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 off my Butt

Matt with a largemouth on a wacky rig

OK, Bring retired often means you simply find it hard to keep up with everything.  Well a changing event happened on Sunday, my great friend and fishing buddy Matt Davis passed away from Covid complications.  I have survived over 18 months without having anyone close to me pass away yet now in the last month Matt was the second, with my past production Manager Rich Rebella being the first.  Of course it is devastating as Matt was only 54 years old, Rick was 57, both 10 years younger than I.  Matt and I shared a love for fishing that was deep. We fished together in Charleston South Carolina, Naples Florida, Cameron Louisiana, and at Joe's place east of Dallas.  Not only did we fish but Matt introduced me to TX Whiskey and never let me run out! Actually I think he was disappointed when I told him they finally had it here in Minnesota, as it was only available in Texas.  If you are interested, go down to the bottom left side and there is a section called Labels, there you will find any article that Matt was referenced in, and he was one of my favorite subjects.   One of the things this blog does it records memories, which was why I started it.  Matt's passing away reminded me that it is still important to document things as I have some great memories of him through this.  Matt and I had a lot in common as he was the president of NovaMagnetics, a transformer firm in Garland Texas.  I barely remember his father, Glen Davis who passed away a number of years ago and Matt stepped into his shoes.  Our good friend Joe Stanfield introduced us and it could not have been a better match as we had so much in common.  The only thing I didn't do that Matt loved was to chew Copenhagen!  Last March I took my good friend Bill Dull ice fishing on Lake of the Woods, we had a blast.  Well Matt made me promise I would take him ice fishing as driving out 15 miles onto a lake and staying in a specially made RV for a few days was something he wanted to experience.  I was really looking forward to giving my Texas friend a taste of the north this March.  Should have, would have, could have.  Unfortunately it's too late but you can be assured that the Northland Buckshot spoon I bought him will be hanging in the house....that and a bottle of TX.

Ricky Shermer's nice walleye

So what else is new since August?   Well in September we got back to Lac Seul with Bruce.  Having only 10 guys and 3 boats, a number of our past members did not come as either they had other plans or had problems with the Covid requirements.  I decided that I wasn't going to let that decide my fate in Canada so I got my vaccine in March.  Even though we had all of our requirements and testing in order, 6 of use were randomly selected to do a test.  Personally it was ridiculous.  One had to have a nurse view you doing the test online via your phone, assuming you still had signal from International Falls, then follow a number of confusing instructions then drop it off somewhere in Ft. Francis.  The whole process took almost 3 hours and was stupid because we were scheduled to return to Minnesota at least 2 days before the tests were done anyway.  I could go on but at this point there is no point.  We barely made it to camp with about 30 minutes of daylight left.  Fishing was somewhat slow the first 2 days.  I had 4 in the boat, Ricky Shermer, Barry Blasovic, Jerry Kiffemeyer, and their guide Me!  The first day we totalled 45 walleyes in the boat, pretty low.  The second day was better with 55 in the boat, still pretty slow.  The last day Jerry decided to go with Jack, so with 3 of use we ended up at Pecker Point and just hammered them with 85 in the boat including a number in the 26 inch range like the one Ricky is holding.  The walleyes must have turned on because everyone did pretty good that day.  We finally got across the border with little problems, usually we eat breakfast in Canada but decided to get back to the US first.  One of the things I purchased before we went was a Lowrance Active Target, a 3D type scanning device.  With a special transducer and a mount, i was able to quite accurately see how the fish were reacting to our baits and often could see all 3 of our presentations.  It really didn't do much to help catch fish but it made it more interesting to watch the fishes reactions to our lures.  

Ben's beautiful 8 pointer

In November Jack, his son Ben and I hunted Brett's land, once Rich Allen's place.  Brett has erected a number of fully enclosed stands, complete with heaters, and it makes for a comfortable hunt.  the visibility isn't the greatest but you certainly don't get cold!  Ben on the other hand is young and sat in a traditional ladder stand, which paid off as he shot a beautiful 8 pointer.  I have deer hunted for 50 years now and have never shot a nice buck like this. I am very proud of him and he is having it mounted, which he should!  We hunted a few omore times but I never saw a deer...was warm though!  Last year my Salem Ice Cabin had significant rusting through the frame, such that it needed repairs.  In September it was dropped off at Crystal Welding, known for their trailer repair.  It took a couple of months but right after deer hunting it was done, $9200 worth of iron, welding and repairs.  Although it seems like alot, new houses are ridiculously priced, if you can even get one.  It was worth repairing as it is a nice house and set up the perfectly.  Last Tuesday Jack and Ben were heading to Red with me, but on Monday the furnace stopped working.  With below zero temperatures, we decided to delay as the last thing we wanted was 3 guys found dead in their wheelhouse headlines.  Luckily the guys at Minneapolis Trailer in Rogers, MN got me in on Tuesday morning and by 1:00 it was running perfectly.  Meeting Andy Achman and his crew at JR's we got settled in for the night.  Fishing was slow as predicted a front came through and Red Lake is more affected by weather changes.  We left the house up there and headed back on Thursday with just enough fish to have a fish fry at JR's before we left.  My friend Ben Aiona and his family were on Lake of the Woods and on Wednesday did really well with 56 walleyes caught, with 3 limits between 16 and 18 inches.  the plan is to go up to Red in a week or two them haul it to Springsteel Island Resort till March before ending the season.  Unfortunately 2 of Andy's guest tested positive for Covid so I am trying to get into the doctor to get tested.  With 2 friends down, it's nothing to screw with.

Deer Hunting, 2020 Back at Rich's

 

3 of the 4 deer bagged on Opening day

Well despite it getting more difficult to deer hunt each year, I decided to go again this year.  Hunting with my good friend Jack and his son Ben, a number of years we started hunting by his cabin on Platte Lake, west of Mille Lacs.  Soon we befriended a man named Rich Allen, who owned 160 acres about 3 miles southwest of Jack's cabin.  The land is mostly a peat swamp with some high ground east across the swamp as well as an wooded island that is slightly higher but not by much.  In the later years the water level had risen so high that it was almost impossible to get back to our hunting spots on the island.   Rich had passed away a number of years ago however his nephew Brett now has the land and he has always welcomed us to hunt.  Unfortunately we have chosen an easier path of hunting, another friend of Jack's, Loren has land about 15 miles from his cabin but for the most part it's dry and easy to walk.  This year Brett with the help of his son Trent and Jack's son Ben, they started clearing out all the overgrown brush that basically was holding back the water in the swamp.  After many weekends of work they were able to clear out the old drainage ditch enough to lower the water in the swamp by at least 6 inches.  Many years ago Jack had some solid aluminum catwalk pieces and gave them to rich to put across the ditch as a bridge.  Prior to clearing the ditch the water was about 2 inches above the deck.  When we walked over it on Friday to check out the stands the water was at least 6 inches under the bridge, however it was still pretty wet in the swamp as I soon found out that leaving my knee boots at home wasn't such a great idea!  Luckily Jack had some to use, I would have been wet without them.  One thing that Brett also did was allow me to use one of his plastic roto molded deer stands that he put up in strategic locations.  Admittedly it was very nice, a swivel chair, propane heater, nice windows, sitting up 10 feet off the ground supported by a number of treated 4 x 4's and a concrete anchor, it was very nice.  It was also nice of Brett to allow myself this luxury, maybe because I am getting old, never the less it was appreciated.  Either way it was nice to walk out to the stands on Friday to get familiar with the area again as it's been maybe 4 years or so since we hunted the swamp.  Friday night was our traditional Steak a la Kienitz night as appreciation to allowing us to hunt the land, we provide Friday night steak, baked potatoes, and fixing's.  It was always appreciated by Rich so we have kept the tradition going.  The first year we hunted with Rich, we brought a Flip Flop grill from Eleva.  Rich was so impressed he asked me to pick him up one, which after my mother got one for me, we had the next year.  Brett still has the grill as it does the steaks perfectly (although they were originally for chicken).

