Fishing Heaven

My first Lac Seul Walleye

The long anticipated trip to Lac Seul is now history and it exceeded my expectations.  Both of my friends Paul Wenaas and Ryan Sterle have been on me for years to fish Lac Seul however it's never been very convenient for me.  I now see why they have been so insistent!  Everything was planned perfectly, I would pick up my neighbor Pete at 5:00 Wednesday Morning, load what little he had, drive to Osseo, MN and pick up Dan and his gear then head north.  After stopping at Lundeens for a coffee refill the next stop was Round Lake, just north of Mille Lacs to pick up Bruce's boat and his neighbor Wayne.  Once hitched it was off to International Falls, crossing the border and eventually ending up in Sioux Lookout, Ontario and the Deception Bay boat landing.  Our destination was Lac Seul Outpost where Bruce reserved what is known as the VIP cabin.  After launching the boat, Dan, Wayne, Pete and I loaded it up and began the one hour water ride to the Chamberlain Narrows, our final destination.  Bruce and Lyle, the other third of our group had intended on flying up on Bruce's Cessna 172 with floats and have the cocktails ready by the time we got there.  Unfortunately the cloud ceilings prevented them from taking off and they were now 6 hours behind with the intent on simply driving up, staying in Sioux Lookout, and having the resort taxi pick them up in the morning.  Of course, it didn't stop us from having our "congradulitory, we finally made it" cocktail, got the cabin ready to go and took a little boat ride to the nearest point, where I got my first Lac Seul walleye with hopes for plenty more!

Eye's bigger than their stomachs!

Thursday was beautiful however the forecast for Friday was cold and rainy with Saturday just plain cold.  Lac Seul is a very large reseviour, spread out over 160 miles, full of bays, channels, islands and walleyes.  After Bruce and Lyle arrived we switched to a resort rental boat, 20 foot Lund Alaskan with a 115 Optimax, plenty of room for Pete, Dan, and myself.  Like most large lakes, there are names for specific areas where we fish and Lac Seul was no exception.  Pecker Point, The Church, The Goal Post, Birch Narrows, Three Sisters, meant a special location to meet, fish, and compare notes.  Some of these were close to the cabin and others were 20 minutes away.  We always caught walleyes no matter where we went, from 6 inches to 26, there was always a willing fish to hit our offerings.  While Pete and Dan stuck with minnows, I experimented with Gulp and Crawlers, a combination I did well with while fishing in Canada this June with my brother Steve.  It was fairly successful and given a situation where one would have exhausted his supply of live bait, it was a great option.  Actually on Friday I did very well with this combo, outfishing live minnows by around 10%.  Still the minnows were the go to bait yet I do like experimenting and when the fish were aggressive, the Gulp worked well with even the little ones getting into the action.  What was surprising was the fact that we caught walleyes everywhere we went.  Primarily fishing in 16 - 22 feet of water, someone would always catch something.  With that large expanse of water, there has to be a significant population of fish, and they all seems fat and sassy, a very healthy lake to say the least.  It's certainly a lot different than my home water's of Mille Lacs but that's for a different day.

The perfect moment

Friday and Saturday found the wind howling out of the North and temperatures in the high 40's.  Admittedly it's been a while since I have had to layer up in my lined pants, rain suit, and gloves but we managed to head out in 34 degree temperatures and decided to fish closer to the cabin while still catching fish.  After getting used to the first cold weather of the year, by noon we were back in the swing of things and continued to assure we would have fresh walleye for the evening meal.  One of the more interesting thing that would happen each day was the congregation of Bald Eagles watching over our every move.  Apparently they are acclimated to either mortally wounded fish floating to the surface from a deeply hooked lure or the fisherman simply feeding them (which is illegal, by the way).  One of our smaller walleyes swam away but surfaced minutes later presenting an easy meal.  Focusing on the fish, I snapped this picture at the perfect moment as the eagle had it's talons extended, ready to grab the fish.  It was awesome. Sunday morning came way to fast as we had to head back to Deception Landing to go home.  Because Ken, owner of the outpost had to go back and pick up a new guest, 4 of us boarded the shuttle boat while Bruce and Pete followed behind.  An hour later we docked at the landing where the truck was coated with a thick frost.  As Bruce decided to pull his boat home and letting Pete and Dan continue in my care as we headed home.  Driving south of Dryden, Ontario we saw 2 different black bears along the road as we listened to the Packer game on the XM radio, unfortunately it wasn't very good.  Home by 7:00, I finished skinning our walleye fillets and vacuum packed them.  As stated, the time went too fast as it always does, yet there is little one can do about that other than enjoy every moment you can.  The trip to Lac Seul with Bruce, Pete, Dan, Wayne, and Lyle was simply that, enjoyed every moment.  With Crown Royal as the preferred beverage, I even learned how to enjoy and make their favorite cocktail, pour to the first set of stars on the "official cocktail glass" in the cabin cupboard. Thanks guys!

Saturday is Tim's annual pig roast come rain or shine and the weather is looking more like rain.  With water temps still pretty high at Mille Lacs, it might not be until next week before I try to renew the fall trolling strategy.  Apples are starting to ripen as I have picked my Honeycrisp's already with more needed harvesting this weekend.  I thinks it's shaping up to be a busy 4 weeks.

Heading North

The South Platte River at the level of Hwy 85

Time flies when you're busy.  Thursday and Friday was spent in the north metro area of Denver, Colorado and all I can say is wow!  It's been reported that the rain and accompanying floods were 1000 year events and it was obvious.  Thursday was filled with meetings just outside Boulder and the company I was at was showing signs of rising water.  We left at 4:00 that afternoon, scheduled to come back the following morning.  Staying north of Loveland, CO we woke up to the reality that I25 was closed from the Wyoming border to Longmont CO.  Our meetings were back at the same location as Thursday and had been moved to 10:00.   Not being able to drive our usual route on I 25, we headed east to the next major bridge crossing the Big Thompson River to then head back west.  We were turned away.  Plan C, head to Greeley, CO and cross at Hwy 85.  The floods feed into the South Platte River and it was on a terror.  Successfully crossing the floods at Greeley you can see that the water is right at the road level and rising.  Meetings canceled, we contemplated going back to Loveland then decided to stay safely on the south side of the flood.  It was a good thing as 1 hour later they closed the bridge at Hwy 85.  Basically we outran the wall of water heading east.  Although our meetings were canceled, I was with our Production Manager Rich and we got to spend some quality time together discussing strategies at the Islamorada Restaurant at the Denver Bass Pro Shop.  Of course we had to do a little shopping for my trip as well.  Heading back to the airport we came across a railroad track with 2 Union Pacific locomotives connected on the track.  Under one of the locomotives was a washout large enough to walk under.  The rails were suspended, held together by the ties.  2 heavy duty cranes were hoisting the one to take the weight off and it was obvious that they need to correct the situation fast.  It would have been a great picture but with traffic, we had little time.

