale, Arizona for a 3 day convention of The Transformer Association.  It is a group of transformer manufacturers and suppliers and we discuss industry trends, the future, and learn about a number of new things.  Last year the meeting was in Naples so a bunch of us usually try to go fishing afterwards.  There is not much water in Arizona so hopefully I will get back in time to attend the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show which usually falls on the same weekend as our conference (This year it's December 1 - 3).  It's a pretty good show with a lot of good products and information but to be quite honest, I'd rather be pulling grouper out of the Gulf of Mexico like we did last year in Naples Florida. I do enjoy the conference however, even if it is with my competitors, they are truly my friends.   With my hectic schedule it looks as though I may be able to pull up the wheel house to JR's at Red Lake around December 8th,  there should be enough ice to drive on the lake by then, at least according to Intellicast!  I already have purchased some wild rice for my friend JR who really likes the stuff and keeps him smiling that he will have this year's harvest.  The fishing reports published about  Red Lake from the guys walking out to the first break are pretty good as the water clarity is stated to be around 28 inches which is excellent for this time of year.  Red Lake is quite windblown and the water get's pretty stirred up just before ice over.  Of course the clearer the water, the better the walleye bite on Red.   Have a great Thanksgiving and hopefully I will get a chance to post from Scottsdale, or at least while I am waiting for a plane somewhere!

Fast Week

Sitting on the Stand

My computer went goofy on me this week and I finally got it fixed.  It is simply amazing how much it has become an integral part of our lives, unfortunately.  So last weekend was the end of our deer hunting in the zone which we hunt, Zone 2, so I decided to head back up with Jack and Ben to try and bag some venison.  The good new was that the cold weather during the previous week had been cold enough to freeze the swamp and one could easily walk out to the areas that we hunted when Rich was still alive.  It was pretty good as on opener one would have needed hip boots and a lot of ambition to trudge through the swamp, which was as full of water as I've ever seen in the 10 or so years I have hunted this property.  There are a lot of deer around as Brett had planted a wildlife plot and 8 or so deer, mostly does and fawns, would come in every afternoon/evening to partake in the feast, even though there was a lot of standing corn in the area, apparently deer love the sugar beets he planted!  Deciding to show up for the Saturday afternoon hunt I walked out to the island where I used to put my stand and sat on the one facing the Northeast, we call Bobby's stand (Rich's brother from Seattle who hunted with us those last years Rich was alive).  It was very nice, the temperature was in the low 30's and we had a dusting of snow which made it easy to see anything coming.  Unfortunately nothing came other than a few small flocks of Tundra Swans flying by.  Sitting there till dark, 12 foot up in the tree, is quite a bit better than sitting in a ground blind as I did the previous week.  Admittedly it was warmer but at least I could see quite a ways.  The fresh snow also gave us some indication of any deer movement however there were few if any tracks around my stand.  Often times the second weekend of hunting is not as good because there are less people pushing the deer around.  At sunset I met Jack and Ben, who were sitting just south of me and we walked out of the swamp.  Brett had shot a nice doe Friday evening and we told him that we would tag one if he had the opportunity however there were no shots that day.  We got up about 5:30 on Sunday and headed back to the stands.  Sunday morning was quite quiet yet I did se fresh deer tracks in my footprints in the snow as I walked out.  It appeared to be exactly what Brett was seeing, a doe and 2 fawns.  Leaving at noon, we went back to Jack's cabin as he was heading back in the afternoon, I decided to stay and hunt the evening.  Jack has a nice stand in a good location so I decided to use his for the duration of the hunting time.  I arrived at the stand around 2:30 and hunted till 5:15 before walking out.  I knew Brett was still out there so I waited for him, he returned to say he had shot a nice doe around 2:00 but nothing else came through.  He tagged it, I loaded up and headed south.  As stated, it was nice to get back in the swamp but I guess this year I was one of the 70% of hunters that don't bag a deer each year.  No big deal, the important thing is to get out with Jack's son Ben and get the next generation interested in hunting.

