Ma Donna



Ma Donna



Last Saturday we said our goodbyes to my friend Kevin's mother, Donna Aiona.  Having graduated high school with my dad, she was a fixture in Eleva, living right across the street from the church.  We grew up just a couple of houses away and with Kevin and I's love for fishing, all of us friends simply called her Ma Donna.  Growing up in a small town meant that you really had to mind your P's and Q's and with Donna, it was no exception!  If you were goofing off or slightly out of line, she'd let you know it right now.  Having a house full of kids which included Brent, Michelle, Eddy, Kevin, Warren, Camille, and Valerie as a visitor you simply became one of them.  It was actually pretty nice as you never had to worry about where you stood with her.  At the funeral Pastor Kermit Solem said it well, with Donna nothing went to waste.  Kevin and I spent most every weekend hunting or fishing and those activities were appreciated in the Aiona household.  Whether it was suckers that we caught out of the river in March, trout in May, Sunnies and Bass in the summer, squirrels in October, nothing went to waste.  She was a pretty good cook as I always look forward to seeing Kevin as she would with out fail have something for us kids.  My fondest memory of all came on Thanksgiving Day as a teenager.  I suppose Kevin and I were going deer hunting in the afternoon so arriving at the house just before dinner, Donna was putting the finishing touches on her Thanksgiving pie.  She asked if I would like a piece of homemade squash pie.  Now as a teenager, squash wasn't necessarily in my list of preferred foods but what the heck.  Well, it looked just like a pumpkin pie anyway.  It was delicious!  You see pumpkin is nothing but a big squash anyway and like Donna, she used what had come out of the garden a month before.  She finally got to use those cooking talents and became a cook out at the high school....the perfect job and I am sure she had the opportunity to straighten out a few of the boys while she was at it.



April 20th???



So winter's grip this year doesn't seem like it would ever end.  Last week I was in Colorado while we were having a blizzard back home.  To be quite honest, last weekend looked more like the middle of January then it does the third week in April.   I snapped this picture in the morning before we had a chance to head to Eleva for the funeral.  Sort of depressing isn't it!  The good news is that we do need the moisture and these record April snows are just what we need to alleviate the drought conditions of last fall.  Never the less it's getting pretty frustrating.  I guess from one extreme to another, last year the apple trees were in full blossom, the ice had been gone off Mille Lacs for a month now to this, a solemn winter scene as the ice on Mille Lacs is still over 30 inches thick with 12 inches of snow on top.  It's suppose to be 70 this weekend and as I write, most of this snow is gone already.  It will be an interesting Minnesota Fishing Opener in 2 weeks.  I did call up to Brindley's Harbor, the resort we stay on at Leech Lake and Greg confirmed that the ice isn't even out of the harbor yet with 36 inches of ice on the bay in front of the resort.  I wanted to check to see if they'd even be open for our annual trip.  Having moved us to the new log cabin which is available year around, it's not a problem.  As for fishing, Team Walleye will just take it as it comes as whatever Mother Nature dishes out to us, it will become another story to remember with my friends on opener.



Lowrance Point 1



Time is running out to get the boat ready.  The cold weather has put on hold pretty much everything from getting it cleaned out to re-spooling line on the reels.  I decided to get a new external GPS receiver for my boat and got that hooked up this week.  Finally figuring out the where to mount it, I'm pretty impressed as it locked into every satellite it could receive as the boat was in my pole shed with a steel roof.  Normally I cannot get a very good reading inside the shed.  This should really enhance my tracking abilities in the boat as the built in GPS only updates once per second while the external receiver updates 10 times a second.  This might seem trivial however I do notice a difference between the performance of my old Garmin GPS and the one built into my HDS10 unit.  Last Saturday I had the chance to join my brothers and sister in taking my mom out for her 79th birthday.  She's looking pretty good for having put up with us all these years.  It did give me a chance to stop at Scheels and buy a new rod for opener.  They have a great guarantee, break it for whatever reason, bring it back and we'll give you a new one.  I guess you can't beat that!  Coupled with a nice Shimano CI4, it's very light and sensitive, perfect for opener...........if we can get out.

Winter's Stubborn Grip

2013 Minnesota Fishing Opener

Well, while I'm in Denver struggling against a late season blizzard, the forecast for back home on Thursday is but another winter storm warning, 3rd for the month of April.  If you check my posts from this time last year the apple blossoms were in full bloom, the ice had gone off Mille Lacs 2 weeks ago, and we had several 80 degree days to brag about.  This April it's a 180 degree difference.  We still had 4 inches of snow on the ground when I left home, have yet to experience a 60 degree day, and the ice hasn't even pulled from the shore yet. Reports that the ice is still 30 inches on Leech has Team Walleyer's ratcheting up the concerns.  I continue to remind everyone that in 2008 we arrived at Leech with almost half the lake ice covered and would not experience it's official ice out until 3 days later on Monday.  Never the less, with ice sloshing against the boat, we had the best success in the 35 years of fishing Leech Lake on opener, with almost 400 fish over 12 inches caught.  Even more impressive was that almost half were over 20 inches.   Well, this picture has been the rage of the walleye forums these days and seems appropriate for the prediction of the 2013 Minnesota Walleye Fishing opener.  Either way I am ready for it!  Admittedly I have a lot of work to do as I have the boat tore apart installing my updated equipment, cleaning and reorganizing, putting new line on my reels and a number of other stuff that requires more time than is available.  Oh well, a labor of love.

Keith's Exciting Day on The Rainy River

So, someone is still fishing, or at least attempting.  Last year at this time the Rainy River had been open for almost a month and fishing was in full swing.  This year the river stayed stubborn with only a few landings open for boats and 20 inches of snow on the ground.  Youtube videos showed boats parked along the road up to 2 miles away from the landing.  Reports of 2 - 4 hours of time to either land your boat or get it back loaded an the trailer including a long walk was not my idea of fishing nirvana.  Never the less I have 2 friends that we dedicated enough to try their luck, Keith Holtan and Ryan Sterle.  Keith headed back to Alaska on Monday and really wanted to drive up from Brainerd to Baudette and fish the Rainy.  I told him he should take his shrink with him.  Never the less he had to go, sort of like the spawning urge of those salmon he fishes for on the Kenai.  I really do understand but this year wasn't normal as he was delayed by the weather, drove up, got the boat in and started fishing.....I guess the picture says it all.  Anyway, I am glad that he got to go before he left Minnesota as I look forward to his return in 6 months and hopefully we can still get out to Mille Lacs for a little lead lining for walleyes. Reports from Ryan were a little better.  On Monday he texted a picture of his boat partner holding a nice walleye and a report of hot action with 8 walleyes over 20 inches.  Ryan lives north of Hibbing, MN and being single and self employed,  can take off at a minutes notice.  He is one of the guys on Team Walleye and given the weather warms up, I will see him in 4 weeks.

