An Up and Down Weekend.

Biggest Walleye So Far on Red Lake, 25 Inches

A lot went on this weekend, some things that were extremely enjoyable and some that were not so enjoyable.  I always like to try and start on a positive note so Friday morning my brother Steve, friend Kevin Aiona, and myself headed back up to Red Lake for one last adventure for the year. Reading the latest reports, the fishing has certainly slowed down as it always does this time of year. Red Lake has really gotten hammered as there is virtually no snow and the ice has been driveable since the Friday after Thanksgiving so the lake is pretty much accessible to wherever you want to legally go.  The area's on the lake get burnt out pretty fast and this year was no exception. By December 1st the limit was reduced from 4 walleyes under 20 inches to 3 walleyes under 17 inches.  Well, the harvest has been crazy as you see from my past posts so this Friday, January 23, the limit drops to 2 walleyes under 17 inches.  It's reasonable and understandable so to beat the limit change and because of my work schedules coming up it was time to head up and pull my wheel house home.  Arriving around 12:30 we slipped back into the VIP lot of JR's to hook up the house.  JR has been super nice to us as we have shared our love for high class bourbon with him and have been rewarded with a special location to park our houses.  After paying the access fees and storage we decided to try near the rock pile, about 3 miles from the resort.  It had snowed earlier in the month and the lake wasn't totally impassable as there was bare ice between areas of mixed drifts up to a foot deep.  Turning off the main road to snake our way back to the spot we wanted to be at, pulling the Salem is pretty heavy and even in 4 wheel drive we barely made it out of some of those drifts.  The kicker came when we drove over a 5 inch crack in the ice, simply the ice had parted and by the time I felt the front wheels travel over it I knew we were committed. The rig crossed without incident but I got somewhat spooked and decided that this was as far as we were going.  There was no one to the west of us and we had the area pretty much to ourselves so we set up and were fishing by 2:00.  Unfortunately we only caught walleyes either too small or over 17 inches so it was hamburgers at JR's for supper.  By morning we had a few keepers and by 6:00 Saturday we actually had our limit of 9 fish.  Enough for a fish fry we took 6 of the walleyes and headed back to JR's to have him fry them up for us.  Earlier that afternoon I decided to put on my tire chains and wow, did they ever make a difference in being able to get around the lake without the fear of getting suck in some snowdrift in the middle of nowhere.

Kevin Enjoying the Fishing

The wind was blowing hard and drifting around the house, the chains gave us the confidence to stay there.  Returning from JR's we settled down for the evening when something barely sucked in my bait.  A quick hook set and it was obvious this was a nice fish. Actually the way it was fighting I simply assumed it was a northern pike as Kevin kneeled down by the hole to help.  Blocking my view of the fish coming up Kevin verified, "Yep Dave, this is a nice northern" as he turned around with a 25 inch walleye in his grip, laughing right at me!  It was the largest walleye I have caught on Red Lake in the 3 years I've been going so it was pretty special. We snapped a few pictures and put her back down the hole.  It was a beautiful fish and the picture doesn't do it justice (for that matter, my picture as well).  Nice and fat, she had a huge tail and fins and was absolutely gorgeous in her color.  Certainly it was a highlight of my year so far.  We finally hit the sack with one more walleye in the bucket and all the rattle reels set.  We only had 1 go off at night and it was a small one and by the time we decided to leave the next morning we had only caught about 6 keeper perch.  At 11:00 the packing up began and  by 12:30 we were at JR's saying goodbye.  While Kevin cleaned the fish I dropped off 5 pounds of Bill's hand harvested Wild Rice, something JR really appreciated.  He was determined to pay me but my response was that we felt it was super nice to help my friend Mark Applen and I when we needed a place to park our houses and he came through.  Feeling bad JR came up with a quart jar of his homemade tomato soup he canned and knowing JR, it's pretty good.  We left Red Lake till next year, it's been a blast and as we turned on Hwy 72 to head south it was bittersweet for sure.  Well, at least we would have the Green Bay Packer game to listen on the way home.

A Texas Care Package!

The previous week my brother Steve and I had the opportunity to drive to Green Bay and watch the Packers victorious win over the Dallas Cowboys.  As stated last week, this meant that I was due 2 bottles of TX Whiskey from my 2 great friends from the Dallas area, Matt Davis and Joe Stanfield.  I even went so much as to remind them that my bet was with each of them, not together and fully expected the 2 bottles.  Joe said, don't worry as I am heading to Matt's to send you a special package. Well, Wednesday arrived and expecting an Amazon shipment, there was also a Harry and David box with my address.   I had made the remark to my receiving clerk, Geez, I hate that.  People send me Harry and David gifts and heck, they cost $80 and why a good bottle of bourbon is only $40, send me 2 of those instead as I walked away with the Amazon package.  An hour later they delivered it to my office so I suppose I'd better see what it was before it spoiled.  Upon opening it I immediately saw that it wasn't a fruit basket so I looked at the label and sure enough, it came from Matt.  Well, this box was too big for 2 bottles of TX and I soon found out why!  They must have cleaned out their garages, closets, whatever and wrapped up everything individually for me to unpack.  So the list is pretty interesting.  I have 4 VHS tapes, 2 Rocky and Bullwinkle tapes, Grumpy Old Men (it's still in the wrapper), and a tape on Inflatable Lifeboat Survival.   There were 3 old rod holders that I think I can really use as well as a stainless steel anchor bracket and lock that will hold an 80# anchor.  The white straps are adjustable boat fender mounts, I got a balloon powered toy boat and a Duck Dynasty cooler cup.  They threw in a 1999 Playboy calendar, an old dirty pair of men's underwear, a necklace, an old emergency starter rope, a bottle of Johnson's Baby Powder, a silver commemorative spoon of Alberta, Canada, a stuffed toy rat, some pricing slide calculator, and an old non-working fake Rolex watch.  Oh yeah, there were 3 750ml bottles of TX and 1 1.75L bottle, actually more than they owed me.  I'm not complaining at all!  I guess you really can measure how much your friends love you by the extent of their actions and I can tell you unequivocally that I love those guys to death!!  Thanks.

So the bad news is, remember that Packer Game we listened too?  Well at the 5 minute mark we stopped to get gas and eat at the Burger King in Garrison, MN.  They had a big screen TV so we decided to eat there and watch the rest of the game.  It went downhill from there.  With the Pack leading to the 2 minute warning, there conservative play strategy finally caught up with them and...well, I don't even want to discuss it.  Next year.  I did get the Salem home and decided to take it to the car wash to spray it down, never again.  It barely fit and I almost didn't get it out, lucky I guess. I am ready to do some fishing on Mille Lacs and might just haul it up for a few weekends before the season ends on February 22nd.  The winter is half over already, where does the time go?

