Scouting For This Weekend



Tom's 27 3/4" Walleye on an X-Rap

 My brother Steve is one of my best friends.  About 45 years ago our Dad would have begged to differ as we had our share of scuffles growing up together.  I remember one incident in particular, as we were pushing each other around on the stairs he took a swing at me.  That day I was faster than him and when I ducked his fist continued all the way through the sheet rock.  I knew we were in trouble, however it was apparent that he would take the brunt of it, I mean really, it was his fist that put the hole in the wall.  The years have added civility to our relationship as we have been to Alaska together, ice fishing at Lake of the Woods, is a seasoned member of Team Walleye, and the occasional trip to Mille Lacs.  Steve has recently changed jobs and the company owners love to fish.  When the subject of Mille Lacs came up he said that his brother Dave fishes it all the time, which evolved into let's go and this weekend it's show time!  Steve, his son Kevin, and 6 others are meeting me on Friday as we try to put some fish in the boat. September can be an interesting time of year to fish Mille Lacs.  My strategies have changed through the years as long line and lead line trolling have become an important technique to catching walleyes.  The walleyes have been hit pretty hard this year as well, things have changed regarding fish location in September and October.  It was a given that starting about the first of August the big fish would move back on the reefs to take advantage of the forage found there.  My only mounted walleye came off 3 mile reef on August 12, 1988 in 5 feet of water, right at dusk.  There were years where I could show up on a reef, cast shallow running lures like Rouges or Husky Jerks and catch 10 - 15 walleyes in that half hour before sunset to dark time period with a few in that 28 inch class.  The last 4 - 5 years this pattern has definitely changed.  Myself and a few others who have taken advantage of this now


My First walleye of the night

 rare bite believe that the recent change in smallmouth regulations which only allow one fish over 21 inches have affected the shallow negatively (for walleyes).  We theorize that the smallmouth populations have exploded and have taken over the shallow rock reefs making it almost impossible for a walleye to find anything to eat there.  Certainly there has been a movement to deeper water and maybe it was already there, we just didn't know.  All I can say is things have changed.  So in light of my task, neighbor Tom Olson and I went up Saturday afternoon to do some pre fishing.  Launching out of Cove Bay, the plan was to fish the deep water for a few hours, hit the shallow rock points before settling into that "potential" shallow water crankbait bite at dusk.  Well the deep trolling simply burned gasoline and the shallow rock point proved little to build my confidence.  On to Anderson's Reef where I have had success before but it's been hit or miss.  Tom likes to cast for muskies so he casted a large #13 jointed X-Rap while I pitched for walleyes.  About the time I lamented the lack of fish on the reef a dandy 27  3/4 inch walleye grabbed his muskie lure.  Not that walleyes don't hit large baits but it is a good example of "big fish eat big baits". 



19 inch walleye on a #5 Hot Steel Shad Rap

 With the sun setting we changed to long line trolling shad raps and rouges at the edge of the reef.  I have a milk run that goes from the south tip of Anderson's, up along the west side and over to a little known hump and back.  Much of this water is 10 feet and word was that this depth was putting out fish.  My favorite color shad rap has been Hot Steel as it's been a great lure both for shallow water and deep lead lining.  15 minutes into the troll I hooked my first walleye, about 13 inches and came out of the 10 feet depth.  My next fish was a 12 inch smallmouth and was followed up with a 14 inch smallie.  As a side comment, I'd love to keep a few of them.  Smallmouth bass out of Mille Lacs are as good deep fried as any walleye can be.  Swinging around the hump something more substantial hit the lure and we landed this 19 inch walleye, interesting..............maybe the reef bite might materialize this year.   In the next 30 minutes I got another smallmouth and an 18 inch walleye before darkness settled in and the bite went dead.  After a half hour of trolling with nothing to show it was time to head in.  We ended the night with 4 walleyes including the nice 27 3/4 incher, 4 smallies, not bad for a short time fishing.  It goes back to what I had stated earlier, often the bite this time of year is in that last 2 hours of fishing and it was no different this time.  This is why I am never much in a hurry to leave for Mille Lacs in September.   A comment on the drive back to Cove Landing.  There is a very shallow rock reef that lies across the entrance to Cove Bay.  In recent years it has been marked with red and green navigational buoys however I have it marked in detail on my GPS as they will eventually remove the buoys for the winterbefore open water fishing ends.  At night I simply follow my route with out incident.  For some reason this year they decided to add additional buoys and extend them out further from the reef.  The route I have on the GPS now has a red buoy smack in the middle of my marked entrance.  It's a reminder that you can never trust the exact placement of the buoys on Mille Lacs and if I had remembered my spotlight, things would have been better.  I didn't hit it thank God!!

I look forward to fishing this weekend however the wind cast has both Friday and Saturday at 20 mph from the Northwest.  It will definitely change our strategy of where to fish and of course help cool the water down.  The surface temp was still 68 on Saturday but I expect it to have dropped under 60.  With air temps in the 50's predicted, its interesting when the water is warmer than the air.  We are due for our first frost soon and it should put an end to canning tomatoes, finally!  In Chicago next week for the exciting Coil Winding Show as I have a reservation with a good supplier at Gibson's Steak House on Wednesday.  It's quite an experience if you haven't been there.

Transistion Time



Fresh Lime with Cilantro Salsa from the garden



September is one of those transition months here in Minnesota as the weather can be 92 degrees one day and 52 the next.  It's been extremely dry around home after what proved to be a very wet start of the summer.  The warmer than normal spring forced nature to show herself about 3 weeks early before a normal frost killed most of my apples.  The ongoing dry weather has now put stress on our trees, which are simply turning brown and falling off.  What apples that did develop are to my surprise 3 weeks early and most of the meager crop of McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Haralson's has simply rotted away.  I think all that's left is a few Honeygolds, an apple that is normally harvested in the middle of October.  September is also the month when the Kramer Open is held.  Normally I would participate with my good friend Tom Emmons in a race to see who's the best sporting clays shot.  One year I had him beat by 1 bird going into the last 6 targets of a 100 round event.  Nailing the first 4 the pressure got to me and I missed the last 2.  Tom hit the first 4, then #5 to tie and #6 to beat me by one bird.  He accused me of letting him win, I never let on if I did or did not.  It kept his perfect record of shooting better than me in this event, something that I look back on as I something I really miss, that rivalry with Tom.  Of course I really miss him as well.  Sunday was a day for catching up in the garden.  This year has given me a bumper crop of Amish Paste Tomatoes, a variety I decided to try instead of Roma's.  With the tomatoes ripening like crazy I decided to can some salsa using the bounty of the garden.   So far I have put up 24 pints of some pretty good stuff.  One never knows when the first frost will happen so its a scramble to get everything done.  My brother Steve was telling me about the virtues of Brandywine Tomatoes.  Being not much of a raw tomato eater I have to admit that these are pretty good.  They are an heirloom type, have a pinkish hue to them and are very meaty.  They will definitely be in the garden next year. 



