Rain, Rain, Go Away.........

Original plans to get out Friday and put a few miles on my snowmobile were squelched by 2 weeks of a prolonged January thaw making the trails less than desireable.  In fact it began raining on Friday night and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon.  Our snowcover took a hit however the good news is that the lakes shed most if not all their snow.  As much as I wanted to make it out fishing on Saturday, the rain was too much to deal with.  As intense as a June soaker, I did not want to deal with the mess.  Sunday  held a better promise of fishing without getting soaked.  My neighbor Tom is always ready to go so we hooked up and headed west to try the crappie lake one more time.  Heading out after lunch we stopped at the hardware store in St. Micheal and loaded up on a scoop of minnows and a couple boxes of waxies.  Tom was cautious as he was unsure of the ice conditions after 2 weeks of 30 degree temperatures.  Assuring it would be fine, I offered to drive.  Figuring about 20 inches of ice, it would be certainly be sloppy and needing a new truck, if I did go through it would be the perfect excuse. 

I started with a picture of my Suburban parked on the ice.  I have many good friends in California, Texas, Florida who think I am crazy for driving on the ice.  Sunday morning found me setting up a new Direct TV receiver, talking to a service center in Oklahoma.   While waiting for the system to run through it's paces I struck up a conversation with the technician regarding his location and what does he do.  He asked how cold it gets, responding that we can drive on the lakes.  The guy thought I was pulling his leg!  On Lake Mille Lacs along with other large bodies of water in Minnesota the resorts rely heavily on the winter ice fishing business by creating a sophisticated road systems often totally over 30 miles.  These roads provide access for ice houses pulled out onto the lake as well as revenue from guys like me who buy day passes for around $10 per car to use their systems to drive to our favorite locations.  Mille Lacs has no less than 20 resorts and business's creating roads and maintaining them.  I bet if you totalled them all there would literally be hundreds of miles of ice roads ranging from the main corridors over 100 feet wide to smaller side roads running to the various structures and favorite fishing spots.  GPS's have been a game changer as now everyone  has their favorite spot and can dictate the resort provide access to them.  Years ago when Liberty Beach would plow a road to the flats, it would be close and you took what was available.  Today they can strategically plow roads on the perimeter of the flats, offering a better idea of the layout and where to fish.  Back then we would simply looked for the dropoff where it would go from 25 feet to 35 feet in a very steep drop.  It could be anywhere on the flat, we just drilled on the top and bottom regardless.  I am not sure fishing is any better knowing exactly where we are at these days.

Back to Sunday our strategy was to fish until around 6:00.  We figured the Viking game would be close contest so getting home before half time would give us a chance to see Brett Favre hose it up for the Purple and Gold (BTW, this was my prediction before the game).  It was still fairly warm so we decided to drill a few holes and see if there were any active fish before setting up the house.  About 5 minutes into fishing I caught a nice crappie.  My next hole about 10 feet away yielded a nice sunfish.  2 nice fish in the span of 15 minutes, it was time to set up.  The ice was covered with a watery slush and the wind had switch to one of those damp, cold bone chilling winds from the west, it felt good to get inside.   Mentioning the wind switch allows me to have an excuse for the next couple hours of fishing.  We did catch a ton of 3 to 6 inch sunnies, another good sunny and closing in on dark, Tom caught a twin to my first crappie.  Thinking that would be a start to the crappie bite, nothing could have been further from the truth.  The picture is my attempt to imitate the great fish pictures that are featured on  MT Bucket's blog.  Stating he uses a standard point and shot camera, I tried his technique and it turned out almost as good as his.  You know what they say, imitation is the best compliment!  My apologies to MT.

Packing up and home by 6:30, I headed for my neighbors to finish watching the Viking game.  Dressed in my usual game attire of Green Bay gear, the insults started immediately upon walking through the door.  Although my neighbors like me, on game day all bets are off, especially when you are the only Cheesehead in sight.  After I reminded them how their success seems dependent on ex-Packer players, we settled down to watch Brent do what he does best, throw the game losing interception as his last play of the season.  Mourning their loss, I reminded my friends that we went through the same thing in 2007, 13-3 and the last play of the game, an interception to the Giants to end the run.  I truly understood their pain.  Frankly nobody sympathized with me as I grinned through the whole discussion.   Luckily the fact the Vikes beat the Packers twice this year was not even mentioned.......thank God! Check out Neenahpete for an interesting clip on our current hero. Hopefully next week I can get up to Mille Lacs and look for some big perch as the bite should be starting to pick up somewhat.

Lack Luster Weekend

This weekend was pretty calm despite being about as perfect a weekend to be ice fishing as I have seen. Unfortunately I was relegated to taking it easy recovering from an angiogram on Friday. This is an interesting procedure where they insert a catheter into your femoral artery and go take a look at your arteries from the inside. Usually this is done if you might have coronary blockages however in my case it was to look at my aortic aneurysm. The males in my family have been known to suffer from this genetic anomaly and when told that we all should have this checked out, like most of us, I ignored the advice. A few years ago while fighting pneumonia, a sharp doctor noticed the problem on a CT scan. Although no laughing matter, it's a heck of a lot better discovering it now rather than on the autopsy table! The results were as expected with my coronary arteries being as clean a whistle, it's probably time to fix the aneurysm. A normal aorta is about 1 inch in diameter and mine is almost 2 inches. Doctors orders were to lay still till Saturday evening as well limit lifting to a max of 10 pounds for a few days. Well that means my ice auger, loading my house, and with a little luck holding a fish fitting that description. There are still a lot more opportunities to get out and hopefully the weather holds off this weekend. The above picture is one I took Tuesday morning behind the house. A heavy fog overnight and temperatures below freezing created this stunning hoar frost on the trees. One of the delights of winter, it was a great reminder how beautiful life is. 

The St. Paul Sportsman Show was last week. It is the first major show of the year and although not as large as the Northwest Sportshow at the Minneapolis Convention Center, it's a good chance to get in the mood. Frankies, my dealer, is the largest Ranger dealer in the world and he had 18 boats on display. It was good to see Frankie and his wonderful wife Deb as they always treat me as their number 1 customer. I spent some time with Keith Holtan of Beaver Creek Cabins and Guide Service, Kenai, AK. Keith was our fishing guide out of Jeff King's in August of 2002 that I wrote about last August 18, 2009. It was great to share war stories as well reconnect with him and hopefully we can get together again before he heads north. One of the things I love to do at these shows is check out all the new products and did I find a gem. Pictured is one of those "Why didn't I think of that" gadgets called the EZ lube. Based on a garden sprayer, it has a bottom hose attached to heavy duty valve with a rubber cone end. It's purpose is to make refilling your outboards lower unit a snap. Simply drain the gear lube out, fill the EZ Lube with good quality gear lube, screw in the pump assemble and pump it up. Hold the rubber end into the bottom fill plug and squeeze the valve. No messy pumps, no squeezing tubes like toothpaste, no almost having all the gear out of the tube yet it's still not full......I just had to have one. As a bonus, Steve Carney, one of my favorite Outdoor News writers and local guide was working the booth. It was great talking with him and hopefully I will win the free trip with him they were giving away. Anxious to test, I will definitely post it's usefulness some time in the future.

On the left side of my layout is a list of Blogs I follow as they are my favorites. I have mentioned Jeff King's Mile 14 in the past and his recent posts have been nothing short of fabulous. Jeff and his wife MP spend a number of weeks in Mexico each winter fishing, relaxing, and escaping from the cold and darkness of Alaska. Jeff fishes every morning and his fishing reports give the feeling of being right there next to him, casting for rooster fish, corvina, and toro. Jeff and his friends work the shorelines along the beach like I work the reefs on Mille Lacs. It's a welcome break from staring out the window looking at the snow! Check out mile14 and experience the thrill of surf fishing in Mexico. Here is a picture from one of Jeff's posts featuring the first rooster fish he caught this year. Although not the largest he has bagged, they certainly are an interesting looking fish. This picture also features the rare evidence of needing a jacket in Mexico.