Lambeau Magic

Residential Entrepreneurial Opportunities at it's best

As stated in last weeks post I was graced with 2 tickets to the Green Bay Packer's against "America's Team (that's debateable)" the Dallas Cowboys.  With a controversial call in the game, Dallas won it's first playoff game against the Detroit Lions to move to the second round at Green Bay's hallowed Lambeau Field.  The game was set up to be a great one with Green Bay having a perfect record or 8-0 at home and Dallas having a perfect record away, 8-0.  It seems as though I have been doing a lot of things with my brother Steve these days and when I asked him if he wanted to go to the game, there was no hesitation.  The plan was simple, I'd drive to Chippewa Falls on Sunday morning and meet him at the Walmart around 8:00 and he would drive the rest of the way to Green Bay.  Since they've redone Highway 29, it's clear sailing to Lambeau as our planned arrival time was 10:30.  With the game at noon this would give us time to get our warm clothes on, walk the half mile or so to the stadium, and have some of Lambeau's famous Wisconsin bratwurst before the game.  I like parking right off the west end of Lombardi Avenue, just after you turn off the freeway.  It's easy in and easy out, plenty of room and you basically walk along a residential street where it's a quite the scene seeing all the activity happening before the game.  I have talked about the tailgating that goes on at Lambeau and because it's location, everyone gets in the act. All the houses along the street that we walked down were full of entrepreneurs ready to serve the game time attendees.  Some, like the picture above took parking to the next level, offering additional services for the same basic parking fee everyone was charging.  I think a lot of these people have the

Green Bay Cadillac

same guests throughout the season and they all have a reunion every game, sort of like old home week!  It's definitely a party atmosphere and the below freezing temperature made no difference.  As we walked toward the stadium the craziness continued.  More people, more grills, more bars set up along the way on tables, the back of pickup tailgates, music blaring through loudspeakers, these people were having a great time.  The closer we got to Lambeau the more interesting it became as it looks like people must lease, rent, secure their spot to tailgate as it appeared as though they had been set up for a few hours.   Just before crossing the street to enter the stadium we came by a party setup around a custom painted Cadillac Sedan de Ville, complete with a bar set up in the trunk, a sound system on poles, a huge grill full of brats, and a much needed portable toilet set up behind me in the above picture.  One of these day I need to simply get there the night before and partake in the festivities yet one would probably need to make that a 2 day event!

Jordy Nelson's entrance

As you see in the picture I was dressed for the cold.  Along with my Sorel Boots were lined jeans, my Gortex snowmobile bibs, 3 layers of shirts, my cold weather camo hunting coat, a Green Bay poncho Welly at work picked me up in Mexico, a hand warmer muffler around my waist, a boat cushion for the aluminum bleacher seat, and plenty of disposable hand warmers.  All week the predictions were for the game time temperature to be 15 degrees, not a bad as the last time Dallas played Green Bay at Lambeau where that game was coined The Ice Bowl, where it was -13F, but enough to make sure one dresses warm. Well at game time the temperature had climbed to a balmy 28 degrees.  Now over dressed we shed some of our clothes and left them on the bleachers as we headed back to get something to eat and a beer.  It's quite stunning to watch the National Anthem being played as they unveil a football field sized flag for everyone to see.  A final flyover by 2 F18 Navy fighter jets, wing on wing set the stage.  I'd rank the game as one of the best I have seen there.  The Packer's scored first with Dallas scoring the next 2, with the momentum definitely on Dallas's side.  It looked like the Cowboy's were getting the upper hand in the game as Aaron Rodgers' calf injury was definitely affecting his play.  About the middle of the 3rd quarter a key play by Julius Peppers stopped a clear shot to the end zone by Dallas and forced a fumble that Green Bay recovered.  We didn't look back until the controversial (an correct) call at the 4 minute mark gave Green Bay the ball and all they needed to do was get a first down and hang on to the ball.  It was all over and the Packer's won 26 - 21 over the Cowboy's, the stadium just rocked.  A great game in a great city in a great venue with a great outcome.  I'm not sure what next week will bring and the odds maker's have the Pack down by 7 1/2 points but you know the story.....any given day!  I do know that I'm definitely going to enjoy the ample TX Whiskey I have coming from my Texas friends.  GO PACK

Friday I am heading back to Red Lake to pick up my wheel house and start fishing closer to home. It's been a lot of fun and this will be my 4th trip this year as the fishing tends to get progressively worse as the winter goes on.   As my previous posts describe, we have always gotten enough fish to eat and bring home, which has been the case for a lot of fishermen this year.  The fishing has been so good that the Minnesota DNR just announced a further reduction of the possession limit starting January 23rd.  Prior to December 1st it was 4 fish under 20" then changed to 3 fish under 17".  On the 23rd it will change to 2 fish under 17".  The lake has definitely been hit hard this year and harvest agreements are forcing changes to be made.  I'm not complaining as the season is already half way over and there's a lot of water I'd like to fish before the season closes on February 22nd.  Going with are my brother Steve and a friend from our home town, Eleva.  The strategy is to pull out the house on Friday afternoon while staying in contact with our friend Russ, who's going to be on Lake Winnibigoshish.  The reports have been good from there and if fishing is slow we will pack up the house and head south an hour to join his group.  Plan B is always good!  Although I probably won't get to see the Packer Game, after last week if I have to listen to it on the radio, I'll be happy, especially if they win!

Respite From Red

Pete's Medium Size Northern

After a full Christmas vacation spent at Red I decided to stick around home this weekend and try to find some crappies on Saturday.  My friend Pete usually has a handle on the local scene and there were some good reports coming out of Lake Sarah, just east of Rockford, MN.  Having a waypoint of interest, we met at the landing and headed to a small hump on the other side of the lake.  Drilling a bunch of holes on the top and along the edges, Pete immediately started marking fish that were more than willing to come up off the bottom.  It looked promising yet soon we were getting some 4 inch perch, not too encouraging.  After an hour Pete did get a nice northern pike considering the size one normally gets and I decided to take it home.  Although not the best at removing the Y bones, practice makes perfect and to be honest, northern pike taste pretty darn good as the meat is white, flaky, and firm.  After sitting another hour we decided to sit over a deeper hole hoping that the crappies would come through sometime.   It wasn't going to be our day.  We were fairly close to the landing and because of this we had some interesting conversations with fishermen walking back to their cars from what did you catch to a gentleman asking if we could help him determine if his recently acquired Marcum LX-3 flasher worked the way it should.  Using a lead depth finder you attach to the line, we were successful in acknowledging that he made a good decision, even though Pete and I were using Vexilar's.  The weather was due to change as the wind was already making the move to the north, we suspect that the change pretty well shut the fish down, or at least that was our excuse.  Bringing the remnants of a once full bottle of 4 Roses Single Barrel Bourbon and some ice, we toasted the new year and the promise that Pete would spend some time on the river with me and try to figure out the walleyes.  Pete runs River Run Guide Service out of Monticello, MN and does pretty well from Clearwater to Monticello.  Hopefully I can hold him to it as the walleyes are there, I just need to figure out the best way to catch them.

WOW!

One of the things I have been delinquent on commenting about is the incredible fall in gas prices lately.  It wasn't too long ago we were paying $3.79/gallon but it's been on a free fall for the last 2 months.  This morning I drove by the local Mobil station on Hwy 169 in Champlin and took a picture in amazement of the $1.79/gallon price however coming home tonight it was $1.73/gallon.  It now costs less than $20 to drive back up to Red and even with pulling the house back it is relatively cheap at 10 miles per gallon.  The latest predictions say it will drop even further but we'll see as it's pretty cheap by current standards.   It sure would be nice to buy ahead and if one lived in St. Cloud you can actually buy prepaid gas at the First Fuel Bank and enjoy stable fuel prices based on what you prepaid for and how much you bought.  It's a pretty novel idea and I suspect it will get a lot of attention at these prices.  Either way oil prices will really have to rise to get back to where it was this spring, and eventually it will!  Certainly a lot of people will definitely have a lot more disposable income to spend in the months ahead.

Thursday is our day to head to the annual St. Paul Sportshow, the first of the year.  Keith Holtan has his booth there and am looking forward to seeing him as tradition will have us catching up on the latest and greatest.  The week will finish off with a trip to Lambeau Field were a good friend and contact for our business has graced me with 2 tickets to the Packer/Dallas Cowboy game in Green Bay on Sunday.  It's going to be cold but is destined to be memorable, especially when the Packers win! It won't be as cold as the original Ice Bowl where Dallas came to Green Bay for a playoff game in 1967 and the temperature was -15F at game time.  Often called the greatest NFL game ever played, I hope the outcome will be the same as I have some well placed bets with my two friends from Dallas, Joe Stanfield and Matt Davis.  Either way I should have something to report next week.

