More Like It!

First Nice smallie in the Boat

With the better part of August relegated to the garden and the higher water, the plans to fish the Mississippi River didn't materialize as much as I had planned on it.  Also the closure of Mille Lacs, we fished the river quite a bit in July however with the warm water temperatures and the expectations of a normal bite never materialized.  Last Sunday my good friend Lory Brasel was in town so we decided to try the last part of August bite on the river.  Heading out about 1:00, I grabbed the nightcrawlers from the refrigerator but one whiff and it was apparent this was going to be strictly a crankbait trip.  They might have worked for catfish but I didn't want to deal with that smell all day!  The water was up about a foot from a "Normal" flow which was not bad as the thought was the smallies would be pushed against the bank more.  The plan was the usual routine, motor up about 4 miles just past the last island before the town of Dayton, hug the north side of the river casting various crankbaits.  The water was definitely fast and dirtier than normal but still inviting enough to try our luck.  As stated in faster water the fish tend to be up close to the shore, taking advantage of  current breaks available as well the become a great ambush point for stuff coming down the river.  My bait of choice this year is a somewhat larger square bill crankbait.  I like the way they cast and tend not to get too hung up on the bottom.  Being a little heavier, it is easy to place them right at the edge of the water then crank out.  Within 5 minutes there was a nice smallie on the line.  Of course one is never ready for that first fish and by the time we got out the net the fish came by the boat, took one last leap and spit the bait out, LDR (long distance release).  The rule in the boat is if you get a good look at the fish, can identify it, it counts as one caught.  Trying to save some of the good spots for Lory, we came upon a smaller current break when Lory pulled one as he retrieved it down the break.  Again another nice smallie about the same size as mine, maybe 17 inches, got the net out but before we got the net in the water another LDR.  Never the less it was fun!  Lory had a smaller profile crankbait with a larger lip to help get the bait down.  A few minutes later he was fighting a fish again, this time it was a 13 inch walleye.  We occasionally get walleyes when casting the shore and this would have been the 3rd such as typically they are in the deeper holes, something that's on the list to learn.  Quickly he pulled it in and released it.  Next was my turn and this time we were successful in landing the fish.  Although not huge it was still a nice smallie for the river.  We were on a good pace, a fish every 15 minutes.

6 inch Smallie on a 2 inch crankbait

Sometimes it never fails to amaze me how small a fish can be verses the the size of the crankbait it hits.  Lory was casting about a 2 inch Bandit and this 6 inch smallie hits it with vengeance.  Honestly it's quite amazing and sometimes it verifies that many of these fish simply strike out of reaction.   We released this smallie but took a picture to show just how aggressive these fish can be, heck the bait is one third it's length.  Reminds we when we were fishing for ocean run stripers in Massachusetts and catching 26 inch fish using 14 inch mackerel for bait.  The fast current made for a quick trip and without any live bait we made it down by Kings Island, just across the river from Blair's house where I land the boat.  There is a small channel that surrounds the island so we decided that with the high water, we'd boat around the island, which is privately owned by Vista Outdoors, they acquired the property when they bought Federal Cartridge in Anoka.    Only about 20 feet wide and a foot and a half deep there were a few guys casting for northerns with some luck.  It is kind of interesting idling through the channel as the roar of cars from Highway 10 is present.  It's sort of a dichotomy of things, you feel you are in a remote area with civilization right in walking distance.  There are 2 duck blinds on the property and you can get a permit to hunt ducks along the river, I hear them shooting all the time.  I guess it's nice to have somewhere close where you can do these things.  

The plan is to try and get out on the river a few more times as it is really a unique experience.  The tomatoes  are really coming in and although I still have salsa from last year, it's not what I would say the best and continue to experiment with my formula.  Wednesday was salsa night and it seems as though the correct ratio of spices seems to be coming together, about time!  The real problem this year is trying to find canning supplies, jars and lids.  It's insane for sure.  I think it will be fine as I've picked up a few things here and there.  One shout out to Lynn Brasel, Lory's wife.  After our fishing adventure on Sunday we were invited over for supper.  The Brasel's provided the salmon and a special treat, fresh Chicken in the Woods mushrooms they picked on their farm near New York Mills.  For our part we provided scallops, wine, and a bag of my frozen sweet corn.  One of the results of our fabulous supper makes me want  to share Lynn's way of serving it, she cooked the corn then added butter and cream cheese.  Uffda, my new favorite way of preparing corn, and  have lot's of it as last month I made over 90 bags (about a quart), happy eating for a year!  This new format is getting better  but still am struggling a bit.  Oh well.