Ellie's funeral turned out well as I got to see many of her friends and relatives over the years.  I finished 8 more pints of pickled pink salmon as I seemed to end up with a quite a few.  My friend and distant neighbor Rick Shermer raises laying hens and as long as I have fresh fish he keeps me in fresh eggs.  Having more than he can deal with, I made him some pickled eggs.  I probably won't see him till next Sunday and will be interested in seeing how well he likes them.     Heading back home on Saturday to celebrate my mom's 79th birthday and this crazy weather, it's getting tight!

Miss Ellie



Miss Ellie



Most of the week has been spent with my friends the Taylor's as their mom, Eleanor or as we always called her, Miss Ellie had a severe stroke last Friday evening.  Having had minor strokes in the past, this one was something she could not recover from as she passed away early Thursday morning.  Both Ellie and her late husband Earl Taylor have been an important part of my life here in Minnesota.  The story has been told many times, my friendship first with Mark Taylor that started 36 years ago when we worked next to each other in Brooklyn Center after I had moved to Minnesota for a job.  Our relationship grew to include his entire family, Jack, Linda, Earl, and Ellie.  When you find something good in life it's always wise to grab onto it and that I did.  Over the years they became my family away from home.  Whether it was fishing, hunting, special events like reunions, weddings, birthday's, or just an excuse to get together, my wife and I were always included.  Eleanor Taylor was a die hard Swede and the minute you entered their house it became quite apparent.  She had some of the coolest things including the top of her mother's wedding cake that had preserved itself for eternity.  That thing must have been over 90 years old.  Now, I am never sure where the term Miss Ellie cam from but my guess it was from that old television show, Dallas.  The matriarch of the Ewing's was Miss Ellie, and I suppose if it came from there it was definitely fitting. Those bright blue eyes and huge smile always directed her love towards 

Reunited

anyone who would receive it.  Being a Swede, she also never held much back and would often let you know what she really thought and sometimes it came as a surprise!  With bobby pins in her fine white hair she was an elegant lady for sure.  After Earl retired they found their paradise in Lindstrom, Minnesota where they bought a home on South Center Lake, a perfect spot to spend the rest of their lives together.  Along with the house on the lake, Lindstrom is probably the most Swedish based town in Minnesota, and actually has a sister city in Sweden called Tingsryd(http://www.lindstrom.mn.org) something Miss Ellie really took advantage of.  Both Ellie and Earl became fixtures in their community and am sure their legacy will live on forever.  Earl left us on November 1st, 2009.  It is kind of interesting as Earl served in WWII and wanted to have full military honors at his funeral.  Being cremated, Earl was interned at Fort Snelling National Cemetery until his love of his life could join him.  Now Ellie, she had other ideas and opted for a traditional burial in Lindstrom.  Earl was willing to wait and when the day came, he would join her at their final resting place, I always thought Earl was a romantic at heart.  So Monday we'll say our final goodbyes to Ellie as she joins Earl in their eternal life together.  Time marches on, a generation disappears and a new one takes it's place.  Thank you for being there for me, my life has been truly blessed by you and your family. Love you Miss Ellie.

One More Time



A nice mess of fish



Although we have lost most of our snow during the last week, it still been pretty cold at night, enough to keep the lakes safe.  Saturday was exceptional, actually our first official 50 degree day of 2013.  With the snow melting like crazy I decided to get my tractor out and open up a channel through the snow drift at my neighbors rear drainage area.  This allowed the water to drain off faster as I remember when he first moved in, the builder had not done his homework and in the spring he had a waterfall coming through his basement window.  With the weather nice, I decided to take a drive around the block where I ran into Petey.  A quick hello turned into...........well, ya wanna go out fishing this afternoon?  We agreed on a time, 2:00 which gave me about an hour to get things ready.  After deciding not to drive on the ice for fear the landing would not be in good shape, I loaded the Razor on the trailer, picked him up, stopped for bait and were soon at Pelican Lake.  It was pretty slushy yet the ice remained solid.  The fact that there were a few trucks driving on the ice did not

12 inch crappie

deter us from staying with our plan of using the ATV, I'm glad we did.  It was awfully wet as the ice was covered in large pools of water and slush.  Having marked our previous successful outing of last week on the GPS there was no need to reinvent a new hot spot.  Unfortunately as we approached the waypoint there were 2 guys sitting on the exact same spot.  They had drilled around 30 holes around the area and invited us to enjoy the holes however soon it became obvious why they had abandoned them.  Deciding to work to the south of their spot we drilled a number of holes until we started hitting fish.  I'm not sure they were too happy with us however we were pretty determined to get back into last weeks action, and that's just what we did.  Both Petey and I ended up with 45 sunfish and crappies including this nice 12 incher, my personal best from Pelican.  The sunfish were somewhat iffy and we tried to keep the largest ones ranging from 7.5 to 8 inches, not huge but cleanable.  Our plan was to be off the ice by 7:00 however that got extended to 7:30 because the bite was so good.  I suspect we caught at least 120 fish between the 2 of us.  It was pretty interesting being out on the ice as the water was draining through the various holes in the ice.  Like small whirlpools, it reminded me of a big bathtub with the drain plug pulled.  I even drilled a couple of holes where the water was deeper to see if I could get some of it off the ice.  As the water drains through the holes it helps improve the oxygen content of the area, something after a long winter of snow covered ice is probably appreciated by the fish.



Holy smokes Dave, Nice Crappie!



After my last weeks post, Petey decided to call me on my assessment of his fishing skills.  Reminding him that he did start out with a sinker on his line, this trip may have been more about of proving himself than anything else.  Well I have to say that if it was, he passed the test.  We basically tied for the total number of sunfish kept, Dave 17, Petey 16 and although he was 6 short on the crappie side, 3 to 9, overall he ended up with a respectable 42% of the catch, enough for me to leave him alone for a while!  I did catch this expression on his face and because I have control of the blog, he doesn't have much to say regarding why the surprised expression.  Therefore it was the reaction to the above crappie I caught.  Maybe that will get him to comment!!  Either way it's been a real pleasure going with Pete this year as we made it out 5 times together, more than with anyone else.  It's amazing since he lives down the street and we have been neighbors for over 18 years yet never fished together.  Maybe he finally figured out I was serious about this fishing thing.  I am looking forward to showing him the Mississippi River smallies and hopefully make it up to Mille Lacs a few times.  He's actually a pretty good fisherman so I suppose I should stop while I'm ahead. 

It's 5 weeks to opener, things are moving along with Team Walleye.  I am starting to get the boat ready by installing a new Titan tiller system which locks my engine in one place when I take pressure off the handle.  This should really help reduce fatigue on those long runs or when it is advantageous to trim the motor in to keep the bow down.  I'll report on that as soon as I can.  The firmware on both of my depth finders have been upgraded, the waypoints loaded in from my previous units are done.  There is still a lot of things to do in the next few weeks and hopefully the weather will warm up enough to make working in the shed bearable.