Granite Street Curbs



This week found me in Cleveland Ohio for an exciting meeting with my fellow associates from The Transformer Association.  It is a very interesting city with a redeveloped downtown area and a number of great restaurants and bars to relax after a hard day of meetings.  Cities like Cleveland really have an a unique story behind them.  Located on the south shores of Lake Erie, it became a major location for the steel industry which feed our Nation's industrial grow, especially through World War 2.  At the time our iron ore came from Upper Michigan and Minnesota and with rich coal deposits in the Appalachians, it was a perfect place to make steel.  Along with Gary Indiana, Pittsburgh and Bethlehem Pennsylvania, the evidence of the old steel industry is everywhere from the rusted out stacks of the old factories to the soot blackened  blocks of which the old buildings still bear.  It is situated on the Cuyahoga River, once famous for starting on fire in the 1960's.  In many of the downtown areas one will find that the street curbs are actually made of granite, pieced together in slabs up to 10 feet long.  They are everywhere and lord knows how old they are.  I suppose the granite lasts a lot longer than concrete and the availability is much greater than the rest of the country.  One interesting conversation was about the fishing in Lake Erie.  The zebra mussels have really cleared up the water which has obsoleted the famous Erie Dearie, a weighted spinner lure made for fishing with nightcrawlers directly under the boat.  The water is so clear that even in 30 foot depths, the walleyes simply scatter.  Perch fishing remains popular as they are always present under the boat.

With colder weather on the way I will probably keep putting up my tomatoes.  With a little luck I will get to Mille Lacs for one last pre-fishing trip before my brother, his son, and their work associates come up next Friday for a weekend of lead lining.

Back to Familiar Waters



Lead line and a #5 Shad Rap

It's been a month since the Ranger has been wet and with Alaska wearing off it was time to get back on Mille Lacs and see if the walleyes were still biting.  Saturday was spent putting 250 miles on the Victory motorcycle with my friends Kevin, Tom, and brother Steve.  After trailering to Alma, Wisconsin I dropped my wife off at her cousin's, unloaded and met everyone at my favorite store Fleet Farm, the one in Winona, MN.  From there we headed west through the Root River and Zumbro River valleys in what turned out to be a beautiful day.  This area of Minnesota is similar to my home town of Eleva, Wisconsin full of bluffs, valleys, and winding roads.  Sunday was a family day leaving Monday as my designated fishing day.  I could tell my boat was pretty lonely sitting in the pole shed for a month so away we went to Mille Lacs, my neighbor Lory and I.  The reports were pretty much pointing to deep water trolling as the ticket for success.  Some were getting walleyes in the shallow reefs on bobbers/leeches in the evening but I really didn't want to sit still for any length of time.  After dropping off my Alaskan gift to the Lundeens we headed to the east side, launching out of the public landing at Liberty Beach.  With the stable weather and no wind my first stop was 3 Mile Reef to check out the zebra mussel situation.  Apparently they have completely covered every square inch of the reef however the water was so cloudy that it was very hard to make them out.  I did cast for some smallies but that didn't last very long.  Heading to the deep gravel we got out the lead line rigs, attached some #8 Flat Raps, and started trolling.  The water was simply gorgeous as trolled the 32 foot depths, 5 colors in the water and rods in their respective holders.  It's pretty cool when a fish hits the lure as the rods bend over and do their fish on dance.  When there is only 2 of us in the boat and a fish hits I will stop the motor, reel in the other line as the other guy fights the fish without dragging it at the same time.  This is a lot more fun and

What the walleye coughed up!

you will have to set the line anyway so it's no big deal.  Within a couple of hours Lory had me by a few fish so I switched to a #5 Shad Rap.  Almost immediately I caught this a nice 24 inch walleye that had a surprise with it.  Hooked on the front treble was a small walleye, about 5 - 6 inches long.  I surmise that the walleye I am holding in the picture actually purged the smaller walleye from it's stomach during the fight and it got caught on the front hook of the shad rap.  The small walleye was hooked upside down as you see it and definitely dead.  It has teeth marks on it's body and was still pretty fresh.  A couple of thoughts, first of all it is evidence that the fish have started feeding heavy.  Not unlike the salmon we caught in the ocean, they are stuffing themselves.  Secondly, I kind of find it disturbing to see a walleye cough up another walleye.  I know they are cannibalistic but you can't help but wonder about the biomass as we continue to discuss how messed up the lake seems to be.  Oh well, maybe I am simply being too naive.

Lory's nice walleye

The star of the day was Lory as he had the hot rod.  When we first started trolling I nailed the first 2 walleyes and because they were not exactly jumping in the boat, I was concerned that he wasn't catching anything.  I even offered to have him reel my next fish in, one popped my line but never got a solid hook set.  After that he caught the next 3 walleyes and finished the afternoon with this nice fish caught on his purple backed Flat Rap. Score, Lory Brasel 4: Dave 3.  Neither of us caught any fish in the slot which was under 17 inches.  Lory came close with a 17.5 inch fish but that was as small as it got.  I was interested in getting back to 3 Mile as the sun was starting to set and see if we could nail any walleyes shallow water trolling.  I have a nice milk run that has been very productive in the past and although 3 Mile hasn't been kind to me lately, the "Milk Run" always seems to produce a fish or two.  Well, all we did was waste gas, hook a few zebra mussels, and have a really nice rock bass slam Lory's Flicker Shad.  The water temperature was still in the mid 70's, kind of high for late summer reef trolling as I suspect it will be better in a few weeks when I fish with my brother and his group.  I am sure of one thing, the deep water bite will more than likely continue to be steady.  7 fish in 4 hours, I don't think that is too bad for this time of year.  The fish seemed scattered but we found them and probably shouldn't have wasted time in dead areas where we didn't mark fish.  Well, you have to start somewhere!

