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.   

Texas Reds

My well planned fishing trip to Rockport,Texas was everything I had imagined and much much more.  Meeting my good friends Joe Stanfield and Jim Cox at the Corpus Christi airport on Friday afternoon, we located our hotel on the main drag and headed directly for Joe's friends Butch and Penny.  Resident's of Rockport, Butch was also going to join us on the trip Saturday.  Rockport Texas is a smaller city on the gulf coast, nestled behind the Inter-coastal Waterway, 3 hours south of Houston.   Here large saltwater marshes and barrier Islands create a haven for fish and wildlife, including alligators, migratory geese, white pelicans, and the endangered Whooping Cranes.  Aransas National Wildlife refuge is located in this area and the chance to see one of these magnificent birds was pretty good.  Waking up at 5:30 Saturday morning, a quick breakfast and we were off to pick up Butch.  Arriving at the house he had some bad news...............storms with severe hail were due to pass through the area and our captain had called delaying our trip till after the squall line passed, he figured about 11:00.  Killing time we had a chance to view Butch's beautiful house, located on a canal leading to the prime fishing grounds, talk about fishing strategy and envision how good those fish were going to taste this evening. 

Being a fishing guide also means that you have to know your weather, and our guide Dave was no exception.  Heading to our rendezvous point, it was 10:50 and the blue skies were within sight after enduring a pretty windy, rainy morning.  Our trip would be a first for me, first airboat ride, first redfish caught, first time fishing the gulf.  I can guarantee you it exceeded my expectations for all three.  The first order of business was loading up our gear into the 22 foot, flat bottomed boat powered by a huge V8 engine.  Putting out 545 hp, this aluminum blocked, fully blueprinted Cadillac engine drove 2 - 8 bladed propellers, each counter rotating for stability.  This machine rocked.  After securing our noise muffs, hats we took our place on the boat.  Being the one most excited about the trip and my past guiding experience, I got to ride up in the elevated cockpit of the boat, putting me about 7 feet above the surface of the water.  Our guide Dave idled out of the launch area before he hammered the throttle.  I know one thing, being up on the top, right in the main flow of air is a rush that's hard to explain.  It was still pretty windy from the morning's storm so we stayed close to the edges of the marsh, crossing over oyster beds, the Inter-coastal, up small islands, thru channels to our fishing grounds.  Dave would simply take the boat, run it up into the marsh grass, pointing the front end into the waters edge and shut it down.  We fished the channels that ran through the marshes, usually in water less than 2 feet deep.  It actually reminded me a lot of fishing Indian Slough back home with my buddy Kevin.  Our rigs were simple, a 3/4 oz egg sinker with a 2 foot leader, plain hook, and hunk of fish for bait.  Casting it out into the open water, it was identical to cat fishing, wait for the fish to grab the bait, let it run for 10 seconds or so before tightening the line and hammering the fish.  It didn't take long before Jim nailed his first, a beautiful 24 inch fish, one for the box.  Reds have slot limits in Texas with all fish under 20 inches released and you can keep one over 28 but you need to report it to the Fish and Game department, where you will get permission to catch another one.  Few do as the 22 - 26 inch fish are the best to eat.  Moving a couple of times, we had 3 in the box before heading to the honey hole, and honey it was.  Our limit was 12, and with 6 in the box, none caught by myself, the "feel sorry" factor started.  "Here Dave, reel this one in........BS, I catch my own fish!  Well 3 minutes later and I nailed the 26 incher you see in the first picture.  Once the ice was broken, I quickly established myself as a credible Red Fisherman, catching the largest of the day, one over 28 that had to be released.

We ended out the day with 12 nice redfish caught within a span of less than 2 hours.  We endured a once in a lifetime ride on an incredible machine, capable of skimming across anything that's wet, and got to see 2 Whooping Cranes on the way back.  Once at the dock we loaded the boat and watched the guide clean the fish with the efficiency of a seasoned pro.  There were the usual cast of pelicans, gulls, and terns to take advantage of the free meal they were about to experience.  Simply slabbing the fillets off the backbone, he removed the ribs and left the skin on.  Our plan was to have Butch cook them up for us that evening, using a few of his famous seasoning and barbecue grill.  We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up, and stopped at an oyster bar for a little appetizer of 2 dozen raw oysters before heading back over to Butch's.  His recipe was pretty simple... fajita seasoning, lay the fish directly on the grill skin side down, close the cover and cook for 20 minutes.  It was the final reward for what turned out to be a memorable trip for me.  Another item crossed of my bucket list!  There is too much to tell in one post so I will add another later in the week.  I am still in Fort Worth, heading back tonight with nothing left but a sunburn and memories.