Report From the Northwoods

This weekend was the beginning of the Minnesota deer hunting season. As in the last 25 years I hunted with my good friend Jack Taylor. Jack has a cabin on Platte Lake, west of Onamia and we use it as the hunting base. About 5 years ago he befriended a local land owner Rich, who was more than happy to have a couple more guys hunting his land. Rich has turned into a fabulous friend, and in turn we have met a number of his friends Eugene, Kevin, Austin, his brother Bobby and a new guy this year "Z". I started a Friday night tradition making Steak a la Kienitz for everyone. This is a special recipe from my good friend Troy who would take thick juicy steak, sprinkle Tabasco sauce, hot buffalo wing sauce, and hot salsa on it and let it sit for a few hours before putting it on the grill. It is quite a surprise to have one of the most flavorful steaks ever. Jack brings the potatoes and Steve does the Coleslaw for a royal feast.


Rich's land is somewhat low and in a wet year it can be quite an adventure getting back to the high ground. We can get back with our ATV's but after a few trips it can get pretty hairy. I hunt in the middle of a small peninsula which has an adjacent tamarack stand with a neck down area. When I learned to deer hunt in Wisconsin we never hunted out of a tree stand however in Minnesota, it was the preferred way. My first tree stand was a homemade contraption made of plywood, hand made tree spikes and a seat belt out of a junked car. We would use screw steps until one day I stepped on one half way up a tree and it broke. After visualizing a certain part of my anatomy hanging from one of the steps I moved up to larger, safer stands and ladders. Today I have a nice 18 foot ladder stand complete with a full body harness and arm rests strong enough to allow me to sleep in total safety for hours at a time. The picture is of me 22 feet up a tree waiting for the big buck. I am not much for self portraits and this was the best out of about 10. Yes, if I look bundled up it was because it was very windy and cold.

I sit in my stand almost all day, taking an hour break for lunch. I usually have a couple of MRE's for the weekend with this years menu being Sloppy Joe's on Saturday and pork ribs with clam chowder on Sunday. Sitting in the stand is very relaxing and gives one time to reflect on the past. The first time I went deer hunting was with my uncle Dewey. He had 4 girls and was probably as excited as I was. My dad deer hunted however like many guys, he went up north near Solon Springs, WI with his hunting buddies. I could never understand why my dad did not take us deer hunting, however today I realize that this was his only time he could get away with his friends. No doubt there was many a beer consumed on those trips, much like they were 15 years ago when I went up north. 35 years ago you could really hunt anywhere around Eleva. Few if any posted their land and the deer population was a fraction of what it is today. Most of the land was owned by farmers who had better things to do than chase around a deer for a week. Deer hunting in Wisconsin always included the Thanksgiving weekend with some schools shut down for the week and everyone had the bonus long weekend to hunt. Deer drives were very popular. After the first weekend guys would meet at the bar or restaurant and discuss the days strategy. Usually 8 to 10 guys would group and head to a number of predetermined wood lots, posting half the guys around the woods and the other half would "drive" the deer towards them. This was a very successful way of bagging deer however it's surprising no one got shot. Any deer shot was destined to hang in one of your trees long enough to make sure everyone knew you were successful. Unfortunately there is no deer hanging in my tree at the moment. I will probably go back this weekend as you see in the picture, the deer are there, just need to get somewhat closer.

Victory at Last............Well Sort of

Well 2 weeks ago I had discovered the mother lode of perch on Mille Lacs. I came home with 20 nice perch and a very satisfying afternoon knowing my hard work paid off and I knew where they were. On Friday I decided to take the afternoon off and try what may be my last open water fishing trip of the year. It was a beautiful day, little wind, sun shining, you could almost hear the perch screaming "come and get me!". My neighbor Tom has quite a few days left of vacation and volunteered to go with me one more time. Arriving at Lundeen's I figured at least 2 1/2 scoops of minnows, based on my last experience, and if we run out, they always hit plastic. 2 1/2 scoops is a lot of bait.

We were greeted at the landing in Cove with the docks pulled out. Although it was deep enough for the boat, getting close enough for Tom to jump in was a challenge. Having successfully secured my passenger we headed to the main lake. Coming out of Cove bay and into the main lake there is a very narrow channel that is safe to motor through. Fortunately I have this route clearly marked on my GPS as the Sheriff's office has removed the navigation buoys by this time of year. Fifty feet either way can spell a $2500 bill for a bent shaft (I know, I did this a few years back). Once safely through the imaginary channel we headed to Wakon and what was to be a fun couple of hours fishing perch. Well, I am sure that you can imagine what happened the next 3 hours. Apparently someone forgot to tell the perch to stay there. We worked the entire bay and all I had to show for it was this nice 11 1/2 inch perch. I suspect that the water temperature of 42 had something to do with the bite.

Having struck out on the perch I decided to go for broke. Although about 10 miles way, we were going to end the year trolling the same area we did on Memorial Day which was so productive. That night was fabulous with a nice 29 incher in the boat. When we arrivie there was only one other boat trolling, which should have allowed for plenty of room or at least I thought. Indian Point is a very narrow and long reef that extends straight out into the main lake. In normal years it tops out at about 5 feet, is not much more than 25 to 50 feet wide, and drops off pretty well on both sides but especially on the south edge. It is pretty easy to set up a trolling pattern, up one side and down the other. One can work the edge, top and deeper depths all along the route. Well, someone forgot to tell the other boat of this marvelous logical order of things. I ended up trolling parallel with him almost all the way to the end. Apparently he did not know the reef has 2 sides! On the return path I felt the something hit the lure and just as abruptly disappeared. I am pretty sure it was a fish yet sometimes when you catch a fishing line stuck under water, it can feel the same way. I am pretty certain it was a fish though. By the time we got back to where we started 2 other boats showed up with the same attitude about trolling a pretty simple pattern, go where you want. Oh well, on the third pass I finally got this nice 21 inch walleye. Bill has used the term describing the amount of baitfish in Mille Lacs as occurring in Biblical Proportions! Well this fish was proof. I have never caught a walleye in this lake as fat as the one pictured here. I thought I caught a football at first. The fish hit my old standby, a suspended Rattlin Rouge. Although we did not catch another walleye I felt somewhat of a small victory as I had not caught a walleye trolling all through the fall including 2 separate full moon periods. It was a nice way to end up the open water season on Mille Lacs.

As a final note to my week, please notice the blue pouch on my right hand side along my waist. This is actually an inflatable life vest. On October 30th a boat drifted into shore on the north side without a driver, the trolling motor down, and a life vest sitting on the deck. To date the fisherman is still missing and with the water temps under 42 degrees he may not show up till spring. I used to be the guy that would wear a life jacket half the time then forget to put it on the minute I start the motor. Today I put on my belt before I get in the boat and most of the time I forget it's even there. It may not be the most effective floatation device however at minimum it will give me that extra advantage over wearing nothing. I am off looking for the big buck next week.

