Moving Right Along

Wrigley Field

As stated last week, this was the weekend to plant my onions and potatoes yet nothing is ever that easy.  Deciding that the garden was still not as level as it could be I pulled out my tractor with the blade to pull a little more dirt back towards the middle and back of the garden.  Well, good intentions created a worse mess than I started with so I went over to Ricky's to see if he'd let me use his Harley Rake again.  He had the rotor tiller on his tractor and would have easily let me use it yet this would be a good time to see how it world work on my tractor. Driving home then back with my Ferguson TO35, I hooked it up, drove back to the garden and in no time had it back to being flat and ready to plant.  As stated earlier, it really works great and by Sunday night had accomplished my goal. Tuesday morning I left for Chicago for our annual Spring Meeting of the TTA with the highlight coming later that evening when we attended a Wrigley Field Rooftop baseball game between the Chicago Cubs vs the Pittsburgh Pirates.  We were not in the stadium itself rather on top of the apartment building overlooking left field.  Complete with dinner and beer we watched the Cubs win 6 - 2, it was a lot of fun.  Because of the meetings and not getting home till Thursday evening, it's my excuse for a Friday post!

Cool Cash!

Saturday I drove up to Frankie's to discuss my lack of a boat for opener situation and I wasn't very encouraged.  If push comes to shove, yeah he has a smaller rental boat I could take but in the end I wasn't to excited.  We both felt comfortable that my Ranger would have been in the end of this week but that's not going to happen. Well Mark Applen decided that I should use his boat, a 19 foot Monarch with a 135 Merc Optimax, so he brought it down to my pole shed Sunday night.  I have been in that boat before however I didn't realize how big it really is and it will be perfect for Leech Lake.  I will probably change out his depth finder with my color HDS7 Touch which has my map chips loaded into it.  It should work perfect for trolling shad raps as well and I am lucky to have such great friends.  At the Northwest Sportsman Show in March I bought a new Stowmaster Folding landing net with the promise of a $10 rebate from the factory.  A few days ago I got a letter from Norsemen Outdoors hand addressed to me and inside was a letter of congratulations along with a $10 bill.  It definitely got my attention as the usual way these rebates work is they are administered by a third party fulfillment company.  It was nice not to have to go to the bank and get my money, sort of the old fashioned way to do business.  It's been pretty dry around here lately and the word is that Leech Lake is down about a foot from last year.  Some guys are worried yet last year was about a 8 inches higher than normal so we should be OK.  With 70's scheduled for the rest of the week I might even get the rest of the garden planted before fishing.

This is my last post for the year.  I started posting in May of 2008 and decided that a year of Fishin' with Dave was basically from May 1st to April 31st.  Next week's post starts my 8th year of writing and I hope everyone has enjoyed.  Trust me, it's gets better once the season starts, other wise it's Fishin' for Topics!

And The List Goes On

Ready to be planted!

Man, there's a lot to do before opener, both the Minnesota and the Ontario.  We are 2 weeks away from our annual Leech Lake event and the lake finally became ice free early last week.  This never assures how the fishing will turn out but the spawn should be well over with and the fish should just start to be recovering and hopefully HUNGRY!  I did call Frankie's last week to get the final word on my boat delivery as things are much more sophisticated than they were years ago when it was just an educated guess.  Well the confirmation date is May 20th, I guess I was sort of expecting it but one can never discount miracles.  The bad thing is that I did turn in my old boat to take advantage of the market based on what we figured would be an easy delivery before opener. Well the flood of orders coming in and you know Ranger's motto....We Build Them One at a Time, means a few weeks delay. Fortunately I have experience in manufacturing and age has taught me to be more patience, I know they are doing the best they can.  Never the less it has force me to go to plan's B for both the Minnesota Opener on May 9th and the Ontario Opener on May 16th.  This isn't the end of the world and I am hoping that Frankie will come up with a loaner for the weekend, we'll see.  If that doesn't work it's simply amazing that my friends have offered the use of their boats so if push comes to shove, I'm covered.  On the Ontario trip it looks like we will be taking Garith's float plane up again. He just had the engine overhauled and we should be in good shape as the trip only takes about 5 hours vs the 10 to drive there. In the meantime it's been perfect for getting out in the garden and preparing it for the growing season.  Just like last year my good friend Ricky Shermer brought over his Kabota tractor along with his 3 point rotor tiller and powered harley rake for preparing my garden.  The first thing he did was use the harley rake to go over my asparagus beds and loosen the soil and level it out.  That thing works great for soil preparation and leveling.  Next was to hook up the rototiller and run over the areas that I did last fall to get the ground pulverized. One problem with the tiller is it piles the soil up behind it and because of the way the garden is, on end gets higher than the other.  I have used my Ferguson TO35 and the back blade to drag some of the soil back towards the other end but I have to admit, the harley rake really did a great job.

Asparagus spears pushing through.

The Spring season for 2013 and 2014 were quite cold and it was well after fishing opener before I was able to get in the garden and really work the soil.  This year it's more like normal however the last 2 years makes it feel like it's early. With little snow this winter and the fairly warm March my asparagus is waking up almost 3 weeks earlier than last year and it looks like a bumper crop. I'm not out of the woods yet as this week has lows below freezing which will destroy what has popped up but does little damage to the plants. My next job will be to take some grass clippings and put over the plants as it really helps to keep the dirt out of the top of the spears and are a lot nicer to eat without the crunch.  On Thursday we are expecting our onion plants special ordered from Texas to arrive in time for planting.  Last year we did this with great results but unfortunately some of the varieties which grew really huge were not very well rated for storage, some only 4 weeks after the tops died.  Nice to look at when they were in the ground but I was surprised how easy they rotted on me.  This year I paid more attention to the storage times and bought only the varieties that would last 4 - 6 months.  Along with the onions I have a special mixture of volcanic ground elements that "enhance" the soils that are perfect for onions.  Mixing it with a balanced fertilizer, it will help the plants get started before pouring the nitrogen to the plants.  The onion itself is a bulb and not considered a root an therefore loves nitrogen based fertilizers and are very heavy feeders.  I have 46-0-0 for them and hopefully by getting them in early, I'll have 2 pound onions by August!  Beyond that I have potatoes to plant then probably nothing till Memorial Day which is the earliest it can be this year.

In the meantime I have been getting ready for opener.  I picked up a different 2 piece spinning rod for Canada, have replenished the empty spaces in my jig box with a couple of interesting and new type jigs.  Line needs replacements on all of my spinning reels and this year I'm going to try P-Line CX Premium Fluorocarbon Coated 8# test Monofilament.  Usually Stren Magnathin is my line of choice however the CX has the same diameter and is rated very high for both strength and limpness, which is important.  We'll see how it works this year as I bought a 3000 yard spool for about 1/2 what the Stren would cost.  My initial tests are impressive.  My friend Keith Holtan and his wife Jane are already back in Alaska, although with the Minnesota Wild doing well, I'm sure he wishes there was a little more time to spend with his hockey friends watching the games.  Beyond that it's simply waiting for opener in about 2 weeks yet there's still a lot to do.

Everyone's Fishing but Me!