A followup on my tractor issues from last week, I got Fergy running like a fine tuned watch.  After putting on a new rebuilt carburetor, rewiring the entire ignition/charging system, and trying a new coil, she still sputtered really bad, maybe worse than ever.  The last thing left were the points and condenser.  As I began to remove the screw that hold the condenser to the distributor plate, it snapped off at the plate.  Now what???  Figuring out how to remove the plate, I checked out the other side and the screw was bent, that made no sense as you could not install it that way, it had to have bent while in the distributor.  Looking at it the only thing that made sense was at some point the centrifugal weights hit the screw, bent it, and more than likely prevented the distributor from operating properly.  After finding and removing the broke end, replacing it with a shorter screw, reassembling with new points and condenser, it was like she couldn't wait to show me how well it would run.  I'll bet it didn't turn over 2 times and it fired off.  A few adjustments and the engine is running perfectly.  I am close to having all the important work done as we have an appointment later in the month to get the rear engine seal fixed as it's leaking oil pretty bad.  It's come a long way in a month, that's for sure.  The plans are to maybe get back to Mille Lacs one more time before the 21st or even hit the river, it's low, slow and gotta be on fire. 

Catching Up



Raccoon's love sweetcorn!

After 9 straight days of travel and non stop fishing, it's surprising what starts piling up around the homestead.  Along with having tickets to see Alan Jackson last Friday night and Blake Shelton on Saturday night at the Minnesota State Fair, it leaves little time to do anything other than getting caught up with my projects.  One thing I didn't have to do was freeze any of my late crop sweet corn but it wasn't because of time.  As stated before I have good sized garden and fresh sweet core is always something to look forward to.  The strategy is to plant half the 6 rows in early May and the other half after Memorial Day.  This would assure there would be a crop before I went to Alaska and by the time I returned the second planting would be ready to go.  My favorite is a bi-colored kerneled corn called Honey'n Pearl.  It is sweet and holds well over a week of riping time.  This year I didn't buy enough seed to plant the last 2 rows so I substituted an old favorite of my Dad's, Northrup King's K199 Hybrid.  Man did that grow and is almost 2 feet higher than the first planting.  What was really nice is the cobs are very high up on the stalk, high enough to assume maybe the raccoons would leave it alone.  Fat Chance!  Obviously there was a smorgasbord and I wasn't invited.  Tuesday morning's discovery of nearly every stalk of the K199 either tore down or had the ears cropped off looked like the first picture. So much for freezing corn.  With my tomato's starting to ripen, rather than processing corn I got out the live trap and a can of sardines out of the boat.  I'm sure the one in the trap wasn't the sole perpetrator of the damage but it's a start.  The good new is......I don't have to freeze corn!  No worries, there is some from the first crop in the freezer.



New muffler, carburetor, and newly connected alternator

I have been real anxious to get my Ferguson TO35 tractor running like a new machine.  Although I could drive it fine, there were a number of issues that needed attention.  The tractor was originally configured for 6 volt, positive ground.  The previous owner Wes attempted to modernize the electrical system by switching it to a 12 volt negative ground which most vehicles are configured today.  This involves changing the starter, removing the generator and adding an alternator, then rewiring the ignition.  As well the carburetor was pretty well shot and with the original manufacturer out of business, rebuild kits are not available on the market.   In the past 2 weeks I have removed the old muffler, rethreaded one of the manifold studs and replaced it.  The alternator was not even hooked up so that needed to be correctly wired in.  The carburetor, well I ended up buying a rebuilt rather than trying to fix it.  The rest of the wiring was cobbled together so I tore it out and replaced it with more modern wire as well replaced the oil pressure gauge and swapped the ammeter for a voltage gauge, a better indication of whether the alternator is working.  Unfortunately after all that work the ignition system runs worse than ever.  Discovering that the coil was wired backwards did little to fix things and after bypassing the entire electrical system and connecting the coil straight to the battery, it still runs like crap.  My next step is to install new points and condenser hoping this will work.  Frankly it's not that complicated but it sure has my gears spinning.  Hopefully I can get it purring and move to the next 2 issues, my oil leak and the PTO engagement.  Those days working for Vic are really paying off!



2 nice silvers from the Bachatna

This weekend should see me finally get back up to Mille Lacs and start prefishing for my trip on the 21st.  The full moon is this Friday and I will probably not take advantage of it until Sunday as I am heading out on a motorcycle trip with my brother on Saturday.   My tomato's are really starting to turn red and the peppers are at their peak.  This year I went with some of the heirloom varieties including Brandy-wine, a fabulous eating tomato and Amish Paste, a large meaty type destined for salsa.  The raspberries are coming on strong and will be reserving some to make wine with my neighbor Lory.  We shared a bottle of his rhubarb wine the other night and it was hands down better than the commercial rhubarb wine I had at the State Fair.  He's got 6 more gallons brewing as we will start bottling in October.  I would like to try and get out on the river sometime as well.  Because it hasn't rained in a while, the water level is very low.  This should help to concentrate the fish and with the slower current allow more time to cast the hot spots.  As well the river is much easier to read and it might be a great time to target walleyes.  I simply cannot end without another picture of 2 beautiful salmon I caught a few weeks ago.  The one on the left is good sized hen (female) and the hooked jawed fish on the right is called a buck (male).  Lord knows why a chicken and a fish have the same designation on the female gender while a deer and a fish have it on the male side.  One of life's mystery's, sort of like why my tractor at the moment doesn't run!

Fishing Paradise

Successful day on the Bachatna River with my cousin's and brother.
From left to right: Cousin Greg Nelson, myself, brother Steve, cousin
Mark Anderson, and Greg's brother Tom.

There is so much to tell regarding last weeks trip, it was all very exciting.   We all agreed that the fly out trip to the Bachatna River, across the Cook Inlet from Kenai was the highlight of the week.  Booked through Alaska Fishing with Mark Glassmaker, the Bachatna River is a small clear water river that experiences a nice run of silver salmon this time of year.  Up until recently the only access to the river was landing in a suitable spot then boarding a helicopter to the Bachatna.  Recently the beavers had constructed a sizable dam next to the river creating a pond large enough to allow a skilled pilot the ability to land his plane right there.  And land we did!  Boarding a 10 passenger turbo prop Otter on floats, we took off from a sea base and a short 20 minute ride we landed on the beaver pond. The pilot skillfully backed the plane to the edge of the beaver dam where we exited the plane.  Wow, what a ride.  Just prior to landing the guides asked the pilot to make a pass over of few of the upstream bends to see if there were any salmon in.......it was loaded!  After unloading our gear we headed up the river to the first hole and the fun began.  We had all brought our fly rods and using the guide tested pink egg sucking leech pattern, began landing silvers.  It was the first time I had caught a respectable salmon on a fly and it was a blast.   As the fish became acclimated to our lures we continued to move up the river finding new pods of fish as they rested before continuing there journey upstream to spawn.  While my cousin Greg continued to fish with his fly rod I had brought along a few "Minnesota bass lures" in the odd chance they might work for silvers.  It was pretty unbelievable as the guides were quite impressed with thinking outside the box when the silvers stopped hitting their go to lures.  With the plane scheduled to return to the beaver dam by 2:30, it was time to head back down river, have lunch, clean fish, and get ready for our departure.  All said and done we each brought home our 3 fish limit of beautiful fresh silver salmon that ran from 6 - 10 pounds.   I positioned myself to get a good picture of the plane as it came in to pick us up, we loaded our gear and fish, turned around and took off.  It was amazing how little water the plane needed to take off and it seemed like within 300 feet we were airborne.  I do this trip again in a heartbeat, the guides were great, the plane ride was great, and the fishing was fantastic!