Bragging From the Other Side of the World

Not to be outdone my good friend William Wu just had to send me these latest pictures of his recent fishing adventure in China. William Wu is not his real name, his Chinese name is Wu Haidong (Woo Hi-dong). In China your family name (same as our last name) is first followed by your given name. The correct way to display my name in China would be Anderson Dave. Most of the Chinese that speak English take on traditional English names to better relate to their English speaking customers. They also put their family name last as we do. It is really interesting to travel and see the variety of names that are used in China that seem very out of place. Names like Samuel, Lily, Tina, Jeffrey, Jasmine, Serena, Derek, Jane, Amy, Jack, and of course David.


William is holding a common Asian Black Carp which the Chinese call Qing Yu (Ching You). This fish comes from the same family of carp that have been introduced into our waters over the last 100 years or so. The common carp (shown in a previous post) is the oldest and most widespread of this species in the US. For some reason we did not learn our lesson and imported grass carp, silver carp, and the black carp to help the catfish farming areas of Mississippi and Arkansas keep the commercial catfish farming ponds clean. Unfortunately floods have released these fish into the wild and we continue to fight their trek northward. The silver carp are the ones that have been making the news lately in the Illinois River as they have a tendency to jump out of the water as a boat approaches. There are many documented cases of people getting injured by these flying carp, hitting them as they motor along the river. Black carp are not as common and apparently haven't established themselves yet, but it will be only a matter of time. These fish are considered a trash fish in the US however in China they are a delicacy and are sought after. William went with his friends on Sunday and reports that they caught quite a few fish and had a great time. Here William is holding a basket of small catfish.


As you see William is battling the fish with a pretty long fishing pole. The equipment is pretty much the same as we would use. As discussed earlier, carp in China are referred to as river fish as opposed to sea fish. William is actually fishing a private pond, instead of a river, where people go to recreational fish and to catch supper. The fishing is done with prepared bait, fished near the bottom. He reports that the charge for fishing is based on the weight of the fish that you catch and you pay approximately $0.005/gram. There is 454 grams to the pound therefore the charge is about $2.27/pound. I thought that this was pretty high until I remembered trout fishing at the Star Prairie Trout Farm in Star Prairie, Wisconsin. We caught a bunch of trout for dinner and had to pay the live weight. I looked up their current prices and it is $5.50/pound live weight for trout. Admittedly I would probably prefer trout to carp. He claims it took about 5 minutes to land the fish and it weighed close to 15 pounds, a real trophy anywhere. That carp cost William almost $35.00 USD which is really a lot of money for China and definitely a lot of money for a stinky old carp! On the other hand this fish fed William and his friends for almost 5 days. I am also including a picture of William and his daughter Wu Yiwen (We call her Rose) who like any child we know, is awfully proud of her dad and his trophy catch. You got to love that smile!



I was surprised to learn that this type of fishing in China is quite popular and after going there for over 8 years, I am definitely going to have them take me fishing during my next trip. It also shows that no matter where your are in the world, we are more alike than different. All I can say is, Nice Fish William!

The Front Edge of Winter

Saturday was a great day to go fishing however looking at the forecast for Sunday and the rest of the week, I decided to finish up a number of chores that I had been putting off. Lyle had brought over his pontoon and Wellcraft for their annual hibernation so I was relegated to cleaning the pole barn on Saturday. With lows predicted in the low 20's it was probably time to blow out the sprinkler system before it freezes. Using my own air compressor to do the job it takes about 3 hours, a great excuse to be outside. Outside was not necessarily the nicest place today as you can see from the picture of my garden. Those white streaks are snow. Ice fishing must be just around the corner. The time working on the sprinklers gave thought to what I would have been doing back home 35 years ago.

Growing up in Eleva, local fishing consisted of either fishing the Buffalo River for suckers, carp, catfish and the occasional northern pike or fishing the local mill pond and the surrounding streams for trout. Carp and suckers provided plenty of entertainment from the time the snow melted until the first weekend of May which for Eleva was trout fishing opener. Along with the Wisconsin DNR the local Rod and Gun Club would stock the ponds and streams with trout. By the closing in September, most of the trout had been harvested and the thoughts were focused on hunting. My best friend Kevin and I would trade our fishing poles for our shotguns or 22's and head back to the river. Squirrel, ducks, and partridge (they call them grouse in Minnesota) were the most popular game. The river had a bridge crossing it every 2 miles, so we would head to the railroad tracks which paralleled the river, walk up to the first woods then head to the river. We would walk up to the bridge, cross and head down the other side. Squirrels were very abundant and partridge were a bonus. If you look on Google Earth, you can see the river actually meanders quite a bit. Over the years the river would created a number of oxbow sloughs which provided great habitat for teal and wood ducks. The problem with shooting ducks was often they would land on the other side of the river. This meant one of us would have to strip down and go get it. Today's weather reminded me how cold that was!

Back then Canadian Geese were very rare and when a migrating flock was spotted you could guarantee someone was following it to see where they might land. Today they are known in Minnesota as sky carp. I have a group of 5 to 10 geese come in every day to feast upon the spoils of my orchard. I have 11 apple trees and 3 pear trees and it is hard to keep up with all the fruit. The deer amazingly leave the apples alone until they drop however they have competition. These geese have enormous appetites and literally keep the area very clean while leaving a nice layer of fertilizer for next years crop. They are quite amazing to watch how efficiently they rip an apple to shreds. Geese also have a distinct social order, especially if another flock decides to share in the abundance of food. It can take up to and hour before a flock will let another into their mists to enjoy the bounty.

It's suppose to warm up later this week and I am going to try and get out one last time for some perch and walleye. I also have to set up my deer stand for the following week as I look forward to hunting with my friends Jack and Rich. Hopefully the ice will be on the lakes by Thanksgiving.

Pitchin' for Perch

On Saturday I decided to head up to Mille Lacs to try my hand at perch. A week ago Tom and I had caught a total of 10 before we headed out to the reef for some walleye trolling. This is the time of year perch come into the shallow water areas to hang out. Isle, Walkon, Cove, and Vineland bays are prime areas. In years past we would head to our favorite spot in Walkon with a small crappie jig 2 1/2 feet below a slip bobber, tipped with a minnow. One would not have to wait long before a 7 to 12 inch perch would pull the bobber under water with authority. Not unlike my fortunes with walleyes, this year the perch have been somewhat elusive as well. As the water cools, the perch bite seems to get better and a week had cooled the water another 5 degrees. I headed right to the "honeyhole" which has produced well in previous years, fishing over an hour with nothing to show. I had noticed a guy at the end of some bulrushes pulling in a fish every so often. Walkon has many scattered bulrushes and I decided to try that pattern. Picking an obscure patch of rushes in the middle of nowhere I pitched my bobber rig up next to the rushes. Within seconds the bobber was down and I had a 9 1/2" fish in the livewell. I rebaited and repeated the scene at least 40 times in the next 20 minutes. By the time 40 minutes had passed there were 20 nice perch in the well including a nice 11 1/2 incher, respectable by any measure. Paying attention to the other boats and adapting to what appeared was a pattern was the key. Having success on the perch I decided to head to Anderson's reef and see if the walleyes were in any better mood. After an hour of dragging raps, I resigned to heading home as I had a bunch of fish to clean.

