Lake of the Woods Adventure

Well, I am back from Lake of the Woods (LOTW) reporting that the fishing was great however the catching was somewhat slow this year. Joining me on the trip this year was the LOTW master Mark Mayerich, my brother Steve, Eleva celebrity and friend Kevin Aiona with his son Ben, an Iron Ranger Ryan Sterle, as well my good friends Mark Applen and Bill Lundeen from Lundeen's Tackle Castle. Arriving at Linders Hideaway at 9:00 Wednesday night, we were surprised to see quite a bit of fresh snow. Having chose ATV's as the transportation of choice would limit our excursions to about 2 miles off shore. Thursday started by loading up the ATV's in true convoys. My Polaris 800 was the big boy so I pulled my own house, my brothers, and an 8 foot long sled which held our augers. Kevin's ATV only had rear wheel drive which proved difficult at best. Here's Mark Applen drilling a hole in the ice with his 10" Jiffy. He has a 12 inch extension and is using every bit of it! The ice was at least 42 inches thick. The excitement of fishing LOTW is in the aggressive way the fish hit the lures as well one never knows what will show up on the end of your line. Walleyes, saugers, perch, northern pike, eelpout, and tullibees are on the prowl this time of year. The first day's numbers were good with a couple of 17 inch walleyes and nice saugers caught. We were fishing in 31 feet of water during the day and a couple of us headed for a near shore reef for the evening bite were I ended up with a very nice 19 1/4" walleye. Brother Steve reported that his fish finder transducer keep moving in the hole which was very unusual. Looking down into the hole he saw a northern nudging his transducer as though it was going to eat it! He tried to entice it in striking his lure but no avail. Apparently northerns are known for cruising the very bottom of the ice in search of bait fish that hang in the upper water column.

The second day proved to be about the same as the first. The weather would be a repeat of the first day with the sky being overcast and a light snow fall occurring off and on. One of my goals was to catch a fish on a chubby darter, a swim bait that is supposed to work well. Here Mark has a dandy walleye hooked one one of those chubbies! I never was successful. Friday's catch proved good enough to have a fish fry for the Catholics in the crowd. Kevin did the honors and we had a fabulous meal of walleyes.

Saturday was the best day regarding weather however it was significantly worse on the catching front. Every day after lunch I would head another mile out into the lake and fish 33 foot depth. In years past it was a great place to catch some larger saugers and a few tullibee. This time my brother Steve decided to go with me. It was not long until he got into a mess of trophy walleye. Here he is holding on of those trophies he had caught just a few minutes after arriving. In the meantime I had hit the mother lode of tullibees. Being a member of the whitefish family and often known as cisco's, they are excellent smoked or pickled. I decided to keep a number of them and make a batch for our Leech Lake trip. As you see I am sitting next to a pile of nice fish. The sun was out making it nice and comfortable, even with the sleeves rolled up. Notice my ATV only has one chain on the back. Kevin was having such a tough time getting around in 2 wheel drive I gave him one of my tire chains. It worked great as soon as he figured out how to stop going in circles! I kept about 8 of these beautiful silvery fish and we headed back to the group. We nailed a few more before calling it a trip.

While cleaning the tullibee's they had the usual yellow looking cysts embedded in the flesh. They certainly don't look the greatest but I figured I could cut around enough of the fillets to secure a good batch for pickling. Ending up with about 5 pounds of cut fillets clean of these parasites I throw them in the freezer and decided to search the Internet as to the origins of those disgusting grub like entities. What if found was very interesting. We often catch tullibees on Mille Lacs Lake however they are very clean. In LOTW and many other Canadian lakes, the tullibees are infected with tape worms that only reproduce in the intestines of Northern Pike. The adult tapeworm is attached to the intestine and produces eggs which are released through it's vent. These eggs hatch quickly and find a host such as a snail or other small invertebrate. In turn these are ate by tullibees. The tapeworm larva can only last in it's stomach of the tullibee for a few hours and must bore through it's stomach wall, embedding itself into the flesh of the fish. The form rather large golden like cysts in the meat and wait for a northern to make a meal of it's host. Tullibee is an desired preyfish for northerns. Once ate by the pike the cysts are released and the worm will attach itself to the intestine, feeding on what the northern ate and passing eggs. Apparently during the norther spawning time it's hormones change causing the tapeworm to lose it's grip and is expelled out of the northern and dies. The various articles claim that they are harmless and one is in no danger if humans eat them. They suggest that most people remove them as they are disgusting however I had finished cleaning and sorting pieces prior to reading this. Pickled tullibee is about a close to herring as it gets and I am looking forward to finishing the batch. We have already made our reservations for next year going a week later to aim for a little better weather.

Off to Lake of the Woods!

Today we take off to Lake of the Woods for a three day ice fishing marathon. Reports are indicating a very hot bite in the Morris Point area as the walleyes stage their spawning run up the Rainy River. Reports of 42"+ ice thickness still exist. We have a full house of fabulous anglers and we hope to repeat the excellent fishing we had in 2007 shown here with Kevin and myself with a couple of dandy walleyes. (See Bill, we do catch big fish!) Hopefully I will have a report from the lake, depending on the quality of my cell phone signal.

Paper Graph Records From a Day on Mille Lacs

Back in the late 1980's early 1990's the state of the art fish finders were the Lowrance X15 and X16 paper graph recorders. Today they have been replaced by sophisticated LCD, high definition, color depth finders that come pretty close to matching the resolution of this older technology however these machines were superior in the ability to accurately tell the user what was below his boat. The graphs were an electro-mechanical marvel that included a gear driven device for pulling the thermal paper across a belt driven stylus. The stylus was a small wire that contacted the paper on one side of the belt and a metal strip on the other. The circuitry would "electrify" the stylus at varying degrees causing the wire that was traveling across thermal paper to burn an image on the paper. The paper usually came in a pack of 2 for $8.00, was 50 feet long, and you could get about a full day and a half if you set the paper speed to a reasonable level. The image was a very high resolution representation of the water column below the boat. It also provided a permanent record of your fishing adventure.


Going through my office this week produced a couple of my old graph recordings of a trip we took on Mille Lacs Lake on July 4th, 1993. This holiday was traditional with Tom Emmons and Tom McAtee (see my post http://davidjanderson.blogspot.com/2008/07/traditions-and-toms-on-4th.html) fishing out in my brand new Skeeter 135T. This boat was a 17'3" fishing machine. Along with a 75Hp tiller, it was definitely the premier walleye boat on the lake. As with all new boats it took a while to get use to the specific handling characteristics of the Skeeter. One thing I soon found out was putting both trolling motor batteries in the front compartment really made the front end heavy. My first time out experienced a number of front end wave altercations in which I lost. Moving the batteries to the back made all the difference in the world. The day started out perfect with the water having a mirror like manner to it. We headed out to the flats and nailed a number of fish until the bite slowed. This first stretch of paper was recorded just off a flat in 36 feet of water. The left side is showing my jig falling to the bottom and being lifted up and down. We were marking fish and decided to drop the jig to see if they could be enticed to bite. As my jig is bouncing one can see the fish coming up to investigate it 4 feet off the bottom. My best guess is that they were tullibees (cisco's) hanging in the deep water. They are notorious for following baits, especially in the winter.