Nice mess of perch

One nice thing about friends is you can always count on them sending me the latest and greatest pictures of their fishing adventures.  In the meantime I am stuck without a boat and scrambling to get my spring yard work done by fishing opener, which leaves little leisure time.  Because I worked all weekend I thought this would be a great time to share some of those pictures.  The first picture is a dandy mess of jumbo perch that my friend Kevin and his son caught a few days ago, somewhere on the Mississippi River.  I don't ever remember getting perch this big, or for that matter any perch at all.  Maybe it was the fact that all we fished for were the walleyes and these perch have been there all along. I don't really know but there are ones here that exceed 1.5 #'s which is pretty good.  I often associate good perch fishing with Devil's Lake, North Dakota, Mille Lac's Lake, Winnibigoshish, Late of the Woods here in Minnesota but never in the ol' Muddy Mississip.  I have promised my confidence as always as revealing a secret spot it's a good way to end a friendship!  Last year Ben did really well on Devil's Lake however with the early spring, there wasn't really a chance to get out there and take advantage of the early spring ice fishing so maybe next year.  The second picture is of my nephew John Larsen and his buddies in Ft. Myers, Florida.  Apparently away for the weekend 5 of them went out last weekend for a day of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.  After spending a bunch of time catching their bait they headed out about 35 miles to some offshore ledges in 100 feet of water they started catching Red Grouper.  The limit is 2 each and apparently they caught their 10 fish plus a couple of sharks before heading to a wreck to dive.  Their Captain donned his diving gear and with a spear had brought up 5 more snapper and claims to have seen a several hundred pound jewfish, that

Nephew John (on the right) with a limit of Red Grouper

was probably exciting.  John is stationed in Colorado Springs with a special unit of the Army and is thinking he will be transferred to Savannah, Georgia at some point, an excellent excuse to go visit him. Lucky for me I have taken John on a number of fishing trips and it appears as though his interest has some staying power so hopefully he will take me sometime soon! To me there is nothing better than fresh cooked saltwater fish, something about the texture and flavor of the fish I have caught.  So far I've had fresh halibut, black sea bass, sheepshead, dorado (mahi mahi), sea trout, redfish, silver salmon, flounder, and yellowfin tuna that I have caught while on trips. I am not sure how the red grouper taste but I can only imagine that on the grill along with a few beers, they are equally as fantastic.

Yard work made easy

As I stated in the beginning, while others are out enjoying the fishing I am taking advantage of the early spring this year, something that hasn't happened since 2012.  At this time last year and the year before we still had snow on the ground and the everything was running way behind.  This year is completely different as the lilacs buds are really starting to swell and turn green as we've had an 80 degree day already.  Last year I used my friend Ricky Shermer's mower mounted dethatcher with his vacuum attachment and it worked so slick that it forced me to buy the same for my John Deere X724 lawn tractor.  Actually the vacuum bagger attachment was purchased last fall to expedite picking up my leaves and last week I put on the front dethatcher assembly.  It works pretty slick as the front tines loosen the dead grass and leaves and the vacuum pushes 14 bushels into the hopper, it's pretty efficient.  Sunday was my day to do the lawn as it had to dry somewhat from the rains of last Thursday as it can dig up the grass easier.  One of the problems to deal with is the dead grass is everywhere, on top of the mower deck, in the air intakes, your hair, you name it and it's there.  Well, I was almost finished with my 1 1/2 acres and moved to clean up on the other side of my pole shed driveway when I smelled something burning.  I looked down and the flames were coming out of both sides of the tractor above the deck.  Somehow the grass had caught fire and with the wind as strong as it was, it was like a blast furnace.  My first thought was to pull it down to the shed where I had water but panic soon ensued as the visual of the gas lines igniting put a more immediate urgency to putting it out.  Stopping the engine I jumped off and started an attempt to put the fire by pulling out the flaming grass (I had leather gloves on).  This just exposed more grass to the flames and the grass I did pull out now started a grass fire on the ground.  Back to the original plan, drive it to my water hose and put it out like a real fireman would do, I jumped on but the engine wouldn't start.  Actually it takes about 3 seconds for the controls to prepare the engine to start, 3 seconds I didn't have but it did manage to start.  About 100 feet to the garden hose the flames kept growing bigger as I sped down then for some reason stopped short.  Turning on the water the hose was caught in the reel and had to be untangled, with superhuman strength I managed to pull the hose to the tractor and dosed the fire......relief!  Checking everything out, it looked ok but then suddenly noticed there was still smoke coming from the end of the driveway where I had shut it down before, the grass fire was going strong.  I was able to drag the water and put it out as if it would have gotten in my field, all bets were off.  I am not sure what started the fire but it sure got me scrabbling.  After settling down my neighbor Todd came over to use the tractor for his lawn as it came with a stern warning, watch for smoke!  After he finished I drove over to my other neighbor Lory's and did his before the rain came. On the positive side the whole unit does do a nice job of cleaning up the yard.

We are 3 weeks from our Leech Lake opener and no word from Frankies yet.  As they say, patience is a virtue.  I did update all of my Lowrance electronics but not without problems there as well. Downloading the updates onto a 64 GB SD card the units did not recognize it as they have in the past. Come to find out that the max card size is 32 GB, go figure.  I also had problems after the updates with the units responding to my touch commands which was resolved by calibrating the screen. Things just don't seem to get easier!

Time for a Change

Saying Goodbye to an Era

This time of year brings me back to my days growing up in Eleva, Wisconsin.  The first part of April meant the suckers were biting and at 10 years old my friend Kevin and I would be the first to dig worms in the newly thawed soil and head down behind Bud Tollefson's to catch them from the bank.  A simple hook and sinker along with a branch stuck in the ground, we would catch fish there as well as our other typical haunts on the Buffalo River such as Trix's, The Culvert, The Trestle, The Buffalo Bridge, and Catfish.  As soon as we secured our driver's license it was off to rent a row boat at Wilbur's, located just up river from Alma, Wisconsin in the back sloughs of the Mississippi River to catch the northern pike that had just got done spawning.  We didn't travel very far in those boats but we sure caught fish.  Soon Kevin secured a 14 foot aluminum boat from Ray Filla of Independence, who's wife was Ardis Bue, daughter of our good friend Claude and Ardelene Bue. Finding a 1950's vintage 10 hp direct drive Merc outboard, the kind that turned the prop the second the motor ran and reverse was turning the motor 180 degrees, we were in seventh heaven.  A couple of years later in 1980 Kevin noticed a boat that was in Paul Wichmann's pasture so for $200 and using a trailer that my brother Steve had, I bought it. All the wood was rotted so I replaced the seat and the transom, threw a 15 hp Evinrude tiller on it and was in business.  2 years later I sold the motor to Tom McAtee, the boat to another guy and bought a new 1982 Lund S14 DLX with a 25 hp Evinrude tiller.  In 1986 my next boat was a 1985 Lund Pro Angler with a 50 hp Mercury tiller followed in 1988 with a 16 foot Lund Nisswa Guide, both bought from my good friend Chuck Teasley.  On the Nisswa Guide I eventually swapped out the 45 hp tiller for a 55 hp Suzuki tiller as it was simply too heavy for that Merc.  By 1990 I upgraded to a 1989 Ranger 680T with the same Suzuki, in 1993 a 17 foot Skeeter S135 and a 75 hp Mariner tiller.  In 2001 I traded it for a 20 foot Ranger 620T with a 4 stroke Suzuki 115 hp tiller and in 2009 I did the same again.  All of my fishing boats for the last 40 years have had one thing in common, a tiller controlled motor, it's a matter of convenience and fishing style.  Last year's fishing opener found me in a concerning situation as I hit another boat while cruising towards Pine Point.  Although no one was hurt it really got me thinking about the events that lead up to this, my lack of visibility, and letting myself fall into the scenario of not being in total control.  As well, it was getting harder to turn the 115 tiller and yes, I understand one can get a power assist for it, but at 60 years old I finally decided that after over 50 years of fishing, it was time for a change.

