Fishing for Polyps

Uffda!!

Well seeings how the fishing hasn't been in the front of my activities I though it would be a good time to discuss a very critical procedure that was endured on Wednesday of this week, my scheduled 5 year colonoscopy.  This is my 5th one since I noticed blood in my stools in 2000.  Admittedly this is an uncomfortable subject however I feel very strong about this as in 2000 they removed a polyp from my colon, which the doctors stated is a definite warning sign/risk factor for colon cancer.  No Thanks!  I know people who have survived colon cancer and those who have died, and to be honest, this is quite an easy way to screen yourself.  Yes they have less intrusive ways to screen for cancer however this is the only way to discover polyps and remove them before they become a problem.  The best prevention is to catch it early!  Actually the procedure isn't that bad, drink a gallon of what they call Golytely, trust me, it's certainly a play on words!  The best results start with a good prep and after drinking a gallon of this, I guarantee, there is nothing left to be had!!  It was a very interesting procedure this time as the doctor had some notoriety for preforming the procedure without the usual sedation.  Rather than look forward to another 6 hour recovery time I agreed to try it.  Admittedly it was different as the physician was from the Netherlands and we pretty much discussed fishing during the entire procedure.  He coined the phase of the title, fishing for polyps!  He talked  about fishing when he was young, how they would catch pike then eat them.  He didn't like the Y bones very much so we discussed  the way you can remove them in the filleting process!  His assistant was also a fisherman so it was a great way to pass the time while looking at the screen as the scope kept moving up the colon.  It is kind of funny when you really think about it, fishing in Canada as we work up 6 feet to the end.  It is also kind of fascinating, looking at the display and discussing the procedure and diagnosis of each section.  I had to laugh, the doc said that I had good storage...........I won't go into what that means, but you can guess.  In the end he gave me an excellent report and based on the current standards switched me from every 5 years to repeating this in 10 years, based on the great shape my colon was in and also past reports.  I definitely encourage all of my friends over 50 to get this done, it's relatively easy and quite painless and very important!  Some people find it uncomfortable however the doc complimented me on the ability to do this without drugs.  They had an IV in me just in case I started to get uncomfortable, an emergency dose would settle things down yet I made it just fine.  He told me that you just have to have the right attitude and that not all people can endure this procedure without some sedation.  I walked out of there and could even drive home by myself!

Bass Spawning schedule

Monday is my scheduled trip to the Dallas/ Fort Worth area to spend some time with my friends Matt Davis and Joe Stanfield as our plans are to fish his tank for Bass and hopefully try for some catfish.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the spring TTA meetings in Fort Worth, then I fly home on Thursday afternoon.  The plan is to experiment with a number of typical bass baits, this time of the year should be well past the post spawn stage and into the pre summer period and feeding heavily.  I am betting on some action baits like spinner baits or rattle baits.  The Solunar tables for next Monday put the peak times at just when we arrive!  In addition my friends are anxious to try Steaks a la Kienitz, a recipe from my friend Troy Kienitz that is out of this world.  Admittedly it fun to prepare this in front of people who have never had the experience to have a great steak after it been marinated in Tabasco sauce, Frank's hot Buffalo Wing sauce, and Hot Picante sauce.  It's pretty amazing as I have discussed this before.  Along with a nice bottle of red wine, it doesn't get any better.  The other thing that we are going to try and do is catch some catfish that is supposedly in the tank.   Man that's hard to say...........it's a pond stupid!!!  Anyway with 3 weeks to opener there's a lot of ice to be melted but with 70 degree weather in the forecast, it might not take too long!

Canadian Opener, part 2.

Me with a nice walleye and my caretaker!