Winding Down



A nice mess of crappies

Last year at this time we were basking in 80 degree weather, the ice was already off Lake Mille Lacs, and ice fishing was the furthest thing from my mind.  This year we have yet to break 50 degrees in the month of March, something that hasn't happened in 30 years.  I guess it just proves that Mother Nature tends to even things out.  So with the continued cold weather comes the chance for late season ice fishing and my neighbor Petey was ready to go.  With significant snow remaining on the ice our strategy was to pick a local lake that should have significant traffic to have packed the snow enough to get around.  Having fished Pelican Lake near Albertville a couple of times, unsuccessfully of course, it seemed a good choice for one last outing.  Minimizing the amount of equipment, we brought Petey's ice house, my auger, our electronics and after stopping at the hardware store in St. Michael for bait, headed out to the lake.  Even with the colder temperatures the sun is getting higher in the sky which is melting the snow.  Expecting the landing to be in some state of slush, mud, and water, I was pleasantly surprised how good it was.  With few on the lake we drove to an area where I have done well in the past, 9 - 10 feet with weeds scattered.  With the wind howling out of the north, we drilled 4 holes using the truck as our wind break.  With about 6 inches of snow on the ice, another 4 inches of frozen slush, there was still at least 26 inches of ice as the auger drilled right

A bonus bullhead!

up to the handles.  After cleaning the holes, the fish started biting right away.  Nothing big but the action was good.  Within a couple of hours we had the bottom of our pails covered with sunnies and crappies, the largest being about 10 inches.  As the sun moved closer to the west it was time to put up the shelter and get warmed up.  The fish kept biting as we sorted through 14 crappies and 11 sunnies, nothing extraordinary but based on my year, I'll take it.  Pelican Lake does have bullheads in it and although I have seen them on the camera, had never caught one through the ice.  Well, there's always the first time as I coaxed a fish to come up and hit my ice jig, a sure sign of a crappie chasing the bait and pulled out this ugly bullhead.  Now, suppose I was from Iowa, this would have been a trophy but it wasn't what I was looking for.  Oh well, it did hit pretty hard.  I forgot my camera so I did this self portrait with my new "smart" phone.  It has 2 camera's, one on the screen side and one on the back.  Although the quality is not as good, the image on the screen allows you to at least attempt to get a good shot!  The other thing that I have enjoyed while fishing with Petey this year is to see him advance in his ice fishing skills.  Now I am not about to say that I am a better ice fisherman than him however I have been able to pass some of the things I do to be more successful.  For instance, I was looking at his depth finder and noticed that it seemed to have the sensitivity turned up quite a bit for 9 feet of water.  Disputing my thoughts, he showed me what we were looking at, the sinker above his ice jig.  Sinker........what the!  Complaining that the ice jig didn't sink very fast, he needed the sinker to get it down, all I could say was Uffda!!  The object of shallow water pan fishing is to slow the lure down, keep it light so when the crappies come up and inhale the bait, they don't get knocked in the head as a result.  Anyway he later admitted that the sink rate wasn't that bad as he started to catch more fish.  On our last trip I showed him how using a Frostie jig with a larger hook would increase his hooking percentage, which it did.  Petey's a good student, at South Stanchfield his catch rate of what we cleaned was 11%.  Sunday's trip yielded 25 keeper's with Petey's share at 8, a whopping 32% of the catch, a 3X increase in adding to the next fish fry.  At this rate I might have to start fishing alone again!



The snow is still here.

As I indicated, winter still has a pretty good grip at the house.  I snapped this picture on March 26th, the snowdrifts are at least 3 feet high along the road and the blanket is a good 8 - 10 inches.  With the temps heading in the 40's this weekend things will start to loosen up.  The weather is absolutely perfect for sap flow from the maple trees as my neighbor boiled up 65 gallons on Sunday and has promised me a pint.  Another advantage of a cold March is the apple trees will have plenty of rest and their bloom should happen as normal.  Last year's unusually warm spring and a colder than normal May raise havoc with all of my fruit trees as the crop was no existant.  I predict a bumper crop of apples, pears, and raspberries for 2013.  The snow will really help the moisture and with the amount up north, the river should get back to normal.  Time to organize the tackle boxes, clean up the reels, replace the line, and get ready for opener which is only 6 weeks away.  We ordered all of the Team Walleye hats and shirts this week as Mark Mayerich and I continue the countdown to the successful organization of our trip.  All I can say is we sure miss Ron Edberg.

Big Changes at Mille Lacs



Mille Lacs



First off, I finally got back from California, a busy trip for sure.  I was there for our annual APEC (Applied Power Electronic Conference) show and certainly if it is any indication of the economy, things are booming for sure.  I know one thing, Los Angeles is a great place to visit but quite honestly, it would drive me nuts to live there.  Staying in Long Beach, no matter which direction you went, it was at least 2 hours before you seen anything that resembles a bit of sanity!  While I was there the new regulations and announcements for Mille Lacs Lake have been released.  This is a topic that I have avoided yet has been on the top of my list for discussions with my fellow Mille Lacs anglers.  Personally I am extremely frustrated and really try to keep my posts non adversary and politically neutral.  This one has got my goat however as I have never seen a lake so mismanaged, but of course that is my opinion. The DNR has stated that the population of walleyes on Mille Lacs is at an all time low, perch are almost no existent, the eelpout are gone, but by golly its sure turned into a good smallmouth lake, yet we will still allow netting of walleyes during the spawn even though we close fishing at spawn for everyone else.  Because my travels have limited my time to articulate my thoughts in a civil matter, this week I am simply going to post the results from this weeks news release by the Minnesota DNR regarding the upcoming fishing season on Mille Lacs. 



Does anyone know?



Mille Lacs walleye anglers will be limited to two fish beginning May 11, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday morning. The harvest slot will be 18 to 20 inches. One walleye in the two-fish limit can be larger than 28 inches. Last year the limit was four walleyes, with only walleyes under 17 inches allowed to be kept. Fish that size were difficult to find. Changes also are coming this summer to smallmouth bass and northern pike limits on the big lake. The lake’s 27- to 40-inch protected slot regulation for northern's will be narrowed to a 33- to 40-inch protected slot, with one longer than 40 inches. The possession limit is three. The smallmouth bass bag limit and slot limit will be broadened to allow for more harvest. The new regulation is a 17- to 20-inch protected slot. The possession limit is six, with only one longer than 20 inches in possession. Previously, all smallmouth bass less than 21 inches had to be immediately released and the possession limit was one. “We want Mille Lacs to continue to be a world-class walleye fishing destination,” said Dirk Peterson, DNR fisheries chief. “Currently, the size and structure of the walleye population isn’t where we want it. We are committed to remedying the situation as quickly as possible through regulations that are designed to increase survival of the lake’s younger and smaller walleye. The smallmouth bass and northern pike regulations are designed to protect smaller walleye until we have better information on what these predator species are eating,” said Peterson. “We’ll be starting a predator diet study this spring. Meanwhile, the regulations will allow anglers some additional non-walleye harvest opportunities while also retaining solid numbers of trophy-sized fish.”  The DNR said it wants to conserve the lake’s large 2008 year-class of walleye because no strong year-class is coming up behind these fish. Fish in this year-class are 15- to 17-inches in length.  The new rules, the DNR said, intend to keep the total walleye kill below the combined state-tribal 2013 safe harvest level of 250,000 pounds. Fishing regulations may be adjusted if angler kill is expected to be either too high or lower than the anticipated. This year’s safe harvest level is the lowest established since treaty management began in 1997.  Tom Jones, Mille Lacs Lake coordinator, said a 2-inch walleye harvest slot is not unprecedented on Mille Lacs, having been implemented in 2001, 2002 and 2007. He added the state’s walleye harvest has been below this year’s allocation level of 178,500 pounds four of the last 10 years and in 2005 the harvest was below 200,000 pounds.  The lake is also becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. This is due largely to changes in the aquatic community, including the presence of unwanted aquatic invasive species such as zebra mussel, spiny water flea and Eurasian watermilfoil.  These factors, plus a state and tribal harvest management strategy that focused largely on walleyes in the 14- to 18-inch range, all have contributed to a declining walleye population.  Jones said despite the declining walleye population, winter walleye fishing was good, which typically suggests good fishing in spring, too.

