A Boat Load of Boats

Last weeks post discussing my 2 boat purchases from Charlie gave me thought about all the vessels I have owned in my lifetime. The various boats I have owned each have a story behind them along with fond memories. 1979 was the start my my journey to where I am today. My friend Kevin knew where there was a boat sitting in a field east of Eleva. The strategy was to check out the boat then go negotiate with it's owner Paul Wichmann. $200 later and I was in business. It was a 14 foot aluminum Starcraft, probably no wider than 4 feet. Brother Steve had a new trailer and "let me use it for a few years", so all I needed was a good motor. I was talking to a customer of mine and he had a 1975 15hp Evinrude, like new. Parting with $575 I was in business!

In 1981 I was invited to fish Mille Lacs with some friends of mine. Teaming up with a guy at work who had a bigger boat, we joined them and I was hooked. It was obvious that if my love for the lake was going to sustain, I would need a larger boat. Selling off the boat and motor separately I keep my borrowed trailer and bought a brand spanking new 14 foot Lund S14DLX, the widest boat in it's class along with a new 25hp Evinrude. Unable to afford anything larger I immediately started to remodel it by adding a carpeted casting platform in the front as well as some electronics and an anchormate. This is the boat that I scared the pants off of Big Dave with a midnight cruise in 3 foot waves on Mille Lacs. He still gives me crap! My next boat was the 1985 Lund ProAngler with a 50 hp Merc, Charlies first boat. On a per year basis I estimate that I probably caught more fish out of this boat than all others. It probably had to do with being less fearful then! Next came the 1986 Lund Nisswa Guide with the same motor as my previous one except now they called it a Classic 50 as it's real prop HP was 42. This was a great motor, sort of a gas hog because of it's 4 cylinders, and was getting waxed on the water by the Japanese outboards. While fishing the flats on Mille Lacs with my good friend Mark Taylor the wind had come up and it was time to head in. Pointing the boat south against the 3 footers I could not get on plane. Whipping the boat around with the wind, I got her going and the next day promptly traded the motor for a 55 Suzuki. Great motor!! 1990 was a bad year for the boating industry. Through my wife's work we were able to bid on a slightly used 1989 Ranger 680T on a Rangertrail. This was the premier tiller boat of the day. I mounted my 55 Suzuki on it and was in business. Although it was a beautiful boat, it's hull was more like a bassboat's and frankly pounded the heck out of me on Mille Lacs. So much so that in 1993 I traded it for a new Skeeter 135T with a 75 Mariner tiller. This was a rocking boat, 17'3" long, and handled the waves like a knife through butter. It also took the longest to get used to. The boat was ordered in time to make the fishing opener however a delay at the factory in Texas meant it would miss the next truck north. The dealer charged a $300 delivery fee so I asked my brother Jon if he would pick it up for the same amount. 3 days later I had the boat. A year later I was cruising on Mille Lacs when the motor just killed. Once stopped you could smell how hot it was. Raising the motor revealed a plastic bag had wrapped around the water intake and seized the pistons. Once cooled the motor restarted and I was able to return to the landing. The next day I headed for Frankies, filed an insurance claim and had a new 1994 75hp on the back. To my surprise the 1994 was a model change and the motor was much more powerful, such that I needed a new prop. That boat often hit 40 mph. Although I really liked that boat, the fit and finish was not very good. 2001 came along and Ranger introduced their 620T with a 115 hp 4 stroke Suzuki. My previous experience with my 55 hp was enough to convince me. This boat is 20' and has proven to be everything one would want in a large tiller operated boat. It can do about 37mph yet troll at 1.8mph for total versatility. Great storage, plenty of room, can handle big water, and looks great. Today I am running the exact same boat in a 2008 model.

I did get out on Sunday. Consecutive weekends of fishing does not leave much time to get the chores done around the house, especially when the garden is in full production. Sunday evening I asked my neighbor Lory if he wanted to head to the river for a couple hours of relaxation mixed with a few beers. Fishing off a neighbors dock I rigged Lory with a nightcrawler and I was determined to get a catfish using Sonny's Stink Bait on a catfish worm. I can assure you that it definitely does stink! Back on the river stink bait works great for catfish. Last year I had caught a number of them off the same dock so I know they are there. Well I never got even a hit. In the meantime Lory hooked this carp as well as a golden redhorse sucker (middle picture). I had never seen one of these fish before so it was exciting to research the internet and see exactly what kind of fish it was. As you see in the top picture the river is very peaceful and provides a great way to unwind a hectic weekend.

Rockin' With Charlie

Tuesday was my day to spend with a very good friend, Chuck Teasley. Every year Chuck and his family attend a Bible camp on Lake Carlos near Alexandria for a week with his wife's side of the family. Depending on our schedules he tries to meet me for a day on Mille Lacs Lake and this year was a go. I met Chuck around 1980 while living at the apartments in Osseo MN. Chuck was a young banker at the local Northwestern Bank, had a chip on his shoulder the size of a cement block, and I think some of it's still there! Young, handsome, and confident, I am not sure what he saw in me other than a possible stabilizing force for all that energy. We both loved to hunt and fish and I suppose it is the thread that has kept us friends all this time. Chuck eventually got married and moved to Duluth, which meant he needed a new boat. It was a perfect opportunity for me to upgrade from my 14 foot Lund, so in 1987 I bought his 1985 Lund Pro Angler 16 foot with a 4 cylinder 50 hp Merc. That boat was a fishing magnet for sure as it now gave me the range I needed on Mille Lacs to hit the offshore flats. We even used it to fish Lake Michigan's salmon as I equipped the boat with down riggers and out riggers. In 1989 Charlie's wife was transferred to Orlando, Florida. Living down south he saw no need for his new Lund fiberglass Nisswa Guide so I sold his old boat and bought his newer boat. This was my first glass boat and certainly not my last. You can probably blame my current Ranger on Charlie's introduction to the Nisswa. You know what they say, beer comes in aluminum but champagne always comes in glass!

Today Charlie is living in Illinois, east of St. Louis, MO. Besides being a big game hunter and Mr. Mom he is a full time ISR instructor. ISR stands for Infant Swimming Resource and is a program to teach children as young as 6 months to save themselves if they should ever fall into the water alone. Chuck has taught thousands of infants and young children the skills to survive an otherwise fatal mistake. He has real life, happy tales from parents of his students on the success of his methods. Now if he only could show a little success in the fishing boat with me! After meeting at the house we packed our gear and headed up Hwy 47 to a friend of mine, Mark Applen's ice house, for the night. It's really a mistake to call this thing an ice house however that is a tale for another day. Needless to say our accommodations were first class. After a couple of pizza's at the resort bar we called it a night. At 11:00 pm the wind was howling pretty good which usually means it is only going to be worse in the morning. Never fails! Instead of getting pounded again we decided to head to the north side of the lake. After a feeble attempt to launch at the Wealthwood Landing, we final got the boat off the trailer at the North Garrison Landing. Much better! The wind was tolerable so we headed east to Matton Flat as a previous report sounded favorable. A 20 mph north wind was the result of a cold front that went through just as we arrived the night before. Heck, that is as good of an excuse as I can come up with. The wind was perfect for a drift off the north point of the flat and we missed a number of good fish. Although we only finished the day with 3 walleyes, 1 over 18 and 2 under 12, never the less it was a great spending time with Chuck. Heading back home we stopped at Lundeens for a sample of his excellent ribs he makes in the smoker I found for him as well as a couple of horseradish pickles, unbelievable! A stop for gas and an ice cream cone, it was all over. Time flies for sure.