Althought this picture really doesn't do much for the size of the perch, it was very nice one. I am also getting reports of nice fish catches trolling well after midnight. 10 years ago I would do this, fish to 2:00AM then drive home. Although I might be missing some fish, the old body can't handle that schedule anymore. Oh well!

Stubborn!!!

According to the dictionary, stubborn is defined as:

stub·born
adj. stub·born·er, stub·born·est
1.
a. Unreasonably, often perversely unyielding; bullheaded.
b. Firmly resolved or determined; resolute. See Synonyms at obstinate.
2. Characterized by perseverance; persistent.
3. Difficult to treat or deal with; resistant to treatment or effort: stubborn soil; stubborn stains.

I guess in this case the second definition is appropriate, characterized by perseverance; persistent, which certainly sounds better than bullheaded. Fall is one of my favorite times to fish Mille Lacs. The second weekend in October is prime time starting off with the drive to the lake. The forests are alive with colors from the fiery reds of the maples to the mahogany colored oaks, along with the beautiful shoreline, it's 50% of the trip. Traditionally fall is the time for the shallow water reef bite. Typically the fall sees baitfish numbers gradually diminishing as the walleyes hang on structure to take advantage of the remaining easy prey. This occurs in the spring as well as evidence by my previous post about Memorial Day. Shad Raps, Rouges, and Husky Jerks are on the menu and they seldom let one down. Add in the proverbial "Full Moon" and you have the winning combination for a successful evening of fishing. I did fish the September full moon with disappointing results. The water temperature was too high, the water level down, too many baitfish, lots of great legitimate excuses for a rather poor performance. The October full moon is different; the water is cooler, another month of baitfish reductions, and it's just suppose to be better. Well remember the old saying, the best laid plans........................

There is nothing I love better than casting Rattlin Rouges. I have a favorite color that is almost impossible to get anymore, a floating 4 1/2" shallow diving( 0-2 feet), tiger perch pattern. It is perfect for that top of the reef casting pattern as some of these reefs are only 3 feet deep so the lure does not get hung up on the bottom and walleyes will come up quite a distance to hit it. I have caught a ton of fish on that particular Rouge as well as a simple #5 crawfish Shad Rap. A few years back I won a rod kit at a charity. With the help of Thorne Brothers in Minneapolis, I built what I believe is the ultimate crankbait casting rod. Matched with a Shimano Stella reel it is unbelievably light which makes casting these baits effortless. When a big walleye slams the bait, there is nothing that compares. It certainly makes the effort well worth it.

So, what does this have to do with stubborn? Well, for two years now the fall walleye crankbait bite on Mille Lacs has been less than stellar, yet I insist that the effort should eventually pay off. As I trolled by a boat that was bobber fishing the same reef, and had just reeled in their 4th walleye, I simply trolled by with my stubbornness to relive the glory times. I guess one will never experience it unless you continue to try. Although I have struck out this year (so far anyway), there are still a couple of weekends left to give it the old college try. I suppose catching fish is certainly the goal however being on the lake when the shoreline is alive with colors, the smell of a campfire permeating the air, being with friends, sometimes can make that goal seem alittle less important.

For your reference I have included the following pictures of 2 nice walleyes I have gotten in the past on my Rouge. It really does work sometimes! Notice the full moon on the right.

What's a Mahi Mahi?

Last Sunday was a complete washout on Mille Lacs as they received a much needed dose of rain. I decided to stay home and plant a number of nice trees we bought on sale including 2 apple, 2 Autumn Blaze Maple, and a Northern Red Oak. On Saturday we drove to Eau Claire to meet with my wife's aunt's and uncle's to celebrate Sister Rosemary's birthday at the Red Lobster. Being severely allergic to lobster, crab, and shrimp I was relegated to the fresh fish menu. Having plenty of fresh salmon and halibut in the freezer, the cod did not sound appealing, and the fresh whitefish can be somewhat fishy if the waiter cannot answer that question, so I settled on the mahi mahi. What's a mahi mahi? I have eaten out a number of times when it was on the menu and those with me never heard of it and weren't going to risk a bad meal. Those that have taken the time to be more daring were rewarded with one of the best tasting fish served today.

Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian name for a colorful fish that inhabits the warm waters of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. In Florida the fish is called a Dolphin Fish and in Mexico it's noted as a Dorado. A fish by any other name..............you can not catch a fish that is more colorful, puts up an insane fight, and taste absolutely delicious.

In 1997 I was making a small part for a local company. They wanted a very special size and only one company was willing to work with us. At it's peak we were buying over $100,000 per year of this special part. The president of the supplier, Walt Benecki was an avid fisherman and I had taken him as well as his local rep and my dear friend Pat Holmes to Mille Lacs fishing one day. He told me of a fishing contest that he hosted in Cabo San Lucas and would like me to come one year. Walt was a big roller and although he was a great guy, I sort of blew it off as a pipe dream. Well in March of the next year he called and asked if I would join him at the Palmas de Cortez for a friendly fishing tournament towards the end of April. My only requirement was to get to Los Angeles and he would take care of the rest. A great friend Paul Wenaas had a frequent flyer ticket that was ready to expire so he sold it to me for $100 and I was on my way. I was due meet Walt and 2 other guys Shuk his sales manager, and Fred, a customer from San Diego at LAX no later than 6:00 in the morning. Flying in the night before my flight was due in at 11:00PM. Luck would have it we arrived 45 minutes early figuring I would get a nice night of sleep only to sit on the tarmac almost 2 hours waiting for the gate to clear. By the time I got my luggage and to the hotel it was 1:00. Once at the hotel I had learned my office manager had made my reasonable reservation for a different day and they had no room. They finally coughed one up for double my previous cost. It was the most expensive 3 hours of sleep I ever paid for.