Ranger 620 FS with the New Evinrude G2, 250 hp HO

At this year's St. Paul Sport Show my first stop was Frankie's Marine display, just as you come in.  I have been doing business with him since 1989 and have never looked back.  We discussed my thoughts and concerns and of course he had the solution I should consider.  A couple more visits and I pulled the trigger on a new Ranger 620 FS with a full walk thru windshield and steering wheel. Hanging on the back I decided to go back to Evinrude with their newly designed from scratch E-Tec G2, 250 hp HO model that really has a lot of nice features.  In addition, Ranger's come with the best trailer in the business and I have never had a bit of trouble with them.  After running 4 stroke Suzuki's for 14 years it will be interesting to see the changes in these new 2 stroke engines.  Not wanting to give up either back or forward trolling, the boat will come with a 9.9hp 4 stroke kicker motor to meet the slower speeds and boat control needed, I just won't be able to control it from the back anymore. The other interesting thing is the new Motorguide bow mounted trolling motor which communicates with my Lowrance electronics.  The old 620T had the Minnkota I-pilot with the anchor lock position and although it worked well the accuracy of staying in one position was about +/- 30 feet whereas the new Motorguide reports verify a +/- 5 feet, which is significantly better when holding on a structure. Because of the communication with the Lowrance electronics one can now simply control the trolling motor through the screen on my depthfinder, something the Minnkota would only work with a Humminbird since Johnson Fishing acquired both (I think this is a big mistake but....).  Some of my friends have stated, sure Dave now you can go even faster but all reports state that the ideal cruising speed for the best economy is around 30 mph, at about half throttle where the fuel usage is not much different that my Suzuki at 30 mph.  The other thing that's nice is Ranger offer's a limited edition color with matching engine panels as shown above.  One of the nice things about dealing with Frankie is he knows my boats pretty well and without even seeing my 620T we agreed on a price knowing it would be in excellent shape.  It sold pretty fast which is good and bad, good for Frankie but bad if my boat doesn't get here in time for opener!  Part of the fun will be organizing my gear, thinking about the best fishability for my style, where am I going to put what, and just getting to know all of the nuances of the new rig.

The ice is going out pretty early this year as most of the lakes south of Brainerd Minnesota are now open.  The extended forecast looks like Leech will be prime for our 42nd annual Team Walleye event and the following weekend should find me back at Lac Seul for the Canadian opener.  Trying to get all of my chores done prior to fishing season I took off the snow blower and cab off the lawn tractor assuming it doesn't snow anymore and installed a front mounted dethatcher and the lawn vacuum. It should make short work of the spring lawn work and help the spring green up.  With a nice weekend forecasted it will be a good time to burn my garden and get the asparagus beds ready, I have over 100 plants and there is nothing better than fresh asparagus coated with olive oil and thrown on the grill.

Northwest Sportshow

Sports Show Prize!

So everyone knows I'm a Sport show  junkie and the granddaddy of them all is the Minneapolis Northwest Sportshow which was held at the Convention Center last week.  Unlike some of the smaller shows like the St. Paul Ice Fishing Show, St. Paul Sports Show, St. Cloud Sports Show, the Minneapolis show pretty much has everything you need to see under 1 huge roof.  From boats and motors to vacation destinations, equipment manufacturers, lure manufactures, and the latest and greatest of inventions, I could spend days there.  This year I made it down last Wednesday evening then again on Sunday afternoon.  Wednesday was the first day of the show and a great time to visit as everyone is fresh and it's not so crowded.  My main goal was to visit 3 specific vendors and attend a seminar.  The vendors included Frankie's Live Bait and Marine (my boat dealer), the Lowrance Electronics booth and the Motorguide booth.  The new Motorguide will talk to my Lowrance Electronics with the right adaptor and significantly increase the options for using the trolling motor. The other purpose for Wednesday night was to attend Lowrance University, a 2 hour seminar on using the advanced HDS Gen 3 products.  I should have known better.  Having used the Lowrance HDS platforms for over 5 years my knowledge is probably more than the average user so I was looking for the next level of understanding.  Although the instructor was very good, most of the participants were at a basic level of understanding or for that matter, didn't even own any Lowrance HDS products.  Getting a few of my questions answered, I left 30 minutes early and met up with my 2 friends Mark and Lory, who rode down with me.  Although they were "showed out", I had barely scratched the surface but it was time to head over to Britt's Pub for a Guinness and some Fish and Chips.  On Sunday afternoon I went back down with my neighbor Tom Olson as he was interested in looking at what's new from the boat manufacturers.  This is a great time to go as there are deals to be had for sure.  I did find a nice landing net called a Stowmaster KVD (Kevin Van Dam) edition at a real good price.  It folds up nice and will fit in my storage space in the boat.  Besides buying a ticket to support one of my political organizations, PERM, I did manage to buy a metal laser cutout of a 30 inch walleye that now adorns my Salem Ice Castle.  It's pretty cool and I got it half price after the guy asked me what I'd give him for it.  There was a guys selling a special jig with at small spinner blade claiming they were hot on Lac Seul Lake in Canada..........Ok I bought 10.   Finally I was able to return the favor to my friends Ken and Judy Marlow from Soldotna, Alaska.  We have stayed with them in the past and each year I get to see them at the show. They always have a jar of canned smoked Red Salmon for me so this year I returned with a pound of Lundeen's Wild Rice and a 12 oz bottle of fresh maple syrup made from the sap of the neighborhood maple trees during the last few weeks.  We all walked away happy!

View from Twin Pines Resort, Mille Lacs

Although I haven't had a chance to get out fishing around home lately, it looks like ice out is going to happen early this year.  The winter wasn't that cold and we certainly didn't have the snow cover we have had in the last 2 years. Looking back to 2013, we still had substantial ice on the lakes on May 1st and last year wasn't any better. This year we have already hit the earliest 80 degree day ever and with the mild end to the winter and no snow, it's not going to be long. Looking at the ice pulling away from Twin Pines Resort Web Cam on the northwest side of Mille Lacs, I predict that it will all be gone in about 2 weeks.  This should bode well for Minnesota's fishing opener scheduled to open on May 9th.  In addition to the Minnesota opener I have also been invited back to Lac Seul Lake for the Canadian Fishing Opener. Last year was my first spring trip to Lac Seul and it was delayed by the late ice out conditions however this year it's looking like that won't be an issue.  There is still a lot of things to be done as April is a big transition month for me.  With the snow gone I will be able to get into the garden faster, the lawn needs a lot of work which means I need to figure out how to take off my lawn tractor cab and store it, take off the snowblower and chains, attach the mower and get it ready for warmer weather.  I hate to do all of this before April 15th but the long term forecast says I'll be safe.  With the warmer weather upon us I can turn on the water to the pole shed as my Salem needs a good cleaning along with the wheel bearings greased and the roof scrubbed clean.  Easter is this weekend, next weekend we have been invited to an appreciation dinner, the following weekend is Mom's 81st birthday, it doesn't leave a lot of time to get ready for opener.  Oh well!

Charleston Fishing, Part 2.

A Nice Sheepshead

Admittedly I was in a hurry last week and skipped some of the details of my arrival in Charlotte.  With the opportunity to spend time with Matt and Joe in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago I dropped my wife off in Menominee, Wisconsin and headed out to pick up some special treats to bring along on our fishing trip.  Packing my things so I could check them for may flight it included a cooler with my Walter's Beer and about $100 of Wisconsin's finest cheese.  Taped up well, I knew the TSA would probably unwrap, check out what's inside, reseal then let it go.  Upon arrival guess what didn't show up.....my cooler.  A discussion with the Delta Baggage Representative confirmed it was still in Minneapolis, held up by the TSA, dang it.  Our engineer from work was scheduled to board the 3:30 flight to Charlotte and after a few calls confirmed it would be on that flight and he could pick it up.  That was fine but frustrating because we were well on our way to Charleston, oh well.   So continuing were I left off last week, fishing was very good.  The second reef we fished was much more productive and after 4 hours of fishing and a live well full of fish we headed back for the 45 minute ride to the dock.  On our way out we cruised the inside channels but on the way home the ocean was quite calm so we took traveled offshore for most of the trip.  Arriving back on the dock with a bunch of fish I was anxious to help clean the fish.  I made a couple of mistakes, which I seem to make with more frequency these days, I forgot my memory chip in my camera and I forgot my fillet knives. So, like the pictures that were taken with our phones, I grabbed the rusty fillet knife the guide had and asked if I could help. I was sort of surprised how dull the knife was but he did have a stone and a few licks made a big improvement.  I've watched a number of guides fillet fish and for the most part they don't waste any time.  A clean cut behind the gills, they turn the knife and cut straight through the rib bones and then