Three Times a Charm

Ben's first Walleye on Red Lake

It's been a really busy week, especially since we fished Red Lake again for the third time this season and it's like they say, three times a charm. After spending Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with friends my brother Steve and I had planned to take advantage of the long holiday time off and head back to Red Lake.  On Christmas Day we had the pleasure of spending the evening at Matt and Christina Taylor's home, which was right on the way back home.  It's always fun to get together with the Taylor's our long time friends.  Jack was there with his 10 year old son Ben and the subject of Red Lake came up.  Our plan was to head up on Saturday the 26th and fish till Tuesday morning the 29th.  Jack stated he love to go and I suggested that he and Ben drive up with us and fish till Sunday as he had to work on Monday, they would be at the cabin and it's not really that much of a drive.  Well it worked out perfectly as we connected on the road heading north.  Also joining us was fellow Team Walleye member, Andy Achman and his wife Cheryl from St. Francis, MN.  Andy arrived an hour or so earlier and was anxious to get out after waiting for us to arrive.  Greeting us at JR's were Mark and Jan Applen as well as Russ Praught and his friend, all were waiting to have their fish fried up and suggested we wait and join them. Apparently the kitchen was changing oil in the deep fryer and it was going to be a while so after paying JR we hooked up the house that we had stored at the resort and headed back to the rockpile where our friends were parked.  Andy had arrived an hour or so earlier and was anxious to get out so we decided to go set up then come back for fish.  Although we didn't make it back in time there were still enough walleye to satisfy ourselves till breakfast.  Everyone headed back to our spots and getting  the poles baited it wasn't long before the first rattle reel went off and Ben went to work.  He's quite the fisherman for 10 years old and he pulled in the first walleye, too big to keep as it was over 17 inches. We took a quick picture with the phone and threw it back, ready for the next one.  Admittedly the bite had slowed somewhat as the fish weren't attacking our baits, the rattle reels proved effective. Ben had a great time pulling up our fish and he did really well as they visited both Andy and Mark to take advantage of any opportunity to pull one in.  After getting a few in the box it was time to get some sleep for the next day although I'm not sure how much Ben slept as he was on those rattle reels constantly.

Mark's 15 inch Crappie

Sunday brought another nice day and the surprise breakfast that Mark Applen brought over to our house.  He's an excellent cook and makes the best fried potatoes, bacon, and eggs.  With Russ leaving and Andy heading to Center Bar, Mark and I decided to move closer to the Reservation line as quite a few people had left the lake in the morning. During the evening Mark had caught this nice crappie, something that Red Lake is famous for prior to the comeback of the walleye populations.  I caught one of these last year and they are quite a sight coming through the hole. Our plans for the day were set, with the DirecTV working, we were looking forward to a day of football as both the Vikings and more importantly the Green Bay Packers would take up most of the afternoon.  After watching most of the Vikings game Jack and Ben bid farewell, something that Ben wasn't too happy about as he was having a blast.   Because Steve and I wanted to watch the Packer game in it's entirety, it was compromised with Mark that we would go back into JR's for fish at 6:30, which suit me just fine.  It was definitely worth it as the Packer's won 30 - 20 over Detroit and more importantly I won a bet with my 2 friends Glen Collins and Gary Hicks, both die hard Lions fans.  At 6:30 sharp we headed back to JR's, ate then drove back to the houses to settle in for the night.  Fishing was pretty slow and Andy's reports from Center Bar were more positive, we decided that a move was scheduled for Monday morning. We were really only a couple of miles away yet I never trust traveling cross country on unknown ice.The temperature was dropping and by morning we woke up to -14F with my Honda generator shutting off sometime in the night.  I have had this happen before and I think the carburetor get's iced up so I threw some gas antifreeze, brought it in the house and it started right up and ran good for the rest of the trip.   Fishing was OK on the rattle reels overnight, enough to pull them and attempt to get some sleep but in the morning fishing was slow.   By 9:00 we were getting ready to move and also helped Mark pack up in the now very brisk wind, definitely the weather had changed quite dramatically from Saturday's arrival.  We got the house connected to the truck and made our way back to JR's main road to the Center Bar.

Monday night walleye

Andy had been catching fish in the morning as we approached the waypoint he had given us.  Now packing up to leave,  Steve and I set the house near a small patch of snow so we had enough to bank. I made the big mistake of setting the house on 4 x 4's rather than directly on the ice.  Because we had enough snow to bank and the temperature was not going to get above zero anytime soon I thought it would be best to simply do the 4 x 4's incase we would have been frozen in.  Our problem was the ice was at the air temperature and the extra room just allowed plenty of cold air to circulate under the floor much easier.  We had a constant battle to keep the holes from freezing and the wind certainly did not help the situation at all.  Up to this point we had been pretty spoiled by the nice weather while fishing and now we were stuck with conditions that made fishing, even in the house a challenge.  By 4:30 on Monday afternoon we had enough fish to go into JR's for our nightly walleye feed and luckily there were only a few people left.  I was nice as we got pretty good service and was able to spend a little quality time with JR, Adam, and the rest of the crew.  One of the bartenders brought out a jar of his concocted horseradish pickles using Milwaukee Baby Dills.  They were excellent and I'm anxious to try them as the recipe is pretty easy.   Through Monday night the furnace never stopped running and even though the fish were biting I finally had to close up all but 2 of the holes and put the insulated covers back on.  Surprisingly this helped quite a bit as before doing that the temperature had fallen to under 50 degrees in the house and by morning we were back to the low 60's.  Even though it was still well below zero and the wind was crazy, at 7:30 Tuesday morning the fishing was great and stayed that way for the next 2 hours.  I suspect we caught about 20 walleyes and perch in that time period, enough to each bring home our limits.  Packing up once again we were faced with limited parking and JR was good enough to help take care of us.  We were on the road by 11:30 and counting our stops pulled into my pole shed at 4:00, not bad.  My strategy is to head back up one more time, maybe either January 10 or the 17th, depending on the weather and will probably pull the Salem home.  My schedules pretty full for the rest of the winter and I'd like to try Mille Lacs a couple of times as it's not so far to drive and I hear the fishing is pretty good.

Sunset on Red

So here's wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year.  I'm going to try and find some crappies this weekend, hopefully I'll be successful.  The St. Paul Sports Show starts on January 8th and I'm looking forward to seeing Keith and Jane again and have our usual Guinness at the Liffey Bar in St. Paul.  We still have remarkably little snow for the winter as Red Lake basically had no snow and we have about 3 inches on the ground around home.  It's certainly a lot different than last years record snowfall and I'm not complaining.  I suspect buying that new cab for the John Deere has something to do with it as you see when I bought a brand new 47 inch snowblower attachment for my John Deere lawn tractor, we didn't have hardly any snow that winter and I really had to wait until the following year to use it.  I'm just saying!  I'll leave you with a gorgeous sunset on Red Lake, taken at -10 below zero.  I love it because the air is so clear and crisp, it's too bad they only last a minute or so.