This week is the Minneapolis Boat Show. My brother Steve has threatened to by a new boat for the last 10 years now and I have reminded him he'd better do it soon before he needs a lift to get in it. The boating industry has seen better times and I have been encouraging Steve to do his part to help the economy. I am sure he appreciates my advice! With my weight lifting restrictions off my goal is to get back out fishing soon.  I know the fish are missing me for sure.

Wheel House Get Away

Last Saturday my friend Mark Applen had called to see if I was heading up to Mille Lacs. Along with the call was an invitation (actually it's a standing one) to fish with him if I wanted to. He had been in his wheel house since Friday, parked near the Highway Bar, about 4 miles from shore. Not sure what I was going to do, it dawned on me that he had Direct TV and was watching the playoffs and fishing at the same time. A quick call back and it was confirmed, I'd be there by 9:00, too late for the dusk bite but maybe a few walleyes would stick around till I got there. Stopping at Lundeens to pick up some shiners, a bonus hunk of smoked ribs came as a nice surprise. Mark is based out of Fisherman's Wharf, located on the south shore of Big Point and has a nice set up for wheel houses. Paying my $10 road pass, I finally arrived ready to do some serious fishing. Wheel houses are hard sided fish houses that are built on a trailer frame. They have the feature of being able to disconnect the axle allowing the house to be lower to the ice. They have many of the same conveniences of a permanent house with the portability factor. You can spend anywhere from $6000 to over $30,000 on this type of shelter. Mark's is a 6 holer with 2 bunks, a table, chairs, satellite TV, furnace, and a extremely quiet 2000W Honda Generator for all the comforts of home. I think after a 24 hours of being there alone, he welcomed the company.

Within 10 minutes of getting myself set up a nice 15 inch walleye slammed my lure. Too excited to take a picture, I immediately dropped the lure back down the hole, 29 feet of water to see if it's twin was there. Within another 5 minutes Mark caught this nice eater walleye. We were in business. Well, business started strong but died faster than Tiger Woods career! That was it. We fished till 1:00 in the morning before setting the rattle reels for the night. We hit the sack with Mark graciously giving me the bottom bunk. There is something about sleeping in an ice house overnight that is magical. Mark claims we had a few rattles go off but you couldn't tell it by me, I was out like a light.

I woke up to this beautiful sunrise on Mille Lacs. If you look hard you can see the moon in the upper right hand corner, it was a nice addition to the scene. Notice the road that is plowed. The resorts plow a loop off a main road so one can pull their wheel house around and have a reasonable way to pull it out when you want to move it. Breakfast consisted of pancakes and eggs as we continued to jig for the now elusive walleye. Putting the camera down, we saw fish but they were extremely skittish, nosing the bait then darting away. This pattern continued until we left at around 5:00. Counting the 2 we caught and 1 Mark had nailed before, we were stopped by the DNR for a creel survey. The survey guy commented how well we did as it was not only the biggest catch of the day, it was the only one of all the cars coming in. Little solace, we accepted our success and headed home.

Mark Applen is an incredible man. Losing his 17 year old son to cancer 7 years ago, Mark and his wife Jan turned this tragedy into an unbelievable work of charity helping children and their families cope with this horrible disease. Through the Eric Nicolin Applen Fund, Mark and Jan raise money through an annual golf tournament held each June. Since it's inception, the ENA Fund has raised over $150,000 by ordinary people who believe that Eric lives through helping others. I invite you to check out their website and truly look at it to see all of the good that has been done. http://www.eric-nicolin-applen-fund.com/enafund.html I quote Eric's motto, "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow.", MaryAnne Radmacher. Myself and a number of people volunteer our time and I would say that it is the most rewarding thing I have done in my life.

Ice Fishing Equipment Today

Now that we are in the heart of ice fishing season I thought it would be nice to share my equipment and get a better understanding of how we ice fish today. When I grew up, ice fishing was a simple cup type auger that drilled a 6 inch hole. By the time I turned 20 the Mora Swedish Auger came on the market and really changed the game of drilling holes in the ice, if you keep the blades sharp. Poles consisted of a simple stick with a nail in the end to secure in the ice. There were no reels and the line was simply wrapped between 2 posts on the handle. There were no portable shelters or electronics and most serious fisherman had a simple hard sided permanent shelter with a wood stove. Today's ice fisherman have a wide variety of equipment that rivals their soft water counterparts.

Without a doubt the most valuable piece of equipment today for ice fishing is the portable depth finder. My first depth finder was a Heath Kit model. Heath Kit was a company that basically sold unassembled electronic equipment at a substantial discount over comparable finished brand named product. This included a variety of unassembled products including televisions, radios, and a host of electronic test equipment. The difference is that you had to solder together the circuit boards, assemble the product into the chassis and do all the electrical calibration. The finished depth finder was almost identical to the Classic Lorwance Green Box. Although it worked good, the 0 - 60 foot range was too deep for the waters we normally fish. Reading an early InFisherman magazine, they talked about using these summer depth finders for winter fishing. Quickly converting it for winter use, I was in business. My next depth finder was another flasher, the Hummingbird Super 30. Again a box type it worked great as a winter fish finder and worked excellent until I saw the Micronar FL-8, 3 colored LED flasher (now Vexilar). This was the ticket and could be used on my boat in the summer. Building a special mounting box with a motorcycle battery and my own transducer mount, it still is being used by my friend Jack Taylor. Upgrading I got the new FL-8, then a FL-18 and now a FL-20 pictured. It has all the bells and whistles and are truly my eyes on what is going on beneath my hole. I am spoiled for sure.

The next most important piece of equipment is the power auger. Today I run a Strikemaster Lazer 9 inch. As mentioned before I started with the Mora Swedish 7 inch hand auger and still use it for early ice. Once the ice gets past 6 inches it's time to produce some CO2! My first auger was a used Jiffy I found in the newspaper. At $100, it served me very well for many years but was starting to get weak. Bill Lundeen carried the new 3 bladed Laser 9 inch and I just had to have one. It was nothing but trouble. The red handle broke twice and the 3 bladed auger was worthless as Strikemaster had replaced it once already. Taking it back to Strikemaster once they seen me standing with it the first thing the guy said was "having trouble cutting?" They knew and put a new 2 bladed 9" auger and it's been perfect ever since. The auger is 42 inches long and at our Lake of the Woods trip in April we need another 12 inch extension to get through the ice. It certainly makes hole drilling easy, especially if your drilling many holes. I find that the 9 inch hole is a perfect size, especially with a transducer floating in it.

High up on the list is the ice shelter. My first portable was a small one man dome tent you set up on the ice. It was quite small and could be heated with a small single burner Coleman portable camp stove. I often would feel sorry for the guys fishing with me as i was always snug and warm while the others were forced to stay outside. My best day ever ice fishing on Mille Lacs was in that dome as we were right by Doe Island and the fish went bonkers. I must have caught 18 walleyes in 45 minutes. That's a challenge with an open flame stove inside the tent with you. My others included a Frabil, 2 Insta-tents, 4 Otters, and finally this Clam Thermal X fully insulated portable. Abet heavy, it is roomy and extremely warm inside. This will be my third year and it is the best shelter I have yet to own. Once you get a good seal around the outside flaps, you can comfortably fish in short sleeves even if it is -10 below outside. The inside was designed with the fisherman in mind with heavy duty poles, sown in pockets for storage, and I found some real neat Frabil velcro hooks that make organizing a breeze.