Black Sea BAss

simply cut away the rib and pin bones what in my mind wastes a lot of meat.  I understand, these guys are in a hurry and one could argue that the amount of meat wasted is minimal.  Never the less my "Minnesota" filleting method brought a generic comment that I was wasting fish until he really paid attention.....never mind, you definitely know what you're doing.  Every fish has it nuances in filleting but these were nothing more than saltwater versions of what I am comfortable with.  Paying him for a successful trip with a nice tip to boot, we asked about where we could get the fish fried up.  Asking the cook at the restaurant on the dock, he agreed and we had fresh fish and chips....absolutely fabulous!!!  The sheepshead and black sea bass is delicious, firm and white and very flavorful.  There is something about saltwater fish that I really like.  With a confirmation that there was no other place in town that would prepare our fish we handed the cook the rest of our catch and thanked him. Once back at the hotel I suddenly realized that the bag with my pullover shirt and GoPro camera was missing, where was the last time I REMEMBER I had it, sitting in the restaurant waiting for our fish.  When must I have FORGOTTEN it, when we bought a beer that had to be drank outside the building so I simply got up with my friends and walked outside and sat on the deck.  While Joe and Chris stayed back Matt drove me 20 minutes back to the marina store but I didn't see it anywhere.  Coming to the counter and asking the guy if anyone turned a bag in he responded, what color is it.  Next was what was the color of the pullover, what kind of orange, then what was my name which I replied, David Anderson.  Is this it Mr. Anderson, whew.  I tell you getting older sucks for sure as I dang near need to tie everything to my belt to assure that I won't leave anything anywhere.   The problem seems that what I leave isn't cheap either.  Maybe it's time for some memory exercises!  As stated earlier I bring my GoPro Camera with, the one mounted to my head in the top picture.  Taking a number of videos to record our trip I did get some interesting ones (so may call them boring!) that are of us fishing and run about 8 - 10 minutes long.  The videos give a great feel for the boat, sea conditions, the method of fishing, our catch rate, and how my friends did.  Here are the links: Charleston Fishing, Part 1, Chris gets a nice Sheepshead, I finally land a sheepshead!  I enjoy taking video's as they are a nice addition to the pictures and with Youtube, everyone can see them.

Chris Davis With 2 Nice Sheepshead

Back whole again we decided to go downtown Charleston for a late dinner and called a cab.  We had a few recommendations to eat at Hyman's Seafood in downtown so we directed our driver to drop us off especially after he recommended it.  It's pretty interesting, a 4th generation business that started in 1890, there was still a waiting list to be served at 8:00.  One thing I like to do is wear my Green Bay Packer hat wherever I go as I always met interesting people who appreciate being from Wisconsin.  Sure enough a couple waiting for a table recognized my loyalty and we struck up a nice conversation.  Finally getting seated upstairs, the walls were full of celebrity pictures of past patrons that read like some big hall of fame.  At my seat at the table was a small plaque with the name, Lynyrd Skinner as every chair position had a similar plaque.  Almost immediately after we ordered our dinner a guy came by and introduced himself, Eli Hyman, owner of Hyman's then asked about us.  We explained where we were from, why we were here, and about the recommendations we got.  I complained that one of the items on the menu was that you could bring your own fish in and they would cook it for you, add their sides for a reasonable $12.  This was great but it would have been nice if our guide would have known this as we gave away the balance of our fish after lunch because we didn't know what to do with them.  Eli got out his notebook and wrote a task to visit the area guides and let them know their clients could cook up their fish and for that idea his response was to order an appetizer for us on the house, fried green tomatoes on grits with a southern sauce then gave us a card assuring each a small gift from the gift shop which was strategically located on the way out.  The fish dinners were great, the atmosphere was fabulous, and the southern hospitality was first class.   Hyman's has many interesting aspects and none is more visible than their attitude toward attitude and you can see it here Hyman's Seafood's Attitude.  Full and satisfied we headed back to the hotel for one last nightcap before heading out in the morning, back to Charlotte.  Another great trip and another wonderful time spent with my friends Joe, Matt, and a new friend his brother Chris.  I promised them an ice fishing trip next winter, we'll see how those Texas boys can handle the cold!

With all the snow gone and the ice becoming unstable it's time to put the ice fishing gear away and get ready for open water.  Starting the year by driving on Red Lake on the Friday after Thanksgiving I guess there's little to complain about.  The cushions in my Salem Ice Cabin are too soft so my neighbor Gary, an upholsterer, has agreed to replace the foam to make them more comfortable.  Sunday was a time to head over to my friend Ricky to finish trimming his apple trees and it is the Northwest Sportsman Show this weekend, lots to look at.  I do have an important change for this year but I think it will just have to wait until I'm ready to spill the beans.  Until then 6 weeks to opener with a lot of stuff to do in between.

Charleston Fishing At It's Finest. Part 1.

Isle of Palms Marina

The long awaited reunion with my friends Matt Davis and Joe Stanfield finally happened as planned last weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. For a number of reasons my brother Steve failed to make this trip but luckily Matt's brother Chris filled in perfectly.  Matt informally introduced us to Chris as his Baptist Preacher brother from Kansas, sure now Joe and I were expecting to be on our best behavior! We'll it turns out Chris is really works in the 911 system and I suppose it probably entails the same issues, dealing with people in trouble for one reason or another, but it had me fooled.  Either way it turned out to be a great substitute as we all met around noon on Saturday in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport.  With Matt being the last to show up we got our bags and headed to the car rental area, picked up a van and headed towards Charleston, South Carolina which was about 3.5 hours away.  With plenty of things to catch up on and a few stops along the way we finally pulled into the Charleston area with our first destination, Isle of Palms where our booked charter fishing trip was booked.  Locating the exact boat and instructions for the morning we headed back towards the city to check into the Holiday Inn then go find something to eat.  Deciding to stay fairly close to the hotel we got a cab and headed to an entertainment area called Shems Creek, along a waterway near the coast.  Being somewhat of a yuppie place it was crowded and I wasn't too impressed with the food although we did have some great raw oysters in one spot.  We ended up at a seafood place and again, I wasn't too impressed there either yet it was getting late and we needed to have an early start in the morning.

Getting up early we had breakfast in the hotel before heading back to the marina before 7:30.   Our first mistake was to take a right turn that meant we had to drive almost 5 miles across a huge bridge into Charleston before heading back the other way.  Luckily traffic on Sunday morning isn't too bad and we lost little time getting to the boat.  After getting our parking pass and loading up with a few refreshments we headed out with Captain Chuck Griffin of Aqua Adventures Sport Charters in his 28 foot center console boat with a 250 hp Yamaha.  Our morning route took us through the inside channels that lead to a cut to the ocean about 10 miles from the harbor.  We were just at low tide and as the waves were breaking off the sand bar, it was obvious that we would have to work our way through the area as the water was only 3 feet deep verses probably around 8 feet at high tide.  Inching our way through we finally hit deeper water and headed for a small reef area which in itself was interesting.  Apparently when they were building the harbor in Charleston with granite from up north which was hauled in by barge.  One of the barges sunk with all the granite and created a small "barge" shaped reef in about 15 feet of water.  This was our first place to fish and although we did catch a number of different small fish, our main target was salt water sheepshead and black sea bass yet they were no where to be found.  It was interesting to fish this small area as one had to deal with both the wind and the tide currents making it very challenging to stay on top of the small reef using an anchor.  After about 30 minutes the Captain decided that we needed to move to the next reef, another 10 miles away up the coast. This reef was in deeper water and was again man made but was done on purpose rather that being because of an unfortunate accident.  Apparently when they made the new bridge connecting Mount Pleasant to Charleston they shipped all of the concrete rubble from the old bridge and dumped in the ocean making a very nice fishing reef that topped out at around 40 feet.   Our bait of choice was fiddler crabs, the kind that are found on beaches.  Although only a few had claws as big as this one you had to be careful as those things can