Plastic shelter on stilts!

We got up early, 5:00 AM on opening morning.  Being retired this isn't my normal routine however I did survive!  After a quick bite to eat we were headed to Brett's place to walk out to the stands.  It was quite dark yet the path was easy to follow.  Ben went south to a stand about 100 yards from Jack. Jack took the first stand on the edge of the wooded island, near where I would set up my old stand years ago.  Funny all those good trees were blown down and the feel of the area had changed quite a bit.  After wishing Jack good luck, my path took me about 150 yards north to the northeast point of the woods overlooking the edge of the swamp as well as the point.  It was unusually warm for this time of year with the high temperature predicted in the high 60's.  No need for heavy clothes so I removed my coat and sat down and got comfortable.  It was great!  With a nice south wind, it was just perfect as I stayed there till dark.  About 10:00 there were 2 shots very close.  Soon a call from Jack, Ben had a spike buck down and he went to get the special ATV to drag it back.  They were visible from my stand but it was just too comfortable to get my jacket and boots on to trudge my way over to see the deer, it would be there upon my return.  His buck is the one on the right in the first picture.  It was interesting as to the left of the stand was a pile of corn and 6 Mountain Dew bottles.  Legally one cannot hunt over a bait pile yet this was left over from bear hunting, in which it is legal to hunt.  Apparently the deer hadn't found the corn pile as it was still pretty intact.  Asking Brett what the Mountain Dew bottles were doing, he stated that bear love Mountain Dew and will rip open the tops and drink the entire half gallon, and there were 6 of them.  I didn't see any bear as the season closed a number of weeks ago and Brett had not cleaned it up.  Oh well, it was interesting about the Mountain Dew.  Because of my scheduled angiogram for next Monday which includes having a Covid Test on Thursday, I will be quarantined either way, if I am negative they don't want me to risk catching it between Thursday and the procedure on Monday, or if I am positive, it still means quarantine for 2 weeks........a lose lose deal so no more deer hunting this year!  The reason for all of this is my heart valve is slowly deteriorating.  This isn't an issue as I am schedule to have a TVAR type valve replacement which no longer requires open heart surgery. Previous test show not much change to the valve but one of my symptoms is getting out of breath easy.  A CT with Contrast showed some narrowing of the coronary arteries but not abnormal however a better test is the angiogram.   I think my issue is simply retirement and I am definitely out of shape.  After Monday we'll know more as my friend Mark Applen just had the same thing done and they put in 2 stents, which they might do to me.  Oh well.  Winter is coming and there's still a lot to do! 

Back On the Big Water

Ben's First Walleye of the Day

 I won't bore you with the details however Mille Lacs Lake opened back up to walleye fishing August first after being closed for the entire month of July.  August is not one of the best months to fish walleyes on Mille Lacs but after a scorching hot July, with a moderate amount of rain in the area as well as cooler night time temperatures, the lake surface temperature  has dropped at least 8 degrees, things were going in the right direction.  After watching this video of one of my favorite YouTube guys, Tom Boley, it was titled, Mille Lacs, Part 2.  Tom is a young guide from the Hayward, Wisconsin area and has his own YouTube channel regarding fishing.  He does an excellent job of explaining the fishing scenario's on his video's and is especially interesting when it comes to going through how to use electronics to locate fish.  Tom posted this video last week and it influenced myself to get and try lead lining an long line trolling with planar boards in the deeper water off the flats on Mille Lacs.  I have been asked buy a good friend Greg Kinblom  to take him and his son Marcus back to Mille Lacs and this was a perfect time.  Although storms blew by the night before, Sunday was to be calm, partly cloudy, a perfect setup for trolling.  Unfortunately Marcus has a girlfriend who's parents were coming over for dinner on Sunday............it was a no go.  In their place was my good friend Jack Taylor and his son Ben.  I guess next time I see Marcus we'll have to go over his priorities once again!  Heading to 8 Mile Flat, the strategy was to fish just off the 25 foot break in the 32 feet of water. With barely a breeze we headed out from the landing at full throttle, full trim.  It was fun opening the boat up and still remain comfortable as we made the 6 mile run in about 15 minutes.   Everything ran exceptionally well with the exception of my live well valve, it still won't shut off the water coming into the live well on Recirculate.  More on that later.  8 Mile Flat looks like a big H facing north and south.  Starting on the west (Left) side of the bottom of the flat we positioned ourselves about 50 yards off the edge and got set up.  The first rod we rigged was a long line rod with a Reef Runner 800 deep diver.  This lure will run at 28 feet with the about 150 feet of line let out.  Ben originally wanted to use pink, not my favorite on Mille Lacs but the kid needed to learn a lesson so we put on a pink colored Reef Runner.   Using a line counter reel we let the proper amount of line then attached a Offshore Tackle planar board to the line which will carry it 20 yards to the side of the boat.  Next Jack an I rigged up a lead line setup, each has an 8'6" trolling rod with a large reel that carries 10 colors of lead line.  Lead line is simply a braided Dacron line with a lead core inside.  The line comes in a variety of diameters based on the breaking strength one is interested in.  Regardless of the size (diameter) they all have on thing in common, the line is segments of 10 yards (30 feet) long that are different colors.  For each segment or color, the line at 2.0 mph will sink 5 feet deep.  With normal lead line to fish 25 feet deep, one would let out 5 segments or colors.  On the end of the lead line is tied a fluorocarbon leader, maybe 10 - 12 pound test and I tend to make them 10 - 15 foot, so the lure has a minimal effect on how deep the lure itself will run.  With a number 5 Shad Rap it may only run a couple of feet deeper than the stated lead line depth,  and usually a walleye on the bottom will come up 4 to 5 feet and slam the lure.  In all the years fishing I would estimate that the number 5 shad rap crankbait has caught more walleyes in my boat than all other crankbaits combined.  Of course I do use them alot!  In the case of lead line my reels are loaded with Suffix brand 832, a thinner diameter line that runs 7 to 8 feet per color instead of the standard 5 foot per color.  The thinner diameter allows one to add more line to the reel and in the case of using the 832, I can get all 10 colors on my line counter reel just in case something would happen to the end of the line, which I've experienced before.  In 32 feet of water we attached our lures and set them to the proper depth.  It took a while but about after an hour of trolling Ben's planar board was acting funny.  I had him reel it in and checked the lure, nothing so telling Ben pink was not cutting it I attached one of my favorites, a brown perch pattern.  20 minutes latter Ben pull this walleye from the depths.