Meeting at LAX we headed for Cobo. Walt had rented a van for the hour drive to Palmas De Cortez stopping for a cold cerveza for good measure. I had never been to Mexico and arriving at our destination was that pipe dream come true. It was fabulous from the turquoise water to the tropical atmosphere at the resort. There were 4 of us and we fished 2 days, switching boats each day. Fishing dorado was very interesting. Prior to heading out we would stop at a boat about a quarter mile out to buy bait, 6 - 8 inch sardines. The locals netted them and charged us $20 for a net full. We would drive up to any flotsam and throw a couple of sardines in. If there was a dorado hanging around he would make short work of those sardines prompting us to toss in a baited line. The other way was to troll chugger type lures directly in the prop wash within 30 feet of the boat. These lure chug, dive just below the surface, grabbing air and bubbling and gurgling before returning to the surface repeating the action. This drives marlin as well as dorado crazy. They put up an incredible fight, however the show really begins as the near the boat. Like many saltwater fish, they literally light up with brilliant neon colors when agitated. The picture above does little justice as they turn yellow, green, teal, blue that looks surreal. Once in the boat the almost immediately turn a dull gray. The males are called bulls and have a very pronounced square head. This is a picture of a days work with the largest being a respectable 45 pounds. They are excellent table fare and fresh dorado was served in the dining room each night. Along with dorado we enjoyed the company of many fellow fisherman enjoying one of the most beautiful places in the world to fish. I did catch a big marlin and will save that story for later. You can get more information about fishing the East Cape by visiting http://www.palmasdecortez.com/. As for Walt, he has gone on to write a fabulous book about his own personal fishing adventures, True Fish Stories. If you are interested in a very nice written book that any fisherman can relate to check out his site, http://www.truefishstories.com/ Walt has included a incident that I reported on our first day of the trip that was pretty funny (to me anyway!). His book has been one of my main inspirations to start putting down in words my own fishing adventures in the form of this blog. He is truely a world fisherman and one I will always admire. Thanks Walt and I plan on not making our trip the once in a lifetime event.

So if you see Mahi Mahi on the menu, be daring and try one of the most tastiest fish served today.

Fishing With the Boss

The boss. It sort of makes one think of Bruce Springsteen when you first read it! Sorry, in this case I am referring to my weekend boss, Bill Lundeen of Lundeens Tackle Castle on Mille Lacs Lake. I help Bill out a number of times a year guiding his clients on weekends or evenings when he might have a larger corporate outing needing a extra boat. I meet Bill over 10 years ago when I moved to my current house. Previously my trips to Mille Lacs would bring me up to the east side of the lake, however when we moved closer to 169 I started going up on the west side. Being the person that supports the "little guy" I began to stop at his shop to buy my bait. I was impressed how Bill, his wife Kathy, and their daughter Amanda worked the shop with uncanny precision. Running a bait shop is a complicated business. Having the right amount of bait at the right time, counting on your water treatment system to keep it all alive, and tending to the leeches that toward the middle of September want to start dying at a rate quicker than sub prime mortgage default is a definite challenge. Bill has figured it out. He may very well be the only shop on the lake that has nice leeches coming into October. Bill's year starts out in January, at the peak of the ice fishing season lasting about 6 weeks. March brings Maple Syrup time with April about the only time they can take a vacation. May is fishing opener and through September is guide time. Fall brings the full moon crowd and deer hunting. The remaining time is spent getting ready for the lake to freeze over. Sort of like farming, the business falls on the whims of the weather and how well the fish are biting. This year has certainly been a challenge in that department. It is also a political job! Imagine 100 people coming to your shop and wanting to know where the fish are biting. If you told everyone to go to 7 mile flat, it would be pretty funny and crowded. One has to have the ability to help your customers yet be able to contribute to a pleasant experience. We have become very good friends as we share the same values, sense of humor, and the love of fishing. I remember asking Bill one time if he liked tea. "I love it" pointing to a couple of boxes of Lipton on the self. I laughed and gave him some real green tea from one of my China trips. Now half my cargo returning from China is various tea varieties for him. It's something I love to do as well.


This Sunday Bill got away and we went fishing together. This was going to be a special trip as we were going to fish out of his boat, a 25 foot Proline with a 250 hp Merc. Although not as versatile as my Ranger for on the spot fishing, it is considerably more comfortable. The boat is a walk around type and is perfect for the 4 man guide trips, whereas more than 3 in the Ranger poses problems. We started fishing a shallow bay for perch drifting the area and picking up a couple in the 8 - 9" range. I decided to cast a small plastic jig and just as I was about to lift it out of the water this nice northern came out of nowhere and slashed at the jig. I had my ultralight and the battle was on. Unknown to me the fish was actually hooked right behind the head. After 10 minutes we finally landed this beautiful fish. We snapped the picture and I let it go, hoping it would help put a dent in the bait fish problem. Bill got a nice 12 inch perch before the bite stopped. We headed to an east side reef and casted a bit before we went to a offshore reef for some bobber/leech fishing. 5 minutes later I caught the first keeper walleye in over 10 weeks and it felt pretty good. Wanting to try for some crappies after sunset we headed to the proverbial secret spot, and they were biting. Within an hour we had 9 beautiful 11 - 12" crappies, the first I had ever caught on purpose at Mille Lacs. Having caught a respectable mess of fish we headed to the dock and called it a night. A couple of bowls of Kathy's homemade chicken wild rice (real wild rice BTW) and I headed south. I am truly blessed to have friends like the Lundeens. Stop in next time you head to the lake.

An Evening With the Redtails

Growing up in the dairy country of Wisconsin, when someone said redtail it generally meant a type of common hawk found in the area. After moving to Minnesota the term became synonymous with Northwest Airlines who's planes were know as "Redtails" because of the red paint scheme on the tails of those planes. Today redtails mean only one thing, smallies! Saturday my good friend and neighbor Tom decided we should hit the Mississippi River north of Monticello. He as a nice 16 foot Lund Pro Angler with the old style 50 hp Mercury 4 cylinder 2 stroke and would be much more practical than my Ranger. Back in 1987 I bought a boat just like his. At the time is was state of the art in aluminum. The 5o hp Merc was a smooth running machine and it would idle for hours without as much as a hickup. It was also a gas hog, but in those days it didn't really matter. That boat really caught the fish, from the 8.5 pound walleye I have in my office to downrigger salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. Using Tom's boat brings back many good memories.