Sitting in the cabin while there's fish to be caught is pretty hard.  Admittedly I have become a little softer in my age yet I knew that the walleyes were continuing to move through and we were missing out.  Of course the temperature continued falling as well as the rain but for a moment around 7:00 Sunday evening there appeared to be a small opening in the rain, as not to be so miserable. There were plenty of guys fishing off the main dock and they were catching fish yet I wasn't too excited to stand with 6 other guys vying for a spot.  Just north of our cabin and a little ways up from where the Beaver was parked was a sand bar that jutted out from the shore about 100 feet of so forming a perfect place for walleyes to congregate.  There always seemed to be boats working the area and as I walked the quarter mile hike along the shore there was one parked off the bar.  Arriving on the bar, we exchanged a wishful greeting as they pull away without much luck.  Fishing from shore has it's place and this sand bar had walleye written all over it!  I am sure you could fish it effectively from a boat however on shore you have the perfect vantage point to work the sharp drop that it formed as well as the eddy that wrapped around the downside shore.  I think most guys simply don't feel comfortable fishing as close to the shore as they need to be.  It was pretty easy, cast straight out from where the sand is off the shore, feel your jig tumble down the edge, then bring it back through the eddy. Because the wind was blowing pretty good it would create a huge bow in my line which was difficult to control yet I could see the fish hit the jig by the change in that bow, enough to nail a nice walleye. My second cast repeated the first, a large bow in the line, that slight movement, tighten it up and set the hook.  2 casts, 2 walleye.  At that point I decided to change to a heavier jig as better control was needed.  Putting on a 3/8 oz jig proved to be positive as now it was easier to reel in the tension without dragging the jig too far.  The walleyes didn't seem to care and for the next 90 minutes each cast produced a fish from 13 - 24 inches.  It started to rain again, the temperature was still falling as well my hands were getting numb yet the fishing was too good to stop.  With 3 fish on the stringer, cold hands, and the rain intensifying I decided it was time to pack up and leave before it got worse.  As I headed towards the cabin here was Bruce walking my way to get my butt back, my hamburger was getting cold.  I guess when the walleyes are biting, nothing else seems to matter yet there is something special when your friends do care about you.  In the end it was an unforgettable experience, I guess up there, they all are! Unfortunately because of the rain, cold, and by myself, I didn't take any pictures of that night so the first one is Bruce and I the next morning with a nice walleye.

Pete on Monday afternoon

Saturday was beautiful, Sunday was cold and blustery but Monday saw us waking up to 3 inches of snow covering the ground and 27 degrees.  Uffda!!!  Water to the cabins were starting to freeze, water in the propane regulators were starting to freeze, what a mess.  It took a few hours to get everything usable again as I pulled off the top of the stove to see if there were any problems.  Man was it dirty! Deciding that we were not going fishing for a while as the snow was coming down horizontally I got out the cleaning spray and started cleaning the mess from a couple years of use, spills, and neglect.  Once everything settled down we decided that time was a wasting and our purpose was to fish, let's go!  Bruce, Pete, Mike, and I decided to take the boat out after scraping all the most of the snow aside to comfortably fit 4 guys in the 20 foot Alaskan.  That was a mess in itself as we had no shovels to move the snow,  we pushed it to the sides with our feet then used the net to get out what we could. With the weather the way it was our plan was to try and find some wind protected shore to keep the misery factor an a minimum, which was hard to do. Luckily the fish were still biting and the good news was that we didn't need a cooler to keep the caught walleyes in as they did just fine laying on the deck in the snow.  On Saturday I did really well using Gulp on my jigs  however by Sunday the water had cooled and it was strictly a minnow presentation.  We tried a number of areas but the best spot seemed to be the sand bar that I had fished the night before.  With the snow coming down it did limit the amount of boats fishing and we were the only one on the point at this time.  It was pretty much a fish a minute with 4 of use flinging the jigs and by the time we were done there were 4 walleyes and a big lake whitefish on ice.  Lake whitefish are common in these lakes but tend to be very hard to catch.  I was pulling a jig and minnow across the sand bottom when it went thump and the battle was on.  Whatever it was, it fought