Back to JR's

Steve's 36 inch northern

November's weather was good enough to give us a significant layer of ice on the lakes which started the ice fishing season with a bang.  Lately however we've experienced a December thaw and all of the snow has disappeared on both the ground and the lakes making for easy travel no matter where you go. Taking advantage of the great weather we decided to head back north to Red Lake last Thursday night and stay through the Sunday.  Joining my friend Mark Applen and I was my brother Steve and friend Kevin.  Because of meetings I was stuck at work till 3:00 while Mark left at 8:30 that morning with Kevin which was good as they could scout the area and have our location ready to go.  In the meantime Steve showed up on time as I snuck out earlier and was ready at the pole shed when he arrived. Leaving at 3:30 and needing to stop at Bill's we figured an arrival time around 8:00 or so and by the time we got the house hooked up and pulled out on the ice we should be fishing before 9:30. Needing Mark to blink his lights a few times we finally located him and parked about 200 feet away.  As luck would have it there was areas on the ice which had a small amount of snow on it, just enough to provide a nice insulating bank around the ice house and in the wheel wells to keep us warm. With some teamwork we were finally fishing right on time and it wasn't long before we had our first walleye.  After a cocktail with the guys we set up the rattle reels and hit the sack after a long day of working, driving, and setting up.  Friday came and I have to admit, the fishing was pretty slow.  Not that there wasn't any fish around rather they were quite tight lipped and would come and look for a few seconds then as fast as they came, they were gone.  Occasionally a fish would simply slam the bait in a complete opposite mood of the day, often it would come as a surprise as you weren't ready for it.  Steve did have a very large fish on his line on Friday but it threw the hook before we could see it, of course after a 10 minute battle.

A nice 16 7/8 inch keeper

By Friday late afternoon Russ Praught showed up with his nephew Zack and Mike Schneps arrived with his friend Tim, we had our small shanty town set up.  After a couple hours we had enough fish to take in to JR's and have him cook them up for supper that night.  It's a pretty good deal, simply clean your fish, cut them up into smaller pieces, hand them to the cook and he brings back your walleyes nicely deep fried with a pile of french fries to boot, all for $5.00 a head.  Russ brings his special tartar sauce and with a nice glass of Maker's Mark on ice, it just doesn't get any better.  Because fishing wasn't that good we headed back to our shacks for a friendly game of Farkle, something that seems to be a tradition with Mark, Russ, and Mike.  It's played with 6 dice and doesn't take too long to figure out how the scoring goes.  Seems like I need to equip the house with a game.  Retiring for the night we caught a few on the rattle reels but again the fish were not jumping out of the holes like 3 weeks ago. Saturday morning brought a new day and some more fish.  Our goal was again to have enough walleyes for supper that night and like the previous day, we managed to get enough to provide a meal. Most of the fish were about 16 to 18 inches and the new limit on walleyes that took effect on December 1 made a difference.  The previous slot limit was 20 - 26 inches, 4 fish with only one over 26 however the new slot is 17 - 26 inches and 3 fish with only one over 26.  We did get a number of fish in the 17 - 20 inch range that a month ago would have been in the pail so it did make getting a keeper sized fish a little bit more difficult.  Certainly the action was good enough to eat a meal each day and ultimately bring home some walleyes for later.  Just before we went in for supper on Saturday night Steve hooked into another big fish as it quickly tangled all of the rattle reel lines that were down.  This time we were successful in landing the fish which turned out to be a very fat 36 inch northern pike.  That nice fish deserved top billing on this post and is the first picture above.  Like 3 weeks ago when Keith landed his 40 inch northern, it takes a while for the fish to come back into the area if a northern is around so we are glad to catch these fish then let them go thinking that they have had enough of us! After making sure we had enough fish for supper we headed to JR's for our nightly fish fry.  This night Mark pulled out his special tartar sauce and wow, it was in Russ's class.  It certainly makes for an enjoyable day of fishing when you can eat fresh walleyes almost as soon as they are caught.

TX at JR's on Red Lake

The plan was to leave by Sunday morning at 9:00 however the fish seemed to be biting better so we extended it till 10:00.  I guess we really didn't do any better and Steve had another 3 hours of driving once we hit home so we started packing up.  We got everything put away, hooked up to the trucks and headed for JR's.  I pulled up first as Mark was right behind me.  While handing Steve the fish to clean for the way home, I noticed Mark was talking to JR as I haven't even seen him since last year. Mark had given him a bottle of 18 year old Wiser's Whiskey, his favorite brand.  They were discussing how mad JR was as his so called friends were drinking his gift without impunity, actually mixing it with coke for crying out loud.  I had picked up a 1.75L of straight Wiser's for JR and it seemed as good a time as any to give it to him.  To us it's never a big deal but I know that it's important to make sure you are a good customer and to let your host know that you appreciate everything they do for us.  Appreciative of our jester, JR gave Mark and I a special parking spot for our wheel houses which later we learned the back lot was completely filled, a true gift.  It really pays to be nice to nice people and JR is the greatest.  Speaking of great friends, Matt Davis from Texas introduced me to TX Whiskey while we were on our Louisiana fishing trip with Matt, my wonderful friend Joe Stanfield, brother Steve, Mike Schubert, Jim Cox, the Professor, and our hosts.  It's a great sipping whiskey and Matt makes sure I always have some around as it's only sold in Texas and Louisiana.  I brought a bottle up and we had a few rounds with Adam, JR's son who helps run the place.  I like to send pictures to Matt and Joe showing them where TX has been and to let them know I still appreciate their thinking of me!  TX has been to Lac Seul, Leech Lake fishing opener, deer hunting camp, and now Red Lake.   Maybe I should send this picture to the distillery, maybe they'll send me a bottle.

Well, it's Christmas time again and like my dad used to say, the older you get the faster it goes.  I'll definitely be heading to Eleva to see my family on Christmas Eve then head to my wife Lyn's family as they are going through some issues as we all get older.  We have a standing invitation to spend Christmas with the Taylor's, our Minnesota family and with a little luck well make it back in time. The plan is to get back up to Red Lake after Christmas and before New Year, might as well while we have the time off.  A very Merry Christmas to all of you, especially my loyal readers including Jeff King (who's in Mexico dammit), Dewey Ness, Keith Holtan, all my fishing friends especially Kevin Aiona, Mark Applen, and Bill Lundeen.  There are too many of you and I'm sure you know who you are, have a great Holiday Season as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Spring has Sprung.......in December

On Lake Pulaski

After a hectic week in San Diego and spending some time with my Taiwanese friend Jeffery it was time to get back to work.  It looks like I had the flu for the last ten days as I really didn't feel very well until the weekend.  As stated last week the weather was predicted to be in the high 40's and low 50's and the weatherman was right this time!  It was sort of like a temperature inversion had settled over the area and by Monday all the snow was pretty much gone everywhere.  With a few hours available I called my friend Pete Mliner as we had talked earlier in the day about heading out to a local lake near Buffalo.  I used to do well at the lake but the last few years it's been a struggle and with Pelican Lake being my local go to lake, my other previous haunts were forgotten.  Now that Pelican has froze out last year and the DNR is lowering the levels (that's another topic!) it's time to re-explore these older lakes as well as new ones. After stopping by Cabela's in the morning my afternoon cleared and I picked up Pete around 2:00.  It was interesting because we were going to Lake Pulaski and he had a friend on the lake where we could park our truck and walk out.  Arriving at the house we were greeted by Mark Haskins, and old Team Walleye member.  I guess I was the only one surprised as everyone assumed I knew, funny.  So after catching up on things and unloading we headed out on the lake and drilled some holes with Pete's new drill adaptor/auger.  It actually worked pretty good as the ice was a solid 12 inches, it took a little to get used to but we drilled quite a few holes.  As you can see there was a lot of water on the ice and my first hole became a drain for the rest of the day.  Moving from hole to hole we managed to get 7 crappies, the biggest about 10 inches. Nothing to brag about it was still nice to get out and renew at least one of my old fishing holes. Once the sun went down the bite stopped so we headed back home.