Too keep the house warm I use a Mr. Heater Big Buddy propane heater. This baby puts out a whooping 18,000 BTU's. A lot of my friends have the standard size Mr. Heater 9000 BTU however I'd rather have the big output and be able to turn it down as opposed to just being able to stay warm. Prior to this I was a big fan of what we call a Sunflower Heater. Screwed directly to the propane cylinder, they do a great job of heating but are a definite burn hazard. Having burned a number of good bibs and shirts as well as my friend Jason's Otter Ice house I sold it to him a few weeks earlier, the Big Buddy is expotentially safer. It has a number of safety shutoff features including a tip sensor as well as a low oxygen sensor, which in the confined space is a real plus. The other advantage is being able to leave my propane tank outside, using a hose to connect the two. I love the extra room. The only issue has been the water puddle from the heat melting the ice in front of the heater. This was solved using a custom made piece of treated plywood cut to fit the corner and keep the ice in it's frozen state.

Next are the lures. Here is 2 of my very favorites. The Jigging Rapala and Lindy's Rattlin Flyer. The Jigging Rapala has a clear plastic tail piece that is glued to the lead body. This causes the lure to move forward as the lure is jigged. It can move horizontally up to 18 inches when you quickly pull the line up. This action mimics a minnow darting around, giving that injured look. On the bottom center treble hook I always put a minnow head for an attractant. Many times the fish will just hit the minnow head however if in an aggressive mode will literally inhale the entire bait. As you see with hooks on either end it does an excellent job of hooking those fish that attack it. The other go to bait is the relatively new Rattlin' Flyer by Lindy. The center is actually a hollow chamber with a couple of hard BB's inside that rattle when jigging. The wings on either side help to give it a random action, moving to the side. It has a red treble hook on the end, a color that has become extremely popular, and one that I personally think is worthless as red is the first color to disappear 5 feet under water! Again my favorite presentation is with a minnow head firmly attached to the hook. That rattle can really call them in.

Last but not least is my latest investment. Although Ice Armor specialized Ice fishing suits have

been around for a few years now, I have resisted the "Geek" factor and ignored the benefits. My trusty old Carhartt's have served me well yet not being water proof I guess I just got sick of

getting wet knees from kneeling on the ice. My brother Steve gave me a generous gift of a Cabela's Certificate for a job I had done a while back. Although not expected, one never looks a gift horse in the mouth. Deciding to treat myself to a Christmas present, I drove over and picked up this suit. It is really very nice for the person that tends to fish outside a lot, which I like to do. In fact it even says on the label, "Like wearing your own portable shelter". Well I don't know about that but with a ton of pockets and water proof fabrics I should not have been so stubborn when they first came out. Ice Armor has an extreme model however I believe that it would probably be too hot sitting in my shelter.

Well there are other things like specialize ice rods with spring bobbers, reels filled with braided line for positive hooksets, clamp on rattle reels for positive alerts to a set line bite, underwater camera's, and a menagerie of tried and true baits for all occasions. Either way having the right equipment can make your time on the ice much more comfortable. If you have any questions please drop me a comment below and I will try to help. As far as fishing this week, I just got home from a night on Mille Lacs with my friend Mark Applen. Having Direct TV in his ice house was a great incentive to spend Saturday night and Sunday afternoon jigging and watching the playoffs. We caught a total of 3 walleyes, which by the comments of the DNR creel survey guy who interviewed us as we drove off the lake, was the best catch of the day! I will do a short update on our fishing trip later in the week.

Second Time Around

Sometimes tempting fate the second time guarantees little or nothing. On the other hand it is often said it's sweeter the second time around. New Years Eve Day was a decision point, work till 5:00 when 90% of your customers are off or return to see if the mad bite of 2 weeks earlier was still going on. My neighbor Tom mentioned earlier in the week that if I had an empty seat, he'd like to be in it. A simple phone call and we were set, Mille Lacs here we come! The Christmas snowstorm dumped 12 inches on the lake and getting to my spot was going to take more than my ATV. My friend Bill has a nice older two up sled with a hitch and in a pinch it makes great transportation to those far away spots. Arriving at Lundeens my first job was to get the sled started. Being idle for about 9 months only guaranteed it was there. These Polaris 3 cylinder engines can be interesting to get started and this one was no different. After draining the battery the next step was to pull the plugs and dump gas into the cylinders. After reinstalling the plugs, a quick pull of the recoil and she fired right up. Getting our bait, we hooked up my portable and began the 7 mile journey.

I was surprised how much the snow had settled and how hard it had become. Expecting a sea of deep powdered snow, I think if you could trust the ice thickness below, you could drive anywhere with a 4 x 4 truck. Of course this unknown keeps most anglers away form offshore structures. It was definitely cold and I was happy to arrive at our destination no worse for the wear. Having decided to both fish out of one house, we drilled 3 holes and set up. I drilled an additional 10 holes outside the house to provide an outlet when the fishing slowed. The fish started biting immediately. Although not fast and furious the bite was steady. What was different than 2 weeks ago was the absence of the hordes of 8 - 10 inch fish and replaced with ones 13 - 17 inches. We never caught a fish over 17 inches. Tom and I ended up with 7 walleyes however a couple where nice enough to keep yet we got greedy thinking we could get a larger one. Because I had the Vexilar and Tom didn't, the advantage went to me for fish caught. After catching my limit I gave Tom my depth finder and it made the difference. He ended up with the largest fish of the day, and it was the classic fish that you see on the Vexilar that shoots up from the bottom to slam the lure. It certainly confirms the need to have those eyes keeping track of your lure and the fish below.

Fishing walleyes under the ice requires figuring out where they are and then determining if they are aggressive, neutral, or negative mood. In Mille Lacs there are many different areas that walleyes hang out. As in the summer, during the winter walleyes can be found throughout the various structures whether it is deep gravel, the mud flats, or reef areas. It can be a guessing game as to where you think they will be. Personally I enjoy off shore areas that are 4 to 10 feet shallower than the surrounding deeper water. The edge of flats can be particularly interesting as you can fish 25 feet of water and 10 yards away it will be 35 feet. Once set up I like to determine the mood of the fish. My first go to bait is the jigging Rapala with a minnow head attached to the bottom hook. This bait along with others like it are a favorite for aggressive fish. I define aggressive fish as those that literally slam the bait as though it was their last meal. You can easily see this on your depth finder as the fish will come up 2 - 5 feet to hit the bait. A number of years back I was fishing a deep area on Lake of the Woods called 16 mile reef. At the edge in 30 feet of water the fish went crazy. On my line was a 1/4 oz flat jigging spoon with a minnow. It fell rather slowly to the bottom, such is the desire when the fish are in a neutral mode. At 20 feet you could see the fish come up from the bottom and met the lure at 23 feet, slamming it hard. One problem with the depth finder is as you see this happening it can become easy to pull the lure away from the fish. Hooking only 1 of 3 strikes, it was obvious the fish were extremely aggressive and for me, it took to long for my bait to sink so I put on a heavier jigging Rap. It fell twice a fast and with more hooks, I caught almost every fish for the next half hour. It was a good move. Other good aggressive baits are the new Chubby Darters, Puppet Minnows and any other swim type baits.

The fish we caught this trip were in a fairly neutral mood. This means that they are present, curious, but hesitant to hit the lure hard. Often on the depth finder you can get them to follow a bait slowly up and in a flash they are gone. When the fish are in this mood I like to use either the new Rattlin' Flyer, either a rattle or plain Hawger Spoon, or something flashy but less action. The rattles provide enough noise to bring them in, giving you time to work the fish. Tipped with just a minnow head these fish will decide to bite the hook after looking at it for some time. Often this bite is a simple inhale and if one sees a nice red mark overshadowing the lure a gentle 1/4 inch movement of the rod tip will let you know if there is any resistance.........set the hook! Negative fish are another story. Usually it means a live minnow on a plain hook or smaller bait. These fish may simply grab the minnow and pull down the bobber and hold it for minutes before deciding to finish it off. I always like to have a minnow down the hole in case something swims buy. The great news is that at some point if the fish are there, they will turn on and become aggressive. When this happens hang on as it really doesn't matter what you have on the end of your line, walleyes will hit about anything then.