Super sized pears

It's pear harvesting season again and to say it's a bumper crop would be an understatement.  While I was at my class reunion on Saturday my neighbor Lory picked the Patton pears that were ready to be harvested.  I guess he picked at 8 five gallon pails full which was on top of the 3 I had picked on Saturday morning.  The pears are huge this year as you can see how they compare to a 16 ounce red solo cup.  Sweet as can be they are delicious fresh although somewhat hard, like a bosc pear, they will ripen more and become softer.  I never have the patience for that.  Lory and his wife make good use out of the pears and may juice some, dry a few, make wine, they are too good to go to waste.  My apple crop is about 1 - 2 weeks behind schedule, which is good.  I have been losing quite a few of my Honeycrisp Apples yet they are small and my thinning process did not work so well on those.  By the time I get back on Sunday, the apples harvest will begin and last through the 3rd week in October when the Haralson and Fireside become the last to ripen up.  It will be a good chance to try out the new cider press.

This post is somewhat early as I head north to Lac Seul tomorrow morning.  I have been getting all sorts of tips and am pretty anxious as I really haven't been fishing seriously for over a month.  With 3 days in what has been described as Walleye Heaven, I hope to have a full and successful report next week, wish me luck. I am sure Pete is about done with my questions, I'm not sure how he will put up with me for 9 hours in the car!  Saturday was my 40th class reunion and it was great to see all of friends from high school.  My part was to give away some prizes and run the Karaoke entertainment.  It was interesting to hear the side comments about us 58 year old's singing......not me...sound dumb....yeah, right.  I am afraid most found it to be quite a bit different than their perception!  We sang all the oldies till 2:00 in the morning with many people apologizing for their preconceptions, finished the 1/2 barrel of beer, and renewed friendships that seem to be too far apart in time.  To all my friends Jeff, Roger, Rick, Chuck, Scott, Wayne, Lynn, Mike's, Joanne, Marilyn, Kathy, Larry, Sue's, Tim, Tom, Kris, Carol, Janell, Diana, Pat, and their guest as well as those who have passed before us, it was good to celebrate the Class of 1973, Eleva-Strum Central High School.  Someday I will have to elaborate more like the time our class decided the Junior Prom was not our style and instead used our budget to hire a big rock band.........quite interesting but that was us! 

Drought Continues

Rainbow Trout Sculpture

August and now the first part of September finds both myself and the weather in drought conditions.  For the weather, it has stopped raining over 6 weeks ago and everything is getting burnt to a crisp.  One travels 60 miles north of here and it's a completely different story.  It seems like the moisture Gods have chosen Minnesota Highway 23 as their punishment line for all of us in the Minneapolis Metropolitan Area.  Even the trees have begun to shed their leaves in an attempt to conserve what little moisture there is.  With the latest heat wave pushing the air conditioner to it's limit added to the constant watering around the house, it seems like I am single handedly supporting Excel Energy's executive salaries each month.  The hot and dry weather did little to spoil our 24th annual Kramer Open Sporting Clays shoot at Wild Marsh Gun Club.  Dave Kramer hosts this event as a fund raiser for the family of a good friend that passed away as many years ago.  My friend Tom Emmons had gotten me involved as it was something we enjoyed together every year.  It was the Kramer Open that forced me to buy a nice Browning Citori over/under, a terrible thing to spend money on, as I really needed to compete with my friend Tom, who was a very good shot.  Although Tom isn't with us these days, I have made a lot of friends at the Kramer and it was great to see them all again.  After hitting 83 out of 100 birds the program included heading back to Dave's house for a meal, beer, and the infamous "Crap Auction".  I scored big!  Between the auction and drawings I ended up with a Kurakyn Grand Tour bag, worth about $200, for $50.  Second item was a Ducks Unlimited Rainbow Trout Sculpture, a great addition to my office, a very nice piece.  A nice pocket knife rounded out my total take, some very nice items and the money went to a great cause.

Lac Seul, Ontario

With my upcoming trip to Lac Seul with Pete Next Wednesday I have been busy getting ready for the next adventure.  Sunday I met Paul Wenaas at the Rogers MN Cabela's for some marked up maps of the area we are fishing.  It was good to see him as we don't get together as much as we should.  Not that I don't trust Pete on the great spots to fish but doing a little research never hurts.  His best advice was to use gold colored jig heads and mono line is much easier to break the line when the jig gets snagged, both confirmed by Pete later in the week.  His best this spring broke the 30 inch mark and I got the location! The lake is over 150 miles long, is a reservoir with  the water flowing to the west, I guess we fish in this current where the walleyes stack up.  The refreshment of choice is Crown Royal, I got to practice a little bit with my friend Rick Shermer, as stated it never hurts to be prepared.  We leave at 5:00 on Wednesday morning and been told that the resort has internet, maybe I can post from there. 

My fishing drought continues as I really haven't been that successful in the last 5 weeks.  Writing this in Denver, they are at the other extreme, 6 - 10 inches of rain that has already fallen in the foothills of Boulder and the surrounding area.  There are flash flood warnings running across the television screen, the cell phone keeps going off with public service announcements, and the customer I was calling on closed early as the water was rushing through their parking lot like a river.  Calling it a 100 year flood, it's pretty much a mess anywhere you go that has a river running out of the front range to the east.  Whereas rain in Dayton would be absorbed very quickly, here in Colorado the soil is mostly clay and the water simply just runs off.  Here's hoping I can get home tomorrow.  With my class reunion on Saturday, fishing will just have to wait till Thursday.  Here's hoping all those stories are true.

Labor Day Ride

 

View of the Mississippi River from Apple Blossum Drive

For the last 2 years I have taken advantage of meeting my brother Steve in Alma, Wisconsin what has turned out to be an annual motorcycle ride through the bluff country.  Just south of Eleva, my home town is the area called the Driftless Area, where the glaciers stopped their advances.  Full of hills and valleys called coulees, the area boast some beautiful curved roads as they move up and down the valleys, connecting farms to the main roads leading to town.  Starting in Alma we headed back up river to Nelson then headed east taking the back roads to Gilmanton Wisconsin.  I had never been on County Road KK and it did not disappoint.  It's amazing what we have right in our back yard.  My sister Beth and her husband Jerry asked if they could join us so meeting in Eleva we headed south to Independence, Whitehall, Blair, Melrose, Mindoro, stopping for a break in La Crosse.  Brother Steve really knows the back roads from Blair down as we cranked about 132 miles on our first leg.  Filling up with gas our next stop was La Crescent, Minnesota as we went up Apple Blossom Drive.  A ridge nestled between the Root River Valley and the Mississippi River Valley the scenery was spectacular.  Over to Rushford then back to Winona, we ended our trip together at Fountain City where we parted company.  A total of 226 miles I could never get tired of this area.  Hopefully we can do this again before the snow flies.