Andy with a nice walleye

The balance of the week has been getting prepared for our next visit to Red Lake for the weekend. This trip is going to include my brother Steve, Nephew Kevin, and good friend Kevin Aiona as we plan on heading up on Thursday afternoon for 3 nights of what hoping to be a great weekend of ice fishing.  As stated a few weeks ago I have left my Salem Ice Cabin at JR's Resort on Red Lake so it's pretty easy to drive on up, hook onto the truck and take it out.  My friend Mark is heading up 6 hours earlier and with a little luck he'll have the spot ready for us, maybe even have some fish to eat for supper!  Last week my friend Andy Achman was at Red with his newly acquired Ice Castle and they did pretty well.  He sent me a report where him and his brother Pete, both Team Walleye veterans, had caught over 40 walleyes after a few nights out of JR's.  He stated they had to move once but caught all the fish they needed to eat and bring home.  Parking his rig next to mine, I tried to convince him to join us this week but he's too busy.  Here's hoping the walleye's are still hitting as the weather forecasts are quite stable for the next 5 days, which is perfect for the walleye bite.  With the near zero temperatures the last few days warming up to the high 20's for Thursday thru Sunday, it should be perfect.   There is absolutely no snow on the ice and it might be a good time to practice putting on my tire chains just in case we get stuck.

Christmas is just around the corner and as always, it's moving too fast.  Although all the snow is gone it looks like Sunday through Tuesday may just give us enough snow to have a White Christmas. With the 25th falling on a Thursday this year it really breaks up the week, and not necessarily in a good way.  With a little luck I'll do well this week and be back up the next.

Fishing the Kelp Beds

Red Rockfish matching my shirt!

Last week was a tough one as the flu or something as diabolical hit me on Tuesday, just in time for my flight on Wednesday to attend our annual fall TTA meeting in San Diego, California.  Limping through the conference, I wasn't in very good form yet was able to pull myself together for our planned fishing trip on Friday afternoon.  The last speaker on Friday was done by 11:00, it was time to head to the harbor where we hooked up with Sauerfish Charters located in one of the harbors just minutes from downtown San Diego.   On the trip were a number of important colleagues including Bill Dull, Randy Eller, Chris and Jeffrey Chen, CK, Lyle Shaw and myself.  Although the December/January time of year is not the best time to catch fish off the entrance to San Diego harbor, there is no better time to fish than the time you get to go!  Our host was Eric Sauerwein, captain of the 42 foot twin diesel "Classic Fishing Battle Wagon" was extremely gracious and worked very hard for our fish.  Eric had a very interesting setup on his electronics which included a Furano 12 inch depth sounder and a Nobeltec computer based navigation software that was separate but tied into his systems.  With a computer screen in the helm, it would show our position as well as the bottom contours, not as lines but rather in 3D as we could easily see the shelves, drop offs, canyons, humps in real 3D, it was pretty awesome and something that would be nice for around Minnesota for sure. As we pulled out of the San Diego harbor we were greeted by the USS John C, Stennis (CVN 74) aircraft carrier coming into the San Diego naval base.  These ships are huge and this one was no exception.  Coming within 100 yards as we passed by it was interesting to see the escort gun boats, complete with a person on the 50mm machine gun staying between us and the carrier.  Many waves to the sailors we continued to the 70 foot level and started fishing.  Our rigs were pretty simple, a stout rod with a open spooled trolling reel with about 20 pound test and a 3 ounce sinker tied to the end.  Looped at both the 1 and 3 foot location above the sinker was a horizontal line with about a #2 octopus hook.  The hooks were baited with cut squid and dropped to the bottom, much like fishing halibut or rockfish in Alaska.  Right away I had a tap tap and pulled up a calico bass, a type of rockfish.  It was pretty small and I released it but coming from 70 feet of water, it ended up as seagull food.

Bill's bonus fish, a nice yellowtail

The swells were actually pretty good sized, I suppose 6 to 8 feet and it made standing on the bow, fishing off the rail somewhat challenging as we were about 8 feet above the water.  It took an hour or so to get my sea legs and by 3:00 it was pretty comfortable.   I did manage to get about 5 fish including a keeper bronze rockfish and the red rockfish in the above picture.  Although not very big I have been assured they are very good to eat so we keep most of what we caught.  The highlight of the trip was when Bill Dull hooked onto something considerably more substantial than the smaller rockfish we were catching.  The captain speculated that it might be a nice halibut, considering where we were fishing but having caught halibut before, they don't run like this fish did.  Trying to follow the fish around the boat, Bill headed towards the bow as the captain followed him with the gaff.  All of a sudden the first mate notices a large shape in the water, a damn California Sea lion.  These things are notorious for stealing fish and whatever Bill had on would probably make a nice meal for the seal.  As Bill rounded the bow the fish made it's presence known, a Yellowtail. CK and Jeffrey were very excited as the yellowtail makes some of the best sushi in the world and is known as Hamachi and they are huge fans of raw fish.  The critical factor was to get to the fish before the sea lion did and as you see in the picture, we were successful.  The yellowtail is a member of the amberjack family and is a very strong swimmer as you can see by the shape of the fish, almost like a longer tuna.  Everyone was pretty impressed with the catch including the captain as a fish like this is a real bonus this close into the harbor. Actually you can see the video of Bill catching the fish and the excitement HERE, it's pretty cool. My excitement came when I was reeling up the red rockfish pictured in the top photo.  Just as it came to the surface a huge sea lion lunged for the fish, normally I'm not very fast but a quick snap and I was able to deprive the swift mammal it's dinner! It's pretty impressive to watch them swim around the boat, searching for an easy meal but there wasn't anything this time around.

Jeffrey, CK, Lyle, Bill, Dave, Chris, and Randy

After catching a mess of fish that included the yellowtail, 5 red rockfish, 2 bronze rockfish, 1 white sea bass, 1 calico bass, and 4 mackerel we headed back to port. The first mate simply gutted the fish as Bill was going to finish packing them when we got back to Temecula, CA.  I'm sure there was plenty of fresh sushi to be eaten sometime later in the weekend.  It was interesting to watch the seagulls and pelicans follow the boat as they would fly parallel to the side of the boat and look over at the fish as it was being gutted. Once the entrails were thrown over it was a battle royal to see who would get the meager scraps.  It was a lot of fun to watch for sure.  Even though the fishing wasn't spectacular, it was fun to get out for the short amount of time we had.  I can definitely put San Diego as one of my "been there, done that" spots as I continue to explore new and different places to fish.  We left California on Saturday coming back to the colder weather, quite a change.  In turn Jeffrey flew to Minneapolis on Sunday so I picked him up and we went to the ice fishing show in St. Paul.  He found it interesting as they have no ice fishing in Taiwan.  He left on Tuesday as it was nice to show him a little bit of Minnesota while he was here. This weekend is supposed to be warmer than normal, actually they are predicting as high as 50 degrees, now that is a change!  The ice will be heaving like crazy as everything heats up and expands. I will probably fish around home this weekend looking for some crappies and sunnies using the new rod I bought at the show.  Next week will find my brother Steve, his son Kevin, and I back up to Red Lake, here's hoping the lake gets settled down by the time we get there.