Fiddler Crab on a hook

really pinch as Matt and I found out!  Getting these on the hook took some challenges and if you weren't careful that claw would clamp down on your finger and even when it came off the crab, it's muscles continued to dig it into your skin.  It's a lot funnier after the fact but in Matt's case the crab claw actually broke his skin.  Either way they were pretty effective as we started catching both Sheepshead and Black Sea Bass almost immediately.  I guess the interesting thing is these are land crabs and not found in the water yet it's no different that catching walleyes with nightcrawlers, they aren't found in Lake Mille Lacs either.  A picture of a sheepshead was featured in a December 4, 2008 post when we fished in Jacksonville Florida that year but these were much larger and I the video I inserted makes for a pretty impressive set of teeth on this fish.  These things are made for eating crab, clams, anything with a hard shell as they have all the equipment needed.   No wonder we had a hard time hooking these fish as it would take almost 6 crabs to catch one fish.  The black bass were easier to catch and had to be over 13 inches to keep them and we caught plenty.

I am still waiting for pictures from the guys and hopefully will get them for next weeks post as I am going to take it easy for the weekend.  There still might be some fishable ice around, quite the opposite of the 80 degree weather we experienced in Charleston.  Stay tuned!

Trimming the Orchard

Pruned to Perfection!

With the rapid warmup of the weather all of our snow has done a  nice disappearing act which forces a person to just do more work!  Spring is the time to trim my apple trees and usually the earlier the better so it became my project for the weekend.  Apples love to be trimmed as it helps in preventing diseases by opening up the inside of the tree for better air circulation, helps in turning the apples read as they receive more sunlight, and it makes spraying and harvesting the apples much easier.  If you look at the orchards, they really trim the trees down for exactly the same reasons. Last year's late snow cover and very wet spring was hard on the trees as the are in low spot by the pole shed.  I had 2 full grown Fireside trees that I left planted close to each other to the point where it was getting difficult to deal with them.  Never wanting to cut anything living down, one of them slowly wilted until all the leaves were gone, I guess Mother Nature did what I couldn't do until the tree was dead!  I do think the other tree is happier now, we will see.  The other thing that pruning the tree accomplishes is it helps to even out the every other year cycle of lot's of apples, not so many apples.  2013 was a banner year for my trees with more apples than I knew what to do with.  Combined with the wet spring and a cold start to May, 2014 was a total bust for apples, enough to stop spraying them, it just wasn't worth the time.  This year should be a great one as we are back on the good side of the cycle.  One other thing that I did was finally cut off any branches that interfered with my head while mowing.  Sometimes I'd go along on my mower, not thinking then WHACK, sometimes almost getting thrown from the lawn mower, and I can guarantee that it doesn't feel very good at all.  Those bottom branches never produce much anyway!  I have 12 full grown apple and pear trees and it takes about 45 minutes to complete one tree.   Our friend, Bruce Amundson's daughters have been putting honey bees in the back of our property for years and I was glad to hear they called and asked if we were interested again.  Not only are we interested but for years I have been offering to pay for the bees as I know they are not cheap and I really get the benefit.  This year they agreed to allow me to help which I think is perfect.  With all of the trees pruned and the bees verified, all we need now is the weather to keep moving in the right direction.  As for Dewey Ness, my friend in NW Wisconsin, I will make sure there are enough apples for you!

Fort Sumter Cannon

My friend Pete wanted me to take him on the Mississippi River on Sunday but even with the 55 degree weather the ice was still pretty thick and besides, it would take me a day to get the boat ready anyway.  I was thinking about going ice fishing but instead spent most of the day doing a few minor repairs to my Salem like fixing the electrical access cable hatch then insulating it from the inside, replacing the removable shackle pins with stainless steel ones, and thinking about putting mud flaps on the fenders to prevent so much salt from hitting the lifting jacks.  As well, there is a lot of things to get packed before this weekend's trip to Charleston, especially finding everything.  Cleaning the coolers to bring my Walter's beer and cheese with to digging up my summer fishing clothes as the forecast for Sunday is 75 and sunny.   Charleston is a very historic city and is where the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter which started the Civil War.  We arrive about 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday and leave on Monday morning with an 8:00AM - 4:00PM charter on Sunday.  This should leave some time to visit some of the historical sites around town and enjoy a little southern hospitality.  I am planning on taking my GoPro camera and hopefully get some good action shots of our fishing trip on the inshore reefs.  It is interesting that our fishing license is covered by the captains charter license so it's great that we don't have to spend any more money on that.  We all have to be back in Charlotte, North Carolina for our annual APEC conference which is the premier event for our company.  It's a good opportunity to see all of my friends in the business, both competitors and our raw material suppliers.  I have only been to Charlotte once in my life, it was in the 90's and I spent a July weekend with my good friend Rick Semingson at his place in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  Flying into Atlanta, he picked me up and toured the countryside as we made our way north.  The next day we headed across the Blue Ridge Mountains through Highlands before heading to Charlotte.   Having never been to this area of the country it was beautiful to say the least.  Although very hot in Atlanta, Rick's place was 2000 feet higher and cooled down at night very well.  I was really taken back by the Cicada's at night as the noise was deafening yet charming.  Rick's retired now and maybe with a little luck we can get together again sometime.
Hopefully next weeks adventure lives up to my expectation, which is nothing more than to have a little fun.

In Between Time

Cady Cheese Factory

With walleye season done on February 22nd and as stated last week unless one heads 6 hours away, the ice fishing is relegated to panfish, which is just fine with me.  I did forget about fishing the Mississippi River in St. Paul but it's pretty locked up until we get warmer weather, which BTW is on it's way.  This week should see that last of the below zero weather for the year as next week is projected to be in the 50's, perfect for clearing out the river and it will sure make the maple sap run like crazy.  Saturday was my day to kill 2 birds with one stone, take the wife to Menominee, WI to spend time with her cousins while I headed to Eau Claire to the Sheel's Store to buy some new pants, stop at the Northwoods Brewpub to get some Walter's Beer then on to a couple of Cheese Factories to get some hard to find 10 and 15 year old cheddar cheese for my trip on March 14th.  Arriving at Sheel's they had exactly what I was looking for, a couple pairs of Kuhl brand men's pant.  They are super comfortable and can be worn for either causal or be a little more dressy.  Next was a stop at the Northwoods where they make Walter's beer.  Walter's was my beer of choice 42 years ago when I could go in the bars legally at 18 years old and order a tap for $0.15 each.  Like a lot of local beers, they succumb to the move towards beers like Miller Lite and faded a slow and sad demise. Northwoods started brewing it again for the locals in small batches and I heard it's not the original recipe but close.  I guess it's been too long to remember anyway but the packaging sure looks good! The Norske Nook from Osseo has taken over the kitchen as I noticed they had Lefse Wraps.  That's a tough combination, a glass of Walter's and a Lefse Wrap so I ordered both, the later being salmon.  It was excellent as I paid the bill and headed back west to my next stop, Cady Cheese Factory in Wilson, WI.  I took the back roads off from the I94 through downtown Menominee and up the valley to the intersection of Wisconsin Highway 29 and 128, about 3.5 miles south of the interstate.  This is a great place to buy cheese as it's reasonably priced and they have yellow cheese curds as opposed to the white ones we get at Ellsworth Creamery.  I love the way the white curds squeak as you eat them but honestly the yellow ones from Cady have more flavor.  In addition to a couple of pounds of curds I bought 2 pounds of 10 year old cheddar, 1 pound of 15 year old cheddar, and some horseradish jack which I am bringing with me to Charleston, SC on our fishing trip.  The southern boys enjoy the boutique cheeses as they are significantly better than what they get in Dallas and besides, a little once in a lifetime taste for our guide, he won't be able to help but get us all the fish we need!  I did manage to spend some time with my brother-in-law, Walter (no relation to Walter's Beer, BTW) and we did go to the Bass Lake Cheese Factory but I think they are pretty expensive, maybe at least $5 - 6/pound more.  I suspect because they are close to Stillwater, MN they can simply get more while places like Cady and Ellsworth are were the common folk shop.