Well this is not the end of the story. Yesterday Charlie e-mails me a couple of pictures of the fish he caught AFTER a day with me. Well, what can I say other than a little of my luck must have rubbed off on Chuck!!! He's a Chuck to love for sure. I hope everyone has a friend like Mr. Teasley.

Boating With Dave, Superdave That Is

We have been blessed with a colder than usual July as seen by the surface temperatures of Mille Lacs Lake. It has basically been one cold front after another so the fishing has been up and down like a yo-yo. Saturday was the official breaking in of my neighbors new outdoor kitchen so I decided that Sunday would probably be the best day to head to the pond. My friend and neighbor Lory Brasel shared my boat as we pointed the truck north once again. We got a fairly late start and in addition to fishing I had promised my good friend Bill to help him with his new Apple Ipod touch. I am an Ipod addict and carry one with almost everywhere. They are especially useful for airline travel as a movie can take you to your destination in an instant. I have a 160 gig Ipod classic with over 13,000 songs and 96 movies loaded into it. One never runs out of things to watch or listen to that's for sure. Paired with my Bose Quiet Plus headphones one can disappear into your own world. A few pointers and some Coca Cola, we decided to launch out of Cove Bay. The gravel has been giving up a number of fish this year and I though I would try a new tactic. With really only a few hours left to fish it was worth a try and who knows what success we would experience. Well, not that great! We trolled around the 4 Mile and 5 Mile Gravel with nothing more than a relaxing boat ride to show for our efforts. The wind had almost died and it was a perfect day to be on the lake. As trolling proved to be fruitless we found a couple of deeper rock humps and tried bobber fishing. My good friend John Bathke had just called of their success on the flats earlier that day. One little bite was all we could muster. Our final effort was spent on Anderson Reef looking for some shallow water smallies. The water level is up nicely this year however the recent heavy rains have clouded the water. Sight fishing was out of the question and with zero hits after a tour of the reef we headed back. A quick stop at the Conoco Station for gas and a 2 scoop ice cream cone we called it a day. No fish but relaxing none the less. This is what fishing is supposed to be all about anyway, right?

Attached is a picture of a cauliflower I picked out of the garden on Saturday. It's a dandy and is the perfect prop to show the neighbors. See in our neighbor hood there is a nickname for almost everyone. There is Tim the Toolman, Botz, Przymus ( pronounced scha-moose), Petey, Limo Joe, Snap On Gary, and mine is SuperDave. Although a derivative of SuperDave Osborne, the crazy stuntman, it has more to do with my overall knowledge of everything good. I have a huge garden and the cauliflower just enhances my reputation in the hood. Besides this, the garden contains such delights as asparagus, potatoes, sweet corn, tons of raspberries, onions, blueberries, cucumbers, squash, peas, peppers (3 kinds), kale, tomatoes ( 3 kinds), dill, cilantro, cantaloupe, carrots, radishes, and if one looked hard a rouge horseradish plant or two. Mixed in with a few flowers, it looks pretty good. Along with this I have a small orchard with 10 mature apple trees of various varieties and 3 pear trees that surprisingly offers up delicious pears come the first of September. I also have an uncanny ability to trap pocket gophers. As a young man in the summer I would often ride my bike 3 - 4 miles in the country to trap these unwanted pests. They make large mounds of dirt from their tunneling activity and if in an alfalfa field, can be real hard on equipment that can hit these mounds while cutting. A good friend Jim Anderson (no relation) would give me $0.50 for each gopher and the county had another $0.50 bounty for each pair of front feet brought in. I used to make a lot of money for a 12 year old back then! All these things add up to the nickname Superdave and I try to live up to the expectation. I have more stories but will save them for the future.

Speaking of neighbors, a good friend of everyone passed away on Friday. Like the rest of us we had a name for Jim Olson, it was Pepsi Jim as he worked for Pepsi Cola. He was a great guy, never in a bad mood, and was often seen driving his restored Allis Chambers utility tractor around the neighborhood. Jim fought a tough fight against his cancer but lost the battle. We will miss him and his positive attitude. It is a reminder that everyday is precious and like fishing Sunday, it really doesn't matter if you catch any fish, what matters is that you are able to enjoy the moment. Jim passed away way too early in life, take advantage of what you have.

Finally In The Groove

Well after a tenuous June I finally made it back to the pond for the third weekend in a row! Sometimes beggars can't be choosers and this trip saw Mr. Emmons accompany me for the second time in as many weeks. Tom is a great friend to fish with, seldom shows his displeasure and lets me basically run the show with little complaints. He is the only guy that dares to smoke in my boat however he is keenly aware of what would happen should his lighted end get away from him. The day was as perfect as one could ask for with calm winds lasting right up to the time we left. I had my educated night crawlers with but still stopped at Lundeens and picked up ice plus an extra dozen leeches. My boat has 2 live wells and a baitwell which doubles as a great cooler. Generally Bill gives me bulk ice and I just dump it in the baitwell where it lasts all day long as long as I set the plumbing to recirculate. Arriving at the landing we unloaded and headed for Shermans. I generally start fishing the area on Shermans called the cut. It's edge runs southwest to northeast and is a great place to start. Within 15 minutes I caught the first fish, a 15" keeper, one in the box! About 10 minutes later we received a call from a my dear friend Mark Applen, who was on the 7 mile. We decided to head over and tag team the flat. Although it was nice to see Mark the only thing we caught was a 4 inch perch. After a short run to 9 mile we bid Mark ado and headed to the Sliver Flat, the site of Russ's nice fish last week. Almost immediately I hit this nice 25" fish on a crawler. This fish was the second on my educated crawlers, verifying my theory from last week! This fish hit like a freight train leading me to believe that the epic battle by my brave homegrown bait paid wonderful dividends! A couple more passes along this small flat produced little so we decided to switch strategies and don the planar boards. The calm weather proved excellent for trolling and it became a welcome change of pace. Heading between the Boot and Fishers flat Tom noticed his board dancing. Once he reeled the board in and I disconnected the battle was on. I was really surprised how active this fish was since often these fish are effected negatively by the boards. Landing this 24 incher, Tom was finally on the board. It took about another hour before I hit my first walleye on the planers. I have strike indicator flags mounted on the boards which fold back when a fish is on. These work great and makes identification of "fish on" considerably easier. Resetting our spread produced another nice walleye 15 minutes after this fish. We circled back through the productive area which proved to be less productive the second time around. We decided to see if our crawlers were still up to the task and tried a new spot, the southwest tip of the 8 mile flat. We nailed a couple of smaller walleyes but nothing worth bragging about. Although it was beautiful out, it was still hot and we both started smelling like ripe catfish bait. Having caught a few nice fish, one in the box, we decided to head to the Dairy Queen for a malt, some onion rings, and reflect on a great day on the water.

Some parting thoughts about Mille Lacs. The surface temperature is a cool 66 degrees. This is almost unheard of for the middle of July and should be at least 8 degrees warmer. Two years ago the temperature was in the mid 70's causing a massive tulibee die off which scattered several thousand of these dead fish on the surface. Mille Lacs is on the southern end of their range and "global warming" is suppose to be their ultimate demise. Last year was a record tulibee hatch and this cool weather will bod well for restoring the lake's population. It is offical, Mille Lacs has zebra mussels, probably riding on a boat that either came from the St. Louis River near Duluth or more likely a boat that just came from the Mississippi River. Zebramussels are a foreign invader and the jury is still out as to the effect that it will have on the lake. Time will obviously tell. The Minnesota DNR has stepped up exotic species laws meaning you must assure your trailer is clean of any weeds, your live wells and baitwells are empty, and your boat plug pulled at the landing. The fine for failure is about $150 and are strictly enforced. Make sure you pick up the latest boating guide in your area to note the regulations. At Mille Lacs each landing has information posted to your responsibilities. I am sure I will be heading back up this weekend to continue my nightcrawler theory validation. My great friend Chuck Teasley will be joining me the following week and I am really looking forward to fishing with him.