The second paper recording is what happened later that day. Our smooth water abruptly disappear with a north wind quickly turning the lake into a churning, angry, frothing mess. When the wind is blowing this hard and 3 guys in the boat, we decided to drift across the top of the flat. We were on 7 Mile and although continued to mark fish, the conditions were almost impossible. Looking at this paper you see that the bottom representation is quite jagged. The view is actually the result of the transducer mounted to the boat moving up and down the wave crests and troughs. What is significant about this recording was one wave encountered that measures 19.5 feet at the trough and 24.5 feet at the height of the crest. This is a true 5 foot wave, probably the largest I have seen on Mille Lacs. Note the arc just to the left of the circle, this is a fish taking on the same shape as the bottom. We decided enough was enough and we started our 5 mile trek back to the landing. Going with the waves can prove to be extremely dangerous. I remember carefully maneuvering the boat only to look back during one of those "heading up the next wave" and staring at a wall of water quite higher than my eye level waiting for a slight mistake. Recovering from the near disaster I stopped the boat and donned my life jacket. Mr. Emmons to this day reminds me of the time I finally found religion on the lake. It was quite an adventure and to my surprised the whole day was recorded forever. Memories come in many forms!

Sunday Morning TV

Ice conditions have deteriorated rapidly on area lakes during the last week. This is that goofy time of the year and a good time to get caught up on the home projects. My washing machine has been going out for a while so I decided to get one of those new super efficient front load machines. They are quite an incredible machine as it will spin the clothes first to determine the load size, use about 1/3 the amount of water of a traditional top load machine, and spin them dang near till they are dry. The event prompted me to finish off my laundry room as the new appliances allowed me to build a counter above the machines as a great work area. We decided to tile the counter top but was warned that I would need to seal it good if I were to clean fish on it. I finished sealing the grout tonight! Certainly laying the tile, grouting, reconfiguring the plumbing, and finishing the ceiling took up the entire weekend. It is nice to see the fruits of your labor. On April 1st I am heading to Lake of the Woods for our annual ice fishing trip so next weekend will see me getting my gear in order as well, I need to prune my apple and pear trees in my small orchard.

Working hard on Saturday, I slept in on Sunday. Spring is a great time for fishing programs and Sunday morning, Babe Winkleman's Good Fishin' caught my eye. He was in Homer Alaska, a place that brings back many great memories. My dad turned 70 in 2000 and with the exception of his time in the Air Force, he had not left the comforts of home. My brother Steve and I decided to take him to Alaska for his birthday. Our first destination was Homer during the last week of June. Although my dad had the time of his life and it was great to spend the time with him, our fishing timing was way off for salmon. The early king and red runs were done and it was about a week away from the second runs coming in. Researching the timing, we decided to return in 2002 and fish in August to catch the pink and silver run, as well taking advantage of halibut in Homer. With Dad we stayed at the Wild Rose cabins and the view was so spectacular we just had to return. The picture is overlooking the bay with the glaciers on the other side. Babe was fishing with a number of guys from the Miller Brewing Company on a larger ship. We fished with Thompson Halibut Charters, limited to 6 people per boat. On this trip we would spend 3 days in Homer allowing a day for weather if needed. Our group included (left to right) my Cousin Greg, a biker couple, Gregs friend Bob, my brother, and myself. Fishing halibut in Homer means a good 2 hour boat ride to the prime spots. The boat ride was a great time to take in the sites and wildlife of the area. We saw quite a few sea otters miles out in the bay as well as whales, puffins, and porpoises. This picture is our catch for the day, 8 halibut and a flounder. This was not very good however we did have a couple of nice fish. It was pretty rough on the ocean which limited out success. I am on the right holding the big one we caught. If you noticed, the biker guy is not wearing a hat because I knocked it off his head putting the rods away. Needless to say he wasn't very happy! We decided to take the flounder back to the cabin and cook it for supper. I am sure the captain knew what the result would be but kept his moth shut. They have a special enzyme that turns the flesh to the consistancy of oatmeal once it's cooked. Lesson's learned.

Of course when in Homer, one needs to stop at the local watering hole, The Salty Dawg Saloon. This is a landmark complete with a sawdust floor, large rough sawn tables, and enough money, bra's and panties hanging from the ceiling to keep a guy busy for a long time! Of course we added our buck to the collection. Although we have not been to Homer in the last 4 years, watching Babe's show brought back all those fantastic sights and experiences we have enjoyed over the years.

Return to Wapagasat

Almost 6 months to the day I kept a promise to ice fish Wapagasat Lake with my wife's Uncle Andrew. This lake is near Amery Wisconsin and is a great central place to meet for a day of fishing. Along with Andrew ( in the middle) was his brother Bernie (on the right) as well as his son, and frequent fishing partner of mine, Jason (of course the only one remaining!). Bernie still runs the family farm south of Eleva, just north of Elk Creek and is a designated Century Farm celebrating over 100 years in the Rombalski family. Andrew lives in Eau Claire and Jason is here in the Twin Cities. I love these guys as they have always treated me as part of the family. Bernie's farm is over the hill from my Grandpa Roy's childhood farm. Great Grandma Anderson was well know by Bernie's parents, Ignatz and Julia Rombalski and had learned that they were very good friends and neighbors. I remember going to Great Grandma's when I was young and the highlight was the fact they had no running water other than a hand pump in the kitchen. When pumped, it gave up the best tasting water I have ever remembered. The water would run into a basin and scooped out with a metal "dipper" and served just like that. Of course this is the origin of the Big Dipper in the night sky as it looks exactly like one of those water dippers. Little did I know that 15 years later friends would be right over the hill.

Being from Eleva, of course I am Norwegian. Rombalski is truly an Independence name and is quite well respected in the area. There is always a little rivalry between the towns and neither of us mince words. My favorite joke to them is...........Why do they have ski at the end of their names........because they can't spell toboggan! Of course there are a lot of things they can do which are pretty amazing and make this Norske look pretty stupid! One of them was to out fish me by a long shot. I had the camera down and the amount of fish that swam by were incredible. Huge sunfish, schools of 5 - 7 crappie, bass, northerns, white bass, they would all swim up to my lure, give it a nudge and swim away as though my waxie was made of gasoline. The day belong to Andy and his son Jason. Bernie and I basically engaged in a hole to hole marathon searching unsuccessfully for a few stupid ones. Here Andy has a nice 9.25 inch blue gill which is a dandy fish in anyone's book. With a mess of nice crappies and a few sunfish, at least the Rombalski boy's didn't go home empty handed. Of course their short detour at Turtle Lake Casino prior to meeting us provided a great start as the guys won enough to buy us burgers once off the ice. We finished the day at the Home Base Bar on the north side of the lake and had the best 14 oz cheese burger I have had in years. Washed down with a Leinies, it just doesn't get any better than this!