Double hooked Humpy!

One of the reasons we chose to go on the even years (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2012) is that  the pink salmon return to the Kenai River on the even years.  As stated in  Jeff King's Mile 14 once pink salmon hatch they immediately return to the ocean where they grow returning 2 years later.  It's a crazy deal for sure as millions of these salmon come into the Kenai.  There are so many of them that up to 75% of the ones you catch are foul hooked in the back or tail making for an incredible fight.  So much so that it can be quite annoying at times.  A popular lure for catching silver salmon are Blue Fox Pixie Spoons.  They have a very stout treble hook and are ideal for snagging pinks.  On Sunday night while casting my favorite color  Chartreuse Pixie I hooked a nice pink salmon.  You could tell it was probably hooked in the back by the way it was fighting so I just knuckled down and reeled it in.  As it came by the boat I noticed something different, there was a pink Pixie stuck in the back of the fish and that wasn't what I was casting.  Incredibly I had snagged a fish that already had been hooked by another angler which had broke his line, my hook was through the top split ring of the already embedded lure.  So what are the chances?!?!?!

Like everything in life, things always have to end.  It had been great to return to Alaska after a 4 year absence and was everything I remembered it to be.  We continue to meet new friends, renew old friendships, explore new adventures, and revisit the old fishing holes.  This year things were different.  Although you can always count on the pinks to be there, the traditional salmon runs on the Kenai have been anything but normal.  I had received a call while on the Kenai and my friend asked "How's the fishing?".  Terrible I proclaimed, thought for a second and restated my answer........it's simply wonderful.  The weather was perfect, we caught plenty of fish, we were in Alaska, regardless it cannot get any better than that.  So I leave you with a picture that tells the whole story.  After hatching from an egg, the salmon spends a year in it's nursery, growing large enough to head to the ocean.  There it feeds with it's own kind, staying together as they grow older, preparing for their final journey to spawn again.  Once they have accomplished their goal the salmon deteriorate and eventually die leaving their legacy hung up against a rock in the current.  Although their life is through, they continue to provide the next generation of fish valuable resources to help continue the cycle over again.  Like salmon we are also on a journey, destined for the same fate.  Hopefully we will provide for the next generation so they can enjoy this wondrous place.  As Alaska put it so bluntly.........Alaska, Before You Die.  If you can, take that with heart, you will never regret that decision.



The Odd Fish of Alaska!



A hard fighting Skate

 Time flies when you are having fun and last week shot by with vengeance!  It seems as though we were just leaving Minneapolis and here it is 12 days later.  Alaska lives up to it's motto "Alaska, before you die" as for me there is no better experience.  People have constantly asked how the fishing was and my first reaction is to say that it was not very good.  The halibut ran small and the silvers were all but absent on the Kenai River yet this is only a small part of the adventure.   Every trip to Alaska is a 10 out of 10.  This year the weather was simply perfect with 60 degree days and no rain what so ever.  We did manage to catch enough fish to take home including halibut, ocean run silvers, fresh water silvers, some nice chromed pink's, and a taste of lingcod.  Normally 2 days on the ocean will yield 50 lbs of halibut fillets which assumes 4 fish at a 25 lb average.  With 12 kept silvers at an 9 lb average yields about 40 lbs of salmon fillets.  Our halibut averaged about 12 lbs each,  however I'm not complaining!  One of the more unusual experiences were the strange species of fish we caught this time.  Although we have caught some of these before, I thought I would share the pictures and discuss a little bit about each one and our experience landing these oddities.  The first fish pictured is a skate.  It is a member of the ray family, live on the bottom, and can grow quite large.  We have caught them before while halibut fishing as our rigs are fished on the bottom with a chunk of herring as bait.  These skates bite like a halibut but with their powerful wings, really put up a fight.  The first thing you imagine is having a nice halibut on the end of your line until it gets closer to the boat and starts planing out away from it.  They are an interesting fish, can be a royal pain to catch, but still provides a lot of excitement! Some say the wings are what imitation scallops are made from and the meat is very good.  We will never know as the captain quickly unhook the 3 that we caught and quickly let them go.  They are probably very hard to clean.



A beautiful Lingcod

 The next fish is a 57 pound lingcod that my brother Steve caught.  This thing grabbed his bait and a battle royal was on.  As with the skates, the first thing going through your mind is.....wow, a nice halibut.  After a 10 minute battle the fish came into view and holy smokes, a giant lingcod.  These fish have a mouth on them that could rival any politician dead or alive!  This one could easily have swallowed a regulation sized football with room to spare.  The lingcod is a very aggressive fish as we have caught them before when they clamped on to a rockfish while reeling it up.  A lingcod is not a a true member of the codfish family rather a member of the greenling family of fish which include rockfish.  As stated, this fish weighed 57 pounds, which is a very nice sized lingcod.  Because they are mostly head and stomach, we really only got about 10 pounds of fillets out of this fish and I can assure you the meat is very good.  The stomach was full of eggs and were told by a guy at the cleaning station that they were actually rockfish eggs that the lingcod had eaten.  There must have been 4 pounds of eggs inside that fish. 


A flounder caught in the Lower Kenai River



The last interesting fish is called a Starry Flounder.  I caught this fish just below the Kenai Bypass Bridge in 3 feet of water.  We had caught an arrowhead flounder years ago and decided to eat it, a big mistake!  The great looking fillet turned to oatmeal in 15 minutes.  We made the mistake of assuming the same thing and missed out on a great meal.  The fish is very interesting as the back is covered with rough barnacles.  Like most of the pinks we catch, this one was snagged with my Pixie spoon and put up a great fight.  My natural assumption is that flounder are a saltwater fish and catching one 3 miles from the mouth of the Kenai was a surprise.  I checked out the Alaska Fish and Game website and apparently they prefer freshwater estuaries and the location I caught this fish makes sense.  Like the lingcod the starry flounder was a great looking fish with the orange/black/white fins and the snow white bottom.  I guess we'll have to wait till my next trip to catch and cook this odd looking specimen. 