Catching With Clos...........and Nightcrawlers

After 2 years of promises, I finally had the opportunity to take my good friend Russ Clos to Mille Lacs for some soft water fishing. Russ and I have ice fished a number of times last winter on Pelican Lake, successfully catching crappies and sunfish each time. It was his first time to Mille Lacs during the regular open water season and I always find it exciting to share a good experience with a friend. The weather forecast stated a southeasterly wind 5 - 10 mph, which is more than a fishable forecast. Weather forecasting is the only job where you get paid being wrong 80% of the time and Saturday was no exception. Arriving at Lundeens to pick up crawlers the flag on the VFW told a completely different story, out of the Northwest and around 20 mph. As the lake came into view our fears were confirmed. Although the waves were not terribly large, each one was being blown over causing the lake to look like a determined washing machine. My strategy was basically the same as last week due to the amount of fish I marked, it seemed like a pretty good idea. The first two stops produced a small perch. The wind forced us to fish along flat edges that coincided with the wind direction. Arriving at 7 mile, the west side was positioned perfect for the drift. About halfway down the flat I nailed this nice 25 inch fish. We repeated the same drift 4 more times with only a little more sunburn to show for it. Russ was feeling the motion somewhat so I decided to troll to 9 mile flat with #11 Tail Dancers and give both of us a break. Nothing was hitting our Rapala's. At 9 mile we took out the crawlers and drifted the west edge looking for any takers. Although we marked quite a few fish, none were in the mood to hit our baits. The next move was to the Sliver Flat, is a small and very narrow flat north on 9 mile. Drifting over the top and down the edge produced Russ's first large walleye. This fish was over 24 inches and represented the largest walleye he had ever caught. Releasing it we fished a couple more passes before heading back to Shermans. Fishing in these conditions can be very exhausting and by 5:00 we were done for the day. Wind burnt, sun burnt, and 3 walleyes made for a tough day however seeing Russ catch his largest walleye made it all worth it.

My last three outings have been less than spectacular, especially hearing from my friends and their successes. First of all, I am not that bad of a fisherman! Opener at Leech Lake was fantastic yet my Mille Lacs outings have been less than stellar. Well, it rained enough last night to entice the night crawlers to expose themselves in my garden. Having bought crawlers the last 2 times, I figured it would be a good time to stock up on some home grown worms when it suddenly dawned on me, the night crawlers I have been buying are Canadian crawlers (no offense Bill). For crying out loud, what do Canadian crawlers know about catching Minnesota fish? Well, the answer certainly seems obvious to me, they don't. Looking back at my successful trips over the years, crawlers out of my garden have been the standard in my boat and I presume they are a lot smarter at catching walleyes in Mille Lacs than those imported Canadian beasts! This conclusion came to me as I was adding my own harvested crawlers to the ones left over from the weekend. For a moment there was some apprehension as adding good crawlers would make it difficult to distinguish between the two. Although I caught and added 86 worms to an already 2 dozen, what would the possibility of grabbing one of the Canadian bred for the hook and not catching anything again? I finally concluded that if my own crawlers were smart enough to catch walleyes they were smart enough to train their Canadian counterparts the fine art as well. With that problem solved I look forward to getting back up to the pond this weekend and really nailing them!

My 4th of July Tradition

Sticking with a tradition that has lasted over 15 years I had the pleasure of taking the Tom's back out on Mille Lacs on Saturday the 4th of July. As usual they met me at the pole shed with Caribou Coffee in hand. A quick transfer of gear and food, we headed north. Our first stop was at the Milaca Hardies for lunch. This restaurant has all but disappeared from Minnesota. It is too bad as they make an excellent burger. Our next stop was Lundeens for some bait, ice, and advice. After obtaining all three it was off to the landing. It could not have been a more beautiful day. The wind was none existent as the surface of the lake was like glass. This certainly was a turn around from the last 2 weekends, and a welcome one at that. Launching the boat we headed to the first rock hump which produced a single fish. Next stop was The Cut, a long stretch of an edge on Sherman's Flat. Dragging a combo of crawlers and leeches produced nothing. The weather was really getting hot and I recognized my guests could use a break. Pulling out the planer boards and line counter rigs, I threw on some #11 Tail Dancers and had Mr. Emmons let out 150 feet of line. After putting the board on his line we set up Mr. McAtee. Both boards were running great so it was my turn. I had not let out more than 20 feet and the port board started to dance. After a 5 minute battle the lunker showed itself, a 24 incher. A quick picture and back in the lake it went. Alright, that was quick! Resetting the lines we trolled for the next hour with nothing more to show. Oh well, it was 3:00 and I figured we would head to a favorite mid lake reef to check out the shallow rocks. In years past it has been common to see hundreds of walleyes with a muskie or two mixed in, leisurely swimming on top of the reef in 3 feet of water. The walleyes where not there so we spent 20 minutes fishing for smallies. I have become very proficient with a tube jig and immediately hooked into this nice fish. Catching 3 more smaller fish we moved south to a small gravel hump for some bobber fishing. The wind had picked up some what and it would be perfect to anchor and try our luck. I tend to look the area over first with my depth finder to verify if there are any fish in the area. Having registered quite a few marks we threw anchor and started fishing. The bobbers went down almost immediately. McAtee lost 2 real nice fish right away before Mr. Emmons hit this beautiful 23 incher. We caught 6 walleyes before moving back towards the landing to be closer to the Garrison Fire Works show. Settling back at Sherman's Flat, we anchored on the top side and decided to keep bobber fishing. As we were anchored I noticed a number of fish directly under the boat. Almost like ice fishing, I dropped a jig/leech combo over the side until my sounder displayed it on the screen. You could literally see the fish chase the jig up and down until finally one hit it, the only keeper we got for the day. As darkness descended on us, the fireworks had not started yet, we decided to move in closer. Bad move. Once anchored it was like the 3 stooges trying to figure out the best way to reset our bobbers. Tom dropped his depth finder weight overboard to set his depth and it immediately wedged into the rocks below. A quick response resulted in leaving most of his rig on the bottom. In the meantime I was trying to move my bobber stop and it just tore my line to shreds. In 10 seconds my line had snapped without putting it in the water. Looking at each other we decided it was too dark to retie, the fireworks were still not happening, and if we were going to eat supper, it might be smart to head in. Once the boat was loaded we headed south for our meal at Chico's. I was looking forward to having a cold beer with a taco however it was closed. Back to Hardies! Over all it was a fair day. The weather was great plus we ended up with 8 walleyes, 4 smallies, and a nice perch. We are all getting alittle older and I hope we can continue this tradition for years to come.

Wind, Wind, Wind

After working at the in-laws again on Saturday I was ready to get out fishing on Mille Lacs. the plan was to head up just after lunch on Sunday with my friend Tom Emmons. About 9:00 I got a call from my friend Bill Lundeen informing me that the wind had turned the lake into a frothy mess with the forecast claiming even stronger winds in the afternoon. If Bill calls with a warning, you had better listen. A quick check of some local lakes and wind gusts to 50 mph, I decided to fight another day. July 4th is my tradition trip with the "Toms" and let's hope mother nature cooperates at least once this year!