 

Trolling up river, a beautiful day

Sunday proved to be a day to get caught up around the house.  The lawn needed mowing and instead of weeding the garden, it's just easier to take my gas weed trimmer as I have never seen so many weeds.  I guess the wet June is playing itself out.  We haven't had rain in over a month now so the moles have decided my yard is the perfect hunting grounds....and they are not that easy to catch!  Sunday's plan was to get a few things done then head to Mille Lacs for an afternoon of deep water trolling then hit the reefs for some sundown shallow water scouting.  Unfortunately the plans fell through and not wanting to drive up myself decided to hit the river behind the house.  I knew the river was low but was surprise by how low, probably another 2 feet less than the last time I was on the river.  Launching the boat was interesting and once in the water my 15 hp outboard can be alittle stubborn.  Getting it started I headed up river and successfully avoided hitting the bottom with the motor as one gets good at reading the river this time of year.  My friend Pete fishes smallies with live bait, something I didn't have but probably should've picked up.  There are some classic areas that are just perfect for fishing his methods.  I tried trolling but really didn't produce anything.  Fishing along the shorelines was interesting as the low water revels everything.  There are rapids were there were none before, drop offs, eddy's, and boulders galore.  I really need to get to know the river better as the fishing is probably pretty good but I need some better success.  When it's high water, the fish are tight to the shorelines and it's fairly easy to find both numbers and larger fish.  The low water has them scattered an I think requires a little more experimentation and thinking outside the box.  For sure there are not many people fishing the river and unlocking it's secrets is now a goal of mine.  I did get 3 smallies but honestly, they were nothing to write home about yet is at least something to write in my blog!

Small but better than nothing!

Saturday is the Annual Kramer Open, a sporting clays tournament held by a friend of mine, Dave Kramer.  Each year he hosts this event to raise money for his charity.  My dear departed friend Tom Emmons was a regular and I have been a member of his team for many years.  It is difficult to think that Tom isn't with us but I still go as my memory of our good times together.  We shoot 100 clay pigeons in 2 50 bird courses and Tom was really good.  One year I was 1 bird ahead of him, all the way through the last station, we had 6 shots to go.  I went first and shot missed 2 of the 6 putting me 1 behind, the first time I had been back all day.   Tom nailed all 6 to win by 1 shot.  He accused me of purposely losing and I guess if he went to his grave thinking that, it makes me smile!  My September is filling up fast as the next weekend is my 40th Class Reunion.  Uffda.  It will be good to see those who dare to show up and those who don't.  I am in charge of the entertainment and have a few ideas for my classmates.  We were a rebel class and although the school proclaimed they'd never forget us, eventually we all go away.  I have confirmed my trip to Lac Seul with my neighbor Pete and admittedly it's pretty exciting.  My friend Paul Wenaas fishes that area and has promised some "secret locations" to nail the walleyes.  With my schedule this will be the highlight of the next 4 weeks.  I'd say that I can't wait but time flies too fast the way it is, I can wait.

Too Hot To Fish!

Successful day of fishing in Seward

This weekend reminded me of a day in July around 1984, I decided to go fishing a small lake near Lake Minnetonka called Whaletail.  The forecast included a strong south wind of 20 mph and highs of over 100 degrees.   The lake ran north and south and was a conduit for that wind.  Like fishing in a convection oven, all I did was make myself miserable.  I'm not sure it filed that outing as Lessons Learn but it sure made me think about getting out this weekend, something I really wasn't up for.  Now this time of year is traditionally when I am in Alaska basking in the flannel shirt weather, maybe even a light jacket.  Unfortunately all I could do was live the fantasy through my good friends Jack, Mark, Matt, and Jared Taylor, all whom had left the Saturday before to their first Alaskan trip together as a family.  I couldn't have been more excited as half the fun was helping Jack plan his adventure.  Loading him up with my waders, fishing rods, baits, coolers, and other items that I figured he would need, the only thing missing was me.  Maybe next year.  So in the meantime they fished with the same captain we did last year in Seward, a young man that really knew his stuff.  Calling Jack on Sunday morning, they were just leaving the docks and heading to sea.  It turns out they had 6 foot seas and decided to fish the cliffs near the entrance of Resurrection Bay for silver salmon.  They loaded up in about 40 minutes, typical of that area.  There next stop was Montague Island for halibut.  Typical of the size there you can see they filled out with a limit of 20 pounders, not bad.  Mixed in were some rockfish and yellow eyes.  Been there, done that and it never gets old.

A limit of Susitna River silvers

The Taylor's have a connection in Anchorage, their cousin's wife Marina.  Marina was married to Tom Jarvis, a teacher who went to Alaska, taught in Nome, retired in Anchorage and began to work for the Alaska Fish and Game, his dream job.  Unfortunately he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and a good man left us too early.  Marina still has their cabin northeast of Anchorage, near Wasilla so the boys took full advantage of Alaskan hospitality.   Booking a river trip on the Little Susitna river, they took advantage of the silver run still in progress.  I love fishing silvers as the really know how to punish a 8 foot rod and a Super Vibrax spinner.  These fish are mixed with some being pretty fresh as indicated by their bright chrome color with those that have been in the river a few days turning more red colored.  Either way they are delicious on the grill and here's hoping the Taylor's will invite me over for a celebration meal.  Like my family, this will be a trip of a lifetime and I only hope that they do this again, time is always too short and running out.  Good job boys!

So it's Labor Day already.  The garden is full of weeds, tomatoes are starting to ripen, potatoes have died back, and the second crop of corn will be ready in a few days.  My cucumbers have been a complete disaster and along with the onions you got to got to wonder where the green thumb went.  The apples are looking good and putting some heft to them.  The Summer Crisp Pears have vacated their home and lay scattered on the ground.  Next to ripen is the Patton pears as they have developed into a very substantial sized fruit and taste great.   Apples and raspberries are next and within 4 weeks we could have our first killing frost.  The clock keeps ticking for sure.  I have an invitation to go back to Canada this fall with my neighbor Pete and at first our schedules didn't match but it looks like it's pushed out a week, I am not sure I can refuse.  This weekend is my annual pre-Labor motorcycle ride with my brother Steve as we travel the scenic roads of southwestern Wisconsin.  Hopefully we can plan our eventual trip around Lake Superior, a trip we should have taken this week!  It's suppose to cool off next week with lows back down in the 50's, a welcome relief from these 80 degree nights.  It's always something.

Wingdam Walleyes

Carter's on the board!

Looking for a bite that's been better than Mille Lacs these days, I received a call from my friend Eric Hayes inviting me to fish the wing dams below the dam in Alma, Wisconsin with his 9 year old son Carter.  About the same time I got a call from Mark at Blueberry Ridge, the berries were perfect, come on down.  That's all I needed as the plan was to meet Eric at the boat landing around 9:00 on Sunday, fish till 3:30, pick berries till 6:00, and spend some time with my mother before driving home.  With perfect timing I arrived at the landing about a minute behind Eric and Carter.  Now  I had meet Carter a few years back and was excited to see him again.  Kids need adults that can engage them and I was looking forward to teaching him a few fishing skills.  Well, no teaching needed!  Our strategy was to begin trolling the front of the wing dams with crank baits such as Bombers, Shad Raps, or Smash Shads.  Wing dams are rock structures put in the Mississippi River to direct water flow to the channel, assuring enough depth for the barge traffic.  Some wing dams are better than others depending on the water flow, depth, location, how steep the front side is. Because they are made of rock, it's easy to get hung up and with the zebra mussels, lines such as Power Pro or Spiderwire are needed to avoid cutting your line and losing your bait.  Snags are fairly easy to get out but sometimes a lure retriever was necessary.  Eric hadn't fished this area much so we would have to troll the face to get an idea of it's lay under the water.  A big advantage was his Lowrance Side Scan, we could see exactly where the rocks started, ended, and the position of the wing dam to the boat.  The first fish was a dandy, about a 10 pound northern that hit Carter's lure.  For a nine year old Carter handled that fish like a seasoned veteran.  Dad lets him use a pretty sweet St. Croix rod with a Shimano Stradic reel, I have friends I would not trust with that rig.  I snapped a few pictures before I realizing the camera could take a video (I keep forgetting). With that we got Carter bringing in the northern and dad putting doing an excellent job of netting.  I just love how those big northerns look coming to the boat.  Check this link Carter's Northern. We continued fishing a few more wing dams when finally Eric caught a walleye over 15 inches, the minimum size limit for the river.  A few minutes later we had a second one.  From then on it was smaller fish, close, but it's pretty hard to stretch them as long as we needed.  Oh well, I did finally get one, a 14 inch walleye on my Smash Shad and this was the last walleye we got for the day, a total of 6 fish, 2 keepers and 4 released.