Pete's Pail of Fish

The next thing on the agenda is ice fishing!  My friend Pete has been out with his friend Dave Genz fishing somewhere north of Highway 2 in Minnesota.  Apparently they nailed some nice 12 inch crappies and a few good sunnies on there trip.  Pete told me that Dave will be on this week's show, John Gillespies Waters and Woods fishing with Dave on the Mississippi not to far upstream from where I live.  I guess it might have been more productive fishing than hunting but you can't be in two places at once!  Oh well, I have a pretty full schedule the next 3 weeks, the snow blower needs to get mounted to the lawn tractor, the shed needs cleaning, Thanksgiving is next week, I need to bring my boat back to Frankie's on November 27th to get the scratch on the bottom fixed as well as the rod locker lid replaced.  On the 29th I head to Scottsdale Arizona for a 3 day convention for the TTA, the Ice Fishing show is on the weekend I get back, December 2nd and 3rd.  Reports have Red Lake ice at about 7 to 8 inches so by December 8th I'll be ready to haul up the house for a couple of months of great fishing!  They upped the limit of walleyes on Red to 4, of which only 1 can be over 17 inches, which is fabulous. I know Mark and I would like to fish on the Reservation for trout like we did last year, that was fun.  The wheel house is pretty well set to go, I need to check the air in the tires and straighten things out a bit but that won't take too long.  Winter is here and even though it is somewhat mild, at Red Lake they are averaging highs in the low 20's and low's in the single digits, just what the doctor ordered, making ice!!!  I might even get Pete to take me with for some early season crappie fishing.

Deer Hunting Time

Antique Enterprise Sausage Stuffer

This weekend is the start of the Minnesota Deer Hunting season.  It seems like just yesterday I was going deer hunting with my uncle Dewey on Gordon Sather's land, just south of Eleva.  Deer hunting in Minnesota starts 2 weeks earlier than in Wisconsin, I suspect because half the state is farther north.  In my earlier years living in Minnesota I would hunt "Up North" near Roseau Mn with my friends the Taylors, Tim Guzek, Mark Mayerich, the late Ron Edberg, and the Ullom boys.  Today it just remains Jack and his son Ben Taylor and myself hunting near his cabin on Platte Lake, 12 miles west of Mille Lacs Lake.  We used to hunt a Rich's land, basically 120 acres of swamp with a few choice islands where the deer are thick.  This year was extremely wet with over 7 inches of rain in October.  Admittedly I am getting older and the thought of trekking through the swamp before the sun shows itself has little appeal to me.  I used to wear hip boots, walk the seemingly 5 miles (actually about 1/4 mile) carrying my clothes with on my back, changing in the woods then repeat on the way out.  That was fun but today it seems like a lot of work simply to shoot a deer.  And the shooting is the easy part, it would need to be dragged out of the swamp, gutted, and hung up.  Today we hunt on of Jack's lake neighbors land, he has 80 acres of mixed woods, field and swamp that is pretty nice.  We can drive right to it, there are plenty of sign around and it is a lot easier on the body! Friday night will always be our steak feed at Brett's (Rich's place) and we will hunt hard for the weekend, with a little luck, we'll end up with something. I have rallied the neighborhood guys into pooling our resources after deer hunting to make my late Brother-in-law's homemade venison ring bologna.  He made the greatest bologna I have ever had and it was great to have on a cold winter day. 