So what the big deal with wind and Mille Lacs Lake anyway? Mille Lacs Lake is located about 80 miles due north of Minneapolis. It is a relatively a shallow lake with it's maximum depth at 38 feet. Mille Lacs measures about 25 miles long and 13 miles wide. With very little to stop the wind and it's shallow nature, respectable waves can develop quickly. This time of year the walleyes have moved to offshore structures and regardless of which way the wind is blowing, once it hits a certain point, there is few places to hide that hold fish. One of my favorite places to fish in late June early July are the mud flats. These are mid lake structures that resemble underwater plateaus, rising 10 to 12 feet from the bottom. They can cover a few hundred square feet to over a square mile. There are well over 2 dozen identified flats as well as numerous unnamed flats. One of the more popular mudflats is 7 mile Flat. It's 7 miles from something however I am not sure the reference point as 9 mile is directly east and 8 mile is directly north. This flat has a U type shape and like many flats drops from 24 feet on the top to 36 feet at the base in less than 20 feet. 7 mile can hold some big fish. One of my favorite ways to fish is rig a crawler harness with a spinner and back troll along the edge, moving from 36 feet to 24 feet, hang the edge, then move back down. Depending on the mood of the fish, you may find them either on the deep side or the shallow side. Once you locate the fish, it is wise to continue the pattern until they quite biting. I tie my own crawler rigs. My friend Leon Lambert taught me the fine art of tying a snell and after a quick refresher course I got pretty good at it. I like to use Tru-Turn bait holder hooks for my crawler rigs as they really work well. When guiding I count on these hooks as they practically set themselves. Trying to teach a person the nuances of live bait fishing can be frustrating however the Tru-Turn hooks help my clients be more successful. Another popular method of fishing the flats has been the slip bobber technique. Usually one anchors on the top side or the deep side, right on the edge so one can cover both depths. This type of fishing is often extended well into the dark by the use of lighted bobbers. They have a small LED and battery which keeps the bobber lighted. It is very exciting to see the bobber go down and watch where the fish goes. This technique can be deadly. I once did a lot of bobber fishing and have got away from it. I certainly caught a lot of fish under a bobber over the years however today I prefer to keep moving. The fish I am holding came off of 7 mile flat. Hopefully I will have something more substantial to report next week.

Bonjour from Montreal

I am writing this post from Montreal (no Eric not Montreal WI!) Quebec. Fishing has been slow so I spent the weekend finishing up my brother in law's landscape job that his wife Suzy asked me to help with. He has been struggling with cancer and I have offered to get some stuff fixed up around the house for them. It was hot but after 3 weeks I was able to completely redo their landscape edging around the house. I looks real nice and it's one more thing that they don't have to worry about.

I always drive down Wisconsin Highway 35 on the east side of the Mississippi River. This winds it's way along Lake Pepin though Diamond Bluff, Stockholm, Maiden Rock, Pepin before meeting the river just south of Nelson Wisconsin. I will put a plug in for the Nelson Cheese Factory. At one time it actually manufactured cheese however I think their current store which sells cheese, wine, gourmet items, and ice cream is much more successful. I have never been in there where it is less than 4 deep waiting for an ice cream cone, still $1.00 for a single and $2.00 for a double. It's a nice break. As you head south on 35 past Nelson, to the right is Big Lake. Being an old river rat we pass familiar haunts like Indian Slough, Wilbers, Thachers, Catfish Slough, The Cutoff, Railroad Slough and the Oil Tanks. As I passed these areas a lot of memories also passed by. Kevin and I would fish these areas every weekend through the summer. We were not much walleye fisherman then but we sure hit the bass hard. Here is Kevin holding a nice bass we got in the slop up Catfish Slough. I believe this was taken in June of 1981 as I have bought a new Lund in 1982. It's surprising to see that Kevin had a good start on his beer gut even back then! He is sitting in my first boat, an narrow aluminum Starcraft that we bought from Paul Wichmann. With a 15 hp Evinrude it was a great first boat for the river. I replaced the cross seats and made a new transom, added a trolling motor and real swivel seats. That boat could really catch the fish. Our arsenal consisted of daredevils, moss bosses, spinner baits, Johnson Silver Minnows and here Kevin caught this fish on his favorite, a Miller Wobbler with a chunk of Uncle Josh's Pork Rind on the back. Our technique for bass was pretty elementary, cast into the carpet of duck weed and slowly work it back on the surface. The bait coming over these thin layer of weeds would leave a distinct trail, recording its path back to the boat. When a bass did hit, it blew a 2 foot hole in these weeds, often missing the bait and leaving an interesting history of what just happened. The pork rind really added that extra attractant however the fish often grabbed the end of it rather than up higher into the hook. A quick recast would often be enough to have them hammer it again and the fight was on. Back then we would definitely eat a fish like this! As stated, walleyes really didn't even exist as a viable game fish. Of course today it is completely opposite, the bass go back and the walleye's get deep fried! I really miss fishing with Kevin and have made a promise to rekindle the "Good Old Days". Sitting on the tarmac in Chicago I got a nice e-mail and decided to call him. It's settled and we will get together like days of old. I am looking forward to our date.

Back in Business

Finally! Working till noon on Saturday I headed to Chisago City and picked up my boat at Frankies. Although the hood was not in yet, she would run just as fine with the damaged old cover. Arriving home the first thing I needed to do was getting her looking respectable again. Vacuuming out 2 1/2 weeks of tree seed accumulation, washing off the rain dirt, and getting the road film off with Armor All she looked like new. My Ranger is a 2001 model. I take much pride in taking care of my boat as it usually pays off dividends when it's time to upgrade. I had arranged to head to Mille Lacs on Sunday with my friend and neighbor Lory Brasel. We also were asked to provide a test drive for a gentlemen who met us at the landing to take a short ride.

Before we went out on Sunday I agreed to help Lory take his boat out for a test run. In order to minimize our time we went to Diamond Lake. Lory's boat is a mid 1990 Lund 1800 Pro V with a 110 HP Johnson 90 degree V engine. Diamond Lake is located on the western edge of Dayton and is a small shallow prairie type lake. Being surrounded by farm country, the water is clear yet clumps of bright green algae has taken over the majority of the water volume. On the northwest end of the lake we were surprised to see a rather large flock of white pelicans taking residence on a small island. I estimate there were over 50 of them. I have seen them migrating through in the spring with a stop over yet this is the first time they have hung around. They are magnificent birds and a fascinating to watch.

We finally turned our attention to the north and headed in that direction. The day was absolutely beautiful with the lake being as smooth as glass. I had a typical strategy for this time of year; hit the 16 foot hump by Sherman's Point, head to the flats with a stop at the Cut and 7 mile. I marked a ton of fish on the rocks but no takers. The Cut prove just as productive and a complete circle around 7 mile produce just a few marks on the graph, but that was it. I decided to head back to the rocks and we nailed a smallie (pretty odd for this deep, this time of year). Heading south we went to Rolland's Flat, stopped at Rainbow Island an casted for smallies, ran to a deep gravel spot for another fruitless half hour of crawler drowning before finishing up with a few trolling runs up and down Indian Point. Not for lack of effort, we ended the day with 4 smallies and 2 walleyes pushing 11 inches each. Although fishing was not the greatest, it was a relief to finally get out.

