Birthday today

 

New WiFi Thermostat

It's hard to believe but today is my 67th birthday.  It's not that I feel old, quite the contrary, I feel young however I wish my body felt the same way!  Having already received calls from my dearest friends the next thing is tonight getting on Facebook and taking care of all of those friends.  Geez, just what I want on my birthday, more work!  One of the real issues of getting old is staying up with the latest technology and how to set it up.  Yep, here you go , one can just buy a doohickey that connects to the WiFi, just download the App on your phone and voila, what a convenience.  Well sure, if you're 13 years old for a guy that grew up with a black and white television and 2 channels (WEAU in Eau Claire and WKBT in LaCrosse), heck I was 36 when I got my first cell phone, it isn't that easy.  Today I see my friends 6 year old kids maneuver around a cell phone like  it was their 3rd hand!  My latest  encounter was installing a WIFI controlled thermostat in the house.  
Simple right?  Not so fast.  Removing the old thermostat, marking the 5 wires hooked to the old base, making sure they were on the new base correctly, then easy, snap the new thermostat on the new base and it will power up, Simple right?  After an hour of diagnosing and reattaching the wires to make sure they were all in place, still no power.  Calling the 1-800 tech service, they were backed up 40 minutes but promised to call me back.  Admittedly not as smart as the Smart Thermostat, I still had some tricks up my sleeve so the next step was to call Ben Aiona, my godchild who is an HVAC guy.  After the laughter stopped he directed me to the furnace where the blue wire needed to be connected.  So why was it not connected at the furnace but at the thermostat?  I guess it doesn't matter as doing what he said fixed everything perfectly.  As I was finishing up Honeywell called me back, go figure.  It's still working, next thing is to set up the Ring Security light/camera's.  Of course they make it look so easy.  Unfortunately one need the QR code off the back and they are already mounted, getting the cart before the horse again!!

Springsteel Island Resort

As far as ice fishing, the furnace in the Salem seems to be working just fine.  It's gone through 3-30# tanks of propane without a hitch so it should be good to go.  Given this good news,  within a couple of weeks it's heading north to Springsteel Island resort for a month.  Maybe right after the Superbowl.  Then my friend Bill Dull from California is bound and determined to sleep out on the ice so he is flying up the first of March to spend a few days ice fishing again.  He came last year but the early spring forced us to fish out of portables and to stay on shore at night.  I am looking forward to his visit as he always has a nice scotch for sipping!  It's been frustrating with my DirecTV so it may just have to be old movies and conversation!  When we went to Red earlier last month we ended up watching Deliverance.  It was filmed in 1972 and I remember seeing it in a theatre yet watching it again was pretty interesting.  Deciding to play the director's comments, basically the movie reran with the director making comments about each scene, what was involved and trivia about the movie, it was quite interesting for sure.  Did I say the weather has been cold?? Usually I get to fish some local lakes but this year it hasn't happened, maybe because my portable ice house is behind the boat and too tough to get out.  My good friend Jack Taylor's son, Ben has been out a lot and maybe I just need to have him take me, just like I used to take out his grandfather, Earl Taylor.  At least he is young and could prove quite an asset!!

Speaking of Jack, we both got our money in for this year's 49th annual Leech Lake Fishing Opener.  Looks like most everyone is going to be back again, with the exception of Mason, who is in the Marines.  My two back pedestal's for the Ranger are wore out so I am going to replace them with the same type I have behind the console, WavePro's.  These are pedestal's with Fox Racing Shocks inside that are air adjustable.  My passengers will love me as they are quite nice.  A little more expensive but not much. 