We headed to the bait shop in Anoka to see if they had any of the fabled Redtailed Chubs and as luck would have it they had a few left. At $9.95/dozen ( a bargain these days) we bought 18. The baitshop owner was kind enough to sort the largest ones for us ranging from 4 to 6 inches and gave us exactly 18. We headed northwest to a landing about 40 miles upriver which after arriving found the water level very low and extremely clear. One could see 4 feet down and sitting on the bow as we headed down river was amazed at all the fish I could see scattering in front of us. We managed to get the boat hung up only once on the way down, which of course did not bode well for our return trip. Once through the shallows we found our first run, a stretch of water near shore that rund 4 - 6 feet deep and extends for at least a quarter of a mile. Not wanting to use up all of our bait right away I started casting a tube. I immediately lost 3 fish. I was fishing with a ML spinning rod with 8# test and I soon felt I did not have enough umpf. Because I was in with Tom's boat, I did not have the luxury of rigging 4 or 5 poles for various presentation. I decided to rig my power rod with a short plain hook and bell sinker combo after Tom landed 2 with his bobber rig. One technique is to suspend a redtail about 3 feet under a bobber and let him do all the work. It was amazing to see the fish actually hit the bait as the water was that clear. Determined to make our bait last we tried a number of artificials and did catch a few fish but the clear ticket was the redtails. We ended the night at 7:00 PM knowing we had to get across the one large shallow area. The fish tally was well over 20 smallies for the 3 hours we spent fishing. The largest were around 18 inches and I would not even want to guess how many grabbed the big minnows but spit them out after a short but intense battle. It was a beautiful day on the river despite Tom having to get out and pull the boat and me through about 200 yards of shallow water. The cooperative fish, eagles soaring above us, and great company made for a wonderful evening on the river. Fall fishing with redtails can mean only one thing, ice fishing is not far behind!

Thanks again Tom.

Wet in Wisconsin

Jason called me this morning with a sense of concern. We were to meet his father in Amery Wisconsin and spend the afternoon fishing Wapagasset Lake. According to him there was a 60% chance of rain and wanted to know if I was still interested. My weather guy claimed the big area of rain to the west was going to drift south and we would be lucky to get a sprinkle or two. Seeings I never trust any of them, it was a 50/50 chance we would have great weather so we stayed on course with our original plan. I loaded the boat, picked up Jason and his wife Abby and headed for Amery. Now this trip was actually 2 years in the planning as Andy (Jason's dad and my wife's uncle) had been trying to get me to fish one of his favorite lakes. Andy lives in Eau Claire and it was a perfect meeting point for all of us. I subordinated myself to Andy letting him be the lead guy on this trip. After getting some night crawlers, I suggested that we launch at the marina on the SE side of the lake. After 20 minutes of driving it became obvious that I did not know where the Marina was. I decided to follow Andy as he had been here before and we would go to his landing. He seemed to know where to go, so all was good. Some 20 minutes later we still driving around and not in the water. We had wasted about the same amount of time as it did for me to drive to Amery. Now 10 years ago this aimless lack of planning would have drove me crazy. I generally had little patience and often let my feelings be known. Today I just look at it as a minor inconvenience as there are many things a lot worse than being lost for 40 minutes(Bill, pay attention!). Having finally found the landing we proceeded to load the boat. I backed the trailer into the water as always and shoved the boat off yet this time it just swung to one side.
Figuring the landing was super shallow I backed up to the point where the exhaust was gurgling under the water with no avail. Apparently someone forgot to take off the left boat tie down.................. namely me. I have had these situations before however with a lady present, I decided against stripping down and wading in. The boat would not go back on the trailer straight so we carefully pulled it up and with enough slack unhooked it, another 15 minutes! Finally getting to our first fishing spot, 3 casts and I nailed the biggest bluegill I have caught in 20 years, pushing 10 inches. Boy I thought we were in for a super day. How many times have you been in that situation? More than I would like to admit. We ended up with a northern, 3 more small sunnies, a number of small bass, a totally unexpected white bass, and a crappie. The big sunnies never materialized however the rain certainly did. It started about 3:00 and was still raining when we left. Although wet, the rain did not dampen the wonderful time with Jason, Abby and the most important, Andy.

The Dead Sea Lives!

It's 2 days before the full moon and it should be prime time for the big mama's on Mille Lacs. In years past one could count on a 10 to 12 fish night with a number of them being over 25 inches. The pattern is pretty elementary, find a reef next to deep water, troll or cast the 3 - 5 foot tops and hang on. The witching hour begins about 1/2 hour before sunset and usually last for about 2 to 3 hours. Having missed the full moon period in August (pre-occupied with salmon and bears) I was really looking forward to this weekend. My strategy was to leave work early on Friday, hit my milk run, and if successful possibly head up again on Saturday. My neighbor Tom shares my enthusiasm about the fall bite with the possibility of a bonus Muskie showing up on his line. It was a perfect night. A soft southeast wind allowed a comfortable ride yet strong enough to allow us to drift the reefs with minimal adjustments from the trolling motors. The water was surprisingly murky which tends to bode well for the shallow bite. Everything was perfect however someone forgot to tell the fish! There is no picture associated with this post as there was no opportunity to take one of our catch. Sure, the sunset was beautiful but if you must see one again, just look at one of my previous posts as they are pretty much all the same. I pulled shads, rouges, and a number of other lures however all we could muster up was a foul hooked perch about 4 inches long.

So what's wrong? Well the total post summer crank bait bite has been way off. I am always optimistic and just figured no one is using "my pattern" yet and I would be the first to be successful. So much for that theory! I have my own hypothesis dealing with the huge amount of bait fish in the lake (young of the year perch(YOY)) and the water level. The YOY perch are all over the place and the fish are simply not interested in chasing baits when dinner is so plentiful. I also believe that the water levels hurt the "typical" shallow fall bite as the lake is down over a foot from its historical average changing the entire environment of these reefs. Oh well. I am off to fish a lake near Amery Wisconsin on Sunday with my friend Jason and his dad Andy. Hopefully the events of a few hours ago will not be repeated on Sunday.

An Incredible Journey

Salmon fishing in Alaska is an education in one of nature's most amazing events. Each species of salmon utilizes the various rivers and streams in completely different ways. The 5 different types of salmon one meets in Alaska are the Chinook (King), Coho (Silver), Pink (Humpback), Sockeye (Red) and Chum (Dog). The Kenai river has all five however the Chum are quite rare. Each species utilizes different calendar times and sections of the river that are quite unique. When the salmon enter the river to spawn, it is referred to a run. Reds, Kings, and Silvers have 2 distinct runs with the early run fish utilizing the upper stretches of the rivers and tributaries and the later runs utilize the lower part of the rivers. Kings come in with the first run in early June. By the end of June the run is done however the second an larger run is right behind starting about the end of the first week in July. Red's first run occurs right around the middle of June with their second run starting the 3rd week of July. Silvers start showing up around the first week in August peaking around the 15th with the second run starting the first of September. The Pinks only make one huge run and this occurs only on the even years, like this year 2008. And what a run it is! It is estimated that 3 - 4 million salmon enter the Kenai every year in a 6 week period from mid July to the end of August. The run timing is important for planning your trip as the first time we went we arrived the last week in June and about the only thing going in our area was the Red's on the Russian River and this sure wasn't the Alaskan experience. You can go to the Alaskan Fish and Game site and get quite a bit of information including run timing charts like this:http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/region2/pdfpubs/kenrun.pdf

There is basically 2 types of salmon fishing, open ocean fishing and freshwater fishing. The picture to the left are of the 12 salmon were caught in the ocean. They include silvers (bigger fish) and pinks (smaller ones) which were caught in a bay which a glacier feed river emptied into. Notice the fish are very bright and silver colored. This is referred to as chromed. All salmon basically look the same in the ocean, and except for size may be difficult to identify. When salmon enter fresh water however, they begin to change almost immediately. The below picture is a Pink that Greg caught and it is one of the best examples of this change. This fish enter the river looking like the fish on the far right of the 12 and within a number of days they completely change to this prehistoric looking thing.