Fishing wasn't terribly fast.  We had a little trouble with the planar boards a those reef runners pull very

Jack's 25 inch walleye

hard and was finding it difficult to keep the back line clip in place.  Keeping slack between the main line clip near the front of the board and the back clip that is hooked to a flag system is critical as the flag acts as a strike detector and if it's down you probably have a fish.  After getting it clamped on the line we let it out and before long the flag went down, another fish.  That would be Reef Runner 2, Shad Raps 0.  We started aggressively changing colors on our Shad Raps, finally putting a Fluorescent green/white on Jack' line and before long his rod was bouncing in the rod holder.  One nice thing is my EZ Troll, kicker motor throttle control.  When we had a fish on we could dial down the speed to a crawl, this would not mess up the existing lines that were set yet allow one to fight the fish without the pull of the motor.  This fish looked like a nice walleye and once in the net it was definitely what we were looking for, a 25 incher.  Deciding that this might be a clue I changed the Shad Rap on my line from a crawfish colored pattern to a lighter colored, similar to Jack's.  The previous strategy was to use a color similar to the Reef Runner as Ben had already caught 2 nice walleyes, but I had dragged it for over an hour with little success.  Unfortunately I had a nice white/chrome shad rap on earlier but it got hung up in some weeds that were floating and the line broke.  We did go back to try and find it but were not successful unfortunately.  Well after 30 minutes of switching my rod starts to bounce in the holder, I was finally on the board.  After setting the lines and another 30 minutes of trolling Jack tied into a dandy.  The battle ensued and he finally got it up to the surface.  I estimate it was in that 27 to 18 inch range.  Putting the net in the water and asking Jack to bring it my way, a quick head shake and the hook came out.  A quick flip of it's tail and she was gone.Although it meant no picture, it's a great way to release a fish as we work hard to unhook them quickly and get them back in the water.

Finally a Walleye!

So a quick day of fishing which included 6 hours on the water, 7 walleyes to the boat, and a variety of lures tried.  Maybe not my best day of trolling but we did not come home skunked.  The lake was beautiful and with a slight breeze from the Northwest it was just about perfect.  the original plan was to go on Saturday but severe storms had moved through that area Friday night and usually fishing isn't that good after a big storm rolls through.  Apparently they had an isolated storm come across Mille Lacs Saturday night..........well that sounds like a great excuse!  Either way it was fun, especially being able to teach Ben how to run the boat, he did fine so all I had to do was to bark out some instructions and keep the lines going.

I am still having issues with this new version of blogger, it tends to drive me crazy.....I suppose it's the old adage, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks!  Between trying to get out on the boat and the river, there are plenty of things to do.  The second crop of sweet corn is ripening this week, the tomatoes look great and it will be time to make salsa again this year.  Canada recently closed it's border until September 21st so no trip to Lac Seul this fall, a pretty big disappointment but one just has to take it in stride.  It looks like our rescheduled Leech Lake Opener on October 9th is still on so that is good.  The winning strategy there should be trolling shad raps and I am set.  My brother Steve is working on getting a new boat and I've committed to helping him remove any electronics from his current boat and reinstalling them.  One thing that has me going is seeing the posts from my good friend Keith Holtan (he is located at the left side of this post or here ) .  Gary Blinn, a guy who frequents Keith's place in Alaska but also by chance is often at Lac Seul Outposts when we are there, is pictured with a nice silver salmon.  It takes me back to those days with my brother and cousins as this is the perfect time of the year to fish Alaska as the pinks come into the rivers and it's like catching sunfish!  Those were some good times for sure.  We will see Keith this winter, maybe I'll help him with his booth at the Sport show this year, and we'll definitely have to go ice fishing again!

Back Fishing!

Jake's nice 20 inch channel Catfish, no turtle pictures!

Making up for lost time the last week saw 3 fishing adventures, 2 on the Mississippi River and yesterday was a day on Mille Lacs before it closes to walleye fishing on July 1st for a month. Starting with last Wednesday night, originally I had a trip planned to Mille Lacs but with the 96 degree temperatures and 35 MPH winds, it was better to stay on shore.  Here is my Facebook post regarding the night's adventure: "So last night I spent a couple of hours drowning some nightcrawlers off of John Meyer's dock. Accompanying me was my little fishing friend, Jake Hanson, Limo's boy, and is always the gracious and enthusiastic guest. While I got set up with our circle hooks and sinkers I tied onto Jake's line a new prop frog bait, a great selection for smallies and virtually snagless. After casting out the crawler rigs, John has nothing to hold the rods, I weaved them into our lawn chairs and waited. Before long Jake's pole was heading towards the river taking the lawn chair with it. A desperate grab saved both the rod, the chair, and the fish was on. Yelling for Jake to get up here he grabbed the pole and soon about a 15# carp emerged. Forgetting to bring a net the fish eventually tangled around the dock and snapped the line. Within 5 minutes the other rod was headed towards the river, again Jake ran up to grab the pole and it was another huge carp. Plan B didn't work so good either as the hook came out. Deciding there was more action on the dock, Jake decided to stay and within 5 minutes again another ferocious hit. After setting the hook Jake stated this fish feels different, it was....we had hooked a huge soft shelled turtle and it wasn't very happy! Hoping to get a picture with Jake, using a pliers I unhooked it, it wasn't having any thoughts of cooperating and lunged at us. I didn't think a 65 year old guy could move as fast as a young teenager as I provided the evenings entertainment. As the sun set I assured Jake this was prime catfish time and before long we had a double, a nice 20 incher and a 16 incher. Teaching Jake how to hold a catfish without getting stung, he did pretty well, so we finally got our evenings picture. Jake's a pretty good fisherman and a lot of fun to be with. It reminds me when I was his age fishing catfish on the Buffalo river with my dad's friends. I told Jake, in 50 years you'll be telling the story of fishing with your dad's old friend when we caught this turtle! Thanks John for the use of the dock and helping to create some great memories for a young man that truly appreciates the experience regardless of the generation gap." Fishing with Jake is a lot of fun as it reminds me when I was young and fishing with Kevin, and that's a long time ago!  He is eager to learn and pays close attention to my advice, which is hard to find these days and is great for my ego....we both get a lot of enjoyment hanging with each other!!!

Dave's Personal best Smallmouth bass.