Sunset at the White Cap Inn

I did get out on Sunday with my neighbor Tom Olson to do a little ice fishing while the weather was still somewhat nice out.  Because it was March 1st, our fishing licenses were expired so a quick stop at Cabela's took care of that problem.  Reading the fishing report board, I noticed that Indian Lake was mentioned so I asked Tom if he'd like to change strategies and skip Lake John to go back to Indian.  After agreeing we headed to the lake arriving about 3:00 or so.  It's nice when there is little snow on the lake as it's pretty easy to drive anywhere, so we headed to the area where we did catch a number of crappies this fall.  There were a few in the area however most were parked off the point in the middle of the lake.  Actually there were a number of holes drilled so we simply settled down, cleaned off the ice that had skimmed over and started fishing.  Although the temperature was reasonable the wind was pretty strong yet we managed without putting up the house.  By 5:30 we had only caught a few fish so we packed it up.  You could see where someone had fished walleyes earlier in the week as the top of the ice had a nice layer of large fathead minnows littering the surface, they must be in there.  Putting everything back in the truck we headed back home to the pole shed.  Upon arriving home and getting out of the truck, I walked back and the dang tailgate was down.  My 1995 Chevrolet has a hard plastic box liner and things slid around pretty darn easy.  Not knowing how long it had been down, maybe the whole way, who knows so we started to take inventory.  I had a pail with my Vexilar FLX 28 inside and that was still there.....unbelievable.  The only thing missing was my Clam Minnow Bucket with a brand new minnow scoop, and quite honestly I hated the thing anyway.  I guess we were awfully luck that's all we lost as if the Vexilar would have disappeared, that would have been a disaster for sure.  I guess I need to check things better.  My second picture is always my go to scene when I forgot to take something from the existing week, it's from last week's Perch Extravaganza as the sun went down over Mille Lacs Lac from the White Cap Inn.  Cold and crisp, it only lasts a few minutes but as you know I love these shots!

As stated earlier, this weekend should see temperatures pushing the 40's.  With my schedule for the following weekend full, I am going to try and get my apple trees trimmed for the growing season as this is very important to get good apples.  Daylight Savings Time starts on Saturday night, that will help for sure.  I am definitely anxious to get out and do some saltwater fishing soon as this below zero weather has taken it's toll!

2015 Perch Extravaganza

Perch Extravaganza

This weekend saw my fishing buddies Mark, Mike and Judy, Russ, Scott and Ann, my brother Steve and nephew Kevin attend the 32nd Annual Johnson's Perch Extravaganza held at Nitti's Hunter's Point Resort on the east side of Lake Mille Lacs.  It's probably the largest perch fishing contest with nice prizes for the largest 10 perch plus a ton of great attendance prizes including a couple of Ice Castle wheel house and a side by side UTV. The plan was simple as Steve and Kevin would meet at the pole shed around 5:00 Friday afternoon, we'd drive up to get my equipment from Bill at Lundeen's Tackle Castle before meeting the rest of the crew at Hunter's Point.  Arriving around 7:30 on Friday night I had assumed that everyone had their houses set up but when I pull on the ice to park everyone's wheel houses were still parked near shore.  Well, this could be interesting as the crew was there quite a bit earlier than we were. Luckily they saved us a spot at the bar as we unwound from the week's past events.  Hunter's makes probably one of the best pizza I've had so we ordered a large one for supper, they aren't cheap but it's pretty darn good.  After a few more toasts with Mark we decided it was time to get set up as we all headed to our trucks and followed Russ to the magic spot for perch fishing.  It takes about an hour to set up the house, including getting my flag up and flying, by 10:30 we were fishing.  Now perch tend to be a fish of the daylight hours and though I have caught them in the night, it was more likely if we got anything it would be a walleye. We did mark a bunch of fish on the flashers, they acted like tullibees yet nothing took our lures. Setting up our bunks and the rattle reels we hit the sack with only one going off within an hour, a 10 inch walleye.  Saturday started with a clear blue sky and a rising barometer, perfect perch fishing conditions.  Steve finally caught a 9 inch perch but that was not going to be enough to even consider bringing it in as there were probably 5,000 participants.  We did get a couple of really nice tullibees and actually they were probably the largest I've seen come out of Mille Lacs.  Admittedly where we were fishing, just in front of the White Cap Inn, wouldn't be what I would call a tullibee hot spot but they were there.  I did have my camera down but forgot to hit the record button when they were around.

Nice Tullibee Ready for Pickling

The contest started at 8:00 Saturday and ended at 2:00pm.  With nothing to show for our efforts it was time to head in for the prize drawings.  To be eligible for the contest and the drawing you must purchase a $20 button with a number on it.  All the numbers are loaded into a big barrel and they are drawn one by one.  As stated they give away everything from tackle packs, flat screen TV's, depth finders, and fish houses, probably at least 100 different prizes.  Well, like years past I walked away with only my button but it's fun.  The drawing last for about 1 1/2 hours then the party begins as they have a big tent set on the ice with a DJ and a bar set up.  For us it's a little to crazy and after standing on the ice for over 2 hours it's was time to find something a lot warmer so we got it the trucks and drove down the lake to the White Cap Inn.  There we found a table to relax, had a couple of beers while spending some money on the Meat Raffle, a popular event in these places up north.  Russ ended up with a couple of flank steaks and the rest of us struck out so we headed back to our ice houses just a half mile out on the lake.  The weather forecast was saying that Saturday night could be the coldest night of the winter as the temperature had been dropping all day with a very brisk Northwest wind.  It was very nice in the Salem as the temperature eventually hit -20F by the time we got up in the morning.  At 7:30 I walked outside and to my surprise everyone was ready to leave, and they all did by 8:00.  With the cold predicted to last all day and the fact that Steve and Kevin had a 4 hour trip back to LaCrosse, WI we decided to pack it up and go have breakfast somewhere.  I was surprised that a number of places were not open yet but we finally ended up at Bay View on the east end of Cove Bay and had a great walleye breakfast.  With the boys on their way home I cleaned the tullibees and started preparing them to pickle.

Hopefully this was the last cold stretch of the year and we can start warming up a little.  Inland walleye season closed on February 21st so the only options are heading to Devils Lake, North Dakota or Lake of the Woods, 6 hours north.  There is still plenty of time and ice to fish crappies and I am looking forward to maybe heading back up into the Detroit Lakes, MN area is see if I can repeat my catch of a few weeks ago.  I might even decide to take out the wheel house one last time and do an overnight on Mille Lacs to get some more tullibees as they are very good smoked and fun to catch.
I just put the finishing touches on a trip to Charleston, SC in March.  For the last few years a couple of my friends from Texas, Joe Stanfield and Matt Davis have been fishing the weekend before our annual APEC conference.  This year its in Charlotte, NC so we decided to spend the weekend in Charleston and  charter a boat out to the inshore reefs as it's prime time for sheepshead.  They are an interesting fish as they have teeth like a human.  The last time I fished these was in 2008 out of Jacksonville, FL as my previous post reported.  Our captain states they are bigger than this and I am looking forward to getting away and fishing somewhere warm.  In the meantime.........