This time of year reminds me of 2002 when the walleyes were going crazy. My nephew Kevin, stopped by work yesterday on his way to a job interview. In 2002 we teamed up on Mille Lacs to put on a walleye catching demonstration. The walleyes were hitting anything from crawlers, plastic worms, leeches and I suspect bare hooks if we tried long enough. Between Kevin and I we caught 55 walleyes that day, my personal best on Mille Lacs. I am hoping that Kevin gets the job as it will give me another great fishing partner. He has been to Alaska a couple of times with his dad (my brother Steve) and myself provide us with the pleasure of seeing a young man experience something we had to wait 45 years for.

Sittin' With Dave?!?!?

I am thinking about changing the name of my blog from Fishin' With Dave to Sittin' with Dave. This is getting insane as it's been almost 3 weeks since my boat misbehaved and it's still in the shop. My timeline is starting to look pretty interesting. Immediately on Tuesday (the day after Memorial Day) I dropped the boat off to have the dealer get started. My next task was to contact the insurance company to see how much damage they would sign up for. I was informed of my $1000 deductible and they promised to start the process. Having received the forms and sending the estimates, it turned to a waiting game. On Friday May 30th I decided to call the shop to see if my insurance company had made arrangements with them. Having acknowledged that no one had contacted them, I asked if they ordered the parts, and was told no. At that point I reminded them that I had a $20,000 boat sitting there and it needed fixing regardless.......get the parts on order! Being preoccupied with my uncles funeral I waited till Thursday to followup with the insurance. I had received an e-mail with the information and it proceeded to call my agent because it did not have any phone numbers. After looking at it the claim form was made out to a different David Anderson ( I am only the 7th most popular name in Minnesota). After a quick re-evaluation of the data, I was promised this would be expedited. More delays. In the meantime I was fighting with HP on my laptop repair which had seen the screen go dead. After about 5 hours of discussions with India, they must have decided I was too smart for them and reassigned me to a real live American customer service agent. It is incredible what took 5 hours with Rakesh could be resolved in 15 minutes with Bob. My laptop arrived as Bob promised last Thursday, one problem down.

On Friday afternoon I received a call from State Farm. Amazingly they had already talked to the dealer and had processed my claim. Discussing my dilemma with an insurance agent friend, he express some possible issues with my claim. Oh great! The estimate came back at $3200 damage. He claimed that they might not cover it because of the malfunction so take a strategy that the problem made the outboard crash into the boat. Well the claims adjuster started by saying there would be a problem covering the malfunction. What I heard him say was "you are SOL". What he really said was we cannot cover the electrical damage but everything else. I quickly looked at the estimate and this part was only $120. We went over the bill less the $120 and my $250 deductible.........wait, the original told me $1000 deductible. I guess that's what the other David Anderson had! My expectation of how much beer money was going to leave my pocket just changed by $630 in my favor. Victory #2! I called the shop to make sure they were on track and today I confirmed to them that if I did not get out fishing this weekend someone was not going to be very happy. Well, apparently my new motor cover had not arrived yet. I reminded them that the motor, if fitted with a new tiller handle, will operate just fine with the old hood despite the hole in the front. We will see if this tactic works tomorrow and I will be back on Mille Lacs on Sunday. I have included a picture of my baby.

The time absent from fishing has given me a chance to get some worth while activities done. The last 3 weekends have been spent helping my brother-in-law get a number of things done around his house. He is having some serious medical problems and although I would always rather be fishing, it feels good to help in this case. On Monday I got to golf with my Minnesota Sales Rep, Dwight Bialowas, in the NHL Alumni Tournament. Dwight is an ex-Minnesota North Star and with the likes of Donny Beaupre, Brian Bellows, Gordy Roberts, Jack Carlson, Timmy Young, we play at the Legends, a beautiful course in Prior Lake. Our team included Dwight, Doc, Vic, a police officer, Mike and myself. Both Mike and I golf once a year and it shows! Dwight and Doc are basically scratch golfers leaving the rest of us provide entertainment for them. I have done this 3 years now and have never had a lie we could in good conscious use. Well after a bloody mary on the course my drives improved to the point where we actually used 2 of mine! Friday I volunteer for the Eric Applen Memorial Tournament. Mark Applen hosts this golf event in honor of his son who succumb to cancer at the young age of 17. Our charter is to raise money for the families of children with cancer. Mark amazingly raises between $20,000 and $25,000 each year, which is incredible as it is all raised by extraordinary everyday people. My contribution is a full day's guide trip on Mille Lakes, which usually goes for top dollar! It is my best trip of the year as it really helps a needy family.

Hopefully I will finally have a real fishing report early next week as I know the fish are biting and it's truly driving my crazy!

Tribute to Uncle Keith

Friday saw the passing of my uncle Keith Anderson, my dad's oldest brother. I am especially fond of my uncles and aunt on Dad's side, growing up with them while I was young, each played an important role in who I am. Keith was probably one of the smartest men I knew, always outspoken, never wincing words. This is an admirable quality as you always knew were you stood with him and he always stood for something. Keith and his wife Dorothy gave me 4 wonderful cousins, Cindy, Linda, Paul, and Julie who are the epitome of standard Norwegian stereotypes...........blond hair, blue eyed, and just as smart as get out! They have all remained my friends which was highlighted by Paul joining us in Alaska last year. Keith was always my favorite subject with the camera as he never failed to deny me that handsome pose and great smile. My grandpa Roy and Keith ran the Mobil Service Station in town. Back then Eleva was a like many small towns. With a population of around 400 we had a grocery store, drugstore, Gamble store, feedmill, lumber yard, train depot, and 6 - 7 operating gas stations, 4 bars and a large log cabin for various civic gatherings. He eventually sold the service station to Vic Wenaas which I had the pleasure of working for. I think Keith felt alittle like I was carrying on a family tradition. When I was a young boy he would often include me in activities like camping and fishing. Keith loved to camp. Neither of us would ever forget the time he invited me to camp and fish with Paul and himself at Coon Fork Dam near Augusta. The Coon Fork River was only about 30 miles from Eleva, but to me it seemed like a thousand miles away. I was probably 12 years old, it was my first time camping with them, and it was fishing opener. This usually meant trout fishing back home however the Coon Fork River emptied into the Eau Claire River which had a sizable population of Muskies. The river below the dam was as wild a river as I saw. The tea colored water flowed from pools, over car sized rock, through rapids wandering its way downstream. I had experience with northern pike, however Keith had suggested we walk downstream and cast the pools. With my trusty old Zebco and solid glass rod, I pitched my old spoon into the current only to see a monstrous fish leap out of the water with my lure in its mouth, heading for the Mississippi River. Having little experience with this kind of behavior it took about 3 seconds and crack, the line reported a failure! My reaction was swift and vocal. Knowing a few swear words may bring a similar reaction that my dad may have given I held my honor by stomping my feet and hitting the pole against the rocks with the vengeance of a fisherman scorned. Of course Keith understood my love for fishing, even at that age found humor in my experience. This was over 40 years ago and up to last summer he still found joy in reminding me of the fish that got away. I did redeem myself later that day by catching a smaller muskie near our campsite yet he for some unknown reason (like illegal size) he let it go. Foiled again!