With -25 below both Friday and Saturday nights and highs around zero, I decided that football was in the cards for the rest of the week. The cold weather takes a toll on the equipment as demonstrated by the propane hose which froze to the tank then kindly snapped off. The weather gave me the opportunity to get everything back to working condition for the coming weekend. Maybe a threepeat is in the works.

Oh The Weather Outsides Delightful.......

This Christmas was interesting for us in Minnesota. It started on December 20th with all the local weather broadcasters forecasting the next "Storm of the Century" starting on Wednesday night through Saturday. Two low pressure systems were set up to meet, dumping up to 24 inches of snow by the time it's done, or so they say. All this brew-ha-ha forced mom to cancel our traditional Christmas Eve in Eleva, moving it to Sunday. Well, the snow turned to rain and although the storm lasted almost 4 days, the totals were somewhat less than predicted. About12 inches here in Dayton, it only accumulated back home to the tune of around 4 inches. Either way my snow blower and ATV got a pretty good workout, as well the weather forecasters lived their fantasies. Traveling to Galesville on Saturday, it was Christmas Day with my sister-in-law. My present to Sue was to fix her gas fireplace that would not stay lit, then loading Microsoft Office 2007 on the computer. Christmas on Sunday turned out to be pretty good as everyone was not stressed to get everything accomplished in a short time. As a bonus I did get to visit my classmate and good friend Rick Semingson and his parents, Dunk and Mary. Rick is retiring this year, boy how time flies. We also visited my friend Kevin and Janet Aiona. Come to think of it Kevin is a year younger than I and is also retired! He had a nice bucket of sunfish caught in Alma a few hours earlier. The above picture is looking east from my driveway. We have a good 14 inches on the ground and it's time to get the snowmobile out and put a few miles on.

One of the things I like to bring my folks for Christmas is my now famous apple wood smoked turkey. Having a variety of smokers over the years I finally have a professional style smoke oven made by Cookshack. After trying a number of methods have settled into brining the turkey with Maple Cure from PS Seasoning, a Wisconsin meat supply company. Making a brine using 1 pound of cure to 2 gallons of water, I reserve about a pint of cure and inject it into the turkey before soaking for 24 hours. One of the best turkeys for smoking are Archer Farms Brand, butter injected frozen turkey's from Target. They produce the most moist finished product of any brand I've tried, butter just flows out as you make that first slice into the breast meat. Taking up to 1 hour a pound, apple wood smoke at 250 degrees, the picture is the finished product. I guarantee it tastes as good as it looks. The brine has cure in it and gives the turkey a ham like flavor that is second to none.

With the snow messing up my weekend schedule, my neighbor Lory and I got out on Saturday afternoon to see if those big crappies would show up west of town. Although we did not get the big snows as predicted, what did snow was heavy, wet, mixed with rain. These conditions make ice fishing interesting. The snow on the ice causes 2 major issues, first being that it insulates the ice slowing the freezing process. Without this latest storm, we would be driving on the lakes by now. The other issue is the weight of the snow will cause water to be forced up on the ice flooding the surface under the snow. Forming a layer of slush, it makes travel and setting up on the ice very sloppy. Any ice houses that were on the lakes prior to the storm need to be jacked up higher than this slush layer or they will freeze in solid. Driving to the lake we found the conditions as described. Pulling our gear, it seemed like we walked a mile up hill! 6 inches of snow, 2 of it was slush, 150 yards later we set up. Immediately the sunfish appeared and they were hungry. With about an 90 minutes before the sun went down the action was steady catching about 30 fish. Most were small but I managed to keep 4 nice ones while waiting for the crappies to show. As the sun set those 12 inch crappies where non-existent in my holes. Lory had slightly better luck catching one. Another mile back to the truck, we called it a day. Mille Lacs is in my sight this weekend and maybe another trip to to check out the crappies. This cold weather predicted for the rest of the week will certainly help the situation.

Smack Down Time!

Knowing I was going to fish on Saturday the real question was where? As the last 2 Decembers have proved, this time of year the big crappies can be caught west of town. Early ice on Mille Lacs is also tempting as the fish have not been pressure for a couple of months now. A few calls along with a couple of Internet searches and Mille Lacs it was. My neighbor Lory Brasel and a friend Russ Clos agreed that it would be fun to try so we loaded up our gear, ATV's and headed north. Reports of minimal snow and 12 inches of ice gave us the opportunity to hit an offshore mud area about 5 miles out. As always we stopped at Lundeens to get our bait and to get an initial read on the lake. The day looked promising with the sun peeking out , trying to keep temperature reasonable. The other thing the sun does is stimulate the perch bite and we were hoping for these bonus fish.

Arriving at the desired destination we quickly set up about 100 feet apart. The area we fished was fairly large and spreading out would give us a chance to locate active fish. In addition to setting up my house I drilled about 20 holes perpendicular to the line we set up with the houses. If it's nice out and slow in the house I like to hole hop from one to another looking for active fish. It's a great technique if you can put up with the cold. The first rig I set up is a simple bobber rig with a rainbow shiner decorating my jig at the end of my line. This is usually good for a fish or two, and is deadly on the eelpout! My main hole is where I jig various lures such as Hawger Spoons, Jigging Raps, Swedish Pimples, Chubby Darters, and Rattlin' Flyers. I also have a 4.5 inch hand auger used to drill a hole for my Vexilar transducer which keeps it away from fish tangling when bringing them up. Starting out with a Jigging Rap it gives an idea if the fish are aggressive or passive. They will slam the lure if in an aggressive mood or simply ignore it when they are more passive. Half an hour of the Rap showed fish however they were not interested in the quick swimming minnow imitation. My next go to lure lately is the Rattlin' Flyer, a winged lure with a rattle chamber. Lures with rattles can really draw the fish in as the are curious to see what all the commotion is about. For an attractant I snap off the head of a nice fathead minnow and hook it to the lure. Often this simple addition makes a huge difference. This proved to be the right move as fish immediately appeared on both my depth finder as well as the video camera which was positioned to watch the action around the lure. A number of walleyes swam by until one just smacked the lure with vengeance. Unfortunately it was only 10 inches but it was a start. The next 2 hours were filled with 8 - 12 inch fish attacking or simple sucking in the minnow head. In the meantime Lory and Russ had each nailed a nice keeper walleye. It was my turn as I had caught a number of smaller fish. About 4:00 somebody turned the switch on. It was like a WWF Smack Down! Fish were coming in and very aggressively hitting the lure. Within the next hour we had caught 9 walleyes, 14 - 15 inch keepers along with a nice 23 inch walleye I released. The top picture are the 6 fish I cleaned at the house and the bottom picture is the largest I released. Unfortunately I forgot the first rule of a good blogger, to always take your camera! I usually get so excited about going that I always forget something. Improvising Russ took this picture with my phone. Far from the best, it at least shows the nice fish I released (I am positive I will hear about this one). It was a great day of fishing for sure. I was surprised that not one perch was caught or seen by Lory, Russ, or I yet I did end up with over 20 walleyes caught for the afternoon.