Went to the Sportshow last night, something I always enjoy.  One of the things I really look forward to is seeing Ken and Judy Marlow from Alaska.  We have stayed at their place many times and really enjoy their company.  We usually fish with their son Neal on his boat, The Shearwater however he had upgraded to a larger, overnight boat.  Although it would have been fun, with my cousin Mark's wife meeting us to fish the second day, it just didn't work out.  As I told Judy, we definitely missed fishing with him.  Maybe next year.   They were nice enough to give me a jar of their homemade canned smoked salmon, always a treat.  Judy also showed us a picture of a bald eagle that took residence on their deck this year, actually walking up to the patio door and peering in.  It is pretty amazing.   Whether it's Ken and Judy, Jeff and MP,  Keith and Jane, it's pretty neat to have friends in fishing paradise.  With the overnight temperatures in the single digits there is plenty of ice fishing left.

OK, So I Got Lucky!



Pictures from a better time!



With last weeks success in the book I figured the chance for a repeat was in the cards.  Heck, I didn't even reveal the name of the lake last week, that's how confident I was.  My spot was 300 yards from the nearest house, no real activity present, it just had to be at least good for one more night.  In my dreams!  So with that my second weekend at South Stanchfield Lake was a total bust.  Convincing my neighbor Lory and my wife's cousin Jason that I had the spot, we headed out on Sunday afternoon to repeat the action of last Saturday night.  With daylight savings time just starting, there was no need to get an early start as darkness was an hour later, 7:30.  Having snowed 6 inches between the weekends, maybe there would not be as many people and it would even be better, yeah!  Heading up Highway 47, a quick stop to get some grub and off to the lake.  I was surprised there were as many people on the lake as there was but still, no one in my "secret" spot.  Like last time the perch were hitting like crazy yet the anticipation of darkness and the bite kept us focused.  Well, it never happened.  After an hour of fishing past sunset with nothing to show, it was time to leave.  There were fish there but lord knows what they were thinking, certainly they weren't hungry.  We packed it up, stopped for a beer and headed home.  I guess I should not be surprised, last week was just an anomaly.  Oh well, there is always next weekend.



Collecting sap in my yard



March as been pretty cold as it goes.  My neighbor Brandon has asked if he could tap the mature maple trees that I have in the yard, all 5 of them.  Being a guy that likes to do this kind of stuff I gladly obliged and now have 5 - 5 gallon buckets waiting for the right day/night temperatures to get the sap flowing.  Sap flow is really dependent on the weather.  Below freezing temperatures at night and 38-42 degree day temperatures get that sap flowing at it's maximum level.   Each tree has a hole drilled into it and a tap inserted.  A bucket is hung on the tap and a tube from the tap to the bucket assures that all the sap is collected in the bucket.  Maple Syrup is made by boiling maple tree sap to the point where the sugar content is about 66 - 67%.  You can easily determine this by the temperature of the boiling sap.  When sap is mostly water it boils at around 212 degrees F.  As the water is driven off the sap, the boiling point goes higher and when the boiling liquid finally reaches 219.1 degrees, it is at the point of perfection...Maple Syrup.  It normally takes about 30 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup.  Brandon has done a great PR job in the neighborhood as there must be at least 100 buckets scattered throughout the streets of my development, Wildwood Springs.  My friend Bill Lundeen also makes maple syrup and has a fairly large "sugar bush", a name commonly associated with a stand of maple trees used to collect sap.  Both Brandon and Bill have large wood fired evaporators to concentrate the sap to syrup, Brandon's is pretty nice and Bill's is a production grade piece.  Either way I am sure that there will be plenty of syrup this year as this spring is set up just perfect for collecting sap.  With plenty of snow on the ground it's assured to be below freezing at night and with the sun higher in the sky, it's bound to warm up.  Last year we had temperatures in the 70's and the sap never did flow much, this year will be completely different.  I'll let you know how they do. 

Next week I am off to Long Beach for our biggest trade show of the year.  I am looking forward to seeing my good friend Joe Stanfield, it's too bad we can't do a little fishing in California for an afternoon, oh well.  Arriving back on Wednesday night, Thursday marks the first day of the Northwest Sportshow.  The biggest of the season, I look forward to checking out the latest and greatest each year.  Some people say that not much changes but I guess it depends on how you look at it.  For me, it's a chance to see my contacts, question the guys that should know, and dream about the next new adventure.  My friend Keith is heading back to Alaska for a few weeks and I actually talked him and his wife Jane into having lunch with me before he goes.  Life is pretty damn good.

I Can't Believe it, Crappies!!