Ring Bologn

I used to help him out where we would make a couple hundred rings at a time with the guys back home.  So inspired, I began to acquire the equipment needed to do this in Minnesota, the first thing was to get a sausage stuffer.  I remember about 35 years ago he brought me to a house in Winona, MN where we opened a door in the floor and went down into the cellar.  There he had an Enterprise 4 quart stuffer in pretty good shape and only $35, quite a bargain as these now sell for over $300.  Since I've had a friend sand blast it and electrostatically coat with a black, food grade teflon coating.  I looks like it's brand new and does a fabulous job of stuffing meat into casings.  With a pool of neighbors, we should get some venison and because the recipe calls for 50% Pork, we would only need about 25 pounds of trimmings to make 50 or so rings.  Tim and Lory have the heated sheds, Tim and I have a smoker, I have the recipe, hopefully we will be able to make something.  It would be a great for treat for ice fishing this year, nothing is better than what those guys in Independence would make.  I am looking forward to bagging a deer but especially getting the guys together and making sausage.  When we lived in Brooklyn Park back in the 80's we made about 100 rings of bologna with my neighbors.  For a smokehouse I simply bought some cheap paneling, made a big box, then put a crude wood stove inside.  The house backed up to a main highway, 85th Ave.  The meat needs about 4 hours of smoke so we sat around drinking beer till it was done.  A drive along 85th seen the smoke coming out of our homemade smoker, drove around the block to get to the house and came to the door.  I went to answer the door and upon opening it he told me that my shed was on fire!  We showed him the bologna in the box, he went away somewhat embarrassed however it was still nice that he took the time.  I still laugh!

Gouge on the bottom of the Ranger

There are a few issues that I would like to get done with my boat before winter sets in hard.  I had an appointment for last week however the dealer doesn't have the parts yet and I feel my boat is better in my garage than in their fenced in area.  There are 3 main things that need attention, first the back Ranger Logo that I damaged during opener needs to get put on.  Secondly, the Rod locker lid had delaminated and it has not come in yet.  The third issue is getting the bottom of my boat fixed.  While in Canada, someone in the boat (he knows who he is) had some important business to do on shore.  We looked for a sandy beach area near by and found one with a few boulders to be careful around.  This was at the same time that the steering went out on the big motor so unfortunately we backed right over one of those boulders and there was not much we could do about it because we had no steering.  Although the gouge is under the boat and impossible to see, it still bothers me so it's going to get fixed.  Hopefully I can get in after deer hunting and get this stuff taken care of before it get's too cold!  Speaking of cold, there is already a nice snow cover in the northern part of the state.  Forecasts for Waskish, on Red Lake show that after this weekend lows will be in the lower teens with single digit lows towards Thanksgiving.  I won't be long now before Red Lake freezes over and maybe by the first of December we'll be fishing on the ice!  Lot's to do before then but the Ice Cabin is pretty much ready to go.

Getting ready for Deer Hunting

Matt's 23" Seatrout

Admittedly it's getting harder and harder to get ready for the deer hunting season.  It's not that I don't like to get out and it is a good filler for the time between open water fishing and ice fishing however crawling up a tree and sitting there all day hoping a deer walks by, well at least it's supposed to be in the upper 50's this weekend.  Last weekend I did use the winterizing function on my big outboard however I forgot to start my kicker motor and run some of the treated gas through that.  My concern is that the last time I ran it was with ethanol blended gas, not good on carbureted engines.  The kicker is a bitch of a motor to start anyway but I was determined to run some treated gas through it, well not much has changed as although I did get it started it was only through pouring gas in the spark plug holes, not good for a new motor.  I may have to bring it back to Frankie's and have them look at it because something is not right.  So I didn't go out this week however my good friend Matt Davis from the Dallas, Texas area sent me a picture of his largest sea trout he's caught, a beautiful 23 incher.  Sea trout are excellent table fare and Matt is quite proficient at fishing them and redfish out of a kayak.  It seems like this would definitely be the way to fish rainbows instead of a canoe, like we did a couple of weeks ago, but I suspect it's just another thing to learn!  I met Matt through the Transformer Association and he is a good friend of my good friend Joe Stanfield.  Back a few years back we were having a conference in Fort Worth, Texas in March and Joe arranged a fishing trip in the brackish waters of Western Louisiana.  Matt was there and we had a heck of a good time.  Matt is joining us next month in Naples, Florida for our fishing trip for Grouper, it should be a blast.  Anyway this is a very nice fish and you have to admit, not a bad picture either!!

How true, How true!!