A couple of side notes. About a mile the lake ice transformed into a maze of ice chunks scattered as though Ol' Paul Bunyan himself stirred the lake just before it froze. I can't remember a year it was so rough. This week the forecast for Mille Lacs and the surrounding area including the Twin Cities are looking at up to 19 inches of snow, maybe more. This will put a severe burden on the lake as the weight of the snow will make maintaining Ice Houses on the lake as well as travel very difficult. Although the resorts will plow roads, it would have been nice if the snow would have waited about another week. Oh well, I am pretty sure we will survive. The storm will make our already white Christmas even whiter. Have a great Christmas where ever you are. With a little luck we will get dug out and ready to take advantage of the holiday season drilling lots of holes. I know those crappies are still there!

Rude Awaking

After getting use to the weather in both Key West and San Jose, I woke up this morning with the realization it's not going to get any warmer in Minnesota for a while. With a crisp -10 degrees this morning it is a full 95 degree temperature swing from what I experienced 10 days ago. Oh well, life up north! With that in mind a last reminder and parting shot from Key West. Although it is hard to see, on the left side of the brown pelican is a ripple and another one just below, are the back fins of those large tarpon living in the harbor. As we were cleaning the fish both the tarpon and the pelicans would compete for the scraps. It was a pretty interesting sight as the fish were exceptionally quick to dispose of anything thrown over, including the carcasses we cut up and the skins. Tarpon have huge gaping mouths and made quick work in a single gulp. I asked if anyone tries to hook these monsters and was assured that the marina would not look kindly on the person who would attempt this. It was an interesting surprise to see these beautiful fish.

After being gone for 8 out of the last 10 days, I came home to the snow and cold. Although my neighbors help out in clearing the snow there is still much to do. I have a Polaris 800EFI with a plow which makes short work of my pole shed driveway and the back road to my trailer storage area. It took most of the day to clean up everything, just in time for another 3 inches Sunday night. Saturday night was the neighborhood Christmas party at the Botner's and it never disappoints. Unfortunately I tend to stay to the very end which was 3:00 Sunday morning. Of course this had a direct affect on my plans for ice fishing on Sunday. Like a good trooper I did make it out to Pelican Lake for the evening bite.

Assuming the ice would be about 4 - 6 inches thick and I would need to walk a bit, I decided to take my old Swedish Mora 7" hand auger. It's not been used in years and figured it was probably a little dull, the thin ice would make it tolerable. I have a Nils Master 4 1/2 inch auger that slices like butter however I wanted to use my Vexilar in the hole and 4 1/2 inches is pretty small. For these early excursions I have a small portable 1 man shelter that my friend Bill gave me. It fits perfectly in the back of my Suburban and is easy to pull around. Arriving at the lake and walking out about 1/4 mile, I picked a likely looking spot, quickly discovered that my auger was significantly duller than I had imagined and the ice was at least 10 inches thick. Rocking the auger back and forth, 15 minutes later I had a hole through the ice. Normally I drill 2 holes, one for my jigging rod and one as a set line however that wasn't going to happen this time. Luckily I brought a heater with and soon had a warm and cozy place to fish, and fish I did. Usually one can nail a few sunnies as well the crappie bite always gets going at dark. I guess someone forgot to tell the fish and I did not rule out the mental game as getting home at 3:00 takes it's toll! I did take a picture of the lake with a few guys scattered around me. A quick census showed I was not alone. Oh well, it was good to get out seeing the swans flying back to the river and listening to the owls hoot their chorus of sounds was worth it. Next week I will get more serious.

One thing nice about fishing on the northwest side of the Twin Cities is that Cabela's stands in the way of my journey home. They had a sale on an item my Cousin Greg introduced me to, Fleece Lined Jeans. At $24 a pair, they are one of the best investments for the winter. It sure beats having to wear long johns! So to Greg I say Thanks.....Thanks A lot. I'll be looking for the big crappies next week. Also, take the time to check out this weeks post by MT Bucket (see the link on my left sidebar). All I can say is I am jealous!

Key West Fishing Paradise

I am finally getting time to report on last weeks adventure. After spending 5 days in warm Florida this post is being written from San Jose, California. It is not as warm as the Keys but certainly more comfortable than the -5 degree blizzard they are having in Minnesota right now! The conference went well and as the host I made my mark by arranging a presentation by my friend Fred Lehman. Fred is probably one of the most interesting persons you could ever meet and although his hour long presentation on the Structure of the Milky Way was somewhat unrelated to the transformer business, for most part our attendees were spellbound. You can see Fred's work at http://www.starfred.com/.

After being stuck for 3 days indoors hosting the conference in West Palm Beach, my business partner Lyle and I headed to Key West a couple days of leisure. The highlight of our time included a 6 hour fishing adventure with with Captain Steve Rodger of Spear One Charters. This would be my first time in the Keys and I was not disappointed. The trip began at a local marina convenient from our hotel, meeting Captain Steve at 7:20. The first thing I noticed were the twin 300hp Mercury Verado's hanging off the back of the boat. The boat was a 28 foot Conch, open bow with a center console, 2 very large livewells, insulated storage, it was set up beautifully. I could only imagine what this boat could do. After stowing our gear it was off to catch our bait. Our strategy was to catch at least 500 or so pilchards and fill the baitwell. We cruised the shallow areas along the shorelines looking for pelicans diving into the water, as this would indicate the presence of baitfish below. With my boating experience, I was directed to run the boat while Captain Steve threw the cast net into the school. The water was less than 2 feet deep and because it was rather windy, the water was less than ideal for locating these schools. My job entailed watching the Captain and as soon as he threw the net, stop the motors and trim them all the way down, driving the skags into the bottom, anchoring the boat. I was surprised how well the cast net worked with up to 100 fish with each throw. We did get the boat stuck a few times before we had our compliment of lively 4 - 6 inch pilchards, similar to the shiners we use in Minnesota. The water in shore was this beautiful turquoise color caused by the white coral sand on the bottom. My first picture was taken on our way back but it really shows this amazing effect.

Our first location was an underwater reef rising to 60 feet surrounded by 160 foot water. Did I mention it was windy? The waves were at least 8 feet from bottom to top (we in Minnesota would call them 8 footers but on the ocean they are officially 4 foot seas). The tide was running almost opposite the wind, which made conditions difficult. We would anchor on the edge of the reef and start chumming for fish. This meant putting a block of frozen ground up fish into our chum bag as well throwing live pilchards into the water to attract fish. It didn't take long for the fish to show up. You could see them gathering behind the chum line in flashes of brilliant blue, yellow and silver. The key was to fish those out of sight as they were pretty finicky. Our equipment included a heavy spinning rod and reel with mono or braided line and a fluorocarbon leader. We used a plain Mustad live bait hook with no weights, letting the bait drift with the current, creating it's own action. It took some getting use to as the wind worked against the current causing a substantial bow in the line. It didn't take long to get the first fish, a bar jack. These fish fight like crazy! Being a good fish to eat we had one in the box. The next fish to come on board was a yellow tail snapper, what we were really after. These are some of the best tasting fish caught and are plentiful. Unfortunately sharks love them as well. My first yellow tail was greeted by a 6 foot shark that decided it wanted the fish more than I did. Grabbing the fish

and diving, there was little to do but break the line. This played itself out many times and one soon learned that you cannot give the sharks the opportunity for an easy feast. According to our Captain, these sharks have learned where the easy meals are and show up frequently. The good news is we managed to get 7 nice yellow tails. The second picture is me holding the bar jack and a yellow tail.

Being a seasoned fisherman it did not take me long to figure out the system. These fish hit hard and once hooked they take off. On the other hand for Lyle this was his first trip fishing on the ocean and with a guide. It was important that to make sure he was having a great time. It took him some time to get comfortable with the waves, managing your presentation, and landing the fish. Although the fish practically hooked themselves, the real challenge was to get them to the

boat before the sharks. Lyle became the sharks best friend! It took a while but Lyle did pretty well. The first nice fish was this cobia he is holding with Captain Steve. These fish fight like crazy and the sharks would rather dine on yellow tail so he had a better chance of landing it. Although cobia are a great eating fish, there is a minimum length and this one was just a tad too short. Notice the spines just before the dorsal fin. These can inflict a very painful sting, which might explain the shark avoidance.