My first keeper crappie of the season

So, after chasing crappies on and off for the last 3 weeks, my neighbor Pete finally had the lead on the fish that we were looking for, a nice mess of crappies.  Based on our experience a few weeks ago when I went with him, he had better come up with something better than the last hot tip he got.  Actually I am a patient guy and trying new lakes is always interesting and one never knows, you could learn a thing or two.  Agreeing to meet at 12:30 on Saturday, he had minnows from the week before while I made an early morning run to my friend's Bill Lundeen to get my Vexilar and pick up some additional bait.  Having a cup of coffee with Bill and Kathy is a great way to spend the morning and with the new Mille Lacs regulations being discussed, we had plenty of things  to talk about.  After solving all of the days problems I grabbed a pack of Frosty ice jigs, a dozen waxies, my electronics, and a box of maggots then headed south.  Finishing up with a few things around the house I packed up my equipment, auger, and after deciding to fish out of one house, drove a block to pick up Pete.  Not sure how to get to his secret lake north of Princeton, we took the scenic route only to find upon arrival that there was no way to access the lake!  Discussing our options maybe his friend meant the lake across the street.  It certainly didn't appear that it was much of a secret as there were at least 200 houses and cars on the lake.  Well, it was the only lead we had and I wasn't going back to Green Lake again.  There was a vast area between 2 clumps of houses so we decided to look at this area as there was only one other guy in the area.  Asking how deep, he confirmed 17 feet, this was exactly what I was looking for.   Drilling about 10 holes to check things out, we got a good feel for the structure and started fishing.  Perch, perch. perch, they were everywhere and not a one over 7 inches.  Full of black spots, they weren't very inviting as we let all but a couple of the larger ones go.  As the sun began to set Pete decided we needed to be warmer so cleaning the snow off the ice, we set up his 2 man Clam and fired up the heater.  Although I don't mind fishing outside, once the sun went behind the clouds the holes started to freeze up pretty fast and I headed into the Clam.  As darkness grew I noticed marks higher up off the bottom, maybe 12 - 13 feet.  Bringing up my lure the fish struck but I missed.  With my waxie gone I knew that my lure had to change, a Frosty Ice jig with a #8 hook, something larger as crappies tend to simply inhale the lure and you need to set the hook as soon as the tension leaves your line.  That made a huge difference as the very next fish represented the first keeper crappie I had caught all season, not huge but a start!  For the next 90 minutes the bite simply got better.  As I kept hooking fish, I suggested to Pete that he change his lure as I thought the hook he was using was too small.  A quick change and he landed two immediately.  Unfortunately his urge to prove he could catch one on his own terms was way to much pressure and he went back to his old methods.  We ended up with 17 nice crappies ranging from 9 to 11.25 inches.  Crappies can be deceiving 

A nice batch of 9 to 11 inch fish

as an 11 incher looks just like one over 12 inches!  Deciding I needed a picture of our fish before forgetting we laid them on the ice for a pose.  As we were admiring our catch one of the fish nearest my hole took a flip, landed in the water and swam off before I could reach far enough down the hole to get it.  Damn, we'll have to stay to replace it.  By 9:30 we were successful in getting the one that got away, the bite had slowed so we packed up and headed to the bar for supper.  It definitely was my best day for crappies in 2 years as well finally broke my 2013 ice fishing drought.  One thing about larger crappies is they tend to swim up to the bait and just inhale it.  No tell tale tug, simply a slight movement of your line as the tension comes off the rod tip.  You better be quick and watch your line as they can spit it out as fast as they suck it in.  Although I used to be a big spring bobber fan, they can be somewhat delicate.  Learning from my friend Kevin, the master of line detection ice fishing, I'm getting much better with my Black Betty setup and not as good as him its close.

Just have to show another picture!

Dropping Pete off at his shed at 11:30, I decided to take care of the fish myself.  With a couple of smaller perch, I clean 19 fish.  On Sunday an impromptu fish fry developed at my neighbor Toolman Tim's where we fried up the fillets in my 20 inch frying pan while Pete's wife brought over the potatoes, I brought the beans and tarter sauce while Connie made a fruit dish.  It's amazing how many crappie fillets you can get in a 20 inch pan, we had them all fried up in about 10 minutes.  Nothing tastes better than a last minute fish fry with the neighbors!  The pressures on to do a repeat.  We had another 10 inches of snow early in the week and I expect the lakes to be difficult at best to travel on.  We are looking at rain on Saturday, maybe enough to knock the snow down and the prediction for next week is in the 40's.  The good news is we need the moisture as last fall was very dry, affecting the rivers and lakes.  With 10 - 15 inches of snow cover on most of the lakes, it will be interesting to see if I can get out this weekend and repeat my success.

Ok, One More Time



Last 23" walleye for the 2012 Mille Lacs season



At the last minute Mark Applen asked if I was interested in joining him to fish the Mille Lacs Perch Extravaganza at Hunters Point on Saturday, fishing Saturday night and heading home on Sunday morning.  As things worked out I took him up on the offer deciding to drive up on Saturday afternoon and fish the evening and morning bite.  What the heck, I really enjoy fishing with Mark in his wheel house, and his deer hunting friends Russ, Randy, Roger, Scott, Mike and Judy.  The Mille Lacs Perch Extravaganza is one of the largest ice fishing tournaments on the lake.  Focused specifically on perch, the winner is usually a nice 14.5 inch fish, weighing at least 1.5 pounds.  With the current perch situation on Mille Lacs, it was going to be a tough contest to win.  Driving up on Saturday afternoon I decided to meet up with Mark after the tourney was done, 4:00 would be about right.  Wrong!!!  By the time I arrived at Hunter's Point the line up of cars force me to sit for over an hour to finally get on the ice.  In the meantime I had been trying to call Mark to get his exact location of where he parked his wheel house so I could meet him.  

Big walleye in Isle



Luckily Mike called as I just got on the ice, they were at The Whitecap Inn.  Nice, I crossed the bridge at Hunter's and headed across the ice to meet them.  After having a brandy we headed back to their village they had set up, and settled in for some homemade chili, Farkle, and a lively political discussion.  I figured I was about 6 hours behind in the beer department as everyone was in bed by 9:30 but me!  Fishing till 11:30, I marked a few fish but could not get them to hit so I set the rattle wheels and hit the sack.  An hour later I was awaken by that familiar sound of the rattles going off.  Being in the bottom bunk I got up as the reel was definitely peeling line off.  A quick jerk and I pulled in this nice 23 inch walleye, the last of the season.  Mark had gotten up so I had him snap a picture from the top bunk, a great view from his perspective.  The rest of the night was uneventful as was the morning.  At least I caught something. We packed up, pulled his wheel house to his friend Russ's place and parted ways.   Bill had asked if he could use my equipment for a large group guide trip this week so I headed across the south end of the lake, passing through the town of Isle.  Minnesota is famous for it large statues depicting the importance of a certain theme for an area.  In Isle as in Garrison they have this huge fiberglass walleye by the visitor's center. 



Loren's skid loader

 Thinking about driving home, grabbing my crappie equipment and trying a nearby lake I decided to see if my friend Jack and his son Ben were at there cabin, 15 miles from Mille Lacs.  To my surprise his wife Janet answered......yes, they are out on the lake, come on over.  Arriving 20 minutes later Ben became my chauffeur as he picked me up with the snowmobile and brought me out to their ice house.  Deciding to try for the large crappies on the lake Jack drilled a few holes for me.  The first hole had fish and one hit my waxie with vengeance but I missed it. The rest of the day was no better as I fished for a few hours with nothing more than marks on my Vexilar.  Ben tried his best to help me but like every other day this year, it wasn't in the cards.  At midnight on March 4th all fish houses south of US Highway 2 have to be off the lake.  Because Jack would not have time to get up next week we decided to pull his shack back to the cabin.  With 2 foot drifts covering the lake and the only road available was the guy down the lake, we had no choice but to use it.  Along with Jack's house was his neighbor Dan's house, Chad Tomala's house, and a few other neighbors.  After getting Jacks house loosened from the ice we bought my pickup truck out to pull it off.  Hooking it up we got about 25 yards before a drift stopped us in our tracks.  At the same time Loren and Chad Tomala were heading to their shack, right next to Jack's when his truck got stuck.  While we were digging our way out Loren went back to get his little skid loader to clear a path.  A master at operating, I told him he must have been a drummer in his past life as you need to use both feet and arms to be proficient in moving snow.  Getting all of the houses off the lake became much easier and for Jack and his great neighbors it was good to get the end of the season done with.  For me, I just enjoyed the exercise and of course Jack's friends at the lake are super!