Carter's walleye

Carter was getting bored of the uneventful  pace of trolling, especially given the last 2 hours were pretty unproductive.  He had his eyes set on the rock rip rap along the shore, a perfect place to cast for bass, especially smallmouth.  His favorite lure was a plain plastic fluke rigged on a worm hook, unweighted and danced just below the surface, I was told the fish go wild for these.  Watching Carter cast into the rocks he would often end up on the shore while I was struggling to get close enough. He got hung up a few times but I admired his aggressive attitude toward those fish that were up tight against the shore. While we moved along the rocks and worked the edge, the bass didn't disappoint.  I think I ended up with 5 bass, including this nice smallie that Carter netted for me.  3:00 came fast as we loaded the boat up and I headed north to Eleva.  It was a real pleasure to fish with Eric and Carter, Eric has fished walleyes with me at Leech and Mille Lacs and Carter is a chip off the old block.  I brought him a Cabela's Fisherman's Folding Tool and he loved it.  Admittedly worried he might be too young but dad gave me the go ahead and he never put it down.  Hopefully in 30 years he'll remember how he received the tool in the bottom of his new tackle box.  I got something out of the deal as well, a new way to fish bass on the river behind my house, and a new friend, pretty good trade if you ask me!

My guide for the day!

Stopping in Eleva I headed to Blueberry Ridge to get my quota of blueberries.  They were more ripe than a couple of weeks ago, with Mark's help I picked 6 large pails.  We'll probably make wine out of a couple of the pails, 1 goes to Bill Lundeen, and the rest will get frozen.  Blueberries freeze very well and in the middle of winter they certainly are a treat.  I am writing this at the Cleveland Airport, having been here since Tuesday, it's time to go home.  My great friends Mark, Jack, Matt, and Jared Taylor are in Alaska fishing and they have sent me some great pictures of their adventure which I hope to write about next week.   They are coming home on Saturday so I'm looking forward to a full report.  My plans for the weekend are still not settled as we are definitely in the dog days of summer.  Maybe catfishing on the river, a motorcycle ride, working on the garden, there's never a dull minute this time of year.

Those Crazy, Hazy, Lazy Days of Summer

First smallie of the year

Just like the old Nate King Cole song, we are in the middle of the summer and to be honest, the fish aren't biting too well these days.  As well it hasn't been too hazy either!  June was warm however July has not seen the air conditioner run very much as the weather has been just about perfect.  Of course Alaska weather is perfect for me so I love those lows in the 50's each night.  Reports on Mille Lacs have been spotty, my friend Pete, who fishes the Mississippi River is even complaining about the slow bite and for him, that's unusual for the river.  Last week's post with Charlie wasn't my worst days of catching on the pond but it ranked right down there.  I guess the good thing about that is it appears that Mille Lacs could be filling the voids as Mark reported catching a couple of foul hooked perch in 34 feet of water last weekend.  Time will tell.  With our ENA Golf tournament party slated for Sunday and the simple fact that I felt lazy, it was decided that Lory and I would head back to the Mississippi River on Saturday and try our luck again as we had more time.  While contemplating our trip the neighbor Todd came by to see what was up.  Telling him that we were going on the river in a half hour, maybe he should join us. Todd is not much of a fisherman but we asked anyway and expected the same answer......I have to work on work.  Sure enough, that was his answer.  Hey, it's Saturday afternoon, you can work tomorrow as he headed home.  3 minutes later Todd was back, deciding that maybe a few hours on the river wouldn't be that bad.  Loading the boat and hooking it up to my Polaris UTV we headed through the pasture and to the landing next door.  Things worked quite a bit faster with an extra guy as we had the gates opened and closed in record time.  That's where the "faster" ended.  With three 220# guys in my 14 foot jon boat being pushed by a 1976 Evinrude 15 horse outboard we hit a blinding speed of 6.5 mph up river.  With 3 mile ahead of us, it took about 2 beers to get there.  Earlier I had picked up a dozen nice river shiners at Vadoo's bait and was determined to catch something on them.

Todd's first Mississippi catfish

Our first spot was a deeper stretch of river, running about 9 feet for about 100 yards or so.  A guy was fishing there last week with crankbaits and it looked pretty good.  Noticed I said looked as we tried shiners, crawlers, and preserved minnows yet the only thing we managed to catch were a few snags on the bottom.  Next stop was in front of the Stephens Farm, once owned by Win Stephens, the prominent Buick dealer in St. Louis Park.  You can tell it was a nice place a one time but after Win died, his wife Elsie pretty much went in seclusion with a house full of cats.  We saw her in Cub Foods one time with about 40 pounds of frozen beef liver that reportedly she cooked and ground up each day to feed her cats.  Never the less, the river that borders her property on the north side can be pretty good.  Not today.  Moving over to the Anoka County side of the river, we headed around the north side of the island on a channel that can be pretty good.  As we headed down the outside bend I nailed a smallie on a fire tiger Bomber.  At the same time both Todd and Lory hooked up as well, a triple on crank baits.  Netting my fish first, the lure was stuck in the net as Todd's fish was small enough to bring in by itself.  Lory had the nicest smallie yet had to wait for the net, too late as he tried to lift it in the boat the line broke and off swam the smallie with a lip ring in him.  We motored back up and tried the run again but we must have caught them all on the first run.  Oh well, it was still nice to at least catch some fish.  The current is swift as the water runs around the island, maybe that's a clue where the fish were hanging out.  Unfortunately with 3 in the boat it's a little tough to maneuver.  

What a pig!

Heading down river the rest of our strategy was to fish the deeper hole below Cloquet Island, maybe some nice catfish were biting, anything that might be interested in a crawler of minnow.  Changing rigs to a slip sinker and circle hook, we loaded them with night crawlers and let them sit on the bottom.  The first to hook up was Todd with a small catfish.  Not the largest catfish but his first on the river.  Next line to give a tug was mine, and tug it did.  With circle hooks you don't set the hook rather a simple easy pull and the circle hook with work its way to the corner of the fishes mouth and turn causing the hook point to dig in.  When fishing halibut in Alaska circle hooks are the preferred hardware.  Halibut tend to swallow the bait and with the circle hooks you can literally pull them out of their stomachs and because the fish are straight down the hook does it's job allowing a safe release if the fish is too small.  Whatever the fish was it was big.  My guess was a nice 12 pound catfish however as it broke the surface a tank of a carp made itself known.  Now this was by far the largest carp I had ever hooked as it bulled it's way around the boat.  After a 10 minute battle we finally had it in the net.  My guess was 20 - 25 pounds but of course one always likes to exaggerate.  Never the less it was huge as I snapped a few pictures and let it go.  Years ago I would have probably brought it home for dad to smoke, cut it up for the garden, or simply throw it on the bank as carp were not very desirable.  Ed Enos, my friend Kevin's grandpa was an expert at smoking carp, a delicacy back home.  I suppose I could have considered this but it seemed like too much work at the time, away it swam.  Still it made for a fabulous picture. 