Getting caught up, part 1

Steve's First Nice Walleye

Well, you'd think one would have enough time to document everything however it seems that time just flies these days.  So I have 2 fishing trips under the belt and haven't reported on wither on  of them so better later than never!  On March 12th the plan was to have my brother Steve pick up my friend Bill from California, who was staying in a hotel near the airport then meet me at the p ole shed, transfer the stuff to my truck and head to Springsteel Island on Lake of the Woods for one last ice fishing trip with the wheelhouse before bringing it home.  Bill had never stayed on the ice while fishing so this was going to be a special trip, however on Thursday, March 11 Springsteel's Facebook page announced that due to the warm weather, they were no longer allowing wheel houses on the ice.  Well, I called Steve to figure out plan B, we would bring our portables with then stay in the wheelhouse that was parked in the driveway of my friend Dave Johnsons house on the resort.  Bill was OK with this so ahead we went.  Arriving at 2:30 we meet up with Mark Mayerich and his cousin Greg and brother-in-law Gary, the news about the ice made them reserve a room in Roseau.  In the meantime my friends from Eleva, Kevin, Ben, and Jared Aiona were out on the ice already so we paid the access fee and headed out.  Unlike a month ago there was no snow on the ice except for a few thin patches.  4 miles out there was a heave starting so we stayed on the west side of that.  Finding an area where it wouldn't be so slippery we drilled 6 holes and started fishing.  It was comfortable out, some wind but we sat behind the truck.  My brother Steve got the first nice fish, a 23 inch walleye, anything over 19.5 had to be let go so down the hole it went.  We got another few fish before sunset and overall it was a nice beginning to our trip.  Driving back that night to sleep in the wheel house, the ice didn't seem too bad yet the prediction was for temperatures to be in the mid 50's on Saturday and that could really cause issues on the ice.

Ben's Nice Northern

Saturday came and we decided to fish  the same area again, about as deep as we could find without going over the heave.  It was nice out so we decided to fish outside again.  Ben and Kevin had their Ranger so they were more mobile and tried a number of different spots closer in at around 18 feet.  Being a couple miles away it wasn't too easy to see them but we did get their coordinates.  Because they were closer to shore and shallower, this set up for the possibility to catch some nice northerns as there were many ice fisherman specifically targeting northern pike.  Ben hooked into this dandy jigging for walleyes.  In the mean time we stayed in that 24 feet of water and Bill caught a dandy perch, close to 14 inches.  As well my friend Bruce Wiley had planned on flying up Saturday morning.  Dave Johnson drove a truck up that he planned to leave at his cabin so Bruce volunteered to fly him back home on Sunday.  2 hours verses 6 1/2 hours driving.   Dave and Bruce found us on the ice to see what we had.  It was nothing to brag about so Dave decided to take some walleyes out of the freezer and we would have walleye at the bar later that night.  We had a couple, Ben and Kevin had a few but with 12 in our group it was good that he had some fish that he could contribute.  The resort does a great job of making a fish fry, deep fried walleye, cole slaw, beans, and fried potatoes, a regular shore lunch.  they were very accommodating for me using my gluten free fish coating, it was a lot of fun and a good experience for my friend Bill to see how we do it in Northern Minnesota. Sunday was colder and more wind so we set up out hub houses with a heater and fished inside.  It was nice and comfortable, not that it was bad outside, in the low 40's but the wind wasn't very nice.  In the meantime Mark, Gary, and Greg, who was right next to us made lunch including chili and marinated venison chops, exceptionally good.  At about 4 we packed up and headed to where Kevin and Ben were fishing in the shallower water.  Getting set up it took about an hour then the fish turned on.  bound and determined to catch a fish on a Slab Rap, my wish finally came true as I got 5 fish on that lure.  My goal is to become more proficient with it, hoping to try this type of bait on opener at Leech Lake this year.  By sundown the  bite died almost instantly so we packed up.  the plan in the morning was to hook up and head south.  Kevin and Ben decided to fish in the morning so we did not touch base before we left.  In hindsight I think they could have let houses out as the ice seemed pretty firm and even the high temperatures on Saturday had little effect on the ice.  Oh well we had fun.  with no DirecTV we watch a movie each night, Friday was The Big White, a Robin Williams movie, Saturday was The Founder, about Ray Kroch and McDonalds, a very good movie, then Sunday was The Man  Who Shot Liberty Valence, the first movie John Wayne called anyone Pilgrim (Jimmy Steward).  We enjoyed some great wine, some very nice scotch, Bill had an experience that he'll never forget and I got my wheel house home.  Lot's accomplished!  My next couple posts will be on my latest trip to Lake Erie, very interesting.  Also I installed 4 new Lithium batteries in my boat, that is another interesting story.