Red Hot Red

Parked on Red Lake

What a week of indecisiveness! Saturday I got a text from Russ Praught, he was in the tree stand and the talk around camp was the possibility of heading up to Red Lake with the wheel houses, bring the portables and either ATV out or walk out to the first break.  That first ice can be awesome and word was the Upper Red Lake was on fire with his friend catching 2 limits of 4 walleyes in a couple of hours.  Actually Mark Applen and I had discussed going up on the Friday after Thanksgiving and a quick call confirmed, he had a conflict on Saturday and had to be it town to attend.  On to Plan B, contact my good friend Keith Holtan to see if he had any interest.  Originally we were going to take Mark's wheel house up and leave it.  Plan B was to take my house up, park it on shore, and fish out of JR's.  Keith confirmed that he could go but would like to be back on Saturday which fit with my plans.  In the meantime Mark could not take the fishing reports and decided he would head up by himself early Friday morning and return in time for his Saturday night commitment.  On Thanksgiving the word came JR's were letting 1/2 ton pickups on the ice. So Mark headed out at 3:30 on Friday morning while I waited till 9:00, getting caught up on my extended trip back home on Thanksgiving.  Keith confirmed and I would pick him up around noon, we'd be at JR's by 3:00.  With the Salem hooked up I headed north first stopping at Bill's to get bait and propane before continuing on to Brainerd to pick up Keith.  In the meantime Mark called to confirm JR's were letting trucks and wheel houses out and he was on the lake making his way towards the rock pile.  That's a game changer as we would no longer need any portables.  As I pulled into Garrison a text from Mark confirmed, s
tarted at 11:00 and by 11:16 he had 2 fish in the bucket.  At 11:25 he repeated his text, 4 in the bucket, I'm done!  Uffda, his limit in 20 minutes and I'm still 4 hours away.  Arriving at 3:00 we said hi to the crew at JR's, paid Adam, and slowly drove on the ice heading west towards Mark. A mile or so down the lake we spotted his house and pulled up about 100 feet away.  Coming over to help we had everything set up by 4:00 with lines in the water.  I took all of one minute to have a fish in the bucket and with Mark anxious to get back to JR's for supper we went to work.  By 4:30 Keith and I had our 8 walleyes not counting the 6 or so we let go, time to go back in.  Geez, we had only been there 30 minutes and had to go.  Of course the strategy was simple, get back to JR's and clean/cook our fish before the crowd gets crazy.

40 inch Northern at Midnight

After stuffing our faces with fresh fried walleye and Russ's World Famous Tartar Sauce, it was time to head back to the Salem to settle in for night.  Keith and I decided to watch an Alaskan based movie called The Big White starring Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, and Woody Harrelson.  When my cousin Greg, Paul, brother Steve and I were in Alaska the discussion started about the best movies ever.  My choice was "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", cousin Greg's was "What about Bob", Steve's was "Second Hand Lion's" and Paul's was "The Big White".  These are all great movies and definitely worth putting on your list as I have all 4 in the wheel house.  In the meantime we continued to catch walleyes although not as fast and furious as a few hours later but it was OK as we were getting tired. Setting the rattle reels for the night it was time to get some sleep.   About 11:30 all hell broke loose on 3 of the 4 reels.  Keith had set the hook on a big fish and it decided to wrap around the remaining reels before it was subdued.  Pulling it out of the hole the fish kept coming and coming, all 40 inches of it.  A quick picture of Keith holding the fish after jumping out of bed and he let it go.  That's pretty exciting for sure.  Luckily the rest of the rattle reels were silent for the remainder of the night as we woke up at 7:30, ready for the morning bite.  Keith doesn't drink coffee and Mark showed up just in time to fill up my mug which was appreciated.  He had 3 fish and was looking for a 4th as he planned on leaving withing an hour or so.  The bite started picking up around 8:00 and we were able to help Mark with his needs and fill up our bucket with 8 really nice 17 - 19.5 inch walleyes by noon.  We continued fishing till 3:00 before packing up and parking the Salem behind JR's till next time.  After cleaning the fish we headed south for the long journey back to Brainerd, then home.  Although we only stayed about 23 hours with another 10 hours of driving and 2 hours of setting up and tearing down, it was quite a trip.  The walleye action was incredible and it was amazing to think we are at least a month ahead of where we were last year.

Successful Morning's fishing on Red Lake

Fishing on Red Lake has been nothing short of phenomenal, much so that the limits have changed for December 1st to February 22, 2015.  Because our trip was still in November we were allowed 4 walleyes under 20 inches and although 1 of those fish could be over 26 inches we would never keep one that big.  On Monday the possession limit drops to 3 and the length drops to under 17 inches. There has been a lot of fish taken out of the lake in the last couple of years and though the walleye population seems healthy I don't think it's going to bother anyone too much if they cut the harvest back somewhat.  With the Lake Mille Lacs restrictions of 2 fish between 18 and 20 inches, the change in Leech Lake and Winnibigoshish perch populations, and the huge increase in fisherman using wheel houses (Count me in!) Red Lake is almost the perfect storm.  A good population of fish, little structure so almost any spot can be a good spot, the ability to hold a lot of houses more than offsets the 4 1/2 hours of drive time.  I suspect that eventually things will change, the fishing will die down on Red,  Lake of the Woods - Leech - Winnie - Mille Lacs will become more popular and the hope is they become more wheel house friendly.  Right now it seems as though 50% of the wheel houses are at Red right now and will be for another couple of months.  I know that as the years progress it is much more enjoyable fishing out of my portable RV with holes in the floor than it is dragging the ATV and my Clam X2 Thermal, unloading it and finding a spot to fish.  It also nice to hit these further away lakes and have the ability to spend a couple of days enjoying the outdoors rather than simply loading and unloading your stuff and leaving right away.  I'll always have the portables as it's really not a bad way to fish, in fact I'm looking to upgrade my one man Clam to a fully thermal model as my go to panfish shelter.   I am finishing this post on a Delta Airlines A320 bound for San Diego for our annual fall TTA (The Transformer Association) meeting.  The 70 degree weather will be a nice change to the below normal temperatures we have been having in Minnesota.  No trip would be complete without something to do with fishing and Friday will be no different as my friend Bill Dull has arranged a half day charter off the coast of San Diego to fish the kelp beds.  This is something I have yet to do so I'm pretty excited.  Going with will be my Golden Brother CK from Taiwan as well as Chris and Jeffrey Chen, Randy Eller, and Lyle Shaw.  Here's hoping we'll have some nice pictures for next week.  Getting back on Saturday, Jeffrey is flying in on Sunday to visit our factory.  We are planning to go to the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show, it should be an interesting experience as Jeffrey i from Taiwan and I can assure you there is no ice fishing there!

First Hole Fished

First Ice

Determined to get out on Saturday I lined up my neighbor Tom as we decided to try a lake north of Cambridge Minnesota called Lake Nunya.  With the below zero temperatures earlier in the week the ice had to be at least 4 inches, easily enough to walk out and drill some holes.  Saturday was very nice temperature wise, in the mid 30's so there wasn't a need to drag any houses out and simply fish out in the open.  Stopping at St. Francis we loaded up with crappie minnows and waxies as the latest 2013 test nets showed Lake Nunya being full of 10 - 12 inch crappies.  Arriving at the lake and using my cell phone Navionics map app showing the deepest part of the lake was about 1/2 mile walk across the ice so we took off.  There were a couple of guys on the ice which was a good sign, hopefully they were catching fish.  I had brought along my ice spud to test the thickness as we walked but it soon became apparent that the ice was quite solid, measuring around 5 - 6 inches. Arriving in the area we wanted to fish I noticed a guy had drilled a bunch of holes about 25 feet apart for a long ways across the basin.  Deciding it would be a lot easier to fish the ready drilled holes I walked up and first asked how's he doing then asked if he'd mind if I would fish his holes and his response, go ahead and have at it.  There must have been over 30 holes over a 1000 feet, I started fishing each one (hench forth my title for this week).  The lake is about 8 feet deep and because it's part of a small creek flowing into a larger river, there is plenty of oxygen to prevent any winter kills like we had last year.  Fishing from 2:00 to 5:00 I marked only a couple of fish that didn't stay on the screen long enough to even give the impression there was a chance to coax it to bite.  Having completely struck out, we headed back the half mile across the lake to the truck.  A quick stop at the Gander Mountain in Blaine forced me to buy a  Custom Jigs and Spins Pro Slender Spoon in the gold/sunrise claw pattern which looks like it would be a great color for Red Lake or Lake of the Woods.  I guess one can never have enough baits in your tackle box!  After putting my stuff away for the night ended up fixing the fuel leak in my tractor.  Being nice out I decided to take a spin around the neighborhood and ended up at Mike Claffey's place where I met 2 other friends Wade and Shaun Lind.  Telling of my fishing adventure of earlier in the day they were flabbergasted.  "You went to Lake Nunya, that's our lake?" to which my answer was nope...and what's Lake Nunya.  Wade says that it's what we call the lake when someone asks where'd ya catch them......Lake Nunya Business!