I have an open invitation to join my friend Eric to fish the wingdams south of Alma, my old fishing haunts.  It's tempting and I hope to report next week.  My garden continues to be taken over by weeds, the cucumbers have failed miserably, and the tomatoes seem like they are 3 weeks behind.  I guess the cooler whether has put the hold on everything.  My new raspberries are doing well and I picked blueberries last weekend.  I guess the good thing is that by time the peppers and tomatoes are ready I'll be more in the mood to make something of them.  It's suppose to warm up later this week and with the State Fair starting next Thursday, summer is going fast. 



A Day With Charlie

Chuck's 26 incher

The first week of August usually means a visit from an old friend Chuck Teasley.  I have been writing this blog since 2008 and the only 2 times we have missed was in 2008, when I was in China and 2011 when my father died.  Other than that, we make a real effort to get together once a year to fish Mille Lacs.  Charlie is an interesting guy, has the biggest chip on his shoulder yet would give it to you in a heartbeat if you needed it.  More time than not we include our friend Dan Hoene, but this year Dan couldn't make it.  Our adventure started Wednesday evening as Chuck met me at the pole shed.  After hooking the boat up we headed north stopping at Bill's to get the latest news on the bite, then heeding his advice and stopped at the Spirit Lake Steakhouse in Wahkon for supper.  All I can say is wow!  The food was absolutely fabulous and my favorite was the walleye strips, totally unbelievable.  Finishing dinner we headed to Fisherman's Wharf to stay at my friend, Mark Applen's estate!  It's pretty nice as Mark has turned an ordinary ice house into a comfortable castle.  The night was clear and the stars were incredible.  After an hour of watching Gator Boys we finally hit the sack for a great nights sleep.    Thursday brought a northwest wind with whitecaps coming into the east side shorelines.  Our strategy was to head to the west side and fish the flat areas including Sherman's, 7-mile, 8-mile, and wherever we could find fish.  In the end it would prove more difficult than we expected. 

Chuck's 23 incher

Our first stop was The Cut on Sherman's Flat.  This is usually my go to area as I start at the inside end of the drop off and work my way up to the tip.  I was marking a ton of fish but nothing was biting.  On my way back down the edge there was a boat working the same break but headed directly for me.  Deciding someone had to give, I moved out of the way and let him pass.  I minute later I got a call from my friend Jon Bathke asking way I almost ran them over.  As a passenger in a Lund, Jon drives a Warrior Boat so I didn't recognize him.  We agreed to keep each other abreast of the current bite and went our own ways.  Next stop was the 7-mile as the west end was perfect for the wind drift.  After 3 hours we still had nothing to show for our efforts.  Time to start lead lining.  After an hour of unproductive trolling Jon called and said they were having some luck at the 8-Mile flat.  We were already heading that way so we decided to simply stay our route.  In the meantime I decided to switch to a #11 Tail Dancer on a planer board.  Still marking fish, they simply weren't biting.  An hour later I decided it was time to move and while reeling in my Tail Dancer a nice 24 inch walleye hit the lure.  Landing it we took a picture however the SD card was locked so no picture.  This was our inspiration to keep trolling and Chuck landed 2 more nice fish, a 26 inch walleye shown above and a 23 incher.  Both were caught on a lead line with a small orange crank bait.  Besides a fish that hit the Tail Dancer again, that was about it.  We hit Indian Point and trolled the length of the reef but no dice, not even a 12 inch smallie.  Heading back to the landing we loaded up and ran into Jon, who had just loaded up themselves.  He did somewhat better with 6 fish landed, still a fairly poor day considering the week before was on fire.  That's fishing.

Saturday I loaded my motorcycle on the trailer, dropped off my wife in Eau Claire and headed south.  After 2 hours of picking blueberries at Blueberry Ridge in Eleva, I unloaded my bike and put on 150 miles riding the beautiful roads of Trempealeau County.  Sunday saw the 2013 inaugural launch of my 14 foot Jon Boat as it made it's maiden voyage on the Mississippi River behind my house with Lory Brasel.  Thinking the fish were shallow, our first mistake, a gentlemen fishing the river gave some advice, fish the deep edges.  Somewhat difficult at first, we decided it was best to come back with a better strategy, maybe jigging the 10 foot holes with a 3/8 oz jig tipped with a crawler might be the ticket.  In other words, we didn't catch a thing!  Never the less it was nice to get out and we do have a plan for the next adventure on the River.  The summer has actually been pretty nice if you like the weather a little cooler.  The water temp on Mille Lacs was 70 degrees F, pretty cool for the first of August.  My tomatoes are begging for warmer, more humid temperatures but it doesn't look promising.  At least it great sleeping weather!

Lake Oahe, Days 3 and 4

 

Mark with a nice northern pike

The tropical heat of Thursday gave way to a complete switch in the wind, now coming out of the north at a pretty good clip.  Our strategy had completely switched from sorting through the walleyes to accepting the fact that 90% of our fish were going to be under 15 inches.  Liberal limits were set to help reduce this specific population as the floods of 2012 washed a significant amount of bait fish out of the lake, leaving the predator to prey ratio way out of proportion.  It would be nice if the Minnesota DNR was so diligent!   With 2 days behind us we had some catching up to do and decided to again head down river to fish our new spot, Nodding Horse Bay and continue into the main portion of the river.  Although we didn't get much action in the bay, the mouth and areas to the south came alive.  One of the nicer catches was Mark's northern which went about 36 inches.  It's interesting fishing the river as you never know what's at the end of your line and this fish surprised us.  Maintaining a controlled drift with the wind the action was steady.  Slowly the live well began to fill up with fish, enough that I started the front live well to keep the fish as fresh as possible.  Our drift consisted of moving up and down a deeper edge, staying in the 22 - 28 feet range and moving around a point, maybe about a quarter mile of water to fish.  Mark noticed a fish had followed his bait up then decided to stay under the boat.  It was a nice smallmouth bass, one that was smart enough not to fall prey to our jigs.  Mark threw a leech within a few feet and it just inhaled it.  Smallies are excellent table fare and it joined the already growing cache of fish destined for the cleaning table.