I mentioned last week that the Northwest Sport show was at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This is a grand event and the 2009 show was no different as I made the pilgrimage on Thursday night and again Sunday afternoon. The first stop was to see my friends Ken and Judy Marlow, owners of Marlow's on the Kenai. We have stayed with them a number of times and have become good friends. As usual, Judy rewarded my visit with a jar of their fabulous canned smoked salmon. Before we stayed with them in August I had been to China and picked up Judy a nice string of pearls. She was wearing a blue sweatshirt and when I place them around her neck, she turned into what we now call her the Queen of the Kenai! They have a wonderful place right on the Kenai River away from the congestion of Soldotna. Their son Neil handles the guiding and along with a beautiful boat in Seward, he guides on the Kenai as well. In 2006 we had scheduled 2 ocean trips with him. We went out the first day and it was very rough and the fishing was difficult at best. The second day Neil informed us that we would not risk going out for the second day. It was in mid August and for some reason the sockeye run on the Kenai was late and huge. Neil was heading back to the Kenai so we asked if he would be interested in showing us some red (sockeye) salmon fishing. He agreed and along with my brother Steve and his son Kevin, we drove the 90 miles to the cabins. My uncle Jerry and his son Mark had decided to stop at the Russian River to try there luck from shore, which in retro spec was a big mistake as they saw it rain all day while you see we had nothing but blue skies and an unbelievable catch. We boarded Neil's boat and headed downriver to a shallow gravel bar area where we could tie up the boat and fish from shore. It was an interesting shoreline with a huge path worn where the bears had walked up an down this portion of the river. Red fishing is simple but requires one to acquire the knack. With a plain hook, a 3/4 ounce sinker, and a 6 foot leader below the sinker one would simply fish the 15 feet of water near the shore, casting a short line 45 degrees above you and allowing the line to drift until it literally gets passed through the mouth of the hundreds of fish swimming up river next to shore. When the drifting line suddenly changed its feel, set the hook! These fish were caught within 90 minutes and I would venture to guess we released at least 3 for every one we kept. It was one of the most memorable times of many that I spent in Alaska. Marlow's is a great place and if you have time check out their website http://www.marlowsonthekenai.com/.

A Busy Week

Two weeks ago I dropped off my ice house, depth finder, and camera off at my friend Bill Lundeen's bait shop. Bill had a rather large group for last Thursday and needed some additional equipment which I was more than happy to provide. I have always respected Bill's business and have come to respect how difficult it can be to run a bait shop. On Saturday I decided to retrieve my equipment with a possible outing on Isle Bay for some Mille Lacs crappies. After discussing this with Bill, I decided that I would have better luck heading south, back to Pelican Lake where I have been doing pretty well. Earlier I had talked with my neighbor Tom and asked if he wanted to join me if I went to Pelican and I would call him on the road if it happened. We connected meeting in Albertville at 5:45. Arriving at the lake at 6:00, we headed for the same spot that has produced in the past. Immediately the fish were on a feeding frenzy with a quick five nice crappies on the ice. I had brought minnows, waxies, and a small box of freshwater shrimp. Trying the shrimp first the crappies just hammered them. They are somewhat fragile and lasted about 6 fish. Tom was working the minnows, I switched to waxies and we ended up with 11 respectable crappies and 3 nice sunfish before the bite tapered off. I suspect that an hour earlier arrival would have sent us home with a limit each. One of the real joys of fishing this time of day is the beautiful sunsets that show themselves.

Monday saw me getting up at 4:00 heading to Appleton WI for a business meeting. Dwight, our manufactures representative decided to ride along, giving us a good opportunity to discuss business strategies. Once done with our meeting it was time to head north 25 miles and make the pilgrimage to the most sacred site in Wisconsin..............Lambeau Field in Green Bay. There is a definite aura surrounding this magnificent stadium and if you have never been there, I suggest you take the time to visit. Our destination was the Packer Pro Shop. Here it is 4:00 on a Monday afternoon in March and there must have been 50 cars parked in the visitors area. You can get things at the Pro Shop that are simply not available elsewhere. My prize was a new Packer flag for the flagpole at home. The neighbors will love it! I had Dwight take a picture of me standing next to Vince Lombardi's statue. Along with Vince is a similarly sized statue of Curly Lambeau. What a pair! Certainly there are few stadiums in the world that can compare.

The last thing I have for this week is to let everyone know that the Northwest Sports Show is starting this Thursday at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I could spend days at the show looking at all the new items, talking to the reps, dreaming of far away places to visit. This years show only runs 4 days because of Convention Center scheduling. Years ago this show ran 9 days through 2 weekends giving plenty of time to go back for a number of visits. This year I will be there on Thursday and possibly one of the weekend days. If you go please stop by Marlow's On The Kenai and say hi to Ken and Judy. They are sure to have pictures of my brother Steve, Cousin Greg, or myself holding trophy catches while fishing with them. They are also listed on the Alaskan Links section on the left. They are two of the nicest people in Alaska. I hope to see you there!

Blast From the Past.

This weekend found me blessed with the the worse cold I have had since my bout with pneumonia a couple of years ago. Confined to the couch for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday, I was resigned to watch fishing shows from morning thru early afternoon. One of the shows featured Midwest Outdoor's filmed at Wollaston Lake Lodge targeting those big pike. Although staged for constant action, these shows are often filmed over a few days as sometimes it can be really tough to get the "bite" just perfect. It reminded me how well my friend Kevin and I enjoyed fishing the spring northern pike that would give any fishing show a run for it's money!

Kevin and I would spend almost every weekend in Alma from about April 15th to around May 5th fishing post spawn northern pike. We would take a few weeks off for trout fishing opener before heading back to the river to continue our pursuits. Since the time we got our drivers license it was the thing we did. Kevin would often get to drive Milo Whipple's 57 Chevy until I had bought my own for $75. Our destination was always Wilbur's, a resort half way between Alma and Nelson. Wilbur rented 14 foot aluminum rowboats for around $3.00 a day, a buck and a half a piece was a lot cheaper than going to the movies. Having no outboard motors, we would take turns rowing up and down the shoreline casting daredevils, hammered spoons, Johnson Silver Minnows, and the occasional Bass Oreno. Although we were young, the rowing limited us to about 1/2 mile either side of the shoreline by Wilbur's. This time of year the river was high from the spring runoff and the northerns had finished spawning in the shallow marshy areas of the backwaters. These fish really had the feedbag on and more often than not we would return with a couple nice limits of northerns, including a number of large fish well over 12 pounds as I am holding in the picture on the right. Our catch and release ethics had not been developed yet!

Once we hit the ripe old age of 20, our resourcefulness increased exponentially. I had acquired a Martin 7.5 hp outboard, probably a 1950 model, complete with 360 degree turning capability. My boss had given me it completely tore apart and my dear Uncle Lee could not resist putting it back together. This piece of machinery completely changed Kevin and my approach to fishing the backwaters expanding our range and skill level. Our focus was totally on bass and northerns with little attention paid to walleyes, which would come later in life. The first picture is Kevin (on the right) and myself taken in about 1977. The style of the day were high front mesh hats and Army field jackets. Along with my Martin on the left and 2 limits of northern pike, it's a fantastic reminder of those wonderful times on the river with Kevin. Although I own a boat that back then would have been only a pipe dream, nothing can compare to those experiences of 35 years ago.