Later in life I had the pleasure to pay back Keith something for everything he had given to me. His other brother and my fabulous Uncle Jerry (featured in a couple previous posts) lives in Idaho. Jerry and Keith were best of friends and when grandma was alive, Jerry would try to get back to Eleva once a year. Well, I caught wind of this and asked both of them to join me for a day on Mille Lacs. I cannot explain how excited it was when they accepted. My house was a 2 1/2 hour trip from Eleva and another 1 1/2 hour to the landing, a full day for sure. It was exactly the same time of year, first of June and we started out on the west side. Catching nothing we made a beeline for the south shore when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a few boats on 7 Mile Flat. At that minute the strategy switched and decided to see what might be out there. Arriving it was like glass, perfect for slowly working the edge with a crawler, using the electric motor. Rigging each with a spinner rig and nightcrawler, we started to backtroll. Almost immediately I nailed a nice walleye, maybe 20 inches. One in the box. 10 minutes later Keith set the hook on a dandy. A nice walleye off the flats puts up a tremendous fight and this one did not disappoint. When I finally landed it, the fish measured over 27.5 inches. I was just about to release the fish when Jerry yelled................David, what are you doing? I exclaimed that I was releasing this fish which prompted and immediate response "The hell you are!" I quickly got the hint that these were the biggest walleyes they had ever caught and it was not going to be for nothing. Jerry had nailed another nice 26 incher 5 minutes later. As we were back trolling Keith asked me "Dave, What do you think Al Linder would be doing right now?" I replied "Keith, he would be doing the same thing we were" with an air of confidence mixed with BS. I had my doubts Keith even knew who Al Linder was, let alone ask about him. It could not have been more than 5 minutes from the question when Keith looked at me, pointed his hand at a boat and asked "Dave, is that Al Linder over there?" (30 feet from us). One good look and Holy Moses, it was Al Linder! We both had established the tone for the remainder of the day. Keith actually knew who Al Linder was and as predicted, he was doing exactly the same thing that we were doing. Another mystery of life. The above picture was our 4 biggest fish for the day and it set up a date for the next year where we smoked cousin Paul, his father-in-law, and my other cousin Greg. It was very satisfying to be able to spend some time with Keith in my environment and show him a good time.

I will miss Keith, his wisdom, advice (although I did not agree with all of it!), his kindness and life lessons he taught me. Although we cannot stay young forever, we can pass these things on to the next generation as Uncle Keith did as he had much to give. God Bless you Keith.

Wow, One Year of Fishin' With Dave

Yes, today marks the first year for Fishin' With Dave. Thanks everyone for checking in now and then and as always I appreciate the comments. Time certainly flies when your having fun and I look forward to the next year of adventures and memories. With the old Ranger in the shop recovering from its temporary insanity I will have the opportunity to reflect on some posts that are long past due.

Stay tuned!

Sometimes I Should Have Just Stayed in Bed!

I spent most of Sunday night getting the boat ready for the big trip on Monday. An old friend Lory Brasel just moved back into the neighborhood from a 8 year hiatus and I decided to see if he wanted to join Tom and I on the Big Pond. The chart on the left is known as a Beaufort Scale. When my friend Dale Stenseth began his around the world Freighter Cruise one of the first things he asked me to look up was the Beaufort Scale. This is developed in 1806 by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, and officer in the British Royal Navy, to standardize wind and wave conditions. The chart uses numbers from 0 - 12 to describe an ever increasing wind/wave combinations using simple observations. Based on what it felt like on Mille Lacs, I would have sworn it was a 9. Ok, so I might be exaggerating but my body says different. With the wind coming from the SE we decided to launch out of Cove, on the SW side of the lake. Rounding the point we headed to Sloppy Joe's with the whitecaps clearly in our sights. Stopping first at Kings Reef, it became clear that drifting at 2 mph and rocks make a poor combination so we continued. Two drifts and not one fish marked on the Genetron, we headed straight into the wind, deciding to stop and see Bill at his new digs located in Izaty's. Gathering our thoughts and assessing the wind, we headed for the Banana Reef, hopefully to offer some relief as well as take advantage of what should have been a great bobber wind. The plan was simple, anchor in 18 feet of water and let enough line out to have the back end of the boat in 12 feet. Throwing out my new "this will hold anything" Richter Anchor with a 4 foot chain and 100 feet of line, it should have been a no brainer. Famous last words. I have fished Halibut in Alaska where the tide is so strong the anchor simply slowed our drift. Deja Vu! Although I thought the anchor held, I became concerned when our bobbers started moving the opposite way. We must have drifted about 100 yards before the anchor finally found something to hang on to. What I find fascinating was the appearance of a pontoon that circled us a couple of times, not realizing we were at the mercy of the wind, his reference was based on our "anchor position". He decided to anchor right next to us, dab in the middle of the reef where no one in there right mind would be. Of course by the time they got settled, we had already left him heading down wind! I see this all the time, he sees 3 guys in a Ranger, conditions only paying customers would endure, and the only ones there, must be where the guides are catching fish. We decided to give him the whole reef and pulled anchor, wondering if he ever did figure out our secret technique.

This is when the fun really started. For whatever reason my 115 Suzuki (Suzy) decided to try and commit suicide. The minute I started the motor to leave for some reason it decided to begin trimming up all on its own and I could not get it to stop. The next emotion was panic thinking one of my guest had inadvertently stepped on one of my trim buttons (or worse, it was me) however it was not the case. Trying everything known to me I failed to stop the upward movement until 10 seconds later it had literally snapped the tiller handle off the engine, punched a hole in my cowling and it proceed to snap off the shift lever. Uffda!!! I am not sure what I did but it finally quit. Too late, we were 8 miles from the landing and 2 miles off shore, the motor was completely out of the water, and the wind was pushing us into the abyss. This is when I practice the fine art of CUSS (Calm Under Severe Stress). My first order was to try and get the motor trimmed back down into the water. It took about a minute but finally got it to start moving. Now the damage could be assessed. The tiller handle was parallel to my transom and completely worthless. I had shut the engine off and figured we had better get it going or face arriving in Garrison soon. A turn of the key produced nothing. My shift lever is located on the tiller handle and it fell off the second I touched it. Knowing I had to get the motor in neutral to start it, I took the hood off but the shift area was inaccessible. This forced me to tear apart the tiller handle and my Leatherman provided the means. Getting it out of gear, a turn of the key, and the Suzy came back to life. I got it in gear however it became obvious that if I wanted to go anywhere I'd have to put the handle minimally back together again. After a few attempts, we were on our way. The strategy was to head directly into the wind until we got to calmer water before we would try anything fancy. I called Bill Lundeen who suggested we motor to a closer resort and he would meet us there. About half way I was getting daring and accidentally shut the motor off which meant taking the handle apart again, another 10 minutes wasted. Our top speed was a whooping 6 mph and simply staying on course was challenging. It was incredibly difficult to turn the motor and I am glad we were not any further out. I have brought the boat to my dealer, called the insurance agency, and hope to be back in business next weekend. As state before, 10 years ago this would have tied me in knots. I have learned that most things are beyond my control so just accept it and plan your revenge on the fish!

What's The Deal With Fillet Knives?

Located close to home, I like to stop at Cabela every two weeks or so to see whats new in the bargain bin. One thing that caught my eye was a french fry cutter that I had used the weekend before at Leech Lake. Calling my friend Mark who originally bought it there, he had returned it and they put it in the bargain bin, less the bolt that was stripped out in the first place. I told the guy in the store my story and he thought it was pretty funny. Walking around the counter a fillet knife caught my eye. It was a Cabela's brand 6 inch knife with a riveted laminated handle (feature top left). Checking the price it was only $8.99, almost 65% off. The salesman pulled it out to give a look, it was pretty interesting, a nice knife, well constructed, just the right flexibility and shape. There was a guy standing next to me eyeing up my prize and waiting for me to give it back. Although I needed another knife like I needed the swine flu, it was too much of a bargain to pass up. Driving home gave me time to think of the collection of fillet knives I have so I decided it would be a good post.