Moved to Lake Of The Woods (LOTW)

Ben's nice 26.5" Walleye

Last Friday was the time to shift gears and retrieve the Salem wheel house from it's parked location at JR's and haul it up to Springsteel Island Resort on the southwest side of LOTW's.  Knowing Ben Aiona was going up there, his dad Kevin and Kevin's friend John Felix decided to join me.  The cold weather made a point to linger into the weekend with -35F predicted for Saturday night.  Meeting me at the pole shed we left by 8:00 AM on Friday with our intent on being at JR's by 12:30.  Arriving at JR's we backed the truck up to the wheel house only to see that my propane storage doors were wide open.  Damn, someone must have gotten in and took the 2-30 pound cylinders.  Kevin got to the doors and said Oh oh!  My heart sunk but he laughed and said he was sorry!  After hooking it up and securing the doors the plan was to start the furnace and let it run the 90 minutes to Warroad.  After bidding Adam at JR's a good bye till next year, I paid the storage fee and took off.  It never got warmer than -11 F and that was near Deerwood, MN and   by the time we hooked up it was back down to -15.  Our next stop was the Warroad Cenex station to get minnows, fill up the truck, and fill up the assumed now empty propane tank.  Part of the idea to start the furnace was to get it warm but also there was still propane left in the original tank and wanted to empty it.  Everyone said I should not run the furnace while pulling the house but it seemed to work out OK.  At the Cenex they are gracious enough to only charge you for what they put in it and to my surprise it still had 5 pounds left.  That was a lot of run time on that cylinder, 2.5 days on Red and at least an hour and a half of steady running on the road.  With the propane full, the minnow bucket running, the truck full of gas we were ready for a cold adventure.  After paying the road access we called Ben who had met us 6 miles out on the road and guided us near where he was settled in.  Kevin is getting pretty good at helping to get set up and did a great job as we were fishing within 20 minutes of arriving, just in time for the evening bite.  We managed a few keepers the rest of the day however the cold weather kept the bit to a minimum.  The next day, Saturday, would prove to be more eventful.  We caught a number of nicer 15 - 16 inch saugers and walleyes while Ben, just 20 yards from us managed to bring in a nice 26.5" walleye.  It was definitely chilly out but we managed to keep more than enough fish to go in for a fish fry at the resort.  It's a pretty good deal as one gets diced fried potatoes, cole slaw, beans, and they fried my fish in the gluten free batter for me.  It was a nice change not to have to make and clean up after eating!  After a filling supper we headed back 7 miles out on the ice to turn on the television and relax for the evening.