The picture on the right are Red's in Quartz Creek, which one crosses on the way to Soldotna. Again the fish enter the river chrome and quickly change to a deep crimson color with an olive colored head. Usually once the fish have turned to their full spawning colors, the meat is no longer desirable as table fare. When these fish have finished spawning they die and become part of the ecosystem of the river nurishing the next hatching of all the salmon.

Salmon enter the rivers on the high tide so understanding this relationship is important. On our flyover trip with the bears at Polly Creek, low tide occurred about 11:00 in the morning. The next high tide that day was scheduled at 5:20 and be 25 feet higher than at low tide. At low tide the river ran crystal clear, which made it easy to see the resident Dolly Vardon trout that come into the rivers to feed on salmon eggs and spawn themselves. There were few salmon in this section of the river although we did catch a few pinks and had a nice Chum on the line. At our location the tide would eventually raise the river about 4 feet higher than it was at 11:00. As the tide came in the river current slowed considerably. The water was still clear as the fresh water was essentially dammed up by the incoming salt water. While I was standing on the bank watching the water come up a school of about 15 silvers swam by as if on cue. A quick cast of my spinner and the race was on to see which salmon was going to get at it first. I landed that fish only to have my cousins hollar "bear!" We had seen the bears earlier and decided to move downstream to group together. With fish in hand I was wading toward the guys when one shouts "Dave, it's coming towards you" I was at the edge of the river and could not see very far beyond the bank. Being somewhat nervous and with a fish in my grip I figured it was probably not a good idea to play waiter to a brown bear located somewhere above me. Bear's have a great sense of smell and I decided to let the fish go rather than draw attention to myself. It probably was a dumb move but I guess you would have had to been there! We went on to end the day with 6 beautiful chrome silvers along with having caught and released about 50 Dolly's. The magic time for the salmon occurred for about 1 hour before the high tide muddied the water considerably. The plane was somewhat late however the pilot was concerned about having enough beach to land on as the high tide was reversing. We loaded up having experienced the effect of the high tides first hand.

I'm Back!

Well, I finally returned from the great state of Alaska no worse for the wear! For me Alaska is a place were fishing is the priority and sleep is an option. As stated in an earlier post, I had the pleasure of traveling with my brother Steve, and first cousins (all on my dad's side) Paul, Greg, and Mark. Besides being family, these guys are the greatest in the world, putting up with me for 8 days was punishment enough. We landed in Anchorage about noon on Thursday August 14th. Greg flew Suncountry and arrived 2 hours ahead of us so he met up with my cousin Mark, who lives in Anchorage. Their job was to get a hitch for the rental car which we were not suppose to do as well get a landing net. We arrived and began the adventure. Mark is a retired Army guy and he was able to rent us a boat from the base to use on the Kenai for $350/week. This was incredible so we picked it up and headed for Soldotna. There we dropped the boat off at a friends until we returned on Sunday. One of the things we bring to Alaska is fresh sweet corn. This is like gold to our friends and we know they appreciate it. After dropping off about 5 dozen ears we headed to Seward, our destination for the next 3 nights. Seward is located at the south end of the Kenai Pennisula and is an important place for tourism, fishing, and cargo port with a major coal transfer facility there. Our plan was to do 2 full days with Neil Marlow aboard the Shearwater searching for halibut, lingcod, rockfish, and silver salmon. Friday proved to be the best silver day and we did real well including this 15 pounder that you see me holding. In the ocean the salmon are schooled up chasing bait fish, getting ready to head up the local rivers to spawn. Our strategy was to fish the bays that had rivers flowing into them. We fished with 5 oz chain bead sinkers with a 2 foot leader attached to a hook and a squid attractor. A chunk of herring was all it took. We fished the rockfish the same way. Rockfish have swim bladders so when you pull them out of 100 feet they are pretty well done. Besides our 3 salmon and 4 rockfish per day, we were hoping to get at least 2 25# halibut per day. This would give each of us 50# of meat to take home. Unfortunately we were only able to catch about 30 pounds each for the 2 days. Well, that's fishing! On Sunday we returned to the Kenai for the peak of the early silver salmon run. Because it is an even year, the pinks were in and this is a tremendous understatment. In future posts I will elaborate on this incredible event in nature.

My previous post mentioned bears. On Tuesday we flew out of the Funny River Airport in Soldotna to the north side of Cook Inlet and a landed on the beach at the Polly Creek outlet. Here was our "Alaskan Wilderness" experience. The pilot dropped us off at 9:00AM and vowed to return about 8:30 that evening. Upon leaving he gave us each a hand held flare and told us if we run into a bear that was aggresive, wait till it's about 10 feet from you them pull the flare cord. Yeah, right! At about 4:00 the bears showed up, a sow and her 3 cubs of which 2 were second year cubs and pretty big. It was exciting to see as the appeared across the river which initially gave us a physical barrier, which we soon saw it made no difference. While watching momma, one of the older cubs suddenly appeared on our side, barreling full bore towards us. The last thing we wanted was to be in the middle of the sow and her cub. A little noise and the cub headed across the river to mom. Although relieved, it was a tense but exciting moment.

I have many pictures to sort out and many stories to tell, too much for one setting. I will post a number of our more interesting adventures in the coming weeks as I hope my sharing of this experience will encourage you to at least make the same trip. You will never be the same.

North to Alaska!

Just a short post before I leave. The silvers are in like crazy, the pinks are making their usual even year run, and the halibut are cruising for that piece of octopus. I'll be back in about 10 days with a some great pictures and stories. Hopefully we don't get ate by bears before then!

Followup On China And Other Things!