So, I can't wait till this political season is over!  I don't like to make my blog political at all, half of you guys would probably leave. On the other hand a little poke at my fellow fisherman would probably be tolerated so here goes. The picture to the right says it all for us diehard walleye guys.  Not that bass are easy to catch but certainly they don't seem as finicky as the almighty walleye. Like anything else it's down to a matter of opinion however as I tell my Facebook friends, anything you post is the same as saying it yourself so be careful!  After last weeks adventure to Wisconsin's Walleye Capital, ok, we got 4 walleyes total, they were tough to get. Even fishing walleyes through the ice on Red Lake can be challenging yet it is enduring for sure. Speaking of ice fishing, even though the weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 60's, by Tuesday the bottom is about ready to drop out.  I looked at the monthly forecast for Red Lake and towards the end of November they are predicting below zero weather, enough to make ice fast.  Hopefully it will not be on Dec 3 when they open the access for wheel houses yet in 2014 we drove out of JR's Corner Access on Red Lake the Friday after Thanksgiving so one never knows.  Either way I am looking forward to this year's hard water season as I got my Salem pretty much ready to go.  New tires, new battery, I still need to make a dry run and fully let it down and that should happen next week.  Unfortunately I will be gone the weekend of the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show, it's a bittersweet situation.  I do enjoy going to the show however I would not give up my Florida Grouper fishing trip for it.........so many things to do, so little time.

Anyway, good luck to all you deer hunters out there, be safe and if you get a dandy, send me a picture as I need some interesting stuff this month to write about.

Back to Red!

Our 6 walleyes for Lunch on Saturday

My friend Mark Applen decided to go with me up to Red last Friday so we headed up at 9:00 in the morning on friday and got to JR's Corner Access by 1:30.  Ice conditions have been changing on Red and although we were not allowed to pull our own houses out, JR promised he would take care of that so upon arriving we just got in line.  30 minutes later JR came in and stated that he was backed up to my house and to go hook it up!  The house has electric jacks to lift everything, which is really nice.  I put a master battery switch inside the house to shut all the power off so nobody can mess with them when I'm gone so I had to unlock my house and turn on the power in order to set the house onto his trailer hitch.  Although JR was in charge of pulling out the house, he allowed us to follow in my truck figuring we could pull it back off on Sunday.   It was nice to have that option as I have lot's of stuff for the house including my generator, food, clothes and it is sure better to not have to pull everything out with the ATV and sled that we brought up, just in case!   Mark wanted to go where he was just before Christmas and our friend Russ was parked there along with his brother.  So JR though we were in an unusual spot but come to find out it wasn't that bad.  We dropped the house on the ice in 14 feet of water, just off a rock reef and drilled through about 12 inches of ice.  it was about 3:00 by the time we got fully set up and I suppose I got my first walleye of the season by 5:00.  It was about 16.5 inches, on of the middle 2 in the picture and we were in bed by 10:00.  I have DirecTV in the ice house so we watched a number of stuff as the rattle reels kept going off, all the way till around 2:00AM before they stopped.  Mark did most of the catching and I would say we got 3 of our 6 fish limit and missed probably at least 4 walleyes before we were able to get some sleep.  By morning the wind had switched out of the northwest and the bite really shut down.

19.5 inch walleye.

We were able to bring our fish is along with Russ and have a fish dinner at JR's.  He had a couple so 8 walleyes between 6 guys, we were stuffed by the time we left.  It takes about 3 - 4 hours to complete the meal process, about an hour to ge
t in line to clean the fish and another at least 2 hours before your fish are done (at 3:00 in the afternoon).  Mark got a couple of nice walleyes as the limit on Red this year is 3 which only 1 can be over 17 inches.  We got 2 over 19 including this beautiful 19.5 inch fish.  I have to admit that we had a lot of fish to eat for sure and left JR's pretty full of walleyes, french fries, and .2 beer!  By the time we got back to the shack  it was around 4:30 and settled it felt like bed time and it was only 7:00 but that fishing takes a toll on a guy! Out by 8:00 both Mark and I had enough fun for the day.  The change in the weather really turned the fish off and we didn't get another fish the rest of the trip.  I marked them on my Vexilar but they just were't interested.  JR said it was OK if we pulled our own house off and by 8:30 Sunday morning we were ready to go.  Back at JR's we park the Salem and headed south for the 250 mile drive back home.  Admittedly it doesn't go too bad, a few gas stops and some breakfast and we were home by 1:30.    In time to put everything away and get ready for the Packer Viking game.  Uffda!!