Over all I had a great time and there is too much to tell in one post. Our experiences varied from day to day and I will post another report later this week.  The lack of silvers in the river caused us to spend more time fishing and less time with our friends like Jeff King.  We dropped off sweet corn and vowed to get back together again later in the week yet our quest for the elusive silvers left little time for socializing.  The other problem was that our accomodations at the Fish Hut were so dang comfortable it was hard to leave once we tied the boat to the dock.  It was great to be with my cousin's Mark, Greg, and Tom for a week and with so much going on, we never got tired of each other. 

North To Alaska!



Arriving at Seward Harbor



By the time most of you are reading this I should be reeling in a 90 pound halibut, battling a 12 pound Silver Salmon on the Kenai River, or looking down on the Cook Inlet as we fly to a remote salmon river on the main land.  This will be my 6th trip to Alaska with my brother Steve.  Joining us will be my cousins Greg and Tom Nelson, as well we are meeting my cousin Mark Anderson, of Anchorage.  We have been together for most of the past trips at on time or another and I might say we are a pretty good group.  Mark has done a great job in arranging our personal transportation both on and off the water.  Being an Army veteran, he has access to a rental boat as we have an 18 foot/35 hp jet river boat for the 5 days of fishing on the Kenai.  Steve and I made most of the other arrangements including 2 days of ocean fishing in the Prince William Sound out of Seward and a flyover trip to a clear river hopefully teaming with fresh silver salmon.  Tom and Greg, for the most part they simply just bring money!  Fortunately we bring most of our own gear for the salmon fishing as well as knives, coolers, lures, waders, and a fish whacker my Uncle Jerry made for us.  One of the things that I look forward to is the renewal of old friendships like Jeff King and cousin Mark, who I haven't seen in 4 years.  Our secret weapon is fresh Midwestern sweet corn on the cob which I am loading my cooler up today and plan on distributing it to our closest friends on the Kenai.  It serves a couple of purposes, first of all it is very much appreciated as fresh sweet corn in Alaska is as rare as catching a sockeye salmon on the Mississippi River.  We get a lot of mileage out of it as I will never forget the time we gave some to our cabin host in Seward one year, we got moose sausage and homemade beer in exchange as well as some great Alaskan conversation.  Besides, we might as well fill up our coolers with something other than air.  

Brother Steve with a Chum Salmon on a fly

So our itinerary goes something like this.  Arrive in Anchorage and assemble the crew.  We should be able to get out of town by 1:30 and in Soldotna by 3:30.  Figure an hour to make the rounds, say hi, and get our schedules set, we head to Seward to check in with our charter, The Fish House.  We have both Friday and Saturday booked for a combo trip where we go for halibut, ocean run silver salmon as they are staged to head up the rivers, and ling cod.  Along the way we usually see whales, porpoises, sea otters, and every sea bird you can think of.  It a great trip and is usually lasts all day as a halibut only trip usually ends once you limit out.  I really enjoy catching the silvers in the ocean as it's quite the experience with the clear water.  I believe the salmon are much better tasting out of the ocean than those that have been in fresh water for a while.  Leaving Seward we head back to Anchorage to pick up our boat then on to Soldotna.  We should arrive in time to do a little fishing on the Kenai River for silvers and the ever present pink salmon.  The pinks arrive only on the even years and arrive they do!  It is estimated that over 5 million fish enter the river as evident by standing on the shore, watching them swim upstream in a constant 24 hour parade.  It's pretty cool.  The pinks are also called Humpback salmon for they develop a huge humped back once they enter the fresh water.  On Monday we are flying over to a remote stream across the Cook Inlet and will fish Silvers.  Here I am going to try my fly fishing skills and try to catch my first salmon on a fly.  I have had plenty of opportunities to do this however with time short we usually stick with our spinning equipment.  This trip is only about 6 hours and will allow us to be back to the Kenai in time to take advantage of the evening bite.  Tuesday and Wednesday are sort of open and serve as a back up day for halibut should we get blown off the ocean in Seward.  This has happened before and we re-booked our halibut trip out of Anchor Point doing extremely well.  It's nice to have that backup day if needed. Thursday is a travel day back to Anchorage as both Tom and Greg have decided to take the red-eye's back while Steve and I leave Friday morning.  Both Steve and I are flying first class on the return flight and will have plenty weight availability with our check baggage for bringing back fish.

There are some interesting fishing restrictions in response to the record low King Salmon run on the Kenai and most of the other major rivers in Alaska.  Because the fish are still coming into the Kenai River all fishing can only be done with single hook, non scented lures.  We have made provisions for this and have brought up a few "secret" lures that might prove to set the river on fire.  I have decided not to bring my computer with so it may be a few days before I post again, I am sure you understand.  I can't wait to get off the boat, fire up the grill and throw a couple of fresh halibut and salmon fillet on, and open a cool Alaskan Amber enjoying an evening with my brother and cousins. 

Charlie's Back



Charlie in fine form, a 26" fish and a 6 inch cigar!



The first week in August usually means a call from my good friend Charles Teasley.  I meet Chuck almost 33 years ago when we lived in the same apartment building in Osseo, MN.  He was a young banker with Northwestern National Bank, in the Osseo Branch and I was just starting my career designing transformers.  From Duluth, he transferred down from the Silver Bay Branch in an effort to advance his career.  Being the same age, we spent a lot of time fishing together, hanging out, talking smart and being stupid.  Eventually Charlie met a young lady lawyer named Carla, fell in love, got married and moved back to Duluth.  In the meantime he had a one year old Lund Pro Angler with a 50 hp Mercury tiller he needed to get rid of and naturally I was in need of the same boat.  I sold my Lund S14 Deluxe and made my first significant move to a "real" fishing boat.  In the mean time Charlie bought a new Lund Nisswa guide with the now Classic 50 Merc tiller (now rated at 45 hp).  A  beautiful boat, it was

Chuck and Dan

Lund's only fiberglass boat among their famous aluminum line up.  2 years later Carla was transferred to Florida and once again Charlie was in need of a different boat as he did not want to take it south with him.  Darn, another opportunity to move up and I sold his old Pro Angler and bought the Nisswa, my first introduction to fiberglass, one that I have never looked back.  In August Carla's family meets in Alexandria MN to spend a week long family event.  By the middle of the week Charlie needs a real fishing experience, a day on Mille Lacs.  We have missed a few years where our timing didn't work, and last year he was rushed to the hospital with a 106 fever, so it was great to get back together.  More often than not we can get his friend Daniel Hoene to spend the day with us as well.  Dan was a high school buddy of Chuck's who is an excellent hockey player where he spent 4 years playing for the University of Michigan, one of the top programs in Division 1 hockey.  Dan is a great guy, very successful, and a lot of fun to be with.  Chuck and I love to leverage our "redneck" roots with Dan, sometimes we get over the top but he takes it pretty well.  Dan himself is an accomplished fisherman having fished all over the place including a trip into an outpost in Canada coming up in a few weeks.  I loaded him up with some special jig heads that should be perfect for his presentation. 