One of our issues was a pending storm approaching the Keys. A line of thunderstorms had stalled for a few days and on Saturday morning it had let loose. With only a few hours before it would be on us, we decided to try for larger fish like Mahi Mahi, tuna, wahoo, and sailfish. Because reefs tend to draw all species of fish this time of year we headed out about a mile and drifted back in. The strategy was the same, throw a ton of bait into the water to attract the fish and hope they would take the ones with hooks in them. It didn't take long for the tuna to arrive. The first on was a small skip jack tuna, not as good as yellow fin but acceptable. The next fish I caught was a bonita, a very dark fleshed member of the tuna family good for cat food or cut bait. The Captain saved it for future clients. Finally Lyle hooked into a nice fish. To Lyle's credit he works out at the gym frequently and this fish provided him with his daily routine! After a grueling 15 minute fight we gaffed this nice black fin tuna, the prize for the day. With the storm front clearly in view there was time for another short drift. Although we emptied our bait well in an attempt to entice our quarry, this drift produced nothing.

It was time to leave with 10 miles between us and the dock. I was amazed at how well the boat handled in the waves as we struck the storm head on. Just like on Mille Lacs, the wind shifted from the north at 40 mph as we hit the wall of rain. Once into the turquoise waters again, the shallows dissipated the waves and we were able to let those Verado's breath. Once at the dock the rain stopped and hints of blue sky had already shown itself. We gathered our fish and Captain Steve began to fillet. The table was mounted right at the end of the dock edge with a compliment of pelicans waiting for a free lunch. Wanting to learn how to clean these fish I assisted in skinning and removing rib cages and bones. Tossing the scraps out into the water produced a huge swirl before the pelicans could get to the morsel. I looked into the water and there were 6 huge tarpon cruising around too, looking for handouts. A couple of them were over 6 feet long. Apparently like the pelicans they have made this their permanent home living on the scraps of each days fishing adventures. It was pretty interesting to say the least.

Although we did not catch a lot of fish or any large ones, it truly was a fabulous experience. I would recommend Captain Steve to anyone as he was knowledgeable, patient, had first class equipment and provided what you should get from a guide, a great time. After learning my lesson when I brought fish back from Cabo, we cut them up into dinner sized portions, the hotel allowed us to use their freezer, and on the way back we purchased a cooler and some dry ice for the airplane ride home. The fish were good an froze and I look forward to having some yellow tail snapper next week. Although I have spent the last 8 out of 10 days in balmy weather, it is supposed to be below zero this week and I might just be able to get out on first ice this weekend. Lets hope!

That Time of Year Again!

On Tuesday I am heading south to beat the cold weather coming in and will be attending the Fall Meeting of the TTA (The Transformer Association) at the PGA National Golf Resort, West Palm Beach, Florida. The TTA is a Trade Organization of North American Transformer Manufacturers and Suppliers, and my company Precision Inc, makes transformers. So what the heck is a transformer? Well, it is a very important electrical device that is in every aspect of your life. A transformer essentially transforms one voltage to a different voltage through the magic of magnetic theory. The obvious use for transformers are those that take high line voltages and step them down to 230 VAC for your house, those round things on the power poles, or like in my neighborhood the big green boxes sitting on the ground. Every battery charger has one, televisions, cell phone chargers, almost anything run by electricity in your house has a transformer. This industry, like many electronic products have seen many changes in the last 15 years. It was estimated that in 1995 there were over 3000 transformer manufactures in the United States. Today there are less than 700 as China continues to be the preferred place for electronic manufacturing world wide. Luckily there still is a need for good old American engineering!

Having been in the industry for 34 years now (I started when I was 10!) I have seen a number of interesting transformer designs related to fishing. My 2 more famous ones included a call I received from a design house doing work for a new depth finder model here in Minnesota. In most depth finder applications there is a transformer that steps up the voltage, in order to allow the transducer to generate a signal. The company had been working with a competitor of mine, however they were late in getting a sample. Time was running out as they needed to finalize the design for the upcoming Christmas season and Cabela's had ordered a bunch of them. Having the equipment, I made a sample while they waited and the rest was history. We eventually made about 20,000 units before it went to China. The transformer was for the new Clearwater Classic by Zercom. Today that transformer design is still being used. My second interesting fish project was a guy that had a unique idea for a new lure. It had a movable lip that could be controlled by a circuit inside the lure body. By programing the circuit, the lip would change causing the lure to either move deeper or shallower. I thought it was a great idea however at the time (probably 1988) I wondered how many people were willing to spend $30 on a lure! Notice any in the stores lately?

One reason we have our meetings the week after Thanksgiving is that few people or business conferences happen. This is usually super off peak time and can often book rooms and meeting places at 1/3rd the going rate. Lucky I don't golf because I hear the rates are $200 a round at the PGA. I will be going with my business partner Lyle Shaw and this year I am the Chairman of the meeting. At each fall meeting we have an economist give use his annual report and the guy is incredibly accurate, predicting this downturn over 5 years ago! Once the meeting is done Lyle wants to spend some time in Key West. Having never been there and taking advantage of some super over Saturday air fares, we are booked at The Inn in Key West, pictured here. Last year we were just south of Jacksonville Fl, and it was far from a tropical paradise. That Wednesday morning greeted us with an unFlorida like 32 degree temperature. I have been assured that Key West is the only city in the United States that has never had a frost, snow, nothing! The forecast looks like the mid 70's for a high and high 60's for a low. Either way I love palm trees and it looks great.

Of course Key West means just one thing to me.............Fishing! Lyle is not much of a fisherman however I talked him into joining me on a six hour charter with Spear One Charters. This should be a totally different experience than with Captain Dave, our guide from last year. (Here is the post if you are interested: http://davidjanderson.blogspot.com/2008/12/morning-with-capt-dave.html) Having checked out a number of sites I quickly learned that Key West fishing is either reef fishing, wreck fishing, or deep water fishing. E-mailing Captain Steve I asked him which would offer the best opportunities this time of year. To my surprise his response was, they are all very close to each other and if wanted we could do all three. That was enough for me! We are booked at 7:00AM on Saturday with the program to go out and catch our bait first, then fish. The different areas should provide me with a totally new fishing experience, with a number of species I have never caught before. I would really like to get a nice Mahi Mahi (also known as Dorado or Dolphin Fish) as they are simply beautiful as well as fabulous to eat. My biggest challenge is to figure out what to do with the fish once we catch them. Unlike Alaska where they have businesses designed to clean, pack, freeze, and ship your catch, Key West has no such establishments. I have some ground work to do, hopefully the hotel can freeze them for us and I have located a dry ice source just in case. It seems odd that such a well established fishing location has no facilities to assist the traveler. Maybe if I like it down there, well you never know. I may need a few days to recuperate but certainly stay tuned for what I hope will be a fabulous report from Key West! I added a couple new songs that better portray the up and coming events. Enjoy.

3rd Week of Deer Camp?!?!?!