Nice Lake Whitefish

hard thinking I might have the biggest walleye of the trip here!  Actually as it came up near the surface it looked sort of like a walleye yet usually you can see the white tip on the tail, this fish had none.  Getting it closer to the boat it became obvious it wasn't anything I've caught before, a Lake Whitefish.  It was exciting to catch one as they are supposed to be excellent to eat and of course a delicacy smoked.  After coming back in it was time to show the boys my real talents for making steak on the grill. Bringing up 8 nice 18 oz New York Strips my intent was to make the famous Steak ala Kienitz after a recipe by my old neighbor Troy.  Previous posts in this blog have described the culinary masterpiece but for those who don't want to search again here is the simple procedure.  After setting the steaks in an aluminum roasting pan take a bottle Tabasco Sauce and empty it over the meat.  Next open a medium bottle of Frank's Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce and empty that on the meat, turning the steaks over to get it on both sides.  Next dump a bottle of hot Pace Picante Sauce then let it marinate for at least 2 hours at room temperature.  Fire up the grill and simply throw the steaks on right out of the pan, keeping as much sauce on as you can.  A little messy and you have to watch the fire so the sauce doesn't burn, cook no more than medium rare. Other than Mike, the rest of the guys looked at me like I was crazy but a quick sample and their minds had changed from thinking they would need a bottle of Tums to put out the fire to WOW, this is fantastic.  You can teach these old dogs new tricks!  With dinner out of the way and the need for 3 more walleyes to fill our limits, Mike and I decided to go back to the sand bar and see if we couldn't accomplish the task.  Although it was cold, snow is nicer than rain so we suited up and walked the 1/4 mile to the point.  It didn't take long to get our remaining fish and as a bonus Mike caught another lake whitefish, a twin to my earlier fish.  With that we returned for a couple of cocktails before getting ready to head out in the morning, 6:00 would come soon enough.

Morning on Lac Seul

Tuesday morning greeted us to a gorgeous blue sky, light winds, and the promise of above freezing temperatures.  This was perfect as ice and snow covered the airplane and the only deicer was the buckets of lake water we could throw onto the plane.  In the meantime Bruce, Tom, Wayne, and Mike were loading the boat in time to follow the camp boats back to the landing as it is takes the guessing game where the rocks are when the water is as low as it is. While Pete and I brought our stuff to the dock, Garith warmed the plane up and tried to park it in the sun to help melt everything.  Once loaded it still took a few hours to make sure we had everything melted off before we took off. Rising off the lake in the plane is an awesome feeling and the view is spectacular.  Heading east, Garith always likes to fly around the major airports to avoid having to talk to the control towers as well as any traffic.  This time he headed more east than he thought as sitting in the copilots seat I could see the GPS and the instruments stating our destination and ETE (Estimated Time En-route).  At take off it was 1 hour 32 minutes but after about 15 minutes in the air it said 12 hours.  The GPS showed us flying straight east so after a little discussion and making a 90 degree turn we got back on course which was good as we only had about 2.5 hours of flying time with the gas we had on board.  Finally landing on Crane Lake and going through customs we added about 55 more gallons of fuel and headed home.  The weather was perfect and by 1:00 we were at Surfside.  It is always fun to fly over the Iron Range by Hibbing, Eveleth, and Virginia, Minnesota.  From the air the view is spectacular and it really is amazing the impact on the area.

It was a great trip again but ironically was a repeat of the Minnesota Opener, beautiful on Saturday and turned to crap for the next 2 days.  My boat was scheduled to be started on May 20th and takes about a week.  Assume it's shipped this week, Frankie's should have it next week and Deb has promised that they would take care of me.  That's all one can ask.  In the meantime I have a lot to do around the house getting the garden planted, the lawn mowed, as the rain has finally decided to get back to normal, heck the Mississippi River is up 6 feet already and more rain is forecast for this week.  My Grandpa Roy always said that you can never get enough rain. I guess that after living through the depression and the drought years of the 1930's, he's probably right.  On the other hand my friends in Dallas, Joe and Matt might just disagree about now.