I finally caught one!



Both Chuck and Dan met me at the pole barn on Tuesday afternoon and after loading up with gas, ice, and refreshments we headed north to spend the night at my friend, Mark Applen's little paradise at the Fisherman's Wharf on the east side.  Getting the latest scoop from Bill we headed over and settled into a relaxing evening of chicken wings, ice cold beer, and a gourmet cigar compliments of Dan.  With the full moon gracing our presence, we stayed up long enough to know it wasn't going to be an early evening.  The wind blew pretty hard all night which usually isn't a good sign for the next day.  We woke up to a fierce south wind with 4 foot rollers hitting the shore.  Our plan was to fish the west side where the wind would be much kinder to us.  Breakfast in Isle, a stop at Bill's to get the final word plus some leeches and crawlers, we launched north of the Casino as I went back to a routine that had proven successful for the last 2 months.  First stop, Sherman's where they have still been catching fish.  We trolled with my 3 ways and crawlers but only hooked one nice walleye in an hour.  With the wind blowing hard I decided to get out the lead line and planar boards and troll no man's land, the flat basins between the flats.  The fish weren't jumping in the boat but we did manage to land 12 walleyes, a couple on a reef runner, and the rest on a #5 Rapala Flat Rap.  We ended the day back on Sherman's to do a little bobber fishing when Chuck landed the 26 inch walleye pictured.  For me, I did more work assuring these two go fish than actually catching on my own (good story, don't you thin!) and only ended up with 1 walleye.  All in all it was a pretty good day for the first of August, we had a great time and I look forward to our trip next year, God willing of course!

Alaska is coming up fast and it's tripping up my blog post schedule.  I will tell you more about our trip plans next week, hopefully before I leave.  I am pretty excited to say the least as there has been a lot of issues on the Kenai River this year that is affecting our trip.  Stay tuned!  And last but not least, yesterday was the one year anniversary of my father's passing.  Love you dad!

The Fergy's Home



1955 Ferguson TO35

 Saturday was something that I have waited for at least 10 years now, the opportunity to acquire my Grandpa's old Ferguson tractor.  With the reality that it was not going to be used by Wes anymore, they finally agreed to let me pick it up.  My cousin Greg had a nice car trailer for transporting it so my first stop was in Hudson and hook it up to the truck.   Along the way I decided to call my other brother Jon to see if he wanted to tag along and with little going on he was happy to ride shotgun.  I was glad hedecided to join me as it gave us some time to spend together and an extra set of hands would be helpful if I ran into any issues.   A quick stop in Ellsworth to pick up a few packs of fresh cheese curds for the road, picked up Jon, stopped at Kevin's and helped Ben solve his depth finder problem, we arrived in Onalaska to pick up Steve and his wife Jean.   Jean grew up in Prairie Du Chen and her dad Wes bought the tractor from my Uncle Keith some 24 years ago.  Jean's brother Richard was up from Kansas helping out with things and met us as we opened the garage where the tractor had been stored for a few years.  First things first, it needed a battery.  A quick trip to the nearby Walmart solved that issue.  With the battery in we double checked all of the fluids and hit the starter.  Although it cranked over pretty good, it refused to start.  It had been sitting for over a year and the ethanol gas had taken it's toll.  The rubber hose connecting the air intake to the carburetor was a complete mess and the plugs were pretty black.  Another trip to the tractor supply store for replacements, we installed the plugs but she refused to start.  Suspecting we weren't getting gas I removed the bottom of the carburetor and as suspected, the needle valve was stuck.  Tearing it apart, using some spray carb cleaner, and reassembling we first confirmed that gas was filling up the bowl, turned the key and Voila, she fired right off!  Steve did one last repair on the driveway before we loaded it on the trailer and headed home.  She's in pretty good shape as it was fixed up years ago with new front tires, repainted, and converted from 6 to 12 volts.  There is some hydraulic oil coming out of the housing which leads me to believe the seal in the transmission may need replacing.  On Sunday I put her to work first fixing my own driveway for my pole shed before hooking the brush hog and doing a little mowing.  She performed flawlessly on both fronts however when I unhooked the mower I noticed a wire had gone through the back tire sidewall.  The tires are liquid filled and will require a mobile tire service to come out and fix it for me.  Oh well, the price for having fun.  I will probably have the tractor fully restored this winter, fixing the leaks and repainting.  There is alot of information online and by putting in the serial number I have learned that Ferguson, made in 1955 is the same age as I am.  I am sure she still has a lot of life left in her!
 

Nice Smallie from the wall



So playing farmer on Sunday left little time for fishing however with the river so close by, it takes little incentive to head down and fish for a couple of hours.  The river was down at least another 2 feet from where it was last week which meant we would have more time to fish the hot spots.  My neighbor Tom decided to go with me as he really enjoys fishing smallmouth and the time frame was perfect.  As usual we motored upriver for 20 minutes or so then drifted down casting our Bombers along the shore.  The water is still pretty dirty, more than likely coming from the Crow River that dumps into the Mississippi at Dayton.  The Crow always seems quite muddy as it flows through the farmlands of central Minnesota.  I think it's enough to affect the water clarity downstream from where it meets the main river.   Along the shoreline is a mix of deeper holes, artificial rip rap to prevent erosion, docks, and railroad walls to protect the homeowners and to provide a safe access for their boats.  In one stretch there are a couple of timber type walls with step openings that still have water covering them.  These are perfect ambush points for big smallies as the one pictured on the right slammed my bait as my cast put the lure tight up to the inside of the step.  My buddy Pete loves fishing redtails along this type of cover and one day I will have to bring down a few minnows and try it.  For now the river is still a little high to read the structure below but it is getting better.  In one area you could see the shallow riffles forming excellent places for the fish to hide out and with the reduced current flow the fish start

Tom with a respectable fish

leaving the shorelines and spread out into these areas.   We nailed a nice one that was about 30 feet from the edge of the shoreline, it should only get better. Between Tom and I we caught 9 smallies in about 2 hours of drifting, as well he landed a couple of smaller northern pike that hit his crankbait.  Here's Tom with a nice 17 inch fish, one of 3 that he took in a small area that was hot.  No catfish this trip, however it is getting to the time of the year to really start fishing them with crawlers and stink bait.  Maybe Sunday night!