The Lighter Side of Ice Fishing

Although many people view ice fishing as a rather dull sport, in Minnesota we see things alittle bit different. Among many smaller local and very large regional ice fishing contests is the International Eelpout Festival in Walker Minnesota(http://www.eelpoutfestival.com/). It is quite a unique event which celebrates our winter traditions as well the lowly eelpout. Also know as a burbot or lawyer, the eelpout is actually a freshwater member of the cod family. Minnesota is on the southern edge of their range and Leech Lake is a perfect place for them to thrive. These fish love the cold water and are extremely active in the winter, spawning in February under the ice. Mille Lacs contains eelpout as well and are only caught during the ice fishing period. They are far from the most handsome fish in the lake and tend to curl around your arm when you pull them out of the hole. Being a member of the cod family they are excellent table fare however it takes a bit to clean one as they have a rather unique smell to them. They have a liver that takes up about 1/3 their body weight and the only really good meat is along the back above the ribs. Boiled up and served with melted butter they are known as "poor man's lobster". The Eelpout Festival can get pretty crazy. Here's a couple of guys "bobbing for eelpout". There are a couple of these slimy fish in the container and the guys take turns trying to catch them with their teeth. There are many interesting activities and events, all that involve beer at some point. From scantily clad humans jumping into a hole cut through the ice to eelpout races, this event attracts people from around the world.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders may have a lock as America's sweethearts however here in Minnesota we have the Ice Fishing Bikini Team. I am not sure where they found these brave ladies however they have been making ice fishing much more interesting these days. Originally designed for a St. Paul Winter Carnival event in 2007 by Exoctica Swim Wear, a number of ice fishing manufactures such as Strike Master Ice Augers and Wilcraft Motorized Ice Shelters have taken the opportunity to associate with the team.

If your computer has sound, undoubtedly you have heard the music that plays while you cruise my posts. These are linked to http://www.playlist.com/ which one sets up your own playlist of songs available on their site. My playlist is based on a search of fishing songs as well as the final song being a tribute to my cousin Greg's appreciation for those great old country ballads. A couple of weeks ago I searched to see if there was any new music and I found a fabulous rap song done by the great group, Da Yoopers(http://www.dayoopers.com/). Just go to the left side of my blog and scroll down to the section titled Music To Read By. There is a list of songs and just click on the second song titled Ice Fish Baby. I am sure you will find it unique, entertaining, and very well done.

I did go fishing this weekend. Thinking Mille Lacs would be a great place to enjoy the last day of inland walleye fishing, Bill suggested the bite was slow and one might want to entertain Plan B. Russ and I headed to a friends lake north of Mille Lacs and fished the evening bite picking up 2 walleyes each. Although not huge, they were keepers and Russ enjoyed a nice meal of walleye fillets. Certainly the Bikini Ice Fishing Team provides a better picture than me! Panfish are still fair game and I will be spending the next month trying my luck. April 1st is our annual Lake of the Woods trip that I am really looking forward to.

Posting From Washington DC

Greetings from Washington DC. I am here at the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) which is held every year near the end of February. It is an important trade show where we get a chance to show our products to a world wide customer gathering. It is also a time to renew old friendships such as Olaf Niemann of Kaschke Components located in Germany. Olaf and I have much in common such as we both like beer. We talked about current events in Germany and why he has a Scandinavian first name!

Saturday I finally made my rounds in Wisconsin to see all the relatives and my dad. It was a good time but I got back somewhat late. Sunday I decided to go out for a few hours, back to Pelican Lake to try for some more crappies. On the way I called my friend Russ to let him know where I would be in case he decided to join me. Stopping for bait I was out on the ice by 3:00. I had not even finished setting up when Russ pulled up. I had drilled a number of holes and stuck the camera down looking for weeds. After locating some potential fish holding areas I set my shack over the best looking spot. As last week the crappies did not show there presence until about 5:30. They seemed to go in streaks with a couple of fish showing up at a time with about a 10 minute delay between catching. Although temped to stay, I knew I had to finish packing as my flight departure meant that I had to get up at 3:00 AM to arrive on time. Although Russ only nailed one, I got a total of 5 and I am sure that staying another hour would have rewarded me with a limit of fish. I am going to have to get Russ one of my spring bobber poles to change his success rate. My pictures include one of Russ in his Eskimo Ice house. Russ has come a long way in the last couple of years towards being an excellent fishermen and I really enjoy teaching him new techniques and strategies. The other picture is sunset on Pelican. The rain of a few weeks ago has totally cleared the ice of snow and provides a stunning reflection of the sun going down. Walleye season closes next Sunday for all inland waters so I am planning on hitting Mille Lacs one last time for these elusive fish.

Sticking Close to Home

Mille Lacs reports have been less than stellar so I figured if I was going out this week, it would be close to home again. My original plans were to spend the weekend in Wisconsin, first checking on my brother-in-law John and his wife Sue, then head to Eleva to see my dad for a few hours. My dad celebrated his 79th birthday last Monday and I usually try to get down to see him during this first week in February as mine was on Wednesday. Neither him or I get too excited about these birthday's............I guess as we get older there are better things to celebrate! I have discussed Eleva in the past as it's truly small town America. Every morning Dad drives downtown (4 blocks) to the Full House Bar and Grill, owned by his neighbor Kim. There he along with some of the best people in the world sit down and solve the world's problems over coffee and cookies. My dad is well known in the area as being pretty tight. One can be certain there is plenty of good natured discussions poking fun at each others unique political stance or values and my dad's friends like to make sure I know their progress. Eleva is full of men that have provided me with a wealth of influence that kids today rarely experience. Guys like my old boss, Vic Wenass, who's patience and kindness set me up for the life I enjoy today. Ronnie Semingson who poured concrete on my new boots to make sure I didn't get too proud of them. Dunk Semingson, who's son Rick is a wonderful friend of mine, provides me with a reason to keep my dad's "mojo" going. These guys have a great tradition that provides for an interesting birthday celebration. You see, on your birthday it is your responsibility to treat everyone at the bar. Last Monday it was expected that Dad show up with money for coffee and a birthday cake to share with whom ever was there. It cost him about $40 and you can be assured that if Dinny (my dad's nickname) was buying there was a big crowd to watch him part with his money. This tradition assures that no birthday will be forgot as it is the only way to possibly get your money back.

Deciding not to drive down this weekend, Jason called me with a question regarding some fishing issue. Asking what he was doing later, we decided to head out to Pelican Lake, west of Albertville, MN. I had fished this lake earlier this year only to see the dead bullheads scattered on the ice, however this lake puts out some nice sunfish and crappies. Meeting my friend Russ again, it was almost a repeat of last weeks outing. Pelican Lake was once a large swamp and had been designated as a wildlife lake by the DNR. Over the last 8 years the water level has risen by 3 - 4 feet which has significantly increased the size of the lake. Along with this high water came the sunfish, crappies, bass, and northerns. Unfortunately the DNR wants to restore this great fishery back to a duck swamp. The lake is very fertile and the fish are more than respectable. It is also extremely popular. I would bet that on Saturday there were no less than 2000 cars scattered in clumps of little cities around the lake. It was pretty incredible. Never a guy to follow the crowds, we found an area about 1/4 mile away from the nearest cluster of houses. Like most of the lake it was about 11 feet deep where we set up. I try to scatter the guys, trying to look for active fish from someones hole. Lately I have been using my camera and when I lowered it there was a big bullhead about 4 inches from the camera lens. It stayed for a couple of minutes before lumbering off into the weeds. None of us caught any fish while the sun was out and the only thing I saw besides the bullhead was a crappie cruising by. As soon as the sun disappeared over the horizon a decent mark showed up on the vexilar. Dropping my waxie, I waited for a hit only to see the spring bobber slightly move. Setting the hook rewarded me with a nice 10" crappie. I told Jason to come on over and fish in my shack as it was warmer and the marks were still visible on the depth finder. After missing 2 more fish, I finally nailed a couple more crappies before Jason nailed this nice 8.5" sunnie. I found it interesting that he caught the sunfish when it was completely dark as these fish usually shut down with the sun. We agreed that it was possible to stay a little longer and picked up a few more but figured a stop at Cabela's on the way home might be nice. One interesting thing about the bite was the crappies simply inhaled the bait and didn't move. It took a lot of concentration to see what was happening below in order to be successful. Too many people fish with bobbers and do not possess the fine art of line watching. A bobber is too stationary and will never detect the subtle inhaling of a crappie that a person working the bait will. I particularly like the Schooley's type spring bobber as it is super sensitive and helps in detecting the slightest hit. Next time your out crappie fishing throw away your bobbin and try line watching. You might be surprised how much your success will improve!