Slender spoon

It's interesting that the above picture of the lake looks alot like it was done in black and white.  Actually it was taken towards the end of the day and it was pretty gloomy out as the temperatures were in the upper 30's.  We had just tied a record for consecutive days below freezing for November at 12.  The early cold weather has made it interesting times for ice fishing as it's been a number of years since we have had walkable ice this early.  The further north you go the thicker the ice is yet it's still not enough for me to feel comfortable driving my ATV out.  Even at Red Lake there has been guys going through the ice on their machines.  The long weekend was looking like we might get up to Red Lake to haul up our wheel houses and try for some walleyes before the December 1st slots and possession limits change but that has fallen apart.  The nice thing about Red Lake early in the season is that one doesn't have to walk very far out to get to the first structure break and catch walleyes.  Russ was talking about going to Lake Winnibigoshish and I am waiting for a report from him to check out plan B.  Plan C is maybe head towards Alexandria and try to locate some nice bluegills or crappies. Everything is sort of up in the air and it may be Thursday night before I know exactly where I'll be fishing.  I am looking at possibly bring my ice house up to Red Lake on either December 13th or at the latest December 20th as long as my brother Steve can get away or my friend Keith Holtan can get off work.  It will more than likely depend on the weather as we have lots of plans but time does fly.  Decisions, Decisions..........  I guess the good news is that in years past we were not even getting out until after Christmas and in fact one year my friend Pete and I were hammering the walleyes on the north end of Mille Lacs through December 6th before the lake started to freeze.  Anyway, for anyone going out, just be careful!

Thanksgiving is Thursday and a time to give thanks to of families, friends, our health, and country. Getting older puts these things in greater perspective as one becomes more aware of the limited time we have to be thankful.  God Bless.

The Second Week of Deer Camp

View From the Stand Late Saturday Afternoon

Well, we are done with deer hunting in Minnesota as Zone 2 ended on Sunday, November 15th.  It is still open for another weekend in Zone 1, just east of where I hunt yet mentally I have moved on to ice fishing.  I do like venison as well as the process of butchering it but this year was pretty cold and busy so not having to deal with it isn't the worst thing in the world.  Somewhat undecided as to what I was going to do last weekend for hunting, my mind was made up when Jack Taylor called and asked if I would bring his son Ben up with me.  That was a good enough excuse to leave a little early and hunt Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.  Ben was pretty excited as his mom was going to go up Friday night but decided to stay home, meaning he wasn't going.  Arriving at Jack's house by 11:30, we stopped at Cabela's to get some gloves and it was a good thing I had him along. Forgetting my reading glasses in the truck I needed Ben to tell me the prices of the items I was interested in.  With the cold weather upon us the goal was not to have cold hands on the stand. We arrived around 2:00, just in time to get the warm clothes on an head for Brett's.  He had earlier called to tell us the swamp had frozen over and getting back to my traditional spot would be easier.  Well it wasn't quite that way as the swamp had areas of standable ice yet it was still unfrozen under the snow.  Inching my way back was like walking a tightrope working hard to avoid the areas that weren't so thick, I managed to get a little wet yet stayed dry enough to get to a stand.  Saturday night was very nice as I took this picture from the stand.  There was some fresh tracks under the stand yet by 5:00 nothing had come by.  Not wanting to walk through the swamp in the dark, I headed back through the maze of solid ice, open water, and muck.  Unfortunately the trip back wasn't so forgiving as I broke through over my boot landing on a solid piece of ice.  Although I didn't get too wet, it was enough to rethink Sunday morning's hunting stand.  Not wanting to walk back out in the dark I chose a stand near the road, not to difficult to get in but not the ideal spot either.  Waking up at 5:30 I was in the stand by 6:15 and was it cold!  I lasted about 90 minutes before it was time to leave.  Packing up I headed back to Jacks cabin, enough of deer hunting for this year.  We did measure the ice in front of the cabin which sits on the east side of Platte Lake and found over 5 inches. Heading back in time to catch the Packer's play with the Philadelphia Eagles like a cat plays with a mouse!  My bet with Carl was a good one and I look forward to a trip to San Jose, CA to collect.

A Great Addition to the Tackle Box

Last Friday night Tom McAtee and I went to the Ice Fishing Show at the Blaine Sports Complex. One of the first of the year, there were a lot of new gimmicks and ideas to  mull around.  One of my favorite tools for cleaning fish is the Filet Claw, a great tool for holding fish filets when taking the skin off.  Made of stainless steel it has a claw like edge on one end and is bent up on the other to make handling a breeze.  It's one of those simple tools that really works and I never go anywhere without one.  It was interesting to meet the owner and his wife as we talked about business, his successes, and the future.   I love innovative things, I have 2 of these and decided that my ice house needs a dedicated one as well. Check out the link above and get yourself one, they are the real deal!  Besides some well know retailers at the show, I was really looking to see some of the wheel houses on display as I'm always looking for good ideas.  Unfortunately less than half the houses on display were accessible and those that were, those showing the houses weren't too interested after you let them know you have a different brand.  Clam Corp had a nice setup and it's got me thinking about selling my 1 man Clam Scout TC and getting something a little bigger in a thermal type fabric yet stay light enough that it will easily fit in the back of my truck and I can load myself.  Looking at the Clam Dave Genz Legend XL Thermal and will probably pull the trigger on one soon.  Although I have a big 2 man Clam X2 Thermal, it's really heavy and tough to load unless I bring the trailer.  This is OK for Mille Lacs but around home and on the smaller lakes I need something more portable. With 4 inches of ice already on the lakes I'll probably go out on Saturday afternoon as Sunday is the Packer/Viking game.  My last time in Wisconsin brought me by Louie's Meats in Cumberland and I purchased a couple pounds of Packer and Viking bratwurst which will be served at neighbor Tim's for lunch.  Here's hoping Aaron get's his 3rd 50 point plus game in a row!

Winter is Here!