The second trip of the week was on Saturday with another young man, David Grant, the son of agood friend of mine, he just graduated from High school..  He loves fishing and has been with me a number of times.  Last week we went to the fishing garage sale together and bought some stuff that one always needs!  Determined to get the jon boat out of the shed and running, this became the excuse to get it done.  Dave showed up at about 5:00 in the afternoon, having a few things left we hooked the boat up to the Polaris Razor and headed for the neighbors boat landing.  knowing my luck we decided to start the motor while at the shed, just in case!  It started as though it was yesterday it last ran, rather than last September.  EFI and electric start, what a great combination!  After repairing my neighbors gate we got the boat in the river and headed upstream for about 4 miles.  It is surprising how low the water is for this time of year.  Hitting the bottom a couple of times it is nice that the motor has a rock guard on it, although it slows the speed by a mph or so, it absorbs all the damage.  Both Dave and I are partial to square bill crankbaits as they seem to not get as hung up on the bottom as other types, we both started casting our favorite colors as the long drift began.  Of course it is important to show the kid some leadership I caught the first smallie, a 15 inch fish.  Admittedly this was the earliest I have ever fished the river but with the water level down, maybe it would be great.  Soon we entered a stretch where there is a lot of rip rap along the shore line, meant to keep the erosion down but also it is prime habitat for smallmouth.  Giving Dave some tips on where to cast, a very nice fish hit his lure and we scrambled to get the boat away from the shore.  Finally netting it, a nice 19 inch bass, Dave's personal best smallie, we snapped a couple of pictures before releasing it.  We caught a few more fish including another smallmouth caught on a bottom rig using nightcrawlers, a total surprise.  It certainly wasn't our best trip fish wise however as with Jake, most of the fun is being with these bright young men and trying to teach them something.  Telling Dave he needs to try this again, this time maybe spend some more time trying to find some walleyes as they are in the river.  Notice Dave's hat, an American flag however the red strips are actually fish silhouettes, it's really interesting.  Well on Sunday a package arrived with that hat inside, thank's Dave, now we both can look swanky!

27" walleye, largest of the day!

The third trip of this week was with a couple of friends, Jack Taylor and Pete.  Pete had gotten some red-tail minnows as the reports were the walleyes were hungry on Mille Lacs.  We had cancelled 2 earlier trips because of the weather and Tuesday looked good so we decided to take the Ranger out.  Stopping at Prince's bait we picked up leeches and crawlers, along with the red-tails we were set.  Launching on the west side of the lake, it was a bit rougher than we expected.  The temperature was very nice and our first stop was the mid lake gravel bars, about 5 miles or so out.  We hit the first bar which had another boat on it so we decided to stop at the next one a half mile north.  Jack put a leech on, Pete did a red-tail and I rigged a crawler harness.  Not more than 5 minutes of dragging and a nice walleye hit my crawler.  We continued to have a steady bite alternating between my crawler, Jack's leech's and Pete's minnow.  After about 10 walleyes we decided to hit the first gravel bar that we stopped at as the boat that was originally there had left.  With a fairly string north wind we drifted at the perfect speed of about 1 mph.  It was perfect drifting weather and we caught another 16 for a total of 26 walleyes for the day.  Having never used a red-tail for walleyes I changed my rig and hooked on a big one.   Letting the line down to the bottom, after about 3 minutes the rod told me there was something going on below.  Lifting to see if I could feel the bite there was nothing.  Again there was a tap tap then nothing.  After a few minutes of this I began to reel in the line, it was obvious that the line was not behind where it should have been and ahead of it's normal position.  As the reel cranked the line in all of a sudden there was a very heavy fish on the line.  Apparently the fish had grabbed the minnow and swam towards the boat which negated any traditional feel of a bite.  Netting the walleye it was the largest of the day, 27 inches.  Many of our fish were long but skinny, this fish was fat and healthy.  Back in the water it went as we saw a storm approaching from the north.  Deciding we had enough we barely made it to the landing when the sky unloaded on us.  Luckily we had time to get the boat on the trailer and the cover on before the bulk of the rain came.  It was another successful trip, plenty of walleyes were caught however one cannot keep any walleyes from Mille Lacs this year and to add insult to injury, the month of July walleye fishing is not allowed.....period!  Based on the great fishing in June it would not surprise anyone that it will shut down for the year.  As always I'll keep my political comments to myself!

Next trip will be on the river or maybe sneak back up to Mille Lacs before July 1st.  Monday is the funeral of our good friend Tim who passed away from cancer on April 3rd.  Even though there should have been 2 trips to Lac Seul this year, the current situation has us thinking about flying somewhere with Bruce to try a new fishing experience.  More on that later!

Mid Week Adventure

My First Mille Lacs Walleye, about 16 Inches

Being retired no longer requires that all fishing trips are either on days off or weekends.  With Red Lake being such a mess this year and the Salem has been parked by the pole shed, my friend Jack Taylor suggested we try Mille Lacs on a mid week, a lot less pressure on the lake might make for a good outing.  On Wednesday we headed up to Mille Lacs with my wheel house with the intent on staying the night and coming home on Thursday.  Another friend Pete Mlinar met us at Rocky Reef Resort where we decided it was a place to get on the ice.  Ice conditions on Mille Lacs this year have been sketchy, especially with the amount of snow that has fallen.  Last weekend the ice conditions changed for the good and there were many resorts getting out to some of the more popular fishing spots.  Mille Lacs Lake is full of walleyes however the current situation hasn't improved much therefore the limit is 1 walleye and it must be between 21 and 23 inches, what remains of the great 2013 year class.  There are plenty of fish in Mille Lacs but let's not get into that!  Anyway our first stop was at the resort to get a road pass for the 24 hours we were going to be out on the ice.  We had a chance to discuss the "good" spots with their road guy, Dewey.  After talking to him a while it dawned on me that he looked awfully familiar.  "Didn't you used to run a road out of Vineland a few years back?"  Yes was the response as I reminded him of the time a number of years back when I went on his road but the heave messed up his bridge and while he was trying to fix it the ice was moving too much so Dewey, his helper, and myself stood around drinking his home made Apple Pie.  Uffda and after 1 too many I decided to stay on the safe side of the heave and fish the sunset.  He remembered that day and it was enough to secure some good information like where his shack was, what the fishing has been, and how to get there.  Once on the ice we headed straight east

Jacks second walleye

for Spirit Island and came across the first road to the left (North) which looked like it went to Indian Point, our destination.  About a mile up it dead ended by Rocky Reef so back down to the main road then we found the right road headed north and got to our spot without much fanfare.  Locating Dewey's house we set up about 50 yards from him in 27 feet of water, and area of scattered rocks on

the bottom.  In about an hour we were set up and fishing.  I was surprised how well the ice was and it was about 22 inches thick.  Mille Lacs is very clear and when we started to mark fish I put my camera down and at 10 feet I could see the bottom already.  It was definitely scattered rock and everyone was covered with zebra mussels.  The fish we were marking were small perch, a good sign as where there are small perch there are walleyes!  It wasn't until the late afternoon before we hooked a walleye, Jack had a nice fish, got it up and it went about 20 inches, just an inch shy of the minimum length.  I gave it to Jack so I could get a picture but he let it slip out of his hands and back in the hole it went.  The picture on the right is his next walleye, about 13 inches.  It was funny as he was reminded which fish was going to be put on the blog!  I hooked a nice 16 incher on my flutter spoon and got that picture.  In the end we had 6 fish, the one 20 incher, a couple of 16's and another couple 12 - 13's with a small walleye under 10.  We certainly didn't light them on fire but it was a good shot trip, enough to get away for the night and enjoy my friends.  Actually it was a perfect spot, no heaves in the ice, the road had to be 80 feet wide, the ice was solid and one never knows what will swim by these days as a couple of friends were out there last weekend and caught a few over 27.  I'd take that any day as I have plenty of walleyes in the freezer.  I am sure that there is alot of good fishing left on Mille Lacs and I am not sure if this is good news or not but even though we have about 22 inches of Ice it should be almost 3 feet by now.  Maybe ice out will be early this year, I guess time will tell.