Winter is Here!

Steak ala Kienitz

OK, so deer hunting was less than successful last weekend but it was still nice to get out.  Because of the extremely wet summer and the fact that we had Jack's 10 year old son with us, we decided to hunt Loren's 80 acres, about 10 miles southeast of our usual hunting grounds.  It was definitely a lot easier to set things up and walk to our stands in the morning, sometimes you just need a break from the normal.  We did scout the area the previous week and there is certainly sign of a lot of deer moving through the fields and along the edge of the woods.  The trails coming out of the woods and through the fields look like cow paths in a pasture from back home.  Arriving on Friday at Jack's cabin on Platte Lake, his son Ben and I started getting prepared for our annual Steak Feed at Brett's place.  I have posted before about this but it's always a nice reminder.  A simple recipe stolen from my friend Troy, who now lives in Montana, it doesn't seem like it would be good but it's excellent.  As stated last week, I bought about 12 pounds of boneless ribeyes and a big aluminum roasting pan. The first ingredient is Tabasco sauce, I use a small bottle and sprinkle it on each side of the meat.  Next is the Hot Buffalo Wing sauce, a big bottle of this is emptied into the pan.  the last thing is adding a big jar of Pace Picante Sauce, hot.  The meat marinates for about 4 hours before we fire up the flip flop grill and cook them to a delicious medium raw state.  Along with baked potatoes, mushrooms, and a glass of zinfandel, it's a meal fit for a king. Besides myself, Jack, and Ben were our good friends Eugene and his son Kevin, Brett, and Jack's brother-in-law Steve.  Stuffed to the gills, we headed back to the cabin and were sleeping by 9:30 as 5:00 comes pretty fast.  Saturday morning we woke up to a very strong west wind, something that usually keeps the deer laying down, and being a full moon doesn't help either.  This year I did a ground blind and it was very nice as it provided protection from the wind and because we were hunting the edge of the fields, it really wasn't too bad.  By noon I decided to move my blind to the opposite side of where Jack was set up as he had seen deer move into that area but was too far to shoot.  I stayed there both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning and only saw 1 deer.  At least I

First Snow of the Season

was comfortable.  In the meantime the deer I saw walked right in front of his blind and he got a nice video.  Ben wanted him to shoot it but Jack said it was too small, which didn't make Ben very happy! I decided to leave Sunday afternoon as a significant snow storm was bearing down on Dayton and I wasn't very prepared. The boat needed to be tucked away, the leaf vacuum system and mower deck needed removing and replaced with the snow blower, the tractor needed to be pulled into the shed, with little time before the snow was forecasted to start. Working till 11:00 that evening I was able to get all of the tasks done just as the snow began to fall.  We were predicted to get 8 - 12 inches and this time the weather man was very accurate as I had about 10 inches to deal with on Monday night.  These first snow storms start out as wet heavy slush then as it get's colder, tends to get more fluffy.  It was still difficult to shovel as it was very wet underneath and my blower wants to dig into the soft ground and mix some dirt with the nice white snow.  In addition to getting everything cleaned out my friend Mark's ice house that sits next to mine was sold and needed to be picked up Tuesday, that area needed to be cleared anyway.  Not complaining as Mark brought over a bottle of Booker's Straight from the Barrel Bourbon, incredibly smooth but being straight from the barrel, it's about 120 proof! Either way we toasted the beginnings of a new ice fishing season that's soon upon us.