A Success Day's Catch

 By 4:00 we were counting and double counting our fish, making sure we did not go over our boat limit of 24 walleyes plus our bonus fish.  An impressive catch for the day, we did have some nice walleyes but the majority were under 13 inches, they would still make a great meal.  As you see in the picture, the South Dakota Parks Department provide a very nice cleaning station at the boat landing area.  Complete with water, Teflon cleaning surfaces, and a huge fish grinder, its a perfect place to clean and dispose of what's left of your fish.  Heading back to the house we were staying in, it was time to vacuum pack the fish and get them in the freezer.  South Dakota does not require one to leave any skin on the fish for transport.  Their only stipulation is that a piece of filet counts as 1/2 a fish.  Cut a large filet in half and it counts as 1 fish.  Because the average fillet was small we put 4 in a bag and sealed it flat so they could be counted.  In the end this pretty good as the fish froze perfectly and would not require any further processing when we got home. Now that we had everything figured out, the last day should be a breeze.

25 inch walleye, best of the trip

On Saturday we woke up to a cool 55 degrees and an east wind blowing into a distant thunderstorm. Because our spot had been successful we decided to return to the area we learned was called Slide Hill.  Almost immediately we began to catch fish.  On Friday we depended entirely on the live wells to keep our fish fresh, this time we bought a bunch of ice to ice them down if the fish turned belly up.  It was a great idea.  Up to this point the largest walleye we caught was 23 inches, a few in the 18 inch range and the rest under 15.  I was jigging my 3/8 ounce VMC Neon Moon Eye (NME) with a Powerbait paddletail tipped with a half a crawler when something smashed my lure.  The fish hung to the bottom, shaking it's head just like a large catfish, it didn't want to come up.  Convinced it was Mr. Whiskers, there was no need to hurry with the net as catfish usually hook themselves pretty good in their fleshy mouth and require surgical techniques to remove.  A few minutes later I could pick out a light colored shape, yep, must be a catfish.   Just as it surfaced the white tip of the tail became evident and we landed the largest walleye of the trip, a fat 25 incher.  These fish remind me of lake trout as when you clean them the cavity has literally rolls of fat inside them.  It was a great addition to a pretty good week and a nice reward for the last day of some serious and hard fishing.  Again we ended the day with our limit of walleyes as we headed back to the landing to clean our catch.  Sunday we packed up and by 7:00 we were on our way.  Some final thoughts: Night crawlers worked as good as anything and offered the greatest variety of fish caught; The water is very hard as it has taken 3 days to get the white film off my boat; My jigging skills have improved significantly with back to back Canada and Lake Oahe trips; It's great to be with the people you care about.   I have a feeling this won't be my last trip to this fabulous fishery.


A sign from Eric

In the meantime I did get my tractor put back together, began to weed my infested garden, picked the last of my raspberries, and headed to Eleva for our annual Fagerland Family Reunion at Jim and Kristy's on Saturday.  An extra special surprise was seeing my great Aunt Florence Olson, sitting in a chair looking as good as ever.  She is 101 1/2 years old and I must have talked to her for over an hour.  My Dad's favorite aunt, he made her adopt him after his mother (Florence's sister) died back in 2002.  Amazing articulate, we talked about everything including her hearing, loss of sight, and memory things that I have started to experience!  I guess I have a long way to go to catch her.  We did stop at Blueberry Ridge and picked 4 ice cream buckets of blueberries which I am enjoying every night.  Feeling somewhat lazy I decided to give my friend Bill Lundeen some berries and drove my motorcycle to Mille Lacs on Sunday.  Returning home my neighbor Lory was picking choke cherries for wine so I grabbed my ladder and helped.  We picked about 17 pounds.  Wednesday evening I head up to Mille Lacs with my good friend Chuck Teasley, he joins me every year about this time.  Although the fish bite has slowed down, it will be a great day as always.  I will leave you with a pretty cool experience.  While trying to catch a fish on the third day at Lake Oahe, we had not even come close to filing our limits.  As we arrived at our fishing spot on Friday a dragonfly landed on Mark's sleeve.  His son Eric, who past away 12 years ago as a teenager often shows his presence in the form of a dragonfly.  I tried to get a picture on his sleeve but apparently it wasn't talking to me!  Giving Mark the camera, the dragonfly flew down and landed on the boat, just next to him, allowing it's picture to be taken.  Our success immediately changed as we took full advantage of the sign given to us.  All I can say is it worked.

Lake Oahe, Days 1 and 2



Steve with a nice Striped (white) Bass

Not unlike my trip last month to Canada, last weeks adventure to Lake Oahe was a return to a 22 year old memory of the last time I fished with my friend Roger Weber, of Aberdeen, South Dakota fame.  Besides re-living memories, our host Russ Praught let us on to the increased daily limit of 8/day and possession limits of 24 fish for walleyes caught on Lake Oahe.  Because the severe lack of baitfish has threatened the populations of walleyes, a special regulation was put in place to help reduce the numbers of predators in the system.  Of the 8 per day, only 4 could be longer than 15 inches, with only 1 over 20 inches.  The ideal catch of the day would be 1 over 20", 3 at 19" and 4 at 14.5" per guy.  The actual catch would prove to be productive however not as optimistic.  Russ and his group left at 4:00 however we weren't as anxious as my brother Steve, Mark Applen, and I headed out at 6:00AM.  Arriving 7 1/2 hours later, we were on the water by 2:30 and immediately found Russ, Nate, and Gary fishing in the bay.   Oahe is a large reservoir on the Missouri River that extends over 230 miles above the dam in Pierre, SD.  The fishing locations consist of finding flooded points and flat areas that offer structure to hold fish.  For the most part it is flooded canyons and sharp drop-offs that mark the old river channel, and often dropping to 90 feet deep in less than 50 yards.  My Lowrance has an Insight function that is helpful in determining structures as well one can sometimes figure out what's below by looking at the shoreline to see, is it steep or sloping?  Reservoir levels can

Mark in Striper Heaven!

fluctuate considerably so the reference depth contours of my map chip are based on the full pool.  With the water level down about 20 feet and assuming some inaccuracies,  the contour lines were off by up to 30 feet yet were good enough to provide an great reference for what was under the boat.  Russ was fishing in 25 - 40 feet of water in the bay and catching a few.  We decided to move to the Moreau River area around an island to try our luck.  We did catch a number of 12 -13 inch walleyes but through them back, looking for larger fish.  The plan for a fish fry that night didn't look so good as we only had 5 in the live well.  It would soon become obvious that if you wanted fish, those 12 inch walleyes would start looking better.  As the boat worked our way back up the shore line we entered a mud line (caused by the interaction between the waves and the current) and immediately I got hit. This was no walleye and soon I hoisted a 18 inch striped bass.  Looking at Mark who was in the front of the boat I yelled....ANCHOR LOCK as the Terrova can hold the boat in one position, I knew these fish school up and it could be a frenzy.  I was right!  Steve and I traded our jigs for crank baits and we were catching a 17 - 19' striper on at least 9 out of 10 casts.  Mark was going crazy as he had never experienced a hot striper bite and couldn't get over the amount of triples we experienced.  I took a video and uploaded it on YouTube, you can check it out on this link: Striper Fishing.  The action lasted for over an hour before we were forced to leave, my guess was we caught close to 200 fish.  We used to catch these fish on Lake Pepin but never this big and for this long.  It was a great day to end day 1. 