Sunday's catch

Ben got up and left Sunday morning while our plan was to stay and leave Monday morning.  It still never got above zero with Saturday night low was -34.  By the time we got up it was already up to -28!  We stayed the rest of Sunday getting a fish here and there.  I would not say that it was on fire but it certainly was better than Red Lake was 4 weeks ago and although the numbers were not as good as fishing Lake Winnebigoshish 2 weeks earlier, the number of keepers was significantly better, as we had fairly consistent action throughout the day.  We were surprised at the clarity of the water as LOTW tends to have dingy water.  This lead to a few rattle reels going off after dark.  AT midnight on Sunday one went off and no one got up to service the line so I got out of my warm sleeping bag and found the reel that had my line marker bobber underneath the water, felt it and set the hook.  It was a nice walleye and when I got her up I was impressed, nicest one of the trip in our house.  I put it in the fish pail, reset the rattle reel and hopped back into the sleeping bag.  After about 30 seconds the thought came to me, damn that was a nice walleye, but I failed to measure it.  On LOTW all walleyes over 19.5 inches have to be released.  So, back out of the sleeping bag and over to the fish bucket, pull her out and got the measuring tape that is on the slush dipper, 21 inches, back in the hole she went.  Luckily she swam right away.  No need to get the ice house confiscated over 1.5 inches of walleye.  Again we woke up to under -20 but decided to get packed up as Keven and John had at least an 8 hour trip ahead of them.  Stopping at the Springsteel Island fish cleaning house they had made some improvements such as running water to clean up everything.  We ended up parking the Salem at my friend Dave Johnson's place at the resort, ready for the next trip.  I suppose we caught around 30 - 40 fish total with 20 keepers that we either ate or brought home.  The plan is to leave it there till the middle of March when my good friend Bill Dull from Southern California is flying up to try ice fishing.  It's too bad he didn't come this time and experience what the real cold feels like!  I am trying to arrange a big group so he will have the full feel of an ice fishing adventure in Northern Minnesota.  As a side note the road we were on is the beginning of the ice road that runs across LOTW to the Northwest Angle, an isolated part of Minnesota the is usually only accessible by going through Canada either by highways or motoring across the lake via the portion that is in the United States.  The ice road has been important for the residents of the Northwest Angle as the Covid restrictions have limited their options to return to their properties.  It's a pretty good deal as the road provides easier access to those resorts in that area for guest to get there.  Snowmobiling is an option but it limits what  you can bring.  I know last week's weather sure made ice!

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.

Last Trip With the Wheel House

Kevin's size of choice!

Not much has been going on these last few weeks other than trying to find a roll of toilet paper in any store, my Lord this country has absolutely gone crazy, least I say more but I won't.  So in an effort to escape this madness on Friday my friends Kevin Aiona, Paul Wenaas, and I hooked up the Salem for what will probably it's last trip for the 2019/2020 ice fishing season.  Kevin's son Ben had left his ice house up at Springsteel Island Resort, where we fished this year on the week of January 9th and his plan was to go on up and fish the weekend, bringing his house home.  Arriving at 8:00 as planned we headed north to meet Ben at the resort, a 6 hour drive from home.  Both Paul and Kevin are retired so we were in no hurry to get home and the plan was to stay until Monday.  Arriving at the resort around 2:30 we ordered something to eat in the bar while we waited for Ben.  As the resort had stated you could go about anywhere around the resort and for the most part that was correct, if you stayed on the roads.  The snow was pretty hard off the roads but it was easy to spin down to the ice and you were stuck.  Our first stop was just east and right off what they called the DNR reef which came up to 16 feet however the surrounding area was about 22 feet.  Drilling the holes, I was reminded of my forgetfulness these days as I forgot to bring my cordless drill to run my Slushcopter, a wonderful device to push the slush down the holes once drilled as well as my slush scooper to finish what's left of what little ice there is.  Ben came to the rescue and let me use one of his.  We finally got settled in and started catching fish right away.  Admittedly many of them were quite small as though we were fishing sunfish.  I can't tell you how many walleyes we caught under 8 inches but I would say for every "keeper" fish we caught, we released at least 10 dinky ones.  It was surprising how aggressive these little fish could be.  They would rush up from the bottom and smack your lure, often dressed with a minnow head on the hook for some scent.  Sometimes they would come up almost 5 feet before hitting the lure, which is a lot of fun seeing it and having the anticipation of the fish slamming