Showing off at TCF Stadium

So last week I forgot to post my Sunday adventure, going to TCF Stadium on the University of Minnesota's campus for the Vikings game against the Washington Redskins.  Not much of a Vikings fan, I had never been to that venue, it was nice out, and the tickets were free from my neighbor Pete Sipe so what the heck.  Along with Pete and I were his son Rob and our good neighbor Tim Kuntz, a fanatic Vikings fan.  With the temperature predicted in the 40's I decided to dress for the occasion wearing my warm Green Bay Packer sweat shirt and a Stormy Kromer hat.  Walking around the stadium to check it out, I had Tim take this picture of me on the top deck overlooking the field with the skyline of downtown Minneapolis in the background.  A far cry from Lambeau Field it should be interesting as the Vikings play the Packers on November 23rd at home, we'll probably watch it at Tim's.  At least they sold Leinenkugels Beer there.  I am still waiting for my Rattlesnake Rattle Reels that were ordered from Bill, he took off to Arizona to bring his mom to her winter residence and a well deserved vacation, I guess it will be after Thanksgiving now.  Beyond that I'm ready to go and with the recent snow, the temperatures are not predicted to get above freezing for the next 10 days or so......we might be on the ice sooner than later.  The first of the ice fishing shows start on Friday and I definitely plan on spending some time there as well might sneak out on Saturday or Sunday to see if I find a nice buck to shoot.  Beyond that it's the inbetween time of year as we wait for the lakes to freeze.

Still Waiting



Most of our deer hunting group



Minnesota's Deer Hunting opener started out with a bang (sorry for the lame pun) for our ragtag hunting group.  Sam shot the first buck, followed by a smaller buck, a nice doe that Brett nailed on Saturday while Brennen shot 2 nice does on Sunday to give us a total of 5 deer for the first weekend.  Sam is in the front row on the left and Brennen is the guy just to his right, in the brown shirt, both younger hunters and it's always great to see them successful.  Of course the hardest thing is to get them to actually gut the deer, something they just expect the "elders" to take care of.  Well, not in this group!  You shoot it, you clean it.  These are good lessons in life and it was a blast having them in our deer camp.   One thing that is fun with the kids is their reaction to my traditional Steak ala Kienitz, which I make on Friday night.  Their thoughts about eating a tender steak covered with Tabasco Sauce, Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce, and Pace Hot Salsa was less than enthusiastic.  Once grilled to a tender state of medium rare, one taste changed their minds.  As always, our Friday night steak feast was great success.  Along with our group we have a number if guys that stop by to share in the excitement of the upcoming hunt.


Hanging meat!



Having a full schedule at work meant coming home on Sunday night.  My plans for Monday was to stop by my neighbor Pete's and get his take on the local mayor and city council races for the election on Tuesday.  Stopping at his shed and opening the door, he had a nice buck already skinned and with his brother Tim were starting to butcher it.  Never one to back off from a good session of cutting up deer, I volunteered to come back with my cutting boards, knives, and vacuum packer and help finish the job.  I do enjoy cutting deer and was rewarded by a few packages of tender steaks.   Within 2 hours we had it cut up, steaked out, vacuum packed, including 30 pounds of grind meat.  I am sure that they appreciated the help and I was glad to oblige.  I also met with my friend Mark Applen who was hunting 30 miles east of me and they had 5 deer for 8.  They have a good system, Sunday afternoon is slated for a big butchering party, they skin, butcher, and grind everything before splitting it up amongst the party.  Mark gave me about 5 pounds of grind meat and I will probably make some deer sticks out of my gift. 

I am heading back up this weekend to hunt, it's suppose to be 55 on Saturday before the bottom is to fall out of the temperature with snow and below freezing temperatures.   I get the pleasure of picking up Jack's son Ben Taylor and having him ride up with me.  He's 8 years old and had to make a decision, hunt with dad this weekend or go to a friends birthday party on Saturday.  He wants to be with the big boys, something that we certainly can accommodate!  Ice fishing can't be far away as I'm hoping that this year will not be a repeat of last year's crazy weather.  Dick, the guy who is fixing my tractor, called and confirmed that all of the parts finally came in and it should be close to finishing it up.  It's taken a while but I'm sure it will be well worth the wait.  Things just seem like they are traveling a million miles an hour!