Mid Summer Chores

 

First Crop ready to be cut off the cob.

Although I am still trying to figure out this new format, it doesn't seem too bad this week.  The problem with being retired  and fishing is there always seems to be something going on during the weekends and everyone else is working during the week days.  With Mille Lacs opening back up to walleye fishing, and even though it is catch and release only, my goal is to get up there in the next couple of weeks to try some lead line trolling in the basin areas.  I haven't done that in years because of the various closures however this August should be a great time.  In addition to that, hopefully the Mississippi River turns on soon as we have caught some fish, it's been a slow year.  Admittedly I usually don't start fishing the river until August and this year was July, time will tell as the river is hot on my list.  So what's been going on?  My last post had a picture of my sweet corn and this week it's finally ready to go, and go it is.  The garden has 6 rows of corn, each at about 48 feet long.  The first 3 rows were planted first with the last 3 rows planted 2 weeks later.  Each row produces about 10 dozen ears of corn and as of this post, I have only dealt with the first 1 1/2 rows, meaning there is still about 15 dozen ears that have to be taken care of before the next batch ripens, meaning there will be another 30 dozen ears to attend to!  I have shared some corn with the neighbors and there is already 19 vacuum packed bags in the freezer so hopefully with the help of my friend Bill Lundeen we can hammer out the rest of the first crop, which he should be nicely rewarded with for his help!  The cucumbers are about done, maybe a few more batches and the tomatoes are just starting to turn red.  A bumper crop of peppers and the onions look fabulous, I suspect the salsa production will start up real soon.  One day I might figure out that all this gardening is simply work yet the vacuum packed frozen corn freezes well and even after a year it still tastes as fresh as the day it was picked.  It's pretty amazing.

Honey Bees at Work.

Besides dealing with the garden, the city of Dayton decided to plow up a perfectly good 2 acre park down the road and plant it with sunflowers.  Admittedly it looks good however there are about 60 cars parked up and down the streets with little regard as to who's grass their car tires are on.  It is quite a field however with the traffic I have been avoiding it.  Apparently it has gone viral on the local Dayton and Champlin community Facebook pages, people all dressed up to take pictures, families with kids, it's all good.  What it is really good for is the bees that are on the back of my property.  Years ago a friend of a friend was looking for a place close to his home where he could keep honey bees.  With the orchard and a big garden, this would be perfect and invited Bruce to utilize my land for his hives.  the bees do a fabulous job, one could actually sit in my cucumbers and listen to the chorus of bees humming all around you.  Perfect for assuring a good crop.  Well the sunflowers should really help to provide a nice yield of honey this year as the bees do not have to travel far.  Her is a picture of one of the two hives.  The bottom pick and greenish compartments are where the queen resides.  She lays her eggs to produce worker bees to make honey to survive the winter.  There is a screen between the pink section and the first blue/yellow section to prevent the queen from laying eggs into those top boxes.  The screen is too small to let the queen who is much larger than the worker bees to get through yet it allows the workers to make their way up and basically make honey in the upper sections.  Often they make so much honey that they remove a full box and replace it with an empty one that the bees fill up again.  The bees make considerably more honey than they need to survive the winter, and sadly with disease and things like mites, often the hives die out in the winter, and they have to be replaced each year.  Supposedly this year's bees are said to be of a Russian variety and more hardy to the cold as well as more disease resistant.  We'll see as I really enjoy them on the property and they are pretty low key as pollen is their only focus, not stinging people!