Last spring my friend from work, Mike Scheunke  bought a wheel house and we were talking about various things to have and I showed him my generator box I had bought at Red Lake.  The box really helps to keep what little noise there is down, and in sub zero weather prevents the carburetor freeze ups and come in very handy.  He asked if he could use the box as a pattern, I said of course but you need to buy enough materials for 2 as mine is made with chipboard and it's both heavy and not very good to hold the screws for the hinges, in fact I have replaced mine this year already.  Anyway he called on Tuesday stating my box is done and he'd like to drop it off.  It is a work of art, made with strong plywood, full hinges, self closing hinges, and painted up in the perfect colors, it is absolutely perfect!  I asked what I owed and instead of money he wanted some lures and maybe a good walleye rod.  Taking one of my better rod/reel combo's off my rack, I found a tackle box then I gave him some of my best lures, seemed like I got the better of the deal however.  It is definitely a work of art and certainly one can see the care he put into making this!  Thanks Mike.  Went to the boat show last week and didn't get a single answer to a few questions I have with my Minnkota Charger, Lowrance/Evinrude NEMA 2000 communications however the big Sportshow is coming in the first of April and I will definitely have time to get some real discussions going as I should be working Frankie's booth the entire show.  What does the future look like, well maybe another trip to Mille Lacs, maybe back to Lake of the Woods in March, chasing some crappies with Bill Lundeen.  Winter is far from over!

BTW tomorrow I officially join the old man group as on February 1st I begin Medicare.........damn where did the time go?

Stuck on Red

My largest walleye, about 22 inches

As stated before, with Christmas being in the middle of the week, it was difficult to coordinate family schedules.  We had one on the weekend before and there was another scheduled the 28th or the 29th which ruled out the weekend after Christmas but then a reprieve!  The last celebration was now scheduled for New Years Day, leaving the weekend to pull the wheel house to Red and fish Thursday through Sunday, plenty of time to get some ice fishing in!  Although a lot of people want to go, coordinating their schedules can be frustrating as often it's simply I am leaving, do you want to go?  My friend Jack and his son Ben we off till January 6th, brother Steve had some work priorities in January, my friend Greg wanted to go real bad but he was going to Pasadena to watch the Rose Bowl so when the opening came up I took the first people available.....Jack, Ben, and my brother Steve decided to drive up from LaCrosse.  It would be a little crowded but what the heck, we were all friends and more importantly Ben had some good deodorant with!  Meeting at the pole shed we were off by 9 AM as we had to drop some stuff off at Bill Lundeen's, that took about 30 minutes then we headed up through Garrison, took 6 to Deer River then 46 to Northome and on to Red.  It is always a pretty drive and there was snow on the ground the whole 4 1/2 hour drive.  Arriving at JR's at about 2:30 we said our greetings then Adam warned up about the ocming storm...........What Storm, we hadn't heard anything about a storm.  He put us out about 3 miles, just west of the 2 1/2 mile turn to the left.  We looked for a larger unoccupied area as we we expecting Russ Praught, his brother Randy and a couple of friends to join us.  There wasn't that much snow on the ice so we headed off the road then found an area where we got turned around so we would face the road, just in case.  It takes about an hour to set up as one forgets about rusty pins, the nuances of setting up but we finally got settled in, which included setting up our satellite TV antenna and getting the DirecTV working.  Russ showed up and his brother probably wouldn't be here till Saturday.  The fishing wasn't very good the first few hours leaving us to have Tator Tot hot dish for Thursday night's meal.  We started picking up a few fish with Russ, just a hundred feet away, doing quite well, enough to go into JR's and have fish for Friday night.  Although not jumping through the holes, we did get enough to go back in on Saturday for fish.  In the meantime we were able to get some weather reports on the television as well coordinate any of these reports with Adam at the resort.  The word was, it's a bad one coming, make sure you have plenty of food, water, and propane because when it does happen, we cannot guarantee when you will be able to get out.  The Salem has two 30# propane tanks with an automatic valve that switches tanks for you when one goes empty.  Knowing we were using the last of on tank, it switched over on Friday so we had JR fill it. We were ready for the storm as the snow started falling on Saturday night.

Sunday Morning on Red

Waking up on Sunday brought reality to the situation.  Although it didn't snow that much, probably less than 8 inches, the winds were howling at 30 mph with gusts over 40.  The snow had drifted everything shut, one could not see more than 100 yards and there was no way we were getting out of our situation.  Russ was trying to move his truck so we went over, here his house was starting to flood.  Although there was plenty of ice, it isn't like you have 3 feet below you.  The weight of his truck and house puts pressure on the area he parked and the ice tends to bow causing water to come up through the holes and spread out on the ice.  The drifting snow piles up around the house and truck adding additional weight to the situation.  Russ was flooding, the water almost over his floors, he had to move.  We suspect he might have been on a low spot to begin with. We finally got his house lifted off the ice and he moved about 70 feet, enough to stay out of trouble then parked his truck away from the house to minimize the weight.  In the meantime our house had started to slush up around it meaning we were also flooding.  Luckily my house is about 6 inches above the ice and we were fine, but it was a situation worth monitoring.  Snug in our house we sat back with the realization that we'd be stuck till at least Monday morning.  The picture above was taken Sunday showing the drifts around the house as well as the tracks in the snow which at this time was slush from all the water coming up through the holes.   A quick call into JR's confirmed that no plowing was going to happen until Monday morning when the wind stops.  It is sort if nice having the satellite TV in the house as we watched all the games on Sunday and Sunday night, stayed up on the latest forecasts and it certainly helps when the fish aren't cooperating very well.  There were some nice fish caught on Sunday, the first picture was the second I caught on my jigging pole, a nice 22 incher.  Meanwhile in Randy's shack one of the boys caught a 28 inch walleye.  We went to bed with 4 walleyes in the pail with another one coming on the rattle reel just before we left.

Just enough width for the wheel house!

Waking up Monday morning meant it was time to get our outside clothes on and start getting ready to leave.  Deciding at about 8:00 to start shutting it down, we packed up everything and lifted the house off the ice.  Getting the truck in position was going to be the challenge.  Even with crappy tire chains, it wasn't easy.  By 10:00 the plow truck had gone on the main road and began reaching out to everyone on the side an escape route.  More digging and we finally got the wheel house on a path to the main road.  Once on a stable path we went to help Russ and his group which finally were free. What plowed roads they did have were only meant for one way traffic but at least we were on a road.  About a half mile down from our starting location was a plow truck facing us and blocking the way.  To our left was a plowed road that came into the one we were on at a 45 degree angle.  The guy in the truck stated, turn left and "Follow the Yellow Brick Road".  I told him he was crazy which he replied, 'Don't you have 4 wheel drive".  Okay but your going to have to push to get me out and then I buried it.  Okay Mr. Intelligent, let's get to work.  Here he wasn't even a plow truck from JR's but the neighboring resort and had made a path connecting his people to JR's road.  Apparently he sheared a pin in his plow and was fixing it.  As we pushed my truck back onto the road, there were 4 trucks coming down where he wanted me to turn.  The guy was an idiot and as well, blocking the road.  Pretty soon there were about 20 vehicles waiting for him to clear so we could get by.  I think he got the hint..either move your truck or the forty guys standing around will do it for you.  We even offered to help fix the plow but he was stubborn.   Quickly he pulled off the road clearing our path as we made it around a number of big slush areas that were plowed before finally arriving at JR's by 11:30.  The original plan was to leave my house up there but was told there were no parking spots plowed, we quickly cleaned our fish and headed south.  Because there was more snow predicted for Monday, we headed more west going through Bemidji, Walker, Brainerd, and St. Cloud as these are connected by main highways that would definitely be cleared.