I suspect that everyone has the standard birch handled Rapala Fillet knife (upper left). I have at least 3, 1 - 4" blade and 2 - 6" blades. I also have a couple of their black handled

Rubber handled knives again in a 4" and 6" blades. These knives are the workhorses for filleting fish. I love the 4 inch blade for taking the fillet off, even for larger fish as it is easy to control when cutting around the ribs. The 6" blades are the best for taking the skin off. Although the original Birch handle is a classic, I am liking the rubber handled ones as they grip better. Both blades seem equal in ability to hold an edge. My most expensive knife is the red handled Leech Lake Knife on the left. I bought this at the Northwest Sportshow about 10 years ago. It has a laminated handle, 7" blade, and is the sharpest knife I own. Don Canney knows how to make a knife. Although a beautiful knife, the design is such that both sides of the blade are sharpened. The theory is that what dulls a fillet knife are the fish scales. With this knife you cut through the scales with the chisel top of the point, cut the entire fillet off the fish through the rib bones, cut the rib bones out as a separate process, then remove the skin. Having perfected the method that cuts around the rib bones as part of the fillet process (except for Alaskan fish), it is hard to change your habits. I love the knife and use it occasionally as it is a sharp as ever. Being sharp on both sides can cause problems however. I keep forgetting to bring it back to the show for a touch up, which he will do at no charge. The next picture on the right is a Chicago Cutlery folding Traveler Fillet Knife. Again I have a 4" and 6" models. These knives were given to me by my good friends Pat and Linda Holmes (Dugar). The knives are a typical Chicago Cutlery brittle but mild steel with a black walnut riveted handle in a matching leather sheath. I have cleaned many a walleye with these. They are no longer made and have become collectors items so I have put them away for now. The next knife on the left is a special knife that was given to me by a friend Chuck Teasley. Chuck lived in the same apartment some 30 years ago and we have been friends since. Charlie has move south but comes up every year and we try to get out fishing. Often he surprises me with a special gift and one year he brought a fillet knife with my name engraved on it. It has a 6" blade and is excellent for skinning the fillet.

The next 4 knives are my Alaskan Butchering Kit. These knives are indespensible for cleaning your catch in Alaska from 100 lb halibut, 17 pound silvers, 12 pound reds, and assorted rockfish, lingcod, or pinks. Starting on the right (orange handle) I use a standard 5 inch butchers boning knife for cleaning halibut. Halibut are a very unique fish that have few bones and once you see how they are cleaned it's a piece of cake. The initial cuts are seldom more than 2 inches deep and the shorter blade helps you to cut the fillet from the rather flat skelton. It reminds me of butchering a deer! The next knife on the left (brown and black handle) is a 9 inch Browning Featherweight Fillet Knife. The blade has a serated edge near the back of the blade which makes cutting through the rather thick rib bones much easier. I also like to this knife for skinning the halibut fillets. Most fish packers like to leave the skin on as the do not have to spend additional labor and they charge by the pound. Removing the skin makes the fish last much longer in the freezer. The knife below it with the black handle and sheath is made by Knives of Alaska and is their Coho Fillet model. It has an 8 1/2 inch blade and is serated at the tip of the blade. My brother Steve and I tag team the salmon, I cut off the fillets and he takes the ribs out. The Coho knive really excells for carving those rib boned out using the serated tip, it cuts those pin bones like butter. It has one of the best steels of my knives however it does stain easily, especially if you leave blood on it for any time. The last knife on the left is my special salmon cleaning knife, a 12 inch Cimeter Knife. This knife is traditionally used for cutting large steaks from beef and is significantly larger than a standard butcher knife. We fish out of Stewarts Landing, Jeff King's place just down river on the Kenai from Soldotna. He has a cleaning table at the river and we where just bringing our fish when I noticed a guide with a huge knife. This guy could clean a 15 pound salmon in 45 seconds using this butcher knife. He simply cut out the bottom fin ahead of the vent, using the curved edge opened the fish cavity then turned the knife around and completely removed the fillet, ribs and all in one fell swoop. He turned the fish around and removed the opposite fillet. Using the curved tip he quickly extracted the rib bones and he was done. I had to have one and it works fantastic for silvers, reds, and pinks. I will not go to Alaska without it. 4 years ago Steve, his son Kevin and I went red fishing. In 1 1/2 hour we managed to keep 18 red and silver salmon. Returning to the Marlow's we started cleaning, I on the big knife and Steve using the Coho knife we were quickly going through the fish. Our guide walked over calling out, I be right there to help. One look and he exclaimed "I guess you guys got this down, never mind!" Although not as proficient as the Kenai guide, we can completely fillet out a salmon in around 1 1/2 minutes.

The last thing I use is a Rapala pliers with the split ring end. My good friend Ryan Sterle showed me this trick of grabbing the end of the fillet skin with the pliers, holding it in place while you finish the skinning job. It really works great as the tip has the split ring tooth which digs in and grips the skin. Some people swear by using an electric fillet knife and the guys at Brindley's are masters at it. For me they work fine yet my old habits of cutting around the ribs drive me back to my good old standby's. Oh well. I am planning to hit Mille Lacs on Monday for my annual first boat trip to the big lake with my neighbor Tom. He usually brings good luck and here hoping the trend continues.

Catch Chart for 2009 Leech Lake Opener

As part of our fishing tournament we keep track of each fish caught along with the size. Ron puts the numbers together on a graph and presents the data. The numbers show the following:

101 fish 12" - 15"
140 fish 15" - 17"
27 fish 17" - 19"
38 fish 19" - 21"
23 fish 21" - 23"
50 fish over 23"

This really bodes well for the future and Team Walleye!

Walleye Opener 2009, Leech Lake

2009 turned out to be the year Leech Lake came back to life. The speculation that the fabulous winter fishing would carry into the open water season was answered with a resounding YES! Picking up our minnows at Lundeens, finally arrived at Brindley's around 5:00 that afternoon. A quick acknowledgment to our hosts Tim and Greg, we unloaded the boat and took our place in the assigned slip. Years ago we stored our bait in a homemade screened cage next to the dock however suspecting our minnows were escaping, Team Walleye bought a 30 and a 10 gallon portable Bait Tamer bags from Lindy. They were a great investment keeping our bait fresh through the weekend. After getting settled in every one finally arrived, a total of 18 guys, 15 regulars and 3 rookies. Having dealt with a few Leines, midnight showed itself and I headed to the harbor to cast a Shad Rap off the point. This is a fairly shallow area dropping to 5 feet. Here walleyes, especially smaller males hang in the harbor entrance. This can be a hit or miss situation but for me it gives and indication of the walleye activity. Buy 12:30 I had landed over 20 walleyes, not big but walleyes never the less. Time for bed and get some rest and save my energy for the start of the tourney.