With my Minnesota deer hunting experience being somewhat lackluster, I decided to reward myself with a trip to hunt in Wisconsin. My late brother-in-law still has 40 acres north of LaCrosse as well a ready made stand waiting for someone like me to occupy. I can only remember a warmer hunting experience about 25 years ago in Roseau Mn when the temperature was near 60. The weather this year has sure been unusual. October was one of the coldest on records and November is looking to be one of the warmest on record. I guess everything tends to even out in the end. With warm November weather comes fog and Saturday morning was no exception. As thick as pea soup, visibility was about 20 feet. Usually fog means that the deer are simply bedded down for the day. With early morning temperatures at around 30, the condensation on the trees made it appear as though it was raining out. Luckily my my stand was fully insulated with a roof! Don't let that fool you however, there were holes created by squirrels as well as other animal gifts scattered on the floor. I don't think the stand had been used in a few years, however it was comfortable. The picture is the view out of the main window. Overlooking a small valley, the foreground includes about 7 acres of black walnut trees planted about 8 years ago. These trees are about 5 inches in diameter and will be worth a fortune 30 years from now. Beyond the walnuts is an erosion control pond, half full of water and the edges trampled down like a cattle pasture. Heading in my general direction are deer trails wore into the ground like cattle paths. About every 20 yards there is a tree with one side tore to shreds by a buck polishing his antlers. Right below my stand was a walnut tree literally destroyed. It takes a pretty nice buck to inflict that kind of damage to a tree that size. Unfortunately none of tree wreckers decided to show up on either Saturday or Sunday. The good news has to be they are there and it is just a matter of time.

Hunting in Wisconsin is much different than in Minnesota. Half of Minnesota is north of Wisconsin so the deer hunting season starts 2 weeks earlier. Minnesota divides the state into 4 zones, with different regulations for each. Within the zones are management areas dictating harvest levels. Zone 1 allows hunting for 2 full weeks, 3 weekends, where as some zones only allow 2 days of hunting. Unless you want to pay for an all state license, you are stuck hunting a specific zone. Wisconsin on the other hand opens it's season the weekend before Thanksgiving and runs 9 days. You are allowed to hunt the entire state however like Minnesota, there are management areas for identifiy special regulations. One advantage of hunting in Minnesota is it occurs during the peak of the rut. Bucks can be easier to harvest during this time as they have other things on their mind besides survival! Although the bucks can be in rut by the time Wisconsin season begins, the majority have finished. Unfortunately many big bucks, like last weeks post are killed by cars as the deer are really running in early November. Certainly both states brag of massive bucks taken each year during their respective season. I will certainly get back and try to find that buck making the insane rub.

My friend Dewey of What's Dewey Doin'? made a comment about deer hunting when he was a teenager. It reminded me of my first day's deer hunting. As stated in last years post, my dad would usually go up north with the boys for deer hunting leaving me to wait till he gets back. My first deer hunting adventure was with my late uncle Dewey Anderson. Eleva is in the picturesque bluff area of what is called the Driftless Region of Wisconsin. This is an area extending either side of the Mississippi River which was untouched by the glaciers during the last ice age. I was 15 at the time and Dewey invited me to go with him. His family included his wife Shirley, daughters Debbie, Susan, Anita, and Laura. No boys! Up until his unfortunate passing, I became the son he never had. We hunted on his in-laws land, a large bluff south of town. Back then there was little in warm clothing relying on cotton long john union suits, wool shirts, and a ton of socks. Of course even if you were cold it was wise to keep your mouth shut if you wanted to go back out again the following day. They might have been the good ol'days but they certainly were colder. That area was part of a small section of the state that allowed buck or doe the first 2 days with buck only after the first Sunday. Other areas were allowed to harvest a doe via a "party permit". You needed 4 hunters to sign up and if you were drawn, you could shot an extra deer via your party permit. This was an old hold over from the days when a group of hunters would harvest a deer for camp meat however there was a need to control the harvest more effectively. Few shot does back then but for a young man it offered a better chance to bag a deer. As a contrast to today, many areas of the state require you to shoot a doe before you could harvest a buck, coined "Earn a buck" program. Also back then the first 2 days were shotgun only, making it more difficult as well. I did not shoot anything that first year but am thankful to my uncle Dewey for his kindness taking his nephew out on his first real deer hunting experience.

And with that I leave my friend Dewey with a picture just for him, as he loved the last one like this! For the rest of you, you will have to check out the posts of my favorite blogs to understand. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

2nd Week of Deer Camp

Jack and I finally got to our deer hunting destination last weekend up by his cabin near Hilman MN. Usually we have our stands up the week before opener but this year was kind of messed up for us. This weekend was special as the group was tasked with spreading a portion of Rich's ashes around his stand, which was his request. I decided that the Friday night steak supper tradition had to continue. Cosco is the place to buy steaks and I picked up 4 New York Strips at least an inch and a half thick. Using the same recipe, marinate the steaks in Tabasco sauce, hot buffalo wing sauce, and hot salsa, they turned out marvelous as always. Along with a nice large baked potato and sauteed mushrooms with onions, we were all stuffed by the end of the meal.

Because my stand was not officially up, I hunted out of Jack's stand for most the weekend. The trails through the swamp have gotten pretty wet and mucky. Borrowing an old trick from my cousin Greg I donned hip waiters, carrying my bibs in my backpack, pack boots in a garbage bag, and gun in tow, I would finish dressing at the stand. I could leave my boots and bibs in a garbage bag over night so the load back would be easier. Half way across the swamp my right boot stuck in the mud and the momentum of my load kept going forward. So much for staying dry! Lucky the day was in the low 50's and I stayed pretty warm. I am a guy that likes to stay out in the field all day, breaking for lunch around noon. My meal of choice are military MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) and they are not bad. Saturday's menu was meat loaf and gravy, mashed potato's, crackers with grape jelly, chocolate chip cookies, cocoa drink, and a couple of Tootsie Rolls. They come with a meal heater that when water is added gets hot enough to heat both the meatloaf and potatoes to a comfortable temperature. Although I ate well, the deer did not cooperate very well. There is a lot of standing corn in the area and I am sure the deer are well aware of this. Reports of an eleven pointer shot just across the road confirmed the big buck sightings earlier in the week. The weekend ended as Rich's brother Bobby, Jack, Brett and his son Trent, and myself trudged to the center stand to say a final tribute to our friend. Spreading Rich's ashes to the four corners of his life, we said our final goodbyes.

The albino buck that Brett shot last Monday still is pretty amazing. He brought it to a taxidermist, who is going to make a nice shoulder mount out of the deer. Brett gave me some more pictures and I decided to post another one of this beautiful animal. Notice how light the hoofs are. Although they are very pretty, albino deer seldom live more than 2 years as the lack of pigment makes them easy targets for predators and the sun's ultraviolet rays take a toll on their eyesight and many eventually go blind.

The most unusual story sent to me this week was the nice buck my friend Scott Semingson bagged. This massive 12 pointer was taken by Scott in Buffalo County, Wisconsin. I am sure Scott would have preferred to have this next week during the real hunting season as he nailed this trophy with his car. According to his brother Rick, this is compensation for about $6000 worth of damage to his vehicle. I guess its a dandy any way you look at it.

This week I may try my luck hunting in Wisconsin. It is suppose to be quite warm this weekend again and might prove more successful than my Minnesota hunt. I was in Denver this week and caught a dandy cold so we will have to see. On a side note my good friend Jeff King, of Alaska fame has finally joined the blog world. I have been suggesting he try it as his life is very interesting living and working on the Kenai River. His blog, http://www.mile14.blogspot.com/ references his location on the Kenai at Mile 14, measured from where the river meets the Cook Inlet. Jeff is quite the philosopher and writer. He is a legendary guide on the river with his business King's Budget Salmon Charters, and I look forward to keeping up with his adventures. Written today, Jeff's second post gives the real sense of being there with him. His e-mail invite stated it was already -15 below zero yesterday! It's interesting as when it's cold in Alaska, Minnesota is warm and visa versa. We could use alittle of the cold here to get that hard water fishing going. I invite you to check in with Jeff often, you will not be disappointed.