Home Sweet Home on Red!

Anyway with below zero temperatures forecasted for Red Lake this weekend, it should finally start making some decent ice.  There is really only about 2 good weekends to go back up, the weekend of the 16th and the 30th, then my travel shedule kicks in as I have a show in February and March in California. We are trying to arrange a fishing trip for the March trip, the weekend before our conference but there's a lot of undecided locations as March fishing in California isn't that hot. Personally I don't care as I am more interested in trying something different as opposed to catching a ton of fish. The usual crowd is getting together, Joe Stanfield, Mike Schubert, Matt Davis, Jim Cox and maybe a few others. I thought I would include a picture of my house set up on Red.  I like to fly my flags and the pole has a Green blinking LED light, the flags make it easy to spot my house among the many houses and the light assists at night.  Either way when my friends come by it is easy for them to identify which house is mine!  Home Sweet Home, we have all the amenities a guy needs, food, Whiskey, a place to sleep and a TV.  By January 16th we should be able to drive wherever we want! A lot of my friends have been asking how well I am doing and to be honest not too bad.  I get tired easily but as far as my doctors go, they report that there seems to be nothing wrong with me (I'm sure some of you would argue!), which seems like good news but in reality they don't know what to treat.  Oh well, I have a number of upcoming appointments that should help answer a number of questions.  Either way I am trying to get more exercise by walking a mile every night.  Hopefully that will help my situation.

Merry Christmas....

From Matt, my friend and fishing buddy!

With Christmas falling on a Friday and the ice conditions still iffy in northern Minnesota, I decided to go to my Mom's Christmas Eve and our niece wanted to get together on Saturday to see her as it's been a while and she has 2 beautiful kids, Kaylee and Zack, it gave us a chance to run back down to Eleva and see Kevin who like clockwork had Lefse for Lyn and I, his Christmas gift to us (The best ever).  We did watch the Packer/Arizona game at his house, not a very good game but it's tough to lose any sleep over it.  In the meantime my friend Mark went back up to Red Lake on Saturday and is expected to come home on Wednesday night, in time for New Years.  I have been coughing terribly and  maybe will wait to Friday to go back up to Red, we will have to see who wants to go with me. I did call Mark on Tuesday morning and he claims that they are making ice fast with at least 11 inches and the fishing has been good.   Certainly am getting anxious to go!  I did decide to come into work today (Tuesday Dec 29th) and to my surprise my friend and fishing buddy Matt Davis sent me a Christmas Present, a commemorative bottle of my favorite whiskey in the world TX number 2713,  along with some glasses for my ice house, a hat, T Shirt that says basically Texas Made.  WOW do I have good friends or what!!! first Lefsa and now TX.  I am not sure a guy could ask for anything more for Christmas, that's for sure!!!  Just having friends like Matt Davis, or Joe Stanfield is more than anyone could wish for or want! I am going to get them both up ice fishing some day, as I know they'll never experience this kind of fishing in Texas.  Although I enjoyed Red fishing in March much better in Louisiana than sitting on the cold ice, you have to play the cards your dealt and having the Salem Ice Cabin stocked with TX is almost as good!