Largest Walleye of the Trip, 21"

it, only to feel in the first second that it's another small fish.  We did catch a number of keepers, enough to take into the resort for a walleye dinner on Saturday night.  Ben was a little frustrated with the smaller fish that we caught by DNR reef so he decided on Saturday morning to move to deeper water.  He has chains on the truck so it was easier to go off road.  He was having some luck in deeper water out a few miles more so on Sunday morning we decided to move out as well.   As we lifted the house one of my pivoting axle's stuck and the axle spring shackle that secures the wheel to be able to drive was not moving.  Calling Ben, who had a propane torch, he drove over and as I suspect the grease around the axle was either too stiff to move or there might have been water in it because a minute of heating and the wheel started to slowly move down to allow us to secure it and move.  It was a good reminder of the next thing for the tool box.  Finally free we were able to get back on the road and head east a couple of miles.  Finding an old road we decided to back in so we had a clear path when we decided to leave, it was nice and flat so we set up.  It takes about an hour to properly set up the house, even with 3 guys but we were fishing by 9:30 in 25 feet of water.  No much deeper but different.

Paul with a nice 38 inch northern pike

We encounter about the same fishing as the last place.  I think right off the reef was a good morning/evening spot but the deeper water offered what might be a better day bite.  I thought we did better at the second place we setup, including the 21 inch walleye you see above.  The northern pike bite was better as both Paul and I caught 2 nicer northern's with Paul's being a respectable fish.  The fish did not come without inflicting a little revenge on all of us as before we got him up to the hole it had managed to swim around everyone of our lines and tangle them up beyond repair.  I guess we should have known better, when someone gets a nice fish, pull up the lines.  Oh well, the excitement overrides common sense and we spent the next 30 minutes cutting out lures, lines, retying our lines and lures.  To add insult to injury, we released the fish in Kevin's hole and it got stuck in his line, causing another problem of tangling up everything even more. It definitely was a mess but it did a couple of things for the good.  It made us retie fresh line on our rattle reels,

Tangled Mess!!

pull off the well used line on our existing poles and it was a great excuse to change lures.  In addition it provided some good entertainment as well as stories for the future.  I suppose we ended up with 7 keeper walleyes and a sauger, 1 nice perch, and a ton of smaller fish that we let go.  The DirecTV in the house made it nice and time sure flies when you are having fun.  We did watch the movie, Stand By Me, the 4 boys who head up the railroad tracks to find a dead body, it reminds me of growing up back home in Eleva.  We used to walk the tracks all the time and the trestle scene was right out of our memories crossing the trestle across the Buffalo River, especially when the train came roaring down the tracks.  That was over 55 years ago but it seems like it was just yesterday, time flies way to fast.  Well it was fun to spend the weekend with my 2 friends from back home, we had a blast and it was good to compare notes as to what each of us remembered what it used to be.  The last line in the movie Stand By Me says it all: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?”   I guess I am am very blessed that those friends are still in my life!
 