PS. For Greg K, it's not always about me as I make one heck of a guide!

January Thaw

Well, it had to happen. Saturday's predicted temperatures were to hit 36 and as always, the weatherman was wrong. We topped off at a whopping 46 degrees. I decided to head back to Buffalo to see if the crappies and sunnies would cooperate with the nice weather. This time I met Russ and his dad Ed for an afternoon of what turned out to be a beautiful day. I had also unexpectedly met Jason (from the last walleye post) and his wife Abby at a get together the night before and had arranged them to meet me on the ice as well. We scattered the houses in hopes to find some active fish but as usual lately, the fish thought differently. Usually a nice bright sunny day will bring out the best in sunnies with a potential for a fabulous evening bite. With Mille Lacs being slow it looks like I will need to find another lake try my luck.

Sunday was the traditional Superbowl Party at the Men's Crisis Center, my neighbor Tim's place. He has a fabulous detached garage which is heated and has enough room for a large projection TV on a screen at least 7' x 5'. Tim usually provides a number of smoked pork butts as well the beer while the rest of us bring pot luck. While Tim is providing the essentials, another neighbor Kevin Rimbey provides the reason to keep track of the score, if you get the drift. Kevin and his boys love to fish, especially Chris. Last year we had gone to the same lake as I was at on Saturday, and I invited Chris fish with me in my shack. My Wisconsin upbringing has given me some additional tricks up my sleeve and what better opportunity to pass them on to a young icefisherman. Using my spring bobber rod and a vexilar we caught a number of fish to the point where Chris did considerably better than his dad, who was in the wheel shack next to us. Kevin sent me a picture of Chris holding this nice 26" walleye he caught a few weeks on a buckshot lure. I got the picture, I got the lure, but do you think that he would add which lake he was fishing? I guess Chris and I need to have a little discussion later this week!

Prior to the game my wife Lyn and I decided to drive to Monticello to see if we could find the Trumpeter Swans that hang around the open river. According to the recent news reports over 1000 swans spend the winter on the river. Taking the backroads along the river we spotted a number of swans but private property limited our view. Not knowing where to view the swans we headed to Montissippi Park, on the west side of the city to see if they were there. Stopping to ask a resident, he only stated the swans were on the other side of the city, where we just came from. After wondering around, we finally went down a dead end road and voila', the swan viewing area was right there. Walking to the rivers edge the noise was deafening. These swans get their names from the trumpet like sounds they make, and make they do! There was at least 500 swans in this area with flocks of 2 to 6 birds landing constantly as they return for feeding treks into the countryside. To get an idea of how large these birds are, just compare them to the large Canadian Geese standing next to them. They are the largest North American waterfowl with the males weighing up to 35 pounds, have a wingspan of over 7 feet and can stand 4 feet tall. Next to the viewing area is the Swan Lady. She feeds the swans up to 1200 lbs of corn a day. It's quite the set up with a gravity box full of corn sitting in the driveway feeding an auger system which takes the corn to the rivers edge. These swans have come to rely on this food source, however the MN Department of Natural Resources is trying to encourage the swans to fly further south in a more normal migration pattern. It's an odd dilemia with these manificant birds coming back from near extinction and yet the very concentration of them has the DNR worried about a potential disease that could wipe the entire flock. If you have time it is well worth the trip to Monticello and view these beautiful birds.

Good Bye Jerry

Today we said goodbye to a fellow fisherman, Jerry McDonough. Jerry was the next door neighbor of a dear friend of mine, Mark Applen. Mark organizes a charity golf tournament every year in honor of his son Eric Applen, and uses the proceeds to assist families with children stricken with cancer. (http://www.eric-nicolin-applen-fund.com/history.html) One of the great rewards of working with the Applens are the new friends that you meet and Jerry was definitely one of them. Besides being a great fisherman he was a master at the art of carpentry and wood working. He had used those talents to help raise thousands of dollars in memory of Eric. On Sunday night I went to say goodbye to Jerry never knowing quite how I would feel. The moment my eyes saw on him I knew everything was going to be OK. Jerry was wearing his Columbia fishing short sleeve shirt with a number of Rapala's hung in his flowers. I guess everyone has their own definition of Heaven and Jerry was certainly well prepared for his. We will miss him and his kindness, even if he outfished me on Mille Lacs! Jerry, make sure to save a spot in the boat for me.

A Repeat???

After our success of last week on Mille Lacs, I just had to head back to the same spot to try my luck again. I had planned on meeting a few friends on the lake but after arriving it became obvious my adventure would be solo. My first task was to stop at Lundeen's and hitch my ice house to the snowmobile. Trying to start the snowmobile, I immediately pulled the choke lever off. After getting a rivet from Bill, I had it working as good as new. The 7 mile journey took a while as the blowing snow made it difficult to determine what was in front of you. Finding the exact spot I drilled 3 holes inside the shack and 4 outside. Setting up my rattle reel in one hole, my jig pole in another, the third hole was reserved for my camera. This would be the first time I used the camera for fishing walleyes. It was fascinating. About every 15 to 20 minutes a walleye would casually swim to within 6 inches of the lure, stare for about 3 seconds, then swim away as it was no big deal. Through out the day I saw a number of lunker walleyes that were simply not interested. I tried taking a picture but by the time I got ready the fish was gone. Eventually the sun was too low in the sky to provide enough light to see much of anything. Pulling up the camera my Vexilar became my underwater eyes. The low light triggered a couple of fish including one 15 inch keeper before total darkness set in. I headed back to Bill's with 2 caught for the day. After loading my gear I enjoyed a hot bowl of Bill's homemade onion soup complete with bread and melted cheese. Although not as successful as last weeks outing, it is still nice to get out.

This week was the doposit deadline for our
annual Leech Lake Fishing Opener, May 9th, 2009. We have a pretty good crew this year (assuming everyone remembers to send in their deposit). Last year was simply fabulous with both the number as well as the size at record highs. The guy holding this beautiful 27.5 inch winner of last years Big Fish Trophy is Matt Taylor, the son of my good friend Mark Taylor (see my Captain Dave's post). He has been going with our group, Team Walleye, since he was 10 years old and is now a seasoned veteran. This is the largest fish ever caught by our group in 35 years of fishing Leech Lake. I guess we have come to expect big things from Matt. He has grown up to be quite a stud. For his age, he had got things pretty figured out as evidence by the beautiful black Lincoln Mark VII he drives. His friends love hanging around with him as where ever Matt is, there are attractive women hanging around him! Apparently he even dated a Viking's Cheerleader but dumped her feeling he was being played on the rebound. Certainly Matt has set the bar very high for Team Walleye. It's a tough combination to compete with, good looking and a good fisherman. Uffda!!