With the weather warming up and my desire to at least get one limit of crappies, this is my goal for the next couple of weeks.  The daily temperatures are now in the low 30's and you'd be surprised how fast 30 inches of ice can disappear.  Wednesday was the last day to comment on the Mille Lacs situation and I will post my letter to the DNR later.

The Drought Continues



Greg's 30 inch Walleye from Mille Lacs

 Another week, another fish-less day on the water.  Looking back at the year, the last successful day ice fishing goes way back to the weekend of December 28 when I was on Red Lake with Mark.  Although I have caught fish during the last 2 months, I really haven't kept more than 5 "I almost should have thrown back" sunfish.  A couple of weeks ago we tried Green Lake by Princeton with limited success however Pete saw a bunch of crappies on the camera and Jason did manage to keep 6.  Attributing this to a tough bite I decided to head back there on Sunday, I mean really, what's the chances of striking out 2 times in a row?  Well, I can tell you that it was pretty good! Picking up my neighbor Tom, we headed north to Green.  This time I brought my HDS7 which has depth maps of the most popular lakes in Minnesota, maybe a better understanding of the lake would increase our luck.  Arriving at the lake, Green was not one of the lakes that had any information on structure............so much for that plan.  We ended up going back to our spot from last weekend knowing that at least there was some fish there.  Like the movie Groundhog Day, I felt like Bill Murray's character, living the same scene over again.  I guess there isn't much else to tell.  So this week's picture is of a friend, Greg Jones.  A follower of this blog, we met in Anaheim attending the same week long trade show.  The first thing to come out of his mouth was how well they did on Mille Lacs the weekend before, catching quite a few fish including this 30 inch walleye.  With my luck lately, that's the last thing I needed to hear! I am glad someone is catching fish and it's great to have him share the memories with me.  That's a beautiful fish and will look great mounted on the wall of his office.  I guess I should have drove further north. 

Pickled Alaskan Silver Salmon

This week is the last weekend for inland walleye fishing.  It stays open into April on Lake of the Woods and is year around on the Mississippi River.  I usually have a chance to fish Mille Lacs more yet my travel schedule has been quite filled up lately as the year is flying by.  My quest for a crappie dinner has also influenced my Mille Lacs experience this year.  Last year I had 3 very successful outings on the big lake bringing home my limit of walleyes each time.  Maybe it's just hard to get excited about the current situation at Mille Lacs, something I will save for a future post or two, or three.  So in the absence of cooking fish I decided to make some pickled salmon from the fish I caught in Alaska.  Searching the Internet the perfect looking recipe appeared.   Using about 4 pounds of fillets the first thing was to skin and cut into chunks.  A 24 hour soak in 1 cup of salt to 4 cups of water then another 24 hour soak in white vinegar and it was ready for the brine.  A simple brine of 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, pickling spice, and the special ingredient, 1 cup of white port and just not any white port...Fairbanks White Port.  Uffda, was that hard to find.  I did find it in a 1.5 liter bottle, cheap and sweet, I told the clerk at the liquor store that there was enough for both the fish and I to get pickled.  Using red onions I figured that if nothing else the jar would look nice.  It'll be ready in a couple of weeks and I hope it's as good as it looks.  With halibut left in the freezer, that might be my next thing to try unless of course we can find some tullibees on Mille Lacs in a few weeks.

This weekend is busy and if I do get out it will only be for a few hours again.  Mark asked me if I wanted to fish the Perch Extravaganza on Mille Lacs but I have another engagement I need to attend.  Sunday may find me down on the river with my friend Kevin, we will have to see how that turns out.  Oh well, it snowed again and that will keep me busy for a while.  We have actually had some decent snow this year and maybe I'll get a chance to take out my snowmobile for a ride.  I know that we need the moisture as the Mississippi River behind the house was awfully low this fall.  Here's to changing luck!

Few and Far Between



First crappie of the day



Because of my travel schedule lately and the fact that my laptop is still in need of repair, I am finally getting a chance to wrap up last weeks fishing adventure.  I think the title pretty much says it all.  Having just got back from 4 days in California, it has given me time to reflect on how my ice fishing success has gone this year.  My time in Anaheim was manning our exhibit at the largest Medical Device and Manufacturing show in the United States.  Because Minnesota is a hotbed of medical device manufacturers and suppliers, there were plenty of my fellow outdoorsman from here that flew down to work the show as well.  While sitting at the booth entertaining customers, a friend commented that by the looks of my blog, ice fishing season seemed to be going pretty well this year for me.  I laughed and commented that he must be only looking at the pictures!

My response was that in reality, other than my pre-New Year's adventure with Mark, the only fish I have been eating is coming from my Alaskan trip.  Last weekend was no different.  Pete, my new ice fishing partner had his trip cancelled and wanted to go back out.  Acting on a tip he had gotten, a small unmarked lake north of Elk River was hot.  After doing some research, there must have been an error as the lake was nothing but a mud hole, no access, nothing.  With the start of the day already a bust, we decided to head to Green Lake, east of Princeton.  Joining us was my friend Jason Rombalski, who by the way is always good luck, and a friend of his.  Green is a medium sized lake with a good population of walleyes, perch, and crappies.  It also has some nice structure for fishing crappies in the basin areas.  Figuring I didn't need my GPS for the first lake, suddenly it would have been nice.   A few weeks back I decided to buy something smarter than me, a Samsung Galaxy 3 smart phone.  While waiting for the fish to bite I downloaded a Cabela's app that actually uses the GPS in the phone and overlays your position onto a contour map of the lake you are on, providing there is one.  Well, I started the app and voila, the lake map and our position appeared on the screen.  We found an area outside of a group of houses that looked promising and drilled some holes.  It was nice enough to fish outside and Jason nailed the first keeper, a 9 inch crappie.  Meanwhile I couldn't keep the 4 inch perch off my line and Pete, with his camera down the hole reports that it just thick with fish, just not biting.  Jason left early with 6 fish, enough for a meal, Pete and I continued till well after dark.  We marked a ton of fish but they sure were finicky.  Usually before a storm, which we had on Sunday, the fish go crazy but not this time.  As stated, we did mark a ton of fish, saw them on the camera, so it might be a good place to go back and try again. 