Well, I finally made it back from my trip to China. Our last leg of the trip took us to a city call Wuxi (Woo-She), which is about 2 hours west of Shanghai. I thought I would post a number of interesting pictures and explain a little bit about them. As a fisherman, the first thing you notice about the area is that it is flat and has significant numbers of canals criss crossing the area. The top picture is the Grand Canal. This was built over 1500 years ago to serve as a main transportation route from the Shuzhou and Wuxi area to Beijing. Although it is no longer used the full length, it is still an important waterway for barges delivering building materials such as sand, rock, and bricks to the coastal areas which are basically void of good base materials. Attached to the Grand Canal are hundreds of little canals that are use for everything from irrigation to side transportation to raising fish. The next picture on the left are 2 Chinese boys enjoying a little fishing in the canal that borders there house. This canal was along a major 4 lane road and I had my driver Sam pull off to let me take a picture of them fishing. Like fisherman everywhere they waved back at me and allowed this picture. They were using homemade cane poles and reminded me of my grandpa Howard, who use to come up to Eleva every summer with his cane poles and we would head to Alma for some fishing. I could not help but take a picture of the preferred toilets in China. Basically it's a squat toilet identical to our methods of relieving ourselves during deer hunting. The difference is that these toilets flush! The next picture at the bottom and on the left is of Antique Road in Shanghai. It is a 4 block market in the heart of Shanghai and has many old antiques (or replica's) and other tourist type goods. In China everything is negotiable. What may start out at 2000 RMB (6.75 RMB to 1 UD Dollar)may eventually get down to 150 RMB, but it's not for the faint hearted. We bought a silk scarf that started at 200RMB and we offered 50. She was extremely angry with us but upon returning we bought 3 for 210. Not bad. We ran into a young man that owned a tea shop on Antique Road. All attempts to get him to move on the price was in vain. His line, I have good tea and good prices, no need to negotiate! This was our second trip to his shop and indeed, his tea is 30% of the price at the Shanghai airport. The last picture is taken from the Bund in Shanghai looking across the river to Pudong (poo-dung). Shanghai is divided into 2 main sections, Pudong (dong means east) and Puxie (poo-shay, xie means west). Pudong represents the modern Shanghai and is home to the large telecommunication tower you see on the left with the big ball near the top while Puxie is still the old Shanghai with the definite European influence. The word Bund means embankment and is at the end of Nanjing Road. (You can learn more about the bund here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund) Standing on the Bund, looking to Pudong is one of the most beautiful city views in the world.

I did have a guide trip on Sunday but it started to lightning out. Me and that kind of electricity do not get along very well so we did a raincheck. I am really looking forward to fishing with these guys again. Today I went to South Center Lake and got a few crappies and sunnies, nothing special just nice to get out. Thursday I head to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula to attempt to catch some halibut and to take advantage of the Kenai Rivers Pink and Silver salmon run which should be in full swing next week. Stay tuned!

I Finally Found a Tackle Shop in China!

Qingxi (ching-she) Town, DongGuang, GuangDong, Peoples Republic of China is about as far away from the clear clean waters of Minnesota as one can get. Qingxi Town is located 30 miles northeast of the Hong kong/Chinese border crossing of Lo Wu. It is a mountainous area with peaks rising to 3000 feet amongst the numerous valleys that are home to the industrial factories making almost everything we buy from flat panel televisions to plastics to toys. This area was one of the first to be developed in modern China because of it's proximity to Hong Kong, which serves as a focal point for trade coming out of the area. It is sub tropical in nature with many small rivers feeding reservoirs which in turn supply water to the 30 million people in the area (bottled water for me!). In restaurants if ordering fish you usually are given a choice between river fish or ocean fish. One look at the rivers solves that question pretty fast! Although in this area one sees little fishing going on, it does exist in the form of privately owned fish ponds where families go for a day of entertainment. Knowing almost everything we buy today in the fishing world comes from China and the fact that the price we pay is at least 4 times the manufactured cost, I have always been on the lookout for a place to buy fishing tackle. Well, I finally found one just 2 blocks away from our hotel. I was excited to see what was offered, how they fished, and the prices. In GuangDong Province the people are know to eat anything that walks, swims, or crawls. To some the dozen shiners we pick up on the way to Mille Lacs would be a great meal for their family. The tackle was indicative of finesse type bobber fishing with a variety of pencil type bobbers, line stops, and simple terminal tackle. Very few if any lures were available and their rods were long telescopic type similar to those used in Europe. I was very taken back by the pricing. Some special bobbers were selling for 125 RMB (6.75 RMB to 1 US dollar) for 3 which amounted to over $6 each. Interesting enough there was little negotiation as with most baitshop owners, they were small family run enterprises with honest, hard working individuals just trying to make a living, just like my good friend Bill. My goal of finding a place to get good deals on reels have been dashed. Although the reels they had were of good quality, the prices were at least the same as what you can find in the US. So much for that goal. The bait was in the form of prepackaged dough balls and gunky looking bulk concoctions which reminded me of carp and catfish bait we use in the states. I did buy something for a couple of my close friends that fish the reefs on Mille Lacs with leeches and bobbers. The systems are similar to our slip bobber and for night fishing offer small light sticks that conveniently fit on the top. The light sticks were cheap, about 2 RMB for a package of 2 so I did load up on them hoping to see how they work. I am off to my next destination Wuxi (Woo-she), located west of Shanghai where there is much more water, lakes, canals, and evidence of more extensive fishing. Hopefully I can report better success from there. Zaijian (zi-jee-ahn).