A Day On The Pond

Every year my friend Tom Emmons (on left) rents an ice house on Mille Lacs for a day and this year was no different. After checking a few references, he decided renting from Wilderness Warm on the southwest side of the lake. Joining us is my other friend Tom McAtee (on right) and a late entry, Jason, my wife's cousin. The Tom's picked me up at the house at 6:30 on Saturday morning and we headed north. Although the trip has become a tradition, I still can't sit inside a house all day and as usual made secondary arrangements. We arrived at Bill's (Lundeen's Tackle Castle) around 8:00 to pick up bait and for me, his snowmobile. My agenda was to meet Tom at the rental house, fish until Jason shows up, then head out to a remote location and fish till dark. It was -15 when we arrived at the shop and I was glad I brought my snowmobile gear. Taking off with the snowmobile I figured I would easily get to the road before them, however they arrive well before me and it took at least 15 extra minutes to locate them on the lake.

The rental house was very nice. It was an 8 holer with a bunk bed on each end, a great furnace, lights, kitchen table with chairs, and a cook stove. They were already fishing by the time I arrived so I quickly set up. My vexilar was alive with marks so I decided to put down my camera to see what was there. PERCH!!! Hundreds of them. I put it down the hole by Tom and he took over as the director. We could see each bait from that point and it was pretty amazing to watch all the fish.

Jason finally arrived around 12:30 which was my cue to leave for more active waters. We hitched up the portable to the 2 up sled and headed out. I have a handheld GPS that has a 1 foot contour map of Mille Lacs as the base map and I punched in our destination, 4 miles to the north. 15 minutes later we arrived at the spot only to see about 12 portables scattered around the area. I really didn't feel like adding to the crowd so we headed to a like structure that presented itself on the GPS and there was not a soul around. Drilling 3 holes for the portable and about 6 more scattered outside Jason and I settle in to warm up. It took about 30 seconds to realize we had forgot the minnows so I headed back to our rental for bait. 15 minutes later I was back fishing. The lake has a lot of snow on it forcing about 2 inches of water on top of the ice around the holes. This made for limited maneuverability within the house. The walleyes started hitting immediately with my first keeper getting off testing Jason's reaction time, not quick enough! In the next 3 hours we had constant action with at least 30 fish hooked including this beautiful 27 inch walleye that Jason nailed in one of the outside holes. Jason had outfished me 2:1, using a bait Bill had listed on his weekend update during the week. I guess it will teach me to read a little more carefully. Although we only ended up with 2 keepers, we had many nice fish up to the hole which got off as well as at least 20 fish under 12" which we threw back. At 5:00 the action abruptly stopped so we headed back to the rental. As expected the other guys were packed up ready to go, and had as many fish as they did when we left, zero. We put the equipment away, loaded up the truck, took a group picture and I headed out with the snowmobile, meeting the guys at the shop. On the way home we stopped at Chico's to have a beer and supper. The full moon guided us home from one of the best trips I have had on Mille Lacs in a while.

All The Comforts of Home

Well I finally made it ice fishing on Mille Lacs last Friday. My fishing partner was Tom from down the street and I presented a couple of options before we left. One was to take the snowmobiles with us and drag our shacks out to the fishing spots. The other was to simple hitch up the smaller trailer and drive the vehicle out onto the ice to fish. Being at zero degrees, the "drive to our spot" seemed more practical, even with the nervousness Tom expressed about the total ice thickness. Having stopped at the Milaca Hardies for lunch and Lundeens Tackle Castle for bait and a replacement battery for my underwater camera (I suspect this was the reason the camera was so cheap at Cabela's bargain cave), we headed to Dewey's. A number of resorts have closed on the west side limiting the traditional access points, however they have been replaced by private access points operating on the lake by a few innovative local entrepreneurs. After depositing $10.00 in the locked mail box we headed out on a well plowed road, driving about 3.5 miles to the 28 foot depth just off of Indian Point. Meeting Dewey at the end of the road, we introduced ourselves, confirmed our deposit and he was kind enough to plow a parking spot for us. I set Tom up in one of my older portable all black fish house. Although the air was chilly, the sun quickly heated the house and along with a Coleman lantern, it stayed nice and warm. Drilling those first holes confirmed the ice thickness at around 20", more than enough to support my truck. Being one to spread out somewhat, I dragged my Thermal X about 100 feet from him and set it up. My heater is a Big Buddy propane heater that really works nice for this house. Being well insulated, I can get real comfortable inside, as you can see, it is at least 60F inside. This year I made a plywood base for the heater as it would tend to melt a significant amount of ice causing a very slippery situation. I generally drill 2 holes inside the shack, one for my dead stick and one for my jigging rod. My depth finder (Vexilar FL-20) will reside in the jigging hole to watch the action. As stated earlier, fishing without my depth finder is like driving blind and it can make all the difference in the world on your success. Because of the flash some parts of the display is not showing however if you look at the green line at approximately the 8:00 position, this is my bait (It is at about 25 feet) and the thicker green line just below it is a fish checking out my offering (at about 26 feet). The transducer has a white styrofoam float which suspends it in the hole while keeping it pointed straight down. Sometime if you get a large fish, you need to pull the transducer out of the hole to avoid tangles and losing the fish. I also tend to drill about 10 - 15 holes in a 100 feet radius outside of the shack to provide an opportunity to move around, looking for active fish. For a dead stick presentation I bought a rattle reel that clamps on to the interior pole supports. A rattle wheel is a simple large spool with a number of little rattle type bells inside that make noise when a fish takes line and runs with it turning the spool. Normally my dead stick is a standard ice rod but decided it would be better if when outside fishing, I could hear if a walleye decided to take the bait inside the shack. It works pretty good. Although the shack is somewhat heavy, it can be pulled around very easily with my ATV or snowmobile, going anywhere the fish are biting. We concluded the day with 3 so so perch, 3 very small walleyes that went back, and I had a very nice fish on that never showed it's face. (Thanks John!)

One of my favorite blogs is "What's Dewey Doin' ", which is written by a good friend and past customer of mine, Duane (Dewey) Ness. He retired up north and besides doing all those things I look forward to in retirement, he also writes his blog. It was a definite inspiration for "Fishin" With Dave". His latest post was discussing the difficulty in getting his permanent shack off the ice. One issue we have in Minnesota is the amount of snow on the ice tends to force water up causing a lot of slush. Once the slush has been exposed near a house it freezes solid, leaving a huge problem getting the a house unstuck and then moving it. He had quite an adventure eventually getting the house back on shore assuring future struggles would be limited. It reminded me of the days when my friends and I had a permanent house. Minnesota State Law requires the shacks to be removed off of public waters no later than February 28th. We had the house for a couple of years, a simple 8 x 8 (derivatives of standard plywood sizes) built on a modest frame with 2 x 6 skids. The walls and ceiling were bolted together for easy assembly and tear down. We had extreme snow that year and a week before the 28th a warm spell had melted the snow and then refroze causing at least 4" of ice covering our floor. We ran into town and bought 50#'s of water softener salt and spread it across the ice covering the floor. Returning the next day to remove the house we were pleasantly surprised to see all the ice on the top had disappeared. Unfortunately the ice was solidly holding our floor in from the bottom. After 4 hours of chipping it was obvious we were running out of time. A guy came by noticing our plight and offered to take care of our problem in 5 minutes. He had 30-06 rifle and after securing a box of shells he proceeded to shoot the bullets through the floor with the theory the bullets would strike the ice and shatter it. After a box of shells we had a house who's floor was riddled with holes and still as stuck as before. Eventually were able to pry the floor up breaking it into a few hundred pieces. Dewey claims that this would be the last year of the permanent house. It made me think of that last year we had our house, learning our lesson some 25 years ago!