Ben's Northern

 My friend Jack has been doing pretty good at his cabin on Platte Lake.  Although the crappies haven't been too cooperative, the northerns have more than made up for it.  His son Ben has developed quite the knack for fishing these northerns as Jack sent me this picture of a nice fish he caught a few weeks ago.  They usually pickle them as there are no lack of pike in the lake.  Ben's going to grow up to be quite the fisherman and at 8 years old is already pressuring us to take him to Leech for our opener.  It might be a little too cold and rough but in a couple more years he will probably out fishing his dad, if he isn't doing that already.  While at the show in California, a colleague of mine stopped by to show me his success on Mille Lacs last week.  After hearing about the 20+ walleyes they caught, I asked him to send me pictures.  Not being sure which flat he was one, I have a pretty good idea as his group did as well as anyone.  There are only 2 weekends left of the inland walleye fishing season left and after February 24th, only Lake of the Woods, Rainy River, and the Mississippi will be open for walleyes.  It is only an indication of how fast this winter has flown.  Sunday is suppose to be nice out so a possible trip to one of the offshore flats may be in the cards for the weekend.  Being gone a week does little to help get caught up around the house.  Let's see, clean the garage....go fishing, Hummm.

Superbowl Weekend, Winter's Half Over

 Mark's feisty northern

With my neighbor Tim's annual Superbowl Party on Sunday along with snow predicted, I decided to head out on Saturday to retry Pelican Lake near my home.  My last trip was somewhat uneventful although I did catch a meal of sunfish that my buddy Kevin calls Hatta's...........Hatta keep'em, Hatta throw them back.  This time I decided to fish the east basin which has the largest expanse of 12 foot water and is seldom fished.   While plowing snow Saturday morning with my tractor, my friend Mark Applen drove up to check out what was going on and 5 minutes later he agreed to tag along to see if we could get some crappies.  Hoping the afternoon would warm up somewhat, we took our shelters while thinking maybe could get by without them.  A quick stop at the hardware store in St. Michael and we were off to the east side of the lake driving on where the lake meets the road.  With the ice over 22 inches thick we could drive wherever we wanted.  A tip from the guy who gave us the minnows gave us our starting point along the south shoreline in 12 feet of water.  I drilled about 10 holes, 30 feet apart, in a straight line towards shore with the last hole in 8 feet.  This is a great strategy to try different depths to determine where the fish might be.  Mark caught this 2 foot northern and other than a 4 inch sunfish I caught, that was about it for our first spot.  I did mark a few on my Vexilar but nothing that would cooperate.  Suggesting a move, we headed west towards a group of houses before veering towards a spot that looked promising.  Fishing till dark we only caught 3 crappies that would have been better served as bait for a tipup.  I suspect that with the water as cloudy as it is this year, the weedline might be less than 10 feet causing the fish to be shallower than in the past years.  Because it's so close and there have been a few good reports, it might just be a matter of time.

Hunting for mice

While heading to my pole shed to get the tractor ready for plowing there was a beautiful red fox hunting mice in the field behind the house.  He must have been hungry as I was simply a minor distraction for him.  It was fun to watch as the fox would listen, watch, then finally take a leap with all fours off the ground coming down on dinner.  He did get a mouse before deciding that having someone watch him hunt was a violation of his privacy.  Heading towards the neighbors, I snapped this picture as he started his trot east.  His coat was thick and full and looked good.   It's pretty neat to have them around although they do have a fairly strong odor that I could sense from my car.   The other advantage is they tend to keep the population of rabbits in check as they were getting way out of hand.   Checking my previous posts on my fox sightings they seem to start around the first week in February as I have made mention a couple of my sighting in both 2010 and 2011.  I wonder if this is the same guy?  Along with coyotes, deer, raccoons, and muskrats, the back yard is pretty tame as I don't have to deal with 1000 pound brown bears as my friends in Alaska do!

With a Saturday temperature predicted to be 35 and my neighbor Pete hinting he'd like to get out, I think we're going to try a couple of lakes I haven't fished in a while, maybe Lake John, west of Annandale, MN.  In the late 1980's my friends Mark and Jack Taylor had a crude ice house on Lake John.  We did pretty well however late in the year the heavy snows had caused water to flood the floor with a depth of 4 inches.  Having to remove off the ice by February 28th we filled the inside with rock salt.  The following week the water had disappear yet it was still frozen into the lake.  A guy came by offering the solution to our problems and after following his instructions to go into town and buy a box of 30-06 shells, he proceeded to shoot the whole box of bullets through the floor and into the ice.  The theory was that the slugs would hit the ice and fracture it enough to loosen the lake's grip on the bottom of our ice shack.  I thought the guy was crazy but what the heck.  It didn't work and we were left with simply tearing it apart for firewood, never to see the ice again.  Although a pain, it was fun fishing in our own special castle.

One Eyed Walleye

The one eyed walleye



Coming out of the deep freeze that occurred last week and Saturday's weather forecast appearing to be reasonable the plan was to spend the day with a number of firsts for my friends.  My fishing companions were Lory Brasel with his new Otter portable, Pete Sipe with his new Clam Thermal, and Keith Holtan, the first time we have ice fished together.  All three had a good reason to get out so I picked the destination, Resort Flat out of the Red Door Resort on the north end of Mille Lacs.  Reports were encouraging and with Keith coming down from Brainerd, it would be convenient for all of us.  After stopping at Lundeen's for bait, we headed north to the McDonald's in Garrison to complete our foursome.  The Red Door Resort is right smack in the middle of the north side and they do a great job catering to ice fisherman.  Every year a crack/heave develops parallel to the shoreline, about 50 - 100 yards out.  Water is an amazing part of nature.  At 39 degrees it is at it's densest sinking to the bottom insuring livable water for the fish.  Only 7 degree's colder it becomes the lightest as it freezes and expands by 10%, which is why it floats.  As the ice continues to freeze it actually shrinks and with the -20 degree weather a few days earlier, the ice contracts causing a break that opens up a space between the ice sheets.  At the Red Door they had a bridge crossing the crack which opened up earlier in the week that spanned 8 feet.   Without the bridge it would be crazy to try and drive across the newly formed ice that filled the crack.  Of course as the weather warms up, the ice will expand which will cause the ice sheets to push together causing huge heaves up to 8 feet high.  This cycle repeats continually as the temperature swings from -20F to 36F then back down.  Once across the bridge we drove 3 miles out to the flat. 

Lory's 24 incher

There is an area along the flat that has proven to be pretty good so we set up along the edge taken up a good 50 yards of an area.  Punching holes from 22 feet on the top of the flat to 34 feet on the bottom edge, we went to work.  Unfortunately the weatherman was a little off as it stayed around 10 degrees with a strong wind blowing the snow around and filling the holes I had drilled.  Although I punched over 25 holes for "ice trolling" my guest decided to stay out of the wind and fish in there shacks.  Me, I still like to hole hop and worked the area until I needed some relief from the wind.  With Keith in my Clam, I set up my Eskimo pop up next to the truck, out of the wind in 34 feet of water.  Lory had a fold up chair and I was in business.  With the area covered, it was now up to the walleyes to tell us were they were at and what they wanted to eat.  Well, they took their merry old time.  As Keith came by to check on how I was weathering the wind and bite the bobber on my dead stick was nowhere to be found.  With a nice big shiner hooked to the end of the line, chances are what ever had it was good sized. Carefully taking the slack out of the  line until the line was tight, a quick set and I pulled up this nice 26 inch walleye.  She was in pretty bad shape, skinny as a rail (like most of my Mille Lacs walleyes have been) and missing it's left eye.  It looked like it had been that way for a while and I suppose it is why the fish was so skinny.  Next to catch a fish was Lory, the first in his new Otter.  Another skinny 24 inch fish never the less a great way to break in the shack.  His fish came out of 22 feet of water, right on the top of the flat. 