Ezee Steps on a Ranger

This week I ordered my Ezee steps for my Ranger Boat.  This new boat I have is quite a bit larger than my old 620T and takes more finesse to get it properly loaded onto the trailer.   It is too heavy to simply pull up that last 4 inches and you have to make sure you drive it on until it hits the front bow support.  Then it takes some acrobatics to get off the bow and onto the trailer to hook the winch rope and snugg it up while there is still some floating going on.  Well Last July I loaded the boat then went over the bow onto the step that is on the winch post but somehow slipped and fell back first onto the ramp.  Luckily I fell towards the water side and hit a foot of water to break my fall instead of breaking my back.  It spooked me and made me much more careful however I ran across these Ezee steps and after looking at the videos and testimonials I decided that I'm not gettting any younger and ordered a set.  It was quite the ordeal for sure as the owner of Ezee Steps, Mark actually called me to make sure I got all the right dimensions needed for a proper fit.  He was really thorough and impressed me. Because of the fact that the water will be hard for at least 3 more months I told him I wasn't in any particular hurry but he insisted that I would have them by February.  Getting old isn't so bad if you have the right stuff!  These should really help getting in and out of the boat safely.

My friend Mark is at Red Lake and claims he has been doing really good.  Today he decided to go trout fishing on the Red Lake Reservation on a guided trip.  I am anxious to see how that goes as he wants the trout for pickling.  Mark makes by far the best home made pickled fish I have ever had and I gave him some trout that Bill and I had gotten this fall to pickle and boy, did they turn out fabulous!!  Anyway he said that he might be willing to go with me to Red Lake on Friday, which sounded great.  He will be home on Wednesday and we should have everything resolved by then as I am getting anxious to get out.  Apparently you still can't drive on Red Lake but JR claims to be ready to take care of us!

This waiting for ice is Killing me!

Mark's Red Lake catch

Well my friend Mark made it to Red Lake last friday and it turned out to be quite an adventure.  I would have gone with him however I had some tests scheduled, I get to that later.  Mark left Thursday night an ended up staying in Deer River in his wheel house because of the weather and arrived at JR's Friday morning.  The first thing he did was bury his wheel house in the mud, enough to have to be pulled out by a cat.  Uffda, that didn't sound like fun.  He did do pretty well although they were relegated to walking out on the ice as it wasn't safe enough to drive.  They walked out about a mile and really got into them, here is Mark, Russ, and Randy's supper for Saturday night.  Apparently the ice was 6 inches thick and where they drilled they caught fish. Back at JR's they had them for supper and came home on Sunday.  Both Mark, I, my brother Steve and a friend from Chippewa Falls are heading up on Friday, I talked to JR and they should be allowing ATV's to run on the ice, much nicer traveling although we still need to stay on shore.  I am looking forward to getting out on the ice, normally by December 1 Red Lake is frozen enough to drive on but not this year.  Oh well haven't shovelled any snow yet either so it isn't all bad.  Mark was using his Electric Auger with a quick coupler I had got him unfortunately the coupler came uncoupled and the entire auger drill when right down the hole to the bottom.  I rigged a powerful magnet to see if we can find and retrieve it, that would be real sweet if it happens.  I am looking forward to a fresh walleye dinner at JR's soon as he really does fish nice.  Go catch them and bring them into his bar/restaurant to clean them, give them to him and for $5 a person he will deep fry them for you.  With a boxful of french fries, you can't go wrong! Hopefully I'll have better stories about me fishing next week than having to rely on my other experiences or someone else's fishing adventures!

An 8 inch needle into my spinal cord

As stated Friday was test day for me and I had a TEE (trans esophageal echo) which is an echo cardiogram taken from down your throat and then at 2:00 I had a Lumbar puncture which they use to refer it as a spinal tap.  Either way neither was too much fun although they put you under before the shove this huge probe down your throat, and the spinal tap...........well just say that I'm no looking forward to any more of those!  Uffda!  The worse thing was the novacaine that they injected into my spine before the put the 8 inch needle in. As my title indicates, waiting for fishable ice is still more painful but this came close!  I got the test results and they don't look too bad. Admittedly my doctors have been pretty good although one made a referral for me and they called me notifying me of an appointment they set up for me, Oct 18th.  I asked what year? They didn't think that was too funny however I didn't think the earliest one could get in was in 10 months, too funny either!  I would like to thank everyone who has sent their well wishes and of course all of the prayer's that my friends have said for me, it's truly appreciated.  I am doing really well and I have great care between my wife, doctors, and friends plus I have a  lot of fishing to do yet, two months of ice fishing,  I just got the invitation to Leech Lake for Minnesota opener and we are already talking about Canadian opener at Lac Suel as well a trip next December fishing grouper in Naples Florida. Geez, I am just learning how to fish out of my new boat!  Oh well, I am lucky to have such a great support system.  Here's hoping we get some fish.