As stated, I am hoping our luck changes on the river this month.  Canada is closed until August 21st and nobody is optimistic that we will be able to fish Lac Seul in September of this year.  Team Walleye did move our fishing opener event out to October 9th and it seems like everyone is gearing for that date.  Being a pretty good at trolling for walleye, October is an excellent time of the year for this technique.  Some of our guys have been calling me on techniques and preferred lures for Leech in October.  Letting out too many secrets is necessarily smart but they still have to catch them!  Besides trolling is work and many of the guys aren't into it.  My brother Steve Anderson has been negotiating on a new used boat that would be a nice upgrade for him.  It's a great time to sell a boat and I promised him help with transferring his electronics and trolling motor.  I remember when he bought the one he is selling, he called and told me he was going to look at a Lund 1625.  After telling him he's crazy and to definitely go bigger he called on the way back stating I was right and he ordered the 1725.  Well this new one is a 1775, a little longer and has more space.  He just retired and my advise.....your not getting any younger!  Leech Lake and Lac Seul is where one appreciates the extra size.  Oh well, obviously there is plenty to do. 

On the River Finally!

Jake's First Smallie!

After many delays the 14 foot jon boat with a brand new 25 hp motor finally got a chance to get wet.  In the last 2 weeks I have had Little Jake and his dad Limo Joe out helping do the maiden run 2 times.  The first was on August 30th, we hooked up the boat and headed about 3 1/2 miles up rive next to Goodin Island, just south of where the Crow River empties into the Mississippi.  Our strategy was to drift the north side of the river where the water is better as the south side tends to be quite muddy from the Crow.  We would stay 30 feet from the shore and cast right to the edge, bringing our baits downstream and across the current breaks and eddy's. Jake had been practicing with his spinning rod however I was concerned it was a little light for this kind of fishing so he used a heavier rod with heavier test line, as well I rigged him up with a white buzz bait.  These baits come up to the surface and make quite a noise coming across the water, enough to drive the smallmouth bass crazy.  In addition to that Jake is 12 years old and has a lot to learn about casting, avoiding snags, the right finesse for retrieving a lure.  As well my friend Pete who guided on the river for smallies claim they are deadly, so much he stopped using them and gave me a few to try.  This was perfect for Jake, heavy enough to get it close to shore, a quick yank and it was on the surface and if and when the do strike it's quite a show as the fish hit with vengeance on the surface.  There was some skepticism on Jake's part but he started pretty good as on the sixth cast a nice 16 inch smallie slammed it and the fight was on.  It really put up a battle and decided to get the net out to make sure we landed the fish.   Jake was pretty happy with himself as he did end up having 2 more bass take a swipe at it as well he landed 2 small northerns.  In the meantime I was using a favorite Bomber Model A in a light crayfish pattern with good success.  The plan was to float down to where Cloquet Island, just upriver from us, forms a deep hole and is a great place to anchor and drown a few nightcrawlers.  Well, we got about a mile from where we started and a jet ski was drifting down the middle of the river where the current was

Jake's Beautiful 20" Walleye

faster, he yelled at us so we pulled up to see what the problem was.  His jet ski refused to start and asked if we would pull him back to his place, maybe 3 miles downstream.  Although Jake wasn't too happy, it was the right thing to do so we tied a rope and pulled him home at a whooping 9 miles an hour.  Jake was pouting all the way as he had just started getting into a rhythm and we stopped to help this guy.  As we approached his dock he insisted that we stay there and he was going to get us some money, $80.  Jake's eyes really lit up but we told Jake that someday he will need help and banking a few good deeds is always good, we left to bottom fish.   With the sun setting and little time we took off his buzz bait and I have circle hooks snells ready to clip onto the snaps on the line with a 1 once bell sinker clipped above the snap, a quick and easy way to get fishing fast.  threading 2 crawlers on the hook we pitched Jake's pole into the current break and put it in the rod holder.  While getting the other rigs set up he noticed the tip of his rod bouncing pretty good.  Slowly coaching him, Jake is very good at using circle hooks as he doesn't really have any bad habits of setting a standard type hook, telling him when he feels a steady pull just start reeling.  Although he claimed there was a fish on his line it didn't look like much until he got it to the side of the boat where it really took off.  Kind of in disbelief, he finally had a good battle going and when he got it back to the boat it was a beautiful walleye, 20 inches.  Having caught a few walleye on the river, I know they are in there however this was the largest one that had graced my boat.  We had a few more bites however the mark had been set quite high and with it getting dark fast we decided to leave.  After loading the boat up on the side by side, we just had to drive around the neighbor hood to show off this nice fish, first to our neighbor big Jake, then we had to show his mom, stopped a few more places before putting the boat away and cleaning the fish.  I filleted the fish, vacuum packed it and it was ready to give to Grandpa when he came over for a visit the next day.  Joe proclaimed.....Dave, you've created this fishing monster!  We did go out on Labor Day for a few hours but the buzz bait wasn't working as well as the crankbaits.  We ended up with 8 nice 16 - 18 inch bass, it was funny as Jake reeled in the first couple then after hooking another one I think he felt sorry for me and stated that I should have the honor.  Changing his buss bait to a fire tiger shallow running crank bait got him a few northerns yet I had the hot bait.  I finally switched with him but it seems at about 30 minutes before sunset the fish turn off somewhat.  Either way we had a great time and it's more fun for Joe and myself see the excitement in Jake when he reels in a fish than anything else.  All you have to do is check out that smile in the pictures!