Not eating anything we finally stopped in Hackensack at the Birchwood Char House, a really nice place to eat.  As I was going back out to the truck some lady stopped by and started giving me crap that me and my friends were parked on a road leading to where she lives.  I explained that the road wasn't marked, the other trucks there were not my friends, then showed her on my phone that there were other roads she could take........and we will be out of here in 30 minutes.  Although she wasn't very happy, I had enough crap for the day! Finally arriving home at 5:30 we parked the wheel house and everyone left with a package of walleye and memories of a great adventure!

Great Bite on Mille Lacs Lake

Jack with a beautiful Walleye

Well, after over a month in the shop, the Ranger was finally ready for it's maiden voyage, the first of the year, to Mille Lacs Lake.  Because of the current political situation, the ability to keep any walleyes ended on June 1, therefore it is strictly catch and release on the lake.  These last few years of let's just call them, restrictions, have resulted in a huge population of large fish over 22 inches in the lake and they are hungry!   Monday I was joined by 2 retired electrician friends, Jack Taylor and Pete Mlinar with the goal of confirming if the great bite was still on. After meeting near Elk River we headed north.  In the past it would be pretty easy, we would stop at my friend Bill Lundeen's Tackle Castle and load up on all that was needed, however since he retired from the business and the shop remains closed, we had to do something I haven't done in over 30 years, buy bait somewhere's else, this time it was Prince's Bait just north of Milaca,  getting only 2 dozen Jumbo Leeches and 3 dozen crawlers, we felt that we were stocked up pretty good....little did we know!  Arriving at the old Cash's Landing things continued to plague each outing with the boat as when it came off the trailer something happened and it ripped the side cover from the front trolling motor.  Only cosmetic yet another thing to fix.   With a howling south wind, previous suggestions stated to simply head out to 7 Mile Flat right away.  Anyone knowing me is aware that I really like Sherman's flat and one has to drive over it to get to 7 mile.  OK boy's, let just check this out!  We were marking fish like crazy so naturally we had to stop!  With 3 in the boat and the fact is that I still haven't gotten that proficient in the proper boat control for following a break in 2 foot waves, I decided to simply input a route on my chart screen then tell the

It was bigger than it looks!

trolling motor to follow it.  It works pretty slick as we followed the break to the end of the route then reversed it.  It was easy to do because there wasn't anyone in our way.  Pulling crawler harnesses we were able to land 6 walleyes, all over 22 inches.  With the wind ever so growing stronger it was time to head to 7 mile where we could directly drift and edge by simply letting the wind power us and then use the trolling motor for the finer points of steering.  As we came by this fully wrapped Ranger with a single guy, we watched him land 2 fish as we slowly passed.  To us it looked like a tournament guy pre-fishing for an upcoming event and was just trying to establish a pattern as he didn't stay long.  Well, it didn't take us long to see what the deal was about that spot.  Immediately we were marking fish and a lot of them.  Enough to drop the trolling motor, engage the anchor mode and get out our slip bobber rods.  Sitting in the same spot for 3 hours, we went through the 2 dozen leeches, catching at least one walleye a leech and sometimes 2.  Exhausting all of our leeches, we decided to go exploring a little and headed for a similar spot on 9 Mile Flat.  With no leeches we simply hung a full crawler on our hook and caught another 4 walleyes.  By 4:00 the wind had begun to take it's toll so suggesting we long line troll the top of the flat with deep diving baits and lead core line.  The experience of using the kicker motor as the main source of power while using the main motor as a steering keel worked pretty well as I used my iTroll system to dial in the speed (2 mph) and my big motor to keep us straight.  The problem is that doing this in 2 foot waves takes a lot of effort and after 2 passes and nothing to show for it it was time to head back.  if the water would have been calmer it would be easier to assess where your baits were running.  This is something that we'll have to try later this month as it can be a lot of fun for sure.

Walleyes on the bottom

One forgets how much of a beating one takes when it's windy like that.  Getting older doesn't help it either!  The one thing that this trip showed is the importance of understanding your electronics as we had fish on the screen constantly.  I would shout to the guys, the walleyes are right under us and like clockwork, they would drop their bobbers next to the boat and withing seconds it would be down and a quick set of the hook and we were reeling up walleyes, for a total of 30. The picture on the left says it all as you can clearly see the fish hanging just off the bottom in 25 feet of water. The system in the boat allows me to scroll back in time to a group of marks like this, put the cursor on those fish then tell the trolling motor to go to that spot, it starts the autopilot and takes you right back to there and goes into anchor mode the minute it arrives.  In some of those spots one can see 5 or 6 fish stacked up.  As stated, while on Sherman's it was decided to try and pull spinner rigs up the "Cut".  Rather than struggle with boat control I simply engaged the route function then plotted a route on the screen before saving it and engaging.  Pretty slick as the trolling motor followed the route marked on the screen and once finished you could reverse it.  What was interesting is like on fishing opener, the Lowrance kept warning that it was running out of memory and I needed to delete something.  Not unlike at Leech I spent a lot of time searching duplicate way points, non critical routes and deleting them then purging the memory. Everything I did seemed to only free up small amounts of memory as way points take little space, there was still only about 2 mb of memory left.  This trip I had noticed on the warning to try and delete any alarms.  Searching for the alarm log, it was there, full of stuff like "Not in Neutral".  Nothing too important so figuring it out the Alarm log and deleting it, all of a sudden there was 128 mb of memory, more than enough!  With that said, it is still a struggle to figure everything out on these electronics as I have only scratched the surface.  That and the fact is any update can force one to relearn everything, most of it is intuitive once you start thinking about it, but admittedly it can be hard to keep up.

So it was a very successful day, we ended up with 30 walleyes, I would say that 24 of them were over 22 inches with the largest being 26, 27 and a 28 incher.  Leeches were the ticket and with the wind, slip bobber fishing turned out to be the most successful as well as tolerable!  I still have to get the jon boat out on the river although the river is up again.  My friend Bill's mom Phyllis is not doing so well so say a prayer for her, she is such a sweetheart! I could go on and on but there is work to be done.  next week I need to talk about my Fell MOB system, a very nice addition to the boat.

Deer Hunting, Good or Bad?