Saturday brought a brisk northwest wind, overcast and rainy morning. Perfect! The walleyes were hitting immediately with reports of 25" fish already vying for the Big Fish trophy. Although it was cold, we ended the day with 40 walleyes over 12 inches caught and 8 in the box. Leech has a protective slot limit where all fish 18 inches or longer and 26 inches or shorter must be released. The limit is 4 and it became obvious that it would not take too long to fill up. We only count walleyes 12 inches or longer and generally keep them between 14 - 18 inches. At this rate we could fill up in a few hours so all in my boat agreed to tighten our keepers to 16 - 18 inches. A total of 57 walleyes for cabin 14 for the first day forced a decision to fry fish for breakfast on Sunday. Not being scheduled for breakfast duty, never the less I arose at 6:00 and fired up my new Fish Fryer. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked, cooking up about 30 fillets in just a few minutes. As the old beer commercial once exclaimed "It doesn't get any better than this!" Sunday saw the same northwesterly winds that died down to nothing around 11:00 AM. Adapting to the newly found calmness, we were forced to start back trolling. The strategy did not change the bite, which continued in earnest. At 8:30PM we motored to a popular island and continued catching fish by trolling #5 shad raps until 10:00. We stayed out long enough to enjoy a spectacular moon rise. Sunday supper was Team Anderson's official KP duty and the menu included bone on rib eye's, onions and mushrooms, home made french fries, and salad. Mark Mayerich handles all the food planning and Sunday's meal was exceptional (Of course, the cooks have a lot to do with this). Monday brought calm winds again forcing us to back troll with the electric motor. As before, the fish still had the feedbag on. About noon we headed to Ottertail Point looking for a possible big fish winner over 26 inches. Although the action was not fast, we did get 3 very nice walleyes jigging the 12 foot rocks. There must have been an outdoor show taping a segment as we saw 2 boats with camera men sitting back filming a few fish being caught. Rumor had suggested it was Kent Herbek's Outdoors but there were no big guys in the boat so I'm skeptical. Arriving back at the resort by 3:30 we decided to run into Walker and check out Reeds and look for a cooking oil pump. Finding the pump as well as a suggestion on Gulp we headed back just in time for supper. Back out by 6:00 my goal was to catch a fish on the Gulp which looked promising. After 6 fish were netted and none were mine, I had no choice to switch back to shiners. It was the right move as I quickly evened the score. Around 8:15 the urge to run over to Stoney Point and troll shad raps was to difficult to ignore. Having suggested to my fishing partners they reel in, we headed for what I hoped would be the big fish honey hole. In the next hour trolling #5's again the fish were committing suicide. Often having 3 on at once, we ended the night with 12 more fish for the scorecard and at least 20 too small to count, not bad for and hour of trolling. Heading back we proceeded to make room in the coolers for our fish and sung karaoke till 2:30. There is nothing that sounds better than finishing off the night with 6 guys doing a rendition of The Righteous Brothers You've Got That Loving Feeling at 2:30. Team Walleye is definitely a talented bunch!

As stated our Team Walleye totals were 389 fish over 12 inches. Tom Paulson, a Team Anderson member scored the highest points total (I still caught more fish) of 200, which is likely to stand for a long time. Both Tom and my brother Steve fished with me again this year. Together in 2008 we also won the Team Award with a score of 54 fish boated. The total this year was over double at 118 fish. I attribute this to my insistence that both needed to significantly upgrade their gear if they wanted to continue fishing in my boat. Obediently they arrived with new sensitive graphite rods and light high performance open face spinning reels by Pfueger which paid handsome dividends. Mark Mayerich took the Big Fish honors with a 26 incher, with Ron Edberg nailing both 2nd and third place with 25+ inch fish. The DCS (Didn't Catch $hit) award went to Ronnie D with 56 points. Ron Edberg actually had less points but his 2nd and 3rd place fish disqualified him from this honor. Fishing was insane for sure.

As always Brindley's Harbor is the best. Our hosts Jean, Paris, Tim and Greg Campbell put out the red carpet. Aside from being a wonderful place to stay the resort is clean, has a great harbor for the boats, and will clean and freeze your fish like professionals. They will even clean your northerns removing all the Y bones creating the perfect table fare. I recommend heading to Leech and Brindley's Harbor if your looking for incredible walleye fishing.

Stuck In Chicago

Assuming that I would have internet service over the weekend was a stretch. Upon arriving home I immediately went to the airport for my flight to Chicago. A number of my friends have e-mailed me and asked...................Where's the report? Well, it will have to wait as I am still at the conference, however I can say that by far we had the best year in 36 years! 17 guys, 3 days, 7 boats caught 389 walleyes over 12 inches and I estimate released another 200 under 12 (which was where we drew the line for our tourney). Team Anderson won the top boat award with 118 fish landed for the weekend. This is pretty impressive and I will give a full update by Friday.

Fishing season has begun!

So, Who's Team Walleye Anyway?

The boat is cleaned and reorganized, the warm clothes are packed, and the beer/Bloody Mary mix are readily accessable for my depurture Friday noon for Leech Lake. Brother Steve and his friend Tom will pull me out of work at noon and we are off. Once the boat is snug to the hitch we head to pick up Mark Taylor before stopping at Lundeen's Tackle Castle for minnows. This year I ordered 3 gallons of spottail shiners and a gallon of fatheads and we expect to use every one of them. Our ETA should be around 4:00, maybe enough time to get some crappie fishing in. By then most of the members of Team Walleye should be there. So, who's Team Walleye anyway?

Team Walleye started in 1973 with 4 of my friends, Ron Edberg, Mark Mayerich, Gary Ullom, and Mark Taylor. While these guys were up fishing on Leech I was getting ready to graduate from Eleva-Strum High School. Walleye fishing was not even in my vocabulary yet! The next couple of years were spent going to school, graduating, and taking the first job that came around, winding transformers in Minneapolis. I was pretty naive coming from a small town in Wisconsin to the big city but that's a story for another day. Mark Taylor was working in the building next to ours and we became friends. Starting in 1982 I began to fish Mille Lacs on opener, first with a number of my friends from Eleva and gradually struggling to find someone to go. In the meantime Mark kept pressuring me to come to Leech with them and in 1990 I agreed. Team Walleye had grown from 4 to 13 guys and moved to Brindley's Harbor a number of years back. I arrived with my Lund Nisswa to the most organized event I had ever seen.

Team Walleye is the brain child of Ron Edberg. Ron is an accomplished graphics artist specializing in industrial and commercial design. Leaving from Gary Ullom's place Friday morning, we we all given commemorative hats (those high mesh back hats so popular back then), a magnetic sign for your pull vehicle, and a look at the traveling Big Fish Trophy which had documented the biggest fish every year since 1976. Once at the resort the duty roster was posted, broken down into teams, everyone got a breakfast and an evening meal assuring each person did their fair share of the work. On Monday we would have the big fish ceremony, presentation of the trophy and winnings, pack up and leave. This year Team Walleye will celebrate its 36th Annual Leech Lake Walleye Opener and Tournament. We have grown from 13 to 20 guys this year, take up 4 cabins, stay till Tuesday, and have substantially improved the menu which will include rib eyes on Saturday night and ribs on Sunday. With 20 guys, one will only have kitchen duty once, assuring at least 3 mornings to sleep in.

I have been promoted to Tournament Director position, managing the trophy presentation, providing guidance during the weekend, and signing the award certificates for the various places. In addition to the big fish we have a points competition as well. This gives those that might not have the opportunity to compete a chance to win big. We break the tourney down into 6 sessions, one in the morning and one after dinner for each day, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Everyone gets 2 points for each fish they catch, 1 point for each fish the boat landed, and a bonus 2 points if they caught the largest fish for the session. Although I missed the big fish trophy by 1/4 inch, I did nail the points total as well the top gun boat with 54 walleyes for the 3 days. Here is a picture of our group from last year. Brindley's Harbor is a first class place to be on opener. Last year we had substantial ice on the lake as many resorts were not able to launch boats. Although it was cold, we had the best fishing ever. Let's hope the trend continues! Hopefully I can report sometime this weekend on how it's going. Good luck.