Happy New Year and Other Stuff

Well, we are on the eve of another year, welcoming in 2009. Looking back it has been a good year of fishing. Starting with a successful trip to Lake of the Woods in April, we enjoyed a consistent bite. Our Team Walleye opener on Leech Lake this year turned out to be the best ever with the most fish as well as the biggest fish caught in 35 years. Mille Lacs started strong but the bait fish hatch of what Bill Lundeen terms "Of Biblical Proportions" basically shut down the fishing this summer on the big pond. August saw our trip to Alaska quite eventful with a load of pinks in the Kenai, being hassled by brown bears, and simply enjoying the company of my cousins. Fall fishing was a lot to be desired however my trip with Captain Dave in Jacksonville made up for it. The big crappies showed themselves last week (not so good on Sunday) and I am looking forward to finally challenging those walleyes on Mille Lacs. We still have a lot of hard water fishing left and I plan on taking advantage of it.


One of the nice things about the blog are the responses I get from people. As my header states, I invite you to share your pictures and stories. To my delight, I do get responses from the various readers. The young lady holding the walleye is Laura, the daughter of a good friend of mine John DeLestry. I met John through a mutual friend a number of years ago and we have been fishing friends ever since. He read my post of last week and it inspired him to take the family fishing on a local lake near his home. His daughter caught her very first walleye, a respectable 19.5 incher, through the ice and is proudly posing with it here! I am glad that John is teaching his daughter the ways of the outdoors as it is exciting to see the young people enjoying the challenge. I also see that John has taught her how to properly hold a fish when taking a portrait. The key is to get your hand out of the picture so the viewer does not have a reference point. Fish always look bigger that way (Check out some of my previous pictures!)

This next picture is one of Ken Blasor, a fellow fisherman I met during my meetings in Jacksonville. Ken is a manager for Ferroxcube, a well known supplier of ferrite cores for the transformer industry. Although most of you probably do not have a clue what ferrite is, I can assure you that it is a vital component of our fish finders, GPS units, and most other modern electronics. I have supplied a number of components to the depth finder industry using his parts. Ken joined me for our association dinner and we hit it off right away. I suggested that he check out my blog and when I returned home he had read it, offering his own proof of his own love for the sport. Ken is holding a very nice King Salmon he caught in Sitka, Alaska this year. Having been to Alaska this year we had plenty of things to talk about.

As always, I love seeing your pictures and hearing your stories. It also help fill in those slow weeks when my life seems pretty dull. Happy New Year!

2 Below Zero and Falling

After a busy weekend of making bologna, plowing snow, and attending the annual Bots Christmas Party, I decided to head out late Sunday afternoon to see if the big crappies were biting west of town. The weather was cold and windy, promising to get worse. My insulated Thermal X portable house is great for these situations. The lake is the same spot where I caught the crappies featured on the very first post of this blog. Although I did get a late start, the sunset bite is always the best part of this fishery. After loading the ATV on my trailer and inserting the house in my truck, off I went. Needing bait I had decided that the short detour to Cabela's might take 15 minutes so I kept going knowing the hardware store in St. Micheal sells bait. Arriving at 4:02 I walked up with my minnow bucket and the door was locked. Not wanting to drive back to Cabela's or search for a different bait shop my bait was going to be strictly artificial. In this case it would have to be one in my tackle box called a Purist. I used to fish this ice lure fishing the backwaters of Alma and had forgot about it until Kevin reported his luck a few weeks ago using a Purist. I have yet to see this lure in sport shops around home and ended up finding them at couple of bait shops along the Mississippi River as well as Gander Mountain in Lacrosse.

Arriving at the lake to my surprise people were driving their big trucks onto the ice. A quick check verified the thickness at 15 inches and of course knowing this would save me another 15 minutes I drove out to my spot. Not only did is save time, the truck provided an excellent wind break for my portable. The snow on the ice is a nice bonus as it provides a way to seal the bottom of the house from the wind. Having set up, I started the heater, lit the lantern, and got out my Vexilar sounder. The hardware store being closed should have been an omen as my battery on the sounder was completely dead. Now what??? Ice fishing without my Vexilar is like fishing with blinders on my eyes. My first thought was to leave, however since I was fishing in 12 feet, I could work the jig in the bottom 5 feet of the water and maybe hit a few. I caught 3 right away including the first, a beautiful 12 incher followed up with one at 11.5". Wanting desperately to use my "underwater eyes" I remembered a battery that Tom Emmons had given me Friday afternoon. While in his office I noticed a couple of batteries sitting on his file cabinet marked BAD. Asking what they were he exclaimed that they were good, I tested them, do you want one? Perfect, a spare battery if I needed one and it was still in the truck. Tearing out the dead battery I inserted the "BAD" battery only to find out it was completely dead as well. So much for that. After a dead spell of 1o minutes it dawned on me that I had a battery in my underwater camera and proceeded to tear that apart, extracting it's power source and plugging it into my torn apart sounder. LIGHTS!!!! It's like the blind seeing again. I began catching fish immediately as I could now pinpoint their location and wait them out. At 6:30 the bite ceased but not before I had 9 crappies and a nice sunny. The crappies exceeded my expectations with 7 over 10.5 inches. I even threw back a couple that on other lakes would have definitely gone in the bucket. Despite all the troubles it was satisfying to be able to catch a mess of fish using a tried and true lure that needed no addition of live bait to make it successful. I also credit my spring bobber set up as many of these fish would simply swim up and inhale the lure. Only the slight twitch or the limpness of the line would reveal what was really going on below. I had missed at least 8 fish because of this.

It is Christmas in a couple of days and I hope yours is a joyous one. Hopefully my present will be to spend a day on Mille Lacs chasing those crazy walleyes. Of course I still have the Ol'Crappie hole to fall back on. Merry Christmas!!

Busy Time of Year

This is always a busy time and it has been no exception this year. My brother Steve called me on Friday night telling me that he had shot a nice deer earlier that day and I was welcome to share it with him. My deer hunting luck was far from spectacular so I decided to drive down on Saturday to Onalaska and take him up on his offer. Leaving around noon we stopped at a couple of relatives before making our way to his house. The strategy worked perfect as by the time I arrive he already had the deer cleaned and quartered. My plan is to use the venison to make ring bologna on Friday night and smoke it on Saturday. My brother-in-law has a fabulous recipe and I am looking forward to making about 70 rings this weekend.