Not Much to Report

Shimano Butteryfly Jigs

As stated last week, I spent most of my time in California.  One of the cool things I came back with was some fishing gear given to me by my good friend Joseph who works for a supplier of mine, Micrometals. A fishing hat, Tee Shirt from the shop, and a really cool Shimano Butterfly Jig (pictured) jigging spoon from Longfin's Sports Shop in Anaheim, California.  I love saltwater fishing and I have always wanted to fish tuna off the coast of California with Joseph and Jim Cox however it tends to be a spur of the moment situation.  The tuna can come in anytime so they watch the reports and when they are on fish, you go.  These trips are usually 1 1/2 day trips where you leave in the evening and steam towards the fishing grounds arriving in the morning.  One fishes all day before heading back that night arriving the next morning at port.  They really get a lot of fish sometimes up to a few hundred pounds per guy, that's a lot of yellow fin tuna steaks for sure. The best time is usually in August and one of these days I'll definitely be on that boat with them. The Butterfly jigs work really well as they have 2 ultra sharp hooks that are attached to the bottom of the main lure body and are deadly on fish.  I don't think it will work very good on Mille Lacs but who knows, may it would be a great norther pike bait.

2015 Perch Extravaganza 

This weekend was spent at the neighbors and to be honest with you it didn't go very well.  I am not sure if was the fact that I was exhausted from only 3 hours of sleep the night before or what but put it this way, I wasn't very proud of myself and I'll leave it at that.  This week is the annual Johnson's Portside Perch Extravaganza, one of the largest fishing tournaments at Hunter's Point Resort on Mille Lacs Lake. Joining me will be my brother Steve and his son Kevin.  Last year my brother Steve, neighbor Pete, and I took my new Salem Ice Cabin arrived at Hunter' Point however they had virtually no spots plowed for the contest members.  Promising that trucks would be working all night, it was snowing and by morning nothing happened.  Along with my friend Russ and Mark, we were stuck a few miles out just off the road with some very heavy snow cover.  The fishing was terrible and with the snow it eventually flooded our spots bad enough that by 6:00 in the morning we were packed up and gone.  This year there is little snow on the ice and with my chains, we should be able to get out to the flats for some serious perch fishing and a chance to turn in a winner! Besides some nice prizes for the largest perch caught they have a ton of door prizes that they give away which is always a lot of fun.  I am looking forward to finally fishing with my nephew as he was supposed to go with us to Red Lake a couple of times but at the last minute had issues that kept him home.  He's a great fisherman and often reminds me of myself when I was his age.  Unfortunately he's a big northern pike guy while I like to chase walleyes so we are bound to have a few discussions.  Our plan is to get set up by 9:00 Friday night as the Tournament starts at 8:00 Saturday morning.  The weather is looking okay until Saturday night when the bottom drops out and the forecast is for -16F over night.  Hopefully that will be the last really cold spell of the year but we'll see.

Inland walleye fishing season ends on Sunday, February 22nd so after that either one needs to go down to the Mississippi River or Lake of the Woods.  I am not ruling out either however it hasn't been to bad of a season with my 4 trips to Red Lake, one can't complain.  Wish us luck and I'll report in next week.

Last Minute Invite

Nice Collection of Fish

After picking up my friend Lory Brasel at the airport on Friday night as he was returning from China, we decided to stop at our neighbor Tim's to have a cocktail before dropping him off at his house.  My other neighbor Pete showed up and after a couple of hours we decided to go ice fishing on Saturday, sometime after noon.  Finally getting to bed and waking up around 9:00, it was time to get a few things done before we took off.  At 11:00 I got a call from my other Pete friend and the message was clear, I got a hot tip on a spot they are getting 12 inch crappies and 9 1/2 inch sunnies, be at my house a noon.  Now what??? My neighbor Pete and I had plans but my friend Pete was a very good friend of Dave Genz, legendary ice fisherman had a pretty good offer, one I may never get again.  In the meantime neighbor Pete just sent me a text, are you ready to go?  Damned if you do and damned if you don't.  Neighbor Pete would probably understand my dilemma so I confessed that I had a better offer and then followed up with a call declaring I am going to stand him up, this was once in a winter opportunity.  The other problem was that I was sworn to secrecy as these spots are held very sacred.  As I expected neighbor Pete said, take advantage and by noon I was in Monticello.  It was a 2 hour drive at 75 miles per hour we were drilling holes by 2:30 and fishing 5 minutes later.  Within 5 minutes I pulled up a 12 inch crappie, the biggest crappie I had caught in years.  A minute later another come came up through my hole.....holy moly!!!  The fish were biting very light and after a couple of easy fish it became more challenging.  Sometimes that's half the fun, figuring out what one needs to do to make the adjustment.  We were fishing from 11 to 14 feet and most of what we caught were coming from the deeper water.  A couple of guys were fishing close to us and they fished in that 11 foot area and started to pile the fish on the ice.  My Clam was set up in 11 feet and I decided to see if I could convince a few to hit my lure, nothing.  Time for Plan B as I got out the Aqua Vu and dropped the camera down.  There they were, 11 - 12 inch crappies, 9 - 9 1/2 inch sunnies swimming by, inhaling my bite yet you could not ever feel or sense them.  Like the previous week the camera gave me the feedback I needed as I stopped working my line but rather simply checked the screen and when a fish inhaled the bait, I set the hook.  This was a huge advantage as I put another 5 nice crappies on the ice and 5 beautiful sunfish.  One problem was that my lure's hook size was too small. Normally I like a #6 hook for crappies but my lure had a #10, a little small which resulted in every other fish I hooked came off at the top of the hole.  The action was so good that I simply didn't have time to change, a big mistake as I lost over 7 nice crappies that came unhooked.  It was pretty obvious who had the advantage, my camera made the difference as Pete only has 3 nice crappies to my 7.  Combined we had 10 crappies, 8 sunnies, and as many that got off, a pretty good afternoon.  As darkness approached the bite slowed and at 6:00 we headed out.   It was interesting, drive 5 hours to fish for 4 hours, it was the best crappie fishing I have had in years.  On the way home I stopped by neighbor Pete's and he seemed to be both impressed and not upset with me....that was a relief.  I am not sure I will get back there soon but it certainly was fun.

Santa Barbara Harbor Sunset.

This weeks post is late because I was in California till Friday morning and forget my adapter to transfer last weeks fish pictures to finish this post.  It was a whirlwind trip as I left on Monday morning landing at LAX around 11:30 AM before getting picked up by our West Coast Salesman, Shahab as we headed north to both Agoura Hills then on to Santa Barbara.  Both are beautiful areas as we decided that when once our business for the day was done, we'd have dinner on the Santa Barbara Pier for a little seafood.  With allergies to shellfish, I had the snapper on a bead of rice, unfortunately I wasn't impressed.  Maybe it was the way it was cooked but it just didn't have much flavor.  On Tuesday night we at with the boys from Triad and the menu items were much better with the exception of the raw oysters.  At $3.00 each they were pretty small and tasted old, yuck.   I had the grilled tuna and it was fabulous but as what seems to be in style, was served on a bead of rice. Not bad and the company was pretty good so no complaints.  Wednesday night saw me being accompanied by my good friends at Micrometals and Rubadue as we ate at the Orange County Mining Company.  A spectacular view of Orange County, it was time for a steak, pretty good! Thursday was pack up night as my good friend Mike Schubert and I, along with Shahab packed up our booth as we were done with the show.  Shahab headed south while we stopped by Mike's house to change, had a beer at one of the local watering holes, visited the American Legion where Mike is the Adjutant and downed another refreshment before heading over to our traditional hang out, Longboards.  My flight was the Red eye leaving at 1:00 in the morning and arriving at 6:30 in Minneapolis. I never sleep very well on airplanes but after being up for 20 hours the next thing I knew we were landing!  It was at least 85 degrees each day, a far cry from the -10F temperatures we have had in Minnesota, so it was pretty nice.  It was nice to see everyone but all good things had to end.