2 smaller 4 point bucks

Well, last weekend was Minnesota's Deer Firearms opening weekend.  I usually hunt with my friend Jack Taylor and his son Ben, we stay at his cabin on Platte Lake, west of Onamia, MN.  There is a lot of deer around the area as it's a good mixture of farm fields, woods, and swamps.  This year we had plenty of rain so the swamps were overflowing with water.  Years back we used to hunt our friend Rich Allen's land but unfortunately his 160 acres is 85% swamp and this year was no exception.  We found ourselves on Jack's cabin neighbor's land, Loren and admittedly it a lot drier  hunting but honestly, doesn't have the deer of our old friend Rich's place has.  Rich died a few years back and his nephew Brett Saatzer has the land now and we still keep his place our focal point for the hunt, actually have used the stands closer in where it's not so wet.  Jack, Ben and I didn't see anything opening morning however Brett's crew ended up with 3 deer, to smaller bucks and a doe.  Brett was bemoaning about the lack of big deer so I suggested that he institute a selective harvest limit on his land, maybe 16" spread minimum or 8 point minimum except if you are under 18, it might help because these buck would have been nice 8 pointers next year.  Oh well, if it's venison you want.........  This years weather was crazy.  In years past I remember breaking ice, trudging through snow, not 2016 as it was 72 degrees on Saturday, short sleeve weather.  I only remember it being this warm back in the 80" when we hunted up in the Roseau area near the Canadian border, it was 65 up there.  Although it go to the mid 30's at night she quickly warmed up in the morning.  I am not complaining however the deer needed to be taken care of.  Jack and I headed to Loren's land on Sunday morning before heading back to Brett's where we helped butcher the deer. With no wind blowing on Saturday, I called my friend Bill Lundeen and suggested we go crappie fishing, it would have been a perfect day for it.

View from my stand

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, temperatures in the low 70's a pleasure to hunt if you got cold easy yet the deer weren't moving much during the day.  Minnesota's deer hunting coincides with the rut and often the bucks are running all over the place.  I think that most of their running was at night because I did not see a deer either day.  Oh well, all that really was important was to get together with the guys and enjoy what success we had. My recent Outdoor News claims the deer harvest is down 7.5% from last year and the DNR has been trying to catch up on which way it want's to go with the deer harvest.  The last 5 years of liberal doe tags have taken it's toll on the deer population and of course the warm weather doesn't help at all, as the DNR says the population is up.  Oh well, with the relatively mild winters we have and the desire to increase the population, who knows what next year will bring?  I do know that our traditional Steak dinner at Brett's on Friday night will hopefully never change!

Well, the Mille Lacs harvest saga continues with the DNR releasing the winter regulations for walleye fishing on Mille Lacs.  It will be 1 fish and it has to fit within the 19 - 21" slot.  Personally I think it's simply a repeat of the same regulations that got us in trouble in the first place.  At Lac Seul the Canadian DNR has figured that these fish are the most prolific spawners and all fish from 18 - 21 inches have to be released.  Here we allow the Indian's and the anglers to take all of the good fish with the intent of leaving the correct amount of poundage in the lake regardless if they are big and eat the lake out of house and home, or small enough to be caught in the nets prior to spawning.  Uffda is all I can say.  Red Lake should be good this year however this warm weather does not bode well for early ice.  Never the less I am ready to go!  The countdown to my Florida Grouper fishing trip is happening and in 3 weeks I will be on a flight heading south.  Until then the warm weather is allowing me to get some of my procrastination taken care of!

Million Dollar Smile

Ben's First 17" River Smallmouth

With a number of things to catch up with around the house it was an easy decision to stay close to home and fish the river.  With the different motor on the jon boat, it's much more enjoyable to get around at a reasonable pace.  Actually I had fished both Saturday and Sunday afternoon however we start with the Sunday trip as the Saturday adventure was just a couple of old guys going out.  The Taylor's are my closest and longest friends since moving to Minnesota in 1976.  The patriarch of the family, Earl Taylor was one of my best fishing buddies.  Although no one can replace your own father, Earl came very close.  His two son's Mark and Jack represent my generation as we think alike, enjoy the same activities (including Easy Jesus), and have been friends for over 36 years.  Mark's son Matt and Jack's son Ben represent the 3rd generation of Taylor's that I call family.  Ben Taylor is 9 years old and turning into quite a fisherman.  Enough so that I never hesitate to use him as my repository for all those baits and fishing equipment that sit around simply collecting dust.  A couple years back I fished with my friend Eric and his 9 year old son Carter and was very impressed by his rod handling abilities, good enough for dad to let him use his G. Loomis rod.  Ben has those same qualities so a few weeks ago I ran across an excellent deal on a high quality Quantum rod/reel combination.  Picking it up for Ben, I gave it to him around his birthday, complete with line and a rod sock.  Ben had been asking about fishing on the River so on Sunday him and Jack met me at the pole barn as we headed to the neighbors landing.  The river can be somewhat difficult to fish.  The current is swift, boat control is limited as our strategy is to drive up as far as practical for the time we want to fish, then float back down casting lures into the shorelines, looking for active smallies, northern, or whatever may be hitting at the time.  A favorite lure is a squatty type crankbait that dives around 4 feet, in either a crayfish color or the ever successful Fire Tiger pattern.  Earlier in the week a trip to Fleet Farm found a bin of clearanced crankbaits and there were a few Matzuo Asai Shads, shallow water cranks in fire tiger for under $4.00.  Picking up a couple I knew these would be great for Ben, if he lost them, no big deal and yet they would be very effective.  Arriving about 3 miles up river and after getting everything ready, it was time to give Ben a lesson on casting...Stay out of the trees, hold your rod tip high, don't over cast and hit the rocks, keep a steady retrieve, often times the fish hit right at the boat.  It only took about 10 casts before I felt comfortable that he "gets it" and started fishing on my own.  Well it wasn't 10 minutes and a bass exploded out of the water with his bait firmly hooked in it's mouth.  Before we could even get the net out he lifted the fish over the boat gunnel and onto the floor.  I sort of winced but when your excited, getting the fish

A beautiful Golden Redhorse

in the boat is the most important aspect of fishing!  "So, I'm fishing for the first time in Uncle David's boat and the first time on the river. I'm fishing with the pole Uncle David gave me along with the lure he bought for me. Uncle David shows me how to fish this brand new experience and right away I catch my first small mouth and it's a beauty, 17 inches long!"  I'm not sure who was more excited me or Ben but I can definitely guarantee there isn't a smile that could compete with his.  After settling down we continued our float where we caught a few smaller fish before finishing the casting part of the trip in the Big Fish Eddy.  OK, I just made the name up but last week I pulled a 20 inch smallie out of that hole and Sunday saw me connect with a fish that appeared even larger.  Unfortunately she threw the hook before we could net it so it was time to put the casting gear away and head across the river to anchor and fish the bottom with night crawlers.   After re-rigging our poles and getting situated, I felt the first bite.  For river fishing like this it's almost mandatory to use circle hooks.  In Alaska all halibut fishing is done with circle hooks.  Basically the fish can swallow the bait but the hook does not catch until it's pulled back out to the corner of the mouth where it rotates and digs in. With the bottom feeders on the river, they work great, you let the fish take the bait then simply reel in and the fight is one.  Grabbing my reel and simply turning the crank, the fish was on.  Handing the pole off to Ben, he fought the fish while we got the net.  Being too big to hoist over the side of the boat, we landed this beautiful 5 pound golden redhorse.  Of course neither Ben nor Jack had ever seen one before so we took a few pictures and let it go.  They are really unique as we did get another one, 2 nice carp, and a 3 pound channel catfish.  5 fish in about an hour and all species Ben had never caught before.   About 7:30 we headed back to the shed with another great day on the river.  I do like the night crawler fishing, it's very relaxing and you never know what will show up at the end of the line.