Ed Enos, Smoked Carp...An Evening From The Past

Eleva Wisconsin was not much different than many midwestern towns established in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Nestled in a river valley had many advantages, flat and expansive flood plains left over from the glacial times made excellent farm land. Availability of water to power grist and saw mills, as well as means to transport goods such as logs, furs, and other goods was vital. Of course rivers also did a great job of being a convenient sewer for those living by them. These valley's became natural corridors for the rail roads as they expanded. Eleva sits at the junction of the Buffalo River and Big Creek. The Buffalo River is a confused river. There are 4 major communties associated with this river valley. Osseo is on the upper end, then Strum, Eleva, and Mondovi before it cuts to the southwest through some of the most beautiful bluff country in the US finally meeting up with the Mississippi River. Upstream from Strum the river is called the Beef River. Downstream from Strum it may be referred to the Beef however it is better known as the Buffalo River until it finally empties into Beef Slough at the Mississippi confluence. The Buffalo River is a relatively clean sand bottomed river that literally winds it's way traveling 2 miles for every mile of real distance. There are many oxbow sloughs and swamps, remains of the river's ever changing course. Around Eleva, it's fish include suckers, carp, redhorse, sheepshead, catfish, northerns and the occasional trout escaped from the local streams and planted mill ponds. My best fishing buddy was (and still is) Kevin Aiona. We would exploit every aspect of this. As stated in my "about me" we would dig worms on the south side of building while there was still snow on the ground to hit the early sucker and redhorse run. Often we would get a nice carp, which was a special bonus. Carp were excellent fighters often challenging the basic equipment that we used. Kevin's grandpa was Ed Enos. Ed was the local barber for probably 50 years. There were many guys past 50 whom Ed probably gave them their first haircut. Ed had a small shop on mainstreet and himself was a legendary fisherman. He had the foresight to plant nightcrawlers behind his shop which eventually became the premier spot for catching bait during a rainstorm. Ed could also smoke carp turning it into a bonifide delicacy in the area. Although his recipe was simple, mix salt and water till an egg floats, soak the carp overnight and smoke till done, few had the process down to produce what Ed could do. Any carp that we caught in cold clear water of the Buffalo River in the spring was destined for Ed. On Sunday night I decide to fish a local lake near my home. Driving away I stopped by my neighbors house only to see his riding lawnmower start on fire. Running home I retrieved my extingisher and promptly dispatched the flames before it totally engulfed the machine. Having killed 40 minutes, I had lost my travel advantage and decided to simply fish the Mississippi River behind my house. I live about 2 blocks from the river and can get access through many of my friends that have river lots. With nightcrawlers, simple tackle, a cooler with a few beers, and a pack of sunflower seeds I headed to one of the docks along the river. My first fish was a small fiddler cat (small channel cat) which poked me good with one of it's side barbs. I bled like a stuck pig as it was a bad reminder of how hurtful these little buggers can be. After missing 2 more I finally had a substantial hit. Setting the hook the fish took off like a torpedo. I had completely forgotten how exciting a carp can be. After a 5 minute battle I landed this 8 pound carp. The night ended with another nice catfish before the sun totally set. The carp is destined for either the smoker or eventually helping my garden's general well being. Either way Ed would understand and be proud that we carry on the traditions. It's funny what can bring you back to 12 years old again.

The Tables Turned

Having received this from one of my colleagues it reminded me of a discussion I just had with a friend so I decided to see how hard it would be to post a video. It worked!!!

33 Days and Counting

Anyone who flies commercially with any frequency understands the role the internet has played in making the experience much more interactive. I was checking on my current flight reservations and noticed a message above the information that our flight to Anchorage is 33 days away. Wow, there is someone other than me keeping track! Anticipation is what helps to keep us young and I am starting to get giddy about our trip this year. It prompted me to think about past trips and as long as I was just sitting here I thought I would share two of my more interesting pictures. The first one on the left is my cousin Greg holding a very nice yellow eyed rock fish he caught out of Seward. Greg is returning this year after taking 2006 off because he had lost an argument with a ladder. This is the actual color of the fish coming out of the water. The only thing that would have made this picture complete was the addition of Greg's teal colored rain pants. Not only are they a handsome fish but are excellent table fare as well. Our Seward trip turned out to be one of the most memorable fishing trips ever. We caught a variety of rock fish, halibut, lingcod, and sea run silver salmon. The action was non-stop. In 2006 we attempted to repeat ourselves but the weather was not very cooperative. The boys are going to give it one more try again this year and hopes are high for a repeat. I still think Greg should get a graphite reproduction as this fish was truly a trophy sized Yellow Eye.

This is me with an average size silver salmon caught out of the Homer Fishing Hole. This is about a 3 acre hole that was dug out just a few yards from the ocean. The tides in Homer are hard to imagine for a Wisconsin boy like me. They average over 18 feet with some months exceeding 25 feet. Tides are a result of the gravitational pull from the moon and because this also causes a bulge on the opposite side of the earth, 2 high tides occur each day as well as 2 low tides. They are in sync with the moon and high tides are the highest during a full/new moon when the moon is working with the sun and lowest at the quarter moons when it is pulling at right angles with the sun. Because the moon's rotation around the earth is slightly longer than 24 hours, these tides are about 6 hours and 25 minutes apart. If you use the average tide as 18 feet, then the level of the sea changes 18 feet in a little over 6 hours then back down 18 feet during the next 6 hours. Breaking it down to 3 feet and hour, the water level is rising (or falling) at little over 1 inch every 2 minutes. At the Homer Fishing Hole they have an outlet (you can see it behind my head) that only lets water in on a high tide and is at least 10 feet above the low tide ocean level. The Alaska Fish and Game plant salmon smolts into this fishing hole and when they are ready to spawn, they return to this small area, coming in when the high tides reach the outlet and water starts pouring in like crazy! You can stand at the edge of the fishing hole and in a matter of minutes your shoes are covered with water. They will plant Chinooks and Silvers as they are the most prized of the salmon. What is unusual about this picture is that if you look close (you can click on the picture for a larger view) one can see that it was caught with a number 7 fire tiger Shad Rap. Trust me, there isn't a Shad Rap to be had on the Kenai Pennensula! I brought it along just to see if it would work. Unfortunately after catching another fish and losing one, it literally fell apart. I am not sure if it was the salt water or something else but my shad rap lasted about 30 minutes. Being a walleye guy, one never leaves home without a few in the tackle box, and for what little time it gave me I was happy to add this fish to my list of species caught with my favorite bait.

Traditions and Tom's on the 4th

The 4th of July holiday means many different things to different people. Fireworks, picnics, yet to me it usually means the opportunity to fish with my 2 great friends the Tom's, Mr. Emmons and Mr. McAtee. These two guys are the the reminents of a once great company, CPT, where I had the pleasure of meeting both of them in the early 80's. I would bet the mature combined weight of us three is at least 200 pounds greater than it was when we met! Both Tom's are excellent electrical engineers with one recently returning from a long stent in Austin Texas while the other is hopelessly tied to South Minneapolis and hates Kool Aid. As you see in the picture Mr. Emmons is much more outgoing where Mr. McAtee is still the shy young school boy. We usually get together for a Christmas vacation ice fishing adventure or a day at Mille Lacs on the 4th of July. This year we met at noon and headed to the pond. The surface was like glass as we headed for the first spot to cast for smallies. 5 minutes convinced me we needed to move. My strategy was to deep troll #11 tail dancers and reef runners in the mass expanse of nowhere land. Trolling in the deep waters off the 4 mile gravel for about a mile produced nothing. There was still nary a ripple on the water so I headed to 3 mile reef for some sight seeing. The water is incredibly clear and the view of the reef was nothing short of spectacular. The house sized slabs of rock looked like an underwater ballroom. The reef was full of smaller smallmouth bass and we caught a number of them on tubes including the 17 incher above. Leaving the reef we once again headed for the deep to endlessly pull the lures exactly 150 feet back of the boat. We did land 2 more walleyes then settled down to bobber fish while getting ready to watch the Garrison 4th of July fireworks. What seemed forever waiting for both a bite and the show to start it was decided that we had enough. Back to the landing and on to Hardee's, we called it a night. Certainly the fishing could have been better but the company was as good as it always is.