Looking forward to maybe getting out on Sunday to catch some fish.  We have a big deal going on for Valentines day at the neighbor's as Tim is cooking a big prime rib and the gals are bringing the rest of the courses.  Off to get a little sleep and figure out the rest of the weekend.

Lot's Going On!

Boris With a Beautiful Walleye

With the warmer than usual weather and the desire to try and catch some respectable crappies, I decided to head up north on Saturday and fish with my friend Jack and Ben.  Although they haven't had much luck finding the crappies on their lake, he stated that the plan was to move his ice shack closer to the island to see if we could locate a few there as all he has been getting are northern pike.  I had a few chores to do before I could meet those guys, first was to stop at Bill's to get bait and the second was to deliver a bottle of TX Whiskey to my friend Dewey.  Last week I spent some time on Mille Lacs with Dewey and the conversation of whiskey came up.  I challenged his normal perception of what quality whiskey really is and after a few one upmanship I committed to sharing one of my previous weeks winnings with him.   He was working on his bridge a couple miles out on the lake when I stopped by and handed him the bottle.  Totally surprised he offered to pay but as I promised, I would give him it with the statement, I don't just talk the talk but walk the walk!  Dewey was pretty impressed as he once drove to Tennessee to pick up a special bottle of Jack Daniels at the distillery.  I hope he enjoys it as I told him, if he mixes it with anything other than ice, I'm going to be pissed!  Leaving the lake for Jack's place, it would take 20 minutes to meet him out in front of his cabin on Platte Lake.  The first thing I noticed was Jack's brother-in-law, Boris Swanson's tracked ATV and what a machine.  Each wheel is replaced with a track that had studs embedded and that thing would go anywhere.  Apparently Boris was parked on the lake across the road, Long Lake, and had his wheel house set up for the evening. Thinking I might have a better chance at crappies there, Jack agreed and decided to meet us over there.  He was set up in 23 feet of water on an inside turn.  After checking out his house (I call it the walkin cooler on wheels!) I started the auger and drilled a number of holes from 21 - 25 feet, cleaned them out and started fishing. Nothing was showing up at the 21 foot depth, nothing at 22 feet, however the next hole had some significant marks at the 18 foot level in 23 feet of water.  Sometime there is algae suspended, sometimes it's minnows, sometimes it's fish so I lowered my tungsten jig with a waxie and although convinced they were fish, they weren't very aggressive at all.  Hole hopping a few more I decided to

5 Nice Crappies

come back to where I marked the fish, set  up my one man house with a heater as it was getting colder out and I wanted to be more comfortable.  After setting up and the marks still there, the next tool to come out was my AquaView hand held underwater video camera/recorder to see exactly what kind of fish were suspended.  Often times on these lakes it's nothing but a school of 3 - 4 inch perch however the minute the camera obtained the same depth as the marks it was confirmed, they were crappies, and a lot of them.  They were very finicky and would just come up and simply inhale the bait, often exhaling it in a split second.  With the camera you could see the action and pretty soon I was hauling fish up.  As stated the camera has a record button and while the bite was getting better I started recording the action.  Here is the link to about 14 minutes of ice fishing action on Youtube: Long Lake Crappies  During this video I did catch 6 fish which occur at 2:59, 3:26, 4:50, 5:45, 10:33, and 13:37 as you can see some of them quickly disappear from the camera.  Some of the fish look to be of decent size yet I only kept 5 of them ranging from 9 to 10.5 inches long out of about 16 or so that I caught.  There were a few nicer ones that came off at the top of the hole but with steady action it was better than sitting there wondering why I was sitting on the ice.  It's nothing like the action I used to have a Pelican Lake yet the winter is only half over and plenty of time to try a few other lakes in the area.  Just before Jack, Ben, and I left, one of Boris's rattle reels went off, he set the hook on this beautiful 25 inch walleye.  He was pretty excited however I did have to coach him somewhat on the finer points of taking fish pictures like cleaning off the snow, getting your hand in the right position yet I could not get him to take off that goofy Kosack hat, oh well!

Birthday Gifts Galore!

So today is my birthday, the big 6 - 0, sixty.  I'm never one to get too spaced out about birthdays and growing older however this one has got me thinking a lot more than the previous milestone celebrations at 30, 40, and 50.  I know, they say that 60 is the new 50.....well I understand but the truth is that I'm still 60!  It's not a negative but considering that the males on my dad's side lasted till about 82, it means 75% of my life is over.  If one discounts the first 10 years of your life as pretty much under the care of someone, you could discount the last 10 years of having the potential of being the same.  The way I look at it there's about 10 - 15 good years left, assuming my health holds out, the time is ticking away.  Now it's always ticked away but you know, it's never seemed so fast.  Oh well, all that means is it's extremely important to take care of those things that you want to do, the people you want to do them with, and make sure you have fun doing it.  I guess this year Red Lake was a good example as we went there 4 times since Thanksgiving and had a blast doing it.  There is still Lake of the Woods to visit, maybe Leech Lake and Mille Lacs before the ice goes out.  Maybe a trip in March to Charleston, SC to fish.  Minnesota Fishing Opener in May, maybe Lac Seul in June, Lake Oahe in July, back to Lac Seul in September...uffda, the year is filling up fast. I guess you are the only one that can keep yourself young and it's becoming an everyday job!  So Sunday night was the Annual Superbowl party at our neighbor Tim Kuntz's place, it's tradition.  Most of the neighbors stop by and watch it in the heated garage and with a keg of beer and food to pass, everyone has a great time. Well this year one of the guys I work with, Welly, his wife and daughter stopped in.  That was great to see him, I do remember telling him to come up if he wanted, but that's a long way from Bloomington.  Next to show up was Jason and his boy.  Interesting as I figured he was in the neighborhood coming home from Isanti and decided to stop by, that was nice.  A few minutes later my good friend Mark Taylor and his family stopped by.........still didn't get it until my wife had Tim's wife Connie bring out the special birthday cake............DUH, a surprise birthday party at halftime.  It was pretty cool as I got a number of nice gifts with a few gag gifts thrown in.  Some of the more interesting items was a Granicrete Cocktail table that Tim made that has the Green Bay Packer logo on it, absolutely fabulous!  Next was a a laser cut G with my neighborhood nickname, Super Dave cut into it.  I definitely will need to paint that with the appropriate colors.  Next my wife gave me a mug with bunch of stuff in it to round out the display and a beautiful cake with a picture of me in my original birthday suit along with one of my heros, Aaron Rodgers.  Of course everyone in the neighborhood knows I am a diehard Packer fan so it certainly became the theme of the night, especially since the Packer's should have been in the SuperBowl.  As a side note I was glad to see Seattle lose because of stupid coaching, there is justice in the world!  Among other things I got a nice Cabela's gift certificate, some more Packer stuff, a few bottles of nice wine, and the most important, a lot of love from my neighbors, friends, and everyone attending, what more does a guy need?  Everything was done before Katy Perry started the show, it was a great night for sure.  Among the guests were Welly Chou, an engineer from my work.  Welly is quite savoy with the electronics and took this video of the whole deal so I put it on Youtube as well.  If your interested here is the link:My 60th Birthday Party at Tim's.

I might find a chance to see if I can nail a few more crappies this weekend before flying to California on Monday morning for 4 days of non-stop work.  I usually stay over on Thursday night but this time I decided to take the redeye back rather than spend $140 for a hotel room only to get up at 4:00AM to catch the first flight.  Heck, I can sleep at work on Friday.