Nice Smallie

On Wednesday night I had the privilege of fishing with Jarred, the son of a friend of my friend, Paul Wenaas.  We had been trying to get together of an evening trip so Wednesday it was.  Because it is starting to get dark around 7:30, we decided to just fish the shorelines and dispense with any anchoring.  Admittedly the fishing was slow although the weather was nice.  I told Jarred that it's like another wold on the river and he's never know we where 20 miles from Downtown Minneapolis.  Because casting cranks let's one cover a lot of water fast, he was the first to get a nice 16 incher.  Satisfied a few minutes later I hooked a nice bass as well. These were the only 2 we got for the night, nothing spectacular but I am sure he'll be back.  It was interesting as these were the first outings with the new 25 hp outboard engine on the back.  Originally the boat came with a 1976 15 hp Evinrude but that was a real dog on the river.  I think it was very tired so a couple of years ago there was a 25 hp short shaft Mercury on Craigslist so I put that on the boat and it really woke it up.  The 15 hp would get about 12 mph upstream and maybe 16 going down, while the newer 25 hp did about 20 upstream and 24 down.  Well to be honest I forgot the motor was new and never broke it in, just took off at full throttle!  Honestly the performance wasn't that good, maybe 17 going up and 21 going down.  Deciding to move the motor pin up once, with Jarred I hit 21 going up and 26 going down, pretty impressive.  Although worried about the break in period, the old saying break it in like you're gonna run it, looks like it held true.  I suspect it would be a good thing to change the oil this fall even though it will probably have less than 5 hours on it.  The other thing that got done this week

Wagon Load of Sweet Corn 

was getting around to freezing the sweetcorn from the garden.  Planting 6-48 foot rows, 3 in May and 3 more rows about 3 weeks later gives a little time to get it all done.  For some reason this years first crop was sparse as I usually plant 3 - 4 seeds next to each other 10 inches apart, but in the case of the first crop only one or two stalks came up.  The second crop was better, but not as prolific as last year.  Thinking about it there may have been some Preen pre-emergent carryover from last years onion crop.  Either way not counting what the raccoons ate, I vacuum packed 42 bags of corn, each bag holding the equivalent of between 5 - 6 ears of corn, it amounted to about 250 ears of my favorite variety, Honey and Pearl bi-color.  It's really quite simple, get a big pot of water boiling, shuck about 30 ears and put them in the boiling water.  As dad taught me, boil them for about 3 minutes or so, I take them out and put them in big aluminum foil pans so they cool off.  With an electric knife just cut off the kernels and fill the vacuum bags.  I have a chamber vacuum packer that works excellent for this as it goes in a 8" x 12" bag, the corn gets flattened and sealed.  It ends up pretty slick and the vacuum packing give the corn an incredible storage life as we have had 12 month old corn form last year and it tastes as fresh as what we just did,  Finally got the Ranger back today and it looks pretty good.  It needs a good cleaning before September 21st when we head back up to Lac Seul.  I'm anxious to how they say, bite the dog that bit you the last time!  I know the buoy is moved and the water is at least 2 feet higher so it should not be a problem..........hopefully as it's been in the shop for over 9 weeks already this year...Uffda!

Catching Up



Raccoon's love sweetcorn!