Patience is a Virtue!!

Himilayan salt lamp

Well our latest El Nino is doing exactly what it was predicted to do, give the upper midwest a mild winter.  They weren't kidding, with daily high temperatures for Red Lake predicted in the 30's and lows in the upper teens, that's hardly enough to make ice very fast.  It's suppose to cool down next week so it may be possible to bring my house up next Friday and walk from shore, we'll see.  My friend Mark Applen is bringing his house up to JR's this friday and it will be good to get a report from him.  So as time ticks away I have a couple of things that I have been doing, one is improving the little things in the Salem Ice Cabin, like taking off the pads off the axle jacks and having them redone, sand blasted and re-powder coated as they were pretty rustyfrom the road salt.  I added mudflaps to my fenders this year to help reduce the salt that flies up off the road.  Will this help the fish bite better? no, but stuff like that drives me crazy.  Another thing I bought for the Ice Cabin is a himalayan salt lamp  if you click on the link it will tell you all the benefits that these lamps are suppose to do.  hopefully it will help our fishing somewhat and if nothing else it's a good s conversation piece.   it's interesting I got it from Amazon and I thought I would buy one for my friend Mark Applen who has the same Salem Ice Cabin that I have. Can you imagine if and when we have our houses close together, you'll never stop us from hauling in the walleyes!!! next thing you know I'll be giving yoga lessons on the ice........NOT!!!

HDS 9 and 12 on my dash

So my other project is to add a third depth finder to my new boat.  My previous boat had a Lowrance HDS 7 Gen 2 touch on the front deck mounted with a RAM mount so I could easily move it from my Ranger to my Jon Boat for fishing the river.  This year I sold the HDS 7 to Bruce and my front depthfinder on my new Ranger is built in and not easily removeable.  Therefore after selling it to Bruce I didn't have anything for the river.  Last month I upgraded with my friend Bill and got a newer HDS 12 Gen 3 which is for the back, and a HDS 9 Gen 3 which I already thought about running a second one on the console, one that can be removed and moved over to the jon boat.  I got a Johnny Ray mount which works great, is low profile and it is easily transferred with a simple push of a button.  After talking to the Lowrance guy at Cabela's on Black Friday he help me with the possible configurations and iit was as I planned, the HDS 9 will used primarily for GPS and charting including the interface with my Mototguide trolling motor and the HDS 12 will be used to run both standard sonar plus downscan/sidescan.  We talked a lot about searching for fish and I am going to spend alot of time this year learning this skill!  The big plus is I'll have my unit back for my Jon Boat.  My single biggest fear is that Bruce who is now really used to using my old HDS 7 will now what to upgrade to the 9!!  Oh well, the nice thing is that all of these units are networked together and work in unison to really give almost too much options for me to learn, yet when I do, watch out the BS will be simply a flowing!  I am very lucky to understand all of the connection requirements, how to hook up the NEMA 200 networks and how to connect the ethernet cables between the units.  It can been fairly complicated for sure.

This picture says it all

Maybe this week I can head up to the Alexandria area and find a lake I can walk out to get crappies.
Something to scratch this itch that has been bugging me since Thanksgiving.  First ice is always good for big crappies and sunfish and maybe I can fnd some!  my friend Keith sent me a picture of the state of ice fishing in Minnesota about now.  Those who ice fish will understand!  If you don't that's OK.