Steak ala Kienitz

OK, so deer hunting was less than successful last weekend but it was still nice to get out.  Because of the extremely wet summer and the fact that we had Jack's 10 year old son with us, we decided to hunt Loren's 80 acres, about 10 miles southeast of our usual hunting grounds.  It was definitely a lot easier to set things up and walk to our stands in the morning, sometimes you just need a break from the normal.  We did scout the area the previous week and there is certainly sign of a lot of deer moving through the fields and along the edge of the woods.  The trails coming out of the woods and through the fields look like cow paths in a pasture from back home.  Arriving on Friday at Jack's cabin on Platte Lake, his son Ben and I started getting prepared for our annual Steak Feed at Brett's place.  I have posted before about this but it's always a nice reminder.  A simple recipe stolen from my friend Troy, who now lives in Montana, it doesn't seem like it would be good but it's excellent.  As stated last week, I bought about 12 pounds of boneless ribeyes and a big aluminum roasting pan. The first ingredient is Tabasco sauce, I use a small bottle and sprinkle it on each side of the meat.  Next is the Hot Buffalo Wing sauce, a big bottle of this is emptied into the pan.  the last thing is adding a big jar of Pace Picante Sauce, hot.  The meat marinates for about 4 hours before we fire up the flip flop grill and cook them to a delicious medium raw state.  Along with baked potatoes, mushrooms, and a glass of zinfandel, it's a meal fit for a king. Besides myself, Jack, and Ben were our good friends Eugene and his son Kevin, Brett, and Jack's brother-in-law Steve.  Stuffed to the gills, we headed back to the cabin and were sleeping by 9:30 as 5:00 comes pretty fast.  Saturday morning we woke up to a very strong west wind, something that usually keeps the deer laying down, and being a full moon doesn't help either.  This year I did a ground blind and it was very nice as it provided protection from the wind and because we were hunting the edge of the fields, it really wasn't too bad.  By noon I decided to move my blind to the opposite side of where Jack was set up as he had seen deer move into that area but was too far to shoot.  I stayed there both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning and only saw 1 deer.  At least I

First Snow of the Season

was comfortable.  In the meantime the deer I saw walked right in front of his blind and he got a nice video.  Ben wanted him to shoot it but Jack said it was too small, which didn't make Ben very happy! I decided to leave Sunday afternoon as a significant snow storm was bearing down on Dayton and I wasn't very prepared. The boat needed to be tucked away, the leaf vacuum system and mower deck needed removing and replaced with the snow blower, the tractor needed to be pulled into the shed, with little time before the snow was forecasted to start. Working till 11:00 that evening I was able to get all of the tasks done just as the snow began to fall.  We were predicted to get 8 - 12 inches and this time the weather man was very accurate as I had about 10 inches to deal with on Monday night.  These first snow storms start out as wet heavy slush then as it get's colder, tends to get more fluffy.  It was still difficult to shovel as it was very wet underneath and my blower wants to dig into the soft ground and mix some dirt with the nice white snow.  In addition to getting everything cleaned out my friend Mark's ice house that sits next to mine was sold and needed to be picked up Tuesday, that area needed to be cleared anyway.  Not complaining as Mark brought over a bottle of Booker's Straight from the Barrel Bourbon, incredibly smooth but being straight from the barrel, it's about 120 proof! Either way we toasted the beginnings of a new ice fishing season that's soon upon us.

Showing off at TCF Stadium

So last week I forgot to post my Sunday adventure, going to TCF Stadium on the University of Minnesota's campus for the Vikings game against the Washington Redskins.  Not much of a Vikings fan, I had never been to that venue, it was nice out, and the tickets were free from my neighbor Pete Sipe so what the heck.  Along with Pete and I were his son Rob and our good neighbor Tim Kuntz, a fanatic Vikings fan.  With the temperature predicted in the 40's I decided to dress for the occasion wearing my warm Green Bay Packer sweat shirt and a Stormy Kromer hat.  Walking around the stadium to check it out, I had Tim take this picture of me on the top deck overlooking the field with the skyline of downtown Minneapolis in the background.  A far cry from Lambeau Field it should be interesting as the Vikings play the Packers on November 23rd at home, we'll probably watch it at Tim's.  At least they sold Leinenkugels Beer there.  I am still waiting for my Rattlesnake Rattle Reels that were ordered from Bill, he took off to Arizona to bring his mom to her winter residence and a well deserved vacation, I guess it will be after Thanksgiving now.  Beyond that I'm ready to go and with the recent snow, the temperatures are not predicted to get above freezing for the next 10 days or so......we might be on the ice sooner than later.  The first of the ice fishing shows start on Friday and I definitely plan on spending some time there as well might sneak out on Saturday or Sunday to see if I find a nice buck to shoot.  Beyond that it's the inbetween time of year as we wait for the lakes to freeze.

Deer Hunting, Ready or Not

Ben's newest addition to his Trophy Room!

Well, like everything these days it's amazing that deer hunting is already here.  What started out in the early 1980's hunting with my friends Mark and Jack Taylor, their brother-in-law Tim Guzek and myself has been reduced to simply Jack and I for the last 15 years or so.   Our first adventures deer hunting was in Roseau, Minnesota which is 10 miles from the Canadian border.  Staying at the Evergreen Motel, $20 a night for 1 room with 2 full sized beds, 4 of us slept very comfortably as the goal was to go on the cheap!  We hunted in Roseau because a guy at my work, Dale Larsen was from there and invited us up.  These were the great deer hunting times, 6 hour ride up north in Mark's dad Earl's Blue Chevy van, couch in the back with room for our gear and in those days, beer for the road! After a couple of years we started making a little more money and decided to get 2 adjoining rooms, we each had our own bed.  Eventually we ended up hunting just south of Roseau, staying in some cabins at the Skime Store.  Simple rooms built on a slab, the flies would come to life once you turned on the heat.  Hunting was good around there but eventually that faded as Tim moved away and the hunting land we were on had been bought by a country celebrity called Shotgun Red and his wife Miss Daisy from the old television show He Haw.  We had asked Shotgun to hunt his land and he had no problem however a conflict occurred between us and Red's old hunting camp, the Olsen's.  Red was in the wrong but wasn't going to put us in front of the Olsen's even though he knew that us being on the land would help stop them from assuming they could have free reign of his newly aquired land.  Busting into our cabin and being warned about getting shot ended our days in Skime.  Next we hunted around Pequot Lakes, where Tim's cabin was, those were also good times but eventually Tim sold the cabin and we started hunting the area we are today.  Things continue to change as Rich is been gone over 5 years ago, Mark no longer hunts, and this year Jack's son Ben is joining us. Speaking of Ben, my friend Ben Aiona from Eleva texted me a picture of the beautiful buck he shot while bow hunting in the area.  Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties in Wisconsin are home to some of the largest whitetail deer in the country and this 13 pointer just validates that.  Next to Ben is his son Jared, who I am told actually helped track the deer and found it (wink).  As I say every year, only in my dreams!

Well, Ben wasn't the only one sending me pictures of their successful hunt, another friend Dwight Jordan sent me a picture of the nice elk he shot last week in Colorado.  A nice 5 x 5, maybe not a massive trophy but definitely worth bragging about.  Dwight goes out west every year to hunt and for the most part he does pretty well.  I hunted a few times with Dwight up near Thief River Falls when my cousin hunted a few years back and we have stayed in contact ever since.  I know he's a few years older than me but I'd tell you that he is still someone I wouldn't want to mess with and I'm afraid if I ever did hunt with him I know I couldn't even keep up with him.  He lives just south of Hudson, Wisconsin and I have featured his family in past posts on the Blog.  He's a really great guy and often wish that I could see him more often than I do.  So with that I have bought 12 pounds of boneless ribeyes for the steak feed on Friday night, my stand is ready although we are still debating where we are hunting, in the swamp or on the edge of the field 10 miles down the road.  I can tell you the field sounds like a better option but I think there is more deer in the swamp.  It will be good to see everyone again as we toast to our glasses to Rich Allen, a very nice man who really embraced Jack and myself.  It's suppose to rain on Friday and turn cold on Sunday which is OK with me.  We might as well start getting the lakes froze over as I'm getting anxious for ice fishing.