19 inch Smallie

Going backwards for Saturday, my neighbor Tom and I spent a few hours on the river to check out to see if the fishing was as good as it was the week before.  The first thing we noticed was the river level had already dropped another foot or so, enough for us to pay more attention to where we were going.  With a couple extra hours to play with we headed upstream about 6 miles and started beyond where the Crow River meets the Mississippi.  Almost immediately Tom nails a nice 19 inch smallie, a great start to the trip.  We really like fishing those outside bends where the bank is quite steep and the river depth provides a nice continuing drop.  With new line on his reel, I think Tom had a lot more confidence and it shows with this fish.  As we drifted down the sky was getting darker and darker.  Looking at the weather map on the phone it was obvious we were going to get wet unless we thought of something fast. A glance at the County Hwy 12 bridge going across the Crow River, we arrived just in time to park underneath as the sky opened up.  I was a nice break, time for a beer and discuss the next strategy.  With the water down, what was looking good last week had changed significantly yet there were new area's becoming apparent.  Drifting down the north side of the River, we decided to try the south side but soon discovered a dramatic change in the water quality.  The Crow River enters the Mississippi River form the south and it is very dirty, chocolate colored from the farm areas it flows through.  With visibilities of less than 6 inches vs the north side at around 18 inches, it was apparent that the outflow of the Crow stayed on the south side for a number of miles before completely mixing with the Mississippi.  After 200 yards of drifting we headed back across the river for cleaner water.  We encountered many smaller bass this trip and Tom

Nice northern pike

did manage to get another fish over 16 inches but that's about it for size.  A number in the 12 inch range and even a few under 6 inches, regardless of size, those bass are pretty aggressive.  I did get a couple of northern again, including a nice 28 incher.  I'm surprised at how many of those snakes have graced my line these days.  We ended up at the Big Fish Eddy (see previous reference) where the previous week saw us hook up 4 smallies before leaving.  We did get some smaller fish again and I decided to try for walleyes while Tom casted for bass.  I tried a smaller sucker minnow on a 3 way rig and bottom bounced it for 50 yards down the current break in 10 - 12 feet of water.  No such luck.  After a few last casts we headed the boat down river to check out the Anoka Bridge as I had never been that far down river before.  It was interesting and it looked like there were a few potential fishing holes to try before the summer is done.  As we loaded the boat back up my tow vehicle, a 2008 Polaris Razor side by side had completely lost power in one cylinder.  Assuming it was a fuel issue, it was time to bring it in the shop for a tune up.  As we locked the last gate behind us, Tom, who is a superb mechanic, suggested that it sounded like an ignition problem to him.  After cleaning the boat and putting it away Tom left yet I couldn't help think about his diagnosis.  Pulling a spark plug wire on one side, the motor simply turned over.  Repeating on the other side and it started but only ran on that cylinder so I swapped the spark plugs and the problem followed.  Next I pull a plug from my Sportsman 800 ATV then replaced to assumed bad plug and voila, purred like a kitten.  New plugs were only $6.00 but it saved me from hauling it in and paying the minimum charges, I guess a nice trade.....fishing trips for engine advice.

This weekend's as busy as most have been.  Sunday is the annual St. Peter and Paul's Fall Fest in Independence, Wisconsin, my wife's home town.  With friends we haven't seen in a while it will be fun to get back and meet old friends.  As well we'll probably go and see my niece to celebrate her birthday as she's growing up too damn fast as well.  The colder summer has put the damper on my sweet corn however the pickles seem to be holding their own as I've made about 8 buckets so far.  It's almost time to start working on my wheel house and get it ready for the winter.  It needs to get the underside spray foamed for insulation, and I have a cupboard door to install taking advantage of a space that isn't being used.  Lac Seul is in 4 weeks, that will come up fast.  Oh well.

Too Hot To Fish!

Successful day of fishing in Seward

This weekend reminded me of a day in July around 1984, I decided to go fishing a small lake near Lake Minnetonka called Whaletail.  The forecast included a strong south wind of 20 mph and highs of over 100 degrees.   The lake ran north and south and was a conduit for that wind.  Like fishing in a convection oven, all I did was make myself miserable.  I'm not sure it filed that outing as Lessons Learn but it sure made me think about getting out this weekend, something I really wasn't up for.  Now this time of year is traditionally when I am in Alaska basking in the flannel shirt weather, maybe even a light jacket.  Unfortunately all I could do was live the fantasy through my good friends Jack, Mark, Matt, and Jared Taylor, all whom had left the Saturday before to their first Alaskan trip together as a family.  I couldn't have been more excited as half the fun was helping Jack plan his adventure.  Loading him up with my waders, fishing rods, baits, coolers, and other items that I figured he would need, the only thing missing was me.  Maybe next year.  So in the meantime they fished with the same captain we did last year in Seward, a young man that really knew his stuff.  Calling Jack on Sunday morning, they were just leaving the docks and heading to sea.  It turns out they had 6 foot seas and decided to fish the cliffs near the entrance of Resurrection Bay for silver salmon.  They loaded up in about 40 minutes, typical of that area.  There next stop was Montague Island for halibut.  Typical of the size there you can see they filled out with a limit of 20 pounders, not bad.  Mixed in were some rockfish and yellow eyes.  Been there, done that and it never gets old.

A limit of Susitna River silvers

The Taylor's have a connection in Anchorage, their cousin's wife Marina.  Marina was married to Tom Jarvis, a teacher who went to Alaska, taught in Nome, retired in Anchorage and began to work for the Alaska Fish and Game, his dream job.  Unfortunately he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and a good man left us too early.  Marina still has their cabin northeast of Anchorage, near Wasilla so the boys took full advantage of Alaskan hospitality.   Booking a river trip on the Little Susitna river, they took advantage of the silver run still in progress.  I love fishing silvers as the really know how to punish a 8 foot rod and a Super Vibrax spinner.  These fish are mixed with some being pretty fresh as indicated by their bright chrome color with those that have been in the river a few days turning more red colored.  Either way they are delicious on the grill and here's hoping the Taylor's will invite me over for a celebration meal.  Like my family, this will be a trip of a lifetime and I only hope that they do this again, time is always too short and running out.  Good job boys!

So it's Labor Day already.  The garden is full of weeds, tomatoes are starting to ripen, potatoes have died back, and the second crop of corn will be ready in a few days.  My cucumbers have been a complete disaster and along with the onions you got to got to wonder where the green thumb went.  The apples are looking good and putting some heft to them.  The Summer Crisp Pears have vacated their home and lay scattered on the ground.  Next to ripen is the Patton pears as they have developed into a very substantial sized fruit and taste great.   Apples and raspberries are next and within 4 weeks we could have our first killing frost.  The clock keeps ticking for sure.  I have an invitation to go back to Canada this fall with my neighbor Pete and at first our schedules didn't match but it looks like it's pushed out a week, I am not sure I can refuse.  This weekend is my annual pre-Labor motorcycle ride with my brother Steve as we travel the scenic roads of southwestern Wisconsin.  Hopefully we can plan our eventual trip around Lake Superior, a trip we should have taken this week!  It's suppose to cool off next week with lows back down in the 50's, a welcome relief from these 80 degree nights.  It's always something.