23" Walleye

Day 2 brought the hottest day of our trip, over 100 degrees by early afternoon.  Determined to stay cool and protected a long sleeve Simms fishing shirt and long Cabela's fishing pants were my choice of clothing.  The new modern fishing clothing are amazing even on a miserable day like Thursday turned out to be.  After deciding that yes, the Moreau River was nice, the walleyes were small and challenging to locate.  One of the features on my Lowrance Map software was fishing tips for areas and after reviewing a few notes about a bay south of Swan Creek, we decided to try a few areas before settling in on Fielder Bay.  As we entered the bay Steve noticed something moving on shore.  Needing a little break we motored over to the far shoreline only to find 3 horses standing at the edge of the water and shaking their heads up and down.  The oddest thing we had ever seen I took a video and again uploaded on YouTube, check it out on this link: The Nodding Horses .  It was as though they were saying......Yes, Fish Here!!!  Well, within a few minutes I landed what would be the largest walleye for the first 2 days, a 23 inch fat pig.  The horses were right, Fish Here!  We did get a few more walleyes however as it got warmer during the afternoon we needed to find something a little more productive.  Moving out of the bay and into the main river we noticed a boat fishing just south of an area called Slide Hill.  With my contour map I could see that it was working an underwater point in the 22 - 26 foot range.  The wind created a perfect drift as we started fishing somewhat shallower that our previous target depth of around 30 feet.  Immediately we started catching fish.  Walleyes, northern, sheepshead, catfish, smallmouth bass, perch, crappies, stripers, one never knew what you would pull up once the hook was set.   Still being somewhat particular with the size of our walleyes, it just didn't seem right to keep those 12 inchers but man, this was the majority of what we were putting in the boat.  It was a lot of fun catching a variety of fish and admittedly those larger catfish put on quite a fight, we still fell short of
our limit of walleyes despite the liberal limits.  Something was not right and we finally figured it out, it was us!  As we met Russ and his 2 partners Gary and Nate Fischbach back at the landing meeting at the very nice cleaning station it was obvious, if we were going to catch our limit it had to include a significant number of small walleyes.  As we talked to the locals who fished the area often, they acknowledged that the population of walleyes were skewed to the under 

Second day limit from Russ, Gary, and Nate

15 inch fish and the regulations encouraged the harvest of the smaller walleyes.  If you have ever fished Lake of the Woods in the winter, you will soon figure out that a 13 inch sauger is an average fish and fair game.  Setting our standards at about 14 inches cost us a day and a half of our possession limit and going forward we relaxed our expectations.  Besides, a 13 inch perch was always acceptable, tomorrow would be different.

Our first 2 days proved to be our exploratory phase of the trip.  Getting our bearings and fishing memories from 20 years ago, we needed to step it up if we were going to bring home any fish.  I always like to leverage myself with the locals as they can shortcut your strategy considerably.  Akaska, SD is a friendly town of fisherman with a great sense of community that is tied to fishing.  Cleaning my boat a couple drove by with their golf cart, the preferred mode of travel, asking how we did.  Explaining the small fish I was assured that the under 15 inch fish made up the majority of the population and we should really start keeping these. As well I related my story of fishing 20 years ago with my friend Roger and his home town friends the Kessler's, when George Kessler hosted Governor Mickelson of South Dakota.  The guy remembered the day the Governor came to Akaska, an effort from the local supporters to get the 9 mile stretch of gravel road from town to the boat landing paved with asphalt.  The shore lunch we had off a bay south of the landing was the inspiration for what now is known as Governor's Bay, named after that event.  It's interesting to realize that I was there for a small piece of history that was significant to the local area. Governor Mickelson tragically died in a plane crash on April 19, 1993 as it was a sad day for my South Dakota friends.  My experience was special as our shore lunch was spectacular, eating fresh fried walleyes and all the fixin's while the Governor told stories of the wild west, South Dakota style.  Later he offered to buy everyone a drink at the local saloon as we walked down the boardwalk to enjoy a beer with him.  Today that saloon is gone, the road is still maintained, and the memories are as they happened yesterday.  This week is family reunion time and I have much more to share for day 3 and 4, it will have to wait.

A Quick Note Before I Head Out



Front end work



Tomorrow morning at 6:00 I head out to Lake Oahe.  The weather is hot and here's hoping the bite will be as well.  It's been a scramble the last 2 days with the 3 inches of rain we had on Friday night to celebrating my niece's birthday on Sunday in Wisconsin, there's a lot to get done.  I did decide to take the front end of the Ferguson apart to replace the pivot pin and bushings that had worn out.  It came apart pretty well but soon discovered that the bushings I had ordered 6 months ago were the wrong ones.  The right one should be in by the time I get back and pending any further problems should be back together by next Monday.  It will be just perfect as the back of the field is getting pretty long and needs mowing.  The other issue is that its parked in front of my jon boat and the river is slowly making its way to a more normal flow after our very wet and late spring.  Hopefully I can get out on the river next week and catch a few smallies or catfish, if I am not fished out from 4 days on the Missouri River..........not!

Ben's 23 inch Walleye


With little time to write anything of substance this week, I will end with a picture of my good friend Ben Taylor and his 23 inch walleye he caught out of Platte Lake this weekend.    I'm sure that it provided a great start to a fish fry later that evening.  Ben's chomping at the bit to get up to Leech Lake with us for opener and become an official Team Walleye member.  With catches like this, I'm not sure we want him!  I think he'll fit right in.  Here's hoping we'll have plenty of pictures and memories for my next post.

Fishin' With Hondro



Hondro with a 27" walleye looking pretty dapper!

It's been over 15 years since Hondro Zeller has graced the front of my boat but after a few false starts we finally were able to connect last Friday, July 5th.  Originally he was going to try and find a camping spot on or near Lake Mille Lacs for the long 4th of July weekend, a seemingly impossible task only a few weeks before.   Settling on the 5th, it would give me some time to get things done over the weekend and enjoy the lake on a less crowded day.  Along with Hondro was his son Anders.  Both met me at my pole barn at 8:00 AM, maybe too early considering the evening before yet I managed to be ready on time.
Upon arrival we loaded everything up as he introduced me to his son Anders.  I thought I heard right, like the first part of my last name but quite honestly I wasn't too sure what I really heard!  A strapping young man, had just graduated from college and it would be exciting to hopefully show both of them a great day on the water.  By the looks of things there was going to be some wind on the lake as it was blowing directly out of the south pretty good for 8 in the morning.  The last time I fished with Hondro was in my Skeeter 135T.  Back when 3 Mile Reef was a great walleye spot, we had spent the day fishing the area and it was pretty rough.  Remembering our ride back to the landing, we hit a wave and my rear trolling motor bracket broke.  The only thing that alerted me to the situation was a slight hesitation in my boat as the motor hit the water.  Held on only by the power cord, I looked back to see it bouncing on the water at 25 mph.  Slowing to an idle the motor sunk sunk to the depth of the remaining cord as I pulled it up, set it in the boat and continued on.  Luckily Minnkota did a great job fixing it back up.  Making the usual stops we had the boat in the water by 10:00.  The south wind didn't seem so intimidating at the landing yet I knew it was only going to get worse.

Anders with a nice fish.