This weekend is the rebirth of Bogger Hollar, the annual Fagerland Family Reunion that was hosted by my dad's late cousin Ronnie Olson.  This year his niece has decided to hold it at her place and I am looking forward to seeing all of my relatives on my dad's side of the family.  I tell you it is sure better than seeing them at weddings and funerals.  My garden in growing like weeds............wait, those are weeds!  The cucumbers should be starting, the corn is beautiful, I have ripe Amish Paste tomatoes abound, the string beans are almost ready, and the new potatoes are ready.  With the rain, fertilizer, and heat, nothing makes a garden come to life.  Unfortunately much of the stuff will be ready by the time I leave for Alaska.  I guess it will be good for the neighbors. 

Back On Old Man River



20.75 inch smallmouth bass

 The continuing sauna we call Minnesota is becoming a broken record.  By the time one does anything meaningful, you are covered with sweat, dehydrated, and lack any real ambition to do much.  My neighbor Tim and I had volunteered to provide the entertainment for a neighborhood graduation party on Saturday and with Sunday booked I checked the river levels behind the house.  They were back to a reasonable flow rate allowing me to fish without having to fight the heavy current.  With nobody around that was interested in going, I loaded up the boat and headed out myself.  My jon boat does an acceptable job in the river, especially with only one in the boat, upstream I can hit 15 mph in the calmer current.  It takes about 30 minutes to motor up a mile or so past Dayton, where the Crow River dumps her muddy waters into the Mississippi.  Normally one has to negotiate a couple of shallow rapids but with the river still up a couple of feet, I had plenty of water under the boat.  Just as I arrived at my starting point the motor abruptly killed. A quick check verified that the vent on the fuel tank was not open as evident by the long sucking sound of air filling the void of gas used up as I loosen it.  Once the pressure stabilized I squeezed the fuel ball, choke the engine, and pull my arm off, which in 95 degree weather is no picnic.  Nothing fired and the boat had already drifted past the first good smallmouth area.   This is the main reason I like going upstream as if anything happens I will still get home.   The current is still pretty fast as the GPS verified the boat was moving around 3.5 mph.  Worst case, I'd be back at Blair's landing in 2 hours.  When the water is high the fish, especially smallmouth bass like to hold tight to the shorelines where the current is less and there is more cover.  Staying about 30 feet from the edge of the shore, the strategy is to cast into the shorelines with my favorite Bomber A, working as much good cover as the boat drifts by.  At 3.5 mph you only get one chance as the trolling motor does not have enough power to bring the boat back through again.  The best areas are those that drop off a couple of feet close to shore then gradually hit deeper water,

22 inch channel cat on a Bomber

say 4 - 6 feet deep under the boat.  My second cast produced a nice 18 inch smallie, a great start.  Being alone presents a number of problems including the boat is now out of control while you fight the fish, netting these can be difficult in the current, and there is no one around to help you record the events of the day.  My second fish about pulled the rod out of my hands as it bulldogged to the bottom.  It must have been quite comical to watch as my boat is drifting down the river doing slow circles as I failed to shut the trolling motor completely off, stumbling over the seat to get the net while dodging the overhanging trees in the path of the boat.  After a grueling 5 minute battle the fish finally slipped into the net, a 20.75 inch smallmouth, the largest I have caught ever.  It was interesting to take this picture and it didn't turn out too bad.  BTW, my friend Pete taught me how to take great fish pictures, get them out in front and hide your hands as it makes the fish look great by taking away any reference point.  Well, because I only had me to take the picture, this fish is held pretty close to my body as I needed the distance to capture the entire fish, and it's still pretty impressive!  Continuing to drift down, I caught 6 more bass from 12 to 18 inches as well as a 22 inch catfish and man do they fight.  And the motor, well about a mile down from where she stopped I tied up to a tree creating a more stable situation where after a few pulls she came to life.  I think it was probably flooded and just needed time.



Blueberry thieves!



So last week I complained about the 2 families of wild turkey's cleaning out my blueberries.   Coming around the pole barn to get the jon boat out, something caught my eye, heading straight for the garden.  Sneaking around the other side, got my camera, and watched as the turkey's knowingly started moving back away from me and out into the edge of my tall grass.  My field is just full of grasshoppers and it's obvious they were having a feast.  Momma turkey went into the tall grass which triggered a huge exodus of grasshoppers to jump out of the way and into the shorter grass as the little ones scrambled to eat them as quickly as they could.  With the blueberries gone they have now resorted to my cherry tomatoes and bird food that I put down for anyone who wants it.   It's not that I don't appreciate these huge birds around, and if they simply ate grasshoppers and bird food, it wouldn't be a problem yet the line is drawn on the tomatoes!  I did buy 4 Nite-Guard  electronic pest controls for the deer problem and I have to say that for the most part I haven't seen 1 deer track in the garden since they have been installed.  Unfortunately they only work after dusk and are simply a solar powered battery operated red LED device that blinks dusk till dawn.  Apparently deer and other night creatures think that they are the eyes of a predator.  The turkey's arrive after they shut off and really don't care about what I think.   Oh well, I'll take this over living in the city any day.

Grandma Myrt, me at graduation, and Grandpa Roy

 

This weekend will be spent picking up an old tractor that my Grandpa Roy owned.  Grandpa Roy had a severe stroke in 1960 which basically left his entire right side of his body paralyzed.  You can imagine back then there was little in immediate care, and the nearest good hospital was an hour away by the time they drove down to pick you up.  By 1965 he had recovered (if that's what you want to call it) enough to get himself into a Chevrolet El Camino truck and using only the left side of his body, give him back some of the freedoms he had lost.  The stroke also left him a little on the grumpy side but as kids, we really never knew him as anything else.  It was still a fun time in my life as he would let us ride in the back of the pickup as we delivered groceries to the farm, sit on top of a gravity wagon full of just harvested soybeans as we picked off the legs of the hundreds of grasshoppers on the 15 mile trip back from the fields, stuff you could never do today.  Grandpa had an old Ferguson TO35 tractor that he managed climb up on and off, using it to plow snow, haul around trailers full of grain, and whatever chores he felt were needed.  When I was 16 he taught me how to drive the tractor so I could use it to help plow his snow, move dirt for him and occasionally clear off snow on the local mill pond so we had a place to ice skate.  After Grandpa Roy passed away, my Uncle Keith sold the tractor to my brother Steve's father-in-law, Wes.  Many years ago I asked Steve to request that if he ever sold it, I want first chance.  Well, after at least 15 years I am finally going to pick it up.  Wes fixed it up, put new tires on, painted it and although this was a few years ago, it has been stored inside all this time.  The tractor has a 3 point hitch which I have a blade and brush hog to mount, and my cousin Greg is going to sell me Grandpas old 3 point disc.  With a little luck the Ferguson should be in the pole barn on Saturday night and I'll be fishing on Sunday.  By the way, if you double click on the last picture you will notice that the tassel on my graduation cap is gold.  This is because I graduated with honors, being in the top ten of our class.  Just don't tell anyone that there were only 9 of us!