On Sunday I decided to go ice fishing on a nearby lake. Putting my portable shack in the truck I stopped by Cabela's for some crappie minnows. I had contemplated going to Mille Lacs however they were in the throngs of a full fledged winter storm warning and it just didn't seem very smart. I left the house at 3:00 with the temperature of 37 degrees and by the time I reached the lake a half hour later the temp had dropped to under 17. There were a number of fisherman scattered around and an interesting amount of frozen bullheads laying on the ice. By the time I got set up it had fallen to 10 degrees and the wind was at least a category 1 hurricane! Driving to the lake I had seen a small flock of Trumpeter Swans heading north towards Monticello. Although interesting, I knew that there was a resident population of this magnificent bird that over wintered in the warm water discharge of the Monticello Nuclear Power plant. What I didn't expect was once on the ice, a constant parade of swans in small flocks of 4 to 10 birds, cruising by for the next 1 1/2 hours. My estimates were close to 150 swans which flew by at a very low altitude and noisily announcing their presence. I did a google search and discovered that as of December 11 there were in excess of 500 swans on the river. It has been reported up to 1300 swans can be in the area during the peak migration time. Not bad for a bird that was believed to be on the brink of extinction just 70 years ago. As luck would have it the only thing I caught was the these beautiful birds flying by. The fish were as uncooperative as I have ever seen on this lake and I could not even add to the bullhead morgue that was pretty well established. I hope to get to Mille Lacs on Sunday as I hear the walleyes have the feedbag on.

The swans made me think of the positive changes in my lifetime. Growing up in Eleva one never saw swans, bald eagles, white pelicans, turkeys, and deer were not that plentiful. Kevin and I would occasionally see an Bald Eagle while fishing on the Mississippi River and would be in total awe of the rare sight we had witnessed. Today bald eagles are quite common and hardly garner a response. I understand there have been recent visits by pelicans in the Eleva Mill Pond. When I was a kid I probably would not even have recognized what a pelican was. I had heard that my brother Blake who lives just a mile north of town had a bear hibernating in a culvert last year. I don't know what I would have done if we would have seen a bear in the woods when I was 12! With all the talk about climate change, pollution, water quality, and human influence I think if one looks around and understands where we were 40 years ago, we can't be doing that bad.

Farewell to My Biggest Fishing Fan

If I had to name the one single biggest fan of my fishing it would be my cat Dusty. I swear that cat could smell my catch a mile before I got home. If ever a cat loved fish, it was Dusty. Whether summer fishing or ice fishing, he would run to greet me then sit patiently waiting for the cleaning board and knives to appear. Once the first fish was about to be filleted, he would let you know exactly what was expected, the first bite off that fillet, right from the fish. He could darn near eat a whole 10 inch perch if you let him. It was almost embarrassing to come home skunked!

We got Dusty from my friend from Eleva, Kevin. His daughter was somewhat allergic to him and were excited when Kevin suggested we take him with us. Dusty certainly was a people/lap cat, never shying away from making his presence when guests were around. I will never forget the first time I blow dried my hair he jumped into the vanity and laid right in the bathroom sink waiting to experience the warm breeze from the dryer. Noise was never an issue if the reward was greater. I could literally use the central vacuum hose to clean his fur if needed and he would just sit and enjoy the attention.

As you can see he was a beautiful seal point longhair with the personality second to none.

Tonight we had to humanly put him down as he had been suffering from a number of issues and finally simply stopped eating. Whether you have a cat, dog, or other pet this is always the most difficult aspect of having them in your life. Our pets tend to love us unconditionally and ask for little in return. Dusty made my fishing trips much more important as he had very high expectations of me. I will miss him dearly.

A Morning With Capt Dave

I arrived in Jacksonville on Tuesday evening ready to meet Capt Dave at 7:00 Wednesday morning. Last Sepember my good friend Glen Collins from the Chicago area stopped by my office and we discuss our meetings here in Jacksonville. I asked him if he wanted to golf on Wednesday morning before our meeting and he stated that he would rather do something like fishing. Well that was music to my ears! I got on the Internet and found Capt Dave's charter. He sounded like a great guy so I booked a 5 hour trip with him. Joining Glen and I was Gary Hicks from Michigan. We got up early and headed for the landing where Capt Dave was ready for us at the docks at 7:00. I had called him earlier on Tuesday and her told me that it would be cold on Wednesday morning and to dress warm. When asked how cold he said in the 40's to which I responded "So are you saying we should wear shorts?". I reminded him that it was 10 degrees on Tuesday morning in Minneapolis and his perception of cold was quite different than mine.


Arriving at the dock it took about a minute to realize we where going to have a great time. There is a long jetty that extends about a mile out into the ocean at the mouth of the St. Johns River. The jetty is made of large blocks of granite stacked in a pyramid formation and provide great habitat for a number of fish including Speckled Sea Trout, Redfish, Sheepshead, Pinfish, and Flounder. Current is the key to catching fish here and we were just at the beginning of slack tide, meaning no current. We finally found a little current along one point and anchored about 50 feet from the edge of the rocks. Our fishing rods were rigged very similar to how we fish for walleyes on Mille Lacs, slip bobber style. Setting the floats at 8 feet we hooked a live shrimp through the head and and lobbed it towards shore. The float would drift along until a fish grabbed it and within 10 minutes I had my first Speckled trout(top picture). They are a beautiful fish and are excellent table fare. Here's another one real nice fish we caught, making a total of 5 specks we caught on this spot.

Sensing that the tide was about to change we headed for the outside edge of the jetty. The tide had reversed and was now coming in causing the current to wrap around and flow in the opposite direction. It was interesting as the current on the top kept our boat in one direction while the current underneath was flowing in the opposite direction. Once the tide got going that situation fixed itself. Again we anchored about 50 feet from the exposed rocks, in 10 feet of water, and drifted our float rigs. The fish immediately hit our baits and we ended up with a number of nice speckled trout, a number of sheepshead like the one Glenn is holding. In Minnesota a sheepshead is another name for a freshwater drum, which is related to the saltwater drum family. Although the two are not related in this case, this jetty sheepshead is similar as it feeds on mollusks and other hard shelled prey. I had failed to set the hook on a bite I had and upon bringing the rig in to rebait I noticed the hook was completely bend into itself as if someone took a pliers and crushed it. Capt Dave took one look and said "Yep, classic sheepshead damage!". These fish have front teeth that look like ours as well the back is full of traditional looking molars that can crush almost anything. It was pretty amazing so I took a picture from a dentist's vantage point. My uncle Jerry should will appreciate this one! The fish can literally grab a clam an crush it's shell to get at the meat inside. If you look at it long enough it sort of reminds me of my friend Mark Taylor's smile.

The jetty is the main port entry for ships docking their cargo as Jacksonville has a huge car offload terminal. At the end of the river is a large naval base where a number of ships are stationed. It was interesting to watch these large battleships head to sea passing by our fishing spots. It was a great time and I have fish in the resorts freezer to bring back to Minnesota. Capt Dave was a fantastic guide to fish with and I would recommend him to anyone wanting to try a little fishing while in Jacksonville. You can book a trip with Capt Dave by going to his website: http://www.captdaves.com/ and you can read his version of our day with him at his fishing report page on his site:
http://captdaves.blogspot.com/2008/12/123-just-enough-time-for-whackin.html . We had a fabulous time and it completes another fishing experience that I had on that proverbial Bucket List we all have. Well, back to my meetings and other less important things in my life!