Pete's 23 inch walleye



Next to catch of fish was Pete.  All snug in his new Clam, the fish made a mess out of his fishing lines before we were able to get it turned around and up through the hole.  Now this fish looked pretty good and healthy compared to the previous two as it measured 23 inches.  Pete was in 24 feet, closer to the edge of the flat which really didn't help with zeroing in on the perfect location.   There was one thing in common, all fish were caught on a whole minnow.  No matter how hard or soft I jigged my Rattlin Flyers, Jigging Raps, Hawger Spoons, the only thing I could get were a few fish coming in to look at the commotion then leave.  I did mark what I'm sure was tullibees as they aggressively followed my lures up the water column more that 12 feet.  After this summer's tullibee die off, it was nice to see that a few survived.  As for Keith, I set him up right at the edge break of the flat in about 25 feet.  This is usually my favorite spot as walleyes cruise the edge looking for their next meal.  Unfortunately the never showed up for him, not one of my better days of putting people on fish.  Oh well, I am fortunate that being a guide, he understands the situation.  Hopefully I will get the opportunity to rectify this situation again with better results.  Either way we did get 3 nice fish, marked enough to keep it interesting, fished with my friends, and finished the day at the Players Bar and Restaurant for their fish fry.  I really got the hankering to catch some crappies and maybe Sunday I can get out before the Superbowl.  

I am finishing this post from the Sky Club at Chicago O'hare.  My regular laptop is broke and am using my friend, Tom McAtee's.  Usually I can do this on the plane or somewhere I can find time and space but it is almost impossible to type on my 10 inch Asus pad.  I sent it out to Oregon to get fixed and with a little luck, it should be back next week.  One last thing, I did by something from Amazon.com for my laundry sink.  Not spending enough to get free shipping I ordered a Buck folding fillet knife (like I need another fillet knife) to get past $25.00.  I got it on Wednesday and it's really nice.  If you take the free shipping into account, I got a very good deal. 

Return to Red Lake



Cooler full of walleyes

With the threat of sub zero weather ahead of us, my friend Mark Applen landed in Minneapolis from Maui, Hawaii at noon on Friday and by 3:30 we were heading back north to Red Lake.  A chance to get one more weekend of fishing on Red, our secondary goal was to pull his wheel house back home after being stored at JR's for the last 4 weeks.  Joining us were Mark's friends Russ and his brother Randy as well as Mike, Judy and their chocolate lab.  After solving the world's problems during our 5 hour ride up, a quick check with the crew confirmed they were at JR's Corner Access and our arrival would be perfectly timed to enjoy the walleye's they had brought in and had fried up.  I ordered a round, sat down and chowed down on the perfectly deep fried walleye chunks with Russ's special homemade tartar sauce.  Sorry but sitting in a simple converted pole shed on a picnic table, eating fresh walleye and washing it down with a beer, true nirvana!   It was time to fish and we had a plan.  Up until the time we arrived JR was not allowing anyone to venture out past the crack in the ice, based on the pending below zero weather and high winds.  Our friends were on the shore side of the crack however our intent was to return to our previous location, 6 miles out on the lake and over the crack. 

Mark with a nice eater

As we left JR confirmed that the bridge across the crack was open, we were free to explore.  Mark and I decided to take the 6 mile trip, crossing the break and returning to our spot where we did so well a few weeks earlier.  The wind was still reasonable and there were few in the area, a good sign.  Setting up exactly where we were last time, it was about 10:30 before we settled in for the night.  Things sure had changed in 3 weeks as we failed to get a single bite.  Waking up to below zero temperatures and an increasing wind our strategy changed to fish closer to Mark's friends closer to shore.  Besides, they were catching more fish!  This was my third trip with Mark and his house and I had finally figured out the routine and we were packed, moved, and reset in about an hour.  Spreading out in a line separating our shacks by about 50 yards, we set up off the reef hoping our decision would be the right one.  Our timing was perfect as the predicted high winds and falling temperatures were right on the doorstep.  Snug in the wheel house we went to work with Mark catching the first walleye, the second walleye, the forth and fifth walleye.  Yep, I managed only the third of five we caught.  As things slowed down we headed to Randy's mansion on wheels to play a little Farkle, have some 5 star, and plan the evenings trip to the resort for dinner.  Although accused of playing conservative, I did win the last hand allowing me to at least buy the first round of beers. 

Sunrise and the Sun dogs

With the wind howling, a substantial ground blizzard occurring, we loaded all six of us into Randy's truck and headed in to clean fish.  As before the indoor fish cleaning room was much appreciated as Russ and I took the knife to our total of 11 nice walleyes we had together.  Having JR's fry up 9 total, we feasted on our familiar meal, had a few brews, talked smart to a few guys and took advantage of indoor plumbing, it was time to head back to our mansion's on the ice.  Setting up the rattle reels, Mark was fast running out of steam and we hit the sack.  Unfortunately both nights we spent on Red were silent.  There is nothing like being woke up at 1:00 in the morning by the sound of the rattles clanging away as a walleye runs with the minnow.  The good news is we did get a good night's sleep, something I am sure Mark appreciated, yet I am sure he would rather have sacrificed!  Waking up to a subdued wind, it was -12 below zero as the wind had rearrange was was an even layer of snow the day before.  With the rattle reels silent, we decided to pack up early and head south.  Sunrise can be an enchanting time and Sunday morning was no exception.  As we began to pack up I snapped this picture of the sun as it begins it's daily journey across the sky.  The 2 spots on either side are called Sun Dogs, evidence of ice crystals in the air, a reminder of the day before.   By 10:00 we were on our way back home, another great ice fishing adventure.  Although the fishing wasn't the greatest, I always consider it a bonus when fishing with good friends.  Admittedly I missed Judy's pickled garlic, but you can't always have everything you want!  For Mark, dealing with a 100 degree swing from 85 in Maui to -15 at Red Lake provides an interesting contrast for sure.

This week has been cold with the last few days at -15 below zero, at least we continue to make ice.  With little snow, you can basically drive anywhere on the lakes as long as you pay attention to areas of possible current and ice heaves.  I am not sure where I will end up this weekend however my friend Keith is putting the bug in my ear to meet him somewhere.  Sunday looks like the nicest day, maybe a trip to Mille Lacs is in order.