A Wild Weekend

With the weatherman predicting another record snowfall for Sunday while Saturday's weather would be the last of the February thaw, I decided it would be a great time to head up to our deer hunting grounds on Rich's place and retrieve my ladder stand.  The trek back to my stand consists of a quarter mile adventure through an alder swamp.  At the end of deer season last fall it was decided that rather than go through all the work of removing it piece by piece, it would be much simpler to leave it in the woods and wait till the swamp freezes.  Of course that's what I said year and the heavy part of the stand keep it's host tree company all year.  Determined to get it out before the thaw, and looking at my schedule, it was as good a time as any.  The fact that I needed to pick up my ice fishing gear from Bill Lundeen and my friend and hunting partner Jack claimed the crappies were really biting on his lake, I picked up my frequent weekend companion Lory, and once again headed north.  Our route takes us up the Great River Road which parallels the Mississippi River, crosses the confluence of the Crow River before meeting the highway north.  Crossing the Crow River, we ran into an interesting scene, 10 - 12 wild tom turkeys robbing a ground feeder in front of a house.  It's been a tough year for turkeys with the deep snow. 

The pending storm must have had the all the wildlife on high alert.  Hooking the trailer to the truck, I noticed something ran over the edge of my holding pond.  Sure enough  it was my red fox whom lives inside the drain culvert.  This holding pond is basically a depression that drains a good portion of my neighborhood runoff rain and melt water and allows it to be reabsorbed into the water table.  If the water gets too high, there is an outlet culvert which runs underground a few hundred feet, emptying onto the flood plan of the Mississippi River.  It only to the outlet in the spring while the ground is still froze and the melt is fast.  I suspect that the depth of the culvert keeps it fairly warm deep inside, making a cozy home for the fox.  One of the benefits of having the fox around is the noticeable absence of rabbits on the property.  Last year the rabbits were at epidemic levels, eating everything in site.  I hope it decides to stay around for a while as it pretty cool to see it around quite a bit these days.  One thing is for sure, if you walk down to the culvert the fox has made his presence well known as they make sure their skunk like scent is everywhere!

Our first stop was at Bill's to pick up my portable ice house, Vexilar FL20, and my underwater camera.  For my efforts I was rewarded with a smoked Tullibee that he had caught last week.  The fish was a work of art and would go great with the Miller High Life that Jack always has.  Next stop was Jack's cabin on Platte Lake, 12 miles west of Mille Lacs.  There we unloaded the trailer, replacing the contents with his 2 up snowmobile, the perfect means for hauling out tree stand and headed for Rich's place.  Coming around the corner, something caught my eye, a huge immature bald eagle high in a tree.  Stopping to take a look, it soon became apparent, it was guarding a road kill deer, exposed by the weeks snow melt.  Getting out to take a picture, it decided to take flight.  Had this been a more mature eagle, I doubt it would have given up it's readily available food source.  Never the less it was pretty cool to see a young eagle this close.  After accomplishing my goal, we headed out on Platte Lake for the evening bite, which never developed.  A few sunnies was about all I could muster up, but all in all it was a good day.

Admittedly I am getting sick of winter.  After spending a few days in 76 degree Anaheim, CA two weeks ago, then a couple of 60 degree days in Denver last week and reading Jeff's adventures in Mexico, the latest 12 inches of snow has taken the wind out of my sails!  A week from Friday I travel to Rockport Texas to fish Redfish in the barrier marshes of the Gulf of Mexico with my Texas friend Joe Stanfield and Jim Cox, one of my suppliers.  The website looks interesting and will provide a good break for this long winter.  In the meantime the weekend plan is to try again for a limit of tullibees, maybe smoking them this time.  We did open a jar of the pickled ones Lory did last week and they are coming along real well.

One Last Day on the Ice

After a whirlwind month of February, I thought I would give my favorite panfish lake a try before I head to the hospital on Monday morning.  Seeing my neighbor Tom Olson working on his car, I stopped to see if he would be interested in riding shotgun.  It was a gorgeous day, in the mid 30's, the sun shining, an offer he could not refuse.  Agreeing to pick him up at 3:00, it would give us a nice 3 hours of fishing.  Deciding to fish outside kept the non value activities to a minimum.  First stop was the hardware store in St. Michael as along with the desired bait they serve free popcorn.  The nice day had the lake pretty crowded, as I expected.  I think people tend to naturally bunch up on lakes, assuming where there are people, there are fish.  Although this might true some of the time, I find it much more successful being away from the crowd, looking for my own unique special area.   It is especially true on this lake.  Arriving at my destination I drilled about 8 holes around the truck.  The bite started slow with Tom nailing the first 2 keeper sunnies including this nice 8 1/2 incher.  For me it took somewhat longer to get in the swing of things but I finally found the groove. 

Waxies were the hot bait for the day.  I did try a few purists and suspect if I had stayed with them would have done well however the hook sets were not as good a standard teardrop with the waxie.  About 4:30 the action really picked up.  Going through a box of bait in a half hour I was glad Tom picked up that third box.  The bite was soft but consistent.  Plenty of small fish were caught however about every fourth one felt like a hog.  I missed many fish that felt they could have easily been a new world record, however that was wishful thinking.  I did get this dandy 9 1/2 incher, a excellent fish anywhere.  When you bring a nice sunfish like this through the hole, it looks enormous.  Measuring it at home makes one realize just how big those 11 inch sunfish pictured on MT Bucket's blog really are.   Tom had a couple of crappies early but they really didn't start hitting until about 6:00.   After getting a couple on the teardrop it was time to try a new bait that my friend Kevin Aiona had given me for my birthday, a Lil' Cecil.  Not sold in the Minneapolis area, he picked them up in Eau Claire.  They are a very small metal spoon with a split ring attaching a very small treble hook dressed with a bead, with a thin metal flapper on the split ring.  The flash factor is incredible.  It didn't take long for a crappie to inhale the bait.  With the treble hooks there was no missing these fish.  I like watching crappies on my depth finder as they often act like aggressive walleyes, appearing out of nowhere or coming up from the bottom in a dead run to the bait.  Originally sceptical that a crappie would hit a plain metal bait, Kevin proved his value as a friend again.  I think the Lil" Cecil has a new priority in my extensive arsenal! 

Together we ended up with over 20 sunnies and about 12 crappies.  It was a great day on the ice for sure.  Actually the entire day was great.  Being outdoors is one of my favorite things in life.  As I was inviting Tom fishing this morning a Bald Eagle flew very low directly over us.  Heading to the Mississippi River I pointed out a nest high in the trees rising from the shore,easily seen from his house.  The eagle made a beeline for the nest before landing, assuring it will be a frequent sight this summer.  While on the ice a familiar high pitched honk signaled a large swan was near.  Sure enough a single Trumpeter Swan flew directly overhead, gracefully heading to some unknown destination.  The day ended with this stunning full moon rising over the trees, introducing the evening.  The day turned into a constant reminder of how beautiful the natural world is.  Monday morning is my scheduled surgery, however I look forward to a speedy recovery and the opportunity to get back out and enjoy the great outdoors.  My surgeon claims that I will be confined to the hospital for 5 - 7 days.  With a little luck I could be home by Sunday, March 7th and will post a complete update or it could take a couple of weeks, time will tell. Having lot's of good stories about past fishing trips, I should have enough material to keep it interesting till I can get back out on the water (or hopefully ice!).