Back from Lake of the Woods

Ben's nice northern

Our January 9 trip to Lake of the Woods finally arrived.  Originally the plan was to leave my wheel house at JR's a couple of weeks ago then pick it up on the way and use it.  Unfortunately the snow storm at Red Lake changed our plans but definitely not for the worse as Dave Johnson, our host had plan B.  Our destination was Springsteel Island Resort just north of Warroad, MN.  Dave knew the resort very well and got us a cabin almost next to his, and with his hard side portable fish houses we were all set.  Dave Johnson is a person I met at Dick's Bar in Osseo.  A great place to have our necessary fishing board meetings, I had the pleasure of being invited along for an ice fishing adventure last week.  Along with Dave, the others included Bruce Wiley, Pete Sipe, Dan Sadler, (all Lac Seul veterans), my friends from Eleva....Kevin Aiona and his son Ben, as well as myself.  Ben and Kevin are not afraid to try anything as Ben built his own wheel house, took the wheels off and made it a skid house.  Bought an toy hauler RV trailer and gutted it to haul his tracked Ranger UTV and his skid house.  He had some issues but finally got it to he could at least pull his skid house in it, as he met us at the resort.  Although the snow was not that deep, Dave had the resort pull his houses out along with a road leading to them as well as a turn around for Ben's skid house.  It worked out very well as we were able to get set up and fish that Thursday night.  Fishing wasn't exactly on fire that first night but it was good to get settled in and get a feel for the lay of the lake where we would spend the next 2 days.  The resort is very nice and a place that I have always been curious about.  Many years ago we had a sales rep in Minneapolis by the name of Bob Fieck.  Bob had a place on Springsteel Island and in the summers would hitch a ride to Warroad with Marvin Window's corporate plane.  It seems as though it was only $25 if they had an empty seat and Marvin's would simply donate any moneys to local charities as they had to fly anyway.   The Warroad Airport is about 1 mile from the resort so it was very convenient.  Bob passed away about 15 years ago, however I asked on of the owners if they remembered him.  Oh Bob, he had that light brown cabin just over there!!  It was interesting for sure as Bob had always invited me because of my love for fishing, but like a lot of things in life, never made it.  This trip was sort of a never to late trip, one that makes me think about what I have missed not taking up Bob on his offer.  Well, I now have another friend who is up there and will definitely have to not let this one slip by!  Ben and his dad were planning on going up the weekend after Christmas but Ben had trouble with his trailer and ended up at Devil's Lake, North Dakota, so it was good to get them up.  Being we were all from Eleva, Ben, Kevin, and I stayed in the rented cabin.

Kevin's nice 22 inch walleye

Our first full day of fishing was on Friday, it was definitely cold like it always is as Springsteel Island is on the west end of Lake of the Woods, 6 hours north of Minneapolis as we were within just a mile or so from the Canadian Border.  Getting our holes re-drilled, cleaned out, heaters turned on, we were fishing in a half hour.  Bruce and I took on shack, Pete and Dan in another, Kevin and Ben were in their larger skid house, while the ever so humble host, Dave moved around from his single house to make sure everything was going well.  Lot's of small fish as the action was pretty steady.  Our fish included smaller (< 13 inch) saugers, walleyes, a few real nice eelpout, an occasional northern pike, and some larger tulibees (Cisco's).  It seems like the fish would come in spurts, hammer the baits well for 15 minutes then go silent for 15 before another school came by.  Kevin and Ben did get some big fish including a couple of real nice eelpout that we kept as they are excellent boiled, served with melted butter...known as "Poor Man's Lobster".  The eelpout we got were at least 10 pounds each and ended up with 4 for the 2 days we fished.  The picture above was a 22 inch walleye that Kevin caught.  He released it as the regulations are 6 fish, no more than 4 can be walleyes and the walleyes between 19.5 and 28 need to be released.  We each ended up with plenty of fish, all smaller walleyes and saugers so it was a good trip.  Thursday night we ate down at the restaurant at the resort as we dropped off our fish and they cooked them up and served them along with coleslaw, beans, American Fries, an excellent shore lunch as we were quite full.

As stated it was great to spend a few days with a new friend, Dave Johnson.  He grew up on a pig farm in Iowa and his stories as a young teenager were fabulous.  Certainly a lot of things hit home for all of us as we also grew up having to work for what we had, often there was no choice!!!  Either way I have told my friends about Springsteel Island Resort as it's only about an hour further than Red Lake and I would not say the fishing is better, maybe the catching is as we had action all day.  I am hoping to get up their a few more times, maybe bring my house up as Lake of the Woods is open until April 14th, 1 1/2 months more than inland waters.  The resort is very wheelhouse friendly and very accommodating so we'll have to see.  Usually I spend the month of January at JR's on Red but they are still digging out from the end of December's storm as the amount of snow is limiting how far they get out, which is only about 3 miles now.  LOTW (Lake of the Woods) didn't have much snow at all and it looked like one could go almost anywhere reasonable, however that can change fast.  We will have to see what develops again in the next couple of weeks.  I know there are still big issues on Mille Lacs with the amount of snow and lack of good strong ice, and there is another 7 inches predicted for this week!  It should be interesting!