Blueberries and Walleyes, What a Pair!

My 8 pails of fresh picked blueberries

Last year we discovered the joy of picking blueberries at Blueberry Ridge in my home town of Eleva, Wisconsin and according to their website Saturday would be the first official picking day of 2012.  Along with my wife Lyn and neighbor Lory Brasel, we loaded up and headed east on Highway 10 which would take us straight to our destination.  Lory had been to Eleva in the past as he and others came down for my dad's funeral last August.  I suggested that he stop and pick some berries, which they did, and he was looking forward to filling a few buckets to bring home.   I love showing off a few of those out of the way spots that are truly represent what rural Wisconsin is all about.  Our first stop was the Ellsworth Creamery in Ellsworth Wisconsin, home of the worlds best cheese curds.  Everyday at 11:00 AM, the day's cheese curds are brought out from the factory, packaged in one pound bags, and ready for sale.  There was quite a line up waiting to buy which assured that our order would be packed within minutes of hitting the sales floor.  It is hard to describe how delicious fresh cheese curds really are.  Still warm in the bag, once opened the warmth and creaminess are accentuated with the unmistakable squeaks they make as they contact your teeth, a symphony in itself!  And squeak they do.  Within 5 miles we had devoured one bag knowing we need to save some for later.  Next stop was Plum City, Wisconsin to show Lory the beautiful trout pond carved out of a hillside by early settlers in the late 1800's.  The pond is feed by a substantial spring which keeps the water cool and flowing, perfect for the couple

Lory with a nice 26 incher

hundred rainbow trout that live there.  Springs have little dissolved oxygen so they have installed a couple of large aerators to enhance these levels.  The water is crystal clear with trout ranging from 15 to 28 inches.   They even have a vending machine to buy trout pellets for feeding the fish.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera, I should learn by now! It is a neat place to visit, very peaceful and if you enjoy watching fish like I do, a perfect place to spend a few minutes.  Next stop was my friend Kevin's house to pick up a GPS he used during fishing opener.  He warned us that cars were lined up at 6:30 in the morning at Blueberry Ridge and he doubted they would have any berries left.  With that in mind we drove up Mockingbird Hill and over to the blueberry patch where there were plenty of people still picking.  Lory and I had sent Mark and Andrea (Owners of Blueberry Ridge) a 1.75 liter bottle of our homemade Eleva Blueberry Ridge Wine which we we made a few months ago.  It is pretty good if I say so myself, and they were thrilled to receive it.  Mark assured us there were plenty of berries left and he was right, we filled 12 ice cream pails in 2 hours.  Lory took 4 and I took 8, as pictured above.   These blueberries are huge, some as big around as a quarter.   As we hauled our berries back to their new "headquarters" I promised Mark that if he wanted to fish Mille Lacs, I would be more than happy to accommodate him and a guest.  His wife Andrea claims that he would really enjoy that so here's hoping he takes me up on my offer.  We have frozen most of the blueberries by simply putting them on a cookie sheet and freezing them before packing.  Blueberries freeze very well and make an excellent frozen treat in this hot weather.  Of course, more wine is on the menu.  Thanks Mark and Andrea for a great day of picking!  As a side note, last week I posted a picture of my blueberries as they had just started to ripen.  Notice the word HAD.  When I went out to check on them Sunday morning, there wasn't a ripe blueberry left on any of the bushes and none were on the ground.  Monday the mystery was solved as there were 2 hen wild turkeys with about 20 little ones circling my patch, looking for what they might have missed the day before.  I guess we'll just have to go back to Eleva and get more.

Not huge but still nice

Bill had asked if we had a chance to pick a few buckets of blueberries for him, he'd certainly appreciate it. Well, of course we did and with all the work accomplished on Saturday, Lory and I decided to hit Mille Lacs on Sunday afternoon, delivering our fresh picked berries as well, spend some time on the lake.  Not in a big hurry to get there, we left at 2:00 in the afternoon with the plan to be on the lake around 4:00.   Our first stop was to drop off the berries and charged only the price of the berries plus a few dozen crawlers as our picking fee.  My plan was simple, drag crawlers on the edge of the flats until we found some fish, engage my Minnkota I-pilot, and hone our bobber skills.  Like a broken record, our first stop was Sherman's as we dragged rigs for 30 minutes only catching 1 fish.  Deciding to head to 7-mile, we trolled the east side of the flat and again got one nice walleye but that was it.  As we approached the south end of the flat the Lowrance began marking fish more consistently with small pods of fish close together so we engaged the anchor function and brought out the slip bobber rigs.  Within 90 minutes we had over 16 walleyes caught, at least another 8 lost as we attempted to set the hooks early to avoid harming the fish, and put 3 in the livewell.  These were all caught on leeches in 24 feet of water.  As I have done so many times before, the fish bit the best when the radio was tuned to Willie's Roadhouse on my Sirius Radio.  It must be that old country those walleyes love! One thing that I learned about using slips knots as bobber stops is you need to check your depth all the time.  Once you reel a fish in the stops will catch on your rod guides and slide up the line, changing your depth to something more shallow.  I showed Lory how to use the rear depth finder to check your depth by dropping the rig next to the boat and watching it on the screen.  More often than not it was set too shallow, we would reset to about 18 inches off the bottom while watching a fish come into the screen and grab the leech.  We left the lake by 8:30, cleaned the fish and were done by 11:00.  Not a bad weekend at all.

I continue to prepare for Alaska as well watch the Mississippi River level as it's almost back down to where it was 3 weeks ago.  We may go back and get more blueberries, there is a graduation party in the neighborhood on Saturday, and I am chomping to get back on the river.  Seems like there is plenty of things to keep me busy!