One can probably gather that I usually have a strategy as I work my way further from the shore.  Sherman's first, 7 Mile second, 9 Mile third, Plan B fourth.  Sherman's proved difficult as the wind blew perpendicular to the edge.  It can be rather easy to quarter along the edge but with a number of guys hovering an area on the edge, it made positioning rather difficult.  An hour later and we didn't have a single bite.  Next stop was 7  Mile, again a number of guys hovering but at least the north/south drift lines were better.  Still nothing.  Next stop was 9 Mile and to my surprise there was no one there.  Maybe we just hit the flat when the fish turned on but whatever, we proceeded to start catching walleyes.  The first one was a 19.5 inch fish, perfect for the live well.  Unfortunately it would prove to be our last keeper fish.  As we drifted a better north/south line, we continued to catch fish, often 3 per drift.  Motoring back to the south end we could easily keep on a line that stayed at the edge of the flat.  Eventually another boat showed up an promptly worked the area right in the center of our drift line.  9 Mile Flat is big enough to get away from the interference and still be on fish.  After 4 hours of working the flat we had over 16 walleyes, 1 in the box, a surprising 2 under 17 inches, and a 27 inch walleye, Hondro's personal best.  The wind had started calming down somewhat but that was temporary as it began to pick up speed again late in the afternoon.  With a desire to head back closer to shore I decided to show them how to deep water troll using both lead line and planer boards.  Trolling from 9 Mile to 7 Mile would not take that long as I had heard the basin bite had started.  We rigged the planer with a #11 Tail Dancer in a purple color, 150 feet of line out, attached the in-line planer and started trolling.  The next 2 rods were lead line with my new Suffix 832 lead core which was suppose to sink and extra 2 feet per color.  3.5 colors out and it became a waiting game, but not too long.  The first rod to double over was Hondro's lead core with the #5 Shad Rap.  We reeled that one in and reset just in time to see Anders planer board flag to drop.  Another  nice walleye at the end it was my turn.  I didn't have to wait too long as my lead core folded over.  3 nice walleyes in less than an hour trolling, seemed pretty good to me!  At 5:30 we decided the wind had taken most of our energy and we headed in.  Loading the boat we stopped at Bill's to give him a report, bought a coke and headed back to Dayton.  It was a great day to get out, the wind proved to be not much of a determent to our success, and after quickly cleaning the 19 1/2 inch walleye we did keep, Hondro and Anders had supper in the bag.  Admittedly I did ask for clarification on the origin of Anders name, a name I had never heard of.  They laughed and explained it was really Alexander and it was simply a derivative.  As I get older my hearing isn't so good so it was a relief to know that I was hearing it correctly!

Caught on Lead line

So next Wednesday Mark Applen, my brother Steve, and a few other friends are heading to Lake Oahe for 4 days of fishing.  It should be pretty exciting as the Fish and Game Department in South Dakota has raised the possession limit of fish caught in Oahe to 24 walleyes.  Our fearless leader on this trip is Russ, and he has found a place to rent for $30/night/guy....not bad.  It's a 7 hour drive from home with only about 4 miles being freeway.  Like getting ready for Canada, I have been busy stocking up on the right presentation as I am sure the walleyes will be found in much deeper water.  Bottom Bouncers were made for this type of fishing as we will probably pull a lot of night crawler rigs.  I head out to Cincinnati on Thursday for a business trip and the weekend weather looks like thunder storms, it might be a good time to finally fix the pivot pin in the front end of my tractor.  The "back 40" is getting awfully long and needs to be cut with the brush hog.  I would like to get the front end fixed before doing any extensive work with the tractor.  Although the fishing season started slow and late, I've made most of my time on the water up and then some!

Back on the Pond



Kevin and a nice walleye



After 4 days of fishing in Canada the next date was with my neighbor Blair Wolfram and his friend Kevin from Chicago.  Last year Blair had asked me if I could take his friend fishing, we were able to get out in the middle of June, and did very well.  This trip was a couple of weeks later however with the late spring, timing was perfect.  My friend Mark Applen was staying at his place on Mille Lacs and had started giving me early morning reports as he was out on a mid-lake flat.  Words like "Committing Suicide, On Fire, Jumping in the Boat" made us wish we would have left 2 hours earlier.  The last draw was a picture that came on the phone of a 44 inch northern he just released.....uffda!  Stopping at Lundeen's to pick up some supplies and the secret bait (shhhh...small pike sucker minnows) we headed to the landing.  Based on the past spotty reports of little pressure on the lake I expected the landing to have plenty of parking yet as we turned the corner you could see rigs parked in the ditch, a sure sign the bit was good.  All the rain has certainly filled up the lake, evident by the dock at the landing requiring a good jump or wet feet to get in the boat.  I generally have a strategy of stops, starting inshore first then working our way to the middle of the lake.  With Mark's reports still coming in we decided to just meet him at 7 mile.  As we approached the flat he was easily identified by the guy standing in his boat waving us over!  There was a nice chop on the lake and as we got closer he was reeling up another fish.  There were quite a few boats on the flat and with 3 guys I decided to circle the outside edge.  An hour later we had 5 walleyes on the board.  Finishing our first trip around the flat back to Mark, he was ready to leave.  With both his keepers in the boat, the wind was dying and bite slowed, he left for his place at Fisherman's Wharf. 



 Caught on a crawler



Another hour at that flat and a few more fish we decided to look for a less crowded flat.  With so many guys on a structure, they can push the active fish off the flats.  The calming winds causes the water to flatten out, add the high sun and you can be assured the light penetration is at it's maximum.  Once this happened the walleye's became more scarce although they didn't stop biting, it was just longer between fish.  Deciding to go back to my original strategy we headed back closer to shore and fished Sherman's Flat.  We had little competition as there were only 3 boats left verses the 12 that were working it as we passed it earlier.  No jumping in the boat we managed another 6 walleyes for a total of 13 caught.  Moving north to Seguchi Flat's long western edge, another 5 walleyes were netted.  A final stop back at Sherman's saw an additional 2 fish for a days total of 20.  Not saying it was a bad day but once the wind stopped blowing it became more difficult to locate active fish.   Had we been there 2 hours earlier, it could have been double that.  Oh well the price for a decent nights sleep.  We did not end up with any keeper fish, those in the tight 18 - 20 inch slot range yet we did get a surprising 17 incher.  I suppose you could look at the good side, at least we didn't have to clean fish when we got home!  With the bite as good as it is my next trip planned is Friday the 5th with a good friend Hondro Zeller.  The last time he fished with me was when I had my Skeeter 135T, probably in the mid 1990's.  I don't remember if we caught any fish but I do recall how windy and rough it was.  We hit a wave and my rear trolling motor bracket broke sending the entire unit into the water as I only became aware of it as the motor, held on by the cord, was bouncing off the back!  Going too fast and acting too smart, thank God I am older now.  This trip will be a little more civilized as the Ranger handles the water much better and the weather is supposed to be beautiful.  Hopefully next weeks post will be a good one.

Monday we met regarding our Lake Oahe trip and have that pretty well organized.  Russ wants to leave at 4:00 in the morning, go go go.  Draining my livewells on Sunday the valve control for one of them broke.  On top of that there must have been some water left in the system as one of the valves by the aerator pump was leaking pretty bad, typical of what happens when water freezes and cracks the case.  I did get to my dealer to secure parts and will put them in before Friday.