After 9 straight days of travel and non stop fishing, it's surprising what starts piling up around the homestead.  Along with having tickets to see Alan Jackson last Friday night and Blake Shelton on Saturday night at the Minnesota State Fair, it leaves little time to do anything other than getting caught up with my projects.  One thing I didn't have to do was freeze any of my late crop sweet corn but it wasn't because of time.  As stated before I have good sized garden and fresh sweet core is always something to look forward to.  The strategy is to plant half the 6 rows in early May and the other half after Memorial Day.  This would assure there would be a crop before I went to Alaska and by the time I returned the second planting would be ready to go.  My favorite is a bi-colored kerneled corn called Honey'n Pearl.  It is sweet and holds well over a week of riping time.  This year I didn't buy enough seed to plant the last 2 rows so I substituted an old favorite of my Dad's, Northrup King's K199 Hybrid.  Man did that grow and is almost 2 feet higher than the first planting.  What was really nice is the cobs are very high up on the stalk, high enough to assume maybe the raccoons would leave it alone.  Fat Chance!  Obviously there was a smorgasbord and I wasn't invited.  Tuesday morning's discovery of nearly every stalk of the K199 either tore down or had the ears cropped off looked like the first picture. So much for freezing corn.  With my tomato's starting to ripen, rather than processing corn I got out the live trap and a can of sardines out of the boat.  I'm sure the one in the trap wasn't the sole perpetrator of the damage but it's a start.  The good new is......I don't have to freeze corn!  No worries, there is some from the first crop in the freezer.



New muffler, carburetor, and newly connected alternator

I have been real anxious to get my Ferguson TO35 tractor running like a new machine.  Although I could drive it fine, there were a number of issues that needed attention.  The tractor was originally configured for 6 volt, positive ground.  The previous owner Wes attempted to modernize the electrical system by switching it to a 12 volt negative ground which most vehicles are configured today.  This involves changing the starter, removing the generator and adding an alternator, then rewiring the ignition.  As well the carburetor was pretty well shot and with the original manufacturer out of business, rebuild kits are not available on the market.   In the past 2 weeks I have removed the old muffler, rethreaded one of the manifold studs and replaced it.  The alternator was not even hooked up so that needed to be correctly wired in.  The carburetor, well I ended up buying a rebuilt rather than trying to fix it.  The rest of the wiring was cobbled together so I tore it out and replaced it with more modern wire as well replaced the oil pressure gauge and swapped the ammeter for a voltage gauge, a better indication of whether the alternator is working.  Unfortunately after all that work the ignition system runs worse than ever.  Discovering that the coil was wired backwards did little to fix things and after bypassing the entire electrical system and connecting the coil straight to the battery, it still runs like crap.  My next step is to install new points and condenser hoping this will work.  Frankly it's not that complicated but it sure has my gears spinning.  Hopefully I can get it purring and move to the next 2 issues, my oil leak and the PTO engagement.  Those days working for Vic are really paying off!



2 nice silvers from the Bachatna

This weekend should see me finally get back up to Mille Lacs and start prefishing for my trip on the 21st.  The full moon is this Friday and I will probably not take advantage of it until Sunday as I am heading out on a motorcycle trip with my brother on Saturday.   My tomato's are really starting to turn red and the peppers are at their peak.  This year I went with some of the heirloom varieties including Brandy-wine, a fabulous eating tomato and Amish Paste, a large meaty type destined for salsa.  The raspberries are coming on strong and will be reserving some to make wine with my neighbor Lory.  We shared a bottle of his rhubarb wine the other night and it was hands down better than the commercial rhubarb wine I had at the State Fair.  He's got 6 more gallons brewing as we will start bottling in October.  I would like to try and get out on the river sometime as well.  Because it hasn't rained in a while, the water level is very low.  This should help to concentrate the fish and with the slower current allow more time to cast the hot spots.  As well the river is much easier to read and it might be a great time to target walleyes.  I simply cannot end without another picture of 2 beautiful salmon I caught a few weeks ago.  The one on the left is good sized hen (female) and the hooked jawed fish on the right is called a buck (male).  Lord knows why a chicken and a fish have the same designation on the female gender while a deer and a fish have it on the male side.  One of life's mystery's, sort of like why my tractor at the moment doesn't run!