My Friend's Successes

The unfortunate passing of my friend Earl as well our dear friend Rich Allen has changed our deer hunting plans for this year. My friend Jack has a cabin 10 miles west of Onamia, MN. We have spent the last 6 years hunting Rich's land while staying at his cabin. Earl's funeral was last Thursday and that became our priority for the week. Jack and I have decided to make our deer opener this weekend, hoping the big buck is still walking around. In the meantime I have received a number stories proclaiming successful hunts from my friends and members of our hunting party.

This first picture is of Jack's brother-in-law and my friend as well Chris (Boris) Swanson. Boris actually works about a block from me and is an accomplished tool and die maker. Boris bagged this nice buck on opening day in northern Minnesota. It was a pretty warm day as you can by the way Boris is dressed. His e-mail confirmed the buck weighed 220 pounds dressed out. Nice trophy Boris, that's a beautiful deer.

The next picture is another beautiful buck shot by my good friend Leon Lambert of Pueblo Colorado. I met Leon while he was an employee of The Trane Company, at the Pueblo factory. I had been talking to Leon over the phone for approximately 6 months when he informed me he was visiting headquarters in La Crosse, WI. Having some time available on his last day, we decided to meet in Red Wing and continue to Alma for an afternoon on the river. It was a beautiful day that April 5th and it started our close friendship that continues today. We have shared trophy fishing on Mille Lacs, ice fishing on DeWeese Reservoir for trout, and river fishing on the famous Arkansas River Canyon, west of Canyon City, CO. Leon's house is like walking into a natural history museum. A huge bull elk anchors his family room, at the time the second largest elk ever taken in Colorado with a bow. He has the proof of the first mountain goat taken in Colorado with a bow. Several pronghorn trophies adorn his walls intermixed with a mounts of mule deer racks, a 8+ pound walleye from the Pueblo Reservoir, and a stunning rainbow trout mount. Leon has since retired and has purchased a place in his home state of Oklahoma which should provide him with hunting paradise for years. I would have to say that Leon is the best whitetail hunter I know. Sometime I swear when looking at him I see antlers growing out of his head! This nice buck was shot this weekend in Kansas with his bow. Not bad for a retired guy. I hope to meet up with Leon some time in the future for a nice reunion. Maybe pig hunting or fishing stripers on Lake Texahoma, how about it Leon! Congratulations on another hunting success, although I have come to expect nothing less from Leon.

This last picture comes from my own hunting party. Joining us again this year is Bobby Allen, Rich's little brother from Seattle Washington. Talking on the phone, he sounds exactly like Rich and it's kind of nice to hear that voice again. Along with Bobby there is Eugene, Kevin, Austin, Rich's son Scott, Freight Train (Jack's brother-in-law) and Brett. Brett and Bobby are staying at Rich's all week. Well I get a call from Mary to give Bobby a call immediately. Brett had shot an albino deer. Doing as Mary asked, I called Bobby and sure enough, Brett had bagged a spike albino buck at around 140 pounds. Mille Lacs area has a good number of both albino deer as well as "piebald" deer, which are not true albinos but have white coats. Albino deer are legal game in Minnesota during the deer hunting season so it was perfectly legal. Although it does upset some people, biologist claim it is better for the herd to remove this defective gene from the pool. Admittedly I may have not taken this deer, however I am happy for Brett who now has a different kind of trophy. Of course the proverbial "Call Cabela's and see what they will offer" came up. Busy with the excitement, I told Brett I would call and find out if this was an option to sell the hide to them. A quick phone call confirmed, "Yes we buy unusual specimens however we only buy items that have already been mounted". I guess they don't want to deal with the mess! According to Bobby their immediate plan was to register the deer then stick it into the freezer and decide later. Whether you agree or not, you have to admit that it is a once in a lifetime trophy. I hope my friends luck rubs off on me this weekend.

PS. Make sure you listen to my theme song!

My Friend Earl

The problem with getting older is that everyone around you is doing the same. Along with with the aches and pains come the realities that your friends will not last forever. My friend Earl (Mick) Taylor passed away Sunday morning at the age of 83. As I have mentioned in past posts, the Taylor's were the first and remain the best friends I have met since moving out of Eleva almost 34 years ago. Earl and Ellie, their children Linda, Mark, and Jack have been my family away from home for all that time. In fact I would venture to guess that over the years, because of location, I have spent more time with Earl than my own father. I guess when you find something good you stick with it. Through the years Earl called me his 3rd son. We were always invited to every family affair, weddings, funerals, graduations, retirements, anniversary's, you name it we were there. Earl and I had much in common however it was our love for fishing that was a special bond. We would often go out, like a couple of old friends, and he particularly liked ice fishing. Earl lived on South Center Lake in Lindstrom Mn, a perfect place to perfect our skills. He was a key member of Team Walleye and continued to fish with us at 79 years old. You do not have a friendship for this long without a few good stories!

Earl and ice fishing were synonymous. Early in our friendship he would often ask me to tag along as I shared his enthusiasm and more than likely being young, I could drill his hole through the ice easier! (Back then we drilled all the holes by hand) One day Earl called and asked if I would take him and his friend Harry Peters up to Mille Lacs. Never one to miss a chance to get out I gladly accepted and told them to pick me up by 9:00. Well in those days I had little patience for tardiness, especially when we were going fishing. Outside by my garage I had everything organized including poles, auger, tackle, and coffee. 9:00 came and went. 9:30 passed by, 10:00 no Earl, and by 10:30 I am about ready to have a heart attack! Well around 11:00 Earl shows up driving Ol'Blue (his panel van) with Harry riding shotgun. I was pretty upset but decided to go anyway. Mark had warned me about his dad's friend Harry. He was a great guy, just liked to start the day with a cocktail somewhat earlier than most of us. That day was no exception. We fished Sunset Bay on the east side of Mille Lacs as it had ice thick enough to drive on. Not the best spot however it was convenient. It was mid December and you could still see open water a few miles out. We were sitting there fishing when Harry decided he wanted to fish somewhere else, started Ol'Blue and headed for the open water. Now Earl was the calmest man I have ever known. Never one to panic over anything he simply looked at me and said "David, will you go get Harry?" Thank God Harry wasn't in a hurry. Chasing down the van, yelling at the top of my lungs, he decided to stop and see what I wanted. Harry had gone about 100 yards but it seemed like a mile. As I approached the window he asked if I wanted to go with him. "Move over Harry, don't you see the open water?" Harry moved over and we headed back to Earl. As I gave him the key in his snickering laugh he simply said "Thanks Dave"

Another time Earl picked me up in his Buick as we headed for South Lindstom Lake, right by the Dinner Bell. This was a great early ice spot, plenty of parking, and an easy walk out. We had a pretty successful day and it was getting cold so Earl went to start the car while I packed up. He came back out to help and upon returning he discovered that the car was running and the doors were locked. It was a Sunday, we were the last ones off the ice with no one around to help. Well Earl started laughing, however I didn't see much humor in our situation. Back then you could open a car using a coat hanger or similar device. Simply make a hook with the wire, fish it between the window and the weather strip, hook the lock pull and lift. I started walking around and to my surprise ran across some 14 ga solid electrical wire. What it was doing there I'll never know, but it was there! Earl was an electrician, not a locksmith, as he wondered what good that wire would do. We stripped the insulation off and in 3 minutes I had the door open. Earl looked a little surprised it was that easy but relieved, we loaded our stuff and headed home.

Earl was a Medic towards the end of World War II. He married his sweetheart Ellie, who has remained an absolute doll all these years. Mark and Jack are truly my brothers, Linda my sister, their families very special. He will be missed, like the other 3 friends that passed away this year. There are too many stories to tell about Earl and I could go on but like many things, we all have to stop sometime. As stated earlier, he was the calmest man I have ever met. No matter what the situation he always approached things in a positive light. I think our lives would be better if we were all a little bit more like Earl.